Monthly Archives: March 2004

March 22, 2004 — Paul Mirengoff

While the cat is in Vietnam

My younger daughter first called my attention to this story, reported here by Newsday’s Michael Mello in FrontPage Magazine. College Republicans at Roger Williams University have created a storm by offering a $250 scholarship for whites only. To win the money, one had to submit an essay on “why you are proud of your white heritage” and a recent picture to “confirm whiteness” The idea was that of Jason Mattera, »
March 22, 2004 — Paul Mirengoff

The European future

Natalie Solent’s blog alerts us to this story about the arrest of Hans-Martin Tillack, a German investigative journalist. Tillack was held without access to a lawyer for ten hours by the Belgian police. What was he investigating? EU corruption. In fact, Tillick was the first journalist to report the investigations into the irregularities of the EU statistical arm, Eurostat, which led to the removal of the responsible officials. Here’s Solent’s »
March 22, 2004 — John Hinderaker

Iraq-al Qaeda Cooperation Documented

Bill Gertz and Rowan Scarborough of the Washington Times report on the discovery of an Iraqi intelligence document on Iraq’s links to al Qaeda. Their item is worth repeating in its entirety: We have obtained a document discovered in Iraq from the files of the Iraqi Intelligence Service (IIS). The report provides new evidence of links between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. The 1993 document, in »
March 22, 2004 — Scott Johnson

Before and after

The Jerusalem Post’s report on the successful Israeli attack on the leader of Hamas is “Sheik Ahmed Yassin killed in airstrike” by Margot Dudkevitch. Despite the tenor of newspaper reports to the contrary, it’s difficult to discern how the operation has spawned any change in the goals of Hamas and its followers. As a result of the operation Hamas now vows “to wage war, war, war on the sons of »
March 21, 2004 — Paul Mirengoff

To steal an old Bill James line,

John Kerry had a week like a punk biker in a Clint Eastwood movie. Mark Steyn looks at that week as only Mark Steyn can, and wonders whether “Kerry has perhaps launched his descent into caricature a couple of months too early.” »
March 21, 2004 — Paul Mirengoff

Constant Kerry

“Why are we adopting such an arrogant, obnoxious tone?” Senator John Kerry complaining about President Bush’s foreign policy? No, Kerry complaining about a reference in Bill Clinton’s second inaugural address to the United States as “the indispensable nation,” as reported in this Washington Post piece about Kerry’s foreign policy. Post reporter Glenn Kessler states the matter as euphemistically as possible in the article’s title “Engagement Is a Constant in Kerry’s »
March 21, 2004 — John Hinderaker

Richard Clarke, Fraud

The press is abuzz with reports that former Clinton staffers are set to testify before the September 11 commission next week that “they repeatedly warned their Bush administration counterparts in late 2000 that Al Qaeda posed the worst security threat facing the nation »
March 21, 2004 — Paul Mirengoff

The sick man is Europe

William Drozdiak is a former Washington Post foreign correspondent and the executive director of the German Marshall Fund’s Transatlantic Center in Brussels. In today’s Post, he writes, “Now that Spaniards — and in some sense all Europeans — have suffered their own mass terror tragedy, there should be a sufficient degree of mutual empathy for the United States and Europe to realize that they need to draw on each other’s »
March 21, 2004 — Scott Johnson

A visit to Al Franken’s Nixon Bathroom

The New York Times Magazine has an excellent article by Russell Shorto on the debut this week of liberal talk radio and its poster boy: “Al Franken, seriously.” Shorto was with Franken at the Dean rally in Manchester, New Hampshire when Franken reprised one of his high school wrestling moves to immobilize a Dean heckler; Shorto’s account of the event sets the record straight. The article also covers the business »
March 21, 2004 — Scott Johnson

An interview with Tom Hanks

The Boston Globe runs an excellent piece on its interview with Tom Hanks: “Tom Hanks shows his cards.” Hanks is the star of the Coen Brothers remake of the 1955 Ealing Studios comedy classic “The Ladykillers,” and Hanks is out beating the bushes to promote the film. The remake sounds like a bust, but the interview is terrific. The piece begins with the question Globe reporter Sam Allis poses to »
March 21, 2004 — Scott Johnson

Orlando and dawn of the campaign

President Bush staged his first official campaign rally before a crowd of 15,000 supporters in Orlando yesterday. I love Bill Sammon’s account in the Washington Times: President Bush yesterday used his first official campaign rally to criticize Sen. John Kerry for claiming foreign endorsements and supporting a 50-cents-a-gallon gasoline tax. “The other day here in Florida he claimed some important endorsements from overseas,” Mr. Bush told 15,000 cheering partisans. “He »
March 20, 2004 — John Hinderaker

Conservative Women Transform Minnesota Politics

The Minneapolis Star Tribune notes ruefully that women have, indeed, achieved parity in Minnesota politics. But the result is not quite what the feminists had in mind: Whenever Minnesota’s top elected officials gather these days, women are well represented — not a terrible surprise in a state historically known for its liberalism. What’s unexpected is that Minnesota’s female political powerhouses are mostly conservative Republicans. The state’s pace-setting Republican women include »
March 20, 2004 — John Hinderaker

Communists Lead Anti-War Demonstrations

Today leftists marched world-wide in opposition to American foreign policy, especially the reconstruction of Iraq. We won’t dignify the menagerie by showing images of their marches, but I did think this shot is interesting. It is from the New York protest. Note how signs of various kinds are stacked so that “People sort through them for a variety of causes,” as the Associated Press reports. One “cause” is much the »
March 20, 2004 — Paul Mirengoff

Standing tall

No Left Turns has linked to Justice Scalia’s opinion explaining why he declined to recuse himself in the case of Cheney, Vice President of the United States, et al. v. United States District Court, et al. This is the case in which the Sierra Club has filed to a motion to have Scalia not participate in an action against Dick Cheney, in his official capacity, because Scalia went duck hunting »
March 20, 2004 — Scott Johnson

The soul of a Marine officer

As a Yale undergraduate, Ben Klay was admitted to study in a unique year-long seminar on “Grand Strategy” taught by three of Yale’s most distinguished professors including John Lewis Gaddis. Only 20 students are admitted to the course each year, and applicants for admission to the course come from throughout the university. While taking the course Klay completed Marine Officer Candidate School. Klay used his academic experience in the “Grand »
March 20, 2004 — John Hinderaker

SAS Dispatched to Hunt Osama

Something is obviously going on in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The key development appears to have been al Qaeda’s two attempts to assassinate President Musharraf–an act of stupidity that rivals the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Before the assassination attempts, Musharraf balanced his desire to stay on good terms with the U.S. against the risks of alienating the tribal leaders in Pakistan’s border provinces and the radical elements in his own »
March 20, 2004 — John Hinderaker

Associated Press Campaigns for Kerry

This Associated Press article exemplifies what President Bush is up against as he seeks re-election. The article is headlined: “Some Iraqis Say They’re More Insecure;” it begins: While the administration of President Bush touted its accomplishments in Iraq, some Iraqis said Saturday they’re more insecure as attacks persist a year after the United States launched military strikes to oust Saddam Hussein. The AP then goes on two quote two–count ’em, »