News at Home

Column: Hypocrisy's Doubleheader on Capitol Hill

by P.M. Carpenter

Those zany congressional conservatives are at it again; again, that is, at unbroken pace. For when it comes to laugh-out-loud hypocrisy you just can't keep a good conservative down, and the hilarity mounts. Add George W. to the mixture as the elected packhorses' ideological guide and, well, there you have it: a full-blown Mel Brooks production of a political farce. Here's the latest example of piled-higher-and-deeper Republican hypocrisy. And this is a bonus week. It's a doubleh

Column: Implausible Denial

by P. M. Carpenter

As the Bush administration trots out wholly implausible deniability over its commander in chief's detachment from American intelligence findings, something far more troublesome inhabits the land: those millions of Americans who have settled into a state of denial about their recidivist president and his handlers. Nearly axiomatic is that anyone caught in a fix of his own making deserves a second chance, yet much of the public has given the Bush Two administration third, fourth, tenth,

Column: Is Bill Bennett A Hypocrite?

by William Thompson

The media game of "gotcha" seems to have moved its focus off of Bill Bennett and onto bigger (?) fish such as Martha Stewart and the New York Times editorial staff. Or perhaps the fact that the liberal press has now become so worthy a target there is press reluctance to heap condemnation on the weaknesses of this one particular conservative icon. As a person with political leanings somewhat akin to those of Mr. Bennett's, I should perhaps just let it rest and be

Isolationism Strikes Again

by Ronald Radosh

The isolationism that was employed to undermine American will and self-confidence in fighting the fascist and militarist aggressors in World War II has been revived, this time targeted against our President and our commitment to the liberation of Iraq. It had to happen. The naysayers opposed to the campaign for liberation of Iraq, and the doomsday scenario they laid out, struck those of us with knowledge of history with an eerie se

Happy Birthday President Ford

by Yanek Mieczkowski

On July 14, Gerald R. Ford celebrated his 90th birthday. Only four former presidents have reached this milestone (John Adams, Herbert Hoover, and Ronald Reagan share the honor). A lifelong athlete, he still enjoys good health, and swims and golfs regularly. Ford's physical stamina is not the only thing that holds up well. So does his record as chief executive, twenty-six years after he left office, especially in light of events that followed his presidency. The mid-1970s was

The Diversity Scam: It Isn't Affirmative Action

by Howard N. Meyer

"When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said in a rather scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean-neither more nor less"It has been widely said and almost unanimously accepted that June's Supreme Court decision in Grutter (the Michigan law school admissions case) was a "victory for Affirmative Action." Historians who recall what was involved in the 1978 Bakke c

The Day the Supreme Court Quoted My Book

by John D'Emilio

It isn't every day that a Supreme Court justice quotes my work in a decision. But that's what happened this past June when Justice Arthur Kennedy delivered the majority opinion in Lawrence v. Texas, a challenge to the state's sodomy law. In finding that the law violated vital liberties and privacy guaranteed by the due process clause of the 14th Amendment, the court declared sodomy statutes unconstitutional.

Column: Things Are Worse Than I Thought

by P. M. Carpenter

An appreciable thickness of skin is required to wear the garb of an online correspondent, especially one still inhabiting America's shrinking isle of sensible progressivism. Write anything on a regular basis that challenges the regnant curiosities of modern conservatism -- itself a 40-year-old admixture of scripture-thumping hypocrites, vapid economic terrorists and taunting man-boy jingoists -- and you'll become a target for every brow-protruding reactionary who's learned to manipulat

Column: Holy Hogwash Batman!

by P. M. Carpenter

A leading conservative strategist recently offered this explanation as to why, going into a reelection campaign, Bush II has right wingers in the bag and Bush I did not: "Every group that this president [keeps] faith with, the previous president double-crossed." Most would concede the assessment's overall fairness. Yet, while doing no injury to the strategist's originality, there is a more telling way to phrase it: "Every group that the previous president kept fa

Slavery Was One of the Greatest Crimes of History

by George W. Bush

Transcript provided by the White House of remarks of President Bush at Goree Island, Senegal, July 8, 2003, at the beginning of his first trip to Africa. Mr. President and Madam First Lady, distinguished guests and residents of Goree Island, citizens of Senegal, I'm honored to begin my visit to Africa in your beautiful country. For hundreds of years on this island peoples of different continents met in fear and cruelty. Today we gather in respect and friendship, mindful

Frank Keating's Brave Reprimand to the Bishops

by C.E. Richard

I'm thinking about getting a little statue of Frank Keating to put on my dashboard. Until recently, the former Oklahoma governor was chairman of a panel of lay Roman Catholics appointed by the bishops to oversee their handling of the church's sex abuse scandal. Frustrated by a few unrepentant prelates, Keating compared their conspiratorial behavior to that of the Mafia. He wrote in a letter to Bishop Wilton Gregory, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, &q

Are Middle East Scholars Funded by the Taxpayer Doing the Country Much Good?

by Daniel Pipes

The U.S. Congress recently broke with a 45-year tradition: It permitted a dissident to critique the federal funding for the study of foreign language and cultures -- to suggest that the program often serves the very opposite of academia's goals or the nation's interests. The topic impinges on core questions of how Americans see the outside world and themselves. It also has major implications for U.S. policy.Federal funding of international studies (known in govermentese as

Column: The Grosse Pointe Gross Point System

by William Thompson

What goes around comes around--in the same circle. In the 1960s I was a political science student, first at Michigan State University, then at the University of Missouri. I observed a process of applying points to one's race up close in local media as well as in the literature of my academic discipline. Political Scientist Norman C. Thomas of the University of Michigan wrote a book entitled, Rule 9: Politics, Administration, and Civil Rights (1966). The book chronicled and ana

Did Gays Get All They Want from the Supreme Court? (Really?)

by Stephen A. Allen

When the Supreme Court ruled recently in Lawrence v. Texas that anti-sodomy laws were unconstitutional, gay rights activists hailed the decision as a giant leap forward for their cause. Both activists and news commentators have compared this ruling to Brown v. Board of Education in its potential impact. But is this a valid comparison? The Brown ruling of 1954 was one of the truly great Supreme Court decisions of the last century. In it, the jus

The Historians' Case Against Gay Discrimination

by George Chauncey, Nancy F. Cott, John D'Emilio, Estelle B. Freedman, Thomas C. Holt, John Howard, Lynn Hunt, Mark D. Jordan, Elizabeth Lapovsky Kennedy, and Linda P. Kerber

On June 26, 2003 the Supreme Court struck down all laws that prohibit sex between consenting gay adults. Below is the brief filed by historians in the case, Lawrence v. Texas. Amici, as historians, do not propose to offer the Court legal doctrine to justify a holding that the Texas Homosexual Conduct Law violates the U.S. Constitution. Rather, amici believe they can best serve the Court by elaborating on

The Supreme Court Hath Spoken

From the Supreme Court ruling, Lawrence v. Texas, June 26, 2003 Having misapprehended the liberty claim presented to it, the Bowers Court stated that proscriptions against sodomy have ancient roots. 478 U. S., at 192. It should be noted, however, that there is no longstanding history in this country of laws directed at homosexual conduct as a distinct matter. Early American sodomy laws were not directed

Two Days in the Life of GWB

by P.M. Carpenter

Throughout, say, the Coolidge administration, political observers could be content with writing only weekly diatribes or paeans about Cal's languorous ways. Nixon, on the other hand, offered daily-update opportunities for opinion factories. His tortured and abysmal terms were the 20th-century high point for political commentary. True, discerning opinion maintained a steady one-way course, since Dick obliged by being so steadily corrupt, but a column a day could still p

What Makes a Great President

by Karl Rove

Editor's Note: Mr. Rove delivered the following lecture on November 13, 2002 at the University of Utah's Rocco C. Siciliano Forum. A transcript of the lecture was made available a few days ago by the College of Social and Behavioral Science.[The presidency for good or ill plays a vital role in the life of the country.] The president’s performance is often a measure by which we all judge the performance of our country. A president who succ

Who Is Smearing Whom?

by Alan Wald

Last week HNN published Alan Wald's critique of an article written by Michael Lind for the New Statesman in which Mr. Lind argued that defense policy in the Bush administration is orchestrated by a group of people, many of whom are Jewish, who were allegedly shaped by Trotskyism. This week we publish an exchange between Mr. Lind and Mr. Wald. Below is Mr. Wald's statement. Click here for M

I Was Smeared

by Michael Lind

Last week HNN published Alan Wald's critique of an article written by Michael Lind for the New Statesman in which Mr. Lind argued that defense policy in the Bush administration is orchestrated by a group of people, many of whom are Jewish, who were allegedly shaped by Trotskyism. This week we publish an exchange between Mr. Lind and Mr. Wald. Below is Mr. Lind's statement. Click here for M