Monthly Archives: February 2012
February 15, 2012 — Scott Johnson
Today is the anniversary of the birth of Harold Arlen. Arlen may be the most underrated and innovative of the composers at the heart of the canon of American popular song. Working with a variety of lyricists, from those in whom he brought out the best, such as Yip Harburg (“Over the Rainbow”) and Ted Koehler (“Stormy Weather,” “I’ve Got the World On a String,” “Let’s Fall in Love,” “When
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February 15, 2012 — Steven Hayward
People interested in a thoughtful observance of George Washington’s birthday Presidents Day next Monday might want to drop in (or tune in to the live webcast) AEI’s panel this Friday from noon to 1:30 (eastern) on the subject of “First Among Equals: George Washington and the American Presidency,” which will feature a reading of Washington’s Farewell Address from Leon Kass, and commentary from Richard Brookhiser, Diana Schaub, Harvey Mansfield, and
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February 14, 2012 — John Hinderaker
Today Congressman Darrell Issa delivered one of the more devastating letters I have ever read to Attorney General Eric Holder. Issa’s letter, which you can read here, documents the Department of Justice’s efforts to obstruct Congress’s investigation of the Fast and Furious scandal. It is impossible to read Issa’s letter without concluding that Holder has deliberately obstructed the investigation through a combination of lies, foot-dragging, hiding witnesses, and so on.
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February 14, 2012 — John Hinderaker
Buzzfeed has a collection of Republican valentines. They are pretty funny; here are a couple: Check them out. Via InstaPundit.
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February 14, 2012 — John Hinderaker
OMB Acting Director Jeffrey Zients appeared before the Senate Budget Committee today to answer questions about President Obama’s FY 2013 budget, and he had a rough go of it. Trying to defend the indefensible, he repeatedly found himself tongue-tied. At one point, ranking Republican Jeff Sessions asked Zients a simple question: under President Obama’s FY 2013 budget, does federal spending increase, compared to current law? It does, of course, but
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February 14, 2012 — John Hinderaker
I wrote last night about President Obama’s FY 2013 budget, which, accounting frauds to one side, is another dreary blueprint for more taxes, spending and debt. In last night’s post, I noted that hardly anyone ever digs out old budget proposals and compares them to the current version. I have now had time to do that, and the results are revealing. In fact, the comparison sums up, in dry columns
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February 14, 2012 — Scott Johnson
…when you’re liberal. That’s my bounce on the purported Duluth anti-racism campaign covered in the Star Tribune last week and here yesterday. We believe in treating people equally without regard to race. Does any one of the white liberals sponsoring the campaign including the Mayor of Duluth believe in equal treatment without regard to race? Does any one of them oppose racial preferences in educational institutions, public or private employment,
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February 14, 2012 — Scott Johnson
I noted over the weekend that when the Obamacare contraception, sterilization and abortifacient mandate came down, I thought of Professor Paul Rahe and his book Soft Despotism. I thought Professor Rahe had an important contribution to make to the subject of the Obamacare “preventive services” mandate; I asked him if he would write about it. Professor Rahe spoke up not only as a scholar of deep authority on the issues,
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February 14, 2012 — Steven Hayward
For Power Line’s DC readers, today’s PIG book event will be a book signing at the Barnes & Noble at Union Station at noon. Come by if you can.
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February 14, 2012 — Steven Hayward
What has been called the Kennedy Glorification Industry, or perhaps Jack and Jackie Glitter, Inc., swung into full DefCon1 mode the last few days to put down the Mimi Alford memoir about how JFK not only took her virginity but pimped her out to his aide Dave Powers in the White House swimming pool. JFK Inc. can’t employ the Clinton tactic of viciously attacking the credibility and reputation of the
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February 13, 2012 — John Hinderaker
Not only that, it’s hard to spot a geek when you’re Asian. Would you expect to see a slogan like these on a billboard? No, neither would I. Although it would be kind of fun to see the hysteria that would result if anyone dared to say such a thing in public. Insulting white people, however, is A-OK in the Age of Obama. Thus, in Duluth, Minnesota, a group of
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February 13, 2012 — John Hinderaker
Michael Ramirez, my favorite cartoonist, is on a roll. We noted here his brilliant depiction of the church of government: Within the last 48 hours or so he has drawn two more cartoons on the Obama administration’s suppression of religious liberty. Obama apparently was surprised that Catholics actually have principles: To be fair, the behavior of the Catholic church’s hierarchy in recent years might well have lulled Obama into the
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February 13, 2012 — John Hinderaker
President Obama submitted his FY 2013 budget today. As expected, it is utterly irresponsible. The administration claims it will reduce the deficit by $4 trillion over ten years. That is absurd, for the reasons stated below. What the budget actually will do, if enacted, is increase spending in FY 2013 to $3.8 trillion and run up, in FY 2013, another $900 billion in debt (if you accept the administration’s rosy
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February 13, 2012 — Steven Hayward
Continuing with our CPAC coverage–call it CPAC Overtime!!–our cameras caught up with the always entertaining and relentlessly pithy Grover Norquist over the weekend, and he offered a few exclusive to Power Line thoughts on the shape of the GOP nomination contest, along with a Field Theory of What Went Wrong with the George W. Bush presidency and what his would-be successors should be like, and concludes with a few thoughts
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February 13, 2012 — Steven Hayward
Don’t look now (which actually always means, do look), but late today Moody’s cut the debt ratings of nine European countries. Look for a bad open on the markets in the morning. Beware of Greeks bearing gifts austerity packages. And yes, that’s Oswald Spengler in the thumbnail of this post. In case you were wondering. Was he just a century too soon–about Europe anyway?
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February 13, 2012 — Steven Hayward
In our “Picks” section there’s a link to the Daily Caller item about an internal Media Matters for America memo about their “enemies” list of conservative institutions, media, financiers, and individuals. It’s a pretty Foxy list, but there’s one real howler that shows how out of touch and by-the-numb-numbers the Media Matters people are. Under the category for “Conservative donors,” they list the John M. Olin Foundation. There’s just one
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February 13, 2012 — Steven Hayward
I’ve never been a huge Bruce Springsteen fan, but might revise my meh attitude upon learning that he’s a fan and serious reader of Flannery O’Connor, as explained by Damian Ference of Dappled Things: In an interview with Walker Percy’s nephew [that’s another interesting tidbit in itself], Springsteen explains his initial draw to O’Connor: “The really important reading that I did began in my late twenties, with authors like Flannery O’Connor.
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