From the WSJ Opinion Archives

by JAMES TARANTO
Monday, July 16, 2007 2:30 P.M. EDT

Today's Video on WSJ.com: Mary O'Grady on Democrats' efforts to scuttle free trade with Colombia.

Bye-ku for Jim Gilmore

Is he still alive?
We thought he was killed by a
Utah firing squad

(2004 bye-kus: John Kerry, Dennis Kucinich, Al Sharpton, John Edwards, Howard Dean, Wesley Clark, Joe Lieberman, Dick Gephardt, Carol Moseley Braun, Yasuhiro Nakasone and Bob Graham.)

Our Deadly Policies Are Your Fault
Yesterday's New York Times featured yet another editorial on behalf of America's enemies--demanding, as usual, that the Guanatanamo Bay detention facility be closed down and the detainees be reclassified as criminal defendants with full constitutional rights:

Prisoners against whom there is actual evidence of crimes should be tried either in military or federal courts. Mounting an effective prosecution may be hard, since these prisoners were held for years without charges and some were tortured. But it is up to the administration's lawyers--who helped Mr. Bush create the problem by allowing indefinite detention and torture to begin with--to deal with it.

The Times advocates a policy that would lead to the release of terrorists and quite possibly to more terrorist attacks. But if that happens, in the Times's view, it is the Bush administration's fault for resisting the Times's pro-terrorist policy.

Of course, if an attack takes place two years from now, it will be left to President Bush's successor to deal with it. But when you're a Bush-hater, you have to live for today.

We're So Impressed
ABC News reports on a terrorist threat that somehow doesn't have us all that worried:

As senior intelligence and law enforcement officials met again today in the White House Situation Room to deal with the "summer terror threat," a top terror commander said an attack was coming that would dwarf the failed bombings in London and Glasgow.

Taliban military commander Mansour Dadullah, in an interview broadcast on ABC News' "World News With Charles Gibson," said the London attacks were "not enough" and that bigger attacks were coming.

We realize there is a risk in seeming glib about this. After all, there could be a major attack in the works. But somehow it's hard to feel too scared by a threat that the next attack will "dwarf" one that produced nothing but a couple of flaming jihadis.

Equally impressive is Congress's latest move, reported by Reuters:

The U.S. Senate on Friday voted to double the bounty on Osama bin Laden to $50 million and require President George W. Bush to refocus on capturing him after reports al Qaeda is gaining strength.

By a vote of 87-1, the Senate set the reward for the killing or capture, or information leading to the capture, of the mastermind of the September 11 attacks on the United States.

If $50 million isn't enough, maybe they can pass legislation offering a million billion trillion zillion squillion dollars.

Good Luck With That
"Bush Aid Plan Pushes Peaceful, Democratic Palestine"--headline, Boston Herald, July 16

Political Tall Tales
Is this another example of "accountability journalism"? The Associated Press reports on a mildly interesting new statistic--the average citizen in some European countries is now taller than the average American--and vests it with great political significance:

America used to be the tallest country in the world.

From the days of the founding fathers right on through the industrial revolution and two world wars, Americans towered over other nations. In a land of boundless open spaces and limitless natural abundance, the young nation transformed its increasing wealth into human growth.

But just as it has in so many other arenas, America's predominance in height has faded.

What are the "so many other areas" in which "America's predominance . . . has faded"? AP reporter Matt Crenson never gets around to telling us. Instead, he tries to explain why the shift in relative heights is significant:

Many economists would argue that it does matter, because height is correlated with numerous measures of a population's well-being. Tall people are healthier, wealthier and live longer than short people. Some researchers have even suggested that tall people are more intelligent.

So are Americans sicker, poorer, shorter-lived and less intelligent than countries with taller populations? Definitely not poorer:

In the Czech Republic, per capita income is barely half of what it is in the United States. Even so, Czechs are taller than Americans. So are Belgians, who collect 84 percent as much income as Americans.

Shorter-lived, perhaps--but only slightly:

Life expectancy in the Netherlands is 79.11 years; in Sweden it's 80.63. America's life expectancy of 78.00 years puts it in somewhat shorter company, just above Cyprus and a few notches below Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Crenson presents no evidence that Americans are sicker, though he does dwell on the fact that some do not have health insurance. And he never addresses the question of intelligence. He does, however, quote John Komlos, an economic historian at the University of Munich, who offers this explanation for America's vertically challenged state:

"In some ways it gets to the fundamentals of the American society, namely what is the ideology of the American society and what are the shortcomings of that ideology," Komlos said. "I would argue that to take good care of its children is not part of that ideology."

Americans don't care about their children, the Associated Press reports!

Another AP dispatch, meanwhile, disparages America for being overly concerned with allowing children to be born:

Unlike in many developed countries, where abortion is considered a medical procedure beyond the reach of politics, it remains among the most politically sensitive subjects in the United States, and is likely to be a hotly debated issue through the campaign to the November 2008 U.S. presidential election, especially by conservative Republicans.

How can an issue be "hotly debated" only on one side? It seems as though the AP's mind is made up on abortion. One side is right, the other is "hot."

Latch On to the Affirmative
Can Hillary Clinton win the presidency? Columnist Susan Estrich takes on the doubters:

According to one recent national poll, 52 percent of American voters say they wouldn't vote for Hillary; if that number holds, she couldn't win in a two-person race; and so--the argument goes--will Democratic primary voters, desperate as they are to win this time, be willing to nominate someone whose longer term prospects are so doubtful?

There are a number of answers to that argument.

First of all, there are some people who don't like anyone. If even 3 percent of that 52 percent would also not vote for the eventual Republican candidate--and both Romney and Giuliani had high negatives, albeit not quite as high as Hillary--then it becomes, as it is for many voters in November, not a question of who you like, but who you dislike least. It doesn't matter if you're voting for your favorite or for the lesser of two evils: It still counts for one vote.

What an inspiring campaign we have to look forward to: "Vote for Hillary. The other guy is even worse!"

Dispatch From Pelosiville
San Francisco is not like the rest of America, as Bloomberg reports:

Mayor Gavin Newsom is running for re-election virtually unopposed, more popular than ever, after admitting to having an affair with a top aide's wife and entering an alcohol-treatment program.

Newsom, whose approval ratings are running close to 80 percent, said he expects a credible candidate to emerge eventually. So far, challengers include a street-performing clown, a homeless man, an advocate for nudism, and a candidate who pledges to wear a camera so voters can monitor his performance in office.

This is the city that elects Rep. Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the House. Incidentally, Pelosi challenger Cindy Sheehan reports that she has been declared moonbatta non grata at the Daily Kos:

I can't post here anymore because my potential run for Congress is not on the Democratic ticket.

I have been deeply grateful for all of your support over the years. Your love and kindness helped me through lots of sleepless nights at Camp Casey '05.

If Speaker Pelosi does her constitutionally mandated duty and I don't run, then I can come back and post.

I know a lot of you are hostile towards my candidacy. Please understand that I am doing it for your children and grandchildren (and my surviving ones.)

If Sheehan makes good on her promise to move to San Francisco, will that city become more bizarre or less bizarre? There is really no easy answer.

Watergate Was Bush's Fault Too!
"Rove Strategy Paper Found in Nixon Archive"--headline, New York Times, July 14

You're Fired At!
"Scanning the headlines in the Chinese press, it's easy to conclude that the global brouhaha over product safety is not about China--but about America," the Washington Post reports from Beijing:

Investigative reports in the state-run media delve into the case of an exploding cellphone purportedly made by U.S.-based Motorola that allegedly killed a young man. They warn consumers not to use contact-lens solution produced by U.S.-based Advanced Medical Optics, which has been linked to rare cases of blindness. And they play up recalls of U.S. beef.

Faced with mounting international concern over the safety of some of the products it exports, the Chinese government--often perceived as defensive and clumsy in how it handles public relations--is firing back.

That's literally firing back, as the Associated Press reports: "China Tuesday executed the former head of its food and drug watchdog who became a symbol of the country's product safety crisis after he was convicted of taking bribes to approve flawed medicine blamed for several deaths."

Good News for Paper Plate Makers
"US Food Companies Hit by China Ban"--headline, Financial Times, July 15

Never Bring a Knife to a Gunfight
"India Seen Sticking to Guns at U.S. Nuclear Talks"--headline, Reuters, July 14

Metaphor Alert
"A ray of sunlight for solar energy in Pennsylvania, a hopeful forecast for investment in other alternative sources of power, and continuing clouds over conservation. That, in a nutshell, was the outcome of last-minute negotiations . . ."--Philadelphia Inquirer, July 11

That's a Pretty Good Job for a Fish
"Grouper to Serve as Online Talent Agency"--headline, Associated Press, July 16

Your Position Has Been Replaced by a Robot
"Samsung Names Memory Chip Unit Chief"--headline, Associated Press, July 16

First He Undressed Her With His Eyes . . .
"Man Had Sex With Pupils, Police Say"--headline, Associated Press, July 15

Breaking News From 1986
"Gorbachev Defends Suspension of Cold War Treaty"--headline, ABC News Web site (Australia), July 16

News You Can Use

Bottom Stories of the Day

  • "Lobsters Life Work for Maine Scientist"--headline, Associated Press, July 14

  • "Elizabeth Edwards Decries Beating Death of Sacramento Man"--headline, Associated Press, Examiner.com, July 15

  • "Kucinich Lashes Out at Limiting Debates"--headline, Associated Press, July 13

A Warm Climate Is a Sober Climate
From the BBC:

Some studies have suggested that the wine map could be changed completely if global warming proceeds apace over the coming decades.

In North America's most renowned wine-growing region, Napa Valley in California, current conditions are near-perfect.

"You have the climate, you have ideal soils and a history of winemaking that goes back to the turn of last century. It's a combination of those things that makes Napa Valley unique," says Jeff Virnig, winemaker at Robert Sinskey Vineyards.

A subtle variation of temperatures and conditions in different places means "you can pretty much grow any grape variety here in this valley".

Some scientists say global warming could turn that all on its head.

A study by the America's National Academy of Sciences last year suggested that the area of the US suitable for growing premium wine grapes could decline by 81% by the end of the century.

In other words, global warming will lead to a decrease in alcohol abuse. Leave it to the BBC to give the story a negative spin!

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Today on OpinionJournal:

  • Peter Berkowitz: There's not much substance behind the latest atheist tracts.
  • William Voegeli (from the Claremont Review of Books): Arthur Schlesinger's "vital center" was neither vital nor a center.
  • The Journal Editorial Report: A transcript of the weekend's program on FOX News Channel.

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