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Posted on 10/14/2003 10:11:03 PM PDT by Utah Girl
May I start with something hilarious? I didn't think you'd mind.
I heard from a reader who'd been in Germany, and he passed a sign that said "Free Mumia!" Only it was in German, of course, and the German word for "free" is "frei" — pronounced "fry." So . . . my reader took immense satisfaction from that!
• A brief word about Rush. I'm glad he's in rehab, and, as I said before, I feel certain he'll lick this — this rotten addiction. Of course, many people are taking a great deal of pleasure in Rush's predicament. Evan Thomas has a piece in the new Newsweek that says "Limbaugh's long-running act as a paragon of virtue is over."
I'm not sure that Rush ever held himself up to be a "paragon of virtue" — at least not ironically. Seems to me, he's sort of a raucous, rowdy, merrily slashing guy. A DJ, for heaven's sake! Nevertheless, there is a lot of virtue in him.
In fact, it's amazing how he carried on during the period of his addiction — coupled with the loss of his hearing. He was addicted to pills, felt his hearing slipping away, until it left him entirely — and he carried on manfully in public, doing his show, retaining his poise, never complaining, never whining. And now he has looked his monster in the eye and is taking care of it.
Everyone says it's Rush's worst hour. I don't know: It may be his finest.
• John Carroll, editor of the Los Angeles Times, has responded rather testily and defensively to charges of bias against Arnold Schwarzenegger — understandably. I'd like to quote just one thing from a New York Times piece on the matter: "[Mr. Carroll] said in an interview that he was unlikely to appear on the cable news talk show circuit to defend his paper. 'I was raised in the South with a high premium put on manners. I'm not about to go on a show in which people are shouted down.'"
Fine, fine: I agree with the sentiment. And yet, the thought occurs: Easy to say when you've got the L.A. Times! I mean, others may have rather less choice.
• You don't think they burn books in Cuba? That is, that the Castro regime does? Or maybe you have friends and relatives who think they'd never do that in Fidel's sweet socialist lair? Well, check out a report from the Friends of Cuban Libraries — that is, if you have any doubt at all.
• Remember when Time blared on its cover, "Mission Not Accomplished" — a rebuke to President Bush for his handling of Iraq? It was, oh — all of two weeks ago. Something like that.
This, of course, was a smear, a falsehood, for the mission of toppling Saddam and his regime certainly was accomplished — and brilliantly — and the different, if daunting, mission of establishing a free Iraq commenced.
Sen. Joe Biden has picked up Time's theme, saying he supported the war, but "I just did not count on the fact that it would be handled with such a degree of incompetence subsequent to the — quote — military victory."
"Quote," huh? I wish the voters of Delaware would put a little pressure on this lifelong (virtually) office-holder. Do any members of the Armed Forces live there, who know military victory when they see it?
• And the New York Times's Michael Janofsky had a little fun. Under the headline "The 'Hunt' Stops Here," he wrote,
When it comes to operatives for Al Qaeda, President Bush said last November, "We're going to hunt them down one at a time, and it doesn't matter where they hide as we work with our friends and bring them to justice."
When it comes to Saddam Hussein, the White House spokesman Scott McClellan said last month, "We are continuing the pursuit, and it's a matter of time before he is found and brought to justice."
But it is apparently a different story when it comes to the White House leaker who whispered the name of a C.I.A. officer to reporters. "I don't know if we're going to find out the senior administration official," Mr. Bush said last week. "I have no idea."Cute, cute. Not the worst thing the New York Times ever did. But does that strike you as a little, uh . . . out of balance? I mean, Osama bin Laden, Saddam Hussein — and the Wilson/Plame leaker, much as we'd like to get this last?
• Friends, I have just read Prof. Richard Pipes's new memoirs and I'll have a lot to say about them (including in a review for NR). They are magnificent — a stimulating and engrossing reading experience. But I want to mention one quick thing.
I was talking to David Pryce-Jones recently, and he was addressing the Sunni attacks on occupied forces in Iraq. How sad, he said. How sad that these people are attacking the helpers of Iraqis. The lives of Arabs have been so miserable, these last several decades. And most Arabs, really, must know it.
This reminded me of something in Pipes's book — a story, actually, which I will relate to you. Pipes is visiting some Russian town, during Soviet times. And a woman on a bus learns that he is an American. She begins regaling him with the record of the town, describing its glories, telling him that he ought to resettle there with his family. Then the bus stops, and in the commotion of people getting on and off, the woman leans into him — her expression changed completely — and says, "We live like dogs, don't we? Please, tell me. Isn't it true? We live like dogs."
She knew, in her bones, that it was true. But, not having many bases of comparison, she wanted to check.
Well, a great many people in the 22 states that make up the Arab League must know, deep down, that their lives are very far from what they should be — and that it's not the fault of either the Great Satan or the Little Satan (i.e., America or Israel).
• Rep. Carolyn Maloney, the Manhattan congresswoman, is on an anti-Halliburton jag — in her innocence of how that all worked out — and is co-sponsoring something called the Clean Contracting in Iraq Act. Cute title, huh? And utterly disingenuous. There was nothing unclean about that contract — and we are lucky that Kellogg Brown & Root was ready and available to do that job.
Anyway, a Maloney press release said, "New Bill Will Limit Halliburton's Monopoly on Iraq." Er, you don't limit a monopoly, Carolyn — you break it.
That's all I wanted to say — for now.
• Willie the Shoe — Bill Shoemaker, the jockey — died at 72, and I wanted to quote a couple of things from his obit. A trainer was once asked what he liked about Shoemaker as a rider, and he answered, "The way he meets me in the winner's circle"! Priceless.
Also, there was this, from another trainer: What was the secret of Shoemaker's success? he was asked. "Temperament. It is essential to both the good horse and the good rider. Win or lose, in good health or injured, Shoe has always been even of temperament. His talent and his light weight have been assets, but, above all, his temperament enabled him to do so much over so long a period of time."
I remember those glorious weeks in 1986, when Nicklaus won the Masters at 46 and Shoemaker won the Kentucky Derby at 54. Those were victories for all mankind, as far as I was concerned.
• May we check out some mail? Concerning my most recent Impromptus, a reader says, "Sophie Marceau's anti-Castro's comments surely warrant her being on the cover of National Review. Please."
Hilarious. (Mlle Marceau, of course, is a super-beautiful actress.)
• I had a great many responses to the item about the school kid in Michigan who wore the "Bush Is a Terrorist" T-shirt. The assistant principal wanted to send him home to change, but the ACLU — and an ACLU-convinced court — said, "Nothing doin'."
Many, many readers wrote, "What if the kid had worn a shirt that said 'Jesus Christ Is Lord'?" Others wrote, "What if he had worn a shirt that said 'Clinton Is a Rapist'?" I will admit, Juanita Broaddrick's arguments are more compelling than those of folks who imagine George W. Bush a terrorist.
• "Dear Mr. Nordlinger: You recently mentioned an offensive cartoon by Don Wright of the Palm Beach Post published a few weeks ago, in which Justice Clarence Thomas was portrayed as a hand puppet of Justice Scalia. I e-mailed your column and a link to the cartoon to an African-American school teacher who happens to be an old friend. He wrote back, and, while he agreed with me that the Palm Beach Post cartoon was offensive and tasteless, he hastened to add that much worse stuff gets published in the black press. While his political views are centrist and he disagrees with Justice Thomas on some issues, he believes that anti-Thomas sentiment is so extreme, that it has degenerated into an undisguised hate campaign.
"My school-teacher friend then sent me a link to an even more offensive cartoon published in a liberal black opinion online magazine — The Black Commentator — that had Justice Thomas dressed up as a Klansman: here."
Awful. Just awful.
• "Jay, last night 60 Minutes II ran a story about a successful fencing program at a predominately African-American school. I didn't see the whole story (because the Yankees were on), but it seemed as though they were rooting for these black kids to do well in a sport that has traditionally been dominated by white Europeans.
"So I guess it's okay to root for someone to succeed because of his race . But to admit that others do the same is somehow racist? Do you think that CBS realizes that running such a story a week after the Limbaugh/ESPN controversy helps to prove Rush's point? Or do I just look at things differently from everyone else?"
• "Mr. Nordlinger, your mention of 'red stars' highlighted an experience I had yesterday. I am a student at the University of Notre Dame and on my way to class I passed another student who was wearing a red T-shirt with the yellow letters 'CCCP' and the hammer and sickle emblazoned across the front. I was stunned to see it — felt almost as if someone had knocked the wind out of me. The fact that someone would show support for a regime like that — and that no one else seemed to even notice it — was so disturbing. The more I think about it, the more I wish I had had the presence of mind and courage to act on my outrage and challenge the person. How can people be so ignorant?"
• And last: "Jay, you said, 'Everyone should introduce himself,' and that woman took offense, saying, 'I'm not a "himself," I'm a person.' You should have replied, 'Well, as Margaret Thatcher said, "In language, as in life, man embraces woman."' That would have riled her."
I'm sure!
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FreeRepublic , LLC PO BOX 9771 FRESNO, CA 93794
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It is in the breaking news sidebar! |
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