Tough, vigorous prosecutors can be invaluable guardians of the public welfare. Vicious criminal gangs must be pursued, and relentless fearlessness is a necessity. The human tendency to feather one's own nest at the expense of the public needs to be fought, when taxpayers' money is spent in large... More

Physicians have the term "iatrogenic" to describe illness caused by physicians. There is now a need for a new word, "mediagenic," to describe scandals which have their origin in malpractice by the mass media. The indictment of Lewis "Scooter" Libby is a mediagenic scandal. A review of the origin of... More

It has been a tough week for President, perhaps one of the most difficult of his Presidency apart from 9—11 and the Iraq War. However, like a true conservative and red blooded American its time to cowboy up, dust off, and get back to business. Liberals often mope around feeling sorry for... More

The nanny state is marked by an impulse to prevent people from making foolish decisions about their personal welfare. The very notion that wise public officials should make personal choices about the intimate details of foolish citizens' lives is repugnant to me, so I greet most proposals to take... More

Having been on the other side of the world for the past year I must admit that I am not as up to date on current events as I'd like to be.  However we do receive the news and are aware of the larger events happening around the world.  For instance we were aware of the tidal wave that... More

Fifty years ago, there was a day that began just like every other day in the life of the diminutive black lady in a southern city, where people of her color suffered indignities on a daily basis. It was 1955, and the struggle for civil rights was in its infancy. But it wasn't something she thought... More

Has the White House learned the right lesson from the Miers debacle?  Any number of people will tell President Bush that after the embarrassing implosion of one Supreme Court nominee he needs to make a soothing 'consensus' choice.  A few of those people will even be sincere, but their... More

Scooter Libby Indicted! Is Rove Next? Can Bush Be Far Behind? When Did You Stop Beating Your Wife? Friends, I implore you to turn off your TVs and radios — to take at least a brief break from the cacophonous, hysterical 24/7 news barrage.  Be good to yourselves.  After all, it... More

The withdrawal of Harriet Miers from her nomination as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States was due in no small part to a tiny, but very influential group of conservative writers and thinkers. They viewed the nomination of the President's personal lawyer as a betrayal of both... More

As of the writing of this column, liberals are practically frothing in anticipation of the rumored indictments of such notable individuals as Karl Rove. Concurrently, they exult over House Majority Leader Tom Delay, who is being dragged with painful slowness through the Texas 'legal' system,... More

The entire world woke up Sunday morning to news that a terror attack occurred at a hitchhiking / bus stop in the West Bank area of Gush Etzion.  The victims of the attack were identified as Kinneret Mendel and Matat Rosenfeld—Adler, 21 and 23 year—old cousins from the settlement of... More

I've long believed that there's only one difference between Adolf Hitler and some of the misbegotten souls who lurk among us: means.  I don't know that I subscribe to the notion that power corrupts, but I do know that it releases inhibitions, causing one's true colors to shine through.... More

Ward Churchill, whose status as a Professor at the University of Colorado is now in doubt due to various charges of biographical and academic fraud, was invited by the DePaul University Cultural Center to give a lecture. DePaul is the largest Catholic university in America, and has been embroiled... More

The 2,000 mark for the number of soldiers killed in the Iraq War has been touted widely in the media as a grim milestone.  This number is significant; it is not to be overlooked; and it is a tremendous loss for this nation.  Words cannot describe the grief that their parents and loved... More

The left accepts as gospel the Joseph Wilson—inspired allegation that President Bush lied in his State of the Union address reference to Iraq seeking uranium in Africa. The media and much of the public parrots this line. The allegation is itself a lie. All evidence points to the Plame leak... More

[Editor's note: the following article is the text of an address given by our chief political correspondent Richard Baehr to a gathering at the Los Angeles area home of Tammy Steinsapir, a remarkable hostess who has revived the honorable and thoroughly enjoyable tradition of the political... More

For more than a century skyscrapers have been the visible expression of American ingenuity, energy, and prosperity. The skylines of Manhattan and Chicago were seen as uniquely American phenomena, while lesser cities of the land had their own clusters of tall buildings. No place else on earth did... More

Why do so many Republican nominees with sterling conservative credentials morph into liberals when they ascend to the Supreme Court?  The list is long and depressing — William Brennan, Harry Blackmun, Lewis Powell, Sandra Day O'Connor, Anthony Kennedy, and of course, David Souter. ... More

The insidious thing about evolutionary tyranny is that it's gradual progression. It doesn't beat you over the head with the iron fist of a despot or sweep you aside with a wave of revolution, but, rather, is a death by a thousand doses of bad medicine that makes benign neglect seem... More

A few months ago it was finally revealed that Mark Felt, the Deep Throat of Watergate, forged the sword that destroyed Richard Nixon — not for some valid whistle—blowing reason, but to avenge Nixon's choice of an outside Director to succeed J. Edgar Hoover. Mark Felt simply felt... More

To Democrats, the decline of the Democratic Party over the past generation must seem inconceivable.  How could the 'amiable dunce' Ronald Reagan have won the presidency?  How could the bombastic Newt Gingrich have brought forty years of Democratic Congresses to an end?  How could the... More

Back a couple of years ago I attended a funeral for a family member at the Our Lady  Help of Christians church in Newton. It was at a time that the church sex abuse scandal in Boston was at its height. The Pastor who presided over the funeral mass was Rev. Walter H. Cuenin. Rev. Cuenin was... More

CENTCOM Weekly Newsletter The US Central Command Newsletter for the week of October 17 can be found here.  Some of the good news concerning the War on Terror:  The Mosul city government and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) are working together to renovate eight Mosul police... More

Being a fan of the British actor Sean Bean ever since he did the Sharpe series, I do try to catch his movies on the big screen, no matter what the subject matter.  This led me into the theater this weekend to see North Country, a film loosely based on the first class action sexual harassment... More

Veteran's Day, that is. I was scanning Michelle Malkin's blog when I saw this.  Berkeley's Veterans Day ceremony, scheduled for Nov. 11, was abruptly canceled on Monday because the volunteer organizing committee split over the political content. At issue was a proposal by the chairman,... More

I see my wife leaving the house to go to the supermarket, which is just about a 2 minute drive. In one hand she has the car keys and in the other she's grasping a plastic bottle of water. 'Are you expecting to go shopping in the Sahara Desert?' I asked with a grin. 'Oh, you mean this?' she... More

The report  released by the United Nations today that details Syrian involvement in the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri reads like a bad spy novel. It seems unbelievable, but the facts are clear; so many people were involved in the conspiracy to kill the popular... More

It's been an odd fight in Iraq: there has been a chain of highly visible political victories that have come about before we have completely defeated former regime elements and foreign terrorists.  In fact, the Multi—national Force Commander in Iraq, General George Casey, Jr., has said... More

The sinister character Noah Cross in the movie Chinatown memorably claimed that 'Politicians, ugly buildings, and whores all get respectable if they last long enough.' Representative John Dingell of Michigan, unfortunately, disproves the maxim. Rep. Dingell is soon to celebrate his 50th anniversary... More

Sometimes an event comes along which crystallizes a mindset, and stands as self—parody, its serious—minded participants unaware of the irony their ideology embodies. Even the San Francisco Chronicle could not resist noticing the incongruity: Several hundred people gathered... More

The Quran makes women subordinate to men in many ways.   But no women subject to the rule of Quranic law are more unfortunate than slave girls. According to the eternal and unchanging scripture of Islam, men are permitted to treat them as sexual property regardless of their wishes, under... More

From the moment of Tom Delay's indictment, liberal grandstanding has been relentless. Its most notable mouthpieces, led by the ever—shrill House Democrat Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, characterized the indictment as solid proof of a 'culture of corruption' among the Republicans. Similar... More

There is no White Sox Nation. There is also no national White Sox diaspora, only those who left the declining Southwest—Side ethnic neighborhoods and moved to distant suburbs in the last few decades. When the Pale Hose play on the road, there is no large cheering section to welcome them, as... More

Former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Colin Luther Powell and Former President of the United States George Herbert Walker Bush have been severely criticized for pulling up short at the end of the Gulf War, and perhaps they deserve the criticism—when it does not come, as it often does,... More

Regrettably, here in the United States political correctness has gone mad; but in Britain they've gone absolutely cuckoo. Few sounds get a babies attention more than adults 'cooing.'  With slight variations it's done almost universally, leading me to believe it's not culturally driven but... More

For those of you still transfixed by hurricanes and Supreme Court nominations, here's a more important issue: Who lost Delphi? Dell Who?  Delphi Corporation, the former parts division of General Motors, isn't exactly a household word. Its predecessor, Delco Electric, was a division of General... More

Those of us moderate Democrats who fret over the current state of the party might well take a moment and look back in time to lament what might have been, had the party heavyweights possessed the moral fiber to make a few hard decisions when it mattered most. Where might the party be now... More

In the latest of a series of historic actions, the Iraqi people have voted overwhelmingly for a new constitution.  In so doing they have affirmed their preference for democracy and rejected resoundingly nihilistic terrorism. They have re—affirmed the Preamble to their interim... More

Most of the time modern liberals seem to think with their glands, while conservatives think with their brains. Until Harriet Miers, that is. In the last few weeks the roles have suddenly switched, and my favorite pundits are throwing the heaving vapors all over the carpet.  What's going... More

In the physical universe every action has an equal and opposite reaction.  Apparently the political universe is no different.  Suddenly the braying Bush haters on the left are balanced by a cadre of deranged Bush groupies of indeterminate ideology. The Harriet Miers debacle has been... More

'A little knowledge is dangerous' is an aphorism long standing and of good repute. Recently — over the last few days —  I've learned that 'a little bit more knowledge' can be quite enlightening and very helpful in reducing the level of not knowing what one doesn't know. Reading a... More

Many liberals seem to confuse the role of Supreme Court Justices and philosopher kings. Instead of the rule of law, they want the rule of "fairness" (as they see it). Even some ostensibly serious publications take this position. The editors of Commonweal wrote , concerning the nomination of John... More

I've now been "on the ground" here in the Land of Lafayette for 48 hours [I'm here for the semi annual meetings of the Military Knighthood Order of Knights Templar  www.osmth.org], and as both a retired military officer and an American proud of our country, I have been very much amazed and, I... More

The new season of Nip/Tuck proved that the show is continuing the ignominious tradition of sexually explicit, profane, and violent television programming, taking it to new depths. In the season premiere, which was solely sponsored by the Sony Corporation, viewers witnessed disgusting surgery... More

Everyone, not just the greenies, wants to cut our energy use. While some search for a technology fix, and others rail against the appurtenances of middle class suburban life, there is a much simpler step which would bring relief and also offer numerous side benefits. It may not happen, but at least... More

Iraqis go to the polls tomorrow, to vote on a new constitution, another historic step in the spread of democracy. The outcome remains to be seen. Every one of us has a few dozen pictures engraved deeply in our minds; pictures that stay with us until we die. Some are not even personal moments; many... More

Running low on reasons to hate France?  Here's another one: Rwanda.  I'm not talking about the blame poured on the U.N. and the West in general for negligence; I'm talking about France actually helping commit genocide. France not only trained and armed the Hutu genocidaires in advance of... More

Almost everyone watching the grand jury testimony of Judith Miller, Karl Rove, and Lewis 'Scooter' Libby assumes that the investigation led by Special Prosecutor Peter Fitzgerald now centers on the 'outing' of Valerie Plame. But this is nothing more than an assumption, and misses an important clue... More

Rarely has there been an event as fractious for the GOP as President Bush's nomination of Harriet Miers to be Associate Justice on the Supreme Court. Leading conservative pundits and analysts have been falling over themselves to see who could issue the most damning public condemnation of the... More

With China's successful launch into orbit of its second manned spaceship, claims and worries that America is losing its edge in many high—tech industries will no doubt increase.  Democrats just love to hit the airwaves proclaiming the myth we are becoming a nation of hamburger flippers,... More

Should there be one non—lawyer or lay Justice on the Supreme Court at all times?  Is it necessary or desirable that the Court be a uniform body of technically sophisticated specialists? Many have noted the lack of a constitutional requirement that a Supreme Court Justice be a lawyer.... More

The motives assigned to George W. Bush for picking Harriet Miers to be an Associate Justice of the US Supreme Court have covered the waterfront:  from the conventional analysis that he is ducking a fight with Senate Democrats, to the quick and dirty charge of cronyism, to the more bizarre... More

The flap over the nomination of Harriet Miers to be an Associate Justice on the United States Supreme Court raises an important question. What is the best way to change the jurisprudence of the Court away from its culture of legislating from the bench?  One approach is the strategy of the... More

With the Harriet Miers controversy, conservatism has begun its descent into ideology. Unlike the Left, conservatism has never been an ideological movement, in the sense of possessing an overarching system of thought demanding acceptance in toto. American conservatism is based on principle,... More

Reasonable people can debate the wisdom of nominating Harriet Miers for the high court. But the unrestrained rage by conservative pundits against George W. Bush poses a grave danger that goes far beyond that debate. The Left is licking its collective chops, trying to drive wedges wherever it can.... More

Sen. Mary Landrieu (D—La.) was unhappy last Friday night. After sparring with Senate Republicans, including her counterpart from Louisiana, Sen. David Vitter (R—La.), she didn't get what she wanted — $15 billion in hurricane—related loans to her state without any strings... More

Watching the conservative coalition slowly unravel over the Miers nomination these past two weeks has been an extraordinarily painful experience. Despite all of the hard slogging work done by activists of various stripes over the past quarter century, the winning coalition that encompasses movement... More

The conservative punditocracy is spittin' mad at the President for nominating Harriet Miers for the Supreme Court. I've never seen anything like it ——— rioting pundits! Ranting constitutionalists! All the big names, it seems, are agin' Ms. Miers in a unified towering rage. We've... More

Much has been made of President George W. Bush's faith and devotion to religion since he declared with simple eloquence that his personal hero was 'Christ' during a Republican primary debate in 2000. The mainstream media lampooned and criticized the President after author Bob Woodward revealed on... More

The New York Times is rapidly becoming a parody of its former status as the newspaper of record. Today's column by Byron* Calame (pronounced "Kuh—lame"), ombudsman ('public editor') for the Times, certainly reads like a parody, an embarrasing wet—kiss to readers and editors. Or... More

According to multicultural myth there are no civilized cultures, and therefore no primitive ones. Like most leftist articles of faith, this one runs against the great weight of evidence. At birth, we humans are neolithic creatures.  Biologically we need socialization before we can become full... More

Turkey's ardent desire to enter the European Union may be fulfilled in the near future. As Europe grapples with the prospect of admitting an Islamic nation with a fast—growing population into the borderless would—be superstate, the claim is being made that Turkey's history is one of... More

Most of the world, aware that Saudi women cannot drive cars, realizes that Muslim women are subordinated to men. Yet Muslim expositors and preachers tell the world that Islam elevates women, so this proves their religion's truthfulness. They imply that the entire world, especially women, should... More

We're like a condemned man who worries about the preservatives in his last meal or its cholesterol content. We'll worry about anything but our real worries. If we lived in Sudan, we'd worry about cell phone radiation or the wrinkles around our eyes. The worse our problems are, the more we agonize... More

Advocates of school vouchers as a means of harnessing competition and choice to public education, thereby improving the dismal failure of monopoly public schools, with their nineteenth century command and control bureaucracies in charge, have a very good case to make. Regrettably, some of them are... More

Turkey is once again storming the gates of Europe. Not the gates of Vienna, as in 1683, but the political portal at the entrance to the European Union, a borderless economic and political entity which wants to become a superstate counterbalance to America. European opponents of Turkey's... More

Based on some of the commentary from respected conservatives distressed over the SCOTUS nomination of non—judge, non—scholar, non—intellectual Harriet Miers, one would think that the Supreme Court has always been populated by Olympian figures, debating esoteric yet... More

In every quarrel among friends there is a risk that people will do grave damage by saying things they don't mean and wouldn't say but for their competitive desire to win the argument.  Poorly chosen words can drive wedges between allies and defeat understanding.  The firestorm over... More

Soon after Sandra Day O'Connor stepped down last month from the Supreme Court, Stuart Taylor, writing  in The Atlantic Monthly, was busy lamenting SCOTUS' disconnect from the 'real—world ramifications' of its work. 'How many remaining justices,' he quizzed, 'have ever held elected... More

Something about the nomination of Harriet Miers touched a nerve among many  conservatives, especially those who write in public. Although I support the President's choice, I will concede that there are legitimate grounds to question his actions, and looked forward to finding out more... More

Thomas Lifson's optimistic analysis of  Harriet Miers' potential to move the Supreme Court back toward constitutional sanity may be spot on.  Perhaps there is something magical about an off—the—rack corporate litigator who also happens to be a dedicated church lady with strong... More

On the 26th of September, former Meet the Press moderator  Marvin Kalb interviewed Dan (I stick by the story — the story is true) Rather before the National Press Club in a manner which can only be described as shamefully obsequious. During that interview, Kalb remarked "there is... More

  I have just read my first e—book, plunging into the brave new world of publishing's future. I can report that I am extremely happy with my experience. For a mere two dollars, you too can try out the new technology for yourself, and in the process read an extremely valuable book at... More

President Bush is a politician trained in strategic thinking at Harvard Business School, and schooled in tactics by experience and advice, including the experience and advice of his father, whose most lasting political mistake was the nomination of David Souter. The nomination of Harriet Miers to... More

Well, we knew it was coming.  After having the unmitigated gall to appoint to the High Court that odious creature known as a white man, President Bush has redeemed himself before the altar of baal with an affirmative—action nominee.  Oh, don't misunderstand me, I don't care a whit... More

[Part 1 appears today; Parts 2 and 3 will appear later this week] Once again, Turks are storming the heart of Europe. This time, it is not by the sword, but rather in seeking to join the European Union (EU). Once inside the gates, they will gain access to the great cities, wealth, and power of... More

The curious case of Judith Miller, recently released from jail to testify before a grand jury convened by Special Prosecutor Peter Fitzgerald, continues to raise questions about what really is under investigation. Many agree that the pieces we can publicly see simply don't fit together in... More

It's back—to—school time so it must be time to view with alarm the shocking state of our nation's colleges. The established higher education industry, Big Ed, is also alarmed — by the rise of for—profit competitiors. The left wing bias common in Big Ed leaves that sector... More

Confucius must be spinning in his grave.  Out of China comes a truly outrageous story, largely ignored by the effluent—stream media.  It is the stomach—turning revelation that a Chinese cosmetics company is using, imagine this, human skin from murdered prisoners to make beauty... More

China is catching litigation fever. Not that victims of pollution or faulty consumer products have begin dragging companies into court, or predatory law firms are launching class action lawsuits on flimsy pretexts. Yet. Instead, a free—lance enforcer is launching a lawsuit against a... More

Comparing President Bush to the Birmingham, Ala., police commissioner whose resistance to the civil rights movement became synonymous with Southern racism, Rep. Charles Rangel recently said of the president: "George Bush is our Bull Connor.' Not only is the New York congressman totally out of... More

Osama bin Laden was far from the first jihadist to kill infidels as an expression of religious piety. This years marks the 600th anniversary of the death of Tamerlane (Timur Lang; 'Timur the Lame', d. 1405), or Amir Timur  ('Timur' signifies 'Iron' in Turkish). Osama lacks both Tamerlane's... More

Ali was a student at the University of Tehran. He was one of the students who was brutally attacked by the Ansar—i Hezbullah, the militia forces of the Islamic Republic, during an attack storming a dormitory there on July 9th, 1999. The attack sent shock waves around the country, and for... More

Does anyone still remember the incomparable Marvin Kaplan, creator of dozens of comic icons?  In the 1950s TV sitcom "Meet Millie", he played Alvin Prinzmetal, composer, poet, and psychotic.  One of Alvin's paranoid peculiarities was that, whenever anyone voiced the slightest disapproval... More