Links, 8-15-2008

• Gerard Baker:  Georgia:  Europe Wins a Gold Medal for Defeatism.  "If shifting moral blame won't relieve us of our responsibilities then surely defeatism will."  Europe and its moral degeneration.
• Thomas Sowell:  Whose Special Interests?  "Since unions are losing the game under the current rules, their obvious answer is to change the rules."  Open-ballot measure touted as worker's rights breakthrough really is about intimidating workers into doing the union's bidding.  Guess which presidential candidate strongly supports it?
• Kathleen Parker:  The Beauty of Imperfection.  "Democracy is messy."  I think she means "freedom is messy," but no matter.  Chinese Olympics stuff.
• Mona Charen:  The 3 A.M. Phone Call Is Real.  "Americans had already expressed misgivings about Barack Obama’s preparedness for the harsh world we inhabit. This laboratory test can only increase that anxiety."  Yeah, B.O. called for a U.N. Security Council resolution to halt the violence.  Guess who has a Security Council veto?
• James E. Carter and James C. Miller III:  President Obama's Economy.  "The combination of profligate spending and higher tax rates created a substantial drag on the economy. It didn’t help that President Obama has presided over one of the most protectionist administrations in decades."  A "look ahead."

Links, 8-14-2008

• Charles Krauthammer:  How to Stop Putin.  "The Russia-Georgia cease-fire brokered by France's president is less than meets the eye."  But only because the Russian troops are still moving.
• Senator John McCain:  We Are all Georgians.  "The Georgian people have suffered before, and they suffer today."  *nodding*
• President Mikheil Saakashvili:  Russia's War Is the West's Challenge.  "The Russian leadership cannot be trusted -- and this hard reality should guide the West's response."  Yes, and probably.
• Victor Davis Hanson:  Brave Old World.  "Brace yourself -- we may be on our way back to an old world, where the strong do as they will, and the weak suffer as they must."  Back to (a state of) nature.
• Dodge Billingsley:  Politics Is Local.  "The truth is, both the Ossetians and Abkhazians are happy to side with Moscow."  Interesting counterpoint from a long-time student of Georgia's military.

Links, Russia Invades Georgia Edition

• George Will:  Russia's Power Play.  "Who remembers 1934?  Or anything."  Usual brilliance.
• Victor Davis Hanson:  Moscow's Sinister Brilliance.  "The Russians have sized up the moral bankruptcy of the Western Left."  More on this later.
• William Kristol:  Will Russia Get Away With It?  "Dictators aren’t moved by the claims of justice unarmed."  Wait...they aren't?
• Robert Kagan:  Putin Makes His Move.  "The next president had better be ready."  You're telling me.

Links, 8-6-2008

Rather late, I know, but what the heck?

• Jay Nordlinger:  The Road to Beijing, Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.  (More will come, so head over to NRO for those.)  Fellow Michigander discusses issues relating to China and the Olympic Games in Beijing.  As always, his focus is the despotism of the "People's Republic", its many human rights abuses, the heroic dissidents of the regime, and the reactions of Westerners.
• Kathryn Jean Lopez:  What's the Matter With Kansas?  The story of a public servant's hard battle fighting serious crimes committed by Planned Parenthood.
• Walter Williams:  A Nation of Thieves.  Professor Williams reviews a new book on the dangers of the welfare state.  Typically, a gem.

Morning Links, 7-15-2008

Jay Nordlinger: Impromptus (Tell It, Phil, &c.) -- Everyone should read Impromptus. Rich Lowry: Anti-Fact Consensus. Barack's Iraq senselessness. LA Times: Cover Charges. New Yorker cover heresy sparks outrage Bret Stephens: Descent From Entebbe. Fall o' civilization stuff. Scott Johnson: Let's Party Like It's 1984. Barack's Iraq revisionism. Ed Morrissey: Mother Nature, The Biggest Oil Polluter On Earth. An inconvenient truth. John Hinderaker: Obama's Dishonest Op-Ed. Barack's Iraq dishonesty.

Morning Links, 7-10-2008

--Victor Davis Hanson: Barack W. Bush? Bush's sinister plot for a third term? --Christopher Booker: Our Leaders Are In Carbon-Cloud Cuckoo Land. Western civilization suicide watch. --George Will: Beer: Is There Anything It Can't Do? Survival of the drunkest. Fascinating column about the role of beer in the history of humanity. --John Nichols: Obama Votes To Silence Debate And Pass FISA. In which I link to The Nation. Seriously. See link number one.

Morning Links, 7-8-2008

MuskegonPundit: Claim:  Kids who say yuck may be racist.  (!)  British nanny state stuff.

MuskegonPundit: No New Power!  Green Fascism on the march in Georgia.

Ed Morrissey: McCain:  I'll balance the budget by cleaning up entitlement programs.  Pipe dreams.

Michelle Malkin:  Treasury Dep't:  Chavez's government is funding and assisting Hezbollah.  But Chavez is secular and Hezbollah is religious...

Ed Morrissey:  Study:  Gays in the military would not be disruptive.  Typically thoughtful and balanced comment by the Cap'n.