parts. There’s much nudity and somernbrief sexual activity. (All this looks almostrnchaste by today’s film norms.) If you dorndecide to see it and you’re a Y chromosomer,rnyou should bring a womanly companionrnas your guide. The ladies will getrnthis film a lot quicker than those of us sufferingrnfrom X deficiency, which explainsrnwhy I’m much indebted to...

what they should do about their disturbingrnexperiences of the previous night.rnDoing so, he signals his submission tornher maternal influence. Alice answersrnnearly word-for-word as Alberhna does:rn”I think we ought to be grateful that wernhave come unharmed out of all our adventures,rnwhether they were real or only arndream. . , . We’re awake now,” she concludes.rnWith evident...

such as David Lloyd George and WinstonrnChurchill visited Prussia to see howrnits system worked. Labour membersrnnumbered several dozens in that parliament,rnand they showed no interest whateverrnin such reforms. They had beenrnelected with one purpose only: to changernthe laws that restricted the unions. A welfarernstate meant nothing to them.rnBetween the world wars, conservativerngovernments widened welfare provisions,rnand...

cratic heritage run broad and deep.rnMore than 70 years of Soviet life instilledrnattitudes that worked against democraticrninstitutions. And, except for a fewrndecades before the Revolution of 1917,rnRussia’s historical experience under thernRomanovs followed the same course.rnRussia’s historical legacy calls upon itsrnleaders to command and its people tornobey. Taking responsibility for their nation’srndestiny is not something that...

serve as many narrow personal interestsrnas possible. It became ever)’ citizen’s taskrnto negotiate directly with the state for thernsmall perquisites that could make lifernbetter.rnA better apartment, a free vacation,rntickets to the opera, and access to specialrnstores became each person’s urgent concerns.rnFor what separated poverty fromrnluxury in Soviet Russia was neitherrnwealth nor talent, but the favor...

The Hundredth Meridianrnhy Chilton Williamson, Jr.rnBacktracking for HomernI was gone from Wyoming less than twornyears, not so long as to forget, just enoughrnfor the shock of recognition to bernpoignant. The cold northern skies, therntilted mesas tinged green with sagebrushrnand purple with lupin, and how theyrnsmell after rain; the dark, distant mountainsrnwhose mottling snows above timberlinernmerge...

cleared as I came off the east slope into arndifferent weather system and the old, familiar,rnwesterly Wyoming of dry skies,rnbroken sagebrush plains, and tors andrnoutcrops of pulverizing, antelope-coloredrnsandstone and shale.rnSaratoga, with a population of onlyrn1,969 people, has some pretty highflyingrnones among them. Two Lear jets and another,rnmuch larger, private one stoodrnparked at the end of...

Modern Editions of Classic Works for Readers TodayrnAREOPAGITICAAND OTHERrnPOLITICAL WRITINGS OFrnJOHN MILTONrnForeword by John AlvisrnAs poet, statesman, and pamphleteer, John Milton remainsrnone of the singular champions of liberty in the annals ofrnhistory. Even in his mediations on theology Milton strove torndemonstrate that liberty—of conscience—is one of therninviolable rights of free peoples. In his theological writings...

UsTASA: CROATIAN SEPARATISM AND EUROPEAN POLITICS,rn1929-1945rnBy Srdja Trifkovicrn(London and Aiken, SC: The Lord Byron Foundation:rn323 pp.; $19.00; ISBN 1-892478-01-3)rn”^1^ T ations cannot be invented, but even authentic nations, inrnI^LI asserting their identities, often rely on myths and down-rn.JL. m rijht lies. Up to a point such myths are harmless and exercise irnpositive influence. But nationalist...

EDITORrnThomas FlemingrnSENIOR EDITOR, BOOKSrnChilton Williamson, jr.rnMANAGING EDITORrnScott p. RichertrnART DIRECTORrnH. Ward SterettrnDESIGNERrnMelanie AndersonrnCONTRIBUTING EDITORSrnKatherine Dalton, Samuel Francis,rnGeorge Garrett, Paul Gottfried,rnJ.O. Tate, Michael Washburn,rnClyde WilsonrnCORRESPONDING EDITORSrnBill Kauffman, Donald Livingston,rnWilliam Mills, William Murchison,rnAndrei Navrozov, ]acob NeusnerrnFOREIGN AFFAIRS EDITORrnSrdja TrifkovicrnLEGAL AFFAIRS EDITORrnStephen B. PresserrnRELIGION EDITORrnHarold O./. BrownrnEDITORIAL SECRETARYrnLeann DobbsrnPUBLISHERrnThe Rockford InstituternPUBLICATION DIRECTORrnGuy C. ReffettrnCIRCULATION MANAGERrnCindy LinkrnA publication of...

stitiition through their state governments.rnA more delicate matter is Gutzman’srnassertion that “the flag is not sacred.”rnThe pieces of cloth themselves are not sacred,rnof course, but what the flag representsrnto many Americans —the sacrificernof the lives and limbs of loved ones to preservernAmerican liberty—is surely sacred,rnin the same sense that the signers of thernDeclaration pledged their...

CULTURAL REVOLUTIONSrnB O R I S Y E L T S I N , SO the conventionalrnwisdom goes, is an impulsive Slavic peasantrnwhose motives are as inscrutable asrnthe enigma that is Russia. Some, probablyrnmost, observers also think Yeltsin isrncrazy. Not crazy like the holy fools of oldrnRussia or the smug suits who make NATOrnpolicy. No,...

2000 census. Since this count is used torndetermine congressional representation,rnmany Republicans feared statistical samplingrnwould be used to create more districtsrnwhere Democrats could win. JusticernO’Connor correcdy pointed out thatrnthe words of the Constitution expresslyrncall for an “actual” enumerahon for thernpurposes of determining congressionalrndistricts, but the marvel was that fomrnSupreme Court jusHces shll believed thatrnstatistical sampling was...

On the other hand, this sorry staternof affairs may be changing. Whetherrnor not congressmen hsten to statesmen,rnthey undeniably pay some attention tornwrought-up voters. The words they arernhearing about the estate tax grow angrierrnand angrier, and you know what angerrncan mean in pohtics.rnSmall wonder so many are ticked.rnThe bull market on Wall Street has propelledrninto the...

teachers were all assigned to the lowerrngrades, this would leave only 527,000rnteachers for the 13.6 million students inrngrades nine through 12. For them, thernstudent-teacher ratio would soar to almostrn26 to one, thus crippling the personalrnattention that might help lessen thernalarming high-school dropout rates.rnPeople in general, and politicians inrnparticular, are overly impressed withrnnumbers, and in education,...

PERSPECTIVErnGrow Old Along With Mernby Thomas FlemingrnI grow old learning many things,” said Simonides, a poetrnX well known for his wisdom and for his longevity: He livedrnto be almost 90. Although, as my old teacher Douglas Youngrnpointed out, Simonides’ statement might be interpreted tornmean “too much education makes one prematurely old,” thernpoint is clear enough...

must be disciplined and prepared for careers in the 21st centun,’.”rnIt is true. Ever)’ socieb,-, whether of rats or Rotarians, has itsrnrules and its system of discipline, and part of everyone’s educationrnmust be tiie trial-bv-ordeal in which we learn the penaltiesrnfor robbing the neighbors or chewing with the mouth open, andrna nation whose business is...

his public-school counterparts. The problem lies not so muchrnwith the actual fact of studying at home as w ith the character ofrnhomeschooling parents, who are just as ignorant, just as self-indulgent,rnand just as muddleheaded as anyone else born sincern1940. They cannot discipline their children (they can’t evenrntrain their dogs) because they refuse to discipline themselves.rnMany...

worry for New Republic warriors and diplomats.rnNothing is more important in the Star Wars universe thanrnfamily and fidelity. Some, though not all, bad gu’s can be redeemedrn(e.g., Darth Vader), but redempHon includes payingrnfor your evil deeds. Even scum care for their families and recognizerndebts of honor.rnSadly, in the hands of the less-competent writers of Star...

child cracks up under the pressure or flunks the all-importantrnpre-universit)’ exams.rnHere in the real world, we seem to be moving in the directionrnof Star Wars-style educational freedom and out ofrnthe Star Trek educational straitjacket. About 1.75 million childrenrnare currenfly homeschooled. The movement has grown atrna rate of at least 15 percent per vear for over...

order, of discipline, of greater social cohesion. In the name ofrnthe bright tomorrow of world socialism, hi the name of ourrnchildren’s fntnre.rnThe political crime of bringing up a child out of school —rnvnye kollektiva, “out of the collective,” was the standardrnSoviet locution used in my childhood —is still lacking a legalrndefinition in some countries, such...

radical solution, is not in the socioeconomic position to thinkrn$12,000 a year an unattainable dream.rnAs is clear from the personal anecdote with which I began, Irnthink nothing of engaging a strange German in a potentiallyrnexplosive discussion, and this brings me to another importantrnelement in the personality of the presumed sociopath whornis the product of home...

Magistrate MahoneyrnOr: How I Learned to Stop Worr)’ing and Started Homeschoolingrnby Scott P. RichertrnI n Mav 1995, when our first cliild was born, my wife and Irnwere living in Northern Virginia. I had inst completed thernconrse work for my doctorate, and mv wife was the exhibitionsrnregistrar at the National Bnilding Muscnm in Washington,rnD.C Bnt jnst...

lum that Mar’ Kay Clark’s Seton Home Study School was developing.rnBut to Amy and me, homeschooling was somethingrnthat we would do if necessan’, something to tide us over until werncould find a “real” school for our children.rnRockford, it turns out, is full of Catholic families who arernjust homescliooling until something better comes along,rnat least according...

ber of smaller organizations tied to a particular church or neighborhood.rnAnd while Mr. Brunner’s belief that “we are our children’srnfirst teachers” seems universally held, an increasing numberrnof Catholic and evangelical homeschoolers agree thatrnparents should irot necessarily be their children’s only teachers.rnEvery Tuesday, many homeschoolers take their children to thernHallstrom School, an evangelical homeschool cooperativernwhich had...

CHRONICLES INTELLIGENCE ASSESSMENTrnWhat Are We Willing to Settle For?rnby Joyce B. HawsrnFor nearh’ half a cenhin’, hundreds of school districts acrossrnthe nation ha’c battled cxorbitantK cxpcnsie social engineeringrnschemes forced upon them h’ federal courts under thernguise of “desegregation remedial orders.” These orders, whichrnsupersede local, state, and federal laws, arc often devastating.rnCourts have stripped autiioritv’ from...

end in 2002.rnIn 1994, Patrick Wong was denied a plaee at l:op-rankedrne High School becanse Chinese-American cliiklren ninstrnOther legislation is being considered to end racialrnscore higjier on admissions tests than those of other etlmicrngronps. Brian Ho and Hilary Chen were tinned away fromrntheir neighborhood elementary schools becanse those schoolsrnhad readied their quota of Chinese-Americans. The...

“All the NewsrnUnfit to Print” ignsi of tlje tCimesirnVol. 1 No. 9 September 1999rnWe open this, the final Signs of thernTimes to be devoted entirely to Clinton’srnwar in Kosovo, with an eloquent summaryrnof the war by Canada’s answer to PatrnBuchanan, David Orchard. In an op-ed inrnthe National Post (June 23), the prominentrnTory declared the idea...

are confirmed by Captain Martrni n de l a Hoz: “Several timesrnour Colonel protested to NATOrnchiefs that they selected targetsrnwhich are NOT m i l i t a r yrnt a r g e t s . They threw him out,rnwith curses, threatening thatrnthe North Americans wouldrnlodge a complaint with thernSpanish Army, once throughrnBrussels and...

to mask the identit}’ of ends.rnBradford’s critique of Enlightenmentrnliberalism was framed in the heyday ofrnJohn Ravvls’ rationalist liberalism and ofrnl:Iarr’ Jaffa’s crude imposihon of fundamentalistrnrationalism on the AmericanrnFounding. In that intellectual climate,rnBradford’s critique seemed scandalous.rnBut in the last decade of his life, critics asrndiverse as Alasdair Maclnty’re, MichaelrnSandel, and John Gray offered their ownrndevastating criticisms...

cism of Bradford might be that, in an agernof Enlightenment ideology and corporaterncapitalism, neither the Southern traditionrnnor any other traditional societ’ isrncapable of maintaining itself If that is so,rnthen what arc we to make of Bradford’srnwitness?rn’I’his question is considered by MarkrnMalvasi, who argues that Bradford didrnnot view modernit}- as a seamless metaphysicalrnsubstance from which there...

Mr. Borwick replies by return, explainingrnhow vitally important to the successrnof the public-school system, herernand elsewhere, is the loyal cooperationrnof every one high and low,rnwith the endeavours of the VI formrnto maintain a high standard of conductrnand manners.rnStill, Leu doesn’t get the point, and herncomplains to the headmaster, M.M.rnGlazebrook, who replies t h a t...

identify them. That’s not so easy to do,rnbecause the ones who are promotedrn(make that “expensively touted”) are usuallyrn(a euphemism for “almost always”)rnnot the ones to spend hme with. As a rulernof thumb, I suggest that writers representingrnorganized polidcal constituencies orrnidentity groups may be safely neglectedrnwithout even cursory investigation,rnthough the possibilit)- of exception cannotrnbe discounted entirely....

Principalities & PowersrnAppealing to Prurient InterestsrnIn 1857, the House of Lords engaged in arnlieated debate over a bill sponsored by anrnorganization calling itself by the frank,rnbut nonetheless quaint, name of the “Societ’rnfor the Suppression of Vice.” Thernintent of the bill was to control, throughrnlegal penalties, the produchon and salernof “obscene publications,” and despiternthe high Victorian...

tion of the Burger definition applied to violencernrather than sex—although Burgerrnrepeatedly insisted that “obscenity” referredrnonly to sexual conduct.rnThe Hyde adaptation is therefore suspectrnon its face, since violence, evenrnwhen it is as brutal as Oliver Stone orrnSteven Spielberg can make it, still isn’trnsex (except when it becomes sadomasochism)rnand simply does not havernthe implications for personal, family,rncommunit)...

CORRESPONDENCErnLetter FromrnNew Yorkrnby J.O. TaternThe Talk of the TownrnThere have been so many e-mails andrncell phones and taped messages andrnbeepers and postcards and mash notesrncluttering up my communications tiiat Irnjust haven’t been able to keep up with everythingrnthat has been happening becausernI have been so busy at so many gayrnbars and cigar bars and wine...

t}’, strangely unnientioned in onr foundingrndocument.rnSo tiiere it is. Hillan- Rodham Clintonrnwill run, she will be the Democraticrnnominee, and the betting is that she willrnwin. So fasten your seatbelts, because it’srngoing to be a bumpy ride. I mean,rnHillarv is going to get a bye from thernDemocrats because she inspires suchrnfeelings of guilt and vicarious identification.rnHer...

taught.rnHow a teacher—or, less misleadingly,rnsome teachers — might be able to earnrn£^5,000 a year (half again as much as therncurrent salary for one at the top of thernscale and without additional responsibilities)rnis far from straightforward. A closerrnlook at this carrot reveals it to be a shck.rnTo the general public, the educationrnministry can say, “Lo, for...

Everything that happens in Venicernhas this inherent improbabiHt’, ofrnwhich the gondola, floating, insubstantial,rnat once romantic andrnhaunting, charming and absurd, isrnthe symbol.rnCome to think of it, what I am in a positionrnto offer here is a whole list of specificrnpromises, which may at first soundrndifficult to fulfill but are perfectly realistic.rnI promise not to exploit the...

a plausible residence, and this got me tornthe third minute, but no more. I thenrntried saying that my parents live in NewrnYork, that my wife has an American passport,rnthat I am practically related to thernbride, that I promise to name my nextrnchild Washington, “D.C. for short,” andrnso on. Useless, pathetic, immature! Arnsalesman of insubstantial, shimmeringrnassociahons!...

Truck Stop; both are HIV-positive. Therndrag queen Lester (Tyrone Chlones)rncamps up catastrophe in his seduction ofrnWilbie (the misty-voiced WambertrnWeems), an earnest young narratologistrnwho ends up end-up. “Yes, Yes,” Lesterrnsings, “I’m a hell of a mess / Under thisrndress.” Igor (the gassy-voiced DamianrnHearse), a decomposition artist workingrnin cow cadavers who bears witness to therngroup’s struggles, asks,...

American OutlookrnYour Window On the FuturernSubscribe to the premier magazine covering tlie people,rntrends, ideas, and technologies shaping the future today.rnRead AjTierican Outlook^ a quarterly anthology of today’srnbest writing on the future. From Hudson Institute, thernthink tank devoted to the study of the future.rnAKRIAO^ON tHt BOCKS,^rnOutlookrnUtopiasrnUnlimitedrnPLUi.. .rnFEATURING ACCLAIMEDrnAUTHORS SUCH AS:rnLady Margaret ThatcherrnAlan ReynoldsrnNorman PodhoretzrnHerbert LondonrnDennis AveryrnWilliam...

VITAL SIGNSrnOf Apes and Yahoosrnby George McCartneyrnInstinctrnProduced by Spyglass Entertainmentrnand Touchstone PicturesrnDirected by ]on TurteltaubrnScreenplay by Gerald Di Pegornand Daniel QuinnrnReleased by Buena Vista PicturesrnPushing TinrnProduced by Art Linson Productions,rn3 Miles Apart Productions Ltd., et al.rnDirected by Mike NewellrnScreenplay by Darcy Freyrnand Glen CharlesrnReleased by 20th Century FoxrnFilm CorporationrnStar Wars: Episode I—ThernPhantom MenacernProduced by Fucasfilm...

instincts. Don’t think.” Feelings good,rnreason bad. Me Tarzan, you mentallyrnfrazzled nerd.rnI must confess I’m under orders fromrnmy own nine-year-old Liam to say nicernthings about George Lucas’s movie. Sornlet me doff my critic’s cap and admit thatrnthe movie is fun. No, it’s not the achievementrnthe first installment was. Yes, itsrnplot is a tortured mess, and the...

selves away time and again, whetlier it’srnTracy praying to God to help her win thernelection because she is the only one whorndeserves to, or McAllister assuring us he’srnat peace with himself as he pummelsrnvending machines or hurls a Pepsi at arnpassing car. Despite their reasonable discourse,rnthese are people firmly in the griprnof their destructively instinctual...

brazenness is courage rather than conceit?rnWho still believes that a bottomlessrnneed for approval leads to anything but arnbottomless potential for cravenness?rnWhat kind of man publicly humiliatesrnhis child?rnTo have identified with such a personrnwould unnerve anyone. But the problemrnfor the male Smarties isn’t that they identifiedrnwith a flawed President, or evenrnwith a lousy excuse for a...

and obscenities. The assistant principalrninvariably appeared at my door to quietrnthe class. How, I wondered, could I havernbeen so stupid as to have thought that Jrnwas responsible for my students’ fears?rnI pleaded with the youngsters to givernme a chance to help them. I pointed outrnthat additional unacceptable behaviorrnwould lead to their removal from familyrnand friends,...

The Hundredth Meridianrnby Chilton Williamson, ]r.rnEvery Man for HimselfrnEl Paso del Norte . . . the Jornada delrnMiierto . . . Tiguex . . . Santa Fe: The triprnthat for Don Juan de Onate was a weekslongrnordeal up the Rio Grande on thernCamino Real in 1598 for me is an hourand-rn20-minute flight, including 20 minutesrnon...

terland beyond the Appalachian Mountainsrnand, later, the Mississippi River,rnthey behaved like slum kids set loose in arnMayfair confectionery shop of continentalrnproportions. As the comparison suggests,rnthe determining factor seems tornhave been class, not culture, race, or ethnicity,rnthe late-arriving Anglo-Saxon-rnCeltic immigrants having acted as irresponsiblyrnas the newer stock (or more so,rnSandoz —herself the daughter of Swissrnimmigrants—would have...

Modern Editions of Classic Works for Readers TodayrnTHE STRUGGLE FOR SOVEREIGNTYrnSeventeenth-Century English Political Tracts InrnTwo VolumesrnEdited by Joyce Lee MalcolmrnFor much of Europe the seventeenth century was, asrnit has been termed, an “Age of Absolutism” inrnwhich single rulers held tremendous power. Yet thernEnglish in the same century succeeded in limiting thernpower of their monarchs. The...