As usual, Mark Steyn has a keen eye for cultural trends. But what happens when two left-wing trends collide, as when the anti-smoking zealots cross paths with the multi-cultural/Muslim accomodationalists?

Is it too much to ask that the multi-cultis also create a cultural exemption for western culture? You know, letting free adults decide for themselves where to draw the line between pleasure and health?

You can find your answer in Vancouver.

For anyone interested in my take, here is a link at an interview on CBN yesterday. I said substantially the same thing on MSNBC this morning–and caught Alex Whitte by surprise. I wish I had a tape of that…

Iran is listed as “state sponsor of terrorism” by the State department, but boneheaded diplomats in that same State department seem prepared to escort Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Ground Zero.

Of course, Ahmadinejad has no plans to apologize for his nation’s support for al Qaeda or to turn over Saad bin Laden, Osama’s oldest son, who Iran’s state-run radio has repeatedly admitted is living in Iran. Saad bin Laden is said, by my intelligence sources, to be married to the daughter of an Iranian Revolutionary Guards’ general.

Iran has also admitted that another 500 al Qaeda operatives are resident in the Islamic Republic. All attempts to extradite them have been rebuffed.

Presidential candidate Mitt Romney gets it right:

“Ahmadinejad’s shockingly audacious request should be met with a vehement no. It’s inconceivable that any consideration would be given to the idea of entertaining the leader of a state sponsor of terror at Ground Zero. This would deeply offend the sensibilities of Americans from all corners of our nation. Instead of entertaining Ahmadinejad, we should be indicting him.”

UPDATE:

The Queen of pro-Iranian democracy activists, Banafsheh Zand-Bonazzi, sends the following call to action.

AND if you want to call in to Mayor Bloomberg’s weekly radio show on Friday morning eastern standard time between 10 a.m. and 11 a.m. You can log onto his radio show on www.nyc.gov and the phone number to call is: 800-848-9222

Michael Totten is in Ramadi, al Qaeda’s former capital in insurgent-held Iraq. He embedded himself with units working in an area that the bloodiest battlefield in Iraq and is now “too boring” for MSM journos to bother to visit. You should see what they are missing.

As usual, Totten finds a compelling, fresh story: al Qaeda miscalculated by being overly harsh and the tribes rebelled. Meanwhile, sustained exposure to American soldiers made the locals realize that our forces are not as evil as advertised. But the thrill of Totten’s story is the many anecdotes and conversations. Even for someone who follows the Iraq war closely will learn something new.

Read the whole thing. You will not be disappointed.

As many of you know, Clinton’s National Security Advisor Sandy Berger and I no longer get along.

Once a cordial and helpful source, Berger turned on me in January 2002 when the first installment of a Sunday Times (U.K.) series that I co-wrote appeared. He phoned my hotel room at something like 6AM, screaming that I was accusing him of “murdering 3000 people.”

He promised that he was going to ruin and destroy me. I asked him to not forget to perform this vital task. But he proved unreliable and I had to become semi-famous on my own.

Later, the blogosphere renamed him “Sandy Burglar” when he struck a plea deal admitting to stealing and destroying hundreds of pages of classified material stored in the National Archives. He said he needed access to it to prepare his testimony before the 9-11 Commission; it seems equally likely that he wanted to keep it out of the hands of the commission and of future historians and journalists.

My informed sources suggest that what Berger destroyed were copies of the Millennium After-Action Review, a binder-sized report prepared by Richard Clarke in 2000–a year and half before the 9-11 attacks. The review made a series of recommendations for a tougher stance against bin Laden and terrorism. There are 13 or more copies of this report. But only one contains hand-written notes by President Bill Clinton. Apparently, in the margin beside the recommendations, Bill Clinton wrote NO, NO, NO next to many of the tougher policy proposals.

You can see why Clinton might be happy to see these records vanish down the memory hole.

So Berger was stuffing in pants and socks and later shredding the evidence that President Clinton did not want to take a tougher line on bin Laden, following the 1998 attack on two U.S. embassies that killed 224 people (including 12 American diplomats).

Now for the Hillary connection…

(more…)

Over at Atlas Shrugs, there is moving Angus Dei-style video that is the 9-11 tribute I have seen. Click this link and check it out.

P.S. See Pamela I do steer my meager traffic your way!

I will be guest hosting the three-hour, coast-to-coast Michael Reagan radio show on the Radio America network tonight, September 11.

Please tune in or call in.

You may not have heard of it, but it was the code name for a joint American-German operation to disrupt a string of terror plots slated for this week. Targets included a disco frequented by Americans and the U.S. Air Force base at Ramstein.

Der Spiegel, in English, offers a fascinating inside look.

Note the interesting details: The use of German converts (who, like Adam Gadahn from Southern California, who were attracted to Islam as if it were a metal band), the Saudi connection and the use of training camps in Pakistan. In other words, the entire terror plot was developed in the lands of our allies.