American History & Presidents

Storm Warnings

“The aircraft carrier Eisenhower, accompanied by the guided-missile cruiser USS Anzio, guided-missile destroyer USS Ramage, guided-missile destroyer USS Mason and the fast-attack submarine USS Newport News, is, as I write, making its way to the Straits of Hormuz off Iran. … Continue reading

Reasoning by Historical Analogies

Reasoning by historical analogy is dangerous. Georges Santayana notwithstanding, history does not repeat itself. Rather, the value of history is in what we learn from the past. Failures are as instructive as successes, if not more so. From the day … Continue reading

The Bible is Unabashedly Pro-Immigrant

Editor’s Note: This article first appeared in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and has been reprinted here with the author’s permission. President Bush has proposed an immigration reform plan. It toughens border enforcement, but also creates incentives for illegal immigrants to come forward, pay … Continue reading

Reasonable Patriotism

Guest Commentary G. K. Chesterton, an Englishman, remarked in 1922 that “America is the only nation in the world that is founded on a creed.”  That creed was given 230 years ago by Thomas Jefferson, who wrote in the Declaration … Continue reading

Religion and the Presidents

Few question that religious issues have played a prominent role in the presidency of George W. Bush. Some even accuse Bush of being a Christian zealot who wants to remake America according to his religious views. Although Bush’s faith has … Continue reading

Policing the Border

Immigration is one of the most controversial issues facing the American people today. Ever since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, loud voices in the media are pointing to “open borders” and hinting at dangerous “illegal aliens” who are … Continue reading

Ungracious Idiocy

War is such a dangerous business that the mistakes which come from kindness are the very worst. —Carl von Clausewitz, On War, 1832 The Father of the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia, Vladimir Lenin, used the term “useful idiots” to describe … Continue reading

Portrait of an Anti-American

They come in all shapes and sizes, without regard to age, race, color, credo, Speedo, national origins, pedigree, filigree, or no degree.  They are full-blooded, half-blooded, sixteenth-blooded, green-blooded, one-sixty-fourth-blooded something or other, Vulcanese, Pekinese, or strip tease.  They are mono-cultural, … Continue reading

Can You Name this War?

Can you name the war which so far has claimed over 6,000 American lives, more than half that number being innocent civilians? First we called it “The War on Terrorism,” which didn’t work because making war on terrorism made as … Continue reading

Alito’s Epistle

I get angry emails anytime I accuse the dominant press of hostility toward religion, and specifically toward the religious right, as opposed to the religious left. The press is silent (or at least not hostile) when a liberal preacher denounces … Continue reading

“Bush Lied, You Lied”

Several weeks ago I wrote an article  that addressed the allegation that George W. Bush lied about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. I noted that this charge doesn’t make sense, even when granting it for the sake of argument, and … Continue reading