Best of the Web Today - January 27, 2004
By JAMES TARANTO
Judge Helps Experts Help Terrorists
What would terrorists do without experts? They may not need to find out, thanks to a ruling by Judge Audrey Collins, who sits on a federal trial court in California. The Associated Press reports that on Friday Collins "declared unconstitutional a portion of the USA Patriot Act that bars giving expert advice or assistance to groups designated foreign terrorist organizations."
The AP reports that Collins, a Clinton appointee, "said the ban on providing 'expert advice or assistance' is impermissibly vague" because it prohibits giving advice on "lawful, nonviolent activities"--even though the ban applies only to advice whose recipients the U.S. government has designated terror groups.
Here's a question for John Kerry and John Edwards, both of whom are now waging demagogic campaigns against the Patriot Act, despite having voted for it: Do you believe the U.S. Constitution protects the right to give expert advice and assistance to terrorist groups? And if so, do you pledge to appoint judges who share this view?
Kerry: Bush Should Have Deferred to Saddam
Ever since Howard Dean emerged as a force in the Democratic nomination contest, John Kerry has been backpedaling from his October 2002 vote in support of the war that liberated Iraq. The Manchester Union Leader reports on the latest explanation offered by the haughty, French-looking Massachusetts Democrat, who by the way served in Vietnam:
"I voted for the process," Kerry said. "Go to the UN, build a coalition, and go to war as a last resort. George Bush broke his promise and went around us. He set the date for the war, not Saddam Hussein."
Well, on Dec. 7, 1941, and again on Sept. 11, 2001, America's enemies "set the date for war." Wouldn't we have been better off if FDR and President Clinton or Bush had beaten them to the punch, thus averting thousands of American deaths?
Another Fine Mess
If John Kerry follows his upset Iowa victory with a convincing first-place showing in New Hampshire, will he be able to rest on his laurels? The question is prompted by blogress Ana Marie Cox's observation that Kerry bears a striking resemblance to Stan Laurel. Meanwhile, from the Doonesbury archives comes a cartoon Garry Trudeau drew way back when he was still funny, in October 1971. Here's the dialog (ellipsis in original):
Doonesbury: Hey, B.D.! John Kerry of the Vietnam Vets [Against the War] is speaking at the auditorium! Wanna go?
Unidentified man: You better! If you care about this country at all, you better go listen to that John Kerry fellow . . . He speaks with a rare eloquence and astonishing conviction. If you see no one else this year, you must see John Kerry!
B.D.: Who was that?
Doonesbury: John Kerry.
Shut Up and Respect Free Speech or I'll Kick Your Ass
When backers of crackpot felon and perennial Democratic candidate Lyndon LaRouche, heckled Howard Dean at a rally yesterday in Exeter, N.H., Al Franken leapt into action. The New York Post reports the smarmy comedian "body-slammed a demonstrator to the ground":
"I got down low and took his legs out," said Franken afterwards.
Franken said he's not backing Dean but merely wanted to protect the right of people to speak freely. "I would have done it if he was a Dean supporter at a Kerry rally," he said.
"I'm neutral in this race but I'm for freedom of speech, which means people should be able to assemble and speak without being shouted down."
Far be it from us to come to the defense of hecklers, but couldn't they have been escorted from the room in a less violent manner? Would Franken countenance such thuggishness against, say, left-wing hecklers at a Bush rally?
Republicans for Wacko Democrats
The Washington Times' John McCaslin interviews J. Kevin Broughton, who showed up at a recent MeetUp for Howard Dean in Jackson, Miss. What makes this interesting is that Broughton is a Republican. Here he is, describing the conversation at the meeting:
" 'Listen,' I said, 'it'll be a four-man race at most by Super Tuesday. Dean will be one . . . [but] we'll have an incredibly low turnout. We need 25 percent of the black vote, and that will get us the 30 [percent] to 32 percent plurality that will take the delegates.'
"Blank stares," Mr. Broughton recalls. "I'm trying to walk them through the mechanics of winning a primary. 'Look, let's divide up the counties in the middle third of Mississippi. Each of us can contact the Democrat county chairs, and get the voter and donor lists.'
"The retired colonel said, 'Kevin, tell us what it is that has disaffected you with the current administration.'
" 'Not a darn thing,' I said, finally getting through. 'My motivation may be different than yours, but our goal is the same, at least until next summer. Your guy can't be president if he doesn't win the nomination. I want him to get the nomination.' "
Wouldn't you know, Mr. Broughton was crowned chairman of the Dean club.
The New York Times, meanwhile, reports that Al Sharpton is getting help from GOP consultant Roger Stone:
"Frankly," Mr. Stone said in a recent telephone interview, "there has not been a candidate with this much charisma since Ronald Reagan. He is a natural talent. Who else could do the funky chicken on television and get away with it? I don't share his politics. Let's be very clear, if you check the F.E.C. records you will see I am supporting George W. Bush. I am a Reagan Republican."
But the men have found a common agenda in the Democratic primary. They have delighted in skewering Dr. Dean, with Mr. Sharpton generating one of Dr. Dean's lowest moments in a debate when he forced him to admit he had no blacks or Hispanics in his cabinet when he was governor of Vermont.
Does Stone have any connection with the Republicans for Sharpton site?
What Would We Do Without Majorities in Cleveland?
"Survey: Majority in Cleveland Think Kucinich's Chances Are Poor"--headline, WKYC-TV Web site (Cleveland), Jan. 26
Our Friends the State Department
The 9/11 investigation commission has found that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the Osama bin Laden lieutenant captured in Pakistan last month, applied for and was granted a visa to visit the U.S. in July 2001, despite being under indictment for terror-related crimes, Reuters reports:
Mohammed took advantage of a third-party U.S. visa processing system to submit his application and photo in Saudi Arabia, using a false Saudi passport and name, according to the statement, read by commission senior counsel Susan Ginsburg. . . .
Maura Harty, assistant secretary for consular affairs in the State Department, said the U.S. visa application system had improved significantly since Sept. 11, with virtually all visa applicants now getting interviewed by a consular officer.
But in a column for the New York Post, Foggy Bottom critic Joel Mowbray reports that Harty has a "plan to once again loosen rules for Saudi visas":
I've acquired an internal State Department document that one State official calls a "preview of the case State is making in the near future, to re-open the floodgates for Saudis." It's a five-page cable sent in November from the U.S. embassy in Riyadh. Headed "Losses to U.S. Economy from Fewer Saudi Visitors," it makes an impassioned pitch for increasing Saudi travel here.
According to my sources at Consular Affairs, the cable was written in large part to reflect the sentiments of Harty and her deputies--who naturally agreed with what they got.
The document's opening sentence sets the tone: "According to conservative Embassy estimates, the U.S. economy has lost over $2.7 billion since Sept. 11, 2001, as a result of reduced Saudi expenditures on U.S. goods and services." How'd they get that number? " 'Back of the envelope' calculations," the cable admits, along with "anecdotal evidence" from such authoritative sources as "one former Commerce department official" and "one tourism industry representative from the Orlando area."
A Hole Lotta Trouble
"Iraqis have reacted with a mixture of bemusement and annoyance to plans by the US military to fill in the spider hole where Saddam Hussein was captured," reports London's Daily Telegraph:
So far the hole has only been visited by Coalition Provisional Authority officials, journalists and several hundred soldiers who consider a picture of the hole a must-have souvenir.
A military spokesman said: "The site is an area of active combat operations. The last thing we want is people roaming around with cameras." . . .
Ali Hassan Hadi, a shopkeeper on Baghdad's main commercial street, said: "I wish they had buried Saddam in the hole when they found him. Now I think they should just put up a sign saying, 'Here a very evil man hid from his enemies and then gave up without a fight.' "
Mohammed Karim, a spokesman for the Committee for Prisoners and Missing Persons, said: "This place does not belong to the Americans. They must leave it to the Iraqi people to decide how we remember the evil deeds of this man."
It's hard to argue with the Iraqis. Why not leave the hole guarded for now but preserve it as a future site of the Museum of Liberation?
Who's Like Hitler?
While various nut-jobs find thrills and amusement by comparing President Bush to Hitler, one can find genuine echoes of Nazism, albeit rather faint ones, if one looks in the right places. London's Independent reports on a new poll by the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, which surveyed residents of nine European countries--Austria, Belgium, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Spain--about their attitudes toward Jews. Among the findings:
35% said Jews "should stop playing the victim because of the Holocaust and persecution of 50 years ago."
16.1% said it "would be better if the state of Israel did not exist and the Palestinians got their land back."
40% think Jews have a "particular relationship with money."
"In all the countries," notes the Jerusalem Post, "anti-Semitic sentiment was positively correlated with anti-Israel sentiment." And the Independent notes Europeans are as ignorant as they are bigoted: "The people polled were asked four questions about the Middle East conflict. Nearly one-third proved clueless. Only 6.2 per cent gave correct answers."
Meanwhile, OC Weekly of Orange County, Calif., reports that Bill Baker, who formerly headed the neo-Nazi Populist Party, "has resurfaced as a frequent guest speaker at Muslim functions across North America."
Weasel Watch
More unilateralism from the French: President Jacques Chirac is leading the drive to end a European Union arms embargo against Red China, which the EU imposed after Bejing crushed the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989, London's Daily Telegraph reports. "EU foreign ministers meeting in Brussels agreed by 14 to 1 that China's deployment of up to 650 missiles in a war of nerves against Taiwan made it a hazardous moment to lift the arms boycott."
Great Moments in Public Education
Blogress Joanne Jacobs notes a fascinating op-ed piece in the Atlanta Journal Constitution, in which Marquis Harris, a 22-year-old recent college graduate, describes being turned down for a job teaching in a public school. It seems he wasn't stupid enough:
Recently, I interviewed with a school in one of the metro Atlanta counties, only to receive an e-mail from the principal stating, "Though your qualifications are quite impressive, I regret to inform you that we have selected another candidate. It was felt that your demeanor and therefore presence in the classroom would serve as an unrealistic expectation as to what high school students could strive to achieve or become. However, it is highly recommended that you seek employment at the collegiate level; there your intellectual comportment would be greatly appreciated. Good luck."
Isn't Britain an Island?
"A border force uniting the police, Customs and immigration officers is needed to tighten Britain's frontiers, MPs say in a report published today."--Daily Telegraph (London), Jan. 26
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
War Is Peace, Freedom Is Slavery, Freezing Is Warming
"Global Warming Will Plunge Britain Into New Ice Age 'Within Decades' "--headline, Independent (London), Jan. 25
What Would We Do Without Weather Experts?
"Winter Almost Over, Say Weather Experts"--headline, Express News Service (India), Jan. 25
They Don't Call Them Kill-ometers for Nothing
Last month the Space Mountain roller-coaster at Tokyo Disneyland derailed. Now the Oriental Land Co., which owns the amusement park, has issued its report on the cause of the accident. Turns out the culprit is the metric system:
The axle that broke was one of 30 axles received in October 2002. All 30 axles were thinner than the design specification, which resulted in the gap between the axles and their bearings to be greater than the specified width. This abnormal situation occurred due the following:
In September 1995, the design specifications for the size of the axle bearing for Space Mountain vehicles was changed from inches to the metric scale. Accordingly, the axle diameter was also changed, in this case from 44.14 mm to 45.00 mm. However, appropriate action to revise and maintain the design drawings was neglected. Consequently, two different drawings existed within our company after the changes were made and the old drawing showing the 44.14 mm diameter was used to order (in August 2002) the axles that were delivered in October 2002.
Fortunately, there were no deaths or injuries--this time. But there's no guarantee such luck will hold up. Let this be a wake-up call to those countries that still use the metric system: Change now, before it's too late. |
