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Archive: Dec 2007

Livy on the Rise of the Republic and of Civic Liberty

Liberi iam hinc populi Romani res pace belloque gestas, annuos magistratus, imperiaque legum potentiora quam hominum peragam. Quæ libertas ut lætior esset proximi regis superbia fecerat. . . Quid enim…

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Secret Torture Memos Disclosed on Floor of Senate

From remarks just delivered by Senator Sheldon Whitehouse: We will shortly consider making right the things that are wrong with the so-called Protect America Act, a second-rate piece of legislation…

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Commerce Department: Creationism book display a decorating error, not an endorsement

I reported yesterday about my surprise upon learning that The Atlas of Creation, which offers an Islamic version of creationism and blames Charles Darwin for the 9/11 attacks, was prominently…

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What’s driving the movement for Ron Paul? A conversation with Republican consultant Tom Edmonds

Though he receives very little media attention and is frequently dismissed as a crackpot by mainstream observers, Ron Paul’s presidential campaign has been extraordinary by any measure. Even as Mike…

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Remembering December 7

Today is December 7. This is a special day in our history, a definitional day, a day to pause and remember. On this day — “a day that will live…

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Dickinson, ‘Liquor Never Brewed’

I taste a liquor never brewed — From Tankards scooped in Pearl — Not all the Vats upon the Rhine Yield such an Alcohol! Inebriate of Air — am I…

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Swift on the Mighty Evading the Law

Some men admire republics, because orators flourish there most, and are the greatest enemies of tyranny; but my opinion is, that one tyrant is better than a hundred. Besides, these…

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Obstruction of Justice at the CIA

The Bush Administration has had a consistent practice of destroying evidence which would document serious crimes perpetrated with the connivance or consent of senior officials, particularly including acts of torture…

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Notes on “The Black Box”

For readers interested in a little background on this month’s cover story: I first began to develop an interest in the oil of Iraq in 2003. It was the war…

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New Theory Uncovered in Commerce Secretary Gutierrez’s waiting room: Darwin, not Saddam, behind 9/11

I’m not sure if Secretary of the Commerce Carlos Gutierrez is cheap or cuckoo, but it comes as something of a shock to learn that the controversial book The Atlas…

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Vico’s New Science

Ma, in tal densa notte di tenebre ond’è coverta la prima da noi lontanissima antichità, apparisce questo lume eterno, che non tramonta, di questa verità, la quale non si può…

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Troubles Mount for Former Congressman Weldon: Are feds examining Weldon’s ties to shady Russians?

As my colleague Scott Horton noted yesterday, former Congressman Curt Weldon appears to be in a heap of trouble. Yesterday, the Washington Post has reported, his ex-chief of staff, Russ…

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Imperial Hubris

Fritz Stern, “Imperial Hubris: A German Tale,” Lapham’s Quarterly, Winter 2008. Those who can’t find the time to tackle the weighty Five Germanys I Have Known should pick up the…

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Elizabeth Hardwick, 1916–2007

Elizabeth Hardwick died Sunday in Manhattan at the age of ninety-one. Between 1959 and 1969, she contributed essays and criticism to Harper’s Magazine, for a time taking over the New…

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Six Questions for Fritz Stern, Author of Five Germanys I Have Known

A number of readers have written to ask me for book recommendations for the holiday season. My top pick, and certainly the best newly published work I’ve read in the…

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Heine’s ‘Silesian Weavers’

Im düstern Auge keine Träne, Sie sitzen am Webstuhl und fletschen die Zähne: Deutschland, wir weben dein Leichentuch, Wir weben hinein den dreifachen Fluch – –Wir weben, wir weben! Ein…

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Department of Poorly Coordinated and Unbelievable Cover Stories

Yesterday, after the NIE bombshell broke, Stephen Hadley rushed to explain why Bush and Cheney had been out on the hustings since Labor Day talking about an imminent nuclear threat…

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Einstein on the Need for Commitment to Justice

Die elementare Reaktion gegen Ungerechtigkeit und für Gerechtigkeit ist abhanden gekommen — jene Reaktion, die auf die Dauer des Menschen einigen Schutz gegen einen Rückfall in die Barbarei gewährleistet. Denn…

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Tashkent Paging… Curt Weldon

Back on February 20, 2004, a Los Angeles Times correspondent named Ken Silverstein (now the Harper’s Washington editor) broke an amazing story concerning Congressman Curt Weldon, a Republican from the…

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More From Allbritton

On Sunday, I received a copy of an email that reporter Chris Allbritton had sent to National Review Online last October. In the email, which I posted here, Allbritton called…

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Krauthammer’s Pseudo-Science

Several readers regularly send me notes asking why, in reviews of the editorial content of the Washington Post, I spare Charles Krauthammer? There are two writers on the page who…

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Punishing the Victims

True, I don’t have any medical or psychological credentials. Nevertheless, I feel completely confident in offering a diagnosis in this case. My diagnosis is an acute schizophrenia accompanied by self-destructive…

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Forget Shag-Gate

All the birds seem to be coming home to roost for Rudy Giuliani. First the indictment and further disclosures concerning Bernard Kerik, the man Rudy picked to be head of…

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Madison on Containing the War Power and War Spending

Wars may be divided into two classes; one flowing from the mere will of the government, the other according with the will of the society itself. Those of the first…

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Weekly Review

More than 80 French police officers were injured in clashes with youths firing shotguns in the Paris banlieues.77 Police Officers Hurt in Paris RiotsSarkozy flies back to tackle ‘urban warfare’…

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The Sorcerer’s Apprentice

A reader writes: “You’re turning everything into a subject for political commentary. Jane Austen? Even Mickey Mouse in his greatest starring role, as the Sorcerer’s Apprentice? Gimme a break.” So…

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Watch the Ad that Fox Won’t Let You See

The Center for Constitutional Rights tried to take space to run this advertisement on Fox TV tomorrow and Wednesday—the day on which the Supreme Court will hear oral argument. The…

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