It’s been a long time coming, but vindication is finally here for astronaut Neil Armstrong. That’s actually–ahem–Neil A. Armstrong. Don’t forget that A, like Armstrong did! Except it turns out he didn’t forget it, he just spoke it too quickly … Continue reading →
[Parts I and II.] For anyone who was alive at the time and old enough to pay attention to the news, the first thing that comes to mind when thinking of Jimmy Carter and the Iranian Revolution is the hostage … Continue reading →
Callimachus writes here about Oriana Fallaci’s new book, which deals in part with the question of whether a certain segment of the Arab/Moslem world is trying to overwhelm the West, both demographically and otherwise. He offers some quotes to that … Continue reading →
[This is the second of two parts. Part I can be found here.] Goebbels was an extraordinarily intelligent and even learned man who had earned a doctorate in literature and philosophy from the University of Heidelberg. Here is a description … Continue reading →
[This is the first of a two-part series. Part II will appear tomorrow.] Every now and then I read about a person whose life seems so strangely compelling that I can’t help but write about it. In telling such a … Continue reading →
Dr. Sanity tackles that old bugaboo, Bush-Derangement-Syndrome (BDS), and tries to drive a stake into its vigorously beating heart. Her post is a good description of how the psychological mechanism of displacement functions in deflecting the hatred and fear of … Continue reading →
The first time I ever saw a photo of Lenin’s embalmed corpse on display in its mausoleum in Moscow, the sight gave me the creeps. There was something dreadful about making a body into an icon–a sort of zombie-esque quality … Continue reading →
In response to my post about Gandhi’s pacifism, a number of people (Ed Driscoll publicly, others in private e-mails) have called my attention to Richard Grenier’s essay on Gandhi that appeared in a 1983 issue of Commentary. Driscoll calls it … Continue reading →
When I studied history in grade school and high school, it was my least favorite subject. Dry and dull, a parade of disjointed dates and battles, all the juice had been squeezed out of it–which is a shame, because it … Continue reading →
Some wonderful quotes, this time from Winston Churchill: A fanatic is one who can’t change his mind and won’t change the subject. It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have … Continue reading →
George Orwell was certainly one for the pithy saying with a lot of punch, short and to the point. I came across a web page specializing in Orwelliana, and was struck by the number of comments that seemed to be … Continue reading →
Former President Bill Clinton is now recovering from surgery to remove some nasty scar tissue left by his previous open-heart surgery. I was stunned a while back at the announcement that he needed open heart surgery in the first place. … Continue reading →