VITAL SIGNSrnRELIGIONrnCatholic Romernby Roberto de MattelrnSt. ‘I’homas Aquinas maintains tliatrnour intellect cannot grasp anthingrnexcept through our senses. Recognizingrnthis truth is esscndal to understanding therneit}’ of Rome and —beyond Ronrc —thernCatholic Church, because Rome meansrnnothing without the Chmch, and thernChurch loses her identit}’ if is deprived ofrnher Roman character.rnThe Church has five characteristics:rnShe is One, Holv,...

i liinibs, came to the capital of tlie Romrnempire to proclaim the Gospel.rniring Nero’s reign, he underwent thernincnt of the cross, like his Divine Masr.rnPeter was niarhred in Nero’s circusrn• the VaHcan and buried nearby.rnAs a man, Peter lived and died like thern.’st of tlie saints and apostles; as Pope,rn• t. Peter remains at the...

The task force claims to have particiatedrnin the conviction of 305 defendantsrnonnected to 224 arsons or bombings. Asrnhe task force points out in a news release,rnhis arrest rate of 36.2 percent is morernthan twice the national average for arsonrncases. About one-third of the 948 arsonsrntracked b- the task force since 1995 in-rn olved black churches....

ing the U.S. Supreme Court to fix thernelection for Boy George. They are justrnrelying ou media sources, the sanre as thernrest of us. If thev are willing to base themselvesrnentirely ou one-sided parti pris documentsrnto reconstruct the affairs oi annorn2000, what earthly hope do we have thatrnthe’ will be more pcrceptie when stud-rning the issues...

In The Darkrnby George McCartneyrnDinner Is ServedrnThe original newspaper advertisenrentsrntor Hannibal (director Ridley Scott’srnadaptation of Thomas Harris’s nocl) dis-rn])laed a ghonlish-looking close up of therneponvmous protagonist, a more-thanusualhrnmad pschiatrist who has an unfortunaternpenchant for dining on hisrnpaHcnts. hi the person of Anthony Hopkins,rnHannibal the Cannibal glared at usrnnialeolentl, a crazed smile creasing hisrnaging face.rnA week...

the species of its louts. Louts may berntroubling, but filleting them wholesalernseems a trifle draconian. Besides, howrnappetizing would they be?rnThis kind of thing might work as comedyrnnoir; but the script, crafted by thernusually reliable David Mamet, is singularlyrnwifless, and the novel is even worse.rnHarris takes Lecter so seriously that hernhas him setting up house with...

The Hundredth Meridianrnby Chilton Williamson, Jr.rnNow Hear This!!!rnoil could say it isn’t easy being a liberalrn1 the most conservative state in thern’nion if it weren’t for the fact that in therniiost conserative state in the Union, therniberals occupy all the best bully pulpits.rnThis means that, in Wvoming as in thernest of the SO states, DemocraHc...

newed legislative assault, following therninstallation of George II, is intended notrnas a challenge to the new administrationrnbut a facilitator of its agenda regardingrnthe disposition of the public lands in thernWest, and elsewhere. It makes sense,rndoesn’t it? The columnists suspect thatrn”priatization” is a code word for a sell-offrnwhich would be disastrous for the veryrn”agricultural interests” who...

You 5hal( not (Ji-esirnJown o>>on +h€rnfrrow 0^ (atorrncrown 0^rnt^oi-nr, VO”rnihad notrncrucifyrnMankrndrnof>on a ‘foiJrnof jo((J.rnFeaturedrnWritersrnand Poets:rnLouis BromfieldrnHamlin GarlandrnBooth TarkingtonrnGlenva’ VVescottrnLaura Ingalls WilderrnSherwood AndersonrnErnest Hemrn,.55rnTHE ROCKFORD INSTITUTE’SrnFOURTH ANNUAL SUMMER SCHOOLrn”The American Midwest’rnJuly 24-28, 2001rnDr. Thomas FlemingrnPresident of The Rockford histitutc and editor o’i ChroniclesrnWilliam MillsrnAuthor of The Arkansas: An American River and the forthcoming Black Sea SketchesrnJustin...

‘^ ^Sr^-.’-i.^-Wrl^’L-f’,rnTHE ROCKFORD INSTITUTE’SrnThird International ConviviumrnTHE UNSINKABLE ISLANDrnNorsemen, Anglo-Normans, and Celts came to conqner and ended up going native.rnThe capacit}’ of the Irish to endure conquest and convert their “masters” makes a greatrnstory—told incomparably by their poets, novelists, dramahsts, and pub raconteurs withoutrnwhom (if you believe them) English literature would have been a paltry affair.rnJoinrnChronicles...

EDITORrnThomas FlemingrnEXECUTIVE EDITORrnScott P. RichertrnSENIOR EDITOR, BOOKSrnChilton Williamson, ]r.rnASSISTANT EDITORrnAaron D. WolfrnART DIRECTORrnH. Ward SterettrnDESIGNERrnMelanie AndersonrnCONTRIBUTING EDITORSrnKatherine Dalton, Samuel Francis,rnGeorge Garrett, Paul Gottfried,rnPhilip Jenkins, j.O. Tate, MichaelrnWashburn, Clyde WilsonrnCORRESPONDING EDITORSrn]anet Scott Barlow, Bill Kauffman,rnDonald Livingston, William Mills,rnWilliam Murchison, AndreirnNavrozov, ]acoh NeusnerrnFILM EDITORrnGeorge McCartneyrnFOREIGN-AFFAIRS EDITORrnSrdja TrifkovicrnLEGAL-AFFAIRS EDITORrnStephen B. PresserrnRELIGION EDITORrnHarold O./. BrownrnEDITORIAL SECRETARYrnLeann DobbsrnCIRCULATION MANAGERrnCindy LinkrnPUBLISHERrnThe...

Paul Gottfried’s short article rebuttingrnLocke’s concept of the “social contract”rnis unfortunately not as complete as herncould have made it, despite his introductionrnof David Hume into the argument.rnTo be specific, he failed to mentionrn”spontaneous order.”rnJust when the idea of “spontaneous order”rnarose is uncertain, but we do knowrnthat it was a central feature of the thoughtrnof the...

can raise crops that the government hasrnto buy to keep consumer prices high.rnTaxes collected in other states pay for therncostly light rail that is supposed to makerncommuting easier for residents of Easternrncities. If your town needs a new highway,rna waste-water treatment plant, orrnmore teachers, ask the feds. After all, ifrnthe funds were raised locally, some...

join us. Wrong. The lefties were againstrncompelling America’s youth to go forthrnto fight capitalism’s foreign wars; at arndeeper level, however, they also believedrnthat society had the power to confiscate arncouple of years of the same youths’ livesrnby imposing mandatory national servicernto assist the oppressed, poor, downtrodden,rnand other victims of the capitalist socialrnorder. Fortunately —not muchrnthanks...

cy, when anyone who can drive a car isrnprononnced fit to exercise the franchise.rnThere’s a wonderfully enlighteningrnchapter in William Alexander Percy’srnLanterns on the Levee —A too-much-neglectedrnwork of literature —concerningrnthe downfall of Mississippi’s gentlemanlyrnU.S. Sen. LeRoy Percy (the author’s father)rnat the hands of the distinctly nongendemanlyrnJames Vardaman. The votersrn—and this was 1912 —didn’t want arngentleman; they...

of Yugoslavia ended abruptly and acrimoniouslyrnon January 23. After an hourrnwidi Kostunica, an angry-looking MissrnDel Ponte, the chief prosecutor of ThernHague war-crimes tribunal, rushed pastrnassembled journalists and refused to giverna scheduled statement. Her “list of demands”rn—topped by the extradition ofrnthe former president, Slobodan Milosevicrn—did not sit well with Kostunica. Hernraised objections to secret indictmentsrnand the...

PERSPECTIVErnThe Conservative War on Propertyrnby Thomas FlemingrnPerhaps it is a delusion, like snow blindness, caused by therntons of dirty snow shoved into my driveway by the cityrnplows and the sun’s annual disappearing act that drives evenrnnon-Scandinavians into melancholy and occasional fits ofrnberserking frenzy, but I am beginning to be persuaded by ourrnChicago friend Tom Roeser...

Grotius, and ultimately Epicurus) and declare that privaternpropert)’ is a “natural right” —in other words, a theoretical claimrnderived from a hypothetical state of nature.rnYou see, the “conser’ative” holy men will tell you, once uponrna time long, long ago when dinosaurs walked the earth, menrnand women lived on a free-and-easy basis of equality. Unfortunatel}’,rnsome wicked people...

Turner’s Watercolour:rn’Holy Island—Northumberland”rnby Peter HuntrnA steep, sharp, rocky shore, a low cHfF-sidernPale-gold with sunlight cutting down from skiesrnIn tumult on the fringes of a storm aroundrnThe Holy Island. Castle towers loomrnBroken, massive, rough, their colour paledrnBy North-Sea winds and ghostly, silver light,rnWliile shadowing the further shore, and overrnBlue-black sea, the upper realms of Eastern skyrnAre...

The City of Rockford is using eminent domain to help a private developer acquirernthe land on which the Torres Market sits.rnchain willing to move into the area. Rather than approachingrnthe Torreses and offering to bny their store, the developer goesrnto the cit)’ government, which begins eminent-domain proceedingsrnon the Torres property- and a half-dozen others. Oncernthe...

But the seeds of this expanded use of eminent domain werernthere from the beginning. The construchon of roads and canalsrn(and, later, railroads and the Interstate Highva Sstem) wasrnnot an unadulterated public good, and not simply for the reasonsrnthat Bill Kauffman oudines in his book. With Good Intentions?rnReflections on the Myth of Progress in America. In...

Tom and Jan Ditzler survey Winnebago County’s destruction of their land.rnnionetan,- value on something that should be as invaluable as arnfamily member, or one of our limbs.rnWhen he wrote one of his finest poems, “Do Not BernAshamed,” Wendell Berrv was thinking not simply ofrnproperh’ rights but of the growth of a broader political and economicrntotalitarianism....

So this is the real use of our “civil rights” laws, supposedlyrncharged with protecting the rights of the “oppressed”: as a bludgeonrnagainst a lowly waitress, who dared protest her humiliahonrnat the hands of rude customers.rnT he followers of Martin LutherrnKing, Jr., succeeded wherernLenin’s heirs failed.rnDenny’s management denied the claims of the complainants.rnSteve McManus, senior vice...

ing gay-rights mo’ement would latch onto the rhetoric first popularizedrnby Martiu Luther King, Jr., and the black civil-rightsrnmovement. For opposing this extension of the civil-rights principle,rnconservatives are smeared as bigots, just as Goldwater wasrnfor voting “nay” on the first federal Civil Rights Act. Goldwaterrnstood on principle, but todav’s conservafives do not have a leg tornstand...

who attended 30 or more years ago) learned about the separationrnof powers and checks and balances —although few seem familiarrnwith the idea of dual sovereignty-rnFewer shll understand a third set of constitutionally dictatedrnsafeguards that have largely been discarded. One of these wasrnimplicit: Members of the House of Representatives were to bernselected by the exercise of...

been called, is untenable,” McDonaldrnwrites, and he treats sympathetically thernvarious conflicts in American history thatrninvolved the rights of the states that followrnfrom the compact theory. This positionrnplaces him—with respect to states’rnrights, if not to other issues—on the sidernof the Confederacy as opposed to Lincoln,rnCalhoun and Hayne as opposed tornWebster and Jackson, and Jefferson andrnMadison as...

REVIEWSrn”Psst-CanWeTalk?’rnby Richard D. LammrnThe Race to the Bottom:rnWhy a Worldwide Worker Surplus andrnUncontrolled Free Trade Are SinkingrnAmerican Living Standardsrnby Alan TonekonrnBoulder, CO: Westview Press;rn222 pp., $25.00rnThere is a story, perhaps apocryphal,rnabout a Chinese scholar who wasrnasked by a student, “What is the longtermrnimpact of the French Revolution?”rnHis answer: “It’s too early to tell, it’s simplyrntoo...

the president of Ignatius Press, FatherrnJoseph Fessio, S.J., agreed to pubHsh thernentire work in one vokime. As someonernwho has been involved in this project forrnten vears, I do not make the sHghtest pretensernto impartiaht)’. I have bhirbed thernbook, written a sales letter for it, andrnwould not dream of calling this essay arn”review,” though Chilton Williamsonrnhas...

Letter From Rockfordrnby Scott P. RichertrnA Month in the Life of thernIndustrial MidwestrnNews Item: “Motorola Inc. will close itsrnonly U.S. cellular-phone manufacturingrnoperation, putting 2,S00 of 5,000 peoplernout of w ork to ease sagging profits amidrnincreased global competition. Employeesrnwho will remain at the 1.3 millionsquare-rnfoot plant that opened in 1996rnwill focus on research, marketing andrnother activities...

News Item: “The domino effect of manufacturingrncutbacks at DaimlerChryslerrnand Motorola has reached another employerrnin the Rock River Valley—Textron,rnwhich is laying off 75 people fromrnits fastener operations. . . . Textron hasrnhad its own problems of late, having registeredrna loss of $218 million in the fourthrnquarter of 2000. Last fall, the companyrnsaid it would close up...

CORRESPONDENCErnLetter From Romernby Chilton Williamson, ]r.rnRome as We Found ItrnIn horse-and-carriage days, foreign visitorsrnto Rome, after an arduous Alpinerncrossing, commonly entered the cityrnfrom the north, by the Milvian Bridgernwhich has existed since the second centuryrnB.C. Here, on October 28, 312, Constantinernhad a vision of Christ on the evernof his victory over his rival, Maxentius.rnSince that...

back to the hotel. The Romans stay outrnlate at night, sauntering past the openrnshops, the restaurants, the hostarias, birrerias,rnand trattorias, all of them filledrnwith eminently purchasable, edible, orrnpotable things. (“So much to eat, so littlerntime to do it in,” as Clyde Wilson later remarked.)rnFrom being raised in Manhattan,rnI’ve acquired the survival instincts ofrnan Apache warrior,...

sight of the CapitoHne Hill. I looked atrnAaron; Aaron looked at me. It’s amazingrnhow in a crisis of this sort your brain eitherrnshuts down or defaults to foreign languagesrnpreviously studied, in my casernFrench and Spanish, in that order. “Howrndo we tell him to stop?” Aaron asked, butrnI couldn’t tell him. Either I ranked wellrntoward the...

Dinner at the Hotel Forum with (clockwise from left) Sharif Said, Bob Weir,rnChris Check, Mary Kohler, Chilton Williamson, Jr., Ruth Besemer, ClydernWilson, and Anne Wilson.rnit. ‘I’lie great cathedral was—for nie, atrnleast — a disappointment. The visualrnmagnitude of its proportions having beenrndeliberately reduced by architecturalrntricks, the edifice simply does not appearrnas gigantic as it certainU is...

Andrei Navrozov points out the bewildering aftereffects of the Tower of Babel.rnI recall, too, visiting S. Cecilia in Trasteverern(the little habited nun so disappointedrnwhen we gave her only the sum she requestedrnfor the tour), walking with thernFlemings beneath the plane trees on andrnin the neighborhood of the Viale Traste-rnere, Gail and I eniously eyeing thernpenthouse...

pile of masonry but not nearly so forbiddingrnnow as when Shelley saw it, thernbuilding having been painted a creamy yellowrnand converted into residential apartments.rnOnly the blackened shadowy archrnconnecting the two portions of the palacernacross a narrow cobbled street retains a hintrnof the monstrous Baroque crimes that occurredrnhere four centuries ago.rnFrom the Palazzo Cenci, I made...

biin group of w ealthy campaign contributors,rnmany of whom supported casinorngambling.rnRestaurants in Detroit’s Greektownrnliad posted campaign signs for both therncasino and ball-park initiatives bearingrnthe same slogan, “Detroit Needs Jobs.”rnLeading restaurant owners had bid onrnone of the gaming licenses with supportrnfrom both Archer and Council PresidentrnGil Hill, despite the fact that these samerninvestors were also delinciuent...

gins with the Christian Reconquista sponsoredrnby Juame I of Cataluiia and Aragonrnin 1235, long before NATO bombers gotrninto the business of preventing ethnicrncleansing. (A suggested bumper stickerrnfor folks opposed to NATO inten’entionism:rn”If NATO Had Got Here Sooner,rnYour Name Would Be Mohammed.”)rnOver the next 700 years, the islandrnprospered as a trading hub for Catalanrnmerchants and suffered...

was alarmed by President Clinton’s recentrnmove to deepen U.S. involvementrnin Colombia’s civil war by deliveringrn$1.3 billion of additional foreign aid tornthe Bogota regime. Actually, it’s farrnworse, I told her. Clinton is not merelyrnsending cash that could be easily stolenrnand, therefore, kept out of the civil war.rnHe’s sending attack helicopters, herbicide,rnand military “advisors” into thernColombian jungle.rnHer...

Letter From Londonrnby Derek TurnerrnBlair’s Ditch ProjectrnTonv Blair’s regime manages to be simultaneouslyrncomic and tragic, with arnslight tilt toward tragedy. The governmentrnis made up of chinless ChristianrnSocialists, Anglophobe Scots, aggrievedrnproletarians, shrewish women, and militantrnhomosexuals —most of whom seemrnto detest each other. The members of thernCabinet all have grandiose schemes,rnwhich tend toward unfeasibility andrnnever work out...

ship education” should include humanrightsrnprinciples and “understanding ofrnequality difference.” The granting ofrnbroadcasters’ licenses would be made dependentrnupon having a suitable quota ofrnminorit)’ employees and running propagandarnabout “cultural diversity’,” whilernpolitical parties should have an ethnicrn”audit” of members. Educational authoritiesrnwould be required to keep detailedrnstatistics on ethnicity; equality andrndiversit}’ awareness would be incorporatedrninto teacher training at all...

like a warm spring afternoon, with thernForum’s white marble bones showingrnthrough the open window like thernbleached skeleton of some nnlamentedrncasualt of social evolution, my mindrnkeeps turning back to Cortina, with allrnthat rude good health, sparkling withrnsnow and brimming v’ith mulled wine. Irnhave just come back, after two weeks ofrnpretending to ski alongside the Romansrnwho make...

•rnLouis BromfieldrnHamlin GarlandrnBooth TarkingtonrnGlenway WescottrnLaura Ingalls WilderrnSherwood AndersonrnErnest HemingwayrnOle RolvaagrnSinclair LewisrnSterling NorthrnEdgar Lee MastersrnVachel LindsayrnHart Crane,rnTHE ROCKFORD INSTITUTE’SrnFOURTH ANNUAL SUMMER SCHOOLrn”The American Midwest”rnJuly 24-28, 2001rnDr. Thomas FlemingrnPresident of The Rockford Institute and editor oi ChroniclerrnWilliam MillsrnAuthor of The Arkansas: An American River and the forthcoming Black Sea SketchesrnJustin RaimondornFounding editor oi Antiwar.com, author o{ Reclaiming...

The American InterestrnSharon’s Victory andrnU.S. Policy in the Middle EastrnWith the landshde victory of Ariel Sharonrnin the Israeh general election onrnFebruary 6, it is obvious that Americarnneeds to reevaluate its policy in the MiddlernEast. A revised policy should bernbased on three key premises.rnFirst, Israel is a small foreign country.rnIt is a friendly and democratic country,rnbut...

VITAL SIGNSrnGOVERNMENTrnYour Tax Dollarsrnat Workrnby Philip JenkinsrnRumor lias it that the Brookings histitutionrnis a well-regarded think tankrnstaffed by highh’ educated experts, whosernopinions are treated with great respect byrntlie nation’s policymakers. Unfortunate-rn1-, these experts do not inhabit the samernspiral arm of the galax) as the rest of us. Irnbase this conclusion on a widely publicizedrnreport released...

dollar corporate enrichment in any list ofrnfederal achievements. Many countriesrntalk about how desirable it is to transferrnwealth, but the United States has actuallyrndone it, albeit in the wrong direction.rnWhy be so modest?rnAmong the other federal triumphs, Irnwould place many of the consequencesrnof the civil-rights revolution, a complexrnand well-intentioned movement that certainlyrnachieved much good. But it...

dren. Each family is involved in a particularrnchurch or temple. Each adult volunteersrnin church or community organizationsrnin some capacity. And each of usrnis highly opinionated.rnOnly once in a long while do we agreernon anything. One such extraordinaryrnevent occurred on Thanksgiving Day,rn1999, during a lull in the conversation.rnMy sister Penny looked around the quietrntable and asked...

brother pointed to the man’s leather sandals,rnand said, “You’re wearing animalsrnon your feet,” and then slipped past thernspeechless protester.rnHumor may also help make our pointrnin a civilized way. One of my former collegernprofessors—a pacifist, a supporter ofrnliberal causes, an outspoken homosexualrn—remained my good friend until hisrnrecent death. Both of us eventually realizedrnthat our shared sense...

In The Darkrnby George McCartneyrnMoments, Redeemingrnand OtherwisernEven the weakest films can have a redeemingrnmoment or two. Whether it’srna clever actor reinventing a shopwornrnrole or an especially well-photographedrnscene, there is often enough to keep usrnfrom feeling entirely cheated of our timernand money. This month’s films underscorernthe point: None of the three reallyrnsucceeds (one is inexcusably tendentious),rnbut...

endless series of unsatisfying couplings,rnall sadly sterile of progeny. This plot linernworked well for Stoker’s novel and thernfew vampire films that adhered to it.rnAbsent Stoker’s subtext, however,rnMurnau’s film holds little interest. Perhapsrnthat is wh’ Merhige’s deconstructionrnof it seems so oddly flat and literal. Ifrnhis real vampire is playing the part ofrnDracula, then we must accept...