Ducking the issue

On Monday, the Financial Times printed an article by Edgar Bronfman and Cobi Benatoff accusing the European Commission of anti-Semitism.

Yesterday, the International Herald Tribune reported:

The president of the European Commission, Romano Prodi, angrily suspended a conference on anti-Semitism on Monday and accused two large Jewish groups of working against ‘‘our best and mutual interests.’’

Prodi sent a letter Monday to Cobi Benatoff, president of the European Jewish Congress, and Edgar Bronfman, president of the World Jewish Congress, saying he was ‘‘surprised and shocked’’ by an article the two men had written that accused the European Commission, the European Union’s executive branch, of being anti-Semitic.

In their article for the FT, Benatoff and Bronfman had anticipated that the conference would be “a major test of European attitudes”.

Prodi's cancellation of the event illustrates the European Commission's approach to anti-Semitism: They don't want to talk about it.

Guns and crime

Mark Steyn, in today’s Telegraph, on home-security and the BBC’s Listeners’ Law.

I don't have laser alarms, or window locks, or, indeed, a front-door key. Like most of my neighbours, I leave my home unlocked and, when I park the car, I leave the key in the ignition because then you always know where to find it.

I'm able to do this because - and this is where the gung-ho bit comes in - I live in a state with very high rates of gun ownership. In other words, if you're some teen punk and you want to steal my $70 television set, they're likely to be picking bits of your skull out of my wainscoting. But the beauty of this system is that I'm highly unlikely ever to have to blow your head off. The fact that most homeowners are believed to be armed reduces crime, in my neighbourhood, to statistically insignificant levels. Hence, my laconic approach to home security.

Read the whole thing.

Newsing around

The Independent: British Euro MP is latest parcel bomb target

CBS News: Space Station springs a leak

SunHerald: Faith-based prison opens in Florida

The Nation: Proposal to replace FDR dime with Reagan coin

Fox News: American Pit Bulls get a makeover

NASA: Stardust captures comet

Back to the blog

Posting regularly over the holidays was nigh on impossible. With the boys off school and Mom visiting for Christmas, I was kept pretty busy.

But now, Mom’s gone back home, the boys are back at school and I’ve got a little time to myself.

So, hopefully, I’ll be back to regular posting.

Happy New Year

Let’s hope it’s a good one.