From the WSJ Opinion Archives
Chuck Schumer's
Dream World
The New York Sun brings some good news to start the week:
A Democratic filibuster of John Bolton's nomination as United Nations ambassador is "unlikely," Senator [Chuck] Schumer said yesterday.
Mr. Schumer supported an effort last year to block Mr. Bolton's nomination from gaining a full Senate vote, but he confirmed that he is considering changing his position.
New York's senior senator said he was weighing Mr. Bolton's backing of Israel against his unwillingness to work with other countries at the United Nations. "There's a good part of Bolton. He's been a staunch and very good defender of Israel," Mr. Schumer said on CNN's "Late Edition." "There's a bad part of Bolton. He seems to have a 'go it alone' attitude at a time when we need the nations of the world on our side. We've seen that in Iran and North Korea."
Schumer's last comment is refuted by this news from the Associated Press:
The U.N. Security Council passed a weakened resolution Monday giving Iran until Aug. 31 to suspend uranium enrichment or face the threat of economic and diplomatic sanctions.
Because of Russian and Chinese demands, the text is weaker than earlier drafts, which would have made the threat of sanctions immediate. The draft now essentially requires the council to hold more discussions before it considers sanctions.
Now, we are utterly underwhelmed by the decision to threaten the consideration of the threat of sanctions. But that's what we get "when we need the nations of the world on our side."
More to the point, can Schumer be unaware of the dissonance between his praise of Bolton for defending Israel and his aspersion of the ambassador's " 'go it alone' attitude"? If "the nations of the world" had their way, they would plunge a dagger into the heart of the Jewish state.
Go-it-alone America has served Israel's interests well. Why should Schumer object that it also serves America's interests?
Jenin
Redux?
Intriguing questions are arising about Israel's strike on a building in Qana,
Lebanon, that killed several dozen civilians, including children, whom Hezbollah
was using as human shields. According to an Israel Defense Forces investigation,
"the building in Qana struck by the Air Force fell around eight hours after
being hit by the IDF," Ynet News reports:
Eshel and the head of the IDF's Operational Branch, Major General Gadi Eisnkot said the structure was not being attacked when it collapsed, at around 8:00 in the morning.
The IDF believes that Hizbullah explosives in the building were behind the explosion that caused the collapse.
Another possibility is that the rickety building remained standing for a few hours, but eventually collapsed. "It could be that inside the building, things that could eventually cause an explosion were being housed, things that we could not blow up in the attack, and maybe remained there, Brigadier General [Amir] Eshel said.
"I'm saying this very carefully, because at this time I don't have a clue as to what the explanation could be for this gap," he added.
The Web site of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs has video of Hezbollah rockets being launched at Israeli cities from Qana as well as a copy of a leaflet the Israelis dropped last week warning civilians to get out of Dodge. As the site notes:
The IDF will defend the citizens of Israel from attacks by the Hizbullah and the responsibility for any civilian casualties rests with the Hizbullah who have turned the suburbs of Lebanon into a war front by firing missiles from within civilian areas.
Blogger Richard North has a sequence of wire-service photos, all showing the same man, identified as a rescue worker, who seems to be mugging it up for the camera, in some cases holding up a child's corpse as if it were a trophy of victimization.
Based on the photos' time stamps, North concludes that the actions depicted were faked--a conclusion that seems unwarranted, as the time stamps most likely refer to when the photos went out on the wire, not when they were shot. Still, he's right to characterize the photos as "propaganda," "exploiting the victims in an unwholesome manner."
If there's one thing serious watchers of the Israel-Arab conflict know, it is always to take claims of Israeli atrocities with a grain of salt (remember Jenin?).
"I express great sorrow in the name of the state of Israel and the army over the deaths of Lebanese civilians in Qana," the Associated Press quotes Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert as saying. Unless evidence emerges of Israeli malice or recklessness, that is sufficient for any fair-minded person.
'It
Reminded Me That I Am Human'
A cartoon that has been making the rounds shows the difference between Israel
and its enemies. It shows an Israeli soldier and an Arab terrorist pointing
rifles at each other. There is a baby stroller behind the Israeli soldier and
another in front of the Arab terrorist.
Here's an anecdote from an Associated Press report that illustrates a similar point:
Sgt. Ron Yehushua, 21, of Jerusalem, said there were moments of beauty in war, too.
Despite the brutal carnage he witnessed, he said the image etched most deeply in his mind was that of the Lebanese family he encountered in the midst of battle. He said he shared some of the little food he had with them and handed a young girl a piece of candy.
"That's the bravest thing I did," he said. "I was afraid that in war people lose their humanity, that they become bad. I will carry that memory with me because it reminded me that I am human, and that I am fighting for peace."
In this case, of course, the Israeli soldier is giving candy to a child on the other side of the conflict. A Hezbollah terrorist is more likely to greet a little Israeli girl with a rifle butt through her skull.
Vive
la Stabilité!
"Iran's hardline forces should get ready to take revenge on Israel and
the United States for the offensive on Lebanon, the head of the Revolutionary
Guards was quoted as saying on Sunday," Reuters reports from Tehran:
"The Basij and Revolutionary Guards should prepare to get even with the Zionists and Americans," Yahya Rahim-Safavi was quoted as telling Islamic militiamen by the conservative Fars news agency.
The Basij are volunteer Islamic militiamen.
Compare and contrast with this Ha'aretz report:
Iran is a significant, respected player in the Middle East which is playing a stabilizing role, French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said Monday, during a visit to Lebanon.
"It was clear that we could never accept a destabilization of Lebanon, which could lead to a destabilization of the region," Douste-Blazy said in Beirut.
"In the region there is of course a country such as Iran--a great country, a great people and a great civilization which is respected and which plays a stabilizing role in the region," he told a news conference.
Another Reuters dispatch reports that Fars "later withdrew the story" about Tehran's threatening Israel and the U.S., saying "these quotations should be retracted." Well, that's a relief--though not exactly evidence of stability.
Party
Over Country
A news story in the New York Times isn't exactly news: Democrats and Republicans,
the paper reports, are divided over Iraq! The paper reports that each party
blames the other for the breakdown of foreign-policy bipartisanship:
Democrats say the Republicans repeatedly broke the old rules, treating national security as a wedge issue to make Democrats look weak and unacceptable, especially in 2004. "George Bush decided to make foreign policy partisan in a way that Ronald Reagan or the first George Bush never did," said Senator Charles E. Schumer of New York, chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.
Representative Rahm Emanuel of Illinois, the chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said, "The divisions over Iraq and national security are the house that Karl Rove and George Bush built."
But Ken Mehlman, chairman of the Republican National Committee, said the war and national security were entirely appropriate issues for election campaigns.
"I don't think we're politicizing the war," Mr. Mehlman said. "I think the fact is that there are legitimate and important differences, and it is the job of a campaign to clarify between individual candidates on what is the central question our nation faces, which is, How do you win this global war on terror?"
On the same day, the Times editorial board endorsed antiwar zillionaire Ned Lamont's Democratic primary challenge to Connecticut's Sen. Joe Lieberman:
In his effort to appear above the partisan fray, he has become one of the Bush administration's most useful allies. . . . [President Bush's] administration has depicted any questions or criticism of his policies as giving aid and comfort to the terrorists. And Mr. Lieberman has helped that effort. He once denounced Democrats who were "more focused on how President Bush took America into the war in Iraq" than on supporting the war's progress. . . .
By suggesting that there is no principled space for that kind of opposition, he has forfeited his role as a conscience of his party, and has forfeited our support. . . .
This primary is not about Mr. Lieberman's legislative record. Instead it has become a referendum on his warped version of bipartisanship, in which the never-ending war on terror becomes an excuse for silence and inaction. We endorse Ned Lamont in the Democratic primary for Senate in Connecticut.
The Democrats can deny that it is they who have treated foreign policy as a partisan issue, but the Times can't deny that it encouraged them to do so.
Reuternomics
From a Reuters dispatch on minimum-wage legislation:
The House of Representatives voted on Saturday to give some of the lowest-paid American workers their first raise in nearly a decade. . . . The House in the early hours voted 230-180 to raise the $5.15-per-hour minimum wage in three 70-cent steps until it reaches $7.25 in mid-2009.
The last minimum-wage increase was in 1997. Reuters doesn't cite any examples of workers who've been making $5.15 an hour for nine years while sitting around waiting for Congress to give them a raise, and we doubt that many such people exist.
Now,
Now, Children
The Associated Press reports on a dustup between Michael Brown and Rep. Gene
Taylor, a Mississippi Democrat:
In a Playboy magazine interview, the fallen Federal Emergency Management Agency chief took issue with Taylor for harshly questioning him during a hearing into the government's sluggish response to Hurricane Katrina last year.
"He said I didn't recognize the death and suffering that was going on," Brown said of Taylor.
"For that little twerp to claim I didn't recognize death and suffering--he can just bite me, for all I care," Brown told Playboy.
Taylor, one of the few Democrats to sit on the Republican-dominated House inquiry, returned fire Thursday.
"Brown should consider himself a lucky man," he said in a statement. "Had I known before the hearing that he was up in Baton Rouge ordering steaks on his government credit card at the same time the people of South Mississippi were resorting to police-sanctioned looting to feed themselves, I would have done more than just verbally kick his butt."
As Thomas Brackett Reed might say, these two never open their mouths without subtracting from the sum of human knowledge.
The
Latest Threat to Church-State Separation
"Bush Agrees to 6-Year Deal With Saints"--headline. Associated Press,
July 30
Just
Wait Till You See Him at Play
"Kennedy Work Puts Hazard on the Road"--headline, Chicago Tribune,
July 31
Why
Do You Think They Call It 'Dope'?
A letter to the editor of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram (third letter):
Public apathy was certainly apparent at a recent showing of Al Gore's movie, An Inconvenient Truth.
At a 5:30 p.m. screening, only seven people were in the theater. The documentary was outstanding in its survey of the horrible future of Earth because of global warming, so the absence of a packed theater seemed ominous.
The movie was impressive in all aspects, especially the vivid showing of climate changes throughout the world. Moreover, despite the fact that Gore has spent the past 20 years trying to convince audiences worldwide of the adverse environmental effects of these changes, the lack of interest in global warming may truly doom the world's future.
Unfortunately, the movie didn't detail remedies to prevent global warming. These remedies would include reforestation, reduction of greenhouse gases and, of course, a great reduction in the use of fossil fuels. Also, by drastically reducing carbon dioxide levels through the use of biomass-derived fuels, we can greatly minimize greenhouse gases.
In this regard, it's absolutely essential that consideration be given to an annually renewable plant resource that's able to clean our atmosphere: cannabis hemp. This remarkable plant grows quickly and can be raised worldwide.
Louis J. Kaposta, Southlake
Now
They Tell Us
"A film review on Friday about the documentary "America: Freedom to Fascism"
referred incorrectly to lawsuits against the federal government claiming that
there is no law requiring citizens to pay income tax. No such suit has ever
been won."--correction, New York Times, July 31
Sincerest Form of Flattery
"Why does President Bush refer in public to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as 'Condi'? Did Dwight Eisenhower call his Secretary of State 'Johnny'? Did Jimmy Carter call his 'Eddie,' or Bill Clinton call his 'Maddy,' or Richard Nixon call his 'Willie' or 'Hank'?"--Peggy Noonan, July 27
"How many Secretaries of State have been regularly referred to in Big Media by their diminutive, infantilizing nicknames? I don't remember the commentators calling Madeleine Albright 'Maddy,' or referring to Henry Kissinger as 'Hank.' "--Bill Barol, Puffington Host, July 28
Life Imitates Tom Lehrer
We'll murder them all amid laughter and merriment,
Except for the few we take home to experiment.
My pulse will be quickenin'
With each drop of strych'nine
We feed to a pigeon.
(It just takes a smidgin!)
To poison a pigeon in the park.
--"Poisoning Pigeons in the Park" by Tom Lehrer, 1959"Poisoned Pigeons Fall Like 'Dive-Bombers' "--headline, Associated Press, July 28, 2006
How
Many Voted for War and Chaos?
"Congolese Vote to End War and Chaos"--headline, Reuters, July 29
So
Quit Watching the Heat!
"Washington Area Under Excessive Heat Watch"--headline, Washington
Post, July 31
News You Can Use
- "Being Alone Raises Perils in a Night on the Town"--headline,
New
York Times, July 28
- "Bad Worker-Boss Relationships Cause Poor Morale"--headline, Detroit
Free Press, July 29
- "GEMS: Patients Should Call for Ambulance, Not Take Themselves to Hospital"--headline, Greenwich (Conn.) Times, July 30
What
Would Wheat Do Without Experts?
"Experts Starting to Assess Wheat Quality"--headline, KFYR-TV
Web site (Bismarck, N.D.), July 28
What
Would East Texas Do Without Experts?
"Experts: Meth Is King in East Texas"--headline, Longview (Texas)
News-Journal, July 30
What
Would We Do Without . . . Oh, Look! A Squirrel!
"Rove Says U.S. Voters Inattentive but Not Stupid"--headline, Reuters,
July 29
Thanks
for the Tip!--XCI
"Health Tip: Prevent Periodontitis"--headline, HealthDay.com, July 31
Bottom Stories of the Day
- "Hasselhoff 'Not Drunk' at Airport"--headline, BBC
Web site, July 28
- "UN Rights Body Urges D.C. Vote in Congress"--headline, Reuters,
July 28
- "Giant Dead Eel Tossing Contest Canceled"--headline, Associated
Press, July 29
- "Boy George to Pick Up Trash in Aug. Heat"--headline, Associated Press, July 31
'Elastic
Dough'
"Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has ordered government and cultural
bodies to use the modified Persian words instead of foreign words, turning pizzas
into 'elastic loaves,' " the Associated Press reports:
Among other changes, "short talk" is the alternative to "chat" while a "cabin" will be renamed a "small room," according to official Web site of the academy.
No wonder the French admire the Iranian regime so much. For our part, we think Ahmadinejad is a cuck--sorry, a "disyllabic whistling bird."
(Carol Muller helps compile Best of the Web Today. Thanks to Ethel Fenig, Monty Krieger, Michael Segal, Aharon Spetner, Ed Lasky, Abe Beyda, C.E. Dobkin, Michael Zukerman, Kathleen Sullivan, Edward Schulze, Rochi Ebner, Mike Ross, Michael Waldorf, Christopher Coleman, Jared Silverman, Mike Davis, Evan Slatis, Shraga Simmons, Szeni Dedatz, George Miller, Rhonda Cisneros, Don Hubschman, Mitch Townsend, Dan Dolan, Matthew Franck, Gustavo Stickery, Marshall Sella, Glenn Ackerman, Nicholas Zeisler, Casey McEnelly, Bill Briggs, Christopher Fountain, Tad Doviak, Buddy Smith, Ruth Papazian, Brent Gunsalus, Charlie Gaylord, John Neal, Van Wallach, Brian Azman, Monty Krieger, Aryeh Bak, Lee Hollaar and Jim Orheim. If you have a tip, write us at opinionjournal@wsj.com, and please include the URL.)
Today on OpinionJournal:
- Review & Outlook: The American Bar Association takes another swipe at the Bush presidency.
- John Fund: A moderate senator and a far-left congresswoman face tough Democratic primary challenges.
- The Journal Editorial Report: A transcript of the weekend's program on the FOX News Channel.
- Michael Greco: The ABA is strictly nonideological.
