NEVER IN THE FIELD OF HUMAN CONFLICT was so much said by so many for so little. “[T]he torrent of words that spewed forth for two days at the Washington Convention Center would have been enough to fill every missile silo in the world.... [but] ... We are no closer to meaningful sanctions against a soon-to-be-nuclear Iran. And the only countries to have ever been caught disseminating nuclear capacity – Pakistan and North Korea – were not part of the discussion.”

The Washington Post story (Obama secures 47-nation pact at nuclear summit, 14 April) is here.

THE POLITICAL ESTABLISHMENT & THE TEA PARTY: Richard Fernandez of the Belmont Club comments: “Nothing throws [politicians] for a loop more than some[one] that doesn’t want anything they can bestow. The Tea Partiers already know the establishment is bankrupt. They don’t want to be the next Botox Queen, the next guest on Oprah or the man with Internet access on Air Force One; they only want their freedom and a chance to meet the crisis with common sense, if that’s not asking too much.”

AN AGE OF UNTRUTH. Victor Davis Hanson on liberal lies and other hypocrisies.

IN SEC VS. GOLDMAN, who's really at fault?

The answer is, of course, everyone.

What I find amusing is Chris Stirewalt’s comment: “As Goldman is now finding out, the problem of being in business with the government is that sometimes they cheat for you, but when the political climate demands it, they start cheating against you.”

"TO KEEP US FROM OWNING GUNS, DC politicians are willing to trade our voting rights."

While I happen to think this is the right call (no voting rights for D.C.) for the wrong reason (maintain tight gun control regulation), I am amused by this quote: “In Washington, D.C., we get precisely the representation we deserve.”

FDA PLANS to limit amount of salt allowed in processed foods for health reasons. Chris Stirewalt comments (fifth item):

What in the hell?

The FDA has the power to limit sodium content in food? When did that happen?

[I]n the post-American America, those who fail to heed the warnings are a cost to all of us mandatorily insured workers of the world. A government that has a fiduciary interest in your blood pressure is a government that will run your life.

What a prissy country this has become.

But, but ... it’s for your own good.

AND IN LOCAL NEWS: At the company I work for, a “staff member complained about coworkers speaking vehemently about their political beliefs while at work — to the point that this person felt uncomfortable.”

There’s a ‘right to be comfortable’? I wonder if I can cite feeling uncomfortable as a reason for walking out of the annual ‘diversity training’ sessions.

THE WORLD is still coming to an end. Chicken Littles never give up.

ACORN BOSS AIRS HER POLITICS: ”Any group that says, ‘I’m young, I’m Democratic, and I’m a socialist’ is all right with me.”

At least the taxpayers are (at least temporarily) no longer funding ACORN.

THE DEATH OF THE AMERICAN CENTURY. The dream - that America is a special place - is dying. Read it all.

There are, I think, two lessons - both on warfare - to be taken from Allen’s commentary. The first is that if the goal is nation-building, then the enemy must be utterly crushed. Rubble bounced, culture destroyed, population left in despair. And a minimum of a generation to rebuild. The second is that if the goal is threat removal, then it must be utterly and completely destroyed, along with the infrastructure needed to reconstitute it. Then leave. Leave quickly, and leave the populace to its own devices.

America hasn’t yet learned those lessons.