ITALIAN COURAGE
In response to Iran's call for the elimination of Israel, tonight (Nov.2) in Rome, thousands, probably tens of thousands, will demonstrate in support of the Jewish state. The demonstration has been organized by Giuliano Ferrara, the larger-than-life editor of the feisty daily newspaper il Foglio, and the demonstrators will range from members of some Italian Islamic organizations to foreign minister Giancarlo Fini (long a bete noire of America's "leading" newspapers and networks), just back from a trip to the Middle East. It takes courage to stand up publicly for Israel against the world's leading sponsor of terrorism, especially in contemporary Europe, where anti-Semitism is on the rise, where the Jewish population is minuscule (there are slightly more than 40,000 in all of Italy, less than one percent of Italians), and where the Islamic population is expanding rapidly. I have not noticed any such demonstrations here, for example. But the Italians, as is their wont, have once again broken the stereotype most foreigners hold of them, and have directly challenged the mullahs.
NUKE THE WHALES
Tuan Le, "of Atlanta," according to this weekend's Washington Times, is accused of having smashed Nguyen Quoc Huy in the face last June 21, in the course of a protest at the Willard Intercontinental Hotel here in Washington. Le is the son of "a black U.S. soldier who was killed in action during the Vietnam war." He came to this country in 1993 from Vietnam and is a legal permanent resident. Huy is the vice chairman of the prime minister's office of Vietnam.
Le's lawyer, Kenneth Robinson, plans to present "a possible psychiatric defense," because he was tortured as a child in Vietnam. Among other things, Robinson says, Le was ordered to dance by Communist soldiers. When he refused, "the soldiers stuck bayonets through the backs of his heels." Le didn't walk for a year. And, still according to Robinson, some of Hy's security guards recognized Le and taunted him.
Le may be facing deportation from a court system that apparently has to find him insane or punish him. To which my question is, who's crazy here? Le seems to me to have taken reasonable, albeit somewhat undiplomatic, action. To call him insane seems totally nuts to me. Isn't he entitled to hit the guy in the face? But then, I'm not a lawyer…
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I do not have the words to adequately express the extent to which I think “Plamegate” is unadulterated tripe. I will next week, but not yet, since I’m writing this before the indictments (most likely for some fascist “obstruction-of-justice” drivel) have been announced.
With the Miers debacle thankfully behind him – remember that the day after Bush announced her nomination you read in That Tears It that her nomination would be withdrawn – GW can now mount a DeLay-type offensive against any fascist indictments, rally the whole conservative movement behind him to cut spending, throw illegal aliens outta here (yes, I know, it’s about time, but he’s finally getting religion), go after the crazies who run Syria and Iran – and prepare the way for his successor.
This is now the opportunity for me to divulge a tightly-kept White House secret.EASIER DIGITAL MEMORIES
Digital pictures get stored on a computer hard drive or CD, and can be backed up several times to ensure that they are preserved for time immemorial. Digital photos are also fungible; you can easily change them around to reflect a "better" reality (such as eliminating spilled coffee by either cropping it out or waving your digital photo editor's "magic wand" tool).
But that only works for people who are adept at using the somewhat-threatening looking tools in programs like Photoshop - assuming they are willing to shell out the big bucks to buy it. Not to mention the steep learning curve, that will discourage all but graphics artists.
There are cheaper and simpler alternatives that work just as well as Photoshop.IRAQIS AND AMERICANS ON ONE SIDE, TERRORISTS AND JOURNALISTS ON THE OTHER
Al Qaeda has claimed credit for a large, sophisticated attack Monday on the two hotels in Baghdad where most foreign journalists and many defense contractors stay. The attack failed, but it was a near run thing. The Palestine and Sheraton hotels are across a short street from each other, adjacent to Firdous Square, a traffic roundabout where the statue of Saddam Hussein was torn down on April 9th, 2003. The attack involved three suicide bombers and an unknown number of other fighters. The attack took place at dusk, over a span of four minutes. Several news organizations were tipped off in advance, and cameras were rolling. And we wonder which side the media is on?
TURNING FOGGY BOTTOM ORANGE
The release of UN investigator David Mehlis’ report last week on the assassination last February of Lebanese leader Rafik Hariri has all the Middle East FSOs (foreign service officers) at the State Department in a tizzy. The report gives Condi Rice a golden opportunity to overcome the entrenched left-wing bureaucracy at Foggy Bottom.
Finally. The Mehlis report was issued last Friday, October 21. The original version named Assef Shawkat as the organizer of Hariri’s killing. You learned that name two days after the assassination, instead of eight months. Hariri was hit on February 14. Two days later, in Can Porter Turn Syria Orange? published in To The Point on February 16, you read:
The hit was conducted by a Lebanese unit of Syria’s Shu'bat al-Mukhabarat al-'Askariyya, Military Intelligence Service, on the orders of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s brother-in-law, Assef Shawkat.
FEAR OF FLU
One more calamity to freak out about now, it seems, is an impending “pandemic” of the Asian Bird Flu virus known as H5N1. Every day we read about five billion more chickens or turkeys or geese in China or Romania or some other country being infected and killed.
A batch of folks in Vietnam have died of it, and the scare stories mount about how any day now, the virus will mutate, enabling not just bird-to-human infection but human-to-human. Then, the stories claim, the pandemic is on.
There are some protective measures you might consider to shield yourself from a H5N1 pandemic should it occur. I don’t want to be dispensing medical advice, so I’ll just say that this is what I am doing myself.
JAMES BOND IN AZERBAIJAN
Parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan, an oil-rich former Soviet republic on the western shores of the Caspian Sea, are scheduled for this coming November 6.
They have all the trappings of a James Bond movie. In fact, the Bond film, “The World is not Enough,” which centered on the struggle to control Caspian Sea oil, was shot in Azerbaijan’s capital, Baku, in 1999.
But now it is life's turn to imitate art. Today's intrigue in Azerbaijan includes power struggles, a clash between geopolitical giants – America, Russia and Iran – an ethnic conflict with neighboring Armenia, and almost one million refugees. Add corruption, lots of oil and gas, and serve hot. What a perfect recipe for a first-rate thriller.
EARTH TO MAUREEN
Due to time constraints, C-Span ended the broadcast of my speech last week, Why Liberals Are Incapable of Defending America , in the middle of my reply to a question about why most journalists are so liberal. I was about to use the New York Times liberal columnist Maureen Dowd as an example when C-Span switched to another event. This is because in February 2000 during the presidential campaign, I wrote a letter to the New York Times commenting on a column of Miss Dowd which was such a perfect instance of why liberals, and liberal journalists like her, really don’t care about individual people. So to complete the answer you couldn’t see on C-Span, here’s the letter:
A BAD WEEK FOR JIHADIS
Moslem terrorists – Jihadis – really took it in the shorts last week. We’ll begin with Iraq. Iraqi voters, including Sunnis, voting in huge numbers to pass a constitution was a major disaster for the terrorists. Lots of Sunnis voted no – but lots of Sunnis voted yes, which means Zarqawi no longer has any chance of igniting a Sunni-Shia civil war. Too many Sunnis have turned against him and towards democracy... ...Now let’s go to the main attraction – the single worst disaster Jihadism has possibly ever suffered.