Title	National Journal
Image file	Nationaljournal.jpg
Editor	Ron Fournier
Editor title	Editor
Circulation	11,381
Frequency	Weekly
Category	Editorial magazine
Startdate	1969
Company	National Journal Group, Inc
Publisher	Atlantic Media Company
Firstdate	1969
Country	United States
Based	Washington, D.C.
Language	English
Website	www.nationaljournal.com
Phone number	(202) 266-7230

National Journal is an American weekly magazine that reports on the current political environment and emerging political and policy trends. National Journal was first published in 1969. Times Mirror owned the magazine from 1986 to 1997, when it was purchased by David G. Bradley. It is now part of National Journal Group, a division of Atlantic Media Company.

The magazine was established in 1969 by Thomas N. Schroth, who formed the publication after being fired from his post as editor of Congressional Quarterly, with many CQ staff defecting to the new publication. It is mostly read by members of Congress, Capitol Hill staffers, the White House, Executive Branch agencies, the media, think tanks, corporations, associations and lobbyists. Most of the journal's content can be accessed only by subscribers. The yearly subscription rate is $1,160.

The magazine has received three National Magazine Awards.

Some of its contributors are:

Richard E. Cohen

Charlie Cook

Clive Crook

Jonathan Rauch

Stuart Taylor Jr.

Major Garrett

In 2010, buyouts were offered to the entire magazine's staff. The magazine was relaunched in October, along with a new, free website.

See also

The Hotline

References

Category:American political magazines Category:Weekly magazines Category:Publications established in 1969 Category:Newspapers published in Washington, D.C.

Name	Ron Paul
Image name	Ron Paul, official Congressional photo portrait, 2007.jpg|thumb|Paul's Congressional portrait
Imagesize	220px
Birth date	August 20, 1935
Birth place	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
State	Texas
District	14th
Term start	January 3, 1997
Preceded	Greg Laughlin
State2	Texas
District2	22nd
Term start2	January 3, 1979
Term end2	January 3, 1985
Preceded2	Robert Gammage
Succeeded2	Tom DeLay
Term start3	April 3, 1976
Term end3	January 3, 1977
Preceded3	Robert R. Casey
Succeeded3	Robert Gammage
Party	Republican (1976–1988)Libertarian (1988 Presidential Election)Republican (1988–present)
Spouse	Carolyn "Carol" Paul
Children	Ronald "Ronnie" Paul, Jr.Lori Paul PyeattRandal "Rand" PaulRobert PaulJoy Paul-LeBlanc
Alma mater	Gettysburg College (B.S.)Duke University School of Medicine (M.D.)
Profession	Physician, Politician
Residence	Lake Jackson, Texas
Religion	BaptistUnited States Air National Guard
Serviceyears	1962–19651965–1968

Ronald Ernest "Ron" Paul (born August 20, 1935) is an American physician and Republican Congressman for the 14th congressional district of Texas. Paul serves on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, the Joint Economic Committee, and the Committee on Financial Services, where he has been an outspoken critic of American foreign and monetary policy. He has gained prominence for his libertarian positions on many political issues, often clashing with both Republican and Democratic Party leaders. He is the Chairman of the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Domestic Monetary Policy. He received a B.S. degree in biology at Gettysburg College in 1957. He was a member of Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity. That same day, the young physician decided to enter politics, saying later, "After that day, all money would be political money rather than money of real value. I was astounded."

First campaigns

Inspired by his belief that the monetary crisis of the 1970s was predicted by the Austrian School and caused by excessive government spending on the Vietnam War He also proposed legislation to decrease Congressional pay by the rate of inflation; he was a regular participant in the annual Congressional Baseball Game; and he continued to deliver babies on Mondays and Saturdays during his entire 22nd district career.

During his first term, Paul founded a think tank, the Foundation for Rational Economics and Education (FREE). and spoke against the banking mismanagement that led to the savings and loan crisis. The U.S. Gold Commission created by Congress in 1982 was his and Jesse Helms's idea, and Paul's commission minority report was published by the Cato Institute in The Case for Gold; and was succeeded by former state representative Tom DeLay.

In 2009, Paul was featured by CBS on Up to the Minute as one of two members of the U.S. Congress that have pledged not to receive pension from the United States government. The other is Howard Coble of North Carolina. Paul criticized Ronald Reagan as a failure and cited high deficits as exhibit A. On the ballot in 46 states and the District of Columbia, behind Republican winner George H. W. Bush and Democrat Michael Dukakis. Kent Snyder, Paul's 2008 campaign chair, first worked for Paul on the 1988 campaign. He traveled the country for a year speaking about issues such as free market economics and the rising government deficits: "That's why we talk to a lot of young people. They're the ones who are paying these bills, they're the ones who are inheriting this debt, so it's most likely these young people who will move into this next generation in government." He worked with FREE on such projects as establishing the National Endowment for Liberty, producing the At Issue public policy series that aired on Discovery Channel and CNBC, and continuing publication of Dr. Ron Paul's Freedom Report.

Inter-congressional years

Ron Paul & Associates (RP&A;), Inc. was founded in 1984 by Paul, who served as President. Llewellyn H Rockwell Jr. served as Vice President, Ron Paul's wife Carol served as Secretary and Lori Pyeatt as Treasurer. The corporation was dissolved in 2001. and occasional editor) Paul won the primary with support from baseball pitcher, constituent, and friend Nolan Ryan (as honorary campaign chair and ad spokesman), as well as tax activist Steve Forbes and conservative commentator Pat Buchanan (both of whom had run presidential campaigns that year).

Paul's Democratic opponent in the fall general election, trial lawyer Charles "Lefty" Morris, received assistance from the AFL-CIO, but Paul's wider contributor base out-raised Morris two-to-one, giving the third-highest amount of individual contributions received by any House member (behind Gingrich and Bob Dornan). some of which were characterized as racially charged. Upon his returning to Washington, Paul quickly discovered "there was no sincere effort" by Republicans toward their declared goal of small government.

Later campaigns

In 1998 and again in 2000, Paul defeated Loy Sneary, a Democratic Bay City rice farmer and former Matagorda County judge, running ads warning voters to be "leery of" Sneary. Paul accused Sneary of voting to raise his pay by 5%, increasing his travel allotment by 400% in one year, and using increased taxes to start a new government bureaucracy to handle a license plate fee he enacted. Sneary's aides said he had voted to raise all county employees' pay by five percent in a cost-of-living increase. Paul countered that he had never voted to raise Congressional pay.

An online grassroots petition to draft Paul for the 2004 presidential election garnered several thousand signatures. Paul opposes farm subsidies because they are paid to large corporations rather than small farmers. in a survey, 54% of his constituency agreed with his goal of eliminating the U.S. Department of Education. Paul compared his practice to objecting to the tax system yet taking all one's tax credits: "I want to get their money back for the people." traveling over daily to attend civic ceremonies for veterans, graduates, and Boy Scouts, often accompanied by his grandchildren. His staff helps senior citizens obtain free or low-cost prescription drugs through a little-known drug company program; procures lost or unreceived medals for war veterans, holding dozens of medal ceremonies annually; is known for its effectiveness in tracking down Social Security checks; and sends out birthday and condolence cards.

In 2001, he was one of only eight doctors in the House; even fewer had continued to practice while in office. He is occasionally approached by younger area residents to thank him for attending and assisting their deliveries at birth.

Legislation

Paul authors more bills than the average representative, such as those that impose term limits, or abolish the income tax or the Federal Reserve; many do not escape committee review. He has written successful legislation to prevent eminent domain seizure of a church in New York, and a bill transferring ownership of the Lake Texana dam project from the federal government to Texas. By amending other legislation, he has barred funding for national identification numbers, funding for federal teacher certification, International Criminal Court jurisdiction over the U.S. military, American participation in any U.N. global tax, and surveillance on peaceful First Amendment activities by citizens.

Paul says his fellow members of Congress have increased government spending by 75 percent during George W. Bush's administration. He is a founding member of the Congressional Rural Caucus, which deals with agricultural and rural issues, and the 140-member Congressional Wildlife Refuge Caucus. These publications would later create political problems for Paul.

At the end of 2007, both the New York Sun and the New York Times Magazine reprinted passages from early 1990s publications of Paul's newsletters, attacking them for content deemed racist. These were the same newsletters that had been used against Paul in his 1996 congressional campaign.

On January 8, 2008, the day of the New Hampshire primary, The New Republic published a story by James Kirchick quoting from selected newsletters published under Paul's name. Paul's presidential campaign took the position that the Kirchick story was simply a "rehash" of a political attack received during his 1996 campaign.

Responding to the charges in a CNN interview, Paul denied any involvement in authoring the passages. Additionally, Paul's campaign claimed through a press release that the quotations had come from an unnamed ghostwriter and without Paul's consent. Paul again denounced and disavowed the "small-minded thoughts," citing his 1999 House speech praising Rosa Parks for her courage; he said the charges simply "rehashed" the decade-old Morris attack. Although Rockwell denies this charge, and "has characterized discussion of the newsletters as 'hysterical smears aimed at political enemies.'" However, Paul requested on September 11 that Montana take his name off the ballot, He also suggested the Party list official Constitution Party nominee Baldwin on the Montana ballot instead. Five days later the Montana Secretary of State denied Paul's request for withdrawal, They are pledged to Paul for President and Barry Goldwater, Jr. for Vice President.

The same day, Paul made a brief press statement: "On the heels of his historic three-day rally in Minneapolis that drew over 12,000 attendees, Congressman Ron Paul will make a major announcement next week in Washington at the National Press Club." His nickname "Dr. No" on his office wall. He regularly votes against almost all proposals for new government spending, initiatives, or taxes; He has pledged never to raise taxes He says his years as an obstetrician led him to believe life begins at conception; his abortion-related legislation, like the Sanctity of Life Act, is intended to negate Roe v. Wade and to get "the federal government completely out of the business of regulating state matters." Paul also believes that the notion of the separation of church and state is currently misused by the court system: "In case after case, the Supreme Court has used the infamous 'separation of church and state' metaphor to uphold court decisions that allow the federal government to intrude upon and deprive citizens of their religious liberty."

He opposes federal regulation of the death penalty, of education, and of marriage, and supports revising the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy to focus on disruptive sexual behavior (whether heterosexual or homosexual). As a free-market environmentalist, he asserts private property rights in relation to environmental protection and pollution prevention. He also opposes the federal War on Drugs, and thinks the states should decide whether to regulate or deregulate drugs such as medical marijuana. Paul pushes to eliminate federal involvement in and management of health care, which he argues would allow prices to drop due to the fundamental dynamics of a free market. He is an outspoken proponent for increased ballot access for 3rd party candidates and numerous election law reforms which he believes would allow more voter control. Ron Paul has also stated that “The government shouldn't be in the medical business." He is also opposed to government flu inoculation programs.

Paul takes a critical view of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, arguing that it was unconstitutional and did not improve race relations.

Books authored

Other contributions

References

External links

Ron Paul's Personal Website, books, articles, links to political sites connected with Ron Paul

RonPaul.com speeches, essays, interviews, photos and videos

Ron Paul Library articles and speeches by Ron Paul

Ron Paul Forums

;Congress

U.S. House of Representatives Office of Ron Paul

Congressional campaign website

;Organizations Founded

Ron Paul's Campaign for Liberty

Ron Paul's Liberty PAC

Ron Paul's F.R.E.E. Foundation – The Foundation for Rational Economics and Education

;Presidential campaign

NOW on PBS "Ron Paul and Internet Politics". Also, a September 2008 NOW on PBS interview with Ron Paul

PBS NewsHour with Jim Lehrer — Vote 2008: Ron Paul

Category:1935 births Category:Living people Category:American anti-Iraq War activists Category:American foreign policy writers Category:American libertarians Category:American physicians Category:American political writers Category:American writers of German descent Category:Baptists from the United States Category:Classical liberals Category:Conservatism in the United States Category:Drug policy reform activists Category:Duke University alumni Category:Gettysburg College alumni Category:Internet memes Category:Libertarian Party (United States) presidential nominees Category:Libertarian theorists Category:Members of the United States House of Representatives from Texas Category:Military physicians Category:People from Allegheny County, Pennsylvania Category:People from Brazoria County, Texas Category:Physicians from Texas Category:Politicians from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Category:Texas Republicans Category:Texas Libertarians Category:United States Air Force officers Category:United States presidential candidates, 1988 Category:United States presidential candidates, 2008 Category:University of Pittsburgh people

Name	Major Garrett
Birth date	August 24, 1962
Birth place	San Diego, California
Education	University of Missouri (B.J./B.S.)
Occupation	Congressional Correspondent with the National Journal; reporter
Url	http://www.foxnews.com/bios/talent/major-garrett/

Major Elliott Garrett (born August 24, 1962 in San Diego, California) is a Congressional correspondent with the National Journal. Prior to joining the National Journal he was the senior White House correspondent for the Fox News Channel. He covered the 2004 presidential election, the War on Terror, and the 2008 presidential election where he covered the Democratic primaries and later Barack Obama as the Democratic nominee.

He is married to Fox News (weekend) Washington, D.C. correspondent Julie Kirtz.

Biography

Garrett graduated, in 1984, with a Bachelor of Journalism degree and Bachelor of Science degree in political science from the University of Missouri. He is a member of the Fraternity Phi Gamma Delta.

Garrett was a senior editor and congressional correspondent for U.S. News and World Report and a congressional reporter for The Washington Times in the 1990s before joining CNN's White House team in early 2000, and later moving to Fox in 2002 as a general assignment reporter. There, he covered the 2004 election, and served as the network's congressional correspondent. He has also been a White House correspondent for CNN, and an award-winning reporter across the country for Houston Post, Las Vegas Review Journal, and Amarillo Globe-News. His articles have appeared in such magazines as The Weekly Standard, Washington Monthly, and Mother Jones. He currently lives with his family in Washington D.C.

Garrett covered Barack Obama's presidential campaign. On January 13, 2009, Garrett became the senior White House correspondent for the Fox News Channel.

Garrett announced that he would be leaving Fox News on September 3 to join National Journal. His final day on Fox News was on America Live Youtube

Bibliography

The Fifteen Biggest Lies in Politics (St. Martin's Griffin, 2000, ISBN 978-0312254599)

The Enduring Revolution: The Inside Story of the Republican Ascendancy and Why It Will Continue (Three Rivers Press, 2006, ISBN 978-1400054671)

The Enduring Revolution: How the Contract with America Continues to Shape the Nation (Crown Forum, 2005, ISBN 978-1400054664)

Common Cents (Little, Brown, 1995, ISBN 0-316-69912-8)

See also

White House press corps

References

External links

Fox News bio

Garrett's Fox News blog

MajoratWH Major Garrett on Twitter

Category:American writers Category:University of Missouri alumni Category:Living people Category:1962 births Category:People from San Diego, California

Honorific-prefix	The Right Honourable
Name	John Key
Honorific-suffix	MP
Alt	A white man with brown eyes and greying brown hair in a suit, smiling at the camera.
Order	38th Prime Minister of New Zealand
Term start	19 November 2008
Deputy	Bill English
Monarch	Elizabeth II
Governor-general	Anand Satyanand
Predecessor	Helen Clark
Order2	31st Leader of the Opposition
Term start2	27 November 2006
Term end2	8 November 2008
Deputy2	Bill English
Predecessor2	Don Brash
Successor2	Phil Goff
Order4	12th Leader of National Party
Term start4	27 November 2006
Deputy4	Bill English
Predecessor4	Don Brash
Constituency mp5	Helensville
Parliament5	New Zealand
Majority5	20,547 (56.49%) Max Key (b. 1995)
Website	www.johnkey.co.nz

John Phillip Key (born 9 August 1961) is the 38th and current Prime Minister of New Zealand and leader of the New Zealand National Party.

After a career in foreign exchange Key entered the New Zealand House of Representatives in 2002 representing the Auckland constituency of Helensville, a seat that he has held since then. In 2004 he was appointed Finance Spokesman for National and eventually succeeded Don Brash as the National Party leader in 2006. Key led his party to victory in the November 2008 general election.

Personal life

Key was born in Auckland, New Zealand, only son of George Key and Ruth Key (née Lazar), on 9 August 1961. His father was an immigrant from Britain, and a veteran of the Spanish Civil War and World War II.

Before politics

Key's first job was in 1982, as an auditor at McCulloch Menzies, and he then moved to be a project manager at Christchurch-based clothing manufacturer Lane Walker Rudkin for two years.

In 1995, he joined Merrill Lynch as head of Asian foreign exchange in Singapore. That same year he was promoted to Merrill's global head of foreign exchange, based in London, where he may have earned around US$2.25 million a year including bonuses, which is about NZ$5 million at 2001 exchange rates. Some co-workers called him "the smiling assassin" for maintaining his usual cheerfulness while sacking dozens (some say hundreds) of staff after heavy losses from the 1998 Russian financial crisis.

Finance spokesman

In 2004, Key was promoted to the Opposition front benches by party leader Don Brash and was made the party spokesman for finance. In late 2006 Brash resigned as leader, citing damaging speculation over his future as the reason. His resignation followed controversies over an extramarital affair, and over leaked internal National Party documents which were later published in the book The Hollow Men. Key's wife, Bronagh (née Dougan) Key, is the daughter of Northern Irish immigrants of Catholic and Protestant confession. Key is the third prime minister or premier of New Zealand (after Julius Vogel and Francis Bell) with Jewish ancestry.

References

External links

Prime Minister of New Zealand

The New Zealand Herald feature: John Key–the unauthorised biography

|- |- |- |-

Category:Living people Category:1961 births Category:Prime Ministers of New Zealand Category:Harvard University alumni Category:New Zealand National Party MPs Category:People from Auckland Category:University of Canterbury alumni Category:New Zealand Jews Category:New Zealand political party leaders Category:Jewish politicians Category:New Zealand people of British descent Category:Current national leaders Category:Leaders of the Opposition (New Zealand)

Subject name	Jack A. Abramoff
Image name	Abramoff SIAC 20040929 2.jpg
Birth date	February 28, 1958
Birth place	Atlantic City, New Jersey, U.S.
Conviction	Fraud, conspiracy, tax evasion
Conviction penalty	5 years and 10 months imprisonment
Conviction status	Released 12/3/2010
Occupation	Businessman and lobbyist
Spouse	Pam Alexander
Religion	Orthodox Judaism
Name	Abramoff, Jack
Short description	Republican lobbyist
Date of birth	February 28, 1959
Place of birth	Atlantic City, New Jersey, U.S.

Category:1959 births Category:Living people Category:American anti-communists Category:American businesspeople Category:American film producers Category:American fraudsters Category:American Jews Category:American lobbyists Category:American people convicted of tax crimes Category:Brandeis University alumni Category:Bush Pioneers Category:College Republican National Committee chairs Category:Georgetown University Law Center alumni Category:People from Atlantic City, New Jersey Category:People from Beverly Hills, California Category:Washington, D.C. lawyers

Name	Elizabeth Edwards
Birthname	Mary Elizabeth Anania
Birth date	July 03, 1949
Birth place	Jacksonville, Florida, U.S.
Death date	December 07, 2010
Death place	Chapel Hill, North Carolina, U.S.
Death cause	Metastatic breast cancer
Occupation	Attorney
Spouse	John Edwards (m. 1977–2010) (her death)
Children	Wade (1979–1996)Cate (born 1982)Emma Claire (born 1998)Jack (born 2000)
Religion	United Methodist
Parents	Vincent Anania (deceased)Mary Thweatt Anania
Nationality	American
Ethnicity	White
Residence	Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Known for	Estranged wife of John Edwards

Elizabeth Anania Edwards (born Mary Elizabeth Anania; July 3, 1949 – December 7, 2010) was an American attorney, author and a health care activist. She was married to John Edwards, the former U.S. Senator from North Carolina who was the 2004 United States Democratic vice-presidential nominee.

Edwards lived a private life until her husband's rise as senator and ultimately unsuccessful vice presidential and presidential campaigns. She was his chief policy advisor during his presidential bid, She was also an advocate of gay marriage both topics which she and her spouse disagreed over.

In the final years of her life, Edwards publicly dealt with her husband's admission of an extramarital affair and her breast cancer, writing two books and making numerous media appearances. focusing on the ways in which various communities have helped her through the trials of her life, from her itinerant military childhood to the death of her son and her early bout with breast cancer. In May 2009, they published her second book, Resilience: Reflections on the Burdens and Gifts of Facing Life's Adversities, further discussing the return of her illness, the deaths of her father and son, the effect of these events on her marriage, her husband's infidelity, and the general state of health care in America. Threats of protests by the anti-gay hate-group Westboro Baptist Church attracted at least 300 local Raleigh residents prepared to counterprotest in support of the Edwards family, but only five Westboro protesters showed up and were kept blocks away.

See also

United States Senate election in North Carolina, 1998

John Edwards presidential campaign, 2004

John Edwards presidential campaign, 2008

References

External links

Remembering Elizabeth Edwards – slideshow by Life magazine

Saint Elizabeth and the Ego Monster by John Heilemann & Mark Halperin, New York magazine, January 9, 2010.

Category:1949 births Category:2010 deaths Category:21st-century women writers Category:American female lawyers Category:American people of Italian descent Category:American Methodists Category:Edwards family (American political) Category:Cancer deaths in North Carolina Category:Center for American Progress Category:Deaths from breast cancer Category:Military brats Category:North Carolina Democrats Category:North Carolina lawyers Category:People from Jacksonville, Florida Category:People from Raleigh, North Carolina Category:Burials in Historic Oakwood Cemetery Category:Spouses of North Carolina politicians Category:Spouses of United States Senators Category:University of Mary Washington alumni Category:University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill alumni Category:Writers from Florida Category:Writers from North Carolina

Name	Christopher Hitchens
Color	green
Caption	Hitchens in 2007
Birthname	Christopher Eric Hitchens
Birthdate	April 13, 1949
Birthplace	Portsmouth, Hampshire, England, UK
Occupation	Writer and pundit
Alma mater	Balliol College, Oxford
Nationality	American/British
Religion	None
Genre	Polemicism, journalism, essays, biography, literary criticism
Spouse	Carol Blue (1989–present)
Children	Alexander, Sophia, Antonia
Relatives	Peter Hitchens (brother)
Influences	George Orwell, Thomas Paine, Thomas Jefferson, Karl Marx, Rosa Luxemburg, Joseph Heller, Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, Noam Chomsky, Edward Said, Salman Rushdie, Vladimir Nabokov, Richard Llewellyn, Aldous Huxley, PG Wodehouse, Evelyn Waugh, Paul Mark Scott, James Fenton, James Joyce, Albert Camus, Oscar Wilde, Conor Cruise O'Brien, Martin Amis, Kingsley Amis, Ian McEwan, Leon Trotsky, Colm Tóibín, Bertrand Russell, Wilfred Owen, Isaiah Berlin

Christopher Eric Hitchens (born 13 April 1949) is an English-American author and journalist whose books, essays, and journalistic career span more than four decades. He has been a columnist and literary critic at The Atlantic, Vanity Fair, Slate, World Affairs, The Nation, Free Inquiry, and became a media fellow at the Hoover Institution in September 2008. His father's Naval career required the family to move and reside in bases throughout the United Kingdom and its dependencies, including in Malta, where his brother Peter was born in Sliema in 1951.

Because Yvonne argued that "if there is going to be an upper class in this country, then Christopher is going to be in it," In 1968 he took part in the TV quiz show University Challenge. Shortly thereafter, he joined "a small but growing post-Trotskyite Luxemburgist sect". Throughout his student days, he was on many occasions arrested and assaulted in the various political protests and activities in which he participated.

He then became a correspondent for the magazine International Socialism, in what was initially thought to be a murder scene, after overdosing on sleeping pills in adjoining hotel rooms with Bryan slashing his wrists in the bath to be sure. Hitchens flew alone to Athens to recover her remains. While there he reported on the Greek constitutional crisis of the military junta that was happening at the time. It became his first leading article for the New Statesman. Hitchens stated his belief that his mother was pressured into taking her own life under the fear of his father becoming aware of her infidelity, in an already strained and unhappy marriage, and with both her children now independent adults. but others — including Hitchens — believe it to be Spy Magazines "Ironman Nightlife Decathlete" Anthony Haden-Guest. In 2005, Hitchens praised Lenin's creation of "secular Russia" and his destruction of the Russian Orthodox Church, describing it as "an absolute warren of backwardness and evil and superstition". In an interview with Radar in 2007, Hitchens said that if the Christian right's agenda were implemented in the United States "It wouldn't last very long and would, I hope, lead to civil war, which they will lose, but for which it would be a great pleasure to take part."

Following the September 11 attacks, Hitchens and Noam Chomsky debated the nature of radical Islam and of the proper response to it. In October 2001, Hitchens wrote criticisms of Chomsky in The Nation. He has supported the legalization of cannabis for both medical and recreational purposes, citing it as a cure for glaucoma and as treatment for numerous side-effects induced by chemotherapy, including severe nausea, describing the prohibition of the drug as "sadistic".

Regarding his own religious background, Hitchens was raised nominally Christian, and went to Christian boarding schools but from an early age declined to participate in communal prayers. Later in life, Hitchens discovered that he was part Jewish. According to Hitchens, when his brother Peter Hitchens took his fiancée to meet their maternal grandmother, Dodo, who was then in her 90s, Dodo said, "She's Jewish, isn't she?" and then announced: "Well, I've got something to tell you. So are you." She said that her real surname was Levin, not Lynn, that her ancestors had the family name Blumenthal, and were from Poland.

Personal life

Marriage and children

Hitchens married Eleni Meleagrou, a Greek Cypriot, in 1981. They had two children, Alexander and Sophia. Hitchens left Meleagrou for Carol Blue, an American writer, in 1989. They have one daughter, Antonia.

Relationship with younger brother

Hitchens' younger brother by two-and-a-half years, Peter Hitchens, is a Christian and socially conservative journalist in London. The brothers had a protracted falling-out after Peter wrote that Christopher had once joked that he "didn't care if the Red Army watered its horses at Hendon" (a suburb of London). Christopher denied having said this and broke off contact with his brother. He then referred to his brother as "an idiot" in a letter to Commentary, and the dispute spilled into other publications as well. Christopher eventually expressed a willingness to reconcile and to meet his new nephew; shortly thereafter the brothers gave several interviews together in which they said their personal disagreements had been resolved. They appeared together on the 21 June 2007 edition of BBC current affairs discussion show Question Time. The pair engaged in a formal televised debate for the first time on 3 April 2008, at Grand Valley State University.

Health and lifestyle

Smoking and drinking

A June 2006 profile on Hitchens by NPR stated: "Hitchens is known for his love of cigarettes and alcohol — and his prodigious literary output." However in early 2008 he gave up smoking, undergoing an epiphany in Madison, Wisconsin. His brother Peter later wrote of his surprise at this decision. It was while writing his memoir Hitch-22 that he resumed smoking cigarettes and continued until his cancer diagnosis. Hitchens admits to drinking heavily; in 2003 he wrote that his daily intake of alcohol was enough "to kill or stun the average mule", noting that many great writers "did some of their finest work when blotto, smashed, polluted, shitfaced, squiffy, whiffled, and three sheets to the wind".

Anti-war British politician George Galloway, on his way to testify in front of a United States Senate sub-committee investigating the scandals in the U.N. Oil for Food program, called Hitchens a "drink-sodden ex-Trotskyist ", to which Hitchens quickly replied, "Only some of which is true". Later, in a column for Slate promoting his debate with Galloway which was to take place on 14 September 2005, he elaborated on his prior response: "He says that I am an ex-Trotskyist (true), a "popinjay" (true enough, since the word's original Webster's definition is a target for arrows and shots), and that I cannot hold a drink (here I must protest)."

Oliver Burkeman writes, "Since the parting of ways on Iraq [...] Hitchens claims to have detected a new, personalised nastiness in the attacks on him, especially over his fabled consumption of alcohol. He welcomes being attacked as a drinker 'because I always think it's a sign of victory when they move on to the ad hominem.' He drinks, he says, 'because it makes other people less boring. I have a great terror of being bored. But I can work with or without it. It takes quite a lot to get me to slur.'"

In the question and answer session following a speech Hitchens gave to the Commonwealth Club of California on 9 July 2009, one audience member asked what was Hitchen's favorite whiskey. Hitchens replied that "the best blended scotch in the history of the world" is Johnnie Walker Black Label. He also playfully indicated that it was the favorite whiskey of, among others, the Iraqi Baath Party, the Palestinian Authority, the Libyan dictatorship and "large branches of the Saudi Arabian Royal Family". He concluded his answer by calling it the "breakfast of champions" and exhorted the audience to "accept no substitute".

In his 2010 memoir Hitch-22, Hitchens wrote: "There was a time when I could reckon to outperform all but the most hardened imbibers, but I now drink relatively carefully." He described his current drinking routine on working-days as follows: "At about half past midday, a decent slug of Mr. Walker's amber restorative, cut with Perrier water (an ideal delivery system) and no ice. At luncheon, perhaps half a bottle of red wine: not always more but never less. Then back to the desk, and ready to repeat the treatment at the evening meal. No 'after dinner drinks' — ​most especially nothing sweet and never, ever any brandy. 'Nightcaps' depend on how well the day went, but always the mixture as before. No mixing: no messing around with a gin here and a vodka there."

Cancer

On 30 June 2010, Hitchens postponed his book tour for Hitch-22 to undergo treatment for metastatic esophageal cancer that has spread to his lymph nodes and lungs. He first made the announcement of his diagnosis in Vanity Fair magazine. In August, Hitchens discussed his diagnosis with Anderson Cooper on CNN. He told Cooper that the long-term prognosis is far from positive and that when one uses cigarettes and alcohol, which he has used heavily, there is a tendency to "make yourself a candidate" for the disease. He also says not to credit any reports that he has repented to God. Speaking with The Atlantics Jeffrey Goldberg, Hitchens stated that he would be a "very lucky person" to live another five years.

See also

List of atheists

*

List of English Americans

List of essayists

List of syndicated columnists

Peter Hitchens

Film and television appearances

As referenced from the Internet Movie Database, Hitchens Web or Charlie Rose. {|class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" |- ! Year ! Film |- |1984 |align="left" | Opinions: "Greece to their Rome" |- |1988 |align="left" | Frontiers |- |1993 |align="left" | Everything You Need to Know |- |1994 |align="left" | Tracking Down Maggie: The Unofficial Biography of Margaret Thatcher |- |1994 |align="left" | Hell's Angel |- |1996 |align="left" | Where's Elvis This Week? |- |1996–2010 |align="left" | Charlie Rose (13 episodes) |- |1998 |align="left" | Princess Diana: The Mourning After |- |1999–2002 |align="left" | Dennis Miller Live (4 episodes) |- |2002 |align="left" | The Trials of Henry Kissinger |- |2003 |align="left" | Hidden in Plain Sight |- |2003–2009 |align="left" | Real Time with Bill Maher (6 episodes) |- |2004 |align="left" | Mel Gibson: God's Lethal Weapon |- |2004–2006 |align="left" | Newsnight (3 episodes) |- |2004–2010 |align="left" | The Daily Show (4 episodes) |- |2005 |align="left" | (1 episode) |- |2005 |align="left" | The Al Franken Show (1 episode) |- |2005 |align="left" | Confronting Iraq: Conflict and Hope |- |2005 |align="left" | |- |2005–2008 |align="left" | Hardball with Chris Matthews (3 episodes) |- |2006 |align="left" | American Zeitgeist |- |2006 |align="left" | Blog Wars |- |2007 |align="left" | Manufacturing Dissent |- |2007 |align="left" | Question Time (1 episode) |- |2007 |align="left" | Your Mommy Kills Animals |- |2007 |align="left" | Personal Che |- |2007 |align="left" | Heckler |- |2007 |align="left" | In Pot We Trust |- |2008 |align="left" | Discussions with Richard Dawkins: Episode 1: "The Four Horsemen" |- |2009 |align="left" | Holy Hell |- |2009 |align="left" | Presidency |- |2009 |align="left" | Collision: "Is Christianity GOOD for the World?" |}

Bibliography

1987 Imperial Spoils: The Curious Case of the Elgin Marbles, Chatto and Windus (UK)/Hill and Wang (US, 1988) / 1997 UK Verso edition as The Elgin Marbles: Should They Be Returned to Greece? (with essays by Robert Browning and Graham Binns)

1988 Blaming the Victims: Spurious Scholarship and the Palestinian Question (contributor; co-editor with Edward Said) Verso, ISBN 0-86091-887-4 Reissued, 2001

1995 The Missionary Position: Mother Teresa in Theory and Practice, Verso

2000 , Verso

2001 The Trial of Henry Kissinger. Verso.

2001 Letters to a Young Contrarian, Basic Books

2004 , Thunder's Mouth, Nation Books, ISBN 1-56025-580-3

2005 , Eminent Lives/Atlas Books/HarperCollins Publishers, ISBN 0-06-059896-4

2007 , [Editor] Perseus Publishing. ISBN 978-0-306-81608-6

2007 God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything, Twelve/Hachette Book Group USA/Warner Books, ISBN 0-446-57980-7 / Published in the UK as God Is Not Great: The Case Against Religion, Atlantic Books, ISBN 978-1-84354-586-6

2008 (with Simon Cottee and Thomas Cushman), New York University Press

2008 Is Christianity Good for the World? – A Debate (co-author, with Douglas Wilson), Canon Press, ISBN 1-59128-053-2

2010 , Hachette Book Group, ISBN 978-0-446-54033-9

References

External links

in 2007 in 2010 ;Profiles

"Christopher Hitchens" feature story in Prospect magazine, May 2008

"Incendiary Author Spares No Targets" feature story in The New Zealand Herald, May 2008

Such, Such are His Joys David Brooks assessment in The New York Times, 1 July 2010

Hitchens on Dying with Cancer - August 2010 video interview with The Atlantic

Christopher Hitchens: 'You have to choose your future regrets' in The Guardian, 14 November 2010

"Christopher Hitchens’s Jewish Problem" feature article on Jewish Ideas Daily, December 13, 2010

;Articles by Hitchens

Contributor page for Vanity Fair

Index at The Atlantic Monthly

Christopher Hitchens Blog The Mirror (British tabloid)

Hitchens Web

Build Up That Wall – Christopher Hitchens online directory

Hitchens articles at Slate

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Charlie Cook (born November 20, 1953), originally from Shreveport, Louisiana, is an American political analyst who specializes in election forecasts and political trends. He attended Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. which publishes analysis of the primaries and general elections for federal political offices and state governorships. The Report's predictions are accorded high credibility among journalists and politicians. Cook readily acknowledges some of his failed predictions. In 2006, he said he had "tread marks on my forehead" after understating the Republican gains in the 1994 midterm Congressional elections. In July 2008, at a time when U.S. Senator John McCain had for many months been the presumptive presidential nominee of the Republican Party, Cook reminded his audience that he had "written McCain off as politically dead just a year ago".

He claims to be non-partisan in his analyses. Prior to founding his newsletter in 1984, Cook worked on Capitol Hill for then-Senator J. Bennett Johnston, Jr., a Democrat from Shreveport who served from 1972-1997. Cook also worked for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, and the Democratic Policy Committee. In addition, he worked as a pollster and campaign consultant and on the staff of BUILD-PAC, the political action committee of the trade association, the National Association of Home Builders.

Cook is a 1972 graduate of Captain Shreve High School in Shreveport. In 2006, he was inducted into the Louisiana Political Museum and Hall of Fame in Winnfield.

Notes

References

CNN. 1996. Capsule biography of Charlie Cook.

Cook, Charlie. July 12, 2008. National Journal.">Weekly column in the National Journal.

Milbank, Dana. October 25 [sic], 2006. When It Comes to Politics, Charlie Cook Has the Prophecy Market Cornered. Washington Post.

External links

Charlie Cook Interview

Charlie Cook columns

Category:American journalists Category:Living people Category:People from Shreveport, Louisiana Category:1954 births Category:Georgetown University alumni Category:Captain Shreve High School alumni