Monthly Archives: February 2006

Don’t light that victory cigar yet

It isn’t only Diana West who makes Friday my favorite day for op-eds. Charles Krauthammer also delivers on Friday and so, in his own way, does E.J. Dionne. Today, Dionne claims that the Bush administration has finally been “forced out of its own pre-Sept. 11 world-view.” What’s the occasion for Dionne’s triumphalism? The administration has agreed to brief all members of the Senate and House Intelligence Committees about about the »

Diana delivers

As soon as the Danish cartoon controversy became the story of the week, I started looking forward to Diana West’s Friday column. Diana didn’t disappoint. Please read the whole thing. »

King-sized controversy or tempest in a teapot

I was scheduled to be a guest on CNN’s Reliable Sources program on Sunday, but was preempted. One of the topics was going to be the funeral service for Coretta Scott King. It’s an old story by now, but here’s what I think about it. I have little quarrel with the conduct of Rev. Lowery, who used part of his oration to call for “social justice” and to criticize the »

King-sized controversy or tempest in a teapot

I was scheduled to be a guest on CNN’s Reliable Sources program on Sunday, but was preempted. One of the topics was going to be the funeral service for Coretta Scott King. It’s an old story by now, but here’s what I think about it. I have little quarrel with the conduct of Rev. Lowery, who used part of his oration to call for “social justice” and to criticize the »

Winter Olympics Are Underway

My friend Roger Magnuson once described himself to me as an “Olympics junkie.” He traveled around the world to attend a number of Olympics. I haven’t done that; the only Olympics I’ve ever attended, even briefly, was in Lake Placid in 1980. Where, by the way, I kept telling the ABC camera crews who stayed in my motel that the U.S. hockey team was pretty good and shouldn’t be counted »

Winter Olympics Are Underway

My friend Roger Magnuson once described himself to me as an “Olympics junkie.” He traveled around the world to attend a number of Olympics. I haven’t done that; the only Olympics I’ve ever attended, even briefly, was in Lake Placid in 1980. Where, by the way, I kept telling the ABC camera crews who stayed in my motel that the U.S. hockey team was pretty good and shouldn’t be counted »

The Times Makes It Up, Catches Bush Telling the Truth

It must be tough writing for the New York Times. Day after day, you have to come up with an anti-Bush angle to every story, whether it’s legitimately there or not. Take today’s multiple reports on the Congressional investigation into the response to Hurricane Katrina. One of the Times’ articles is titled “White House Knew of Levee’s Failure on Night of Storm.” Wow, sounds like quite a revelation. The article, »

The Times Makes It Up, Catches Bush Telling the Truth

It must be tough writing for the New York Times. Day after day, you have to come up with an anti-Bush angle to every story, whether it’s legitimately there or not. Take today’s multiple reports on the Congressional investigation into the response to Hurricane Katrina. One of the Times’ articles is titled “White House Knew of Levee’s Failure on Night of Storm.” Wow, sounds like quite a revelation. The article, »

From Pillar to post

What a difference a year makes. Regarding Paul Pillar’s current critique of the Bush administration, the left-wing Tom Paine.com suggests that Pillar’s testimony to the Robb-Silberman Commission told a slightly different story. According to this April 2005 column by John Prados, Pillar — who was on the front page of the Washington Post today asserting the Bush administration subtly manipulated the intelligence it received — told the Robb-Silberman Commission that »

From Pillar to post

What a difference a year makes. Regarding Paul Pillar’s current critique of the Bush administration, the left-wing Tom Paine.com suggests that Pillar’s testimony to the Robb-Silberman Commission told a slightly different story. According to this April 2005 column by John Prados, Pillar — who was on the front page of the Washington Post today asserting the Bush administration subtly manipulated the intelligence it received — told the Robb-Silberman Commission that »

Ukrainian Democracy Still Has A Ways to Go

Power Line News Videos has remarkable footage of a fist fight in the Ukrainian Parliament, between Communist and non-Communist members. Go to page 2 in the “News” category. Ukraine is in the midst of an election campaign in which a pro-Russian party is leading Viktor Yushchenko’s party in the polls. »

Ukrainian Democracy Still Has A Ways to Go

Power Line News Videos has remarkable footage of a fist fight in the Ukrainian Parliament, between Communist and non-Communist members. Go to page 2 in the “News” category. Ukraine is in the midst of an election campaign in which a pro-Russian party is leading Viktor Yushchenko’s party in the polls. »

Some good, quiet news

Jonathan Last at the Daily Standard reports that the U.S. is “quietly” winning the drug war. According to Last: The supply of all the major drugs is down, but at the same time, drug interdiction is up. In 1989, 533,533 kilograms of the four major drugs were seized by U.S. authorities. By 2005, the total had risen to 1.3 million kilograms. Moreover, since 2001 “teen drug use is off nearly »

Some good, quiet news

Jonathan Last at the Daily Standard reports that the U.S. is “quietly” winning the drug war. According to Last: The supply of all the major drugs is down, but at the same time, drug interdiction is up. In 1989, 533,533 kilograms of the four major drugs were seized by U.S. authorities. By 2005, the total had risen to 1.3 million kilograms. Moreover, since 2001 “teen drug use is off nearly »

Good For A Laugh

Today’s Day By Day cartoon by Chris Muir is very funny; click to enlarge: Of course, as Hillary readies her 2008 campaign, the one problem she won’t have is money. But cash won’t be enough to get the job done, in my opinion. »

Good For A Laugh

Today’s Day By Day cartoon by Chris Muir is very funny; click to enlarge: Of course, as Hillary readies her 2008 campaign, the one problem she won’t have is money. But cash won’t be enough to get the job done, in my opinion. »

A Dance to the Music of Time

This morning’s Washington Post features a front-page, above-the-fold story by Walter Pincus about Paul Pillar, the former high-ranking CIA official who has written an article claiming that the Bush administration “cherry-picked” intelligence information on Iraq to justify a decision it had already reached to go to war. Writing about Paul Pillar on a blog started by John Hinderaker makes me feel like an Anthony Powell character. Paul and John were »