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"Money is only useful when you get rid of it. It is like the odd card in 'Old Maid': the player who is finally left with it has lost."

Evelyn Waugh
About Us

The Tory Bohemian is an occasionally updated diary of activities, review of events and summary of happenings. It will address things seen, people met and sights visited by any one of our authors and contributors (or the Managing Editor himself). It has been put together to provide these traveling writers with one common place -- where they get together, talk about experiences, document incidents, record impressions, share ideas and post information. But it also provides friends and families with a place where they can not only read about the adventures (and mis-adventures) of our writers, but post their own comments, observations and feedback as well.

Profiles
William F. Buckley, Jr.

(1925-2008)


This is a man who forged modern-day American conservatism out of an uneasy alliance among anti-communists, libertarians and Catholic traditionalists. He steered the nascent movement away from the fever swamps, purging it of its paranoid delusions and parochial prejudices, and helped it to become a political force. Buckley made conservatism sexy, smart and sophisticated. He influenced generations of people on the Right and Left with his charm, wit and intelligence and was instrumental in the 1964 Goldwater presidential campaign, as well as in the later candidacies (and victories) of President Reagan.

Buckley's first book, written shortly after graduating from Yale, was a meticulously argued attack on the growing secularization of and anti-market biases at his alma mater. Over the next few years, after working briefly for the Agency, Buckley was a whirlwind of activity -- publishing (with his brother-in-law, L. Brent Bozell) an analysis of the Warren [Supreme] Court, then a defense of Senator McCarthy, further polemical essays, and dozens of other books.

Buckley also founded the bi-weekly magazine, National Review, and helped start an activist organization, an educational foundation and a fellowship society. He started one of the long-running interview shows on television (Firing Line*), wrote a weekly syndicated column and ran for mayor of New York. He also found time to sail widely, taught himself to play the harpsichord and was a regular (along with his wife, Pat) at society functions in Manhattan, Washington and Gstaad.

* The Firing Line archives are housed at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. Clips of numerous shows are watchable here.

Thursday
Sep042008

Enough with African Pirates!

In what is apparently the 31st such incident this year, Somalian pirates off the Horn of Africa took control of an Egyptian ship carrying unspecified cargo. According to Bloomberg, this latest act of piracy comes barely two days after thugs took over a small French yacht. (There is a US$ 1 million ransom being asked for the return of the two hapless Frenchmen who were on board.)

Isn't it time that the international community did something about all this? It is outrageous that in an era of global humanitarian efforts, and with so much talk (blather*, really) about human rights, stability and security, we have to deal with such open acts of violence and criminality. Immediate steps should be taken to ensure security off the Somalian coast.

* We've been asked by some readers what "blather" really means -- and we were fortunate enough to find this lovely definition (at blather.newdream.net): "Blather is words. Bunches of words, strewn about in a twisty tangly web of pontification, insight and nonsensical delight."  Very nice!

 

AuthorManaging Editor DateThursday, September 4, 2008 at 2:59PM
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