Susan Sontag passed away in New York City on the Feast of the Holy Innocents at the age of 71.  Dying of leukemia after a long struggle with cancer, Sontag leaves behind no image of suffering or weakness but rather one of strength and courage, idiosyncratic integrity and productivity, and a remarkably wide range of...

Alberto Gonzales’s nomination as attorney general by President George W. Bush makes official what has long been hidden and/or denied: The United States, contrary to her public professions and signed treaties, endorses and uses torture. At one point during Gonzales’s January 6 hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Massachusetts Sen. Edward Kennedy asked about recently...

If President Bush achieved nothing else in his Inaugural Address, he at least provided fodder for media pundits to chew on for a solid week or more.  This is an unusual accomplishment, even for inaugural addresses, most of which are endured and then ignored by those whose job it is to listen to them and...

The tsunami that struck Asia and Africa on St. Stephen’s Day wreaked a considerable amount of havoc, but no one knows, even approximately, how many people actually died.  In the first few weeks, it looked as if the grisly total would add up to about 150,000 victims, but, as politicians in Indonesia began to see...

The British National Party (BNP), founded in 1982 by John Tyndall, a former chairman of the National Front, has consistently campaigned to reverse postwar immigration, to withdraw Britain from the European Union, to reintroduce the death penalty for serious crimes, to back Ulster’s Loyalists, to support the family, and to place greater restraints on big...

Stem cells have taken center stage in California.  In November 2004, California’s voters approved, with 59 percent of the vote, a measure that would spend three billion dollars in borrowed state funds to pay for research that requires the destruction of human embryos. You might expect a heated debate over whether such research is morally...

The Bush administration and its supporters are investing tremendous hope in Iraq’s January national elections.  According to the conventional wisdom in Washington, violence may increase as the balloting approaches, but, once the election is held, the overwhelming majority of Iraqis will be convinced that the resulting government is legitimate.  Except for the foreign terrorists and...

Alberto Gonzales, President Bush’s nominee to replace John Ashcroft as attorney general, is, by all accounts, a skilled lawyer who has achieved a great deal since his humble beginnings as the son of Mexican migrant farmworkers.  He also has compiled a track record that should trouble all those who wish to limit abortion, immigration, affirmative...

The CIA underwent several changes at the close of 2004, and the resignations of a number of high-ranking CIA officers in November, as well as the content of a memo by new CIA Director Porter Goss to agency employees, appear to confirm a claim by Newsday that the White House was planning a purge at...

Proposition 200, a measure requiring that applicants for state benefits and state suffrage show proof of eligibility for these privileges, was adopted in Arizona on November 2, 2004, by 56 percent of the total vote and 47 percent of the Hispanic portion of it.  This happened in the face of opposition from the Democratic governor...

Abortion is on the rise in the United States—and has been since George W. Bush was first inaugurated President in January 2001.  Current estimates of the number of abortions performed annually in America hover just above 1.3 million.  What may astonish many of the “moral values” voters who reelected President Bush last November is that,...

Yasser Arafat, the president of the Palestinian Authority, is dead.  While he was alive, he was an obstacle to any fresh vision for peace in the Middle East.  Vainglorious and shifty (he changed his mind about his place of birth thrice), he was unattractive as the “icon” of Palestinian aspirations.  His ineffectiveness as an administrator...

Passing away in a Paris hospital on October 8, philosopher Jacques Derrida (born in Algeria in 1930) has exited a scene in which he was once a conspicuous actor.  Prominent in America since his poststructuralist lecture of 1966 and his following books, Derrida was perhaps the best-known literary theorist in the world for a quarter...

Iran is fast emerging on Washington’s radar screen as the next major foreign-policy crisis.  Several officials in the Bush administration—including the President himself—emphasized that the United States will never allow Iran to develop nuclear weapons.  And, on that issue, there was no significant difference between President Bush and John Kerry. Equally ominous, many of the...

The election results are in, and those who are reading this piece have an advantage I do not: They know whether George W. Bush or John Kerry has won.  (This issue went to press the day after the election.)  Regardless of the outcome, however, we already know a good deal about what the next President...

The current Presidential race has witnessed an unprecedented drive, especially by the GOP, to court the Catholic vote.  Democrats, who for decades snookered Catholics into believing that theirs was the party of the laborer and the immigrant, are finding their social-justice platform of little use among Catholics who find Democrat enthusiasm for infanticide and “gay...

Presidential debates usually are overrated, but the 2004 foreign-policy contest was informative.  Although John Kerry is not an attractive personality, he knows the issues.  George W. Bush knows his lines. Americans undoubtedly were relieved when the President declared, “I know that Osama bin Laden attacked America.”  Apparently, he has learned something while in office. To...

Terri Shiavo’s tragic struggle is a hard case, and hard cases, we are taught, make bad law.  Her husband, Michael, believes she is in a permanent vegetative state and that she would not have wanted to be kept alive artificially.  Her parents, however, believe that she stands a chance of recovery and, further, that, as...

President Bush announced in September that he would partially support key proposals for intelligence reform made by the September 11 Commission, which, in its final report, recommended a sweeping restructuring of the U.S. intelligence apparatus.  The commission called for the appointment of a National Intelligence Director (NID) who would have full authority over the personnel...

The Olympics have come and gone, having returned to Athens for the 28th installment of the modern games.  Besides being an occasion for the inglorious introduction of women’s wrestling, the defiant proclamation of Soviet superiority by a defeated Russian gymnast, and the (welcome) assurance that the overpaid NBA players will no longer be referred to...

The war on fat rages on, and—wouldn’t you know it—one of the leaders in the crusade against fat is, well, on the heavy side.  Jacob Sullum of Reason writes that Kelly Brownell, “a Twinkie tax advocate who never tires of comparing Ronald McDonald to Joe Camel,” actually sports “an extra chin and an ample gut.” ...

Jim McGreevey, who will be resigning as New Jersey’s governor on November 15, cares deeply for the people of the Garden State.  (No, not the way you’re thinking!)  Despite the admission on August 12 that he engaged in an extramarital relationship with a homosexual Israeli with possible ties to the Mossad—whom, early in his administration,...

Alan Keyes, like the proverbial white knight, has ridden across the country from his castle in Maryland to save the Republican Party of Illinois from itself—at least, that’s the way his supporters would like to portray Keyes’ run for junior U.S. senator from Illinois.  More likely, this ridiculous whirlwind campaign—the result of the convergence of...

“Immigration is our strength!”  Or so neoconservatives and mainstream Republicans have argued for 20 years.  Hispanic immigration, especially.  Mexican immigrants, neoconservative wisdom has it, are hardworking, entrepreneurial, religious, and dedicated to family values.  Not only are they model American citizens waiting to happen; they are natural Republican voters to be encouraged, developed, and sent marching...

Ralph Nader faces several insurmountable obstacles in his 2004 bid for the presidency, from overcoming restrictive ballot-access laws used to limit political competition to forging an ad hoc coalition between elements of the political left and right. Public-choice economics, popularized by Gordon Tullock and 1986 Nobel Laureate James M. Buchanan, argues that politicians, like individuals,...

The death on July 12 of Paul Piccone, the ebullient editor of Telos, has deprived Chronicles of a close friend and energetic collaborator.  Paul exchanged articles and ideas happily with the editors of this journal and invited Thomas Fleming, Samuel Francis, and me to participate in his never-ending conferences, always put together on the spur...

Bobby Fischer, the former world chess champion who is wanted by the U.S. government for allegedly defying U.N. sanctions by playing a match in Yugoslavia in 1992, was detained at Tokyo’s Narita airport on July 15 as he tried to leave for the Philippines.  Fischer was traveling on a passport that the State Department says...

Vladimir Putin startled observers in Russia and the United States with his June 18 claim that, following the September 11 terrorist attacks and before the U.S. invasion of Iraq, Russian intelligence had passed along information indicating that Iraq was planning terrorist attacks against American targets.  U.S. officials appeared puzzled by Putin’s comments, which prompted a...

Norman Podhoretz, Doris Day, and Arnold Palmer were among the recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom on June 23, and it is by no means easy to say who deserves the award the most—or, for that matter, the least.  Most people probably were not aware that Miss Day was still alive but were happy...

The September 11 Commission (the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States) has found “no credible evidence” of a meaningful link between Iraq and Al Qaeda.  Flatly contradicting claims by the Bush administration that such a connection justified the war in Iraq, the commission’s preliminary report released on June 16 says that Osama...

Michael Peroutka may provide an alternative for conservatives who are disenchanted with the prospect of choosing between George W. Bush and John Kerry this fall.  Bush has focused most of his energies on an unnecessary and calamitous war and has warmly embraced every tenet of neoconservatism, from expanding the size and scope of the federal...

Carole Keeton Strayhorn, the Texas state comptroller, has become the new champion of American believers.  Her office is charged with determining what groups qualify for exemption from state taxation (including sales taxes, property taxes, and other state levies) as religious organizations.  My ancient Concise Oxford Dictionary defines “religious” as “Imbued with religion, pious, god-fearing, devout...

Gas prices are above two dollars per gallon, making the antiwar chant “no blood for oil” sound even more naive than usual.  Gasoline prices in Europe and Japan are, as usual, running more than twice American prices. According to research by the International Energy Agency (IEA), in cooperation with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and...

Is President Bush kidding his conservative base on the “gay marriage” issue?  There is no question, if we stay on the road we are on, that the Supreme Court will decide whether Massachusetts can impose its law on the other states.  In outlawing Texas’ antisodomy law last June, the Court found that homosexuals are “free...

As a faithful reader of Chronicles, I was sorely disappointed to see Tom Piatak’s “Outsourcing Our Future” (American Proscenium, May).  Mr. Piatak takes the ridiculous but all-too-oft-repeated stance that, when Americans “lose” jobs to overseas workers, America suffers. He appears to have forgotten one of the fundamental lessons of economics: the lesson of comparative advantage,...

John Kerry may have blown it already.  After an impressive come-from-behind nab of the Democratic nomination this winter, the Massachusetts senator seemed ready to offer a formidable threat to the bubblehead who currently takes up space in the White House.  Faced with economic erosion, the loss of American jobs to outsourcing, the disenchantment of his...

Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton used to claim that he would never build a store in a town that didn’t want one.  Whether true or not, it was at least the right thing to say.  Since Walton’s death in 1992, however, Wal-Mart has largely dropped the pretense, forcing its way into Vermont (the last state to...

Violence in Iraq has, since the end of “major combat operations,” been largely identified with the “Sunni Triangle” in the center of the country.  The Shia—who make up almost two thirds of Iraq’s 25 million people—were glad to see Saddam fall.  They were prepared to accept the occupation and cooperate with the new authorities on...

Brown v. Board of Education (1954), the famous decision of the Warren Court which held that racial segregation in the state public schools violated the 14th Amendment’s guarantee of the “equal protection” of the laws, turns 50 on May 17, 2004.  The inevitable celebrations of the decision in the nation’s law reviews and popular media...

?Gay marriage” may be on the political back burner for the moment, as Karl Rove is busy crafting phrases that will appease Christian-conservative Bush backers this fall while appealing to homosexual swing-voters with promises of “civil unions” (a.k.a. legalized “gay marriage”).   In the Evangelical Lutheran Church of American (ELCA), however, the pot is fixing...

The U.S. economy has shown strong signs of a turn-around.  The President’s tax cuts have helped Americans turn an important corner.  Many parts of our economy have regained their strength and have surged ahead with new vitality. However, too many Americans need jobs.  Many of these jobs have gone overseas, the result of outsourcing and...

Israel’s assassination on March 22 of Sheik Ahmad Yassin, founder of the Hamas militant group in the Gaza Strip, has prompted Arab calls for revenge against Israeli and American targets.  His funeral in Gaza City, attended by more than 100,000 people, reflected a new tide of militancy throughout the region.  New Hamas leader Abdelaziz Rantissi...

The Sierra Club’s reactivation of its eight-year intra- and extra-mural war over its policy concerning immigration is the latest exhibit opening at the Great American Madhouse.  In 1996, the club officially announced itself neutral on the subject of immigration and population control.  Two years later, a faction proposed a measure advocating immigration restriction in behalf...

Civil unions, which offer same-sex couples the privileges that presently accrue to those who have been united in normal marriages, have been discussed by several legislators since the MassachusettsSupreme Judiciary Court ordered the state legislature to establish “homosexual marriage.”  The Massachusetts high court, under the dynamic (demonic?) leadership of Chief Justice Margaret Marshall, decreed that...

Vladimir Putin’s surprise firing of the Russian government on February 24 and his appointment of “technocratic” Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov on March 1 had Western officials and observers buzzing about another round of “reform” and Russian cooperation with the West, while Western investors were optimistic that the new government would favor them.  Nevertheless, Washington should...

Another super bowl has come and gone, and this one was a real bodice ripper.  While the game was one of the closest contests in the 38-year history of the quest for the Vince Lombardi Trophy, most of the press coverage focused on the last two seconds of the AOL Halftime Show, Produced by MTV. ...

The Bush administration’s guest-worker amnesty proposal for “solving” the problem of illegal immigration is all about failure in two countries.  In the case of Mexico, the failure is causal; in that of the United States, symbolic.  Vicente Fox’s political weakness at home is largely the result of his failed attempt at browbeating George W. Bush...

Administrative subpoenas, an innovative method of bypassing Fourth Amendment prohibitions against unreasonable search and seizure, first cropped up (at least publicly) in the draft of PATRIOT II that was exposed by the Center for Public Integrity in February 2003.  Unlike a warrant, an administrative subpoena does not have to be approved by a judge.  It...

Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ opens in theaters on Ash Wednesday (February 25).  It is too early to tell whether Gibson has achieved his aim of creating an artistically compelling account of the last 12 hours of Christ’s life that is also faithful to the Gospels, although those who have previewed the film...

The greatest intellectual leader of the evangelical movement of the 20th century quietly passed away in his sleep at a retirement home in Watertown, Wisconsin, on December 7, at the age of 90.  A scholar with the heart of an evangelist, Dr. Henry represented all of the strengths of the new evangelicalism, while exhibiting few...