There are quite a few reasons, actually. But none of them push me over the line. After eight years of Clinton, it has been comparatively pleasant to have a government staffed with grown-ups. Add to that the fact that Jean-Francois Kerry is, in countless ways, insufferable. N'est … [Read more...]

One recent political surprise is the fact that the swift boat controversy has actually become a controversy. Normally this kind of thing just gets buried. I don't know if this issue has feet because of Internet coverage, because of Fox News, or because there are some Democrats … [Read more...]

Another flap has broken out at the University of North Carolina, where a Christian student organization was denied status as a student organization because they declined to sign a statement that said non-Christians were welcome to be members and officers in the organization. Of … [Read more...]

The word skulk just captures it, you know? For those who read this blog from other parts of the great wide world, I hope the posts on our local intoleristas have not been too boring. But it should really not be boring for anyone, offering, as it does, a window that gives us a … [Read more...]

I have to qualify my political observations on a regular basis because it is always and everywhere assumed that to speak the truth about the Democrats makes one a Republican. But I am not a Republican. I belong to that school of thought which maintains that we have a two-party … [Read more...]

One of the problems that Orwell had in his classic 1984 is that of a disjunct between the inhabitants of the world he was describing and the inhabitants of the world in which people were reading his book. In other words, while Big Brother held everyone in thrall with propaganda … [Read more...]

In all cultures, at all times, a great deal can be learned by looking at what everyone assumes together -- left wing, right wing, moderate, libertine, conservative, or anarchist. In our day, virtually everyone assumes the legitimacy of polling as a way of spot-checking what … [Read more...]

The passing of Ronald Reagan is important on a number of levels. Commentators have noted everything from the impact on the current election, to legacy of Reagan's anti-communism. There is much to add on all this, but in the current context I simply want to note one thing. This is … [Read more...]