by Patrick J. Buchanan – December 30, 2002

How sharper than a serpent’s tooth it is
To have a thankless child.

Lear’s reflection upon ingratitude comes to mind as one reads of the squabble among neoconservatives over who among them was first to stick his nail file in the back of Trent Lott.

Charles Krauthammer enters a claim for the Kristol-Bennett crowd, while Jonah Goldberg of National Review and cashiered Bush speech-writer David Frum insist they, too, played supporting roles.

by Patrick J. Buchanan – December 26, 2002

Two thousand years have elapsed since the Birth of Christ in Bethlehem, the event that engendered Western civilization. But for Christianity, the sun has begun to set in the West.

Born in Judea, Christianity spread swiftly across Asia Minor, North Africa and on to Rome, where it was persecuted for 300 years. Then, for the three centuries after Constantine, though riven by heresies, Christianity was the faith of the Roman Empire.

With the death of Muhammad in 632, however, a fighting new faith arose. In a century, Islam had seized Arabia, captured the Holy Land, swept over Africa and conquered Spain.

by Patrick J. Buchanan – December 23, 2002

With the president and Secretary Powell joining the British in declaring Iraq to be in breach of U.N. resolutions, all indicators point to a winter war. Though 60 percent of the American people do not believe the president has made the case for war, nine in 10 believe war is coming. They are almost surely right.

Reserves are being called up and sent to the Gulf. Four U.S. aircraft carriers – the Nimitz, Kitty Hawk, Abraham Lincoln and Harry S. Truman – are in the region. The Constellation is on the way. Britain’s Ark Royal will bring to six the number of carrier battle groups within striking distance of Baghdad.

by Patrick J. Buchanan – December 18, 2002

When the official autopsy is performed on the corpse of Trent Lott, it will be revealed that he died of a stab wound that came from above. This time, Caesar knifed Brutus.

Before a black audience in Philadelphia, Bush rose to declare in piety and self-righteousness, “Recent comments by Sen. Lott do not reflect the spirit of our country. He has apologized and rightly so. Every day that America was segregated was a day that America was unfaithful to our ideals.”

by Patrick J. Buchanan – December 13, 2002

He was an ancient among the boys of the Greatest Generation. Thirty-nine years old, a sitting judge at the time of Pearl Harbor, he resigned from the bench and volunteered for the 82nd Airborne, the bravest of the brave.

On D-Day, he crash-landed in a glider in France, hours before the Higgins boats hit the beach, and helped liberate Ste. Mere-Eglise. Days later, he was photographed driving a military vehicle that had lately been the property of the Third Reich. Decorated for wounds and valor, he was with the Army unit that liberated Buchenwald.

by Patrick J. Buchanan – December 11, 2002

As the Watergate scandal of 1973-1974 diverted attention from the far greater tragedy unfolding in Southeast Asia, so, too, the scandal of predator-priests now afflicting the Catholic Church may be covering up a far greater calamity.

Thirty-seven years after the end of the only church council of the 20th century, the jury has come in with its verdict: Vatican II appears to have been an unrelieved disaster for Roman Catholicism.

by Patrick J. Buchanan – December 9, 2002

Just as the Battle of Gettysburg was about far more than who would control the tiny Pennsylvania town, so the Battle of Augusta National Golf Club is taking on an importance far beyond the issue of whether the famed Georgia club admits women as members.

The New York Times and liberal-activist editor Howell Raines have decided to make Augusta a crusade in the culture war. Raines has thrown off all pretense of objectivity – using not only his editorial page, but his front page, his news pages and his sports pages to break Augusta and club chairman “Hootie” Johnson.

by Patrick J. Buchanan – December 4, 2002

What happened in 1920, wails Larry Summers, was “abhorrent and an affront to the values of our university. We are a better and more just community today because those attitudes have changed …”

“In Harvard Papers, a Dark Corner of the College’s Past” is the headline the New York Times pasted over the story of the unearthing of Harvard’s hidden sin. What was it? Did Harvard burn a heretic in the basement of the faculty club? Did Harvard condone a lynching?

by Patrick J. Buchanan – December 3, 2002

“I think Muhammad was a terrorist … a violent man, a man of war,” said the Rev. Jerry Falwell on “60 Minutes.” He added, “Jesus set the example for love. … Muhammad set an opposite example.” Murderous riots broke out in India, and an Iranian cleric threatened Falwell with assassination.

“The Koran teaches that the end of the world will not come until every Jew is killed by Muslims,” says the Rev. Pat Robertson. He compares the Koran’s message on Jews to “Mein Kampf.” “There is no doubt the religion of Muhammad … is extreme and violent.”