Tuesday, May 31, 2005
(of the 19th and 2oth Centuries).
This is a truly entertaining list. It seems somewhat appropriate that conservatives would consider Karl Marx (Communist Manifesto) to be more dangerous than Adolf Hitler (Mein Kampf). Others on the list include Alfred Kinsey (Kinsey Report), Betty Friedan (Feminine Mystique), Friedrich Nietzsche (Beyond Good and Evil) and John Maynard Keynes (General Theory). Alas, Charles Darwin (Origin of Species) only gets an Honorable Mention.
Personally, I would nominate Left Behind and its sequels
Saturday, May 28, 2005
April 11, 2005
IRAQ: It behooves me to write that I'm chastened - and extremely heartened - by the progress we're making in Iraq. The elections were obviously the key - and they should have been scheduled at least a year before they were. But it's equally true that the constancy of our amazing troops, and the magic of democracy, are turning this long hard slog into a long hard slog with an end in sight. The criticisms of the past endure. But the fundamental objective seems to be within sight. The right decision - to remove Saddam - is no longer being stymied by wrong decisions. I feared the worst. I was wrong.
March 1, 2004
CASUALTIES FALL: Good news from Iraq on two fronts. The U.S. military casualties in February amounted to 23 - half the previous month's. It's the lowest monthly number since the invasion and represents a very steep drop-off from the 110 casualties last November. The number of wounded has also hit a new post-war low. Credit goes to those trying to control the Sunni insurgency. There are front page stories when soliders are killed (and rightly so). But there should also be front-page stories when we make real progress. And that's why it's also good to see the New York Times trumpet Iraq's rebound in oil production and revenues. Well ahead of schedule. When you put all this together with Ayatollah Sistani's acquiescence to end-of-year elections and the new cooperation of the United Nations, you have the architecture of real success. Fingers crossed. I have, naturally, a question about this success. Could Halliburton have had anything to do with it?
Wednesday, May 25, 2005
