National Review articles from June 2008

National Review archives from June 2008

O, I wish I was in the land of Karom!(Letter to the editor)
June 2, 2008... In May 5's "Week," you address Muslim pubs in Great Britain. In listing the entertainment available, you mention karom boards, and offer the aside: "We don't know either." I grew up in South Georgia playing that game. It is played on a...

Be not afraid.(Letter to the editor)
June 2, 2008... In "Inside Story" (May 19), John Derbyshire asks whether the science of consciousness could undermine the notion of free will. Scientifically speaking, perhaps it could. But suppose science did prove that our every choice is the product of...

You read us right.(Letter to the editor)
June 2, 2008... I had to do a double take, and pinch myself, when I read the words "his deadbeat Kenyan father and his hippiescrewball white mother" ("The Hopeless Pastor," May 19). I found it hard to believe you would characterize Barack Obama's parents that...

Hillary Clinton says she is winning the votes of "hardworking Americans.".(The Week)(Brief article)
June 2, 2008... Hillary Clinton says she is winning the votes of "hardworking Americans." Maybe so, but she needs a majority of Democrats.

You would think, from the cartoons and the commentary, that Clinton had revived the politics of the young Robert Byrd.(The Week)(Hillary Clinton)(Brief article)
June 2, 2008... You would think, from the cartoons and the commentary, that Clinton had revived the politics of the young Robert Byrd. Give her, and us, a break. What she said, trying to put the best face on her disappointing showing in North Carolina and...

McCain assailed activist judges, saying that his judicial appointees would interpret the law rather than make it.(The Week)(John McCain)(Brief article)
June 2, 2008... McCain assailed activist judges, saying that his judicial appointees would interpret the law rather than make it. McCain said he would be looking for nominees with a record of restraint; he would not just trust his instincts about them. In...

McCain reiterated his support for a "cap and trade" approach to global warming.(The Week)(John McCain)(Brief article)
June 2, 2008... McCain reiterated his support for a "cap and trade" approach to global warming. The government would require reductions in greenhouse-gas emissions but allow companies to trade emissions permits, in order to bring about the reductions as...

Environmentalists have sued to get the Interior Department to list the polar bear as an endangered species.(The Week)(Brief article)
June 2, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Environmentalists have sued to get the Interior Department to list the polar bear as an endangered species. In the past, listing species as endangered has led to restrictions on development in their habitat. This...

McCain's health-care plan would make health insurance affordable for the first time for millions of Americans, by eliminating tax penalties on and regulatory obstacles to the purchase of insurance by individuals.(The Week)(John McCain)(Brief article)
June 2, 2008... McCain's health-care plan would make health insurance affordable for the first time for millions of Americans, by eliminating tax penalties on and regulatory obstacles to the purchase of insurance by individuals. Elizabeth Edwards, the wife of...

Cindy McCain refuses to release her tax returns.(The Week)(Brief article)
June 2, 2008... Cindy McCain refuses to release her tax returns. "This is a privacy issue. My husband is the candidate," she said on the Today show. The McCains have filed separate tax returns for 28 years. Mrs. McCain, who inherited one of the nation's...

There are those candidates who make themselves ridiculous by repeatedly running for president: Stassen, Keyes, Buchanan, Nader.(The Week)(Brief article)
June 2, 2008... There are those candidates who make themselves ridiculous by repeatedly running for president: Stassen, Keyes, Buchanan, Nader. Then there are those candidates who make themselves ridiculous by running for president at all. Former Republican...

The news keeps getting worse for House Republicans.(The Week)(Brief article)
June 2, 2008... The news keeps getting worse for House Republicans. They lost a special election in a Louisiana district they had owned for three decades. The Republicans tried to tie the pro-life, pro-gun Democratic candidate to Barack Obama's liberalism, and...

Congress is debating a $178 billion supplemental-spending bill to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.(The Week)(Brief article)
June 2, 2008... Congress is debating a $178 billion supplemental-spending bill to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The bill is long overdue, and President Bush has warned that unless Congress acts in a timely fashion, it will mean furloughs for as many...

Ward Connerly once envisioned sponsoring ballot referenda to end racial preferences in five states this November, just as he has done previously in California, Michigan, and Washington.(The Week)(Brief article)
June 2, 2008... Ward Connerly once envisioned sponsoring ballot referenda to end racial preferences in five states this November, just as he has done previously in California, Michigan, and Washington. Then he bumped into Oklahoma's tough qualifying laws and...

In most of the country, Catholic education is in retreat as sparser attendance and higher costs force parishes to shutter schools.(The Week)(Brief article)
June 2, 2008... In most of the country, Catholic education is in retreat as sparser attendance and higher costs force parishes to shutter schools. But things are sunnier in Arizona, where the Diocese of Phoenix has opened six new Catholic schools in the past...

Michael Antonovich, conservative Republican member of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, has issued yet another of his analyses of the county's Department of Public Social Services figures.(The Week)(Brief article)
June 2, 2008... Michael Antonovich, conservative Republican member of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, has issued yet another of his analyses of the county's Department of Public Social Services figures. He concludes that nearly 25 percent of the...

Two hundred-plus people blocked traffic in six spots in New York City to protest the acquittal of the detectives who shot Sean Bell, and were briefly arrested.(The Week)(Brief article)
June 2, 2008... Two hundred-plus people blocked traffic in six spots in New York City to protest the acquittal of the detectives who shot Sean Bell, and were briefly arrested. "If they're not going to arrest the guilty," declared a spokesman for Al Sharpton's...

A 6-3 majority of the U.S. Supreme Court upheld an Indiana voter-identification law.(The Week)(Brief article)
June 2, 2008... A 6-3 majority of the U.S. Supreme Court upheld an Indiana voter-identification law. The decision in Crawford v. Marion County Election Board underscores the importance of nominating conservative justices who value judicial restraint. More than...

Scare tacticians.(The Week)(Viewpoint essay)
June 2, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] AS we all know, the GOP is the party of fear. Republicans scare Americans out of voting their hopes, their dreams, their noblest aspirations--all of the things that, we are told, the Democrats appeal to. According to...

For decades Burma has been an impoverished autarchy, ruled by the army.(The Week)(Brief article)
June 2, 2008... For decades Burma has been an impoverished autarchy, ruled by the army. If you were not a dissident, like Nobelist Aung San Suu Kyi, or a member of a rebellious ethnic minority, you could live a life of miserable stasis--so long as nothing bad...

Who governs Lebanon? Since last November, the Lebanese have been trying and failing to elect a president.(The Week)(Brief article)
June 2, 2008... Who governs Lebanon? Since last November, the Lebanese have been trying and failing to elect a president. In the political vacuum, the two main contenders for power are the prime minister, Fuad Siniora, a Sunni Muslim, and Sheikh Hassan...

After Awad al-Qiq was killed in a recent Israeli air strike in Gaza, he was unmasked as the Hannah Montana of the elite U.N.-run Rafah Prep Boys School: popular headmaster and science teacher by day, bomb-maker by night.(The Week)(Brief article)
June 2, 2008... After Awad al-Qiq was killed in a recent Israeli air strike in Gaza, he was unmasked as the Hannah Montana of the elite U.N.-run Rafah Prep Boys School: popular headmaster and science teacher by day, bomb-maker by night. The terrorist group...

In October 2000 the destroyer U.S.S. Cole was attacked and damaged by two suicide bombers in a plot hatched by al-Qaeda.(The Week)(Viewpoint essay)(Brief article)
June 2, 2008... In October 2000 the destroyer U.S.S. Cole was attacked and damaged by two suicide bombers in a plot hatched by al-Qaeda. Seventeen U.S. sailors died and 39 were injured. This happened while the Cole was refueling in Aden, which is the main port...

The Muslim world does not seem to suffer from those tiresome conflicts between science and religion that have vexed Christendom these past 400 years.(The Week)(Brief article)
June 2, 2008... The Muslim world does not seem to suffer from those tiresome conflicts between science and religion that have vexed Christendom these past 400 years. Thus, Muslim scientists and clerics found themselves of one mind when recently assembled in...

Zimbabwean junta head honcho Robert Mugabe has slithered into a runoff election against opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai.(The Week)(Brief article)
June 2, 2008... Zimbabwean junta head honcho Robert Mugabe has slithered into a runoff election against opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai. Tsvangirai outpolled Mugabe in the presidential election, and it is quite likely that an honest count would have given...

Saparmurat Atayevich Niyazov, the colorful president of Turkmenistan from 1990 to 2006, got everyone's attention by giving his nation's calendar a makeover, renaming the months and days after himself, his mother, and various historical figures he favored.(The Week)(Brief article)
June 2, 2008... Saparmurat Atayevich Niyazov, the colorful president of Turkmenistan from 1990 to 2006, got everyone's attention by giving his nation's calendar a makeover, renaming the months and days after himself, his mother, and various historical figures...

Boris Johnson is already a celebrity known to most British people by his first name only.(The Week)(Brief article)
June 2, 2008... Boris Johnson is already a celebrity known to most British people by his first name only. That is a rare distinction. Forty-three now, he made his unusual way to the top by appearing on talk shows, and hamming it up with a distinctive mix of...

Where have we heard this story before?(The Week)(Brief article)
June 2, 2008... Where have we heard this story before? An angry populist politician with no time for economics demands protection for jobs at home--jobs that are being "stolen" by cheap labor in India. The odd twist is that this politician is himself in India....

We extend our congratulations to Mrs. Michelle Duggar of Tontitown, Ark., who has learned that she is expecting her 18th child.(The Week)(Brief article)
June 2, 2008... We extend our congratulations to Mrs. Michelle Duggar of Tontitown, Ark., who has learned that she is expecting her 18th child. The new addition will join seven sisters and ten brothers, including two sets of twins. All the children are...

America is fascinated by Niko Bellic, a blizzard of pixels taking the form of an imaginary immigrant from Eastern Europe, the protagonist of Grand Theft Auto IV.(The Week)(Brief article)
June 2, 2008... America is fascinated by Niko Bellic, a blizzard of pixels taking the form of an imaginary immigrant from Eastern Europe, the protagonist of Grand Theft Auto IV. The GTA series is admired for its technical achievement and vilified for its...

"How small of all that human hearts endure / That part which laws or kings can cause or cure.".(The Week)(Maria Soledad Vela's pro-pleasure argument)(Brief article)
June 2, 2008... "How small of all that human hearts endure / That part which laws or kings can cause or cure." So wrote Samuel Johnson, but his words do not seem to have penetrated Ecuador, where a hot-blooded parliamentarian named Maria Soledad Vela proposes...

In our last issue we alerted you to the death in Baghdad of Staff Sgt. Ronald Blystone, whose image appeared on a 2005 cover of National Review.(The Week)(Brief article)
June 2, 2008... In our last issue we alerted you to the death in Baghdad of Staff Sgt. Ronald Blystone, whose image appeared on a 2005 cover of NATIONAL REVIEW. The family of the 34-year-old Bronze Star recipient, who was on his third tour in Iraq, has set up...

Obama victorious.(POLITICS)(Barack Obama)
June 2, 2008... BARACK OBAMA's big win in North Carolina and his slim loss in Indiana on May 6 brought him yet closer to the nomination, and brought us face-to-face with several aspects of the rest of the campaign. One is the full-court press of the press...

Do nothing, congress.(HOUSING)(real estate bills)
June 2, 2008... DEFYING a White House veto threat, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a pair of housing bills that would reward foolish lenders and borrowers, weaken the reputation of American securities, and punish renters. The centerpiece of the...

Sixty years of success.(ISRAEL)
June 2, 2008... JUST 60 years ago, David Ben-Gurion declared that after a lapse of two millennia the state of Israel had resumed its existence. There was dancing in the streets of this revived state. At the time, the Nazi Holocaust had just dealt Jews what was...

A heap of troubles: and how John McCain should try to surmount them.(2008)
June 2, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] REPUBLICANS have spent months delighting in the divisions among Democrats. They fear Senator Obama's potential to win a landslide in November less than they did when he won the Iowa caucuses at the beginning of...

Obama's white problem: it could cling to him all the way to November.(2008 II)(Barack Obama)
June 2, 2008... Charlotte, N.C. CAN Democrats unite after the long and bitter primary battle between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton? The question most often asked is whether disappointed Clinton supporters will shift their allegiance to Obama. But there...

Transgenic travesty: genetically modified crops could help poor farmers--if rich Western greens allowed it.(SCIENCE)
June 2, 2008... GENETICALLY modified crops should be a green activist's dream. They can increase productivity per acre, reduce the need for pesticides and herbicides, improve plants' ability to survive unfavorable conditions, and deliver key nutrients to...

Filth matters: the moral squalor of Hollywood.(CULTURE WATCH)
June 2, 2008... TWO things have ruthlessly conspired to prevent me from seeing as much cinema as I would like: parenthood and book-writing, which itself is a bit like giving birth to a child with painfully pointy edges and even less initiative or gratitude...

Undetermined: there is danger in assuming that genes explain all.(Essay)
June 2, 2008... THE delineation of the double-helix structure of DNA by Watson and Crick in 1953 will almost surely rank as one of the most epochal scientific discoveries in human history. Following rapidly upon the synthesis of Darwinian evolution with...

Beneath the hope: Obama and the politics of grievance.(2008 III)(Barack Obama )(Viewpoint essay)
June 2, 2008... THE more Barack Obama racks up majorities in states with large university and black populations--what Clinton strategist Paul Begala called the "eggheads and African-Americans"--the more he seems to fare poorly in the electoral-vote-rich states...

The road to Beijing: the perils and possibilities of holding the Olympic Games in a police state.(CHINA)
June 2, 2008... THE Beijing Olympics are approaching: They will begin on August 8. They were scheduled to begin earlier, on July 25--but the government's meteorologists counseled that the start be delayed, increasing the chances of fair weather. Everything...

'Writing is a spiritual process': the novels--and ideas--of Dean Koontz.(PEOPLE)
June 2, 2008... ABOUT 80 pages into Intensity, a 1995 novel by Dean Koontz, the heroine reflects upon her unlikely predicament. She's trapped in the motor home of a homicidal maniac who has just slaughtered a family. Chyna Shepherd has to decide what to do....

AFTRA--American Federation of Television and Radio Artists/News Division Mental Health Clinic--therapist's notes.(the long view)(Barack Obama)
June 2, 2008... First Session: Therapist begins by welcoming the group and congratulating the patients on their courage and commitment to becoming healthier and more emotionally balanced reporters and pundits. Except for Patient Keith O., who attends the...

Help.(Brief article)
June 2, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] "Now, most Huns are hard-working, law-abiding citizens--I'm only talking about extremist Huns..." [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] "What?--All that work, and now they don't even believe in evolution?" HE KEEPS...

Parallel lives.(books, arts & manners)(Book review)
June 2, 2008... Gandhi & Churchill: The Epic Rivalry That Destroyed an Empire and Forged Our Age, by Arthur Herman (Bantam, 736 pp., $30) [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] ARTHUR HERMAN clearly believes in being provocative: His best-known...

Touring the horizon.(books, arts & manners)(Book review)
June 2, 2008... The Second World: Empires and Influence in the New Global Order, by Parag Khanna (Random House, 496 pp., $29) PARAG KHANNA's The Second World is a great book that deserves wide reading but not wide debate. Some incorrectly...

Chinese rug.(Poem)
June 2, 2008... CHINESE RUG The ponies at our feet--the blue ones laze; The brown stand upright, though some bow to nibble--Are placid, but a tad bit crude and hokey. (One might be put in mind of Gumby's Pokey, Considering the...

More than hustlers.(books, arts & manners)(Book review)
June 2, 2008... Throes of Democracy: The American Civil War Era, 1829-1877, by Walter A. McDougall (Harper, 816 pp., $34.95) [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] ANUMBER of traits tend to characterize American historians: Some embrace narrative, while...

Turning the tide.(books, arts & manners)(Book review)
June 2, 2008... Upstream: The Ascendance of American Conservatism, by Alfred S. Regnery (Threshold, 448 pp., $26) [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] IN this quadrennial silly season, the political spectacle can get discouraging. What better moment,...

Stark mad.(FILM)(Iron Man)(Movie review)
June 2, 2008... THE script for Iron Man, this summer's first successful popcorn flick, belongs atop the syllabus for a class that some enterprising film school ought to offer: How to Write Action Movies in a Polarized Climate. Ever since 9/11, and especially...

New every morning.(THE STRAGGLER)(oatmeal)
June 2, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Is anybody in a good humor at breakfast? Well, Mr. Pickwick was. Our last glimpse of that gentleman is at the breakfast table after the marriage of Mr. Snodgrass. "Mr. Pickwick, having said grace, pauses for an...

'Ask Michelle,' continued.(Michelle Obama)(Letter to the editor)
June 16, 2008... Rob Long--Will you please forward this letter to Michelle Obama, so that she may consider it for her next advice column? Dear Michelle: We'll be getting our $600 stimulus check soon, but we're stumped on how to spend it. The little...

I am not depraved.(letters to the editor)(Letter to the editor)
June 16, 2008... George Gilder has an effusive review of David Berlinski's new book, The Devil's Delusion, in your May 5 issue ("Blinkered Sages"). The book sounds interesting, but Gilder writes: "A culture that does not aspire to the divine becomes obsessed...

Linda Douglass is leaving the media to take up a post in the Obama campaign.(The Week)(Brief article)
June 16, 2008... Linda Douglass is leaving the media to take up a post in the Obama campaign. We wonder if she'll even have to change health plans.

What keeps Barack Obama up at night?(The Week)(Brief article)
June 16, 2008... What keeps Barack Obama up at night? His fat and happy compatriots. "We can't drive our SUVs and eat as much as we want and keep our homes on 72 degrees at all times... and then just expect that other countries are going to say, 'Okay,'" he...

"Public service" is a slippery term that might refer to anything from heroic deeds by military personnel to make-work paper shuffling in pointless federal bureaucracies.(The Week)(Barack Obama's commencement address to Wesleyan University)(Brief article)
June 16, 2008... "Public service" is a slippery term that might refer to anything from heroic deeds by military personnel to make-work paper shuffling in pointless federal bureaucracies. In the mouths of Democrats, its meaning tends toward the latter. That is...

Senator Obama blames Rush Limbaugh and Lou Dobbs for doubling the number of hate crimes against Hispanics: "there's a reason why hate crimes against Hispanic people doubled last year," Obama proclaimed, before naming the two commentators.(The Week)(Brief article)
June 16, 2008... Senator Obama blames Rush Limbaugh and Lou Dobbs for doubling the number of hate crimes against Hispanics: "There's a reason why hate crimes against Hispanic people doubled last year," Obama proclaimed, before naming the two commentators. Obama...

Sen. Edward Kennedy's diagnosis of a malignant brain tumor produced an outpouring of tributes.(The Week)(Brief article)
June 16, 2008... Sen. Edward Kennedy's diagnosis of a malignant brain tumor produced an outpouring of tributes. While we were, are, and will be hostile to his politics, we acknowledge his constancy in pursuit of them. Our prayers and thoughts are with him and...

George Packer, writing in The New Yorker, reports that conservatives are divided and discouraged.(The Week)(Republican Party)(Brief article)
June 16, 2008... George Packer, writing in The New Yorker, reports that conservatives are divided and discouraged. Who knew? To our mind, he mischaracterizes the conservative division in a way that exaggerates it. On his telling, older conservatives seek a...

President Bush recently drew attention to a dog not barking: he has not played golf since 2003.(The Week)(George W. Bush)(Brief article)
June 16, 2008... President Bush recently drew attention to a dog not barking: He has not played golf since 2003. He said, "I don't want some mom whose son may have recently died to see the commander in chief playing golf. I feel I owe it to the families to be...

"We won the recount, and they won the movie," says Republican lawyer Ben Ginsberg of the new HBO picture Recount.(The Week)(Brief article)
June 16, 2008... "We won the recount, and they won the movie," says Republican lawyer Ben Ginsberg of the new HBO picture Recount. Back in 2000, Ginsberg played a major role in George W. Bush's Florida recount effort, and now HBO has given his character a big...

Drawing upon substantial support from congressional Republicans, the House and Senate overrode President Bush's veto of the farm bill, thereby enacting an expansion of farm subsidies at a time when high food prices have sent farm incomes 51 percent higher than their previous ten-year average.(The Week)(Brief article)
June 16, 2008... Drawing upon substantial support from congressional Republicans, the House and Senate overrode President Bush's veto of the farm bill, thereby enacting an expansion of farm subsidies at a time when high food prices have sent farm incomes 51...

The villain of the summer blockbuster this year is Rep. Collin Peterson, the Minnesota Democrat who chairs the House Agriculture Committee.(The Week)(ethanol program)(Brief article)
June 16, 2008... The villain of the summer blockbuster this year is Rep. Collin Peterson, the Minnesota Democrat who chairs the House Agriculture Committee. With federal ethanol shenanigans driving up the price of corn, movie theaters are feeling the bite as...

Congress hauled in the oil executives to justify their outrageous habit of maximizing profits rather than setting prices charitably.(The Week)(Brief article)
June 16, 2008... Congress hauled in the oil executives to justify their outrageous habit of maximizing profits rather than setting prices charitably. Never mind that gas prices are high in part because of congressional mandates, regulations, and taxes. What...

Most Americans can agree that veterans should have more education benefits (the existing G.I. Bill provides a significant range of benefits).(The Week)(Brief article)
June 16, 2008... Most Americans can agree that veterans should have more education benefits (the existing G.I. Bill provides a significant range of benefits). But Sen. Jim Webb's proposed expansion of the G.I. Bill would provide the full range of benefits after...

The Interior Department decided, mostly on the basis of speculation, that global warming is threatening the polar bear.(The Week)(Brief article)
June 16, 2008... The Interior Department decided, mostly on the basis of speculation, that global warming is threatening the polar bear. Normally such a ruling would lead to regulations to end the threat, but Bush's appointees at the department decided that it...

In a refreshingly lopsided 7-2 ruling, the Supreme Court has upheld a federal law against child pornography.(The Week)(Brief article)
June 16, 2008... In a refreshingly lopsided 7-2 ruling, the Supreme Court has upheld a federal law against child pornography. One might have thought common ground could be found on banning this narrow and revolting traffic, but it has proven difficult. In 2002...

On May 13, Elaine Chao became the longest-serving labor secretary since the Second World War.(The Week)(Brief article)
June 16, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] On May 13, Elaine Chao became the longest-serving labor secretary since the Second World War. Since starting her job in 2001--she is the only member of Bush's original cabinet who has stayed put--she has championed...

One big step forward, two small steps back for school choice.(The Week)(tax credits for scholarship donors)(Brief article)
June 16, 2008... One big step forward, two small steps back for school choice. In Georgia, Republican governor Sonny Perdue signed legislation to give people tax credits for donating to scholarship funds that can be used at private or parochial schools. In...

A Texas appeals court ruled that the state's child-protective-services agency failed to show that the children of schismatic Mormon polygamists seized in a massive April raid were in "immediate" or "urgent" danger to "physical health or safety.".(The Week)(Brief article)
June 16, 2008... A Texas appeals court ruled that the state's child-protective-services agency failed to show that the children of schismatic Mormon polygamists seized in a massive April raid were in "immediate" or "urgent" danger to "physical health or...

When Gen. David Petraeus testified before Congress in April about Iraq, Democrats hammered what then seemed a botched Iraqi-government offensive against Shiite militias in Basra.(The Week)(Brief article)
June 16, 2008... When Gen. David Petraeus testified before Congress in April about Iraq, Democrats hammered what then seemed a botched Iraqi-government offensive against Shiite militias in Basra. They don't talk about Basra anymore. Iraqi security forces got...

Hezbollah may have overplayed its hand by provoking a confrontation with Israel in 2006, but since then it has been running rings around the United States and the United Nations, acting as Iran's proxy army in Lebanon.(The Week)(Brief article)
June 16, 2008... Hezbollah may have overplayed its hand by provoking a confrontation with Israel in 2006, but since then it has been running rings around the United States and the United Nations, acting as Iran's proxy army in Lebanon. It is one of the...

After the Burmese cyclone, the Sichuanese earthquake: the heart groans with sympathy.(The Week)(Brief article)
June 16, 2008... After the Burmese cyclone, the Sichuanese earthquake: The heart groans with sympathy. But consider the political fallout. Unlike the odious Burmese generals, Beijing mobilized itself to help its victims; premier Wen Jiabao went to the disaster...

A safe Labour seat in the north of England has been captured in a by-election by the Conservatives in spectacular fashion.(The Week)(Brief article)
June 16, 2008... A safe Labour seat in the north of England has been captured in a by-election by the Conservatives in spectacular fashion. The swing to the Right was about 18 percent, and if this were repeated in a general election, the Conservatives under...

It is not every day we agree with an International Herald Tribune editorial, but we must hail one the paper had about Frank-Walter Steinmeier.(The Week)(Brief article)
June 16, 2008... It is not every day we agree with an International Herald Tribune editorial, but we must hail one the paper had about Frank-Walter Steinmeier. He is Germany's vice chancellor and foreign minister, a Social Democrat. The chancellor, Angela...

Entrepreneurial exceptionalism.(Brief article)
June 16, 2008... IF they had held entrepreneurial Olympics in the 20th century, then the United States would have walked away with most of the gold medals. But why have American entrepreneurs been better? Is there something about the American spirit that...

The surrender of Nelly Avila Moreno, a top commander in the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (known by its Spanish acronym FARC), is yet another milestone in Colombian president Alvaro Uribe's remarkable campaign against the leftist guerrilla group.(The Week)(Brief article)
June 16, 2008... The surrender of Nelly Avila Moreno, a top commander in the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (known by its Spanish acronym FARC), is yet another milestone in Colombian president Alvaro Uribe's remarkable campaign against the leftist...

Changes are afoot in Saudi Arabia, and they are changes for the good.(The Week)(Brief article)
June 16, 2008... Changes are afoot in Saudi Arabia, and they are changes for the good. Consider this: The desert kingdom had its first-ever public performance of classical music. And here is something else astonishing: It took place before a mixed-gender...

You'd better not shout, you'd better not cry, and you'd certainly better not engage in "profiling" or "hate speech": the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia, and Related Intolerance is coming to town.(The Week)(Brief article)
June 16, 2008... You'd better not shout, you'd better not cry, and you'd certainly better not engage in "profiling" or "hate speech": The U.N. Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia, and Related Intolerance is...

What has just happened to Lenny Woodward is a symptom of something gone wrong in the England where he lives.(The Week)(Brief article)
June 16, 2008... What has just happened to Lenny Woodward is a symptom of something gone wrong in the England where he lives. A man of 96, he uses a walking stick, he's almost blind, and he lives alone because his wife died three years ago. During the Second...

Lt. Gen. Franklin "Buster" Hagenbeck, superintendent of the U.S. Military Academy, has decided to gender-neutralize the lyrics of West Point's two most hallowed songs, the alma mater ("Guide us, thy sons, aright") and "The Corps" ("We sons of today, we salute you," etc.).(The Week)(Brief article)
June 16, 2008... Lt. Gen. Franklin "Buster" Hagenbeck, superintendent of the U.S. Military Academy, has decided to gender-neutralize the lyrics of West Point's two most hallowed songs, the alma mater ("Guide us, thy sons, aright") and "The Corps" ("We sons of...

The award for Best Actor at the Cannes Film Festival has gone to Benicio del Toro for his portrayal of the Marxist-Leninist revolutionary Che Guevara in Steven Soderbergh's worshipful four-and-a-half-hour biopic of the charismatic thug.(The Week)(Brief article)
June 16, 2008... The award for Best Actor at the Cannes Film Festival has gone to Benicio del Toro for his portrayal of the Marxist-Leninist revolutionary Che Guevara in Steven Soderbergh's worshipful four-and-a-half-hour biopic of the charismatic thug. Mr. del...

In the mid-1980s, something peculiar happened: the U.S. acquired a "poet laureate".(The Week)(National Endowment for the Arts' Opera Honors)(Brief article)
June 16, 2008... In the mid-1980s, something peculiar happened: The U.S. acquired a "poet laureate." To many of us, this seemed terribly un-American and un-republican--official poets are something that monarchies and dictatorships have. And now the National...