Monthly Archives: June 2006

That’s the Story Line, Dammit!

One of the media themes this year is that beleaguered Republican candidates will be running as far away from President Bush–and his supposedly “record low poll numbers”–as they can get. And it looks like the media will push that theme no matter what actually happens in Congressional campaigns. We’ve just had a case in point here in Minnesota. It started when a little-known local blog called “MN Publius” did a »

We stand on guard for thee?

The Toronto Star reports that Canadian officials — like the Belgians — are miffed about the SWIFT program. In a message alerting us to the article, Arizona Republic deputy editorial page editor Phil Boas comments: It’s only a matter of time before we learn the program has been disbanded because of interrnational uproar and the Times takes its bow for having served global privacy interests. We will have lost one »

Fighter jet diplomacy

Eli Lake’s New York Sun article has a good summary of one of the striking events in Israel’s operations yesterday: “Israeli warplanes buzz Syrian palace, aim to save soldier.” The article emphasizes the Damascus connection to the terrorist offensive against Israel; Tehran seems to be the dog that doesn’t bark in accounts such as this one. »

Messages

Yesterday’s Boston Globe carried Jeff Jacoby’s excellent column on the blowing of the administration’s terrorist finance tracking program: “The press, in an unsettling firefight of its own.” Jeff’s column features the messages to the New York Times sent by Sergeant T.F. Boggs and Lt. Thomas Cotton, the latter message having been featured here earlier this week. Unlike Sergeant Boggs and Lt. Cotton, Republicans in Congress can’t bring themselves to name »

Roadrunning to Minneapolis

On Monday night former Dire Straits frontman Mark Knopfler and Emmylou Harris brought their current tour to the Orpheum Theater in Minneapolis. The tour promotes the good new Knopfler/Harris recording, “All the Roadrunning”. Following a similarly fast-paced opening in Europe, the current jaunt is itself a classic bit of roadrunning, covering dates from Toronto (June 19) to Berkeley (June 30) with two nights off. It can’t be much fun. Having »

Hour Two: Gatekeeper and Loon

The second hour of Saturday’s Northern Alliance Radio show is here. Or, as always, you can subscribe to our podcasts on iTunes by going here. In our second hour on Saturday, we awarded Dan Rather a Lifetime Achievement Gatekeeper award in commemoration of his retirement from CBS. Continuing with the retirement theme, Connie Chung was our Loon of the Week for her farewell serenade, which, if you haven’t heard it, »

Fourth and long

In previous a post, I noted how badly the Bush administration has fared when it comes to placing restained conservative judges on the Fourth Circuit. Part of the fault lies with the Senate, which has failed to confirm Jim Haynes and Terrence Boyle. However, the administration has also been too inclined to nominate non-conservatives and, more recently, has failed to nominate anyone to fill the vacancy left by one of »

The Times’ Editors Explain Why They Shouldn’t Go To Jail

This morning, the New York Times ran an editorial on its own blowing of the SWIFT terrorist finance tracking program, in which it explained why it’s a bad idea to bring criminal prosecutions against journalists. The paper also expressed astonishment that anyone could think that it was trying to damage the Bush administration by publishing leaks. Blog of the Week Patterico’s Pontifications has fun with the Times editorial here. »

The pain in Spain

Yesterday, France defeated Spain 3-1 in the World Cup round of 16. This wasn’t exactly an upset, but Spain had been playing better soccer than France. In fact, the main reason why France’s win wasn’t considered much of an upset is that Spain has a long history of disappointing results in the early elimination rounds of the World Cup. But one need not resort to hexes, national character flaws, or »

Insurgents Support Our Troops!

Eleven Sunni “insurgent” organizations have reportedly told the Iraqi government that they will lay down their arms in exchange for a series of concessions, the key one being that American forces cease all offensive operations against them and set a timetable for withdrawal within two years. The insurgents’ position is actually more moderate than the liberal Democrats’; the Democrats wanted to pull out within 18 months, not 24, without getting »

Londonistan calling

Phil Boas is the deputy editorial page editor at the Arizona Republic. He writes with a word about Melanie Phillips, author of Londonistan: I don’t know how much you read Melanie Phillips, former Guardian journalist who has written the book Londonistan, but you’ve got to listen to this radio interview she does with the BBC. It is a tour de force in the most hostile of environments. It is some »

Why SWIFT Mattered

Jake Tapper had a great idea: he called former New Jersey Governor and co-chairman of the September 11 Commission on the telephone to ask why Kean was so convinced that the terrorist finance program carried out through SWIFT was important and should not have been blown by the New York and Los Angeles Times: What I wanted to understand: what would terrorists and those who wish the US harm know »

Can imaginary liberals, and only imaginary liberals, win the war on terror?

I admire pro-defense liberals like Peter Beinart who support shaking off liberalism’s post-Vietnam syndrome, waging a vigorous world-wide war against Islamic jihadists, and (within the constraints we face) promoting democracy throughout the world. I regard these liberals more as allies than as adversaries, whatever their position may be on tax cuts, health care, and gay marriage. Although in my view Beinart has very little chance of winning his struggle for »

Democrats Lose Texas Case

The U.S. Supreme Court is handing down the final decisions of the current term; this morning the court ruled on League of United Latin American Citizens v. Perry, the Texas redistricting case. You can access the Court’s decision here. The Democrats had hoped that the Court would throw out the redistricting plan that was adopted after the Republicans gained control of the Texas legislature, but the Court rejected almost all »

Friends In High Places

TigerHawk posted this great photo of himself on top of the Great Wall of China; click to enlarge: TH’s caption: Power Line stands atop the original, literal power line, the ultimate expression of Chinese imperial military power. It’s a nice shirt; if you want one, click on the shirt icon pretty far down on the sidebar. »

An Appropriate Response

We’ve criticized Vladimir Putin from time to time, but let’s give credit where it’s due: he knows how to deal with terrorist thugs: Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday ordered the country’s secret service to locate and kill the Iraqis who executed four Russian diplomats. Putin issued the order after conferring with Prince Salman bin Abdul Aziz of Saudi Arabia in Moscow, the Interfax news agency reported. Putin also issued »

This is now

In her valuable City Journal column, Nicole Gelinas provides evidence that the Bush administration terrorist finance tracking program essentially followed the recommendations of the New York Times September 24, 2001 editorial that we noted in “That was then” yesterday: “Subverting the war on terror.” »