Hypocrisy Watch —Okay, so Egypt is brokering a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, and meetings have been held between the three parties in Cairo, so will somebody please remind me why-oh-why negotiating with one of the few elected governments in the Arab world is so terrible? This underscores—as if underscoring were needed—the complete and utter hypocrisy of the Israel Lobby in … [Read More]

Meee-ooow!—In what has got to be the cattiestiest interview since the Cheshire Cat took on the Cowardly Lion, Gore Vidal displays his utter contempt for the New York Times. In answer to “Why do you think that critics have traditionally praised your essays more than your fiction?” good ol’ Gore throws the question back in the interviewer’s face, averring: “That’s because … [Read More]

The history of libertarianism as a doctrine and an organized political movement is of interest these days on account of all the attention garnered by Rep. Ron Paul, the Texas congressman known as “Dr. No,” in his quixotic yet attention-getting and surprisingly successful campaign for the GOP presidential nomination. Where do these libertarian types come from, and where are they going? … [Read More]

What prompted this whole discussion about race and alleged racial differences—Christopher Roach’s post here, and my response—was the presidential campaign of Barack Obama, his rise as the putative Democratic candidate, and I want to bring the discussion back to its source. Because Obama, as a personality and the likely Democratic nominee, really does refute the mythology promulgated by the racialists. He … [Read More]

In Runaway Horses, Yukio Mishima’s portrait of a young right-winger and would-be assassin, the main character, Isao, is inspired by a pamphlet, The League of the Divine Wind, by Tsunanori Yamao—a work of pure imagination, albeit based on historical reality, which takes up all or most of Chapter 9. This is the story of the Shinpuren Incident of 1876, in which … [Read More]

How hated are the neocons?—When even sports writers are on your case, you know the peasants with pitchforks can’t be far behind. From a piece headlined “Are the Mariners the Neocons of Baseball?”: “Should we be worried the Mariners are baseball’s equivalent of the Bush Administration? Fiscally undisciplined with negligible positive returns? Check. Marketed as veteran leadership despite any veterans … [Read More]

Ron Paul’s recently published book, The Revolution, is number one on Amazon and will debut on the New York Times bestseller list at number seven—good news, eh? Not to the fake “libertarians” over at Reason magazine, no sirreee! David Weigel posts this snarky little rant, digging up the Ron Paul newsletter scandal—which I debunked here—but Weigel doesn’t have to answer any … [Read More]

Why is this man smiling—or, rather, smirking? It took them some 23 years, but the FBI finally got around to arresting Ben-Ami Kadish, who stole US secrets for Israel—and reported to the same Israeli “controller” as Jonathan Pollard. Newsweek has some of the details—but Phil Giraldi, at The American Conservative, has the real scoop. Israeli spies in the US? Who … [Read More]

What, in the name of all that’s holy, is anyone doing up at 5:28 am? At this ungodly hour, one can only be up to no good. Unless you’re over 50, like me, in which case it’s simply old age: with the sand in the hourglass moving rather too quickly, we oldsters simply want to experience as much of the time … [Read More]

You Got That Right—Matt Yglesias on the arrogance of the neocons: “The attitude of thoughtless, unreflective scorn that you see from the Pollacks and Kirchicks and Goldfarbs of the world is like it comes from some weird alternative reality where their ideas have generally been deemed vindicated, rather than one where 178% of the public says we’re on the wrong … [Read More]