American Spectator, The

No Reverse

[...] before overly optimistic conservatives begin to think that a newly constituted Congress will actually repeal the Democrats' indiscretions and restore constitutional government, let me throw a little cold water on it all- not on the political results, which may be real enough- but on what more conservative legislators might actually be able to accomplish. Obama refers to these constituents as "stakeholders," and today they include interest groups working on the environment, civil rights...

Political and Economic Suicide

When it comes to our national security, this administration has squandered opportunities to keep Iran and North Korea in check, yet it has worked overtime to give foreign-born terrorists the constitutional rights of American citizens, complete with the right to remain silent and open access to our civilian courts. [...] at every turn, this administration is hell-bent on stripping the freedoms of everyday Americans and giving those freedoms to those who want to kill us.

The Reading Mind and the State of the Book

In 2010 it is a dinosaur. [...] we turn to the condition of the book.

On the Prowl

According to White House sources, Obama considered golf outings at least twice more in the wake of the spill and was advised not to "overplay" the game. (At press time Cameron was leading in the polls nationally over Liberal Democrat Nicholas Clegg and Labour prime minister Gordon Brown.) Cameron purportedly got the idea to "repackage" the Conservative Party as a more appealing party to women and young people from Newt Gingrich and his ideas to "repackage" the Republican Party to allow for p...

Quick Hits From Spectator.Org

Which in turn gives sitting Republican senators (not to mention GOP Senate candidates seeking to replace incumbent Democrats) a considerable argument for postponing a Supreme Court fight until the next Senate is seated. - Jeffrey Lord, The Fortas Filibuster and the Stevens Seat, April 13 EVEN AFTER SENATE DEMOCRATS savaged Robert Bork and nearly did the same to Clarence Thomas, GOP senators continued to consult their Emily Post eticjuette guides when Democratic presidents nominated liberal j...

The Empress of Obamacare

Sebelius had been floated as a possible vice-presidential choice because many political observers thought Obama would have to pick a female running mate to mollify women voters still miffed about the outcome of the nomination fight. There actually is a section of the health care law titled "TRANSPARENCY IN GOVERNMENT" requiring that "Not later than 30 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Health and Human Services shall publish on the Internet website of the Departme...

The Great Prophet 6 War

[...] Ayatollah Khamenei, who succeeded Khomeini as Iran's supreme leader, came to use his position as commander-in-chief of the armed forces to expand his power. Israel's military is sui generis: a doctrinal admixture derivedfrom its defense against constant terrorism and conventional threats from neighboring Arab nations, equipped with nearly top-line American and European weapon systems. Among them are those most needed for a preemptive strike on Iran, such as GBU-28 bunker buster bombs,...

What Stupak Hath Wrought

The political action committee for Indiana Right to Life announced it was going to stop endorsing Democrats after the state's three pro-life Democratic congressmen all voted for the health care bill. [...] there was a lot of confidence in the prolife Democrats' ability to arrive at "common ground" with their pro-choice peers and influence their nominee, who was arguably the most pro-abortion major presidential candidate in history. The Family Research Council's political action committee an...

When the Going Isn't Good

Thanks to terrorism, security mania, bad design, and mass tourism, airports are now so unpopular that cruise lines, operating from old-fashioned seaports, make frequent air-free trips their leading advertising appeal. Is there any possibility of giving international air travel, which we all need and use and hate, a touch of glamour, or even of reliable, soulless efficiency? I suspect future historians will puzzle over our failure.

Alphaomegaizing the Conservative Movement

George W. Bush may have become seriously interested in politics at the national level in 1980, when his father became vice president (though he had already run for the House of Representatives in 1978). but probably only in the power part, which at that point was all his father had time for. Bush said Buckley had gathered an "eclectic group of people" to write for the magazine and that it was hard to imagine that there was once a time when the only conservative game in town was Bill Buckley ...

The Anti-Appropriations Committee

For Republicans, appropriators who wear the Republican jersey became a fifth column- congressmen who saw themselves as "spenders" in a party whose platform, leaders, and press releases tried to brand the party as the one dedicated to reducing government spending. The goal of the Democrats over the next year, and in the next set of elections, is to misdirect America's anger over the overspending, the bailouts, the stimulus, the budget increases, and the trillions for government health care, n...

Barque of St. Peter in Troubled Waters

The mainline Protestant denominations are succumbing to the anti-Christian rebellion of our time: [...] it is a rebuke to relativismto almost everything that the New York Times holds dear. First we need to recognize that something has gone seriously wrong.

Not for Sale

[...] intrinsic values can be protected only in a culture that supports them- a culture in which people are able to ignore "economic sense." [...] local conservation societies and planners identify the logo-branded multinational as their most important enemy.

Tea and Sympathy

[...] the media's past treatment of Sheehan as a legitimate critic of the Bush administration makes for a stark and damning contrast with their efforts to marginalize the Tea Party movement by focusing on its fringe elements. Since the first stirrings of the Tea Parties in the spring of 2009, liberal Democrats have attempted to discredit them as both extremists and corporate "Astroturf" (fake grassroots) operations.

The Dirty Dozen

Statutes that curtail her abortion choice are disturbingly suggestive of involuntary servitude, prohibited by the Thirteenth Amendment, in that forced pregnancy requires a woman to provide continuous physical service to the fetus in order to further the state's asserted interest. While working for the Abortion Rights Mobilization, she sought to strip the Catholic Church of its tax-exempt status, costing the Church millions of dollars in legal fees in a case it eventually won. Incidentally, ...

The Problem with Cap and Trade

To the contrary, all previous cap and trade programs have been based on an annual reduction of allowances initially allocated on the basis of an average of previous emissions that were well documenteda simple formula that has been totally abandoned by Waxman-Markey. [...] no one ever accused the acid rain program (or any of the others) of giving away "free" allowances, despite the lack of an initial auction for the permits.

On Retreat

According to the most zealous keepers of the Ignatian flame, they should last for the full 30-day period devised by their founding father. [...] there is the all-important presence of God, moving among and changing the lives of those waiting on Him during the retreat.

Making the Lax-Jax Connection

Luckily for me, three incredibly kind people, Gentiles, of course, traded places with me so I could sit on the aisle and not against the bulkhead. [...] Chuck and my late parents were great pals. [...] they were not from Yale or Harvard. [...] I am just about to leave at JFK and what should I smell but delicious hot dogs.

Rebels Without a Clue

[...] mythmaking is generally content to reduce what little dramatic conflict there is to a symbolic level. [...] the "idiot" of American Idiot is supposed to be George W Bush, since the former president's idiocy can be taken for granted in the rarefied world of the American theater today.

Artful Shape Shifting

Bill Gavin, novelist, rhetorician, and author of Street Corner Conservative, puts it this way: We are asked to believe that this young, unknown man, an editor of the Harvard Law Review who wrote no major pieces for it, and who had never previously published an article or essay or even a letter to the editor in any recognized publication, suddenly got an agent [and a $150,000 advance], and wrote [and got published!] a memoir, praised by critics for its literary style and profound insights into...

Deadly Domino

Castries solthered on, repairing the small airstrip that the Viets had previously pitted with holes. [...] it was ready, everything had to be parachuted in, from canned cassoulet to bales of barbed wire and a six-ton bulldozer in two parts. Next to topple were France's West African and North African colonies. [...] it can be argued that, to a large extent, the spectacular blunder at Dien Bien Phu weakened France's self-confidence and hastened the end of its colonial empire.

Sean Hannity's Time for Choosing

[...] lay out the case against President Obama's radical agenda and why victory in 2010 is so critical. [...] remind of the classic conservative principles Ronald Reagan used to win elections and successfully govern, in addition todiscussingthel994GingrichContractfor America.

The Slaughterhouse

According to his thesis in this wordy, challenging book, exiles are what Christians in this 21st century are called to be. The skepticism of modernity may be bewildering to him, but Hunter would be well advised to reread the classics of political thought and especially works on Gnosticism, like Voegelin's New Science of Politics, if he wants to play political theorist. [...] Hunter has offered little that is new or terribly cogent.

There He Gropes Again

[...] lawlessness on the left is still being committed, for instance at universities where speakers who offend the left- the Angry Left or simply the Fastidious Left- are regularly shouted down or barred from scheduled appearances as Ann Coulter recently was, at least, in Canada. [...] much of the liberals' stance toward conservatives in our ongoing dialogue with them is an insult.

Hating the Middle Class

Very much like today's Tea Party movement, Americans were becoming uneasy about the cost and coercion of FDR's huge government projects. [...] as Amity Shlaes has demonstrated in her recent book, The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression, the New Deal was not ending the Depression but lengthening it. Yes, the Liberals hate the middle class, and I think I tripped across the reason for their hatred while finishing Hangover.

Current Wisdom

Remind me again why we are supposed to talk in reverent tones about the Masters. Because it stands for money and power and the exclusion of women and goodness knows what hidden messages in the public rebuking of "our hero," who is part Thai and part African-American.

Rent

IN THIS AGE OF TECHNOLOGICAL SOLUTIONS for most things, of redundant networks and backup files, there is still no contingency plan for the individualman or woman- who splits the seat of a pair of pants while at work or otherwise out in the world. Even in the worst cases, you're still fit for social interaction; your mishap has been shared at some point by most of your colleagues, and you're safely above the realm of ridicule.