We’re Desperate, Get Used to It

The $36 billion U.S. government telethon for Iraq’s reconstruction isn’t going so well. Just over a third of that money has been pledged so far, and that’s counting the EU, Britain, and Japan. The president can suck up to Australia all he wants, but given that their GDP is about one-seventh the size of Japan’s (contribution: $5 billion, mostly loans, through 2008), where the war was much less controversial, it ain’t gonna help.

How long before Dubya’s trick-or-treating at Tonga’s doorstep?

Where Will David Horowitz Get His News Now?

Israeli settler radio station Arutz Sheva is off the air, convicted of broadcasting without a license. This may pose a problem for Frontpagemag.com and National Review, who treat the wildly militaristic channel as the journal of record for the Middle East: How to explain this tyrannical act by the Israeli government, pound for pound the world’s greatest force for liberty?

Don’t tell us we’re incompetent

After revealing serious holes in the gov’t airport security program, the college student responsible is not receiving any thanks from the protectors of our skies — the TSA:

    Deputy TSA Administrator Stephen McHale said Monday’s court action “makes clear that renegade acts to probe airport security for whatever reason will not be tolerated, pure and simple.”

    “Amateur testing of our systems do not show us in any way our flaws,” McHale said. “We know where the vulnerabilities are and we are testing them … This does not help.’

Firstly, they “know where the vulnerabilities are”? Huh? Also, considering Nathaniel Heatwole (the “conspirator”) outdid the security protocals, perhaps it is the TSA that is amateur.