Saturday, January 29, 2005

Election Day in Iraq

Live Election Coverage on C-SPAN from 2-4 p.m. ET.

For ground level election news from Iraq, check out the Friends of Democracy blog.

More Iraqi Election Blog Coverage



An unidentified Iraqi wears buttons urging people to vote in the southern Iraqi city of Basra. Iraq is in a state of high security on the eve of national elections, the first in over 50 years.(AFP/Odd Anderson)
An unidentified Iraqi wears buttons urging people to vote in the southern Iraqi city of Basra.

Iraqi_expat_crying_1

Pictured here is Mehsin Imgoter, weeping
after voting in Southgate, Michigan. His son
was killed in the Shi'ite uprising against
Saddam Hussein in 1991 and did not live
to see a free Iraq.

Tomorrow.
Less than a day before I get to vote for the first time in real elections. One that I chose to participate in and that I've dreamed about for such a long time.

On the Eve of the Elections
An American soldier sends this dispatch from Iraq

The Rise of the Not-So-Conservative Conservatives
by Victor Davis Hanson

The Long Road to a Vote
by Bakhtiar Dargali

Friday, January 28, 2005

articles 1/29

A Day of Iraqi Hope
by Steve Hadley

Running Into the Sand?
As Bush's second term begins, the world press asks, "Is Iran next?"
by Carl Schrag

Wired.com
A Century of Einstein
A hundred years ago, Albert Einstein shook up physics and the world with his ideas. Where would we be without them?

Freedom Over Cynicism
by Lawrence Kudlow

The Bushies' New Groove
by David Brooks

The Ruthless Party
by Fred Barnes

They're Paranoid, We're Blasé
The civilized world needs to answer Islamist conspiracy propaganda.
by Melik Kaylan

Why the world is still in the shadow of Churchill
by Charles Moore

Who’s afraid of Social Security reform?
by Donald R. May
There is much opposition to President Bush’s plans to reform Social Security and provide taxpayers with Personal Retirement Accounts (PRAs) that they actually own and can pass on to their heirs.

The Branding of a Heretic
Are religious scientists unwelcome at the Smithsonian?
by David Klinghoffer

My IPod, My Self
Marketing professor Markus Giesler has some colorful ideas about Apple's music player. He argues it transforms listeners into "cyborg consumers," plugging them into a "hybrid entertainment matrix" where they can achieve "technotranscendence."

Tolkien Gets Ringing Endorsement
A new documentary about J.R.R. Tolkien's ardent fans traces the author's impact on pop culture, from '60s hippies to current-day movie fans.

The Lock Busters
They've never met a padlock - or six-pin paracentric cylinder - they couldn't crack. Live, from the lock-picking championship of the world.

Spring Training Preview: Reds
The Reds roll into spring training with several new arms in their arsenal, an outfield overloaded with question marks, and no Barry Larkin for the first time in 20 years.


Spring Training Preview: Braves
With the additions of All-Star pitchers Tim Hudson and Dan Kolb, the Braves' storied staff looks as strong as ever. However, they have some serious outfield questions if they hope to win a 14th consecutive division title.

Spring Training Preview: Red Sox
Think the Red Sox were in uncharted waters last fall when they shook the 86-year curse and won it all? How about now that they are the defending champs and have the proverbial target on their backs?

Spring Training Preview: White Sox
White Sox general manager Kenny Williams has run Chicago's front office with as much patience and loyalty as a Hollywood marriage, and he's welcomed several new partners into his South Side bedroom again this offseason.

Spring Training Preview: Tigers
The Tigers have won just 115 games over the last two seasons, but surprisingly they have their lineup and rotation all but set heading into spring training. That doesn't mean there aren't some questions to be answered.

Spring Training Preview: Astros
With Roger Clemens re-signing and Andy Pettitte returning, the starting staff is still potent. However, the Astros have some serious questions about a lineup that lost Carlos Beltran and Jeff Kent to free agency and will likely be without Lance Berkman for the first month of the season.

Spring Training Preview: Orioles
The Orioles really wanted to sign some big-name free agents this offseason, but like Jorge Julio, the front office proved to be shaky when trying to close deals. As a result, the Orioles own a roster full of familiar names and question marks.

Spring Training Preview: Dodgers
The Los Angeles Dodgers didn't augment their team name (the Los Angeles Dodgers of Los Angeles) or change their classic uniforms, but there will be a whole bunch of different faces in camp this spring.

Chicago Tribune
U2 apologizes for site's ticket sale debacle

articles 1/28

For ground level election news from Iraq, check out the Friends of Democracy blog. They have a great mission.

WSJ Editorial
Harry Reid's Choice
Will the new Minority Leader follow Ted Kennedy off a cliff?

USA Today
HHS says it paid columnist for help Bush's marriage initiative touted

The War Room
Demystifying the Science and Art of Political Polling
by Mark Blumenthal

The Tragic End of a Liberal Iraq
by Lawrence Kaplan

Freedom Just Another Word?
by Daniel Henninger

John Edwards's Gamble
by E.J. Dionne

3 Reasons Liberals Should Back Scalia For Chief Justice
by S. Lubet

The All American skin game
by Jonah Goldberg
The Condoleezza Rice nomination was a sorry spectacle, but not in the way everyone is saying.

In Search Of
The Democratic debate on abortion may finally help the party find an identity.
by Terry Eastland

Open Letter
A bipartisan group urges the congressional leadership to substantively increase the size of the Army and the Marines.

NY Times
Bush Says Iraqi Leaders Will Want U.S. Forces to Stay to Help
President Bush said in an interview that he would withdraw U.S. forces from Iraq if the new government asked him to do so.

W. Post
Bush Faces Skepticism From Hill Republicans
The president is calling for bolder legislative action than many lawmakers are willing to support.

Rice and Democratic Politics
By Charles Krauthammer

W. Times
Journalists in line of fire as Iraq's election nears
Iraq's first free election on Sunday will be a day both of testing and of triumph for the corps of independent journalists that has rushed into the democratic space created by Saddam Hussein's fall.

Choice vs. coercion
by Linda Chavez
The Iraqi election is a referendum on the very idea that individuals have a right to make decisions about their own lives.

W. Times
Kennedy says U.S. presence in Iraq is fueling insurgency
Sen. Edward M. Kennedy yesterday said U.S. troops, instead of defeating the insurgency in Iraq, are spawning it, and he called for immediate withdrawal of 12,000 troops after this weekend's election and a complete pullout by early next year.

A Reign On the Wane?
By David Ignatius

Disclosure and glass houses
by Glenn Reynolds

Full Disclosure
by David Frum

NY Sun
Allawi Runs With Alleged Baathists

Wired.com
Revenge of the Right Brain
Logical and precise, left-brain thinking gave us the Information Age. Now comes the Conceptual Age - led by artistry, empathy, and emotion.

U2's Bono wins fans at Davos
Rock star's deep knowledge of issues earns respect from experts

Thursday, January 27, 2005

articles 1/27

Slate
2020 Vision
A CIA report predicts that American global dominance could end in 15 years.
by Fred Kaplan

National Intelligence Council
Mapping the Global Future: Report of the National Intelligence Council's 2020 Project

Social Security Choice Blog
Because Every American Should Have Their Own Nest Egg
Sponsored by the Club for Growth, this site seeks to promote “The Ownership Society” by advocating personal accounts for Social Security.

Cracks in the Chinese Wall
After Zhao Ziyang's death, Beijing's communist rulers try but fail to control the Internet.
by Emily Parker

To the Races
Iraqi pols debate.
by Walid Phares

W. Post
Civil Service System on Way Out at DHS
White House Wants All Agencies to Have Option of Setting Own Personnel Policies

Ukraine's Lesson for Putin
by Jim Hoagland

USA Today
Spending on PR doubled under Bush, report says
The Bush administration has more than doubled its spending on outside contracts with public relations firms during the past four years, according to an analysis of federal procurement data by congressional Democrats.

WSJ Editorial
The Airport Road
America must act to secure Iraq's most vital artery.

Self-indulgence
by Thomas Sowell
The enraged speeches and street disorders across the country that accompanied the inauguration of President Bush may tell us more than we want to know about what is happening to this country.

The Zaraqawi rally
by Larry Kudlow
No one seems to be connecting the dots, but I'm willing to bet that the capture of the top assistant to terrorist mastermind Abu Musab al Zarqawi was the trigger for Tuesday's best-in-the-new-year stock market rally.

Further Thoughts on the Inaugural Address
by Peggy Noonan

NY Sun
Bush Presses Guest-Worker Program

Digging Into Seymour Hersh
by Max Boot

Hillary Clinton's Anti-Abortion Strategy
by William Saletan

Foreign Policy Judo
by Nibras Kazimi

Bureaucracy plus plastic chairs?
by Marvin Olasky

Hopkins hysteria
by George WillIs this the fruit of feminism?

USA Today
Study: Internet doesn't deserve bad rep
New report says 72% of identity thefts done last year were offline.

WSJ Editorial

All You Need to Know

All you really need to know about the latest Congressional Budget Office figures is contained in the chart. The darker bars at the bottom measure the annual budget deficit as a share of the U.S. economy, showing that it will steadily decline throughout the rest of this decade. From 3.6% of GDP in the 2004 fiscal year, the deficit will fall steadily to an insignificant 0.5% of GDP in 2011, assuming continued economic growth.

We realize these CBO estimates don't include future spending on the war in Afghanistan and Iraq. But as CBO points out, revenues are expected to grow rapidly over the decade, especially in individual income taxes. The progressive nature of the U.S. tax code means that, as growth raises incomes, more and more people are pushed into higher tax brackets, even if President Bush's tax cuts are made permanent.

[Deficit Realities]The other thing to know is revealed in the lighter bars in the chart, which show debt held by the public as a share of GDP. This is the most telling measure of the federal debt burden because it indicates a country's ability to service that debt. And the chart shows the U.S. burden staying more or less constant through this decade despite the fact that annual deficits will add to the total amount of debt...
It is also true that these debt figures do not include the future liabilities for Medicare and Social Security that politicians have promised. But Congressman John Spratt (D., S.C.) and other self-described "deficit hawks" could raise taxes beyond their wildest dreams and never raise enough revenue to pay for those promises. The only way to reduce those liabilities is to reform those entitlement programs -- for example, with private Social Security accounts that will build wealth over time. Any politician who moans about the "deficit" or the "national debt" and opposes entitlement reform is really arguing for a tax increase.


The Hill
Inaugural run-in for Reid aide

Praise for Newt Gingrich's Bold, New Political Strategy
by Steve Forbes

ESPN.com
Spring Training Reporting Dates

Bring on the Love: U2’s How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb
by Jeff Keuss, Presbyterian Church (USA) pastor, currently Visiting Professor of Theology and Ethics at Fuller Theological Seminary, Seattle Pacific University and Northwest Graduate School.

Contactmusic.com
Bush Left Bono Speechless
Bono: I Need Bandmates To Keep Me Together
Bono Explains Conversations


Business 2.0
The Smart List
Bold thinkers. Brilliant ideas. Clever strategies. Savvy execution. Our annual tip of the hat to the brightest minds in business and the miraculous feats they've accomplished.


Smartest Ad Campaign
Silhouettes and Synergy

Thanks to a smart decision to cross-promote two well-known entertainment brands -- a collaboration hatched by U2 lead singer Bono and Apple CEO Steve Jobs, who are longtime friends -- each side contributed an edgy dose of cool to the advertising effort, which was produced by TBWA/Chiat/Day. "U2 exudes everything Apple wants to stand for -- and vice versa," says Joseph Jaffe, president of Jaffe marketing consultancy. "Independence, creativity, self-expression, and authenticity."

The pairing scored with music fans. Following its exclusive release on Apple's iTunes Music Store, U2's How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb went on to top the iTunes sales charts for weeks after its late-November debut. Offline the album launched at the top of the U.S. pop charts, selling almost twice as many copies as U2's last U.S. release did during its first week -- a success that rescued the band from the purgatory of "classic rock" status.

For this, U2 and its Interscope/Geffen/A&M label credit iTunes and the $20 million TV campaign Apple undertook to back the partnership. (U2 agreed to appear in the ads for free.) As Bono put it, "We want our audience to have a more intimate online relationship with the band, and Apple can help us do that."

Independent of download revenue, Apple also used the U2 campaign to send a powerful message to Microsoft (MSFT), RealNetworks (RNWK), Sony (SNE), and other competitors that hope to cut into iTunes's 70 percent market share for online song downloads: Back off. "It's game, set, and match," Jaffe says. "Word of mouth built the iPod/iTunes franchise, and the U2 campaign has solidified it."

Wednesday, January 26, 2005

President's Press Conference Transcript

articles 1/26

Gen. Douglas MacArthur was born today in 1880.

NY Times
Insurgents Vowing to Kill Iraqis Who Brave the Polls on Sunday
Guerrilla groups in Iraq are trying to intimidate Iraqi citizens and scare them away from the polls with threats of death.

Chill, blogophiles; you're not the first to do what you're doing
Thomas Paine was basically a blogger — in 1776.
by Kevin Maney

Iraqis Eager To Vote

W. Post
Writer Backing Bush Plan Had Gotten Federal Contract
By Howard Kurtz

A Question of Disclosure
by Maggie Gallagher

ET TU, MAGGIE?
by Andrew Sullivan

Slate
As Green as a Neocon
Why Iraq hawks are driving Priuses.By Robert Bryce

Bipolar Disorder
A funny thing happened to many of the scholars who went out into the country to investigate the red-blue divide. They couldn't find it
by Jonathan Rauch

Missed Opportunities In Iraq
by Madeleine Albright

Chalabi's Return & Other Good News From Iraq
by Christopher Hitchens

Iraq Pessimists' Real Fears
by John Podhoretz

Newsweek
Sharansky's Inspires Bush's Foreign Policy Vision

Bush's War on Poverty
Ending tyranny is the best way to spread wealth.
by Claudia Rosett

WSJ Editorial
A New Iraq
Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds all have a stake in liberty.

W. Post
Coaching Iraq's Candidates
U.S.-funded programs are discreetly training new politicians, voting process.

Reality Check for the Neo-Wilsonians
by David Ignatius

W. Times
Bush reaches out to blacks
President Bush plans to meet with black legislators today after meeting with black clergy yesterday, although liberal civil rights leaders such as the Rev. Jesse Jackson and Julian Bond were not invited.

Big Media's 40 Days and 40 Nights
Like Noah's flood, the blogosphere is changing everything about the flow of news and information.
by Hugh Hewitt

Turn the Beat Around
Can Democrats be pro-life?
by Doug Bandow

The Human Life Review
Democrats for Life
Part I of this series outlines key problems faced by Democrats for Life of America: a Democratic Party platform that strongly supports abortion; a flock of Democratic presidential candidates who do the same; and powerful groups, such as Emily’s List, committed to the protection of legal abortion.
Part II concludes the series by describing how pro-life Democrats challenge their party’s support of abortion. It considers practical advice, from members of Congress and others, about what else should be done.

As a Matter of FactCheck.org
The truth about Social Security even eludes the supposed truth-seekers.
by Donald Luskin

Look out, Hillary's morphing into Bill
by Ben Shapiro
If you’ve listened to Hillary Clinton lately, you could be forgiven for thinking you were hearing her husband Bill.

A heartless homeland security screw-up
by Michelle Malkin
Do you remember when immigration officials sent out flight school visa approval notices for two of the 9/11 hijackers -- six months after they had committed their suicide attacks on America?

Iraqi ballots and bombs
by Tony Blankley
It's a little odd that the most vehement support for President Bush's proposition that democracy is the best cure for terrorism came from the curling lips of Mr. Abu Musab Zarqawi.

Don't take the president's word for it - take Zarqawi's
by Jonah Goldberg
Before the cackles could reach their crescendo, the naysayers hit an inconvenient snag.

Election news from Iraq
by Jay Bryant
The Western media in pre-election Iraq, Peter Jennings for example, are doing all they can to aid and abet Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's call for the Iraqi people to stay away from the polls on Sunday.

Wired.com
Improvised Bombs Baffle Army
IEDs -- improvised explosive devices -- are taking a big toll in Iraq, and the Pentagon is struggling to find methods to counteract them.

Wired Magazine
The Firefox Explosion
It's fast, secure, open source - and super popular. The hot new browser called Firefox is rocking the software world. (Watch your back, Bill Gates.)

Battle at Baylor: Will the atmosphere change?
Baylor again

Tuesday, January 25, 2005

articles 1/25

Company Fires All Employees Who Smoke
Michigan Firm Won't Allow Smoking, Even On Employee's Own Time


Student Movement Coordination Committee for Democracy in Iran (SMCCDI)
Iranians cheer massively Mr. Bush's Inaugural speech

USA Today
Some offices opt for cellphones only
Land lines dropped as firms seek ‘instant communication'

‘Rolling Stone' reverses, will accept Bible ad
Decision comes after criticism for nixing ‘spiritual message'

Woman of the Year
Instead of celebrating Condi Rice, Democrats nip at her ankles.
by Brendan Miniter

The Democratic Ideal
The president's "realist" critics need to get real
by Joshua Muravchik

W. Times
Bush backs proposed pro-life bills
President Bush supports congressional proposals requiring abortionists to warn some women that their unborn children will feel pain and banning adults from helping pregnant minors cross state lines to circumvent abortion laws requiring parental notification, the White House said last night.

Hybrid Liberalism
The government and Detroit's Big Three are trying to change the way you look at your car.
by Henry Payne

Bush's New Economy
The president's second term carries opportunities and perils.
by Irwin M. Stelzer

Fourth estate or fifth column
by Thomas Sowell
There are still people in the mainstream media who profess bewilderment that they are accused of being biased.

The corollary to the Bush doctrine
by David Limbaugh
I happen to believe that President Bush's inaugural speech was both a very big deal and not that big of a deal at all, a classic paradox.

The Sticky Ladder
by David Brooks

NY Times
Clinton Seeking Shared Ground Over Abortions

Hillary's Got Clinton Appeal
by Susan Estrich

NY Sun Staff Editorial
Hillary Tunes Up
No one who listened to Senator Clinton's speech to abortion rights supporters at Albany yesterday can have any doubt that she's running for president.

Election Is Looking Up for Allawi
By Edmund Sanders
Nearly a third of Iraqis believe the interim prime minister has been "very effective," polls show.

Parsing Bush and Clinton

Newsweek
Gonzales: Did He Help Bush Keep His DUI Quiet?

Republicans and the Future
by Ken Mehlman

A Lowering of Arms
Few in the West expected the Soviet Union to collapse.
The Power of Freedom
What Soviet dissidents, Scoop Jackson, and Reagan understood.
The Great Debate
Why the skeptics are wrong.
By Natan Sharansky
A three-part series of excerpts from The Case for Democracy by Natan Sharansky with Ron Dermer. They are taken from the book’s introduction. President Bush calls the book "required reading for every member of the White House Press Corps."

Reuters
Sex Map Shows Chain of Almost 300 High School Lovers
The first "map" of teen sexual behavior gives new meaning to the old warning that you don't just have sex with a person, but with everyone that person ever had sex with, researchers said on Monday. They found a chain of 288 one-to-one sexual relationships at a high school in the U.S. Midwest, meaning the teenager at the end of the chain may have had direct sexual contact with only one person, but indirect contact with 286 others.

AFP
Iran warns US against making 'strategic blunder'
Iran said it was not taking talk of a US attack seriously, but nevertheless cautioned Washington that military action against the Islamic republic would be a "major strategic blunder."

W. Post
Book of U.S. Code Names Challenges Secrecy
Author Hopes to Undermine Agencies' Ability to Make Decisions in the Dark

The Iraqi people will defy the Ba'athists and Islamofascists
Blair is right. Why aren't more democrats backing these elections?
by William Shawcross

AP
Apple iTunes Sells 250 Million Songs
With its music downloads selling at a rate of more than a million per day, Apple Computer Inc. said Monday customers have purchased more than 250 million songs from its online iTunes Music Store. The store is selling 1.25 million songs at 99 cents apiece per day.

W. Post
Branded for Life
What if a Familiar Name Becomes A Different Animal?
Think of IBM, and the image of a computer is liable to come to mind. AT&T? A phone. Toys R Us? Yeah, toys aplenty. Those are the associations that marketers have spent billions trying to hammer into consumers' brains through an unyielding deluge of television spots, print ads and billboards. But what happens when a company's business shifts and the brand needs to shift with it?

Fortune
The Ring Masters
New Line vaulted into the big leagues with its smash trilogy, Lord of the Rings. Now comes the hard part: staying there.

ESPN.com
The Ultimate Cost
A tormented soul
First in a five-part series looking at the life and tragic death of former Steelers center Mike Webster

Dump Internet Explorer. Get Firefox 1.0, the faster, better web browser. Now available in 27 languages, for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux. “I suggest dumping Microsoft's Internet Explorer” — Walt Mossberg, Wall Street Journal.

Wired.com
Many Faces of the Mac Mini
Thumbnail photo
Though available for only a few days, Apple's versatile Mac mini is already being put to a wide array of uses, from server racks to in-car computing.


Stupid Blue States
People who vote Republican are stupid, the stereotype has it. As London's left-wing Daily Mirror tabloid asked in a front-page headline in November, "How could 59,054,087 people be so DUMB?" (Actually, according to David Leip's Election Atlas, the number of Bush voters is now 62,041,268.)



In an effort to counter this stereotype, OpinionJournal.com is looking for examples of blue-state stupidity, and our first one comes from an Associated Press weather story: "Baltimore transportation crews are set to lay down blue salt--letting residents know their streets have been plowed." John Kerry outpolled Bush 82.7% to 17.1%--a margin of 65.6%--in Baltimore, a city whose residents need saline assistance to figure out their streets have been plowed.

DO NOT CLICK ON THIS LINK
Under no circumstances should you click on this link.

Monday, January 24, 2005

William Safire says goodbye

January 24, 2005
'Never Retire'
Why am I bidding Op-Ed readers farewell today after more than 3,000 columns? Two bits of counsel might help explain the path I'm now taking.

January 24, 2005
First Lady Follies
My relationships with first ladies were varied. Pat Nixon was a pal, but not so that ...

January 24, 2005
Win Some, Lose Some
Here's how some of my journalistic crusades turned out, from state-sponsored ...

January 24, 2005
How to Read a Column
At last I am at liberty to vouchsafe to you the dozen rules in reading a political ...

articles 1/24

Today is the anniversary of Churchill’s death in 1965. The state funeral was held January 30th, 1965.

The visions of Tolkien and Jackson
by Terry Mattingly

Freedom Is Not a Doctrine
by Richard Haass

The re-inauguration
by David Warren

On prudence
by David Warren

Grand Rapids Press
Ten-year-old driver asks police: "Am I going to jail?"
The boy, a fifth-grader, told police his mom was sick at the hospital, and he was driving her car home. His father was driving behind him in the family's other car. The dad was ticketed.

Bleed My Lips?
If Bush wants to reform Social Security, he'll have to soften his approach to Congress.
by John Fund

WSJ Editorial
Going 'Nuclear'
The coming incineration of the judicial filibuster.

W. Post
Militant Declares War on Iraqi Vote
Zarqawi Terms Democracy an 'Evil Principle'

Cover the Terror War as a War
by Hugh Hewitt

Inside the Heart of Darkness
By Daniel Jonah Goldhagen
As the world prepares to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz this week, four out of the five central questions of the Holocaust have pretty straightforward and settled answers.

Why I'm Willing to Defend Hussein
by Ramsey Clark
Former Atty. Gen. Ramsey Clark explains his offer to help the deposed dictator.

Seattle Times
Scores of felons voted illegally

NY Sun Staff Editorial
The New Effort Against Chalabi

Our Blindness
We have ample forewarning. But will we ever act?
by Mark Helprin

Has Iraq Weakened Us?
by Victor Davis Hanson

Bush's Complex Personality Confounds Experts
by Tod Lindberg

Is Bush Moving to the Middle?
by Robert Novak

How the Media Undid Howard Dean
by Douglas MacKinnon

Stop apologizing: The women flap at Harvard
by Amity Shlaes
This last little hypothesis was enough to bring the entire educational establishment down upon Mr Summers' head. A week ago, Mr Summers issued his first apology, and he has been apologising ever since.

Demographic deception
by Joel Mowbray
An eight-person team has found that the actual number of residents in Gaza and the West Bank is nearly one and a half million fewer than the published population.

Seeking clarity on Islam and jihad
by Diana West
My goal is providing clarity. We are unlikely to witness a security-lite inauguration four, eight or 12 years hence if we remain confused about the ideology that animates our foes.

Green groups: Victoria's Secret catalog a bust
As pro-environment ads go, it's definitely an eye-catcher.

‘Do not mail'
Most catalogs contain instructions for how to stop unwanted deliveries. The instructions are often found on the back cover or on the order form page. The Direct Marketing Association offers a “do not mail” list, which will stop most unsolicited mailings. To get on that list, send a postcard or letter that includes your name, home address and signature to:
Mail Preference Service
Direct Marketing Association
P.O. Box 643
Carmel, NY 10512
You also can get on the list, for a $5 fee, at www.dmaconsumers.org/cgi/offmailinglist.

USA Today
U2 tour has the concert business getting dizzy

U2.com
U2 Tour Dates Announced

Sunday, January 23, 2005

articles 1/23, p.m. edition

Ten Years Later
"Then the second wave of al-Qaeda attacks hit America." A leading expert on counterterrorism imagines the future history of the war on terror. A frightening picture of a country still at war in 2011
by Richard A. Clarke
This is a transcript of the Tenth Anniversary 9/11 LectureSunday, September 11, 2011John F. Kennedy School of GovernmentCambridge, MassachusettsProfessor Roger McBride

Success Without Victory
America won the Cold War because Americans embraced a set of strategic principles and pursued them steadily, decade after decade. Here's the outline of a "containment" strategy for the age of terror
by James Fallows

China, the sea lanes, and energy

Revolutionary President
by Michael Barone

Double or Nothing
by Fred Barnes

Don't Worry Your Pretty Little Head
The pseudo-feminist show trial of Larry Summers.
By William Saletan

W. Post
Most Iraqis Remain Committed to Elections, Poll Finds
Despite Insurgent Threats and Lack of Democratic Tradition, 80 Percent Say They Are Likely to Vote

Idealism & Realism vs. Cynicism & Delusion
by Mark Steyn

A Higher Realism
by Robert Kagan

A Nuclear Iran: The Scariest Prospect of All
by Edward Luttwak

The Next Islamist Revolution?
by Eliza Griswold

The Saudis & Conspiracy Theories
by J. Gurwitz

On Terror, Reporters See What They Want To See
by Jack Kelly

AP
U.S. Foresaw Terror Threats in 1970s
Nearly three decades before the Sept. 11 attacks, a high-level government panel developed plans to protect the nation against terrorist acts ranging from radiological "dirty bombs" to airline missile attacks, according to declassified documents.

Reuters
U.S. Checking Reported $300 Million Iraqi Cash Move
U.S. authorities are investigating why $300 million in American bills was taken out of Iraq's Central Bank this month and flown to Lebanon, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq said on Sunday.

Reuters
Al Qaeda Ally Declares All-Out War on Iraqi Election
Al Qaeda ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi declared all-out war on Iraq's landmark elections on Sunday in a warning intended to scare away voters a week before they go to the polls amid a raging insurgency.

Citizen Jordan
A basketball legend's soulless retirement caps his soulless career.
By Charles P. Pierce

articles 1/23

Jib Jab's Second Term
Check out "Second Term," from the creators of "Good to be in D.C." and "This Land." This latest cartoon pokes fun at President Bush, conservatives, liberals, and just about anyone else vying for political power.

Time
Justice Scalia: The Charm Offensive
The Supreme Court Justice is vying for the chief's seat on the bench

Choosing a chairman
by George Will
Having had their fill of post-election introspection, the 447 Democratic Party luminaries who on Feb. 12 will elect their new chairman surely now yearn for stronger wine and madder music.

W. Post
Secret Unit Expands Defense Chief's Domain
Pentagon encroaches on CIA's turf with new espionage arm, reinterprets law to broaden Rumsfeld's powers abroad.
Some Question New Unit's Leader

Gender Fender-Bender
Feminist complainers, not Larry Summers, owe women an apology.
by Ruth Wisse

Oil for Influence
A U.S. citizen pleads guilty to being an agent of Saddam Hussein.

W. Post
Crash Course in Leadership
U.S. advisers are working intensely with Iraqi forces in effort to develop a lasting security force.

LA Times
Reinventing Campus Socializing
Thefacebook.com has become an obsessive must-view hub for hundreds of students.

LA Times
Palestinian Police Face the Enemy Within
Security services are riddled with rivalries and disorganization.

NY Times Magazine
The Punk-Christian Son of a Preacher Man
His parents, Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker, had one of the most spectacular falls in the history of the evangelical church. Now Jay Bakker is building his own kind of ministry, preaching to rockers and tattooed skaters who feel as lost as he has.

W. Times
Kerry seeking role in spotlight
Sen. John Kerry searched for his new place in the political landscape as his rival took the oath of office for a second term as president.

W. Times
Faithful standing more firm, poll says
Churchgoing Americans grew less patient in the past four years with politicians making compromises on such issues as abortion and homosexual rights, according to a survey released yesterday.

W. Post Magazine
See no Bias
Many Americans believe they are not prejudiced. Now a new test provides powerful evidence that a majority of us really are. Assuming we accept the results, what can we do about it?

The Feminine Mistake
Looking for a line women fall for? Try the psychic hotline
by Gene Weingarten
Some of America's most accomplished literary figures were present at the recent national book fair in Miami. But the longest line of people I witnessed was there to obtain the autograph of a highly distinguished, world-renowned, fabulously successful quack.

LA Times Magazine
Swagland
by David Weddle
Where the writers are gluttons, the editors practice ethical relativism and the flacks just want to get their clients some ink

Reuters
'Braveheart' Becomes Role Model for Christian Men
Movies like "Braveheart" and "Legends of the Fall" are on the viewing list for men in a growing Christian movement that calls for them to throw off their "nice guy" personas and emulate warriors.

Newsweek
Hi! The Net Is Calling.
The technology to send voices over data lines is revolutionizing the telephone industry—and, for now, the leader is Vonage.

HughHewitt.com
Some Key Links on and for Godbloggers

The Weekly Standard
Terry Eastland on Hugh Hewitt's "Blog"
Blog: Understanding the Information Reformation That's Changing Your World: Why You Must Know How the Blogosphere Is Smashing the Old Media Monopoly and Giving Individuals Power in the Marketplace of Ideas by Hugh Hewitt (Nelson, 225 pp., $19.99).
Maybe someone will go after me on grounds of conflict of interest for writing about this little volume. So I'll confess to having been a friend of Hugh Hewitt's for more than twenty years, since he clerked on the federal appeals court in Washington, D.C.
Since I knew Hugh years before he became hughhewitt.com, I can testify that back in the old days Hugh read big books, and naps were not unusual. He had a toe or two in the media, but his big media gig was in the slow lane of a public television show in Los Angeles.
Now I can't think of Hugh without thinking of speed, for speed it is--speed at the keyboard--that you need to make an impact as a blogger, which Hugh became three years ago. Hugh still has much else to do: He's got a radio talk show, still practices law, teaches in law school, and writes weekly columns (including for us, at weeklystandard.com). But it's in the blogosphere (explained in Blog) that Hugh has hit his most rapid stride, for there he posts as fast as news breaks.
Blog has the longest subtitle I've seen in a while, at least for a book published in a recent century, but it's all true to the book. For Blog
is about the impact of the blogosphere upon the old news media. More broadly, it is about how "every single information hierarchy is under siege." It becomes a book for business executives, pastors--just about everyone, since all of us require information of one kind or another. Not surprisingly, one way to help yourself in this new era, Hugh says, is to become a blogger, like him.
Hugh Hewitt may be what the Wall Street Journal has called him--"the unofficial historian of the blogging movement." But for sure he's its lead evangelist. "You have to read this book very quickly," he writes. Quickly, so you can go online.
--Terry Eastland
Read the following reviews: Instapundit Evangelical Outpost
Polipundit 1 and 2
TapscottCopyDesk
Read an overview of the blogosphere from World Magazine