Monthly Archives: March 2006

March 25, 2006 — John Hinderaker

Podcast of Today’s Radio Show

For a podcast of the first hour of our show today, go here. The topic of the hour was the long-overdue reaction against the media’s one-sided coverage of Iraq that erupted last week, and the media’s response. We had some interesting audio clips, including President Bush’s appearance in West Virginia and Keith Olbermann and Dana Milbank on the ABC “puke” email. And for the first time, we awarded our “Loon »
March 25, 2006 — Scott Johnson

Buck Owens, RIP

Buck Owens died today in Bakersfield, California at age 76. Owens worked like a dog to earn the “overnight” success he enjoyed in his 30s, beginning with “Act Naturally” in 1963. “Act Naturally” was the first of his more than twenty number-one hits. In the long run of hits that followed, Owens put his own indelible all-American stamp on country music with the “Bakersfield sound” — the stripped down, updated »
March 25, 2006 — Scott Johnson

Thomas Sowell in profile

I’ve been reading Thomas Sowell with grateful admiration for the past 30 years. I don’t there’s an American whose service to freedom outside the armed forces makes him more deserving of a Presidential Medal of Freedom than Dr. Sowell. Dr. Sowell last appeared here via Jay Nordlinger’s quotation of him in one of his NRO Impromptus column: “A nightmare for the 2008 presidential election: Hillary Clinton versus John McCain. I »
March 25, 2006 — John Hinderaker

Listen to Michael Barone on the Northern Alliance

In a half hour, 12 central time and 1 eastern, we’ll be interviewing Michael Barone on the Northern Alliance Radio Network. Get Barone’s preview on the 2006 elections by listening here. »
March 25, 2006 — Paul Mirengoff

Speaking of taboo

U.S. deaths in Iraq have declined every month since October 2005. In March they are down sharply. Projecting based on data through March 25, the count should be about one-third of what it was in October. If the MSM is reporting this, I’m not aware of it. »
March 25, 2006 — Scott Johnson

Hey, nineteen

Today is the birthday of Aretha Franklin, Queen of Soul. The metaphor of royal lineage has some application in Franklin’s case. Her father, the Reverend C.L. Franklin, was the renowned Detroit preacher whose New Bethel Baptist Church provided the original venue for Aretha and her sisters, Erma and Caroline. She became a child star as a gospel singer and was signed at age eighteen to a recording contract at Columbia »
March 25, 2006 — Paul Mirengoff

When progress is a taboo subject

Michael Ledeen at NRO’s Corner writes: In March, 2004, nearly two hundred people were killed and hundreds more wounded in suicide attacks on the occasion of the Ashurah, the holiest day in the Shi’ite calendar. The disaster led the news. Last year Karbala was relatively calm, but there were bombings in Baghdad. Again, big news. This year, millions of people filled the streets of Karbala, and there was no violence. »
March 25, 2006 — Paul Mirengoff

Not ready for prime time

Liverpool 3 – Everton 1. And the Shite played a man short for the majority of the match. »
March 25, 2006 — Scott Johnson

CAIR caves

The Council on American-Islamic Relations uses litigation as a strategic tool to silence its critics and protect the image it projects of itself as a civil rights group. In a September 2004 post on his blog, Daniel Pipes documented “CAIR’s growing litigiousness.” Among the suits noted by Pipes was CAIR v. Andrew Whitehead, the founder of Anti-CAIR. Pipes discussed the lawsuit in a July 2005 column: “CAIR founded by ‘Islamic »
March 25, 2006 — Scott Johnson

Camp Saddam

In the new issue of the Weekly Standard, Stephen Hayes summarizes the emerging evidence concerning Saddam Hussein’s operational relationship with terrorism via Iraq’s terrorist training facilities: “Camp Saddam.” »
March 24, 2006 — John Hinderaker

Hear Michael Barone on the Northern Alliance

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March 24, 2006 — John Hinderaker

The Terrorist Surveillance Program, Explained

The Department of Justice has responded to a long series of questions by Republican and Democratic legislators; a liberal site called Raw Story has put up the documents, and A. J. Strata has spent a lot of time reviewing and analyzing them. A. J. thinks there are a lot of “bombshells;” I’m not sure I agree, but his analysis is interesting. There is a fair amount of discussion about the »
March 24, 2006 — Paul Mirengoff

Not your average civil war

Our friends at Real Clear Politics have posted two pieces on whether Iraq is experiencing a civil war. Charles Krauthammer says yes; Ralph Peters says no. The debate matters rhetorically because the term “civil war” connotes a disaster of epic proportions, and certainly something qualitatively worse than internal violence that falls short of civil war. Whether the situation in Iraq rises to the level of a civil war depends, of »
March 24, 2006 — Scott Johnson

Can we still call it St. Paul?

Sorry we missed this story in our own backyard yesterday: “City hall evicts Easter bunny.” As reported in the St. Paul Pioneer Press story: “A toy rabbit decorating the entrance of the St. Paul City Council offices went hop-hop-hoppin’ on down the bunny trail Wednesday after the city’s human rights director said non-Christians might be offended by it.” Jay Nordlinger takes note in today’s Impromptus: Just one comment: human-rights director? »
March 24, 2006 — Paul Mirengoff

ISO conservative blogger — activists and former activists need not apply

Ben Domenech, hired by the Washington Post to start a conservative blog, has resigned in response to substantial allegations of plagarism with respect to his past work, in particular a movie review he wrote for NRO. Jim Brady who runs WashingtonPost.com says he will replace Domenech with another conservative blogger, but this time is looking for “someone with a more traditional journalism background.” Brady’s comments suggest that the imposition of »
March 24, 2006 — Paul Mirengoff

Derby day

Tomorrow is derby day in Liverpool. This piece on the great Everton site Toffeeweb provides the flavor. The latest derby finds both sides in terrific form. Everton have the best record in the Premiership since the start of 2006 and Liverpool are not far behind. The Red Shite crushed Birmingham City 7-0 earlier this week. We have won our last two matches by a combined count of 7-2. This could »
March 24, 2006 — John Hinderaker

Why Let the Facts Get In the Way of the Story?

The Associated Press says that Republican politicians are fleeing President Bush as from the plague, while quietly benefiting from his fundraising: Many worried Republicans on the ballot in November have been pushing away from the White House, not wanting to be dragged under by President Bush’s sinking approval ratings and growing anxiety over Iraq. That doesn’t mean they’re also fleeing his cash offerings, however. Despite approval ratings in the mid-to-upper »