Monthly Archives: June 2010

A tribute to the Dartmouth faculty

During graduation weekend at Dartmouth, Peter Robinson, in his capacity as a Trustee, attended a dinner with the 50-year reunion class — the Class of 1960. What struck him most, Peter told me, was the extent to which the talk centered around professors these alums had taken classes from 50 years or more ago. This report is consistent with my Dartmouth experience, which began less than a decade later. At »

A reckless, graceless exit

Over the weekend, I read that the Senate Armed Services Committee decided to cut $1 billion from the aid the Obama administration requested for Iraq during that country’s period of transition to a new government. The cuts extend to funding for security forces. They seem absurd under the present circumstances. With the number of U.S. troops in Iraq to be halved this summer, just as Iraq is trying to form »

More world cup questions

How does one pick sides in a dispute between French coach Raymond Domenech and French forward Nicolas Anelka — both colossal jerks? If Italy fails to qualify for the next round of play, who will miss them, and why? Has any defender in the tournament so far had a better game than Ryan Nelson (ex-Stanford, ex-DC United) had against Italy on Sunday? Wouldn’t it be cool if other players followed »

The Law of Supply and Demand Strikes the Law Business

Actually, it struck a while ago. But now it is affecting law schools in ways that have become embarrassingly transparent: One day next month every student at Loyola Law School Los Angeles will awake to a higher grade point average. But it’s not because they are all working harder. The school is retroactively inflating its grades, tacking on 0.333 to every grade recorded in the last few years. The goal »

MSNBC, Joke Network

This really has to be seen to be believed. We all know that MSNBC–Chris Matthews, Rachel Maddow, etc.–is in the tank for the Obama administration, but I think this is the first time an on-air MSNBC personality has confessed to “working with the White House” on talking points; here, regarding the Gulf oil spill. The MSNBC employee in question is Mika Brzezinski, the daughter of Jimmy Carter’s national security adviser. »

Obmacare: Americans Hate it, But Are Some Getting Resigned?

It’s interesting to follow the poll data on the Democrats’ health care takeover. This chart, from Rasmussen Reports, sums it up well; it shows the percentages that favor and oppose repeal of Obamacare: The trend is pretty obvious. Enthusiasm for repealing government health care peaked in May, and since then has declined by eight points. But that high number–63 percent–could be an outlier, and Americans still favor repeal by a »

An Ineffective Thug

It was Michael Barone who first used the phrase “gangster government” to refer to the Obama administration’s lawlessness. Today he expands on that thought, describing the administration’s actions in the Gulf as “ineffective thuggery.” Thuggery is unattractive. Ineffective thuggery even more so. Which may be one reason so many Americans have been reacting negatively to the response of Barack Obama and his administration to BP’s gulf oil spill. Barone offers »

Good News and Bad

Eleven American warships and one Israeli vessel reportedly have passed through the Suez Canal on their way to the eastern Mediterranean: International agreements require Egypt to keep the Suez open even for warships, but the armada, led by the USS Truman with 5,000 sailors and marines, was the largest in years. Egypt closed the canal to fishing and other boats as the armada moved through the strategic passageway that connects »

Quite a cross to bear

For those soccer fans who may be wondering, the cute little girl in that World Cup commercial with all the names was named after the players and coaches of an old Liverpool team. Her friends call her “Red Shite” for short. »

Something Good About Barack Obama

I look for opportunities to praise President Obama, really I do, but they arise very seldom. Today, however, it’s hats off to our President. Why? On Friday, he attended the Washington Nationals-Chicago White Sox game in D.C. to see rookie phenom Stephen Strasburg pitch. (The White Sox are Obama’s favorite team, supposedly; he claims to have fond memories of “Cominskey Field.”) At some point, Nationals fans started doing the dreaded »

America, the weak horse by choice

Osama bin Laden famously said that “when people see a strong horse and a weak horse, by nature they will like the strong horse.” The truth of that statement depends on which meaning of the word “like” is being employed. People may not like the strong horse in the sense of feeling kindly disposed towards it. But they will tend to like that horse in the sense of backing it. »

A Father’s Day Story

Tomorrow, Scott’s family and mine will celebrate Father’s Day together. The Minneapolis Star Tribune’s Jon Tevlin tells the story of a father, Wes Michaels, who didn’t make it to the holiday. On Thursday, tornadoes swept through Minnesota. One of them hit the town of Mentor and destroyed this gas station where Michaels’ daughter was working: Tevlin writes: [W]hen he saw on the television that tornadoes were forming in the area, »

The Battle of New Orleans, Take 2

One of Mark Steyn’s less towering gifts is his knack for doggerel. This is how he sums up President Obama’s Oval Office speech on the Gulf oil disaster: “I fired off a speech/But the British kept a-spillin’/Twice as many barrels as there was a month ago/I fired off a speech/But the British kept a-spillin’/Up the Mississippi from the Gulf of Mexico …” Read it all here. »

Obama administration speaks with forked tongue

The anti-Obama ads for the 2012 campaign are beginning to write themselves. During the debate over Obamacare, the president insisted that the requirement to purchase health insurance, and the imposition of a penalty for not purchasing it, does not constitute a tax. Here he is doing so (see around 3:20 and 4:00) and, when challenged, suggesting that it’s somehow unfair to apply the dictionary definition of “tax” (see around 5:00)!: »

The MoveOn/Hamas Nexus

Ken Timmerman highlights the unholy alliance between the Left and Muslim extremists: An American communications firm best known for shaping the liberal Moveon.org into a national movement has tackled a new project: orchestrating an international anti-Israel campaign aimed at breaking the blockade of the Gaza strip. Fenton Communications, which has offices in Washington, D.C., New York, and San Francisco, signed two contracts last year with Qatar to develop “a communications »

Two more World Cup questions

Who were those two donkeys impersonating Wayne Rooney and Steven Gerrard yersterday in England’s match against Algeria? Am I the only one who thought Rooney was the worst player on the field for either team yesterday? UPDATE: The answer to the second question is: No. The prestigious German soccer magazine Kicker gave Rooney a lower rating than anyone else who played in that match. JOHN wonders: How do you identify »

The impoltance of being earnest

The White House has posted (but apparently not proofread too carefully) a copy of the president’s letter to G-20 leaders. Among the letter’s gems as posted are this one: For our part, we will pursue measures to SUppOit the recovery in private demand and return the unemployed to work. And this one: At the same time, we recognize the impoltance of setting a credible medium-term fiscal path: that is why »