Best of the Web Today - October 4, 2006
By JAMES TARANTO
Now playing on WSJ.com: Steve Moore talks about the accomplishments--and failures--of the Republican Party heading into the November elections.
On InstaPundit.com: John Fund discusses election fraud with Glenn Reynolds and his lovely bride, Helen.
Geneva Con
"Iraqi officers loyal to Saddam Hussain filmed their cold-blooded murder of two British bomb disposal officers who were captured after a roadside ambush," reports the Times of London, which describes the March 2003 incident:
An inquest was told that Staff Sergeant Simon Cullingworth, 36, and Sapper Luke Allsopp, 24, thought that they were being taken to hospital for treatment, but instead they were moved to a compound run by Saddam's military intelligence.
The harrowing ordeal lasted for hours until Iraqi agents killed the pair. The soldiers were buried in a shallow grave.
We keep hearing that if we don't accord Geneva Convention protections to al Qaeda detainees, our soldiers will be at risk of mistreatment. But here is how an enemy--one that, unlike al Qaeda, actually is a signatory to Geneva--treats Western soldiers. So what exactly do we gain by even meeting our obligations under the Geneva Conventions, much less exceeding them?
(Hat tip: Edward Morrissey.)
Muslim Smoking Ban
"Spanish villages are abandoning the centuries-old tradition of burning effigies of the Prophet Muhammad for fear of offending Muslims," the Daily Telegraph reports:
The fiestas celebrate events in 1492, when the Catholic kings of northern Spain defeated and expelled Islamic forces, ending more than 800 years of Moorish rule in the Iberian Peninsula.
Traditionally the festivities have culminated with the burning of mannequins of the Mahoma, a figure based on the Prophet Muhammad, to represent the final defeat of Islam in the region.
But, according to reports, local authorities have toned down the rituals to preserve Islamic sensibilities and avoid a repeat of the furor that followed last year's publication of Danish cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad.
Sensitivity to the feelings of others is a fine thing, but one suspects the motivation here is less a desire not to offend than a fear of how offended Muslims will react. Victor Davis Hanson ponders the significance of European cowardice:
Since 2000 it has been the habit of blue-state politicians to rebuke the yokels of America, in part by showing us a supposedly more humane Western future unfolding in Europe. . . . And what have we learned in the last five years from its boutique socialism, utopian pacifism, moral equivalence, and cultural relativism? That it was logical that Europe most readily would abandon the artist and give up the renegade in fear of religious extremists.
Those in an auto parts store in Fresno, or at a NASCAR race in southern Ohio, might appear to Europeans as primordials with their guns, "fundamentalist" religion, and flag-waving chauvinism. But it is they, and increasingly their kind alone, who prove the bulwarks of the West. Ultimately what keeps even the pope safe and the continent confident in its vain dialogues with Iranian lunatics is the United States military and the very un-Europeans who fight in it.
T-Word Sighting
Reuters:
An Iranian woman now living in a homeless shelter in Manhattan, was once a leader in a terrorist group based in Iraq trying to overthrow the Tehran government, federal authorities said in court documents on Monday.
A what group? Isn't one man's terrorist another's freedom fighter? Where are the scare quotes?
Oh wait, she was trying to overthrow the Iranian government, not just wantonly murdering civilians. That's very different.
Times to Hastert: Stop Speaking
The Washington Times is urging Speaker Dennis Hastert to step down, on the ground that he mishandled the Mark Foley scandal. "Red flags emerged in late 2005, perhaps even earlier, in suggestive and wholly inappropriate e-mail messages to underage congressional pages," the paper argues:
Rep. John Shimkus of Illinois, the Republican chairman of the House Page Board, said he learned about the Foley e-mail messages "in late 2005." Rep. John Boehner of Ohio, the leader of the Republican majority, said he was informed of the e-mail messages earlier this year. On Friday, Mr. Hastert dissembled, to put it charitably, before conceding that he, too, learned about the e-mail messages sometime earlier this year.
Late yesterday afternoon, Mr. Hastert insisted that he learned of the most flagrant instant-message exchange from 2003 only last Friday, when it was reported by ABC News. This is irrelevant. The original e-mail messages were warning enough that a predator--and, incredibly, the co-chairman of the House Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children--could be prowling the halls of Congress. The matter wasn't pursued aggressively. It was barely pursued at all. Moreover, all available evidence suggests that the Republican leadership did not share anything related to this matter with any Democrat.
The last point seems persuasive to us: At the very least, the Democrat who sits on the House Page Board should have been apprised of the potential problem.
But those original emails, while creepy, were far from incriminating. ABC News quotes two of them:
In one, Foley writes, "did you have fun at your conference. . .what do you want for your birthday coming up. . .what stuff do you like to do."
In another Foley writes, "how are you weathering the hurricane. . .are you safe. . .send me an email pic of you as well. . ."
The recipient of these messages described them, in a note to a congressional staffer, as "sick sick sick sick sick," and it may be that the emails alone do not convey the context--i.e., perhaps the youngster had encountered Foley in person and gotten a weird vibe. (We saw him speak once at a meeting in New York, and we got a bit of a weird vibe.)
But based on the written evidence alone, there is nothing that would lead one to suspect the kind of truly sick sick sick sick sick exchanges Foley was having with other teens, so we'd say the Times is being too harsh on Hastert.
Then again, there have been scandals involving congressional pages before. In 1983, Reps. Dan Crane (R., Ill) and Gerry Studds (D., Mass.) were both found to have had actual sexual relations with pages (Crane with a girl, Studds with a boy). Both were censured by the House; Crane lost his re-election bid in 1984, while Studds was re-elected six times before retiring.
Foley apparently had a reputation among the pages for being overly friendly to male ones. It seems to us that if anything, the House Page Board should have been more vigilant about this. Why not talk to the pages to learn about problem congressmen?
It's Nice When the Supreme Court Sides With You
"Reaction to the Supreme Court's decision to strike down a law prohibiting 'virtual' child pornography was swift and passionate. Representative Mark Foley, a Republican of Florida who is co-chairman of the Congressional Missing and Exploited Children's Caucus, said the Supreme Court had 'sided with pedophiles over children.' "--New York Times, April 17, 2002
Life Imitates SportsPickle.com
"With less than 50 games left on their schedule and a commanding 10-game lead in the American League Central, the Detroit Tigers have to begin the historic collapse that was predestined for them as soon as possible or they're going to disappoint a lot of people."--SportsPickle.com, Aug. 9
"The final day of the regular season was a key one in the American League: The Minnesota Twins overtook Leyland's sagging Detroit Tigers to win the Central title."--Associated Press, Oct. 2
What a Biased Headline
"Clown Running for Mayor of Alameda"--headline, Associated Press, Oct. 3
Are You Sure That's a Good Idea, Senator?
"Boxer Goes Naked to Make Weight for World Title Fight"--headline, Reuters, Oct. 3
Bad News if You Were Hoping for Dividends
"Pepsi Bottling Profit Up"--headline, Reuters, Oct. 3
40 Days for Noah and Shem
"Father, Son Sentenced in Ark. Xmas Eve Barn Burglary"--headline, Associated Press, Sept. 29
Hey Noah, You Missed One
"Ark. Woman Finds Skunk Under House"--headline, Associated Press, Oct. 2
Be Thankful for Small Favors
"Justices Refuse to Ungag Gloria Allred"--headline, CNN.com, Oct. 2
What Would Most Vulnerable Do Without Experts?
"Experts: Protect Most Vulnerable From Flu Pandemic"--headline, JHU Gazette (Johns Hopkins), Oct. 2
What Would Selves Do Without Studies?
"Study Says Students Love Selves"--headline, Red and Black (University of Georgia), Oct. 2
What Would We Do Without Nobels in Medicine?
"Nobel in Medicine: Poor Research Funding Costs Lives"--headline, Agence France-Presse, Oct. 2
What Would We Do Without Vancouver Police?
"Vancouver Police: Man Killed With Toy Gun Made Bad Choice"--headline, KGW-TV Web site (Portland, Ore.), Oct. 3
Bottom Stories of the Day
o "Fairgrounds Not for Sale"--headline, Tribune-Star (Terre Haute, Ind.), Sept. 29
o "Whidbey Island Grandmother Breaks Protest Fast"--headline, Seattle Times, Oct. 2
o "Avril Lavigne Apologizes for Spitting"--headline, Associated Press, Oct. 2
o "Feds Say Students Pose No Threat"--headline, Associated Press, Oct. 3
Dogs of War
Paula Young of Cortlandt, N.Y., made an unusual pitch to adopt some puppies, the Associated Press reports:
Young, director of Mount Vernon's animal shelter, learned last month that four rat terrier pups were about to be euthanized in New York City. So she swooped in, picked them up and brought them to her five-acre spread in Westchester County. Then she called The Journal News and ordered a two-week, three-line ad that says, "Twin Rat Terrorists; 11 months, adorable, full of fun."
You don't often see "terrorist" and "adorable" in the same description, but Young said she was just being honest.
"They can be little terrors," she said of the 8- to 12-pound, white-butterscotch-and-black short-haired terriers named Jack, Jackie, Milo and Dino, who were playing happily on a second-story deck on a recent morning and were perfectly friendly toward a visitor.
Well, as they say in Reuterville, one man's terrier . . . |
