May 10, 2012 — Scott Johnson

Dubious donations: Obama campaign statement

Featured image Over at the Election Law Blog, Professor Rick Hasen has posted a statement from the Obama campaign on the charge that it does not follow best practices to prevent fraudulent donations to the campaign. Here it is in its entirety verbatim: Credit card contributions to Obama for America are, in fact, processed using AVS (Address Verification System). If a billing address is verified via AVS, then the credit card contribution »
May 9, 2012 — Paul Mirengoff

A tale from the “wild, wild west” of academia

Featured imageAn internal investigation at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill has uncovered academic fraud involving the department of African and Afro-American Studies. The fraud extends to more than 50 different classes. It ranges from no-show professors to unauthorized grade changes for students. According to the findings of the investigation, the department of African and Afro-American Studies offered 616 classes from the Summer of 2007 through the Summer of 2009. This »
May 9, 2012 — Steven Hayward

Fire Two on Mannstein

Featured imageMoviegoers will recall that in the Hollywood rendering of the heroic account of Watergate, “All the President’s Men,” the Ben Bradlee character, played by Jason Robards, yelled out across the newsroom a hybrid name for the two miscreants reporters, Woodward and Bernstein: he called them “Woodstein.” I think the dynamic duo of Thomas Mann and Norm Ornstein deserve a similar hybridization, since they’re practically joined at the hip anyway.  I’m »
May 9, 2012 — John Hinderaker

Can a Liberal Be a Good Person?

Featured imageWhen you see the insanity that reigns on the left day after day, it is easy to conclude that it is impossible for any good person to be a liberal. But that would be a mistake. Experience tells us that there are nice people on the left; in my own family, there are two uncles and several cousins who don’t know a damn thing about politics, economics or foreign policy »
May 9, 2012 — John Hinderaker

Meet Keith Judd

Featured imageHere is a thought experiment for you: imagine that it is 2004, and President George W. Bush is cruising to re-election with no opponent in sight. Only he encounters a bump in the road: in one state’s primary, an opponent who is a convicted criminal, currently incarcerated and unable to campaign, garners 41% of the vote. It really isn’t possible to imagine the hysteria that such a phenomenon would have »
May 9, 2012 — Paul Mirengoff

This day in baseball history

Featured imageOn May 9, 1962, the New York Mets, in their first year of existence, obtained Marv Throneberry from the Baltimore Orioles in exchange for a player to be named later. “Marvelous Marv” would become the symbol of the futility of the 1962 Mets, who set the modern baseball record for futility by losing 120 games. Actually, the acquisition of Throneberry probably improved the Mets offense. It enabled Casey Stengel to »
May 9, 2012 — Paul Mirengoff

Obama “evolves” to new fake position on gay marriage

Featured imagePresident Obama today said that he now supports gay marriage. Obama, of course, has favored it all along and said he did back in 1996. I agree with Allahpundit that the timing of Obama’s statement was driven by the increasing embarrassment of pretending not to be a supporter — his brand was being damaged by his hedging — and the perceived need to motivate his base. Obama is still hedging, »
May 9, 2012 — Steven Hayward

Another Installment of Prog Rock

Featured imageSo my previous installments about Prog Rock here were really just placeholders until Brad Birzer, the maestro, so to speak, delivered the definitive treatment of the subject for National Review Online, which posted up at 4 am this morning (a good Prog Rock hour of the day, if you ask me). Lot’s of good stuff in this piece, but here’s a few highlights for the time-challenged reader (for whom the »
May 9, 2012 — Steven Hayward

The Eternal Return of Political Correctness

Featured imageBy now the Chronicle of Higher Education’s craven capitulation in re: the matter of Naomi Schaffer Riley’s criticism of black studies is widely known, and needs little additional commentary here.  But since the subject of identity scholarship is briefly in the news again—where the mongers of identity politics don’t want it to be, except when they do—we might as well include some excerpts from one notable entry in the field: »
May 8, 2012 — John Hinderaker

Walker Showing Strength in Wisconsin Primary

Featured imageThere is no real surprise in today’s primary election in Wisconsin. As expected, Milwaukee mayor Tom Barrett is winning the Democratic primary and will face Governor Scott Walker in the recall election. What is most interesting is the number of voters who turned out to pull the lever for Walker, even though he has no serious opponent in the Republican primary. One might have assumed that there would be vastly »
May 9, 2012 — John Hinderaker

A Gay Conservative Comments on Obama’s Evolution

Featured imageDan Blatt, the Gay Patriot, is a friend of mine. He is a smart conservative and, as you would surmise, gay. So I thought his perspective on President Obama’s evolution–maybe the least surprising flip-flop in history–is worth hearing. Here is what Dan had to say today. If you follow the link, you can follow Dan’s links to a number of sources: Judging from my Facebook feed and anecdotal evidence from »
May 9, 2012 — Steven Hayward

Who Reads Power Line?

Featured imageSo I was at a private wine-tasting event yesterday at Adelaida Cellars in Paso Robles, and lo and behold, I ran into . . . Power Line readers!  You just never know where you’ll run into discerning readers . . . and wine drinkers.  I suspect there is a metaphysical connection here. »
May 9, 2012 — Paul Mirengoff

Richard Lugar’s unavoidable defeat

Featured imageThe post mortems are pouring in following the defeat of Sen. Richard Lugar in the Indiana primary last night. The ones I’ve seen contain plenty of nonsense. The Washington Post, for example, quotes “Republican insiders” as attributing the result to Lugar’s “nice guy” approach and lack of warrior instincts, rather than to the strength of the Tea Party in Indiana. John McCain, who was easily re-elected in 2010 and who »
May 9, 2012 — Scott Johnson

Uncommon Knowledge with Thomas Sowell

Featured imageThomas Sowell is the one and only. His most recent book of many is a revised and expanded edition of Intellectuals and Society. Peter Robinson takes the new edition of the book as an occasion to invite Sowell to return for an interview. As Peter tees up the interview, he compares and contrasts the insight of Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. and Ronald Reagan into the Soviet Union. Schlesinger is a stand-in »
May 8, 2012 — John Hinderaker

Anti-Gay Marriage Amendment Wins Big in North Carolina

Featured imageThe anti-gay marriage amendment is winning in North Carolina, currently by a margin of 60/40. That may be a bit misleading, as I don’t believe Charlotte has reported yet, but there is no question the amendment will win easily. This is a valuable reminder that, even though pro-gay marriage sentiment has gained in the last few years and may even now represent a plurality of voters, the issue is a »