articles 12/18

The Wonks' Loya Jirga
by David Brooks

Peace with Israel?
by David Warren

Make the Tax Cuts Permanent
Now.
by Stephen Moore & Jeffrey Bell

The Army We Have
It's too small.
by Frederick W. Kagan

Rules of Disengagement
Ariel Sharon sticks to the road map.
by Peter Berkowitz

Anxiety Over Abortion
Pro-choice Democrats eye a more restrictive approach to abortion as one way to gain ground at the polls

The Trouble with Beinart, Part III
Are our troops fighting for gay marriage?
by Mickey Kaus

California's Stem Cell Gold Rush
by William Safire

Shooting Allegedly Staged to Avoid Returning to Iraq
Philadelphia police say a soldier whose unit has been ordered back to the war had his wife's cousin wound him in the leg as part of the scheme.

At Ivy League Schools, ROTC, Long Banned, Plots a Comeback
Push May Stir Up Old PassionsOn These Elite Campuses; A Beachhead at Harvard

Reuters
Syria Redeploys Some Security Forces in Lebanon

Kids Are Us
Mary Eberstadt talks about what parental absenteeism is doing to children.
by Kathryn Jean Lopez

Holding Up Arab Reform
by Thomas Friedman

FDR Is Dead
Time to move on.
by Jonah Goldberg

Commander says Syria must curb terrorist support
by Bill Gertz

Wanted: Israeli neocons
by Caroline B. Glick

Not supporting Rumsfeld
by Robert Novak

Home alone America is 75 percent right
by Mona Charen

Selling a dangerous lie
by Rebecca Hagelin

Christianity and the Arts
by Doug Giles

Return of Return of the King
The Extended Edition DVD of Lord of the Rings: Return of the King is bigger, but is it better?
by Jonathan V. Last

ABC News
'Ocean's Twelve' Stars On 'Moral Values'

Owners open wallets to wacky contracts
For three straight offseasons, baseball's free-agent market was mostly depressed, with agents grumbling that they were the victims of "legal collusion." Well, the agents are back to giggling. True to form, the clubs could restrain themselves for only so long.
by Ken Rosenthal

Zito, Mulder may be on trading block too
A's general manager Billy Beane might not stop with his trade of ace right-hander Tim Hudson. Beane figures to make at least one more significant deal this off-season, and one of his two prized left-handers, Barry Zito or Mark Mulder, could be the next to go.
by Ken Rosenthal

Gammons: A win-win trade
The Braves bolstered their team by acquiring Tim Hudson, while the A's strengthened themselves for the long haul.
by Peter Gammons

U2 Dissect "Bomb"
Bono, Edge, Adam and Larry have their say
by David Fricke

The Key to How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb
by Steven R. Harmon
"My first listen through Atomic Bomb left me with two initial impressions. First, this album is going to be a hit. Musically it's their best overall album ever, and four or five of the tracks are naturals for release as singles that should get good airplay. Second, the majority of the people who buy and listen to this music may not fully grasp its deepest significance. Of all the albums U2 has recorded over the past 25 years, this one is the most overtly Christian in its rendering of the world. But this is obvious only to those who are already being formed by the biblical story and thus look at the world through the same set of lenses worn by the creators of this music."