Victor Davis Hanson on President Bush

VDH Private Papers – We are in one of the longest presidential campaigns in modern memory — and haven’t even started focusing on the general election. It’s been enough to drive most of us mad, but if there’s one person in particular suffering the most, it may be President Bush. [snip]

Last week, I asked a fierce Bush critic what he thought were the current unemployment rate, the mortgage default rate, the latest economic growth figures, interest rates and the status of the stock market. He blurted out the common campaign pessimism: “Recession! Worst since the Depression!”

Then he scoffed when I suggested that the answer was really a 5 percent joblessness rate in April that was lower than the March figure; 95 to 96 percent of mortgages not entering foreclosure in this year’s first quarter; .6 percent growth during the quarter (weak, but not recession level); historically low interest rates; and sky-high stock market prices. [snip]

The truth is that America is providing unprecedented amounts of money to address the AIDS epidemic in Africa. Tax cuts brought in greater, not less total revenue. International trade agreements created more, not fewer, jobs. Security measures at home, and losses suffered by terrorists abroad, in part explain the absence of a second 9/11.

And drilling in ANWR and off the coasts and building more nuclear power plants, refineries, and clean coal plants — if the Congress would only approve — could provide a short-term mitigation of energy prices until we reach a new generation of clean-burning and renewable fuels.

We are blessed just to be alive

IHT – As dawn crept across this shattered town on Tuesday, it illuminated rows and rows of apartment blocks collapsed into piles, bodies wedged among the debris, newly homeless families and their neighbors clustered on the roadside, shielding themselves from the downpour with plastic tarps. The earthquake originated here in the lush farmfields and river valleys of Sichuan Province, killing almost 10,000 people and trapping thousands more. One of the most jarring tragedies of the disaster was the school collapse in a suburb of Dujiangyan. At least several hundred children were killed, perhaps as many as 900.

Britain’s tough gun & knife laws at work

Daily Mail – A man in his twenties was stabbed to death in front of horrified crowds on Britain’s most famous shopping street yesterday. The 22-year-old was killed after leaving a McDonald’s restaurant in Oxford Street, central London, at around 4.45pm. Terrified witnesses ran screaming from the scene as the man was stabbed with a 4in-long flick knife. One witness claimed his attackers first stabbed him and then slit his throat.

They dropped the bloodied blade on the pavement before running away. [snip] One witness, who did not want to be named, said: “I just heard the screaming and then saw a couple of black guys run past us.” [snip] “First they stabbed him and then lunged back at him and slashed his throat. I can’t believe someone would do this in broad daylight. [snip]