And This Is the Thanks He Gets?

The following is an excerpt from OpinionJournal.com’s “Best of the Web” written by the editor, James Taranto.

And This Is the Thanks He Gets?
“Man Who Ran Drug Ring Out of Asbury Park Sentenced to 20 Years”–headline, Asbury Park (N.J.) Press, Sept. 24

Bottom Stories of the Day
“N Korea Planning ‘Biggest Parade Ever’ “–headline, ABC News website (Australia), Sept. 27

Alien Nations
Having done such a bang-up job solving Earth’s problems, the U.N. is developing a plan to deal with little green men from outer space, London’s Sunday Times reports:

The United Nations, tackling head-on the problem of what to do if an alien says “take me to your leader,” is poised to designate a specific individual for the task. . . .

the UN is set to select an obscure Malaysian astrophysicist who is head of its little-known Office for Outer Space Affairs (Unoosa).

Mazlan Othman will describe her potential new role next week at a scientific conference at the Royal Society’s Kavli conference centre in Buckinghamshire. . . .

The UN has tried previously to contact alien life. The two Voyager spacecraft launched in 1977 carried a message from Kurt Waldheim, then secretary-general, saying: “We step out of our solar system into the universe seeking only peace and friendship.”

However, scientists are now embarrassed by Mr Waldheim’s deployment as an interstellar envoy because it later emerged that he had been an enthusiastic member of the Nazi party.

The creators of “Star Trek” anticipated that problem. In a 1968 episode titled “Patterns of Force,” the Enterprise visits Ekos, a Nazi planet whose rulers are plotting genocide against the neighboring planet of Zeon. Don’t be surprised if the U.N.’s next move is to pass a resolution declaring that Zeonism is racism.

For more “Best of the Web” click here and look for the “Best of the Web Today” link in the middle column below “Today’s Columnists.