"The apartment was small, with slanting floors and irregular heat and a buzzer downstairs that didn't work, so that visitors had to call ahead from a pay phone at the corner gas station, where a black Doberman the size of a wolf paced through the night in vigilant patrol, its jaws clamped around an empty beer bottle."

Other readers pounced like wolf-sized Dobermans on an intruder....]]> Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0600 I get where President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder are coming from. They think that if we change our way of life, the terrorists will have won.

In principle, I agree. If upholding our values makes fighting the war on terror harder, then it should be harder.

That's why I don't care much that it will cost more money to try suspected terrorists in the Big Apple than it would in the state-of-the-art facility at Guantanamo Bay. Similarly, while the security concerns stemming from a trial in New York are real, I think we can handle them. And, again, just because something is harder or more dangerous, that doesn't necessarily mean we shouldn't do it. That's the whole...]]> Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0600 Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan demonstrated many things when he allegedly committed treason in the war on terror. For starters, he showed -- gratuitously alas -- that evil is still thriving.

He demonstrated that being a trained psychiatrist provides no immunity to ancient hatreds and religious fanaticism, nor does psychiatric training provide much acuity in spotting such things in others. For example, the London Telegraph reports that, in what was supposed to be a medical lecture, Hassan instead gave an hourlong briefing on the Koran, explaining to colleagues at Walter Reed Army Medical Center that nonbelievers should be beheaded, have boiling oil poured down their throats and set on...]]> Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0600

A weekly series explores the issues of faith that are shaping our world.

In Washington today, politicians too often just stand their ground. Liberal strategist Bob Beckel and conservative columnist Cal Thomas provide a better model.

An at-a-glance look at online conversations selected for the newspaper.

Readers discuss their personal experiences.

Readers share the impact Hurricane Katrina has had on their lives.

What people are saying about the news of the week.

Editorials, Debates |  Columns |  Letters

Editorials, Debates |  Columns |  Letters

Editorials, Debates |  Columns |  Letters

Editorials,...]]> Sun, 01 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0500 It seems Rocco Landesman, the head of the National Endowment for the Arts, didn't get the memo, literally.

On September 22, stung by controversy over the administration's effort to turn the arts community into proselytizers of its very special brand of hope and change, the White House issued a stern warning to all government agencies: Keep politics out of the arts.

The White House denied that was ever the intent. Many in the media, as is their wont, took the Obama administration at their word.

But not the website Big Government (which broke the story) and the Washington Times. They demonstrated that from the earliest days of the presidential transition, Barack...]]> Wed, 21 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0500 One of the most macabre images I've ever heard described came in the aftermath of the Asian tsunami in 2004. Before the tidal wave crashed on shore, beachgoers stood around and idly gaped as the water drastically receded. Bewildered, they didn't realize they were looking at the prelude to a calamity.

The Democratic party looks more and more like those beachgoers every day, watching popular support recede, oblivious to the Perot tsunami coming our way.

In 1992, the incumbent president, George H. W. Bush, was a disappointment to his party's base and a pariah to the Democrats. Government seemed to have lost its grip. The deficit became a massive issue, a symbol of...]]> Fri, 09 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0500 ‘After reviewing hundreds of hours of ‘Shark Week' footage and consulting with leading ichthyologists, CBS News can now confirm that the so-called ‘Land Shark' made famous on Saturday Night Live is a hoax," Katie Couric assured viewers. Meanwhile, over on MSNBC, the crack news team continued its in-depth exposé on SNL's faked assassination of the Little Rascals's Buckwheat. Sleuths working for the New York Times revealed that not only was John Belushi not an Olympic decathlete, but his touted regimen of cigarettes and "little chocolate donuts" was, according to experts in sports medicine, "not even remotely nutritious."

Meanwhile, a report by 60 Minutes...]]> Tue, 06 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0500 Wed, 30 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0500 ‘When John McCain said we could just ‘muddle through' in Afghanistan, I argued for more resources and more troops to finish the fight against the terrorists who actually attacked us on 9/11, and made clear that we must take out Osama bin Laden and his lieutenants if we have them in our sights," Barack Obama thundered as he accepted the Democratic nomination for president in Denver last year. "John McCain likes to say that he'll follow bin Laden to the gates of Hell. But he won't even go to the cave where he lives."

It was a shabby bit of rhetoric, even for a campaign. Insinuating that McCain, of all people, didn't have the intestinal fortitude to take the fight to bin...]]> Fri, 25 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0500 It was the most Obamaesque address to date.

"For those who question the character and cause of my nation," the president pronounced Wednesday, "I ask you to look at the concrete actions we have taken in just nine months."

America is 233 years old. Some think that there are ample accomplishments speaking to our character and cause that predate Obama's ascension to the presidency.

Feh, Obama seems to be saying. Look instead to our new greatness, for we have elected a man like him!

Having anointed himself America's vindicator and redeemer, Obama's real purpose seems to be to become the leader not of the free world but, simply, the world.

"No world order...]]> Fri, 25 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0500 Friday, September 25, 2009

Linker, Tanenhaus & Liberal Fascism   [Jonah Goldberg]

Via RCP, I found this odd post by Damon Linker on Sam Tanenhaus' book, The Death of Conservatism. Among other things, he writes:

And yet Tanenhaus makes his counter-intuitive case with elegance and rigor, drawing on the ideas and policies of dozens of writers and public figures—including Edmund Burke, James Burnham, Whittaker Chamber, William F. Buckley, and Michael Oakeshott—whose conservative credentials are unimpeachable. An intellectually serious conservatism would jump at the chance to engage with an author who uses...]]> Fri, 18 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0500 Of all the poisonous, ugly, and intellectually vapid controversies ginned up in my lifetime, the current breakout of St. Vitus' Dance over the "racist" opposition to Barack Obama may be the most egregious.

Al Sharpton tells CNN's Larry King that decent and racially sensitive Americans shouldn't let a small minority make health care into a "racial issue."

Someone in the control room surely yelled, "Cue the laugh track!"

In case you don't get the joke, this entire "debate" over whether opposition to Obama's health-care reform is racist is totally, completely, and in every way conceivable an invention of the Left.

Oh, sure, there are some racists who oppose...]]> Sat, 12 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0500 Wed, 09 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0500 Tue, 08 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0500 ABC News reports that Barack Obama has returned to Washington, only to step off the plane and "into his next domestic crisis." He "planned to leave the details of health-care reform to Congress, but today the White House says he'll play a much stronger role." The Associated Press says Obama is "backing away" from his "‘it's-all-on-the-table' approach" and is "prepared to get louder and more involved in the details of a health care overhaul." "This weekend," NBC Nightly News explained in its lead story, "the president signaled an aggressive stance to put his personal stamp on the sweeping legislation."

There's only one problem. These stories were all reported nearly three...]]> Thu, 03 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0500 On the last day of August, scientists spotted a teeny-weeny sunspot, breaking a 51-day streak of blemish-free days for the sun. If it had gone just a bit longer, it would have broken a 96-year record of 53 days without any of the magnetic disruptions that cause solar flares. That record was nearly broken last year as well.

Wait, it gets even more exciting.

During what scientists call the Maunder Minimum - a period of solar inactivity from 1645 to 1715 - the world experienced the worst of the cold streak dubbed the Little Ice Age. At Christmastime, Londoners ice-skated on the Thames, and New Yorkers (then New Amsterdamers) sometimes walked over the Hudson from Manhattan to...]]> Wed, 19 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0500 To listen to the White House and its supporters, in and out of the media, you would think that opposition to "Obama-care" is the hobgoblin of a few small minds on the right. Racists, fascists, Neanderthals, the whole "Star Wars" cantina of boogeymen and cranks stand opposed to much-needed reform.

Left out of this fairly naked effort to demonize a great many with the actions of a tiny few is the simple fact that Obama-care -- however defined -- has been tanking in the polls for weeks. President Obama's handling of healthcare is unpopular with a majority of Americans and a majority of self-proclaimed independents.

Focusing on the town halls certainly has its merits, but if...]]> Sat, 15 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0500 If I went to a Democratic town hall, I'd probably boo, too. Hence, according to various Democrats and supporters of ObamaCare, I'm paranoid and just a bit unpatriotic.

Well, let me dilate on my paranoid treachery for a moment.

Under the plan discussed at President Obama's infomercial-esqe town halls, America would cut costs and expand coverage while avoiding rationing. Apparently, it's paranoid to think that's too good to be true.

Imagine you're in charge of bringing pie to a company picnic. You're planning to provide dessert for 100 people. Then, your boss says you need to hand out pie to 150. Fine, you say, I'll make more pies. But -- oh no! -- you can't because...]]> Sat, 08 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0500 The Democratic party is panicking, lashing out like a cornered animal, all because its effort to take over the health-care industry is coming apart like so much wet toilet paper.

Nancy Pelosi, who will get her own bound volume in the annals of asininity, has outdone herself. When asked by a reporter whether the protests at various town-hall meetings represented legitimate grassroots opposition or were manufactured "AstroTurf" stunts, she replied, "I think they're AstroTurf. You be the judge. They're carrying swastikas and symbols like that to a town meeting on health care."

Now this is a pas de trois of dishonesty, slander, and idiocy. Not only is Pelosi lying when...]]> Mon, 27 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0500 Fri, 17 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0500 Where's the outrage?

If this country had its head on straight, there would be nothing but white-hot popular fury over the latest Bush-era CIA scandal broken by the New York Times.

CIA director Leon Panetta reportedly told congressional committees that the CIA hatched a plan, in the wake of 9/11, to kill senior leaders of al-Qaeda. The CIA would send operatives to assassinate these terrorists in their homes and caves, if that's not redundant. President Bush reportedly put Cheney in charge of the scheme.

Now, here's where it gets confusing. The Democrats and much of the press insist the scandal is that Cheney never briefed Congress about specifics of the plan. There's...]]> Wed, 08 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0500 Before Sarah Palin stepped on the story, the talk of the Beltway was Salongate at the Washington Post. The venerable newspaper hatched a scheme whereby it would hold a series of "salons" at the home of publisher Katharine Weymouth in order to sell lobbyists and corporations access to Obama administration officials and the Post reporters and editors who cover them.

"Bring your organization's CEO or executive director literally to the table," read a flier for the first event. "Interact with key Obama administration and congressional leaders . . . Spirited? Yes. Confrontational? No. The relaxed setting in the home of Katharine Weymouth assures it."

The proposed ticket price?...]]> Wed, 24 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0500 Here is the one immutable fact of President Barack Obama's foreign policy agenda as it relates to Iran: It's over. The rule book he came in with is as irrelevant as a tourist guide to the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

If the forces of reform and democracy win, Obama's plan to negotiate with the regime is moot, for the regime will be gone. And if the forces of reform are crushed into submission by the regime, Obama's plan is moot because the regime will still be there.

Politics and decency will simply demand that the world condemn or shun the regime of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei if they come out on top. Even the most soulless realists will be repulsed by the...]]> Fri, 12 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0500 When an abortion provider in Wichita, Kans., was murdered, the predictable chorus pointed fingers at Fox News's Bill O'Reilly. After all, O'Reilly had said that George Tiller was a "baby killer" and had railed against the doctor's late-term abortion practice for years. He must be to blame! No one bothered to ask whether Tiller's accused murderer had ever watched O'Reilly, or to ponder whether a militant pro-life extremist really needed a talk-show host to tell him anything he didn't already know about one of the less than a dozen doctors in the country who still performed third-trimester abortions.

But never mind. Such details don't matter when you're trying to delegitimize...]]> Tue, 09 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0500 Whenever you hear a politician start a sentence with, "If we can put a man on the moon ... ," grab your wallet.

President Obama prefers Supreme Court justices who will violate their oath of office. And he hopes Sonia Sotomayor is the right Hispanic woman for the job. Here's the oath Supreme Court justices must take:

"I, (name), do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will administer justice without respect to persons, and do equal right to the poor and to the rich, and that I will faithfully and impartially discharge and perform all the duties incumbent upon me as (title) under the Constitution and laws of the United States. So help me God."

Contrast that with Obama's insistence that the "quality of empathy, of understanding and identifying with...]]> Wed, 20 May 2009 00:00:00 -0500 Forget about where you come down on "torture" or "enhanced interrogations." The simple fact is that, as a political matter, the drive for a "truth commission" -- never mind a war crimes tribunal -- is dead as long as Nancy Pelosi is the speaker of the House.

And while I oppose the sort of witch hunt Pelosi and her energumens clearly crave, this isn't necessarily good news.

Pelosi is blocking the road to ritual human sacrifice because there's ample evidence that she was complicit in what she righteously condemns as torture. Principled opponents of the CIA's program insist that what Pelosi knew and when she knew it is irrelevant to the substantive issues at stake.

And...]]> Wed, 06 May 2009 00:00:00 -0500 Some days you have to ask yourself, my God, what if these people were Republicans?

Democrats took back Congress in 2006 and the presidency in 2008 in no small part because of their ability to bang their spoons on their high chairs about what they called the Republican "culture of corruption." Their choreographed outrage was coordinated with the precision of a North Korean missile launch pageant. And, to be fair, they had a point. The GOP did have its legitimate embarrassments. California Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham and lobbyist Jack Abramoff were fair game, and so was Rep. Mark Foley, the twisted Florida congressman who allegedly wanted male congressional pages cleaned and...]]> Fri, 01 May 2009 00:00:00 -0500 In his press conference Wednesday night, President Obama offered a nice little sermonette on "shortcuts."

Asked about his decision to release the "torture memos" and ban waterboarding, Obama said: "I was struck by an article that I was reading the other day talking about the fact that the British during World War II, when London was being bombed to smithereens, had 200 or so detainees. And Churchill said, ‘We don't torture,' when . . . all of the British people were being subjected to unimaginable risk and threat. . . . Churchill understood, you start taking shortcuts, over time, that corrodes what's best in a people. It corrodes the character of a country."

It's a...]]> Wed, 29 Apr 2009 00:00:00 -0500 The most remarkable, or certainly the least remarked on, aspect of Barack Obama's first 100 days has been the infectious arrogance of his presidency.

There's no denying that this is liberalism's greatest opportunity for wish fulfillment since at least 1964. But to listen to Democrats, the only check on their ambition is the limits of their imaginations.

"The world has changed," Sen. Charles E. Schumer of New York proclaimed on MSNBC. "The old Reagan philosophy that served them well politically from 1980 to about 2004 and 2006 is over. But the hard right, which still believes ... [in] traditional values kind of arguments and strong foreign policy, all that is...]]> Fri, 24 Apr 2009 00:00:00 -0500 In 1993, Bill Clinton joked, “Gosh, I miss the Cold War.” Because, he explained, somberly: “We had an intellectually coherent thing. The American people knew what the rules were.”

Such Cold War nostalgia vexed many conservatives. It seemed to us that the Cold War consensus had broken down with the Vietnam War. Clinton himself didn’t much like that Cold War endeavor, which is one reason he worked so assiduously to avoid serving in it. A young John Kerry did serve, but he also threw away his medals and denounced his fellow servicemen as war criminals. Jimmy Carter, meanwhile, had proclaimed that he had no “inordinate fear...]]> Fri, 27 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0500 Indeed, Obama doesn't feel compelled to merely remedy the mistakes of his predecessor; he believes it is vital that we renew the New Deal-style economic policies we strayed from when Ronald Reagan was elected. Not only must we pour vast sums of money into highways and mass transit, along with social-insurance programs, we need to "reset" the relationship between government and big business. Just this week, the administration announced that it wants new powers to control not just banks, but other financial institutions and businesses that are "too big to fail."

What if they're looking at the economy through the wrong end of the telescope? For starters, Bush was hardly a...]]> Tue, 03 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0600 Tue, 24 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0600 Tue, 03 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0600 Sat, 24 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0600 Fast-forward to today. Timothy Geithner, President Obama's choice to be the next treasury secretary, quite clearly tried to defraud the government of tens of thousands in payroll taxes while working at the International Monetary Fund. The IMF does not withhold such taxes but does compensate American employees who must pay them out of pocket. Geithner took the compensation -- which involves considerable paperwork -- but then simply pocketed the money.

His explanations for his alleged oversight don't pass the smell test. When the IRS busted him for his mistakes in 2003 and 2004, he decided to take advantage of the statute of limitations and not pay the thousands of dollars he also...]]> Wed, 14 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0600 In fairness to Obama, there is a huge consensus around the notion that government must do, well, something -- something big. Conservative economists such as Harvard's Martin Feldstein support a stimulus package. Heck, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell passes for a fiscal conservative these days because he opposes any bill of more than $1 trillion.

It's the consensus that scares me. Chin-stroking moderates and passionate centrists often glorify consensus to the point where they sound like it's better to be wrong in a group than to be right alone -- an example of ideological dogmatism as bad as any.

Obviously, consensus can be good. But it also can lead to dangerous...]]> Sat, 10 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0600 Even after Blagojevich announced he was appointing Roland Burris, a respected but unremarkable black Illinois politician, to Obama's seat, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada stood his ground, pronouncing the move "unacceptable."

But that resolve melted like a Hershey bar in a Nevada parking lot the moment Mr. Burris came to Washington. Apparently, the Constitution wasn't on the Democrats' side (Fancy that!) and liberals lacked the stomach to stand in the doorway of the Capitol and block admittance of a black man.

Indeed, that was Blago's thinking all along. When the Democratic governor announced his decision, he assembled various black Illinois pols to support the...]]> Tue, 06 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0600

A weekly series explores the issues of faith that are shaping our world.

In Washington today, politicians too often just stand their ground. Liberal strategist Bob Beckel and conservative columnist Cal Thomas provide a better model.

An at-a-glance look at online conversations selected for the newspaper.

Readers discuss their personal experiences.

Readers share the impact Hurricane Katrina has had on their lives.

What people are saying about the news of the week.

Editorials, Debates |  Columns |  Letters

Editorials, Debates |  Columns |  Letters

Editorials,...]]> Fri, 19 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0600 But, when John McCain picked her to be his running mate, the full fury of the liberal establishment -- and sizable swaths of the conservative establishment, some of whom dubbed her a "cancer" on the GOP -- came down on her with a vengeance usually reserved for Klansmen and pedophiles. Don't get me wrong: There were valid criticisms to make. But that is quite a different thing than saying all of the criticism was valid or that the intensity and volume of the criticism was warranted.

Then there's Caroline Bouvier Kennedy, daughter of John F. Kennedy, brother of John Jr., niece of Senators Ted and Robert Kennedy, granddaughter of Ambassador Joseph Kennedy, and the cousin of myriad...]]> Wed, 17 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0600 The freakout is understandable. Economic trust is breaking down. Investors are buying Treasury bills that pay no interest because they're scared to leave their money even in insured banks. Consumer spending has dropped off a cliff. Some analysts forecast that the GDP will fall at an annualized rate of 8 percent for the fourth quarter. Soon you'll be able to pay for a Cadillac with chickens.

But here's a point nearly everyone understands from personal experience: It is not a good idea to make big, life-altering decisions when you're freaking out.

Everyone's had moments when everything appears to be falling apart. And these are precisely the moments when we should take a walk...]]> Sun, 14 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0600 Fri, 12 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0600 Newspaper people love that sort of thing.

For the more historically minded, it's a time for nostalgia. The past comes alive as Chicago's grand tradition of corruption is sustained for another generation. As the Chicago Tribune once wrote, "corruption has been as much a part of the landscape as corn, soybeans and skyscrapers." According to the Chicago Sun-Times, as of 2006 -- when Blago's predecessor, George Ryan, was sent to prison for racketeering -- 79 elected officials had been convicted of corruption in the past 30 years. Among the perps: 27 aldermen, 19 judges, 15 state legislators, three governors, two congressmen, one mayor, two turtledoves, and a partridge in a stolen pear...]]> Wed, 10 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0600 White liberals played along. "I think the general black attitude might be that white people place a huge emphasis on innocent or guilty because that way they can discard large social questions," Norman Mailer condescendingly explained in New York magazine. "A focus on individual innocence or guilt works to the white establishment's advantage."

Uh huh. So, in a truly color-blind society, questions of guilt or innocence would be totally absent from murder trials?

Of course, some complaints about the criminal-justice system had merit. But Simpson's defenders didn't want to discuss guilt or innocence at all; they only wanted to discuss the establishment, to "put the system on...]]> Tue, 02 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0600