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The Bombing of Sterling HallText and photos copyright © 2000 Leemark Communications The doors to the old part of Sterling Hall, as seen from Charter Street. Early on August 24th, 1970, a van loaded with six barrels of explosives blew up just outside the East Wing of Sterling Hall at the University of Wisconsin campus in Madison. The bombing was carried out by four men in protest of America's involvement in the Vietnam War. The bombing was directed against the Mathematics Research Center, a U.S.-Army-funded facility, which was located in the East Wing of Sterling Hall along with the...

Obama's "Audacity of Hope" slogan goes back to the French Revolution, now mainly remembered for its bloodthirsty guillotine executions of the French aristocracy. As Edmund Burke wrote in his classic work Reflections on the Revolution in France, the French Revolution was all about destroying the Old Regime in pursuit of a utopian dream, while the American Revolution was about constructing a new, practical style of government. The American Constitution survives two centuries later. The French Revolution collapsed into anarchy, and was transformed by Napoleon into the first European imperial conquest since the Romans. Napoleon went on to kill tens of...

It could be anywhere in Arkansas, anywhere in America. It's the kind of place that William Longs come from — young people drawn to defend the rest of us. We may scarcely think about them until we see those uniforms at an airport. Or until something like this happens, and it dawns on us that it is from such places that we get the best of our best, those who seem to have duty in their very bones.

Dear Viewer, Thank you for your correspondence regarding the "South Park" episodes entitled "Cartoon Wars." We appreciate your concerns about censorship and the destructive influence of outside groups on the media, entertainment industry and particularly Comedy Central. To reiterate, as satirists, we believe that it is our First Amendment right to poke fun at any and all people, groups, organizations and religions and we will continue to defend that right. Our goal is to make people laugh and perhaps, if we're lucky, even make them think in the process. Comedy Central's belief in the First Amendment has not wavered, despite...