Monthly Archives: May 2007

May 22, 2007 — Paul Mirengoff

Idol efforts to combat malaria

In Africa, more than one person per minute dies due to malaria. Yet a combination of environmentalists, United Nations agencies, the World Bank, and big business interests has prevented the use of the chemical that helped eradicate malaria in the U.S. and Europe, namely DDT. This year, American Idol stepped into the battle against malaria. Unfortunately, as Phillip Coticelli explains, its focus too has been misguided. The show has donated »
May 22, 2007 — John Hinderaker

Pew Surveys American Muslims

The survey of Muslim Americans that Pew Research Center released today has gotten a lot of press. Most attention has focused on the extent to which American Muslims do or do not support al Qaeda and suicide bombing. The survey is interesting, and well worth reviewing in its entirety. It appears to represent a major effort, with 55,000 interviews yielding a national sample of over 1,000 Muslims. Here are a »
May 22, 2007 — Scott Johnson

Curses, part 3

Patrick Hynes has forwarded us a transcript of the McCain blogger conference call and the shot heard ’round the world. The New York Sun’s Ryan Sager has posted the transcript in its entirety here. In response to Jennifer Rubin’s question, as I noted, Senator McCain defended accelerated passage of the immigration bill without the usual hearings or extended debate: I think that this is a proposal on an issue that »
May 22, 2007 — Paul Mirengoff

Romney hits the right note

In response to the zinger John McCain directed at him regarding the immigration debate, Romney responded, “I guess it just shows that, even when he’s wrong, he’s amusing.” Via the Corner. To comment on this post, go here. »
May 22, 2007 — Scott Johnson

The great forgotten debate

Don’t miss Paul Kengor’s recollection over at NRO of the 1967 Reagan-RFK “debate” fielding questions from an audience of hostile foreign students: “The great forgotten debate.” To comment on this post, go here. »
May 22, 2007 — Scott Johnson

The trouble with Cinderella

Let’s get a jump on the birthday of legendary jazz clarinetist Artie Shaw. Tomorrow is the anniversary of his birth; it would have been his ninety-seventh birthday. I didn’t know Shaw’s Swing Era big-band music well enough to say anything intelligent about him on his passing in December 2004, though I was familiar with The Trouble With Cinderella: An Outline of Identity, his thoughtful, somewhat evasive autobiography. (Which is not »
May 22, 2007 — Scott Johnson

Zingers

Yesterday’s blogger conference call with John McCain is the first one I’ve ever been on to make the national news. Unfortunately, the coverage — here is the AP story — is limited to the zinger Senator McCain got off at Governor Romney’s expense. It seems to me that McCain’s zinger (admittedly a good one) is politics as usual and barely newsworthy, although Ryan Sager beats the pants off the AP »
May 22, 2007 — Scott Johnson

The amnesty fraud

Thomas Sowell writes about complex issues in a way that everyone can understand them, and then applies a massive dollop of common sense. In “The amnesty fraud” he puts his finger on one of the issues that troubles me about the proposed immigration bill: Nothing is more common than political “solutions” to immediate problems which create much bigger problems down the road. The current immigration bill in the Senate is »
May 21, 2007 — Paul Mirengoff

A blogger fouls out

Etan Thomas is an overpaid, under-achieving back-up center for the Washington Wizards. He is best known among Wizards fans for his series of fights (at least three of them) with the club’s other main center, Brendan Haywood. The Wizards suspended Thomas, but not Haywood, after their most recent bout. Apparently, Thomas sucker-punched his teammate. It turns out that Thomas is also a blogger for the Huffington Post, where he indulges »
May 21, 2007 — Scott Johnson

No man can be a judge in his own case

It is a fundamental legal maxim — recognized in Federalist No. 10, for example — that no man can be a judge in his own case. This seems to me the precept that Jimmy Carter most flagrantly violated in his condemnation of George Bush as the worst president in history. James Taranto correctly notes the inversion that Reuters inserts into its account of the White House response to Carter. Reuters »
May 21, 2007 — Paul Mirengoff

No meltdown but plenty of erosion

In his post below on John McCain’s blogger conference call, Scott refers to the zinger McCain delivered at Mitt Romney. I did not participate (having now made up my mind about McCain), but here is what the Senator reportedly said: Maybe I should wait a couple weeks and see if [Romney’s position on the immigration legislation] changes. Maybe he can get out his small varmint gun and drive those Guatemalans »
May 21, 2007 — John Hinderaker

Strange New Respect, Judicial Branch

In recent years, retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra O’Connor has become the kind of Republican the press likes. There may still be some conservative principles lurking in her approach to legal and political issues, but whenever she speaks publicly, she seems to be on the other side. One of her favorite topics in recent years has been the need for the public (i.e., conservatives) to stop criticizing judicial decisions. Yesterday, »
May 21, 2007 — Scott Johnson

Curses, part 2

This afternoon I sat in on the McCain blogger conference call at the kind invitation of Patrick Hynes. John Hinderaker was also on the call, along with Ann Althouse, Ed Morrissey, James Joyner, NRO’s Stephen Spruiell (and here), and the New York Sun’s Ryan Sager, among others (links are to comments on the call). Senator McCain sounded good-humored, feisty, friendly, and engaged. The questions were knowlegeable and friendly in tone. »
May 21, 2007 — John Hinderaker

Bush Wins on War Funding

The Democrats threw in the towel today, leaking the news that they will pass an Iraq war funding bill that runs through the end of the fiscal year, without trying to add pork or deadlines for withdrawal. Democratic leaders say they will have the bill on the President’s desk by the end of the week, and that they are trying to avoid another veto fight that they can’t win. There »
May 21, 2007 — Paul Mirengoff

Romney gains major traction in Iowa

Mitt Romney appears to be making major strides in Iowa, where the “kick-off” in the presidential sweepstakes will occur. As Chris Cillizza reports, two Iowa polls released last week contain good news for Romney. A Des Moines Register poll of likely caucus participants has Romney in front with 30 percent compared to 18 percent for McCain and 17 percent for Giuliani. A poll of “likely voters who vote regularly in »
May 21, 2007 — Scott Johnson

New day yesterday

City Journal is the outstanding quarterly magazine published by the Manhattan Institute. The estimable Brian Anderson has just taken the reins of the magazine from Myron Magnet. Last week the New York Sun published a delightful profile of Brian, reporting that he wrote his Ph.D. on the political thought of Raymond Aron (he turned the dissertation into his first book) and that his knowledge extends to the catalogue of Jethro »
May 21, 2007 — Scott Johnson

More time, please

Faitfhful readers may recall our posts on Lt. Peter Hegseth, the Forest Lake, Minnesota native. He graduated from Princeton and served with the 101st Airborne Division as a member of the New Jersey National Guard. We heard from Pete in connection with his service in both Guantanamo and Iraq. Today’s Star Tribune carries Pete’s op-ed column “The surge can work, but it needs time.” The column is a companion to »