Thursday, May 22, 2008
Probably not covered very much by the MSM...
FRENCH COURT VINDICATES AL DURA HOAX CRITIC: Philippe Karsenty, fresh from his victory over a bogus libel suit, reports. "Now it is time for France 2 to acknowledge that it created and is continuing to perpetuate the worst anti-Semitic libel of our era. It’s the responsibility of the French government and, ultimately, the responsibility of the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy — who is, for all practical purposes, the chief executive of French public television — to finally reveal the truth."
What a surprise....
Gray Lady fighting dirty against McCain campaign? Update: NYT Ethics Policy:
"Does the New York Times leverage access to campaign events through threats of negative news articles? According to one source at the McCain campaign, the answer is yes."
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Via WSJ...
The New York Times reports that Barack Obama staked out an insouciant position on Iran and other U.S. antagonists:
Arguing for engagement with the country's foes, Mr. Obama said in a speech on Sunday that "strong countries and strong presidents talk to their adversaries."
"That's what Reagan did with Gorbachev," he said, adding, "I mean think about it. Iran, Cuba, Venezuela--these countries are tiny compared to the Soviet Union. They don't pose a serious threat to us the way the Soviet Union posed a threat to us. And yet we were willing to talk to the Soviet Union at the time when they were saying we're going to wipe you off the planet."
He went on to argue that Iran spends "one-one hundredth of what we spend on the military. If Iran ever tried to pose a serious threat to us, they wouldn't stand a chance. And we should use that position of strength that we have to be bold enough to go ahead and listen."
"Let me be absolutely clear," said one candidate the next day in response: "Iran is a grave threat." That quote comes from . . . Barack Obama.
At least we're getting a real debate about foreign policy!
Arguing for engagement with the country's foes, Mr. Obama said in a speech on Sunday that "strong countries and strong presidents talk to their adversaries."
"That's what Reagan did with Gorbachev," he said, adding, "I mean think about it. Iran, Cuba, Venezuela--these countries are tiny compared to the Soviet Union. They don't pose a serious threat to us the way the Soviet Union posed a threat to us. And yet we were willing to talk to the Soviet Union at the time when they were saying we're going to wipe you off the planet."
He went on to argue that Iran spends "one-one hundredth of what we spend on the military. If Iran ever tried to pose a serious threat to us, they wouldn't stand a chance. And we should use that position of strength that we have to be bold enough to go ahead and listen."
"Let me be absolutely clear," said one candidate the next day in response: "Iran is a grave threat." That quote comes from . . . Barack Obama.
At least we're getting a real debate about foreign policy!
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
I feel like that, too...
Media Ownership? Really?:
"Seems that every time I feel myself drifting leftward, the leading lights of leftism jolt me back to reality."
Great fix...
Sleep Well, Secure in the Knowledge That the Prison Crisis Is Being Addressed By Three of the Most Liberal Judges on the Planet:
"So we won’t be releasing criminals early. We’ll just be taking tens of thousands of state prisoners and (releasing them early) giving them home detention and electronic monitoring."
No, really, can you imagine your health care in their hands?
More on milk:
"If you want to know just how ridiculous our agricultural programs are, consider this: for about half a century, we priced milk based on how far the cow was from Eau Claire, Wisconsin. No, I swear, I am not making this up. Apparently, the USDA scientifically determined that Eau Claire was the perfectest place in the entire world to keep cows, and that therefore the farther you were from that fabled city, the harder you must find it to produce milk."
Read it...
Scanner:
There are two basic lines of thought in the war of memes with radical Islam. The first implicitly sees it as a virus. The other sees it as a candidate component of the world s future operating system. It s fair to say Lieberman sees it as a virus. What does Obama regard it as?
Via Instapundit...
LISA SCHIFFREN: "You know, I am all for Fossella resigning. But I'm a little unclear why David Paterson, the serially adulterous Governor of NY, who recently replaced moral paragon Eliot Spitzer, gets a free pass."
Fossella is a Republican. Paterson isn't. And he's black, and differently-abled to boot. Thus, a much higher threshold for him. That's how media outcries work.
Democrats...
For local fans of Clinton, campaign is personal and "extremely emotional"
"When Shannon de Rubens, a stay-at-home mom, wears her Hillary Rodham Clinton button, she expects to be harassed. A woman in Bellevue even pretended to spit on her once. That's all part of the game, when you're a Clinton backer in a land of Obama bumper stickers."
Via Volokh...
New Dean of Columbia's School of International and Public Affairs:
If you want to be dean of Columbia's SIPA, you should
(a) invite Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to campus and announce that you would "certainly" have invited Adolf Hitler as well, resulting in a public relations debacle for your university;
(b) sign a petition calling for divestment from Israel.
(c) apologize for a high-level Communist Cuban official who served with Castro since before the revolution by drolly noting noting that "many decent and honorable people in Cuba are Communists. They work in government agencies, schools, laboratories, and clinics to improve the lives of their fellow citizens." UPDATE: And with regard to the official's political perspective, state, "I respect his convictions."
(d) all of the above.
Answer: (d), of course.
Vote for (no) change....
Talking Versus Doing
"If you look around America today, you see the Olson logic playing out. Interest groups turn every judicial fight into an ideological war. They lobby for more spending on the elderly, even though the country is trillions of dollars short of being able to live up to its promises. They’ve turned environmental concern into subsidies for corn growers and energy concerns into subsidies for oil companies.
The $307 billion farm bill that rolled through Congress is a perfect example of the pattern. Farm net income is up 56 percent over the past two years, yet the farm bill plows subsidies into agribusinesses, thoroughbred breeders and the rest."
Monday, May 19, 2008
What's to become of Breezewood?
Investors Offer .8 Billion to Run Penn. Turnpike
Actually, you have to be well traveled enough on the Penna. Tpk. to understand the reference. Here's to Valley Forge (the original eastern terminus of the road when it was started back in the '40's), the NE extension near Harrisburg, and the tunnel at Blue Mountain!
"A consortium led by Citigroup and Spain’s Abertis Infraestructuras won the bidding war to run the Pennsylvania Turnpike with a $12.8 billion offer, Gov. Edward Rendell said on Monday.
The group, which includes Australia’s Babcock & Brown, beat out a rival group that includes Goldman Sachs and Transurban Group."
Actually, you have to be well traveled enough on the Penna. Tpk. to understand the reference. Here's to Valley Forge (the original eastern terminus of the road when it was started back in the '40's), the NE extension near Harrisburg, and the tunnel at Blue Mountain!
