IN THE August 29, 2011, ISSUE
Gagging Us Softly
To be honest, I didn’t really think much about “freedom of speech” until I found myself the subject of three “hate speech” complaints in Canada in 2007. I mean I ...
Also In This Issue
Articles
A Tea-Infused Party
Two years ago, the Tea Party was a collection of racists in the liberal mind. Nowadays the epithet of choice, blessed by the vice president, seems to be “terrorist.” This ...
The Roadmap Back to AAA
The blame for Standard & Poor’s downgrade of U.S. sovereign credit belongs almost exclusively to the president, the most socialistic American chief executive in living memory, but also to key ...
Making Believe
With trumpets and drum rolls, the White House has released a new policy paper on methods to prevent terrorism, a study said to have been two years in the making. ...
London Aflame
London – Yesterday, August 8, I was watching live looting footage — some of it from districts near mine or where friends were hunkered down behind locked doors — with ...
Features
Gagging Us Softly
To be honest, I didn’t really think much about “freedom of speech” until I found myself the subject of three “hate speech” complaints in Canada in 2007. I mean I ...
Not a Race Card
A number of states have recently passed voter-ID legislation — among them, Texas, Alabama, Kansas, South Carolina, Tennessee, Wisconsin, and Rhode Island. Two others, Georgia and Indiana, implemented such laws ...
Build, Hold, and Clear
America’s next global era is dawning. As we scale down military operations in both Afghanistan and Iraq, our future prosperity, influence, and security will be determined by what happens in ...
Books, Arts & Manners
Roads Not Taken
Late summer, like midwinter, is a time of year when it’s best to shun the big studio releases. Any star-studded blockbuster or crowd-pleasing comedy that’s actually worth its budget (i.e., ...
A Glimpse of Hell
I — ’ave — marched — six — weeks in ’Ell an’ certify
It — is — not — fire — devils, dark, or anything,
But boots — boots — boots — ...
Isn’t It Romantic?
In 1836, Alfred de Musset created two fictional blockheads, Dupuis and Cotonet, and allowed them to make themselves ridiculous in the pages of the Revue des Deux Mondes, trying to ...
Was Burke a Burkean Conservative?
Ben Franklin wrote in 1787, a year of some moment, that “only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of ...
Something to Fear
Decades ago, the historian Theodore Draper wrote about what he called the “minor academic industry” dedicated to resurrecting the reputation of the American Communist party. The industry’s ranks were composed ...
Failure of Design
When I was born, one out of every two cars sold in the United States was made by General Motors. As the biggest corporation in the world, GM produced 10 ...
Sections
Letters
Lochner in Rehab
Reading Joseph Tartakovsky’s review of David Bernstein’s Rehabilitating Lochner (“Rights Revisited,” July 4), I got the sense that both gentlemen embrace the proposition that the 1905 Lochner decision was ...
The Week
‐ Who would have guessed that Moammar Qaddafi would outlive America’s AAA rating?
‐ Wisconsin Democrats have gone to extraordinary lengths ever since Republicans introduced legislation to scale back the collective-bargaining ...
The Virgin Mother
A new version of an old song is running through my head. “‘M’ is for the million threats against you. ‘O’ is for Orlando’s mounted cops. ‘T’ is for tattoos ...
The Empire Goes Hungry
We could spend our time together here detailing the ideas that separate the Right and the Left, but if Maureen Dowd has taught us anything, it’s that it’s more fun ...
Official Transcript: Larry Ching Live on CCTV
September 9, 2011
Larry Ching: From Harbin, in Heilongjiang Province, ni hao!
Caller: Ni hao, Larry, and ni hao to your guest.
Larry Ching: Ni hao, caller. Do you have a question for ...
Poetry
SOUTHERN STORM
To the east is subtropical fern
Whose shadows imprint the trails to the springs,
More ancient than the forests themselves.
To the west of these too-deep predawn pools
There are rolling fields and ...
Old Blighted
I had a new book out the other day. Usual doom and gloom, as the more alert reader may just about be able to discern from the subtle title: After America: ...