Monthly Archives: October 2003

Dispatches from the cesspool Europe is becoming

Arnold Beichman in the Washington Times reports on the rise of anti-semitism in Sweden. Relying on a study by two Swedish social scientists, Beichman says that the increase in attacks against Jews is the result of Sweden’s growing Arab and Muslim presence. The media contributes by denying or minimizing the problem and the government contributes through inaction. If Sweden is like the rest of the former western Europe, Beichman might »

My favorite liberal editorial page

The Washington Post editorial page remains a voice of reason, even as the paper’s news and op-ed pages move steadily leftward. Today’s lead editorial examines the Ramadan offensive. The Post recognizes that, like the Tet offensive in Vietnam (which, it qucikly adds, was orders of magnitude more bloody), this week’s bombings in Iraq are designed to cause the U.S. to embrace an early exit strategy. But, counsels the Post, such »

My favorite Democrat, part 2

Last March I paid tribute to Senator Zell Miller of Georgia as “My favorite Democrat.” Among the compelling reasons I cited in support of my designation of Miller was that “the guy has good taste in people. His [Web site] photo gallery includes shots with the following ‘good people’: Billy Graham, Mickey Mantle, Hank Aaron, Isaac Hayes, Barbara Mandrell, Dolly Parton, Little Richard, ‘James Brown, the godfather of soul,’ Emmylou »

Gen. Clark loses his moral compass

William Saletan, Slate’s liberal chief political correspondent, reports on “the decline of the Wes” –Clark, that is. Saletan is speaking about moral, rather than political, decline. Noting that General Clark battled defeatism during the Kosovo war, Saletan finds it disappointing “to see Clark join in the same self-fulfilling wave of determined pessimism and obstruction he battled four years ago.” The flip-flopping Clark said in the presidential debate on Sunday that »

The 90-minute hate

In George Orwell’s 1984 Big Brother required his subjects to engage daily in the Two Minutes Hate directed at the evil Emmanuel Goldstein: “The horrible thing about the Two Minutes Hate was not that one was obliged to act a part, but, on the contrary, that it was impossible to avoid joining in. A hideous ecstasy of fear and vindictiveness, a desire to kill, to torture, to smash faces in »

The liberal assault on religious freedom proceeds apace

Late last year, I posted this bit about a court decision which held that Salt Lake City could not permit the Mormon Church to ban political speech (such as anti-Mormon speech) on property that it had sold to the Church, but over which the City had retained an easement. I promised to comment on the case in more detail, but never found the time or the inspiration to analyze the »

Credit where credit is due

David Tell of the Weekly Standard acknowledges the contributions of two liberal Democrats, Diane Feinstein and Joseph Biden, to the debate over the Patriot Act. At a Senate hearing, Biden stated that “the tide of criticism” being directed against the Patriot Act “is both misinformed and overblown;” that “I stand by my support” of that law; and that the Ashcroft Justice Department has “done a pretty good job in terms »

Nethercutt Takes on Seattle Paper

GOP Representative George Nethercutt recently went to Iraq; after he returned, he gave a speech to a group of college students which was reported on by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer on October 14. The P-I titled its story “Nethercutt Hails Iraq’s Recovery,” with the subtitle “‘It is a…better story than losing a couple of soldiers every day.'” The key portion of the story read: “‘The story of what we’ve done in »

In search of a counteroffensive

Last week Rocket Man wrote about President Bush’s nomination of California Supreme Court Justice Janice Rogers Brown to the District of Columbia Court of Appeals: “Have they finally gone too far?” He also collected links to Thomas Sowell’s excellent columns on the topic: “A lynch mob gathers.” Today Sowell has a sequel: “The politics of judicial nominees.” »

Wit and wisdom of Dennis Miller

Whether or not Dennis Miller runs for the Senate against Barbara Boxer, the thought that he might has occasioned a column by Bill Whalen full of Miller’s wit and wisdom: “Miller time?” »

Lynne Stewart once more once

I attended the national convention of the National Lawyers Guild in Minneapolis on Friday to speak at a panel on the PATRIOT Act. With me on the panel was Lynne Stewart, the indicted attorney for “the blind sheik,” the convicted spiritual leader of the 1993 World Trade Center bombers. This morning FrontPage has posted a slightly rewritten version of my weekend Power Line post on the panel: “Face to Face »

Arnold Returns to his Roots

Arnold Schwarzenegger dropped in on the latest Mr. Olympia contest to take a break from politics and pay tribute to the current Mr. Olympia, Ronnie Coleman, who has won the title six straight years. “Finally I feel at home again,” Schwarzenegger told the spectators. “This is a terrific sport and if it wouldn’t have been for bodybuilding I wouldn’t have any of this.” Arnold’s loyalty to those who helped him »

Cheer up, I think

This blog could use a dose of optimism right now. Unfortunately, none of its proprietors is in the mood to supply it. So I’ll offer this piece by Andrew Apostolou from National Review Online. It argues, not unconvincingly, that we are winning the global war against terrorism. »

The deep meaning of Simon and Garfunkel

Yesterday evening we had the great good fortune of attending the first of Simon and Garfunkel’s two sold-out concerts at St. Paul’s Xcel Center; the second is tonight. The heart of the show consisted of the duo’s renditions of the Simon and Garfunkel hits of the sixties that climaxed with “Bridge Over Troubled Water.” We thought it was one of the best shows we have ever attended. The set list »

Time for a Break?

Winston Churchill began one of his most memorable speeches by saying: “The news from France is very bad.” The news these days is not great; not on a par with the fall of France, admittedly, but not great. Multiple suicide bombings in Iraq with no respite in sight and the terrorists seemingly gaining momentum; Democratic presidential candidates flanking one another to the left, oblivious to the war–a war to the »

We hate to quibble, but. . .

Joshua Sharf agrees that Victor Davis Hanson may be painting an altogether too rosy picture of post-war Iraq even once (if) it does calm down. He writes: “I think Hanson also understates the risk of a free Iraq hostile to Israel. Ahmed Chalabi initially wanted to recognize Israel and normalize relations. Now, we can’t get that through a government we’ve picked, and the esteemed diplomatic corps seems unwilling to press »

Handbags

One of the joys of following English soccer is learning some of its delightful jargon. My favorite bit, perhaps because it is so politically incorrect, is the phrase applied to second-rate soccer fights — “handbags at ten paces,” or “handbags” for short. Recently England played Turkey in a crucial qualifying match for the European Championship to be held next year. England needed only a draw to qualify and seemed well »