Monthly Archives: December 2002

I’ve been traveling today and

I’ve been traveling today and am with one of my brothers in Pennsylvania tonight and for the next few days. I’ll be back posting by tomorrow. I’m hoping to take my kids to see Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell day after tomorrow. »

On a point related to

On a point related to Deacon’s below, our favorite Minnesota journalist devotes his column today to the Christian themes of Christmas: “There’s no reason to deny Christian themes of Christmas.” »

Rabbi Aryeh Spero, in the

Rabbi Aryeh Spero, in the Washingotn Times provides an important commentary on the ACLU’s deplorable attacks on Christmas. As a Jew, I am saddened by the disapperance of the public symbols of Christmas from the civic landscape. I have long regretted that American Christians, having created such a tolerant welcoming society for those of other faiths, are, perhaps as an indirect result, deprived of a whole-hearted public celebration of their »

Deacon’s enthusiasm for Preston Sturges

Deacon’s enthusiasm for Preston Sturges has encouraged me to provide a link to the extremely informative and handsome Official Preston Sturges Website. Like so much on the Web, the site is a sheer labor of love. Cheers! »

Trunk, we obviously have shared

Trunk, we obviously have shared tastes in movies. I’m a huge Preston Sturges fan. You did omit one of his very best movies from your list, namely “The Lady Eve.” “Christmas in July” is the most difficult Sturges film to find, and I was glad that TMC ran it last night. One interesting thing about that movie (and to a lesser extent some of Sturges’ others) is the director’s obvious »

Yesterday evening Robert Osborn, the

Yesterday evening Robert Osborn, the dapper primetime host of cable television’s Turner Classic Movies, selected three movies as his favorites for Christmas Eve. The first of the three was “Christmas in July,” a movie having nothing to do with Christmas. The film was written and directed by Preston Sturges, a director known for the subgenre of “screwball” comedies that he perfected with “the Sturges touch.” He is perhaps best know »

We haven’t commented on Time

We haven’t commented on Time Magazine’s silly choice of three “whistleblowers” as Persons of the Year for the momentous twelve months just past. In WorldNet Daily, our friend Hugh Hewitt says all that needs to be said, placing the current farce in the context of Time’s decline as an institution. »

Merry Christmas to all. I

Merry Christmas to all. I hope Santa was good to our readers. This morning’s Minneapolis Star Tribune features a story titled “Antiwar Voices Rapidly Becoming a Chorus” on the allegedly-burgeoning anti-Iraq war movement. No doubt similar stories are appearing in metropolitan dailies everywhere. This article isn’t too bad–it at least acknowledges the existence of a contrary view–but there are two questions that these antiwar protesters are never asked. The first–since »

Meanwhile, as reported by World

Meanwhile, as reported by World Net Daily, the newspapers in Murray’s home state are slightly more critical, but reserve their harshest words for those who have criticized Murray. »

The Washington Post editorializes in

The Washington Post editorializes in support of Patty Murray: “Inept But Entitled to Her Say.” »

Here’s Christmas in Saudi Arabia,

Here’s Christmas in Saudi Arabia, courtesy of Best of the Web and the Washington Post: “At another card shop, an Indian employee reaches beneath the counter to pull out a half-dozen religious and secular Christmas cards, his eyes darting around his empty shop and out the window. “There would be trouble if caught: ‘They ask where you got them,’ he says. The ever-vigilant religious police have confiscated cards in the »

The first column Rocket Man

The first column Rocket Man and I published under a joint byline essentially resulted from the invitation of Ron Clark, the long-time editor of the editorial page of the Pioneer Press, whom we had called to complain about the enormously successful, seemingly endless serialization of Barlett and Steele’s “America: What Went Wrong?” that was then running in the Pioneer Press. Over the past year Ron has been in a fight »

December 25’s Jerusalem Post is

December 25’s Jerusalem Post is full of interesting items. One that caught my eye is by Hollywood screenwriter Jack Engelhard: “The Silence of the Hollywood Lambs.” Today’s Wall Street Journal also had an interesting column that makes a good companion to Engelhard’s, on Sean Penn’s trip to Baghdad: “Useful Idiot.” »

I don’t share his taste

I don’t share his taste in charitable causes, but John Berg seems to me an indisputably great American whose story has special resonance at this time of the year. Having survived some close calls during his service as an Army sergeant in the Vietnam war, he has kept the commitment he then made never to have another bad day. I found his story in this morning’s Star Tribune business section »

The Samizdata post on Marxism

The Samizdata post on Marxism is fascinating indeed, Rocket Man. The premise of the post seems to be that Marxism is alive and well on college campuses and has not lost very much face despite the collapse of Communism in Europe. But the Economist article from which Samizdata quotes suggests to me that Marxism actually has taken a massive hit and is not stirring many imaginations these days. According to »

Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah

Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah to all from the Power Line crew. And a special year-end thanks to all readers who have taken the time to email us. Hearing from readers is one of the most fun aspects of this site. So please keep it up! »

A while back, after reading

A while back, after reading a column by former Israeli Prime Minister Peres on what Israel should do next, I asked whether Neville Chamberlain got to write op-ed pieces after failing to deliver peace in his time. I ask this question again today after reading a Washington Post op-ed by Bill Clinton’s advisor on North Korea, Wendy Sherman. It is the Clinton administration’s appeasement of North Korea that enabled that »