articles 8/3

Why Truman Dropped the Bomb
Sixty years after Hiroshima, we now have the secret intercepts that shaped his decision.
by Richard B. Frank

When Tush Comes to Dove
Real women. Real curves. Really smart ad campaign.
By Seth Stevenson

But Why Can't Hillary Win?
Sen. Clinton's electability problem.
By Jacob Weisberg

God vs. Satan
Who's the better investor?
By Daniel Gross

America’s Pro-Choice Movement at a Crossroads
They've been dreading this moment for decades. How the pro-choice movement is readying for Roberts—and navigating a critical political crossroads.

Frist's Stem Cell Capitulation
by Eric Cohen & William Kristol

Correcting the CIA
by Robert Novak
A statement attributed to the former CIA spokesman indicating that I deliberately disregarded what he told me in writing my 2003 column about Joseph Wilson's wife is just plain wrong.

Health benefits of prayer
by Armstrong Williams
Prayer heals. So say thousands of Americans who use prayer to improve their health.

Senator Frist's grave mistake
by Cal Thomas
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist made some fundamental mistakes in announcing his support of federal funding for stem cell research.

10 Years That Changed the World
A decade ago, Netscape went public, blasting the Web into everyday life. Now, Wired talks to the inside players - from Marc Andreessen to Shawn Fanning to Steve Jobs - about 10 years of boom, bust, and sock puppets.
Interviews by Jeff Howe

The Big Gulp
NASA pisses away millions hauling H2O into orbit. But there's a better way - recycle astronaut urine. Just one question: How does it taste?
By Tom McNichol

Building the Béisbol Brand
Signing Pedro Martínez, developing young phenoms in the Dominican Republic, luring Spanish-speaking fans — Omar Minaya is reinventing the Mets by embracing the Latinization of professional baseball. Is this the future of big-league business?

Rafael Palmiero
• Jayson Stark: Yes vote Buster Olney: Sham artist Raffy busted• Gene Wojciechowski: True lies Ray Ratto: Canseco got it right• Patrick Hruby: A yawner

USA Today
Steroid test nabs first major star
Palmeiro out for 10 days; drugs back in sports spotlight
By Mike Dodd and Hal Bodley, page 1A
Suspended
Full coverage

Palmeiro's image takes hard hit
Steroid suspension may hurt Hall hopes
By Mel Antonen, page 1C
BALTIMORE — One day, Rafael Palmeiro is a legend with elite Hall of Fame statistics. The next, his legacy is swirling in a steroid controversy.
Full coverage

Say it ain't so, Palmeiro
Oriole lets everyone down; ‘accident' story not believable
On baseball By Hal Bodley, page 2C
Rafael Palmeiro, nattily attired in a perfectly tailored navy pinstriped suit, walked into the hallowed halls of Congress on March 17 and said he never used steroids.
Full coverage

Appeals process part of policy
Players have right to challenge result before disciplinary action
By Hal Bodley, page 2C
Rafael Palmeiro received no special treatment from Major League Baseball by having his grievance for testing positive for steroids heard — and decided — before his 10-day suspension was announced Monday.
Full coverage

Orioles fans stunned by violation
By Scott Boeck, page 2C
BALTIMORE — Fans attending Monday's game at Oriole Park at Camden Yards between the Baltimore Orioles and Chicago White Sox expressed shock, disbelief and disappointment when hearing Rafael Palmeiro had been suspended for 10 days after violating Major League Baseball's steroid policy.
Full coverage

Subjection to God and Subjection to the State, by John Piper

Subjection to God and Subjection to the State, Part One
June 12, 2005
Romans 13:1-7
Subjection to God and Subjection to the State, Part Two
July 3, 2005
Subjection to God and Subjection to the State, Part Three
July 10, 2005
Subjection to God and Subjection to the State, Part Four
July 17, 2005

articles 7/24

Bush Rises to the Occasion
The Roberts pick is courageous and important.
by William Kristol

NY Times
Cigarettes, Taxes and Thin French Women
Economists have been wondering whether high cigarette taxes may have the unintended effect of increasing obesity.

Time
Living Under the Cloud
The atom bombs dropped over Japan ended a terrible war and persuaded the world never to use nuclear weapons again. Why that legacy is now in peril--and what we should do about it

NY Times
How Costco Became the Anti-Wal-Mart

US News & World Report
The Pentagon has a secret new strategy for taking on terrorists--and taking them down

Good Riddance . . . But Not Much Improvement
Prince Bandar, Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the United States, is out. Prince Turki is in.
by Stephen Schwartz

The Presidents' Man
Why John Roberts' service in the White House Counsel's office matters.
by Hugh Hewitt

Jihad Made In Europe
There may be more to fear from a mosque in Leeds than a madrassa in the Middle East.
by Reuel Marc Gerecht

Another Link in the Chain
The role of Saddam and al Qaeda in the creation of Ansar al Islam.
by Stephen F. Hayes & Thomas Joscelyn

Your Papers, Please
Will the Democrats go fishing for documents to sink Roberts?
by Duncan Currie

Reading Roberts's Mind
He'll certainly be better than O'Connor. But how much better?
by Terry Eastland

It Takes an Establishment
At some point the radicals need assistance, support, and reinforcement from establishment conservatives--like John Roberts.
by William Kristol

And Then They Came After Us
We’re at war. How about acting like it?
by Victor Davis Hanson

Currency basket case
Of all the news stories regarding China's so-called currency reform, 'Saying Goodbye to Mr. Greenspan,' written by Keith Bradsher of the New York Times, hits the nail closest to the head.

The Neoconservative Convergence
Some once famously dissenting ideas now govern U.S. foreign policy, maturing as they go.
by Charles Krauthammer

Wedding bells aren't ringing, but neither are phones of divorce ...
The U.S. divorce rate has dropped 5% since 1980, while the marriage rate dropped 50% since 1970. Analysts credit the change to the increase in cohabitation -- people living together without being wed. These couples are 40% more likely to break up than married couples.

Cohabitating Americans in 7 states run afoul of the law
The almost 1 million unmarried heterosexual Americans who live together in Florida, Michigan, Mississippi, North Carolina, North Dakota, Virginia and West Virginia are violating state laws against "lewd and lascivious" cohabitation.

'Cohabitation is replacing dating'
More than two-thirds of married couples in the USA now say they lived together before marriage. And the number of unmarried, opposite-sex households overall is rising dramatically even in seven states where laws against intimate relations between unmarried partners are still on the books.

Sweden's 'marriage lite' gets closer examination
The rise of cohabitation in the USA has prompted those who track the state of American marriages and families to take a closer look at Sweden, where unmarried, opposite-sex partners routinely live together.

Where Have All the Jockstraps Gone?
The decline and fall of the athletic supporter.
By Daniel Akst

Senate Confirmation Hearing for National Counterterrorism Center Director

Video of the hearing

Testimony: Confirmation Hearing on Vice Admiral John S. Redd to be Director of the National Counterterrorism Center, Office of the Director of National Intelligence

Reuters
US counterterror agency criticized on info-sharing

articles 7/17

Gay Teenager Stirs a Storm
By ALEX WILLIAMS
When Zach, a 16-year-old from Tennessee, wrote on his personal Web page that his parents were sending him to a fundamentalist Christian program because he was gay, he caused an uproar.

The power of Potter
Can the teenage wizard turn a generation of halfhearted readers into lifelong bookworms?

An American in London
My countrymen seemed more alarmed by the 7/7 attacks than the natives.
by Rebecca Goldsmith

US News
Democrats kick off an multifront campaign to connect with religious voters

More Immigrants, More Jobs
Keeping America's door open has kept America's economy booming.
by Stephen Moore

London and Guantanamo
The 7/7 attacks show the importance of keeping terrorists out of circulation.

Fighting Words
Take two bloggers from opposite ends of the overheated political debate, put them on a Washington tour bus together, then ponder the fate of an increasingly uncivil society

Polling Islam
by David Warren

A Pass on Privacy?
By CHRISTOPHER CALDWELL
E-Z convenience has become all the rage. But what's it doing to your identity?

The Framing Wars
Do Republicans win elections because they know how to turn issues into stories? Can Democrats learn the same trick? And can they find the magic words to win the coming battle over the Supreme Court?

What to Do After Your Data Is Stolen
By M.P. DUNLEAVEY
Someone swiped my debit card account data, but another kind of headache started with some of the advice given to me as an identity theft victim.

London: The Pakistani Connection
Those paying attention to Britain's Jamaati culture shouldn't be surprised by London's home-grown terrorists.
by Stephen Schwartz

The Electoral-Based Community
Why the rise of the left-wing blogosphere has been bad for the Democratic party.
by Dean Barnett

Jihad Made In Europe
There may be more to fear from a mosque in Leeds than a madrassa in the Middle East.
by Reuel Marc Gerecht

Breeding Stupidity
Where does the insistence that the war in Iraq is creating terrorists come from?
by Hugh Hewitt

Ed Gillespie's rise
by Robert Novak
Super-lobbyist Ed Gillespie has been given his own office in the West Wing of the White House to manage President Bush's Supreme Court confirmation battle.

No Place for Me
I Still Love God, But I've Lost Faith in the Black Church
By John W. Fountain
Sunday morning arrived, like so many before, with a mix of sunlight and chirping birds outside my bedroom window and a warm greeting from my tiny son, lying beside my wife and me. My wife rose quickly, announcing her plan to jump in the shower and get ready for Sunday school at the Baptist church,...

articles 7/13

Lawyer: Cooper “Burned” Karl Rove
Rove’s attorney talks to NRO.
by Byron York

The Anonymity Trap
Norm Pearlstine didn't go far enough.
By Jacob Weisberg

Karl Rove, Whistleblower
He told the truth about Joe Wilson.

Saddam and al Qaeda
There's abundant evidence of connections.
by Claudia Rosett

Hollywood's Last Taboo
Movie studios censor themselves to placate Muslim pressure groups.
by Bridget Johnson

WSJ
As Identity Theft Moves Online,Crime Rings Mimic Big Business
Russian-Led CarderplanetSteals Account Numbers; Mr. Havard Hits ATMs

It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Left
What the press missed in Hillary Clinton's Aspen speech.
by Edward Morrissey

Business Week
The Rich Boys
An ultra-secretive network rules independent oil trading. Its mentor: Marc Rich

Signs of Intelligence?
What the neo-Darwinists don't understand about theories of Intelligent Design.
by Isaac Constantine

WSJ
Searching for a HomeIn Atherton, Calif.? Look Out for Googlers
As Employees Cash In Stock, Bidding Wars Escalate; A $3.5 Million Tear-Down

HowStuffWorks.com
How Blink Technology Works
Credit cards using "contactless" technology allow you to pay for stuff by waving your credit card in front of a special reader.

articles 7/12

NY Times
Live Surgical Webcasts Play to Potential Patients

The Export of Democracy
Jefferson's ideas presaged the Bush doctrine.

Islam does incubate terrorism
By Mark Steyn

The Governor Is Still Pumped
A new biography presents Arnold Schwarzenegger as disciplined, focused and optimistic.
by John Fund

The Filtered Future
China's bid to divide the Internet.
By Tim Wu

Discard This Idea
A national I.D. doesn’t make sense.
by John J. Miller

Unstoppable?
The U.S. economy is back on a roll and even the oil question may be on its way to resolution.
by Irwin M. Stelzer

The Art of Pettiness
by Douglas Jones

AP
Goats Hired to Ease Wildfire Danger
LOS ANGELES - Goats grazing on 12 acres of brush at San Pedro's Peck Park Canyon for the past two weeks should have the wildfire danger eliminated this week.

SF Weekly
Say-It-Ain't-So Joe
Why does Joe Morgan -- the best second baseman in history and a prominent TV broadcaster -- hate Moneyball? And Billy Beane and his Oakland A's? And you, too, if you think the statistical revolution that's overwhelmed Major League Baseball has any
By Tommy Craggs

Bishops Riot as Da Vinci Code Film Starts Production
BRUSSELS—In response to Newsweek's publication of portions of the screenplay for the forthcoming Ron Howard-directed film of the Da Vinci Code, Roman Catholic, Anglican, and Methodist Bishops from around the world began riots which killed at least sixteen people in major metropolitan areas.
Police clashed with anti-Ron Howard demonstrators in Brussels and London, killing at least three people on Thursday as protests spread over areport about how the film depicts astronaut Tom Hanks rescuing Mary Magdalene from an abusive relationship behind enemy lines in Seattle.
The unrest came a day after riots in the city of Paris left four people dead —the worst anti-Ron Howard protests in France since the death of Jerry Lewis in 2001. Howard's publicist announced at a press conference Wednesday that "These bishops are animals; the film is just a simple story, just a story. Opie is ticked off."

PETA Protests Treatment of Wookies
PRINCETON, N.J.—The animal-rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals on Wednesday called on federal investigators to shut down public display of the film Star Wars: Episode III—Revenge of the Sith, accusing its director George Lucas of mistreating Wookies, the shaggy giants used in the filming of the movie.
In making its claims at a news conference, PETA showed a videotape it said was covertly filmed by a staffer working undercover at Lucasfilm Ltd. The 273-page report PETA has given to the U.S. Department of Agriculture depicts frightened Wookies being yanked from their cages and handled roughly by aggressive and often cursing film technicians.
PETA spokeswoman Laura Isrington said, "Despite their savage countenance, Wookies are loyal and trusting—these are sacred tenets of Wookie society." Lucasfilm spokesman Jack Henner noted that Wookie tempers are short, and when angered, "they can fly into a beserker rage and will not stop until the object of their distemper is sufficiently destroyed."
Henner insisted that Lucasfilm Ltd. takes great care of all the galactic species in its charge, and its work with Wookies also helps develop medicines to treat diseases such as cancer, AIDS, and severe hair loss.

Once a Baseball Cathedral in Detroit, Now Neglected and Decrepit

The official hotel for Tuesday's All-Star Game is in Dearborn, Mich., and most players will take buses to Comerica Park, in downtown Detroit, for the festivities. On their way, they may pass another stadium and have the same reaction Derek Jeter did last week.
Jeter and Jorge Posada were in town with the Yankees, staying in Dearborn, and their car service took them past Tiger Stadium. Both had played there, but Jeter's memories ran deeper. He is from Kalamazoo, Mich., and attended games there as a boy, sitting in the outfield lower deck to watch the visiting Yankees. Jeter and Posada wondered why the park was still standing.
"We were saying, 'What are they going to do?' " Jeter said. "They probably should tear it down if they're going to just let it sit there and rot. Either keep it up, or tear it down and put some kind of monument there. I don't think it's fair to just let it sit there and rot."
But that is what is happening at the corner of Michigan and Trumbull, a famous baseball address. With the All-Star Game - and tomorrow's home run derby - taking place less than two miles away, Tiger Stadium is closed to the public, just another abandoned building in a city full of them.
"It's like the old lady sitting in the corner with nobody paying any attention to her," Ernie Harwell, the retired Tigers broadcaster, said at Comerica Park last week. "And the young debutante here's getting all the attention."
There is a statue of Harwell at Comerica Park, a sturdy, brick-and-steel palace with a carousel, a Ferris wheel and a center-field fountain. The Tigers are eager to promote the park, which has not caught on with many fans. The team has not played host to any playoff games since moving there in 2000, and the All-Star Game is a showcase.
Tiger Stadium, built in 1912, is a sensitive topic for the team and the city. The Tigers refer most questions to the city, and the city refers reporters to a prepared statement. When a Detroit television station, WXYZ, tried to interview a city official about Tiger Stadium last week, he turned his back and walked away.
The station reported that the city had given the Tigers' owner, Mike Illitch, $2.5 million over the last five years to maintain Tiger Stadium and provide security. This year, the report said, Illitch reduced the annual maintenance fee to $200,000 from $400,000.
Michael J. Healy, the Tigers' All-Star week liaison, said in an interview last week, "We've tried to clean up around the outside of Tiger Stadium, so that the purists who want to go over there and take their picture at the corner of Michigan and Trumbull will be able to do that."
But baseball purists may be disheartened. Tiger Stadium is a ghost town. It had its last game on Sept. 27, 1999, and has been closed to the public since, except for three collegiate and semipro games in 2001. A nearby billboard advertises the All-Star Game, but there will be no events at Tiger Stadium.
"It would have been so cool if they could have the home run derby there," said C. J. Nitkowski, a former Tigers pitcher who started the last night game at Tiger Stadium. "It would have been so much more fun. Guys would be launching balls out of the stadium. That would have been a great idea."
Healy said Major League Baseball had expressed some interest in having an All-Star event at Tiger Stadium, but the team was worried about safety because "the ballpark's interior is in disrepair."
Last Saturday, at the entrance to the Tigers' old offices, potato chip bags, candy wrappers and weeds clustered at the step. The numerals for the street address - 2121 - were barely visible over the glass door. Above it were Tigers logos, a newer one painted over an older version, chipping away so badly that they blended.
Inside, a ceiling tile rested in a hanging light fixture. A guard waved off a reporter and disappeared through a side door.
A plaque designating Tiger Stadium as a historical landmark was still there, though a Ty Cobb plaque was moved to Comerica last Friday. Faded orange Tigers paws still covered the park's exterior and sidewalks, leading to nowhere.
"It's like they played the last game, locked the door and walked away," Tony DeLuca, a visitor from Philadelphia, said last week. "See ya."
Ticket windows remained - complete with the blue Will Call sign - but the blinds were drawn. The only pronouncement that the Tigers had moved was at the main box office, near a deserted food court, where four white signs were taped to the ticket windows: Tickets Now On Sale At Comerica Park.
The chain-link players' parking lot was locked, but empty, beside the Fisher Freeway. Around the corner, on Cochrane Street, there was graffiti on the walls, a dangling sheet of metal and exposed wires overhanging the sidewalk. A man slept against the stadium, across the street from an abandoned brick storefront.
That was a common sight. Hoot Robinson's, a bar Babe Ruth is said to have frequented, was closed for good. So was a nearby memorabilia store. "Go Away!" the sign on the door said last week. The creaky ballpark was only slightly more inviting.
"They really don't know what they want to do with it, but people still come to see it," said Keith Davis, who works at another memorabilia store. "They need to open it up and put a dome on it and make it into a shelter for the homeless. That would be a beautiful thing."
Peter C. Riley, a former Tigers employee, works at Brooks Lumber, which borders the park and was supposedly the landing place for a Kirk Gibson home run in 1983. Riley is the president of Michigan & Trumbull, the group that was host to the collegiate and semipro games, which drew about 6,000 fans.
Riley has made proposals to pay for the upkeep and maintenance of the ballpark, but the city has rejected them. He was discouraged that the city had refused to open the park for tours or for a possible minor league team.
"It's not necessarily going to be around forever," Riley said. "But in the time you've got it, why not make the best of it? It's really a complete and utter travesty, because there is no good explanation, or one that should be accepted, anyway."
Gary Glaser, who produced a documentary that Riley financed called "Stranded at the Corner," said he believed Illitch was content to leave the site undeveloped so it would not divert attention from Comerica Park.
"The city is not going to do anything Illitch doesn't sign off on," Glaser said. "It's becoming a very contentious issue."
Sylvia Crawford, supervising publicist for Detroit, said the city had listened to community groups by keeping the stadium standing.
"The reason the stadium is not torn down is because the city yielded to calls by preservationists and fan groups that wanted to see the stadium stay," she said.
Some redevelopment proposals have included preserving the field. The Detroit News reported in March that one plan would have converted the stadium into an amusement park, and another would have included a fitness center with a running track around the upper deck. Other proposals have included condominiums or a Wal-Mart store.
"We've seen a few creative ideas," Derrick Miller, chief administrative officer for the city, said in an interview last Friday. "But we want to see the ideas associated with the money in order to make it a reality."
The Detroit Free Press estimated that it could cost $3.5 million to $4 million to tear down Tiger Stadium. Instead of doing that, the city has let the building stand, theoretically to show developers.
But in the statement, the city said that no serious proposals were under consideration. The ballpark remains, a sad reminder of rich history and modern-day blight.
"You drive by it and you have a little pang every now and then, because it's standing there and it's going to fall down," Harwell said. "People have had a lot of grandiose ideas about what to do with it, but nobody's had the financial backing, so it's just sitting there. And eventually it's either going to collapse, or they're going to knock it down with a wrecking ball. That's inevitable, I think. It's just too bad."
Harwell has not been to Tiger Stadium since 2000, when Billy Crystal invited him for the filming of the television movie "61*." Alan Trammell, the Tigers' manager and the former star shortstop for the team, took visitors inside as recently as last year. When Trammell tried to do so again this year, he could not find a guard to let him in.
"It's just falling apart," Trammell said. "You see some of the wood that hangs from the upper deck. The press box was on top, and there's a big panel falling off. All the padding around the outfield has been gone for years; you can see the paint that's chipped off it.
"I went in our dugout to go into the home clubhouse. You go down a couple of steps and you make a left, and it was dark down there and I stepped in some water, because I couldn't see. And they had a gate closed so you couldn't go all the way up the tunnel. But I'm sure if I would have, the clubhouse would have been locked."
There is no comparable situation in the major leagues. Seventeen teams (not including the Montreal Expos/Washington Nationals) have moved to new stadiums since 1981. Thirteen of the old parks have been torn down.
Two, in San Diego and San Francisco, are used by N.F.L. teams. Another, the Astrodome in Houston, is used for high school football and may soon house a professional soccer team. Only Tiger Stadium is shuttered.
The closest comparison - and the nightmare for many Detroit fans - is probably Connie Mack Stadium in Philadelphia. When the Phillies moved out in 1970, the ballpark became a wasteland, overgrown with weeds, vandalized and damaged by a fire.
It was razed, finally, in June 1976. The Phillies played host to the All-Star Game the next month.

articles 7/11

USA Today
Cybercrooks lure citizens into international crime
Ordinary Americans are being turned into 'mules' - unwitting collaborators who reship goods bought with stolen identities
How agents busted Nigerian reshipping ring
Recruits were wooed with gifts, flowers
Don't be a mule
How a reshipment gets done

Hollow Point
by Noam Scheiber

Aspen Times
Clinton: Global warming an opportunity
Former president says U.S. should stick it out in Iraq

The Mother of All Connections
A special report on the new evidence of collaboration between Saddam Hussein's Iraq and al Qaeda.
by Stephen F. Hayes & Thomas Joscelyn

Neoconservatism's Big Tent
How distinctively neoconservative is President Bush's foreign policy?
by Paul Mirengoff

Property Rights Are Civil Rights
Opposition to the Kelo decision crosses racial and party lines.
by John Fund

Their Will Be Done
How the Supreme Court sows moral anarchy.
by Robert Bork

A gender nomination?
by Robert Novak
Conservatives are privately urging that President Bush replace retiring Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor with another woman in an effort to disarm feminist opposition.

London's terrorist blitz
by Cal Thomas
The words heard most often by political leaders, commentators and citizens in the aftermath of the London terrorist bombings were 'shocked, but not surprised.'

A judge with no agenda
by John Leo
No 'agents of social change,' please, on the Supreme Court. We need a modest and nonideological justice who is determined not to impose his or her politics from the bench.

Our House of Lords
by Michael Barone
The Supreme Court is our House of Lords. It is a deliberately, necessarily unrepresentative body of government that from time to time makes binding decisions on public policy -- some of which spark great protest.

Terrorism Lessons From 1870
By Arnold Kling
Up to this point, however, moderate Muslims have seemed paralyzed. We might wonder why this is the case.

Spy Granny
By Val MacQueen

Feds Fear Air Broadband Terror
Law enforcement officials want to eavesdrop on air passengers' internet use with a court order. The federal agencies are concerned that terror attacks could be coordinated using new in-flight broadband connections.
By Kevin Poulsen.

AP
Housing Markets Pricing Out Middle Class

Cincinnati Enquirer
The torch is passed
Felipe Lopez fulfilling Larkin's prediction with outstanding play

articles 7/10

Please Appease Me
by James Joyner
George Galloway, Juan Cole, and Tariq Ali explain 7/7.

Kicking the Can
By John Luik
New research shows it's time to accept some hard truths about soft drinks.

Victory in Spite of All Terror
The resoluteness of the Blair government and the British people could well mean that July 7 will turn out to be a setback for al Qaeda.by William Kristol

Withdrawal Under Fire
By Michael Totten

Time Inside Business
Eat, Blink and Pay Up

NY Times Magazine
The Enigma of Damascus
President Bashar al-Assad and his Western-educated wife say they are transforming Syria into an open society. Should Syrians — or the White House — believe them?

NY Times Magazine
The Seat-Belt Solution
A quick look at the Fatality Analysis Reporting System data reveals a striking result: among children 2 and older, the death rate is no lower for those traveling in any kind of car seat than for those wearing seat belts.

NY Times Magazine
Will Any Organ Do?
Transplant surgeons are increasingly using organs from drug users, the obese and the very ill. But with little known for certain about the consequences, doctors are confronting complex medical and ethical questions

Newsweek
What Karl Rove told Time magazine's reporter.
By Michael Isikoff

A Retail Revolution Turns 10
Amazon.com began as a three-person start-up in a converted garage; now some wonder if the company is spread too thin.

NY Times Magazine
Euthanasia for Babies?
Dutch doctors have proposed a procedure for infant mercy killing. Is this humane or barbaric?

Faked Research Results on Rise?
Charges of scientific misconduct are increasing in the United States, up 50 percent from 2003. Pressure to publish and competition for grant money push some scientists to falsify data, fabricate patients and plagiarize.

When All Is Lost, Call the Airport
LAX security workers collect -- and try to return -- cellphones, laptops, wallets, even passports.
Using Tech to Thwart Terror
More technology is in the pipeline to battle terrorism, but skeptics question if it will be enough.

Back to Narnia
Harry Potter’s mother country.

Craig Crawford’s 1600: Succession Strategy

articles 7/7

The Roe Effect
The right to abortion has diminished the number of Democratic voters.
by James Taranto

The Anticipated Attack
Don't blame Iraq for the bombings.
by Christopher Hitchens

The Voice Of Appeasement

National Review editorial
Courage Under Fire

War Footing
The attack in London is a stark reminder of what we must do to prevail.
by Frank J. Gaffney Jr.

The Circus Comes to Town
If Bush nominates the right candidate for the Supreme Court, Democrats could be in trouble, again.
by Hugh Hewitt

Second Thoughts on Kelo
A proper understanding of property rights suggests that the Kelo decision wasn't so bad after all.
by John Hinderaker

The Two Roads
Will President Bush try to move the court or broaden the Republican party?
by Fred Barnes

Supreme Court politics
by Robert Novak
While Kennedy's ploy presents a temporary problem, Bush's stance could be fatal.

George Allen
by George Will
The ideal Republican candidate can meld two Republican tendencies that are in tension -- social conservatism and libertarianism.

The Next Sandra Day
Harry Reid may be willing to give up Roe v. Wade to get a trial lawyer on the Supreme Court.
by Walter Olson

AP
Giuliani: Attacks Eerie Reminder of 9/11
LONDON - Former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani, who was yards away from one of the deadly explosions that struck London on Thursday, said the attacks were an "eerie reminder" of Sept. 11, 2001.

Gangstas Grow Up
Some of rap's fathers start taking responsibility.
by Martha Bayles

Circumcision may offer Africa AIDS hope
Procedure linked to much lower rate of new HIV infections

E-Vote Guidelines Need Work
A federal agency is publishing a new set of guidelines to address security concerns about electronic voting. But some experts say a preliminary version doesn't go far enough to ensure fair elections.
By Kim Zetter

AP
Man Lights Himself on Fire to Propose
GRANTS PASS, Ore. - To prove his love, a 38-year-old man set himself on fire before getting down on one knee and asking his girlfriend to marry him.

The Coming Boom
Big Pharma has made billions pumping up the male population. Now neuroscientists are turning their attention to women.

AP
Body of Steelers Fan Viewed in Recliner
PITTSBURGH - James Henry Smith was a zealous Pittsburgh Steelers fan in life, and even death could not keep him from his favorite spot: in a recliner, in front of a TV showing his beloved team in action.

articles 7/4

The Debt Threat: How Debt Is Destroying The Developing World
by Noreena Hertz
Rock the Vote - Chapter 1
Rock the Vote, Pt. 2

LA Times
With Live 8, Rock Changes the Way It Calls for Change
Bob Geldof and U2's Bono redirect activism from the streets into the corridors of power.

Religion News Service
Clarification: Graham Remark on Hillary Clinton Was Not an Endorsement

1776
by George Will
Using narrative history to refute historicism, McCullough's two themes in '1776' are that things could have turned out very differently, and that individuals of character can change the destinies of nations.

Richie Daley's party
by Robert Novak
Last week's long-range confrontation between Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley and Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin was much more than a personal tiff involving two formidable Illinois Democrats who obviously are not fond of each other.

NY Times Magazine
A Church-State Solution
By NOAH FELDMAN
At the heart of the culture wars is the failure of both sides to accept America's rules for religious expression in public life and public money in religious life. Maybe that's because those rules are wrong.

W. Post Magazine
Return of the Angry Man
He might have simply disappeared after the Scream ended his presidential hopes. But as head of the Democratic Party, Howard Dean is still going to go to New Hampshire. And South Carolina. And Oklahoma ...
By Sally Jenkins

CIA, Pentagon to Avoid Overlap
Agencies reach a new written agreement to try to prevent conflicts in spying, analysis activities.

Reversing the Bork Defeat
With a Republican Senate, President Bush has the chance to succeed where Reagan failed by getting a conservative constitutionalist confirmed to the Supreme Court.
by William Kristol

The Worst of Intentions
What Saddam's Iraq was up to.
by Daniel McKivergan

The Bork Precedent
What the defeat of Robert Bork's nomination has taught the Bush White House.
by Fred Barnes

Body of Evidence
A CNN anchor gets Iraq and al Qaeda wrong. But will the network issue a correction?
by Stephen F. Hayes

Rolling Rockefeller
The vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee once saw "a substantial connection between Saddam and al Qaeda." Not any more.
by Stephen F. Hayes

Columbia and the Academic Intifada
Efraim Karsh

Deadly Immunity
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. investigates the government cover-up of a mercury/autism scandal.

The Neoconservative Convergence
by Charles Krauthammer

Mao and Us
The book review China's communists don't want you to read.

CBS Evening News
Radio Transmitter Credit Cards
The next generation of credit cards include tiny chips that work by waving the card in front of a reader. There's also added security, since no one gets to see your card numbers, reports Brett Larson.

BBC
U2 Before Live 8

Now For Some Good News . . .
by Steve Chalke
Many have understood the gospel as "God's got a big stick and he's on your case." But what kind of message is that for the single parent struggling to bring up her child with inadequate resources? What kind of hope is that for the young teenager who has only known a life of abuse at the hands of those he should have been able to trust? What kind of liberation does that offer the lonely, the redundant, the homeless, the forgotten, the cheated, the vulnerable or the countless individuals, young and old, who suffer from an acute sense of failure or lack of self esteem? What kind of good news is that for humanity as a whole? What popularly passes for "the gospel" might provide a faith to die by, but offers little hope to live by. And most worryingly of all, it bears scant resemblance to the message of Jesus.

Paul's Gospel & Caesar's Empire
by Tom Wright
If Paul's answer to Caesar's empire is the empire of Jesus, what does that say about this new empire, living under the rule of its new lord? It implies a high and strong ecclesiology, in which the scattered and often muddled cells of women, men and children loyal to Jesus as Lord form colonial outposts of the empire that is to be: subversive little groups when seen from Caesar's point of view, but when seen Jewishly an advance foretaste of the time when the earth shall be filled with the glory of the God of Abraham and the nations will join Israel in singing God's praises.

How Sweet the Sound?
by Donald McCullough
If Grace Is So Amazing, Why Don't We Like It? Grace set to music is one thing, but what about grace itself? What about grace as an idea? Grace as an act? Grace as a force? We don't like it. It might be amazing, as the hymn insists, and it might be wonderful and marvelous and "a thought that changed the world" (as the band U2 sang on a recent album), and it might sometimes even be necessary, but when all the adjectives have worn themselves out with the hype and have called it a day, and we're left with nothing but the thing itself, then what? As I said, we don't like it.

The Emerging Church
What is the Emergent Church? The movement is spreading through different denominations and across the world. The author uses the life stories of Emergent’s leaders to paint a picture of this new expression of Evangelicalism.
by D. A. CARSON

Cool Kids Church
by ERIC LANDRY
Most of us here at Modern Reformation like the Emergent Church folks. Frankly, it’s a bit of a relief to have someone within Evangelicalism making the same points we’ve been trying to make for the past fourteen years. We also like their interest in liturgy, in church history (prior to 1972), and in engaging with Scripture in ways that take it beyond the “handbook for living” genre that so many of our own churches have adopted. And, truth be told, we were always the nerdy kids in the youth group, so now that the cool kids with their cool hair, tats, and body piercings are saying much the same thing we do we can’t help but look around with some appreciation.

But the appreciation is a nervous one. As much as we are warmed by their insightful criticism of Evangelicalism, we just can’t shake the sense that these children of the megachurch are taking their postmodern angst and marketing it to the urban jungles just like their chino-wearing, cool hair dads did in middle America. That, of course, leads us to wonder if Emergent will really offer anything substantially different than what they are critiquing.

After reading their books and blogs, conversing with them, and attending their conferences most of us just want to grab a beer and talk with these men and women. I think we would find that we have much in common and I would hope that our own like-minded efforts might serve to keep the Emergent folks from swinging the pendulum too far in an unhealthy direction. We’re grateful to New Testament scholar D.A. Carson for making the same point in his article, which we’ve adapted from his new book Becoming Conversant with Emergent. Carson’s article is a good overview of the Emergent movement’s concerns with a few pointed observations about evaluating the movement as it grows into maturity.

Shane Rosenthal, the executive producer of the White Horse Inn, had a chance to visit the Emergent conference that was held in San Diego this spring. His first-hand report also helps those who are curious about the movement get a better idea of its strengths and weaknesses. Turning to critique, Reformed theologian and editor in chief Michael Horton takes a hard look at the theology and practices that characterize the Emergent movement. We’ve also included a transcript of a discussion by younger Reformed and Lutheran pastors on how our own churches are responding to the concerns we hold in common with the Emergent movement. To make sure that we’re not dealing with caricatures we’ve included interviews with Brian McLaren and the late Stanley Grenz as well as extensive reviews of the seminal books in the movement.

Will the Emergent Church be anything other than another passing evangelical fad? We hope so. But in order to be such the movement will have to acknowledge how their history as an evangelical institution (as the Young leaders Network and Terra Nova Project, arms of the Leadership Network) continues to shape their present course. In order to be a real force for good within Evangelicalism the movement will have to go beyond Evangelicalism and appropriate a churchly tradition that gives it real depth, not just an ecclesiological field guide. Otherwise, their efforts at reform will be truncated, for Evangelicalism can’t be reformed. By its very nature the movement is shaped not by confession or doctrine but by personality, culture, and circumstance. And thus far, that seems to be what is shaping the efforts of the Emergent Church as well.

articles 6/30

Mr. President, Please Talk More About Sept. 11
by Byron York

WSJ
Parking Meters Get Smarter
Wireless Technology Turns Old-Fashioned Coin-Operated Device Into a Sophisticated Tool for Catching Scofflaws and Raising Cash

Our Worsening Terrorism Problem
by David Ignatius

Conceit of Government
Why are our politicians so full of themselves?
by Peggy Noonan

WSJ Editorial
Wanted: A Constructive Opposition
Examining the Democrats' counsel on Iraq.

Balancing Security and Aesthetics
Protecting Washington landmarks from truck bombs is a monumental task.
by Catesby Leigh

Keeping It (Un)real
The Gorillaz - the world's greatest live, pre-recorded, re-mixed, all-animated band - talk about sampling global pop culture.
By Neil Gaiman

NY Times
Bank of America to Buy MBNA, Creating Top Credit Card Issuer
The deal, which was valued at $35 billion, would give Bank of America a 20 percent market share in the credit card industry.

NY Times
Weakness in the Data Chain
Security breaches involving credit card account information have revealed the vulnerabilities of the payments system

USA Today
U2 leads the pack in concert tickets
Overall, tours likely to spike as McCartney, Stones hit road
With 26 sold-out U.S. shows and $45.3 million in ticket receipts, U2 is the runaway leader in music's 2005 road race.
U2: How to dismantle a ticking time bomb
Band strives to be the ‘best,' not ‘vintage'
U2's starring role in Live 8 marks a confluence of anniversaries. It has been 20 years since the Irish band made a splash at Live Aid, the Africa-relief benefit that inspired the similar Live 8 concerts being staged Saturday. A quarter-century ago, U2 was celebrating its first single and recording its debut album, Boy. By some barometers, 2005 is also the 50th birthday of rock itself.

articles 6/27

Meet the Press
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld; Bono, a lead voice for African aid as well as the rock group U2

AP
The Young Labeled 'Entitlement Generation'
CHICAGO - Evan Wayne thought he was prepared for anything during a recent interview for a job in radio sales. Then the interviewer hit the 24-year-old Chicagoan with this: "So, we call you guys the 'Entitlement Generation,'" the baby boomer executive said, expressing an oft-heard view of today's young work force. "You think you're entitled to everything."

Making Karl Rove a Prophet
While its apologists demand an apology, the Left attacks material-witness detentions.
by Andrew C. McCarthy

Reading Them the Riyadh Act
Condoleezza Rice prods our dictatorial allies.
by Jonathan Karl

The Bush Paradox
Why do his fortunes lag as the economy improves?
by Jeffrey Bell & Cesar Conda

Rove speech exposes fundamental split
by Michael Barone
About two-thirds of Americans agreed that the United States is a fair and decent country. Virtually all Bush voters agreed. Kerry voters were split down the middle.

Scientologists vs. Psychiatrists
Why they don't get along.
By Daniel Engber

Seinfeld's Secret: It's Nothing, Really
By Tom Shales

White Horse Inn
An Interview with Chuck Colson

articles 6/26

What's the Matter with Gitmo?
by Reuel Marc Gerecht

'King of the Hill' Democrats?
by Matt Bai

Time
The True Lincoln
He was underestimated as President, then turned into an icon at his death. Only now are historians discovering the personal and political depth of the leader who saved the nation

W. Post
The Combative Karl Rove Moving Front and Center
Once-reclusive presidential adviser has emerged as a flamboyant messenger for his boss's agenda.

NY Times
Ex-F.B.I. Chief Says He Felt Betrayal at Deep Throat's Unmasking
The acting director of the F.B.I. at the time of the Watergate break-in ended more than three decades of silence about his role in the scandal in an interview broadcast today.

NY Times Magazine
Who Are Americans to Think That Freedom Is Theirs to Spread?
By MICHAEL IGNATIEFF

NY Times
Worry. But Don't Stress Out.
Computer data experts acknowledge that while there will continue to be breaks in security, a catastrophe is unlikely.

Newsweek
Grand Theft Identity
Be careful, we've been told, or you may become a fraud victim. But now it seems that corporations are failing to protect our secrets. How bad is the problem, and how can we fix it?
Identity Crisis
The hottest commodity on the black market today is your identity.

W. Post
Security Issues Undermine Net
Swamped by viruses, worms, spam, spyware and phising sites, experts contemplate building new version of global computer network.

NY Times
The Newspaper of the Future
The Lawrence Journal-World and its parent company have turned a dot on the map in Kansas into an online metropolis.

W. Post Magazine
A Tale of Nine Innings
It was the best of seats, it was the worst of seats, it was brilliant pitching, it was abysmal pitching, it was an evening of darkness, it was the spring of hope . . .

Cruise/Lauer interview transcript

NY Times
Talk Show Rarity: A True Believer's Candor

articles 6/25

Christian Science Monitor
A last crusade in a career that reshaped American religion
"Finally, the Big One," blared a headline in 1957, when a dashing young evangelist named Billy Graham was poised to launch his first crusade in the largest and, by reputation, most wicked city in the nation. "Save New York!"

CardSystems Installs Security Fix
Credit-card processing company CardSystems Solutions applies security fixes to its computer network after a hacking attack that exposed data for 40 million credit-card and debit-card accounts to intruders.

NY Times
To Catch a Thief
In an age when credit and other account information seems to easily fall into the hands of thieves, merchants are fighting back against credit card fraud.

Creation science
by David Warren

What's a "Simulated" Baseball Game?
Fantasy baseball, for real.
By Daniel Engber

Is Elizabeth a dancing queen?
Everyone wants to know what QEII has on her brand-new iPod.

Male-targeted ads found to be in no man's land
a new study found that half the men in most parts of the world don't know what is expected of them in society and three-quarters of them think images of men in advertising are out of touch with reality.

Meet the Press will host Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld on the war in Iraq and an exclusive interview with Bono, a lead voice for African aid, as well as the rock group U2. The lead singer of U2, who is also a leading voice fighting poverty in Africa. Bono — the co-founder of DATA (Debt, AIDS, Trade, Africa) — will make his first appearance on "Meet the Press" to discuss the global fight against poverty and the July 2 "Live 8" series of concerts — which seek to encourage the G8 nations to provide the world's poorest nations with complete debt cancellation, increased aid and more trade. Check your local listings for the exact airtime in your neck of the woods.

An Optimist Abroad
U2's Dance With Duende

articles 6/24

AP
No cash, no problem: Technology finding new ways to pay

Damaging 'Deference'
by George Will

Stem-Cell Sleight of Hand
ario Cuomo accuses President Bush of letting religion run his stem-cell policy, but Bush isn't the one ignoring actual science.
by Wesley J. Smith

Why The Left Is Losing
by Karl Rove

The Politics of American Wars
Islamists have proved adept at winning liberal exemption from criticism.
by Victor Davis Hanson

Kennedy continuing the Democrat strategy of denial of legacy, regardless of the cost.

HughHewitt.com
"The Senate Democrats' #2 compares the American military to Nazis, Stalinists, and Pol Pot's killer, and the story never gets near to the cover of the Washington Post. Karl Rove makes a valid assertion about the behavior of liberals, backed by evidence, and the fake outrage of those Senate Democrats makes page 1, but in a story without the pointed reply of George Pataki which happens to pivot on Durbin's slander. At least the New York Times included a portion of the Pataki quote, which has now vanished from the original Newsday article. But there is no MSM bias, right?
My World column looks at the Minneapolis Star Tribune's repulsive editorial on Durbin's speech, but that's just the obvious bias against truth at work. Placement and pitch matter just as much. The contrast between the MSM's smothering of Durbin's slander and his non-apology versus its treatment of the false outrage directed at Rove joins the massive set of examples of MSM bias which, while it will never be corrected, will always be there to explain the collapse of credibility among the elite media. Just so you don't miss it, here's what Governor Pataki said: "I think it is a little hypocritical of Senator Clinton to call on me to repudiate a political figure's comments when she never asked Senator Durbin to repudiate his comments. Senator Clinton might think about her propensity to allow outrageous statements from the other side that are far beyond political dialogue --insulting every Republican, comparing our soldiers to Nazis or Soviet gulag guards-- and never protesting when she serves with them."
The evidence to support Rove is here. And don't miss Teddy Kennedy's attack on Donald Rumsfeld and the war. RogerLSimon brands the Democrats as deeply reactionary, and he's right. Every action taken by the party's leaders in recent months, from obstruction across the board on Social Security, to the blocking of judicial appointments and Bolton, to the Dean and Durbin rhetoric and now to the war against the war are tied together by a bitter hatred of George W. Bush that makes the right's antipathy of Clinton seem like child's play. The GOP recovered from Clinton-induced derangement, but it is not at all clear that there is anyone in the Democratic Party who wants to recover from its current fevers. MartiniPundit has great analysis of Rove's speech and its aftermath, as does Stylish Since This Morning, Hoystory, and Let Freedom Ring."

Remember Tax Cuts?
With Social Security going nowhere, it's not too soon for the president to start recapturing the high ground of tax cuts, economic growth, and opportunity.
by William Kristol

Atlantic Monthly
Wolfowitz: The Exit Interviews

Eine Kleine Biographie
We need a serious book about Hillary Clinton. Ed Klein's isn't it.
by Peggy Noonan

They Can't Take That Away From Me... Unless They Can
by Stephen Bainbridge
After news of Napoleon's victory in the Battle of Austerlitz was conveyed to British Prime Minister William Pitt, Pitt pointed to a map of Europe and said: "Roll up the map; it will not be wanted these ten years." In light of the Supreme Court's decision to side with New London, we might just as well roll up the Takings Clause of the Bill of Rights, because we won't need it any longer.

'It's His War' -- Echoes of Vietnam From the Democrats
by Daniel Henninger

White House Boxing in the Dems
by Richard Wolffe & Holly Bailey

AP
Gas Station Owner Cashes in 1.4M Pennies
FLOMATON, Ala. - Edmond Knowles started out saving pennies in a 5-gallon can. Thirty-eight years later, he was storing them in four 55-gallon drums and three 20-gallon drums — nearly 1.4 million in all.

AP
Snapple's 17-Ton Popsicle Melts in N.Y.
NEW YORK - An attempt to erect the world's largest popsicle in a city square ended with a scene straight out of a disaster film, but much stickier.

A Modest Proposal
Ladies, it's time to put some clothes back on.

articles 6/22

Making the U.N. Useful Again
by Newt Gingrich & George Mitchell

Helping Hillary Now Will Hurt Republicans Later
by Dick Morris

NY Times
Regulators Start Inquiry in Data Loss
Regulators are investigating CardSystems Solutions, the payment processor where a security breach has put millions of American cardholders at risk for fraud.

W. Post
Bad Practices Drive Data Theft
Boom in data collection has created marketplace of valuable information stored in thousands of places

Debunking another Gitmo myth
by Michelle Malkin
Newsweek. Amnesty International. Jimmy Carter. Dick Durbin. The Guantanamo Bay-bashing continues.

The wage gap, give me a break
by John Stossel
Feminists keep demanding new laws to protect women from the so-called wage gap. Many studies have found that women make about 75 cents for every dollar a man earns.

Nazis Uber alles
by Jonah Goldberg
As you've no doubt heard, in a speech on the Senate floor (which was no doubt better in the original French), the senior senator from Illinois compared American behavior at Guantanamo Bay to the killing fields of Pol Pot, the Nazi concentration camps, and the Soviet Gulag.

Howard Dean gallops on
by Paul Greenberg
Is this just the usual Christophobia coming out in our elite, or can Dr. Dean not have noticed that the opposition's big tent is getting ever bigger? It's not just the WASPs' party anymore.

So Many Missed Opportunities
by Veronique De Rugy
The time has now come for fiscal conservatives to publicly admit the truth.

The Hyperbolic Opposition
by Ryan Sager
It's sad and dangerous not to have a loyal opposition to help keep the administration honest.

New Minds in Old Bottles
by Glenn Harlan Reynolds
As we move from the information age to the conceptual age, the more things stay the same.

The PETA Principle
Will the group's efforts to curb animal testing run afoul of Bay Area sensibilities?
by Bill Whalen

Wired
The Fire Rebels
They're defying the firefighting establishment with a precision method of dousing flames. The hot new way to stamp out blazes: bursts of delicate fog.
By Joshua Davis

Time
New Research on Miscarriages
White blood cells may play a role

Time.com
50 Coolest Websites 2005
Our annual survey of top sites to inform, amuse and delight

Drawing Their Fish in the Sand

articles 6/21

Seattle Weekly
Blue City Conservatives
Meet Seattle's biggest closet cases: the Republicans next door.

Personal attacks will only embolden her
by Dick Morris

NY Times
Black Market in Stolen Credit Card Data Thrives on Internet

Conspiracy Theories
If you liked The Da Vinci Code, you'll love the Downing Street Memo.
By Christopher Hitchens

W. Post
Church can never accept abortion - Pope's book

That old black government magic
by Bill Murchison
You'll want to look hard beneath headlines like 'Bush Approval Falls in Nationwide Polls' to notice what's missing.

Why Worry?
The economic news isn't the best for President Bush.
by Irwin M. Stelzer

California's Union Blues
The Golden State's unions fight to keep their members from controlling their own money.
by Bryan O'Keefe

The Housing Bears Are Wrong Again
This tax-advantaged sector is writing how-to guide on wealth creation.
by Larry Kudlow

NY Times
Dial-Up Internet Going the Way of Rotary Phones

Cardinal Sin is dead, 76
The "house of Sin" has fallen silent. Retired Manila Archbishop Jaime Cardinal Sin, an outspoken advocate of democracy who played a key role in the revolts that ousted two presidents, died Tuesday.

articles 6/20

National Review
The Truth About Hillary
An author tells his story.
Q&A by Kathryn Jean Lopez

The Bolton Charade
by Robert Novak

Saving the Surplus
Three senators embrace the "personal lockbox" to reform Social Security.
by John Fund

Terms of Internment
How to win friends and influence enemy combatants.
by Alan Bromley

A tale of divorce
by Betsy Hart

A less perfect union
by Michael Barone
The recent rejection of the European Union constitutional treaty by the voters of France and the Netherlands has led to the opposite of the 'ever closer union' that has been the goal of the fathers of the EU since it was established in 1957.

A Better Idea Than Censure?
Shouldn't Democrats be asked to remove Dick Durbin from their Senate leadership?
by William Kristol

Breaking the Durbin Code
What Dick Durbin said, what he really meant, and why the Senate should vote to censure him.
by Hugh Hewitt

AP
Biden Intends to Seek Presidency in 2008

AP
Brain Areas Shut Off During Female Orgasm
New research indicates that parts of the brain that govern fear and anxiety are switched off when a woman is having an orgasm.

Grace-When Work Doesn't Work
by Randy Pope

articles 6/19

NY Times Magazine
What's Their Real Problem With Gay Marriage? (It's the Gay Part)
Maryland's anti-gay-marriage crusaders share this with organizers nationwide: They say they are fighting a disease.

The Sorry Bunch
Listen and learn from our enemies.
by Victor Davis Hanson

NY Times
Gay or Straight? Hard to Tell

NY Times
F.B.I. Counterterror Officials Lack Experience, Lawyer Says
A lawyer who interviewed a number of top current and former counterterrorism officials at the F.B.I. said that the officials lacked a detailed understanding of terrorism.

Whether This War Was Worth It
In Analyzing Iraq, Consider the Effects of Having Done Nothing
By Robert Kagan

The Anti-Semitic Disease
by Paul Johnson

A Korean Solution?
Arthur Waldron

Time
Three big shots, eight very big shows. Bob Geldof, Bono and Richard Curtis talk to Josh Tyrangiel about what on earth they're doing with LIVE 8
"America doesn't have a lack of empathy; they just don't know the issues as well. Actually, today I had to defend the Bush Administration in France again. They refuse to accept, because of their political ideology, that he has actually done more than any American President for Africa." -- Bob Geldof

NY Times Magazine
What Today's Dads Don't Do
The modern father, at home and unmoored.

War and Weakness
by Richard A Clarke
The Iraq conflict is sapping our military strength. Can an all-volunteer force sustain a long counterinsurgency?

The Housing Bears Are Wrong Again
by Larry Kudlow

Inside Report: Dean vs. Dean
by Robert Novak

Weekly Standard
A Decade of Reed
One Republican's long, lucrative march through the institutions.

WSJ
Popularity Isn't Everything
Perspective on the president's waning poll numbers.

Canada's medical gulag
by Paul Jacob
Canada is not a communist country. Really, it's not — except when it comes to medical care.

AP
Cell Phones Now Playing Role of Wallet

All Headline News
Apple Welcomes its Newest Customer: The Queen of England





What Fathers Do Best
Hint: Not the same things as mothers.
by Steven E. Rhoads

FATHER'S DAY NO LONGER ARRIVES without the national media highlighting Mr. Moms. The year before last, for example, Lisa Belkin of the New York Times described the life of one Michael Zorek, whose only job was taking care of his 14-month-old son Jeremy. Zorek, whose wife brought home a good salary as a corporate lawyer, felt he had become "remarkably good" at shopping, at cooking, and at entertaining his energetic toddler. He was angry at a parents' magazine whose essay contest was open only to mothers. "I'm the one who does the shopping, and I'm the one who does the cooking," he reasoned. "Why is it only sexist when women are excluded?"
This year the homemaking fathers even got to horn in on Mother's Day. On May 8, the Washington Post's Sunday Outlook section featured William McGee, a single dad who "couldn't help feeling excluded" by all the ads for products that "moms and kids" would both love. He mentioned, for example, the classic peanut butter ad, "Choosy Moms Choose Jif." McGee wanted advertisers to know that he is "one of many caring dads" who are choosy, too.
Brace yourselves for an onslaught of such features this week, even though, in the real world, there are still 58 moms staying home with minor children for every dad who does so. This is not just an accidental social arrangement, to be overcome once the media have sufficiently raised our consciousness about the joys of stay-at-home fatherhood. Mothers are loaded with estrogen and oxytocin, which draw them to young children and help induce them to tend to infants. And the babies themselves make it clear that they prefer their mothers. Even in families where fathers have taken a four-month-long paid parental leave to tend to their newborns, the fathers report that the babies prefer to be comforted by their mothers.
The problem with honoring fathers who do what mothers usually do--what used to be called "mothering"--is this: It suggests that fathers who do what most fathers do aren't contributing to their children's well-being. Yet we know this can't be true. Children who grow up in fatherless families are poorer, less healthy, less educated. They die much earlier, commit more crimes, and give birth to more babies out of wedlock.
What do most real-world dads do? When the kids get old enough, they teach them how to build and fix things and how to play sports. They are better than moms at teaching children how to deal with novelty and frustration, perhaps because they are more likely than mothers to encourage children to work out problems and address challenges themselves--from putting on their shoes to operating a new toy.
When the kids become older still, Dad is usually better than Mom at controlling unruly boys. Jennifer Roback Morse notes that all the surveys of who does what around the house never mention one of her husband's most important functions--he is responsible for glaring. When their son acts up, his glares just seem to have more effect than hers do.
Similarly, a fascinating study in the journal Criminology finds that female social ties in a neighborhood--borrowing food, helping with problems, having lunch together--are associated with much lower crime rates. Male social ties in the neighborhood have no effect on crime rates. But the beneficial effect of female ties almost completely disappears in communities dominated by fatherless families! You need husbands and fathers--what the authors call "family rooted men"--if the crime-fighting female ties are really to be effective. Perhaps mothers still say, "Just you wait until your father gets home," or its 21st-century equivalent.
Sometimes moms worry that their roughhousing husbands are making their boys more aggressive. But, in fact, fathers are teaching their sons how to play fight--don't bite, don't kick, stay away from the eyes--a form of play enjoyed by most boys around the world. On the playground, boys without fathers in the home are unpopular because they respond in a truly aggressive manner when other boys try to initiate rough-and-tumble play. A committee brought together by the Board on Children, Youth, and Families of the National Research Council has concluded that "fathers, in effect, give children practice in regulating their own emotions and recognizing others' emotional cues."
Of course, dads do a lot for their daughters as well. For example, by providing a model of love for and fidelity to their wives, dads give teenage girls confidence that they can expect men to be interested in them for reasons beyond sex.
We could begin to do dads justice if we realized that their nature makes it unlikely that they will like intensive nurturing in the way that most mothers do. Testosterone inhibits nurturing. In both men and women high levels of testosterone are associated with less interest in babies. Low levels of testosterone are associated with a stronger than average interest in nurturing. If you inject a monkey mother with testosterone, she becomes less interested in her baby. And men have much more testosterone than women. Thus, in those two-career families where husband and wife are determined to share domestic and paid work equally, a common argument ensues because dads typically suggest that they get more paid child-care help; moms typically want less paid help and more time with their children.
If dads were as tormented as moms by prolonged absence from their children, we'd have more unhappiness and more fights over who gets to spend time with the children. By faithfully working at often boring jobs to provide for their families, dads make possible moms who can do less paid work and thereby produce less stressed and happier households. Dads deserve a lot of credit for simply making moms' nurturing of children possible. On Father's Day we should more often notice, and then honor, typical fatherly virtues and declare vive la difference.
Steven E. Rhoads is a professor of politics at the University of Virginia and author of Taking Sex Differences Seriously, newly available in paperback.

articles 6/14

NY Times
Next Generation of Conservatives (By the Dormful)

Fox News
Vice President Dick Cheney Talks With Sean Hannity

Boston Globe
The downloaders strike back

Newsweek
Military: The Family Business
They are proud to see their children follow them into service—and worried that their decisions could get their kids killed. Inside the military's special father-son bond.

NY Times
Playing God With Birth Defects in the Nursery
The issues that two doctors debated in a case from the 1970's remain highly relevant in modern neonatal intensive-care units.

Step by Step
A roundup of the past three weeks' good news from Iraq.
by Arthur Chrenkoff

Hunting Bubba
Can political consultants Dave "Mudcat" Saunders and Steve Jarding win rural voters back to the Democratic party?
by Matt Labash

Western Dems not sold on Hillary
by Robert Novak

Newsweek
Life in Solitary
Catholic hermits are reinventing an ancient tradition, living ever farther from society and ever closer to God.

Dear Sir: Your Data Was Stolen
Millions of tales of potential identity theft are circulating in the digital city. Mine is just one of them.
by Dan Goodin

Wired
Microsoft Censors Chinese Blogs
The company works with the communist country to scrub dirty words -- like "democracy" and "human rights" -- from its new MSN China portal.

Rolling Stone
The Gunslinger
Sen. Harry Reid is leading the charge against the GOP

U2: Did They Come to Play Jesus

U2: Did They Come to Play Jesus
June 7, 2005
by Steve Stockman
47:05 (5.38MB)

articles 6/11

After a long absence, the Duke of Data blog will return to regular publishing soon. Thanks for your patience.

Denver Post
Transactions paid in the blink of an eye

Fox News Channel
JPMorgan Hopes 'Blink' Equals Bling

CBS46
Chase Bank introduces microchip credit card
Atlanta is the first city in the U.S. to get blink cards.

Weekly Standard
Winning Ugly
Republicans are doing better than you think.

Commentary Magazine
Annihilating Terri Schiavo
Paul McHugh

Weekly Standard
Kerry: The New Al Gore
John Kerry spins further out into irrelevance.
by Daniel McKivergan

A Tale of Two Chairmen
Why the media loves the disastrous Howard Dean and doesn't understand the greatness of Ken Mehlman.
by Hugh Hewitt

The Global Shift
The world will soon better appreciate the United States
by Victor Davis Hanson

NY Daily News
Nerds make better lovers
Ready for a real relationship? Ditch thepretty boys and grab yourself a geek

AFP
Bono hails Group of Eight on debt relief

AP
Bono Doubles As Lobbyist for World's Poor

President Welcomes British Prime Minister Blair
...Second question, do I believe in my gut we can eradicate poverty? I do believe we can eradicate poverty.
By the way, Bono has come to see me. I admire him. He is a man of depth and a great heart, who cares deeply about the impoverished folks on the continent of Africa. And I admire his leadership on the issue. And so I do believe. I don't view - I can't remember how you characterized the rock stars, but I don't characterize them that way, having met the man.

Bono on CCM & Worship

White House.gov
President Visits National Counterterrorism Center
"...And today I'm pleased to announce the fact that upon John Negroponte's recommendation, that we will nominate Vice Admiral John Redd to be the Director of the NCTC. He's a man of enormous experience. He has served our country with distinction. He'll be a good boss. He'll be a person that will be able to carry on the tradition of John Brennan."
Personnel Announcement

Bloomberg
Admiral is antiterror nominee