Always Right

Jonah Goldberg on Michael Moore

Jonah Goldberg has a priceless piece reflecting on Michael Moore's "documentary." It's well worth reading and can be found here...

Three cheers for WFB

WFB is divesting himself of ownership in National Review and has appointed a new Board of Trustees to oversee the venerable magazine. The NYT has a fairly gracious article on this subject here...

Bubba and bin Laden

As to the link between Al Queda and Iraq, don't vilify Pres. Bush; he's simply claiming the same things that Pres. Clinton said previously. Check out this Washington Times piece on the issue...

England's Demise

Well, England was unceremoniously dumped out of Euro 2004, with a highly questionable decision by the Swedish referee to disallow the putative England winner late in the game. Rooney's injury, of course, played a part, as did Scholes' unfamiliar positioning on the left flank. But, much of the blame has to be placed on the shoulders of David Beckham. There can be no debating that he is a rare talent and world class player, as this reflective BBC article reports. But, his performances at the tournament certianly failed to justify his lofty status. To his detractors, I must point out that this man has bounced back from disaster before. At the 1998 World Cup in France, there was the infamous ejection against Argentina, for which he was skewered in the press and his likeness hanged in effigy around Britain. The following season was perhaps Beckham's best ever (and, indeed, Man Utd's finest season, too, as they won the Premiere League, FA Cup, and Champions League) and he finished second in balloting for the 1999 World Footballer of the Year, only to lose to Zinedine Zidane. Then, to be sure, was his ultimate redemption at the 2002 World Cup, where he scored the winning goal--from the penalty spot--against Argentina, perhaps England's fiercest rival (remember the Falkland Islands issue). I can only hope that he'll repeat 1999's and 2002's successes in 2004-2005.

Rooney...

The European papers are going mad over British striker Wayne Rooney. I was Paris over the weekend and even the French papers featured Rooney prominently. As you can probably imagine the Brit papers have virtually canonized Rooney after his two goal performance against Switzerland last week and his subsequent two goal performance against Croatia last night.

You can't help but fall in love with soccer over here. They eat, sleep, drink, breathe Euro 2004 - even in Ireland, which isn't even in the tournament. It's "brilliant" as they say...

Bragging on Cumberland

I'm working for the Competition Authority here in Ireland (think Federal Trade Commission and DOJ Antitrust Division combined) and have run across the names of two Cumberland professors while researching various topics. I've read works by both Prof DeBow and Prof Kuruk so far. I know its not that big of deal, but it is always cool to see your school represented in scholarly works, especially while abroad. Go Cumberland....

Bubba's Books

Here is the link to The Old Grey Lady's review of Bubba's memoirs. I think you'll find it very interesting and made me question, at least momentarily, the so-called pervasive liberal media bias. I was actually quite impressed with the writer's objectivity and criticism. I, for one, have no desire to read this 950-page "I'm really not that bad a guy, I mostly did things right and well, and don't you miss me now that I'm gone" self-serving polemic. Good riddance...

One Nation, under God, indivisible...

Well, SCOTUS upheld the phrase "under God" the pledge, but on procedural grounds rather than the merits of the case. 5 Justices said that Newdow lacked standing to bring the suit as result of his not having custody over the daughter for which he "brought" the suit in the first place.

It is unfortunate that our Supreme Court can be so spineless at times - witness Dred Scott, Plessy, Roe, Casey, etc. We haven't seen the last of this issue...

European elections

As Andrew noted yesterday, Europe is in a frenzy over Euro 2004. However, I'm not sure that a soccer-mad populace is the only reason for low voter turnout, or the general feeling of indolence and apathy that seems to linger over the European voter. It is important to note the extremely low voter turnout in the 10 countries that recently joined the EU. I've seen numbers of 26 -27% turnout in Poland, Czech Republic, etc. Many people over here are shocked at these numbers. I tend to agree that it reflects poorly on the new citizens of the Eu to not even bother to show up for their first votes since be allowed to join. The new countries weren't the only ones with low voter turnout though. Britain and Ireland both had less than 50% turnout. Soccer may play a small part, but I believe that is obfuscating the real problem - the Europeans just don't care. It seems to me that the average citizen of Ireland or Britain prefer to leave politics to the intelligentsia; they'd rather spend their time protesting Pres. Bush and supporting John Kerry.

The election coverage has been quite remarkable. The Euro-skeptic parties have indeed gained seats. It looks like Sinn Fein may gain a seat in the EU Parliament, much to the consternation of many of the Irish. Sunday's Irish Times opined that the Irish people were embarrassing themselves by their recent support of Sinn Fein in both local and European elections. My cab-driver from the Dublin airport to my accomodations in Dublin was an ardent supporter of Sinn Fein and excited by the party's growing acceptance by mainstream Irish folks. We were in London when PM Tony Blair's Labour government was dealt a blow by the British electorate. European governments that have supported Pres. Bush have suffered at the polls in recent days. Is this a harbinger for Bush in Nov.? I certainly hope not, but if Europe is any indication (which, honestly, it is usually not - Thank the Lord) it will certainly be a tight contest.

More on Euro 2004

It seems that Europe's soccer mad population may indirectly prevent further European Union integration. Voters simply aren't interested in traveling to the polls during the excitement of Euro 2004. Turnout levels for the European Parliament elections are at all time lows, with many Euro-skeptic parties potentially gaining seats due to the poor overall participation. Drudge picked up the story yesterday. Who would have thunk it???