From the WSJ Opinion Archives
A
New Home
If you're among the readers who've written us to convey your disappointment
about "The Journal Editorial Report" leaving PBS, a Fox News Channel
press release brings some good news:
The Journal Editorial Report, a production of The Wall Street Journal, will move to Fox News Channel (FNC) beginning in January, announced Bill Shine, senior vice president of programming, Fox News. . . .
The Journal Editorial Report was launched in September 2004 on the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). Hosted by Wall Street Journal Editorial Page Editor Paul A. Gigot, the weekly half-hour program features members of the Journal editorial page staff, as well as other experts debating the major economic, political and cultural issues of the day. The program will make its final appearance on PBS on Friday, Dec. 2.
A press release from Dow Jones & Co., publisher of the Journal and this Web site, tells of another new initiative:
The Wall Street Journal [yesterday] announced plans for an annual lecture and fellowship program to honor the contributions and memory of former Editorial Page Editor, Robert L. Bartley. Mr. Bartley, whose career at the Journal spanned nearly 40 years--including fully three decades as editorial page editor and editor [of the Journal]--died in December 2003.
Starting in 2006, the Journal will inaugurate the Robert L. Bartley Lecture, to be delivered annually by someone whose work and ideas comport with Mr. Bartley's philosophy of "free people, free markets." . . .
Also beginning in 2006, the Journal will inaugurate the Robert L. Bartley Fellowship Program under the stewardship of The Wall Street Journal editorial page. The fellowships, consisting of paid internships of up to six months, will be provided to young thinkers and writers whose views are broadly consistent with Mr. Bartley's philosophy and who aspire to careers in journalism. As many as four such fellows will be selected each year through an application process that will be judged by senior members of the Journal's editorial board. Fellows will work as writers and editors on the editorial page in the U.S., Europe or Asia, as well as at the Far Eastern Economic Review. The fellowships will help to perpetuate not only Mr. Bartley's memory, but also the principles and priorities to which he devoted his distinguished career.
'Truth Speaking to Power'
This morning brought an e-mail bearing the name of Gary Hart, the Democratic
former senator from Colorado who might have become president had he not been
an adulterer before adultery was cool. The message actually came from the "campaign"
of John Kerry*, the haughty, French-looking Massachusetts
Democrat who might have become president--nah, let's face it, he was never going
to become president.
Anyway, here is what Hart had to say about Kerry:
When I first read John Kerry's October speech on Iraq, I knew it was a turning point. He spoke with the same unwavering voice--truth speaking to power--as he did when I first heard him speak out about the war in Vietnam in 1971.
In other words, by the Kerry campaign's own admission, the current effort to undermine the U.S. position in Iraq is of a piece with Kerry's 1971 slanders against Vietnam veterans and disparagement of Vietnamese aspirations for democracy.
The Dems' 2008 front-runner is trying to play both sides, the Associated Press reports:
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton on Tuesday defended her vote to authorize war in Iraq amid growing unease among liberal Democrats who could determine the potential 2008 presidential candidate's future.
"I take responsibility for my vote, and I, along with a majority of Americans, expect the president and his administration to take responsibility for the false assurances, faulty evidence and mismanagement of the war," the New York senator said in a lengthy letter to thousands of people who have written her about the war.
At the same time, she said the United States must "finish what it started" in Iraq.
Blogger John Hinderaker makes an excellent point:
No doubt Clinton's approach, which recalls her husband's policy of triangulation, will be hailed as another shrewd move by the mistress of calculation. But I wonder. There is a certain sourness in the position Clinton has staked out: the war was a mistake which I voted to authorize only because I didn't know the facts; ever since, it has been bungled horribly; nevertheless, we have no choice but to see the mistake through to the bitter end. It smacks, somehow, of the purse-lipped, take-your-medicine feminist First Lady of the early days of Bill Clinton's presidency.
It strikes me that Hillary's cod-liver-oil approach to Iraq could well lose to a more emotionally satisfying, back to the '60s antiwar campaign in the Democratic primaries, or, in the general election, to a proponent of President Bush's idealistic vision of the Iraq war as a key element in the nation's long-term strategy for defeating Islamic terrorism.
Meanwhile, Reuters reports from Paris that "French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, one of the sharpest critics of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, warned Washington on Tuesday against pulling out troops without regard to regional security":
Villepin, interviewed in Paris by CNN, said a badly planned withdrawal could cause chaos in Iraq, "which of course would be disastrous for the whole region."
So the cut-and-run crowd is calling for unilateral American surrender!
* To be precise, the e-mail's return address was info@johnkerry.com and the bottom of the message contained the snail-mail address "Friends of John Kerry, Inc., 511 C St. NE, Washington DC, 20002, U.S.A."
'It
Is Unclear Whether the Anonymous Quotes Are Authentic'
"As part of an information offensive in Iraq, the U.S. military is secretly
paying Iraqi newspapers to publish stories written by American troops in an
effort to burnish the image of the U.S. mission in Iraq," claims a story
in the Los Angeles Times. Get a load of this:
According to several sources, the process for placing the stories begins when soldiers write "storyboards" of events in Iraq, such as a joint U.S.-Iraqi raid on a suspected insurgent hide-out, or a suicide bomb that killed Iraqi civilians.
The storyboards, several of which were obtained by The Times, read more like press releases than news stories. They often contain anonymous quotes from U.S. military officials; it is unclear whether the quotes are authentic.
"Absolute truth was not an essential element of these stories," said the senior military official who spent this year in Iraq.
What exactly is the difference between what the Times claims the military is doing and what the Times is doing right here? Oh yeah, the military's supposed propaganda is designed to aid our side.
The
MoveOn CoverUp
Yesterday we
noted that a new MoveOn.org ad features a narrator declaring, "A hundred
and fifty thousand American men and women are stuck in Iraq," as it shows
a photo of British soldiers. Many of our readers pointed out that in
addition to this misrepresentation, MoveOn has altered the scene in a still
shot it shows on its Web site. Here's the scene from the ad, which we showed
yesterday:
Here's a copy of the still, enlarged by blogger Kevin Aylward:
See the difference? The man in the foreground, who has shorts in the video, appears to have donned cammies. In fact, if we're not mistaken, he is actually wearing the same pants--that is, the exact same pair--as the man behind him to the viewer's right. We're not even sure what the point of this deception could be. Perhaps MoveOn's dishonesty is simply pathological.
Terrorists
Are Such Ingrates!
Reuters reports on the latest hostage-taking in Iraq:
Four Western hostages labeled "spies of the occupation" were shown in a video aired on Tuesday. . . . The four aid workers--two Canadians, a Briton and an American--were shown in the tape broadcast by Al Jazeera television three days after they were snatched in west Baghdad.
The grainy video from a previously unknown group calling itself the "Swords of Truth" brigades showed four men sitting cross-legged on the ground. It appeared to carry Sunday's date stamp and had crossed swords in the top right-hand corner.
The organization accused the men of being "spies working for the occupying forces" under the guise of working for a Christian group. Al Jazeera did not say if the tape included a threat against the men's lives.
The four men work for Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT), one of the few remaining aid groups operating in Iraq.
Reuters, recall, is the "news" organization that refuses to call 9/11 an act of terrorism because that would be prejudicial to the terrorists' point of view. But it states flatly that CPT is an "aid group" and its people are "aid workers."
In fact, CPT's own Web site makes clear that it is no "aid group" but an anti-American outfit. Here's how it describes its "violence reduction project" in Iraq:
A Baghdad-based presence since October 2002. Team members accompanied the Iraqi people through the U.S.-led 2003 war and continue during the post-war occupation to expose abusive acts by U.S. Armed Forces and support Iraqis committed to nonviolent resistance.
DiscoverTheNetworks.org has more background. CPT's homepage carries an announcement explaining that the hostage taking is not the fault of the hostage takers:
We are angry because what has happened to our teammates is the result of the actions of the U.S. and U.K. governments due to the illegal attack on Iraq and the continuing occupation and oppression of its people.
CPT is also active in "Palestine," where "team members stand with Palestinians and Israeli peace groups engaged in nonviolent opposition to Israeli military occupation, collective punishment, settler harassment, home demolitions and land confiscation" but apparently are not opposed to Palestinian Arab terrorism.
As loathsome as these people are, we hope they survive. Maybe they'll even learn the lesson that the terrorists aren't their friends even though they are enemies of America.
Book-Signing
Bias?
The other day an author held a book signing. Not many people showed up, but
there were some news photographers on hand, who took some shots showing the
author looking forlorn over the absence of people. The author cried foul, saying
that the signing actually was a big success and the media were biased against
her.
OK, who cares? Well, Editor & Publisher, the newspaper trade magazine, does. It published a 500-word story on this nonstory yesterday. Why? Because the complaining author is Cindy Sheehan.
Of course, there is no such person as Cindy Sheehan. There is only "Cindy Sheehan," the media-created symbol of anti-Iraq propaganda. The AP and Reuters photographers who shot the solitary Sheehan have apparently grown weary of the Sheehanoid show. E&P, on the other hand, wants to keep the story alive, so it is airing this "controversy."
Presumed
Guilty
Today's New York Times carries this amusing correction (second item): "A
headline yesterday about the comments of Saddam Hussein overheard during recesses
at his war-crimes trial in Baghdad misstated Mr. Hussein's status in Iraq's
criminal justice system. While he is an incarcerated defendant, he is not a
convict."
It's
Surprising This Hasn't Gotten More Coverage
"Cheney to Step Down"--headline, Forum (Fargo, N.D.), Nov. 30
Little
Girls Get Bigger Every Day
When does a girl become a woman? Not when she turns 18 or 21, according to the
New York Times, but rather when she has an abortion. From an editorial today:
The Supreme Court has ruled that states can require that doctors notify a pregnant teenager's parent before performing an abortion. But the court has also made it clear, beginning with its 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, that any restrictions on abortion rights must contain exceptions to protect a woman's health and life. . . .
Neither the trial judge nor the reviewing appellate court had any trouble dismissing the claim by New Hampshire's attorney general, Kelly Ayotte, that the state had covered the problem of the health exception by giving a pregnant minor the option of seeking permission for an abortion from a judge. Neither should the justices. In an emergency, as Planned Parenthood of Northern New England notes in its brief, a young woman needs to get to a hospital, not a courthouse.
This got us to thinking: Since people of the male variety are unable to have abortions, is there any way for boys to become men? We guess not, which is why anti-Iraq left-wingers always talk about soldiers as if they were toddlers.
No
Logo
It appears
Arizona State University has worked out a compromise over the question of coeds
posing for girlie magazines. They're free to pose, explains the Arizona Republic,
but ASU "can keep publications from using university logos."
Just one problem: Who's going to sit on a coed's shoulder and tempt her into doing the wrong thing?
When
Good News Is Bad News
From today's New York Times:
Gasoline is cheaper than it was before Hurricane Katrina slammed into New Orleans. Consumer confidence jumped last month and new- home sales hit a record. The stock market has been rising. Even the nation's beleaguered factories seem headed for a happy holiday season.
By most measures, the economy appears to be doing fine. No, scratch that, it appears to be booming.
But as always with the United States economy, it is not quite that simple.
Except maybe when Bill Clinton is president.
Thanks
for the Tip!--XIX
"Health Tip: Don't Be Shocked"--headline, HealthDayNews, Nov. 29
What
Would We Do Without Lloyd's of London?
"Lloyd's of London: Storms May Cause Loss"--headline, Associated Press,
Nov. 30
You
Don't Say
"Gravity Played Role in New Orleans' Bridge Failure"--headline, press
release, University of Missouri-Rolla, Nov. 28
That's
No Man, It's 111 Cats!
"US Governor Reprieves Man Facing 1,000th Execution"--headline, Guardian
(London), Nov. 30
E.T.,
Téléphone à la Maison
"France Toughens Controls on Aliens"--headline, Washington Times,
Nov. 30
Cubic
Zirconium Is Fragile
"Phony Marriage Ring Busted"--headline, FoxNews.com, Nov. 30
You're
Fired At
"Next 'Apprentice' to Be Shot in Calif."--headline, Associated Press,
Nov. 29
Anderson
Cooper Imitates Us
Were we ever gobsmacked when we heard what Anderson Cooper said on CNN last
night. He was interviewing Krystal Meyers, a high school student who wrote a
controversial article about sex for her student newspaper, and we join the transcript
in progress:
Cooper: Did you have any idea this was going to cause such a kafuffle?
Meyers: No. I knew it was going to be a controversial article. My supervisor also told me that it was--it could cause some problems, but we weren't expecting it to go this far. . . .
Cooper: And yes, I did use the work "kafuffle." I think it's not used enough these days.
We didn't see the show, but a reader tells us that Cooper in fact said "kerfuffle." Well, Anderson, if you want to encourage the use of the word, why not buy T-shirts for all your friends?
Bottom
Story of the Day
"Duff's Rockin' New Year"--headline, E! Online, Nov. 30
Return
to Gender
Apparently Southern California's Pomona College is simply overrun by "transgendered
students," whatever those are. Two weeks ago we
noted that a push was under way for unisex toilets on campus, apparently
because these transgendered characters aren't comfortable going to the bathroom
unless both sexes are present. Claremont Institute blogger and Pomona alum Conor
Friedersdorf, quoting "notes from the school's student senate meeting,"
calls our attention to yet more transgender splendor:
Sports Commissioner Alex Wakeman '06 asked the Senate for advice about an inner-tube water polo scoring system concern. Currently, female participants are awarded two points per goal and male participants are awarded one point per goal. One student was concerned about where transgendered students fit in this system. Wakeman understands the concern, but she is reluctant to change the scoring system because she feels it encourages more women to participate. DesRochers pointed out that the Senate needs to learn more about transgender issues because they do not have the vocabulary and background to provide the best solutions for these problems.
Meanwhile, the New York Times reports that Stan Berenstain of Berenstain Bears fame has died. We remember reading a Bears book or two during our childhood, but we had no idea they were so controversial, as the Times reports:
In what might be seen as a tribute to the Berenstain Bears' ubiquity, critics for years have commented on the ursine clan's adherence to gender stereotypes, including Mama Bear's ever-so-brief fling at working outside the home, only to retreat to the cubs.
Papa Bear's bumbling incompetence, compared with Mama Bear's warm, wise effectiveness, has spawned particular ire.
"He is often wrong but never in doubt," as the Berenstains' Web site says.
Charles Krauthammer, in a 1989 column in The Washington Post, referred to "the postfeminist Papa Bear" as "the Alan Alda of Grizzlies, a wimp so passive and fumbling he makes Dagwood Bumstead look like Batman."
In 1998, Mary Jo Kochakian, a columnist for The Hartford Courant, wrote, "You have to wonder, doesn't Stan Berenstain have any self-respect?"
Berenstain's biggest shortcoming, though, was that he did not have the vocabulary and background to provide the best solutions for the problems of transgender bears.
(Carol Muller helps compile Best of the Web Today. Thanks to Joe Seely, Ethel Fenig, Paul Dyck, M. Gilbertson, James Gorton, Jim Donald, C.E. Dobkin, David Cleary, Dave Eastburn, Eric Johnson, Brad Cleghorn, Cathy Snider, Mark Beadles, Rob Whitt, Mike Craig, Stephen Faulkner, Mike Fleischner, Jason Riggs, Russell Faria, Alisa Duncanson, Glenn Reynolds, John Chappa, Matthew McInteer, Don Williams, Greg Nelson, Andy Keetch, Joe Perez, Michael Segal, Curt Schmidt, Mark Van Der Molen, Wayne Rutman, Glenn Taubman, Mordecai Bobrowsky, Bob Batts, Ed Lasky, Christian Peck, Reagan Miller, Anne Schlesinger, Clayton Craighead, Andy Hefty, Chris O'Connor, Tim Tweeton, Ruth Papazian, Greg Askins, Kevin Walker, Matthew Noonan, Gary Petersen, Jeff Biser, Rod Pennington, Bill Ferris, Matt Bradley, Christopher King, Wayne Anderson, Mark Murray, Charles Kalina, James Peterson, Lenny March, Thomas Ferguson, Francis Dietz, Paul Gross, Mingwei Guan, Ryan Serote, Jeff Currin, Philip Purrington, David Gerstman, Eric Hall, Joe Bacon, Brent Gunsalus, Michael Ronzio, Mark Roulo, Steve Hilton, Clyde Middleton, Jeff Wolff, Roger Johnson, Roger Love, Chuck Swanson, Mike Davis, Tom McKay, Andrew Robinson and Jerome Sternstein . If you have a tip, write us at opinionjournal@wsj.com, and please include the URL.)
Today on OpinionJournal:
- Review & Outlook: Hugo Chávez repays his congressional amigo.
- Claudia Rosett: The U.N. must not be allowed to destroy the Volcker investigation's archives.
- Allen Barra: Will quarterback brothers face off in the Super Bowl?
