Klein’s Quips

This time from the home of the Nobel Peace Prize…

Sweden defends Hamas visit

Hopefully this actually brings an end to the violence in Darfur.

Israel is celebrating it’s 58th Independence Day (based on the Jewish Calendar), and to mark the occasion the Jerusalem Post has posted online the May 16, 1948 edition of their paper (then called the Palestine Post).

Their coverage included the declaration of statehood made by David Ben Gurion, who would become Israel’s first prime minister. As Israel was born, he said:

“Even at this hour of bloodshed, we call upon the Arabs of Palestine to restore peace in this country. We call upon the Arab citizens to return to their homes. We assure them full civil rights on the basis of full representation in all governmental organs of the State. We are extending the hand of friendship to the neighbouring Arab states in order to initiate mutual cooperation. We are ready to contribute our share to the revival of the Middle East.”

As we all know, every Arab country decided to invade Israel instead.

Just got finished watching John Bolton’s testimony before the House Comittee on Government Reform today, which was broadcast on C-SPAN. At one point, Dennis Kucinich pressed Bolton on whether the Bush Administration had already ordered some combat troops into Iran, as reported in a recent New Yorker article by Seymour Hersh. Bolton said he hadn’t read the article. When Kucinich offered to provide Bolton with a copy of the piece, Bolton replied:

“I don’t have time to read much fiction.”

Opinion Journal has posted an essay by Fouad Ajami on leading Middle East scholar Bernard Lewis, who is turning 90. He asked Lewis to compare the climate of England during WWII with contemporary America as it fights the War on Terror :

“In 1940, we knew who we were, we knew who the enemy was, we knew the dangers and the issues,” he told me when I pressed him for a reading of the struggle against Islamic radicalism. “In our island, we knew we would prevail, that the Americans would be drawn into the fight. It is different today. We don’t know who we are, we don’t know the issues, and we still do not understand the nature of the enemy.”

Scary.

In my post below on the GOP’s proposed $100 giveaway to address high gas prices, I neglected to note the irony that the Democrats’ proposal to suspend gas taxes for 90 days is actually much closer to a small government, supply side response.

The NY Times reports:

many Republicans opposed the Democratic plan because they feared that oil companies, which pay the gas tax, would not pass savings on to the public, or that the laws of supply and demand would push the price up again.

But one of the tenets of supply-side economics is that reducing taxes and regulation on businesses–i.e. the supply side–benefits everyone.

Meanwhile, the story gives additional details on the GOP plan, which includes “an accounting change forcing oil companies to pay higher taxes on fuel sold from stockpiles.”

A Republican elaborates:

David Winston, a Republican pollster who advises the Senate Republican leadership, called the rebate an intuitive way to show voters that Republicans were on their side. “It is like putting the American family budget ahead of oil company profits,” Mr. Winston said. “How do you help the American families out? Well, give them some money.”

I guess he must be one of those Ted Kennedy Republicans.

Chirac: Aid to PA must be resumed

I was cautiously optimistic following the outcome of the Israeli elections, but it seems one of the worst fears of the naysayers are coming true: Defense Minister Amir Peretz. Putting the dovish Labor Party leader with little military experience who campaigned on social issues in charge of Israeli security is a disaster. Uri Dan elaborates.

Meanwhile, in other news: Palestinians smuggling Katyusha rockets into Gaza

For years terrorists have been firing highly innacurate Kassam missles into Israel from Gaza in hopes that they would hit something and kill Israelis. But since the Israeli disengagement from Gaza last summer, they’ve been smuggling Katyusha rockets from Egypt through tunnels. The Katyushas are more accurate, and have a longer range.

This was one of the reasons that critics argued against the pullout, which I supported. I still think disengagement is a sensible strategy, but it only works if Israel is willing to do what it takes militarily to confront terrorists. The thought of Defense Minister Amir Peretz doesn’t put me at ease.

From Bloomberg via the NY Sun:

Senate Majority Leader Frist unveiled a Republican proposal to relieve high gasoline prices, calling for a $100 rebate to consumers and drilling for oil and natural gas in Alaska.

The whole thing here.

Calling it a “rebate,” doesn’t change the fact that it’s a big government subsidy. If they want to reduce or eliminate gas taxes, fine. But giving away $100 is worthy of the party of FDR, not the party of Reagan.

Not only is it a big government proposal, but it’s highly inefficient. Beyond the administrative costs, as far as I can tell, there’s nothing in the proposal to ensure that people actually spend the money on gasoline. What’s to stop people from using the money toward buying an iPod, or eating a fancy steak dinner?

There’s also an ethical dilemma involved. What about people who don’t have cars? If you give them the $100, then the rebate ends up having nothing to do with gas costs, it’s just giving people $100. If you only give $100 to people who have cars, then it’s unfair to people who live in large cities who ride public transportation.

I don’t think Americans have a right to cheap gas. Besides the war in Iraq and tension with Iran (shorter term shocks), we’re facing a long-term shift in global demand with the growing economies of China and India. Over the last few decades, these countries with more than a third of the world’s population have been relatively out of the market, making it easier for Americans to consume a disproportionate amount of oil. Granted this is easy for me to say because I live in NYC, but I think Americans need to recalibrate their expectations of what the price of gas should be. And in the long run, high gas prices may create enough demand for alternative fuel to force companies to invest in new technologies in a big way. I think that’s long overdue and ultimately it’s an issue of national security. It makes me sick to think of countries like Iran, Saudi Arablia, Sudan, etc. being awash in oil money.

Brad Pitt apparently. And Angelina Jolie is Dagny Taggart.