The Friday Furo Questus

That's Latin. It means he's an educated man. [Now I really hate him.]

There it is, nailed to the door. Until further notice (or considerable complaint), that's the new title. And Adam - it's hard to have a running Churchill quote feature if I don't mention him. So deal with it. But take heart - I've added an additional Thought of the Week feature.

Victor Davis Hanson takes on anti-Americanism abroad:
"A final suggestion for these unhappy and privileged few: To end your obsessions with the pathologies of America and the West, find a way to create your own alternative sports, literature, corporations, soft drinks, and filmmaking in the non-West. It is not that we Americans are mad at what you say. It is just that you have all become so hypocritical, then predictable, and now boring — you are all so boring."

Speaking of anti-Americanism, National Review calls Amnesty International on bias in its latest report. And the Washington Post (!) agrees. From the Post: "...lately the organization has tended to save its most vitriolic condemnations not for the world's dictators but for the United States." But more importantly, such imprecise criticism cheapens the larger debate. [The same could be said for all the insipid "Bush=Hitler" criticism of the whackos - it cheapens both the debate and the crimes that Hitler and Nazi Germany committed.]

Quoting the NRO editorial: "Like too many other NGOs, Amnesty is trapped in a 20th-century mindset where the greatest threat to individual life and liberty stemmed from the actions of sovereign governments. That is simply no longer the case. Although the world remains full of repressive regimes, the most immediate threat to the civilian population in the United States and other democracies comes from pan-national terrorist movements who deliberately target non-combatants as a means of achieving their ends. Amnesty International, like other NGOs, must accept — and start to address — this new set of circumstances."

As for domestic politics, most of the action this past week has been in the Senate, a fact that has caused much cursing. First the judicial filibuster, and now the filibuster on Bolton.

First, UN Ambassador-designate John Bolton. Does anyone out there really think this is about Bolton anymore? After months of exhaustive and whiny investigation, all the Democrats have been able to find is that Bolton has a temper. Well, in case they haven't noticed, we could really use a UN ambassador who kicks butt and takes names. An organization that puts Cuba, Syria and Libya on a committee for human rights issues is not an organization that operates in the real world. If any momentum to reform the UN is going to form, someone needs to go in and shake things up, and Bolton is equal to the task. No, this now is about embarrasing Bush - which is not what we sent them there to do.

Filibuster fallout: Charles Krauthammer on the implications of the compromise in "The Flinch Heard 'Round The World." " ...the compromise legitimized the principle of the judicial filibuster. Until 2001, not once in more than 200 years had a judicial nominee been denied appointment to the court by Senate filibuster."

I don't have a problem with the filibuster - if they would actually filibuster. This voting where all you need is 41% and then you can go home for a long weekend is ticking me off.

Thought of the Week:
"None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license." - John Milton

Churchill Quote of the Week:


"I would say to the House, as I said to those who have joined this government: 'I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.'"

Winston Churchill
First Speech as Prime Minister, May 13, 1940, House of Commons

For the rest of the story, check out The Pacific Slope.