11/20/2009

Lee Smith: How Iranian nukes would reshape the Middle East
If Tehran showed that it is less profitable to play nicely with Americans than it is to extort them and kill their soldiers and allies, why shouldn't other ambitious actors do the same? We will not be deterring Iran but inviting the rest of the region to shoot at us.

Point Person: Our Q&A with Bernard Finel
Bernard Finel, a senior fellow at the nonpartisan American Security Project, was in Dallas to speak at SMU and argues that the U.S. can withdraw from Afghanistan and still meet its goals.

Mark Davis: Sarah Palin again energizes fan and foe
If this is the beginning of a year filled with evidence of her passion and clarity – and largely free of deer-in-the-headlights moments – she will land squarely where her fans want her and where her critics say they want her.

Dahlia Lithwick: The right's nonsensical KSM arguments
It's hardly surprising that, after eight years of insisting that the law doesn't apply to extremely bad people, opponents of Attorney General Eric Holder's decision are now focusing their arguments on the bad people, not the law.

Gregory Rodriguez: Does our exceptionalism rely on illusion?
Even when our hopes get dashed – in, say, the worst recession in 50 years, with unemployment sky-high and the chance of a happy ending diminishing – many of us still seem to think that better days are just a positive thought away.

Aaron Renn: Portland, America's ultimate White City
If you take away the dominant Tier One cities like New York, Chicago and Los Angeles – places no one expects the average U.S. city to be able to imitate – you will find that the "progressive" cities aren't red or blue, but another color entirely: white.

Talking Points
Some of the week's most interesting comments, from a cop to a mayor to both sides of a skin-tight issue.

11/13/2009

Travis Kavulla: Africa needs more than condoms
There is something larger afoot in African society, a reason the conspiracy theories are so many and the leadership so seemingly inept. Africans have a system of beliefs that makes perfect sense, in its own way, of the AIDS calamity.

Point Person: Our Q&A with Dr. Zuhdi Jasser
Phoenix physician Zuhdi Jasser was stung by the Fort Hood massacre. Like suspect Maj. Nidal Malik Hassan, Jasser is a Muslim, doctor and military man. But Hasan appears to have succumbed to the radical Islamist ideology that Jasser spends his time fighting.

Rod Dreher: Will we ever wake up to Islamic radical threat?
Don't jump to conclusions about Islam's role in the Fort Hood massacre, the media warned. Who needed to jump? From almost the beginning, it was clear that Maj. Nidal Hasan was a homegrown jihadi.

Luigi Zingales: GOP should save free market from capitalists
If Republicans ignore popular anger, as its establishment did last autumn, they leave a powerful and potentially disruptive force in the hands of Democrats. In Republican hands, populism could become a strong force for positive change.

Clayton McCleskey: Why sick Kitty can't come home to Texas
Kitty Chatelain just wants to go home to Texas but is stuck here in Switzerland battling cancer that spread from her kidney into her lungs and brain. Why? Here, she has government-mandated health insurance. Private, not public.

Aaron Renn: Portland, America's ultimate White City
Why is it that progressive urban policy is so often associated with low numbers of African-Americans? Can a city be properly called progressive with a disproportionate handful of African-Americans? And why has no one called these cities on it?

Talking Points
Some of the week's most interesting comments, from a grieving president to a former Dallas mayor to a displeased current Denton mayor.

11/06/2009

Drake Bennett: In the Muslim world, creationism is on the rise
Unlike in the West, creationist beliefs are not associated in the Muslim world with religious fundamentalism, but instead are often espoused by members of the mainstream intellectual elite, who see a middle way between religion and science.

Keven Ann Willey: Who should be 2009 Texan of the Year?
Where do we go from here? What else could we possibly reveal about ourselves with this year's selection of The Dallas Morning News 2009 Texan of the Year? Frankly, I haven't a clue.

Rod Dreher: On gay marriage, empathy is a two-way street
Leaving aside that there are undoubtedly people who vote against gay marriage because they flat-out don't like gay people, there are serious and important reasons to vote against same-sex marriage – and these deserve to be taken seriously.

Point Person: Our Q&A with Ellen Ruppel Shell
We all want a discount, but Ellen Ruppel Shell says we too often overlook what the "everyday low prices" consumer ethic costs us in the end. The Boston University professor explores how discount shopping is not always a bargain.

David Alire Garcia: Obama's military expansion in Colombia
Barack Obama's first major policy decision on inequality-stricken Latin America reinforces a regional arms race, an unsettling trend that diverts more and more resources to building up armies instead of bolstering social development.

Tod Robberson: More than one route to peace in Colombia
If a Nobel committee had visited Colombia before awarding the 2009 Peace Prize, I have no doubt that FARC rebels would have greeted committee members with open arms, tied them up and held them for ransom. That's how the FARC talks peace.

Essig and Owens: What if marriage is bad for us?
Why do we have to celebrate any marriage? Unlike conservatives who attack gay marriage, it’s not the gay part we object to; it’s the marriage part. What does it even mean? Over the past 15 years, Americans have been fighting about that.

Talking Points
Some of the week's most interesting comments, from an accused gunman to election analysts to an ex-Ranger with a championship ring.

10/30/2009

Tod Robberson: A better way to fight radicalism
Hosam "Sam" Smadi's case in Dallas underscores that law enforcement should work more closely with local Muslim communities.

Rod Dreher: Christmas and the wealth of 'Tinsel'
We may just be celebrating Halloween, but I know it's not too early to wish you a merry Christmas, because the shopping mall told me so. The book you need to read to get ready for the season is Hank Stuever's lively "Tinsel," which examines what Christmas means to contemporary Americans through the eyes of three families in Frisco.

Clayton McCleskey: East Germans wistful for the bad old days
On Nov. 9, Berlin will throw a blowout Festival of Freedom to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. But don't let the fireworks over the Brandenburg Gate fool you: The reunion of East and West Germany is still a work in progress. There's a growing sense among East Germans that things weren't that bad in the not-so-democratic German Democratic Republic.

Point Person: Our Q&A with Roger Thurow
It's been 25 years since the great famine in Ethiopia shocked the conscience of the world and led to a global outpouring of aid for the suffering African nation. Once again, though, millions of Ethiopians face starvation. Why does this keep happening? Wall Street Journal reporter Roger Thurow, along with colleague Scott Kilman, examines that question in their recent book "Enough: Why the World's Poorest Starve in an Age of Plenty." Thurow comes to Dallas on Thursday to speak about hunger as guest of the World Affairs Council of Dallas.

Ruth Marcus: Of Laureates and laundry
Today's women cling to domestic tasks while bemoaning them.

Joshua Kurlantzick: We'd be lucky if Afghanistan went the way of Vietnam
Once large-scale fighting ends in Afghanistan, Washington should strive for the kind of reconciliation it has achieved with Vietnam. America did not win the war there, but over time it has won the peace. As unlikely as it seems today, the same outcome is possible in Afghanistan.

Talking Points
Some of the week's most interesting comments, from a "fat" GOP candidate to a convicted pimp.

10/26/2009

Jonathan V. Last: Is the crowd really smarter?
The wisdom of crowds is an elegant theory with many applications. But even the man who coined the term understood that not all crowds behave wisely. Today, his cautions have faded as the wisdom of crowds has become a cultural mantra. And that can be dangerous.

Rod Dreher: Willingham case a test of Perry's character
So far, it's been an epic fail for the governor. And if Texans let him get away with this brazen attempt to evade responsibility, we'll be party to a grave moral failure.

Mark Davis: Wishful thinking on both sides of Willingham case
So did Texas execute an innocent man on Feb. 17, 2004? The answer is obscured by the crossfire between two camps: Those who desperately want the answer to be no, and those who desperately want the answer to be yes.

Point Person: Our Q&A with Gail Collins
Columnist Gail Collins covers the national political scene, often irreverently, for The New York Times . Her new book, When Everything Changed: The Amazing Journey of American Women From 1960 to the Present , is a sequel to her 2003 best-seller, America's Women: 400 Years of Dolls, Drudges, Helpmates and Heroines. She is the speaker at the annual Dallas Women's Foundation luncheon at the Hilton Anatole on Thursday.

Christopher Beam: Will Obama's new medical marijuana policy change anything?
The Justice Department's announcement that the feds will no longer crack down on medical marijuana sellers who follow state laws will surely cheer the liberal-libertarian axis that wants the government to take a more relaxed stance on drug laws. It should also please conservatives who champion states' rights. But unlike most policies with such broad support, it might actually accomplish something.

Talking Points
Some of the week's most interesting comments, from an anti-New Age orthodontist to a supporter of illegal-alien Halloween costumes.

08/20/2009

Points Summer Book Club