News
Talking Sense to the American People
Why do poliical pundits, who clearly know better, promulgate simplistic and unrealistic explanations of the phenomena they cover? Maybe they'd rather raise red herrings than supply answers; once you've given the answer what more is there to write on the subject? Or...
LA Times Wrong On Heston’s Vietnam Position
On April 14, I sent the following letter wto the Los Angeles Times. Unless I missed it, the letter has not been published, which indicates the errors the Times made in a previous article will be left uncorrected: To the Editor: Tina Daunt wrote many accurate and...
The Great Pennsylvania Debate – in McKeesport
Presidential debates, especially the intra-party variety we are witnessing these days, are frequent to the point of becoming common place, if not benign. They seem to prove what Marshall McLuhan said about medium equaling message. The recent gotcha-fest between...
You Say Detente, I Say Entente
Father Taylor is away for a couple of days, so allow me to take this opportunity to debase the integrity of The New Nixon by spreading a possibly frivolous and probably scurrilous rumor. The newly annointed Chairman of the United Moscow party may have decided to...
Sixty Years of Snobbery
As with so much in American politics, Obama's "guns or religion" gaffe calls to mind an episode in the life of Richard Nixon. As a young House member, he investigated communist spy Alger Hiss. During a hearing, Hiss mocked Nixon's background: “I attended Harvard Law...
Was It Time?
"Peace at the center": RN smiling at Marie Abplanalp's wedding Saturday, April 16, 1994 was a great day in the life of the 37th President. Marie Abplanalp, daughter of his friend Bob, was getting married in Bronxville, New York. President Nixon was a special guest at...
The Preacher King: His Last Year
Attending a national conference on preaching here in the Washington, D.C. area this past week, I noted many references to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as the recently past 40th anniversary of his tragic assassination was referred to by speaker after speaker. King was...
Joan Chen on the Olympics
The career of Joan Chen (Shanghai-born, and a US citizen since 1989) has stretched over a quarter-century and includes many notable films in both Chinese and English, though here she is still probably best remembered for playing Josie Packard in Twin Peaks. In today's...
Satire That Closed Opening “Saturday Night”
George S. Kaufman famously defined "satire" as "what closes on Saturday night". The most recent example of this was Saturday Night Live's cold open last weekend, a parody campaign commercial in which Bill and Hillary Clinton discuss their wealth. The sketch begins...
Mr. Heston Does Moses At The Nixon
In his post-movie days, Charlton Heston wrote many best-selling books and accepted several invitations from the Nixon Library to lecture and autograph. Naturally, he'd always attract a standing-room-only crowd eager to hear his commentary, enjoy that amazing voice,...