When that shark bites with his teeth, dear

Mark Steyn has to be my favourite columnist. So much so that I actually used to buy The Telegraph when he was writing for it. These days, I restrict myself to glancing at their web site and leaving the odd comment on their "Your View" section.

Steyn has a rare ability to put across his views in a witty and entertaining way - but still make them crystal clear. If you aren't familiar with Mark Steyn then where have you been? Check him out.

I love this little bit from his "Checking Out" article.

Do you remember the summer of 2001? Shark attacks. Swimming off the Florida coast, a kid called Jessie Arbogast had his arm ripped off. His uncle retrieved the severed limb from the jaws of the predator and killed it. In its editorial on the subject, The New York Times came down on the side of the shark. I thought those days were over. “September 11th was a call to moral seriousness. You cannot compromise with a shark, you cannot negotiate with a suicide bomber,” I wrote.

I must have been drunk. The Times is back to siding with the sharks. Every other week, it leaks details of the government’s new shark-tracking program or demands full Geneva Convention protection for them. On Labor Day, a terrorist opened fire on a group of western tourists in Amman, killing a British subject. Rana Sabbagh-Gargour, correspondent for The Times of London, also came down on the side of the shark, attributing the attack to “mounting frustration on the streets of the Arab world” over the west’s “perceived bias” on Iraq and Lebanon.

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