Dead Man Talking
"A purported audio tape by Osama bin Laden has offered a truce to Europeans if they pull troops out of Muslim nations," Reuters reports. Here are some excerpts from the transcript:

It is in the interest of both parties not to give a chance to those who shed the blood of nations for their limited personal interest and obedience to the gang of the White House.

This war earns millions of dollars for big companies, whether those who manufacture weapons or those involved in reconstruction, such as Halliburton and its sisters and daughters. . . . Rational people do not risk their security, money and sons to appease the White House liar.

Is this really Osama bin Laden? As usual, we have some doubt. Dia'a Rashwan, "a Cairo expert on Islamic militants," tells the Associated Press that, in the AP's words, bin Laden "may want to show he is still alive to further complicate President George W. Bush's re-election bid in November." While that doesn't sound wholly implausible, the section of the statement we quoted shows a command of Democratic talking points--Halliburton is evil; the president is a "liar" who commands a "gang"--that is so strong, it leads one to wonder if it's for real.

CNN reports there's little enthusiasm in Europe for the putative bin Laden offer. Reactions from around the Continent:

• "It is completely unthinkable that we could start negotiations with bin Laden. Everyone understands that."--Italian foreign minister Franco Frattini
  
  
• There can be no negotiating under a "terrorist threat"--European Commission president Romano Prodi
  
  
• "We can't negotiate with al Qaeda. Their attacks are against the very idea of coexistence and conflict is their raison d'être. To hide in the face of the threat is not an answer. The right response is to continue to confront terrorism, not give in to its demands."--an unnamed British Foreign Office spokesman
  
  
• "There will be no negotiations with terrorists and serious criminals like Osama bin Laden. The international community must continue the fight against international terrorism together. Germany will continue to contribute to that."--an unnamed German government spokesman
  
  
• "There can be no possible bargaining with terrorists."--French president Jacques Chirac

So even Jacques Chirac is showing a little backbone. If indeed this is bin Laden--and say, didn't he used to have a video camera?--it seems unlikely he'll have much success in further dividing the U.S.-Europe antiterror alliance, such as it is.

Razor's Edge
The Associated Press reports from Fallujah, Iraq, that the U.S. Marines there have lost their patience with their "culturally sensitive" training:

The band of Marines in this insurgent stronghold received two big orders this year. They were told to return to Iraq to stabilize the Sunni areas west of Baghdad, Iraq's toughest patch of territory. The normally clean-shaven Marines were also told to grow mustaches in an attempt to win over Iraqis who see facial hair as a sign of maturity.

"We did it basically to show the Iraqi people that we respect their culture," said Lance Cpl. Cristopher Boulwave, 22, from Desoto Texas.

But after the brutal killing of four American contractors in Fallujah on March 31, they tossed aside such pretenses. First to go were the mustaches.

"When you go to fight, it's time to shoot--not to make friends with people," said Sgt. Cameron Lefter, 34, from Seattle.

It's a pipe dream of course, but this does make us wish the Marines would liberate a few American college campuses.

A Good-Looking Party
"Miss Missouri, Shandi Finnessey, a 25-year-old graduate student who has published a children's book, was crowned Miss USA at the 52nd annual pageant on Monday," Reuters reports from Los Angeles:

At a party following the event, Fennessey described her social life as "totally single and looking."

A Republican, she told Reuters she would use her position to help explain America's involvement in Iraq. "What needed to be done had to be done," she said.

Good for Finnessey. It turns out that the pageant's four runners-up were Misses South Carolina, North Carolina, Oklahoma and Tennessee, and the next five finishers, who made it to the swimsuit competition, were from Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Idaho and Oregon. That means nine out of 10 of the top beauties come from states George W. Bush carried in 2000; the only exception, Oregon, was very close (Gore by 0.44%).

Gore carried four out of 10 states, so this year's Miss USA results suggest that the GOP is by far the more attractive of the two major parties. But the Dems shouldn't abandon all hope: Reuters notes that last year's winner, Susie Castillo, hails from, of all places, Massachusetts.

The New JFK?

"Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty."--John F. Kennedy, Inaugural Address, Jan. 20, 1961

"I have always said from day one that the goal here . . . is a stable Iraq, not whether or not that's a full democracy. I can't tell you what it's going to be, but a stable Iraq. And that stability can take several different forms."--John F. Kerry, April 14, 2004

Public-Private Partnership

"We made a conscious decision, and part of it was under strong pressure from the [victims'] families, to make this commission as transparent and as visible as possible."--9/11 commission chairman Thomas Kean on commission members' repeated TV appearances, quoted in the New York Times, April 15

"People ought to stay out of our business."--Kean, on allegations that commissioner Jamie Gorelick has a conflict of interest, quoted in the Washington Post, April 15

'End of Issue'
Today's Boston Globe has a follow-up to its report, which we noted yesterday, on doubts about one of the Purple Hearts he was awarded for his service in Vietnam:

During the news conference, Kerry . . . addressed a Globe story yesterday reporting that some veterans questioned whether he suffered sufficient injuries to merit the three Purple Hearts he received in Vietnam, especially the first, which his commanding officer said was for "a little scratch." The former officer, Lieutenant Commander Grant Hibbard, is a registered Republican.

"The Navy made a decision 35 years ago to make an award, based on the normal procedures by which those awards are made, and those of us who were there know what happened," the senator said. "It hasn't been questioned in 35 years and, obviously, in presidential races, politics is politics and I understand that. But I'm proud of my service and I'm proud of the men I served with, and I'm proud of what I did on that particular night and the risks we took and what we achieved. Period. End of issue."

"End of issue"? Doesn't Kerry sound just a wee bit defensive?

Amateur Hour at Air America
Air America, the liberal radio network that's been on the air only a few weeks, may be collapsing under the weight of bad management. The Chicago Tribune reports that the network was bounced off the air in two of America's three biggest cities yesterday:

Arthur Liu, owner of Multicultural Radio Broadcasting, which owns Air America affiliates WNTD-950 AM in Chicago and KBLA-1580 AM in Los Angeles, said Air America bounced a check and owes him more than $1 million.

Air America and Multicultural had entered into a time brokerage agreement in which the network was essentially renting Multicultural's airtime, Liu said.

"They bounced a check today," Liu said. "It's a default. They have paid only a very small portion of what they owe us." Liu declined to say how much Multicultural is owed, but did say he is holding $1 million in checks that Air America has asked the company not to cash.

This leaves Air America broadcasting in only six markets--New York, Minneapolis, Riverside, Calif.; West Palm Beach and Key West, Fla.; and Plattsburgh, N.Y.--as well as on the XM and Sirius satellite radio networks.

Air America's chairman, Evan Cohen, calls Liu's account "an outright lie," and the network has filed a lawsuit--reproduced by The Smoking Gun--against Multicultural. And things get weirder. The Air America Web site features a statement titled "The Sludge Report"--a satire of the Drudge Report, which featured the story yesterday--that is bizarrely juvenile in tone:

Normally we'd let this go because "habitual liars" like Drudge are laughable, and ridicule is our business.

But Arthur Liu--not funny. He lied to us, he ripped us off and now we're chasing him down with a pipe wrench. It's a metaphor.

Here's what really happened:

This Liu-ser was ripping off our boss Evan Cohen big time (he can't do that, that's our job). Evan found out about it and he stopped payment on a check to keep Liu-cifer from ripping him off even more. You can touch Evan for the occasional meal or drinks but a million bucks is crossing the line. And if we ever get low on cash, we can always call Barbra Streisand. Or any of the Baldwins. Except Stephen.

So we got screwed, Liu'd, and tattooed. How Liu can you get? In Liu of payment. Liu'd and lascivious behavior. These write themselves. What we're getting at is that we hate him.

So now everyone's saying we're going down the dumper in Chicago and Los Angeles, but what they don't tell you is that we're still on in Portland. And we OWN Portland. And let's not forget Riverside and Plattsburgh. And New York. And streaming on the internet. And XM. And Sirius. Actually we're fine.

The statement also urges people to phone Liu and supplies a New York phone number. On his Web site, Neal Boortz, a conservative radio host (last item of today's report, which should eventually be archived here), raises some questions about Air America's business practices (ellipses in original):

What in the hell is Air America doing paying radio stations to air their programming? We don't. Rush doesn't, neither does Hannity. Is the liberal message so vapid and unappealing that these people actually have to pay stations to put it on the air?

Here's a little more information for you.

Jim Watkins is the program director for my affiliates in Naples and Ft. Meyers [sic], Florida (WINK-AM and WNOG-AM). Several weeks ago he contacted the people at Air America to inquire about putting Al Franken somewhere on his radio station. Watkins remembered Al Franken from his Saturday Night Live days and felt that he might be entertaining and could draw an audience.

So ... Watkins gets an official from Air America on the phone. The Air America official asks Jim what other programs they carry. Jim starts rattling off the names. Boortz, Limbaugh, Savage .... At that point the Air America official says "Stop." He then informs Watkins that they won't allow their programming to air on WINK and WNOG. And why not? Because "We don't want our programming stained by being on a station that carries Rush Limbaugh."

Air America apparently doesn't object to all right-wing talk shows. KCAA, the Riverside, Calif.-area station that carries Franken's "The O'Franken Factor," also broadcasts Watergate personage G. Gordon Liddy's show in the early afternoon. Refusing to share a station with Limbaugh would seem a foolish strategy; Limbaugh's long and successful track record makes it unlikely that many stations would drop him in favor of Franken and friends, so the sole effect of this policy is to make it harder to get Air America shows on the air. No wonder the network has to resort to buying air time.

If Air America fails, it will be in part because of bad management. One also has to wonder if the network's entire premise--that talk radio is dominated by the right, and there's a demand for a left-wing answer to Limbaugh, Hannity, et al.--is faulty. After all, it's not as if the rest of the media aren't already saturated with liberal-left viewpoints.

The Jersey Swing?
Yesterday we noted a New Jersey poll that showed surprising strength for President Bush in the Garden State, which Al Gore carried by almost 16% of the vote. Turns out we weren't the first to make this observation; a few months ago, blogger Gerry Daly, who has been projecting the 2004 election results based on state-by-state polls, declared a "slight advantage for Bush" in New Jersey, based on earlier polls showing Bush ahead of an "unnamed Democrat."

Daly's current projections give Bush a "slight advantage" in two other Gore states (Pennsylvania and Wisconsin) and one Bush state (New Hampshire). In addition, he rates five states "toss-ups": three Bush states (Florida, Ohio and West Virginia) and two Gore ones (New Mexico and Oregon). Kerry has the lead in the remaining 13 Gore states and the District of Columbia. If all states go according to Daly's prediction, Bush would win 272 electoral votes--just two more than a majority--vs. 202 for Kerry, with 64 too close to call.

Another election-prediction blog, by Scott Elliott, shows Kerry ahead with 291 electoral votes to 247 for Bush. Elliott's formula is based on nationwide polls and statewide margins of victory from 2000 but takes no account of state-to-state changes, so that Kerry's recent strength in the polls leads Elliott to project his victory in two Bush states--Florida and New Hampshire--along with all 20 Gore states.

Oliver Twit
Ann Louise Bardach, a National Public Radio correspondent who has published two books about Cuba, interviews filmmaker Oliver Stone, who has produced a pro-Fidel Castro documentary that airs tonight on HBO. The interview appears on Slate:

Bardach: Let me ask you about the part [in the film] where Castro's in front of eight prisoners charged with attempting to hijack a plane [to Miami]. He says to them, "I want you all to speak frankly and freely." What do you make of that whole scene, where you have these prisoners who happened to be wearing perfectly starched, nice blue shirts?

Stone: Let me give you the background. He obviously set it up overnight. It was in that spirit that he said, "Ask whatever you want. I'm sitting here. I want to hear it too. I want to hear what they're thinking." He let me run the tribunal, so to speak.

Bardach: But Cuba's leader for life is sitting in front of these guys who are facing life in prison, and you're asking them, "Are you well treated in prison?" Did you think they could honestly answer that question?

Stone: If they were being horribly mistreated, then I don't know that they could be worse mistreated [afterward].

Bardach: So in other words, you think they thought this was their best shot to air grievances? Rather than that if they did speak candidly, there'd be hell to pay when they got back to prison?

Stone: I must say, you're really picturing a Stalinist state. It doesn't feel that way. You can always find horrible prisons if you go to any country in Central America.

Bardach: Did you go to the prisons in Cuba?

Stone: No, I didn't.

Bardach: So you don't know if they're any different than, say, the prisons in Honduras then?

Stone: I think that those prisoners are being honest. . . .

Bardach: I'm suggesting that they had no choice but to appear there, and that in some ways it was a bit of a mini-show-trial, sort of "Look how well we treat our prisoners."

Stone: It does have that aura, absolutely. But I do maintain that if it were a Stalinist state . . . they certainly do a great job of concealing it.

Cuba as a Stalinist state--finally, a conspiracy theory too bizarre for even Oliver Stone to believe it.

Corrie: 'More Martyrs Are Ready'
Responding to Brij Patnaik's defense of his cousin Rachel Corrie, the always astute blogger Charles Johnson notes this passage from an e-mail Corrie wrote relatives on Feb. 10, 2003, some five weeks before her death in a bulldozer accident:

In retaliation for this murderous attack, fighters last night offered their life for their friend and killed two of the illegal occupying force, and injuring another. Two young fighters were killed and I don't yet know the extent of other injuries. . . .

While the huge force of Israelis have every technical aid invented by the US war machine, the few young fighters have NOTHING BUT THEIR WEAPON (and this not the most modern)--no helmet, bullet proof vest, radio contact or other protection. No back-up, no plane, helicopter, tank, APC, searchlight, dogs, flares, ambulance or refuge--put all the Israeli/American propaganda aside for a few minutes and try to imagine, please, the courage it requires to do what these young fighters do, knowing that the odds are against escape and that, every time they do succeed in evading death, the odds against a further survival are shortened. Even if the operation is a success the price is always high.

And every time the Israeli Command terrorises Nablus as today with tanks and Jeeps and APC's bristling with death at every junction within the city, operating a lock-down even worse than before (how can this be possible), more Martyrs are ready to defend the honour of Palestine and fight for the freedom of surely the most gentle, generous and peaceful people on earth.

"More Martyrs are ready to defend the honour of Palestine"--this certainly calls into question Patnaik's claim that Corrie "unequivocally condemned the violent acts of both Palestinians and Israelis."

Johnson calls Patnaik's article part of "the Corrie whitewash." But there's a way of looking at this that's more charitable to Patnaik. As we argued yesterday, it's perfectly understandable that Corrie's family would want to present someone they loved in a favorable light. By playing down Corrie's glorification of Palestinian "martyrs," as well as her anti-American activities, Patnaik is implicitly acknowledging the wrongness of her extreme views.

In Search of Anti-Semitism--II
Here's more on the kerfuffle over Google's anti-Semitic links, which we noted yesterday. The search-engine company has posted an explanation of why searches for the word Jew turn up the virulently anti-Semitic site JewWatch.com as either the first or second result:

A site's ranking in Google's search results is automatically determined by computer algorithms using thousands of factors to calculate a page's relevance to a given query. Sometimes subtleties of language cause anomalies to appear that cannot be predicted. A search for "Jew" brings up one such unexpected result.

Again, we were initially inclined to accept Google's explanation, but then we noted the New York Times' report that at the request of officials from Chester, England, Google had removed a page called "Chester's guide to molesting young girls" from its search results. Several readers faulted us for not noting part of Google's explanation for that change: that Google had "removed sites from its rankings that promote pedophilia, which is illegal."

This explanation, however, looks to us rather disingenuous. For one thing, although sexual relations with children obviously are illegal, "promoting pedophilia" probably is not. It's also not clear that the offending page--actually titled "Chester's guide to picking up little girls"--really was promoting pedophilia. According to "Chester's Guide to Molesting Google," which now is the first hit on a Google search for "Chester Guide," it was a satire. Having looked at the page, we tend to agree--though the satire is so unspeakably vile, we refuse to link to it.

It turns out, further, that Google has not removed the "Chester's guide" from its search engine altogether; it comes up at the top of a search for the phrase "picking up little girls." What's more, a search for "Nambla" turns up as the third hit the home page of the North American Man-Boy Love Association, an outfit that unquestionably does promote pedophilia.

Meanwhile, a search for "Jew" on the German version of Google does not turn up JewWatch.com, though RemoveJewWatch.com is near the top. And a search of German Google for "Jewwatch.com" turns up the message: "Zur URL jewwatch.com wurden keine Informationen gefunden" ("no information was found about the URL jewwatch.com").

Presumably this is in compliance with Germany's anti-hate-speech laws, which do not have a counterpart in America. The question remains, though: If Google is willing to modify its search results in order to placate municipal officials from Britain, why does it refuse to do the same when the issue is anti-Semitism?

You Don't Say
"Taxes Take Longer Because of Complex Forms"--headline, Associated Press, April 14

What Would We Do Without Experts?
Check Tax Returns Twice to Avoid Costly Mistakes, Experts Say"--headline, Miami Herald, April 14

What Would We Do Without the IRS?
"Tax Preparers Aren't Always Right, IRS Says"--headline, Skokie (Ill.) Preview, April 15

Should the Government Really Be Subsidizing This?
"Legislators OK Dueling Budgets"--headline, Louisville (Ky.) Courier-Journal, April 13

Our Favorite Word
Merriam-Webster Online has a survey asking "What's your favorite word?" To participate, click on the link above before next Monday and type in your choice, then click the "Send" button. M-W will announce the results on April 26. We wouldn't dream of trying to stuff the ballot box, but nor would we discourage anyone from doing what we did and entering the word kerfuffle.

(Carol Muller helps compile Best of the Web Today. Thanks to Jerome Marcus, Damian Bennett, Steve Eggleston, Rick Stratton, Andrew Fox, Bill McConaghy, Lee Harris, Barak Moore, Levi Hoiriis, Yehuda Hilewitz, Erik Andresen, Darren Gold, Michael Segal, Nancy Zimmerman, Brendan Schulman, Robert LeChevalier, Mark Wallace, Jim Orheim, Geoffrey Berg, Rosanne Klass, Alan Turin, Dawn Eden, Keith Parker, Mike Paranzino, Brian Rom, Derrick Carson, Charlie Gaylord, Doug Levene, Ethel Fenig, Mark Schulze, Alan Ridgeway, Michael Poole, Eric Ivers, David Albersheim, Gary Schamburg, Henry Hanks, Steve Early, Brad Fisher, Thomas Dillon, Christopher Budd, Mike Collins, Robert Paci, Ivan Osorio, Paul Newcomer, Allan Grady, Bill Beerbenich, Steve Hays, Cyrus Dastur, Daniel van der Hoeven, Matthew Davis, Ryan Smith, Ray Samori, Michael Zwick and Bob Dowding. If you have a tip, write us at opinionjournal@wsj.com, and please include the URL.)

Today on OpinionJournal:

• Review & Outlook: Jamie Gorelick belongs in the witness chair, not on the 9/11 commission.
• Peggy Noonan: President Bush gets a little help from the partisan liberal press.
• Benjamin Ivry: Fathoming the lasting appeal of Saint-Exupéry and "The Little Prince."