Dad got the history bug after his parents died. He wasn't much of a book reader, but he did like puzzles and projects."Where did we come from" became his new leading puzzle and hobby. And there were some mysteries here. He knew that his grandfather had murdered a man, and his great grandfather on the other side of the family had come alone f

Our contemptible Panderer-in-Chief comes a bit closer to revealing his hatred for individual rights, equality before the law, and the founding principles of the United States:

After three days of private strategy sessions, the Republican leaders of the Senate have decided to scale back two of their major legislative initiatives

Not to boast, but I think I've assembled a great lineup of talented and thoughtful"small government conservatives" (cf. Sheldon Richman's recent post on George Will) to blog along with me. Consequent

With bombings in the Kurdish sections of Iraq killing more than 50 people, and another US soldier killed near Baghdad, Super Bowl Sunday is not off to a good start. There were, however, some words of wisdom spoken on"This Week with George Stephanopoulos."

Among those joining regulars Farid Zakaria and George Will were former Director of Central Intelligence James Woolsey and former U.N. Ambassa

"The whole policy of Roosevelt II, whether in domestic or foreign affairs, was founded upon the fanning of hatreds -- the first and last resort of unconscionable

If you think that psychiatry and psychology are"hard" sciences, I strongly suggest you take the time to read this illuminating and disturbing two-part article by psychologist Lauren Slater. She begins by recounting a now-famous experiment, a"trick" if you will, that took place 30 years ago:

In 1972, David Rosenhan, a newly minted psychologist with a joint degree in law, called eight friends and said

I'm not so sure that's the case. And The New Republic's Jonathan Chait

Recently, a colleague tried to obtain footage of Japanese Prime Minister Koizumi entering the Yakusuni Shrine in Tokyo. He was refused.

Yakusuni Shrine, for those who don't know, is the place where the spirits of Japanese war dead are enshrined and worshipped as gods. Tojo Hikeki, who, as Japan's war-time prime minister, ordered the attack on Pearl Habor, is one of the spirits installed at Yakusuni.

Since the war, Yakasuni has been the center of Japan's growing nationalist resu

I'm sure the sharp minds here might have a few contributions to the list.

For days now, the news has been dominated by reactions to David Kay's statement that"we were almost all wrong" in the belief that Iraq had WMDs. Condoleeza Rice concedes that maybe there were no WMDs, but"Saddam Hussein had every opportunity ... to tell the world that he had destroyed them." Instead, he chose to remain silent and"secret

OK, no one really believed the benefit was going to cost a mere 400 billion dollars, b