Mark Helprin's New Website

Joe Knippenberg over at No Left Turns points out Helprin's new website, a valuable resource, if ever he links up his articles and commentary and essays to his favorite books.

Bill Clinton's Legacy Revives

Just when Clinton was back in the spotlight with Katrina charity work and Bush-bashing over the weekend, this story comes out to remind us of what is truly his legacy--are you ready for this?--the Clinton-Lewinsky Condom.

Gary Schmitt: Why the Sunnis Won't Deal

Schmitt on the way to success in Iraq.

Katrina

Jack Kelly on the fast federal response to Katrina.
Rightwingnuthouse has a timeline of all government action in response to Katrina.

Mark Helprin on the Conservative failure in the War on Terror

"They're All So Wrong"

CNN vs. FOX

One frequently hears about the political or ideological differences of the news channels and FOX, but here is a former news executive's analysis of the differences of CNN and FOX's coverage of a non-political event, the after-effects of Hurricane Katrina. (HT: Rich Lowry, The Corner)

Victor Davis Hanson: Our Civil War over the War on Terror

a piece on National Review Online (15 July) and transcript of Hugh Hewitt's interview from yesterday (15 July).

Great picture in need of caption.

Uberman vs. Unterman: Lesson of a Surviving Navy Seal

Wretchard at Belmont Club has a great post on the importance of perseverance and resolve on the battlefield. This, he says, is what the one surviving member of the Seal Recon team demonstrated. And the lesson bin Laden should glean from that is that he will lose. Wretchard draws upon our fight against the Japanese at Guadacanal as support.

Michael Ledeen at The Corner adds a few thoughts.

Eliot Cohen Reflecting on Iraq Now That His Son is Heading There

Steve Hayward recommended this article in Washington Post by Eliot Cohen, a self-described war hawk, thinking back through the War in Iraq in light of his son's soon deployment.

Blair: Our Determination

It is important that those engaged in terrorism realise that our determination to defend our values and our way of life is greater than their determination to cause death and destruction to innocent people in a desire to impose extremism on the world. Whatever they do, it is our determination that they will never succeed in destroying what we hold dear in this country and in other civilised nations throughout the world.

This is Blair's claim, and it is good. It needs to be said over and over again. But the question, for a good part of the West, as Bill Bennett says, is still an open question. How many of the left would echo Blair's determination?

UPDATE: Hugh Hewitt got an email (regarding the bombing in London, the loss of the SEALS and Stockdale and Al Franken's interview of Tom Oliphant) from a Navy officer today unwittingly answering Bennett's question:

We at USNA are suffering this week as we lost not only two former alumni in Afghanistan, but we also lost a paragon of honor and bravery in VADM James Stockdale. But let me be very clear about today's events in Great Britain. The human refuse who committed these heinous acts are desperate and those of us who wear our country's uniform are MORE DETERMINED THAN EVER to put an end to their reign of terror. Unless America decides to lose its mind and allow the left and its buffoons like Oliphant and Franken to run the show, we WILL PREVAIL. Oliphant strikes no fear in anyone . Navy SEALS and ARMY SOF and Marine Force Recon scare the living heck out of Bin Laden. I will put my hat with them as well as all of the future officers we are producing at USNA, USMA and USAFA and let Oliphant and his ilk defend themselves. We are going to hunt the terrorists down and we will kill them, one at a time if necessary. Sleep well Mr. Oliphant, braver men than you are on the job!"

Alex Massie in 'The Scotsman' on the 4th

A nice column by Alex Massie in the Scotsman.

Lincoln on the 4th of July

Over at Powerline, Scott has a fine post on "The Eternal Significance of Independence Day," relying on both Lincoln and Coolidge.

Henniger's "Ground Zero to Baghdad"

Hugh Hewitt points out this piece, "Ground Zero to Baghdad: September 11 and the collapse of national unity," by Daniel Henniger and includes this quote:

On a very warm Wednesday this past May, during Fleet Week in New York City, a passerby at Ground Zero encountered some 150 astonishingly young Marines in fatigues, wet with sweat after a run, standing at attention on the site's edge, outside the fence. They were from the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, and they appeared to be in the middle of a formal ceremony. Yesterday the organizer of the May event, Maj. Dave Anderson, explained they were laying a wreath to honor the victims of September 11, and that the three Marines chosen to lay the wreath had earned Purple Hearts while serving in Iraq. When the ceremony ended, he said, a woman came out of the crowd, crying, and grabbed his wrist to say that her brother had died in there that day, and she said to him, 'When people see you Marines doing this, they'll know that you will take the fight forward.'

Henniger does think that the media has been changing its coverage of the Iraq War, moving from opposing to supportive. I look forward to that.

Pelsoi: "So this is almost as if God has spoken."

This confirms something I have said before, that is, the Democrats have staked their game for rule and relevance in the anti-democratic rulings of the courts . Court rulings, specifically, Supreme Court rulings have the weight of sacred decrees for liberals. If you doubt it, check out what Nancy Pelsoi has said about all the high court's rulings generally and the Kelo vs. City of New London specifcally.

Q Could you talk about this decision [Kelo etc.]? What you think of it?

Ms. Pelosi. It is a decision of the Supreme Court. If Congress wants to change it, it will require legislation of a level of a constitutional amendment. So this is almost as if God has spoken. It's an elementary discussion now. They have made the decision.

Courtesy Ramesh Ponnuru at The Corner (emphasis added).

Actually, rereading my post linked above is spot on. In talking about the Schiavo case and Judge Greer's ruling, I quoted Jonathan Last's reference to Lincoln who said of Douglas: he takes a judge's ruling (Dred Scot decision) as a "Thus saith the LORD." Without reason or justification, liberals (like Douglas) take a human construct and give it divine sanction and weight. They have set aside not only conscience but even a standard and the desire to be able to judge something as wrong or right--even fear that the people or the people's representatives would vote on the issue.

Here is Lincoln's extended comments on Douglas:

This man [Douglas] sticks to a decision which forbids the people of a Territory from excluding slavery, and he does so not because he says it is right in itself,--he does not give any opinion on that,--but because it has been decided by the court; and being decided by the court, he is, and you are, bound to take it in your political action as law, not that he judges at all of its merits, but because a decision of the court is to him a "Thus saith the Lord." He places it on that ground alone; and you will bear in mind that thus committing himself unreservedly to this decision, commits him to the next one just as firmly as to this. He did not commit himself on account of the merit or demerit of the decision, but it is a "Thus saith the Lord." The next decision, as much as this, will be a "Thus saith the Lord." There is nothing that can divert or turn him away from this decision.

Short-Term Memory

The guys over at Powerline point out that the Congressional resolution that authorized military action in Iraq was quite clear about the connection between the war in Iraq and 9-11 and the War on Terror. Kerry, et al. have no excuse.

President Bush and the Media's Caricature of Him

Gerard Baker of The London Times interviewed Bush recently:

In person Mr Bush is so far removed from the caricature of the dim, war-mongering Texas cowboy of global popular repute that it shakes one’s faith in the reliability of the modern media.

To Senator Durbin, From James Warner, Former POW

Significant update to my post below to Durbin's outrageous claim that Guantanamo prisoners sufferings resemble those found in Nazi camps, Soviet gulags, or Pol Pot's torture cells.

A former POW of Vietnam War, James Warner, replies to Durbin.

Guess What They Are Talking About in Iraq?

Over at Iraq the Model, Omar has this to say:

It's visible to everyone that debates over the war in Iraq, war on terror, invasion or occupation or whatever you may name it are at peak levels right now. The process is being questioned, criticized and discussed more profoundly than at any time in the last two years but you know what?

That's not happening in Iraq; you can find such discussions and accusations in America but you can't find them in Iraq.

NY Times Editorial on Bush's Ft. Bragg Speech

This editorial shows, perhaps, the cause of the left's criticism of Bush's vision on the war on terror and the current war. Though before going in Iraq, there was less certainity that there was no connection. Since the WMD's have not been found immediately following the war, it seems critics everywhere--in particular, Kerry, Kennedy, other Congressmen, even President Clinton--assume that Iraq had no WMD's and that there clearly is no smoking gun connection between Iraq and bin Laden (ie 9-11).

There is even some resentment (highlighted below, emphasis mine) that Bush keeps 9-11 foremost in our minds when reminding us of the need for constancy. I can't believe that they would have had such a problem with FDR invoking the memory of Pearl Harbor keep America focused on pursuing the difficult European theater of WW II against Germany, obviously not involved in Pearl Harbor.

We did not expect Mr. Bush would apologize for the misinformation that helped lead us into this war, or for the catastrophic mistakes his team made in running the military operation. But we had hoped he would resist the temptation to raise the bloody flag of 9/11 over and over again to justify a war in a country that had nothing whatsoever to do with the terrorist attacks.

More:

No one wants a disaster in Iraq, and Mr. Bush's critics can put aside, at least temporarily, their anger at the administration for its hubris, its terrible planning and its inept conduct of the war in return for a frank discussion of where to go from here. The president, who is going to be in office for another three and a half years, cannot continue to obsess about self-justification and the need to color Iraq with the memory of 9/11. The nation does not want it and cannot afford it.

At what point do the critics see that our unity against our enemies is of greater importance than a war conducted to their refined sensibilities. Intelligence and the fog of war do not allow for the certainity of knowing lies beyond our vision at this point. But, with enemies certainly resolved and enabled to strike us and our allies, and have struck since 9-11, what side do the critics want to error on? Bush has chosen. And I am glad he did. Let's stick to it. His critics embolden desperate enemies and indicate a lack of understanding the enemy, as Rove jokingly said. In so doing, they seem to say that they would rather error on the side of the enemy.

Kelo vs. City of New London -- Just Kidding, right, Mr. Souter?

Those familiar with Supreme Court's silly and unconstitutional rulings these last few weeks, will know our robed masters (Justice Souter included) decreed, in Kelo v. City of New London, that a city could condemn private property if the property could be shown to generate greater revenue for the city than the private owner. The ludicrousness of this is already coming home to roost. At first, in a light hearted way, Watley Review reported that NYC wanted to condemn New Jersey for development. And, today, news has it that the stakes go up.

Logan Darrow Clements, CEO of Freestar Media, has filed a claim against Justice Souter's New Hampshire home in order to build a new hotel/restaurant. Supposedly, this is legitimate. The hotel will be called "The Lost Libery Hotel" and the restaurant "Just Desserts Cafe".

Quoth:

Clements, CEO of Freestar Media, LLC, points out that the City of Weare will certainly gain greater tax revenue and economic benefits with a hotel on 34 Cilley Hill Road than allowing Mr. Souter to own the land.

Further:

"This is not a prank" said Clements, "The Towne of Weare has five people on the Board of Selectmen. If three of them vote to use the power of eminent domain to take this land from Mr. Souter we can begin our hotel development."

Tony Blair's son to intern for Republican David Dreier

According to this BBC report, Euan Blair, set to complete his degree in ancient history at Bristol University, is to intern for the chairman of the House's Rules Committee, David Dreier. Evidentally, that he has chosen a Republican rather than a Democrat to intern for has raised a few eyebrows. And that he has chosen not just any Republican but Dreier (a regular Hugh Hewitt guest and a leader of center-right politics) should cause more wonder.

Michael Lewis on the lessons of Coach Fitz

Last week (11 June 2005), Saturday Morning Edition's Scott Simon interviewed Michael Lewis on his book, an expansion of his NY Times article (28 March 2004), about his high school baseball coach, Billy Fitzgerald ("Fitz"). Lewis recalls his years of play with Fitz at Isidore Newman School in New Orleans and thereby the value of athletics for youth and how a change in parents' views of athletics and schools threaten a legend. Said headmaster, Scott McLeod,

''The parents' willingness to intercede on the kids' behalf, to take the kids' side, to protect the kid, in a not healthy way -- there's much more of that each year,'' he said. ''It's true in sports, it's true in the classroom. And it's only going to get worse.'' Fitz sat at the very top of the list of hardships that parents protected their kids from; indeed, the first angry call McLeod received after he became headmaster came from a father who was upset that Fitz wasn't giving his son more playing time.

Evidently, since Lewis' NY Times article was published, Fitz's job was saved and the headmaster McLeod lost his job instead. As of October last fall, according to the school's website, they've hired a new headmaster.

Hattip: Camile, over at Book Moot.

Remember Amensty's "Gulag" Charge of Gitmo?

In the Washington Post, Pavel Litvinov, a former Gulag prisoner, speaks out on Amensty International Irene Khan's comparison of Gitmo as "the gulag of our time."

Real Torture

NY Times documents some real torture, just found in Iraq.