VITAL SIGNSrnMEDIArnMyopic Mediarnby Marc MoranornThe 1996 Radio and Television CorrespondentsrnDinner in Washington,rnD.C., in March may be remembered forrnshock-jock Don hnus’s tasteless diatribe,rnbut the real discord occurred behind thernscenes, hiterviews I conducted with toprnnews plaers at the dinner revealed arnmedia sharply polarized. Network newsrntitans clashed over the present state ofrnthe media.rnThe journalists in attendance had variedrnresponses...

I’m not even sure it was a liberal bias….rnI think Nixon was somewhat right, itrnwasn’t just paranoid. Sometimes peoplernreally are after you and sometimes thatrnwas the case with Richard Nixon.”rnThe members of the fourth estate reactedrnwith disbelief when confrontedrnwith a quotation from Bryant Gumbel ofrnNBC’s Today show. Mr. Gumbel calledrnPat Buchanan “Mr. Puke-anan” on thernFebruary...

cign Relations, met with legions of businessrntycoons, preached to a gathering ofrnover 100 religious leaders, generated audience-rnpleasing diatribes at assortedrnchurches and cafes, graced every majorrnnetwork’s “news” programs with inter-rniews (including a one-hour speech-athonrnwith CNN), visited the New YorkrnTimes, the Wall Street journal, and Time,rntouted the editorials from five majorrnnewspapers supportive of his economicrnand political policies,...

EDUCATIONrnRefugernby Peter LauriernWhen still relatively small, I sang inrna church choir whose quality wasrnthe envy of our whole capital city diocese,rnso that its members, who includedrna chorus of boy sopranos like myself,rnwere recruited, auditioned, trained, andrnpaid. This last feature helped reconcilernto plain song and Palestrina my careerrnarmy officer father who would have seenrnme in the...

I gave out what appears to have been arntoney-sounding address on the high roadrnto Bern, and felt the atmosphere mellowrntoward respectful deference in spite ofrnniv embarrassingly rusty French. My femalerncabby spoke well, beyond her vocation,rnand seemed the soul of Alpinerncomposure now more or less flummoxedrnby an overturned truckload of demijohnsrnand shards in the middle of...

tion for the arts, intangibles once knownrnas matters of soul, this by offering a traditionalrnspread—discourse, history, literature,rnphilosophy—in a classical ChristianrnAugustinian spirit (a “wising up”rnrather than a “dumbing down”) in thernhope of producing, for those who mavrnwant and need it, advanced standing atrnjust those “good” name schools whosernstandards have gone down for the countrnbut whose pride...

Why Can’trnCatholicismrnBe Trendy?rnIt’s stupid to fall for every passing fashion. Butrnthat’s the story of liberal Catholicism since VaticanrnII. Remember the silly infatuation with the “secularrncity”? Who can forget the red-hot liberation theologiansrnwhose Utopian dreams have turned to ash!rnThe list of follies is long.rnNow radical feminism is all the rage. And whatrnare we getting? Rampant divorce....

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EDITORrnThomas FlemingrnMANAGING EDITORrnTheodore PappasrnSENIOR EDITOR, BOOKSrnChilton Williamson, Jr.rnEDITORIAL ASSISTANTrnMichael WashburnrnART DIRECTORrnAnna Mycek-WodeckirnCONTRIBUTING EDITORSrnHarold O.J. Brown, Katherine Dalton,rnSamuel Francis, George Garrett,rnChristine Haynes, E. Christian Kopff,rnJ.O. Tate, Clyde WilsonrnCORRESPONDING EDITORSrnBill Kauffman, William Mills,rnJacob Neusner, John Shelton Reed,rnMomcilo SelicrnEDITORIAL SECRETARYrnLeann DobbsrnPUBLISHERrnAllan C. CarlsonrnPUBLICATION DIRECTORrnGuy C. ReffettrnPRODUCTION SECRETARYrnAnita CandyrnCIRCULATION MANAGERrnRochelle FrankrnA publication of The Rockford Institute.rnEditorial and Advertising Offices:rn934...

On Democracy CULTURAL REVOLUTIONSrnIn his otherwise excellent column “ThernIllusions of Democracy” (Perspective,rnJanuary 1996), Thomas Fleming writes:rn”We, however, send our children to arnschool where they are taught theories ofrnEnglish grammar, theories of literary interpretationrn(New Criticism, Reader Response,rnfeminist interpretation—it is allrnthe same) and scientific theories theyrnwill never understand, much less apply.”rnI have taught in both high schools...

fended the United Daughters of thernConfederacy over the flag, the numberrnof chapters of the Sons of ConfederaternVeterans founded or revived has doubled.rnI think a number of things happenedrnamid resistance to forced integration tornbring the flag into use as the chief symbolrnof Southern identity. I rememberrnmy own father and uncles returningrnfrom World War II with stories...

might suppose that the admiral was involvedrnin the offense, were it not for thernsubhead, “Pacific chief criticized forrncomment on case.” Criticism is a mildrnword indeed for action that deprives arnman of the career and honors for whichrnhe had faithfully served and labored forrnmore than three decades. Exactly whatrnwas the offense in the admiral’s comment,rn”For the...

PERSPECTIVErnUnder the Ruble or An Idiot Abroadrnby Thomas FlemingrnIt was eight o’clock Moscow time when the overcrowdedrnBritish Airways Jet landed at Sheremetevo Airport. Liberatedrnfrom our Iron Maiden seats—BA seems to have squeezed inrnan additional seat per row—we made our way into the arrivalrnhall, happily anticipating if not a good Russian dinner, then atrnleast something to...

The whole idea of unilateral secessions, backed up by Germanyrnand the United States, is terrifying to a country that is only arnfragment of its former self, and even that fragment containsrnhostile Muslim nationalities.rnIn London I had drinks with a Soviet analyst who took a lookrnat my itinerary. The Gorbachev Foundation is a trip-wire. “Anrnunholy alliance...

Arbat, past the clubs and pizza parlors, which make it seem likernGreenwich Village in Antarctica, to the very end and cut over tornthe Novi Arbat.rnLebed’s office is a run-down building. In the conferencernroom, where we wait for the general, the blinds are broken andrntwisted. Standing outside the building, our student friend doesrna Lebed impersonation: “I...

mania. Lebed seems to be the kind of leader that many Russiansrnwant; strong, competent, straightforward. Even Russiansrnwho dislike his political positions concede that he is both honestrnand intelligent—not the impression one receives from thernAmerican press. A Russian friend in England observes cynical-rn1 that if Lebed is all that he seems, then the KGB—and itsrnfriends Yeltsin,...

of Discrimination Against Women, the 1989 Convention onrnthe Rights of the Child, and the 1990 International Conventionrnon the Protection of All Migrant Workers and Members ofrnTheir Families. Article I proclaims that Bosnia and Herzegovinarn”shall remain a Member State of the United Nations.”rnNational sovereignty is surrendered in Article II, where it isrndeclared that “The rights and...

Inquisition. The Ombudsman “shall have access to and mavrnexamine all official documents, including classified ones, asrnwell as judicial and administrative files, and can require any person,rnincluding a government official, to cooperate by providingrnrelevant information, documents and files.” A party “identifiedrnas violating any human rights shall, within a specified period,rnexplain in writing how it will comply...

Why LiberalrnCatholicismrnIs SuicidalrnThe liberal, anti-doctrinal spirit is poisoning thernCatholic Church in America. Liberal Catholics don’trnlike to talk about sin and its consequences. But thenrnwhy did Christ bother to get crucified? And whatrnare we saved from? Liberal priests are silent aboutrnHell — but if there’s no Hell, why be good? Indeed,rnwhy go to church? Not surprisingly,...

lieve that the Balkans mattered. Friedman professed that “Irndon’t give two cents about Bosnia. Not two cents. The peoplernthere have brought on their troubles.” However, he felt “loyaltyrnto the allies who have put their own troops into harm’s way.”rnNow, Britain and France are perfectly nice places to visit, butrnthey arc grown-up countries and walked into...

decade. Countries like Libya already suffer under bizarre tyrannies.rnNations like Zaire long ago descended into chaos, withoutrnhelp from Sudan. Moreover, the fact that so manv countriesrnsurround the Sudan suggests that enforcing an embargo wouldrnbe no easy task. Tragic Sudan is. Require American interventionrnit does not.rnThen there’s Burundi. With this Central African nationrnthreatening to go up...

Mexico. Congress has failed to provide funding to enlarge thernBorder Patrol, and until Congress can find the money, this militaryrnoption is the best short-term way to address this shortagernof personnel.rnWe have hundreds of thousands of troops deployed throughoutrnthe world protecting European, Asian, and Latin Americanrnnations. If the Pentagon can send hundreds of thousands ofrnAmerican troops...

stitutes the term “representative of a foreign interest” for “foreignrnagent,” thus broadening the definition and closing a loophole.rnFARA also provides certain exemptions to registration includingrncommercial activities. Foreign agents, for example, arernnot required to notify the Justice Department’s RegistrationrnUnit to claim an exemption, making it difficult for the JusticernDepartment to determine who should be registered.rnAll such...

classmates informally voted him mostrnlikely to join the Joint Chiefs of Staff, butrnhe got his fill of war in the Pacific inrn1944-45. So he traveled as far inland asrnhe could go, ending up at the Universityrnof Wisconsin, where he studied for hisrndoctorate with the storied ProgressivernAmericanists of Madison: Fred HarveyrnHarrington, William B. Hesseltine, andrnMerrill Jensen...

“lesser evil” in 1960—into the Kennedyrnadministration and the Council on ForeignrnRelations. Williams suspeeted thatrnhe was being neutered, made “ready tornjoin the system,” and he refused. He preferredrnMadison to Washington, and as hernsaid of the Kennedys, “Don’t ask mernwhy, I just don’t trust them.”rnWilliams maintained a surprising distancernfrom the New Left, though not sornsurprising when one...

hae been a document produced, sav, inrn1850. In reality, the country “was born atrna moment in Western history whenrnemancipatory fervor sought to free individualsrnfrom the restraint of both thernmedieval Christian commonwealth andrnthe medieval mercantilist economy.”rnI would probablv go even further thanrnthey do in considering the distinctrnreligious environment of the 1770’s andrn1780’s, the decades when liberal...

been, Alexander apparently felt thernneed, as a travel writer, to add the tropicsrnto his resume. “I felt I could never winrnthe game,” he offers in a sole literary allusion,rn”if I did not, at some point, movernmy token into a jungle square and followrnJoseph Conrad into the Heart of Darkness,rnwhere life would be reduced to itsrnessentials,...

CORRESPONDENCErnLetter FromrnEnglandrnbv Derrick TurnerrnTelevision’s Taste TerroristsrnBritish tclex’ision, like television almostrneverywhere, is dominated by left-wingersrnmasquerading as liberals. As a consequence,rnBritish television often denigratesrnthose traditions and institutionsrnheld in most affection by the indigenousrninhabitants of this country. In the interstices,rnit finds time to celebrate and promoterneverything that is not British, or atrnany rate not integrally British, such asrn”documentaries”...

male and female male, where the beautifulrnhas been deliberately uglified, wherernperversion is presented as normality,rnwhere there is no respect for anythingrnbut the disreputable, where the estimablernis no longer esteemed, wherernvalues are relative and not worth anythingrnin themselves in any case, whatrnmore logical next step than that life andrndeath become conflated and so lose theirrnmeaning?rnThe television...

business at hand, He denied McLaughlin’srnmotion to let Julia attend LatinrnHigh on an interim basis while the suitrnproceeds. “The harm to the plaintiff,”rnhe declared grandly, “is less educationalrnthan psychological. A 12-year-old canrnbounce back. If she is successful, somernday she can return in triumph.” Perhapsrnat a 10th or 25th class reunion. No onernexplained why, if the...

speaker mounted above the door, werntumble into the Fireside Lounge, a brickrnbuilding with black-tinted windows andrnneon beer signs.rnThe Fireside offers no food, but itrnlooks as good a place as any to regroup, sornwe order beers and—discreetly—surveyrnthe clientele. One hundred and fiftyrnbikers, of all types: yuppie bikers withrnneatly trimmed salt-and-pepper beardsrnand graying, well-coiffed hair; youngrnwannabes whose...

Letter FromrnAnn Arborrnby John AttarianrnLibraries of PropagandarnOliver Wendell Holmes used to say thatrnupon first glance at the books in a libraryrn”one gets a notion very speedily ofrnthe [reader’s] tastes and the range of hisrnpursuits.” One ean only imagine whatrnHolmes would have thought about ourrn”range of pursuits” had he visited thernUniversity of Michigan’s Harlan HatcherrnGraduate Library,...

bian Gay Bisexual Programs Office. Locatedrnin the Michigan Union, LGBPOrnprovides educational programming andrnevents, information and referral services,rnsupport groups, a resource library, arnspeaker’s bureau (one doubts, somehow,rnthat speakers not openly homosexualistrnwould be scheduled), mentorship forrnnew students, faculty and staff, etc. Thern”resources” it furnishes include OUTspoken,rna locally published gay, lesbian,rnbisexual, and transgender monthly newspaper.rnI picked up a...

of this massacre. It might have drivenrndown property values and led to dilapidation.rnBut last year it was the locationrnof the most impressive Christmas celebrationrnin many decades.rnThe ladies who organized the seasonalrnevents—including the Victorian Christmasrnporch tour, the luminaries onrnCollinwood Drive, and tours of homesrnand shops—have successfully foughtrnevil with acts of courage and goodness.rnSeveral new shops have...

VITAL SIGNSrnFOREIGN AFFAIRSrnForeign Aid ThatrnAin’t So ForeignrnbyR. Cort KirkwoodrnAs 1995 drew to a close, Senate Democratsrnand Republicans were stillrndebating Foreign Relations CommitteernChairman Jesse Helms’ legislation to restructurernthe State Department and itsrnancillary agencies. Helms wanted to jettisonrnthe United States Agency for InternationalrnDevelopment, the ArmsrnControl and Disarmament Agency, andrnthe United States Information Agency,rnfold their functions into the...

tified one.”rnEven when AID talks about the salubriousrneffects of its programs, whichrnaddress everything from Third Worldrno’erpopulation to AIDS, an Americanrnbeneficiary lurks in the shadows to pickrnup the bootv. Along with the directoryrnlisting American companies that benefitrnfrom AID contracts, AID released a reportrndocumenting the global harm thatrnwould follow a cut in its budget. “A 30rnpercent budget...

ethnically diverse polity—the memoryrnof which inspires periodic calls for thernreintroduction of some form of “NationalrnService.”rnYet the heroic figures of that G.I. ofrnyesteryear—the Sergeant Yorks, the AudiernMurphys—has become all but irrelevant.rnGiven the challenges of maintainingrnorder in an unruly and restlessrnpost-Cold War wodd—and the UnitedrnStates position as a superpower that forrnnow faces no major threat to its...

from church collection plates as well, inrnparticular from the Roman CatholicrnChurch’s Campaign for Human Developmentrn(CHD). As a Catholic, I havernlong opposed this quack organizationrntied to the nihilist 60’s and supported bvrnthe “second collection” at Mass, wherernbaskets are passed to gullible worshipersrnostensibly for support of “the poor.”rnLast August more than 2,000 activistsrngathered at the elegant Hvatt...

expression “get a life,”rnThe Capital Research Center’s advicernto well-meaning donors who wish to supportrnthe free market: don’t die. But ifrnyou must, then leave explicit instructionsrnabout your intent as a donor. If you’ll bernestablishing a foundation, set term limitsrnand restrictions. In that way, vou’ll be assuredrnthat your funds never support liberalrncauses you never supported in life.rnThomas...

paper had fired me and stopped publishingrnmy column. The clerk replied thatrnquite a lot of readers had been cancelingrnfor that reason.rnAs editor-in-chief, Pruden had the legalrnright to fire me and the editorial authorityrnnot to publish material he didn’trnwant to publish. His rights in these respectsrnare not at issue; what is at issue isrnwhether he had...

arrogant.rnThe GOP debate sponsored bvrnWMUR-TV 9 in Manchester provided arnshowcase for the media’s audacious behavior.rnThe press was shuffled into a giantrngarage in the back of the WMURrnstudios. The area was set up so the mediarncould interview the candidates andrntheir spin masters after the debate.rnThere were not enough chairs or tablesrnto accommodate the hundreds of reportersrnwho...

for Public Support of the Arts?” I introducedrnmyself to Olivia R. Baisden, thernDirector of Public Information for thernNEA, who at the moment was discipliningrnher young son, who was busy rollingrnon the floor. Ms. Baisden, “a person ofrncolor,” along with Mr. Kimber D.rnCraine, a person of uncolor who is therncommunications manager for the NationalrnAssembly of State...

and children across the rhetorical battlefield.rnWords like freedom, liberty, democratic,rnart, and culture mean somethingrnfar different to these people. They seernsociety as a social science laboratory inrnwhich they inflict their experiments on arnpublic that views art as a cure for kidsrnwith Uzis. They disdain the notion thatrnleft to their own means folks just mightrnput on their...

victim of the aggression, have been difficultrnsince the day of the former Yugoslavia’srnbreakup. On the one hand,rnCroat President Franjo Tudjman hasrnbeen pushed by the international communityrnto negotiate with his Serbianrncounterparts; on the other, he has oftenrnbeen suspected by some in the foreignrnmedia of cutting secret deals with Serbiarnat the expense of the Bosnian state. Thisrnexercise...

RELIGIONrnThe Divinizationrnof the Devilrnby Nicola AbbagnanornThe need for God is a characteristicrnof our time. The difficulties andrnthe uncertainties of daily life; the dangersrnthat impinge both on individualsrnand the entire human species; the strugglesrnand conflicts that lurk everywhere;rnthe outbursts of violence; the moral andrncivil disorder—all make human beingsrnfeel the need for an assistance thatrncomes from on...

INCLUDING ESSAYS BY.rnPFTER BRIMELOWrn{Forbes Magazine)rnAi,i,AN CARLSONrn(The Rockford Institute)rnJEANBETIIKEELSIIIAINrn(LIniversity ol’ ChicagornDivinity School)rnRICHARD ESTRADArn(Dcj//cjs Morning News)rnTHOMAS FLEMINGrn(Chronicles Magazine)rnSAMUEIT’RANCISrn(Nationally SyndicatedrnColumnist)rnPAULGOITERIEDrn(Elizabethtown College)rnGARREI-I HARDINrn(Professor Emeritus ofrnHuman Ecology)rnI IANST IERMANN HOPPErn(University of Nevada,rnLas Vegas)rnDONALD L. HUDDLErn(Rice University)rnE. CnRISlLNK()PEFrn(University ofrnColorado inrnBoulder)rnIMMIGRATIONrnt AND THE *rnAMERICAN IDENTITYrnSELECTIONS FROMrnChronicles: A Magazine of American Culture,rn1985-1995rnwm^^^mrn• RICHARD D. LAMMrn(Former Governor ofrnColorado)rn• JOHNLUKACSrn(Professor Emeritus ofrnHistory)rn• WAYNE LuTTONrn(ihe Social...

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EDITORrnThomas FlemingrnMANAGING EDITORrnTheodore PappasrnSENIOR EDITOR. BOOKSrnChihon WiUiamson, ]r.rnEDITORIAL ASSISTANTrnMichael WashburnrnART DIRECTOR ^rnAnna hiycek-WodeckirnCONTRIBUTING EDITORSrnHarold O./. Brown, Katherine Dalton,rnSamuel Francis, George Garrett,rnChristine Haynes, E. Christian Kopff,rn].0. Tate, Clyde WilsonrnCORRESPONDING EDITORSrnBill Kauffman, William Mills,rnJacob Neusner, John Shelton Reed,rnMomcilo SelicrnEDITORIAL SECRETARYrnLeann DobbsrnPUBLISHERrnAllan C. CarlsonrnPUBLICATION DIRECTORrnGuy C. ReffettrnPRODUCTION SECRETARYrnAnita CandyrnCIRCULATION MANAGERrnRochelle FrankrnA publiciition of The Rockford Institute.rnEditorial and Advertising...

lution by the Bonus Marchers, Army veteransrnwho knew how to use machinernguns.rnhi the spring of 1941, gun registrationrnlaws—like those that had been enactedrnin Europe before World War 11—werernpending in 40 state legislatures. Thernpurported reason was the need to controlrn”Fifth Columnists.”rnThe justification for “gun control”rnoften changes, but the reason is alwaysrnthe same: people control. The race...

tried to recruit him in their effortsrnto “ehminate” Occhipinti. Joe “was arnthreat to their illegal businesses, whichrnincluded loan sharking, gambling, drugrndistribution, and the employment of illegalrnaliens,” he stated. According to Kaye,rnthis affidavit is “replete with explosivernrevelations including naming the actualrnintermediary who delivered cash politicalrncontributions from the [Dominicanrndrug] cartel to Mayor David Dinkinsrn[and showing that] the...