Jimmy Carter should be deported to Sweden, where they seem to think his blatherings mean anything. For him to give Bush lectures on "just war" is like the Pope giving dating tips. Fox had a nice quote from Alexander Hamilton about how retired presidents should leave the country.

I'm rethinking my previous opinions of the U.N. I started a longish post about its potential for good. Then I though, couldn't all that be done better by spending the money we pump throug the U.N. into direct U.S. aid or donations to some efficient charity? So having rethought it, my position is the same as Geroge Will's, Andrew Sullivan's and, especially, David Gelernter's:

America's problem is not with the idea of a world organization; its problem is with the U.N. The U.N. is no good. Too often it can't do the right thing, and so it does the wrong thing in order to do something. This pattern doesn't always hold (the U.N. does good occasionally), but it is more than sufficient to damn the institution as a failure, because it is woven in, not printed on.

There's also this excellent post from Bitter Sanity, pointing out that the Declaration of Independence (there's my favorite word again) states the principle underlying our right to leave the U.N. behind.