Blogs vs the boycott-perhaps some of the intelligentsia.........

at institutions of higher learning are not that intelligent. Universities are for discourse and learning. Boycotting colleagues from one country cuts down on discourse.Boycotting seems to be more like bullying.If they want to get involved in politics, there are plenty of chances to run in elections.One of the fundamental tenets
of academia is that you have to defend your thesis from your peers. Unfortunately it looks like some have forgotten the basics and prefer to limit challenges from fellow academics by shutting them out completely.Instead of expanding knowledge , they are placing limits on it and should be ashamed of themselves.

Victor Hanson-The caricature and reality of George Bush

"Moveon.org, "Fahrenheit 9/11," Anonymous, Richard Clark and now the Newsweek story about alleged desecration of the Koran--all these sensations of the day have been used to proclaim the supposed sins of the American administration in the Middle East. Even when Americans consider that the president's foreign policy might just be working, he is still caricatured by critics and the media, here and abroad, as a clueless Inspector Clouseau who trips around and only stumbles into his good luck.

How accurate is that cartoon?"

Ollie North- one step at a time in Iraq

"Just the other day, Marine Lt. Dave Russell, a veteran of the recent Operation Matador, told me, "We get along very well with the Iraqi people. The children are always running up to us, looking for candy, pencils, footballs, whatever you want, and our interaction with the Iraqi populace on a whole has been extremely positive." Just a few weeks ago, Army Maj. Mark Bieger sent a U.S. helicopter on a life-flight mission in a vain attempt to save a young girl, a victim of a terrorist attack in Mosul. That helicopter could have been needed for force protection or medevac for U.S. troops. Bieger, husband and father of three, took the risk because he valued that one young Iraqi life so much. The Iraqi people have come to trust our troops -- that we do not intend to stay any longer than necessary; that we desire to help them be self-sufficient and leave as soon as possible."

More on Newsweek and sources

" they could have been quicker to tell it all. If they'd cleaned it up the first day, it would have been over with." Bradlee told E&P, referring to the magazine's retraction of a May 9 item in its Periscope section, "The first retraction was a semi-retraction. You are either right or wrong or you don't know. And if you don't know, you shouldn't have printed it."

Soap salesmen-scary vs sleazy?

Policies , records mean nothing-it appears that all that's necessary is to use mass communication to craft a message that sells, whether it has any bearing on reality or not.Perhaps instead of debates, they could be hooked up to lie detectors.

The Middle East embraces democracy--and the American president.

via Instapundit

"George W. Bush has unleashed a tsunami on this region," a shrewd Kuwaiti merchant who knows the way of his world said to me. The man had no patience with the standard refrain that Arab reform had to come from within, that a foreign power cannot alter the age-old ways of the Arabs. "Everything here--the borders of these states, the oil explorations that remade the life of this world, the political outcomes that favored the elites now in the saddle--came from the outside. This moment of possibility for the Arabs is no exception." A Jordanian of deep political experience at the highest reaches of Arab political life had no doubt as to why history suddenly broke in Lebanon, and could conceivably change in Syria itself before long. "The people in the streets of Beirut knew that no second Hama is possible; they knew that the rulers were under the gaze of American power, and knew that Bush would not permit a massive crackdown by the men in Damascus."

Minuteman project was successful

The deployment of 36,000 National Guard troops or state militia on the U.S.-Mexico border would stop the illegal flow of foreigners into America, says a congressional report that credits the Minuteman Project with proving that additional manpower could "dramatically reduce if not virtually eliminate" illegal immigration.

A Terror trial in Tampa..........

"A 50-count indictment delivered by a federal grand jury against Mr. al-Arian and his associates in February 2003 charges that the professor "directed the audit of all monies and property of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad throughout the world." It describes faxes and telephone calls involving Mr. al-Arian and his colleagues discussing and praising PIJ bombings and other terrorist attacks, debating whether to align the group more closely with with Hamas and Hezbollah and resolving a financial crisis which threatened to split the PIJ apart. The PIJ's main source of money is the government of Iran, but it supplements this help with its own fund-raising activities.
The indictment depicts Mr. al-Arian and his associates as virulent anti-Semites and supporters of terror. In a September 29, 1991 speech in Chicago, it says, he declared that Jews "were d—-d; that Allah had made them monkeys and swine and d—-them in this world and in the afterworld."

PA hate speech and Middle East Peace

"Mr. Abbas needs to put an end — and not just halt for a couple of weeks or so —the obscenity which continues to be broadcast on PA Television such as a May 13 sermon likening Jews to AIDS and calling for "the extermination of every single Jew."

More like Sewergate..........

"All of which suggests a whole nest of problems that need to be addressed no matter what the police probe finds.

As Toronto Mayor David Miller notes: “I think people should be able to call the city without believing that an hour later they’ll have a private company coming to seek a contract with them.” Indeed. "

climate change links