Best of the Web
BY JAMES TARANTO
Tuesday, December 28, 2004 3:30 p.m.
Roe, Roe, Roe Your Boat
"Democratic leaders say their party needs to de-emphasize the issue of abortion rights, concerned that Republicans have hurt the Democratic Party by portraying it as an uncompromising champion of abortion," the New York Times reported on Christmas Eve. Donna Brazile, who was Al Gore's campaign manager in 2000, contributes an especially pungent quote: "Even I have trouble explaining to my family that we are not about killing babies."
The real news, though, is buried in the article:
Some Democrats said that the changing environment might make Congressional Democrats less likely to go full force in trying to block any Supreme Court appointment solely on the basis of abortion if the nomination did not change the current 5-4 balance on the court.
[Democratic consultant Howard] Wolfson said that if Mr. Bush tried to replace a justice who supports Roe v. Wade with one who opposes it, than an all-out battle would begin. But he and other Democrats said that would not necessarily be the case if the president sought to replace one justice who opposes Roe v. Wade with another.
The current balance is actually 6-3, not 5-4; the Times seems to have forgotten that Ruth Ginsburg replaced Roe dissenter Byron White in 1993. But in any case, it looks as though smart Democrats are hoping to avoid a Supreme Court confirmation battle and are using the Times to send a message to the abortion lobby: We're not willing to get daschled just so you can run up the score the next time the court upholds Roe.
It's not as though the Democrats have many options. They can't vote down a nominee unless six Republicans join them. They may or may not be able to filibuster, depending on whether the Republicans change the rules, but even if they can, that is an unattractive prospect. The use of filibusters to block appeals court nominees was a key reason Tom Daschle was defeated, and a Supreme Court filibuster would get much more attention.
Assuming that Chief Justice William Rehnquist is the next member of the court to retire, the Democrats now have an excuse for avoiding a costly, and almost certainly losing, battle. If they're lucky, the next vacancy after that won't come until after the 2006 election, relieving red-state incumbents whose terms are up that year from having to choose between their party and their state. If they're really lucky, they'll pick up enough Senate seats in 2006 to make defeating a nominee a possibility. A three-seat gain would do it, assuming that Republicans Lincoln Chafee, Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins could be persuaded to oppose an anti-Roe nominee. (The Senate cycle is not favorable to Democrats, since they had a good year in 2000, but it could happen.)
Since it looks as though President Bush is going to get a free pass on his first Supreme Court pick, how can he make the most of the political opportunity? First, by elevating Clarence Thomas to chief justice. Thomas vexes many Democrats because they are racially prejudiced, and it's quite possible they would not be able to resist the urge to mount a (futile) campaign against him. Then Donna Brazile can explain to her family that Democrats are about keeping black people down as well as killing babies.
Bush would doubtless like to appoint the first Hispanic justice, but it would make political sense to wait until one of the pro-Roe justices retires. In case the Dems live up to the pledge of "all-out battle," Bush might as well make them decide between Hispanics and abortion advocates.
Where Do Babies Come From?
You probably heard about this horrific story that broke just as we were leaving on vacation: A woman was charged with murdering another woman in Missouri. The victim was eight months pregnant, and the suspect, who wanted a baby, allegedly cut the victim's womb open and took the . . . well, what did she take exactly?
A Dec. 17 Associated Press headline read, "Search On for Fetus Cut From Mother's Womb." But the first sentence of the story reads: "Police were trying to find an infant they believe could still be alive after being cut from the womb of its mother." So was this a fetus or an infant? The young entity eventually was found alive, and a Dec. 19 CNN.com headline seems to answer the question definitively: "Dad United With Kidnapped Girl."
How did a fetus turn into a girl? The New York Post consults an expert:
The little girl, prematurely ripped from her mother's womb, survived because of "divine intervention," a leading obstetrician said yesterday, calling the survival of the 8-month-old fetus a "miracle."
"Certainly this is one of these miracles where God protects a child no matter what happens," said Dr. Manuel Alvarez, chairman of obstetrics and gynecology at Hackensack University Medical Center in Hackensack, N.J.
It is possible, though, that this can be explained without recourse to the supernatural. What if the pro-lifers are right, and a fetus is just a child who hasn't been born yet?
'Homeless' Humbug
Hey, did you know that last week was "National Homeless Persons' Memorial Day"? The Associated Press reported Wednesday from Honolulu:
For the first time, Honolulu joined cities across the country Tuesday in remembering the thousands who died homeless in 2004. A record 125 cities--25 more than last year--are holding events this week to observe National Homeless Persons' Memorial Day.
"The memorial day is a way to make sure no one's life goes unnoticed," said Michael Stoops of the Washington-based National Coalition of Homeless.
The homeless coalition estimates there are more than 3.5 million homeless Americans nationwide. An estimated 3,000 died last year, and the homeless coalition expects that figure to rise this year. The No. 1 cause of death was natural causes, followed by homicide, suicide and hypothermia, Stoops said.
Presumably the hypothermia cases weren't concentrated in Honolulu. In any case, let's look at those numbers:
The coalition claims that 3,000 out of 3.5 million homeless people died last year. That's a death rate of 0.86 per thousand. According to the CIA World Factbook, the overall annual death rate for Americans is 8.34 per thousand. That means that if the coalition's numbers are on the level, the average American is 9.7 times as likely to die in a given year as the average homeless person--this notwithstanding the sky-high rates of substance abuse and severe mental illness among the "homeless."
Is the secret of long life to live in a cardboard box? Or are the Coalition of Homeless's numbers simply bogus?
Homelessness Rediscovery Imitates the Onion
"If George W. Bush becomes president, the armies of the homeless, hundreds of thousands strong, will once again be used to illustrate the opposition's arguments about welfare, the economy, and taxation."--Mark Helprin, Oct. 31, 2000
"A bipartisan Congressional initiative passed Monday promises that relief, in the form of a national, 12-cent bottle-and-can refund, will soon come to the nation's estimated 600,000 homeless."--the Onion, Dec. 15, 2004
"For some of the estimated 36,900 homeless people in New York City, empty cans and bottles are better than no cans and bottles at all. . . . Advocates for the homeless complain that New York enforces "quality-of-life" laws 'selectively,' punishing the poor and homeless for activities, like gathering empty cans, that others are allowed to do."--Village Voice, Dec. 17, 2004
Life Imitates Art?
From a Washington Post editorial on Asia's deadly earthquakes and tidal waves:
The shaky video and fragmentary breathless descriptions are like something from a disaster movie: giant waves appearing without warning, houses and trees swept away, tall hotels toppled.
"Like something from a disaster movie." One wonders if, in the days before moving pictures, editorialists had any words at all to describe natural disasters.
The New York Times, meanwhile, is flummoxed by the math of the disaster:
At least a third of the dead were children, according to estimates by aid officials. . . . The realization began to emerge Tuesday that the dead included an exceptionally high number of children who, aid officials suggested, were least able to grab onto trees or boats when the deadly waves smashed through villages and over beaches. Children make up at least half the population of Asia.
If children make up half the population, then one-third of the dead is an exceptionally small number.
Reuters 'Reports' the News
"Yushchenko 'Wins' Ukraine Election"--headline, Reuters, Dec. 26
Killers Against Death
"Assailants claiming to be members of a revolutionary group opposed to the death penalty ambushed a bus filled with people bringing home Christmas gifts and killed at least 28 people, including six children, in an escalation of the battle between gangs and Honduras' government," the Associated Press reports from Tegucigalpa.
Apparently they oppose the death penalty only for the guilty.
Homer Nods
Kerri Frances Dunn, the ex-professor who vandalized her own car, taught at Claremont McKenna College, not the University of Redlands as we said in an item Dec. 17 (since corrected). Dunn is, however, a resident of Redlands.
Zero-Tolerance Watch
Blogger Jim Peacock reports that Chloe Smith, the Mustang, Okla., girl who was suspended and threatened with expulsion for having a prescription drug in her purse instead of turning it over to the school nurse, has had the penalty reduced to five days. "They do need to take steps to keep prescription drugs under control at schools and a 5 day suspension is reasonable, especially when compared with a year long one," writes Peacock. We noted the case Dec. 17.
New Suspects in Arafat 'Poisoning'
The Palestine Media Center reports that Yasser Arafat's cabinet secretary, in an interview with a London newspaper, is pointing the finger at some non-Israelis in Arafat's purported poisoning (ellipsis in original):
"Something strange happened to Arafat around a year ago. It was on September 25, 2003 . . .," Ahmad Abdul Rahman told Al-Hayat.
"The president shook hands with around 30 people before leaving to vomit. It was from that moment that the president's health started slowly deteriorating," he explained Monday.
"Arafat shook hands with people, who had come to express solidarity with him in his confinement. They were a mixture of Palestinians, foreigners and Israelis," Abdul Rahman recalled.
On September 25, Arafat received a visit from a group of cyclists from around the world on a peace mission as well as from a group of activists accompanying the parents of a US peace activist who had died six months earlier crushed by an Israeli military bulldozer in the southern Gaza Strip.
" 'Could it be that they got to me?' " Arafat asked himself, Abdul Rahman recalled. He also said: "Is it possible that 10 doctors can't find out what I'm suffering from?"
As blogger Charles Johnson notes, the "peace activist" was terror advocate Rachel Corrie, who died in a bulldozer accident while trying to protect weapons-smuggling tunnels. The notion that Corrie's parents poisoned Arafat seems far-fetched, but what about the cyclists? After all, we do keep hearing about the "cycle of violence."
Arafat is in stable condition after dying at a Paris hospital.
Bowling for Palestine
"Bowling Alley Company to Return Arafat Investment"--headline, Associated Press, Dec. 23
Sontag Dies
"Susan Sontag, the author, activist and self-defined "zealot of seriousness" whose voracious mind and provocative prose made her a leading intellectual of the past half century, died Tuesday," the Associated Press reports.
In recent years, Sontag was notorious for an anti-American screed she contributed to The New Yorker (seventh screed) just after the Sept. 11 attack. Here's a sample:
Where is the acknowledgment that this was not a "cowardly" attack on "civilization" or "liberty" or "humanity" or "the free world" but an attack on the world's self-proclaimed superpower, undertaken as a consequence of specific American alliances and actions? How many citizens are aware of the ongoing American bombing of Iraq? And if the word "cowardly" is to be used, it might be more aptly applied to those who kill from beyond the range of retaliation, high in the sky, than to those willing to die themselves in order to kill others. In the matter of courage (a morally neutral virtue): whatever may be said of the perpetrators of Tuesday's slaughter, they were not cowards.
Many observers were offended by this, and we must say we find the notion that stabbing unarmed stewardesses is an act of bravery to be rather curious. But on rereading this brief essay, what most struck us was that Sontag actually saw a connection between Iraq and Sept. 11, something her fellow travelers on the left have been at pains to deny.
Talk About Taking Football Seriously!
"[Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver] Terrell Owens' right leg is bent backward after he is brought down by Cowboys safety Roy Williams (left) in the third quarter Sunday."--photo caption, Philadelphia Daily News, Dec. 21
"Gov. Rendell yesterday signed a warrant for execution by lethal injection of Roy L. Williams."--Philadelphia Daily News, Dec. 21
Other Than That, the Story Was Accurate
From the New York Times' Dec. 24 corrections column (fourth item):
Because of an editing error, a front-page article yesterday about new rules for managing the national forests referred incorrectly in some copies to a representative of Earthjustice who criticized the plan. The representative is a man, Martin Hayden. The article also misstated his title and, because of another editing error, described Earthjustice incorrectly. Mr. Hayden is the organization's legislative director but is not a lawyer. Earthjustice is an environmental law firm, not affiliated with the Sierra Club.
Preparation for Peace
From the New York Post's Cindy Adams's roundup of famous people's favorite Christmas presents:
In his book Jimmy Carter tells of suffering from hemorrhoids when he visited Egypt. Anwar Sadat had people pray for Carter. He writes: "The day after Christmas all discomfort went away. I've never received a better Christmas gift."
Apparently Lillian neglected to teach her son that when someone asks "How are you?" the proper response is "Fine, thank you."
I Smell a Rat, Which Smells a Lemon
"A key ingredient in the aroma from citrus fruits such as oranges and lemons appears to protect rats from the symptoms of asthma, new research shows," Reuters reports:
To investigate whether limonene could protect lungs from asthma, Keinan and his team induced the symptoms of asthma in rats, them let them smell limonene or eucalyptol, the key ingredient in the odor of eucalyptus, which does not react with ozone.
The researchers checked the rats for asthma symptoms repeatedly over a period of 20 hours to five days. They found that only rats exposed to limonene "didn't show any symptoms of the disease," Keinan said.
Wow, this is brilliant. All they have to do now is genetically engineer an asthmatic rat with prehensile hands and opposable thumbs, and it will be able to relieve its symptoms by operating a limonene inhaler.
Seriously, does it ever strike you that scientists have a tendency to complicate things needlessly? There's a much simpler solution to the problem of murine asthma. One of the major causes of asthma, after all, is cockroaches. If you have an asthmatic-rat problem, why not just call an exterminator to get rid of your roaches? That ought to put a stop to the wheezing that's keeping you awake. |
