Today is the Fourth of July, our Independence Day. Although the focus is on fireworks and barbecues—a tradition I intend to perpetuate this evening—deep down, this particular holiday is really about American history. John Adams, one of our founding fathers, … Continue reading →
Ron Rosenbaum has written his reflections on the mixed legacy of Boris Yeltsin, who died last Monday. Rosenbaum focuses on the hope those times represented, when the once-mighty Soviet Union withered away and died and was replaced by a fledgling … Continue reading →
Where, oh where, are those moderate Muslims we all yearn for? Here. Although, to tell the truth, there’s nothing so very “moderate” about these particular moderates; they are radical as far as Islam is concerned. And they are among the … Continue reading →
Castro’s not really dead, although most likely dying, despite his TV cameo appearance. Chavez’s star, however, is in the ascendance, and expanding fast. He’s the new Castro, with a bigger field to play on than Castro ever had: Venezuela. Chavez … Continue reading →
[Part I here.] By early 1943, the time of the Rosenstrasse Protest, the Final Solution were well underway. The Nazis had been very careful about their policy of extermination of the Jews; one can view the entire operation as a … Continue reading →
Nonviolent resistance to totalitarian governments can be very difficult because of Draconian retaliation against such efforts and the resulting climate of fear among the populace, as well as the constant propaganda designed to reduce dissent to a minimum. But not … Continue reading →
[NOTE: I ran out of time today for Part II of the Cronkite piece. My plan is to have it appear tomorrow. In the meantime…] There are several banned trolls whose comments I ordinarily delete here as a matter of … Continue reading →
I haven’t said anything much so far about Hugo Chavez, who recently won the Venezuelan election handily. Take a look at what Fausta’s written about it for some perspective. It’s a sorry tale but not an unfamiliar one: demagoguery, Leftism, … Continue reading →
Listening to part of President Bush’s press conference in Estonia (see the middle section of the linked article for a small discussion), two things struck me. The first was the support Bush still gets from a country such as Estonia, … Continue reading →
Last night I was talking to my fellow Sanity Squad members after taping this week’s podcast (no, it’s not online yet, but should be soon). The session you hear is usually just the tip of the iceberg for us. As … Continue reading →
Ah those helpful young men of Hezbollah! See this. For those of you without access to the NY Times, here’s the gist of the article: Hezbollah’s reputation as an efficient grass-roots social service network ”” as opposed to the Lebanese … Continue reading →
The story “The Man Without a Country” used to be standard reading matter for seventh graders. In fact, it was the first “real” book–as opposed to those tedious Dick and Jane readers–that I ever was assigned to read in school. … Continue reading →