Monthly Archives: May 2007

Northwest Flight 327: Terrorist dry run

Audrey Hudson’s Washington Times story on the DHS Inspector General report related to the government’s handling of Northwest Flight 327 is now up. Michelle Malkin has posted an excellent round-up ending with conclusions and open questions: So top brass at FAMS, the FBI, and TSA all wanted to downplay the incident and keep it out of the homeland security database. But HSOC believed the case warranted reporting after an inquiry »

Lacrosse’s glass ceiling

I hope our readers enjoyed my coverage of the Duke lacrosse season. Some may have noticed that I’ve become a lacrosse fan. And I’m not alone. The final four in Baltimore drew approximately 50,000 fans per day. And, as the Washington Post notes, the sport, which not long ago was confined to a few pockets in the east coast, is now being played at the high school level in many »

Alternative Reality at the Associated Press

We have written several times about Jennifer Loven, a reporter for the Associated Press who uses her “news” articles as a platform to push her own partisan agenda, as, for example, when she wrote an AP article critiquing President Bush’s environmental policies, without mentioning that her husband was an environmental adviser to the John Kerry campaign. Today, Loven authored an “analysis piece” rather than a “news story,” so she could »

The latest on Fred Thompson

I’m told by a good source that later today Fred Thompson will take the next step on the road to becoming a presidential candidate. Specifically, he will give the go-ahead to put into place his financing and fundraising operation. This won’t change Thompson’s official status, but it’s the next logical step one would take if one intended to change that status by entering the race. To comment on this post, »

Mitt Romney’s surge

The latest Rasmussen poll shows Mitt Romney’s support among Republicans at 16 percent. That’s double his share from a few months ago. It also surpasses John McCain’s share of 15 percent, and puts him within shouting distance of Rudy Giuliani (25 percent). Romney’s surge isn’t all that surprising. He’s an able and attractive candidate, and (in part for this reason) a very well-funded one. Romney has also benefited from some »

Not news, not news

The Resource Center of the Americas is, I believe, a hard left non-profit organization. Check out, for example, its compilation of “most urgent actions.” To my knowledge it hasn’t been much in the news lately. The Loyal Opposition has posted a must-read item that bears on next year’s national Republican convention in St. Paul: “Anarchists, a Minneapolis non-profit, and embedded threats.” More not news in the Twin Cities: The convention »

Varieties of the conservative mind

George Mason University Law Professor and Hooover Institution Fellow Peter Berkowitz has a long, thoughtful, difficult Wall Street Journal column on the strands of conservative thought. To comment on this post, go here. »

Democracy and disgust

The Bush administration appears to me to have thrown its stated policy for dealing with Iran in favor of beseeching the mullahs for “a decent interval” in which to withdraw American troops. I don’t think that’s the correct approach for dealing with a country that has been at war with us for 28 years and that is engaged in killing American soldiers in Iraq. Is a story like the Boston »

Miss Universe Pulls an Upset

One thing I’ve noticed is that beauty pageants tend to follow form. I’m not sure how bettors are able to predict judges’ choices, but they generally do so pretty accurately. But not in this year’s Miss Universe competition. I had thought about live-blogging the event, but dinner got delayed and I caught it on the fly, semi-DVR’ed. It was an entertaining show. For better or worse, Miss Universe doesn’t have »

Democracy and distrust

The internet version of this column by David Ignatius about U.S. negotiations with Iran is “What’s on Iran’s Mind.” However, the title that appeared in the hard copy edition of the Washington Post was “Countering Iran’s Distrust.” The latter title seems to fit better, and it represents a good answer to liberals when they whine, “what’s the harm in talking to our enemies.” If we’re going to have “fruitful” negotiations »

Rotten to their core

Robert Novak reports on the continuing saga of Democratic corruption in the House of Representatives. As usual, the main protaganist is Rep. John Murtha, who smuggled into the intelligence authorization bill two earmarks. The beneficiary is a contractor headquartered in Murtha’s hometown, whose executives are big contributors to Murtha’s campaigns. Murtha and his fellow Democrats pretended that the intelligence bill contained no earmarks, but Rep. Jeff Flake eventually found 26 »

Destiny picks its own darlings

One of the best things about sports is that, while it produces storybook outcomes, it doesn’t guarantee or even particularly favor them. Thus, Duke came up one goal short in today’s lacrosse championship match in Baltimore against Johns Hopkins. Although the game wasn’t decided until the final second when a Duke shot passed just wide of the net, Hopkins owes the victory to its domination of the first half in »

Holiday? What Holiday?

Google decorates its page for every minor holiday you can think of, with cute figures of various sorts cavorting in and around the “Google” letters. But Memorial Day is apparently missing from the company’s calendar; here is what Google looks like today: Like most internet companies, Google apparently leans to the left. But you’d think someone at the company would have given some thought to why they had the day »

Deal or no deal

An Army infantry officer serving in Iraq writes to offer a deal to the New York Times in connection with the article by David Carr that John writes about immediately below: I’d like to make the New York Times a deal. I’ll consent to them publishing my picture in the event I’m wounded when they start publishing pictures of the bureaucrats who leak details about NSA Surveillance, the Swift bank »

Managing the News

The New York Times recognizes Memorial Day in its own unique way, by mourning the fact that the Army won’t let them publish pictures and videos of wounded soldiers without their permission. On this Memorial Day, thousands of United States men and women are engaged in untold acts of bravery and drudgery on behalf of what our leaders have defined as vital American interests in Iraq and Afghanistan. Readers of »

How to read the AP, part 3

In “Background check” at NRO’s Phi Beta Cons, John Miller helps take another look at the malicious AP story on the election of Stephen Smith to the Dartmouth board of trustees. John rebuts a ridiculous quote from Richard Routhier, the chairman of the Dartmouth alumni council’s nominating committee, but John’s post bears on the quality of the AP story as well. To comment on this post, go here. »

Memorial Day, In An Alternative Universe

Today’s Day By Day cartoon imagines how Memorial Day in Iraq might be covered in the news media; click to enlarge: To commment on this post, go here. »