Monthly Archives: March 2006

March 28, 2006 — Scott Johnson

Caspar Weinberger, RIP

In recognition of the death of Caspar Weinberger today, NRO’s Corner has pointed readers to Jay Nordlinger’s review of Weinberger’s autobiography In the Arena. Jay beautifully summarizes Weinberger’s life and accomplishments, and notes some of the personal attributes evidenced in the text: He expresses great love: for his parents, for his brother, for his wife, for his children – and that’s not to mention other objects of love, such as »
March 28, 2006 — John Hinderaker

More on the Riots in France

Check out No Pasaran!, which is following the French riots with a skeptical eye. For the most part, the “youths” you’ll see in their photos don’t look like they’re coming from a philosophy class at the Sorbonne. Meanwhile, live footage from Paris shows police trying ineffectually to disperse the rioters with water cannon. »
March 28, 2006 — Paul Mirengoff

Hamdan’s big day

The Supreme Court heard Hamdan’s appeal this morning. All of the Justices except the Chief (who heard the case below) were present. The Washington Post’s report isn’t very informative. But I did like the part about Hamdan’s lawyer “brushing aside” questions from Justice Scalia and Alito about why the Court shouldn’t wait until after Hamdan is tried to consider his claims, as is done in civil criminal cases. The audio »
March 28, 2006 — John Hinderaker

The Suicide of French Youth, and Thoughts on Immigration Reform

Today there were massive demonstrations throughout France against the government’s proposed legislation, which would make it possible to fire a young worker without cause (i.e., lay him off) within the first two years of his employment. The idea, of course, is to increase job opportunities for young people by reducing the extraordinary disincentives to hiring implicit in the current system. This shouldn’t be too hard to grasp–unemployment in France is »
March 28, 2006 — John Hinderaker

Yawn

Andrew Card resigned this morning as President Bush’s Chief of Staff. It’s inherently a thankless position; when is the last time a Chief of Staff was popular among a party’s activists? The Chief of Staff often gets blamed when things go poorly, but, conversely, rarely receives credit when things go well. I doubt that the change will make any difference, except maybe cosmetically, but it may satisfy some of those »
March 28, 2006 — Scott Johnson

A question fitly asked

The organization FIRE has proved itself an effective voice supporting true academic freedom in the university setting. It now asks: “Dartmouth, what are you doing?” We suggested the answer last week in “Big Green machine strikes back.” »
March 28, 2006 — Scott Johnson

The end of friendship

With his new book renouncing his previous beliefs, Francis Fukuyama has become, in the words of Charles Krauthammer, “the world’s most celebrated ex-neoconservative.” Fukuyama is the renowned professor of international relations who declared the end of history at the conclusion of the Cold War. In his column today, Krauthammer takes issue with the anecdote that Fukuyama uses to dramatize his metamorphosis: “Fukuyama’s fantasy.” »
March 28, 2006 — Scott Johnson

Israel’s choice

At Israellycool Dave is live blogging the Israeli election today. His live blog post also links to other sites live blogging the election, including the Jerusalem Post’s. (Warning: Dave’s site loads slowly.) Jerusalem Post deputy managing editor Caroline Glick criticizes the “the most non-deliberative campaign in Israeli history” and the election’s likely winnner here. As of noon, turnout was low. Could that have anything to do with the uninspiring options »
March 27, 2006 — Paul Mirengoff

45 Minutes of Shell

Two years ago, John chronicled the march of the University of Minnesota women’s basketball team to the final four. That team had been shaped by its former coach, Brenda Oldfield, who turned the program around and was named national coach of the year before departing for the University of Maryland in the spring of 2002. Oldfield (now Brenda Frese) quickly made Maryland a winner, and tonight the Terrapins defeated Utah »
March 27, 2006 — John Hinderaker

Maybe Not So Bad After All

This is the kind of thing I’m instinctively skeptical of: Professor Muhammad S. Dajani of Al-Quds, an Arab university in Jerusalem, travels to Brandeis with four Al-Quds graduate students in the university’s American Studies program, courtesy of the ultra-liberal Ford Foundation. Sounds like strike four or five, but keep reading: Yasser Arafat failed to understand Western mentality and Western culture, according to Al-Quds University Professor Muhammad S. Dajani. Dajani…said he »
March 27, 2006 — Paul Mirengoff

bin Laden’s driver’s big day

Tomorrow the Supreme Court will hear oral argument in the Hamdan case. Hamdan was Osama bin Laden’s driver. He claims that our government’s decision to try him before a military tribunal violates his rights. A preliminary matter is which judges will hear the case. Chief Justice Roberts will not; he helped decide it in the court of appeals. Justice Scalia, I assume, will. Some folks are claiming that he should »
March 27, 2006 — John Hinderaker

Why We Need the Patriot Act

You’ve probably already heard that Zacarias Moussaoui testified today that he and shoe-bomber Richard Reid had intended to hijack a fifth airplane on September 11, 2001, and fly it into the White House. That part of the plot was ostensibly foiled by Moussaoui’s arrest in August. Well, maybe. Reid didn’t try to come to the U.S. until October, but maybe he would have flown over sooner had Moussaoui not been »
March 27, 2006 — John Hinderaker

Hugh’s Been Holding Out On Us

Maybe I’ve been even more out of touch than usual lately, but I had no idea that our friend Hugh Hewitt had a new book coming out. So I was surprised to get an email announcing the publication of Painting the Map Red: The Fight to Create a Permanent Republican Majority. Click on the image below to read about Hugh’s book on Amazon, and, better yet, buy it: Here is »
March 27, 2006 — John Hinderaker

What Does It Prove? Nothing, Yet

A few days ago, we noted one of the untranslated Project Harmony documents, dated in 2002, that looked interesting, based on this synopsis: IIS [Iraqi intelligence] report on Kurdish activities, mention of Kurdish reporting on Al Qaida, reference to Al Qaida presence in Salman Pak. We put out a call for translations, and two readers responded. This one is Charles Perry’s: First document, on paper with the crest of the »
March 27, 2006 — Scott Johnson

The Potemkin Prosecution

The American Thinker has posted the first part of Clarice Feldman’s interesting analysis of Patrick Fitzgerald prosecution of Lewis Libby: “The Potemkin prosecution (Part One).” Feldman promises more than one additional installment, but this one should give us enough to chew over for the next few days. »
March 27, 2006 — Scott Johnson

Munich revisited

Yasser Arafat initiated the modern age of terrorism with the Black September operation that resulted in the murder of the Israeli Olympic team at the 1972 Olympics in Munich. The following year Arafat followed up the Munich operation with the operation that resulted in the brutal assassination of United States Ambassador to Sudan Cleo Noel and his charge d’affaires George Curtis Moore on Arafat’s direct order. When Arafat appeared in »
March 27, 2006 — Scott Johnson

Learning bridge over troubled water

Reader Greg Stewart alerts us to this statement of the “original reasoning behind bringing Mr. Hashemi [Taliban Man] to Yale.” Stewart calls it “transnational progressive thought at its best.” The plan: …[was] to create a learning bridge between the people who “blame us” and the people “we blame.” Learning about them as they learn about us –- international education. »