The American Spectator

March 2009

Note From the Publisher

• Promises, Promises

  Alfred S. Regnery

On the Prowl

• On the Prowl

  The Prowler

Features

• That '70s Horror Show

  Here it comes again -- and Jimmy Carter should sue for residuals.

  Stephen Moore

• Osama bin Elvis

  All the evidence suggests Elvis Presley is more alive today than Osama bin Laden. But tell that to the CIA and all the other misconceptualizers of the War on Terror.

  Angelo M. Codevilla

• A Modern-Day Bleak House

  The legal inheritance of Anna Nicole Smith.

  Ronald D. Rotunda

• Islam and Free Speech

  Will the United States follow the UN's lead and go the way of Europe and Canada in appeasing politicized sensitivities?

  Jeremy Rabkin

The Pursuit of Knowledge

• The New Humanism

  It spends little time idealizing man, and prefers to denigrate belief in God as a human weakness.

  Roger Scruton

Capitol Ideas

• Poets Galore and Subsidized Poets

  Anyone still remember Elizabeth Alexander's performance at the Obama inaugural?

  Tom Bethell

The Public Policy

• Why the World Is Getting Warmer, Even Though It Is Getting Colder

  Peter Ferrara

Presswatch

• The Honeymooners

  James Taranto

Politics

• LaHood's Neighborhood

  John H. Fund

The Hell-Hole Spectator

• Avoiding Disaster in Afghanistan

  The country is a land mine. If not handled properly, it will blow a hole in the Obama presidency before the midterm elections.

  Stefan Halper

The Energy Spectator

• Bio-Fools

  There are those who think turkey droppings and French fry grease offer a path to energy independence.

  Max Schulz

High Spirits

• Defrosting Nixon

  Jonathan Aitken

Conservative Tastes

• Elite Escapism

  James Bowman

Books in Review

• Doctrinal Candidates

  A response to the intelligent criticisms conservatives have made of political bias in academia.

  Robert VerBruggen

• Radical Sick

  Young Che is the latest addition to the vast flood of devotional literature on the Argentine-Cuban revolutionary Ernesto ("Che") Guevara.

  Mark Falcoff

• War by Other Means

  Daniel Johnson's fascinating account of the Soviet Union's attempt to turn an ancient game into a Cold War weapon.

  Joseph A. Harriss

• Socking the Angel

  The wonderful Flannery O'Connor is the most famous Roman Catholic writer America has produced.

  Algis Valiunas

The Slaughterhouse

• Huffing and Puffing

  The Huffington Post shows off its wares.

  Wlady Pleszczynski

Current Wisdom

• Current Wisdom

  Assorted Jackasses

Public Nuisances

• J. Gordon Coogler Award for 2008

  R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr.

Last Call

• Lincoln at 200

  He saved the Union, increased the sum total of freedom, advanced the very concept of democracy in the United States and the world.

  Roger Kaplan