Best of the Web Today - November 3, 2005
By JAMES TARANTO
The European Social Model
We've visited France twice in the past two years, and despite its reputation for surly anti-Americanism, we found the place quite charming. (Granted, we spent most of our time in Normandy, the most philo-American part of France.) But France seems to have deep social problems. Reuters reports that rioting in the Paris suburbs has now entered its second week:
Hundreds of youths fought with police in Parisian suburbs in a seventh night of riots on Thursday, piling pressure on Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin's government to quickly restore order.
Youths went on the rampage in nine areas in poor suburbs ringing the French capital to the north and the east, setting alight about 40 cars, two buses, and garbage cans, as well as damaging at least one school and a shopping center.
Angry youths in hooded tops hailed stones at police in riot gear. Media said shots were fired in a northern suburb. . . .
One trade union representing policemen described the unrest as a "civil war" and called on Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy to impose a curfew in areas affected by the violence to ensure it did not spiral out of control.
The unrest in the northern and eastern suburbs, heavily populated by North African and black African minorities, has been fuelled by frustration among youths over their failure to get jobs and recognition in French society.
Overall unemployment in France is 9.8%, but for under-25 Frenchmen the figure is a stunning 23%. Oh well, at least they have "free health care."
Race to the Bottom--II
Here's an interesting story from News 14 Carolina, a local cable channel in Raleigh, N.C.:
Smart black students being accused of "acting too white" is an issue Triangle educators are debating at a youth and race conference this week.
Students say the stigma is keeping some of their peers from doing well in school.
Tenth grader Anais Guzman is on the honor roll. She says some of her peers see the achievement as acting too "white."
"They can get high grades but they don't want to because they'll be considered as acting white, so they put white people down," Guzman said.
This problem illuminates why the liberal worldview on race, while not entirely false, is several decades out of date. The idea that achievement is "white" and lack thereof is "black" is an ugly stereotype that no doubt originated in white racism. But the problem today isn't that whites believe it; it is that many blacks have internalized it and recast it as a point of pride.
As we noted yesterday, black adults are subjected to the trope of "acting white" as well--for espousing conservative political positions or joining the Republican Party. Thus the Democratic Party, which routinely racks up 85% to 90% of the black vote, has an interest in encouraging blacks to think of themselves as separate from the broader American population--a separateness that rests on pernicious notions of black inferiority.
Get a Grip--II
Blogger Josh Marshall is exulting in President Bush's low approval ratings:
Wow. I saw this mentioned on Atrios's site, but without the link. But now it's up on the CBS News website: Bush at 35%. . . . Once you get down below, say, 40% you've really, really gotta earn every new lost point on the way down.
This made us laugh, for back in September 2003 we noted that Marshall was exulting in Bush's numbers, which, he wrote, were in "something close to free-fall. His approval ratings have fallen roughly 20 percentage points in four months." At the time, Bush's approval rating was 49%. As we noted then, if they continued falling at that rate, negative 11% of Americans would approve of Bush by September 2004. Which raises the question: How come Marshall doesn't have any data on President Kerry's* approval rating?
We guess the answer is that it turned out Bush's "free fall" wasn't quite as free as Marshall thought. Based on the September 2003 and November 2005 data points, the president's ratings have fallen at a rate of only a little over 0.5 percentage points every four months, not 20. To put it another way, his ratings have fallen seven percentage points every 13 months. Still, consider what happens if they continue to fall at this rate:
September 2003 49%
October 2004 (imputed) 42%
November 2005 35%
December 2006 28%
January 2008 21%
If the trend continues, by Election Day 2008 Bush's approval rating will be an abysmal 15.5%. Marshall, who pretty much predicted a Kerry landslide last year ("I take it as a given that virtually no Gore voters from 2000 will pull the lever for Bush"), doesn't offer a prognostication for 2008, but we will go out on a limb: Based on President Bush's declining approval ratings, we think it unlikely that he will win a third term.
* The supercilious, Gallic-appearing Bay State member of George McGovern's party, who by the way traveled to Indochina, where he met exciting, unusual people and killed them. Oh, and he isn't really the president.
Brave Sir Robin
John Kerry** has started a petition campaign calling on President Bush to withdraw 20,000 U.S. troops from Iraq "over the holidays" and to "withdraw the bulk of American combat forces by the end of 2006." In an e-mail to supporters, he explained his reasoning:
It will be hard for this administration, but it is essential to acknowledge that the insurgency will not be defeated unless our troop levels are drawn down.
Hey, here's a slogan for the effort: "You can't win if you don't run."
** Fop cit.
If You Can't Bork Him, Dork Him
The Washington Post's Dana Milbank denounces Justice-designate Samuel Alito as a "nerd":
Alito, bespectacled, hair askew, suit rumpled and ill-fitting, walked into Sen. Tim Johnson's office this week to pay a courtesy call on the South Dakota Democrat. Sitting in an armchair in the senator's office, Alito forgot to unbutton his suit jacket, causing his tie to stick out and his jacket to bunch up. The judge's pant leg hiked up as he sat, revealing an untied shoelace. . . .
Alito has the disadvantage of following John Roberts, who was just as smart but carried himself like a big man on campus: athletic build, quick humor and good looks. Compared with Roberts, Alito looks as if he were in town for a "Star Trek" convention.
Well, to paraphrase Roman Hruska, even if he is dorky, there are a lot of dorky judges and people and lawyers. They are entitled to a little representation, aren't they? Not everyone can be as cool as David Souter and Ruth Ginsburg.
On a related topic, reader "Damn! A Taxi!" points out that "Samuel Alito" is an anagram for "I'm a sellout." We relay this news simply to pre-empt any Angry Left anagrammer from taking credit for the discovery.
Zero-Tolerance Watch
In Tulsa, Okla., where a slut nixes sex, a teacher made a 5-year-old boy strip nearly naked, reports KJRH-TV:
A Tulsa parent is outraged over how her child was disciplined at school for wearing a costume.
Crystal Harris says her 5-year old son was forced to take off his costume, and go through the entire school day with only his underwear on.
The incident happened Monday at Walt Disney Elementary.
Although the school has a policy against costumes, it has apologized for the actions of the unnamed teacher.
Homer Nods
It turns out it was Capt. Hallorin, not Col. Flagg, who uttered the Chuck Schumer†-like quote on "M*A*S*H" that we cited yesterday, in an episode titled "Deal Me Out," which aired Dec. 8, 1973. Both Hallorin and Flagg were played by the same actor, Edward Winter, who also played "Scientist #1" in TV's "The Angry Beavers." Winter died in 2001.
†A dagger of the mind, a false creation, proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain.
World Ends; Minorities Hardest Hit
"Group: Same-Sex Marriage Bans Hurt Latinos Most"--headline, Houston Chronicle, Nov. 2
Dog Bites Man
" 'Belligerent Drunk Man' Gets Into Fight"--headline, Associated Press, Nov. 2
Thanks for the Tip, Eh!
"Want a health tip? Move to Canada."--Boston Globe, Feb. 10, 2004
Dispatch From the Porn Belt
In San Francisco (Kerry by 67.8%), the city's Department of Human Services "wants to fire a child welfare supervisor accused of downloading and passing around gay S&M porn pix--hot shots that starred a psychiatrist from the city's foster care program," reports the San Francisco Chronicle:
As far as the department is concerned, however, the doctor didn't do anything that violated the city's work rules by appearing on an S&M Web site. He's not facing any disciplinary action.
Sources inside the department say the case started several months back when an employee in the child welfare division showed pictures to her supervisor of the psychiatrist from the XXX adult Web site Leathermen.com.
It wasn't long before downloaded photos of the doctor were making the rounds of the department, and then up the chain of command, our sources say.
Eventually, the matter came to the attention of Rhorer. He ordered the department investigation--not over how the doctor wound up on the site, but over the failure of department bosses to keep the photos from being circulated and for not reporting the matter to the agency's civil rights unit immediately, as required.
Now, the supervisor accused of spreading the photos is facing dismissal for having created a hostile work environment.
Chickenhawk Alert
Writing about the funeral of civil rights heroine Rosa Parks, our Peggy Noonan observes:
The only jarring note was Gov. Jennifer Granholm of Michigan, who spoke with strange intensity and was dressed in an odd black getup with dramatic neck scarf. She was like a Wicca priestess in search of a coven.
Even worse, though, is what Granholm said, as reported by the Detroit Free Press:
The governor said Parks encouraged everyone to follow her example to stand up for justice.
"By your actions, you have given us your final marching orders. We are enlisted us [sic] in this war. And on behalf of the state of Michigan, ma'am, we are reporting for duty," Granholm concluded.
"Reporting for duty"? This is the slogan of America's greatest war hero of the 20th century! (We can't remember his name, but it'll come to us***.) And where was Jennifer Granholm when the aforementioned war hero was risking his life in the jungles of Vietnam? Not surprisingly, she had other priorities. She evaded the draft by being "female" and "under 18"--though she turned 18 in 1977, just a few years after the draft ended, which is a little too convenient if you ask us. What's more, as we noted in July, Granholm spent four years in Canada. Where does she get off questioning anyone's patriotism?
Hat tip: "Malcontent."
*** Oh yeah, John Kerry*. |
