Monthly Archives: December 2008

“A Scam, With No Basis In Science”

Our friend William Katz has been corresponding with physicist and mathematician Frank Tipler at Urgent Agenda on the subject of global warming. A few excerpts from Professor Tipler’s letter to Katz: As regards global warming, my view is essentially the same as yours: Anthropogenic Global Warming (AGW) is a scam, with no basis in science. It is obvious that anthropogenic global warming is not science at all, because a scientific »

Friendless in Gaza, part 2

Dan Diker is a foreign policy analyst with the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs. He has filed the following report with us: Israel has launched with great precision what Israeli media are calling a “shock and awe” campaign against strategic bases, command centers and weapons depots belonging to surprised Iranian-backed Hamas forces. According to local news reports, more than 100 IDF warplanes hit 150 Hamas military targets with 98 percent »

Friendless In Gaza

It’s interesting to see how little sympathy Hamas is getting from its presumed friends in the Arab world. The Jerusalem Post reports: Hamas could have prevented the “massacre” in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said Sunday in Cairo. “We spoke to them and told them ‘Please, we ask you not to end the cease-fire. Let it continue,'” Abbas said during a joint press conference with Egyptian Foreign »

The Times in 2005

Michelle Malkin is responsible for several good columns this year, but none better than her year-end wrap on the New York Times: “The New York Times vs. America.” In a column that takes care of my anger management therapy for the week, Michelle dubs the Times “the nation’s Idiotarian newspaper of record.” I think the Times also deserves recognition as such for its coverage this month of the NSA terrorist »

Calling Hamas, part 2

Haaretz carries an informative account of the planning that went into Israel’s current offensive (Operation Cast Lead) in Gaza. Haaretz’s account emphasizes the intelligence-gathering underlying the operation: [Defense Minister Ehud] Barak gave orders to carry out a comprehensive intelligence-gathering drive which sought to map out Hamas’ security infrastructure, along with that of other militant organizations operating in the Strip. This intelligence-gathering effort brought back information about permanent bases, weapon silos, »

2 + 2 = 4

Raul Castro talks economic sense: Cuban President Raul Castro called on Saturday for austerity measures including fewer subsidies for workers and stricter management to pull the country out of an economic morass aggravated this year by three hurricanes and the global financial crisis. … “The accounts don’t square up,” he said. “You have to act with realism and adjust the dreams to the true possibilities,” said Castro…. “Two plus two »

Can Israel deny Hamas the “victory” Hezbollah obtained?

Noah Pollak looks at Israel’s counter-attack on Hamas in Gaza through the lens of its 2006 war with Hezbollah in Lebanon. That war was widely perceived as a failure for Israel because of Hezbollah’s success in thwarting Israel from accomplishing the objectives the government announced at the beginning of the war, and its ability to maintain a consistent level of rocket fire throughout the war. Pollak argues that Hamas will »

More of a nag than an ally

Yesterday, Hamas ended its “cease-fire” with Israel and launched new missile attacks from the Gaza Strip against Israel. One of its rockets fell short of its Israeli target and killed two Palestinian sisters, ages five and thirteen. Israel, having finally had enough of Hamas’ attacks, retaliated. Its counter-attack is reportedly vigorous, but was preceded, as usual, by warnings intended to minimize civilian casualites. Unfortunately, it is questionable whether this goal »

Ask not what you can do for New York. . .

It turns out that Caroline Kennedy failed to vote in numerous elections since she registered to vote in New York City in 1988. For example, she managed to skip the primary races for mayor in 1989, 1993, 1997, and 2005. She also missed both the primary and general elections in 1994, when Sen. Daniel Moynihan was running for reelection to the seat Kennedy hopes to fill. In all, Kennedy apparently »

Smoking new and old

Andrew Ferguson explains that “obesity is the new smoking.” Christopher Caldwell documents the continuing obsession with the old smoking. I wonder, however, if obesity will ever give rise to a book such as Richard Klein’s Cigarettes are Sublime. To comment on this post, go here. »

TR and the roots of modern liberalism

Ronald J. Pestritto teaches politics at Hillsdale College and is the author of Woodrow Wilson and the Roots of Modern Liberalism. I learned as much about American politics from Pestritto’s book as any book I’ve read in the past ten years. I commented at some length on the book here and here, drawing from my remarks on it at a 2005 Claremont Institute panel devoted to the book. Although Wilson »

Calling Hamas

Yesterday we took a look at the impending Israeli offensive in Gaza in “Hamas calling.” We linked to an illuminating Haaretz article observing the likelihood “that the air force will still have a central role to play in any Israeli offensive.” Today the IDF Air Force commenced the anticipated air strikes. The AP report is here (“Hamas officials said all of Gaza’s security compounds were destroyed”) and the Reuters report »

Calling Hamas

Yesterday we took a look at the impending Israeli offensive in Gaza in “Hamas calling.” We linked to an illuminating Haaretz article observing the likelihood “that the air force will still have a central role to play in any Israeli offensive.” Today the IDF Air Force commenced the anticipated air strikes. The AP report is here (“Hamas officials said all of Gaza’s security compounds were destroyed”) and the Reuters report »

The EPL at the half-way mark

Today, the English Premier League season reached the half-way point with the Boxing Day matches. Everton won its seventh away match, defeating Middlesbrough 1-0. Tim Cahill was the hero once again, forcing home what Soccernet called “the scrappiest of winners” in the 50th minute. Everton sits in sixth place, only three points (one win) behind Arsenal and six points behind Aston Villa and a Champion’s League place. This is remarkable »

It’s Not Too Late To Vote

No, I’m not talking about the Minnesota Senate election; if you live in Minnesota and didn’t vote in that one, you’ve probably been kicking yourself for a while now. I mean the annual selection by the First Team of the Northern Alliance Radio Network of the Loon of the Year. Every week, except when we don’t get around to it, we play an audio clip by some goofball liberal whom »

The Ambassador from People Magazine

Steve Clemons serves up a strong late entry for silliest idea of the year, urging that Caroline Kennedy be named the U.S. Ambassador to England. Kennedy is even less qualified for that job than she is for the Senate, having no background in foreign policy and no diplomatic experience. To be sure, this is true of many who are appointed ambassador, but they typically (though, unfortunately, not always) are sent »

I’m With Hugh On This One

Hugh Hewitt praised Barack Obama for meeting with Marines while he is in Hawaii: Glenn Reynolds, however, links to an ABC News account suggesting that the Marines gave Obama a lukewarm reception, and notes that Obama ate Christmas dinner with family and friends at the beach house where he is vacationing, not with the Marines. I don’t doubt that Obama comes from an anti-military background, much like Bill Clinton, who »