The Review
Bioterrorism Preparedness
(
Review) How well is the world prepared for Bioterrorism attacks? Not very, says
The Economist.
Al Gore's Biggest Obstacle: Al Gore
(
Review) Steve Chapman discusses Al Gore in today's Chicago
Tribune.
Watching Al Gore make his re-entry into the public arena after nearly two years out of the spotlight, I can say with confidence that there is a substantial group of people who want him to run for president again in 2004. They're called Republicans.
Gore says he hasn't made up his mind whether to try again. But his pronouncements already have the calculated, prefabricated quality that distinguishes campaign rhetoric from normal human speech.
When he says, "I think there is virtue in just taking an unvarnished position as to what the best solution may be, and let the chips fall where they may," he brings to mind Richard Nixon walking on the beach in a suit and wingtips.
How long, you have to wonder, did Gore spend coming up with that formulation? He can no more be unscripted and spontaneous in a political setting than Nixon could walk around in public shirtless and barefoot.
I liked a particular line from the last election: George W. Bush talks to us like English is his second language. Al Gore talks to us like English is
our second language.
Taking their work home...
(
Review) According to the
Times of London, Saddam Hussein has found a new way to hide his arsenal.
Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein has ordered hundreds of his officials to conceal weapons of mass destruction components in their homes to evade the prying eyes of the United Nations inspectors.
According to a stream of intelligence now emerging from inside Iraq, the full extent of the Iraqi leader’s deception operation is now becoming apparent. As the U.N. inspectors knock on the doors of the major military sites in Iraq, suspected of housing chemical and biological weapons and banned missiles, the bulk of the evidence is being secreted away in people’s homes.
The evidence of this latest concealment ploy is judged to be so damning that President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair are considering making a personal appeal to the Iraqi officials involved to let the inspectors know what is going on.
Intelligence picked up from within Iraq and from electronic intercepts of Iraqi communications has revealed that scientists, civil servants and Baath Party officials have all been ordered to store key components of Saddam’s secret weapons of mass destruction program in their homes.
Naturally, people aren't doing this because they want to.
In each case, the scientists, officials and farmers are being warned that they and their families will face severe penalties if they fail to hide these stocks of chemicals and biological materials from prying U.N. inspectors.
To the inspectors, I can only say, "Please, please, please find us the smoking gun we need to whack Saddam Hussein."
Getting hotter in New Orleans
(
Review) The Louisiana Senate race between Suzy Terrell (R) and Mary Landrieu (D) is heating up, and getting a bit nasty.
Swiss Experts Say Last Bin Laden Tape Actually Rich Little
(
Review According to Radio Free Europe:
A respected Swiss research institute says the latest audiotape statement attributed to Osama bin Laden is not authentic.
The report, by the Lausanne-based Dalle Molle Institute for Perceptual Artificial Intelligence (IDIAP), contradicts the findings of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency and National Security Agency. IDIAP says it is 95 percent certain the tape does not feature the voice of the terrorist leader. The U.S. agencies say they are almost certain it does.
The US government, of course, says otherwise.
Google News and the end of the world
(
Review) Michael Kinsley thinks that Google News has unveiled the future of Journalism. And that's a Bad Thing.
Google concedes that its choices of stories and news sources are "occasionally unusual and contradictory," but insists with uncharacteristic pomposity, "it is exactly this variety that makes Google News a valuable source of information on the important issues of the day."
Which is humbug. People still do it better. But not by much. The day is clearly approaching when editors can be replaced by computers. This requires some urgent rethinking.
Throughout the revolution of technology and globalization that has been going on for two decades, responsible mainstream commentators, pundits, analysts and miscellaneous gasbags (including this one) have taken the view that progress is a good thing. Some people are unfortunately caught in the gears of change, but society as a whole benefits. It's not very complicated if you know a bit of economics. You've got your "invisible hand" (that's free markets), you've got your "comparative advantage" (that's free trade), you've got your "perennial gale of creative destruction" (that's competition and new technology), you've got your "can't make an omelet without breaking eggs" (that's attributed to Joseph Stalin, but never mind). The losers in this process deserve sympathy and help, but special pleading must not be allowed to thwart or slow this process.
We must distinguish, however, between special pleading and legitimate alarm about deeply troubling developments. It is one thing to sacrifice textile workers and auto workers on the altar of progress. It is quite another to start throwing journalists into the flames. And the difference is? Well, it's very different. Completely different. Couldn't be more different, quite frankly, my good madam, because . . . because . . . well, it occurs to me that I'm a journalist. This puts the situation in a new perspective.
I'll bet.
Capitalism is good. Christmas is good. Put them together? Good!
(
Review Luke Sullivan puts Christmas Commercialization in perspective. And tells a good story about his mother, the liberal.
My mother, a dyed-in-the-wool Minnesota Democrat, is sitting across the breakfast table from me. She's reading the paper and comes across an ad for the big after-Thanksgiving sale at the Mall of America.
"How can people even go to that place?" she laments. "It's just a ... just a monument to capitalism!"
She's my mom, so what can I tell her? I wish I could say, "Ma, that dress you're wearing? Did you, um, grow it or something? And those shoes, did you whittle those? No, you bought 'em, Mom, with money, in a store. That's capitalism, and it's OK."
And this is in the LA Times, too.
Thomas Sowell on Gun Gontrol
Dr. Sowell addresses the issue in three parts:
here,
here, and
here.
Conclusion: Gun control laws are mainly pointless.
Doctor Phil knows guns--Not!
(
Review) Memo to Dr. Phil: Here's the deal. I won't go to Turner Sporting Goods for mental health counseling, and you stop talking about guns. How's that?
Reconnecting with the country
(
Review) Author Frank Schaeffer is a northeastern liberal elitist. Or, at least, he was before his son became a Marine. Since then, he's been thinking.
It had been hard enough sending my two older children off to Georgetown and New York University. John's enlisting was unexpected, so deeply unsettling. I did not relish the prospect of answering the question ''So where is John going to college?'' from the parents who were itching to tell me all about how their son or daughter was going to Harvard. At the private high school John attended, no other students were going into the military.
''But aren't the Marines terribly Southern?'' asked one perplexed mother while standing next to me at the brunch following graduation. ''What a waste. He was such a good student,'' said another parent. One parent (a professor at a nearby and rather famous university) spoke up at a school meeting and suggested that the school should ``carefully evaluate what went wrong.''
Have we wealthy and educated Americans all become pacifists? Is the world a safe place? Or have we just gotten used to having somebody else defend us? What is the future of our democracy when the sons and daughters of the janitors at our elite universities are far more likely to be put in harm's way than are any of the students whose dorms are cleaned by the parents of our military?
I feel shame because it took my son's joining the Marine Corps to make me take notice of who is defending me. I feel hope because perhaps my son is part of a future ''greatest generation.'' As the storm clouds of war gather, at least I know that I can look the men and women in uniform in the eye. My son is one of them. He is the best I have to offer. He is my heart.
Reality is still the best teacher.
Happy Thanksgiving
That's enough blogging for today. It's off to Grandma's house for Thanksgiving dinner. Have a happy holiday!
Inspection problems
(
Review) Jim Hoagland writes that there are some hurdles in the hunt for Iraqi Weapons of mass destruction.
The Iraqis have rigged the inspection game for more than a decade. They have had four unfettered years to perfect their concealment operation. They will quickly find ways to penetrate the U.N. team -- if they have not already done so. Even a good-faith, all-out effort by the inspectors, which is far from guaranteed, faces enormous obstacles.
And under Hans Blix, the guy who missed the Iraqi Nuke program the first time around, one wonders how serious the inspectors will be at overcoming the obstacles.
Whine, bitch, moan
(
Review) Norah Vincent says the Democrats don't win because they are by turns whiny and pompously officious.
Pilgrinomics 101
(
Review) Jeff Jacoby writes for the Boston
Globe about the important economic lesson the Pilgrims teach us, which is, essentially, that socialism is a failure.
And a potentially deadly one.
Rock on, America
(
Review) Rocker Ted Nuget advises us all--from the pages of the
Wall Street Journal, no less--that we should never forget that this is the greatest country the world has ever known.
With our men and women in the military in harms way defending freedom, we should be thankful that many of our young people have answered the call of patriotism and love of country to serve in our armed forces and defend our way of life. Without their numerous personal sacrifices and the sacrifices of generations of veterans who have gone before them, there would be little in America to be thankful for. Say a prayer this Thanksgiving for our brave warriors who are separated from their loved ones by thousands of miles.
We should all be thankful for corporate America and the smart, savvy men and women who are steering their companies through turbulent economic times. Contrary to the high-profile news reports of the past year concerning the very immoral and criminal acts of some of the officers of Enron, Global Crossing and Worldcom, these morally bankrupt company officers remain the pathetic exception rather than the rule in the American free enterprise system.
There are untold tens of thousands of honest people with high moral and ethical standards at the helm of American businesses. I know some of them, have worked with others, and admire many more of them for their business acumen. These leaders rarely make the news for doing what is best for their companies, but they are out there nonetheless trying to find innovative ways to expand existing markets and open up new business channels so their companies will be profitable, stockholders will make money, and millions of Americans will have good jobs for years to come. Capitalism is the fuel that propels this experiment in self-government forward. Be thankful for those ethical, dedicated people who steer American businesses.
Having met tens of thousands of Americans in my music and hunting travels over the past 40 years, I'm buoyed and thankful that the American spirit still soars high on the wings of an eagle. From cops to priests to firemen to guitar players, the rugged, defiant American spirit that has built and nurtured America is alive, prospering and kicking. I remain convinced America is the land of hard working, caring, law abiding people who go about their daily lives trying to provide a better life for their families, which, in the final analysis, leads to a more vibrant America overall. Rush hour and traffic jams are beautiful things. They prove we rock.
That's pretty good stuff, coming from the man who gave us, "Wang Dang Sweet Poontang".
No thanksgiving holiday for terrorists
(
Review) Israelis are being hit by several terrorist incidents today.
Happy Turkey Day
Have a happy Thanksgiving Day, everyone!
Free-Traders everywhere rejoice
(
Review) The
Times of London is happy with the Bush Administration's proposal to kill tariffs by 2015.
The new proposals will invigorate the World Trade Organisation and its Doha round of talks. Until now, the slow progress of these talks had encouraged countries to sign bilateral or regional trade pacts instead. The US has resumed talks with Latin American countries on creating a Free Trade Area of the Americas, which would stretch from Alaska to Argentina. China and Japan are discussing a possible free trade agreement with other South East Asian countries. The US proposals should inspire new resolve among others. Many details are still to be worked out. But the Americans have raised the sights of all nations.
I suspect they are even more surprised than they are pleased, considering this administration's history of bad trade decisions.
Lewis Feuer, R.I.P.
(
Review) David Frum eulogizes Lewis Feuer, who made the journey from Trotskyite to anti-communist.
The vast right-wing conspiracy
(
Review) Al Gore has had it with the right-wing media bias that he has to fight.
Al Gore is a moron.
Suggestions on "Saudi" Arabia
(
Review) Deroy Murdock has some advice on what we should do with the Saudis, especially in the aftermath of the revelations about how Princess Haifa al-Faisal (daughter of former King Faisal and wife of Saudi Ambassador to the United States, Prince Bandar) supplied money that wound up in the hands of the 911 hijackers.
Washington policymakers must recognize that they are standing at the bottom of a one-way street down which the Saudis' garbage cans tumble. Consequently, America should take the following, immediate steps:
Commence a full, honest, and open investigation into Saudi complicity or cooperation in the September 11 massacre. An incisive probe on Capitol Hill will help disclose things the Bush administration would rather keep under wraps. The question to answer is simple: What did the Saudis do, and when did they do it?
Demand Saudi assistance in these inquiries and publicize their help or lack of it.
As Rep. Anthony Weiner (D., N.Y.) proposed on Fox News Channel on November 26, add Saudi Arabia to the list of states at high-risk of containing terrorists (such as Algeria, Libya, and North Korea). The citizens of such countries must face greater scrutiny before and after they enter the United States.
Congress should explore the possibility of requiring Saudi agencies and subjects to declare their monetary transfers into the U.S. As a free-marketeer, I am hesitant to suggest such a measure. As an American who does not want to see any more of my countrymen murdered by Saudi subjects sponsored from Riyadh, I believe such a step may be necessary.
Washington must demand that Saudi Arabia cease its funding and support for radical mosques, Islamic schools, and publishing houses that inspire hatred and homicide. The Saudi government can express its differences with Israeli and U.S. public policy without calling for the destruction of world Jewry and the murder of Americans, Westerners and non-Muslims. This is not too much to ask of our so-called "friends."
And if that doesn't work, then maybe they need "a whiff of the grape".
What college Kids are learning about terrorism
(
Review) Stanley Michalak has been taking a look at what college texts have to say about terrorism.
Ave Bush, Ave Ceasar?
(
Review) Victor Davis Hanson says that if we are an empire, it's an awful funny sort of empire.
Dissing John Edwards
(
Review) The folks over at
The American Prospect think John Edwards is a loser. One of his main crimes: Not being enough of a lefty.
There's another problem for Edwards. Looking at his Senate Web site, you wouldn't even know he's a Democrat. His biography calls him an "independent voice for North Carolina" and mentions his "bipartisan accomplishments." But Edwards' voice on the site isn't clear: He's a breed of centrist, NASCAR Democrat, although his motto -- "The People's Senator" -- smacks of populism. Yet if Democrats learned anything from this fall's election debacle, it should be that voters want more of a choice between their candidates, not a muddled middle ground. Edwards has said that Democrats need to offer alternatives to Bush's program, but veering toward the center makes that a tad more difficult.
This is another classic case of Not Getting It. The reasoning here boggles. Democrats lost because they didn't offer a clear enough alternative to the Republicans. If only they'd veered even farther left, and reflexievly opposed everything the Bush Administration has done, people would have voted for them.
Uh-huh. You just keep thinkin' that, guys.
Securing a Democratic Future
(
Review) Fred Barnes writes that Democrats got hammered--and will continue getting hammered--as long as they don't appear to be serious about national security.
Democrats are having a nervous breakdown--needlessly. Sure, they lost the 2002 election badly, but it wasn't a catastrophic defeat. They lost for a simple reason: voters caught on that they weren't serious about the war on terrorism, including regime change in Iraq. So the one thing Democrats need to do is adopt a tough position on fighting terrorists. Then they'll be competitive again. And this, oddly enough, will allow them to play up the domestic issues that favor them over Republicans.
Sad to say, since the November 5 election, Democrats have been going in the wrong direction, trivializing or otherwise dissing the security issue. They've accused Bush of putting Iraq and its weapons of mass destruction on the national agenda solely to help Republicans in the election. They've insisted the homeland security issue was exploited unfairly, chiefly to question the patriotism of Democratic candidates such as Sen. Max Cleland of Georgia. And ex-vice president Al Gore has attacked President Bush for supposed massive violations of civil liberties by jailing suspected terrorists without formal charges.
All this leaves Democrats as vulnerable as ever on the overriding issue of our time, security. Since the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, Americans have had an understandable interest in being protected from terrorism. Bush has responded by declaring a global war on terrorists, jailing suspects at home, proposing a new Department of Homeland Security, and demanding that Iraq disarm completely. A few Democrats have endorsed Bush's efforts fully, but many more have opposed or quibbled over important parts of his anti-terrorist agenda.
You can get away with being frivolous on national security issues only when the nation feels itself to be secure and at peace. When the opposing conditions obtain, a lack of seriousness about the security of the American people is a prescription for defeat. National Security is the prime responsibility of the government, and the American people know this.
Too bad the Democrats don't.
Really good at hide and seek
(
Review) Dr. Khidhir Hamza, former head of Iraq's nuclear weapons program, writes in
USA Today the lengths Iraq goes to in order to hide it's weapons programs. Very enlightening reading from one of the main guys involved in such shennanigans in the past.
Total Information Awareness
(
Review) Pejman Yousefzadeh says it's a bad idea, and creepy besides.
Lileks Speaks
(
Review) James Lileks on anti-Semitism.
Abolish Tariffs!
(
Review) This is HUGE! The US has put a proposal on the table to abolish tariffs on manufactured goods completely by 2015.
Coming from the Administration of STeel and lumber tariffs, this is an about face, to say the least.
Our terrible or joyous future
(
Review) Julia Moore (the scientist, not to be confused with Julianne Moore, the hot actress) writes on nanotechnology. is it the harbinger of a coming Golden Age for mankind, or is it the herald of the death of mankind?
The best of the Worst
(
Review) Stuart Rothenburg runs down the worst election campaigns of 2002 for
Roll Call online.
Remaking the Mideast
(
Review) Michael Barone writes about what must be done.
Then there is the problem of Saudi Arabia. The Saudis are not helping our war effort, and they are continuing to use their oil money to propagate Wahhabi totalitarianism around the world. This spreading of Islamist fundamentalism will continue to be a grave threat to our civilization after Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction are in safe hands, for our war is not only against evil regimes but against evil ideas. After the liberation of Iraq, the United States will be in a strong position to work with discontented Saudis to move the royal family on the course toward freedom taken by Qatar and Bahrain and to insist that the Saudis stop the propagation of Wahhabism in their lands and around the world. Those inside our government who have shunned democracy in Iraq, seek deals with the mullahs in Iran, and want to accommodate the Saudis say we must follow their advice in order to preserve stability in the Middle East. But stability in the Middle East gave us September 11. The work ahead is daunting. But it's even more daunting to think about living in a world in which that work is not done.
Promote liberal democracy. That should be the main thrust of our foreign policy.
Chief Justice Roulette
(
Review)
Slate's Dahlia Lithwick handicaps the changes rumored to be floating around the Supreme Court, but she warns, "No one knows any of this for sure, we're mostly making it up, and the doings of the high court are more shrouded in rumor, fabrication, and innuendo than any place other than seventh-period study hall."
So, take it for what it's worth.
Internecine squabbling
(
Review) The Christian Science
Monitor reports on the internal struggles for the soul of the Democratic party, despite the fact that the terms "Democratic Party" and "soul" are oxymoronic.
They're doing it again
(
Review) UN CHief Weapons Inspector Hans Blix says the Iraqis are telling him that they may have trouble with the Dec 8 deadline for declaring their weapons of mass destruction.
Blix said Iraqi officials told him they have no weapons of mass destruction, and they are having trouble interpreting the U.N. demands, such as listing factories that can be used for dual-use purposes.
Once again, the Iraqis are getting ready to seize upon any excuse for delay or obfuscation.
Catfight! Catfight!
(
Review) The Terrell-Landrieu debate had an unfriendly end.
After a tense 30-minute segment finished taping at WDSU's studios in New Orleans, the two candidates were preparing to leave. According to witnesses, Landrieu looked over her shoulder and told Terrell, "This is your last campaign."
A stunned Terrell replied, "She threatened me."
No other words passed between the two New Orleans women, but moderator Alec Gifford said Landrieu appeared peeved.
"She just kind of stalked out of the studio," Gifford said.
A Landrieu spokesman, Rich Masters, said the comment wasn't a threat, but a prediction that after running such a negative campaign, Terrell would no longer be viable as a candidate in Louisiana.
A Terrell spokesman said Terrell was shocked at what happened and saw it as a sign of Landrieu's desperation.
The only remaining question for the next debate is whether it will feature jello or mud.
Permanent, Marginal, and Immediate
(
Review) Robert Bartley explains the three criteria needed to have successful tax cuts that stimulate the economy.
Now or Never
(
Review) Fareed Zakaria explains why it's now or never for eliminating Saddam Hussein.
Time is short. If events do not come to a head soon after Dec. 8, the pressure for action will dissipate and the weather will make conflict impossible until next fall. And you cannot replay this movie. America’s Arab allies like Qatar and Kuwait will not find credible Washington’s renewed bellicosity and will not stick their necks out yet again, the inspections process will have become more political and France and Russia will have gained support in the Security Council. At home, the continuing uncertainty, high oil prices and low business investment will cripple the economy. The administration has set its course. It’s now or never.
The Bush Administration has staked its credibility on deposing Saddam Hussein. Now they have to play or pay.
Mark Steyn is worried
(
Review) He isn't happy with the current pause in the war on terror.
As things stand, there are only three countries that are serious about the "war on terror": America, Britain and Australia. And, even within that shrunken rump of the West, there are fierce divisions: Australia's sissy press makes The Toronto Star look like, well, the National Post; it's doubtful whether Tony Blair speaks for more than 30% of his parliamentary party; and President Bush's resoluteness doesn't extend to his Secretary of State or even, during Ramadan, to himself. The longer this already too long period of phony war continues, the more likely it is that even these stalwarts will decay and Canadianize. I worry about the thin line on which our civilization depends. This last year has been too quiet. Next Ramadan, when the traditional calls for a bombing pause are issued, let's hope there's some bombing to pause.
At the very least, let's hope the bombing has been completed.
