Copyright 2009 The New York Sun Thu, 21 May 2009 17:41:54 -0400 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Editorials :: Stories from The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/editorials istoll@nysun.com (Ira Stoll) webmaster@nysun.com en-us Editorial of The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/editorials/conrad-black-before-the-9/86871/ Tue, 19 May 2009 01:00:24 EST God Bless the Supreme Court of the United States, which has just decided to hear the appeal of the press baron Conrad Black, who has for more than a year been imprisoned at a federal correctional facility at Coleman, Florida. It would be far premature to suggest that the court’s decision to hear Black’s appeal means that he will win the argument at the high court. But it certainly puts paid the idea that the courts should have, as they did, dismissed out of hand Black’s insistence that he was... Editorial of The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/editorials/golden-opportunity/86870/ Tue, 12 May 2009 12:33:46 EST The big question following Secretary Geithner’s admission that monetary policy was in error during much of the Bush administration is whether the Congress is going to step up to its responsibilities in respect of the national currency. Mr. Geithner’s comments were made last week in response to a question from Charlie Rose about what mistakes he would see looking back. One the secretary cited was that, as he put it, “monetary policy around the world was too loose too long.” That, he said... Editorial of The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/editorials/sound-familiar/86869/ Tue, 28 Apr 2009 01:33:55 EST “Cheney for President” is the headline today over the first column by the New York Times’s newest op-ed regular, Ross Douthat — a delightful debut suggesting that, as Mr. Douthat puts it, “both the Republican Party and the country would be better off today if Cheney, rather than John McCain, had been a candidate for president in 2008.” Well, the left laughed, along with a number of Republicans, when The New York Sun suggested exactly that — more than two years before the Times. “Cheney’s... Editorial of The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/editorials/the-arc-of-the-sun/86865/ Tue, 30 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST What a run. A newspaper founded by a company that was scheduled to be created on September 11, 2001, announces its last issue on September 29, 2008, the day of the largest one-day point drop in the history of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. It's easy to forget the boom years in between that were bracketed by the terrorist attacks and the financial crisis. Beginning a new daily newspaper in New York was an optimistic project. And in many ways the optimism that animated this venture has been... Editorial of The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/editorials/the-bailout-bust/86857/ Tue, 30 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST Those who blame yesterday's dive in the stock market on the House of Representatives' failure to approve the Paulson-Pelosi bailout plan can consider that the market was down sharply yesterday even before the House vote, defying predictions that the agreement on a deal that was announced over the weekend would yield a rally. Half of the Wall Street adage — sell on Rosh Hashana, buy on Yom Kippur — was proven a day early. Everyone is talking about how to revive the bailout plan, but at a certain... Editorial of The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/editorials/wealth-transfer/86787/ Mon, 29 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST As members of Congress prepare to vote on the Bush administration's plan to take troubled assets off bank balance sheets and put them in custody of the United States Treasury, here are two points to remember. First, the congressmen at least get a vote on the plan, which is more than the shareholders of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, or AIG got before the government seized 80% of their companies. And second, while the administration from the president on down is full of scare talk about a huge... Editorial of The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/editorials/plus-Ca-change/86786/ Mon, 29 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST What an astonishing turn the campaign has taken in respect of the Battle of Iraq. It started out as something of a plebiscite on the war itself only to evolve — one can say on the basis of Friday's debate — into an argument in which it can be tricky to discover where Senators Obama and McCain differ in any significant way on Iraq save a dispute about which side of the debate they were on five years ago, when Mr. Obama represents he was against the war, although not in a position of having to... Editorial of The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/editorials/the-credit-crisis/86697/ Fri, 26 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST The McCain campaign reports that yesterday's White House summit with President Bush, senators McCain and Obama, and the congressional leadership aimed at reaching an agreement on Secretary Paulson's plan to buy troubled mortgage-backed securities from financial institutions "devolved into a contentious shouting match." Thank goodness for checks and balances; if the Paulson plan runs aground in Congress, it would be fine with us. Our friends at the New York Post set out this week to document the... Editorial of The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/editorials/gun-nuts/86701/ Fri, 26 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST These columns have been defending Second Amendment rights against the Bloomberg administration, but there comes a point where the gun-dealers cross the line to indefensible, and the Daily News had a story this week about one such line. It turns out that Lauer Custom Weaponry in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, is selling what it calls the "Bloomberg Collection" — decorative gun finishes in "Manhattan Red," "Bronx Rose," "Brooklyn Blue," "Queens Green," and "Staten Island Orange." The company's Web... Editorial of The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/editorials/bailout-baloney/86592/ Thu, 25 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST Well, which is it? On one hand, Secretary Paulson claims that the mortgage-backed securities on bank balance sheets are so "toxic" that letting them stay there puts the entire economy at risk. On the other hand, Mr. Paulson himself, and President Bush last night, claim that the value of the assets will eventually rise higher than the current market price, so that taxpayers will eventually recover much of the $700 billion Messrs. Bush and Paulson propose to spend buying up these assets. This is... Editorial of The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/editorials/the-real-culprits/86593/ Thu, 25 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST The American Jewish community has fallen into a paroxysm of recrimination in the aftermath of Senator Clinton's dropping out of the rally against Iran, and of the disinvitation to Governor Palin that followed. A long article in the newspaper Yated Ne'eman asserts that "the real culprits in this story" were "the die-hard Democrat partisans within the three sponsoring groups" — the United Jewish Communities, the UJA-Federation of New York, and the Jewish Council on Public Affairs — "who were... Editorial of The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/editorials/the-early-vote/86485/ Wed, 24 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST We haven't had a single presidential debate yet, neither presidential candidate has voted on the proposed $700 billion bailout plan for Wall Street, and Al Qaeda has yet to spring the October surprise that our Eli Lake reported it is plotting. Nevertheless, voters are already casting presidential absentee ballots in Virginia, Georgia, and Kentucky. Here in New York City, the Board of Election says ballots won't be ready until the second week of October. Good. We're all for making it possible... Editorial of The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/editorials/paulsons-prices/86486/ Wed, 24 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST Congress is concerned about the prospect that taxpayers will be on the hook for $2,300 apiece as part of what Senator Obama fretted yesterday will be a plan by Secretary Paulson to provide "a welfare program for corporate CEOs." Those who have been following Paulson's pattern so far can bet there is not a chance. The treasury secretary has such unusual power as a purchaser to set prices that we wouldn't be surprised, after all is said and done, if the government's losses end up being much less... Editorial of The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/editorials/ahmadinejad-in-new-york/86487/ Wed, 24 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST In some respects President Ahmadinejad's visit is a public relations mission. He told CNN that he would meet with Senators McCain and Obama. In the General Assembly, he played to the passions of the American left by railing about the "occupation of Iraq." On Israel he used Europe's oldest anti-Semitic language to blame "a small but deceitful number of people called Zionists" for "dominating an important portion of the financial and monetary centers." He told Los Angeles Times that Israel is an... Editorial of The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/editorials/schumers-straddle/86393/ Tue, 23 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST The Democratic presidential nominee, Senator Obama, was on the campaign trail yesterday taking aim at someone who has been retired from the Senate since November 30, 2002 — Philip Gramm of Texas. In remarks prepared for delivery yesterday in Green Bay, Wisconsin, Mr. Obama called Mr. Gramm, "the architect in the U.S. Senate of the de-regulatory steps that helped cause this mess." It sent us scrambling for Senator Schumer's remarks back in 1999 on the passage of the conference report of S. 900... Editorial of The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/editorials/monroe-and-putin/86394/ Tue, 23 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST Just in time for the big foreign policy debate between Senators McCain and Obama, Russia's nuclear flagship, Peter the Great, set off yesterday for Venezuela what Moscow and Caracas promise will be joint naval exercises. Wouldn't it be nice were the debate to be moderated by President Monroe, whose doctrine was designed to keep the Europeans from meddling in our hemisphere? The Kremlin camarilla has hinted that its gunboat diplomacy is a response to President Bush's decision to send warships... Editorial of The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/opinion/governor-palins-promise/86327/ Mon, 22 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST What a magnificent statement Governor Palin has issued in response to President Ahmadinejad's expected appearance Tuesday at the United Nations. Her prepared remarks appear on our front page today. What a disgrace that the political constellation couldn't figure out a way for her to express her sentiments and those of Senator McCain before the thousands of demonstrators who will gather to protest the Iranian's threats against Jewry, America, and the Free World. At first Senator Clinton was... Editorial of The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/editorials/aigs-correction/86295/ Mon, 22 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST We wouldn't attribute all of Friday's 40% gain in the price of American International Group's stock to our editorial issued Friday morning suggesting that there might yet be a way for the shareholders to get a better deal than the one from the government, which left them with a scant 20% of what they had before. But the fact is that no sooner had The New York Sun noticed that the federal government's taking of an 80% share in American International Group would be subject to a shareholder vote... Editorial of The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/editorials/confidence-game/86231/ Fri, 19 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST President Bush yesterday put the government takeover of AIG and Fannie Mae in the category of actions that "improve investor confidence." Count us — and more than a few AIG and Fannie Mae shareholders — as skeptical. One measure will be whether AIG shareholders vote to approve the deal at an upcoming, yet to be scheduled meeting. At least they, unlike Fannie Mae shareholders, are being given the courtesy of a vote before about 80% of their company is taken by the federal government. Not that... Editorial of The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/editorials/politics-of-hope/86232/ Fri, 19 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST Senator Obama is telling his supporters to find their Republican neighbors and "argue with them and get in their face," the Associated Press reports. Mr. Obama is also getting nasty in his campaign: a study released this week by the University of Wisconsin's Wisconsin Advertising Project found that nationwide, following the political conventions, "56 percent of the McCain campaign ads were negative, while 77 percent of Obama's ads were negative." So much for the politics of hope that aimed to... Editorial of The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/editorials/priced-out/86233/ Fri, 19 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST Think gasoline prices or Manhattan apartment prices have soared in recent years? That escalation is nothing compared to the price of becoming a citizen of America, for which the naturalization and fingerprinting fee has climbed to $675 from the $95 it cost in 1998. That is a 610% escalation over 10 years. The Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights highlighted the problem in a report released earlier this month, "Priced Out," which we read about in Albor Ruiz's column in the Daily... Editorial of The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/editorials/obamas-shorts/86234/ Fri, 19 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST The Obama campaign convened a conference call earlier this week to flesh out the Democratic nominee's message on the financial crisis. It had two participants, both men: Lawrence Summers, who served as Treasury Secretary at the end of the Clinton administration before taking over as president of Harvard, and William Donaldson, who, as chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission during the Bush administration, presided over the loosening of capital requirements for broker-dealers such as... Editorial of The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/editorials/taxes-of-the-times-iii/86137/ Thu, 18 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST The New York Times has a recipe for responding to the financial crisis: raising taxes on New York City homeowners. That's right, with New Yorkers struggling to make mortgage payments and many of them newly out of work, the Times in an editorial yesterday endorsed a $1.5 billion a year increase in property taxes. Quoth the Times: "The City Council in New York should not stand in the way of raising the property tax." For those of us who are counting, and we are, this marks at least the eighth... Editorial of The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/editorials/exit-strategy/86120/ Thu, 18 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST One of the questions the next president will have to answer is what to do with the financial institutions that have been "Paulsonized." We speak of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and of American International Group, in all of which the federal government has emerged as a major shareholder under the leadership of the secretary of the Treasury, Henry Paulson. How long will the government hold on to its stakes in these firms? How will the stakes be unwound? Will there be a transparent auction of... Editorial of The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/editorials/signal-of-shame/86121/ Thu, 18 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST Senator Clinton would be wise to reconsider her decision to pull out of a protest rally against President Ahmadinejad. The rally has been called by the National Coalition to Stop Iran Now, the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, and other Jewish groups, who are planning to gather on September 22 outside the United Nations. The Jewish groups are acting because they recognize that the nature of the Iranian's public diplomacy is at its core anti-Semitic in a way more... Editorial of The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/editorials/its-only-money/86122/ Thu, 18 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST As millions of Americans check their portfolios to find out how they have personally been affected by what many reckon is the worse financial crisis since the Depression, here is a thought that may brighten your day: It's only money. And money, while important, is less important than many other things. Like family. Or friendships. Or happiness. Or health. Or integrity. So as many begin today poorer than at the beginning of the week, it is a time to remember to count all blessings and to... Editorial of The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/editorials/bring-back-greenberg/86042/ Wed, 17 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST As America was racing toward the nationalization of what is left of American International Group, we couldn't help think of Eliot Spitzer. Among all his mistakes, it's hard to think of one more catastrophic than his decision to force Maurice "Hank" Greenberg out of the leadership of AIG. The picture since then has not been a pretty one. As Mr. Greenberg put it yesterday in a letter, "In a little over a year, I, and other shareholders, have watched the company that I helped build over 35 years... Editorial of The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/editorials/change-in-cuba/86043/ Wed, 17 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST Freedom House, an American non-profit group, this week released the results of a study it conducted of change in Cuba, where Fidel Castro has stepped down in favor of his brother Raúl. Five field researchers from Freedom House conducted interviews with 180 Cubans. The results provide a valuable corrective to those who romanticize life in Communist Cuba. According to Freedom House: "Beef is so scarce that its respondents said it is commonly referred to as oro negro, or black gold." Also... Editorial of The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/editorials/hurricane-henry/86044/ Wed, 17 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST Ironically, a free-market-loving Republican administration is presiding over the most ambitious intrusion of government into the market in almost anyone's memory. But to what end? Bailouts, subsidies, and government insurance won't help Wall Street because the Street's fundamental problem isn't lack of capital. It's lack of trust. — Clinton administration Labor Secretary Robert Reich, in a posting on his blog. By deciding essentially to wipe out shareholders in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and... Editorial of The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/editorials/in-defense-of-markets/85936/ Tue, 16 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST As the crisis on Wall Street tempts the politicians, someone needs to put in a word for free markets. Senator Obama is rushing to blame the Bush administration and New Yorkers and calls for more regulation. "The challenges facing our financial system today are more evidence that too many folks in Washington and on Wall Street weren't minding the store," Mr. Obama said in a statement yesterday. He added: "Eight years of policies that have shredded consumer protections, loosened oversight and... Editorial of The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/editorials/al-alusi-and-israel/85940/ Tue, 16 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST The events in Baghdad involving the trip to Israel by a member of Iraq's parliament, Mithal al-Alusi, are shaping up as quite a test. On Sunday, members of Iraq's parliament moved to strip Mr. Alusi's parliamentary immunity from prosecution in order to charge him with treason for visiting the Jewish state. Mr. Alusi has attended this same counter-terrorism conference for the past four years. The law under which he is to be prosecuted is a 1969 statute dating back to the initial Baathist purges... Editorial of The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/editorials/gioias-success/85802/ Mon, 15 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST In January 2003, with the war in Iraq just over the horizon, President Bush faced many more pressing challenges than choosing a new chairman for the National Endowment for the Arts. But when he picked Dana Gioia to lead the once embattled agency, the president made what now looks like one of the most successful appointments of his administration. Mr. Gioia's recent announcement that he will step down at the beginning of 2009 marks the right moment to reflect on the revolution he made at the NEA... Editorial of The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/editorials/iranian-forfeit/85803/ Mon, 15 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST Iran's wheelchair basketball team forfeited a game against America over the weekend at the Paralympics in Beijing. Press reports say Iran denied the withdrawal was political, but it seems clear to just about everyone that Iran was trying to avoid the potential of a match against Israel; according to the schedule, the winner of the U.S.-Iran game would have gone on to face the winner of the Canada-Israel game. It's only the latest episode in which Iranian athletes have tried to avoid Israelis... Editorial of The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/editorials/a-lehman-lesson/85804/ Mon, 15 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST A dispatch in Friday's New York Times noted in passing that the chief executive of Lehman Brothers, Richard Fuld, has seen "much of his wealth disappear." The value of his stock and options in the company had fallen by late last week to about $40 million from the $956 million they were worth at their peak in early 2007. We would say that the evaporation of $916 million in personal wealth over the course of a year and a half was unprecedented, except that the chief executive of Bear Stearns... Editorial of The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/editorials/garcia-for-governor/85760/ Fri, 12 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST The talk around Foley Square is that the United States attorney for the Southern District of New York, Michael Garcia, is eyeing Manhattan law firms to join as the Bush administration draws to a close. Here's hoping it is a departure akin to the tour one of his predecessors as U.S. attorney, Rudolph Giuliani, took at White & Case and at Anderson, Kill & Olick before running for public office. Because Mr. Garcia looks as if he'd be a great governor. He's certainly done better than anyone... Editorial of The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/editorials/bushs-legacy-in-danger/85761/ Fri, 12 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST President Bush is in danger, if he isn't careful, of seeing his foreign policy reputation erode in his final term of office from one of plain talk and bold action to one of tough talk accompanied by hesitation. What else to make of the report in the Israeli daily Ha'aretz that Israel is having trouble getting the Bush administration to agree to its requests for a package of security aid and a shared understanding that would facilitate an Israeli strike against Iranian nuclear facilities? The... Editorial of The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/editorials/a-scholar-as-leader/85642/ Thu, 11 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST Apparently we aren't the only ones who thought the appointment of a young tapestry curator, Thomas Campbell, as the ninth director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art was an inspired choice. According to the outgoing director, Philippe de Montebello, Mr. Campbell received a minute-long standing ovation from museum staff at a reception on Tuesday afternoon, after the trustees voted to confirm his appointment. Mr. Campbell drew laughs at yesterday's press conference when he said, of his lack of... Editorial of The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/editorials/september-11-2008/85632/ Thu, 11 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST At moments it might seem as if the memories fade as the time passes but then all of a sudden the date creeps up and there it is. On one level it now seems all so long ago: Before The New York Sun had even started publishing, back when Barack Obama was serving in the Illinois state senate and President Bush was in his first year of his first term in office. But then for all of those who were in this city that day or know someone who was killed in the attack, there are moments when it all comes... Editorial of The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/editorials/rangels-taxes/85654/ Thu, 11 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST In March of 1938, President Franklin Roosevelt sent a letter to his commissioner of internal revenue, Guy Helvering. "My dear Commissioner Helvering," the letter began, "I am enclosing my income tax return for the calendar year 1937, together with my check for $15,000. I am wholly unable to figure out the amount of the tax ..." In the letter, which is reproduced in Amity Shlaes's book "The Forgotten Man," the president asks the Internal Revenue Service to answer the "problem in higher math" on... Editorial of The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/editorials/obamas-education-defense/85564/ Wed, 10 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST We had our problems with Senator McCain's acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention, in which Mr. McCain bragged about how he had fought against the "tobacco companies" and "drug companies," and about how he had voted against "another corporate welfare bill for oil companies." Americans might be forgiven for wondering what companies might be left standing in a McCain administration to provide actual jobs. Where Mr. McCain's words really resonated in a positive way, though, was in... Editorial of The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/editorials/kidnap-ahmadinejad/85565/ Wed, 10 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST Comments by an Israeli cabinet minister, Rafi Eitan, to Der Spiegel are raising speculation about an Israeli operation aimed at kidnapping President Ahmadinejad of Iran and putting him on trial for inciting genocide. As the Telegraph recounts it in a dispatch we carry in today's New York Sun, Mr. Eitan, a veteran of the Mossad operation against Adolf Eichmann, was asked if the Israeli spy agency still operated against the Nazis. "That era is over," he said. "But that's not to say that such... Editorial of The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/editorials/senator-bunnings-complaint/85566/ Wed, 10 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST One doesn't often hear politicians in Washington offer criticism of officials in their own party as scathing as what Senator Bunning of Kentucky had to say yesterday about the secretary of the Treasury, Henry Paulson. In an interview with Bloomberg News, Mr. Bunning called for the resignation of his fellow Republican, saying Mr. Paulson "is acting like the minister of finance in China." "No company fails in communist China, because they're all partly owned by the government," Mr. Bunning said... Editorial of The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/editorials/banana-peel-republic/85468/ Tue, 9 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST The decision by the Israeli police to recommend indictments against Prime Minister Olmert comes as a startling, even shocking development to those of us who have thrilled to the idealism of the Jewish state. It's not that the news arrived out of the blue. Less than two months ago, Mr. Olmert decided to resign, declaring that he would not contest his party's primary election of a new party leader. Mr. Olmert's agreement to hold that vote, scheduled for September 17, was itself a sign of his... Editorial of The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/editorials/paulsons-pretext/85469/ Tue, 9 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST Of all the palaver that is being propagated as a pretext for the government seizure of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, some of the least credible relates to the attack on the so called dual missions of the enterprises. The secretary of the Treasury, Henry Paulson, spoke of "the inherent conflict of attempting to serve both shareholders and a public mission." He spoke of what he called "the conflict between public and private purposes." The public mission is expanding home ownership by offering... Editorial of The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/editorials/paulsons-seizure/85327/ Mon, 8 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST Imagine if the Bush administration, having decided that gasoline prices are too high, decided to nationalize ExxonMobil. The federal energy secretary held a Sunday press conference to announce that the Bush administration had replaced the company's management, that the company would henceforth be run with the goal of reducing gasoline prices for drivers, and that any profits the company made would be the property of the federal government, which would now control 80% of the company. As for the... Editorial of The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/editorials/three-editors-in-a-room/85328/ Mon, 8 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST They call it "Three Men in a Room" when, in Albany, the governor, the Assembly Speaker, and the Senate majority leader get together to decide budget, and other, matters in the state. So what do they call it when the three biggest newspapers the state get together and all endorse the same opponent of Speaker Sheldon Silver in tomorrow's Democratic primary? Three editors in a room? We doubt the editors of the Daily News, the New York Times, and the New York Post actually conspired to endorse Mr... Editorial of The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/editorials/wrong-way-mccain/85279/ Fri, 5 Sep 2008 08:34:00 EST It may seem impolite or ungrateful to find fault with Senator McCain after the remarkable Vietnam War service to America that Mr. McCain recounted in his convention speech. We found the account of his wartime captivity moving, and we honor it. But for all its inspiring drama, wartime valor alone isn't enough to get a veteran Republican senator elected president, as Robert Dole can attest. And what Mr. McCain offered last night beyond biography was not much to run on. Aside from some words about... Editorial of The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/editorials/biden-on-aipac/85276/ Fri, 5 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST It is quite a swipe at the organized Jewish community that the Jerusalem Post is reporting Senator Biden has launched against the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. "I take a backseat to no one — including Aipac — when it comes to supporting Israel," the Post quotes the Delaware Democrat just chosen as Senator Obama's running mate as saying. "They don't speak for the entire Jewish community. There are other organizations that are just as strong and consequential," he said. "Aipac does... Editorial of The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/editorials/not-so-fast/85277/ Fri, 5 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST When the Economist, the Financial Times, the Wall Street Journal, and the New York Times are all sounding the same tune, it's a signal to us that their conventional wisdom is worth a skeptical second look. So it is in the case of Fannie Mae, where the free-market financial press has joined with the New York Times in calling for the government seizure of a private company. "It is time to nationalise America's mortgage giants," thundered the Economist. The New York Times urges immediate action... Editorial of The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/editorials/gonzaless-secrets/85165/ Thu, 4 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST The Department of Justice's inspector general's office has issued a scathing report documenting that while serving as attorney general, Alberto Gonzales was careless in handling classified documents, storing some in a safe outside his office rather than in the Sensitive Compartmented Storage Facility where they were supposed to be kept. The attorney general also kept one highly classified document in a briefcase in his own home office; he had forgotten the combination to a safe the government...