William Safire has a good answer for all those beginning to wonder (loudly) why the U.S. has not yet found a Mount Doom-sized pile of chemical and biological weapons in Iraq.

Brad DeLong on why Apple not only survives but succeeds: “As long as the world’s programmers continue to speak Unix, Apple’s economic future—one perhaps greater than that of a niche player given the rumblings surrounding its apparent bid for Universal—is secure. I doubt that my current Mac will be my last.” Read more.

Merciless. Christopher Hitchens on Sidney Blumenthal’s new book glorifying the Clinton years: “I therefore regard it as quite impossible that he didn’t know what many Clinton biographers have established: Clinton would have run for the nomination as early as 1988 if not for his fear of ‘bimbo eruptions’ (please notice again that the women in… Continue reading

Hitting them where they hurt. Yes, Donald Rumsfeld sure knows how to piss off the French: “This year, the American presence—and the lack of rank in it—at Paris will serve as a powerful and understated reminder of our scorn for the French. American combat aircraft—the usual assortment of F-15 Eagles, the F/A-18 Hornets, F-16 Falcons,… Continue reading

William Safire on the further concentration of media power in the hands of the few: “Does that sound un-conservative? Not to me. The concentration of power—political, corporate, media, cultural—should be anathema to conservatives. The diffusion of power through local control, thereby encouraging individual participation, is the essence of federalism and the greatest expression of democracy.… Continue reading