NEA History Lesson

The Washington Times reports that the NEA is recommending to teachers that they don’t suggest "any group is responsible" for the 9/11 attacks. This George Will column explains what it means, and this is the NEA announcement about the site. And Mark Steyn, unsurprisingly, nails the whole madness to the wall.

U.S. Population Growth

The Economist (London) reports that the population of the USA will exceed that of Europe by the year 2040. This is a surprise because the increase is due not only to immigration. The birth rate of native-born Americans is up. By the year 2050 we could have half a billion people, double the population of Europe. Do you think this will have something to do with geo-politics? Do you think Europe (whose population continues to fall) will become more or less important in world affairs? Do you think the Euro will be on par with the dollar? You see my point. This is a must read.

Reparations

Here is David Horowitz on the reparations issue and the latest hype on the Mall. And MSNBC claims that the low turnout does not mean that this is the end of the demands. Surprise. See this good panel put on by Heritage (on C-SPAN) on reparations. It includes Linda Chavez, Jay Parker, Joseph Hicks and Gregory Kane. It’s about halfway down on the page.

GOP Opposition to Iraq War

George Will and Mark Steyn argue that it is a good thing that people like Brent Scowcroft are opposing the pre-emptive strike on Iraq. This shows that the President is right. You will remember that Scowcroft was the one who urged Bush the First to support Gorbachev over Yeltsin ten years ago, and then urged this Bush to support the Taliban. Twice wrong.

Technology

Now this is impressive! This is right out of Star Trek. An electric "force field" has been developed that vaporizes grenades and other projectile on impact. Take a look.

David Gelernter shows why computers can’t think: "No thinking computer is possible until we can build a computer that hallucinates." As The Poet said: "Nimble thought can jump both sea and land." Computers can’t. It’s a good read.

And scientists have found a way to type with eyes.

Middle East and International

Here are the stats from the Energy Information Administration on where we get our oil from. We get 7.9% from Saudi Arabia, and 2.2% from Iraq. We produce 41% domestically and get 17.6% from Mexico and Canada. We get 11.1% combined from the Gulf States.

In case you are unhappy with the Bush administration’s foreign policy in any way you might want to consider what would our policies be if Gore were president. This is a column by Leon Fuerth (he used to be Vice President Gore’s foreign policy advisor, and no doubt would have had a high position if Gore were elected). He explains how the US could stand alone in an adverse world if we don’t create alliance systems to replace the old cold war ones. It is mind-bogglingly boring doubletalk. The man is slow of study, and is relegated to writing op-eds that no one should pay any attention to.

Apparently we are putting a lot of pressure on the Arabs to back us in a war against Iraq, according to this from London. Of course, what an Arab state says in public and what it will do in private may well be different things, and should not surprise us.

This is a report based on the latest data released from the Census Bureau on the make-up of immigrants from the Middle East. While the size of the immigrant population (legal and illegal) has tripled since 1970, the number of immigrants from the Middle East has grown seven-fold.

Rumsfeld is warning that a lot of bad guys now have cruise missiles and we should be prepared. This article examines our strengths and weaknesses in gathering intelligence in the Gulf War. Our major weakness was human intelligence.

Terrific diplomatic pressure is being put on the US not to go to war against Iraq (from the New York Times to Arab News, from Berlin to Cairo). And this is the last gasp of the Iraqi diplomatic initiative. It is clear that it has failed. Bush isn’t budging.

In the meantime there are al Qaeda in Iran, and Yemen is not giving up the few that they have. Arab News is reporting that the US and the Saudis have an "eternal friendship", quoting Bush. Eternity is a long time. The president of Egypt is warning of chaos in the region if the US attacks Iraq. The Arabs will be angry, he says. Qatar is now saying they are opposed to the war (we just finished the airfield). Vice President Cheney’s latest speech has made everyone angry. Does this public Arab anger mean much? No. Keep in mind that diplomacy is mostly undercover; the public statements are offered for other reasons. None of the Middle East tyrants want to take responsibility for what may come and they are afraid; they do tremble and look pale. If Bush is playing all this right, we will all tip our hats in his honor. It would be a big thing. So far he is doing fine. Immense pressure is on him and he isn’t buckling. And I am betting he has more up his sleeve. Don’t they play poker in Texas?

John Roseboro Dies

Because I used to watch Roseboro catch while Sandy Koufax was pitching, I always liked him. Not only was he good, but I liked his gentlemanly bearing. It turns out that he was from Ashland, Ohio (where I have been since ’88) and it was reported in our paper (not online, of course!) that Roseboro said that although Ashland was almost entirely white, he never faced any prejudice here: "It’s almost unbelievable, but it was the fairest town I’ve ever known." You might remember that Juan Marichal beat Roseboro over the head with a bat (two full swings). Roseboro later made amends and by doing so made certain that Marichal would get into the Hall of Fame. Marichal was grateful. May he Rest in Peace.

Amusing or Irritating

The deputy district attorney of Santa Cruz (California) wants bumper stickers placed on garbage dumpsters that would discourage people placing babies into them: "No Baby Dumping." This district attorney is a "slight unmeritable man, meant to be sent on errands!" Shame on him.

Some smaller towns and cities have slow news days (which is good news). Here is a story from Chillicothe, Ohio, about the death of a duck. It’s sad.

Something interesting about how to figure out what the Mongols, Huns and other nomads were up to, since they didn’t leave much behind. I’m still desperately looking for my ancestors!

This is good news. Matt Drudge reports that MSNBC’s Phil Donahue has hit the lowest Nielsen rating possible! MSNBC as a whole is doing just as bad.

From England: A Muslim cop sues because he is offended by the fact that police badges contain a replica of St. Edward’s cross (a Christian symbol!) on their badge (less than a quarter of an inch in size, by the way). Police agree that some can wear a badge that no longer includes the tiny cross. St Edward’s Crown has been used in coronations since 1661.

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