Taki's Daily Blog
If they’re any good, superhero movies speak to something larger than just kicking, flying, punching, and rescuing: Batman strikes a nerve as the vigilante, perhaps motivated by revenge, who is attacked by the very people he protects (a kind anarcho-tyranny story, if you will). Although Marvel and Warner Bros. ensured that “Iron Man” would be edgy and hip by hiring Robert … [Read More]
The Rev. Jeremiah Wright was out and about this weekend and dropped a few more bombshells. It was a dream come true for the official conservative media, and they didn’t miss a chance to pile on, do a little more shilling for McCain, and express their outrage. What I found most interesting was that all the conservatives were jockeying to see … [Read More]
According to Paul Belien, “The most successful anti-immigration parties in Europe are regionalist/secessionist parties.” “They are ‘apolitical’ because they do not particularly like politics. Their militants, members and voters do not like the state, they want to be left alone. They defend local communities that want to run their own affairs. They are parties of the land and the community, rather … [Read More]
Once upon a time, there was a really troubling place known as Iraq that was fraught with inter-ethnic violence, tensions with a an occupying power, and some really bad kids called al-Queda who tempted the good folks with wicked extremism. But luckily some “concerned local citizens” got together and formed a rag-tag crew called the “Sons of Iraq” and finally restored … [Read More]
Paul’s announcement of the death of the paleoconservatism—an article which we discussed at length and which I very much wanted him to write—has prompted me to reconsider something that Paul left out of his discussion, the Right’s trajectory throughout the 1990s. This period of time is also known as my childhood. I, too, was “Right from the Beginning,” and even came … [Read More]
On any website or blog, those who leave comments make up a minute fraction of the readership. Those who spend hours a day composing sundry and bizarre screeds are even more rare, though their presence is more pronounced. One should never presume that one could gage anything about a website’s general readership from the hysterics of a tiny minority. As one … [Read More]
I’ve looked on with curiosity at the so-called “Gravelanche,” the reaction among libertarians to Mike Gravel’s quest for the Libertarian Party’s nomination. That old Mike would attempt such a thing is not particularly surprising—the man who depicted his delinquent credit-card bills as a social protest probably has visions of LP largesse and federal matching funds dancing in his head. What is … [Read More]
I, too, am “glad” that we defeated the Third Reich, and there’s much to admire about John’s defense of American “interventionism” in WWII. (Although it should be remembered that even if FDR did a lot of scheming and lend-leasing before Dec. 11, 1941, Germany did declare war on us, and thus it seems the whole question of “interventionism” is moot). It … [Read More]
Nestled in the second-to-last paragraph of Bill Kristol’s morning op-ed in the Times is a rather fascinating series of suggestions: ”Perhaps the most obvious way McCain could upend the normal dynamics of this year’s election would be a bold vice presidential choice. He could pick a hawkish and principled Democrat like Joe Lieberman. He could reach beyond the usual bevy of … [Read More]
Justin’s defense of Samantha Power demands a reply, and I’d like to demur from lamenting the departure of the Harvard prof and anti-genocide crusader fom the political scene. Yes, she was a critic of Israel, but then professors who wail on and on about human rights abuses in the occupied territory area are a dime a dozen among the tenured faculty … [Read More]