May 1, 2008 No Country for Old Liberals
by
Bruce Thornton Private Papers
According to liberals, they are tolerant, open-minded, sensitive to complexity and nuance, and wary of simplistic explanations. So why is a column by the liberal Michael Hirsh, in the liberal newsweekly Newsweek, so intolerant, close-minded, simplistic and bigoted?
April 25, 2008 Jihad Studies as Trivia
by Raymond Ibrahim Private Papers
This article was first published in Middle Eastern Studies at Harvard.
Anew article by Thomas Hegghammer in the Times Literary Supplement, entitled “Jihadi studies: the obstacles to understanding radical Islam and the opportunities to know it better,” lives up to its title — not so much by delineating what these obstacles are, but rather by being representative of them. Regrettably, the author evokes the same old mantras prevalent in modern academia’s study of jihad and jihadists.
April 15, 2008 Islam’s Public Enemy #1
Coptic priest Zakaria Botros fights fire with fire.
by Raymond Ibrahim National Review Online
Though he is little known in the West, Coptic priest Zakaria Botros — named Islam’s “Public Enemy #1” by the Arabic newspaper, al-Insan al-Jadid — has been making waves in the Islamic world.
April 2, 2008 Real Talk?
The Saudi king ought to stop killing non-Muslims first.
by Raymond Ibrahim National Review Online
According to the Associated Press, Saudi King Abdullah, in an unprecedented move last week, “made an impassioned plea for dialogue among Muslims, Christians, and Jews” — going so far as to refer to the latter two as “our brothers.” The Jerusalem Poststates that such talks would be geared to developing “respect among religions.”
March 21, 2008 The Old Script
Does Obama really think he settles racism with relativism?
by Bruce Thornton Private Papers
Barack Obama’s attempt to defuse the crisis in his presidential campaign caused by videos of his “spiritual mentor’s” bigoted sermons has been spun as “the most significant public discussion of race in decades,” as The New York Times gushed.
March 13, 2008 Paying the Piper
by Craig Bernthal Private Papers
Temperance is not high in the current list of American virtues. We are the 9th most obese people on earth, according to the World Health Organization, with 74% of American’s over 15 identified as overweight.
March 11, 2008 No Small Word
Biblical meaning of Amalek not lost.
by Raymond Ibahim Private Papers
During the eulogy of the eight slain students of the March 6 terrorist attack at Mercaz HaRav yeshiva school in West Jerusalem, highly-respected Rabbi Ya’akov Shapira made, for the average gentile, a rather illusive allusion regarding the attack: “The murderer did not want to kill these people in particular, but everyone living in the holy city of Jerusalem.
February 27, 2008 The Future with Europe
The Swiss newspaper Junge Freiheit interviews VDH Private Papers
JF: Professor Hanson, you criticize U.S. immigration policy in your recent book Mexifornia. What is it that bothers you about the development at the Southern border?
February 15, 2008 Our Ailing Meritocracy
Merit takes second place to gender and religion
by Raymond Ibrahim Private Papers
When all the political sophistry is said and done, there is no denying that the claim to fame of the Democratic Party’s two superstar candidates, Hillary Clinton and Barrack Obama, is that the one is a woman, the other black and from something of an “ambiguous” religious background (little wonder bland John Edwards stepped out, with the jocular yet true remark during January’s CNN Democratic Debate that being white and male wasn’t helping his cause).
December 28, 2007 Common Sense
Who needs "intelligence" to know Iran wants nukes?
by Raymond Ibrahim Private Papers
Much of the current debate surrounding Iran’s nuclear aspirations centers on the National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) report which “judge[s] with high confidence that in fall 2003, Tehran halted its nuclear weapons program.”
December 16, 2007 An Encouraging Revelation
Bin Laden’s Latest Message in Context
by Raymond Ibrahim Private Papers
Full of the same old complaints, threats of retaliation, and victim status role that have become mainstays of al Qaeda propaganda, Osama bin Laden’s latest release would seem to offer nothing new.
December 6, 2007 Poor, Not Dumb
A New Model for Sensible Reform of Healthcare
by Linda Halderman, M.D., FACS Private Papers
Within the national debate over healthcare reform, an assumption has been revealed in several proposals: Healthcare decisions for poor Americans are best left to the U.S. Government.
November 25, 2007 Ideology Trumps Truth on Campus
The doors are open for Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, but closed for Larry Summers.
by Bruce S. Thornton City Journal
Many observers noted that Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s recent visit to Columbia University took place at about the same time that the University of California at Davis canceled a speaking appearance by former Harvard president Lawrence Summers, citing his remarks in 2005 about the underrepresentation of women in the sciences.
