cians are merely complementing one another.rnThere is still hope: According to arnBBC News report by Jonathan Duffyrn(January 27), most people —in Britain, atrnleast —think that both journalists andrnpoliticians are liars. According to a majorrnsurvey, politicians ranked only slightlyrnhigher than journalists in terms of trust.rnWhile most of the balanced reportingrnon Racak has come from the Frenchrnpress,...

VITAL SIGNSrnArt Restoration:rnThe Sistine Chapelrnby Thomas MolnarrnThe present controversy around thernrestoration of the Sistine Chapel’srnceiHng prompts the following reflectionsrnon restorative work in general, and that ofrnour time in particular.rnOur age will be known by future historiansrnas one in which all certitudes werernquestioned, while tlie True and the Goodrnwere on the defensive. Beaut’, also tottering,rnstill rallies...

cleansed sections appear splashy, ready tornbe seen from a distance.rnIs this still Michelangelo? That is arnhard question to answer. Art critic AlexanderrnEliot, mural painter Frank Mason,rnProf. James Beck of Columbia, art dealerrnRoland F’eldman, plus the 15 most prominentrnAmerican painters who signed arnletter of protest to the Vatican, agree thatrnthe present restoration is guilt)’ of what...

and perhaps in quest of marine mammals.rnInstead of Siberians, they wouldrnhave been more akin to the people wernnow find in various parts of East Asia andrnPolynesia or—and this is a deeply controversialrnidea —in Western Europe. Onernexplosive theory suggests that the firstrnAmericans came from what is now Spainrnand France, bearing with them the kindrnof “Solutrean” culture...

that has “always” occupied that region —rnor at least, that has been there in historicrntimes. Despite all evidence to the contrary,rnif Kennewick Man died on whatrneventually became lands of a particularrntribe, he must have been an ancestor ofrnthat tribe.rnThe Kennewick saga is depressing inrndie extreme. Within weeks of the skeleton’srndiscovery, it was in the custody...

In earlier centuries, the insolventrndebtor’s offense was considered grave,rnand unless the creditor was willing torn”forgive” the debt out of charity, therndebtor continued to owe the money plusrnaccumulating interest, plus penalty forrncontinuing nonpayment.rnAs early as the 17th century, however,rngovernments began sobbing about thernplight of the unfortunate debtors, ignoringrnthe fact that the insolvent debtors hadrngotten themselves into...

the other ex-communist countries hernhound hy the dehts contracted by theirrnformer communist masters? hi the communistrnsituation, the injustice is clear:rntliat citizens struggHng for freedom andrnfor a free-market economy should berntaxed to pay for debts contracted by thernmonstrous former ruling class. But thisrninjustice only differs by degree from “normal”rnpublic debt. P’or, conversely, whyrnshould the communist government...

At Last!rnA book that exposes the true cultural significance of the Chnton presidencyrnThe Nonpatriotic President: A Survey of the Clinton Yearsrnby Janet Scott BarlowrnWhitewater . . . Filegate . . . Monica LewinskyrnThe scandals are only the beginningrnIf you think that Bill Clinton’s influence will end when hernleaves office, you need to read this book....

In The Darkrnby George McCartne}’rnResurrecting the Third ManrnForget the Dark Side. Darth Sidious?rnNo more convincing than Bela Lugosirnflitting about an Abbott and Costello travest)’.rnFor the real thing, you’ll have to visitrnyour local revival house when ThernThird Man shows up. Although filmedrnin black and white without special effects,rnits evocation of evil is infinitelyrnmore unsettling than anything...

childishness doesn’t express itself in naivernheroism. Instead, he operates on onernprinciple only: heedless self-interest.rnThe Ferris wheel expresses him perfecdy.rnUnlike the cemetery path, it has no beginningrnor end. For Lime, life is a circularrnseries of amusements, swirling aboutrnhim as he stands, a bemused ringmaster,rnat its center. From this position, he coollyrngauges the value of other people...

The Hundredth Meridianrnby Chilton Williamsou, ]r.rnDust Thou ArtrnSheep Mountain like a fallen tombstonernla’ on the horizon under a sky thickeningrnwith gra cloud ribbons and white lenticulars.rnIt vas too cold for snow yet, andrnrain had not fallen for weeks in thernmountains. The wind raised smallrnstorms of dust on the pale surface of therncla road and whirled...

until the road set up, or dried out. I drewrnthe saddle ofFand stowed the tack behindrnthe tent, and Jerry’s son Todd drove mernback to the truck in his Jeep, across thernford.rnThe truck lost traction on the firstrngrade going south, and I got out to chainrnup. Lying on my back in mud I chainedrnall four tires,...

C/GC1G3Srn2S 9/eaf^of^(D/irofdc/e^rn= ^ ^rnAMERICAN EMPIRErnDeveloped nations should assist poorer states by doing no harm.rnWashington should end government-to-government assistance,rnwhich has so often buttressed regimes dedicated to little morernthan maintainiirg power aird has eased the economic pressurernfor needed reforms. The United States should stop meddling inrnforeign afl^airs which matter little to America; the result is usual-rn1′ to...

the first air strike against North Vietnam, a reprisal for what Irnknew to be the false alarm. It was true that I had helped repulsernan actual attack three days before and that I thought it likely thatrnanother real one would occur in the future. But what to do,rnknowing that hours before Washington had received the...

The literar)’ nihilists, the artists of disorder, enjoin iis to degeneraterninto the lower forms of life, which are brutish. One mayrndiscern in any day’s newspaper some item that is evidence of arnwidespread “intellectual” hostility toward religious belief andrntoward true humanism. Leading book publishers puff up worksrnof fiction meant to convince us that indeed we are...

vices for ten. Nowadays nature is something to push against, tornmove around, get out of the way, get on top ofrn—from William Mills, “The Flies of Summer,” February 1989rnBecause of the hirid attractiveness of what tlie Psahnist calledrnthe “sins of our youth,” being a teenager has been elevated tornthe American ideal. “Those were the best...

ETHNIC POLITICSrnAny effort by the black community to combat spiritual and socialrndecay must depend upon its ability to impose considerablernsocial discipline and to rein in antisocial elements. . . . [T]hernstruggle to restore a stable family life may well prove sine quarnnon, and, if so, the necessary measures may not comport wellrnwith the endless demands...

HOPErnAs the century ends, the marginaht}’ of poetry grows. Today it isrneither a ceremony in the catacombs, a ritual in the urban desert,rna fiesta in the basement, or a revelation in the supermarket. It’srntrue that poets are still persecuted in totalitarian countries andrnin old-fashioned military tyrannies; in democratic nations theyrnare allowed to live and are...

The nature of culture —either alphabetic or audiovisual, freernor cnslaxcd — does not stem from historical determination, fromrnthe blind and impersonal evoluhon of science. The decisivernfactor will always be man’s choice, the decision of powers thatrncan drive societ)- in one direction or another. If books and gadgetsrnare caught in a deadly fight and the latter...

LIBERAL ARTSrnFraud and deception among society’s heroes draw attention torncontradictions and inconsistencies in its value systems. BecausernAmerican culture applauds entrepreneurship, independence,rnand ambition, for example, scientists have been encouragedrnto develop iirdependent imaginations and innovativernresearch, to engage in intense competition, to strive for success.rnIronically, Americans also want their whitecoated heroes to bernhumble and generous in success, to...

Right had existed at the time of the Third Reich, these intellectualsrnwould have been put in concentration camps, just as werernGerman conservatives. There is a ver)’ important difference betweenrna conservative revolution and National Socialism.rn—from Donald Warren, “Letter From Austria, Pt. U:rnA New European Identity,” October J992rnTHE NEWWORLD ORDERrn. . . [T]he central issue in American...

THE OLD REPUBLICrnArtur Schnabel . . . once said of Beethoven’s sonatas that “thisrnmnsic is greater than it can ever be played.” . . . The stories ofrnAmerican histor’ are better than they can ever be told.rn—from David Hackett Fischer, “Telling Storiesrnin the New Age,” March J 997rnIn mv childhood, most human creatures, as they...

of his favorite quotations, and one entry by Oliver Goldsmithrnseems to summarize his personality and politics: “Great mindsrnare bravely eccentric; they scorn the beaten track.”rn—from ]ustin Raimondo, “The Lion of Idaho: Wilham E. Borahrnand the Progressives,” November J998rn[Robert] Frost’s belief that we love the things we love for whatrnthey are, from our familiarity with them,...

THE SERVILE STATErnAccording to the best evidence I am able to collect, there arernStreetniks only in the central cities of the four largest metropolitanrnareas [of Tennessee]. Why, for example, aren’t there streetrnpeople in Murfreesboro? Murfreesboro is one tenth the size ofrnNashville. It should have one tenth the number of homeless—rnif Nashville has 2,000, that would...

Richard M. Weaver Award winner Josef Pieper (I) andrnT.S. Eliot Award winner Octavio Paz (r) pose withrnJohn Howard and Thomas Fleming.rnThe poetty of tradition is rooted in human occupations as theyrnare pursued from dawn to dark, from season to season, on landrnand sea, through harvest and winter, in war or peace. It is associatedrnwith festi’aLs...

politics and concrete considerations of securitv’, geography, resources,rnand aspirations is simply unsuited to the world as it is.rn—from William R. Hawkins, “The Surrender of Politicalrnand Militar)’ Sovereignty,” October J995rnIt was fashionable, for a time, to ask the silly question, “If we canrnput a man on the moon, why can’t we solve our social problems?”rnThe reason...

venture further than his Inferno. If Dante’s paradise has notrnfixed firmly in the minds of most of us—and it has had 600 yearsrnto do so—how shall the contemporary writer successfully portrayrna vision of the ideal, his faith being so much shakier thanrnDante’s, his intellect so much less powerful, and his talentrndwarfish in comparison?rnOnly a very...

AmericanrnN D O W O N T H E F U T U R ErnOmkmrnAmerican Outlook, a bimonthly magazine of tine world’srnbest writing on the future, examines the ideas, people,rntrends, and technologies at work shaping the future today.rnAmerican Outloof< is realistic and optimistic,rnbelieving that any problems human beings can create,rnpeople can solve.rnIn this bimonthly issue:rnThe...

•rn•rnLouis BromfieldrnHamlin GarlandrnBooth TarkingtonrnGlenway WescottrnLaura Ingalls WilderrnSherwood AndersonrnTHE ROCKFORD INSTITUTE’SrnFOURTH ANNUAL SUMMER SCHOOLrn”The American Midwest”rnJuly 24-28, 2001rnDr. Thomas FlemingrnPresident of The Rockford Institute and editor oi ChroniclesrnWilliam MillsrnAuthor of T/ie Arkansas: An American River and the forthcoming Black Sea SketchesrnJustin RaimondornFounding editor ofAnffwar.com, author of Reclaiming the American Right: The Lost Legacyrnof the Conservative Movement...

EDITORnThomas FlemingnEXECUTIVE EDITORnScott P. RichertnSENIOR EDITOR, BOOKSnChilton Williamson, jr.nASSISTANT EDITOR .nAaron D. WolfnARI’ DIRECTORnH. Ward SterettnDESIGNERnMelanie AndersonnCONTRIBUTING EDITORSnKatherine Dalton, Samuel Francis,nGeorge Garrett, Paul Gottfried,nPhilip Jenkins, j.O. Tate, MichaelnWashburn, Clyde WilsonnCORRESPONDING EDITORSnJanet Scott Barlow, Bill Kauffman,nDonald Livingston, William Mills,nWilliam Murchison, AndreinNavrozov, Jacob NeusnernFILM EDITORnGeorge McCartneynFOREIGN-AFFAIRS EDITORnSrdja TrifkovicnLI;GAL-AI”EAIRS II:DITORnStephen B. PressernRELIGION EDITORnHarold O.J. BrownnCIRCUIJVI’ION MANAGERnCindy LinknPUBLISHERnThe Rockford...

on the more serious problems facing it:noverpopulation, pollution, disease, extinction,nclimate change, and asteroidnimpact.n— Ronald C. CorbynnFredericksburg, “^DCnDr. Jones Replies:nMr. Corbyn faults me for failing to noticen”the Catholic Church’s conspiratorialnrole in inshgating” the Illuminati affair innBavaria in the 1780’s. I failed to noticenthis conspiracy because it didn’t exist.nThe Illuminati manuscripts were discoverednby accident. The campaign againstnthe...

JESSE DIRKHISHING was a 13-yearoldnboy living in Rogers, Arkansas, who inn1999 hooked up with two homosexualnmen named Davis Carpenter and JoshuanBrown. Maybe, possibly, he agreed tonengage in sex games with them, but mattersnsoon went far out of control. First,nJesse was wholly immobilized: He wasndrugged, and tied up with rope and ductntape. Then, for a long,...

and adolescents to maintain sexual relationsnwith whomever they choose.”nAs a result of the attention being givennto his 1975 article, Cohn-Bendit hasnbeen denounced by many. Philippe denVilliers, an eminent French conservative,nhas called for his immediate resignation:n”How many paedophiles can havenused these shocking manifestos to justify,nor worse, to stimulate their own actions?”nSerge July, editor of the leftist...

could soon be open for the ECJ to startnruling on free speech cases involving ordinarynEU citizens, or indeed involvingnEuro-sceptic newspapers,” ending in ansituation in which the court will be pittednagainst another court—namely, the onenthat enforces the European Conventionnon Human Rights.n—Alberto CarosanIGOR IVANOV, Russia’s foreign minister,nis usually calm, cool, and collected,nbut he looked ner’ous during his...

CHRONICLES’ BACK ISSUES, TAPES, AND BOOKSnChronicles Overstock Sale—TAKE 10% OFF ALL ORDERSrnTHE FUNDAMENTAL THINGS OF LIFE: PAIN, KNOWLEDGE, DUTY, ANDnSEX—July 1993—Patrick Reilly on the purpose of pain, George Watson on combatingnmoral skepticism, and Thomas Molnar on the ideology of technology. Plus John Loftonnon sex and the military, Jacob Neusner on “the historical Jesus,” and Momcilo...

Some celebrities seem born with a natural star power that radiatesnfrom them like an angelic halo. Alcibiades had thisnkind of “charisma” that made him adored even by people whondisliked him. To be a celebrit)’, as Willy Loman would say, it isnnot enough to be liked: You must be well liked. Musicians likenLiszt or Paganini had...

started calling him on Crossfire, in the hilarions pretense that henwas a red-blooded American male) despises everyone to thenright of William F. Buckley, Jr. (and that covers a great deal ofnterritory), he takes the trouble to inform himself on the details.nWhen the usual people were sniffing out Mr. Buchanan’s “antiseniitism,”nKinsley told his debriefers that Pat’s...

12/CHRONICLESnI. Alexander’s CavalrynHorses at Chaeroneantrampled the Theban Band.nLater at Gaugamelanwhere Persia made its stand,nhorses embarrassed Dariusnwith flanking incursions,nharassing his chariotsnand myriads of Persians.nII. Two MetaphorsnSomeone described the horsenas “poetry in motion.”nAnother beside the oceannsaw “horses of the sea.”nThe latter phrase has force,nbut I dispute the notionnthat horses are poetry;nit’s not fair to the horse.nIII. iVlontana...

who are simply ridiculous, the people who are too big for theirnboots, and the vast number of people who, if push came tonshove, would not lift a finger. Finally, do not forget the neighbornwho always borrows your gardening tools.nMy queshon is simply this: Wliat is irrahonal about cheeringnon an omnipotence that, while turning all of...

(Confusion.) I am one. (Noise.) Then hear this: My authornis oppressed. He is frightened. I will show kindnessnto anyone who forewarns me of whatever danger imperilsnhim. (To Moliere.) Weak as we are, we’ll find a way tonrout them, you and I. (Aloud.) The ban is lifted. Younmay stage Tartuffe.n”To find the time to telephone a...

and their poems more than eompare with any you care to men-nHon, probably because they recognized divine inspiration whennthey saw (or felt) it. This unavailable dream is found in a widelynavailable book called “the Bible.” I would rather read aboutnNathan rebuking King David with a storj’ or about the receptionnof the Prodigal Son than about...

ac or celebrity or vieillard terrible could be put in his place. HoracenWalpole did it to David Hume in Paris on November 11,n1766. I remember—I was there. “You know, in England wenread their works, but seldom or never take notice of authors.nWe think them sufficiently paid if their books sell, and of coursenleave them in...

detailing her romps with the Emperor Charlemagne all thosencenturies ago (they were seen together again last week in Cleveland;nthis time, there may be photos), or Barbra Streisand —nwoofers and hveeters cranked up to hearing-impairment volume—claimingnto know more about public policy than SharonnStone, or Toni Morrison lauding Bill Clinton’s performance asnthe countr)”s first black president, the...

cost upward of 100 million lives last centur)’. Today’s Renaissancenexperts expect the public to accept ever’ benighted proclamationnas absolute truth, defying us to question the statementsnmade or the motives behind the foolishness. With these newncognoscenti, what we see is idiotic enough, but what we get is farnworse: show-business megalomania and crackbrained New Agenpsychobabble dressed up...

THE 225THnANNIVERSARYn^ OF THEnDECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCEnIs the Declaration of Independence part of the federal Constitution?nThe short answer, of course, is “no.” For the Declarationnto be part of the Constitution, it would have to havenbeen included in the original document ratified by at least ninenof the conventions held in the original 13 states between 1787nand 1789,...

our struggle with England.nThe validity of some of the facts alleged in the Declaration isndoubtful, though it does contain some timeless philosophicalntruths—truths that touch constitutional interpretation. One isnthe notion that whatever rights we have in a temporal governmentnmust ultimately be viewed as the gift of “Nature’s God,”nWlio regards all men as equal in His sight:...

The people were no longer the center; the government was.nThe plural United States was now an artificial singular. “American,”nwhich had meant the fellow feeling of related peoples,nnow meant merely obedience to the same government.nAmericans have never lost the idea of, and the instinct for,niinQyfSXzMnequalit)’—and that is a good thing. But we appear to have lostnthe...

tered by Orwell’s exposure of totalitarianngovernance that they resorted to namecalling:nmaggot, hyena, swine, neurotic,nand worse. This pleased Orwell, for, asnMeyers notes, their childish splutteringn”made [him] feel he must have strucknhome.”nFor an author who was subjected to sonmuch naming, no one did it as well EricnBlair himself He decided to use a pennname for his first...

Spain had been rashly quixotic, Orwellnlived to settle matters with his pen. hi thenend, his works would help discomfit thentotalitarianism he so despised.nOrwell triumphed because he refusednto be sophisticated by what he called inn1940 “the smelly little orthodoxies whichnare now contending for our souls.” Meyersnenables us to understand the originsnof Orwell’s resistance to changing politicalnfashions....

plnase of the race problem and onenthat will not be as aceessible to thentelevision cameras. These dissidentnNegroes, like their dead heroes,nMalcolm X and Dr. Fanon, rejectnthe white society lock, stock, andnbarrel although they make use of itsnopportunities, and by their violentnrejection of it they become annavant garde not only of Negroes butnof the radical white...