Brian E. Birdnow is a historian and teaches at a university in the St. Louis area. He is the author of Communism, Anti-Communism And The Federal Courts In Missouri 1952-1958: The Trial of the St. Louis Five. http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BrianBirdnow http://media.townhall.com/TownHall/icons/TH-feed-icon-128x128.gif http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BrianBirdnow TownHall.com, Where your opinion counts. 128 Copyright (c) 2013 Townhall.com, A Salem Communications Web. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED jim.dearras@townhall.com (Jim De Arras) Thu, 23 May 2013 20:03:00 GMT Thu, 23 May 2013 20:03:00 GMT http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss RSS.NET: http://www.rssdotnet.com/ Once upon time, during the bad old days of the George W. Bush presidency, media sophisticates took the administration to task for the supposedly "shifting rationales" that Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld & Co. employed to... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BrianBirdnow/2013/05/23/rationale-shifts-and-foreign-policy-failures-n1604966 6411563e-1253-4b90-a815-418222429a2f Thu, 23 May 2013 20:03:00 GMT Writing in the Washington Post last week, E.J. Dionne admiringly noted that President Obama has successfully "changed the narrative" in national politics in highlighting Republican inactivity and obstructionism. Dionne... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BrianBirdnow/2013/05/06/president-obamas-angst-the-community-organizer-blues-n1587800 2e2e8bb1-02a0-4a15-98cb-130c429a3fdb Mon, 06 May 2013 04:01:00 GMT Margaret Thatcher's death on Monday, April 8th at the age of 87 brought a flood of reminiscences from many in the chattering classes who are old enough to remember her and her remarkable eleven-year tenure as the Prime... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BrianBirdnow/2013/04/13/dame-margaret-thatcher--the-heroine-in-history-n1566027 fa087545-9ca8-49f1-98ee-8b4a527ac01a Sat, 13 Apr 2013 04:01:00 GMT This past week Dana Milbank, the Washington Post chief editorialist and unpaid advisor to the Republican Party, offered his critique of the GOP effort to cleanse itself by drumming the "intolerant" elements out of the... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BrianBirdnow/2013/04/10/tolerating-republicans-and-other-post-virtues-n1563476 c017b68b-b9b4-4f8b-ae0f-62b422e13167 Wed, 10 Apr 2013 14:37:00 GMT Monday, February 25th, marks the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the Sixteenth Amendment to the Constitution, allowing the US government the authority to assess and impose an income tax on the citizens,... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BrianBirdnow/2013/02/26/a-date-which-should-live-infamy-n1520674 41b69d59-a28e-4847-9501-fb16b0b85069 Tue, 26 Feb 2013 14:35:00 GMT The current political wisdom as expressed by the deep thinkers at the Washington Post and the New York Times holds that President Obama stands triumphant and, as such, he is now confidently setting the national agenda. ... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BrianBirdnow/2013/02/24/obama--the-gop-will-they-ever-beat-this-guy-n1518211 edf6098c-3eb3-4310-a457-9d4bad10c570 Sun, 24 Feb 2013 05:01:00 GMT Last week Secretary of State Hillary Clinton stepped down from her lofty position amidst a sycophantic outpouring of hot air as journalists and fellow politicians abandoned their roles and assumed positions as Hillary... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BrianBirdnow/2013/02/09/hillary-riding-off-into-the-sunset-or-bound-for-glory-n1508293 5025f825-88b0-4a65-9659-4b59c1d33f97 Sat, 09 Feb 2013 05:01:00 GMT Last week the inside pages of the daily newspapers mentioned something that should alarm every American taxpayer. The little noted expiration of the two year old payroll tax break of 2011-12, and the consequent... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BrianBirdnow/2013/01/20/two-years-after-a-very-modest-proposal-n1492253 82996ffc-079d-4018-98b2-1697003e3de9 Sun, 20 Jan 2013 05:01:00 GMT Townhall readers of a historical bent will undoubtedly connect the title of this column with the impromptu Christmas truce of 1914 when British and German troops facing each other in the trenches of Belgium disregarded... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BrianBirdnow/2012/12/15/a-christmas-truce-n1467152 5dd0edb0-d02c-43ba-ad9c-0ff9e72f8d7a Sat, 15 Dec 2012 05:01:00 GMT The Democrats and their allies in the mainstream media are now galloping along in full-throated triumphalist mode, which, of course, is their right given the results of the November 6th elections. Despite the efforts of... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BrianBirdnow/2012/11/20/a_new_america_or_a_mediocre_candidate 71c8fd77-8efb-42c2-9d6d-04beff91c011 Tue, 20 Nov 2012 05:01:00 GMT It is all the fashion today for left-leaning politicians, journalists, academics and vapid celebrities to describe themselves and their leftwing proclivities as "Progressive". In fact, anything associated with modern... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BrianBirdnow/2012/11/03/liberal_progress_or_progress_to_liberalism 19fa7d5d-7f08-43b6-981a-36fa2d9c0c5a Sat, 03 Nov 2012 04:01:00 GMT The Romney campaign scored a sorely needed victory and a jolt of energy last Wednesday night, and many election watchers, including many Townhall readers earnestly hope that this will have some staying power. Many... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BrianBirdnow/2012/10/08/pocketbook_vs_personally_popular_decision_2012 4ebf9188-7ea9-43a9-9918-c939e9781980 Mon, 08 Oct 2012 14:47:00 GMT Back in 1987 Professor Paul Kennedy penned an influential tract on the decline and failure of the great powers of the past. Dr. Kennedy's book stirred up a great deal of interest in the literate classes and, while it... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BrianBirdnow/2012/09/19/american_declinecan_we_manage_this_one 09a04f55-ffd7-405e-b266-c29a47e8129b Wed, 19 Sep 2012 04:01:00 GMT Two weeks ago, before Matt Drudge roiled the waters by announcing that presumptive GOP Presidential nominee Mitt Romney would name former Bush Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as his Vice-Presidential running mate, http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BrianBirdnow/2012/07/24/quotas_and_political_correctness_the_vicepresidential_follies_of_2012 cc3220aa-a80c-4b88-a49a-3e48ccbe502a Tue, 24 Jul 2012 04:01:00 GMT Last week the Associated Press reported, in breathless tones, the fact that the Pentagon has officially recognized June as Gay Pride month, and will host a "celebration" on June 26th, saluting gay service personnel, ju http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BrianBirdnow/2012/06/26/a_brave_new_world_at_the_department_of_defense 091de363-3a91-4ca4-acdb-de6af73a46af Tue, 26 Jun 2012 20:14:00 GMT The turbulent waters of American politics grew more treacherous last week as former President Bill Clinton plunged, uninvited into the 2012 campaign unleashing a number of rhetorical zingers, defending Republican candi http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BrianBirdnow/2012/06/12/bill__hillary_the_rats_leaving_a_sinking_ship e2786da2-dcac-4184-9cd9-ea196094c4c9 Tue, 12 Jun 2012 04:01:00 GMT Buried in the back pages of the Friday newspapers (May 25th) lay a story of Obama Administration efforts to play up the elimination of Osama Bin Laden for political purposes and the suspected compromise of certain... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BrianBirdnow/2012/05/30/coming_soon_to_a_theater_near_you_wag_the_dog_ii 74c40238-81d1-4c3b-a5bb-83d7f5d94839 Wed, 30 May 2012 04:01:00 GMT Fred Eckert is a prototypical unsung hero of the conservative movement. Eckert paid his political dues in upstate New York in 1968, organizing local Republican support for the presidential candidacy of Richard Nixon,... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BrianBirdnow/2012/05/22/eckert_vs_obama__may_the_better_man_win 6d8e53ac-9248-4391-b633-9e23a6667cd8 Tue, 22 May 2012 04:01:00 GMT Maureen Dowd is a woman of many talents. She is, of course, a New York Times featured columnist, a Pulitzer Prize winning commentator, and the liberals acknowledged Queen of Snark. Ms. Dowd has also completely blown... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BrianBirdnow/2012/04/14/maureen_dowd_blows_her_cool 7abb9a5f-f37e-47e2-aeb3-42c37a06f273 Sat, 14 Apr 2012 04:01:00 GMT Many commentators and editorialists have examined President Barack Obama’s now-famous remark that “If I had a son, he would look like Trayvon (Martin)”. The pundits have scrambled to find... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BrianBirdnow/2012/04/03/the_postracial_president_goes_racial e83d5d46-a420-4331-a420-2df92717af99 Tue, 03 Apr 2012 04:01:00 GMT "We are not the same. I equate Republicans' political views with thoughtlessness, intolerance and narcissism. They're neither kind nor empathetic." The preceding words are a direct quote, written by Diana Wagman,... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BrianBirdnow/2012/03/03/hating_republicans_in_southern_california a75f9409-3af2-4211-97fb-e2b2f7739644 Sat, 03 Mar 2012 05:01:00 GMT Regular readers of Townhall may have noticed a column penned last week by this writer questioning the easy expectations of many observers that most liberal Catholics will abandon President Obama over the birth... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BrianBirdnow/2012/02/22/leftism_religion__politics_why_liberals_will_always_come_home 793e56b2-3897-4730-b7b2-fd74448e88ee Wed, 22 Feb 2012 05:01:00 GMT The current discontent concerning President Obama's ham-handed decision to force Catholic hospitals, schools, and charities to provide birth control and abortion pills for their employees has generated enough heat and http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BrianBirdnow/2012/02/14/obama__the_catholic_left_love_on_the_rocks 46e64b13-4c42-45f4-a7fa-483fea33882f Tue, 14 Feb 2012 05:01:00 GMT Mainstream media hostility to the Republican Party is certainly nothing new, or at least not novel enough to lose any sleep over. The media narrative of the GOP as the captives of Wall Street and the business interests... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BrianBirdnow/2012/01/18/republican_politics_election_fraud__mass_media_in_st_louis b7b089b5-63c9-4f94-b58e-67e7c636bd48 Wed, 18 Jan 2012 05:01:00 GMT Last week, after Christmas had passed and the public had begun crossing the last days of 2011 off of their calendars, the economists all chimed in with their year-end reviews, and their projections for 2012. Most of the... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BrianBirdnow/2012/01/03/the_business_of_poverty_why_poverty_will_never_end bb6383f0-e7f4-49ef-9813-77bcef1626ea Tue, 03 Jan 2012 19:47:00 GMT The latest news cycles have brought tidings of foreboding for Newt Gingrich, the erstwhile Speaker of the House and now the great non-Mitt Romney hope in the Republican Presidential sweepstakes. Gingrich has risen very... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BrianBirdnow/2011/12/12/mercurial_newt_and_the_gop_nomination_has_his_time_come f4de3bec-0406-4a5f-9072-444474c3a5ac Mon, 12 Dec 2011 19:25:00 GMT Last Monday, November 14th, the National Broadcasting Corporation announced that have hired the estimable Chelsea Clinton as a full-time special correspondent for NBC News. The appointment, effective immediately, will... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BrianBirdnow/2011/11/22/on_credentials,_nepotism,__chelsea_clinton 2136ea4b-78a3-4407-80ea-8689d86737e4 Tue, 22 Nov 2011 05:01:00 GMT The Occupy Wall Street movement, and its host of copycat imitators around the country have garnered much attention recently. They have been largely lauded by the mainstream media, who have explained that the occupiers... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BrianBirdnow/2011/10/27/occupy_wall_street_liberalism's_continuing_war_with_normalcy a3ad7b2d-cc30-4cdf-bb27-30cb146c9335 Thu, 27 Oct 2011 18:37:00 GMT Kathleen Parker is a proud member of a very select club. She is, in fact, a charter member of a cabal that might be called, for lack of a better term, "Self-Professed Conservatives For Obama", and whose ranks include... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BrianBirdnow/2011/09/17/kathleen_parkers_911_hysteria dce7e028-d4ac-446b-ac9d-f2a1567fa4a6 Sat, 17 Sep 2011 04:01:00 GMT This week marks the debut of former Vice-President Dick Cheney's memoir entitled In My Time. Cheney has helped pump up interest in his volume, promising that it will stir up a hornet's nest in Washington and among the... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BrianBirdnow/2011/09/03/the_new_image_of_dick_cheney 44e6805d-74bc-44c4-8e9f-a4ff3ab98592 Sat, 03 Sep 2011 04:01:00 GMT This past Monday, (July 25th) in these same pages, the estimable Lurita Doan outlined the Obama Administration's intention to reduce defense expenditures by nearly one trillion dollars, as the President comes to realize... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BrianBirdnow/2011/07/30/gutting_the_military,_indeed! bfe322cb-fe5a-4070-bc5e-75bfd8ebcd81 Sat, 30 Jul 2011 04:01:00 GMT Buried in the back pages of the American newspapers this past Friday were two news items of great interest to those who believe that we should take seriously the Islamic terror threat, and the danger it poses to our... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BrianBirdnow/2011/06/27/on_calling_a_spade,_a_spade 1099203a-2d9a-403c-a799-7b0676b160cb Mon, 27 Jun 2011 18:00:00 GMT Last week David Brooks, the faux-conservative columnist at the New York Times penned a column extolling the British national political system. The piece, written to coincide with President Obama's visit to Europe,... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BrianBirdnow/2011/06/01/britain_is_working__david_brooks_and_toryite_blather_at_the_new_york_times 43bf41b5-deb5-4751-a308-93ca433617ad Wed, 01 Jun 2011 13:35:00 GMT Last week David Brooks, the faux-conservative columnist at the New York Times penned a column extolling the British national political system. The piece, written to coincide with President Obama's visit to Europe,... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BrianBirdnow/2011/05/29/britain_is_working__david_brooks_and_toryite_blather_at_the_new_york_times a91c6d81-9642-46ff-9c48-7f57ff2de93b Sun, 29 May 2011 04:01:00 GMT The most recent polls show President Obama leading all of his potential GOP opponents and, in fact easily defeating most of them in hypothetical 2012 elections. The common reaction, even among seasoned commentators and... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BrianBirdnow/2011/04/30/quest_2012_obama_and_his_challengers 63f80d43-7649-417f-99a3-5d08403946f9 Sat, 30 Apr 2011 04:01:00 GMT Last week the Obama Administration, increasingly ceding American foreign policy to the "world community", initiated military actions against Libya, for a host of stated but conflicting reasons. The actions may have... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BrianBirdnow/2011/03/28/politicians,_media__"kinetic_military_actions"_libya_in_historical_perspective a944f8ff-c687-49a2-bbab-071b997e678a Mon, 28 Mar 2011 15:58:38 GMT In a press conference last week New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg congratulated himself on having masterminded a sting operation wherein he sent undercover NYC agents to a gun show in Tucson, Arizona. These agents... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BrianBirdnow/2011/02/10/new_york's_publicity_hound_mayor c1e7e8be-156a-453c-a425-7482b2632149 Thu, 10 Feb 2011 19:47:59 GMT The New Year, 2011, opened last week and in Washington D.C. the Republican Party celebrated the beginning of the new annum and the new decade by watching John Boehner, one of their own, take the oath of office as Spea http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BrianBirdnow/2011/01/10/a_very_modest_proposal_a_tax_on_liberalism 2cc64acb-f025-4bdd-9d39-3a32b37044c0 Mon, 10 Jan 2011 18:41:02 GMT The nephew of Mr. Ebenezer Scrooge spoke the words above, as reported by Charles Dickens, circa 1840. Yet, today, nearly two centuries later, we are still fighting the same battle. John Bennett, a Townhall... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BrianBirdnow/2010/12/14/christmas_a_humbug_you_dont_mean_that,_im_sure! 83900416-e020-42de-ad54-4032c010da6a Tue, 14 Dec 2010 14:12:48 GMT Two separate news reports this week heralded, once again, the arrival of China as a major player on the world stage. These reports should serve as an official corrective to those optimists who insist that China's... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BrianBirdnow/2010/11/23/enter_the_dragon 42406f16-ca18-4dc4-bcb6-36f48938dfd5 Tue, 23 Nov 2010 14:54:28 GMT Well, he's back! In his "White House Diary" Jimmy Carter engages in his latest attempt to burnish his historical reputation. His previous efforts, and there have been many, have earned him a dubious Nobel Peace Prize,... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BrianBirdnow/2010/10/16/the_gospel_according_to_jimmy 09989608-0947-4a65-bb1b-331e06a56f38 Sat, 16 Oct 2010 04:00:28 GMT It is becoming a commonplace in political circles to suggest that 2010 is a Republican year and that the only question is not whether there will be a GOP landslide in November, but if that landslide will be so complete... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BrianBirdnow/2010/09/20/politics__the_current_discontents_november_and_beyond 9be72c58-8342-4405-a75c-b5d3f25939d3 Mon, 20 Sep 2010 15:10:00 GMT The reports seeping out of Chicago involving the sensational corruption case of ex-Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich indicate that no consensus exists among the twelve citizens charged with determining the former state http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BrianBirdnow/2010/08/17/chicago_story_a_governor,_a_prosecutor,_and_a_presidential_connection 7619b789-0893-4b85-ae8a-be75ed4403fc Tue, 17 Aug 2010 21:26:05 GMT On July 1st, just in time for the Independence Day holiday, the Siena Research Institute released their findings of an extensive survey of historians, political scientists, and barristers concerning the "rankings" of... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BrianBirdnow/2010/07/16/on_historians,_political_scientists__greatness_ranking_the_presidents 303e0ccc-1fb7-4af8-b65d-4e53f2aa108b Fri, 16 Jul 2010 04:01:01 GMT The Candidate emerges to the American people as something of a mystery. The individual possesses stellar academic credentials in the form of Ivy League undergraduate and law degrees, and is widely seen as a certified... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BrianBirdnow/2010/05/16/an_obama_for_the_supreme_court 871f671b-c11b-4737-ba38-dcb47b40421f Mon, 17 May 2010 01:59:12 GMT At a town hall meeting last week Tom Coburn, the junior Republican senator from the great state of Oklahoma found himself in an unexpected sparring session with a concerned voter. The woman in question had expressed... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BrianBirdnow/2010/04/19/tom_coburn,_nancy_pelosi,_and_the_likeability_factor 76723a58-ed05-493f-b4ce-dcee7b466b3b Mon, 19 Apr 2010 04:00:00 GMT The Democratic victory in the protracted health care debate has brought the expected rejoicing from the liberals in government, the universities, and in the prestige media. The current slant on the story follows the... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BrianBirdnow/2010/04/05/people_who_live_in_glass_houses.the_new_york_times__the_tea_partiers 1b8173c8-e2c7-433d-9771-a80488f81da9 Mon, 05 Apr 2010 04:00:09 GMT News stories dated March 16, 2010 reported an eleven percent increase in sexual assaults in the U.S. during calendar year 2009. Defense Department officials claimed that sexual assault in the ranks might actually be... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BrianBirdnow/2010/03/29/please_ask__pray_tell__obama__the_pentagon's_social_engineering 320103e7-12a1-47dc-ab9c-69e3cd91110c Mon, 29 Mar 2010 04:00:05 GMT In a recent television interview, President Barack Obama stated that he would rather be a great one-term president than a mediocre two-term president. While many commentators puzzled over the president's precise... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BrianBirdnow/2010/02/16/a_great_one_term_president d3c1ba65-07de-4fd2-a80a-0320bdead966 Tue, 16 Feb 2010 19:40:41 GMT News reports dated Tuesday, December 29th declare that President Obama has called for "a sweeping overhaul" of the federal government system of protecting classified information. The President insisted that ". no infor http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BrianBirdnow/2010/01/04/mister_president,_heal_thyself 6d08fd1b-291c-41b8-87da-06a463919d79 Mon, 04 Jan 2010 05:00:01 GMT