Power Line

Mark Steyn on World War IV

Wed, 27 Feb 2008 20:50:07 -0500

We've written a number of times about the gala evening in New York when we awarded Norman Podhoretz the Power Line Book of the Year award for 2007, for World War IV.

One of the highlights of the evening was Mark Steyn's speech, in which he highlighted a basic difference between the current war and its predecessors: in World War IV, if that really is what we are fighting, the U.S. has few if any serious allies.

If you haven't ever listened to Mark, you shouldn't miss this; he talks pretty much as he writes, with a great deal of humor and a unique ability to harness that humor in service of a very serious argument.

You can download or just listen to Mark's talk here. Or, as always, you can subscribe to our podcasts on iTunes by going here. Here is a short clip from Mark's speech:

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Kissinger on Islamic Terrorism

Sun, 24 Feb 2008 11:33:30 -0500

One of the highlights of our Book of the Year award ceremony in New York was the speech by Henry Kissinger, founder of the "realist" school of foreign policy. It was instructive to see how far his thinking diverges from that of most of those who today call themselves "realists." Here is a brief excerpt from his talk:

Terrorism, what we call terrorism, refers to a method. What terrorism represents is an assault by radical Islam on the political structure of the Islamic world, but in a deeper sense on the secular structure and international structure of anything, any society, within reach of Islam, which means almost every part of the world. That is a fundamental challenge. Therefore, to talk about withdrawal from any battlefield is to describe defeat. There is no way to escape the conflict with Islam by leaving Afghanistan or leaving Iraq. Now that is not only delusion and it is not something that will have long term consequences, it is something that would have almost immediate consequences. That is the fundamental problem of our period. That this is a war against radical Islam that has to be won.

I've podcasted Kissinger's speech. You can download or just listen to it here. Or, as always, you can subscribe to our podcasts on iTunes by going here.

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Hour One

Sat, 19 Jan 2008 17:50:04 -0500

Brian "St. Paul" Ward and I braved the frigid weather--it was 18 degrees below zero this morning--and made our way to the Patriot bunker for today's radio show. In the first hour, we talked about the weather, the Nevada caucuses and the South Carolina primary, the state of the Republican race, and Fred Thompson. We finished up by awarding our Loon of the Week prize; the finalists were two Democratic Congresspeople. It was a fun hour.

You can download or just listen to the podcast here. Or, as always, you can subscribe to our podcasts on iTunes by going here.

Michael Barone on Election 2008

Sat, 05 Jan 2008 14:21:10 -0500

Today we had Michael Barone as a guest on our radio show. We spent the first segment talking about the results in Iowa and the current state of the 2008 race. In the second segment, we talked about the new edition of Michael's Almanac of American Politics and his views on the broader currents in American politics. This is a great opportunity to hear from America's foremost political analyst.

You can download or just listen to the podcast here. Or, as always, you can subscribe to our podcasts on iTunes by going here.

To comment on the interview, go here.

Smash the Nanny State!

Fri, 26 Oct 2007 21:16:51 -0500

My radical days are far behind me, but it still feels good to say "smash the state" now and then, especially when we're talking about the nanny state. As we did a couple of Saturdays ago with David Harsanyi, author of Nanny State: How Food Fascists, Teetotaling Do-Gooders, Priggish Moralists, and other Boneheaded Bureaucrats are Turning America into a Nation of Children.

Harsanyi was a terrific guest, and it was a fun interview. Not only that, Harsanyi later paid us this tribute on his web site:

The guys on the First Team of the Northern Alliance Radio Network are officially my favorite radio hosts. Sure, they're smart and funny, but that's not it. They use Replacements bumper music.

You can download or just listen to the podcast here. Or, as always, you can subscribe to our podcasts on iTunes by going here.

To comment on this podcast, go here.