The Scrapbook was polishing off a plate of freedom fries the other day when it had a sudden, and slightly shocking, epiphany. Now that the West has, at long last, bestirred itself to support the Libyan resistance, credit goes to the energy and perseverance of one statesman in particular, and one statesman only: President Nicolas Sarkozy of France. We repeat: Sarkozy of France.
While everyone else in any position to rescue the Libyan resistance from annihilation at the hands of Muammar Qaddafi dithered and rationalized and counseled despair, France recognized the rebels in Ben-ghazi as the legitimate government of Libya, and Sarkozy was insistent on the need for military action. He was met with incoherence from Washington, opposition from Berlin, and resolute irresolution from NATO, G8 colleagues, and the European Union. When the United Nations Security Council finally voted to authorize a no-fly zone last week, it was Sarkozy and his foreign minister, Alain Juppé, who led the charge. President Obama, to his credit, put America on board—but only after Sarkozy and France showed the way.
American attitudes toward France, and vice versa, are immensely variable, and the historic relationship between our two countries is complex. Yet in recent years, in particular, it has become a popular article of faith—from late-night comics to op-ed strategists—that France is not only a feckless European power (“cheese-eating surrender monkeys”) but an “ally” we could just as well live without (see aforementioned freedom fries). This is not just misguided, but unfair to France.
The Scrapbook says this with due deference to the fact that France—to paraphrase General de Gaulle—has always had a certain idea of itself and delights in the occasional contrarian behavior. But temporary irritants shouldn’t obscure the larger truth, and the fact is the United States has good reason to be grateful to the French. It was the support of France, and in particular the French Navy, which secured American independence from Great Britain in 1781; and it was the French Army, especially on the Marne (1914) and at Verdun (1916), which held the line—at appalling cost—against Germany in World War I, and made the Allied victory in 1918 possible. In more recent times, America and France fought on the same side in World War II, in Korea, and in the Persian Gulf war, and there is a substantial contingent of French troops in Afghanistan.
It should also be said that, in 2003, when President Jacques Chirac opposed our invasion to liberate Iraq from Saddam Hussein, he was not two-faced about it, arguing against the Bush administration at NATO and the U.N. And unlike the Turkish government, or Gerhard Schröder’s Germany, or Vladimir Putin’s Russia, once the fighting began Chirac’s France did not actively undermine American efforts. Now that circumstances are, more or less, reversed—France leads, America follows—we owe it to Nicolas Sarkozy’s courage to fight the good fight on behalf of the new Libyan government in Benghazi, and win.
Turning a Blind Eye to Union Violence
The Scrapbook marvels at the impressive ideological discipline the media have displayed in dropping all of the sermons on political civility it was so intent on delivering after the shootings in Tucson in January. Specifically, reporters have been loath to mention the violence and death threats associated with the Wisconsin labor protests. Signs comparing Wisconsin governor Scott Walker to Hitler were de rigueur among the protesters in Madison. One protester was caught on tape screaming “Hang them all!” There were numerous “ironic” references to the controversy over Sarah Palin’s alleged “targeting” of Representative Gabrielle Giffords, who was shot by a mentally ill man of no coherent political ideology. One such sign had Walker’s photo in crosshairs with the word “RELOAD.”
All of Wisconsin’s Republican state senators have by now received death threats, including a missive that read “you will be killed and your families will also be killed.” One state senator had a note shoved under his door reading “The only good Republican is a dead Republican.” Another had the windshield of his car smashed and nails spread across his driveway. Interestingly enough, at least one GOP legislator was threatened by a fellow legislator: Wisconsin Democratic representative Gordon Hintz shouted “You are f—ing dead” to Republican Michelle Litjens.
University of Wisconsin law professor Ann Althouse, who has blogged extensively on the showdown in Madison, received a profanity-laced “manifesto” threatening her and her husband. A conservative blogger tracked down the author of the missive only to find he was a sporadically employed dishwasher who claimed to have once been a member of the venerable Wobblies, but alas his union dues are not currently up to date. Unfortunately, given the labor movement’s historical record of violence, such threats can’t be laughed off.
Naturally, unions are self--righteously claiming the moral high ground. AFL-CIO head Richard Trumka is not above capitalizing on the anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination. “Join us to make April 4, 2011, a day to stand in solidarity with working people in Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana, and dozens of other states where well-funded, right-wing corporate politicians are trying to take away the rights Dr. King gave his life for.” We were previously unaware of the fact that the advocate for nonviolence had died so that bus drivers in Madison, Wisconsin, could earn $160,000 a year, but okay.
Trumka himself is not much of a spokesman for nonviolence. In 1993, the labor leader called for a United Mine Workers strike, encouraging strikers to “kick the [expletive] out of every last one of ’em.” When the strikers shot and killed a father of three for crossing a picket line, Trumka told the Associated Press, “If you strike a match and you put your finger in it, you’re likely to get burned.” The union defended the workers implicated in the killing and fought the wrongful death lawsuit brought by the victim’s widow in court for over four years.
By any standard, this raft of threats is newsworthy, but oddly we have not seen the Zapruder-like analyses and rivers of ink spilled that we did when a Tea Party protester supposedly spat upon a congressman last year. If a Democrat (allegedly) bleeds, it leads. When a Republican is threatened, well, perhaps it’s overdoing it to interpret the media’s silence as amounting to complicity in the threat. But for the labor movement’s radical fringe, the mainstream media’s omertà is enabling all the same.
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Power to the People
We were copied this week on an amusing email, whose sentiments we wholeheartedly endorse, sent by our Connecticut correspondent Linda K. Dwyer to the busy-bodies at Northeast Utilities, her electric company:
“To whom it may concern,
“I am in receipt of your letter today announcing that I have managed to come in dead last out of all my 100 neighbors in [using] energy [efficiently]. This communication is probably well-intentioned. I would advise you to remember that the Road to Hell is paved with good intentions.
“As I have understood our contract with your firm for the past 36 years that I have lived in this area, my job is to pay my bills on time and in full. If you will check your records for the past 36 years, you will see that I have fully complied with my end of the bargain. I thought your job was to supply my energy. I was not made aware that your job was to ‘instruct’ me in energy saving efficiencies, or to track my progress vis-à-vis my neighbors.
“I find this to be offensive and intrusive. Beyond that, it is just plain dumb. Guess what! I am the only all-electric home in the neighborhood! Moreover, not that it is any of your business, during the period from 11/10/10-2/12/11, I was baking cookies (2 ovens) nonstop for 500 deployed soldiers (Connecticut Cookie Platoon—Google us), had 8 house guests for 10 days and yes, we are on well water, and then hosted a large party for New Year’s Eve. Moreover, many of my neighbors had gone to Florida, or out of state for the holidays, etc. What I do with my energy use is no one’s business but mine.
“As well, your ‘suggestions’ for energy efficiency—the Hazmat-requiring [compact fluorescent] lightbulbs, turning off lights when I leave a room, and using energy efficient machines in a home office (I don’t have one)—are beyond stupid. This kind of indoctrination has been going on in schools for the past 10 years at least, and we are inundated with it nonstop on television. . . .
“But here is a question I hope to ask at your next rate increase session. How much energy did you use to produce this hogwash and distribute it? Hmmmmm? Not to mention the poor dead trees upon which to print it all.
“Please remove me from your studies in the future. I do not wish to judge my behavior by that of my neighbor. And please transmit this letter to the highest person in your organization that will bother to read it.”
Our correspondent was a guinea pig in what Northeast Utilities touted in January as an “innovative Home Energy Reporting pilot program” scheduled to last for a year. We’ll let you know if she receives a response.
Another Book from Brooks!
Following on his acclaimed Bobos in Paradise and On Paradise Drive (both based primarily on work he did in the office next door to The Scrapbook while a senior editor here at The Weekly Standard), David Brooks, having moved down-market to the New York Times, has now produced a third book, The Social Animal: The Hidden Sources of Love, Character, and Achievement.
As you’d expect, the book is original, imaginative, and thought-provoking. It’s also a good read. So when you’re finished with Andrew Ferguson’s Crazy U, pick up The Social Animal, pour yourself a libation, and prepare to enjoy “the happiest story you’ve ever read”—the lives of Erica and Harold, the novelistic characters Brooks has created as vehicles for conveying his research in modern neuroscience. Prepare, as well, to consider the lessons Brooks wants to teach us about our inner mind, our social relationships, and how we can—and ought—to live together.
And for those Scrapbook friends who think Brooks has a bit of a soft spot for our current president: Fear not! Barack Obama is mentioned only once, in passing, in the entire book.
Helen Thomas Makes Her Playboy Debut
The Scrapbook has to admit it hasn’t looked at Playboy in years—not even for the articles. And the feature interview in April’s issue strikes us as a good reason to continue that policy. Helen Thomas, whose splenetic rants on Israel and the Jews provoked her sudden departure from Hearst and the White House press corps, is back with a vengeance to, as Playboy informs us, “set the record straight.”
The excerpts released from the interview don’t improve her image at all, as Thomas rails against the powerful “Israeli lobbies” and complains about the Jewish members of Congress and their “anti-Arab” sentiments. More entertaining, though, is her answer to the question of whether she has “lost her mind”:
“I resent that question! I thoroughly resent it. Why are you interviewing me if I’m crazy? It wouldn’t be worth it to you, would it?”
As Charlie Sheen has shown, being crazy is more of an asset these days for an interview subject than a disqualification. Thomas would have done better to let people wonder whether she’s an anti-Semite than to open her mouth and remove all doubt.