From the WSJ Opinion Archives
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Comic
Relief
Barack Obama's recent pronouncements on foreign policy would be frightening
if they weren't so ridiculous. In just the past few weeks, the junior senator
from Illinois has said genocide would be an acceptable outcome in Iraq, said
he would never consider using nuclear weapons under any circumstances, and promised
to hold summit meetings with the rulers of every rogue state under the sun,
while threatening to invade a difficult ally.
But a dark horse candidate has emerged in the Democratic comedy stakes, and it isn't even Mike Gravel. From Reuters:
Democratic presidential candidate Chris Dodd, a senator from Connecticut, also criticized Obama, saying that over the last several days, "Senator Obama's assertions about foreign and military affairs have been, frankly, confusing and confused. He has made threats he should not make and made unwise categorical statements about military options."
"We are facing a dangerous and complicated world. The next president will require a level of understanding and judgment unprecedented in American history to address these challenges," Dodd said.
If we give Dodd's statement the most reasonable interpretation, he is admitting that he himself is not up to the job of being the next president. The alternative reading is that he is claiming that he--Chris Dodd!--has "a level of understanding and judgment unprecedented in American history."
Either way, it is probably the funniest statement anyone has yet uttered in this interminable campaign.
The
Left vs. the First Amendment
"Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards has called on fellow Democrats
to oppose News Corp.'s purchase of the Dow Jones Co. and 'take the necessary
steps to stop the merger' in a major step up of his previous criticism of Fox
News Channel," reports AdAge.com:
In an e-mail to supporters [yesterday], the former North Carolina senator said continuing media consolidation "threatens the health of our democracy."
"News Corp.'s purchase of the Dow Jones Co. and The Wall Street Journal should be the last straw when it comes to media consolidation," said the e-mail.
"The basis of a strong democracy begins and ends with a strong, unbiased and fair media--all qualities which are pretty hard to subscribe to Fox News and News Corp. (Read his full statement here.)
First of all, unless he's complaining that his local cable system doesn't carry Fox News Channel, he should have said "ascribe," not "subscribe."
Anyway, Edwards is entitled to his opinion, but anyone who cares about freedom of the press ought to be unsettled by the spectacle of a politician seeking to use the power of the state to enforce his own vision on the media.
Edwards is not just randomly shooting his mouth off. As Adam Thierer notes on the City Journal Web site, an ideological movement, gaining currency on the left, calls for government control over the media. At its forefront is a group with the Orwellian name Free Press, headed by one Robert W. McChesney:
"We can only hope the culmination of this [Dow Jones-News Corp.] deal is the wake-up call Washington needs to start rolling back media consolidation," McChesney said. His many books on media policy provide a road map for the radical reform that he has in mind. In one, he casts media regulation as part of a broader movement to achieve "social justice" through "a broad anti-corporate, pro-democracy movement." He also speaks of the need "to rip the veil off [corporate] power, and to work so that social decision making and power may be made as enlightened and as egalitarian as possible." In another, coauthored with John Nichols of the Nation, he asserts that "the need to promote an understanding of the urgency to assert public control over the media has never been greater."
In Edwards's defense, he probably isn't sincere. The New York Post (disclosure: News Corp. owns it) reports that "Edwards, who yesterday demanded Democratic candidates return any campaign donations from Rupert Murdoch and News Corp., himself earned at least $800,000 [2,000 haircuts] for a book published by one of the media mogul's companies."
What's
Korean for 'Chutzpah'?
Last month Taliban terrorists in Afghanistan kidnapped 23 Christian missionaries
from South Korea. "Demanding the release of militant prisoners, including
some held by the United States, the hostage-takers have killed two male captives
so far," the Associated Press reports from Seoul.
Some South Koreans are blaming America:
As the hostage crisis drags on, South Koreans are increasingly questioning what they have received from the U.S. in exchange for sending soldiers to support the U.S.-led coalitions in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Well, if the Koreans keep asking this question, perhaps we should consider the following trade: South Korea withdraws its 1,200 troops from Iraq and 200 troops from Afghanistan--as it plans to do by the end of the year anyway. In exchange, America withdraws its 29,000 troops from South Korea.
That's
All, Folks!
Blogger "Mike"
gets a laugh out of this press release from the Multi-National Corps in Iraq:
The top target for al Qaeda in Iraq[*] south of Baghdad was killed July 14 in Arab Jabour by precision-guided munitions, the Excalibur.
Shortly after 12 p.m., 1st Battalion, 30th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, received a call that Abu Jurah and 14 anti-Iraqi forces were meeting at a house in Arab Jabour.
Abu Jurah was an AQI cell leader and was responsible for improvised explosive devices, vehicle-borne IED and indirect fire attacks on Coalition Forces in Arab Jabour.
At approximately 1:12 p.m., the house was positively identified allowing 1st Battalion, 9th Field Artillery Regiment to fire two Excalibur rounds destroying the meeting house.
An unmanned aerial vehicle observed persons leaving the house, loading injured individuals into a sedan and fleeing the scene.
An AH-64 Apache helicopter engaged the sedan destroying it.
Three people were observed running from the meeting house to a nearby house.
A U.S. Air Force F16 Fighting Falcon dropped two 500-pound GPS-guided bombs on the second house.
Quips Mike: "If there were any survivors they would probably have finished them off with a giant anvil."
* Or, as the New York Times calls it, al Qaeda Which Has Nothing to Do With Iraq in Mesopotamia Which Also Has Nothing to Do With Iraq Even Though It's Another, More Poetic Name for Iraq Which Has Nothing to Do With al Qaeda, a Homegrown Iraqi Group That Has Nothing to Do With Iraq Even Though It Is Mostly Iraqi, Albeit With Some Foreign Involvement Which Has Nothing to Do With Iraq.
This
Just Makes Us Cry
Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.), chairman of the House Appropriations defense panel,
has secured the most earmarked dollars in the 2008 military spending bill, followed
closely by the panel's ranking member Rep. Bill Young (R-Fla.)," the Hill
reports:
Even though Young secured 52 earmarks, worth $117.2 million--and co-sponsored at least $27 million worth of others--Murtha's 48 earmarks amount to a total of $150.5 million, according to a database compiled by the watchdog organization Taxpayers for Common Sense (TCS).
We're so disillusioned. We really thought the Democrats would be different!
Are You Sure That's Tofu, Jessica?
- "Hermaphroditic Deer With Seven Legs 'Tasty':
Wisconsin hunter bags odd beast with pickup in driveway, eats it"--headline
and subheadline, MSNBC.com, Dec. 14, 2006
- "Vets Set to Put Down Seven-Legged Lamb: Animal in New Zealand a hermaphrodite
and 'happy'
but badly deformed"--headline and subheadline, MSNBC.com, Aug. 2,
2007
- "I am crazy for the Tiny's Tasty Happy salad and I always get tofu bacon and tofu chicken cutlet in it with a creamy garlic dressing and my day turns delightful."--Jessica B., reviewing Tiny's Giant Sandwich Shop, Yelp.com, Oct. 6, 2006
Sounds
Painful
"Judiciary Pushes Bush Probe"--headline, Associated Press, Aug. 2
Anyone
Got a 51-Star Flag?
"Palestinians Hail US Statehood Push"--headline, Jerusalem Post, Aug. 2
Fog
in Channel, Continent Cut Off
"Bridge Collapse Stops Twin Cities Sports in Their Tracks"--headline,
ESPN.com, Aug. 2
Who
Else Could They Possibly Blame?
"Americans blame the media for the saturation of celebrity coverage on
TV."--Hollywood Reporter via Reuters, Aug. 2
Fighting
That Obesity Epidemic
"Senate OKs Wider Kids' Health Program"--headline, Associated Press,
Aug. 3
He
Was Talking With His Mouth Full
"Toddler 'Word Spurt' Explained"--headline, Discovery.com, Aug. 2
Is
the Kalahari Next?
"New Owners Take Over the Sahara"--headline, KXNT-AM Web site (Las
Vegas), Aug. 2
Generalissimo
Francisco Franco Is Still Dead
"Ron Paul Remains Longshot for GOP Nom"--headline, Associated Press,
Aug. 3
News You Can Use
- "Collapse Will Heighten Discomfort of Bridge-Phobia Sufferers"--headline,
Portland
(Maine) Press Herald, Aug. 3
- "Experts: Leadership, Money Keys to Building Bridges"--headline, CNN.com, Aug. 2
Bottom Stories of the Day
- "Apartment Residents Report Roach Problem"--headline, KETV
Web site (Omaha, Neb.), Aug. 2
- "TV Anchors Subjected to Ridicule Online"--headline, Associated
Press, July 31
- "Nats Do Nothing at Trade Deadline"--headline, Washington
Times, Aug. 1
- "Singers Fail to Build Largest Kazoo Band"--headline, Associated
Press, Aug. 3
- "Canada Rejects Arctic Flag-Planting as a [sic] 'Just a Show by Russia"--headline, Agence France-Presse, Aug. 2
Flight
93 It Ain't
Is Karnesha Nantz a hero? You be the judge. According to TCPalm.com, Nantz,
a 25-year-old "exotic dancer," was performing for Daniel Karpinski,
46, in Port St. Lucie, Fla., when "she noticed Karpinski slumped down on
the couch and having problems breathing":
She called 911 and performed CPR on Karpinski because he wasn't conscious or breathing and continued until paramedics arrived. . . .
Nantz told investigators that Karpinski repeatedly offered her prescription narcotics while she danced for him.
Karpinski said he took a pill that Nantz gave him and remembered nothing until he awoke at the hospital.
"She did give him some sort of illegal pill, but she's definitely a hero for being able to revive him," said Officer Robert Vega, police spokesman.
Would she have been more or less of a heroine if she had given him heroin?
(Carol Muller helps compile Best of the Web Today. Thanks to Clayton Craighead, Steve Prestegard, Tom George, Joe Hutsebaut, Evan Slatis, Jeremy Brown, Steve McNally, Paul Baylor, Patrick Lamasney, Rod Pennington, Israel Pickholtz, Daniel Foty, Kyle Harrell, Rhonda Cisneros, Don Stewart, Jeff Dobbs, Brian O'Rourke, Chris Green, Jed Flint, Joseph DeMartino, William Golden, Dennis Snyder, Ian Marsh, David Benzion, Peter Huntsman, Charlie Gaylord, Jon Pinnell, Dan Magli, Jack Archer, Peter Sprigg, Alex Miller, Michael Zukerman, Gerry McCracken and Mark Parsons. If you have a tip, write us at opinionjournal@wsj.com, and please include the URL.)
Today on OpinionJournal:
- Review & Outlook: Democrats pretend to be serious about intelligence.
- Kim Strassel: Do Dems finally understand the collateral effects of taxing the "rich"?
- Peggy Noonan: Advice for the ladies who seek to become first lady.
- The Journal Editorial Report: Tune in this weekend for discussions of the terror surveillance problems and sports scandals.
And on the Taste page:
- Brendan Miniter: A refugee to our shores finds a way to protect our soldiers.
- Kay Hymowitz: Teens skip menial summer jobs but miss some valuable lessons.
- Leslie Hook: Why those South Korean missionaries were in Afghanistan.
