In case VDH didn't satisfy your taste for pith and vinegar this afternoon, try Mark Steyn's column from the Spectator taking apart the UN effort to provide Tsunami relief. Commenting on the Left's opposition to actually doing anything, he writes:
Getting things done requires ships and transport planes and the like, and most
Western countries lack the will to maintain armed forces capable of long-range
projection. So, when disaster strikes, they can mail a cheque and hold a press
conference and form a post-modern ‘Task Force’ which doesn’t have any forces and
doesn’t perform any tasks. In extreme circumstances, they can stage an all-star
pop concert. And, because this is all most of the Western world is now capable
of, ‘taking action’ means little more than taking the approved forms of
inaction.
