THURSDAY,  JANUARY 24,  2008

•   Update for liberals:  Despite the turmoil of the last few days, the economy has still not collapsed, and we have not been defeated in Iraq.  But please don't lose hope.  There's always next year, and either Hillary's taxes or Barack's foreign policy.  Look for the tofu lining.

•   Oh, it's just hilarious.  Dearie, do you remember how the Democrats righteously defended the honor and rectitude of the Clintons?  Why, that great right-wing conspiracy is sullying their name.  Why, it's money people in Pittsburgh.  Why, it's that Rush guy.  Why, oh I can't go on.

So now the liberals have decided that the Clintons are deceitful bums after all.  The Washington Post deconstructs Hillary's claims about Obama, and a former Democratic Senate majority leader, the defeated Tom Daschle, is now leading a "truth squad" against the Clinton campaign.

My, how the flighty have fallen.

Did you think the Democratic race would be this much fun?  I have the feeling it will get even better.  Super Tuesday is less than two weeks from now.  As the Oscar-nominated film title says, "There will be blood." 

You know, I could start feeling sorry for Bill Clinton.  It lasts a minute.

•   Here is a bulletin:  "The Three Little Pigs" is under assault in Britain.  The nation that flew against the Luftwaffe over London is deeply concerned that the use of pigs in a story could be culturally offensive.  Look, I can't summarize this.  It's like trying to summarize a Henny Youngman joke.  Just read the story.  It'll make your day.  Guaranteed.  Money back. 

•   The New York Sun, in a disturbing story, reports that the United Methodist Church, the nation's largest mainline Protestant denomination, will consider a resolution to divest from companies doing business with Israel.  This is complete madness, and reflects the leftward tilt of some church groups.  I find it fascinating that groups that consider divesting from Israel have no problem with, say, Saudi Arabia, where they'd be arrested for holding a prayer meeting or for celebrating Christmas.  

We now know for a fact, unless facts are meaningless, that the so-called anti-war movement during the Vietnam War actually prolonged the war. It gave aid and comfort to our enemies, and damaged American will.  It was not an anti-war movement, to be sure, but a movement against American victory.  What is startling is that North Vietnamese leaders, in interviews and writings after the war, openly acknowledged how their cause was helped by "anti-war" activists in the United States.

These divestment-from-Israel resolutions, which presumably are designed to "end the occupation," will, in fact, have the opposite effect.  A leader of Hamas will take comfort in them, and increase his efforts to destroy Israel, which is Hamas's stated goal.  Moderates will be hurt by them.  That's pretty obvious, and yet powerful forces within some church groups propose the resolutions.  I wonder why.  If Israel were an enemy of the United States, would they be doing the same thing?  Hmm.

•   I have sinned.  In this space yesterday I used the term, "tow the line."  Reader Frank W. Kelley reminds me that it should, of course, be "toe the line."  As punishment, I have watched two DVDs of Christiane Amanpour.  What a wit.

•   The AP, in a reasonably fair story - you know, ball park - reports on the difficulty of reaching agreements on nuclear proliferation.  This is the great challenge of our age.  Some, of course, blame President Bush for failure to make more progress.  Other voices in the story, however, are more sane.

What is frustrating about stories like this, though, is the failure to confront the basic issue:  Some countries may refuse to give up nuclear dreams, no matter how much pressure is put on them.  They want those weapons, and they will bear all risks to get them.  There's a whole segment of "elite" opinion that cannot, emotionally or intellectually, deal with the reality of savage or genocidal regimes.  In their conceit, they believe everyone in the world thinks exactly as they do.  Everything can be negotiated.  Everyone is basically rational.  Let us reason together.

Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, Hitler invaded the Soviet Union.  Both were, from a long-term military viewpoint, irrational acts that led to horrors.  Yet, we still do not learn.

•   Gore and Bono, available for weddings and wakes, have sounded off at the World Economic Forum in Davos.  Look, Bono has done decent work, and I don't mean to ridicule him.  But Gore continues to fly over the top.  Consider this gem:

"We could take the whole session talking just about the new scientific evidence of the last few weeks and months,'' said Gore, who shared last year's Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to fight climate change, adding that the ''climate crisis is significantly worse and unfolding more rapidly.''

Really?

Have you read any new or dramatic scientific evidence about global warming that's come out in the last weeks?  Any headlines?  Any breaking into regularly scheduled programs?  I haven't, and I'm pretty much up on things.  What I am reading is that thoughtful dissenters, including scientists who actually know something about the subject, are being listened to more carefully.

The story contains this:

At an early-morning session that drew several hundred attendees, many clutching cups of coffee or tea to stave off sleep, Gore warned that the world climate crisis was worsening.

If I had to listen to Gore, I'd store up the caffeine too.

•   I asked readers for help in tracing the famous quote to the effect that the graveyards of the world are filled with indispensable men.  I've gotten some fascinating replies, and will give you the details as more becomes known.  We have very literate readers.

More later.

Posted on January 24, 2008.