Monthly Archives: July 2010

Sherrod vs. Breitbart?

Shirley Sherrod claims that she “definitely” will sue Andrew Breitbart for posting the famous video clip of her addressing an NAACP group on his Big Government site. “He had to know that he was targeting me,” she says. It isn’t clear what Ms. Sherrod intends to sue Breitbart for; some variety of defamation, presumably. It seems inconceivable that she could survive summary judgment under the actual malice standard that would »

The Firm: A word from Gary Bruce

Professor Gary Bruce is Chairman of the Department of History at the University of Waterloo in Waterloo, Ontario. He is also the author of The Firm: The Inside Story of the Stasi, published earlier this month by Oxford University Press. Based on previously classified documents and on interviews with former secret police officers and ordinary citizens, The Firm is the first comprehensive history of East Germany’s secret police at the »

The Delaware conundrum

The stakes are high in the Delaware Senate race to serve out Joe Biden’s term; the victor will be eligible to serve upon election and thus will participate in the lame duck session. The choice for Republican voters, between Rep. Mike Castle and insurgent candidate Christie O’Donnell, presents a conundrum for conservatives. Castle is an immensely popular figure in Delaware. In 2008, when Barack Obama carried the state by a »

An open letter to Mayor Bloomberg

Cliff May has written an open letter to Mayor Bloomberg regarding the proposal to build an Islamic center two blocks from the former location of the World Trade Center, and on the site of a building damaged by the 9/11 attack. Cliff’s letter avoids unsupported accusations that those who want to build the Islamic center wish to celebrate the 9/11 attacks. He focuses instead on the valid, and sufficient, reasons »

The Arizona immigration case ruling — my first take

I’m not an expert on the law of federal preemption. For what it’s worth, however, I don’t believe Judge Bolton got the preemption issues right today when she granted a preliminary injunction blocking key portions of Arizona’s new immigration enforcement law. There are a number of issues and sub-issues in her ruling. The most important one, I think, is her finding that certain provisions of the law dealing with the »

Silence of the Sheep

Andrew Klavan wrote a book called Empire of Lies. It was slated to be published in France by Seuil Policiers, but the editor who bought the book left that firm, and the new editor decided not to publish Klavan’s book. This wasn’t because she thought it wouldn’t sell; it wasn’t an economic decision at all, as Klavan had already been paid. Rather, the editor explained that “she can not publish »

A Thumping In Store for Democrats?

Earlier today, Paul reviewed breakdowns of poll data in individual races to assess the likelihood of the Democrats losing control of the House in November. Michael Barone takes a macro-view of the election, and arrives at an optimistic conclusion: “House Democrats head for a thumping at the polls.” [T]ake a look at the generic ballot question — which party’s candidate will you vote for in elections to the House? The »

Annals of Government Medicine

In the United Kingdom, decentralization of the National Health System is being planned in response to widespread revulsion with rising costs and lousy health care. The latest case in point: Babies died after junior surgeon left to cope on his own. Four babies died at an NHS heart unit where managers were trying to raise the number of patients being treated in order to avoid closure, according to a damning »

Feds obtain injunction against Arizona immigration law

A federal judge in Arizona has issued a preliminary injunction blocking key enforcement provisions of the new Arizona immigration law from taking effect until the legality of these provisions is fully litigated. The judge, Susan Bolton (a Clinton appointee), found that the Justice Department’s preemption argument is likely to prevail at trial. I haven’t had time to analyze the opinion. Andy McCarthy has, and finds it unpersuasive . It’s clear »

A demotion for Nancy Pelosi? Part One

I’ve been surfing around various political websites trying to get a feel for the race for a majority in the House of Representatives. Larry Sabato’s breakdown is interesting because as of July 8 he has 13 Democratic-held seats leaning Republican and 26 Democratic-held seats rated a toss-up. If the Republicans were to win all of these seats, they would pick up the 39 needed to control the House. They would »

David Cameron goes full idiot

According to British Prime Minister David Cameron’s speech in Ankara this week, Gaza is a prison camp and Israel is the jailer. Barry Rubin assesses what Cameron has wrought in “In speech to Turkey, PM David Cameron goes full idiot.” I’m not sure how far Cameron had to go to get there, but Rubin makes a persuasive case that he has arrived. At full idiocy, that is. Rubin reflects: “It »

An old argument revisited

Reading the scholarly work of Woodrow Wilson is an educational experience. It is shocking to read the expressions of his disaffection for the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States. As R.J. Pestritto has demonstrated, the intellectual roots of modern liberalism lie in an assault on the ideas of natural rights and limited government. They eventuate in an administrative state and rule by supposed experts. Obamacare represents »

Why Lilly Ledbetter should quit while she’s behind

Earlier this month, I reported on the destruction during the Kagan hearings of the Democrats’ attempt to use Lilly Ledbetter to attack the Roberts court as “activist.” Ledbetter appeared as a witness to argue that the decision in her case left plaintiffs who don’t discover concealed discrimination for many years unable to overcome the statute of limitations defense, and thus unable to remedy wrongdoing. Ed Whelan and Robert Alt shredded »

Barney behaves badly

From the New York Post: Massachusetts Congressman Barney Frank caused a scene when he demanded a $1 senior discount on his ferry fare to Fire Island’s popular gay haunt, The Pines, last Friday. Frank was turned down by ticket clerks at the dock in Sayville because he didn’t have the required Suffolk County Senior Citizens ID. A witness reports, “Frank made such a drama over the senior rate that I »

Radical-in-chief

Stanley Kurtz’s political biography of Barack Obama — Radical-in-Chief: Barack Obama and the Untold Story of American Socialism — is set for publication in October. Here, in part, is how the press release describes the book: Part biography, part history, part detective story, RADICAL-IN-CHIEF reveals the carefully hidden tale of Barack Obama’s political past. Stanley Kurtz, whose research helped inject the Bill Ayers and ACORN issues into the 2008 presidential »

What is Mr. Times saying?

In the Political Times article the Sunday before last, New York Times reporter Matt Bai regurgitated the hardy but convenient lie about the Tea Party movement: The question of racism in the amorphous Tea Party movement is, of course, a serious one, since so much of the Republican Party seems to be in the thrall of its activists. There have been scattered reports around the country of racially charged rhetoric »

Athwart History: A word from Roger Kimball

Today is the publication date of Athwart History: Half a Century of Polemics, Animadversions, and Illuminations: A William F. Buckley Jr. Omnibus. Edited by Linda Bridges and Roger Kimball, the book compiles some of Buckley’s most notable columns and occasional pieces. Bridges is the former managing editor of National Review; Roger is the co-editor of the New Criterion, publisher of Encounter Books and proprietor of Roger’s Rules. William Buckley was »