The New York Post reported earlier this week: Gas Prices Spike 15 Cents.
Gasoline prices recorded their biggest two-week jump in 50 years as the nation's epic blackout shut down some refineries and a broken pipeline caused shortages in Arizona.
Today is the 40th anniversary of Martin Luther King's famous "I have a dream" speech. A New York Times article about this past weekend's celebration of the historic March on Washington, at which King gave his speech, noted that...
... the lengthy list of speakers this weekend reflected the diversity of causes ushered in over the last 40 years because of the legal and [sic] victories won in the 1960's. Leaders of groups representing gays and Arab-Americans were prominent on the program today.
Thomas Sowell had more to say about the speakers:
There is nothing new about organizations and movements beginning with idealism and ending up as cynical rackets. Nevertheless, it was painful to listen to speakers who addressed a scattering of people gathered at the Lincoln Memorial for the 40th anniversary of Martin Luther King's "I have a dream" speech.Both the speakers and the small numbers of people gathered to hear them were a sharp contrast with the multitudes who covered the whole area around the Lincoln Memorial 40 years ago, when Dr. King spoke the immortal words that he dreamed of a time when people would no longer be judged by "the color of their skin" but by "the content of their character."
Yet the speakers on the 40th anniversary of that occasion clearly rejected the idea of a color-blind society. These were no longer demands for equal treatment but for special benefits, based on the color of their skin. Speakers like Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson certainly can't afford to be judged by the content of their character.
Tuesday's mass murders in Israel and Iraq prove for the thousandth time that words are useless against bloodthirsty killers. The United States must end all support for a Palestinian state, cease-fires and peace agreements, and instead encourage Israel to destroy all Palestinian terrorists. We are not attempting to negotiate peace with the terrorists in Iraq and should not insist that Israel continue to negotiate peace with the terrorists in Palestine. If we want to prevent the next September 11, we must send a new message to the Arafats, bin Ladens and Husseins of the world--by showing explicit, uncompromising moral support for Israel's right to eliminate all Palestinian terrorists from existence.
Jose Padilla, an American citizen, has been held in a U.S. military prison for more than year. He has been charged with no crime, but is barred from speaking with his family, his court-appointed attorney, the press, or anyone else. His physical condition is unknown to all but his captors....
Last year, Attorney General Ashcroft announced that Mr. Padilla would have fewer rights than his fellow citizens because he is a so-called "enemy combatant"--a term of art with no legal meaning. "Our interest is not in trying him and punishing him," Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld told reporters. "Our interest is in finding out what he knows..."
And that, more or less, is the sum of the government's case--at least, the portion that the world is allowed to know. [These men]... have decided to terminate the rights of a citizen without any kind of hearing or procedure whatsoever. Mr. Padilla has never been given a chance to plead his innocence. And the rest of us, including Mr. Padilla's lawyer, are supposed to meekly acquiesce.
Remember that Mr. Padilla is a U.S. citizen arrested at Chicago O'Hare airport, not a Taliban fighter captured in battle against American troops. He is due all the protections afforded by the Constitution, such as the right to legal counsel, due process, a speedy trial, and the chance to confront his accusers.
Writes Allen Forkum:
The Washington Post recently ran an article by Ceci Connolly (Public Policy Targeting Obesity) about the effort to politicize obesity.
[I]n New York state, Assemblyman Felix Ortiz (D) has proposed six anti-obesity bills, including one that would tax not only fatty foods, but also modern icons of sedentary living -- movie tickets, video games and DVD rentals -- and use the resulting $50 million for nutrition and exercise programs.Next thing you know they'll be wanting to tax naps. There was at least on sensible voice:
"It's something of a free-for-all," said Richard Berman, executive director of the Center for Consumer Freedom, an advocacy group underwritten largely by foodmakers. To counter the trend, conservative leaders and the food industry have developed bills that would insulate restaurants from lawsuits that attempt to hold food purveyors responsible for the negative health effects of obesity."It's an individual responsibility issue," Berman said. "If I'm going to shorten my own life by eating too much or being too sedentary, that may not be much different than shortening my life by riding a motorcycle without a helmet on."
The Onion saw this coming in August 2000: Hershey's Ordered Pay Obese Americans $135 Billion.
"This is a vindication for myself and all chocolate victims," said Beaumont, TX, resident Earl Hoffler, holding a picture of his wife Emily, who in 1998 succumbed to obesity after nearly 40 years of chocoholism.
Charles Krauthammer on Israel's West Bank security fence: The State Department and the fence.
The State Department is proposing that the United States play hardball with Israel -- reducing badly needed loan guarantees -- if it proceeds with the barrier it is erecting between Israeli and Palestinian populations. With this, the State Department joins the latest Palestinian propaganda ploy -- inverting cause and effect, and making the fence the issue, rather than the terrorism that made the fence necessary. [...]"The fence would not even be a factor if it were not for the violence in the last few years," writes former chief U.S. Middle East negotiator Dennis Ross. "Truth be told, those responsible for the fence are Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades." [...]
What is scandalous about the State Department joining this Palestinian propaganda campaign is that State has for months been campaigning to implement its "road map" for peace, published on April 30. It has three phases. We are now in Phase I. In which phase is Israel supposed to stop work on the fence? In none. There is nothing in the road map about the fence.