Archive for January, 2009

The Obama Drama

What a story! It has everything! Aliens, legal and otherwise, teen pregnancy, polygamy, miscegenation, crooked Chicago political bosses, a “true confessions” autobiography, a crazy preacher, a Cinderella rise to fame and glory, a Hamlet-like hero, a dual-loyalty Svengali, a spectacular affirmative-action success story. Race, sex, dysfunctional family, extreme limousine leftism, crime and mystery! You couldn’t make this up for a soap opera.

Obama’s Choice: FDR or Reagan

Obama and the Democrats are taking a historic gamble, not only with their careers but with the country. If this monstrous stimulus package, plus the trillions in hot money, do not work; if the two ignite rampant inflation, rather than real growth, we are all out of options. The toolbox is empty.

Wasn’t That a Time

New York had Joe Dimaggio. Boston had Ted Williams. And Washington, D.C.? Well, we had Sammy Baugh, the greatest football player ever to pull on a jersey.

In 1943, Baugh led the NFL in pass completions, punting and interceptions as a defensive back with 11, calling forth the tribute of legendary sportswriter Grantland Rice, “Sammy Baugh is just about the most valuable player of all time, according to most pro coaches I’ve talked to.”

The Way We Are Now and Where We Are Going

There is agitation that Obama is not a native-born American citizen and his taking office will be in violation of the Constitution. Don’t be silly. What makes you think the Supreme Court and Congress care about the Constitution?

George Washington, Call Your Office

Over at NRO, Mona Charen announces that she will be attending a rally to support Israel in front of the Israeli embassy today, and she asks NRO readers to “please come and help demonstrate that millions of us passionately support Israel’s right to exist in peace and security.”

More of the Way We Are Now

Bailout: The press and much of the public is no longer able to recognise a swindle when they see one. Of course, also, it would not be nice to criticise our well-meaning bankers and politicians, and Americans are nothing if not nice.

The Politics of Dante

I propose, in the two weeks I have before going to Florence, that we look at two works of Dante: the Convivio and the De Monarchia .  Although the whole of the Convivio is worth our attention, I am only going to talk about Book IV, in which Dante talks about the empire, Rome, the [...]

What Became of Western Morality?

On the last day of the old year in the newsletter CounterPunch, two Israelis—Jeff Halper, who heads the Israeli peace movement ICAHD, and Neve Gordon, who is chairman of the department of politics and government at Ben-Gurion University—asked, “Where’s the Academic Outrage Over the Bombing of a University in Gaza?”

A Mirror for Magistrates

Here is the way the Constitution works now.  Roland Burris, a longtime public servant in Illinois, will not be allowed to take his seat in the U.S. Senate because he has been appointed by a corrupt governor in a corrupt state.  No matter that the Senate has never in its history denied a seat to [...]

Pakistan: America’s Pandora’s Box?

On September 10, 2008,the New York Times reported that, back in July, President Bush had authorized ground incursions and missile attacks to destroy Taliban and Al Qaeda sanctuaries in Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas. As the Times noted, “It is unclear precisely what legal authorities the United States has invoked to conduct even limited ground raids in a friendly country.”