Monthly Archives: June 2006

June 22, 2006 — John Hinderaker

The Camp Pendleton Eight…

…have been charged with murder. We wrote about them here. I suppose this is the first war in history in which military abuses of a civilian population have been consistently punished with criminal charges. Let’s all hope they are innocent. »
June 22, 2006 — Scott Johnson

An American original

Last year I expressed my admiration for Norman Podhoretz in “Learning from Mr. Podhoretz.” In connection with its summer reading series, NRO has posted Charles Kesler’s March 2004 review of The Podhoretz Reader (the review links to the Amazon entry for the book): “An American Original.” It is a stylish review that does substantial justice to its subject. »
June 22, 2006 — Scott Johnson

Okinawa mon amour, take 2

Don’t miss Jack Kelly’s column on the Congressman he dubs “Pennsylvania’s embarrassment.” The column tracks the points we’ve been making here about Mad Jack Murtha’s proposed “redeployment” of the American forces in Iraq to Okinawa, but Kelly makes these points with a special gusto. Here’s the beauty part: Mr. Murtha has been recommending redeployment to Okinawa ever since his rebirth as a dove last year, so what he said on »
June 22, 2006 — Scott Johnson

Dave Kolander answers ABC’s call

Dave Kolander has answered ABC’s call for global warming stories with the following: PLEASE HELP ABC WITH YOUR STORIES! LORD KNOWS THEY NEED HELP!! MY STORY: Dear ABC – Last summer my yellow Labrador Nikki would take only one swim in our pool each day. (Of course, we no longer heat our pool, and are freezing our butts off, but she can stand it). All of a sudden, she has »
June 21, 2006 — Paul Mirengoff

Jack Murtha and the culture of corruption

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi hopes to became Speaker of the House by pushing the “culture of corruption” theme in this fall’s election. Unfortunately, instances of corruption among House Democrats keep conspiring against her. The latest instance hits particularly close to home. This Washington Times editorial notes that her point man on defeatism in Iraq, Rep. John Murtha, appears to be part of the culture Pelosi purports to condemn. The »
June 21, 2006 — John Hinderaker

Our Kind of Senator

We’ve written several times about our friend Mark Kennedy, who represents Minnesota’s Sixth District in Congress. He is leaving that seat to run for the Minnesota Senate seat being vacated by Mark Dayton. Mark has been a superb Congressman with a solid voting record. An accountant by training, he was CFO of a major company at, if memory serves, age 29. Mark brings the skills of a top-notch businessman to »
June 21, 2006 — John Hinderaker

About Those WMDs

Earlier today, Senator Rick Santorum and Congressman Peter Hoekstra released a declassified document relating to discoveries of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Here are excerpts from Hoekstra’s press release: U.S. Rep. Pete Hoekstra, R-Mich., Chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, today announced that a declassified Army report provides further insight into the chemical and biological weapons programs in Iraq. “Saddam’s use of chemical and biological weapons »
June 21, 2006 — Scott Johnson

Joel Mowbray reports: Divestment disavowed

Following up on his report of this past Sunday evening, Joel Mowbray has kindly provided us this exclusive update regarding the Israel divestment vote today at the Presbyterian Church (USA) biennial convention: In a stunning reversal of two years ago, the Presbyterian Church’s 534 voting members this evening overwhelming disavowed their previous embrace of “phased, selective divestment” from Israel. This is a crushing defeat for proponents of the movement to »
June 21, 2006 — Paul Mirengoff

Chairman Markos speaks

It’s been widely reported in the blogosphere that Markos Moulitsas (of the Daily Kos) and his partner Jerome Armstrong have made it their practice to hype political candidates (including some not generally associated with the left) who hire them as consultants. I mentioned this story, along with Armstrong’s past as a hired stock tout and the SEC’s displeasure with that conduct, here. The New Republic’s blog, The Plank, reports that, »
June 21, 2006 — John Hinderaker

Farewell to Hurricane Dan

We didn’t write about Dan Rather’s retirement from CBS because we didn’t have much of anything to say about it. But Howard Kurtz called me yesterday for a reaction, and quoted me in today’s Washington Post: John Hinderaker, a lawyer whose conservative blog raised early questions about the disputed Guard documents, said it was “really indefensible” for Rather to have stood by the story for nearly two weeks. But, he »
June 21, 2006 — Paul Mirengoff

Hagel’s synthesis

Byron York reports on the work of the Senate Intelligence Committee as it struggles to complete its investigation into pre-war intelligence. According to York’s sources, it’s tough, partisan going, and several parts of the Committee’s report may never be completed due to deadlock over the what the substance should be. No surprise there. But York also reveals that a Republican member of the Committee, Senator Hagel, has hired a former »
June 21, 2006 — Paul Mirengoff

Before Wayne Rooney

and after Michael Owen, Joe Cole was the golden teenager of English football. Unlike Owen and Rooney, it took Cole a while to break through, but he’s kicking down the door at the World Cup. Playing in a midfield with three world class stars — Lampard, Gerrard, and Beckham — the 24 year-old Cole has been the pick of the group, and indeed the pick of the English squad. His »
June 21, 2006 — Scott Johnson

Torturer’s hope

John Podhoretz has the column of the day in the New York Post: Torturer’s hope.” NRO also has an important lineup of columns on related issues including Andrew McCarthy’s “Geneva and savagery,” James Robbins’s “Hue again (and again)” and Joseph Loconte’s “Churchillian courage.” »
June 21, 2006 — Scott Johnson

Summer reading

NRO has posted its summer reading symposium with contributions from humorist Rob Long, Professor Jonathan Adler, “Morning in America with Bill Bennett” producer Seth Leibsohn, NRO editor Kathryn Jean Lopez and others including me. Daniel Casse submits a funny list of the books he won’t be reading this summer. Thanks to K-Lo for inviting me to contribute. To my symposium list I would add The Amorous Busboy of Decatur Avenue »
June 21, 2006 — Scott Johnson

Who is Keith Ellison? (13)

Keith Ellison is the DFL-endorsed Fifth District (essentially Minneapolis) congressional candidate nominated to succeed retiring 14-term incumbent Martin Sabo. If elected, as seems highly likely, he stands to be in office for a long time. The Minneapolis Star Tribune’s lame coverage of the question “Who is Keith Ellison?” is therefore particularly disappointing. Today the Star Tribune contributes another lame article by Rochelle Olson, meekly serving up Ellison’s latest talking points »
June 21, 2006 — Scott Johnson

Wherever green is worn

Today’s New York Times picks up the Dartmouth story we’ve been covering here over the past year: “Dartmouth alumni battle becomes a spectator sport.” Diana Jean Schemo writes: Back when Daniel Webster, class of 1801, defeated an attempt by the governor to take control of the Dartmouth College board, his argument before the Supreme Court gave rise to a line famous among Dartmouth students: “It is, sir, as I have »
June 20, 2006 — Paul Mirengoff

Dionne to Chief Justice Roberts — please grow in office

It’s a time-honored phenomenon — the new conservative Supreme Court Justice attends a Georgetown party or two, gets a bit of praise from the Washington Post, and pretty soon begins to “grow in office” by issuing decisions conservatives don’t like. This is turn engenders “a strange new respect” on the part of the liberal establishment I’ve never been fully convinced that this scenario actually explains why so many Supreme Court »