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 Saturday, March 2
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THE POSH PADRES: [Rod Dreher] Dr. Jeffrey Bond fired a pretty amazing broadside at the scandal-plagued Society of St. John today. He sent a letter out detailing what he says are 1999 receipts from a Pennsylvania furniture store, from which the Society furnished its residence. If the receipts are accurate -- Bond says he'll send photocopies of the actual receipts to anyone who asks -- the SSJ spent like a pack of clerical Clampetts. The fancy fathers spent $7,845 for an entertainment center, $15,000 for a bedroom set, $2,885 for a cocktail table, $4,900 for an oil painting, $890 for two sconces, and $975 for a telephone table (that must be one hell of a telephone) -- and many other eye-opening expenditures. All of which makes one wonder: if teenage boys had to routinely share a bed with SSJ founder Fr. Carlos Urritigoity because of a lack of space, as the Society has claimed, how is it that these priests can drop $445 for a single sconce, but have no money to buy extra sleeping bags?
Posted
11:38 PM | [Link]
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A WASHINGTON GAFFE [Ramesh Ponnuru]
On Friday, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer was forced to retract his charge that the Clinton administration's Middle East peace process had led to increased violence. Where could Fleischer have gotten a strange idea like that? Everyone knows that the peace process led to unprecedented harmony and goodwill in the region.
Posted
7:31 PM | [Link]
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TAKING BACK THEIR TOWN … FOR THE LORD [Kathryn J. Lopez]
The ACLU won a suit against the town of Franklinton, Louisiana’s practice of displaying religious signs on public property; four signs said "Jesus is Lord Over Franklinton." As so Franklintonians are fighting back. Over 1,000 people in a town of 4,000 have displayed signs on their lawns, most often saying "Jesus is Lord of All."
Posted
7:22 PM | [Link]
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WHERE’S THE LOVE? [Kathryn J. Lopez]
I thought Hindus and Muslims were all about peace and tolerance and everything nice. In one Indian town a crowd of women and children were set on fire as riots continue.
Posted
7:21 PM | [Link]
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I WISH[Kathryn J. Lopez]
Rod, Planned Parenthood has had that teen site up for light years now. Nice supplement for the sex advice they don’t get everywhere else, of course.
Posted
7:20 PM | [Link]
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I BLEW MYSELF UP FOR WHAT!? [Jonah Goldberg] We interrupt the Pedophile News Network to call your attention to an interesting piece in today's New York Times on scholarly revisionism of the Koran. It actually doesn't add much info to the Atlantic piece on the same topic. But it does mention my favorite tidbit coming out of the new Islamic scholarship. Those virgins Muslim martyrs are supposed to get when they die might actually be white raisins. I just love the idea of some horny suicide bomber showing up in paradise expecting a herd of hot virgins and being handed a box of really tasty raisins instead: "What the hell is this!?"
Posted
11:22 AM | [Link]
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FR. SPAGS' INCREDIBLE EXPANDING LOVE LIFE:: [Rod Dreher] Fr. D. George Spagnolia began the week refusing to move out of his rectory, as ordered by Cardinal Law because of a 30-year-old sex abuse accusation against him, ends the week resigned to find new quarters. Why? He's now admitted to having a second gay relationship during his years away from the priesthood.
Posted
10:51 AM | [Link]
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LAW RELENTS, UNDER PRESSURE: [Rod Dreher] The Massachusetts Attorney General and his confreres had a little talk with Cardinal Law's people, and apparently told them if they didn't straighten up and do as they promised with regard to providing authorities with names of sex-abuse victims, a grand jury would look into the matter. It worked. But it's humiliating that the Church has to be threatened like this in order for its leadership to act like honorable men instead of Nixonian plumbers and Clintonite obfuscators.
Posted
10:45 AM | [Link]
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Friday, March 1
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NOT MAKING THIS UP: [Rod Dreher] Our friends at Planned Parenthood have a new website designed to offer sex info for teenagers. Here's a charming little animated clip called Farmer Tina's Sexually Transmitted Disease Petting Zoo. No, really, you've got to see this to believe it.
Posted
6:31 PM | [Link]
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MEA CULPA: [Rod Dreher] Sorry for the partial blog below, which wasn't meant to be posted. It's just like the system to go kaflooey as soon as K-Lo leaves the office for the weekend. Anyway, out of charity I hesitated at calling the Roman parishes in my neck of Brooklyn "liberal wackadoodle," but hell, that's what they are. Last time I went to mass at one of them, the Sajak-like priest refused to give a final blessing, instead cheerfully instructing, "You all bless yourselves!" And so forth.
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5:29 PM | [Link]
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MARGARET CARLSON [Rich Lowry]
The other day on CNN with Ramesh she was explaining Bush’s campaign-finance flip-flop as a product of a changed zeitgeist. Last time I checked the zeitgeist is exactly the same as it always was: political and media elites pushing the bill, the general public not caring. Liberal journalists are going to do back-flips not to criticize Bush for breaking his word on this one.
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4:17 PM | [Link]
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PAUL KRUGMAN [Rich Lowry]
Just taped CNN’s “Reliable Sources” with him. Went pretty well except for my unfortunate coining of the neologism “indeniable.” Ouch…
Posted
4:15 PM | [Link]
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NUKES [Rich Lowry]
Thanks for all the help. I couldn’t respond to every e-mail, but read them all, and a lot of them were very helpful.
Posted
4:14 PM | [Link]
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RANDY RANDIANS: [John J. Miller]
Ben Boychuk of the Claremont Review of Books writes: "There is nothing wrong with coming up 75% Randian (which, I think, I did the first time I took the quiz). Humans and chimps share 98% of the same DNA, right? That 2% -- or 25%, as the case may be -- makes a BIG difference."
Posted
3:05 PM | [Link]
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ROD'S SCORE ON RELIGION TEST: [Rod Dreher] To absolutely no one's surprise, I'm sure, I got 100 percent Roman Catholic and 100 percent Eastern Orthodox -- which is exactly right, given that I have taken sanctuary from the liberal, liturgically ugly Roman rite parishes in my neighborhood, and worship instead with the Maronites, one of the Roman Catholic Church's Eastern rites. Orthodox Judaism was my midrange (53 percent). Interestingly, I had more in common with the Atheists and Agnostics (22%) than with Scientologists, Taoists, Secular Humanists, New Agers and adherents to New Thought, whatever that is. Frater John, my hunch is you scored higher as a Mormon than as a Catholic because you answered wrongly about the nature of God's person. Catholicism is Trinitarian; Mormonism is not.
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2:41 PM | [Link]
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ROD'S SCORE ON RELIGION TEST: [Rod Dreher] To absolutely no one's surprise, I'm sure, I got 100 percent Roman Catholic and 100 percent Eastern Orthodox -- which is exactly right, given that I have taken refuge from the liberal wackadoodle Roman rite parishes in my neighborhood, and worship instead at a
Posted
2:35 PM | [Link]
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OLD TIME RELIGION: [John J. Miller]
Jonah, I confess (a pun!) to taking the religion test. All these questions are starting to feel like a visit to the shrink's, though. I must have answered something incorrectly because the site gave me 100% for Mormon and only 95% Roman Catholic. I'll have to check my answers against Kathryn's and Rod's; they'll set me straight.(Those Winter Olympics were pretty good, though, weren't they?) Just for the record, I'm 66% Orthodox Jew, 58% Muslim, 22% Neo-Pagan, and 18% New Thought, whatever that is. Probably appropriate, though, because I tend to prefer old thoughts to new ones.
Posted
2:30 PM | [Link]
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ANGRY RANDIANS (AS IF THERE WERE ANY OTHER KIND) [Jonah]
A bunch of readers are very cross with the philosophy quiz I posted below. Apparently a lot of you are coming up Randian -- and you don't like it. I can understand your feelings of guilt and shame. All I can say is get help before you find yourself drunk and lonely in a Randian bar asking complete stangers if you can meet John Galt.
Posted
1:31 PM | [Link]
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INTERESTING [Jonah Goldberg]
According to this primer on Scientology, they believe homosexuality is an "illness." I of course had heard that the Scientologists rope-in gay movie stars who don't want to be gay -- or have it known that they are. But I didn't know that the "Church" takes the actual position that homosexuality is a sickness. You would think Hollywood liberals who beat the tar out of Christian "homophobes" would say something about this.
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1:23 PM | [Link]
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ANOTHER QUIZ [Jonah Goldberg]
Well John, if you liked that, check this out. It does the same thing for religion. It turns out I'm a 100% Orthodox Jew (that'll definitely make Poppa G happy). Apparently, I'm 12% Secular Humanist, 13% Taoist and 22% Atheist/Agnostic. Some more surprises: I'm 51% scientologist, neo-pagan and New Thought, whatever that is.
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1:17 PM | [Link]
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MILLER = MILL: [John J. Miller]
Hey Jonah, thanks for pointing out that philosophy site. I won't say I spent a lot of time on the questions, but I wasn't disappointed in the results: 100% Mill (at the top) and 13% Nietzche (at the bottom).
Posted
11:56 AM | [Link]
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SO THAT’S HOW THEY GET ALL THOSE PROTESTERS [Kathryn J. Lopez]
First of all, the “de-cal” Democratic classes at Berkeley website has a perfect “People’s Republic of Berkeley” t-shirt displayed prominently. But even better, there’s a public-health class that gives credit to students who participate in a Take Back the Night rally.
Posted
11:51 AM | [Link]
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K-LO ON FR. SUDAC: [Rod Dreher] Readers, K-Lo is being humble. Her modest blurb does not do justice to her wonderful Wall Street Journal reflection on the purported mystic Fr. Sudac, linked in her item below. I went to see him last month in Greenwich Village. The church was packed. I don't know whether he really does have mystical powers -- I am deeply skeptical -- but I do know that his preaching was impressive. He challenged the congregation not to be the sort of people who run this way and that after alleged apparitions and miracles, but ignore the fact (well, believed by us Catholics to be a fact) that the greatest miracle of all today -- the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist -- is available every day, in every Catholic parish.
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11:50 AM | [Link]
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THE POST'S CHOICE: [John J. Miller]
Today's Washington Post editorializes in favor of the Cleveland school choice program, which the Supreme Court took up last week. There's some hemming and hawing about church-state separation, but that's okay: The Posties basically adopt the conservative position on the matter. Let's hope Sandra Day O'Connor reads it.
Posted
11:43 AM | [Link]
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PHILOSOPHER QUIZ: [Rod Dreher] What a cool little diversion, Jonah. I just took the test, and scored 100 percent for Augustine and 82 percent for Aquinas, which no doubt will please my parish priest. I scored 69% on Plato and 54% on Aristotle. Lowest for me were Nietzsche (30%), Noddings (25%), the Epicureans (16%) and Hobbes (zero percent). Why, then, do I feel so nasty, brutish and short every morning as I read the Boston papers?
Posted
11:42 AM | [Link]
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MORE ON CATHOLICS [Kathryn J. Lopez]
Just in case you're not already sick of things Catholic, here's my WSJ piece.
Posted
11:39 AM | [Link]
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MORE ON CFR [Jonah Goldberg]
Just in case you're not already sick of campaign finance reform, here's my latest syndicated column.
Posted
10:56 AM | [Link]
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WHAT PHILOSOPHER ARE YOU? [Jonah Goldberg]
This website asks you a bunch of moral/ethical questions and then tells you which philosopher you’re the most like. I took the test. I came out 100% Aristotle, 87% Aquinas (my wife will be happy about that), 75% Bentham, and 72% Spinoza (that’ll make Dad happy). I was least like Nel Noddings (11%) a feminoid philosopher (shweeoo), prescriptivism (24%) and Sartre (25%). It’s kind of fun but probably stupid and there are lots of pop-up ads. I warned you.
Posted
10:29 AM | [Link]
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SMOKEY JOE’S COMING TO TOWN [Jonah Goldberg]
Joe Conason is coming to town to conduct interviews for his documentary "The Hunting of the President."The project is bankrolled by Clinton bunker-mate Harry Thomason (of Travelgate fame). Conason assures Lloyd Grove that this isn't a conflict. "I had my own questions, and Harry has given us every assurance that we can do what we want. . . . If I didn't believe that Harry was willing to do the movie the way we want, I wouldn't have done this. It's not worth it to me." I don't like to spend much time on Conason, but what's annoying about this is the suggestion that Conason's an objective or honest reporter maintaining his integrity. Whether or not Conason had "questions" for Harry Thomason ("can I deposit the check right away?" "should we call Bill Clinton ‘a Christ-figure’ or simply ‘magisterial’?") is irrelevant. The point is that Thomason signed up with Conason, because he knew he could trust Conason to provide unadulterated pro-Clinton agitprop without any encouragement from him.
Posted
9:58 AM | [Link]
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"GOODBYE, GOOD MEN": [Rod Dreher] The Corner has an international readership. The following comment on Fr. Spags' lie comes from a Catholic living in Tunis: "Can someone please explain to me why the Archdiocese of Boston would allow this man to come back to the priesthood after living with another man for years?! It boggles the mind. Do they really let just anyone into their seminaries?" Why, no, Good Reader, the American Church is, in fact, discriminating. As Michael S. Rose demonstrates in this must-read essay from Catholic World Report, many seminaries systematically weed out candidates who agree with Church teaching on homosexuality, women's ordination and the nature of the priesthood. Rose turned this essay into a book, "Goodbye, Good Men," which will be on bookshelves soon. A friend who has read the galley edition says it's a blockbuster. And it couldn't have come at a better time, if you ask me.
Posted
9:40 AM | [Link]
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IGNORE THIS POST This button doesn't do anything and this site isn't worth going to. Do not go here.
Posted
9:38 AM | [Link]
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GIVING THE MUFFIN KING HIS DUE [Jonah]
I've been really hard on Michael Kinsley lately, so it's only fair that I give him props for an excellent column today.
Posted
9:13 AM | [Link]
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CASTRO & CUBA, THE STUFF OF DREAMS [Kathryn J. Lopez]
There is a really odd piece on Salon this morning (Duh!, I know). It’s by the great-granddaughter of Nikita Khrushchev, Nina Khrushcheva, evidently a journalist and professor at the New School in NYC. Anyway, by way of discussing Monica Lewinsky’s HBO documentary she reveals her lifelong dream to interview Fidel Castro, and her fantasy: to seduce and marry him. She then goes on to criticize the United States for making Monica a media star. Nina, there’s always Paradise Cuba.
Posted
9:11 AM | [Link]
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THE A.G. GETS INVOLVED: [Rod Dreher] It appears that the Boston Archdiocese's openness in releasing names of priests accused of sex abuse has been largely a public-relations ploy, and authorities are sick of the game. Now the Massachusetts state district attorney says he may convene a grand jury to force Cardinal Law to disclose information that will help prosecutors decide whether or not there are grounds for criminal charges in some cases. The A.G. says that confidentiality agreements between the Church and the victims are null and void if they are used to conceal a crime. I hope Law does force the empanelment of the grand jury, which, once seated, ought to hear evidence of criminal conspiracy to protect pederasts.
Posted
8:52 AM | [Link]
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ONE CRISIS WINDING DOWN [Kathryn J. Lopez]
New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer has announced that he is withdrawing subpoenas in a wide-spanning investigation of crisis-pregnancy centers in New York. That's good news for people who do lifesaving work, although there's a cloud that will likely remain over them for awhile, thanks to loads of negative publicity. This whole incident should be a warning to anyone who would consider endangering good work and lives with any dishonest or otherwise unseemly tactics. It's God's work, do it as God would want it.
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8:44 AM | [Link]
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GOOD NEWS [Kathryn J. Lopez]
Some feminists aren't happy this morning. The Pentagon has decided not to renew the charter for the Defense Advisory Committee in Women in the Services, whose charter expired last week. Details are still being worked out and debated, but more will be announced next week. Women, including GOP Rep. Heather Wilson have promised to protest. Let's hope wise men prevail.
Posted
8:40 AM | [Link]
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FR. SPAGS AND HIS GAY LOVER: [Rod Dreher] Well, that didn't take long. Yesterday's media hero, Boston priest Fr. D. George Spagnolia, who says he has been falsely accused of child molestation, now admits that he had a gay lover during some of his years away from the priesthood. That doesn't make him a child molester, but it does make him a liar. As late as yesterday, Fr. Spags was claiming to have been celibate all this time.
Posted
8:39 AM | [Link]
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H-E-L-L-O? ANY INTELLIGENT LIFE OUT THERE? [Kathryn J. Lopez]
Berkeley has reinstated their now-famous sex class. Class projects reportedly included a, um, interactive visit to a strip club.
Posted
7:01 AM | [Link]
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IS THIS A GREAT COUNTRY, OR WHAT?: Amy Fisher versus Tonya Harding -- the Trailer-Park Throwdown, live on -- where else? -- Fox. Can your camel-stinking Mohammedan dictatorship, cheese-eating surrender-monkeying republique, or Marmite-sucking, dentally-blighted constitutional monarchy do that? Didn't think so. Let's roll, Beavis!
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12:19 AM | [Link]
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Thursday, February 28
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PEACE-LOVING HINDUS STRIKE AGAIN: [Rod Dreher] In India, a mob of Hindus have now paid back Muslims in India for yesterday's massacre virtually body-for-body, murdering 58 of them, including a Muslim legislator, which the mob burned alive. Here's the story. Remember this next time you hear someone running down the USA and praising the virtue of the Third World. People from all over the globe have come to this land of ours for centuries to escape this kind of sectarian madness. Still do. God bless America, and God help India.
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10:51 PM | [Link]
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OF FOXES AND HENHOUSES: [Rod Dreher] Here's a Boston Archdiocese scandal that doesn't involve the word "pederasty." The Massachusetts News reports that the director of counseling services at a Catholic Charities center that counsels pregnant women spends his weekends serving as a volunteer escort at a Planned Parenthood abortion clinic. (They've even photographed him in action). According to the paper, both the see-no-evil Archdiocese and Catholic Charities, its social services arm, stonewalled a reporter telephoning for explanation. How could Catholic Charities not care? This City Journal article goes a long way toward explaining why.
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3:12 PM | [Link]
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FEDERALIST ANONYMITY [Jonah Goldberg]
A reader responds: "Jonah, Everyone knew who was writing the Federalist Papers. They were "anonymous" just like nobody knows who Richard Bachman is. But there was a lot of anonymous pamphleteering before the Revolution, when the stakes of being on the wrong side were a lot higher."
In response, all I’d say is that may be the case, but even if it is (I'm withholding my commitment for the moment), so what? People today can figure out who the "Coalition for Better Farming" represents too. It hardly changes the principle. Heck, I know who the Moose is, but he still finds it useful to employ a stealth campaign.
Posted
1:38 PM | [Link]
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DACOWITS DEATH WATCH [Stanley Kurtz]
Kate and Kathryn, thanks so much for going after DACOWITS. This is no mere symbolic battle. The attempt to engineer a phony equality between men and women has already seriously undermined morale and training standards in our armed forces. (You can read about it in Stephanie Gutmann’s important book, The Kinder Gentler Military.) Remember, our regular troops have yet to be pressed into combat. Instead, we’ve been relying on Marines and Special Forces--the only parts of the military where the drive for “gender equity” has not corrupted training standards. No doubt, DACOWITS will go after these preserves when it gets the chance. But the important point is that we are facing years of war, and no longer have the luxury of maintaining a poorly trained combat force for the sake of someone’s androgynous fantasy. And don’t miss the fantastic--and hilarious--skewering of DACOWITS in the latest issue of The Women’s Quarterly. I especially like the bit about the DACOWITS member who complains that combat is a “male-defined environment” and that women are excluded because “representational practices” have constructed a “reality” by “discursive practices” that understand the concept of “warrior” to be implicitly male. But don’t get the idea that all DACOWITS members are social constructionists. They also strongly oppose the reality of “violence against women.” Wow, are these gals ready for combat or what?
Posted
1:22 PM | [Link]
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YOUR CAMPAIGN-FINANCE REFORM BILL AT WORK:[Rich Lowry]
DNC IS BUILDING $$-LAW DETOUR , By DEBORAH ORIN, New York Post. February 28, 2002 -- There's a $30 million dream deal waiting for the builder who gets to erect the Democratic National Committee's new high-tech headquarters. It's a dream because Dem Chairman Terry McAuliffe is planning to let the contractor pocket all that moola up front -- way before the building at 501 Fourth St. SW in D.C. is anywhere near done. Crazy? Like a fox. Democrats are edging around a provision in the new campaign-finance law…”
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1:05 PM | [Link]
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BRING IN THE FEDS?: [Rod Dreher]
Big news out of New Hampshire this morning, courtesy of The Boston Herald. Authorities there are looking into whether Archdiocese of Boston priests brought minors across state lines to molest them. If true, and if Cardinal Law knew about it and did not inform the police, the Herald says Law could be indicted on Federal charges. Lord have mercy. One wonders if even the prospect of that ignominious fate would be enough to convince Law to resign, and convince Rome to clean house among the American bishops.
Posted
12:47 PM | [Link]
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SPAGS KICKS BUTT: [Rod Dreher]
Fr. D. George Spagnolia -- "Spags" to his friends -- is not going away quietly. The Archdiocese of Boston has suspended him and ordered him out of the rectory, based on a three decades-old accusation of molestation the archdiocese finds credible. Spags has launched a media campaign to defend himself against the anonymous accusation. He gives an idea of why the the Archdiocese finds him so troublesome in today's Boston Globe, in which he calls for Bernard Cardinal Law to resign. Said Spags: ''He has no credibility among his priests. They don't feel as though they can trust him. They feel as though he'd give them up in a minute to save his ass.'' Yow! Now, one has to remain agnostic on Spags's guilt or innocence, but it does seem to me that his lone accuser, who is probably in his forties today and therefore not a child, should have the courage to come forward.
Posted
12:41 PM | [Link]
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MORE HELP: [Rich Lowry]
If you know about engineering and deep-tunneling—how is it done? how easy is it? how widely dispersed is the technology for it?—I would love to here from you.
Posted
12:21 PM | [Link]
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ANNALS OF FREE SPEECH IN AMERICA [Rich Lowry]
A news item. “Court says gang speech protected by First Amendment. SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Arizona cannot prosecute a former gang member for advising a gang on its operations, initiation, expulsion and graffiti practices, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday.” But those unruly and dangerous political groups running “sham” issue ads, on the other hand, well that’s another matter…
Posted
12:20 PM | [Link]
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SPEAKING OF WHICH…: [Rich Lowry]
…belated congrats to the WSJournal yesterday for its edit urging Bush to veto campaign-finance. The Journal obviously talked a lot about the oath of office and Constitution during the Clinton scandals, and it’s good to see that they don’t let partisanship get in the way of their consistency.
Posted
12:19 PM | [Link]
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JONAH: [Rich Lowry]
On anonymity, my understanding is that one of the cases defending the right to it in political communications is called NAACP v. Alabama. The name alone should give you an idea why it might be important for people to fund and engage in political advocacy without the government (in this case, a hostile state government) knowing who they are.
Posted
12:18 PM | [Link]
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FASTER CONSERVATIVES, KILL! KILL! [Jonah Goldberg]
Kate, Everybody: Have you seen what the editor of the Washington Monthly has to say? Bemoaning the sausage-spined nature of the liberal media, he declares:
"The same dynamic plays out among TV pundits. Conservatives such as Robert Novak, Kate O'Beirne, and Jonah Goldberg are ideological warriors who attempt with every utterance to advance their cause. Their center-left counterparts, people such as Juan Williams, Margaret Carlson, and E.J. Dionne, simply don't have the same killer instinct."
I found the excerpt in Howie Kurtz’s online column, so I haven’t read the whole piece yet. Sounds like fun though (but am I really a TV pundit? I thought I just played one on TV).
Posted
12:02 PM | [Link]
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DEAR MISS APRIL [Richard Brookhiser]
I read National Review for the articles.
Posted
11:46 AM | [Link]
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THE MOOSE AND BEINART [Jonah ]
Rich, Ramesh: great points on Beinart’s ode to "reform." One point not addressed by any of you is the current demonization of anonymous "stealth" ads (as the Moose and others derisively refer to the them). The conventional wisdom these days is that anonymous speech is unfair somehow. Hell, it might be unfair. But it’s not unconstitutional. The Federalist Papers were written anonymously. Would the Moose or Beinart have outed "Publius" and demanded to know which corporate fat cats were backing James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay? In fact, if Stealth campaigning for your favorite candidates and pet issues is so evil, how come the Moose keeps his identity (and funding) a secret?
Posted
11:25 AM | [Link]
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HEATHER HAS TWO FACES? [Kate O'Beirne]
What welcome news on the front page of the Washington Times this morning (scooped by our own Kathryn Lopez on NRO) about the poor perilous Paulines at DACOWITS whose days, please God, may be numbered. Rep. Heather Wilson (R., NM), a former member of the buttinski committee, has pressed the case to keep them around and points to one of their proudest achievements. It seems that the military women DACOWITS believes are fierce enough to take on Saddam’s Republican Guard were too timid to ask PX managers to stock feminine hygiene products. DACOWITS to the rescue! Wilson argues that the “character” of DACOWITS would change with Bush appointees. Of course, when she was a Bush I appointee, she joined the Pat Schroder pro women in combat team for a Firing Line debate. Heather Has Two Faces?
Posted
10:49 AM | [Link]
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KILLJOY ORDERS [Andrew Stuttaford]
The role of a doctor is to give advice, not orders. Physicians who wish to pursue legislative change should run for office rather than abuse the authority of what is still a respected profession. These two rather elementary principles seem to have been forgotten by the AMA, which has now launched www.LiquorFreeTV.com. This preachy little website is part of the campaign to oppose NBC's long-overdue decision to accept commercials for the hard stuff. And the killjoy Kildares don't stop there. In a recent speech, the AMA's chairman-elect reiterated the organization's support for the elimination of all alcohol advertising from television.
It is bad enough that this campaign for a gag rule aligns the AMA with Joe Califano's now discredited Center on Addition and Statistical Abuse. It is even worse for what it reveals about the doctors' arrogant view of the rest of us. We are it seems, too stupid to be allowed to judge a TV commercial for ourselves. Thanks for the compliment, guys.
One other thing. The website has an e-mail link to NBC with a form letter of complaint muttering about "the children". In a rare nod to freedom, the AMA has, however, left it possible to amend the text of that letter in any way you want. I just thought that fact might be of interest....
Posted
9:45 AM | [Link]
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THE TRUTH ABOUT CUBA [Kathryn J. Lopez]
A telling story about the nature of Castro’s regime in Cuba today. Of course, readers of NRO—and especially of Jay Nordlinger—know the truth about Cuba. But word is leaking. As Jay put it in an e-mail this morning: “The curtain is being parted just a little on the true nature of the regime, for the world to see, undeniably.” And this is, in part, why: This time, the press was roughed up, too. Of course, there’s no reason, still, to expect this story to get airtime; Jay reminds: Few cared when Cuban personnel assaulted demonstrators on U.S. soil during the Elian controversy.
Posted
9:43 AM | [Link]
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NOTES FROM THE OLIVE GARDEN: [Rod Dreher] Quick, read this hilarious piece. This guy has the Euroweenies for lunch. Outta the way, you cheese-eating surrender monkeys!
Posted
9:35 AM | [Link]
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MISS APRIL? [Kathryn J. Lopez]
This just in: April's Playboy has a bit of a surprise: A "forum" piece credits National Review's Kathryn Jean Lopez with starting a bit of a crusade on the Right to out lesbians from the Girl Scouts. Of course, that’s not quite the case and the piece is hysterical in its portrayal of “religious Right” conservatives and their efforts to make the Girl Scouts a little more like the Boy Scouts. (Sigh. If only.) And instead of buying Playboy, feel free to read my now-infamous Girl Scouts piece and try four free issues of NR if you haven’t subscribed already (do I get brownie points for that? Rich? Ed?).
Posted
9:11 AM | [Link]
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PATRIOTS [Stanley Kurtz]
Check out the CalStuff blog’s continuing coverage of the stolen newspaper scandal at Berkeley. Kevin Deenihan, CalStuff’s creator, excerpts an op-rd being sent to the main student newspaper by the editors of the Patriot (the conservative paper who’s run was just destroyed) detailing the sorry history of the suppression of speech at Berkeley. The Patriot is right. Until Berkeley administrators actually punish the little tyrants who steal newspapers, speech at Berkeley will be in chains, not free. Make sure to scroll down far enough to note the address where you can send a contribution to support the Patriot. (By the way, my thanks to Glenn Reynolds, the estimable Instapundit, who first picked up on this story.)
Posted
8:51 AM | [Link]
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Wednesday, February 27
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SAY THAT AGAIN? [Andrew Stuttaford]
Outraged by a Jay Leno joke that referred to some Koreans' fondness for eating our canine chums, South Korean opposition leader Kim Jong-Pil is reported to have attacked Mr. Leno as an "ignorant son of a bitch." Am I the only person to think that that is a particularly unfortunate choice of insult?
Posted
11:22 PM | [Link]
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ENGLISH CLASS ACT: [John J. Miller]
Nobody works harder than Jim Boulet of English First when it comes to tracking language policy, whether it's bilingual education, voting rights, or Puerto Rican statehood. The man is a treasure house of knowledge. Many NRO readers are already familiar with his excellent work. Now he's writing daily updates on language and politics, which may be read here. If this topic interests you, bookmark the page--there isn't a better source of information available on the web.
Posted
10:25 PM | [Link]
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BRITISH WHILE MUSLIM [Andrew Stuttaford]
A heartbreaking report from today's London Times on a good man who understands what a multiethnic society should mean, and is discovering what a multicultural society does mean.
Mohammed Usman, a Muslim inhabitant of Bradford, England (a city with a large ethnic Asian population) is planning to fly
the British flag to mark the Queen's Golden Jubilee this year. Mr. Usman believes that immigrants should adopt a British lifestyle. "I was born a Muslim but I am very patriotic. I am British, I feel British and my children are British."
The Times reports that when Mr. Usman first displayed the British Flag (during the 2000 European soccer championship) "it attracted unwelcome attention from local youths." When, for a time last year he displayed the Stars and Stripes, he was told that he would be killed if he "did not return to Islam." During rioting in the town last summer his windows were, reportedly, smashed "night after night."
Since Islam is a religion of peace and tolerance this behavior is obviously an aberration. I assume, therefore, that local Muslim clerics have rallied round in support of Mohammed Usman, although, curiously, this is not mentioned in the Times's report.
An oversight, doubtless.
Posted
6:21 PM | [Link]
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THEM PEACE-LOVIN' MUSLIMS, AGAIN: [Rod Dreher] Now comes news that a Muslim mob in India has torched a train full of Hindu activists, killing 57, mostly women and children. I'm all for publicizing the fact that claims for Islam's peacefulness are largely a sham, and my sympathies in the India-Pakistan dispute lie with the democrats who run India. It should be pointed out, however, that radical Hindus with ties to the Indian government have done the same thing to Christian missionaries in recent years. In one horrible attack, a Hindu mob burned alive missionary Graham Staines and his two young sons.
Posted
6:14 PM | [Link]
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NO "GOTCHA" THERE [Ramesh Ponnuru]
Peter Beinart defended the constitutionality of campaign-finance reform in The New Republic. Rich wrote a piece for NRO criticizing him on that while conceding that Beinart "is always smart and scores some nice gotcha points against congressional GOPers." Smart he is, but I'm less impressed by Beinart's points. Mitch McConnell is said to be a hypocrite because he "backed a 1995 effort to restrict the political activities of groups that receive federal grants." Huh? Campaign-finance reform isn't about restrictions on subsidized speech; surely the distinction between the issues can't elude Beinart. Nor is it hypocritical for Tom DeLay and Dick Armey to invoke the First Amendment against "reform" while trying to ban flag-burning. Leave aside the question of whether flag burning is really "free speech," as Beinart claims, as opposed to "free expression" (which isn't mentioned in the Constitution). The critical point here is that DeLay et al tried to amend the Constitution--they didn't just ignore it. Finally, Beinart assumes that having proved to his own satisfaction that the opponents' arguments are wrong proves as well that these arguments are not sincerely made. That's a non sequitur, and one that poisons rather than advances debate.
Posted
6:12 PM | [Link]
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SEE YA [Jonah Goldberg]
I'm off to CNN to try my hand at Crossfire again (Kathryn's got the G-File). I think we're doing this welfare-marriage proposal and then maybe Aaron's Sorkin's buffoonery. If anybody has anything helpful for me to read, let me know.
Posted
3:31 PM | [Link]
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YOU CAN SAY THAT AGAIN [Jonah Goldberg]
The title of the lead editorial in today's Washington Post: "Mistakes Were Made." It begins: "President Bush and Secretary of State Donald Rumsfeld have been indignantly protesting in recent days that the administration would never deliberately distort the truth in reporting to the public, as a new Pentagon propaganda office was proposing to do."
Um, fellas? The Secretary of State is Colin Powell.
Posted
3:28 PM | [Link]
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PRIEST SENTENCED: [Rod Dreher] In Wisconsin, Father Timothy Svea has pleaded guilty to second-degree sexual assault of a child under age 16 and five counts of exposing himself to a child. He also pleaded guilty to charges of false imprisonment and exposing himself to a child. The victims were volunteers for the Institute of Christ the King, a conservative Catholic order to which Fr. Svea belongs. The court sentenced Svea to a year and a half in jail.
Posted
2:33 PM | [Link]
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HELP [Rich Lowry]
A while ago, I wrote a piece on the need for the U.S. to have a really small, bunker-busting nuclear weapon and got a bunch of e-mails about it. If anyone out there has thoughts on this—do we have such a weapon?; do we need one?; why or why not?—please e-mail me. I want to return to the topic.
Posted
2:17 PM | [Link]
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CORRECTION [Rich Lowry]
I’m told that I made a mistake in my current NRO piece. PACs can only raise $1,000 per person, not $5,000. (I know this was probably bothering a lot of people out there!)
Posted
2:14 PM | [Link]
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DON'T CALL US, WE'LL CALL YOU: [Rod Dreher] NRO's spies in Omaha report that Archbishop Elden Curtiss was a scheduled guest on "Alive in Faith," a KVSS Catholic radio program today. The show is usually a call-in program, but the phone lines were not turned on today. Strange, that. Could the format change have been to protect His Excellency from having to answer questions from the faithful about why he allowed alleged child-porn enthusiast Fr. Rob Allgaier to appear on the station's teen program despite having reportedly been told by Fr. Allgaier himself about the child-porn problem? Incidentally, I was wrong earlier to state the Omaha police were investigating Fr. Allgaier. Actually, authorities in Norfolk, Neb., site of Allgaier's previous parish posting, are pursuing matters.
Posted
1:43 PM | [Link]
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SOCIETY OF ST. JOHN UPDATE: [Rod Dreher] Today's Scranton (Pa.) Times reports that the county district attorney's office has opened an investigation against Fr. Carlos Urritigoity and Fr. Eric Ensey of the Society of St. John, based on at least one allegation of molestation. NRO first told you about the scandal on February 7, and published a follow-up giving the local bishop's side of the controversy on February 15.
Posted
1:28 PM | [Link]
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PERFECTION PROBLEMS [Kathryn J. Lopez]
If you doctor asked you if you wanted the perfect baby, what would you say, no? Well, of course, not. And chances are most parents won’t ask either, “but will you be creating and destroying life in the process?” Pretty soon, of course, if not already, every mother’s child will not necessarily be perfect in her eyes. See today’s Alzheimer’s “miracle” story if you don’t believe me.
Posted
1:03 PM | [Link]
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MORE SHARPTON [Jonah Goldberg]
At the end of the show we asked Sharpton take a quiz on his knowledge of Iowa, where he spent the day campaigning for president. Thanks to the Hotline for summarizing the results:
CNN's Press to Rev. Al Sharpton: "The first question for you ... Delaware is called the Diamond state. What is the nickname for the state of Iowa? Do you know?" Sharpton: "No, I don't. It's probably Coal State." Press: "It's the Hawkeye state, Reverend Sharpton. We're helping you out there. You're going to know that tomorrow." National Review's Goldberg: "OK, well Mr. Sharpton, the second question I have for you is do you know the name of the University of Iowa football team?" Sharpton: "No." Goldberg: "That's called the Hawkeyes, funnily enough." Press: "Also called the Hawkeyes. All right, this is the softball, Reverend Sharpton. There's a former president of the United States who used to be a sports announcer on radio in Des Moines, Iowa. Do you know the former president of the United States?" Sharpton: "Would that have been -- no, it wouldn't have been Harry Truman." Press: "Is that your final answer?" Sharpton: "Yes." Press: "No, it was Ronald Reagan. Reagan--" Sharpton: "I'm not a Reaganite" ("Crossfire," 2/26).
Posted
12:55 PM | [Link]
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JESSE JACKSON VS. THE TAXMAN: [Rod Dreher] Here's a deeply satisfying story from today's Washington Times. It seems that Jesse Jackson's corrupt Citizenship Education Fund may be on the verge of losing its non-profit tax status -- a potentially devastating blow to Jesse, Inc. Why? They haven't filed a return for the year 2000. You might recall that CEF's previous tax returns were riddled with errors and omissions -- and so were the amended returns filed after the scandal became public. This is a felony -- not that the mainstream media cares, mind you, nor the IRS.
Posted
12:09 PM | [Link]
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UNITED WE WHINE [Kathryn J. Lopez]
John, you are right, of course, that the Title IX-Olympics case Patty Murray was making is nonsense. But she is only mimicking the girl-power talking points her feminist sisters give her. Womensenews.com, an offshoot of NOW, had a ridiculous piece during the Olympics whining about the number of female medal wins. In one especially silly point in the piece, a former IOC vp f she was a victim of sexism because she lost her reelection bid. Well, of course, she said. Well, of course.
Posted
11:11 AM | [Link]
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REYNOLDS WRAP: [John J. Miller]
I've written a brief account of yesterday's confirmation hearing for Jerry Reynolds, a black conservative despised by liberal interest groups such as the NAACP. But I only mentioned briefly the oddest moment in the hearing, when Sen. Patty Murray of Washington suggested that America's female medalists at the Winter Olympics owe their success to Title IX. Isn't that just like a liberal: Credit every form of individual achievement to the federal government? I've just checked ESPN's medal tracker, and American women scored medals in events such as figure skating, skeleton, bobsledding, snowboarding, and speed skating. I'm no expert on Title IX, but I'm deeply skeptical that it has done anything for anybody in any of these sports.
Posted
10:59 AM | [Link]
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IT’S NOT JUST ABOUT THE GOAT [Stanley Kurtz]
The Daily Californian is the U. C. Berkeley student newspaper that issued a craven apology to minority students last year for its failure to censor the David Horowitz reparations ad. Today the Daily Cal’s website leads with a story about the attempted (temporary) theft of a goat for a fraternity pledge ritual, while demoting the vastly more important story of the theft of an entire run of a campus conservative newspaper and continued harassment and death threats leveled at Berkeley’s student Republicans. Those publishing priorities tell you something about who the real targets of campus bias are nowadays. You can read the article that likely caused the theft of the papers at CalStuff, the website that broke the story of the paper-run’s disappearance. The article describes what is hard not to see as the racist ideology of a campus funded Mexican American student group. That group denies responsibility for the theft of the papers or harassment of the student Republicans, but others suggest that sympathizers of the group are responsible for the theft and the threats. A few more fraternity pranks might be just the right cure for the divisiveness that multiculturalism has brought to the contemporary American campus.
Posted
10:28 AM | [Link]
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GRADE INFLATION [Ramesh Ponnuru]
No, Derb, the Vietnam theory of grade inflation is not new. It is in fact the prevailing explanation. Even Harvey Mansfield, the professor who was widely reported in a controversy last year to have attributed grade inflation at Harvard to affirmative action, agreed that the war was also a factor.
Posted
10:23 AM | [Link]
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TRUST YOUR LOCAL BISHOP, PART 2: [Rod Dreher] But Abp. Curtiss reassigned Fr. Allgaier -- a priest who, he says, admitted to him that he viewed kiddie porn -- to parish work. What's more, Fr. Allgaier had regular contact with youth involved in a teen program called "Refiner's Fire," which required regular personal contact with kids. And he was a semi-regular guest on "His Rock Radio," a youth-oriented radio program hosted by teens on KVSS, an Omaha Catholic radio station. Here's the kicker: station policy requires that the Archbishop personally approve every priest appearing on the station. That Curtiss didn't know that a priest he believed to be a kiddie-porn enthusiast was going on the air with kids in a ministerial capacity is not remotely credible. No small wonder that more and more faithful Catholics are concluding that they cannot trust their bishops, period. An NRO reader who works with teenagers in his Omaha parish, and who is a regular listener to "His Rock Radio," described Allgaier to me as "very personable and very orthodox." This reader reports that "a lot of solid Catholic parents here are outraged by what the archbishop has done. My faith in the truth of Catholicism is intact, but my faith in the Church hierarchy is shattered." Note well, reader, that Curtiss is considered fairly conservative, and that the seminary Allgaier graduated from in 1998, the Josephinium, is thought to be one of the more orthodox and trustworthy. (Allgaier, by the way, told Omaha police he began his child-porn, um, investigation during his seminary days.)
Posted
10:03 AM | [Link]
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TRUST YOUR LOCAL BISHOP?: [Rod Dreher] The pervert-priest scandal has reached the Archdiocese of Omaha. Several days ago, authorities seized the computer of the Rev. Rob Allgaier, who, according to a warrant, has admitted using it to view child pornography several times a week, for hours at a time. No charges have been filed yet, pending an investigation of the computer's contents, but Omaha police told the Omaha World-Herald that the priest claims he was doing "research" on child pornography. Fr. Allgaier has been removed from ministry and sent out of state. The World-Herald has reported that Archbishop Eldon Curtiss, who has a reputation as a Church conservative, discovered Fr. Allgaier's alleged problem with kiddie porn a year ago, and in response, removed him from his position at an archdiocesan high school and ordered him to have no contact with youth outside of worship services.
Posted
9:49 AM | [Link]
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THIS JUST IN: AL SHARPTON IS A BIG FAT (OKAY, LESS FAT) LIAR [Jonah Goldberg]
Last night I co-hosted Crossfire (I’m still not very good at it). Al Sharpton was a guest. Here’s an excerpt:
GOLDBERG: OK, well, Mr. Sharpton, you claim and you resent when people say that you're not a very serious candidate for a very serious position. As recently as last year, you were claiming that you are didn't even own any of your suits, that you didn't have a credit card.
SHARPTON: That's a lie. Where did I make that claim, sir?
GOLDBERG: Well, it was in "The New York Times."
SHARPTON: That's not true.
GOLDBERG: OK, well in that case...
SHARPTON: Not true. How could I not own my suits? I mean again, I think...
GOLDBERG: That's a question a lot of us would like to know.
SHARPTON: I think you would do yourself and a lot of people service, if you did better research. What you're referring to -- never said that. Never said it.
Now here is the lead from the 12/21/01 New York Times story on Sharpton’s explanation (before a judge) as to why he cannot pay Steven Pagones (the man he slandered in the Tawana Brawley case) the money a jury says he owes him:
"He says he owns no suits, but has "access" to a dozen or so. He says he owns no television set because the one he watches in his home was purchased by a company he runs. He says he has no checking accounts, no savings accounts, no credit cards, no debit cards, no mutual funds, no stocks, no bonds, no paintings, no antiques. The only thing he admits to owning is a $300 wristwatch and a 20-year-old wedding ring."
Similar claims have also been reported in the New Yorker and other publications. My only question is, if he’s so poor, why doesn’t he sue the Timesand the New Yorker for libel?
Posted
8:56 AM | [Link]
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7TH HEAVEN [Kathryn J. Lopez]
Well, at least for Hill. She doesn't have to be in the same house, often even the same country, as her husband. She is a senator from uberpowerful New York and she can wear pink whenever she wants--this time, though, not to soften her image.
Posted
8:30 AM | [Link]
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OUTED BY THE NYTIMES! [Andrew Stuttaford]
Califano's math proves to be fuzzier than even I thought. The New York Times is now reporting that the headline statistic in the Califano report is wrong.
"After several news organizations reported a finding that underage drinkers consumed a quarter of the nation's alcohol, the widely respected antidrinking organization that issued the finding acknowledged that it had not applied the usual statistical techniques in deriving that number, which would then have been far smaller."
"Widely respected"? By whom?
Califano's clique was laughable before. Now it is revealed to be contemptible, its statistical method worth less than a teenager's fake I.D.
Posted
6:04 AM | [Link]
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JEALOUS GEORGE [Andrew Stuttaford]
The Califano center is, apparently, going to recommend an end to all TV ads for alcohol products (beer as well as spirits, no word on Listerine).
Susan Foster, the Center's unfortunate "director of policy research" wants to "break open a national dialogue" on this question. That's nice, Susan. A "dialogue" with the aim of restricting free speech. Orwell would be impressed by that one.
Posted
5:59 AM | [Link]
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IF I CAN ENLIST, I CAN DRINK [Andrew Stuttaford]
A sinister-sounding report has staggered out of Columbia University's "National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse", a body headed by Carter-era busybody, Joseph Califano. From the sound of it, the report (on the "epidemic" of 'underage' drinking in the US) is the usual, er, cocktail of hysteria, dodgy logic and fuzzy math. Remember that a large percentage of its supposedly troubling "data" counts 18, 19 and 20-year-olds as "underage," legally accurate, I suppose, but, practically speaking, deranged.
An individual old enough to vote or to join the army is old enough to go to a bar.
Posted
5:58 AM | [Link]
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GET THIS WOMAN TO CONGRESS [Kathryn J. Lopez]
The Washington Post story on the U.N. cloning debate has a very telling quote predicting what will happen if therapeutic cloning is given a go-ahead from U.S. delegate Carolyn L. Willson: "Implantation of cloned embryos would take place out of sight," she said. "Once begun, an illicit clonal pregnancy would be virtually impossible to detect and, if detected, governments would be unlikely to compel the pregnancy to be aborted or severely penalize the pregnant woman." Which is why allcloning needs to be banned--yesterday.
Posted
5:35 AM | [Link]
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UNBANNED [Kathryn J. Lopez]
Not that it really matters what the U.N. does, but there is talk that it could issue a ban on cloning. Of course, the U.N. is only interested in a “global and comprehensive” insofar as it would ban only so-called “reproductive cloning,” not “therapeutic cloning.” Translation: you can create ‘em but you better destroy ‘em.
Posted
5:34 AM | [Link]
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Tuesday, February 26
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ULTIMATE FEAR FACTOR [Kathryn J. Lopez]
Reality TV will soon have a Christian alternative: TruthQuest, to debut in Oct. on the FamilyNet channel and affiliates. Inspired by MTV’s Road Rules, odds are they will not be contributing to the nation’s teen beer consumption, they do promise debates over biblical interpretations and perhaps even a little sexual tension.
Posted
9:59 PM | [Link]
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LIGHT SENTENCE [Kathryn J. Lopez]
The Sudan is becoming more humane, evidently. A woman sentenced to be stoned to death for adultery was instead flogged, due to international pressure. She may have been pregnant at the time of flogging, although there appears to be confusion about whether or not she had already given birth in prison, and she claims to have been raped. (The man who she says raped her was acquitted.) There was, as there always is at Sudanese floggings, a doctor present to make sure she did not die, just received a flogging that’d last a lifetime. Thank God for small favors.
Posted
7:52 PM | [Link]
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ANDREW SULLIVAN’S FLIP-FLOP:[Rich Lowry]
John Miller dissected it well yesterday, but I think it’s worth returning to. Last week, Sullivan wrote that “almost certainly ” the Court would strike down the advertising provisions of Shays-Meehan. For Andrew, this was a good thing. In the end, it would make the bill even more to Bush's liking. When it was pointed out that it is odd to urge a president to sign a bill because it's unconstitutional, Andrew tried a new position. There has to be a "metaphysical certainty" that a bill will be tossed out by a court for Congress not to pass it, and presumably for a president not to sign it. How "almost certainly" differs from "metaphysical certainty" is something he doesn't explain, and why Andrew suddenly sounds a little less sure that the bill is unconstitutional is also a mystery. The common-sense response to all this would be that if the president thinks parts of a bill are unconstitutional--and he is allowed to have an opinion on such things--he should either veto it or ask Congress to change the unconstitutional parts. Seems easy enough. The problem is that it is in the White House's narrow political interest not to bother. And this is where Fred Barnes come in...
Posted
4:33 PM | [Link]
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THE BARNES EFFECT: [Rich Lowry]
Fred Barnes didn't even address the question of whether it's a problem for a president to sign a partly unconstitutional bill in his WSJ op-ed last week. This is because on this issue, Barnes appears to be acting less as a substantive analyst—worried about the merits of the bill--and more as a party tout. Signing a partly unconstitutional bill is good for Bush and Republicans--so the clear implication is, by all means, sign away!
Posted
4:32 PM | [Link]
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ODD: [Rich Lowry]
Speaking of Barnes, this is a weird thing. Maybe Barnes--obviously an excellent and honorable journalist--has just changed his mind on CFR after further thought and reporting, but he was sounding a different note just a few weeks ago before it became clear that Bush would sign. This is what he wrote in the Standard on Feb. 4, about why the White House should intervene in a House-Senate conference: “A conference would provide something else: a role for the White House. The president would have leverage because he must sign (or not) whatever bill emerges. And Bush is bound to be concerned about a bill that bars all soft money. In 2000, roughly $100 million in soft money was used in issue advocacy ads to support his presidential campaign. If that’s gone, such TV spots will be left up to independent expenditure groups. Liberal groups backing the Democratic nominee spent far more than conservative groups on issue ads in 2000, and they’re expected to do so again in 2004. Without soft money, then, Bush might be at a disadvantage in his bid for reelection.”
Posted
4:28 PM | [Link]
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THE FLIP-FLOP THAT DIDN’T BARK: [Rich Lowry]
Someone named Dick Polman has written a piece for the Knight-Ridder news service noting that Bush is flip-flopping on campaign-finance reform. As far as I know, this is the only mention in print in the mainstream media of this fact. (Howard Kurtz and Mark Halperin of ABC News, resourceful and fair-minded guys both, have mentioned it on-line). Rick Berke where are you?
Posted
4:04 PM | [Link]
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CONGRATS TO THE MOOSE: [Rich Lowry]
Jonah, I give The Moose some credit for being less un-responsive than usual. Baby steps. In honor of this event, The Corner is officially taking the gag off The Moose. For a view of the newly un-gagged Moose, click here.
Posted
4:04 PM | [Link]
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ON THE OTHER HAND…: [Rich Lowry]
The idea that conservatives, including NR, were Bush lapdogs is a self-flattering McCainiac myth. We’ve been critical—especially, it’s worth noting, the perceptive Ramesh—on taxes, education, and the faith-based stuff from the beginning. Quick question: Which conservative magazine changed its position on an issue important to it, in order to better be able to support a presidential candidate? Hint: the issue is campaign-finance reform. Double hint: It somehow looked different when McCain was the main thrust behind it, rather than Ross Perot. Click here for the answer.
Posted
4:02 PM | [Link]
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$62, 700 QUESTION [Kathryn J. Lopez]
Jonah, does this mean you’re not buying me lunch when I’m next in D.C., after all?
Posted
3:23 PM | [Link]
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UNBELIEVABLE [Jonah Goldberg]
Hey guys I’ve been meaning to mention this (but was saving for column). On C-SPAN the other day there was a big confab of black leaders and intellectuals, it was organized by Tavis Smiley (a one-man media operation with his fingers in pies with ABC, Disney, and CNN). The purpose of the event was to discuss the effect of September 11 on the black community or something like that. Anyway, in his introductory remarks for the second session (I’d give you the exact quotes but there’s no transcript available and the video at tavistalks.com makes my computer crash), Smiley discussed how previous wars--namely the Civil War, WWII, Vietnam--had also been turning points and "defining moments" for America. Then he asked rhetorically, and I’m paraphrasing, "but what did these wars do to improve the situation for Blacks in America? To foster greater awareness in our community and in the larger society?" Tavis’s answer: "Not much." Call me crazy, but the Civil War seems to have been a big step forward for black folks (WWII and Vietnam were big deals for black America too, by the way). How can we take Smiley seriously about "reparations"--or anything else--when the Civil War (America’s bloodiest war which ended human bondage on our soil) ranks no higher than "not much."
Posted
2:25 PM | [Link]
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”HECKLER’S VETO” [Kathryn J. Lopez]
Nice piece from Steve Chapman defending a guy’s right to have a despicably wrong opinion—even by Ground Zero.
Posted
2:20 PM | [Link]
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SELECTIVE LIFESAVERS [Kathryn J. Lopez]
Undergrad Anne Thompson, an anti-death-penalty activist at Georgetown, was surprised that Justice Scalia was allowed to speak at her school’s annual “Jesuit Heritage Week” given his support for the death penalty, in light of the pope’s talk about a “culture of life.” She says this in the Washington Post today. Funny how it’s not surprising Georgetown would have a prominent pro-abortion Jesuit priest as a law professor though (Robert Drinan). That, of course, is an exercise in academic freedom.
Posted
2:19 PM | [Link]
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ABSOLUTE SINN FEIN [John Derbyshire]
My posting yesterday about the Irish-language anti-Bush rhetoric of Sinn Fein revealed yet another parallel between Ireland and the Middle East: the terrorists in both places are adept at saying one thing, in English, to the world at large, and quite another thing, in a little-known language, to their own supporters. Explaining this to an e-correspondent, I said: "The Irish-language rhetoric of Sinn Fein is slightly to the left of Kim Il Sung." Little did I know how true this was.
Posted
1:02 PM | [Link]
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GREAT STUFF FROM REASON [Ramesh Ponnuru]
Matt Welch debunks the dumb, dishonest case against sanctions on
Iraq--and makes the intelligent, factual one . . . . Charles Paul Freund on the glorious vulgarity of the resistance to the Taliban and the Soviets . . . . and Jacob Sullum on the drug war and terrorism.
Posted
11:45 AM | [Link]
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MOOSE BOREDOM [Jonah Goldberg]
Rich, interesting bleat from the Moose. The Thunderous Aardvark might point out that criticizing "fellow" conservatives for being too "conventional" is very unconservative. Recall how much pro-McCain sentiment was based upon boredom. Why The Weekly Standard rationalized its position on the doctrine of "creative destruction." Dissent for its own sake is the hallmark of radicals and Know-Nothings, not conservatives. Everyday it the Moose sounds more and more like the "token conservative" at a Democratic Leadership Council policy breakfast.
Posted
11:41 AM | [Link]
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ME, MELLOW? NEVER! [Ramesh Ponnuru]
I came late to the Clinton-hating party, joining only after watching his attack machine go into action in 1998. But although I described Clinton as "despicable" from time to time, I never was as tough as a lot of conservatives on his "bystander presidency" (as I often described it in NR, for example in this end-of-term wrap-up). Moreover, I think he got a bit of a bad rap for his Georgetown comments. As for the suggestion that my engagement has softened me, there's no need to worry: My fiancee is if anything more conservative than I am.
Posted
11:20 AM | [Link]
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POUGHKEEPSIE RULES [Stanley Kurtz]
The attack on Candace de Russy, the State University of New York Trustee who criticized black-studies programs for political bias and lack of rigor, is definitely not playing in Poughkeepsie. (See my Candace Under Fire.”)The Poughkeepsie Journal asked its readers whether de Russy ought to be forced to resign as a result of her remarks. Preliminary results were 105 to 4 in favor of her right to make such comments. Maybe Governor Pataki ought to hand the SUNY system over to the good citizens of Poughkeepsie.
Posted
11:08 AM | [Link]
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FR. SPAG FIGHTS BACK: [Rod Dreher] A fascinating development out of Boston this weekend. Yesterday, Fr. George Spagnolia, who was removed from ministry over a lone, 32-year-old molestation accusation against him, told a church packed with his supporters that he was fighting back. He says he's been falsely accused, and demands due process in Church courts -- even if he has to take his case to Rome. His congregation believes him, and thinks Bernard Cardinal Law is throwing out good priests with the bad in an effort to save his own skin. Fr. Tom Doyle, the whistleblowing canon lawyer who advocates for victim's rights, also warns that the Church, in its haste to make this humiliating problem go away, risks being unfair to innocent priests. Says another priest friend of mine, a gimlet-eyed observer of Church politics who is sympathetic to Fr. Spagnolia's plight, "Everything you see coming out of the chancery in Boston is designed to do one thing and one thing only: Save Bernard Law. Don't let anybody else tell you different."
Posted
10:45 AM | [Link]
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NEXT, ON CROSSFIRE [Jonah Goldberg]
For some reason, I’m co-hosting Crossfire tonight and tomorrow night. This evening we’re going to have Chad Condit and Al Sharpton, though not at the same time. Wouldn't that make a fun debate?
Posted
9:57 AM | [Link]
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BUT DON'T STEP IN NUMBER TWO [Jonah Goldberg]
Ramesh, yeah I know. He also said the US was to blame for the WTC attacks because of the Crusades, or something like that, at Georgetown. I don't dispute the fact that all trends which are not permanent must end. What bugs me about Clinton is that he looks forward to America's decline because it will require us to be more multilateral which in turn will make America "stronger." This is like looking forward to getting sclerosis because you can move faster in a wheel chair. As an aside, do I detect a more conciliatory tone toward the former Commander-in-Chief. Perhaps your newly announced betrothal is mellowing you?
Posted
9:53 AM | [Link]
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WE'RE NUMBER ONE [Ramesh Ponnuru]
Jonah: Clinton said something similar recently in an interview with the Harvard Political Review, a student publication. I thought about writing something critical about it, but then decided that it wasn't such a shocking proposition that America would not be as dominant a power in the future as it is now. Charles Krauthammer's seminal essay on the immediate aftermath of the Cold War was called "The Unipolar Moment," after all. What Clinton deserves blame for is not using the moment to America's, which in practice pretty much means the world's, best advantage.
Posted
9:31 AM | [Link]
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Monday, February 25
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THE WAR ON THE WAR ON DRUGS: [John J. Miller]
George Getz of the Libertarian Party called late this afternoon to say that two leading newspapers will carry full-page ads satirizing those recent ads from Office of National Drug Control Policy--you know, the ones that say things like "Last week, I washed my car, hung out with a few friends, and helped murder a family in Colombia." The LP version features a close-up picture of drug czar John Walters, plus this text: "This week, I had lunch with the President, testified before Congress, and helped funnel $40 million in illegal drug money to groups like the Taliban." At the bottom of the ad is a brief explanation: "The War on Drugs boosts the price of illegal drugs by as much as 17,000% -- funneling huge profits to terrorist organizations. If you support the War on Drugs or vote for the politicians who wage it, you're helping support terrorism." Personally, I'm a bit of an agnostic when it comes to drug legalization--but it's hard to deny that this is an effective ad. For a sneak preview, go here. Or check the front sections of USA Today and the Washington Times on Tuesday morning.
Posted
10:18 PM | [Link]
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GOOD GOLLY, THIS GUY WAS PRESIDENT? [Jonah Goldberg] Maybe I'm confused, but I could swear most presidents have been pretty optimistic about America's prospects. Here's Bill Clinton's version of America's future. I didn't think I could come up with a new way to hate this guy.
Posted
8:10 PM | [Link]
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DROLL DERB: [Lowry]
Check out this picture of John Derb, posted on his own site. This is why we love John--he's brilliant, quirky, and doesn't take himself too seriously. (And yes this is revenge for his saying that my O'Reilly laugh was "defensive"--although he had a point since I didn't quite know what to say to that Kennedy guy.)
Posted
5:26 PM | [Link]
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20TH-HIJACKER DEFENSE [John Derbyshire]
I have just thought of a brilliant defense strategy for the so-called "20th hijacker" Zacarias Moussaoui. According to Louis Farrakhan, the whole of Muslim theology is built around the number 19--remember that speech in Washington DC a couple of years back? As a devout Muslim, Osama bin Laden would therefore have picked 19 hijackers to carry out his big plan. There can't have been a 20th hijacker! I offer this gratis to Moussaoui's defense team.
Posted
1:48 PM | [Link]
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ROCKIN' RUMSFELD [Andrew Stuttaford]
In replying to the inevitable question about his new superstar status, Rumsfeld notes that, "guys walk up to me and say, I've got to have my picture with you." And I say, Why?" And they say, "Well, because my 98-year-old grandmother is in a nursing home in Louisville and she thinks you're wonderful."
We've got a thing called the AARP, the association for old people. That's what they say is my audience."
Too modest, Mr. Secretary, too modest.
Posted
1:44 PM | [Link]
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IN GOOD COMPANY [Andrew Stuttaford]
There's a long interview with Rummy in today's Daily Telegraph. It is well worth a read, notably the instructive response to European criticism of the phrase "Axis of Evil." In that connection it is nice to see the defense secretary remind his interviewer that "when President Reagan said that the Soviet Union was an Evil Empire, everyone got all-a-twitter. All of the elites of the world..."
Posted
1:43 PM | [Link]
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SNORTING SORKIN [Andrew Stuttaford]
The same Drudge Report quotes poor, dim Martin Sheen as having described President Bush as a "white-knuckled drunk." No word on what Sheen calls Sorkin, who has had, you may recall, a few "substance moments" of his own.
Posted
1:30 PM | [Link]
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CLUELESS ON WEST WING [Andrew Stuttaford]
Judging by Drudge, West Wing creator Aaron Sorkin has been mouthing off about George W. Bush. That's his right, of course, but what is annoying is the report that Sorkin continues to make the ludicrous claim that his show is "completely...non-political." It is a nonsensical thing to say, but the fact that Sorkin feels that he can get away with it reveals the depth of the contempt and condescension that he feels towards his audience. Of course, anyone who sat through the extraordinarily patronizing "special" that he came up with in the aftermath of 9/11 will not be surprised by that.
Posted
1:27 PM | [Link]
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VIETNAMESE INFLATION [John Derbyshire]
I have just had a mailing from the American Academy of Arts & Sciences dealing with grade inflation. They assert that: "The beginning of grade inflation was closely related to the Vietnam War..." I.e. antiwar professors adjusted grades upwards to shelter students from the draft. I may be way behind the curve here (I frequently am) but this is the first time I've heard this explanation. Is it new?
Posted
1:00 PM | [Link]
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MONSOON MIRACLE: [Rich Lowry]
Most people don't live near theaters that show foreign films. Too Bad. "Monsoon Wedding," about an arranged wedding in India, is wonderful, especially its powerful portrayal of a father's courage and love. Also: If Stanley Kurtz doesn't see this movie and write for NRO about what it tells us about the desirability of arranged marriages and the families built around them, it will be a crime.
Posted
12:28 PM | [Link]
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IRISH EYES NOT SMILING [John Derbyshire]
"Bush as smacht" is apparently the Irish for "Bush out of control." This, from a piece by Conor Cruise O'Brien in a Dublin paper. CCO is the person most worth reading on Irish affairs (Kevin Myers the close runner-up.) The Irish republicans hate America's War on Terror, and every so often can't resist the urge to say so; though they retain sufficient caution to restrict their diatribes to the Irish language (which apparently no one in the U.S. Dublin embassy can read).
Posted
11:50 AM | [Link]
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THE "B" IN B.S. SHOULD STAND FOR BROCK [Jonah Goldberg]
Rich, I haven’t finished the Frank Rich piece, largely because it is so stupid. I’m probably going to do my syndicated column on it tomorrow. But, the basic problem with Rich’s analysis has always been an unwillingness to understand that the "cultural witch hunt" he sees on the right, never stemmed from religious prudery, comstockery or anything like that. Those things came later. The attack on Clinton was, first and foremost, an example of conservatives playing the liberals game. John Tower, Robert Bork, Clarence Thomas and innumerable lesser lights were the first victims of "the politics of personal destruction." It was the Frank Rich and feminist Left which set this standard and introduced these tactics into the political culture. (To this day, I immediately subtract 15-20 IQ points from anybody who says with a straight face that what Clarence Thomas "did" was worse than what Bill Clinton admitted to). People like Frank Rich are such egocentric religiophobes they immediately assumed bigotry or prudery motivated the Right when all it was doing was playing the Left’s game.
Posted
11:32 AM | [Link]
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TIME TO MARCH ON WASHINGTON? [Stanley Kurtz]
The Independent Women’s Forum has an interesting Hotflash today about demands that transgender toilets be installed at America’s universities (mentioned in The Corner earlier this month). I suppose the pro-androgyny movement hopes that our old regime of men’s rooms and ladies rooms will someday look as antiquated as the segregated water fountains of the old South.
Posted
11:18 AM | [Link]
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THIS IS RICH: [Rich Lowry]
Regarding Frank Rich's NYTimes mag piece yesterday on David Brock, I'm a little mystified at how the era of character assassination can be over when he smears pretty much every conservative he mentions in his article (with the honorable exception of John O'Sullivan).
THIS IS B.S.: [Rich Lowry]
I have a hard time believing this Brock anecdote: that he tried, in his younger days in Washington, "to look like an old fogy in training, donning a bow tie and horn-rimmed glasses and, ludicrously, puffing on a pipe and occasionally even carrying a walking stick."
Posted
11:17 AM | [Link]
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METAPHYSICAL SULLIVAN: [John J. Miller]
Last week, Andrew Sullivan argued that President Bush should support the campaign-finance bill, in part because "The unconstitutional parts of the bill will almost certainly be voided by the Court." He was criticized in this space for suggesting that Congress should write a law it knows to be unconstitutional, especially in a column that says the bill is a necessary antidote to reducing public cynicism. Now Andrew has changed his tune a bit. Perhaps the bill isn't unconstitutional after all: "The argument [that Congress shouldn't approve an unconstitutional bill] might work if the Congress knew as a metaphysical certainty that parts of the bill would be struck down by the Court. But metaphysical certainty doesn’t exist in politics." There's some wiggle room between "almost certainly" and "metaphysical certainty," of course. But Andrew's modified position strikes me as a turn for the worse. It's bad enough for Congress to pass a bill it knows to be unconstitutional, thinking the court will invalidate the nasty parts--and even worse for it to pass a bill it knows to be unconstitutional, but not sure the court will do its proper job.
Posted
7:30 AM | [Link]
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SO ARREST THIS GUY ALREADY!: [Rod Dreher] According to Jerry Seper in Monday's Washington Times, the FBI has narrowed its anthrax probe to a single disgruntled former government scientist living in the DC area, and is convinced this guy's the one who sent the poisoned letters. If they're so sure, why haven't they taken the man into custody? What are they waiting for? Does he have them over a barrel in some horrible way that's staying the bureau's hand? Inquiring minds -- and Cipro fans -- want to know.
Posted
12:08 AM | [Link]
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Sunday, February 24
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P.S. on B.S. [Kathryn J. Lopez]
The Corner, as you can see, continues to retain the right to talk endlessly about itself, especially when others aren't. Readers should continue to feel free to e-mail when it happens too often or when they are not happy with the volume of posts on any given Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, etc.
Posted
7:17 PM | [Link]
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NOT TO LEAVE ANYONE OUT [Kathryn J. Lopez]
I missed both Rich on O'Reilly and Jonah on Late Edition, but I do want to say about Jonah, whose appearance has not yet been analyzed, I'm sure he, like Rich, was brilliant, expounding on issues as diverse as campaign-finance reform and Catholic canon law, but that if he laughed too much, he should cut it out, lest he look defensive.
Posted
7:14 PM | [Link]
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DERB'S LAST CORNER POST? [John Derbyshire]
I'd really like to follow Andrew Stuttaford's kiss-up with one of my own--God knows I need the points--but my suicidal instincts just kicked in. I too saw Rich discussing Teddy Kennedy on O'Reilly the other night. Thought Rich hit all the balls very smartly back over the net & didn't let down the side in any way, BUT his laugh came across as a tad defensive. Smiling is good, to show we're not flint-faced tools of the capitalist bosses, but there's something about an audible laugh in a TV exchange that suggests: "I don't have a good response to that, so I'm going to pretend to laugh it off." If I were hired as Rich's TV coach I would say: "Smile, but don't laugh."
Posted
7:05 PM | [Link]
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SNOWBOARD STUDS [John Derbyshire]
(2) For the younger set, skiing is, like, totally wack. If you are a male aged 17-20 in the winter of 2002, way the coolest thing to be is a snowboard instructor. Those three Olympic medals sent the supply/demand curve for snowboard instruction off the graph. You pass these kids giving lessons on your way to the lifts: wrap-around shades, snow tan, laid-back manner--these guys are so cool they could sub for the snow-making equipment. I rode up in a lift with one of them on break. He allowed he was "doing all right," but grumbled that so far the sport attracts few cute chicks, "only the, like, butch element." Ellen DeGeneres, call your travel agent.
Posted
3:28 PM | [Link]
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SKI REPORT [John Derbyshire]
Survived a week on the ski slopes with the family. Two minor observations. (1) Yes, Virginia, there is a black middle class. When I started skiing in the USA (1986) it was a rare thing to see a black face in the ski-lift line. Now the ski slopes look like America. Well, like blue-state America anyway. The contrast between us sleek metropolitan elites on the lift line and the locals manning (more often, womanning) the concessions, is still striking. Catskills women average about 300 lbs, have skin conditions and gaps in their teeth. The men go for ponytails, scraggly semi-beards, baseball caps, and tattoos. Yep, we are two nations.
Posted
3:26 PM | [Link]
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THANKS [Dave Shiflett]
Rich: Thanks for the nice plug in The Corner. Brilliant and profound are high compliments indeed. I barely noticed that you used an alternate spelling of my name.
Posted
3:24 PM | [Link]
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WATCH IT, BRO [Kathryn J. Lopez]
Afghan interim president Hamid Karzai, in Iran, called the nation a "friend" and "brother" and said: "The United States helped us to get rid of the Taliban," he said. "But Afghanistan cannot be a country through which neighbouring countries can be harmed. Our Iranian brothers should be completely sure of that."
Posted
3:14 PM | [Link]
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FYI [Jonah Goldberg]
I'm off to do the Final Round on CNN (2:30 EST). But if you're interested, this is a piece I did for today's LA Times. Talk amongst yourselves.
Posted
12:41 PM | [Link]
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UNARMED BRITS [Andrew Stuttaford]
While on the subject of firearms, check out Simon Heffer's powerful piece in today's London Sunday Telegraph. For reasons that escape me (I'm a handgun-owning Brit living in the land of the Second Amendment) my countrymen take a perverse pride in the UK's draconian gun controls. These were tightened still further a few years ago. It is now almost impossible for a law-abiding individual to have a handgun at home. Legal ownership of long guns is a realistic possibility only for those who live in the countryside (if they can cope with the requirements of an onerous and intrusive supervisory regime).These measures have, predictably enough, failed to remove firearms from criminals (in fact, gun crime has risen sharply in the last year or so) and, when they are combined with a politically correct approach to the maintenance of law and order, the result is mayhem.
Is this what Sarah Brady wants?
Posted
10:31 AM | [Link]
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ADDENDUM TO DERUSSY [Kathryn J. Lopez]
Rod, and other folks interested, Stanley Kurtz is on the Candace de Russy SUNY case and will have a piece on NRO Monday. Stay tuned.
Posted
10:28 AM | [Link]
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SHOP TILL YOU DROP [Andrew Stuttaford]
Kathryn, You should know better. Guns don't kill terrorists. People do. But I'll have to admit, guns do seem to help.
Posted
10:25 AM | [Link]
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BOSTON UPDATE: [Rod Dreher]
Having been traveling through the bayous the past couple of days, I've been away from the keyboard, and therefore in a news blackout regarding the Archdiocese of Boston and all its pomps and works. Today's Boston Globe reports that hundreds of alleged victims have come forward in recent weeks to claim abuse in childhood at the hands of Boston priests -- and that's according to just three law firms who are handling their cases. More claims are anticipated. To be sure, stating a claim does not prove it, but if just half these assertions are true, the scale of this horror is barely comprehensible. What on earth will it take to convince Cardinal Bernard Law that the minimal thing the Church must do to begin to restore its credibility is to demand and accept his resignation? Law's continuing public presence serves only his career interests, not the Faith.
Posted
10:07 AM | [Link]
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MADAME DE RUSSY IS MAKING SENSE: [Rod Dreher]
Greetings from south Louisiana, native land of Your Working Boy, as well as my friend Candace de Russy, the troublemaking member of the Board of Trustees of the State University of New York system. Mme. de Russy speaks her mind, and makes perfect sense -- which is too much for the leftist SUNY establishment to take. She's in trouble now with the diversity fascists for making the perfectly true point that many black studies departments are cesspools of poor scholarship, ethnic grievance and anti-Americanism. The usual suspects are calling her a Nazi and demanding her resignation. She told them she has no intention of going anywhere. Good on her. Too bad she's not president of Harvard.
Posted
9:57 AM | [Link]
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