The speech Richard Baehr gave to the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, whose transcript we published yesterday, is now available for viewing online. It is in two parts, and is accessible here, along with comments by Senator Lieberman, Mayor Giuliani, Gary Bauer, and other... More

The image of a New Orleans looter carrying a tub of Heineken beer has become an icon of the lawless chaos in that community, and even inspired a website. For some reason or other, no such images have emerged from Texas. Hmm. Hat tip: Byron More

One of America's strongest allies in the war on terror is the middle of a growing legal debate that has major implications for diplomatic relations across Asia.  Two conflicting court decisions in Tokyo and Osaka have pushed Japan's Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi repeated visits to a... More

Frank Gaffney picks up on a securities transaction that is raising alarm bells among conservatives, in Front Page Magazine. Saudi  Prince Al—Waleed bin Talal has purchased a 5.46% share in the voting equity of the parent of Fox News, News Corporation. Given the nature of the Saudi... More

David Gelernter identifies and names a plague which has engulfed America over the last few decades: "machisma." The feminine counterpart of machismo is a mirror—image form of bullying, basically the requirement that someone share his or her feelings. Picking up on Senator Dianne Feinstein's... More

Ed Lasky, who plays a major behind—the—scenes role at AT, wrote a great two—part series on meritocracy in America. Today, Ed will be a guest on the Jerry Doyle show, which is syndicated to 220 radio stations throughout the United States. Ed is scheduled to appear at 1:30 PM... More

Mediacrity has begun a new feature clled "template watch" cataloguing what does and doesn't make the pages of the New York Times, unaccountably still regarded as "the newspaper of record" among those who don't much attention to facts. It looks like a long—running feature. The first example is... More

The latest person appointed to be a chaplain of the New York Fire Department embraces the lunatic assertion that the collapse of the World Trade Center, which killed so many brave firemen, was an inside job, a conspiracy, in other words. And where did he learn this? Why in his studies in Saudi... More

Amy Sullivan, an editor of the liberal Washington Monthly, writes in the liberal Boston Globe about all the havoc the pro—abortion (euphemistically called "choice") extremists are creating for the Democrats. She cites the disastrous NARAL ad against Chief Justice Roberts, trying to tie him to... More

Senator Harry Reid has gotten himself into a difficult position. Of colurse, the national media is uninterested in publicizing Democrat lapses, so don't look for anything resembling the feeding frenzy surrounding the trumped—up inductment of Tom Delay, when it comes to this story. The Las... More

Jay Homnick writes a fascinating essay today at The American Spectator on two topics he thinks are closely related: secret Republican voters and fiscal discipline. He identifies a vast segment of the Republican frequent voters, those people who do not publicly admit that they vote for the GOP.... More

In recent months the mainstream media has been overflowing with articles discussing the economic threat that China poses to the global economy in industries ranging from textiles to autos.  But according to a report recently released by the World Economic Forum, China's overall global... More

If you think of your phone company as a fat monopoly that has stood in the way of fast home internet connections for at least a decade, well, you're right. On the other hand, for a good laugh check out yesterday's story in the London Telegraph by Claire Millington, its Italian correspondent. She... More

The Times of London reports that in 1995 Osama Bin Laden sought asylum in Great Britain which was denied.   HE CLAIMS to hate everything the West stands for. But yesterday it emerged that Osama bin Laden sought asylum in Britain even as he was planning the September 11 attacks on the US.... More

Chivalry is not dead. Isn't it comforting to know that the United States Senate is one of the few remaining bastions of chivalry? Where else could Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco go and receive kid glove treatment in the aftermath of one of the most incompetent exhibitions of leadership in... More

Melanie Phillips recalls a bit of history the Islamofascists and their friends on the world left would rather forget: the kidnapping and enslavement of Western Christians in the name of jihad. Facts are stubborn things, though the airbrushers of the left do their best to confine them to the Memory... More

Another letter about Steven Warshawsky's article yesterday is worth sharing. Sir:  My Faculty colleague, Arthur Pontynen, sent me a copy of Mr. Warshawsky's prescient commentary in American Thinker for September 28.  I think he is right on track, and arguing a point I've been trying to... More

Conservatives by definition respect tradition. Not all traditions are worth retaining, of course, but when they offer enduring values, they are to be treasured. The oldest restaurant in San Francisco, the Tadich Grill, is one such tradition. When I entertain out of town visitors in downtown San... More

Bill Palmer, of Orange County, California, wrote us a thoughtful letter about Steven Warshawsky's article published here yesterday. It is worth sharing: Dear Editor, I enjoyed Mr. Warshowsky's article in the American Thinker. Three observations immediately come to mind. 1. There is nothing to... More

Victor Davis Hanson, the incomparable historian and commentator, makes a small error today in an article today. He says: 'Russia, India and China are Iran's new apologists.'  India!?  I agree with the rest of the piece, but this reference to India is surprising.  VDH needs to read... More

According to the Brussels Journal, polygamy has been legalized in the Netherlands and Belgium in all but name. Last Friday saw the first wedding of three people, a man and two women. However, the Netherlands recently confirmed its three—day waiting period for a divorce, so that if anyone... More

Here is Tom DeLay's win—spin at the end of his interview with Brit Hume the evening of 28 September: HUME: Tell me about the caucus today where the decision was made that Roy Blunt would step up to assume most of your duties? DELAY: That's the best part of it. HUME: What about it? DELAY: The... More

It sounds like a bad joke but sure enough, Bolivia's leftist dictator wannabe, Evo Morales, seeking to join the Cuba—Venezuela axis of Marxism, declared his rabidly anti—American campaign platform to his pals in the castroite press this morning. Cuba's state—owned Prensa Latina... More

The Times of India reported today what is a major victory over Iran in the Global War on Terror.  India voted with the US, the EU, Japan, and several other countries on an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) resolution to bring Iran before the UN Security Council if it does not cooperate... More

I owe Representative Steve King (R—Iowa) a personal thank—you. Congressman King rallied Republicans to defeat an effort to name the Berkeley Main Post Office for Maudelle Shirek, long an ultra—leftist member of the Berkeley City Council. The most left wing member of that body,... More

Barcepundit discovers that Spain's socialist government (courtesy of the 3—11 train bombers) finds Cuba and Venezuela more accepatble than America, when it comes to military parades: REMEMBER THAT last year US troops were disinvited for the October 12 parade in Madrid? Remember that one year... More

American feminists love to celebrate the "first woman" to smash all sorts of barriers. I await Patricia Ireland and Gloria Steinem commentary on this exploding of gender seterotypes. Hat tip: Lucianne.com Thomas Lifson   9 28 05 More

The blogosphere is having a red letter day today pointing our the embarrassing behavior of the men and women paid substantial wages to put together the New York Times. Mediacrity deconstructs its fact—chellanged editorial today on the violence in Gaza. Thomas Lifson  9 28 05 More

The Democratic National Committee is making an embarrassing slur of the President into something like official party doctrine. The New York Sun reports that the party declines to repudiate Charles Rangel's absurd comparison of President Bush to Bull Connor, the racist Southern sheriff of four... More

The New York Times has been careening wildly in recent days with its corrections of false material it is caught publishing. Just the other day it created the concept of "figurative reference" (as opposed to "factual assertions") in its correction of Alessandra Stanley's libel of Geraldo... More

Mike from Kennesaw, Georgia writes us about what he heard this morning on taxpayer—supported NPR: This morning, NPR aired a story ("Coroner: No Evidence of Evacuee Murders", ) that smells like an excuse for its false reporting of horrific crimes in the Super Dome, including the... More

Don Surber takes apart the basic economic errors of a silly Washington Post editorial on taxing gasoline, while at the same time getting in a dig at Paul Krugman, Enron consultant and economics professor at Princeton, at least when he isn't writing lies in his New York Times op—ed column. Now... More

As the glow of Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's stunning victory in recent parliamentary elections fades away, a newly uncovered report from the country's defense department is bound to fan the flames of anti—Japan sentiment across the rest of Asia.  The left—leaning... More

Like many American conservatives, I tend to regard the UK newspaper industry as more diverse than our own. At least some of the major papers, the Telegraph and the Times, are overtly conservative, while the Independent and Guardian are reliably left wing. But British blogger Peter Glover, of Wires... More

The report that a hospital in West Yorkshire has banned visitors from cooing at new—born babies is, in fact, only the second dumbest thing the Brits have lately done. They've also removed science from the school curriculum.  New regulations just announced by the Blair government,... More

Some kind of milepost has been passed in the realm of political correctness, whereby one of the most powerful forces of nature — the natural human response to newborn babies — has been declared off—limits by a British hospital. That's right: no cooing at newborns. I swear that I... More

Just One Minute asks a very interestign question, in light of all the criticism the President has endured over Iraq and katrina: Its hard to believe we will see a wholesale revision of the Katrina story, but (and we are just thinking out loud here) — might we look forward to a story praising... More

The Jerusalem Post is reporting that the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) is 'under no restrictions' in conducting both air and ground operations to halt terrorist rocket attacks on Israeli territory.  Residents of Sderot and the western Negev were placed on full alert after an IAF Apache... More

Today's New York Times reports something no other media outlet seems to have mentioned in its coverage of the conviction of Pvt. Lynndie England on several counts of abuse of prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison, in a story as related by David S. Cloud, its own staff member. Cloud ends his... More

E. J. Dionne sees the "Democrats in disarray" today, in his Washington Post column of the same title. And he actually gets it right on a couple of points. But he can't quite put together the bigger picture. Although an intelligent and fairly perceptive observer, he may be too firmly entrenched... More

Where Thomas Lifson sees despair I see dawning awareness. Isolated, the Katrina spending may be debatable as policy. But as a predictable pattern of spending it cannot be debated. The Administration's conservative approach is always theoretical, the currency spent is always hard dollars.... More

A Film on Kerry's presidential campaign to be released this week. This should kill his chances for 2008. Lloyd Grove of the New York Daily News reports: I hear that John Kerry loyalists are kicking themselves for cooperating last year with filmmaker Steve Rosenbaum on "Inside the Bubble," a... More

With an obvious tin ear to the anger directed at the state's misuse of levee and Homeland Security funds and its pervasive corruption, the Louisiana congressional delegations has tagged on at least $10 billion in pure pork projects in its breathtaking request for $250 billion for hurricane relief.... More

Crain's Chicago Business reports on some interesting circumstances suggesting that federal prosecutors may be targeting the substantial campaign war chest of incumbent Illinois Governor Blagojevich. This would be a first, and raises some disturbing questions. It is all very speculative, but... More

The lies have been spread all over the world, defaming America and sullying its president who is blamed by the same media spreading the lies. The death toll in New Orleans was exaggerated to a degree of magnitude impossible to explain by mere incompetence. The New Orleans newspaper's website... More

Whether the rank and file in the Republican party are out of touch with the leadership, or, as seems more likely from the gist of this piece over at The American Spectator, the leadership is faced with an increasingly vocal conservative wing demanding spending discipline. The worried Republican... More

Mark Shields, the Democrat CNN pundit/activist, is worried that the public has caught on to the fact that the Democrats are pawns of their interest groups. In explaining his opposition to Judge Roberts, Reid told the Senate he had been "very swayed" by the public testimony of, and his private... More

The strongest evidence of Iraqi complicity in 9/11 , the reports of the Czechs that Atta met in Prague with Iraqi intel prior to 9/11 were dismissed by the Commission on the basis of a jiggered timeline. Spain has a Commission looking into AQ activities on its soil which cast considerable doubt on... More

In a piece explaining why Arnold Schwarzenegger excluded the Los Angeles Times from a round of interviews granted last week, the Washington Post's Howard Kurtz reports that Mike Murphy told a Times reporter in an e—mail: "I'm sorry to say it but your paper is so deep in the anti—Arnold... More

Jed Babbin makes the case that Justice Ginsburg's public comments require her to recuse herself from considering cases on abortion and opther issues. He cites the precedent of Justice Scalia. The problems in actually forcing such a recusal are enormous. But I agree with Babbin that impeachment is... More

Last week, Phil Donohue was on the O'Reilly Factor, locked in a debate about Cindy Sheehan and the anti—war movement that has been Donahue's passion his entire career. 'Do you really want to send more young men and women to die in Iraq?' asked the former daytime talk show host. 'If... More

It is a rare day when I take issue with the great Mark Steyn. But The Master has given in to despair on the subject of President Bush's response to Katrina in his Chicago Sun—Times column today. He laments to scope of spending that has been promised, and predicts massive theft of the... More

BBC calling again, as usual, with a biased error betraying its true leftist agenda. This time, they were caught giving aid and succor to none other than Bolivia's Marxist Evo Morales' identified in Investor's Business Daily this week as Cuban dictator Fidel Castro's 'second willing domino.'... More

In the past week, Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez gave a number of interviews to journalists, including Ted Koppel of Nightline and Amy Goodman of Democracy Now! Koppel did the best he could, and Goodman spent most of her time flattering the thug, but there was one interview — published today... More

Common Sense Political Thought, a blog new to me, has a sensible and thoughtful reaction to the question I raised yesterday about the future job tenure of New York Times public editor Byron Calame, after his rebuke of the paper's failure to live up to its own editorial standards. "...by taking a... More

Many in the media and the Democratic Party spotlight black suffering only as a way to score political points against George Bush and the Republican Party. The media, in particular, routinely ignores black victims of crime and focuses attention only on white victims. The Washington Post goes through... More

Dr. Steven Lerner, a physician who dropped everything to fly to Louisiana in the wake of Katrina, writes in the Washington Post about his experience — which turned out to be a waste of time. Not because Bush failed at anything, but because the media had portrayed an unrealistic picture of the... More

It is hard to believe that the Washington Post would publish such an attack as this. Even in a piece of opinion journalism. The writer accuises her neighbors, basically, of supporting Bush because they are in a panic, stupid , helpless, homophobic, anti—intellectual, xenophobic and are... More

Byron Calame, the New York Times' "public editor" has taken to the web and (apparently) print to upbraid Alessandra Stanley's lie about Geraldo Rivera, and opinion editor Gail Collins's failure to follow the Times policy on corrections. Calame has been relentlessly criticized here and elsewhere for... More

Mother Sheehan has had with people paying too much attention to Hurricane Rita. Why, doesn't CNN realize that she sacrificed her only begotten son? She took to the Daily Kos site very quickly after addressing the "biggest rally in DC since Vietnam" to reprimand the media for insufficient attention... More

To George Soros and Teresa Heinz (the latter via the Tides Foundation) for funding today's "anti—war" rally. By all accounts running a tape of it will be all the advertising the Republicans will need to win the 2006 mid term elections handily. Maybe I'm being too hard on Soros. Maybe he... More

Terry Michael, former press secretary for the Democratic National Committee, takes to task media and politicians who rush to pronounce racism as the explanation for so much at Real Clear Politics. A half century ago, right—wing zealots could see a communist behind every bush. Today,... More

Jeff Jacoby's excellent new article illustrates an important point about human behavior and buyer psychology. His main contention is that our national fuel consumption would not decrease even if vehicle fuel efficiency markedly improved. This may very well be true. By way of everyday example, let's... More

Our frequent contirbutor Olivier Guitta has a startling article today on the Weekly Standard website about Muslim (and black) rappers in France, a nation with very strong anti—"hate speech" laws, usually used to suppress even mild criticism of Islam. Some of our own rappers are frightening... More

The Wall Street Journal ($link) highlights the extensive recent domestic Chinese press coverage of growing social and political tensions arising out of the sustained rapid economic growth China has experienced. If the hand—wringing about income inequality in China translates into policies... More

Democrat senators are more concerned with Roberts's heart than his head. What? Is Ameirca now the Land of Oz and is Roberts the Tin Man? Or does this just play to the Democrats who believe no Republicans have a heart? First you get Feinstein justifying her no vote by referring ot Roberts not giving... More

The Boston Globe's Scot Lehigh takes to task Massachusetts senators Kerry and Kennedy for their opposition to the nomination of John Roberts. HOW SHOULD Senate Democrats respond to the example Ted Kennedy and John Kerry set Wednesday in declaring their opposition to John Roberts in a... More

France's intelligence services target America, in order to steal our business and technology secrets, according to Colonel David Hunt, a retired senior officer in the CIA's Directorate of Operations. While perhaps unknown to the general public, this targeting of American businesses has been... More

Charles Rangel, the Democrat Congressman from New York, continues the new party tradition of ludicrous comparisons of President Bush with historic symbols of evil: "Bush is our Bull Connor...." The New York Sun reports: Comparing President Bush to the Birmingham, Ala., police commissioner whose... More

As President Bush gets blamed for the death toll of Hurricane Katrina, China continues to keep its own disaster death tolls secret, despite the ap[earance of reform. The South China Morning Post reports (paid subscription only): Beijing will not revise or offer new information about death tolls... More

Last week it was reported in the New York Times that New Orleans law enforcement officials had ordered that all private citizens would have their personal firearms confiscated.  ABC News also reported that the New Orleans deputy police chief said that, 'No one will be able to be armed. ... More

Iraqi Forces Show Signs Of Progress In Offensive The Tall Afar offensive, which began Sept. 2, is the largest urban military operation in Iraq since November's siege of Fallujah. Unlike many previous joint offensives, however, it is the Iraqi army that has the majority of the soldiers on the... More

Household Net Worth Rises ($link) The net worth of American households climbed again in the second quarter, bolstering the ability of families to weather soaring energy prices. In its quarterly "flow of funds" report, the Federal Reserve said U.S. household net worth rose for the... More

Michael Barone continues to demonstrate that he is one of the most insightful thinkers in America.  To meet the costs of Katrina (and now Rita?) he passes along a proposal from a public servant in Louisiana: sell bonds backed by future royalties from oil and gas production from the... More

The stranglehold of the left wing extremists on the Democratic Party is once again demonstrated int he decision of Hillary Clintoin to meet with moonbat Cindy Sheehan, coiner of the immortal phrase "occupied New Orleans." Front Page Magazine analyzes the situation. More

Edward Jay Epstien wants to believe that Hollywood studios are run by rational intelligent executives. But then he takes a look at some of the evidence to the contrary. And he does not neglect to mention the ket three—letter word: ego. Ed Lasky   9 22 05 More

Mickey Kaus is one of the most honest and preceptive liberals in the public square. His latest posting at Slate takes on unions, and imagines liberalism without unions. If more liberals start thinking this way, there might be hope of more victories for the left. But don't count on it. Ed... More

The New York Times editorializes on the Afghan situation, where a successful election was carried out for second time since the Taliban was ousted by America and its allies. But the Times does not credit America or, it seems. the Afghan people with being responsible for success. Yep, all... More

Jeff Jacoby celebrates one man who has made a difference: blogger Arthur Chrenkoff, whose posting of the considrerable good news from Iraq has bypassed the mainstream media filter, which seeks only bad news. Ed Lasky   9 22 05 More

Imagine a Jerry Lewis telethon to support children killing children. Would you send in your money? No, don't bother. I know your answer. But not the Saudis, apparently. The Saudi Government—sponsored Iqra TV had a charitable telethon a few weeks ago, not for the Katrina victims, but for the... More

The New York Sun reports that Hamas is  planning to convert a former Synagogue to a weapons museum, featuring weapons used to murder innocent civillians. From a house of God to a charnel house.: Emboldened by Israel's withdrawal from Gaza and part of the West Bank, Hamas yesterday announced... More

What a joy to see Jet Blue #292 land safely at LAX with its front landing gear 90 degrees out of alingnment. Even though I have been a very frequent flyer for over 3 decades, I still experience a slight repressed sense of anxiety every time I land. There is so much that can go wrong. And I have... More

Surely I'm not alone noticing that there is an Irony Meter somewhere, pegged out. For decades "environmentalists" fought to prevent New Orleans' levee projects on the basis of irreversible damage to Lake Pontchartrain's eco—system. How many decades it will take to remediate Lake... More

While much of America's attention has been focused on hurricanes, the Supreme Court, the close German election and unpredictable North Korea, Japan and China have continued their fighting over natural resources beneath the East China Sea. Both of these economic powers claim different boundaries for... More

Austin Bay has an insightful analysis on Real Clear Politics of the recently—announced deal with North Korea to, well, continue to negoatiate to end its nuclear weapons program. A nuclear—armed, impoverished rogue in one of the planet's most economically productive corners is trouble.... More

The San Francisco Chronicle joins the Los Angeles Times in endorsing John Roberts as the nation's next Chief Justice. But is has the appearance of a tactical retreat, inspired by a desire to oppose whomever is nominated for the vacant Associate Justice seat, pending. In the meantime, the existence... More

Threatened by a black Republican, Maryland Dems engage in some black—bag type of operations to break the law and get a credit report on prospective Senate candidate Michael Steele. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee said Tuesday that two of its employees obtained the credit report... More

Congressman Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, who was narrowly defeated in his run for governor by the hapless Governor Blanco, demonstrates again why he is one of the most promising figures for the future of the Republicans in an op—ed in the Washington Times. Let us rebuild all that is great... More

France shows signs of understanding that the trend toward educated and professional career women avoiding motherhood can be fatal to the life of a nation, a point our own Herb Meyer superbly made in his DVD, The Seige of Western Civilization. The Washignton Times reports: Middle—class French... More

Within days after Israel withdrew from Gaza, Palestinian mobs have burned down twenty—five Jewish synagogues. Warfare has broken out between Palestinian factions, including the murder of Yasser Arafat's cousin Moussa Arafat and his son. The Palestinian Authority has not been able to maintain... More

If you are a parent or concerned citizen, you have probably bemoaned the schools' lack of attention given to teaching the basics of financial common sense*. While op—ed writers and pundits criticize the lack of personal savings by Americans, the foolhardy financial choices they... More

Am I the only person in the cable news television audience who finds the frequent ads from TIAA—CREF (the pension fund manager for teachers, professors and other groups*) downright creepy? I refer to the ones which end in the tagline "For the greater good." Such verbiage, especially when... More

John F. Kerry is using email and a speech to attack President Bush on Katrina and to raise money. Not for the victims, but for himself. The man is never without an ulterior motive. Ed Lasky   9 20 05 More

Richard Cohen of the Washington Post, no fan of the president, admits that George W. Bush is no racist. But Cohen still attacks him indirectly by saying he is supported by Republicans who are racists. The GOP, after all, became a safe haven for Southern bigots who fled the Democratic Party... More

The idea that North Korea has been playing games with the world received new support today when the New York Times reported that the last Stalinist regime has demanded billions of dollars to build nuclear reactors in exchange for giving up nuclear weapons. This is similar to the Clinton... More

The great American folk philosopher Sam Goldwyn once said,"If people don't want to go to the picture, nobody can stop them." And he's proven right again, as the readers refuse to go along with the partisan reportage of America's newspapers. The New York Times Co. said Tuesday it would cut 500... More

The Gaza—Egyptian border breakdown  that has resulted in increased arms smuggling, warfare between rival Palestinian factions and violent chaos in general, though 'worrisome to Jerusalem,' are not unexpected to Ariel Sharon and the IDF. The withdrawal of Israeli settlements from Gaza was... More

Many on the Right, conservative columnists and talk show hosts in particular, have been puzzled as to why the Bush administration would keep calling on William Jefferson Clinton to be part of the team.  Like Hawaii 5—O's Jack Lord, they can't quite figure out what Bush is up to, but are... More

North Korea seems to be following the same playbook as their brethren in Iran.  That is, agree in principle to a deal that would allow development of a nuclear commercial power reactor in exchange for giving up on its weapons program, and then add a condition that effectively nullifies the... More

Haaretz investigates a report of an amazing gaffe by the French Foreign Minister, and finds it true: The French satirical magazine Le Canard Enchaine reported in its September 14th issue that during the visit of French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste—Blazy to the new... More

The comic strip Gaggle has a particularly cutting number today, relevant to coverage of the katrina disaster followup by ABC. More

Our friend in Britain Peter Glover is taking his gloves off in addressing the Church of England House of Bishops, who want to apologize to "the world" for Britain's part in the war in Iraq as the government "is not going to show remorse." The bishops in the Church of England want — in the... More

Ray Nagin, Mayor of New Orleans, was blown away by the reality that befalls a city armed with a category three defense in the face of a category four hurricane. Whereas Noah heard from God and followed His instructions to survive the coming flood, with his family and the world's animals... More

Wal—Mart, the company liberals love to hate, has pulled off a triumph in the nation's most politically left wing big city, Oakland, California. It has opened a very large store there, and it is a hit, even among locals who profess disdain for the union—free environment the company... More

This is my shortest blog ever: if you've been reading AT for the past year, this is not earth—shattering news. Doug Hanson   9 19 05   More

Salvador Allende Gossens of Chile was an icon of the American left, the first Marxist to assume office via the ballot box. The CIA has been blamed for his overthrow and death, further enhancing his cult standing in Cambridge, Berkeley, and Ann Arbor. Now, 35 years after his election, a book being... More

Howard Dean appearance on ABC television's The View followed Danny Bonaduce and a guy who has lived in a college frat for 15 years. Enough said about his esteem (self or otherwise). Ed Lasky   9 19 05 More

Mediacrity takes New York Times public editor Barney Calame to task for burying the correction of  Paul Krugman's blatant misrepresentation of the facts (A.K.A. "lies") in his columns, a topic we addressed here. Krugman made his goof in his print column, the one read by over a million people.... More

Every other Monday, The New York Times makes space for what it calls "a critic's perspective on arts and ideas." Today, we are treated to a bit of sanity from Edward Rothstein on the subject of hate crimes. Although tailored to the delicate sensibilities of Times readers (Rothstein prominently... More

It is fairly comical to see the uproar among some conservatives reacting to the President's New Orleans speech.  Have they been asleep for five years? From day one of his Administration George W. Bush has been nothing if not consistent in his free—spending ways. Each year federal outlays... More

In New York this week, Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez blustered continuously about a U.S. naval ship port call to Curacao last February, arguing against our own American Thinker scoop that said a minor contingent of U.S. troops who visited the island were just tired U.S. sailors on rest and... More

Fatuous, hypocritical, self—obsessed, a parody of himself? It is all here in the New York Times Magazine Q and A with the comic who despises religion, hates George Bush, and has a very sour mood about America—while he lives it up in Beverly Hills.   Ed Lasky  9 18... More

Allow me to flesh out Thomas Lifson's very perceptive point about the de—population of Siberia, and Russia's growing concerns about hanging onto its oil: Russia covers one—sixth of the earth's land surface, and its birth rate is so low that by 2050, the population of Russia will be... More

This week's CENTCOM Report highlights combat operations around Iraq.  Action in Tall Afar is important in stopping Syrian support of terrorists in the fledgling democracy.  As many AT readers know, the Horn of Africa is critical to prevent further expansion of terrorist regimes in the... More

Mediacrity is spot on with its criticism of the New York Times for downplaying the orgy of violence and the systematic violations of agreements in the handover of Gaza to Palestinian control. One of the most prolific yet easy to overlook forms of bias is just that —— overlooking. Not... More

Yale Law School Professor Ian Ayres is to be commended for his New York Times op—ed on the problem of textbook prices in college. He identifies a key problem: IN time for the new school year, the Government Accountability Office has released a sobering report on the soaring price of... More

That's Jim Hoagland's term for Vladimir Putin, because Russia is now such a big oil exporter, and benefitting mightily from high oil prices on its 6 million barrels a day sent abroad. All very true, though I think oil is doing nothing to solve Russia's structural problems like the entrenched... More

Walter Russell Mead of the Council on Foreign Relations, a genuine establishment thinker, writes in the Los Angeles Times of the virtues (for America) of "sending" our elderly to retirement in low wage countries like Mexico and Costa Rica, where over a million Americans have already... More

David Ignatius writes in the Washington Post of the internal battle within the Dar al Islam over the future of that faith of over a billion people. The Salafists, or radical Islamists, are a cult, Ignatius avers, and it is up to Muslims to take back their religion from them. America is... More

Britain's Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, reassures the United Nations Assembly in this report from the BBC: Foreign Secretary Jack Straw has said there is no fundamental difference between the Islamic world and the West. He told the United Nations Assembly, meeting in New York, that Arab peoples... More

Two LA Times reporters today used almost 2800 words to examine the highly questionable background of Hollywood celebrity sleuth/audio expert/guest of the federal penal system Anthony Pellicano. Although the major focus was on his career as a 'forensic audio' expert, not once did they manage to... More

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The BBC recently gave its listeners a chance to express their will, but did not want to hear the result. The great unwashed mass, who pay the license fees which pay the Beeb's freight, were asked to suggest a piece of legislation to improve life in Britain, with the promise that an MP would then... More

Charles Krauthammer writes an exceptionally clear—headed, long—term view of the Bush 43 foreign policy. Good stuff. James Lewis   7 1 05 More

Newspaper Guild chief Linda Foley, last heard from when alleging that the US military targeted journalists in Iraq, now proposes a protest over the court case involving Matt Cooper and Judith Miller who face possible sentencing in the Plame case. . Foley may wish to consider the case laid out by... More

The media has a love affair with Republicans who oppose the George Bush administration. Do youremember the adulation of the isolationist Chuck Hagel? Here  NPR devotes a report which basically praises John Thune, the new South Dakota Senator who opposed the John Bolton nomination as our... More

Why don't I find it surprising that the New York Times would support the takeover of a US company, Unocal, by a Communist government? This is one way to destroy capitalism. Another way is to put a left—wing hippie hangover from the late 60s (Pinch Sulzberger) in control over the leading... More

Al Jazeera, terror—supporting propaganda arm of Al—Qaeda was going to film a "report" on our southern borders. This would seem to be outside the bailiwick, no? For what possible purpose could this have been, except to highlight weaknesses in our border security program? In light... More

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. is spreading the fallacy that Thimerosal, a mercury—based preservative in children's vaccines, may [emphasis added] be responsible for the exponential growth of autism, attention deficit disorder, speech delays, and other childhood neurological disorders now epidemic... More

Betsy Newmark catches Nancy Pelosi making an idiot of herself, discussing proposals to counter the Supreme Court's Kelo Decision. It is quite evident that the Minority Leader cannot perform elementary legal analysis. Even worse, she evidently defends the arbitrary power of the Supreme Court... More

The left frequently accuses conservatives of running a right wing media machine. But this is a classical example of the psychology of projection. The left itself has long depended on an elaborate array of institutions, agendas, and money dedicated to methodcially promoting certain left wing... More

Hey all you Democrats complaining about vote fraud in last November's election:  you were right!  Just read about the federal jury conviction right here in Illinois, home of the city of Chicago where even the dead vote early and vote often, although this occurred in the small town of E.... More

The Financial Times, whose credentials as a comedy site are limited, publishes a satire today at the expense of France and the foppish Dominique de Villepin, its new Prime Minister. In the guise of a speech by to the people of Europe, outlining his alternative vision for Europe. It serves as a... More

Just in time for the 4th of July week end  the Pentagon announced PENTAGON After months of declining enlistment, the Army has more than met its recruitment goals for the month of June. Did George Washington meet his recruitment goals?  What about desertions?  Think about that as you... More

Canada is taking steps aimed at limiting exports of prescription drugs: Canada's health minister threatened Wednesday to overhaul the country's regulations on exporting prescription drugs, saying Canada would no longer be a cheap "drug store for the United States." Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh... More

The MSM continues strong as the fifth column of the liberal movement. In this case, it's Time Magazine arbitrarily proping up who they hope will be one of tomorrow's liberal stars. We can only hope his "Barack" is worse than his bite! From Peggy Noonan's column 6/29/05 "This week comes the... More

I just heard from a new website which bears watching. It is Watching America (link here), and it provides copies and translations of foreign press reports about America. A very worthwhile service, worth visitng regularly. Thomas Lifson  6 29 05 More

TigerHawk makes a truly brilliant suggestion: Military recruitment is down. The left will argue that this is because people do not want to die in wars that are at best unnecessary and at worst criminal, and the right will argue that the constant harping of the press over Abu Ghraib and Gitmo... More

Another in our continuing series of news that somehow didn't make the news Economy's Growth is Better Than Expected WASHINGTON — The economy logged a solid 3.8 percent growth rate in the first quarter of 2005, a performance that was better than previously thought and a fresh sign the... More

Investors Business Daily has an excellent editorial today covering the prosecution of activists who organized the recall election against Hugo Chavez, which was defeated under suspicious circumstances. Their crime? Taking a U.S. National Endowment for Democracy grant to advance democracy. It's... More

An international survey which has in previous years ranked the New York Times number one among the great newspapers of the world has slapped it all the way down to sixth place this year. Editor & Publisher doesn't exactly overhwelm us with details in its account: The Financial Times topped a... More

Olivier Guitta, whom we are proud to have published many times, has an article in the Jerusalem Post on a barely—reported phenomenon (not that there's any press bias out there...): a new phenomenon — largely unreported in the Western media — is occurring: Muslims, especially in... More

Betsy Newmark has some powerful reasons why President Bush should nominate Edith Jones to the Supreme Court. Although I support Janice Rogers Brown, I would be extrmely happy with a Justice Jones ont he Court, too. Thomas Lifson   7 5 05 More

Every morning on my way to work, I pass the offices of Taser International.  Little did I know that the Company produced the power of a 'lighting storm' in its law enforcement and self—defense weapons.  That's how a story in USA Today characterized the firepower of a device designed... More

Worried that those who believe poverty in Africa——or anywhere else——can be cured with massive rock concerts by stars whose homes could adequately house all the displaced in Africa; whose tax bill, if paid honestly, could inadequately sate just about any mad... More

"Manufacturers Spend More on Plants" Wall Street Journal (subscription required) More

The Transatlantic Intelligencer brings to our attention yet another coy European attack on the United States. The subtext of the illustration seems to me to be that the US is going up in smoke. Ed Lasky   7 5 05 More

If you squint at this photo, the herringbone garb will blur to a solid black. Now just imagine a scythe resting on her shoulder and the true picture of this former cover girl turned anti—man will come into focus. If you listen closely you can hear her saying "Set my minions free lest you... More

Aidan Hartley, writing in the The Spectator (via The Australian), points out that the effect of Bob Geldof and the Live8 concert will be to increase the supply of Mercedes Benz limousines for African dictators. Nobody really even bothers denying that most aid to Africa (and elsewhere) has been... More

Betsy Newmark takes on historian Charles C. Mann, who was granted the most coveted territory in all of journalism, the op—ed page of the New York Times, to spout the ludicrous theory that the Founders drew their inspiration from the Iroquois Indians, a fable that is lamentably in tune with... More

Dear editors:As one might expect, the Castroization and ruining of the Venezuelan education system, along with all other elements of the country, has drawn no protest from English universities who tried to unjustly boycott Israeli universities; nor any demonstrations of concern from mainline... More

Iowahawk is up to his usual delightful tricks on Independence Day, publishing a satirical essay allegedly written Abus Masab al—Zarqawi. Nobody does this kind of mockery better than the 'Hawk. Americans are famous for their diversity, and nowhere is this diversity more on display than... More

The French supreme leader is reduced to joking about the quality of British cuisine, in the run—up to the G8 meeting in Scotland, with overtones of competition for hosting the 2012 Olympics. The BBC reports: French President Jacques Chirac is reported to have cracked jokes about British food... More

Today's Guardian page one headline reads: "After two billion viewers watch Live 8's call for action on Africa...Bush says:"I put US interests first."  That's exactly what he was elected to do. It is very telling that that the eurocratic editors of the leading left wing paper in the U.K.... More

Way to Go, NASA. They did it, and it was spectacular.  Last evening NASA scientists flew our Deep Impact space probe into the Tempel 1 comet 83 million miles from Earth.  Whatever the scientists may learn from the debris of this collision, we ought to think for a moment about the... More

The New York Times continues its shameful campaign to discredit soldiers as society's losers, who join the military because they have no other options. Here, it dishonors a soldier — even after he dies. To sign up for the North Dakota National Guard, Phil Sorenson drove seven hours to the... More

In this essay I maintained that Irshad Manji was not supporting the anti—Sharia campaign in Canada. This was an error. In fact I came across a letter (to the anti—Sharia campaign director, the Iranian secularist Homa Arjmand) indicating that she has written a letter in support... More

Senator Kennedy takes to the pages of the Washington Post to lay out his thoughts on the Supreme Court vacancy. There are many pot calling the kettle black analogies here, as well as an attempt to portray confirmation hearings as a consensus process. Ed Lasky  7 4 05 More

Marta Colomina, a leading journalist in Venezuela, writes in El Universal today about growing evidence that the police shootings of three students in Caracas last Monday was an authentic death squad operation. We described Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez's boiling internal battles with the... More

The recent move by Governor Tom Vilsack to restore felon voting rights in Iowa will likely have a significant impact on  that state in Presidenial elections.  Iowa is one of the true tossup states. Gore won the state's 7 Electoral College votes by 4,000 in 2000, Bush in 2004 by just over... More

Michael Coren pens a biting bittersweet lament for the mistaken path his country, Canada, has taken in too many realms. Yestrday was Canada Day, while Monday is our Fourth of July. There are a lot of smart Canadians, and they are havcing more to say about their country. Let's hope more Canadians... More

"Jane's is pleased to announce the recent release of Jane's Chem—Bio Handbook: Third Edition — the most comprehensive resource for those tasked with preparing for and responding to chem—bio incidents. The latest incarnation of the Handbook delivers critical insight from lessons... More

Michael Barone agrees with our longstanding point that India is becoming a hugely important ally for the United States and a diverse coalition of nations. China looms in his thinking, but there is a common interest in Islamic terror, too. Thomas Lifson 7 2 05 More

The press, which hyped Democrat accusations of voting irregularities int he last two presidential elections, is not noticing the recent convictions on vote fraud (by Democrats) in East St. Louis, Illinois. But a federal prosecutor thinks that cheating pols might be noticing: Feds Hope Convictions... More

Mark Steyn nails a thesis to doors of several mainline Protestant denominations disinvesting from Israel, after Host Hugh Hewitt "apologize[d] on behalf of all Presbyterians everywhere" for their previous disinvestment decision.the Steyn: Yes, and that's actually the behavior of the... More

Tom Bevan, the highly insightful commentator at Real Clear Politics, seems to agree with me about the London attacks: they are self—defeating. America feels for Britain today. Out of a sense of sadness and grief, yes, but also out of a sense of rage. More than any terrorist attack abroad so... More

Someone calling himself "ted church" and using an email address from an apparently reputable business (tschurch@datacompanies.com), has written a message about my article on the London bombing which really speaks for itself in addressing the issue of mentality the article took up. Here it is in its... More

London's Mayor Ken Livingstone has responded to today's horrific bombings by stating: "I want to say one thing, specifically to the world today — this was not a terrorist attack against the mighty and the powerful, it was not aimed at presidents or prime ministers, it was aimed at ordinary,... More

It is official: the EU's fraud squad says that hundreds of millions of euros, out of the billion—plus euros sent in aid to the Palestinian Authority, has siphoned off into bank accounts in Switzerland, Tunisia, and elsewhere. Most likely, much ended up int he hands of terror groups. The rest... More

There's a bit of history behind the jailing of New York Times reporter Judith Miller for refusing to answer questions from Special Prosecutor Fitzgerald.  According to left wing blogger Josh Marshall, Miller screwed up a criminal investigation that Fitzgerald was pursuing against... More

Major kudos to Vodkapundit, who has scooped the major media and uncovered a tangled web of influence and private dealings whicb explains the very curious reactions of the New York Times, Nancy Pelosi, and other lefties to the Kelo decision. It turns out that self—interest (in the form of... More

Editor & Publisher reports that New York Times reporter Judith Miller will be checking into a Graybar Hotel, instead being grounded with no cell phone and no internet access, as she had requested. But luckily for her, it is an upscale unit in the Graybar chain: the Alexandria (Va.) Detention... More

The obesity epidemic, where couch potatoes consume too many, well, potato chips and end up looking like overstuffed potatoes, rages on. So, too, the corresponding popularity of diet crazes, allowing hope to people aspiring to a heroin chic waif—like look. And now a reaction to all that in the... More

Mediacrity reports on fairly shocking journalistic misconduct by the New York Times. It is clear that a full—blown panic over the rise of the blogosphere has gripped them, and is causing disgraceful and unenthical behavior on their part. Of course, they are only providing more fodder for... More

Tucked into a report on the Plame Grand Jury, today's Washington Post reports: Fitzgerald may learn more details from Cooper's notes. Sources close to the investigation say there is evidence in some instances that some reporters may have told government officials —— not the other way... More

This Egyptian Muslim televangelist, Amr Khaled, preaches peace, no smoking, and head coverings for women.  While Muslim televangelists are now common, none has adopted the methods of the Christian superstars as Khaled has. Like the Christian televangelists he uses satellite TV, the Internet... More

"Chirac approval rating is now at 28%, the lowest rating of any leader at the G8 conference." Bloomberg notes:  "The Olympics bid defeat further diminishes Chirac's hopes of running for a third presidential term in 2007. His approval rating fell to 28 percent in June, down 12 points from the... More

An alert reader caught an interesting slip in an item we posted yesterday, regarding the plunge in prestige of the New York Times. Editor & Publisher quotes Reuters: The Financial Times topped a list of the world's best newspapers based on a survey, conducted by a Swiss—based consultant,... More

New York Times reporter Judith Miller has apparently made the astonishing proposal that she be deprived of cell phone and email communication in lieu of incarceration, in the ongoing conflict over the alleged confidentiality of her source int he Plame affair. Judith, you are not a teenager who took... More

The Financial Times today shows why it has surged five places aheadof the New York Times, in rankings of the world's greatest newspapers. Maybe more accurately, the New York Times has surged five places behind. Whatever. Michael Holman and Andrew Rugasira write Africa needs more financial aid... More

Daniel Pipes has a fascinating piece in the New York Sun today, about Palestinians punished by being denied the opportunity to live in Israel, the object of their hatred. When the political becomes personal, they choose Israel over the Palestinian entity. Israel's interior minister recently... More

The United Church of Christ has joined the anti—Semitic chorus demanding a standard of Israel it does not demand of any other country on earth. For news and analysis of its lamentable divestment resolution passed yesterday, go to http://www.ucctruths.com/. Our friends at Stand for Israel also... More

More lunatic conspiracy—mongering from the Islamic world: In Tehran, Ayatollah Mohammad Emami—Kashani used his Friday sermon to condemn the blasts, but reminded British Prime Minister Tony Blair of what he said was al Qaeda's parentage. "You (Blair) should not forget that al Qaeda was... More

"US Jobless rate of 5% is lowest since September 2000" I am sure the New York Times tomorrow will put their usual negative spin on this. Let me guess: probably comparing it negatively to the growth of the US population since September, 2001. Without mentioning that much of this growth comes from... More

Business Week runs a lengthy story about the shadowy oil trader network which enabled the Oil For Food Scandal at the UN to benefit Saddam Hussein. At its heart is Marc Rich. Let no one forget that Marc Rich was pardoned by Bill Clinton in the last hours of his presidency. Had Rich remained a... More

Hmm....Britain...home of the Magna Carta and justifiably a place that that can be called the ideological source of the concepts behind freedom and liberty. Yet, everyone arrested must provide a DNA sample. Officials said they were confident that the forensic investigation collected at the four... More

Derrick Z. Jackson, one of the the Boston Globe's stable of lefties, is taking the opportunity of the London bombings to attack America. Of course. Everything bad is the result of George W. Bush. Yet every invoking of the innocents also reminds us of our despicable, cowardly killing of innocent... More

Daniel Pipes, writing in the New York Sun: An Islamist British group called Al—Muhajiroun — "the immigrants" in Arabic — for some time publicly stated that Britain was immune from Islamist violence because of its acceptable behavior toward Muslims within the country's borders. In... More

Are George Galloway and Ken Livingstone, two anti—Israel left wing politicians in the UK, suggesting that the wrong people were targeted? Are they recommending that the G8 leaders, or perhaps wealthy Jews, should have been selected instead? Here are excerpts from their public statements, with... More

Don Surber's column today is a keeper. It was written before he knew of the attacks on London, and when he learned of them, he added a paragraph. Great writing here. Thomas Lifson   7 7 05 More

The Detroit News has chosen to give prominence to a group working to discourage recruitment by our military. These counter—recruiters hope to cripple our military's ability to defend us. It is as simple as that, though they won't say so directly. Our contributor Matt May has skillfully fisked... More

The headline of an AP report at FoxNews.com is 'Body of Missing SEAL Found in Afghanistan.'  His name is being withheld pending notification of family.  When will the follow—up story come and tell us his story?   And what of the other 16 Americans who were aboard a... More

After spending nine whole days in Japan, the UN's "special rapporteur on racism and xenophobia" Doudou Diene pronounces his verdict on the nation of 130 million: racism in Japan is deep and profound, and the government does not recognise the depth of the problem. It must be nice to have a job... More

So many of us were outraged last week when the British tabloid The Sun totally ignored the multiple terrorist attacks in Israel in its map Evil Across the Planet that they were forced to add this updated correction "We have not included the unforgivable Palestinian terror attacks and suicide... More

The BBC is notorious for refusing to call terrorists the t—word (when attacking American soldiers, Israelis, and Jews, at least), instead preferring "militants" and "insurgents." Now it is using another term: "misguided criminals." Golly. Who misguided them? Maybe the... More

Yesterday we noted  a very strange AP correction. Correction: Bombings—Blair Story  LONDON, United Kingdom —— In a July 9 story about Prime Minister Tony Blair's comments on overcoming global terrorism, The Associated Press erroneously reported that he spoke of easing... More

A crack in the wall; Muslim worshippers shouting down anti—American "sermons" by Imams. The counterterror blog reports: From the Al—Siyasah newspaper (received June 6): "The Imam of al—Jabiriyah preached against the Americans and the Worshippers shouted 'O' Allah, make America... More

A leader of the Egyptian Parliament claims that Jews and Christians are responsible for the 7—7 bombings in London. Recall that Egypt has received and still receives billions in US and European aid. Ed Lasky  7 11 05   More

Al Qaeda itself avers that poverty does not a terrorist make. They seem to be experts in the terror line of work, so maybe we should  listen to them and end the cliché of  poverty being the root cause of terror. AL—QAEDA is secretly recruiting affluent, middle—class Muslims... More

The New York Times is planning to launch a weekly newspaper targeting a largely black community in Gainesville, Florida. This seems a bit odd from the titan of liberal newspapers. After all, segregating the reading public in this way smacks of a world view that is usually not found in much of the... More

As Hurricane Dennis bears down on the U.S. this evening, it's done some of the worst damage, ever, in Castro's decaying island tyranny on Cuba. But something's happening. Cubans, long deprived of technology like the Internet and cell phones, except in the most controlled circumstances, somehow... More

And just how did this happen?   quote LONDON, United Kingdom —— In a July 9 story about Prime Minister Tony Blair's comments on overcoming global terrorism, The Associated Press erroneously reported that he spoke of easing the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. Blair... More

D. J. Drmmond of Polipundit neatly sums up the reasons why I am so optimistic about the fate of the Supreme Court. Tbe Democrats have backed themselves into a corner with the deal they cut on filibusters. If they attempt to filibuster a SCOTUS nomination, they will be nuked. And for all their... More

The San Francisco Chronicle lionizes a communist, Lester Rodney, 97 years old now, and living in suburban Walnut Creek (a place noted for its paucity of African American residents or shoppers in its busy downtown retailing mecca), for his work forcing baseball to integrate by allowing Jackie... More

The left cites the 9/11 Commission Report as definitive on the subject of there being supposedly no connections between Iraq and al Qaeda. The report never claimed to be the last word, and, indeed, a lot more has been learned since then. The Weekly Stndard publishes an important report on what we... More

Married to the leader of one of the most important nations of the free world, she is a successful high powered lawyer in her own right.  Backing just about every popular liberal left cause around, including opposition to George Bush and the war on terror in Iraq while speaking sympathetically... More

The Mediacrity website, which has become a great favorite of mine, has a heads—up on this Sunday's New York Times Magazine cover story on the Middle East's Fun Couple, Dr. and Mrs Bashar al—Assad. Just when you thought the Times had hit bottom, they haul out the jackhammer and... More

D.J. Drmmond of Polipundit makes a case that the filibuster deal may ultimately represent a triumph for Majority Leader Bill Frist: Bill Frist lost a lot of his credibility as an effective leader when 7 supposed Republican Senators left the huddle to go work out a special deal with 7 from the... More

Once again, the "newspaper of record" tells us what is and isn't news. In its eyes, at least. It is amazing to me how, in this entire article, the journalist can find room to quote the grievances of Muslims about the policies of America and England, and how they policies led to the bombing, but... More

The New York Times continues its campaign to show how the Plame affair will lead to the chilling of press freedoms. Here it covers the Cleveland Plain Dealer's claims it is withholding from publication two investigative stories based on leaks for fear of prosecution. A reporter is quoted as being... More

Oh, the poor bien pensants! It seems a survey of the Arab world establishes that they, like Bush, think their problems are related to the lack of the rule of law and their corrupt, tyrannical governments: Quote:What do Arabs really think about the problems that afflict them, and how is this... More

Christopher Adamo makes a superb case today about Hillary Clinton's glaring weakness as an ambitious 2006 presidential candidate — her far—left agenda. One additional detail was seen in today's Investor's Business Daily editorial that further shows Hillary's leftist agenda:... More

"US Budget Deficit Estimate Falls 24%" July 8 (Bloomberg) —— Rising tax payments and a growing economy may push the U.S. federal deficit down to $325 billion or lower, a 24 percent decline from the previous estimate, the Congressional Budget Office said. The agency, in a monthly... More

The Sun of the U.K. runs a list of the evil perpetrated by Islamic terrorists. But there are very, very curious ommissions. The thousands of Israelis killed and maimed in the name of Islam as they were riding a bus, shopping or dining are ignored; the hostage taking and deaths in a Chechen school... More

Mediacrity's exchange with the New York Times over the failure of the Times to credit the blogger with diggin up certian information continues. Huffing and puffing by the Gray lady doesn't seem to be working as well as it used to. More

Jack Kelly argues in a way remarkably similar to my contention that this case is the worst possible argument for expanding the federal privilege against testifying. Clarice Feldman   7 8 05 More

Charles Krauthammer makes the case that another Ruth Bader Ginsburg would be preferable to another Sandra Day O'Connor. He does so very effectively: Unlike a principled conservative such as Antonin Scalia, or a principled liberal such as Ruth Bader Ginsburg, O'Connor had no stable ideas about... More

Someone finally gets homeland security funding right The New Hampshire Union—Leader, DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff, and Senator Judd Gregg are to be commended for understanding the solution to the homeland security funding boondoggle.  In the wake of the terror bombings in London, the... More

Fewer than one third of French citizens surveyed has confidence in Jacques Chirac as their leader, according to UPI: a day before President Jacques Chirac delivers his annual Bastille Day address, a poll published in Le Parisien newspaper found only 32 percent of respondents had "confidence" in... More

Virginia lives up to its history as the home of many of our founding fathers. The Washington Post reports: A prominent Islamic scholar who exhorted his followers after the Sept. 11 attacks to join the Taliban and fight U.S. troops was sentenced Wednesday to life in prison. Ali al—Timimi... More

Josh Bently writes us from Fayetteville, Arkansas:  Apparently Rod Blagojevich considers himself to be the King of Illinois.  Yesterday the Land of Lincoln's governor announced that he would be spending $10 million of his subjects' money on stem cell research.  As reported today in... More

While most of our elected leaders in Washington are focused the global war on terror and the upcoming Supreme Court confirmation battle in the Senate, the American people seem to be overlooking other key trends and events around the world. One worrying trend that deserves much more attention is the... More

"Trade gap narrows due to strong demand for American products" While liberal pundits and politicans decry the rise of anti—Americanism around the world, our sales to foreigners seem to be rising. Pepsico just reported strong growth for its products in overseas markets, Boeing exports are... More

The Los AngelesTimes publishes an op—ed on the dearth of women columnists, claiming that women are more liberal than men, and that the media, cowed by conservative criticism, won't publish them. Yep, that is it...the media only likes conservatives to give opinions. Puh—leeze!... More

Thomas Friedman compares some Israelis to fascists. Hmm...isn't this just one smidgen away semantically from calling them ...Nazis? Clever, this journalist may be. This type of comparison got a lot of Democratic politicians (and Republican Senator Santorum) in trouble.  He... More

A New York Times op—ed columnist pines for good speeches of Jimmy Carter—affection for "malaise" speech. Of course, some would blame Jimmy Carter's dithering and refusal to support the Shah of Iran as leading to the ascendancy of Khomeini and the rise of radical Shia Islam. Some... More

A Saudi prince who supports anti—Semitic, anti—American , pro—Jihad media gives millions to Carter Center in the presence of Representatives Conyers (D—MI) and Rahall (D—WV). He is also a major giver to the American—Arab Antidiscrimination... More

Our mainstream media are curiously uninterested, indeed silent, on the subject of Jihadist violence in Thailand. Perhaps it is because the predminantly Buddhist Thais, like the Hindu Indians, do not fit into the prism of Christian—Muslim violence, and Israel is of no conceivable... More

As noted here yesterday  the Brits now have a website  in defiance of the bombings in London. And wouldn't you know, a critic for the New York Times damned it because——get ready for this——"there's a brutish flaunting of wealth and leisure." Yes,... More

God bless the British. They are not afraid, and have the website to prove it. Enjoy it. Joseph Crowley   7 12 05 More

The invaluable MEMRI website has collected various Arab press reactions to London. Well worth a read. James Lewis   7 12 05 More

The other day I suggested that it may well have been a reporter who "outed" Valerie Plame. Looking at today's New York Times story in which they buried the bone, my suspicions are growing that Miller was the source, and I am not alone. The National Review's Media Blog is on the case. Quote: The... More

Kennewick Man, the nickname for an nearly complete 9000 year old human skeleton found near Kennewick, Washington, is beginning to tell his story to scientists. It was a tale which was almost lost to us. Using the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act as their excuse, the Umatilla,... More

The Sun newspaper in the U.K. editorializes today on a piblic speech by Tariq Ramadan. Extremist Islamic scholar Tariq Ramadan, who backs suicide bombings, is to address a London conference part—funded by police. This man's suspected links with terrorists are strong enough for him to be... More

Writing in the Telegraph, Mark Steyn once again proves himself the Master: ...the danger in separating "Islam" from "terrorism" is that it leads the control—freaks of the nanny state into thinking that "terrorism" is something that can be dealt with by border security, ID cards, retinal... More

"Higher—paid jobs rise at faster clip"   The New York Times  and other liberally—inclined media outlets have cast cold water on employment figures ever since George Bush won his first election . Either a rise in employment did not match population growth (a measure... More

Buried deeply in the anti—Rovian fluff of the New York Times, the very paper which is trying to sanctify Judith Miller for not talking, while pillorying Rove for cooperating with the investigation (the Times demanded) by talking only to the grand jury: The e—mail message from Mr.... More

French school examinations, developed and paid for by the French government, are using a hideous cartoon making light of the World Trade Center collapse, as it asks students "How was American power contested on September 11, 2001?" The Transatlantic Intelligencer reports. Scroll down for the... More

It looks as though the French may be eating less bouillabaisse and more vichyssoise this year. The EU has slammed them over their flouting of regulations on fishing. The perfect compliment to the potato soup would be tarte de corbeau. Joseph Crowley   7 12 05 More

Well, that didn't take long. A bus bombing within a mile of its London headquarters actually jolted the BBC into using the word "terrorism" to describe the deliberate targeting of innocent civilians — well, as long as they weren't Israelis. But only briefly. The Jerusalem Post reports that... More

The Palestinian Authority calls on UN to punish Israel over the security barrier it has built to protect itself from terror attacks. The terror—supporting PA says "we want to see concrete measures." Well, they have a concrete measure, all right. Of course, to be noted is that the... More

As long as 9/11 families followed our script they were admirable: not now, though.  Isn't that the main theme of this insensitive, arrogant editorial?  As long as 9/11 families could be used to attack Geoge Bush they deserved our praise and should be treated with utmost respect and... More

Dennis Prager demolishes the claims of those on the left that they support the troops while opposing the war in Iraq. In order to understand this, we need to first have a working definition of the term "support the troops." Presumably it means that one supports what the troops are doing and... More

Charles Johnson of Little Green Footballs had earlier renamed the UK's left wing newspaper with an appropriately Arabic prefix. Now, a rival lefty (but saner, usually) UK newspaper The Independent has discovered that al Guardian emplys a member of a hard—line Islamist... More

Imagine how angry you would be as a shareholder of a company which sat back and watched its home market share slip to third place from its perennial first place tradition. What if it had lost 30% off its share price in the last year, while the overall market went up 10%. You are 40% poorer... More

Mediacrity has spotted the Jew—baiting site Counterpunch engaging in what might be fraud. Of course I am not a lawyer and I don't know all the facts, so this is not a libelous accusation.  Not in the least. You be the judge. Thomas Lifson   7 17 05 More

No, they do not behave in a manner at all reminiscnet of Nazis, no matter what Senator Durbin says. Consider Army Pfc. Stephen Tschiderer: During a routine patrol in Baghdad June 2, Army Pfc. Stephen Tschiderer, a medic, was shot in the chest by an enemy sniper, hiding in a van just 75 yards away.... More

When is an insurgent not an insurgent?  When is a militant no longer a militant?  When does an activist cease being one? The Dallas News answers. These children were not collateral damage. They were targets. The SUV driver was no insurgent. He was a terrorist. People who set... More

Last year the Wall Street Journal ran a front—page story regarding the role that Muslim imams who visit prisons might play in radicalizing prisoners. This may no longer be simply a theoretical possibility as it seems that some Los Angeles gang members were recently arrested who may have been... More

Who is the Martin Luther of Islam? More

People are voting with their wallets and their appetites. They have an appetite for America that is not shared by the New York Times and other liberal outlets which propagandize that the world hates America. How about a new index: the McDonalds—Coke—Pepsi—Phillip Morris... More

The progress made among the younger cohort bodes well for improvement in the years ahead. Older children are not benefitting as well because they have had years of weak schooling that has hurt their potential. Now, under George Bush's No Child Left behind Act the younger children have some hope. Ed... More

"Fatuous creep" is Roger L. Simon's description of Charles Schumer, everyone's favorite senior Senator from the Empire State. As a safety precaution, last night Brit Hume reminded the "Panel" and his viewers that the most dangerous place in Washington is between Schumer and a TV camera. I'm... More

Joseph Wilson: "My wife was not a covert agency when Novak wrote his column" Clearly, Wilson himself could have said this years ago, but for political reasons he wished to use his wife as a targeted weapon against the Bush Administration. Much energy, money and dissension could have been avoided... More

But wait, I thought (according tho the Democrats) that America was creating terrorists around the world? And that terrorists are created by the Israel Palestinian conflict. So says Tony Blair.   Ed Lasky  7 15 05   More

You hit them and they dispense candy. The day after the London bombing attack Blair proudly announces $9 billion in aid to the Palestinians. Now he will seek to push Israel to give more concessions . I prefer a BOBO DOLL (you hit it and it keeps bouncing back) to a pinata that breaks apart in an... More

"Consumer Prices Stable" The absence of bad economic news continues to anger the liberals.  Consumer Inflation Absent Again in June By MARTIN CRUTSINGER, AP Economics Writer 37 minutes ago WASHINGTON — Consumer prices in June were well—behaved for a second month, while consumer... More

It is ironic that  the University of California system is dropping National Merit Scholarships offered by the school because of lack of recipient diversity as diversity of another sort——some would call it outright discrimination——is built into the allocation of... More

The University of California continues to flout the spirit, if not the letter, of the law passed by the voters of California requiring no state agency discriminate on the basis of race. UC, you see, desperately wants to engineer what it deems an appropriate racial mix for its student body (athletic... More

Positioning herself as an oh so concerned parent/citizen Senator Hillary Clinton (D—NY) has published a six step plan for healthier living for children in her New York state constituency's largest newspaper. At first glance packed with common sense and helpfulness, this plan masks an... More

The following headline and article are just too, too ripe for stale, sour, perverse, predictable and also extremely funny comments. Go ahead.  Clinton Urges Inquiry Into Hidden Sex in Grand Theft Auto GameWASHINGTON, July 13 — Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton is calling on federal... More

Chirac, the Jacques—ass, languishes in the polls, but another figure, Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, is soaring. Strangely enough, the French populce is backing a man who seems imbued with common sense. And, wonder of wonders, he commends Tony Blair and George W. Bush as leaders from... More

Mass. Democratic politicians have roundly attacked Senator Santorum's recent comments regarding how the liberal culture of Boston may have contributed to the Catholic Church sex abuse scandal. This was to be expected, given that Boston is sacred ground for liberals and Santorum is vulnerable in... More

The latest salvo has been fired in the ongoing debate between those who want to modernize old battleships and those who want to fund a new fleet of destroyers. Many billions, not to mention our military effectiveness, are at stake. Doug Hanson   7 14 05 More

Investors Business Daily this morning editorializes with great clarity on the necessity of ridding ourselves of those who incite actions like the London bombings. We do not need anyone preaching hate. An increasing number of foreign imams preaching in America have been tied to terror and... More

A Wall Street Journal editorial  (subscription required) entitled 'The Silicosis Sheriff' covers the painstaking efforts by Texas federal Judge Janis Graham Jack, a Clinton appointee, to uncover the massive fraud in nationwide silicosis litigation.  Lawyers, doctors, plaintiffs and... More

While the world is preoccupied with the Middle East, a serious conflict is brewing in East Asia, between two powers with a history of military conflagration rather fresh in mind. For centuries Japan and China have disputed the ownership of the small island chain which the Japanese call the... More

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors is a unique political body, serving as the legislative arm of the only government in California (and probably America) which combines the functions of a city and a county. It is also home to one of the most appalling collections of bozo—politicians to be... More

It is never surprising to learn about the association between Nazism and radical Islam. Both groups are obsessed with Jews, and share the same ultimate goal of world dominance. The Grand Mufti of Jerusalem spent World War II as a guest of Der Fuhrer in Berlin. The Baath parties were modeled on the... More

JustOneMinute makes a reasonable case on the public information that there is a substantial press cover—up in the Plame case just as the media is making its arguments to Congress that the press should get receive a testimonial privilege shielding them from disclosing what they know in... More

The hypocrisy of the left regarding public broadcasting: while demonizing CPB head Ken Tomlinson for wasting money when he hired consulatants to examine the issue of bias at CPB, the ruling powers—that—be have been doing the same (and much worse) with public money for years. Not only... More

How is this for a lead sentence: "Under pressure from Democratic senators, the board that rates video games assigned the latest installment of the Grand Theft Auto series an adults—only label yesterday, effectively removing it from the shelves of most major retail stores." The article goes... More

In a favorable review of the book The Looting of the Iraq Museum, Baghdad: The Lost Legacy of Ancient Mesopotamia, the August 2005 issue of Scientific American says that a statue of a woman's head dating from the ninth or eight century B.C. 'suffered severely' from the 'sack of Baghdad in 2003.'... More

Yesterday the ratings numbers for talk radio  indicated Rush Limbaugh was a hit in deep blue New York. And that's no one city quirk.  Apparently the man those tolerant liberals love to hate is also wildly popular in bluest Chicago and Los Angeles. Limbaugh's popularity transcends... More

Did you know that 60 million Christians in the United States have converted to Judaisim? No? Well, neither did I. But Hizbullah's Al—Manar TV presented retired Lebanese general and public relations expert Dr. Hisham Jaber in a discussion of  "global Zionism" and its purported hand... More

The World Trade Organization (WTO) announced yesterday that it will flormally investigate charges of illegal subsidies to Airbus, and the counter—charges of illegal subsidies to Boeing. We have previously written about the combat between the two jetliner makers, which involves hundreds of... More

We have an interfesting prospect at hand: John G. Roberts Jr.Born Buffalo, NY (more likely Hamburg, NY, a conservative suburb)Attended St. Bernadette's (Catholic) Grammar School until 2nd grade.Father, an electrical engineer for Bethlehelm Steel who was transferred to Gary, IndianaGrew up in Long... More

Wednesday July 20th 2005 was the 36th anniversary of one of mankind's greatest achievements. On that day in 1969, Apollo 11 landed safely on the moon, in the monumentally—historic '...one giant leap for mankind.' Our family was at Fenway Park in Boston, watching a double—header between... More

Late Night TV King, Johnny Carson, died last year.  Now, Gerry Thomas is gone.   If you've ever pulled a serving tray over your knees while sitting to watch the flickering light coming from a rectangular box in the living room, you should know Gerry Thomas. Mr. Thomas is the inventor... More

I read this offensive New York Times article  late in the day and was going to do some research on he author and the subject of the article (civilian body counts in Iraq). I thought that one of he more offensive parts of the article was the new euphemism for terrorists—"unknown agents."... More

The left has now published TWO phony counts of civilian deaths in Iraq.The first (100,000) in Lancet has been thoroughly debunked, though it still shows up everywhere. Now there's a figure one—fourth as high, but it's no better: SPLASHED ON THE front page of The Independent yesterday, was... More

Rep. Tom Tancredo (R—Col.) said that if terrorists used a nuclear weapon against us, we should bomb Mecca. His comment is wrong, and he should apologize for it. We should not punish nearly a billion people by destroying their holy site, just because some extremists detonate a nuclear... More

Iowahawk is up to his usual tricks, hilariously skewering the left wing intent to oppose any Bush nominee for the SCOTUS. Read it here. Clarice Feldman   7 20 05 More

We are in for a lively confirmation process. To be sure, there will be serious discussion of legal issues, somewhere. But the most entertaining aspect will remain mostly  unspoken. Because it is all about vanity. New York's senior Senator, Charles Schumer, has a very high opinion of his own... More

Tony Blankley delivers a well—deserved thrashing to a recent report of Chatham House, aka the Royal Institute of International Affairs, a venerable organization once highly respected. Chatham House, formerly known as the Royal Institute of International Affairs, announced its considered... More

Well, look who are the top talkers in the bluest of the blue areas, New York, New York, according to Drudge:  LIMBAUGH TOP POLITICAL TALK NYCAPRIL—JUNE 2005[ALL LISTENERS] LIMBAUGH 139,000 [QTR HOUR]HANNITY 99,100O'REILLY 72,700SAVAGE 61,900 AL FRANKEN 61,400... More

Compare the solicitous attitude that New York Times managing editor Bill Keller shows for Judith Miller to the complete apathy shown by Mainstream Media for the plight of the Iranian pro—democracy activist  and journalist Akbar Ganji who is thought to be near death as a result of a... More

Ray D., writing on DavidsMedienkritik, critically dissects the Schroeder — Fischer — German Media "Axis" and how it warps German public opinion. Long and worthwhile. More

Caleb Carr is a talented novelist, whose first delightful book, The Alienist, presented social and intellectual history in the guise of a thriller. I think that I remember seeing indications in the press that he was more—or—less politically acceptable in the lefty New York literary... More

George Soros is making an investment in training, [make that 'empowering'] the next generation of left wing activists. Campus Progress, a project of billionaire George Soros's Center for American Progress, just held a national student conference, supposedly to work on the intellectual... More

Mark Levin today on NRO "This is the real scandal. Plame lobbied repeatedly for her husband (to go to Niger), and she knew full well that he was hostile to the war in Iraq and the administration's foreign policy. ... there can no longer be any pretense about him being a nonpartisan diplomat who... More

From an online discussion with David von Drahle, author of the Washington Post article cited here. Orange County, Calif.: Mr. von Drehle, I linked to your article from a favorite blog, americanthinker.com, and was delighted. Thanks for a great piece. The "Founding Fathers as bloggers"... More

What is the sound of one Bilderberger conspiring? More

This is how the BBC reports on America. It's a crazed place, where 11—year old Mexican girls are persecuted for throwing a stone at a group of boys. The Euromedia drop these stories in an endless stream. In many cases, it is the only way Europeans know anything about America. It explains a... More

The biggest companies in America are oil companies. And why shouldn't they be? For just one speculative oil well, drilling to seek commercially extractable oil, the bill can easily come to $50 million. And that's just to find it. Getting  it out of the ground usually costs a lot more.... More

Ever since 9/11 I've been very troubled by the dearth of condemnation of terrorist by American Muslims. I felt that If they were not to be considered the  targets of suspicion and prejudice, they should be in the forefront of combating radical Islam, not just whining about being the targets of... More

Today it was proudly announced that the citadel of French culture has fallen — just as the Bastille did two centuries ago. The Louvre Museum proudly yet cravenly proclaimed that it has accepted a $20 million donation from  Saudi oilyarch* Walid bin Talal to build an entire new wing for... More

David Kaspar of Davidsmedienkritik, notices that Germany's largest online news site, Spiegel Onine (SPON) presents a very different face to its English Language readers abroad than it does to its German Language readers at home. In its magazine and on its website, Der Spiegel, Germany's largest... More

My friend Gary Larson (not the cartoonist) has written an insightful essay in the Intellectual Conservative, on the subject of Indian casinos and America's treatment of its indigenous people. Located in my home state of Minnesota, Gary places in historical context the turn to gambling by Indian... More

I find it hard to tell moderates from extremists in Islam, in part because there is open permission to tell lies to enemies of Allah. But MEMRI has the expert knowledge to do it ——— and these translations show there is a vigorous group of genuine moderates speaking out in the... More

The labor union break—up is far and away the most important political story of the summer —— vastly more important than the Valerie Plame kerfuffle —— but I doubt the press will understand.  But the professional politicians will understand it, and... More

Don Surber puts together pieces of evidence indicating that at long last a backlash against terrorism and AQ is building at his blog site. More

John F. Kerry's brother Cameron is contemplating a run for Secretary of State in Massachusetts. In that position he would oversee elections. Ed Lasky   7 27 05 More

Further evidence of the crumbling of the Democratic Party is provided by the spectacle of widespread failure of Democrat Congressional Representatives to pay their dues to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC). Millions of dollars are involved, and the DCCC is vital to electing... More

Freedom of religion remains a marginal concept in much of the Middle East. Memri reports on Egyptian objections to a satellite TV channel reporting on the affairs of Coptic Christians. The weekly show "Questions About Faith" on the Egyptian based Christian Al—Hayat satellite channel features... More

Jonathan Freedland of the leftist Guardian reads the riot act to London Mayor Ken Livingstone, who has been playing footsie again with Islamic terror supporters. Of note because it is in the pages of the Guardian, he explains why holding Israel to a different standard than other nations is... More

Score one for the good guys of the blogosphere! The Guardian, the once—prestigious left wing U.K. newspaper, has been forced to fire an intern, Dilpazier Aslam, who was a member of an extremist Islamist political party and who had not declared this when he wrote a comment after the 7/7... More

Eleanor Clift on last Sunday's McLaughlin Group, discussing the London bombings: "And so you have these large Muslim populations with many young men who are aggrieved, and I think it's going to be incumbent upon all of the world to try to address these grievances."  I would like to ask... More

This article by the former Kuwaiti Education Minister argues that the Muslim Brotherhood (i.e., Hamas) has declared that all other Mulsims are "takfir" — accused of apostacy — for which the punishment is death. That's the rationale for the Egyptian bombing. This is sort of interesting... More

Last week the best—selling author and queen of anti—liberalism, Ann Coulter, wrote an article about the recent nomination by President Bush of Appeals Court Judge John G. Roberts Jr. that has since caused many conservatives to get downright snippy toward her, and I can't for the life of... More

Rick Moran profiles some of the CIA partisans who have attacked the White House over the Plame affair on his blog, The Right Wing Nut House. This continues his investigative work on the CIA connections with the case. More

If this is accurate, it does not bode well for our battle against Islamic terrorism. As the 60th anniversary of the atomic bombings of Japan approach in two weeks, one major poll shows that Americans, in a historical switch, now appear about equally divided on the decision to use the bomb.... More

John Leo reminds us of the numbers games played by lefty advocates on everything from war casualties to the homeless: Isn't it awful, a friend said at dinner the other night, that 100,000 Iraqi civilians have died since the U.S. invasion? When I asked where the statistic came from, he said maybe... More

Amidst the fear and loathing on the left that John Roberts will be quickly confirmed, and move the Court to the right, Britisher Quentin  Langley posits a more sober and thoughtful perspective. If the existing Court with O'Conner consised of four liberals , three conservatives and two... More

The New York Post publishes a painfully accurate cartoon mocking the searches underway in New York subways. Dick Weitz   7 24 05     More

Why does the left (see the BBC and Michael Moore, for example) insist that terrorism doesn't exist? Here's as good an explanation as I've seen. The website Dr. Sanity writes: The Left calls international terrorism an "illusion." I call the the views of the Left "delusional". Thier illusion is a... More

In an editorial yesterday, the Telegraph of London has proposed "Ten Urgent Steps to Make Britain Safer." But in its very phrasing the Telegraph itself advanced what George Orwell would have thought to be the  single most important step: a clear and unambiguous understanding of the... More

Cuba remains a tyranny, albeit one excused by many on the American and European left. The latest evidence is the arrest of several prominent dissidents, many of whom were involved in the May rally on which we reported here. The BBC reports that at least 20 Cuban dissidents have been detained as... More

The Los Angeles Times carries an editorial today about what it calls President Bush's "creepy" "obsession" with exercise: "Given the importance of his job, it is astonishing how much time Bush has to exercise . . . There's no denying that the results are impressive.  Bush can bench press 185... More

Irshad Manji, a Canadian Muslim and well—known author living under threat of a fatwa calling for her death, writes today in the Los Angeles Times about the same problem addressed by Dr. N.S. Rajaram on AT today: the Quranic roots of terror. I don't understand how moderate Muslim leaders can... More

Well, well ...the uber—liberal should be ashamed.  Why didn't he do a mea culpa sometime over the last 30 years? Only a few weeks before the 1964 election, a powerful presidential assistant, Walter Jenkins, was arrested in a men's room in Washington. Evidently, the president was... More

This article brings to light a fact unknown to many: England and other governments in Europe (and Canada) not only offer asylum for many Islamist extremists, but also puts them on the dole. So not only do they flout their hate and manipulate the freedoms available in the West, but they also... More

The Brits, we are often told, do foreign affairs better.  Centuries of colonialism taught them lessons in exercising power over other societies, taking advantage of local customs and institutions, to make acceptable the foreign domination. The Brits ruled vast India with a comparative handful of... More

As we look out over the horizon, there is increasing evidence that the leftist hodgepodge of multiculturalism and tolerance of Islamic intolerance is losing favor in Holland, France and now the UK. But there is one standout, Cherie Blair. [quote] Only one person of political significance, it... More

"Economic growth firmly entrenched" Confirming the continuation of the solid, steady expansion that finally became firmly entrenched during the second quarter of 2003, the U.S. economy grew at an impressive 3.4 percent annual rate last quarter. It was the ninth consecutive quarter during which the... More

Contributor Rick Moran, at his site Rightwing Nuthouse, outlines the alarming reasons he sees a coming pandemic, when the bird flu virus makes the leap from animals to humans, something it has started to do in Asia, where humans and animals live in close proximity. We have no defenses aginst... More

A Washington Post article notes Condi Rice's enhanced power at State (compared to Colin Powell), due in part to her closeness to President Bush, and in part to her own willingness to travel and lead. [Powell was the least traveled Secretary of State in recent history.] The Post suggests that Rice... More

Niall Ferguson makes the case that Europe's spiritual emptiness makes it a soft target for Islamofascism. Richard Baehr   7 31 05 More

It is interesting that the following article by Minette Marrin should appear in today's Times (London). Yesterday, Theodore Dalrymple, aka Anthony Daniels, was on BookTV speaking at the Manhattan Harvard Club on June 2nd of this year. The occasion was his induction as the first occupant of a... More

Chris Adamo's article, "War of the Worldviews" told us that Hollywood leftists hoped we'd see the new Speilberg movie in an anti—Administration way. But most people seeing it think differently. This is reminiscent of something I read a long time ago concerning the Soviets. This... More

Mohammad Naseem, considered a moderate, is the chairman of the city's central mosque. He called  Tony Blair a "liar" and "unreliable witness." He also questions the reliability of DNA evidence and the targeting of Muslims in the war on terror. The police brought him to Birmingham to rally... More

New York Times foreign affairs columnist Tom Friedman engages in more Tomfoolery at the expense of intellectual insight and plain common sense today. In this column he opines about the changes in the Middle East and the demise of the old—line political parties. He writes that Hamas and... More

Score another one for the blogosphere! Scott Burgess should be commended for his fine work on this scandal. For background go to his site. Rathergate is being reprised as Sassygate in England, and the left wing stalwart Guardian is standing in for CBS News. Ed Lasky   7 29 05  More

Democrats often invoke freedom of speech to justify the right of anyone to utter the most outlandish, the most hate filled or even the most treasonous speech.  Well and good but of course when applied against them these lofty principles no longer apply.   The Democratic mayor of the... More

ABC news seems to have a soft spot for terror. Peter Jennings is notoriously indulgent to the Palestinian cause. His ethos now may pervade the entire organization. Recently, ABC News program Nightline ran an interview with Chechen terrorist Shamil Basayev, Basayev is no less than the warlord... More

America's new crime capital is Arizona, prominent member of the small club of Mexican border states. Former Clinton administration appointee and current Arizona Governor, Janet Napolitano, must have some friends in high places at the Arizona Republic.  Buried on the back pages Wednesday was... More

NASA has held a monopoly on human space exploration in the United States. It has been magnificent, and is now out of date. As the Director of NASA just admitted, the space agency should not have launched Discovery, because even after a billion plus dollars spent to fix the foam heat shield, too... More

During the debate over the "nuclear option" regarding changing Senate rules so as to prohibit the filibuster of judicial nominees, our favorite Democratic Senators were invoking the "separation of powers" doctrine in support of continuing the practice. Never mind that separation of powers has... More

I received a comment on my article on Admiral Inman (republished on my site) from someone purporting to be Larry Johnson: Hey boneheads,I actually spoke with Admiral Inman. He said he was misquoted (Gee, what a surprise, the NRO can't get its story straight). He's disgusted by the attacks on... More

It seems Oliver Stone has had a change of heart over the past couple of weeks. Here, all he can talk about is how his new flick will tell the story of 9/11 heroes. But I guess that didn't get the "we can hardly wait" response he and his publicists were hoping for. So now it looks like they're... More

The new president of Iran is certainly no reformer. MEMRI provides translation of excerpts from a televised speech of President—Elect Mahmoud Ahmadi—Nejad: "We want art that is on the offensive. Art on the offensive exalts and defends the noble principles, and attacks principles that... More

The Kurds have been our most reliable allies in Iraq. Far more secular and democratic than the Sunni and Shia Arabs, the Kurds are justifiably uneasy about Iraq's disturbing new draft constitution. That document would put Iraq well on the road toward being a theocratic state. The US officially is... More

Investors Business Daily publishes an editorial on CAFTA that goes out and talks to some of the people in Los Angeles who will be most affected by it, the Central Americans living there. Turns out that a lot of things are going to easier to do and cheaper, expanding opportunities and... More

In the wake of the split in Big Labor, discoverthenetwork.org provides a detailed profile of John Sweeney, just re—elected head of the downsized AFL—CIO. It is an engrossing read because there are so many revealing details. I hadn't realized the political tradition, shall we say, from... More

Hear ye, hear ye doomsayers and the hate America crowd——you're wrong.  Again.  This time you're wrong about the economy.  People are working, businesses are expanding, investment is growing.   Several Indicators Point to Brisk Economic GrowthBy VIKAS... More

Carol Platt Liebau makes a compelling case in The American Spectator that the GOP is better off picking Supreme Court nominees from the Washington DC talent pool. She notes that Thomas, Scalia, and Rehnquist, who all made their careers in DC, were immune to the blandishments to "grow in... More

According to ABC News: Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D—NY) and Rep. Danny Davis (D—IL) attend an event titled "The Black Male: Endangered Species or Hope for the Future?" at 2:15 pm ET at the Washington Convention Center. "Endangered Species"? That is not Politically Correct, to say... More

The Media Research Center reports the stunning remark of Peter Arnett, former CNN and NBC star correspondent. Peter Arnett, who was dismissed as an NBC News correspondent after he went on Iraqi TV on March 30, 2003 to boost the Hussein regime's morale by insisting that "the American war planners... More

Remember back in the early days of Bush's second presidential win when self styled  tolerant, open minded, diversity loving, democracy advocates shrieked they couldn't live under four more years of a Bush regime so they were decamping to Canada?  Well, well, well—— they're... More

His "loan" to a former lover who, as part of her job, negotiates with the Governor's office, could prove destructive to Democrat John Corzine's campaign for New Jersey Governor this year.  New Jersey voters  proved with former Democratic Senator Bob Toricelli, that a very... More

Last month, Clifford May puts it all together on NRO, analyzing the Plame Affair. He made a very strong case that the actual crime of outing Valerie Plame as a covert ops agent was copmmitted by Joe Wilson, in revealing to David Corn (of The Nation and Fox News) on deep background, that his... More

He's not the heartless conservative as have some on the left have depicted. The Los Angeles Times reveals that Supreme Court nominee John G. Roberts Jr. worked behind the scenes for gay rights activists, and his legal expertise helped them persuade the Supreme Court to issue a landmark 1996 ruling... More

A military junta has overthrown the leader of Mauritania, an ally of America in its fight against terror and one of the few Muslim nations that had diplomatic relations with Israel. The former President, Maouya Sidi Ahmed Taya, was replaced while he was out of the country attending the funeral of... More

I've often thought that we should offer statehood to the four western provinces of Canada — British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. Perhaps BC would have to change its name to "The Former British Columbia" or "FBC" for short. Or, maybe we could try "American Columbia" or "AC"... More

British MP George Galloway has just told the fascist regime in Syria that "Foreigners Are Raping Two Beautiful Arab Daughters — Jerusalem and Baghdad." This language is obviously designed to promote peace and the spirit of compromise in the Arabic world. It was Mr. Galloway who was one of the... More

Supposedly chastened by the Left, 'bad boy' John Bolton was welcomed to the U.N. by Kofi Annan this week.  Bolton told Annan that he was 'glad to be here.'  He also met with his new staff.  Did you know that they were 'nervous'?  This is how the Boston Globe reported it: Just... More

How do you know if you are entering a particularly dangerous neighborhood in San Francisco? Of course! You would look for a sign which calls the area a "Peace Zone." San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom poses with the latest example of a municipal program of doubletalk. I didn't even realize that the... More

Quebec has had separatism as its own issue for decades now. But, as I have long noted, Quebec is not the only province with an argument that it gets a raw deal. In particular, Western Canada, especially Alberta, is exploited financially for the benefit of eastern Canada. Kate of the Small Dead... More

When Andrew Stern split organized labor by walking out of the AFL—CIO, he promised to decouple big labor from the Democrats. The process has already begun. According to the New York Post, Service Employees International Local 32BJ in New York has handed an endorsement to Republican... More

Let's put together some bits and pieces regarding Tuesday's aircraft destruction and passenger evacuation drill brought to you courtesy of Air France at the end of a flight from Paris to Toronto. One, there were severe thunderstorms in the vicinity of Pearson International Airport that had earlier... More

The revelation by Herb Meyer that the National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) cited by Rick Moran  is, in fact, a finished product indicates serious problems within our intelligence community or our Administration.  Sadly, the available evidence points to Herb's second possibility,... More

I've just read Rick Moran's superb piece about the leaked National Intelligence Estimate, which concludes that Iran is nowhere near having nuclear weapons, and also the various newspaper articles on which Rick's piece is based. It turns out that the leaked conclusions come from a finished NIE... More

Yesterday's Washington Post article on Iranian nuke capability criticized by Rick Moran today on AT also drew the attention of Roger L. Simon today. It is "repellent and dangerously close to disinformation", he says: Today's Washington Post article on a new intelligence report that Iran is... More

David Frum points out the fallacy of the NYT news story that much of the reform of the UN has already happened and that Bolton is irrelevant. Of course, this dovetails with their EDITORIAL position today,that the silver lining behind Bolton's appointment is that he can't do harm elsewhere while he... More

During his 16 year career with the hapless (sorry fans, including George Will) Chicago Cubs Ryne Sandberg was a quietly outstanding player.  Unlike some of his (nameless) team mates and (ditto) colleagues who had their tantrums and pettiness,  their flourishes and flash, Sandberg was a... More

Sen. Edward Kennedy's reaction to President Bush's recess appointment of John Bolton as United States ambassador to the United Nations was typical and not surprising: "The abuse of power and the cloak of secrecy from the White House continues. It's a devious maneuver that evades the constitutional... More

David Kaspar covered the destruction of the Checkpoint Charlie memorial in Berlin, whose crosses commemorated those killed trying to cross the wall to freedom. Now his site Davidsmedienkritik tells us that left wing politicians in Berlin want to restore a statue of Lenin to its former place.... More

MSNBC is at it again. In a story on their web site today regarding the recess appointment of John Bolton as UN ambassador, their "objective, accurate" reporting uses quotes from five senators sharply critical of the President's move, with only a vaguely—positive quote from Bill Frist to... More

President George Bush exercised his presidential prerogative and bypassing the Senate by appointing his candidate, John Bolton, as US representative to the UN as a recess appointment.  Predictably the Senate rantings have begun.  A revealing sample——mainly from Democrat... More

The best description of what is happening in Iran and why the Mullahs so fear the "democracy bomb": [quote]One of my favorite reporters called late last week, saying he had learned that Coalition forces in Iraq had captured an Iranian vehicle entering Iraq with large quantities of shaped... More

Hmm..imagine that..the EU defying an international organization. Sacre bleu! The EU has been favoring its former colonies in terms of importing bananas. Latin American producers cried foul to the WTO—which has now ruled that the EU has been and apparently intends to violate trade rules by... More

Jihad Jane With a hat tip to Ollie North for the title What a prize to show for her life of toil,A bus that runs on vegetable oil;To keep it running will prove no strain,Run a fuel line from her peanut brain.As once again she shows us allHow wrong we are and how we'll fall.She'll grant no quarter,... More

Several leading bloggers have been following the story of an apparent "loan" of substantial funds from a non—profit organization, a boys and girls club serving minority youth in NYC, to the former corporate parent of Air America, at the time it still owned AAR. The money was never repaid, and... More

It is Scientology. A New York Post editorial traces the links between city funding for a Scientology—based center for "the New York Rescue Workers Detoxification Project" and massive campaign donations by Scientology members to politicians sponsoring New York City grants of taxpayer funds to... More

America's military is taking a giant technological leap forward. Not that you'll hear much about it in the mainstream media. The scale of deployment of some of our most potent and promising weapon systems can now be expanded to an almost unlimited extent. A critical bottleneck is being... More

Thomas Lifson's take on housing policy is interesting. I have been an elected official in a surburban Boston community for over 20 years. One of the most aggravating state programs ever foisted on the suburbs is called chapter 40B affordable housing. The essence of this program is to achieve ten... More

Well, that was different. And interesting. And thought provoking. The interview on news talk radio CKOM originating from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan Canada, that is. Seems Canadians have a fair interest in what Americans are thinking. Or, in this case, blogging. Canada and America share a great deal... More

Matt May cannot bear to mention the name of Detroit 's disgraced King of All Media, Mitch Albom. Nevertheless, he eviscerates the conduct of the onetime MSNBC talker interviewing Cindy Sheehan, the mom who is holding a vigil in Crawford, Texas, protesting the combat death of her son. Worth reading.... More

The Anchoress covers the re—discovery of the Pool of Siloam in Jerusalem, a place of ritual bathing, and the likely site of a miracle of Jesus. As with everything in the Middle East, the political implications are profound. Earlier disgraceful New York Times coverage attemtping to disparage... More

My epiphany about non—profit organizations took place when I was a second—year Harvard Business School student, talking with my classmates about job—hunting. One of them, a cynical fellow, told me he intended to make his career in the non—profit sector. As I began to... More

Mediacrity, one of my favorite new blogs, must be the nightmare site of New York Times "public editor" (ombudsman) Barney Calame. Of course, being P.E. for the Gray Lady is no bargain in any event. One has to project the appearance of concern over readers' objections to material appearing in the... More

The Washington Times editorializes about the National Intelligence Estimate putting Iran's nuclear weapons capabilities into the distant future of a decade from now. It does not spare its local rival, The Washington Post, from criticism either, since it was the WaPo which published leaked... More

Although over 90% of senators and representatives are lawyers, including the present junior senator from New York, Hillary Rodham Clinton, what does she tell an adoring women's legal organization that she formerly headed and gave her an award at the American Bar Association convention? ... More

Cal Thomas looks into his crystal ball and traces the dangers facing Israel as it withdraws from Gaza. It is a chilling picture he paints. The "disengagement" later this month (which is actually a retreat and is seen that way by Israel's enemies) will not be the end, anymore than previous... More

China has just signed a deal for 42 copies of the new Boeing jetliner, the 787 Dreamliner, for roughly $5 billion dollars. While the amount involved is small compared to the overall trade deficit with China, it is nonetheless significant. The Dreamliner continues to score important sales, while... More

Desperately in search of ways to start warding off the evil eye of Karl Rove, fat cat Dem donors and Andrew Stern's SEIU are finding a new think tank. The Hill reports: [emphasis added] Silicon Valley progressives, a major labor union and a centrist Democratic organization have joined forces... More

David Reinhard, an associate editor of the Oregonian in Portland, pens a wicked essay on Air America and the hypocrisy of its founders and allies. Little by little, the cordon sanitaire errected by the New York Times is crumbling before the juicy hypocrisy on display. You just can't bottle up a... More

BBC News may be teetering on the verge of calling terrorists "terrorists." This is big news.  Just a few weeks after bloody carnage exploded in the center of London, even the leftwing BBC, which has refused to use the word TERRORIST without sneer quotes for years, may be coming around. A... More

The Independent of London headlined this weekend that "Historic Mecca, the cradle of Islam, is being buried in an unprecedented onslaught by religious zealots."  These particular zealots do not think they are enemies of Islam; they are the radical Wahhabi sect that supports the House of Saud.... More

The NCAA's ruling on Indian mascots and team names in post—season play will trash tradition at many teams around the country. One of them is the Utes of the University of Utah. The fact that the Ute Tribal Council specifically approves of this use, according to the Salt Lake Tribune,... More

A satellite broahcasting firm named WorldSpace recently raised $250 million in an offering underwritten by UBS Warburg and SG Cowan, despite a prospectus that warned:" "Allegations of ties between certain of our investors and terrorism could negatively affect our reputation and stock... More

"Air America looks like the broadcast version of the U.N. Oil—for—Food program, whereby money earmarked to save starving moppets somehow winds up in the bank accounts of bloated self—described do—gooders with political connections." Read the whole thing. More

Nick Cohen, a British leftist, recounts his "excommunication" from the left for daring to point out that alliances with fascistic, homophobic, brutal thugs may not exactly be progressive. Cohen is no fan of Bush or Blair, but he sees through the veil of denial of his comrades, and writes to them... More

Bit by bit Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is touching up his appearance, presumably to look youthful and vigorous no matter how the years may advance. After all, he is a billionaire who built his fortune in the media, and understands better than most of us how important physical... More

I don't know whether to laugh or cry — but the Europeans have just collapsed to the crazies in Tehran. They offered the same deal to the Mullahs that Bill Clinton gave to North Korea. Iran will get help with their nuclear power plants "to generate electricity" as long as they promise, promise... More

The NCAA has officially banned Chief Illiniwek (and all other Native American mascots) from performing in post—season games. Richard Baehr examined the issue with insight and humor during the NCAA Big Ten Tournament, when the Chief was unofficially banned. Richard wrote: At the Big Ten... More

Lawrence Kudlow, writing with William P. Kucewitz, covers many themes in his analysis of India on NRO today, a nation whose strategic importance and desirability as an ally we have highlighted since our beta—site debut. As a market gurus, the authors focus mainly on India's economy,... More

The Democrat—friendly media machine launched an attack on the Speaker of the House. It is the latest round of manufactured scandal charges, intended to brand the GOP as corrupt, and convince the inattentive that where there is so much smoke there must be fire. Left—wing British... More

Sixty years ago the United States dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima followed by another three days later at Nagasaki.  As a result the Japanese promptly surrendered, thereby saving thousands of lives Japanese as well as American.  Most sensible Americans understood the horrible... More

Dana Stevens has nailed Current, Al Gore's new cable channel. Writing today on Opinion Journal, it is irrevocably dubbed 'youth culture as imagined by Al Gore.'  Some other gems: Despite its almost serenely dated, retro feel, Current is very interested in graphics and gimmicks that recall... More

D.J. Drummond of polipundit.com assembles various MSM tributes to the late Peter Jennings as the paragon of journalistic virtue, and then offers some of PJ's biased comments along with his claim that 'We all have baggage, but one of the good things about journalists is that they recognize bias... More

The Washington Post brings us two encouraging stories today, one from Iraq, and one from Afghanistan. In Iraq, for the first time ever (apparently), Sunni Iraqis have come to the defense of their Shiite neighbors: Rising up against insurgent leader Abu Musab Zarqawi, Iraqi Sunni Muslims in Ramadi... More

Here's a promising report: BAGHDAD, Aug. 14 —— Rising up against insurgent leader Abu Musab Zarqawi, Iraqi Sunni Muslims in Ramadi fought with grenade launchers and automatic weapons Saturday to defend their Shiite neighbors against a bid to drive them from the western city, Sunni... More

Often overlooked in the MSM's daily casualty tally is the toll taken on our contract support workers in Iraq.  On August 3, a wall hanging was dedicated  in Baghdad honoring the 43 men and women of Kellogg, Brown, and Root (KBR) who have paid the ultimate sacrifice supporting our service... More

Controversy surrounds the Taj Mahal.  This recent dispute pitted a Muslim trust which claims Islamic ownership of the great Mogul monument against the Indian government, which asserts it to be national property. Now, India's archaelology agency joins the fray.  Of course,... More

CNN reports that Task Force Freedom, which is based in Mosul, Iraq, has found an 'insurgent' chemical facility.  US forces were led to the building based on information gleaned from detainee interrogations.  In addition to the chemical production equipment, over 1500 gallons of 'various... More

As this link shows, the new Iranian regime is amazingly brazen —— which is good, in a sense, since they don't bother to cover their real aims. What is not so good is their apparent calculation that sheer brazen intimidation will work quite well against the Europeans. If that is their... More

Hey there New England Republicans——Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean just gave you a compliment.  Sort of.  At a fund raiser in New Hampshire  for the state's Democrats he said ... Republicans in this area are easier to deal with than most. "New... More

Hmmm... David Wilhem...ex—Clinton campaign manager and Democratic bigwig...who was last seen on AT at this post is moving out of the state of Illinois. Well...let's see a short timeline: He has lived in Chicago for years, his investment firm takes a big chunk of State of Illinois pension... More

Reuters reported yesterday that a Taliban commander was killed in a fight with US Paratroopers and Afghan soldiers.  This positive news item amazingly makes the lede in a Reuters article before it reverts to the standard MSM template of gloom and doom concerning the US and Afghan casualty... More

This week the Federal Reserve Open Market Committee met and raised the Fed Funds rate another 25 basis points to 3.5%. This is the tenth consecutive increase since June of 2004 when the rate was at a 50 year low. The Fed Funds rate is the interest rate at which banks lend to each other overnight... More

"They sleep six or more to a tiny, ramshackle room; they are often supplied only with some blankets to sleep on the raw concrete floor, a single window that provides the only access for a cooling breeze, if it ever comes, and a toilet and a bathroom to share with countless others."* They often... More

While Howard Dean persistently insists the Democrats are the party of the people as opposed to the Republicans who are the party of white Christians who have never worked, some of those Democrats haven't been listening.   Take this amazing exchange between a Pennsylvania citizen,... More

In its latest response to the report that it failed to account for the Able Danger report, the 9/11 Commission spokesman indicates the report was inconsistent with the INS records as to the date of Atta's entry into the US.  Of course, the very idea of considering INS entry records dispositive... More

Now that the NCAA has banned the use of Native American nicknames and mascots during tournament competition, it's time to make sure all other offensive nicknames and mascots are likewise eliminated. To begin, Oklahoma State and Wyoming need to discard the offensive Cowboys nickname. The name... More

Ben Johnson, writing in Front Page Magazine, explores the background, associates and beliefs of Cindy Sheehan, and finds anti—Israel rhetoric. This woman is unsavory. Sheehan does not just lay the blame for her son's death on evil America, though. She recently wrote: my first born was... More

"I have a very strong commitment to the facts, and I wanted very much to make sure the facts were all before us and they were appropriately understood." The words of Jamie Gorelick, the tenth and last commissioner appointed to the 9/11 Commission.  She was 'one of the most active... More

Yesterday, the Wall Street Journal ran an article ($link) describing efforts by the United Church of Christ to ban the use of language and sport team insignias that refer to Native Americans (such as the Seminoles, Indians, Braves, Washington Redskins). The UCC believes these are caricatures... More

We held our silence during the tributes to Peter Jennings after his cancer death. Any man's death merits a period of peace, of mourning, of being left alone in grief. Those who loved him or who miss him deserve no less. Debbie Schlussel, writing in Front Page Magazine, seems to be first out of the... More

David Wilhelm, Bill Clinton's campaign manager in 1992, is under investigation in an expanding scandal regarding investment of teacher retirement funds in Illinois. Public employee pension plans all across America have been subject to political influence, and since their investment funds run into... More

Once again, the MSM is refusing to present any economic news in a way that might shed some favorable light on the Bush administration. This time, both the New York Times and the Washington Post trumpet AP headlines about "Record Tax Collections" in July to report on the large drop in the Federal... More

Despite intense, sometimes hysterical criticism of his alleged heartlessness, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom ended direct cash grants to homeless people. Instead, specific services, such as housing, were purchased and provided to ligitimate claimants. In other words, no more free money. The... More

If Joe Camel was sent into exile because the cartoon camel made kids smoke, what are we going to do with the recently discovered nicotine addicted frogs?  Scientists, who believe these certain frogs 'evolved' into poisonous frogs by eating alkaloid—rich ants, have found nicotine in one... More

Mackubin Thomas Owens argues in the New York Post that one reason we are suffering larger casualties lately is because we are quietly (in the media) on the offensive, attacking the ratline corridors bring in materiel and warriors. "Multinational Force West is conducting a number of operations in... More

Tha Bay Area's BART mass transit train system is asking passengers to be on alert for bombs, borrowing posters created for London. A bomb exploded in a train running in a tube under the Bay could be horrific, and cripple BART for an extended period of time. No one could ever believe that the... More

This will help ensure the immigrant lobby will support Democrats. Using our taxpayer dollars to help illegal immigrants buy houses.   Ed Lasky   8 10 05   More

Why is Israel withdrawing from Gaza?  A  thoughtful analysis is given in the Times of London by Oliver Kamm. The key is a new practical consensus in Israel. * The realistic Left has given up its wild hopes for a Canada—style unarmed border between Israel and the Palestinians,... More

You'll be as outraged as I am to read the latest development in the case: [quote] Those who believe in the adage "when it rains, it pours" might take the tale of the plaintiffs in Kelo v. New London as a cue to buy two of every animal and a load of wood from Home Depot. The U.S. Supreme Court... More

President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela has his panties in a bunch about US "aggression" — such as complaining about his refusal to help fight the drug trade. In retaliation, he told a youth festival, Venezuelan oil might not be sold to the US. "Instead of going to the United States, (it) could... More

Noel Shepard raised issues of subtle press bias yesterday. I am 57 and old enough to remember a day when the press did not push leftist line, subtly or not.  The New York Times in the early 1960s, as best I recall, used to publish anti—Soviet joke articles in their Sunday magazine. I... More

Is Iran getting more dangerous? The signs point that way. The new President of the regime was a leader of the radicals who took over the American Embassy in Tehran in 1979, an act that finished Jimmy Carter's presidency. He reportedly ran foreign assassination teams, and established the Jerusalem... More

Congratulations to Cristeta Comerford, newly appointed as executive chef at the White House, following a cook—off among finalists for the position. Her baptism of fire apparently was the dinner for 134 guests she cooked in July for the visit of India's Prime Minister Singh. Given the... More

The Washington Post publishes an editorial today supporting Japan's Prime Minister Koizumi, who has called an early election over the issue of postal savings system reform. Painful though it must be for the Post to support a conservative, the paper goes even further and advocates the effectiveness... More

Katharine Q. Seelye writes an article remarkable only for its appearance in the New York Times. It ponders the question of whether press coverage of Iraq has focused too much on the body count. ...an unusual discussion last month in New York at a regular meeting of editors whose newspapers are... More

Matt May raises an important point on his blog: In various video and still photographs of the Cindy Sheehan Circus, there appears to be a spot near the big tent where white crosses have been set with the names of American soldiers who have given the supreme sacrifice in Iraq.If there are crosses... More

The Washington Post front loads an article about controversy surrounding the Carlyle Group with information about Republicans. Democrats are barely mentioned until the very end when we learn of an actual indictment. Of a Democrat. This is the same phenomenon described by Noel... More

A brave Canadian, in simple words, finally noted  the hypocrisy of those self righteous liberals, loudly condemning the US for dropping the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki but deafeningly silent on Iran's nuclear work. It is ironic that, hard on the heels of the annual festival of... More

Iran's recently nominated president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad continues to cement the hardline anti—West and anti—reform nature of regime by appointing cabinet ministers known for their intractability. Mr. Ahmadinejad recently stated, "The wave of the Islamic revolution will soon reach the... More

Byron Calame, the NYT's second "public editor" (their term for ombudsman), has finally admitted in his web journal that the paper was slow in covering the Air America scandal. Mediacrity is all over the case. Here's my analysis. Calame wrote pieces of the unfolding story fell in the domains of... More

Enron adviser and NYT columnist Paul Krugman has also been employed by ex—Malaysian strongman Mahathir Mohammed. Krugman absurdly defended him against charges of anti—Semitism and ignored his role in framing deputy Prime Minister Anwar as corrupt... More

The Los Angeles Times reports that Pakistan's public schools are teaching jihad and hatred. America provides hundreds of millions of dollars to aid to Pakistan. Why shouldn't come with some requirements? Is a nation training its youth to hates us and fight us really an ally in the war on terror? Ed... More

Why is the world so uninterested in Israeli Arabs? Could it be that they are modern, that women enjoy full rights, that they are well—educated, enjoy great medical care, and have hope for the future in a dynamic Western democracy? . If Al—Jazeera covered Israeli Arabs, it would... More

John Bolton's recess appointment to the UN ambassadorship is already paying dividends. The New York Sun reports: The United Nations' funding of a Palestinian Arab propaganda campaign timed to coincide with Israel's pullout from the Gaza Strip has increased tensions between the U.N. and American... More

The daily newspaper industry continues to die before our very eyes. It is battling an expanding array of competitors, from proliferating cable TV outlets to the internet bloggers, seeking the eyeballs of news—hungry readers. None of these competitors has to chop down forests, make paper, put... More

The lid is being blown off the 9—11 Commission scam in grand fashion, particularly as it relates to the role that the legal wall played in preventing military intelligence analysts from sharing information on terrorists with domestic law enforcement agencies.  This wall was erected ... More

I quote Andrew Sumereau Conservative Lament today: "Tragically, as Republican ascendancy reaches its apex, the conservative ideal as a practical contributing force to our national government, like Marley's Ghost, is "dead as a doornail."" This statement is badly mistaken.  Andrew... More

Olivier Guitta takes us inside the Saudi regime's theocratic support base in a Tech Central Station article, full of fascinating insight on the dynamics of that feudal family's hold on power. More

A brand—new blog, Sweetness & Light, has appeared, and you should bookmark it. The anonymous proprietor is known to me as an extraordinary sleuth. You can count on him to dig up past statements, documents, and the like, which cast new light on poseurs and hypocrites. He is unrelenting and... More

The Wall Street Journal has an article today ($link) on the rage Chinese citizens are feeling regarding gas shortages and high prices caused by China's lack of refinery capacity. This artificial demand was created by a Chinese government juggling act "that has sought to keep domestic fuel... More

France threatens to halt aid to Palestinian Authority if a French journalist held hostage is not freed and returned. Doesn't this imply that France believes the PA controls violence in Gaza? The natural  and logical corollary to this would be that the PA has within its power the ability to... More

I'd like to know if the same liberals who felt uncomfortable about having to sing Jingle Bells in school or see Nativity scenes on public property also feel uncomfortable about seeing all those crosses along the roadside in Crawford, Texas? Haven't some Jewish and Muslim US soldiers died in... More

A very interesting memo from former US Attorney for Manhattan Mary Jo White apparently escaped being smuggled out of the National Archives in Sandy Burglar's pants. It turns out that White, who aggressively prosecuted terrorists responsible for the first WTC attack, told Jamie Gorelick that the... More

While America celebrated the sixth anniversary of the end of the World War II, two recently released documents show the Allies gave monetary rewards to a group of the Imperial Japanese Army officers responsible for some of most horrific and brutal activities in the Pacific. According to an... More

Oh—so—liberal Seattle has seen an elected public official has let slip some blatant anti—Semitic rhetoric. When will America's Jews wake up and recognize where the locus of anti—Semitism lies? Sam Ser of the Jerusalem Post reports: An elected official involved in a... More

We've recently made the acquaintnce of Tyler Cowan of the Marginal Revolution blog, a wonderful free market economics site of very eclectic and wide—ranging nature. You will find really smart, interesting, and yes, funny, economists taking on all kinds of topics. Their perspectives are often... More

The New York Times' Elizabeth Bumiller fudges facts today, writing about the first meeting Cindy Sheehan had with Bush. Bumiller writes that Sheehan met with Bush in June 2004 when she said "he was disrespectful' for calling her "Mom". Bumiller leaves out the fact that this is the second and later... More

Paul Krugman, tries to respond today to withering attacks on his column from last Friday in which he declared that a full statewide manual recount would have given Al Gore the victory in Florida in 2000.  Somebody at the New York Times may have gotten concerned about how far from the truth... More

Seemingly, Senator Chuck Hagel's service in Vietnam has endowed him, in the minds of Democrats and the mainstream media, with the aura of having the absolute moral authority that Maureen Dowd and others have granted Cindy Sheehan. As Eliot Cohen points out in his book,  Supreme Command:... More

With the hard—fought U.S. passage of the Central American Free Trade Agreement, there are signs of a welcome new alliance beginning to blossom — the permanence of the treaty means that Japan is looking to invest in poor, but stable Central American countries. CAFTA makes this... More

Over at the American Spectator Jed Babbin reinforces opinion expressed here at American Thinker. This is a good example of an instance in which having one's thoughts affirmed confers no satisfaction whatsoever. Today is Day 1 of the President's 5—day campaign to counter growing public... More

Little Green Footballs caught and saved an image from the BBC home page, showing the Israeli flag in flames. It appears that once people noticed and complained, the image was removed. UPDATE: Al Jazeera now uses the same image. More

J.D. Pendry has written an open letter to Cindy Sheehan, well worth reading. Authentic voices refuting  her message are important. A highlight: When I enlisted into the Army, I didn't intend to stay one day more than my three year enlistment. No matter the reason that a man or woman enters... More

Despite his service in Vietnam, Sen. Hagel's comparison of Iraq to Vietnam is incorrect and is a harmful influence on public opinion and troop morale.  What's up with this guy?  Is this just posturing as he contemplates a presidential run?   Frederick Kagan from the... More

William Tate believes he has identified what amounts to the smoking gun in placing responsibility where it belongs for the failure to connect the dots on Atta and his gang. He points to a memorandum issued by Jamie Gorelick in 1995. Writing on whatsinthenews.com, he notes that others... More

Mediacrity holds Frank Rich responsible for what he wrote today about Mother Sheehan on the op—ed page of the New York Times. It isn't pretty, but it is worth reading. Ed Lasky adds: Notice the whitwashing of the anti—Semitism—swept under the rug. The NYT just cannot report any... More

John Hinderaker's critique of Paul Krugman's Big Lie" column is not to be missed. Once a distinguished academic, Krugman, who still teaches at Princeton, has fallen hard, and now openly engages in deception. Does Princeton University require that its faculty embody the disinterested pursuit of the... More

Daoud Kuttab has written a piece in the New York Times which raises the question of whether they have any regard at all for the truth. My comments on the story are in brackets and appear in italics. SOMETHING strange happened last week: Israeli settlers and Jewish extremists appeared human on Arab... More

I appreciate Mr. Vaughn taking the time to respond to my article but I fear that we are bloggers passing in cyberspace. Essentially, we are talking past one another. First, I cannot quarrel with any of what Mr. Vaughn relates in his third and fourth paragraphs regarding the critics of our adventure... More

The following comments are in reponse to Dennis Sevakis's column on August 19th, Today I Tipped. 'Today I tipped?' Nossir, with all due respect, I 'd say you slipped. Yep, slipped big time on the Liberal Democrat banana peel of trying to put the Bush administration in a damned if you do and damned... More

It was reported today that Islam will be the main source of Iraq's law and her parliament will observe religious principles.  Parliament will also be restricted from passing laws that contradict Islamic principals.  This news will not be greeted well by the country's women or religious... More

Now that Israel has forcibly deported thousands of its crying and praying citizens from their homes in Gaza,  I have a question for Dr. Rowan Williams. Dr. Williams is the Archbishop of Canterbury, the head of the Church of England. As such, he started the ball rolling for a massive campaign... More

There's been an upswing in pro—Chavez and pro—Castro propaganda in the mainstream media that is getting a little disturbing. Two instances are obvious from the past day. Today's New York Times, in an atrocious news "analysis"  makes an effort to downgrade a very serious... More

Does a spider give control of her web to other arachnids that have contributed nothing towards its creation?  The question is absurd for creatures in the insect world, but in the human domain it has become a topic of discussion.  To be sure, it is not a controversy concerning the... More

Hugo Chavez, the left wing dictator of Venezuela, is declaring war on America's War on Drugs, ending all bilateral antidrug cooperation, and expelling Drug Enforcement Administration employees. The Boston Globe reports: On Wednesday, the head of the Venezuelan antidrug agency said DEA agents... More

Let's see: we have not seen a lot of press about terrorist attacks in China but in a Financial Times article entitled 'China sets up squads to combat terrorism' it says "...the authorities dealt with 74,000 protests and riots nationwide last year, involving more than 3.7m people, compared with... More

If you are a UN official, you'd better hope that President Bush doesn't praise your work. Carina Perelli, the UN's top elections official won praise from him, and now stands accused by the U.N.'s personnel department of presiding over an office that tolerated sexual harassment of staff, U.N.... More

Ann Coulter's columns are famous for being caustic and bitingly sarcastic. Her over—the—top style often overwhelms the legitimacy of her writing, and therefore many people just tune her out. But every once in a while she just gets it so right, so correct, that it has to be shared. This... More

Our dear, sainted Mother, Mary Louise Dwyer, the love of our lives, the heart of our hearts, died peacefully last Friday surrounded by her loving family. Mom's 89 years were energetic and joyous.  In our family, headed by a strict, Irish Catholic father, she was the go—to mother. ... More

The NYT has reported that The Secret Man, Bob Woodward's book that officially outed Deep Throat of Watergate fame, has sold far fewer copies than the publisher (and the NYT) expected.  Here was a book from the author who brought us Deep Throat actually naming the name and explaining the... More

So what's with the New York Times and its fabled fact—checkers? Is ideology driving facts——or non facts——to fit the mind set of the increasingly out of step editors?  It sure does seem that way.  Consider some recent examples which are definitely not casual... More

Some in the U.K. are having second thoughts about new hate crime legislation that allows police to add racial or religious prejudice to underlying crimes, and requires courts to take the additional offense into account. The newly criminalized word is "boyo." The Herald of Scotland notes: A Labour... More

Coming just days before Chinese President Hu's visit to Washington, a new report is bound to fan the flames anti—Chinese feeling and strengthen the hand of hawks in the Pentagon calling for a stronger policy 'to contain' the Middle Kingdom. According to the Washington Post,... More

Peter Glover notes an extraordinary attack on John Bolton in the UK Independent in his blog Wiresfromthebunker. I knew instantly I was going to love this when I read on the paper's website the opening line: "America's controversial new ambassador to the United Nations is seeking to shred an... More

Solomonia asks: "Where do Islamist journalism students go when they graduate?" And answers: "Why, to NPR, of course." Our tax dollars are at work. Sigh.   More

Are they migrants or illegals?  In any event, they now own a ranch in Janet Napolitano's Arizona.  It seems two men from El Salvador had an encounter with a group called Ranch Rescue.  One of the men said he was pistol whipped by Ranch Rescue leader Casey Nethercott, the man whose... More

Just got back from transferring buses from the 42nd Street Crosstown to the First Avenue line —— right at UN headquarters. Thousands of UN employees were streaming out of the building and being guided by UN security/police, some equipped with bullhorns, down First Avenue to an... More

Hugh Hewitt signals he is speaking in fun ["on a "lighter note"] when he proposes outlawing team building efforts as described in a New York Times article. Fair enough. Some activities amount to an excuse to go enjoy a fun time with colleagues in a luxurious resort setting. And the trendiness, such... More

As the argument heats up between proponents of Intelligent Design and proponents of evolution, perhaps a word of advice from one of history's greatest scientists might be helpful to those of us struggling to follow the debate. As developer of the polio vaccine, Dr. Jonas Salk is among the handful... More

David Kaspar of DavidsMedienKritik, the invaluable German political and journalistic blog, writes about the post—Schroeder scene, once he loses the forthcoming election. The rhetoric may be milder, but the policies won't change much: I'm just not sure what a new government will mean for... More

If you're in for a change of metaphor, Mr. Timoth Garton Ash of The Guardian substitutes the Boer War for Vietnam as the basis for analyzing what Iraq means for the U.S., its role in the world and the staggering burden of world—wide hegemony. If you're looking for advice regarding how we... More

If the troops are really this pumped up, guess I should be patient a tad longer. Dennis Sevakis   8 24 05 UPDATE: Even more encouraging than the attitude of our troops in Iraq... if, and only if, this is substantially true. More

The putative newspaper of record has broken some "news" that is 38 years old.  A hand—wringing article in today's (August 26) edition of the New York Times blares the 'fact' that: Israel Confirms Plan to Seize West Bank Land for Barrier By GREG MYREPublished: August 25,... More

I can't help wondering why there's so much doom and gloom about the war in Iraq.  You do realize that the resistance movements in Iraq are basically ineffective.  They don't imperil our major objectives, they can't stop the formation of a democratic government, and they aren't interfering... More

The New York Times editorial page has been in retreat mode this week. It began with the serious savaging by many informed critics of Paul Krugman's column from last Friday, and a partial  but incomplete surrender by Krugman on Monday. Now add its Israel coverage. Marty Peretz of the... More

Bill Clinton once faced—down an angry parent of a soldier killed in action, a Medal of Honor winner, no less. Herbert Shugart refused to shake Bill Clinton's hand following the ceremony at which the Medal of Honor was posthumously awarded to his son. Strangely enough, the media baerly... More

The Base Realignment and Closure Commission voted today to close five major Army posts in Georgia, New Jersey, Virginia and Michigan.  The also panel voted to close nearly 400 Army Reserve centers and National Guard armories and to consolidate these into about 125 joint Reserve and... More

Reader Irwin Baker, of Grand Rapids, MI, has written us with a valuable citation of source material, used by Richard Baehr in this article. Just a quibble: Since you are a stickler about Mr. Krugman's sources, I'd thought I'd let you know that the basis of your joke — 'When Krugman left MIT... More

Tony Blankley is thinking serious thoughts about the War in Iraq, and achieving victory. His logical approach is highly meritorious. Like our own Herb Meyer and Dennis Sevakis, Tony is worried that we may not have enough troops there, and that we may not be pushing for victory as hard as we... More

The controversy over Intelligent Design theory has become one of the most fascinating intellectual disputes of our era. Particularly remarkable is the tendency of one side to affirm that it is the sole custodian of scientific inquiry, while at the same time refusing to debate the issues, on the... More

The Big Pharaoh, a blogger in Cairo whose writing I enjoy, makes a provocative and possibly very useful suggestion for confronting the mullahs of Iran. He notes that they are infiltrating Iraq and sponsoring terror, as well as putting in place an apparatus to control southern Iraq. Not to mention... More

The Kurdistan Observer reports that Ayatollah Sistani, Iraq's revered Shiite religious leader, says an emphatic "no" to the Kurds reclaiming Kirkuk for themselves. Never mind that historically it was the Kurds who occupied Kirkuk until Saddam engaged in an Arabification of the city by booting out... More

Today's Washington Post reports on a team of scientists who have met in secret, and who have pronounced that Iran does not have a 'clandestine' nuclear weapons program. And how do they know this?  Because they found traces of weapons—grade uranium (generally above 90% enriched)... More

The New York Sun shines the light of investigative journalism on the Council on Foreign Relations, and its point man on the Middle East, Henry Siegman, 'senior fellow and director, U.S./Middle East Project.' Siegman has leant a veneer of seriousness and respectability to views also pushed by... More

John Fund had a characteristically excellent article yesterday on Democrats and their obsession with claims that they have been cheated out of victory by electoral fraud. It makes a great companion piece to Selwyn Duke's article today. Isn't it about time for a major official investigation of vote... More

Once in a blue moon the BBC gets things right about Islam on their own soil. This report on Panorama (equivalent to Sixty Minutes) offers some hard—hitting interviews with British Muslims. The reporter, John Ware, does not back down. The Muslim leaders squirm between telling the truth... More

Phil Gallagher writes us: A really fine piece today by James Lewis. The paralells between our Constitution and the Iraqi document are striking. It is odd how our media would chose to focus on the former masters (but now a small minority) would react to the document. Does the US media think that the... More

French President Jacques Chirac makes yet another empty gesture. He wants to add a fee to airline tickets to and from France, and send the proceeds to a fund designed to combat AIDs, TB, and other diseases in Africa. He calls it a "solidarity levy" and hopes that it will spread worldwide,... More

August is over, September is here and the French have the Monday morning blues.  As mentioned earlier, the French are in a funque. And now another Brit expands on the theme, duly noting terrorism and the nanny state are contributing to French decline, not to mention Polish plumbers... More

While many Americans are focused on Iraq and the Gaza pullout, tensions in East Asia between Beijing and Tokyo continue to escalate.  While these two Asian giants have continuously argued over Japan's wartime aggression, the current debate involves natural resources and each country's claims... More

The New Scientist publishes a startling short article summarizing the findings of John Ioannidis, an epidemiologist, who says that small sample sizes, poor study design, researcher bias, and selective reporting and other problems combine to make most research findings false. But even large,... More

Reader Christian Toth  writes us about challenges to Darwin: This is a reply to "Why Intelligent Design Theory Ought to Be Taught" by Jonah Avriel Cohen as it appeared on 8/25/05.   I would like to thank Prof. Cohen for his thoughtful article, with which I agree. I'd also like to... More

Today a New York Times editorial continues the campaign to spring reporter Judith Miller from the confinement imposed on her for defying a federal court order requiring her to disclose her source of information regarding the Valerie Plame story. The Times is oh—so respectful of Europeans'... More

The Associated Press reports via FoxNews.com the arrest of a top terrorist fugitive in Serbia.  A Moroccan by the name of Abdelmajid Bouchar was arrested at a Belgrade railway station this past June.  He was wanted for complicity in the train bombings in Madrid, Spain that killed nearly... More

As Hurricane Katrina passes over New Orleans, the first concern is potential loss of life. The second is cultural and aesthetic, when when consider the potential destruction to one of America's most treasured cities. But the third is most likely to be felt all through the U.S. as we begin to look... More

The country Democrats seem to most admire, France, is down in the dumps. Reuters reports that less than a third of the French are optimistic that their children will enjoy  better life, an astounding drop of 28 points in 19 months. Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin has a plan to restore... More

Saudi clerics have now declared football (presumably, they mean the game we call soccer) un—Islamic. Because the players wear shorts and waste valuable Jihad time. Via Little Green Footballs: Ulema in Saudia Arabia have issued a fatwa (religious decree) declaring football an un—Islamic... More

No the political kind, rather the literal drama, as in stories told by actors. South Korea's television soap operas are finding big audiences overseas, including here in the Bay Area, as well as other major American cities with large Asian populations. Japan was the first Asian country to... More

The New York Times has reached a new low, if that is possible. Interviewer Deborah Solomon in the New York Times Magazine interviews Prince Turki, new Saudi Ambassador to the US. Here are the two smartest questions of the interview: Q: I don't mean to make you feel unimportant, but aren't you one... More

Jesse Jackson visits Caracas, and a Chicagoan looks homeward. Richard J. Daley, da mare of da people uh da city uh Chicago, recently declared one of the five best mayors in the nation because of his admitted ability to make the trains run on time, is in really big trouble. The Feds are looking... More

The Times of London casts doubt on the ability of John Bolton or anyone else being able to reform the UN, without a threat by Congress to withold funding, and introduces an interesting new book. Gotta love that title. Pedro Sanjuan, a former political affairs director, argues in his book The UN... More

Hurricane Katrina may well be a historic catastrophe for New Orleans, the Gulf Coast, and our oil supplies. Of course, our Islamist enemies will portray this as the wrath of God visited upon the Great Satan. When Muslims were hit by the massive tsunami, we sent the first help, and provided a... More

The Democrats revere John F. Kennedy as a sainted figure, even though his actual policies often were those which would be demonized today. Tax cuts. Strong national defense. Willingness to exercise military force in the national interest. Now comes news that Kennedy pondered the feasibility of a... More

Jesse Jackson's traveling circus reportedly flew to Caracas yesterday  for a grandstanding visit with Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez. The announced visit came in the wake of ill—considered remarks from televangelist Pat Robertson who declared that the U.S. ought to try to assassinate... More

I respect the BRAC process, but I am a bit disturbed that Ellington Field in Houston is losing its F—16s, leaving the nation's 8th largest city, and even more importantly, our largest oil/petrochemical complex vulnerable. I could be wrong, but it seems to me placing the closest fighters 3oo... More

The latest attack on the Internet by two young men, one from Morocco and the other from Turkey, once again underscores the vulnerability of the World Wide Web.  It is believed that these men wrote the Zotob and Mytob worms that "caused computer outages at more than 100 US companies, including... More

Look what's running in The Arab News (of all places): End the Debacle Ms. SheehanSteve Darnell, Arab News It is time to put an end to the 'Cindy Sheehan debacle' in Crawford, Texas. Since I am not one to sugarcoat a subject I will start by simply saying: Ms. Sheehan is a liberal nut case who needs... More

Vi Adkins, of the QT Monster blog has started a left hand column blogroll of Able Danger postings. Looks like a good place to keep current on the story, which could be the biggest political scandal since Watergate. Covering up a petty burglary versus covering up responsbility for making it... More

Mark Edelstein is the president of Diablo Valley Community College in suburban Contra Costa County, a few miles east of Berkeley. He is also a public official who is willing to condone the indictrination of students with porven lies. For Edelstein, it is a matter of different perspectives and... More

'Tis the weekend and talk of politics and war can bore. If nothing else, save this link for a later read, because this Weekly Standard essay by Christopher Hitchens is not to be missed. The insularity exhibited by the Bush Administration and it's impact on public opinion was this past week... More

Frederick Stakelbeck, Jr., a frequent contributor to this site, is in very good company in a symposium published by Front Page Magazine, regarding China's potential as a threat to the United States. You can read Fred's most recent article for us on China here. We are fortunate to his coverage of... More

Some members of Congress are not too pleased about the votes cast by the Base Realignment and Closure Commission to close and realign our nation's military installations.  We don't need a crystal ball to tell us that politicians will fight to keep federal dollars flowing into the... More

Lawrence Henry makes the case in The American Spectator for shutting down terrorist websites, and makes it well. The matter is more complicated than y=one might assume, because they also provide intelligence to us (not to mention disinformation, quite possibly). It is a matter worth... More

Perhaps the Old Testament—style destruction of an entire city can steady our nation. Not because New Orleans was lost. What matters is why it was lost. We established ourselves precariously, well below water level in unstable land, and our labors — first gradually, then suddenly and... More

Steven Strom of Raleigh, NC, writes to us about the Fragile X syndrome mentioned in this article: Dear Editor,   As a parent of a child with Fragile X Syndrome, I wanted to clarify that Fragile X Syndrome is not a result of "chromosomal decay where one of the legs of the X has crumbled... More

Richard Vertrees writes: Ok ....I can't take it. Turn on your TV.  People are dying in their chairs right now at the superdome from heat prostration.  They are dropping like flies. Why...because someone told Bubba that if he got in his boat in Baton Rouge and started heading down river... More

Hugo Chavez, who famously turned away three U.S. Navy relief ships full of construction engineers to help Venezuelan mudslide victims in 1999, is now sneering at the U.S. for its hurricane disaster in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. Alternately offering to lead an aid effort, touting Fidel... More

The current issue of the estimable magazine Commentary has a thorough and insightful article by Nidra Poller on the facts behind the myth of the shooting of Muhammad al—Dura. He was the 12—year old Palestinian boy shot and killed during a battle which was raging between Israeli... More

Matt Towery, writing on Townhall.com, exposes yet another aspect of media prejudice and narcisism:  Wednesday's declaration by the mayor of New Orleans that "thousands may be dead" —— whether confirmed or not at the time —— should have justified an end to regular TV... More

The sky is falling at the UN. Or at least the Associated Press seems to think so. Under a headline of "U.S. tries to exclude some from U.N. Group," AP's Barry Schweid writes that "The Bush administration is trying to exclude seven nations from a new U.N. human rights council, saying their own... More

Our contributor Edward Daley has posted his thoughts on the exploitation of Katarina by the left on the Daley Times—Post. ...even before the true scope of the devastation has been fully assessed, and the bodies of the dead can be recovered and laid to rest, liberal activists are already... More

James K. Glassman, nationally syndicated columnist, host of the website TechCentral Station  and former resident of New Orleans, has written an article regarding Hurricane Katrina and the exploitation occurring. Some are trying to blame the hurricane on global warming and... More

DiAnne Rivette of Atlanta, writes us with an important note to add to Donald Baker's article "The roots of root causes" Mr. Baker, Please, please, when naming Christian denominations, remember that there is more then ONE group using the name "Presbyterian." You are speaking, in this... More

Donald MacQueen writes with some further thoughts on the problem of attracting highly capable idividuals to government service. Unions are not the only reason bright people, especially white men, shun government service.  The Clinton administration graded civil service managers on how many... More

Walter Williams has an interesting article that puts the current price of gasoline into an historical context. He also raises the question of the OPEC countries possibly being allied with US environmental interests to restrict domestic exploration and production, as that restriction ensures OPEC's... More

Cindy Sheehan continues to say such embarrassing things that the left is beginning to shun her, according to Bill Sammon of the Washington Times. But that isn;t stopping her from attracting other lefty icons, intent on demonstrating their lack of gravitas. Once again, Sweetness & Light ties... More

Our friend Steve Collins, a distinguished cancer researcher and professor of medicine, writes regarding the question of Darwin and the creation of life: Darwin did not concern  himself with how life was initially established on Earth but rather his theory explains how life, once... More

Gary DeYoung of San Antonio writes with an excellent idea and a kind offer: With the thousands of displaced families spreading out from New Orleans looking for a place to live while their city is rebuilt, you might think that one of the larger relief organizations would have a means in place for... More

What universe does the New York Times report from? Their  version of an attack against insurgents in Iraq focuses on claims that only civilians were killed — ignoring the fact that rival tribes exist in the area and that one tribe is supporting the insurgents. Can we guess that... More

The suburban Chicago newspaper, the Daily Herald, reports a guilty plea expected from a Congressional spouse: Bob Creamer, the husband of U.S. Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky, is scheduled to appear in federal court today to plead guilty to at least some of the charges he has been fighting since... More

The federal government isn't getting a proprotionate share of the best and the brightest, fret Linda Bilmes and W. Scott Gould in the company town rag, the Washington Post. It seems to me that unions are a big part of the problem. [emphasis added] The federal government is losing the battle for... More

The liberal pundits are endlessly denigrating the Republican South as the land of boobs, underfunded educational programs, creationist—acracy. Yet, this  Boston Globe op—ed notes studies highlighting the importance of full—day Kindergarten for the development of our children.... More

Washington Post columnist Harold Meyerson manages to sneer at the intelligence of Republicans, cast doubt on their integrity, and simultaneously put in play the very same questions about himself. He writes: It seems that the advocates of fast—forward "intelligent design" —— the... More

This is the mindset of a liberal columnist. Our armed forces are not seen as defensive but offensive (in more ways than one). They are, of course, defending America, not making war for war's sake. Derrick Jackson of the Boston Globe would undoubtedly have all the money going into the military... More

Let's hope this is the end of Fukuyama. After all, the book that made him famous and worthy of a New York Times op—ed was The End of History and The Last Man, which asserted that the endpoint of world history was near and would lead to a world filled with capitalist liberal democracies. South... More

Richard Clarke, the counter—terror official on whose watch Able Danger warnings were ignored, has apparently taken his reported 7 figure book advance and founded a consultancy. That might explain why he makes some downright peculiar comments in an interview with Walter Pincus of the... More

Sweetness & Light catches Cindy Sheehan's promoters airbrushing out of a picture the hulking presence of America's foremost propagandist. S&L has been doing fantastic work gicing us the real picture (literally) of what's doing in Crawford. I expect further delight from the web's foremost... More

Nina Easton, of the Boston Globe (and recently of Fox News, too), writes a preposterous column today about Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney's religion (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) and the electorate. She raises the question of resistance by Christian evangelical Christians to a... More

Mark D. Tooley, writing in the Weekly Standard, reveals another reason why the National Council of Churches is skewing leftward: it is raising increasing amounts of money from liberal and left wing foundations, such as the Teresa Heinz Kerry—supported Tides Foundation. Aware that the... More

The United Nations is launching a bizarre advertising campaign in New York City, which insults the intelligence of its audience. The campaign portrays New Yorkers as unsophisticated country bumpkins and makes light of a particular gripe of New Yorkers: the flouting of traffic laws by UN... More

We're always told how important it is to drive fuel—efficient cars. Global warming, OPEC, rising prices, yada, yada, yada. So what do our Congressional scolds drive ont he taxpayers' dime? Charles Rangel, whose densely populated district is awash in mass transit, drives a Cadillac DeVille.... More

Our contributor Edward Daley has updated the old "You might be a redneck if..." routine of Jeff Foxworthy to encompass our brainwashed fellow citizens on the left. You might be a left wing extremist brainwashing victim if: You believe that the U. S. Constitution prohibits the open recognition of... More

Sweetness & Light focuses attention on one of Cindy Sheehan's (remember her?) legal team, Ward Reilly. Seems his self—description as a Vietnam Vet doesn't hold water. But he is apparently the guy on the receiving end for the loot being collected by Cindy's fellow travelers on the bus... More

Nearly two weeks ago, American Thinker readers learned that the stage was being set by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to excuse any Iranian nuclear malfeasance. The IAEA was producing questionable analytical work from a secret group of scientists, and this was deceptively... More

Betsy's Page finds some valuable perspective in C—SPAN's re—running of Justice Scalia's confirmation hearings: I happened to catch a short portion of Scalia's confirmation hearing from 1986 which was being rerun on C—Span 3. What a switch from how things are done this... More

Sweetness & Light uncovers shamelessness of a rare order on the part of the Cindy Sheehan bus tour pals, Veterans for Peace. Veterans For Peace, the rabid hate—America group who's impeachment tour Cindy Sheehan glommed on to, has decided to try to milk the Katrina disaster for their own... More

It is already certain that there will be a need for widespread toxic waste abatement in New Orleans. The city is covered in a poisonous toxic brew, and not all of it will be pumped out. Fortunately, America has developed an entire industry comprising a wide range of firms which design and... More

Environmentalists and anti—nuclear power crusaders long have used the accident at Chernobyl as the poster child for their efforts to end the use of nuclear power. This is despite the fact that using nuclear power would cut energy imports, help reduce funding going to terrorists, and result in... More

It's readily apparent to most of usThe New Orleans mayor missed the bus,Ordering those with cars to evacuate,But those without to sit and wait;To wait for busses that never came,Never left the lot to Hizzoner's shame.Now water swirls around their wheelsWhile Mr. Mayor squirms and squeals,And points... More

Someone calling himself David Hall has written us a classic email, the pure ritual incantation of liberal dogma. Somehow, it is one of the elect epistles surviving our current email difficulties. The absence of any specifics or logic highlights the cult—like recitation of beliefs.... More

THE BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS(after lyrics by Jimmy Driftwood, sung by Lonnie Donegan) In August '05 we took a little tripVolunteers and Guardsmen down the mighty Mississip.We took a little bacon and we took a little beans And we caught the bloody looters in the town of New Orleans. We fired our guns... More

Lee Young has looked into the disaster planning on record for New Orleans. Here is what he writes: With the scope of the disaster becoming more evident with each passing hour, the critique of this event will undoubtedly focus on whether there has been a failure in planning or execution ..... or... More

Andrei Codrescu, NPR Poet Laureate and a professor at Louisianna State University (located 90 miles away from New Orleans) pays homage to New Orleans in a brief essay found here. While you might expect some degree of sympathy for the victims of the plight, instead Codrescu uses the purportedly... More

At a time when American soldiers and Marines are risking their lives to stabilize Baghdad and Fallujah it's outrageous — utterly, totally disgusting — that our troops fighting to stabilize New Orleans should also be under fire.  Thirst, hunger, fear for the fate of missing loved... More

Michael Medved will moderate a panel discussion with our own Richard Baehr, David Horowitz, and John Podhoretz , next Sunday, September 11. The title of event is 'Liberal Roots and Conservative Solutions.' Chicago—area readers are welcome to attend the event sponsored by the Jewish Policy... More

About six months ago, Venezuelan dictatator Hugo Chavez scrapped his Global Exchange—stocked team of advocates charged with influencing relations with the U.S. and began courting a new class of propagandists. They are a creative group who operate on several fronts. We now see signs of a... More

The BBC compiles a varied sample of what they're saying about us in the press overseas. What they see oviously depends on what they're looking for. This is almost a classic demonstration of the truism. Hat tip: Pat Thomas Lifson   9 02 05 More

George Neumayr of The American Spectator fills in more of the picture on the pre—existing rot in New Orleans, which laid the foundation for the anarchy apparently spreading through much of the flooded city. New Orleans has one of the highest murder rates in the country. By mid—August... More

Mr. President, As I write this I am listening to the voice of a brave nurse, named Jerrilyn, marooned in Charity Hospital in New Orleans. She and a number of other physician and nurse providers have volunteered to remain in the hospital to provide what services their limited resources permit.... More

The New York Times cannot help itself. Fearing that complaints regarding the causes of the Katrina aftremath and the difficulties with survivor efforts might lead people to temporarily forget about Iraq, the Times editorial board stretches by yoking problems in Iraq to the aftermath of... More

Captain Ed of Captain's Quarters continues his invaluable work on Able Danger and the coverup of the 9/11 Commission, asking some questions and finding answers that don't add up. Right now, the public attention is diverted to Katrina's aftermath. But this story should not be allowed to die, and... More

Scott Collier, of Edinburg, Texas, writes us with a further perspective on the difference between New Orleans and Houston: Mr. Lifson's article on the disparity between New Orleans and Houston was informative but missed the salient point.  Louisiana is the only state in the union in which... More

The pictures of the dispossessed of New Orleans, mostly poor and black , has to strike a responsive chord with all who see the horror they are living in. But the New York Times sees it as yet  another  occasion to bash Bush, suggesting through selective quotes of Administration critics,... More

Oddly enough, on the question of who is really responsible for Hurricane Katrina there is now perfect agreement between a senior Kuwaiti Minister and such dingbats as Ross Gelbspan in the Boston Globe, who just knows — knows with the certainty of the True Believer — that America is to... More

A reader who prefers to remain anonymous emails the following colorful anecdote: The anarchy within the city of New Orleans has not surprised me one bit.   Back in the wild days of my youth, the Spring of 1975, I spent about six weeks in parts of New Orleans the tourists never see. ... More

Fidel Castro loudly volunteered the services of 1,600 Cuban doctors to New Orleans, making a bet that if the U.S. didn't take them, it could look like vicious meanie on the world stage. For him, that's a propaganda victory. Naturally, assorted clowns in the U.S. are urging the U.S. to take... More

It is an iron law of the mainstream media that the only time it is permissible to present a Republican in a favorable light is when he or she criticizes another Republican. Senator John McCain's scrapbook provides all the evidence we really need. But replicability is an essential element of the... More

Paul Krugman and Charles Krauthammer coincidentally use two similar titles in their columns today regarding Katrina. Krugman's New York Times column is filled with  emotional invective and assiduosly provides no facts to support his allegations. Simplistically, he scapegoats George Bush. For a... More

"American workers happy in their jobs" Quote: How satisfied are American workers? According to a Gallup survey included in the AEI compilation, most American job holders say they would continue to come to work even if they won a $10 million lottery! There is even less dissatisfaction with long... More

Cooper Union satirizes 9/11 to bash Bush, mocks Pat Tillman, indulges in anti—American imagery. This from the site of Lincoln's famed speech. What are universities teaching our children? I am afrraid the answer is self—evident.Ed Lasky   9 09 05 Jack Kemp adds: Cooper... More

Colin Powell, the "it's all about me" guy, unburdens himself to ABC News. I wonder how many ex—Secy of States become oracles for MSM on other subjects than foreign policy? He says Iraq is a mess; his UN speech "a blot on my record"; intelligence system was faulty; he saw no connection between... More

Have they no shame? Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee manipulates a "Fire FEMA head" petiiton to raise money for Democratic candidates While New Orleans suffers, Schumer plays politics.   Ed Lasky   9 09 05   Richard Baehr adds:   Schumer know he is going... More

Eugene Robinson, columnist for the Washington post, joins the hysterial reaction of the left to a hurricane and flood, claiming that America has ignored racism and povert for twenty years prior to Katrina. IGNORED? Poverty and racism are two linchpins of politics and expenditures in the federal... More

The outpouring of contributions to the victims of Katrina from their fellow Americans is both unprecedented and laudable. Despite the disgraceful attempts by contemptible opportunists like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton to use this terrible tragedy to drive one more wedge between Americans, we see... More

Western Civilization surpassed other civilizations on the basis of a belief in discoverability of truth through the use of man's ability of reason and experiment. With the rise of Postmodernism, which holds that there are only alternative narratives, and denies the possibility of objective truth,... More

Sweetness & Light catches serious, serious sex hate speech on the part of the New York Times. Unkindly, it publishes the malesfactor's image. More

That's sure to be the theme of Michael Moore's next movie, at least if Jeanette Wells sees her puffery of the portly poltroon come true. Hat tip: Jim Leggette   9 08 05 More

Not for the first time, we are embarrassed for Richard Cohen, the Washington Post columnist. His work today plumbs a new low in opposition to the nomination of John Roberts: he's too perfect. He should be more like Richard Cohen, flunking out of college, joining the Army and collecting lots of... More

Janice Rogers Brown: nominate her and we'll see who 'hates black people' 'A circuit court judge is bound by stare decisis. They don't get to make new law.' Spoken by Joe Biden on Face the Nation on July 3rd, these words are in reference to the nomination battle that awaits President Bush's... More

I'm really starting to get frustrated with the Washington Times. See this editorial. Of course their best equipment is in Iraq. How, exactly, are infantry fighting vehicles supposed to help New Orleans?  Well... except for looter control. Doug Hanson   9 08 05 More

Did Sierra Club machinations cause the levee to break? John Berlau examines the complicated question on National Review Online today. Ed Lasky   9 08 05 More

Sunnis are registering to vote in large numbers. Once they accept the framework of a new democratic Iraq, as they seem to be doing for now, quashing the resistance will become a matter of securing the borders and mopping up. Ed Lasky   9 08 05 More

The French are not always wrong, despite their best efforts to provide evidence to the contrary. Our contributor Olivier Guitta examines how the French handle counter—terrorism efforts against domestic residents in Front Page Magazine. Of course, a unitary state and the Napoleonic Code, not... More

Times Watch catches the New York Times politicizing sports writing, in order to score Katrina points against Bush: Want to take your mind off the tragedy in New Orleans with some tennis coverage? Too bad. Page One of Tuesday's sports section featured a column from liberal sportswriter William... More

The European Union Ignored racial, ethnic,and class—based issues which impacted the scope and extent of the damage after the Asian tsunami, but focused great attention on those aspects when commenting on Katrina. I wonder why? Not. Ed Lasky   9 08 05 More

Joan Vennochi of the Boston Globe proves that no good deed goes unpunished, at least when liberals have something to gain. Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney spent money to aid Katrina victims, and the Globe wants it spent on the folks back home. HURRICANE KATRINA'S wrath inspired Governor Mitt... More

Maybe the time has finally come for a some comic relief on Katrina. I nominate Iowahawk, the web satirist of enormous talent and no pretension whatsoever. (Full disclosure: he is a friend in what might be called real life.) His post mocking Sean Penn and others had me laughing out loud. Thanks,... More

The San Francisco Chronicle features an informative article on wine made from the Zinfandel grape, a particular passion of mine. Longtime readers know that I am a partner in a winery prominently featuring several different Zinfandels, each made from grapes from a different vineyard. As... More

Congressman Tom Tancredo has made an immenently sensible suggestion about the handling  of hurricane relief funds to Louisiana. WASHINGTON, DC. — Congressman Tom Tancredo (R—CO) wrote a letter to Speaker Hastert, urging him to direct federal hurricane relief aid through channels... More

Another salvo was fired in The Washington Times this morning in the fight over the reactivation of two WW II era battleships.  The author of the opinion piece is William M. Stearman, who is executive director of the U.S. Naval Fire Support Association, a former Navy officer, and a former... More

Apparently, in the words of General Honore, the American people are not "stuck on stupid" and the left—MSM anti—Bush campaign has failed. I suspect those like RFK Jr. are not the only losers in this. Certainly, this reflects a substantial increase in the public's credibility assessment... More

Benon Sevan is a miscreant who cooperated with a genocidal and serial war—monger (Hussein) to corrupt the oil—for—food program for personal pecuniary gain. His friend Kofi Annan extended diplomatic immunity to him as a form of protection, conditioned on Volcker report findings.... More

The Nazi frenzy and insane hatred of the Jewish people reached its apotheosis in the Holocaust — an event that many Arabs believe is a fabrication. This horror was presaged and, in a sense, foretold by Kristallnacht, "The Night of Broken Glass" where synagogues throughout Germany were torched... More

The New York Sun identifies the cast of characters obstructing reform at the United Nations: At 6 p.m., however, with the mandate of the General Assembly's 59th session about to expire, representatives of such countries as Cuba, Venezuela, Syria, Sudan, as well as the Palestinian Arabs, took the... More

Imagine a bowling lane with the pins set up in the usual pattern. Bowling balls come down the lane haphazardly and knock down some of the pins. The pinboy sets the pins back up again, the balls roll again, the pins are knocked down and reset, over and over again. Eventually, the pinboy* tires of... More

Houston, the open—hearted city taking in more evacuees (they are seeking refuge, but we can't call them "refugees" — somehow that would be racist) than any other, is getting a hard time from the left. Smeared by the New York Times, Houston is now held up by former President Carter... More

The Arab News publishes a column telling its readers that it is silly to blamce President Bush for Hurricane Katrina's devastation. This Saudi website is prone to the occasional sensible article. For whatever reason. Hat tip: Eric Schwappach    9 13 05   More

The New York Times lauds CNN talking head Anderson Cooper for his emotional reporting regarding the effects of Katrina.  The Times touts it as realistic and uncontrollable on his part — just like us! Of course, his outrage is directed at the Bush Administration, but because it is... More

Yet another film is following the path of National Treausure, and even The Pasion of the Christ, doing very well at the box office despite horrible reviews from most of the critics (average critic: C+ according to Yahoo). This demonstrates again the extreme disjunction between the predictably... More

In a special update to The American Thinker, CENTCOM has provided a series of stories about on—going combat operations in North—Central Iraq and Al—Anbar Province.  While the media have been focused on Hurricane Katrina, Coalition and Iraqi forces have stepped up efforts this... More

Juan Cole loathes Israel, and is no big fan of American neocons, either. But he wrote an aticle on Iraq last month, that was surprisingly realistic, in response to a challenge by daily kos  to come up with a solution, rather than just bitching about it.  This is what he wrote of... More

John Hindedraker's observation describes what the MSM refuses to show: Mary Landrieu has gone stark raving mad. It's funny, though, how seldom these MSM interviewers ask her about the fact that her brother is the Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana. Plus, of course, her father was the Mayor of... More

With the lonely pathetic exception of the New York Times, editorial pages across the country are unified in warning America about the danger posed by Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez to his own country and our entire hemisphere. It's not just the Wall Street Journal, the New York Sun, and Investor's... More

Louisiana and New Orleans aren't the only places to have eagerly gobbled up hundreds of millions of federal homeland security dollars to little or  no effect.  Today's San Antonio Express—News has a long, detailed article on similar problems in Texas homeland security and disaster... More

A new era will continue in Japan. Call it thie Koizumi Era: a restoration of Japan's prominent role in world affairs. As the second largest economy in the world and a key democratic ally in the Pacific, Japan has begun bolstering its defense forces, has sent assistance to Iraq, and has begun... More

Does it strike you as ironic that the three institutions that liberals despise the most have been the ones that have been most responsive and effective in dealing with Katrina? The military (once governmental incompetence was no longer a barrier), religious groups, and business.  The one... More

There's good news and bad news, I guess. The good news is that a columnist has chosen to base one of his columns on an old column of mine. Even better, he quotes me by name and even gives me some credit, even though his evaluation of President Bush (our mutual subject) obviously differs from... More

Joel Garreau's column today in The Washington Post superbly analyzes the prospects for New Orleans. I came to the same conclusion as he, but his analysis is richer. New Orleans will be a much smaller city, confined to the high ground housing the historic settlements, which were naturally built on... More

Jack Risko of Dinocrat.com has put together an awkward timeline for Louisiana Governor Blanco. Blanco contacted [Clinton's former Federal Emergency Management Agency director James Lee] Witt on Thursday, September 1, according to the Boston Globe. Then on Friday, Nagin made his famous direct... More

From our faiths, our families, our friends and neighborsWe draw strength. From our Declaration, our Constitution, our history and our heroesWe draw resolve.  From the majestic sweep of our continent, veined with rivers, spired with mountains,Clothed in farms and fields, cities and townsWe draw... More

Hugh Hewitt catches a bunch of lies in the mass media—induced hysteria. He documents that  the MSM carried false reports about the Superdome and Convention Center. Remember the 40 bodies in the freezer, the 7 year old rapee with the slit throat, the dead babies? Later reports,... More

Argentina's leader, Nestor Kirchner is a leftist jackass who's best remembered for sending his Hillary—ish first lady to sit in a prominent place at the 2004 Democratic National Convention to nominate John Kerry. Argentina was a big presence in the ranks of short—sighted... More

Words fail me. New Orleans was flooded even though a law was passed that would have prevented it, if not blocked by greenies. In the wake of Hurricane Betsy 40 years ago, Congress approved a massive hurricane barrier to protect New Orleans from storm surges that could inundate the city.But the... More

The Boston Globe's most radical columnist (and that's saying a lot) demonstrates his usual lack of class and common sense, speaking ill of the recently departed Chief Justice. Ed Lasky  9 10 05 More

A longstanding territorial dispute between Japan and China is heating up, according to the Japan Times. Oil deposits as well as national pride make this a potentially explosive situation: Five Chinese naval ships, including a guided—missile destroyer, were spotted Friday morning near the... More

While in Las Vegas this week, I happened to turn on the evening local news on television and saw one of the New Orleans police officers who had accepted a vacation in Las Vegas talk about walking around Sin City without a care as if this was normal, acceptable behavior. They guy had less shame than... More

Robert Sciolino wonders what is next, if Hurrican Ophelia becomes a disaster: When (if) Hurricane Ophelia hits North or South Carolina on Monday, the race card will once again come out again as there are many more whites in that area than N.O. Now there will come a daily comparison of how... More

Bob Keir of Pittsburgh writes with an intriguing suggestion: Let the Navy help: It seems to me that emergency management officials along the Gulf Coast are having a power problem, a lack of it. The equipment that helps provide life's basic necessities such as refrigeration, illumination,... More

Every single day we can count on the BBC News for at least one "hate America" story. The American Thinker has tried at times to call attention to blatantly biased BBC coverage of the United States.But when Prime Minister Tony Blair is reported by the Financial Times to be "shocked over BBC Katrina... More

China's financial and banking system is rudimentary for a nation of its size. With that underdevelopment comes opportunity for sophisticated foreign banks. Our largest banks are investing billions of dollars in China, in addition to the loans they extend. But with big exposure comes big risk. Our... More

Overlooked in the US media is the war that al Qaeda has been waging on the Shiites of Iraq, recklessly slaughtering hundreds of Shitte civilians by exploding truck bombs in mosques and market places. Just to remove any last doubts, Zarqawi has now openly declared "total war " on the sixty percent... More

How did FEMA become part of the Department of Homeland Security?  Recall that due to the defection of Jumpin' Jim Jeffords, Democrats controlled the Senate during the period when the Department of Homeland Security was formed.  The Senate committee behind the effort was the Senate... More

Bill Clinton seems to think he is still in office . "Clinton gathers world leaders" blares the headline in the Washington Post. Since when does America have a "Shadow Presidency"—especially run by a former President whose wife would clearly benefit from Bill Clitnon's confab with world... More

Washington Post reporter Dan Froomkin writes as if President Bush were playing politics as President. Of course, he makes no mention of the most poll—driven Presidency in history, Bill Clinton's. Ed Lasky   9 16 05   More

Mike McLeod of Kennesaw Georgia, noticed that Newsweek is running a cover story on  "Poverty: Race & Katrina, Lessons of a National Shame." He astutely asks, "Do you think a photo of an obviously well—fed [Mike is being polite —ed.] child was the best idea when reporting... More

Larry Henry, of The American Spectator, has an interesting essay on New Orleans, a city in which he once lived as a musician. In a sense, it is a consideration of the virtues of a slacker—friendly environment. Like a number of us on the conservative side, a bohemian lifestyle is a fading... More

Senator Richard Durbin is asking for a new prosecutor for the Memogate investigation. He sent a letter to Attorney General Gonzales demanding that a new layer be assigned to investigate what has become known as Memogate. A top aid to Senator Frist, Manuel Miranda,  resigned from his job after... More

Although our server transfer gave us a lot of trouble this week, the international newspaper industry has stepped in to give us an unprecedented (for us) amount of attention. The Jerusalem Post's columnist Saul Singer favorably mentions and comments on Steven Warschawsky's AT essay in an... More

The Governor of Illinois is enmeshed in a growing scandal. Did I mention that he is a Democrat? How much attention do suppose the national MSM will pay? Ed Lasky   9 14 05 More

Plummeting exports of French wine have forced drastic action on the part of the dirigiste mandarins in Paris. The San Francisco Chronicle reports that Makers of Bordeaux wines have been told to reduce their output this year by an unprecedented amount because of overproduction and falling prices,... More

Red Adair is one of my personal heroes. If our schools were run to actually teach children how to live their lives, Red Adair's life and achievements would be part of the curriculum in junior high school, when children begin to form their concept of what adulthood means. Such men are national... More

One of our favorite organizations is the International Fellowship of Jews and Christians. Our readers are cordially invited to their upcoming meeting in Washington, DC. Here is their invitation:  Please join the International Fellowship of Jews and Christians, one of the nation's premier... More

One of the oldest and largest trusts set up to compensate victims of asbestos exposure has barred payments to claimants who rely on reports by nine doctors and three X—ray screening companies. Ed Lasky   9 15 05   More

Recall a few short weeks ago, when the Mainstream Media and Democratic spokesmen and activists roundly criticized President Bush for his belief that  schools should discuss "intelligent design" alongside evolution when teaching students about the creation of life? He went on to state... More

Columbia University's President Bollinger is to host Venezuela's communist dictator Hugo Chavez. Chavez wants protection from Pat Robertson. Despite Chavez's own attempt to kill a certain other president. Ed Lasky   9 15 05 More

Does this mean the end of his presidential candidacy? Or are we ready to discuss this without the rhetoric? Ed Laksy  9 15 05 More

Is this copycat journalism? Is this an exercise of independent journalism? No wonder so many people believe that the Times sets the agenda for the news. When The New York Times on July 16 broke the story of a 2003 State Department memo that had become a key element in the Valerie Plame leak... More

Germany's Federal Intelligence Service (BND) told the German News Agency, DDP that the terrorists responsible for the Madrid bombings, and some involved with the attacks in London, had contacts in Bosnia, and that Al—Qaeda may have an intact terror network in the Balkan nation.  A BND... More

In an address to students at Oberlin College, New York Times entertainment critic Frank Rich, who now sidelines as  Republican—baiting ideologue in a regular op—ed column, bemoans the state of news reporting in America.  He claims that the miniseries Roots showed that it was possible to... More

We are always happy to see newspapers citing The American Thinker. For all our bravado as bloggers on the cutting edge of political journalism, we grew up in an era when getting your name in the paper was either a good thing or a very bad thing. Two more citations in big papers have come to... More

Canada has responded with its traditional humanity and its once—traditional affection for America in response to Katrina. North of the border, their media naturally focuses on how Canadians are helping their neighbors. Our friend Carol Graham, who lives in Canadam writes: Canadians are doing... More

While the New Orleans mayor and his family are getting settled in Dallas, Texas, his latest, and hopefully final official act was carried out by his police superintendent last Thursday.  The National Rifle Association reports that the superintendent has declared that 'only law enforcement are... More

AnkleBtitingPundits catches The Washington Post oversampling blacks in a national poll, and then covering it up.Why oversample by such a wide margin when the poll was depicted as a national poll regarding Bush—not a poll regarding African—American views?Ed Lasky    9 13 05 More

Case against DeLay associate dismissed  A Texas judge dismissed a civil case against a major fundraiser for House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R—Texas) last Friday. The federal district—court judge dismissed the case brought by two Texas Democrats against John Colyandro, the former... More

Our server problems have been solved. We are now positioned to begin adding features to our site, the first of which is our long—awaited new RSS Feed. Please email is with reports of any problems you might encounter with it. We apologize to all who have been inconvenienced by our temporary... More

Not much lower than this. The death penalty is far too lenient for an HIV positive man who raped his young stepdaughter multiple times, aware of the danger of disease transmission. I suppose that mass murderers are worse, but the horror of this crime still stuns me. Thomas Lifson   9 17 05 More

The Los Angeles Times breaks the story today  that several 'senior officials' in Louisiana's emergency planning agencies were under indictment for waste and fraud concerning expenditure of federal funds for disaster mitigation before Katrina hit. Federal auditors are still trying to account... More

Byron Calame, the New York Times public editor, may be starting to grow a spine. I am reminded of the pictures of young in utero babies, as they start to differentiate and a skeleton appears first with the spine. It's all very discreet, of course. Buried in the "Public Editor's Web Journal" online.... More

A deployed member of the United States Air Force writes us about Vice President Cheney's parka, worn to the ceremony at Auschwitz: Perhaps I missed it on your site, but I have seen no one mention that the parka Cheney is wearing is actually a USAF issue parka. So Cheney is actually supporting the... More

How's this for German Socialistic labor programs carried to their logical extreme? Legal prostitution is thus logically a job a woman must take or lose her benefits. This is sexist. Why aren't they forcing men into prostitution? Wait a few years. A 25—year—old waitress who turned down a... More

Bush does have interesting ideas for retiring people. Of course, the Israelis consider the only fitting retirement for terrorists jail or death   Ed Lasky  2 4 05   More

As is his wont, Lawrence Henry has authored another moving personal account related to a major issue of the day, posted on The American Spectator. Read it here and understand the Holocaust better. Thomas Lifson  2 4 05 More

Oh those northern California road workers.  Mistaking a rare plant that can grow up to three feet high for a weed, the beautification weed timmers diligently whacked it.  maybe they had recently spent time with another sort of weed? But now they've been warned to be more... More

Lawrence Summers, president of Harvard University, is lucky he was not president of Beijing University during China's Cultural Revolution. At that time and place, intellectuals guilty of expressing incorrect thoughts were tied—up, paraded about wearing dunce caps, and denounced by students... More

Senator Joseph Biden (D—Del.), once touted as a possible Secretary of State in a Kerrey Administration, has been disgracing himself in front of the Euro—elites gathered at Davos. No, he hasn't shoveled handfulls of food into his mouth, but that might have been less humiliating. Senator... More

Putin continues to use means, fair and foul, to frustrate democrats. No wonder he seems to support Iran, Syria, and Saudi Arabia — all nations attempting to do to Iraq what he tried to do to tthe Ukraine and is now trying to do to other formerly Soviet lands.   PRESIDENT BUSH and other... More

Colombia's President Alvaro Uribe has been fighting a long, bloody, solitary war against terrorists who are as vicious and remorseless as any found in the Middle East. Like Al Qaida, these murderous barbarians finance their Marxist 'program' of destruction through the drug trade. Their combination... More

Mired in scandal from financial fraud, the UN cannot seem to help itself. Even Donald Trump says their plans for a new HQ would cost too much. That is our money we are talking about, by the way. The United Nations has said its plans to renovate its headquarters at Turtle Bay will cost $1.2... More

Influential Congressman Henry Hyde has issued a grim statement concerning the unfolding and intensifying scandal at the United Nations. This matters, because The UN depends on the United States House of representatives to originate the spending legislation giving them billions of dollars of US... More

Benon Sevan's mouthpiece issued a public relations piece which states that Volcker's Committee has succumbed to massive political pressure and now seeks to "scapegoat" Benon Sevan for "problems" with the Oil—for—Food Program. States there is no smoking gun (since when has this become... More

Yale professor and political commentator David Gelernter writes a hilarious but telling Op—Ed in today's New York Sun entitled "Bush and Lincoln." Beginning with the assertion that, "The inauguration of George W. Bush has left—wingers all over the world foaming at the mouth for the... More

Minneapolis is my home town, and I grew up reading the Minneapolis Star in the afternoon, and the Minneapolis Tribune at breakfast. My grandfather was libeled by the Star, back in the days when it was a "prairie populist" sort of newspaper, anti—Semitic, and anxious to knock local... More

Charles Johnson, of Little Green Footballs, is profiled today in the New York Sun. His website is essential reading, and so is this story. Charles is one of the most important bloggers in the short history of the medium, and well deserves the attention. He sounds like quite a mensch. Thomas... More

William Voegeli publishes a wonderful essay from the Claremont Review of Books on Opinion Journal today, where millions can read it for free. I hope they do so. Voegeli could have used any number of titles other than "Endless Party" to capture his subject of the underlying theory (or lack thereof)... More

Vladimir Putin has embarked on a program to exert greater control in Russia by changing the rules of governance, cracking down on free speech, and confiscating the assets of pro—democracy reformers. Coupledwith these moves is an increasingly aggressive international posture: Putin is ... More

Jeff Jacoby has an excellent column this mrning, decrying the trend toward "mostly rhetorical) thugishness"among the Democrats' left wing. Thomas Lifson  2 3 05 More

Our frequent contributor Bruce Thompson has a good post on his blog Machias Privateer, about the controversey over the Marisol Doll, part of the American Girl collection put out by  toy giant Mattell. Some in the Hispanic community are outraged that the story book accompanying the doll refers... More

The excellent website Regime Change in Iran has a provocative and possibly visionary article up today. "Dr. Zin" may well have figured out what the Bush Administration's Iran policy will be, based on recent statements, including last night's SOTU address: "And to the Iranian people, I say tonight:... More

Boblee Swagger, Southern satirist, has a "tribute" to Al Sharpton running today. Having just spent some days with a liberal relative discussing such matters, Boblee was a pause that refreshed. Thomas Lifson  2 3 05 More

In a stunning development (for the New York Times) the paper reports that toxic tort plaintiffs who attempt to win damages for exposure to one type of substance are also claiming damages for exposure to a different substance. More than half the plaintiffs in a federal lawsuit in Texas seeking... More

This article is a report from Davos on the efforts that Middle East reformers are making to improve their nations. Trade deals regarding investment zones set up with Israeli and American help in Arab nations are working. Key grafs: ...other signs indicated that Egypt —— and the... More

The one thing a communist dictator cannot stand is ridicule. And yet, there aren't many things more ridiculous than the spectacle of tinpot tropical dictator, in comical images you might've grown up with watching Gilligan's Island. Well, those pictures in this late day and age are still around.... More

It started about a week ago — CNN opened the firing shot against Venezuela's brutal dictator in an expose on his manipulation of oil prices on the Lou Dobbs show. That was enough to upset Hugo Chavez's press acolytes, who whined about it here,  upset in particular about CNN's... More

UN official  Sevan personally steered oil contracts to company connected to Boutros Boutros—Ghali—note suspicious death, according to this report.     Ed Lasky More

While Kerry is warning us not to "overhype" the successful Iraqi election, the mayor of Baghdad apparently didn't hear. He wants to build a statue honoring George Bush. Maybe the monument can be placed where the former statue of Saddam stood; perhaps even incorporating the toppled Saddam... More

Mail concerning Vice Presiddent Cheney's parka worn to the Auschwitz ceremony continues to pour in. Some are begging us to say no more, in fear that the underlying event is being overshadowed. That worry styrikes us as sensible on the surface. However, this site in particular will never forget the... More

La Shawn Barber comments eloquently and provides perspective on NAACP claims of voter intimidation in this country, seen in the perspective of the Iraq election. Iraqis, threatened by throat—cutting Islamofacists, still managed to vote. Yet the NAACP regards blacks as impotent children... More

Bob Herbert gave us 133 generally positive words about the Iraq election in his column this morning until he got to his first "but". I suppose that's pretty good for him. The other 635 words of the column are devoted to the usual whining, carping, distortion, and complaining about Bush. So a... More

One came to us sooner, the other came later,The first is a Fool the second's a Traitor.The Fool showed his colors in dark murky watersGiving fathers good cause to lock up their daughters. Stern Teddy decries we've no plan to get out,Invoking his own, an unbridled rout.To him exit strategy has but... More

The case of University of Colorado professor of "ethnic studies" Ward Churchill is getting curioser and curioser. Thomas Brown, a professor at Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas, has posted a "work—in—progress" which suggests that Churchill has fabricated an entirely fictitious... More

In this communication Stephen Prince states, "Every veteran I have spoken with has made it clear to me the General is way out of line and unfit to be a leader of Marines." Either Prince has carefully selected his veterans or the Marine Corps has greatly changed since I... More

The proprietor of the Villainous Company website has written to offer a view contrary to that expressed by letter writer Stephen Prince. I read your "reader letter" re: General Mattis and I have a different view.  It is not based upon a defense of "liking to kill people" or any other such... More

Reader Stephen Prince, of Phoenix, AZ, shares with us a letter he sent to another Mattis supporter. Col. Anderson is the CO of NROTC at Norwich University, Vt. Dear Col. Anderson, I read an article in the Arab News highlighting your defense of Lt. General Mattis. I would like to add that I am... More

A reasonable explanation for the media's wall of silence on Easongate. I hope the author is wrong that it will continue, but he's offered as good an explanation as I can find for the media blackout of the story.   Clarice Feldman   2 7 05 More

Michelle Malkin has once again demonstrated her enterprise. She reports the following: Just got off the phone with Rep. Barney Frank (D—Mass.), who spoke with me about Easongate. Rep. Frank was on the panel at Davos. Rep. Frank said Eason Jordan did assert that there was deliberate targeting... More

There is little doubt that Benon Sevan and Joseph J. Stephanide are guilty of perpetrating a fraud on the UN oil—for—food program. The money siphoned from theis program undoubtedly was used to bribe others in the international community and may well have supported terror groups. The UN... More

The Democrats' ship is taking on so much water that it is time for desperate tactics. The New York Times editorializes today for allowing felons the right to vote. Since felons are believed to exceed even the 90% margin of blacks in their faithfulness to Democrats, the motivation for this radical... More

Mort Zuckerman, the wealthy owner of and columnist for US News and World Report, has turned his attention to Venezuela, and we are glad that he has done so. While breaking no new ground, he does reflect another step toward widespread recognition of the serious crisis brewing in venezuela. Thomas... More

FrontPageMag.com has more articles about the Kirkland Project and its far—left agenda. The Ward Churchill debacle is the SECOND public relations debacle that has brought negative nationwide publicity for Hamilton College. The same teacher who hired Churchill also attempted to hire an... More

In an interview with Israel's main daily Yediot Aharanot on February 4, 2005, French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier answered questions on two main topics: Hizbullah and Arafat. 1— Regarding Hizbullah, Barnier said : "France continues to pressure Hizbullah to stop attacks against Israel.... More

Ah, the Golden Gate Bridge, an engineering marvel, a beautiful public sculpture of sorts and one of the more enduring symbols of San Francisco since its construction over 65 years ago.   But alas, also a suicide magnet in a way other bridges for some reason just are not. Therefore in the... More

Cindy Adams, the perennial gossip columnist of the New York Post, knows from gossip, if you consider gossip really caring which model dances at which club within the boundaries of her narrow Manhattan world.  Unease with foreigners, coupled with bad manners, led to her verbal assault on... More

Paul Campos, Professor of Law at the University of Colorado, writes that the really important issue surrounding Ward Churchill is how he got hired, tenured, and made department chairman in the first place. He is absolutely correct. The very sad answer is that academic standards have collapsed under... More

The New York Times's message of the week, heralded in its Sunday "Week in Review Section," comes in two parts: (1) anything George W. Bush says is either a lie or a meaningless political sop to one group or another; and (2) Times readers are too stupid to understand the President's words without... More

Here is another example of the type of journalists who earlier decryed "hillbilly armor" now being shocked, shocked that Marines like a good fight and are willing to say so. In G. Gordon Liddy's book, When I was a a Kid, This was a Free Country, there is a story about Eleanor Roosevelt being upset... More

Jack Kelly of the Toledo Blade pens an excellent column asking obvious questions which don't normally make it into left—leaning daily papers like the Blade, because they are too embarrassing. Slowly but surely, honest journalists are noticing that the emperor has no clothes. Hat tip:... More

A collection of aircraft and other mishap, crash and precarious situation pictures.  These illustrate what pilots refer to as "Pucker Factor."  This aviation term is defined as the severe, involuntary contraction of the sphincter when one suddenly finds himself in a... More

When John F. Kennedy ran for president 45 years ago much was made of his Catholicism.  After all, he was only the second Catholic to run for president on a major party ticket.  Naturally Catholics across the country, thrilled to have a fellow Catholic with whom they also agreed on social... More

Bad sportsmanship when losing is so ugly.  Especially among adults.  Especially in public.  And no, this isn't another tirade about some sports players engaged in an ugly brawl; this is how poorly the liberals are reacting because instead of crowing over Bush's mistakes... More

Open anti—Semitic hatered on display at the University of California, Irvine, in a speech by Amir Abdel Malik Ali. Click here for a quick time video version. Daniel Pipes aptly states, "We're in the Europe of the 1930's.  If we don't act, we'll enter into the Europe of the 1940's." Hat... More

My favorite hotel chain, Marriott, has done the right thing, canceling the booking of an Iranian group celebrating the revolution and "Death to America Day." Dr. Zin, of Regime Change Iran reports: The Marriott corporation has just announce that it had canceled an event to celebrate the Islamic... More

David Brooks explains the impending ascent of Howard Dean as DNC Chairman in terms of the isolation of educated elites from the rest of America. Our own Jack Kemp wrote of this same social isolation of liberal elites a few months ago. The problem can be sliced and diced with a number of sharp... More

This Washington Post editorial seems to place blame on American and other companies for the UN Oil—for—Food Scandal, revealing an anti—corporate bias. The editorial seems to ignore the role that certain foriegn nations played in the scandal, including France and Russia. The... More

Duane Freese, writing in Tech Central Station, points out that Democrats who were booing President Bush's SOTU remarks on Social Security were booing FDR's ideas. As several people have pointed out, FDR originally proposed voluntary private accounts. Freese also draws a conclusion that will become... More

Hirsh Goodman, of Tel Aviv University, writes in the Jerusalem Report about how Jews and Arabs are able to live together peacefully, when the regime is democratic and protects basic rights. While the Palestinians lead the band and the world dances on to the refrain that Israel is apartheid South... More

The Army News Service reports that the US Army is assisting the Iraqis, who are building 100 border forts in the Northern Sector of Iraq, and Soldiers are also helping to repair and enhance other points of entry.  There are 34 forts under construction, with another 66 expected to be added... More

Below is an email forwarded from Brigadier General Michael Jones, the Assistant Division Commander of the 1st Cavalry Division on his perception of Election Day in Baghdad.  The 1st Cavalry Division is the major US unit that garrisons Baghdad, and some of its tank/mechanized infantry task... More

We are huge fans of Tony Blankley, the editor and columnist for the Washington Times. He is both incredibly smart and well—informed. Courtesy of the Los Angeles Times and Power Line, we now learn that Tony will be heard regularly on a powerhouse station in Los Angeles, KCRW, the "public... More

Is it just me, or is David Brooks starting to sound like Tom Friedman here? What do they put into the drinking water at the New York Times building? Thomas Lifson  2 15 05 More

Our friend Jack Risko, of Dinocrat.com, has raised some etremely interesting questions about the Wall Street Journal's disturbing handling of the Eason Jordan scandal (NOT "kerfuffle"). Although Jordan may have shut down the burgeoning coverage of the scandal, serious questions remain, and are... More

Reader Miguel A. Guanipa, of Whitinsville, MA, shares his thoughts on the Democrats' reaction to the President's Social Security initiative: Oh how those Democrats rail against the President for trying to touch that third rail of politics. Think about it though. The same Democrats who only 4 years... More

Type in the numbers and see for yourself what the benefits of the Social Security reform proposal would mean to you..www.daveramsey.com/etc/social_security/   Clarice Feldman  2 15 05 More

Well who would have guessed——if their political giving is any indication, techies are Democrats.  According to an article in USA Today based on a report from the Center for Responsive Politics. 98% of campaign funds donated by Google employees landed in Democratic... More

Huge unseasonable rainfall has triggered disastrous flooding and mudslides in several parts of Venezuela, at a cost of about 80 lives now, and rising. Tens of thousands of people remain homeless, their homes washed away by mud and rocks that thunder down from high, steep mountains sliding down... More

Carlos Alberto Montaner, a Cuban—Spanish writer who lives in Spain, has an extraordinary essay in today's Miami Herald about the roots of the Palestinian crisis, pointedly showing why most violence through the Middle East over the years has had nothing to do with either America or Israel.... More

We know it's a tough job for reporters out there covering the action on the mean streets of Iraq, all the while trying to maintain an air of objectivity.  All sides in this war must be given equal time according to our neutral press, right?  In light of Jordan's assertions at Davos,... More

A Las vegas company is developing a new polymer which can be used to protect troops from roadside bombs and other terror attacks. While Islamists continue to exist as a parasite civilization, technologically, using cellphones, airplanes, explosives, the internet, and other products of Western... More

Matthew May, whose work frequently appears in The American Thinker, has established a new blog, Citizens for Condi, in support of the Secretary of State running for president. Matt has previously written on the topic for us. Click here. More

Further proof that European lefties are not only as loony as their American counterparts but are just as bigoted as well: Ken Livingstone, the leftist mayor of London, accused a reporter from a British paper of acting "just like a concentration camp guard"  after being informed of the... More

Gary Metz, of regime change Iran, provides an excellent analysis of the pro—American, pro—Bush attitudes of Iranians, especially younger Iranians. Basically, they love whatever their hated Mullahs despise. That, plus the availability of satellite television and the internet in millions... More

The New York Sun features an excellent commentary on the departures of Eason Jordan, Dan Rather, and Howell Raines, after blog—driven exposure of their sins. "[A] news industry in the midst of a stunning revolution" is how the Sun characterizes the situation. Ed Lasky  2 14 05   More

When I was a kid I had the great pleasure of watching Bobby Orr play for the Bruins. He had been trumpeted as a savior of the Boston Bruins who up to that point had been mired in under achievement. We awaited his arrival with great anticipation. A bunch of us took the train into the old garden to... More

Laurie David, wife of comedian Lary David, fulminates against the Bush Administration pandering to the energy industry in today's Los Angeles Times. Precidely how she would fuel her private jet for flights to New York, in the absence of the evil oil giants, remains a mystery only she can explain. More

Words recently read have just so made my day,Some whimsical wisdom from sage Austin Bay,Who points out profoundly and slick as you please,The Democrat Party has Mad How Disease.The infection most certainly is iatrogenic,From too many visits to Dr. Dean's clinic.They should have been warned that... More

Daniel Aronstein, The Astute Blogger, has been collecting crime stroy headlines from the BBC, and notices a wave of knofe—related crime, following the imposition of draconian gun control laws. However, gun—related crimes are also up in the U.K., so it would appear (once again) that gun... More

Venezuela is suffering from catastrohic rains and floods, compounding the economic and political catastrophe of Hugo Chavez's misrule. But where is el Presidente in the midst of his nation's crisis? Thomas Lifson   2 10 05 More

Pictures and objets d'art displayed in a person's work space reflect on the owner.  So reflect on Ward Churchill's office pictures, noting in particular the total distortion of a little Jewish boy captured and surrounded by Nazi soldiers.  Yes, these are truly a reflection of Ward... More

Continuing to act like a typical Democrat, John F. Kerry has donated $1million to the Democratic National Committee.  "Join me with a contribution of your own to show the incoming DNC chair that you want to support organizing in your own community," Kerry wrote in an e—mail to about 3... More

The pension fund of college teachers was set up by Andrew Carnagie as the Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association. Today it is a large mutual fund that has both bond fund and stock fund investments — and the public can buy into it. Why do all the leftist college professors invest in stocks... More

The MSM continue to black out the story of Eason Jordan's reckless accusation of deliberate targeting of journalists by Coalition forces in Iraq. In the meantime, lunatic theories of George W. Bush having some kind of remote control device implanted in his suit during the first presidential debate... More

I did an online search on "Ward Churchill Holocaust" and found a thoughtfull article of his on the Holocaust, saying some interesting things about it not being exclusively about Jews, but also Gypsies, homosexuals, and others. However, in his book, A Little Matter of Genocide, he said that there... More

The so—called Kyoto climate treaty, which regulates the emission of so—called greenhouse gases, took effect yesterday. Thanks to George Bush's realization that the foundation of the treaty is junk science, the US  did not sign it.    With or without the treaty climate... More

You just knew this was going to happen didn't you?    A group of Austrian and German victims of the Asian tsunami disaster are to file a lawsuit demanding that Thailand, French hotel chain Accor and US forecasters prove they reacted adequately to the disaster, their lawyers... More

Finally, a university community has openly concluded freedom of speech in publicly discussing  controversial ideas is not proper if students, some faculty and others in the general public are upset by the findings.  Tolerance, open mindedness and diversity evidently have... More

Hey, Guys! Reference John Dwyer's article in AT, why don't we roll it all together and make 9/11 an all—inclusive Hero Recognition Day? Of course, the lefties will all think we're talking about Michael Moore and such, and will swoon with orgasmic pleasure, but so what? Well, just a thought.... More

Dismaying news, via Lucianne.com, that Tony Snow has colon cancer, and will soon be under the surgeon's knife. Tony is one of the smartest and best—informed members of the media. Additionally, he is unfailingly polite and kind, even to his opponents. His good heart shines through clearly. A... More

The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that the pair who libeled McDonalds should have been given legal aid by the BRITISH GOVERNMENT for ther struggle when McDonalds sued them for libel.   Ed Lasky   2 16 05 More

A reader who prefers to be identified as Big Temple writes: There is an old adage that generals always fight the last war. By last war, they mean that military leaders usually focus too much on the lessons learned in the previous war and forget to predict the vagaries of the coming one. The... More

Bill Clinton spent eight long years sucking up to Irish Republican Army terrorists, repeatedly bringing Gerry Adams to the White House lending him respectablility and continuously touting the democratic viability of this murderous crime—fueled organization.  But avowed terrorists don't... More

Franco Aleman, of Barcepundit.com, provides us shocking suggestive evidence that the massive fire which destroyed a thirty—two story skyscraper in Madrid may have been the result of foul play. A videotaper caught what appears to be people with flashlights on lower floors of the building as... More

The San Francisco Chinese New Year's Parade, happening today, is a big event, drawing a half million or more spectators, and serving as the largest public event for the Bay Area's large (and growing) Chinese population. Unfortunately, this year's event is marred by gross poltical bias. The Falun... More

The Taxpayers League of Minnesota has started a great feature, which highlihgts extravagent government structures in that state, The "Taj Mahal of the Week." Nearly every day, I drive past a stunningly beautiful and extravagent public school campus in berkeley. Perched on a prime hillside lot, with... More

Crosswalk.com has a well—deserved tribute to Michelle Malkin, who continues to amaze me with her guts, insight, energy, and all—around excellence. How she can function at such a high level professionally, while raising two small kids is a mystery I will never solve. I think that Kevin... More

Iain Duncan Smith, one of the most prominent Tory Euroskeptics, has an opinion piece today in the UK Guardian (of all places!) on the impact of blogs in the United States, and their likely future impact on British politics. Well worth reading. Excerpt: ...the blogosphere will become a force in... More

Charles Johnson at Little Green Footballs has caught Dotty Lynch — who is the senior political news editor at CBS News, and thus a shaping force for the entire network's political coverage — imagining something and then reporting it. As Charles puts it, "unbelievable." It certainly is a... More

Andrew Sullivan will be defending academic freedom this weekend on the Chris Matthews show (check for local bradcast time). Here is his item: I let rip on the academic Stalinists baying for Summers' blood on the Chris Matthews Show this weekend. I cannot believe the hysteria. Well, actually, the... More

When someone is too afraid to try something new and unfamiliar like the Democrats now, they are said to be like drunks who lose their car keys on the dark side of the street but look for them under the street lamp (across the way) because the light is better. They keep looking at changing their... More

Alan Greenspan yesterday warned of a housing price real estate bubble "in certain areas." I wonder if he has been reading The American Thinker? On January 3rd, Noel Sheppard wrote for us an article on the same subject. Doug Hanson  2 18 05 More

For the umpteenth time, I have read a David Limbaugh column and thought to myself, "Why didn't you say that? You agree with every word of it." We have proudly published our own tribute, written by military historian John B. Dwyer. But I have been sadly deficient in expressing the gratitude I feel... More

Detailing the Administration's unsung victories on the Middle East, Victor Davis Hanson makes an observation so true and brilliant it ought to be etched in stone and prominently displayed in newsrooms, universities and on Capitol Hill: As a rule of thumb in matters of the Middle East, be very... More

Robert Kagan contrasts the unwillingness of the usual suspects (the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and other members of the lib—left establishment) to see any overarching Communist connections in the international left wing movements of the past, with their current eagerness to pronounce... More

Kofi Annan has provided abundant evidence of what kind of man he is. He is not cooperating with the Oil—for—Food investigation, telling his employees not to testify before the US Congress, called the Iraq War "illegal" thereby interfering with President Bush's re—election... More

I never liked Arthur Miller's plays, even when I was a young man who accepted most of the ideology of the left. His plays always seemed bleak, the language unnatural, and the characters not very memorable, except for Willy Loman and maybe Bif. I endured a few performances, noticed him when he... More

When you think of a government information office, do you think of much more than dusty information pamphlets and glossy tourist brochures full of pleasant platitudes, putting the best face forward on a particular nation? Such is perfectly natural for friendly, and even some... More

Steven Warschawsky responds to Mattehew May's article yesterday: In 'The Bandwagon,' Matt May presents an impassioned defense of his and others' support for Condoleezza Rice for President in 2008.  I respect his point of view and acknowledge that there are plenty of smart people who disagree... More

A new Quinnipiac poll  shows Robert Casey (a pro—life Democrat)  up 5 points, 46—41 on Pennsylvania's Republican Senator Rick Santorum. Interestingly, Santorum leads other possible Democratic nominees who are pro—choice.  This suggests the wisdom of the Hillay... More

Today's New York Times column  by Tom Friedman is on the Syrian assassination of Lebanese leader Rafiq Hariri, who was attempting to put together an alliance to challenge Syria's occupation of Lebanon. Friedman outlines Syria's maniacal history of assassination of opponents,... More

Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker of San Francisco has issued a silly decision, upholding the right of the City of Oakland to remove from a municipal bulletin board a flyer announcing the formation of a group to promote the "natural family" while conitnuing to allow various gay, lesbian,... More

David Limbaugh has a wonderfully sarcastic post about SecDef Donald Rumsfeld declining the transfer of the CIA's paramilitary operations to the Pentagon, as recommended by the 9/11 Commission. It is a rare two—fer, making fun of those who have impugned Rumsfeld as power—hungry, and... More

Byron York reports this morning on National Review Online that none other than George Soros is a major funder of Lynne Stewart's criminal defense effort. Supposedly, the Open Society Institute, Soros's "charity," believed that civil liberties issues were at stake in the case. Soros, of course, was... More

Lynne Stewart is a registered Democrat. As Rocco DiPippo demonstrates today on this site, her belief in the perfectability of man through political means has led her to embrace the death cult of Islamist terror, not just as a legal representative, but as an illegal adjunct to terror. Is it fair to... More

The Fior d'Italia Restaurant in San Francisco, which has a plausible claim to be the oldest Italian restaurant in America, suffered a serious fire last night, which will leave it closed for at least three months. Principal owner Bob Larive is well—known among conservatives in the Bay Area as... More

I found this letter from 2nd Battalion, 7th Infantry commander, LtCol. Todd Wood at the 3rd Infantry Division website and thought it might merit posting as an inspirational message: "It seems like just a sort time ago that we redeployed from Iraq after Operation Iraqi Freedom I. This unit carved a... More

Ironic that the Navy chooses to name a weapon after a President who has practiced and preached an appeasement policy, condemned military activities, and began a process of weakening our defense posture. If Jimmy Carter were truly a man of principle he would decline this honor. However, we know... More

Tim Cavanaugh of Reason magazine catches CNN identifying an Iranian nuclear plant as a North korean nuke. Be sure to read the comments, which are hilarious. Dennis Sevakis  2 15 05 More

Regular contributor Bruce Thompson is calling for Congressional hearings on the charges by Eason Jordan that American troops targeted journalists. He notes that Democrats Chris Dodd and Barney Frank were in attendance, and were appalled at the charges. Given the extent of damage already done to our... More

The brilliant Christopher Hitchens notes the disappearance of the appeasers' "Arab Street" and wonders if "Islamophobia" will be follow suit. The return of politics to Iraq has had many blissful secondary consequences, one of them apparently minor but nonetheless, I think, important. When was the... More

A key element in the sudden cooperation of the Iranian mullahs with Russia and the IAEA is their increasing fear of the combined capabilities of the United States Armed Forces, with a huge industrial base, the so—called "military—industrial complex" of President Eisenhower's farewell... More

The civilized world is celebrating the "capture" of Sabawi Ibrahim Hassan, half—brother of Saddam Hussein, by Syrian forces and his turnover to Iraqi government forces. Many view this as the result on pressure on Syria by Western powers. But an alternative viewmay be taken... More

Robert Reich, former Secretary of Labor, former Harvard Kennedy School lecturer, and now professor at Brandeis University, outlines, on today's New York Times op—ed page, the liberal fallback position on what one might call "The Wal—Mart Question." The more pragmatic among those who... More

The invaluable RegimeChangeIran website draws our attention to a startling article in India Daily, predicting that the regime could withstand a serious American invasion of Iran for only a few days. Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf said on Feb. 25 that Pakistan would remain... More

How Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld keeps from tearing his hair out, I'll never know.  He has to put up with regular confrontational testimony sessions with Congress, constant criticisms from retired flag officers, and, most recently, a group of senators proposing their own long—term... More

Bruce Thompson, our technology correspondent, has a decidedly different view of the Russia—Iran nuclear fuel deal. His post to his blog Machias Privateer makes the case that it is a pretty good thing, especially if the US succeeds in attaching a condition or two to it.   More

Blogger Miguel Octavio has a fascinating set of diagrammed photos showing that crowd pictures in Hugo Chavez's party's political propaganda have been photoshopped to make their numberss appear bigger than they are. It goes to show Chavez's declining popularity, and even more so that of his... More

President Bush and Russian President Putin seemed to get along famously last Thursday in Bratislava.  And at their post—meeting press conference, President Bush was visibly pleased when Putin stated publicly that Russia's choice of democracy will never be reversed.  Unfortunately,... More

ClassicalValues.com has flagged an earlier quotation of interest: Hunter S. Thompson on Billy Jeff Clinton: Gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson tells the New York Post that supporting President Clinton was "one of my greatest tactical errors in politics." . . . . "I don't want to go down in history... More

Polipundit links to and comments on a Jerusalem Post article detailing the manner in which a hideous blood libel was spread around the world, that Israeli soldiers supposedly killed a defenseless 12 year old Palestinian child in his father's arms. It now appears that the child was shot by... More

Now it seems that the offensive class project  letters were sent by a male New York City Social Studies teacher to one G.I. stationed just below the North Korean border who is shortly scheduled to go to Iraq. The New York City Board of Education is totally embarrassed (that they got caught and... More

There's been a lot of spilled ink and wasted pixels on the complicated effort to eulogize the suicide of "new journalism" writer Hunter S. Thompson, with most of it coming out insincere, overwrought, or just not quite getting it. Steve H., the immensely talented blogger at Hog on Ice, is another... More

 Yes, it's just a Web poll and no it's not scientific, but it's distinctly satisfying to look at a Japan—based newspaper's poll on global warming in the land of the Kyoto accord — and note local sentiment finds it wanting.  To the poll question of: "Is the Kyoto Protocol the... More

Venezuelan Information Minister Andres Izarra is stomping his feet and crying because the mean ol' US media is being so nasty to Marx—crazed tyrant Huga Chavez. According to Izarra, continuous publication of information disclosing false data and making baseless accusations in US media has... More

Medienkritic reports that there will be a pro—American rally in Mainz on February 23rd. David will be live—blogging the event, and notes that at least some media coverage is expected. Hat tip: Matt May Thomas Lifson  2 21 05 More

Bill Keller, executive editor of the New York Times, has some revealing comments in a speech given at a fundraiser for the Columbia University student newspaper, the Spectator: Keller also sees 'blogging,' or online writing that blurs news and commentary, as a mixed blessing. While he... More

Babalu blog's Val Prieto, who was profiled recently on the front page of the Miami Herald as a brilliant new voice of the often—dismissed Cuban—American community, has a striking update about the Elian Gonzalez case. Back in 2000, the rescue of the 6—year—old Cuban... More

As we've written earlier, Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez is obsessed with assassination plots, and this weekend he's come up with some new ones.  On his Sunday talk show, called, "Hello, President!" he claimed the U.S. is planning to kill him, in a stream of bravado and anger. This... More

Herb Meyer's Open letter to Europe is absolutely spot on.  Not only is it a 'willful blindness' that prevents Europe from confronting the assault on Western civilization, it is the scrambling to financially make up for over 30 years of failed socialist policies. Germany is being... More

This group of anti—war letters were received by soldiers in Iraq from grade school students in Park Slope (Brooklyn, NY), one of the most liberal—left neighborhoods in NY. Despite the denials of negative intent by the teacher, apparently the left now is trying another avenue to attack... More

The New York Times has an unusually deliberately obtuse editorial this morning, once again flogging Big Bird into the corral, to plead for public funding of left wing propaganda on PBS. It contrasts the departure of the "respected Bill Moyers," whose "slight liberal flavor might be dug out" with... More

This letter could easily be worded as an attack, but more can be accomplished by making it an inquiry. The questions regarding your actions of late are so great that I, for one, am really not capable of understanding what it is you are trying to accomplish. Do you really feel your efforts will... More

Europe is in big trouble.  It's economies are stagnant — jobs aren't being created, and today the unemployment rate in Germany is higher than it was on the day Adolf Hitler took power.  The continent's demographics are catastrophic.  The birth rates are so far below replacement... More

As Bush jets off to Europe on what the worshipful Europundits label a "fence mending trip," the totally unworshipful Mark Steyn accurately summarizes the US attitude towards the continent we liberated 60 years ago: No giggling.  Now this is really hard to do but as Archie Bunker said,... More

Spain is much more important to Americans than most of us realize. Aside from its importance to Europe, where its rising economic might is being felt, the cultural and historic ties of Spain to the Western Hemisphere make it a cultural superpower, far more important than the French pretend to be.... More

The Score? American Thinker 1, New York Times 0. Less than a week ago, we debunked a trashy propaganda effort by the New York Times to paint Colombian President Uribe's war against Marxist terrorists as a losing effort. We called it The Fallujah Treatment  because it duplicated what they... More

Sixty years ago World War ll was beginning to end.  Yes, there were battles still to be fought with tragically still more deaths for the United States but finally 5 1/2 years after Germany invaded Poland in September, 1939 and 3 years after Pearl Harbor  there was some hope. The... More

Jack Risko of Dinocrat.com refers to the decadent wing of American culture — exemplified by the Sundance Film Festival — as Little Weimar. Funded by foundations, given tenure, or otherwise insulated from the marketplace, it turns inward and self—referential, establishing "truths"... More

Israel's political crisis over the removal of settlers from Gaza and parts of the West Bank, the topic of today's Exchange between Rachel Neuwirth and Richard Baehr, is also the topic of a thoughtful article by Hilel Halkin in Commentary Magazine. More

Don Surber, who is both a columnist for the Charleston Daily Mail and also a blogger, has taken—on Senator Robert Byrd, an act which probably qualifies him for some sort of medal for courage. Here is an excerpt from today's column: ...Byrd failed to mention his most famous filibuster. The... More

In an editorial today, entitled "My Little Chickadee," the New York Times  reveals that:   "We take the range of personalities among individuals in our species for granted, yet it seems surprising to think of similar diversity in other species. Many people find the implications of that... More

If it had been Americans killing civllians, we'd be reading little else in the papers:   United Nations peacekeepers have gone on the offensive against a militia group in Congo, deploying helicopters and killing nearly 60 people in the biggest battle fought by the world body in more than a... More

It appears that newly arrived EU units rotating into Bosnia for peacekeeping duties are not getting the latest intelligence on the tactical situation.  According to an AFP dispatch in EU Business News, British Major Sebastian Wade was amazed to learn that there are still large numbers of... More

Far be it from us to recommend anyone listen to anything NPR has on the air. But if the New York Times can actually give Bush credit for some positive changes in the Middle East, maybe we too can bend a bit and recommend readers listen to this interview with the producer and the subject of a... More

Our frequent correspondent, Manuel Guanipa, of Whitinsville, MA, has written us a letter well worth sharing: It was a sobering experience to see Iraqis demonstrating against the evil which is being perpetrated by a few barbarians who think raw violence will be able to stop the rise of democracy in... More

The Rocky Mountain News, which has impressed me with its coverage of Ward Churchill, has an interesting editorial about her successor: The acting chair of the University of Colorado ethnic studies department seems in some respects to be picking up where her predecessor, Ward Churchill, left off. In... More

CNN is in the grip of a crisis. Variety reports that its prime time ratings slipped 21% in February, while the FNC juggernaut added 18% to its viewership. FNC now has just under two and a half times the audience of Ted Turner's baby. Extrapolating from the reported figures, FNC added 240,000... More

Michelle Malkin has a round—up of ratings data for Air America, a year into its life. the signs are not terribly encouraging. In most of its major cities, it has a found a niche audience of roughly one—third or less of the leading conservative talk radio station in the market. In... More

I confess to a deep fascination with North Korea. It seems horrible beyond imagination, starving its people while building nuclear weapons and ICBMs. The very idea of society so totally regimented is almost incoprehensible. Yet there it is, still somehow functioning. In the 1950s and 60s, arguably... More

Olivier Guitta, our frequent contributor, has an excellent essay in The Weekly Standard, on the increasing backlash to Saudi Wahhabi evangelism abroad. Highly recommended. More

Lest anyone think that President Bush deserves any credit for the changes in Lebanon, the promise of elections with actual opposition in Egypt, and oither favorable developments, the Los Angeles Times publishes an editorial today reminding us that all the problems have not yet been solved. I guess... More

At long last, it appears that television in Iraq is being used as a propaganda tool against the terrorists (known as "insurgents" to the MSM) currently brutalizing the Iraqi people. The Los Angeles Times takes note: The one—hour tapes constitute a sort of reality TV whose aim is to win the... More

One out of eight members of the German workforce is unemployed. Slightly more, actually: 12.6%. This figure is the highest since the dark days of the 1930s. Certain changes in measurement may have slightly added to the figure, but whatever the technicalities, this is a catastrophic level. Given the... More

Val Prieto at the estimable Babalu Blog has scored a major coup in getting his hands on a Castro—critical movie coming out of Cuba and downloading it onto his blog. The fifteen—minute film depicts a Cuban dissident who's paid a visit by two of Castro's secret police, and the ensuing... More

Venezuela's fraudulent recall referendum lit the fuse. Then the nation's Marxist consolidation of power. After that, we watched the forced land confiscations and the beginnings of collective farms. We saw vast corruption, Colombia's dreaded narco—terrorists walking freely, and... More

A scientific discovery, sure to upset those who blame evil capitalists for the thinning ozone layer because of polluted air, proves solar storms and other space weather are the real culprit.  In other words, nature itself, in the guise of the sun, did it! Junk science propagandists... More

Lucianne.com reports the wonderful news that Tony Snow's cancer surgery was a complete success. I have been among the many whose prayers have included Tony, and I am delighted that this thoroughly admirable man is on the path to a complete recovery. Tony will remain in my prayers. Thomas... More

In a story that illustrates the growing paranoia of Venezuela's Marxist dictatorship, the country's navy chief has warned that U.S. troops docked in Curacao may be planning an invasion of Venezuela. Coming from dictator Hugo Chavez itself, such an accusation might easily be hot air because he often... More

Nigeria is a huge, strategically important state in Africa that is one of the top six oil producers in the world. Its churning political unrest regularly rocks world oil prices, but we rarely hear any in—depth coverage of this country from the mainstream media. Today, the Wall Street Journal... More

Still smarting from a Carter Center visit to Caracas, Venezuelan essayist Gustavo Coronel takes a closer look at Jimmy Carter's organization's previous efforts in Havana to flatter Cuban dictator Fidel Castro. The Carter Center's oily, obsequious praise to the longtime tyrant of the Caribbean... More

The Berlin Wall has fallen. From the editorial of today's New York Times on Mideast Climate Change: (is this headline supposed to be an insidious link to global warming): "The Bush administration is entitled to claim a helathy share of the credit for many of these advances." Richard Baehr  3... More

Democrats are loudly proclaiming that moral values are paramount. their first action demonstrating said commitement? Giving felons the right to vote. Yeah, that'll show 'em. Ed Lasky   3 1 05 More

Former President of Lebanon Amin Gemayel is interviewed by Time Magazine, and predicts a Syrain withdrawal from lebaHe also thanks President Bush. We await apologies from Democrats who employed the word "quagmire." Ed Lasky  3 1 05  More

Typical of the refusal of the left to acknowledge that Bush was right is Richard Cohen''s column today——an acknowledgement that while change is coming to the Middle East it may not be what we want. When Baghdad fell and the statue of Hussein in Firdaus Square was initially draped... More

At the 2004 Academy Awards memorial tribute to industry people who passed on during the previous year to the great film vault in the sky, Leni Reifenstahl was acknowledged.  Sure her films glorified Nazi Germany but hey——she was a female pioneer in a male (sh—h—h,... More

The so—called "Islamic Human Rights Campaign" is launching a boycott of Starbucks Coffee, whose CEO is Jewish and who supports Israel. You can read about their complaints here and here. From now on, I am buying Starbucks Coffee whenever possible — I am already a frequent customer... More

Berkeley's teachers are protesting their lack of a pay raise for the past four years by refusing to perform more than the minimum duties required by their contract, strictly within the hours specified. Papers arenot being graded during after—hours, various extra—curricular activities... More

Home of Sami—Al—Arian figures once again in the news. And again, it isn't a connection the University should be proud of. (IsraelNN.com) The terrorist behind the Stage Club in Tel Aviv over a week ago taught Middle East Studies at a University in the US before he moved to... More

When is a terrorist not a terrorist?  A] when (s)he is considered to be a "freedom fighter. B]  when an editor says so. C]  all of the above. The exquisite delicacy in the name of objective fairness employed by editors to avoid calling those who deliberately  kill and... More

In the last few days, George Bush has taken two steps towards the UN which signify the policies which he will adopt to guide America's dealings with the mandarins occupying prime Manhattan real estate. The United Nations Human Rights Commission has been an outpost for Sudan, Libya and other... More

The president of the University of Colorado has resigned, in the wake of the Ward Churchill scandal which has tarnished that institution's reputation. "It appears to me it is in the University's best interest that I remove the issue of my future from the debate so that nothing inhibits CU's... More

Susan Estrich, the Harvard trained lawyer who so magically supervised Michael Dukakis' losing presidential campaign, is now once again misdirecting her considerable talents.  Apparently utilizing that old Jesse Jackson trick of extortion/blackmail to place more of group identified workers... More

Greg Richards writes us that the GOP is missing an important opportunity, one which could serve (in classic W fashion) multiple goals:  I think the Republicans are missing a polemical opportunity with Sen. Byrd.  It is very likely that most people do not have the sentimental attachment to... More

Long, long, long ago, Wellesley College had the reputation as a somewhat staid campus, a good place for daughters of genteel upbringing to attend and gain the polish which would make them attractive brides for Ivy League boys. How times have changed! The Boston Herald reports today that 11... More

The Belmont Club has an extensive report  today about the world—wide economic consequences if the mullahs closed the Straits of Hormuz.  Iran has implied that the straits could be shut down if the US and Europe press their case for sanctions because of Iran's nuclear program. ... More

Normally,we don't have much regard for conspiracy theories, other than as imaginative entertainment. However, Bill Clinton's expressed admiration of the mullahs of Iran as "progressive" is hard to understand. Reader Rick irving has an interesting, if speculative interpretation: Let me suggest... More

The decision of the White House to grant a daily press pass to blogger Garrett M. Graff is being hailed as a breakthrough, rating a story in the New York Times and much attention across the blogosphere. It is certainly a better decision than denying the credential would have been, but I find myself... More

The Lafayette (Indiana) Journal and Courrier has taken note of the tribute Matt May wrote here for Coach Keady, who is retiring from his long tenure as basketball coach at Purdue University in Lafayette. The article also gives some background on Matt himself. Basketball fans, Purdue fans, and... More

Needles to say, the New York Times has a negative spin on why Bush watched the movie Paper Clips: "avoid feeling clueless about the national conversation on movies."  Ah, yes, Bush the clueless. There's an old meme of the smug Northeastern elites ready to be flogged. They just can't... More

The indignation that civilians can work up when they are injured cruising around in a war zone never ceases to amaze me.  What a massive sense of entitlement!  If she is upset at anybody, it should be at her driver who didn't stop.  Yes, it is certainly a tragedy that the Italian who... More

As for the tragic killing of the Italian bodyguard who helped negotiate the release of the Italian reporter held hostage, Little Green footballs reminds us Ms. Sgrena was a devoted communist writing for a communist paper.   The killing was sad but the car was speeding. Ms. Sgrena denies this,... More

Monica Davey, in the New York Times, writes about the BTK killer. I was astounded by the implied theme of the article that an "ordinary life" lived "intensely" was somehow the basis for BTK's homicidal activities. He was too good to be true and so it was that he was not good at all. What crap.... More

Obscured by the recent pseudo—controversy is Larry Summers's bold program to recruit poorer students to Harvard. This might be a way to address the entire affirmative action program issue since many feel that poverty is what needs to be addressed, not discrimination. Larry Summers gets... More

Thanks to Russia — again — Iran looks to be a player on the world stage, this time moving to take the strategic high ground.  The Jerusalem Report, via the Independent Bank of Alabama's website,  reports that Russia has agreed to launch two Iranian spy satellites between April... More

Jill Stewart is the pre—eminent journalistic truth—teller about California politics. Naturally, she is a free—lancer, who lives column—by—column, without the benefit of s fulltime job for one of the state's newspapers or TV stations. Fortunately, the San Francisco... More

Bill Clinton's remarks at Davos may end being more controversial than Eason Jordan's. Other blogs, especially Little Green Footballs, have been all over the story. Here is the latest. It is now fully evident that a gloablist left—leaning elite uses Davos as an exercise to get... More

Matt May reviews Ken Auletta's New Yorker profile of Dan Rather. Neither man comes across very well.   More

Blogger Alek Boyd keeps a close eye on Venezuela's pro—Chavez propaganda groups actively operating in the U.S. He asks questions about their many claims and does his research.  Today he's got a scoop on one of them, the loathesome Eva Golinger group called 'Venezuela Solidarity... More

At least 7,000 slaves in Niger, who were to be freed in a first—ever slave—freeing ceremony, will apparently remain in their wretched state, because carrying it out would amount to admitting to the world that slavery still exists there. Apparently this had not occurred to the geniuses... More

Iowahawk has trained his satirical sights on MoveOn.org, and lands a direct hit today, with a supposed op/ed from tMoveOn's  "Special Deputy Assistant for Grassroots Direct E—Marketing." Warniing: do not read this while drinking coffee. While you are at his site, don't miss his satire at... More

Almost any Mark Steyn column is worth celebrating, not merely reading. His latest number for the UK Spectator is an utter gem, in which he mocks the "Not in Our Name" crowd for being on the wrong side of history, and now unable to take any credit for the positive changes rocking the Middle East. I... More

Ryan Lewis, a 21 year old young man, languishes in Sacramento County jail, facing charges of domestic terrorism. His alleged crimes implicate him in Earth Liberation Front bombings of housing projects which failed to meet their standards for proper construction siting and/or design. Acording to the... More

Gerard Baker of the London Times places in proper context the carping of critics of President Bush's alleged cowboy foreign policy: he likens their views to a scene in a Monty Python movie. Read it here and enjoy a good chuckle, as well as a nice feeling of hope. Thomas Lifson  3 04 05 More

Ward Churchill may have been able to enjoy lucrative speaking engagements on many campuses, until the general public found out about his blame—the—victims slur of the dead bond traders and other capitalist lackeys in the World Trade Center, and until his alleged misrepresentations,... More

John Shaw, the former Deputy Undersecretary for International Technology Security, provides detailed information on Russia's role in first, helping Saddam acquire WMDs, and second, providing the means to transport them out of the country prior to the start of Operation Iraqi Freedom. The report can... More

Publicly admitting to an Orwellian manipulation of words, National Public Radio will no longer attach the word "reform" to George Bush's plan to reform (I am not bound to this dictat) Social Security. According to the Media Reserach Center: Gladstone told listeners: "You just heard CNN, NPR,... More

Senator John McCain's Reform Institute has suffered some bad press recently due to its involvement in an influence—peddling scandal with Cablevision. As usual, however, mainstream media have failed to go to the root of the matter. Although AP put out a full and detailed story on this matter,... More

Let us be free to hate. From Al Ahram, the enormously influential daily Arabic newspaper. Ed Lasky  3 11 05 More

Further signs of stress in the mainstream media (MSM):  according to a report issued by the Prudential Equity Group on 50 of the top papers in the country——excluding those censured for fraudThe Prudential report found that total average daily circulation across the 50 papers was... More

Moonbat.com has revealed a fascinating web of relationships underlying John McCain's activities. Senator John McCain's Reform Institute has suffered some bad press recently due to its involvement in an influence—peddling scandal with Cablevision. As usual, however, mainstream media have... More

The stupidity of aligning itself with Syria in Lebanon is starting to be evident:   The European Parliament branded Lebanon's Hezbollah movement a "terrorist" group on Thursday and urged European Union ministers to take action against the organization.  "Parliament considers that clear... More

Unable to resist the temptation, your blogger turned over to the CBS Evening News to see just what Dan Rather would have to say as he parted from the set he had lorded over for over 20 years. Not unexpectedly, his remarks were totally inappropriate, self—serving, and odd. In a choked voice... More

If you can stand to open Counterpunch, Marxist journalist turned Iraq hostage Giuliana Sgrena has a "profound" first—person account of her Iraq experiences here . It's a good unintentional parody of a European pseudo—intellectual in the full bloom of... More

Hypocritical holier—than—thou Europeans, so eager to accuse the US of being "stingy," show their true colors. Their solidarity with the victims is trumped by their anti—American ploys to grab the world headlines to depict America as being greedy and selfish. Look who is selfish... More

In a UPI story filed yesterday, alleged ex—Marine Nadim Abou Rabeh claims to have been part of a 2—man US Marine team that captured Saddam Hussein on December 12, 2003; that a special US unit then came in and staged the 'real capture' featuring Saddam being discovered in his... More

The matter of our out—of—control judicial system should strike people as the most pressing domestic issue of our time. Activist, agenda—driven judges, legislating from the bench, are re—shaping the domestic landscape according to their own personal whims, and are getting... More

In regards to your piece thoughtfully discussing the work of poet, Ammiel Alcalay.1.) Do you guys read poetry?2.) Are you [censored] serious?3.) My advice would be to stick to what you do best: myopic nationalism and dubious, racist foreign policy cheerleading.With no context under your... More

Dear American Thinker, I see that Lisa Jarnot, who is an assistant professor in the Department of Creative Writing at Brooklyn College, is miffed about an essay you published that describes Ammiel Alcalay as a leftist poet.  Prof. Jarnor says that she "often teaches English courses that... More

Dear American Thinker, I am an American poet (author of three full—length collections of poetry and a forthcoming biography of the San Francisco poet Robert Duncan) and university professor in the English Departments at Brooklyn College and Long Island University. I often teach English... More

The New York Times is the most ideologically—riven and ruined media outlet in the nation. Today, their  contemptuous editorial  opposing the nomination of John Bolton as America's Ambassador to the United Nations stands in stark contrast to other liberal newspapers'... More

Jacob Heilbrunn, an editorial writer for the Los Angeles Times, writes oday under his own name that the UN needs the "bitter medicine" of John Bolton. ...there is a rich GOP tradition of appointing critics of the U.N. as ambassadors to that body, a tradition that has proved remarkably... More

Kofi Annan used the services of a leading international public relations firm on a pro bono basis. However, this same firm would bring in clients to the UN and UN meetings who would then get contracts for services which easily could have been done in house, as reported today in the New York Sun.... More

Jimmy Carter, the holier—than—thou ex—president and ratifier of phony referenda, is well—known as a volunteer carpenter for Habitat for Humanity, an admirable charity that builds houses for the poor. The founder and former head of HfH, Millard Fuller, was fired six weeks... More

David Kaspar's blog site David's Medienkritik has collected an amusing sample of German reaction to John Bolton, ambassador—designate to the United Nations. He contrasts their reactions to this "neoconservative" "hawk" and "unilateralist" to their posture vis—a—vis Arab... More

If you're over 30——come on, admit it——you will remember Jane Fonda: actress, anti Vietnam War activist, exercise guru, daughter of a famous star, ex—wife of the (semi) famous Ted Turner, once—famous film director Roger Vadim, and barely famous lefty Tom... More

lf the US or Israel had done this.....imagine the outcry.  Chechen rebel leader Aslan Maskhadov was killed Tuesday by Russian security forces, authorities said, giving a boost to President Vladimir Putin (news — web sites)'s hard—line campaign to crush the separatist rebellion in... More

Ethel Fenig joins her esteemed editor in noting Teresa's recent public appearance in Seattle. As freedom seems to break out in one of the world's most oppressive areas, there is a natural tendency in these hopeful times to forget Kerry and Company.   Teresa and the liberal press... More

Teresa, that is. And spouting unsubstantiated nonsense about the election being "hacked" because "Two brothers own 80 percent of the [optical scanning] machines used in the United States." This ownership will come as quite a shock to various counties in the United States which thought they had... More

The group which "kidnapped" Ms Sgrena claims it turned down the ransom money.   Since Berlusconi is reportedly the source of this money and news of it surely an embarrassment to him, the smell of a set up fills the air.   Clarice Feldman   2 8 05 More

Once again, Mark Steyn proves himself the pre—eminent pundit. His Telegraph column contains much wisdom and humor, as we are accustomed to seeing from him. I was particularly struck by his neo—realism here: The New York Times' Thomas Friedman was arguing a couple of weeks back that... More

Admit it, you knew, just knew, after the tsunami that some clever lawyers along with their not so clever clients would sue someone, something, somewhere.  Well here they go.   I hope that some equally clever lawyers will take on some equally clever clients and countersue the... More

It's covered with disclaimers of course, but cracks are starting to show in the heart of the UK's most anti—war newspaper. This follows a similar change of heart in Germany's Spiegel. I thought that this would take another year or so. Hat tip: DY More

A.M. Fantini has written an important essay above on what's at stake for the U.S. regarding Bolivia, a country which should draw more U.S. attention. Fantini points out that funding questions about Marxist populist ringleaders who use... More

Dr. Zin of regimerchangeiran is reporting a potentially very important step: the formation of a united front among the opposition to the mullahs: One day after 565 dissidents in Iran published their open letter against the Iranian regime, a major coalition of Iran expatriates announced they are... More

The times are a changin'. The New York Sun reports this morning:   As the assistant secretary of state for international organizations under the first President Bush, Mr. Bolton led the effort to repeal the U.N. General Assembly resolution equating Zionism with racism. In his remarks... More

One of the most puzzling 'news' items today is the not—so—stunning story on Iran's influence in the fighting in Iraq in the Inside the Ring column of The Washington Times.  Pentagon reporters Gertz and Scarborough reveal (?) that the military is concerned about Iranian... More

Rocco Di Pippo has performed an enormous public service by investigating the strange case of Montclair State University professor Grover C. Furr, who makes Ward Churchill a comparative moderate. The crusading Frontpagemag.com has pubslihed a condensed version, but Rocco's own blogsite, the... More

In this think tank piece, a renowned expert on the Middle East lays out the potential ramifications of Bush's policy of Constructive Instability regarding Lebanon and Syria.  Bush's playbook to bring down Assad would include these sources of instability:   Alawite elders,... More

Ryan Sager of The New York Post has broken the story of how CFR is really a vast scam.   Campaign financer eform has been an immense scam perpetrated by  people by a cadre of left—wing foundations and disguised as a "mass movement."   But don't take my word for it. One of the... More

A long overdue look at the tax exempt groups funding Ramsey Clark and the anti—war protestors. link. Clarice Feldman   3 17 05 More

Academia never learns. The more outrageous the 'educator,' the more likely he is to turn up at some place like Harvard. This storied institution has taken it over the top, though, by inviting in an authentic thug from Venezuela to "educate" its students. It's no... More

From our own Matt May comes an introduction and transcript of Robert F. Kennedy's classic commentary on St. Patrick's Day. The Emerald Thread of Freedom For those of us who can boast Irish ancestry, St. Patrick's Day is more than just green beer, plastic green hats, and paper shamrocks. It is a day... More

Max Boot, writing in the Los Angeles Times, elucidates what should be called "the tenure problem" of America's universities and colleges. Abolish tenure. Subject professors to the discipline of the marketplace like almost everyone else. But of course this is an idea too radical to be seriously... More

The Chicago Tribune reports that Native Americans have sued the University of Illinois Board of Trustees, seeking a court order to prohibit "the use of Chief Illiniwek as a sports mascot."The suit was filed Tuesday in Cook County Circuit Court by the Illinois Native American Bar Association and... More

 Long before I immersed myself in higher education in big, bad, beautiful Noo Yawk,  I began my undergraduate education at 16 in Champaign—Urbana.    Although not a sports fan, I attended the home football games mainly for the spectacle——the best was... More

In what many Americans will view as a positive development, US Northcom reports that the U.S. Army's 4th Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment, based at Fort Wainwright, Alaska is completing operations in the southern Luna and Hildago counties of New Mexico. As part of their 60—day mission,... More

One more reason to treat with more than a little skpeticism international organizations, such as the UN.   In a development that went almost unreported in the English—language media, a WHO—organized panel in Lebanon awarded prizes in December 2004 to television and radio stations... More

Wes Pruden was right.  In a column  from mid—January, the esteemed Editor of The Washington Times told us that trouble was brewing in the Department of the Army over the policies concerning the exclusion of women from combat.  Even after President Bush publicly reinforced the... More

The movie Gunner Palace is a documentary about American troops serving in Iraq. The movie has yet to open in my neck of the woods (outside Chicago) so I cannot profess to  have watched it (yet), but amongst the reviewers have been CBS radio (4 Stars: A Must See), Rolling Stone (4 1/2 Stars),... More

The foreign policy of France is guided by two major principles: frustrate and weaken America; and reap money. Ideally, they try to get a two—fer by accomplishing both goals at the same time, as in France's oil—driven policy to support dictators like Saddam Hussein and the Sudanese... More

The Big Dig fiasco continues to create problems for Boston. The $15 billion boondoggle, which has absorbed billions of dollars from the federal government, courtesy of the legislative clout of Ted Kennedy, not only went far, far over budget and behind schedule. It also may be hazzardous for those... More

Ah yes, the times they are definitely a changing.  Indeed they are a changing so rapidly that no one seems to know how to respond to these changes, how to behave according to the new rules.   In the business world the influx of women in fields normally a male preserve and the... More

Over the weekend, I had the opportunity to join Iowahawk, a.k.a. David Burge, for a celebration of his young website's millionth visitor. If you are not familiar with David's satirical writing, you are missing the opportunity for serious laughter at the expense of targets... More

Kenneth Starr has been much—reviled by liberals for his activity as an independent counsel charged with investigating William Jefferson Clinton. But the very same Kenneth Starr spends his free time defending an inmate on death row who maintains he is innocenct. And the very same... More

Tom Joseph, who blogs at The Thinking Democrat, wrote us, and we would like to share his letter with you. I read Trevor Bothwell's article, "The New SAT blurs aptitude" with interest. Thank you for bringing attention to an important subject.  I remember attending a small weekly... More

Devoted Communist and ex hostage Giuliana Sgrena just can't stop talking about her recent  not so excellent adventure.    And the more she talks, the more she inadvertently reveals the truth, proving she not only lied about her time in Iraq, but how her selfishness and... More

Matt May, our resident enthusiast for Secretary of State Condolleza Rice as presidential candidate in 2008, watched the Secretary today on Meet the Press, where she averred no interest in running for president. Matt's response can be found here, on his Citizens for Condi website. He correctly... More

A bit of dreadful news for those in Lebanon hoping for free elections. Jimmy Carter who rubber stamped the stolen election in Venezuela, is going to Lebanon to monitor their election.   Premier—Designate Omar Karami has reversed Lebanon's official rejection of international observers to... More

Further proof that the French mentality is unfathomable:  the nation's transport workers and other public employees went on strike. The reason?  The government wants to allow people to work more than 35 hours per week!  Mais oui, in France that's the limit; no overtime allowed. ... More

A look behind the CFR curtain of lies.   Clarice Feldman  3 12 05 More

Omygosh!  MoveOn.org, disgruntled Democrats and even PEST (post election stress trauma) sufferers were absolutely correct about vote fraud, especially in black neighborhoods, in Florida during last November's election.  Mayor Buddy Dyer, a judge and two campaign workers surrendered... More

The huge band of black smoke broadensAgainst an azure sky, how limitless grief. No numbers yet number the dead, not ten—Or thirty thousand, the still uncounted souls Buried in a tangle of steel, a sea of glass, shoes, Pens and ash. Whose papers——the pieces of... More

Mmmmm, I love the sound of leftist kvetching in the morning! Just kidding! But today's whining about MoveOn.org, the George—Soros—funded leftwing activist group is particularly good for a horselaugh. MoveOn.org has decided to drop its opposition to the Iraq war and end its call for... More

In a joint investigation, the Financial Times of the UK and Il Sole 24 Ore, the Italian business daily, have a scoop on hidden payments to Kofi Annan's son Kojo. Kojo Annan, son of Kofi Annan, United Nations secretary—general, received at least $300,000 from Cotecna, a Swiss... More

AT's Ethel Fenig alerts  us to the inevitable book deal offered to Mary Mapes by St. Martin's Press.  Of course, the book will tell Mapes' side of the Memogate story for a hefty profit, but many people would really like to hear about her role in obtaining the Abu Ghraib investigative... More

Our frequent contributor Olivier Guitta has a good article up on Tech Central Station. Read it here.   More

Liberals fought the filibuster when it was used by the Senate's Southern segregationist minority to stall civil rights bills. It is funny how E.J. Dionne, who uses the terms Democrat and Republican throughout this essay, cannot own up to the fact that it was Democrats (like Byrd) who... More

Frequent contributor Bruce Thompson has commented on the big story today about US naval forces on the way to the Middle East, as featured by our friends at Regime Change Iran. Bruce made his comments both on RCI and on his own site, Machias Privateer. Bruce notes: ...a plan to re—use... More

Fox News is often mocked for its slogan "fair and balanced — we report you decide."  In the skewed world of news reporting that is mockable because for so long  news was generally presented through a liberal haze —— the opposing side, if given attention, was set up... More

Today's choice of an op/ed columnist seems characteristic. Ed Lasky   3 22 05 More

Reuters reports that U.N. peacekeepers enforcing a December 2000 peace accord between Ethiopia and Eritrea defrauded the world body of more than $500,000 in telephone calls, U.N. auditors reported on Monday. Word of the abuse surfaces as the United Nations finds itself under fire for... More

The UN is spending money to defend Benon Savan. Breaking the rules for another friend of Kofi Annan. Let' see: you have Kojo, Kofi Annan's son on the payroll of a UN contractor. You have Annan's nephew—Kobina on the payroll of another UN contractor. When will the gravy train... More

Admit it, you just knew this was coming. Mary Mapes, the CBS News producer fired over "Memogate," has reached a deal to tell her side of the controversial story that effectively ended the career of Dan Rather and sent morale into a tailspin at the venerable news organization. St. Martin's Press... More

Although France passed a law several years ago mandating a 35 hour maximum work week the country discovered it is impossible to pass legislation overturning the laws of economics. Plagued with stubbornly high unemployment (over 10%), falling wages and —— surprise, surprise... More

Agence France Presse via Channel NewsAsia International reports that Iran intends to establish a secret nuclear faculty to train Iranian nuclear engineers.  According to a Western intelligence source and the Sunday Telegraph (London), the training will occur in one of the branches of an... More

The BBC, a left wing propaganda organ, is undergoing a second round of downsizing, cutting another 2050 jobs, following previously announced cuts of 1730 jobs. The total of 3780 jobs to be eliminated amounts to 19 percent of its workforce. Coasting on its reputation from World War II for decade... More

Massive Muslim immigration to Malmo, Sweden has brought with it a startling increase in rape and other violent crime. Cherished multicultural myths held so strongly in Sweden are being shattered, but at the expense of innocent young Swedish women and other victims of crime. The fjordman blog from... More

In connection with the revelation in the New York Post that Pew and other foundations manipulated the press to suggest there was a groundswell of public support for Campaign Finance Reform, Mickey Kaus points out the blatant double standard of the media which played a role in this... More

Startling news this morning from The New York Post's editorial page, supplemented by extensive detail from the Wall Street Journal's John Fund. In essence: Congress was duped into passing the McCain—Feingold Campaign Finance Reform (CFR) bill by what appears to be money—laundering on... More

The UK's Sunday Times gives further evidence of the brutal medieval thuggishness of the terrorists masquerading as insurgents in Iraq. They are slaughtering women as well as men, sometimes for merely failing to conform with their extreme version of Islamic modesty. Hadeel was one of a growing... More

Donald Rumsfeld explained today what has always seemed to us to be one of the decisive factors in some of the problems faced in the occupation of Iraq: Turkey's refusal to allow US forces to pass through and attack Iraq from the north, allowing a pincer movement on the capital. The level of... More

Debra Saunders, the female conservative columnist on the San Francisco Chronicle op—ed page, weighs in on Susan Estrich's notorious tirade against the supposed lack of female op ed columnists. A good column on a tired subject. But at the end comes a prciesless anecdote: Recently a Bay Area... More

Care for a plate of duck — yes, duck — quesadillas?  Or would you prefer the grilled caribou marinated in blueberries and baco noire wine?  How about some wild Coho salmon in a rye whisky with maple syrup sauce? These impossibly rarified culinary confections all are real menu... More

Tom Friedman goes off the deep end today in his New York Times column, proposing a Nobel Prize for Sistani: What Mr. Sistani, the late Lebanese Sunni leader Rafik Hariri and the new Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas all have in common is that they rose to power by focusing on a positive agenda... More

The greater metropolitan Chicago area has over 8 million people; 1000 of them straggled in Saturday to exercise their right to protest the war in Iraq. So naturally the protesters had a tantrum, denouncing the  USA and Chicago as fascist, because they couldn't... More

Before the University of Colorado took a hard left turn, its faculty included some of the most brilliant minds in academia.  Among them was Donald Baker, who taught at UC for 22 years as a Professor of English.  Don is retired now, but he remains a perceptive observer of politics and... More

As the body of Jessica Lunsford was being excavated from its Florida hiding place, at the hands of a man who saw her, took her, and killed her, another horrifying crime was taking place in my own neighborhood in the Berkeley Hills. A 75 year old woman and her husband were walking along Euclid... More

My friend Larry Henry writes about living wills and Terri Schiavo with a perspective few of us have. As is always the case when Larry writes, it is well worth reading. Thomas Lifson   3 18 05 More

The Democratic Party is increasingly marked by hysterical commentary by those people who have become its leading lights — while rational Democrats such as Joe  Lieberman are shunted aside. In the last two days, Senator Barbara Boxer has shown her penchant for flouting the Constitution... More

Bablublog has a terrific post by A.M. Mora y Leon, whom our readers know very well, concerning Fidel Castro's listing on the Forbes magazine list of billionaires, done. The close and insightful analysis of the ramifications is priceless. A must—read. Thomas Lifson   3 18 05 More

The United Nations is supplying further evidence that it is incorrigible, a hopeless case of a decadent buraucracy interested only in its own perquisites and survival. Kofi Annan's chief aide avers "We're not in the mood for more wholesale change," said Mark Malloch Brown, who became Mr. Annan's... More

America's former newspaper of record now turns to publicizing ways and a web site to help deserters from military. Once upon a time there were Alien and Sedition laws.... Ed Lasky   3 18 05 More

Today's New York Times Sunday Magazine features a cover story on the founding and considerable growth of a church in a town in Arizona. According to the article, the congregation, along with the town, has grown tremendously —— to a point where regular attendance is in the... More

Writing a supposed news article in the Washington Post, Dafna Linzer critiques the Bush administration's opposition to Iran's nuclear program as inconsistent with past US support — 30 years ago — for Iran's nuclear program. But the one factor missing fromthe article is Iran's emergence... More

"Ossies" and "Wessies" are the German slang terms for Easterners and Westerners, referring to the Deutschlanders who spent many years, respectively, under communism and capitalism. They remain in steady use in unified Germany. In fact, according to Reuters, Nearly a quarter of western Germans and... More

An open letter to Kathy Cerminara, Kenneth Goodman, and Steven Haidar:   Cordial greetings:   Thanks for providing an alternate timeline. But the bottom line? (1) The parents now want to take care of their daughter, so the spin or implication on Feb 14, 1993, that the... More

James Arlandson presented a timeline of events in Terri Schiavo's case, and asked "If the timeline is not full and complete, then a representative of Mr. Schiavo should step forward and give the better version." Although probably not a representative of Mr. Schiavo, reader Valerie T. accepted the... More

Dear Mr. Lifson:   I read your March 25 article, "The Old Media Game," with ever—decreasing enthusiasm.  It began with an accurate account of the bad habits of the media, but, in my view, the remainder of the article exemplifies the religious right's equally... More

Dr. Zin's Regime Change Iran, essential reading these days, reports today that riots broke out in Iran following a soccer win over Japan. This is the classic situation in a pre—revolutionary circumstance: any large gathering turns into riots. It is not that soccer games have anything to do... More

Iran uses a UN anti—drug program to stockpile weapons. Fears are that they will end up in the hands of Iraqi terrorists. Ed Lasky   3 26 05 More

A previous American Thinker post reported on the distortions that New York Times reporter Elaine Sciolino included in her report of a  Paris meeting on the topic of nuclear energy. She depicted America as selfishly insisting that America wants "nuclear energy plants for itself"  and... More

How desperate is CNN? This desperate. Hat tip: Polipundit More

James D. Miller concisely outlines a highly plausible scenario of the way that the existing media industry will seek governmental protection to hobble their new competitors, the blogs. Read it. See also Richard Poe on the same subject, in Front Page Magazine. Richaed Baehr   3 25 05 More

Last Tuesday, Herb Meyer appeared on Lawrence Kudlow's Kudlow & Company show on CNBC, to discuss his article here, "A revolutionary change." The article dealt with the difficulties generals now face when revolutionary crowds challenge dictatorial regimes. For a variety of reasons Herb explains... More

The New York Times published a deeply misleading article today on a very real and serious problem: the dearth of families with children in many of the nation's central cities. The chosen example was Portland, OR. The Times paints a glowing picture of Portland: The Pearl District in the heart of... More

Our admirable colleague David Kaspar, proprietor of the Davids Medienkritik website, has outdone himself. He compiles and translates the captions from a collection of pictures published in the mass circulation magazine Stern this week, which he aptly title's "Stern's gallery of... More

Go to this website devoted to saving Terri, and click on to the timeline. In the first two years (1990—1991), Michael is angelic. When the money arrives from the malpractice settlements as late as November 1992, his angelic nature seems to change by February 1993. If this timeline is full and... More

Irony of ironies, the liberal, anti—free market French have decided that the liberal, anti free market George Soros is guilty of insider trading.    Of course the French ruled Soros is guilty of insider trading of a French company and of course Soros refuses to accept the decision... More

Kofi Annan's deputy Malloch Brown  casually let slip yesterday that American tax dollars going to the UN sponsor gatherings at luxury resorts where "a lot of bored important people are milling around." Benny Avni's fine article in the New York Sun also notes that the Massey family, which... More

Watch dogs need watching. Thanks NGO (non government organization) Monitor for the alert that the so—called Human Rights Watch has hired an extremely anti—Israel researcher to report on Israel.   Will their next hire be Howard Dean to objectively... More

Tonight Jews around the world will be celebrating the joyous holiday of Purim.  In ancient Persia (Iran) a vain, weak king, following the advice of his evil counsel Haman, passed a decree authorizing the total destruction of the Jews in all the lands ruled by the king.  Thanks... More

Remember all the hugging and kissing  in Caracas this month, when Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez hosted Iran's mullah—president, Mohamad Khatami? Who could forget the pictures?  The two tyrants, one in flowing mullah robes and the other in a ridiculous red... More

Stephen, of DoggerelPundit, writes about his own run—ins with anti—war poets. As his website title would indicate, he responded with verse: O poets of peace so hostile to all wars!Read piece by piece such dull misgiving growsThat rhythm dead—no try at verséd door'sNot poetry at... More

Tom Joseph writes us: It seems to me Steve Feinstein may have missed the big point.  Sometimes, we spend so much effort analyzing something that we pass by the most common sense answer.  Reminds me of the day the network printer went down.  When I arrived on the scene, there were... More

In this New York Times news report  regarding a conference held in Paris, Iran's nuclear program is distorted to depict America as selfishly and arrogantly demanding the right to develop nuclear power for only itself. The US is on record of only wishing to develop... More

You have to read it to believe it. Ed Lasky More

Argentina's recent ballyhooed bond "deal" with its creditors, forcing them to take 31 cents on the dollar, no negotiations, take it or leave it — may have given Hugo Chavez some ideas.   He's long been a fan of Fidel Castro's insistence that indebted nations form... More

The second most powerful elected official in California, Assemply Speaker Fabio Nunez, is receiving $35,000 a year from a nonprofit arm of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor. Apparently legal, according to the Los Angeles Times, the arrangement reeks of corruption. Kudos to the LAT for its... More

Amir Taheri, writing in the New York Post, describes the ways in which terrorists are "on the rocks" today, thanks to the robust response of the Bush administraion. It makes for delightful reading. Ed Lasky   3 23 05 More

A man known as J. J. Jameson became one of Chicago's prominent anti—war figures and a member of the community of leftist anti—war poets.  The author of two books, a congregation leader at a church, and named Chicagopoetry.com's poet of the month in March 2004,  Jameson... More

A second story in the Financial Times and Il Sole 24 Ore details the desperation faced by Cotecna, the Swiss consulting firm which employed Kojo Annan, and received a lucrative contract from the UN to manage part of the notoriously corrupt Oil for Food program. It seems that Kofi Annan has not... More

According to a study reported here on yesterday, college faculties are overwhelmingly liberal——at some of the institutions considered to be prestigious up to 75% liberal. Now one of the basic tenets  liberals supposedly worship is freedom of speech.  After all that's the... More

The Wall Street Journal reveals (paid link) that 36 news organizations have filed a friend of the court brief in the case against Time Magazine's Matt Cooper and the New York Times' Judith Miller, who have refused to reveal their confidential sources. The brief takes the position that no crime was... More

The Schiavo case will not be forgotten.  I believe it may have an effect on legislation for years to come....perhaps much in the same way the execution of Sacco and Vanzetti had in the many decades that followed their case.  Without getting carried away, there are eerie... More

A strange notion is afoot among the leftists. Anyone who favors tort reform is presumed to be a hypocrite if they ever have sued anyone. The latest to jump on the meme is Josh Marshall, who posts an article about Sen. Rick Santorum's wife's lawsuit against a chiropractor who injured her. By... More

Some on the left in the American Jewish community seems to favor death for Terri Schiavo. Writing on National Review Online, David Klinghoffer speculates that this sentiment may be dues to regrettable atavistic negative reactions to a Christian agenda. But other American Jewish groups, such as the... More

Howard Kurtz reports on a new study which shows that academe is more liberal and more partisan by far than the rest of the country. It is hard to believe this is a random divergence:   College faculties, long assumed to be a liberal bastion, lean further to the left than even the most... More

Steve Coll in the Washington Post has an interesting article on the role of text messaging on cell pohnes, as the favored medium for communication among Arab dissidents. It seems that this particular channel of communications is less amenable to censorship than web sites, fax machines, and other... More

The Democrats who used to produce things —— cars, steel, and foodstuffs —— are being replaced by those who produce fads and fashion, things people enjoy but don't need. Societies need teachers, soldiers, engineers, and mechanics; they need people who drill for oil and... More

We already have ample reason to loathe Spain's cowardly, terrorist—accommodating prime minister, Jose Luis Rodriquez Zapatero, who won the Spanish 'capitulation' vote after al—Qaida blew up four Madrid train stations last March.   Now, blogger Daniel in... More

A second open letter to Ms. Kathy Cerminara and Kenneth Goodman or to anyone who can provide reliable information on Mr. Schiavo: Dear Ms. Cerminara and Mr. Goodman or to whom it may concern: Cordial greetings. On March 24, 2005, I presented a timeline that indicated that Mr. Schiavo behaved... More

The essence of the Terri Schiavo case is simple, all ink and hot air to the contrary. We, as a society, the government and people of the United States of America, have not managed, for whatever reasons, to permit a mother, deluded or not, to put water onto the lips of her dying child, brain dead... More

The Los Angeles Times got an advance look at the HBO documentary on the first few weeks of Air America, which is almost one year old. The article describing what the documentary shows paints a picture of the company eerily similar to the general image of liberals held by conservatives, as these... More

Dennis Prager has argued in response to critics of college sports teams with Indian names or mascots, that he would be proud to support a team called the  Fighting Jews at some university. In the Netherlands, there now is a "Jews" team to root for, with an enthusiastic and overwhelmingly... More

The person in the position to rescue Terri Schiavo is Pinellas Park Mayor William Mischler. He should dispatch an ambulance to transport her to a hospital emergency room. At that time, the paramedics should transfer custody to the hospital medical staff.   The emergency room staff is tasked... More

Zimbabwe has an election coming up on March 31. Bloggers and media alike believe it may be the end for Africa's most odious regime. Zimbabwe is where a brutal leftist dictator, Robert Mugabe, has turned food into a political weapon in what was once the breadbasket of Africa. The reports of mass... More

Hugo Chavez's U.S. network Over the past week, tremendous work has been done by blogger Alek Boyd of VCrisis, to expose the extent of Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez's network of activists and lobbying operations in the U.S.  Using Freedom of Information Act documents, he's invalubaly shown... More

Al Jazeera seems to be having a bad time over its coverage of events in Lebanon. According to the Reuters "news" agency, the Arabic satellite television news channel has been threatened with having its Beirut offices bombed, in retaliation for interviewing anti—Syrian spokesmen in... More

Writing in US News & World Report, John Leo summarizes my worries concisely:   The Schiavo case is a breakthrough for persuading the public to lower the bar on moral constraints. Once we had a bright line between pulling the plug on patients kept alive by life—support systems and... More

As is nearly always the case, Mark Steyn writes eloquently, this time about Terri Schiavo. What a gift we have in Steyn! After 15 years, for the courts to treat her like a Death Row killer who's exhausted her appeals is simply vile.   There seems to be a genuine dispute about her... More

Word comes from Matt May of a shocking crime in Indianapolis. The Medal of Honor Memorial, one* of the nation's monument to all winners of the Medal of Honor, has been defaced by vandals. In his blog entry, Matt reports that The memorial was defaced with a spray painted "peace" sign,... More

Apparently mainstream media's (MSM) failure to publish unpleasant, politically incorrect facts is not unique to the US.  This also regularly occurs in France.  Commenting on attacks by adolescents of North African Muslim origin against striking  students in Paris, blogger Nidra... More

Yesterday American Thinker reported that  worshippers involved with sacred areas of free speech, the universities, quickly condemn those who blaspheme holy liberal scripture by trying to excommunicate them, thereby suppressing their right to speak.   Add conservative... More

Terri Schiavo's brain CT was exhibited on MSN.com on 3/29/05. On this site there was also a sober discussion with a neurologist who had previouslyexamined Terri Schiavo. The head CT shows extensive brain damage with marked atrophy (shrinkage) of the upper portion of the brain. Recovery from such... More

Earlham College is a fine liberal arts college in Richmond, Indiana. It is also a Quaker—sponsored school, and home to many of the pacifist persuasion. Last night, while speaking at Earlham, Bill Kristol was assaulted by a pie—throwing student, who also, incidentally, managed to hit the... More

David Limbaugh has a fascinating discussion of former Senator (and family friend) John Danforth's column in the New York Times, lamenting the increasing role of Christians in the Republican Party. The fact David knows Danforth and respects him so much makes the discussion all the more poignant and... More

Joseph Crowley writes: I've heard an awful lot about the "majority" of people that feel the government has no business in the Terri Schiavo case. Can any of the American Thinker readers who consider themselves part of that majority please explain to me how it came to be referred... More

Michael Ledeen takes the International Herald—Tribune, the Paris—based subsidiary of the New York Times, to the woodshed for irresponsible and misleading reporting on the anti—regime riots triggered by Iran's victory over Japan in World Cup qualifying rounds. The IHT story treated... More

Really strange political bedfellows   Ah, the desperation of the Democratic party is truly something to behold.  In the latest bizarre twist of the adage "Politics makes for strange bedfellows,"  the party's newest celebrity, Senator Barack Obama (IL) has not only apparently endorsed... More

The Washington Post's Howard Kurtz details the case that Powerline blog and the Weekly Standard have made that the much touted "GOP Talking Points Memo" on the Schiavo law was not genuine. The Washington Post and AP which clearly left that impression in their earlier reports now deny they... More

The New York Sun reports with approval that Harvard University's endownment fund is divesting itself of shares in Petro—China, the state—owned oil company with oil operations in Sudan, among other locations. The Sun also notes that many of the American business leaders who have... More

The Pope is receiving almost universal adulation following his passing, even from liberals who mostly opposed his moral teachings and sought to influence the Catholic Church in directions opposed by His Holiness. But one exception exists: the hardline press in Iran. John Paul II is being excoriated... More

Watch out Air America and PBS——you're about to have some broadcast competition.  Yes, the man who invented the internet, the former vice president of the United States, is about to invent a new television network, officially, proudly liberal, targeting young liberal... More

How does $444 an hour sound for a job requiring no high school diploma, and training which is measured in a the days of a single week? Fair? That's what forklift operators at a public facility, McCormick Place in Chicago, earn for work on Sundays. The ultra—high costs for hourly labor at the... More

Captain's Quarters, a very fine website, has earned a new distinction: banned in Canada. For reporting on testimony revealing the corruption of the Liberal Party government. Canadian websites linking to Captain Ed's web page are now threatened with prosecution. Glenn Reynolds reports that... More

Berkeley has become a banana republic: "build absolutely nothing anywhere near anything." The latest example is a center for the disabled, being contested on the basis that the new structure would not harmonize with its historic surroundings. I happen to enjoy much of the work of the Berkeley... More

The German CEO of one of Europe's largest publishing companies has finally had enough. In a blistering essay published in Die Welt, called 'Europe, thy name is cowardice,' he laid into Europe's long string of appeasements to tyrants and terrorists that have made it the object of so much contempt in... More

The evil done by the Pew Foundation's secret maneuvers to stampede Congress into passing, and President Bush into signing, the free speech—regulating McCain—Feingold campaign finance reform act continues to spread. The Supreme Court's acquiescence to limitations on political speech has... More

Oil hit a record—high $58 a barrel this morning in Europe. This time the market talk is not about refinery capacity (bad as we know that is) but about weakened production.  The producer the market's looking at is Venezuela. Its biggest refinery shut down last week on an electrical... More

It has started. The UK's Guardian could restrain itself no longer. This great man was getting entirely too much praise, too much adoration, and worst of all, winning too many hearts and souls to a doctrine opposed to secular humanism and twisted utopianism. His passing has not silenced him: far... More

Look who is complaining about National Public Radio now——a black columnist whose criticism is encapsulated in the article's title White Noise.  NPR is not diverse enough, doesn't relate to minorities he asserts. Well, that may or may nor be true depending on one's... More

Sure, school work has changed since we were kids——heck it has changed since last year.  And now even the color of the teacher's marking pen has changed. Out with the red——in the with the purple.    It seems that many parents object to... More

The worlds of Brave New World and 1984 aren't more bizarre than the information from Freedom House listing the 18 governments considered most repressive The report, "The Worst of the Worst: The World's Most Repressive Societies 2005," includes detailed summations of the dire human rights situations... More

If you are an American shopper buying ice cream for the family, what flavor would you be most likely to buy? The "correct "answer is vanilla for most people. But we all know that there are many variations on that basic theme! You can get old—fashioned high butterfat naturally flavored, or... More

With regard to this offer: It is difficult,if not meaningless for a physician  to make a diagnosis, of  "persistent vegetative state"on the basis of  a head CT scan alone.  Physicians, in general, do not rely on a single test to make a diagnosis. In fact in medical school they... More

Matthew May has his own tribute to Pope John Paul II on his blog site. All of us are grappling with both the enormity of the loss and and the joy in having enjoyed the gift of this man's presence among us. More

Captaid Ed of Capatin's Quarters has broken the publication ban and gives us the scoop on the Canadian  Liberal party scandal that's about to blow them out of office: On Thursday, Jean Brault began his testimony, subject to the publication ban, and revealed a massive pattern of corruption... More

Dr. C.B. Boyle, a radiologist who has interpreted over 10,000 brain CT scans is offering a $100,000 reward for any neurologist who can predict more than 60% of the time which patients have PVS on the basis of a CT scan. He is disgusted by the parade of "experts" who are not experienced in the... More

It's become quite noticeable that SoS Rice is, according to the pictures we are lately getting from the MSM, MIA.   Gone are pictures of Condi, beautifully coifed and dressed, striding purposefully around the globe with a beatific smile and a head crammed full of knowledge and... More

Did you see Paul Krugman's column the other day when he voiced his fear that right—wing conservatives would start assasssinating their opponents?As usual, the good doctor has it backwards.  Where is the violence these days?  In the last campaign, two Republican offices were hit with... More

The MSM——particularly the AP——distorted the facts in this case, ran a phony biased poll, publicized what it turns out was a fake "GOP Talking Points Memo," all to create (as Pew did with Campaign Finance Reform) the notion that American public opinion opposed intervention in... More

A reader writes to remind us that the Battle of Okinawa began 60 years ago today. Neither side expected this to be the last major battle of World War II, but it was, thanks to Fat Man and Little Boy. The Okinawan civilians suffered enormously, sometimes at the hands of the Imperial Japanese forces,... More

France has discovered that its latest cultural threat is google. The American search engine plans to convert the contents of British and American university libraries to digital format, to enable them to be searched. The tremendous contribution to the research capabilities of billions of ordinary... More

Pat Buchannan was doused with salad dressing while delivering a speech at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo last night. Shouting, "Stop the bigotry," the attacker succeeded in silencing the speech of which he disapproved. Regrettably, the free speech suppressor was released on a mere $100... More

Lawrence Henry writes of his own medical situation today on The American Spectator's website, in the context of Terri Schiavo's death. Larry has had two kidney failures — first his own, and then his transplaneted kidney, and today is on dialysis. It is a deeply moving, highly personal... More

Remember Nancy Hopkins who said she had to leave the room or else she would become ill when Lawrence Summers, president of Harvard University, speculated about the reasons fewer women than men go into science?   Well, she undoubtedly will become ill  because she can't escape. ... More

During Secretary of State Rice's recent visit to India, and important joint statement was issued on March 25th, portending a great geostrategic realingment. Boldly stated, the US agreed to help India become a major world power. This forthright declaration received astonishingly little attention in... More

If you recall, the MSM, relying on  unnamed sources repeatedly tarred the Iraqi National Congress and Ahmed Chalabi with being the source of false intelligence information on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. Leaving aside for the moment that those sources undoubtedly were located... More

Brian Maloney analyzes the Air America ratings data on his blog The Radio Equalizer. The data turn our to be even worse for Air America than I expected. Despite a barrage of cheery publicity about the growth in the number of stations using the Air America network feed, the miniscule ratings in most... More

Franco Aleman, who blogs from Spain as Barcepundit, highlights a Spanish news agency report about a a serious dimension to the arms deal between Spain and Venezuela already worrying geostrategists. It is a scoop in the English language reporting on the subject. Hugo Chavez, the... More

The Oakland Tribune provides an account today of the surrender of Hamaseh Kianfar, the subject of an AT article yesterday. The Trib's front page offers a photograph of Kianfar, accompanied by her father and her sister. The San Francisco Chronicle article on the surrender mentions some of the... More

Jewish settlements in Gaza and the West Bank, some in areas where Jews lived before being pushed out in the 1948 war, others in areas where Jews lived much longer ago, are almost always described in the mainstream media and by many government officials  as illegal, and built in violation of... More

The behavior of President Bush (and his father)  and ex—President Bill Clinton in Rome tells us what we already knew. The Bushes behave like gentlemen, while Clinton is a self—promoter who hogs the spotlight at every opportunity. Bill Sammon writes in the Washington... More

Appearing last night on David Letterman's CBS Late Night show, book—peddling Jane Fonda indulged in a bit of self—pity. After denouncing the war which liberated 25 million Iraqis from a hideous and murderous dictatorship, the following took place: Letterman had just held up the infamous... More

The New York Times has a fawning interview with the Columbia University assistant professor, Joseph Massad, at the heart of the storm over anti—Semitism and intimidation among the faculty at Columbia University. The New York Times had ignored this year—long controversy, until... More

Apparently, it pays big dividends to 'mysteriously uncover' classified documents and to illegally obtain evidence in a criminal trial.  AP's Television Writer, David Bauder, reports that  a Peabody Award  will be given to CBS News for its story on the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal... More

The sons of the Ethel and Julius Rosenberg are understandably bitter about the execution of their parents in 1953 as spies for the Communist Soviet Union. They were helpless and innocent victims who lost their parents. But their bitterness is misplaced. Fifty years later they still can't... More

Yet again, a conservative speaker has been attacked speaking on a college campus. David Horowitz was assaulted with a pie shortly after he began speaking at Butler University in Indianapolis yesterday. Enduring the humiliation, he completed his speech. Regrettably, although the attackers were... More

How does one gauge the success of the Minuteman Project? They are monitoring only 24 miles of border. Illegals are not deterred. They are now crossing the border east of Douglas, AZ and west of Deming, NM.  Bands of 30 are now trying to cross the Chiricahua Mountains —— which top... More

Bravo to Senator Jeff Sessions for introducing legislation aimed at pressuring the United Nations for more thorough accounting: Last fall, President Bush approved a $1.2 billion, low—interest loan to the United Nations for the purpose of renovating its headquarters at Turtle Bay. Concerned... More

We heard from our friend Lastango at Daily Pundit that no thought experiment is necessary to compare the situation along Iraq's border with the current efforts of the Minuteman Project in Arizona. One month+ before we ran our item, he had the same idea, plus the facts on the "pop—up"... More

So how do you justify killing a cop in cold blood?  Easy.  Proudly announce on the internet you were eliminating the tools of an evil government, an evil system.     At 1:27 a.m. on Nov. 19, 2002, Officer David Mobilio of the Red Bluff Police Department was... More

Yes, of course the media have a need to present all sides of an issue——provided the presenters are all responsible.  A serious geography discussion would not offer a forum to a member of the Flat Earth Society; an important panel of economic experts would not include an alchemist... More

The results are in! The new mayor of Berwyn, Illinois will be Michael O'Connor. For those who saw my previous report, he was Mr. Rocky Road, the JFK era Democrat. Congratulations.   A few observations are in order. Despite a heavy presence of outside workers brought in by the Democratic... More

President Bush called the citizens patrolling the border "vigilantes," even though they merely function as an extended neighborhood watch operation, notifying authorities of what they observe. Here is a thought experiment: Imagine that 500 Iraqis showed up at the Iraq—Syria border to... More

Tony Serra was once a superstar left wing defense lawyer. So much so that Hollywood made a pretty good fictionalized movie about his life, called True Believer, starring no less than the wonderful James Woods as the Tony character. He defended Huey Newton, one of the Symbionese Liberation Army... More

Olivier Guitta, whose work has appeared in The American Thinker many times, has a sobering article today on the Weekly Standard website. The Muslim racism Olivier has so well—documented is becoming more aggressive and more visible to the French. Responsible observers are warning the French... More

Jayson at Polipundit highlights the results of Kansas's election yesterday, including a referendum on homosexual marriage. As in every other state to put the issue to the voters, it was rejected, this time by a margin of 71—29. Jayson notes that proponents continue to press the issue,... More

According to The American Spectator, former president Jimmy Carter — through his lackeys at the Carter Center — inundated the White House with requests not only to be a part of the American delegation to the Vatican for the funeral of Pope John Paul II, but with requests to actually... More

Much as with the launch of Air America, get ready for a string of New York Times articles on this new web log (blog, for the uninitiated). Maybe there is something to this new media if such well versed intellectuals as Gwynneth Paltrow will be writing for the new Hollywood collective website... More

Former UN human rights lawyer Kenneth Cain says the secretary—general could finally redeem himself by saving lives — after years of lethal passivity. Does the timing strike anyone as suspicious? Ed Lasky  4 6 05 More

The EU official who whitewashed Palestinain funding report might be new auditor of the UN! From the Transatlantic Intelligencer: ...look here for who has turned up in the short list of four candidates to replace Dileep Nair, the embattled outgoing head of the UN's internal auditing agency. (The... More

The French have a habit of behaving in such a transparently self—serving manner that they discredit the fine—sounding rhetoric they (and many others) use to attack American "unilateralism," "aggression," "crimes against humanity," and so many other sins of the nation which has liberated... More

Omigosh!  The MoveOn people and complaining Democrats were absolutely correct——an important demographic was disenfranchised in the last election. But you won't hear  much wailing from them because apparently that disenfranchised demographic consisted of soldiers and overseas... More

We have had our differences with the Reuters news agency, principally over Middle East coverage and coverage of American policies and politics. But it is nonetheless a delight to see A.M. Mora y Leon's article on Mexico quoted in a Reuters dispatch from Mexico City, describing the financial impact... More

I have always liked Denzel Washington's work as an actor. He has the ability to reach audiences with the sheer force of personality and intelligence which marks true movie stars. But I did not dare hope that the integrity and qualities of heart he projects from the screen are genuine. Apparently... More

As always, Mark Steyn says profound things in an amusing way. His treatment of the press reaction to John Paul II's passing is worth reading in full. But here is his conclusion: The secularists, for example, can't forgive him for his opposition to condoms in the context of Aids in Africa. The Dark... More

The Washington Times reports on very suspicious coincidences involving the Minority Leader: House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi helped secure $3 million last year for a nonprofit transportation—research organization whose president gave money to her political action committee as the group was... More

Yesterday, Ben Stein, and today, Tony Blankley.  Eloquent defenses of Tom DeLay are finally coming from the leading minds of the conservative cause. The Majority Leader's only genuine offense is being an effective parliamentarian. Make that a spectacularly successful parliamentarian. We are... More

Blogger Bat One, posting on Pennywit.com, has noticed an item in the Bennington (Vt.) Banner which reports that  Socialist Congressman Bernie Sanders used campaign donations to pay his wife and stepdaughter more than $150,000 for campaign—related work since 2000, according to... More

La Nacion of Argentina reports, with a savage photo,  that Paraguay's ambassador to Venezuela was physically attacked in broad daylight in Caracas as she left the cathedral mass honoring Pope John Paul II. Unknown goons set upon her, and worse yet, when she sought help from a Venezuelan... More

As French leftist intellectuals and chauvinistic cultural warriors demonize America and disparage capitalism, they are finding an increasing number of their top scientists and entrepreneurs are departing  for America to fulfill their ambitions. A growing number of biotech companies are... More

Whereas it is the opinion of the majorities of the House and Senate that their joint directions to the 11th Court of Appeals have been ignored; and Whereas it is the duty of the Congress to safeguard the taxpayers money; and Whereas Article III, Section 1 requires that judges ... More

A number of us have noted that the New York Times, which disgraced itself by agreeing to supress reporting of contrary viewpoints when it received an advance copy of Columbia University whitewash of its anti—Israel classroom atmosphere, has compounded the offence. In profiling Professor... More

Eric Fettman of the New York Post lays out a promising scenario for the GOP to pick up the governorship of New Jersey. It seems some interesting tapes exist, compromising the probable condidacy of wealthy Senator Jon Corzine. explosive tape recordings ... have rocked New Jersey after being... More

New York Times op—ed columnist Nicholas D. Kristof is shocked, shocked, shocked and pained, pained, pained to learn that  Americans of all backgrounds, "not just right—wingers who distrust the media these days," he condescendingly adds, are wary of the media.   His easy... More

Ben Stein has a powerful and direct defense of Tom DeLay on The American Spectator today. I can only add my thanks to him for stating what needs to be said. When you shine the light of truth on those who are attempting to undermine this man, the facts mutely accuse the accusers. Thomas... More

This new Karl Rove documentary coming to Frontline on PBS follows their production of a few weeks ago on the "coming civil war" among the Jews in Israel over the Gaza disengagement. PBS is trying hard to wrest its bias championship title back from NPR. When the New York Times finds a... More

Hugh Fitzgerald, writing on Jihad Watch,  is the perfect accompaniment to today's articles by James Arlandson  and Andrew Bostom  covering the problematic nature of Islam, as handed down by Muhammad and practiced through many centuries. Fitzgerald is scathing in his criticism of Bush... More

The incident at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, in which Pat Buchanan was prevented from continuing a speech by being doused with Caesar salad dressing (it was "Caesar Chavez Day" — get it?) continues to throw off emanations and penumbras. Dan Flynn investigates... More

Every now and then, reports surface in the Western press of a riot somewhere in China. The latest example is a Reuters dispatch from Beijing on thousands rioting in Huankantou village in wealthy coastal province of Zhejiang. The current instance is a relative wealthy province where Police had... More

The Washington Times has joined Michelle Malkin, David Horowitz and us in decrying the wave of left wing violence against conservative speakers on campus. the Times editorial makes a couple of points worth serious attention: 1) The MSM largely ignores this violence, just as it ignored the... More

The Boston Globe, a New York Times—owned newspaper. today publishes an op ed peice by Israeli Jeff Halper which argues that the Israeli disengagement plan is a ruse, and part of a scheme by the Sharon government to retain large swaths of the West Bank and continue the imprisonment of... More

Sixty years ago World War ll was drawing to a close.  And so with the distance of time the last eyewitnesses speak about an unspeakable time. On the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the notorious Buchenwald death camp  a British officer describes the Gate of Hell. I will... More

Newsweek's  Wolffe and Bailey wrote an article suggesting that the President's special outreach to Pope John Paul II was politically motivated and not reciprocated, concluding: That account barely grasps the extent of the Holy See's opposition to the war in Iraq, as Clinton suggested in his... More

Berkeley is justly famed for its culinary glories. The so called "New American cuisine," also known as "California cuisine," began here, as Alice Waters and a host of chefs, bakers, vintners, and other foodies developed new methods for producing and serving fine food and drink, based on the... More

Now that GW is well into his second term, The Washington Post (aka The Ministry of Truth) finally comes clean to inform us that there is no homeland security (HLS) funding shortfall as charged by the Kerry campaign last year. Last June, readers of AT were told of John Kerry's campaign visits... More

Really and truly, I'm not in a get—the—New—York—Times mode, but lately that paper of record has been indulging in behavior worthy of a high school paper with rebellious adolescent editors.  Therefore, the Times' peers at the New York Post give them some basic reporting... More

Ah, now we know that Condoleezza Rice is making a difference——fashion reporters are discussing her clothes.   None of these stylists ever commented on predecessor's Colin Powell's suits did they?  And even the outfits of the first female Secretary of State, Madeline... More

Mark Steyn has an instinct for getting to the heart of a matter over a path both erudite and humorous. Today he offers a suggestion for saving on our CIA "intelligence" budget by taking a lesson from our E.U. friends since, as he so aptly observes, that although we spend $30 billion per annum on... More

Hamseh Kianfar, accused of being an accessory after the fact in the Berkeley blood feast attack, is now claiming seemingly contradictory excuses for driving away from the scene with the attacker and failing to report the incident to the police. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Kianfar... More

No real confession of having been wrong, wrong, wrong, and reasoned from an improper premise, but still to be applauded. That is, Nicholas Kristoff, New York Times columnist. Today, he comes out in favor of nuclear power. Of course, his reasoning is based on the global warming hoax, which is... More

The Washington Post is improving its performance lately. Today, it publishes an insightful article on the concern that Russia may be facing a second revolution. It was a good story idea when Herb Meyer published it here, and it still is. Thomas Lifson  4 9 05 More

Aleksander Boyd, of the invaluable Vcrisis website, has done some digging into Spain's arms sales to Venezuela. More details will be forthcoming in May, but the indications are all rather grim. Hugo Chavez is building a military force which can threaten his neighbors and cause serious trouble for... More

Bill Clinton would make an ideal Pope — in the eyes of the American media at least.  Bill the Beloved would bring a liberal slant to the Papacy. He would bring 'a bridge to the 21st Century' to the 2000 year—old institution.  He would inspire a whole new priesthood... More

Haaretz reports: [Isarel's] President Moshe Katsav, who was at the Vatican as part of Israel's delegation to the funeral of Pope John Paul II, twice shook hands with Syrian President Bashar Assad on Friday. The two men were in close proximity to one another throughout the procession due to the fact... More

Nobel Peace Prize laureate, ex—president, peanut farmer, naval officer and all around jerk Jimmy Carter spouts off again.   "We (the United States of America) really don't give a damn," he actually stated, echoing Stingy Egeland of the UN, condemning the US of A for not... More

The BBC reports that a new film on the early years of Karol Wojtyla, titled Karol: The Man Who Became Pope, is to receive its premier on Italian television Monday night. The article mentions a production budget of 11 million Euros (roughly 12.8 million dollars), meaning that if it is a... More

Miracle of miracles! Pakistan's President Musharraf is in India for a three day visit, dubbed "cricket diplomacy," because he and the Premier of India, Manmohan Singh, will be watching their two nations play a cricket match. But both countries have a lot more than sports on their minds. The... More

Bob Novak must be a blogger and not even know it!  But he did check on Senator Barbara Boxer's claim that she never opposed President Bush's nominations for high office, except in a very few significant cases. The Senate Shrew obviously said this to add credibility to her opposition to John... More

From opendemocracy.net, an article about the movement towards freedom for the Iranian people. . . Iran's road to democracy —— The Islamic Republic of Iran's presidential election of June 2005 will be a vital moment for the country. But, says Mohsen Sazegara — a former regime... More

While America has an abundance of religious summer camps..this field trip and cultural excursion is where some Europeans send their children. Jugendweihe, a secular version of a religious confirmation, marking the transition to early adulthood. It is, in other words, for adolescent atheists. "Most... More

Charlotte Gott provides a reality check for Bono and Jeffrey Sachs in today's Washington Post. "...the most telling moment came one morning, when an American ob—gyn I worked with began a discussion among health—care providers about what the developed world can do to help. She talked... More

Richard Baehr, American Thinker, April 14, 2005: I hope the West Virginia GOP will not waste Shelly Capito in a run against Byrd. While she might run close, she is still likely to lose. And if she gives up her hard earned House seat to run, the seat could well be picked up by a  Democrat. The... More

Liberals claiming to be deficit hawks, are always quick to point out how much money conservatives or Republicans have saved due to recent tax cuts the GOP pushed through Congress. Today's New York Times does such accounting for President Bush and Vice President Cheney   The Times... More

Actual headline:  "Stocks Plunge to Lowest Point Since Election" Stunningly obvious why they chose this point on the calendar—surprsied they did not accompany the article with the piece on Bush/Cheney saving money on taxes. Ed Lasky   4 16 05 More

As if Bush would push throught tax cuts to save all of $28,846 last year. Absurd that the valuable NY Times news space would have this type of propaganda. Sigh.   Ed Lasky  4 16 05   Richard Baehr adds:   No mention of Bush and Cheney's substantial charitable... More

A new chapter seems to have opened for the New York Times in covering the scandal—plaugued United Nations. Formerly, the paper of liberal record barely noticed the scandals, prefering to devote itself to arcana such as the membership of a golf club in Georgia. But now that indictments have... More

Hey you unfashionables comfortably spread out between the coasts:  Is your dressed for comfort look a bit crumpled?  Not willing to spend $300 for an elegant haircut?  Worried this Friday casual every day look will prevent you from moving up the ladder? Never fear, John Bolton... More

For those of you not familiar with Anthony Daniels, pen name 'Theodore Dalrymple', I would like to suggest that you get to know him. Reading his work is getting to know him. He mostly writes in the first person and from personal experience that is deep and wide from his travels, reading and work as... More

Olivier Guitta, who has published many AT articles, reports on the Daily Standard that Syria is infiltrating Lebanon by naturalization of its citizens, and even its army members, making them "Lebanese." Thus, when Syria continues to occupy Lebanon, despite its promise to leave, it will be portrayed... More

When are the members of the board of directors of the Tribune Company (TRB) going to wake up and serve their shareholders? Management of that company has permitted its subsidiary, the Los Angeles Times, to become the servant of a left wing political agenda, at the expense of the best interests of... More

Having had my own brushes with the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT), I am pleased to see this Opinion Journal editorial on the unexpected tax—cutting zeal of the likes of Senator Barbara Boxer. Becuase the AMT penalizes those with large deductions, including large deductions of state income... More

It must take courage like Sharansky's or Havel's, but Cuba's brave dissidents — and only North Korea's could be braver — have announced their first conference to outline a new democracy in Cuba after the Monster, Fidel Castro, is gone. And they are doing it inside Cuba. Like the... More

As I am an Arizona resident, John McCain is my Senator.  When I call his office in Phoenix to express my disappointment in McCain's latest vote (against the Bush tax cuts; against drilling in ANWR; against the repeal of the estate tax, etc.), I find that his staffers are often embarrassed to... More

There aren't many things worse than a communist dictator who's actively confiscating land and driving his private sector out of business scolding local entrepreneurs with "to be a rich man is a bad thing"  Or intoning to them that they should "donate" half their companies to the government in... More

Kofi Annan is now saying the UN Oil—for—Food scandal is all our (and the UK's) fault. According to Benny Avni in the New York Sun: He insisted that most of the illicit gains Saddam made under oil for food were not the fault of the United Nations but the result of oil smuggling that... More

Oh that Ben Stein.   A few days ago he had the nerve to oppose common wisdom by calmly explaining why the rising chorus demanding Tom DeLay's ouster is so off tune. Today he adds two more solid reasons:   The reasons the liberals and the MSM are after Tom DeLay are two: He... More

Still doing your taxes but missing a form, have a question?  We're here to help: http://www.irs.gov/formspubs/   Now help yourself next year by advocating for a simpler system and less government with lower taxes.    You're welcome.   Ethel C. Fenig    4 15... More

I hope the West Virginia GOP will not waste Shelly Capito in a run against Byrd. While she might run close, she is still likely to lose. And if she gives up her hard earned House seat to run, the seat could well be picked up by a  Democrat. The state is turning quite red at the Presidential... More

The trial of the 16 year old girl who slashed an elderly woman's neck to the bone faces a possible delay. "Misunderstandings" between the Alameda County Probation Department and the Alameda County Health Department in setting up court—ordered psychiatric testing evidently are to... More

Don Surber, the remarkable writer for the Charleston Daily Mail, has a terrific column today on the re—election prospects for 88 year old West Virginia Senator Robert Byrd. Once upon a time, Byrd won his seat by a 30 point marging. But The National Republican Senatorial Committee did a... More

He's baaack. Tongsun Park, the man at the center of the Koreagate scandal of 1978, has been indicted for allegedly funneling bribes to UN officials in the Oil—for—Food scandal, as an unregistered agent of Iraq. Koreagate was never fully excavated. I always thought there were too... More

Now it appears that the lawyer, Greg Craig, who helped Clinton during the Elian Gonzales immigration issue, and helped him avoid impeachment regarding the Monica Lewinsky affair, has been the lawyer for Kofi Annan.  Craig is representing Annan free of charge. If only the skills of such lawyers... More

Tina Brown, now a newspaper columnist following her disastrous failure as editor of The New Yorker, may have taken the lead today in her ongoing race with the NY Times's Maureen Dowd to determine which can better use twisted bitchiness and vitriol as the primary basis for earning a journalistic... More

It may concern Joe Biden (in his peroration on John Bolton yesterday) that bureaucrats were upset when Mr. Bolton was getting in their "back yards."  What I am concerned about is that the bureaucrats were clueless when the bad guys were getting into OUR back yard.  I do not favor an... More

Can we talk?  Sure.  But we don't have to listen.  And no one is listening——ok, a very few are——to Air America. You remember Air America.  That's the mostly liberal radio talk show established by fuming liberals amazed that so many Americans exercised... More

Bryon York, author of The Vast Left Wing Conspiracy, correctly notes that the Democrats were bankrolled in the last election by five major contributors, people whom I think should be heretofore referred to as The Gang of Five, for they are surely determined to set up a left wing government totally... More

I guess Jane Fonda's book isn't that popular. Link here. Jack Kemp  Apr. 20, 2005 Kansas City police arrested a 54—year—old man Tuesday night after he allegedly spit tobacco juice into the face of Jane Fonda at a book signing event on The Country Club Plaza. Michael A. Smith of... More

For  brief history of the IAEA's deception and obsfucation, as described by Ed Lasky and the AP article  in the WaPo, readers are encouraged to review the following on the IAEA: Here we go again  Journalists and the CIA bomb out  Douglas Hanson   4 20 05 More

Vermont Senator Jim Jeffords has announced his plan to retire. Presumably allowing him to spend more time near Benedict Arnold's grave. This means Senators Corzine (assuming he is elected Governor of New Jersey), Jeffords, Dayton, and Sarbanes will retire for Dems, with only Frist for the GOP. Add... More

Still yet further proof——not that any was needed——that government monopoly produces inefficiencies with accompanying higher costs and lower productivity:  A congressional investigation found airport screeners employed by private companies do a better job detecting... More

The feckless UN organ, the International Atomic Energy Agency, has worked with Iran to frustrate American efforts to restrict the mullahs' pursuit of nuclear weapons. Now it appears the agency, headed by the Egyptian Mohammed El—Baredei, is actively prepared to... More

American Thinker's editor Thomas Lifson believes that French haughtiness and its selfishly destructive foreign policy may be somewhat offset by France's style, its culture its oh, je ne sais quois.  OK.  But this blunt analysis by Barry Rubin explains why even the Statue of Liberty... More

Max Boot makes an excellent point in the Christian Science Monitor: Remember how exercised everyone around the world was about crimes committed at Abu Ghraib? Infinitely worse deeds are being done in Darfur daily. Where's the outrage? The street rallies that might spur Western governments into... More

Hugh Fitzgerald of Jihad Watch takes on the recent pronouncements of Secretary of State Rice on the evolution of the Muslim world. Although we are great fans of Secretary Rice, he has caught her making unsupportably optimistic statements, out—of—touch with the Islamic scriptures... More

Maurice Strong, a senior United Nations official from Canada, according to the New York Sun, acknowledged contacts with Tongsun Park, the mysterious figure indicted in the Oil—for—Food scandal, which neatly fit the timetable announced. He is an oilman who became an environmentalist, and... More

Israel continues to be a hothouse of inventiveness. The latest product coming from its research laboratories is a disposable dental micro—robot, for dental implants. The system, which has been approved by the US FDA for marketing, will make dental implant surgery cheaper and less painful. It... More

The liberal—left is disintegrating before our very eyes.  What a revelation! First, they lose the second presidential election in a row; then control of Congress. Fume.  Moan.  Hysteria.  Cries of cheating fill the air. Now  they're losing control of controlling the news.  Barbarians... More

Michael Rubin writes today in National Review Online about the problems associated with the Green Zone in Baghdad. It seems that the Green Zone in baghdad has become Iraq's Avenue K, full of lobbyists and American bureaucrats! No wonder the Iraqi voters are upset! Send all the diplomats back to... More

Val Prieto has an elegant commemoration of the 44th anniversary of the Bay of Pigs disaster on Babalu.  If you are too young to recall it, it happened when thousands of Cuban exiles secretly trained with U.S. forces to take back their island—nation from the tyrannical grip... More

Today's page one of The Independent is wall to wall bad news about the UK's abuses of Mum Nature. But nowhere in all the bad stats is any mention of the relative increases in population that add to those dire forecasts. Since his death we've all heard an awful lot of talk about... More

"Iran ethnically cleansing Arabs" Fierce fighting has flared between ethnic Arabs and Iranian security forces in a province bordering Iraq, media reports said yesterday, with some saying three people had been killed. Iran's official Irna news agency said clashes erupted on Friday in the... More

"World Bank: Extreme Poverty Fell 25% Since 1990" More

Claudia Rosett, who should have gotten a Pulitzer Prize for her coverage of the developing UN scandals, has a highly intriguing article today in the New York Sun, regarding the so—far unnamed UN officials indicted on charges of receiving large bribes to help set up the Oil For Food Program in... More

The Los Angeles Times, whose circulation is collapsing, has been caught reporting news that is an utter fabrication, intended to slur conservatives. According to Howard Kurtz of the Washington Post, Robert Scheer, a far—left columnist for the LAT, wrote  that the Bush administration... More

Jealous of the scoops generated by those isolated pajama—clad conservative bloggers, mainstream media types are fuming.  Unsuccessful at finding many scoops themselves, MSMs  whine,  settling for exaggerating minor stories while ignoring others.  And of course some even... More

Not that this latest headline and news about the UN should be a surprise: "Swiss Investigates Possibility of Bribery in U.N. Contract" but what is surprising is people are surprised. Memo to UN:  Team up with the Chicago/Cook County Democrats. Reports of scandals erupt regularly... More

John Rosenthal, the Transatlantic Intelligencer, has a fascinating investigation into the forces behind the International Criminal Court, often mistakenly assumed to be UN organ. It is essential reading, since the ICC has been made a political issue in this country. Ed Lasky   4 17 05 More

A.M. Mora y Leon, whose writing often graces our site, has an excellent roundup of news on Ecuador, over at Publiuspundit. "Ecuador?" you might ask. Well, yes. AMMyL is consistently way ahead of the curve in identifying significant trouble spots.  Go see for yourself. Once again, the... More

After criticizing George W. Bush's prosecution of the war in Iraq and then the occupation, Andrew Sullivan is backtracking, and pointing out that maybe it isn't quite the disaster he predicted. The old agitprop is getting impossible to sustain, and the notion that neocons are out to seize the... More

Shattering the glassy complacency that European socialism produces greater wealth and security, an American expat now residing in Oslo reveals some startling truths to readers of the New York Times. They might come as quite a shock to many on the Upper West Side....  Oh sure, there is room for... More

Opium production in Afghanistan down sharply "IN APRIL last year, fields of nodding opium poppies lined every major road in Nangarhar, in eastern Afghanistan. The province produced more opium than any other, contributing to the second—biggest crop in the country's history—and 90% of the... More

Did you know that you are helping fund the activities of Soros' Open Society Institute? You are. and the Department of State and US AID appear to be his largest contributors. The Open Society Institute, a private foundation controlled by liberal billionaire and political activist George Soros,... More

During Kerry's presidential campaign, Rand Beers was his Foreign Policy Advisor and putative Secretary of State or choice for Homeland Security Advisor should he have won the Presidential election.   Although he worked in Republican Administration Beers left the Bush... More

It is the overly litigious nature of our society that turned a toothache into a life and death situation. If it wasn't for Terri Schiavo, we probably never would've  heard the name Teron Francis. Two Shakespeare quotes come to mind "The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers." and... More

Hugo Chavez, the petrodollar—powered tyrant attempting to turn Venezuela into Cuba, has once again embarrassed himself. Apparently operating on the theory that associating himself with a literary masterpiece will enhance his image, he is marking the 400th anniversary of the publication of Don... More

Brunilde Sanso is a delightful Venezuelan engineering professor who teaches at a university in Montreal. Like an educated, rational person, she thought attending a film screening of 'The Revolution Will Not Be Televised," a BBC production would be an ordinary film screening. Well, it wasn't.... More

Arianna Huffington, the once—upon—a—time conservative commentator who headed left, has been desperate to keep her name before the public for years. Her candidacy for Governor of California became an embarrassing joke when she tried to horn in on Arnold Schwarzenegger's official... More

A list of state median incomes has been issued. The highest income states ($10K or more above national average), were all Kerry states in 2004 presidential election — Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maryland, Minnesota , New Hampshire , New Jersey.  All of the lowest income states (10K... More

There can be no further doubt that Paul Volcker's investigation into the UN Oil—for—Food Program is a farce, intended to whitewash Kofi Annan and his henchmen. The investogator who resigned in protest, Robert Parton, has come forward to say that Volcker misrepresented his resignation.... More

Our friend blogger Alek Boyd was interviewed in Sunday's edition of El Universal, the main newspaper in Caracas, Venezuela. His groundbreaking work exposing the corrupt networks of the Chavez political machine in the U.S., is making news in his homeland. Alek's not just a blogger but a... More

I have long thought Spaniards were out of their minds in the 2004 election and would in time grow tired of the little schmuck they ended up electing prime minister in the wake of a Madrid train—station terror bombing, Luis Rodriguez Zapatero. Spaniards are too good for Zapatero, a rabid... More

My first reaction to Maggie Gyllenhaal's comments about the reprehensible things that America has done that justified what happened on 9/11 was a visceral anger. But then I realized...that's just the reaction her handlers were hoping to elicit when they scripted those words for her recite in an... More

Colin Powell has been the subject of many flatering portraits. Supposedly, "everyone" agrees on what a fine selfless public servant he has been. But now that he is no longer Secretary of State, American diplomacy mirculously keeps notching greater successes than before. The truth, ever so slowly... More

Iran's evident rush to develop nuclear weapons is alarming enough. But expressions by authorities of their intention to use such weapons against Israel are doubly alarming, as Israel has left no doubt of its intention to retaliate massively in the event of a nuclear attack. Now, Regime Change Iran... More

The AUT "boycott" of two top Israeli universities was voted on without any opportunity to oppose it, on Passover night  by a handful of AUT's 46,000 members, and those bien pensants seem not to have decided exactly what it should entail. Nevertheless, it has already unleashed a... More

David Kaspar, the proprietor of the invaluable window on German media and politics, Davids Medienkritik, has caught the German government spending tax dollars on expensive full color advertising in American newspapers like the Miami Herald and Houston Chronicle, touting Chancellor Schroder's... More

Not from The Onion, but Editor & Publisher: In this Sunday's New York Times Magazine, Ken Ferree, the new president of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, says he wants PBS, long considered a liberal bastion, to attract more conservative viewers. "Does public television belong to the... More

The Canadian scandals have taken an even more sinister tone as it appears that Prime Minister Martin was the recipient of Saddam's largesse. The Canadian company that Saddam Hussein invested a million dollars in belonged to the Prime Minister of Canada, canadafreepress.com has... More

AUT, the British higher education union, has declared a boycott of Israeli universities. The executive committee will issue guidance to AUT members on these decisions. Council delegates also referred a call to boycott the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the executive committee will investigate... More

Matt May wrote about the journalistic integrity problems of Detroit Free Press star columnist Mitch Albom here. Matt has an update here. The Detroit Free Press and publisher Carole Leigh Hutton have decided that Mitch Albom is too big of a star to be subject to the rules and regulations under which... More

As we approach the Passover holiday that commemorates the exodus of the Jews from enslavement and murder in ancient Egypt, a couple of new books provides a continuation of the narrative of the Jewish people's search for peace and security in an often hostile world. The Ransom of the Jews: The Story... More

"Castro doubles minimum wage to $10 a month" Hat tip: Polipundit More

The man who said that his role in forcing the UN to repeal the "Zionism is Racism " resolution was the high point of his life gets the Colin Powell treatment.   Former secretary of state Colin L. Powell is emerging as a behind—the—scenes player in the battle... More

Sudan's government has escaped condemnation by the UN Human Rights Commission. Something terrible is happening, but nobody is at fault, apparently. Can't we all get along? The BBC reports: The United Nations Human Rights Commission has approved by consensus a resolution condemning human rights... More

There was a fifth large 527 contributor in 2004— Jane Fonda— about 12 million.  Contributions to federal candidates are limited to $2000 per cycle per election ($2000 each for primary and general election) and $40,000 in total per cycle. So Soros' money to members of the... More

Hillary's Soros funded political "beard" is coordinating this all——not that you'd know that from the msm: The "Drop the Hammer" campaign is designed to target corporations which have contributed to DeLay. "Corporate America shouldn't use your consumer dollars to support Tom DeLay's... More

Frank Barnako reports on Market Watch: McKinsey & Co. paints bleak outlook for newspapers The consultants who are helping News Corp. (NWS) develop its Internet strategy warned the nation's newspaper publishers that the Web could cost them $4 billion a year in lost classified ad revenues by... More

According to James Taranto: Bolton's view——with which this column agrees——seems to be that the U.N. is useful and worthy of respect only insofar as it responds to American leadership and serves American interests. The Democrats' view, by contrast, seems to be that the U.S.... More

Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan is coming out with his worries over large budget deficits and tax cuts. On the same day that Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan issued a fresh warning about the dangers of bloated budget deficits, Congress considered new tax breaks for the energy industry and an $81... More

According to the New York Daily News: Senate Democrats are quietly trying to kill a 10—year legal probe that implicates several senior Clinton administration appointees for obstruction of justice, the Daily News has learned. The Democrats, saying that the $21 million investigation by... More

The Baltimore Sun today publishes a follow—up to the Washington Post story yesterday on the alleged zipper problems of former NAACP presdient Kweisi Mfume. Although Mfume continues to deny misconduct in somewhat equivocal language, lots of interesting details are coming out, painting a... More

The Los Angeles Times editorial pages have many faults. But at least credit editor Michael Kinsley with publishing a few conservative voices, including regular contributor Max Boot. Today, the LAT runs a superb op—ed from always—superb David Gelernter. The subtitle nearly says it all:... More

In an ever shrinking world, where real—estate is at a premium, where people are opting to save space by having just their head cryogenically preserved (after death!), the question is why didn't anyone think of vertical cemetery plots sooner? This is gonna give a whole new meaning to... More

The blogosphere is continually lectured by MSM elites that we are unreliable and inferior because we lack the infrastructure of editors and supposed fact—checkers to vet what we publish and ensure accuracy. All that we have instead is a connection to our audience, who cheerfully inform us of... More

In a shuddering preview of elections——and everything else—— in the proposed amorphous Palestinian state, the information minister of the Fatah movement has publicly declaredPalestinian MP: We will not allow Hamas victory in Al—Khalil! And no, this isn't the normal... More

In case you still desperately, hopefully, wishfully, blindly think the UN  is still salvageable—— fugedaboutit.  Zimbabwe was triumphantly re—elected to the UN's Human Rights Commission,  joining 52 other oppressive countries on the commission to routinely condemn... More

Ben Cardin, a Jewish Maryland Congressman will challenge Kweisi Mfume in the Democratic primary to replace retiring Senator Paul Sarbanes.  Mfume is upset, since he thought that after he announced, the field should been cleared for him. In the New York primary for Mayor in 2001,  Mark... More

We have evidence from the Palestinians themselves of the value they place on human life: apparently roughly $23. According to the Jerusalem Post, Two Palestinians, aged 14 and 15, who were paid NIS 100 [about $23]apiece to detonate a bagful of bombs near soldiers at the Jalameh crossing north of... More

Kweisi Mfume (formerly Frizzell Gray, and formerly head of the NAACP) is the subject of an NAACP confidential report, just leaked to the Washington Post. According to the Post's account, Kweisi is accused of favoring female employees of the nonprofit who favored him. Sort of like Jesse Jackson's... More

A Canadian blogger named Skippy, very fond of cutting invective, off—color language and graphics, but with some interetsing insights on the matter, has an interesting essay on the political future of Canada's government, in the face of their huge political corruption scandal. Canada may even... More

In a surprise move, Mexican President Vicente Fox has "accepted the resignation" of the prosecutor bringing a trumped—up case against the leftist mayor of Mexico City, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, whose popularity has been soaring in the looming three way race to replace el presidente. Our... More

The 16 year old girl who slashed the throat of a 75 year old woman in an upscale Berkeley neighborhood after encountering her on a public sidewalk has appeared in court again. Her psychiatric evaluations are completed sufficiently to allow her case to move forward, and she will be given a physical... More

Tom DeLay, who won re—election by a 14% margin in 2004, could face a much tougher challenge in 2006. Nick Lampson, a former Congressman, who lost his seat after the DeLay—supported redistricting plan was passed by the Texas state legislature, is planning to challenge  DeLay next... More

Liberals have been very adept at seeing conspiracies circulating around the political landscape. First, Karl Rove was the puppeteer manipulating society. One emailer even asserted Rove was financing our site. Now, this: an LA Times op—ed finds one more straw man to demonize:the new Pope!... More

Our frequent contributor Noel Sheppard makes the case on Chron Watch for keeping the filibuster as a tool for that dreaded day when Democrats control the presidency and a Senate majority. It is worth a read. More

Kudos to Glenn Reynolds, the Instapundit, for busting the New York Times for an outright lie in an editorial. It continues its headlong rush toward propaganda sheet status. More

Drudge is reporting that the Secret Service is investogating an Air America "comedy" skit in which gunshots are heard apparently as a warning to President Bush: The announcer: "A spoiled child is telling us our Social Security isn't safe anymore, so he is going to fix it for us. Well, here's your... More

John S. Wolf is being called by the Senate Democrats to testify against John Bolton. As Assistant Secretary of State for Nonproliferation, Wolf called for Israel to join the Nuclear Non—Proliferation Treaty. This has been a tactic used by anti—Israel advocates for years, and would... More

Our own Matt May, writing on his blog, does an admirable takedown on America's worst major daily newspaper, the Minneapolis Star—Tribune. There's a lot of competition for the title, but the Strib is earning a world—wide reputation as an incompetent joke of a rag. The title of Matt's... More

Variety brings us the information that CBS Evening News ratings are at an all—time low. All the broadcast news continue their slide downward. Meanwhile: In cable news, Fox News Channel showed a rare weakness, slipping 6% in total audience in April from the same period a year ago, while CNN... More

While America was disparaged around the world for leaving behind in Vietnam the offspring of American soldiers and Vietnamese women (the Amerasians of Vietnam), the United Nations has so far been untouched by the issue of the children begat by the rapes and sexual harassment perpetrated by its... More

Good news from Tucson! The Pima Vounty Attorney's Office has re—filed charges against the two men alleged to have thrown a cream pie at Ann Coulter when she was attempting to deliver a public lecture. Earlier charges had been dismissed when neither Coulter nor the police officers making the... More

A Los Angeles group of "artists" has begin placing 10 feet tall "viewing platforms" near the fences surrounding gated communities. Heavy Trash, an "anonymous arts organization of architects, designers and urban planners," is making a political point that certain areas of the city deny access... More

I think most of us would agree with Merriam—Webster' definition of headline; a head of a newspaper story or article usually printed in large type and giving the gist of the story or article that follows. The thing that gets reporters and consequently their readers in trouble is the assumed... More

Whew!  Thanks, Debbie Schlussel! I too was wary of all the accolades to Marla Ruzicka, another  suicide bombing victim, wondering if there were more to the latest martyr.  Apparently so.  And why was her record of anti—Americanism glossed over?  Was it because... More

Ryan Sager, writing in the New York Post, exposes the hypocrisy behind another so—called campaign finance reform group. Once again, the fine hand of George Soros is behind the cynical ploy. I find demonology generally unproductive, but Soros is pushing the limit of the evil one citizen can be... More

Caroline Glick of the Jerusalem Post has an excellent column today, reflecting on the AUT boycott of Israel and anti—Semitism among elites. Her account of attacks against even anti—Israeli Jews in Britain, and of the Muslims' racial hatred experienced by the likes of George Galloway, is... More

A study from the London School of Economics, long a leftist stronghold, calims that the UK and the US have less social mobility than 6 other industrial countries, including Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Canada, and Germany. Very few details are given, but apparently the study measures what... More

The faithful in 44 states gave up pulpit time to Senator Bill Frist on a broadcast called 'Justice Sunday.'  The Senate Majority leader explained that the Democrat filibusters of judicial nominees were wrong and unprecedented.  My church did not participate in this program.  Instead,... More

Persistent vegetative state, the diagnosis with an agenda, has once again been shown to be far from irreversible. In the latest happy instance, a firefighter brain—damaged in a 1995 roof collapse had an "amazing" weekend, recognizing and speaking with his four sons and other family and... More

Today the United Nations, the state of Israel and Jewish communities around the world have reached a new level of confidence and mutual understanding," Annan told a delegation of Jewish leaders Huh? I suppose this is the same as " I have been exonerated" Annan said he hoped Jewish leaders would... More

If Hillary Clinton had joked at a big dinner for journalists that she uses condoms as Christmas tree ornaments, her audience would have thought (and not laughed), 'wait a minute, she does use condoms as Christmas tree ornaments!' What made Laura Bush's routine the other night so funny is that she... More

Mac Johnson has a wonderfully sardonic and accurate article on the problems liberals have with ordinary folks. The party of elitists and special interests has been losing mainstream support for decades, and now may well be at a tipping point. One of Johnson's principal points is that Democrats are... More

The New York Times buries (on page A—23 of the national edition) a story which it says could be a "major source of problems for the Clintons," most specifically for the electoral prospects of the very likely 2008 Democrat nominee for President, Hillary Clinton. The story revolvces around... More

Laura Bush's unexpected comedy routine at the annual White House Correspondents' Association dinner last Saturday night was the talk of the. . . well White House correspondents themselves.   Though not written by Bush, her professional delivery of the material, complete with excellent... More

Christina Hoff Sommers describes the inevitable response to lionization of The Vagina Monologues and its hypocritical response from campus authorities, Warning: graphic language. I was on a college campus once at the time of the annual "take back the night" event. From the testimonies, ... More

Can they spell h—y—p—o—c—r—i—s—y? Maybe not. Ed Lasky   5 02 05 More

The Jerusalem Post has discovered some interesting links behind the British AUT [a trade union for higher education] passing a ban on contacts with Israeli scholars and universities: The Web site of Sue Blackwell, the Birmingham lecturer who presented motions calling for boycotts of Israeli... More

Matt May, our frequent contributor, who addressed the Mitch Albom scandal here, promises to never write about him again. Now that he has published this. We'll see. More

Alyssa Lappen, whose article on poetry and politics for us provoked a firestorm of criticism, and email campaign, and an attempt to sabotage our fianancial contribution mechanism, from the "peace—loving" poetry contingent, interviewed Vahakn Dadrian, the pre—eminent scholar of the... More

The BBC reports that Chile has set off an international spat with Peru over its national air carrier's ads portraying the Peruvian capital, Lima, as a pigsty. Peruvians are beside themselves with rage, and Chile is scrambling to fire the executives involved. Now, if Lima didn't remotely... More

The Los Angeles Times, no friend of the Bush administration, is acknowledging that the winds of freedom are blowing throughout the Arab world, and it is because of President Bush's leadership. At a time when security forces are battling to quash anti—Mubarak demonstrations across the country,... More

Wait, don't touch that dial!  Those well—bred squeals oozing from a television set near you are just liberals stunned to learn  that the new chairman of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Kenneth Tomlinson, thinks present programming on the Public Broadcasting System (PBS)... More

Where else, I ask you, would a publisher hold a reception for an author celebrating his "road to Communism" in a new memoir? Bob Avakian has devoted his life to the one ideology that he believes holds the promise of massively releasing human freedom and dignity. The ideology is... More

Once upon a time life was hard, brutal and short. As Thoreau said in Walden, 'The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.' How fortunate then, are we not, who struggle not, want not, fret not? Well, the fret part may be open to argument, as we often fret about the frivolous. Agonize over the... More

I find it interesting that oil prices have started to come down in the wake of the Saudi visit to Crawford. Maybe holding hands wasn't such a bad idea? One other factor in the oil price time line has been ignored; Europe is rapidly approaching the endpoint of their "negotiations" with the Iranians... More

David Broder is excited today about the prospects for the Democrats to hold onto the governorship of Virgiania. Democrat Mark Warner is leaving after a successful four—year run in which the state has climbed out of a financial hole, added thousands of jobs and notably improved its education... More

Patterico, whose website Patterico's Pontifications regularly points out the extreme bias of the Los Angeles Times, has caught them red—handed. The LAT edited out from a Reuters story, concerning the checkpoint shooting in Baghdad of communist Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena and the... More

Finally, a Wal—Mart store within barely reasonable driving driving distance of Berkeley. Until now, every time the Arkansas giant tried to open a store anywhere nearby, a cartel of local stores, fortified by union activists peeved at Wal—Mart's non—union stance, and lefties angry... More

Thomas Lipscomb, writing in the New York Post, places in context the Fall of Saigon, thirty years ago today. America lost the battle and won the war: Dulles wanted to save "essential parts" of Asia. America understood at the outset that it was unlikely to save all of it. And America succeeded... More

No, not some wacky Hollywood leftist starlet like Maggie Gyllenhaal. Volcanoes, specifically some in California. The U.S. Geological Survey has identified 3 California volcanoes as posing a "very high" risk of eruption. Mr. Shasta, Mt. Lassen, and the Long Valley Caldera are not only headed... More

The evidence of UN coverup/whitewash of the Oil—for—Food scandal is mounting. Niles Latham reports today in the New York Post: The U.N.—appointed commission probing the oil—for—food scandal shelved two highly critical drafts of its report on business conflicts... More

This excerpt from a preview of a Sunday New York Times piece about Ted Koppel illustrates two MSM fallacies that are in fact part of the reason for it's own decline. Ted Koppel, who is at last exiting "Nightline," tells The New York Times Magazine in an interview running this Sunday that the... More

Mordechai Nisan has an excellent review of Bat Ye'or's book Eurabia intoday's Jersualem Post. Excerpt: Europe, manifesting anti—Semitism, anti—Americanism and an anti—Israel bias, has succumbed to Arab policy dictates. The former European Commission and now the EU has opened its... More

Michael Rosen has an insightful article on TCS arguing that Jewish support for the GOP is trending upward because the GOP has become the part which questions authority, shibboleths, and the established order, while the Democrats have given—up on their former tradition of advocating positive... More

Martin Kramer's Sandstorm has picked—up on yet another trick being employed by Columbia University: Last month, Columbia University announced with much fanfare that it would establish a chair of Israel studies. Four generous trustees threw in $3 million to make it happen—and to help... More

Reliapundit, of The Astute Blogger, has a good post up today on the deepening economic crisis in France and Germany. It makes a good companion piece to James Lewis's article on the deepening political crisis in the EU. Now why exactly is it that some American elites regard Europe as any kind... More

The New York Times is historically reluctant to recognize WMD threats emanating from anywhere in the world (Iraq, Syria, Iran) except from America (the nuclear bunker buster). Their front—page article  today seems to recognize one place where they say there is a danger: North Korea.... More

Complementing the recent mention here praising the New York Sun's scoop about a UN official working for the Kerry campaign in violation of UN rules is still yet another dirty not so little secret exposed by the aptly named Sun. Of course it involves the UN and oil for food.  And of... More

Two of the founders of this website, Richard Baehr and I, attended Kenyon College, a small liberal arts college in Ohio notable for its literary tradition, its stunningly beautiful campus, and its emphasis on excellent teaching. We were both delighted to read David Horowitz's account of his recent... More

Venezuela's generals have announced that troops, along with helicopters and patrol boats, have been rushed in to troubled Zulia state in the west to combat 'CIA sabotage.' It sounds like martial law.  Venezuela's west is full of oil workers. The Lake Maracaibo area in Zulia state is a... More

Tax receipts exceed Treasury predictions. Ed Lasky  5 05 05 More

The Thinking Democrat has some speculation about the real basis for the vehement opposition to John Bolton's nomination as UN Ambassador. More

The New York Times, Washington Post, CBS News, CNN, ABC, and all the others would be giving major attention to a story about US or Israelis firing on UN forces. But let the Palestinian Authority fire on UN forces, and it falls to the invaluable Benny Avni of the invaluable New York Sun to break the... More

After reading Andrew G. Bostom's "Jihad begot the Crusades" I decided to see what people who feather their beds by writing movie reviews (other than CAIR's Khan or the Times' Riding) had to say about Kingdom of Heaven. Even the Times' Movie Details is prefaced with '05 US Drama, Romance and then... More

Benny Avni of the New York Sun has yet another scoop in covering the UN. The New York Times must find this rather emabarrassing, considering their once—upon—a—time status as the newspaper of record. The biggest financial scandal in the history of the world, taking place in a... More

If these weren't some of the absolute scariest politicians in the world this picture would be truly laughable!Joe Crowley   5 05 05 More

Reliapundit has been collecting early reviews (and plagiarism allegations!) for the new Sir Ridley Scott disaster movie. Disaster at the box office, that is. I hope. Scott's movie is reputed to be a political screed, filled with historical lies about the Crusades, intended to criticize by... More

The Palestinian Authority has publicly wished Saddam Hussein a happy birthday, via an advertisement in Al Hayat Al Jadida, their official daily newspaper. Front Page Magazine has the details. Keep in mind that the United States government sends many millions of dollars a year to the PA. The EU... More

Aleksander Boyd of Vcrisis.com caught the New York Times suggesting that povery in Venezuela has eased due to the vast increase in oil revenues. In fact, the Venezuelan government's own figures reveal that poverty has actually increased despite the huge windfall received by the regime of Marxist... More

This article may be too mind—numbingly obtuse for most people to read closely all the way through, but Pozen's Social Security analysis and proposal is both logical and workable. If it is put forth by President Bush, the Democrats' reaction to it would be most revealing, as their reaction... More

Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day, begins tonight, May 3, 2005.  While Jews are commanded to remember and not to forget——yes, both——it is absolutely incumbent that the Europeans remember and not forget.  Sadly, they seem to be.  Sadly, they haven't... More

No, we don't mean "repent now!" We mean get set for the Friday opening of Sir Ridley Scott's new epic $150 million film, The Kingdom of Heaven. According to accounts by those who have seen the film (I haven't) and publicity material, the film whitewashes and outright lies about the history of the... More

Courtesy of the usual suspects (follows the French effort to create its own worldwide news (agitprop) service. Read about it here.   Ed Lasky   5 07 05   A.M. Mora y Leon adds:   The whole thing is utterly awful. Bad news. But what I wonder is who will watch this... More

Gunter Grass, the communist, anti—Israel and anti—American ideologue who is also a Nobel Prize—winning novelist, dismisses capitalism's role in the rejuvenation of Germany and blames capitalism for the destruction of Germany. The last remaining ideology—gimme a break. How... More

Once again, the New York Times goes to ridiculous lengths to downplay good news which reflects favorably on the Bush administration, in this case, very solid job growth. I can only add that eventually the sun will explode and the earth will come to an end and everything we have done will come for... More

A story in the New York Daily News about the two boys who were lost at sea for six days said "Other survivors of shipwrecks and strandings have lived for more than a week without water, enduring excruciating pain as their organs fail and their minds slip toward delirium."  I don't remember... More

In its editorial today, "Bringing Back the 30—Year Bond," the New York Times once again demonstrates either its lack of economic knowledge or its lack of scruples in intentionally misleading its readers by allowing its anti—Bush ideology to trump reality. The Times editors claim that... More

The blogsite of the UK's New Criterion has an interesting analysis of the outcome of the British elections: a Labour Party further to the left, and more influence for Muslimn voters.   More

Now cleaning up our air and reducing carbon emissions is contributing to *shudder* global warming!Our planet's air has cleared up in the past decade or two, allowing more sunshine to reach the ground, say two studies in Science this week. Reductions in industrial emissions in many countries, along... More

I really like this NR piece. Quote: "Oaths of political loyalty do not belong to academia. They belong to illiberal minds and repressive regimes." James Lewis   5 05 05 More

Lastango, our friend at Daily Pundit, has a worrying tabulation of problems facing the US strategy in Iraq. I agree with him about the symptoms. But I disagree on the cure. I worry that any overt attack on either Syria or Iran would mobilize domestic support for these tottering regimes. I would... More

As the fortunes of CBS News sink——their nightly news broadcast has the lowest ratings of all three networks——those of recently resigned newscaster Dan Rather rise. For a reportedly mere $75,000 a pop, Dan Rather will speak to your group on a variety of topics. As... More

On taxpayer funded National Public Radio even talking about the gears and tires on cars can't escape a lefty slant. The guys who host "Car Talk" on National Public Radio —— brothers Tom and Ray Magliozzi —— were in Washington yesterday to visit with some of the powerful... More

1,037 words.  That was the length of the May 3rd New York Times story that ran with the headline, 'Buffalo Fireman Regains Long—Lost Memories.'   The two words that a learned reader would expect to appear in the article, but did not?  Terri Schaivo.  Talk about... More

The Wall Street Journal's subscription—only Political Diary absolutely nails Nancy Pelosi's extreme hypocrisy and disregard for the welfare of our troops. At issue is the brand—new "Rapid Acquisition Authority" given to the Department of Defense, after being fought against by the... More

Proving 60 is now the new 30, the Rolling Stones, still gathering no moss, just announced their new world tour. Yeah!  Forever young! Ethel C. Fenig  5 11 05 More

Another example of MSM anti—military, anti Bush—economy reporting:On May 10, MSNBC's website had a major story about armed forces recruiting where they gleefully trumpeted: (headline) Army, Marines miss recruiting goals again (Sub head)More cash and appeals to parents, patriotism... More

As revealed by a report in the New York Sun  and other news outlets, fully 81% of New York City's eighth—grade students failed a statewide exam in social studies. This represents a huge jump in the failure rate of the 2001—2002 school year's test, which was 62%. Statewide, results... More

to discuss the Nuclear Nonproliferaton treaty. She joins Bono and Angelina Jolie in being welcomed by that august body.. But we know George Bush, John Bolton, any Israelis, etc. would not be welcomed.Ed Lasky More

Just over two weeks ago, radio talk show host Laura Ingraham was diagnosed with breast cancer.  After two surgeries and on—going radiation treatment, Laura has only missed a few days behind the microphone.  Conservatives are glad to hear that she remains the same: hard on liberals,... More

Today's WSJ (p. A4) tells us something about the "watchdogs" attacking DeLay which I'm certain you won't find elsewhere.   Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington's Executive Director worked for Democratic lawmakers John Conyers and Joe Biden, and documents filed with the IRS... More

Teddy Kennedy has been among the most vicious critics of President Bush, never hesitating to brand errors or mistakes as "lies." Now, however, the shoe is on the other foot. The Boston Herald reports that the Senator has been illicitly receiving thousands of dollars a year in tax credits to which... More

The failure of PBS, the Public Boradcasting Service, to answer the telephone cost it very dearly. A New York Times article describing the (left wing) Ford Foundation's new commitment of $50 million to non—profit (left wing) television production lets slip a revealing nugget of... More

François Pinault is a billionaire art lover, one of the richest men in France. He had wanted to build a private $195 million art museum on an island in the Seine River, to display some of his vast collection of modern art. But he has given—up on his plan, despite having commissioned world... More

Oh sure, everyone believes s/he is a rational, centered, objective individual——it is just those other people who are so well, extreme. And no one believes this more than all the mass media. But of course all the masses out there just don't believe it, accusing the general media of well,... More

This is what passes for an expert at the Council of Foreign Relations (publishers of Foreign Affairs). The author David L. Phillips writes a book "describing" the "fiasco" of Iraq without ever having set foot in Iraq during the reconstruction period he critiques so harshly!   Ed... More

Says political activist Laurie David, wife of the "Curb Your Enthusiasm" star Larry David:   "Early every morning, we're at the kitchen table reading the papers, and within three minutes one of us is screaming. This is going to be a channel for that."   In Pajamas?   Ed Lasky ... More

Dr. Zin, of Regime Change Iran, who has been a leading source of information on the Iranian opposition movement, is raising alarms over the support he sees from David Horowitz's Front Page Magazine for the MEK group of Iranian dissidents. His arguments seem reasonable, and he does not wish to deny... More

Girls as young as 10 years old are being given prescriptions for birth control as underage sex in Britain becomes increasingly common. You can read about it here if you haven't just eaten a meal.  Joseph Crowley    5 09 05  More

Betsy Newmark, whose Betsy's Page blog is one of the very best, is a social studies teacher in North Carolina. How nice to learn that her charter school has been ranked #9 in the entire country by Jay Matthews of the Washington Post, who is, by far, the best education writer in the country. With at... More

Time and Newsweek are now at odds from their two biggest DNC copywriters over Hillary's ability to become President: Joe Klein and Anna Quindlen. Both praising her as much as possible, trying to convince readers that she is really not as bad as everyone thinks she is. She is really much more... More

OK, its an easy shot to criticize the New York Times, but often they deserve it.  As a newspaper read by many of the nation's most influential the paper exerts a power far beyond its numbers and so deserves extra scrutiny.  But let's give some credit where due. The paper does realize news... More

Noting the fallout from Pewgate——increased attention in the blogosphere to the activities of philanthropic foundations——this author notes why we cannot count on the legacy media to do this. Pewgate signaled a big change. It revealed a new and extensive conservative... More

Isn't it a sign of the Times that the former paper of record has to set up a panel to address the issues of credibility? It now faces deep questions about its reliability under the leadership of Pinch Sulzberger: a post—Vietnam pseudo—radical heir to a paper that he has turned into... More

AFP and Time Magazine are reporting that the US Senate subcommittee headed by Sen. Norm Coleman will be naming names of those found to have received corrupt Oil—for—Food program allotments, essentially bribes from Saddam Hussein. Foreign embassies are being notified in advance. The... More

Proving once again that Comedy Central's Jon Stewart has nothing on real news, Al Gore, the self proclaimed inventor of the internet will receive a lifetime achievement award for internet development  from one of the real internet inventors. As befits a Democrat official, Gore authorized... More

The other day you read how "Cleaner (read:greener) air is actually contributing to global warming". Today I want you to see how millions of taxpayers hard earned green—backs are being wasted on so—called environmentally friendly Green—buildings. You'll read how "One Tacoma... More

Gutenberg——call the future.  You have seen the future and it is blogs. Well, you're reading a great one aren't you?  And unlike Gutenberg it is not the Christian Bible but the intent is the same —— reading material available to everyone not just the... More

I doubt this starling fact has anything to do with Liberty, Equality, Fraternity or love of nation.It is economic insecurity. And since when is a civil servant civil? Especially a French one? The emasculation the work ethic by pandering politicians who enact laws meant to vitiate this ethic has... More

The BBC earnestly reports: There is growing concern among Palestinian human rights workers after the killings of at least six young women in recent months. [emphasis added] The killings in question are so—called "honor killings" of women who are thought to have dishonored their families by,... More

As the press covers the ever less substantial Dem charges against DeLay, it has been almost totally silent about the charges involving Hillary's fundraising scandal. The New Orleans Times —Picayune printed a partical transcript from that case: It appears to support the... More

Victor Davis Hanson  notes that the Democrats are committing suicide by, among other things affiliating themselves too much with the elites in this country and being out of touch with the rest of us.  His point is underscored in the Real Estate section of today's Washington Post. The... More

I wonder just how far Senator McCain's well—deserved reputation as a Vietnam war hero and POW will manage to carry him? His flirtations with his buddy, Democratic party presidential candidate John Kerry; his efforts to extend McCain—Feingold restrictions to the blogosphere; and his... More

Victor Davis Hanson pens a masterful essay in the Washngton Times about the lessons we gfail to learn from history. That such a short piece should be full of such profound insight is nearly astonishing. VDH, writing about how indebted we are to our predecessors, inspires us to think about how... More

Mark Steyn has once again shown everyone else how to write a great political column. He treatment of the John Bolton nomination is simultaneously amusing, edifying, and outraging. Simply stunning work. Thomas Lifson   5 15 05 More

Neal Phenes, who writes the Et Tu Bloge website, catches the New York Times up to its usual propaganda tricks, this time in a book review by Jim Holt, of the much—noted new book Freakonomics. Neal helpfully provides a link to a much better review of the book. Thomas Lifson   5 15 05 More

After Sen. Harry Reid violated the rules to smear Judge Saad, it was clear that the remaining sentient mambers of his party were embarrassed. The tv interview I saw of Senator Feinstein showed a clearly chagrined woman. Yesterday, it was Congressman Frank's turn to blush with shame and the... More

A few months ago  when Ward Churchill out in Colorado was unmasked  having phony credentials and defaming victims of 9/11  he retained his job by retreating into the untouchable sanctum of freedom of speech and academic freedom. But when an instructor dared question some Arab... More

Dennis Sevakis, a former jet fighter pilot, has some rather alarming observations about the incident which led to the evacuation of the Capitol and White House on the Constitution Alley blog. Anyone who takes comfort that the systems worked in a kind of test drill is uninformed. More

We have often heard threats of the "Muslim Street" rising up and finding an issue which unifies all of Islam against us. Leave it to one of our own media outlets to find the one thing that has the potential for creating havoc through out the Islamic world. In this May 9th issue of... More

It seems to me that the weakest link in academia is the failure of Boards of Trustees to adequately exercise their fiduciary and managment oversight. Too often internal election procedures assure that rubber stamping boards are elected .Tenured faculty and partisan interests run roughshod... More

From the msm we've been given the impression that the public wants to keep the filibuster. As I recall this was based on its usual tactic of presenting a very skewed picture of the debate and then running a phony poll and giving the poll which supported their take front page treatment. (The old... More

Belinda Board, whose ridculous hit piece found space on the New York Times op—ed pages, has already been questioned by us here and here. One of 70 graduate students at a provincial British university, she has nevertheless been a busy little bee these past few years, spreading her... More

Freedom of speech is embedded in the Constitution but freedom not to listen is implied.  And in full force as Hyundai executives learned to their amazement. Most Hyundai customers really, really, really don't want to listen to Howard Stern. They were so emphatic about this that they... More

At least one paper has finally admitted what every other form of media piously denies——it is liberal.  Not only liberal but by contract must remain so for at least the next five years.    CHICAGO When Lee Enterprises Inc. agreed to purchase Pulitzer Inc. for $1.46... More

With 60th anniversary commemorations of the end of World War ll in full mode,  the revisionist historians have been crawling out of their comfy holes, slamming America——of course——for their insensitivity during that horrible conflict.  Whoops!  America's... More

Right Wing Nuthouse looks into the Newsweek article which has set off riots in the Muslim world. The "brief Newsweek report" printed in its May 9 issue, has apparently been used by instigators and provocateurs to stir up the massive anti—American activity among students, tribesmen, and the... More

Iowahawk has posted a classic column of his originally written for CNS News Service, satirizing the New York Times, written in the style of an earnest Times report on a failing mill in a backwater town. Fans of the 'Hawk know that he is peerless in his ability to mockingly mimic the style of all... More

A couple of days ago, we rhetorically asked how low the New York Times is willing to go to slime Republicans. The occasion was this ridiculous claptrap op—ed purporting to show that John Bolton shares the psychological characteristics of psychopaths (and business executives!). The author of... More

One liberal writer has walked out of  the fever swamps of the conspiracy theorists, and concluded that there is no evidence that Ohio's 20 Electoral College votes were stolen from John Kerry in November, despite the presence of the evil Diebold voting machines in the state and the errant... More

Leave it to the European Community to warn us of the dire consequences of free competition. One of the funniest examples of Europe's market—phobia is the so—called "banana wars" which have been fought over the alarming prospect of giving up an arcane system of colonial (!) preferences... More

Manfred Gerstenfeld provides a lengthy and thoughtful analysis of European anti—Semitism, its old varieties and its newer fashions. Much of the new anti—Semitism is ostensibly linked to anti—Israel hatred, but Gerstenfeld convincingly argues that its roots are older, deeper, and... More

As noted earlier, the Cannes Film Festival head stated this year's awards will be given solely for artistic merit, not on political correctness.   While the jury is still out on that America bashing continues in the film community, European subdivision. Speaking before the... More

Realizing George Bush is absolutely correct stating Social Security and its British equivalent can't properly provide in one's maturing years, that London School of Economics grad, Mick Jagger, is defying his  former college profs.  Announcing another world tour that will keep him and his... More

On February 1st, 1993, a "news" story in the Washington Post famously referred to followers of Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell as "largely poor, uneducated and easy to command." Although the Post learned a lesson in the wave of criticism for its blatant (and inaccurate) stereotyping of... More

They support abortion, fetal stem cell research, and fooling around with mother nature so they can create a chimera that is "cool". Meanwhile, why don't they spend some money on the homeless problem?  DARJEERLING and Bunnicula are two kittens who prefer shrimp cocktails and steak frites to pet... More

Cannes film festival head Gilles Jacob called for this year's top prize to be awarded for film—making, not politics.  "...it was a question of a satirical tract that was awarded a prize more for political than cinematographic reasons, no matter what the jury said. "...the jury's... More

From The Antelope Valley Press in California comes the story of our K—9 contingent in Iraq. Chief Warrant Officer Peter Zorba, of Squadron HMM—764 "The Moonlighters" writes: I fly into Baghdad almost every night, but this night's mission was a special ASR (assault support request). A... More

Frederick Staklebeck's conclusion in his article on North Korea today, "All this leaves the U.S. in the  unenviable position of possibly having to make certain uncomfortable  concessions that are counter to its stated policy concerning North  Korea's nuclear weapons program," is the... More

The Arizona Republic ran a story on May 11th with the headline 'Valley Hispanic boycott called a success'. On the same day, The Washington Times headline on the story was 'Test of Hispanic boycott fails in Arizona'. Why the boycott?  The Washington Times reports that: Activists are angry... More

What do you get when you cross the New York Times editorial page with a pschoanalyst? Compound absurdity (or assininity?). A hybrid personality disorder? Today, Gail Collins, opinion editor of the Times, has seen fit to give coveted op—ed space to ridiculous article by Belinda Board, "a... More

As the pace of farm confiscations accelerates in Venezuela, the outlook is grim for the tiny private ecological reserve called Hato Pinero, a jewel box of rare wildlife full of orchids, anacondas, flamingos, pumas and parrots. Although Venezuela's government already owns 60% of the land in the... More

Remember those howls by Democrats of voter fraud last November?  Well, it seems they were right.  There was voter fraud.  Lots of it. By Democrats.  Newsday.com: Possible Voter Fraud Found in Milwaukee  MILWAUKEE —— About 4,500 more ballots than registered... More

I also think the Star Wars movies are terribly overrated as fantasy films. I remain a fan of the first, however, as a cultural signpost.      It is easy to forget how very different the first Star Wars movie was from... More

I was not crazy. Republicans are indeed making an effort in predominantly black cities. Ed Lasky   5 19 05 More

The president of the Newspaper Guild is doing her best to compound the damage done by Newsweek, by repeating the discredited claims of Eason Jordan, formerly of CNN. Ed Lasky   5 19 05 More

Imagine if Bush had done this to save money. Thousands of dollars in expenses, including more than $1,000 worth of rose petals, disappeared from a budget for a fund—raising gala on orders of David F. Rosen, who was the national finance director for Hillary Rodham Clinton's 2000 Senate race, a... More

I guess some in the mainstream media are getting tired of being used and abused by people who have axes to grind, personal vendettas, enjoy their moment in the sun, like feeling important, expose us to their cathartic releases or give vent to the same dark impulses that those who spread internet... More

Remember the Shining Path of Peru? Two decades ago, these Maoist narcoterrorists were the world's foulest guerrillas. They blew up every marketplace in sight, terrorized the countryside, kidnapped countless innocent people, tortured and killed at least 35,000 people, cost Peru $25 billion and... More

For those who may not familiar with MEMRI.org, you may want to read the National Review Online piece, "Thanks for the MEMRI (.org)",  by Jay Nordlinger, originally published 05/06/02. Even the New York Times has verified MEMRI's accuracy as noted in the body of the article. Not that this... More

Concerning our esteemed editor's unaccountable taste in films: actually, I think movies are not the best medium for science fiction. Novels are much better in that one's own imagination fills the visual canvas. A couple of attempts were made to bring Ray Bradbury's "Martian Chronicles" to the... More

In case you have any doubt about what the "war on terror" is really about (hint: it's not just about tactics"), our good friends at the Palestinian Television Authority have clarified the issue. MEMRI found it, and Charles Johnson of Little Green Footballs brought it to our attention: In a Friday... More

Aleksander Boyd has discovered that a UK civil servant, who works for the Greater London Council, and indirectly for London mayor "Red Ken" Livingston, has used his official email account to register a website for the Venezuela Information Office, a propaganda arm of the Hugo Chavez Castroite... More

The American press corps is showing its usual level of maturity, and customary contrition when one of their members screws up in a way that costs lives and damages our national interest. Drudge posts some choice dialogue between Scott McClellan and a pressie, presumably Elizabeth Bumiller of the... More

Newsweek really stirred a stormThey managed to really roil it.Problem was it should have beenJane Fonda's book in the toilet. Russ Vaughn Russ Vaughn is the Poet Laureate of The American Thinker. More

I have never liked Star Wars. When the first one opened, I walked out of the theatre completely puzzled about the fuss everyone was making. It was childish and boring. I have never watched another in the series. There are plenty of science fiction films I like  — the brilliant parody... More

Franco Aleman, whose Barcepundit blog is an endless source of fascinating information from Spain, is onto a very,very strange set of circumstances surrounding responsibility for the 3/11 terror attacks. America's ABC News plays a role in the somewhat murky drama, according to Madrid's El Mundo... More

That is, the New York Times versus the Washington Post. What follows is a lesson I've constructed for myself. A writing lesson. A 'how to' and 'how not to' comparison of two articles on the same subject, namely, Newsweek's retraction of its Guantanamo Koran flushing story. Or is that Qur'an? I can... More

The U.K. Telegraph has a too—short article today about a report just piblished by two academics in France, regarding attitudes toward the French by their EU neighbors. In the Telegraph's summary: "one glue binds the continent together: hatred of the French." It seems that nobody has a... More

Dennis Sevakis continues to offer us valuable insight at Constitution Alley, as only a former jet jockey posesses, on the incident last week causing an evacuation of the Capitol and White House. I consider the topic extremely important, because we apparently are extremely vulnerable,... More

The Discovery Channel is running a series of programs on the 100 greatest Americans, as derived from online polling. Such ventures are nearly always disastrous, reflecting current—day media appearances more than any collective wisdom. The always—brilliant Stephen Bainbridge has gone... More

Bill Moyers, the former LBJ hatchet man and left wing ideologue, is attacking those who seek to rescue PBS and NPR from their leftward lurch toward death. For decades, PBS and NPR have violated the law which requires they be "strictly fair, objective and balanced." In the age of satellite... More

It's time for America's trial lawyers to grab their briefcases and head over to the scenes of the toiletgate riots. Sign up as plaintiffs the families of the 16 dead and 100 injured in the Newsweek lie—inspired riots. Treat is as they did the Bhopal disaster. Certainly, Newsweek's... More

"There's no doubt that the Mexican men and women _ full of dignity, willpower and a capacity for work _ are doing the work that not even blacks want to do in the United States," said Mexican President Vincente Fox over the weekend. So, now, the political trick of treating blacks as pawns has... More

It is great news that the Supreme Court has decided that states may not discriminate against out—of—state wineries by banning direct shipment of wine, while permitting in—state wineries the same privilege. If states want to ban all direct shipments to consumers, they may still do... More

It is interesting that some filibuster—happy Senate democratic leaders readily conjure up Alexis de'Tocqueville's coined dictum " The Tyranny of the Majority" when expressing their disdain for the so called nuclear option, and then turn around and declare that there are significant numbers in... More

Here's a real bombshell that's been ignored by the mainstream media: Quick, name the last time you saw 'Venezuela' mentioned in a financial news story about rising oil prices at the pump? World oil prices have been above $50 a barrel for more than a month now, and all you ever read as reasons are... More

' It's like déjà vu all over again.' That quote from Yogi Berra fits to a tee an editorial in today's OpinionJournal.The reprint from September 13, 1984 is titled, 'Liberal Fundamentalism — Who are the intolerant extremists?'  Save yourself a copy and reread it whenever you hear the... More

Even before the Newsweek outrage, it appeared a significant gap has grown between the public and the media. From the seething outrage evident on the internet, this gap will likely become a chasm in short time.Trust lost is not easily——if ever——regained. Quote: NEW YORK... More

Proof, again, that there is a God: horrible movies hurting horrible newspapers: NEWSPAPER publishers are facing a potential Hollywood problem. Movie studios have significantly increased their ad spending in newspapers in recent years, but with shrinking ticket sales and an array of new places to... More

This is one of those "Death of morality by a thousand small cuts" stories. (Not unlike Selwyn Duke's Laura Bush piece.) Iron Eyes Cody is not what you'd call a household name. But I bet every red white and blue blooded American who's owned a TV since at least the early '70s remembers listening to a... More

Newsweek's weakly sourced, highly incredible Koran down the toilet at Gitmo story has led to riots and death throughout the Muslim world. Today it offers a pathetic explanation which doesn't rise to the level of apology the offense warranted.Scott Johnson lets them have it.  The shoddy... More

Sometimes readers write in with insights that just stun an editor and author. Yesterday, I wrote about the promising design of the new Oakland Cathedral. But evidently, I didn't look at the plans with sufficient, ahhh, imagination. The reader, who wishes his name be withheld, writes: As... More

The Sociology Department at taxpayer—supported Brooklyn College in New York has chosen a notrious religion—basher as its new chairman. The New York Daily News reports that the campus is an uproar over the appointment of Prof. Tomothy Shortell: E—mails expressing alarm that... More

Airbus has managed to wrest a substantial chunk (in some years a majority) of the world's market for airliners from Boeing, the free market manufacturer. Airbus has unquestionably benefitted from massive subsidies from Western European governments. The United States has begun to make a serious... More

The taxpayer—supported (via a mandatory "license fee") British Broadcasting Corporation employes 28,000 people to operate its various television and radio services. The BBC has announced plans to downsize 4,000 employees. As a result, its unions have begun a strike. "The savage cuts proposed... More

I have been neglecting my Canadian friends of late. Long—time readers know that I have a deep regard, bordering on outright love, for our neighbor to the north, despite the recent tensions between our countries. I have been following the incredible Canadian political scene largely through... More

Ground was broken yesterday for the new Cathedral to serve the half million Catholics in the Oakland Diocese. From what I have been able to glean, the design is quite promising, with a combination of wood and glass. Everything I have learned about the fairly recently—appointed Bishop... More

Since I said something nice about the San Francisco Chronicle today, it is time for a reality check. Take Carla Marinucci, the Chron's chief political writer. Please. Carla's up to her usual trick of piling on favorable adjectives when a lefty says something. The case in point today is an article... More

Newsweek Japan's cover shows an American flag in a trash can. The Riding Sun blogsite has the image online, along with a few comments. the caption is "The day America died." Comparisons with the covers running on Newsweek International and domestic Newsweek are provided. I am just guessing that... More

Keith Thompson, a fellow Northern Californian, is a blogger at Sane Nation and maintains the Thompson at Large website, who has managed to get a terrific column published in the San Francsico Chronicle tracing his path leaving the left. What is most noteworthy for me is that his... More

Business Week has long followed a left wing editorial line, somewhat astonishing in a business periodical, but nonetheless self—evident to those who pay attention. More proof is found in an article which posits Indra Nooyi, the President and CFO of Pepsico to be a "victim" of the blogosphere.... More

Professor Ajami who DOES know what he's talking about describes vividly the changes in the Middle East as a result of the President's action in Iraq .It is a must read: "George W. Bush has unleashed a tsunami on this region," a shrewd Kuwaiti merchant who knows the way of his world said to me.... More

PBS and Bill Moyers have been getting upset by allegations of bias by the new head of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The poster child for PBS bioas is Moyers's old program "Now" (which continues under a lesser leftist while Moyers goes to a new show). How interesting, then, to look at an... More

Spain's second largest city puts out lies about Guantanamo and Israel in its schools. A teachers' training manual in Barcelona compares the Holocaust to Israel's security barrier in the West Bank; Israel demands the manual be removed from shelves JERUSALEM — Officials expressed outrage over... More

Accuracy in Media reveals How George Soros, aided by the Center for Investigative Reporting, whose Board includes Symour (I lie) Hersh ,Bill(Mr. Left) Moyers and Judy (I cry when Dems lose) Woodruff), underwrote a CNN "documentary" calling for shorter sentences for violent criminals: Clear and... More

Jason Pappas of Liberty and Culture has noticed a threat to freedom of exporession at the hand of Demoratic representative John Conyers: Mr. John Conyers, who, according to this article, has introduced a resolution that 'condemns bigotry and intolerance against any religious group, including our... More

This one came in by email. I have no idea who wrote it. She or he deserves credit, but I am unable to supply it. But it's funny enough to post: A major research institution has recently announced the discovery of the heaviest element yet known to science.  The new element has been named... More

El Mundo and Barcepundit have been tracing some odd coincidences in the Madrid bombings, including these:* The cellphones used in the bombing came from a cellphone shop owned by Mausilli Kalaji, a Spanish police officer,*. Of Syrian descent, and a former member of Al Fatah, with strong ties to... More

That's the title of a wonderful Investors Business Daily editorial, which lays out the weakenss and unpopularity of this supposed man of the people. Read the whole thing. More

The Wall Street Journal's Daniel Henninger compared the Democrat's judicial nomination fight to the stupid strategy of drawing to an inside straight. This poll in today's Washington Post suggests he knows what he's talking about. By 47 to 39%, those polled prefer conservative judges and... More

Our contributor Rick Moran, who blogs at Right Wing Nuthouse, has been subjected to emails demanding he do something about his brother Terry, who agressively questioned Scott McClellan, causing much comment. Rick has posted a response that bears reading in whole. But here is the nub: I happen to... More

There is so little to credit the EU for doing right, when it does, let's not neglect it.  PRAGUE/BERLIN — A Czech senator and a German member of parliament were expelled from Cuba for planning to meet dissident opponents of Cuban president Fidel Castro, officials in Prague and... More

Lastango, of Daily Pundit, agrees with me about the seriousness of food attacks on speakers. The irony of progressives claiming to fight fascism by denying others a constitutional right to free speech has been much discussed, but let's look past the incidents to date and consider where this might... More

Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez's growing influence in the Caribbean, Bolivia, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Colombia and Mexico has received inadeuqate media attention. Chavez's regional clout is important to watch, because it is a growing menace that edges ever closer to us in the... More

Lawrence Henry catches The Educational Testing Service, publishers of the SAT examinations, telling the truth about what their goals really are. Written with style and wit, the item lets us know what lies in store for our young folks as they contemplate the competition for what passes as "elite'... More

I had never encountered the name Nick Denton when I read a report that a pie had been thrown at him. There are obviously people who still think it is cute to assault someone with food at a public event. I don't care what his politics are, it is wrong to humiliate people, and risk injury with this... More

For all the problems I have with CBS News and Terry Moran of ABC News, among many others in the American television establishment, nothing here comes even close to level of grotesqueness that Iranian television does with an appalling blood libel, caught by MEMRI.org, and featured on Little Green... More

After decades of censoring press mentions of so—called "honor killings" within the Islamic communities of Europe, the press in Germany is starting to pay attention. For those who don't know, "honor killings" occure when relatives of a woman kill her because she has been sexually defiled... More

D.J. Drummond of Polipundit notes that BP has provided a model for Newsweek and its corporate parent, the Washington Post Company, in stepping up and taking responsibility for their own lethal negligence — in BP's case a refinery explosion. Noel Sheppard's argument seems all the more... More

Frank Barnako of Marketwatch.com reports: The nation's newspapers have about four more years to dominate the real estate ad business. [emphasis added] Borrell Associates, a newspaper industry consulting firm, estimated Thursday that by 2009, more marketing dollars related to real estate will be... More

Boris Johnson is both a Member of Parliament and editor of The Spectator, in the United Kingdom. In the Telegraph, he pens a wonderful essay in the form of an open letter to the BBC license fee tax—collectors, who have obtained permission to electronically spy on his house in order to verify... More

Rocco DiPippo notices that Representative John Conyers (D—MI) proposes to suspend First Ammendment protections on free speech in order to shelter Islam and the Koran. Church—state separation evidently doesn't apply to Islam. It is well worth reading at Moonbat Central or in its cross... More

You would have thought it went out with the Know—Nothings in the 1850s, but ethnic—bashing is alive and well among Democrats and other leftists in the establishment. They regularly cite 'the Cuban Mafia' as a mantra, completely insulting the Cuban—American community in a way that... More

Be sure not to miss Peggy Noonan's column "Mr. Narcissus goes to Washington" in today's Opinion Journal. Laudable use of her soapbox to state the obvious. If naught for purpose other than to let our fearless Senators know they are not fooling all of us — anytime.  However, one question... More

Interspecies love, a.k.a. bestiality, a.k.a. humans having sex with animals, has just been declared within the bounds of broadcast propriety by Ofcom, the Office of Communications in the United Kingdom. "[What about] a programme about sex with animals? Yes, it's potentially possible. It all comes... More

The Daily Scorecard website has found a case of outrageous human rights violations of apparently no concern to Amnesty International (which has lately called Gitmo the Gulag of the World). What was my "crime"? Being a living contradiction: a Zionist and a devout Muslim living in Bangladesh, the... More

The most fascinating report from the field about journalism in Iraq and why it is so unremittingly  one—sided:   The formula followed by foreign (non—Iraqi) journalists here is different than that used by the local papers back home. Western media cannot free—range Iraq,... More

Nobody can seem to decide who won the "compromise deal" on President Bush's conservative nominees. Here's why the Democrats won. Second—term presidents have only a short time to govern. The president starts to bleed power, starting with Inauguration Day.  It's already happening, with... More

Melanie Phillips, who writes for the Daily Mail in the UK, and whose website is must—reading, is one of our favorite commentators. How delightful to see that she takes to heart the insight on intelligence that Herbert Meyer has offered our readers today. her closing sentence is both... More

The World Economic Forum just held in Jordan yielded some surprises, according to the Wall Street Journal's Political Diary (via paid subsription only). Keep in mind that this forum draws movers and shakers, many of them Arabs. At a town hall—style meeting, the 700 participants were... More

It is never surprising to discover that John Derbyshire has penned an elegant and thought—provoking essay. But it is gasping—for—air shocking when he tells us that popular culture may in fact be more than filth, and actually good for you. Derb has been reading Steven Johnson's new... More

Fascism on the left is becoming more and more blatant. Not all leftists are incipient fascists, to be sure, but some of the now—foundational ideas embraced by the left would have been right at home under National Socialism. Group rights and the notion that some ethnicities are owed a historic... More

Is America rebelling against metrosexual, gay enough, emo—boy, in short, against becoming more gay?  Check out the new Levi's spot.  Then read this lament (warning: it's quite raw, unsuitable for children or those uncomfortable with vivid sexual imagery) of a woman in a... More

The New York Times has chosen a new way to show its utter disdain and disrespect for the American military. While never short of space to describe and hype abuses and embarrassments caused by a handful of US military personnel as such sites as far—off Abu Ghraib and Bagram, the Times refuses... More

Olivier Guitta, our formerly frequent contributor, has discovered that the United States is holding secret talks with Islamists, and is not pleased. More

George Neumayr swats Michael Kinsley soundly in his American Spectator column today. Kinsley, who suffers from Parkinsons, is anxious to see human embryos, which he refers to as "biologically more primitive than a mosquito," exploited to cure ailing adults like him. Neumayr gets to the nub of the... More

In a scene from Star Trek II — The Wrath of Khan Ricardo Montalban, playing the title role, steals a line from Moby Dick when he vows, from even the depths of hell, to seek eternal vengeance against William Shatner's Captain Kirk by howling, 'With my last breath, I spit at thee; For hate's... More

The news today is that Gerhard Schroeder is in political trouble in Germany.  He may finally be on his way to defeat ——— a well—deserved one, because Schroeder is unquestionably the worst German Chancellor in fifty years. Not just because he is a vain, pompous, touchy,... More

The spirit of Bob Dole lives. The Great Compromiser from Kansas has found seven pairs of shoulders for his mantle. In the Senate filibuster deal, seven Republicans broke ranks and signed a deal with the devil.  At least Bob Dole, to his defense, spent the majority of his Senate time... More

MONTPELLIER, France Over sausage sandwiches and vast amounts of beer and local wine, the thousands of Frenchmen stood around and argued over how best to save France. Save France from Europe......The worker, the person in the street, doesn't understand the debate of the elite. The "elite" will... More

There was a lot of teeth gnashing as the judicial deal was announced...mostly on the right though PFAW which had spent so much to defeat Owens, Brown and Pryor weren't doing cartwheels either. Here's why:  The  Democrats weren't going to filibuster Owen or Pryer or Brown . They were... More

Dennis Sevakis analyzed here the widespread Republican unwillingness to play politics as hardball a month and a half ago. Somehow, it seems appropriate to look it over again today. The problem is that the President and the Republican Congress have been anything but resolute when it comes to... More

Despite all the yammering that there was no evidence of any links between Al Qaeda and Saddam , evidence of these links keeps popping up. Here are some more: Baghdad, 23 May — The number two of the al—Qaeda network, Ayman al—Zawahiri, visited Iraq under a false name in... More

The argument against granting tenure to professors (much less public school teachers) gets stronger with each passing year. Since freedom of intellectual inquiry demonstrably does not exist on campus (as Larry Summers about his freedom to inquire into the sources of lagging female employment in the... More

AFP writes a dispatch from the Middle East reminding us that it is a desert with a skyrocketing population, a recipe for worsening water shortages. The population statistics are daunting: "In 1950, the Arab population was 75 million. In 2,000, it was 300 million, and is expected to grow to 600... More

Once again the feckless ex—President Carter snatches victory from defeat from monsters by giving his stamp of approval to a crooked election: From Gateway Pundit: Jimmy Carter gave his "kiss of approval" to the Ethiopian elections earlier this month that later were disputed. Opposition... More

Massachusetts Supreme Court Chief Justice Margaret Marshall, who led her court to find a "right" to homosexual marriage previously undiscovered in centuries of Bay State jurisprudence, has averred that she finds the very term "judicial activism" to constitute "intimidation." ''I worry when people... More

Moonbat Central, a great resource for following the idiot left, reports "[A] group of ultra moonbats from the far Left is preparing to produce a musical comedy about 9—11, dedicated to the proposition that 9—11 was all a US conspiracy with Al—Qaeda serving as patsy and being... More

Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez, who's never missed the opportunity to be star of the show in his entire life, raised eyebrows in Caracas for not showing up at a rally he called yesterday.  The sclerotic Vice President Jose "Vissarionovich" Rangel (as he is known) turned up instead and... More

The Media Establishment is closing ranks in defence of PBS. Katharine Q. Seelye of the New York Times writes about the decision of the Organization of News Ombudsmen to reject the newly appointed ombudsmen from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, who will oversee PBS. Ed Lasky fisks the... More

Gaary Larson, the columnist, not the cartoonist, has some thoughts about those who politicize war casualties. More

Don Surber, our friend in West Virginia, has taken on Gary Trudeau (Doonesbury's creator) in a way most appropriate for Memorial Day. See his blog site. More

A fairly shocking example (in a sports show!) via the USS Neverdock. I hope they stay on strike forever. Hat tip: Instapundit More

The Big Pharaoh does not disappoint. A welcome new voice in the blogosphere writes pointedly and with wit. He recounts a conversation he had in a Cairo pub. Sometimes, democracy needs some groundwork before it can work. Check it out. And think about new bookmark for BP. Thomas Lifson   5... More

Undergraduate Pilot Training (UPT) Class 67—C, Williams AFB, Arizona, 29 Oct 1966 Given below are the names of the individuals killed in the Vietnam War with whom I went through Air Force pilot training. Al Rodriguez, one of those lost, Ron Gieleghem and I graduated together from... More

The San Francisco Civil Grand Jury is a Progressive Era institution, designed to keep an eye on the crooks in city government (San Francsico is unique in that alone on California it combines the functions of a city and a county in government). It is court—appointed, and cannot issue formal... More

Australia and Japan are both bedrock allies of the United States, founding members of what I call the "Coalition of the willing and able." Along with the UK, and possibly India, they are bulwarks of our new security alliance confronting China, the only potential strategic rival for the United... More

It's been done. And nobody in the Islamic world rioted. It seems that mere accusations of Koran abuse by Americans is much worse than public burning of it, accompanied by photographs, when the abusers are non—American and non—Christian. A new blog to me, The Big Pharaoh (from Egypt),... More

The LA Weekly has a long and fascinating article about a major drug case, its ultimate disposition, and hints of the implications for understanding just who is running Los Angeles politics and law enforcement. It involves a case brought by the Minneapolis cops against a drug dealer from LA with a... More

Sometimes it pays to get a bit off the beaten path. By "off the beaten path" I mean reading the Harvard Business School Alumni Bulletin, a publication of limited circulation. Nevertheless, in the latest issue 'Briefs' section is the tale told of one Dan Curran's experience helping out with the... More

Liberals continue to invest their faith and hopes in the United Nations. At best it is incompetent and feckless. At worst it is corrupt, arrogant, unaccountable, and irresponsible, leading to horrific reports of child sex abuse which make the worst allegations of abuse at Aby Ghraib and Gitmo... More

Laura Holson's article in the New York Times, "With Popcorn, DVD's and TiVo, Moviegoers Are Staying Home," overlooked a glaringly obvious reason why people are staying home from the movies — most movies are family—unfriendly. Experience shows that more people attend... More

Remember the Daniel Ortega? The man Ronald Reagan dubbed "the little dictator" of Nicaragua got his 15 minutes of fame in New York some years ago by spending tens of thousands of dollars there on a shopping spree for mirrored sunglasses. This Marxist Sandinista who claimed to be to be a man of the... More

The income of US workers is growing much faster than previously thought, a positive sign for economic growth. Wage and salary income, which includes income in the form of stock options and bonuses, was $92 billion higher in the first quarter than previously estimated. I wonder how the New York... More

In imagery reminiscent  of the Nazi newspaper Der Sturmer, the New York Times runs a full—page ad ad attacking the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. AIPAC is a well—respected group seeking to enhance understanding of Israel in America.   The ad conjures up notions of... More

The attacks on the conservative media continue...while the liberal media complains of the unseemliness of the conservatives attacking them for liberal bias. Hypocrisy reigns. This comparison is a compliment to Sith — Murdoch has brought fresh air to the stale American media. He is a... More

E. J. Dionne is whining about an "assault" on the media. Note to Dionne: see  Democratic John Conyers's attempt to use his Congressional powers to attack the press for conservative bias. Second Note: The allegation that Vince Foster was murdered was not a cover story on Newsweek, did not... More

In his column today, Tom Friedman characterizes the British press as "our allies." He is conflating his liberal allies in the British press with the U.K.. As for "plowing under" Gitmo, we would never be able to imprison terrorists within the existing federal justice system. Our courts would be... More

During the last month prior to the 2004 presidential election, John Edwards, while speaking at a campaign rally in Newton, Iowa, said the following regarding his position on stem—cell research: If we do the work that we can do in this country, the work that we will do when John Kerry is... More

Marathon Pundit has valuable new data on the very bad situation at DePaul University, the nation's largest Catholic institution of higher education, including an interview with Professor Klocke and excerpts from Alan Dershowitz's denunciation of Holocaust—denying DePaul professor Norman... More

Iran has hidden a nuclear weapons program for two decades, imports centrifuges for uranium enrichment, is building a heavy water reactor to process plutonium for nuclear weapons. They have smuggled uranium into the country, paid off the Pakistani nuclear weapons merchant for technology to build... More

The shamefull boycott of Israel by the British trade union of university faculty, the AUT, was imposed by the leadership. It has just been overturned by a vote of the membership: British Lecturers overturned their decision to boycott Haifa and Bar—Ilan universities in a vote on Thursday.... More

A Muslim woman is Secretary General of Amnesty International and she introduced the instantaneously notorious report on human rights so biased against the US (calling Guantanamo Bay our American "Gulag") that no less than the Washington Post took exception to its contents and bias in... More

The incomparable Mark Steyn writes about the EU constitution and much, much more. Because his essay appear's in Boris Johnson's Spectator, Mark has enough room to incorporate Goethe's Faust in a brilliant metaphor. Must—reading. Thomas Lifson  5 26 05 More

John Conyers not only wants to protect Islam from criticism, he is making barking mad criticism of the Mainstream Media for not adequately covering the mistakes of the Bush administration. "The vast majority of the mainstream media is not only unwilling to accurately report on the failings of the... More

A French Court finds a pillar of the French media. Le Monde, guilty of defamation against Israel and the Jewish people. The Wall Street Journal reports: A French court last week found three writers for Le Monde, as well as the newspaper's publisher, guilty of "racist defamation" against Israel and... More

A Los Angeles Times op—ed by Margaret Carlson uses the McCain cable TV biographical movie to compare US prison in Bagram to North Vietnam's Hanoi Hilton. Well, that was predictable.  On Memorial Day, I watched the A&E movie about former Navy Lt. Cmdr. John McCain's 5½ years in a... More

Page one of the leftist British paper The Independent asks "What now for Europe?" in 20 different languages. Hellooooo! Doesn't the mere fact that they have to ask the question in 20 disparate tongues register as one of the main obstacles to a unified Europe?  Have any of the geniuses at TI... More

Linda Foley, head of the Newspaper Guild, the labor union for journalists which claims 30,000 members, has been resurrecting the Eason Jordan claim that U.S. Soldiers deliberately target journalists. I wonder if she will claim that this assasination of a journalist was the work of a U.S.... More

There is a disturbing tendency on France for those who feel threatened by economic competition to use violence against others who win the favor of consumers. Case in point the McDonalds Hamburger restaurant torched by Jose Bove, and the heroic reception he has received. Long encouraged to... More

According to the BBC: A political storm has broken out in Germany over reports that the government may be distancing itself from the European single currency. Stern magazine said that Finance Minister Hans Eichel had been present at a meeting where the "collapse" of monetary union was discussed.... More

The AP sees the defeat of the EU referendum as a defeat for...George Bush: The United States is sitting out the argument in Europe this week over the fate of the long drive to unite 25 nations under a single constitution, but the Bush administration stands to lose if the drive collapses. The... More

Don Surber has very worthwhile thoughts on how the left lost the war on terror. Be prepared for his new blog to get more and more attention. As Senator Byrd faces yet another election in West Virginia, Don should become the go—to—guy for national media, in much the same manner David... More

The lack of confidence and respect that the mandarins of the European Union have for the citizens of their stillborn commonwealth is displayed by the hysteria that is gripping them, now that the people of France (and by the time you read this, maybe Holland, too) have rejected the EU's monstrosity... More

From Tom Firedman's column today: In part it is the awful barriers that now surround the U.S. Embassy in London on Grosvenor Square. "They have these cages all around the embassy now, and these huge concrete blocks, and the whole message is: 'Go away!' " said Kate Jones, a British literary agent... More

Whittaker Chambers is condemned to this day on the left, though now all reputable experts consider his charges (long derided as fabrications) as truthful. The Hollywood Ten are still treated as martyrs, those who testified against them as traitors.   Also, while glorifying Felt has any... More

Columnists (Cohen calls Felt a "Brave Friend")  across the nation are rushing to honor and praise Mark Felt for his role as Deep Throat — the No.2 man at the FBI during the Nixon years who helped to reveal the secrets behind Watergate and sundry other acts of malfeasance by Richard... More

claiming he knew and had kept quite about Mark Felt being Deep Throat—talk about shoving himself into the light shining on Woodward and Bernstein.If he knew it was Mark Felt why did he write a piece suggesting he could have been a technician?   Ed Lasky    6 1... More

There were claims that Valerie Plame was outed as a CIA agent* (she wasn't an undercover agent at the time) and that this was a crime on the part of someone in the Bush Administration. It seems to me that the New York Times raised the journalistic equivalent of holy hell re:Plame. But what... More

David Limbaugh speaks an important truth in his latest column. Recently, Stanley Greenburg has made the point that the public supports the GOP because they know what the GOP believes in, even if they don't necessarily agree. Greenburg and others claim the Dems need to figure out what they believe... More

The great Dr. Theodore Dalryple makes the most cogent and persuasive case against the Balkanization of literature and  as with everything he writes,he does it in the most appealing and heartfelt way.   Clarice Feldman   5 31 05 More

Jon Caroll is a very talented columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle, who is more—or—less in the mainstream of that paper, that is on the "progressive" end of the spectrum. His column today betrays a bit of self pity and whining about all the criticisms the MSM has to endure. The... More

Praise the Lord and pass the collection plate!  John Kerry has 'reread' the New Testament!  "I went back and reread the whole New Testament the other day. Nowhere in the three—year ministry of Jesus Christ did I find a suggestion at all, ever, anywhere, in any way whatsover, that... More

Although it does note the sheer implausibility of Jack Bauer's ability to cheat death so often, as well as his "ruthless penchant for torture and strategic murder," The San Francsico Chronicle editorial board shockingly likes "24," a show which no less an authority Rush Limbaugh praises as... More

According to Frank Barnako of Marketwatch.com, French blogger Etienne Chouard is being hailed as leading a one man vrusade against French approval of the proposed EU constitution. Ed Lasky    5 31 05 More

The New York Times helpfully supplies our enemies with data on how the United States conducts its strategies and tactics in fighting them. As lawyers like to say, "Res ipso loquitor" — "The thing speaks for itself." Ed Lasky   5 31 05 More

The French, so quick to denounce America as a savage abuser of human rights, does not exactly coddle their own terror suspects. The Pittsburgh Tribune—Review outlines the treatment received by French detainees formerly held at Guantanamo Bay and subsequently transferred to France. Two... More

El Universal reports that he says traveled to a distant city to see his 7—year—old daughter, Rosaina. And that he really wanted everyone to watch this volleyball match (which Venezuela lost to Brazil). Not believable. He appeared on TV in the company of his ministers, whatever that... More

Having spent a couple of hours at a Memorial Day ceremony in a large flag—bedecked cemetary, I am happy to pass on the following information from people who really care about honoring our flag. "You can retire your tattered, worn out and frayed American flags without cost to you.  Send... More

There have been many fine essays published this weekend on the significance of the French "non" vote, but, once again, Steyn nails it better than anyone. Here's a sample: Europe's "consensus" politics has ruled more and more topics unfit for discussion, leaving voters with a choice between... More

Jack Risko, of Dinocrat.com, has some good perspective on the French rejection of the EU Constitution. If the French felt they were running the Common Market, rather than it running them, they would have voted oui in a trice. It is fortunate then for all of us that Chirac made the mistake of... More

Steve Chapman, a libertarian columnist for the Chicago Tribune, wrties a very sensible commentary on the embryonic stem cell research debate. It is must—reading for informed debate on the topic. Richard Baehr    6 5 05 More

Douglas Davis of the Jerusalem Post writes encouragingly about the wave a change he sees sweeping Europe, a once—in—a—generation phenomenon: Europe is in the grip of a leadership crisis. And nowhere is the crisis more acute than at its very heart. Britain, Germany, Italy and... More

Franco Aleman, Barcepundit, is live—blogging a huge demonstration in Madrid (via satellite TV in Barcelona). Between 850,000 and a million demonstrators are protesting the Zapatero government's announced intention to negotiate with Basque separatist ETA terrorists. Spain, the home of... More

An Australian scholar, Imre Salusinszky, has written a wonderful short essay in The Australian, Rupert Murdoch's left—leaning national—circulation daily in Australia. Using popular criticisms of George W. Bush as an intellectual boob as a starting point, he diagnoses the problems with... More

The Columbia Journalism Review has named The Nation editor Victor Navasky to revitalize the magazine and restore its old role as the watchdog of the press. Don't tell them, but unwittingly they've just decisively handed over the Watchdog Role of the media to the blogosphere. No... More

Heather Mac Donald exposes for all to see the ridiculous anti—intellectualism behind Harvard president Lawrence Summers's grovel before the goddess of diversity. Summers is a man I used to admire. But his abject surrender to the worst kind of anti—intellectualism, so brilliantly... More

Not only Rush Limbaugh and preachers with sermons are turning to podcasting. NPR informs us that newspapers, too, are beginning to podcast. Meanwhile, one NPR tech program is overhwhelmed by demand for its podcasts: The week—old Open Source radio program on Boston's WGBH station has become a... More

Our pal Don Surber reports from West Virginia that the latest polls have Senator/Kleagle Robert Byrd's lead over his probable opponent Rep. Shelley Moore Capito within the margin of error. For an incumbent, much less one of Byrd's power and longevity to be in such a tight race so far ahead of... More

Two big articles from the New York Times, one tof them oday, both trumpeting supposedly genetically based homosexuality. I am ambivalent on the subject, generally taking a libertarian approach about what people do as long as it does not harm others. The Times takes a  couple of bizarre... More

Chill. Joe Crowley and American Thinker editors/readers.  Relax your prickly spines——there is no threat to Christianity or any other religion afoot; just a new dimension.  Removing Bibles from hospital (and hotel) nightstands is not an indication of "political correctness gone... More

"New York Times Company Shares Hit Record Low" There is a God. $31.04. Read it and weep Paul, Maureen, and Pinch.   Ed Lasky   6 3 05 More

Across the Pond, Anthony Browne of The Spectator evaluates the outcome of the Dutch and French rejection of the EU Constitution. The EU has finally foundered on its central problem — the one it has with the will of the people. Too often, European leaders seem determined to prove the... More

Remember Hollywood's version of the Watergate scandal, All The Presidents Men? Silly question, right? Right. But even if you only read the book, who can sift through their memories (with the possible exception of Mr. Felt himself) without picturing a young, dashing Robert Redford in the shadows of... More

The President of Council of Foreign relations does not think much of Democracy. This is emblematic of our "foreign policy elite." The CFR publishes Foreign Affairs magazine, and membership is considered by conspiracy theorists a badge of admission to the higher circles of power. According to... More

Hey, Jacques Chirac, at least Latvia (part of the new Europe you told to shut up) approved the EU Constitution. Recall that the French President haughtily told them that they missed an opportunity to shut up? Sit down and shut up  The former Latvian ambassador to the United States was... More

Presumably the ACLU would be very happy is the United States behaved more like Spain in its treatment of al Qaeda suspects: Spain freed on bail an alleged member of al—Qaida accused of videotaping the World Trade Center and other targets before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.... More

Is removing the Bible from hospital nightstands political correctness gone mad, part of a new and growing intolerance to Christianity in any way, shape or form, or a genuine fear of the spread of the so—called 'superbug' MRSA (Methicillin—resistant Staphylococcus aureus)? The answer you... More

Senator Harry Reid, leader of the Senate Democrats, is interviewed in the latest issue of Rolling Stone. Is appearing in Rolling Stone magazine reaching the crowd that all experts  tell the Democrats they must appeal to? Are the rural, the families, the religious reading it these... More

Airbus is emblematic of the entire EU: bloated by bureaucrats and run by incompetents who overpromise and underdeliver. Airbus was designed to puncture Boeing, formerly the dominant producer of civil airliners. Airbus was to be one of the business components of the strategy by Europeans... More

Culturally, the era we call "The 1960s" (which actually lasted well into the 1970s) simply will not die. Like the lingering effect of too much gin the night before, the 60s continue to inflict themselves upon us. A reader writes us: The events listed below all happened Tuesday, roughly... More

Don Surber notes that at least some Democrats seem to believe in using investments in securities as way to fund pensions, even as national Democrats and the AARP trash Bush's proposal to allow Social Security funds to be so invested. If George Dubya Bush wants to save Social Security, let him come... More

President Bush has made a wise decision in selecting Representative Christopher Cox to head the Securities and Exchange Commission. Although his prominent role in the House of Representatives will be greatly missed, he will be in a position to do tremendous good at the SEC. Although it is being... More

Now reporters are crying that Bush did not call on enough women reporters at his press conference. From yesterday's White House Press Briefing: Q Scott, at the press conference yesterday, approximately 25 percent of the journalists were women, and the President took only one question from a woman... More

Owners of sports teams in Washington have always seen them as avenues to garner political influence. They are one of the few non—partisan events that both Democrats and Republicans can attend together, and tickets in boxes always are difficult to come by. Since many Congressman do not get... More

The New York Times, usually diplomatically deferential in protecting and favoring journalists (particularly their own—see Jayson Blair [until caught], Judith Miller, Paul Krugman), seems to take a different approach when it comes to covering Bob Woodward, the famed Washington Post... More

James Lewis aptly points out today that the EU has become a vehicle of the bureaucrats, by the bureaucrats, and for the bureaucrats. The EUs "devoted" public servants use tax dodges to avoid the taxes others must cough up. No wonder they like high taxes to fund their perks. Talk of curbing the tax... More

The Daily Scorecard references an article in the Hollywood Reporter, about a new film which has debuted at the usually—leftist Sundance Film Festival to great acclaim. Filmmaker Marc Levin's Protocols of Zion examines the revival in popularity of the fraudulent anti—Semitic tract, The... More

It is fitting that on the 61st anniversary of D—Day that Dennis Reilly urges the US Navy to reactivate the two Iowa—class battleships remaining on the Navy's register.  Mr. Reilly is the science advisor for the US Naval Surface Fire Support Association, and makes a strong technical... More

The viewing public is condemned to being fed a steady diet of Apprentice rip—offs, it being an iron law of television that a successful show will spawn numerous bastard offspring. My antipathy to Donald Trump being what it is (I treasure Spy Magazine's repeated characterization of him as a... More

KPFA, the Mother Church of public broadcasting (in the sense of stations licensed to nonprofit groups which air left wing propaganda and don't pay taxes), continues to amuse. The denizens have taken to throwing chairs at each other in their efforts to persuade the others of the virtues of their... More

It appears that Irene Khan, head ("Secretary—General") of Amnesty International, was a passive participant, doing nothing about it as a Jewish lawyer was barred from the 2001 UN  "World Conference against Racism" (but not necessarily anti—Semitism). Anne Bayefsky, in the... More

David Kaspar, publisher of David's Medienkritik, a wonderful blog covering the German media, writes us with stunning information on a TV movies shown on the government—supported network. "The ultimate insult to our intelligence: Germany's PBS station ARD alleges the Bush family's... More

There's a piece in today's U.K. Guardian you might enjoy. It's opening line is very encouraging. "France's Socialists were in crisis yesterday..." Some of the language employed by this left wing newspaper is startling in its honesty about the reactionary natured of leftwing politics in... More

George McGovern is baaaack. It seems we have heard this solution before from him — withdrawal — which led to mass murder and the domination of that corner of South East Asia by dictatorships.   Ed Lasky    6 6 05     More

There must be some patriots at the State University of New York (SUNY). In contrast to the elite campuses which forbid ROTC recrutiment, SUNY's Sullivan County Community College is on the scene in Iraq, giving our Soldiers the opportunity to earn fully—transferable college credits.... More

It looks as thought this Columbia University literature professor has run his ideas through the Random PoMo Generator. James Lewis    6 6 05 More

Is there anything more illustrative of the media's all out attempt to Bash Bush? All of sudden a diplomat is too nice? Damned if you are; damned if you are not. Ed Lasky   6 6 05  More

If there's any doubt in your mind who George Bush's friends and associates are, and who Hugo Chavez's are, and whether there's a difference, check out the photo show over at Miguel Octavio's Venezuelan blog, which in stark terms shows just how unlike each other the Liberator of the Middle East... More

Like so many other academic institutions, The University of Oregon is twisting itself into a pretzel, trying to reconcile preferences for certain groups with the legal requirements of non—discrimination. It took UO a reported 5 year effort by a group of 70 people to announce that, among other... More

Celebrity gossip is not the usual subject for blogging here. But it is the weekend, and I am feeling frisky. It is heartening to see that Brooke Shields is defending herself against the criticism Tom Cruise has made of her use of psychoactive pharmaceuticals, following postpartum depression.... More

It's easy. Baffle your friends! Amaze your enemies! Intrigue liberals with your newfound depth! And best of all, it's free! Follow the link here, and scratch your head as you try to decipher the esoteric content of a postmodernist essay. Then follow the link at the bottom, and you, too can be a... More

So, the question must be asked——why are all these Brits and other Europeans  not allowing more Africans to help themselves?  Or is it just easier for these Europeans to blame the US and the free market for the troubles of Africa while ignoring the role of their European... More

As you read this there's a New York Times story about the disparity of incomes in America that's falling on thousands, if not hundreds of deaf ears. This thinly veiled anti—Bush piece about the rich gettin' richer (thanks to Dubya's tax cuts) will only serve to tick off the poor... More

Must not gloat.  Must not gloat. Must not gloat.  Ethel, you are mature; chronologically an adult so you must not gloat that   The American Civil Liberties Union has been shredding some documents over the repeated objections of its records manager and in conflict with its... More

Why did the racists——whoops! excuse me——diversity advocates selectively pounce on just one segment of Lawrence Summers's now notorious musings?  Perhaps because such a fuss was made over delicate Nancy Hopkins, who suffered a case of feminine vapors upon hearing reason... More

While carefully selected elite students at elite universities acting with appropriate elite behavior, throw sometimes violent temper tantrums to diminish freedom of choice by demanding the removal of ROTC and military recruitment on their elite campuses, most Americans have a great deal of... More

The Media Research Center has caught crazy Katie Couric fawning before scandal—plagued Kofi Annanm and urging him to interfere in US politics. NBC's Katie Couric treated UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, who is mired in a scandal Couric only lightly touched, as a wise sage, empathetically... More

Hillary Clinton tends to get in trouble when speaking before a friendly audience. Because she is a control freak and an utter phony, the real Hillary is normally hidden behind a facade of moderation and politeness. Speaking to group of donors, she let fly some astonishingly nasty rhetoric,... More

The leftwing UK Guardian reports: George Bush is expected to meet Britain's Africa agenda only part way with the announcement of £370m for famine relief when he appears at a joint press conference in Washington today with Tony Blair. [emphasis added] Joe Crowley   6 7 05   More

Could Dean's attacks on malefactors of wealth be offending rich Democrats? The Dean travails continue. 3 Top Fundraisers AT DNC quit Ed Lasky    6 7 05  More

No one likes paying taxes. Especially those big—hearted public servants in international institutions that work selflessly for the common good. The Financial Times (subscription required) describes a wonderful tax dodge availablke to Eurocrats.   Those working in Europe have since... More

The U.K. government is considering dropping the planned referndum on the EU constituion, in the wake of French and Dutch electoral rejection of the bloated framework for absolutism. But according to Jack Straw, they may simply impose it. What a sorry lot. Hat tip: James Lewis   6 7 05 More

The AP reports that Harvard University's admission office altered the image in a brochure being sent to 150,000 prospective applicants: A Harvard brochure sent to thousands of prospective students included a doctored photo of the student newspaper's front page that removed a headline about the... More

Today is Flag Day. To commemorate the occasion, Stars and Stripes, the daily military newspaper, is publishing a special section honoring the heroes of the War on Terror. You can link to a DoD announcement about it here. The supplement is not yet available online, but will be made available soon. More

Jason DeParle, a New York Times writer adept at sneering through his word processor, cannot help himself and lets the envy show a bit in his article today about the 64 summer interns working at the Heritage Foundation. The familiar lament that the well—funded conservative movement is... More

It strikes me that the coalition that won WWII was forged when the Left flipped after Hitler invaded Russia. The anti—Communist coalition in the US won when the labor movement expelled Stalinists. The war against Islamist terror may be won when... well, you get the picture. There may be... More

Two brave members of the Berkeley Unified School District Board have expressed doubts about renaming Jefferson Elementary School, because the Founding Father and president owned slaves. Faculty and staff of the school have already voted to re—name it Sequoia Elementary School — not that... More

I admire Peggy Noonan's writing and I enjoy her style. She has a wonderful way of being "soft—hard": that is, she can express hard—edged opinions with softness and subtlety. It's masterful, elegant, and sophisticated. But as much as I like to read her columns, she's just plain wrong in... More

Senator Chares "Chuck" Schumer, during an Executive Session of Congress on May 18th, accused Janice Rogers Brown of standing for the 'philosophy of the 1890's'. Senator Schumer was attempting to demonstrate the merits of the Democrats' vehement opposition to Judge Brown and justify the... More

Not a phoenix, but KKK kleagle Robert Byrd, who, as our friend Don Surber points out, rose from the ashes of burning crosses to first win election to Congress in 1952. In that year, six blacks were lynched. Don can write up a storm — read the column. We are looking forward to the... More

The next time you are warned about the dangers of global warming, or the need for fetal stem cell research, consider this report. ...according to the first large—scale survey of scientific misbehavior. More than 5 percent of scientists answering a confidential questionnaire admitted to... More

The notable Ben Stein, of television, film, literary, and American Spectator fame, has joined Ed Lasky in noting the disgraceful story in the New Yorker about a traitorous journalist. Ben joins Ed in noting that not journalist quoted in the lengthy piece mentioned the deaths of American soldiers... More

Jack Shafer delivers a well—deserved thrashing to Tom Friedman for his relentless self—promotion via his column in the New York Times. in addition to mentioning his new too much, Friedman is also endlessly recycling his old ideas. If he can't think of something new to say, he should... More

If British taxpayers pay for  iPODS to be given to students to bribe them to attend school, how much will you have to give them to get them to stop committing mayhem and violence against teachers and fellow students? Ed Lasky   6 9 05 More

Ed Feulner argues in the Washington Times that the absence so far of major investment capital into embyronic stem cell research is telling. When medical research has to rely on the public sector for funding, it is often an indication of weak prospects. Investment capital, on the other hand, is... More

This is what happens when you have mob rule—a group of people led astray by similarly wrong—headed people:   A protest organized June 1 by MoveOn, a liberal political action committee, drew about 20 people to the Michigan Avenue office of U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers, R—Brighton.... More

It seems the post 'non' mood around Paree wasn't as gay as usual. So on Wednesday the new French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepinhead gave his subjects what we less sophisticated yanks like to call a pep talk. You can read his exhortation in it's entirety here if you're so inclined, but below... More

The David M blog catches Howell Raines in an embarrassing quotation. You remember Howell Raines, don't you? He used to be editor of the New York Times  — before he got fired. "Does anyone in America doubt that Kerry has a higher IQ than Bush? I'm sure the candidates' SATs and college... More

Several weeks back, we described the almost unbelievable situation surrounding De Paul Professor Thomas Klocek, who lost his job at  the Catholic university for the "crime" of daring to argue with some Muslim and Palestinian students in a cafeteria about some inflammatory... More

This guy hacks into the Pentagon and NASA systems and it released on bail and told not to go online? This, while some brainwashed kid points a gun at an American soldier in a remote mountain range in Afghanistan and is locked up like he's the eleventh most wanted man on earth! We are... More

Remember Proposition 200?  This is the Arizona initiative which passed with 56% of the vote last November.  It calls for 'proof of citizenship to register to vote, photo ID to vote, and proof of eligibility for non—federally mandated public benefits.' Last night, I was at a dinner... More

Tony Blankley mulls the deeper significance of the sudden rise in usage of the word "schadenfreude." As you might expect, it does not say anything good about us. Hat tip: Joe Crowley More

Daniel Pipes is the rarest of pundits, one who openly revises his views when he gets new and contradictory information. Here, he revises his pessimmistic view on Turkey's prospects for Islamist government, though he leaves the question open. Thomas Lifson   6 8 05 More

Jimmy Carter, the President who helped weaken our defenses by cutting military budgets and leading an Administration that gutted the CIA  and who oversaw the disastrous and embarrassing Iranian hostage rescue efforts and who has spend his retirement helping North Korea develop nukes and... More

George Galloway had apparently been on the payroll of Saddam Hussein via a faux charity he set up as a conduit to benefit from the oil—for—food scandal. He used his access to the media and politicians to defend Saddam to his fellow British. Galloway was kicked out of the Labor... More

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, a man who knows what a real gulag is, warns that Russia could be facing an orange revolution (like Ukraine's) in the near future. In his first television interview since 2002, he said "We have nothing that resembles democracy. We are trying to build democracy without... More

Today's candidate for the line to be least—quoted by the major media: "It's hard to put the United States in the center, or blame everything on the U.S.," said Alyson J.K. Bailes, the institute's director, adding that "despite all the ongoing problems, the state of world security is a great... More

The lingering death of the daily newspaper industry is taking with it an institution which has added texture to New York City's streets, along with a handful of other crowded American cities: the news stand. The New York Sun reports on the endangered species status of the news stands there. The... More

Rep. John Conyers (D—Michigan) apparently leads a rich fanatsy life. And he is using government facilities and resources to live out his fantasies in public. In the Capitol basement yesterday, long—suffering House Democrats took a trip to the land of make—believe. They pretended... More

Animal cruelty is certainly despicable, and there are plenty of studies suggesting that chidren who are cruel to animals, frequently turn into miserable adults — as child molestors, wife beaters, and  criminals who commit other violent acts. So what are we to make of the fact that the a... More

Matthew May, our frequent contributor, has made a superb observation on his blog site, Matt May. Why hasn't Sen. John McCain taken to the Senate floor to denounce Sen. Richard Durbin for Durbin's remarks comparing the United States prison guards down at Gitmo to the Soviet work camps, the Nazi... More

The editor of a newspaper is the journalist responsible for selecting which news stories are deserving of being published, and who determines their placement within the newspaper. By doing so, he signals his judgment about the levels of importance of each story. But he also tips his hand regarding... More

Jonah Goldberg has a very moving tribute to his father, Sidney Goldberg, on National Review Online today. Although I never met Sidney, I almost felt that I knew him via his frequent appearances on the Lucianne Live! syndicated talk show, which I had the pleasure of co—hosting on a weekly... More

Suspected masterminds of a hostage taking and killing incident  were handcuffed and in their underwear. Bruises could be seen on their faces and one had stitches across his forehead. Surprisingly Senator Dick Durbin (D—IL) hasn't denounced this treatment; Amnesty International and Human... More

The rule of government bureaucracy is to reward failure upward and define deviancy downward. By any rational calculation, Airbus has been a resounding failure. To be sure, it has bought market share in civilian airliners at the expense of Boeing, at a cost to European taxpayers never tabulated, but... More

The U.S. Open at Pinehurst, N.C. is underway.  Tiger Woods is among the early leaders this morning.  Mr. Woods, having already won the Masters in April, is chasing the Grand Slam...that is, winning all four majors in one year.  This is just one of the storylines sportswriters have... More

Reader Scott Wright raises an excellent point regarding Senator Durbin's comments: Senator Durbin's comments comparing mistreatment of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay by U.S. military interrogators to that of Nazis are particularly ironic considering the fact that most of the allegations of... More

Senator Richard Durbin (D—IL) outraged many by equating American interrogation at Guantanamo with the methods used by the Nazis and the Soviets.     However, not only has he refused to apologize he insists ...the Bush administration should apologize for abandoning the Geneva... More

The ever changing, ever sensitive Oscar winner, Sean Penn, on assignment for the San Francisco (naturally) Chronicle bravely told a film student during a visit to Iran's Film Museum in Tehran on Monday that the "Death to America" slogan chanted each week at Friday Prayers hurt Iran—U.S.... More

Awhile back, the New York Times, in an unexpectedly excellent (and not just for them) story, exposed an incredible array of mismanagement over at Citgo, the U.S. oil refiner and marketer of Venezuelan crude oil that has had the misfortune of experiencing a Hugo Chavez management takeover by... More

We are very pleased to have played a small role in bringing to public attention the ridiculous vile accusation of Senator Durbin that the United States is comparable to the regimes of Hitler, Stalin, and Pol Pot in its treatment of Gitmo prisoners. J. James Estrada's post was picked up by Rush... More

Spain's cowardly, anti—U.S. Prime Minister, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, has finally gotten what was coming to him, as Spain's voters realize just what a loser they have in front of them. Franco in Barcelona writes that Spain's polls are showing his voter approval rate slithering down to... More

Reader Greg Richards writes us regarding J. James Estrada's characterization of  Senator Durbin's  disgraceful comments: Of course, we know what he is on — his high horse.What Sen. Durbin doesn't understand is that there is a purpose to these interrogations.  Not... More

PBS is claiming that it began a review of its standards for political balance before there was any threat of a funding cut, now something that is a very real possibility. The AP reports: PBS, which rejects accusations of liberal bias, said it has been reviewing its procedures since before... More

Gopinion.com is a new website featuring selected articles from the blogosphere, in a very readable newspaper—like format. So far, the selection of sites and information has been very promising, indeed. We are happy to welcome them to the blogosphere, and wish them the best. This is one to... More

The British medical journal, The Lancet, which is no conservative organ, has warned its readers of the hype surrounding stem cell research, especially embryonic stem cell research, according to a dispatch from the Cybercast News Service. So great has been the brainwashing that California voters... More

Several weeks ago The American Thinker informed its readers about the plight of Professor Thomas Klocek, who was fired for daring to question the rabid anti—Israel display by some Moslem students at DePaul University, a Catholic university, in Chicago. Klocek, who is not Jewish, was an... More

Senator Dick Durbin's remarks from the Senate floor last night will lead one to conclude that the man is crazy.  Durbin was on the floor to debate a portion of the Energy Bill and then went off on this tangent about prisoner abuse at Gitmo: On one occasion, the air conditioning had been... More

Odder pairings have happened in history than an alliance between New York Senator Hillary Clinton and News Corp. honcho Rupert Murdoch. The Hitelr—Stalin Pact, for instance. But it is nevertheless a surprising speculation, as laid out by Ben Smith in the New York Observer. In its own... More

The financial disclosure form of Sen. Jon Corzine (D—NJ) shows the former head of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. did quite well — between $425,000 and $1.6 million worth of well — last year, after those who handle his blind trust managed his investments bet that Goldman stock would... More

New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson is one of many testing the waters for 2008 by making the obligatory visit to New Hampshire. Richardson, a competent and respected Cabinet member in the Clinton administration, is attempting  to create a Western regional primary for the Democrats in... More

Reader Michael Easton of Kansas City, MO writes us about Richard Baehr's article today: I'd like to think this "gambit" story is a mistake. Mainly because I think it is a mistake. Certainly, McCain can appeal to moderates on both sides of the aisle. But as has been pointed out by pundits, polling... More

"State Budgets Get Relief"  Wall Street Journal Strong gains in corporate profits, household income and home sales are swelling tax revenues for states nationwide, helping to close budget gaps and boost spending. State—tax revenue for the July—March period of the fiscal year... More

The New York Times is zealous in framing all issues as contests between religious forces (associated with backwardness) and "secular" forces associated with sophistication and intelligence. Here they impose the same framework reporting the Italian vote to ease fertility laws — which... More

An enterprising blogger,Daly Thoughts, has uncovered some interesting links between Conyers,LaRouche and the playhouse hearing star witness,McGovern: On Friday, Mississippi State Rep. Fleming [D] announced his candidacy in 2006 against incumbent US Senator Trent Lott [R]. "It is my hope that my... More

Karla Homolka, a grotesque sex criminal/killer with a beautiful face, is being released by Canadian authorities at the ripe old age of 35, after only 12 years in prison for multiple counts of drugging, raping, torturing, and killing teenage girls, along with her husband. There is every reason to... More

Dick Durbin does support the troops —  when there's money in it for his state. (AP) — The Pentagon has yet to give Illinois' U.S. senators thousands of documents they need in order to evaluate whether proposed changes to the state's military bases make sense, Sen. Dick Durbin... More

Real Clear Politics noticed an odd news dispatch buried last Friday. Edward Kennedy, the moral voice of the Democrats, has "ruled out" Clarence Thomas as a possible Chief Justice. This sounds a lot like a threat of a filibuster. If the Democrats want to prevent the first black nominee for Chief... More

The world should donate Antarctica to Amnesty International so ALL it's members can move there with all the people they want to protect from the big bad industrialized world. The BBC examines conditions in UK detainment camps for illegal aliens. "Torture"? Joe Crowley   6 20 05 More

Well whaddaya know.   Bob Geldof, who is organizing the Live 8 concerts to draw attention to the plight of Africa's poor, has some decent things to say about President Bush and the US. GELDOF America doesn't have a lack of empathy; they just don't know the issues as well. Actually,... More

What if?  What if?  A useless question to be sure but one that haunts us all as we wonder about the path(s) not taken and ponder the one(s) we did.  And so with the current situation in Iraq.  What if we hadn't gone to war in Iraq?  Robert Kagan discusses what... More

Matt May engages in some useful fantasy, imagining what he would say about Dick Durbin if he were a Senator. Read it here. More

In an earlier AT article, The Arab Constituency in Israel, we took favorable note of the surge in the number of Arabs in the Labor Party of Israel. This development represents a sea change in Israeli politics, since there are parties that are recognized as being the natural "homes" for Arabs,... More

Olivier Guitta, a frequent contributor here, has an op—ed in the Jerusalem Post today about France's Dominique de Villepin, elevated to Prime Minister recently by President Chirac. Born in 1953 in Morocco, he lived most of his privileged life abroad. He only moved back to France in 1992... More

Our contributor Edward Bernard Glick applied contemporary attitudes of the left toward Iraq to World War II, and came up with a revealing set of questions and answers. You can read the entire essay on the Hudson Institute's American Outlook Today website. If 1941 were 2004, here are some of the... More

I have to assume that nearly everyone who reads this website follows the work of Mark Steyn, the impossibly brilliant and funny columnist. That Steyn has never won a Pulitzer while Maureen Dowd has is, to paraphrase Senator Durbin (or maybe actually Iowahawk), a war crime worthy of the Nazis. In... More

Some time ago, I wrote up a blog item about Richard Cohen's idiotic column, in which he claimed he knew who Deep Thorat was but wrote that it could have been a secret service technician. The New Republic has ridiculed him in the current edition . I googled the subject and came up with other... More

I have often read that Tom DeLay was a former exterminator and that Dennis Hastert was a former wrestling coach. These characterizations have been a way to disparage these Republican leaders. Why is Senator Robert Byrd never mentioned as having been a former butcher? If he were a Republican,... More

The Washington Post's Jim Hoagland rightly points out the absurdity of EU people telling Iraqis how to write a constitution. Ed Lasky   6 19 05 More

Listen up Amnesty International!  Pay attention Senator Durbin!  All your flippant torture talk, which is really a cover for your anti American, anti Bush vendetta, is distracting attention from real torture.  In Iraq for example. The American military has found torture houses after... More

Care to know just how bad the Iranian election is? It could not be more unlike Iraq's....Blogger Robert Mayer at PubliusPundit has taken the trouble to check out the polling up close in the states, reporting from Tucson. His fellow bloggers have joined him in other U.S. cities like... More

The University of California is in the process of shamelessly rigging the awarding of scholarships under a merit—based system, because certain racial groups (Asians and Caucasians) win too many awards, while certain more—favored minorities do not perform well. A key faculty committee... More

Yet another case of fraud in science has come to light.  A highly cited 1997 paper on transcription—coupled repair was retracted by Science this week, after coauthor Steven Leadon, formerly of the University of North Carolina, was found guilty by a university committee of fabricating... More

In a short editorial — just 265 words excluding title and date — the New York Times gleefully congratulates the House Republicans who joined the Champions—of—Freedom Democrats in voting to eliminate the library and book store records seizure provision of the Patriot Act. 'In... More

Like Captain Nicole Malachowski, Sergeant Leigh Ann Hester got her military honors, in this case a Silver Star, the hard way: she earned it.  Hester's squad was shadowing a supply convoy March 20 when anti—Iraqi fighters ambushed the convoy. The squad moved to the side of the... More

Just when America needs him most, Iowahawk has returned from his hiatus with a collection of letters from the desk of Senator Dick Durbin. Here is an example of the web's leading satirist's much—needed perspective: Customer Relations DepartmentUnited AirlinesElk Grove Village, IL Dear Sir or... More

It's been with us for ages: hot rodders arguing over cubic inches vs turbo charged high tech engines, massive mainframe computers serving hundreds of users, against a distributed network of linked personal computers.  Now this argument is applied to the battleship vs DDX debate.  In... More