Archives: Posts From January 2007
One of 'Us' or 'Them'?
By Daniel Freedman | Wed, 31 Jan 2007 at 4:04 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: "French conservative presidential candidate Nicolas Sarkozy praised Prime Minister Tony Blair on Tuesday, saying France had much to learn from the actions of his Labour government," Reuters reports. "European Socialists should be proud of what one of us ...
Doubling the Cost of Becoming an American
By Daniel Freedman | Wed, 31 Jan 2007 at 3:58 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: "The Bush administration is proposing to more than double the cost of becoming a US citizen and drastically raise the cost of becoming a legal permanent resident," the Irish Examiner reports. Time to rewrite Emma Lazarus's famous poem on the State of ...
U.S. Suspends Sale of Fighter Jet Spare Parts, Following Reports Parts Were Reaching Iran
By Daniel Freedman | Wed, 31 Jan 2007 at 3:31 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: America has suspended the sale of all spare parts from its retired F-14 fighter-jet fleet following reports that middlemen, exploiting security lapses in the Departmentof Defense's surplus auction, were purchasing parts for Iran, China, and other states. ...
Privatize the CIA ...
By Daniel Freedman | Wed, 31 Jan 2007 at 3:17 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: ... says Michael Rubin in the Weekly Standard.Privatization works. Already, Beltway firms like SAIC and Booz Allen Hamilton operate streamlined intelligence shops. Their analysts hold the highest security clearances. So do many think-tank scholars and ...
'It is Not Unreasonable for Washington to Look to Europe Now'
By Daniel Freedman | Wed, 31 Jan 2007 at 2:58 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: "Critics of America will claim it is easy for the Bush Administration to call for an economic squeeze because America does little business with Iran, and so has little to lose. But in the real world, we all know if Teheran is to be stopped from ...
$391,440-a-Year and Wolfowitz Can't Buy a New Pair of Socks?
By Daniel Freedman | Wed, 31 Jan 2007 at 2:32 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: "World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz may be dedicated to freeing the world from poverty - but he seems unable to afford a new pair of socks. Mr Wolfowitz's sartorial deficiencies were revealed when he took his shoes off while visiting a mosque in Edirne, ...
Washington Post Asks: Why is Putin Shielding Two Murder Suspects?
By Daniel Freedman | Wed, 31 Jan 2007 at 2:27 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: "According to reports in several of Britain's leading newspapers, the police have concluded that two former KGB agents who met Mr. Litvinenko at a hotel on Nov. 1 are prime suspects in his death. The two men are Andrei Lugovoy, a former KGB bodyguard to ...
The Immortal Words of 2LT Mark Daily
By Daniel Freedman | Wed, 31 Jan 2007 at 2:11 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: Senator John Cornyn speaks on the Senate floor about his opposition to the Biden resolution. He reads out the words of 2LT Mark Daily who was killed in an IED attack in Mosul (posted here by Michelle Malkin). Here is an excerpt: I joined the fight ...
13 Days Later, Still No Response From Jimmy Carter
By Daniel Freedman | Wed, 31 Jan 2007 at 2:09 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: Still no response from the Carter Center on the news that Carter interceded on behalf of a Waffen SS Guard. As we wrote: the only thing more damning than their silence is the note Jimmy Carter wrote pleading for a Nazi SS Guard. That probably explains ...
Wikipedia: Biden is an 'American Racist, Lawyer, and Politician'
By Daniel Freedman | Wed, 31 Jan 2007 at 1:54 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: "Joseph Robinette 'Joe' Biden, Jr. (born 20 November 1942) is an American racist, lawyer and politician from Wilmington, Delaware." according to Wikipedia (via Colin). Just not Biden's day. Update: The "American racist" part has just been taken down. ...
Jewish Cemetery Desecrated by City Workers
By Daniel Freedman | Wed, 31 Jan 2007 at 1:40 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: "A Jewish cemetery in of Odessa, shut down by the Soviets in the 1970s, was desecrated by city workers," the JTA reports.Jewish.ru reported Monday that a local Ukrainian television crew, following up on a report of homeless people living in the cemetery, ...
South America's Newest Dictator
By Daniel Freedman | Wed, 31 Jan 2007 at 1:06 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: "A congress wholly loyal to Hugo Chavez approved a law Wednesday granting him authority to enact sweeping measures by decree. Meeting at a downtown plaza in a session that resembled a political rally, lawmakers unanimously approved all four articles of ...
Biden: Obama a 'Clean' Black; Shoots His Presidential Dreams Get Shot in Head, Mouth, and Foot
By Daniel Freedman | Wed, 31 Jan 2007 at 12:40 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: With much fanfare, Senator Biden kicked off his presidential campaign today. The AP reports:Sen. Joe Biden officially joined an increasingly crowded field for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination Wednesday, as he has been promising for months. ...
Germany Orders Arrest of 13 Suspected CIA Agents ... Why Not Just Give Bin Laden the German Chancellorship?
By Daniel Freedman | Wed, 31 Jan 2007 at 9:27 AM | Permalink
Excerpt: "Germany has ordered the arrest of 13 suspected CIA agents over the alleged kidnapping of one of its citizens," the BBC reports. Munich prosecutors confirmed that the warrants were linked to the case of Khaled al-Masri, a German national of Lebanese ...
Harper: Kyoto a 'Socialist Scheme'
By Daniel Freedman | Wed, 31 Jan 2007 at 9:02 AM | Permalink
Excerpt: "Prime Minister Stephen Harper once called the Kyoto accord a 'socialist scheme' designed to suck money out of rich countries, according to a letter leaked Tuesday by the Liberals," CBC News reports (via Aly). The letter, posted on the federal Liberal ...
British Police Thwart Plot to Kidnap Man and Carry Out 'Iraq-Style' Execution By ... Muslims?
By Daniel Freedman | Wed, 31 Jan 2007 at 8:35 AM | Permalink
Excerpt: "BIRMINGHAM, England - British police carried out a 'major' nationwide anti-terrorism operation on Wednesday, arresting eight people in a series of dawn raids that media reports said had thwarted a plot to kidnap a young man and carry out an 'Iraq-style' ...
'We Want to Accept Ethnics, But Not At Any Price'
By Daniel Freedman | Wed, 31 Jan 2007 at 8:30 AM | Permalink
Excerpt: "Don't stone women to death, burn them or circumcise them, immigrants wishing to live in the town of Herouxville in Quebec, Canada, have been told. The rules come in a new town council declaration on culture that Muslims have branded shocking and ...
Caption Competition: Castro and Chavez
By Daniel Freedman | Wed, 31 Jan 2007 at 8:20 AM | Permalink
Excerpt: In this video frame grab taken from the Cuban television show "Mesa Redonda" and made available by AP Television News, Fidel Castro meets with Venezuela's Hugo Chavez in Havana, reportedly on Monday Jan. 29, 2007. The 10-minute video clip was taped on ...
Iranians Visit Israel's Holocaust Web Site
By Daniel Freedman | Wed, 31 Jan 2007 at 8:01 AM | Permalink
Excerpt: "Israel's central Holocaust memorial said on Tuesday over 2,000 people in Iran and thousands of other people, including Iranians, had visited its new Farsi Web site documenting the mass murder of 6 million Jews," Reuters reports.The Jerusalem-based Yad ...
Chavez and Castro, Real or Deception?
By Daniel Freedman | Wed, 31 Jan 2007 at 7:37 AM | Permalink
Excerpt: "Cuban state television Tuesday showed a video of a healthier looking Fidel Castro meeting with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and saying his recovery was 'far from a lost battle,' in the first images of the ailing leader in three months," the AP ...
Russian Special Forces Use Poisoned Spy's Face For Shooting Practice; Does Putin's Mockery Know No Bounds?
By Daniel Freedman | Wed, 31 Jan 2007 at 7:26 AM | Permalink
Excerpt: "MOSCOW -- The head of a center that trains security personnel and held a competition for Russian special forces confirmed yesterday that it has used shooting targets showing the photograph of a former agent who was fatally poisoned in London last year," ...
Did the Saudis Lie to America? Are They Making Deals With Iran?
By Daniel Freedman | Wed, 31 Jan 2007 at 7:17 AM | Permalink
Excerpt: "Saudi Arabia and Iran are working together to try to calm the crises in Iraq and Lebanon, the Saudi foreign minister said yesterday, despite Washington's efforts to isolate Tehran and limit its influence in the Middle East. The mediation is an unusual ...
U.S. Military Says Iranian Agents Behind Deadly Attack, While Bush Says He Won't Topple Mullahs
By Daniel Freedman | Wed, 31 Jan 2007 at 7:01 AM | Permalink
Excerpt: "NBC NEWS confirms a secret U.S. military report that says 'Iranian Agents' may be behind a deadly ambush in Karbala, Iraq that left five American soldiers dead. The report also claims the Iranian revolutionary guard is providing intelligence on U.S. and ...
Holocaust Survivor Pursues 1944 Insurance Policy
By Daniel Freedman | Wed, 31 Jan 2007 at 6:39 AM | Permalink
Excerpt: "The Nazis were about to arrest his family in 1944, and Alex Moskovic remembers his father burying family documents in a 3-foot-deep hole under the shed behind their home in Czechoslovakia," the AP reports.When he returned after the Holocaust -- the only ...
'A President Not a Pastor'?
By Daniel Freedman | Wed, 31 Jan 2007 at 6:33 AM | Permalink
Excerpt: "COLUMBIA, S.C. -- Governor Romney yesterday dismissed questions about whether his Mormon faith would be an impediment to his White House aspirations, echoing the argument that voters will be choosing a president not a pastor," the AP reports. The former ...
Why Do the Democrats Still Embrace a Hate-Monger?
By Daniel Freedman | Wed, 31 Jan 2007 at 6:28 AM | Permalink
Excerpt: "Sharpton is a national figure today because of the 1987 case of Tawana Brawley, a black teenager who claimed she had been raped, beaten, and covered with feces by six white men, some of them police officers. Sharpton unquestioningly promoted her cause, ...
Washington Post Quietly Retreats From Cheney Battle
By Daniel Freedman | Wed, 31 Jan 2007 at 6:12 AM | Permalink
Excerpt: "The Washington Post has quietly retreated from a legal battle with Vice President Cheney by dropping a lawsuit demanding Secret Service logs of visitors to his office and residence," The New York Sun reports. ...
Iranian Schools Prepare Students for Global War Against West
By Daniel Freedman | Tue, 30 Jan 2007 at 4:02 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: "The Iranian education system is preparing its students for a global war against the West in the name of Islam, according to an independent study of 115 textbooks and teachers guides released today," the Washington Times reports. America's supposed ...
U.N.'s First Ever All-Female Police Unit
By Daniel Freedman | Tue, 30 Jan 2007 at 3:58 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: Secretary General Ban's office announced today that for the first time in the history of UN peacekeeping an all-female police unit has been sent to an action zone. According to Mr. Ban's office, the Indian contingent sent to Liberia, "led by Commandant ...
The Illustrated Road to Serfdom
By Daniel Freedman | Tue, 30 Jan 2007 at 3:30 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: ... by Friedrich A. Hayek, available to read online at the Ludwig von Mises Institute (via Aly). ...
540 People Killed in 130 Suicide Bombings
By Daniel Freedman | Tue, 30 Jan 2007 at 3:26 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: "During more than six years of Palestinian-Israeli violence, 540 people have been killed in 130 Palestinian suicide bombings," the AP reports. The AP is blaming Israel for the suicide bombings? Come on. The AP does provide a list of "some of the ...
Another Dose of Patience Needed in Iraq
By Daniel Freedman | Tue, 30 Jan 2007 at 3:15 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: "This is the country midwifed by American power. We were never meant to stay there long. Iraq will never approximate the expectations we projected onto it in more innocent times. But we should be able to grant it the gift of acceptance, and yet another ...
Trying to Ease the Pressure on Ahmadinejad
By Daniel Freedman | Tue, 30 Jan 2007 at 1:56 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: "The honeymoon is over. Iran's controversial president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has finally come unstuck. His popularity with the Iranian electorate -- the subject of much incredulous analysis in 2005 -- seems to be falling back at last, and the country's ...
12 Days Later, Still No Response From Jimmy Carter
By Daniel Freedman | Tue, 30 Jan 2007 at 1:53 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: Still no response from the Carter Center on the news that Carter interceded on behalf of a Waffen SS Guard. As we wrote: the only thing more damning than their silence is the note Jimmy Carter wrote pleading for a Nazi SS Guard. That probably explains ...
New York Times Admonishes Reporter For Hoping America Wins in Iraq
By Daniel Freedman | Tue, 30 Jan 2007 at 1:34 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: On January 8, the New York Times's chief military correspondent, Michael Gordon, said on the Charlie Rose show, after being asked if he thinks America can accomplish its goals in Iraq: As a purely personal view, I think it's worth it -- one last effort ...
'Syria is Allowing 40 to 75 Foreign Fighters into Iraq'
By Daniel Freedman | Tue, 30 Jan 2007 at 1:26 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: John Negroponte told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee "that Syria is allowing 40 to 75 foreign fighters to cross its border into Iraq each month and repeated the charge that Iran is providing lethal help to insurgents fighting American forces in ...
'Notwithstanding Our Diverse Views on the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict'
By Daniel Freedman | Tue, 30 Jan 2007 at 1:20 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: ... a group of Iranian writers, scholars, and leaders, write in a letter to the editor in the New York Review of Books:Considering that the Nazis' coldly planned "Final Solution" and their ensuing campaign of genocide against Jews and other minorities ...
America Warns Sudan of an 'Extremely Aggressive' Plan B
By Daniel Freedman | Tue, 30 Jan 2007 at 1:12 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: "A top U.S. envoy warned Sudan that the United States has an 'extremely aggressive' backup plan if Sudan continues stonewalling on Darfur," the JTA reports. Andrew Natsios, top U.S. envoy to the conflict-ridden region of Sudan, briefed leaders of the ...
Bang Went the Ceasefire
By Daniel Freedman | Tue, 30 Jan 2007 at 12:54 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: "A Hamas commander has been killed by gunmen in southern Gaza, despite a ceasefire between the Palestinian militant group and its rival, Fatah," the BBC reports. "Moderate" Abbas may not have got his wish of a truce come true, but he did get his order ...
Must Watch Video: Daniel Pipes and Douglas Murray Debate Ken Livingstone and Salma Yaqoob
By Daniel Freedman | Tue, 30 Jan 2007 at 12:17 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: Below are videos from the recent "clash of civilizations" debate in London (Daniel Johnson reviewed it for The New York Sun here), featuring Daniel Pipes and Douglas Murray, versus London's pro-Islamist mayor, Ken Livingstone, and Salma Yaqoob. Daniel ...
America to El Baradei: Think Again
By Daniel Freedman | Tue, 30 Jan 2007 at 9:58 AM | Permalink
Excerpt: "The US has rejected a call from the head of the UN's nuclear watchdog for a 'timeout' in the showdown with Iran over its nuclear programme. The US ambassador to the UN said the sanctions already being applied against Iran were not open to ...
First Trial for Global Court
By Daniel Freedman | Tue, 30 Jan 2007 at 9:53 AM | Permalink
Excerpt: "The International Criminal Court (ICC) ruled on Monday there was enough evidence against a Congolese militiaman to launch the new court's first trial," Reuters reports. The decision to confirm charges and pave the way for a trial against Thomas Lubanga, ...
'Now His Very Life is in Danger'
By Daniel Freedman | Tue, 30 Jan 2007 at 9:41 AM | Permalink
Excerpt: Irfan Malik, a friend of Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury, writes in on the situation in Bangladesh:In recent weeks, Bangladesh is experiencing re-emergence of the Islamist radical forces with several arrests of jihadists with huge explosives and arms. ...
Are We Still Being Duped by China?
By Daniel Freedman | Tue, 30 Jan 2007 at 9:33 AM | Permalink
Excerpt: "International talks on dismantling North Korea's nuclear programs will resume Feb. 8, China said Tuesday, as Washington and Pyongyang began a new round of meetings over the North's alleged illicit financial dealings. The last round of arms talks in ...
Caption Competition: Hillary Clinton and John McCain
By Daniel Freedman | Tue, 30 Jan 2007 at 9:21 AM | Permalink
Excerpt: Sen. John McCain smiles as Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton pulls out a winter scarf as they take part in the official dedication of the Center for the Intrepid, a $50 million high-tech rehabilitation center designed to serve the growing number of soldiers ...
Are Radical Islamists in Bangladesh Pretending to be Me?
By Daniel Freedman | Tue, 30 Jan 2007 at 8:55 AM | Permalink
Excerpt: We've written extensively on the plight of the courageous Bangladeshi journalist, Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury, who is facing the death penalty at the hands of Islamists in Bangladesh for advocating peace with Israel, and peace between Muslims, ...
Abbas Ordered the Eilat Terrorist Attack
By Daniel Freedman | Tue, 30 Jan 2007 at 8:26 AM | Permalink
Excerpt: The Secretary General's office made the following announcement: The Secretary-General condemns in the strongest possible terms today's suicide bombing at a bakery in Eilat, Israel, which killed three people and wounded another. Such acts of terrorism are ...
Question for New Yorkers: Would You Trust a Robot to Park Your Car?
By Daniel Freedman | Tue, 30 Jan 2007 at 8:08 AM | Permalink
Excerpt: "... The question will confront New Yorkers in February as the city's first robotic parking opens in Chinatown. The technology has had a good track record overseas, but the only other public robotic garage in the United States has been troublesome, ...
National Reconciliation in Somalia?
By Daniel Freedman | Tue, 30 Jan 2007 at 7:49 AM | Permalink
Excerpt: "Somalia's president agreed Tuesday to a national reconciliation conference to try to end 16 years of anarchy in the war-ravaged country, paving the way for the deployment of African peacekeepers," the AP reports. Will the New Republic accept this ...
No War For Oil? Blame NATO
By Daniel Freedman | Tue, 30 Jan 2007 at 7:30 AM | Permalink
Excerpt: "European governments are resisting Bush administration demands that they curtail support for exports to Iran and that they block transactions and freeze assets of some Iranian companies, officials on both sides say. The resistance threatens to open a ...
Bernard Lewis: Muslims 'About to Take Over Europe'
By Daniel Freedman | Tue, 30 Jan 2007 at 7:14 AM | Permalink
Excerpt: "Islam could soon be the dominant force in a Europe which, in the name of political correctness, has abdicated the battle for cultural and religious control, Prof. Bernard Lewis, the world-renowned Middle Eastern and Islamic scholar, said on Sunday," the ...
'My Problem with Jimmy Carter's Book'
By Daniel Freedman | Tue, 30 Jan 2007 at 7:08 AM | Permalink
Excerpt: ... is the title of Kenneth W. Stein's piece in the Middle East Quarterly. Stein, a longtime Carter advisor, recently resigned from the Carter Center.Carter has come to scorn those who disagree with him. On his recent book tour promoting Palestine: Peace ...
Judge: Victims of Terrorism Can Sue Arab Bank
By Daniel Freedman | Tue, 30 Jan 2007 at 7:01 AM | Permalink
Excerpt: "A federal judge in Brooklyn is allowing Israeli victims of Palestinian terrorism to sue the Jordan-based Arab Bank, which is accused of supporting terrorism by opening bank accounts for the relatives of suicide bombers," The New York Sun reports. In a ...
Will France Ban a Sequel to Les Miserables?
By Daniel Freedman | Tue, 30 Jan 2007 at 6:52 AM | Permalink
Excerpt: "The highest appeals court in France will decide today whether to ban a contemporary sequel to Victor Hugo's 'Les Miserables' for betraying the spirit of the 19th-century classic," the Daily Telegraph reports. The verdict could end years of wrangling ...
Israel to Launch Plan 'Hour Glass'
By Daniel Freedman | Tue, 30 Jan 2007 at 6:42 AM | Permalink
Excerpt: "A plan to build a security fence along Israel's 100-mile border with Egypt will get a new look after yesterday's suicide bomb attack in Eilat," The New York Sun reports. An Israeli diplomat here yesterday confirmed details disclosed in a Jerusalem Post ...
State Department's Chutzpah
By Daniel Freedman | Tue, 30 Jan 2007 at 6:37 AM | Permalink
Excerpt: "Israel likely misused American-made cluster bombs in civilian areas of Lebanon during the war against Hezbollah last summer, the U.S. State Department said yesterday," the AP reports. What the State Department didn't note is that Israel was forced to ...
Giuliani Hires ...
By Daniel Freedman | Tue, 30 Jan 2007 at 6:31 AM | Permalink
Excerpt: "Mayor Giuliani has recruited a recent New Hampshire Republican chairman to lead his political operations in this first-in-the-nation primary state," the AP reports. ...
Judge Refuses to Probe Leaks in AIPAC Case
By Daniel Freedman | Tue, 30 Jan 2007 at 6:26 AM | Permalink
Excerpt: "A federal judge overseeing a criminal case against two former pro-Israel lobbyists has declined to order an investigation into what the defense alleged were repeated leaks of grand jury information by government officials," The New York Sun reports. ...
Another Kofi-Kojo? Ban's Disclosure Form: Daughter and Son-in-Law Employed by U.N.; Refuses to Release Any More Details
By Daniel Freedman | Mon, 29 Jan 2007 at 3:25 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: First there was Kofi Annan and Kojo, now there's Ban Ki Moon and his daughter Ban Hyun Hee and his son-in-law Siddarth Chatterjee? According to a financial disclosure statement for the period January 1 to December 31, 2006, submitted by Secretary General ...
Romney's Late Conversion to a Pro-Life Position
By Daniel Freedman | Mon, 29 Jan 2007 at 3:12 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: "Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney is under fire as he pursues the 2008 Republican presidential nomination. A recent Internet video highlighted comments made during a 1994 debate against Sen. Edward Kennedy in which Romney declared that he ...
Shell and Repsol Sign Deal With Iran
By Daniel Freedman | Mon, 29 Jan 2007 at 2:59 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: "Iran has signed a preliminary agreement with Spain's Repsol and Royal Dutch Shell to produce liquefied natural gas from its South Pars gas field, the student news agency Isna reported yesterday," the AFP reports. So much for putting the squeeze on Iran. ...
Court: Dead Man's Sperm Can be Given to Woman He Never Met
By Daniel Freedman | Mon, 29 Jan 2007 at 2:49 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: "In a precedent-setting decision, an Israeli court has ruled that a dead soldier's family can have his sperm impregnated into the body of a woman he never met," the AP reports.Keivan Cohen, 20, was shot dead in 2002 by a Palestinian sniper in the Gaza ...
Space Dream Crushed by the Taxman
By Daniel Freedman | Mon, 29 Jan 2007 at 2:44 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: "Brian Emmett's childhood fantasy came true when he won a free trip to outer space. He was crushed when he had to cancel his reservation because of Uncle Sam," the AP reports.Emmett won his ticket to the heavens in a 2005 sweepstakes by Oracle Corp., in ...
Video: Jane Fonda Speaks at Anti-War Rally
By Daniel Freedman | Mon, 29 Jan 2007 at 2:11 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: Video of Jane Fonda speaking at her first anti-war rally in more than 30 years. And with John Kerry's attack on America at Davos, history is repeating itself, just not how the Viet Cong enthusiasts claim. ...
Union Membership at Lowest Level Since Tracking Started
By Daniel Freedman | Mon, 29 Jan 2007 at 2:06 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: "The number of wage and salary workers who were union members dropped to 12 percent of the work force last year, the lowest percentage since the government started tracking that number over two decades ago," Business Week reports (via Erik Sass). ...
Mother Buys School for Son
By Daniel Freedman | Mon, 29 Jan 2007 at 2:02 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: "The mother of a severely dyslexic teenager was so upset when his independent school faced closure because of financial difficulties that she bought it herself," the Daily Telegraph reports. ...
'Treads Lightly, Carries Lighter Stick'
By Daniel Freedman | Mon, 29 Jan 2007 at 1:19 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: "More accurately, when it comes to Iran, the U.N. treads lightly and carries an even lighter stick," Anne Bayefsky writes on the National Review Online. On Friday, the U.N. General Assembly adopted a resolution which "condemns...any denial of the ...
Whitewashing Sandy Berger
By Daniel Freedman | Mon, 29 Jan 2007 at 1:15 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: "It's time that Congress and the public learn why the Berger scandal was treated so nonchalantly," John Fund writes on Opinion Journal (via Michelle Malkin).The Inspector General's report found that the papers Mr. Berger took outlined the adequacy of the ...
Olmert's 'Struggle'
By Daniel Freedman | Mon, 29 Jan 2007 at 1:02 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: In response to this morning's suicide bombing in Eilat, the AP reports that "Prime Minister Olmert vowed to continue the 'ongoing and never-ending struggle against terrorists.'" The struggle where the terrorists shoot and Israel holds fire? ...
Happy Milton Friedman Day
By Daniel Freedman | Mon, 29 Jan 2007 at 12:53 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: " ... a celebration of the economist's positive impact on American life and business, and the spread of the benefits of free markets to nations around the globe." (Via Chris.) ...
South Africa Uses Spot on Security Council to Protect Al Qaeda Financers?
By Daniel Freedman | Mon, 29 Jan 2007 at 10:09 AM | Permalink
Excerpt: "Two South African Muslim men whom Washington accuses of financing al Qaeda have escaped being placed on a U.N. terrorism blacklist," Reuters reports. The two cousins escaped an international travel ban and worldwide freeze on their assets because their ...
World's Oldest Person Dies After Just Week in the Top Spot
By Daniel Freedman | Mon, 29 Jan 2007 at 9:56 AM | Permalink
Excerpt: " Emma Faust Tillman, who became the world's oldest known living person last week, died at a nursing home. She was 114," the AP reports. ...
'Young Muslims Getting More Radical'
By Daniel Freedman | Mon, 29 Jan 2007 at 9:52 AM | Permalink
Excerpt: "A bleak picture of a generation of young British Muslims radicalised by anti-Western views and misplaced multicultural policies is shown in a survey published today," the Daily Telegraph reports. The study found disturbing evidence of young Muslims ...
Quote of the Day: On Hitting
By Daniel Freedman | Mon, 29 Jan 2007 at 9:43 AM | Permalink
Excerpt: "Don't hit at all if it is honorably possible to avoid hitting; but never hit soft!" -- Theodore Roosevelt ...
Iran is Propping Up Assad; Will Dealing With Iran Solve All Our Problems in the Middle East?
By Daniel Freedman | Mon, 29 Jan 2007 at 9:23 AM | Permalink
Excerpt: "Iran has been financing the formation of militias loyal to the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad. Syrian opposition sources said Teheran has transferred tens of millions of dollars to organize, equip and finance at least two major militias under ...
African Union Snubs Sudan
By Daniel Freedman | Mon, 29 Jan 2007 at 9:15 AM | Permalink
Excerpt: "Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir has again been bypassed in his bid to become chairman of the African Union because of the conflict in Darfur. Mr Bashir had been due to take on the role but it has instead been given to Ghana's President John Kufuor," ...
Sweden to Set Up Embassy in the 'Second Life'
By Daniel Freedman | Mon, 29 Jan 2007 at 9:07 AM | Permalink
Excerpt: "Sweden is to become the first country to establish diplomatic representation in the virtual reality world of Second Life, officials said Friday," the AFP reports.The embassy would not provide passports or visas but would instruct visitors how to obtain ...
China Bans Images of Pigs to Appease Muslims
By Daniel Freedman | Mon, 29 Jan 2007 at 8:51 AM | Permalink
Excerpt: "China's ruling Communist Party has banned images and mention of pigs in television advertisements aired over the lunar new year to avoid offending the country's Muslims, an advertising agency said Friday," RxPG reports.'We were told by the CCTV - ...
Professor: Carter said 'Too Many Jews' on Holocaust Council, Saw as 'Political Gimmick'
By Daniel Freedman | Mon, 29 Jan 2007 at 8:21 AM | Permalink
Excerpt: We spoke to the former Executive Director of the Holocaust Memorial Council, Monroe Freedman, who confirmed a WorldNetDaily report that he had received a note from Jimmy Carter complaining that there were "too many Jews" on the Holocaust Memorial Council ...
Caption Competition: Kerry and Khatami
By Daniel Freedman | Mon, 29 Jan 2007 at 8:08 AM | Permalink
Excerpt: Former President of Iran Mohammad Khatami speaks to John Kerry after participating in a session 'The Future of the Middle East' at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Saturday Jan. 27, 2007. Kerry criticized the Bush administration's foreign ...
'Our Worst Ex-President'
By Daniel Freedman | Mon, 29 Jan 2007 at 7:51 AM | Permalink
Excerpt: Joshua Muravchik writes about Jimmy Carter in Commentary. For someone who once played and still fancies himself in the role of mediator, Carter's visceral attitudes to the two sides are strikingly disparate. He finds something to like in every Arab ...
Google: Accepting Chinese Censorship Demands Was Bad
By Daniel Freedman | Mon, 29 Jan 2007 at 7:47 AM | Permalink
Excerpt: "Google's decision to censor its search engine in China was bad for the company, its founders admitted yesterday," the Guardian reports (via Drudge). Google, launched in 1998 by two Stanford University dropouts, Sergey Brin and Larry Page, was accused ...
Kerry: America 'a Sort of International Pariah,' Backs Iran's 'Right' to a Nuclear Program
By Daniel Freedman | Mon, 29 Jan 2007 at 7:32 AM | Permalink
Excerpt: "Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry slammed the foreign policy of the Bush administration on Saturday, saying it has caused the United States to become 'a sort of international pariah,'" the AP reports. "When we walk away from global warming, Kyoto, when we ...
Terrorists Battle Across Gaza
By Daniel Freedman | Mon, 29 Jan 2007 at 7:23 AM | Permalink
Excerpt: "Hamas and Fatah gunmen battled each other across the Gaza Strip early Monday, attacking security compounds, knocking out an electrical transformer and kidnapping several local commanders in some of the most extensive factional fighting in recent weeks," ...
Iraqi Officials: 300 Terrorists Killed
By Daniel Freedman | Mon, 29 Jan 2007 at 7:16 AM | Permalink
Excerpt: "Iraqi officials claimed Monday that 300 militants were killed in a battle between U.S.-backed Iraqi troops and insurgents allegedly plotting to kill pilgrims at a major Shiite Muslim religious festival. Bombings and mortar attacks targeting Shiites ...
First Suicide Bombing Strikes Eilat, Three Killed
By Daniel Freedman | Mon, 29 Jan 2007 at 7:09 AM | Permalink
Excerpt: "In the first suicide bombing to strike Israel's southernmost city, a bomber blew himself up in an Eilat bakery shortly before 9:30 a.m. Monday morning, killing three people but wounding only a few others," the Jerusalem Post reports. ...
Hoping Israel Defeats Terrorists is Inappropriate ...?
By Daniel Freedman | Mon, 29 Jan 2007 at 7:04 AM | Permalink
Excerpt: ... according to Youtube? ...
Farsi Version of Holocaust Memorial Launched
By Daniel Freedman | Mon, 29 Jan 2007 at 6:57 AM | Permalink
Excerpt: "Israel's Holocaust memorial has launched a version of its Web site in the Farsi language to educate the country's most bitter enemy -- Iran -- about the Nazi genocide of 6 million Jews," the AP reports. ...
State Department Issues Report on Israeli Use of Cluster Bombs
By Daniel Freedman | Mon, 29 Jan 2007 at 6:53 AM | Permalink
Excerpt: "The Department of State has completed a preliminary report on whether Israel misused American-made cluster bombs in civilian areas of Lebanon. State Department spokesman Kurtis Cooper said Saturday that the report will be forwarded to Congress today, ...
New Evidence of Iran's Role in Iraq
By Daniel Freedman | Mon, 29 Jan 2007 at 6:39 AM | Permalink
Excerpt: "New evidence of Iran's role in Iraq will be made in Baghdad by the chief spokesman for the multinational forces in Iraq, Major General William Caldwell. The Directorate of National Intelligence worked over the weekend to clear new intelligence and ...
Seeking the Republican's Party Conservative Mantle?
By Daniel Freedman | Mon, 29 Jan 2007 at 6:34 AM | Permalink
Excerpt: "Already unprecedented in size, the presidential field of candidates will grow by one more today, as the Republican governor of Arkansas plans to add his name to a list of likely hopefuls that now numbers more than 20 from both parties," The New York Sun ...
'Move Over Jimmy Carter, El Baradei is Still in the Running for Appeaser of the Year'
By Daniel Freedman | Fri, 26 Jan 2007 at 3:58 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: "International Atomic Energy Agency head Mohammed ElBaradei said Friday he was calling for a timeout regarding the Iranian nuclear issue, hoping that talks on the matter can resume," CNN reports. ElBaradei told CNN International that the timeout would ...
Is China Planning Weapons in Space?
By Daniel Freedman | Fri, 26 Jan 2007 at 3:39 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: "A senior Chinese military officer predicts that weapons will be deployed in outer space despite the government's long-standing desire to prevent an arms race there," the Washington Times reports. ...
Gates: Congressional Resolution Emboldens Enemy
By Daniel Freedman | Fri, 26 Jan 2007 at 3:27 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: "Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Friday that a congressional resolution opposing President Bush's troop buildup in Iraq amounts to undercutting U.S. commanders in a way that 'emboldens the enemy,'" the AP reports. Indeed. ...
Canada Apologizes to Man Tortured by Syria
By Daniel Freedman | Fri, 26 Jan 2007 at 2:56 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: "Canada has apologised to a man deported by US authorities to Syria, where he was imprisoned and allegedly tortured. Maher Arar was detained in the US while returning to Canada from Tunisia. He has dual Syrian-Canadian citizenship," the BBC reports. A ...
Has American Jewry Lost its Sense of Honor?
By Daniel Freedman | Fri, 26 Jan 2007 at 2:35 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: "It would seem that American Jewry has lost its sense of honor. In early 1984, as he sought the Democratic nomination for the presidency, civil rights leader Jesse Jackson made a major misstep. In a conversation with African-American Washington Post ...
Civil War in Gaza Back On
By Daniel Freedman | Fri, 26 Jan 2007 at 2:15 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: "Eight people including at least two civilians have died in new violence in Gaza between the rival Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah," the BBC reports. Hamas militants besieged the home of a Fatah activist, leading to an exchange of gunfire and ...
Do Senators Think Before They Vote?
By Daniel Freedman | Fri, 26 Jan 2007 at 1:43 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: We ask because the Senate voted unanimously to confirm Lt. Gen. David Petraeus as the commander in Iraq, presumably showing that they put their faith in the general to do what is needed in Iraq to win, yet at the same time they want to restrict what he ...
Is 'There Literally Nothing That Hillary Won't Do'?
By Daniel Freedman | Fri, 26 Jan 2007 at 1:26 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: "There are many reasons people think Mrs Clinton will not be elected president. She lacks warmth; she is too polarising a figure; the American people don't want to relive the psychodrama of the eight years of the Clinton presidency," Gerald Baker writes ...
'Hurray! We're Capitulating'
By Daniel Freedman | Fri, 26 Jan 2007 at 1:08 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: Der Spiegel posts an excerpt of Henryk M. Broder's book "Hurra, Wir Kapitulieren," ("Hurray! We're Capitulating").In 1972, more than three decades ago, Danish lawyer and part-time politician Mogens Glistrup had an idea that brought him instant fame. To ...
'Mr. Webb, What About the Untold Millions Who've Starved, Bled, and Died'
By Daniel Freedman | Fri, 26 Jan 2007 at 12:50 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: "'As I look at Iraq, I recall the words of former general and soon-to-be-President Dwight Eisenhower during the dark days of the Korean War, which had fallen into a bloody stalemate. 'When comes the end?' ... And as soon as he became president, he ...
'Duke's Tenured Vigilantes'
By Daniel Freedman | Fri, 26 Jan 2007 at 12:42 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: Charlotte Allen writes on "the scandalous rush to judgment in the lacrosse 'rape' case" in the Weekly Standard. Indeed. Which office in the school do the boys go to get their reputation back? ...
'British Police Discover Teapot With High Reading of Radioactive Material'
By Daniel Freedman | Fri, 26 Jan 2007 at 12:24 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: ... used in murder of Alexander Litvenko, ABC is reporting. Will Putin escape the blame? ...
Eight Days Later, Still No Response From Jimmy Carter
By Daniel Freedman | Fri, 26 Jan 2007 at 12:10 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: Still no response from the Carter Center on the news that Carter interceded on behalf of a Waffen SS Guard. As we wrote: the only thing more damning than their silence is the note Jimmy Carter wrote pleading for a Nazi SS Guard. That probably explains ...
Street Children Raid Hotel of Limousine Liberals
By Daniel Freedman | Fri, 26 Jan 2007 at 11:38 AM | Permalink
Excerpt: "Dozens of street children have invaded a five-star hotel food tent and feasted on meals meant for sale at the World Social Forum in Kenya's capital. The hungry urchins were joined by other participants who complained that the food was too expensive at ...
101 Co-Sponsors and Iran Speaks Out Against it
By Daniel Freedman | Fri, 26 Jan 2007 at 10:54 AM | Permalink
Excerpt: ... sources at the U.N. tell us. (On the Holocaust Resolution.) Update: Sources at the U.N. tell us that the resolution passed by consensus. Iran spoke about a 'Palestinian Holocaust.' Update II: Sources tell us that Venezuela supported the resolution, ...
'How Should Men Wear a Scarf?'
By Daniel Freedman | Fri, 26 Jan 2007 at 10:29 AM | Permalink
Excerpt: ... is apparently a pressing issue according to the Daily Telegraph.Once the gentlemen's scarf was just draped sadly round the neck, barely visible beneath the buttoned-up overcoat - unless its owner was Rupert Bear or Dr Who. But metrosexual man has put ...
Uncharacteristic Swiftness at the U.N.?
By Daniel Freedman | Fri, 26 Jan 2007 at 10:24 AM | Permalink
Excerpt: The New York Sun editorializes:The United Nations is moving with uncharacteristic swiftness in the scandal that has erupted over the United Nations Development Program's operations in communist North Korea. The UNDP agreed yesterday to refrain from ...
Fair Description?
By Daniel Freedman | Fri, 26 Jan 2007 at 10:11 AM | Permalink
Excerpt: "The militant Irish republican Gerry Adams and the fire-breathing unionist preacher Ian Paisley have long symbolized the irreconcilable extremes of Ulster politics," the New York Times editorializes. ...
Pilgrims Road to Temple Unearthed ...
By Daniel Freedman | Fri, 26 Jan 2007 at 10:02 AM | Permalink
Excerpt: ... Haaretz reports. ...
U.N.: Iran Plans to Start Installing Thousands of Centrifuges
By Daniel Freedman | Fri, 26 Jan 2007 at 9:42 AM | Permalink
Excerpt: "Iran plans to start installing thousands of centrifuges in an underground facility next month, U.N. officials said Friday, paving the way to large-scale uranium enrichment, a potential way of making nuclear weapons," the AP reports. The officials, who ...
Caption Competition: Chirac, Ban, and Al Faysal
By Daniel Freedman | Fri, 26 Jan 2007 at 9:41 AM | Permalink
Excerpt: French President Jacques Chirac addresses reporters during a press conference closing a conference to raise funds for Lebanon, Thursday Jan. 25, 2007 in Paris, as United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, left, and Foreign Minister of Saudi Arabia ...
China, India, and South Korea,, Still Denying the Holocaust?
By Daniel Freedman | Fri, 26 Jan 2007 at 8:53 AM | Permalink
Excerpt: Those countries, among others, still haven't sign up to the resolution on Holocaust denial. ...
'Caffeinated Doughnuts'
By Daniel Freedman | Fri, 26 Jan 2007 at 8:47 AM | Permalink
Excerpt: "That cup of coffee just not getting it done anymore? How about a Buzz Donut or a Buzzed Bagel? That's what Doctor Robert Bohannon, a Durham, North Carolina, molecular scientist, has come up with. Bohannon says he's developed a way to add caffeine to ...
Taliban Who Destroyed Buddha Statues Killed
By Daniel Freedman | Fri, 26 Jan 2007 at 8:42 AM | Permalink
Excerpt: "A NATO airstrike destroyed a Taliban command post in southern Afghanistan, killing a suspected senior militant leader, the alliance said Friday. Separately, an assailant gunned down an Afghan lawmaker who, under the former Taliban regime, oversaw the ...
'Is Obama Black Enough?'
By Daniel Freedman | Fri, 26 Jan 2007 at 8:24 AM | Permalink
Excerpt: ... is this Fox News discussion. Is this relevant? ...
'Yes, Rudy Giuliani Is a Conservative'
By Daniel Freedman | Fri, 26 Jan 2007 at 8:10 AM | Permalink
Excerpt: ... Steven Malanga writes in City Journal (via Chris).Far from being a liberal, he ran New York with a conservative's priorities: government exists above all to keep people safe in their homes and in the streets, he said, not to redistribute income, run ...
Russia Spies on Israel, Passes Information to Hezbollah
By Daniel Freedman | Fri, 26 Jan 2007 at 7:39 AM | Permalink
Excerpt: "Russia maintains listening posts along the Syrian border with Israel which it uses to follow IDF movements in the Golan Heights, it was revealed Thursday night," the Jerusalem Post reports. According to a report on Channel 2, the posts are manned by ...
Bush Authorizes Military to Kill or Capture Iranian Operatives
By Daniel Freedman | Fri, 26 Jan 2007 at 7:28 AM | Permalink
Excerpt: "The Bush administration has authorized the U.S. military to kill or capture Iranian operatives inside Iraq as part of an aggressive new strategy to weaken Tehran's influence across the Middle East and compel it to give up its nuclear program, according ...
Carter Complained 'Too Many Jews' on Holocaust Memorial Council
By Daniel Freedman | Fri, 26 Jan 2007 at 7:10 AM | Permalink
Excerpt: "TEL AVIV -- Former President Jimmy Carter once complained there were "too many Jews" on the government's Holocaust Memorial Council, Monroe Freedman, the council's former executive director, told WND in an exclusive interview," WorldNetDaily reports ...
Big Brother: Spanish Government Regulates Women's Clothing Sizes
By Daniel Freedman | Fri, 26 Jan 2007 at 7:03 AM | Permalink
Excerpt: "Spain is to standardise its clothing sizes for women as part of a government drive to ease pressure on young girls over their body size. Clothes currently on sale in Spain often vary in size from shop to shop, despite carrying the same size label. Some ...
Report: Iran To Try Space Launch
By Daniel Freedman | Fri, 26 Jan 2007 at 6:53 AM | Permalink
Excerpt: "Iran has converted its most powerful ballistic missile into a satellite launch vehicle. The 30-ton rocket could also be a wolf in sheep's clothing for testing longer-range missile strike technologies, Aviation Week & Space Technology magazine reports in ...
Spies Disagree Over Role of Iran in Iraq
By Daniel Freedman | Fri, 26 Jan 2007 at 6:38 AM | Permalink
Excerpt: "As America's generals prepare for an increase in troops in Iraq, the American intelligence community has been fiercely debating the extent to which operatives directed by Iran's security services have penetrated the Iraqi government," The New York Sun ...
Justices Felt Compelled to Act in Florida Recount
By Daniel Freedman | Fri, 26 Jan 2007 at 6:32 AM | Permalink
Excerpt: "Three of the five Supreme Court justices who ruled to give the White House to President Bush in 2000 say they had no choice but to intervene in the Florida recount," the AP reports. ...
Black Caucus Amounts to Segregation?
By Daniel Freedman | Fri, 26 Jan 2007 at 6:24 AM | Permalink
Excerpt: "White House hopeful Tom Tancredo said yesterday that the existence of the Congressional Black Caucus and other race-based groups of lawmakers amounts to segregation and should be abolished," the AP reports. "It is utterly hypocritical for Congress to ...
Seeing Daggers
By Daniel Freedman | Fri, 26 Jan 2007 at 6:15 AM | Permalink
Excerpt: Senator Schumer is seeing daggers again. The Daily News reports (via Tom): "This is an anti-New York provision, gaining 40% of its revenues from our state. Even worse, it hurts the poor and is a dagger at the heart of New York's fiscal budget," said U.S. ...
'God' is a Rude Word? Viewers Hear '(Bleep) Bless You'
By Daniel Freedman | Thu, 25 Jan 2007 at 4:01 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: :So much for God and country, at least during some in-flight showings of the Oscar-nominated movie 'The Queen.' All mentions of God are bleeped out of a version of the film distributed to Delta and some other airlines," the AP reports.Jeff Klein, ...
Christians Break Silence and Describe Muslim Persecution of Christian Minority in Bethlehem
By Daniel Freedman | Thu, 25 Jan 2007 at 3:38 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: "A number of Christian families have finally decided to break their silence and talk openly about what they describe as Muslim persecution of the Christian minority in this city," the Jerusalem Post reports. The move comes as a result of increased ...
American Woman is World's Oldest Person
By Daniel Freedman | Thu, 25 Jan 2007 at 3:29 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: " A Connecticut woman born to former slaves in the decades following the U.S. Civil War has become the world's oldest person, at 114, according to Guinness World Records," Reuters reports. ...
Video: '21.7.05. Failed London Bombers CCTV'
By Daniel Freedman | Thu, 25 Jan 2007 at 3:19 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: Surveillance video of one of the failed 7/21 bombers: (Via littlegreenfootballs.com). ...
Clinton Pardon Scandal Returns
By Daniel Freedman | Thu, 25 Jan 2007 at 2:40 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: "Pardon scandal still looms for Sen. Hillary Clinton's brother, Tony Rodham. Bankruptcy judge orders new court date in case involving unpaid loans," ABC is reporting. Did Obama's camp leak this? ...
'Why is it so Bad to Pay Someone to Write Something on Wikipedia?'
By Daniel Freedman | Thu, 25 Jan 2007 at 2:16 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: "When a blogger revealed this week that Microsoft Corp. wanted to pay him to fix purported inaccuracies in technical articles on Wikipedia, the software company endured online slams and a rebuke from the Web encyclopedia's founder for behaving ...
'Modern Left is Blind to the Evils of Militant Islam'
By Daniel Freedman | Thu, 25 Jan 2007 at 1:34 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: "As a child of politicised parents, Observer columnist Nick Cohen followed in their tradition and became a trenchant voice on the liberal-left in the 1980s and 90s. But the Iraq War changed all that and forced him to rethink. In an exclusive extract from ...
Jewish Leader Saves White Separatist, Will He Be Furious?
By Daniel Freedman | Thu, 25 Jan 2007 at 1:06 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: " A Canadian Jewish leader saved a white separatist who was attacked by protesters at a Halifax hotel. Jon Goldberg, head of the Atlantic Jewish Council, was attending Jared Taylor's Jan. 16 speech on the costs of racial diversity and integration in ...
Seven Days Later, Still No Response From Jimmy Carter
By Daniel Freedman | Thu, 25 Jan 2007 at 1:02 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: Still no response from the Carter Center on the news that Carter interceded on behalf of a Waffen SS Guard. As we wrote: the only thing more damning than their silence is the note Jimmy Carter wrote pleading for a Nazi SS Guard. That probably explains ...
Obama Joins the Universal Healthcare Bandwagon
By Daniel Freedman | Thu, 25 Jan 2007 at 12:55 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: "Every American should have health care coverage within six years,Senator Obama said Thursday as he set an ambitious goal soon after jumping into the 2008 presidential race," the AP reports. ...
'Contentions'
By Daniel Freedman | Thu, 25 Jan 2007 at 12:39 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: Commentary Magazine has launched a blog, Contentions. Among the writers are New York Sun contributors, Hillel Halkin and Daniel Johnson. We wish Sam Munson and everyone else involved in the new enterprise the best of luck. Today Halkin writes on Michael ...
'Is the New York Times a Law Unto Itself?'
By Daniel Freedman | Thu, 25 Jan 2007 at 12:22 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: ... Scott Johnson asks at Powerline.When the Times published its December 16, 2005 exposé of the secret National Security Agency electronic surveillance of al Qaeda-related communications, reporters James Risen and Eric Lichtblau noted that they had ...
New York Times Calls Leading Islamist a 'Reasonable Man,' Compared to Bin Laden Perhaps He Is.
By Daniel Freedman | Thu, 25 Jan 2007 at 10:10 AM | Permalink
Excerpt: "Washington needs to move quickly, along with Arab and African leaders, to try to broker a political compromise between responsible leaders of the Islamic Courts Union, which was evicted from power last month by the Ethiopians, and the internationally ...
America's New Super Weapon: The Heat-Ray Gun
By Daniel Freedman | Thu, 25 Jan 2007 at 9:25 AM | Permalink
Excerpt: "The military calls its new weapon an 'active denial system,' but that's an understatement. It's a ray gun that shoots a beam that makes people feel as if they are about to catch fire. Apart from causing that terrifying sensation, the technology is ...
Could the Change in Order of Presidential Primaries Help Giuliani?
By Daniel Freedman | Thu, 25 Jan 2007 at 9:12 AM | Permalink
Excerpt: "As many as four big states -- California, Florida, Illinois and New Jersey -- are likely to move up their 2008 presidential primaries to early next February, further upending an already unsettled nominating process and forcing candidates of both parties ...
Israeli Parliament Allows President to Take Leave of Absence
By Daniel Freedman | Thu, 25 Jan 2007 at 9:01 AM | Permalink
Excerpt: "President Moshe Katsav, who faces rape and other sexual assault charges, stepped aside Thursday after lawmakers approved a leave of absence. A parliamentary panel voted 13-11 to approve Katsav's request for a leave that could extend up to six months," ...
South Korea, China, Barbados, and India, Still Denying the Holocaust? Side With Iran ...
By Daniel Freedman | Thu, 25 Jan 2007 at 8:50 AM | Permalink
Excerpt: We're told that 81 countries have now signed up to the American resolution on Holocaust Denial. Japan and Brazil are among the countries that have now signed. Among the countries siding with Iran in refusing to support the resolution are: Recipients of ...
Video: McCain Falls Asleep During President Bush's State of the Union Address?
By Daniel Freedman | Thu, 25 Jan 2007 at 8:47 AM | Permalink
Excerpt: Is talking about defeating terrorists and introducing democracy in Afghanistan just not that interesting? ...
Caption Competition: John Kerry
By Daniel Freedman | Thu, 25 Jan 2007 at 8:34 AM | Permalink
Excerpt: Senate Foreign Relations Committee member Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass. takes part in a debate in an Iraq War resolution, Wednesday, Jan.. 24,2007 on Capitol Hill in Washington Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2007. Kerry, the Democrats' losing presidential candidate in ...
Where Are The Death Penalty Opponents Now?
By Daniel Freedman | Thu, 25 Jan 2007 at 8:06 AM | Permalink
Excerpt: "Iran has publicly hanged four men convicted of taking part in deadly bombings in the south-western city of Ahwaz last year. The blasts at a bank and the office of the governor killed eight people and injured at least 45 others," the BBC reports. Where ...
Sex Offender Enrolled in Schools
By Daniel Freedman | Thu, 25 Jan 2007 at 7:53 AM | Permalink
Excerpt: "A 29-year-old convicted sex offender attended at least two schools in Arizona, sitting through classes and turning in homework while pretending to be a 12-year-old boy, police said yesterday," the Daily Telegraph reports. Authorities are investigating ...
Cindy Sheehan Surrenders to President Bush?
By Daniel Freedman | Thu, 25 Jan 2007 at 7:47 AM | Permalink
Excerpt: "War protester Cindy Sheehan has dropped her lawsuit challenging county camping and parking bans near President Bush's Crawford ranch," the AP reports. Fort Worth attorney David Broiles, who represents Sheehan's group, asked to withdraw the lawsuit ...
America and Georgia Foil Uranium Plot
By Daniel Freedman | Thu, 25 Jan 2007 at 7:35 AM | Permalink
Excerpt: "A Russian man who tried to sell a small piece of weapons-grade uranium has been arrested in Georgia, officials say," the BBC reports. The man was detained in the Georgian capital Tbilisi last summer in a sting operation involving US agents, the Georgian ...
Middle East Divided: Arab League v. Gulf States
By Daniel Freedman | Thu, 25 Jan 2007 at 7:27 AM | Permalink
Excerpt: "The threat of a US attack on Iran is very serious and would risk spreading sectarian violence throughout the Middle East, Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa said yesterday," Reuters reports. The Gulf States, meantime, have said America attacking ...
'Operation Imposing Law'
By Daniel Freedman | Thu, 25 Jan 2007 at 7:21 AM | Permalink
Excerpt: "Iraq's prime minister told parliament Thursday that the coming security sweep in the capital would not be the last battle against militants, who he said would not be safe anywhere in the country," the AP reports. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki did not ...
Chavez: 'This Is For Those Who Say Castro's Dying'; But Did Castro Really Sign This?
By Daniel Freedman | Thu, 25 Jan 2007 at 7:07 AM | Permalink
Excerpt: "Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has shown a letter from Fidel Castro which he says is proof that the ailing Cuban president is recovering," the BBC reports. Mr Chavez drew attention to Mr Castro's firm handwriting, saying: "This is for those who say ...
'Send the Yanks to Europe'
By Daniel Freedman | Thu, 25 Jan 2007 at 6:58 AM | Permalink
Excerpt: "Last Saturday many thousands of Londoners -- plus a small but determined corps of Americans -- came to Westminster to debate the clash of civilizations. Ken Livingstone, the notoriously pro-Islamist mayor of London, had invited Daniel Pipes, director of ...
Kerry's Career, 'One of the Most Disgraceful of His Generation'
By Daniel Freedman | Thu, 25 Jan 2007 at 6:51 AM | Permalink
Excerpt: "Senator Kerry had to choke back tears as he announced, on the floor of the Senate, the end of his long quest for the presidency, but our own eyes are dry. His career, by our lights, has been one of the most disgraceful of his generation," The New York ...
Iranian Supreme Leader Refuses to Meet Ahmadinejad
By Daniel Freedman | Thu, 25 Jan 2007 at 6:41 AM | Permalink
Excerpt: "Internal pressure on President Ahmadinejad of Iran to abandon his confrontational policies with the West has intensified after the country's supreme spiritual leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, snubbed a request for a meeting on the country's nuclear ...
Blair Caves in on Gay Rights
By Daniel Freedman | Thu, 25 Jan 2007 at 6:28 AM | Permalink
Excerpt: "Prime Minister Blair caved in last night in the battle over homosexual adoption in the face of a full-blown Cabinet revolt," the Daily Telegraph reports. In a stark illustration of his diminishing authority, Mr. Blair has been forced to accept a deal ...
Taxpayers Get an Extra Two Days ...
By Daniel Freedman | Thu, 25 Jan 2007 at 6:21 AM | Permalink
Excerpt: "... until April 17, to file 2006 returns and pay taxes owed, the Internal Revenue Service said yesterday," the AP reports. The two-day reprieve comes about because April 15, the usual tax day, falls on a Sunday this year and April 16 is Emancipation ...
Japan, No Longer a Holocaust Denier?
By Daniel Freedman | Thu, 25 Jan 2007 at 6:10 AM | Permalink
Excerpt: We're told that Japan has now signed up to the Holocaust Resolution at the United Nations. What about India, South Korea, and co.? Will they follow? ...
Bloomberg, Pelosi, Pope Urban VII, and Hitler
By Daniel Freedman | Wed, 24 Jan 2007 at 4:13 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: "While the current antismoking phenomenon may appear unstoppable, a look back reveals that tobacco bans are hardly new -- and rarely permanent. Here are some of the earlier smoke-free movements in history," Abigail Cutler writes in the Atlantic Monthly ...
World's Oldest Man Dies, Held Title for One Month
By Daniel Freedman | Wed, 24 Jan 2007 at 4:08 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: "Emiliano Mercado del Toro was born when Puerto Rico was still a Spanish colony and trained as a soldier the year World War I ended," the AP reports. On Wednesday, having spent just a month as the world's oldest person, he died at his home on the ...
Russia Decides Not to Arm Palestinian Arab Authority?
By Daniel Freedman | Wed, 24 Jan 2007 at 3:39 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: "Russia has refrained from delivering armored personnel carriers to the Palestinian Authority and is not going to discuss the issue of delivering light arms, Anatoly Mazurkevich, the head of the main international military cooperation department at the ...
New York Times Op-ed: America Wants Israel and Syria to be at War
By Daniel Freedman | Wed, 24 Jan 2007 at 2:58 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: "Israel's newspapers are rife with reports of a peace agreement secretly forged between Israeli and Syrian negotiators. Though both the Syrian and Israeli governments have denied any involvement in the talks, past experience shows that such disavowals ...
'For All the Griping About Our System'
By Daniel Freedman | Wed, 24 Jan 2007 at 2:43 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: "... Americans have the most advanced health care in the world in part because we still have something resembling a private market for insurance. But it is not a truly efficient market because current tax policy lets businesses -- but not individuals -- ...
'Democratic Candidates Are Virtually Silent'
By Daniel Freedman | Wed, 24 Jan 2007 at 2:39 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: "... on the nature of the enemy confronting us," Jeff Jacoby writes in the Boston Globe.Barack Obama launched his exploratory committee with an online video that mentioned the economy, healthcare, vanishing pensions, college costs, and the fractiousness ...
Olmert Calls on Israeli President to Resign
By Daniel Freedman | Wed, 24 Jan 2007 at 1:22 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: News Alert: JERUSALEM (AP) -- Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert calls on the Israeli president to resign. At the moment Katsav has said he is temporarily stepping aside. But now that Olmert has brought up the subject of resignations, how about his own? ...
Hamas Calls Prime Minister Harper's Government 'Extremist'
By Daniel Freedman | Wed, 24 Jan 2007 at 1:19 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: "Canada risks making itself an enemy of the Palestinian people and of the broader Islamist movement by boycotting Hamas and openly siding with Israel, Palestinian foreign minister Mahmoud Zahar said Sunday after he was shunned by visiting Foreign ...
Six Days Later, Still No Response From Jimmy Carter
By Daniel Freedman | Wed, 24 Jan 2007 at 1:08 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: Still no response from the Carter Center on the news that Carter interceded on behalf of a Waffen SS Guard. We put in more phone calls and e-mail requests for comment today. As we wrote: the only thing more damning than their silence is the note Jimmy ...
Paper: Kerry to Bow Out of Presidential Race
By Daniel Freedman | Wed, 24 Jan 2007 at 12:58 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: "Senator John F. Kerry plans to announce today that he is bowing out of the 2008 presidential race, and will instead remain in Congress and seek reelection to his Senate seat next year, according to senior Democratic officials," the Boston Globe reports. ...
New Airstrikes in Somalia, Will the New Republic Complain?
By Daniel Freedman | Wed, 24 Jan 2007 at 12:50 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: "America launched an airstrike in Somalia against suspected terrorist targets - the second such attack this month, defense officials said Wednesday," the AP reports. Will the New Republic again complain that we're attacking an Islamist government that ...
Senate Rejects Minimum Wage Hike?
By Daniel Freedman | Wed, 24 Jan 2007 at 12:39 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: News Alert: WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Senate has rejected effort to pass a minimum wage bill without accompanying tax cuts. Even the New York Times once editorialized against the minimum wage. ...
Fighting Resumes in Lebanon
By Daniel Freedman | Wed, 24 Jan 2007 at 11:20 AM | Permalink
Excerpt: So much for Lebanon returning to normal. The AP reports: Pro- and anti-government factions clashed for a second day in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli on Wednesday, a day after violence nationwide claimed three lives and injured more than 170 ...
Palestinian Killed in Gaza, or Palestinian Killed While Trying to Infiltrate Israel?
By Daniel Freedman | Wed, 24 Jan 2007 at 10:06 AM | Permalink
Excerpt: "Israel Troops Kill Palestinian in Gaza," is the AP headline. "Palestinian killed at Gaza border," is the slightly more accurate BBC headline. And here's the story, as told by the AP:Israeli troops shot dead a Palestinian early Wednesday and arrested two ...
Cesar Borja, RIP
By Daniel Freedman | Wed, 24 Jan 2007 at 9:59 AM | Permalink
Excerpt: " A New York police officer who participated in September 11, 2001 rescue efforts died just hours before legislators honored him by inviting his son to attend the State of the Union address," the AFP reports. Cesar Borja, 52, died of lung disease at 6:15 ...
First Arab 'Righteous Gentile'
By Daniel Freedman | Wed, 24 Jan 2007 at 9:52 AM | Permalink
Excerpt: "An Arab who saved the lives of two dozen Jews during the Holocaust is about to receive an unprecedented honour from Israel. Khaled Abdelwahhab, a wealthy Tunisian landowner, is poised to become the first Arab to be celebrated as a Righteous Gentile. The ...
Will He, Won't He? He Straddles
By Daniel Freedman | Wed, 24 Jan 2007 at 9:36 AM | Permalink
Excerpt: "Israeli President Moshe Katsav, facing charges of rape and abuse of power, asked parliament Wednesday to temporarily remove him from office in an effort to blunt growing calls for his resignation," the AP reports. So who is right? ...
Duke Case Prosecutor Charged With New Ethics Violations
By Daniel Freedman | Wed, 24 Jan 2007 at 9:19 AM | Permalink
Excerpt: ABC is reporting that "the former prosecutor in the Duke lacrosse case, Mike Nifong, has been charged with new ethics violations, including withholding DNA evidence." ...
Hezbollah Threatens Second Coup Attempt
By Daniel Freedman | Wed, 24 Jan 2007 at 9:06 AM | Permalink
Excerpt: "Lebanon is returning to normal after a nationwide anti-government strike led by the Hezbollah faction, but the group has warned of more action to come. Bulldozers cleared debris from Beirut streets after fighting that saw three people killed and 100 ...
Watergate Plotter Dies
By Daniel Freedman | Wed, 24 Jan 2007 at 8:53 AM | Permalink
Excerpt: "Howard Hunt, the CIA officer who helped to plan the Watergate break-in that led to the downfall of US President Richard Nixon has died, aged 88. Mr Hunt, who was jailed over the incident, had died after a lengthy bout of pneumonia in Miami, his son ...
Caption Competition: Bush, Cheney, and Pelosi
By Daniel Freedman | Wed, 24 Jan 2007 at 8:43 AM | Permalink
Excerpt: President Bush delivers his annual State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress as Vice President Richard Cheney and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of Calif., look on. Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2007. (AP Photo/Larry Downing, Pool) Yesterday's winner was ...
School: Students Can't Chant 'U.S.A'
By Daniel Freedman | Wed, 24 Jan 2007 at 8:29 AM | Permalink
Excerpt: "Student fans at recent Baraboo High School athletic games have been trying to sneak a few cheers with double meanings past officials, leaving administrators tightening enforcement of WIAA rules and some students and parents wondering what's wrong with a ...
Chavez: Castro Gravely Ill
By Daniel Freedman | Wed, 24 Jan 2007 at 8:09 AM | Permalink
Excerpt: Good riddance. Let's be sure to send something other than Godiva chocolates to help the democratic opposition. ...
Britain Needs to be Prepared for a Crime Wave
By Daniel Freedman | Wed, 24 Jan 2007 at 7:58 AM | Permalink
Excerpt: Britain: "Judges and magistrates are being asked in a letter by Home Secretary John Reid and legal chiefs to jail only the most dangerous and persistent criminals. Mr Reid, the Attorney General and Lord Chancellor sent out the letter as the number of ...
Press Censorship in London?
By Daniel Freedman | Wed, 24 Jan 2007 at 7:43 AM | Permalink
Excerpt: "The London Paper and London Lite free newspapers face bans from central London unless both companies contribute towards a £500,000 clean-up cost, Westminster City Council threatened today," the Guardian reports. The council has warned News International ...
Is He or Isn't He Resigning?
By Daniel Freedman | Wed, 24 Jan 2007 at 7:31 AM | Permalink
Excerpt: Update: Answer: He's temporarily stepping down. "Israel's president will announce plans today to resign so that he can defend himself against charges of rape and sexual assault," the Daily Telegraph reports. But the BBC reports: Israel's President Moshe ...
Poll: Should Carter Be Considered The Most Embarrassing Former President?
By Daniel Freedman | Wed, 24 Jan 2007 at 7:22 AM | Permalink
Excerpt: What do you think? Does anyone else come close? Carter has received the most nominations this month for the Neville Chamberlain appeasement award. Several readers suggest making it the lifetime award. Does anyone else come close? ...
European Parliament Report: States Knew of Secret CIA Flights
By Daniel Freedman | Wed, 24 Jan 2007 at 7:03 AM | Permalink
Excerpt: "A European Parliament committee has approved a report which says EU states knew of secret CIA flights over Europe. The report says the governments also knew of the abduction of terror suspects by US agents and the US's use of clandestine detention ...
North Korea Is Helping Iran's Nuclear Program, as Rumsfeld Warned
By Daniel Freedman | Wed, 24 Jan 2007 at 6:49 AM | Permalink
Excerpt: "North Korea is helping Iran to prepare an underground nuclear test similar to the one that Pyongyang carried out last year, according to a senior European defense official," the Daily Telegraph reports. Under the terms of a new understanding between the ...
Police Given Slingshots Instead of Guns?
By Daniel Freedman | Wed, 24 Jan 2007 at 6:39 AM | Permalink
Excerpt: "The police department has issued about 60 slingshots to officers in the violent border city of Tijuana, where soldiers confiscated police weapons two weeks ago amid allegations of collusion with drug traffickers. Municipal police spokesman Fernando ...
The Carter Farce at Brandeis
By Daniel Freedman | Wed, 24 Jan 2007 at 6:31 AM | Permalink
Excerpt: "President Carter acknowledged at a historically Jewish college that his new book on the Middle East has 'caused great concern in the Jewish community,' but he noted that it has prompted discussion nonetheless," the AP reports. The uproar over "Palestine ...
U.N. Members Owe New York $18 Million in Tazes, Do They Have to Pay?
By Daniel Freedman | Wed, 24 Jan 2007 at 6:14 AM | Permalink
Excerpt: "Mayor Bloomberg and Senator Schumer, big backers of the idea that the United Nations is good for New York, might set aside some time in April for the Supreme Court hearing in the case against the city the nine have just decided to review. The case is ...
Ahmadinejad: America and Israel 'Will Soon Come to the End of Their Lives'
By Daniel Freedman | Tue, 23 Jan 2007 at 11:43 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: "Israel and the United States will soon be destroyed, Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Tuesday during a meeting with Syria's foreign minister, the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) website said in a report," Ynetnews.com reports. ...
Democrats Unsure Whether to Clap ...
By Daniel Freedman | Tue, 23 Jan 2007 at 9:18 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: President Bush just said he would like to balance the budget ... without raising taxes. The Democrats seemed unsure whether to clap. ...
Leaked Copy of U.N. Resolution: Brazil, India, South Korea, and Japan, Holocaust Deniers?
By Daniel Freedman | Tue, 23 Jan 2007 at 8:28 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: 72 countries have signed up so far to be co-sponsors of a resolution at the United Nations on Holocaust Denial. The New York Sun obtained a copy of the resolution which reads:The General Assembly, i. Reaffirming its resolution A/60/7 of 1 November 2005, ...
Report: Gulf States Prepared to Back U.S. Military Strike on Iran
By Daniel Freedman | Tue, 23 Jan 2007 at 4:16 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: Under-Secretary of State Nicholas Burns clearly knew his audience in Dubai and the reception he'd get if he'd talk tough against Iran. While Burns was busy today in Dubai warning Iran to back down, the think tank Mr. Burns was speaking to, the Gulf ...
U.N. Acts as Apologist For Iran
By Daniel Freedman | Tue, 23 Jan 2007 at 3:55 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: Secretary General Ban's Spokeswoman, Michele Montas, said today at the noon briefing at Turtle Bay (highlights below): -- The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) says that it is discussing with Iran its request for withdrawing the designation of ...
Libby Claims White House Wanted to Sacrfice Him for Rove
By Daniel Freedman | Tue, 23 Jan 2007 at 3:50 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: The AP reports: Top White House officials tried to blame vice presidential aide "Scooter" Libby for the 2003 leak of a CIA operative's identity to protect President Bush's political strategist, Karl Rove, Mr. Libby's defense attorney said Tuesday as his ...
600 Fighters and 16 Leaders Captured
By Daniel Freedman | Tue, 23 Jan 2007 at 3:44 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: "About 600 fighters and 16 leaders of the radical Shia militia, the Mehdi Army, have been captured by security forces in Iraq, the US military says," the BBC reports. The statement said 52 operations had been conducted in 45 days targeting the militia, ...
Mayor Bloomberg, Fake Tax-Cutter?
By Daniel Freedman | Tue, 23 Jan 2007 at 3:12 PM | Permalink
Excerpt: While Mayor Bloomberg was the talk of the town last week for his estimated $1 billion in tax cuts -- although as the Sun editorialized,"$1 billion in tax cuts in a $60 billion city budget isn't exactly dramatic," and, cheekily, Mr. Bloomberg was simply ...
Did Carter Do It For the Money?
By Daniel Freedman | Tue, 23 Jan 2007 at 3:04 PM | | 
