Monthly Archives: December 2006

December 21, 2006 — Paul Mirengoff

Worthless?

Joseph Rago of the Wall Street Journal has written an attack on blogs called The Blog Mob — “Written by fools to be read by imbeciles.” Rago’s criticism of blogs is well-founded in the sense that most blogs are quite bad. And even the best blogs that provide general commentary operate at a disadvantage to the extent that they provide instant analysis. Other things being equal, an opinion or analysis »
December 21, 2006 — Paul Mirengoff

The “emotionally unavailable” vs. the “blank slate”

Dick Meyer takes a look at the contrasting psycho-dramas that would be associated with presidential runs by Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. In Hillary’s case, Meyer thinks “the sense people have that Sen. Clinton’s drive [for power] is overly determined by her emotional issues is. . .fatal.” He correctly puts Clinton in the Gore-Nixon category of politicians who seem “emotionally unavailable.” It should be recalled, though, that Nixon was elected »
December 21, 2006 — Scott Johnson

Pants, socks, trailer, trash

Josh Gerstein covers some of the incredible details in the National Archives Inspector General’s report on Sandy Berger’s theft and destruction of classified documents from the National Archives in this New York Sun story. Regarding Berger’s hiding of the documents underneath a construction trailer oustide the National Archives, Gerstein quotes Steven Aftergood: A leading authority on classification policy, Steven Aftergood of the Federation of American Scientists, said Mr. Berger’s behavior »
December 21, 2006 — Scott Johnson

The road to Damascus

Democratic Senators Bill Nelson, John Kerry and Christopher Dodd now join the special roll of dishonor attendant to those who usurp the conduct of American foreign policy for partisan purposes. Andrew Miga’s AP report quotes Kerry commenting on his meeting with Bashar Assad as on a naughty child: “We explored the whys and wherefores of a number of the choices he’s been making,” Kerry said. It’s a shame Senator Kerry »
December 20, 2006 — Scott Johnson

A miniaturized future

The BBC is running a story today that provides a striking illustration of one facet of Mark Steyn’s demographic thesis in America Alone: “Japan population set to plummet.” »
December 20, 2006 — Scott Johnson

A greener shade of pale

One of the theme songs of the Summer of Love — “A Whiter Shade of Pale” — is in the news as a result of Procol Harum organist Matthew Fisher having won a right to 40 percent of the royalties for his contribution to the song’s melody, which I had always understood to have been derived from J.S. Bach anyway. Today’s Guardian has a colorful account of the story: “Beyond »
December 20, 2006 — John Hinderaker

More on Sandy Berger’s Pants

The Inspector General of the National Archives has just released a report on former National Security Adviser Sandy Berger’s theft of classified documents from the Archives: Former national security adviser Sandy Berger removed classified documents from the National Archives in 2003 and hid them under a construction trailer, the Archives inspector general reported Wednesday. Inspector General Paul Brachfeld reported that when Berger was confronted by Archives officials about the missing »
December 20, 2006 — John Hinderaker

Desperately Seeking Jamil Hussein

The saga of Associated Press source Jamil Hussein continues. Hussein has been cited in no fewer than 61 AP stories, most or all relating to violent incidents in pretty much all quarters of Baghdad. The AP has consistently identified Hussein as a “police captain,” and has named two police stations with which he allegedly has been associated. The controversy began when the AP used Hussein as its chief source for »
December 20, 2006 — Scott Johnson

Mr. Whitcomb’s diagnosis

Although we decline to follow Time down the path of the Year of You, we are indeed proud of you, our readers. One such reader is Mr. Trent Whitcomb, a Minnesota physician assistant (Master of Science in Physician Assistant Practice as well as a Bachelor of Science in Law Enforcement) who writes to comment on “Finding little loot, men turn to rape” by Chao Xiong in today’s Minneapolis Star Tribune: »
December 20, 2006 — Scott Johnson

Pat Conroy’s confession

A friend sends along this column by Pat Conroy with only the comment “Wow”: “An honest confession by an American coward.” The column is drawn from Conroy’s 2003 book My Losing Season. In the course of writing the book over four years, Conroy visited his 1966-67 Citadel basketball teammates. Among Conroy’s former teammates is Al Kroboth. Kroboth served in Vietnam, was captured by the Viet Cong and held prisoner by »
December 20, 2006 — Scott Johnson

The good sentence in the ISG report

Stephen Schwartz implies that there is more than one good sentence in the Iraq Study Group Report, but he quotes only one. In Schwartz’s hands the sentence is especially interesting: “Confronting the Wahhabis.” (Via RealClearPolitics.) »
December 20, 2006 — Scott Johnson

Not by you

Somewhat surprisingly, the distinguished writers convened by the New York Sun to offer their picks of the year’s best books found nothing by You. They did, however, find books by authors including Mark Steyn, Efraim Karsh and Robert Kagan. One surprise entry that caught my eye is a book that uses the Yanomamo bushmen of South America — celebrated as multicultural heroes in grades K-5 of the elite St. Paul »
December 19, 2006 — John Hinderaker

Let’s Try It One More Time…

Last night, I put up the podcast of the second hour of our December 9 show, which featured an interview with author Mark Moyar. Unfortunately, I put in the wrong link. So I’m duplicating last night’s post (which I’ll also correct); this time, the link will take you to the right show. I never expected, ten years ago, that Vietnam would once again play an important role in the news. »
December 19, 2006 — Paul Mirengoff

Wedge issues?

Hotline’s Blogometer renews its suggestion that conservative blogs “are not as socially conservative as the larger GOP base.” I’m not sure how socially conservative “the larger GOP base” is, but there’s at least this grain of truth in Blogmeter’s theory — many conservative blogs (including Power Line) are operated by folks who were roused into blogging by 9/11, not social issues. Thus, while most of us are social conservatives, we »
December 19, 2006 — Paul Mirengoff

The audacity of hype, Part Two

A few days ago, I linked to a Washington Times editorial about Barack Obama’s left-liberal voting record when he was in the Illinois state Senate. Today, the Times takes a look at his record in the U.S. Senate. Its conclusion — “Mr. Obama hasn’t done much at all on any particular issue aside from obediently following his party.” »
December 19, 2006 — Paul Mirengoff

Kofi Annan — a view from the left

Jack Kelly has a good piece in the Washington Times (apparently not available online) about Kofi Annan’s pathetic legacy. I was struck by this quotation from Kenneth Cain who served in U.N. peacekeeping operations in Rwanda, Haiti and Liberia: Liberal multilateralists on the left, like me, are often skittish about offering too pungent a critique of Mr. Annan, because it offers aid and comfort to the “enemy” on the conservative »
December 19, 2006 — Scott Johnson

The You Annus and the Second Great Slumber

In anointing You as its Person of the Year, Time is only twenty-five years behind Tom Wolfe, who anointed the 1970’s the Me Decade. Wolfe found the Me Decade to be the companion of the Third Great Awakening. I find the You Annus to be the companion of the Second Great Slumber (the first being the period preceding December 7, 1941). At NRO, several fine pundits including my friend Steve »