On religious matters, Father Richard John Neuhaus comes as close to anyone on today’s scene in serving as a modern day Chesterton. In his monthly “The Public Square” column in First Things, the magazine on religion and public life that he serves as editor in chief, Neuhaus offers excellent insights on politics, culture and faith with a passionate, informed, often humorous … [Read More]

They scoffed at Ron Paul’s poll numbers—six months before a single vote was cast. Now he’s at 7.4 percent [.pdf file] in the latest New Hampshire poll. He’s in fourth place, he’s got $5.3 million to spend, and the campaign will soon air the first Paul-for-President television ads. The state is swarming with young volunteers—Ron is the Eugene McCarthy of the … [Read More]

Irans says it’s safe from US attack—but if I were them, I wouldn’t count on it ... “In the scenario concocted by Cheney’s strategists, Washington’s first step would be to convince Israel to fire missiles at Iran’s uranium enrichment plant in Natanz. Tehran would retaliate with its own strike, providing the US with an excuse to attack military targets and nuclear … [Read More]

Pat on Rudy: ”A McGovernite in 1972, he boasted in the campaign of 1993 that he would ‘rekindle the Rockefeller, Javits, Lefkowitz tradition’ of New York’s GOP and ‘produce the kind of change New York City saw with ... John Lindsay.’ He ran on the Liberal Party line and supported Mario Cuomo in 1994. Pro-abortion, anti-gun, again and again he strutted … [Read More]

John Fund cites Phyllis Schlafly on the Huckabee Horror: “‘Phyllis Schlafly, president of the national Eagle Forum, is even more blunt. ‘He destroyed the conservative movement in Arkansas, and left the Republican Party a shambles,’ she says. ‘Yet some of the same evangelicals who sold us on George W. Bush as a ‘compassionate conservative’ are now trying to sell us on … [Read More]

The death of Eve Curie Labouisse at age 102 brought back memories. She was Marie Curie’s daughter and the only one of her immediate family not to win a Nobel Prize. Her parents, Pierre and Marie Curie, won the Nobel in 1903 in the physics field, and then her mother won it on her own for chemistry in 1911. Her sister, … [Read More]

Sam Brownback is out, but he’s not down.  In a move clearly calculated to maintain his viability as a vice-presidential candidate, he met with Rudy Giuliani on Thursday in Brownback’s Senate office. As Daniel Larison points out, Brownback stopped short of endorsing Giuliani, but declared that he is now “much more comfortable” with Giuliani’s position on abortion.  Daniel seems to think … [Read More]

New York -  While I was on the tennis circuit from the mid-fifties to 1965, it was an open secret that there was a lot of hanky panky going on in the women’s locker rooms. Mind you, lady players were much older than they are now, but there were still some pretty young and impressionable girls competing who took “coaching” from … [Read More]

I see that, at one point, the Mafia considered doing a hit on Rudy Giuliani—they couldn’t stand the competition. We’re told that when the Grand Council of Mafia Dons met in solemn conclave, the vote was three-to-two against knocking Rudy off. with the Gotti-Persico clan arguing strenously in favor. However, the Luchese, Bonnano, and Genovese families—what might be called the pro-Giuliani … [Read More]

Leave it to National Review to post Whittaker Chambers ignorant tirade directed at Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged on the 50th anniversary of the book’s publication. The accompanying note reads: “2005 marks the fiftieth anniversary of National Review. In celebration, NRO will be digging into the NR archives throughout the year.” Well, yes, they’ve scraped the very bottom of the barrel with … [Read More]