Articles

December 31, 2004
In no uncertain terms
Edward L. Daley
I'm getting damned tired of being made to feel like I have to defend the United States of America against accusations made by people from other countries who consistently prove themselves to be lacking in any respectability or honor whatsoever,... More

December 31, 2004
Fear of the black man
Thomas Lifson
It is becoming self—evident that the American left is terrified at the prospect of Clarence Thomas becoming Chief Justice of The United States. Senator Harry Reid launched a vicious and wholly unsupported denunciation of the level of writing of Justice... More

December 31, 2004
Zapatero's provocative weakness
A.M. Mora y Leon
One would like to think of Spain's repulsive Prime Minister, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, as just an unpleasant byproduct of last March's terrible terrorist attacks on Madrid commuter trains. Zapatero's only there because Spain's traumatized voters temporarily lost their senses... More

December 30, 2004
Turning a blind eye
Richard Baehr
We have arrived at another of those moments of opportunity in the long conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.� And as has occurred so many times before, we are told to ignore all the signs that things are in fact... More

December 30, 2004
Will Republicans seize the opportunity?
Christopher G. Adamo
Political operatives on both sides of the aisle are discussing the 2008 election as if it were only days away. But this seemingly premature preoccupation is hardly a dismissal of the important issues facing President Bush in his second term.... More

December 30, 2004
Responding to an Asian crisis
A. M. Mora y Leon
It's an amazing irony that Bill Clinton, of all people, should be the first American up to the microphone to snipe at President Bush's tsunami response, less than four days after the catastrophe. Of course, nobody could outrace a United... More

December 29, 2004
A space alien's view of the separation of church and state
Selwyn Duke
When Logos came to our solar system from a galaxy far, far away to study the decline of American Civilization, he found our tendency to make life or death political decisions based on emotion to be profoundly fascinating.  He analyzed... More

December 29, 2004
Defining the enemy and the ally
Mark Eichelaub
Because the liberal—dominated mainstream media does not want to define a line separating good and evil in their obsession with political correctness, it is time to draw some lines in the sand to understand what is at stake with the war on... More

December 29, 2004
Not a fair fight
Thomas Lifson
Oh Boy! Just when you thought the legacy media might have wised—up in the wake Dan Rather's career crash, along comes Nick Coleman, the worst columnist at the Worst Major Daily Newspaper in America. The old adage is that when... More

December 28, 2004
Muhammad's wars v. God's wars
James Arlandson
It is frequently stated by Muslim apologists that Muhammad's wars on Arab polytheists are just like the wars on the pagan peoples in the Old Testament. But this is not true. First, a warning to the reader: This topic leads... More

December 28, 2004
A transformational deployment
John B. Dwyer
Echoes of Douglas MacArthur, 9/11 and 'thunder runs' will resonate when the 3rd Infantry Division and 42nd Infantry Divisions deploy to Iraq early next year. These history—laden units will make their own new history. They will be the first unites embodying... More

December 28, 2004
Know when to fold 'em
Christopher Chantrill
The Duke of Wellington once defined the best test of a leader.  His idea might be helpful to an organization presently needing a bit of help from a wise old head: the Democratic Party. The best test of a general,... More

December 27, 2004
Another stolen election, part two
Ronald Wieck
Politicians—here's a sunburst—— don't always mean what they say. When Democrats insist that they want every vote to be counted, you can, as one of America's most distinguished propagandists has been known to put it, take it to the bank.... More

December 27, 2004
'Judenrein' Comes to Israel
Rachel Neuwirth
Two expressions from WWII are coming back to haunt the Jews of Israel. One expression is 'Judenrein' and the other is 'I was just following orders.' Some historical perspective is in order. The term 'Judenrein' was used by the Nazis... More

December 26, 2004
Intelligent design of a newspaper
Thomas Lifson
Hugh Hewitt does a terrific job this morning, taking down an appallingly poorly—researched and —written front page story in the Sunday Washington Post, on the subject of "intelligent design" —�the intellectually—respectable thesis that fatal flaws exist in Darwin's theory of... More

December 24, 2004
Christmas, Hanukkah and political correctness
Jack Kemp
A federal judge yesterday upheld the city's ban on Nativity scenes in public schools after it was challenged by a Catholic mom from Queens.Andrea Skoros of College Point charged that her two sons, Nicholas, 10, and Christos, 8, were "coerced"... More

December 24, 2004
A Christmas sky in Iraq
John B. Dwyer
The night sky over Iraq on Christmas will shine more brightly, not only because it contains the star that guided the Magi to Bethlehem — 'Star of wonder, Star of light, star of royal beauty bright' — but because it... More

December 24, 2004
Happy Birthday, Jesus!
Selwyn Duke
In this maelstrom of crass commercialization and acrimony surrounding the day on which we celebrate your nativity, Jesus, I want to wish you a Happy Birthday.  How remiss we are.  The family of man is a distracted and rancorous lot,... More

December 23, 2004
Dismantling Rumsfeld's Successes
Christopher G. Adamo
If the left is to have any hope of undermining President Bush's second term, it must continue its previous efforts to destroy the reputation of every worthwhile conservative in his cabinet. And no one is more likely to remain a... More

December 23, 2004
Note to media: they're not insurgents
J. Matt Barber
You were hard—pressed to find the story or to see the images anywhere in the mainstream media. Three unarmed Iraqi election officials recently murdered in cold blood on their way to work — dragged from their car and shot in... More

December 23, 2004
Venezuela's vengeful dictator
A. M. Mora y Leon
On the surface, it's a little puzzling for a communist supremo to go after a labor union leader. After all, aren't communists the self—proclaimed vanguard of the proletariat? And more to the point, aren't unions full of communist leaders anyway?... More

December 22, 2004
A cry in the wilderness
Douglas Hanson
The question asked of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld by a Tennessee National Guardsman over the up—armored Humvee refit issue was quickly exposed as another instance of 'gotcha' journalism after it was revealed that a hometown reporter had coached the... More

December 22, 2004
Tariq Ramadan is not a victim
Olivier Guitta
While the master of double talk just died, others are using the same strategy to advance their somber cause. I am of course talking of Palestinian Authority Chairman Arafat who used and abused double talk. While he pretended in English... More

December 22, 2004
Carter's shilling his 'moral authority' again
A. M. Mora y Leon
It's Christmastime and so another Jimmy Carter campaign to sell a book. This must be his 19th. In the fancy Westwood district of los Angeles last week, the lines snaked around the block at Borders, with each liberal awaiting the... More

December 21, 2004
Hot air
Timothy Birdnow
Back in the days of Jimmy Carter and killer rabbits, doomsayers were telling us that the Earth was slipping into new ice age, and that we were all going to die.  Survivalists ran for the hills while stuffed—shirt academics ordered... More

December 21, 2004
What a character
Steve Feinstein
One of the names recently bandied about to fill the President's last remaining Cabinet position, that of Director of Homeland Security, has been Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman. Among the country's most well—known Senators—even before his run as Al Gore's Vice—Presidential... More

December 21, 2004
Get Rummy
Thomas Lifson
The long knives have been unsheathed, and Donald Rumsfeld's back targeted. One of the most capable, energetic, intelligent, determined and articulate public servants in the history of the American Republic is under fire for not being omniscient and infallible, and... More

December 20, 2004
CBS blasts blogs - again
Noel Sheppard
Our friends at CBS News are at it again —— suggesting that blogs, bloggers, and everything related to non—mainstream media reporting are the root cause of the troubles in the industry.  Not the unconscionably poor job that the CBS News research... More

December 20, 2004
Two canards
Olivier Guitta
Pakistani President Musharraf, one of our supposedly 'best allies' in the war on terror, has recently been on a world tour. After Washington and London, he went on to Paris to visit French president Chirac. Their basic vision of the... More

December 20, 2004
Upping the ante on lowering the voting age
Jack Kemp
Since Left Coast Democrats, led by State Senator John Vasconcellos, have called for a proposed amendment to the California State Constiution that would lower the voting age to 14, I thought I'd go them one better by proposing 14 year olds... More

December 19, 2004
Secession reconsidered
Andrew Sumereau
We conservatives certainly missed a great opportunity back in November just after the election. Along with the usual liberal excuse—fest and tone—deaf mystification over values voters came something entirely new this year — talk of secession. Yes, the 'bitterly divided'... More

December 19, 2004
Each in his own time
Dave St. John
The current war in Iraq and operations in  Afghanistan, my personal recollections and the television interviews with veterans from wars past  remind me of the adage that the more things change the more they remain the same.  There is an... More

December 19, 2004
The Soldier's Christmas
"A Marine"
The following poem was written by a Marine. 'Twas the night before Christmas,He lived all alone,In a one bedroom house made ofPlaster and stone. I had come down the chimneyWith presents to give,And to see just whoIn this home did... More

December 17, 2004
Meacham on the (non)virgin birth
James Arlandson
During this Christmas season and the aftermath of the election in which devout Christians played a large role, Jon Meacham, managing editor at Newsweek, writes an analysis of the birth of Christ. Not surprisingly, the article is seriously confused and flawed.... More

December 17, 2004
Donald Rumsfeld, patriot
John B. Dwyer
Among the many distinctive expressions Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld has offered as gifts to the media is the following:  'I don't do quagmires,' referring to the mantra—like repetition by some war critics that Iraq has become a quagmire. The... More

December 17, 2004
The sound of stealing
Richard Baehr
The late Chicago columnist Mike Royko often told a story about election night 1960 in Illinois, and the Presidential contest between then—Massachusetts Senator John F. Kennedy and Vice President Richard Nixon. As Kennedy's lead over  Nixon in Illinois  kept falling... More

December 16, 2004
Rough men - a poem
Russ Vaughn
'Good people sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.'   —George Orwell (with a nod to the Mudville Gazette) There's a character trait that's decided by fateComes (sadly) to... More

December 16, 2004
A lance corporal's eye-view of leadership
Lance Corporal Jessica Kane, USMC
Dear Mom and Dad, I, as most would of thought, was expecting a very homesick Thanksgiving.�Although I wish I could have been home, my Thanksgiving� was filled with�motivation and inspiration. To start off, the unit� got together and the CO�said... More

December 16, 2004
Why we should be worried about Iran
Mark Eichenlaub
Asking why America should be concerned about the actions of Iran requires a careful look at events that highlight Iran's slow buildup of weapons, their disregard for international treaties as well as their outspoken hostility towards Western interests. Iran's defiance... More

December 15, 2004
A history lesson for the Cupertino Union School District
William J. Becker Jr.
A nation's moral life is the foundation of its culture.'  —— Robert Bork "Independence can be trusted nowhere but with the people in mass. They are inherently independent of all but moral law." —— Thomas Jefferson, 1819 In a recent... More

December 15, 2004
With friends like these
Rachel Neuwirth
Salam al—Marayati, the executive director of the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC), represents himself and his organization as stalwart opponents of terrorism who are actively working with the FBI and California law enforcement agencies to combat it. At a joint... More

December 15, 2004
And the children will rule over them
Selwyn Duke
When Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot ascended to power in Cambodia in 1975, one of the first things he did was to follow in the bloody footsteps of his precursors and attack tradition. Among other things, this communist disrupted time—tested hierarchies... More

December 14, 2004
A sweet landing
A.M. Mora y Leon
As hard as it may be for many Americans and Vietnamese Americans who have felt the battering hand of the Vietnam War for so many years, consider for a moment the small incandescence of last week's United Airlines Flight 869... More

December 14, 2004
What makes Bin Laden tick?
Col. Andrew Nichols Pratt
As the character played by John Huston, said in Chinatown, 'Politicians, ugly buildings and whores all get respectable if they last long enough.'  Beware, so do terrorists!  The world just witnessed the burial of one reconstructed murderer in Ramallah, and if... More

December 14, 2004
The Hydra lives!
Timothy Birdnow
Recently a very dangerous notion has been making the rounds among conservatives, a notion which should be put to rest immediately lest it metastasize into a dangerous malignancy.� Heady with victory, the American conservative movement has been theorizing that liberalism... More

December 13, 2004
France's gutless wonder
Christopher Orlet
It is now disturbingly clear that French President Jacques Chirac's low opinion of America and American foreign policy is due not to any philosophical disagreement or even an inherent Gallic moodiness, but is essentially a gutless response to bullying and... More

December 13, 2004
Only a year ago
John B. Dwyer
Dedicated to the Soldiers of Task Force 1—22nd Infantry whose skill, perseverance and bravery ensured Saddam's capture In the end, at the culmination of months of dangerous missions and painstaking intelligence work, he was pulled out of his hidey—hole in... More

December 13, 2004
Commoditization of populations
Noel Sheppard
Twenty years from now, what might the world's most precious, depleting, natural resource be? Oil? Steel? Lumber? How about working—age adults who are still contributing to a nation's entitlement programs rather than receiving benefits from them?� Want to know how... More

December 11, 2004
Handmade
Clarice Feldman
This Thanksgiving my son and daughter in law gave us a surprise present——a sonogram of our grandchild to be. Suddenly, the urge to knit was triggered. I love to do it but haven't for some years, after I'd made dozens... More

December 11, 2004
The Treasury Department's hidden treasure
A.M. Mora y Leon
When Sam Bodman's name appeared in the news as President Bush's choice to lead the Department of Energy, the dominant reaction the press was to treat him as 'unknown.' But he is a man of great accomplishment, as an engineer,... More

December 10, 2004
Thank-you, ACLU
Edward L. Daley
Now that December has finally rolled around again, the time has come for all of us to take a few moments out of our busy, workaday lives and thank the American Civil Liberties Union for all it does throughout the... More

December 10, 2004
Republicans squander political capital
Christopher G. Adamo
Following the Republican landslide victories of the 1994 midterm elections, conservatives watched in amazement as Republican 'moderates' proceeded to completely squander the ground they had gained, culminating in the defeat of Bob Dole in '96. In the aftermath of this... More

December 10, 2004
Hillbilly armor and adaptability
Jack Kemp
Chattanooga Times Free Press reporter Edward Lee Pitts has criticized the military for not having full armor for all vehicles in Iraq and has admitted he convinced the soldier at Secretary Rumsfeld's press conference to ask his question for him... More

December 9, 2004
No peace in sight in the Middle East
Olivier Guitta
Since Arafat's passing last month, a faint breeze of optimism has been blowing in the Middle East. Three members of the Quartet —the UN, Europe and Russia— are preparing for the signing of a peace agreement next year, or even... More

December 9, 2004
Juicing up the argument
Selwyn Duke
The big story in baseball right now is not home—runs but drug runs, with the revelations about steroid use by Barry Bonds, Jason Giambi and Gary Sheffield.  It was not a story that interested me too much, since my assumption... More

December 9, 2004
Dollar diplomacy in the new millennium
Noel Sheppard
In 1909, President William Howard Taft and his Secretary of State, Philander Knox, came up with a rather ingenious foreign policy strategy whereby they tried to garner the support of nations through financial rather than aggressive means.  It was referred... More

December 8, 2004
"Troop extensions"
Dave St. John
These words flashed across the TV screen as I was getting ready for work one recent morning.  It was just some copy that came up there, rather matter of factly, and it was followed by the name of a U.S.... More

December 8, 2004
Take two
Steve Feinstein
With the election season finally over, it's time to turn our collective attention to some of the more pressing domestic matters facing the country. It would be illustrative to look again at the entire drug industry product development/cost structure to... More

December 8, 2004
Reinventing the wheel
Bruce Thompson
With all the concerns over the high cost of prescription drugs, and with the threat of terrorists exposing the public to releases of chemicals from manufacturing plants, let us step into the shoes of a pharmaceutical plant safety engineer needing... More

December 7, 2004
Mismanagement and its evil twin � corruption
Bob Weir
Weir thinking about it The Bush White House is preparing for a post—inauguration effort to partially privatize Social Security. Supporters of the President's plan are gearing for battle against Democrats who view the proposed 'ownership society' as a GOP plot... More

December 7, 2004
Out-Dumbed, by George! (a poem)
Russ Vaughn
Did you really believe we're too stupid to see,How you tried to deceive us with smug sophistry?Did you actually think we'd accept without thinking,That our ship of state's hulled, our economy's sinking?We saw how with help from your media tools,You... More

December 7, 2004
Why Europe Went Wrong on Israel
Richard Baehr
[Editor's note: this article is a transcription of a talk delivered by Richard Baehr at Temple Beth Israel, Skokie, Illinois Dec. 5, 2004] I will explain today why Israel is viewed differently in Europe than in the United States. Specifically, I will... More

December 6, 2004
Here we go again
Douglas Hanson
The specific arrangements of Iran's on again—off again agreement with France, Britain, and Germany (European—3) on development of its fledgling nuclear program are so deceptive that it would be laughable, if it didn't have anything to do with potentially the... More

December 6, 2004
When a bodyguard of lies was possible
John B. Dwyer
Once upon a time in WW2 there was a US government agency called the Office of War Information (OWI), and in England, Prime Minister Winston Churchill famously proclaimed that 'Truth is so precious that she should always be attended by... More

December 6, 2004
Yes Virginia, there Is A Kwanzaa
Andrew Sumereau
It's that time of year again, the time when much of the grown—up world conspires in a fun game of 'let's pretend,' a time when normally serious people think, act, and behave as if something fantastic, something wonderful, something make—believe... More

December 5, 2004
Past is prologue
Dave St. John
I remember watching a news clip of a Marine Infantry unit preparing to deploy from Camp Lejuene during the First Gulf War.  I watched a young, squared away sergeant move competently among his men checking their gear and speaking quietly... More

December 5, 2004
Yes, but...
Thomas Lifson
Tom Friedman writes one of his maddening columns today in the New York Times. There is a core of truth to it, but what is left out is more important than what is mentioned. And, of course, the principal thrust... More

December 4, 2004
Spirit and sensivity
Jack Kemp
Last year, my father died and, in chance conversations with two liberal Jews, I used a common Yiddish & Hebrew phrase, Uleh leh shulem ('He rose to Heaven to his Peace'). They didn't know what I was talking about. One... More

December 3, 2004
Race has nothing to do with Notre Dame football
Matthew May
Tyrone Willingham, who happens to be black, was fired this week from his position as head coach of football at the University of Notre Dame after serving three years of a five—year contract worth $15 million. Willingham, who happens to... More

December 3, 2004
A Marine's eye-view of detainee operations
Major Steve Ramos, USMCR
For the past few weeks I have been participating in Operation Phantom Fury. Of course, my function is nothing like the young men who were leaning into the Muj and testing their allegiance to Allah.  My role has been limited... More

December 3, 2004
The terrorism bear market
Noel Sheppard
The last twelve months have been very hard on the terrorism industry.  Saddam's been captured.  Ghadafy surrendered.  Hamas leaders have been assassinated.  And the best bin Laden could do to disrupt our elections was send Al—Jazeera another videotape in which... More

December 2, 2004
Your Son
Gene E. Blanton
Your Son To the Mothers and the FathersOf United States MarinesWho have fought and bled and diedSo that freedom's bell still rings From the Halls of MontezumaTo the shores of TripoliFrom the alleys of FallujahTo the frozen Yudam—ni From the sands of... More

December 2, 2004
Cold-blooded Murder
Bob Weir
Weir Thinking About It On a bitter cold December night in 2000, five people were brought to a deserted soccer field where they were forced to kneel down in the snow as their abductors shot them in the back of... More

December 2, 2004
Re-whitewashing Alfred Kinsey
Selwyn Duke
Hollywood has long been a purveyor of cultural poison, and a magnet for individuals to whom shame is a foreign concept.  The trap of letting the facts get in the way of the weaving of a yarn that serves their... More

December 1, 2004
Scout's Honor
Russ Vaughn
Scout's Honor When I was a boy, yep, I was a Scout,And whole time I was, no Scoutmasters came out.Nope, they stayed in the closet, if any were there,And no parents protested our Scout meeting prayer.We believed in our creed, truly... More

December 1, 2004
Triumph of the American spirit
Matthew May
Are you not inspired and uplifted by the story of Carlos Gutierrez? When Gutierrez was but six years old, he and his family left their home in Havana, Cuba, for a vacation in Miami, unaware that they would never return... More

December 1, 2004
O Canada
Thomas Lifson
All my life I have been an American friend of Canada. As a child, I knew that one branch of my family had fled European tyranny and persecution and found shelter north of the border, where they had prospered and... More