ZOMBIE CONTENTIONS

Author Archives Peter Shalen

Iran and Genocide

There was some discussion a while ago on this blog about whether the actions and rhetoric of the Iranian regime really represent a genocidal threat to Israel. This article by Kenneth L. Marcus makes a compelling case that they do.

¶ Posted 25 December 2009 § Iran § Israel ‡ Comments (76) °

A legal question

I’ve been reviewing the capsule histories of Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, the Military Commissions Act of 2006, and and Boumediene v. Bush. The article on the MCA says: Drafted in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision on Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, the Act’s stated purpose was “To authorize trial by military commission for violations of the [...]

¶ Posted 19 November 2009 § Detainee Treatment § Law & Justice § Supreme Court ‡ Comments (50) °

Tom Friedman

Tom Friedman has written that the “peace process” between Israel and the Palestinians is futile, and Noah Pollak “congratulate[s] Friedman on joining the ranks of us… neo-cons.” Pollak has not grasped the nature of the Friedman phenomenon. Regardless of your political views, if you wait long enough Friedman will agree with you. The man has [...]

¶ Posted 08 November 2009 § Media ‡ Comments (36) °

Doubt?

James Cunningham, who is our ambassador to Israel, says “According to the polls, there is doubt” about whether Obama is “a good friend to Israel.” According to a poll in August, 4% of Israeli Jews think Obama is pro-Israel. That’s four percent. One in twenty-five. In a country not known for consensus politics. It seems [...]

¶ Posted 04 November 2009 § Barack Obama § Israel ‡ Comments (2) °

Pharisees

Some time ago, in a comment thread on this blog, I initiated a discussion about the use of the word “pharasaical.” It was a response to quote from someone—I believe it was Jonah Goldberg—who had used the word in the derogatory sense which is common among Christians. I pointed out that it was odd for [...]

¶ Posted 25 October 2009 § History ‡ Comments (29) °

Obama’s McLandress dimension

John Kenneth Galbraith’s book The McLandress Dimension was published pseudonymously in 1962. The title “essay” concerns a measurement, supposedly devised by a “psychometricist,” which gives the time span for which a person is able to focus his attention on something other than himself. Richard Nixon, at three seconds, had the lowest McLandress dimension on record. [...]

¶ Posted 24 October 2009 § Barack Obama § Books ‡ Comments (10) °

Reporters without shame?

Reporters Without Borders has published its annual ranking of countries by “media freedom.” The Associated Press reports: The United States came in for rare praise from the Paris-based group, rising from No. 40 on last year’s ranking to No. 20 this year. The group attributes the rise to more relaxed attitudes toward the media under [...]

¶ Posted 20 October 2009 § Media ‡ Comments (2) °

CONTENTION OF THE DAY — An instructive and constructive piece on health care

The monstrously complicated Democratic health-care bills costing upward of a trillion dollars are churning through Congress. They are too complicated for the average voter to fully comprehend and too voluminous for the average lawmaker to read. They spend money we don’t have and create enormous new bureaucracies to regulate, limit, control, and, yes, ration care. [...]

¶ Posted 06 October 2009 § Health Care § Legislation ‡ Comments (14) °

“Unacceptable”

This post is in part another report from the Facebook front. A Facebook friend of mine has written: 5 Senate Democrats sided w/ Repubs-against Americans-voting down 2 public option amendments that would have ensured competition, saved lives & saved taxpayers $85 Billion. Our response needs to be swift and uncompromising! One thing that strikes me [...]

¶ Posted 03 October 2009 § Barack Obama § Health Care § Legislation § Obamanauts § Politicians ‡ Comments (26) °

A great speech

Netanyahu at the UN, telling it like it is:

¶ Posted 25 September 2009 § Arab Middle East § International Relations § Iran § Israel ‡ Comments (11) °

New Year Greeting

! שנה טובה לכל הזומביים I think that means “Happy new year to all the zombies.” At least it had better. It was a real struggle cutting and pasting the Hebrew letters, at least with a Mac—it kept trying to reverse the order. Go figure.

¶ Posted 18 September 2009 § Uncategorized ‡ Comments (9) °

Norman Borlaug, RIP

One of humanity’s greatest benefactors has died.

¶ Posted 13 September 2009 § Uncategorized ‡ Comments (4) °

Gevalt!

The Times of London reports: Libya is set to flaunt the Lockerbie bomber’s release at the climax of today’s celebrations marking Colonel Muammar Qaddafi’s 40 years in power. The Times gained access last night to the dress rehearsal of a spectacular two-hour show which extols Colonel Qaddafi for reviving his country and restoring Arab pride. [...]

¶ Posted 01 September 2009 § Arab Middle East ‡ Comments (1) °

Meir Ronnen

The Jerusalem Post has published an obituary of Meir “Mike” Ronnen, “the sharp-witted Jerusalem Post art critic and cartoonist credited with coining the newspaper’s name,” who died on Sunday. Here’s a quote from an interview with Ruthie Blum for the paper’s 75th anniversary in 2007: I published a few political cartoons as early as 1949. [...]

¶ Posted 31 August 2009 § Culture & Entertainment ‡ Comments (2) °

Dore Gold on the Rise of Nuclear Iran

Dore Gold, the former Israeli ambassador to the UN, has summarized the message of his new book at Powerline. Here’s an extract from his post: Few understand the significance of the moment the world is facing. A nuclear Iran involves the merger between radical Islam and nuclear weapons technology. When al-Qaeda attacked New York and [...]

¶ Posted 29 August 2009 § Iran ‡ Comments (70) °

The Wall (4827)
- narciso: Moved on to the last of Larsson, the reason for Sljander’s rather idiosyncraticpersonality, her father is a Soviet GRU defector protected by the evil Swedish state security,...
- Howard Portnoy: Wow, it’s my first time here since your remodeled, Czar. Looks great! Kudos.
Roman Polanski: The Other War (Culture, That Is) (35)
- narciso: He’s printed up his whining statement, from the office of his chateau, no doubt, it’s hard to see someone more vile, then again he telescoped the water wars of the 00s,...
New York City Announces that “Rubber Rooms” for Teachers Will Close (1)
- Zoltan Newberry: It would be better if these hard working and badly misunderstood teachers were put to work, I say! They could raise money for education as targets in pie throwing daily fund...
RECOMMENDED BROWSING (132)
- narciso: You missed who that line was directed at Sully, it wasn’t Obama
- Sully: @ fustotten: I didn’t like the baby campaign prop either, which actually caused me to wonder whether it was productive as a prop. And, on the subject of the presidency. There is...