Patricia Hewitt, Health Secretary in Tony Blair's cabinet, was upset by pictures broadcast from Iran of the 15 captive British sailors and marines, reported Christopher Booker of the Sunday Telegraph. "It was deplorable that the woman hostage should be shown smoking," Ms. Hewitt said.  "This sends completely the wrong message to our young people." When liberals cower when petty thugs make threats (which is pretty much whenever petty thugs make threats), conservatives,  understandably, suspect them of cowardice.  But Ms. Hewitt's bizarre response to her country's humiliation suggest something else is at work. The most remarkable aspect of this most recent Iranian hostage crisis is the lengths to which so many prominent people in the West have gone to make excuses for inexcusable Iranian behavior.

If you knew how to make life better for your fellow Americans, would you? The political class in Washington constantly claims it "cares about you," but when it comes to policy many do just the opposite. Most people understand the Republicans messed up by allowing nondefense spending to grow faster than the economy. The Democrats ran against the irresponsible Republicans by claiming they would be "fiscally responsible." So, rather than present a budget that would reduce the growth rate of domestic spending, they have just proposed one that would increase it, even above Republican proposals, and require increases in taxes. You can only wonder if they are even more brain dead than the Republicans.

Though The Poison That Is Killing The West has only been up for a short while, there's already a discussion thread on the User Forum.  Dennis Turner, for example, is pessimistic regarding war with Iran (he's pessimistic that there won't be war - I'm optimistic there will be!):

Sad to say, but I don't think we'll take them on. I think we'll issue an ultimatum banning Iranian naval forces from the waterway, but won't shoot when they violate the ban. I hate to be so pessimistic but I see this happening in Israel, where the threat is existential, with Rice pushing for final status issues with the PA while they do not recognize Israel, accept previous agreements, agree to collect weapons and dismantle the terrorist infrastructure, renounce violence, etc.

There's an easy answer for the deep thinkers now torturing themselves for an explanation of the Iranian seizure of 15 British hostages:  The mullahs took the hostages because that is what they do. They've been doing it for a long time. Why now? Because now is when they succeeded in doing it; they've been trying all along. The interesting and important question is what we - yes, we - are going to do about it. You can be sure that the "professionals" in Foggy Bottom and Whitehall are giving learned memos to their leaders in which the word "de-escalate" appears with some frequency, along with "diplomatic solution." I doubt many of them will lose much sleep over their own considerable responsibility for the current unpleasantness, but let's write a footnote to their memos that says: The Brits have labored mightily for many years to prevent the United States from pursuing vigorous action against Iran.

Insight magazine reports that Al Gore is contemplating running for president...as the nominee of the Green Party. Both he and Ralph Nader are evidently convinced that Hillary Clinton will get the Democrat nomination, and Mr. Nader is urging Mr. Gore to take her on under the Green banner. There is little love lost between Mr. Gore and the Clintons, and if you're living in a fantasy world (as Mr. Gore largely has been since his shattering defeat), there are two good reasons to convince yourself you could win as a third party candidate, or accomplish something important even if you didn't.

Are you absolutely sure you paid the exact amount of income tax you owed last year -- not too much and not too little? I am willing to bet the vast majority of those reading this paid either too much or too little -- not because they intended to but because the tax code is so complex it is almost impossible to know precisely the right number. As Americans sit down to file their taxes before the infamous April 15 deadline, most will feel some anxiety and many will feel trapped - trapped in a system they cannot understand, nor can they obtain the help that will fairly represent them against the government or protect them against having their hard earned monies misspent. At this moment, some in Congress are on a rant about the unsupported claim that more than $300 billion in taxes due last year were not collected, and demanding even more coercive measures. Why is there not equal outrage in Congress about all the Americans who pay too much each year because they cannot understand, or the IRS has made it too costly to obtain, the deductions to which they are legally entitled?