Mars had been following the trial on television, he would havernconcluded that, in America, racial bigotry is a more serious offensernthan murder.rnThe whole concept of a “hate crime” against a designatedrnracial or sexual minority reflects our obsession with motive asrnopposed to fact. The subjectivism of this approach is clear fromrnthe federal Hate Crimes Statistics Act...

criminals. Justice hardly enters into the discussion.rnIn the case of violent or potentially violent crimes—assaultrnand armed robbery, for example—a graduated scale of punishmentrnfor repeat offenses is both practical and just. A bo)-, afterrnall, might be pardoned for one misguided attempt to rob arnliquor store, but a man who makes a habit of threatening deathrnto clerks...

revolution and ruthlessly trampling on the agents of law enforcement,rnwho have come increasingly to rely on the denial ofrndue process in order to accomplish their e’eryday work. Consider,rnfor example, the vast realm of anti-drug enforcement,rnwhich currently consumes some $15 billion of federal moneyrnannually (to say nothing of state expenditures). Much of thernfunding for this War...

a subsequent civil trial found him responsible for two violentrndeaths and, therefore, liable to pay tens of millions of dollars.rnWhile not subjecting him to lifetime imprisonment, at least therncivil verdict promised to cripple him financially; justice, itrnseemed, was served. But was it? Were it not for the fact that thernsecond trial was labeled civil, with...

United Nations are “To maintain international peace and securit}’,rnand to that end: to take effective collective measures for thernprevention and removal of threats to the peace, and for the suppressionrnof acts of aggression or other breaches of the peace.”rnBut Article II, Section 4, states, “All members shall refrain inrntheir international relations from the threat or...

President and his people seem happy to ignore the constitutionalrnstructure. Something similar is now under way in internationalrnlaw.rnThe idea that we can proceed from the “implications” of SecurityrnCouncil actions and still act in a manner consistent withrnthe U.N. Charter is similar to the Supreme Court’s argumentrnregarding the unenimierated “right of privacy” which is said tornflow...

criminal law and the entitlements under the civil.rnRawls derives his fundamental principles of social justicernfrom a hypothetical social contract. Although he claims thatrn”throughout the choice between a private-property economyrnand socialism is left open,” the hypothetical contracting partiesrnwho, “in the original position,” are to make the hypothetical socialrncontract are nevertheless tacitly required to assume the ultimatelyrncollective...

^te^o/i/i ^7ia/u/o//j/i G/((/) Comes to GeorgetownrnW! hat does it mean when some who have built profitable careersrninside the Beltway suddenly declare that politics is not the answer?rnA. They are looking for a new direct-mail hook.rnB. It’s Invasion of the Body Snatchers all over again.rnC. It took 23 years, but they have finally begun to understandrnChronicles:...

CHRONICLES INTELLIGENCE ASSESSMENTrnKosovo and the Albanian Drug Tradernby Marko LopusinarnA s I write this at the end of April, the NATO bombing of Yu-rn1 Vgoslavia is in its fourth week. Albania—prcdictabl}—liasrnbeen turned into a NATO base, and the Kosovo LiberationrnArmy is openly recruiting volunteers in NATO countries, includingrnthe United States, where both U.S.-born Albanians andrnAlbanian...

Mcliniet Dzcvat and Sali Recica, were also born in Yugoslaviarnin the late I’^Jf^D’s. ‘I’herc are about SO.OOO fonner YugosUns inrntheCzeeli Republie tocla; half of them are Albanians serving asrnaeconipliees to the Albanian mafia and drug dealers.rnAlbanians and Kosovo Albanians, together with their fellowrnnationals from Turke}’, have been involved in drug smugglingrnfor ()er ^O ears. The...

ni for a ear and secretK recorded some 6,000 of his “business”rnconversations. He was apprehended in the spring of 1995, sentencedrnto 17 years in prison, and sent to the Regcnsdorf jail.rnWhile being transferred to Bern for a second trial in Jannar-rn1996, Sabcdini escaped from the train. The Swiss suspect thatrnhe now lives in the Czech...

“All the NewsrnUnfit to Print” ignsJ of tjje tKimesirnVol. 1 No. 7 July 1999rnThe crisis in Kosovo continues to illuminaternthe glaring gap between the qualityrnof reporting in America and in the restrnof the world. In Western Europe, in particular,rnthe tragedy in the Balkans hasrncome to be seen as the defining moment ofrnour civilization and of...

vided free air lanes for militaryrnplanes to Yugoslavia, and now wernmust identify ourselves with arnwar against a neighboring country.rnI was in favor of Hungaryrnjoining NATO, and I’m glad NATOrnwill protect us against externalrnenemies . . . Two years ago, hundredsrnof thousands demonstratedrnagainst Milosevic in Belgrade’srnRepublic Square, demanding lawful,rnpluralist democracy. I wasrninvited to speak to the...

to apologize for chief of staffrnRene Emilio Ponce, dismissing thernmurders as a sort of forgivablerncorporate glitch, like runningrnout of Xerox toner. “Managementrncontrol problems can exist inrnthese kinds of situations,” hernsaid.rnDiscussing the wider problem of staternviolence and repression in El Salvador,rnWalker was remarkably circumspect.rn”I’m not condoning it, but in times likernthis of great emotion and great...

tantism, commercially adept, militantlvrnexpansionist, and highly convinced,rnin Old World, New World,rnor both, that it represented a chosenrnpeople and a manifest destiny,rnhi the full, three-century context,rnCavaliers, aristocrats, and bishopsrnprett’ much lost and Puritans, Yankees,rnself-made entrepreneurs, Anglo-rnSaxon nationalists, and expansionistsrnhad the edge, especially inrnAmerica.rnMr. Phillips may not realize it, but hisrninterpretation is not exactly new. It is...

whole, and also the interpretative modelrnof the left that goes with it. As a result,rneach of the Cousins’ Wars, in his analysis,rntends to be the same war over and overrnagain, like Twilight Zone renms. To arnlarge extent, this is the result of historicalrncoincideirce: The Puritans of East Angliarnwere the leading forces against the crownrnin the...

rian should gloss over past injustices. Yet,rndespite what he regards as the whiternSouth’s “tragic commitment to slaveryrnand racism,” he is willing to praise “Davisrnand Stephens, Calhoun and Thornwell,rnLee and Stonewall Jackson” as “greatrnmen.” He has insisted that the bestrnminds of the Old South in the fields ofrnpolitical economy and political science,rnconstitutional theory, Christian theolog}’,rnand historical...

gious instruction for their slaves. Theyrnencouraged Southern legislators to repealrnthe literacy laws, which forbadernteaching slaves to read, for by denyingrnthem that skill, they were denying themrnthe Bible. They also called for the legalrnrecognition of slave marriages and slavernfamihes so that planters could no longerrnbreak up de facto families. Genovese recognizesrnthat many, if not most, plantersrntried...

Shaken and Stirredrnby J.O.TaternMartini, Straight Up:rnThe Classic American Cocktailrnby Lowell EdmundsrnBaltimore: The Johns HopkinsrnUniversity Press; 153 pp., $24.95rnProfessor Edmunds’ study is welcomernfor several reasons, not the least ofrnwhich is that it is the revised edition of hisrnThe Silver Bullet: The Martini in AmericanrnCivilization (1981). That noble andrninstructive volume was much too good torndisappear into oblivion....

CORRESPONDENCErnLetter FromrnLos Angelesrnby Jonathan EllisrnOn the Celebrity WaterfrontrnBv the time I arrived at the DorothyrnChandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, the selectionrnwas over. About 200 people hadrnwon coveted bleacher seats to the red-carpetrnentrance of the 71st AcademyrnAwards. Among celebrit)’-worshipers, sittingrnin the Academy Award bleachers isrnlike taking commnnion from the pope.rnReaching this pinnacle requires a fanaticalrndedication that...

sidewalks, with more arriving by thernminute. An occasional limousinerncruised slowly by, and sometimes yourncould make out a waving hand from behindrntinted glass. Of course, this onlyrnteased the gawking folks who had comernto see stars. More than once a newcomerrnasked if I had “seen anyone yet,” which Irntook to mean “anyone like Tom Cruisernor Mer)i Streep,”...

from the chaise lounge on my terrace itrnseems that this was in another Hfe. Here,rnat last, I know I am where I belong, arnspark of cosmic indolence fortuitously restoredrnto the serene plenitude of the greatrngreen lagoon, or, in a less overdy Gnosticrnidiom and the more popular style ofrnDean Martin and Jerry Lewis:rnFirst I moved all...

had sold the old one, that are razing thernlast love of my life to the ground. It isrnsimply the realization, on the part of mostrndecent, working, normal people —inrnItaK as elsewhere—that things are goingrnin a certain very obvious way, and thatrnone must in the end be a stubborn, recalcitrant,rnalmost suicidally lackadaisicalrnsort of person not to...

After the inquest, the Lawrence familyrncomplained formally to the Police ComplaintsrnAuthority about the investigation.rnThe Kent police, who conducted the review,rnfound that the investigation had notrnbeen perfectly conducted and recommendedrndisciplinary action against onernofficer. But this did not suffice. Regrettably,rneven Mrs. Lawrence began sayingrnthat the investigation had been mishandledrnbecause of police racism, not humanrnerror. (After the report’s...

VITAL SIGNSrnMatthew Shepardrnand thernThought Pohcernby Justin RaimondornLong before the advent of “politiealrncorrectness” as we have come tornknow (and hate) it, there was an activernand ongoing campaign to outlaw “haterncrimes.” This movement had its first bigrnsuccess in 1944, when 36 isolationists ofrnvaried backgrounds were indicted forrnsedition, hi charging the defendants —rnwho had nothing in common but...

mosexLiality is a choice and offeringrncounseling services, gay-rights activists hterallyrnscreamed bloody murder.rnIn retrospect, it seems almost inevitablernthat 21-year-old Matthew Shepardrnwould become the poster boy martyrrnof the “hate crimes” movement. A 105-rnpound, slightly effeminate student at thernUniversity of Wyoming, Shepard was anrnintelligent lad who wanted to become arndiplomat and dreamed of being famous.rnHe was also a...

universities, and others operating underrnthe federahzed affirmative-action programrnare portentous. Civil-rights advocatesrnand their lawyers should find theirrnbusiness booming.rnYet consider Ward Connerly, businessrnentrepreneur, vice chairman of the Universityrnof California board of regents, andrnchief advocate of California’s Propositionrn209, which bars the state from favoringrnminorities in such matters as state contractrnawards and college entrance ratios.rnConnerly sees himself as an...

posterous film.rnBeachum has been fingered by arnmealy-nionthed white accountant —rnnicely played by Michael Jeter —whornstumbled upon a botched hold-up andrnsaw what his racist mind wanted to believe.rnNeed I add that Beachum is a solidrnfamily man with a devoted wife andrndarling daughter?rnEnter our hero: Clint Eastwood asrnSteve Everett, recovering alcoholic, inveteraternwomanizer, and unrepentantrnsmoker. He is feckless...

must be able to walk on ceilings, leaprnacross rooftops, literally dodge bullets,rnand engage in aerial kung-fu battlesrnof wall-smashing fury. Well, why not?rnDidn’t Edmund Spenser dress the RedrnCross Knight, his allegorical savior, in armorrnand give him a dragon to battle inrnThe Faerie Queene? And didn’t IanrnFleming steal this conceit from Spenserrnwhen he had James Bond redeem...

ful) of people he didn’t know. A roomfulrnof strangers, for instance, was wherernBill Clinton found himself when hernheard the question, “Boxers or briefs?”rnAnd “recognition and appreciation” —rnas opposed to dignity —were what hernsought when he basked in the focus thernquestion generated, hesitating just longrnenough before responding to intensifyrnthat focus, finally succumbing in his answerrnto the...

Congress complied, and during Jefferson’srnsecond term and Madison’s first,rn”public arms” were supplied at federalrnexpense to state militias all over the nation.rnThe militia was intended to preventrnthe conquest of America, not only by arnforeign power but also by a centralizedrnnational government and its standingrnarmy. At his first inaugural, Jefferson explainedrnthat “a well-disciplined militia” isrn”our best reliance...

he was familiar with the frequent misusernof guns. Writing to his grandson ThomasrnJefferson Randolph, he emphasized thernnecessit)’ ofrnnever entering into dispute or argumentrnwith another. I never saw anrninstance of one of two disputantsrnconvincing the other by argument.rnI have seen many, on their gettingrnwarm, becoming rude, & shootingrnone another.rnIf the widespread presence of guns inrnJefferson’s Virginia...

The Hundredth Meridianrnby Chilton Williamson, JrrnHome and AbroadrnThe stock market is over 10,000, MichaelrnKinsley exhorted Pat Buchanan recently,rnand so America can do as it likes internationallyrnin the exercise of the U.S. megamilitaryrnmachine that Madeleine Albrightrnhas been slavering, throughout herrnFogg)’ Bottom years, to activate. America,rnaccording to journalistic convention,rnis fat, happy, and content, having arrivedrnfinally after half...

a couple of hours later, the fall had deepenedrnto eight. We broke trail for 20 milesrnin four-wheel-drive, past groves of aspenrnwhitened by the flying snow and standingrnpale against the black timber, the willowsrnalready turned spring orange in the floodplain,rnand arrived after an hour or so atrncivilization, where the storm was expectedrnto make a four-day blow...

Modern Editions of Classic Works for Readers TodayrnJUDGMENTS ON HISTORY AND HISTORIANSrnBy Jacob BurckhardtrnTranslated by Harry ZohnrnForeword by Alberto R. CollrnRenowned for his Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy and Reflections onrnHistory (published by Liberty Fund), Jacob Burckhardt (1818-1897) hasrnwell been described as “the most civilized historian of the nineteenth century.”rnJudgments on History and Historians...

“A lu^d effort to repairrnour understanding ofrnChristian truth.”rn—Joseph Sobran,rnNationally syndicatedrncolumnist;rnEditor, SOBRAN’Srn”This is a very significantrnboolf, one thatrnis sociologically andrnhistorically wellrnresearched, theologicallyrnwell thought out,rnand forthrightly andrnclearly written. It deservesrna fearless andrnserious discussion.”rn— Thomas Weinandy,rnO.F.M., Cap., ThernWarden of Greyfriars,rnOxford; Tutor andrnLecturer in Historyrnand Doctrine, thernUniversity of Oxford.rnS P E N C ErnPUBLISHING CO.rnWhy do men stay away...

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

A little salt and pepper is interesting, enlivensrnand invigorates culture, and introducesrnnew perspectives. But what if thatrnnumber becomes 40, 60, 80 percent ofrnthe population? Still no problem? No, Irnthink it is called fragmentation, separation.rnBalkanization. Los Angeles is anrnoutstanding example of this. Whilernpoliticians, school officials, and other socalledrncommunity leaders mouth inanernslogans such as “Our Diversity Is...

pacity of Russia and China to resist thernmadness of world domination of thernAmerican-European alliance.rnWe must incessantly affirm and repeatrnthis: The resistance of the entire Serbianrnpeople to the bloody aggression of a Westrnunited in a murderous and destructivernmadness appears to be one of the lastrnchances open to nations to preserve evenrna semblance of political liberty. After...

of recent civil strife in Guatemala, ElrnSalvador, Nicaragua, and Chiapas, Mexico,rnis hardly reassuring. In a Los Angelesrnschool district, celebrations of bothrnCinco de Mayo and Black HistoryrnMonth were canceled recendy to avoidrnpotential violence between polarizedrnblack and Hispanic students.rnRather than picking a fight in someonernelse’s backyard, we should be lookingrnto our own country and its immediaternneighbors, and...

while not allowing the Serbian majorityrnin the Republika Srpska to withdrawrnfrom Bosnia?rnThe Serbs have been characterized asrn”bullies” due to the “ethnic cleansing”rnthat accompanied their actions in thernBosnian civil war. During the March debate,rnRep. Tom Bliley (R-VA) declared,rn”Remember, we hesitated and did not gorninto Bosnia right away. We were treatedrnevery night to the atrocities on CNN.”rnOne...

gressional Medal of Honor Society, nornless).rnAll of us were tr}’ing to convince twothirdsrnof the House to approve an additionrnto the Constitution stating thatrn”Congress shall have the power to prohibitrnthe physical desecration of the Flagrnof the United States.” The amendmentrnhas the support of 80 percent of thernAmerican people, it has been requestedrnby 49 of the state...

PERSPECTIVErnThe Only Game in Townrnby Thomas FlemingrnMy father often told me the story of how he, as a smallrnboy, had sat on the knee of Wyatt Earp. The formerrnmarshal] of Dodge and Tombstone, as an old man, came tornChicago to give a lecture. He had heard of my Great-UnclernGarret’s heroism in rescuing a lady from...

annoyed with the cowboys’ habit of hurrahing their wayrnthrough town, shooting up bottles at the back of the bar, thernheels off boots, and cigars out of mouths, but as Billy Breakenridgern(SheriflF John Behan’s deputy) was to say years later,rnTombstone (apart from cattle-rustling) was “an orderly andrnlaw-abiding town,” adding.rnWhat little killing was done there was done...

less. They are also private and, in the case of the poker game,rnnot always legal. There may have been plenty of cases of goodrnfamily men who bet and lost the ranch to a crooked dealer—arnplot staple of “B” Westerns—but perhaps more typical were thernsingle men who plunged and lost and went back to work onlyrnto...

McCoys, Buchanans, and Murphys aplenty. The new tribernwas essentially an amalgam of several Anglicized Celtic peoplesrn—Scots, Irish, and Scotch-Irish—with a good dose of Englishrnand some German thrown in. When the Indians slaughteredrna few isolated farm families here and there, they thoughtrnthat the bloody carnage would have the desired effect of intimidatingrnthe rest of the tribe...

separated from the trail to Oregon. Half of the Bidwell partyrndecided to stay with Fitzpatrick and head for Oregon.rnThe remaining members of the Bidwell party were determinedrnto strike for their original destination, California. Fitzpatrickrndrew them a map and off they went, 31 men, one woman,rnand an infant girl. They did not reach the Sierra Nevadarnuntil...

al gunmen, miners, teamsters, or cowboys—killing one anotherrnin something resembling a fair fight was one thing, and suchrnoccurred nearly 20 times during Aurora’s first few years, butrnJohnson’s killing was another. The Code of the West, thernmores of the tribe, had been broken. Immediately, a vigilancerncommittee was organized and an investigation launched. Arrestsrnwere made, witnesses interrogated,...

prison. De la Pena shared the Texans’ dislike of the cruel andrncrafty Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, who had commandedrnthe Mexican forces at the Alamo. De la Pena clearly hoped tornshow Santa Anna at his worst.rnIn fact, the diary disappeared, turning up again only in thern1950’s. When it did so, the Crockett story, as reported...

are a few things I remember: Crockett has a pre-Alamo romancernwith a Mexican woman, from whom he gallantly detachesrnhimself as the siege begins; after the first, repulsed Mexicanrncharge, one of Crockett’s men, Thimblerig, says of thernfallen Mexican soldiers something I remember as, “I was proudrnof “em. Even when I was killing ’em, I was proud...