Archive for July, 2010

Will WikiLeaks Help End the Afghan War?

The brave hope of the soldier who sent 92,000 secret documents to WikiLeaks was that the disclosure of willful, casual slaughter of civilians by coalition personnel (with ensuing cover-ups), the utter failure of “nation-building,” the venality and corruption of the coalition’s Afghan allies and the complicity of Pakistan’s intelligence services with the Taliban would cause a wave of revulsion in the United States and among its coalition allies against the war.

Coming Home at Last?

Asked if the United States might send still more troops to Afghanistan, if the Obama surge is not succeeding by year’s end, Vice President Joe Biden answered, “I do not believe so.”

So, that is it. Biden is saying the 100,000 U.S. troops in theater or on the way is our limit. If Kabul and the Afghan army fail with this investment of American forces, they will be permitted to fail. All the chips we are going to commit are now on the table.

Perpetual Education for Perpetual Indoctrination

The Obama administration already wants every child to go to preschool and everyone to go to college.  Yesterday I noticed a cover article in Time magazine taking aim at summer vacation.  It seems our leaders want all young Americans in school, all the time.  Forgive my skepticism, given the long track record of failure when [...]

A Proto-Puritan Robin

Since his earliest appearances in folk ballads of the 13th century, Robin Hood has been a slippery fox of a hero. He’s a man who thumbs his nose at the powerful while going his merry way aiding the powerless. To this day, the King Johns and Nottingham sheriffs the world over fume at his impudent exploits and hurl interdictions at his spritely, elusive form. But to no avail. The outlaw of Sherwood Forest can no more be captured than can a will-o’-the-wisp.

Calling Dr. Johnson

Obama may be the perfect representative of a nation that no longer speaks the language of its ancestors. True, he is more fluent than George W. Bush, but both have done much to bring government into disrepute.

Let’s Hear it for Free Speech

The media chitchat these days is of the media itself, and of, Lordy, how’d things ever get this way! You know what way I mean—the way it is now, with right-wing extremists (centered on Fox News and the Breitbart blogs) injecting lies and fables into the national bloodstream and the mainstream guys going tamely along with it.

Trusted Most—Men with Guns

Public confidence in Congress has plummeted to the lowest level of any institution since Gallup began asking the question in 1973. One-half of all Americans have little or no confidence in the Congress.

Only 11 percent have a “great deal” or “a lot of” confidence in what is, given its place of primacy in the Constitution, the first branch of government and the branch most representative of the people.

Recovering Our Roots—August 2010

The August 2010 issue of Chronicles: A Magazine of American Culture. Thomas Fleming with a depiction of our future, Claude Polin on being rooted to the soil, and J.D. Salyer on the Antichrist Right. Plus, John C. Seiler, Jr., on the California primary campaign for governor.

Tea Bags: A Cautionary Tale

Over the last year, many of the grassroots protesters from a decade ago have once again pinned tea bags to their shirts. Their anger is still aimed at a federal leviathan that holds far too much control over the lives and livelihood of the citizens of the Forest City. But today, there are no taxes they can legally protest, and no local politicians they can support in an attempt to rein in federal power.

Democrats and Jihadists: A Love Affair

The Beltway Right is a comical farce. But like the blind squirrel that occasionally finds an acorn, it is right about one thing: Liberal Democrats simply cannot be trusted on national security. That truth was no more apparent than in early April, when an A-list of Virginia Democrats were named “invited guests” on a flyer advertising the annual fundraising banquet of the Dar Al-Hijrah mosque in Falls Church.