by JAMES TARANTO
Tuesday, July 25, 2006 4:27 P.M. EDT

Funny Money?
A reader noticed something curious in a video from last night's "NBC Nightly News." Richard Engel, the network's Beirut bureau chief, is reporting from southern Lebanon, and at 1:07 in the video, as he's saying, "In Sidon, we found part of the financial district flattened," you briefly see an image of what look like uncut sheets of U.S. hundred-dollar bills.

Now, it's possible to buy uncut sheets from the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, at premiums ranging from 12.5% to 275% over face value--but apparently only in denominations of up to $50. Anyhow, somehow we doubt these were collectibles.

A Treasury Department press release dated June 10, 2004, reports that Hezbollah has been involved in counterfeiting American money:

One of the most prominent and influential members of the Hizballah terrorist organization, along with two of his companies, was designated by the Treasury Department today under Executive Order 13224. Assad Ahmad Barakat has close ties with Hizballah leadership and has worked closely with numerous Islamic extremists and suspected Hizballah associates in South America's tri-border area (TBA), made up of Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina. . . .

Barakat has also been involved in a counterfeiting ring that distributes fake U.S. dollars and generates cash to fund Hizballah operations. As of early 2001, Barakat was one of two individuals reportedly in charge of distribution and sale of the counterfeit currency in the TBA.

Was this funny money in Engel's report from Sidon? We don't know, but it'd be a good question for him to investigate.

The Buck Stops Over There
"Support is building quickly for an international military force to be placed in southern Lebanon," the New York Times reports:

But there remains a small problem: where will the troops come from?

The United States has ruled out its soldiers' participating, NATO says it is overstretched, Britain feels its troops are overcommitted and Germany says it is willing to participate only if Hezbollah, the Lebanese militia that it would police, agrees to it, a highly unlikely development.

"All the politicians are saying, 'Great, great' to the idea of a force, but no one is saying whose soldiers will be on the ground," said one senior European official. "Everyone will volunteer to be in charge of the logistics in Cyprus."

So let's see if we have this straight. The U.N. passes a resolution calling on Hezbollah to disarm. Then nothing much happens until Hezbollah enters Israeli territory to kill and kidnap Israeli soldiers, whereupon Jerusalem takes it upon itself to enforce that resolution.

Now the "international community" is calling on Israel to exercise "restraint" as rockets rain on Israeli cities and urging an "international military force" to impose a "cease-fire" without thinking through where that force would come from.

Oh well, at least they have "moral authority." That and a dollar will buy you a cup of coffee--though if you get the dollar from Hezbollah, it might also bring a visit from the Secret Service.

Humanitarian Crisis--II
"My colleagues who were travelling with Condi Rice in Beirut have just arrived at our hotel in Jerusalem. I'm naturally jealous, though--they all bear indelible stains of helicopter hydraulic oil on their light coloured summer clothes. Apparently it sprayed over everyone--including the secretary of state--as they were on their way back to Cyprus. Colleagues who have threadbare, dated clothes are annoyed. . . . I've travelled ahead of Ms Rice to Jerusalem and will join her 'bubble' when she arrives. I can't say I miss the food on Air Force Two, or being stuffed in cramped conditions in her plane alongside my fellow reporters."--Jonathan Beale, BBC State Department correspondent, July 25

Back to the Future
Hezbollah, it seems, has discovered the secret of time travel. This is from a July 13 posting on the Web site of the Palestinian Information Center, which describes itself as the "voice of Palestine":

Commenting on Israeli threats to bring Lebanon 20 years backward, Nasrullah, in clear shrugging off, asserted that "Lebanon now isn't Lebanon of 20 years ago, and the resistance now isn't the same as the resistance before 20 years."

And this is from a Ha'aretz report of yesterday:

[Secretary of State Condoleezza] Rice's talks with [Lebanon's Prime Minister Fuad] Siniora also appeared to have been tense. Siniora told Rice that Israel's bombardment was taking his country "backwards 50 years" and also called for a "swift cease-fire," the prime minister's office said.

So in just nine days, we've gone back 30 more years. At this rate, the Knights Templar will be back in the Holy Land in no time!

This Just In
"Mid-East Faces an Uncertain Future"--headline, BBC Web Site, July 22

Though the Mornings Can Be Dicey
"Bush Has Confidence in Iraqi PM"--headline, Associated Press, July 25

Not Impressed With the Press
The Washington Times reports on a fun poll result:

Half of Americans now say Iraq had weapons of mass destruction when the United States invaded the country in 2003--up from 36 percent last year, a Harris poll finds. Pollsters deemed the increase both "substantial" and "surprising" in light of persistent press reports to the contrary in recent years.

Why would people not believe what they hear in "persistent press reports"? A clue may lie in this report from Harvard Magazine (seventh item):

Linda Greenhouse '68 went to a Simon and Garfunkel concert soon after the war in Iraq began, and in the middle of the concert she had a crying jag. When she accepted the 2006 Radcliffe Institute Medal at the institute's luncheon on June 9, the New York Times's Supreme Court correspondent explained: "Thinking back to my college days in those troubled and tumultuous late 1960s, there were many things that divided my generation. . . . [Yet] we were absolutely united in one conviction: the belief that in future decades, if the world lasted that long, when our turn came to run the country, we wouldn't make the same mistakes. . . . I cried that night . . . out of the realization that my faith had been misplaced. . . . We were the problem."

Too many of today's reporters are liberal baby boomers who seem less interested in presenting the facts than in reliving the dramas of their misspent youth. Is it any wonder Americans of different generations and ideological outlooks are skeptical?

One Man's Terrorist . . .
"Are You a Woman Going Solo? Try a Blow-Up Man"--headline, Reuters, July 25

Going Native
Remember Michael Dukakis? He was the 1988 Democratic nominee for president, and in his nomination speech 18 years and four days ago, he touted his status as the son of immigrants.

In an op-ed in today's New York Times, however, Dukakis goes nativist--though with a liberal twist:

If we are really serious about turning back the tide of illegal immigration, we should start by raising the minimum wage from $5.15 per hour to something closer to $8. . . .

Millions of illegal immigrants work for minimum and even sub-minimum wages in workplaces that don't come close to meeting health and safety standards. It is nonsense to say, as President Bush did recently, that these jobs are filled by illegal immigrants because Americans won't do them. Before we had mass illegal immigration in this country, hotel beds were made, office floors were cleaned, restaurant dishes were washed and crops were picked--by Americans.

Americans will work at jobs that are risky, dirty or unpleasant so long as they provide decent wages and working conditions, especially if employers also provide health insurance. Plenty of Americans now work in such jobs, from mining coal to picking up garbage. The difference is they are paid a decent wage and provided benefits for their labor.

However, Americans won't work for peanuts, and these days the national minimum wage is less than peanuts.

This is illogical. If the problem is that illegal immigrants are willing to work at subminimum wages, raising the minimum wage is the opposite of a solution. It would only enhance their competitive advantage over native Americans and legal immigrants.

Embarrassed Headline Writer in Doghouse

"Misplaced Bus Stops in Limbo"--headline, East Valley Tribune (Mesa, Ariz.), July 1, 2003

"Stalled Chandler High-Rise Up in Air"--headline, East Valley Tribune (Mesa, Ariz.), July 25, 2006

What Would We Do Without 11-Year-Olds?
"11-Year-Old Says Juvenile Diabetes 'Not Fun' "--headline, RadioIowa.com, July 24

What Would We Do Without Governments?
"Government: U.S. Gasoline Increases to $3 per Gallon"--headline, FoxNews.com, July 24

What Would We Do Without . . . Oh, Look! A Squirrel!
"Study: Distractions Impede Learning"--headline, Associated Press, July 24

Last Night I Shot an Elephant in My Pajamas
"ONTARIO: Camper Kills Attacking Bear With Knife"--headline, Grand Forks (N.D.) Herald, July 24

How Much Does She Owe Him?
"Sen. Specter Readies Bill to Sue Bush"--headline, Associated Press, July 25

Or Else Sen. Specter Will Drag Her Back to the Cave
"Savage Woman Must Pay Large Water Bill"--headline, KSTP-TV Web site (Minneapolis), July 24

A Headline We Can't Improve On
"Army Officer Arrested for Fondling Privates"--headline, Chosun Ilbo (South Korea), July 24

Bottom Stories of the Day

• "House Passes Electronic Duck Stamp Act"--headline, press release, House Committee on Resources, July 24
  
  
• "Teen Finally Reunites With Pet Iguana"--headline, Advocate (Stamford, Conn.), July 25
  
  
• "Gorbachev Cheers Recycled Sewage"--headline, Australian, July 25
  
  
• "No Security Clearances Revoked Over Plame"--headline, Associated Press, July 24

Sorry, Too Inconvenient
The Associated Press reports that Al Gore, speaking in Chautauqua, N.Y., urged his audience to do something to combat "global warming":

Dressed in a navy suit and tie and occasionally wandering from his podium, Gore showed the packed house dozens of slides to make his point that human behavior, if not changed, would destroy the planet.

He pointed to the melting of glaciers and mountain ice caps, bleaching of coral reefs, strengthening of hurricanes and record numbers of tornadoes.

"We're playing with fire here and we have to act quickly," he said. "The good news is we can."

Flyers distributed to attendees urged them to use fluorescent light bulbs, drive less, plant a tree, recycle and avoid products with a lot of packaging to reduce carbon dioxide.

Listen, we've tried. Why, just a few years ago, we vowed to stop using air-conditioning. Instead, to stay cool, we drank a lot of iced tea. But we kept missing important meetings, so it just wasn't sustainable.

(Carol Muller helps compile Best of the Web Today. Thanks to Dean Nederveld, Michael Segal, Szeni Dedatz, Rod Pennington, Catherine Brooks, Jeff Dobbs, Dan O'Shea, Cynthia Schaumbureg, Grant Schaumburg, Greg de Mocskonyi, Ed Lasky, David Brooks, Dave Stott, Vern Beachy, Bill Ferris, Robert Koontz, Monty Goolsby, Terry Jarrett, Steve Feyer, Nate Wagner, Dennis Ainger, John Landshof, Tom Karter, Jim Peterson, Matthew du Mee, David Skurnick, David Haberman, Kyle Kyllan, Ron Ackert, David Powell, Kerk Phillips, George Geddes, Mike Dolan, Van Wallach, Dan Fendel and Fred Beverly. If you have a tip, write us at opinionjournal@wsj.com, and please include the URL.)

Today on OpinionJournal:

• Charles Murray: No Child Left Behind is beyond uninformative. It is deceptive.
• Pete du Pont: Tax cuts are good for everyone--and everyone knows it but Washington Democrats.
• Brendan Miniter: Do Republicans want to be the anti-immigrant party or the antigovernment one?