Archive: 2008

Ce qu’on appelle un «esprit faux» (l’autre haussait les epaules devant cette locution toute faite et declarait qu’elle n’avait aucun sens)–eh bien! je m’en vais vous le dire: c’est celui…

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President George W. Bush called for $145 billion in tax cuts, describing the measures as a “shot in the arm” for the U.S. economy, which caused stock values to plunge…

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Leo Strauss died back in 1973. But in the last few years it’s been hard to come up with a figure who has been more loved and reviled among those…

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I wrote here and here about the case of a former Mississippi Chancery Court Judge, Wes Teel. He was prosecuted by U.S. Attorney Dunnica Lampton on corruption charges as one…

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In dissecting the Democratic presidential primaries so far, Hillary Clinton seems to be attracting a higher share of working class and older voters, while Obama polls higher with higher-income and…

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The Bush Administration has been notoriously awkward around the Black community and civil rights leaders, and time has gradually explained why. In seven years, the Bushies have struggled continuously to…

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O, sweep of stars over Harlem streets, O, little breath of oblivion that is night. A city building To a mother’s song. A city dreaming To a lullaby. Reach up…

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I accept this award today with an abiding faith in America and an audacious faith in the future of mankind. I refuse to accept despair as the final response to…

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Ursula K. Le Guin, “Staying Awake. Notes on the Alleged Decline of Reading.” Harper’s, Feb. 2008. In her recent biography of Condoleezza Rice, Elisabeth Bumiller tells us that Condi, a…

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If humankind continues to approach its problems considering only temporary expediency, future generations will have to face tremendous difficulties. The global population is increasing, and our resources are being rapidly…

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I spent the better part of the last year looking in some detail into a series of legal policy issues surrounding private security contractors, a process that culminated in the…

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Last night I dreamed that angels stood without The tavern door, and knocked in vain, and wept; They took the clay of Adam, and, methought, Moulded a cup therewith while…

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I believe in aristocracy. . . — if that is the right word, and if a democrat may use it. Not an aristocracy of power, based upon rank and influence,…

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Andrews Sullivan posted an item today noting National Review’s endorsement of Mitt Romney. He cited an article of mine that said Romney had previously given money to the magazine. The…

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The destruction of the CIA torture tapes is still a fairly young scandal as Washington scandals go. It hasn’t even acquired a “gate” suffix. But the Administration is already busily…

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Quippe mihi non multo minus admirandæ videntur occasiones, quibussi homines in cognationem rerum cœlestium deveniunt; quam ipsa Natura rerum cœlestium. I find the ways by which humankind comes to an…

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“The fight for the nomination ‘is going to be like the Bataan Death March,’ said Ron Kaufman, a top adviser to Mr. Romney.” – in the Las Vegas Review-Journal. From…

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Here’s an old but interesting story that combines two things I’ve discussed before: press bias on the presidential trail and Richard Cohen’s lamentable hatchet job on Barack Obama. Washington Post…

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Bob Woodward is planning a fourth book on the Bush Administration to be published later this year, Editor & Publisher reported today. Woodward declined to discuss the contents of the…

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Harper’s Magazine legal affairs contributor Scott Horton and former National Security Agency director Lt. Gen. William E. Odom (USA, ret’d) will discuss the scandal surrounding the CIA’s destruction of tapes…

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The EurasiaGroup’s President, Ian Bremmer, is one of the best-known political risk analysts advising investors on the New York and London capital markets. He is the author of an important…

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See, they return; ah, see the tentative Movements, and the slow feet, The trouble in the pace and the uncertain Wavering! See, they return, one by one, With fear, as…

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“These guys run loose in this country and do stupid stuff. There’s no authority over them, so you can’t come down on them hard when they escalate force. . .…

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South Carolina GOP campaign percolating nicely I just posted an item in which I wrote that I thought it would be tough for Mitt Romney to replicate his success in…

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I admit I didn’t see Mitt Romney winning the Michigan primary over John McCain, certainly not by as comfortable a margin as 9 percent. Still, it’s hard to see how…

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Wer mit Ungeheuern kämpft, mag zusehn, dass er nicht dabei zum Ungeheuer wird. Und wenn du lange in einen Abgrund blickst, blickt der Abgrund auch in dich hinein. He who…

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