Mike D’Virgilio makes some good points in his comment on my post outlining "A Classical Liberal View of the Iraq War." Mike writes, I believe we were absolutely right to oust Saddam. I think most who call themselves classical liberals agreed. Once we were rid of the man, were we supposed to pack up and leave and say "Good luck"? No nation building for us.
Monthly Archives: April 2007
A Classical Liberal View of the Iraq War
Citing public opinion polls and Congress’s vote to require a timetable for the United States to leave Iraq, conservative stalwart commentator William F. Buckley suggests that the very existence of the Republican Party is at state. This seems a real stretch, given that the Democratic Party not only survived Vietnam but in fact routed the Republicans just one presidency later. But the situation for the Republicans is indeed dire, as Buckley argues in referring to the chances of a positive outcome for the United States in Iraq:
FCC Urges Congress to Ignore Bill of Rights—So What’s New?
The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution reads as follows: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. The Federal Communications Commission, created by Congress and administered by the President, seems to think that this does not apply any more. To wit, as The New York Times reports:
“A” Student Arrested for Essay
A student in a Chicago suburb has been arrested for writing an essay that allegedly frightened his teacher. No, it was not the grammar or word choices; it was the content.
Ratings Down for Top Network TV Shows—But Viewership Remains Steady
The networks’ top evening TV programs suffered serious viewership ratings losses in the past few weeks, with several shows reaching record lows, USA Today reports. However, there is more to the story. . . .
Rosie Gone—for Now
ABC Television has announced that Rosie O’Donnell, controversial host of the daytime show The View, will be leaving the program, as her contract has not been renewed. O’Donnell said on her show today that ABC wanted her to stay on for three years, but she wanted to commit to only one. The tenure of the pathologically unbridled O’Donnell as host of the program proved that a big mouth and penchant for irresponsible statements offered with intense sincerity and regular bouts of uncontrolled rage can make for a lucrative career in television. O’Donnell frequently brought much attention to herself—and higher ratings for her show—by her bizarre and paranoid claims about various U.S. policies and her continued championing of an out-of-control, thoroughly demented, and corrosive entertainment culture.
The Greatness of British Film Comedy
If you ever doubt the power of popular culture to affect events, just consider Britain’s mid-century film comedies. A movie I had never seen until yesterday illustrates this well. In Penny Princess, a fizzy 1953 comedy from the Rank Organization (shown early this past Sunday morning on Turner Classic Movies), the tiny, fictional European country of Lampidorra has based its economy on smuggling for hundreds of years. They produce nothing of value, and economic innovation is nil. In addition, their concept of civil rights is hazy at best.
Batman Begins . . . Again
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What Batman Begins says most powerfully is how bad the earlier films in the series were—and how crippled by stylistic cliches today’s Hollywood action films have become. The best way to experience Batman is still to read the original DC comic books from years ago and watch the TV cartoon series. This one ain’t bad, but they’re the real thing.
Hustle, Season 4, ep. 1
The first episode of the new season of Hustle, the excellent British-American co-production about a group of confidence tricksters with interesting moral codes, premiered Wednesday night and was not quite as good as the previous seasons but was still much better than nearly everything else on TV.
Fred Thompson on the Two Minds of Modernity
Former U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson aptly characterized the two minds of modernity: liberalism and statism, in an excellent artice on the Virginia Tech killings, reprinted on National Review Online. Discussing the Virginia Tech authorities’ opposition to a proposal to remove the campus exception to the state’s concealed carry laws—which would have allowed qualified adult citizens to carry firearms on campus, and which could certainly have prevented many of the deaths in the VT killer’s rampage—Thompson writes:
A Picture of Hatred
An interesting article from the Associated Press indicates what was going on in the VT killer’s mind. It was hatred, pure hatred.
AOL a TV Network?
AOL announced yesterday that it is introducing a slate of programs positioning it as a broadband television network. That seems a very generous description of the venture, given the nature of the programming AOL is presenting. It consists largely of horrible-sounding "reality" shows and commercial tie-in projects.
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