He Was Supposed to Be Competent

As a child, I heard that you should not discuss politics or religion in polite company. When I broke this rule as a teenager, I learned some of the reasons why you shouldn’t. However, if you don’t discuss these issues, you can never learn, nor can you come to any consensus. Honesty seems to be the best method of arriving at acceptable solutions in compromise. What is disconcerting is polarization. My mother always told me to think for myself, and arrive at my own conclusions. She was referring to gossip at the time, but the same philosophy is applicable here. I grew up around a great many Democrats. My great-grandmother, “Granny” was from Brooklyn, New York. She used to tell me stories of how our distant relative named Al Smith had run for President as a Democrat. By her recollection, he was turned down because he was a Catholic. As she was a Catholic, she was proud that John Kennedy was elected as the first “Catholic” President. My father was a Teamster, and the union was “right” about everything. I heard stories of Harry Truman (whom I probably would have really liked) and others in politics. Continue reading Republicratarian?!

August 24, 2010

The Gaslight Journal is Done

Posted by Carla René in: Accountability, Advice, African-American, Attitude, Biography & Memoir, Book Marketing Online, Book Review, Books, Business, Business Management, Cancer, Cap and Trade, Children, China, Climate Change, Commentary, Comments & Discussion, Communications, Communism, Community, Computers, Congress, Contributor's Audio/Video, Creative Writing, Current Events, Democracy, Democrat, Diet, Economic Crisis, Economics, Education, Energy, Entertainment, Environment, Environmental Issues, Faith, Family, Fiction, Finance, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Relations, Freedom, Freelance Author, General Topics, Geopolitical Events, Global Warming, Governance, Habit Change, Health & Fitness, Healthcare, Heroes, History, Homeland Security, Humor, Inspiration & Motivation, Internet, Internet Advice, Interview, Islam, Journalism, Latino & Hispanic, Legal, Life Experiences, Lifestyle, Literature, Marketing, Marriage, Medical, Men's Issues, Mental Health, Mexico, Military, Minorities, Morality, Motivation, Music, Native American, Nature/Wildlife, Non-Fiction, Nutrition, Opinion, Personal Experiences, Philosophical Genres, Poetry, Politics, Publishing, Question of the Day, Recovery, Relationships, Religion, Republican, Rhyme, Satire, Self-Help, Sex, Short Stories, Social Aspects, Social Classes, Social Issues, Sociology, Spirituality, Sports, Technology, Television, Terrorism, The Economy, The Media, The Pundit's Corner, The Writer's Corner, Travel, Uncategorized, Website Instructions, Weight loss, Wellness, Women's Perspective, Women's Rights, Working Women, Workplace, World Issues, Writing Essentials

Begun back sometime in 2001, this book was originally a fluke of an idea… [...]

August 22, 2010

Mexico, Bloody Mexico

Posted by Alan Caruba in: Accountability, Commentary, Current Events, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Relations, Governance, Homeland Security, Latino & Hispanic, Legal, Mexico, Minorities, Opinion

Mexico, Bloody Mexico

By Alan Caruba

It is increasingly obvious that the Obama administration is more interested in protecting Mexicans than Americans.

Case in point; Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio has eleven suspects accused of murdering law enforcement officers in his maximum security county jail in downtown Phoenix. As reported in the August 18 Washington Post, “Justice Department officials in Washington have issued a rare threat to sue (Arpaio) if he does not cooperate with their investigation of whether he discriminates against Hispanics.”

“The standoff comes just weeks after the Justice Department sued Arizona and Gov. Jan Brewer because of the state’s new immigration law,” the Post noted. The latest word from Americans for Legal Immigration is that twenty-two States now have lawmakers developing versions of Arizona’s illegal immigration crackdown bill SB 1070.

So nearly half the States are aligning themselves with Arizona. Why? Continue reading Mexico, Bloody Mexico

August 19, 2010

Rocket lies to room full of liars!?

Posted by Michael Crumling in: Accountability, Commentary, Current Events, Governance, Heroes, Morality, Non-Fiction, Opinion, Politics, Sports, The Pundit's Corner

Roger Clemons is charged with lying to a room full of liars. Charlie Rangel lied about his taxes. Barney Frank lied about Fannie and Freddie. Bart Stupak lied about his health care vote. And who can forget Senator Larry “wide stance” Craig. The list could go on for pages. A majority of Congress speaks [...]

August 19, 2010

A Mosque Grows in Mahattan

Posted by Michael Crumling in: Accountability, Commentary, Current Events, Faith, Freedom, Governance, Homeland Security, Islam, Morality, Non-Fiction, Opinion, Politics, Religion, Terrorism, World Issues

5 comments

I watched with interest, a news story about people angry and suing because of a cross beside the road which honors the memory of a fallen police officer, killed in service to his community. They allege that because the police department insignia is affixed to the cross, it represents the government promotion of religion. The cross also has the officers’ name affixed. It might just represent who the man was in his life. He served his community as a police officer. Perhaps he was a Christian. One thing we do know for certain is that he is dead. He died serving the rest of us. It is hardly an example of establishment of religion. The separation of church and state is hardly relevant. It is no different than what you might see in Arlington National Cemetery, which one may note is on government property. There may be a dozen reasonable people who would be offended by this display. Continue reading A Mosque Grows in Mahattan

August 12, 2010

Short Memories, Bad Politics, Big Debt

Posted by Alan Caruba in: Accountability, Commentary, Current Events, Economic Crisis, Finance, Governance, Opinion, Politics

Short Memories, Bad Politics, Big Debt

By Alan Caruba

“We have tried spending money. We are spending more than we have ever spent before and it does not work…we have just as much unemployment as when we started…and an enormous debt to boot!” It was a decade of disaster and the man who spoke these words was Henry Morgenthau, Jr., Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Secretary of the Treasury. The date was May 9, 1939.

By then the Roosevelt administration had been in office eight years and Morgenthau was addressing his fellow Democrats on the House Ways and Means Committee. In Congress and in the White House today our nation’s leaders are repeating the same errors as their predecessors in the midst of the Great Depression. Continue reading Short Memories, Bad Politics, Big Debt

August 7, 2010

Krauthammer: Dead Wrong on the 14th

Posted by Congressman Billybob in: Commentary, Current Events, Governance, Opinion, Politics

Krauthammer: Dead Wrong on the 14th

There are parts of Fox News I cannot watch. There is that self-important blowhard. There is that worldwide ambulance chaser. But as often as I can, I watch their news program at 6 p.m. My favorite part of that program is the lightning round, and especially the contributions of Charles Krauthammer.
Charles normally dissects an issue with precision and accuracy. But not today, the 5th of August. He posed the issue whether a Congressman was right to say we need to amend the 14th Amendment to deal with the problem of anchor babies. Krauthammer made the mistake of not reading the Amendment before discussing it. So did all the other participants in the discussion.
Krauthammer correctly stated that “we should not amend the Constitution to deal with such a small problem.” He missed the opportunity to point out that the Congressman, like much of the American press and punditry, are asking the wrong question and therefore getting the wrong answer. Continue reading Krauthammer: Dead Wrong on the 14th

July 31, 2010

To Hell with Free Trade

Posted by Alan Caruba in: Business, Commentary, Current Events, Economics, Governance, Opinion

To Hell with Free Trade

By Alan Caruba

It’s funny how bits of knowledge stick in your head. Literally a half century ago, while taking a history class at the University of Miami, a professor said, “Nothing happens in the world until someone sells something to someone else.”

The study of history can help one understand the present and frequently help predict the future. The world has experienced astonishing change in the last century thanks to trains, planes, automobiles, radio and television, and, of course, computers and the Internet.

It is natural for each new generation to accept such technological innovations as having always existed, but even automobiles are a relatively new mass produced invention. A hundred years ago in 1910, there were only 8,000 cars in the entire nation and only 144 miles of paved road.

Americans tend to think that we have always been the dominant economic power, but that did not begin to occur until after World War II destroyed much of Europe, Japan and other competitors. They have rebuilt and, along with the rise of China and India, they are major competitors. Continue reading To Hell with Free Trade

July 19, 2010

U.S. Looks Weak as Iran Flips Off the World

Posted by Alan Caruba in: Commentary, Current Events, Foreign Affairs, Governance, Opinion, Politics

U.S. Looks Weak as Iran Flips Off the World

By Alan Caruba

For months now, Mortimer B. Zuckerman, the owner and editor-in-chief of U.S. News & World Report, has been writing increasingly desperate pleas for the Obama administration to do something about the greatest threat to peace in the Middle East and the world, Iran.

“When Barack Obama became president, Iran had perhaps several thousand centrifuges enriching uranium. Now it may have thousands more,” wrote Zuckerman in the August edition. “What’s at stake here is too menacing for the world to delude itself that Iran will somehow change course. It won’t.”

It must be very frustrating to be a multi-millionaire media mogul and yet unable to do much about an impending disaster other than warn about it. My sense is that it falls on deaf ears at the White House.

Anyone as dense as Obama should not be allowed to be Commander-in-Chief, but he is and, worse for America and all other nations, he likely has no idea of the dangers involved in reducing the nation’s military capabilities at a time when Iran is closing in on becoming a nuclear threat to the Middle East and beyond. Continue reading U.S. Looks Weak as Iran Flips Off the World

July 10, 2010

NASA’s Mission to the Muslims

Posted by Alan Caruba in: Accountability, Commentary, Current Events, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Relations, Governance, Journalism, Opinion, World Issues

NASA’s Mission to the Muslims

By Alan Caruba

I felt like this back in the days when the Watergate scandal slowly, painfully unraveled, revealing the most appalling stupidity and criminality emanating from the Oval Office. From the night when the burglars were arrested in the Democrat Committee headquarters on June 17, 1972 to the day Nixon resigned on August 9, 1974, Americans were forced to witness and endure something unthinkable.

The news that NASA administrator, Charles Bolden, had been dispatched to the Middle East to fulfill what he said was its “foremost” mission, “to find a way to reach out to the Muslim world and engage much more with dominantly Muslim nations to help them feel good about their historic contribution to science…and math and engineering” was so appallingly stupid that it defied any legitimate reason for NASA to exist.

The other mission objectives Barack Obama charged Bolden with were to “re-inspire children to want to get into science and math” and to “expand our international relationships.” Continue reading NASA’s Mission to the Muslims

July 4, 2010

God and Governance in the USA

Posted by Alan Caruba in: Commentary, Current Events, Democracy, Governance, Heroes, History, Opinion

6 comments

God and Governance in the USA

By Alan Caruba

I confess I always look forward to July Fourth because it carries with it memories of my parents who proudly displayed the flag on every holiday and of the full day of celebration by my hometown that began with races in the morning by the various grades of school kids, baking and other contests, a circus and a concert in the afternoon and early evening, concluded with a grand display of fireworks at night.

My parents were both first generation Americans and their parents understood what the American Dream was because they had lived it. They had endured hard times and good, and were fiercely patriotic.

They would have been mystified and angered to hear the talk of the “separation of church and state” to justify thwarting the acknowledgement that God is at the very center of the nation’s creation. The Constitution does not speak of separation. It says that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.” Continue reading God and Governance in the USA

July 4, 2010

“The Orator, with his Flood of Words….”

Posted by Congressman Billybob in: Accountability, Commentary, Current Events, Democrat, Governance, Homeland Security, Mexico, Opinion

“The Orator, with his Flood of Words….”
It’s been a long time since I debated John Kerry’s Liberal Party at Yale. (We, the Conservative Party, whopped ‘em good.) Even longer since I debated in high school. Having listened to and analyzed President Obama’s speech on immigration, I’m more convinced than ever that Obama is a one-trick pony, an increasingly unsuccessful one.
The war in Afghanistan is in trouble, and the Talban might snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. Therefore, Obama gives a speech. The American economy is in trouble and high unemployment persists. Obama gives a speech. Spewing oil in the Gulf is unchecked. Obama gives a speech. Drugs and criminals are running across the border into Arizona. Obama gives a speech. You get the idea.
When he gives a speech, he sounds like he is addressing the subject at hand. But that is only an illusion, an illusion that even his former supporters are beginning to recognize for what it is. Continue reading “The Orator, with his Flood of Words….”

July 1, 2010

Chicago loses, Americans win!

Posted by Michael Crumling in: Accountability, Commentary, Comments & Discussion, Congress, Current Events, Democracy, Education, Freedom, General Topics, Governance, History, Legal, Military, Non-Fiction, Opinion, Philosophical Genres, Politics, Social Issues, The Pundit's Corner

A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bears arms shall not be infringed.

Twenty-seven little words packed with so much meaning, and causing so much debate. The recent McDonald v. Chicago decision seems to put to rest nearly fifty years of debate; especially when teamed with District of Columbia v. Heller. These two decisions hold that the Constitution of the United States extends the individual right to arms and that the Second Amendment is applicable to every city and state. Did they make the right decision? Continue reading Chicago loses, Americans win!

June 27, 2010

Closing Pandoras Box

Posted by Michael Crumling in: Accountability, Attitude, Commentary, Comments & Discussion, Current Events, Freedom, General Topics, Governance, History, Non-Fiction, Opinion, Philosophical Genres, Politics, Social Issues

4 comments

When I was a boy my Pap would tell me that a good man should over-deliver and under-promise. Your word and your handshake were a contract. The good rules to live by were the “Golden Rule”, The Ten Commandments and the Constitution of the United States. Regardless of what you believe, these are a great foundation. I understood the golden rule from the time I was a small child. In my household, we tried really hard to do unto others as we would have them do unto us. I have a great deal of empathy as an adult, as a result of this early upbringing. The Ten Commandments were much clearer to me as I entered the middle years of school. As a small child, the concepts are difficult to grasp. With time and a little maturing, it is easy to understand the ethical implications. Don’t lie, murder, steal, cheat on your commitments, or desire to take private property. You should honor your parents and not worship self-indulgent or self-proclaimed “gods”. You should work only six days in the week. One day should be reserved for family members and also those who labor for you; to rest, family and thanks to your creator. I always had difficulty with the graven image issue, but none the less, these are good rules. The Constitution, its’ causes, its’ meaning, and the intent were difficult to grasp. The language was a bit nebulous from the perspective of a child, the need for it unclear. Continue reading Closing Pandoras Box

June 26, 2010

The UN’s New Scams

Posted by Alan Caruba in: Accountability, Commentary, Current Events, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Relations, Governance, Opinion, World Issues

The UN’s New Scams

By Alan Caruba

In “Act of Creation”, a 2003 book by Stephen C. Schlesinger tells the story of how the United Nations was established.. At one point he writes that “The first person of any importance noted was Alger Hiss, the acting secretary general of the United Nations, originally appointed to that post on the recommendation of President Roosevelt and Secretary Stetinius.”

Hiss would later be revealed to be a communist agent of the Soviet Union, one of many in the Roosevelt administration. In 1950 Hiss went to jail for perjury, denying his guilt to the end.

All this and more became known with the publication of the Venona documents, a record of secret communications with Soviet spymasters that had been intercepted by U.S. counterintelligence during World War Two. Continue reading The UN’s New Scams

June 19, 2010

Auto Draft

Posted by Alan Caruba in: Accountability, Commentary, Current Events, Foreign Affairs, Governance, Military, Opinion, Terrorism, The Writer's Corner

The Afghanistan Quagmire

By Alan Caruba

The war in Afghanistan has been going on for more than eight years as of this writing. Over that period of time I have been against it, for it, against it, for it, and now I return to what my instincts and experience told me all along. It’s over.

That war is lost. Once the Taliban acquired surface-to-air missiles, the primarily advantage our military had was removed. In the past month, the Taliban have shot down two of our helicopters. Any low-flying aircraft will be vulnerable along with all our front-line forces. Continue reading The Afghanistan Quagmire

June 16, 2010

Obama Asks America to Commit Suicide

Posted by Alan Caruba in: Accountability, Cap and Trade, Commentary, Current Events, Democrat, Energy, Environment, Governance, Opinion

3 comments

Obama Asks America to Commit Suicide

By Alan Caruba

President Obama is one of the most articulate we have had in that office. His ability to deliver a speech or a short talk such as his first from the Oval Office Tuesday evening is impressive. He knows how to deliver an address.

What he doesn’t know or doesn’t care about is the difference between the truth and a lie.

His fifteen-minute address was the piling on of one lie after another regarding America’s use of energy and its needs for the future. Continue reading Obama Asks America to Commit Suicide

June 12, 2010

The Decline and Fall of Everybody

Posted by Alan Caruba in: Accountability, Commentary, Current Events, Democrat, Economic Crisis, Governance, Opinion, Recovery, The Economy

The Decline and Fall of Everybody

By Alan Caruba

I have a friend of over twenty-five years who I watched build a single idea for a business into one that, at one time, was taking in a million dollars a year. Then the Internet came along, followed by the 2008 financial crisis.

After a reasonable period of agonizing, my friend sat down and put the numbers on the page. They added up to firing all his employees and not renewing the lease on the office in which he’d been since the mid-1980s. Tech savvy, his business has gone “virtual.” As he put it, “I will make sales from my cell phone.”

Now take my friend, the classic entrepreneur and small business owner, and multiply him by thousands across the fruited plains and purple mountains majesty. Not only has the economy crashed, thanks to the latest “bubble” of bad housing mortgages, but it happened just in time to ensure that Barack Obama who never owned a business, met a payroll, or worried about selling anything other than himself was elected president. Continue reading The Decline and Fall of Everybody

May 29, 2010

He Was Supposed to Be Competent

Posted by Peggy Noonan in: Accountability, Commentary, Current Events, Democrat, Governance, Opinion, Politics, The Writer's Corner

He Was Supposed to Be Competent

The spill is a disaster for the president and his political philosophy.

I don’t see how the president’s position and popularity can survive the oil spill. This is his third political disaster in his first 18 months in office. And they were all, as they say, unforced errors, meaning they were shaped by the president’s political judgment and instincts.

There was the tearing and unnecessary war over his health-care proposal and its cost. There was his day-to-day indifference to the views and hopes of the majority of voters regarding illegal immigration. And now the past almost 40 days of dodging and dithering in the face of an environmental calamity. I don’t see how you politically survive this.

The president, in my view, continues to govern in a way that suggests he is chronically detached from the central and immediate concerns of his countrymen. This is a terrible thing to see in a political figure, and a startling thing in one who won so handily and shrewdly in 2008. But he has not, almost from the day he was inaugurated, been in sync with the center. The heart of the country is thinking each day about A, B and C, and he is thinking about X, Y and Z. They’re in one reality, he’s in another. Continue reading He Was Supposed to Be Competent

May 28, 2010

Obama’s News Conference: Blah, Blah, Blah

Posted by Alan Caruba in: Accountability, Commentary, Current Events, Democrat, Governance, Opinion, Politics, The Writer's Corner

Obama’s News Conference: Blah, Blah, Blah

By Alan Caruba

5/27/10 – The President, after a lapse of 309 days, held a news conference Thursday. It came shortly after news that earlier in the day the director of the Mineral Management Service, Elizabeth Birnbaum, had either resigned or been fired. Obama professed to not know the circumstances. Yeah. Sure.

What we do know is that Obama’s method of dealing with a news conference is to talk each question to death. In addition, he makes sure that we all know that, no matter what the problem under discussion, it was all George W. Bush’s fault.

Watching Obama’s head swivel back and forth between the TelePromters as he read his opening prepared statement for the first fifteen minutes or so was mildly comical and it occurred to me that he has become a real life parody of a Saturday Night Live parody, the latter of which is at least entertaining. Continue reading Obama’s News Conference: Blah, Blah, Blah

May 22, 2010

The Absence of Competence

Posted by Alan Caruba in: Accountability, Commentary, Current Events, Democrat, Governance, Mexico, Opinion

The Absence of Competence

By Alan Caruba

Is it too much to expect the Attorney General of the United States, the Secretary of Homeland Security, and the President to have actually read the law that the State of Arizona passed regarding illegal aliens?

Is it too much to expect the President not to use that law—-the same as a federal law—-as a lame joke at the recent White House Correspondents dinner?

Does anyone really think President Obama has a clue about the actual facts concerning the BP oil rig accident? When all the reports are written, here’s what they will say. It was an accident.

How can we expect the Obama administration to respond to terrorist attacks on America when they will barely use the word “terrorism” and almost never link it to Islam? Even wars are called “overseas contingencies.”

When words mask reality, reality has a nasty way of intruding. Continue reading The Absence of Competence

May 17, 2010

Thinking About Mexicans

Posted by Alan Caruba in: Commentary, Current Events, Foreign Affairs, Governance, Homeland Security, Latino & Hispanic, Mexico, Opinion

Thinking About Mexicans

By Alan Caruba

For some time now friends have been asking me why I haven’t written anything about the Arizona law, amnesty, illegal immigration, and Mexicans.

The problem with trying to see all sides of the problem is that, sooner or later, you have to pick a side. That is what Americans are doing in light of the recent law passed in Arizona; a law that mirrors a federal law that, quite simply, is not being enforced.

What exactly were Arizonans expected to do in light of the fact that their border with Mexico is now a war zone?

A typical bachelor, I pretty much have the same thing for lunch every day, a soft tortilla in which two thin slices of smoked turkey are placed. Thirty seconds in the microwave and about six bites later lunch is over. And every day I look at that damned tortilla and I think about Mexicans.

Not Carlos Slim, one of the richest men in the world, but those poor souls trekking across deserts or sneaking in any way they can because, presumably, Mexico sucks so badly that their only hope is the land of the free and the home of the brave. Continue reading Thinking About Mexicans

May 16, 2010

The Electronic Conscience

Posted by Congressman Billybob in: Commentary, Communications, Current Events, Governance, Opinion

The Electronic Conscience

by John Armor

What is the impact of the current forms of gathering and transmitting information from person to person? Can people be affected by communications they don’t use, or even know how to use?

There were five of us around a table in church this morning. All of us used the internet at least somewhat. Most of us did not use Twitter, Facebook, or YouTube. Our uses of the photo and video capacities of this generation of cell phones, fell someplace in the middle. But with some thought, the answer was clear. Whether or not we use these means of communication, they do affect us,

I grew up in a small town, Salisbury, Maryland. The town was small enough, and everybody knew everybody else’s children enough, that when you did something wrong, folks would tell on you. Odds are your mother would know about it before you even got home to tell your side of the story. Continue reading The Electronic Conscience

May 14, 2010

Arizona-Land of the Free

Posted by seamus in: Accountability, Advice, African-American, Commentary, Comments & Discussion, Communications, Congress, Creative Writing, Current Events, Democracy, Democrat, Economics, Entertainment, Freedom, Governance, Homeland Security, Inspiration & Motivation, Islam, Journalism, Life Experiences, Minorities, Morality, Motivation, Opinion, Personal Experiences, Politics, Republican, Social Aspects, Social Classes, Social Issues, Terrorism, The Economy, The Media, The Pundit's Corner, World Issues

Amazing how many high government officals (including the Attorney General), political pundits, politicians, school officials and religious leaders comment so harshly on the immigration law in Arizona and publicly admit they haven’t read the ten page document.

The document basically states that when being stopped for a traffic violation or questioned concerning a crime that [...]

May 14, 2010

When your friends can’t explain why they voted for Democrats, give them this

Posted by seamus in: Accountability, Advice, Attitude, Business, Cap and Trade, Commentary, Communications, Congress, Creative Writing, Current Events, Democrat, Economics, Entertainment, Finance, Freedom, General Topics, Geopolitical Events, Governance, Homeland Security, Humor, Journalism, Life Experiences, Lifestyle, Literature, Minorities, Morality, Motivation, Opinion, Personal Experiences, Politics, Recovery, Republican, Satire, Self-Help, Social Aspects, Social Issues, Sociology, Terrorism, The Economy, The Media, The Pundit's Corner, Women's Rights, Working Women, World Issues

Pick Your Reason 10. I voted Democrat because I believe oil companies’ profits of 4% on a gallon of gas are obscene but the government taxing the same gallon of gas at 15% isn’t.

9. I voted Democrat because I believe the government will do a better job of spending the [...]

May 6, 2010

SB1070

Posted by Antonio de la Vega in: Democracy, Economic Crisis, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Relations, Freedom, Geopolitical Events, Governance, History, Latino & Hispanic, Mexico, Morality, Native American, Opinion, Politics, Social Aspects, Social Issues, Sociology, Uncategorized, World Issues

La ley SB1070 además de polémica debe encerrar otras razones de fondo, para llevar a la reflexión sobre los temas relacionados con el movimiento de personas en el mundo. [...]

May 5, 2010

A NEW CONTRACT WITH AMERICA

Posted by timbryce in: Governance, Politics

Be sure to check the fine print. [...]

April 30, 2010

A Measured Voice

Posted by write2bfree in: Accountability, Attitude, Biography & Memoir, Commentary, Comments & Discussion, Communism, Creative Writing, Current Events, Democracy, Economics, Finance, Freedom, General Topics, Geopolitical Events, Governance, History, Literature, Minorities, Morality, Opinion, Philosophical Genres, Politics, Social Aspects, Social Issues, Sociology, The Pundit's Corner, The Writer's Corner, World Issues

Charles Dickens’ novels show the degradation and exploitation of the working poor, but his solution (as pointed out by Orwell) was that those in power would become better people and in their new-found compassion create a safer, healthier environment for the workers. This would extend even to educational opportunities and a chance to move up the ladder, but only so far, never far enough to threaten the existing order.

To counter this “benign ruler” point of view, some people in the early 1900s began to organize the working poor. Those most effective and trustworthy came from that background and took action. The work of Camus and Orwell springs from a real knowledge of poverty (Camus) or being an outsider among the privileged (Orwell). It must be pointed out that Camus took a dim view of Marx, and Orwell was horrified by Stalin’s Communism. But these two writers have held the greatest influence in the minds of Western thinkers who call themselves liberal. Camus went so far as to coin the term “libertarian socialist.” Continue reading A Measured Voice

April 29, 2010

Haliburton - a touch of the medievals?

Posted by Tim Roux in: Business, Economics, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Relations, Geopolitical Events, Governance, History, Homeland Security, Military, Morality, Politics, Terrorism, The Economy, World Issues

War and money have always been inter-related.

After all, you need money to fight a war – it has been argued that all world empires have collapsed ultimately economically because they had to protect too much territory with too little money – and conquest often brings in money. In the past, wars have often been fought to seize resources and enrich the conqueror – ask any passing European colonialist – and a short war generally proves a great stimulus to the economy too.

In feudal times, the king mostly fought wars to keep his otherwise revolting and over-mighty robber barons exhausted but happy. According to feudal law, the barons had to raise the army, but they then got to go on a glorified fox hunt in foreign lands and to return with goodies and rights to land far more valuable than both ears and the tail.

When the feudal system collapsed in the face of the rise of mercantilism in the sixteenth century, the king had to go to Parliament to raise taxes to fund his army, but he still managed to keep his greatest adventurers adventuring on someone else’s doorstep and bringing back the loot.

Not that the formula was infallible. Charles I of England seemingly got it wrong when he declared an unpopular war on Scotland and then tried to raise Ship Money to pay for it. He made the even bigger mistake of stockpiling all these expensively purchased armaments in Hull which subsequently declared for the rebel parliamentarians. However, as the Marxist historian Christopher Hill pointed out, the truth may have been a little different from the way it has been traditionally painted. Continue reading Haliburton – a touch of the medievals?

April 27, 2010

A Whiff of Revolution

Posted by Alan Caruba in: Accountability, Commentary, Congress, Current Events, Democracy, Freedom, Governance, History, Opinion

A Whiff of Revolution

By Alan Caruba

After a long series of taxes and arrogant acts that could not fail to anger the citizens of Boston, Massachusetts and nearby colonists affected by them, the American colonists finally picked up their guns and fired on the British coming to seize their store of munitions in Concord and Lexington.

The American Revolution did not occur in a week, a month or a year. It came after a Navigation Act, a Stamp Act, and others called the Intolerable Acts that actually closed Boston Harbor in retaliation for the famous Boston Tea Party.

By then the British had dispatched troops to Massachusetts to put some muscle behind their demands that the colonies help pay for the deep debt the King and Parliament had incurred from England’s many wars on the continent.

America was their nation in spirit long before it was organized as one. Americans were not going to be pushed around. They had tried everything they could to make their case, but finally there was nothing left but to unite and throw off the tyranny.

In 1770, the Boston massacre had inflamed public sentiment, but it would not be until 1774 that the citizens of Lexington and Concord would take up arms. In 1776, the second Continental Congress would convene in Philadelphia and sign a Declaration of Independence. Continue reading A Whiff of Revolution

April 23, 2010

Not Protesting about Obama and the Constitution

Posted by Congressman Billybob in: Commentary, Governance, Opinion, Politics

Not Protesting about Obama and the Constitution

by John Armor

I’ve thoroughly enjoyed every opportunity to talk about the Constitution while dressed and speaking as Benjamin Franklin. Then, President Obama decided to make a vacation visit to the Grove Park Inn, in Asheville, NC. That’s just a hop, skip and a jump from my home.

So I planned a one-man demonstration, dressed as Franklin, as close as I could get on public property, to the main entrance of the Grove Park Inn. My wife protested that I really should “leave the guy alone when he’s on vacation with his family.” I thought about it, reluctantly agreed. So, this here is my version of “Standing on a Corner, Watching All the Presidents Walk By.”

My main subject is respect for the Constitution. Obama has no such respect. The latest example came just today, Friday. Obama made a public statement that the new, stiff immigration law just signed into effect by the Governor of Arizona, involved “violations of civil rights.”

It involves no such thing. The Supreme Court has long since ruled on a case concerning police stops for ID purposes. The Court ruled that a brief stop asking any citizen to identify himself is constitutional. Someone who was a Professor of Constitutional Law, as entirely too many reporters have misidentified Obama, would have known that. (Obama was the lowest order of faculty, a lecturer in law, and that only because some Trustees of the University of Chicago insisted that the Law School find a spot for Obama, somewhere.) Continue reading Not Protesting about Obama and the Constitution

April 21, 2010

The EPA Monster

Posted by Alan Caruba in: Commentary, Energy, Environment, Environmental Issues, Governance, Opinion

The EPA Monster

By Alan Caruba

Among the legacies of Richard M. Nixon, famed for the Watergate scandal that forced his resignation, it should be noted that he created the Environmental Protection Agency. There was no vote in Congress. He did it with an executive order. Today the EPA has an annual budget of $9 billion and some 18,000 employees.

Not satisfied with the authorized powers given it to ensure clean air and water, the EPA has never ceased to seek expanded powers, culminating soon with a battle over whether it can regulate carbon dioxide (CO2) as a “pollutant.” Labeled a “greenhouse gas”, in the eyes of the EPA it is an “endangerment” to the health of humanity in general and Americans in particular.

CO2 is as vital to all life on planet Earth in the same way as oxygen. It is what plants consume in order to grow, much as oxygen is essential for life among living creatures that, in turn, are dependent on vegetation, crops, for their sustenance. It’s a neat little cycle that has existed since life emerged on Earth. Continue reading The EPA Monster

April 18, 2010

What Do the Jews Think?

Posted by Alan Caruba in: Accountability, Attitude, Commentary, Current Events, Foreign Affairs, Governance, History, Opinion

What Do the Jews Think?

By Alan Caruba

The never-ending interest in what America’s Jews think about Barack Obama or Israel or anything else has always struck me as vastly disproportionate to their numbers.

American Jews are barely 2.2% of the U.S. population; numbering 6.4 million in 2008.
America, however, is home to 40% of the world’s population of Jews, about the same as Israel.

I suspect it has more to do with America’s Christian roots dating back to the beginning of the nation when the Mayflower Compact conceived of the pilgrim’s journey as one to build a new Jerusalem, a shining city on a hill.

The Internet ensures that tons of information flows into my office and among that tide are epistles from Israpundit.com. The latest was “An Open Letter to American Jews” and among its historic citations of Israel’s struggle to establish and maintain itself in the face of unremitting hostility was a very real concern about President Obama’s policies vis-à-vis Israel. Continue reading What Do the Jews Think?

April 10, 2010

The Town the Census Forgot

Posted by Congressman Billybob in: Commentary, Current Events, Governance, Humor, Opinion, Personal Experiences, Satire

The Town the Census Forgot

by John Armor

This is more or less an open letter to Robert Groves, Director of the Census Bureau. Dear Bob.

Can I call you Bob? I feel I know you since you’ve been all over the TV explaining that the screw-ups that have occurred in your Bureau about operations and cost will all be resolved. Well. here’s another screw-up for you to put on your plate.

The Census has a rule that it will not mail Census forms to Post Office Box addresses. As a general rule, I understand and support that. There are probably more than a million people in the US who use P.O. Boxes to cheat on their spouses, run investment scams, sell useless or non-existent products on the Internet, etc. However, every rule has its exceptions.

We live in Highlands, North Carolina. The summertime population grows to about 25,000 every year. But the permanent residents are only about 3,000 Americans, plus about 500 Mexicans. Because we are a small town, the Post Office by its own rules does not deliver to anyone’s home, except a handful of folks who live so far out of town they qualify for RFD. We say they live 20 miles south of nowhere. RFD, in case you don’t know, stands for Rural Free Delivery. Continue reading The Town the Census Forgot

March 28, 2010

Are you serious? Are you serious?

Posted by Congressman Billybob in: Commentary, Congress, Current Events, Democracy, Governance, Healthcare, History, Legal, Opinion, Politics

Are you serious?
Are you serious?

by John Armor

I’ve been preparing for a series of appearances as Benjamin Franklin at several different Tea Party events in Dayton, Ohio, from April 10 – 13. Despite his long and varied public career, Franklin had very little to do with partisan politics; Most of his service was as a diplomat, first in England and later in France.

There is one quality that all successful diplomats share. They know how to hold their tongues. Enemies now may become friends later, and vice versa. Therefore, effective diplomats make an absolute minimum of public, personal attacks on anyone in a position of power.

It was a proper choice for Franklin. It might just be a proper choice for this columnist in this time of crisis for the United States. With that said….

Last fall, a reporter asked Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, whether the proposals for Health Care “Reform” were constitutional. She responded, “Are you serious?” To show how absurd she considered the question, she repeated her dismissive reply, “Are you serious?”
Now, the Health Care Act is passed and signed into law. We are only now discovering some of the requirements and taxes hidden in the nooks and crannies of its 2,700 pages, all told. At the same time, just days after the signing of the revised, revised bill into law, 13 sovereign states have already filed suit, claiming the Act is unconstitutional. According to press accounts, upwards of 24 other states may also file such suits. Continue reading Are you serious? Are you serious?

March 25, 2010

No Comment

Posted by Prentiss Gray in: Accountability, Attitude, Commentary, Comments & Discussion, Communications, Congress, Democracy, Freedom, Governance

We have posters who enjoy the repartee of comments, in fact revel in the discussions that surround their’s, and other’s work. Conversely we have some posters here who simply post and don’t seem to care if they get any comments at all. They never respond to comments. Now we have at least one poster who does not allow comments.

“No comments, please!”

What does that mean? I’ve been thinking about it since the first “No Comments” post was put up a day ago. I’m sure I don’t know.

The post is called “A new american civil war” and right at the top where it usually says “Leave a comment,” instead it says “Comments are closed.” That’s because at the bottom of the WordPress composing area there are two selection boxes that allow (or disallow) comments and track backs.

At first I though it was some kind of server problem as in “Uh, Oh. SWI’s been hacked again and it’s going down. Poor Bob…” But no, Bob (our fearless editor-in-chief) checked and the poster meant to do that. He wanted to post without allowing any comments to the piece itself. I suppose we can post our own comments as separate pieces though. Continue reading No Comment

March 24, 2010

Tortured to death: Somebody needs to get a rope!

Posted by Prentiss Gray in: Accountability, Comments & Discussion, Democracy, Foreign Relations, Freedom, Governance, Republican, World Issues

4 comments

Anybody who reads the March edition of Harpers will be shaking their head at the absolute stupidity and gall of the Bush administration when it concerned itself with the operations at Guantanamo.

There were three “suicides” at Guantanamo in 2006. Three inmates climbed to the top of their washstands, tied handy ropes to the top of a wire fence wall and hung themselves. It really was a thoroughly strong effort, after all, they did this with hands and feet bound. Just to make sure no one was disturbed, before they jumped to their collective doom they stuffed rags down their throats beyond the gag point and strapped them in with more gags tied around their heads. Did I mention they did this all at the same time?

Those tricky terrorists, take that America! The defense department described the event as an “act of asymmetric warfare.” Yup, no doubt in my mind. Asymmetric warefare, that when you kill yourself to really piss off the enemy, right? Whoa, devastating. Continue reading Tortured to death: Somebody needs to get a rope!

March 23, 2010

America in Decline

Posted by Alan Caruba in: Accountability, Commentary, Current Events, Economics, Environment, Governance, History, Military, Opinion, World Issues

America in Decline

By Alan Caruba

There are tipping points in people’s lives and in the life of a nation. More and more I am inclined to believe that America has hit a tipping point and that its decline has been in progress now since the end of World War II. How can that be? We were and are a superpower.

While it is true that we have the greatest military power in the world, it is equally true that many of the planes being flown were brought on line in the 1950s, despite the extraordinary aircraft such as the stealth bombers. When Russia can put in a $40 billion bid to build refueling tankers after a major U.S. aircraft firm dropped out of the process, you have to ask yourself whether something is terribly wrong.

Militarily, we have worn out our forces, many of which are National Guard units, with six years of conflict in Iraq and renewed conflict in Afghanistan. All the hardware needed to maintain our troops in conflict zones need replacing. And the President of the United States wants to sign a treaty to reduce our nuclear arsenal. Continue reading America in Decline

March 22, 2010

The American Icarus

Posted by Alan Caruba in: Accountability, Commentary, Congress, Current Events, Democracy, Democrat, Governance, Opinion

The American Icarus

By Alan Caruba

There are certain laws of nature that no one can amend or avoid. In the classic Greek tale of Icarus, despite warnings Icarus flew too close to the sun, melted the wax that held the feathers that had given him the gift of flight, and falls to his death. The law of gravity contributed to his end because what goes up must come down.

These days I think of the nation in general and the Democrats in Congress in particular as Icarus. They have ignored all the warnings about Obamacare and now have the political trajectory of a rock tossed too high in the air.

The voters reaction to the excesses of the Bush administration—-which now seem minor in comparison to those of the Democrats—-catapulted a virtually unknown and literally unvetted, minor first-term senator from Illinois into the Oval Office. The voters had first expressed their unhappiness in 2006 when control of Congress passed from the Republicans. Continue reading The American Icarus

March 20, 2010

Feeding Starving People

Posted by Congressman Billybob in: Commentary, Current Events, Democracy, Governance, Life Experiences, Opinion, Social Issues

Feeding Starving People

by John Armor

Last Saturday, we did something that was only a small step up from mindless, unskilled labor. I’m glad we did it. We recommend it to everyone else.

An enthusiastic lady came to our Rotary meeting a week before. She was a teacher, acting as a volunteer for her church. She asked us to join with people from another half dozen other Rotary Clubs to pack 100,000 meals for starving people in Haiti. We decided it was a good cause, and we went.

There were two shifts requested at the National Guard Armory in the County Seat of Franklin, North Carolina. We arrived at 10:30 am, early for the second shift. A nice guy in a Rotary jacket gave us the good news that about a hundred extra volunteers had shown up for the first shift and there was not even room to park.

We came back in forty-five minutes, found a spot to park, and went in to sign up. We both got hairnets. (It was the first time in my life I’d worn a hairnet in public.) And we took our places at a table set up for five workers. There was a funnel in the middle of each table, with pre-printed plastic bags underneath. On the corners of the table were four containers: soy meal, vitamins, dried vegetables, and rice. Continue reading Feeding Starving People

March 19, 2010

MGM picks Macau, lies over Atlantic City

Posted by Muhammad Cohen in: Business, China, Finance, Governance, Morality, The Pundit's Corner

A report from New Jersey investigators gives new insight into corporate malfeasance and arrogance. [...]

March 19, 2010

The Government Sucks at Most Things

Posted by Alan Caruba in: Commentary, Congress, Current Events, Democrat, Economic Crisis, Governance, Healthcare, Opinion, Politics, Recovery

The Government Sucks at Most Things

By Alan Caruba

On the eve before Daylight Savings Time, I managed to break a wall clock in the process of trying to grasp it to “spring ahead.” It crashed to a counter top and gave up the ghost. I then went online to Staples and 24 hours later I had a new wall clock. We take such efficiency for granted these days.

In the midst of the heated debate over healthcare “reform”, we need to remind ourselves of how superior the private sector is to our now bloated, wasteful, and inefficient government. The bill that the Democrats and the president are desperately trying to foist on Americans is a nightmare to be avoided at all costs.

Recently I received a comparison between Wal-Mart and the U.S. government. Candidly, I do not know the source of the information provided, but I am inclined to believe it. Continue reading The Government Sucks at Most Things

March 12, 2010

When Congress Cheats on Its Rules

Posted by Congressman Billybob in: Commentary, Congress, Current Events, Democrat, Governance, Healthcare, Opinion, Politics

When Congress Cheats on Its Rules

by John Armor

We are apparently at crunch point on the efforts of President Obama, Speaker Pelosi in the House, and Majority Leader Reid in the Senate to pass by whatever means necessary the “health reform” bill. In the national debate, however, no one has asked whether the Supreme Court has any role in this matter. It does, and it may be definitive.

There is a question of what the bill is, since there are many versions, and several are under wraps. The opponents of the bill, whatever it is, includes Democrats and Republicans who believe that the bill is ill-thought takeover of one sixth of the national economy that will increase the cost of medical care, decrease its quality, and severely damage the national economy.

But this column is not about the merits or demerits of whatever is in the bill. It is about the methods being used to push it through Congress and the consequences of ways of getting around normal, legislative passage (Article I, Section 7, US Constitution).

At this point, it looks like the House will use the Slaughter Rule to “pass” it through the House without ever having a vote on it. The about-to-be-invented Rule is named for the Congresswomen who is the Chair of the Rules Committee and came up with this idea. Continue reading When Congress Cheats on Its Rules

March 11, 2010

Is there something wrong with this picture?

Posted by Kaye in: Accountability, Attitude, Children, Commentary, Economic Crisis, Education, Family, Governance, Habit Change, Homeland Security, Legal, Opinion, Politics, Social Issues, The Economy

3 comments

Today, like every weekday, I got in my car, after work, and head for home listening to NPR. I’ve been thinking about this for some time now and today, after hearing a piece on NPR about Kansas City, Missouri’s school board approving a plan to close 26 schools in one district and Cleveland, Ohio’s school board approving a plan to close or move 16 schools, I had to give voice to my thought which is, Our country is broken and bleeding. We are loosing our safety, loosing our jobs, our homes, our way of life and even our schools. Not only can’t we house and feed our children we can’t educate them either. I’m at a loss. I’m lost because I can’t see a fix.

This week, here in South Carolina, a Columbia city council member who has held office representing the same district (The City of Columbia’s District 2) for 27 years, resigned after pleading guilty to federal tax evasion. According to reports, the man failed to pay more than $25,000 in federal income taxes in 2004. Before this revelation we learned that two convicted felons were trying to run for mayor of the city of Columbia and we have a governor that was hiking the Appalachian Trail in Argentina. Continue reading s it just me or, is there something wrong with this picture?

March 8, 2010

FLATTEN GOVERNMENT

Posted by timbryce in: Governance, Politics

Don’t forget the “L.” [...]

February 19, 2010

Can Washington Meet the Demand to Cut Spending?

Posted by Peggy Noonan in: Commentary, Congress, Current Events, Democrat, Governance, Opinion, Politics, Republican, The Pundit's Corner

Can Washington Meet the Demand to Cut Spending?

Americans have reached a consensus. What’s lacking is trust.

President Obama’s decision to appoint Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson to his bipartisan commission on government spending is politically shrewd and, in terms of policy, potentially helpful.

It is shrewd in that he is doing what he has been urged to do, which is bring in wise men. Here are two respected Beltway veterans, one from each party. It shows the president willing to do what he said he’d do when he ran, which is listen to other voices. The announcement subtly underscores the trope “The system is broken and progress through normal channels is impossible,” which is the one Democrats prefer to “Boy did we mess up the past year and make things worse.” And the commission gets some pressure off the president. Every time he’s knocked for spending, he can say “I agree, it’s terrible. Help me tell the commission!”

It’s potentially helpful in that good ideas may come of it, some rough and realistic Washington consensus encouraged.

Is it too late? Maybe. Even six months ago, when the president’s growing problems with the public were becoming apparent, the commission and its top appointees might have been received as fresh and hopeful—the adults have arrived, the system can be made to work. Republicans would have felt forced to be part of it, or seen the gain in partnership. Now it looks more as if the president is trying to save his own political life. Timing is everything. Continue reading Can Washington Meet the Demand to Cut Spending?

February 12, 2010

The Off-Center President

Posted by Peggy Noonan in: Commentary, Current Events, Governance, Opinion, Politics, The Pundit's Corner

The Off-Center President

Obama says he’d settle for a single term—and seems to mean it.

There is, I think, an amazing political fact right now that is hiding in plain sight and is rich with implications. It was there in President Obama’s Jan. 25, pre-State of the Union interview with ABC’s Diane Sawyer, who was pressing him about his political predicaments. “I’d rather be a really good one-term president than a mediocre two-term president,” he said. “And I—and I believe that.”

Now this is the sort of thing presidents say, and often believe they believe, but at the end of the day they all want two terms. Except that Mr. Obama shows every sign of meaning it, and if he does, it explains a lot about his recent decisions and actions.

A week after the Sawyer interview, the president had a stunning and revealing exchange with Sen. Blanche Lincoln, the Arkansas Democrat likely to lose her 2010 re-election campaign. He was meeting with Senate Democrats to urge them to continue with his legislative agenda. Mrs. Lincoln took the opportunity to beseech him to change it. She urged him to distance his administration from “people who want extremes,” and to find “common ground” with Republicans in producing legislation that would give those in business the “certainty” they need to create jobs. Continue reading The Off-Center President

February 9, 2010

Question Time Isn’t the Answer

Posted by Peggy Noonan in: Commentary, Congress, Current Events, Democracy, Democrat, Governance, Opinion, Politics, Republican

Question Time Isn’t the Answer

In the age of terror, America needs sober, bipartisan leadership.

There’s renewed interest in Question Time, or rather in the idea of trying to import in some fashion the British parliamentary institution whereby the prime minister appears each Wednesday in the House of Commons in order to take questions and debate. The idea of an American version came up after the president’s meeting last week with House Republicans, which was notable in that it was televised, mildly informative, and did no harm.

If you’ve watched Question Time over the years on C-Span, you know it is high political theatre. “Will the prime minister admit the National Health System as presently constituted is bankrupting the nation, indifferent to the needy, and, as the failure it is, represents a vast, unmet promise the minister’s party cynically forgot the minute it took power?” Hear hear! Grrrr! Shut up you palsied sot! Followed by, “How very refreshing and even touching it is to see the member from Manchester’s newfound concern for, or even awareness of, the poor.” Hear! Answer the question! Shut up, you mincing prat! Continue reading Question Time Isn’t the Answer

February 3, 2010

The National Madhouse

Posted by Alan Caruba in: Commentary, Congress, Current Events, Democrat, Economic Crisis, Energy, Environment, Global Warming, Governance, Opinion, Politics

The National Madhouse

By Alan Caruba

If you think that you are going mad, based on the statements out of the White House and Congress, let me assure you that you are sane, but those in charge of governing the nation appear to have lost their wits.

The Democrat’s third-ranking House leader, Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC), during an appearance on Fox News asserted that “We’ve got to spend our way out of this recession.” It is his view that “We’re not going to save our way out of this recession.” So saving money is bad. Spending money we are borrowing at a rate of a billion dollars a day is good. If that sounds insane, you’re right. Continue reading The National Madhouse

February 1, 2010

“I am not an ideologue”

Posted by Congressman Billybob in: Commentary, Current Events, Democrat, Governance, Opinion, Politics

“I am not an ideologue.”

by John Armor

Last week, I wrote about 11 factually false statements in President Obama’s State of the Union address. Normally, one should not repeat the same subject next week. But, did you see the appearance of Obama before the Republicans meeting in Baltimore? I know that a few hundred of you are political junkies like me, and you saw that live.

I’m going to ask you a question. Don’t think. Don’t pause. Answer with the first thing that comes to mind. What occurred to you, when you heard Obama say, “I am not an ideologue.”?
I thought of Richard Nixon, toe to toe with Dan Rather (back when Rather was actually a reporter), Nixon answering, “I am not a crook.” Did you think the same thing? If so, here’s why.

When people have their backs to the wall, they will tell an obvious lie, perhaps just to fool themselves. Is Obama an ideologue? Here’s some of the evidence.

The trial of KSM and other planners of the 9/11 attacks should be in a military tribunal. The decision to move the trial to ordinary criminal court in New York City was not, could not have been, made by Attorney General Eric Holder. He has zero authority over the military, and they had custody of these terrorists when they caught them. Continue reading “I am not an ideologue”

January 30, 2010

All Obama, All the Time

Posted by Alan Caruba in: Commentary, Current Events, Democrat, Governance, Opinion, Politics

All Obama, All the Time

By Alan Caruba

We are back to the Obama administration’s original theory of governance, “All Obama, all the time.” Having basked on the spotlight during his rather long State of the Union Speech, Obama addressed the Baltimore conference of Republican members of Congress with yet another familiar excuse, it’s all George W. Bush’s fault.

In one year in office he has learned nothing or, if he has, the lessons have been dismissed as irrelevant to his mission of “transforming” a nation that is far more focused on just surviving the worst Recession/Depression since the 1930s.

Obama seems mystified that, with the greatest majority in Congress in decades, he is unable to get Democrats to coalesce behind his major initiatives such as healthcare “reform.” Republicans wisely decided to avoid being a part of this debacle and have since been labeled “the Party of no.” Sometimes, the right answer is no. Continue reading All Obama, All the Time

January 29, 2010

Fix corporations to fix campaign finance

Posted by Muhammad Cohen in: Accountability, Business, Business Management, Commentary, Democracy, Economic Crisis, Economics, Finance, Governance, Legal, The Economy

Corporations behave irresponsibly because rigged elections prevent shareholders from supervising their investment. Until corporations fix their own elections, they shouldn’t meddle in others. [...]

January 29, 2010

The Obama Contradiction

Posted by Peggy Noonan in: Commentary, Democrat, Governance, Opinion, Politics

The Obama Contradiction

Washington is sick and broken—and it can solve all our problems.

When you watch a president give a State of the Union Address on television, you’re always watching three people: the president at the podium, and the vice president and House speaker on the rise behind him. As a TV shot it’s awkward. The vice president and the speaker have been instructed by media professionals not to let their eyes do what they want to do, which is survey the doings in the chamber. Instead they must stare unwaveringly at the back of the president’s head. This is so that they appear to be fascinated by what he’s saying, as if he’s so interesting that they can’t take their eyes off him. It’s also so that you, the viewer, don’t become distracted by wondering whom they’re looking at in the audience.

It’s uncomfortable for them, and boring. You, as a member of the TV audience, get to watch the president. The speaker and the vice president get to think, “Huh, he’s getting a little gray in the back.” The reason Nancy Pelosi often seems a little dart-eyed in these circumstances is that she’s always trying to get a look at the chamber when she thinks the camera isn’t on her. Joe Biden seems happy to be the fascinated person with crinkly eyes and shining teeth. But for Mrs. Pelosi it’s a challenge. This is her chamber, all her people are here, and she wants to be looking at John Boehner’s face and Harry Reid’s and see who’s cheering and who’s wearing what. Continue reading The Obama Contradiction

January 28, 2010

Sex, Lies, and the State of Union

Posted by Congressman Billybob in: Commentary, Current Events, Governance, Opinion, Politics

Sex, Lies, and the State of Union

by John Armor

I’m just a semi-retired lawyer, living on a gravel road in the Blue Ridge Mountains. But I am also an avid consumer of news in all forms. This is a test. I read none of today’s analyses of the State of the Union speech. Here are the obvious lies I saw, off the top of my head.

Lie 1: “one in ten… cannot find work.” Government statistics show that unemployment is almost double that; 17% are out of work. But the “official” rate ignores the 7% who have given up looking for a job.

Lie 2: “to get a government that matches [Americans] dignity.” Is he totally unaware of the members of his Administration, or of his supporters in Congress, who are currently under investigation as tax cheats, perjurers, or other felonies? Or, does President Obama assume that they will all beat the rap?

Lie 3: “we made the [financial recovery] program more transparent and accountable.” Is he unaware that Congress is currently trying to find out where the now-$850 billion bailout money went? Who got it, and why, and how? Continue reading Sex, Lies, and the State of Union

January 28, 2010

Was Obama too inexperienced?

Posted by Bill Hazelgrove in: Governance, Opinion, Politics, Sociology

In the early days of Obama’s run for President a lot of people said he had no experience. Remember all those people who said this guy had just been a Senator for a couple years and did he really have the experience to walk into the ring and govern and be the leader of the Free World. Barack wrote a couple books and gave some outstanding speeches and then the economy tanked. John McCain went flaky and suddenly the man with a couple years of experience looked pretty good.

Fast forward a year later. We have a man who has reigned over a super majority in congress and now a simple majority and yet he seems to be backsliding. He has taken on a lot of issues and approached them the way any intelligent man would, but now the question is has his lack of experience bit him in the you know where. There is the way things are done outside a system and the way things are done inside a system and we have to admit that President Obama has had to operate outside the system because he was so new. Continue reading Was Obama too inexperienced?

January 28, 2010

A Nation of Squatters--Poverty comes to the Suburbs

Posted by Bill Hazelgrove in: Governance, Opinion, Politics, Social Classes, Social Issues, Sociology

When I wrote my last novel Rocket Man about a man struggling to keep his home, I emphasized the chaos of the American Dream and threw everything but the kitchen sink at my poor main character. Now this fictional character seems to have moved down the pike into the mainstream of suburban America. A bank representative told me years ago that what we would have in this country is a nation of squatters. He said that so many people will go into foreclosure that the banks will not be able to take reclaim the homes and there will be people living in their homes for years as squatters. This has come to pass.

A new report by the Brookings Institution reveals that “the largest and fastest-growing population of poor people in the U.S. is in the suburbs.” Overall, the report showed that from 2000 to 2008, the number of poor people in the U.S. grew by 5.2 million, reaching nearly 40 million, 15.4 percent increase. That still does not include figures from 2009, when joblessness and foreclosures skyrocketed. But what is staggering is the amount of people who are upside down in their homes and have stopped paying their mortgages. They are the new squatters. Continue reading A Nation of Squatters–Poverty comes to the Suburbs

January 28, 2010

And, Now, for Some Good News!

Posted by Alan Caruba in: Commentary, Current Events, Democrat, Economic Crisis, Governance, Opinion, Politics, Recovery, Republican

And, Now, for Some Good News!

By Alan Caruba

After the State of the Union speech and the instant analyses on television and the punditry that follows on newspaper’s editorial pages and, of course, on news/opinion websites and countless blogs and forums, the tendency is likely to dwell on how it portends more of the same bad policies.

It is obvious to the “experts” and to the general population that this President and Congress has burdened the nation with an insane amount of debt, something in the area of $330,000 for every man, woman and child. Babies born today will arrive with that burden. That’s not what American’s voted for in 2008. That’s not what they wanted or expected in 2009.

That, however, is what they got and what they will continue to get in the contemptuous nonsense that pours forth out of the White House like an infected wound. However, the triage of the American economy and future began in Virginia, in New Jersey, and in Massachusetts. The next bailouts you will read about between now and next November will be Democrat members of Congress announcing they will not run again.

“Après moi le déluge” is attributed to the French king, Louis XV (1710-1774) who bankrupted his nation and would cost his grandson, Louis XVI, his head in a revolution (1789-1799) that went so badly that Napolean eventually took over and annointed himself Emperor. If only Barack Hussein Obama had the old king’s grasp of economics and history. Continue reading And, Now, for Some Good News!

January 24, 2010

The Bill Comes Due for Socialism in America

Posted by Alan Caruba in: Cap and Trade, Commentary, Congress, Current Events, Democrat, Economic Crisis, Environment, Governance, Opinion

The Bill Comes Due for Socialism in America

By Alan Caruba

“The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people’s money.” — Margaret Thatcher, former British Prime Minister

It began as a beautiful cruise to a land of “hope and change”, but it has become a nightmare in which the ship of state is being deliberately steered toward a whirlpool of debt from which, if Obama is successful, the nation cannot escape.

One of the primary reasons the U.S. economy has grown over the years has been the confidence in its innovation and productivity. It has generated investment from around the world from those who wanted to profit from our success story. There was a time when U.S. securities were the safest in the world, but that is no longer the case.

On December 24, 2009, the U.S. Senate voted to raise the ceiling of the government debt to $12.4 trillion, described by an Associated Press reporter as “a massive increase over the current limit and a political problem that President Barack Obama has promised to address next year.”

On January 20, 2010, barely a month later, Senate Democrats “proposed allowing the federal government to borrow an additional $1.9 trillion to pay bills, a record increase that would permit the national debt to reach $14.3 trillion.” Continue reading The Bill Comes Due for Socialism in America

January 23, 2010

Observing the Obvious

Posted by Alan Caruba in: Commentary, Communism, Current Events, Democrat, Governance, Opinion, Politics

Observing the Obvious

By Alan Caruba

For the past two years, it has been obvious to a lot of conservatives and independents that we have a President whose elevator doesn’t go to the top floor. This is a seriously flawed person.

Anyone in law enforcement will tell you that there are few people, including serial killers, who “look” like criminals and a danger to society. This is not to say that profiling isn’t a helpful tool, but that there is no Hollywood generic “bad guy” image in real life. About the only people that deliberately try to assume that image are professional wrestlers who play the villains in the ring.

Homicide detectives will tell you that, time and again, the murderers they capture, interrogate, and who end up confessing often break down in tears and some even ask if they can see their momma before being taken off to jail. Only occasionally do they encounter a seriously bad person who insanely kills to satisfy some demonic itch.

Now, I am NOT saying the President of the United States is criminally insane, but I am saying that he is so seriously immersed in a communist ideology that everything he says and does is intended to get him just that much closer to destroying the nation. Continue reading Observing the Obvious

January 19, 2010

Deadly Earth, Deadly Humans

Posted by Alan Caruba in: Commentary, Current Events, Economics, Environment, Governance, Opinion

Deadly Earth, Deadly Humans

By Alan Caruba

The earthquake in Haiti is a perfect example of the arrogance of environmentalists who are always running around crying “Save the Earth” or making claims that any or all forms of life are going extinct.

For three decades we have listened to these charlatans claim that the Earth was heating up to a point where, if we didn’t cut back or replace all forms of energy, oil, natural gas and coal, it would become a vast desert devoid of life.

Then, in 1998, the Sun began yet another of its eleven year cycles of low sunspot activity, a diminution of magnetic storms on its surface, and the completely predictable result was a new, perfectly natural cooling cycle, a prelude perhaps to a predictable new ice age.

When I do radio, I like to remind listeners that Mother Nature has a message for humankind. It’s “Get out of the way. Here comes an earthquake, a volcano, a flood, a forest fire, a mudslide, a blizzard, a hurricane, et cetera.”

In an excellent book, “Devastation! The World’s Worst Natural Disasters” by Lesley Newson, she starts by noting that “The Earth is a rocky sphere nearly 8,000 miles in diameter. It is surrounded by a shroud of gases more than 60 miles deep. Sandwiched in between is a fragile layer, only a few miles thick, where humans are able to survive. It is perhaps not surprising that in this tiny zone of life there are occasional upheavals that make survival impossible.” Continue reading Deadly Earth, Deadly Humans

January 9, 2010

Getting Control of Congress, Permanently

Posted by Congressman Billybob in: Commentary, Congress, Current Events, Democracy, Governance, Opinion, Politics

Getting Control of Congress, Permanently

by John Armor

We are now experiencing a disconnect between national political leaders and the citizenry. Public support for congressional actions is low and falling, as are the president’s numbers. Public opposition to the health care bill, now passed in different forms in the House and Senate, is at 59% and rising.

In various ways, the people are strongly indicating that they think Congress is out of control and needs adult supervision. Particularly galling is the revelation that Senate leaders bought critical votes on the health care bill by dumping hundreds of millions in special benefits into states whose senators had withheld support — until they got their bribe.

In answer to the public outcry, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid shrugs and says that any senator who “does not seek as much as he can” for his own state isn’t doing his job.

Perhaps it’s time to look to the states, where more tools are available to rein in profligate legislators. If similar constitutional restraints were imposed on Congress, many if not all of the recent abuses would be prevented permanently. Continue reading Getting Control of Congress, Permanently

January 8, 2010

The Risk of Catastrophic Victory

Posted by Peggy Noonan in: Commentary, Congress, Current Events, Democrat, Governance, Healthcare, Medical, Opinion, Politics, Republican

The Risk of Catastrophic Victory

Obama is in the midst of one. Can the GOP avert one of their own?

Passage of the health-care bill will be, for the administration, a catastrophic victory. If it is voted through in time for the State of the Union Address, as President Obama hopes, half the chamber will rise to their feet and cheer. They will be cheering their own demise.

If health care does not pass, it will also be a disaster, but only for the administration, not the country. Critics will say, “You didn’t even waste our time successfully.”

What a blunder this thing has been, win or lose, what a miscalculation on the part of the president. The administration misjudged the mood and the moment. Mr. Obama ran, won, was sworn in and began his work under the spirit of 2008—expansive, part dreamy and part hubristic. But as soon as he was inaugurated ,the president ran into the spirit of 2009—more dug in, more anxious, more bottom-line—and didn’t notice. At the exact moment the public was announcing it worried about jobs first and debt and deficits second, the administration decided to devote its first year to health care, which no one was talking about. The great recession changed everything, but not right away. Continue reading The Risk of Catastrophic Victory

January 1, 2010

New Rules for Air Travel

Posted by Alan Caruba in: Commentary, Current Events, Foreign Affairs, Governance, Homeland Security, Islam, Opinion, Terrorism

Continue reading New Rules for Air Travel

New Rules for Air Travel

By Alan Caruba

The simple fact of the matter is that the only reason the Christmas Delta flight was not blown out of the sky with a powerful explosive was that the detonator didn’t work. Does it strike anyone as ironic that, according to government officials, the “answer” to airline safety is more and better technology?

El Al, the Israeli airline has never had a terrorist incident and that is because they actually profile the heck out of everyone who wants to fly with them. Blond, blue-eyed, Scandinavian? They want to know why you’re going to a particular destination, how long you intend to be there? Do you have family or friends there? And you had better have all your visas and passports in proper order. You may be a member of the Master Race, but you better have some damned good answers.

In America, it’s now routine for passenger to have to show up a day in advance, sleep on the terminal floor, take off your shoes and all the rest of your clothes, submit to an anal cavity search, and not bring anything as dangerous as a nail-clipper with you. No liquids unless they are less than three ounces and in a zip-closed plastic bag. None of this makes anyone the slightest bit safer except the morons at the TSA that came up with these rules.

January 1, 2010

Look Ahead With Stoicism – and Optimism

Posted by Peggy Noonan in: Business, Commentary, Current Events, Democrat, Economic Crisis, Governance, Opinion, Politics, Religion

Look Ahead With Stoicism—and Optimism

While so many of our institutions have failed, we can repair them. The first step is to take personal responsibility.

The accomplished and sophisticated attorney was asked what attitude he was bringing to the new year. “Stoicism and mindless optimism,” he laughed, which sounded just about right. He meant it, he said, about the stoicism. He had immersed himself in that rough old philosophy after 9/11, and had come to adopt it as his own. But he meant it about the optimism, too: You never know, things get better, begin with good cheer, maintain your equilibrium, don’t lose your peace.

We’re at the clean start of a new decade, and it wouldn’t be bad if the national watchwords were repair, rebuild and return, with an eye toward what is now our central project, though we haven’t fully noticed, and that is keeping our country together. So many forces exist to tear us apart. We have to do what we can to hold together in the long run.

We have been through a hard 10 years. They were not, as some have argued, the worst ever, or even the worst of the past century. The ’30s started with the Great Depression, featured the rise of Hitler and Stalin, and ended with World War II. That’s a bad decade for you. In the ’60s we saw our leaders assassinated, our great cities hit by riots, a war tear our country apart.

But the ‘OOs were hard, starting with a disputed presidential election, moving on to the shocked pain of 9/11, marked by an effort to absorb the fact that we had entered the age of terror, and ending with a historic, world-shaking economic crash. Continue reading Look Ahead With Stoicism – and Optimism

December 28, 2009

The Bigger They Are…

Posted by Alan Caruba in: Commentary, Congress, Current Events, Democrat, Governance, Opinion

The Bigger They Are…

By Alan Caruba

The phrase, “The bigger they are, the harder they fall” comes from the world of boxing, but it applies increasingly to government.

Americans have seen that the bigger the government grows, the less able it is to respond to both the major needs of Americans, like national security, and the immediate ones such as the victims of Hurricane Katrina.

The thing I liked most about our response to 9/11 was the fairly swift response of President Bush and the U.S. military. It wasn’t long before bombs were falling in Afghanistan’s Tora Bora. The thing I liked least was the astonishing incompetence that followed in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

The lesson, I think, is that the military is ideally structured to identify and carry out a mission while its civilian counterparts are so mired in caution as to eviscerate any likelihood of success.

The consolidation of several agencies under the umbrella of the Department of Homeland Security was possibly a good idea though it has its detractors. Americans are forced to believe that both they and our intelligence community are functioning well enough to protect us right up to the moment we learn they are not. It is thankless work to know you have deterred terrorist attacks only to have that wiped out with an incident like the one on Christmas. Continue reading The Bigger They Are…

December 26, 2009

‘He Just Does What He Thinks Is Right’

Posted by Peggy Noonan in: Commentary, Current Events, Governance, Opinion, Politics

‘He Just Does What He Thinks Is Right’

Cannon to the left of him, cannon to the right of him, cannon in front of him volley and thunder. That’s our president’s position on the political battlefield now, taking it from all sides. And the odd thing, the unique thing in terms of modern political history, is that no one really defends him, no one holds high his flag. When was the last time you put on the radio or TV and heard someone say “Open line Friday—we’re talking about what it is we like best about Barack Obama!” When did you last see a cable talking head say, “The greatness of this man is as obvious as it is unnoticed”?

Is the left out there on the Internet and the airwaves talking about him? Oh, yes. They’re calling him a disappointment, a sellout, a DINO—Democratic in name only. He sold out on single-payer health insurance, and then the public option. He’ll sell you out on your issue too.

The pundits and columnists, dreadful people that they are, call him cold, weak, aloof, arrogant, entitled.

So let’s denounce him again.

Wait—it’s Christmas. Let’s not. There are people who deeply admire the president, who work with him and believe he’s doing right. This week, this column is their forum. They speak not for attribution to avoid the charge of suckupism. Continue reading ‘He Just Does What He Thinks Is Right’

December 22, 2009

Even Paranoids Have Real Enemies

Posted by Alan Caruba in: Commentary, Current Events, Democrat, Governance, Opinion

Even Paranoids Have Real Enemies

By Alan Caruba

The little-known American poet, Delmore Schwartz, is remembered best for having once said, “Even paranoids have real enemies.” The year ahead, 2010, is going to be a harvest of fears for those as paranoid as myself.

Happily, I stopped worrying about “global warming” years ago, having figured out what lots of people have recently discovered; the whole thing was based on rigged computer models, including NASA’s.

Like an increasing number of Americans, however, I cannot help wondering what fresh new horror Barrack Hussein Obama has in mind for us. No doubt he will spring some great plan during his first State of the Union speech. Perhaps to stimulate the economy, he will initiate the building of “re-education camps” around the nation where people who have the temerity of disagreeing with him will learn to love the Great Leader.

I know he’s a Great Leader because he modestly gave himself a B+ for his first year in office and because the government tells me that unemployment is “only” ten percent when all my friends and others keep telling me its closer to seventeen percent. Would Barrack Hussein Obama lie to me? Continue reading Even Paranoids Have Real Enemies

December 20, 2009

Demography Decides Everything

Posted by Alan Caruba in: Commentary, Congress, Current Events, Energy, Environment, Governance, Opinion, Politics

Demography Decides Everything

By Alan Caruba

When I listen to politicians arguing the merits of some piece of legislation, I am usually 99% sure they have no idea how demography-—population—-will affect the outcome of their grand schemes.

This is particularly true of advocates of fixed and often flawed ideas about the environment. Most “save the Earth” true believers want to see huge reductions in the population of the planet. They don’t much care for human beings.

Demography is the study of population; focusing on things like fertility rates, aging, ethnic identity, and immigration. Knowing the accurate demographics of a nation is central to its governance and this is particularly true for a democracy. It is no accident that both words have the same root, demos as in people.

Knowing the size and distribution of the U.S. population was a serious concern for the Founders and it is part of Article 1 of the U.S. Constitution which states that “[An] Enumeration shall be made within three Years after the first Meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent Term of ten Years, in such Manner as they shall by Law direct.” Congress first met in 1789, and the first national census was held in 1790. Continue reading Demography Decides Everything

December 18, 2009

Questions, Questions, Questions

Posted by Alan Caruba in: Accountability, Commentary, Congress, Current Events, Economic Crisis, Energy, Foreign Affairs, Global Warming, Governance, Opinion

Questions, Questions, Questions

By Alan Caruba

I am frequently asked how I come up with something new to write about every day, but in fact I write about the same things, the Constitution, energy issues, the global warming fraud, education, immigration, et cetera. There is, however, always something new to address within these and other ongoing topics.

As another weekend beckons, I have any number of questions rambling around in my brain about current events.

Is 2010 the year in which global warming will be officially declared dead?

How is it that the Obama administration can announce it is ready to given $10 BILLION DOLLARS a year to developing nations to help them cope with climate change? First of all, the U.S. is for all intents and purposes broke. We exist off of the billions we have to BORROW DAILY just to function and meet enormous obligations such as Medicare and Social Security payments, pensions, the entire U.S. military, and countless pork projects. We don’t have the money to give and climate change has been around 4.5 billion years.

Why can’t these so-called developing nations—which have been developing since I was born over seventy years ago—start developing a few things themselves, like water purification programs, supporting agriculture through the use of genetically modified seeds so crops can resist drought or insect depredation, or just ensuring that, in some cases, the riches from oil royalties actually gets used to build some schools, health clinics, et cetera? Continue reading Questions, Questions, Questions

December 17, 2009

Why You’re Broke

Posted by Alan Caruba in: Accountability, Cap and Trade, Commentary, Congress, Current Events, Governance, Opinion, Politics

Why You’re Broke

By Alan Caruba

While it is incontestably true that a lot of people took out mortgage loans they could not afford to replay, it is just as true that they were encouraged to do so because banks were required by federal law to make these bad loans. Bankers even gave them an acronym, “Ninja” loans as in “No Income, No Job, No Assets.”

The result was the government created “housing bubble” that was coupled with the Federal Reserves’ policy of keeping interest rates so low that many were tempted to borrow beyond their means. When the financial crisis struck, these loans were called “toxic assets” requiring billions in taxpayer money to bail out the same banks forced to make them. Mortgage loan companies were not so fortunate.

Consistent with that government inspired economic disaster, however, has been the many ways federal and state governments have found to tax Americans directly and indirectly. A new book, “Bankrupting Joe the Taxpayer”, by D.J. Golio ($24.95/$16.95, Authorhouse, hard and softcover) reveals how taxation and irrational government spending has reached the present point and offers suggestions how to correct it.

A classic example of hidden taxes can be found in your telephone bill. This month mine was $63.00, but $14.00 of it was taxes, so my actual cost was less than $50. This occurs again every time I fill up my gas tank or pay my utility bill. For example, in 2007 the estimated take by states alone in gasoline taxes exceeded $50 billion. Continue reading Why You’re Broke

December 13, 2009

December 15 is Bill of Rights Day

Posted by Alan Caruba in: Commentary, Democracy, Governance, History, Politics

December 15 is Bill of Rights Day

By Alan Caruba

December 15 is Bill of Rights day, a national holiday that was signed into law by Franklin Delano Roosevelt on that day in 1941. For those who know their history, that was just a week after the attack on Pearl Harbor that brought the United States into World War Two.

By way of a little more history, the Constitutional Convention opened in Philadelphia on May 25, 1787. It was a closed-door gathering of delegates from all the States except Rhode Island that failed to send one. The objective was to come up with something better than the Articles of Confederacy that had proved ineffective. By September 17, 1787, all twelve state delegations approved the new Constitution. Of the 42 delegates present, 39 signed the document.

On June 21, 1788 the Constitution became effective when New Hampshire became the ninth State to ratify it. It had been subject to extensive deliberation throughout the original thirteen States and the Federalist Papers are testimony to the effort to explain the need for it and its various elements of governance.

Even then, however, there was widespread concern that it did not specifically enumerate the limitations needed to protect specific rights of individual citizens and to ensure that the new government would not be permitted to run roughshod over its citizens. Continue reading December 15 is Bill of Rights Day

December 8, 2009

Reading What Isn’t There

Posted by Congressman Billybob in: Accountability, Commentary, Congress, Current Events, Governance, Opinion, Politics

Reading What Isn’t There

by John Armor

As an avid follower of and writer on political and legal subjects for almost fifty years, I’ve gotten on many mailing lists from all parts of the political spectrum. This week I received the “2009 Scorecard on Campaign Reform” from an outfit named North Carolina Voters for Clean Elections. Sounds like God, flag, and Mom’s apple pie, doesn’t it?

I had never heard of this organization before. But there is a standard process I use to smoke out the bias, if any, in any new organization I hear about. My knowledge was new; the organization is, apparently, ten years old.

Step one: Who is running the organization? Neither the Director nor any of the thirteen members of the Board, are known to me.

Step two: What are they trying to accomplish? They want public funding of all elections in North Carolina, trying to build from the bottom up, from city and county elections. Okay, maybe that’s good or bad. Depends on the details, which are not clearly laid out. It looks like a plea for laws that provide every candidate with the same amount of support after they have raised a small, trigger amount of money privately. Continue reading Reading What Isn’t There

December 5, 2009

Job Summits Do Not Create Jobs

Posted by Alan Caruba in: Accountability, Commentary, Congress, Current Events, Economic Crisis, Governance, Opinion, Recovery, Workplace

Job Summits Do Not Create Jobs

By Alan Caruba

It has taken less than a year for most Americans to conclude that the Obama White House is all about appearances. The “Job Summit” is a classic example. Just how does one hold such a conference without inviting representatives of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to participate?

Most administrations worry about their credibility, whether most of the public believes what they are saying, but this one doesn’t really care. The result is an endless succession of staged events in which the hand-picked participants all say what the White House wants.

The December 2nd edition of Business Week, however, had something different to say on the subject of “The Slow Road to Jobs.” Reporter Jane Sasseen began by asking, “Could it take as long as five years for the economy to replace all of the eight million jobs lost since the Great Recession began? The most bearish economists think so.”

“Job creation,” reported Sasseen, “is proving to be painfully slow, and Washington is starting to panic. With unemployment at a 26-year high of 10.2% and climbing, the Democrats are scrambling to rev up the economy before the midterm elections next November.” Unofficial estimates put the unemployment rate closer to 17% which would put it in the category of a full-blown Depression. Continue reading Job Summits Do Not Create Jobs

December 2, 2009

The Open-Ended War

Posted by Alan Caruba in: Accountability, Commentary, Current Events, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Relations, Governance, Homeland Security, Islam, Military, Opinion, Politics

The Open-Ended War

By Alan Caruba

As I listened to the President address the nation from West Point, I was reminded of how well he can deliver a speech. It’s like watching a slight-of-hand magician. You marvel at his dexterity, but you know he’s still skillfully fooling you.

The speech, given in the Eisenhower auditorium at West Point, reminded me of President Eisenhower, the former general who led allied forces to victory in Europe in World War Two, the man called back to serve his nation, and a man who was hard on the ears when it came to delivering a speech. It made him more human. We forgave him his blunt manner. After all, he had spent his whole adult life in the U.S. Army, taking and giving orders.

Similarly President Bush never seemed all that comfortable giving a set speech, but you knew he meant what he said. You knew he hated the evil of al Qaeda and the Taliban. You knew he despised Saddam Hussein and other enemies of America, of freedom, and human dignity. He was not smooth, not articulate, but he was genuine.

Barack Hussein Obama never spent a day in uniform and something in the area of two years out of six of his first term in the Senate before being launched on the nation as its savior, its messiah. I always found the references to spiritual powers jarring though, like most, amusing in their over-reach. Obama did nothing to discourage the image.

His West Point speech was primarily political. The military elements revealed a get-in and get-out strategy in what has already been a long engagement of the U.S. military in the Middle East. It was filled with talk of NATO partners, Afghani partners, and Pakistani partners, but it also told the enemy that, if they were just patient enough, the U.S. would leave. Continue reading The Open-Ended War

November 17, 2009

How I Saved Or Created 4,730,400,003 Jobs

Posted by in: Commentary, Current Events, Economics, Governance, Opinion, Recovery