Monthly Archives: October 2005

Loser’s poker

Last Friday in its Personal Journal section the Wall Street Journal published the excellent column by Weekly Standard online editor Jonathan Last on the ubiquity of gambling. Today Jonathan has posted the column on the Standard’s site: “Loser’s poker.” »

Don’t party like it’s 1974

In his Los Angeles Times column last week Professor David Gelernter had a history lesson for Barbara Boxer. As the Democrats get ready to party like it’s 1974, Professor Gelernter has another history lesson for them: “Americans won’t let Democrats lose Iraq.” I’m sure that Professor Gelernter has the history right; I’m not as confident in his prediction, but I trust his judgment. »

Continental drift

Every three months I announce that the Claremont Review of Books is my favorite magazine — every three months because the magazine is a quarterly. CRB is the flagship publication of the Claremont Institute, the organization whose mission it is to restore the principles of the American Founding to their rightful, preeminent authority in our national life. See, for example, today’s astringent column by CRB editor Charles Kesler on the »

Indictments and Rumors of Indictments

The New York Times is reporting that Patrick Fitzgerald intends to indict Scooter Libby for making false statements to his grand jury. The Times says that Fitzgerald will not indict Karl Rove, but will keep that part of the investigation open. Great: maybe Fitzgerald can keep this going for another couple of years. If the Times’ sources are correct, it will be a major disappointment for the Democrats. What seems »

As decision day approaches in Virginia,

the Washington Times makes the case for Jerry Kilgore, the Republican candidate for governor. The case is strong. Kilgore is a steadfast conservative with an outstanding record as a crime fighter, opponent of racial preferences, and enemy of tax increases. Kaine is able and intelligent, but has tied himself in knots trying to disguise his liberalism on social issues, immigration, and taxes. The race will be closely watched because there »

Better late than never

I’ve never appreciated Dana Milbank’s reporting for the Washington Post, but I consistently enjoy his “Washington Sketch” feature, which has a blog-like quality to it. Here’s his take on John Kerry’s latest speech about Iraq. »

Volcker Report Released

As we noted this morning, the Volcker committee released its final report on corruption in the U.N.’s oil-for-food program today. You can read the report here. As advertised, it cites chapter and verse on more than 2,000 companies that took bribes and paid kickbacks to Saddam Hussein under the program’s auspices. I read the part of the report relating to George Galloway, which contained just about exactly the same information »

Media alert

I’ll be on the National Public Radio show “Open Source” at around 7:05 Eastern Time. Glenn Reynolds, Ed Morrissey, Arianna Huffington, and Megan McArdle will be on at various points in the show. Here’s the link to the show. To listen live try http://www.kuow.org/kuow2/kuow2.asx. The call in number if you wish to participate is 877 673 6767. UPDATE: Well, that was fun. I got to debate Huffington during part of »

Kaine and Kos “stew” together

The Virginia gubernatorial race is in its last stages. Democratic Lt. Gov. Tim Kaine (assisted by a Republican break-away candidate) is in a statistical dead heat with Repubican Jerry Kilgore. The key to victory for Kaine is persuading Virginia voters that he’s a moderate like popular incumbent Mark Warner. Despite his opposition to the death penalty and his strained efforts to paint himself as “pro-gun,” Kaine’s done a fairly good »

The House races, a closer look

There’s plenty of speculation about the prospects of the Democrats recapturing control of the House of Representatives next year. Most of the speculation is idle but, fortunately, there a few people who pay attention these things for a living. One is Stuart Rothenberg of Roll Call, who beleives that “House handicapping is getting very silly very quickly.” Here’s his detailed analysis: I have already written that the 2006 election cycle »

MIers Withdraws

Harriet Miers withdrew her candidacy for the Supreme Court this morning. President Bush issued this statement: Today, I have reluctantly accepted Harriet Miers’ decision to withdraw her nomination to the Supreme Court of the United States. I nominated Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court because of her extraordinary legal experience, her character, and her conservative judicial philosophy. Throughout her career, she has gained the respect and admiration of her fellow »

Bush Backs Budget Cuts

This could be a very important story. Then again, maybe not. To date, the White House has been mostly AWOL on the efforts to control federal spending that have emerged in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Yesterday, President Bush gave a speech to the Economic Club of Washington, in which he said he was “open” to across-the-board budget cuts, and also endorsed finding set-offs to balance hurricane relief spending. The »

Speaking of Grand Jury Investigations

Alabama’s former Democratic Governor, Donald Siegelman, was indicted yesterday on federal charges of racketeering, fraud, bribery, extortion and obstruction of justice. Siegelman is alleged to have taken bribes while governor. He denies the charges, and is planning on running again next year. »

Strong Economic Growth Continues

This is sort of a dog-bites-man story, but GDP figures for the first quarter have been revised upward, and now show a growth rate of 3.5%. This means that the high energy prices prevailing at that time did not slow the economy as much as had been expected, and testifies once again to the strength of the current economic expansion, which has now continued for four years. UPDATE: This is »

This Should Be Fun

Later today, the Volcker committee will issue its final report on the U.N.’s oil-for-food scandal. According to interviews yesterday with the investigators, the report will name several thousand companies and individuals who took bribes and paid kickbacks to Saddam Hussein. The largest number, the investigators said, were Russian and French. »

A canticle for Harriet Miers

In A Canticle for Leibowitz, Walter Miller posits a catastrophic post-nuclear future in which the monkish devotees of the blessed Saint Leibowitz pore over the sacred text he left behind: “Pound pastrami, can kraut, six bagels — bring home for Emma.” Reviewing the public record and professional writings of Harriet Miers to decipher her political and constitutional views, I feel like one of the Brothers of Leibowitz. There simply isn’t »

The dead in Hadera

The full toll of yesterday’s bombing in Israel is not yet known. Twenty Israelis remain hospitalized this morning, three in serious condition. At present the blast has claimed five victims. Haaretz has brief profiles of each of the five here. One of the five (at the bottom left in the photo above) appears to have been an Israeli Arab: A series of blows have struck the Qa’adan family from Baka »