A Fine Madness in the Washington Air By Tony Blankley
To borrow Niall Ferguson's metaphor, if finance is an evolutionary process, then regulation is its intelligent design -- which, I would add, is a cognate of faith, not science.
Political Commentary
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June 17, 2009
June 16, 2009
Deficit Worry Is the Greenest Shoot By Froma Harrop
Never mind firmer retail sales, rising stock prices and moderating job losses. The greenest shoot is Americans' changing economic fixation. There's less panic over collapsing banks, home foreclosures and the prospect of another Great Depression. Attention has moved to budget deficits and the resulting federal debt. These are worries of a more stable time, when people had the luxury of looking at the long-term.
June 16, 2009
When Detainees Get Rights They Don't Deserve By Michael Barone
It shouldn't come as a complete surprise that, as Stephen Hayes reported in The Weekly Standard, detainees in Afghanistan are now being advised of their Miranda rights by American interrogators -- that they have a right to be silent, a right to a lawyer, a right to have that lawyer paid for, etc.
June 15, 2009
Defending America’s First Amendment By Howard Rich
As limited government advocates fight to preserve individual liberties amid the onrush of President Barack Obama’s “Era of Obscenely Big Government,” one fundamental American freedom that we must be increasingly vigilant in protecting is the freedom of speech.
June 14, 2009
Armed and Extreme, but Buried in Briefs By Debra J. Saunders
After the shooting deaths of abortion provider Dr. George Tiller last month and security guard Stephen T. Johns at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum last week, I knew it was only a matter of time before I would receive an e-mail like one sent from Ann Pinkerton of Oakland:
June 12, 2009
Worrying About Israel By Susan Estrich
Am I concerned, friends ask me quietly, after we all publicly praise President Obama's monumental Cairo speech. The friends are usually, but not always, Jewish. They are all, like me, strong supporters of the state of Israel. The answer is that of course I'm concerned. I'm very concerned. But since when has a supporter of the state of Israel not been concerned?
June 12, 2009
Sotomayor, the New Yorker By Froma Harrop
While walking recently on a crowded Manhattan sidewalk, I suddenly saw a wall of water crash down from somewhere over our heads. The source was a truck from which a fat hose was pouring water on the flower baskets hanging from posts. The baskets were intended to add some charm to the urban streetscape. Nice try.
June 12, 2009
Back to the Future for Obama By Alan I. Abramowitz
Barack Obama's victory in the 2008 presidential election represented one of the most dramatic shifts in political power in American history. In terms of both style and substance, the contrast between Obama and George W. Bush is perhaps as great as that between any incoming and outgoing presidents in the modern era. Yet the historic nature of this election should not blind us to the high degree of consistency between the results of the 2008 election and previous elections. New evidence on the results of the 2008 presidential election at the congressional district level reinforces this point.
June 11, 2009
Inflation Looms: O's Deficit Dilemma By Dick Morris
It's increasingly looking like President Obama may be sunk by his own deficit.
June 11, 2009
Obama's Centers of Excellence By Debra J. Saunders
Last week, White House chief economist Christina Romer told reporters that there are "billion-dollar bills lying on the sidewalk" in America's health care system -- apparently there for the taking if only Washington would show the will to pick them up.
June 11, 2009
Qualms and Questions About Obama's Health Plan By Michael Barone
Barack Obama has said he wants to pass a national health care bill this year, with a government insurance policy option. Democratic congressional leaders have called for passage of such a bill before the beginning of the August congressional recess.
June 11, 2009
Why So Scared of a Public Plan? By Joe Conason
Within the coming weeks, Americans will begin to consider critical issues concerning the future of health care for themselves and their children, including universal coverage, taxation of benefits, computerized records and the controlling of costs. But before the debate commences in Congress and the media, big insurance and pharmaceutical companies are lobbying frantically (and spending millions of dollars) to foreclose the possibility of the most promising aspect of health care reform: a public insurance option.
June 10, 2009
Obama's Vulnerability By Dick Morris
At last there is convincing evidence that Obama’s poll numbers may be descending to earth. While his approval remains high – and his personal favorability is even higher – the underlying numbers suggest that a decline may be in the offing.
June 10, 2009
Europe Asks, Does Tomorrow Belong to Us? By Tony Blankley
Last weekend's European Parliament and British local county council elections were not only a victory for the center-right over the center-left but also, more significantly, an indication of the growing rejection of the past 60 years of denationalized and consolidating European history.
June 9, 2009
A Texas-Size Medical Lesson By Froma Harrop
McAllen, Texas, spends more per person on health care than any other metropolitan area in America, except for Miami. Why would this poor border town spend $15,000 a year per Medicare enrollee?
June 8, 2009
Obama Needs to Brush up on Middle East History By Michael Barone
For a man of his impressive educational credentials, Barack Obama has sometimes shown a surprising ignorance of history.
June 7, 2009
S .F. Students Earn Their Stripes By Debra J. Saunders
When the San Francisco school board voted last month to restore the Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps program, it seemed that sanity had prevailed -- three years after the board voted to kill the popular program. Finally, the board had put students' welfare ahead of its ruthless political correctness.
June 7, 2009
Imperfect Moments by Susan Estrich
I have hated graduations for most of my life. High school was my best, and it wasn't great: I lost out as valedictorian by one-tenth of a point, and the guys who finished third and fourth behind me both got into Harvard and I didn't. I was heading off to my last choice college, the one that had given me the big scholarship. Still, I was healthy, and my parents were both alive and there. I didn't know yet that right there, that was enough, more than I would ever have again.
June 6, 2009
Recall the Stimulus by Lawrence Kudlow
Testifying before the House Budget Committee this week, Ben Bernanke said that when the time comes, the Fed will raise interest rates in order to stop inflation from building in the next recovery. He also asked for "fiscal balance" to sustain financial stability. On the surface -- in terms of keeping prices stable and restoring value to the softening U.S. dollar -- this is positive. Surely Bernanke wants to do right for America, and he's giving it his best shot.
