Today's video on WSJ.com: John Fund talks with Ed Crane about why GOP governors may be in trouble, and other political topics.

Reuterville Glass Houses
"The Tel Aviv-based Foreign Press Association on Thursday accused the [Israel Defense Forces] of 'unprovoked violence against journalists,' " the Associated Press reported last week. One of the incidents:

Emad Borat, a freelance cameraman for Reuters news agency and other groups, has remained in custody since he was detained while filming soldiers entering the Palestinian village of Bilin on Oct. 6, said Shai Carmeli-Pollak, a film maker.

Bilin, located near the boundary with Israel, is the scene of weekly protests against the West Bank security barrier. Pollak said Borat was beaten up inside a military jeep after his detention and needed six stitches for a gash on his face.

A military judge has ordered Borat to be released, but he remains in custody while prosecutors appeal the order. The IDF has accused Borat of throwing stones at border police while filming, Pollak said.

Arutz Sheva, which renders the name quite differently (though it is the same guy) says he appears to have been trying to gin up action for the camera:

The cameraman, Imad Muhammad Intisar Boghnat, was arrested and charged as a result of violent riots in the Arab village of Bil'in, in the Modi'in region, on October 6, 2006. A videotape that the prosecution presented to the judge shows Boghnat encouraging and directing rioters in Bil'in to throw large chunks of rock at Israeli vehicles in such a way as to cause maximum damage. The accused is heard shouting, "Throw, throw!" and later, "Throw towards the little window!"

The judge did remand Borat/Boghnat to prison yesterday pending his trial.

Tet for Tat
Thomas Friedman of the New York Times (link for subscribers) predicts much more violence in Iraq over the next three weeks, à la the Tet Offensive:

Although the Vietcong and Hanoi were badly mauled during Tet, they delivered, through the media, such a psychological blow to U.S. hopes of "winning" in Vietnam that Tet is widely credited with eroding support for President Johnson and driving him to withdraw as a candidate for re-election. . . .

While there may be no single hand coordinating the upsurge in violence in Iraq, enough people seem to be deliberately stoking the fires there before our election that the parallel with Tet is not inappropriate. The jihadists want to sow so much havoc that Bush supporters will be defeated in the midterms and the president will face a revolt from his own party, as well as from Democrats, if he does not begin a pullout from Iraq.

Now wait a second. Why would terrorists want us to pull out of Iraq? Hasn't the coalition presence there been a great recruitment tool for terrorists? That is a dubious assertion, but it seems undeniable that American defeat in Iraq would be a great recruitment tool for terrorists. Much as Republicans deserve to lose, a Democratic victory, if the jihadis in Iraq can plausibly take credit for it, could prove deadly in the coming years.

Mid-November Surprise
Jimmy Carter has a new book coming out next month, an anti-Israel polemic titled "Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid," reports the Forward:

Judging from an advance review manuscript of the new work, published by Simon & Schuster and set for release November 14, Carter appears to place the bulk of the blame on Israel for its continuing conflict with the Palestinians. But his critics will probably be most offended by the use of the word "apartheid" in the title.

The book comes as the Republican Jewish Coalition is already waging a nationwide media campaign to convince Jewish voters that the Democratic Party can no longer be counted on to provide unflinching support for Israel. . . .

The book was originally slated to be released November 1--six days prior to this year's congressional elections--but will now be available in stores November 14, according to Simon & Schuster spokeswoman Elizabeth Hayes.

Jewish Democrats say that they were pushing for a later release date.

Hayes says the delay was to allow Carter time to add material on the summer's war with Hezbollah. In any case, it's an interesting contrast with the spate of anti-Bush books that have come out just in time for the election.

Hates Off
So we got an email from John Kerry* promoting something called the Patriot Project, whose logo is at the right (or at this link if you're a text email subscriber).

Well, we remember one "anti-veteran hate group," a member of which appeared on Capitol Hill a few years back and had this to say about American servicemen:

They had personally raped, cut off ears, cut off heads, taped wires from portable telephones to human genitals and turned up the power, cut off limbs, blown up bodies, randomly shot at civilians, razed villages in fashion reminiscent of Genghis Khan, shot cattle and dogs for fun, poisoned food stocks, and generally ravaged the country side of South Vietnam in addition to the normal ravage of war, and the normal and very particular ravaging which is done by the applied bombing power of this country.

* A leader of Vietnam Veterans Against the War, in which capacity he made the statement quoted directly above.

Honor Roll
Joe Lieberman has picked up yet another Democratic endorsement, from Rep. Harold Ford of Tennessee, a black moderate who is waging a neck-and-neck campaign for Senate. Here's the list of Democrats who back Lieberman over Ned Lamont:

Lieberman, who is running as an independent, says he'll caucus with the Democrats and hope they take majorities in Congress. But the Associated Press reports he says that, in the AP's words, "a Democratic-led Congress . . . must change its ways." What are the odds of that?

Happy Campers--I
"Overseers of the House page program this week discussed a camping trip that Rep. Jim Kolbe, R-Ariz. took with two former pages and others in 1996--an outing now under review by the Justice Department," reports the Associated Press:

A federal law enforcement official said last week an allegation related to the trip was given to the U.S. attorney's office in Phoenix. It was not immediately clear whether it concerned any contention of improper activity by the retiring Kolbe--the only openly gay Republican in Congress. . . .

[Kolbe spokeswoman Korenna] Cline said last week the rafting party included five current staffers, two former pages and Kolbe's sister. Nothing inappropriate happened on the trip, she said. She did not know who the pages were or what year they worked for Kolbe, but she said they paid their own way.

Beth Kolbe, the congressman's younger sister, who was on the three-night trip, said nothing inappropriate happened and that she had not heard of any concerns from anyone until the story of the camping trip appeared in the media.

So we have an unspecified allegation from an unknown source that something might have happened a decade ago on a camping trip that included a gay man, along with eight other people. We are prepared to be proved wrong, but this sounds a bit like a smear against Kolbe. Besides, where are all the activists who argued that the Boy Scouts should be forced to admit gay scoutmasters? Shouldn't they say a word on behalf of Kolbe?

Mr. Gorbachev, Tear Down This Analogy
"Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev compared the United States' proposed 700-mile wall on the U.S.-Mexico border to the Berlin Wall," reports the Midland (Texas) Reporter-Telegram:

"You remember President Reagan standing in Berlin and saying, 'This wall should be torn down,' " said the 1990 Nobel Peace Prize winner. "Now the United States seems to be building almost the Wall of China between itself and this other nation with which it has been associated for many decades and has had cooperation and interaction with.

"I think what is really needed are ideas and proposals about how to improve that cooperation and work out all of those issues regarding immigration flows. I don't think the U.S. is so weak and so much lacks confidence as not to be able to find a different solution.

"Maybe if global warming results in melting the ice in Greenland, there will be an island where those who would like to separate themselves from the rest of the world could live," he quipped. "But then of course we'll have to work this out with Denmark."

First of all, you've got to love the way Gorby changes the Reagan quote to put it in the passive voice instead of the imperative mood and to leave out the man to whom it was addressed, namely "Mr. Gorbachev."

Second, although we are not a fan of the U.S. Mexico border wall, there is an essential difference between a wall to keep people in and a wall to keep people out. Prisons and houses are not the same thing, even though they too both have walls.

You Don't Say
"Great Teams Find Ways to Win"--headline, ESPN.com, Oct. 17

When Would We Flee Without Experts?
"Don't Flee Fires Too Late, Experts Warn"--headline, Australian, Oct. 18

Its Sentence Was Reduced for Testimony Against France
"Germany Sentenced to Prison and Ordered to Pay Restitution"--headline, Associated Press, Oct. 16

But It's Only October
"Man Threatens to Jump, Survives Fall"--headline, Associated Press, Oct. 16

News You Can Use
"Teen's Tongue Piercing Linked to Pain"--headline, Associated Press, Oct. 17

Bottom Stories of the Day

• "Larksville Ponders Paving Roads"--headline, Times Leader (Wilkes-Barre, Pa.), Oct. 18
  
  
• "Bono Says It Was His Idea to Wear Stetson Hat"--headline, Times (London), Oct. 17
  
  
• "County Board to Discuss Maintanence, Radios Tuesday"--headline, Leader-Telegram (Eau Claire, Wis.), Oct. 16
  
  
• "Carter Blames Bush for Korean Crisis"--headline, WXIA-TV Web site, Oct. 18

Imaging Being No. 299,999,999
"Two San Francisco mothers in two different hospitals were among hundreds across the country unwittingly racing to produce, perhaps, the nation's 300 millionth resident Tuesday morning," reports the San Francisco Chronicle:

The 300 millionth baby could have been anywhere in America--there were claims from Kalamazoo and Atlanta--amid Census Bureau and media hoopla all day Tuesday.

Of course this was just an estimate as to when the population would reach 300 million; there's no way to know exactly. So in a way all the hoopla was phony. But it was also plentiful. As blogger Glenn Frazier notes, a Google search for "300 millionth baby" produces almost endless possibilities:

• "Ernesto Portillo Jr.: 300 millionth American a Tucsonan?"--Arizona Daily Star
  
  
• "300 Millionth Baby . . . in Ballston Spa?"--Saratogian (Saratoga Springs, N.Y.)
  
  
• "Elmhurst Hospital Claims Birth of 300 Millionth American Tuesday"--Times Ledger (Queens, N.Y.)
  
  
• "Pittsburgh Might Boast 300 Millionth Baby"--KDKA-TV
  
  
• "300 Millionth? Kalamazoo Baby Comes Close"--Kalamazoo (Mich.) Gazette
  
  
• "300 Millionth American Born in New York--Maybe"--Newsday (Long Island, N.Y.)
  
  
• "300 Millionth American Could Be From Boise"--KTVB-TV

And then there's this, from Quad-Cities Online of Illinois and Iowa, headlined "A Near Miss on Being No. 300,000,000":

When the U.S. Census Bureau's population clock turned over to 300 million Americans Tuesday morning, the Quad-Cities birth centers were quiet.

Ashley Villalva entered the world at 2:18 p.m. at Genesis Health System's Illini Campus in Silvis, well past the 6:46 a.m. estimate for when the 300 millionth American would be born.

Ah well, Ashley, being No. 300,000,002 means you'll try harder.

(Carol Muller helps compile Best of the Web Today. Thanks to Bharath Subramanian, Bob Evans, Steve Klein, Edward Schulze, Bob Roenigk, Ezzie Goldish, Sheldon Nadal, Bruce Dorn, Jared Silverman, Ed Lasky, Steve Gill, Darryl May, Christian Peck, Craig Ray, Hoyt Doak, Joseph Tully, K. Tolman, Kyle Kyllan, Randy Smith, John Dubas, Evan Slatis, Doug Weatherston, Leon Polyakov, Brenda Becker, Fred Bartlett, John Whetstone, Geoff Hazel, Sean Dillon, Marion Dreyfus, Craig Hildreth, Anthony Francois, Charles Thomas, Christopher Holland, Mark Van Der Molen and Glenn Rowan. If you have a tip, write us at opinionjournal@wsj.com, and please include the URL.)

Today on OpinionJournal:

• Steven E. Moore: A bogus study on Iraq casualties.
• Mark Dubowitz and Jonathan Snow: The case for boycotting terrorist media.
• Peter Robinson: Alumni trustees can reconnect universities with American life.
• Daniel Grant: This military basic training is in art.