Monthly Archives: December 2002

For a glimpse into the

For a glimpse into the sad state of today’s Democratic Party, check out Democrats.com. It’s all there–the hatred, the bitterness, the lunatic conspiracy theories, the utter absence of any substantive discussion of policy issues. Happy as I am to see them more or less out of power, it is hard to take any pleasure in their decline. »

A Muslim terrorist murdered three

A Muslim terrorist murdered three American doctors in Yemen yesterday; this report is from the Washington Post. The three physicians, two of whom were women, were part of a Baptist-sponsored hospital that provided free medical care to poor Yemenis. InstaPundit commented this morning that this story highlights, on yet another level, Patty Murray’s foolishness. The Islamofascists are not impressed by humanitarian acts. Non-Muslims are targets. Period. »

William Tucker takes a look

William Tucker takes a look behind one of Time magazine’s 2002 whistleblower heroes to find the “Coverup of the year.” The appropriate counterpoint comes from a paragon of journalistic excellence, the Wall Street Journal’s Robert Bartley: “A few final words as editor.” As is usual with our sampling of the day’s best columns, the items above come courtesy of our friends at RealClearPolitics. In updating their site yesterday morning they »

Power Line readers have probably

Power Line readers have probably noticed, and may well be irritated by, my occasional attempts to “psycho-analyze” liberals. I admit that the main reason I have continued to read liberal writing over the years is my fascination with the liberal psyche. But psychoanalysis is best left to professionals. With that in mind, I offer the following e-mail we received from Stephen Marmer: “I’m a psychiatrist by trade (almost an oxymoron »

President Bush has hardly put

President Bush has hardly put a wrong foot forward in prosecuting the war against terrorism. But Gary Bauer and Morton Klein, writing in the Washington TImes argue persuasively that he will do so if the administration pursues its so-called Middle East Road Map, which lays the groundwork for the creation of a Palestinian state. Bauer and Klein note that if a Palestinian Arab state is created, its borders will be »

Trunk, let me join in

Trunk, let me join in commending you for your piece on racial profiling. I agree that the key to understanding this issue is to realize that racial disparities in police street and highway stops reflect underlying racial disparities in crime rates. Critics of racial profiling like to point to disparites in the rates at which African-Americans are stopped in particular jurisdictions or on certain stretches of highway. But these disparities, »

Deacon linked to an article

Deacon linked to an article on campaign finance by George Will earlier today; for those who haven’t read the full article, I just want to add that, according to Will, the supposedly enormous amount spent on this year’s election cycle (’01-’02) is approximately the same amount that Americans spent on pork rinds over the same two-year period. I have seen a number of similar comparisons over the years; for example, »

The Claremont Institute’s Ken Masugi

The Claremont Institute’s Ken Masugi has a far more considered analysis of “Gangs of New York” than I afforded it last Sunday when I was still angry at myself for having gone to see it. Ken’s analysis does justice to the film in a way that I did not, and is in any event edifying: “Birth of a Nation?” »

Our friends at No Left

Our friends at No Left Turns have identified this article on al Quaeda from this morning’s Washington Post as required reading: “Report Says Africans Harbored Al Qaeda; Terror Assets Hidden In Gem-Buying Spree.” »

Our faithful reader James Phillips

Our faithful reader James Phillips of Folsom, California (site of a classic Johnny Cash live album), has written complimenting me on an article I have in the current (January/February) issue of The American Enterprise magazine and asking me to plug it on the Power Line. I have not mentioned the article previously because it is not available on the magazine’s Web site, but with the excuse of Mr. Phillips’s kind »

Today the Washington Post tries

Today the Washington Post tries to go after the Administration on North Korea, with a couple of critical front-page articles. The more negative of the two, by Steven Mufson, begins: “A veteran diplomat once gave me this advice: When you find yourself in a hole, stop digging. When it comes to North Korea, the Bush administration appears to have violated this elementary rule of diplomacy again and again.” Mufson blames »

The Wall Street Journal has

The Wall Street Journal has posted the excellent column by historian Thomas Reeves on the Kennedy family’s publicly-funded airbrushing of history and annointment of court historians: “Stop the worship.” »

George Will reports on a

George Will reports on a new study by three MIT economics professors that sounds like it has major implications for the debate (judicial and otherwise) over campaign finance reform. According to Will, the study shows that campaign spending as a fraction of national income did not grow during the last nine decades of the 20th century. During this same period, of course, the growth of the regulatory state made government »

Today’s Washington Times offers two

Today’s Washington Times offers two entirely different perspectives about the Trent Lott affair. Paul Greenberg regrets that Lott is suffering from “acute conspiracy syndrome.” He’s referring to Lott’s claim that he was the victim of a Great Left-Wing Conspiracy, and not just against him but also against his state, his political philosophy, and his faith. Greenberg has no difficulty dispatching these claims. He notes, for example, that no one outdid »

I just caught up with

I just caught up with a brilliant opinion piece the Wall Street Journal had buried on its Taste page yesterday: “Kwanzaa, in principle.” Yesterday’s Taste page includes two other pieces that are also worthy of your attention: “No more me, myself, and I,” and the hiliariously headlined but otherwise enraging “A team named Sioux.” »

We are now in the

We are now in the third hour of KFAI radio station’s incredible 15-hour Hank Williams (Senior) marathon, in honor of the fiftieth anniversary of his death. It is glorious. You can listen to it by accessing the station’s live streaming via the Internet by clicking here. (Thanks to our friends at No Left Turns for inviting its crew to join the party!) »

Yesterday my brother and I

Yesterday my brother and I took our families (six kids in all) into Philadelphia to see Independence Hall–easily the most historic building in America, birthplace of both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution–and the Liberty Bell. Because of reported threats against the bell by terrorists, security in the area is rather tight. We had to go through airport-type screening to get into the historic area, which took a half-hour »