WaPo- Security Guard Killed at U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum

The Washington Post reports that the guard shot at the Holocaust Museum this morning has died.

A gunman armed with a rifle walked into the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in downtown Washington today and fatally wounded a security guard before being shot and seriously wounded by two guards, authorities said.

I've been to the Holocaust Museum just once. It was a powerful and emotionally draining experience. It was like watching Schindler's List or United 93, only much more intense. You're reminded not only of man's capacity for evil, but also our ability to withstand that evil and rise above it. James Lileks has the most insightful comment I've yet heard:

The fact that the Holocaust Museum has several armed guards tells you why we need a Holocaust Museum.

This murder by a man now identified as a white supremicists and anti-semite is an act of terrorism. He used violence and fear for political ends.

The Union Leader reports that this lunatic once lived in Lebanon, and tried to take hostages at the Federal Reserve in 1981.

We don't yet know the murdered guard's name, and we may never know many lives he saved today. My prayers are for his family, and his colleagues who will put their lives at risk again the next time they go to work.

This murder comes ten days after Dr. George Tiller was killed because he performed controversial abortions. I hope these two crimes do not mark a trend. Violence and murder are not legitimate political tools. It's especially grotesque to see such violence at the Holocaust Museum, where we mark on the largest uses of murder as a political weapon in our history.

Today and forever, let us "confront hatred, prevent genocide, promote human dignity, and strengthen democracy."

PJ O'Rourke on Daily Show

I live my life by a few simple rules, among which are these:

*Wait until the whistle to leave or go back to your seat at a hockey game

*Always use fresh cracked black pepper whenever possible

*Whenever a New Hampshire writer goes on a nationally televised cable comedy show to promote his new book, embed the video:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	M - Th 11p / 10c
P.J. O'Rourke
thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Economic Crisis

Joe McCarthy's Legacy

The most long-lasting legacy of the McCarthy Era wasn't the damage done to those who were unfairly tarnished as Communists. It was that Joe McCarthy's self-serving, thuggish, and bombastic attacks on imaginary Communist spies made our federal government much safer for the actual Communist spies:

A former U.S. State Department official and his wife have been arrested for spying for the Cuban government for nearly 30 years, the Justice Department said on Friday.

Walter Kendall Myers, 72, aided by his wife Gwendolyn Myers, 71, used his Top Secret security clearance to pass on classified information to the Cuban government and at one point met with Cuban leader Fidel Castro, according to court documents.

The two were charged with conspiracy to act as illegal agents of the Cuban government and to communicate classified information to Cuba, the Justice Department said. They were also charged with wire fraud and acting as illegal agents.

Mr. and Mrs. Myers weren't recruited by Castro's regime until the 70's, well after Joe McCarthy left this world. But his buffonery made it hard to credibily run effective counter-intelligence for decades.

Blue Hampshire: When does "New Media" cross into "major nuisance"?

Over at BlueHampshire, Zandra Rice Hawkins debates herself as to whether independent journalists working for think-tanks should be allowed access to state government:

As someone with an organization that routinely films political activity in the state for the benefit of our members, I try to gain access wherever I can. But I don't purport that I'm speaking for new media advocates when I'm asked to move to the gallery. Instead, I'd rather leave that space and make the case for new media that's reporting for general public interest rather than an organizational view.

Obviously, we disagree with Rice Hawkin's line in the sand. We would prefer to be judged by the quality our of work at the Josiah Bartlett Center and at NH Watchdog. At a time when traditional media organizations are cutting back on State House coverage, we are stepping in to fill the gap. The First Amendment has no requirement that the press have no opinions. We prefer to let people know that we are in favor of free markets and smaller government, and let our coverage speak for itself.

D Day Y+65

UPDATE- Nice post by Paul Twomey over at BlueHampshire.

On June 6, 1944 at 6:30 am British Double Summer Time, the Allies launched the largest invasion in military history, breaching Hitler's Fortress Europe on the beaches of Normandy. Though a careful study of history would reveal socio-economic trends suggesting Germany would inevitably lose the war by this time, the cost of victory in Europe and the shape of the post World War II world were far from certain. Germany had lost the war by the summer of 1944, but the Allies still had to win it.



Without surprise, coordination, and above all, the sheer will of the American, British, and Canadian landing forces to hold and advance from five narrow beachheads into the teeth of Wehrmacht, Germany may have delayed the Allied advance on Berlin by months or years. The potential direct cost of this delay in incaluable. The costs of Soviet troops occupying all of Germany and beyond would surely still be felt to this day.

President Obama, French President Sarkozy and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown are marking the anniversary in several historic locations today. It's a shame that Queen Elizabeth, the only living Head of State who served in WWII, hasn't been invited. Her generation faced a challenge that drawfs even the military and economic problems we have before us today. The Queen's presence would have served as a reminder of Britain's resolve in the face of evil, and guided us as we continue to fight for freedom for all mankind.

Remembering the Battle of Midway

I've got a post over at NH Watchdog going up tomorrow about the 60th anniversary of D-Day, but a similarly critical battle took place in the Pacific 67 years ago today. Powerline remembers.

Midway marked the eastern edge of Japanese naval expansion. Just six months after Pearl Harbor, Japan has pushed the U.S. Navy out of the Solomons and was threatening to acquire land bases within range of Hawaii and the American mainland.

The U.S. Navy, relying on intelligence gathered from broken Japanese codes, decided to take a stand at Midway. Using the airstrip on the tiny atoll, his last three carriers in the Pacific, and aging aircraft that were outclassed by their Japanese counterparts, Admiral Chester Nimitz gambled that his forces would be able to spot and attack the Japanese fleet first. He was right. U.S. planes sunk all four large carriers in the Japanese battle group. Japanese planes finally sunk the U.S.S. Yorktown, after mistakenly thinking they had sent the flattop to the bottom twice before. I highly recommend Jonathan Parshall and Anthony Tully's Shattered Sword, a compelling account of the battle, using primary sources from both the U.S. and Imperial navies.

The amount of skill, courage, and blind luck that took place over a vast stretch of ocean that day is astounding. I've had the opportunity to visit Midway, which is now a research station. The naval base was abandoned years ago, and the massive airplane hangers have been left to decay. But you can still see the bomb damage that they took on June 5, 1942. It's hard to convey the odd feelings of standing on that ground, knowing that this is where the tide turned in the War in the Pacific.

Though less significant in the overall course of the war, Japan also launched a diversionary attack on the Aleutian Islands in Alaska as part of the Midway campaign. Japan's decision to split its superior forces was a key to American victory in the battle. I've also had the chance to visit Kodiak Island, where my grandfather was stationed during the Aleutian campaign. This marked the only time a foreign army occupied American soil in the 20th Century. Brian Garfield's The Thousand-Mile War tells that story.

We need to remember our history. The events of June 5, 1942 were as pivotal to the future of the Pacific Rim as the events of June 6, 1944 were to Europe.

Kicked Out of NH Senate

"I would not join any club that would have someone like me for a member." - Groucho Marx.

I found out today that the opposite is also true. I never really wanted to be on the floor of the New Hampshire Senate until they kicked me out.

Senate Budget Could Kick NH Kids Out of School

Over at NH Watchdog, a new report on Charter Schools in the New Hampshire Budget.

Grant Bosse screwing up search engines

Somebody looking for "College Grants" will be sorely disappointed.
http://www.grantmoneydirect.com/college-grants/grant-bosse-at-nh-college-republican-convention

Kevin Niparko is making sense: Never Collis

During my junior year, Dartmouth college shut down the Collis student center for a major rehab. They reopened the building halfway through my senior year, and gave the campus a pool hall, a larger and more accessible function room, and a decent on campus pub. But the food at Collis Common Ground was as inedible as it was when I first arrived on campus. Hippie food.

The today's edition of The Dartmouth, Kevin Niparko '11 writes that not much as changed over the past 15 years:

I’ve had this Collis debate with so many people (females), I decided I would do myself (and all men on this campus) a favor and explain why Collis Cafe is not an attractive option for anything but breakfast (and maybe a midnight snack). I’m always dumbfounded when I walk into Collis and see the hordes of Collis-extremists fighting over the last piece of orange poppy seed tea bread, or chewing balsamic vinegar-soaked lettuce like Peter Rabbit. Have our collective campus taste buds really become so dysfunctional that we willingly resign ourselves to Collis’ flavorless foods?

For lunch, our Collis options are made-to-order sandwiches, stir-fry and salad. The sandwich selection at Collis is insultingly limited. It ranks last among our College’s sandwich stations, with “specialty” bread straight from the supermarket that you can’t even get toasted. As for stir-fries, every time I get one, I’m reminded of week-old Chinese food. The chicken is Blimpie quality, and the rice it’s served on is bland and overcooked.

Hey, hippies have the eat, too. I think. I've never really paid that much attention. And I'm glad that Collis is part of the campus dining mix. But Mr. Diparko explains very well why me, and I, would prefer to meet somewhere else for lunch.

Jennifer Granholm flunks history

The Governor of Michigan thinks that her state built the B-1 Bombers that won WWII.

As the Arsenal of Democracy during World War II, Michigan was called upon in a time of crisis to transition our auto manufacturing base to tanks and B-1 bombers.

The B-1 Bomber took its first flight in 1974, which was a little late to have much effect of the Luftwaffe. To be fair, Michigan did build the nuclear submarines that defeated the Royal Navy in 1912, and the X-Wing fighters that flew air support over Grenada. That's what you get for going to Berkeley and Harvard Law.

PS- Of course, this was just a slip of the keyboard by whichever staffer ghost-wrote her piece (badly) on the Huffington Post. Such errors are only signs of low intelligence when committed by Republicans.

Hattip: American Princess

Grim Ferry Tales

Our friend Scott St. Clair has been doing great work at the Evergreen Freedom Foundation, investigating waste and mismanagement on the taxpayer-subsidized ferry system.

One page reads: "Ferry Tales: A tragicomedy about failure, folly, and
foolishness at Washington State Ferries."

Volunteers have been handing out the pamphlets to passengers waiting in line at ferry docks.

Scott St. Clair, who did the research that went into "Grim Ferry Tales," says the goal is pull back the curtain and give people a glimpse of how their tax dollars are being
used and misused at W.S.F.

"We wanted to take a look at some of the issues inside the ferry system," he said.

The pamphlet hammers WSF for letting unions control what hours ferries and the ferry repair shop operate. It also goes after the ferry system for not building the boats that were promised after a gas tax hike six years ago.

What's happening at NH Watchdog?

Lots of good stuff at NH Watchdog:

Fosters rails against raising the gas tax.

PJ O'Rourke documents our slide into a banana republic.

Charlie Arlinghaus wants to make us more like Canada.

An Ohio Police Chief tries to blackmail voters into higher taxes.

China warns the Federal Reserve about printing too much money.

Sonia Sotomayor getting Nomination

Wow, got one right. President Obama will nominate New York appeals court judge Sonia Sotomayor to replace David Souter on the U.S. Supreme Court.

Liberals are thrilled that Obama will nominate a woman and a Hispanic, which seem like really trivial reasons to anyone who believes people should be judged "not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."

Opposition will likely center around a recent piece in the New Republic by Jeffrey Rosen questioning Sotomayor's legal temperment:

The most consistent concern was that Sotomayor, although an able lawyer, was "not that smart and kind of a bully on the bench," as one former Second Circuit clerk for another judge put it. "She has an inflated opinion of herself, and is domineering during oral arguments, but her questions aren't penetrating and don't get to the heart of the issue."

Conservatives will point to a video where Sotomayor says that appeals courts are where policy is made as proof that she's an activist judge:


To be fair, she doesn't seem to say that policy should be made at the appeals court; only that it does.

I'd be more concerned about her tendency towards judicial errors. Three times, she has been reversed by the Supreme Court, not for some disagreement over proper interpretation of the Constitution, but for legal slopiness. She has repeatedly failed to correctly apply the law. That's not a good trait on a Court that deals with complicated technical issues of the law more often than with the controversial big-ticket items like the death penalty, abortion, and gun control.

Barring any unpaid taxes or similar scandals that seem to attract Obama nominees, Sototmayor will be confirmed. I hope for a vigorous and healthy Senate debate. Given the makeup of the Senate Judiciary Committee, I'm not holding my breath.

Memorial Day

I've been lucky enough that both my grandfathers made it back from WWII, and my father came home from Vietnam. Today, we remember those who didn't make it back; who gave their lives to defend our freedom.

Frank Guinta Interview

RedHampshire has posted an extensive interview with Manchester Mayor Frank Guinta, who has announced his candidacy for New Hampshire's First District.

Honoring New Hampshire's Veterans

Over a NHWatchdog, I've posted a graph showing when all of the estimated 122,000 veterans in New Hampshire served.

NH Veterans by Date of Service

Publish at Scribd or explore others: Humanities Research grant bosse New Hampshire

Why Journalists Deserve Low Pay

HEH!

Mandating Paid Vacation

Over at NH Watchdog- Mandating Paid Vacation.

First post in forever

I know. I've been giving all the blog love to NH Watchdog, your best source for coverage of the New Hampshire budget, but I felt it was time to get things going again over here at the personal blog.

In case you missed it, here's my story on Tom Thomson taking over as Honorary Chairman of Americans for Prosperity NH at RedHampshire, and an article in Foster's about the possible impact on local school districts if the Senate cuts Building Aid.