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Monthly Archives: June 2008
Bob Dylan’s day job
For the past two years, Bob Dylan has been holding court on XM Satellite Radio on his “Theme Time Radio” show. If you enjoy American popular music, the show is both entertaining and educational. Listening to the show, I have thought that Dylan must have help with both the writing and the play list, but Terry Teachout seems to think that Dylan is responsible for both. Teachout describes the premise »
And now, Barack Delano Obama
Reader R.D. Terrell gives us a preview of what to expect this week from the Obama campaign following the rollout of the Great Seal of the United States of Obamerica last week. The nifty Latin motto on the Great Seal is “Vero Possumus,” meaning “In truth, we are able,” or “Yes, we can.” Yesterday I proposed something more along the lines of “Obamanum Credimus,” meaning “We believe in Obama.” Deliberating »
Silk’s revenge?
In European soccer, steel usually prevails over silk, and that was the case in Thursday’s quarterfinal match between Germany and Portugal. Tomorrow, silk gets a rematch when Spain takes on Italy in the last quarterfinal. The omens are so good for Italy that it almost seems like we’ve seen them win this match before. Beyond the fact that the “hard” team, here Italy, usually comes out on top, Spain has »
June Polls: How Significant?
The London Times notes Barack Obama’s current lead in the polls, but says the Democrats shouldn’t get complacent. Of the last five Presidential elections, only once has the candidate who was leading the polls in June won the popular vote. The Times points out the familiar precedent of Michael Dukakis, who led then-Vice President Bush by an average of 8% in the June 1988 polls, but went on to be »
The rule change that saved soccer
Soccer is famous for producing 0-0, 1-0, and 1-1 results. But If one checks the scores from World Cup and European club championship finals in the 1950s and early 1960s, one finds no shortage of high scoring matches (e.g., Real Madrid 4 – Reims 3; Real Madrid 7 – Frankfurt 3; Benefica 5 – Real Madrid 3; West Germany 3 – Hungary 2; Brazil 5- Sweden 2). The low scoring »
Know thy enemy, or at least acknowledge him
Raymond Ibrahim, writing on Victor Davis Hanson’s website, laments that our Defense Department does not teach, and along with the State Department appears not fully to appreciate, well-documented Islamist strategies of warfare. Ibrahim notes that the senior Service college of the Department of Defense has not incorporated into its curriculum a systematic study of Muhammad as a military or political leader. As a consequence, he argues, “we still do not »
Opportunism knocks, Part (I forget how many)
Barack Obama will support the FISA re-write that, though labeled a compromise, is actually a victory for President Bush and the telecommunications industry. As the Washington Post acknowledges, this amounts to a reversal of position for Obama. It follows on the heels of his reversal of position on accepting public funding of his presidential campaign. In both cases, Obama has made the smart move, while confirming that he is not »
Speculation
Some Democrats (and others, including the Saudis) have muttered darkly that the current high price of oil is caused by “speculators” who are driving the price up. Today in Saudi Arabia, U.S. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman rejected that theory, pointing out that production has failed to keep up with rising demand, especially from India and China. It would be a wonderful thing, of course, if the current price spike were »
Bush Calls Out the Dems
In his radio address this morning, President Bush went after the Democrats on energy: The fundamental problem behind high gas prices is that the supply of oil has not kept up with the rising demand across the world. One obvious solution is for America to increase our domestic oil production. So my Administration has repeatedly called on Congress to open access to new oil exploration here in the United States. »
A Well Respected Man
Ray Davies is the songwriting genius who led the Kinks during the heyday of the British Invasion. Today is his birthday. He held the Kinks together for a long time, through some famously nasty spats with his brother and lead guitarist Dave as well as other members of the band. After a string of hits and a bona fide classic or two such as “Waterloo Sunset,” the Kinks fell from »
The Great Seal of Barack Obama
Yesterday Barack Obama rolled out his very own seal. The New York Daily News reports the comments of the Obama and McCain campaigns in “Barack Obama appears with personalized presidential seal.” As the Daily News notes, the Seal of Barack Obama bears an uncanny resemblance to the presidential seal, though it incorporates the Obama campaign graphic and a nifty new Latin motto: “Vero Possumus.” Andrew Malcolm helps with the translation »
Don’t go changing
I’ve been arguing in favor of drilling in ANWR pretty much since I started writing for Power Line. Before that, I was urging my daughters to argue that side of the question at high school debate tournaments. John McCain’s line that he doesn’t want to drill in the Grand Canyon or in ANWR (both are “pristine,” you see) is perhaps the most egregious of the various non-sequiturs he’s come up »
Soccer? Heck No, Tap Dancing!
A lot of interesting people pass through our house, not all of whom inhabit the world of politics. One of our favorite recent guests was Jason Samuels Smith, one of the world’s top tap dancers. (Our youngest daughter is a dancer.) If you thought that dance is for sissies, Jason would quickly disabuse you of that notion. Here he is on a TV show called “So You Think You Can »
Haditha: A Retrospective
We’ve written from time to time about the Haditha “massacre,” which is now joining Jenin on the roster of massacres that never happened. Seven out of seven prosecutions of Marines arising out of the incident have now collapsed. Haditha was, to be sure, a tragedy; a tragedy caused by the terrorists who have attacked our soldiers and Marines in Iraq. But it now seems clear that whatever else it may »
Fact-Checking Barack
Barack Obama has a new television ad that is playing in a number of states: In the ad, Obama claims credit for three pieces of legislation. In one case, the claim is reasonable. The other two are bogus. Obama says that “I… cut taxes for working families,” citing Illinois Public Act: PA 91-0700, the Illinois Earned Income Tax Credit of 2000. Given the collaborative nature of any legislation, Obama’s claim »
Obama On Free Trade
The RNC has put out a new ad highlighting Barack Obama’s seemingly inconsistent statements on trade. I think it’s fair to say that he purports to be in favor of free trade in principle, but never seems to favor of any specific free trade agreement. As President, would Obama be a protectionist? Who knows? The trade issue is actually pretty typical: t’s hard to know what Obama really thinks (if »
He’s Finally Gone Too Far
Lou Dobbs has been a joke for quite a while now, but I think he’s finally gone around the bend. Yesterday he urged that President Bush be impeached over salmonella in tomatoes. Seriously. »