Updates Elsewhere

I have a review of Alexander Waugh’s Fathers and Sons in the new issue of The American Conservative, which should be showing up in bookstores and subscribers’ mailboxes within the next week or so. My instant reactions to the Tavis Smiley-hosted Republican presidential debate on PBS are up at the Wash U for Ron Paul [...]

Pro-life or pro-GOP?

St. Louis University historian James Hitchcock takes antiwar Catholic conservatives to task in the Human Life Review (.pdf) — by opposing Bush and the GOP, he argues, they’re hurting the antiabortion cause. Scott Richert takes a look at Hitchcock’s claims and finds them wanting, to say the least.

Quizzes

ISI’s big push at the moment is for the Civic Literacy project, which has been garnering quite a bit of coverage, including this piece in USA Today. The project involved testing students (freshmen and seniors) at fifty colleges and universities on their knowledge of elementary U.S. history, civics, foreign policy, and economics. Take the quiz [...]

Exit Strategies

It’s not quite ready for prime time — we’ll be increasing the posting volume eventually — but there’s no use in hiding lights under bushels, so here is a link to a new group blog I’m involved in, along with fellow TAC alum Jim Antle and current TAC assistant editor Richard Spencer. The blog looks [...]

Taft Club Video, In Exciting Greenish Hues

The first part of the video from the last Taft Club meeting (“The Right and the GOP: Can This Marriage Be Saved?”) is posted below. Other parts are available here. A few more parts should be put up soon. The next Taft Club meeting, scheduled for early October, will feature someone “really perfect,” but I [...]

The Right and the GOP — Robert Taft Club (part 1) [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAG0BEp-wFs]Missed the Taft Club meeting in August? Here’s the video, featuring Paul Gottfried, Richard Viguerie,Terence Jeffrey, and W. James Antle III discussing the Right and the GOP — Can This Marriage Be Saved?

The Semi-Libertarian West

Jesse Walker on two Western politicians in the news lately, Larry Craig and Bill Richardson, and their semi-libertarian qualities. Craig actually was good on 2nd amendment rights and tried to mitigate the worst of the PATRIOT Act, which ain’t much but is more than the typical Republican senator is good for. If only he’d kept [...]

“All That Is Alive Merely Evaporates”

The latest Russian vacuum bomb — as powerful as a mininuke and much more likely to be used against separatists and insurgents. We’re going to see much more of this kind of thing in the future.

No Thanks, Mr. Nabokov

Interesting article in the NY Times on Alfred A. Knopf’s archived rejection files, which includes letters turning down Lolita, The Diary of Anne Frank, and quite a few other titles that went on to perform well for their publishers. Well, everybody makes mistakes. I tend to believe David Oshinsky when he writes, “Put simply, a [...]

Meet the New Boss, Same as the Old Boss…

WaPo: Democrats’ Struggle to Change Course in Iraq Has Produced Much Debate, Little Action. Politico: Anti-war leaders stymied, frustrated.