Monthly Archives: June 2008

L’Affaire Enderlin

Charles Enderlin is the France 2 Jerusalem correspondent who broadcast the incendiary account of the death of 12-year-old Muhammad al-Dura at the hands of Israeli troops operating in the Gaza Strip in September 2000. Based on film footage provided by a Palestinian cameraman, Enderlin’s report has become infamous among students of Arab propaganda both for its destructive effects and for its probable falsity. The al-Dura affair now bids to join »

Delahunt’s disgrace

Here is the exchange between Rep. William Delahunt (D, Mass.) and Cheney chief of staff David Addington at the House committee hearing broadcast live on C-SPAN on Thursday as accurately recounted by CNN: Delahunt asked repeatedly whether the topic of waterboarding, a controversial interrogation technique that simulates drowning, ever came up. Addington replied that he could not discuss that because “al Qaeda may watch C-SPAN.” “Right,” Delahunt responded. “Well, I’m »

Silk vs. Steel, the winners’ bracket

Spain rolled past Russia yesterday 3-0 to reach the final of Euro 2008. They will face Germany on Sunday. There’s surprisingly little recent history of big matches between these two teams, but Germany has a history of winning big matches and Spain of losing them. You can make a case for both teams, and I think I will: The case for Germany. It’s a big match, and they are the »

Iraq and Germany

Max Boot takes Andrew Sullivan and Josh Marshall to school in a brilliant post. Boot had drawn analogies between Germany and Iraq, and the liberals attacked him for it. Boot responds masterfully. You should read it all; here are a few highlights: Needless to say, I wasn’t denying the substantial differences between the two historical situations. I brought up the analogy only in a very limited context–to demonstrate what I »

The farce continues, Part Three

John and Scott have already noted and commented upon the statement of Rep. Bill Delahunt (D-Mass.) to David Addington during a televised congressional hearing that he was “glad [al-Qaeda] finally have a chance to see you.” I’ll limit my comments to the coverage of this extraordinary statement by the Washington Post. That coverage was limited. The partisan Dan Eggen, who did the primary reporting on the hearing for the Post, »

The Face of Evil

In Pakistan today, just across the border from Afghanistan, Taliban goons got their hands on two Afghans who they claimed had collaborated in a Predator strike on a Taliban house across the border in Pakistan. It isn’t clear from this news account whether the Taliban kidnapped the victims from Afghanistan. In any event, loudspeakers in mosques called the faithful to witness the brutality that was to follow. A crowd estimated »

Let McCain be McCain, up to a point

Peggy Noonan argues that John McCain needs to be himself, his old self — the one who charmed the boys on the bus in 2000. Noonan may overestimate the extent to which McCain can match that charm in the context of a race in which the opponent is Barack Obama, not George Bush. Nonetheless, I think her prescription is correct. As I keep saying, McCain cannot win this year unless »

Second Thoughts About Socialism

Claude Castonguay is the father of socialized medicine in Canada. In the 1960s, he chaired a Quebec commission whose recommendation of a government-run health care system for that province was adopted, and quickly spread to the rest of the country. Now, after forty years of experience with socialized medicine, Castonguay has changed his mind: Four decades later, as the chairman of a government committee reviewing Quebec health care this year, »

The farce continues, part 2

Last night in “The farce continues” John Hinderaker wrote about the interrogation of Cheney chief of staff David Addington by Rep. William Delahunt (D, Mass.). In the course of the hearing at which Addington appeared, Rep. Delahunt said to Addington that, with C-SPAN’s broadcast of the hearing: “I’m sure they [al Qaeda] are watching, and I’m glad they finally have a chance to see you, Mr. Addington, given your penchant »

The real Obama

Running in the Democratic primaries, Barack Obama staked his campaign on the proposition that he was the Ivory Soap candidate on the issue of Iraq. His opposition to the war was purer than the rest of the Democratic field’s. Having been an Illinois state legislator at the time the roll was called in the United States Senate, he had not cast a vote to authorize it. Free of the encumbrance »

Save the Last Dance For Me

Today is the anniversary of the birth of the great pop songwriter Doc Pomus (Jerome Felder). Pomus was one of the true characters of the Brill Building era of pop songwriting. Together with his partner Mort Shuman, he wrote hit songs for a long list of artists including Elvis, Ray Charles, Dion and the Belmonts, and the Drifters. The Doc Pomus site includes a good biography and list of song »

The Farce Continues

The farce, that is, of Democratic control of Congress. I suspect that most Americans don’t know that the Democrats have been in control of that institution for the last year and a half; otherwise, their enthusiasm for electing more Democrats would be considerably muted. Today the Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties held yet another hearing on the subject of terrorist »

Debating the death penalty

Earlier this week, in Kennedy v. Louisiana, the Supreme Court held that the Eighth Amendment bars Louisiana from imposing the death penalty for the rape of a child. With attention once again focused on the death penalty, readers may find this online debate, hosted by the Federalist Society, of interest. One of the particpants is my friend Bill Otis, an occasional Power Line contributor. John and I reflected on the »

Two girls for every goal

It’s not quite what Jan and Dean described in “Surf City,” but that’s the offer “socialite” Pyotr Listerman is making to Russia’s players ahead of today’s Euro 2008 semi-final match against Spain. “For each goal, I’ll present two beautiful chicks” to the scorer, Listerman promises. To comment on this post go here. »

Guns’n’Poses

Barack Obama now poses as a moderate on the 2nd Amendment, in the news today because of the Heller decision which Paul notes below. In fact, however, Obama has a long history as an enthusiastic supporter of gun control and a virulent opponent of handgun ownership. The RNC has collected a wealth of information on Obama’s positions and statements on the right to bear arms here. Obama supported the D.C. »

D.C’s handgun ban found unconstitutional

By a 5-4 majority (the four liberals in dissent), the Supreme Court ruled that the the District of Columbia’s handgun ban and trigger-lock requirement violate the Second Amendment. The majority held (in an opinion written by Justice Scalia) that the total ban on handgun possession prohibits an entire class of arms that Americans overwhelmingly choose for the lawful purpose of self-defense. Under any standard of scrutiny, that ban falls. My »

Reflections on a one-sided match

Yesterday’s Euro 2008 semi-final between Germany and Turkey produced another thriller, though most of the worldwide audience (including me) missed much of the drama due to a blackout of the television feed. The Turks scored to equalize the match in the 85th minute, making this the fourth match in a row where they had performed such late heroics. However, Germany scored the winning goal just two minutes later. Here are »