Monthly Archives: April 2009

April 19, 2009 — Paul Mirengoff

Why Dawn Johnsen should not be confirmed — preventive detention of terrorists

In my initial post about Dawn Johnsen, I wrote: “It is doubtful [Johnsen] believes that the president has to power to preventively detain terrorist suspects. In her testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee, Johnsen refused to state her view on this crucial question.” Professor Neil Kinkopf has challenged my statement. He claims that “Johnsen provided detailed written testimony on this point.” In fact, however, Johnsen’s response to Sen. Specter’s specific »
April 19, 2009 — Paul Mirengoff

Que sera, sera

Whatever will be will be We’re going to Wem-ber-ley Que sera, sera Fabled Wembley Stadium, that is, for an FA Cup semi-final against Manchester United. Kick off in 45 minutes; update to follow. UPDATE: We did it on penalty kicks after two hours of a scoreless draw. Tim Howard, formerly of Man U, saved two spot kicks. Our scorers were Leighton Baines (who put us on course after Tim Cahill »
April 19, 2009 — John Hinderaker

“Green Jobs”–The New Sub-Prime?

At dinner on Friday night I was talking with an intelligent young woman who seemed shocked at my suggestion that it is a bad idea for the government to subsidize the creation of “green jobs.” Given that it was a dinner conversation, I couldn’t get much farther than the observation that “you cannot create wealth by subsidizing the inefficient production of energy.” I’m afraid that her dismay would be shared »
April 19, 2009 — John Hinderaker

Hiding the Evidence

One of the revelatory moments that took place during the tea parties on April 15 was the on-screen meltdown by CNN reporter Susan Rosegen, which we noted here. Covering the Chicago tea party for CNN, Rosegen got into arguments with demonstrators, abused them, attacked the tea parties as being promoted by Fox News and being “anti-CNN,” and generally revealed herself to be a liberal activist, not a legitimate reporter. We, »
April 19, 2009 — Scott Johnson

Iran’s new hostage

While President Obama has been extending a hand of friendship to the “Islamic Republc of Iran” — the mullahs who hold the Iranian people in bondage — the mullahs have yet to reciprocate. Among Obama’s symbolic acts was his video Valentine to the mullahs. (I wrote about it here.) So far they appear to be unimpressed by anything other than the administration’s weakness. The mullahs’ latest message to the Obama »
April 18, 2009 — Paul Mirengoff

In what sense does Dr. Kim “get” Dartmouth?

I’ve been cautiously upbeat about Dr. Jim Yong Kim, who has been named Dartmouth’s new president, probably because I’m aware of how awful the college’s selectee could have been. However, some of the gushing over Kim’s selection is enough to give me second thoughts. Not surprisingly, the most off-putting gushing comes from Martha Beattie. Beattie was a member of presidential search committee, a fact I lamented here. As I wrote, »
April 18, 2009 — John Hinderaker

The Public Is Catching On

In recent months, a key trend in American public opinion has emerged: voters are catching on to the global warming scam. It’s hard to say why this is happening; certainly not because news coverage has gotten any more unbiased or scientifically accurate. Nevertheless, somehow the word is getting out: the alarmists are all wet. Today’s Rasmussen survey finds that public opinion is turning decisively against global warming alarmism, with 48 »
April 18, 2009 — Paul Mirengoff

Why Dawn Johnsen should not be confirmed — surveillance of terrorists

In my original post arguing against the confirmation of Dawn Johnsen, I noted that Johnsen has objected to the warrantless surveillance of suspected al-Qaeda communications into and out of the United States. In his critique of my post, Professor Neil Kinkopf does not dispute my statement of Johnsen’s position. However, he argues that “the Bush Administration’s surveillance program at issue was roundly criticized, by Democrats and Republicans alike, as violating »
April 18, 2009 — John Hinderaker

Obama Embarrasses Himself, and Us, Again

I thought Barack Obama couldn’t sink lower than he did in his apology tour of Europe. I was wrong. Now it’s Latin America, where Obama is attending the Summit of the Americas. While he doesn’t seem to have actually bowed to anyone in Trinidad, he has adopted a submissive posture at every opportunity, telling Latin America’s leaders that he “has a lot to learn.” I’m afraid that’s truer than Obama »
April 18, 2009 — Scott Johnson

The Journal’s missing facts

Today’s Wall Street Journal carries another editorial (“Minnesota’s missing votes”) on the recount in Minnestota’s Senate election. It was the Journal’s original editorial on the subject that prompted me to write “Minnesota 101” for NRO. I am a great admirer of the Journal’s editorial page. It may never have served a more important service than it is now in resisting the Age of Obama, but its commentary on the recount »
April 18, 2009 — Scott Johnson

Obama’s vision, fast train edition

When I hear President Obama tout the big government health care program that his administration is formulating on grounds of economy, as he did again at Georgetown in his New Foundation speech last Tuesday, I wonder how stupid he thinks American citizens are. With substantial Democratic majorities supporting him in the Senate and the House, he knows Congress won’t be flyspecking his claims. I had the same thought this past »
April 18, 2009 — Scott Johnson

An obscene insult

The star hosts of CNN and MSNBC news shows have notoriously derided the tea party demonstrations around the country with reference to the practice of teabagging (which I had never heard of before they brought it up). As John noted, both networks’ “journalists” used the rallies as an occasion for childish sexual innuendoes — in the case of MSNBC, the same obscene teabag “joke” was repeated 51 times in a »
April 17, 2009 — Paul Mirengoff

Why Dawn Johnsen should not be confirmed — a partial response to Professor Kinkopf

Neil Kinkopf, a law professor at Georgia State University, takes issue with my most recent post about Dawn Johnsen, the nominee to head the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel. I won’t be able to respond to Professor Kinkopf’s entire post tonight; rather I will focus on his critique of my central point that “there is strong reason to believe that Dawn Johnsen will consistently err on the side of »
April 17, 2009 — Scott Johnson

The Times does the Tea Parties

Several readers have written to point out the story by Liz Robbins published this week on the April 15 tea parties around the country. The story — “Tax day is met with tea parties” — plays it relatively straight, though it was placed on page A16. The story nods to the thesis advanced by Paul Krugman that the tea parties are phony, but does nothing to advance Krugman’s thesis that »
April 17, 2009 — Paul Mirengoff

Facts before outrage

When I can get some time, I hope to comment about the Obama administration’s release of the DOJ’s Office of Legal Counsel interrogation memos. John has already written about it here. For now, I will simply note an error in the Washington Post’s editorial on the subject. The Post asserts that the OLC signed off on depriving some of the detainees of sleep for eleven days. To emphasize their outrage »
April 17, 2009 — John Hinderaker

Tea Party Retrospective

Be careful what you ask for! I asked PL readers to send us photos of the tea parties they attended, and the response was overwhelming. I didn’t have time yesterday to go through them and post pictures, but I’ll try to get it done today. Here is the first batch; I’ll update as the day goes on. Two preliminary comments: First, this is what a real grass-roots uprising looks like. »
April 17, 2009 — Scott Johnson

Is Obama the way? part 2

Charles Krauthammer looks into the New Foundation presented on Tuesday by Barack Obama in his Georgetown speech. Invoking the metaphor employed by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount, Obama proclaimed his big government domestic programs a “new foundation” of rock to replace the old one built on sand. Krauthammer cruelly notes: Obama is not the first to try this slogan. President Carter peppered his 1979 State of the Union »