July 2007
Scott P. Richert remembers local historian Jon Lundin.In the Register of Ka-ching!
The Hoax
Produced and distributed by Miramax Films
Directed by Lasse Hallstrom
Screenplay by William Wheeler
With The Hoax, Swedish director Lasse Hallstrom and his screenwriter, William Wheeler, have at long last given Clifford Irving his due. They have done so by portraying their subject with about as much honesty as Irving did Howard Hughes when he concocted his infamous fake autobiography of the billionaire. They have altered, misshaped, abridged, and invented. In short, they have lied, exuberantly.
A COM for Africa
Ryan Henry, principal deputy under secretary of defense for policy, held a briefing on April 23 about the future opening of the new Africa Command (AFRICOM). It will join other U.S. commands that coordinate military and interagency operations for the Middle East, Latin America, Europe, and the Pacific.
Kosovo and Its Impact on U.S. Foreign Policy
The struggle for Kosovo between Christian Serbs and Muslim Albanians dates back to 1389, when the Serbs were defeated by, and their lands annexed to, the Ottoman Empire.
The GOP’s Clinton
During the Republican presidential debate on May 15, Ron Paul, the constitutionalist from Texas, flatly stated that the terrorist attacks on September 11 were retaliation for U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East. Rudy Giuliani shot back a mendacious rejoinder: “That’s an extraordinary statement, as someone who lived through the attack of September 11, that we invited the attack because we were attacking Iraq. I don’t think I’ve heard that before, and I’ve heard some pretty absurd explanations for September 11th.”
The Atheist Renaissance
Atheists are feeling their oats these days. Three militant unbelievers—Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, and Christopher Hitchens—have recently hit the best-seller lists and talk shows. Not since Bertrand Russell have we seen atheism so prosperously married to celebrity. Why now?
Kierkegaard and the Camera
On a balmy spring day, a visitor to St. Mark’s in Venice, if he is adventurous enough to make his way to the top of the cathedral and look down, will see the subjacent piazza covered in a species of vermin. Excoriating the global tourist is almost as banal a pastime as trailing through an Italian city in shorts and trainers behind a colored umbrella, and I scarcely wish to follow suit.
THE AMERICAN WAY OF DEATH: July 2007
PERSPECTIVE
Ted’s Timor Mortis
by Thomas Fleming
Stumbling past the half-truths.
VIEWS
Americans Don’t Die!
by Roger D. McGrath
Casualties, from republic to empire.
Portraits
by George Garrett
Some notes on the poetry of growing old.
The Last Adieu
by George McCartney
A wake for the living.
A Dirge for the Living
by Hugh Barbour, O.Praem.
Happily ever after?
Webstore Features
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