Monthly Archives: February 2006

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 »

Amity at Bloomberg

Columnist Amity Shlaes — author of The Greedy Hand, formerly of the Wall Street Journal editorial board and the Financial Times — has emerged as a linkable columnist for Bloomberg News. Her current column on the Enron debacle is a good one. She recalls Sam Insull, Enron, what Enron did to the culture of accounting, the wiring of Chicago and how we are reminded of this again from the trial »

Amity at Bloomberg

Columnist Amity Shlaes — author of The Greedy Hand, formerly of the Wall Street Journal editorial board and the Financial Times — has emerged as a linkable columnist for Bloomberg News. Her current column on the Enron debacle is a good one. She recalls Sam Insull, Enron, what Enron did to the culture of accounting, the wiring of Chicago and how we are reminded of this again from the trial »

Bill Bennett on the cartoon intifada

Stephen Spruiell quotes Bill Bennett on “CNN’s double standard.” The full transcript of Bennett debating the cartoon intifada with James Zogby on CNN’s Situation Room is available here. Bennett: “I promise you, they have won. They have silenced — these — these mobs have silenced the mainstream media, who are afraid of the mob.” Of the giving of offense, there is no end. The caving in of the American media »

Bill Bennett on the cartoon intifada

Stephen Spruiell quotes Bill Bennett on “CNN’s double standard.” The full transcript of Bennett debating the cartoon intifada with James Zogby on CNN’s Situation Room is available here. Bennett: “I promise you, they have won. They have silenced — these — these mobs have silenced the mainstream media, who are afraid of the mob.” Of the giving of offense, there is no end. The caving in of the American media »

Coming attractions

The Tocqueville Center at the University of Minnesota is a new organization devoted to the study of liberty and free institutions. It also aims to promote intellectual diversity on campus by creating a forum for the discussion of heterodox ideas in a congenial setting, with upcoming speakers scheduled to include Victor Davis Hanson and Michael Novak. Next Wednesday, February 15, at 12:15 I’ll be speaking with Eric Black of the »

Coming attractions

The Tocqueville Center at the University of Minnesota is a new organization devoted to the study of liberty and free institutions. It also aims to promote intellectual diversity on campus by creating a forum for the discussion of heterodox ideas in a congenial setting, with upcoming speakers scheduled to include Victor Davis Hanson and Michael Novak. Next Wednesday, February 15, at 12:15 I’ll be speaking with Eric Black of the »

The empire strikes back

Last year we covered the Dartmouth trustee election that resulted in the election of outsider candidates Peter Robinson and Todd Zywicki. We thought that their election might signal a shift away from the entrenched leftism that reigns in elite academic institutions, a point I tried to make in this Daily Standard column previewing the election. The powers-that-be at Dartmouth are now undertaking efforts to make the election of outsider candidates »

The empire strikes back

Last year we covered the Dartmouth trustee election that resulted in the election of outsider candidates Peter Robinson and Todd Zywicki. We thought that their election might signal a shift away from the entrenched leftism that reigns in elite academic institutions, a point I tried to make in this Daily Standard column previewing the election. The powers-that-be at Dartmouth are now undertaking efforts to make the election of outsider candidates »

Dumbest News Story Ever?

I know, that’s a tough competition. But today’s Associated Press story, breathlessly titled “Libby: White House ‘Superiors’ OK’d Leaks,” is definitely a contender. From the headline, you might think that the story at least has some connection to the Valerie Plame “leak,” the second most over-hyped story of modern times, after Abu Ghraib. But no: Special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald said in documents filed last month that he plans to introduce »

Dumbest News Story Ever?

I know, that’s a tough competition. But today’s Associated Press story, breathlessly titled “Libby: White House ‘Superiors’ OK’d Leaks,” is definitely a contender. From the headline, you might think that the story at least has some connection to the Valerie Plame “leak,” the second most over-hyped story of modern times, after Abu Ghraib. But no: Special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald said in documents filed last month that he plans to introduce »

A near-perfect match

The Washington Times reports on the relationship between left-wing Democratic politicians and left-wing blogs. The Times notes that John Kerry, who publicly attacked the Daily Kos in 2004 and removed a link to it from his campaign site after its proprietor expressed disdain for U.S. contractors killed in Iraq, is now a Kos “diarist.” Kerry spokesperson April Boyd had this to say about the Senator’s new appreciation of the “screw »

A near-perfect match

The Washington Times reports on the relationship between left-wing Democratic politicians and left-wing blogs. The Times notes that John Kerry, who publicly attacked the Daily Kos in 2004 and removed a link to it from his campaign site after its proprietor expressed disdain for U.S. contractors killed in Iraq, is now a Kos “diarist.” Kerry spokesperson April Boyd had this to say about the Senator’s new appreciation of the “screw »

Well-earned

We congratulate our friend Michelle Malkin who will receive the Clare Boothe Luce Policy Institute’s Woman of the Year Award on Saturday at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington. »

Well-earned

We congratulate our friend Michelle Malkin who will receive the Clare Boothe Luce Policy Institute’s Woman of the Year Award on Saturday at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington. »

The Price of Success

It’s often said, I think correctly, that the administration’s extraordinary success in preventing terrorist attacks in the U.S. over the last four-plus years has been a mixed blessing, in that many Americans probably underestimate the danger posed by terrorist groups and fail to credit the administration for its remarkable record. Today, President Bush addressed the National Guard Association of the United States, and delivered another excellent speech on the war »

The Price of Success

It’s often said, I think correctly, that the administration’s extraordinary success in preventing terrorist attacks in the U.S. over the last four-plus years has been a mixed blessing, in that many Americans probably underestimate the danger posed by terrorist groups and fail to credit the administration for its remarkable record. Today, President Bush addressed the National Guard Association of the United States, and delivered another excellent speech on the war »