Editorial Blog


May 22 - June 14, 2002
By JEFF RUSHING, Webmaster


    "No one said we should be hungry, too:"
    OpinionJournal.com notes "The opening day of the UN World Food Summit, dedicated to combating global hunger, was marked yesterday by a sumptuous lunch for the 3,000 delegates served by 170 Italian waiters," the Times of London reports. "The summit leaders were offered foie gras, lobster, and goose stuffed with olives, followed by fruit compote."
Posted 06/14/02, 1:43 a.m.

    I just saw a Saturday Night Live sketch poking fun at the Branch Davidian leader David Koresh that aired during the siege in 1993. I'm a bit surprised that Comedy Central hasn't been asked to pull that, considering the tragic ending.
Posted 06/14/02, 1:34 a.m.

    To see the moral unequivalence of how Israelis and Palestinians are dealing with the conflict in the Middle East, the Jerusalem Post reports that "Israel will cover the cost of cancer treatments for an ill Palestinian child if the Palestinian Authority is unable to do so." Israeli officials "acceded to the claim" that "Israel was responsible for the health and wellbeing of Palestinians in areas it entered."
    Meanwhile, a new poll of Palestinians shows that a majority believe the aim of their 20-month-old uprising should be to eliminate Israel and not just end Israeli occupation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Posted 06/14/02, 1:30 a.m.

    I am a bit near fed up with the countless sports columnists who are patting themselves on the back for not letting themselves get caught up in World Cup fever. Stop wasting space in the precious little Cup coverage you do have in the paper, and give those who do like the Cup a chance to get as much information as possible without having to navigate around haughty writers.
Posted 06/13/02, 11:03 p.m.

    I sure hope our intelligence guys didn't use racial profiling or harass any terrorist suspects to get the guy who was planning a dirty bomb attack against his homeland - 'cause then they'd be in for it by the ACLU!
    Yeah, his given name is Jose Padilla. Nothing stands out there. But he became a Muslim in prison and changed his name to Abdullah al Muhajir, and flying back from Pakistan that sends all kinds of red flags. There are examples of non-Arab members of al Qaeda, but they're all Muslim, no matter how much the Arab-American special interest groups try to spin it, we're at war with Islamofascism, an extreme form of the religion bent on destroying civilization, and that's something we must profile.
Posted 06/13/02, 11:03 p.m.

    Gee, I hope the Dems succeed in giving the U.S. socialized medicine: Britain's National Institute for Clinical Excellence is proposing new guidelines for the National Health Service under which patients who are going blind would have to lose the sight in one eye before receiving treatment. Meanwhile, cancer patients in Canada have to sign up on a list to receive treatment.
Posted 06/13/02, 11:00 p.m.

    Dolpho, a 5-year-old German shepherd police dog, is being targeted for death for racial profiling. A Pennsylvania councilwoman said that Dolpho can tell the difference between blacks and whites, and only goes after blacks, thus he should be put to sleep.
    Hey, I can tell the difference, too. Guess I should be put down as well.
Posted 06/13/02, 3:23 a.m.

    Columnist Kathleen Parker makes the observation that those who seek to insult President Bush by calling him a cowboy are missing the mark. Sometimes what we need are just these kinds of people, and they are a right honorable lot:
    "Remember the red states, the states that voted for Bush in the last election? That vast flyover stretch between D.C. and L.A.? Cowboys and cowgirls. ... We kind of like our cowboys over here and, not incidentally, our cheeseburgers. It's hard to have one without the other. Moreover, cowboys are the good guys, remember? ... The cowboy spirit, which is alive and well in America and anathema to the axis countries and others who hate us, is characterized by freedom; that cliché that was born of good reason, rugged individualism. The cowboy cherishes freedom above all else, as do most Americans."
Posted 06/13/02, 3:20 a.m.

    Professor Robert F. Turner, former chairman of the Jefferson-Hemings Scholars Commission, writes in the Boston Globe that popular history regarding former president Thomas Jefferson is very much incorrect, and a fabrication that has been seized upon by those who wish to interject negative race relations into the study of one of our country's fathers and greatest thinkers.
    Turner says that the allegation that Thomas Jefferson fathered children by Sally Hemings was first published in 1802 in fulfillment of a blackmail threat by one of the most disreputable scandalmongers of the era, James Callender, who hated people of color and expected that the rumor would cost Jefferson his reelection.
Posted 06/13/02, 3:13 a.m.

    Sure to replace "Annie" in the annals of theater for the entire family comes "I Ain't Goin to Hell," a play planned at Minneapolis's Orpheum theater. Its ad describes the play as : "...a very spiritual, down-to-earth performance that addresses real issues such as relationships, drug abuse, rape and proves inspiration for the whole family to enjoy."
Posted 06/13/02, 3:05 a.m.

    Great moments in airline security, from OpinionJournal.com:
    "A former president of Afghanistan was removed from a trans-Atlantic flight when security screeners in Florida mistakenly interpreted a comment he made as a threat," the Associated Press reports. The article doesn't say what Sibghatullah Mojaddedi, the Afghan prez for two months starting in 1992, actually said. But apparently the problem was a language barrier: Mojaddedi was speaking English, but his comments were "misinterpreted by the screeners, neither of whom spoke English as a first language."
Posted 06/13/02, 3:05 a.m.

    New York Times reporter Fox Butterfield argued against building new prisons with this impeccable logic: "Criminologists generally agree that the prison binge of the last 25 years . . . has helped reduce the crime rate, but largely by simply keeping criminals off the streets."
Posted 06/13/02, 3:04 a.m.

    Not quite Father of the Year:
"I don't see the difference between a chimpanzee and my 4 1/2-year-old son."--Steven Wise, law professor and "animal rights" advocate, quoted in the Washington Post
Posted 06/06/02, 5:20 p.m.

    Admission: I'm getting a little worried about Bush's domestic policy, namely about the waffling and inconsistencies.
    Last week, Pres. Bush announced that there will be no further oil and gas drilling off the coast of Florida and the Everglades, a bit surely aimed at helping brother Jeb get re-elected as governor of Florida, but also sure to be rightly used as ammo by leftist tree-huggers who oppose drilling in ANWR.
    Monday, the administration sent a report to the United Nations in which it acknowledges global warming as a threat to the American environment. The report says the U.S. will be substantially changed in the next few decades, but at least falls short of calling for radical changes that the left calls for, namely rejecting the horrible Kyoto Protocol climate treaty that would spell disaster for the economy. For a more reasonable assessment of global warming and our response, go here and here.
Posted 06/04/02, 2:50 a.m.

    This week's best Vents from the Atlanta Journal-Consitution:
    - Since Dubya seems to slide out of accountability for everything he does, or doesn't do, maybe we should start calling him Dubya-D-40.
    - OK, George Lucas, you have redeemed yourself. But repayment of your debt will not be complete until you release a revised, improved Episode I.
    - You're the president of your home. I'm giving you an intelligence report that a cockroach is planning to infiltrate your abode. Now try to stop it.
    - My niece, Cyndi, recently wrote to say that she and her friend, Kelli, were considering enrolling at the Universiti of Kentucki.
    - I guess Darva Conger proved to Olga Korbut that Americans can still kick a little Russian butt.
    - The AJC asked for readers' opinions on a gender-neutral Bible. It seems to me that if they started with Adam and Adam, it would have ended after Genesis.
    - I just got back from a 12-day vacation and the characters in Mary Worth are still having the same long-distance telephone conversation they were having when I left. Who is their long-distance carrier?
    - I have lived in many cities in my 70-plus years, and in every one, newspaper letter writers have complained that city's drivers are the worst anywhere. I am beginning to wonder if it's my driving they are all complaining about.
Posted 06/04/02, 2:42 a.m.

    The India-Pakistan tiff is even more infuriating to decipher than the Middle East, since these two countries used to be one and the same, but now are like brothers who stopped talking to one another forty years ago and haven't made up yet. Which makes it a lot more dangerous than the U.S.-USSR clashes in the Cold War. Then, we both had real fears of mutually assured destruction; it was in our interests to back down every time. These guys (India and Pakistan, I mean) seem to be more prone at shooting off at the hip along the stupid disputed Kashmir region.
    So while I'd like to say that they won't fire at one another for the fears of mutual destruction, I don't know if it's true.
    But if they did fight, my money's on India with the bigger army and much bigger arsenal. Musharaaf doesn't have a whole lot of support from his citizens (assuming power through force has a way of looking bad), and even without war with India he's in trouble of being ousted with the help of Islamo-fascists who left Afghanistan.
    Then the U.S. is in a difficult place, since we still ask for Pakistan's help with keeping Al-Qaeda out of Pakistan, something Musharaaf doesn't seem to be making much effort to do. So will we end up waging war within Pakistan as well against terrorists, without the help or will of Musharaaf? It's possible.
    So does that mean India thinks we're with Pakistan or with them? Do they care? Do we even take sides? I doubt it. Unlike the Middle East, where Americans by a large margin side with Israel, most don't give a flying flip about the Kashmir region or the sub-continent in general.
    So while we'd prefer that they didn't start a nuclear war, I don't think it affects us that much even if they did. It would just be another humanitarian crisis to take care of, and another notch in the history books. That's sad, but I think true.
Posted 06/04/02, 12:45 a.m.

    No longer shall we wonder how stupidity grows on the vine in Palm Beach County, Florida. It trickles down to their kids, too. The Associated Press reports the public schools have introduced a new countywide final exam in history, consisting of 100 multiple-choice questions. To get a passing grade, a student will have to get a mere 23 of them right. Thirty-nine right answers is enough to earn a B, and 50 will get you an A.
Posted 05/31/02, 10:12 p.m.

    A noteworthy insight on airport security from Shlomo Dor, an Israeli security specialist: "The United States does not have a security system, it has a system for bothering people," Dror says. "The difference between the Israeli and American systems is that we are looking for the terrorist, while the Americans look for the weapons."
Posted 05/31/02, 10:10 p.m.

    Steve Hummer of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on the steroid debate: "This steroid problem might be far more serious than we suspect. My baseball bobblehead doll just beat up my old GI Joe doll."
Posted 05/31/02, 10:08 p.m.

    Two fortunes in one cookie yesterday!
    "Success is on its way to you," and "You will have a long and wealthy life."
    Woohoo! I'm goin' to Vegas, baby!
Posted 05/31/02, 9:55 a.m.

    One of Yasser Arafat's brave muslim terrorist martyrs killed an 18-month-old girl and her grandmother in another homicide bombing on Monday, and yesterday a Palestinian gunman killed three Jewish teens playing basketball at a religious school. Just more examples to throw out there for anyone who tries to make any moral equivalency between how Palestinians and Israelis act in times of war.
Posted 05/29/02, 10:05 a.m.

    Italian police intercepted conversations between suspected al-Qaida militants in 2000 and early 2001 that contain possible references to the Sept. 11 attacks, including plans to use airplanes and a "surprise strike" that "will never be forgotten," newspapers reported Tuesday.
    I believe the question we'd all like answered is: What did Italy know, and when did they know it?
Posted 05/29/02, 9:08 a.m.

    Neat science news this week, with the discovery of a vast reserve of ice under the Martian surface. What does it mean? First, that the possibility of life is even greater now (even if it's just a gaggle of microbes), and second, that any human visit to Mars just got 100 times cheaper, since we can use this water for refueling and drinking.
Posted 05/29/02, 8:58 a.m.

    Good news from the world of law:
    1) Bush still won, act 546: The Justice Department said Tuesday it found no credible evidence that any Florida residents were intentionally denied their right to vote in the state that handed George W. Bush his margin of victory in the 2000 election.
    2) The Supreme Court denied an appeal from an Atlanta dental hygienist who was demoted when it was learned he had HIV. His employer offered him a clerical job, and previously the U.S. District judge said there was justification for his removal because of the contact he had with patients' mouths. Good! Would you feel comfortable knowing that someone with HIV was digging around your mouth while wielding all sorts of sharp tools?
    What I love/hate the most, though, is that the headline in the very left-leaning Atlanta Journal-Constitution said "HIV patient loses job suit appeal," instead of the more appropriate, "Dentist with HIV loses appeal to put patients at risk."
    3) A win for states' rights from the Supreme Court, ruling that states have wide immunity when federal agencies investigate complaints about them, then challenge their activities. The court sided with South Carolina in a dispute over the state port's refusal to let a casino ship dock there. The Federal Maritime Commission had no right to intervene on behalf of the ship owners, justices said.
Posted 05/29/02, 8:55 a.m.

    This week's best Vents from the Atlanta Journal-Consitution:
    - If UPS workers strike, will we experience a brownout?
    - I can't understand women who spend all this money on expensive shoes. To me, there is nothing sexier than women in flip flops.
    - I finally saw "The Osbournes." The guy has to hit the 'bleep' button must have carpal tunnel syndrome.
    - It sure has been a blessing going through life not being as dumb as I look.
    - The Phoenix FBI agent who wrote the memo on Arabs in flight training will probably be demoted now that he's embarrassed his superiors.
    - If Gore was in the White House, we probably wouldn't have sent troops to Afghanistan because we would have endangered a rare species of rock lizard or something.
    - Celebrity Boxing I'd like to see: Yoda from Star Wars Episode II vs. Neo from The Matrix.
Posted 05/27/02, 2:18 a.m.

    HBO's "In Memoriam" is one of the most harrowing and saddening reflection of the events in New York of September 11, and should be replayed every month on every network as a reminder of what we're facing in this war on terrorism.
Posted 05/27/02, 2:07 a.m.

    Democrats' scare-mongering has finally be given some proof, but don't count on ever seeing this in the media: A congressional staff memo, mistakenly sent by e-mail to a Republican staff member on Capitol Hill, contains an apparent draft opinion piece on Social Security and reaction from staffers in the office of Rep. Marcy Kaptur, Ohio Democrat. The memo argues that President Bush and Republicans want to "privatize" Social Security, which the author likens to "corporate gambling."
    But another Kaptur staff member responded that the information in the opinion piece was "not entirely factually accurate," adding: "Talk about scaring seniors — this may be a little over the top. But it is sooo fun to bash Republicans." She included an e-mail "smiley face" — :) — after her comment.
Posted 05/25/02, 8:59 a.m.

    The golf world mourns the loss of a legend. Sam Snead, who holds the record for most victories with 81, passed away on Thursday, four days shy of his 90th birthday. In tribute, I think it would be a great gesture if the Greensboro Open committee would change the name to honor his accomplishment at their event (Snead won it a record eight times) to the Greater Greensboro Sam Snead Open.
    God bless you and the sweetest swing ever, Sam!
Posted 05/24/02, 3:09 a.m.

    Let's refresh presidential policies towards Cuba. Jimmy Carter visits, coddles Fidel, bashes America and takes Castro's word for it that there are no bio-terrorism capabilities on the island. W. Bush flies down to Florida to speak on the subject during Cuban Independence Day (that's from the Spanish-American War when we freed them, not 1959 when the Left cheered Fidel's 'revolution'). Bush promptly laid the smack down on Castro, shunning everything Carter said the week before. Brilliant.
    Said Bush, “Today, and every day for the past 43 years, [the] legacy of [Cuban] courage has been insulted by a tyrant who uses brutal methods to enforce a bankrupt vision. That legacy has been debased by a relic from another era, who has turned a beautiful island into a prison. In a career of oppression, Mr. Castro has imported nuclear-armed ballistic missiles, and he has exported his military forces to encourage civil war abroad.”
Posted 05/24/02, 5:39 a.m.

    Jay Leno's take on Mike Tyson being on the cover of Sports Illustrated last week: "He's been arrested. He's been in prison. Don King allegedly took all his money. He's been suspended. Now, he's going through a divorce. I'm afraid to see what happens when the Sports Illustrated jinx sets in."
Posted 05/24/02, 5:26 a.m.

    French police say that a fire that burned down the Israeli embassy in Paris was an accident. Yeah, right. If you believe that then the leaders of Vichy France during World War II really thought the Germans just wanted their land for wine and cheese.
Posted 05/24/02, 5:20 a.m.



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