déjà vu. In Hollywood, big-budget movies that are embarrassing flops thankfully don"€™t generate sequels. In foreign affairs, things are different. Much as if an exec had green-lighted Istar II for a Christmas release, Israel seems intent on presenting us with the second installment of The Invasion of Lebanon. The cast is even mostly the same: Ehud Olmert is back, now flanked by new blonde co-star with the alluring name of Tzipora. This time round, Hamas has replaced Hezbollah the hate-filled, towel-head villains who just won"€™t acknowledge Israel's right to exist." /> déjà vu. In Hollywood, big-budget movies that are embarrassing flops thankfully don"€™t generate sequels. In foreign affairs, things are different. Much as if an exec had green-lighted Istar II for a Christmas release, Israel seems intent on presenting us with the second installment of The Invasion of Lebanon. The cast is even mostly the same: Ehud Olmert is back, now flanked by new blonde co-star with the alluring name of Tzipora. This time round, Hamas has replaced Hezbollah the hate-filled, towel-head villains who just won"€™t acknowledge Israel's right to exist." />

Culture Snores

The webzine Culture11 officially closed up shop last week, ending a four month run as the web's alternative conservative destination.  Late last summer, I first heard rumors that there was a new well-funded conservative webzine in the works, which at the time was billed as ...

Prince Harry’s Hate Crime

I guess I"€™m supposed to be shocked and dismayed by the clips, released this weekend, of Prince Harry using some rather mild racial language and generally acting like a buffoon while his First Mechanized Brigade's tours Iraq. But for some reason I wasn"€™t much offended at all.  Sure, ...

A Damn Foolish Thing

I"€™ve been reluctant to write about Israel's bombardment and invasion of Gaza this past two weeks for the simple reason that the ordeal has struck me as, to borrow a phrase from Bismarck, "€œsome damned foolish thing"€ in the Hold Land"€”and one which, I hope, doesn"€™t precipitate a ...

The Old Right and the Antichrist

The great American journalist H.L. Mencken made of his whole career a kind of one-man "€œrevolt against the masses"€ kamikaze mission. In the Menckenian imagination, the "€œsuperior man"€ (a category of person in which Mencken, no doubt, included himself) was beset on all sides"€”if it ...

Save American Industry, Dump the Big Three

The majority of the American people oppose bailing out the Bit Three automakers at a clip of 61 to 36, and it was thus perfectly sensible for Senate Republicans to reject the $14 billion "€œrescue"€ bill that was presented to them on Friday. The idea that the GOP should have attempted to buy ...

Size Matters

The Beltway Right is still venting its collective spleen over Bill Kristol's latest Times op-ed in which he argues, rather elliptically, that the conservative movement and GOP should get rid of its "€œsmall government,"€ "€œrugged individualism"€ talk, which scares people, and instead ...

The Death of AIDS

This weekend I attended an engrossing production of The Seagull on Broadway"€”and I was lucky enough to be accompanied by the intelligent and beautiful great granddaughter of Manfred von Richthofen, the German ace of the Great War. And though I was much affected by the bourgeois tragedy unfolding ...

The End of Frum?

David Frum has been purged off into the sunset at NR... He’s leaving his NRO blogging gig at the end of the year and plans to start up a new website called “NewMajority.com” We could, of course, indulge in a little Schadenfreude with Frumy"€”the man who tried to purge the ...

A Quantum of Relevance

The classic interpretation of Ian Fleming's James Bond character is that he stands as a kind of fantasy of Britishness the British people, and especially the elite, could indulge in during the rather grim 1950s"€”when the Sceptred Isle lost its empire, was usurped as a Great Power and banker to ...

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