The American Spectator

May 2009

Note From the Publisher

• A Question of Competence

  Alfred S. Regnery

Correspondence

• Correspondence

Freedom Watch

• It's Up to Us

  I don’t think those of us involved in the political scene spend enough time talking about freedom.

  Mark Sanford

The Continuing Crisis

• The Continuing Crisis

  R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr.

On the Prowl

• On the Prowl

  The Prowler

Features

• They Shoot Cats, Don't They?

  Recollecting the time Mike Wallace and 60 Minutes actually apologized.

  Quin Hillyer

• Secretary Loophole

  From his unprecedented power grabs to his personal income taxes, Timothy Geithner has made a career of bending the rules and threading the needle.

  Timothy P. Carney

• The Fed Fails Upward

  Thanks to Washington's growing regulatory mood, the Federal Reserve is about to be handed unprecedented controls over the market functions of the American economy.

  Peter J. Wallison

• The National Socialism of Obamanomics

  It's been tried before and found ruinous -- from our new May issue.

  James Srodes

The Pursuit of Knowledge

• Free Speech in Europe

  It is at risk, especially for critics of radical Islam.

  Roger Scruton

Capitol Ideas

• Population, Economy, and God

  Western fertility decline is now deplored even by an inventor of the Pill.

  Tom Bethell

Political Hay

• Clubbing the Moderates

  Have conservative primary challengers shrunk the GOP?

  W. James Antle, III

The Public Policy

• Obama's Assault on the Middle Class

  Peter Ferrara

Presswatch

• Gold Star Movie

  James Taranto

The Nation's Pulse

• Killing Time

  A once great newsweekly grows weaker and weaker.

  William Murchison

Politics

• Screen Savorer

  John H. Fund

The Environmental Spectator

• Greenpeace Un-Moored

  Patrick Moore helped found the anti-nuke organization -- so why is it trying to erase him for its history?

  Max Schulz

High Spirits

• Welcome to Beeson

  A divinity school whose impact is being felt around the world and in the groves of theological academe.

  Jonathan Aitken

Ben Stein's Diary

• For Crying Out Loud

  Many days in the life, from Fresno to Spartanburg.

  Ben Stein

Conservative Tastes

• Escaping Ideology

  James Bowman

Books in Review

• Risky Business

  The Martians/asteroids/glaciers are coming -- global catastrophic risks as you've never imagined them.

  Craig S. Lerner

• The House of Liberalism

  Alan Wolfe writes poorly about conservatism.

  James Poulos

• To Heller and Back

  The Supreme Court has established that the Second Amendment protects an individual right, but the D.C. government isn't ready to let its residents exercise it.

  David Hogberg

• Funny Money

  Like it or not, today the euro is a fact of life -- and the impressive David Marsh has turned its history into a page-turner.

  Joseph A. Harriss

Current Wisdom

• Current Wisdom

Public Nuisances

• Missing Bill

  R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr.

Last Call

• Daughter Boom

  Thank heaven for little girls.

  Paul Beston