Author: The Archive (The Archive)

On January 30, 1933, Adolf Hitler became Germany’s Chancellor after the corporate Germany decided to bet on him – in spite of his radical rhetoric – because it believed it could control him. On January 20, 2009, Barack Obama will become the 44th president of the United States in large part thanks to gigantic contributions from corporate...

On the last day of October I appeared to have been libeled on B92, a leading “pro-Western” TV network in Serbia, in a live program in which I appeared as an invited guest. It subsequently transpired that the network used an unpleasant quote from an article published under my name – but without my knowledge or authorization – in a leading...

PERSPECTIVE Whither the Republic?by Thomas Fleming VIEWS Paradise Lostby Roger D. McGrathThe white minority. The Promise and Peril of Identity Politicsby Tom PiatakHope in a dismal season. The Burden of Racial Guiltby Hugh Barbour, O.Praem.A new declaration of independence. Pro-Choice Christiansby Aaron D. WolfShattering nature’s glass ceiling. NEWS Spain Embraces Changeby José  Javier EsparzaCanceling the...

PERSPECTIVE The Audacity of Hateby Thomas Fleming VIEWS The Obama Presidencyby Doug BandowThe triumph of (lots of) experience over (a little) hope? Boogaloo Down Broadwayby Tony OuthwaiteThe charade of liberal change. The Revelations of the Obama Planby David A. HartmanChange we can’t afford. Obama on Foreign Policyby Ted Galen CarpenterA mysterious work in progress. ROUND...

The Dalai Lama is revered around the world, and not just by his Tibetan Buddhist followers who believe he’s the incarnation of the Buddha of Compassion. He is a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize who preaches non-violence toward the Chinese communists who invaded and now ...

At Christmas a couple of years ago I was given a daily planner called The Worst Case Scenario Survival Calendar. It gives you advice on how to deal with seriously dire emergencies, like free-falling from 10,000 feet with a parachute that wouldn’t open, facing shark attack far from shore, being bitten by a cobra with...

PERSPECTIVE Chinese Monkeys on Our Backsby Thomas Fleming VIEWS Beginning With Historyby Clyde WilsonRevisions and deviations. David Hume: Historianby Donald W. LivingstonThe core of the bookshelf. The Dean of Western Historiansby Roger D. McGrathBillington and the frontier culture. BIOGRAPHY George Garrettby Fred Chappell1929-2008. REVIEWS How Posner Thinksby Stephen B. Presser Richard A. Posner: How Judges...

La Iglesia Católica en los Estados Unidos ha tenido un sesgo político izquierdista desde hace ya tanto tiempo que esta realidad es, a estas alturas, apenas noticiable. Este fenómeno viene de muy largo, desde que el cardenal Gibbon rechazara el llamamiento a la paz lanzado por el Papa Benedicto XV durante la Primera Guerra Mundial....

The appearance of John McCain and Barack Obama at Saddleback, California’s “purpose-driven” church marks the ultimate ascent of Rick Warren to the Gantry-in-Chief of the P.T. Barnum Church of America. Warren’s success is living proof of Barnum’s oft-quoted observation that there is a sucker born every minute. In the event, Obama’s imitation of Christianity was...

As of Saturday, 16 August, both the Russian and Georgian sides of the conflict over the “unrecognized republics” of South Ossetia and Abkhazia had signed a six-point cease-fire agreement stipulating that Georgian forces must move back to their bases, while Russian troops are supposed to draw back to pre-conflict positions. The agreement does, however, leave...

A review of The Happening (produced and distributed by Twentieth Century-Fox and UTV Motion Pictures; written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan) The star of M. Night Shyamalan’s latest film, The Happening, demonstrates once more how unaccountably loathe producers are to give their boom microphones top billing. During the showing I attended last night, the...

I foolishly used an early version of my article.  Rather than repost everything, I am putting in a few omitted extracts: Introduction“Poor Mexico,” sighed Porfirio Diaz, “so far from God, so close to the United States.”  Though a hero in the Battle of Puebla (May 5, 1862) in which the Mexicans defeated French troops supporting...

PERSPECTIVE Lost in the 50′sby Thomas Fleming VIEWS Yankee, Go Homeby James O. TateYankee, come home—Yankee, get lost. Videitesby Roger D. McGrathAn alien invader from the 50′s. Alfred Hitchcock’s Empty Suitby George McCartney50′s counterculture. NEWS The Burmese Tragedyby Doug BandowForeign hindrance, not aid. REVIEWS The Necessary Centuryby Chilton Williamson, Jr. Patrick J. Buchanan: Churchill, Hitler,...

The following is the first in a series of translations of Chronicles articles into Spanish, as part of our outreach to the Spanish-speaking world. (TJF) Durante los días que siguieron a los recientes asesinatos a tiros ocurridos en el campus de la Northern Illinois University (la universidad del Illinois del norte) los noticiarios de las...

A review of Iron Man (produced by Marvel Studios; directed by John Favreau; screenplay by Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby; distributed by Paramount Pictures) and The Visitor (produced by Groundswell Productions; directed and written by Thomas McCarthy; distributed by Overture Films) [amazonify]B00005JPS8[/amazonify]It is always reassuring when a big-budget superhero film fulfills its responsibility to edify...

PERSPECTIVE Bush's Whips, McCain's Scorpions by Thomas Fleming VIEWS John McCain on Foreign Policy by Ted Galen Carpenter Even worse than Bush. Neo-McCainism by Leon Hadar The highest stage of neoconservatism? The Dream Ticket by Srdja Trifkovic The most dangerous man in America, bankrolled by the most evil man in the world. A ...

Barack Obama has kicked off his “Patriotism Tour” with a speech that is designed to depict the candidate as a thoughtful man who has meditated long and hard upon the history of our country and the meaning of patriotism. In fact, it reveals him for what he is: a knee-jerk Marxist who has swallowed hook-line-and...

Pundits and politicians have been sounding off, lately, about the cruel dictator Robert Mugabe and the imperfection of the democratic process in the Zimbabwe elections. On NPR, Dan Schorr–that thing that would not die–blames George Bush, because if he had not got us into a war in Iraq, we could be intervening in Zimbabwe. I...

The California Supreme, in a recent decision striking down the state’s ban on same-sex “marriage,” has issued a declaration of independence from the human race. Progressives have inevitably hailed this latest break-through, comparing it to the legalization of inter-racial marriage, but the same progressives just as inevitably will hail the inevitable legalization of cross-species marriage...

A review of Stop-Loss (produced by Paramount Pictures, Scott Rudin Productions, and MTV Films; directed by Kimberly Peirce; screenplay by Kimberly Peirce and Mark Richard; distributed by Paramount Pictures). [amazonify]B0013FSL1Q[/amazonify]On March 29, 2008, Suffolk County police officers vigorously fulfilled their sworn duty at the Smith Haven Mall in Lake Grove, New York. Alerted by the...

The mainstream media is catching up with Chronicles. On Tuesday, June 17, the Chicago Tribune published a major article exposing Sen. John McCain’s connection with the Reform Institute (RI), a Washington think tank founded in 2001 ostensibly to promote transparency and accountability in government. But behind the scenes, the paper says, the Institute’s practices have...

PERSPECTIVE The Pursuit of Happiness by Thomas Fleming VIEWS The Decline and Fall of the American Economy by Paul Craig Roberts Offshoring our security. Outgrowing Agriculture by Katherine Dalton Food and national security. States of Autarky by Greg Kaza The benefits of self-sufficiency. It’s 2028, and All Is Well by Srdja Trifkovic The ...

PERSPECTIVEBeastie Boysby Thomas Fleming VIEWSFederales, Gringo Styleby Roger D. McGrathThe exponential growth of federal police. Do We Want a Federal Police Force?by William J. QuirkThe Supreme Court and Congress versus the people. Jack Bauer, Agent of Anarcho-Tyranny, U.S.A.by R. Cort KirkwoodAmerica’s most wanted. NEWSThe Surge “Success”by Ted Galen CarpenterTriumph of hope over experience. REVIEWSTowers of...

The foolishness of political debate in America has discouraged me from writing this column, but I have decided to come out of semi-retirement to ask this chicken-and-egg question: Which came first in America, the narcissistic obsession with personal trivia or the blogosphere? In other words, did Internet blogging reduce the mentality of young Americans to...

PERSPECTIVE Little Aristocracies of Our Own by Thomas Fleming VIEWS The End of the American Middle Class by John Lukacs The lonely new age. Nostalgia Ain’t What It Used To Be by James O. Tate Arriving at indistinction. STORY Your Hit Parade by Anthony Bukoski NEWS Anatomy of a Meltdown by David ...

It should be obvious to anyone who has taken the slightest trouble to examine the immigration question that America is faced not with an immigration “problem,” or even a “crisis,” but with a massive ...

PERSPECTIVE Our Open (Borders) Secret by Thomas Fleming VIEWS The Loss of American Identity by Roger D. McGrath California, today—your state, tomorrow. The Tragedy of Mexico by Gregory McNamee Riches unrealized. NEWS Facts? Who Needs ’Em! by William Lutz Some critical thinking in Texas. REVIEWS After the Deluge by Jack Trotter Chilton Williamson, Jr., ed.: Immigration and the American Future Clark ...

HARD RIGHT The Suicide of the West by Thomas Fleming VIEWS The Everlasting Frontier by Chilton Williamson, Jr. Wilderness democracy. The Curious Career of Billy the Kid by Gregory McNamee The man behind the myth. Westerns by Roger D. McGrath America’s Homeric era on the silver screen. The Death of the Western by Clay Reynolds Back-trailing for affirmation. REVIEWS He ...

PERSPECTIVEThe Politics of Human Interestsby Thomas Fleming VIEWSAmerica as a Proposition Nationby Clyde WilsonFacing our superstition. The Most Desirable Option by Kirkpatrick SaleReeducating for secession. What Is Wrong With Ideology?by Donald W. LivingstonThe great inversion. NEWSMoving Targetsby Daniel LarisonThe trouble with early primaries. REVIEWSTwo American Livesby Stephen B. Presser David Cannadine: Mellon: An American LifeDavid...

PERSPECTIVE Freedom of Conscience by Thomas Fleming Politics and ancient traditions. VIEWS With Malice Toward Many by Tom Landess Washington, Lincoln, and God. The Conversion of a Culture by Harold O.J. Brown Crisis and revolution. Dobson's Choice by Aaron D. Wolf Politics and the spirit of martyrdom. Throne and Altar by Hugh Barbour, O.Praem. Imposing ...

PERSPECTIVE Wiccan Warming by Thomas Fleming Planet-worshiping environmentalists. VIEWS Agrarians, Greenies, and Goreites by Tom Landess To the next generation. Planes, Trains, and Automobiles by Tobias Lanz The high environmental cost of too much freedom. Edward Abbey by Gregory McNamee Conservative conservationist—and controversialist. NEWS Reflections on Immigration Reform by David A. Hartman The battle for...

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The Diana Chronicles by Tina Brown New York: Random House; 481 pp., $27.50 A Russian joke of relatively recent vin­tage comes to mind. “How could you, a Stakhanovite dairy worker, with two Red Commendations to your credit, with the Regional Party Committee foursquare behind you,” a collective ...

In my last appearance in this space, I wrote erroneously that Christopher Hitchens had favored both Anglo-American wars on Iraq. In fact, he strongly opposed the first one, back in 1991. I remember this so vividly (I was delighted with him at the ...

Sicko Produced by The Weinstein Company Directed and written by Michael Moore Michael Moore calls his films documentaries, but they’re really sockumentaries. He is cinema’s heavyweight master of the sucker punch. Behind his slovenly, shambling flabbiness, he packs a vicious left hook. That’s politically left, of ...

PERSPECTIVE Counting People and People Who Count by Thomas Fleming Domesticated humans. VIEWS Sex, Propaganda, and Higher Education by Tom Landess Inside the opinion mill. The Faces of Men by Jack Trotter Education and masculinity. Virtual Education Reality by William Barr Facilitating democracy. NEWS Italy's ...

PERSPECTIVE Connoisseur of Chaos by Thomas Fleming Worth doing badly. VIEWS Liberality, the Basis of Culture by Hugh Barbour, O.Praem. The ultimate homeschool. Wall of Sound by Aaron D. Wolf Noise as the basis of culture. Social Security’s War on Families by Doug Bandow A current crisis and a coming disaster. REVIEWS A Humble Love...

The Hoax Produced and distributed by Miramax Films Directed by Lasse Hallstrom Screenplay by William Wheeler With The Hoax, Swedish director Lasse Hallstrom and his screenwriter, William Wheeler, have at long last given Clifford Irving his due. They have done so by portraying their subject with about ...

The struggle for Kosovo between Christian Serbs and Muslim Albanians dates back to 1389, when the Serbs were defeated by, and their lands annexed to, the Ottoman Empire. Muslim rule lasted over four centuries and resulted in several waves of forced migrations of Serbs from Kosovo. The ...

PERSPECTIVE Ted's Timor Mortis by Thomas Fleming Stumbling past the half-truths. VIEWS Americans Don't Die! by Roger D. McGrath Casualties, from republic to empire. Portraits by George Garrett Some notes on the poetry of growing old. The Last Adieu by George McCartney A wake for the living. A Dirge for ...

Before the Dawn by Nicholas Wade, chapters 4 & 5 I am going to keep my promise to keep my initial summary of these chapters very short in the hope that contributors to this discussion, more learned in evolutionary theory than I, will share much of the burden. The story Wade wishes to tell in...

PERSPECTIVE Establishing Christian America by Thomas Fleming The Master's business. VIEWS Americanism, Then and Now by Christopher Check Our pet heresy. Protestantism, America, and Divine Law by Harold O.J. Brown A personal reflection. The Business of Souls by Aaron D. Wolf When Experts Attack, Part II. NEWS Border Math by George ...

When President Bush announced, in a televised speech, that he was planning to deploy 21,500 additional troops to Iraq, he added an ominous aside: Succeeding in Iraq also requires defending its territorial integrity and stabilizing the region in the face of extremist challenges. This begins with addressing Iran and Syria. These two regimes are allowing...

Today, in Washington, D.C., Mary Cheney gave birth to Samuel David Cheney. The baby, the product, apparently, of artificial insemination has no known father, apart from Ms Cheney’s girlfriend Heather Poe. Up the road from Washington, in Hackensack, N.J., 60-year-old Frieda Birnbaum, described as a “mid-life counsellor,” gave birth to twins.  Ms Birnbaum does have...

A review of Winter’s Bone: A Novel, by Daniel Woodrell. The Missouri Ozarks are the western outpost of Appalachia. The hills are not as high as their elder brothers to the east, but they plunge down into narrow, labyrinthine valleys, where streams of cool, green water run. The surrounding soil is mostly shallow and full...

More terrible news out of Iraq: The Defense Department today (Monday) announced 27-year-old 1st Lieutenant Andrew J. Bacevich of Walpole was killed yesterday (Sunday) when an improvised bomb exploded while he was on a patrol in the Salah Ad Din Province. His father — Andrew J. Bacevich — is a Boston University professor and a...

As I write, a drama is being played out in northern Italy where a band of criminals have hijacked a bus going from Alessandria to Acqui and forced it to enter the A26 Autostrada toward Genova. The bus left Alessandria with two policeman on board; the three hijackers sat in the back and with a...

PERSPECTIVE Our Fathers’ Fields by Thomas Fleming Weaver, property rights, and conservatism. VIEWS Property Rights and the Founding by Marco Bassani The classical-liberal reading. The War on Blight by Steve Berg You may be next. Where Did Our Property Rights Go? by Steven Greenhut Not in my back yard. Of Landlords, Leases, and Calico Indians...

PERSPECTIVE Dead Monkeys and the Living Godby Thomas Fleming Clouded judgment. VIEWS Ecrasez L’infameby Tom Piatak The persistence of Christophobia. When Experts Attackby Aaron D. Wolf The Church Growth Movement versus church growth. Once Upon a Time in Hollywoodby Roger D. McGrath From eternity to here. The Cardinal Vicarby Hugh Barbour, O.Praem. (With apologies to...