Trumpeter John 'Dizzy' Gillespie was one of jazz's all—time great performers. With his colorful on—stage antics and trademark bent—bell horn, Gillespie was widely recognized as a prime architect of the influential be—bop movement of the 1940's and 50's, and he remained a... More

For most of September, Americans were bombarded almost 24 hours a day with declarations by media representatives and Democratic leaders about the incompetence of President Bush.  During this time, we watched our president and members of his administration, such as Homeland Security secretary... More

Last weekend a gathering in Gillette, Wyoming highlighted the present, chaotic state of the Democrats and their party. The two faces, one representing moderation and the other representing fire—breathing liberalism tried to smile at each other, but one of them blinked, as Wyoming Governor... More

[Editor's note: The following is a transcript of an address by Richard Baehr to the Stand By Israel conference of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, in Washington, DC, September 28, 2005] It is a great pleasure and privilege for me to have the opportunity to speak to the Stand... More

For the movie fan, these are the best of times and the worst of times. Hollywood, in thrall to a dissident segment of American culture at war with traditional values, and addicted to special effects, violence, sex, and adrenalin—producing clichés, only rarely deigns to produce and distribute... More

What merit is there in not stealing because you fear that your hand will be cut off? In not drinking because you have no alcohol? In not being aroused by a woman in a burqa? An Islamofascist walks the streets of America and sees a man enter a massage parlor. "What an immoral society!" he thinks. He... More

I never thought I would see an open anti—Semitic political campaign in my lifetime. But after fifty years of skulking in the shadows, the old hatreds are rising like Count Dracula from his mouldy grave. According to the Palestinian news agency Wafa, The London Guardian is reporting that the... More

I was in favor of toppling President Saddam Hussein long before President George W, Bush was. Indeed I have advocated Saddam's removal ever since the following verbal exchange took place in Tokyo between me and the Iraqi ambassador to Japan, two weeks after Iraq invaded Kuwait in August 1990: Q.... More

There is a school of thought that believes the idea of loyalty to one's country is a crass, outmoded concept not worthy of consideration by thinking people. Rather, loyalty, if given at all, should be reserved for nebulous and ethereal entities like 'humanity' or 'the family of man.' International... More

'I'm a minority!'  If you've ever said this, you've lost more than half the battle.  You've lost it all.  Where once we were taught that 'all men are created equal' and that we were indeed made in 'the image and likeness of God', it is now anti—social and politically... More

Two remarkable ladies demonstrate the endless possibilities Americans enjoy. Ms. Dina Onsi Habib Powell is the White House personnel director, who was appointed recently by President Bush to hold the position of Deputy Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy, and Assistant Secretary... More

[An earlier article on the subject of meritocracy in American appeared here — editor] President Bush is criticized by many in the media for, among other things, cronyism and relying on family connections to get ahead. If you think about it, they say, he hired Cheney, Rumsfeld, and Powell... More

A fellow at work recently told how his relative was planning to sue her former employer, a well—known national retailer.  Suffering from a particular affliction, she frequently absented herself from work up to, and sometimes over, the limit established for leave without a doctor's... More

Comparisons of the Iraq war to Vietnam have always rung hollow—except to those who desperately wish them to be true.  Aging activists remember the glory days when, abetted by sensational media coverage, they forced an abandonment of U.S. commitment in that earlier war.  They sense... More

After several weeks of delay, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Board of Governors has voted on a resolution calling for Iran to 'come clean' on all aspects of its nuclear program.  The vote is essentially an ultimatum that says unless Tehran opens up all of its nuclear facilities... More

This week's CENTCOM Reports leads off with an account of the opening of the third Afghan National Army base in Herat.  Progress continues in the country in the wake of parliamentary elections on  September 19th.  U.N. worker Peter Erben said that six—million people voted in... More

Joseph Nocera, New York Times business columnist, mixes a few good ideas with some economic nonsense, including mandatory gratuitous Bush—bashing, in his column ($link) today on the future of New Orleans. He does get the biggest point correctly, though: New Orleans had a toxic culture from... More

Hurricane Rita is far from spent, but it has spared the major population center of Houston from its full fury, and has already diminished in intensity. While further destruction and suffering is all but certain, it is not too soon to begin thinking about what we have learned about what can be done... More

Most of us have heard that Muhammad married a little girl. Is this true? Shortly after Ayatollah Khomeini's revolution in Iran (1979), he lowered  the marriage age for girls from eighteen years old down to nine years old. Why would these devout Muslims do such a thing? Did they stray from... More

Hurricane Katrina revealed the need for a much better ability to respond to the possible catastrophes — natural or man—made — which may hit our major cities. On Thursday, September 15, in the wake of Katrina, President Bush said:   'It is now clear that a challenge of... More

'Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us....'  Few topics are as misunderstood as forgiveness.  Bits and pieces about it are imbibed during sermons as wandering minds vacillate between spiritual prescriptions and worldly concerns, but such cogitations are... More

In its September 19 editorial entitled 'Taking Full Responsibility' — an altogether too obvious reference to President Bush's hurricane mea culpa — the New York Times has continued what appears to be a full—court press on Congress to raise taxes in order to pay for the future... More

Wal—Mart, the largest private sector employer in America, is the number one object of hatred and derision on the part of Big Labor  and many of its allies on the left. The AFL—CIO opposes Wal—Mart because it is a non—union employer which visibly and successfully fights... More

When President Bush arrives in Beijing next month for a summit with Chinese leaders Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao, ongoing discussions over textile trade, currency revaluations, and North Korea's nuclear ambitions will be high on the agenda.   While there are many complex issues... More

[The second of two articles. The first article may be found here.] Sonia Gandhi's softness towards Islamic Fundamentalists runs the risk of making India an attractive destination for the Jihadis. As noted in the previous article, Sonia Gandhi, though not officially a member of the government has... More

George W. Bush is well—accustomed to his political opponents handing him the invaluable asset of their misplaced contempt for his abilities. An overconfident enemy is a blessing to any strategist. But in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, members of his own coalition are beginning to express... More

The members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), an intergovernmental association comprising China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgystan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan,  will recognize the organization's fifth anniversary in June 2006 with a much anticipated celebration, 'Everyone agrees this... More

[The first of two articles] India, along with Pakistan, is one of the key battlegrounds in the struggle against Islamist terror for the future of civilization. The largest democracy in the world, India has suffered its own severe Jihadist terror attacks, albeit little—reported in... More

The first of two articles. Part two will deal with the private sector. America was founded by a glorious group of ambitious men, glowing with the self—assurance coming from self—made lives and success based on talent and personal initiative. The Founding Fathers were rebels not just... More

Do you know why France is never hit by hurricanes, even though she once owned Louisiana?  It's because France signed the Kyoto Protocol.  Do you know why la petite Camargue in the south of France, with its famous bulls and free--range horses, was flooded twice this summer?  It's... More

The president's mother, Barbara Bush, got into trouble recently for saying on NPR that the underprivileged African American refugees from hurricane Katrina were doing fine in Texas. 'What I'm hearing, which is sort of scary,' she said on NPR, 'is they all want to stay in Texas. Everyone is so... More

When the Berlin Wall was torn down, the Soviet Union collapsed, and China pursued market—led development, it seemed safe to assume that the threat of aggressive communism toppling national dominoes and dominating an entire continent was gone forever. But while America has focused its... More

The flooding of New Orleans is an apt metaphor for an even more insidious morass, one that has kept the poor and black people of the city mired for two generations. Long before the breach of the levees three weeks ago, New Orleans was stuck in welfare pathology. Even after it has been drained,... More

The recent, simultaneous bombing of six Iraqi churches reflects the seriousness of the predicament of Arab Christians, who are trapped between the hammer of terrorists groups and extremists, and the anvil of fanatic governments that skillfully manipulate the issue of religious radicalism for their... More

In a recent conversation with a major American Jewish philanthropist I was shocked to find that this individual has all but given up hope of reforming colleges and universities. Irretrievably corrupted by leftist politics, institutions of higher education have a deeply negative impact on American... More

Muhammad lived six hundred or so years after Mary and Jesus. What were his sources for his references to their lives? Devout Muslims say that over time Allah sent Gabriel down to reveal the entire Quran to his favorite prophet Muhammad. Muhammad even asserts in the Quran that he was not there... More

Much has been made of the fact that the President's appointment of Michael Brown to head up the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) was a matter of pure politics, a plum assignment given to a loyal partisan who was a supposed* college roommate of Bush confidante and former FEMA head Joseph... More

The President has certainly had a difficult time of it lately. Hurricane Katrina has brought forth a dizzying array of problems, each one of them, apparently, clearly the fault of President Bush. The city of New Orleans has long been at high risk for a disaster of the magnitude of Katrina. Several... More

Admiral John Byng was court martialed and shot in 1757 for failing to relieve the British garrison at Minorca. Although both the French  and the British  agreed that he had behaved skillfully and without cowardice, he was executed for 'not having done his utmost'. It is generally... More

January 17, of 2006 will be Benjamin Franklin's 300th birthday. Judging from what has been going on in our world it is too bad the old fellow isn't still with us. As the weeks go by we will see more and more stories about Franklin's numerous accomplishments in the fields of science, diplomacy,... More

Regardless of the outcome of John Roberts's confirmation hearings, it is plain that liberal Democrats have succeeded in making the entire process a grotesque caricature of what the Founders originally intended. As stipulated in the Constitution, the Senate has an 'advise and consent' role in the... More

Refusing to condemn and remove Al Qaeda means Palestinian Authority is now a US   enemy in the War on Terror. Recent revelations in the news that al Qaeda has announced a new organization in Gaza in light of the Israeli withdrawal now means  that the Palestinian Authority is... More

As the last of the evacuees from New Orleans settle into shelters, the levees are plugged and the water begins to recede, what is being revealed is not the tens of thousands of dead bodies predicted for the past two weeks but some of the most inaccurate reporting of a major news story in memory.... More

School is back. Kids around the country have put away baseball gloves, bathing suits, those big scoop things they use to play hai—lai, and they're dutifully waiting for school buses. Or to be dropped off on campus, where they will decorate their dorm rooms  and launch into college... More

Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath have found strong resonance in the countries of South and East Asia— from India to Indonesia. It was inevitable that the people and the media here should have drawn comparisons between the American response in New Orleans and what they themselves had... More

Step—by—step, judicial activism, a trend with half a century's momentum behind it, is being rolled back. The confirmation hearings of John Roberts as the nominee for Chief Justice of the United States got off to such a mild start yesterday that one television host referred to it as less... More

[Editor's note: this article was first published in in Al Hayat, an Arabic language newspaper in London. It is presented here for the first time in translation with the permisssion of its author. The image of the United States in the Islamic world is a matter of high importance, as... More

The Islamic Republic of Iran has renewed its war of destruction on Persian antiquities. Its intention is to build up an Islamic empire and to change the whole face of Iran into a backward purely Islamic nation. The Islamic Republic of Iran sees its Persian heritage as a formidable enemy of its... More

The most deadly threat faced by the United States is not killer hurricanes. It is not even the jihadists who want to harm us with the best weapons petrodollars can buy. Our worst threat comes from within, as is nearly always the case when a nation or a person accumulates extraordinary wealth and... More

We wake up in the morning, and our evil deeds begin before we have time to curse the alarm. As we slept, our refrigerators were hard at work giving Chileans skin cancer. We turn on the air conditioner, and amphibians grow extra limbs. We breathe and contribute to global warming and killer... More

There is no doubt that the Bush administration made a big blunder in its planning for hurricane Katrina.  It had planned for hurricane relief in which FEMA assisted the state and local governments in getting help where it was most needed, based on the assumption that local resources could hang... More

The American Thinker is proud, on this fourth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, to present a new weekly feature highlighting the heroic efforts of our servicemen and women fighting the Global War on Terror.  By arrangement with Specialist Claude Flowers of the US CENTCOM Public Affairs... More

You'd never know if from the wall to wall coverage of Hurricane Katrina, but we're still engaged in a war against Islamofascist terrorists in Afghanistan and Iraq. As Dan Goure, military analyst at the Lexington Institute, joked, 'Iraq must be doing really well —— I'm not reading... More

If an honest history is ever written about the mess in New Orleans, "Waiting for John Wayne" might not be a bad title. Because that's what Mayor Ray Nagin was doing before President Bush was finally allowed by law to call in the National Guard. Said the Mayor: "Now, I will tell you this... More

The spectacle in New Orleans only confirms to many what has been apparent for a long time. One of the very few silver linings to Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath, (as well as other calamitous disasters like 9/11), is the profound reality it exposes, the resulting awareness of how things are, as... More

As America watched the human tragedy unfold in New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, two distinct classifications of humanity emerged: the doers and the doees.  20 year old Jabbar Gibson  took (looted, found) a bus from a school bus depot, and en route out of the city proceeded to... More

For the left, the aftermath of Katrina has proven to be a godsend. In fact, I don't think I've seen them this happy since Hugo Chavez hornswaggled Jimmy Carter into certifying his victory in a recall vote last year. There's just something about communist thugs that brings a smile to the face of an... More

Book Review The Legacy of Jihad: Islamic Holy War and the Fate of Non—Muslims by Andrew Bostom (Editor); Foreword by Ibn Warraq. 2005. New York: Prometheus Books. Price $28 (HB). Jihad is now one of the most widely discussed words in the world's lexicon. Once regarded as an arcane and... More

The disaster in New Orleans seems unimaginable to all of us, and personally disconcerting to me as a former resident and Tulane University graduate.  I return annually to the Big Easy, my favorite city in the USA, and seeing it under water and knowing the trauma being borne by the good people... More

Already, politicians from both parties are scrambling to explain, blame, and accuse the opposition of neglect or malfeasance in responding to the Hurricane Katrina disaster.  One thing is certain; the rants of New Orleans' Mayor Nagin and the silence of Governor Blanco are orchestrated to... More

Hurricane Katrina and the New Orleans flood (they are two separate, though related disasters) are undeniably worthy of all the media attention being lavished upon them. But world events hurtle forward, whether or not we care to glance in their direction. The progress toward a constitutional... More

The New York Times Company is facing an abyss, and seems to be doing its best to hurtle faster into the realm of public scorn and business disaster. For a company whose most valuable asset is its prestige as a news source, the now—frequent willing publication of distortions and outright lies... More

I just want to say that, however much I disagree with you, I sympathize with your frustration. Since, in the rather restricted circle in which you move and converse (mathematicians would call it a 'closed set'), everyone shares your hatred, it is hard for you to see us nodding approval at almost... More

It was to be expected that President Bush would be blamed for the hurricane that obliterated New Orleans and cut a murderous swath through 3 states. As if proving once again that everything in this country passes through a political sieve, opportunists were blustering with bitter condemnation of... More

There will be plenty of time to argue about who was responsible for the slow response in New Orleans this week in dealing with those who did not choose to leave, or were unable to leave the city before the hurricane hit. The catastrophe that followed, when the levees gave way, and 80% of the city,... More

Once a Pariah, Army Corps of Engineers Now the Tonic For All Our Ills In the wake of catastrophic damage to New Orleans caused by Hurricane Katrina, the New York Times appears to not only be engaging in some of the most preposterous Monday morning—quarterbacking in its history, but is also... More

It is a painful thing to see a good and decent man slandered and abused. George W. Bush has been crucified in the media for five years, day after day. This week, after the unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe of New Orleans, the media mob is screaming louder than ever.  It is a gruesome... More

It didn't take long for the left to figure out another way to attack GW on what are now regular rotations of the National Guard to Iraq and Afghanistan.  In the wake of the Hurricane Katrina disaster, the left and the media claim that because the National Guard is so heavily involved overseas,... More

Hurricane Katrina and its horrific aftermath has filled the media and blogosphere. As a wakeup call about the fragility of civilization, even in the world's most powerful country, it's a worthy story. And as a story, it's vastly beyond politics, too, but politics goes wherever human events... More

The only upside to a catastrophe like Katrina is what it can teach us. To me, living in an earthquake zone with an inevitable Big One coming in five or fifteen years, the lesson is self reliance. The most pathetic sight in the last week was the hordes of helpless people in New Orleans, suddenly... More

A pillar of the Democratic Party is crumbling before our very eyes. The AFL—CIO has been the greatest financial patron of the Democrats, as well as an indispensable adjunct for organizing on the ground, precinct—by—precinct. For years, reliance on big labor to staff a major part... More

Weekend Holiday Classic   For many years, civil rights advocates have complained that major commercial chains— supermarkets and department stores, avoided locating stores in inner city neighborhoods.  Now Wal—Mart has decided to enter these neighborhoods. But the welcome mat... More

A Holiday Weekend Classic Anger has become the energizing force of America's Left. The legacy of the 2000 presdiential election for the Democrats is a crippling sense of entitlement to the support of the American people, unjustly denied them by villainous figures, ranging from Halliburton to Rove... More

A cynic might speculate that the tide must be turning  against the monsters, the jihadist  murderers and other assorted thugs, as Jane Fonda has announced that she's rolling up her sleeves and hitting the road ( with the odious George Galloway as the opening act) to work... More

If conservatives have one common failing among them, it is their lack of sufficient cynicism to properly assess the nature of their liberal opponents. Their reaction to the ongoing antics of Cindy Sheehan stands as inarguable proof. Long before her son's death, she was an anti—war liberal.... More

It certainly didn't take long for the race baiters, class warriors, and economic determinists to heave themselves up from the flood waters that have inundated New Orleans to inform us all of the real tragedy being played out in that tortured city. Most of us think it bad enough that tens of... More

As Hurricane Katrina headed toward New Orleans, sticklers for the actual meaning of words told us that it would be wrong to label the impending disaster a tragedy. That term, with its origins in drama, refers to horrible consequences produced out of the flaws in human nature. A hurricane is a force... More

One of the frightening things about the Islamic world is that it has many very intelligent people with beliefs that are delusional, at best. We can easily see the same thing here at home, so this is not a slam at the Muslim world as such. It is a worry, however, because that part of the world needs... More

When I read that Move America Forward's "You Don't Speak for Me, Cindy" tour, a counterweight to Cindy Sheehan's hate—America brigade, was stopping for a press conference in nearby Burbank, I made my way there to provide another face in the pro—America crowd. By my best estimate, there... More