The American Spectator

December 2011 - January 2012

Note From the Publisher

• Obama Can't Get Past the Past

  Alfred S. Regnery

Freedom Watch

• Job Creation Is No Mystery

  Time to put freedom back to work.

  Tom McClintock

The Continuing Crisis

• The Continuing Crisis

  R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr.

Features

• Cloudy With a Chance of Weapons and Gold

  A report from a semi-annual machine gun festival, held just this side of Fort Knox.

  Dan Peterson

• Books for Christmas

  Our annual list of holiday gift suggestions from distinguished readers and writers.

• The Teening of America

  It used to be we couldn't wait to grow up. Now we strive for permanent adolescence.

  Gerald Nachman

• The Gospel According To Wright

  How much of Pastor Jeremiah Wright's race-based "theology" does Barack Obama really share?

  Charles C. Johnson

• FDR's Class Warfare: A Tutorial For Obama

  Not that he needs any further lessons from the master of confiscatory taxation. 

  Burton Folsom, Jr. & Anita Folsom

The Tax and Spend Spectator

• A Balanced Budget Consensus

  Grover G. Norquist

London Calling

• Rockwell of Ages

  Norman Rockwell's America wowed England this year.

  Paul Johnson

The Health Care Spectator

• Not What the Doctor Ordered

  Romney isn't the only Republican who paved the way for Obamacare.

  W. James Antle, III

The Pursuit of Knowledge

• Paying the Price

  There's no question but that a Greece should be "allowed" to default.

  Roger Scruton

With the Tea Partiers

• Pre-Occupied With the Tea Party

  Ned Ryun

Eminentoes

• Steve Jobs vs. Bill Gates

  The hare wins in the end (and gives a far superior speech).

  Andrew B. Wilson & Robert O. Skovgard

Capitol Ideas

• A Monstrosity, Not a Monument

  Frank Gehry's design for the Eisenhower Memorial in Washington is an insult to all concerned.

  Tom Bethell

Presswatch

• Occupy the Media

  James Taranto

Letter From Paris

• What Is Your Sign?

  The all-important answer will tell the French who you are.

  Joseph A. Harriss

Politics

• ACORN to the Rescue

  John H. Fund

Spectator's Journal

• Iraq in the Rearview Mirror

  So now that we're out, what did we accomplish?

  Jed Babbin

High Spirits

• Soaring Down Under

  There's little chance Australia will settle for America's self-doubt or Europe's pessimism.

  Jonathan Aitken

Ben Stein's Diary

• Searching for a Way Out

  Don't miss Ben's favorite poem "about working and love and Wagner and Cadillacs."

  Ben Stein

Conservative Tastes

• Behind the Headlines

  "Nothing is what it seems" is all the rage these empty-headed days.

  James Bowman

Books in Review

• Crime, Punishment, and Politics

  William Shawcross's central concern: how best, within a coherent legal framework, to deal effectively with combatants and terrorists.

  John R. Coyne, Jr.

• Pretty Woman

  The most famous name in fashion is infamous for other reasons.

  Roger Kaplan

• For He's (Mostly) A Jolly Good Fellow

  Aram Bakshian, Jr.

• A Guide To Lay Holiness

  An outstanding book from outstanding Catholic laymen Michael Novak and William E. Simon Jr.

  Matthew Kenefick

Current Wisdom

• Current Wisdom

  Assorted Jackasses

Public Nuisances

• Claptrap Legislation

  R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr.

• Scandal in the White House in Times Past

  R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr.

Last Call

• Holiday Home-Going

  A Christmas memoir for the determined if delirious traveler.  

  Quin Hillyer