31 January 2010 >> As relayed by Stephen Bainbridge:

One day shortly after the Second World War ended, Winston Churchill and Labour Party Prime Minister Clement Attlee encountered one another at the urinal trough in the House of Common’s men’s washroom. Attlee arrived first. When Churchill arrived, he stood as far away from him as possible. Attlee said, “Feeling standoffish today, are we, Winston?” Churchill said: “That’s right. Every time you see something big, you want to nationalize it.”

25 January 2010 @ 8:40AM >> The New York Times is on the receiving end of a very good point:

To the Editor:

In “The Court’s Blow to Democracy” (editorial, Jan. 22), you strenuously disagree with the proposition that “corporations are just like people and entitled to the same First Amendment rights.”

Every day, The New York Times Company exercises its First Amendment right to engage in political speech. Today, it expresses its desire to deny that right to most other corporations.

The Constitution does not permit the government to criminalize speech based on the identity of the speaker. If any corporation has First Amendment rights, all corporations must have First Amendment rights.

Adam J. Kwiatkowski
Baltimore, Jan. 22, 2010

The writer is a lawyer in private practice.

18 June 2009 @ 9:07AM >> The Washington Times reports on an appearance made by former President George W. Bush:

He lamented the politics of personal destruction that he said is rampant in Washington, noting, though, that it has always been thus. Recalling how a treasury secretary and a vice president once fought a duel, he joked: “At least when my vice president shot somebody, it was an accident.”

11 June 2009 @ 8:15AM >> President Obama’s former “spiritual advisor” is making news again:

The Rev. Jeremiah Wright says he does not feel any regrets over his severed relationship with President Barack Obama, a former member of the Chicago church in which Wright was the longtime pastor.

[...]

Asked if he had spoken to the president, Wright said: “Them Jews aren’t going to let him talk to me. I told my baby daughter, that he’ll talk to me in five years when he’s a lame duck, or in eight years when he’s out of office. ...

“They will not let him to talk to somebody who calls a spade what it is. ... I said from the beginning: He’s a politician; I’m a pastor. He’s got to do what politicians do.”

I have a hard time believing that the supposedly brilliant Barack Obama never figured out—after 20 years of listening to this guy—that he’s a loony bigot.

31 May 2009 @ 5:18PM >> Slate’s Mickey Kaus looks at the the Obama Administration’s bailout of the United Auto Workers union and asks:

Why should the government tax unskilled workers making $18 an hour, who haven’t bankrupted their employers, in order to protect unskilled workers making $28 an hour, and who have bankrupted their employers, from having to take a pay cut?

26 May 2009 >> Reverend Jeremiah Wright’s most famous congregant dishes out another heaping helping of racial healing with his Supreme Court pick:

I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life.—Judge Sonia Sotomayor,
President Barack Obama’s nominee for the Supreme Court

Apparently, however, Judge Sotomayor was not referring to herself.

28 April 2009 @ 7:59PM >> Today, we have dueling Quotes of the Day:

In this corner, we have Larry Kudlow:

What is going on in this country? The government is about to take over GM in a plan that completely screws private bondholders and favors the unions. Get this: The GM bondholders own $27 billion and they’re getting 10 percent of the common stock in an expected exchange. And the UAW owns $10 billion of the bonds and they’re getting 40 percent of the stock. Huh? Did I miss something here? And Uncle Sam will have a controlling share of the stock with something close to 50 percent ownership. And no bankruptcy judge. So this is a political restructuring run by the White House, not a rule-of-law bankruptcy-court reorganization.

...and in this corner, John Hinderaker:

One hallmark of organized crime loan-sharking is that, once you are in debt to the mob, you are never allowed to pay off the principal. No matter how much you pay, you always owe more. The mob squeezes you for everything you have. Until a few months ago, I never expected to see an analogy between the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the Mafia. But is it unreasonable to see a parallel in the government’s refusal to allow banks that have borrowed money under TARP to repay it? Does it not appear that financial institutions that became enmeshed with the government, and are now being dictated to by the government, find it increasingly difficult to extricate themselves?

So the federal government along with the unions will have total control over not only General Motors, but Chrysler too. Meanwhile, the federal government can indefinitely extend its control of certain banks by refusing to let them repay government loans.

How is this not socialism, exactly?

17 April 2009 @ 8:59AM >> From a tax day Tea Party protest attendee in Boston:

If Obama had been the king of England, the Globe wouldn’t have covered the American Revolution.

3 April 2009 @ 9:12AM >> Today’s Quote of the Day comes courtesy of New York Times executive editor Bill Keller:

Saving the New York Times now ranks with saving Darfur as a high-minded cause.

28 March 2009 @ 10:52AM >> So I guess it’s not my fault:

Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on Thursday blamed the global economic crisis on “white people with blue eyes” and said it was wrong that black and indigenous people should pay for white people’s mistakes.

Speaking in Brasília at a joint press conference with Gordon Brown, the UK prime minister, Mr Lula da Silva told reporters: “This crisis was caused by the irrational behaviour of white people with blue eyes, who before the crisis appeared to know everything and now demonstrate that they know nothing.”

I suspect these bigoted comments will not elicit the same level of outrage that others do.

19 March 2009 @ 8:49AM >>

We do apologise to all those people who have suffered from the mistakes that have been made in the Stafford Hospital.—British Prime Minister Gordon Brown,
After an investigation revealed that substandard care resulted in up to 1,200 deaths over a three-year period in the government-run hospital.

16 January 2009 @ 8:28AM >> Today’s Quote of the Day:

[L]et me take this opportunity to say that of all the innumerable print and broadcast journalists who have interviewed me in the U.S. and abroad since I arrived on the scene nearly 20 years ago, Katie Couric was definitively the stupidest. As a guest on NBC’s “Today” show during my 1992 book tour, I was astounded by Couric’s small, humorless, agenda-ridden mind, still registered in that pinched, tinny monotone that makes me rush across the room to change stations whenever her banal mini-editorials blare out at 5 p.m. on the CBS radio network. And of course I would never spoil my dinner by tuning into Couric’s TV evening news show. That sallow, wizened, drum-tight, cosmetic mummification look is not an appetite enhancer outside of Manhattan or L.A. There’s many a moose in Alaska with greater charm and pizazz.—Camille Paglia

12 January 2009 >> As reported by the Washington Post:

With fuel prices declining, government mandates that automakers build highly fuel-efficient cars will be no more effective than combating obesity by forcing clothing manufacturers to make only small sizes.

Attributed to Bob Lutz
Vice Chairman of Global Product Development
General Motors

26 November 2008 @ 8:52AM >> A nice, succinct e-mail from a fan:

From: nw
To: Evan Coyne Maloney
Date: November 4, 2008 11:20:45 AM EST
Subject: You are a liar therefore a MORON

No body, all subject. I especially like the use of “therefore.”

9 September 2008 @ 6:28PM >> An illuminating quote of the day:

Tuition has risen at twice the rate of per capita income and this year it will cost just under $50,000 to attend the average private college. If the cost of milk had risen as fast as the cost of college since 1980, a gallon would be $15.—Congressman Peter Welch (D-Vermont)

When other industries are seen as gouging the consumer, Congress likes to hold showy hearings and investigations. How long until the honchos of higher ed are hauled before some subcomittee or another?

20 August 2008 @ 9:07AM >> I know Senator Joe Lieberman isn’t that popular among Democrats anymore, but this Associated Press characterization is a bit much:

His top contenders are said to include Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. Less traditional choices mentioned include former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge, an abortion-rights supporter, and Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman, the Democratic vice presidential prick in 2000 who now is an independent.

13 August 2008 @ 6:51AM >> From Scott Johnson’s “Driving Mr. Bin Laden” post at Power Line comes the Quote of the Day:

On Sunday the Guardian reported that Barack Obama’s Hollywood buddy George Clooney is planning a film that will provide a sympathetic portrayal of Salim Hamdan and Lieutenant Commander Charles Swift, Hamdan’s military lawyer. Hamdan was of course Osama bin Laden’s driver. It’s a relief that Hollywood has finally found an American officer connected to the war whom it can lionize.

5 August 2008 @ 8:23AM >> And, no, it’s not from The Onion:

Man gets Windows Vista to work with printer

I guess that’s one of those man-bites-dog stories.

30 June 2008 >> This is an old quote from a six-time Socialist Party candidate for President who died in 1968, but as the years go by, it looks more and more accurate:

The American people will never knowingly adopt Socialism. But under the name of liberalism they will adopt every fragment of the Socialist program, until one day America will be a Socialist nation, without knowing how it happened.
Norman Thomas

24 May 2008 @ 5:02PM >> Today’s Quote of the Day comes from the Richard Vance, a coach at Provo High School in Utah.

Coach Vance’s students were competing in a javelin competition when a newspaper photographer wandered into the area.

A javelin thrown by one of the students went through the photographer’s leg and had to be cut to pieces before he could be taken to the hospital.

The coach’s reaction?

One of the first things that came to my mind was, “Good thing we brought a second javelin.”

27 April 2008 @ 11:49AM >> Senator Barack Obama’s “spiritual advisor” and pastor of 20 years is the gift that keeps on giving... to the Senator’s opponents:

We cannot see how what we are doing is the same thing al-Qaeda is doing under a different color flag, calling on the name a different God to sanction and approve our murder and our mayhem.-Reverend Jeremiah Wright

(Hat tip: Hugh Hewitt.)

22 April 2008 >> Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri seems upset that conspiracy theorists are robbing his terrorist network of the recognition it deserves.

CNN reports:

Al-Zawahiri also denied a conspiracy theory that Israel carried out the September 11, 2001, attacks on the U.S., and he blamed Iran and Shiite Hezbollah for spreading the idea to discredit the Sunni al Qaeda’s achievement.

Hey, Ayman! Don’t forget that the Western left has a stake in promoting the al-Qaeda-didn’t-do-it theory. After all, if they’re forced to acknowledge that the attack was perpetrated by al Qaeda, then they can’t also claim it was an “inside job” orchestrated by the U.S. government.

Al-Zawahiri accused Hezbollah’s al-Manar television of starting the rumor.

“The purpose of this lie is clear — (to suggest) that there are no heroes among the Sunnis who can hurt America as no else did in history. Iranian media snapped up this lie and repeated it,” he said.

And plenty of Westerners have bought into it, too.

24 February 2008 @ 6:08PM >> Today’s Quote of the Day, from of John Hinderaker, over at PowerLine:

Cuban jails still contain hundreds of political prisoners. It’s too bad they aren’t terrorists, instead of just being non-Communists. Then they might get some sympathy.

20 February 2008 >> Commandments from on high:

Barack Obama will require you to work. He is going to demand that you shed your cynicism. That you put down your divisions. That you come out of your isolation, that you move out of your comfort zones. That you push yourselves to be better. And that you engage. Barack will never allow you to go back to your lives as usual, uninvolved, uninformed.

[...]

You have to stay at the seat at the table of democracy with a man like Barack Obama not just on Tuesday but in a year from now, in four years from now, in eights years from now, you will have to be engaged.Michelle Obama,
wife of Senator Barack Obama

12 February 2008 >> A Clinton-related conspiracy theory:

It isn’t all that hard to believe that a guy who’s alpha [male] enough to risk his entire political career and presidential legacy for a few hummers from a pudgy intern might subconsciously sabotage his wife’s ascent to power, is it?

Radley Balko, from “Did Bill Sink Hill on Purpose?â€?

20 January 2008 @ 12:13PM >> Today’s quote of the day comes courtesy of the pastor at Senator Barack Obama’s church:

Some argue that blacks should vote for Clinton because her husband was good to us. That’s not true. He did the same thing to us that he did to Monica Lewinsky.Rev. Jeremiah Wright
Trinity United Church of Christ

Now, in the interest of fairness, I should balance that critique of America’s First Black President with a few words in support of his wife:

12 December 2007 @ 8:32AM >> Celebrities are frequently mocked for making political statements that yield applause on Hollywood back lots, but that sound tone-deaf to the rest of America. So it’s refreshing to hear a little common sense from a source I didn’t expect:

During a discussion of Republican Presidential candidates on ABC’s “The View,” which the comedian co-hosts, [Whoopi] Goldberg said, “I’d like somebody to get rid of the death tax. That’s what I want. I don’t want to get taxed just because I died.” The studio audience started applauding, but she wasn’t done. “I just don’t think it’s right,” she continued. “If I give something to my kid, I already paid the tax. Why should I have to pay it again because I died?” (Watch the video here.)

[...]

When another co-host, Joy Behar, responded to Ms. Goldberg’s remarks by asserting, “Only people with a lot of money say that,” Ms. Goldberg shot back, “No, I don’t think so. . . . It doesn’t matter if you have or don’t have money. Once you paid your taxes, it should be a done deal. You shouldn’t have to pay twice.”

Death should not be a taxable event.

15 August 2007 @ 2:14PM >> One benefit of opposing the United States is that the worldwide media will often report your allegations without even the simplest of fact-checking. Agence France Presse, or AFP, published this photo along with a caption saying:

An elderly Iraqi woman shows two bullets which she says hit her house following an early coalition forces raid in the predominantly Shiite Baghdad suburb of Sadr City.

Blogger Rocco DiPippo over at The Autonomist caught the transgression, saying “The only way those bullets hit her house was if someone threw them at her house.”

I guess in the many layers of editors at AFP, nobody has actually seen what a shell casing looks like after the bullet has been fired. They could use a little more diversity over there.

4 July 2007 >> It can be tough for a left-thinking American to get any respect in Tehran.

You can speak out against the United States until you’re blue in the face, and you still get treated like a dirty infidel.

Can’t they see that you’re not some stupid flag-waving, Bible-thumping, Bush-voting, buck-toothed hick? Can’t they see that you’re a jet-setting artist, a sophisticated post-national citizen of the world, a member of the intelligentsia who always recycles, and that you want nothing more than to bring world peace by connecting cultures through the magic of film?

These sorts of questions may be floating around in the mind of Oliver Stone, now that he won’t be making a film about Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

A spokesman for the Iranian president “said that Stone had requested to make a film about Ahmadinejad”:

“We have already seen his documentaries - even though Stone is considered a member of the opposition group in the US, it is still part of the Great Satan,” he said.

Despite his ties to the Great Satan, “Stone is regarded within cinema circles in Islamic Iran as a distinguished filmmaker.”

But I guess Stone’s exalted status in Iran was not enough to overcome his most fundamental flaw.

No matter how great his talent, no matter where his political sympathies lie, he’s still nothing more than an infidel.

And these days, that’s a crime punishable by death.

19 June 2007 @ 8:55AM >> The Washington Times reports that Pakistan is condemning Britain’s decision to grant knighthood to author Salman Rushdie. You may recall that Rushdie’s 1988 novel The Satanic Verses led to an Iranian fatwa being issued against him that ordered his death.

This leads to the Quote of the Day, courtesy of Mohammed Ijaz ul-Haq, Pakistan’s Religious Affairs Minister:

The West is accusing Muslims of extremism and terrorism. If someone exploded a bomb on his body, he would be right to do so unless the British government apologizes and withdraws the ’sir’ title.

In other words, do what we say—and don’t accuse us of being terrorists!—or we’ll blow you up.

As the Washington Times report indicates, this sentiment has some support:

In the eastern city of Multan, hard-line Muslim students burned effigies of Queen Elizabeth II and Mr. Rushdie. About 100 students carrying banners condemning the author also chanted, “Kill him. Kill him.”

Remember this next time someone tries to tell you that it is our foreign policy that creates terrorism. In reality, the Jihadists want the rest of the world to bow down before their demands.

This war will end in one of two ways: the Jihadists will be defeated, or the world will be ruled by Sharia law. Odds are, we’ll be gone long before this battle for civilization is over.

Update: More thoughts here, from Flemming Rose, the editor of the Danish newspaper whose publishing of cartoons containing images of Mohammed sparked worldwide violence.