The normblog profile 137: Michelle Malkin
Michelle Malkin was born in Philadelphia and raised in South Jersey (land of the Big Haired-Girls). A graduate (survivor) of Oberlin College, she laboured at the Los Angeles Daily News and Seattle Times before becoming a nationally syndicated columnist. She's a Fox News Channel contributor and author of three books. Married with two small children who want their own blogs, her online home is at Michelle Malkin, and the new Internet broadcast network she launched in late April is Hot Air.
Why do you blog? > It's a compulsion. I'm a writer and reporter. Cyberspace is limitless and liberating. When I run out of opinions and stories, I'll stop.
What has been your best blogging experience? > Seeing the life of Afghan apostate Abdul Rahman, the ex-Muslim who converted to Christianity and refused to renounce his new faith, spared and asylum granted in Italy.
What has been your worst blogging experience? > Having my private, unlisted home address splashed all over the Internet.
What would be your main blogging advice to a novice blogger? > Do not ask to be blogrolled by someone else if you've never even published a single blog entry or haven't updated your blog in three months.
Who are your intellectual heroes? > Thomas Sowell, Samuel Huntington, Aaron Wildavsky.
What are you reading at the moment? > Oriana Fallaci, The Force of Reason; Efraim Karsh, Islamic Imperialism; and Ramesh Ponnuru, The Party of Death.
Who are your cultural heroes? > Florence King.
What is the best novel you've ever read? > The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain.
What is your favourite poem? > 'Annabel Lee' by Edgar Allan Poe.
What is your favourite movie? > Two: The Sound of Music and The Seven Samurai.
What is your favourite song? > 'Summertime' by George Gershwin.
Who is your favourite composer? > Chopin.
Can you name a major moral, political or intellectual issue on which you've ever changed your mind? > The Mohammed Cartoon jihad and the near-execution of Afghan apostate Abdul Rahman, both of which I covered extensively on my blog, have hardened my views considerably about the marginality of 'moderate Islam'.
What philosophical thesis do you think it most important to combat? > The cult of multiculturalism and the self-esteem movement in the American education system.
What is your favourite piece of political wisdom? > 'Civilizations die from suicide, not by murder.' (Arnold Toynbee)
If you could effect one major policy change in the governing of your country, what would it be? > Fire Norm Mineta.
What would you do with the UN? > De-fund, deactivate, dismantle.
What do you consider to be the main threat to the future peace and security of the world? > Suicidal blind faith in the historically ignorant mantra, 'Islam is a religion of peace'.
What would be your most important piece of advice about life? > Live it to the fullest, without apology or regrets, and count your blessings at the end of every day.
Do you think you could ever be married to, or in a long-term relationship with, someone with radically different political views from your own? > No.
What do you consider the most important personal quality? > Courage.
What personal fault do you most dislike? > Cowardice.
What commonly enjoyed activities do you regard as a waste of time? > Playing slots. Cock-fighting. Getting drunk.
What, if anything, do you worry about? > My children. Always, my children. Their sniffles. Their sleep. Their teeth. Their health. Their happiness. Their future.
What do you like doing in your spare time? > Spare time?
What is your most treasured possession? > Several. (1) Two kind, brief personal notes from the late journalists Eric Breindel and Michael Kelly, complimenting my newspaper columns. (2) A signed limited edition of milblogger and war photographer Michael Yon's famous photo of US Maj. Mark Bieger cradling a child killed in Iraq by a suicide bomber in May 2005. (3) A beautiful medallion, inscribed 'United in Memory: September 11, 2001' on one side and depicting the Pentagon with a large American flag on the other, given to me by Debra Burlingame, sister of Charles F. 'Chic' Burlingame III, the pilot of American Airlines flight 77, which was crashed into the Pentagon on 9/11.
What talent would you most like to have? > I have always been able to juggle many things figuratively, but I've never been able to juggle more than two objects literally. My 5½-year-old daughter would be most impressed if I ever mastered that skill.
If you could have any three guests, past or present, to dinner who would they be? > Theo Van Gogh, Fabrizio Quattrocchi, Thomas Jefferson.
What animal would you most like to be? > A jaguar.
[The normblog profile is a weekly Friday morning feature. A list of all the profiles to date, and the links to them, can be found here.]
