Bookworm Room

Who needs an expensive PR firm when a clever American, armed with a computer, can create such a devastating video about Obama, our gum chewing (including chewing gum at memorial services), golf playing (including hitting the links on Memorial Day, apparently unburdened by his Commander in Chief status), surprisingly arrogant president? Hat tip:  White House [...]

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My husband and I discussed the concept of stereotypes with the kids.  What we were trying to get through to them is that it’s wrong to take ideas about a group, even if those ideas are complimentary or accurate, and to assume that they apply to an individual.  The mere fact that Jews tend to [...]

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CNN just released its latest poll, showing climbing support for Obama.  Ed Morrissey is suspicious, since it’s hard to reconcile the low poll numbers on specifics (economy, national security, etc.) with the high numbers for Obama himself.  Suspicions, though, are all Ed’s got, because CNN has withheld demographic data.  This matters a lot because, lately, [...]

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Yes, we won the war in Iraq and, as the inimitable Walter Russell Mead points out, we may have changed the course of history. Sure, it’s still early and there are many events that still have to play themselves out, but Iraq today is a country at relative peace surrounded by dangerous turbulence. http://blogs.the-american-interest.com/wrm/2011/05/29/memorial-day-the-war-in-iraq/ The [...]

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I really agonized over my votes, since there was so much good stuff.  I was therefore extremely honored that my fellow Council members chose my post, although credit really goes to the Life Magazine staff in 1967: Council Winners *First place with 3 2/3 votes! Bookworm Room–-Contemporary coverage of the Six Day War — clear-sighted [...]

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Three days ago, I asked whether the military has warmed up to Obama during his two years as C in C.  By sheer coincidence, today Gallup gives the answer:  No.

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I’m definitely an internet addict, but since I’ve got an addictive personality, I’m not surprised. I’ve never been one for drugs, which are anathema to someone who is as much a self-control freak as I am. My addiction has always run to words. It was no surprise to me that I slid from being an [...]

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Because, we know, people in government really, really care about you, special you, and want to take care of you. Because, just like your cat, they truly, truly love you, no matter what Republicans say. That’s why it makes sense to have Father Government take care of us, so that we won’t ever have to [...]

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Chris Muir nails it with fiendish puns. To do Weiner justice, he claims his account was hacked, which is either the truth (we’ve all been hacked at one time or another) or a brilliant falsehood (’cause we’ve all been hacked at one time or another).

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I hope that you have a lovely Memorial Day in the company of your family and friends.  Spare a moment, though, to think of and thank those who currently serve, and those who gave their all for the freedom we (still) enjoy today.

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Here is an intriguing article about a dilemma faced by the United Kingdom: its wind power farms are running out of wind. Climate change? The article offers plenty of ideas as to why this may be. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/energy/windpower/8545306/Wind-farms-Britain-is-running-out-of-wind.html The U.K., along with a few other EUropean countries like Denmark and Spain, has banked heavily on wind [...]

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I came across the following story about Winston Churchill when I was reading The Little, Brown Book of Anecdotes: In the summer of 1941 Sergeant James Allen Ward was awarded the Victoria Cross for climbing out onto the wing of his Wellington bomber, 13,000 feet above the Zuider Zee, to extinguish a fire in the [...]

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I’ve often heard people use the expression “he saw the handwriting on the wall.”  I wonder, though, how many know that it originates in the Book of Daniel, which is a part of the Old Testament.  I’m reasonably sure that most of my readers are familiar with the story of Daniel, but for those who [...]

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As Ace said after getting a look see at Ah-nold’s most recent girlfriend, a hound dog isn’t looking for better, just different. Case in point.

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Well, I managed to lose this Saturday entirely. Between trying to catch up on my chronically lost sleep, running a few necessary errands (which included the great, and unexpected, pleasure of running into Charles Martel at our local Staples), and an emergency meeting of one of my volunteer committees, I just seemed to lose the [...]

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Do you remember this video contrasting the Marines’ response to Bush and to Obama? The video came out very early in Obama’s presidency, when he was a relatively unknown quantity with regard to the military.  Now that he’s been in office for more than two years, do you think the video is still valid, or [...]

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Barney Frank is one of the least savory figures in government.  I disagree strongly with his politics and his ethics hover somewhere around the zero level.  Michelle Malkin details his habit of giving his friends nice gifts at taxpayer expense.  But here’s what I want to say in his defense, at least when it comes [...]

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One lesson of advertising is that, no matter whether true or false, to make a message stick, one must repeat, repeat, repeat. This is how false messages become enshrined into the ideological orthodoxy of the Left and ripple out to the collective consciousness of the masses. Now, there are many ways to deliberately distort a [...]

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My son has a small infection in his toe. It definitely hurts, but it’s not the end of the world. This afternoon, when he was out in the backyard with his friends, I came out and announced that it was time for him to go to martial arts. “No,” he said. “My toe hurts.” “That’s [...]

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As I mentioned in an earlier post, in preparation for the Midway Commemoration next Saturday, I’m reading Gordon Prange’s Miracle at Midway. After describing the hubris that afflicted the Japanese command six months after Pearl Harbor, Prange has this to say about the American commmanders as they prepared for the fateful conflict, at a time [...]

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The only thing that bugs me is that I wasn’t on the list of seditious, dangerous websites that need to be banned.

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I’ve enjoyed reading these submissions, and I bet you will too: Council Submissions The Noisy Room – Evil Precedent – Indiana Invalidates Fourth Amendment Rhymes With Right – Daniel’s decision Highlights A Problem With Our Politics Simply Jews – Binyamin Netanyahu (Bibi) goes to Washington Right Truth – Trending Pro-Life Joshuapundit-Obama’s Embarrassing Try For A [...]

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I forget in which thread it arose, but someone tried to argue that Israelis were disappointed by Netanyahu’s performance, because the liberal media concluded they were.  Barry Rubin challenges that line of thinking.

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If you haven’t listened to Netanyahu’s speech to Congress, you must.  And I mean listen.  I’m usually a speech reader, because I read quickly, and seldom have the time or the patience to sit down and listen to someone give a 45 minute speech. In addition, some speakers have so many rhetorical tics and twitches [...]

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Seriously — was there ever a more cool performer than Cab Calloway?

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