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In 1927 the writer Eugene Lyons sailed with his family to Russia, “the land of our dreams.” They returned in 1934 and three years later he published Assignment in Utopia, one of the most courageous, perceptive and honest accounts of the early Soviet Union. And the end of Lyons’ love affair with it. For example;
People under dictatorships, it has been well said, are condemned to a lifetime of enthusiasm. It is wearing sentence. Gladly they would burrow into the heart of their misery and lick their wounds in private. But they dare not; sulking is next-door to treason. Like soldiers weary unto death after a long march, they must line up smartly for parade. …
Our selection today for May Month Grinding People Down With Stupidity uses a passage from Solzhenitsyn to illustrate a lifetime of enthusiasm.
… “Don’t ever be the first to stop applauding!” …
Power Line and Roger Simon comment on Royal’s late inning tactics in the French elections.
Corner post on Sarkozy’s win.
… Sarkozy just gave his acceptance speech, in which he uttered the somewhat astounding—and from a political point of view, needless—line: “…and let me say to our American friends, they can count on our friendship.” …
Amazing. Germany, and now France. Not bad for having a moron in the White House.
Tenet’s book allows Charles Krauthammer to remind why we went to war.
… Outside of government, the case for war was made not just by the neoconservative Weekly Standard, but — to select almost randomly – the traditionally conservative National Review, the liberal New Republic and the center-right Economist. Of course, most neoconservatives supported the war, the case for which was also being made by journalists and scholars from every point on the political spectrum — from the leftist Christopher Hitchens to the liberal Tom Friedman to the centrist Fareed Zakaria to the center-right Michael Kelly to the Tory Andrew Sullivan. And the most influential tome on behalf of war was written not by any conservative, let alone neoconservative, but by Kenneth Pollack, Clinton’s top Near East official on the National Security Council. The title: “The Threatening Storm: The Case for Invading Iraq.” …
Judging by re-enlistment rates our soldiers didn’t need to be reminded. Instapundit has the details.
Kathleen Parker comments on the reactions to Broder’s column on Harry Reid.
… Broder’s point, provocative but hardly incendiary, was that American lives are on the line and that Reid’s remark didn’t help matters. Rather than provide encouragement to our enemies, Broder suggested that the Senate leader might do better to heed the recommendations of the Iraq Study Group report and seek common ground toward both military and political solutions. …
Strategy Page says Islamists are losing control of women.
…Thus in most Islamic countries, the women are having fewer children, and making more noise about economic and educational opportunities. This resonates with some of the better informed Islamic men. One reason the West, and other parts of the world, have enjoyed much better economic growth than the Moslem countries, is that they have added large number of educated women to their work force.Losing control of the women is something that makes Islamic conservatives very angry. Murderously angry. This is a vicious, lethal battle taking place largely out of the media spotlight. But, long term, it is destroying the source of Islamic terrorism.
G. Schoenfeld posts on Carter’s diplomacy.
James Taranto posts on Pelosi’s diplomacy.
The Captain posts on a typically sneering NY Times reference to W.
The Weekly Standard reviews a book on the wind farm proposed for Nantucket Sound.
David McCullough’s face contorted with anger.
That is the first line of Wendy Williams’s and Robert Whitcomb’s account of one man’s possibly misguided attempt to build a wind farm off Cape Cod. My first thought was: Oh, goody. Something snippy about Saint David. I am going to enjoy this.
On page one, McCullough is fulminating about Cape Wind, the 24-square-mile, turbine-powered electrical power project that energy entrepreneur Jim Gordon wants to build in Horseshoe Shoal, not far from McCullough’s Martha’s Vineyard home. McCullough sputters in fine company, with Walter Cronkite, Rachel “Bunny” Mellon, and all manner of Kennedys. Because, as everyone knows, it is one thing to speak out in favor of homeless shelters, affordable housing, and “clean” energy projects. It is quite another thing to gaze at them from your front door. …
Toledo Blade with a piece on Pickerhead’s alma mater.
Arnold Kling in Tech Central on how to cure poverty.
… The point of this essay is to simply state the obvious. If you look at poverty from the broad perspective of international and historical comparisons, the solution to poverty is decentralized entrepreneurial activity under capitalism. …
Imus’s suit against CBS will claim the dump button was available to censor his remarks. Slate’s explainer tells us how the “dump-button” works at.
Dilbert’s here.