Monthly Archives: September 2013
September 23, 2013 — Steven Hayward
One resource that is definitely renewable ad infinitum is the confusion about renewable energy. Today’s Journal Report section of the Wall Street Journal perpetuates the confusion with a howler they offer in the service of supposedly debunking “myths” about renewable energy: One of the most persistent criticisms of renewables is that they account for a fraction of the U.S. electricity system—despite years of federal subsidies and breakneck growth. When looking
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September 23, 2013 — Steven Hayward
I’m very glad Tom DeLay’s bogus conviction was overturned last week, but I still can’t help but recall the moment, back in 2005, when we could tell that the jig was up for the GOP House majority: it was the moment DeLay said that “after 11 years of Republican majority we’ve pared [spending] down pretty good,” and separately that the federal budget had been “cut to the bone.” Cue Nancy Pelosi
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September 23, 2013 — Scott Johnson
Obamacare is a legislative prodigy. Even prior to its implementation it has achieved tremendous economic destruction. Holman Jenkins captures one aspect of the destruction in his weekend Wall Street Journal column “Rewriting the Lehman postmortem.” If the headline put readers off, they missed this: Today some complain of a “rich man’s recovery,” but isn’t this exactly the recovery our policies have selected for? The rich derive their incomes disproportionately from
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September 23, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
It’s all over but the non-shooting when it comes to a U.S. attack on Syria in response to the Assad regime’s use of chemical weapons. At this point, the Power Line crew is unanimous in believing (1) that the resolution of the matter, via the intervention of Vladimir Putin, is phony and (2) that President Obama badly mishandled the matter. But prior to Putin’s gambit, Power Line was not unanimous
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September 23, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
“Troop deaths put strain on Mideast peace talks.” So states a Washington Post headline (print edition) this morning. The headline refers to the fact that Palestinians killed two Israeli troops this weekend, including an unarmed 20-year old whose dead body was tossed into a well by his murderer. The armed wing of Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah party has claimed responsibility for both killings. Its actual responsibility, if any, is less significant,
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September 23, 2013 — Steven Hayward
This story requires no additional commentary. From the U.S. Marshall’s press office: U.S. Marshalls Service Cancels Current Auction of Jesse Jackson, Jr. Assets Washington – The U.S. Marshals Service today cancelled the auction of forfeited assets from the Jesse Jackson, Jr., case before the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. After receiving legitimate concerns about the authenticity of the guitar purportedly signed by Michael Jackson and Eddie Van
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September 23, 2013 — Steven Hayward
The EPA’s jihad against coal is going to come sugar coated with assurances that we can still burn coal provided utilities and power generators manage to sequester their carbon emissions. Carbon sequestration! The environmental equivalent of Thirty Days to Thinner Thighs! (Except at 100 times the cost stated in the infomercial.) The problem here is that the technology appears to be hugely expensive and is largely unproven beyond a few
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September 23, 2013 — Scott Johnson
Back in the dark days of the Bush administration I wrote about the New York Times’s damaging violations of the Espionage Act on Power Line and in the Weekly Standard column “Exposure.” I was appalled by the Times’s revelation of secret eavesdropping and monitoring techniques adopted by the administration to detect and undermine al Qaeda. I wasn’t alone in my concerns. Writing from the front lines of the battle against
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September 22, 2013 — John Hinderaker
At last word, Kenyan troops were mounting an operation to mop up the remaining Muslim terrorists who attacked the Westgate Mall in Nairobi. At least 68 people are reported dead so far, many of them children, with another 175 injured. Most hostages have now been freed, but no doubt some additional casualties will come to light. Witnesses say that the terrorists demanded that hostages recite Muslim prayers; those who could
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September 22, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
During the tourist season here in Washington, D.C., it sometimes occurs to me that if our tourists drove around the many wealthy neighbors in the D.C. area, the reaction would cause the Tea Party movement of 2010 to look like an ordinary tea party. Such is the wealth of Washington. I had the same thought when I read this post by John Gabriel at Ricochet called “D.C. Incomes Boom While
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September 22, 2013 — Scott Johnson
Minnesota is home to the largest Somali community in the United States, numbering at least 32,000. If it takes a village, we have a couple. Yet we know amazingly little about the Somali community, probably because we are afraid to ask the relevant questions. We know they are mostly Muslim — we can see the hijabs, we are familiar with the many local controversies to which their faith has given
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September 22, 2013 — John Hinderaker
Brian Ward and I recorded Episode 54 of the Hinderaker-Ward Experience yesterday. This is how Brian described the show on Ricochet and Fraters Libertas: It’s a special weekend edition of the Hinderaker-Ward Experience (HWX). John Hinderaker of Power Line and Brian Ward of Fraters Libertas reconvene to discuss the crucial events of our time. Topics addressed include: * how to pass the time while waiting in line 2 hours for
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September 22, 2013 — John Hinderaker
Phyllis Chesler is a psychologist and academic whose writings we have quoted from time to time over the years. Ms. Chesler has always had a rather skeptical attitude toward Islam, in particular with regard to its treatment of women. Now we know why: Chesler has published a new book titled An American Bride In Kabul. You can read an excerpt from An American Bride in the New York Post. Chesler’s
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September 22, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff
On September 18, President Obama told the Business Roundtable: You have never seen in the history of the United States the debt ceiling or the threat of not raising the debt used to extort a president of a governing party and trying to force issues that have nothing to do with the budget and nothing to do with the debt. Obama was referring to Republican attempts to use the debt
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September 22, 2013 — Steven Hayward
Five more days until the next IPCC climate science report will be released. Not only will Power Line’s climate desk analyze the expected 2,000-page document, but we’ll also begin daily pre-coverage with a note about how the IPCC is apparently struggling mightily to explain why global temperatures have flattened out over the last 15 years. From the AP: STOCKHOLM (AP) — Scientists working on a landmark U.N. report on climate
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September 22, 2013 — Scott Johnson
Over at NRO my daughter Eliana has been chronicling the vivid stories retailed by Newark Mayor and prospective New Jersey Senator Cory Booker. I collected links to Eliana’s NRO columns on Booker in “On the Booker beat.” It appears that Booker is something of a compulsive liar. His campaign is therefore mastering the art of the nonresponse response to reporters’ inquiries. I’m glad to report that Eliana has some company
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September 22, 2013 — Scott Johnson
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was one of the Iranian “students” who held American hostages in Iran for 444 days, until the inauguration of President Reagan in January 1981. Mark Bowden’s invaluable Guests of the Ayatollah tells the story, complete with a photo of former hostages Barry Rosen and Kevin Hermening protesting Ahamedinejad’s 2005 visit to the UN. I would like to think that Rosen and Hermening turned up again to greet Ahmadinejad
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