Copyright 2008 The New York Sun Wed, 18 Jun 2008 16:44:56 -0400 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss William F. Buckley Jr. :: Stories from The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/authors/William+F.+Buckley+Jr. istoll@nysun.com (Ira Stoll) webmaster@nysun.com en-us WILLIAM F. BUCKLEY JR. http://www.nysun.com/opinion/fowlers-of-politics/70669/ Mon, 4 Feb 2008 00:00:00 EST In the debate Thursday night, Hillary Clinton pronounced herself glad that Barack Obama had brought up the subject of foreign affairs. The technique is common. It says to the audience that Mrs. Clinton is aware of a deficiency in Mr. Obama and intends to exploit it for all it is worth. The danger is that it gives Senator Obama an opportunity to turn the score on Senator Clinton by saying that he just happens to have made his living for three years by writing on foreign affairs for the... WILLIAM F. BUCKLEY JR. http://www.nysun.com/opinion/one-jumpstart-please/69856/ Mon, 21 Jan 2008 00:00:00 EST It is a field day for practitioners in politics. In South Carolina the hottest issue this week wasn't the specter of recession and what the federal government should do about it, but the Confederate flag. A citizens' group pressing for the restoration of public display of the flag was running ads promoting Mike Huckabee over John McCain and Mitt Romney. Mr. Huckabee, one South Carolinian said, is "a Southerner, who understands why Southerners value our heritage." Mr. Huckabee himself said: "You... WILLIAM F. BUCKLEY JR. http://www.nysun.com/opinion/spectacle-of-spectacle/69030/ Mon, 7 Jan 2008 00:00:00 EST It's wonderful what a mere American presidential caucus contest can do. Governor Bill Richardson, interviewed after the Iowa caucuses, said that his ranking in the vote must be understood in the light of the parsimony of his campaign. "I didn't come here, like some of my brothers, just loaded with cash." What did he come loaded with? Enough appeal to entice the caucus voters to give him 53 delegates to the Iowa state convention. Was he the last in line? No no, do not take that away from... WILLIAM F. BUCKLEY JR. http://www.nysun.com/opinion/my-smoking-confessional/67349/ Mon, 3 Dec 2007 00:00:00 EST Sixty years ago I was the editor of the daily newspaper at college, and one memorable day in September, plotting the year's business, we got word that the two big tobacco companies, R.J Reynolds and Philip Morris, were suspending all their ads in the college press. The news was greeted with dismay both by editors who smoked — "We'll just die from something else," they harrumphed — and by those who did not, equally affected by this big hole in the advertising budget. Sixty years! Pffft! This... WILLIAM F. BUCKLEY Jr. http://www.nysun.com/opinion/natural-law-versus-campaign-law/67200/ Thu, 29 Nov 2007 00:00:00 EST It is incorrect to assume that all the pro-abortion and anti-abortion arguments have been made. They are centerpieces in vivid, resourceful, emotional and inquisitive thought. Witness the continuing, and intense, curiosity, about the presidential candidates and how they feel on the basic issues. The contrasts are stark between the Democratic side and the Republican side. Among the Democrats, all the announced candidates refer to abortion "rights," and Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, John... WILLIAM F. BUCKLEY JR. http://www.nysun.com/opinion/crime-and-punishment/66697/ Mon, 19 Nov 2007 00:00:00 EST A perplexed citizen in Greenwich, Conn., writes to his local newspaper saying that the anti-abortion movement suffers from the absence of a comprehensive position on the practice. He believes that the Catholic bishops, working en banc, have a responsibility to declare publicly that the church is not asking for any law that would make abortion a criminal offense: "Would it not be advisable for Catholic bishops to make it clear that they are not urging criminal penalties for abortion? This would... WILLIAM F. BUCKLEY Jr. http://www.nysun.com/opinion/rite-of-passage/65859/ Mon, 5 Nov 2007 00:00:00 EST The shooting war in New York over the question of driver's licenses for illegal aliens dramatizes several features of American culture. The first of these is that the right to drive a car is the most cherished right in America, of special, sizzling importance to young people. It is easy to understand why. Driving a car is a sign of arrival at maturity. In my own history I remember struggling over the matter of residence. My parents had two homes, one in Connecticut and one in South Carolina. In... WILLIAM F. BUCKLEY JR. http://www.nysun.com/opinion/lets-let-the-armenians-rest/64975/ Mon, 22 Oct 2007 00:00:00 EST One stares in dumb amazement at the war front because, incredibly, frontpage news in the past few days has had to do with what did or did not happen almost a hundred years ago. More exactly, what should what happened a hundred years ago be called? The quarrel, put simply, is over the question, What do we call what was done to the Armenians by the Turks in the early years of World War I? The matter of interest is the persecution of the Armenians by the Young Turks and ancillaries in the final... WILLIAM F. BUCKLEY JR. http://www.nysun.com/opinion/restoring-a-sense-of-order/64556/ Mon, 15 Oct 2007 00:00:00 EST A while back, watching television, I winced when a Democratic stalwart referred to "sanctimonious Joe." He was talking about Senator Lieberman, I quickly discovered. Since then I have begun quietly memorizing the anti-Lieberman glossary. A few days ago I spotted "race-baiting." "War-mongering" is a term of derogation so widely used, you have to remind yourself to wince when you hear it. There are those who belong to a mischievous political set that gets a kick out of the whole thing. Here is... WILLIAM F. BUCKLEY JR. http://www.nysun.com/opinion/states-fatal-differences/63706/ Mon, 1 Oct 2007 00:00:00 EST Consider the problems of the Supreme Court justices. They are bound, now, to decide whether capital punishment by the injection of chemicals is banned by the Eighth Amendment, which protects us from "cruel and unusual punishment." A little background will help. Capital punishment is a controversial practice. The European Union has ruled against it in any form, and the operative presumption is that Europe is more refined than America in handling questions having to do with crime and punishment... WILLIAM F. BUCKLEY JR. http://www.nysun.com/opinion/speak-up-in-english/62835/ Tue, 18 Sep 2007 00:00:00 EST In the past period, at times when the guns of Iraq were not obliterating all other political sounds, you could make out, here and there, pleas for "language unification." That's one of the alluring titles given ("Escape From Babel" is my favorite) to the political effort to make English the only language officially used in America. For example, to cut out road signs in the Spanish language. These signs don't seriously inconvenience anybody; there is always an English version within sight. But... WILLIAM F. BUCKLEY JR. http://www.nysun.com/opinion/britain-that-we-need/61328/ Mon, 27 Aug 2007 00:00:00 EST Western Europe has a Muslim problem, and it is particularly acute in Great Britain, which is more intimately linked to constitutional traditions and procedures. The French are quietly aghast at the presence of 5 million Muslims in their midst and are endeavoring to cope. But that is a country which is enjoying — or accommodating — its Fifth Republic. If a Sixth Republic were introduced in the years ahead, one would not think the event mortally destabilizing. In Britain the situation is... WILLIAM F. BUCKLEY JR. http://www.nysun.com/opinion/astor-i-knew/60843/ Mon, 20 Aug 2007 00:00:00 EST The death of Brooke Astor brought much commentary from men and women who had observed her and marveled at her way of doing things. Her life was too long by a few years, she was 105, an affliction that will come to more and more people, courtesy of modern medicine. What she was left to cope with wasn't any shortage of friends or of money. But she was suffering from Alzheimer's disease and could no longer revel in her own wit, which had been considerable. When I first met her I thought to clear... WILLIAM F. BUCKLEY JR. http://www.nysun.com/opinion/bush-will-need-his-courage/56272/ Mon, 11 Jun 2007 00:00:00 EST Talk about a pardon for Lewis Libby is food for thought. Partisans are grateful that there is time, even if not much time, to think, pending the appeals that are under way challenging the conviction at a technical level. There isn't much to hope for here from Libby's point of view. The evidence appears to have been overwhelming that he lied to the FBI, and that in so doing he hindered the execution of justice. But appeals, even if judicially unpromising, are politically useful. President Bush... WILLIAM F. BUCKLEY JR. http://www.nysun.com/opinion/ghosts-of-vietnam/55814/ Mon, 4 Jun 2007 00:00:00 EST While it is true that no historical event exactly replicates another, it is certainly the case that what happened in Vietnam in 1972-1975 bears very closely on the current situation in Iraq. To truncate the story drastically, what happened back then was the result of the correlation of four strategic factors: (1) Hanoi's resolution to conquer the south. The North Vietnamese were held back by the failure of their spring offensive in 1972. That offensive was weakened by U.S. mining of the harbors... WILLIAM F. BUCKLEY JR. http://www.nysun.com/opinion/immigration-bill-blues/55357/ Tue, 29 May 2007 00:00:00 EST The immigration bill is a mess, but how could it be otherwise? Messes are a part of democratic rule. There are several interests here seeking to be served simultaneously. There is (1) the existing illegal population of between 10 million and 12 million; (2) the labor needs of U.S. businesses; (3) the public sense of justice scorned and the public desire that some effort be made to rectify past neglect; (4) the anxiety to understand the political meaning of the bill, a creature given discordant... WILLIAM F. BUCKLEY JR. http://www.nysun.com/opinion/romneys-moral-thought/54399/ Mon, 14 May 2007 00:00:00 EST There is pretty outspoken derision, on the hustings, on the matter of Mitt Romney and his evolved stand on abortion. In Iowa, which Mr. Romney recently visited, a county chairman accosted a skeptic. What he said was that Mr. Romney's opposition to abortion was the result of a "thoughtful moral process." People on the other side, whether of Mr. Romney, or of abortion, are expressing their skepticism. I recount, as relevant, a personal experience. In 1965, Vatican II released its paper affirming... WILLIAM F. BUCKLEY JR. http://www.nysun.com/opinion/down-with-the-dean/53925/ Mon, 7 May 2007 00:00:00 EST There is one very undreamy constituent of the American dream, and that is the high cost of college education. The marketplace rule is that competition reduces prices. Well, the marketplace rule is hogwash when it comes to higher education. The explanations for this are multifarious: (1) More Americans, especially in the two decades after World War II, decided to attend college, making for great rises in demand. (2) Choice colleges are hotly competed for, giving them a relative immunity to... WILLIAM F. BUCKLEY JR. http://www.nysun.com/opinion/iraq-threatens-gop-future/53457/ Mon, 30 Apr 2007 00:00:00 EST The political problem of the Bush administration is grave, possibly beyond the point of rescue. The opinion polls are savagely decisive on the Iraq question. About 60% of Americans wish the war ended — wish at least a timetable for orderly withdrawal. What is going on in Congress is in the nature of accompaniment. The vote in Congress is simply another salient in the war against war in Iraq. Republican forces, with a couple of exceptions, held fast against the Democrats' attempt to force Mr... WILLIAM F. BUCKLEY JR. http://www.nysun.com/opinion/good-news-can-be-good/52095/ Mon, 9 Apr 2007 00:00:00 EST It's sad, the difficulty of saying anything about the Iraq venture that is other than apocalyptic. Senator McCain has problems, but focus on the recent event. He was in Iraq last week and reported that he had witnessed genuine progress. He touted his visit to the marketplace in Baghdad as evidence that the security program, Operation Fardh Al-Qanoon, Enforcing the Law, was working. Now, Senator McCain is a natural optimist. We do not know what he was saying the day before he was shot down over... WILLIAM F. BUCKLEY JR. http://www.nysun.com/opinion/not-since-the-inquisition/51632/ Mon, 2 Apr 2007 00:00:00 EST The heavy condemnatory breathing on the subject of global warming outdoes anything since high moments of the Inquisition. A respectable columnist, Thomas Friedman of the New York Times, opened his essay last week by writing, "Sometimes you read something about this administration that's just so shameful it takes your breath away." What asphyxiated this critic was the discovery that a White House official had edited "government climate reports to play up uncertainty of a human role in global... WILLIAM F. BUCKLEY JR. http://www.nysun.com/opinion/limits-of-presidential-pleasure/51186/ Mon, 26 Mar 2007 00:00:00 EST Partisans in the quarrel of Bush vs. Congress have the satisfaction of knowing that weighty arguments can be made in behalf of either position. Presidential immunity respecting the operations of members of the executive branch can be upheld as vital to the balance of powers. Meanwhile, others can persuasively maintain that the doctrine of executive privilege has been abused in the past and is probably being abused at this moment by President Bush. Every now and then there is a judicial finding... WILLIAM F. BUCKLEY JR. http://www.nysun.com/opinion/republic-if-you-can-keep-it/50715/ Mon, 19 Mar 2007 00:00:00 EST News comes in from the fighting fronts in Iowa and New Hampshire, and the other day one heard a poignant story. It is about John McCain, campaigning yet again for president. There are reasons that might be given noninvidiously for saying no to Mr. McCain, primary among them his age. If he were nominated and elected, he would take the oath of office at age 72, and a recent poll tells us that no segment of the American electorate wants anyone that old as president. But it wasn't his age that... WILLIAM F. BUCKLEY JR. http://www.nysun.com/opinion/honoring-arthur-schlesinger/49799/ Mon, 5 Mar 2007 00:00:00 EST I always regretted that we didn't become friends, because the thousands who succeeded in doing so found friendship with Arthur Schlesinger very rewarding. For one thing, to behold him — listen to him, observe him, read him — was to coexist with a miracle of sorts. It is an awful pity, as one reflects on it, that nature is given to endowing the wrong men with extraordinary productivity. If you laid out the published works of John Kenneth Galbraith and of Arthur Meier Schlesinger Jr., the line of... WILLIAM F. BUCKLEY JR. http://www.nysun.com/opinion/weary-of-reagans-sunniness/49263/ Mon, 26 Feb 2007 00:00:00 EST Another birthday has slid by — Ronald Reagan would have been 96 on February 6. Recent books on Reagan and his reign were not designed to celebrate the occasion, but one in particular cannot be read other than as celebrating Reagan. How? Remarking what? A professor at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, John Diggins, has written many books, including one that celebrates the achievements of the American left. Mr. Diggins is not, in other words, a member of the Reagan camp... WILLIAM F. BUCKLEY JR. http://www.nysun.com/opinion/life-plus-less/48471/ Mon, 12 Feb 2007 00:00:00 EST The appeal by two German terrorist killers for release from prison, to which they had been sentenced for life terms in 1985, paradoxically makes another point for capital punishment. One might begin a reconsideration of the eternal question by starting at the other end from the execution chamber. Does anybody in the house believe that they, or the two other surviving members of the Baader-Meinhof gang, should never have the chance for release from prison? The question of capital punishment... WILLIAM F. BUCKLEY JR. http://www.nysun.com/opinion/who-was-howard-hunt/47577/ Mon, 29 Jan 2007 00:00:00 EST My name has been linked to that of Howard Hunt, who died on January 23, and I readily acknowledge that we were associates and close friends during the period (1951–1952) when I worked for the Central Intelligence Agency in Mexico. Howard Hunt was my boss, and our friendship was such that soon after I quit the agency and returned to Connecticut, he and his wife advised me that they were joining the Catholic Church and asked if I would agree to serve as godfather to their two daughters, an... WILLIAM F. BUCKLEY JR. http://www.nysun.com/opinion/how-do-you-say-space-in-chinese/47124/ Mon, 22 Jan 2007 00:00:00 EST In August, President Bush approved a new American policy on space exploration and on the military and commercial uses of space. The White House announced that America would not agree to any arrangements that would restrict our own ventures into space. This was not surprising. We spoke as the superpower that had left behind, but not immobilized, what was once the other superpower, the Soviet Union. Russia acknowledges no bounds on its strategic intentions in space, but Russia is more worried... WILLIAM F. BUCKLEY JR. http://www.nysun.com/opinion/yes-or-no-to-bush/46686/ Mon, 15 Jan 2007 00:00:00 EST You are a Republican legislator, retiring after this, your fifth term. Last night, into midnight hours, you composed a questionnaire for yourself. You vowed to submit to it before your committee speech. You'd flower up the language a bit — but not the thought. You wake up this morning and turn to last night's self-quiz. (1) Is it a strain to send more troops to Iraq? No. A country of 300 million has resources insignificantly depleted by the proposed increase in troops. Yes, there would be... WILLIAM F. BUCKLEY JR. http://www.nysun.com/opinion/hallowed-profession/46254/ Mon, 8 Jan 2007 00:00:00 EST Notes from the diary of John Jay Postlewaite, retrieved from the salvage of his yacht, Fleetfoot, capsized while racing to Bermuda, no survivors. The lawyer's diary was well preserved in a waterproof case. The diver gave the diary to a reporter from the Bermuda Express, who published the entry written the day before the yacht set out on its fatal trip from Newport, R.I. The heading on the page was: Should I accept offer of judgeship? Yes Number 1: There's no denying it — the judiciary is a... WILLIAM F. BUCKLEY JR. http://www.nysun.com/opinion/uncorking-medoc-in-the-hospital/45764/ Wed, 27 Dec 2006 00:00:00 EST I note a stray statistic: that hospitalizations increase during holiday seasons. One lightly assumes that this is caused by incontinent celebrations — but apparently not. In fact, many people check in for hospital treatment before the holidays themselves, and lo, exactly this happened here, giving rise to speculation about what to do when, suddenly, you are a "patient." Much depends on whether you are a willing patient or a conscript. But the following applies in either case: (1) Food... WILLIAM F. BUCKLEY JR. http://www.nysun.com/opinion/any-kind-words-for-pinochet/45146/ Thu, 14 Dec 2006 00:00:00 EST Reporters from Chile advise that two-thirds of the people celebrate the death of General Augusto Pinochet. But thousands turned out at his funeral to mourn him. Any man who loomed large in history will find fans right to the end of the line. There is a special awkwardness in the matter of General Pinochet, who came to public life in the great and bloody days of September 1973, when he participated in the coup against Salvador Allende in Santiago. Pinochet emerged as president of Chile and ruled... WILLIAM F. BUCKLEY JR. http://www.nysun.com/opinion/seasons-reflections/44540/ Mon, 4 Dec 2006 00:00:00 EST 'Tis indeed the season to be jolly, a discipline that requires a single abstinence, which is any thought given to Iraq. It is a good time to encourage lurking thoughts or diversions that can be important but are not driven by the day's tides. The "Critics' Choice" merchandiser for movies offers 1,000 video and DVD selections, touching on everything. Including — not to say saturated by — explorations as gross as "The West Wing." You can have the whole of all seven seasons — 45 DVDs — which can... WILLIAM F. BUCKLEY JR. http://www.nysun.com/opinion/phony-world-of-minimum-wage/44145/ Mon, 27 Nov 2006 00:00:00 EST Nancy Pelosi, the new speaker of the House, has told us that as maybe the very first order of business she will call up increasing the minimum wage. Here are the relevant facts: The federal minimum wage, enacted in 1938, was last raised in 1997. From that point on, with certain exceptions, you could not lawfully hire someone to work without paying him or her at least $5.15 an hour. Paying that much would yield $206 a week, or $10,712 a year. A different federal agency defines poverty as annual... WILLIAM F. BUCKLEY JR. http://www.nysun.com/opinion/back-into-see-no-evil-land/43388/ Mon, 13 Nov 2006 00:00:00 EST We aren't supposed to make any generalities based on race, color, or creed, just to begin with. Invidious comparisons can be made, and indeed are every day made, by individuals. Still, institutions go to extraordinary lengths to avoid remarking differences. Indeed, many super-cautious universities even forbid applicants to submit photographs, on the basis of which an official in the admissions office might say — or whisper, or just think quietly — that this applicant is black, Indian, Chinese... WILLIAM F. BUCKLEY JR. http://www.nysun.com/opinion/nations-lieberman-factor/42938/ Mon, 6 Nov 2006 00:00:00 EST A newsman pressed me a couple of days ago on the matter of the Senate election in Connecticut. Whom would I vote for? That's an improper question, as we all know: that's why voting is done in private. But I had been noisy on the subject of Joe Lieberman and could hardly, at this moment, plead the superordination of privacy. So I said, "Lieberman." And he said, Why? And I said, "I like Lieberman," and politely declined amplification. Years ago I argued in favor of Al Lowenstein, a prominent New... WILLIAM F. BUCKLEY JR. http://www.nysun.com/opinion/new-jerseys-gay-impasse/42652/ Wed, 1 Nov 2006 00:00:00 EST The New Jersey court has simply brought the gay marriage issue one step forward in its ineluctable march to the Supreme Court — or to a constitutional amendment. The New Jersey majority did a very cool thing politically. It reasoned as follows: (l) If people are gay, they do not therefore forfeit rights, never mind that these rights were specifically written for non-gays. (2) Therefore, we hereby promulgate the right of marriage for New Jersey gays. Same-sex unions are, effective immediately... WILLIAM F. BUCKLEY JR. http://www.nysun.com/opinion/sans-culottes-at-the-waldorf/42047/ Mon, 23 Oct 2006 00:00:00 EST At mighty events, little happenings can take on major life, as I was reminded on Thursday evening when I found my pants falling off. I was talking to a stranger dressed in white tie and tails, which was the uniform for dais guests. He beckoned to his wife, who quickly came and extended a maternal hand to my trousers at hip level. "That's exactly what happened to Bill at our son's wedding last week," she said, endeavoring a cure. The bustling room full of prominent guests at the 61st Alfred E... WILLIAM F. BUCKLEY JR. http://www.nysun.com/opinion/diplomacy-hits-kim-jong-il/41587/ Mon, 16 Oct 2006 00:00:00 EST Kim Jong Il never lets us down. When President Bush, reacting to the nuclear test, announced that he would seek further sanctions against North Korea, Kim replied that he would interpret any such move as an act of belligerency warranting a declaration of war against America. This would be opera bouffe, the equivalent of Monaco announcing that it would bring down the Federal Reserve — except for the item that calls Kim Jong Il to the world's attention, namely the possibility that he has a... WILLIAM F. BUCKLEY JR. http://www.nysun.com/opinion/democrats-without-a-home/41247/ Tue, 10 Oct 2006 00:00:00 EST Democrats concerned about the 2008 elections will of course be looking closely at the midterm elections one month away. Hard thought upon the upcoming elections tells us interesting things, salient among them that there is no policy extant, among Democratic leaders, on which strategic political building can be done with any confidence. Peter Beinart, shining young light of the New Republic, scolded Democratic leaders in Congress recently for carrying on stupidly when Prime Minister al-Maliki of... WILLIAM F. BUCKLEY JR. http://www.nysun.com/opinion/varieties-define-jihad/40713/ Mon, 2 Oct 2006 00:00:00 EST The categorical opponents of the detainee bill should spend an unhappy hour reading the new book by Mary Habeck. She is a scholar at the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins, and her book,"Knowing the Enemy: Jihadist Ideology and the War on Terror," is published by Yale University Press. The book undertakes to tell the reader things about the jihadist offensive that we should know about, properly concern ourselves with, and take into account when weighing legislative... WILLIAM F. BUCKLEY JR. http://www.nysun.com/opinion/so-george-ran-with-it/40281/ Mon, 25 Sep 2006 00:00:00 EST Members of the voting public who have slogged their way through the difficulties of Virginia's Senator Allen in the past month have found it heavy going. What stopped this breathless spectator was the final exchange between Mr. Allen and his mother. But let's rehearse that relationship for just a minute … Only a few weeks ago, son George asked his mother about rumors that she had been born Jewish. She confirmed the truth of the rumors but bound him to silence in the matter. Legitimate question... WILLIAM F. BUCKLEY JR. http://www.nysun.com/opinion/stumped-by-morality/39803/ Mon, 18 Sep 2006 00:00:00 EST The divisions on the question of how to deal with terrorist suspects reminds us that there is confused reasoning in town. This is not unexpected, but this time around it gives especially interesting paradoxes. Senator McCain — miraculously still alive, given what he was made to suffer in Vietnam — voted against authorizing "alternative interrogation practices," rejecting the toughness President Bush and his advisers deem necessary to cope with their problem. Most unexpected was the intercession... WILLIAM F. BUCKLEY JR. http://www.nysun.com/opinion/softening-old-positions/39382/ Mon, 11 Sep 2006 00:00:00 EST President Bush has eight times (someone is counting) struck the theme that the war we are in is a decisive ideological struggle. Anyone who is killed today, in Afghanistan or Iraq, will certainly subscribe to the proposition that his death was a decisive act. But we are nevertheless left wondering whether it was an ideological act, of the kind the White House is speaking of. Ideological divisions result from irreconcilable positions held by entities laying claim to command of the scene. Mr... WILLIAM F. BUCKLEY JR. http://www.nysun.com/opinion/poppies-problem/39239/ Thu, 7 Sep 2006 00:00:00 EST The keenest immediate question, in our war in Afghanistan, is: What to do about the poppy trade? It is up about 50%, on a recent reckoning. And this makes Afghanistan the producer of 92% of the world's opium poppies. That problem can be made to appear trivial, alongside other things going on in Afghanistan. What is immediately in the news is the resurgence of Taliban power. Substantial Taliban elements are attempting to reinstitutionalize the articles of orthodoxy in their Muslim Wahhabi faith... WILLIAM F. BUCKLEY JR. http://www.nysun.com/opinion/what-if-we-left/38790/ Wed, 30 Aug 2006 00:00:00 EST The wires are heavy with the question of Iraq. The defeat of Senator Lieberman in the Democratic primary in Connecticut was a call to outright defiance by Democrats running for re-election. They have been warned now, by the unforgiving, that they must reject the war in Iraq and labor with the single end in mind of returning American troops and dissolving American commitments. Arguments are made for staying in and completing the mission. Norman Podhoretz, writing in the Wall Street Journal, does... WILLIAM F. BUCKLEY JR. http://www.nysun.com/opinion/terrorists-ride-high/38625/ Mon, 28 Aug 2006 00:00:00 EST Returning vacationers will not be without a security story, and I am no exception. At the little country airport were five functionaries, two of whom, as it happened, knew me and my work but — a curious exercise of formalism — required me at flight time to fish out yet again my driver's license, so that they could pretend to focus on the photo reassuring them that the gentleman they had been talking with was not an impostor faking a passable resemblance. Then in came the inspector. He satisfied... WILLIAM F. BUCKLEY JR. http://www.nysun.com/opinion/trouble-with-mrs-astor/37610/ Wed, 9 Aug 2006 00:00:00 EST I have many times quoted, in my years at bat, the wry judgment of the Viennese critic: "The trouble with socialism is socialism. The trouble with capitalism is capitalists." I'll probably say it yet again before I go, but how to ignore those words in the week of Mrs. Brooke Astor? Her husband died in 1959, and she settled down in her apartment in New York and disbursed $200 million to people and institutions in need. What suddenly awoke New York was a melodrama as vividly choreographed as any... WILLIAM F. BUCKLEY JR. http://www.nysun.com/opinion/two-minutes-to-midnight/37410/ Mon, 7 Aug 2006 00:00:00 EST The threats and counterthreats mount, as also dazed questions that attempt to segregate loyalties. Some are saying that sectarian divisions are distractions and that they will soon give way as transcendent concerns assert themselves. In Malaysia, Muslim leaders are meeting, an emergency gathering of the Organization of the Islamic Conference. They listened to the president of Indonesia, who remarked the deteriorating situation in the Middle East and rang in as one more man of influence talking... WILLIAM F. BUCKLEY JR. http://www.nysun.com/opinion/somebody-elses-business/37201/ Wed, 2 Aug 2006 00:00:00 EST The old injunction about minding your own business has always been a little problematic, because carried to formal lengths it distresses other laws, laws that have to do with being one's brother's keeper. From large-scale national perspectives, there are the laws that translate into maintaining balances of power. You can try to ignore it when you hear that Hitler has ultimate solutions about how to deal with Germany's Jews, but meanwhile it makes sense to maintain your fleet in good condition...