From the WSJ Opinion Archives

by JAMES TARANTO
Monday, April 30, 2007 11:58 A.M. EDT

Today's Video on WSJ.com: Mary O'Grady on Al Gore's Colombian paso falso.

'Truthers' Are Stranger Than Fiction
LOS ANGELES--Saturday afternoon found us at UCLA for the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, where we had been summoned from New York to sit on a panel discussing "the future of news" with L.A. Times editor Jim O'Shea and ABC-TV's Mark Halperin. The moderator was the Times's foreign editor, Marjorie Miller. All agreed: The future of news is uncertain, though the Web is likely to be an important factor.

The audience questioners, though, were a hoot. One woman brought up the famliar left-wing trope about the dangers of corporate control of the media. She told Halperin she worried that Disney, which owns ABC, dictated the network's news coverage, especially during the run-up to the war in Iraq. After Halperin assured her that this was not the case, we chimed in: "Why the hell would Disney want to go to war in Iraq? It doesn't make sense." She looked chastened and returned to her seat.

Then there were the "truthers," members of a cult that believes 9/11 was a government conspiracy. They are easy to spot because they all wear black T-shirts with pictures of the twin towers and slogans like INVESTIGATE 9/11. (We encountered some of them near Ground Zero on Sept. 11, 2006.)

Two truthers, a man and a woman, were standing in line to ask questions. The man prefaced his by saying, "I'm not going to ask the 9/11 question again." (We don't remember what he did ask.) When it was the woman's turn, she went into a long disquisition about how FDR had advance warning of Pearl Harbor, and "buildings don't fall at 10 stories a second," and finally she asked, "Where is our Bob Woodward to bring the story out?"

Our answer: "Rosie O'Donnell."

The woman started speechifying again and finally was shouted down by the crowd, which was strongly left-leaning but apparently not insane.

When you think about what the truthers are saying, it makes even less sense than the Disney-invaded-Iraq theory. They want us to believe that the government staged 9/11 and is now using totalitarian means to cover it up. But if the government were really suppressing dissent, these people would be in prison, not walking around in public wearing T-shirts identifying them as dissidents.

Unless. What if the truthers themselves are in on the conspiracy? Maybe they are agents of the government who deliberately act crazy in order to discredit the idea that it is a conspiracy.

As one of our fellow panelists put it, "So far, it's working."

Lynching Was Bad, but . . .
Speaking of the Los Angeles Times, on Friday the paper printed an exceptionally idiotic column by Rosa Brooks titled "9/11 Was Bad, but . . ." Brooks suggests that people who worry about terrorist attacks are "irrational wimps":

The 9/11 attacks were appalling and tragic, but they did not threaten the survival of the nation. . . .

Of course, 3,000 dead is 3,000 too many. But keep it in perspective. As a nation, we have survived far worse. We lost more than 100,000 Americans in World War I, more than 400,000 in World War II, 37,000 in Korea, 58,000 in Vietnam--all without allowing our national character to turn into quivering jelly.

Every year, we also lose millions of Americans to preventable accidents and disease. We're more likely to die on the road than as a result of Al Qaeda's machinations. Annually, we lose some 43,000 people to auto accidents. For the grieving families, that's 43,000 deaths too many. But, although we surely could reduce auto fatalities if we chose to make it our top national priority, the Bush administration has yet to announce a "War on Highway Deaths."

This is unoriginal as well as fatuous. It's not even original in the L.A. Times, which published essentially the same piece three months ago. But in the hope that our new friends at the Times won't make the same mistake a third time, let's repeat our analogy that shows why this is such a ridiculous argument.

According to this table, 4,742 people were lynched in America between 1882 and 1964. That's an average of but 57 people a year, and the number of annual lynchings peaked in 1892, at 230. By the standards Brooks applies to 9/11, lynching was not a big problem. It killed far fewer people than war, disease, accidents, etc.

Yet if someone were lynched tomorrow, would we shrug it off because the number of deaths is only 1/43,000th of the annual car-crash toll? Of course not. It takes a stunning degree of moral obtuseness to treat a murder in the furtherance of a hateful ideology--be it white supremacy or Islamic fundamentalism--as the equivalent of an accidental death.

A similar bit of foolishness comes from Ian Buruma, who won an award at the book festival. In yesterday's Times, he opines:

Just as Jews, during some traditional Passover feasts, ask God to bring down his wrath on the Gentiles who "don't know him," and many Christians believe that hell awaits those who don't subscribe to their faith, Muslims are led to believe that killing the enemies of Islam can be justified.

"Just as"? Surely there is a difference between believing or hoping that God will punish unbelievers and taking it upon oneself to do it. It doesn't speak well of the editors of the L.A. Times that they not only publish such nonsense but do so habitually.

Dean: Fight Terrorism With Radios!
Howard Dean, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, appeared on CNN with Wolf Blitzer the other evening, where he continued his attack on Republican front-runner Rudy Giuliani. As Drudge noted, Dean said that Giuliani's "personal life is a serious problem"--an apparent attempt, as Mickey Kaus points out, to boost Barack Obama, currently running second behind New York's junior senator, whose personal life is a really serious problem.

What caught our attention about the interview, though, was this exchange on terrorism:

Blitzer: The Republican presidential frontrunner right now, the former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, he is also going after Democrats. He said this on Tuesday. "If any Republican is elected president, and I think obviously I would be the best at this, we would remain on offense. I listen a little to the Democrats and if one of them gets elected, we are going on defense. We will wave the white flag on Iraq. The Democrats do not understand the full nature and scope of the terrorist war against us." You want to respond to Giuliani?

Dean: He has got two problems, Wolf. The first is he sounds like Cheney. That's the kind of stuff the Republicans have been talking about for a long time, but they're incapable of defending America, as it's turned out, because they have not told us the truth.

The second problem is that Rudy Giuliani was mayor of New York when 9/11 struck. There was a previous terrorist attack. He had a number of years to do the things that a commission recommended they do and he didn't do them.

So I would argue that Rudy has put himself in a pretty serious problem. One, sounding like one of the most unpopular vice presidents in American history and two, he has got his own record of not being prepared when he should have been.

We'll pass over "he sounds like Cheney," which isn't much of an argument. To what is Dean referring when he says Giuliani wasn't "prepared" for 9/11?

Here is the main criticism, as outlined by the anti-Republican site MediaMatters.org:

On 9-11, the New York fire department was using outdated VHF radios that were incompatible with the police department's UHF radios. . . .

[Wayne] Barrett and [Dan] Collins wrote, on the day of the attacks, the fire department was using "the same radios . . . as it had in 1993. In fact, it essentially had been using the same radios since the 1960s, though they were more suitable for a burning three-story walk-up than for a steel inferno" (Page 49). Because the old radios were not powerful enough, "as many as eight Fire Department companies in the North Tower did not receive the evacuation order 'via radio or directly from other first responders,' " according to the 9-11 Commission (Page 50). And because the radios were not interoperable, fire department rescuers never heard the police helicopter "pilot warning that the South Tower was about to fall" or "the pilots repeatedly warn[ing] of the North Tower collapse, as early as 25 minutes before it happened" (Page 51).

MediaMatters also faults Giuliani for locating the city's emergency command center in the World Trade Center complex rather than someplace less inviting to terrorists.

These are legitimate criticisms, but no FDNY radio was going to stop the 9/11 terrorists from hijacking airplanes, flying them into buildings, and murdering thousands. Dean's emphasis on such matters only reinforces Giuliani's broader point that the Democrats' approach to terrorism is to play defense.

Scientific Americans
Global-warmism marches on, according to a poll reported by the New York Times:

A big majority, 75 percent, said recent weather had been stranger than usual, an increase of almost 10 percentage points from 1997. Of those who said the weather had turned weird, 43 percent attributed it to global warming and 15 percent to pollution or other environmental damage. Four percent cited the coming end of the world or biblical prophecy, and 2 percent blamed space junk.

Ten years ago, 5 percent of respondents blamed global warming for changes in the weather.

And of course if you want an informed scientific opinion, the best way to get it is to take a poll. Just ask the editors of Scientific American.

Zero-Tolerance Watch
More Virginia Tech fallout:

  • A student at the State University of New York's Cobleskill campus "received a five-day academic suspension" for "posting a picture of himself posing with a shotgun on the Internet," reports the Albany Times Union. The student, Tharindu Meepegama, was also forced to undergo a psychiatric evaluation. The photo carried a caption the paper quotes as follows: "I'm tired of people talking (trash) about my school." Meepegama says the posting was "ill-considered."

  • Officials at the University of Iowa imposed what student Justin Walker "described as a campus ban and an indefinite suspension," reports the Iowa City Press-Citizen. Walker was later cleared of wrongdoing and the suspension lifted. His crime: wearing a ski mask to class. (Hat tip: State29.)

Meanwhile, the Chicago Sun-Times reports that "Allen Lee's future with the Marine Corps appears to be over." Lee is the 18-year-old high school student whom Cary, Ill., police charged with "disorderly conduct" for writing an essay that his teacher found disturbing:

Because of pending criminal charges stemming from his essay, Lee's recruiter told him Friday evening that the Marine Corps has discharged him from his contract, said Sgt. Luis R. Agostini, spokesman for the Marine Corps Recruiting Station Chicago.

Doesn't make the Marines look terribly brave, does it?

Stay Away From My Children, Hillbilly!
"Mother Refuses to Let Hicks See Kids"--headline, Australian, April 27

America Is Falling Behind, and We Blame Bush
"French Said to Outpace Americans in French-Bashing"--headline, Reuters, April 27

It Did Make His Father Throw Up
"Can Japan Make Bush Go Green?"--headline, Time.com, April 26

'An Inconvenient Truth,' Too
" 'Condemned' Doomed by Commitment to Gore"--headline, San Jose Mercury News, April 26

'But These Backpacks Are Heavy!'
"Army Chief Wants to Speed Up Troop Hike"--headline, Associated Press, April 29

The Loyal Opposition
"UI President Praises Critic for His Devotion"--headline, News-Gazette (Champaign-Urbana, Ill.), April 26

You'd Have to Be Demented to Attack a Mallet-Wielding Dog
"Man With Dementia Attacks Dog With Mallet"--headline, Sheboygan (Wis.) Press, April 26

Selective Amnesia
"Government: Hogs That Ate Contaminated Pet Food Will Not Be Recalled"--headline, FoxNews.com, April 29

News You Can Use

  • "Advice for Meeting Her Majesty (Please, No 'Queenie')"--headline, Washington Post, April 28

  • "Don't Steal Your Sister's Debit Card"--headline, Pocono Record (Stroudsburg, Pa.), April 27

  • "If You're Thinking of Trying Heroin, Think Again"--headline, Dallas Morning News, April 29

  • "We All need to Have a Strong Pro-Love, Anti-Hate Stance"--headline, Orlando Sentinel, April 26

Bottom Stories of the Day

  • "URI Senate Doesn't Vote to Make Club Apologize"--headline, Providence Journal, April 26

  • "University Continues to Push for Increased Diversity"--headline, South Bend (Ind.) Tribune, April 29

  • "Rib Shack Removes Patio Tent"--headline, Idaho Statesman (Boise), April 25

  • "White Stripes' Canadian Tour to Include Iqaluit"--headline, Globe and Mail (Toronto), April 27

  • "Chippendales Show at Jake's Uninterrupted"--headline, Lubbock (Texas) Avalanche-Journal, April 29

  • "Democrats, in Calif., Decry Bush on Iraq"--headline, Associated Press, April 28

  • "Ruling Syrian Party Wins Election"--headline, BBC Web site, April 26

The Sporting Life
Let's visit the Los Angeles Times once more before we head back to New York. This column by Mike Penner appeared the other day in the Times's sports section:

During my 23 years with The Times' sports department, I have held a wide variety of roles and titles. Tennis writer. Angels beat reporter [that must've hurt!]. Olympics writer. Essayist. Sports media critic. NFL columnist. Recent keeper of the Morning Briefing flame.

Today I leave for a few weeks' vacation, and when I return, I will come back in yet another incarnation.

As Christine.

I am a transsexual sportswriter. It has taken more than 40 years, a million tears and hundreds of hours of soul-wrenching therapy for me to work up the courage to type those words. I realize many readers and colleagues and friends will be shocked to read them.

That's OK. I understand that I am not the only one in transition as I move from Mike to Christine. Everyone who knows me and my work will be transitioning as well. That will take time. And that's all right. To borrow a piece of well-worn sports parlance, we will take it one day at a time.

It's amazing what passes for "sports" in a city without a pro football team.

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