FRIDAY, AUGUST 31, 2007

IOWA JUDGE CHANGES MEANING OF MARRIAGE. Stanley Kurtz identifies the real story:

We now know why Karl Rove left the White House. Obviously, it takes time to travel around the country using hypnosis to instill a bizarre political death wish into liberal Democratic judges. Either that, or the gay marriage issue keeps getting politicized, not because of Karl Rove, but because activist judges insist on being...well, active.

The issue helps Romney with conservatives. Others might want to rethink their marriage position.

SPEAKING OF ROVE… Prepare for Daily Kos outrage: On his last day at the White House, Karl Rove makes the case for why history will judge George W. Bush as a great president. An NRO exclusive.


WARNER RESIGNS. WARNER TO SENATE. Upon John Warner’s retirement, John Miller makes a prediction.


CHAFEE LOSES TO WHITEHOUSE, THEN TO THE WHITE HOUSE: A DIGEST EXCLUSIVE. National Review Online Hill reporter David Freddoso reports: Rhode Island Republicans are surprised that Robert Flanders, a former member of the state supreme court, has been overlooked for an open seat on the First Circuit Court of Appeals.

In March 2006, liberal former Sen. Lincoln Chafee (R) had been asked by the White House to submit three names as possible nominees, from which the President planned to choose. But Chafee, ever dodgy in his dealings with George W. Bush, only submitted one name, that of Flanders. An active member of the state GOP who is described by sources in the state as a “real Republican,” Flanders is also publicly supported by conservative Gov. Donald Carcieri (R.). He happens to be a personal friend of Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D., R.I.), causing speculation that his confirmation would have been relatively easy.

But the White House was upset that Chafee submitted just one name, and interpreted this as an attempt by the senator to force President Bush’s hand. As a result, Flanders’s recommendation has languished for well over a year with no action taken. The administration is said to be leaning instead toward nominating Robert Clark Corrente, the current U.S. attorney from Rhode Island, whom Chafee had earlier recommended for a federal district judgeship.

NO LAUGHING MATTER. Swedish cartoons cause uproar in the Islamic world. Paul Marshall has the story of an outrage sequel.


SADDAM’S CHEMICAL WEAPONS -- FOUND! IN NEW YORK CITY ... AT THE U.N.... WITH THE WEAPONS INSPECTORS ... Claudia Rosett writes on the U.N.’s worldwide inventory problem:

If shutting down a U.N. operation is what it takes to provoke a full housecleaning, there’s a great case by now for closing down the entire U.N. system, immediately. There’s no chance of that. But back in January, when the North Korea Cash-for-Kim scandal first broke, Ban Ki-moon, in a statement released by his office, promised “an urgent, system wide and external inquiry into all activities done around the globe by the U.N. funds and programmes.” It never happened. While the FBI busies itself in Manhattan hauling away UNMOVIC’s lethal office trash, and U.S. prosecutors toil to stop the U.N.-related fraud, bribery, money-laundering, and other escapades that have become such a staple of the U.N. landscape, the least Ban could do is redeem his broken promise and deliver a full, independent inquiry into whatever the U.N.’s global empire might still have stashed in its nooks, crannies, safes, cabinets, and closets.

SENATOR CRAIG TO RESIGN. According to reports. It was never about him, former Bush administration official, Peter Wehner writes.


BOMB, BOMB IRAN? Nah. Play a different song -- for now, anyway -- Victor Davis Hanson writes.


WEAK MALIKI. How do we lack trust in thee? Charles Krauthammer counts the ways.


THEY’RE A SPECIAL INTEREST, TOO. The Editors on the Democratic enslavement to Big Labor.


IT WORKS. Deroy Murdock takes a look at the successes of Right to Work legislation.


CLOSE-UP ON UNIONS. Bret Jacobson offers his Union-themed Labor Day weekend film picks.


THOU SHALT NOT HAVE MORAL STANDARDS. Jonah Goldberg discovers the cure for hypocrisy.


FRED MEETS NEW HAMPSHIRE. Jim Geraghty on what the Granite State holds for Thompson.


THE GOP VP. Think that the vice president is just for window dressing? Jon Lerner explains why this role is key for 2008.


INTERVIEW OR INFOMERICAL? Good Morning, America’s interview with Obama crossed the line, according to Steve Salerno.


MILITARY ROUND-UP. All the latest news on the military, compiled in one place by W. Thomas Smith.


THE SAME OLD MISTAKES. Mona Charen urges those rehabilitating New Orleans to learn from disaster.


R.I.P. MICHAEL DEAVER. Paul Kengor says farewell to one of Reagan’s right hand men.


THE GOOD IN SUPERBAD. Rich Lowry expounds the positive moral lessons to be learned from a “raunchy sex comedy.”


DERB RADIO. Tune in to hear John Derbyshire’s wit and wisdom on Larry Craig, Leona’s millionaire pooch, and Princess Diana:

Now, nobody should die as young as Diana did, or as horribly. People do, though, and I don’t know why her particular death should be mourned more than any other. She seemed to be a pretty ordinary post-Boomer bubblehead, interested in pop music, celebrities, shopping, and the sappy end of the Good Causes spectrum. Not by any means a bad or deplorable person in herself, but representative of too many things I hated about the later 20th century, and about what had happened to the country I grew up in, and once felt great affection for. Well, I guess I’m Americanized now. If anybody over here is weeping for Diana, then Lexington and Concord were fought in vain.

PLUS: Myrna Blyth on real American Beauty. Gessing & Hogberg on Bill Richardson’s health-care plan.


DO YOU CHECK OUT NRO’S DAILY WEB BRIEFING? A quick guide to not only NRO but the rest of the opinion world wide web (appears on the homepage and on The Corner). Today highlighting links to: Bolton, Noonan and more.


COME BACK AGAIN. We’ll be web briefing over the weekend. Stop by Sunday for Mark Steyn and Monday for more labor and more. Have a safe and healthy holiday weekend.

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