3 from AL

Three from AL Daily:

Arts & Letters Daily has three outstanding pieces today, which is unusually good even for them. The first is on Andrew Jackson, from the War of 1812 to his "assault on habeus corpus." The piece gives a good sense of Jackson, and while it disagrees with him, I think it gives a window into why he was so widely beloved by Americans.

The second looks at the 'nonwar' on Iran, with Israel, the US, and Saudia Arabia as allies. Confronting and stopping Iran is obviously the most important problem currently extant in the Middle East, though our allies (Saudi Arabia and Pakistan particularly) likewise present problems.

The third is Christopher Hitchen's review of Mark Steyn's newest book. In any conflict between the two gentlemen, I have to side with Steyn -- but both are deep thinkers, and important allies in the current struggle to defend the West and its best traditions. It's worth seeing where they cross.