Monthly Archives: June 2008

June 22, 2008 — Scott Johnson

Bob Dylan’s day job

For the past two years, Bob Dylan has been holding court on XM Satellite Radio on his “Theme Time Radio” show. If you enjoy American popular music, the show is both entertaining and educational. Listening to the show, I have thought that Dylan must have help with both the writing and the play list, but Terry Teachout seems to think that Dylan is responsible for both. Teachout describes the premise »

June 22, 2008 — Scott Johnson

And now, Barack Delano Obama

Reader R.D. Terrell gives us a preview of what to expect this week from the Obama campaign following the rollout of the Great Seal of the United States of Obamerica last week. The nifty Latin motto on the Great Seal is “Vero Possumus,” meaning “In truth, we are able,” or “Yes, we can.” Yesterday I proposed something more along the lines of “Obamanum Credimus,” meaning “We believe in Obama.” Deliberating »

June 21, 2008 — Paul Mirengoff

Silk’s revenge?

In European soccer, steel usually prevails over silk, and that was the case in Thursday’s quarterfinal match between Germany and Portugal. Tomorrow, silk gets a rematch when Spain takes on Italy in the last quarterfinal. The omens are so good for Italy that it almost seems like we’ve seen them win this match before. Beyond the fact that the “hard” team, here Italy, usually comes out on top, Spain has »

June 21, 2008 — John Hinderaker

June Polls: How Significant?

The London Times notes Barack Obama’s current lead in the polls, but says the Democrats shouldn’t get complacent. Of the last five Presidential elections, only once has the candidate who was leading the polls in June won the popular vote. The Times points out the familiar precedent of Michael Dukakis, who led then-Vice President Bush by an average of 8% in the June 1988 polls, but went on to be »

June 21, 2008 — Paul Mirengoff

The rule change that saved soccer

Soccer is famous for producing 0-0, 1-0, and 1-1 results. But If one checks the scores from World Cup and European club championship finals in the 1950s and early 1960s, one finds no shortage of high scoring matches (e.g., Real Madrid 4 – Reims 3; Real Madrid 7 – Frankfurt 3; Benefica 5 – Real Madrid 3; West Germany 3 – Hungary 2; Brazil 5- Sweden 2). The low scoring »

June 21, 2008 — Paul Mirengoff

Know thy enemy, or at least acknowledge him

Raymond Ibrahim, writing on Victor Davis Hanson’s website, laments that our Defense Department does not teach, and along with the State Department appears not fully to appreciate, well-documented Islamist strategies of warfare. Ibrahim notes that the senior Service college of the Department of Defense has not incorporated into its curriculum a systematic study of Muhammad as a military or political leader. As a consequence, he argues, “we still do not »

June 21, 2008 — Paul Mirengoff

Opportunism knocks, Part (I forget how many)

Barack Obama will support the FISA re-write that, though labeled a compromise, is actually a victory for President Bush and the telecommunications industry. As the Washington Post acknowledges, this amounts to a reversal of position for Obama. It follows on the heels of his reversal of position on accepting public funding of his presidential campaign. In both cases, Obama has made the smart move, while confirming that he is not »

June 21, 2008 — John Hinderaker

Speculation

Some Democrats (and others, including the Saudis) have muttered darkly that the current high price of oil is caused by “speculators” who are driving the price up. Today in Saudi Arabia, U.S. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman rejected that theory, pointing out that production has failed to keep up with rising demand, especially from India and China. It would be a wonderful thing, of course, if the current price spike were »

June 21, 2008 — John Hinderaker

Bush Calls Out the Dems

In his radio address this morning, President Bush went after the Democrats on energy: The fundamental problem behind high gas prices is that the supply of oil has not kept up with the rising demand across the world. One obvious solution is for America to increase our domestic oil production. So my Administration has repeatedly called on Congress to open access to new oil exploration here in the United States. »

June 21, 2008 — Scott Johnson

A Well Respected Man

Ray Davies is the songwriting genius who led the Kinks during the heyday of the British Invasion. Today is his birthday. He held the Kinks together for a long time, through some famously nasty spats with his brother and lead guitarist Dave as well as other members of the band. After a string of hits and a bona fide classic or two such as “Waterloo Sunset,” the Kinks fell from »

June 21, 2008 — Scott Johnson

The Great Seal of Barack Obama

Yesterday Barack Obama rolled out his very own seal. The New York Daily News reports the comments of the Obama and McCain campaigns in “Barack Obama appears with personalized presidential seal.” As the Daily News notes, the Seal of Barack Obama bears an uncanny resemblance to the presidential seal, though it incorporates the Obama campaign graphic and a nifty new Latin motto: “Vero Possumus.” Andrew Malcolm helps with the translation »

June 20, 2008 — Paul Mirengoff

Don’t go changing

I’ve been arguing in favor of drilling in ANWR pretty much since I started writing for Power Line. Before that, I was urging my daughters to argue that side of the question at high school debate tournaments. John McCain’s line that he doesn’t want to drill in the Grand Canyon or in ANWR (both are “pristine,” you see) is perhaps the most egregious of the various non-sequiturs he’s come up »