Monthly Archives: April 2011

April 26, 2011 — Steven Hayward

Where’s St. Al?

If you want still more indicators that environmentalism is totally passé, look no further than Time magazine’s current issue featuring their latest draft picks of the World’s Most 100 Influential People. If climate change is, as Al Gore (and legions of others) claims, the greatest threat facing mankind evah, why isn’t he on the list somewhere? Or Rajendra Pachauri, the head of the UN’s climate circus? No Amory Lovins? No »
April 26, 2011 — Scott Johnson

If only Obama knew!

Over at Contentions, the sagacious Max Boot goes to the tape emanating from Syria: A friend sent me a link to this clip on YouTube, which apparently shows Syrian security forces shooting down peaceful demonstrators. It takes a strong stomach to watch this–it is not for the faint of heart. The sights of protesters, some of them little more than children, awash in blood is beyond revolting. I admit that »
April 26, 2011 — Scott Johnson

The ultimate ally

Michael Oren combines his expertise as a historian and his work as Israel’s ambassador to the United States in “The Ultimate Ally.” Drawing on his own Power, Faith, and Fantasy: America in the Middle East: 1776 to the Present, Oren demonstrates the deep roots of America’s attachment to Israel. Providing a powerful response to the realist critique of American support for Israel, Oren’s essay also highlights some unfamiliar details, such »
April 26, 2011 — Scott Johnson

How high the moon?

Reader David White reminds me that yesterday was the anniversary of the birth of Ella Fitzgerald. You think the fact that I blew it might cause me to skip the tribute this year? Not a chance. The lady was a remarkable artist. Each period of her long career is rewarding, though she deepened her art as she got older. She excelled in a wide variety of material and in every »
April 25, 2011 — John Hinderaker

Obama Blows Off Easter

Liberals often express dismay over the fact that a significant minority of Americans believe that President Obama is a Muslim–or tell pollsters they do, anyway. On a recent television special, Cokie Roberts and her husband Steve explained that those who say Obama is a Muslim are really racists. I don’t think Obama is a Muslim, but I can understand why many Americans are uncertain about his core beliefs. This year, »
April 25, 2011 — John Hinderaker

The Left Politicizes the Practice of Law

One of the saddest stories in the news today is King & Spalding’s withdrawal, after only a week, from its representation of the U.S. House of Representatives in connection with the Defense of Marriage Act. In February, Barack Obama’s Department of Justice announced that it would not carry out its constitutional and statutory duty of defending the Defense of Marriage Act in federal court. This itself was disgraceful: DOMA was »
April 25, 2011 — Scott Johnson

Gangster Government, part MCCLIX

Over the weekend in part MCCLVII of this series we noted the PJM report that the Obama administration is circulating the draft of an executive order. The executive order would implement parts of the DISCLOSE Act by executive fiat, requiring the disclosure of “political spending” by the officers and directors of government contratctors (as well as their subsidiaries and affiliates). PJM posted the draft order here. This morning NRO voices »
April 25, 2011 — Scott Johnson

Another Passover massacre (bumped)

Just in time for Passover this year, Omri Ceren reminded us, the Palestinian Authority honored the terrorist mastermind responsible for the “Passover Massacre” a terrorist atrocity which claimed the lives of 30 innocent Israeli citizens at Netanya’s Park Hotel on March 27, 2002. On March 28 the Palestinian Authority Minister of Prisoners’ Affairs visited the family of Hamas suicide-bomb mastermind Abbas Al-Sayed, awarding them with an official, festive plaque, in »
April 25, 2011 — Scott Johnson

Gangster Government, part MCCLVIII

Michael Barone first diagnosed the Obama administration’s practice of Gangster Government in a May 2009 column on the Chrysler bankruptcy. “We have just seen an episode of Gangster Government,” Barone wrote. He added: “It is likely to be part of a continuing series.” He certainly had that right. He has updated his original column a few times, once to note the series’ long-running nature and once to note the contribution »
April 24, 2011 — John Hinderaker

Sleepwalking Toward Disaster

In the Telegraph, Liam Halligan, chief economist at Prosperity Capital Management, writes: America appears to be sleepwalking towards disaster – does no one care? There is now, according to S&P, “at least a one in three chance” that American debt will be downgraded from its top-notch status over the next two years – which would be a first in modern times. A New York Times/CBS News opinion poll has also »
April 24, 2011 — John Hinderaker

Zombie Time

President Obama spent last week doing the one thing he is really good at: raising money. The good news for the president is that the Bay Area is a gold mine for fundraising; the bad news is that Zombie lives there. She figured out the president’s itinerary and recorded his visit to San Francisco; you can see the photos here. Zombie also posted this video, made by a Tea Party »
April 24, 2011 — John Hinderaker

Evolution

A year ago, the conventional wisdom about Barack Obama was: a nice guy, but a weak president. That has been evolving, I think. The emerging conventional wisdom is: an awful president, and not that nice a guy, either. Not a great position from which to run for re-election next year. »
April 24, 2011 — John Hinderaker

Happy Easter…

…to our Christian readers and friends! We survived the annual Easter egg hunt on Friday, which was moved indoors due to inclement weather, and now it’s off to church. If Easter is here, can spring be far behind? »
April 24, 2011 — Scott Johnson

Gangster Government, part MCCLVII

Last week Hans von Spakovsky reported at PJM that the Obama administration is circulating the draft of an executive order for comments from several government agencies. Titled “Disclosure of Political Spending By Government Contractors,” it represents the Obama administration’s attempt to implement by executive fiat portions of the DISCLOSE Act as to federal contractors. As von Spakovsky explains, the executive order would require companies to delve into the personal political »
April 24, 2011 — Scott Johnson

A memory of William Rusher

William A. Rusher was the publisher of National Review from 1957 through the magazine’s glory years. He died on April 16. In his honor NRO has posted a fitting set of reminiscences along with an editorial, a column by Deroy Murdock, and an old toast by William Buckley. I met Mr. Rusher over lunch on August 6, 2005, at a Claremont Institute conference in Aspen. I want only to add »
April 23, 2011 — John Hinderaker

More White House Demagoguery on Gas Prices

Spooked by the rising price of gasoline, the Obama administration has responded in its usual fashion: not by trying to solve the problem, but by looking for someone to demonize. We wrote last night about Obama’s attack on “speculators;” he has seen political advantage in going after America’s oil companies, too: President Obama lashed out at oil companies — and the tax breaks they get from the government — for »
April 23, 2011 — Steven Hayward

Happy Earth Day (Final Installment)

A commenter on a previous installment of my Earth Day series here offers a challenge that I hear a lot in various forms: I’ve been a social and fiscal conservative for as long as I can remember. One thing I don’t understand about my fellow conservatives is their contempt for environmental protection and those that support such protections. It seems to me that conserving the environment would be a significant »