Wonderful news of great significance has been announced, and America's major media are yawning. Mexico's state—owned oil company Pemex has revealed that it has discovered a gigantic new oil field, one capable of delivering millions of barrels a day of new capacity to the thirsty world oil... More

John Kerry has often stated how proud he is of how he stood up for Vietnam Veterans when he came back from his four month tour in Vietnam. A recent example appeared on CNN's website on March 23, 2004: "I'm proud of the way I stood up for veterans when I came home from Vietnam, and proud of what we... More

'For shame', say the moralizers about the Swift Vets' vitriolic attacks on John Kerry, insisting on attributing dishonorable or politically inspired motives to the Swift Vets' actions. Perhaps, to be charitable, they simply are ignorant about the psychology of the surviving 2 million or so Vietnam... More

The southern city of Najaf is finally quiet, as a peace deal went into effect that was brokered between Muqtada al—Sadr and the top Shia cleric of Iraq, Grand Ayatollah Ali al—Sistani.  Rather than risk an assault by Iraqi forces, Sadr and the remaining members of his Mehdi militia... More

Friday night, a breathless Leslie Stahl, led off the CBS Evening News with her scoop that the FBI was hot on the trail of a spy working for Israel in the Defense Department.  The CBS story presented a tale of the spy passing documents to officials at AIPAC, the American pro—Israel lobby,... More

(With apologies to Rudyard Kipling and the British Army) Johnny went public with 'is boasts, an' 'ero without fear, 'Til sudden like the Swifties say, 'We got a turncoat 'ere.' The Libs they just ignored 'em, sayin' 'Ah, it's all a lie!' Then Johnny's outted by their ads an' to myself says... More

It is truly amazing that people who were in positions of authority during the Clinton administration continue to lecture President Bush on how to handle national security problems that are a direct result of their failed policies.  The latest to continue this tradition is Robert E. Hunter, who... More

"Repetition does not transform a lie into a truth," Franklin D. Roosevelt once said. He might have been talking about John Kerry's tale of his 1968 Christmas supposedly spent in Cambodia, which he's been repeating for twenty five years to anyone who would listen. The story was so unsupported... More

Weir Thinking About It In this column, I'd like to make 3 separate comments on the news of the day. #1 — When Bill Clinton ran for president in 1992, the Democrats didn't want to talk about his refusal to serve in Vietnam, his burning of the American flag on foreign soil while protesting the... More

The Kerry campaign is in crisis. Polling data is beginning to reflect a turn against his candidacy by the uncommitted and weakly—committed voters. The temptation for the campaigners is to blame the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth television commercials. But the real problem is much deeper, and... More

The President of the United States holds the most demanding job in the world. The physical and mental fitness of a candidate are matters of legitimate concern for voters. The refusal of John F. Kerry to release his complete medical records should be disconcerting to the press and public. All the... More

Evan Thomas of Newsweek has written that the media chorus behind John Kerry's candidacy could add 15 points to his Presidential bid. Given that the race is now about even, or Bush very slightly ahead, this suggests that President Bush would be running away with the election if the media gave him a... More

The findings of the Schlesinger—Fay panel report on Abu Ghraib prison abuses have been made public. Responses, immediate and predictable, sounded forth from the Chorus of Usual Suspects.  Out on the hustings, candidate John Kerry saw fit to join that off—key band of blowhards with... More

Ah, that bright perpetual smile and dashing good looks.  That smooth delivery and good ol' boy, yuckin' it up style.  That's John Edwards, the beauty to John Kerry's beast.  Kerry may look like he just emerged from cryogenic suspension, but Edwards hath charms to melt the hearts of... More

Last week's announcement that the US plans to withdraw 70,000 US troops from overseas locations has drawn the predictable wailing and gnashing of teeth from the left's so—called national security experts.  Richard Holbrooke and Wesley Clark, Clinton's architects of the 'home by... More

Here in Detroit, a good way to test one's ability to keep his or her blood pressure in check is to tune into WJR radio from 3—6 on weekday afternoons.  Taking the microphone is Mitch Albom, once a great sportswriter, yet better known around the nation for authoring Tuesdays With Morrie... More

The Baehr Essentials The Kerry and Bush campaigns have spent about $400 million between them so far.  Add the two national committees, plus the other Democratic candidates and the spending by independent groups, and with 10 weeks to go before Election Day, total spending on the Presidential... More

When John Kerry gave his victory speech the night of the New Hampshire primary, he said he was indebted to a specific group around him on stage. "In the hardest moments of the past month, I depended on the same band of brothers I depended on more than 30 years ago," said Kerry, with his wife,... More

The proper duration of individual front line troop deployments in wartime has been debated since the Revolutionary War without any clear conclusion.  Our nation's first Commander—In—Chief frequently despaired over perilously anemic troop strengths as enlistment contracts... More

At a Vietnam Special Forces base during 1964, I watched a U. S. soldier fire 15 rounds of .223 caliber ammunition into a tethered goat from an AR—15 rifle; moments after the last round hit, the goat fell over. Looking at the dead goat, I saw many little bullet entry—holes on one side;... More

 'The dog that didn't bark' is an expression from a Sherlock Holmes mystery. It was an important clue that led to identifying the criminal. It seems that the killer entered and left the estate grounds one night but without the guard dog barking an alarm at the intruder's presence as expected.... More

The Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) is a federal law, enacted by Congress. Its provisions are contained in United States Code, Title 10, Chapter 47. Article 36 of the UCMJ allows the President to prescribe rules and procedures to implement the provisions of the UCMJ. The President does this... More

The past week in Najaf has been confusing, with a series of on—again, off—again agreements to end the fighting, followed by further battles between Sadr's Mehdi militia and US and Iraqi forces.  Last weekend, Prime Minister Iyad Allawi authorized the resumption of military action... More

South Vietnam's Mekong Delta covers about 40,000 square miles of mostly flat alluvial plain, much of which is covered with rice paddies.  It is veined with rivers and canals, streams and ditches.  The Mekong—Bassac river system, running from the South China Sea back up into... More

So are they knaves or fools at CNN? CNN's senior political analyst Bill Schneider exonerates John Kerry of having accused his fellow soldiers of raping and beheading innocent Vietnamese civilians. While Kerry is quoted in the soon—to—be broadcast second Swift Boat ad as testifying to... More

More than a decade after the Japanese boom in it began, the San Francisco Chronicle's wine section (which provides the best wine industry coverage in the nation) introduces Shochu, a distilled liquor traditionally made in Japan from sweet potatoes, to the Bay Area's trendy drinkers. Given the... More

 It's Sunday morning, the sky a brightening crisp blue with nary a cloud nor hint of breeze. The world might seem at peace were it not for the troubling scenes just a mouse or remote click away. We're back at it with the fellows in Najaf that CNN now labels the 'Mehdi Army.' Kerry has filed a... More

Despite his wish that merely saying it to his supporters in the populace and the sycophants in the media will make it so, Sen. John Kerry's claim that President George W. Bush is behind the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth campaign is false. Anybody who truly thinks these veterans would be so easily... More

John Kerry is beginning to look as clumsy as George Bush in answering questions about his military records. In February Bush was accused by Terry McAuliffe on Tim Russert's Meet the Press show of having been AWOL on his National Guard service in Alabama. In spite of Bush's appearance on Russert's... More

Once again, a seeming strength of the Kerry campaign has turned into a liability. Adam Nagourney, writing in the New York Times, speculates that Kerry spent too much time letting the Swiftvets' charges go unanswered: ...more than a few Democrats expressed surprise on Friday that a campaign that... More

The elections are really heating up. Yes, that's a plural noun, for America is making two important choices this Fall. The first choice is about whom to elect as President of the United States. The second choice is about which media to trust to bring us truth and useful insight on politics. The... More

[Editor's note: We are re—publishing a few articles this summer from the early days — 7 months ago — of the American Thinker, for the benefit of our new readers. This article originally appeared on February 3rd of this year.] President George W. Bush is the very first... More

Can we agree that John Kerry has problems with his arrogance? Can we agree that he has bragged about his Vietnam service and deceived others regarding it?  That he a is self—aggrandizing person who has married wealthy women and promotes an image of the manly athlete with all the... More

The Texas—based corporate giant has been caught red—handed, cheating its customers and lying to those entrusted with auditing its most important reports. Massive refunds to customers are due for overcharging them. Halliburton? Enron? Nope. You have probably never heard of this... More

The big story currently in the media (those that aren't in the practice of turning big stories that aren't their stories into little stories and then dead stories) is the controversy surrounding presidential nominee John Kerry and the group Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. With Senator Kerry making... More

Paul Krugman, salving his wounds after his knockout at the hands of Bill O'Reilly on Tim Russert's show, has offered a warning in his August 17 column about what he says is  the coming threat to the "credibility of our democracy."  The grave threat Krugman discusses is that the result of... More

A year ago, a group of 'researchers' published a paper in the Bulletin of the American Psychological Association that 'reviewed fifty years of literature' to come to the conclusion that political conservatism was a reflection of certain unflattering psychological traits, such as fear and dogmatism.... More

I have the honor to be a graduate of the United States Naval Academy Class of 1967, which counts among its members Assistant Secretary of State Richard Armitage, Secretary of Veterans Affairs Tony Principi, Deputy Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Peter Pace, and many other... More

Something's been nagging at me about the prominence of military issues in this year's presidential campaign. As has been widely noted on this website and elsewhere in the media, Sen. John Kerry has predicated his run for the White House almost entirely on his short, though eventful, tour on board... More

[Editor's note: We are re—publishing a few articles this summer from the early days — 7 months ago — of the American Thinker, for the benefit of our new readers. This article originally appeared on January 6th of this year.] The debate over abortion has been an emotional one for... More

The Governor of Illinois announces his defiance of federal regulations and unveils a program today to help residents import foreign drugs. In justification, he states: "The federal government has failed to act," Gov. Blagojevich said in a statement. "So it's time that we do." And they accuse... More

Weir thinking about it Do you remember when America was a less tolerant country? There was a time when some behavior was considered to be intolerable, and people were not afraid to say they refused to put up with conduct that was socially repugnant.  Every civilized society must have... More

Only a few cities throughout history have had the impact of Hollywood: Washington is the locus of political power, and Mecca, Rome and Jerusalem are famed for their sacral status. However, as we move into the new Millennium, Hollywood projects an influence and force that transcends borders and... More

There is nothing more frustrating than a pundit who proposes to solve a critical problem with a solution that is based upon false premises and revisionist history.  There is no shortage of intellectually pretentious commentators looking down their noses at President Bush, and prescribing the... More

Shortly after 9/11, explanations for the attacks fell into two broad categories: Terrorism is the result of a small minority of Muslim evildoers; or the US (and the West) deserved it. Karen Armstrong, a former nun and well—spoken, prolific author on Islam, beloved by many in the Islamic... More

The Battle Blog will continue to focus on operations of the Multi—National Forces (MNF) and Iraqi forces against the militia of radical Shia leader, Muqtada al—Sadr.  A special edition of the Battle Blog earlier this week covered the initial fighting which occurred on August... More

Julia Child, who played a major role in changing the way Americans think about, prepare and eat food, has died at the ripe old age of 91, after a lifetime of urging Americans to go ahead and use butter in their sauces More

The genie is out of the bottle. The best efforts of the mainstream media to blockade the story of Kerry's lies about Cambodia, and the charges by the vast majority of men who served with him in the Swift Boat operations, have failed. Glenn Reynolds  prints a telling letter from a reader... More

Bordeaux is in crisis, with many of the region's small wine producers staring bankruptcy in the face. Only the very top producers, whose snob appeal ensures the marketability of their product, are immune from the financial distress. A few innovators, including one profiled by the New York Times,... More

The addiction to negotiation Will editorial writers and foreign policy experts ever admit that negotiations are futile with people like Sadr? It is amazing that writers, from the safety of their skyscrapers, sipping their lattes, can actually ignore a history of fruitless negotiations with... More

We now have the spectacle of the Kerry campaign trying to silence the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth for having the temerity, the unmitigated gall, to question the unquestionable: their candidate's medals. This, coming from the party that invented the politics of personal destruction, qualifies the... More

For most of this election year, the Kerry for President campaign has had its own ad buys supplemented by ads purchased by "independent" 527 groups, such as the Media Fund, America Coming Together, and Moveon.org.  Over $200 million has been raised by the 527 groups, almost all of it to support... More

[Editor's note: Richard Baehr published the definitive analysis of the false claim that that the 2000 election was stolen on our site's debut day last January. Given the extreme bitterness of the current election, the mobilization of thousands of Democrat lawyers to litigate the forthcoming... More

Winston Churchill said that 'the best argument against democracy is a five minute conversation with the average voter.'  This little quip came to mind as I was watching a famous contemporary comedian conduct an interview with an average Josephine on the street. He asked this young lady,... More

C—SPAN founder, CEO, and host Brian Lamb has decided to discontinue the hour—long weekly program Booknotes in December, after 15 years and 800 interviews. Our loss is Lamb's gain, as he estimates that he has devoted nearly two years of his life reading the books by the authors that have... More

[Editor's note: Now that John Kerry's Swift Boat service has become a major political issue (albeit still ignored in the Bigfoot media), The American Thinker is pleased to feature military historian John B. Dwyer's path—breaking expose scooping the national media, published on this site... More

A Battle Blog special edition The battle this week in Najaf pitting Coalition and Iraqi forces against Muqtada al—Sadr's Mehdi Militia will shortly reach a conclusion that will likely not please the radical cleric.  The fighting actually started on August 5, when Sadr's men attacked an... More

Why has the US invaded other nations in the past 60 years? To liberate people or take over their economy? Al—Zarqawi, the Jordanian terrorist who is stalking Iraq and beheading innocents, in his list of grievances shrieks out this claim about America's alleged rapacious foreign policy:... More

This past weekend America lost one of its great heroes, a man who combined technical genius, creativity, and physical courage of the highest order. A high school dropout, he rose to become the unchallenged world leader in his field, and was personally responsible for saving more of our... More

The back room of a Mexican restaurant in Houston is not exactly the place you would expect your mind to wander to questions of civilization, grand historical forces and electoral behavior.  Rather, you tend to think that "salt or no salt" will be about as serious as it will get. I recently... More

Professor Norman Dombey, professor of theoretical physics at the University of Sussex, England, has confirmed that Saddam Hussein had more than enough yellowcake uranium to make over 100 nuclear weapons. There was no conceivable peaceful use for this material in Iraq. The United Nations agency... More

My better half is, to the likely benefit of her health, not a political junkie. She is fairly moderate on the issues and not at all fascinated by the shouting on Hannity or the morons who call C—SPAN every morning, nor does she genuflect at the sight of Charles Krauthammer. So imagine her... More

Although Usama bin Ladin is the terrorist who masterminded the most heinous attack ever on US soil, he may be effectively out of the picture in the planning of future attacks. But we should never forget him. It is important to revisit bin Ladin's ideology, not only because terrorism today still... More

Weir thinking about it Did you ever give serious thought to why people run for political office? It can't be for the money because the pay isn't that good. Therefore, it must be the power, right? And what do people do when they achieve power? Well, they can give orders to a lot of underlings and... More

The big story in Iraq this past week is the resurgence of extremist Shiite cleric Muqtada al—Sadr's militia in Najaf.  Reports stated that during the initial fighting that broke out on August 5, a U.S. helicopter was shot down, however, the crew was successfully evacuated.  Also,... More

In one of the few instances where county and city planners have done their homework in planning for homeland security expenditures, Tulsa, Oklahoma stands as a great example in obtaining equipment that would be critical in the event of a terrorist attack.  KOTV News reports that Tulsa... More

Architectural history is one of the most fascinating mirrors of human existence. For far too long, America discarded its old structures and forgot the past human—built environment. Fortunately, the architectural preservation movement arose in the wake of the destruction of treasures, such as... More

Is it a mistake for opponents of John. F. Kerry to question his Viet Nam service? Dick Morris thinks it is, on the ground that you don't attack the opposition's strength. Others, like Senator John McCain, Bill O'Reilly and much of the establishment media, think it is slimy and... More

Not always does one have a precise place and date to associate with an epiphany of significant import for one's life. But this past Monday, August 2nd , was such a day for me. On that day I learned that my daughter, twenty—nine and a product of the University of Colorado at Boulder, had been... More

Unfit for Command, the blockbuster book critiquing John F. Kerry's Viet Nam service, will not be released until next week. But a chapter is available for preview on the web. Military historian John. B. Dwyer previews it for American Thinker readers.   Summing up the first section of Ch. 3 "The... More

The worldwide Body Shop chain of stores maintains that it is 'values—driven' and lists 'the pursuit of social and environmental change' first on its mission statement. It proclaims that its skin care, hair care, and make—up are 'developed with the objective of helping you... More

The Baehr Essentials Based on events of the past few months, the Kerry Edwards ticket should now have vaulted to a comfortable lead of between five and ten points. In April, American casualties in Iraq soared to their highest one month level since the war began.  The following month came the... More

After I read two articles by moderate Muslims living in the West, one born here, the other in Iran, I wondered how they reached the conclusion that Jerusalem is holy for the three Abrahamic religions, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. I can see how it is holy for Jews, since they have historical... More

'Isn't she great?' said candidate Kerry in Milwaukee, following the 'four more years of hell' remark of his wife Teresa. Lawyer Kerry surely knows that, technically speaking, he is asking a question, not necessarily paying  a compliment. 'And by the way, how great was Teresa Heinz Kerry last... More

The prestigious Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) will recommend  that the US 'negotiate' with Iran in order to stop Iran's de—stabilizing influence on Iraq, and to end Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons.  Despite clear evidence that Iran has come to dominate the critical... More

[Part (1) argues that Muhammad received revelations that the sacred Ka'bah shrine belonged to him and his followers. The Meccans were deemed unrighteous to take care of a shrine that folk belief claims—and Muhammad's revelations confirm—that Abraham and his son Ishmael rebuilt and... More

National Public Radio's choice of an expert to interview  on the terror alert in New York, Newark, and Washington, DC is odd, to say the least. Larry Johnson, a former CIA agent, proclaimed on the public air that the alert is "grandstanding," and contends that it is absurd,... More

Some of Muhammad's theology and policies  have ambiguities or seeds —— not found in other religions —— which later followers have difficulty interpreting and applying to their own life and historical context. Muhammad's conquest of Mecca also plants... More

Once upon a time, not many generations ago, we were a nation at war, and focused our total energies on winning that war.  Even Hollywood contributed, providing not only crews who filmed the progress of American armies, but also producers and directors who made movies in support of the war... More

John Kerry's duty in Viet Nam is the service which keeps on serving him. Flinging those decorations (of disputed ownership) over the fence at the Capitol was the sort of dramatic visual image irresistible to television news directors. He parlayed the publicity of... More

John Kerry skipped over 30 years of his political career in his acceptance speech Thursday night. He also skipped over Iran, and Syria, Israel and the Palestinians.  He skipped over Iraq, except to briefly complain that we (and presumably he) were misled by George Bush, and that we need... More

All Americans owe a profound personal debt, one that never can be repaid. We are heirs to the courage, vision and sacrifices of the Founders, and obligated to all those who fought to establish, and subsequently protect in war and peace this noble democratic experiment in political liberty. But... More

In Iraq, anti—Coalition forces continue the tactic of kidnapping foreign workers who help with the logistics support of US and Iraqi forces, or in reconstruction efforts.  It was reported on Saturday, July 31, that members of Abu Musab al—Zarqawi's terrorist group had kidnapped two... More