European Slap Fight

Worldwide outrage against the insulting remarks made by an Italian official against the Germans continues to spread . . . not.

Actually, the sound you hear is of the world silently jabbing elbows at each other and barely suppressing a snicker. “Germany,” said Italian tourism minister Stefano Stefani, is a "country intoxicated with arrogant certainties."

"We know the Germans well -- these stereotyped hyper-nationalistic blondes, who have been indoctrinated... to feel top of the class whatever the situation. They noisily invade our beaches."

If anything, global reaction to such harsh words has been a mumbled, “hear, hear.”

The fact is, you can’t go too wrong accusing Germans of excessive arrogance and blondness. But it helps if your ethnic stereotype is the complete opposite. The Italians, after all, are a friendly and swarthy people.

Some might be tempted to say, “what’s up with those Euros all of a sudden? They’re acting like . . . Europeans!” All that nationalism was supposed to be passé . . . so 20th century. (and 19th, 18th, 17th, 16th, 15th, and so on).

The Euros, after all, are in the final stages of creating a United States of Europe . . . now is not the time to air ancient grievances.

But there is the rub.

Europe will never be single united nation . . . there is simply too much history.

Indeed, the Europeans who found the burden of history too much to bear left the Old World long ago and came to the New World where nationhood is defined by shared aspirations, not shared bloodlines.

Anyone can come to the United States, for example, and be as American as the Kennedys – a notable immigrant family – within a generation if they truly believe in the ideals. How many generations would it take someone to become French, or Swiss, or Belgian?

A more obvious question would be, why would anyone want to become Belgian? In fact, even Belgians can’t be Belgians . . . only Flems or Walloons.

Now imagine a “nation” populated by provincials fiercely proud to be called “Walloons” or “Apenzells” or “Twerps.” You can’t move from one town in Europe to another without being viewed with the utmost suspicion . . . yet to the rest of the world they are all basically pasty faced slackers.

Now compare that to a real “universalist” nation. Just moved here from Indiana? Great, welcome to Florida. I’ll show you where to get the best alligator McNuggets.

There’s enough physical and philosophical room in the United States to absorb millions of refugees from the stagnant societies of Latin America without most people even taking notice. And rather than run these “forners” out of town, we open a chain of Taco Bells where we can all share bastardized versions of our most cherished foods.

In Europe, meanwhile, they’re still throwing eggs at McDonald’s outlets.

The Euros are undergoing “The Great Change.” By finally articulating their long-concealed envy of the United States, the Europeans are now forced to confront the barriers that keep them from enjoying the same success and vitality as America . . . their comforting prejudices, their stifling conformity, their sloth.

It’s not a good time to be a “European.” But as always, it’s a great time to be Italian.

Peaceful Non-Existence Watch

According to former Egyptian ambassador to the United States, Abdel Raouf el-Reedy, Hamas is the crucial player in the shaky Mideast “ceasefire.”

It's now a tripartite agreement — Israel, of course, the Palestinian Authority and the Palestinian groups, Fatah, Hamas and Islamic Jihad. Hamas is the key to this whole agreement."

So what kind of organization is Hamas anyway?

Hamas does not seek a sovereign Palestinian state living in peace with Israel. In fact, such an outcome would completely contradict Hamas’ reason for being.

Hamas considers all of Israel to be occupied territory. The only acceptable outcome of any “peace process” is Israel’s destruction through violence.

But don’t take my word for it. Read for yourself. Yale University has helpfully posted a translation of the Hamas Covenant on this website.

Article Six

“The Islamic Resistance Movement is a distinguished Palestinian movement, whose allegiance is to Allah, and whose way of life is Islam. It strives to raise the banner of Allah over every inch of Palestine . . .”

Note that Yassir Arafat’s PLO is a secular terrorist movement while Hamas is an intolerant fanatically religious terrorist movement. Subtle difference, I know.

Article Eleven

“The Islamic Resistance Movement believes that the land of Palestine is an Islamic Waqf consecrated for future Moslem generations until judgment Day. It, or any part of it, should not be squandered: it, or any part of it, should not be given up.”

No mention of Gaza or the West Bank. Nope, these guys want the whole thing. Moreover, I strongly suspect “Waqf” is not the Arabic word for “theme park.”

Article Thirteen

“Initiatives, and so-called peaceful solutions and international conferences, are in contradiction to the principles of the Islamic Resistance Movement . . . There is no solution for the Palestinian question except through Jihad. Initiatives, proposals and international conferences are all a waste of time and vain endeavors.”

So, all roadmaps to peace are pointless because violence is the point.

Even if Israel were to cease to exist and all its citizens voluntarily drink cyanide laced Kool Aid® this would still not be enough. The only acceptable solution is the one that climaxes in a SamPeckinpah-esque orgy of violence.

Even if you assume that this is just a tough opening position, it’s pretty extreme even by the standards of French labor unionnegotiators.

Article Fifteen

“The day that enemies usurp part of Moslem land, Jihad becomes the individual duty of every Moslem. In face of the Jews' usurpation of Palestine, it is compulsory that the banner of Jihad be raised.”

So these are the guys who hold the key to peace in the Middle East? Well, that’s not very reassuring.

My guess is that one of these hot heads will take issue with the ceasefire and give Israel a good excuse for obliterating Hamas once and for all.

Peaceful Non-Existence Watch

You would think a German publication such as Der Spiegel would be a tad more sensitive when interviewing an anti-Semitic fascist in its pages.

Instead, our old Euro comrades give Hamas leader Mahmud al-Sahar the benefit of the doubt regarding the death cult's suicide murder "operations."

SPIEGEL: The week before last, your associate Rantissi barely escaped an Israeli rocket attack. Do you also fear for your life?

Sahar: Fear is paralyzing. That's why such feelings are the wrong reaction in the current situation.

SPIEGEL: Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has threatened to hunt down all terrorists. And you are at the very top of the list of prominent targets.

Sahar: We take precautions, of course. But the Israelis have targeted all Palestinians. During the past few weeks, more than 50 people have died here in the Gaza Strip, and more than half were women and children. That is the goal of the Zionists: To break our backbones with violence.

SPIEGEL: Your approach is no less violent. Your suicide bombers are spreading fear and dread. Has this bloody strategy been worth it for the Palestinians?

Sahar: At least we have achieved one thing: No one in Israel can feel safe anymore, whether in Jerusalem, Haifa, Tel Aviv, or Jaffa. In the past, Israel usually conducted its wars at its borders. Now, for the first time, there is fighting in the interior, in the heart of the country.

Charming. "No less violent." How very enlightened.

So the "Zionists" want to conquer all of what . . . Jordan? the Arabian peninsula? the entire Muslim world? Why haven't they done it already? After all, they face no real military opposition.

And what is Hamas' goal? Why, to end the "occupation" of course.

Sahar:The goal is not to kill. We are human beings, we have wives and children. We want a life with dignity and national independence, the end of the occupation.

Simple right? If Israel withdraws from the "occupied" lands and there will be peace.

Yes, except that Hamas believes all of Israel is occupied land!

Need proof? Listen as our bloodthirsty friend discusses a possible ceasefire with Israel.

SPIEGEL: Abbas wants there to be only one Palestinian military organization in the future, the state security forces. Is that acceptable to Hamas?

Sahar: Not as long as the occupation continues.

SPIEGEL: Could there be a civil war if the Prime Minister insists on disarmament?

Sahar: Suppressing Hamas, as Yassir Arafat tried to do six years ago, is impossible. The Autonomous Authority will not even be capable of playing the Israelis' dirty game.

SPIEGEL: That sounds like confrontation. Nonetheless, your organization is also discussing a cease-fire.

Sahar: Such a step could only be considered after the Israeli troops withdraw from the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. Then we could negotiate a cease-fire, provided it is based on mutual interests.

So withdrawing from Gaza and the West Bank wins Israel a temporary cease-fire with Hamas.

But only after Israel withdraws from the Earth itself will Hamas stop murdering its citizens.

That simplifies things.

I Always Knew I Liked Australians

And now I know why.

Moron, Islamofascist, Kleptocrat Dr Mahathir Mohamad of the economically backward Malaysia demonstrated yesterday why his sober statesmanship will be missed:

"Australians, and their European brethren, are a greedy, war-mongering mob who promote free sex and sodomy, are indifferent to incest and want to conquer the world.

Good luck in your well deserved obscurity!

French Ask UN for "License to Kill"

The French commander of the United Nations special emergency forces in Congo says he needs a “license to kill” if the forces are ever to bring peace and counter the guerrocracy now ruling the region.

Currently, the UN troops are deployed under a Chapter 6 mandate that allows them only to fire in self-defense. A Chapter 7 mandate from the Security Council presumably would allow them to kill people more arbitrarily.

So how’s it going?

Fighters, many of them children, from the Hema faction that controls Bunia still swagger through the town or zoom around in pickups, with Kalashnikov assault rifles slung over their shoulders.

UN officials say the security situation in Bunia has deteriorated since June 8, two days after the first French forces arrived, with reports of abductions, killings and rape.

Hmmm, let’s recap here. French troops under the UN flag are helpless to stop armed children from kidnapping, killing and raping the citizens of Bunia. Indeed, their presence seems to have made the “security situation” worse.

Aside from the obvious fact that French troops under the UN flag seems as certain a formula for defeat as, say, Michael Dukakis coaching the Chicago Cubs . . . what's with the UN’s rather legalistic rules of engagement?

I wonder if a Chapter 8 Security Council mandate allows UN troops to actually mount a successful military operation.

A Chapter 9 mandate may be a victorious campaign complete with a humiliating peace treaty signing.

Chapter 10, I believe, refers to “Operation Grand Slam” by which the United Nations becomes an unstoppable military juggernaut crushing all opposition under its iron Gucci loafers and annexing sovereign territory at will.

Of course, a Chapter 6 mandate is deployment in a dangerous situation without any weapons at all and Chapter 5 is an airdrop of UN troops to be used as human shields against other UN troops with a better mandate.

Chapters 1 through 4 are written in French.

A Faster, Nimbler, More Effective French Army

France conducted war games involving a fictitious crisis in North Korea this week and used the occasion to debut its new elite military unit, the Force Capitulard d’Grande Vitesse, or FCGV.

The Conspiracy Grows

The invasion of Iraq, as we all know, was based on the lie that peace-loving Saddam Hussein violated U.N. resolutions and threatened the security of his neighbors and the region by pursuing alleged weapons programs.

What I didn't realize until now was that even the French were in on the charade:

"What is at stake is how to answer the potential threat Iraq represents with the risk of proliferation of WMD. Baghdad's regime did use such weapons in the past. Today, a number of evidences may lead to think that, over the past four years, in the absence of international inspectors, this country has continued armament programs." -- Jacques Chirac, October 16, 2002

So cowboy Bush lied about WMD and his sidekick, Jacques, following right behind?

Boy, this conspiracy is getting complicated.

Peaceful Non-Existence Watch

From the Times:

"Of course the message is clear: all factions are working together to keep up resistance to the occupation," Dr. Abdel Aziz Rantisi, a Hamas leader, said in a telephone interview later today. "We refuse totally the Aqaba summit. It is a waste of our existence."

How candid. Violence is the whole point. Peace is contrary to the very existence of Hamas.

Just reminder to those who think that anything less than an ethnically-cleansed Israel via genocide will satisfy the Palestinian extremists.

Their roadmap to peace begins with a pitstop at Auschwitz.

One Less Sour Kraut

Swarmy German politician Jürgen Möllemann committed suicide today and managed to kill not only himself but also an investigation into the sources of funds he used to publish an anti-Semitic campaign pamphlet.

This morning Moellemann was tipped off that the Bundestag had stripped him of his immunity as a legislator and was about to launch a massive raid against him in 25 locations.

Rather than wait for the knock on the door, Möllemann went skydiving with some friends and took off his parachute mid-dive.

According to German law, criminal investigations can only be conducted against living people. I guess this means we may never find out who was funding Möllemann.

I wonder if it was the same people who financed Britain’s pro-Islamofacsist, anti-Israel, anti-American political fringie George Galloway?

For more on this unsavory Euro go to the Moellermann File.

“I Hate Her Guts”

Welcome to the nasty world of Shelly Finkel, Mike Tyson’s public relations counselor.

Wisely, she was unavailable for immediate comment on the Champ’s latest digression from her meticulously crafted talking points. Probably wearily mixing herself a stiff drink.

From ESPN

Another Reason to Not Take California Seriously

This classified ad:

WANTED: Somebody to go back in time with me. This is not a joke. P.O. Box 322, Oakview, CA 93022. You’ll get paid after we get back. Must bring your own weapons. Safety not guaranteed. I have only done this once before.

So the guy has already traveled into the past and he still has no money or extra weapons?

What a loser.

Caroline Kennedy. Working Hard? Hardly Working.

What an odd article in this morning’s New York Times on Caroline Kennedy and her role as a chief fundraiser for the New York Department of Education.

She is charged with raising private funds for New York City's troubled public schools. Yet after eight months on the job and as the school year comes to a close, Kennedy has apparently raised not one thin dime.

the funny thing is that the Times can't bring itself to criticize Princess Caroline. The article insulates delicate readers from the uncomfortable fact of her incompetency with a froth of mundane filler about her footwear and fatuous alibis about her busy schedule.

She had to fly to Paris to open an exhibit at the Louvre, then she presented an award in Boston, and after that she had to attend the opening of the American Ballet Theatre. What she did for the other 240 days she’s held the job of Chief Executive of the Office of Strategic Partnerships is left to the imagination.

It takes the Times, 1700 words, two fawning photos and two bylined journalists to report that Kennedy “has yet to announce a single major donation.” She leads a staff of 15 and yet her ideas “have just barely been put on the drawing board.” Kennedy would not say how often she works at her office in the infamous Tweed Courthouse “or how many hours she spends on the job.”

According to one sycophant, Caroline Kennedy is “still putting her shop together . . . She has been bogged down in more nuts and bolts details.”

But that’s OK. She may not be effectual but “nor is she unapproachable” we are told.

“She rides the subway” and her colleagues were amazed to see on one of her rare ventures into the office that she “wore Merrell sports sandals, which have developed a cult following among outdoorsy types.”

The problem would seem to be that she is spending too much time outdoors instead of indoors on the job.

Of course, much of this could be said about me too. I’m not unapproachable. I ride the subway. I sometimes get bogged down in details. But I still manage to show up for work. And if I didn’t I would probably be reading the want ads in the Times rather than flattering coverage inthe Metropolitan section.

But then Ms. Kennedy is “a fixture in the American psyche” we are instructed. A psyche fixture “whose mere presence at events can make guests of a certain age tear up.”

My freshman year roommate was just that sort of “fixture” but you rarely read about him in the Times.

Still, a hint of skepticism tarnishes this otherwise pristine exercise in Kennidolitry. “Her daily activities and overall plans have largely remained a mystery” the article hints.

“There are a lot of glitzy things out there that someone with her profile could do,” said Joel Klein, the city’s education Chancellor. “This is not glitzy and it’s not about her profile. This is about serious work and her commitment.”

Serious work and commitment . . . well, that's two things one doesn’t naturally associate with the Kennedy clan.

Perhaps if her own children were trapped in a New York public school Caroline Kennedy might feel a bit more urgency about her responsibility. Hell, she might even take time out of her busy day to show up for work!

Disoriented Norman Mailer Struggles for Relevance

Washed-up former tough-guy establishment-challenger Norman Mailer boldly defends the entrenched status-quo anti-American perspective, this time in Old Europe’s Der Speigel magazine. His displeasure with everything from religious freedom to the liberation of Iraq pivots on his blind visceral dislike of President Bush.

“There's something crude about Bush, and that's a surprise. He's vulgar. In view of his dignified, interesting and vital parents, his own vulgarity is a choice he made. He's cynical, enjoys manipulating people. To put it another way, that's how a dry alcoholic manages to control a situation, because he needs the satisfaction of leading a highly active and dynamic life. He knows how to manipulate half of America by constantly waving the Star-Spangled Banner."

Let’s briefly recall who Norman Mailer is. Way back in the 1950s, this quintessential white guy was considered avant-garde . . . a hard drinkin’, two-fisted, angry young man.

Today, he’s just an angry old man . . . one of millions.

But enough about old Norman.

What fascinates me is the obsession so many otherwise intelligent people have with George Bush.

George Bush: The Source of All Evil?

At first he was a puppet controlled by Cheney. Now he’s the skillful manipulator of the masses. He was supposed to be ignorant of all things foreign. Now he’s the executor of a secret plan to reorder the world.

He chooses strange words, he makes expressions with his face, he mentions religion, he’s from Texas, he’s not from Texas, he doesn’t drink, he eats hot dogs, he’s declared war on every black, white, latino, and asian man, woman and child in the United States . . . the whole swirling shifting tornado of offenses touches down unpredictably in Iraq, in the Supreme Court, in France, in the Alaska National Tundra Wasteland . . . er . . . Wildlife Refuge.

What is it about Bush that drive them nuts?

Privileged – Certainly being the son of a former president has its advantages as Chip Carter and Steve Ford know all too well. But then only someone as privileged as Al Gore could have neutralized the silver spoon campaign issue.

Loser – Although this would seem to contradict the privilege complaint, Bush’s years on the lower rungs of the oil exploration and sports entertainment industries is a reliable source of BushScorn®

Religious – If Bush is a religious fanatic what does that make Jimmy Carter? Or Rev. Martin Luther King? Or the Dalai Lama? I find it illuminating that the same people who call Bush a religious fundamentalist can’t name what religion he belongs to. When asked why Bill Clinton’s ostentatious piety was palatable they’ll say something like “well, everyone knows Clinton didn’t mean it." Interesting.

A Puppet – It used to be said that Bush was merely the front man for a cartel of shadowy corporate interests. Cheney must surly be pulling the strings . . . for god sakes, he’s bald! Whoever heard of a bald politician? Cheney must be the brains. Although it doesn’t seem very smart to want to be Vice President.

A Puppeteer – Now it’s more fashionable to accuse Bush of being the sinister ring leader of a cartel of shadowy corporate interests. How else to explain the big contracts to Halliburton . . . aside from the fact that its Brown & Root subsidiary has since the LBJ years been the private sector pilot fish to the Pentagon’s humpback whale and has considerably more experience repairing oil infrastructure destroyed in armed combat than say, Body Shops or Maggie’s Organic Clothing or any other remotely possible contractor. Of course, why someone interested solely in accumulating wealth would step foot in the public sector is never explained.

A Provincial – Bush is supposedly a backwoods yokel from the middle of Texas yet at the same time a deeply embedded establishment scion with a meal ticket punched by Yale, Harvard, Skull & Bones, the CIA, Brown, Brothers Harriman, and the Indian Harbor Yacht Club in Greenwich. How he can be so sheltered yet so connected is also never explained.

An Idiot – Well, aside from the Harvard MBA, the greater earned income than his father’s, the unexpected victory over Gov. Ann Richards in Texas, his unexpected victory over Al Gore in Tennessee, his unexpected victory over the Taliban in Afghanistan, his unexpected victory over the Democratic Party in the mid-term elections, his unexpected cakewalk over Saddam Hussein, aside from all that, yes, he’s got to be an idiot.



In the world weary wisdom of a defeated Richard Nixon, when you let hate consume you it’s you who is ultimately destroyed.

This is surely the lesson of the Clinton years . . . the “vast right wing conspiracy” only made Clinton more popular. Now that he is out of office and inconsequential, his accumulated personal shortcomings have done more damage to his reputation than anything Kenneth Starr could ever pin on him.

The Left is now repeating the mistakes of the Right. Every time they work up a lather about George Bush, regular people give him more slack. The difference this time is that the Bush Administration appears to understand that this is hidden strength that diminishes their opponents by making them look like extremist lunatics.

Of course, it doesn't hurt if they actually ARE extremist lunatics.

What Makes Clinton Great

Interesting anecdote from Sidney Blumenthal who is on the media circuit hawking his new book about the disgraced former president Bill Clinton. This is from an interview on CNN this morning:

HEMMER: How can you respect a man and work for a man as president who lies to your face and you come out and defend him more?

BLUMENTHAL: Well, he was in a state of denial about something that was private, and he was in a state of denial to the whole country.

But let me tell you why I respected Bill Clinton and why I think he was a very good president for the American people, and I'm going to tell you just an anecdote. A small group of us, about six, top aides, came into his office one day to brief him on a very important policy issue. We gave him all of the options, policy and politics. And when we finished, the president paused and he said, I just want you to know that you're the dumbest bunch of black guys who have ever come into the Oval White House.

HEMMER: Why did he say that?

BLUMENTHAL: It's a very good question. We didn't know. He said, don't ever come in here without Caucasians as part of your group again. That's why I respect Bill Clinton.

Gee . . . isn't that sorta, I don't know, racist?

Oh, wait . . . I mixed it up. He said "white guys" not "black guys" and "minorities and women" not "Caucasians."

There. I feel better now.

JIHAD IS OVER (if you want it)

Finally a story about real Palestinians resisting oppression. AP is reporting a rare and spontaneous uprising that hopefully signals that the silent majority of ordinary Palestinians are finally fed up with the radical death cult that claims to represent their interests.

About about 600 residents of the Gaza town of Beit Hanoun blocked a main thoroughfare today with trash cans, rocks and burning tires to show their anger at the militants and Palestinian Authority officials whose use of violence to achieve their parochial political goals has doomed the Palestinians to a half century of grinding poverty and barbaric cruelty.

"They (the militants) claim they are heroes," said Mohammed Zaaneen, 30, a farmer, as he carried rocks into the street. "They brought us only destruction and made us homeless. They used our farms, our houses and our children ... to hide."

Hmmm . . . sounds like there are some Palestinians who are no longer reading from the script.

Perhaps, just perhaps, there is a core of Palestinians who would rather raise their children in peace and rejoin rest of the world before the 21st century passes them by like the 20th did. And maybe that’s more important to them than some abstract concept of pan-Arab nationalism predicated on the ethnic cleansing of Israel.

I certainly hope so. People like the ones in Beit Hanoun have been paying a pretty high price for the ambitions of few would-be dictators and their martyr brigades.

Arafat & Co. should start asking themselves . . . “why do they hate us so?”

Germany Awakens?

Forty Years of Protecting the Stupid

By Rainer Hank
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung


Germany celebrates 40 years of consumer protection. But not everything deserves praise just because it has an anniversary. The roots of consumer protection lie in the paternalistic state: Those who are dumb need protection. A consumer protection minister oversees these issues. And citizens put up with the fact that their taxes pay for this loss of personal sovereignty.
Yet what's labeled consumer protection is often actually producer protection. Professional certificates, import restrictions on agricultural products - all those measures also make products dearer.
What really helps consumers are open markets where competition ensures that privileged providers lose their power. The media can also help because they provide consumers with more information and transparency than consumer protection regulations.

One thing is for sure, though: There's no need for the government to get involved.

Came Alot

The Daily News tracked down one of President Kennedy’s concubines who verifies – in the most proper and grandmotherly way -- the story that appears in Robert Dallek’s contribution to the field of JFKology.

Dallek picked up the story from several pages of a transcribed 1964 oral history interview with Barbara Gamarekian, a former White House press aide.

The pages had been sealed or blacked out or something but now appear to be unsealed and unblacked out.

Of course, the most interesting insight from these pages, helpfully made available on The Smoking Gun, has until now been totally overlooked.

I refer to page 16 of the transcript in which Gamarekian relays a story told to her by a Paris Match reporter who was given a backstage tour of the White House by Mrs. Kennedy-O, the First Lady.

Upon encountering one of JFK’s harem outside the Oval Office, Jackie said to the reporter (in French), “This is the girl who’s supposedly sleeping with my husband.”

The best part, aside from the intern/sex/Democrat/Francophonic wife/Massachusetts senator axis of circumstance is that the Frenchman was apparently stunned to hear that Kennedy was an adulterer.

How simpliste. How not well brought up. N’est pas?

Bill Clinton on the Youth of America

One of the privileges of being a former head of state is that you can comment authoritatively about the state of the world without ever having to doing anything about it. The presumption is that you had the opportunity to do something and, by God, you rose to the challenge.

And then there is Bill Clinton.

Former president Clinton appeared in full lip-biting glory before the graduating class at Syracuse University this past weekend. Clinton boldly told the graduates that the United States must “make a safer world by cooperating with others.”

So much for thinking outside of the box.

Later in his address Clinton reminds us of one personal flaw that seems overshadowed by his more colorful foibles . . . by which I mean his inability to render a clear judgment on even the most inconsequential of issues.

Recall the evening when he undermined his entire economic program by telling an audience of high-net worth individuals that he thought he had raised their taxes too much? How about his position on the Gulf War which he described as leaning against it unless the vote was close.

Now you can relive those exciting days by listening to Bill explain how the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 turned a page in history:

"It marked the beginning of America's clear vulnerability to global terror, although we had lost people in the 70's and early 80's, too," he said.

Oh, and there were some in the late 60s too, as well as some isolated incidents in the mid 1950s, and umm there was a guy killed in the late 40s I believe.

It’s remarkable the way Clinton manages to leave the impression that everything he says comes with an unspoken addendum of small print disclaimers and caveats.

"The world of 1999 and the world of 2003 are not so very different. In 1999, we had the dangers of terror and weapons of mass destruction — it's just that they weren't in the headlines because they hadn't happened here. But we were working hard to deal with them."

Add bitter punch line here.

A Fine Whine for Mother’s Day

Just when you figure the activism-as-therapy fringe of the political spectrum seems to be settling down to seriousness and belated maturity another of their merry band steps up to the plate to publicly humiliate themselves and, by association, everyone like them.

Case in point -- Lucinda Marshall of the Feminist Peace Network who deftly manages to discredit both feminism and pacifism simply by opening her mouth:

”Forgive my cynicism about Mother's Day. After all, what kind of ungrateful mother wouldn't want to be honored with pesticide-laced flowers, chocolate that depends on children in slavery for its production and cards that deplete our forests and litter Mother Earth? Truly, it is the ultimate insult to honor life-giving with such toxic offerings.”

As my perspicacious big sister told me when she alerted me to this tripe,

“Didn't realize those presents were actually the ultimate insult. I'll have to throw them back in my children's faces, the pigs!”

Ms Marshall drones on about all that is wrong with the world like someone who hasn’t had a new idea in 30 years.

We have signed off on a value system that funds smart bombs but not schools . . . We have money to destroy homes, but not to shelter the homeless . . .

Seldom has the annoying pseudo-phrase “yadda, yadda” been more appropriate than as abbreviation for this mindbilge.

As mothers, we have the awesome right and responsibility to firmly say no to the life-destroying ethos that has hijacked our future and to demand that nurturing become a national and global priority.

As usual, the ecstatic outrage of the youthquake generation ends with a stirring call to . . . well, to do nothing in particular.

Nothing except nurture the rage for some world-changing political movement yet to come.

Oh, to be young at heart and even younger of mind.

More Crushing of Dissent

The free speech rights of Eddie Vedder, an outspoken leader of the dwindling Grunge-American community were brutally trampled by New Yorkers in Uniondale who paid $60 to hear dated music about alienation but instead were forced to listen to the millionaire entertainer’s fringe political opinions about President Bush.

In response to the inane anti-Bush ditty, “Bushleaguer”, the fans attempted to overpower Vedder’s First Amendment rights with their own, according to the New York Times:

A number of formerly enthusiastic fans responded by making long, low noises that sounded a lot like "boo," and they weren't placated by the remarks that followed. "I don't understand," Mr. Vedder said. "Maybe you like him 'cause he's going to give you a tax cut." A number of people then chanted: "U.S.A.! U.S.A.!"

Finding himself outside the mainstream of even his flannel-shirted fan cohort Vedder attempted to reach a consensus with the audience through gentle, non-threatening diplomatic means using the universal language of peace . . . music.

A few people threw things, and the band played two more songs, ending with a cover of Neil Young's "Rockin' in the Free World." As the song faded out, Mr. Vedder reprised the crowd's chant — "U.S.A.! U.S.A.!" — sounding more defiant than conciliatory. Then he threw down the microphone and walked off.

You can order a recording of the show here. I prefer to wait for it to appear on KaZaA.