Monthly Archives: April 2011

Who Could Forget the Hinderaker-Ward Experience?

Oops, I could: I forgot to post Episode 6, which Brian and I recorded a few days ago. It was fun: You can listen to the podcast by playing it right here, or you can go here to download or subscribe to the podcast in various ways, or you can hit the subscribe button in the graphic above to subscribe on iTunes or elsewhere. Or you can use Stitcher. There »

The Lawyer Left

The legal profession was once one of the pillars of the Republican Party, but that began to change when people figured out that endless government regulation is good for the law business. Now, while there are plenty of conservative lawyers, like us, the profession as a whole definitely tilts to the left. Andrew McCarthy takes on the Lawyer Left in National Review, specifically in the context of King & Spalding’s »

“Weather is Not Climate Unless People Die”

Further to John’s post below about how Think Panic, I mean, Think Progress, immediately defaulted to global warming as the certain explanation of the recent tornado outbreak, it is worth noting Roger Piekle Jrs’ blog post about this issue, “Weather Is Not Climate Unless People Die.” I’ve mentioned Roger here on Power Line before for his unique role as an honest scientist; he believes in the global warming hypothesis, thinks »

The Circle Game

Tom Rush is a giant of the sixties folk revival. As such, he is a peer of Bob Dylan, Eric Andersen, and Judy Collins. Rush is coming to the Twin Cities next Saturday for a rare appearance at the Cedar Cultural Center (buy tickets here) before an appearance in Chicago on Sunday. I want to bring these shows as well as Rush’s upcoming appearances elsewhere to the attention of Power »

A Tornado Engulfs the White House

Tornadoes are in the news these days, sadly. Michael Ramirez uses this most destructive of weather events as a metaphor for the disaster that has overwhelmed the Obama administration, as a result of its own misguided policies. Click to enlarge: »

Dems Are Getting Nervous About the Budget

With Congress in recess, members have been talking to their constituents about the budget. The press has tried to create the impression that voters are opposed to the Ryan budget and angry that Republicans don’t want to keep the Ponzi scheme going for a few more years until it crashes. The contrast is striking: when voters were, in fact, irate with Democrats a couple of years ago, the media tried »

Heh

Rand Paul has a great idea: “I’ve come to New Hampshire today because I’m very concerned,” said Paul, according to The New York Times. “I want to see the original long-form certificate of Donald Trump’s Republican registration.” An excellent way to make the point. Donald Trump has no history as a Republican. In the past, he has contributed mainly to Democrats. He was as bitter a critic of President Bush »

Think Progress Makes “A Terrible Mistake”

How low can liberals sink? This low: Think Progress blames the tornadoes that killed close to 300 across the South on those states’ Congressional delegations: “Catastrophic Climate: Storms Kill 292 In States Represented By Climate Pollution Deniers.” The Congressional delegations of these states overwhelmingly voted (HR 910 and McConnell Amendment 183) to reject the science that polluting the climate is dangerous: That is typical Think Progress: the votes were not, »

Virginia Fires King & Spalding

We wrote here about King & Spalding’s firing the House of Representatives as a client in connection with the Defense of Marriage Act, reportedly after complaints by other clients of the firm. This sad episode illustrates how deeply engrained liberal assumptions and attitudes are inside the establishment. A number of commentators have argued that King & Spalding’s withdrawal violated legal ethics rules. I have not studied the matter thoroughly enough »

Jonesing for More Political Power

The good people at Fox News brought my attention to the growing effort to bestow “human rights” to nature, apparently on the theory that trees are people, too. Seems the UN will be taking up the idea soon. Amnesty International will need a large new division if this idea goes forward. This is not, of course, a brand new idea. One of the most famous law review articles of the »

A good talk spoiled, part 3

We’ve covered Tom Klingenstein’s close encounter with Bowdoin College President (and occasional fabulist) Barry Mills here and here. In his CRB essay “A golf story” Tom responded to President Mills’s convocation address this past fall. Today Tom takes to the pages of the Bowdoin Orient to defend his CRB essay and respond to his Bowdoin critics. Tom’s Orient column asks whether President Mills is serious about increasing intellectual diversity on »

Mixed-up confusion

The Arab Spring has exposed the direction of American foreign policy in the Age of Obama with great clarity. It undermines friends and takes a hands-off approach to enemies. It’s time for you to go, Hosni Mubarak. I’d like to get to know you, Dr. Assad, you old reformer, you. The mixed-up confusion is vividly on display in our approach to Libya. We haven’t heard much about it lately. Should »

Minnesota Leads the World

I’m about to get ready for bed. Why, you ask, since it is only 8:30 in the central time zone? Because my wife, an Anglophile, is going to get up at 3 a.m. to watch the royal wedding. So if the alarm clock is going off at 3, I’ve got to get some sleep. But first, these reflections on the primacy of Minnesota in world affairs. In 2009, a couple »

Paul Krugman: Punch Line!

We have had fun beating up on Paul Krugman over the years. Krugman is the most fact-challenged of the New York Times stable of far-left commentators, which is saying a great deal. It is good to see that the general public has caught on to the fact that Krugman is a buffoon. Here, Wisconsin Congressman Sean Duffy addresses a town hall crowd, and a lefty in the audience quotes Krugman. »

The Purpose of Government

What is the central purpose of government? That question might be tricky to answer in theory, but here in the U.S., the practical answer is easy: the principal function of our national government is to transfer wealth from the young and the middle-aged to the elderly. Such transfers currently account for around $1.159 trillion, nearly one-half trillion more than we spend for national defense, and far more than any other »

Facts About Oil

The Democrats are furiously demagoguing energy costs, hoping to dodge the blame for their failed policies. When gas prices spiked in 2008, whom did they blame? Nancy Pelosi attributed high gasoline prices to the “oil men in the White House.” This time around, she is staying out of sight. Other Washington Democrats are blaming the oil companies, and are trying to change the subject to alleged “subsidies”–which, of course, have »

While Obama played Oprah

At his birth certificate press conference yesterday, Obama put it this way: “We do not have time for this kind of silliness. We have more important things to do. I have more important things to do.” Then he took off for Chicago to put in some “important” face time on Oprah’s show. An alert reader who serves in one of the branches of the military points out what President Bush »