Articles
October 31, 2006
While Iraq Bleeds Pakistan Seethes
Rick Moran
While the bloody, ongoing drama in Iraq continues to occupy the attention of most Americans, events in Pakistan threaten to upset the delicate balancing act that President Pervez Musharraf has been forced to perform with more conservative, anti—American factions... More
October 31, 2006
It's Your Party, and You'll Cry If You Want to
Selwyn Duke
To still the siren of the heart and defer to the head is to seldom be wrongly led. So many wrong things feel so right. 'You know, I really told my brother—in—law off the other day and, boy, did it... More
October 31, 2006
Fear the Terrorists, Not President Bush
Ari Kaufman
Next Tuesday is midterm election day. When you cast your vote — if you choose to partake in this most honorable American tradition — please remember what is at stake. On the left, my former party of choice, feels that... More
October 30, 2006
Airbus: Good News and Bad News
Thomas Lifson
It's no joke, but there is good news and bad news for Airbus, manufacturer of the thrice—delayed (for a total of two years) A 380 ultra—jumbo airliner, Moby Jet, as I like to term it. First, the good news. —... More
October 30, 2006
Someone's Dying for Your Vote
Noel Sheppard
2,808 Americans have died in Iraq the past 43 months. Another 282 have met such a fate in and around Afghanistan as part of Operation Enduring Freedom. Likely all are rolling over in their graves as fellow countrymen who sent... More
October 30, 2006
George Will's Nostalgic Conservatism
James Lewis
George Will is the Washington Post's favorite conservative, an exquisite writer and a genuinely interesting thinker. Why then is he savagely attacking the Bush administration in Post—owned Newsweek magazine, just one week before a make—it—or—break—it midterm election? Clearly Mr. Will... More
October 29, 2006
Euro-Humanity Upon the Wane
Christopher Chantrill
People have needs. When your liberal friend tells you that, he imagines that he's justified the whole panoply of liberal social programs. Stop being selfish and pay up. But after a century of paying up, you get something like modern... More
October 29, 2006
Marty McFly and Poli-Sci
Denis Keohane
That's Poli—Sci as in 'politicized science'. Possible best intentions and sincerity notwithstanding, Michael J. Fox is being used in a crass corruption of science, shrouded in a fleeting compassion by politicians solely for political profit. There's a popular and popularized... More
October 28, 2006
An Enviable Decency
G.S. Don Morris, Ph.D
It seems as though we may have forgotten the good will of the common person. We see on televsion how people treat one another in a less than gracious manner, we read about the trials and tribulations of entire cultures. ... More
October 28, 2006
The Educational Crisis and the War on Terror
Steven M. Warshawsky
The AP has reported that airport security screeners at Newark International Airport, one of the nation's busiest airports, only minutes away from New York City, failed to detect 90 percent of simulated weapons and explosives during a recent Transportation Security... More
October 28, 2006
Economically flexible morality
Bookworm
Art, or things that pass for art, can be useful. Otherwise, how can one explain the epiphany I had when watching 2004's Maria Full of Grace, a critically acclaimed movie about a teenager from Columbia who smuggles drugs into America. Both... More
October 28, 2006
The Party's Over
Nancy Coppock
For those confused or disgusted with this current political election, I offer these words of explanation. What we are witnessing is the death of a political party. The present Democratic Party is peculiarly the same as when Thomas Jefferson rallied... More
October 27, 2006
Air Defense and Terror
J. R. Dunn
Air defense is the most problematic element of the War on Terror. One of the major questions surrounding the 9/11 attacks (and one of the seeds of many paranoid conspiracy theories) is, where were the defenses? It took nearly three... More
October 27, 2006
Post-traumatic Stress and the Democrat Base
James Lewis
Why do so many American Jews reflexively support Democrats? A Jewish liberal I know has a daughter who loves art history. She felt very happy to be admitted to one of the best Art History graduate programs in the country.... More
October 27, 2006
Resisting Socialism, Then and Now
R. E. Smith Jr.
Socialists often argue that workers should receive more wages and benefits than they can earn in a competitive market. At the same time they blame capitalists — people who take the business risks, provide jobs and invest in their enterprises —... More
October 26, 2006
Iraq and Iwo
Kieran Michael Lalor
Flags of Our Fathers is a moving piece of cinema that further immortalizes the heroism of the Marines who fought on Iwo Jima. Let's hope that it can also teach powerful lessons about how to defeat a fanatical enemy, for... More
October 26, 2006
Islamofascism and the Mental Immune System
Amil Imani
Our beliefs and ideas make us human, and their quality determines the kind of human we are. We shield and fiercely defend our beliefs and ideas for good reason: without their integrity and internal harmony, the mind becomes disorganized and... More
October 26, 2006
Who Betrayed Lebanon? And Who Watched it Happen?
Dan Gordon
In the vision of certain members of the press, Israel is a colonialist mass murderer, and the word terrorist does not exist without quotation marks surrounding it. Israelis are aggressors. Islamist terrorists, be they Palestinians or Iranian backed Hezb'allah, are victims.... More
October 25, 2006
The Unconscionable Claims of Michael J. Fox
Mary L. Davenport, MD
The popular and appealing actor Michael J. Fox has taken to the airwaves in Senate battleground states Missouri, Maryland, and New Jersey with a highly misleading ad urging defeat of Republican Senatorial candidates opposing the use of taxpayer dollars to... More
October 25, 2006
The Al Qaeda Bomb is Coming – Vote for your Life!
Marc Sheppard
As surely as the future holds another catastrophic earthquake for California, so might it promise a Mushroom Cloud for one or more of our major cities. This alarming reality makes the outcome of every future national election infinitely more... More
October 25, 2006
Don't Vote?
Russ Vaughn
Like so many Americans grudgingly facing the inevitability of my fifth decade, some years ago I opened the envelope from AARP, informing me that I was entitled to membership in their organization, with much less than enthusiasm. Over the ensuing... More
October 24, 2006
The Europeanization of the Democratic Party
Ed Lasky
Ronald Reagan famous declaration that he 'did not leave the Democratic Party. It left me' can be made more contemporary. The Democratic Party has not only left behind many of its old principles and ideals, it now seems to be in... More
October 24, 2006
George W. Bush and Presidential Greatness
James Lewis
It's very unfashionable these days to say nice things about George W. Bush. After six years of being screamed at by the press, even W's friends are getting worn down. But that's no different from Lincoln and Truman. Being screamed... More
October 24, 2006
Boy Oh Boy Obama!
Noel Sheppard
Did you hear that loud crashing sound on Sunday? That was either media members across the country jumping off the Hillary for President bandwagon, or the Clintonistas slapping their knees over the gullibility of the press and the people they... More
October 23, 2006
Barack Obama: The Visible Man
Richard Baehr
Senator Barack Obama is on the cover of Time this week, with a love song portrait composed by Joe Klein, who last lost his heart with Bill Clinton. Obama, who is not running for anything this year, was on Tim... More
October 23, 2006
Lackluster Leadership and the Coming Election Battle
Rosslyn Smith
Does a bad year for Republicans automatically translate into a good year for Democrats? Perhaps not. No matter who ends up controlling the House and Senate, the behavior of both the left and right wing fringe elements all but guarantees... More
October 23, 2006
Islam's Useful Idiots
Alyssa A. Lappen
The international press cried foul on October 19 after the U.S. denied a visa to a senior Muslim Brotherhood leader. Newsweek, Reuters, ABC News, The National Interest and other media complained that the 'moderate' Muslim Association of Britain (MAB) founder Kamal Helbawy... More
October 22, 2006
Saddam's Poisonous Papers
Ray Robison
Just days before the anthrax attacks of 2001 started in the United States, the Saddam regime appears to have received intelligence of an impending attack on its own government. According to a newly translated memorandum, Saddam's office issued a security... More
October 22, 2006
Eastwood Stumbles with Flags
Douglas Hanson
General George Patton once said that the best strategy ever devised can be quickly rendered useless by the application of lousy tactics, while a flawed strategy can be rescued by practicing sound tactical principals. In the case of moviemaking, the... More
October 21, 2006
Coincidence in thisTown is Rare
Clarice Feldman
Today, press reports indicate that it is Larry Hanauer, Rep. Jane Harman's staffer, that Chairman Hoekstra has barred from seeing classified materials because he is suspected of having leaked the classified National Intelligence Estimate to the New York Times, in order to... More
October 21, 2006
Tehran's crunch time
James Lewis
December 15 is the outer time limit of a decision window for Tehran and the West. That is the date for the mullahs' "Assembly of Experts" to decide whether to choose a new Supreme Leader. The most nuke—happy candidate for... More
October 21, 2006
Palestinian History: Create It, If You Can't Remember It
Rachel Neuwirth
Professor Rashid Khalidi raises a very pertinent question in his article Unwritten History, recently published in the Boston Globe. In essence, he laments that the Palestinians have not written down their own history and he observes that their failure to... More
October 20, 2006
China as Strategic Competitor
Dennis Sevakis
'Lenin once said: When it comes time to hang the capitalists, they will sell us the rope. Even he didn't expect that the capitalists would provide their enemies with the funds for the rope as well.'. — Clifford D.... More
October 20, 2006
The Islam Conundrum
Amil Imani
A dictionary defines religion as, 'The expression of man's belief and reverence for a superhuman power recognized as the creator and governor of the universe.' By this definition Islam qualifies as religion, and so do numberless other faiths. A definition... More
October 20, 2006
Suppression of the Vote
Dan Scott
Democrats love to charge that Republicans try to suppress the vote. But apparently there is an attempt going on to suppress the voter turnout this November 7th election day, and it isn't the Republicans doing it. Some people in the media... More
October 19, 2006
Are Pre Mortem "Reynoldistas" Sabotaging the GOP?
Rick Moran
In this, the season of Republican discontent, the various tribes that make up the GOP have been slapping on their war paint and dancing the war dance while getting ready for the big day. No, not election day. The real... More
October 19, 2006
The Battle Over Battleships
J.R. Dunn
Robert Novak recently informed us that the battleship debate has once again reared its head. Naval partisans in Congress are attempting, in defiance of the wishes of the Navy itself, to bring back the last two surviving battleships, the Iowa... More
October 19, 2006
Infighting among the Mullahs
Amil Imani
The Mullahs presently ruling the country of Iran are in a fight for their life on two fronts. Of course, you have to look past the narrow prism of the mainstream media to see the serious schisms in the Islamic Republic of... More
October 18, 2006
Election Forecast: Three Weeks Out
Richard Baehr
In the past two weeks, since the emergence of the Mark Foley affair, every political analyst has raised his forecast of likely Democratic gains in the House, and most are forecasting a Democratic takeover, requiring at least a 15 seat... More
October 18, 2006
Who's Really Optimistic About the Election?
Miguel A. Guanipa
The strategy of engendering a fury that eventually yields to wholesale apathy in the conservative base does not seem to have worked out as Democrats had hoped. The engineered saturation of the public with the Mark Foley scandal has failed to... More
October 18, 2006
The Anti-Democratic Democrats
Denis Keohane
Democrats named their party after democracy. They used to think it was a good way to run things. There has been debate on the right for years about whether President Bush's promotion of democracy in the Middle East as an... More
October 17, 2006
Richard Armitage and the Quiet Death of Liberty TV
Clarice Feldman
All his usual formalities of perfidy were observed with scrupulous technique. —Winston Churchill on Hitler's Invasion of Russia Washington offers numerous opportunities for high officials bent on undermining the Will of Congress, as well as the Chief Executive and... More
October 17, 2006
Is Ahmadinejad setting a trap?
James Lewis
Mahmood Ahmadinejad is an extremely shrewd customer, who is perfectly capable of provoking an attack by Israel and/or the United States in ways that play to his strengths and their weaknesses. There is reason to think he may be doing... More
October 17, 2006
The Fascists Among Us
Selwyn Duke
It's no secret that hurling names about is as common in the political world as it is in a grammar school playground. One oft—used pejorative is 'fascist,' which, along with racist, sexist, homophobe and others, tends to be least understood... More
October 16, 2006
YouTube, Google, and the Liberal Bias Virus
Noel Sheppard and Marc Sheppard
Five months ago, the Internet's top search engine Google was accused of banning conservative websites from its news crawl. Last week, the e—behemoth offered to purchase YouTube, the preeminent provider of videos over the Web that has recently been implicated... More
October 16, 2006
China May Flip Against Iran
James Lewis
The NoKo Bomb is very bad news for the world, but it's worst for the closest neighbors: China, South Korea and Japan. China in particular was shocked when its "client" state turned vicious and bit its sponsor. The recent NoKo... More
October 16, 2006
The Synergy of Harry Reid
Christopher Chantrill
The people of Nevada have a problem. About 90 percent of the land in the state is owned by the federal government. This makes it difficult for them to develop land for homes, schools, offices, and strip malls, the infrastructure... More
October 15, 2006
Keeping an Eye Out
Bob Weir
There's one thing about being a cop, especially in a big city: you get to see things other people can't even imagine. I was working the 4 to midnight tour out of the 105 Precinct in the Rosedale section of... More
October 15, 2006
Wake up and Smell the Hypocrisy
Denis Keohane
Pointing out Democrat hypocrisy is like picking the low hanging fruit of contemporary political discussion. They rush at you on a frighteningly regular basis with bushels of the stuff, insisting that you let them put it in your car so... More
October 14, 2006
Fallujah: Baathist and Wahhabist cooperation
Ray Robison
It has become 'common knowledge' in America that Saddam Hussein's Iraq would never work with Islamic terrorists because of ideological differences. In a recent report, the Senate Intelligence Committee codified this theory by quoting Saddam Hussein, who claimed he would... More
October 14, 2006
White Noise and the National Political Conversation
Paul Shlichta
I learned how to make the wind sing to me when I was fifteen, driving through New England one summer with my parents. I usually rode in the back seat with the window a bit open, so that I was... More
October 14, 2006
Oprah Fooled Again?
Tony Moreno
After reading the news story about the woman who was sentenced to prison for lying about a rape, I couldn't help but think about how Oprah Winfrey has been fooled again. We all remember the most recent episode of Oprah... More
October 13, 2006
The Desperate Dictator: Kim Jong-il
Thomas Lifson
Any dictator who can allow a million or two of his 20 million countrymen to die of starvation, rather than open up his country to allow the adequate provision of proffered aid, must be pretty well invulnerable. Death by starvation is visible,... More
October 13, 2006
Are the Democrats Whigging Out?
J. Peter Mulhern
Predicting what will happen if the Democrats win control in one or both houses of Congress next month is a burgeoning cottage industry. It is, however, both more interesting and probably more useful to consider what will happen if they... More
October 13, 2006
A Death Penalty Interview
Steve Feldman
Journalists have a number of issues to consider when determining whether to write or broadcast a report about a particular subject or individual. Among these are the potential repercussions facing those whom they interview. Usually, these 'sources' are afraid to... More
October 12, 2006
Stand and Fight, or Cut and Run: You Decide
Amil Imani
Mid—term elections are just around the corner. Polls show that many Americans are unhappy with the Republicans and are likely to vote for Democrats. Fine and dandy. This is America where the voter is king. And when one is king,... More
October 12, 2006
Mexico Needs Reform, Not Mass Emigration
Jeffrey Schmidt
Every pair of feet that cross the Rio Grande is a testament to the utter failure of the Mexican government. It has failed to provide economic opportunity to millions of its people. And those people are doing what comes naturally... More
October 12, 2006
What Does a Liberal Believe?
Jonathan Cohen
Sometimes it is really hard to tell. I thought they abhorred gay—bashing, but look at Mark Foley. Fortunately, the Chicago Tribune offered us Geoffrey Stone's proposed definition of 'what it means to be a liberal' in a recent op—ed. Frankly,... More
October 11, 2006
The Emperor's New Bomb
J.R. Dunn
It's been a bad week for sensational media stories. The Mark Foley child sex scandal has no child and no sex. And it may well be there was no nuclear bomb exploded by North Korea, either. While trying to puzzle... More
October 11, 2006
The Dusk of North Korea's Sunshine
Marc Sheppard
When North Korea's foreign ministry declared its intention to conduct a nuclear warhead test last week, the U.S response was clear — do so at the expense of your country's future. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, chief U.S. envoy... More
October 11, 2006
The Evangelical Vote and Foley
Jeffrey Taylor
The New York Times reported the other day that evangelical Christians blame Mark Foley for his failures and not the institution. The article explains: But in dozens of interviews here in southeastern Virginia, a conservative Christian stronghold that is a battleground... More
October 10, 2006
Streiff-torn Airbus
Thomas Lifson
Christian Streiff's brave experiment in playing save—the—company hardball is over at Airbus. Inheriting a mess not of his own making, he laid out a series of possible maneuvers, ranging from cutting jobs to outsourcing, while proclaiming the need for a... More
October 10, 2006
Kim Jong-il's Note of Hesitation
J.R. Dunn
An important factor is being overlooked in all the clamor surrounding the test of a North Korean nuclear weapon: despite the bold show at flouting international norms, Kim Jong—Il is, in fact, making a carefully—calculated effort to stay within the... More
October 10, 2006
Mark Foley is Not Important
Bookworm
One of the blessings about having come of age in the Watergate era is that I have no illusions about politicians. Keeping in mind Lord Acton's handy—dandy dictum that "power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely," I've always had incredibly... More
October 09, 2006
CREWing Manny Miranda
Clarice Feldman
CREW, the Soros—funded organization, wants to have it both ways on the sanctity of private emails and web material. Sometimes it is fine to disclose them. Other times not. Sometimes the content of these communications matters, other times the only... More
October 09, 2006
The Foley Flap and the Honor Wars
Christopher Chantrill
In the aftermath of the Foley resignation, conservatives have spent a lot of energy complaining about the very different outcome of the Eighties sex scandals. Representative Barney Frank skated after disclosure that his sexual partner had run a male prostitution... More
October 09, 2006
Adult Supervision for the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals
Henry P. Wickham, Jr.
On this year's Supreme Court docket, waiting for a disposition to be revealed, perhaps soon, is a case in which the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, the most—reversed of the federal appeals courts, is once again in effect on trial. Imagine... More
October 08, 2006
The Star Wars Enigma
Herbert E. Meyer
The Star Wars Enigma:Behind the Scenes of the Cold War Race for Missile Defense By Nigel Hey Potomac Books, 288 pages, $27.95 If you want to read a terrific, utterly riveting book about the goings on at the top... More
October 08, 2006
The Return of Sexual McCarthyism
Thomas Lifson
The left, in possession of a scandal which they think can drive a wedge between evangelicals and the GOP, is behaving like a shark driven mad by the scent of blood in the water. Certain individuals strike out blindly in... More
October 08, 2006
Jesus and the 'sword verse'
James Arlandson
I read constantly that Christians should not be proud of a verse attributed to Jesus. The verse reads: Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth, but a sword. At first glance it indeed appears... More
October 07, 2006
ABC Scrambling to Put Some Meat on Ross' Story
Clarice Feldman
As time passes, it is increasingly clear that the ABC News report which started the Foley firestorm is odorous —— and I'm not talking Chanel. (1) It dealt with the emails which the FBI and many media organizations considered as innocuous... More
October 07, 2006
Musharraf and Pakistan Slipping Toward Disaster
Rick Moran
All was peaches and cream late last month when President Bush sat down with President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan and President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan to discuss the situation in Afghanistan, as well as efforts by Musharraf to help the... More
October 07, 2006
Deconstructing the 'Niger Affair'
Douglas Hanson
American Thinker contributor Roy Robison posits an alternative explanation to the negative finding of Joe Wilson's trip to Niger concerning a suspected uranium deal with Saddam Hussein. What is surprising in his piece is that he seems to excuse Ambassador... More
October 06, 2006
Desperately Ignoring Foley
Noel Sheppard
The Democrats think they have found their smoking gun. A little—known Republican congressman has resigned in a cloud of immorality, and the left and their media minions are sounding the midterm election victory bell. Hurray for them. Of course, they... More
October 06, 2006
The Real Story Behind the Niger Affair?
Ray Robison
So what were Niger, those sixteen words, and Joe Wilson's outrage all about? They were connected to the 'Bush lied!' claim. Is the mystery of how the President came to claim Iraq was searching for uranium in Niger solved? I... More
October 06, 2006
Foley's Rehab
Marc Sheppard
A Brief History of Slime Politicians and peccadilloes —— to butcher a lyric from Sammy Cahn without regard for rhyme —— go together like a horse and carriage. And claiming that the Devil —— or, more accurately, Demon Rum ——... More
October 05, 2006
Worst October Surprise, EVER
Patrick Godfrey
It had all the earmarks of a classic Democratic Party plan to depress Republican turnout. Take a barely disguised homosexual Republican Congressman, add salacious electronic messages that included masturbation, sex and other lurid flourishes, push the story to their eager and willing... More
October 05, 2006
Blood in the Water
Bob Weir
Major sex scandals always seem to start with just a faint hint of impropriety; a friendly email message, a late—night phone call, or maybe a smarmy comment and a wink in the lunchroom. If not taken seriously, it becomes openly... More
October 05, 2006
DePaul University's Moment of Truth
Steven Plaut
The new academic school year is well underway. But there is one school in which this year will determine once and for all whether it will henceforth be considered to be a bona fide "university", or merely a make—pretend parody... More
October 04, 2006
Airbus at the Crossroads
Thomas Lifson
Yesterday's announcement of a third round of delay, this time for roughly a year, in the delivery of Airbus A 380 superjumbo airliners drove down shares of parent company EADS so far that trading in them had to be suspended... More
October 04, 2006
Dennis Hastert and the Cringing Republicans
J. Peter Mulhern
Australians used to speak of their "cultural cringe" — a tendency to internalize what they supposed to be the British view that all things Australian are backward and provincial. This colonial residue lingered after many decades of independent achievement. Republicans... More
October 04, 2006
How Rep. Foley Endangered the Nation
James Lewis
If you believe that just a thin sliver of luck stands between us and further terrorist attacks in our major cities, and that only one political party can be trusted to be serious about national security, you have to believe... More
October 03, 2006
Mark Foley and the New Rules
Thomas Lifson
The Mark Foley October Surprise operation is yielding rich dividends for the Democrats. So far. As long as the battle remains one of vague impressions based on talking points, sliming the GOP with allegations of being soft on a homosexual... More
October 03, 2006
The Islam Conundrum
Amil Imani
A dictionary defines religion as, 'The expression of man's belief and reverence for a superhuman power recognized as the creator and governor of the universe.' By this definition Islam qualifies as religion, so do numberless others. A definition this broad... More
October 03, 2006
The Islamist Cult of Death at Work in Iraq
Patrick Poole
'All those who hate me love death' — Jehovah, Proverbs 8:36 'We love death. The US loves life. That is the difference between us two.' — Osama bin Laden, November 2001 Superlatives are insufficient to describe the horror currently... More
October 02, 2006
Two Narratives: the Politics of the Foley Scandal
Thomas Lifson
Regardless of whether or not some sort of plot existed to hold onto evidence of potentially criminal internet misconduct by former Rep. Mark Foley, and spring it on the public as an October Surprise, the fallout of the case is... More
October 02, 2006
Investigate This
Clarice Feldman
Yesterday I outlined the peculiar and suspicious genesis of the Foley matter which is the Dem—Media's scandal of the day. Now Speaker Hastert has asked for an investigation by the Department of Justice, while Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi is asking for a... More
October 02, 2006
Hillary Clinton's Selective Amnesia
Noel Sheppard
Did you see Sen. Hillary Clinton (D—NY) suggest last week what her husband would have done if he had received the August 6, 2001, Presidential Daily Brief concerning bin Laden? Touching, wasn't it? If only there were an ounce of... More
October 01, 2006
Foley and the Blame Game
Clarice Feldman
Pardon me, but I smell something very peculiar in the way we have learned of the disgrace of Rep. Mark Foley. The email scandal which led to the resignation of the Republican Congressman is reverberating throughout the capital and the... More
October 01, 2006
The Big Secret of that Leaked NIE
Herbert E. Meyer
During this past week, politicians and commentators from across the political spectrum have been weighing in on the now—declassified 'Key Judgments' of that leaked National Intelligence Estimate about the Iraq war and its impact on terrorism. As usual, it's turned... More
October 01, 2006
Stone Cold Leftist
D.K. Venable
The headline blasted out last Thursday. 'Stone says Bush has 'set America back 10 years'' Film Oliver Stone has an indisputable colorful past with an impressive portfolio of accomplishments in film and an admirable list of experiences — the least... More
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