OutloudOpinion Podcast
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Get audio versions of top syndicated political columnists. OutloudOpinion's professional readers deliver eight to ten articles daily for subscribers. Save time and stay informed with the some of the best editorial content around. OutloudOpinion's authors include: Thomas Sowell, Dennis Prager, Michael Barone, Michelle Malkin, Brent Bozell, Robert Novak, Walter Williams, Larry Elder, Lawrence Kudlow, David Limbaugh, Patrick Buchanan, Emmett Tyrrell, Mona Charen, Dick Morris, Tony Blankley, William Murchison, Oliver North, Jacob Sullum, Joseph Farah, Matt Towery, Roland Martin, Austin Bay and Terence Jeffery.
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"To Stop the Multiplication of the Unfit" 2.9.12
Author: Michelle Malkin
Fri, Feb 10, 2012
If you aren't creeped out by the No Birth Control Left Behind rhetoric of the White House and Planned Parenthood, you aren't listening closely enough. The anesthetic of progressive benevolence always dulls the senses. Wake up.
When a bunch of wealthy white women and elite Washington bureaucrats defend the trampling of religious liberties in the name of "increased access" to "reproductive services" for "poor" women, the ghost of Margaret Sanger is cackling.
As she wrote in her autobiography, Sanger founded Planned Parenthood in 1916 "to stop the multiplication of the unfit." This, she boasted, would be "the most important and greatest step towards race betterment." While she oversaw the mass murder of black babies, Sanger cynically recruited minority activists to front her death racket. She conspired with eugenics financier and businessman Clarence Gamble to "hire three or four colored ministers, preferably with social-service backgrounds, and with engaging personalities" to sell their genocidal policies as community health and welfare services.
Outright murder wouldn't sell. But wrapping it under the egalitarian cloak of "women's health" -- and adorning it with the moral authority of black churches -- would. Sanger and Gamble called their deadly campaign "The Negro Project."
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Obama Invites Backlash on Conscience Rule Betrayal 2.9.12
Author: David Limbaugh
Fri, Feb 10, 2012
As God's instrument, Moses parted the Red Sea. Well, it appears President Obama has a different idea. With a wave of his hand, he's going to reunite our bitterly divided political waters on the hottest of hot-button issues.
Don't get me wrong; Obama's conscious effort to divide Americans on the basis of race, ethnicity, religion and wealth for political purposes is alive and thriving. That's a separate phenomenon.
What I'm talking about here is his apparent conviction that by sheer force of his presence, his charisma, his aura and his gift for supernatural nuance, he can utter magical words on any bitterly controversial matter and instantly reconcile opposing factions, even on matters that do not lend themselves to neat solutions.
This exaggerated sense of self-worth, not just his visceral liberal inclination toward appeasement, is what leads him to believe he can negotiate with terrorists and persuade them to renounce their jihad against America upon witnessing his world apology tour, his outreach to Muslims in Cairo, his witch hunt against CIA interrogators, and his shoutouts to the Muslim Brotherhood. (Don't tell him, but polls show he's even less popular than President George W. Bush was in the Muslim world.)
His stunning absence of any awareness of his own limitations (Socrates' wisdom yardstick) is obviously what convinced him he could deliver a speech at the University of Notre Dame that would induce a bilateral epiphany in which both sides of the abortion debate would finally realize that until he had deconstructed the issue so elegantly, they had been looking through the abortion glass darkly. Henceforth, they would see clearly and bask in the glow of harmonic convergence where pro-life advocates would appreciate the bizarre concept of a mother's sacred reproductive rights and the pro-aborts would come to understand, er, never mind. Only one side in these arguments needs to show movement -- the side that opposes Obama's beliefs.
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Referendum on the Incumbent 2.9.12
Author: Linda Chavez
Fri, Feb 10, 2012
Conventional wisdom suggests that the current refusal of the GOP base to accept Mitt Romney as the de facto presidential nominee will doom the party to failure in the fall. The thought is that too many debates, too much sniping among the candidates, and an overall enthusiasm deficit will leave the nominee -- and the odds still favor Romney -- mortally wounded.
But this election was never going to be decided so much by voters affirmatively choosing the Republican candidate as by whether they were going to reject Barack Obama. Second-term elections are always a referendum on the incumbent, not the challenger. And when Americans have chosen to turn out a sitting president, it has rarely been because the challenger was so much more appealing. The qualities of the challenger aren't irrelevant; they're just not as decisive as the perceived success or failure of the incumbent.
In 1980, Americans chose to give Jimmy Carter the boot. Inflation and interest rates had gone through the roof on his watch, and unemployment had risen. The Soviet Union had invaded Afghanistan, and its surrogates had made inroads in the United States' own backyard. Carter made Americans feel bad about themselves, so they voted him out of office. Many Americans didn't know all that much about Ronald Reagan, and the media tried to make him out to be a reckless cowboy, but voters knew they didn't want more of Carter.
The same could be said of George H.W. Bush. Voters liked him enough when he pushed Saddam Hussein out of Kuwait in the hundred-hour war, but by the time re-election rolled around, things had changed. Bill Clinton was a small-time governor from a southern state but became the Democrats' nominee largely because better-known candidates with bigger reputations hadn't bothered to run. But he won because voters were tired of Bush.
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Do You Speak Conservative? 2.9.12
Author: Mona Charen
Fri, Feb 10, 2012
Newt Gingrich knows the lingo. He makes conservative audiences roar with approval when he compares the efficiency of FedEx and MasterCard to the post office and Immigration and Customs Enforcement. He never loses an opportunity to attack the press for its moral preening. Conservatives adore this table turning. Nothing makes them angrier than to be derided as heartless by people who define virtue by their willingness to give away other people's money.
Rick Perry quickly lost his own conservative luster when he used the word "heartless" about his Republican rivals.
Want to see how conservatives behave? Rent and watch "The Blind Side." The family that adopted Michael Oher, a homeless black teenager, was conservative and Christian. Think that's an anomaly? Glance at the families of Republican office seekers. John and Cindy McCain adopted a sickly child from Pakistan. Jon and Mary Kaye Huntsman have two adopted daughters, one from China and one from India. Michele and Marcus Bachmann have five biological children and fostered 23 teenagers -- many with eating disorders and other challenges. Wander into any church or synagogue on the weekend and you will find more of a "rainbow coalition" than at a New York Times editorial conference.
Self-described conservatives, as Arthur C. Brooks demonstrated so cogently in his book "Who Really Cares," donate more to charity than do self-identified liberals. Perhaps that's because conservatives are wealthier? No. Liberals on average earn 6 percent more than conservatives. Yet conservatives donate about 30 percent more. Conservatives also volunteer more of their time -- and their blood. Brooks writes: "If liberals and moderates gave blood at the same rate as conservatives, the blood supply of the United States would jump about 45 percent." Of the 25 states that had higher than average charitable giving, 24 went for George W. Bush over John Kerry in 2004.
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GOP Must Convince Young People It's the Party of Options 2.8.12
Author: Michael Barone
Thu, Feb 9, 2012
The Republican presidential candidates, except for Ron Paul, haven't been paying much attention to young voters in the primaries and caucuses so far. But any Republican nominee -- which is to say probably Mitt Romney, or maybe Newt Gingrich or Rick Santorum -- had better be paying attention to them in the summer and fall.
The reason three of the four Republicans haven't paid much attention to young voters is that the under-30 folks have been turning out in the Republican contests in miniscule numbers.
According to entrance and exit polls, voters under 30 accounted for 15 percent of participants in Iowa, 12 percent in New Hampshire, 9 percent in South Carolina, 6 percent in Florida and 8 percent in Nevada.
By way of comparison, voters that age were 18 percent of the electorate in November 2008.
And, in that election, they voted 66 percent to 32 percent for Barack Obama over John McCain. Voters above that age favored Obama by only 50 percent to 49 percent. McCain would have won if the voting age were 35.
In this year's Republican contests, the big winner among young voters has been Ron Paul. His libertarian message -- on monetary policy, marijuana policy and foreign policy -- has brought out the under-30 voters, though many and perhaps most don't identify themselves as Republicans at all.
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Aren't Republicans Supposed to Be Colorblind? 2.8.12
Author: Larry Elder
Thu, Feb 9, 2012
"Which of our Hispanic leaders would you consider to serve in your Cabinet?" A woman attending the last Republican debate in Florida asked this of the four Republican rivals.
Oh, for crying out loud! Ethnic-based Cabinet appointees? Do we still need to go out and "seek" people of a certain color or religion to show "fairness and inclusion"? What about considering the best people possible -- isn't that the only appropriate answer to that question?
But Republicans go all Democrat, all too often, in front of black and brown audiences. They say things to show how empathic they are, rather than promote their principles as beneficial to all, regardless of race or gender or ethnicity.
Look at the way former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum answered this Cabinet question. Obviously anticipating such a query, they spat out practically every Hispanic name they could think of short of the Frito Bandito.
Only one, libertarian Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, said the right thing. Paul simply said he wanted someone who understands fiscal and monetary policy -- "Hispanic or otherwise." And Paul won't be the nominee.
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Obama's Halftime Hypocrisy 2.7.12
Author: David Harsanyi
Wed, Feb 8, 2012
On Super Bowl Sunday, America was treated to the most expensive political commercial in history -- brought to you by Chrysler -- called "It's Halftime in America."
In a series of vapid non sequiturs, Clint Eastwood's gravelly voice pinned the promise of a city -- no, a nation -- to government dependency, claiming that "the people of Detroit" lost almost everything but because "we" pulled together and the "Motor City is fighting again" -- punching, roaring, imbued with American grit -- we survived.
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Super PAC-Men: Obama Bundlers Gone Wild! 2.7.12
Author: Michelle Malkin
Wed, Feb 8, 2012
The White House didn't blow a dog whistle for deep-pocketed liberal donors on Monday. No, the administration whipped out a supersized vuvuzela. Blaring message: Let loose the campaign finance-bundling hounds of super PAC war!
President Obama's campaign manager, Jim Messina, who served as White House deputy chief of staff for operations before assuming 2012 re-election duties, announced the super PAC super-flip-flop in a mass e-mail to supporters and a blog post published on the left-wing Huffington Post website. In a related conference call to major campaign finance bundlers, Messina encouraged these high-dollar donors to start funding Priorities USA Action. That's the Democratic super PAC founded by former White House staffers Bill Burton and Sean Sweeney.
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Economic Chaos Ahead 2.6.12
Author: Walter Williams
Mon, Feb 6, 2012
Let's think about the kind of mess that we're in. Federal 2010 Medicare and Medicaid expenditures totaled $800 billion. The projected annual growth of both programs is about 7 percent. Social Security expenditures are more than $700 billion a year. According to the 2009 Social Security and Medicare trustees reports, by 2030, 49 percent of federal revenues will go for Social Security and Medicare payments. The unfunded liability of both programs is already $106 trillion.
But not to worry. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that it's possible to sustain today's level of federal spending and even achieve a balanced budget. All that Congress would have to do is raise the lowest income tax bracket of 10 percent to 25 percent and the middle tax bracket of 25 percent to 66 percent and raise the 35 percent tax bracket to 92 percent. That's a static vision that assumes that people will have no response and they'll work just as hard and send more money to Washington. If Congress did legislate such tax increases, it would be the economic equivalent of committing national hara-kiri.
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A Defining Moment 2.6.12
Author: Thomas Sowell
Mon, Feb 6, 2012
Governor Mitt Romney's statement about not worrying about the poor has been treated as a gaffe in much of the media, and those in the Republican establishment who have been rushing toward endorsing his coronation as the GOP's nominee for president -- with 90 percent of the delegates still not yet chosen -- have been trying to sweep his statement under the rug.
But Romney's statement about not worrying about the poor -- because they "have a very ample safety net" -- was followed by a statement that was not just a slip of the tongue, and should be a defining moment in telling us about this man's qualifications as a conservative and, more important, as a potential President of the United States.
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Removing Planned Parenthood's Fig Leaf 2.6.12
Author: Mona Charen
Mon, Feb 6, 2012
Planned Parenthood would appear to have won this latest skirmish in the abortion wars. The Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation having first decided to withdraw future grants to the world's largest abortion provider, quickly retreated under a barrage of accusations, complaints and threats.
No fewer than 26 Democratic senators signed a letter to Komen saying, in part that, "It would be tragic if any woman --let alone thousands of women -- lost access to these potentially life-saving screenings because of a politically motivated attack. We earnestly hope that you will put women's health before partisan politics and reconsider this decision . . ."
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Obama Says He Deserves a Second Term; Let's Consider 2.6.12
Author: David Limbaugh
Mon, Feb 6, 2012
President Obama told NBC's Matt Lauer in an interview Sunday, "I deserve a second term." Well, let's see.
He had the courage to tell the Supreme Court off for daring to defy him in its campaign finance law ruling. And he did it during his State of the Union speech, when they weren't in a position to object, showing just what a marvelous tactician he is.
He was not about to be stymied by an obstructionist Republican House that didn't buy into his Euro-fashionable idea that we're all going to die from catastrophic man-made global warming. So when those knuckleheads wouldn't pass cap and trade, his Environmental Protection Agency lawlessly imposed its own emission standards. He showed those Republicans.
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Feminists Are Anti-Choice 2.2.12
Author: Linda Chavez
Fri, Feb 3, 2012
Horror of horrors! Lego has introduced a new line of gender-specific toys aimed at girls. I might not even have become aware of the controversy had it not been a topic of discussion on the all-female PBS talk show "To the Contrary," on which I frequently appear. That we are still debating the pros and cons of allowing boys and girls to prefer different play choices says a great deal about the failure of the feminist movement.
Lego, which markets plastic building blocks for everything from "Star Wars" fighting vehicles to Egyptian pyramids, has now introduced a line aimed at young girls. The new toys include Butterfly Beauty Shop, Stephanie's Outdoor Bakery, and Olivia's House, all featuring recognizable girl figures with long hair and feminine outlines, unlike the squat, sexless figures that characterize many of the company's other building sets. More importantly, these toys depict girls engaging in traditionally female activities and roles: getting their hair done, baking, caring for children.
The company says that it has introduced the new line because of customer demand. Little girls (or their mothers) apparently aren't lining up to buy Lego's Fangpyre Wrecking Balls or Pirates of the Caribbean. But feminist critics say that the real motive is to reinforce gender stereotypes and limit little girls' aspirations.
In fact, it's the feminists who want to limit women's choices. Their message to girls and young women is: If you're not exactly like men, you don't believe in equal rights.
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What Is It About 'No Free Lunch' That Obama Doesn't Understand? 2.2.12
Author: David Limbaugh
Fri, Feb 3, 2012
Obama's latest homeowner mortgage relief plan is perfect for him: It both is consistent with his ideology -- duh -- and allows him to buy more votes with someone else's money, all the while pretending there is in fact such a thing as a free lunch.
The painfully superficial liberal approach to poverty gets old, as does its corollary tenet that conservatives who reject liberals' failed ideas lack compassion. Indeed, Obama seemed to devote half the words in his prayer breakfast speech to proving that Scripture compels liberal policies.
Obama's latest proof that he cares more than we do is his proposal to "give every responsible homeowner in America a chance to save about $3,000 a year on their mortgage by refinancing at historically low rates. No more red tape. No more runaround from the banks."
This has all the elements. He frames the program as applying only to (SET ITAL) responsible (END ITAL) mortgagors; he personally gets credit for handing out this money from his legendary "stash"; government, not the market, dictates what the interest rate will be; government will wave its magic wand forbidding "red tape" and bureaucratic obstacles; and banks, one of his favorite targets, are demonized and lined up to be punished.
But haven't we had enough of this man's top-down manipulation of the market in the guise of helping people? Is he ever to be held accountable for similar failed programs he's already tried? How about that $75 billion mortgage relief plan he implemented in 2009? You know, the one he said would "give millions of families resigned to financial ruin a chance to rebuild"? The one he said would save 7 million to 9 million mortgages.
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Drop the Middle Class Talk 2.2.12
Author: Mona Charen
Fri, Feb 3, 2012
In 1992, Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton built his campaign for the White House on doing more for the "forgotten middle class." Calling it the "new covenant" (Democrats since Roosevelt have tried to work the words "new" or "deal" into their campaign slogans), Clinton promised to focus on the people he called "the backbone of the country, the ones who do the work and pay the taxes and send their children off to war."
Sound familiar? Here is Mitt Romney, the morning after the Florida primary: "I'm in this race because I care about Americans. I'm not concerned about the very poor. We have a safety net there. If it needs repair, I'll fix it. I'm not concerned about the very rich; they're doing just fine. I'm concerned about the very heart of ... America, the 90 percent, 95 percent of Americans who right now are struggling."
The usual firestorm erupted -- with liberals and conservatives alike pouncing on evidence of Romney's "tin ear." NPR anticipated (eagerly?) that Romney's words would show up in Democratic attack ads. And an exasperated Jonah Goldberg wondered in National Review Online whether Romney actually knows how to play this game: " . . . The concern is, after nearly a decade of running for president, if he can't get this stuff down now he never will."
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Democrats Love Taxes -- They Just Don't Want to Pay Them 2.1.12
Author: Larry Elder
Fri, Feb 3, 2012
Forgive Republican candidate Mitt Romney for his alleged failure to adequately explain why he paid "only" 14 percent of his income in taxes.
The honest answer -- "Well, because my accountants couldn't figure out how to get them any lower" -- does not work in this or very many other election years. Romney seemed flat-footed because, like most business people, he seeks to minimize costs and expenses.
This includes taxes.
A normal wealthy-and-proud-of-it guy would have said: "Let me get this straight, pal. I'm not supposed to take every legal advantage provided me by the tax laws to reduce my taxes?" For what it's worth, about 15 percent of Romney's last two years of income went to charity -- substantially higher than the percentage given by the Obamas or Joe Biden's $380 (not a typo) of his quarter-million dollar income in 2006.
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Romney's Edge: Electability 1.31.12
Author: Dick Morris
Tue, Jan 31, 2012
Mitt Romney's sudden surge in Florida reflects a basic fear voters have of nominating former Speaker Newt Gingrich. Despite his obvious brilliance, creative ideas and stimulating turns of phrase, they worry that he will come across as too strident to voters and will cost the Republican Party the presidency.
Women, in particular, worry that his personal baggage may impair his ability to defeat Barack Obama in November. Instead, both genders are coming to feel that it is better not to take a chance and to vote for Mitt Romney, the more electable of the two.
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Complexity Compounded 1.31.12
Author: Jacob Sullum
Tue, Jan 31, 2012
In his State of the Union address last week, President Obama used billionaire investor Warren Buffett's secretary, Debbie Bosanek, as a prop to illustrate the unfairness of our tax system. "Right now," he said as Bosanek sat near first lady Michelle Obama, "Warren Buffett pays a lower tax rate than his secretary."
Commentators spent the next week speculating about what Obama meant. Was he referring to marginal rates or effective rates? On taxable income or adjusted gross income? Was he talking about federal income taxes or payroll taxes, as well? If the latter, was he counting the so-called employer's share or just the employee's share? What about state income taxes?
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First, They Came for the Catholics 1.31.12
Author: Michelle Malkin
Tue, Jan 31, 2012
President Obama and his radical feminist enforcers have had it in for Catholic medical providers from the get-go. It's about time all people of faith fought back against this unprecedented encroachment on religious liberty. First, they came for the Catholics. Who's next?
This weekend, Catholic bishops informed parishioners of the recent White House edict forcing religious hospitals, schools, charities and other health and social service providers to provide "free" abortifacient pills, sterilizations and contraception on demand in their insurance plans -- even if it violates their moral consciences and the teachings of their churches.
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Republicans' Obamacare Problem 1.31.12
Author: David Harsanyi
Tue, Jan 31, 2012
Once the presidential nomination process is settled -- and Lord knows that day can't come fast enough -- Republicans will get back to doing what they do best, getting on Barack Obama's case. Incredibly, though, they'll have to do it without one of their most potent arguments.
The Republican candidate, after all, can't effectively attack what he supports. Today both leading contenders for the nomination have defended the idea of government's forcing all consumers to buy something in the interest of the common good. An individual mandate is about health insurance today, but really no one has offered any good reason Washington couldn't force us to buy a government-sanctioned iPad or rubber ducky tomorrow.
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They Have Islamist Fanatics, We Have Secularist Fanatics 1.30.12
Author: Dennis Prager
Mon, Jan 30, 2012
The Muslim world is threatened by religious fanaticism. The Western world is threatened by secular fanaticism.
Both seek to dominate society and to use state power to do so. Both seek to eliminate the Other -- for Islamic fanatics, that means non-Muslim religions and secularism; for secular fanatics, it means Christianity and virtually any public invoking of God. The Islamists impose Sharia law; the American Civil Liberties Union and the left generally impose secular law. The Taliban wiped out public vestiges of Buddhism in Afghanistan; the ACLU and its allies seek to wipe out public vestiges of Christianity in America -- as it did, for example, in Los Angeles County, when it successfully pressured the County Board of Supervisors to remove the tiny cross from the county seal. A city and county founded by Catholics -- hence the name "The Angels" -- was forced to stop commemorating its founders because they were religious.
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Social Pressure to Marry Is Dead 1.30.12
Author: Mona Charen
Mon, Jan 30, 2012
The advice columns of newspapers are good windows into the conscience of a culture. There you will find a field guide to what is considered socially acceptable and unacceptable. One of the advice columnists for the Washington Post, Carolyn Hax, is consistently sensible and solid in her suggestions. Straightening out busybodies, drug abusers, interfering in-laws and ungrateful children with equal aplomb, she's usually a pleasant read with the morning coffee.
But not always. A recent response to a letter from "Grandmother-to-be" provides an example of the collapse of social wisdom on the subject of marriage and childbearing. "My 26-year-old son's girlfriend -- of four months -- is pregnant," wrote grandma. "I have very mixed emotions about this, mainly because he just met her, and I do not know her. They work and live across the country. I am disappointed in their behavior. How do I tell my friends the news? I am embarrassed."
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Getting Nowhere, Very Fast 1.30.12
Author: Thomas Sowell
Mon, Jan 30, 2012
California has a huge state debt and Washington has a huge national debt. But that does not discourage either Governor Jerry Brown or President Barack Obama from wanting to launch a very costly high-speed rail system.
Most of us might be a little skittish about spending money if we were teetering on the brink of bankruptcy. But the beauty of politics is that it is all other people's money, including among those other people generations yet unborn.
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Let's Honor, Not Stretch, the Buckley Rule 1.30.12
Author: David Limbaugh
Mon, Jan 30, 2012
In the intense heat of the present, it is easy to forget even the relatively recent past, but it seems to me that this GOP primary season is more acrimonious than the past few, probably because the stakes are so high.
When I've noted that this is the most important presidential election of our lifetimes, a few excitability-resistant conservative friends have said, "They have been saying that about every election for more than a generation." My response to that is:
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Proof Voters Are Smarter Than Media and Washington Elite 1.30.12
Author: Chuck Norris
Mon, Jan 30, 2012
I think the mainstream media and Washington elite think the majority of voters just fell off the turnip truck. But the South Carolina primary and other current voting trends show otherwise.
The MSM are working double time to get us to forget about the unprecedented results of the South Carolina primary, but they are a sign of what could be in Florida, Nevada and beyond. They are also proof that American citizens will not be outwitted by the political shenanigans of the powers that be. Let me give you a few examples.
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Obama's Racial Politics 1.30.12
Author: Walter Williams
Mon, Jan 30, 2012
There's been a heap of criticism placed upon President Barack Obama's domestic policies that have promoted government intrusion and prolonged our fiscal crisis and his foreign policies that have emboldened our enemies. Any criticism of Obama pales in comparison with what might be said about the American people who voted him in to the nation's highest office.
Obama's presidency represents the first time in our history that a person could have been elected to that office who had long-standing close associations with people who hate our nation. I'm speaking of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Obama's pastor for 20 years, who preached that blacks should sing not "God Bless America," but "God damn America." Then there's William Ayers, now professor of education at the University of Illinois at Chicago but formerly a member of the Weather Underground, an anti-U.S. group that bombed the Pentagon, U.S. Capitol and other government buildings. Although Ayers was never convicted of any crime, he told a New York Times reporter, in the wake of the September 2001 terrorist attack, "I don't regret setting bombs. ... I feel we didn't do enough." Obama has served on a foundation board, appeared on panels, and even held campaign events in Ayers' home, joined by Ayers' former-fugitive wife, Bernardine Dohrn. Bill Ayers' close association with Obama is reflected by his admission that he helped write Obama's memoirs, "Dreams from My Father."
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The 2012 Race Takes Shape 1.27.12
Author: Michael Barone
Mon, Jan 30, 2012
We got mixed signals from a turbulent political week.
Barack Obama seems to be enjoying an uptick in polls -- up toward, but not quite at, 50 percent approval. It's a reminder that he can expect to benefit from Americans' desire to think well of their presidents and from the reluctance of many voters to be seen as rejecting the first black president.
But his weakness was apparent in his State of the Union address: issues. He devoted a mere 44 words to the health care law passed in March 2010. This is the strongest evidence possible that his signal legislative achievement is a millstone around the neck of his campaign.
Similarly, we heard little in the hour-plus speech about infrastructure. The words "shovel-ready projects" and "high-speed rail" appeared nowhere -- significant omissions from a president who (as a mischievous Republican ad shows) sprinkles the same phrases in one State of the Union after another.
And there was a third omission, not perhaps as obvious but, in the long run, possibly more glaring -- the omission of any serious public policy initiatives to quicken the pace of economic growth and address the long-term entitlement problems that Obama has occasionally noted.
Yes, he did call for higher taxes on high earners. But the man who can call on experts at the Treasury Department to draft legislation gave no indication that he has any feasible draft for his "Buffett rule," which would presumably require a second alternative minimum tax for very high earners.
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Mr. and Mrs. Cranky Pants 1.26.12
Author: Michelle Malkin
Thu, Jan 26, 2012
So, it turns out that the cool cat billed as "No Drama Obama" by his sycophants is actually quite the drama queen. While the White House publicly pretends to ignore conservative detractors of his administration, Chief Touchy-Touchy seems to be personally consumed by our critiques. Yes, mine included.
On Wednesday, the president had himself a mini-"Toddlers and Tiaras"-style meltdown with Arizona GOP Gov. Jan Brewer after landing in Phoenix for a post-State of the Union dog-and-pony show. As Brewer told pool reporters on the scene, Obama took umbrage at Brewer's recent memoir. She minced no words on the cover: "Scorpions for Breakfast: My Fight Against Special Interests, Liberal Media, and Cynical Politicos to Secure America's Border."
And she minced no words describing her impressions of Obama as they sparred over her state's tough immigration enforcement law, which is now the subject of a Justice Department witch-hunt. Brewer called Obama "patronizing" and "condescending." I'd say she was excruciatingly polite.
According to Brewer, "He was a little disturbed about my book. ... I said to him that I have all the respect in the world for the office of the president. The book is what the book is. I asked him if he read the book. He said he read (an) excerpt." In the shadow of Air Force One, Obama complained that Brewer hadn't "treated him cordially" and then stalked off while she was responding mid-sentence.
Photogs captured the fracas on film. The civility police gasped at Brewer's "disrespectful" finger-pointing. On cue, one progressive commentator insinuated the gesture was a "racist" jab tantamount to lynching..
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For Gingrich, Amnesty no Impediment to Nomination 1.26.12
Author: Linda Chavez
Thu, Jan 26, 2012
One thing was missed in Newt Gingrich's victory in the South Carolina primary: Conservatives embraced a pro-amnesty candidate without batting an eyelash. This should come as a wake-up call to those who've been pushing a hard-line anti-illegal immigrant position in the Republican Party.
Granted, Gingrich didn't spend a lot of time discussing his position, which favors amnesty for those illegal immigrants who have been here for a long time, have deep family and community ties, and have paid taxes and avoided breaking other laws. But that's the point. He didn't have to spend a lot of time defending his position because so few conservatives cared.
Now Gingrich seems poised to win another Southern primary: Florida. The latest polls show him within a few percentage points of beating Mitt Romney again (and at least one poll shows him up by 5 points). Whether or not a Gingrich win is a good thing for Republican prospects in the fall, it could help lay the groundwork for future Republican victories by defusing an issue that is guaranteed to alienate the fastest-growing segment of the voting population.
Like other voters, most Hispanics care a lot more about jobs than they do about immigration. Still, they are turned off by candidates who portray illegal immigrants as criminal invaders who want a handout from U.S. taxpayers. Republicans have damaged their ability to woo an important constituency by insisting on a punitive approach to illegal immigration. In this election alone, it could cost Republicans key states critical to winning the presidency: Florida, Colorado, Nevada and New Mexico.
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Obama's Misstatements on the Union 1.26.12
Author: David Limbaugh
Thu, Jan 26, 2012
Only a president long shielded from criticism and accountability could make the kind of State of the Union speech President Obama did Tuesday night. It's hard to know where to begin, given his repetition of tired ideas from his previous SOTUs, his taking credit for successful policies he resisted and omitting failed ones he promoted, his numerous misrepresentations on issues big and small, and his glaring refusal to address the main issues that threaten the nation.
Let me touch on just a few highlights in this brief space.
Excessive spending is the primary threat to our nation's and Americans' financial future, yet Obama glossed over it and distorted his record.
He said, "We've already agreed to more than $2 trillion in cuts and savings. But we need to do more." But everyone knows he's had to be dragged kicking and screaming to the cutting table. His unrelenting passion is spending. Even The Washington Post said, "Obama does not mention that Republicans forced him to accept $2 trillion in budget cuts during the debt-ceiling impasse."
Obama said, "I'm prepared to make more reforms that rein in the long-term costs of Medicare and Medicaid and strengthen Social Security, so long as those programs remain a guarantee of security for seniors." Well, that's mighty magnanimous of him, but why is he so grudging about it? As president, he should be singularly focused on entitlement reform. Yet he has obstructed and demagogued such reforms. His condition that the "programs remain a guarantee of security for seniors" is completely dishonest, because Paul Ryan's plan did just that and he rejected it while ridiculing and demonizing Ryan.
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Romney Should be Proud 1.26.12
Author: Mona Charen
Thu, Jan 26, 2012
It's as predictable as vultures at a carcass. When a wealthy Republican is running for office, the press will make his wealth a handicap. Recall that when George H. W. Bush was running in 1988, he was derided as a "preppy." George W. Bush was the undeserving scion of the ruling class. We were told never mind that he had succeeded in business on his own. Though John McCain had been a fixture on the national stage since 1980, no one had paid much attention to his wealth until he was the Republican nominee, at which point his many houses suddenly became a matter of profound national importance.
Democrats, of course, are permitted to be rich without fear of undue scrutiny. John F. Kennedy was wealthier than Mitt Romney, or would have been had he lived to collect his inheritance. Lyndon B. Johnson was born poor and died very rich. He didn't earn his money in the private sector. He used political influence to first purchase and then maintain monopolistic radio licenses in his wife's name.
There wasn't much fuss about John Kerry's great wealth in 2004. Kerry didn't earn his fortune either but secured it through two advantageous marriages. Teresa Heinz Kerry is rumored to be in the billionaires' club. Good for her. Though, she didn't earn it either, but rather married the heir of the ketchup fortune. John Kerry was an advocate of raising taxes on the rich, but he, like Warren Buffett, declined to contribute more than required to Uncle Sam. In fact, he was caught mooring his yacht in Rhode Island so as to avoid Massachusetts' taxes. Oh, and before he married Teresa Heinz, there were a number of years when Sen. Kerry donated nothing at all to charity.
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Newt Declares War on Media 1.25.12
Author: Larry Elder
Thu, Jan 26, 2012
The Republican re-embrace of former Speaker Newt Gingrich says a lot about whom he sees as his opponent -- and it isn't just President Barack Obama. It's the media.
If not for major media's embrace, Obama would still be sitting in the Senate, perhaps mulling another run for the presidency. A UCLA economist-political scientist recently tried to measure how the liberal media bias influences the way people vote. He concluded that this bias gives the Democrat candidate 8 to 10 percentage points.
Republicans understand this. So does Gingrich -- on a very deep level. He knows the media dislike him above and beyond their anti-conservative Republican disdain. That he is testy, no-nonsense, whip smart and knowledgeable makes him formidable. That he engineered the 1994 GOP takeover of the House and pushed former President Bill Clinton into governing in the center makes him effective.
The good news for the media is that Gingrich is a Southern white male Christian Republican. He belongs to a group for which no advocacy organization exists to play the race/sex/religion card when Gingrich gets called -- on-air by cable hosts and pundits -- "racist," "disgusting" and a "pig."
Gingrich bites back. Hard. Thus, he addresses the question of his messy personal life while hitting the CNN moderator for bringing this up as the first question. Gingrich knows he lacks the Reaganesque "aw, shucks" persona. Reagan used his sunny disposition to counter the media's attempt to portray him as a dangerous nutcase whose finger should never go near the nuclear button -- not unlike how many try to portray Gingrich.
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Is Anybody Serious? 1.25.12
Author: Thomas Sowell
Thu, Jan 26, 2012
The Republican candidates' circular firing squad now seems to be using machine guns. Whoever the eventual "last man standing" turns out to be, he may not be standing very tall or very steadily on his feet -- and he may be a pushover for Barack Obama in the general election, thanks to fellow Republicans.
Whether you are a Democrat, a Republican or an independent, this is a very serious and historically crucial time for the United States of America. What Mitt Romney did or did not do when he was with Bain Capital, or what Newt Gingrich did or did not say to his ex-wife, are things that should be left for the tabloids.
With the economy still faltering and Iran on its way to getting nuclear bombs, surely we can get serious about the issues facing this nation. Or can we?
Mitt Romney's boasts about what he did at Bain Capital are as irrelevant as Newt Gingrich's demagogic attacks on Romney's role there. Romney is not running to become head of Bain Capital.
While Gingrich backed away from his demagoguery about Bain Capital, Romney is continuing to press ahead with his charges that Gingrich was a lobbyist for Freddie Mac. As someone who has been a consultant, but never a lobbyist, I know the difference.
As a consultant, I have offered advice to people in government and in private organizations, both businesses and non-profit organizations. But I have never gone to a government official to urge that official to make a decision favorable to those who were paying me, or to those for whom I did free consulting.
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Unlike Obama, GOP Candidates Talk Seriously About Governing 1.25.12
Author: Michael Barone
Thu, Jan 26, 2012
You know politicians are serious when they move from campaigning to governing. Something like that may be happening on the Republican campaign trail -- but, unfortunately, not at the Obama White House.
Campaigning clearly carried the day for Newt Gingrich in South Carolina, where he beat Mitt Romney by a 40 percent to 28 percent margin. It's generally agreed that Gingrich clinched the race when he reacted angrily to questions by Fox News's Juan Williams and CNN's John King.
Both times Gingrich got standing ovations. But not for how he'd govern. His platform can be summed up in a bumper sticker a Washington lawyer printed to buck up George H.W. Bush's hapless 1992 campaign: "Annoy the media -- vote for Bush." It was fun but didn't win many votes.
South Carolina Republicans got a charge out of imagining how Gingrich would rebuke Barack Obama in the Lincoln-Douglas debates he's been proposing. Except of course Obama would never agree to that format.
In the Monday debate at Tampa, Fla., Romney came back hard at Gingrich, saying that he had been ousted as speaker by his own party and that he had to resign "in disgrace." Gingrich complained afterward about the ban on applause and said he might not show up for later debates with a similar ban (although it is imposed in the fall debates).
What's important here is that Romney went after Gingrich for the way he governed. Gingrich cites, with a little exaggeration, significant things he achieved as speaker -- welfare reform, holding spending down, tax cuts.
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GPS Tracking and Other New Surveillance Technologies Threaten Privacy 1.24.12
Author: Jacob Sullum
Wed, Jan 25, 2012
"If you win this case," Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer told Deputy Solicitor General Michael Dreeben during oral argument in U.S. v. Jones last fall, "there is nothing to prevent the police or the government from monitoring 24 hours a day the public movement of every citizen of the United States." That prospect, Breyer said, "sounds like '1984.'"
Fortunately, the government did not win the case. But the court's unanimous decision, announced on Monday, may not delay Breyer's '1984' scenario for long. Unless the court moves more boldly to restrain government use of new surveillance technologies, the Framers' notion of a private sphere protected from "unreasonable searches and seizures" will become increasingly quaint.
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Obama's Green Robber Barons 1.24.12
Author: Michelle Malkin
Wed, Jan 25, 2012
Had enough of fat cat Barack Obama, his jet-setting wife and his multi-millionaire Chicago consigliere/real-estate mogul Valerie Jarrett attacking the "rich"? Well, brace yourselves. You'll be hearing much more from the White House about the "wealthy few" who aren't paying their "fair share" as Obama's re-election campaign doubles down on class-war demagoguery.
As usual, there's always a set of immunity charms for the privileged friends and family of the ruling class. When it comes to all the Green Robber Barons who've reaped an obscenely unfair share of billions of tax dollars from the Obama administration, the envy trumpeteers will be quieter than a nest of mute church mice.
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A See-Saw Campaign? 1.24.12
Author: Dick Morris
Wed, Jan 25, 2012
Everybody was expecting a quick knockout in the GOP nominating contest this year. After a year of debating, it appeared that Mitt Romney would sweep the table after winning New Hampshire and seeming to win Iowa. Now, people are looking to see if Newt Gingrich can K.O. Romney, winning Florida after his stunning upset in South Carolina.
But, as in a boxing bout where everyone is looking for a big punch and a quick end, this fight may frustrate everyone and go the distance. Not to a brokered convention. That won't happen. The winner-take-all rules the Republican National Committee imposed on primaries and caucuses held after April 1 militate against that outcome. But it will be a see-saw primary battle with one candidate the seeming winner only to watch his rival come storming back.
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Evangelicals and Romney: Should Theology Matter? 1.23.12
Author: Dennis Prager
Mon, Jan 23, 2012
As an American, a Republican, and a fiscal and social conservative -- and though I have endorsed no Republican candidate -- there is one thing that would disturb me greatly if Mitt Romney were not the Republican nominee: if Romney's Mormon faith were a factor in his defeat.
Many evangelical leaders have said that if Romney is the Republican presidential candidate, they would not vote for him in the general election. What is implied -- and sometimes explicitly stated -- is that his Mormonism prevents them from voting for him in the primaries.
Most evangelicals label Mormonism a cult, and many accuse Mormons of being dishonest for calling themselves Christians.
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Schools of Education 1.23.12
Author: Walter Williams
Mon, Jan 23, 2012
Larry Sand's article "No Wonder Johnny (Still) Can't Read" -- written for The John William Pope Center for Higher Education Policy, based in Raleigh, N.C. -- blames schools of education for the decline in America's education. Education professors drum into students that they should not "drill and kill" or be the "sage on the stage" but instead be the "guide on the side" who "facilitates student discovery." This kind of harebrained thinking, coupled with multicultural nonsense, explains today's education. During his teacher education, Sand says, "teachers-to-be were forced to learn about this ethnic group, that impoverished group, this sexually anomalous group, that under-represented group, etc. -- all under the rubric of 'Culturally Responsive Education.'"
Education majors are woefully lacking in academic skills. Here are some sample test questions for you to answer. Question 1: Which of the following is equal to a quarter-million? a) 40,000, b) 250,000, c) 2,500,000, d) 1/4,000,000 or e) 4/1,000,000. Question 2: Martin Luther King Jr. (insert the correct choice) for the poor of all races. a) spoke out passionately, b) spoke out passionate, c) did spoke out passionately, d) has spoke out passionately or e) had spoken out passionate. Question 3: What would you do if your student sprained an ankle? a) Put a Band-Aid on it, b) Ice it or c) Rinse it with water.
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South Carolina Message 1.23.12
Author: Thomas Sowell
Mon, Jan 23, 2012
Just days before the South Carolina primary, polls showed Mitt Romney leading Newt Gingrich. Then came the debates and the question about Gingrich's private life, which brought a devastating response from the former Speaker of the House -- and a standing ovation from the audience.
Apparently the television audience felt the same way, judging by the huge turnaround in the support for Gingrich. The stunning victory in South Carolina brought Newt's candidacy back to life.
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Just Attack the Media and We're At Your Feet 1.23.12
Author: Mona Charen
Mon, Jan 23, 2012
So the message South Carolina voters sent was -- "Anything goes so long as you attack the media."
Whatever you think about Mitt Romney's shortcomings as a candidate -- and I agree with Mark Steyn, who said of his stump speech, "The finely calibrated inoffensiveness is kind of offensive" -- embracing Gingrich is like bashing yourself in the face to relieve the pain in your foot.
Certainly it's possible that the voters have done all of us a favor. If Gingrich's success there scares Romney into becoming a better candidate, then it may work out well in the general election.
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The Question Is Not 'Electability,' but 'Re-electability' 1.23.12
Author: David Limbaugh
Mon, Jan 23, 2012
Republican internecine squabbles this primary season seem to turn on the vying candidates' respective electability against incumbent Barack Obama. But if even uber-liberal New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd has finally awakened to President Obama's arrogance, what does it say about (SET ITAL) his (END ITAL) electability?
It's understandable that a lib would take so long to turn on the messiah, having invested so much in his presidency. But I wonder whether these people ever realize how late they are to the party and how utterly devoid of profundity their belated epiphanies are.
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The Bank of (Democratic Party) America 1.17.12
Author: Michelle Malkin
Wed, Jan 18, 2012
Well, isn't this rich? And I do mean rich. President Obama, man of the people, will deliver his presidential nomination acceptance speech at the Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, N.C. -- so that Democratic Party fundraisers can reward big donors with skyboxes and other lavish perks.
As usual, the White House and its allies are trying to camouflage naked partisan money-grubbing in populist garb.
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Misguided Efforts Gave Us the Pretense of 'Independent' Campaign Spending 1.17.12
Author: Jacob Sullum
Wed, Jan 18, 2012
Winning Our Future, a "super PAC" that supports Newt Gingrich's bid for the Republican presidential nomination, is spending more than $1.2 million on ads in South Carolina, which holds its primary on Saturday. That fact requires some explanation.
First, why would anyone want Newt Gingrich to be president? Second, what is a super PAC? While the former question remains a mystery, the answer to the latter reveals how the vain crusade to curb the influence of money on elections has made talking about politics needlessly cumbersome and complicated.
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How To Fight Money in Politics: Free Will 1.17.12
Author: David Harsanyi
Wed, Jan 18, 2012
Have you heard about these terrifying super PACs? According to cable news anchors -- and other trustworthy sources -- they're like political super-bugs, resistant to free will.
Needless to say, the principled and high-minded political debates we've grown accustomed to are now over. Our unsullied national conversation is about to be defiled by a carpet-bombing of television ads and radio spots. And clearly, there is no better way to corrode "democracy" than allowing defenseless voters more exposure to free speech.
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Newt Is Finally Newt Again 1.17.12
Author: Dick Morris
Wed, Jan 18, 2012
The imposter who wallowed in negative ads; attacked capitalism at Bain Capital; and hemmed and hawed when asked about his role at Freddie Mac is gone. The real Newt Gingrich has returned!
The former speaker was in his glory during Monday night's GOP debate in South Carolina. Inspired and egged on by a conservative crowd and appealing to a national TV audience, he put red meat before the voters. Rick Santorum, by contrast, served only white-meat chicken. It was a GOP debate, so nobody served pork.
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Presidential Nonsense 1.16.12
Author: Walter Williams
Tue, Jan 17, 2012
Last week, President Barack Obama, at a Capital Hilton fundraising event, told the crowd, "We can't go back to this brand of you're-on-your-own economics." Throughout my professional career as an economist, I've never come across the theory of "you're-on-your-own economics." I'm guessing what the president means by -- and finds offensive in -- "you're-on-your-own economics" is that it's a system in which people are held responsible for their actions, that they take risks and must live with the results, that people can't force others to pay for their mistakes, and that they can't live at the expense of other people.
President Obama's vision was shared by our Pilgrim Fathers of the Plymouth Colony in modern-day Massachusetts. They established a communist system. They all farmed together, and whatever they produced was put in a common storehouse. A certain amount of food was rationed to each person regardless of his contribution to the work. Many Pilgrims complained that they were too weak from hunger to do their share of the work. As deeply religious as the Pilgrims were, they took to stealing from one another. Gov. William Bradford, writing his history of the colony in "Of Plymouth Plantation," said, "So as it well appeared that famine must still ensue, the next year also if not some way prevented."
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My One Question for All GOP Candidates 1.16.12
Author: Chuck Norris
Tue, Jan 17, 2012
In my previous two columns, I outlined the 10 questions we need to ask to find our next president. I believe them wholeheartedly, but I have one last question that is almost as important as all of them combined. And it is for all the GOP candidates.
During former House Speaker Newt Gingrich's November trip to Charleston, S.C., he said the following: "I do approach this whole campaign, I think, differently from everybody else. We have a number of friends who are also running. We have no opponents except Barack Obama. I think that's very important. I think (Abraham) Lincoln was very wise, as was captured in a book called 'Team of Rivals.' ... Literally everybody who was his opponent ended up in the Cabinet because he needed all of them in order to be able to put together the political power during the crisis that we faced. I would say the same thing. I don't know of a single person currently running who wouldn't be a very effective member of an administrative team and who doesn't have real talent and, in some way ... a unique strength. So I don't have any opponents on the Republican side."
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An Ignored 'Disparity' 1.16.12
Author: Thomas Sowell
Tue, Jan 17, 2012
With all the talk about "disparities" in innumerable contexts, there is one very important disparity that gets remarkably little attention -- disparities in the ability to create wealth. People who are preoccupied, or even obsessed, with disparities in income are seldom interested much, or at all, in the disparities in the ability to create wealth, which are often the reasons for the disparities in income.
In a market economy, people pay us for benefiting them in some way -- whether we are sweeping their floors, selling them diamonds or anything in between. Disparities in our ability to create benefits for which others will pay us are huge, and the skills required can develop early -- or sometimes not at all.
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Mark Levin's 'Ameritopia' 1.16.12
Author: David Limbaugh
Tue, Jan 17, 2012
Mark Levin's hard work in researching, organizing and writing his new book, "Ameritopia," will be a blessing for all who read it.
Countless books chronicle the forward march of the liberal agenda and attempt to deconstruct the fallacies in modern leftist thinking. Many critique the statist policies the left has imposed on us the past half-century and their disastrous effects on our culture, our economy and our national security.
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Don't Abandon Capitalism 1.12.12
Author: Linda Chavez
Fri, Jan 13, 2012
It's bad enough when Democrats start playing class warfare, but when Republican presidential contenders begin using phrases like "vulture capitalism," it's time to be really worried.
It's easy to dismiss as sour grapes Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry's attacks on Mitt Romney and Bain Capital, which Romney co-founded. It's no coincidence that the attacks are getting nastier in South Carolina, site of the next presidential primary and perhaps the last chance one of the challengers has of stalling Romney's path to the nomination. But Romney's critics should be ashamed of themselves for promoting anti-business stereotypes.
The left has always treated wealth as suspect. If one person becomes rich, the assumption is that it is at another's expense, which is why the left believes government has the obligation to redistribute wealth.
But it isn't just the left that has a poor understanding of wealth creation or how free-market capitalism works. A growing number of populist conservatives are deeply suspicious of corporate America, too. You can hear it in their rhetoric about everything from the bank bailouts to immigration.
Corporations seem to be the new villains for everyone to hate. And no candidate in recent memory quite invokes the corporate image as much as Mitt Romney. He is the son of a car company executive. He looks like he just stepped off the pages of Fortune magazine. And it turns out that he made his own fortune heading up a private equity firm that specialized in corporate takeovers.
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Obama's "Razist" Lobbyist Moves Up 1.12.12
Author: Michelle Malkin
Fri, Jan 13, 2012
With public attention focused on the GOP primaries, the White House quietly promoted another self-dealing lobbyist to serve as President Obama's top domestic policy adviser. Promises? What broken promises?
Cecilia Munoz, the current director of intergovernmental affairs at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., will now serve as head of the Domestic Policy Council. She'll wield heightened influence at Obama's daily morning briefings and expand her reach from immigration issues to education, health care and beyond.
Gushing headlines heralded the advancement of Obama's top Hispanic civil rights "advocate" as a win for the "middle class." But Munoz is a veteran member of the Beltway lobbyist class whose former organization is reaping a taxpayer-funded windfall as she climbs the government ladder.
Before joining Team Obama, Munoz spent two decades as chief registered lobbyist for the National Council of La Raza ("The Race"). Whose "middle class" does The Race represent? I've tracked the radical identity politics-driven group for years as it promoted drivers' licenses and in-state college tuition breaks for illegal aliens; opposed cooperative immigration enforcement efforts between local, state and federal authorities; and opposed a secure fence along the southern border.
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It Isn't Just the Mandate 1.12.12
Author: Mona Charen
Fri, Jan 13, 2012
Most people have heard that Obamacare is being challenged as unconstitutional because it contains an individual mandate forcing people to purchase health insurance. That challenge is due to be heard by the Supreme Court this year. But while the mandate is certainly problematic in a system that, at least notionally, is one of limited and enumerated powers, the mandate is not the worst part of this bill -- not by a long shot.
Truly, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) belongs in a museum somewhere in an exhibit about what can happen when you elect Democrat majorities to the House, Senate and White House. Like so much else in the Democratic agenda (Dodd-Frank, environmental regulation, mortgage relief), it relies not on incentives, competition or patient choice but on blatant government coercion.
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Everything Is At Stake, All Right 1.12.12
Author: David Limbaugh
Fri, Jan 13, 2012
On this we can agree with President Obama: Everything he stands for is at stake in 2012.
Obama told 500 fawning sycophants in Chicago that he is unrepentant about his policy agenda and intends to treat us to more of the same, much more, in a second term.
Obama said, "Everything that we fought for is now at stake in this election." Lest there be no mistake, he repeated the message in the smaller settings of private homes.
We can endlessly debate whether he is such a devoted ideologue that he's blind to his policy failures, whether he's willing to sacrifice the economy and the fiscal integrity of the United States for his perceived higher good of radical redistribution, or whether he really intends to do harm, but these are moot questions anymore. Under any of these possibilities, the fact remains that he is hellbent on accelerating his present course, not reversing it, on dictating, not working within his constitutional constraints, much less building a bipartisan consensus.
Hubris and defiance are his trademarks, not humility. He said, "If you're willing to work even harder in this election than you did in the last election, I promise you, change will come."
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'Tactical Voters' went to Romney in New Hampshire 1.11.12
Author: Michael Barone
Fri, Jan 13, 2012
To win just under 40 percent of the vote in a primary with five active candidates is pretty impressive, even for a candidate like Mitt Romney, who started off with significant advantages in New Hampshire.
Yes, he is well-known there because he was governor of next-door Massachusetts, had run before and owns a house on Lake Winnipesaukee. But the exit poll indicates Romney held his own among independents, tea party supporters and late deciders.
He didn't lose ground in the heat of the campaign, despite his ragged performance in Sunday's debate (he was obviously not candid about why he didn't run for re-election as governor) and his Monday statement, instantly regretted if I read the videotape right, that "I like being able to fire people who provide services to me."
Romney easily exceeded the 25 percent ceiling that many critics perceived, and he's running at least a bit above that in the few post-new-year polls in the next primary states, South Carolina and Florida.
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Univision Attempt to Blackmail Marco Rubio -- Hispanic Groups Yawn 1.11.12
Author: Larry Elder
Fri, Jan 13, 2012
Consider the following hypothetical.
Fox News, during the 2008 presidential campaign, learns about a long-ago arrest of a relative of Sen. Barack Obama. Fox calls Obama. It makes an offer Fox assumes he cannot refuse: "Agree to appear on the show of your anti-ObamaCare nemesis, Sean Hannity, or we run the story on your relative's arrest."
Obama refuses. Fox runs the story. Turns out the piece so lacks credibility that none of the other newspapers and television outlets, conservative or liberal, follow suit. A Fox executive later brags to a national magazine that Fox did, indeed, try to make mincemeat of Obama by getting him to debate ObamaCare on Hannity's show in exchange for sitting on a hit piece.
Months after Fox's attempt, a big-city newspaper gets hold of the story. It writes a lengthy piece about Fox's sordid, and very possibly illegal, attempt at journalism by blackmail.
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The Republicans' Cow Pie Bingo 1.11.12
Author: Steve Chapman
Fri, Jan 13, 2012
The Republican presidential race now moves from New Hampshire to South Carolina, but it's really taking place in an upside-down Lake Wobegon -- where all the men are homely, all the women are weak and all the candidates are below average.
We are often told that modern campaigns generate rivers of pointless trivia and shameful misinformation. But this one has served ably to do something that is as valuable to voters as it is unwelcome to the Republican Party: put a merciless spotlight on the mammoth flaws of every aspirant.
There are people who yearn for the short political campaigns in parliamentary countries like Britain, where the process of choosing a national leader is over before Rick Perry can count to three.
But in those places, candidates are generally well-known and thoroughly vetted before they offer themselves for the nation's highest office. Here, random individuals are apt to follow the example of Joan of Arc, called to service by voices only they can hear.
As she discovered, though, an auspicious beginning doesn't assure a happy outcome. In a long, expensive, nonstop campaign like this one, first impressions mean nothing. What matters is enduring appeal. Or, at least, tolerability over time.
The wide-open nature of presidential politics makes the campaign as unpredictable as cow pie bingo. Candidates who appear formidable while watching from the sidelines turn out to be inept on the field. Candidates who seem laughably unlikely at the outset suddenly take flight on the wings of destiny -- before eventually plunging back to earth.
That's the value of the endless debates and media scrutiny. They expose every liability a candidate labors to conceal, while demolishing every asset the candidate presumes to publicize.
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Romney and McCain: The GOP Frenemies' Club 1.10.12
Author: Michelle Malkin
Wed, Jan 11, 2012
Michael Corleone said to "keep your friends close, but your enemies closer." But what, pray tell, do we do with our frenemies? This is the awful election-year quandary of movement conservatives. And everything you need to know about our heartache can be summed up in one image: 2008 presidential election loser John McCain and Mitt Romney together on the campaign trail.
When they're together, they look like they're holding each other (and the rest of us) hostage. Their toxic chemistry makes seething, ex-newlyweds Kim Kardashian and Kris Humphries look like Fred and Ginger. In New Hampshire last week, after Romney's Iowa caucus squeaker, an overly giddy McCain mocked his endorsee for his "landslide victory." Awkward.
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The Freakin' FCC: The Increasingly Incomprehensible Ban on Broadcast Indecency 1.10.12
Author: Jacob Sullum
Wed, Jan 11, 2012
My daughters, who range in age from 5 to 18, watch TV programs and movies on DVDs, on smart phones, streaming from Netflix through our Wii, on video websites, on our DVR and on demand from AT&T U-verse. They do not know or care what "broadcast television" is, and they certainly do not perceive a categorical distinction between "over-the-air" channels and the rest.
But the Federal Communications Commission does, imposing a form of censorship on broadcast TV that would be clearly unconstitutional in any other context -- for the children, of course. A case the Supreme Court heard on Tuesday gives it an opportunity to renounce this obsolete doctrine once and for all.
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The GOP's Creative Destruction 1.10.12
Author: David Harsanyi
Wed, Jan 11, 2012
Yes, it's true that unlike (SET ITAL) some (END ITAL) Republicans, Democrats don't "enjoy firing people." They enjoy "investing" your money in exploding electric vehicles, bullet trains and other highly unprofitable but morally satisfying economic misadventures. Venture socialism is certainly empathetic.
Venture capitalism, on the other hand, happens to be useful.
And until the presidential aspirations of Newt Gingrich were dashed by this starch-shirted RINO, there existed a target-rich environment for conservatives -- namely Mitt Romney's elastic record on policy. Yet for reasons well-known, Newt and other Republicans have chosen to make Barack Obama's populist case by attacking Romney's record at Bain Capital.
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In Greed I Trust 1.9.12
Author: Walter Williams
Mon, Jan 9, 2012
Last week's column started off asking: "What human motivation gets the most wonderful things done?" The answer is that human greed is what gets wonderful things done. I wasn't talking about fraud, theft, dishonesty, special privileges from government or other forms of despicable behavior. I was talking about people trying to get as much as they can for themselves.
Think about greed and racial discrimination. In 1947, when the Brooklyn Dodgers hired Jackie Robinson, why did racial discrimination by major league teams begin to drop like a hot potato? It wasn't feelings of guilt by white owners, affirmative action or anti-discrimination laws. It turned out that there was a huge pool of black baseball talent in the Negro leagues. It became too costly for teams to allow the Dodgers to gain a monopoly on this talent. Black players won the National League's Most Valuable Player award for seven consecutive seasons. Had other teams not stepped in to hire black players, allowing the Dodgers to hire them, it might have given the Dodgers a virtual monopoly on world championships.
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Kodak and the Post Office 1.9.12
Author: Thomas Sowell
Mon, Jan 9, 2012
The news that Eastman Kodak is preparing to file for bankruptcy, after being the leading photographic company in the world for more than a hundred years, truly marks the end of an era.
The skills required to use the cameras and chemicals required by the photography of the mid-19th century were far beyond those of most people -- until a man named George Eastman created a company called Kodak, which made cameras that ordinary people could use.
It was Kodak's humble and affordable box Brownie that put photography on the map for millions of people, who just wanted to take simple pictures of family, friends and places they visited.
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10 Questions To Find Our Next President (Part 2) 1.9.12
Author: Chuck Norris
Mon, Jan 9, 2012
Whom should we nominate to represent the GOP in a fight against President Barack Obama in the 2012 presidential election?
I believe the name of the candidate that fills the majority of the answers in 10 particular questions deserves your vote.
Last week, I discussed the first five questions. (If you haven't read those, please do so before proceeding.)
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Family History Haunts Romney 1.9.12
Author: Mona Charen
Mon, Jan 9, 2012
At the 757th Republican debate over the weekend, Newt Gingrich zinged Mitt Romney for attempting to portray his decision to forego a re-election race in Massachusetts as reluctance to become a lifetime politician. " . . . Can we drop a little bit of the pious baloney?" Gingrich taunted, observing that Romney's poll numbers were dropping in 2006, and he was eyeing a presidential run, which he did indeed make in 2008.
True enough. Romney's explanation was transparently self-serving and contrived. That said, Romney cannot hope to compete in the phoniness league Newt Gingrich belongs to. At that level of play, candidates dare to suggest that they take huge retainers from Freddie Mac in order to offer advice "as a historian," and commit serial adultery because "partially driven by how passionately I felt about this country, that I worked far too hard and things happened in my life that were not appropriate."
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This Week's MSM Bias Award Goes to George Stephanopoulos 1.9.12
Author: David Limbaugh
Mon, Jan 9, 2012
We've been dealing with liberal media bias for years, but George Stephanopoulos' performance in the Republican presidential debate Saturday night in New Hampshire was particularly egregious.
In many of these MSM-moderated debates, liberal moderators have tried to stir up personal fights between candidates, which diverts our focus from more important issues and, before national television audiences, shifts attention far away from Barack Obama and his disastrous agenda.
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Leftism Makes You Meaner 1.9.12
Author: Dennis Prager
Mon, Jan 9, 2012
Only a fool believes that all those with whom he differs are bad people. Moreover, just about all of us live the reality -- often within our own family -- of knowing good and loving people with whom we strongly differ on political, religious, social and economic issues.
That said, I have come to believe that the more committed one is to leftism, the more likely one is to become meaner.
Two examples in just the past week offer compelling evidence.
Prominent left-wing commentators used the way in which Rick Santorum and his wife handled the death of one of their children to attack -- make that mock -- the former Pennsylvania senator.
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The Weakness That Saps the Strength of GOP Candidates 1.6.12
Author: Michael Barone
Sat, Jan 7, 2012
A presidential campaign exposes candidates' strengths and weaknesses. The strengths they're eager to tell you about. So let's look at the weaknesses.
Start with Rick Santorum, whose poll numbers in New Hampshire and South Carolina have been surging since (by last count) he lost the Iowa caucuses by the Chinese lucky number of 8 votes.
Santorum's weakness is that he can't resist concentrating on peripheral issues. The prime example is his leadership in 2005 in getting the Senate summoned into voting for a law preventing the removal of life support for Terri Schiavo.
Santorum's position was intellectually defensible (and shared by Democrats like Tom Harkin). But voters considered it weird to devote so much energy to a single unhappy legal case. I think this accounted more than anything else for Santorum's 59 percent to 41 percent defeat in Pennsylvania in 2006.
In New Hampshire, Santorum was unable Thursday to resist Boston radio talk show host Michael Graham's invitation to characterize himself as a "Jesus guy." Again, he had an intellectually coherent rationale.
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The GOP Needs a Bolder Growth Message 1.6.12
Author: Lawrence Kudlow
Sat, Jan 7, 2012
Message to my fellow conservatives: Please don't blame the mainstream media for the improvement in jobs, unemployment and economic growth. Reporters are not making this up. The economy is better. It's going to give President Obama a leg up on the election. GOP beware, and come to your senses.
Take Friday's jobs report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Non-farm payrolls gained 200,000, and the unemployment rate slipped to 8.5 percent from 8.7 percent. It may well be that a seasonal quirk added 42,000 messengers and couriers to the totals, but that will be lost in the headline reporting. It will be given back next month. It's inconsequential to the overall story. Likewise, a normal labor participation rate would yield much higher unemployment. But that's academic.
Like any president, Obama will take credit for these economic gains. He's doing that right now. And he has a case to make: A year ago, the unemployment rate was 9.4 percent, and in 2011 it fell almost a percentage point. In the 12 months through December 2011, the economy produced 1.64 million new jobs, while in 2010, only 940,000 were created. On a monthly average basis, 137,000 new jobs per month were created in 2011, compared to only 78,000 a month in 2010. Things are getting better.
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Obama's Motto 1.5.12
Author: David Limbaugh
Fri, Jan 6, 2012
President Obama is calling for dramatic defense cuts that could threaten our national survival while obstructing structural reforms to our entitlement programs that are essential for our national financial survival. It just doesn't get much worse than this.
President George W. Bush attempted in good faith to reform Social Security, and Democrats savaged him. Rep. Paul Ryan proposed a comprehensive financial plan that would, as painlessly as possible, restore national fiscal sanity, and Obama and his Democrats have misrepresented the plan (saying it would end Medicare) and used class warfare and fear-mongering to kill it in the cradle.
Indeed, Republicans have repeatedly submitted and passed comprehensive and detailed budget plans to restore our financial solvency, and Senate Democrats have blocked every one of them. Meanwhile, the Democratic Senate hasn't produced a budget in almost three years. Three years!
It is undeniable, undebatable, irrefutable, inarguable and certain that the United States is spending at a level that will destroy it. It is equally indisputable that Democrats have shown no willingness to join Americans in tackling the problem.
Every time you confront a liberal with these incontrovertible facts, his response is not: "You are simply wrong." It is, "Bush started this." Well, Bush did spend too much, but he was a piker compared with Obama. But it doesn't much matter who caused it anymore, does it?
If your family is facing a serious problem, is your first instinct to blame the culprit -- other than to identify it for purposes of devising a solution -- or to address the problem?
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Dinner With Terrorists 1.5.12
Author: Mona Charen
Fri, Jan 6, 2012
If you were running the Illinois Humanities Council and a famous terrorist offered to help in your fundraising drive, what would you do? If you said, "slam down the phone" or something to that effect, it just shows how remote you are from the sensibilities of the Obama age. Because, in fact, when Bernardine Dohrn and Bill Ayers offered to auction "dinner for six" at their house, the IHC cheerfully accepted.
Ayers and Dohrn were members of the Weather Underground in the 1960s and early '70s. They set off bombs at the New York police headquarters, the U.S. Capitol building and the Pentagon. In 1970, the group blew up the Park police station in San Francisco, killing Sgt. Brian V. McDonnell, a 45-year-old father of two and wounding eight others. The San Francisco Police Association has claimed, as recently as 2009, that "There are irrefutable and compelling reasons to believe that Bill Ayers and his wife Bernardine Dohrn ... are largely responsible for the bombing of Park Police Station."
In a New York Times interview, published (ironically) on Sept. 11, 2001, Ayers was asked whether he had repented. He said, "I don't regret setting bombs. I feel we didn't do enough." Even now, he continued, he finds a "certain eloquence to bombs, a poetry and a pattern from a safe distance."
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Obama's Super-Czar Is on the Loose 1.5.12
Author: Michelle Malkin
Fri, Jan 6, 2012
Here is the operating motto of the Obama White House: "So let it be written, so let it be done!" Like Yul Brynner's Pharaoh Ramses character in Cecil B. DeMille's "The Ten Commandments," the demander in chief stands with arms akimbo issuing daily edicts to his constitution-subverting minions with an imperious wave of his hand. His entourage of insatiable usurpers never rests.
Can't delude legislators into adopting a $1.5 billion Kabuki summer-jobs makework boondoggle? Create an unfunded program through executive fiat.
Can't muster up a filibuster-proof majority for radical nominees? Czar-ify 'em.
Can't get Congress to approve vast wild lands designations? Grab them under cover of a holiday lame-duck session.
Can't get the illegal alien bailout DREAM Act passed on Capitol Hill? Executive-order it.
"So let it be written, so let it be done!"
In keeping with the dark and defiant habits of this administration, the new head of the half-billion-dollar Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was sworn in behind closed doors on Wednesday night. The nomination of former Democratic Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray to serve as Dodd-Frank regulatory enforcer had been soundly defeated in the Senate before Christmas. But as I reported last month, progressive zealots funded by billionaire George Soros goaded Obama to ignore the Senate's constitutionally grounded advice and consent role.
At his left flank's urging, Obama vowed to follow in President Theodore Roosevelt's footsteps (TR recess-appointed 160 officials during a recess of less than one day) and install Cordray even though the Senate technically remained in pro forma session. Fresh from his Hawaii vacation, Obama returned to Washington and for once delivered on a promise.
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Czar Barack 1.4.12
Author: Steve Chapman
Thu, Jan 5, 2012
Back in 2007, when Barack Obama was running for president, a mildly surprising bit of news emerged: He and Dick Cheney were eighth cousins. Today, though, it appears that report was wrong. Judging from Obama's record in office, the two are practically brothers.
As a candidate, Obama criticized the last administration for holding Americans as enemy combatants without trial. He faulted it for wiretapping citizens without a warrant. He rejected the Republican claim that the president has the "inherent power" to go to war without congressional consent. He depicted George W. Bush and his vice president as a menace to constitutional limits and personal freedom.
But look at him now. Last week, Obama signed a bill letting him detain U.S. citizens in military custody without convicting them of anything -- not for a month or a year, but potentially forever.
Obama pledges he will never use that power to hold an American. But Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., said the bill originally applied only to non-citizens. Citizens were included, he said, at the request of the White House. Even if Obama doesn't plan to use the power, it will be sitting on the shelf for Mitt Romney or Rick Santorum.
Those who voted for Obama in 2008 expected something different. "The detention of American citizens, without access to counsel, fair procedure, or pursuant to judicial authorization, as enemy combatants is unconstitutional," he told The Boston Globe.
His reversal brings to mind not only Cheney but another Republican. "Obama has eclipsed Nixon in the establishment of an imperial presidency," George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley told me. And Turley voted for Obama.
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Romney's watchwords in Iowa: Divide and Conquer 1.4.12
Author: Michael Barone
Thu, Jan 5, 2012
Elections are contests held during a moment in time between candidates who have records stretching back, often far back, into the past. So there is always a tension between the man (or woman) who is running and the moment.
That tension is greater than usual when the contest is for the nomination of a political party dominated by a large number of newcomers to politics motivated by strong opposition to current policies.
That was the case 40 years ago, when members of the peace movement, opposed to the Vietnam War, became the largest and most highly motivated part of the Democratic Party.
And it is the case this year because the political newcomers referred to as the tea party have become the most highly motivated part of the Republican Party. They are opposed to the Obama Democrats' vast expansion of the size and scope of government and to any policy that abets it.
The Republican candidates, who had their first real test in this week's Iowa caucuses, have long political records, going back to the 1970s in the case of Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul, and all of them (or all but one) have taken stands in tension with the principles of this cycle's Republican voters.
Some have backed a mandate to buy health insurance -- a conservative proposal in the 1990s. At least one championed spending earmarks. Some are vulnerable to charges of crony capitalism. Some have disparaged or declined to support the Medicare reforms in House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan's budget package.
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The Loneliness of the Non-mainstream Swimmer 1.3.12
Author: Jacob Sullum
Wed, Jan 4, 2012
"I don't think Ron Paul represents the mainstream," says Mitt Romney. Newt Gingrich, another of the Texas congressman's opponents in the contest for the Republican presidential nomination, uses stronger terms, declaring, "Ron Paul's views are totally outside the mainstream of virtually every decent American."
As the results in Iowa suggest, the "mainstream" to which Romney and Gingrich refer is not defined by voters; it is the range of opinion deemed acceptable by leaders of the two major political parties. The mainstream has brought us a national debt the size of the national economy, a bloated yet overextended military that has strayed far from its mission of defending the country, and a lawless executive branch that usurps legislative powers and violates civil liberties.
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What Establishment? 1.3.12
Author: Mona Charen
Wed, Jan 4, 2012
Campaign season is not a time for truth. It's a time for the candidates, the press and the voters to tell themselves fables.
The Democrats' fable this year is straightforward: President Obama has been a failure at reviving the economy because the hole dug by George W. Bush and the Republicans was so deep that it will require a second Obama term to fully reverse the damage. Further, the obstructionist Republicans in Congress are blocking the kind of "progressive" reforms, such as new taxes on the rich, that would solve our budget and deficit emergencies and boost economic growth.
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Iowa-Bashing Snobs and Sore Losers 1.3.12
Author: Michelle Malkin
Wed, Jan 4, 2012
The Iowa caucuses may not have much predictive value, but they did a wonderful job of unmasking both elitist whingers on the left and incompetent whiners on the right.
As they do every presidential election cycle, progressives of pallor wore their indelible disdain for Middle America on their sleeves. Pale-faced University of Iowa journalism professor Stephen Bloom launched a 6,000-word jeremiad, littered with factual errors, against his home state's residents. The abridged version: Raaaaaaaacists! Hicks! Christians! Argggh!
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Santorum: Big-Government Conservative 1.3.12
Author: David Harsanyi
Wed, Jan 4, 2012
Rick Santorum, like most Republican candidates, fashions himself the one true conservative running in 2012. If the thought of big, intrusive liberal government offends you, he might just be your man. And if you favor a big, intrusive Republican government, he's unquestionably your candidate.
People are taking a look at Santorum. Important people. Even New York Times columnist David Brooks recently celebrated his working-class appeal, newfound viability and economic populism, noting that the former Pennsylvania senator's book "It Takes a Family" was a "broadside against Barry Goldwater-style conservatism" -- or, in other words, a rejection of that Neanderthal fealty for liberty and free markets that has yet to be put down. Santorum's book is crammed with an array of ideas for technocratic meddling; even the author acknowledges that some people "will reject" what he has to say "as a kind of 'Big Government' conservatism."
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10 Questions To Find Our Next President (Part 1) 1.2.12
Author: Chuck Norris
Mon, Jan 2, 2012
Whom should we nominate to represent the GOP in a fight against President Barack Obama in the 2012 presidential election?
I believe the name of the candidate that fills the majority of the answers in the following 10 questions (in no particular order of importance) deserves your vote.
Based upon the GOP candidates' character and track records:
10) Who is most committed to follow and lead by the U.S. Constitution?
It's one thing to take the presidential oath of office, but who has the strongest track record of citing and standing by the Constitution?
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I Love Greed 1.2.12
Author: Walter Williams
Mon, Jan 2, 2012
What human motivation gets the most wonderful things done? It's really a silly question, because the answer is so simple. It turns out that it's human greed that gets the most wonderful things done. When I say greed, I am not talking about fraud, theft, dishonesty, lobbying for special privileges from government or other forms of despicable behavior. I'm talking about people trying to get as much as they can for themselves. Let's look at it.
This winter, Texas ranchers may have to fight the cold of night, perhaps blizzards, to run down, feed and care for stray cattle. They make the personal sacrifice of caring for their animals to ensure that New Yorkers can enjoy beef. Last summer, Idaho potato farmers toiled in blazing sun, in dust and dirt, and maybe being bitten by insects to ensure that New Yorkers had potatoes to go with their beef.
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Republican Voters' Choices 1.2.12
Author: Thomas Sowell
Mon, Jan 2, 2012
No one seems to be really happy with this year's field of Republican candidates for that party's presidential nomination -- except perhaps the Democrats.
The sudden rise, and equally sudden fall, of a succession of Republican front-runners is just one sign of the dissatisfaction of the Republican voters with this field of candidates.
In this, as in many other aspects of life, we can only make our choice among the options actually available. So Republican voters who want to be realistic need to understand that they are going to end up with qualms and nagging doubts about whomever they pick this time.
Not all voters want to be realistic, of course. Some voters, whether Democrats, Republicans or independents, treat elections as occasions to vent their emotions, rather than as a process to pick someone into whose hands to place the fate of the nation.
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The Wrong Kind of Minority 12.29.11
Author: Mona Charen
Thu, Dec 29, 2011
The Washington Post proclaimed in a recent headline another historic "first" for the United States -- the first female usher-in-chief at the White House. Stop the presses! The accompanying story reveals that the nominee hails from Jamaica, so it's probably a two-fer. Oh, boy.
The Post and other liberal organs are obsessed with firsts. The first female letter carrier to handle the Capitol Hill route will get a mention in the press. The first African-American anything is guaranteed at least a nod. You don't even have to be first to get "first" treatment. The last two Supreme Court nominees have been women, joining a court that had already seated two women (one retired). Nevertheless, the femininity of the candidates was cheerily chatted up. When Barack Obama became the first black nominee of a major party and then the elected president, dignified notice of an historical milestone would have been appropriate. But you know what happened -- the media went on an inebriated, extravagant first binge.
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Coulter's Self-Fulfilling Prophecy 12.29.11
Author: Linda Chavez
Thu, Dec 29, 2011
Conservative columnist Ann Coulter has some advice for GOP presidential hopefuls: Hang tough on illegal immigration. Coulter sees illegal immigration as one of the two signature issues of the Republican presidential campaign (the other being repeal of Obamacare). Coulter predicts that if the candidates fail to be sufficiently hard-line, they'll invite future political suicide: "... Capitulate on illegal immigration, and the entire country will have the electorate of California."
Her column is not only lousy advice; it speaks volumes about how little she understands immigration policy.
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Blind to Their Liberal Biases 12.29.11
Author: David Limbaugh
Thu, Dec 29, 2011
I think it's very difficult for any of us to be objective about any subject, especially something we care deeply about, but my objective observation is that liberals tend to be less aware of and less willing to admit their biases.
We see this often, which I'll get to, but first, let me relate how this phenomenon most recently came to my attention.
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The Year in Obama Scandals -- and Scandal Deniers 12.27.11
Author: Michelle Malkin
Tue, Dec 27, 2011
With 2011 drawing to a close, it is time to account. As an early-and-often chronicler of Chicago-on-the-Potomac, I am amazed at the stubborn and clingy persistence of President Barack Obama's snowblowers in the media. See no scandal, hear no scandal, speak no scandal.
Dartmouth College professor Brendan Nyhan asserted in May -- while Operation Fast and Furious subpoenas were flying on Capitol Hill -- that "one of the least remarked upon aspects of the Obama presidency has been the lack of scandals." Conveniently, he defines scandal as a "widespread elite perception of wrongdoing."
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One-Man Intervention: Ron Paul Challenges His Party's Mindless Militarism 12.20.11
Author: Jacob Sullum
Wed, Dec 21, 2011
Reporters routinely describe Ron Paul's foreign policy views as "isolationist" because he opposes the promiscuous use of military force. This is like calling him a recluse because he tries to avoid fistfights.
The implicit assumption that violence is the only way to interact with the world reflects the oddly circumscribed nature of foreign policy debates in mainstream American politics. It shows why Paul's perspective is desperately needed in the campaign for the Republican presidential nomination.
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Michelle Obama's Unsavory School Lunch Flop 12.20.11
Author: Michelle Malkin
Wed, Dec 21, 2011
The road to gastric hell is paved with first lady Michelle Obama's Nanny State intentions. Don't take my word for it. School kids in Los Angeles have blown the whistle on the east wing chef-in-chief's healthy lunch diktats. Get your Pepto Bismol ready. The taste of government waste is indigestion-inducing.
According to a weekend report by the Los Angeles Times, the city's "trailblazing introduction of healthful school lunches has been a flop." In response to the public hectoring and financial inducement of Mrs. Obama's federally subsidized anti-obesity campaign, the district dropped chicken nuggets, corn dogs and flavored milk from the menu for "beef jambalaya, vegetable curry, pad Thai, lentil and brown rice cutlets, and quinoa and black-eyed pea salads."
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Obama and Holder Should Put the Race Card back in the Deck 12.19.11
Author: David Limbaugh
Tue, Dec 20, 2011
President Obama led us to believe that he would be a post-racial president who would bring the races together, but it's gotten to where you can't criticize this most leftist administration in American history without someone accusing you of racism.
The most recent example involves criticism of Attorney General Eric Holder over Fast and Furious, an operation conducted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, which was overseen by the Justice Department. It involved the indirect sale of weapons to Mexican drug cartels, which resulted in some 300 killings in Mexico, including the murder of Border Patrol agent Brian Terry. Throughout, despite having received detailed memos from DOJ officials about it, Holder has denied he was aware of it.
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Why Thomas Friedman Abetted Anti-Semitism 12.19.11
Author: Dennis Prager
Tue, Dec 20, 2011
After a lifetime of studying the left, I have concluded that leftism is a form of moral poison. It causes otherwise decent and kind people who take it into their systems to say and/or do cruel and sometimes evil things.
While not specifically about the left, a major new scholarly book, "Pathological Altruism" (Oxford University Press), explores this phenomenon of people wanting to do good things yet ending up doing bad. It applies to The New York Times foreign affairs columnist Thomas L. Friedman, who has a deep altruistic urge to bring peace to the Middle East. But because he sees the world through the liberal/left prism, he says morally reprehensible things -- statements that individuals associated with hate-filled, non-altruistic groups and ideologies would make.
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That Ol' Time Religion 12.19.11
Author: Mona Charen
Tue, Dec 20, 2011
President Obama spoke at the annual meeting of the Union for Reform Judaism last week, and he gave the attendees that ol' time religion -- liberalism. Not surprisingly, since Reform Judaism is, in Richard Brookhiser's timeless phrase, "the Democratic Party with holidays" -- it was well-received.
While the audience in the hall purred appreciatively at the president's invocation of the usual liberal bromides, Obama's claims on the subject of his administration's support of Israel -- at least to those not blinkered by partisanship -- are nothing short of jaw dropping. "I am proud to say," he told the group, "that no U.S. administration has done more in support of Israel's security than ours. None. Don't let anybody else tell you otherwise. It is a fact."
No, it's an assertion, and it scarcely passes the laugh test.
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China Trade: Myths vs. Reality 12.19.11
Author: Walter Williams
Tue, Dec 20, 2011
Republicans and Democrats, liberals as well as conservatives, have bought into anti-Chinese trade demagoguery. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi suggested that tariffs against China are a "key part of our 'Make It in America' agenda." During his 2010 campaign, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., called his tea party-backed Republican challenger, Sharron Angle, "a foreign worker's best friend." In a recent news conference, President Barack Obama gave his support to the anti-China campaign, declaring that China "has been very aggressive in gaming the trading system to its advantage," adding that "we can and should take action against countries that are keeping their currencies undervalued ... (and) that, above all, means China."
Republican 2012 presidential candidates have jumped on the anti-China bandwagon. Mitt Romney wrote: "If I am fortunate enough to be elected president, I will work to fundamentally alter our economic relationship with China. ... I will begin on Day One by designating China as the currency manipulator it is." Former Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., was even more challenging, saying, "I want to go to war with China."
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The Past and the Present 12.19.11
Author: Thomas Sowell
Tue, Dec 20, 2011
If Newt Gingrich were being nominated for sainthood, many of us would vote very differently from the way we would vote if he were being nominated for a political office.
What the media call Gingrich's "baggage" concerns largely his personal life and the fact that he made a lot of money running a consulting firm after he left Congress. This kind of stuff makes lots of talking points that we will no doubt hear, again and again, over the next weeks and months.
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Feds' War on Religion (Part 1 of 2) 12.19.11
Author: Chuck Norris
Tue, Dec 20, 2011
Anyone who knows me knows that for my whole life, I've been a huge supporter of our U.S. military personnel, whom I congratulate about their victory in Iraq. But when our president and officials in the U.S. Department of Defense exchange a war abroad for a religious war at home, can't we see that something else is seriously awry in this administration?
It's one thing to watch "merry Christmas" be omitted from signs in your favorite department store but quite another to see Bibles withheld from wounded warriors at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. It's true! On Dec. 2, the Family Research Council reported that it had discovered a memo released in September at the esteemed military hospital, in which Navy officials announced that "no religious items (including Bibles, reading material, and/or artifacts) are allowed to be given away or used during a visit."
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A Democrat Reaches Across the Aisle on Medicare 12.16.11
Author: Michael Barone
Sat, Dec 17, 2011
It's highly unusual in a presidential debate for two Republican candidates -- the two leading in current national polls -- to heap praise on a liberal Democratic senator.
But in the Fox News debate in Sioux City, Iowa, Thursday night, both Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney had very good words to say for Oregon's Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden.
The subject was the Medicare reform plan put forward in a Wall Street Journal opinion article that morning by Wyden and House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan.
"Today is a big day for the country," Romney said. It was "an enormous achievement" for Ryan and Wyden, people on opposite sides of the aisle, to come together.
Gingrich, harshly criticized last May for calling Ryan's earlier Medicare plan "right-wing social engineering," went out of his way to say that Romney had produced "a very good plan" for Medicare and that it was "brave" for Wyden to join Ryan in their bipartisan plan.
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Iraq -- Victory or Defeat? 12.15.11
Author: Oliver North
Fri, Dec 16, 2011
They are coming home. For the first time since March 19, 2003, there are no U.S. combat or combat support troops in Iraq. There is still a contingent of U.S. Marines guarding the biggest American embassy in the world and the largest military attache's office at any diplomatic mission. But there is no doubt in anyone's mind -- ally or enemy -- that the war in Iraq is over. The only uncertainty now: Who won?
Short answer: America's soldiers, sailors, airmen, guardsmen and Marines -- and the American people whose sons and daughters served in Iraq. Though our commander in chief cannot utter the word "victory," it is. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta -- in Baghdad for a ceremonial "casing of the colors" for U.S. Forces-Iraq -- came close when he said of all who served during eight years and eight months of war: "You came to this 'Land Between the Rivers' again and again and again. You did not know whether you'd return to your loved ones. ... Your sacrifice has helped the Iraqi people to cast tyranny aside and to offer hope for prosperity and peace to this country's future generations."
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Keystone Blue-Collar Blues 12.15.11
Author: Lawrence Kudlow
Fri, Dec 16, 2011
The payroll-tax-cut debate is not really about the payroll tax, which is a very weak-kneed economic stimulant and a lackluster job creator because of its temporary nature. Without permanent incentives at lower tax rates, these rebates don't do anything for growth and jobs.
Instead, the key to understanding the payroll-tax debate is to grasp President Barack Obama's leftist vision of taxing successful earners (the millionaire surtax) and his obsession with clean energy at the expense of fossil fuels. These are ideological positions. They support the Obama vision of class warfare and his attachment to radical environmentalism.
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Nancy Pelosi, Down and Dirty 12.15.11
Author: Michelle Malkin
Fri, Dec 16, 2011
As a rueful Queen Elizabeth once said of a particularly rough year for the royal family, 2011 is "not a year on which" Queen Nancy Pelosi "shall look back with undiluted pleasure." The former House Speaker relinquished her crown -- er, gavel -- in January. It's been an epic downhill ski crash ever since.
Most recently, Pelosi faced questions from liberal "60 Minutes" and conservative investigative author Peter Schweitzer about a 5,000-share Visa stock purchase she made with her husband as the House was considering credit card regulations. She made a "killing" off the highly sought-after initial public offering. The stock holdings more than doubled in a few weeks; the credit card regulations were put on ice somewhere in the back of Pelosi's fridge.
While she makes grand gestures toward banning congressional insider trading, San Fran Nan's financial conflicts of interest are once again on display. This week, Reuters columnist Dan Indiviglio pointed to pending House legislation titled the "New Alternative Transportation to Give Americans Solutions Act of 2011," which is stuffed with natural gas vehicle subsidies: $9 billion worth, to be precise. These very subsidies are championed by Texas billionaire and failed wind farm evangelist T. Boone Pickens. He just happens to be a major stockholder in the company that would benefit from the bill: Clean Energy Fuels.
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About Those Self-Evident Truths 12.15.11
Author: David Limbaugh
Fri, Dec 16, 2011
"We hold these Truths to be self-evident..." What truths? What has happened to our passion for liberty? I am concerned that we conservatives, instead of making our case as fearless champions of liberty, are too often on the defensive, preoccupied with trying to prove we aren't the demons the left says we are.
In the GOP primary contest, you'll hear one candidate scolding the others for lacking compassion, another demagoguing a rival for advocating essential entitlement reform, and another shaming an opponent for being too wealthy.
Shouldn't our side do a better job of proudly proclaiming our case for what we believe in rather than have our tails tucked between our legs, apologizing for conservatism and all too often neglecting our first principles?
Because we face an existential threat to the nation in our exploding discretionary and entitlement spending, we rightly aim our rhetoric against the deficits and the debt. That's critically important, but in the process, do we forget to explain that we favor smaller government also as a matter of principle? Do we make the case that we oppose a bigger and more intrusive government because a) it is incompatible with what we stand for -- robust political liberty -- and b) other than metastasizing and swallowing up the private sector and our individual liberties, government does only a few things well?
Likewise, do we connect the dots between our confiscatory tax policies and the diminution of our liberties, demonstrating a nexus between oppressive taxes and serfdom? Do we protest that we are already overtaxed and that an onerous tax system, enforced by a menacing federal agency, devours our political liberty?
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NTSB: the Banning Nannies 12.15.11
Author: Mona Charen
Fri, Dec 16, 2011
A few months ago, tooling along in my brand new Honda (aka "cute car"), I came to a stop at a red light. On my right, a police cruiser with lights flashing was investigating a fender bender. A total of three cars, the two that were in the accident plus the police car, were off on the shoulder. I was waiting for the light to change when -- bam -- someone crashed into me from behind. One of the police officers instructed us to pull over to the side of the road near the other two cars. "Everybody OK?" My husband and I nodded. "I saw the whole thing," the officer said. "So this won't take long."
As we were filling out paper work and exchanging insurance information (the other driver was mortified and cooperative), yet another car rear-ended a third car waiting at the red light. The road was so strewn with red and white glass that it looked like a holiday display. When my husband and I expressed amazement at the three crashes within the space of about eight minutes, the officer shrugged. "It happens all the time."
The cause of the second two accidents (I don't know what caused the first.): "distracted driving." Both drivers were "rubbernecking" instead of paying attention to the road in front of them. By the logic that the National Transportation Safety Board applied this week in its recommendation to ban all cell phone use by drivers, perhaps we should also ban police cars?
The accident that led to the NTSBs sweeping recommendation was similar to the one I just described, except that it was more serious. In Gray Summit, Mo., in 2010, a distracted driver crashed into a truck. Then, in an accordion pattern, two school busses crashed into him. Two people were killed and 35 injured.
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Tebow Critics Put Their Own Bigotry on Display 12.15.11
Author: Linda Chavez
Fri, Dec 16, 2011
Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow has been a controversial sports figure ever since he agreed to do an ad for the conservative organization Focus on the Family; the spot aired during the 2010 Super Bowl. Feminists and other groups, who feared the ad would be overtly pro-life and anti-abortion, tried to keep it from running. In the end, the message turned out to be pretty innocuous, and those who tried to censor it looked downright silly.
Now Tebow is once again a target for illiberals who find his evangelical Christianity somehow threatening and offensive. The latest episode involves a recent column for The Jewish Week that bashed Tebow for symbolizing intolerance. But it was the writer, Connecticut Rabbi Joshua Hammerman, who put his own astonishing bigotry on display. Hammerman titled his piece "My Tebow Problem," and indeed it is Hammerman's problem -- not Tebow's.
While claiming to want to root for Tebow, who has pulled off an unprecedented string of amazing consecutive fourth-quarter comebacks for his underdog team this season, Hammerman made the following prediction: "If Tebow wins the Super Bowl, against all odds, it will buoy his faithful, and emboldened faithful can do insane things, like burning mosques, bashing gays and indiscriminately banishing immigrants. While America has become more inclusive since Jerry Falwell's first political forays, a Tebow triumph could set those efforts back considerably."
Really?
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Vladimir Putin's Divided Russia 12.13.11
Author: Steve Chapman
Thu, Dec 15, 2011
Moscow is not a city of ghosts, but on Saturday, tens of thousands of figures were seen marching in the Russian capital chanting, "We exist! We exist!" That might seem like an exercise in the obvious. But the crowd thought a reminder was in order for Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who has generally regarded his critics as though they were invisible.
He can see them now. In last week's parliamentary election, his United Russia Party suffered a humiliation, losing 77 of its 315 seats and getting less than a majority of all votes -- down from 64 percent four years ago.
It's embarrassing enough to do poorly in an honest election. Putin's party managed to crater despite vigorous measures to rig the vote. In the province of Chechnya, United Russia somehow garnered 99 percent at the polls.
In the city of Rostov-on-Don, state TV reported its share of the vote at 146 percent.
Putin and his sidekick, President Dmitry Medvedev, defended the integrity of the election, but they were a tiny chorus. Opposition groups posted video of ballot-stuffing and other tactics that would make a Chicago precinct captain smile. One man said he was paid to cast 45 ballots for United Russia.
A Russian election watchdog group, Golos, said United Russia "achieved the majority mandate by falsification." International observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe found "frequent procedural violations and instances of apparent manipulation."
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Republicans: Racist, Sexist, Homophobic -- and Elitist 12.13.11
Author: Larry Elder
Thu, Dec 15, 2011
The next best thing to calling a Republican "racist," "sexist," "homophobic," or "Uncle Tom" (where appropriate) is to call him "out of touch."
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney is the latest wealthy Republican to be called "out of touch." The proof? Why, he offered to bet rival Texas Gov. Rick Perry. The amount offered was -- gasp -- $10,000! This, of course, makes him another born-on-third-base-and-thought-he-hit-a-triple Republican. The Democratic National Committee pounced and immediately put out a video: "Mitt Romney: Simply Out of Touch -- Ten Thousand Times Over."
But which "elite, out-of-touch politician" considers a $172,200 annual salary "relatively modest" -- Republican presidential hopeful Romney or President Barack Obama? Answer: Obama.
Whose $300K-per-year hospital-executive wife traveled to working-class Zanesville, Ohio, and complained about the high cost of her daughters' summer camp, piano and dance lessons? Answer: Obama's.
The then-U.S. senator was making $170K. The 2005-2009 median income in Zanesville: $28,854, almost $13,000 less than the national median.
Romney fits this role perfectly. Son of a former American Motors CEO and Michigan governor, Romney made a bundle buying and selling businesses. Pretty blond wife. Pretty kids. Every hair in place. What's not to hate?
Never mind that there are more multimillionaire Democrat senators than multimillionaire Republican senators. Never mind that the average contribution to the DNC is larger than the average contribution to the RNC.
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Romney Bets on Old Rules as Newt Moves Under Radar 12.13.11
Author: Michael Barone
Thu, Dec 15, 2011
"We're not going to lose in New Hampshire." So says Mitt Romney's state coordinator, Jason McBride.
Stuart Stevens, the Romney campaign's TV ad-maker, expresses similar confidence. Asked if Romney might finish second in New Hampshire, his answer is an unhesitating "no."
Whether that confidence is well founded may determine the fate of the candidate who has been the on-and-off frontrunner in the race for the Republican presidential nomination.
There are four contests in January -- the Iowa caucuses, and then the primaries in New Hampshire, South Carolina and Florida. Romney currently trails Newt Gingrich in polls in three of the four. Only in the Granite State does he cling to the lead he has held in every poll there since April 2010.
If New Hampshire follows the pattern of past primaries, Romney should be headed for a win. In 2008, he only narrowly lost the state, 37 percent to 32 percent, to John McCain. He's been running ahead of that 32 percent in almost all polls this cycle.
He has been building an organization replete with field directors and voter-identification efforts since last May. An absentee ballot drive is getting underway.
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If You're Looking for a Profligate Authoritarian, Gingrich Is Your Man 12.13.11
Author: Jacob Sullum
Wed, Dec 14, 2011
The first time Newt Gingrich disgusted me was in 1995, when the freshly installed speaker of the House proposed the death penalty for drug smugglers. Fifteen years later, I had a similar response when Gingrich demanded government action to stop Muslims from building a mosque near the site of the World Trade Center.
From the perspective of someone who wants to minimize the role of government in every aspect of our lives, Gingrich is bad in the ways conservatives tend to be bad -- and then some. At the same time, he is generally not good in the ways conservatives tend to be good, which makes me wonder why anyone would prefer him to Mitt Romney as a presidential candidate.
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Port Whine: Big Labor's Occu-Punks 12.13.11
Author: Michelle Malkin
Wed, Dec 14, 2011
Scruffy progressive protesters locked themselves together across railroad tracks, blocked traffic and shouted profanities at police on Tuesday in a coordinated "West Coast Port Shutdown." Truckers lost wages. Shippers lost business. This is what the Occupy Wall Street movement calls "victory."
Aging Big Labor bosses toasted one another from the sidelines as they declared the "rebirth of the labor movement." What's really going on? It's an old-school power grab by a decrepit union wrapped in self-deluded social media do-goodism.
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Bain Over Newt Any Day 12.13.11
Author: David Harsanyi
Wed, Dec 14, 2011
This week, Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney called on newly minted front-runner and noted historian Newt Gingrich to return the estimated $1.6 million he made providing "strategic advice" to Freddie Mac, the quasi-governmental agency that has done the hard work of making "toxic home mortgages" a forever feature of our national portfolio.
To this, Newt, the great American theorist, unsheathed his trademark intellect and offered a completely irrelevant yet vaguely smart-sounding retort: "If Gov. Romney would give back all the money he's earned from bankrupting companies and laying off employees over the years at Bain, then I would be glad to listen to him. But I bet you $10, not $10,000, that he won't take the offer."
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Obama's Campaign Strategy 12.13.11
Author: Dick Morris
Wed, Dec 14, 2011
In his "60 Minutes" interview, President Obama offered a keen insight into his 2012 re-election strategy. It takes some decoding, but his underlying strategic goals emerge. He said:
"The question next year is going to be -- and then this is how a democracy is supposed to work -- do they see a more compelling vision coming out from the other side? Do they think that cutting taxes further, including on the wealthy, cutting taxes on corporations, of gutting regulations, do we think that that is going to be somehow more successful? And if the American people think that that's a recipe for success and a majority are persuaded by that, then I'm going to lose."
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Newt's Past and Future Leadership 12.13.11
Author: Tony Blankley
Wed, Dec 14, 2011
Almost all political commentators agree on one thing. The Republican presidential campaign is unlike any we have experienced. It is not a campaign of steady trends and continuities, but rather of emotional reversals and discontinuities. Perhaps this is so because the last 3 to 4 years have been a shocking time of discontinuities and reversals for America. Really, America has been bewildered, shocked and disoriented since Sept. 11, 2001. The economic collapse and the unprecedentedly statist policies of the last three years have just compounded the anxiety. The rise of China, the fall of Europe and the chaos in the Middle East have been startling in their swiftness -- and the lack of American leadership as these dramatic events unfold is sending a shudder throughout the world.
We don't know what to make of events. We have not been convinced that either President George W. Bush or incumbent President Obama have had a clue about how to make things right.
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Economic Fairness 12.12.11
Author: Walter Williams
Tue, Dec 13, 2011
The most prevalent theme in President Barack Obama's Dec. 6 Osawatomie, Kan., speech was the need for greater "fairness." In fact, though the president never defined the term fair(ness), he used it 15 times. Explaining his new hero, Teddy Roosevelt, Obama said: "But Roosevelt also knew that the free market has never been a free license to take whatever you can from whomever you can. He understood the free market only works when there are rules of the road that ensure competition is fair and open and honest." What's fair competition is somewhat subjective, but let me suggest a few examples of what's clearly unfair.
Say a person wants to become a taxi owner. He has a driver's license, a car and accident liability insurance. Is it fair that in New York City, he has to first purchase a taxi license (medallion) that as of October sold for $1 million? Taxi licenses in Chicago go for $56,000. In Boston, they are $285,000, and in Philadelphia, they run $75,000. Is that fair competition?
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GOP Creating Fuel for Obama 12.12.11
Author: Chuck Norris
Tue, Dec 13, 2011
Casey Stengel, a baseball legend who played on five teams and managed four, said: "It's easy to get good players. Getting them to play together, that's the hard part."
What's true in sports is definitely true in politics -- even more so.
Many say that 'tis the season for GOP rivalry, but when does inference turn to infighting? When does public debate abandon solidarity? And when does friendly bantering turn into friendly fire that is fuel for our foes?
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The Volt Administration 12.12.11
Author: Mona Charen
Tue, Dec 13, 2011
The headline reads like a piece from the Onion: "U.S. Navy Paying $15/Gallon for Green Fuel." But it's real enough.
It seems that, fresh from its success with Solyndra, the Obama administration is slated to spend $12 million to buy a biofuel/gasoline blend that runs $15 a gallon to power a portion of the Navy's fleet in a demonstration project.
"We are doing this for one simple reason," explained Navy Secretary Ray Mabus, "It makes us better war fighters. Our use of fossil fuels is a very real threat to our national security and to the U.S. Navy's ability to protect America and project power overseas."
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Gridlock to the Rescue? 12.12.11
Author: Thomas Sowell
Tue, Dec 13, 2011
Washington gridlock may turn out to be the salvation of the Obama administration.
Not only does gridlock allow the president to blame Republicans for not solving the financial crisis that his own runaway spending created, the inability to carry out as much government intervention in the economy as when the Democrats controlled both Houses of Congress means that the market can now recover on its own to some visible extent before the next election.
Such a recovery would of course be credited as a success of the Obama administration's policies. With this theme being echoed throughout the pro-Obama media, enough voters might be sufficiently impressed to give the president a second term.
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Obama's '60 Minutes' Interview Gives Grading on a Curve New Meaning 12.12.11
Author: David Limbaugh
Tue, Dec 13, 2011
The most disturbing aspect of President Obama's "60 Minutes" interview is how sincere he sounded when misrepresenting his record. I'm not sure whether I would prefer that he be lying or self-deluded, but there's plenty of each to go around.
Obama is a left-wing ideologue, a true believer, who is convinced that his agenda is mandated by a superior moral imperative (from who knows where) and that it must be advanced irrespective of the consequences, because no matter how bad they might be, they would have been worse without his agenda.
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Adultery, Character and Politics -- My Responses 12.12.11
Author: Dennis Prager
Tue, Dec 13, 2011
Because the issue is so important, I have decided to respond to critics of my last column on adultery, politics and character.
As any reader of my columns or books knows, I am a religious conservative, and my primary concern is morality. By morality, I mean issues of good and evil. I am also concerned with the issue of sin, but sin and evil are not identical. All evil is sin, but not all sins are evil. For example, religious people regard saying the word 'God' for no religious purpose ("taking God's name in vain") as sinful. But to regard saying, for example, "God damn it, I stubbed my toe," as evil is to trivialize evil.
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Newt the Supply-Side Sizzler 12.8.11
Author: Lawrence Kudlow
Fri, Dec 9, 2011
Say what you will about former Speaker Newt Gingrich. His philosophy, his policy proposals, his track record, his campaign and all the rest. But the one thing you have to acknowledge about Gingrich is that he's a sizzler. He has a way with words. And he's as good a communicator as anyone in modern politics.
In my CNBC interview with Gingrich this week, he slammed President Obama's tax-the-rich, class-warfare attack on banks and businesspeople. He hammered Obama, calling him a hard-left radical who is opposed to free enterprise, capitalism and "virtually everything which made America great."
It was a brutal, frontal, hard-hitting attack on the president. He called Obama "the candidate of food stamps, the finest food-stamp president in American history." He said, "I want to get equality by bringing people up. (Obama) wants to get equality by bringing people down." He said, "I want to be the guy who says, 'I want to help every American have a better future.' (Obama) wants to make sure that he levels Americans down so we all have an equally mediocre future."
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Holder, Blago, Richardson: Triangle of Sleaze 12.8.11
Author: Michelle Malkin
Fri, Dec 9, 2011
It was a rough week for the corruptocracy. White House officials better ho-ho-hold on tight because the sleigh ride isn't going to get any smoother.
On Wednesday, disgraced former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, D-Ill., received a 14-year prison sentence for scheming to sell President Barack Obama's Senate office, along with several other pay-for-play schemes. Blago played the distressed daddy for the federal judge, invoking his young daughters and wife (who held her notoriously foul tongue in check) to bemoan how his "life is in ruins."
How far Blago's fallen from the glory days of 2008, when he was gloating at the prospect of naming a candidate to fill then-President-elect Obama's seat. "I've got this thing, and it's f**king golden," he crowed. All that glitters now, though, are the paparazzi flash bulbs that Blago faces on his perp walks.
Earlier this week, Bill Richardson, former Democratic governor of New Mexico, disgraced former presidential candidate and failed Obama Commerce Secretary nominee, faced new reports of a federal grand jury into his possible violations of campaign finance laws. The funny-money business is tied to an alleged mistress payoff a la disgraced former presidential candidate and Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C.
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Obama Default Mode: Blame Israel 12.8.11
Author: Mona Charen
Fri, Dec 9, 2011
After a two-hour meeting in Cairo, Khaled Mashaal, unelected leader of Hamas, and Mahmoud Abbas, unelected leader of the Palestinian Authority, were all smiles. "We want to assure our people and the Arab and Islamic world that we have turned a major new and real page in partnership on everything to do with the Palestinian nation," Mashaal announced. "There are no more differences between us now," agreed Abbas.
In other words, the "moderate" Abbas is now a full partner with the leader of an organization whose charter is committed not just to the destruction of Israel but also to the elimination of all Jews everywhere. This is the same Abbas who forfeited whatever slim claim he held to a moderate status by declining to accept Israel as a Jewish state, refusing to engage in direct negotiations with Israel (as recently as last week chief Palestinian Authority negotiator Saeb Erekat declined a Quartet request to sit down with the Israelis), and flouting the Oslo Accords by going to the United Nations to demand recognition. Now, he is formally partnered with a genocidal, Islamist organization. But the Obama administration thinks Israel is the problem.
Meanwhile, in Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood won 40 percent of the vote in parliamentary elections, while another 25 percent went to Salafi forces. The Salafis regard the Muslim Brotherhood as squishes. Sheik Abdel Moneim el-Shahat, leader of the Salafis, is scornful of the Muslim Brotherhood for talking about citizenship and freedom outside the strictures of Islamic law. El-Shahat is not so broad-minded. "I want to say: citizenship restricted by Islamic Shariah, freedom restricted by Islamic Shariah, equality restricted by Islamic Shariah." So two-thirds of the Egyptian electorate support candidates who will find Hamas utterly congenial. But the Obama administration is dismayed by Israel.
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Obama Is No Teddy Roosevelt 12.8.11
Author: Linda Chavez
Fri, Dec 9, 2011
Barack Obama channeled Teddy Roosevelt this week in a speech in Osawatomie, Kan. Supporters are calling it the most significant economic speech of his administration.
But critics rightly point out that the Teddy Roosevelt whom Obama invoked was not the beloved 26th president and standard-bearer of the GOP. Instead, it was the radicalized third-party candidate seeking a third term and the man whose progressivism was a precursor to the rise of big government in the later 20th century. What's more, President Obama's speech was so full of reckless accusations and misinformation that The Washington Post's Fact Checker blog gave it three Pinocchios, signifying "significant factual errors."
President Obama has a history of comparing himself to American giants -- from Abraham Lincoln to Ronald Reagan. So it's no surprise that he would choose to give his speech in the same town as Teddy Roosevelt's 1910 address. But whenever Obama invokes past heroes, he ends up looking smaller. And this week's speech was a prime example.
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In Kansas, Obama Emulates Dorothy: 'Lions and Tigers and Capitalists! Oh, My!' 12.8.11
Author: David Limbaugh
Fri, Dec 9, 2011
President Obama's much-ballyhooed speech in Osawatomie, Kan., was his best effort to put a happy face on class warfare. Though some were elated, fantasizing that he might be getting his messianic mojo back, even his reliable cheerleaders recognize there's no substance beneath the hot air rising.
Liberals get all dewy-eyed when Obama reverts to idealistic tones, as they are saps for perfect-world scenarios that never materialize. They love it when he co-opts history in service to their cause. So he traveled to Kansas seeking to identify with Teddy Roosevelt, the icon of rugged individualism, to lambast the evils of rugged individualism.
Obama misdiagnosed the problems facing America, distorted the historical record, set up straw men to excoriate, and conflated history and principles, all to demonize his opponents, divert scrutiny from his record, and build support for his cause. He offered no concrete solutions, only low-minded platitudes, because everything he's tried has failed and he has nothing left to try.
He views the national economy as a zero-sum game in which the success of some means the misery of others. He sees unequal distribution of income and wealth as a pervasive evil -- an evil caused by the most sinister of boogeymen: unregulated capitalism.
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Obama Pursues Rich and Poor, Not White Working Class 12.7.11
Author: Michael Barone
Thu, Dec 8, 2011
Has Barack Obama's Democratic Party given up on winning the votes of the white working class? Thomas Edsall, the longtime Washington Post reporter now with The Huffington Post, thinks so.
Surveying the plans of Democratic strategists, Edsall wrote in The New York Times on Nov. 28 that "all pretense of trying to win a majority of the white working class has been effectively jettisoned."
Of course, an Obama campaign spokesman issued a prompt denial. No campaign wants any groups of voters to know that it has written them off.
But Edsall is plainly on to something. Obama campaign strategists have made it known that they are concentrating on states like Colorado and Virginia -- states with high percentages of college educated voters, young voters and minorities.
Obama carried both these states in 2008, even though Republican presidential candidates had carried Virginia in every election and Colorado in all but one election between 1964 and 2004.
Not all Democrats accept the Colorado/Virginia strategy. William Galston, a top domestic aide in the Clinton White House, has argued that the Obama campaign should concentrate on states like Ohio, with an older and more blue-collar population.
Only one Democrat in the last century has won the presidency without carrying Ohio, Galston points out. If John Kerry had run just 2 points stronger there in 2004, he would have been elected president.
And Ohio's demographics look a lot like those in Pennsylvania, which Obama carried by 10 points in 2004 but where he is now running behind in the polls.
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Cain: Enter as a Problem Solver, Exit as a Victicrat 12.7.11
Author: Larry Elder
Thu, Dec 8, 2011
Herman Cain is out. He "suspended" his campaign for the Republican nomination for president this week after a fifth woman made allegations against him. This time, an Atlanta woman claims she had a 13-year-long affair with the former CEO. As with the four other women who made allegations of sexual harassment -- two still unidentified -- Cain denies ever having done "anything inappropriate."
Then why quit the race?
Quitting means five unmitigated liars -- not just unmitigated liars but, as Cain suggests, coordinated liars -- ran him out of Dodge. If the man who would be commander in chief abandons ship because a handful of liars said awful, unprovable things about him, the nation is better off without him trying to lead it.
Cain, after all, marketed himself as a genial but tough, no-nonsense, bottom-line guy who overcame hardship unimaginable by most Americans. He was born and raised "po,'" -- too "po'" to be poor -- and promoted himself as a leader who defied the odds and fixed two failing businesses.
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Barack Obama, Class Warrior? 12.7.11
Author: Steve Chapman
Thu, Dec 8, 2011
Someday, when today's adults are old and gray, their grandchildren will sit down and ask, "What did you do in the class war?" You may not have noticed, but it seems we are in the midst of one.
On this point, Republican candidates and officeholders are in agreement. Newt Gingrich accuses President Barack Obama of advocating "class warfare and bureaucratic socialism." Mitt Romney says he is trying "to divide America." Rick Santorum? "Class warfare." Michele Bachmann? Ditto.
Now a hedge-fund manager has become a Fox News hero for writing the president a letter depicting him as the evil twin of Fidel Castro. Obama, charges Leon Cooperman of Omega Advisors, is engaging in "desperate demagoguery," treating the rich as a "selfish and unfeeling lot who must be subjugated by the force of the state," employing a strategy "that never ends well for anyone but totalitarians and anarchists."
Maybe cold showers are in order. Obama, it's true, has proposed a small increase in tax rates on the wealthy, but nothing draconian by historical standards. His purportedly populous speech Tuesday in Osawatomie, Kan., had his usual quota of dubious data, blame for his predecessor and economic folly. Incendiary, however, it was not.
His stress was not on punishing the rich or getting revenge on those who caused the financial crisis. It was about enlarging the middle class. His rhetoric consisted of lines like, "We're greater together than we are on our own" and "I believe that this country succeeds when everyone gets a fair shot."
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Ixnay on Cordray: Not Another Obama Czar 12.6.11
Author: Michelle Malkin
Wed, Dec 7, 2011
Wrapping himself in the mantle of Theodore Roosevelt's "National Greatness" agenda, President Obama urged the nation to stand strong and unite behind ... his umpteenth regulatory czar. Nothing symbolizes American strength and vigor more than another unaccountable Washington bureaucrat.
If Richard Cordray, the stalled White House nominee to enforce the Dodd-Frank financial bureaucracy, is not approved, the wheedler-in-chief warned in Osawatomie, Kan.: "Every day we go without a consumer watchdog in place is another day when a student or a senior citizen or member of our Armed Forces could be tricked into a loan they can't afford -- something that happens all the time."
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Obama vs. Capitalism 12.6.11
Author: David Harsanyi
Wed, Dec 7, 2011
In Teddy Roosevelt's era, President Barack Obama explained to the nation this week, "some people thought massive inequality and exploitation was just the price of progress. ... But Roosevelt also knew that the free market has never been a free license to take whatever you want from whoever you can."
And he's right. Even today there are people who believe they should have free license to take whatever they want from whomever they can. They're called Democrats.
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Detention Pretension 12.6.11
Author: Jacob Sullum
Wed, Dec 7, 2011
Do you see a problem with a law that authorizes indefinite military detention of anyone the president identifies as an enemy of the state? For President Obama, the problem is clear: The law does not give him enough discretion.
Obama has threatened to veto the National Defense Authorization Act if the final version includes a provision approved by the Senate last week that requires military detention of some terrorism suspects. Obama, like his predecessor, wants the leeway to keep them in civilian custody and maybe even give them a trial, if he so chooses. Those of us who are not the president are apt to be more concerned about the unchecked power the bill gives him to lock us up and throw away the key.
Defenders of the bill's detention provisions say they merely codify powers granted by the Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) that Congress approved after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. But unlike the AUMF, Section 1031 of the National Defense Authorization Act explicitly "affirms" the legality of military detention "without trial." Furthermore, it says such treatment is permitted not only for "a person who planned, authorized, committed or aided the terrorist attacks" or who "harbored those responsible" (language that echoes the AUMF), but also for anyone who joins or supports al-Qaida, the Taliban or "associated forces" -- a much wider net.
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Free To Die? 12.5.11
Author: Walter Williams
Tue, Dec 6, 2011
Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman, in his New York Times column titled "Free to Die" (9/15/2011), pointed out that back in 1980, his late fellow Nobel laureate Milton Friedman lent his voice to the nation's shift to the political right in his famous 10-part TV series, "Free To Choose." Nowadays, Krugman says, "'free to choose' has become 'free to die.'" He was referring to a GOP presidential debate in which Rep. Ron Paul was asked what should be done if a 30-year-old man who chose not to purchase health insurance found himself in need of six months of intensive care. Paul correctly, but politically incorrectly, replied, "That's what freedom is all about -- taking your own risks." CNN moderator Wolf Blitzer pressed his question further, asking whether "society should just let him die." The crowd erupted with cheers and shouts of "Yeah!", which led Krugman to conclude that "American politics is fundamentally about different moral visions." Professor Krugman is absolutely right; our nation is faced with a conflict of moral visions. Let's look at it.
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Feds Allow Arsenic in Apple Juice? 12.5.11
Author: Chuck Norris
Tue, Dec 6, 2011
This past year, I started writing a health and fitness column through Creators.com, titled "C-Force." It is no surprise that in researching for that column, I've discovered repeat offenses of food and beverage tampering by the federal government. But arsenic in apple juice?
Dr. Oz received significant flak when he reported in September that "some of the best-known brands of apple juice contain arsenic." Since then, however, Oz has been redeemed and his claims substantiated!
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Will The Economy Sink Obama? 12.5.11
Author: Mona Charen
Tue, Dec 6, 2011
Writing for the liberal-leaning Brookings Institution, William Galston surveys the demographic and political landscape. He expresses alarm about President Obama's re-election chances. "If the election pitting Obama against the strongest potential Republican nominee, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, were held tomorrow, the president would probably lose."
Romney is the strongest possible nominee, but, as Galston demonstrates, even with Obama's weaknesses, pitfalls await. In the first place, a year is a long time in politics. The unemployment rate could decline dramatically. Obama could do the smart thing and focus his re-election effort on the Midwestern states that have decided presidential contests for more than 50 years, or the Republicans could "commit creedal suicide by nominating a presidential candidate outside the mainstream or unqualified for the office."
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Christmas Books 12.5.11
Author: Thomas Sowell
Tue, Dec 6, 2011
The joys of Christmas do not include coping with crowds at shopping malls or wracking your brains trying to figure out what to get as a gift for someone who already seems to have everything.
Books are a way out of both situations. You don't even have to go to a bookstore, with books so readily available on-line. As for the person who seems to have everything, newly published books are among the things they probably don't always have.
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What Does Adultery Tell Us About Character? 12.5.11
Author: Dennis Prager
Tue, Dec 6, 2011
With Herman Cain's announcement that he was suspending his presidential campaign because of the charges of sexual harassment and of a 13-year affair, issues are raised that the country would do well to think through. The two most obvious are whether we should care about a politician's sexual life and how much the press should report about these matters.
But there is a larger issue that needs to be addressed first: What does adultery tell us about a person? For many Americans, the answer is: "Pretty much all we need to know." This certainly seems to be the case with regard to presidential candidates. The view is expressed this way: "If he can't keep his vows to his wife, how can we trust him to keep his vows to his country?"
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Newt Keeps Pitching the America of His Imagination 12.2.11
Author: Michael Barone
Mon, Dec 5, 2011
Here are a couple of things to keep in mind about Newt Gingrich, as he leads in polls for the Republican presidential nomination nationally and in Iowa and South Carolina, and may be threatening Mitt Romney's lead in New Hampshire.
One is that he is an autodidact. A second is that he has incredible perseverance.
Autodidact is a fancy word for someone who is self-taught. Gingrich calls himself a historian and says his worldview was shaped at age 15 by viewing the bones at the ossuary at Verdun, site of the World War I battle. And he did earn a Ph.D. in history in 1971, with a dissertation on "Belgian Education Policy in the Congo: 1945-1960."
But he hasn't pursued that or any other subject with scholarly rigor. Instead, in his voluminous writings and unusually lengthy speeches, you will find references to the futurist Alvin Tofler, to Olympic beach volleyball, to zoos and space exploration. You'll find management book lingo, salesmanship tips, offbeat and sometimes revealing facts and anecdotes.
Gingrich started running for Congress as a teacher at West Georgia College, in a traditionally Democratic area where he had no local connections, in 1973. That was when Richard Nixon was president. Nelson Rockefeller was governor of New York, and Ronald Reagan governor of California. Both had supported tax increases and signed bills legalizing abortion. Paul Ryan, Marco Rubio and Bobby Jindal were not yet in kindergarten.
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Where Ron Paul Is Right 12.1.11
Author: Mona Charen
Fri, Dec 2, 2011
Five years ago last month, Milton Friedman died at age 94. To the very end, the Nobel Prize winning economist was astute, tireless and wonderfully avuncular. Thanks to the Internet, his commentaries on subjects ranging from greed, to slavery, to the Great Depression myth and many other topics, can be enjoyed forever.
Of course, great thinkers have been recording their thoughts in books for millennia. And Friedman was no exception. But there's no denying the immediacy and intimacy of video. Wouldn't we have loved to click on Edmund Burke, Alexander Hamilton or Cicero and watch them talk about their ideas? If you do dip into the Friedman oeuvre, start with his exchange with Phil Donahue!
Nothing would be easier than to invoke the great Friedman as the sage of limited government. He was certainly that. If he were commenting on America's current predicament, he would doubtless prescribe a radically smaller public sector.
But Friedman poses challenges to conservatives as well as liberals. He opposed, for example, the war on drugs. That's right. Friedman was for legalization of all drugs, not just marijuana.
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Egyptian Elections Pose Danger for US 12.1.11
Author: Linda Chavez
Fri, Dec 2, 2011
Americans notoriously care little about foreign affairs, but this week's elections in Egypt deserve our attention. The Egyptian version of the so-called Arab Spring began as a popular uprising against long-term strongman Hosni Mubarak and promised greater liberty and freedom for the most populous Arab nation. But early returns from parliamentary elections in about a third of Egypt's provinces, including Cairo, suggest that Islamists will carry the day. The implications for peace in the Middle East are worrisome.
The Muslim Brotherhood -- an outlawed group prior to the fall of Mubarak and long considered a terrorist organization -- has won a plurality of votes in the first round of voting. (Elections in the remaining provinces will take place in December and January.) What's more, candidates supported by the ultra-religious Salafi sect have won nearly 25 percent of the parliamentary seats so far, and it's likely that they'll join the Muslim Brotherhood to form a government.
The Salafi winners in Egypt's elections are already talking about changing the banking system to conform to Islamic law (which forbids paying or charging interest), censoring art and entertainment, outlawing the sale of alcohol and restricting education for women. And since the Salafis will hold the balance of power, it's difficult to imagine that the Muslim Brotherhood will resist.
Of course, the most immediate impact will fall on Egyptian women, whose rights will be curtailed by Islamic law, as well as on the 10 percent of the Egyptian population that is Christian. Inevitably, however, an Islamist government in Cairo will spell trouble for the United States and pose a grave danger to our ally, Israel.
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Miley Cyrus, Occupier Poster Girl 12.1.11
Author: Michelle Malkin
Fri, Dec 2, 2011
She's perfect. Miley Cyrus, Hollywood's perpetually half-dressed wild child with an insatiable appetite for attention, jumped in front of the Occupy Wall Street bandwagon this week. The young Disney mogul unveiled a YouTube anthem hailing the aimless, anti-capitalist protesters. Smells like opportunistic teen queen spirit.
Like so much of the warmed-over, Big Labor-underwritten Occupy movement, Miley's musical tribute to its foot soldiers is a worn-out derivative remix. She took "Liberty Walk," a year-old single; spliced in video footage of union marchers carrying carbon-copy "TAKE BACK OUR DEMOCRACY" signs; tossed in random scenes of global discontent from London to China to San Diego to Salem, Oregon; slapped on a treacly dedication to "the thousands of people who are standing up for what they believe in" (like, whatever that is); stirred; auto-tuned; and released:
"Sayin' goodbye to the people who tied you up/ It's a liberty walk, walk/ Feelin' your heart again/ Breathin' new oxygen/ It's a liberty walk, walk/ Free yourself, slam the door, not a prisoner anymore!"
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Obama Pleads for 4 More 12.1.11
Author: David Limbaugh
Fri, Dec 2, 2011
Instead of trying to govern, a matter about which I suppose we should be grateful, President Obama is once again galloping from fundraiser to fundraiser, straining to make the implausible case that the country needs his second term.
In New York for three events -- in which he raked in $2 million from the very type of fat cats he daily condemns -- he pleaded with voters (Reuters' terminology, not mine) to be patient with him and to give him more time to fulfill his 2008 "hope and change" campaign promise.
He told supporters: "After all that is happening in Washington, it may be tempting to believe that change may not be as possible as we thought. It has been three wrenching years for this country." I'll say.
Well, I, for one, fault him not for failing to honor that promise, but for keeping it. We've had change, all right, and precisely the kind he had in mind. One can only imagine how much more change he would have effected if he'd had his way -- if democracy, as he has complained, weren't so "slow" and so "messy." Worse still, let's imagine how much more change he'd attempt if, God forbid, he were to purloin a second term.
His words to the friendly audiences confirm what attentive observers already understand about his remaining ambitions. He said: "Every single thing that we care about is at stake in this next election. It's going to take more than a few years to meet the challenges that have been decades in the making."
It would be one thing if Obama had been referring to the entitlement structure that the liberal establishment has imposed on Americans over the past half-century or more. But if entitlements were his concern, he wouldn't be single-handedly obstructing their structural reform. No, he's talking about the sluggish state of the economy, which absolutely wouldn't take even two years -- much less a decade -- to turn around if he would remove his socialist boot from its gasping throat.
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Untouched by the 60s, 'Romney reflects the Corny '50s 11.30.11
Author: Michael Barone
Thu, Dec 1, 2011
One question I sometimes have been asked in this presidential campaign goes something like this: Why does Mitt Romney sound so corny?
Actually, phrasing it that way suggests the answer. "Corny" is a word you don't hear people say much any more. As you reach a certain age, you hear yourself uttering words or phrases that you realize no one else says anymore. The vernacular of your youth has passed into quiet obscurity.
As it happens, I know something about Romney's youth, since he was three years behind me at the private boys school I attended in Bloomfield Hills, Mich. I still have trouble shaking my image of him as a 14-year-old boy, which he was when I graduated.
Romney was popular at school in part because his father was the Republican candidate for governor that year and would be the first Republican to hold that office in 14 years. This was a school where the straw vote in the 1960 presidential election was Richard Nixon 92 percent, John Kennedy 8 percent.
Academically, the school was a fast track, with some very good teachers and a lot of very smart boys. Romney was not at the top of his class, but apparently he did just fine.
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Bulletproof Barney Frank Retires -- Liberal, Gay, Untouchable 11.30.11
Author: Larry Elder
Thu, Dec 1, 2011
When Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., announced his intention not to seek re-election after a 32-year career, not one of the nightly news broadcast network anchors found time or space to mention either Frank's central role in the housing meltdown or his congressional reprimand. Not one. Similarly, an Associated Press article headlined, "Democratic Rep. Barney Frank Announces Retirement," mentioned the reprimand, but nada on Frank and the housing collapse.
ABC called him "one of the most familiar, powerful and colorful characters on Capitol Hill." NBC said, "Among his legacies -- besides his legendary sharp tongue -- he was the first member of Congress to publicly acknowledge he was gay, back in 1987." In a nearly 30-paragraph press release -- uh, news article -- headlined, "Barney Frank, a Top Liberal, Won't Seek Re-election," The New York Times sanitized, purged and whitewashed.
The "all the news that's fit to print" newspaper, America's most influential, left out a few things.
Frank relentlessly defended Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the "government sponsored entities" at the center of the housing meltdown. National Review editorialized: "It is as a champion of a different kind of pay-for-play operation, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, that the congressman did the most damage to the country." Economist Thomas Sowell wrote last year, "No one contributed more to the policies behind the housing boom and bust, which led to the economic disaster we are now in, than Congressman Barney Frank."
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Eat Less Salt, or Else 11.30.11
Author: Steve Chapman
Thu, Dec 1, 2011
"Put down the salt shaker and back away from the table. And don't even think about going for the chips." Those are lines you may hear on a TV police drama of the future, when the federal drive to curb salt consumption reaches cruising speed.
Last year, the government's Institute of Medicine urged the Food and Drug Administration to "gradually step down the maximum amount of salt that can be added to foods, beverages, and meals." The FDA is listening. In September, it published a notice concerning issues "associated with the development of targets for sodium reduction in foods to promote reduction of excess sodium intake."
It is currently focusing on voluntary steps to "promote gradual, achievable and sustainable reduction of sodium intake over time." But if it doesn't get its way, it may go beyond gentle encouragement. "Nothing is off the table," a spokesperson declared last year.
Salt has always been prized as a culinary marvel -- perking up flavors, masking bitter elements and preventing spoilage. Soup without salt is excellent for nourishing your garden, but unfit to eat. Any number of dishes taste better with a dash or two.
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Ending Income Inequality? 11.28.11
Author: Walter WIlliams
Wed, Nov 30, 2011
Benefiting from a hint from an article titled "Is Harry Potter Making You Poorer?", written by my colleague Dr. John Goodman, president of the Dallas-based National Center for Policy Analysis, I've come up with an explanation and a way to end income inequality in America, possibly around the world. Joanne Rowling was a welfare mother in Edinburgh, Scotland. All that has changed. As the writer of the "Harry Potter" novels, having a net worth of $1 billion, she is the world's wealthiest author. More importantly, she's one of those dastardly 1-percenters condemned by the Occupy Wall Streeters and other leftists.
How did Rowling become so wealthy and unequal to the rest of us? The entire blame for this social injustice lies at the feet of the world's children and their enabling parents. Rowling's wealth is a direct result of more than 500 million "Harry Potter" book sales and movie receipts grossing more than $5 billion. In other words, the millions of "99-percenters" who individually plunk down $8 or $9 to attend a "Harry Potter" movie, $15 to buy a "Harry Potter" novel or $30 to buy a "Harry Potter" Blu-ray Disc are directly responsible for contributing to income inequality and wealth concentration that economist and Nobel laureate Paul Krugman says "is incompatible with real democracy." In other words, Rowling is not responsible for income inequality; it's the people who purchase her works.
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Gingrich and Immigration 11.28.11
Author: Thomas Sowell
Wed, Nov 30, 2011
Now that Newt Gingrich has become the latest in a series of Republican front-runners, he is getting the kinds of scrutiny and attacks that have done in other front-runners.
One of the issues that have aroused concern among conservative Republicans is that of amnesty for illegal immigrants, especially after Gingrich said that it would not be "humane" to deport someone who has been living and working here for years.
Let's go back to square one. The purpose of American immigration laws and policies is not to be either humane or inhumane to illegal immigrants. The purpose of immigration laws and policies is to serve the national interest of this country.
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Who's the Most Conservative of Them All? 11.28.11
Author: Mona Charen
Wed, Nov 30, 2011
While the nation was digesting its turkey dinner, Rep. Michelle Bachmann was seizing an opportunity to score points at Newt Gingrich's expense. Suggesting that his position on illegal immigration amounts to "amnesty," Bachmann predicted that the GOP electorate would "come home" to the person who has been the most "consistent conservative." That would be, she offers, herself.
The voters may not agree with her solution, but many in the GOP do seem to be looking for a -- forgive the expression -- "thrill down the leg" candidate to take on Obama in the general election. Thus, the seismic spikes for Bachmann, Perry, Cain and even, briefly, Trump. It is now, apparently, Newt Gingrich's turn in what Brit Hume called "the single most dangerous place to be in American politics, which is the non-Romney leader in the Republican field."
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A Response to Oregon's Governor on Capital Punishment 11.28.11
Author: Dennis Prager
Wed, Nov 30, 2011
The governor of Oregon, John Kitzhaber, announced last week that he would not allow any more executions in his state during his time in office.
Kitzhaber, a Democrat, gave five reasons for his decision. My response follows each one.
1. "I refuse to be part of this compromised and inequitable system any longer."
This has become one of the most frequently offered reasons for objecting to capital punishment -- that because the system is not equitable, no murderer should be put to death.
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A Quick Look at the GOP Field 11.28.11
Author: David Limbaugh
Wed, Nov 30, 2011
The GOP presidential nomination process is a roller-coaster ride -- sometimes uplifting, other times discouraging, but we press forward.
President Obama and his agenda are unspeakably disastrous for the nation, so this election matters more than any in my lifetime. The national debt clock is ticking faster than Obama's heart beats for big government, and his re-election would guarantee virtual national bankruptcy. That's why the grass-roots tea party phenomenon sprouted, and it's why there is so much scrutiny of the GOP candidates.
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Thanksgiving 2011 11.22.11
Author: Tony Blankley
Wed, Nov 23, 2011
As we approach the festive season -- the elongated, enchanting month from Thanksgiving through Christmas to New Years -- my mind has been drifting through various memorable past holidays. Some have been personal -- the last one with my father before he died. But one that stands out for historic reasons was Christmas 1991.
It was precisely on Dec. 25, 1991 -- 20 years ago next month -- that the Soviet Union expired. Mikhail Gorbachev resigned his office, and the godless Soviet Union formally ended its existence. On that Christmas Day -- of all days --mankind was given the gift of deliverance from the half-century-long threat of nuclear annihilation. Mankind had never been more than one human misjudgment away from the unthinkable. It seemed a miracle that for all the human blundering, the crass politics of the world, the trillions of dollars spent on nuclear weapons -- we had come out the other side untouched by the long-dreaded nuclear flame.
But after expressing my heartfelt gratitude for the deliverance from such an evil, I remember thinking that it was a pity that from then on history and politics would be so boring -- not that I was complaining.
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Superfrauds 11.22.11
Author: David Harsanyi
Wed, Nov 23, 2011
Our government has the time to worry about school lunch menus in Boise, Idaho, but the Senate hasn't found the time to pass a budget in Washington, D.C., in nearly three years. H.L. Mencken famously wrote that every decent man is ashamed of his government. This one gives you little choice.
Gridlock is ordinarily the most constructive and moral form of government, but with entitlement programs on autopilot self-destruct, we're in trouble. So Americans turned their weary eyes toward a dream team, a supercommittee, a 12-member panel of our brightest lights, charged with identifying a measly $1.2 trillion in deficit savings over 10 years. Save us.
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Passing the Purse 11.22.11
Author: Jacob Sullum
Wed, Nov 23, 2011
Clearly what we need is a super-duper committee. Instead of six Republicans and six Democrats, it will have three members from each party, and its deficit reduction plan will go directly to the president for his signature, bypassing Congress entirely. This time for sure!
The recurrent fantasy that Congress can delegate difficult fiscal decisions to an autonomous body -- whether a commission or, as in the case of the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, a subset of itself -- speaks volumes about the abysmal failure of our elected representatives to do the work they were hired to do. Now that the latest attempt to reassign the power of the purse has collapsed in ignominy, it hardly seems likely that Congress will rise to the task, especially since it has not managed to pass an actual budget (as opposed to continuing resolutions) in more than two and a half years.
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The Search for Marizela: A Thanksgiving Note 11.22.11
Author: Michelle Malkin
Wed, Nov 23, 2011
On March 5, my 18-year-old cousin disappeared from her University of Washington campus in Seattle. Marizela Perez -- 5-foot-5, 110 pounds, short black hair with brown/red highlights and bangs cut into an asymmetrical bob, wearing a dark hooded jacket, jeans and light brown suede boots -- was last seen at a Safeway grocery that fateful Saturday afternoon.
Marizela walked out the door and up Brooklyn Ave., and hasn't been seen or heard from since.
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Should the Rich Be Condemned? 11.21.11
Author: Walter Williams
Tue, Nov 22, 2011
Thomas Edison invented the incandescent bulb, the phonograph, the DC motor and other items in everyday use and became wealthy by doing so. Thomas Watson founded IBM and became rich through his company's contribution to the computation revolution. Lloyd Conover, while in the employ of Pfizer, created the antibiotic tetracycline. Though Edison, Watson, Conover and Pfizer became wealthy, whatever wealth they received pales in comparison with the extraordinary benefits received by ordinary people. Billions of people benefited from safe and efficient lighting. Billions more were the ultimate beneficiaries of the computer, and untold billions benefited from healthier lives gained from access to tetracycline.
President Barack Obama, in stoking up class warfare, said, "I do think at a certain point you've made enough money." This is lunacy. Andrew Carnegie's steel empire produced the raw materials that built the physical infrastructure of the United States. Bill Gates co-founded Microsoft and produced software products that aided the computer revolution. But Carnegie had amassed quite a fortune long before he built Carnegie Steel Co., and Gates had quite a fortune by 1990. Had they the mind of our president, we would have lost much of their contributions, because they had already "made enough money."
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Alice in Liberal Land 11.21.11
Author: Thomas Sowell
Tue, Nov 22, 2011
"Alice in Wonderland" was written by a professor who also wrote a book on symbolic logic. So it is not surprising that Alice encountered not only strange behavior in Wonderland, but also strange and illogical reasoning -- of a sort too often found in the real world, and which a logician would be very much aware of.
If Alice could visit the world of liberal rhetoric and assumptions today, she might find similarly illogical and bizarre thinking. But people suffering in the current economy might not find it nearly as entertaining as "Alice in Wonderland."
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Students Share Penn State Shame 11.21.11
Author: Mona Charen
Tue, Nov 22, 2011
The initial shock of the child abuse scandal at Penn State was disturbing enough, but what came later may have been even more so.
That Joe Paterno, other coaches and members of the administration failed in a straightforward, utterly uncomplicated moral task -- to protect defenseless children from rape -- is almost mind numbing. No weighing of competing interests or complex variables was required. On one hand, you had children being abused and, on the other, the reputation of a hugely profitable football program. They chose the football program!
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Even Obama's Cheerleaders Are Falling Away 11.21.11
Author: David Limbaugh
Tue, Nov 22, 2011
President Obama's cheerleaders are starting to peel away along with his approval ratings, and it's a fascinating sight to behold. They offer different reasons, but they all boil down to one obvious thing -- Obama is first and foremost about Obama -- and one less obvious: He has been a failed president.
Democratic pollsters Pat Caddell and Doug Schoen, admittedly more centrist than most of their Democratic counterparts, penned an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal urging Obama "to abandon his candidacy for re-election." The authors conclude that the only way Obama could possibly win in 2012 would be "to wage the most negative campaign in history," because he has no successful record to run on. If he would happen to win in that way, he wouldn't be able to govern, they say, so he should step aside and allow Hillary Clinton to run.
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The Secrets of Soros, Obama, Occupiers and the MSM (Part 2 of 3) 11.21.11
Author: Chuck Norris
Tue, Nov 22, 2011
Last week, I discussed how Occupy protesters are being directly aided by the mainstream media and indirectly aided by White House stimulus money, as well as New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's and even Vice President Joe Biden's households. I also detailed how the mainstream media are accelerating their progressive blitz not only to hasten the second coming, or election, of President Barack Obama but also to help him and other progressives in reaching their final goal of "fundamentally transforming the United States of America."
I believe the MSM are also bent to coronate a particular GOP candidate whom they feel could be beaten most easily by Obama. I believe that candidate is former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, for the sole fact that the powers behind the MSM believe his presidential run would fracture the Republican Party and cause a third-party candidate to run, dividing the conservative vote, just as Ross Perot did in 1992 and 1996.
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Obama Has a Knack for Ticking off America's Friends 11.16.11
Author: Michael Barone
Wed, Nov 16, 2011
The election of Barack Obama, we were told, would bring new respect and friendship for America in the world.
No longer would we be led by a Texas cowboy ignorant of and indifferent to world opinion. Instead, we would have a visionary leader sympathetic to the governments and peoples of the world.
But Obama's best moments in foreign policy have been when he follows the leads of predecessors. In his twice-postponed trip to Australia this week, he will reportedly announce that a U.S. Navy base will be opened there.
That cements ties already strengthened by George W. Bush and previous presidents to the one nation in the world that has fought alongside the United States in every war in the last century.
But domestic politics can trump foreign policy for Obama. He cancelled previous Australian trips to lobby the House to pass Obamacare and to respond to the Gulf oil spill.
Closer to home, crassly political ploys have angered the governments and peoples of our two geographical neighbors, Mexico and Canada.
Only domestic politics can explain two of the Obama administration's most controversial moves: exporting illegal guns to Mexico and balking at building an oil pipeline from Canada.
The export of guns to Mexico was the whole point of the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms' Operation Fast and Furious.
Why ever would our government do such a thing? Conservative commentators have argued that the administration wanted to use evidence of deaths caused by guns illegally exported from the U.S. to spur demands for gun control laws here.
Democratic leaders have done that before. In 2009, Obama claimed that "more than 90 percent of guns recovered in Mexico come from the United States." That claim was echoed by Hillary Clinton and Sens. Dick Durbin and Dianne Feinstein.
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A Little Hardball With Chris Matthews About John Kennedy 11.16.11
Author: Larry Elder
Wed, Nov 16, 2011
I just interviewed MSNBC "Hardball" host Chris Matthews about his new book, "Jack Kennedy: Elusive Hero."
You know things didn't go well when, a few minutes after the interview concludes, Matthews' booker emails my producer:
"I wish you would've let me know that Larry was planning on attacking Chris. Chris is always up for a good, healthy debate, but that was really not professional or cool."
To which my talented, hardworking producer, Jason Rose, responded:
"Larry addressed historical accounts directly related to the subject matter of Mr. Matthews' book. Larry doesn't agree with the one-sidedness of the book's portrayal of JFK.
"Mr. Matthews refused to address Larry's issue with the book. He refused to debate. Larry made no personal attacks on Mr. Matthews, but tried to address the book's shortcomings. Given Mr. Matthew's typical on-air demeanor and style, Larry felt that a spirited debate would be more than manageable by Mr. Matthews."
Matthews' book ends in 1989 -- as the Berlin Wall came crashing down:
"The Iron Curtain was being ripped aside. Communism was in its death throes. The Cold War was ending without the nuclear war we so feared. We had gotten through it alive, those of us who once hid under those little desks of ours.
"Thanks to him, I'd say. He'd come a long way from the kid who caused trouble at boarding school, from being Joe Kennedy's son. In the time of our greatest peril, at the moment of ultimate judgment, an American president kept us from the brink, saved us really, kept the smile from being stricken from the planet.
"He did that. He, Jack Kennedy."
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Newt Gingrich, Myth and Mouth 11.16.11
Author: Steve Chapman
Wed, Nov 16, 2011
Republican voters' esteem for Newt Gingrich has been rising fast. At this rate it might someday equal, though not surpass, his regard for himself. Gingrich is not a person with an ego. He's an ego with a person.
Just listen to his explanation of why it took him a while to catch on with voters: "Because I am much like Reagan and Margaret Thatcher, I'm such an unconventional political figure that you really need to design a unique campaign that fits the way I operate and what I'm trying to do."
Other GOP candidates sound like they are merely campaigning for office. Gingrich, however, hurls verbal thunderbolts like Zeus, as the lights flicker and the earth shakes. Hopelessly in love with the sound of his own voice, he exhibits a stern, overbearing self-assurance that gives his pronouncements weight even when he is uttering nonsense.
In a debate last week, the former House speaker was asked a simple question: What measures would he adopt after repealing President Barack Obama's health care plan? After ridiculing the question and trying repeatedly to evade it, he gave his answer:
"One, you go back to a doctor-patient relationship and you involve the family in those periods where the patient by themselves can't make key decisions. But you re-localize it. Two, as several people said, including Gov. Perry, you put Medicaid back at the state level...
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Constitutional or Not, Obamacare Has To Go 11.15.11
Author: David Harsanyi
Wed, Nov 16, 2011
Is not doing something the same as doing it, and should government be allowed to force you not to do the thing you're already not doing by making you do it so you don't not do it anymore?
That is just one of the perplexing legal questions the Supreme Court will likely find a way to say "yes" to in July after it wrestles with the constitutionality of Obamacare.
Once the court upholds the individual mandate -- a provision that allows politicians to coerce citizens to purchase products in private markets (or, in this case, state-backed monopolies) -- we will have precedent that puts few limits on the reach of Washington and crony capitalism. And beyond policy, Obamacare demonstrated why we should be cynical about government.
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Obama's Half-Billion-Dollar Crony Drug Deal 11.15.11
Author: Michelle Malkin
Wed, Nov 16, 2011
What do you get when you mix Democratic fat-cat donations, Big Labor favors, pharmaceutical lobbying and Beltway business as usual? Answer: another toxic half-billion-dollar Barack Obama-approved crony deal. Move over, Solyndra. Here comes Siga-Gate.
This latest Chicago-style payoff on your dime involves a dubious smallpox drug backed by a liberal billionaire investor, along with a former union boss who was one of the White House's most frequent visitors. They're the "1 percent" with 100 percent immunity from the selectively outraged Occupier mobs that purport to oppose partisan government bailouts and handouts to privileged corporations.
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An Important New Book 11.15.11
Author: Tony Blankley
Wed, Nov 16, 2011
A just released book, "Bowing to Beijing" by Brett M. Decker and William C. Triplett II, will change forever the way you think about China -- even if, like me, you already have the deepest worries about the Chinese threat. As I opened the book, I was expecting to find many useful examples of Chinese military and industrial efforts to get the better of the United States and the West.
Indeed, there are 100 pages of examples of the most remorseless Chinese successes at stealing the military and industrial secrets of the West and converting them into a growing menace -- soon to be a leviathan -- bent on domination and defeat of America. The authors itemize the sheer, unprecedented magnitude of this effort. But the opening chapters dealt with human rights abuses, and my first thought as I started reading was that I wanted to get right to the military and industrial examples.
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Upholding the Insurance Mandate Would Encourage Endless Meddling 11.15.11
Author: Jacob Sullum
Wed, Nov 16, 2011
A couple of months ago, Deputy Assistant Attorney General Beth Brinkmann was standing before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, defending the federal law requiring Americans to buy government-approved health insurance, when Judge Laurence Silberman asked her about broccoli. Specifically, he wanted to know whether a law requiring Americans to buy broccoli would exceed the federal government's authority to regulate interstate commerce. "No," Brinkmann said. "It depends," she added.
Silberman evidently was troubled by that shifty answer. Last week, he expressed "discomfort with the government's failure to advance any clear doctrinal principles limiting congressional mandates that any American purchase any product or service in interstate commerce." Oddly, he voiced that concern in the context of a majority opinion upholding the health insurance mandate. Dissenting Judge Brett Kavanaugh congratulated the majority for its candor in "admitting that there is no real limiting principle to its Commerce Clause holding."
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Is Newt Electable? Hell Yes! 11.15.11
Author: Dick Morris
Wed, Nov 16, 2011
As the debates accumulate, it becomes more and more evident that Newt Gingrich's intellect, experience, articulateness and depth of knowledge elevate him to the top of the field. Anyone should be happy to pay admission to watch him duel with Obama in debate. Newt's not as charismatic as Cain or as smooth as Romney, but boy, does he have a brain!
Ever since the election campaign started, Newt has always gotten in his own way. Now he has graciously stepped aside and let his creativity and intellect shine through.
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Will Republicans Blow It? 11.14.11
Author: Thomas Sowell
Tue, Nov 15, 2011
Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes said that a good catch phrase could stop thinking for 50 years. One of the often-repeated catch phrases of our time -- "It's the economy, stupid!" -- has already stopped thinking in some quarters for a couple of decades.
There is no question that the state of the economy can affect elections. But there is also no iron law that all elections will be decided by the state of the economy.
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The Same Old Obama 11.14.11
Author: David LImbaugh
Tue, Nov 15, 2011
President Obama's various remarks at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation CEO business summit in Honolulu over the weekend show he is simply incapable of growing in office. In just a few short statements, we saw many of the familiar practices through which he has alienated such a large percentage of the American people and damaged the economy.
Away from his teleprompter, he treated us to further insults of Americans, his unfriendly attitude toward business and the private sector, his narcissism, and his refusal to accept responsibility for his own actions.
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Little Cellist 11.14.11
Author: Mona Charen
Tue, Nov 15, 2011
"The Little Cellist" is a brightly colored, chipper website aimed at children. There, you can find clips of Julian Lloyd Webber playing "The Swan" from "Carnival of the Animals" by Camille Saint-Sa‰ns, as well as quizzes, links to orchestra websites and assorted games for budding musicians. Being past the mid-century mark, I am decades past being a "little" -- in the sense of young -- anything. Yet, here I am, a middle-aged but eager and diligent beginner, sawing away on the cello. The optimists say it's never too late. I mean to find out if that's true.
When I say, "sawing," that may be too kind to the sounds I've coaxed from this noble instrument in the first few weeks. My husband said he ducked, expecting a huge dragonfly to dive bomb him. My indulgent family endured more repetitions of "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" than non-convicts should be expected to hear. But they bore it like men -- as well they should (at least the offspring among them) considering the hours -- no, years! -- I've devoted to their lessons, rehearsals, auditions and practice, practice, practice.
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Poverty in America? 11.14.11
Author: Walter Williams
Tue, Nov 15, 2011
According to CBS News, "the number of people in the U.S. living in poverty in 2010 rose for the fourth year in a row, representing the largest number of Americans in poverty in the 52 years since such estimates have been published by the U.S. Census Bureau." MSNBC said, "The U.S. poverty rate remains among the highest in the developed world." Let's look at a few poverty facts.
Heritage Foundation researchers Dr. Robert Rector and Rachel Sheffield laid out some facts about the poor in their report "Understanding Poverty in the United States: Surprising Facts About America's Poor" (9/13/2011). Eighty percent of poor households have air conditioning. Nearly three-fourths have a car or truck, and 31 percent have two or more. Two-thirds have cable or satellite TV. Half have one or more computers. Forty-two percent own their homes. The average poor American has more living space than the typical non-poor person in Sweden, France or the U.K. Ninety-six percent of poor parents stated that their children were never hungry during the year because they couldn't afford food.
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Does a Full-Time Homemaker Swap Her Mind for a Mop? 11.14.11
Author: Dennis Prager
Tue, Nov 15, 2011
I periodically write and regularly broadcast about male-female issues because I want to help men and women, especially husbands and wives, get along better. But I have developed a secondary reason: to elicit left-wing reactions. They reveal an enormous amount about how the left thinks.
For example, one of the biggest left-wing websites (Daily Kos) wrote that "Dennis Prager advocates marital rape." Why? Because I wrote a column in which I suggested that if a woman loves her husband, and if he is a loving and good man, she might not want to be guided solely by "mood" in deciding whether and when to have sex with him.
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Booing the Character Issue 11.10.11
Author: Mona Charen
Fri, Nov 11, 2011
I think I understand why the audience at Wednesday's CNBC debate booed Maria Bartiromo's question to Herman Cain about sexual harassment allegations. They don't believe there is any truth to them. They suspect, along with the candidate, that the women concerned are part of a liberal lynch mob out to smear another strong, conservative, black man. They know that accusations of sexual harassment are often nebulous and politically correct. If I guess correctly, they also believe -- with considerable justification -- that the press is less interested in the dry details of policy than in salacious tales of misbehavior. They resent being dragged into another smutty distraction.
As someone who was well disposed toward Herman Cain as a public figure, if not as a potential president, I cannot help recalling the response of Democrats to revelations about Bill Clinton. "We know all about it," one exasperated reader wrote to Newsweek Magazine, "and (set ital) we don't care (end ital)." In fact, the majority of Americans did not care, and it was not our finest moment as a nation.
Liberals, who professed to be appalled by the one accusation against Clarence Thomas (just one non-contemporaneous accusation -- not four or five), dismissed Bill Clinton's behavior as no big deal. Stuart Taylor noted at the time that even if everything Anita Hill said about Clarence Thomas were true, it would not be nearly as serious as the allegations against Bill Clinton. Conservatives argued at the time, that character mattered. Liberals replied, in effect, that it didn't.
But liberal hypocrisy, however malodorous, shouldn't justify our own. The booing, and some of the commentary among conservatives, can be interpreted to mean not only that we disbelieve the accusations, but also that they wouldn't trouble us even if they were true.
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K Street's Super Committee Splurge 11.10.11
Author: Michelle Malkin
Fri, Nov 11, 2011
The bipartisan debt panel to nowhere is exactly where K Street lobbyists want it to be: hopelessly deadlocked. A November 23 deadline for agreement on $1.2 trillion in budget savings is looming, but no real reductions in the size, scope or spending of government are on the table. Instead, we are witnessing another obscene special-interest splurge to preserve the status quo. All in the name of "reform," of course.
The only thing "super" about the so-called budget control super committee is the size of lobbying muscle exerted on its members. Almost 100 registered lobbyists who are former employees of super committee members are now "representing defense companies, health-care conglomerates, Wall Street banks and others with a vested interest in the outcome of the panel's work," the Washington Post found in September. This includes two dozen former staffers to Democratic Sen. Max Baucus of Montana, including three former chiefs of staff.
On the other side of the revolving door, 10 out of the panel's 12 members have now raked in donations from foreign registered agents totaling more than $50,000 in direct campaign contributions during 2011 alone, according to government watchdogs. The additional amount raised through fundraisers held by these lobbying firms is unknown, according to the Project on Government Oversight. Moreover, all 12 super committee members have been contacted by foreign lobbyists, eager to secure targeted exemptions, loopholes and protectionism.
Super committee co-chair Patty Murray, who refused to step down from her fundraising duties as head of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, recently met with South Korean lobbyists employed by D.C. powerhouse firm Patton Boggs. Roll Call reported that while the panel's negotiations wouldn't have direct bearing on free-trade deals, Murray "could have access to information about how the timing of the debt deliberations could affect passage of the free-trade agreements."
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The Left's Many Double Standards 11.10.11
Author: David Limbaugh
Fri, Nov 11, 2011
Today's liberals would have you believe they occupy the moral high ground on every political and cultural issue. But have you ever taken inventory of their double standards?
The left's inconsistency in applying their principles based on the party affiliation of those they're judging, gives fuller meaning to the concept of moral relativism. The only thing that's consistent is their reliable inconsistency, whether in the area of economic, social or national defense issues.
Let's consider just a few examples:
-- When "bimbo eruptions" threatened to derail Bill Clinton's campaign, his hit squad, the commander in chief of which was Hillary Clinton, eviscerated every accuser, inventing tales to destroy their character and distorting the facts of what occurred. When Ken Starr accused Bill Clinton of lying under oath, liberals turned their venom on him, accusing him of sexual perversion just for delving into the subject.
When Republicans argued that Clinton's serial sexual exploits, some of which had then occurred quite recently, demonstrated poor character, Democrats defiantly dismissed his actions as irrelevant to the performance of his presidential duties. These guardians of the fairer sex -- watchdogs of government corruption -- didn't care that Clinton's taking advantage of an intern in the Oval Office was a quintessential case of sexual harassment, given the power disparities between his station and that of Monica Lewinsky's. They even defended Clinton's perjury concerning the matter. Some argued that it was almost virtuous that he chose to lie under oath and protect his family rather than take the easy way out and come clean.
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Working for Fun Is No Laughs in Market Capitalism 11.09.11
Author: Michael Barone
Wed, Nov 9, 2011
Some of my friends in the conservative blogosphere have been ridiculing a New Yorker named Joe Therrien. I want to put in a good word for him.
Therrien appears in the lead paragraph of a story in The Nation on Occupy Wall Street. He's an example, writer Richard Kim wants us to know, of the "creative types" ingeniously protesting capitalism.
It's one of those no-violence-or-anti-Semitism-here-just-nifty-people articles you find not only in the avowedly leftish Nation but also in mainstream media.
Conservative bloggers and commenters have been making fun of Therrien, who quit his job as a drama teacher in New York City public schools to get a master of fine arts in puppetry at the University of Connecticut.
Now he's saddled with $35,000 in student loans and unable to find a puppetry job. So he's substitute teaching at half his former pay and is a member of Occupy Wall Street's Puppetry Guild.
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The Real Scandal 11.09.11
Author: Thomas Sowell
Wed, Nov 9, 2011
The real scandal in the accusations against Herman Cain is the corruption of the law, the media and politics.
Let's start with the law. Some people may think the fact that the National Restaurant Association reportedly paid $45,000 to settle a claim made by one of its employees against Mr. Cain is incriminating.
Most of us are not going to part with 45 grand without some serious reason. But that is very different from the situation of an organization in the present legal climate.
The figure $45,000 struck a chord with me because, some years ago, my wife -- who is an attorney -- was fervently congratulated when her client had to pay "only" $45,000 in a jury award when the plaintiff was demanding a million dollars, in a case that was as frivolous a lawsuit as you could find.
The person who was suing was a drunk driver, whose car went out of control and slammed into a tree. After the sheriff's deputies arrested her, she sued them on dubious charges, and the sheriff's department was glad it had to pay "only" $45,000.
The department was painfully aware of the uncertainty about what ruinous costs a jury might impose on the deputies.
The real scandal goes far beyond the case of Herman Cain and his accusers. The real scandal is that the law allows people to impose heavy costs on others at little or no cost to themselves. That is a perfect setting for legalized extortion.
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Cain Under Fire -- No-Fly Zone Over Clinton, JFK Sexcapades 11.09.11
Author: Larry Elder
Wed, Nov 9, 2011
"He's got it coming to him," said Ben Bradlee, former editor of The Washington Post. "You can't do that in this town anymore. Probably could do it 50 years ago, but you can't do it now."
The "he" was Herman Cain. The "that" means sexual harassment. And the "got it coming" means the media firestorm around the Republican front-runner as he deals with the sexual misconduct accusations that threaten to derail Cain's surprisingly strong candidacy.
Bradlee made the Cain comment while at a book party for MSNBC host Chris Matthews' new biography about the Democratic Party's icon, John F. Kennedy, handsome, dashing and forever young -- who screwed around big-time on his popular and elegant wife. When asked what he liked about Matthews' new book, Bradlee said, "I like the guy who wrote it, and I like the guy he wrote it about."
The irony seemed to be lost on Mr. Bradlee.
Bradlee wags his finger at Cain for alleged "sexual harassment" and insists, "He's got it coming to him." But on the same night, Bradlee celebrates a man who not only serially cheated, but who jeopardized national security by sleeping with the girlfriend of a big-time Chicago mobster.
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Ignorance Exploited 11.08.11
Author: Walter Williams
Wed, Nov 9, 2011
Many Wall Street occupiers are echoing the Communist Party USA's call to "Save the nation! Tax corporations! Tax the rich!" There are other Americans, on both the left and the right -- for example, President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner -- who call for reductions in corporate taxes. But the University of California, Berkeley's pretend economist Robert Reich disagrees, saying, "The economy needs two whopping corporate tax cuts right now as much as someone with a serious heart condition needs Botox." Let's look at corporate taxes and ask, "Who pays them?"
Virginia has a car tax. Does the car pay the tax? In most political jurisdictions, there's a property tax. Does property pay the tax? You say: "Williams, that's lunacy. Neither a car nor property pays taxes. Only flesh-and-blood people pay taxes!" What about a corporation? As it turns out, a corporation is an artificial creation of the legal system and, as such, a legal fiction. A corporation is not a person and therefore cannot pay taxes. When tax is levied on a corporation, who pays it?
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Romney's Glass: Three-Quarters Empty 11.08.11
Author: Dick Morris
Wed, Nov 9, 2011
Mitt Romney has maintained his one-quarter vote share in the Republican contest against all comers ... and against those who stayed home. Whether confronting hypothetical threats from Donald Trump, Mitch Daniels, Mike Huckabee, Sarah Palin or Chris Christie -- or real threats from Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry or Herman Cain -- the former Massachusetts Governor has with maddening consistency gotten a quarter of the primary vote.
But the key question for Mitt is whether his glass is one-quarter full or three-quarters empty. No matter what the match-ups, he never drops below one-quarter of the vote or rises above it.
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Absolutely Profligate: Mitt Romney's Spending 'Cuts' Would Expand the Federal Budget 11.08.11
Author: Jacob Sullum
Wed, Nov 9, 2011
Presenting his fiscal plan in USA Today last week, Mitt Romney said he wants to "eliminate every government program that is not absolutely essential." That sounds good until you realize that Romney's goal of cutting $500 billion from projected federal outlays in 2016 would, at best, leave the budget about 8 percent higher than it is now and only 11 percent lower than it would be without any attempt to restrain spending.
The implication: Mitt Romney thinks 89 percent of what the federal government does is "absolutely essential." And that's what he says when he is trying to appeal to the fiscally conservative Republicans whose votes he will need to win his party's presidential nomination. Who knows what he really thinks, assuming he has any firm convictions at all on this crucial question.
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The Great Stonewall of Obama 11.08.11
Author: Michelle Malkin
Wed, Nov 9, 2011
The White House laments that America hasn't built enough massive government infrastructure projects. Nonsense. At the rate it's growing, the Great Stonewall of Obama may soon be the second largest manmade object visible from outer space.
While many construction workers across the country remain idle, Team Obama's attorneys have been laboring overtime to erect impenetrable information blockades around three festering scandals: Solyndra, LightSquared, and Fast and Furious.
This much is clear: The "most transparent administration ever" is hyper-allergic to sunlight and subpoenas.
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GOP Primary Deadlock? 11.08.11
Author: Tony Blankley
Wed, Nov 9, 2011
Here's a thought: The GOP presidential primaries may well prove to be inconclusive, with the nominee actually being chosen at the convention in Tampa, Fla., in the fourth week of August next year.
True, it has been generations since a presidential nominating convention actually made that decision, although, admittedly, this idea pops up every four years. The last GOP contested convention that went beyond the first ballot was in 1948, when Thomas Dewey was chosen on the third ballot -- and went on to lose to Harry Truman. For the Democrats it was in 1952, when Adlai Stevenson was also chosen on the third ballot -- and also went on to lose, to Dwight Eisenhower. The longest was the Democratic convention of 1924 that went on for over two weeks and took 103 ballots to nominate John Davis, who lost to Calvin Coolidge.
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The Venom in Feds' Vaccinations 11.07.11
Author: Chuck Norris
Mon, Nov 7, 2011
While most mainstream news media cover presidential campaigns or economic conditions, the feds are going under the radar and your skin -- literally -- with something that could be detrimental to your and your children's health. News just broke about their cover-up, but few, if any, agencies passed along the wire.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1 in 110 children have autism spectrum disorders, which is strikingly more than just two decades ago. (ASDs are a group of developmental disabilities that can cause communication, behavioral and social challenges.) The National Autism Association calls the 644 percent increase of ASDs among U.S. children since the early 1990s "a tragic epidemic of autism."
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Leftist Exploitation of Race Issue 11.07.11
Author: David Limbaugh
Mon, Nov 7, 2011
It's almost 2012, and we have a black president, yet the white ghost of racial tensions still haunts our national politics. Will it ever end?
Far too many liberals continue to paint conservatives as racists based on their ideological leanings and party affiliation. Some believe it; others know better but milk it for their political gain. Still others selfishly and recklessly cling to this view to make themselves feel morally superior, wholly indifferent to their own immorality in impugning a category of people in the same way racists categorically impugn entire races of people and wholly indifferent to the facts.
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Numbers Games 11.07.11
Author: Thomas Sowell
Mon, Nov 7, 2011
One of the things that has struck me, when I have gone on luxury cruise ships, is that most of the passengers look like they are older than the captain -- and luxury cruise ships don't have juveniles as captains.
The reason for the elderly clientele is fairly simple: Most people don't reach the point when they can afford to travel on luxury cruise ships until they have worked their way up the income ladder over a long period of years.
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Optimistic or Pessimistic About America? 11.07.11
Author: Dennis Prager
Mon, Nov 7, 2011
Commentary Magazine asked 41 Americans to respond to this question: "Are you optimistic or pessimistic about America's future?" The responses, including my own, appear in the current issue of Commentary. As we were limited to 500 words, I offer my response here, in edited and longer form.
I am both optimistic and pessimistic regarding America's future.
Here are my reasons for pessimism:
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The British Empire -- Vindicated 11.03.11
Author: David Limbaugh
Fri, Nov 4, 2011
As many Americans no longer believe in American exceptionalism and others believe America's greatness is guaranteed to extend perpetually, we could all benefit by reviewing the history of the British Empire, the realm from which we sprung and acquired so much.
By the time most baby boomers were born, the British Empire had declined. The Nazis and Japanese had been defeated in World War II, and two major military powers -- the United States and the Soviet Union -- were faced off at the beginning of a nearly half-century-long struggle we call the Cold War.
The great British Empire, which dominated the world mere decades before, was rarely in our current events radar, and it got little better treatment in our history courses, except as the villain we had to defeat in two wars to attain our independence and as the waning world power whose chestnuts we had saved from Adolf Hitler's fire. Oh, how much we missed, not just of British history but of our own, because we can't fully appreciate our greatness without understanding much more about our immediate ancestor.
But there's an easy way to make up for all that lost time, a way to fill in the gaps and much more. My friend Harry Crocker's "Politically Incorrect Guide to the British Empire" has just been released, and it's a one-stop shop for telling us all we should have learned about that empire and precisely how much we owe it.
We remain in awe of the enormity and dominance of the Roman Empire -- and rightly so -- but did you realize that at its height, the British Empire was the largest empire ever, covering a quarter of the world -- even half, if you consider its control of the oceans -- and governing a quarter of the people on the planet?
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Obama's Drug Shortage Demagoguery 11.03.11
Author: Michelle Malkin
Fri, Nov 4, 2011
President Obama couldn't wait to trample over the legislative process again. This week, he issued his 98th executive order on an irresistibly exploitatable policy issue: prescription drug shortages. Soon, "One a Day" won't just be a multivitamin. It'll be the rate of White House administrative fiats.
Federal officials darkly suggest that selfish industry "stockpiling" is endangering Americans' lives. "If we find out that prices are being driven up because shortages are being made worse by manipulations of companies or distributors," the White House further threatened, "agencies will be empowered to stop those practices. And the FDA and the Department of Justice will be investigating any kinds of abuses that would lead to drug shortages."
As usual, the underlying reasons for these marketplace conditions are gobsmackingly complicated. As usual, a significant portion of the fault lies with the government -- not evil corporate "abuses." And as usual, Obama's unilaterally imposed "solutions" promise to do more harm than good.
There's no question that drug shortages exist and that they have been on the rise. According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, 246 drugs are now scarce. It's a record. Why? I've rounded up just a few of the reasons:
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Sexual Harassment Is Serious Business 11.03.11
Author: Linda Chavez
Fri, Nov 4, 2011
Herman Cain has managed to say some silly and outrageous things as a GOP presidential candidate without losing any support. In fact, he's been gaining in the polls all the while.
But new allegations of sexual harassment by at least three women who worked for him when he was president of the National Restaurant Association now threaten to unravel his candidacy. He's handled the situation badly, changing his side of the story day-to-day and refusing to answer simple questions. But the whole thing -- at least what details of the actual allegations against him have so far been revealed in the press -- seems wildly blown out of proportion.
So far, few concrete details of the alleged offensive behavior have leaked. According to people who worked at the National Restaurant Association when Cain headed the trade association, Cain liked to socialize with younger employees. He sometimes made crude remarks and suggestions to female staff and may have invited women to go home with him. At the time, Cain, who has been married for decades, was living in Washington while his wife remained in Atlanta.
His behavior sounds more pathetic than harassing.
For the sake of argument, let's say Cain did invite female employees up to his apartment or made sexually suggestive comments or gestures at social events. Does this really constitute sexual harassment? In feminists' and their legal allies' eyes, it may, but should such behavior be cause for civil action?
I once defended Bill Clinton against Paula Jones' charges of sexual harassment by describing the then-governor's behavior as "gross and disgusting" but short of sexual harassment. And Clinton's actions were far more egregious than anything Cain is alleged to have done.
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Cain Catches Flak, but Will It Sink His Candidacy? 11.02.11
Author: Michael Barone
Wed, Nov 2, 2011
Washington was all a-Twitter (literally) Monday over Politico's story about the sexual harassment charges against Herman Cain -- and about Cain's serial self-contradictions.
Faithful Fox News viewers saw him in the afternoon saying he didn't know the terms of a settlement reached with the complainants and then saw him tell Greta Van Susteren in the 10 p.m. hour that he did.
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Still Dodging Our Harsh Budget Reality 11.02.11
Author: Steve Chapman
Wed, Nov 2, 2011
For the next 12 months, Americans will be in suspense waiting to find out who will win the presidential election and thus determine the fate of the nation for years to come. Too bad that by then, it may not matter so much.
That's partly because presidents must work within narrow confines established before they arrived. It's also because this month, a decision will be made that will have large and lasting consequences, for good or ill.
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Media AWOL on Sexual Indiscretion -- When Jesse Jackson Was Front-runner 11.02.11
Author: Larry Elder
Wed, Nov 2, 2011
Charles Krauthammer of Fox News: "Do you think that race, being a strong black conservative, has anything to do with the fact you've been so charged (with sexual harassment)? And if so, do you have any evidence to support that?"
Herman Cain: "I believe the answer is yes, but we do not have any evidence to support it."
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Occupy Oakland's Dangerous "Strike" Follies 11.01.11
Author: Michelle Malkin
Tue, Nov 1, 2011
The next stage of the Aimless Occupation of America is upon us: On Wednesday, rabble-rousers in the San Francisco Bay Area will walk off jobs they don't have and encourage everyone else around the country to abandon work to protest high unemployment.
The Occupiers are calling their organized day of inaction a "Mass Day of Action." The Carpenters Local 713, the Service Employees International Union, the United Auto Workers and the Industrial Workers of the World have all endorsed the "general strike." Longshore workers and their union agitators are rooting for the shutdown of the Port of Oakland. Teachers unions will push students and educators to play hooky. Their posters urge: "No Work. No School. Occupy Everywhere."
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A Time for Statesmen 11.01.11
Author: Tony Blankley
Tue, Nov 1, 2011
Now is a particularly dangerous moment for American national security interests. Not just because threats are growing. Not just because the current administration is making a historic bungle from China to Iraq to Iran to Russia to Europe to Mexico to our historic allies in the Middle East -- both Jewish and Muslim. All that would be bad enough.
But the greatest threat to our national security, at the moment, is the manifest indifference of the voting public to these foreign threats -- and the silence on them from our alleged leaders. It's understandable.
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Greek Referendum Could Lead to Financial Catastrophe 11.01.11
Author: Dick Morris
Tue, Nov 1, 2011
Like the assassination of the Austrian Archduke in Sarajevo, which triggered World War I, the decision of Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou to submit his nation's bailout deal with the European Union to a national referendum could be the spark that brings down the international financial system. The financial interdependence of the world's banks is so similar to the interlocking alliances that pre-dated World War I that it's easy to see how an event in a faraway little country could cause a global disaster.
The big powers of Europe have made headlines by agreeing to beef up their bailout fund with extra cash while demanding that the banks that lent Greece money take a 50 percent "haircut," or loss on their bonds, and that Athens initiate yet another round of austerity cuts and tax increases. But what made no headlines was what Germany, France and Britain refused to do: They would not guarantee Greek bonds by putting their own national credit on the line. In a truly integrated continent, the decision to back up the debt of a member country would be a no-brainer. Recall how George Washington and Alexander Hamilton insisted on federal assumption of colonial Revolutionary War debts at the very outset of our experiment with union.
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File Not Found 11.01.11
Author: Jacob Sullum
Tue, Nov 1, 2011
When he took office, Barack Obama promised "an unprecedented level of openness in government." As a major part of that commitment, he pledged fidelity to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), which he called "the most prominent expression of a profound national commitment to ensuring an open government."
It is hard to reconcile these lofty memos with the Justice Department's proposed rule instructing federal agencies to falsely deny the existence of records sought under FOIA. But at least the Obama administration is open about its desire to mislead us.
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You Want More Equality? Support More Capitalism 11.01.11
Author: David Harsanyi
Tue, Nov 1, 2011
A person can't go but a few clicks on the Internet these days without tripping over some shocking item about the "explosion" of income inequality that has, like the dark smog of capitalistic excess, been choking the life out of this unjust nation. And when it comes to inequality, there is certainly only one vital question we must ask ourselves: Who cares?
If the wealthy get wealthier, no one has to become one penny poorer. This childish idea that the economy is a zero-sum game might appeal to the populist sentiments of the so-called 99 percent -- or to the envious nature of some others or to the emotions of many struggling through this terrible economy -- but in the end, it doesn't stand up to the most rudimentary inspection.
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President Obama and the Children of the Corn 10.31.11
Author: Chuck Norris
Tue, Nov 1, 2011
Want to know something almost as scary as an Obama re-election?
Many news sources have reported over the past couple of months how Monsanto Co., the world's biggest vegetable seed-maker, will begin selling biotech, or genetically engineered, sweet corn this fall for U.S. consumers.
There are at least three alarming aspects to this particular veggie-gene mutation and its distribution.
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Democracy Versus Mob Rule 10.31.11
Author: Thomas Sowell
Tue, Nov 1, 2011
In various cities across the country, mobs of mostly young, mostly incoherent, often noisy and sometimes violent demonstrators are making themselves a major nuisance.
Meanwhile, many in the media are practically gushing over these "protesters," and giving them the free publicity they crave for themselves and their cause -- whatever that is, beyond venting their emotions on television.
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Obama's Class Warfare: It's All He's Got Left 10.31.11
Author: David Limbaugh
Tue, Nov 1, 2011
There he goes again. President Obama, on the campaign stump, rails against the "rich," saying our "wealth gap" shows a need for a "fairer approach."
Does he really believe our economic problems have been caused by insufficient taxes on the rich? Insufficient taxes overall? If not, then what can we conclude about his insistence on hammering this point rather than addressing the real causes and real solutions?
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Four Legacies of Feminism 10.31.11
Author: Dennis Prager
Tue, Nov 1, 2011
As we approach the 50th anniversary of the publication of Betty Friedan's feminist magnum opus, "The Feminine Mystique," we can have a perspective on feminism that was largely unavailable heretofore.
And that perspective doesn't make feminism look good. Yes, women have more opportunities to achieve career success; they are now members of most Jewish and Christian clergy; women's college sports teams are given huge amounts of money; and there are far more women in political positions of power. But the prices paid for these changes -- four in particular -- have been great, and they outweigh the gains for women, let alone for men and for society.
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Another 'Borking?' 10.31.11
Author: Mona Charen
Tue, Nov 1, 2011
It has the feel of an ambush -- this sexual harassment story involving Herman Cain. Some conservatives are responding in familiar ways. "They are terrified of strong, conservative black men," one commentator explained. "It's another high-tech lynching."
The emotional response is understandable. Ever since the orchestrated, scurrilous character assassination aimed at Judge Robert Bork, conservatives have been perpetually on edge, waiting for the next slander of public figures who represent a threat to liberal power. In a remarkable (and frankly, brave) acknowledgement of this history, liberal New York Times columnist Joe Nocera wrote recently that Judge Bork was a "legal intellectual" and that "whatever you think of (his) views, they cannot be fairly characterized as extreme . . . The Bork fight, in some ways, was the beginning of the end of civil discourse in politics."
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In Foreign Affairs, Obama Needs Respect, Not Love 10.28.11
Author: Michael Barone
Sat, Oct 29, 2011
The argument is being made in some quarters that, however unsuccessful Barack Obama's domestic policies have been, his record in foreign policy has been successful. But when you examine the claims of success, they seem a bit peculiar.
Take the widely read New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman. Last week, he argued that Obama's "lead from behind" approach to Libya worked much better than what turned out to be the Bush administration's protracted involvement in Afghanistan and Iraq.
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Can Romney Kick It Away? 10.28.11
Author: Steve Chapman
Sat, Oct 29, 2011
Republican candidates for president have been busy for weeks now, laboring strenuously to give the 2012 nomination to Mitt Romney. And he keeps trying to give it back.
The former Massachusetts governor could walk to next year's GOP convention without touching the ground, treading exclusively on the bodies of rivals who have fallen on their faces. He's the equivalent of the Alabama Crimson Tide, playing a schedule heavy on Southeastern Louisiana and Middle Tennessee State.
He should be running up the score every week. Instead, he keeps finding ways to keep his opponents in the game.
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Obama's Illusory Student Loan Scheme 10.27.11
Author: David Limbaugh
Thu, Oct 27, 2011
With his latest pseudo-compassionate expansion of the student loan program, President Obama reminds us why we ask whether he is simply unable to learn from history or he is indifferent to government waste incurred in pursuit of "good intentions."
Back when Obama was trolling for illusory savings to manipulate Congressional Budget Office scorekeepers into decreeing that Obamacare would be revenue-neutral, he proposed the ingenious scheme whereby the federal government would subsume 100 percent of the student loan industry and eliminate evil private-sector profits going to "middlemen."
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GOP Should Quit Stirring the Anti-Immigrant Pot 10.27.11
Author: Linda Chavez
Thu, Oct 27, 2011
The GOP's Hispanic voter problem has the potential to cost it the presidential election next November -- but the likelihood is that it won't. This has less to do with the party's standing with Hispanic voters, which continues to be low, than it does with President Obama's failures to revive the economy. Nonetheless, the party is concerned enough that some Republican leaders are suggesting the key to winning the Hispanic vote is to put Florida Sen. Marco Rubio on the ticket, no matter who the presidential nominee turns out to be. That's the wrong solution.
First, let me make clear that I am a huge fan of Rubio's -- but not because he's Hispanic. If his name were Mark Ruby and he had the same record and positions, I'd be every bit as enthusiastic. Similarly, if he had all the same personal attributes -- intelligence, leadership, and charisma -- but was an unabashed liberal or wishy-washy moderate, I wouldn't think of supporting him. I don't pick my candidates by skin color or ancestry. And neither do most Americans.
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Blame the Sexual Revolution, Not Men 10.27.11
Author: Mona Charen
Thu, Oct 27, 2011
Kate Bolick stares out at the world from the cover of The Atlantic magazine. She's wearing a black lace evening dress. "What, Me Marry?" asks the headline. She isn't smiling.
In fact, she isn't smiling in any of the photos that accompany her several thousand-word essay on singleness, marriage and the changing nature of dating and mating in America today. Bolick, 38, is groping toward accepting the idea that she may never marry. She badly wants to convince herself -- and us -- that older ideas about "unhappy" spinsters are silly cultural baggage best dropped off at the curb. And yet, there are those glamour shots -- Bolick behind the wheel wearing a fetching red dress; Bolick in a gold evening gown holding a glass of champagne; Bolick in a black cocktail dress -- but her expressions range from pensive to sad -- never happy.
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Shredding Kathleen Sebelius 10.27.11
Author: Michelle Malkin
Thu, Oct 27, 2011
If a private health insurer had engaged in the kind of criminal obstruction that Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius has been tied to in her home state of Kansas, it would be a federal case. Instead, it's a non-story in the Washington press. Nothing to see here. Move along.
On Monday, a district judge in the Sunflower State suspended court proceedings in a high-profile criminal case against the abortion racketeers of Planned Parenthood. World Magazine, a Christian news publication, reported on new bombshell court filings showing that Kansas health officials "shredded documents related to felony charges the abortion giant faces." World Magazine reported: "The health department failed to disclose that fact for six years, until it was forced to do so in the current felony case over whether it manufactured client records."
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The Revolt Against the Experts Helps Herman Cain 10.26.11
Author: Michael Barone
Wed, Oct 26, 2011
At the moment, national polls show Herman Cain leading or tied for the lead in the race for the Republican presidential nomination. This, despite the fact that he has never won an election, has never held public office (except on a regional Federal Reserve advisory panel), and has shown prodigious ignorance on some important foreign policy and domestic issues.
We in the punditocracy have been attributing Cain's lead to many conservatives' resistance to frequent frontrunner Mitt Romney. Many have described Cain as the flavor of the month and have predicted his numbers will collapse, as Michele Bachmann's and Rick Perry's have.
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Occupy Wall Street Demands Life Without Hardship 10.26.11
Author: Larry Elder
Wed, Oct 26, 2011
"Don't touch me!" the man in the wheelchair shouted to stop me from placing my hand on what used to be his left arm.
"I'm sorry -- I was just -- "
"I know what you were doing," he said calmly. "You were showing me you care. I get it. But you have no idea how much pain I'm in. Don't feel bad. People are always touching me -- and because my left arm is gone and most people are right-handed, well ... Doctors, believe it or not, are the worst -- always touching me there. You'd think they of all people would know better. But they don't." He laughed.
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Ron Paul's Unusual Path 10.26.11
Author: Steve Chapman
Wed, Oct 26, 2011
DAVENPORT, Iowa -- No one in this year's race has spent more time running for president than Ron Paul, who before entering the Republican primaries in 2008 and 2012 was the 1988 nominee of the Libertarian Party. And no one runs for president quite the way Paul does.
His town hall meeting is in an auditorium at the Figge Art Museum, which an audience of some 100 people has filled on a sunny fall afternoon. Other candidates may arrive to thumping music, but Paul gets a simple introduction as "the Thomas Jefferson of our day."
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Herman Cain Sounds Anti-Wall Street Note 10.25.11
Author: Dick Morris
Tue, Oct 25, 2011
Liberals often fail to understand the fault lines that run through the Republican Party. But when those lines mirror those in their own party, you'd think they'd get it.
Even as President Obama rakes in $35,000 per couple at lavish fundraisers -- not to mention having relied on Goldman Sachs to be his largest single donor in 2008 -- the left sits in a park in Manhattan decrying Wall Street excesses. The Dodd-Frank Act, sold as a measure to crack down on Wall Street, is killing community and small banks throughout the nation, hastening the day when Wall Street will be the only source of corporate or personal lending.
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The Real Luddites 10.25.11
Author: David Harsanyi
Tue, Oct 25, 2011
Have you noticed that any person who exhibits any skepticism about global warming alarmism will, sooner or later, be called a Luddite?
"Are you a Luddite, a troglodyte? Are you a part of 'The Planet of the Apes' that doesn't want science? Where would you place yourself in this argument?" newscaster and anti-simian Chris Matthews "asked" a congressman a few years back. "Rick Perry, Herman Cain, Michele Bachmann and the rest of the neo-Luddites who are turning the GOP into the anti-science party should pay attention," warned columnist Eugene Robinson in The Washington Post this week.
And so on and so forth.
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The Administration Slithers Away From Reality 10.25.11
Author: Tony Blankley
Tue, Oct 25, 2011
"No one should miscalculate America's resolve and commitment to helping support the Iraqi democracy.
-- Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, October 23, 2011
"Political language is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind. "
-- George Orwell, May 1945
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Joe Biden: Beltway Bubble Boy 10.25.11
Author: Michelle Malkin
Tue, Oct 25, 2011
Last fall, before the midterm shellacking, Vice President Joe Biden admonished rank-and-file Democratic voters to "stop whining." Uncle Tough Guy should practice what he screeches. The 2012 campaign has barely begun, but Biden's thin skin makes a spring roll wrapper look impenetrable.
Biden's office is now calling for an official investigation of a young editor who dared to question His Highness. Jason Mattera of the conservative-leaning Human Events magazine confronted the veep last week on his hysterical claims that rape and murder would increase if Congress didn't ram through the half-trillion-dollar White House jobs bill. The testy exchange between the audacious journalist and the temper-challenged Beltway pol took place in a Senate hallway:
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Perry and Gingrich Recklessly Disregard the Importance of Judicial Review 10.25.11
Author: Jacob Sullum
Tue, Oct 25, 2011
Why is Newt Gingrich running for president? Two words: "under God."
I exaggerate only slightly. "One of the major reasons that I am running for president," the former House speaker said at this month's Value Voters Summit, "is the Ninrth Circuit Court decision in 2002 that 'one nation under God,' in the Pledge of Allegiance, was unconstitutional. That decision to me had the same effect that the Dred Scott decision extending slavery to the whole country had on Abraham Lincoln."
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The 8th Miracle To Save America 10.24.11
Author: Chuck Norris
Tue, Oct 25, 2011
Despite high unemployment, continued bad news across fiscal America and a presidency that has lacked luster and restorative productivity, Barack Obama's stats continue to rival his top GOP challengers. And let's not forget that he still has the mainstream media hypnotically backing him or that his campaign machine hasn't even unleashed its billion dollars, according to Mike Huckabee, to combat his competitor.
Conservatives are right in asking, "Which GOP presidential candidate could survive, let alone have victory over, the Obama machine?" But maybe the strategy for victory lies in a unique plural solution.
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You Can't Wait? Neither Can We 10.24.11
Author: David Limbaugh
Tue, Oct 25, 2011
President Obama couldn't have chosen a more fitting slogan than "We can't wait" to promote his latest legislative elixir for our ailing economy. What could be cleverer than to employ double meaning in aid of doublespeak?
CBS News reports that Obama will use the phrase to sell his jobs bill and to justify his plan to take unilateral executive action on the economy.
Obama has enlisted the phrase to argue that America can't wait on the private sector to generate economic growth. He can't wait on the people to get up to speed with his superior wisdom or for Congress to rubber-stamp his latest destructive scheme. He will not be denied; he will not be delayed; he will not wait.
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Obama Doctrine: Ignore American Interests 10.24.11
Author: Mona Charen
Tue, Oct 25, 2011
Two successful assassinations -- those of al-Awlaki and bin Laden -- have persuaded some that President Obama, whatever his domestic failures, has presided over a successful foreign policy. This is way too generous. In fact (with the exception of targeted assassinations and the surge in Afghanistan), the president seems to conduct foreign policy based on seat-of-the-pants responses to events, rather than relying on any over-arching strategy. And his reactions to such events are more often based upon reversing what he regards as past American sins than on pursuing America's interests in the world.
This first became evident when the Iranian street erupted in 2009. There is no regime in the world that represents a greater threat to the lives of Americans than Iran's. The mullahs have shed more American blood than any entity except al-Qaida (and they have assisted al-Qaida) over the course of the past three decades. Iran constantly plots to damage the U.S. by sponsoring terror groups, allying with American enemies like Hugo Chavez, and supplying and training the Iraqi militias and Taliban, who in turn kill Americans in Iraq and Afghanistan. The fall of the Iranian regime would be the greatest victory imaginable against worldwide terror (to say nothing of what it would do for Iranians). Yet when the regime was rocked by weeks of protests, Obama let the opportunity to support the demonstrators, and possibly affect the outcome, slip through his fingers.
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The Media and 'Bullying' 10.24.11
Author: Thomas Sowell
Tue, Oct 25, 2011
Back in the 1920s, the intelligentsia on both sides of the Atlantic were loudly protesting the execution of political radicals Sacco and Vanzetti, after what they claimed was an unfair trial. Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes wrote to his young leftist friend Harold Laski, pointing out that there were "a thousand-fold worse cases" involving black defendants, "but the world does not worry over them."
Holmes said: "I cannot but ask myself why this so much greater interest in red than black."
To put it bluntly, it was a question of whose ox was gored. That is, what groups were in vogue at the moment among the intelligentsia. Blacks clearly were not.
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Are Evangelicals or University Professors More Irrational? 10.24.11
Author: Dennis Prager
Tue, Oct 25, 2011
Last week, The New York Times published an opinion piece by Karl W. Giberson and Randall J. Stephens, a physics professor and history professor at Eastern Nazarene College, respectively. The authors take evangelicals to task for being anti-intellectual, anti-reason and anti-science. Their evidence:
-- Evangelicals doubt man-made global warming,
-- Evangelicals believe that gays can "pray away" their homosexuality.
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Profits Are for People 10.24.11
Author: Walter Williams
Tue, Oct 25, 2011
The Occupy Wall Street demonstrators are demanding "people before profits" -- as if profit motivation were the source of mankind's troubles -- when it's often the absence of profit motivation that's the true villain.
First, let's get both the definition and magnitude of profits out of the way. Profits represent the residual claim earned by entrepreneurs. They're what are left after other production costs -- such as wages, rent and interest -- have been paid. Profits are the payment for risk taking, innovation and decision-making. As such, they are a cost of business just as are wages, rent and interest. If those payments are not made, labor, land and capital will not offer their services. Similarly, if profit is not paid, entrepreneurs won't offer theirs. Historically, corporate profits range between 5 and 8 cents of each dollar, and wages range between 50 and 60 cents of each dollar.
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Cult of Global Warming Is Losing Influence 10.21.11
Author: Michael Barone
Sat, Oct 22, 2011
Religious faith is a source of strength in many people's lives. But religious faith when taken too far can prove ludicrous -- or disastrous.
On Oct. 22, 1844, thousand of Millerites, having sold all their possessions, climbed to the top of hills in Upstate New York to await the return of Jesus and the end of the world. They suffered "the great disappointment" when it didn't happen.
In 1212, or so the legends go, thousands of Children's Crusaders set off from France and Germany expecting the sea to part so they could march peaceably and convert Muslims in the Holy Land. It didn't, and many were shipwrecked or sold into slavery.
In 1898, the cavalrymen of the Madhi, ruler of Sudan for 13 years, went into the Battle of Omdurman armed with swords, believing that they were impervious to bullets. They weren't, and they were mowed down by British Maxim guns.
A similar but more peaceable fate is befalling believers in what I think can be called the religion of the global warming alarmists.
They have an unshakeable faith that manmade carbon emissions will produce a hotter climate, causing multiple natural disasters. Their insistence that we can be absolutely certain this will come to pass is based not on science -- which is never fully settled, witness the recent experiments that may undermine Albert Einstein's theory of relativity -- but on something very much like religious faith.
All the trappings of religion are there. Original sin: Mankind is responsible for these prophesied disasters, especially those slobs who live on suburban cul-de-sacs and drive their SUVs to strip malls and tacky chain restaurants.
The need for atonement and repentance: We must impose a carbon tax or cap-and-trade system, which will increase the cost of everything and stunt economic growth.
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Murders, Rapes, Falling Bridges and Phantom Jobs 10.21.11
Author: David Limbaugh
Fri, Oct 21, 2011
What are we to think about a president and vice president who blow nearly a trillion dollars in borrowed money, accept no responsibility for it and then traverse the nation trying to convince Americans that if we don't spend half that much again, people will die from dilapidated bridges and women will be raped because we can't afford cops?
What business do these two have lecturing anyone about anything, much less the conditions that might ensue if we were not to spend more printed money to pay for things they failed to finance the first time because they misappropriated the funds?
Last month, Obama, stumping for his misnamed "American Jobs Act," told his AstroTurf audience in Raleigh-Durham that "in North Carolina alone, there are 153 structurally deficient bridges that need to be repaired. Four of them are near here, on or around the Beltline. Why would we wait to act until another bridge falls?"
After attempting to scare those in the crowd into believing they were one pylon away from being crushed by a fallen bridge, Department of Transportation engineers and administrators had to mollify residents about the safety of the area's bridges.
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Robin Hood vs. the Occupiers 10.21.11
Author: Michelle Malkin
Fri, Oct 21, 2011
We have entered a new phase of the endless Occupy Wall Street sleepover. Not working is hard work. After a month of tying up the police, generating mounds of trash, railing against Jews while holding up "Nazi Bankers" signs, grappling with pervs, rapists and thieves in their ranks, communing with avowed communists, and hobnobbing with 1 percenter celebrities donning 99 percenter costumes (phew!), the Occupiers are rallying around a new mascot:
Robin Hood.
The crime-plagued Carnival of 1,001 Demands is now focused on one unified agenda item: a soak-the-rich tax on financial transactions worldwide. The corporate-bashing Canadian magazine "Adbusters" (funded by left-wing Wall Street trader Robert Halper) initiated the Occupy Wall Street siege last summer and published a new online manifesto this week explaining the call for an October 29 "Robin Hood march":
"Across the globe the 99 percent are marching! ... It's now time to amp up the edgy theatrics ... deviant pranks, subversive performances and playful detournements of all kinds." There's been no shortage of deviance, unfortunately, what with protesters defecating on police cars, urinating on each other's tents, stealing food and phones, and exposing themselves to children. But I digress. As the movement "matures," the leaders overseeing an unruly mob in Guido Fawkes masks exhorted the masses to "occupy the core of our global system."
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Republicans Are Needlessly Offending Hispanics 10.21.11
Author: Mona Charen
Fri, Oct 21, 2011
Do the Republican presidential candidates understand the gravity of the moment? In 2012, the nation must choose between inevitable (and possibly abrupt) economic collapse and a return to a modicum of prudence by the federal government.
Maybe it's the nature of these cattle call debates, and, surely, it is partly the result of instigation by the liberal press, but viewers watching the last several debates will not come away with a sense of the seriousness of the moment. Instead, they will have been treated to the candidates' views on Rick Perry's decision to mandate Gardasil vaccines (delivered by what Rep. Bachmann histrionically called "a government needle"), a spirited discussion about whether Mitt Romney was quick enough to fire a lawn mowing company when he learned that some of their employees might be illegal and seemingly endless discussions about how best to build a fence on the southern border. Should it be steel and barbed wire or should it be virtual? Should we deploy drones in Texasstan and Arizonastan? How about "boots on the ground"? Should it be electrified with enough juice to fry anyone who touches it? (Cain says that was a joke.)
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Hey, Occupy Wall Street: What, No Anti-Obama Signs? 10.19.11
Author: Larry Elder
Thu, Oct 20, 2011
The Occupy Wall Street folks tell us to blame Wall Street for the nation's financial troubles. Notice the no-fly zone over President Barack Obama. Where are the anti-President Barack Obama signs or the verbal chants denouncing the President? Imagine the protests/sit-ins/rallies/mass marches on Pennsylvania Avenue -- not Wall Street -- if after two years of Republican White House leadership, America remained stuck on over 9 percent unemployment!
Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and President Barack Obama say they sympathize with the protestors. Of course, they do. After over two years of reckless spending, the inflationary printing of money, massive "stimulus" that failed to "save or create" 3.5 million jobs, green technology "investments" in soon-to-be-bankrupt companies whose investors donated to and raised money for the President's election and unpopular bailouts, the dismal results are in.
What to do?
Find a scapegoat -- provided it isn't Freddie, Fannie or the Community Reinvestment Act, the real culprits behind the housing meltdown. No, Wall Street will do nicely. Just keep Obama's name off the list of grievances:
"Greedy" investment bankers? Obama's second chief of staff, William Daley, previously worked as Midwest chairman for JPMorgan Chase. Obama's first chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, worked as an investment banker and pulled down $18 million in two-and-a-half years.
Bailouts? President Bush bailed out financial institutions, and Obama raised the ante, bailing out more companies, including GM and Chrysler.
Federal reserve? Obama reappointed Fed Chair Ben Bernanke.
Most Americans aren't buying the blame Wall Street nonsense.
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Congress Softens Stance on High-skilled Immigrants 10.19.11
Author: Michael Barone
Thu, Oct 20, 2011
We've been hearing a lot about immigration on the campaign trail, most of it based on outdated assumptions and echoing the arguments made when Congress was considering so-called comprehensive immigration reform bills in 2006 and 2007.
But up on Capitol Hill, there appears to be progress -- bipartisan progress, even -- toward changing our immigration laws to reflect current and emerging realities.
From Barack Obama, in campaign rather than governing mode these days, we hear denunciations of Republicans for killing proposals for legalizing illegal immigrants.
This ignores the fact that Democrats didn't move immigration bills when they had control of the House and a supermajority in the Senate. Speaker Nancy Pelosi thought global warming and health care were more important.
As for the Republican presidential candidates, most are calling for construction of an ever-higher border fence and opposing anything with a whiff of amnesty. They're attacking Rick Perry because he opposes the fence in Texas -- it's hard to build one along a river -- and backs in-state tuition for children of illegals in state colleges and universities.
Behind this rhetoric is the assumption that the tide of immigration, legal and illegal, is continuing at a record pace and that illegals are here to stay. But the evidence is that migration from Mexico has slowed to a trickle, and the Census Bureau tells us the number of illegals has declined.
Those trends are likely to continue. As former Mexico Foreign Minister Jorge Casta¤edn explains in his recent book "Manana Forever?," most Mexicans are now in the Walmart middle class or above.
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999 Can Save Our Country 10.18.11
Author: Dick Morris
Tue, Oct 18, 2011
In 1980, facing a terrible economy, Ronald Reagan called for a new tax program: 10-10-10. Based on the Kemp-Roth bill, he called for 10 percent cuts in income taxes for three years. He got it, and it kindled 20 years of prosperity.
Now Herman Cain understands that we need fundamental reform to get our economy moving. He calls for replacing the current system with just three levies of 9 percent on personal income, corporate income and consumption. There would be no capital gains tax, inheritance tax, Social Security tax or Medicare tax. Just 999.
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The State of the Union: A Poll 10.18.11
Author: David Harsanyi
Tue, Oct 18, 2011
"David Axelrod, President Barack Obama's senior campaign strategist, pushed back against negative media accounts surrounding the president's approval rating and said recent polling shows the majority of Americans agree with Obama's plan to create jobs." -- CNN
Question: President Barack Obama is proposing a new affordable jobs plan that is supported by economists* and is nothing like the plan that didn't create jobs (because of the GOP's insistence that the package not exceed a criminally meager $1 trillion) so that Americans can rebuild vital infrastructure -- high-speed rail lines, Service Employees International Union membership rolls -- and, have we mentioned, find jobs. Do you, like Martin Luther King Jr. and Jesus Christ, support this plan to invest in the future?
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The EduJobs III Bailout 10.18.11
Author: Michelle Malkin
Tue, Oct 18, 2011
One of my son's Suzuki violin teachers had a wise twist on an old saying: "If at first you don't succeed, try something else." The corollary? "When you do succeed, don't stop. Do it again." The White House could use some remedial Suzuki lessons in economics. They've got everything completely bass-ackward.
In February 2009, President Obama signed the trillion-dollar American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Nearly $115 billion was earmarked for education. The stimulator-in-chief's crack team of Ivy League economists predicted the law would hold the jobless rate under 8.5 percent.
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Washington Considers China Trade War 10.18.11
Author: Tony Blankley
Tue, Oct 18, 2011
For the past few years, fear of China's predatory mercantilism has been steadily growing in America, both amongst the public and in elite business and political circles. But last week, for the first time, one could discern the genuine possibility that America might actually do something about it -- even if it means a trade war.
It's not that anything new has been revealed about China's practices, but rather that something new has emerged about the nature of Washington's opposition to it. Last week, the Senate passed a bill that would force U.S. retaliation against China's currency manipulations. The bill passed with 63 votes -- including 16 Republican votes.
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Borrowing From Paul 10.18.11
Author: Jacob Sullum
Tue, Oct 18, 2011
Next month, the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, a 12-member subset of Congress that Congress created to make the hard fiscal choices Congress itself has failed to make, is expected to propose $1.2 trillion in cuts from projected spending during the next decade. This week, Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, who is seeking the Republican presidential nomination, unveiled a plan to cut nearly that much in 2013 alone, followed by similar cuts in the next two years, yielding a balanced budget by 2015.
The contrast between the so-called supercommittee's goal and Paul's plan shows how pathetic official Washington's gestures of fiscal responsibility are, even in these supposedly straitened times. Paul's detailed numbers refute the myth that the budget cannot be balanced without raising taxes while challenging his opponents -- none of whom has offered anything nearly as specific -- to put up or shut up.
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8 Miracles That Saved America? 10.17.11
Author: Chuck Norris
Tue, Oct 18, 2011
As I recently tweeted (@chucknorris), I read through the book "The Miracle of Freedom: Seven Tipping Points that Saved the World," by Chris and Ted Stewart. I highly recommend it.
Immediately afterward, I started reading their other book, "Seven Miracles That Saved America," and I have been equally inspired by it. But it has prompted me to wonder: Is there an eighth miracle coming and needed to save our republic again?
It seems somewhat audacious to point out seven pivotal moments in America without which America wouldn't be America. But it's hard to argue with the Stewarts on the critical events that they've expounded upon and argued for masterfully, especially from our vantage point and with their compelling evidence. Hindsight is certainly 20/20.
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Alienating the Middle 10.17.11
Author: Mona Charen
Tue, Oct 18, 2011
It doesn't come as a huge surprise that President Obama has decided to embrace the Occupy Wall Street movement. There has always been a certain drum circle flavor to this administration. In fact, nothing illustrated the point so well as when, a couple of weeks ago (before the president decided that OWS was his ticket to re-election), Vice President Biden referred in a radio interview to one of the agitators as "Van Jones, whoever he is." The program's host interjected that Jones was the former "green jobs" czar in the Obama administration. Ah.
But that's no longer an embarrassment because the administration and the Democratic Party have decided to join (or at least support) the throngs chanting, "What do we want? Revolution! When do we want it? Now!" Nancy Pelosi is pleased. "God bless them for their spontaneity." The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee announced in a fundraising letter that it is seeking 100,000 signatures on a petition declaring "I stand with the Occupy Wall Street protests." And David Plouffe, the president's senior campaign advisor, sounded upbeat for the first time in a while. "We intend to make it one of the central elements of the campaign next year," he told the Washington Post. "One of the main elements of the contrast will be that the president passed Wall Street reform and our opponent and the other party want to repeal it."
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Random Thoughts 10.17.11
Author: Thomas Sowell
Tue, Oct 18, 2011
Random thoughts on the passing scene:
Like so many people, in so many countries, who started out to "spread the wealth," Barack Obama has ended up spreading poverty.
Have you ever heard anyone as incoherent as the people staging protests across the country? Taxpayers ought to be protesting against having their money spent to educate people who end up unable to say anything beyond repeating political catch phrases.
It is hard to understand politics if you are hung up on reality. Politicians leave reality to others. What matters in politics is what you can get the voters to believe, whether it bears any resemblance to reality or not.
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Obama and Occupy Wall Street Are One 10.17.11
Author: David Limbaugh
Tue, Oct 18, 2011
President Obama acts as though he merely sympathizes with the Wall Street occupiers' "broad-based frustration" about how America's financial system works, but he's doing a lot more than sympathizing. He's fanning their flames.
Perhaps we should take a look at what, exactly, Obama is supporting and contrast it with the tea party movement he so roundly condemns.
In May 2010, when a White House dinner guest suggested to Obama that racism was a motivating force behind the tea party opposition to him, he raised nary a finger of objection and even affirmed that there was a racially biased "subterranean agenda" afoot in the anti-Obama movement. About that same time, the administration had lumped the tea party protesters into a group to be monitored as "domestic terrorists."
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Why Is Class Hatred Morally Superior to Race Hatred? 10.17.11
Author: Dennis Prager
Tue, Oct 18, 2011
The major difference between Hitler and the Communist genocidal murderers -- Stalin, Mao and Pol Pot -- was what groups they chose for extermination.
For Hitler, first Jews and ultimately Slavs and other "non-Aryans" were declared the enemy and unworthy of life. For the Communists, the rich -- the bourgeoisie, land owners, and capitalists -- were labeled the enemy and regarded as unworthy of life.
Hitler mass-murdered on the basis of race, the Communists on the basis of class.
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Pitting Us Against Each Other 10.17.11
Author: Walter Williams
Tue, Oct 18, 2011
President Barack Obama and the Democratic Party have led increasingly successful efforts to pit Americans against one another through the politics of hate and envy. Attacking CEO salaries, the president -- last year during his Midwest tour -- said, "I do think at a certain point you've made enough money."
Let's look at CEO salaries, but before doing so, let's look at other salary disparities between those at the bottom and those at the top. According to Forbes' Celebrity 100 list for 2010, Oprah Winfrey earned $290 million. Even if her makeup person or cameraman earned $100,000, she earned thousands of times more than that. Is that fair? Among other celebrities earning hundreds or thousands of times more than the people who work with them are Tyler Perry ($130 million), Jerry Bruckheimer ($113 million), Lady Gaga ($90 million) and Howard Stern ($76 million). According to Forbes, the top 10 celebrities, excluding athletes, earned an average salary of a little more than $100 million in 2010.
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Cain the Tax-Code Killer 10.14.11
Author: Larry Kudlow
Sat, Oct 15, 2011
Herman Cain is the only GOP presidential candidate who wants to kill the tax code. That's right. Put a knife in it. Junk the entire system. And people are cheering as he rises in the polls in his quest for the nomination.
Cain's 9-9-9 plan is not perfect. But then again, the good should never be the enemy of the perfect.
Rep. Paul Ryan gives the plan a thumbs-up. Supply-side mentor Art Laffer tells me it would be "far, far better than the current system." And Chris Chocola, president of the free-market Club for Growth, calls it "a truly revolutionary tax reform that would amount to a massive job-creating tax cut on investments, savings and income."
As the world now knows, 9-9-9 translates to a 9 percent income-tax rate, a 9 percent value-added net sales tax rate on business and a 9 percent national sales tax overall. Like many conservatives, I am troubled by the national sales tax piece. It reminds me too much of Europe. It could start low and then build on top of the other taxes. But I totally support the first two nines on personal income and business. In my view, these are vast improvements.
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Romney Buoyed by Good Luck -- and Hard Experience 10.14.11
Author: Michael Barone
Sat, Oct 15, 2011
Napoleon is supposed to have said that the quality he most valued in his generals was luck. In the current race for the Republican presidential nomination, Napoleon's favorite would clearly be Mitt Romney.
One lucky break after another has helped Romney maintain front-runner status or something close to it in polls of Republican primary voters and caucus-goers. And he needed luck to rebound from his unsuccessful run in 2008.
His strategy that cycle was slavishly modeled on George W. Bush's strategy in 2000. Romney started off early, raised and spent lots more money than any other Republican and sponsored his own "compassionate conservative" initiative, his Massachusetts health care plan.
He crisscrossed Iowa, campaigning as a conservative on abortion and cultural issues. Unfortunately, that was at odds with his past record, and he was overtaken by Mike Huckabee. Then he was beaten in relatively secular, tax-hating New Hampshire by John McCain. Romney came close but was out of the race after Super Tuesday.
An interesting counterfactual that may have occurred to him: If he had ignored Iowa and run on his business record as an economic conservative, he might have won New Hampshire and the nomination. And in the financial crisis in the fall, he might have sailed past a seemingly clueless Barack Obama.
But Romney clearly learns from mistakes. This time he has raised less money, mostly ignored Iowa, and is emphasizing his business and economic expertise that -- lucky for him -- seems relevant in a time of economic sluggishness.
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Costs of the Occupiers 10.13.11
Author: Michelle Malkin
Fri, Oct 14, 2011
The trash generated by the "Occupy Wall Street" protests keeps piling up. So do the bills. Liberal media outlets claim the anarchic, anti-capitalist movement is more popular than the tea party. But wait until Americans across the country get a full picture of the costs of the aimless occupiers.
In New York City, government officials estimate the month-long siege of Zuccotti Park has now imposed $3.2 million in overtime police costs on the public. On Thursday, as Mayor Michael Bloomberg's office pressured left-wing activists to vacate the park for cleaning, Occupy Wall Street urged sympathizers to flood the city's customer services lines: "Call 311 and tell Bloomberg not to evict us!"
In Philadelphia, Mayor Michael Nutter told the press that demonstrators outside city hall have incurred $164,000 in overtime public employee costs and $237,000 in regular time. "At the current rate, if Occupy Philly continues to the end of the month, the city would spend another nearly $690,000 on police overtime alone," the local NBC affiliate reported. "Besides the extra police presence being dedicated to the Occupy Philly protests, other city departments have also incurred costs."
In Seattle, police have so far billed $30,000 in overtime, and the parks department racked up nearly $4,000 in additional costs related to the protests there. Occupiers have blocked traffic, assaulted an officer and pitched illegal tents. Merchants in the area have been hurt as the riff-raff deter customers. One business owner in Westlake Park, where hundreds of protesters remain camped out, told Seattle TV station KIRO: "There's definitely fewer people you can identify as people out, just walking through the area."
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Obama Will Not Be Deterred 10.13.11
Author: David Limbaugh
Fri, Oct 14, 2011
If it's not narcissism, what explains President Obama's habit of demanding something against the people's will, being rejected, refusing to take no for an answer and berating the public he is pretending to represent?
We saw it over and over with Obamacare. By now, it's part of our national lore that he delivered some 54 speeches to sell the public on his scheme yet never made a dent in the public approval numbers. Truth be told, in the end he gave far more than 54.
But that didn't stop him from pressing forward anyway, and his underhanded methods at cramming his bill through Congress will also be enshrined in our national history.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but hasn't he done the same thing with automobile emission standards and other environmental causes? He couldn't convince the people that he was right, nor could he convince Congress, so he just colluded with his fellow radical autocrats in the Environmental Protection Agency to bypass Congress and impose these regulations unilaterally.
Let's also not forget his pet project, the sainted high-speed rail, for which he's determined to spend billions and billions of dollars in brazen defiance of the people's disinterest in the project, their objection to further deficit spending, and the marked resistance of the individual states.
Obama demands we embrace his misguided fantasy, even though several state governors have essentially said: "Thanks, but no thanks. We can't afford your federal generosity. We're the ones who'll have to maintain the albatrosses." Congress has also pronounced it dead on arrival.
But Obama won't give up. He never gives up. Because he knows better than we do. He tells us this technology is the wave of the future, but it's actually closer to an anachronism. As others have written, it's not well-suited for the territorially expansive United States. But that doesn't matter a whit to him, because his real motive is to coerce us out of our automobiles. If he had his way, he'd mandate interstate bike paths.
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Obama's Weakness Invited Iran's Plot 10.13.11
Author: Mona Charen
Fri, Oct 14, 2011
If the Iranian government doesn't frighten you, you haven't been paying attention. The regime in Iran has been killing Americans in Iraq and Afghanistan for many years and has sworn countless times in the past 30 years to preside over the destruction of the United States. If it wasn't for a lucky break, Washington D.C., this autumn, would have been the scene of a massive explosion detonated at a high-end restaurant, with scores and perhaps hundreds killed and maimed. The principal target of this terror attack was to be the Saudi ambassador to the United States, but as one of the plotters told another during the planning: "They want that guy (the ambassador) done (killed), if the hundred go with him f**k 'em." The FBI suggests that several U.S. senators are also known to frequent the restaurant.
This carnage was only one of several violent attacks Iran was planning to perpetrate on American soil. It seems safe to say that President Obama's outreach to the mullahs is not going well.
Some press reports have stressed the enmity between Iran and Saudi Arabia in attempting to explain this flagrant outrage. The U.S. attorney involved in the case, Preet Bharara, also stressed that angle saying, "Today's charges should make crystal clear that we will not let other countries use our soil as their battleground." But that misses a key point. This was an attack on the U.S. as well.
There are Saudi interests all over the globe. It's not an accident that they chose to strike in Washington, D.C. For the terrorists in Tehran, killing a Saudi ambassador in America's capital city would be a blow against two hated enemies at once. The murders would have happened under the noses of the great Satan, thus conveying Iran's contempt for everything we hold dear -- the sanctity of life, the rule of law, international norms regarding diplomacy and even the Geneva Convention, which forbids deliberate attacks on civilians. The criminals who run Iran have a particular fondness for gestures of contempt. Recall that in 1981, they chose to release our diplomats just as Ronald Reagan was taking the oath of office -- one last parting slap at Jimmy Carter.
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Herman Cain to Blacks: Divorce the Democratic Party 10.12.11
Author: Larry Elder
Thu, Oct 13, 2011
What to do about Herman Cain?
This question goes not to the Republican Party, where "establishment" candidates like Mitt Romney privately dismiss Cain as lacking the experience, gravitas and resources to beat President Barack Obama and then to soundly govern the country.
Herman Cain is not going to be the GOP nominee.
Without a serious star-power staff, a ground game, chits to be called in by the candidate or the candidate's influential network of friends of influence, the "fat cats" sit on their checkbooks until and unless they believe their horse can win. A serious presidential candidate is not one who, like Cain, breaks from campaigning for a book tour timed to coincide with his unlikely quest for the White House.
No, Cain is a clear and present danger to the (SET ITAL) Democratic (END ITAL) Party -- and their invaluable near-monolithic black vote. Cain says things like: "African-Americans have been brainwashed" into voting for the Democratic Party; "If you (Wall Street protestors) don't have a job or you're not rich, blame yourself"; "People sometimes hold themselves back because they want to use racism as an excuse for them not being able to achieve what they want to achieve"; and "I don't believe racism in this country today holds anybody back in a big way."
How do some influential left-wing blacks react? Not well:
Cornell West, professor of black studies at Princeton: Cain needs to "get off the symbolic crack pipe."
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Congress, Governors Nix Obama's High-speed Trains 10.12.11
Author: Michael Barone
Thu, Oct 13, 2011
Dead. Kaput. Through. Finished. Washed up. Gone-zo.
That, I think, is a fair description of the Obama administration's attempt to build high-speed rail lines across America.
It hasn't failed because of a lack of willingness to pony up money. The Obama Democrats' February 2009 stimulus package included $8 billion for high-speed rail projects. The Democratic Congress appropriated another $2.5 billion.
But Congress is turning off the spigot. The Republican-controlled House has appropriated zero dollars for high-speed rail. The Democratic-majority Senate Appropriations Committee has appropriated $100 million in its budget recommendation.
That's effectively "a vote of 'no confidence' to President Obama's infrastructure initiative," concludes transportation analyst Ken Orski, "a bipartisan signal that Congress has no appetite for pouring more money into a venture that many lawmakers have come to view as a poster child for wasteful spending."
The Transportation Department is struggling to push some of the previously appropriated money out the door. Some $480 million of planning, engineering and construction grants were made to 11 state governments in September.
But this doesn't build many rail lines, and with one exception, none of them is really high-speed, like Japan's TGV or Japan's bullet train. The governors of Wisconsin and Ohio nixed train lines that wouldn't provide faster service than current parallel Interstate highways. The governor of Florida cancelled a faster line between Orlando and Tampa, which are only 90 miles apart.
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Occupy Wall Street Is Peril to Obama 10.11.11
Author: Dick Morris
Wed, Oct 12, 2011
As the early '70s repeat themselves with the chaotic Occupy Wall Street demonstrations in lower Manhattan, we need to grasp what a peril this movement is to President Obama and the entire Democratic Party. It is like the Obama campaign running wild without Obama in it. It is as if the bandwagon has taken off and left the president behind. And he and his party are racing to catch up. "There go my followers," the Democrats seem to be saying, "and I must go with them because I am their leader."
Just as the youthful enthusiasm of the civil rights movement in the late '50s and early '60s animated John F. Kennedy's candidacy in 1960 and energized a generation, so the Obama campaign did in 2008. But just as frustration with Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon and the entire political system turned the idealism of the young into sour cynicism, so the Obama campaign's young enthusiasts have become cynical, bitter opponents of the entire political/economic system. If the Obama campaign harkened back to memories of the civil rights demonstrations of the '60s, the Occupy Wall Street effort would remind them of Students for a Democratic Society, Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, hippies, yuppies, the Chicago Seven and Jerry Rubin.
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Read My Tea Leaves 10.11.11
Author: Jacob Sullum
Wed, Oct 12, 2011
In their Oct. 7 press release announcing "coordinated enforcement actions" against medical marijuana dispensaries, California's four U.S. attorneys use the adjective "commercial" to describe their targets eight times and refer to "profit" nine times, not counting two mentions of "money" and one of "moneymaking." You might surmise from these clues that nonprofit organizations supplying marijuana to authorized patients need not worry about raids, forfeiture and prosecution -- but only if you are unfamiliar with the Obama administration's weaselly ways.
Barack Obama promised a more tolerant approach to medical marijuana, saying he would not "circumvent state laws on this issue." Instead, he has delivered a crackdown more aggressive than anything seen under George W. Bush, featuring more-frequent raids, threats to landlords and banks, and ruinous IRS audits. Although his underlings occasionally pretend they are respecting state law, they clearly have no intention of doing so.
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Obama's Teachable Truthiness Moment 10.11.11
Author: Michelle Malkin
Wed, Oct 12, 2011
President Obama blames Republicans for the collapse of his latest government jobs bill. But in the end, he has only his tall tale-telling tongue to blame.
After hyping the TARP, Obamacare, Stimulus I and EduJobs spending behemoths as economic saviors, Obama just couldn't help overselling his half-trillion-dollar American Jobs Act. The teachable moment of "truthiness" for this taxpayer-subsidized scam came last week when Obama made an unwitting Boston teacher the botched poster child for his campaign.
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It's Not Romneycult; It's Romneycare 10.11.11
Author: David Harsanyi
Wed, Oct 12, 2011
At the Values Voter Summit, Republican primary candidate Rick Perry was introduced by a megachurch pastor, named Robert Jeffress, who offered the audience an extraordinary false choice: "Do we want a candidate who is a good, moral person or one who is a born-again follower of the Lord Jesus Christ?"
Answer: We want a candidate who will cut capital gains taxes.
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Euro-Debt Danger 10.11.11
Author: Tony Blankley
Wed, Oct 12, 2011
How dangerous is the European financial condition? On Monday, while stock markets from the DAX and FTSE to the New York Stock Exchange were up sharply on report of French and German cooperative murmurs regarding sovereign debt negotiations (and on temporary easing of U.S. double-dip recession fears), the financial and political European press were warning of a coming financial crisis of unmatched dimensions.
The ever stiff upper-lipped London Financial Times let loose with uncharacteristic wails of woe: Its five column above the fold front page headline panted: "Time is short for eurozone," while its editorial page -- in a rare single top to bottom of page leader -- shouted with a now quivering upper lip: "Save Europe's unity now."
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Guns, Guitars and Government Raids 10.10.11
Author: Chuck Norris
Wed, Oct 12, 2011
It's enough to make all tree-hugging, EPA-loving, spotted owl seekers weep.
In August, armed federal agents raided the offices and factories of the legendary Gibson Guitar Corp. in Nashville and Memphis. It was the second time the feds had ransacked the renowned Tennessee guitar-maker since President Barack Obama took office. And what were they going after? Dirty laundering monies? Gun smugglers? Cocaine cargo that could make cartels quiver?
No. The federal search and seizure sought to capture ... ready? Wood. To be exact, rosewood and ebony from India, which the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service had declared to be illegal to import.
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It's Hard To Be a Racist 10.10.11
Author: Walter Williams
Tue, Oct 11, 2011
Years ago it was easy to be a racist. All you had to be was a white person using some of the racial epithets that are routinely used in song and everyday speech by many of today's blacks. Or you had to chant "two, four, six, eight, we don't want to integrate" when a black student showed up for admission to your high school or college. Of course, there was that dressing up in a hooded white gown. In any case, you didn't have to be sophisticated to be a racist.
Today all that has changed. Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., pointed that out back in 1994 when the Republican-led Congress pushed for tax relief. Rangel denounced Republicans' plan as a form of modern-day racism, saying, "It's not 'spic' or 'nigger' anymore. (Instead,) they say, 'Let's cut taxes.'" That means the simple use of the N-word is not enough to make one a racist. If it were, blacks would be the nation's premier racists. Today it's the call for tax cuts that makes you a racist. That's why the "tea" party, short for "taxed enough already," is nothing more than organized racists. What makes tea partyers even more racist is their constant call for the White House and Congress to return to the confines of the Constitution.
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Steve Jobs: Unwanted Child? 10.10.11
Author: Mona Charen
Wed, Oct 12, 2011
Amid the expressions of grief at the passing of one of America's greatest innovators -- Steve Jobs -- one offhand comment by someone on CNN was jarring. Describing his brilliance, his inventiveness, his business genius and his inspired leadership, one host added, "And his parents didn't want him! They gave him up for adoption, if you can believe that!"
It is one of the enduring misconceptions of modern life that birthparents who make adoption plans for their children "don't want them" and that this "rejection" scars the adoptee for life. Social science data refutes this. But even before considering the statistics about adoption, consider the absurdity of characterizing adoption this way in an age of widespread abortion. There are countless women who say, "I could never give up my baby for adoption" but who, strangely, see no impossibility in aborting their unborn babies.
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Reverse Racism 10.10.11
Author: Thomas Sowell
Wed, Oct 12, 2011
Among those who have been disappointed by President Barack Obama, none is likely to end up so painfully disappointed as those who saw his election as being, in itself and in its consequences, a movement toward a "post-racial society."
Like so many other expectations that so many people projected onto this little-known man who suddenly burst onto the political scene, the expectation of movement toward a post-racial society had no speck of hard evidence behind it -- and all too many ignored indications of the very opposite, including his two decades of association with the egregious Reverend Jeremiah Wright.
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Steve Jobs' Father Was ... 10.10.11
Author: Dennis Prager
Wed, Oct 12, 2011
On a daily basis, I sit in awe at the amount of nonsense that pervades the world's media. The latest is the preoccupation with the ethnicity of Steve Jobs' birth father.
Steve Jobs was adopted at birth. And until his untimely death last week, as far as almost anyone in the world knew, Steve Jobs was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Jobs -- father Paul and mother Clara.
In fact, as far as Steve Jobs himself was concerned, his only parents were Paul and Clara Jobs. As The New York Times reported nearly 15 years ago ("Creating Jobs," January 12, 1997), "Jobs holds a firm belief that Paul and Clara Jobs were his true parents. A mention of his 'adoptive parents' is quickly cut off. 'They were my parents,' he says emphatically."
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Obama's Economic Burden 10.7.11
Author: Steve Chapman
Sat, Oct 8, 2011
Candidates for president generally blare recorded rock or country hits before their campaign rallies. At President Obama's appearances, expect a different form of music: whistling in the dark.
Amid grim economic news, Democrats contemplating his re-election bid find two reasons for hope. One is the multitude of weaknesses among the Republican presidential candidates, who might not be able to sell beer on a troop ship.
The other is that bad economic conditions need not be fatal -- as demonstrated by Ronald Reagan, who presided over a serious recession in his first term only to win 49 out of 50 states in 1984. With more than a year to go, the economy has plenty of time to rebound, lifting Obama to victory.
There are only two flaws in this logic. The first is that Obama's economy makes Reagan's look like the end of the rainbow. The second is that it shows no signs of getting appreciably better.
At first glance, Obama's plight may not look so terrible. The unemployment rate in September was 9.1 percent, compared to 9.2 percent in September 1983. But those figures are snapshots that conceal the overall direction of the economy. At this point, Reagan's economy was roaring back to life. Obama's is curled up in the fetal position, whimpering.
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Obama Team Split on How To Rally Unruly Coalition 10.7.11
Author: Michael Barone
Sat, Oct 8, 2011
President Barack Obama obviously is scrambling in his attempt to win re-election. He has proclaimed himself the underdog and has given up his pretense of being a pragmatic centrist compromiser in favor of harsh class warfare rhetoric.
But it's worth taking note of what he has squandered. In 2008, Obama won 53 percent of the popular vote. That may not sound like a landslide, but it's more than any other Democratic presidential nominee in history except Andrew Jackson, Franklin Roosevelt and Lyndon Johnson.
Higher than Woodrow Wilson and Grover Cleveland, higher than Harry Truman and John Kennedy, higher than Jimmy Carter and (but don't bring up the subject with him) Bill Clinton.
Why have so few Democratic nominees won 53 percent or more, as 10 different Republican nominees have? The historical reason is that the Democratic Party has been an unruly coalition of disparate groups -- big-city Catholics and Southern whites for the century after the Civil War -- which usually has been hard to hold together.
Obama's 2008 coalition included two-thirds of young voters and Latinos, majorities of those earning more than $200,000 and those earning less than $50,000, non-college whites in the upper Midwest, and 95 percent of blacks nationwide. Some obvious tensions there.
Now his strategists feel obliged to pick which groups he'll concentrate on to get back up to 50 percent. What's interesting is that his demographic strategists and his issue strategists seem to be eyeing different groups.
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Obama's Behavior Is Getting Worse 10.6.11
Author: David Limbaugh
Fri, Oct 7, 2011
Obama's Thursday news conference was a sober reminder of the nature of the man in the Oval Office. I infer that even many of his supporters in the liberal media are finally catching on to the magnitude of his personality disorders.
How could a man in his important position continue to act so childishly, accepting no responsibility for his policies and behavior and demonizing everyone who dares to disagree with or oppose him? It's worse than embarrassing; it's unsettling.
From the conference we are reminded that Obama believes that:
--Only "big and bold" intervention by the government can get an economy moving; so long as he cites a few "expert economists" who agree with him, there can be no other legitimate opinion.
--Anyone who disagrees with or opposes him is engaging in partisan politics rather than acting in good faith, on principle and in the best interests of the country. Republicans have blocked him for partisan reasons for not just the past six months, but the past 2 1/2 years. He has "gone out of (his) way in every instance to find common ground" with Republicans. You know, as with "I won, John" and "I don't want the folks who created the mess to do a lot of talkin'" and "stay in the back seat."
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The Miracle of iCapitalism 10.6.11
Author: Michelle Malkin
Fri, Oct 7, 2011
Here is your high-resolution teachable moment of the week: anti-capitalist, anti-corporate extremists of "Occupy Wall Street" mourning Apple Inc. founder Steve Jobs without a trace of irony.
While the Kamp Alinsky Kids ditch school to moan about their massive student debt, parade around in zombie costumes and whine about evil corporations over poached Wi-Fi connections, it's the doers and producers and wealth creators like Jobs who change the world. They are the gifted 1 percent whom the "99 percenters" mob seeks to demonize, marginalize and tax out of existence.
Inherent in the American success story of the iMac/iPhone/iPad is a powerful lesson about the fundamentals of capitalism. The "Occupiers" chant "people over profit." They call for "caring" over "corporations."
But the pursuit of profits empowers people beyond the bounds of imagination.
I blog on an iMac. When I travel, I bring my MacBook Pro. I Tweet news links from my iPhone. My kids are learning Photoshop and GarageBand on our Macs; they use metronome, dictation, video and camera apps daily. I use the technology for business, pleasure, social networking, raising awareness of the missing, finding recipes and even tuning a ukulele.
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Obama Drags Feet to Avoid Offending Political Pals 10.5.11
Author: Michael Barone
Thu, Oct 6, 2011
Leadership, said New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie in his press conference Tuesday announcing he would not reverse his decision not to run for president, is something you can't be taught or learn. "Leadership today in America has to be about doing the big things and being courageous."
No one doubts that Christie has shown this kind of leadership in New Jersey. Call him bombastic, call him confrontational, but don't call him wobbly. He leads, and even with a Democratic-majority legislature, the state is moving in his direction.
Things are different on the national level. On the day before Christie spoke in Trenton, the Obama White House officially delivered the Free Trade Agreements with South Korea, Colombia and Panama to Congress for approval. That was the 986th day that Barack Obama has been president.
He could have sent them 985 days earlier; negotiations were completed in 2006 and 2007. Or, if he were concerned they'd be deep-sixed when his fellow Democrats controlled Congress, he could have sent them 274 days earlier when Republicans took over the House.
To be sure, they are opposed by many labor union leaders and congressional Democrats. There is a nostalgia among many union and party old-timers for the days, more than 30 years distant, when the auto and steel workers' unions had nearly 2 million members.
Now each has less than half a million. But the old-timers seem to feel that somehow something like those olden days can be brought back if they oppose FTAs.
Any responsible president has to take a different view. The free trade agreements in question dismantle mostly barriers to U.S. exporters. Barriers to imports into the U.S. are either already low or nonexistent.
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Obama Scolds Nation: You've Gotten Soft 10.5.11
Author: Larry Elder
Thu, Oct 6, 2011
"The way I think about it is, you know, this is, uh, you know, a great, uh, great country that had gotten a little soft, and you know, we didn't have that same competitive edge that we needed over the last, uh, couple of decades. We need to get back on track." -- President Barack Obama.
The gall is breathtaking, even from a man who as a presidential candidate said, "We are the ones we've been waiting for."
This from a President who, in chastising the rich, said, "I do think at a certain point you've made enough money."
This from a man who, during the brief time he actually worked in the private sector, represented a black woman who accused a bank of redlining her out of a loan. The proximate cause of the housing bubble and meltdown is the notion that the "underrepresented" deserve a home, whether or not they qualified under traditional lending criteria.
This from a man who told a Toledo plumber that government should "spread the wealth around" by taxing "the rich" and giving the money to others, because "it's good for everybody."
This from a man who blasts any suggestion that young people just might be capable of investing a portion of their Social Security contribution into an account that they manage. Former Congresswoman and vice presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro, in opposing the idea, fretted for those who lack "the knowledge and the wherewithal" to handle the responsibility.
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Runaway Missiles 10.4.11
Author: Jacob Sullum
Wed, Oct 5, 2011
After FBI agents took custody of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Nigerian charged with trying to blow up a Northwest Airlines flight on Dec. 25, 2009, they told him he had the right to remain silent. For Anwar al-Awlaki, the American-born cleric who allegedly helped plan Abdulmutallab's mission, that right was more like an obligation, enforced by Hellfire missiles fired at his car from remotely controlled CIA aircraft in northern Yemen last week.
President Obama's policy regarding people linked to terrorism is clear: They are to be treated like criminal defendants with constitutional rights, except when they are treated like enemy soldiers in the heat of battle, subject to summary execution from a distance. Although this flexibility has obvious advantages in waging the never-ending war on terrorism, it threatens to transform the elected executive of a republic into a dictator with the power of life and death over his subjects.
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Republican Party Benefits From Obama Errors 10.4.11
Author: Dick Morris
Wed, Oct 5, 2011
The conventional wisdom holds that the parties in Congress are not locked in a zero sum game where the loss of one triggers the gain of the other. Instead, it appears that the parties are embracing one another in a downward death spiral, losing public favor with each passing month as their bickering continues. But Gallup reports that outside of the beltway, there is a decided national shift in favor of the Republican Party and against the Democrats.
While both parties have negative images, each showing unfavorable candidates in their mid-50s, there has been a decided shift in voter opinions on which party will do the best job of fixing the economy and of focusing on our major problems.
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Macaca Media: Squeezing Blood from Stone 10.4.11
Author: Michelle Malkin
Wed, Oct 5, 2011
The Washington Post's stoning of Texas GOP Gov. Rick Perry is journalistic malpractice. Instead of calling the newspaper to task, other national media outlets have joined in. And now, the Post is doubling down on slander.
The Post dispatched reporters to the remote hunting grounds of a Perry-linked ranch -- "associated" with Perry through "his father, partners or his signature on a lease" -- because it once had a rock on it somewhere that had the word "Niggerhead" painted on it. The term is an embarrassing vestige of past racism not just in Texas but on geographical landmarks across the country.
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Good GOP Flip-Flops 10.4.11
Author: Tony Blankley
Wed, Oct 5, 2011
William F. Buckley, Jr., founding father of the modern conservative movement, famously asserted his doctrine of voting for the most conservative candidate who is electable.
Let me presume to add an analytic codicil: The GOP and the conservative movement have tended to support the most conservative policies only when they are understood to be conservative and are plausibly supportable by the conservative half of the electorate.
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Occupy Wall Street: A Manifesto 10.4.11
Author: David Harsanyi
Wed, Oct 5, 2011
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men, women and transgendered -- and any other human who is able to elude the tyranny of work for a couple of weeks -- are created equal. We gather to be free not of tyranny, but of responsibility and college tuitions. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that a government long established and a nation long prosperous be changed for light and transient causes. So let our demands* be submitted to a candid world.
First, we are imbued with as many inalienable rights as a few thousand college kids and a gaggle of borderline celebrities can concoct, among them a guaranteed living wage income regardless of employment and immediate across-the-board debt forgiveness -- even if that debt was acquired taking on a mortgage with a 4.1 percent interest rate and no money down, which, we admit, is a pretty sweet deal in historical context...
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Social Security Disaster 10.3.11
Author: Walter Williams
Tue, Oct 4, 2011
Politicians who are principled enough to point out the fraud of Social Security, referring to it as a lie and Ponzi scheme, are under siege. Acknowledgment of Social Security's problems is not the same as calling for the abandonment of its recipients. Instead, it's a call to take actions now, while there's time to avert a disaster. Let's look at it.
The term was derived from the scheme created during the 1920s by Charles Ponzi, a poor but enterprising Italian immigrant. Here's how it works. You persuade some people to give you their money to invest. After a while, you pay them a nice return, but the return doesn't come from investments. What you pay them with comes from the money of other people whom you've persuaded to "invest" in your scheme. The scheme works so long as you can persuade greater and greater numbers of people to "invest" so that you can pay off earlier "investors." After a while, Ponzi couldn't find enough new investors, and his scheme collapsed. He was convicted of fraud and sent to prison.
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'Stop Whining'? 10.3.11
Author: Thomas Sowell
Tue, Oct 4, 2011
If there was ever any doubt that the Democrats take the black vote for granted, that doubt should have been put to rest when Barack Obama told the Congressional Black Caucus, "Stop whining!"
Have you ever before heard either a Democratic or a Republican leader tell his party's strongest supporters, "Stop whining"?
Blacks have a lot to complain about, not just about this Democratic administration but about many other Democratic administrations, national and local, over the years.
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Petty, Radical Obama Blasts GOP for Smallness and Extremism 10.3.11
Author: David Limbaugh
Tue, Oct 4, 2011
It's clear that Obama's re-election strategy is to demonize conservatives and his Republican opponents as extremists, "small," intolerant and morally deficient. That's a safer course, I suppose, than running on his miserable record.
Playing to his gay and lesbian audience, Obama took out his broad brush and smeared all the GOP presidential candidates in a speech at the Human Rights Campaign's annual dinner, saying the Republican contenders are "small" for "being silent when an American soldier is booed."
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Stopping Obama's 'Pay Their Fair Share' Shenanigans 10.3.11
Author: Chuck Norris
Tue, Oct 4, 2011
The White House's buzz words for the propaganda campaign to raise taxes on the wealthiest Americans and corporations are "pay their fair share." But is President Barack Obama's pitch reflecting honest economic inequity or more dishonest spin from his bag of duck-'n'-weave political manipulations?
This year alone, nearly every member and minion of this administration (including the mainstream media) has regurgitated "pay their fair share" like cows chewing cud. They have done so to prompt Americans to feel that the wealthy are getting a free ride regarding taxation while lower- and middle-class folks pay their societal ticket.
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Obama: Liberal Demagogue 10.3.11
Author: Mona Charen
Tue, Oct 4, 2011
President Obama is excessively fond of defining "who we are as a nation," which is interesting coming from someone whose campaign was based on bringing sweeping and profound changes to the country. He has resorted to this formulation when urging government-controlled, universal health care. He has used it to explain his (reasonable) decision not to release photos of the dead bin Laden. He used it when supposedly rebutting the argument that we should "tear apart families" by deporting 12 million illegal aliens (a straw man since no leading American has proposed such a thing). He has invoked "who we are as a nation" to justify vast new stimulus spending and higher taxes on the rich. It's pretty well guaranteed that when this president invokes WWAAAN he has once again mounted his high horse, chin tilted up.
Speaking at the Human Rights Campaign meeting, the president was at it again, defining the upcoming election as a "fundamental debate about who we are as a nation."
Apparently, there are forces loose in the land who want "a small America, where we let our roads crumble, we let our schools fall apart, where we stand by while teachers are laid off and science labs are shut down, and kids are dropping out."
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Thirteen Obstacles to Becoming a Better Person 10.3.11
Author: Dennis Prager
Tue, Oct 4, 2011
This week, for the fourth consecutive year, I am conducting Jewish High Holiday services. Though not a rabbi, I spent 12 years studying in yeshivas and 35 years teaching and writing on Judaism. The following is a summary of the Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year) sermon that I gave this past Wednesday night.
The purpose of the High Holidays (Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur) is moral introspection: What kind of person am I, and what kind of person can I become? So, every year, Jews meditate on the issue of becoming a better person.
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Solar Energy School Propaganda 101 9.29.11
Author: Michelle Malkin
Fri, Sep 30, 2011
The Obama administration's crony green subsidy scandal is erupting like a solar flare in Washington. But do you know what your kids are learning in their environmental education classes about this red-hot taxpayer eco-scam? Chances are: not much.
Instead, the U.S. Department of Energy and the Democratic apparatchiks at the National Education Association are disseminating solar power propaganda masquerading as math and science curricula.
Titled "Solar Power and Me: The Inherent Advantages," the lesson plan for middle-school and high-school students directs them to "take note of how solar energy is incorporated into the infrastructure of various cities nationwide and write a short essay about how they would encourage solar energy use in their own town."
A worksheet labeled "All About Solar!" makes the blanket assertion that solar technologies are "a sound economical choice as they can reduce or eliminate exposure to rising electricity rates, or even eliminate one's need to pay an electrical bill! In addition, solar panels can be a smart long-term investment, with many solar vendors offering 20-30 year warranties on their products."
The only warranties worth anything from bankrupt, half-billion-dollar solar company Solyndra Inc. are the warranties on the Disney whistling robots and saunas that adorned its Taj Mahal headquarters. But I digress.
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Who Owns History? 9.29.11
Author: Mona Charen
Fri, Sep 30, 2011
The Southern Poverty Law Center is appalled by the results of a new study finding that states are not teaching the history of the civil rights era. The SPLC, which commissioned the study of state curricula, concludes that students in at least 35 states are missing out on important facts about our history. And even in states that include units on civil rights, "their civil rights education boils down to two people and four words: Rosa Parks, Dr. King and 'I have a dream.'"
On one hand, you want to welcome disgruntled liberals to the club of those worried about historical amnesia among the young. We conservatives have been worrying about it for decades. On the other hand, it's tough to believe that American students are being cheated of knowledge about civil rights, compared with say, knowledge about World War II, or the progressive movement or the nullification crisis. One of my sons, who has been educated in public schools most of his life, offered that in his experience, American history is taught as "the Revolution, the internment of the Japanese during World War II and the civil rights movement."
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Mitch Daniels Dares GOP Candidates to Be Grown-ups 9.28.11
Author: Michael Barone
Wed, Sep 28, 2011
Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels did not attract as large a crowd when he spoke at American Enterprise Institute (where I am a resident fellow) earlier this week as he did when several months ago, before he disappointed admirers by announcing that he wouldn't run for president.
I saw no political reporters there -- though a few may have been lurking in the back -- and he got only one question (from me) about presidential politics. No, he said, he isn't reconsidering his decision not to run, and doesn't think that Chris Christie is, either.
But Daniels' message, based on his new book "Keeping the Republic," was important -- one that every presidential candidate should heed -- because it was about a looming issue that Barack Obama has so far decided to duck but that one of them, if he is elected, may have to confront.
We face, Daniels said, "a survival-level threat to the America we have known." The problem can be summed up as debt. The Obama Democrats have put us on the path to double the national debt as a percentage of gross domestic product, bringing it to levels that, as economists Kenneth Rogoff and Carmen Reinhart have written in "This Time Is Different," have always proved unsustainable.
Daniels put it this way. Debt service will permanently stunt the growth of the economy. And that will be followed by a loss of leadership in the world, because "nobody follows a pauper."
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Supreme Court Might Kill ObamaCare Before Election -- If Obama's Lucky 9.28.11
Author: Larry Elder
Wed, Sep 28, 2011
Why did the Obama administration, after dragging out the various court challenges to ObamaCare, suddenly step on the gas?
The administration surprised court watchers by passing up a chance to slow down ObamaCare's long march to an eventual Supreme Court ruling. In failing to request a hearing by all the appeals court judges of the 11th Circuit -- to overturn an anti-ObamaCare decision by three of its members -- the administration now puts the matter on a faster track to the Supreme Court.
The court will likely agree to hear the case because two appellate circuit courts, the 11th and 6th, have issued contradictory rulings -- one striking down the individual mandate as unconstitutional, and the other upholding it. This confusion practically guarantees a hearing by the top court, probably months before next year's election.
What provoked the administration's change of heart?
Obama supposedly did not want a Supreme Court decision so soon because, pro or con, the ruling figures to play large as a re-election issue.
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President's Foreign Policy Failures Increase 9.27.11
Author: Tony Blankley
Tue, Sep 27, 2011
President Obama, like most American presidents, is lucky that the public pays little attention to foreign policy and rarely casts its votes on the basis of presidential foreign-policy performance. It required something as dramatic as the November 1979 Iranian seizing of our diplomats as hostages, followed the next month by the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan to turn Jimmy Carter's foreign policy mess into a major negative issue for him in his failed 1980 re-election bid.
A political danger for presidents is that precisely because the public pays little attention to foreign policy until a explosion occurs (usually metaphoric), the White House does not get public pressure to improve the situation as it does with, say, a failing domestic economy. As the economy gets worse and worse, the public complains more and more, and the White House is on political alert to try to do something about it, usually. However, the political danger of a foreign-policy failure tends to just fall out of the politically clear blue sky on an inattentive White House.
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Our White House Bully Problem 9.27.11
Author: Michelle Malkin
Tue, Sep 27, 2011
Spin, baby, spin. Throughout his frenetic jobs tour across the West this week, President Obama tried to seize the narrative. Republicans, he told champagne-sipping, tea party-trashing Hollywood moguls and tech titans, are intolerant bigots, know-nothings and thugs. They've made his hair "grayer" and left him "all dinged up."
But who's battering whom? Since Day One, Obama has been the Chicago bully in victim's clothing. The mask is wearing thin.
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Illinois Eavesdropping Act Shields Public Officials From Public Scrutiny 9.27.11
Author: Jacob Sullum
Tue, Sep 27, 2011
On Jan. 13, 2009, Michael Allison brought a digital recorder to the Crawford County Courthouse in Robinson, Ill., where he was contesting a citation, because he had been told there would be no official transcript of the proceedings. He was immediately confronted by Judge Kimbara Harrell, who accused him of violating her privacy and charged him with eavesdropping, a felony punishable by up to 15 years in prison.
Because Allison had recorded conversations about his legal situation with police and other local officials, he soon faced four more eavesdropping charges, raising his possible sentence to 75 years. The case against Allison vividly shows how the Illinois Eavesdropping Act, the target of a constitutional challenge that was recently heard by a federal appeals court, undermines transparency, civil liberties and legal equality.
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Blacks Leave Obama 9.27.11
Author: Dick Morris
Tue, Sep 27, 2011
Behind the president's whining to the Black Caucus, begging them to "quit grumbling," is a decline in his personal popularity among African-American voters that could portend catastrophe for his fading re-election chances.
According to a Washington Post- ABC News survey, his favorability rating among African-Americans has dropped off a cliff plunging from 83 percent five months ago, to a mere 58 percent today -- a drop of 25 points, a bit more than a point per week!
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GOP Field a Gift for Obama 9.27.11
Author: David Harsanyi
Tue, Sep 27, 2011
Don't for a second believe that a politician is destined to lose re-election simply because he has been an unmitigated disaster. That would be unfair to your senator or your congressman, and it certainly wouldn't be fair to countless two-term presidents. Any elected official can overcome self-induced failure with a little help.
And it doesn't hurt to pray: "Dear Lord, may the contemptible swine on the other side nominate someone even less palatable than I."
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The Financial Mess in the US and Europe 9.26.11
Author: Walter Williams
Tue, Sep 27, 2011
What's the common thread between Europe's financial mess, particularly among the PIIGS (Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece and Spain), and the financial mess in the U.S.? That question could be more easily answered if we asked instead: What's necessary to cure the financial mess in Europe and the U.S.? If European governments and the U.S. Congress ceased the practice of giving people what they have not earned, budgets would be more than balanced. For government to guarantee a person a right to goods and services he has not earned, it must diminish someone else's right to what he has earned, simply because governments have no resources of their very own.
The first order of business in reaching a solution to the financial mess in Europe and the U.S. must be the recognition that governments have been doing a class of unsustainable things, mostly giving people special privileges and things that they have not earned. It's a matter of not simply what's good or bad for the beneficiaries but what its effect is on society at large and the welfare of a nation.
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The US, the UN and Genetic Engineering 9.26.11
Author: Chuck Norris
Tue, Sep 27, 2011
Would you know if you were eating genetically engineered foods?
The Chicago Tribune recently reported that with no labeling on such foods, many people don't realize that they are doing just that. Genetically modified crops constitute 93 percent of soy, 86 percent of corn and 93 percent of canola seeds planted in the U.S. and are used in about 70 percent of American processed food.
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Superman vs. Warm Body 9.26.11
Author: Thomas Sowell
Tue, Sep 27, 2011
One of the problems in trying to select a leader for any large organization or institution is the tendency to start out looking for Superman, passing up many good people who fail to meet that standard, and eventually ending up settling for a warm body.
Some Republicans seem to be longing for another Ronald Reagan. Good luck on that one, unless you are prepared to wait for several generations. Moreover, even Ronald Reagan himself did not always act like Ronald Reagan.
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Obama's Rehabilitation Tour, or 'I Promise I'm a Leftist' 9.26.11
Author: David Limbaugh
Tue, Sep 27, 2011
Poor President Obama. His leftist backers have momentarily fallen out of love with him for not destroying the country fast enough. Obama must ask himself, "What would Hugo Chavez do?"
Obama decided to embark on a personal rehabilitation tour. He first stopped by the annual awards dinner of the Congressional Black Caucus and told blacks to "stop complainin'. Stop grumblin'. Stop cryin'." Don't they realize that it's the Republicans' fault that black unemployment is nearly double the national average, at 16.7 percent? "So many people in (Washington) are fighting us every step of the way."
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'Racists' for Cain 9.26.11
Author: Mona Charen
Tue, Sep 27, 2011
Do not suppose for a minute that Herman Cain's victory in the Florida straw poll will alter the liberal narrative about the Tea Party and Republicans. No, we will continue to be instructed by the Congressional Black Caucus, the Today Show and The New York Times that the eruption of the Tea Parties is a reflection of the dark id of American conservatism; that it is primarily racist and xenophobic; and that the Tea Party movement is radical and extremist.
Waving the "bloody shirt" of racism has been the most reliable workhorse of Democratic politics for at least a generation. Remember the wall-to-wall coverage of the "epidemic" of black church fires in the 1990s? Remember George W. Bush's "insensitivity" regarding the ghastly lynching of James Byrd? The epidemic turned out to be imaginary and Bush was happy to sign the death warrant for one of Byrd's murderers, but the tactic is too precious for Democrats to abandon.
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The Palestinians Want Peace -- Just Not With a Jewish State 9.26.11
Author: Dennis Prager
Tue, Sep 27, 2011
About five years ago, I was invited by the Hoover Institution to lecture at Stanford University over the course of a week. Coincidentally, Israel's Independence Day fell during that week, so I was invited to speak at the celebration held by pro-Israel students. In my talk, I noted that the crux of the problem in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict was that most Palestinians wanted Israel to cease to exist.
After my talk, a woman walked over to me and introduced herself as a peace activist. She told me that she could not agree with me because Palestinians, in her view, were quite willing to accept Israel's existence.
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Still Looking for a Candidate to Replace Obama 9.23.11
Author: Michael Barone
Sun, Sep 25, 2011
The Republicans' presidential debate Thursday night sponsored by Fox News and Google gave primary voters and caucus-goers at least one good reason to reject every candidate on the stage. The interesting question now is whether someone else will enter the race -- at just about the same point in the election cycle in which Bill Clinton entered the Democratic race in 1991.
The spotlight was hottest on Rick Perry, the frontrunner in national polls since he announced his candidacy in Charleston, S.C., on Aug. 13, the same day that Michele Bachmann won the straw poll in Ames, Iowa.
Perry's problem was not just that he punted on the tough question of how to respond to a terrorist takeover of nuclear-armed Pakistan. Even the smooth-talking Mitt Romney might have had trouble with that nightmare scenario. And Perry was right to cite our informal alliance with India as a source of leverage.
The problem was that Perry was couldn't respond cogently to utterly predictable questions and was unable to articulate his pre-scripted criticisms of Romney. A case can certainly be made that Romney has flip-flopped on issues. But Perry failed to make it.
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Bam's Government Loans to Nowhere Bill 9.23.11
Author: Michelle Malkin
Fri, Sep 23, 2011
President Obama still hasn't learned the classic First Rule of Holes: When you're in one, stop digging. Up to his earlobes in failed stimulus grants and tainted federal loan guarantees, the shoveler in chief tunneled forward this week on his latest Government Loans to Nowhere bill. His willful ignorance is America's abyss.
Little noticed in the White House jobs-for-cronies proposal is a provision creating yet another corruption-friendly "government corporation" that would dole out public infrastructure loans and loan guarantees.
Because, you know, the government-chartered, political hack-stacked Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac "public-private partnerships" -- which have incurred an estimated $400 billion in losses while enriching bipartisan Beltway operatives -- worked out so well for American taxpayers.
The new monstrosity, dubbed the "American Infrastructure Financing Authority" (AIFA), would "provide direct loans and loan guarantees to facilitate investment in economically viable infrastructure projects of regional or national significance," according to the White House plan.
President Obama would have the power to appoint AIFA's chief executive officer and a seven-member board of directors. No doubt the nominees would include the likes of AFL-CIO Chief Richard Trumka on the left and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce on the right -- strange Obama bedfellows who have formed a Big Labor-Big Business-Big Government alliance supporting Obama's infrastructure slush fund.
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Don't be Too Sure Ohio Leans Democrat 9.23.11
Author: Mona Charen
Fri, Sep 23, 2011
When New York's District 9 went Republican, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, explained that the district, which has been in Democratic hands since 1923, is "a very difficult district for Democrats." By that standard, the entire nation may go Republican in 2012.
Democrats hold a 3-seat majority in the U.S. Senate. But two-thirds of the contested 2012 seats are in Democratic hands. Having to defend so many seats would be challenging at any time (funds have to be spread more thinly), but with a president whose approval ratings are sinking steadily, the prospects for continued Democratic dominance look even worse. Most prognosticators put North Dakota in the likely Republican pick-up column, while Florida, Michigan, New Mexico, Massachusetts, Nebraska, Missouri, Virginia, West Virginia and Nevada are considered toss-ups. Ohio, where first-term Senator Sherrod Brown is seeking reelection, is considered a "lean Democrat" race. We'll see.
Brown has won one contest already: the race to the left. When the National Journal rated U.S. senators, Brown was ranked as "most liberal," beating out even avowed Socialist Bernie Sanders for the honor. Brown supported Obamacare, for example, but only reluctantly because he favored a single-payer, Canadian model.
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Obama's Hope and Change Promise Reconsidered 9.23.11
Author: David Limbaugh
Fri, Sep 23, 2011
When Obama promised "hope and change" as a candidate, I think he had in mind a new paradigm, one of restructuring America's economic system in his image rather than triggering economic growth, though he wanted the electorate to believe that growth was his focus.
The economy had turned south by the time Obama was trumpeting that platitude, but that was largely caused by liberal affordable housing policies -- the very type of program Obama would promote in office.
The dismal state of the economy played into Obama's hands, but I dare say he would have pushed for hope and change regardless of economic conditions, because he was offering more than economic solutions. He presented himself as the whole package -- a quasi-deity who would transform the entire country, slow the rise of the oceans and heal the planet.
With a backdrop of spiritually bankrupt people who were ripe for the lie that government could fill that god-shaped void in their beings, Obama strategically milked his messianic mirage. He constructed Greek columns, produced ethereal voice echo effects and adopted a conspicuous head-lift affectation to build a cultlike following that even ensnared a number of frighteningly credulous self-styled conservatives, such as New York Times columnist David Brooks.
How has Obama done if we measure his promise of hope and change in purely economic terms? Well, despite his tired efforts to scapegoat former President George W. Bush and the global markets, this is his economy, and it is demonstrably worse in every imaginable category. He has given us change, but it is destructive change. He has given us hope, but it is hope that the nightmare he has engineered will soon be over.
But what if, instead, we gauge Obama's promise in broader terms? It's more apparent every day that he was not talking about improving the economic misery index when he promised hope and change -- though he certainly exploited the recession that serendipitously coincided with his campaign to imply that he was.
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What 'Developing' Countries Can Teach the U.S. 9.22.11
Author: Michael Barone
Thu, Sep 22, 2011
As Barack Obama huffs and puffs about his tax plan, which is unlikely to pass in the Democratic-majority Senate much less the Republican-controlled House, Robert Zoellick, president of the World Bank, has provided a much broader view of where the United States stands amid great changes in the world and some useful guidance on what direction public policy ought to take.
Zoellick spoke at George Washington University on Sept. 14, midway between Obama's Sept. 8 speech to a joint session of Congress calling for a second stimulus package and his Sept. 19 speech in the Rose Garden laying out the tax increases that he evidently believes will, somehow, lead to the creation of jobs.
Zoellick devoted some of his speech to World Bank business -- his "Beyond Aid" proposals to stimulate Third World development through private-sector involvement and his call for programs to address the needs of women.
But he also provided a much broader perspective than most officials do, starting with a comparison of where things stood when the foundations of the World Bank were laid at the Bretton Woods Conference in 1944 and where we are today.
Back then, developed countries accounted for 80 percent of the world's gross domestic product and the United States for nearly 50 percent. Much of the world was in ruins, starvation was rampant, disease afflicted millions of children.
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Obama's Economy -- Running Out of Excuses 9.22.11
Author: Larry Elder
Thu, Sep 22, 2011
Two and a half years into the Obama presidency, why does the economy still sputter?
The first and most popular line of defense, of course, remains to blame it on the George W. Bush administration.
Pundits like CNN's Fareed Zakaria falsely attribute the current $1.5 trillion deficit to the "Bush tax cuts," while Obama puts the "cost" at $70 billion a year. MSNBC's Ed Schultz asserts that "98 percent of you" were not affected by the cuts, an odd argument considering that Obama supports extending the Bush-era rates for the very 98 percent that Schultz claims received no benefit.
Others blame the "costly" wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. But the average annual cost of the wars -- as well as the "cost" of the Bush tax cuts for the rich -- come to no more than 20 percent or so of the deficit.
When considering the "cost" of the Iraq War, critics never compare it to the "cost" of another 9/11 or worse. The New York Times recently tried to put a price on 9/11 and our response: "In a survey of estimates by The New York Times, the answer is $3.3 trillion, or about $7 million for every dollar al-Qaida spent planning and executing the attacks. While not all of the costs have been borne by the government -- and some are still to come -- this total equals one-fifth of the current national debt."
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The Wrong Way To Help the Unemployed 9.22.11
Author: Steve Chapman
Thu, Sep 22, 2011
In his dogged quest to boost employment, President Barack Obama has searched far and wide for new solutions. One provision in his American Jobs Act may very well have a positive impact on hiring. Just not in America.
The section consists of a ban on discrimination against the unemployed. Some companies have posted ads that say those who are out of work need not apply. It sounds like a cruel joke: You don't need a job if you have a job, but unless you have one, you can't get one.
But the real joke is thinking that the way to get companies excited about hiring is making them walk through a minefield to do it. Or that employers who shy away from the unemployed are irrational or evil. Or that the policy of a few companies has much to do with the plight of the jobless.
This proposal may be interpreted as one more sign that Democrats know little about the realities of running a business. Could be, but they aren't alone. New Jersey actually passed a ban that mandates fines of up to $10,000 for refusing the unemployed, and it was signed by Republican Gov. Chris Christie, a conservative darling.
The White House argues, "The exclusion of unemployed applicants is a troubling and arbitrary screen that is bad for the economy, bad for the unemployed, and ultimately bad for firms trying to find the best candidates."
Trust Obama and his aides to think they know better than employers how to find the best employees. If the policy is self-destructive, firms that practice it will pay a price for their stupidity: the loss of good workers.
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Romney Closes in on Perry 9.20.11
Author: Dick Morris
Wed, Sep 21, 2011
After his bludgeoning in the Monday, Sept. 12 GOP debate, Texas Gov. Rick Perry has lost more than half of his lead over former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.
In the CNN/Opinion Research and Public Policy Polling surveys taken right before the debate, Perry boasted an average lead of 12.5 points. (CNN had it 30-18 while PPP reported 31-18.) But in the three surveys whose field dates included interviews that post dated the debate, Perry's average margin closed to only 5.3 points (USA Today/Gallup 31-24, CBS News/New York Times 23-16, Bloomberg 26-22).
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The Broken Planet Fallacy 9.20.11
Author: Jacob Sullum
Wed, Sep 21, 2011
When Solyndra went belly up last month, less than a year after it started making solar arrays in Fremont, Calif., an Energy Department spokesman insisted that the $535 million the federal government had loaned the company was well spent. "The project that we supported succeeded," he said. "The facility was producing the product it said it would produce."
That rather short-sighted definition of success exemplifies the loopy logic of President Obama's "green jobs" agenda, which justifies subsidies based on good intentions and employment opportunities rather than profitability or cost-effectiveness. This policy is rooted in the broken planet fallacy, which treats global warming not as an environmental threat to be handled as expeditiously as possible but as an economic opportunity to be milked for all the jobs it can provide.
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Double-Dip Learning Curve 9.20.11
Author: Tony Blankley
Wed, Sep 21, 2011
In one of the least needed reassurances in modern political history, President Obama's top political man David Plouffe, "told Democrats late last week that the White House would not suffer from overconfidence. 'What I don't want to suggest is that we're sitting around and thinking everything is great,' he said."
With the White House's own economists predicting 9 percent or worse unemployment on Election Day, the president at about 39 percent job approval, college grads unable to find jobs, a quarter of American homes under water, no credible White House policy or strategy for changing things -- and with most non-institutionalized Americans convinced we are in a recession that is going to get much worse -- it is surpassing odd that Plouffe was worried that his fellow Democrats might think the president and his men believed everything to be hunky-dory.
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LightSquared: Obama's Dangerous Broadband Boondoggle 9.20.11
Author: Michelle Malkin
Wed, Sep 21, 2011
If you thought the half-billion-dollar, stimulus-funded Solyndra solar company bust was a taxpayer nightmare, just wait. If you thought the botched Fast and Furious border gun-smuggling surveillance operation was a national security nightmare, hold on. Right on the heels of those two blood-boilers comes yet another alleged pay-for-play racket from the most ethical administration ever.
Welcome to LightSquared. It's a toxic mix of venture socialism (to borrow GOP Sen. Jim DeMint's apt phrase), campaign finance influence-peddling and perilous corner-cutting all rolled into one.
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Let's Eat the Rich 9.20.11
Author: David Harsanyi
Wed, Sep 21, 2011
Some wiseguys at the Economic Freedom Network just released a survey alleging that the United States has fallen from the sixth-freest economy in the world to the 10th-freest. The survey is based on four foundations of a healthy capitalist society: "personal choice, voluntary exchange coordinated by markets, freedom to enter and compete in markets, and protection of persons and their property from aggression by others."
Or what progressives might call greed, racism, unfairness and immorality.
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How Stimulus Monies Are Radiating You 9.19.11
Author: Chuck Norris
Tue, Sep 20, 2011
Smart meters are being installed stealthily by water, gas and electric utility companies on houses and buildings across the country. Despite that, the majority of the public still doesn't know about their potential health risks.
From the moment smart meters began to be installed, a rash of serious health complaints in each community has followed -- to date, largely going unheeded by officials. These aren't hysteria or hype, but bona fide national health concerns about what is being emitted from smart meters and their cumulative effects on "electrosmog" in our homes. In short, electrosmog is pollution through electromagnetic energy. It is being produced by this vast post-Edison world, in which electromagnetic fields and flows have inundated the space around us.
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Gov. Perry's Right About Social Security 9.19.11
Author: Walter Williams
Tue, Sep 20, 2011
During the recent GOP presidential debate, Texas Gov. Rick Perry said that Social Security is a "monstrous lie" and a "Ponzi scheme." More and more people are coming to see that Social Security is a Ponzi scheme, but is it a lie, as well? Let's look at it.
Here's what the 1936 government pamphlet on Social Security said: "After the first 3 years -- that is to say, beginning in 1940 -- you will pay, and your employer will pay, 1.5 cents for each dollar you earn, up to $3,000 a year. ... Beginning in 1943, you will pay 2 cents, and so will your employer, for every dollar you earn for the next 3 years. ... And finally, beginning in 1949, twelve years from now, you and your employer will each pay 3 cents on each dollar you earn, up to $3,000 a year." Here's Congress' lying promise: "That is the most you will ever pay."
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I'm for The Rich 9.19.11
Author: Mona Charen
Tue, Sep 20, 2011
President Obama and the Democrats are finally happy. Liberated from thoughts of compromise with Republicans, they can fully indulge their most lascivious pleasure -- trashing rich people. "We simply cannot afford these special lower rates for the wealthy," President Obama declared in his Rose Garden message Monday.
"Give 'em hell, Barry," cheered Hendrik Hertzberg of The New Yorker. Hertzberg was chipper. Not so of Paul Krugman from The New York Times, the Democratic Party's choleric scold: "The rage of the rich has been building ever since Mr. Obama took office," he glowered. ". . .And among the undeniably rich, a belligerent sense of entitlement has taken hold: It's their money, and they have the right to keep it." Imagine.
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The 'Ponzi' Sound Bite 9.19.11
Author: Thomas Sowell
Tue, Sep 20, 2011
Many in the media and in politics have gone ballistic over the fact that Texas Governor Rick Perry called Social Security "a Ponzi scheme."
Although many act shocked, shocked, as if Rick Perry had said something unthinkable, Governor Perry is not even among the first thousand people to call Social Security a Ponzi scheme. Not only conservatives, but even some liberals, have been calling Social Security a Ponzi scheme for decades.
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Why Young Americans Can't Think Morally 9.19.11
Author: Dennis Prager
Tue, Sep 20, 2011
Last week, David Brooks of The New York Times wrote a column on an academic study concerning the nearly complete lack of a moral vocabulary among most American young people. Below are some excerpts from Brooks' summary of the study of Americans aged 18 to 23. (It was led by "the eminent Notre Dame sociologist Christian Smith.")
"Smith and company asked about the young people's moral lives, and the results are depressing
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The Lecturer in Chief Has Forfeited His Moral Authority 9.19.11
Author: David Limbaugh
Mon, Sep 19, 2011
As predictable and repetitive as Obama's economic speeches are, his capacity for audacity shows ever increasing signs of creativity. Do you suppose he has any ability to feel shame for what he's doing to this country and embarrassment for blaming everyone but himself?
His latest deficit plan involves further punishing millionaires and billionaires (which means all those making $200,000 or more), continuing to spend like there's no tomorrow (which there won't be if he continues doing it), phony unspecified reductions in waste, more stonewalling on real entitlement reform, and demonizing anyone who dares to get in his way. You'll be outraged if you look at the mammoth new administrative bureaucracy he wants to create in his latest stimulus monstrosity.
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AttackWatch.com Is the Administration's Latest Propaganda Arm 9.15.11
Author: David Limbaugh
Thu, Sep 15, 2011
President Obama's official re-election campaign has set up a website ostensibly to defend him against false attacks, but its obvious purpose is to smear Republicans and propagandize. What could be more shameless?
Jim Messina, Obama's re-election campaign manager, in a fundraising email announcing the website, said: "Forming the first line of defense against a barrage of misinformation won't be easy. Our success will depend on a team of researchers and writers to stay on the lookout for false claims about the President and his record, bring you the facts, and hold our opposition accountable."
Does any rational person believe these people anymore? They trade in lies and misinformation, and the only chance they have to re-elect Obama -- and it's still slim -- is to grossly distort Obama's record and fabricate fantasies about his opposition.
That's what this new website is all about. It's called "AttackWatch.com," but it should be called "AttackDog.com." It has already proved that in its first few days of existence. When I opened the website for the first time, I saw revolving pictures of Obama's currently front-running GOP rivals, Rick Perry and Mitt Romney, with the accompanying captions "Rick Perry's massive jobs lie" and "Romney's job chart shows flawed understanding of the facts." Glenn Beck's photo also rotates into view with the line "Glenn Beck twists the facts on Israel."
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Dinner With Ahmadinejad 9.15.11
Author: Mona Charen
Thu, Sep 15, 2011
The Columbia Spectator is the student newspaper at Columbia University, the school I was once proud to call my alma mater. A report in that newspaper raises the following question: Are leading American universities producing moral illiterates?
According to the Spectator, a group of students who are members of the Columbia International Relations Council and Association has been invited to attend a private dinner with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad when he travels to New York for the United Nations General Assembly meeting next week. A student spokesman for the group, when asked whether the invitation had provoked controversy within CIRCA, seemed surprised by the question. "Everyone was really enthusiastic," said Tim Chan. "They're thrilled to have this opportunity."
Ahmadinejad represents everything that campus liberals profess to hate. In order of importance, those things would be: 1) persecuting homosexuals; 2) cruel and abusive treatment of women; 3) brutal treatment of minorities; 4) shooting opponents of the regime in the streets; 5) restricting free speech; 6) building nuclear weapons; and 7) sponsoring terror worldwide. Tehran provides materiel and moral support for Bashar Assad's murderous regime in Syria, which has mowed down protesters by the thousands in the past few months. The Iranian regime is also guilty of fetid anti-Semitism and has the blood of many American soldiers who served in Iraq on its hands -- though it isn't clear that the latter two offenses rate very highly with Columbia students.
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The Cash-for-Visas program 9.15.11
Author: Michelle Malkin
Thu, Sep 15, 2011
As part of his warmed-over jobs plan, President Obama is repackaging "Buy American" stimulus subsidies to help hard-hit homegrown businesses. At the same time, however, Congress is pushing to expand a fraud-riddled investor program that puts U.S. citizenship for sale to the highest foreign business bidders.
Call it the Buy America Cash-for-Visas plan.
As I first reported 10 years ago, the EB-5 immigrant investor program was created under an obscure section of the 1990 Immigration Act. The law allows 10,000 wealthy foreigners a year to purchase green cards by investing between $500,000 and $1 million in new commercial enterprises or troubled businesses. After two years, foreign investors, their spouses and their children all receive permanent resident status -- which allows them to contribute to U.S. political campaigns and provides a speedy gateway to citizenship. The program is set to expire in 2012.
On Thursday, the House Judiciary Committee's Immigration subpanel entertained calls to save the EB-5 law. Democratic Rep. Zoe Lofgren is sponsoring a bill to salvage the immigrant investor visas. The legislation (sponsored by open-borders Democrat John Kerry and Republican Richard Lugar in the Senate) also creates a second program with lower barriers to entry that would provide "start-up visas" for foreign entrepreneurs. They would be granted unconditional permanent-resident status if they create a government-determined number of jobs.
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Racial Preferences in Wisconsin 9.15.11
Author: Linda Chavez
Thu, Sep 15, 2011
The campus at the University of Wisconsin-Madison erupted this week after the release of two studies documenting the heavy use of race in deciding which students to admit to the undergraduate and law schools. The evidence of discrimination is undeniable, and the reaction by critics was undeniably dishonest and thuggish.
The Center for Equal Opportunity (CEO), which I founded in 1995 to expose and challenge misguided race-based public policies, conducted the studies based on an analysis of the university's own admissions data. But the university was none too keen on releasing the data, which CEO obtained through filing Freedom of Information Act requests only after a successful legal challenge went all the way to the state supreme court.
It's no wonder the university wanted to keep the information secret. The studies show that a black or Hispanic undergraduate applicant was more than 500 times likelier to be admitted to Wisconsin-Madison than a similarly qualified white or Asian applicant. The odds ratio favoring black law school applicants over similarly qualified white applicants was 61 to 1.
The median SAT scores of black undergraduates who were admitted were 150 points lower than whites or Asians, while the median Hispanic scores were roughly 100 points lower. And median high school rankings for both blacks and Hispanics were also lower than for either whites or Asians.
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September 11 Unanimity: Did G.W. Bush 'Squander' It? 9.13.11
Author: Larry Elder
Wed, Sep 14, 2011
Sept. 11 unified America. But President George W. Bush "squandered" this shared sense of purpose.
We still hear this drivel, mostly from the left, 10 years after the terror attacks. But how did Bush blow this alleged consensus, this shared sense of purpose presumably expected to last, well, forever?
Bush's critics pretty much give the same three reasons.
First, "America was ready to sacrifice," they say, but Bush made no demands. "Go shopping," Bush urged Americans, a comment that somehow came to symbolize Bush's alleged wrong-footedness as commander in chief. He blew it! Why, he should have convened a joint session of Congress, asked for network airtime, stared sternly at his teleprompter and barked: "All you American men and women between the ages of 18 and 45, hit the floor and gimme 25 push-ups. I got all your names. I got your addresses! So move those fannies, America!"
Bush wanted the 9/11 Islamofascists to understand that they did not and would not succeed in decapitating the country by attacking the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and our seats of government. His message to the terrorists: Americans do not cower behind closed doors and would not be intimidated. And we intend to take the fight to you.
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Bachmann's Vaccine Panic 9.13.11
Author: Steve Chapman
Wed, Sep 14, 2011
Cancer treatment has made great progress in recent decades, but the tragedy is that so much of our effort to combat this scourge is just that: treatment. Once a disease appears, there is only so much that can be done. It would be far cheaper, more effective and less traumatic to prevent it.
A vaccine for cancer would be a triumph for public health. Did I say "would be"? Actually, it is. Such a vaccine exists for one of the biggest killers of women. But Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., is against it, and she's not alone.
Two different vaccines block transmission of the human papillomavirus (HPV), which causes 70 percent of all cervical cancer in this country, as well as most anal cancers and some cancers of the throat, vagina and penis.
Each year, says the National Cancer Institute, more than 12,000 American women are diagnosed with cervical cancer alone, and some 4,000 will die of it. That's not counting the genital warts HPV can cause.
It's a nasty but very common bug that the world would be better off without. Universal inoculation would be a huge step toward eradicating it and the suffering it causes.
But there is a big impediment to its use: HPV is sexually transmitted, which makes the vaccine controversial -- especially because to achieve maximum effectiveness, it has to be administered before the recipient becomes sexually active. And in this country, 6 percent of youngsters have sex by the age of 13.
So the federal Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recommends that females get the vaccine no later than age 12. As governor of Texas, Rick Perry required that girls be immunized.
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Obama Tainted by Loan Guarantees to Solar Firms 9.13.11
Author: Michael Barone
Wed, Sep 14, 2011
One factor favoring President Obama's re-election, according to a recent article by political scientist Alan Lichtman, is the absence of scandal in his administration.
Lichtman may have spoken too soon.
The reason can be capsulized in a single word: Solyndra.
That's the name of a company that manufactured solar panels in Fremont, Calif. (which voted 71 percent for Obama in 2008).
Solyndra was the first company to receive a loan guarantee from the Department of Energy as part of the 2009 stimulus package. This wasn't small potatoes. The loan guarantee was for $535 million.
It was, Vice President Biden said, "exactly what the Recovery Act was all about." Energy Secretary Steven Chu, a Nobel Prize winner, said it would help "spark a new revolution that will put Americans to work." It was part of the Obama administration's program to create so-called "green jobs," which we were told were the key to future economic growth.
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You Say 'Ponzi Scheme,' I Say 'Fraud' 9.13.11
Author: Jacob Sullum
Wed, Sep 14, 2011
At the Republican presidential debate in Tampa, Fla., on Monday night, Mitt Romney said Rick Perry has needlessly "scared seniors" by calling Social Security "a Ponzi scheme." Romney, more sensitive to the anxieties of retirees, prefers to say "the American people have been effectively defrauded out of their Social Security" (as he puts it in his 2010 book "No Apology") because Congress has spent the program's surplus revenue instead of saving it to pay for future benefits -- the sort of crime for which bankers "would go to jail."
See the difference? Neither do I. Both the former Massachusetts governor and the current Texas governor understand that Social Security is a transfer program disguised as a retirement plan and that its frequently mentioned "trust fund" does not actually exist. Their spat over how exactly to characterize that situation is illuminating not because it reveals substantive differences between the candidates but because it shows how often these simple truths are overlooked.
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Obama's Medicare Blunder 9.13.11
Author: Dick Morris
Wed, Sep 14, 2011
Early this year, Wisconsin Congressman and House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan dug a huge hole for the Republican Party by proposing dramatic changes in the Medicare system. True the changes would extend the life of the program. True they would not affect current retirees. True they won't take effect for 10 years. But, no matter, President Obama seized on the Ryan plan as a key element of his 2012 campaign.
Then the House leadership compounded the problem by passing the Ryan plan with all but four House Republicans in support. All the rest just followed Ryan off the cliff, putting themselves on record in favor of a plan Americans overwhelmingly opposed. Democrats, reeling from the 2010 defeats, were jubilant. The Republicans had just, in their view, given away the 2012 election.
Well, in Obama's jobs speech, he gave it right back to the Republicans by embracing his own version of Medicare cuts.
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Obama's Big Green Boondoggles 9.13.11
Author: Michelle Malkin
Wed, Sep 14, 2011
With the scandalous bankruptcy of Solyndra (a shady California solar power company that received $535 million in stimulus funds and is now under investigation by the FBI) hanging overhead, President Obama wisely whitewashed any mention of "green jobs" out of his latest address to Congress.
But buried in the details of his latest government jobs bill released this week -- Spawn of the Spendulus, Porky's II, Night of the Keynesian Dead -- are yet more big green boondoggles that will reward cronies, waste taxpayer dollars and make no dent in the jobless rate.
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Is It Still Good to be the King? 9.13.11
Author: Tony Blankley
Wed, Sep 14, 2011
Since the end of World War II, in both the United States and Western Europe, the best way to win a national election has been to be the incumbent political party. But that 3-generation-old predisposition of publics in Western democracies may be coming to an end.
We may well be entering a political epoch in which the best way to win a national election in the West is not to be the party in power.
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A Jewish Case for Mel Gibson 9.13.11
Author: David Harsanyi
Wed, Sep 14, 2011
It seems that we American Jews have a sacred duty. It has nothing to do with skullcaps or boiling a goat in its mother's milk. No. It is our obligation to be perpetually offended and hypersensitive, lest something terrible happen.
So naturally, when former movie star and director Mel Gibson announced that he will be involved in producing a movie about the life of Jewish icon Judas Maccabaeus, community indignation was ramped up. God knows, Gibson had already declared that Jews had started "all wars," during a DUI arrest a couple of years back. He later apologized, calling it "a moment of insanity" and a "public humiliation on a global scale." But surely, a person doesn't spontaneously break into Jew-baiting unless there is some underlying animosity. When you're on the back end of a two-day bender, does it ever occur to you to harangue members of the Greek Orthodox Church? I thought not.
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Too Much Higher Education 9.12.11
Author: Walter Williams
Tue, Sep 13, 2011
Too much of anything is just as much a misallocation of resources as it is too little, and that applies to higher education just as it applies to everything else. A recent study from The Center for College Affordability and Productivity titled "From Wall Street to Wal-Mart," by Richard Vedder, Christopher Denhart, Matthew Denhart, Christopher Matgouranis and Jonathan Robe, explains that college education for many is a waste of time and money. More than one-third of currently working college graduates are in jobs that do not require a degree. An essay by Vedder that complements the CCAP study reports that there are "one-third of a million waiters and waitresses with college degrees." The study says Vedder -- distinguished professor of economics at Ohio University, an adjunct scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and director of CCAP -- "was startled a year ago when the person he hired to cut down a tree had a master's degree in history, the fellow who fixed his furnace was a mathematics graduate, and, more recently, a TSA airport inspector (whose job it was to ensure that we took our shoes off while going through security) was a recent college graduate."
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Feds: No Child's Lunch Left Behind 9.12.11
Author: Chuck Norris
Tue, Sep 13, 2011
It seems like yesterday, though it was nearly a decade ago, when the No Child Left Behind Act brought sweeping changes to education across the nation. Now the feds are making sure no child's lunch is left behind, with their overreaching food tampering in local schools.
In December, President Barack Obama signed the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act into law. Over the months since then, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has told state agencies and school food authorities how to implement various provisions in it.
Here are a few new federal guidelines coming to your child's cafeteria this fall: local school wellness policy implementation, review of local policies on meal charges and provision of alternate meals, procurement and processing of food service products and commodities, and professional standards for school food service. Those don't count the many other provisions being implemented in the 2012-13 school year.
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Raison Debt 9.12.11
Author: Mona Charen
Tue, Sep 13, 2011
You might suppose that a political book, appearing less than six months after Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels indicated that he would not run for president, must have been written as a campaign prop. But that's not Daniels' style. "Keeping the Republic" is a deadly serious, though frequently witty, effort to lay before the American people the perilous state of the nation.
Be prepared -- the first few pages of Chapter 2 can turn your blood to ice. America's decline, Daniels writes, may not be a gradual slide, but instead a sudden plunge into chaos. Sketching what a financial collapse could look like if we fail to control our debt, he writes, "Monday, 6 a.m.-- a Chinese official issues a statement saying that China will no longer be buying Treasury securities because 'we see no evidence that the U.S. will take the steps necessary to grow its economy or limit its spending so it can afford to repay' . . . Monday 9:30 a.m. -- the dollar drops 10 percent . . . New York stock market opens in free fall . . . Monday afternoon -- . . . other nations' central banks begin to sell off U.S. Treasuries. . ."
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Memo to GOP: Social Security Demagoguery Is the Province of Liberals 9.12.11
Author: David Limbaugh
Tue, Sep 13, 2011
It is very disheartening to see Republican presidential primary candidates racing to out-demagogue one another in denouncing Texas Gov. Rick Perry's accurate description of Social Security as a Ponzi scheme. It used to be that Republicans at least waited until the general election campaign to pander to liberals.
I admire Perry both for telling it like it is and for having the guts to stand by his statement when under fire. That shows character.
Honest people have been warning for years that our entitlement programs, as structured, are imminent train wrecks. Democrats were even saying it for a while, as Bill Clinton and Al Gore made a phony fuss about placing Social Security in a lockbox.
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Back to the Future? 9.12.11
Author: Thomas Sowell
Tue, Sep 13, 2011
Those who are impressed by words seem to think that President Barack Obama made a great speech to Congress last week. But, when you look beyond the rhetoric, what did he say that was fundamentally different from what he has been saying and doing all along?
Are we to continue doing the same kinds of things that have failed again and again, just because Obama delivers clever words with style and energy?
Once we get past the glowing rhetoric, what is the president proposing? More spending! Only the words have changed -- from "stimulus" to "jobs" and from "shovel-ready projects" to "jobs for construction workers."
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Lessons from 9/11? What Lessons? 9.12.11
Author: Dennis Prager
Tue, Sep 13, 2011
In attempting to understand 9/11, the first question asked by the world's elites -- as exemplified by leading media and academics -- was, "What did America do to provoke such hatred?"
Ten years later, the same people are still asking the same question. And it is as morally repulsive now as it was then. It was always on par with "What did the Jews do to antagonize the Germans?" or "What did blacks do to enrage lynch mobs?"
As long as people keep asking what America did to incite such hate, nothing will have been learned from 9/11.
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Obama Buys the Drinks That Other Guys Pay For 9.9.11
Author: Michael Barone
Sat, Sep 10, 2011
What is there to say about Barack Obama's speech to Congress Thursday night and the so-called American Jobs Act he said Congress must pass? Several thoughts occur, all starting with P.
Projection. That's psychologist-speak term for projecting your own faults on others. "This isn't political grandstanding," Obama told members of Congress, as Republicans snickered (but thankfully resisted the temptation to shout, "You lie!"). "This isn't class warfare."
These sentences came four paragraphs after Obama insisted that "the most affluent citizens and corporations" should pay more taxes (which spurs job creation how?) and not long before he promised to "take that message to every corner of the country."
Lest there be an doubt about Obama's real intentions, consider that his speech was obviously modeled on Harry Truman's call for a special session of the Republican Congress in the summer of 1948 so he could campaign against it. And consider that Obama pointedly refused to rebuke Jim Hoffa's "let's take these sons of bitches out" -- meaning Republicans -- when he introduced him last Monday in Detroit.
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Tiny, Targeted and Temporary 9.9.11
Author: Larry Kudlow
Sat, Sep 10, 2011
Who would have really expected a 300-point stock market plunge on the day after President Obama's so-called jobs speech?
Yes, worries over new fears of a Greek default ripped through the markets on Friday. As did fears of an al-Qaida bombing plot on the 10th anniversary of 9/11. But you can't help but think that at least some of the stock plunge is a signal of no economic confidence in Obama's plan.
And for that matter, who really expected an unbelievably large $450 billion plan? That's way more than 50 percent of the original $800 stimulus package in 2009 -- which did not work.
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The Limits of the Bully Pulpit 9.9.11
Author: Steve Chapman
Sat, Sep 10, 2011
In the summer of 1971, the nation was in the doldrums. Inflation was rising, and unemployment was uncomfortably high. The stock market was sinking. Polls indicated President Richard Nixon could lose his 1972 re-election bid.
He decided major changes were in order. On the evening of Aug. 15, 1971, Nixon went on TV to announce new economic policies -- the most drastic being a freeze on all wages, prices and rents. He assured his worried audience, "Our best days lie ahead."
The speech was a triumph. The stock market soared. Newspaper editorials hailed his courage. One poll found that 75 percent of Americans supported the plan. "In all the years I've been doing this," said the pollster, "I've never seen anything this unanimous." Nixon's economic strategy was a stroke of political genius.
In practice, however, it was a disaster. A powerful new bureaucracy arose. The dollar collapsed. Inflation persisted. Shortages of vital commodities emerged. In the end, Nixon had to abandon his program, but not until plenty of damage had been done.
Barack Obama's Thursday address to Congress was his attempt to seize the moment as Nixon did. But instead of something new and outwardly promising, all he had to offer was a variation on things that have already been tried, to little apparent effect.
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Did Rick Perry Blow It on Social Security? 9.8.11
Author: Mona Charen
Fri, Sep 9, 2011
There is a brand of Republican who looks at President Obama's vulnerability on the economy and says "go for it." They argue that the overriding issue of the campaign should be jobs -- and that everything else should be a distant second.
There is another kind of Republican who sees the 2012 election as a tipping point for the nation -- a do or die moment when we will either pull back from the precipice of debt and national decline or fall off the edge. This second brand of Republican is hoping that a candidate will emerge who can lay before the American people the nature of the challenge we face in a direct and forthright way. If a campaign is run and won on the need to reform our obese government, the new president will have a mandate to take the necessary steps, once in office.
After Wednesday's Republican debate, it seems that Romney represents the first group, and Perry stands for the second.
Members of the first camp -- and it includes lots of smart people like Karl Rove, Dick Cheney and Mike Murphy -- may agree that defeating Obama is critical, but they argue that it's tactically stupid to mention the looming bankruptcy of "popular" federal programs like Social Security and Medicare. At Wednesday's Republican debate, Mitt Romney, responding to Rick Perry's earlier description of Social Security as a "Ponzi scheme," planted a flag and declared: "Our nominee has to be someone who isn't committed to abolishing Social Security, but who is committed to saving Social Security...I will make sure that we keep the program, and we make it financially secure. We save Social Security. And under no circumstances would I ever say by any measure it's a failure. It is working for millions of Americans, and I'll keep it working for millions of Americans. And we've got to do that as a party."
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All the Wrong 9/11 Lessons 9.8.11
Author: Michelle Malkin
Fri, Sep 9, 2011
Are your kids learning the right lessons about 9/11? Ten years after Osama bin Laden's henchmen murdered thousands of innocents on American soil, too many children have been spoon-fed the thin gruel of progressive political correctness over the stiff antidote of truth.
"Know your enemy, name your enemy" is a 9/11 message that has gone unheeded. Our immigration and homeland security policies refuse to profile jihadi adherents at foreign consular offices and at our borders. Our military leaders refuse to expunge them from uniformed ranks until it's too late (see: Fort Hood massacre). The j-word is discouraged in Obama intelligence circles, and the term "Islamic extremism" was removed from the U.S. national security strategy document last year.
Similarly, too many teachers refuse to show and tell who the perpetrators of 9/11 were and who their heirs are today. My own daughter was one year old when the Twin Towers collapsed, the Pentagon went up in flames and Shanksville, Pa., became hallowed ground for the brave passengers of United Flight 93. In second grade, her teachers read touchy-feely stories about peace and diversity to honor the 9/11 dead. They whitewashed Osama bin Laden, militant Islam and centuries-old jihad out of the curriculum. Apparently, the youngsters weren't ready to learn even the most basic information about the evil masterminds of Islamic terrorism.
Mary Beth Hicks, author of the new book "Don't Let the Kids Drink the Kool-Aid," points to a recent review of 10 widely used textbooks in which the concepts of jihad and sharia were either watered down or absent. These childhood experts have determined that grade school is too early to delve into the specifics of the homicidal clash of Allah's sharia-avenging soldiers with the freedom-loving Western world.
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A Decade of War 9.8.11
Author: Oliver North
Fri, Sep 9, 2011
Everyone older than 20 remembers whom he was with, what he was doing and how he learned we were at war that beautiful Tuesday morning a decade ago. Most of us recall a gorgeous late-summer morning with blue skies -- "shirt-sleeve weather" -- and then the horror: two of the world's tallest buildings collapsing into piles of rubble, the west wall of the Pentagon in flames and a fire-bathed crater in the soil of Somerset County, Pa.
Like the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor that Sunday morning of Dec. 7, 1941, the assault on Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2001, was a complete surprise. Politicians, pundits and quasi-historians have tried to find similarities in the two events, but there are few other real parallels.
The Japanese attack on the U.S. Pacific fleet required 58 warships, 350 aircraft and more than 10,000 sailors to carry out. Though the raiders killed 2,403 Americans, only five U.S. Navy vessels were damaged beyond repair. In Washington, Congress immediately responded with a nearly unanimous declaration of war; only one member voted no. The American people answered the call to duty, and 16.5 million young men and women were soon in uniform. The U.S. became the leader of a grand alliance supported by both political parties. Everyone knew right from the start who our enemies were and that the war would end only when those enemies surrendered -- unconditionally.
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Leftist Media Outdid Themselves in GOP Debate 9.8.11
Author: David Limbaugh
Fri, Sep 9, 2011
A dispassionate look at the NBC Republican debate moderators' questions reveals that they were not themselves dispassionate, which they have a professional duty to be.
NBC's Brian Williams and Politico's John Harris put on a clinic in liberal bias and journalistic unprofessionalism as they fired loaded, sanctimonious questions at the debate participants.
Debate moderators have no business injecting themselves into the debate or editorializing on the fly as these two did, to their disgrace. They have a duty not to take sides, which these two did, either with particular Republicans against the others or in favor of their political dreamboat, Barack Obama.
It wasn't just one or two inappropriately framed questions; it was a continuous barrage, punctuated with patronizing commentary revealing the inquisitors' unconcealed contempt for all things conservative. One can only imagine the opposition research -- er, conscientious preparation -- their staff must have done for them. Let's look at some of Williams' gems.
Williams reminded Texas Gov. Rick Perry that he brags about his economic record and then said: "Texas ranks last among those who have completed high school. There are only eight other states with more living in poverty. No other state has more working at or below the minimum wage. So, is that the kind of answer all Americans are looking for?" Williams might as well have said: "You tout your record, but we both know it stinks. What business do you have lying to the American people? Actually, what business do you have running for president at all, you Texas cowboy hayseed? In fact, why don't you just resign as Texas governor?"
Of course, I'm actually understating the case, as Williams went on to ask Perry, essentially, whether he's proud of the fact that Texas has executed 234 death row inmates under his watch. But Williams was really aghast at the audience applause for that statistic, obviously inferring that Perry and the Neanderthal conservatives in the audience sadistically relish executions. "What do you make of that dynamic that just happened here? The mention of the execution of 234 people drew applause." asked an incredulous Williams.
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GOP Needs a Front-runner Stronger Than Candidate X 9.7.11
Author: Michael Barone
Wed, Sep 7, 2011
The race for the Republican presidential nomination finally seems to be gelling. On Wednesday night, candidates will debate at the Reagan Library in California -- the first of five scheduled debates over the next five weeks.
They are competing for a nomination that increasingly seems worth having. In July and August, President Obama's job approval has been dropping like a stone. On July 4, the realclearpolitics.com average of recent polls showed it narrowly positive, 47 to 46 percent. On Tuesday, it was negative, 43 to 51 percent.
Obama's approval hasn't topped 46 percent in a public poll since mid-July. It hasn't topped 50 percent in a public poll since mid-June.
Nevertheless, none of the current candidates outperforms the generic "Republican candidate." The seven weeks ahead provide an opportunity for one or more Republican candidates to improve their standing not only among Republican primary and caucus voters but among the general electorate, as well.
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Rep. Allen West Threatens to Resign From Congressional Black Caucus 9.7.11
Author: Larry Elder
Wed, Sep 7, 2011
The tea party, according to Rep. Andre Carson, D-Ind., a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, would "love to see us as second-class citizens" ... and "some of them in Congress right now with this tea party movement would love to see you and me ... hanging on a tree." Of the tea party's influence on Congress, Carson called it an "effort that we're seeing of Jim Crow." Another CBC member, Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., said, "The tea party can go straight to hell."
This was too much for Rep. Allen West, R-Fla., the only Republican member of the CBC. Another black Republican, Tim Scott, R-S.C., pointedly declined to even join the CBC. Given the hard-left views of the CBC, one wonders why West joined in the first place. West, presumably, thought he might change the CBC's "blame whitey" approach to the problems and concerns of black Americans.
West wrote a letter to the chairman of the CBC, Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Mo., to denounce the comments by Carson and Waters: "I believe it is incumbent on you to both condemn these types of hate-filled comments, and to disassociate the Congressional Black Caucus from these types of remarks. Otherwise I will have to seriously reconsider my membership within the organization."
Insert laughter.
Does West really think the CBC intends to condemn racial rhetoric, the very rhetoric CBC members routinely use? Rep. Charlie Rangel, D-N.Y., a founding member of the CBC, said of the 1994 GOP House: "It's not 'spic' and 'nigger' anymore. They say, 'Let's cut taxes.'" Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., another founding member, was once asked why a largely Arab area outside of Detroit flourished economically, while a mostly black area nearby continued to suffer. "Racism," said Conyers.
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Why Obama's Jobs Number Is Too Low for Zero 9.6.11
Author: Dick Morris
Tue, Sep 6, 2011
All who realize how disastrous Obama's economic policies have been and what a terrible effect they are having on our economy expected the August job creation numbers to be low. Few thought they would be nil.
Buried within the data, is a micro-statistic that is symptomatic of what is happening in all sectors of the economy. In August, the economy lost 30,000 health care jobs, a drop from its recent monthly increments of 10,000 to 15,000 health care positions and well down from its historic norms of 30,000 new health care jobs each month.
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How Obama Protects the Teamsters 9.6.11
Author: Michelle Malkin
Tue, Sep 6, 2011
Barack Obama and Jimmy Hoffa are like Tweedledum and Tweedledee, Lady Gaga and hype, the "Jersey Shore" cast and hairspray: inseparable. The president can no more disown the Teamsters Union's leader than he can disown his own id.
At a Labor Day rally in Detroit on Monday before Obama spoke, Hoffa stoked anti-tea party hostility by urging his minions to "take these son of a b*tches out." (Botched grammar added that extra boost of street-gang authenticity to the labor lawyer's threat.) The same civility police on the left who decry any references to crosshairs as incitements to violence are now mute about Hoffa's brass-knuckle rhetoric. The Chicagoans in the White House refuse to comment.
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Politics Turns Dangerously Rougher 9.6.11
Author: Tony Blankley
Tue, Sep 6, 2011
In the last few weeks, leading Democrats in Congress have called Tea Party constituents terrorists, said they should go to hell and accused them of wanting to lynch black people. Last weekend, at an event attended by President Obama, the head of the Teamsters Union, Jimmy Hoffa Jr., attacked the Tea Party, screaming, "President Obama, this is your army. We are ready to march. Let's take these son of bitches (Tea Party members) out and give America back to an America where we belong." (Note: the president was not on the platform when Hoffa spoke.)
So far, neither the president, nor any prominent Democrat has condemned such remarks -- even though the phrase "take out" is commonly used to describe an act of criminal homicide. Thus, Hoffa's statement might rise to the level of incitement to violence.
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The Watchdog That Didn't Bark 9.6.11
Author: Jacob Sullum
Tue, Sep 6, 2011
Writing in The Washington Post last March, former CIA Director Michael Hayden and former Attorney General Michael Mukasey said requiring the Justice Department's inspector general to evaluate the benefits of national security letters, which intelligence agencies use to demand private records, would "duplicate oversight already conducted by the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board." One crucial flaw in this argument: There is no Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board.
As 9/11 commission co-chairmen Tom Kean and Lee Hamilton noted last week, the board has been "dormant" since 2008 because neither George W. Bush nor Barack Obama has managed to appoint its five members. This failure is vivid testimony to the continuing disregard for civil liberties and the rule of law under a president who promised to revive respect for both.
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The Time for Empty Talk Is Over 9.1.11
Author: David Limbaugh
Fri, Sep 2, 2011
As President Obama's presidential term has unfolded, he has made it increasingly clear what he meant all those times he haughtily said, "I won." It's his world, and he has no intention of sharing control over it.
This was on stark display when he attempted to pre-empt the Republican debate with a grandiose joint session of Congress called solely for the purpose of delivering another round of economic propaganda.
He would have us believe that his speech will be of monumental import, but everyone knows, Democrats included, that it will be nothing more and nothing less than a sales job. There will be nothing new in this speech, no new ideas, no new information.
There is never anything new in any of his speeches, including the 50-plus orations he delivered on Obamacare, but he nevertheless keeps going back to the well. He has degenerated into a habitual pattern of presenting an idea and, after the public rejects it, making further speeches to convince us that we are the ones who are wrong. With each new speech, no matter the subject, he ends up with fewer supporters of the proposition in question, yet he remains oblivious to the diminishing returns he is achieving.
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America's Uncle Omar Problem 9.1.11
Author: Michelle Malkin
Fri, Sep 2, 2011
"Always remember. Never forget." The phrase is now emblazoned in red across the U.S. Department of Homeland Security website. But as the Obama administration disseminates its talking points to mark the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 jihadist attacks, the White House remains stone-silent about the president's Uncle Omar problem.
The refusal to deal with Uncle Omar tells you everything you need to know about the emptiness and impotence of Washington's 9/11 platitudes.
"Omar" is Onyango Obama, the illegal alien deportation fugitive who is the long-lost Kenyan half-brother of President Obama's father. The president mentioned him in his best-selling book, "Dreams from My Father." But these days, he'd undoubtedly prefer to whitewash him out of the public eye. Last week, Uncle Omar was arrested for drunk driving in Framingham, Mass., and held on an immigration detainer.
The liquor store employee -- yes, he was apparently drinking the inventory that legal Americans weren't drinking -- nearly crashed into a police car and belligerently demanded to ring up the White House. Few in the neighborhood are laughing it off. Just two weeks ago, an illegal alien drunk driver with a mile-long rap sheet mowed down and killed a 23-year-old Milford, Mass., man.
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Don't Confuse Us With Facts; We're The New York Times 9.1.11
Author: Mona Charen
Fri, Sep 2, 2011
They cannot help themselves, The New York Times that is. With absolute regularity, they continue to report certain issues in the most biased and fact-avoiding way possible.
An Aug. 31, 2011, story by Al Baker covers a federal judge's ruling that a case challenging the New York Police Department's, NYPD, "stop and frisk" policy can go forward. But the story is so one-sided that it practically topples over as you're reading it.
The suit was brought by the Center for Constitutional Rights, CCR, a leftist outfit that sued Reagan over Grenada and El Salvador, represented performance artist Karen Finley in a suit against the National Endowment for the Arts, represented a Palestinian "immigrant activist," and so forth. The New York Times naturally omits this history. The suit alleges that the NYPD's policy is based "not on reasonable suspicion of individuals but on racial profiling."
The judge (who sounds like she might have done a stint at the CCR during some time in her career), declined to dismiss the case, saying, "This case presents an issue of great public concern. Writ large, that issue is the disproportionate number of African-Americans and Latinos who become entangled in our criminal justice system, as compared to Caucasians." Note the passive voice. Like flies in a spider's web, they become "entangled" in the criminal justice system.
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The Clean Energy Crash-and-Burn 9.1.11
Author: Linda Chavez
Fri, Sep 2, 2011
The biggest star in the Obama firmament of green-jobs companies has just imploded. Solyndra, a California-based firm that produced solar panels, declared bankruptcy this week, putting more than a thousand additional workers on the unemployment line.
The Solyndra story tells you all you need to know about President Obama's ability to "create" jobs -- green or otherwise.
Solyndra was no ordinary startup. When the company broke ground on its plant, Secretary of Energy Steven Chu and California's then-governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, used a golden shovel to dig the first hole. And it wasn't just the shovel that was gold-plated. The company received over half a billion dollars in federal loan guarantees for the project. But U.S. taxpayers will likely never see a dime repaid now that the company has gone into Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
The loan guarantees were controversial from the outset. The chief investor in Solyndra was George Kaiser, a major Obama fundraiser. The guarantees were part of a $90 billion federal program, but Solyndra was first in line to receive the largesse. House Republicans have subpoenaed White House documents and are now investigating whether Solyndra received favorable treatment because of its political ties. There seems to be more than a whiff of old-fashioned corruption here, but only a thorough investigation will tell.
One thing is certain: The president and secretary of energy made repeated trips to Solyndra's Silicon Valley plant over the last couple of years, using the facility as a backdrop to deliver clean-energy agitprop. The president's most recent trip there occurred in May 2010, not long after a government audit questioned whether the company could even survive.
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The Welfare State: Too Many Takers -- Not Enough Givers 8.31.11
Author: Larry Elder
Wed, Aug 31, 2011
The Irish cabdriver complained almost nonstop during our half-hour drive to the Belfast International Airport. He especially worried about the job prospects for his 20-something son and, for that matter, about those for the generation of young people who face a "sh-tty" future on this beautiful island full of friendly people.
"Give me," I finally said, "the No. 1 reason for the economic problems here."
He looked almost stunned.
"Huh..." he said, "let me think."
We drove silently for nearly a half-mile. Then he turned to me and said, "Too many takers -- not enough givers."
Little by little, inch by inch, drop by drop, governments both in America and in Europe began taking more and more from people, diminishing the incentive of those on both sides of the transaction -- the taker and the giver. In America, nearly half of wage earners pay not one single dime in federal income taxes. Many of them trudge down to the local polling place or vote via absentee ballot -- and vote themselves a raise.
The Founding Fathers conceived a brilliant document to restrain the federal government and allow maximum freedom for the people to make their own way. It leaves people the power to make their own decisions and to deal with the consequences. Almost before the ink dried, Congress tried to circumvent the Constitution.
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The Conservative Reversal on Science 8.31.11
Author: Steve Chapman
Wed, Aug 31, 2011
The 1980s and 1990s were prime time for environmental scares, many of which proved bogus. On one side were liberals, greens and professional alarmists who always assumed the worst. On the other side, many non-liberals chose to heed scientists who had studied the evidence. Time and again, the skeptics were right.
Remember the Alar scare of 1989, when Meryl Streep went before Congress to warn of a pesticide used on apples? There was much concern at the time, but it didn't pan out. An official with the National Cancer Institute eventually concluded the cancer risk from eating apples treated with Alar was "nonexistent."
How about silicone breast implants? The Food and Drug Administration took them off the market in 1992, but for no good reason: In 1999, the Institute of Medicine said they didn't cause breast cancer or other serious diseases.
There was acid rain, which allegedly was a catastrophe for lakes and forests in the East. The director of an exhaustive federally funded assessment, however, announced in 1990 that "the amount of damage is less than we once thought, and it's much less than some of the characterizations we sometimes hear."
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Obamacare and the Jurisprudence of Clarence Thomas 8.31.11
Author: Michael Barone
Wed, Aug 31, 2011
In the glossy pages of The New Yorker, in graceful prose and with good reporting, the dreams and nightmares of the admirers of Barack Obama and his policies lie exposed.
The dreams include Ryan Lizza's report last April in which he quoted an Obama adviser as saying the president's policy on Libya was "leading from behind." This week, as Tripoli seemed about to fall, the magazine's editor, David Remnick, hailed Obama's "calculated modesty."
The nightmare appears in last week's issue, in Jeffrey Toobin's lengthy article on Supreme Court jurisprudence, titled "Partners" and subtitled "Will Clarence and Virginia Thomas succeed in killing Obama's health-care plan?"
It's possible to read Toobin's article as a partisan hit job, echoing the demands of 74 Democratic congressmen that Justice Clarence Thomas recuse himself from sitting on a case challenging the constitutionality of Obamacare because of his wife's involvement in the tea party movement.
Never mind that this is a standard neither Toobin nor the Democrats apply to other public officials with spouses active in public affairs -- or that they're not asking Justice Elena Kagan to recuse herself because of her work in the Justice Department on the issue.
The bulk of the article is worthy of attention because Toobin, despite his obvious distaste for Justice Thomas' views, takes him seriously as a judicial thinker and pathfinder.
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Your Lying Eyes: How Fallible Memories Send Innocent People to Prison 8.30.11
Author: Jacob Sullum
Wed, Aug 31, 2011
In 1986, Tim Cole, a student at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, was sentenced to 25 years in prison for a rape he did not commit. He was exonerated in 2009, a decade after he died behind bars from a severe asthma attack at the age of 39.
Like three-quarters of the defendants who are cleared by DNA evidence, Cole was convicted based on sincere yet inaccurate eyewitness testimony -- a problem the New Jersey Supreme Court highlighted last week when it revised the state's rules for pretrial hearings and jury instructions based on three decades of research exposing the fallibility of human memory. That decision, together with a case the U.S. Supreme Court will hear this fall, reminds us that the most powerful testimony jurors hear may also be the weakest, subject to hidden influences that can send an innocent man to prison if they remain unexposed.
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Perry vs. Romney on Economy 8.30.11
Author: Dick Morris
Wed, Aug 31, 2011
Now here comes Rick Perry challenging Mitt Romney's record on job creation. The stats are definitely in his favor. Between June of '09 and June of '11, 50 percent of the net new jobs created in the United States were in Texas, making Texas No. 1 in job growth by a (set ital) long shot (end ital).
Under Romney, Massachusetts' record was terrible by comparison. The Bay State ranked 47th in job growth, with employment rising less than 1 percent from '03 to '07 -- his years in office. The U.S. job growth rate, at this time, was 5 percent.
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Obama's Last Economic Policy Chance 8.30.11
Author: Tony Blankley
Wed, Aug 31, 2011
President Obama's post-Labor Day "jobs" speech will be his last chance to launch an economic policy with any chance of manifesting its effect -- both economic and political -- before the November 2012 elections.
He has three options. In order of descending likelihood they are: a timid hodgepodge of previous proposals, a bold left of center initiative or a turn to free markets "nuclear option."
It's that nuclear option that is the most fascinating and most unlikely. He could decide to embrace all the major Republican, Tea Party, free market ideas: marginal business and personal tax rate cuts (leading to a net tax cut); big discretionary spending cuts to be implemented before the 2012 election; genuine long term reductions in Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security costs written into law now; major deregulation -- including the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Dodd-Frank financial burdens and nanny-state consumer regulations; unlimited oil- and gas-drilling, and shale-fracking authorization; permanent extension of the Bush tax cuts, repeal of the double tax on American corporations' foreign profits, limits on unemployment insurance extensions; and withdrawal of his big union initiatives, such as the National Labor Relations Board's opposition to Boeing Co. building a factory in South Carolina.
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Screw Up, Move Up, Cover Up: The Fast and Furious Edition 8.30.11
Author: Michelle Malkin
Wed, Aug 31, 2011
There are now enough Operation Fast and Furious officials playing hide-and-seek in the Obama administration to fill a "rubber room."
That's the nickname for taxpayer-subsidized holding pens, such as the ones in the New York City public schools, where crooked employees are separated from the system and paid to do nothing. Perhaps the White House can stimulate a few construction jobs by adding an entire rubber room annex for "reassigned" scandal bureaucrats at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. It's getting mighty crowded.
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Israel -- an Apartheid State? 8.29.11
Author: Dennis Prager
Tue, Aug 30, 2011
Next month, the UN-sponsored hate-Israel festival known as Durban III takes place. Under the heading "anti-racism," the great bulk of the conference, like Durban I and Durban II, consists of condemning Israel for racism and equating it to an apartheid state.
Of the world's many great lies, this is among the greatest.
How do we know it is a lie? Because when South Africa was an apartheid state, no one accused Israel of being one. Even the UN would have regarded the accusation as absurd.
Israel has nothing in common with an apartheid state, but few people know enough about Israel -- or about apartheid South Africa -- to refute the slander. So let's respond.
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Who Are the Real Religious Bigots? 8.29.11
Author: David Limbaugh
Tue, Aug 30, 2011
As the 2012 presidential race gears up, leftist Christophobes are showing some signs of hysteria -- or political opportunism; it's sometimes difficult to tell.
The New York Times' executive editor, Bill Keller, in a piece in The New York Times Magazine, argues that presidential candidates should be asked tough questions about their faith. Keller wants to know whether a candidate will place "fealty to the Bible, the Book of Mormon ... or some other authority higher than the Constitution and laws of this country" and "whether a president respects serious science and verifiable history." He wants to make sure "religious doctrine" does not become "an excuse to exclude my fellow citizens from the rights and protections our country promises." His colleague, New York Times columnist Paul Krugman, followed up with a hit piece on "Republicans Against Science."
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An Unusual Economy? 8.29.11
Author: Thomas Sowell
Tue, Aug 30, 2011
Many in the media are saying how unusual it is for our economy to be so sluggish for so long, after we have officially emerged from a recession. In a sense, they are right. But, in another sense, they are profoundly wrong.
The American economy usually rebounds a lot faster than it is doing today. After a recession passes, consumers usually increase their spending. And when businesses see demand picking up, they usually start hiring workers to produce the additional output required to meet that demand.
Some very sharp downturns in the American economy, such as in the early 1920s, were followed quickly by bouncing back to normal levels or beyond. The government did nothing -- and it worked.
In that sense, this is an unusual recovery in how long it is taking and in how slowly the economy is growing -- while the government is doing virtually everything imaginable.
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A Singular Solution to Many Problems 8.29.11
Author: Chuck Norris
Tue, Aug 30, 2011
Loyal readers know that I have been calling attention to a range of Second Amendment issues in the past week. In last week's column here, I wrote about the scandals and illegitimate regulations emanating from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. In another outlet, I documented the threat to our rights that is posed by the United Nations' proposed arms trade treaty.
In response, I have heard from many readers who are understandably outraged. They want our federal law enforcement agencies to respect the law, not break it. They want our negotiators at the U.N. to protect our unique constitutional rights, not surrender them to some Utopian vision of global harmony. With apologies to the late Bill Buckley, my readers feel powerless to climb athwart the federal leviathan and yell "stop."
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A Hurricane, Evolution and Rick Perry 8.29.11
Author: Mona Charen
Tue, Aug 30, 2011
The Hurricane Irene story ought to, but won't, shed light on our prejudices regarding science.
The favored liberal Democratic narrative -- we've seen it trotted out against Rick Perry in the past two weeks -- goes like this: Democrats are the party of the enlightenment. They believe in science and facts. They know that Darwin was correct about the origin of species, and that human beings are responsible for potentially catastrophic global warming through production of carbon dioxide. Republicans, on the other hand, are the pre-modern party of superstition, religious explanations for natural phenomena and global warming denial.
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Race and Economics 8.29.11
Author: Walter Williams
Tue, Aug 30, 2011
Overall U.S. unemployment is 9.1 percent. For white adults, it's 8 percent, and for white teens, 23 percent. Black adult unemployment stands at 17 percent, and for black teens, it's 40 percent, more than 50 percent in some cities, for example, Washington.
Chapter 3 of "Race and Economics," my most recent book, starts out, "Some might find it puzzling that during times of gross racial discrimination, black unemployment was lower and blacks were more active in the labor force than they are today." Up until the late 1950s, the labor force participation rate of black teens and adults was equal to or greater than their white counterparts. In fact, in 1910, 71 percent of black males older than 9 were employed, compared with 51 percent for whites. As early as 1890, the duration of unemployment among blacks was shorter than it was among whites, whereas today unemployment is both higher and longer-lasting among blacks than among whites.
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Obama and His Rivals Duck the Entitlement Crisis 8.26.11
Author: Michael Barone
Sat, Aug 27, 2011
Some of society's most intractable problems come not from its failures but from its successes. Often you can't get a good thing without paying a bad price.
A prime example is our public old-age pension system, Social Security. It has been completely successful in wiping out poverty among the elderly. Old ladies no longer have to eat cat food to survive.
But we pay some prices for this. One is a lower savings rate. China has a humungous savings rate in part because it has no reliable old-age pension system. People have to save if they don't want to starve.
In the United States, we got out of the habit of saving. In the decade up to the financial crash of 2008, the U.S. savings rate fell below zero.
We felt comfortable borrowing on the supposedly ever-increasing values of our houses to support current and sometimes lavish consumption. Now we're paying the price.
But even if our savings rate rises back to the level of, say, the 1980s, it still may be lower than optimal.
The longer-term price any society pays for a public old-age pension system is lower birth rates. Farmers had large families in order to provide additional labor for their working years and sources of income for their dotage. So did factory workers a century ago.
In Western Europe, birth rates have fallen below the rate necessary to replace population -- in some countries, far below. The American birth rate has remained, barely, above replacement rate largely because of immigration. But immigration has slumped during the recession and may never return to the 1990-2008 level.
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Injustice, in Plain Sight 8.26.11
Author: Steve Chapman
Sat, Aug 27, 2011
In 1989, a Waukegan, Ill., woman was raped after three men invaded her apartment. She told police the rapist had a tattoo, wore an earring in a pierced ear and spoke English. Two days later, the cops took her to an office and said, "Watch the one sitting on the chair."
Alejandro Dominguez, age 16, had no tattoos or pierced ears, and he reportedly could speak only Spanish. The woman, however, said he was the attacker, and largely on the strength of her testimony, he was convicted. Not until 2002 did DNA analysis prove Dominguez was innocent.
It's a dismally familiar tale: a victim making an eyewitness identification that later turns out to be horribly mistaken. This type of mistake is universally known as the most common cause of false convictions. Yet law enforcement authorities, courts and juries continue to treat it as pure gold.
But change is on the way in New Jersey, where last week, the state Supreme Court ran out of patience with a method that puts so many innocents behind bars. It mandated new rules that will help to prevent errors while giving defendants more avenues to expose them.
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The Job Wrecker in Chief 8.25.11
Author: David Limbaugh
Thu, Aug 25, 2011
President Obama often tells us that his No. 1 focus is creating jobs, but his record makes you wonder what he might have done differently if his goal were to destroy jobs.
Those who've examined Congressional Budget Office data have calculated that each job allegedly created by Obama's stimulus -- and this is if you accept the fantastically generous guesstimates -- cost between $225,000 and $600,000. But that's not the only way in which the administration has shown its virtual contempt for efficient job creation and its callousness concerning job destruction.
In the name of compassion, Obama advocates seemingly endless extensions of unemployment benefits because his economic theology holds that by paying people not to work, you will create jobs. It not only fails to factor in the obvious deterrent that extended benefits have on their recipients but also falsely assumes that transferring money from one pocket to the next generates more spending -- by some mythical multiple factor, no less. Back on planet Earth, studies reveal that extending unemployment benefits results in more unemployment.
But don't worry; Obama is on it. He's spent hours on the golf course meditating on job creation. In September, he is going to announce his jobs "reset" plan in some self-ballyhooed oration. But reports of such rumination and administration powwows on jobs are as phony as Obama's insistence that he doesn't intend Obamacare to lead to a single-payer system.
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Biden's Moral Obtuseness 8.25.11
Author: Mona Charen
Thu, Aug 25, 2011
This was not a gaffe. This was a disgrace. In a speech at Sichuan University, Vice President Joe Biden said "Your policy has been one which I fully understand -- I'm not second-guessing -- of one child per family . . ." But, he continued, this policy is creating demographic difficulties, such that "one wage earner will be taking care of four retired people. Not sustainable."
Following criticism, Biden's spokesperson, Kendra Barkoff, insisted that Biden, along with the entire Obama administration, finds the Chinese government's population control regime "repugnant." But she seemed confused as to what the fuss was about. "He also pointed out, in China, that the policy is, as a practical matter, unsustainable. He was arguing against the one-child policy to a Chinese audience."
Well, yes, but in the most abstract and anodyne way. Saying, "I fully understand -- I'm not second-guessing" is practically an endorsement -- and certainly much milder language than the administration has aimed at Republican budget proposals. Biden didn't condemn the immorality or brutality of a system of forced sterilization and forced abortion -- he merely noted that the demographic consequences of thus drastically limiting the population would lead to problems for China's version of Social Security. It's as if, speaking in Damascus, he had told a Syrian audience that the government's handling of protesters would lead to a decline in tourism.
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How to Fix the Housing Depression 8.25.11
Author: Linda Chavez
Thu, Aug 25, 2011
As the president contemplates his options for creating jobs and stimulating the economy, here's one idea he should consider: Create a new immigration lottery that would let in up to a million newcomers -- on the condition that they immediately purchase a home with cash.
I know this idea is bound to infuriate some people, but it could do more to stimulate the economy than anything the Obama administration -- or the Republicans -- have come up with so far. There's no question that the depressed housing market is a major factor stalling the economic recovery. Most Americans' wealth is tied up in their homes; housing prices have continued to fall precipitously, and largely because of the huge inventory of unsold houses. Many of those houses are foreclosures.
The Obama administration has tried a number of solutions to the problem, all of which have failed. Now they have a new idea that might help individuals who already own homes from losing them, but it won't do much to deal with the existing inventory of unsold homes. According to news reports, the administration is considering a plan that would allow all homeowners whose mortgages are guaranteed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac to refinance at current interest rates.
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Joey Vento: An Assimilation Warrior 8.25.11
Author: Michelle Malkin
Thu, Aug 25, 2011
Blunt. Brash. Bold. Politically incorrect. Unapologetically patriotic. Philadelphia cheese-steak king Joey Vento was all that and a side of freedom fries. The 71-year-old owner of Geno's Steaks died of a heart attack this week, but he reignited a national debate over radical multiculturalism that will burn for years to come.
Five years ago, Vento garnered national headlines when a local newspaper profiled his outspoken views on customers who couldn't speak English. He hung a sign in his order window that read: "This is America. When ordering, speak English." Though he never turned anyone away, the grandson of Italian immigrants informed hungry patrons that he reserved the "right to refuse service" to those he couldn't understand.
No menus in 10 different languages. No dumbed-down pictographs for the idiocracy. The choice at Geno's is simple: Sink or swim. Learn English or eat somewhere else. "If you can't tell me what you want, I can't serve you," Vento told the Philadelphia Inquirer. "It's up to you. If you can't read, if you can't say the word 'cheese,' how can I communicate with you -- and why should I have to bend? I got a business to run."
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Kerosene Maxine to Tea Party: "Go to Hell!" 8.24.11
Author: Larry Elder
Wed, Aug 24, 2011
"I'm not afraid of anybody. ... And as far as I'm concerned, the tea party can go straight to hell." -- Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif.
Waters' list of insults, vulgarities and blame-whitey scapegoating easily makes her the Al Sharpton of Congress.
Let's go to the videotape:
Waters once said of the then-sitting president: "I would like to ... say ... very clearly that I believe George (H.W.) Bush is a racist." She routinely refers to the Republican Party as "the enemy." She also referred to Republican former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan as a "plantation owner."
She called the 1992 Los Angeles riots a "rebellion," and bellowed, "No justice, no peace!" She defended looters: "There were mothers who took this as an opportunity to take some milk, to take some bread, to take some shoes. Maybe they shouldn't have done it, but the atmosphere was such that they did it. They are not crooks." Waters said: "One lady said her children didn't have any shoes. She just saw those shoes there, a chance for all of her children to have new shoes. Goddamn it! It was such a tear-jerker. I might have gone in and taken them for her myself."
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'Victory' in Libya 8.24.11
Author: Steve Chapman
Wed, Aug 24, 2011
For a president blanketed in gloom, the rebel victory in Libya comes as a welcome ray of sunshine. It took a lot longer than expected, but Barack Obama managed to help bring about the downfall of Moammar Gadhafi. Having avoided the danger of defeat, he now has to worry only about something equally scary: the perils of victory.
The triumph, whole or partial, does not exactly vindicate his decision to enter the fight. It was a needless war that put Americans in harm's way, cost nearly a billion dollars and exposed Libya to the possibility of disastrous turmoil in the aftermath.
Not only that, but it could still go tragically awry. When we intervened in Libya, we did so without much knowledge or understanding of the society. For all we know, the country could fall into the hands of our enemies.
As in Iraq, we took it upon ourselves to begin the transformation of another country with barely a clue where it might lead. In some ways, this enterprise resembles the war that Obama gained stature by opposing: George W. Bush's invasion of Iraq.
Each was a war of choice, not a response to attack. Just as Bush raised the imaginary specter of Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction, Obama inflated the dubious claim that we had to prevent Gadhafi from carrying out genocide.
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Traveling Back to the Future on Intercity Buses 8.24.11
Author: Michael Barone
Wed, Aug 24, 2011
Not long ago, I wrote about how the private sector outraces and laps government. While governments dither and dispute, the private sector discovers.
The example I mentioned then was energy. For years, governments, national and local, have been promoting wind and solar power, to little practical effect. Curiously, the biggest wind power producer is Rick Perry's Texas. But wind power isn't reliable, and both wind and solar cause serious damage to the environment.
In the meantime, the oil and gas industries -- the favorite target of Barack Obama and congressional Democrats -- have developed new techniques of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing (fracking) that have vastly expanded recoverable American energy supplies.
Now across my laptop comes news of another area in which private sector actors have overtaken government. Again an older technology has been improved and adapted to fill a need, while government dithers.
The old technology in this case is buses.
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Christie, Palin, Ryan: the New Candidates? 8.23.11
Author: Dick Morris
Wed, Aug 24, 2011
Three new candidates are slowly circling above the GOP presidential race. Will they land or fly on by? New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin and House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan are in various stages of contemplating possible candidacies.
Let's start with Palin. A good Iowa source tells me that she is preparing a massive event in his state on Sept. 3rd, very possibly to announce her presidential candidacy. It would be a huge mistake, but it would help the Republicans defeat President Obama!
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Pander-Mandate Mania! 8.23.11
Author: Michelle Malkin
Wed, Aug 24, 2011
Hey, you know what the beleaguered American economy could really use right now? More special-interest mandates imposed by the White House on employers and taxpayers. Team Obama is "Winning the Future" by strangling it in red, green and rainbow-colored tape.
In a hapless bid to mollify minority politicians and criminal flash mobs of jobless hooligans in their districts across the country, the White House last week issued an executive order "establishing a coordinated government-wide initiative to promote diversity and inclusion in the federal workforce." Apparently, as record numbers of people collect food stamps and unemployment benefits, what's really eating at them isn't their hopeless dependency. It's the skin color, national origin and gender breakdown of the Nanny State drones doling out their public benefits.
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'Science' When It Suits Them 8.23.11
Author: David Harsanyi
Wed, Aug 24, 2011
So every now and then, liberals are treated to a big self-righteous laugh at the expense of some backwoods Christian conservative candidate who "ignores science" by doubting evolution or global warming -- or, gasp, both.
Much, for instance, has been made of Texas Gov. Rick Perry's recent suggestion that evolution is a "theory that's out there" with "gaps in it." He even insinuated that evolution and creationism should (SET ITAL) both (END ITAL) be taught in schools -- because folks are "smart enough to figure out which one is right."
Sanctimony to red alert!
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Liberating Libya 8.23.11
Author: Jacob Sullum
Wed, Aug 24, 2011
After U.S.-backed Libyan rebels entered Tripoli on Sunday, The Washington Post noted that NATO "has been anxious not to be seen acting as the rebel air force in a coordinated strategy" because its "United Nations mandate is limited to the protection of Libyan civilians."
Still, a "senior NATO official" admitted, the alliance's firepower and intelligence sharing helped bring about "the collapse of the regime and its capability to direct its forces," so "the effect of what we were doing was not dissimilar."
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Obama Is a Robot That Needs Reprogramming 8.22.11
Author: David Limbaugh
Tue, Aug 23, 2011
President Obama's legacy is shaping up to be a recurring cycle of rhetorical failures chasing policy failures, an endless, stupefying effort to convince us of the wisdom of pursuing -- again and again -- policies that have already failed.
This point is reinforced as we read reports about Obama's umpteenth luxurious golf outing while our economy and financial condition approach DEFCON 2 and Middle East turmoil continues apace.
From the superficial snippets we get from the liberal media, Obama doesn't seem to be too concerned with either domestic or foreign policy while on the links, but to the extent he allocates thought to either, he's contemplating his next speech more than deliberating over any substantive decisions.
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Paul Ryan's Secret Weapon 8.22.11
Author: Mona Charen
Tue, Aug 23, 2011
"The best lack all conviction while the worst are full of passionate intensity." -- W. B Yeats
Actually, contra Yeats, (set ital) our (end ital) best are full of passionate intensity -- except when it comes to running for president. The Tea Party shows no sign of obliging the media by fading away. Yet one after another, each of several promising prospects on the Republican bench -- Haley Barbour, Mitch Daniels, Chris Christie, Paul Ryan -- has begged off . . . or seemed to.
Gov. Rick Perry did take the plunge. And he is no slouch. As the governor who has presided over the most economically vibrant of American states at a time when the rest of country is beginning to feel downright frightened, his one-sentence summation is powerful -- "He will put America back to work." He delivers a fine speech (see his announcement for president), actually enjoys the process of pressing the flesh and campaigning (voters can always tell -- just ask Bill Clinton) and seems to be a prodigious fundraiser.
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Obama Smuggling Guns and Registering Yours 8.22.11
Author: Chuck Norris
Tue, Aug 23, 2011
President Barack Obama wants you to believe that America's Founding Fathers were in error when they gave citizens the right to bear arms.
The Obama administration and even its Mexican counterpart have manipulated public opinion to believe that the cartel drug wars are being fueled largely by American guns. In support of that spin, they are trying to impose a new regulation that requires licensed firearms dealers in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California to report to the federal government whenever someone buys from them more than one semiautomatic rifle with certain characteristics.
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Legal Obedience 8.22.11
Author: Walter Williams
Tue, Aug 23, 2011
What laws are we morally obligated to obey? Help with the answer can be found in "Economic Liberty and the Constitution," a 66-page pamphlet by Jacob G. Hornberger, founder and president of The Future of Freedom Foundation.
Hornberger offers a hypothetical whereby Congress enacts a compulsory church attendance law that requires children to attend church service each Sunday. Parents are penalized if their children fail to comply. Would there be any moral or constitutional legitimacy to such a congressional mandate? The law would be a clear violation of one's natural, or God-given, rights to life and liberty. As to whether it would be constitutional, we have to see whether mandating church attendance is one of those enumerated powers of Congress found in Article 1, Section 8 of our Constitution. We'd find no such authority. Our anti-federalist Founding Fathers didn't trust Congress with religious liberty, so they sought to protect it with the First Amendment to explicitly deny Congress the power to mandate religious conduct. Suppose there's widespread popular support for a church-going mandate and the U.S. Supreme Court rules it constitutional; do Americans have a moral obligation to obey the law?
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Ingratitude, Insolence and Entitlement 8.18.11
Author: Linda Chavez
Fri, Aug 19, 2011
The riots that have wracked England should be a sober warning to the United States: This is what happens when a country breeds a generation of welfare dependents who are happy to bite the hand that feeds them. For days, roaming gangs of young people engaged in looting, setting fires, intimidating citizens, even killing innocents.
Speaking to a special session of Parliament, Prime Minister David Cameron said, "This is not about poverty, it's about culture, a culture that glorifies violence, shows disrespect to authority, and says everything about rights but nothing about responsibilities."
He's right.
Liberals in England and the United States have tried to explain the riots by pointing to the Tory government's proposed austerity plans. But it's not the cutbacks in social services that are the problem but the welfare state itself that has taught generations that society owed them a living; that the government -- not parents -- were responsible for raising children; that those who worked hard were either suckers or exploiters; that those who didn't work were entitled to the fruits of other people's labor.
Cameron pledged his government would "address our broken society, we will restore a stronger sense of morality and responsibility -- in every town, in every street and in every estate." But it's a tall order.
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Fiasco: Obama's Mideast Mess 8.18.11
Author: Oliver North
Fri, Aug 19, 2011
Having completed his three-state "Midwest listening tour," President Barack Obama is now on vacation on Martha's Vineyard. According to his handlers, in between golf outings and cocktail parties, our president also is working on yet another speech on how he will balance our government's books and put Americans back to work. Those who believe that ought to recall his remarks March 22, five days after U.S. and allied military operations began in Libya: "I said at the outset that this was going to be a matter of days and not weeks."
This week, we passed the five-month mark since U.S. and NATO airstrikes began in Libya. Nearly 30,000 air missions -- including more than 250 cruise missile strikes -- have been flown since Obama announced that the U.S. military's "unique capabilities" would be used to "take down Libyan air defenses." Rebel units armed, trained and supported by British and French special operations units are inching toward Tripoli, but Moammar Gadhafi remains in power, and his depredations against the Libyan people continue. On Tuesday, forces loyal to the dictator fired at least one Scud missile -- a weapon capable of delivering chemical warheads -- at opponents of his regime.
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Smacking down Progressives of Pallor 8.18.11
Author: Michelle Malkin
Fri, Aug 19, 2011
Is there anything more condescending than a porcelain-skinned Hollywood liberal who attempts to show her presumed solidarity with minorities by referring to them as "people of color"?
Yes, there is: Two porcelain-skinned liberals attempting to show their allegiance to "diversity" by attacking "people of color" who happen to disagree with their radical politics.
Such an exchange took place on a little-watched television show on Al Gore's obscure cable network Wednesday night. I am spotlighting the diatribe for you not because the speakers involved hold any sway with the American electorate, but because paternalistic racism is so prevalent among the media-entertainment elite.
And it's about time someone knocked these self-appointed Saviors of the Oppressed off their high horses.
Actress Janeane Garofalo -- a former comedian turned Republican-bashing sourpuss -- appeared on the Current TV talk show of disgraced former MSNBC host Keith Olbermann. Because she has no actual career achievements or noteworthy projects to discuss, the pair turned to one of their favorite topics: bashing the tea party movement, with an ample dish of vast-right-wing-conspiracy-mongering on the side.
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Autocrats Gotta Know Their Limitations, Too 8.18.11
Author: David Limbaugh
Fri, Aug 19, 2011
Why aren't more people offended by the autocrat President Obama for always telling people what to do on economic matters when he obviously has no idea what he's doing?
I might have used the term "dictator" or "tyrant," but seeing as Obama is telling carmakers what kind of cars they should make, "autocrat" is especially fitting.
You can't make this up. He told carmakers that they should concentrate on building smaller and more fuel-efficient automobiles. He said: "You can't just make money on SUVs and trucks. There is a place for SUVs and trucks, but as gas prices keep on going up, you have got to understand the market."
That's right. That's exactly what he said, unless my sources misreported the beleaguered chief executive. With no experience in business and with no appreciation for how markets work, he's telling businessmen they need to understand the market.
Anyone who understood the market wouldn't suggest that suppliers start making product they have no reason to believe would be sold. Anyone who understood the market would know that a private-sector manufacturer's fiat works no better than a president's to stimulate demand, unless, perhaps, there were a monopoly environment and manufacturers could collude to produce only the product that they wanted to sell, and even then it would be highly unlikely.
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A False Remedy for Sex Offenders 8.17.11
Author: Steve Chapman
Wed, Aug 17, 2011
At age 14, J.L. impregnated his girlfriend in a consensual encounter. This was bad news on several grounds, the worst being that she was 15 months younger. Convicted of rape for having sex with a 12-year-old, he will have to register as a sex offender -- for the rest of his life.
Last month, the South Dakota Supreme Court upheld the verdict, while admitting it made little sense. "Application of the first-degree rape statute to the present facts does not create an unintended absurdity," the justices concluded. The absurdity must have been deliberate.
J.L. isn't the only person to be ensnared by ridiculous interpretations of laws affecting sex offenders. A Michigan man convicted in 1984 of rape was supposed to report his home address to police after getting out of prison in 2002. Being homeless, he tried to comply by providing the address of a homeless shelter where he got his meals.
Not good enough, said the Michigan Supreme Court a few weeks ago. It said he can be sent back to jail for failing to file the address of whatever spot he laid his head each night.
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Harry S. Obama? 8.17.11
Author: Michael Barone
Wed, Aug 17, 2011
Pundits lately have been comparing Barack Obama to Jimmy Carter, suggesting he is a likely loser in 2012. But my American Enterprise Institute colleague Norman Ornstein, writing in The New Republic, compares Obama to Harry S. Truman, suggesting he may outperform the polls and win.
It's always helpful to be reminded that early polls may not be predictive and that opinion can change, as was the case when Truman won in 1948 and when Carter lost in 1980. But we should keep in mind that today's polls are better and more frequent than they were 63 years ago.
Gallup's last 1948 poll was taken between Oct. 15 and Oct. 25 and showed Thomas Dewey leading Truman by only 5 points. No contemporary pollster would quit eight days before the election after getting that result.
There are in fact major differences between Truman's standing in 1947-48 and Obama's standing today. Contrary to Truman's "do-nothing" characterization of the Republican 80th Congress, it in fact did a lot. It repealed wartime wage and price controls, cut taxes deeply and passed the Taft-Hartley Act, limiting the powers of labor unions.
None of those actions was reversed by the Democratic Congress elected with Truman in 1948. Many congressional Democrats in those days were anti-New Deal conservatives. Truman won many votes from Democrats still upset about the Civil War. Few such votes will be available to Obama or congressional Democrats in 2012.
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The Department of Failed Ideas 8.16.11
Author: David Harsanyi
Tue, Aug 16, 2011
The Obama administration is finally going to focus on jobs -- again. Jobs, jobs, jobs. And nothing says jobs like food stamps, unemployment insurance and a shiny new federal department of ... yes, jobs!
Some of you may find President Barack Obama's three-day campaign bus tour through Minnesota, Iowa and Illinois a considerable downer. Not that it's the president's fault. If it weren't for Japanese earthquakes, unpatriotic Republicans, Arab springs, European welfare states collapsing, market fluctuations, Lady Luck's being a complete witch -- you know, (SET ITAL) existence (END ITAL) -- this mess could have been squared away months ago.
Now, granted, before long our attention will be appropriately focused on the antics of some extreme Christian dominionist or some C-plus-average state-school graduate. The press will soon gut and fillet these interlopers for the good of the nation. In the interim, though, it's becoming tough to conceal the administration's ideological rigidity and lack of ideas.
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The Authoritarian Temptation 8.16.11
Author: Tony Blankley
Tue, Aug 16, 2011
In the weeks during and since the debt-ceiling debate, the media, pushed by the Democratic Party, has peddled the propaganda that our government is broken -- because the Republicans in the House of Representatives negotiated a better deal than the liberals wanted.
While it was President Obama and Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner who, during the debate, said they couldn't assure payments of Social Security or interest on the federal debt payments (while Republican leaders guaranteed there would be no lapse in such payments) it was the GOP that the media accused of irresponsible threats.
It is par for the course for the losing side in a congressional fight to bewail the end of democracy in America. But it is rare for the major media to push and the broader public to bite on, such a line.
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The Power To Mandate Health Insurance Is the Power To Mandate Almost Anything 8.16.11
Author: Jacob Sullum
Tue, Aug 16, 2011
Opponents of the federal law requiring Americans to buy government-approved medical coverage face a daunting challenge. Because the U.S. Supreme Court has treated the power to "regulate Commerce ... among the several States" like Silly Putty since the New Deal, explaining why it cannot be stretched to cover the health insurance mandate is harder than you might think.
But as last Friday's decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit illustrated, the law's defenders have a corresponding problem. Because a limitless "commerce clause" contradicts a fundamental constitutional principle, they have to justify the mandate in a way that does not also justify every other conceivable congressional dictate regarding how we spend our money. So far, they have been unable to do so, which is the main reason the appeals court rejected this "wholly novel and potentially unbounded assertion of congressional authority."
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Rick Perry's Bad Medicine 8.16.11
Author: Michelle Malkin
Tue, Aug 16, 2011
Texas, we have a problem. Your GOP governor is running for president against Barack Obama. Yet, one of his most infamous acts as executive of the nation's second-largest state smacks of every worst habit of the Obama administration. And his newly crafted rationalizations for the atrocious decision are positively Clintonesque.
In February 2007, Texas Gov. Rick Perry signed a shocking executive order forcing every sixth-grade girl to submit to a three-jab regimen of the Gardasil vaccine. He also forced state health officials to make the vaccine available "free" to girls ages 9 to 18. The drug, promoted by manufacturer Merck as an effective shield against the sexually transmitted human papillomavirus (HPV) and genital warts, as well as cervical cancer, had only been approved by the Food and Drug Administration eight months prior to Perry's edict.
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Social Degeneration 8.15.11
Author: Thomas Sowell
Tue, Aug 16, 2011
Someone at long last has had the courage to tell the plain, honest truth about race.
After mobs of young blacks rampaged through Philadelphia committing violence -- as similar mobs have rampaged through Chicago, Denver, Milwaukee and other places -- Philadelphia's black mayor, Michael A. Nutter, ordered a police crackdown and lashed out at the whole lifestyle of those who did such things.
"Pull up your pants and buy a belt 'cause no one wants to see your underwear or the crack of your butt," he said. "If you walk into somebody's office with your hair uncombed and a pick in the back, and your shoes untied, and your pants half down, tattoos up and down your arms and on your neck, and you wonder why somebody won't hire you? They don't hire you 'cause you look like you're crazy," the mayor said. He added: "You have damaged your own race."
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Still the Only Solution to the World's Problems 8.15.11
Author: Dennis Prager
Tue, Aug 16, 2011
There is only one solution to the world's problems, only one prescription for producing a near-heaven on earth.
It is 3,000 years old.
And it is known as the Ten Commandments.
Properly understood and applied, the Ten Commandments are really all humanity needs to make a beautiful world. While modern men and women, in their hubris, believe that they can and must come up with new ideas in order to make a good world, the truth is there is almost nothing new to say.
If people and countries lived by the Ten Commandments, all the great moral problems would disappear.
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Ominous Parallels 8.15.11
Author: Walter Williams
Tue, Aug 16, 2011
People are beginning to compare Barack Obama's administration to the failed administration of Jimmy Carter, but a better comparison is to the Roosevelt administration of the 1930s and '40s. Let's look at it with the help of a publication from the Mackinac Center for Public Policy and the Foundation for Economic Education titled "Great Myths of the Great Depression," by Dr. Lawrence Reed.
During the first year of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal, he called for increasing federal spending to $10 billion while revenues were only $3 billion. Between 1933 and 1936, government expenditures rose by more than 83 percent. Federal debt skyrocketed by 73 percent. Roosevelt signed off on legislation that raised the top income tax rate to 79 percent and then later to 90 percent. Hillsdale College economics historian and professor Burt Folsom, author of "New Deal or Raw Deal?", notes that in 1941, Roosevelt even proposed a 99.5 percent marginal tax rate on all incomes more than $100,000. When a top adviser questioned the idea, Roosevelt replied, "Why not?"
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Debate Leaves Republican Field Unaltered 8.12.11
Author: Michael Barone
Sat, Aug 13, 2011
Never before has there been a televised presidential candidates debate so short a time before the Iowa Republicans' Ames straw poll. Last night's debate, co-sponsored by The Washington Examiner and Fox News Channel, provided plenty of spirited conflict and some unscripted, or at least unanticipated, moments.
The sharpest conflict came between the two candidates from next-door Minnesota, who, they assured us, are anything but twins. Former Gov. Tim Pawlenty, who has spent more time and money in Iowa than anyone else on the stage but has been lagging behind Rep. Michele Bachmann, launched the sharpest attack of the evening.
He called her record of accomplishment and results in Congress "nonexistent." And he said she has "a record of misstating and making false statements." Later he said: "Leading and failing is not the objective. Leading and getting results is the objective."
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Why Obama Looks So Bad 8.12.11
Author: Steve Chapman
Sat, Aug 13, 2011
Barack Obama came into office aspiring to bridge the chasm between liberals and conservatives, red states and blue states, and behold, the gulf is gone. People in each camp heartily agree that as a president, he's a disappointment and a flop. Both sides even compare him to Jimmy Carter.
Karl Rove, who was George W. Bush's political adviser, sorrowfully concludes that Obama is "weak, dazed and over his head." A New York Times editorial, appalled at the debt ceiling agreement, derides him for "a nearly complete capitulation to the hostage-taking demands of Republican extremists."
Newsweek's Michael Tomasky says his failures prove him ignorant of history and incapable of change. One-third of Democrats want Hillary Clinton or someone else to challenge him in next year's primaries.
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There Is Just No Satisfying Liberals 8.11.11
Author: David Limbaugh
Thu, Aug 11, 2011
What is 2011 if not a dramatic global outworking of the abysmal failures of liberalism? Their failures are everywhere, but liberals are no closer to abandoning their political theology than they were, say, five years ago.
Every marginally intelligent person must know that events unfolding in Britain are a likely foreshadowing of what's in store for us if we don't radically alter our ways. Unchastened and undaunted, liberals keep their collective foot on the big-government accelerator. There's no governor on the liberal golf cart.
For years, the more responsible among us have been warning about spending and unsustainable entitlements, and the left has mocked. But this past year, it's as if God has been trying, with increasingly urgent alarms, to get our attention, to no avail.
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Ingratitude, Insolence and Entitlement -- Brought to You by the Welfare State 8.11.11
Author: Linda Chavez
Thu, Aug 11, 2011
The riots that have wracked England in the last week should be a sober warning to the United States: This is what happens when a country breeds a generation of welfare dependents who are happy to bite the hand that feeds them. For days, roaming gangs of young people have engaged in looting, setting fires, intimidating citizens, even killing innocents.
Speaking to a special session of Parliament, Prime Minister David Cameron said, "This is not about poverty, it's about culture, a culture that glorifies violence, shows disrespect to authority, and says everything about rights but nothing about responsibilities."
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The Fire This Time 8.11.11
Author: Pat Buchanan
Thu, Aug 11, 2011
You've damaged your own race," said Mayor Michael Nutter to the black youths of Philadelphia whose flash mobs have been beating and robbing shoppers in the fashionable district of downtown.
"Take those God-darn hoodies down," the mayor went on in his blistering lecture. "Pull your pants up and buy a belt, 'cause no one wants to see your underwear or the crack of your butt."
And the mayor had some advice for teenagers looking for work.
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The Debt Panel's Patty Murray Problem 8.11.11
Author: Michelle Malkin
Thu, Aug 11, 2011
Everything that's wrong with the so-called debt "super-committee" can be summed up in the person, partisan hackery and policy ignorance of Washington Democratic Sen. Patty Murray.
On Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid named Murray co-chair of the dog-and-pony deficit-reduction panel tasked with identifying $1.5 trillion in spending cuts by late November. Murray, an unrepentant Nanny State cheerleader and patron saint of the Washington lobbyist, is a double-exclamation point on the debt deal's rotten joke.
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Mitt, Apologize for RomneyCare -- or Forget the Nomination 8.10.11
Author: Larry Elder
Wed, Aug 10, 2011
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney wants to be president. And a plurality of Republican voters want him to be president. Recent polls show Republican nominee Romney beating President Barack Obama. Three big issues, however, threaten to implode the GOP front-runner's nomination, let alone general election victory: RomneyCare, RomneyCare and RomneyCare.
Few things unite the tea party, the GOP caucus/primary activists and the knock-on-doors, hang-the-signs, ring-the-phone volunteers more than their universal hatred of ObamaCare. Most Americans want ObamaCare repealed, some because it lacks a "public option." But the tea party-like Republicans -- and even regular Republicans -- overwhelmingly support ObamaCare repeal. It is up there with the worst legislation ever signed.
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How Iowa's Straw Poll Can Lead to the Presidency 8.10.11
Author: Michael Barone
Wed, Aug 10, 2011
Why Iowa? It was the 29th state to be admitted to the Union, it is the 30th state in population, it has given the nation Grant Wood's "American Gothic" and Meredith Willson's "The Music Man." It has long been the nation's number one corn- and hog-producing state.
But nothing in the Constitution says that Iowa gets to vote for president before any other state. It just does. For years, Iowa like many states had precinct caucuses that elected delegates to county conventions, which in turn elected delegates to the state convention, which then elected delegates to the national convention.
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Sorry, Guys, There Are No More Kings 8.9.11
Author: David Harsanyi
Wed, Aug 10, 2011
The romance is gone. But don't worry. It's not him; it's you.
It turns out we are the ones who failed Him. We weren't prepared for a mega-dosage of awesomeness. We were too dimwitted to grasp the decency of central planning. And the insistence of troublemakers to engage in debate and vote, in fact, is the most serious threat to this nation's future.
In a recent New York Times piece, Drew Westen, a professor of psychology and a Democratic strategist, wrote that the American public had been "desperate for a leader who would speak with confidence, and they were ready to follow wherever the president led." Do Americans really have some innate autocratic tendency that makes them desperately seek out a half-term senator "wherever" he may lead?
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Amending the 10th Amendment 8.9.11
Author: Jacob Sullum
Wed, Aug 10, 2011
Evidently Rick Perry is a Christian. But does he have to make such a big deal out of it?
"As a nation," the governor of my state declared when he announced the prayer rally that attracted more than 30,000 people to Houston's Reliant Stadium on Saturday, "we must come together and call upon Jesus to guide us through unprecedented struggles and thank Him for the blessings of freedom we so richly enjoy." My response to The Response: No, thanks. My people have managed without Jesus for thousands of years. Why start now?
In truth, however, I was not terribly insulted at being excluded from Perry's giant church service. Even if I drove on Saturdays, I would not have been thrilled by the idea of a four-hour trip to Houston for seven hours of hymns, prayer, fasting and repentance. I get enough of that on Yom Kippur.
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The End of the World Is not Nigh 8.9.11
Author: Tony Blankley
Wed, Aug 10, 2011
Except according to the Lord's plans -- which are not known to man -- the "end of the world" is not nigh, although to listen to politicians and pundits, we should be packed and ready to go by next Thursday.
Recently, the headlines have read like Woody Allen's 1979 "My Speech to the Graduates": "More than any other time in history, mankind faces a crossroads. One path leads to despair and utter hopelessness. The other, to total extinction. Let us pray we have the wisdom to choose correctly. I speak, by the way, not with any sense of futility, but with a panicky conviction."
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Mr. Green Jobs Boondoggle Rides Again 8.9.11
Author: Michelle Malkin
Wed, Aug 10, 2011
Van Jones, President Obama's disgraced green jobs czar, is back with a radical progressive plan to rescue America ... from his old boss.
The problem, posits Jones, is that his fellow community organizer in the White House hasn't spent enough, regulated enough or taxed enough to achieve their perverse version of the "American Dream." What the country needs to "get the economy back on track," according to Jones and his league of leftists, is more government-created make-work. Oh, and a hefty side of Big Labor pork.
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Ignorance, Stupidity or Connivance? 8.8.11
Author: Walter Williams
Tue, Aug 9, 2011
President Barack Obama has called for a luxury tax on corporate jets as a means to generate revenue to fight federal deficits. The president's economic advisers ought to be fired for not telling him that doing so is unwise and counterproductive. They might have already told him so, only to have the president say, "Look, I know you're right, but I'm exploiting the public's envy of the rich!" Let's look at what happened when Obama's predecessor George H.W. Bush signed the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990 and broke his "read my lips" vow not to agree to new taxes.
When Congress imposed a 10 percent luxury tax on yachts, private airplanes and expensive automobiles, Sen. Ted Kennedy and then-Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell crowed publicly about how the rich would finally be paying their fair share of taxes. What actually happened is laid out in a Heartland Institute blog post by Edmund Contoski titled "Economically illiterate Obama, re: Corporate Jets" (7/12/2011).
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A Pyrrhic 'Victory' 8.8.11
Author: Thomas Sowell
Tue, Aug 9, 2011
In Don Marquis' classic satirical book, "Archy and Mehitabel," Mehitabel the alley cat asks plaintively, "What have I done to deserve all these kittens?"
That seems to be the pained reaction of the Obama administration to the financial woes that led to the downgrading of America's credit rating, for the first time in history.
There are people who see no connection between what they have done and the consequences that follow. But Barack Obama is not likely to be one of them. He is a savvy politician who will undoubtedly be satisfied if enough voters fail to see a connection between what he has done and the consequences that followed.
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Spending Is Just Our Second-Biggest Problem 8.8.11
Author: David Limbaugh
Tue, Aug 9, 2011
Being a disciple of Saul Alinsky might not be so easy as it would appear. President Obama and his minions obviously can't decide whom to scapegoat for the nation's credit downgrade and our financial crisis.
One thing is for sure: It's not in Barack Obama to accept personal responsibility for the consequences of his actions and policies. He still won't own this economy and the exploding spending spiral, reminding us at every turn that our problems are a result of what he "inherited" from President Bush.
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A Tragic Time in America 8.8.11
Author: Chuck Norris
Tue, Aug 9, 2011
Tragically, on Aug. 6, 30 U.S. service members -- 22 of them belonging to the same elite unit that killed Osama bin Laden -- were killed when their CH-47 Chinook helicopter was shot down during fighting in Afghanistan, allegedly by the Taliban. This was the deadliest incident for U.S. forces in the 10-year war.
During my two trips to Iraq, I had the honor of meeting many members of SEAL Team 6, and my brother Aaron is very close to many of them, as well. My wife, Gena, and I, along with my brother Aaron and his wife, Becki, send our deepest condolences and prayers to the families of these brave warriors. There are no words to describe the loss these families are facing, and they will need our greatest support, not only now but also in the future.
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Americans Want the Honor of 'Earned Success' 8.5.11
Author: Michael Barone
Mon, Aug 8, 2011
Why aren't voters moving to the left, toward parties favoring bigger government, during what increasingly looks like an economic depression? That's a question I've asked, and one that was addressed with characteristic thoughtfulness by Democratic pollster Stanley Greenberg in The New York Times last week.
Greenberg argues that voters agree with Democrats on issues but don't back them on policy because they don't trust government to carry it out fairly. I think he overstates their agreements on policies: They may favor "investment in education" until they figure out that it actually means political payoffs to teachers' unions.
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Flights from Nowhere 8.5.11
Author: Steve Chapman
Mon, Aug 8, 2011
As a resident of Illinois, I'd never had any particular desire to fly from McCook, Neb, to Denver. But lately, I've been looking for an opportunity. Turns out the federal government is willing to pay me a handsome fee to do it.
Oh, I wouldn't get the cash directly. But the Department of Transportation provides more than $2 million to subsidize that particular route, which works out to about $1,000 for every passenger. My fare, meanwhile, would be less than $150.
I could get an even bigger hand on the hop from Lewistown, Mont., to Billings -- $1,343. But if I'm feeling the need for indulgence, there is nothing to beat the flight from Ely, Nev., to Denver, for which Washington will kick in $3,720. For that sum, of course, it could buy me a perfectly functional used car.
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Beware Those "Radical" Ideas 8.4.11
Author: Mona Charen
Thu, Aug 4, 2011
Anticipating his entry into the presidential race, the Washington Post ran a long piece on Texas Governor Rick Perry's ideas about higher education. "A man of grand plans," the headline warned, "criticized as not sweating the details." Are the headline writers at the Post on summer break? Did the temps have to dust off headlines from the Reagan era? Reagan's ideas were constantly dismissed by the bien passant as "simplistic." So anyone who gets tagged as simplistic by the Post gets an immediate benefit-of-the-doubt from me. As Margaret Thatcher said at Reagan's funeral, " . . . his ideas, though clear, were never simplistic. He saw the many sides of truth."
So what has Perry done to earn this epithet? He's taken on the higher education establishment in Texas. He has proposed - gasp -- that Texas's four-year institutions develop a plan to offer bachelor's degrees for no more than $10,000. "Skeptics," the Post tells us, say that the goal cannot be achieved without sacrificing "academic quality and prestige." It shows, these same unnamed critics assert, that the governor has a "record of plunging into splashy ventures, at times, despite the complexities, constituencies, or sensitivities involved."
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An Appeal for GOP Unity 8.4.11
Author: David Limbaugh
Thu, Aug 4, 2011
Before moving on, I'd like to take one more stab at explaining the differing viewpoints of the opposing sides in the contentious internecine conservative debate over the debt ceiling and also assess the deal's winners and losers.
I honestly believe there were reasonable grounds for disagreement among conservatives concerning the best strategy and tactics to tackle what they agree -- if all Democrats don't -- to be a national debt crisis. By failing to cut one another slack, we'll only serve to divide our coalition and impede our shared agenda.
Those supporting the deal, recognizing that Republicans control the House but neither the Senate nor the presidency, believed that congressional leaders had negotiated the best deal they could with Democrats and that we should agree to it. If not, they feared, we might face a default with unpredictable fallout, hurting the economy and the GOP's chances in 2012, which both sides agree would have calamitous national consequences.
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Schooling Matt Damon 8.4.11
Author: Michelle Malkin
Thu, Aug 4, 2011
Actor Matt Damon is a walking, talking public service reminder to immunize your children early and often against La-La-Land disease.
In Damon's world, all public school teachers are selfless angels. Government workers and Hollywood entertainers are impervious to economic incentives. And anyone who disagrees is a know-nothing, "corporate reformer" ingrate who hates education.
Last week, the liberal box-office star addressed a "Save Our Schools" march in Washington at the behest of his mother, a professor of early childhood education. He attacked standardized tests. He praised all the public school teachers who "empowered" him and unlocked his creative potential by rejecting "silly drill and kill nonsense." Speaking on behalf of "an army of regular people," Damon decried the demoralization of teachers by ruthless, results-oriented free marketeers whom he mocked as "simple-minded."
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Obama Won Debt Debate -- He Just Doesn't Know It 8.3.11
Author: Larry Elder
Wed, Aug 3, 2011
So, who "won" the debt ceiling standoff? President Barack Obama -- for two reasons.
First, the tea party-influenced GOP stopped his job-killing bucket list: higher taxes, more "stimulus," union card check, and cap and trade, among the items. Whatever the economy does going forward, it will be better than had Obama and the Dems not been whacked. The policies of the last two-and-a-half years -- ObamaCare, "stimulus," bailouts, regulation, "green technology investments," "quantitative easing" (or as normal people would say, printing money), taxing and threatening to raise taxes further -- have failed. The debt-ceiling debate -- plus the new Republican majority in the House and the Democrats' loss of their Senate supermajority -- changes the game for the rest of his presidency.
Even as the President's policies harm the economy, there is an absolute boom in manufacturing excuses for the dismal results. One member of the administration's economic team blamed the debt ceiling debate: "(The problem) is the cloud of uncertainty that comes from the American public thinking that we are on the verge of default. And that has hurt confidence and hurt our economy over the last few months. No question." Well, yeah, except the weak economic numbers long preceded the debt ceiling debate.
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Chasing Votes by Promising to Do Impossible Things 8.3.11
Author: Michael Barone
Wed, Aug 3, 2011
"Leading from behind." That's what an unnamed White House aide told the New Yorker's Ryan Lizza that Barack Obama was doing on Libya.
It's an apt description of Obama's feckless handling of the debt ceiling debate. He kept calling for a tax increase even though there was never a majority in either house of Congress for one and even after Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid dropped any such demand.
But leading from behind is also a description of what most of the declared and all-but-declared Republican presidential candidates were doing on the debt limit issue.
Two backed the deal -- Jon Huntsman, who has not yet won widespread support, and Thaddeus McCotter, who seems to be running a whimsical campaign, though he is a serious member of Congress.
The two other candidates with a vote on the issue voted no. Ron Paul, often a lonely nay in the House, was a predictable no. Michele Bachmann, a backbencher in her three House terms, said the deal "spends too much and doesn't cut enough."
Others said little or nothing. The Daily Caller couldn't get comments from spokesmen for Herman Cain or Rick Santorum. Rick Perry, not yet a declared candidate, said he liked the cut, cap and balance bill passed in the House but rejected in the Senate.
Tim Pawlenty called the deal "nothing to celebrate," and Newt Gingrich said it could be "a destructive failure." Mitt Romney, running on his supposed economic expertise, said, "While I appreciate the extraordinarily difficult situation President Obama's lack of leadership has placed Republican members of Congress in, I personally cannot support this deal."
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The 10th Amendment and Phony Federalism 8.3.11
Author: Steve Chapman
Wed, Aug 3, 2011
The 10th Amendment to the Constitution is like the skinny teenage girl who blossoms over the summer and suddenly finds herself besieged by suitors. Once ignored, it has found a host of champions among Republican presidential candidates who are competing to show their devotion.
The amendment contains just one sentence: "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."
It is a bulwark of federalism, which allows states the freedom to adopt different policies reflecting their peculiar circumstances. It was meant as a check on those who would demand uniform practices from one end of America to the other.
Given the conservative preference for local control and distrust of national mandates, it's no surprise to hear Republicans asserting the central importance of this provision. In his book "Fed Up," Texas Gov. Rick Perry said attacks on the 10th Amendment have led to "unprecedented federal intrusion into numerous facets of our lives."
When he was governor of Minnesota, Tim Pawlenty said he might invoke the amendment to resist implementing President Barack Obama's health care reform. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney used it to explain why his state health program is constitutional while Obama's is not. Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., is also fond of citing it.
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When We Balance the Budget, the Terrorists Have Won 8.2.11
Author: David Harsanyi
Tue, Aug 2, 2011
You know what they say; one man's terrorist is another man's democratically elected congressman.
That's just one of the many lessons of the debt ceiling compromise, a deal that heralds a new era of electrifying political rhetoric. Nazis are out. Jihadists are in.
The tea party "acted like terrorists," Joe Biden reportedly said of negotiations. One reasonable New York Times columnist called the tea party the "Hezbollah faction" of the GOP, and the other advised the radicals to "put aside their suicide vests" -- for now. And in a sweeping assault on the tea party, metaphors, syntax and clarity, MSNBC's Chris Matthews packed everything he'd read on the blogs into a glorious globule of rhetorical confusion.
But fret not. Terrorist analogies are welcome when democracy fails to break to the left. Republicans should never refer to the Congressional Progressive Caucus as a bunch of wealth-destroying jihadists who wear suicide vests packed with prosperity-killing stimulus plans. That kind of overheated hyperbole would be catastrophic, leading to violence and/or another alarmist Diane Sawyer television special. But Bob Beckel is just being cute when he discusses the "tea terrorist party" on Fox News. (He later apologized.)
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Back to Big Government-Spending as Usual 8.2.11
Author: Michelle Malkin
Tue, Aug 2, 2011
The American Age of Austerity lasted approximately three minutes, give or take a nanosecond. Immediately after the Senate approved the bipartisan "Budget Control Act of 2011" on Tuesday afternoon, President Obama hustled over to the Rose Garden -- to crow about the renewed opportunity to make "key investments."
Yes, the pitched battle to force government to live within its means has preserved the failed stimulator-in-chief's ability to keep spending like there's no tomorrow. As the curtains closed on D.C.'s debt-ceiling theater, Obama wasted no time putting his new "investment" priorities on the table: higher taxes, more funding for endless unemployment benefits and a "national infrastructure bank."
I don't need to bet you a super-sized bowl of peas that pushover Republicans will be ready to toss their tea party costumes under the bus and rejoin the spending parade faster than you can say "Fitch." Take that government-sponsored infrastructure bank idea. Undaunted by his spectacular porkulus bust and unemployment numbers still hovering near double-digits, Obama peddled this latest shovel-unready scheme last week:
"We've got the potential to create an infrastructure bank that could put construction workers to work right now," he asserted at a press conference, "rebuilding our roads and our bridges and our vital infrastructure all across the country. So those are still areas where I think we can make enormous progress."
How about some progress on the nearly $230 billion already allocated in the original trillion-dollar stimulus law for infrastructure, or the $73 billion in regular infrastructure appropriations spent every year by the feds? Ah, silly me. The government definition of "living within their means" requires politicians to blather, spend and repeat without regard to the consequences.
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Debt Status Quo Triumphs Over Future -- Again. 8.2.11
Author: Tony Blankley
Tue, Aug 2, 2011
The debt deal, if it sticks, is a triumph for the bipartisan, status quo-clinging Washington establishment. Here is a prediction: Between now and January 2013, total actual spending cuts will be minimal. That will result from the following: (1) The $900 billion deficit reduction is almost all back-loaded to the years beyond 2012. (2) The select committee created by the budget deal will fail to pass a "second tranche" deficit-cut package of an additional $1.5 trillion. (3) The "trigger" will be pulled that will identify an additional $1.2 trillion. (4) The pulled trigger won't require any more deficit reductions to go into effect until 2013, when a new Congress and either a new president or a re-elected President Obama will be able to re-decide (or repeal) all these decisions. That president will also have to decide what to do with the expiring Bush tax cuts, which if extended would be scored to increase deficit by $3.5 trillion over ten years. (5) The debt ceiling will not need to be raised until 2013.
It is true that the Tea Party has "won" within the context of what constitutes a political win in Washington. But have they accomplished enough to change our future? No, by this deal, they have not.
To have a chance at actually changing our future, Washington would have to risk shocking and unpredictable change that might rock, temporarily, the financial prosperity of the nation. The establishment is not ready for that. To wit: Whether to risk radical change now or not is the measure of whether to support the deal.
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Where Are These Government-Slashing Republicans I Keep Hearing About? 8.2.11
Author: Jacob Sullum
Tue, Aug 2, 2011
Two weeks ago, The New York Times reported that Republicans "want a vastly smaller government." Last week, the Times called the dispute about raising the federal debt ceiling "an epic clash over the parties' divergent views on the size and role of the federal government." This week, it said President Obama faces "a conservative movement seeking a wholesale redefinition of the proper role of government."
The recent debt deal, widely portrayed as a victory for Republicans, suggests their goals are decidedly less ambitious. As always in Washington, the "epic clash" perceived by the Times is in fact a squabble between two parties that both favor big government.
The debt deal, which authorizes the federal government to borrow another $2.1 trillion on top of the $14.3 trillion it already owes, supposedly includes "$2.5 trillion in cuts." But as Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., emphasizes, those are cuts from a projected baseline in which the national debt grows by $10 trillion during the next decade, which means "the BEST case scenario is still $7 trillion more in debt over the next 10 years."
Paul also notes that the vast majority of the "cuts" are not scheduled to take effect for years, raising serious doubts about whether they will happen at all. "Why do we believe that the goal of $2.5 trillion over 10 years ... will EVER be met," he asks, "if the first two years' cuts are $20 billion and $50 billion?"
Well, you might say, the debt deal is only the first step. But even at their boldest, House Republicans do not envision a federal government any smaller than it is now. Under the supposedly radical budget plan approved by the House in April, Cato Institute budget analyst Chris Edwards calculates, federal spending would rise by 34 percent during the next decade, compared to the 55 percent preferred by President Obama. The budget would not be balanced until 2030, while the role of the federal government would be essentially unchanged.
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Cruel Laws 8.1.11
Author: Walter Williams
Mon, Aug 1, 2011
What does it take to be able to own and operate a taxi and earn $30,000, $40,000 or more a year? You need to purchase a used car and liability insurance. Compared with other businesses, the startup cost to become a taxi owner/operator is modest; that's until you have to come up with money for a license. In May 2010, the price of a license, called a medallion, to own one taxi in New York City sold for $603,000. As referenced in my recent book, "Race and Economics," New York City is not alone. In Chicago, a taxi license costs $56,000, Boston $285,000 and Philadelphia $75,000. It's not rocket science to understand the effect of laws that produce these prices: They discriminate against anyone getting into the taxi business who lacks tens and hundreds of thousands of dollars or bank credit to be able to get a loan.
Suppose you're a trucker with an interstate license to ship goods but you want to expand to shipping goods within your state. Is it fair for the government to permit your competition to show up at your hearing, with their attorneys, to protest that your services are not needed and therefore you are denied what's called a "certificate of necessity," which would allow you to ship goods within the state? Attorney Timothy Sandefur discusses this despicable process in his recent article "CON Job," published by the Cato Institute (summer 2011). "Certificate of necessity" monopolistic restrictions exist across the country, governing a variety of industries, from moving companies and taxicabs to hospitals and car lots. The intention and the effect of these laws is to protect incumbent practitioners from open market competition, enabling them to charge higher prices as a means to higher income.
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Obama Is Fresh Out of Ideas 8.1.11
Author: David Limbaugh
Mon, Aug 1, 2011
One of the most striking facts about the course of the Obama presidency so far is that Obama has no constructive solutions for anything, which is one reason he campaigned on vague promises. It's why he established bogus metrics, such as "saved or created jobs."
It's also why he's always pointing the finger of blame on others for his policy failures. Everyone knows by now that Obama's reckless and corrupt stimulus package failed to restrain unemployment as he had promised and that instead of accepting responsibility for it, he blamed Bush.
He also played another familiar liberal card: He insisted his stimulus bill would have worked if he had been allowed to spend more money. So he started pushing for a second stimulus, all while increasing the government's regulatory stranglehold on business and cramming Obamacare down our throats.
All of which is to say -- with added emphasis -- that Obama is fresh out of ideas. Worse, he's the immovable force standing in the way of those who do have constructive proposals.
He didn't even submit a plan during the debt ceiling negotiations, and his party's Senate majority hasn't presented a budget for more than 800 days. We have a spending and entitlement problem, but Obama's ideology precludes him from addressing either. It drives him, instead, to insist on increasing taxes on the rich. But raising rates would further smother the economy and not significantly increase revenues.
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Why Obama's Economy Won't Improve 8.1.11
Author: Mona Charen
Mon, Aug 1, 2011
There are some on the right who believe that Barack Obama is intentionally steering the United States into disaster -- that he privately rejoices in the dismal economy because it partially fulfills his objective to bring the country down.
This strikes me as, at the very least, overwrought. One would have to accept the idea that Gene Sperling, Timothy Geithner and the president clapped one another on the back when the latest GDP figures arrived. ".04 percent growth in the first quarter. 1.3 percent last quarter. Way to go! We'll be in recession again in no time."
Not likely. The president and his team were no doubt surprised and dismayed by the economy's poor performance in the past six months. The president, after all, has announced for re-election. The country was supposed to be well into the Obama recovery by now. Actually, the summer of 2010 was going to be, the Obama administration promised, "recovery summer."
The president's team has taken to offering ever more creative explanations for the economy's weakness. It was George Bush's fault, or a "bump in the road," or a response to the Eurozone crisis, or a consequence of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami, or a result of the drought in the southwest. It's reminiscent of the old Soviet Union's explanation that for the 69th, 70th and 71st consecutive year, poor weather had caused a bad harvest.
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