Culture
December 27, 2012 — Scott Johnson
I’ve struggled with my weight ever since I quit smoking thirty years ago, going up and down 30 pounds several times. All I can tell you is that it’s a helluva lot easier going up than it is coming down, though you probably already knew that. In his capacity as a general service operation, Glenn Reynolds has occasionally cited science writer Gary Taubes and linked to his book Why We
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December 24, 2012 — Steven Hayward
I’ve always thought the “War on Christmas” meme that some populist conservatives (and a certain TV network that I’ll just skip over for now) like to pound on during the holidays was silly and trivializing. Not for being wrong, mind you, but for being too narrowly focused. The aggressive secularization of the Left operates 24/7 all 365 days a year, and is not just rolled out like crèches during the
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December 23, 2012 — Scott Johnson
At the Telegraph Daniel Hannan reflects on a painful experience: At the Oxford Union the other day, I was comprehensively outperformed by this man: Dr Cornel West. If you’ve heard him live, you’ll know that he speaks in the manner of a charismatic preacher, and that the timbre of his voice captivates almost any audience. The motion was This House would occupy Wall Street. He won. For a while, I
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December 18, 2012 — Scott Johnson
Stephen Hunter is the Pulitzer Prize-winning former film critic of the Washington Post and author of the Bob Lee Swagger series of novels, whose latest entrant — The Third Bullet — is forthcoming next month. Steve writes to comment with respect to the Newtown massacre: It seems odd that in the orgy of recrimination, faux solemnity and glycerine tears of the past few days on the issue of “What can
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December 17, 2012 — Scott Johnson
New York Post film critic Kyle Smith has seen two previews of Zero Dark Thirty, the Osama bin Laden manhunt thriller that is opening in New York and Los Angeles just in time for Oscar consideration. Directed by Kathryn Bigelow and written by Mark Boal, the team responsible for The Hurt Locker, the film promised to be something more than an advertisement for Barack Obama, although the filmmakers famously had
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December 16, 2012 — Scott Johnson
An editorial paragraph in the November 12 National Review caught my attention. It concisely relates a story that dates to early October: Last month Megan Ryan was elected homecoming queen by her classmates at Bishop Hartley High School in Columbus, Ohio. Ryan has Down Syndrome, a condition associated with cognitive disability and an enlarged capacity for expressing affection. As high-school seniors, her peers belong to a cohort especially susceptible to
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December 11, 2012 — John Hinderaker
We have commented a number of times on President Obama’s ignorance of American history. Sadly, however, the average American high school student is probably even less knowledgeable about our history than the president. Is the problem of historical amnesia unique to the United States? Apparently not. In the U.K., a new report recommends that “Schools should be free to drop trendy citizenship classes so pupils can learn more about British
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December 9, 2012 — Scott Johnson
I think that just about everything President Obama “knows” about American history comes from left-wing academics like American University professor Peter Kuznick, the co-author with Oliver Stone of The Untold History of the United States. The book is a companion to Stone’s Showtime series. At American University, incidentally, Kuznick teaches the “path-breaking course Oliver Stone’s America.” On Showtime, Stone presents Peter Kuznick’s America. They have got a circle of love
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December 8, 2012 — Paul Mirengoff
It looks like President Obama will attend the “Christmas in Washington” concert where South Korean rapper “Psy” will perform. Obama was not moved to skip the event even after it became publicized that Mr. Psy had the following to say in 2004, following the beheading of a South Korean by Islamic extremists in Iraq: Kill those f****** Yankees who have been torturing Iraqi captives; Kill those f****** Yankees who ordered
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December 7, 2012 — Paul Mirengoff
A South Korean rapper called PSY (his name is Park Jae-sang) is scheduled to perform for President Obama and his family at the “Christmas in Washington” concert this month. In 2004, PSY rapped the following lyrics: Kill those f****** Yankees who have been torturing Iraqi captives; Kill those f****** Yankees who ordered them to torture; Kill their daughters, mothers, daughters-in-law and fathers; Kill them all slowly and painfully. PSY has
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December 7, 2012 — John Hinderaker
Promised Land is making a serious run at that title. It is an anti-fracking film that stars Matt Damon, and was written by Damon and John Krasinski of The Office, who unfortunately appears to be a bonehead. In the original script, heroic anti-fracking activists exposed the hazards of extracting natural gas. But the writers apparently realized that fracking has an excellent track record, so they revised the script so that
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December 7, 2012 — Steven Hayward
To take you into the weekend, here are a few of the better photos, cartoons, and other visual mockery that has come my way:
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November 24, 2012 — Steven Hayward
Larry Hagman, who died yesterday at the age of 81, was of course best known for playing the evil J.R. Ewing on Dallas, a show that I never much watched and found boring on the few occasions when I did. I enjoyed Hagman much more on I Dream of Jeannie. I recall backpacking around Europe in the summer of 1980 right after graduating from college, and people I’d meet, upon
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November 20, 2012 — Scott Johnson
I think that just about everything President Obama “knows” about American history comes from left-wing academics like American University professor Peter Kuznick, the co-author with Oliver Stone of The Untold History of the United States. The book is a companion to Stone’s Showtime series. At American University, incidentally, Kuznick teaches the “path-breaking course Oliver Stone’s America.” On Showtime, Stone presents Peter Kuznick’s America. They have got a circle of love
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November 17, 2012 — Steven Hayward
If you’ve ever dropped in for an episode of the IFC channel’s cult hit mockumentary “Portlandia” and wondered if Portland, Oregon, is really that wacky-crunchy, the answer is an unqualified Yes it is. Even the trees are green there. You think I joke! The public toilet handles are green—and that’s not a joke. Let’s see, a place where it rains something like 200 days a year needs to save water?
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November 16, 2012 — John Hinderaker
If you know who Kim Kardashian is, you probably don’t have a very high opinion of her. I know more than most about the Kardashians because my daughters are fans of their reality TV show, and over the years I have sometimes walked into a room when they had the Kardashian sisters on. So if you lined up Kim, Khloe and Kourtney, I could tell which was which. And my
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October 28, 2012 — John Hinderaker
Wilson Getchell’s “You’re Gonna Pay” was one of the highlights of the Power Line Prize competition. Now Getchell is back with “Brother Can You Spare a Dime,” which looks back at the Obama administration’s four years of failure. It is very good, I think:
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