Monthly Archives: May 2009

May 25, 2009 — John Hinderaker

Terrorist Recruitment: Is Gitmo Guilty As Charged?

Byron York interviews the one individual who lends an aura of credibility to the theory that the existence of Guantanamo Bay has been a boon to terrorist recruitment: “Major Matthew Alexander”–a pseudonym–who interrogated terrorist suspects in Iraq. “Alexander” vouches for the theory that the two great drivers of terrorist recruitment were Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay, based on his interviews with captured terrorists. Byron points out that the theory advanced »
May 25, 2009 — John Hinderaker

The Military: Popular, But Not Universally So

For Memorial Day, Scott Rasmussen polled Americans on their views of the military. Not surprisingly, the military has a 75% favorable rating, no doubt one of the highest in our society. But that approval is by no means evenly distributed. Only 68 percent of Democrats have a favorable view of the military, leaving nearly one-third who do not. That one-third–essentially, the left wing of the Democratic Party–was Barack Obama’s base »
May 25, 2009 — John Hinderaker

Obama: Lying, But to Whom?

The idea that President Obama’s supporters trust him precisely because they believe that he frequently misrepresents his own beliefs is becoming more widespread. My friend Bob Cunningham was one of the first to explicate this phenomenon. Yesterday he sent us these thoughts: It has long been noticed that Obama’s slipperiness had been accepted by the left during the Hope-and-Change campaign when He took positions, for example and notably, NAFTA and »
May 25, 2009 — Paul Mirengoff

Obama’s double standard

President Obama has spoken out against any new expansion of Israeli settlements, even if that expansion is a result of natural growth, e.g., new housing to accommodate the grown children of settlers. Yet, as the Washington Post editorial board observes, Obama turns a blind eye to the outrages committed by Hugo Chavez in Venezuela. These outrages include a recent raid on the country’s last independent broadcast network; the elimination of »
May 25, 2009 — Scott Johnson

Leo Thorsness: Torture thoughts on Memorial Day

Leo Thorsness is the Minnesota native who was awarded the Medal of Honor for unbelievable heroics in aerial combat over North Vietnam in April 1967. Within a few days of his heroics on his Medal of Honor mission, Col. Thorsness was shot down over North Vietnam and taken into captivity. In captivity he was tortured by the North Vietnamese for 18 straight days and periodically thereafter until his release in »
May 25, 2009 — Scott Johnson

What John Bolton knew

The underground nuclear test announced by North Korea appears to come as something of a surprise to the Obama administration. Yet the Obama administration has acted with nothing but complacency about the nuclear programs of North Korea and Iran. In a May 20 Wall Street Journal column, former United States Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton predicted: The curtain is about to rise again on the long-running nuclear tragicomedy, »
May 25, 2009 — Scott Johnson

Memorial Day 2009

John McCain grew up the son and grandson of bona fide war heroes. In Faith of My Fathers (written with Mark Salter), McCain reveals that each had a rebellious streak and a skeleton or two in the closet. McCain notes that in the closing days of World War II his grandfather was relieved of his command. Although his father suffered no such professional disgrace, McCain reveals that he was an »
May 24, 2009 — Paul Mirengoff

Obama, Netanyahu, and the meaninglessness of it all

David Hazony has noticed something about the current Middle East “peace” negotiations — they aren’t between the parties. The parties, of course, are Israel and the Palestinians. But there can be no talks with the Palestinians because they are split, perhaps irreconcilably, split between Hamas and the PA. So instead, the current negotiations are between Israel and the U.S. If Israel were negotiating with the Palestinians, both sides would be »
May 24, 2009 — Scott Johnson

The imam in our backyard

Reports concerning the investigation of the Somalis gone missing from the Twin Cities — such as NPR’s “Missing Somali teens may be terrorist recruits” — place local imam Hassan Mohamud somewhere near the center. Patrick Poole takes a look at the imam in our backyard in “Minneapolis imam decries ‘the hell of living in America.'” »
May 24, 2009 — Scott Johnson

Who killed Rafik Hariri?

Charles Johnson draws attention to Spiegel Online’s article with detailed information on the investigation into the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. “[I]magine my surprise,” Charles writes, to learn that new evidence points to Hezbollah in the Hariri murder. The article reports: SPIEGEL has learned from sources close to the tribunal and verified by examining internal documents, that the Hariri case is about to take a sensational turn. »
May 24, 2009 — Scott Johnson

Pawlenty’s finest hour

After routing Republicans in the elections of 2006 and 2008, Democrats hold a substantial majority in both houses of the Minnesota legislature. As the recession has contracted state revenues forecast for the coming biennium, the Democrats succumbed to a tax raising mania. They sought to raise the top rate of Minnesota’s already high income tax to 9 percent and impose a variety of new taxes. Governor Pawlenty held his ground »
May 24, 2009 — Scott Johnson

Not dark yet, part 2

Joan Baez recorded Bob Dylan’s “Love Is Just a Four-Letter Word” for “Any Day Now,” her 1968 double album of Dylan covers. It’s the highlight of the album. Baez owns that song. Dylan himself has never released a recording of it and I’m not aware of anyone other than Baez who has taken a stab at it. In the D.A. Pennebaker documentary “Don’t Look Back,” Baez can be heard singing »
May 24, 2009 — Scott Johnson

Not dark yet

Today is the birthday of Minnesota native son Bob Dylan; he turns 68. He is a remarkable artist, self-invented, deep in the American grain. Tribute must be paid. A few years back I visited Dylan’s old house at 2425 7th Avenue East in Hibbing. The house is a small two-story residence with a one-car attached garage on the side. The house is exactly two blocks from Hibbing High School, Dylan’s »
May 23, 2009 — Paul Mirengoff

Saying no to Obama

When President Obama met with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu last Monday, he urged, or perhaps demanded, that Israel halt all new settlement activitiy on the West Bank. Now, Israel’s Strategic Affairs Minister Moshe Ya’alon has made the following response: “We will not follow American dictates; we will not halt construction in the settlements.” Ya’alon explained that the government will not allow the establishment of new outposts, but also will not »
May 23, 2009 — John Hinderaker

No Class

I’ve never thought much of Barack Obama’s policies, and I’m starting not to think much of him as a human being. Today he continued his gratuitous and graceless attacks on his predecessor in the inappropriate context of Memorial Day: Our fighting men and women – and the military families who love them – embody what is best in America. And we have a responsibility to serve all of them as »
May 23, 2009 — Paul Mirengoff

Obama’s incoherence on terrorist detainee policy

President Obama is praising himself, and receiving praise in some quarters, for having at last developed a coherent legal framework for dealing with captured terrorists. Obama has, to be sure, proposed to divide these terrorists up into a bunch of categories and to treat them based on that categorization. But categorization, and consistent treatment based on category, does not guarantee coherence. And the way Obama apparently plans to treat detainees »
May 23, 2009 — John Hinderaker

Tune in to the Patriot

Brian “St. Paul” Ward and I will be starting our Saturday morning show in a few minutes on AM 1280 the Patriot. Second hour, starting at noon central, we’ll be talking summer movies with John Nolte of Big Hollywood. »