P.J. Sullivan Albert Einstein said that the way to prevent wars is to prepare for them. Jeanette Rankin disagreed, saying that preparation for war leads to war. Armies always claim self-defense. They don’t like to admit to being the aggressor. It is always “the other guy” who started it. Of course, this is absurd. Somebody…
Daniel N. White The best ever analysis of the United States’ strategic position comes from a speech Abraham Lincoln made in Springfield, Illinois, in 1858 if my memory serves me rightly, at the annual Springfield Jefferson-Jackson Day Dinner. Lincoln got to talking about the United States and its position in the world, and said: “All…
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: “A mnemonic (the first “m” is silent), or mnemonic device, is any learning technique that aids information retention. Mnemonics aim to translate information into a form that the brain can retain better than its original form. In fact, ‘Memory Needs Every Method Of Nurturing Its Capacity’ is a mnemonic for…
By Bill Dyer Forty five years ago this month, American troops engaged in an 11 day frontal assault on a hill over looking the A Shau Valley, thought to be a major supply and staging area for the North Vietnamese Army, operating under the cover of triple canopy jungle and thickets of elephant grass. The…
Glenn Greenwald. Introduction by William Astore. What is a patriot? To my mind, someone who stands up for the best of America. Someone who remembers that the government serves the people and not vice-versa. Someone who knows that democracy and freedom are based on transparency and honesty. And someone who is willing to sacrifice, even…
W.J. Astore In Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere, the U.S. military is fairly good at projecting power. Indeed, the military prides itself on “global reach, global power,” achieved through a worldwide system of bases and funded by enormous amounts of “defense” spending. What the U.S. military is not so good at is understanding foreign cultures. Often,…
Richard Sahn. Introduction by William Astore. Being a college professor is supposed to be a grand profession. Assuming we’re not underpaid adjuncts with neither benefits nor job security, our pay is decent, our autonomy is considerable, and we get a fair amount of time off in the summer. How dare we whine about hardships! But…
Michael Gallagher Maureen Dowd, in her recent New York Times column (“A Saint, He Ain’t”), was, unfortunately, one of the few commentators on John Paul II’s canonization bold enough to voice a dissent. I, for one, wholly agree with her misgivings. My only problem is that she should have expressed a few more. As heinous,…
P. J. Sullivan What is the most urgent problem facing our planet? Our country? Is it warfare? Nuclear proliferation? Oil depletion? Hunger? Epidemics? Air and water pollution? Degradation of our food? Soaring housing costs? Global climate change? Species extinctions? Deforestation? All of these are important, but what is it that they all have in common?…
By Todd Miller. Introduction by William Astore. About twenty years ago, I received emails from a conservative friend that depicted an ongoing invasion of Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, and California by a flood of Mexican immigrants hellbent on reversing the outcome of the Mexican-American War of the 1840s. I laughed at the time at the…
The Contrary Perspective 