ENOUGH ALREADY
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.
THE PHONY FIRING NON-SCANDAL
The contrived controversy over the firing of eight U.S. Attorneys is largely an exercise in imaginary indignation. Congressional Democrats suggest that some of the firings may have been improper and demand to know the reasons for each of them. By what authority they make such demand is not clear, since the Supreme Court has ruled that, with limited exceptions, Congress has no voice in the dismissal of federal officers. Neither the statute providing for the appointment of U.S. attorneys nor the Supreme Court opinion makes any attempt to define what would constitute proper or improper reasons for dismissal. In fact, nowhere is there any suggestion that the president would need any reason to dismiss a federal officer who is not covered by the Civil Service Act. If Congress can have no voice in the removal of U.S. attorneys and no reason is required to dismiss them, then by what authority do members of Congress demand to know why the attorneys were fired?
THE POISON THAT IS KILLING THE WEST
The media photo that best explains the Iranian seizure of 15 British sailors and marines last Friday (3/23) is not one that shows them eating and "being well cared for," nor of female sailor Faye Turney wearing a Moslem headscarf. It is this one of a "Walk of Witness" parade in London the day after the hostage seizure (Saturday 3/24) that had nothing to do with it: 
3,000 people wearing color-of-mourning black T-shirts saying "So Sorry" paraded in front of Big Ben and the Parliament Building to mark the 200th anniversary of the law abolishing the slave trade throughout the British Empire. What were these people so sorry about? You would think that this would be a joyous occasion, the bicentennial celebration of a historically heroic British achievement - the abolishment of the slave trade. But no, these self-flagellants were in deep mortification over the previous existence of what was abolished - an institution as old as history, accepted by every civilization for thousands of years. They perverted something morally noble into an excuse for feeling morally guilty. This is the poison that is killing the West, the poison that empowers the evil of the West's enemies such as the mullahs of Iran.
THE DREAM OF HILLARY VS. GORE
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.
THE INSANITY OF APRIL 15
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?
HELPING TONY
I have just sent the following letter to a friend in the White House who asked for informed suggestions regarding Tony Snow's recurrence of cancer. Many TTPers have expressed their concern for Tony and are praying for him. Here is an initial series of suggestions for him. Dear Tim, A close friend of mine for many years is a medical researcher whose IQ was unable to be measured by MIT as it was so far above 200. Here is what he suggests for Tony, as supplementing the treatment from his physicians. Go to this website of the National Center for Biotechnology Information and the National Institutes of Health: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/. In the PubMed search box, enter in the specific medical name of the type of cancer Tony has as determined by the pathology report, plus "treatment," plus "immune" or "immunity," plus "experimental" or "adjuvant."
Chapter Thirty-One: THE SPANISH PHOENIX
The Jade Steps Chapter Thirty-One: The Spanish Phoenix By nightfall, the expedition reached the town of Xaltepec on the far side of the valley. It was deserted, and everyone had to forage for food. Malinali tried to clean the bloody gashes on Cortez's head and the deep wound in his left hand, but Cortez shook his head. "To a man, all of us are wounded, exhausted, and hungry," he told her. "Organize help for them, tend to them... then you may have all night to tend to me." When Malinali returned, she found Cortez fast asleep. At dawn the next morning, she tried to clean and bandage him as best she could, but he was anxious to get underway. "Our only hope of safety lies in those mountains of Tlaxcala," he said, as he gazed at them looming above Xaltepec. Slowly, slowly, the expedition trudged up into the mountains to the Tlaxcalan frontier fortress town of Hueyotlipan (way-oat-lee-pahn). There to greet them were King Xicotencatl, Chief Maxixcatzin, and Commander Chichimecatecle. "Malinche! Malinche!" they cried out when they saw Cortez. Chief Maxixcatzin threw his arms around him. "How grieved we are at your misfortunes, and the number of our own people who have been killed with yours," he told Cortez through Malinali. "We warned you not to trust the Mesheeka, but you went to their city and did not believe us. Now all we can do is help with your wounds and give you rest and food. Here you are home."
THE MORAL DANGER OF GLOBAL WARMING
[After reading Professor Stott, I could not encourage you more to view The Great Global Warming Swindle, a brilliant UK documentary not shown on US television but available on the Internet. It's long but absolutely worth watching. ---JW] Global warming represents the latest doom-laden "crisis," one demanding sacrifice to Gaia for our wicked fossil-fuel-driven ways. But neither history nor science bolsters such an apocalyptic faith. Our so-called "crisis" is neither a product of current observations nor of projections. But does it matter if global warming is a "crisis" or not? Aren't we threatened by a serious temperature rise? Shouldn't we act anyway, because we are stewards of the environment? Herein lies the moral danger behind global warming hysteria. Each day, 20,000 people in the world die of waterborne diseases. Half a billion people go hungry. A child is orphaned by AIDS every seven seconds. This does not have to happen. We allow it while fretting about "saving the planet." What is wrong with us that we downplay this human misery before our eyes and focus on events that will probably not happen even a hundred years hence?
CORN COBS AND ENERGY INDEPENDENCE
Yes, corn cobs, not corn, meaning the rip-off scam of ethanol perpetrated upon us by Archer Daniels Midland and the corn farmer lobby. The latest exposé of the ethanol scam is that in the current (3/19/07) issue of Business Week, Ethanol's Growing List of Enemies. Energy independence is the key to solving one of our gravest economic problems, the trade deficit - of which oil imports account for over 40% -- and the key to defeating Islamofascism. What if we just didn't care anymore about Saudi oil? And corn cobs - corn cobs - may be the key to energy independence. Thanks to scientists in Missouri.
THE CLUELESS NAGS OF FOGGY BOTTOM
Why do non-Americans so dislike Americans or, at least, the American government? Could part of the reason be because the U.S. State Department appears to think its mission is to be rude, insulting and condescending? This month, the State Department has set a new record by managing to insult the citizens of 123 different lands at one time in the International Narcotics Control Strategy Report: Volume II, Money Laundering and Financial Crimes. The 450-page report discusses what other countries are doing to reduce money laundering and financial crimes, which is fine. But then the authors go on gratuitously lecturing each of the countries by name about how they could do things "better." The Report, produced by the global nannies and nags at State, is filled with endless demands that other countries do a better job enforcing their laws, pass more laws, sign more international treaties and engage in some practices that would be illegal and unconstitutional in the U.S. Some examples: