Recommended Reading 3/18/05

Jay Nordlinger's latest Impromptu:
" I want to be sure you know about the extraordinary testimony of three Cuban dissidents — to the U.S. Congress. Marta Beatriz Roque, René Gómez, and Félix Bonne testified by phone link, at great risk to themselves, of course. Reported the Miami Herald, "When Rep. Bob Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat and Cuban American, asked if they feared being arrested for their testimony, Bonne — who spent time in jail in the late 1990s — said that he had told his wife earlier that day that he was 'simply a soldier of liberty and democracy' and was prepared to return to jail 'to defend the interests of the Cuban people.'" The Herald account is here; a Voice of America account is here. I have spent a long time watching the Cuban dissidents and democracy activists, and their courage never stops amazing me. I don't really mind if Americans ignore the Cubans. No, what is galling is when they support their oppressors (see, for example, the Hollywood "community")."

Jonah Golberg visits ANWR.
"Because passions so completely trump reason on this issue, ANWR becomes ripe as a wedge issue for opportunistic Democrats. For example, Sen. Joseph Lieberman says ANWR exploration "would cause irreversible damage to one of God's most awesome creations." This is irresponsible absurdity. Not only would the damage, in fact, be reversible; this area simply cannot hold a candle to God's most awesome creations. The Post (and the New York Times) had it right in the 1980s, when they supported exploration-with far more intrusive technology than today's-in this truly remote, bleak, and nigh-upon-inaccessible redoubt on the top of the world."

Jonah also weighs in on the current state of the Demoratic Party (part 1, part 2).
"Today, liberals yell "Stop" almost entirely because they don’t enjoy being in the backseat. If they cannot drive, no one can. "

And Victor Davis Hanson on the "Bush = Hitler" crowd:
"Ignorance and arrogance are a lethal combination. Nowhere do we see that more clearly among writers and performers who pontificate as historians when they know nothing about history."


Lastly, if you missed it, read the campaign finance post immediately below.