THE SAME WAR
No one should have any lingering doubts about what's going on in the Middle East. It's war, and it now runs from Gaza into Israel, through Lebanon and thence to Iraq via Syria. There are different instruments, ranging from Hamas in Gaza to Hezbollah in Syria and Lebanon and on to the multifaceted "insurgency" in Iraq. But there is a common prime mover, and that is the Iranian mullahcracy, the revolutionary Islamic fascist state that declared war on us 27 years ago and has yet to be held accountable. It is very good news that the White House immediately...
HIGH NOON FOR MOONBATS
High noon approaches for the moonbats. We'll soon know if they'll sit above the salt at the Democratic table, or be exiled to the outer darkness. High noon is Aug. 8, the date of the Connecticut primary. The "netroots" gang of left-liberal Web loggers have picked a fight they must win, or suffer a potentially catastrophic loss of face.
In Connecticut's Democratic primary, three-term incumbent Sen. Joseph Lieberman is being opposed by millionaire businessman Ned Lamont in a race in which there is essentially only one issue:
SIAMESE YELLOW
Bangkok. Western tradition associates royalty with the color purple. Not in Siam, or as it's called today, Thailand. The royal color here is yellow - and the whole country right now is wearing yellow, yellow shirts, hats, sashes, or ribbons, in celebration of their beloved King Bhumibol's 60th anniversary of his reign. The King's picture is everywhere, and not because of a personality cult. He is genuinely revered as the embodiment and father-figure of the Thai nation. And at the same time, the streets of Bangkok are clogged with protestors in yellow shirts waving yellow banners, demanding their democratically elected government be overthrown. The Siamese are an interesting people.
KILL TERRORISTS, DON’T CAPURE THEM
THE British military defines experience as the ability to recognize a mistake the second time you make it. By that standard, we should be very experienced in dealing with captured terrorists, since we've made the same mistake again and again. Violent Islamist extremists must be killed on the battlefield. Only in the rarest cases should they be taken prisoner. Few have serious intelligence value. And, once captured, there's no way to dispose of them. Killing terrorists during a conflict isn't barbaric or immoral - or even illegal. We've imposed rules upon ourselves that have no historical or judicial precedent. We haven't been stymied by others, but by ourselves.
THE MYSTERY OF ANGKOR
You couldn't imagine a more peaceful place than Cambodia in 1961. Sure, the Vietnamese to the east had split into a Communist North and Free South after the French defeat at Dienbienphu - but that was a problem of despised Cham (the ancient name for ‘Nam). A flight on Royal Air Cambodia from Phnom Penh (the capital) to Siem Reap (near the ruins of Angkor) provided an unforgettable example of just how laid back the place was. It was a DC-3, and the stewardess served us a small cup of orange juice, then strapped herself in the jump seat near the exit door and fell fast asleep. The plane landed, taxied to the tiny terminal, the ground crew opened the door, and we all walked past her to deplane - she was still out cold in Z-land. Must have been a long night in Phnom Penh. I stayed in this small hotel, Auberge de Temples, run by a French lady, right across from Angkor Wat. There were a handful a visitors and I was the only American. As I explored the magnificent ruined cities and temple complexes of Angkor Thom, Ta Prom, Ta Keo, Angkor Wat and others, they were like deserted lost cities that I had all to myself. Wow, is it different today.
IT’S THE TERRORISM, NOT THE NUKES, IN IRAN
Iraqi and U.S. troops battled Shi'ite militiamen in a village northeast of Baghdad on Thursday...Iraqi security officials said IRANIAN FIGHTERS HAD BEEN CAPTURED IN THE FIGHTING (emphasis added)...The U.S. military had no immediate comment.In recent days there have been several stories further documenting the Iranian role in the terror war in Iraq, especially in the south, where Tehran has been working assiduously for several years to create a regional Islamic republic. So the al-Reuters report should not be a surprise. But it gives us the opportunity to reflect on three serious questions, none of which has been sufficiently integrated into our national debate on the war:
A QUICKIE FIX
Folks, I'm sorry but this week has been taken up with legal matters over my late brother's estate. However, I found an easy solution to the auto restart problem we discussed last week. It eliminates not only the nagging but disables the automatic reboot altogether. The solution involves adding a registration key to your windows registry. I know most of you don't dare play with your registry and I advise against it. However a knowledgeable programmer has written a problem that does it automatically. I tried it on all three of my computers. It worked without any problem.
SPEAKING ENGLISH AND GETTING RICH
Does the language you speak or use help influence how wealthy you are? When trying to determine why some countries are wealthier than others, economists rarely, if at all, consider language. However, if you look at the list of wealthiest countries on a per capita income basis, you will notice all but three of the top 20 are English-speaking, or use some other Germanic language. Is there something about the English language itself that helps make one wealthier, and is there something about the Arabic language itself that inhibits economic development?
SELECTIVE SECRETS
We in journalism are selective about what we think you need to know in the war on terror. The New York Times thinks you need to know the National Security Agency has been listening in on phone calls from al Qaeda suspects abroad to people in the United States, even though telling you also alerts the terrorists, who, presumably, have sought more secure ways to communicate. The Washington Post thinks you need to know the CIA has "secret prisons" in Europe, even though telling you reduces the cooperation we receive from foreign governments, for fear we cannot keep their secrets. And the New York Times thinks you need to know we've been tracking terrorist financing through the SWIFT consortium in Belgium, even though publication means al Qaeda will seek other ways to move money. We are less eager to provide you with information harmful to our enemies.
CLIMBING FUJIYAMA
It was an interesting way to spend the 4th of July. And instructive. I climbed Fujiyama - Fuji-san, as the Japanese reverently call it - once before when I was 17. That was in 1961, and I still have the climbing stick I used with the year burned into the wood. It's funny that I have no recollection of the climb being hard. It requires starting from 7,900 feet at 4 in the morning, and trudging steeply up through volcanic scree to reach the rim at 12,200 feet some five hours later. No problem when I was 17. I guess 45 years does make a difference after all. Actually, the big difference is in coming back down. Going up it's your lungs that take a beating, going down it's your legs - and I'll take the former any time. My lungs still work OK, but the endless, endless steep pitch down, down, down, hour after hour made it achingly clear I don't have teen-age legs any more. But my 14 year-old son Jackson does - and standing on top of Fuji with him made all the effort easily worthwhile. For the rest of his life, Jackson will remember the 4th of July in 2006. Fujiyama, one of the world's most famous mountains, is now a part of his life. Hopefully, it will inspire him to learn more about the country of which Fujiyama is the symbol: Japan.