Buried Treasure
From Cox and Forkum:
We Have a Terrorist Problem Here…
The Saudi Arab News has an editorial titled "The Enemy Within" which declares:We have to face up to the fact that we have a terrorist problem here. Last week's Interior Ministry announcement that 19 Al-Qaeda members, 17 of them Saudis, had planned terrorist attacks in the country and were being hunted was a wake-up call -- particularly to those who steadfastly refuse to accept that individual Saudis or Muslims could ever do anything evil, who still cling to the fantasy that Sept. 11 and all the other attacks laid at the doors of terrorists who happen to be Arab or Muslim were in fact the work of the Israelis or the CIA. For too long we have ignored the truth. We did not want to admit that Saudis were involved in Sept. 11. We can no longer ignore that we have a nest of vipers here, hoping that by doing so they will go away. They will not. They are our problem and we all their targets now... [May 14, 2003]
Of course the piece has the usual ranting against Western Civilization ("there are many aspects of Western society that offend"), but it is a start.
Blair’s Even Handedness
From Cox and Forkum:
NAACP mourns: Hispanics, Blacks ruled responsible for their own behavior
NEW YORK--A federal jury yesterday ruled that 45 gun manufacturers and distributors are not responsible for violence in black and Hispanic neighborhoods.This comes as a blow to the NAACP, which filed the lawsuit against gun manufacturers based on its long-standing belief that all blacks and Hispanics are mindless puppets of "big business" incapable of making their own decisions.The NAACP is now expected to begin looking for some other group of large corporations to blame (outside of Hollywood) for various societal ills.Meanwhile, many blacks and Hispanics are still wondering why the NAACP considers itself qualified to speak on their behalf.Economy woes: Declined demand for Klingon translators
PORTLAND--Multnomah County officials announced today that they are no longer looking to employ Klingon interpreters. "Klingon" was removed from the list of 55 languages that incoming patients at the county mental health office might be expected to speak.First the dot-com crash, and now this. Just what is a warp-core engineer to do?
Ka 'Pla!
Byrd Yapping
From Cox and Forkum:
Related: Democratic Sen. Robert Byrd, Ex-Klansman.
UN vs. Freedom, Once Again
Taiwan, unlike communist China, has been forthright about the infections that have arisen within its borders and eager to notify the international community, as well as to receive assistance. For a period in early April, the WHO was actually refusing to accept SARS numbers from the democratic island nation. The communists insisted that Taiwan could submit numbers to their regime, which would pass them on to the WHO--more than a bit cheeky, coming from the very regime whose secrecy is largely to blame for the virus's spread. When the WHO finally relented and accepted Taiwan's numbers--and sent two doctors to the scene--it did so under the designation, "Taiwan, province of China." ... When Taiwan was admitted to the World Trade Organization, it came in, after much wrangling, as the "Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen, and Matsu." Too many countries are ready to kowtow to Beijing's strong-arming when it comes to any move that might confer international legitimacy on Taiwan's morally legitimate claim to sovereignty.... The nations that have opposed Taiwan are taking sides against a free nation facing down a tyranny. [New York Sun, 5/9/03]
The WHO is a UN agency.
Regulation: It’s Force vs. Mind
Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. named Donald R. Keough and Thomas S. Murphy to its board of directors to comply with proposed corporate governance rules that the billionaire investor has criticized. ... Mr. Buffett has resisted changes to his board--which includes his wife, son, investing partner for the last four decades, and two executives with business ties to the company--and argued outside directors aren't a requirement for good corporate governance, a cause he's led since 1993. By naming two friends, he may not have hanged that view, some governance experts said.
"It's Berkshire's take on independence," said the senior vice president of Institutional Shareholder Services, Patrick McGurn, which advises investors on board decisions. "They may meet the letter of the law, but they don't meet the spirit of the law." [New York Sun, 5/9/03]
That is because the spirit of that law is statist. (Hat Tip: Paul Blair)
Government Waste
I guess I touched a nerve with my letter to the Sun last week, because J.P. Avlon took a few swipes at my position in his column last Thursday:Mayor La Guardia... saw nothing incompatible with showing compassion for ordinary New Yorkers and mercilessly cutting ineffective bureaucrats--eliminating redundancies, and increasing efficiency....One of the cardinal rules of government leadership is that every crisis contains an opportunity. Slashing the ranks of government workers outright during a time of multi-billion dollar surpluses would have provided a perfect example of E.L. Doctrow's edged quip that "The philosophical conservative is someone willing to pay the price of other people's suffering for his principles." [New York Sun, 5/1/03]
This last quip irked me the most, because it catches people by relying on the unfairness of sacrificing some people for others, when in fact it is defending sacrificing some people for others. I wrote a letter, which I figured wouldn't be printed as it was several days late--but I wanted to see if I could take on this kind of pragmatism in a compressed space.
Today the Sun printed my letter but omitted my conclusion (which I put in square brackets below):
J.P. Avlon (5/1) argues that the government can live within its means, if only it cuts waste, fraud and abuse. I've heard this refrain all my life, yet government has only grown bigger. Waste persists for a reason: If we allow the state to rob Peter to pay Paul, we can hardly be surprised when those doing the job turn out to be dishonest.
Suppose waste magically disappeared and the state conferred unearned benefits only on the "truly needy." The savings would soon vanish, for important needs would still be going unmet. There is always another vagrant to be fed or housed, another sick person to be cared for, another school to be built, another disease to be cured.
In no era can the state avoid telling needy people that it will not help them, for no budget can ever be big enough to satisfy all needs. [Thus it is absurd to insist, as Mr. Avlon does, that cutting government in good times is impossible. The challenge is the same in good times as in bad: repudiating the irrational "principle" that some must pay the price for the suffering of others--that a need is an entitlement. Philosophical ideas, not "bad times," are the true cause of budget shortfalls.] [New York Sun, 5/8/03]
The Sun also changed "vagrant" to "person."
When Will Colin Powell Be a Thing of the Past?
US Secretary of State Colin Powell has said that trans-Atlantic divisions over the US-led war on Iraq were a thing of the past and the United Nations would play a vital role in that country's future....Most of Powell's speech went to praising ties between the United States and the EU and within the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation. "We are driven forward by common values," he said, "and when we disagree it is usually over means rather than the ends." [Agence France-Presse, 5/7/03]
Is he saying that because he thinks it's true--in which case he doesn't understand that the fundamental value of America is freedom and that of Europe isn't--or because his wish for diplomatic solutions doesn't allow him to say anything else?
Sure, Iraq Has Nothing to Do With Terrorism
American soldiers from MET Alpha, the "mobile exploitation team" that has been searching for nuclear, biological and chemical weapons in Iraq for the past three months, found maps featuring terrorist strikes against Israel dating to 1991....Team members floated out of the room a perfect mock-up of the Knesset, the Israeli Parliament, as well as mock-ups of downtown Jerusalem and official Israeli buildings in very fine detail. They also collected a satellite picture of Dimona, Israel's nuclear complex....Written in Arabic and dated May 20, 2001, the memo from the Iraqi intelligence station chief in an African country described an offer by a "holy warrior" to sell uranium and other nuclear material. The bid was rejected, the memo states, because of the United Nations "sanctions situation." But the station chief wrote that the source was eager to provide similar help at a more convenient time. [New York Times, 5/7/03]
And then there's this:
With the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq, the flow of millions of dollars that the Iraqi leader sent to support the Palestinian intifada has abruptly ended. [Independent, 5/7/03]
Taranto: "This gives the lie to the claim that Saddam's regime had nothing to do with terrorism--except to those who believe it isn't terrorism if the victims are only Jews. "
The Moral Authority of UN Weapons Inspectors
Scott Ritter, a former United Nations weapons inspector, has compared the invasion of Iraq to Hitler's invasion of Poland. He told the Berliner Zeitung newspaper that 130 Americans had died "for a lie", adding: "I see no difference between the invasion of Iraq and the invasion of Poland in 1939." Both invasions were based on what he said was an artificial argument of self defence. President George W Bush had used the September 11 attacks as Hitler used the 1933 burning of the Reichstag to repress domestic dissidents. [Daily Telegraph, 5/7/03]
Not that Ritter has much credibility anymore, after soliciting an underage girl for sexual acts, and who wouldn't describe what he saw in an Iraqi prison for children "because what I saw was so horrible that it can be used by those who would want to promote war with Iraq, and right now I'm waging peace."
Up a Creek with a Paddle Made By Congress
From Cox and Forkum:
See Capitalism Magazine's spotlight on taxation for some insight. Andrew West's piece "George Bush Misses the Point on Cutting Taxes" written over two years ago is particularly insightful.
Cubans Escape Castro
Reports today's Miami Herald:Nearly three hours after throwing themselves from their rickety boat to stave off the Coast Guard, three Cuban migrants slogged through thigh-high water and into the mangroves off Key Largo [Florida] on Tuesday. The men had been pepper-sprayed after reportedly brandishing oars and weapons -- including a machete -- at approaching Coast Guard officers about two miles offshore. A fourth migrant, too tired to stay afloat, allowed himself to be taken aboard a Coast Guard vessel after jumping overboard. With rescue boats following and officers watching, his companions kept swimming, hoping to make it two miles to freedom. Barefoot and wearing nothing but brief trunks, the trio gingerly picked their way across a bed of coral to the mangrove swamp ringing the affluent enclave of The Ocean Reef Club shortly before 6:30 p.m. As the ocean gave way to shallow puddles, one of the men lifted his arms to the sky, pumping his fists with joy. Under the wet foot/dry foot policy, Cuban migrants who reach shore are generally allowed to stay, while those interdicted at sea are typically sent back. ["Cubans taste freedom upon reaching shore", Miami Herald]
I saw the arrival televised on TV--it was magnificent as you could see the joy on the man's face as he raised his arms up in triumph.
This from an interview with someone the news agency calls a "propagandist for the Stalinist state":
Clientitis and the State Department
The New York Sun today begins its defense of Newt Gingrich's attack on the State Department with a quote:More than ever before, the State Department cannot afford to have "clientitis," a malady characterized by undue deference to the potential reactions of other countries. I have long thought the State Department needs an "America Desk." [Warren Christopher, secretary of state under Clinton, at his January 13, 1993 confirmation hearing, quoted in New York Sun, 5/6/03]Fat lot of good it did him. The Sun goes on to explain, "[T]here are a total of 10,017 full-time foreign service personnel. Against this President Bush--or a Democratic president like the one Mr. Christopher served--has perhaps a few dozen political appointees. Some of those appointments, alas, are used to reward campaign fund-raisers with ambassadorships in sunny climes, instead of on the Washington-based jobs with real policy clout."
The Morality of Nations: German, Russian, Belgian, and N. Korean
German MoralityThe strained relations between Germany and the United States took a turn for the worse yesterday after a senior Berlin diplomat was reported to have told Foreign Ministry colleagues that America was turning into a "police state". [London Times, 5/6/03]Russian Morality
Last month, the Russians were opposed to war on the grounds that there was no proof Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. This month, the Russians are opposed to lifting sanctions on the grounds that there's no proof Iraq doesn't have weapons of mass destruction. [Mark Steyn, Chicago Sun-Times, 5/4/03]Belgian Morality
Will the Belgian government approve the complaint against Tommy Franks for ''genocide''? The petition accuses the general of ''inaction in the face of hospital pillaging,'' which apparently meets the Belgian definition of genocide, unlike the deaths of more than 3 million people, which is the lowball figure for those who've died in the current civil war in the Congo.... [Mark Steyn, Chicago Sun-Times, 5/4/03]North Korean Morality
This from an interview with someone the news agency calls a "propagandist for the Stalinist state":
Kim Myong Chol, who styles himself executive director of the Centre for Korea-American Peace, told Australia's Channel Nine network Sunday: "It's quite obvious North Korea may have minimum 100 nuclear warheads, maximum 300. "They all lock onto American cities." ... He claimed the nuclear technology used to produce the missiles had been tested in Pakistan and the weapons had been made before Pyongyang's non-proliferation agreement.... They did not therefore breach international agreements, he maintained...."If the US attacks North Korea, North Korea will definitely use those nuclear weapons against the US mainland," he replied...."North Korea will use those nuclear weapons against the US mainland if America imposes additional economic sanctions on North Korea." [Agence France-Presse, 5/4/03]
Doubly Guilty
[O]n learning that her father had just died from the stab wound that she had inflicted upon him, a female parricide of my acquaintance exclaimed, "How could he do this to me!" It was as if, in dying, he were... deliberately trying to mess up her life. She seemed to think that her father might not have bled so torrentially had he tried just a little harder not to do so after she stabbed him in the spleen....
It was Aristotle who said that a man who committed a crime because of intoxication was doubly guilty: both of the crime itself and of bringing about his loss of self-control....
By now, Lemrick Nelson--a man caught holding the knife used to stab Rosenbaum, identified by the victim before he died as the attacker, and placed by witnesses in a crowd of young blacks baying "Get the Jew" at the victim before the killing--probably believes that for someone in a state of drunken excitement to stab another person to death is to be just as innocent of murder as someone who stabs no one to death. It wasn't me: it was the beer and the people I was with. Here moral irresponsibility hits bottom. [Theodore Dalrymple, City Journal, 5/2/03]
More Conservative Majoritarianism
The more conservatives open their mouths on the "unfairness" of the judicial filibuster that's going on right now, the less I agree with them. Consider this defense of majoritarianism untrammeled by any conception of rights:The essence of our democratic system of government is beautiful in its simplicity: Majorities must be permitted to govern. As our nation's Founders explained in Federalist No. 22, "the fundamental maxim of republican government ... requires that the sense of the majority should prevail." And as the Supreme Court has unanimously held, our Constitution is premised on the democratic doctrine of majority rule.Filibuster "misuse" presumably means "use of the filibuster to oppose things I favor."
Today, a minority of obstructionist senators are forcing upon the confirmation process a supermajority requirement of 60 votes. They are using the filibuster not simply to ensure adequate debate, but actually to block many of our nation's numerous judicial vacancies from being filled.
The public's historic aversion to abusive filibusters is well grounded. These tactics not only violate democracy and majority rule, but arguably offend the Constitution as well. Indeed, prominent Democrats such as Lloyd Cutler and Sens. Tom Daschle, Joe Lieberman and Tom Harkin have condemned filibuster misuse as unconstitutional. [Sen. John Cornyn, Wall Street Journal, 5/6/03]