More on the Iowa follies: On Barack Obama’s plan to bomb and/or invade Pakistan: Giuliani is in favor, of course. Is there any crazed foreign policy “option” he wouldn’t take? Romney doesn’t want to talk to “our enemies”—but he would “keep our options quiet” in Pakistan. So, he agrees with Obama, but wouldn’t say so. George Stephanopoulos—debate host—puts up the “export democracy” second inaugural speech up there, with the “money quote”: our goal, says the Prez, is to “end tyranny in our world.” But is it, asks George? Ron Paul: He keeps denouncing the neocons as having diverted our efforts away … 
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“I am going to be judged by History,” proclaims Mad John McCain at the Iowa debate, “not public opinion polls.” Translation: L’Etat, c’est moi. 
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“I overslept,” writes Kathyrn Jean Lopez in National Review‘s “The Corner. “Almost forgot about the Republican debate. Woke up to Iowans cheering Ron Paul. Hit snooze.” Yes, Kathryn, go back to bed: you’ve been sleeping since the war began. Why wake up now?  
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When it comes from FOX News, of course. On Tuesday, July 31, FOX News published a transcript of Neil Cavuto’s “Common Sense.”  According to the transcript, Cavuto—supposedly a financial journalist—tried to claim that Apple had overpromised and underdelivered on its opening weekend of iPhone sales: “Lo and behold, we’re told 146,000 iPhones were activated in the day and a half between the phone’s launch and the most recent quarter’s end.” AT&T had indeed reported the 146,000 activations on Monday, July 23.  Two days later, however, Apple had reported that 270,000 iPhones had been sold over the opening weekend.  Six days after … 
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For several years I’ve been arguing over the same point with my son and my colleague Wes McDonald. Both think that I’m too hard on Ann Coulter and Rush Limbaugh. They describe them as clever entertainers of the Right, whom I too would appreciate if I weren’t so damned “anti-Republican.” Because I’m soured on the GOP, I can’t perceive the wit and daring of these attack dogs, tearing relentlessly into W’s bashers among the Dems. This charge is at least partly correct. Because Coulter and Limbaugh are predictable partisans, who avoid scolding their own party when it sounds exactly like the … 
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I hate to spoil the romance of the grape, but most wine estates once run by monks or noble families are now in the hands of corporate vintners with publicly traded shares, human resource departments, and 401k plans. The closest connection to aristocracy or the Church most wines now keep is a coat of arms on the label. However, a few fine wines are made to this day by one of the most delightfully anachronistic institutions in the world—an order of military monks called the Knights of Malta. In Umbria, this order’s Castello di Magione vineyards produce over 100,000 bottles every … 
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This is for us oldies. Remember when the summers lasted longer back then, when all men seemed to wear hats, and all women acted like ladies?  My best summer ever was 1952, when I came to New York from Blair Academy and my father informed me we were leaving for the south of France via ocean liner. I was 15 and terribly eager to lose my virginity. What better place than the fabled land of F.Scott Fitzgerald and the Murphys? I read Tender is the Night while crossing on the Constitution, the latest in comfort, speed and elegance where liners were … 
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The buzz about Ron Paul has gotten louder, as was inevitable in the case of the lone antiwar Republican candidate, and yet there is something about “Dr. No” personally that has struck a chord in the popular imagination: he seems to represent the very spirit of rectitude, with his stern warnings of a coming financial crunch if we don’t mend our ways. His revival of what were once common conservative Republican themes—individual rights, a belief in limited government, particular devotion to the Constitution, the principle of prudence in foreign policy—is a reproach to the current GOP ideology of “big government conservatism” … 
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I was visiting someone in the hospital last night, so I was forced to sit there and watch the Larry King interview with Richard Cheney. Normally, I don’t watch a speech or interview given by either Cheney or his marionette, G.W. First, it is infuriating. Second, it’s just a complete waste of time. These folks do not have an ounce of credibility left. Yet, they keep talking. They have to. Somewhere along the line, they must have concluded that the point of no return has been reached. They have nothing to lose now. I still feel that G.W. had a slim … 
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        An English classicist, broadcaster, and man of letter, Sean Gabb, has just sent me a copy of a booklet he had written Cultural Revolution, Culture War: How Conservatives Lost England and How To Get It Back (Hampden Press, 2007). Sean’s tract has aroused my interest because of its unconventional revelations about English society and government. He tells us about the seamy side of English attempts to enforce multiculturalism which the American media hardly ever cover. I am also struck by the declaration in a long footnote on page 72 about the overlap between Sean’s critical perceptions and … 
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