January 4, 2013 — Steven Hayward

The Episcopal Church: Nothing Like Consistency (With Comedy Video Bonus)

Featured image The very first newspaper op-ed article I ever published, way back in 1984, was about All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena, California, which has long had a reputation as a leading “progressive” parish. I wrote about attending a meeting where a group of parishioners were reporting back on a recent visit to the newest workers’ paradise, Nic . . .—now just wait for it!!—yes, indeed, it was Nicaragua (or “KNEE-car-AHHH-gua,” if »
January 4, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff

Chuck Hagel’s nomination and the clarity it would bring

Featured imageThe word is that President Obama is set to nominate Chuck Hagel as Secretary of Defense. Reportedly, the nomination could come as early as Monday. Hagel’s nomination would be a victory for clarity. As has widely been observed, Hagel has no natural constituency, except perhaps for those who want a foreign and defense policy that is tougher on Israel and softer on Iran. Unfortunately, as I have observed, Obama belongs »
January 4, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff

Another weak jobs report

Featured imageNow that the election is over, most of us don’t wait quite as breathlessly for the monthly job reports; nor is the media’s urge to spin them quite as strong. But the reports remain consequential and the temptation to spin remains strong. Today’s report shows that employers added 155,000 jobs in December 2012. The unemployment rate for December was 7.8 percent, unchanged from November (the November rate originally was 7.7 »
January 4, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff

Smaller pay checks — a January surprise

Featured imageWorking Americans have just experienced a pay cut they didn’t expect — the cut resulting from the expiration of the reduction in the payroll tax rate. Like most Americans, some of the folks who post at the Democratic Underground are not amused. As Mollie Hemmingway says, it’s almost as if everyone’s taxes went up and the media forgot to mention it. Actually, the resumption of prior payroll tax deductions is »
January 4, 2013 — Scott Johnson

Weekend at Hugo’s

Featured imageWhen we last heard from Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez, he was declaiming: “It is absolutely necessary, absolutely essential, that I undergo a new surgical intervention.” Flanked by ashen-faced ministers, he added: “With God’s will, like on the previous occasions, we will come out of this victorious. I have complete faith in that.” And then he departed for Havana to avail himself of the best Cuban medicine had to offer. Say »
January 3, 2013 — Steven Hayward

New York Green Weenies Almost Out of Gas

Featured imageI mentioned here yesterday that Pennsylvanians are enjoying a surge of prosperity while New York Governor Andrew Cuomo kowtows to cheap-energy-hating environmentalists who are making their last stand again natural gas.  Cuomo keeps hiding behind “safety reviews,” missing several deadlines for a decision and calling for additional investigation. Today the New York Times reports that Cuomo has been sitting on a state Health Department assessment that concluded months ago that »
January 3, 2013 — John Hinderaker

We’re Gonna Need Bigger Spending Cuts!

Featured imageThe genius of Michael Ramirez is brought to bear on our current fiscal situation–not for the first time, needless to say. The thing about Ramirez is that he is not only an excellent analyst of the political scene, he is a great artist. Who else could draw such a beautiful cartoon with such a pungent point, drawn from popular culture? There is a lot of talk about messaging on the »
January 3, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff

Meet the new Speaker; same as the old Speaker

Featured imageAs expected, John Boehner was reelected Speaker of the House. The only suspense was over the exact number of Republicans who would defect (two years ago, he won every Republican vote). In the end, 12 Republicans voted against Boehner, voted present, or abstained. I’m sure that many more harbor doubts about the quality of Boehner’s leadership. However, the Republican caucus must have believed overwhelmingly that the best course is to »
January 3, 2013 — John Hinderaker

Better Late Than Never: Boehner Swears Off Secret Deals

Featured imageWe have been arguing for a long time that Congressional Republicans should stop negotiating secret, back-room deals that are announced at midnight and voted on unread (which happened again with the “fiscal cliff” bill; Senators reportedly received a copy of the bill minutes before they had to vote on it). We and many others have said that, rather than taking the Democrats off the hook with jointly-sponsored back-room deals, the »
January 3, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff

Cliff pork

Featured imageHere, via the Washington Post, is a partial list of those whose pork was preserved by the “fiscal cliff” legislation that passed Congress: Puerto Rican rum distillers Hollywood studios (what a surprise) Tribal lands coal Electric scooter makers The wind-energy industry Wouldn’t it have been nice if the House had passed an amended version of the Senate bill that eliminated the pork? Harry Reid’s Senate would then have had to »
January 3, 2013 — Scott Johnson

The bubble at the University of Minnesota

Featured imageThe Minnesota media usually luxuriate in national attention directed to local institutions or figures. Not so with the December 28 Wall Street Journal article (behind the Journal subscription paywall) highlighting the University of Minnesota as Exhibit A for the administrative bloat fostered by the higher education bubble. The silence is, as they say, deafening. The Washington Post’s Charles Lane picked up on the Journal article for a column of his »
January 3, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff

Senator Ted Cruz

Featured imageTed Cruz joined the Senate today, and oh my, what a welcome addition he is. Please take a moment to read his op-ed in the Washington Post, called “What the GOP should stand for: Opportunity.” Cruz calls for Republicans to adopt “opportunity conservatism.” This means conceptualizing and articulating every domestic policy “with a single-minded focus on easing the ascent up the economic ladder.” For example: Don’t just say no to »
January 3, 2013 — Steven Hayward

Why Is The World (Not) So Dangerous?

Featured imageOnce upon a time over at my old blogging home at the Ashbrook Center’s NoLeftTurns site, I took note of the single most interesting document I came across in my ten years of research for my two Age of Reagan volumes: CIA deputy director Herbert Meyer’s November 1983 memo—in hindsight the key month of the Reagan story—to CIA director Bill Casey (and Reagan) on “Why Is The World So Dangerous?”  »
January 3, 2013 — John Hinderaker

A Match Made In Heaven?

Featured imageAs you probably have heard, al Jazeera is buying Al Gore’s Current TV for, apparently, several hundred million dollars. Al Jazeera is owned by the government of Qatar, which has a great deal of money, and Al Gore likes money. A lot. That affinity is more than enough to explain the deal, but there is more, as the Wall Street Journal reports: The deal comes several months after Messrs. Gore »
January 3, 2013 — Paul Mirengoff

First gun control, now finger control

Featured imageA school in Silver Spring, Maryland has suspended a six-year old boy for pointing his finger at another student and saying “pow.” The school characterized first student’s behavior as a threat to shoot the second student. The suspension made me wonder whether Barack Obama should have been disciplined for writing a note, during lengthy remarks by Joe Biden, that said: “SHOOT. ME. NOW.” »
January 3, 2013 — Scott Johnson

An interview with Robert Wistrich

Featured imageRobert S. Wistrich is the Neuburger Professor of European and Jewish history at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the director of the university’s Vidal Sassoon International Center for the Study of Anti-Semitism. He is also probably the leading academic authority on anti-Semitism. Witness his monumental histories A Lethal Obsession: Anti-Semitism From Antiquity to the Global Jihad and, most recently, From Ambivalence to Betrayal: The Left, The Jews and Israel, »
January 3, 2013 — Steven Hayward

Green Weenie of the Week: The Kyoto Keystone Kops

Featured imageAmerica’s tax system wasn’t the only thing that went over a cliff at midnight on December 31.  The Kyoto Protocol on climate change—the treaty I’ve called the most feckless and unserious act of international diplomacy since the Kellogg-Briand Pact—expired on December 31. Despite all the best efforts of the worst people, there was no 11th hour rescue, no climate “grand bargain,” and not even a tax increase on the top »