Monthly Archives: July 2005

My Kind of Journalism

I’ve always like the Sun newspaper, and not only for its Page 3 girls. I wish more of our papers had the Sun’s clarity and spirit: Tonight, the Sun reports on the capture in Africa of Haroon Rashid Aswat, who is believed to be the principal planner of the July 7 bombings in London. The Sun notes that American authorities have accused Aswat of setting up an al Qaeda training »

Walking into a punch

Andrew McCarthy argues that Judge Roberts, or any nominee to the Supreme Court, should answer questions about important Supreme Court precedents. McCarthy is correct in theory. There is nothing improper about answering questions regarding the merits of past Supreme Court decisions (as opposed to saying whether the precedents should be overturned). And the views of a nominees about past decisions may be of some value in asessing whether he or »

Truth and Fiction from Austin Bay

Austin Bay is a polymath: soldier, commentator, novelist, great radio interviewee. This post covers Saddam’s massacre of the Shia at the end of the first Gulf War, Bay’s novel The Wrong Side of Brightness, which draws on first-hand observations of the tragedy, and the United Nations resolutions that followed, blending several of Bay’s talents. Go here to learn more about Bay’s novel. »

He May Be Slow, But He Ain’t Blind

Tom Friedman, I mean (with apologies to Dwight Yoakum). Friedman is knowledgeable about the Middle East, but intellectually, he is a follower, not a leader. So he is a little late to the party in terms of understanding, and apparently endorsing, the Bush administration’s strategy for the Middle East. In today’s New York Times, Friedman writes: In visiting Gaza and Israel a few weeks ago, I realized how much the »

The great escape, Part II

John will be glad to know that the European soccer season is under way. Qualifying rounds for the European Championship. involving the champions of countries like Iceland and lesser clubs from the major European leagues, such as Liverpool, have already started. The English season is only two weeks away. Last night defending champions Chelsea tuned up with a 2-1 victory over DC United. And the French league kicked off this »

Credibility gap

Secretary of State Rice is not distinguishing herself or the Bush administration with her pronoucements regarding the Palestinian Authority. As Martin Peretz of The New Republic notes: The secretary of state’s description of what was happening on Palestinian ground was so patently not true that almost no one, neither in Israel nor in long-emerging Palestine, could possibly believe that what she said was anything other than fantasy. . .Despite what »

Defying gravity

Ron Rosenbaum is a fine writer who (I now learn thanks to Normblog’s “Sadness in the structure of the cosmos (upated)”) vibrates to the Emmylou Harris songbook just about exactly as I do: “Black holes emit B flats as Emmylou stirs the universe.” While checking out the estimable Professor Geras’s latest Emmylou post, catch up with the latest at Normblog as well. (Thanks to reader Dwight Green.) »

London Bomb Network Rolled Up

It’s a little hard to follow the details, but it appears that all of the would-be bombers who participated in the July 21 attacks on London’s transit system have been apprehended, along with a number of other suspects in both the July 7 and July 21 incidents. Arrests have been made in Italy and Zambia as well as England, illustrating again the international nature of the terrorist threat. The raids »

Paul Mirengoff reporting

Because of some unaccountable glitch, Paul is unable to get the following item posted this morning. In the interest of timeliness and exclusivity, I am taking the liberty of posting it for him. Paul calls it “Souljah moment on ice.” Six female Democratic Senators held a press conference yesterday. The six were Barbara Boxer, Hillary Clinton, Maria Cantwell, Barbara Mikulski, Patti Murray, and Debbie Stebanow. The Washington Times reports that »

Anti-Americanism Waning In Europe

The Washington Times reports that Germany’s elections, scheduled for next month, may bring about a realignment in the European Union, with Jacques Chirac’s dream of a French-German anti-American alliance in tatters: A new power lineup in the heart of Europe is expected after the forthcoming German elections, with more accent on trans-Atlantic relations and the role of East European countries. According to French and German assessments, such a dramatic change »

Robin Hood in reverse

The Washington Times carries a good editorial on the story developed by Brian Maloney’s Radio Equalizer and Michelle Malkin. The Times editorial is “Robin Hood and Air America.” Think back to the Hollies’ “King Midas In Reverse”: If you could only see me And know exactly who I am, You wouldn’t want to be me. Oh, I can assure you of that… He’s King Midas with a curse, He’s King »

Are you now or have you ever been?

Roger Pilon calls out the McCarthyite left in a New York Post column that recapitulates much that we have had to say on the subject of Judge Roberts and the Federalist Society: “McCarthy liberals.” The White House apparently thinks it wiser tacitly to pay homage to the McCarthyite left than to take it on. This is one battle, however, that would far more easily be won out in the open »

Professor Zywicki reports for duty

When we last reported on the exploits of George Mason University Law School Professor Todd Zywicki, we celebrated his election to the Dartmouth College board of trustees. Today at the Volokh Conspiracy Professor Zywicki returns to work deploying the kind of analysis associated with his day job. He addresses the subject that is occupying a lot of inquiring minds: “Questioning Roberts on overturning Roe.” »

Beware of fatwa

Below John discusses the news of the “fatwa” purportedly condemning terrorism issued by a group of American Islamic leaders under the auspices of CAIR. Among the few experts whose opinion I would attend to on the meaning of the supposed fatwa are Daniel Pipes and Steven Emerson. Emerson has now rendered his verdict on the Counterterroris Blog in “The American Islamic leaders’s ‘fatwa’ is bogus.” I think you can assume »

Shallow Throat

Our friend David Lebedoff is a prominent Minneapolis attorney and accomplished author, most recently of The Uncivil War: How a New Elite Is Destroying Democracy. David writes: Thank God for a vigilant press. For those who thought the era of tough and fearless investigative journalism was over, take heart! Two intrepid journalists at the NY Times went after U.S. Supreme Court nominee John G. Roberts, and this week they hit »

Souljah moment on hold

Six female Democratic Senators held a press conference yesterday. The six were Barbara Boxer, Hillary Clinton, Maria Cantwell, Barbara Mikulski, Patti Murray, and Debbie Stebanow. The Washington Times reports that the six were asked whether any of them could vote in favor of Judge Roberts if he said Roe was wrongly decided. Senator Boxer said she would find it “impossible” to vote for him under these circumstances. Senator Cantwell went »

A Stroke of Genius?

Wow, poor dumb Paul Krugman is still obsessed with me. I could recommend a good psychiatrist if he is interested. Why does Krugman continue, time after time, to link to a post that I wrote in 2005, thirteen years ago? Because over the years, I have devastated dozens of his columns, and shown them to be not just wrong, but dishonest. And, almost as bad, lazy. Keep reading for the »