Magazine August 15, 2011, Issue

Letters

By NR Staff

About NR Staff

July 28, 2011 4:00 AM

Hazardous to Your Freedom

Regarding Daniel Foster’s “Smoke Alarm” (July 18): If the nanny state’s real objective is to scare a significant number of smokers into stopping puffing, let me suggest a warning for the cigarette package that will truly terrorize: “As much as half of the money you paid for these cigarettes will fund the salaries of people who know what is best for you, and will devise ways to make you do it for your own good.”

David K. Hackley

Minneapolis, Minn.

Tax Breaks for Rich Liberals

Regarding Kevin A. Hassett’s “Tax Breaks for the (Democratic) Rich” (July 18), I’m surprised National Review would

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In This Issue

Articles

Politics & Policy

Credibility Deficit

By Ramesh Ponnuru

Republicans have long sought to amend the Constitution to require that the federal budget be balanced. President Reagan campaigned for an amendment, and the Senate voted for it by the ...

Politics & Policy

Downgraded President

By Kevin D. Williamson

I shall not want capital in Heaven / For I shall meet Sir Alfred Mond / We two shall lie together, lapt / In a five per cent. Exchequer Bond. — ...

Politics & Policy

House of Doubt

By Christopher Papagianis

The ongoing struggles of the housing market are contributing to the softness of our overall economic recovery. Over the last couple of weeks, the Obama administration has restarted debate about ...

Politics & Policy

United States of Google

By Reihan Salam

In just a few short weeks, Google+, a new social network from the company that gave us the world’s most popular and profitable search engine, has signed up over 10 ...

Politics & Policy

The Failing of the Fishwrap

By John Derbyshire

The newspaper, in the sense of news actually printed on actual paper, is clearly in its last days. The content of a newspaper can be delivered online at far lower ...

Politics & Policy

An End to Borders

By Jay Nordlinger

‘There’s no crying in baseball!” says the manager in A League of Their Own, the 1992 movie about female baseball players. There’s no crying in a free-market economy either. You ...

Features

Politics & Policy

Obama’s Nemesis

By Robert Costa

Washington, D.C. — Across the rotunda, Sen. Harry Reid, a 71-year-old Democrat, is grumbling about Rep. Eric Cantor, the House majority leader. The previous evening, Cantor, a boyish Virginia Republican, ...

Politics & Policy

The Last of Lugar?

By John J. Miller

When Barack Obama was running for president, there was one Republican besides George W. Bush whom he wouldn’t stop talking about. “Politics don’t have to divide us,” he said at ...

Politics & Policy

To Reform Immigration, Legal and Illegal

By Mark Krikorian

Members of the chattering classes keep hoping the immigration issue will just go away. I was once interviewed on a radio show along with an activist on the other side ...

Books, Arts & Manners

Politics & Policy

Love in the Land of the Free

By Mary Eberstadt

Here’s something genuinely new under the summer sun: a book that can be enjoyed simultaneously by anyone with an interest in modern sociology — and by anyone who has ever ...

Politics & Policy

Apocalyptic Witness and Wit

By M. D. Aeschliman

In the course of a long, varied life, several of whose chapters were truly a “rake’s progress,” Malcolm Muggeridge (1903–90) managed, alternately and sometimes simultaneously, to amuse, inspire, and offend. ...

Politics & Policy

Faraway, So Close

By Duncan Currie

Whether or not the late Mexican military ruler Porfirio Díaz (1830–1915) ever actually said, “Poor Mexico! So far from God and so close to the United States,” his alleged quip ...

Politics & Policy

Songs and Tanks

By Jay Nordlinger

Last month, a singer named Ibrahim Kashush was leading crowds in Syria. They were demonstrating against the dictatorship and for democracy and freedom. Kashush entertained, inspired, and delighted them with ...

City Desk

Avec Moi Le Déluge

By Richard Brookhiser

I was arriving early for a dinner appointment in midtown. The cabbie made a wrong turn several blocks away, so I got out to walk. The sun was leaning over ...

Sections

Politics & Policy

Letters

By NR Staff

Hazardous to Your Freedom Regarding Daniel Foster’s “Smoke Alarm” (July 18): If the nanny state’s real objective is to scare a significant number of smokers into stopping puffing, let me suggest ...

Politics & Policy

The Week

By NR Staff

‐ Mr. Strauss-Kahn seems quite well qualified to be prime minister — of Italy. ‐ Rep. Michele Bachmann and former governor Tim Pawlenty, both Minnesotans, have been trading jabs as they ...

TO: Studio Personnel

By Rob Long

TO: Studio Personnel FROM: Production RE: Captain America This weekend’s excellent box-office grosses for Captain America have been incredibly gratifying. The movie is performing very well nationally, and we’re on track for another ...

Athwart

Statism Down Our Throats

By James Lileks

People who see everything as a problem to be solved by the application of exquisitely calibrated governmental force remind you of the maxim: When all you have is a hammer, ...

Politics & Policy

Poetry

By Daniel Mark Epstein

ON A THEME OF D’ALIBRAY Such a fine day rides on the soft air, Laura, please pay heed to the new season, That laughs at the clear sky and sings of love: Spring is ...

How Weird How Soon?

By Mark Steyn

From London’s Daily Mail: “Scientists have created more than 150 human-animal hybrid embryos in British laboratories.” You don’t say. Now why would they do that? Don’t worry, it’s all perfectly legit, ...

Recommended

Hillary Clinton Claims If Trump Is Acquitted It's 'Because The Jury Includes His Co-Conspirators'

Hillary Clinton Claims If Trump Is Acquitted It's 'Because The Jury Includes His Co-Conspirators'

The Senate is likely to fall short of the two-thirds vote needed to convict Trump.

Brittany Bernstein

Biden Administration Backs Bill That Would Force Cops to Stop Women in the Street for No Reason

Biden Administration Backs Bill That Would Force Cops to Stop Women in the Street for No Reason

The only way to have a non-disparate impact on men is to drastically increase the number of stops of women.

Democrats Squander Their Impeachment-Trial Moment

Democrats Squander Their Impeachment-Trial Moment

Where were the details of Trump’s actions while the riot raged? Where was the evidence to support their specific charge of incitement?

Andrew C. McCarthy

It’s a Blacklist, Pure and Simple

It’s a Blacklist, Pure and Simple

Today’s cancel culture harkens back to the excesses of the McCarthy era.

Kamala Harris Disputes Dr. Fauci, Insists Biden Administration Is 'Starting from Scratch' on Coronavirus

Kamala Harris Disputes Dr. Fauci, Insists Biden Administration Is 'Starting from Scratch' on Coronavirus

Kamala Harris is the biggest liability of the Biden administration because she lies, obviously and clumsily, even when she doesn’t need to lie.

The <em>Times</em> Corrects the Record on Officer Sicknick’s Death, Sort Of

The Times Corrects the Record on Officer Sicknick’s Death, Sort Of

Though the question remains unanswered: What really happened to him?

Andrew C. McCarthy

The Latest

New York State Senate Majority Leader Calls for Cuomo's Resignation

New York State Senate Majority Leader Calls for Cuomo's Resignation

Two additional women accused Cuomo of sexual harassment on Saturday, bringing the total number of accusers to five.

Brittany Bernstein

Vaccine Passports Are a Terrible Idea

Vaccine Passports Are a Terrible Idea

Vaccine passports would extend the miseries of COVID well into a time when the vaccine has largely obviated them.

Michael Brendan Dougherty

Millions . . . and Counting

Millions . . . and Counting

Stand with us against the cancelers and for free speech.

Monster Time: The Cinema of Oliver Stone

Monster Time: The Cinema of Oliver Stone

The maker of Platoon, JFK, and Natural Born Killers was told that his films were ‘too much.’ He wore the label as a badge of honor.

Why Is Congress Refusing to Do Its Job in Person?

Why Is Congress Refusing to Do Its Job in Person?

Many of my fellow representatives have abused proxy voting, a pandemic emergency measure, in a way that is further weakening the House.

Back to School

Back to School

A former student (very former) Zooms in with two beloved professors from his freshman year.