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“The only thing new in the world is the history you don’t know.” Harry Truman said that and it’ll serve to introduce and justify a somewhat long article by Christopher Hitchens about our country’s first confrontation with the Islamic world.
… it is certain that the Barbary question had considerable influence on the debate that ratified the United States Constitution in the succeeding years. Many a delegate, urging his home state to endorse the new document, argued that only a strong federal union could repel the Algerian threat. In The Federalist No. 24, Alexander Hamilton argued that without a “federal navy . . . of respectable weight . . . the genius of American Merchants and Navigators would be stifled and lost.†In No. 41, James Madison insisted that only union could guard America’s maritime capacity from “the rapacious demands of pirates and barbarians.†John Jay, in his letters, took a “bring-it-on†approach; he believed that “Algerian Corsairs and the Pirates of Tunis and Tripoli†would compel the feeble American states to unite, since “the more we are ill-treated abroad the more we shall unite and consolidate at home.†The eventual Constitution, which says nothing about an army, does explicitly provide for a navy. …
John Fund on Ward Connerly.
As noted before, a Muslim cleric in Johnstown, PA has called for the killing of Ayann Hirsi Ali. Mike Rappaport of Right Coast wants to know where the outcry is.
Anne Applebaum sends off Boris Nikolayevich.
… Though we hailed him as a democrat, Yeltsin did not leave behind anything resembling a functional democracy. And he knew, at some level, that he had failed: When he resigned from the presidency, on New Year’s Eve of the millennium — the second momentous resignation speech of his career — he wiped away a tear and apologized to the Russian people for “your dreams that never came true.” …
John Tierney continues to follow the “drug doctor” trial in Alexandria.
John Edwards’ $400 haircuts have attracted Maureen Dowd’s attention.
… Americans have revered such homely leaders as Abe Lincoln. They seem open to balding pates like Rudy’s and flattops like Jon Tester’s. They don’t want self-confidence to look like self-love.
John Edwards has reminded us that even — or especially — in the age of appearances, you must not appear to care too much about appearances. …
… All the haircuts in the world may not save John Edwards from a blowout.
Dean Barnett posts on Edwards too. This includes a photoshopped view of John with a facial. Barnett also posts on her perkiness.
Dilbert’s here.
Good news! Chuck Hagel might get challenged and Chuck is already behind in the polls.