Clearing my spindle

I’ve been saving a number of articles to write about that I want to present for your information without further comment. In one way or another, they are interesting and informative.
On the Spectator (of London) blog, James Forsyth commended the New York Times article on Umar Abdulmutallab’s radicalization in Great Britain. Forsyth observes: “There is a lot in the article that is worth commenting on. But sadly Britain’s libel laws make discussion of the contents of this article almost impossible.” Via Mark Steyn.
The current issue of the New Criterion features a series of essays on “The new statism and the assault on individual liberty.” The essays are led off by Roger Kimball’s “Introduction: democratic despotism comes of age.” Among the assembled essays are Mark Steyn’s “Live free or die” and Andrew McCarthy’s “Islam and the left.”
NRO’s Robert Costa tracked down Liz Cheney for a comment on Obama’s “connect the dots” statement last week. I’m with LIz: “We’re not going to win this through more intense airport screenings.'”
In “While Europe sneered,” Bruce Bawer considers the plight of “Kurt Westergaard and other brave critics of Islamic fanaticism [who] continue to fend for themselves.”
Economist Mark Perry depicts in graphic form how “How Chile got amazingly rich: Free trade.”
In “The talented Mr. Nelson,” NRO’s Daniel Foster documents the Nelson variations, i.e., the evolving justificiations given by Nebraska Senator Ben Nelson for the Cornhusker Kickback.
Three days after the attempted Christamas bombing of Northwest Flight 253, Barack Obama described Umar Abdulmutallab as “an isolated extremist.” Stephen Hayes wonders: “How is it possible that the president of the United States could get a central fact about an attempted terrorist attack–arguably, the central fact–dead wrong in his first public statement, three days after the attack?”
In “Government-caused disaster,” John Hinderaker drew attention to Peter Wallison’s excellent Wall Street Journal column on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Tom Blumer adds “Relief without limits: Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac get blank checks; NYT provides blank coverage.”.
Finally, last week brought the debut of the latest entry in Andrew Breitbart’s invaluable Big empire. Welcome, Big Journalism.

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