Articles

December 31, 2008
Israel's Campaign Unlikely to be Conclusive
James Lewis
The current punitive campaign against Hamas in Gaza has so many military and political levels that it seems like Tolstoy's War and Peace. But the one thing it will not do is wipe out radical Islamist control of Gaza. More

December 31, 2008
Proposition 8: Speak Softly and Carry a Big Poll
Miguel A. Guanipa
Sneering at those who disagree with you rarely is persuasive. More

December 31, 2008
A Conservative Narrative
Christopher Chantrill
It's not terribly complicated. More

December 30, 2008
Caroline Kennedy's Fractured Fairytale
Pamela Meister
Be careful what you wish for, even if you are living a fairy tale. More

December 30, 2008
Preserving the unfunded mandate myth
Curtis Hier
The myth of the unfunded mandate is critical to the success of the teachers unions. It will be invoked no matter how many federal education dollars are sent to states. More

December 30, 2008
The AIG junket fable
Tony Kondaks
The AIG post-bailout junket was irresistible fodder for both outrage and mockery. But most of what you know about it is wrong. More

December 29, 2008
America's Amazing Resilience
James Lewis
Many conservatives are still reeling from the sense that America has finally been suckered into a catastrophic swing to the Left. Has our luck finally run out? More

December 29, 2008
Iraq and Its Lessons, Part 2
Randall Hoven
It was not our military that failed; it was our diplomacy. Not to put too fine a point on it, that means we should be blaming the State Department and Colin Powell rather than Defense and Donald Rumsfeld. More

December 29, 2008
Where should Conservatives Draw the Line?
Larrey Anderson
As January 20th approaches so too does the possibility of the biggest federal power grab in the history of the United States. More

December 28, 2008
George W. 'Deer in Headlights' Bush
Larrey Anderson
I admire President Bush. I think he is a good man and I have said so before. But as Bush leaves office he is looking more and more like a deer in headlights. More

December 28, 2008
Iraq and Its Lessons
Randall Hoven
What went wrong in Iraq? Why? Who was to blame? Comfortably ensconced in my armchair on Monday morning, let me tell you what happened. More

December 28, 2008
The Improvised Odyssey of Barack Obama
Jack Cashill
There is a distinctly Homeric aspect to Barack Obama's first autobiography. This literary model tells us more than the author may have intended. More

December 27, 2008
The Unitarian Church and Obama's Religious Upbringing
Andrew Walden
Barack Obama's choice to hold a memorial service December 23 for his late grandmother Madelyn "Toot" Dunham at Honolulu's First Unitarian Church underlines one part of the story of Barack Obama's leftist religious upbringing. More

December 27, 2008
The Conservative Elevator Story
Christopher Chantrill
You all know what an elevator story is. It's the answer you give to someone when they ask what you do. More

December 27, 2008
'Meritalism' not 'Capitalism'
Bruce Walker
The Left has edited the political dictionary in a way that determines how we are able to think about politics and ideology. More

December 26, 2008
The psychopathology of Bush hatred
James Lewis
The Bush hatred we are seeing in the media today belongs in the long catalogue of human psychopathology -- not rational behavior. More

December 26, 2008
Easy Pickings Arrive at the International Table
Yomin Postelnik
President-elect Obama has made a series of economic appointments. While appointees are diverse in age, background and geography, most share a common thread: extensive foreign policy experience. More

December 26, 2008
Warning: What Liberal Change Looks Like After One Year
Ben-Peter Terpstra
The fresh face on the national scene Jimmy Carter also said he stood for "change." It didn't work out too well then. More

December 25, 2008
The Man behind Christmas
Vasko Kohlmayer
Jesus Christ is not only pivotal to our own civilization, but he is also by far the most influential figure in history More

December 25, 2008
The Truth about Christmas
Miguel A. Guanipa
The spellbinding truth which Christmas proclaims is not the birth of one who came to teach us a new philosophy, or a new set of moral principles, but one who claimed to be God. More

December 25, 2008
A Refugee Family's First U.S. Christmas
Humberto Fontova
When Cuban refugees by the thousands landed amidst "gun and religion-clinging people" with ingrained "antipathy to people who aren't like them," the potential for trouble was enormous. More

December 24, 2008
A lump of coal in our stockings: States to levy a bevy of new taxes
Ed Lasky
As a tumultuous year limps to an end, state governors are planning to deliver more hits to our already battered pocketbooks. More

December 24, 2008
A Reagan Christmas
Matt Spivey
Our 40th president knew and explicitly displayed through his words and actions that America is gift from God, and if we stray from His guidance the very purpose with we have been ordained will gradually erode. More

December 24, 2008
The Greatest Book Ever Written
Larrey Anderson
As we ponder, each in our own way, this most special of holidays, I have a suggestion: read (or reread) the greatest book ever written -- the Gospel of John. More

December 23, 2008
A Scheme With No Off Button
Otis A. Glazebrook IV
Only willful blindness prevents the New York Times from seeing the comparison. More

December 23, 2008
The Light of Hope in Darkness
Bruce Walker
Those great evils have this in common: always, the evil hates and persecutes Jews and Christians; always, the evil despises Israel and America. More

December 23, 2008
The Vampires of Our Youth
Bob Myer
For our young people, it appears that all things bad - and by bad, I mean evil -- are being made into good things -- and by good, I mean admirable or desirable. More

December 22, 2008
What the Heck Happened?
Randall Hoven
The bailout was supposed to solve problems. Wasn't it? More

December 22, 2008
Blago's Auction
C. Edmund Wright
There isn't too much money in politics after all. The problem is too damned much politics in money. More

December 22, 2008
God and the auto bailout
Matt Spivey
This auto bailout has reached far beyond economics and politics. More

December 21, 2008
Taking Obama at his Word on Gun Rights
David Jeffers
What could possibly make one question the President-elect's word? More

December 21, 2008
The Evil of Good Deeds and Good Thoughts
Bill Warner
I have nothing against being nice. Who does? But is that enough? More

December 21, 2008
A Conservative Vision Statement
Christopher Chantrill
If the conservative movement tried to draw-up a "vision statement," what would it look like? More

December 20, 2008
Past Tense Pretense
Clarice Feldman
I confess I do not and never really will understand the workings of large bureaucracies. More

December 20, 2008
Baha'is: The New Jews
Amil Imani
It is a potent human disposition to blame others for our failings. Without scapegoats to blame, we are forced to look at ourselves for our problems. More

December 20, 2008
Wind Energy will be an early test of Obama's White House Staff
Glenn R. Schleede
Contrary to reports issued by various wind energy advocates, "wind farms" provide few energy, environmental, or economic benefits and create very few jobs - far fewer than could be achieved if the money were used for other investments. More

December 19, 2008
A better bailout alternative
Tony Kondaks
Is taxpayer money the only source for bailout funds? Here's a market-based alternative: The Super Roth. More

December 19, 2008
Is Obama vulnerable to blackmail?
James Lewis
Suppose you're Bashir Assad or Putin, and you watch the Blago Blowup, a month before the next president even takes office. More

December 19, 2008
Climate Crisis = Logic Crisis
Larrey Anderson
Al Gore is right! Sort of. The current debate over climate change is over. At least, it is over in terms of a logical and unbiased inquiry. More

December 19, 2008
Bloodless Sunday
Ben Voth
Ironies abound in the Baghdad shoe-throwing incident. More

December 18, 2008
Chicago politics at the retail level
Annie Lake
When I lived in Chicago, I joined a neighborhood association with the intent of meeting neighbors, and ended up meeting political sleaze. More

December 18, 2008
A better way to counter judicial activism
Karl Spence
It will take more than right-thinking judicial appontments to stem activism from the bench. More

December 18, 2008
What is American business afraid of?
Mikiel de Bary
What are businesses afraid of? Quite a lot, it turns out, and with good reason. More

December 18, 2008
Britain's No Sharia Campaign
Deborah Weiss
Approximately one year ago, the UK government began giving Sharia court judgments the backing of British civil law enforcement. More

December 18, 2008
Ted Turner's lies about Cuba
Humberto Fontova
Ted Turner cannot possibly believe what he said about Cuba on the O'Reilly Factor. More

December 17, 2008
Insiders still own Illinois' Senate seat
Douglas O'Brien
Despite earlier public statements in support, the Illinois Democrats are not going to let the voters have a say in their next senator. More

December 17, 2008
Whatever Happened to the Law and Order Issue?
Karl Spence
The Democrats' election triumph demonstrates the error of Republicans trying to win elections without focusing on crime, punishment and the restoration of law and order. More

December 17, 2008
Our Bailout Culture and the Beauty of Bankruptcy
Selwyn Duke
We seem to have forgotten that not allowing people to suffer consequences has consequences. More

December 17, 2008
The New Standard of Living: Staying Alive
Matt Spivey
Americans have lost our concept of survival. We only know acceptable standards of living. More

December 17, 2008
Arabs: If the Shoe Fits
Victor Sharpe
Apparently, showing the sole of your shoe to someone in the Arab world is a sign of extreme disrespect, and throwing your shoes is even worse. More

December 16, 2008
Will the Bailout actually cripple the Big 3?
Dan Riehl
The currently proposed car maker loan / bailout program could actually cripple the very same businesses government is trying to help More

December 16, 2008
Enough with the Illinois Bashing Already
Rick Moran
I rise today in defense of my home state, my beloved Illinois, where top soil is so rich you can make soup from its deep, black loam. More

December 16, 2008
The Real Climate Deniers
Brian Sussman
It's likely that 2008 will go down as the coldest year since in the United States since 1997. More

December 16, 2008
Chopra's Delusions
Edward Olshaker
Deepak Chopra's callous comments in the wake of Mumbai and his earlier libel against Israel are unworthy of a great teacher. More

December 15, 2008
Notes from the Underbelly of Illinois
Randall Hoven
It is easier to categorize the duck-billed platypus than Illinois politics. Dostoyevsky would feel at home here. It's just so human. More

December 15, 2008
A Tale of Two Spouses
Matt Spivey
The clearest distinction of national policies can sometimes be found under one roof. More

December 15, 2008
A call for Obama to 'crack heads' in Israel
Richard Baehr
American Jews in the "peace camp" (one piece of Israel given away at a time), are feeling their oats after Obama's big victory More

December 15, 2008
Selfish is as selfish does
Bookworm
I frequently bemoan the fact that my children are extraordinarily selfish, in a way that my peers and I weren't when we were their age. More

December 15, 2008
Welcome To ACORN General Hospital
Carol Peracchio
Try to imagine health care in the world of Obama. Both Barack and Michelle have left clues as to what awaits. More

December 14, 2008
Worshipping the Weather
Larrey Anderson
Everyone is religious. People will have their religion. The particular religion does not, necessarily, have to include worship of a god -- but it must include a dogma and rituals. More

December 14, 2008
On Vikings and Victims: White-Guilt in Context
Raymond Ibrahim
All-permeating "white-guilt" did not appear out of thin air. It has taken a sustained propaganda effort, a wide-ranging mobilization of education and culture, to inculcate and sustain self-loathing among American Caucasians. More

December 14, 2008
How a Real 'War Within Islam' Would Look
Andrew G. Bostom
The Muslim nations have an big oppotunity now to implement the so-called "war within Islam" narrative promoted by policymaking, academic, and media elites across the political spectrum More

December 13, 2008
For the Sake of the Nation, Gov. Blagojevich Should Not Resign
William A. Jacobson
Since the only way to assure that the government takes this case to trial quickly is if Gov. Blagojevich remains in office, it is in the national interest that Gov. Blagojevich remain in office and force the government promptly to reveal all that it knows about the Illinois political cesspool. More

December 13, 2008
Obama's Abortion Socialism
Paul Kengor
Obama sees "abortion rights" in several ways, but, principally, he perceives abortion as a matter of economic fairness. More

December 13, 2008
Che rides again in Hollywood
Humberto Fontova
"Che" film gets thumbs up in Cuba," ran the headline from CNN's Havana Bureau on Dec. 8. Hollywood's useful idiots have disgraced themselves again. More

December 13, 2008
The Silver Anniversary of Argentina's Democracy
Bruce Walker
The resolution of Margaret Thatcher in the Falklands War -- a grittiness which the generals of Argentina did not think soft European democrats could muster -- produced a revolution in Argentine government. More

December 13, 2008
How Canada's Little Mosque on the Prairie is aiming for our souls
Kidist Paulos Asrat
Canada's CBC has run three seasons of a show about Muslim preence there. An American version may be on its way. More

December 12, 2008
Obama and Iran
James Lewis
Mr. Obama, our President-Can't-Be-Waiting, will soon pronounce a Message to the Muslims. More

December 12, 2008
Israel's Choice
Janet Levy and Paul E Vallely
Israel seriously contemplates the consequences of a threatened nuclear attack from Iran, and reviews the case for and against acting preemptively. More

December 12, 2008
Natural Born Pickle
Randall Hoven
I am at peace about Barack Obama and his natural born US citizenship. Still not cheerful about being called deranged and told to shut up, but on the issue itself -- peace. More

December 12, 2008
Blago's bad language
Judy Gruen
Minding your language and minding your behavior both require self-discipline and a respect for an established order in society. More

December 11, 2008
The Blago Saga Begins
Richard Baehr
I suspect that no Governor has ever before conducted a crime spree, with the possible exception of Louisiana Governor Edwin Edwards. More

December 11, 2008
Blame me for job losses
C. Edmund Wright
The job destruction process has started at my company. We are about 20% of the way through our ramp down process and on schedule to complete the shut down by spring 2009. I see the Obama handwriting on the wall. More

December 11, 2008
Everything you want to know about the bailout (but were afraid to ask)
Jim H. Ainsworth
Here are a few questions from a typical man on the street (me) to Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, and the answers I believe he would give, based on his public positions to date. More

December 11, 2008
Human Rights vs. Islamic Rights
Deborah Weiss
Human rights redefined to take into account the "cultural and religious context of Islamic countries". Islamic countries want it. More

December 10, 2008
Democratic Party Scandal: How High Will It Go?
Rick Moran
The Blagojevich True Crime Drama is not criminality as usual in Illinois politics. What we found out yesterday is only the beginning. More

December 10, 2008
The GOP Must Take Out the Trash
J.R. Dunn
The Blagojevich scandal offers a chance for the GOP to redefine itself in voters' minds, but the opportunity comes at the cost of a thorough house-cleaning. More

December 10, 2008
It's Time for Obama to Lead by Example
Lauri B. Regan
In tough times we all must make sacrifices. Barack Obama is on the record about what is demanded of chief executives. More

December 10, 2008
Mumbai's Harsh Lesson on Gun Control
Abhijeet Singh
Instead of playing the blame game it is time for the citizens of India to pause and try to understand why was it that these merchants of terror succeeded so well in their dastardly enterprise. More

December 10, 2008
'Companies could be sued over climate change'
Viscount Monckton of Brenchley
Attempts to pretend that the evolution of a chaotic object can be modeled with sufficient precision to determine whether an individual event was caused by "global warming" may find their way to court. More

December 9, 2008
Obama's End Run around Congress
Ned Barnett
Candidate Barack Obama promised "change we can believe in," but he never hinted that this change would all but circumvent Congress to impose on America the most dramatic liberal social transformation since the New Deal. More

December 9, 2008
A Modern-day Islamist Inquisition?
Walid Phares
The Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC), an association of the world's Islamic states, is pushing the United Nations to outlaw "defamation" of religion in general, and of one religion in particular. More

December 9, 2008
Obama and the Natural Born Citizen Clause
Randall Hoven
David Horowitz has diagnosed those who claim Obama is not natural born as being afflicted with "Obama Derangement Syndrome." Horowitz told people to "shut up about the birth certificate." More

December 8, 2008
Here comes the Great Man complex
James Lewis
All Great Men intending to make their mark on history need great monuments. For Barack Obama just a single one won't do. More

December 8, 2008
People for the Ethical Treatment of Plants and Rivers
Janet Levy
In what they deem a natural progression of age-old struggles for social justice, environmentalists gleefully predict that the 21st century will be an era of environmental justice. More

December 8, 2008
India, China, and the Disciplinary Society
Christopher Chantrill
The world is entering a serious recession. Most likely in the developed world the hardships will be anesthetized by unemployment and welfare benefits. But not in India and China. More

December 7, 2008
The Exquisite Difficulty of Preemption
Douglas Stone
Shrinking from the challenge and hoping for the best is not the wisest course of action in the face of an existential threat. More

December 7, 2008
When elites eschew defense: The case of India
Ed Kaitz
What happens when elites renounce the ties to nation that provide the bulwark against foreign aggression? India offers a lesson from history. More

December 7, 2008
What We Have to Fear
Lauri B. Regan
In an era of hope and change, it is all the more necessary to be realistic about genuine threats. More

December 7, 2008
Al Gore and the Bard
Larrey Anderson
I was rereading Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice a couple of nights ago and I ran upon a phrase that reminded me of Al Gore. More

December 7, 2008
Bosnia and global jihad
Leslie S. Lebl
The nomination of Hillary Clinton to be Secretary of State brings back memories of the time when Bosnia represented the primary foreign policy success of her husband's administration. More

December 6, 2008
Celebrating a quiet victory of democracy
Bruce Walker
You won't find anyone in the media celebrating the emergence of a stable democracy when it would bring credit on a liberal bête noir. More

December 6, 2008
Russia rubs raw nerves in Ukraine
Jeff Emanuel
In recent years, the Russian bear has bared his fangs at Ukraine as the grim season commemorating genocide-by-famine 75 years ago. More

December 6, 2008
Murder on their minds
Bob Weir
How does a 17 year-old become a hate-filled murderer, willing to plunge a knife into another human being's chest? More

December 5, 2008
Will Obama Become the Statesman That America Needs?
Janice Shaw Crouse
The question of the day is whether in President-elect Barack Obama we have a leader who can rise above the perpetual campaign that has characterized the presidency and plagued the nation in recent decades. More

December 5, 2008
The 'Islamophobia' canard after Mumbai
Joel J. Sprayregen
Saudi King Abdullah has been urging the United Nations to pass a universal law prescribing imprisonment for criticizing Islam. It's already passed a key committee vote. More

December 5, 2008
False pride and the liberal imagination
James Lewis
Why liberals believe so many strange things. More

December 5, 2008
The U.N.'s 'Greatest Failure'
Daniel Tauber
U.N. General Assembly President Miguel d'Escoto termed the "single greatest failure" of the U.N. is the failure to create a Palestinian state. More

December 4, 2008
Saxby's Win: 08's Most Intellectually Pure Contest
C. Edmund Wright
For all of the talk about "bi-partisanship," the Georgia Senate run-off was nothing if not blatantly partisan. It was, simply, ALL about the party, and by extension, was the most intellectually sound and pure election in all of the 2008 cycle. More

December 4, 2008
Keynesian borrowing won't solve our economic problems
Raymond Richman, Howard Richman, and Jesse Richman
Keynsian economics is being used to revive the economy, as if borrowing and spending could solve our economic problems. More

December 4, 2008
First lessons from the Mumbai Massacres
James Lewis
Some people just don't get it, but a learning oportunity exists. More

December 4, 2008
It's Time to Speak Out Against The 'Mormon Boycott'
William A. Jacobson
Passage of California's Proposition 8 is being used as an excuse to vent pent-up anger at the Mormon Church and the traditional lifestyle of Mormons. More

December 3, 2008
NBER's Anomalous Recession Calls
Randall Hoven
Shouldn't there be both transparency and clear objectivity in officially calling and timing recessions? More

December 3, 2008
Products that Nobody Wants
Randy Fardal
Congress will waste more time this week torturing the auto company CEOs. We almost certainly will hear that tired phrase, "Detroit is building products that nobody wants." Americans actually think it's the lawmakers that produce products that nobody wants. More

December 3, 2008
AP's terror photographer honored in NYC
David Paulin
Arrested and branded a "terrorist media operative" by military authorities in Iraq, freed in a general amnesty, and now honored by media swells at the Waldorf. More

December 3, 2008
Canada's Conservative government faces challenge to its control
Lona Manning
Just two months after winning more seats, the conservative government headed by Stephen Harper could fall to an unlikely coalition. More

December 2, 2008
The Obama presidency begins to emerge
J.R. Dunn
Obama will be an image president because he does not have much choice. Simply put, he cannot provide what he promised during the campaign. More

December 2, 2008
When the World Loves America
Christopher John
Having a president the world supposedly likes doesn't provide a holiday from history. More

December 2, 2008
Mumbai: A Message for America
Abraham H. Miller
What few politicians will say publicly is that the terrorists will see these incidents as data points, probes, and simulations for the inevitable next events. More

December 1, 2008
W Too Nice to be President?
Larrey Anderson
Conservatism needs a fresh start. It is losing arguments ... and it is losing elections. One person, more than any other (even more than John McCain), has caused this: President George W. Bush. More

December 1, 2008
Another Barack in the Wall
Allan J. Favish
Usually, children's books do not scare me. But I just read a children's book entitled "Barack" by Jonah Winter, with illustrations by AG Ford, published on September 30, 2008. This book scared me very much. More

December 1, 2008
Playing 20 Questions with the Media
William Tate
Journalists are inquisitive creatures by nature, constantly asking questions and demanding answers. Here are twenty questions I would like to ask the media: More