The Incredible Shrinking New York Times

by Christopher Chantrill

THE TROUBLE with being a national institution is that when you start going down the tubes the whole nation is there to gawk at your agony. 

And if you are The New York Times the whole blogosphere is goggling at you in its pajamas.  

The blogosphere is full of experts, as Dan Rather could tell you. Thomas Lifson is not just proprietor of The American Thinker but also a management  unfold 

What Do These Professors Want?

by Christopher Chantrill

THE WALL Street Journal’s Dorothy Rabinowitz has built a career out of publicizing prosecutorial overreach, most notably in the fantastical abuse cases brought against the operators of day-care facilities back in the 1980s, most notably the Amirault Case.

Now she turns her attention to the two notable abusive prosecutions of the last year: the political lynching of Scooter Libby and  unfold 

Hamas Wins Gaza: What Now?

by Christopher Chantrill

WITH ISRAEL surrounded by proxies of Iran, what should they give away now?

And what should the United States do to “advance” the peace process?  Do we now divide up the Palestinians into:

Hamas, who are beyond the pale, and Fatah, with whom we can do business.

This is delusion, writes Melanie Phillips, author of Londonistan.

The reason for this deluded approach is the  unfold 

The Adolescent Cult of "Getting it Right"

by Christopher Chantrill

JOURNALIST and writer David Halberstam, tragically killed in an auto accident, lived by the modern journalist’s code.  When you take down the politicians and the generals: Get It Right, writes James Bowman, author of Honor, A History.

In championing the culture of “getting it right,” today’s journalists are only following the culture of the academic middle class, which generally lives by observation and the bon mot.

Follow the Money on Immigration

by Christopher Chantrill

WHAT ARE the real issues on the current immigration bill?  Milton Friedman said it best, according to Robert Rector.

“It’s just obvious you can’t have free immigration and a welfare state,” he warned.

Why not?  Because of the political bargain represented by the modern welfare state.

In the “transfer state,” government taxes the upper middle class and shifts some $1.5 trillion in economic  unfold 

"Women with Needs" Tells It All

by Christopher Chantrill

WHAT KIND of voter would you imagine that Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY) is attracting to her presidential campaign?  Anne E. Kornblut and Matthew Mosk have the answer.

Clinton is drawing especially strong support from lower-income, lesser-educated women — voters her campaign strategists describe as  unfold 

Republican Elite vs. Republican Voters

by Christopher Chantrill

NOW THAT the Republicans are out of power in Congress and President Bush is a lame duck, the Republican base doesn’t seem to feel the need for party discipline.

So when the Republican Party elite presented the Republican voters with a comprehensive and mandatory omnibus immigration bill we all upchucked, encouraged by our friends the talk-show hosts.

Why not?  There was no point in good manners and obedience.  Our guys aren’t in power any more. 

You can tell that Queen Victoria is not amused about  unfold 

Cameron Speaks, Media Underwhelmed

by Christopher Chantrill

DAVID CAMERON gave a speech in Tooting, London on Monday, “Our Society, Your Life,” and the conservative press was unimpressed.

Cameron spoke of his political philosophy, the idea that there is such a thing as society, it is not the same as the state.  The idea is one of social responsibility.

Social responsibility means that every time we see a problem, we don’t just ask what government can do. We ask what people  unfold 

Democrats and Taxes. Again

by Christopher Chantrill

THE DEMOCRATS plan to solve the problem of the Alternative Minimum Tax (it hurts the rich in Democratic states) with a tax surcharge on the rich nationwide.  Share the suffering.

And now they want to raise taxes on the private equity guys, according to Larry Kudlow.  Well, they are just making too much money.

Do they know what they are doing, he wonders?

Ironically, all this is happening while  unfold 

Reid's "Incompetent" Gaffe

by Christopher Chantrill

SO SENATE Majority Leader Harry Reid told Joint Chiefs Chairman Peter Pace that he was incompetent, and then the lefty bloggers denied it. According to Michael Goldfarb, quoting a semi-lefty blogger, Reid said:

Pace is also a yes-man for the president and I told him to his face, I laid it out to him last time he came to see me, I told him what an incompetent man I thought he was.

It’s interesting how Reid  unfold 

Hollywood and Abortion

by Christopher Chantrill

POLITICALLY, we all know that Hollywood is pro-abortion.  But, with the release of Knocked Up, several commentators have noticed that Hollywood seems very reticent to celebrate abortion in its movies.

Gerard Baker writes:

In Knocked Up, the very word is avoided completely – the closest is when one of the characters suggests maybe the heroine should have a procedure that rhymes with  unfold 

CAFE: Bad Ideas Never Die

by Christopher Chantrill

BACK IN the 1970s our august Solons thought it was time to issue a ukase to the auto companies and tell them what gas mileage their cars should get. 

The result was that station wagons disappeared and people gravitated to minivans, SUVs, and light trucks, because they had a less stringent gas mileage requirement.

Actually, the minivans, SUVs, and light trucks were and are bigger and heavier than the evil gas-guzzling station wagons they replaced.

Now the Democratic Senate is proposing to raise overall gas  unfold 

Russia: Coming to Terms With Reality

by Christopher Chantrill

RUSSIANS want to believe that their country is great.  But the trouble is that it is not, writes Strategy Page.  Even in the days of the Soviet Union its greatness was an illusion.

In the early 1990s, when economists and accountants got the first good look at the Russian economy since the early 20th century, it was found that the Russian GDP was about four percent of the U.S. GDP.

But what an illusion!  The Soviet  unfold 

Blair Whines About Media He Helped Create

by Christopher Chantrill

IT REALLY is too bad of Tony Blair to complain about the savagery of the modern media.  After all, it was Bill Clinton and he that created and developed to a fine art the modern “war room,” ready 24-7 to demolish the opposition.  And it is George W. Bush and David Cameron that are trying to find a way beyond the ferocious Clinton/Blair campaign methodology that is based on a win-at-all-costs approach to politics.

In his speech today he characterized the media, according to   unfold 

A Modest Marriage Proposal

by Christopher Chantrill

IN BRITAIN the Law Commission is worried about the rights of cohabiting couples, writes Libby Purves.  It thinks they should have all the rights of married couples.

Why bother, wonders Purves?  Anyone that wants the rights of married people can get married.  Even gays can obtain similar rights now that civil partnerships are recognized under the law in Britain.  It isn’t exactly a secret that marriage  unfold 

Democrat Budget & New Taxes and Spending

by Christopher Chantrill

DOES NOBODY care what the Democrats are proposing in their budget resolution?  Thank goodness Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH), ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee, does:

This five-year budget blueprint, a partisan plan designed and passed by congressional Democrats with no input from Republicans, will weigh down the economy with the largest tax increase in U.S. history, hundreds of billions in new spending, and billions of  unfold 

It Couldn't Happen Here. Could It?

by Christopher Chantrill

YOU’D THINK that when you have a centralized Nataional Curriculum, like the British do, that you’d at least guarantee that the flaky and the positive-self-esteem fluff would be kept to a low roar.  But that is not the case.  British think tank Civitas reports that the National Curriculum is a cess-pool of left-wing fashion.

The traditional subject areas have been hi-jacked to promote fashionable causes such as gender awareness, the environment  unfold 

Sarkozy allies head for landslide

by Christopher Chantrill

COUNT ME among the amazed as the French voted overwhelmingly for reform in their parliamentary elections Sunday.

According to Jon Boyle:

Mr. Sarkozy’s conservative UMP party won 39.6 percent of the vote, while the opposition Socialists had 24.7 percent, the Interior Ministry said.

And Sarkozy’s party campaigned frankly on a platform of economic  unfold 

Bush Defines G-8 on Climate Change?

by Christopher Chantrill

THE ADVANCE word on the G-8 meeting in Germany was that hostess Angela Merkel and poodle-in-chief Tony Blair would bring President Bush around to the advanced, sophisticated European way of thinking on climate change.

But that’s not what happened at all, according to Kimberley A. Strassel.  See any mandatory targets?  Any anti-growth sentiments?  Let’s read her take.

Yesterday’s declaration, far from mandatory targets,  unfold 

What Were They Thinking?

by Christopher Chantrill

IT’S EASY to say that after the fact.  You wonder: What planet are they on?  President Bush and leading Republicans should never try to run a controversial bill past the Republican base in the dead of night.   A proper immigration compromise requires leadership.  It requires that the bill sponsors go out and move the country. 

That’s what President Bush told the New York Times back in 2000 when its editorial board told him that the American people didn’t support tax cuts.  Then I’ll  unfold 

Could the Immigration Issue Hurt the Democrats?

by Christopher Chantrill

THE USUAL procedure after a big showdown like the immigration bill that was just withdrawn in the US Senate is that it means bad news for the Republican Party.  Remember how the gender gap has always been a Republican problem, not a Democratic problem.

Of course, the withdrawal of the bill by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, writes Julie Hirschfeld Davis provoked the usual response. 

The defeat set off a bitter  unfold 

Democrats on Bush's "bumper-sticker" war

by Christopher Chantrill

DEMOCRATIC presidential candidates are pretty well all agreed that the war on terror is “Bush’s War,” a bumper-sticker business gussied up for purely political purposes.  

Unfortunately, the attempt to tie the war on terror around Bush’s neck tells us rather more about the Democrats than they might want, writes William Murchison.

We need to look carefully at the phrase "George Bush’s war." It tells us everything we need to  unfold 

Ted Kennedy Bridge Joke

by Christopher Chantrill

YOU CAN’T do enough Ted Kennedy bridge jokes, any more than you can have enough of the time that Ted Kennedy visited a bond-trading floor in Manhattan.

“Any of you ladies need a ride home,” boomed a loud voice.

There’s a Ted Kennedy joke involving the late Pat, Mrs. William F. Buckley, Jr., told by Linda Bridges. 

Ted Kennedy was staying in Gstaad and had visited the Buckleys along  unfold 

How Do You Spell Freedom?

by Christopher Chantrill

BACK IN the old days childhood was different.  Kids had more freedom, as Alice Thompson reports from Britain. She talked to her mother about life as a child during World War II.

Life as a child in those days was delightful.  The adults were far too busy to pay any attention to children. 

We broke into requisitioned houses and made camps; we spent our afternoons canoeing down the Cam without  unfold 

What the MSM Won't Tell You

by Christopher Chantrill

ABORTION is a political issue so reports about medical research around the subject of abortion are politically charged also.

But sometimes the science really makes you sit up, as Melanie McDonagh discovered when she went to a lecture by pro-life researcher Dr. Byron Calhoun.

In his 2003 paper, “Induced Abortion and the Risk of Later Premature Births,” Dr. Calhoun reported that the risk of premature birth is doubled for  unfold 

Daring to Use the F Word

by Christopher Chantrill

IT’S NOT that surprising that the Republican candidates haven’t trotted out the F word yet.  Two of the three leading candidates are divorced.  So if they start talking about “family” they’ll be accused of hypocrisy.

But then who isn’t a hypocrite.  It’s the homage that vice pays to virtue.

If the candidates aren’t willing to talk about family, Kay Hymowitz & W. Bradford Wilcox are.  And to make it easy they  unfold 

Dem Problem: How to Get Past the Crazies

by Christopher Chantrill

AT LEAST President Bush has the guts to brush off his entire Republican base in rejecting our concerns about his immigration bill.

Democratic presidential candidates in debate have no such luxury, as Michael Graham reports.  They’ve got to be against the war to satisfy the nutroots.  Yet they can’t help looking over their shoulders at their evenutal rendezvous with the general election voters in November 2008.