Free Republic

If in the Land of the Blind, the one-eyed man is king, then columnist David Brooks of the New York Times is blind, deaf and dumb inside the Beltway. In an election year where all the experts have been exactly wrong about absolutely everything, it really is something of a feat to be as spectacularly and enthusiastically wrong as Mr. Brooks. This probably should not come as much of a surprise, given how highly revered the pundit-scribe is inside the Beltway. He serves as some kind of “Republican voice” for the New York Times and offers up nerdy commentary for...

I know how to fight. Like most American boys – and perhaps a few girls – I learned the very basics of fighting on the playground in elementary school. I’m not talking about specific fighting techniques, those would come much later: I’m talking about lessons learned about fighting that would shape my – and many others’ – understanding of fighting whether it be in a schoolyard, an alleyway, a boxing ring, or a battlefield.

Taiwan ally quits Bush governmentBILATERAL RELATIONS: Peter Brookes, who has supported Taiwan in his capacity as a US defense official, will leave his post some time in the summerBy Charles SnyderSTAFF REPORTER IN WASHINGTONPeter Brookes, one of Taiwan's most steadfast supporters in the George W. Bush administration, has resigned his position, in a development that took many China watchers in Washington by surprise. Brookes, the deputy assistant secretary of defense for East Asia and the Pacific, will leave his position barely a year after he took the post on July 16 last year. News of his resignation broke in a...