Monthly Archives: July 2005

Stark Raving Dean

Howard Dean, that is. He’s at it again. In a speech to college Democrats Friday night, Dean went into orbit; among other things, he denounced the Supreme Court’s Kelo decision and blamed it on President Bush: The president and his right-wing Supreme Court think it is ‘okay’ to have the government take your house if they feel like putting a hotel where your house is. We think that eminent domain »

When brickbats are better than bouquets

The Washington Post throws a bouquet at Secretary of State Rice. To me, that’s grounds for concern, especially when one of the flower tossers is Robin Wright and the piece ends with kind words from Senator Biden. Wright probably is delighted by Rice’s unfortunate posture with respect to Israel and the Palestinian Authority. She and co-author Glenn Kessler also give her high marks (1) for bringing North Korea back to »

Origami anyone?

Jack Kelly argues that we are making substantial military headway in Iraq. He notes that “car bombings, al-Qaida’s specialty, have fallen from (a record high of) 170 in April to 151 in May to 133 in June, with less than 100 so far in July.” He also points to dramatic progress in the crucial area of training Iraqis to fight the terrorists: Anthony Cordesman of the Center for Strategic and »

Media alert

I’m in Washington to speak at the 27th annual Young America’s Foundation National Conservative Student Conference that kicks off tonight and runs through the week. Young America’s Foundation program officer Roger Custer advises that 225 college students from 41 states and more than 160 colleges will be in attendance. Several of the conference programs will be broadcast live on C-SPAN 2 (click here for the scheduled television coverage). I’ll be »

A Picnic for Patriots

As regular readers know, I participate in a weekly radio show on 1280 am the Patriot in the Twin Cities. The show is also streamed live on the internet from 12 to 3 of Saturdays (central time) and replayed through the week. The Patriot can be, on occasion, a rinky-dink organization, but sometimes they do things really well. Like yesterday’s picnic at a park in Eden Prairie. A remarkable number »

Lavender haze

The new biography of Jimi Hendrix reveals that he joined the Army to avoid prison, and that he escaped the Army by falsely confessing homosexuality to an Army psychiatrist: “How Jimi queered Army’s pitch.” On the plus side, according to the biography: “Contrary to his later image, Hendrix was an avowed anti-communist who showed little unease about the escalating US role in Vietnam.” UPDATE; Thanks to the readers who wrote »

What about us grils?

In the graffiti sequence that became famous in the sixties, the first item announced, “I love grils.” The next item responded, “That should be ‘girls,’ you moron,” or something to that effect. A final item inquired, “What about us grils?” By the same token, I’ve been wondering how David Souter feels to have become the negative benchmark against which Republican nominees to the Supreme Court are measured. In talking to »

The merry kidz pipe up

At Radio Equalizer Brian Maloney has owned the story of Robin Hood in reverse, the Air America scandal that refuses to die. In the latest installment of the saga, the Krazy Kos Kidz and their fellow travelers weigh in: “The backlash begins.” Brian appears to have a strong stomach, a good sense of humor, and other attributes that serve him well in observing the moonbats on parade. »

Why we dropped the big one

The cover story of the new issue of the Weekly Standard is by Richard Frank, the author of an important popular history of the end of the Pacific War, among other works. On tbe occasion of the sixtieth anniversary of the end of the war in the Pacific, Frank retells the story with the compelling updates necessary to understand why we dropped the bomb: “Why Truman dropped the bomb.” »

Rethinking Vietnam

Lewis Sorley’s new book on the Vietnam war presumes a level of knowledge about the war that I don’t have, but Mac Owens’s review of the book is the perfect introduction: “Lost Victory.” Sorley’s new book is Vietnam Chronicles: The Abrams Tapes, 1968-72. »

The truth about Hillary Clinton, sort of

Humorist Joe Queenan has given Edward Klein’s new book on Hillary Clinton a close reading and panned for the gold: “Many a dubious revelation.” Queenan writes in tomorrow’s New York Times Book Review: Even Klein’s harshest critics must concede that the book does occasionally break new ground. The lesbian rumors, the suspicion that the Clintons have not used the Ozzie-and-Harriet template in customizing their marriage, the belief that Hillary Clinton »

Another reason to like Judge Roberts

He’s a student of history and an admirer of Daniel Webster. The Weekly Standard’s Matthew Continetti has the papers that prove it. »

The Great Escape, Part III

Before I tell the story of the greatest escape in the history of top-flight English football, here is an account of what must be the greatest soccer escape ever. In this story, Carlisle manages to stay in professional football (avoiding relegation to the semi-professional league) on a last minute goal by an emergency goalkeeper Now, this is more like it. The greatest escape ever, ever, ever in the history of »

The Controversy Cometh

Senate Majority Leader Frist is under fire from some conservatives for his speech yesterday in support of expanding federally supported embryonic research. This is a difficult issue and, for that reason, it will continue to divide conservatives. As I wrote here, in “Preview of a Coming Controversy,” I agree with the position Frist took yesterday. Given the nature of this issue, it was altogether appropriate for conservative leaders such as »

This Man Tried to Assassinate President Bush

His name is Vladimir Arutyunyan; he was captured by Georgian police after a shootout in which he killed a policeman and was himself wounded. On May 10, when President Bush was giving a speech in Tbilisi, he threw a hand grenade at the stage. It landed within 25 yards or so, but failed to go off. After Arutyunyan was arrested, police found more hand grenades and unspecified chemicals in his »

Hugh Hewitt Has a Great Idea

Hugh has a lot of them, actually. But this one is especially revealing. He is getting requests from lots of “mainstream” media sources for interviews, because he worked with John Roberts long ago, in the White House counsel’s office. Hugh’s answer: sure, but only if we do it live on my radio show, so the public can hear the whole thing, and compare it to the excerpts you put in »

Beware of fatwa, take 2

Today’s Washington Post reports: “WMAL suspends talk-show host for comment on Islam.” The talk-show host is Michael Graham, and his comment referred to Islam as “the problem” and as a “terrorist organization.” The Post reports: CAIR denounced the comments as “hate-filled” and asked its members to contact the station’s advertisers to express their dismay. Several hundred people across the country sent e-mails to the station and some of its advertisers, »