Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal died this week, leaving a legacy, says Daniel Henninger, of high standards of evidence. No small thing in a time when so many people are convicted in the court of public opinion, he says. "There was a sense in which nobody was guiltier than the Nazis, but Wiesenthal refused to denounce former U.N. Secretary General Kurt Waldheim because he thought there wasn't sufficient hard evidence," says Henninger. "Now compare that to what's going on now when people such as those accused by Elliott Spitzer or many of these celebrities in criminal court cases get into a situation where we have essentially flipped the sacred standard. Now people are guilty until proven innocent and I think Simon Wiesenthal's legacy shows us that that is a mistake."
A JetBlue flight was forced to make an emergency landing in Los Angeles when the crew discovered the front landing gear was stuck. "It sure was nice this week of all weeks to see a human drama unfold where everyone performed competently and also had a happy ending," says Robert Pollock. "I think the crew did a lot of things right here. One of the things they did right is JetBlue has TVs in the back of the seats and so the passengers were actually watching what was happening on their plane unfold and they were allowed to watch that. I think that was a good thing because I think the more information the people had the calmer they stayed. Also obviously the pilot has to get big kudos here because he brought the plane down safely and apparently perfectly and then afterward joked that he was sorry for having missed the center of the runway by six inches."
Bill Clinton has been travelling the country suggesting that Americans should pay higher taxes because of Katrina. "He wants shared sacrifice and he says people like him should pay higher taxes," says Stephen Moore. "Now some Republicans in the House want to pass a bill called the Bill Clinton Tax Increase. It would be a tax increase that would only apply to Bill Clinton, the rest of us would have low taxes. Here's the fun part of the story. Bill Clinton back in the 1980s took a $2.00 dollar write-off on his taxes for donating underwear to the Salvation Army. This doesn't sound like a guy to me who wants less taxes."
