Time
Wedding Etiquette for the Runaway Bride
The 13 questions Emily Post never thought of answering
US News
Presidential escapes
When Washington gets to be too much, presidents need to get away. Take a look at their private worlds.
Newsweek
Politics: Edwards Looks Back—And Ahead to 2008
NY Times
Briefers and Leakers and the Newspapers Who Enable Them
The Father's Crusade
Divorced men are banding together to change custody law — lobbying legislators, pushing ballot initiatives and even staging public protests in the name of fathers' rights. Is what's best for Dad really best for the child? And what about what's fair?
Calling Democrats' Bluff
by David Brooks
George Allen: The Pseudo-Frontrunner For 2008
by Chris Suellentrop
Turning away from government
by George Will
Pat Moynihan was puzzled. He was speaking in March 1994, on an almost deserted Senate floor, about Social Security but some unlikely people were listening.
Michael Jackson: Hollywood's man in the mirror
by Jonah Goldberg
A lot of eat-your-spinach media critics think it is unseemly for the press to pay attention to the Jackson trial.
Worse Than 1984
North Korea, slave state.
by Christopher Hitchens
Ovarian Cells Yield Human Eggs
Scientists in Tennessee grow human eggs from cells scraped from the surface of women's ovaries. The work could significantly postpone female infertility.
Your Identity, Open to All
ZabaSearch is a new search engine for finding the unlisted numbers of celebrities, as well as their addresses and satellite pictures of their homes. Trouble is, you're in there too. Is ZabaSearch an invasion of privacy? Xeni Jardin quizzes the site's founders.
Why the World Is Flat
The playing field is being leveled, says globalization guru Thomas Friedman - from Shanghai to Silicon Valley, from al Qaeda to Wal-Mart.
By Daniel H. Pink
ESPN.com
Santana deserving of 17-game salute
by Jayson Stark
Sunday, May 08, 2005
Monday, May 02, 2005
Sunday, May 01, 2005
Articles 5/1
W. Post
Reports of Terror Threats Against U.S. Are Falling
Daily threat assessment currently lists 25 percent to 50 percent fewer threats against domestic targets than it typically did during past two years.
W. Post
Laura Bush a Showstopper
First lady steals the show at the annual White House Correspondents' dinner.
Health care and the American automobile
by George Will
In 1962 half the cars sold in America were made by GM. Now its market share is roughly 25 percent.
A culture awash in porn
by Rebecca Hagelin
The speaker, an 18-year-old concession-stand worker named Ben Meredith, was explaining to a Los Angeles Times reporter why virtually no young people were trying to get in to see 'Inside Deep Throat' at an Orange County, Calif., theater.
Newsweek
Does the Future Belong to China?
A new power is emerging in the East. How America should handle unprecedented new challenges, threats—and opportunities.
Time
Dark Side Rising
The first three Star Wars were epic. The next two, not really. Now George Lucas has pulled out all the stops and finished the cycle with Revenge of the Sith...
Q&A: George Lucas on the new film
Photo Essay: Scenes from Revenge of the Sith
Graphic: Star Wars Family Tree
NY Times
Episode VII: Revenge of the Writers
W. Times
Faithless: God Under Fire in the Public Square
Part I: Religion under a secular assault
Part II: Why Bush threatens secularism
Part III: Believers aim to 'reclaim' America
NY Times Magazine
Let the Fur Fly
Enough Hermès collars and spalike kennels. A pet is no person.
NY Times Magazine
A Lobbyist in Full
Jack Abramoff is at the center of a Congressional controversy involving Indian casinos, influence peddling and Republican ties to K Street. But as he sees it, he is simply very, very good at doing Washington's work.
LA Times
At 50, Disneyland Boots Up Its Quest for the Fountain of Youth
The theme park seeks entertainment that is relevant to children of the Internet generation
NY Times Magazine
PlayStations of the Cross
Is there a place amid the witches, warlocks and diabolical monsters for Christian video games? A handful of gamers and entrepreneurs have faith that there is.
Crippled by Their Culture
by Thomas Sowell
Heedful Hip Hop
Attacks on rap now come from within.
by Martha Bayles
Rasta Republican
Meet Los Angeles's Ted Hayes. He's black, dreadlocked--and belongs to the GOP.
by Jill Stewart
Beltway Bullfight
John Bolton is blunt where others would be self-protective. This is bad?
by Peggy Noonan
FDR's Card Trick
The cynical idealism behind Social Security.
by William Voegeli
Abu Ghraib Accountability
An overhyped story, not a whitewash.
Sex
by Armstrong Williams
In place of the emotionally fruitful kind of relationship that once led to marriage, daddy’s little girl is engaging in a series of emotionally detached physical encounters.
CBS Needs a Fresh Eye
Prized young viewers are bored stiff by network newscasts.
by Paul Friedman
Sen. Strangelove Or: How Democrats stopped winning and learned to love the filibuster.
by Pete DuPont
Wired
Life After Darth
George Lucas was born to make underground films. Then a little movie called Star Wars lured him to the dark side. Can the father of the blockbuster really rediscover his avant-garde soul?
George Lucas on Star Wars, history lessons, and Fahrenheit 9/11
How Star Wars Changed the World
An interactive map of the people, companies, and technologies spawned by the Force.
Gentlemen, Start Your Droids
Droid hobbyists may spend big bucks striving to match the on-screen looks of R2-D2, but in Indianapolis, speed rules. Jacob Ogles reports from the Star Wars Celebration III convention in Indianapolis.
When in Seattle, Bono Bunks with Bill Gates
When U2's lead singer came to Seattle over the weekend for a concert, there was only one logical place to stay -- the home of Bill Gates, who shares Bono's passion for Third World development and relief efforts.
Bono's book is a conversation Much of the volume centers on the singer's support of big ideas.
Digging Deeper: @U2 talks with Michka Assayas
Book Review: Bono: In Conversation with Michka Assayas
Chicago Sun-Times
Jim DeRogatis talks with U2's Larry Mullen Jr.
Reports of Terror Threats Against U.S. Are Falling
Daily threat assessment currently lists 25 percent to 50 percent fewer threats against domestic targets than it typically did during past two years.
W. Post
Laura Bush a Showstopper
First lady steals the show at the annual White House Correspondents' dinner.
Health care and the American automobile
by George Will
In 1962 half the cars sold in America were made by GM. Now its market share is roughly 25 percent.
A culture awash in porn
by Rebecca Hagelin
The speaker, an 18-year-old concession-stand worker named Ben Meredith, was explaining to a Los Angeles Times reporter why virtually no young people were trying to get in to see 'Inside Deep Throat' at an Orange County, Calif., theater.
Newsweek
Does the Future Belong to China?
A new power is emerging in the East. How America should handle unprecedented new challenges, threats—and opportunities.
Time
Dark Side Rising
The first three Star Wars were epic. The next two, not really. Now George Lucas has pulled out all the stops and finished the cycle with Revenge of the Sith...
Q&A: George Lucas on the new film
Photo Essay: Scenes from Revenge of the Sith
Graphic: Star Wars Family Tree
NY Times
Episode VII: Revenge of the Writers
W. Times
Faithless: God Under Fire in the Public Square
Part I: Religion under a secular assault
Part II: Why Bush threatens secularism
Part III: Believers aim to 'reclaim' America
NY Times Magazine
Let the Fur Fly
Enough Hermès collars and spalike kennels. A pet is no person.
NY Times Magazine
A Lobbyist in Full
Jack Abramoff is at the center of a Congressional controversy involving Indian casinos, influence peddling and Republican ties to K Street. But as he sees it, he is simply very, very good at doing Washington's work.
LA Times
At 50, Disneyland Boots Up Its Quest for the Fountain of Youth
The theme park seeks entertainment that is relevant to children of the Internet generation
NY Times Magazine
PlayStations of the Cross
Is there a place amid the witches, warlocks and diabolical monsters for Christian video games? A handful of gamers and entrepreneurs have faith that there is.
Crippled by Their Culture
by Thomas Sowell
Heedful Hip Hop
Attacks on rap now come from within.
by Martha Bayles
Rasta Republican
Meet Los Angeles's Ted Hayes. He's black, dreadlocked--and belongs to the GOP.
by Jill Stewart
Beltway Bullfight
John Bolton is blunt where others would be self-protective. This is bad?
by Peggy Noonan
FDR's Card Trick
The cynical idealism behind Social Security.
by William Voegeli
Abu Ghraib Accountability
An overhyped story, not a whitewash.
Sex
by Armstrong Williams
In place of the emotionally fruitful kind of relationship that once led to marriage, daddy’s little girl is engaging in a series of emotionally detached physical encounters.
CBS Needs a Fresh Eye
Prized young viewers are bored stiff by network newscasts.
by Paul Friedman
Sen. Strangelove Or: How Democrats stopped winning and learned to love the filibuster.
by Pete DuPont
Wired
Life After Darth
George Lucas was born to make underground films. Then a little movie called Star Wars lured him to the dark side. Can the father of the blockbuster really rediscover his avant-garde soul?
George Lucas on Star Wars, history lessons, and Fahrenheit 9/11
How Star Wars Changed the World
An interactive map of the people, companies, and technologies spawned by the Force.
Gentlemen, Start Your Droids
Droid hobbyists may spend big bucks striving to match the on-screen looks of R2-D2, but in Indianapolis, speed rules. Jacob Ogles reports from the Star Wars Celebration III convention in Indianapolis.
When in Seattle, Bono Bunks with Bill Gates
When U2's lead singer came to Seattle over the weekend for a concert, there was only one logical place to stay -- the home of Bill Gates, who shares Bono's passion for Third World development and relief efforts.
Bono's book is a conversation Much of the volume centers on the singer's support of big ideas.
Digging Deeper: @U2 talks with Michka Assayas
Book Review: Bono: In Conversation with Michka Assayas
Chicago Sun-Times
Jim DeRogatis talks with U2's Larry Mullen Jr.
Monday, April 25, 2005
articles 4/25
Does Abortion Drive Down Crime?
by Steve Sailer
LA Times
Just the Facts of Life Now
Pornography is so common in the Digital Age that teens see it as 'part of the culture.' If it's corrupting them, the data don't yet show it.
Culture-Whipped
All too often, our children are exposed to the loud, frenzied, garish spectacle of adult sexuality.
By Gil Reavill
An excerpt from Smut: A Sex-Industry Insider (and Concerned Father) Says Enough is Enough, released today.
Drudge At 10: Now He's Fun
by Howard Kurtz
The Ambassador Nobody Knows
Meet Rudy Boschwitz, America's new representative to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights.
by Scott Johnson
The Secretaries Revolt
Hillary Clinton wants an obscure federal agency to regulate elections. It's a bad idea.
by John Fund
'The Air of Freedom'
A roundup of the past two weeks' good news from Iraq.
by Arthur Chrenkoff
The Anti-Doomsday Machine
Government scientists are developing ways to stop the next terror attack.
by Melanie Kirkpatrick
The Last European Pope?
The mission of Benedict XVI.by Joseph Bottum
How Hillary Broke Campaign Finance Laws
by Dick Morris
A Social Security Quagmire?
by Fred Barnes
Faith in Our Future?
by Michael Barone
Why I'm for Tony Blair
by Christopher Hitchens
LA Times
Experts Call Spy Agency Practice an Eye-Opener
Washington Examiner
The world according to Bono
U2 frontman tells it like it is in new book
Rolling Stone
Still Pretty
Two decades after "Rio," Duran Duran are playing arenas and making housewives quiver
by Steve Sailer
LA Times
Just the Facts of Life Now
Pornography is so common in the Digital Age that teens see it as 'part of the culture.' If it's corrupting them, the data don't yet show it.
Culture-Whipped
All too often, our children are exposed to the loud, frenzied, garish spectacle of adult sexuality.
By Gil Reavill
An excerpt from Smut: A Sex-Industry Insider (and Concerned Father) Says Enough is Enough, released today.
Drudge At 10: Now He's Fun
by Howard Kurtz
The Ambassador Nobody Knows
Meet Rudy Boschwitz, America's new representative to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights.
by Scott Johnson
The Secretaries Revolt
Hillary Clinton wants an obscure federal agency to regulate elections. It's a bad idea.
by John Fund
'The Air of Freedom'
A roundup of the past two weeks' good news from Iraq.
by Arthur Chrenkoff
The Anti-Doomsday Machine
Government scientists are developing ways to stop the next terror attack.
by Melanie Kirkpatrick
The Last European Pope?
The mission of Benedict XVI.by Joseph Bottum
How Hillary Broke Campaign Finance Laws
by Dick Morris
A Social Security Quagmire?
by Fred Barnes
Faith in Our Future?
by Michael Barone
Why I'm for Tony Blair
by Christopher Hitchens
LA Times
Experts Call Spy Agency Practice an Eye-Opener
Washington Examiner
The world according to Bono
U2 frontman tells it like it is in new book
Rolling Stone
Still Pretty
Two decades after "Rio," Duran Duran are playing arenas and making housewives quiver
Sunday, April 24, 2005
articles 4/24
Unread and Unsubscribing
By George F. Will
What’s Holding Black Kids Back?
Bill Cosby is right: the problem is the parents.
by Kay S. Hymowitz
Heralds of a Brighter Black Future
More and more, African-American iconoclasts reject victimology and embrace American possibility.
by Heather MacDonald
Whoppers and the End of an Epidemic
By John Luik
WSJ
The Hotel Industry Begins to Wake Up To a Bedbug Problem
With Pesticides Out of Favor, Critters Show Up More; A 1920s Cure: Gasoline
Did Benedict XVI Take a Page Out of MacIntyre's Book?
By Nathan Smith
Human Events
Q & A with Brian Anderson, Author of South Park Conservatives
Why Jon Stewart Is All the Rage
by Harry Stein
Why the Liberals Can't Keep Air America From Spiraling In
By Brian C. Anderson
Should Felons Vote?
The push to let convicts vote is wrong on fact and on principle.
by Edward Feser
Can We Make Boys and Girls Alike?
Even if the differences are cultural, rather than biological, they are ineradicable.
by Stanley Kurtz
Hillary skipping Iowa?
by Robert Novak
Let Cookie Monster be Cookie Monster
by Jonah Goldberg
The producers of 'Sesame Street' have decided that Cookie Monster is gay.
The Bolton Dirtfest
by Rich Lowry
Whatever else you think of him, John Bolton is a serious person.
The new pope: A rottweiler or a good German shepherd?
by Ross Mackenzie
Comes now the disharmonious chorus to sing of the elevation of German Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger to the papacy as Benedict XVI.
'Good sex for teens': The war against abstinence
by Robert Rector
According to a Zogby poll, more than 90 percent of them say that society should teach kids to abstain from sex until they have, at least, finished high school.
How to Win the Social Security Debate
by Ed Crane
Time
An Inside Look at How Ratzinger Became Benedict XVI
The Borking of Bolton
by William Kristol
A Social Security Quagmire?
Here's an exit strategy for Bush.
by Fred Barnes
Father's Day Comes Early
The National Fatherhood Initiative is working to get the word out about the benefits of dads.
by Rachel DiCarlo
Blogs Will Change Your Business
Look past the yakkers, hobbyists, and political mobs. Your customers and rivals are figuring blogs out. Our advice: Catch up...or catch you later
NY Times Magazine
Absolutely, Power Corrupts
When the Oakland A's drafted Mark Teahen and Steve Stanley, the team was looking for guys who were great at getting on base. So why, after two years in the minors doing just that, with five home runs between them, were Teahen and Stanley (all 5 feet 7 inches, 155 pounds of him) trying to make it as sluggers?
W. Post Magazine
Girls' Night Logged Online
Ditto, anyone? Women over 40 are the biggest players of games on the Internet.
Do as We Say, Not as We Dow
Why is Peter Kann still running Dow Jones?
By Daniel Gross
NY Sun
Next Crisis at U.N. May Involve Ties Of Volcker, Strong
In China's streets
Jubilate Deo
by David Warren
Books vs. Goons
Powerful writing stumps ayatollahs and sets free vibrating broomsticks
By Salman Rushdie
Bono baptism: New book creates convert, fosters respect
“Celebrity is ridiculous.” Bono says. “It’s silly, but it’s a kind of currency, and you have to spend it wisely.”
by Sam McManis
What's the big idea, Bono?
By Larry Aydlette
Disarming album title aside, U2's a force to be reckoned with
By Gene Stout
Table set, but Griffey falters
The situation was hauntingly familiar: Ken Griffey Jr. at the plate with a chance to turn around the game with one swing.
Losing their zip on reality
by Peter Gammons
LA Times
Dykstra faces allegations of steroid use, baseball gambling
What Can Protestants Expect From The New Pope?
by Michael Horeton
By George F. Will
What’s Holding Black Kids Back?
Bill Cosby is right: the problem is the parents.
by Kay S. Hymowitz
Heralds of a Brighter Black Future
More and more, African-American iconoclasts reject victimology and embrace American possibility.
by Heather MacDonald
Whoppers and the End of an Epidemic
By John Luik
WSJ
The Hotel Industry Begins to Wake Up To a Bedbug Problem
With Pesticides Out of Favor, Critters Show Up More; A 1920s Cure: Gasoline
Did Benedict XVI Take a Page Out of MacIntyre's Book?
By Nathan Smith
Human Events
Q & A with Brian Anderson, Author of South Park Conservatives
Why Jon Stewart Is All the Rage
by Harry Stein
Why the Liberals Can't Keep Air America From Spiraling In
By Brian C. Anderson
Should Felons Vote?
The push to let convicts vote is wrong on fact and on principle.
by Edward Feser
Can We Make Boys and Girls Alike?
Even if the differences are cultural, rather than biological, they are ineradicable.
by Stanley Kurtz
Hillary skipping Iowa?
by Robert Novak
Let Cookie Monster be Cookie Monster
by Jonah Goldberg
The producers of 'Sesame Street' have decided that Cookie Monster is gay.
The Bolton Dirtfest
by Rich Lowry
Whatever else you think of him, John Bolton is a serious person.
The new pope: A rottweiler or a good German shepherd?
by Ross Mackenzie
Comes now the disharmonious chorus to sing of the elevation of German Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger to the papacy as Benedict XVI.
'Good sex for teens': The war against abstinence
by Robert Rector
According to a Zogby poll, more than 90 percent of them say that society should teach kids to abstain from sex until they have, at least, finished high school.
How to Win the Social Security Debate
by Ed Crane
Time
An Inside Look at How Ratzinger Became Benedict XVI
The Borking of Bolton
by William Kristol
A Social Security Quagmire?
Here's an exit strategy for Bush.
by Fred Barnes
Father's Day Comes Early
The National Fatherhood Initiative is working to get the word out about the benefits of dads.
by Rachel DiCarlo
Blogs Will Change Your Business
Look past the yakkers, hobbyists, and political mobs. Your customers and rivals are figuring blogs out. Our advice: Catch up...or catch you later
NY Times Magazine
Absolutely, Power Corrupts
When the Oakland A's drafted Mark Teahen and Steve Stanley, the team was looking for guys who were great at getting on base. So why, after two years in the minors doing just that, with five home runs between them, were Teahen and Stanley (all 5 feet 7 inches, 155 pounds of him) trying to make it as sluggers?
W. Post Magazine
Girls' Night Logged Online
Ditto, anyone? Women over 40 are the biggest players of games on the Internet.
Do as We Say, Not as We Dow
Why is Peter Kann still running Dow Jones?
By Daniel Gross
NY Sun
Next Crisis at U.N. May Involve Ties Of Volcker, Strong
In China's streets
Jubilate Deo
by David Warren
Books vs. Goons
Powerful writing stumps ayatollahs and sets free vibrating broomsticks
By Salman Rushdie
Bono baptism: New book creates convert, fosters respect
“Celebrity is ridiculous.” Bono says. “It’s silly, but it’s a kind of currency, and you have to spend it wisely.”
by Sam McManis
What's the big idea, Bono?
By Larry Aydlette
Disarming album title aside, U2's a force to be reckoned with
By Gene Stout
Table set, but Griffey falters
The situation was hauntingly familiar: Ken Griffey Jr. at the plate with a chance to turn around the game with one swing.
Losing their zip on reality
by Peter Gammons
LA Times
Dykstra faces allegations of steroid use, baseball gambling
What Can Protestants Expect From The New Pope?
by Michael Horeton
Friday, April 22, 2005
For my good friend
I thought you might want to know some of the best places to find your buddy Andy.
Andy tribute
An Everlasting Starlight
Words & Music
Andy photos
The softer side of Joe
Andy tribute
An Everlasting Starlight
Words & Music
Andy photos
The softer side of Joe
Sunday, April 17, 2005
articles 4/17
Time
Ms. Right
She is quite possibly the most divisive figure in the public eye. But love her or hate her, you don't know the real Ann Coulter
Maîtres chez nous
Connexions
Gomery Canada
by David Warren
Public Hedonism and Private Restraint
by David Brooks
Metrosexual or Medieval?
by Doug Giles
According to a recent Washington Times report, American women are pig sick of the oversold and dandy metrosexual male imago.
Was the Pope Polish? Yes, Thank God
by Lech Walesa
Why Europe's Great Churches Are Empty
by Brian Carney
Friend or Foe?
The International Committee of the Red Cross should stop championing terrorists or lose U.S. funding.
by David Rivkin & Lee A. Casey
Soldiers Do Us the Honor
by David Gelernter
Party of 'Joyous Vulgarity'
Why the Democrats are losing the culture wars.
by Dan Gerstein
John Bolton vs. the Moral Cowards
The Senate confirmation process needs to be reformed.
by Otto Reich
The Cardinal
A story about selecting the new pope.
by Peggy Noonan
When Numbers Solve a Mystery
Meet the economist who figured out that legal abortion was behind dropping crime rates.
by Steven Landsburg
Iraqi Freedom 2.0
Those who flinched in the hard times, and those who didn't.
US News & World Report
The CSI Effect
On TV, it's all slam-dunk evidence and quick convictions. Now juries expect the same thing--and that's a big problem
Newsweek
Family Matters
We don't get sick or stay well by ourselves. The people closest to us affect every aspect of our health—and our own well-being affects theirs.
Agent Provocateur
Melissa Boyle Mahle, the former C.I.A. operative, talks about recruiting in the Mideast, why Bill Gates should replace Porter Goss and why the White House might not say if we get bin Laden.
The Unregulated Offensive
Imagine that the interpretation of the Constitution was frozen in 1937. Imagine a country in which Social Security, job-safety laws and environmental protections were unconstitutional. Imagine judges longing for that. Imagine one of them as the next Supreme Court nominee.
NY Times
Arms Equipment Plundered in 2003 Is Surfacing in Iraq
Intact factory, machine and vehicle parts are beginning to surface in open markets in Iraq's major cities and at border crossings.
How One Pill Escaped a Place on List of Controlled Steroids
The story of how DHEA came to enjoy special legal protections granted by Congress is a study in political maneuvering.
W. Post
Question Celebrity
I was in Los Angeles for a while in February, left for a couple of weeks, and then returned for a few days in March, and in my absence one major thing changed: The omnipresent (and enormous) billboards and skyscraper banners for "Be Cool" (the caper starring John Travolta and Uma Thurman) were gone and had been replaced by equally oversize plugs for "Guess Who," starring Ashton Kutcher and Bernie Mac in an inverse-remake of "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?"
LA Times
Boy George Meets Material Girl
The 1980s are no passing fad, it seems. The Second Annual Totally '80s Convention last month at the Music Box @ Fonda theater in Hollywood celebrated the music and fashion of the 10-year period that started with Americans being held hostage in Iran and ended with the fall of the Berlin Wall. Brace yourselves—this crowd wasn't nostalgic 40-plus-year-olds reminiscing about the good old days. When Michael Jackson won a best record of the year Grammy in 1983 for "Beat It," most attendees were still in diapers. Host Richard Blade played flashback music videos in between tribute bands that channeled Oingo Boingo, the Ramones, Billy Idol, the Cure, Depeche Mode and New Order to our decade-challenged friends.
Rocky Mountain News
U are there
Twenty-two years after U2's historic Red Rocks show, those who made it happen recall what it took
Songs from gig elusive
Only 2 tunes on live EP are from Red Rocks performance
'Rattle and Hum' also shot at Denver concerts
Edge says band thought 'lightning might strike twice'
Ms. Right
She is quite possibly the most divisive figure in the public eye. But love her or hate her, you don't know the real Ann Coulter
Maîtres chez nous
Connexions
Gomery Canada
by David Warren
Public Hedonism and Private Restraint
by David Brooks
Metrosexual or Medieval?
by Doug Giles
According to a recent Washington Times report, American women are pig sick of the oversold and dandy metrosexual male imago.
Was the Pope Polish? Yes, Thank God
by Lech Walesa
Why Europe's Great Churches Are Empty
by Brian Carney
Friend or Foe?
The International Committee of the Red Cross should stop championing terrorists or lose U.S. funding.
by David Rivkin & Lee A. Casey
Soldiers Do Us the Honor
by David Gelernter
Party of 'Joyous Vulgarity'
Why the Democrats are losing the culture wars.
by Dan Gerstein
John Bolton vs. the Moral Cowards
The Senate confirmation process needs to be reformed.
by Otto Reich
The Cardinal
A story about selecting the new pope.
by Peggy Noonan
When Numbers Solve a Mystery
Meet the economist who figured out that legal abortion was behind dropping crime rates.
by Steven Landsburg
Iraqi Freedom 2.0
Those who flinched in the hard times, and those who didn't.
US News & World Report
The CSI Effect
On TV, it's all slam-dunk evidence and quick convictions. Now juries expect the same thing--and that's a big problem
Newsweek
Family Matters
We don't get sick or stay well by ourselves. The people closest to us affect every aspect of our health—and our own well-being affects theirs.
Agent Provocateur
Melissa Boyle Mahle, the former C.I.A. operative, talks about recruiting in the Mideast, why Bill Gates should replace Porter Goss and why the White House might not say if we get bin Laden.
The Unregulated Offensive
Imagine that the interpretation of the Constitution was frozen in 1937. Imagine a country in which Social Security, job-safety laws and environmental protections were unconstitutional. Imagine judges longing for that. Imagine one of them as the next Supreme Court nominee.
NY Times
Arms Equipment Plundered in 2003 Is Surfacing in Iraq
Intact factory, machine and vehicle parts are beginning to surface in open markets in Iraq's major cities and at border crossings.
How One Pill Escaped a Place on List of Controlled Steroids
The story of how DHEA came to enjoy special legal protections granted by Congress is a study in political maneuvering.
W. Post
Question Celebrity
I was in Los Angeles for a while in February, left for a couple of weeks, and then returned for a few days in March, and in my absence one major thing changed: The omnipresent (and enormous) billboards and skyscraper banners for "Be Cool" (the caper starring John Travolta and Uma Thurman) were gone and had been replaced by equally oversize plugs for "Guess Who," starring Ashton Kutcher and Bernie Mac in an inverse-remake of "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?"
LA Times
Boy George Meets Material Girl
The 1980s are no passing fad, it seems. The Second Annual Totally '80s Convention last month at the Music Box @ Fonda theater in Hollywood celebrated the music and fashion of the 10-year period that started with Americans being held hostage in Iran and ended with the fall of the Berlin Wall. Brace yourselves—this crowd wasn't nostalgic 40-plus-year-olds reminiscing about the good old days. When Michael Jackson won a best record of the year Grammy in 1983 for "Beat It," most attendees were still in diapers. Host Richard Blade played flashback music videos in between tribute bands that channeled Oingo Boingo, the Ramones, Billy Idol, the Cure, Depeche Mode and New Order to our decade-challenged friends.
Rocky Mountain News
U are there
Twenty-two years after U2's historic Red Rocks show, those who made it happen recall what it took
Songs from gig elusive
Only 2 tunes on live EP are from Red Rocks performance
'Rattle and Hum' also shot at Denver concerts
Edge says band thought 'lightning might strike twice'
Sunday, April 10, 2005
articles 4/10
NY Times Magazine
Our Ratings, Ourselves
The Mismeasure of TV
In Houston, a couple of thousand paid volunteers will soon start wearing Portable People Meters. Along with other advances in measuring what we watch and listen to, they may (in addition to transforming what we watch and listen to) finally answer the question: Does advertising really work?
W. Post Magazine
Hard Labor
Susan Ali was determined to give birth to a severely handicapped baby. Her husband was determined to stop her
The 65 percent solution
by George Will
Nationally, 61.5 percent of education operational budgets reach the classrooms. Why make a fuss about 3.5 percent? Because it amounts to $13 billion.
Death by Bureaucracy
Misguided "reform" threatens to destroy nonprofits.
by Heather Higgins
ChoicePoint Top Big Brother Pick
The nominees for the annual Big Brother Awards are in. Leading the pack is ChoicePoint, which sold private data to identity thieves. But Google, the U.S. government and a small California school are also in the running.
AP
Kerry: Trickery Kept Voters From Polls
Many voters in last year's presidential election were denied access to the polls through trickery and intimidation, former Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry told a voters' group Sunday.
AP
Indiana Man Wins 'Village Idiot' Award
The competition was fierce and foolish, but a man who accidentally sawed through a live wire and topped that by wrecking his truck hours after buying it more than earned the honorary title "Village Idiot."
Justice for Life?
The case for Supreme Court term limits.
by Steven Calabresi & James Lindgren
NY Times
'Spamalot' Discovers the Straight White Way
W. Post
Judging Affairs
For only a very few couples, the best way to end an affair is at the altar.
Los Angeles Times
Bono has mission in music and life
Our Ratings, Ourselves
The Mismeasure of TV
In Houston, a couple of thousand paid volunteers will soon start wearing Portable People Meters. Along with other advances in measuring what we watch and listen to, they may (in addition to transforming what we watch and listen to) finally answer the question: Does advertising really work?
W. Post Magazine
Hard Labor
Susan Ali was determined to give birth to a severely handicapped baby. Her husband was determined to stop her
The 65 percent solution
by George Will
Nationally, 61.5 percent of education operational budgets reach the classrooms. Why make a fuss about 3.5 percent? Because it amounts to $13 billion.
Death by Bureaucracy
Misguided "reform" threatens to destroy nonprofits.
by Heather Higgins
ChoicePoint Top Big Brother Pick
The nominees for the annual Big Brother Awards are in. Leading the pack is ChoicePoint, which sold private data to identity thieves. But Google, the U.S. government and a small California school are also in the running.
AP
Kerry: Trickery Kept Voters From Polls
Many voters in last year's presidential election were denied access to the polls through trickery and intimidation, former Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry told a voters' group Sunday.
AP
Indiana Man Wins 'Village Idiot' Award
The competition was fierce and foolish, but a man who accidentally sawed through a live wire and topped that by wrecking his truck hours after buying it more than earned the honorary title "Village Idiot."
Justice for Life?
The case for Supreme Court term limits.
by Steven Calabresi & James Lindgren
NY Times
'Spamalot' Discovers the Straight White Way
W. Post
Judging Affairs
For only a very few couples, the best way to end an affair is at the altar.
Los Angeles Times
Bono has mission in music and life
Saturday, April 09, 2005
articles 4/9
Reuters
Cardinal Law's Role in Rome Sparks Outrage in U.S.
A Backroom Constitution?
Iraq has a government. Now what?
by Noah Feldman
Bolton's the One
John Bolton is an exceptional choice to be our next U.N. ambassador.
by William Kristol
U.S. Seeks Access to Bank Records to Deter Terror
The plan would give the government access to possibly hundreds of millions of international banking records.
Who's against DeLay?
by Robert Novak
MoveOn.org, the left-wing activist group leading the fight against Rep. Tom DeLay, has claimed there is a Republican clamor to replace him as House majority leader that does not actually exist.
Scouting makes a difference
by Rebecca Hagelin
Only one in four boys in America will become Scouts, but it is interesting to know that of the leaders of this nation in business, religion and politics, three out of four were Scouts.
'Get Tom Delay!' -- A New York Times crusade
by Rich Lowry
For the old-fashioned, the definition of a "news story" is a story that is new — hence the name. But the newspeople at the newspapers the Washington Post and the New York Times have an updated definition — anything that hurts Republican Majority Leader Tom DeLay on any given day.
Zapped!
By Mandy M. Goodnight
ABC News
Cookie Monster Eating Less Cookies
ESPN
Bonds has ignored the advice of his lawyer
San Jose Mercury News
The bassist speaks
Adam Clayton Explains Secret of U2's Success
Test your U2 IQ
Cardinal Law's Role in Rome Sparks Outrage in U.S.
A Backroom Constitution?
Iraq has a government. Now what?
by Noah Feldman
Bolton's the One
John Bolton is an exceptional choice to be our next U.N. ambassador.
by William Kristol
U.S. Seeks Access to Bank Records to Deter Terror
The plan would give the government access to possibly hundreds of millions of international banking records.
Who's against DeLay?
by Robert Novak
MoveOn.org, the left-wing activist group leading the fight against Rep. Tom DeLay, has claimed there is a Republican clamor to replace him as House majority leader that does not actually exist.
Scouting makes a difference
by Rebecca Hagelin
Only one in four boys in America will become Scouts, but it is interesting to know that of the leaders of this nation in business, religion and politics, three out of four were Scouts.
'Get Tom Delay!' -- A New York Times crusade
by Rich Lowry
For the old-fashioned, the definition of a "news story" is a story that is new — hence the name. But the newspeople at the newspapers the Washington Post and the New York Times have an updated definition — anything that hurts Republican Majority Leader Tom DeLay on any given day.
Zapped!
By Mandy M. Goodnight
ABC News
Cookie Monster Eating Less Cookies
ESPN
Bonds has ignored the advice of his lawyer
San Jose Mercury News
The bassist speaks
Adam Clayton Explains Secret of U2's Success
Test your U2 IQ
Friday, April 08, 2005
articles 4/8
Intelligence Failures
Virtues and sins of commission.
by Michael Ledeen
Intelligence Critique Fatigue
by Richard Posner
AP
Home of Woman in Finger Claim Searched
Wisconsin State Journal
Man, 28, has been a University of Wisconsin student for 11 years
"I could have - should have - graduated many years ago, but I keep passing on the real world's invitation," he says.
LA Times
Actor tries to capitalize on his one "Star Trek" appearance
Michael Dante appeared on a "Star Trek" episode that aired Dec. 1, 1967. "But it was a very popular episode," he insists. A reporter notes: "Dante and other actors have discovered that they can milk even the most ephemeral appearances on the show by appearing at extreme fan conventions that can draw thousands of enthusiasts."
Sandy Rolls Over For Bill & Hill
by Dick Morris
The Bush Dilemma
If the president is willing to take risks abroad, why won’t he do it at home?
by Victor Davis Hanson
Haley Barbour Is 2008 Dark Horse
by James Pinkerton
Communism Didn't Have a Prayer Against The Pope
by Peggy Noonan
Meathead's Moment
Will Rob Reiner take on the Governator?
by Bill Whalen
Judge Dread
A showdown over the U.S. judiciary was a long time coming.
by Duncan Currie
Crime of the Century
How the elite media and the CIA failed to Investigate the 1981 papal assassination attempt.
by Thomas Joscelyn
Fox News Channel and the Talk-Radio Formula
by Jack Shafer
The Pope and the Fall of Communism
by Jack Kemp
Look Back at Anger
Why the "vast left-wing conspiracy" failed to unseat President Bush.
by Jacob Laskin
WSJ Editorial
Intelligence Fable
The "stovepipe" theory of Iraq intelligence goes up in smoke.
"The Truth"
A simple demand from the Lebanese and oppressed people everywhere
by Claudia Rosett
WSJ Editorial
Berger's Plea
The Justice Department shows admirable restraint.
'We Want God'
When John Paul II went to Poland, communism didn't have a prayer.
by Peggy Noonan
WSJ Editorial
Bolton, Sudan and the U.N.
Turtle Bay needs "an ambassador to the U.S."
WSJ Editorial
The Berger File
Sandy Berger didn't destroy documents with notes in the margin.
John Paul II Won in the East, Lost in the West
Where were all these people when the pope was alive?
by Daniel Henninger
AP
The Wiggles Named Australia's Wealthiest
When Fred Met Gladys
Charles and Camilla—a love story.
by Laura Barton
Pitcher Perfect
Why can't anyone throw a baseball faster than 100 mph?
by Noam Scheiber
Virtues and sins of commission.
by Michael Ledeen
Intelligence Critique Fatigue
by Richard Posner
AP
Home of Woman in Finger Claim Searched
Wisconsin State Journal
Man, 28, has been a University of Wisconsin student for 11 years
"I could have - should have - graduated many years ago, but I keep passing on the real world's invitation," he says.
LA Times
Actor tries to capitalize on his one "Star Trek" appearance
Michael Dante appeared on a "Star Trek" episode that aired Dec. 1, 1967. "But it was a very popular episode," he insists. A reporter notes: "Dante and other actors have discovered that they can milk even the most ephemeral appearances on the show by appearing at extreme fan conventions that can draw thousands of enthusiasts."
Sandy Rolls Over For Bill & Hill
by Dick Morris
The Bush Dilemma
If the president is willing to take risks abroad, why won’t he do it at home?
by Victor Davis Hanson
Haley Barbour Is 2008 Dark Horse
by James Pinkerton
Communism Didn't Have a Prayer Against The Pope
by Peggy Noonan
Meathead's Moment
Will Rob Reiner take on the Governator?
by Bill Whalen
Judge Dread
A showdown over the U.S. judiciary was a long time coming.
by Duncan Currie
Crime of the Century
How the elite media and the CIA failed to Investigate the 1981 papal assassination attempt.
by Thomas Joscelyn
Fox News Channel and the Talk-Radio Formula
by Jack Shafer
The Pope and the Fall of Communism
by Jack Kemp
Look Back at Anger
Why the "vast left-wing conspiracy" failed to unseat President Bush.
by Jacob Laskin
WSJ Editorial
Intelligence Fable
The "stovepipe" theory of Iraq intelligence goes up in smoke.
"The Truth"
A simple demand from the Lebanese and oppressed people everywhere
by Claudia Rosett
WSJ Editorial
Berger's Plea
The Justice Department shows admirable restraint.
'We Want God'
When John Paul II went to Poland, communism didn't have a prayer.
by Peggy Noonan
WSJ Editorial
Bolton, Sudan and the U.N.
Turtle Bay needs "an ambassador to the U.S."
WSJ Editorial
The Berger File
Sandy Berger didn't destroy documents with notes in the margin.
John Paul II Won in the East, Lost in the West
Where were all these people when the pope was alive?
by Daniel Henninger
AP
The Wiggles Named Australia's Wealthiest
When Fred Met Gladys
Charles and Camilla—a love story.
by Laura Barton
Pitcher Perfect
Why can't anyone throw a baseball faster than 100 mph?
by Noam Scheiber
Thursday, April 07, 2005
Monday, April 04, 2005
articles 4/4
It Will Be a Hard Night for Tony Blair on May 5
by Frank Luntz
Time
No Holds Barred
A presidential commission chaired by former Senator Chuck Robb and retired Judge Laurence Silberman was blunt in assigning blame for the flawed conclusion that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction (WMD), one of the major reasons Bush gave for invading Iraq
Time
Fooled for Oil
The second of three reports on the U.N.'s controversial oil-for-food program zeroed in on the Secretary-General's role
Minneapolis Star Tribune
Pranks leave the, ahem, media blushing
Winning Ugly: Bush vs. Congress
by Robert Novak
NY Times
Some Colleges Falling Short in Security of Computers
Universities are struggling to keep their databases and records private.
Bush Democrats
A detailed look at last year's voting suggests big Republican opportunities.
by John Fund
Cheerleaders
What to do about them.
By Bryan Curtis
Cheerleaders in Baseball?
Not in my day!
By Daniel Engber
Nobody's Mascot
College basketball's unloved, world-weary ambassador: J.J. Jumper.
By Felix Gillette
Reuters
Oral Sex Safe and Not Really Sex, Say U.S. Teens
One in five U.S. teenagers say they have engaged in oral sex, an activity that some adolescents view as not sex at all and certainly less risky than intercourse, a report released Monday said.
Low-Cost Laptops for Kids in Need
Nicholas Negroponte and some MIT colleagues are working to help hundreds of millions of kids in developing countries. Their idea is to create rugged, internet- and multimedia-capable laptop computers that cost $100 apiece.
Happy New Year
A roundup of the past month's good news from Afghanistan.
by Arthur Chrenkoff
USA Today
Bono recalls pontiff's affection for the poor — and cool sunglasses
by Frank Luntz
Time
No Holds Barred
A presidential commission chaired by former Senator Chuck Robb and retired Judge Laurence Silberman was blunt in assigning blame for the flawed conclusion that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction (WMD), one of the major reasons Bush gave for invading Iraq
Time
Fooled for Oil
The second of three reports on the U.N.'s controversial oil-for-food program zeroed in on the Secretary-General's role
Minneapolis Star Tribune
Pranks leave the, ahem, media blushing
Winning Ugly: Bush vs. Congress
by Robert Novak
NY Times
Some Colleges Falling Short in Security of Computers
Universities are struggling to keep their databases and records private.
Bush Democrats
A detailed look at last year's voting suggests big Republican opportunities.
by John Fund
Cheerleaders
What to do about them.
By Bryan Curtis
Cheerleaders in Baseball?
Not in my day!
By Daniel Engber
Nobody's Mascot
College basketball's unloved, world-weary ambassador: J.J. Jumper.
By Felix Gillette
Reuters
Oral Sex Safe and Not Really Sex, Say U.S. Teens
One in five U.S. teenagers say they have engaged in oral sex, an activity that some adolescents view as not sex at all and certainly less risky than intercourse, a report released Monday said.
Low-Cost Laptops for Kids in Need
Nicholas Negroponte and some MIT colleagues are working to help hundreds of millions of kids in developing countries. Their idea is to create rugged, internet- and multimedia-capable laptop computers that cost $100 apiece.
Happy New Year
A roundup of the past month's good news from Afghanistan.
by Arthur Chrenkoff
USA Today
Bono recalls pontiff's affection for the poor — and cool sunglasses
Sunday, April 03, 2005
articles 4/3
Time
A New Idea for Democrats: Democracy
In focusing too much on the legal process, the party is in danger of losing the people.
Zogby Poll: Americans Not in Favor of Starving Terri Schiavo
The Future of Life in America... and Around the World
by James Pinkerton
The American response to the Terri Schiavo case comes from deep within our national tradition. On display is the familiar mix of litigation, religious agitation, and media saturation. But at the same time, it shouldn't come as a surprise to learn that other countries, with different traditions, are coming up different answers to basic questions of life, death, and existence -- some radically different.
Papal Power
What no one else will say about John Paul II.
by Christopher Hitchens
Muscular Utopianism
I used to be a liberal interventionist. Now I'm a realist.
by David Reiff
Boy Problems
The real gender crisis in education starts with the Y chromosome.
W. Post
A Failure of Policy, Not Spying
It's a Flat World, After All
by Thomas Freidman
Globalization has collapsed time and distance and raised the notion that someone anywhere on earth can do your job, more cheaply. Can Americans rise to the challenge on this leveled playing field?
NY Times
Baseball Preview 2005
ESPN
ESPN predicts the 2005 season
Cincinnati Enquirer
Short & Sweet
Four players have given the Reds a tradition of greatness at shortstop. Now, after more than a half-century, a new era begins - ready or not
Cincinnati Enquirer
Man of the hour
A comeback by Griffey isn't just important in his hometown. Now, the entire game has a stake in his success.
Reuters
Bono: Pope Was Catholic Church's 'Best Front Man'
A New Idea for Democrats: Democracy
In focusing too much on the legal process, the party is in danger of losing the people.
Zogby Poll: Americans Not in Favor of Starving Terri Schiavo
The Future of Life in America... and Around the World
by James Pinkerton
The American response to the Terri Schiavo case comes from deep within our national tradition. On display is the familiar mix of litigation, religious agitation, and media saturation. But at the same time, it shouldn't come as a surprise to learn that other countries, with different traditions, are coming up different answers to basic questions of life, death, and existence -- some radically different.
Papal Power
What no one else will say about John Paul II.
by Christopher Hitchens
Muscular Utopianism
I used to be a liberal interventionist. Now I'm a realist.
by David Reiff
Boy Problems
The real gender crisis in education starts with the Y chromosome.
W. Post
A Failure of Policy, Not Spying
It's a Flat World, After All
by Thomas Freidman
Globalization has collapsed time and distance and raised the notion that someone anywhere on earth can do your job, more cheaply. Can Americans rise to the challenge on this leveled playing field?
NY Times
Baseball Preview 2005
ESPN
ESPN predicts the 2005 season
Cincinnati Enquirer
Short & Sweet
Four players have given the Reds a tradition of greatness at shortstop. Now, after more than a half-century, a new era begins - ready or not
Cincinnati Enquirer
Man of the hour
A comeback by Griffey isn't just important in his hometown. Now, the entire game has a stake in his success.
Reuters
Bono: Pope Was Catholic Church's 'Best Front Man'
Saturday, April 02, 2005
articles 4/2
NY Times
C.I.A. Answers Criticism With Pledge to Do Better
“Dear Ellen”; or, Sexual Correctness at Harvard
by Ruth R. Wisse
Bush, Sharon, My Daughter, and Me
by Norman Podhoretz
Israel's disengagement plan has won a large cohort of domestic critics, as a ten-day visit reveals. But are they right?
NY Times
E-Mails Reveal Fraud in Nuclear Site Study
Government employees studying a potential nuclear waste site in Nevada acknowledged in e-mail messages that they had made up details about their research.
NY Times
An Early Wartime Profile Depicts a Tormented Hitler
Cornell University has posted what is believed to be the first psychological profile of Adolf Hitler.
Analysis of Hitler's Personality
W. Post
NIH Staff Rankled by New Rules
Broad ethics requirements cost institute top researchers, sour collaboration with private sector.
Panel Seeks Intelligence Culpability
Commission says incoming director of national intelligence should take action against those responsible for failures to accurately assess prewar Iraq's weapons programs.
The Art of Intelligence
by David Brooks
WMD Commission Continues the Stonewall
by David Corn, The Nation
Opening Pandora's Democratic Box
by Victor Davis Hanson
It's the end of the world, and I feel fine
by Jonah Goldberg
The bad news is that a new United Nations report says the world's coming to an end.
Marriage and the Limits of Contract
by Jennifer Roback Morse
Echoes of the Gipper
What would Reagan say about Iraq, Ukraine and President Bush?
by Peter Robinson
AP
College Students Download in Dorm Rooms
College junior Kyle Taylor is downloading hundreds of songs by No Doubt, Bruce Springsteen and others onto the Compaq laptop in his cramped dormitory room. With a few more clicks of his mouse, Taylor is watching commercial-free "Seinfeld" episodes on his computer. In just minutes, he then downloads the entire movie "A League of Their Own." The 20-year-old is not breaking any laws. Nor is he at risk of expensive lawsuits by the entertainment industry over copyright violations.
Using the Gospel to Share the Gospel
A Discussion Between Michael Horton & Rico Tice
C.I.A. Answers Criticism With Pledge to Do Better
“Dear Ellen”; or, Sexual Correctness at Harvard
by Ruth R. Wisse
Bush, Sharon, My Daughter, and Me
by Norman Podhoretz
Israel's disengagement plan has won a large cohort of domestic critics, as a ten-day visit reveals. But are they right?
NY Times
E-Mails Reveal Fraud in Nuclear Site Study
Government employees studying a potential nuclear waste site in Nevada acknowledged in e-mail messages that they had made up details about their research.
NY Times
An Early Wartime Profile Depicts a Tormented Hitler
Cornell University has posted what is believed to be the first psychological profile of Adolf Hitler.
Analysis of Hitler's Personality
W. Post
NIH Staff Rankled by New Rules
Broad ethics requirements cost institute top researchers, sour collaboration with private sector.
Panel Seeks Intelligence Culpability
Commission says incoming director of national intelligence should take action against those responsible for failures to accurately assess prewar Iraq's weapons programs.
The Art of Intelligence
by David Brooks
WMD Commission Continues the Stonewall
by David Corn, The Nation
Opening Pandora's Democratic Box
by Victor Davis Hanson
It's the end of the world, and I feel fine
by Jonah Goldberg
The bad news is that a new United Nations report says the world's coming to an end.
Marriage and the Limits of Contract
by Jennifer Roback Morse
Echoes of the Gipper
What would Reagan say about Iraq, Ukraine and President Bush?
by Peter Robinson
AP
College Students Download in Dorm Rooms
College junior Kyle Taylor is downloading hundreds of songs by No Doubt, Bruce Springsteen and others onto the Compaq laptop in his cramped dormitory room. With a few more clicks of his mouse, Taylor is watching commercial-free "Seinfeld" episodes on his computer. In just minutes, he then downloads the entire movie "A League of Their Own." The 20-year-old is not breaking any laws. Nor is he at risk of expensive lawsuits by the entertainment industry over copyright violations.
Using the Gospel to Share the Gospel
A Discussion Between Michael Horton & Rico Tice
Friday, April 01, 2005
Panel Warns of 'Headstrong Agencies'
Bush Is Urged to Intervene to Break Adherence to 'Irrelevant' Status Quo
page A07
Photo from the story
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), right, sits with other members of the presidential panel that investigated U.S. intelligence before the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
Photo Credit: Susan Biddle
page A07
Photo from the story
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), right, sits with other members of the presidential panel that investigated U.S. intelligence before the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
Photo Credit: Susan Biddle
WMD Redux
Intelligence is worthless unless policy makers act on it.
by Fred C. Ilke
But I'd shut my eyes in the sentry box,So I didn't see nothin' wrong.
--Rudyard Kipling
The report published yesterday by the WMD Commission will delight all policy wonks who have a collector's passion for intelligence failures. Equipped with a rearward-looking telescope called hindsight, hunting down other people's mistakes is a fun sport--enjoyed by policy wonks as well as the media. But prudence suggests we should also have a forward-looking telescope to warn us of policy failures on the road ahead.
Congress, unfortunately, has a knack for noisily debating past intelligence failures, the better to distract the public from its chronic policy failures. Recall what happened to the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission late last year. Those who itch to blame every enemy attack on an intelligence failure banged their drums, clamoring for an "absolutely essential" reorganization of the entire intelligence bureaucracy, and insisting this multilayered cake had to be topped off with an intelligence czar.
Their clamor drowned out all the other measures that the 9/11 Report called for. Congress thus got away without living up to the recommendations that it consolidate its multiple and redundant committees, legislate reliable ID cards and biometric passports, redirect airport screening toward explosives rather than nail-clippers, and reform the broken system for visitors' visas.
The WMD Commission was given a far more restrictive charter than the 9/11 Commission. It was told to focus exclusively on the intelligence community. Fortunately, the commissioners had the wisdom to look beyond an indictment of past failures. To their great credit, they offer not merely a good read for Monday morning quarterbacks, but also a profound analysis of the unique problems that afflict U.S. intelligence on weapons of mass destruction.
These problems will not go away. The worldwide proliferation of WMD capabilities can be slowed down, but it cannot be stopped. It is high time that our body politic took this unpleasant fact on board. The globalization of science and technology will gradually, but ineluctably, spread the wherewithal for building mass destruction weapons. We are thus fated to confront a threat of a kind we have never faced before. And intertwined with this dismal fate is another predicament: Whatever the intelligence community can contribute regarding the WMD threat is severely limited by the unique aspects of mass-destruction weapons.
I shall try to explain this predicament for the busy readers who cannot peruse the 600-page report. To start my tutorial, I need to distinguish between tactical and strategic intelligence. (The commission's reference to "current intelligence" and "strategic" or long-term analysis addresses a different issue.) An example of tactical intelligence that would have greatly reduced the horror of 9/11 is a hypothetical FBI alert sent out Sept. 10, 2001, informing the Boston airport authorities that several foreign hijackers, armed only with knives and Mace, will try to board United Flight 175 and American Flight 11 the next morning. It is bliss to have such tactical intelligence and worth great effort to obtain it. It is utterly irresponsible to count on it.
Strategic intelligence prior to 9/11, by contrast, could have been gleaned from open sources, and if acted upon, might well have prevented 9/11. We knew all along how Israel's airline protected cockpits from hijackers. And in 1994 we were shown a "smoking gun": Algerian terrorists, who had hijacked a French passenger plane, landed in Marseille and demanded (unsuccessfully) to have it refueled, evidently to enhance the inferno they wanted to cause by crashing the plane into a Paris landmark. For the U.S. government to ignore this highly visible strategic warning was a policy failure, not an intelligence failure.
With this strategic/tactical distinction in mind, we can now see why the intelligence task regarding WMD is the most difficult of all intelligence missions. To obtain valuable tactical intelligence of a major aggression with conventional arms is much easier, because the enemy's preparations are more visible. For instance, in July 1990, a few days before Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait, both the Pentagon's intelligence and the CIA had compelling evidence of Iraqi preparations for an attack across Kuwait's borders.
But an enemy planning a clandestine, terrorist attack with mass-destruction weapons would not have to deploy large forces that we could detect. To cause mass casualties far exceeding those of 9/11, he could send just one competent and trustworthy courier--someone not on America's long list of suspects--with a few vials of an easily dispersible biological agent that would propagate into a pandemic. Or if the enemy's choice of WMD were nuclear, two smuggled bombs could inflict on American society an unimaginable social, political and economic disaster. Should we be so fortunate as to receive tactical intelligence of either of these kinds of attack, it would either be due to immense enemy stupidity or to an improbable stroke of luck.
We must not let the illusory quest for "reliable and timely" tactical warning blind us to strategic intelligence in plain sight. Keep in mind, taking advantage of strategic intelligence is standard procedure for the development of vaccines to protect us from natural viruses as well as from biological weapons. U.S. health authorities do not delay the production of vaccines until they receive a frantic report from Los Angeles airport that passengers with a lethal bird flu have landed, or from New York that smallpox has been spread in a crowded metro station.
Strangely, however, to protect America against a terrorist attack with a nuclear weapon, our government has been unresponsive to strategic intelligence. Such intelligence is all around us. We know that terrorist groups have tried to acquire nuclear weapons, we know that North Korea has them, we realize the safety of Pakistan's sizeable nuclear arsenal may hang by the thread of President Pervez Musharraf's survival. Yet, the policy makers keep neglecting the need for better instruments to detect and disable a smuggled nuclear bomb. Defense scientists have offered promising recommendations to this end since 1997. Nothing was done for seven years. The bureaucratic molasses began to heave only recently, with throngs of officials holding dozens of meetings. Of course, what would help prevent nuclear terrorism are not meetings in Washington but a vigorous, generously supported research program by scientists working in their laboratories. The WMD Commission agrees. Alas, at the speed with which this endeavor is proceeding, we will be lucky to have a useful capability deployed in 2020.
At the end of the day, the best tactical and strategic intelligence is worthless unless the policy makers find a way to make use of it. And both types of intelligence usually leave the user with multiple uncertainties. How likely is the predicted event? How closely will its key aspects resemble the picture drawn by the intelligence community? Would it be prudent to ignore the ambiguous warning, instead of launching a pre-emptive military strike against the presumed terrorists or the rogue nation harboring them? On which side of this knife will the president be blamed for reaching a very costly and dangerous decision?
To realize the gravity of these questions for the coming decades, it helps to consider another disturbing piece of strategic intelligence that is now in plain sight: the possibility of a widespread and prolonged electrical blackout caused by a single, relatively low-yield nuclear weapon. To shed more light on this threat, Congress established a commission which was staffed by highly competent scientists. The report by these experts was published last summer. It explained how the electromagnetic pulse from a high-altitude explosion of a nuclear weapon can deprive a large region of electricity and permanently disable electric equipment, thus shutting down the Internet, traffic lights, gasoline stations, food storage, police cars, fire engines, and municipal water and sewer systems. Without protective measures, such a vast and disabling blackout could last for months and cause near anarchy with huge casualties.
The media barely noticed this story. But scientific papers published in Russia and China indicate that the physics of such a blackout are no secret. Could North Korean scientists and engineers learn how to carry out such an attack? One can hope that their capability would not (or will never) be up to this rather complex task. Perhaps so.
In any event, whether under the influence of hope or fear, the buck stops not with the intelligence community but with the policy makers. It is the president and Congress who must decide to take costly and dangerous actions, or accept the risks of inaction. It is these elected policy makers who must rally the people to give first priority to the survival of our country.
Most Americans prefer to believe that the United States will have a bright future and think prophets of doom belong to decaying nations. This healthy frame of mind puts a ceiling on our tolerance for intelligence warnings about all sorts of cataclysmic terrorist attacks. Fair enough. As long as we don't shut our eyes in the sentry box.
Mr. Iklé is author of "Every War Must End" (Columbia Univ. Press, 2005) and is finishing a book at the Center for Strategic & International Studies on technology as a threat to democracy. He was Undersecretary of Defense for Policy in the Reagan administration, and is currently a member of the Defense Policy Board.
by Fred C. Ilke
But I'd shut my eyes in the sentry box,So I didn't see nothin' wrong.
--Rudyard Kipling
The report published yesterday by the WMD Commission will delight all policy wonks who have a collector's passion for intelligence failures. Equipped with a rearward-looking telescope called hindsight, hunting down other people's mistakes is a fun sport--enjoyed by policy wonks as well as the media. But prudence suggests we should also have a forward-looking telescope to warn us of policy failures on the road ahead.
Congress, unfortunately, has a knack for noisily debating past intelligence failures, the better to distract the public from its chronic policy failures. Recall what happened to the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission late last year. Those who itch to blame every enemy attack on an intelligence failure banged their drums, clamoring for an "absolutely essential" reorganization of the entire intelligence bureaucracy, and insisting this multilayered cake had to be topped off with an intelligence czar.
Their clamor drowned out all the other measures that the 9/11 Report called for. Congress thus got away without living up to the recommendations that it consolidate its multiple and redundant committees, legislate reliable ID cards and biometric passports, redirect airport screening toward explosives rather than nail-clippers, and reform the broken system for visitors' visas.
The WMD Commission was given a far more restrictive charter than the 9/11 Commission. It was told to focus exclusively on the intelligence community. Fortunately, the commissioners had the wisdom to look beyond an indictment of past failures. To their great credit, they offer not merely a good read for Monday morning quarterbacks, but also a profound analysis of the unique problems that afflict U.S. intelligence on weapons of mass destruction.
These problems will not go away. The worldwide proliferation of WMD capabilities can be slowed down, but it cannot be stopped. It is high time that our body politic took this unpleasant fact on board. The globalization of science and technology will gradually, but ineluctably, spread the wherewithal for building mass destruction weapons. We are thus fated to confront a threat of a kind we have never faced before. And intertwined with this dismal fate is another predicament: Whatever the intelligence community can contribute regarding the WMD threat is severely limited by the unique aspects of mass-destruction weapons.
I shall try to explain this predicament for the busy readers who cannot peruse the 600-page report. To start my tutorial, I need to distinguish between tactical and strategic intelligence. (The commission's reference to "current intelligence" and "strategic" or long-term analysis addresses a different issue.) An example of tactical intelligence that would have greatly reduced the horror of 9/11 is a hypothetical FBI alert sent out Sept. 10, 2001, informing the Boston airport authorities that several foreign hijackers, armed only with knives and Mace, will try to board United Flight 175 and American Flight 11 the next morning. It is bliss to have such tactical intelligence and worth great effort to obtain it. It is utterly irresponsible to count on it.
Strategic intelligence prior to 9/11, by contrast, could have been gleaned from open sources, and if acted upon, might well have prevented 9/11. We knew all along how Israel's airline protected cockpits from hijackers. And in 1994 we were shown a "smoking gun": Algerian terrorists, who had hijacked a French passenger plane, landed in Marseille and demanded (unsuccessfully) to have it refueled, evidently to enhance the inferno they wanted to cause by crashing the plane into a Paris landmark. For the U.S. government to ignore this highly visible strategic warning was a policy failure, not an intelligence failure.
With this strategic/tactical distinction in mind, we can now see why the intelligence task regarding WMD is the most difficult of all intelligence missions. To obtain valuable tactical intelligence of a major aggression with conventional arms is much easier, because the enemy's preparations are more visible. For instance, in July 1990, a few days before Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait, both the Pentagon's intelligence and the CIA had compelling evidence of Iraqi preparations for an attack across Kuwait's borders.
But an enemy planning a clandestine, terrorist attack with mass-destruction weapons would not have to deploy large forces that we could detect. To cause mass casualties far exceeding those of 9/11, he could send just one competent and trustworthy courier--someone not on America's long list of suspects--with a few vials of an easily dispersible biological agent that would propagate into a pandemic. Or if the enemy's choice of WMD were nuclear, two smuggled bombs could inflict on American society an unimaginable social, political and economic disaster. Should we be so fortunate as to receive tactical intelligence of either of these kinds of attack, it would either be due to immense enemy stupidity or to an improbable stroke of luck.
We must not let the illusory quest for "reliable and timely" tactical warning blind us to strategic intelligence in plain sight. Keep in mind, taking advantage of strategic intelligence is standard procedure for the development of vaccines to protect us from natural viruses as well as from biological weapons. U.S. health authorities do not delay the production of vaccines until they receive a frantic report from Los Angeles airport that passengers with a lethal bird flu have landed, or from New York that smallpox has been spread in a crowded metro station.
Strangely, however, to protect America against a terrorist attack with a nuclear weapon, our government has been unresponsive to strategic intelligence. Such intelligence is all around us. We know that terrorist groups have tried to acquire nuclear weapons, we know that North Korea has them, we realize the safety of Pakistan's sizeable nuclear arsenal may hang by the thread of President Pervez Musharraf's survival. Yet, the policy makers keep neglecting the need for better instruments to detect and disable a smuggled nuclear bomb. Defense scientists have offered promising recommendations to this end since 1997. Nothing was done for seven years. The bureaucratic molasses began to heave only recently, with throngs of officials holding dozens of meetings. Of course, what would help prevent nuclear terrorism are not meetings in Washington but a vigorous, generously supported research program by scientists working in their laboratories. The WMD Commission agrees. Alas, at the speed with which this endeavor is proceeding, we will be lucky to have a useful capability deployed in 2020.
At the end of the day, the best tactical and strategic intelligence is worthless unless the policy makers find a way to make use of it. And both types of intelligence usually leave the user with multiple uncertainties. How likely is the predicted event? How closely will its key aspects resemble the picture drawn by the intelligence community? Would it be prudent to ignore the ambiguous warning, instead of launching a pre-emptive military strike against the presumed terrorists or the rogue nation harboring them? On which side of this knife will the president be blamed for reaching a very costly and dangerous decision?
To realize the gravity of these questions for the coming decades, it helps to consider another disturbing piece of strategic intelligence that is now in plain sight: the possibility of a widespread and prolonged electrical blackout caused by a single, relatively low-yield nuclear weapon. To shed more light on this threat, Congress established a commission which was staffed by highly competent scientists. The report by these experts was published last summer. It explained how the electromagnetic pulse from a high-altitude explosion of a nuclear weapon can deprive a large region of electricity and permanently disable electric equipment, thus shutting down the Internet, traffic lights, gasoline stations, food storage, police cars, fire engines, and municipal water and sewer systems. Without protective measures, such a vast and disabling blackout could last for months and cause near anarchy with huge casualties.
The media barely noticed this story. But scientific papers published in Russia and China indicate that the physics of such a blackout are no secret. Could North Korean scientists and engineers learn how to carry out such an attack? One can hope that their capability would not (or will never) be up to this rather complex task. Perhaps so.
In any event, whether under the influence of hope or fear, the buck stops not with the intelligence community but with the policy makers. It is the president and Congress who must decide to take costly and dangerous actions, or accept the risks of inaction. It is these elected policy makers who must rally the people to give first priority to the survival of our country.
Most Americans prefer to believe that the United States will have a bright future and think prophets of doom belong to decaying nations. This healthy frame of mind puts a ceiling on our tolerance for intelligence warnings about all sorts of cataclysmic terrorist attacks. Fair enough. As long as we don't shut our eyes in the sentry box.
Mr. Iklé is author of "Every War Must End" (Columbia Univ. Press, 2005) and is finishing a book at the Center for Strategic & International Studies on technology as a threat to democracy. He was Undersecretary of Defense for Policy in the Reagan administration, and is currently a member of the Defense Policy Board.
articles 4/1
New Republic
Giving George W. Bush His Due On Democracy
The Politics of Churlishness
by Martin Peretz
NY Times
Bush Panel Finds Big Flaws Remain In U.S. Spy Efforts
A Final Verdict Of Pre-War Intelligence Is Still Elusive
Doubts On Source For Key Piece Of Data Were Suppressed, Report Says
Panel Warns That Defense Against Germ Attack Weak
Informing The Nation In A Readable Style
W. Post
Bush Welcomes Results of WMD Report
'We Will Correct What Needs to Be Fixed,' President Says
Doubts On Weapons Were Dismissed
To Err Is Human
Organizational reforms can't prevent people from being wrong.
By Fred Kaplan
R.O.C., R.I.P.?
by David Warren
AP
Sandy Berger to Plead Guilty
Former national security adviser will admit taking material from National Archives, a misdemeanor.
Reuters
Jane Fonda Regrets 1972 Visit to Vietnam Gun Site
Jane Fonda regrets her visit to a North Vietnamese gun site in 1972, the actress and fitness guru said in an interview with CBS television show "60 Minutes" to be aired Sunday.
Riding the Waves
Why Hillary will be hard to beat.
by Peggy Noonan
The Big Pitch: Do ads still work?
by Ken Auletta
Shock and Awe Come to the World Bank
by Clive Crook
Intelligence is Worthless Unless Policy Makers Act On It
by Fred Ikle
Syria and the New Axis of Evil
by Charles Krauthammer
A Silicon Valley Operator's Manual
Incumbents are hated; "disrupters" loved.
by Rich Karlgaard
Boston Globe
For family, religion shapes politics
Heartlanders convert others to live daily by 'the word of God'
How Liberalism Failed Terri Schiavo
The question is not only what she would have wanted, but what we owe her.
by Eric Cohen
It Is Ended
How the justice system failed Terri Schiavo, and us.
by William Anderson
"Evolving Standards of Decency"
"Evolving Standards of decency" saved Christopher Simmons's life; they weren't enough to save Terri Schiavo.
Rumblings & Grumblings
by Jayson Stark
Giving George W. Bush His Due On Democracy
The Politics of Churlishness
by Martin Peretz
NY Times
Bush Panel Finds Big Flaws Remain In U.S. Spy Efforts
A Final Verdict Of Pre-War Intelligence Is Still Elusive
Doubts On Source For Key Piece Of Data Were Suppressed, Report Says
Panel Warns That Defense Against Germ Attack Weak
Informing The Nation In A Readable Style
W. Post
Bush Welcomes Results of WMD Report
'We Will Correct What Needs to Be Fixed,' President Says
Doubts On Weapons Were Dismissed
To Err Is Human
Organizational reforms can't prevent people from being wrong.
By Fred Kaplan
R.O.C., R.I.P.?
by David Warren
AP
Sandy Berger to Plead Guilty
Former national security adviser will admit taking material from National Archives, a misdemeanor.
Reuters
Jane Fonda Regrets 1972 Visit to Vietnam Gun Site
Jane Fonda regrets her visit to a North Vietnamese gun site in 1972, the actress and fitness guru said in an interview with CBS television show "60 Minutes" to be aired Sunday.
Riding the Waves
Why Hillary will be hard to beat.
by Peggy Noonan
The Big Pitch: Do ads still work?
by Ken Auletta
Shock and Awe Come to the World Bank
by Clive Crook
Intelligence is Worthless Unless Policy Makers Act On It
by Fred Ikle
Syria and the New Axis of Evil
by Charles Krauthammer
A Silicon Valley Operator's Manual
Incumbents are hated; "disrupters" loved.
by Rich Karlgaard
Boston Globe
For family, religion shapes politics
Heartlanders convert others to live daily by 'the word of God'
How Liberalism Failed Terri Schiavo
The question is not only what she would have wanted, but what we owe her.
by Eric Cohen
It Is Ended
How the justice system failed Terri Schiavo, and us.
by William Anderson
"Evolving Standards of Decency"
"Evolving Standards of decency" saved Christopher Simmons's life; they weren't enough to save Terri Schiavo.
Rumblings & Grumblings
by Jayson Stark
Thursday, March 31, 2005
Commission on the Intelligence Capabilities of the United States Regarding Weapon of Mass Destruction
DOWNLOAD ENTIRE REPORT IN PDF FORMAT (3.3 MB)
For an HTML version of this report, please visit www.wmd.gov/report.
Letter to the President on FBI and CIA Transformation Plans 
Transmittal Letter
Overview of the Report
Part One: Looking Back
Chapter One Case Study: Iraq
Chapter Two Case Study: Libya
Chapter Three Case Study: Al-Qa'ida in Afghanistan
Chapter Four: Terrorism: Managing Today's Threat
Chapter Five: Iran and North Korea: Monitoring the Development of Nuclear Weapons
Part Two: Looking Forward
Chapter Six: Leadership and Management: Forging an Integrated Intelligence Community
Chapter Seven: Collection
Chapter Eight: Analysis
Chapter Nine: Information Sharing
Chapter Ten: Intelligence at Home: The FBI, Justice, and Homeland Security
Chapter Eleven: Counterintelligence
Chapter Twelve: Covert Action
Chapter Thirteen: The Changing Proliferation Threat and the Intelligence Response
Conclusion
Postscript: Additional Intelligence Challenges
Appendix A: Authorizing Executive Order
Appendix B: List of Findings and Recommendations
Appendix C: An Intelligence Community Primer
Appendix D: Common Abbreviations
Appendix E: Biographical Information for Commissioners and List of Commission Staff
articles 3/31
Commission on the Intelligence Capabilities of the US Regarding Weapons of Mass Destruction
Executive Order [PDF] [HTML]
White House Fact Sheet [PDF] [HTML]
President's Statement [PDF] [HTML]
Report to the President of the United States, March 31, 2005
Reuters
Bush Panel to Urge Intelligence Agency Changes
Report Finds U.S. Intelligence Still Flawed
NY Times
Using Clues From Libya to Study a Nuclear Mystery
Stem cell swap
by Robert Novak
The quiet of Easter recess on Capitol Hill was interrupted last week by stunning news that Republican leaders of the House had changed their position on allowing a vote for federal funding of human embryonic stem cell research opposed by President Bush.
Going Out for Indian
By helping India become "a major world power," the administration is showing the global seriuosness of the Bush Doctrine.
by Tom Donnelly
Hating the "Religious Right"
Should people of faith also be allowed a say in the law-making process?
by Hugh Hewitt
Who Will Defend the Defenders?
The academy takes aim at the Pat Roberts Intelligence Scholars Program
by Stanley Kurtz
Photo
Spain's Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero talks to Noemi Sanin, the Colombian ambassador in Spain upon his arrival in Bogota, Colombia, Wednesday
Executive Order [PDF] [HTML]
White House Fact Sheet [PDF] [HTML]
President's Statement [PDF] [HTML]
Report to the President of the United States, March 31, 2005
Reuters
Bush Panel to Urge Intelligence Agency Changes
Report Finds U.S. Intelligence Still Flawed
NY Times
Using Clues From Libya to Study a Nuclear Mystery
Stem cell swap
by Robert Novak
The quiet of Easter recess on Capitol Hill was interrupted last week by stunning news that Republican leaders of the House had changed their position on allowing a vote for federal funding of human embryonic stem cell research opposed by President Bush.
Going Out for Indian
By helping India become "a major world power," the administration is showing the global seriuosness of the Bush Doctrine.
by Tom Donnelly
Hating the "Religious Right"
Should people of faith also be allowed a say in the law-making process?
by Hugh Hewitt
Who Will Defend the Defenders?
The academy takes aim at the Pat Roberts Intelligence Scholars Program
by Stanley Kurtz
Photo
Spain's Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero talks to Noemi Sanin, the Colombian ambassador in Spain upon his arrival in Bogota, Colombia, Wednesday
Wednesday, March 30, 2005
articles 3/30
Cracked
by Jonah Goldberg
Here we go again. Suddenly, conservatives, libertarians and other souls of a rightish bent are pondering whether a 'conservative crack-up' is nigh.
W. Post
Panel to Report on Intelligence
WMD panel's 700-page report urges government to keep specialists dispersed in various intelligence agencies.
NY Times
Bush Views New Report on Spy Lapses With Favor
Reuters
Bush Briefed on WMD Intelligence Report
Rumsfeld And the Generals
by David Ignatius
Best of the Web
Who'll Remember Terri Schiavo?
The Cuban Revolution
The maverick billionaire blogger wants to take the film out of the film industry. And his all-digital vision is coming soon to a screen near you.
By Xeni Jardin
Grok Around the Clock
Share those MP3s now—the Supreme Court may try to stop you soon.
By Emily Bazelon
AP
Review: U2 Gives Pulpit-Worthy Performance
USA Today
U2's Vertigo tour is a whirl of rock 'n' roll passion
Rockers can still stir an audience
NY Times
Rock Icons Content to Do the Things They Do Best
Reuters
U2 Opens 'Vertigo' Tour in San Diego
San Diego Union-Tribune
U2 opener uneven yet uplifting, unifying
Band begins tour with customary poise, panache
NY Post
U2: Rock & Roar
LA Times
Heartfelt ambition
Challenging, personal themes and enduring energy keep U2 more relevant than ever.
by Robert Hilburn, Times Staff Writer
Great rock bands tend to be built for sprints rather than marathons. They come and go in brief bursts of glory, usually torn apart by internal problems or the inability to maintain a creative edge. Nirvana was gone in the blink of an eye. The Beatles never really made it out of the '60s.
All this makes U2 unique.
One reason for the band's continued relevance after a quarter-century is that the quartet keeps challenging itself -- never more so than in the captivating new world tour, which began Monday at San Diego's Sports Arena.
U2's latest album, "How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb," is a thoughtful, deeply personal look at faith, family and rejuvenation; not exactly easy themes to build an arena rock show around. Yet the band brought the spirit of the album to the stage in a two-hour set that was as warm and eloquent as the songs.
Rather than open with "Vertigo," the rousing hit from "Dismantle" that is such disarming fun that even its use in the iPod ad campaign hasn't sabotaged its charm, U2 started the concert Monday with "City of Blinding Lights," a song that touches the heart of the new CD even more clearly.
In "City" and elsewhere, Bono speaks, among other things, about maintaining youthful innocence and faith: "Time ... time/ Won't leave me as I am/ But time won't take the boy out of this man.
"With the audience already on its feet dancing to the beat, Bono screamed the familiar opening line of "Vertigo" -- "Uno, dos, tres, catorce" -- and the 17,000 fans were hooked even more by the liberating strains of the guitar-driven music.
U2 then cut dramatically to a medley of tunes from its first album, 1980's "Boy," taking us back to the beginning of its journey, as musicians and people. The band members were on the edges of 20 when that album was released and the music was bathed in the innocence and aspirations of youth.
In "Dismantle," Bono, the parent and adult, looks back at some of those ideals. Where he once thought it was only a matter of time until questions of faith and life would be resolved, he now knows some of life's mysteries will never be known. Still, it's important, he says, not to succumb to cynicism and indifference.
To explore that theme, U2 featured seven songs from the CD in the concert, the most powerful of which was "Sometimes You Can't Make It on Your Own," which Bono wrote about his efforts to get closer to his father before the latter's death in 2001. Marching around the heart-shaped ramp that the group has brought with it from the last tour, Bono told about discovering during the process how dependent he was on his father despite the distance between them. Near the end of the song, it is clear he, too, is seeking comfort: "Don't leave me here alone."
For a band that made its mark with soaring, guitar-driven anthems that commanded you to march along, these new songs are all the more touching because they rely on the superb subtlety and restraint of U2 as musicians.
Instead of the rows of massive video screens the band has used on previous tours, it also aimed for an intimacy in the arena by employing only a modest screen above the stage, thus forcing the audience to watch the band members rather than larger-than-life video images. The sense of community is further stressed by the showing of all four members of the band, not just Bono.
Throughout Monday's set, U2 played, to use the title of its most affecting anthem, as one, with the sound blending together with almost uncanny force and unity. The Edge's guitar lines, the band's most inspired feature, can be both caressing and explosive, sometimes in the same passage. The rhythm section of bassist Adam Clayton and drummer Larry Mullen Jr. adds a relentless urgency to the music that backs Bono's vocals ideally, allowing his voice to soar as if he were playing a cathedral or whisper as if in a confessional booth.
The band reprised some of its most powerful old material, including the despair of "Running to Stand Still" and the commentary of "Sunday Bloody Sunday." It also strung together "Pride (In the Name of Love)," "Where the Streets Have No Name" and "One" in a moving segment during which Bono became the voice of world compassion.
Even some U2 fans used to mock Bono as "Saint Bono" for what seemed to be grandiose social ideals, but his steady devotion to social causes over the years has made him not only accepted in the role, but gives the music even more relevance because he is trying to turn his words into action.
For the final encore, however, U2 again relied on two "Dismantle" songs: a speeded-up treatment of "All Because of You," one of the most overtly devotional songs on the album, and "Yahweh," another statement of compassion and grace that includes the line, "Take this soul and make it sing."
By most rock standards, the gentle ending was too understated for the start of a tour, but it was a bold, triumphant move.
Rock 'n' roll has been built mostly on edgy elements, including rebellion, irreverence and exuberance. The Beatles became the first great rock band by both reflecting each of them and by introducing a strain of social optimism through such tunes as "All You Need Is Love."
While thousands of bands have experimented with the rebellion and irreverence, U2 has explored the idealism with a dedication and conviction that would not only have impressed the Beatles but that has earned it a place alongside that band at the very creative heart of rock.
Only Bruce Springsteen, perhaps, of post-'60s artists with such mass appeal, has approached each show with U2's unwavering passion and purpose. He tries to give his best in each show, he says, because someone in the audience may be seeing him for the first time and he always wants that newcomer to see the band at its best.
Bono and U2 have taken that mission even further. It's as if they believe there may be someone in the crowd who has been to every show, and they want to make sure that fan is touched deeper each night.
That fan would recognize in an instant that U2 was standing still if it took the easy way out and, like so many other veteran bands, just served up a "greatest hits" show every night.
No way anyone thought that Monday.
U2 didn't just take the audience in its arms the way it has for 25 years now, the band took it inside its heart.
Robert Hilburn can be reached at Robert.Hilburn@latimes .com.
by Jonah Goldberg
Here we go again. Suddenly, conservatives, libertarians and other souls of a rightish bent are pondering whether a 'conservative crack-up' is nigh.
W. Post
Panel to Report on Intelligence
WMD panel's 700-page report urges government to keep specialists dispersed in various intelligence agencies.
NY Times
Bush Views New Report on Spy Lapses With Favor
Reuters
Bush Briefed on WMD Intelligence Report
Rumsfeld And the Generals
by David Ignatius
Best of the Web
Who'll Remember Terri Schiavo?
The Cuban Revolution
The maverick billionaire blogger wants to take the film out of the film industry. And his all-digital vision is coming soon to a screen near you.
By Xeni Jardin
Grok Around the Clock
Share those MP3s now—the Supreme Court may try to stop you soon.
By Emily Bazelon
AP
Review: U2 Gives Pulpit-Worthy Performance
USA Today
U2's Vertigo tour is a whirl of rock 'n' roll passion
Rockers can still stir an audience
NY Times
Rock Icons Content to Do the Things They Do Best
Reuters
U2 Opens 'Vertigo' Tour in San Diego
San Diego Union-Tribune
U2 opener uneven yet uplifting, unifying
Band begins tour with customary poise, panache
NY Post
U2: Rock & Roar
LA Times
Heartfelt ambition
Challenging, personal themes and enduring energy keep U2 more relevant than ever.
by Robert Hilburn, Times Staff Writer
Great rock bands tend to be built for sprints rather than marathons. They come and go in brief bursts of glory, usually torn apart by internal problems or the inability to maintain a creative edge. Nirvana was gone in the blink of an eye. The Beatles never really made it out of the '60s.
All this makes U2 unique.
One reason for the band's continued relevance after a quarter-century is that the quartet keeps challenging itself -- never more so than in the captivating new world tour, which began Monday at San Diego's Sports Arena.
U2's latest album, "How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb," is a thoughtful, deeply personal look at faith, family and rejuvenation; not exactly easy themes to build an arena rock show around. Yet the band brought the spirit of the album to the stage in a two-hour set that was as warm and eloquent as the songs.
Rather than open with "Vertigo," the rousing hit from "Dismantle" that is such disarming fun that even its use in the iPod ad campaign hasn't sabotaged its charm, U2 started the concert Monday with "City of Blinding Lights," a song that touches the heart of the new CD even more clearly.
In "City" and elsewhere, Bono speaks, among other things, about maintaining youthful innocence and faith: "Time ... time/ Won't leave me as I am/ But time won't take the boy out of this man.
"With the audience already on its feet dancing to the beat, Bono screamed the familiar opening line of "Vertigo" -- "Uno, dos, tres, catorce" -- and the 17,000 fans were hooked even more by the liberating strains of the guitar-driven music.
U2 then cut dramatically to a medley of tunes from its first album, 1980's "Boy," taking us back to the beginning of its journey, as musicians and people. The band members were on the edges of 20 when that album was released and the music was bathed in the innocence and aspirations of youth.
In "Dismantle," Bono, the parent and adult, looks back at some of those ideals. Where he once thought it was only a matter of time until questions of faith and life would be resolved, he now knows some of life's mysteries will never be known. Still, it's important, he says, not to succumb to cynicism and indifference.
To explore that theme, U2 featured seven songs from the CD in the concert, the most powerful of which was "Sometimes You Can't Make It on Your Own," which Bono wrote about his efforts to get closer to his father before the latter's death in 2001. Marching around the heart-shaped ramp that the group has brought with it from the last tour, Bono told about discovering during the process how dependent he was on his father despite the distance between them. Near the end of the song, it is clear he, too, is seeking comfort: "Don't leave me here alone."
For a band that made its mark with soaring, guitar-driven anthems that commanded you to march along, these new songs are all the more touching because they rely on the superb subtlety and restraint of U2 as musicians.
Instead of the rows of massive video screens the band has used on previous tours, it also aimed for an intimacy in the arena by employing only a modest screen above the stage, thus forcing the audience to watch the band members rather than larger-than-life video images. The sense of community is further stressed by the showing of all four members of the band, not just Bono.
Throughout Monday's set, U2 played, to use the title of its most affecting anthem, as one, with the sound blending together with almost uncanny force and unity. The Edge's guitar lines, the band's most inspired feature, can be both caressing and explosive, sometimes in the same passage. The rhythm section of bassist Adam Clayton and drummer Larry Mullen Jr. adds a relentless urgency to the music that backs Bono's vocals ideally, allowing his voice to soar as if he were playing a cathedral or whisper as if in a confessional booth.
The band reprised some of its most powerful old material, including the despair of "Running to Stand Still" and the commentary of "Sunday Bloody Sunday." It also strung together "Pride (In the Name of Love)," "Where the Streets Have No Name" and "One" in a moving segment during which Bono became the voice of world compassion.
Even some U2 fans used to mock Bono as "Saint Bono" for what seemed to be grandiose social ideals, but his steady devotion to social causes over the years has made him not only accepted in the role, but gives the music even more relevance because he is trying to turn his words into action.
For the final encore, however, U2 again relied on two "Dismantle" songs: a speeded-up treatment of "All Because of You," one of the most overtly devotional songs on the album, and "Yahweh," another statement of compassion and grace that includes the line, "Take this soul and make it sing."
By most rock standards, the gentle ending was too understated for the start of a tour, but it was a bold, triumphant move.
Rock 'n' roll has been built mostly on edgy elements, including rebellion, irreverence and exuberance. The Beatles became the first great rock band by both reflecting each of them and by introducing a strain of social optimism through such tunes as "All You Need Is Love."
While thousands of bands have experimented with the rebellion and irreverence, U2 has explored the idealism with a dedication and conviction that would not only have impressed the Beatles but that has earned it a place alongside that band at the very creative heart of rock.
Only Bruce Springsteen, perhaps, of post-'60s artists with such mass appeal, has approached each show with U2's unwavering passion and purpose. He tries to give his best in each show, he says, because someone in the audience may be seeing him for the first time and he always wants that newcomer to see the band at its best.
Bono and U2 have taken that mission even further. It's as if they believe there may be someone in the crowd who has been to every show, and they want to make sure that fan is touched deeper each night.
That fan would recognize in an instant that U2 was standing still if it took the easy way out and, like so many other veteran bands, just served up a "greatest hits" show every night.
No way anyone thought that Monday.
U2 didn't just take the audience in its arms the way it has for 25 years now, the band took it inside its heart.
Robert Hilburn can be reached at Robert.Hilburn@latimes .com.
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