Best of the Web Today - March 6, 2006
By JAMES TARANTO
You're in the Army Now
The U.S. Supreme Court sharply rebuked America's far-left law professors today, ruling unanimously (that's 8-0, Justice Sam Alito having joined the court too late to participate) that Congress was within its authority to withhold federal funding from law schools that discriminate against military recruiters. In the case, Rumsfeld v. Forum for Academic and Institutional Rights, the court actually went further (citations omitted):
The Constitution grants Congress the power to "provide for the common Defence," "[t]o raise and support Armies," and "[t]o provide and maintain a Navy." Congress' power in this area "is broad and sweeping," and there is no dispute in this case that it includes the authority to require campus access for military recruiters. . . .
This case does not require us to determine when a condition placed on university funding goes beyond the "reasonable" choice offered in Grove City and becomes an unconstitutional condition. It is clear that a funding condition cannot be unconstitutional if it could be constitutionally imposed directly. Because the First Amendment would not prevent Congress from directly imposing the Solomon Amendment's access requirement, the statute does not place an unconstitutional condition on the receipt of federal funds.
That is, Congress could force colleges and universities, even if they receive no federal funding, to treat military recruiters equally. It's very impressive that Chief Justice John Roberts, Rumsfeld's author, was able to command unanimous support for such a sweeping decision.
We hope Congress does not take the additional step the court authorized. To see why, consider the Yale Law faculty's friend-of-the-court brief (PDF; quoted passage on pp. 2-3) against equal access:
The Faculty Members object not to the mere presence of military recruiters, but to being forced to assist the military in telling some Yale Law students that they are not fit to serve in our country's armed forces because of their sexual orientation.*
The Faculty Members deeply respect those who serve in our nation's armed forces. They find both demeaning and stigmatizing Petitioners' insistence upon excluding Yale's gay, lesbian, and bisexual students from those forces. The [Defense Department's] demand that Faculty Members not just tolerate, but actively aid and abet, their discriminatory recruitment practices undermines the Faculty Members' commitment to maintain a tolerant and inclusive educational environment for all Yale law students.
For the Faculty now to surrender to the Government's coercion--even to protect the University's finances--would inevitably erode all students' faith in the Faculty Members' commitment to treat them with equal respect and dignity.
Under current law, this claim of "coercion" is nonsense. Yale takes taxpayer money, which comes with strings attached; but it is free to pass up the money if its principles demand. And of course the university is free to show its contempt for America in other ways, for instance by admitting former Taliban officials.
The worst of which the Yale and other faculties can complain is bribery: The government is offering them money to act against the professed principles. Will any institution of higher education respond to the Rumsfeld ruling by declining to accept federal funds? The answer to that question will show us all how much those principles are worth.
* But they support the troops!
The Case for Hamas--II
"Russia greeted the leaders of the militant Palestinian group Hamas on Friday with a pointed warning that the organization had to recognize Israel and dismantle its militias or face isolation," reports the New York Times:
As Hamas officials began a high-profile, three-day visit here, the Russian foreign minister, Sergey V. Lavrov, said that Moscow would convey to them a position shared by the United States and other international mediators in the Middle East conflict, as well as "most of the Arab capitals." . . .
"I don't think Hamas would have any serious future if Hamas doesn't change," Mr. Lavrov said in a briefing for American news organizations shortly before he met the Hamas delegation at the Foreign Ministry.
This is one reason why it's hard to be too upset about Hamas's victory in January's Palestinian elections. Had Fatah, the corrupt incumbent party, won, it's unlikely the Russians would be applying similar pressure--yet Fatah, like Hamas, is a terrorist group dedicated to Israel's destruction. As it is, Fatah has turned its thuggishness against Hamas, as the Jerusalem Post reports:
The Hamas-dominated Palestinian Legislative Council was forced to postpone a session scheduled for Saturday in Ramallah after Fatah gunmen threatened to storm the building and beat the newly-appointed speaker, Aziz Dweik.
A new session has been set for Monday, but sources close to Hamas said it too could be delayed because of increased threats by Fatah gunmen.
The Associated Press reports that Hamas is rejecting the support of another terror organization:
Officials of Hamas on Sunday shrugged off the support offered the day before by al-Qaida's No. 2 leader in a video broadcast, saying their group has a different ideology than the terror network and won parliamentary elections through its moderate approach to Islam.
In a video aired Saturday by Al-Jazeera television, Ayman al-Zawahri called for jihad, or holy war, to reclaim Palestinian lands and implied al-Qaida's support for Hamas' refusal to recognize Israel despite international pressure since the militant Islamic group swept parliamentary elections in January. . . .
In what was seen by some as criticism of Hamas for running in elections, he said: "Entering with those who have sold Palestine, the legislative council, and recognizing their selling, stands against Islam."
Democracy seems to be serving as a wedge between terrorist groups.
No Shiite, Sherlock
"The Palestinian Authority security forces are investigating whether Iran, Hizbullah or al-Qaida are behind a new Shi'ite group that has been operating in the West Bank and Gaza Strip over the past few days. . . . A PA security official said he did not understand how a Shi'ite group could operate in the West Bank and Gaza Strip 'where we don't have even one Shi'ite.' All the Muslims living in the PA-controlled areas are Sunnis."--Jerusalem Post, March 6
Someone Alert Ed Rendell!
"Hamas Outlines Plans for Governing PA"--headline, Jerusalem Post, March 5
72 Virgins Short, but Lovely Nonetheless
The Associated Press has some transcripts from hearings on enemy combatants at Guantanamo Bay:
Abdul Hakim Bukhary, from Saudi Arabia, denied joining al-Qaida but said he met bin Laden 14 or 15 years ago while fighting a jihad against Russian forces in Afghanistan. He traveled to Afghanistan to participate in jihad against the United States after Sept. 11, 2001, but was jailed by the Taliban before he could fight any Americans. The Taliban suspected him of being a spy after he said he liked Ahmed Shah Massood.
After the United States invaded, he was sent to Guantanamo, where he said conditions were much improved. "Prisoners here are in paradise. American people are very good. Really. They give us three meals. Fruit juice and everything!" Still, he said, he wanted to be freed and returned to his family.
Andrew Sullivan has characterized Guantanamo as "Camp Holiday Inn," but it sounds as though he was being too harsh.
Is That Anything Like Jumbo Shrimp?
"Guantanamo Detainees Largely 'Small Fry' "--headline, Associated Press, March 5
A Journalistic Breach
On Friday the Associated Press published this "clarification":
In a Wednesday story, The Associated Press reported that federal disaster officials warned President Bush and his Homeland Security chief before Hurricane Katrina struck that the storm could breach levees in New Orleans, citing confidential video footage of an Aug. 28 briefing.
The Army Corps of Engineers considers a breach a hole developing in a levee rather than an overrun. The story should have made clear that Bush was warned about floodwaters overrunning the levees, rather than the levees breaking.
The day before Katrina, Bush was told there were grave concerns the levees could be overrun.
It wasn't until the next morning, as the storm made landfall, that Michael Brown, then head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said Bush had asked about reports of breaches. Bush did not participate in that briefing.
Blogger Kevin Aylward reports that one of the bylines on the erroneous AP story belonged to Margaret Ebrahim, a former producer on "60 Minutes II," the program that aired the phony September 2004 story on President Bush's National Guard service.
The AP's clarification doesn't stop the Boston Globe's James Carroll from repeating the falsehood:
If George W. Bush were a character in a novel or a play, last week might have been the turning point in the narrative. He was shown on film being explicitly warned, just hours before Hurricane Katrina hit, that the levees in New Orleans were vulnerable.
But everyone knows that after the levees broke, he denied having been warned that such a thing was possible. The broadcast of the film amounted to a terrible epiphany: The president seemed caught in a lie. Grave questions had already been raised about his administration's manipulations of the truth, especially in relation to the war in Iraq. Does the truth matter in America any more?
Apparently not if your name is James Carroll.
Ragin' at Nagin
Mayor Ray Nagin of New Orleans is campaigning for re-election--in Houston, the Houston Chronicle reports:
Nagin on Saturday asked black community leaders here in Houston to help evacuees vote absentee or in person in the city's April 22 primary election.
In a meeting organized by local chapters of the NAACP, Nagin received enthusiastic support from local leaders, but also some sharp rebukes from some evacuees. . . .
At the NAACP-organized gathering, evacuee Eugene Jefferson, 39, accused Nagin of not having had a legitimate plan in place for transporting those who were poor and relying on public transit.
"You waited until it was too late. The mandatory evacuation was too late and there were people who drowned," said an emotional and tearful Jefferson.
"Now you want us to vote for you?"
The mayor argued that he is qualified because of the color of his skin:
Nagin noted that 23 candidates entered the mayoral fray before the registration deadline last week.
"Very few of them look like us," he told the almost totally black crowd of about 200 persons who attended the meeting at the NAACP Family & Technology Center on Fannin.
Hey, at least Marvin T. Richardson isn't running.
The New Orleans Times-Picayune reports on one of Nagin's challengers:
Ending one strange political saga by starting another, the clerk of New Orleans Criminal District Court, Kimberly Williamson Butler, surrendered herself to an irate criminal court judge Friday morning after a week of ignoring court orders and arrest warrants, and then walked outside the courthouse to announce her candidacy for mayor.
In comments leading up to the surprise announcement, Butler said she had "grown" over her past week in seclusion, and that her mercurial political career makes her uniquely qualified to relate to common folk, including those who have been fired and accused of breaking the law.
Says Bernie Pinsonat of Southern Media and Opinion Research: "With all the things Orleans is being attacked for, she just throws out a big sign: 'We're nuts. Everything you all have said about us is correct.' As she tries to avoid jail, she qualifies for mayor--and a straitjacket."
D'oh! Know Much About History
A recent survey shows that Americans can name more of the Simpsons than the rights protected by the First Amendment. (For the record, we can name all 12: Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, Maggie, O.J., religion, speech, press, assembly, petition and partial-birth abortion.)
Cartoonist Jeff Stahler of the Columbus Dispatch had a little fun with this--but in the process ended up showing his own ignorance. His Saturday strip places Homer Simpson in a famous revolutionary painting--but it is John Trumbell's "Declaration of Independence," depicting a scene that predated the Bill of Rights by some 15 years.
The Blind Leading the Blond--II
" 'Media outlets around the world, from CBS, ABC and CNN to the British tabloids' all fell for a hoax--a fake study from the World Health Organization claiming blondes are going extinct."--Best of the Web Today, Oct. 3, 2002
"A study by the World Health Organization found that natural blonds are likely to be extinct within 200 years because there are too few people carrying the blond gene. According to the W.H.O. study, the last natural blond is likely to be born in Finland during 2202."--New York Times, March 5, 2006
The World's Smallest Violin
"Cell Phone Bandit: 'My Whole Life Is Ruined' "--headline, CNN.com, March 3
Can't Anyone Keep a Secret?
"US Nuclear Plant Leaks Fuel Health Concerns"--headline, Reuters, March 4
Good Help Is Hard to Find
"Accused Peeping Tom Wanted at Oakland Mall"--headline, WDIV-TV Web site (Detroit), March 3
What Would We Do Without Ex-CNN Anchor Browns?
"Ex-CNN Anchor Brown: 'The News in This Country Is a Business' "--headline, ContactMusic.com, March 3
This Just In
"Some Telecommuters Work in the Nude"--headline, United Press International, March 5
Perverse Incentives
"Incompetent Teachers Face Sack if They Don't Improve"--headline, Herald (Glasgow, Scotland), March 6
"Former Durham Teacher Accused of Letting Student Sleep in Her Bed"--headline, WRAL-TV Web site (Raleigh, N.C.), Feb. 17
How New Could They Be?
"France Recognizes New Living WWI Veterans"--headline, Associated Press, March 3
Thanks for the Tip!--LIII
"Health Tip: Keep Your Cholesterol Down"--headline, HealthDayNews.com, March 6
Generalissimo Francisco Franco Is Still Dead
" 'Peace Mom' Still Campaigning Against War"--headline, Associated Press, March 5
Bottom Story of the Day
"Student Applies Electronics Talents to Fixing Switch"--headline, Park Ridge (Ill.) Herald-Advocate, March 2
East Hollywood
"The Oscars opened the closet door to gay-themed films but shut it almost as quickly," Reuters reports:
"Brokeback Mountain," the much-ballyhooed favorite about two gay cowboys, won best director for Ang Lee on Sunday but stunningly lost the best picture prize to race drama "Crash." Additionally Philip Seymour Hoffman won best actor for playing gay novelist Truman Capote in "Capote."
The victory for "Crash" suggested Oscar voters were more comfortable with a tale that exploited the seamy underbelly of racial conflict in contemporary Los Angeles than with a heartbreaking tale of love between two married men.
"Perhaps the truth really is, Americans don't want cowboys to be gay," said Larry McMurtry.
The Los Angeles Times' Kenneth Turan echoes the point:
In the privacy of the voting booth, as many political candidates who've led in polls only to lose elections have found out, people are free to act out the unspoken fears and unconscious prejudices that they would never breathe to another soul, or, likely, acknowledge to themselves. And at least this year, that acting out doomed "Brokeback Mountain."
And the San Francisco Chronicle reports that gays were "brokenhearted" over the "Brokeback" loss:
"I think that's an absolute horror," said Brad Bruner, who is a leader in the Golden State Gay Rodeo Association. "It's an outright sign of homophobia in our country. ('Crash') won no awards before this. It makes me sick."
"Crash" is actually the only one of the five Best Picture nominees we have seen, and although it had its moments, in the end we have to agree with Turan "that it is, at its core, a standard Hollywood movie, as manipulative and unrealistic as the day is long." Anyhow, who knew Hollywood was so homophobic? |
