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July 15, 2002, Issue

On Tiptoe Through the Tulips
Why Holland is nervous — and an alarming case for the entire West.
By Rod Dreher

Dildos, tulips, and waffles, all on the same block: Welcome to the Netherlands, a country renowned for the bourgeoisification of vice. The Dutch are, by and large, a middle-class nation of friendly, modest people beavering through ordinary lives in quiet towns and suburbs. But they are the canary in the West's cultural coal mine — an advance warning system of what's to come for the rest of us.

Rude Awakenings
Some effects of the Middle East wars on U.S. campuses.
By Jay Nordlinger

As at Harvard and elsewhere, pro-Israel students in Ann Arbor are piping up; and as at Harvard and elsewhere, they are doing so with untraditional allies. David Livshiz, a student associated with Hillel, says, "Hillel is a progressive organization, and most people would declare themselves Democrats or liberals. But when we organized a demonstration to support Israel, we got tremendous support from the College Republicans and YAF. Some said, initially, 'We don't want to work with right-wing groups on campus,' but those students have changed their minds. We will work with anyone who stands with us on Israel, and in the fight against terrorism, in the fight for America. Some of the strict liberals seem to think America deserved to get bombed on 9/11. But we see that this fight is about democracy and freedom everywhere."

Our “Next Manifest Destiny”
America should move to control space — now, and decisively
By John J. Miller

With the ABM Treaty at last finding its deserved place on the ash heap of history, we now have an unprecedented occasion to rethink U.S. military strategy in space. What the country needs is an aggressive commitment to achieving space control — a kind of Monroe Doctrine for the heavens, opening them to the peaceful purposes of commerce and science but closing them to anything that threatens American national security. The United States today is the undisputed leader in space technology, but the gap between our capabilities and those of potential adversaries won't remain so wide forever. The time for bold action is now.

Bring the War “Home”
Go ahead: Make it a political issue.
By Ramesh Ponnuru

At the start of the war, liberals worried that President Bush and the Republicans were going to exploit the conflict for partisan or ideological ends. This fear was reasonable. The war did indeed put Republicans in a strong political position, and they might have been expected to use that strength to advance their policy agenda. But it's not turning out that way

A Bureaucracy with a Difference?
Hopes and fears for the "homeland" force.
By Kate O'Beirne

The president's proposal for the Department of Homeland Security, which will have the third-largest federal workforce, would grant the new secretary the authority to waive the civil-service rules that frustrate the most powerful government official in the world. Without the reform, the new agency's managers would have to live with the current cumbersome system that demoralizes high performers and protects bad employees.

The Saudi Pipeline
Petro-dollars, Palestinian terror — and a U.S. blind eye.
By Joel Mowbray

The Bush administration has endeavored to cut off funding for terrorist networks by freezing assets and blocking terrorists' access to banks in nations allied to the U.S. It is apparent, however, that some Saudi cash was transferred to Palestinian terrorists by way of the Cairo-Amman Bank in Egypt — which is to say, it passed through two nations that are our nominal allies.

A Fence in the Sand
From the Israelis, a last, near-desperate measure.
By David Pryce-Jones

The West Bank is not a geographic entity so easily contained. The first stage of the fence is in the north, cutting off the town of Jenin, which affords close and quite camouflaged access over the hills towards Tel Aviv, Hadera, and Netanya, all cities that have been hard hit. No suicide bombers are known to have set off from Hebron in the southern part of the West Bank, and perhaps the fence need not extend to cover that. Even if interrupted in some areas, the fence might still serve to funnel would-be suicide bombers into paths where they could more predictably be intercepted.

The Anti-Big Mac Attack
Busybodies and trial lawyers set greedy eyes on food.
By Jonah Goldberg

There is a smorgasbord of possible responses to the anti-fat jihad. Let's begin by pointing out the problem that "fat" has recently been redefined in a rather tendentious way. Americans are, in fact, healthier than they've ever been before. One way we know this is that they are living longer. But, sad to say, people still have to die of something; it only makes sense that as we cure more diseases and make cars safer, we're going to die of things related to the kinds of yummy foods we can all afford to eat. In response to this tide of healthiness, we've decided to define obesity down: According to the new federal guidelines for obesity, Russell Crowe and Tom Cruise qualify as somewhere between fat and obese; ditto Cal Ripken and Michael Jordan.

Books, Arts & Manners
Strobe Lite — David Pryce-Jones
The Russia Hand: A Memoir of Presidential Diplomacy, by Strobe Talbott

The Old Bull — Arthur Herman
The Years of Lyndon Johnson: Master of the Senate, by Robert A. Caro

The Politics of Victory — Richard Lowry
Supreme Command: Soldiers, Statesmen, and Leadership in Wartime, by Eliot A. Cohen

Southern Comfort — Ralph Reed
The Rise of Southern Republicans, by Earl Black and Merle Black

Television: The Greatest — Matthew Spalding on George Washington on the tube.