TCS Daily

Bill & Karl Take a Walk in the Woods

Articles — Fri, 25 Aug 2006 14:57:00 -0400

Two aging Baby Boomers meet for a walk in the woods -- a rambly joint stroll at an undisclosed location. The two men have long been recognized as the godfathers of their respective political parties; they share the same mystique -- one a Democrat, the other a Republican -- and they have become somewhat friendly over the years, sharing tips that each will use to burnish his influence inside his respective party. These secret conversations are strictly off the record, but this being Washington, nothing stays secret forever.

Karl is chubby and balding, but despite his chosen profession, he still… more

The AIDS Boomerang

Articles — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 20:26:00 -0400

TORONTO -- Remember the 60s song, I fought the law and the law won? Forty years after the tune came out, people are still humming it, at least I am -- although I’ve changed the lyrics a bit to sum up the political consequences of this AIDS conference. I’m not sure that the 24,000 delegates would like the new lyric I’ve thought up for them, but here goes, anyway: I fought AIDS and the Right won.

What does that mean? Well, let’s consider three true statements about the last 25 years:

First, AIDS has skyrocketed, from zero to 28 million… more

Why Political Heretics Are Worse Than Infidels

Articles — Fri, 11 Aug 2006 19:15:00 -0400

Joe Lieberman is a heretic. Please don’t get me wrong. Nobody, not even Lieberman’s enemies, questions the Connecticut Senator’s abiding Orthodox Jewish religious faith. But as Tuesday’s primary election shows, a majority of Nutmeg State Democrats see their senator as disloyal to the party line, which is increasingly dovish on Iraq. And a heretic, of course, is much worse than an infidel.

So Lieberman had not only to be defeated, but to be crushed and vilified. Which he was. Lieberman supporter Lanny Davis detailed in the pages of The Wall Street Journal all "the hate and vitriol of bloggers on… more

Revisiting WARNO

Articles — Wed, 02 Aug 2006 14:44:42 -0400

"Whither Deterrence?" That’s an interesting question to ask at a time when undeterrable missiles, thousands of them, have been raining down on Israel from Lebanon. Of course, the question of deterrence -- or not -- has, shall we say, implications for Americans, too. Surely it would be better for any country if incoming missiles could be intercepted. And if I can be allowed a personal point, I will note that more than five years ago I wrote -- here in TCS no less -- that the civilized nations of the world needed to get together, as an international alliance, to… more

World War What?

Articles — Tue, 25 Jul 2006 15:21:51 -0400

So is it World War Three yet? One of the smartest figures in American politics says that it’s here -- the Big One. "This is World War III," Newt Gingrich told The Seattle Times last week. As they say in the South, that puts the hay down where the horse can get it.

The former Speaker of the House, architect of the 1994 Republican takeover of Congress, has been making the same point in other venues, too, such as Fox News; the meme even caught the eye of Comedy Central satirist Stephen Colbert. Yet lest anyone doubt that Gingrich himself… more

Be the One

adminn — Mon, 17 Jul 2006 16:31:14 -0400

One Pill to Heal Them All. Those words -- apologies to J.R.R. Tolkien's "one ring to rule them all" -- kept going through my mind as I attended Wednesday's press conference spearheaded by acting Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Andrew von Eschenbach, at which the federal government announced its approval of Atripla, a new three-in-one AIDS medicine.

Gilead Sciences and Bristol-Myers Squibb have worked together to combine three medicines (Sustiva, Emtriva, and Viread) into one single pill. As noted, One Pill To Heal Them All. But, one might protest, isn't it overstating things to wax rhapsodic about… more

In Media, Rex

Articles — Thu, 15 Jun 2006 16:20:02 -0400

The British are coming! And so are the Arabs, the Chinese, the French, and the Russians. In fact, the age of the SOMSM is upon us. The what? Perhaps I should explain.

As everyone knows, the Mainstream Media (MSM) are in deep trouble. The business model is collapsing, chewed up by the presumption that online content should be free, even as online advertising dollars go elsewhere. So there's little but bad news about the parent company of The New York Times. And the news is generally bad also for Dow Jones, which owns The Wall Street Journal and The… more

Universalism vs. Nationalism

Articles — Sun, 21 May 2006 16:20:01 -0400

Here's a question: Why do Roger Cardinal Mahony of Los Angeles, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the American Civil Liberties Union, and The Wall Street Journal editorial page have such similar views on immigration?

The answer is that all four of the above -- Mahony, CAIR, the ACLU, and the Journal -- have chosen universalism over nationalism. The four embrace different visions of universalism, to be sure, but each one of them is similar insofar as it seeks to transcend passports and borders. Each of the four pursues a trans-nationalizing, world-flattening globalism that regards… more

Reality is Difficult

Articles — Mon, 15 May 2006 16:20:01 -0400

The hottest movie coming out of Hollywood, The Anthony Pellicano Story, hasn't actually been filmed yet. Nonetheless, it's real; the action is taking place right now in corporate suites and law offices -- and jail cells -- all over Los Angeles. Perhaps I should explain.

The players in Pellicano are some of the most notorious and most prominent bold-print names in Hollywood. The most notorious, of course, is Anthony Pellicano, private eye to the stars. At present, Pellicano is in prison on a weapons rap, but he now stands accused of additional charges -- 112 counts and counting -- for… more

Duncan's Three-Pointer

Articles — Thu, 11 May 2006 16:20:01 -0400

Alan Duncan, a Conservative MP, is your typical British politician. Which is to say, if he were an American he'd be atypical. He reads a lot, writes a lot, thinks a lot; he seems motivated by ideas, as opposed to just personal ambition. And he has ideas aplenty, on the future of the British Conservative Party, on the future of the conservative movement worldwide, and on the future of freedom in general. And since the Conservatives are now ahead of Labour -- eight points, according to a poll in The Times of London -- it's time to pay more attention… more