by JAMES TARANTO
Thursday, June 20, 2002 2:31 P.M. EDT

Liberals Endorse IQ Tests
Executing a "mentally retarded" murderer is "unconstitutionally cruel," the U.S. Supreme Court ruled this morning. Justice John Paul Stevens wrote the 6-3 decision, which the court's "liberals" and "swing justices" joined.

"In the future," the Associated Press reports, the ruling in Atkins v. Virginia "will mean that people arrested for a killing will not face a potential death sentence if they can show they are retarded, generally defined as having an IQ of 70 or lower." In the present it means that Daryl Atkins, who had 16 prior felony convictions when he murdered Airman Eric Nesbitt by shooting him eight times in the thorax, chest, abdomen, arms and legs, will be spared the death penalty. Atkins has an IQ of 59.

Does this ruling really make sense? Atkins may not be the sharpest knife in the drawer, but does it take a rocket scientist to figure out that murder is wrong? Besides, since when are liberals such enthusiasts for IQ tests? If you have a job opening for a rocket scientist--or a brain surgeon, for that matter--giving applicants an IQ test to select the most intelligent one would probably violate civil rights laws, as interpreted by the Supreme Court. IQ tests, after all, are "racially biased." Oh, and they don't really measure intelligence anyway, only the ability to take tests.

Maybe there's something to be said for showing mercy to mentally deficient criminals. But at the very least, this ruling suggests that a lot of people owe Charles Murray an apology.

The Power of the Cross
American Atheists, a group founded by the late Madalyn Murray O'Hair, "is protesting a proposal to use a large steel cross found in the rubble of the World Trade Center in a memorial to victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks," WorldNetDaily reports. The American Atheist Web site has the background:

The structure is currently mounted on the eastern edge of the destroyed twin high-rise complex on Church St. A construction laborer, 47-year-old Frank Silecchia, discovered the "cross" reportedly while searching for victims two days after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on targets on New York and Washington, DC. The 20-foot structure was standing almost upright.

Silecchia, according to Associated Press, "cried for 20 minutes after his discovery."

"Some people will say it's velocity of physics that put it there," Silecchia told reporters. "To me, it's an act of God."

The funny thing is the cross makes "atheists" cry too. The group's site quotes its president, Ellen Johnson: "Atheists and other people-of-no-faith died in the faith-based twin towers attack. They also worked to clear debris, they donate money, blood, food and other assistance. Thus a sectarian monument is an insult to them, and indeed anyone else who isn't a Christian."

If this "cross"--to borrow the American Atheists' scare quotes--is just a big hunk of metal that doesn't mean anything, why is Johnson in such a snit over it? Plainly she is no atheist. She may not be a Christian, but there's no question that she's a believer in the power of the cross.

The New York Times, meanwhile, profiles a real nonbeliever, Paul Kurtz, who publishes the Skeptical Inquirer. The Times says that according to Kurtz, "there is a need for a scientific analysis of Islam's claims, such as the belief of some Muslims that religious martyrs are greeted by 72 virgins in Paradise." Didn't the Onion already settle this question?

A Religion of Peace
Those three Saudis arrested by Morocco "argued over whether it would be noble to blow up a cafe even if it meant taking Muslim lives, according to a Moroccan government report," the Washington Post reports:

The suspects--Zuher Hilal Mohamed Tbaiti, Hilal Jaber Alassiri and Abdallah M'Sefer Ali Ghamdi--also discussed blowing up a cafe in central Marrakech and plotted a suicide attack against the national bus company, according to the report, which was issued by the Justice Ministry.

Tbaiti and Alassiri squabbled over targets to attack, it said. Alassiri rejected the idea of blowing up the cafe because Muslims would be killed. Tbaiti believed such losses were "justified by the nobleness of the operation."

That's some religion this Tbaiti fellow has, in which the highest earthly aspiration is to be expendable.

Our Friends the Saudis
"Saudi Arabia will not allow outside investigators"--meaning Americans--"to question al-Qaida suspects who tried to shoot down a U.S. military plane," the Associated Press reports, citing the Saudi government newspaper Okaz. The paper "said access to the 11 Saudis, an Iraqi and a Sudanese will be limited to Saudi authorities because 'the crimes that they committed or planned to carry out occurred or were going to take place on Saudi territories.' " Never mind that the targets were Americans who've been defending those Saudi territories for the past decade.

No Review?
In a brief to the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, the Justice Department is arguing that the designation of a U.S. citizen as an "enemy combatant" should not be subject to judicial review. The case involves Yasser Esam Hamdi, the Louisiana-born Saudi-American who was captured in Afghanistan and taken to Guantanamo Bay before officials discovered that he was a U.S. citizen.

It's established U.S. and international law that the government has the power to declare a citizen an enemy combatant and hold him for the duration of the war. But the Justice Department's position here goes too far. Without judicial review, it would be too easy for an administration to abuse this power.

On the other hand, civil libertarians should take note of two points: First, there's no reason to think the current administration has abused this power. Second, the administration's position on judicial review is itself undergoing judicial review. Civil liberties are alive and healthy in post-Sept. 11 America.

Another Jerusalem Massacre
Yasser Arafat's al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades have confessed to last night's suicide-murder of seven Israelis, the Jerusalem Post reports. The six identified victims range in age from five-year-old Gal Eizenman to her 60-year-old grandmother, Noa Alon. The Associated Press has a profile of the Gal Eizenman.

The Israeli group IMRA reports that 55 "prominent Palestinians" have signed a statement urging an end to suicide attacks. Well, sort of. The statement apparently doesn't express any moral objection to massacring Jews, arguing instead that it's a self-defeating tactic because it tends to "increase the number of countries supporting the Israeli occupation against the Palestinian people." The statement also limits its objection to attacks within the "green line"--that is, Israel's boundaries before the 1967 Six Day War. As IMRA notes, that leaves out yesterday's and Tuesday's massacres, which occurred in parts of Jerusalem that were under Jordanian occupation before 1967.

Ha'aretz reports Yasser Arafat was to have issued a similar "condemnation" but canceled it, "citing technical reasons."

Arafat won a Nobel Peace Prize in 1994.

No 'Peace Plan' for Now
Two mass murders in as many days was too much for the White House, which has now delayed indefinitely President Bush's announcement of a plan for a Palestinian state. Press secretary Ari Fleischer tells reporters: "I think in the immediate aftermath of these attacks, it's obvious that the immediate aftermath is not the right time. The President knows what he wants to say; the President will share it when the President believes the time is right to share it so it can do the most good."

Ha'aretz reports that "Bush intends to propose the establishment of a Palestinians state with temporary boundaries as early as September." Perhaps Palestinian independence could be declared on Sept. 11, a day Palestinians have already been known to celebrate.

In any case, it's clear that the right time to propose Middle East peace is not now, or next week, or probably even in September. It's after we've installed a sensible regime in Iraq.

Terrorists Get Allowance Back
"European Union lawmakers agreed Wednesday to unblock 18.7 million euros ($17.7 million) in aid to the Palestinians that was held up over charges that some money was going to fund terrorism, but demanded 'full transparency' in how it is spent," the Associated Press reports. The Jerusalem Post reports that the EU's Middle East envoy, Miguel Moratinos, denies the EU-niks' money is going to fund terror. But isn't money fungible?

Moratinos also compared Israel "settlements"--that is, Jewish towns in territories formerly under Arab occupation--are a "cancer" that must be "operated on." Given the horrific history of Europe's Jews in the 20th century, EU leaders ought to be careful about likening Jews to a disease.

Moratinos is more forgiving of the Arabs: "We can't ask the Palestinians to be Switzerland," he says, adding that the Palestinian Authority really isn't so bad compared with other Arab governments. "For instance, he said, Palestinians often ask him if the PA needs to be accountable, like Jordan, or concerned with human rights, like Egypt and Saudi Arabia." A fair point, but one that argues for holding all Arab governments to the same standards as Israel, rather than forgiving the evils of the Palestinians.

Computer Problems
In response to our item about the disappearance (and subsequent reappearance) of a Minneapolis Star Tribune ombudsman column from the paper's online archives, we received this explanation from the Star Tribune's Ben Welter:

An automated process automatically directs hundreds of Star Tribune articles each day to various locations on startribune.com, depending on the information in an article's header fields in Atex (the newspaper's 20-year-old computer system). A startribune.com editor indeed did post the "missing" Gelfand column on our Opinion page, on Saturday, May 11. It has remained available via that page (and via a sitewide search) since that day, at this URL.

Unfortunately, the column's header information was incomplete in Atex (the word "Gelfand" was not included in the headline field). As a result, the file was not automatically routed to Lou Gelfand's page. No one noticed that oversight until now. . . . The file is now available in that location as well, and will be there for another two years.

The One That Got Away
Toxic sludge is good for fish, according to an Environmental Protection Agency report. But that doesn't mean you should start using it in your home aquarium. The EPA's claim, according to the Washington Times, is that "the Army Corps of Engineers' dumping of toxic sludge into the Potomac River protects fish by forcing them to flee the polluted area and escape fishermen."

The Glass Is Half Empty
There's a famous joke about a New York Times headline: "World to End Friday; Women, Minorities Hardest Hit." Today's Times has an actual article in a similar vein: "Gay Stores Feel the Pinch of Customers' Liberation." It seems that "gay and lesbian issues are now so openly discussed in the mainstream media that it's almost as if gay literature were no longer niche publishing." Result: Gay bookstores are going out of business.

Dispatch From the Porn Belt
In Palmdale, Calif. (Los Angeles County, Gore by 31.12%), parents are up in arms because Mesquite Elementary School gave their third- and fourth-grade children "a controversial survey that asked questions of a sexual nature," the Los Angeles Daily News reports. "The survey had asked youngsters if they thought about having sex, if they thought about 'touching other people's private parts' and if they didn't trust people because they might want sex."

The Long and Short of It
"Long Sentences for Blake Murder" reads the BBC headline on an article that begins:

A judge in northern Brazil has sentenced six men to over 20 years in prison each for the killing of New Zealand yachtsman Sir Peter Blake.

If 20 years is the Beeb's idea of a "long sentence" for murder, it's no wonder Britain has become so crime-ridden.

You Don't Say--I
"Big Accounting Firm's Tax Plans Help the Wealthy Conceal Income"--headline, New York Times.

You Don't Say--II
"Report: More Than Ever, Traffic Jams Waste Time"--headline, CNN.com.

Speedy's Trials
Speedy Gonzales is back. "The hyperactive cartoon mouse, who had been barred from the air by the Cartoon Network because it considered him an offensive Mexican stereotype, is roaming the airwaves once again," Fox News reports. We noted the ban in March.

Maybe You'd Better Drive
It was the perfect crime--well, except one thing. The Charleston (W.Va.) Daily Mail reports: "Brian Corbett, 26, left his driver's license inside a bag that contained $250 of cocaine Tuesday, Sgt. J.J. Lester said. Corbett left the cocaine and his identification inside a truck that belonged to a taxi-service company he worked for."

Who Wants to Be a Plaintiff?
Folks who didn't make the cut on ABC's quiz show "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" are trying to cash in in court, the Associated Press reports. "Disability rights advocates sued the network and the show's producer for using a telephone system that excludes hearing-impaired people and those who can't operate touch-tone phones." The trial judge dismissed the claim, but the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has now reinstated it.

Here's another possible cause of action: Isn't the show unconstitutionally cruel because it disfavors would-be contestants who have low IQs?

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Today on OpinionJournal:

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