National Review articles from December 2003

National Review archives from December 2003

Arguing FDR.(Letter to the Editor)
December 8, 2003... Forrest McDonald, in his review ("A Flawed Colossus," Nov. 24) of my book about Franklin D. Roosevelt, accuses me of a number of inaccuracies of which I am, in fact, innocent, such as the astounding falsehood that I wrote that Russia had...

It's my (Halloween) party ...(Letter to the Editor)
December 8, 2003... The last thing I thought I'd be writing to NATIONAL REVIEW about is Halloween, but then I never expected to read an article like Meghan Cox Gurdon's ("The Horror, the Horror," Nov. 10) in NR. Why is it a problem that Halloween has become so...

My ideals, right or wrong.(Letter to the Editor)
December 8, 2003... Victor Davis Hanson ("Loyalty, How Quaint," Nov. 24) was correct: Too often over the past 50 years, liberals have supported leftist dictators such as Mao or Stalin, but so too have many conservatives rationalized brutal regimes. While loyalty...

Why manufacturing matters.
December 8, 2003... The United States is losing its manufacturing capacity. These losses are reaching a tipping point, where even greater losses, coming even faster are possible. Already, the U.S. will import almost $400 billion more goods this year that it...

In Newsweek poll, President Bush earns 52 percent approval rating.(for the record)(Brief Article)
December 8, 2003... * In Newsweek poll, President Bush earns 52 percent approval rating.... Bush on Iraq casualties: "We mourn every loss. We honor every name. We grieve with every family. And we will always be grateful that liberty has found such brave...

Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D., W.Va.) on Democratic memo announcing plans to play politics on Senate intelligence committee, on MSNBC: "The memo is not a memo.(for the record)(Brief Article)
December 8, 2003... * Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D., W.Va.) on Democratic memo announcing plans to play politics on Senate intelligence committee, on MSNBC: "The memo is not a memo. The memo is just an option thing which staff prepared for me."... Sen. Kit Bond (R.,...

Rep. Dick Gephardt (D., Mo.) pulls ahead of Howard Dean in Des Moines Register poll of Democrats, 27 percent to 20 percent, with Sen. John Kerry (D., Mass.) in third place (15 percent) and all other candidates in single digits.(for the record)(Brief Article)
December 8, 2003... * Rep. Dick Gephardt (D., Mo.) pulls ahead of Howard Dean in Des Moines Register poll of Democrats, 27 percent to 20 percent, with Sen. John Kerry (D., Mass.) in third place (15 percent) and all other candidates in single digits.... Dean and...

Former House majority leader Dick Armey (R., Texas) on liberal Republicans, according to Tallahassee Democrat: "the bed-wetter caucus.".(for the record)(Brief Article)
December 8, 2003... * Former House majority leader Dick Armey (R., Texas) on liberal Republicans, according to Tallahassee Democrat: "the bed-wetter caucus."... More Armey: "Scaredy-cat Republicans, when they desert the field of battle, taking flight over their...

"Our determination must be the same as that of the Italians in uniform who have brought honor to themselves and to the coalition that is committed to supporting Iraq's journey toward democracy," says Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi after fatal bombing in Nasiriyah.(for the record)(Silvio Berlusconi)(Brief Article)
December 8, 2003... * "Our determination must be the same as that of the Italians in uniform who have brought honor to themselves and to the coalition that is committed to supporting Iraq's journey toward democracy," says Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi...

Jay Leno: "Mexico's president Vicente Fox was in Phoenix, Arizona, giving a speech where he told Americans it's time to reform immigration laws and make it easier for his people to legally cross the border.(for the record)
December 8, 2003... * Jay Leno: "Mexico's president Vicente Fox was in Phoenix, Arizona, giving a speech where he told Americans it's time to reform immigration laws and make it easier for his people to legally cross the border. Easier? What does he want--moving...

A dodgy John Edwards says "I personally do not support" gay marriage.(The Week)(Brief Article)
December 8, 2003... * A dodgy John Edwards says "I personally do not support" gay marriage. If he means that phrase as it is used in the abortion debate, he appears to be saying that he would not himself enter a gay marriage. Profile in courage!

Sen. Ted Kennedy says that he opposes the Medicare bill now taking final form in Congress because it appears "to tilt in favor of the right-wing agenda.".(The Week)(Brief Article)
December 8, 2003... * Sen. Ted Kennedy says that he opposes the Medicare bill now taking final form in Congress because it appears "to tilt in favor of the right-wing agenda." He can't possibly mean that adding a prescription-drug benefit to Medicare coverage is a...

President Bush goes to London, and the streets fill with angry Brits.(The Week)(Brief Article)
December 8, 2003... * President Bush goes to London, and the streets fill with angry Brits. We have been here before. "London was altogether beside itself on one point... it created a nightmare of its own, and gave it the shape of Abraham Lincoln. Behind this it...

The terror-bombing of the Riyadh housing complex that killed 18 people, all Muslims, is not quite like the death of Leon Trotsky.(The Week)(Brief Article)
December 8, 2003... * The terror-bombing of the Riyadh housing complex that killed 18 people, all Muslims, is not quite like the death of Leon Trotsky. It was terrible that Trotsky should have been murdered in such a grisly fashion--yet he was as bloodthirsty and...

Car-bombs, possibly set by al-Qaeda, exploded outside two Istanbul synagogues, killing 24 people and wounding scores more.(The Week)(Brief Article)
December 8, 2003... * Car-bombs, possibly set by al-Qaeda, exploded outside two Istanbul synagogues, killing 24 people and wounding scores more. The murders remind us of several things. Jihadism is grossly anti-Semitic. Istanbul's Jews, who have been there since...

A truck bomb in the city of Nasiriyah in southern Iraq exploded outside the headquarters of Italian military police stationed there, killing twelve carabinieri, five soldiers, two civilians, and thirteen Iraqis.(The Week)(Brief Article)
December 8, 2003... * A truck bomb in the city of Nasiriyah in southern Iraq exploded outside the headquarters of Italian military police stationed there, killing twelve carabinieri, five soldiers, two civilians, and thirteen Iraqis. Prime minister Silvio...

The story of Pfc. Jessica Lynch has spun into political/ media hyperspace, where the Pentagon meets the E! Channel meets Barnes & Noble.(The Week)(Brief Article)
December 8, 2003... * The story of Pfc. Jessica Lynch has spun into political/ media hyperspace, where the Pentagon meets the E! Channel meets Barnes & Noble. Even Larry Flynt has scrambled aboard, saying that he has topless pictures of Miss Lynch, which he will...

News accounts have played the Supreme Court's decision to consider whether U.S. courts have jurisdiction over Guantanamo Bay as a setback to the Bush administration's position that the courts have nothing to do with it.(The Week)(Brief Article)
December 8, 2003... * News accounts have played the Supreme Court's decision to consider whether U.S. courts have jurisdiction over Guantanamo Bay as a setback to the Bush administration's position that the courts have nothing to do with it. "An unmistakable...

Shine the light of liberty in Russia as well.(George W. Bush)
December 8, 2003... In a recent speech to commemorate the twentieth anniversary of the National Endowment of Democracy (NED), President George W. Bush made a compelling case for the United States continuing to engage in promoting democracy worldwide. In a speech...

Steel tariffs have cost Americans more jobs than they've protected, but the White House has gambled all along that they will provide a political boost in swing states like Pennsylvania and West Virginia, and guarantee the president four more years of gainful employment.(The Week)(Brief Article)
December 8, 2003... * Steel tariffs have cost Americans more jobs than they've protected, but the White House has gambled all along that they will provide a political boost in swing states like Pennsylvania and West Virginia, and guarantee the president four more...

The latest variant of the haggard dream of the deadlocked convention.(The Week)(Hillary Clinton)(Brief Article)
December 8, 2003... Hillary in '04? Newsweek's Howard Fineman lays out the "scenario" of a "hard-boiled insider": If no Democrat has a majority of convention delegates by May or June, then Hillary steps in as "healer and unifier." Not to disappoint Clinton fans...

The case of Roy Moore, chief justice of the Alabama supreme court--or rather, now former chief justice--has been a painful saga.(The Week)(Brief Article)
December 8, 2003... * The case of Roy Moore, chief justice of the Alabama supreme court--or rather, now former chief justice--has been a painful saga. Judge Moore had displayed the Ten Commandments in his court building. A federal judge said he had to remove them,...

On the surface, the GOP's Senate filibuster--or "reverse filibuster," as Rick Santorum called it--was something of a bust: when it started, the Democrats had successfully blocked four of Bush's nominees to the federal appeals court; when it ended, 40 hours later, that number was up to six.(The Week)(Brief Article)
December 8, 2003... * On the surface, the GOP's Senate filibuster--or "reverse filibuster," as Rick Santorum called it--was something of a bust: When it started, the Democrats had successfully blocked four of Bush's nominees to the federal appeals court; when it...

Bobby Jindal deserved to be the next governor of Louisiana. He offered conservative principles, a sharp intellect, and an impressive resume--by age 32, he had directed both his state's health-care department and its university system.(The Week)(Brief Article)
December 8, 2003... * Bobby Jindal deserved to be the next governor of Louisiana. He offered conservative principles, a sharp intellect, and an impressive resume--by age 32, he had directed both his state's health-care department and its university system. He also...

Gore Vidal, the enrage essayist who wears the drag of a historian, talked to the L.A. Weekly about W. and the Patriot Act.(The Week)(Brief Article)
December 8, 2003... * Gore Vidal, the enrage essayist who wears the drag of a historian, talked to the L.A. Weekly about W. and the Patriot Act. "The Founding Fathers would have found this to be despotism in spades. And they would have hanged anybody who tried to...

Alan Colmes is one half of the Hannity-and-Colmes duo on Fox News Channel.(The Week)(Brief Article)
December 8, 2003... * Alan Colmes is one half of the Hannity-and-Colmes duo on Fox News Channel. Which half (right or left)? Well, when asked, "If you could have any other job besides the one you have now, what would it be?" he answered, "I admired William...

Just Keep Still.(Poem)
December 8, 2003... JUST KEEP STILL The talking heads say Dean is in; "It's over," quoth Brokaw, While Judy Woodruff's in shock, with A hanging lower jaw. Dick Gephardt's upper lip is stiff, But inside, he's all mush: ...

It isn't all beer and skittles, being the Prince of Wales.(The Week)(Brief Article)
December 8, 2003... * It isn't all beer and skittles, being the Prince of Wales. Just to rid himself of the day, His Royal Highness depends on a platoon of secretaries, valets, and gentlemen's gentlemen. (One such was recently observed removing the prince's shoes...

A recent poll of EU residents produced some interesting results.(The Week)(Brief Article)
December 8, 2003... * A recent poll of EU residents produced some interesting results. Israel came out in first place as the greatest "threat to peace in the world," followed by Iran, North Korea, and the United States, which all tied for silver. Outrageous? Yes....

The first group of tourists has visited Iraq on a two-week tour organized by an English agency called Hinterland Travel.(The Week)(Brief Article)
December 8, 2003... * The first group of tourists has visited Iraq on a two-week tour organized by an English agency called Hinterland Travel. Among them was a cab driver from San Francisco, one Joseph Allen. The Baghdad opera is not yet up, but the group was...

"I can't tell you how excited I am, how happy I am, to be back," said Rush Limbaugh, opening his November 17 radio show after spending a month in drug rehab for an addiction to painkillers.(The Week)(Brief Article)
December 8, 2003... * "I can't tell you how excited I am, how happy I am, to be back," said Rush Limbaugh, opening his November 17 radio show after spending a month in drug rehab for an addiction to painkillers. He began by discussing his recent problems with a...

Earlier this year, New York City established Harvey Milk High School--a safe haven where gay youngsters could escape the bullying of their peers.(The Week)(Brief Article)
December 8, 2003... * Earlier this year, New York City established Harvey Milk High School--a safe haven where gay youngsters could escape the bullying of their peers. It has turned, however, into a somewhat more typical Manhattan high school, in that it has bred...

The morning of Wednesday, November 5, was a typical one for students at Stratford High School in Goose Creek, S.C.--until (in the words of the Charleston Post and Courier) "police officers with guns drawn stormed into the school's cafeteria.(The Week)(Brief Article)
December 8, 2003... * The morning of Wednesday, November 5, was a typical one for students at Stratford High School in Goose Creek, S.C.--until (in the words of the Charleston Post and Courier) "police officers with guns drawn stormed into the school's cafeteria...

Loath as we always are to distract our readers' attention from the great affairs of the republic and the world, we cannot forbear asking the question that is on so many lips: is Britney Spears headed for a crack-up?(The Week)(Brief Article)
December 8, 2003... * Loath as we always are to distract our readers' attention from the great affairs of the republic and the world, we cannot forbear asking the question that is on so many lips: Is Britney Spears headed for a crack-up? The former Mouseketeer has...

Rosie O'Donnell uttered a refreshing statement.(The Week)(Brief Article)
December 8, 2003... * Rosie O'Donnell uttered a refreshing statement. In a court case concerning her now-defunct magazine, Rosie, a witness had the actress/comedienne/talk-show host/etc. saying the following: "As a lesbian, I'm uncomfortable being on a magazine...

Looking for an amusing gift, a stocking-stuffer for someone you love at Chr ... Sorry! Sorry!--over the holidays?(The Week)(political dolls)(Brief Article)
December 8, 2003... * Looking for an amusing gift, a stocking-stuffer for someone you love at Chr... Sorry! Sorry!--over the holidays? Consider one of the new talking action dolls. They come as twelve-inch likenesses of famous people, equipped with a button that,...

New York City is, of course, the warm beating heart of American liberalism, a place fairly awash with open-mindedness and tolerance.(The Week)(Brief Article)
December 8, 2003... * New York City is, of course, the warm beating heart of American liberalism, a place fairly awash with open-mindedness and tolerance. Isn't it? Not necessarily. Back in 2000, the Rev. Kristopher Okwedy, a Nigerian-born pastor, bought space on...

High on the honor roll of those who helped bring down the Soviet empire is the name of Leszek Kolakowski.(The Week)(Brief Article)
December 8, 2003... * High on the honor roll of those who helped bring down the Soviet empire is the name of Leszek Kolakowski. An academic philosopher by trade, Kolakowski was expelled from his teaching post at Warsaw University in 1968 for heresies against...

The left at the altar.(Culture Watch)(same sex marriage)
December 8, 2003... WHAT has the high court of Massachusetts wrought? Don't look to the Democratic presidential candidates for guidance. On the day that a bare majority of the court declared that marriage licenses must be given to same-sex couples, Howard Dean...

Adjusting, persevering.(At War)(Paul Bremer)
December 8, 2003... PAUL BREMER, the American administrator of the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq, made a quick trip to Washington to meet with President Bush, and emerged with a new plan for reconstructing Iraq, one that would turn power over to an Iraqi...

The theme is freedom.(At War II)(George W. Bush)
December 8, 2003... PRESIDENT BUSH's speech at the 20th anniversary of the National Endowment for Democracy conveyed the stamp of the man. Its theme was simple, classical, that freedom is an absolute value the whole world over, not negotiable. It is the basis of...

Notes & asides.(Thomas Hume appreciation)
December 8, 2003... * Remarks at the funeral service for Thomas Hume, St. Clement's Church, Stamford, Connecticut, November 6, 2003 We were all of us, in the Yale Class of 1950, asked to give a few sentences of biographical information for the 50th anniversary...

What Britain learned: and how America can build, in Iraq.(At War)
December 8, 2003... EXTREMISTS in Iraq, especially in the Sunni areas around Falluja and Ramadi, are blowing up convoys and armored trains, attacking police posts, and killing our soldiers and political officers, in addition to Arabs prepared to work with us. Very...

Join the Vast Right-Wing CATHOLIC Conspiracy.(Advertisement)
December 8, 2003... Hillary Clinton said there was a Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy out to get her (sort of) hubby. The Conspiracy didn't topple Billy boy, but it did gore AI--the cool dude who no doubt invented unisex restrooms-and prevent him from ascending to the...

Never again, again: the Holocaust Museum and 9/11.(At War II)
December 8, 2003... AT a recent "Days of Remembrance" event at the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C., Elie Wiesel said, "Memory is tragedy's most indispensable element." No modern evil compares to the Holocaust, and the Holocaust Museum--along with the...

The audacity to succeed: President Bush's tax cuts have worked, and this has stirred the pot.(The Economy)
December 8, 2003... OVER the past year, the bile in the writings of left-wingers has become so extreme that even they have begun to notice. The New York Times's Nicholas Kristof, for example, devoted a recent piece (titled "Hold the Vitriol") to the...

Count on it: non-citizens--even illegal aliens--are included in the Census. Think this affects the political system?(The Nation)
December 8, 2003... NOBODY in the House of Representatives has more constituents than Denny Rehberg. With some 900,000 people in his district--which encompasses the whole state of Montana--his population base is almost 50 percent larger than that of the typical...

Putin's October revolution: a scary time in Russia.(Russia)
December 8, 2003... IN the space of a few weeks in October, Vladimir Putin's Russia sent decisive signals to its population, to its neighbors, and to the world that the country is doing business in a new way. The contours of Putin's "October revolution" signal the...

When crime hits home ... pretensions fall away--even in France.(Culture Watch)
December 8, 2003... NO one is so liberal that he does not wish to visit condign punishment upon at least one criminal or class of criminals. No one is so compassionate that his understanding is incapable of giving way to the desire for vengeance. It is as if the...

Witnesses: a greatest generation of anti-Communists.(In Appreciation)
December 8, 2003... THE year now coming to its end has marked the centenary of three fine British anti-Communist writers: Evelyn Waugh, George Orwell, and Malcolm Muggeridge. Each tried his hand at different kinds of writing, but I do not think it seriously unfair...

Then and now: there are great differences between Vietnam and Iraq, and there are certain similarities, and all must be weighed.(Cover Story)
December 8, 2003... VIETNAM! Vietnam! The mere mention of it still sends shudders through Americans--and for that very reason it is alluded to almost weekly in the columns of Maureen Dowd, Molly Ivins, Paul Krugman, et al. After all, Vietnam was purportedly our...

Whose constitution is it, anyway? Supreme Court justices are importing foreign law, signaling a historic and deplorable shift.(The Law)
December 8, 2003... WHAT is going on here? Justice Sandra Day O'Connor in a recent speech said that decisions of other countries' courts could be persuasive authority in American courts. At a time when 30 percent of the U.S. gross national product is...

The long view.(satire)
December 8, 2003... From Larry King Live, November 25, 1703 LARRY KING: "Hello, caller from Old Salem Turnpike. You're on with Chief Wild Turkey of the Annisquam Tribe." CALLER: "Am I on?" LARRY KING: "What's your question, caller?" CALLER:...

Help!!!!(Comic)
December 8, 2003... ... NO, NO, GUYS! THAT'S GOING TOO NEGATIVE!!! BY THE WAY, WE COULD USE SOME MORE CASH. "HEY, MOM! YOU SURE THERE ARE NO SIDE EFFECTS FROM CLONED FOOD?!" "I'm a conservative, and he's a neo-conservative." LET'S PLAY DOCTOR...

The House of Saud.(Poem)
December 8, 2003... THE HOUSE OF SAUD With palaces like Kubla Khan's For, say, 5,000 princes, Bin Laden's bombs shook chandeliers And triggered royal winces, Recalling Antoinette when she Peered anxiously at Louis, Observing in her...

Nike's apostle.(Ripples of Battle: How Wars of the Past Still Determine How We Fight, How We Live, and How We Think)(Book Review)
December 8, 2003... Ripples of Battle: How Wars of the Past Still Determine How We Fight, How We Live, and How We Think, by Victor Davis Hanson (Doubleday, 278 pp., $27.50) VICTOR DAVIS HANSON is the only modern writer I know with the sensibility of an...

Going to Heaven.(Poem)
December 8, 2003... GOING TO HEAVEN She went on her knees in the dirt thinking of nothing lost in the crumbling blackness kneeling above her shadow preparing a place for bulbs and the few seeds held in the palm of her hand. ...

The Axeman cometh.(Rumsfeld: A Personal Portrait)(Book Review)
December 8, 2003... Rumsfeld: A Personal Portrait, by Midge Decter (Regan, 240 pp., $24.95) IN the summer of 2001, the smart money in Washington was betting that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld would be the first member of the Bush cabinet to resign. There...

Remembering genocide.(The Burning Tigris: The Armenian Genocide and America's Response)(Book Review)
December 8, 2003... The Burning Tigris: The Armenian Genocide and America's Response, by Peter Balakian (HarperCollins, 496 pp., $26.95) THE fate of the Armenian people has been as cruel as any. Between 1890 and 1915, in a series of increasingly bloody...

Religious fiction ...(The Da Vinci Code)(Book Review)
December 8, 2003... The Da Vinci Code, by Dan Brown (Doubleday, 454 pp., $24.95) WHEN a novel has stuck around the top of the New York Times bestseller list for half a year, there is something interesting going on. Such a book has set off a pretty loud pealing...

... and religious fact.(The Resurrection of the Son of God)(Book Review)
December 8, 2003... The Resurrection of the Son of God, by N. T. Wright (Fortress, 817 pp., $39) THIS is unquestionably the Book of the Moment in religious studies--hailed by preachers and lay scholars, Protestant and Catholic alike--and deservedly so. It...

From Hilary to Bill.(Hilary Hahn)
December 8, 2003... OF the many young violinists before the public today, Hilary Hahn may be the most impressive. Last season, she gave a recital in Carnegie Hall that was a model of musicianship. It included a Bach partita, that composer being central to the...

Image conscious.(The Straggler)(portrait photography)(Column)
December 8, 2003... Having asked Mr. Langton if his father and mother had sat for their pictures, which he thought it right for each generation of a family to do, and being told they had opposed it, he said, "Sir, among the anfractuosities of the human mind, I...

A longer look at Chinook.(on the right)
December 8, 2003... NEW YORK, NOVEMBER 4 LET'S say the obvious by acknowledging that it is obvious. If my son had been killed on that Chinook helicopter, the loss would have destroyed my life, and his mother's. Destroyed is the word one uses when enduring...

God and man at Bay.(on the right)(abortion)
December 8, 2003... NEW YORK, NOVEMBER 7 THE bill proscribing partial-birth abortions threw off lights, intended and not intended. There was the decision by the White House to give the signing of the new law maximum attention. Accordingly, leading lights in...

Happily seduced.(Master and Commander)(Video Recording Review)
December 8, 2003... NEW YORK, NOVEMBER 11 IN the course of 24 hours, the people egging on Master and Commander showed me the film at a private screening, took me to dinner at the New York Yacht Club, gave me a book which tells about the making of the movie,...

"Angels" in America.(letters to the editor)(Letter to the Editor)
December 22, 2003... I generally do not give political interviews to either left- or right-wing media. But a few weeks ago I agreed to speak to Byron York regarding my involvement in a new talk-radio network ("Liberal Radio and Its Dark Angel: Meet the Amazing...

In National Annenberg Election Survey poll, President Bush earns 61 percent approval rating.(for the record)(Brief Article)
December 22, 2003... * In National Annenberg Election Survey poll, President Bush earns 61 percent approval rating.... Bush in Baghdad: "We did not charge hundreds of miles into the heart of Iraq, pay a bitter cost in casualties, defeat a ruthless dictator, and...

RNC ad: "Some are now attacking the President for attacking the terrorists.".(for the record)(Brief Article)
December 22, 2003... * RNC ad: "Some are now attacking the President for attacking the terrorists."... Senate minority leader Tom Daschle (D., S.D.) on RNC ad, on NBC: "It's really a repulsive and outrageous attack."... Michael Dukakis: "This is the worst...

Sen. Lincoln Chafee (R., R.I.) on whether he's "inclined" to vote for Bush next year, in Providence Journal-Bulletin: "I'm a good Republican.".(for the record)(Brief Article)
December 22, 2003... * Sen. Lincoln Chafee (R., R.I.) on whether he's "inclined" to vote for Bush next year, in Providence Journal-Bulletin: "I'm a good Republican."... Chafee on why he won't answer "yes" or "no": "That's as far as I'll go."... Paul Weyrich of...

USS Cole is deployed for first time since terrorists bombed it in Yemen in 2000.(for the record)(Brief Article)
December 22, 2003... * USS Cole is deployed for first time since terrorists bombed it in Yemen in 2000.... In Fox News poll, 66 percent oppose Massachusetts Supreme Court decision mandating gay marriage.... In Gallup poll on greatest president, Abraham Lincoln and...

Czech president Vaclav Klaus: "The enemies of free societies today are those who want to burden us down again with layer upon layer of regulations.(for the record)(Brief Article)
December 22, 2003... * Czech president Vaclav Klaus: "The enemies of free societies today are those who want to burden us down again with layer upon layer of regulations. We had that in Communist times. But now if you look at all the new rules and regulations of EU...

Jay Leno: "At midnight on Monday night almost all of the electricity in Baghdad went out--the whole city blacked out.(for the record)
December 22, 2003... * Jay Leno: "At midnight on Monday night almost all of the electricity in Baghdad went out--the whole city blacked out. Sounds like Gray Davis has started his new job."

Hey, Howard, you should simply tell 'em.(The Week)
December 22, 2003... * Hey, Howard, you should simply tell 'em, "Those who skied, also served."

Was President Bush's Thanksgiving trip to Baghdad political?(The Week)(Brief Article)
December 22, 2003... * Was President Bush's Thanksgiving trip to Baghdad political? Was it designed to provide an image--Bush serving turkey and fixings to troops--to supplant an earlier one--Bush on the deck of the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln, in front of the banner...

After months of taking incoming rounds from the Democrats, President Bush returned fire in a 30-second ad the Republican National Committee is running in Iowa.(The Week)(Brief Article)
December 22, 2003... * After months of taking incoming rounds from the Democrats, President Bush returned fire in a 30-second ad the Republican National Committee is running in Iowa. The ad says that "some are now attacking the president for attacking the...

Remember Sheldon Drobny?(The Week)(Brief Article)
December 22, 2003... * Remember Sheldon Drobny? The Chicago millionaire venture capitalist had a brief moment of fame as the founder of a new liberal talk-radio network. Lionized by some on the left, he also gave voice to their worst excesses; he once...

One sometimes gets the impression that President Bush is running a protectionist administration and turning his back on decades of free-trade policies.(The Week)(Brief Article)
December 22, 2003... * One sometimes gets the impression that President Bush is running a protectionist administration and turning his back on decades of free-trade policies. That impression is incorrect. Administrations of both parties have for years pursued free...

After three years of work by the administration and Congress, the energy bill had become a nearly perfect piece of Washington bipartisanship: it was 1,700 pages of special-interest giveaways, almost devoid of worthwhile reforms.(The Week)(Brief Article)
December 22, 2003... * After three years of work by the administration and Congress, the energy bill had become a nearly perfect piece of Washington bipartisanship: It was 1,700 pages of special-interest giveaways, almost devoid of worthwhile reforms. Bush was...

Reportedly, the IRS is auditing the National Education Association, and students of the union's political practices are betting that its new-math approach to its tax returns will flunk the exam.(The Week)(Brief Article)
December 22, 2003... * Reportedly, the IRS is auditing the National Education Association, and students of the union's political practices are betting that its new-math approach to its tax returns will flunk the exam. The Landmark Legal Foundation first filed a...

What is wrong with this headline?(The Week)(more casualties in Iraq)(Brief Article)
December 22, 2003... * What is wrong with this headline? 46 IRAQIS DIE IN FIERCE FIGHT / BETWEEN REBELS AND G.I.'S (New York Times, December 1). The dead were from Iraq. But we are not at war with Iraq. Saddam Hussein's regime, which we fought, is gone. Iraq is a...

Public events pass before us, cloaked and blurry, in blizzards of talk, and then someone writes something that floods the scene with light.(The Week)(George W. Bush)(Brief Article)
December 22, 2003... * Public events pass before us, cloaked and blurry, in blizzards of talk, and then someone writes something that floods the scene with light. President Bush's Thanksgiving trip to Baghdad was hailed by an Iraqi blogger, whose nom d'Internet is...

In certain European quarters, there has been a depressing squeamishness about confronting the proliferators of doomsday weapons.(for the record)(Brief Article)
December 22, 2003... * In certain European quarters, there has been a depressing squeamishness about confronting the proliferators of doomsday weapons. So perhaps it isn't surprising that, when the International Atomic Energy Agency entertained the idea of...

The European Left and a good many of the 10 million or more Muslim immigrants on the continent come together in the common cause of hating Israel.(for the record)(Brief Article)
December 22, 2003... * The European Left and a good many of the 10 million or more Muslim immigrants on the continent come together in the common cause of hating Israel. Inevitably their generalized attack on Jews results in random murder, bombings of Jewish...