The Claremont Conservative

• My Student Life Op-Ed on Helen Prejean at the Athenaeum

  Number of comments: 2
  

  Here's the link to The Student Life copy. Below find my op-ed.

  It's not every day that I get to beat up on a nun, but here goes. Truthfully, I’m about as agnostic as you get on spiritual matters, but I do believe that everyone retains a right [...]

  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: November 20, 2009, 7:48pm EST
  by Charles Johnson

• Quick Links Out and About the Claremont Blogosphere

  Number of comments: 5
  Pitney says that Palin is using her book tour to look at the prospect that she might be running for president. In so doing, she'll be following the lead of Barack Obama who did much the same thing for his book, The Audacity of Hope. Pitney was quoted in' [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: November 20, 2009, 4:01am EST
  by Charles Johnson

• Bahrain's Ambassador Mistaken on Academic Freedom

  Number of comments: 0
  Clarification: The Bahraini ambassador said that she had not heard of the incident and that she would look into it if Vishnu would provide a link for her to look into.
  
  I'll have the full Bahrani Ambassador's quotation on Israel later this evening or earlier tomorrow.
  But before then, [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: November 19, 2009, 4:11pm EST
  by Charles Johnson

• Fight on the Right: Ilan Wurman's Democrat-Lite Prescription for the Country

  Number of comments: 0
  Over at The CMC Forum, Ilan Wurman, my friend, co-worker, and one-time co-blogger, has a defense of using government and still being conservative.
  
  Undoubtedly this comes from his having read Grand New Party by Ross Douthat and Reihan Salam, which among other things argues that we should [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: November 18, 2009, 5:12pm EST
  by Charles Johnson

• More Coverage on Riley Lewis and My Attempts at Jeopardy Fame

  Number of comments: 0
  Dan Evans CMC '12, over at The Forum, interviewed me and Riley over our bid to be on College Jeopardy! Here's a quick selection of what Riley had to say:
  According to Lewis, the judges would call on contestants regardless of who buzzed in first, testing how well they' [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: November 18, 2009, 1:53pm EST
  by Charles Johnson

• A Few Quick Thoughts on Debate Night

  Number of comments: 17
  What follows are some of my thoughts on the debate night this evening put on by The Forum.
  The first debate was interesting, but Natalia's argument that we don't have the funds for isn't much of an argument. One day we will have the funds, but should we still' [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: November 17, 2009, 8:43pm EST
  by Charles Johnson

• Should Claremont Dorms Continue to be Co-Ed?

  Number of comments: 2
  Maybe Kevin Burke was onto something with his op-ed in The Forum this past week about status and drinking. And maybe the reason Claremont students drink so much is that there's so much fraternizing with the sexes. In a way, perhaps CMC's not male dominated culture leads to more [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: November 17, 2009, 2:31pm EST
  by Charles Johnson

• No Hitting the UCs While They are Down, Says Dean Vos

  Number of comments: 2
  In The Los Angeles Times today, there's an article mentioning the efforts of private colleges to attract students dissatisfied with the declining U.C. system.
  Richard Vos, vice president and dean of admission and financial aid at Claremont McKenna College, said he has noticed parents asking more questions about whether [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: November 16, 2009, 2:25pm EST
  by Charles Johnson

• Ross Douthat on Jon Shields New Yorker Interview

  Number of comments: 0
  Ross Douthat of New York Times fame (and most recently a PSU event) weighs in on The New Yorker interview with Jon Shields. (I blogged about that here.)
  
  Naturally, I'd wager that because the subject matter is abortion, you won't hear a peep out of CMC's PR [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: November 16, 2009, 2:12pm EST
  by Charles Johnson

• On Monte Carlo Night: A Review

  Number of comments: 13
  Clarification: I initially wrote that ASCMC should have the money only to send Kyle to Paris, Texas, implying that ASCMC was paying for the trip to Paris. It is not. But, by the alumnus providing it, it did free up money that would otherwise have gone to the prizes. In [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: November 16, 2009, 11:30am EST
  by Charles Johnson

• Pitney on Our First "Pacific President"

  Number of comments: 33
  
  Pitney has the history here, but in fairness to Obama, I think what he meant to say was that he was our nation's first pacifist president. You know, totally unwilling to defend America or her interests when called upon. Here he is, again, bowing' [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: November 14, 2009, 4:26pm EST
  by Charles Johnson

• Seth Lipsky on The Constitution

  Number of comments: 0
  James Taranto of The Wall Street Journal has a fantastic interview with my old boss, Seth Lipsky.
  
  When The Sun closed down last year, I wrote this post about how much I learned from Mr. Seth Lipsky. At the time, I complimented him on the breathtaking, all [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: November 14, 2009, 7:04am EST
  by Charles Johnson

• On Hub Quiz Tonight

  Number of comments: 7
  There were well over 100 people tonight at Hub Quiz, but you know, when you read Kevin Burke's confused, overgeneralizing piece for The Forum, that no one ever goes to the dry events on campus...
  We lost tonight, in large part because the Hub Quiz people deliberately wrote' [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: November 14, 2009, 3:48am EST
  by Charles Johnson

• Obama in Japan Is Good, Says Pomona Prof.

  Number of comments: 4
  Does it surprise you that the narcissist in chief visited Obama, Japan?
  Here's the quotation in full from David Arase of Pomona College in The Christian Science Monitor:"Obama can use his visit to set the stage for a revitalized relationship by focusing on two'" [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: November 14, 2009, 2:58am EST
  by Charles Johnson

• CMC Professor Jon Shields on Abortion, Stupak Amendment, and the Politics of the Pro-Life Cause

  Number of comments: 1
  There's a fantastic interview with Professor Jon Shields in The New Yorker of all places. Here's his response, in part to a question about why the pro-life movement continues to draw in adherents.Why, in a rapidly liberalizing culture, has opposition to abortion basically stayed the same? What [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: November 14, 2009, 2:42am EST
  by Charles Johnson

• A Few Questions for the Ambassador from Bahrain

  Number of comments: 3
  
  Bahrain is one of the most forward looking Arab nation in the Middle East. It is currently the only Arab nation that allows non-Muslims to become full citizens and it has a progressive record vis a vis women's rights.
  
  As Exhibit A, take the' [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: November 13, 2009, 3:26pm EST
  by Charles Johnson

• Mitt Romney's Coming to Claremont McKenna?

  Number of comments: 0
  
  A source close to the Res Publica committee informs me that next semester's big name speaker will be none other than former Republican presidential candidate, Mitt Romney.' [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: November 11, 2009, 9:30pm EST
  by Charles Johnson

• Chuck DeVore in Real Clear Politics

  Number of comments: 0
  A few days ago, Carly Fiorina secured the backing of eight GOP senators in her California Republican primary bid against CMC alum, Chuck DeVore.
  
  Kyle Trystad for Real Clear Politics wrote up how this race is the next New York-23, a reference to the failed bid of [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: November 10, 2009, 2:56am EST
  by Charles Johnson

• Meg Whitman Just Lost My Vote

  Number of comments: 3
  The Griffith R. Harsh IV and Margaret C. Whitman Charitable Foundation in 2007 contributed $100,000 to the Environmental Defense Fund, which is now at odds with Whitman over water policy. The foundation also invested $3 million in hedge funds based in the Cayman Islands — a Caribbean tax haven that's' [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: November 10, 2009, 11:08pm EST
  by Charles Johnson

• My Pope Center Op-ed on the Ath, Gays, and Communism

  Number of comments: 4
  A Hand Up for Freedom
  I wrote an op-ed for the Pope Center about how the Ath has effectively forgotten the fall of Communism, as it remembers homosexual rights. Titled another, "Another Stone Wall," here's a snippet of the article. It’s all right for Claremont' [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: November 09, 2009, 8:45am EST
  by Charles Johnson

• College Jeopardy: The Final Wait

  Riley and I auditioned for College Jeopardy today. This is the final hurdle and we hear back in December.
  
  The process was pretty grueling. We got breakfast at the Radisson Hostel in Culver City, which incidentally, is the same hotel where Ken Jennings became a contestant. We then went [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: November 08, 2009, 6:14pm EST
  by Charles Johnson

• My Defense of Craigslist in The Student Life

  Number of comments: 2
  If you want to read my defense of Craigslist and how you can find anything you want on it, head on over to The Student Life's op-ed page.
  
  The Forum, under Emily Meinhardt, didn't want to publish it, so I went elsewhere. And hey, The Student Life is [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: November 07, 2009, 6:01am EST
  by Charles Johnson

• We Won Hub Quiz by Four Points

  Number of comments: 6
  Bryce Gerard CMC'11, Riley Lewis CMC '11, Alex Berman CMC '12, and I won Hub Quiz tonight. Our team name was Team Ramrod and we won $40 each. We were down and nearly out in the third round, but Bryce got all 16 Disney characters on the identification round, putting' [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: November 07, 2009, 2:03am EST
  by Charles Johnson

• Classical Liberalism, Free Speech Found in The Student Life!

  Number of comments: 1
  There's a fantastic article by Brendan Rowan PO '11 in this past issue of The Student Life. The title pretty much says it all: "Something Offensive is Found on the Internet, Determined to be "Bias-Related." Good on The Student Life for publishing it. Here's a sample from the article:[...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: November 06, 2009, 5:49pm EST
  by Charles Johnson

• Go To This: PSU Events Are Seriously Good Now

  Number of comments: 0
  

  Governing with the Gavel?

  The Role of the Courts in a Democratic Society

  Thursday, November 12th, 2009

  8pm, Edmunds Ballroom
  

  As this summer's confirmation of Sonia Sotomayor showed, the country remains deeply divided on questions of judicial temperament and the role of the judiciary. As the Supreme Court' [...]

  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: November 06, 2009, 12:12am EST
  by Charles Johnson

• Tibor Machan CMC '65 on Ayn Rand for Reason.TV

  Number of comments: 0
  It's no understatement to say that the work of Ayn Rand changed my life. It must have left an impression: I went to an Ayn Rand conference for my 17th birthday. Have a look at what Tibor Machan CMC '65 has to say about it. The run time is five [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: November 05, 2009, 11:11am EST
  by Charles Johnson

• Andrew Bluebond Doesn't Get Humor About HIs Global Warming Religion

  Number of comments: 2
  
  Careful where you point that finger, Bluebond
  After I wrote a my little missive on Charlie Sprague's silly environmentalist suggestion, I wrote something saying that if the college were serious about banning emissions, it should ban East Coast and international students and only admit' [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: November 05, 2009, 10:57am EST
  by Charles Johnson

• Travel to and From School: The Next Thing To Be Banned?

  Number of comments: 5
  Riley Lewis: CMC's one future student?
  
  In his usually incoherent column for The Forum, Charlie Sprague writes about how we should "End Fall Break," and leaves this silly one-liner.
  For the environmentalist, ending fall break would probably reduce the college’s carbon footprint as many students' [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: November 05, 2009, 12:48am EST
  by Charles Johnson

• An Irreverent Look At All the Gay Rights Speakers Coming to Claremont

  Number of comments: 3
  Having just turned 21, I sympathize with the gentlemen that got raided by the police at the Stonewall Inn some forty years ago. I rather like having a brewsky (or two or several) at the local pub and would prefer to enjoy the company of my fellows or frauleins without [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: November 05, 2009, 12:08am EST
  by Charles Johnson

• Pitney, Pestritto, and Voegeli on Year One in the Age of Obama

  Number of comments: 3
  First, here's R. J. Pestritto [quoted in part] in National Review:
  Democrats said something else during the campaign that we should have listened to. With remarkable consistency, they identified themselves with progressivism and made clear that they aimed to revive the principles and policies of the Progressive Movement' [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: November 05, 2009, 12:03am EST
  by Charles Johnson

• Conor Friedersdorf PO '02 Open Letter to Jonah Goldberg

  Number of comments: 0
  Over at True Slant, Conor Friedersdorf PO '2002 writes an open letter to Jonah Goldberg, in which he mentioned his time at Pomona College:
  

  It is actually surprising that the gulf separating our attitudes is so deep. As a native of Orange County, California, the people I most respect' [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: November 04, 2009, 6:18pm EST
  by Charles Johnson

• Against Don't Ask, Don't Tell

  Number of comments: 2
  Let me surprise a few people here: I'm in favor of repealing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."
  
  First off, let me just say that I think Dan Choi is a patriot and I can't believe that "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" is still a serious policy in America.
  
  Let's think' [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: November 04, 2009, 5:58pm EST
  by Charles Johnson

• Neo-Liberalism and Latin America

  Number of comments: 0
  I've been asked to write something regarding neo-liberalism in Latin America for a friend. It's a paying gig, so I'm naturally excited, but what to say, what to say and what was so wrong with the classical liberalism, anyways?
  Have a look at how awesome liberalism in immigration' [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: November 02, 2009, 11:07am EST
  by Charles Johnson

• Matt Spaulding's New Book Profiled in National Review

  Number of comments: 2
  Matthew Spaulding, CMC alum, wrote a new book, We Still Hold These Truths: Rediscovering Our Principles, Reclaiming Our Future that is the subject of a profile in National Review.
  I've been reading Race and Liberty in America: The Essential Reader by Jonathan Bean about how' [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: November 02, 2009, 10:21am EST
  by Charles Johnson

• A Few Short Links

  Number of comments: 0
  
  From the Claremont blogosphere:The Forum's laughablly vague "Rules of Conduct." It really is ridiculous. Good thing it is almost never enforced. But I really don't think anyone should have this kind of power...Amy Jasper suggests that CMC is male-dominated. It isn't. 52 percent of the freshman class' [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: November 01, 2009, 1:31pm EST
  by Charles Johnson

• Cuss (And Veto) Away, Ahnold!

  Number of comments: 1
  I don't like cussing myself. I find it one of the vices least tolerable in others and least commendable in me, but I have to disagree with Professor John J. Pitney Jr.'s post on The Corner regarding Arnold Schwarzenegger's veto message.
  
  Professor Pitney dislikes it because,
  It probably' [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: October 31, 2009, 3:51am EDT
  by Charles Johnson

• Goldwater at 100

  Number of comments: 0
  While we're on the topic of conservatism and the 1964 election, Elizabeth Tandy Shermer, Visting history Professor at Claremont McKenna, will be a panelist at a two-day conference, entitled, "Goldwater at 100: His Politics, Ideology, and Legacy."
  Dr. Shermer wrote an article for The Journal of' [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: October 29, 2009, 6:43pm EDT
  by Charles Johnson

• Rush Limbaugh Comments on Reagan's Classic "Rendezvous with Destiny -- A Time For Choosing" Speech

  Number of comments: 0
  I've already pointed out the Claremont connection to launching the career of Ronald Reagan, but what I haven't really talked that much about is how important Ronald Reagan's historic "Time for Choosing" Speech.
  Rush Limbaugh mentions the importance of the speech today.
  Here's the full Ronald Reagan speech. Thank [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: October 29, 2009, 5:10pm EDT
  by Charles Johnson

• My Enemy, The Stark Elevator, Wins This Round...

  Number of comments: 0
  
  
  You win now, but I promise when you operational again, I will use you more often than I need to.
  I really, really, really wish I didn't live on the 7th floor, but hey, you live in the penthouse suite, as I do, and' [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: October 29, 2009, 4:22pm EDT
  by Charles Johnson

• Lay Off, Dean Hess!

  Number of comments: 0
  There's a bit of hubbub in the comment section over at The Forum and at the Freakonomics blog regarding whether or not Dean Hess was prepared to help Steven Levitt get a student into Claremont McKenna. The full details are captured here.
  Here's one comment that pretty [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: October 29, 2009, 2:57pm EDT
  by Charles Johnson

• Fareed Zakaria Was A Reaganite, Now A Centrist?

  Number of comments: 0
  At Claremont McKenna College's Athenaeum, Fareed Zakaria gave his take on the future of the G.O.P and why he thinks it'll continue to lose elections until it moves to the center.
  Here's the full, direct quotation from Fareed Zakaria on a question Tuesday night related to the future of conservatism' [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: October 29, 2009, 1:57pm EDT
  by Charles Johnson

• And If You Want to Read What A Nut Thinks About Super Freakonomics...

  Number of comments: 5
  Sahil Kapur '09 has written a purely inflammatory blog post for Campus Progress attacking Steven Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner of Freakonomics fame for their chapter on global warming in their newest book, Super Freakonomics.
  
  Along the way, he's compared them to creationists and said that they are' [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: October 29, 2009, 9:34pm EDT
  by Charles Johnson

• Greg Hess on Super Freakonomics

  Number of comments: 0
  Professor Greg Hess has a great review of Super Freakonomics in The Los Angeles Times. I'm about half the way through -- the book, not the review -- and recommend it thoroughly. Here are the good graffs from the review:
  The concepts of "good" and "bad" are also investigated,' [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: October 28, 2009, 8:49pm EDT
  by Charles Johnson

• No Question Quotas, Please

  Number of comments: 2
  Fareed Zakaria asked to hear from a woman in the audience -- after several of the questions came from men. Not only is this a stupid policy -- more women go to college now than men and its increasing -- but it's really against the spirit of the Athenaeum, notwithstanding [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: October 28, 2009, 2:02am EDT
  by Charles Johnson

• Fareed Zakaria At the Ath: A Few Quick Remarks

  Number of comments: 0
  

  A few quick remarks:

  On the whole, I enjoyed Fareed Zakaria’s talk at the Ath.

  It was good to hear him talk about the role of economics in the policy making decisions and how it limits people like the Jim Carvilles of the world who want larger and larger [...]

  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: October 28, 2009, 9:05pm EDT
  by Charles Johnson

• Happy 45th Anniversary of "A Time For Choosing"

  Number of comments: 0
  Today is the 45th anniversary of Ronald Reagan's "A Time For Choosing." The speech came to the forefront and launched Ronald Reagan's career because of the tireless advocacy of Henry A. Salvatori. Have a look. (For my Facebook readers, click on the title of this post and be redirected.)
  
  [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: October 27, 2009, 3:02pm EDT
  by Charles Johnson

• Harvey Mudder Performs at Carnegie Hall

  Number of comments: 2
  File this under... only at Harvey Mudd.
  
  An alumna gets selected to perform in the YouTube Symphony. Click here for more details. [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: October 25, 2009, 6:35pm EDT
  by Charles Johnson

• If You Missed Super Freakonomics Talk, Look At This

  Number of comments: 0
  [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: October 25, 2009, 1:16pm EDT
  by Charles Johnson

• New Poll Shows Increased American Skepticism of Global Warming

  Number of comments: 9
  After listening to Steven Levitt talk about his chapter on global warming in Super Freakonomics and the ensuing backlash from the global warming religious cohort, I find it very interesting that a new poll shows that only 35% of Americans believe man is causing global warming.
  
  Levitt said [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: October 23, 2009, 5:47pm EDT
  by Charles Johnson

• Student Life's Article on Illegal Immigrants at the Colleges

  Number of comments: 2
  Before I weigh in on the article about illegal immigrants and Pomona College, let me just say a few things before I am branded a racist, xenophobe, etc. I love immigrants. In fact, I really love one of them, my girlfriend who became a naturalized U.S. citizen just a [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: October 23, 2009, 5:00pm EDT
  by Charles Johnson