Rep. Preston Brooks of South Carolina, second from right, beats Sen. Charles Sumner (R-Mass.) with a walking cane on the Senate floor in 1856. His aggression followed attacks by Sumner against Brooks’s cousin, pro-slavery Sen. Andrew Butler (D-S.C.). (The Library of Congress) When Linda McMahon, former chief executive of World Wrestling Entertainment, announced her candidacy [...]
Archive for March, 2010
Foul mouths in Congress? Big [expletive] deal.
Posted in History, Politics on March 28, 2010 | Comments Off
To only say Iranian nukes are unacceptable is to accept them
Posted in Conflicts and wars, tagged Iran on March 28, 2010 | Comments Off
In March 1936, Hitler occupied the Rhineland. The French prime minister, Leon Blum, denounced the act as “unacceptable.” But France, Britain and the rest of the world accepted it. Years later, the French political thinker Raymond Aron commented, “To say that something is unacceptable was to say that one accepted it.” In March 2010, as [...]
The week ahead
Posted in The Week ahead, tagged March 28 2010 on March 28, 2010 | Comments Off
A moment of truth for Apple’s latest gadget as customers get hold of the first Ipads • GEEKS are salivating with anticipation. On Saturday April 3rd customers, in America get their hands on Apple’s Ipad, a touch-screen device (rather like a large Iphone) that lets users search online, read electronic versions of books, play computer [...]
The Marrying Kind
Posted in Living on March 28, 2010 | Comments Off
My mother has a sly way of backing into major announcements. “I’m renovating my kitchen” was her way of introducing the fact that she and her beau were moving in together several years after my father died. A year or so later she said, “I’m spending the morning finishing paperwork, so this afternoon we can [...]
What Lies Beneath
Posted in Literature on March 28, 2010 | Comments Off
Moby-Dick” is often viewed as a singularly American creation. Part of the beguiling genius of “The Whale,” a rhapsodic meditation on all things cetacean, is that Philip Hoare so suggestively explores the English origins of Herman Melville’s masterpiece while providing his own quirky, often revelatory take on the more familiar aspects of the novel. But [...]
With Justices for All
Posted in History on March 28, 2010 | Comments Off
In 1937, a few months after his landslide re-election to a second term, Franklin Roosevelt set out on one of the boldest and most dangerous courses of his presidency. The conservative Supreme Court had already struck down a series of New Deal programs. Roosevelt feared that the mostly aged justices would go on to destroy [...]
Human Currency in Mexico’s Drug Trade
Posted in Living on March 28, 2010 | Comments Off
IN Mexico, there is a strange practice known as the “art of renting.” If you’re arrested for drunken driving, for example, you can pay someone to spend two nights in jail in your place. Some hospitals require that a relative be on hand for each patient, so I have seen old women hire themselves out [...]
A Papal Conversion
Posted in Religion on March 28, 2010 | Comments Off
IN light of recent revelations, Pope Benedict XVI now seems to symbolize the tremendous failure by the Catholic Church to crack down on the sexual abuse of children. Both the pope’s brief stint as a bishop in Germany 30 years ago and his quarter-century as a top Vatican official are being scoured for records of [...]
Is the Supernatural Only Natural?
Posted in Religion on March 28, 2010 | Comments Off
Religion tastes sweet to the brain—especially the remarkable idea of an afterlife. At least 80% of human beings, some five billion souls, are affiliated with one or another of the 4,200 religious organizations statisticians have identified. Most are confident of the singular superiority of their group. But where does the basis for religious conviction come [...]
A Mississippian Flood
Posted in Literature on March 28, 2010 | Comments Off
With the centennial of Mark Twain’s death, books about him pour forth Mark Twain died at age 74 on April 21, 1910. The centennial of that sad event is being observed with yearlong festivities in the cities he called home—Hannibal, Mo., and Hartford, Conn.—as well as with a raft of Twain-related books. The man who [...]
The War on Drugs Is Doomed
Posted in Economy and business, Law on March 28, 2010 | Comments Off
Strong demand and the high profits that are the result of prohibition make illegal trafficking unstoppable. They say that the first step in dealing with a problem is acknowledging that you have one. It is therefore good news that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will lead a delegation to Mexico tomorrow to talk with officials [...]
More Questions About the Dubai Assassination
Posted in Conflicts and wars, Politics on March 28, 2010 | Comments Off
What was a senior Hamas figure doing in a city infamous for Iranian arms trade? James Jesus Angleton, the legendary CIA counterintelligence chief, once discussed a series of suspicious deaths in Germany with me. “Any gang of thugs could murder someone,” he said, “but it took an intelligence services to make a murder appear to [...]
‘Basically an Optimist’—Still
Posted in Economy and business, Editorials and opinion on March 28, 2010 | Comments Off
The Nobel economist says the health-care bill will cause serious damage, but that the American people can be trusted to vote for limited government in November. “No, no. Not at all.” So says Gary Becker when asked if the financial collapse, the worst recession in a quarter of a century, and the rise of an [...]
The ObamaCare Writedowns
Posted in Editorials and opinion, Health on March 28, 2010 | Comments Off
The corporate damage rolls in, and Democrats are shocked! It’s been a banner week for Democrats: ObamaCare passed Congress in its final form on Thursday night, and the returns are already rolling in. Yesterday AT&T announced that it will be forced to make a $1 billion writedown due solely to the health bill, in what [...]
Can Climate Change Be Funny?
Posted in Literature on March 28, 2010 | Comments Off
Ian McEwan tackles global warming—in a comic novel Ian Mcewan at home in London. Novelist Ian McEwan has a recurring dream where he opens his desk drawer and pulls out an old draft of an unpublished novel. He anxiously reads the manuscript, and it’s brilliant—the best thing he’s ever written. He vows to send [...]
‘One Perfect Suit’
Posted in Arts and Entertainment on March 28, 2010 | Comments Off
Minneapolis’s near-mint set of samurai armor In everyday life, the Japanese warrior stood barely 5 feet tall. But when decked out in his resplendent samurai armor, he must have been impressively fierce. From the crest of his helmet, a golden praying mantis waved its spiky forelegs; his scowling painted bronze mask sprouted stiff white whiskers; [...]
In a Fury Over Freedom
Posted in History on March 26, 2010 | Comments Off
The lives of a black abolitionist and a fugitive slave show the violent tensions of pre-Civil War America ‘The Underground Railroad,’ a painting by Charles T. Webber from 1893. On the eve of the Civil War, Southern slaves were the nation’s most valuable commodity. They constituted 80% of the gross national product, equivalent to roughly [...]
The Holy Grail of Parenting Wisdom
Posted in Living on March 26, 2010 | Comments Off
You know better than books do. ‘Never hug or kiss them. Never let them sit in your lap. If you must, kiss them once on the forehead when they say good night. Shake hands with them in the morning.” Such was the advice of behavioral scientist John Watson to mothers in the 1920s. His council [...]
It’s Baaaaack! But Polaroid Film Was Just Lucky
Posted in Other on March 26, 2010 | Comments Off
Many other treasured products won’t be saved from extinction. In the past decade, Polaroid found its instant camera and film business eclipsed by the superior technology of digital photography, which delivered sharper images delay-free, electronically shareable and, best, without the cost of any film. The company faced this challenge by tumbling into bankruptcy and ultimately [...]
Will This 3-D Fad Fizzle Too?
Posted in Arts and Entertainment on March 26, 2010 | Comments Off
Pay more, get more. Maybe. At least DreamWorks’ ‘How to Train Your Dragon’ was filmed with an extra dimension. Disney executives, rejoice. Last weekend, for the third week in a row, Tim Burton’s “Alice in Wonderland” finished first at the box office. The film has taken in over $260 million domestically and over $550 million [...]
The Trouble With the Insanity Defense
Posted in Law on March 26, 2010 | Comments Off
Our legal system still does a terrible job of handling the mentally ill. Earlier this month, 24-year-old Mark Becker was found guilty of killing Satan. Of course, it wasn’t really Satan Mr. Becker killed. It was his beloved high school football coach, Ed Thomas. But Mr. Becker, being severely mentally ill and off his medication, [...]
Demonizing Dissent
Posted in Editorials and opinion, Politics on March 26, 2010 | Comments Off
Democrats try to equate opposition to their agenda with violence. Democrats in Congress enacted ObamaCare in a process so ugly and so heedless of public opinion that many Americans are rightly angry. But a few people have expressed their anger in ugly and lawless ways. Several Democratic Congressmen say that protesters outside the Capitol last [...]
The Senate Reckoning
Posted in Editorials and opinion, Politics on March 26, 2010 | Comments Off
Senate Democrats get beat up by their own reconciliation rules. ‘And so when you walk into that ballot box, remember that it was my Democratic opponent who favored providing Viagra to pedophiles.” That isn’t a campaign line any American has heard yet, but give it a few hours. The Senate this week took up its [...]
The Heat Is On. We May Get Burned.
Posted in Editorials and opinion, Politics on March 26, 2010 | Comments Off
Political rage is a national problem, not a partisan one. So where are we? In a dangerous place, actually. Politics is a rough arena, and understandably so, for our politicians tell us more and more how to order our lives. Naturally there will be resistance, and strong opposition. We have a long history of hurly-burly [...]
Obamacare’s next trick: the VAT
Posted in Editorials and opinion, Politics on March 26, 2010 | Comments Off
As the night follows the day, VAT follows health-care reform. With the passage of Obamacare, creating a vast new middle-class entitlement, a national sales tax of the kind near-universal in Europe is inevitable. We are now $8 trillion in debt. The Congressional Budget Office projects that $12 trillion will be added over the next decade. [...]
Manuscripts from the Middle Ages may contain some useful potions to cure present-day illnesses. Did monks in the Middle Ages know more about medicine than we thought? A German medical historian is combing medieval manuscripts looking for recipes that could be helpful today. Pharmaceutical companies have taken a keen interest in his research. “This medication [...]
A New Human Relative from the Siberian Mountains
Posted in History on March 25, 2010 | Comments Off
Evolutionary tree: Researchers have concluded that the unknown hominins had a common ancestor with modern humans and Neanderthals — dating back about a million years. This is about twice as old as a known common ancestor shared by modern humans and Neanderthals. The fossil evidence also suggests that the Denisova hominin may have lived parallel [...]
A wall of suspicion
Posted in Conflicts and wars, Politics, tagged Israel, United States on March 25, 2010 | Comments Off
Despite a rare dressing down from America, Israel’s leader shows no sign of yielding GLUM Israelis likened the event to thieves entering in the night. When Binyamin Netanyahu and his aides met Barack Obama in the White House on March 23rd, the president forbade any media coverage—not even a quick photograph—in the Oval Office. The [...]
Repeal the Democrats
Posted in Editorials and opinion, Politics on March 25, 2010 | Comments Off
Republicans may not repeal the health-care bill, but they should repeal the Democrats. All day Sunday and into the night, Republican House Members tilted at the Democratic Party’s mammoth health-care windmill. Amid the Stupaks and Neugebauers, Wisconsin Republican Paul Ryan finally told the chamber the truth. This debate wasn’t just about doctors and insurance, he [...]
ObamaCare Day One
Posted in Editorials and opinion, Health on March 25, 2010 | Comments Off
Companies are already warning about higher health-care costs. Democrats dragged themselves over the health-care finish line in part by repeating that voters would like the plan once it passed. Let’s see what they think when they learn their insurance costs will jump right away. Even before President Obama signed the bill on Tuesday, Caterpillar said [...]
