Sep 11, 2003 | Dollars & Crosses
From Cox and Forkum:
Related Article: Forgotten Heroes of 9/11 by Onkar Ghate
Sep 10, 2003 | Dollars & Crosses
From Cox and Forkum:
AFP reports: US keeps it quiet and dignified for second September 11 anniversary.
As an illustration of how some mindsets have changed in the past year, the New York Daily News on Thursday published an e-mail written by the vice president of the Tishman construction firm, Robert McNally.Responding to a request from New York City officials for a 24-hour moratorium on work around Ground Zero on September 11, McNally replied: "9/11 happened two years ago, it is time to move on."
"Move on"? If he meant we should move forward, as in rebuilding bigger and better at the WTC site rather than turning it into a cemetery pit, then I would agree. But I don't think he meant that. He seems to mean get over 9/11, accept it, don't dwell on it, don't acknowledge the anniversary, don't place any importance on it.
It is exactly in that sense that we should never "move on" from 9/11.
"Moving on" has been part of the problem for decades. We moved on when Hezbollah killed 241 U.S. Marines in Beirut. We moved on when the World Trade Center was bombed the first time, murdering six. We moved on when the Khobar Towers were blown up in Saudi Arabia: 19 dead. We moved on from the U.S. Embassy bombings in Africa, and the USS Cole bombing in Yemen, and the incessant bombings by Palestinian terrorists in Israel.
Had we faced head-on the Islamist threat from the beginning, we wouldn't today be talking about "moving on" from 9/11.
Unfortunately, some seemed to have moved on all too easily.
Sep 6, 2003 | Dollars & Crosses
From Cox and Forkum:Earlier this week, the Bush Administration put forth a U.N. resolution that would grant more authority to the U.N. in Iraq. A key component is to "transform the U.S.-led coalition force into a U.N.-authorized multinational one under a unified command, with an American officer in charge. The force would be required to submit periodic reports to the [U.N. Security] Council." Secretary of State Colin Powell described the effort as "essentially putting the Security Council in the game."
It must be kept in mind the United Nations is composed of an number of dictatorships, one of which -- Syria -- has a seat on the Security Council. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumself stated just yesterday that many of the foreign fighters in Iraq are from Syria.
As opponents of the war in Iraq, France and Germany naturally welcomed America's willingness to submit to U.N. authority but quickly added that the resolution didn't go far enough.
The top U.S. commander in Iraq announced yesterday that the U.S. needs more help in Iraq. But the Bush Administration is making a terrible mistake seeking that help from those who are united against America pursuing its own interests.
Sep 2, 2003 | Dollars & Crosses
From Cox and Forkum:
Last month FoxNews reported: Green Party Happy to 'Spoil' Democratic Presidential Run in 2004.
Some members of the Green Party are reserving much of their anger for Democrats these days, and say they don't care if another third-party run by Ralph Nader wrecks the Democrats' opportunity to replace President Bush in 2004. [...] In the razor-thin election of 2000, Nader received 2.7 percent of the vote, compared to 48.4 percent for Al Gore, and 47.8 percent for George W. Bush, who won the electoral vote and the U.S. Supreme Court ruling deciding his victory. Democrats savaged Nader publicly, blaming him for "stealing" votes away from Gore.
This cartoon is posted with apologies to Benjamin Franklin, who is considered the creator of America's first political cartoon: "Unite or Die". The link depicts a later version of the cartoon, which originally appeared in 1754. According to the book, Drawn & Quartered:
The cartoon is based on a popular superstition that a snake that had been severed would come back to life if the pieces were put together before sunset.
I'm pretty sure this doesn't work with donkeys.
Sep 2, 2003 | Dollars & Crosses
From Cox and Forkum:
Reuters reports: South Korea Says North's No-Talks Stance a Tactic.
North Korea's hostile weekend reaction to last week's six-way talks on its nuclear program was an initial response and probably a negotiating ploy, South Korea said on Monday. [...] It is not yet clear whether Pyongyang has officially reneged on that agreement or is using past tactics that mix bluster and brinkmanship with gradual steps forward. "The North Koreans' post-conference verbal offensive was nothing but a stupid repeat of their habitual negotiating strategy," the Korea Herald said in an editorial.
Sep 1, 2003 | Dollars & Crosses
From Cox and Forkum:
From AFP: Arafat loyalist pledges willingness to fight to the death
Professing his complete loyalty to Yasser Arafat, Mohammed Abu Arraj says he is prepared for a fight Israel to the death despite the veteran Palestinian leader's call to renew a shattered truce."Truce? What truce?" asks Abu Arraj, a local leader of the hardline Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, who spent last week fighting with his men against Israeli tanks in this northern West Bank town. [...]
"Nobody can replace Arafat. He is our historical leader. If he were to be killed, all Palestinian factions would take to the street, even the Islamists," warned Abu Arraj.
He said "nobody" in Jenin supports Abbas and denounced the latter's recent decision to block weapon smuggling tunnels between the Gaza Strip and Egypt as well as moves to prevent militants firing home-made rockets towards Israel.
Aug 29, 2003 | Dollars & Crosses
From Cox and Forkum:
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.
Aug 26, 2003 | Dollars & Crosses
From Cox and Forkum:
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.
Aug 20, 2003 | Dollars & Crosses
From Larry Benson of the Ayn Rand Institute: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.
Aug 19, 2003 | Dollars & Crosses
From Cox and Forkum:
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.
Aug 19, 2003 | Dollars & Crosses
Errol Louis is a local liberal columnist for the New York Sun. Though I recognize we're in a war, I'm sympathetic with his case that the executive has overstepped the limits of its authority in a dangerous way: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.
Aug 18, 2003 | Dollars & Crosses
From Cox and Forkum:
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.
Aug 16, 2003 | Dollars & Crosses
From Cox and Forkum:
Think Palestinian terrorists are using the "ceasefire" to search for a peaceful solution to the conflict? Think again: Militants re-arm under cover of Israel truce.
The head of Islamic Jihad in the Gaza strip has admitted the militant group is using an ongoing truce with the Israeli military to re-arm, heightening fears of an explosion of bloodshed when the ceasefire comes to an end next month. In an exclusive interview with Scotland on Sunday, Mohammed al-Hindi warned that militant Palestinian groups are preparing for confrontations in the wake of Israeli military operations that could even lead to the collapse of the fragile truce ahead of next month's deadline.Al-Hindi said: "It is natural that we strengthen ourselves during hudna [the three-month ceasefire declared by Palestinian groups in June]." The Islamic Jihad leader was responding to Israeli accusations that his group, which has carried out numerous suicide bombings and other attacks, is using the lull in hostilities to gather weapons and re-build its armed wing. And he said that other groups, including Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction and Hamas, should follow Islamic Jihad's example. "It is natural that the Palestinians, Fatah, the Islamic Jihad, Hamas, be ready to defend their people in the coming stages," he added.
Aug 15, 2003 | Dollars & Crosses
From Cox and Forkum:
The change in tactics mentioned at the end of this article is not encouraging:
The top commander in Iraq, Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez, said last Thursday that U.S. troops would start to change their ground tactics in order to avoid alienating the local population. The new strategy would rely mainly on better intelligence and the theory of "cordon and knock" -- when troops seal off a building, knock on a door and ask permission to be let in, rather than just charging in. Sanchez and his senior officers have cautioned the "cordon and knock" technique would be used only when appropriate, stressing the rules of engagement for opening fire have not changed.
The U.S. military "received a stern warning" from Iraq's new Governing Council about recent raids and civilian casualties. The council's first president, Ibrahim Jafari, a member of the Shiite Muslim fundamentalist Dawa party, said, "The blood of our compatriots has huge value in our eyes, especially when soldiers kill innocent people." This article mentions the change in tactics in the context of a "culture clash".
To quell the insurgency, American troops raid homes in broad sweeps, arresting anyone caught in their net. The detained Iraqis -- mostly bystanders in the wrong place at the wrong time -- complain U.S. troops are heavy-handed, apparently unaware they are sowing deep seeds of resentment by humiliating proud tribesmen. Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez [...] said last week he ordered a change of tactics, directing commanders to go after specific targets rather than staging wide sweeps. But Iraqis say what is most distressing is their physical treatment during and after arrest. U.S. troops put their boots on the back of men's heads as they lay face down, forcing their foreheads to the ground. There is no greater humiliation, they say, because Islam forbids putting the forehead on the ground except in prayer.
Notice the absurd double standard. The soldiers are expected to be sensitive to Islamic religious concerns, but Muslims are not expected to be sensitive to soldiers' concerns about being killed. While there's no indication we've changed our arrest procedure, it does appear that we are willing to increase the risk to our troops to avoid offending Iraqis. But if "wide sweeps" and "charging in" tactics are safer for our troops and more effective at finding insurgents, then that is what should be done. Hopefully the first priority is to protect Americans. Meanwhile, FoxNews reports on how some Muslims are treating Americans in Iraq:
Members of three Islamic groups stepped forward on Saturday to claim responsibility for a number of recent guerrilla attacks that have left several U.S. soldiers dead and scores of others injured in Baghdad.
FoxNews reports: Shiites Give GIs 24 Hours to Leave Baghdad Neighborhood.
A Shiite Muslim group demanded [August 14] that U.S. troops withdraw from a Baghdad neighborhood within 24 hours, a day after American forces fired on thousands of protesters in the Shiite enclave and killed at least one person. A statement distributed in Sadr City said American forces "deeply regret" what happened and described it as a mistake. Later, Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, commander of coalition forces in Iraq, said troops try to keep Iraqi culture in mind but must remain aggressive.
Apparently an Islamic banner was blown down from a communications tower by an American helicopter, triggering the Muslim protests.
Sanchez [...] insisted the rotor wash blew down the banner, and said coalition troops try to keep Iraqis' "culture and sensitivities" in mind. "Our intent is not to alienate the Shiite people," he told reporters.
Think the Shiites are worried about alienating American GIs?
Aug 14, 2003 | Dollars & Crosses
Writes Allen Forkum:An AP article titled "China Planning Constitutional Changes" reports that the communist nation is considering a formal acceptance of capitalistic ideas.
"The news reports gave no details of the possible changes. But foreign analysts say they include the communist era's first guarantee of property rights for entrepreneurs who have driven China's two- decade-old economic boom. [...] "It wasn't until 1999 that the constitution was amended to declare private business an 'important component' of the economy, not just a 'complement' to state industry."
