Great post on the bureaucratization of the modern academy and the outcome of the “culture wars” by English Prof Erin O’Connor — who in her inspired analysis seems (to me, at least) to be channeling Christina Hoff Sommers: […] bureaucracy is not at all politically neutral; it is, indeed, the engine of central planning, and as such is the far left’s organizational mode of choice. As in socialism, so in

From Ha’aretz: “Military officials: Use of F-16 was a mistake“ Amid scathing international criticism of the Gaza air strike, Israeli military officials have said that it was a mistaken decision to have dropped a one-ton bomb from an F-16 warplane in order to assassinate the man who headed Israel’s most-wanted list. Senior officials said Wednesday that had Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Defense Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer known that innocents were

“A Houston attorney will not face charges in connection with a fatal road rage shooting,” ABC News in Houston reports. David Russo was cleared by a grand jury in the shooting death of Marcus Peacock. According to Russo, he fired four shots at Peacock after [Peacock] punched out his window following a traffic incident on the corner of Richmond and Shepherd back in April. And fire four shots he should

“Police in Eureka say a woman who allegedly shot a man to death because she thought he molested her granddaughter apparently got the wrong guy,” The Modesto Bee reports. “Dianna Mae Preston of Trinidad is being held for investigation of murder.” Investigators said yesterday that Preston shot Kevin LaPorta of Dinsmore Friday night in a parking lot — then followed him into a Chinese restaurant and shot him twice more.

In literary news, two deaths to report: First, Chiam Potok, author of The Chosen, died from brain cancer Tuesday. He was 73. “Chaim Potok’s Orthodox upbringing and religious training influenced his novels and other work,” The Austin American-Statesman reports. “‘He created an American stream that really didn’t exist before. He wrote directly from the interior of the Jewish theological experience, rather than from the social experience. And they were best

Scenes from yesterday’s Bank of the West Classic upset: Anna Kournikova defeats eighth seeded Israeli Anna Smashnova! [Animated GIF now archived here to speed up loading of main page] Yes, it’s juvenile, I know. My wife doesn’t much like it, either. What can I say? Sorry.

“An argument between two handicapped men over a hospital parking space escalated when one man whipped out a sword, prompting the other to pull out a gun,” Court TV reports. “Lee Damron, 48, was arrested for aggravated assault on March 13 for his bizarre and menacing behavior, authorities said.” Eyewitnesses in the crowded parking lot of Oak Hill Hospital told police that at about 3 p.m., Damron pulled near a

Writing for the editors, David Tell of The Weekly Standard again probes the atmosphere of “Civil Hysteria” in this country, particularly as it pertains to issues of detention and civil liberties: […] as we read the Justice Department’s filings in [Yasser] Hamdi’s ongoing habeas corpus proceedings, it simply isn’t true — as nearly every editorial page would have it — that our government is claiming unilateral, absolute power to call

If anybody needs me, I’ll be watching Costa-Gavras’ Z (1969). I’ll also be enjoying a tuna salad-sandwich and a bowl of New England clam chowder. And perhaps a handful of devil’s food cake cookies. It’s not much, granted. But it’s all I have….

“We won civil rights long ago. Now success is up to individuals.” So argues John McWhorter, writing in the City Journal: The civil rights era ended a long time ago, victorious. Blacks once needed a Black Leader like King to galvanize the conscience of the government and the nation, but what