A great analysis by Jeffrey Lord from the American Spectator. (HT: KH)

That's just one aspect of the post-quake devastation.

7,000 schools collapsed.  5 million are homeless.

As noted on the radio show since the quake occurred, Caring for China is a Christian organization that runs orphanages and clinics in the region devastated by the quake.  CFC has established an earthquake relief fund which you can be assured will be managed efficiently and with immediate impact for the relief of the victims. CFC has been in the area for a quarter century, and its leadership and staff is first rate. You can donate online here, or you can send a check to:

Caring for China
3300 S. Fairview
Santa Ana, CA 92704
 

In a long New York Times' article about Barack Obama's standing among Jewish voters in Florida --Obama has big problems that won't be going away for some very good and some very bad reasons-- Alan Dershowitz used the description of Iran as a possible "suicide nation."

That brilliantly sums up why the country isn't the "tiny threat" that Obama described it as, why the rise of its proxy Hezbollah  in Lebanon is so alarming, and why Obama's candidacy ought to be doomed. 

This is no time for a lightweight in the White House, one who completely fails to grasp the nature of the enemy.  Appeasement will not work with the mullahs, no matter how many college students believe it would.

John McCain's poll numbers will never reflect the quiet anti-appeasement vote that already exists and will continue to build throughout the summer, but as this article communicates, many many traditional Democrats will be pulling the lever for him though they may not be telling their bridge partners.

The Chicago Tribune reports on the triumph of Hezbollah in Lebanon.  (HT: Powerline).

A few days ago Michael Totten wrote about the failure of Hezbollah to push the Druze back during the recent fighting, and sounded almost optimistic about the country. Look for a Totten update soon, and for Claudia Rosett to weigh in as well.

One Lebanese columnist, Elias Khoury,  branded the deal "a long truce." 

Wizbang's Jay Tea blasts the State Department's absurd reaction to the deal.

The New York Times adds reactions here.

Yesterday I told Ed Gillespie that we would almost certainly be named "worst person in the world" by Keith O for mentioning that Keith was, well, not quite ready for serious conversation on any subject.  I described Keith O. as "a sports guy," because Keith was once a wonderful sports reporter, but knows next to nothing about history, politics, or public policy and is a prisoner of the teleprompter and the fevers of MoveOn.org.

Tonight Keith proved himself 100% the sports guy by denouncing my characterization of him as a sports guy and naming me, once again, the worst person in the world.

Barnum, you are my hero. I didn't think Keith was that predictable.  But he is.  The left has thrown up its own version of Morton Downey, Jr. in Keith O., another Wally George, but Keith O. seems unaware of that which he has become.  Or his writers are.

Don't get me wrong. Some sports guys are incredibly gifted when it comes to other subjects.  Keith is not one of them.  He lacks capacity.  He lacks basic chords.

Keith, you are welcome on my show anytime for the entire three hours.  I am certain you are equal to the challenge, ex-sports guy that you are.

Bravo to Alaska Governor Sarah Palin for taking on the federal government's decision to list the polar bear as "threatened."

Last week's column dealt with the best legal strategy for private sector businesses to pursue, but having a state take the lead on the hardest and most expensive part of the legal battles ahead is a great thing.

William Clark was an amazing public servant in the years of Reagan.  Today I talk with Paul Kengor, one of the authors of The Judge: William P. Clark, Ronald Reagan's Top Hand.

Senator Joseph Lieberman and White House Communications Director Ed Gillespie were guests yesterday.

Lieberman has an op-ed in today's Wall Street Journal, "Democrats and Our Enemies," which begins:

How did the Democratic Party get here? How did the party of Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman and John F. Kennedy drift so far from the foreign policy and national security principles and policies that were at the core of its identity and its purpose?

The transcript of our conversation is here.  One exchange:

HH: Do you expect to address the Republican convention, Senator? 

JL: You know, I don’t know. I’ve said that if John McCain asked me to do it, I would do it, because I support his candidacy that strongly, and I think this election year, this presidential election is that important to our future security, obviously to the way our government will run, and the way our economy will be for the next period of our history.  

The transcript of the conversation with Gillespie is here.  Most of our conversation dealt with NBC';s fraudulent editing of a recent interview the network conducted with the president. At the conclusion of our talk, we discussed MSNBC's descent into madness:

HH: Ed Gillespie, I don’t know who drew the short straw in your shop, and this may very well, I hope, earns us another worst person in the world nominee, but someone’s got to watch Keith Olbermann, and someone has to watch Chris Matthews, because you’re the White House, and you’ve got to know what they’re saying, even if it is a marginal network watched by hard left extremists. 

EG: Yeah, it’s somebody below me, Hugh (laughing). 

HH: But I mean, hasn’t the impression spread that this is really about ratings? They don’t believe this stuff. They just do what they have to do to get ratings. And if that means going hard left and perverting the news, they’ll pervert the news. And Olbermann’s a sports guy. He doesn’t understand it anyway. What do you guys do about that? I mean, I wouldn’t even bother sending them e-mails. They’re obviously beyond the pale.  

EG: Well look, we don’t. I mean, Christopher Matthews and Keith Olbermann, you know, they’re advocates for a worldview that obviously, we don’t agree with here at the White House. And that’s fine. You know, they’re identified as such on MSNBC. What is disconcerting to me, though, is that there are times when they, you know, they pretend to take off their advocate hat, and they become objective newsmen and journalists, and you have Brian Williams and Tim Russert sitting down with them like they’re sitting down with Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews like it’s Edward R. Murrow and Walter Cronkite or something.  

HH: Did you ever read Bizarro Superman comic books when you were young, Ed? 

EG: I did, yeah. 

HH: That’s the Bizarro world of journalism over there. 

EG: Right.  

HH: And everything’s upside down. 

EG: Look, I did raise the question. I said it is, it does concern us here at the White House that, you know, the MSNBC attitude could be seeping into the NBC broadcast network’s coverage. 

HH: Clearly, it is. Ed Gillespie from the White House, thank you.   

$31 million in campaign debt is a lot of speeches for Bill to make.

Michelle Malkin has assembled a fine collection of Obama gaffes.
 
Of course MSM is covering for him, but new media keeps educating the public on the fact that Obama is far out of his depth.  He's a lightweight propped up by friends with cameras and microphones, and keeping the big con going through November will prove difficult.

Turns out that Obama's opening act at the megarally was The Decemberists, a hugely popular indie rock band, which typically opens their concerts with the Soviet National Anthem.

How odd that the MSM didn't tell us that a few of the 75K in attendance may have come for the tunes.  

And did the Obama rally begin with the Soviet National Anthem?  The concert went for 45 minutes and was widely pitched on Facebook etc.  But did the band trim their act to make it Obama-appropriate?

BTW: Here's an except of an interview with the band's guitarist:

 

We’re a city magazine, so we’d like to talk about some of the cities in your life. Think of this as an urban Rorschach test. I’m going to say a city, and you say the first few words that come into your mind.

Okay.

Valparaiso, Indiana [Funk’s hometown].

Popcorn central. It’s where Orville Redenbacher’s from.

Portland, Oregon.

Don’t move here.

Why not?

‘Cause, I like it the way it is.

Okay, Washington, DC.

Harboring war criminals.

Do you mean politicians?

Yeah, I mean the big guy. You know, the guy who ignores the UN, that one. The guy who pretends he’s from Texas, but is really from Connecticut. The guy who can’t dribble a basketball. The guy who farms out our military. Etc....

Here's an Obama e-mail promoting the event:

Barack Obama in Portland, OR Join Barack Obama at a rally in Portland on Sunday, May 18th. Rally with Barack Obama The Bowl Waterfront Park Corner of SW Columbia St. and SW Naito Pkwy. South of the Hawthorne Bridge Sunday, May 18th, 2008 Doors Open: 12:30 p.m. Special Guest Performance by: Colin Meloy, Chris Funk, Jenny Conlee, Nate Query, and John Moen The event is free and open to the public. Tickets are not required, but an RSVP is strongly encouraged. Admission is on a first-come, first-served basis. For security reasons, do not bring bags and limit personal items. No signs or banners are permitted.

RSVP: Email: * First Name: * Last Name: * Address: City: State: AA AE AK AL AP AR AS AZ CA CO CT DC DE FL FM GA GU HI IA ID IL IN KS KY LA MA MD ME MH MI MN MO MP MS MT NC ND NE NH NJ NM NV NY OH OK OR PA PR PW RI SC SD TN TX UT VA VI VT WA WI WV WY AB BC MB NB NL NT NS NU ON PE QC SK YT n/a Zip / Postal Code: * Phone: * I will volunteer for Barack in Oregon:      Fri, May 16th   Sat, May 17th      Sun, May 18th   Mon, May 19th      Tue, May 20th

We knew it would continue to rise as rescue workers reached cut-off villages.

Here is a story of volunteers rushing to the region to help.

And here is one of 575 pictures Yahoo has surveying the awful aftermath.

 

 A woman mourns in front of a picture of her daughter and the awards she had won next to the rubble of the destroyed Juyuan Middle School in earthquake-hit Dujiangyan, Sichuan province May 20, 2008.REUTERS/Donald Chan (CHINA)

As noted on the radio show yesterday and throughout last week, Caring for China is a Christian organization that runs orphanages and clinics in the region devastated by the quake.  CFC has established an earthquake relief fund which you can be assured will be managed efficiently and with immediate impact for the relief of the victims. CFC has been in the area for a quarter century, and its leadership and staff is first rate. You can donate online here, or you can send a check to:

Caring for China
3300 S. Fairview
Santa Ana, CA 92704

I have spoken at enough commencements to know that rule one is don't confuse your role as speaker with the celebration of the accomplishments of the graduates.

Don't step on the story, in other words, and don't impose yourself or your political views on the audience.  They are the honorees, and they are a diverse group.

The cost of losing sight of this is fully explained in an e-mail I received last night:

Hi Hugh, I sent this as a letter to the editor for the Honolulu Advertiser hoping to get at least a favorable portion published...

I attended my wife's graduation ceremony this Sunday from the University of Hawaii at Manoa.  As a full-time, active duty officer in the U.S. military, it was a proud moment for her.  I sat next to her Dad, who was glowing with pride at how his little girl had set off on her own from a little farm in Colorado to achieve his equal in the realm of academics: a Master's degree.
Read More...

Susan Salter Reynolds is the accomplished book critic for the Los Angeles Times, and her review of Ann Hood's Comfort: A Journey Through Grief will show you why.



The Amazon.com page for the book is here.

The review and the book that prompted it are certain to tear at your heart, if you have one.  As I noted on my show last week, some very close friends of ours lost their son last week, and perhaps because of the grief surrounding them and their family and friends I found this more poignant than the average reader would, but I don't think so. 

Former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton was my guest yesterday.  The podcast is here, the transcript is here.  Key excerpts:

HH: Now Mr. Ambassador, one of the things he said that caught my ear on Friday was that when Kennedy met Kruschev, we were on the brink of nuclear war. It’s a minor paraphrase, but he clearly did not have a good grasp on the history of the United States in the 60’s. When Kennedy met Kruschev, it was in June of ’61. The Cuban Missile Crisis came in ’62. What does that tell you about just generally his grip on the necessary fundamentals, the basic chords of how you conduct foreign policy? 

JB: Well you know, the liberals used to ridicule Ronald Reagan for remembering scenes in movies that had never actually occurred in real life, and I think what Senator Obama is remembering is the liberals’ view of the Cold War. That meeting between Kennedy and Kruschev in the early days of the Kennedy administration was a humiliation for the new President Kennedy. Kruschev understood that, and he judged new President Kennedy to be so weak at that point, weak as a person, that many think it was a significant factor in Kruschev and the Soviet Union’s decision to put those missiles in Cuba to begin with, a crisis that did, in fact, bring us to the brink of nuclear war. So this is, the stakes of summit diplomacy are high, and really goes to what I think is just a fundamentally important point about negotiation and diplomacy generally. And that is like all human activity, it has costs and benefits. It has to take place in a specific context, and you have to look at when it benefits the United States, when we should engage in it, what our objectives are. This is all about specifics and context, and that is, I think, one of Senator Obama’s biggest weaknesses. He talks in vague generalities, and so far, look, he’s getting away with it. But that’s not how you conduct foreign policy in the real world. ...

HH: Do you think [Obama] had any kind of a serious vetting yet in terms of the media drilling down on things like…do you think he understands the relationship, say, between Hezbollah and Iran? 

JB: I think the, we haven’t plumbed the depths of that ignorance yet, but I wouldn’t count on the mainstream media to do it during the course of the campaign. Look, he has led a very cosseted, privileged existence in his life, that this is not somebody born in poverty who was risen by his bootstraps. He’s had, basically, a fairly comfortable middle class life. He’s gone to Ivy League universities, he’s lived in a liberal bubble in Chicago. And you know, you don’t have to acquire a lot of knowledge to be acceptable in those circles, and I think what we’re seeing is, as he emerges from that bubble, we’re seeing his view of reality. And I think it’s right there for Senator McCain to go after.  

HH: Now you have spent way too many hours across the table from North Koreans and Iranians. How tough are they? What will they make of Odalai Bama, the kid from Chicago?  

JB: Well, I think they will make hash of him and his advisors, too. Let’s not forget one of his most amazing defenses against being criticized for him saying he would negotiate with the rogue states without preconditions was to say well, I wouldn’t negotiate without preparations, without lower level exchanges, as if somehow we’re confused about what he said. But remember, he also has a team of advisors that I’m sure the rogue states would love to negotiate with, even if it never gets to him. This is a very serious issue of the United States, as to who’s going to represent us in international affairs, whether it would be Obama and his team, or McCain and his team.