While the bloody, ongoing drama in Iraq continues to occupy the attention of most Americans, events in Pakistan threaten to upset the delicate balancing act that President Pervez Musharraf has been forced to perform with more conservative, anti—American factions in the government on the one... More

To still the siren of the heart and defer to the head is to seldom be wrongly led. So many wrong things feel so right.  'You know, I really told my brother—in—law off the other day and, boy, did it feel good.'  Of course, what has changed?  Your brother—in—law... More

Next Tuesday is midterm election day. When you cast your vote — if you choose to partake in this most honorable American tradition — please remember what is at stake. On the left, my former party of choice, feels that the biggest issues confronting America are corporate greed, "the... More

It's no joke, but there is good news and bad news for Airbus, manufacturer of the thrice—delayed (for a total of two years) A 380 ultra—jumbo airliner, Moby Jet, as I like to term it. First, the good news. — Airbus has signed an agreement with Chinese authorities to assemble... More

2,808 Americans have died in Iraq the past 43 months. Another 282 have met such a fate in and around Afghanistan as part of Operation Enduring Freedom. Likely all are rolling over in their graves as fellow countrymen who sent them to war are threatening to boycott Election Day. Particularly... More

George Will is the Washington Post's favorite conservative, an exquisite writer and a genuinely interesting thinker. Why then is he savagely attacking the Bush administration in  Post—owned Newsweek magazine, just one week before a make—it—or—break—it midterm... More

People have needs.  When your liberal friend tells you that, he imagines that he's justified the whole panoply of liberal social programs.  Stop being selfish and pay up. But after a century of paying up, you get something like modern Europe.  With all basic needs taken care of, the... More

That's Poli—Sci as in 'politicized science'. Possible best intentions and sincerity notwithstanding, Michael J. Fox is being used in a crass corruption of science, shrouded in a fleeting compassion by politicians solely for political profit. There's a popular and popularized perception of... More

It seems as though we may have forgotten the good will of the common person.  We see on televsion how people treat one another in a less than gracious manner, we read about the trials and tribulations of entire cultures.  If one did not know better, you would think the world is aflame.... More

Art, or things that pass for art, can be useful.  Otherwise, how can one explain the epiphany I had when watching 2004's Maria Full of Grace, a critically acclaimed movie about a teenager from Columbia who smuggles drugs into America.  Both the movie, and the critics' unconditional... More

For those confused or disgusted with this current political election, I offer these words of explanation. What we are witnessing is the death of a political party. The present Democratic Party is peculiarly the same as when Thomas Jefferson rallied a grassroots republican revolution in opposition... More

Air defense is the most problematic element of the War on Terror. One of the major questions surrounding the 9/11 attacks (and one of the seeds of many paranoid conspiracy theories)  is, where were the defenses? It took nearly three hours for U.S. air assets to respond to  the... More

Why do so many American Jews reflexively support Democrats? A Jewish liberal I know has a daughter who loves art history. She felt very  happy to be admitted to one of the best Art History graduate programs in the country. But after the first few weeks she left, because of the pervasive... More

Socialists often argue that workers should receive more wages and benefits than they can earn in a competitive market. At the same time they blame capitalists — people who take the business risks, provide jobs and invest in their enterprises — for profiting... More

Flags of Our Fathers  is a moving piece of cinema that further immortalizes the heroism of the Marines who fought on Iwo Jima. Let's hope that it can also teach powerful lessons about how to defeat a fanatical enemy, for the story of Iwo Jima bears many parallels to the war in Iraq. In a... More

Our beliefs and ideas make us human, and their quality determines the kind of human we are. We shield and fiercely defend our beliefs and ideas for good reason: without their integrity and internal harmony, the mind becomes disorganized and even dysfunctional. While our inborn immune system fights... More

In the vision of certain members of the press, Israel is a colonialist mass murderer, and the word terrorist does not exist without quotation marks surrounding it. Israelis are aggressors. Islamist terrorists, be they Palestinians or Iranian backed Hezb'allah, are victims. These media types... More

The popular and appealing actor Michael J. Fox has taken to the airwaves in Senate battleground states Missouri, Maryland, and New Jersey with a highly misleading ad urging defeat of Republican Senatorial candidates opposing the use of taxpayer dollars to fund new embryonic stem cell line research.... More

As surely as the future holds another catastrophic earthquake for California, so might it promise a Mushroom Cloud for one or more of our major cities.  This alarming reality makes the outcome of every future national election infinitely more momentous than that of its precursor.  For,... More

Like so many Americans grudgingly facing the inevitability of my fifth decade, some years ago I opened the envelope from AARP, informing me that I was entitled to membership in their organization, with much less than enthusiasm. Over the ensuing years, receiving their monthly publications and... More

Ronald Reagan famous declaration that he 'did not leave the Democratic Party. It left me' can be made more contemporary. The Democratic Party has not only left behind many of its old principles and ideals, it now seems to be in the process of losing its moorings and leaving America entirely.... More

It's very unfashionable these days to say nice things about George W. Bush. After six years of being screamed at by the press, even W's friends are getting worn down.  But that's no different from Lincoln and Truman. Being screamed at long and hard is practically an entrance test for... More

Did you hear that loud crashing sound on Sunday? That was either media members across the country jumping off the Hillary for President bandwagon, or the Clintonistas slapping their knees over the gullibility of the press and the people they cater to. Without question, the charming junior senator... More

Senator Barack Obama is on the cover of Time this week, with a love song portrait composed by Joe Klein, who last lost his heart with Bill Clinton. Obama, who is not running for anything this year, was on Tim Russert's Meet the Press show Sunday to tell the world that he might not complete his... More

Does a bad year for Republicans automatically translate into a good year for Democrats?   Perhaps not.  No matter who ends up controlling the House and Senate, the behavior of both the left and right wing fringe elements all but guarantees that both parties will end up losers in the... More

The international press cried foul on October 19 after the U.S. denied a visa to a senior Muslim Brotherhood leader. Newsweek, Reuters, ABC News, The National Interest and other media complained that the 'moderate' Muslim Association of Britain (MAB) founder Kamal Helbawy was barred from... More

Just days before the anthrax attacks of 2001 started in the United States, the Saddam regime appears to have received intelligence of an impending attack on its own government. According to a newly translated memorandum, Saddam's office issued a security alert on September 17th, 2001 for a... More

General George Patton once said that the best strategy ever devised can be quickly rendered useless by the application of lousy tactics, while a flawed strategy can be rescued by practicing sound tactical principals.  In the case of moviemaking, the technological marvel of computer generated... More

Today, press reports indicate that it is Larry Hanauer, Rep. Jane Harman's staffer, that Chairman Hoekstra has barred from seeing classified materials because he is suspected of having leaked the classified National Intelligence Estimate to the New York Times, in order to affect the... More

December 15 is the outer time limit of a decision window for Tehran and the West. That is the date for the mullahs' "Assembly of Experts" to decide whether to choose  a new Supreme Leader. The most nuke—happy candidate for the top job is  Ayatollah Yazdi, Ahmadinejad's personal... More

Professor Rashid Khalidi raises a very pertinent question in his article Unwritten History,  recently published in the Boston Globe.  In essence, he laments that the Palestinians have not written down their own history and he observes that their failure to do so has made their claim for... More

'Lenin once said: When it comes time to hang the capitalists, they will sell us the rope. Even he didn't expect that the capitalists would provide their enemies with the funds for the rope as well.'.    — Clifford D. May (1), January 13, 2005, Foundation for the Defense of... More

A dictionary defines religion as, 'The expression of man's belief and reverence for a superhuman power recognized as the creator and governor of the universe.' By this definition Islam qualifies as religion, and so do numberless other faiths. A definition this broad is ambiguous and must be... More

Democrats love to charge that Republicans try to suppress the vote. But apparently there is an attempt going on to suppress the voter turnout this November 7th election day, and it isn't the Republicans doing it. Some people in the media and politics are cynically attempting to dissuade... More

In this, the season of Republican discontent, the various tribes that make up the GOP have been slapping on their war paint and dancing the war dance while getting ready for the big day. No, not election day. The real fun begins the day after the vote when the recriminations following a probable... More

Robert Novak recently informed us that the battleship debate has once again reared its head. Naval partisans in Congress are attempting, in defiance of the wishes of the Navy itself, to bring back the last two surviving battleships, the Iowa and the Wisconsin, for possible operations in the Persian... More

The Mullahs presently ruling the country of Iran are in a fight for their life on two fronts. Of course, you have to look past the narrow prism of the mainstream media to see the serious schisms in the Islamic Republic of Iran. The external battle is with the United States—the Great... More

In the past two weeks, since the emergence of the Mark Foley affair, every political analyst has raised his forecast of likely Democratic gains in the House, and most are forecasting a Democratic takeover, requiring at least a 15 seat pickup. Yesterday, Jay Cost wrote an article for Real Clear... More

The strategy of engendering  a fury that eventually yields to wholesale apathy in the conservative base does not seem to have worked out as Democrats had hoped. The engineered saturation of the public with the Mark Foley scandal has failed to dispel the suspicion that Democrats are... More

Democrats named their party after democracy. They used to think it was a good way to run things. There has been debate on the right for years about whether President Bush's promotion of democracy in the Middle East as an integral part of the GWOT is perhaps too naively Wilsonian. Democrats are... More

All his usual formalities of perfidy were observed with scrupulous technique.    —Winston Churchill on Hitler's Invasion of Russia Washington offers numerous opportunities for high officials bent on undermining the Will of Congress, as well as the Chief Executive and his... More

Mahmood Ahmadinejad is an extremely shrewd customer, who is perfectly capable of provoking an attack by Israel and/or the United States in ways that play to his strengths and their weaknesses. There is reason to think he may be doing exactly that. In the Hezb'allah War, Israel pulled its punches.... More

It's no secret that hurling names about is as common in the political world as it is in a grammar school playground.а One oft—used pejorative is 'fascist,' which, along with racist, sexist, homophobe and others, tends to be least understood by those who utter it most.а And because these... More

Five months ago, the Internet's top search engine Google was accused of banning conservative websites from its news crawl. Last week, the e—behemoth offered to purchase YouTube, the preeminent provider of videos over the Web that has recently been implicated in censorship of its own. With... More

The NoKo Bomb is very bad news for the world, but it's worst for the closest neighbors: China, South Korea and Japan. China in particular was shocked when its "client" state turned vicious and bit its sponsor. The recent NoKo Bomb triggered unusual common resolve in China's biggest enemies,... More

The people of Nevada have a problem.  About 90 percent of the land in the state is owned by the federal government.  This makes it difficult for them to develop land for homes, schools, offices, and strip malls, the infrastructure they need to support their families. But they are not... More

There's one thing about being a cop, especially in a big city: you get to see things other people can't even imagine. I was working the 4 to midnight tour out of the 105 Precinct in the Rosedale section of Queens. My partner and I were having our first container of coffee (sans doughnuts) when we... More

Pointing out Democrat hypocrisy is like picking the low hanging fruit of contemporary political discussion. They rush at you on a frighteningly regular basis with bushels of the stuff, insisting that you let them put it in your car so you don't even have to get up! However, sometimes spending a... More

It has become 'common knowledge' in America that Saddam Hussein's Iraq would never work with Islamic terrorists because of ideological differences. In a recent report, the Senate Intelligence Committee codified this theory by quoting Saddam Hussein, who claimed he would not work with Islamic... More

I learned how to make the wind sing to me when I was fifteen, driving through New England one summer with my parents. I usually rode in the back seat with the window a bit open, so that I was immersed in the hissing noise that the inward rush of air makes. One day, when I was thinking of a song,... More

After reading the news story about the woman who was sentenced to prison for lying about a rape, I couldn't help but think about how Oprah Winfrey has been fooled again.  We all remember the most recent episode of Oprah being humiliated by James Frey, author of the fictional autobiography, A... More

Any dictator who can allow a million or two of his 20 million countrymen to die of starvation, rather than open up his country to allow the adequate provision of proffered aid, must be pretty well invulnerable. Death by starvation is visible, prolonged, painful, and heart—wrenching... More

Predicting what will happen if the Democrats win control in one or both houses of Congress next month is a burgeoning cottage industry. It is, however, both more interesting and probably more useful to consider what will happen if they don't. If Democrats win they will crow and bray and make... More

Journalists have a number of issues to consider when determining whether to write or broadcast a report about a particular subject or individual. Among these are the potential repercussions facing those whom they interview. Usually, these 'sources' are afraid to go on—record for fear of... More

Mid—term elections are just around the corner. Polls show that many Americans are unhappy with the Republicans and are likely to vote for Democrats. Fine and dandy. This is America where the voter is king. And when one is king, he needs to be a wise king. The foremost topic on the mind of the... More

Every pair of feet that cross the Rio Grande is a testament to the utter failure of the Mexican government.  It has failed to provide economic opportunity to millions of its people.  And those people are doing what comes naturally to the wretched: migrating to find better lives.  It... More

Sometimes it is really hard to tell. I thought they abhorred gay—bashing, but look at Mark Foley. Fortunately, the Chicago Tribune offered us Geoffrey Stone's proposed definition of 'what it means to be a liberal' in a recent op—ed. Frankly, it strikes me as a collection of ... More

It's been a bad week for sensational media stories. The Mark Foley child sex scandal has no child and no sex. And it may well be there was no nuclear bomb exploded by North Korea, either. While trying to puzzle out why Kim Jong—Il went for the underground bomb test option rather than the more... More

When North Korea's foreign ministry declared its intention to conduct a nuclear warhead test last week, the U.S response was clear — do so at the expense of your country's future. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, chief U.S. envoy to North Korea and our lead negotiator at the... More

The New York Times reported the other day that evangelical Christians blame Mark Foley for his failures and not the institution.  The article explains: But in dozens of interviews here in southeastern Virginia, a conservative Christian stronghold that is a battleground in races for the... More

Christian Streiff's brave experiment in playing save—the—company hardball  is over at Airbus. Inheriting a mess not of his own making, he laid out a series of possible maneuvers, ranging from cutting jobs to outsourcing, while proclaiming the need for a fundamental restructuring.... More

An important factor is being overlooked in all the clamor surrounding the test of a North Korean nuclear weapon: despite the bold show at flouting international norms, Kim Jong—Il is, in fact, making a carefully—calculated effort to stay within the lines. Sunday's explosion is the first... More

One of the blessings about having come of age in the Watergate era is that I have no illusions about politicians.  Keeping in mind Lord Acton's handy—dandy dictum that "power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely," I've always had incredibly low expectations when it comes to... More

CREW, the Soros—funded organization, wants to have it both ways on the sanctity of private emails and web material. Sometimes it is fine to disclose them. Other times not. Sometimes the content of these communications matters, other times the only important question is the process by which... More

In the aftermath of the Foley resignation, conservatives have spent a lot of energy complaining about the very different outcome of the Eighties sex scandals.  Representative Barney Frank skated after disclosure that his sexual partner had run a male prostitution ring out of his... More

On this year's Supreme Court docket, waiting for a disposition to be revealed, perhaps soon, is a case in which the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, the most—reversed of the federal appeals courts, is once again in effect on trial. Imagine a classroom full of unruly teenagers who take... More

The Star Wars Enigma:Behind the Scenes of the Cold War Race for Missile Defense By Nigel Hey Potomac Books, 288 pages, $27.95 If you want to read a terrific, utterly riveting book about the goings on at the top levels of our government — loaded with memorable anecdotes of fights among... More

The left, in possession of a scandal which they think can drive a wedge between evangelicals and the GOP, is behaving like a shark driven mad by the scent of blood in the water. Certain individuals strike out blindly in a political feeding frenzy. There's no telling what wounds will be inflicted on... More

I read constantly that Christians should not be proud of a verse attributed to Jesus. The verse reads: Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth, but a sword. At first glance it indeed appears that Jesus encourages violence and calls his disciples to practice it, presumably... More

As time passes, it is increasingly clear that the ABC News report which started the Foley firestorm is odorous —— and I'm not talking Chanel. (1) It dealt with the  emails which the FBI and many media  organizations considered as innocuous as the Republican leadership... More

All was peaches and cream late last month when President Bush sat down with President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan and President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan to discuss the situation in Afghanistan, as well as efforts by Musharraf to help the United States fight the War on Terror. That is, if you... More

American Thinker contributor Roy Robison posits an alternative explanation to the negative finding of Joe Wilson's trip to Niger concerning a suspected uranium deal with Saddam Hussein.  What is surprising in his piece is that he seems to excuse Ambassador Munchhausen's fabricated intelligence... More

The Democrats think they have found their smoking gun. A little—known Republican congressman has resigned in a cloud of immorality, and the left and their media minions are sounding the midterm election victory bell. Hurray for them. Of course, they can only succeed with this strategy... More

So what were Niger, those sixteen words, and Joe Wilson's outrage all about? They were connected to the 'Bush lied!' claim. Is the mystery of how the President came to claim Iraq was searching for uranium in Niger solved? I think I may have put together a reasonable account of how this all came... More

A Brief History of Slime Politicians and peccadilloes —— to butcher a lyric from Sammy Cahn without regard for rhyme —— go together like a horse and carriage.  And claiming that the Devil —— or, more accurately, Demon Rum —— 'made me do it,' is... More

It had all the earmarks of a classic Democratic Party plan to depress Republican turnout.  Take a barely disguised homosexual Republican Congressman, add salacious electronic messages that included masturbation, sex and other lurid flourishes, push the story to their eager and... More

Major sex scandals always seem to start with just a faint hint of impropriety; a friendly email message, a late—night phone call, or maybe a smarmy comment and a wink in the lunchroom. If not taken seriously, it becomes openly suggestive remarks, sexual innuendo and some playful physical... More

The new academic school year is well underway.  But there is one school in which this year will determine once and for all whether it will henceforth be considered to be a bona fide "university", or merely a make—pretend parody of one.    That institution is DePaul... More

Yesterday's announcement of a third round of delay, this time for roughly a year, in the delivery of Airbus A 380 superjumbo airliners drove down shares of parent company EADS so far that trading in them had to be suspended on the Paris arm of the Euronext market after they breached their 10 per... More

Australians used to speak of their "cultural cringe" — a tendency to internalize what they supposed to be the British view that all things Australian are backward and provincial. This colonial residue lingered after many decades of independent achievement. Republicans today suffer from a... More

If you believe that just a thin sliver of luck stands between us and further terrorist attacks in our major cities, and that only one political party can be trusted to be serious about national security, you have to believe that Rep. Foley's sexual folly could endanger all of us.  Whether or... More

The Mark Foley October Surprise operation is yielding rich dividends for the Democrats. So far. As long as the battle remains one of vague impressions based on talking points, sliming the GOP with allegations of being soft on a homosexual predator of teen age boys, (properly called... More

A dictionary defines religion as, 'The expression of man's belief and reverence for a superhuman power recognized as the creator and governor of the universe.' By this definition Islam qualifies as religion, so do numberless others. A definition this broad is ambiguous and must be further... More

'All those who hate me love death' — Jehovah, Proverbs 8:36 'We love death. The US loves life. That is the difference between us two.' — Osama bin Laden, November 2001 Superlatives are insufficient to describe the horror currently seen in Iraq: bags filled with severed human heads;... More

Regardless of whether or not some sort of plot existed to hold onto evidence of potentially criminal internet misconduct by former Rep.  Mark Foley, and spring it on the public as an October Surprise, the fallout of the case is going to be powerful. But the outcome depends on which of two... More

Yesterday I outlined the peculiar and suspicious genesis of the Foley matter which is the Dem—Media's scandal of the day. Now Speaker Hastert has asked for an investigation by the Department of Justice, while Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi is asking for a House Ethics Committee... More

Did you see Sen. Hillary Clinton (D—NY) suggest last week what her husband would have done if he had received the August 6, 2001, Presidential Daily Brief concerning bin Laden? Touching, wasn't it? If only there were an ounce of truth to it. To refresh everyone's memory, after former... More

Pardon me, but I smell something very peculiar in the way we have learned of the disgrace of Rep. Mark Foley. The email scandal which led to the resignation of the Republican Congressman is reverberating throughout the capital and the nation, as Democrats attempt to capitalize on bad news for... More

During this past week, politicians and commentators from across the political spectrum have been weighing in on the now—declassified 'Key Judgments' of that leaked National Intelligence Estimate about the Iraq war and its impact on terrorism. As usual, it's turned into a partisan brawl. ... More

The headline blasted out last Thursday. 'Stone says Bush has 'set America back 10 years'' Film Oliver Stone has an indisputable colorful past with an impressive portfolio of accomplishments in film and an admirable list of experiences — the least of which is certainly not his military... More