Best of the Web Today

Can Harry Read?--II
From a press release issued by the soon-to-be Senate majority leader:

Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid today released the following statement on the groundbreaking of the Martin Luthor King Jr. National Memorial.

Martin "Luthor" King? Is he any relation to Lex?

OK, normally we wouldn't make a silly spelling error our top item. But remember, Harry Reid is the same guy who, a couple of years ago, went out of his way to disparage the intellect of the Supreme Court's only black justice.

It's the End of the World as We Know It (and I Feel Fine)
Why are Republicans so cheerful a week after suffering their worst election loss in decades? Shankar Vedantam, who writes a Washington Post column called "Department of Human Behavior," says this is normal. He notes that Daniel Gilbert, a psychologist at Harvard University, conducted a study in Texas in 1994 which "asked people to predict how they would feel if their candidate won or lost, in the race between [George W.] Bush and Democratic Gov. Ann Richards":

Not surprisingly, supporters of both politicians predicted they would be devastated if their candidate lost and said they would be delighted with victory. Bush, of course, defeated Richards, setting him on a course that eventually led to the White House.

About a month after the 1994 election, Gilbert had researchers call the same voters to ask how they felt. Supporters of Bush said they were still delighted--exactly in line with their prediction.

But supporters of Richards, who had said they would be devastated, were significantly happier than they had predicted.

"When partisans imagine being devastated when their candidate loses, they focus on how they will feel when they think about it," Gilbert said. "What they fail to realize is how seldom they think about it."

According to Gilbert and Vedantam, this is a normal pattern. People almost always feel less bad than they expect after suffering a loss--even something as horrific as the death of a child. That's because "when people are asked to predict how they will feel about something, they think about just that one thing instead of all the other things that make up everyday life." It's not that they don't feel the loss but that the demands and distractions of living keep them from focusing on it single-mindedly.

All of which seems quite sensible, but leaves one big question unanswered: How come the Angry Left deviated from this normal pattern?

AP: We Have No Honesty
The Associated Press reports on a new legal filing in a case involving America's terrorist enemies:

The Bush administration said Monday that Guantanamo Bay prisoners have no right to challenge their detentions in civilian courts and that lawsuits by hundreds of detainees should be dismissed. . . .

"Congress could have simply withdrawn jurisdiction over these matters and left the decision of whether to detain enemy aliens held abroad to the military," the Justice Department wrote.

Instead, Congress set up a military commission structure establishing "unprecedented" levels of review for detainees, the attorneys wrote.

So according to the story, the administration is arguing that while the detainees don't have the right to file civil lawsuits, they do have procedural protections if tried before military commissions. In addition--although the AP does not mention this--all detainees receive an "Article 5" hearing to review their designation as enemy combatants, and each year they go before an Administrative Review Board, the equivalent of a parole hearing, to determine if they can be released without threatening U.S. security.

All these procedural protections notwithstanding, the AP headlines its story "Administration: Detainees Have No Rights."

Real or Satire?
Here's a left-wing item so absurd we have to wonder if it's not a right-wing joke, à la the entire content of The Nation. First is a diarist from DailyKos.com by one "LondonYank" (hat tip: Dean Barnett):

Saddam [Hussein] had achieved almost universal adult literacy and Baghdadi meant "wealthy"in Arabic slang when his administration became a target for devastating sanctions and war. Lebanon had rebuilt a vibrant economy, drawing large numbers of sophisticated young professionals, when it was bombed back to the stone age this summer. Iran's educational progress and economic scale now invite our wrath and destruction.

Iran must be attacked soon to prevent it becoming an examplar [sic] of economic progress and a regional power, and the plan is to permanently impoverish Iranians by stealing their oil wealth. . . .

Iran has invested its oil wealth in universal education, healthcare, infrastructure bringing clean water and electricity to more than 98 percent of its people, and economic progress. . . . The social and economic achievements of the revolutionary regime in Iran in the past 25 years look quite progressive in reducing poverty and social inequalities. . . . Compared to rising inequality in the United States and Israel, ranked numbers one and two for social inequality among developed nations, the Iranians look pretty damn good.

Wow. This is the kind of thing left-wingers used to say about communist countries, but at least in that case you can put it down to the triumph of hope over reality. Here we have a lefty praising one of the world's most reactionary regimes for being progressive, at least when compared with America and Israel. Or someone pretending to be a lefty making a pretty funny joke.

An Electoral High Point
"The City of Weed is nestled on the western slopes of Mount Shasta in Northern California at an elevation of 3,467 feet." Or so we thought. Actually, what we might call the City of Weed lies on the coast, a little over an hour's drive south of San Francisco. An editorial in the Santa Cruz Sentinel explains:

Do the people of Santa Cruz really want marijuana to be what the city is known for?

That question just may be turning into a reality, especially after the passage last week of Measure K.

Not to be confused with Special K. The measure passed with almost two-thirds of the vote, and it sets up a whole series of regulations aimed at promoting the use of marijuana:

How would you like to be a busy city clerk who has to take time to write a letter to federal lawmakers each year, asking them to support legalized marijuana?

Why should the city have to name an "oversight committee" to monitor police reports? Why would any self-respecting police officer work in that kind of atmosphere? It almost guarantees that the best cops will look elsewhere for employment.

The measure also declares that it's city policy to support policies for taxation and regulation of marijuana.

At one time, those who smoked marijuana were considered to be free spirits who flouted the law. But this generation of pot-promoters are more bureaucratic. They seem to be as interested in setting up procedures and policies every bit as much as they are in getting high.

Though come to think of it, some would consider that progress.

A Self-Correcting Problem
"Global warming" strikes again, Reuters reports from Toronto:

Aboriginal communities in Ontario's far north are becoming increasingly isolated as rising temperatures melt their winter route to the outside world and impede their access to supplies. . . .

During the coldest months between January and March, "winter roads" are cleared on the frozen network of rivers and lakes to let trucks deliver bulk supplies like fuel and building materials. . . .

About 20,000 people live in the remote reservations and rely on winter shipments of heating oil, gasoline, and diesel fuel to power generating stations.

Of course, if they can't get fuel, they can't burn it--which means they will no longer contribute to "global warming"! Isn't it nice how that works out?

What's With Those Cadets?
The New York Times Web site has a feature called "Talk to the Newsroom," in which Timesmen answer questions from readers. One reader asks managing editor Jill Abramson what the Times is doing to attract younger readers. In the course of her answer Abramson lets slip: "People are always surprised when I tell them that we sell a lot of subscriptions at West Point."

Hmm, we wonder why they're surprised. Because they'd be expecting cadets at West Point to read a different paper? Or because they agree with John Kerry's suggestion that uneducated losers join the military and are amazed anyone at West Point can even read?

Terror Threat from Kazakhstan

"Britain Facing 30 Terrorism Plots: MI5"--headline, Age (Melbourne, Australia), Nov. 11

"Bond Readies to Halt 'Borat' Run"--headline, Hollywood Reporter, Nov. 14

You Only Live Thrice
"Owens Sentenced to Death for 3rd Time"--headline, WYFF-TV Web site (Greenville, S.C.), Nov. 13

What Would We Do Without Officials?
"Official: Politicians Don't Reveal the Truth"--headline, Daily Telegraph (London), Nov. 14

You Don't Say
"Tolls Seen as Way to Generate Funds"--headline, Los Angeles Daily News, Nov. 12

He Saw Red When He Saw Yellow
"Orange Man Fires Shots at Another for Peeing in Public"--headline, Orange (Texas) Leader, Nov. 13

That Explains the Giant Orange Spot
"Circumstances Suggest Man Killed by Train in Jupiter Was on Tracks to Urinate"--headline, TCPalm.com (Treasure Coast, Fla.), Nov. 12

News You Can Use
"Difference Between Life, Death Can Be Just Minutes"--headline, Chicago Sun-Times, Nov. 14

Bottom Stories of the Day

• "Cat Stevens Releases First Album Since Embracing Islam in the 1970s"--headline, Agence France-Presse, Nov. 13
  
  
• "Author of Voter Reward Ballot Still Likes Idea"--headline, East Valley Tribune (Mesa, Ariz.), Nov. 11
  
  
• "Homeowner Wonders if House Is Under Surveillance"--headline, Des Moines Register, Nov. 13
  
  
• "Lithuania's New Ambassador to Sweden Hands Credentials to Swedish King"--headline, Baltic Times (Riga, Latvia), Nov. 10

Just Married (32 Years Ago)
" 'Wedding' registries in the names of Gov. Mike Huckabee and his wife, Janet, have been set up at two department store chains in advance of the Huckabees' move out of the Governor's Mansion into a private home," the Arkansas News Bureau reports from Little Rock (hat tip: John Ruberry):

The term-limited governor leaves office in January, and friends of Janet Huckabee created the registries at Dillard's and Target stores to help facilitate their transition to private life, Huckabee spokeswoman Alice Stewart said Friday.

The Huckabees purchased a 7,000-square-foot home in North Little Rock this year.

Arkansas law prohibits "items costing more than $100 which are given to public servants to show appreciation for their efforts (i.e., to reward them for doing their job) or to reward them for past or future action." But it makes an exception for "wedding or engagement gifts." The Huckabees married in 1974.

Hard to believe a governor of Arkansas and his wife would behave tackily and skirt ethical limits.

(Carol Muller helps compile Best of the Web Today. Thanks to Daniel Goldstein, Steve Prestegard, Don Hubschman, Kevin Hisel, Joel Fine, Jacob Lybbert, Charles Sykes, Nat Belz, Terri Illes, Jim Moran, Linsday Osbon, Paul Sand, Bruce Goldman, Steve Shivinsky, Skip Gillikin, Jeff Baird, Peter Iorio, Matthew du Mee, Vern Beachy and Daniel Foty. If you have a tip, write us at opinionjournal@wsj.com, and please include the URL.)

Today on OpinionJournal:

• Review & Outlook: Robert Rubin's tax gambit.
• Josh Manchester (from TCSDaily.com): Why intellectuals love defeat.
• Andrew Stark: A left-wing evangelical view of faith-based government programs.