Interesting things I read this morning while avoiding work

Jason Apuzzo writes about the Oscars, which no longer reflect great movie making, but are simply a vehicle for pushing Left leaning social issues in America's face. There is some news about a bright spot regarding the Hamas election: those Palestians who had the closest contact with them politically rejected them. Jonah Goldberg challenges the MSM's instant attempt to apologize for the Hamas's victory by claiming it was simply a vote against Fatah corruption. (Richard Cohen, at the WaPo makes the same point.) There's a surprising story that Egypt is insisting that Hamas recognizing Israel, disarm, and honor peace ddals. (Hat tip: Captain's Quarters.) James Taranto writes at length about how the media has become a political force in itself, still dedicated to fighting late 1960s anti-War, anti-Establishment battles, so that it is no longer capable of objectively reporting the news. Ben Johnson gives a full account of Cindy Sheehan's appearance at, and eviction from, the SOTU speech yesterday. The article highlights the Left's fear of the marketplace of ideas, and their repeated efforts to shut down that marketplace (scary echoes, of course, of the Soviet Union, as well as a reminder of what's being played out in modern China). The same "if you can't beat them, silence them" mentality shows up in Molly Stark's review of Kate O'Beirne's book "Women Who Make the World Worse," a review that opens by noting the repeat attempts to silence O'Beirne and stifle her book. John Stossel launches another scathing -- and entirely accurate -- attack against the state of public education today. Brent Bozell exposes the dishonesty and political bias behind ABC's political hit piece against conservative justices -- a piece billed as an ostensibly evenhanded attack on unethical boondoggles. Vasko Kohlmayer looks at Demo responses to the SOTU and figures out what they stand for: "Yesterday’s spectacle made it all too obvious what Democrats stand for: They are against pursuing terrorists, against tax cuts and against solving an impeding fiscal disaster." This focus on actual actions contrasts nicely with the New York Times' resident phrenologist who delved into Bush's wrinkles for political insight. (Hat tip: American Thinker.) UPDATE: Regarding the story about Egypt telling Hamas to recognize Israel, it's beginning to appear that this has nothing to do with Egypt's long-standing love for Israel (smirk, giggle), and everything to do with a self-defensive move on Egypt's part:

Following Hamas' victory by a large margin in last week's Palestinian parliamentary elections, experts watching the terror group closely tell WND it has been aligning itself more than ever with its hard-line Islamic counterpart in Egypt and point to worrying signs the new Palestinian powerbrokers might have designs for an eventual Egyptian takeover. Sources close to the group say a major Egyptian opposition figure has been serving the past year as spiritual leader of Hamas. "If I were Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, I would look with great concern at the Hamas ascension to power in the territories. This has very dangerous implications for the Egyptian regime," Reuven Erlich, director of the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center at Israel's Center for Special Studies, told WND. Hamas was founded in 1987 as a military offshoot of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, which seeks to create an Islamic theocracy throughout the Middle East and ultimately around the world. Although ideologically connected to the Brotherhood, Hamas' stated goal is mostly focused on the destruction of Israel by "armed struggle." Still, Hamas leaders have long maintained anti-Western attitudes and have talked about the need for secular Arab states to be replaced with Islamic regimes.

In other words, Egypt wants to direct Hamas' attention to dealings with Israel and perhaps use Israel to dilute Hamas' intentions toward Egypt. Very interesting.