March 2009

U.S. spends, lends, or commits $12.8 trillion in one year. Byron York on the plan to set wages for all employees of bailed out companies. Minnesota court adds 400 possible votes to the Minnesota Senate recount--almost certainly not enough for Coleman to make up his deficit. Joseph Abrams on strange…

The letter (available here) is signed by all 41 GOP senators. They urge House and Senate leadership (and the Chairmen and ranking House and Senate Budget Committee members) not to use budget reconciliation in the healthcare process and that doing so would "make it difficult, if not impossible, to…

Carl Levin warned today that the "Pentagon budget will include large, painful cuts." At least that was the paraphrase from the AP. It's not yet clear what weapons systems may be on the chopping block, but as John McCain said at today's inaugural FPI conference, the Obama administration is going to…

President Obama's nominee for secretary of Health and Human Services, Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, failed to pay $7,918 in taxes and interest, she writes in a letter sent today to Senators Max Baucus and Charles Grassley. According to Sebelius, an accountant who was hired to review tax returns for 2005,…

Sy Hersh "reports" on NPR: HERSH: I'll make it worse. I think [Cheney's] put people left. He's put people back. They call it a stay behind. It's sort of an intelligence term of art. When you leave a country and, you know, you've driven out the, you know, you've lost the war. You leave people…

Chas Freeman last month: "The Taliban is not a direct military threat to the United States." The headline in today's Los Angeles Times: Pakistan's Taliban leader threatens attacks in the U.S. So how would a "contrarian" like Freeman assess this report if he were, as Blair still wishes, head of the…

In a match-up that will determine the trajectory of both political parties of the United States from this day forward until the Republic ceases to exist, early, sketchy, probably untrustworthy reports are that Tedisco may pull this one out. At least one predicting a 3-point win for Tedisco, who…

Rep. Ed Royce (R-CA) weighs in on the fight over Chris Hill's appointment at his Foreign Intrigue blog: Senator Sam Brownback is leading the opposition to Hill's nomination. Brownback feels that Hill misled him during congressional testimony last year about pressing North Korea on human rights,…

Tomorrow, the 62-cents-per-pack tax hike on cigarettes goes into effect, in order to help fund the expansion of the State Children's Health Insurance Program. As this YouTube video from the 2007 S-Chip debate pointed out, you might want to take up smoking for the kids:

The few discussions I've had with Israeli officials, I've always been amazed at the gap between our understanding of the threat from a nuclear Iran and theirs. For instance, I've heard numerous Israeli officials describe Iran as deterrable. One Israeli nuclear official suggested that while the…

Joe Klein writes in a post titled "Terror's Next Wave": Our enemies may have increased motivation now that President Obama has focused on the Taliban safe havens in Northwest Pakistan, and has also decided to put increased pressure on Pakistan--especially its Army and intelligence services--to stop…

The U.S. Justice Department has decided to release another detainee from Guantanamo, a Yemeni named Ayman Saeed Abdullah Batarfi. It is not entirely clear why Batarfi has been cleared for release. But we can be reasonably sure, based on Batarfi's own freely given testimony, that he was no innocent…

TPM's Brian Beutler reports that Senate Budget Commitee Chairman Kent Conrad reaffirmed his opposition to including health-care legislation in budget reconciliation, a move that would eliminate the ability to filibuster the bill. Yesterday, Conrad told reporters: I've been as clear as I can be…

Via Ben Smith, the Catholic News Agency reported Friday on a cringe-inducing gaffe Hillary Clinton committed in Mexico: During her recent visit to Mexico, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made an unexpected stop at the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe and left a bouquet of white flowers "on…

It's a story worthy of the Onion--or maybe Lewis Carroll. The Washington Post reports that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the agency charged with overseeing the fair labor practices of American employers, has been forcing its employees to accept compensatory time off in lieu of…

From yesterday's press briefing at the most transparent White House in history: Q Following up on that, when did the President decide that Wagoner had to go, and who specifically asked him to go? MR. GIBBS: I'm not going to get into a tick-tock. Q Why not? MR. GIBBS: Because I'm not.

In the four months since G20 leaders promised to try to close a deal on global trade and foreswore new trade barriers, the star-crossed Doha trade talks have collapsed and all but three of the 20 countries have implemented trade-distorting measures, according to the World Bank. G20 leaders should…

Jennifer Rubin wonders, what if Obama got as tough with Iran as he did with GM? Marc Thiessen picks apart the Washington Post's false claim that harsh interrogation of Abu Zubaydah "foiled no plots." The Philadelphia Bulletin reports: "A lawyer involved with legal action against Association of…

Is corruption better if it's transparent? "If I'm corrupt, it's because I take care of my district," Mr. Murtha said.

Tomorrow he will be sworn in as Prime Minister of Israel -- for the second time. With that in mind, a glimpse of how, more than 30 years ago, he saw the same problems he will contend with as Prime Minister. The description from YouTube: 28-year old Benyamin Netanyahu, calling himself Ben Nitay,…

The state is considering a law that would allow students to carry concealed weapons on campus. The quintessential liberal reaction from Karen Tumulty: Nearly spit out my coffee when I saw this one down at the bottom of A21 of the New York Times. According to the AP, there isn't a single state in…

After a decades-long reign as the most terrifying of phrases, "I'm from the government and I'm here to help" relinquished its hold on the top spot this morning, thanks to the appearance of a fresh newcomer brought up from a farm team-The Akron Creepy Statists, presumably-by President Barack Obama:…

The American President heads into the G-20 meeting having been told by his top advisers that the U.S. economy is showing signs of recovery. New home sales rose by 4.7 percent last month, durable goods orders were up, the stock market is at least sitting up in its sick bed, and applications for…

Once again, Pakistan is the origin of another military-styled assault on civilian or government installations in South Asia. Today's terror assault on a police academy in Lahore, Pakistan, is the latest in a string of such attacks, which include the strike on the city of Mumbai, the storming of…

The video below is the subject of some controversy. It appears to show Chinese police beating Tibetan prisoners during last year's protests. The Chinese government claims the video is a fake, and shut down access to YouTube for some time last week in order to prevent access to the tape. The tape…

THE WEEKLY STANDARD reported on March 12--three months after news broke of Bernard Madoff's Ponzi scheme--that the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee had not returned or donated $100,000 Madoff had given the group. "We haven't returned the money, and there are no immediate plans to do so,"…

Bill Ayers' lecture plans at Boston College gets, err, blown up. "We are living through a similar time. An activist President is desperate to show he cares and is on top of things, working tirelessly to save the country." Twitter is everywhere. You will be assimilated. Tough crowd: "A regimented…

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has rejected demands by Cardinal Joachim Meissner, the Catholic Archbishop of Cologne, that she apologize for her sharp criticism of Pope Benedict XVI's handling of the Bishop Williamson scandal in early February. In essence, Cardinal Meissner argued that Merkel's…

He's announced his intention to pursue peace with the "Palestinians," whatever kind of peace there is to be had with the worthless Fatah on the one hand and the rocket-lobbing Hamas on the other; he's handing the Israeli defense ministry (back) over to the same Ehud Barak who was prevented from…

The 2009 New Jersey gubernatorial race is an unlikely platform from which to launch Republicans' comeback. After all, New Jersey Republicans have come to resemble Charlie Brown and that elusive football. Each cycle hope springs eternal that this will be their time to connect with voters. But time…

The Jerk

Watchmen

Last Lion

Latham, N.Y.

When news broke last week that insurance giant AIG--into which the federal government has poured close to $200 billion since last September--planned to pay out $165 million in bonuses to executives in its financial products group, the backlash was swift. And understandable. These are the blockheads…

You don't have to be an old Washington hand to spot the telltale signs of a presidency and an administration in serious trouble. There's nothing new about these clues. The inability to get their stories straight--that's a hardy perennial of high-level officials caught in the vise of political…

Bible Illuminated

"Liberty" isn't a word you'll find in President Obama's Iranian New Year message to "the people and leaders of the Islamic Republic of Iran." Nor is "freedom." Nor "democracy." Nor "human rights."

The marriage of Gisele Bündchen and Tom Brady may look like an even celebrity match: two beautiful, talented millionaires who will be photographed in good times and bad, till death (or the ill effects of mega-fame) do them part. But in terms of cultural relevance, she is by far the bigger star.

Move over, Michael Moore: The new rock star of the left has arrived. She is Naomi Klein, a 38-year-old Canadian writer and journalist whose 2007 book, The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism, was greeted with rave reviews and became an international bestseller. She has been hailed by…

The Philosophers' Quarrel

"  .  .  .  part of the success in Iraq involved reaching out to people that we would consider to be Islamic fundamentalists, but who were willing to work with us  .  .  . "

It's tough to keep fit when you smoke a pack a day, start drinking cocktails in the early afternoon, and subsist on a steady diet of red meat and Golden Oreos, so after last year's historic election, I felt like maybe it was time for some change. My goal wasn't necessarily to "stay fit" (the moment…

On October 11, 2006, three days after North Korea detonated a crude nuclear device, George W. Bush held a press conference. He recommitted the United States to a diplomatic course on North Korea, but ruled out a bilateral meeting with representatives from the rogue regime:

Sometimes truth just has to speak to powerlessness. Addressing the EU's sham parliament in mid-February, the Czech Republic's refreshingly tactless and refreshingly Thatcherite president, Václav Klaus, raised the awkward topic of what the EU euphemistically refers to as its "democratic deficit" and…

The Niagara River

Gates says "a flourishing democracy in Afghanistan" remains the long-term goal, but in the short-term the administration will focus on "making headway and reversing the Taliban's momentum and strengthening the Afghan army and police, and really going after Al Qaeda as the President said." Holbrooke…

Over at NRO, Andy McCarthy points to this piece in Friday's New York Times. The piece reports on the unification of the Pakistani and Afghan Taliban factions, which have always been (in reality) allied in various ways, to fight American forces in Afghanistan. Some Taliban fighters cited in the…

On a day when President Obama announced his administration's strategy (which has many merits) for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Admiral Mike Mullen reminds us of one of America's most daunting challenges: the Pakistani intelligence services' relationship with al Qaeda and the Taliban. In an interview…

At a briefing with reporters this morning, Harry Reid said that Republicans attempted to "ruin our country" when some tried to change Senate rules so that only a simple majority would be needed to confirm judges, a legislative maneuver dubbed the "nuclear option." But yesterday Reid said that it…

Some conservatives have been cheered by the announcement of Obama's Afghanistan policy (see Kristol and Kagan) but Tom Donnelly criticizes the counternarcotics component of the strategy in a post below, John McCain told the Washington Times that Obama's plan was "not enough," and a Republican…

The NRCC came out with a heavy web ad today, keying off NY-20 Democratic candidate Scott Murphy's assertion that he opposes the death penalty for terrorists: The race, seen as increasingly important as an indicator of Republican fortunes, has also become increasingly close in the closing weeks of…

"It is the most wasteful and ineffective program I have seen in 40 years." That is how Richard Holbrooke once described the Bush administration's counternarcotics efforts in Afghanistan. And even if one allows for the Holbrookian propensity to exaggeration and bombast, the ambassador had a good…

To charges that her scheduled appearance at a Justice Department Women's History Month event ("Supervisors are encouraged to grant official time to employees to attend") may be "politicizing" the department, Democratic political hack Donna Brazile responds: I am going in my capacity as an Adjunct…

It's been a rough couple of weeks for poor old Gordon Brown. First there was the slight of the Obami; next, those crappy (pirated?) DVDs they gave him didn't work; then the smackdown by Conservative MEP Daniel Hannan went viral. Seeking a little hiatus from public humiliation maybe, Brown schlepped…

The video from the Huffington Post: But buried within the hours of debate in the Senate on Thursday is an exchange you'd be more likely to hear in a locker room than a congressional hearing. Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) was on the receiving end of this one, after telling Sen.…

Unconfirmed reports from Britain and Iraq indicate that a deal may have been struck to free five British hostages who were kidnapped almost two years ago in an Iraqi ministry in the heart of Baghdad. According to the Telegraph, the group that kidnapped the Britons said U.S. has agreed to turn over…

At a breakfast meeting with reporters sponsored by the Christian Science Monitor this morning, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said that he could vote for a health care bill that included insurance coverage for abortion. TWS: Senator, progressive Rev. Jim Wallis recently said that including…

The letter is signed by Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, the Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, the Chairman of Armed Services, and the Chairman of the House Intel Committee. It's a serious group of people, and they warn Obama: Engagement must be serious and credible, but it cannot be…

Bob Kagan weighs in on Obama's speech: Hats off to President Obama for making a gutsy and correct decision on Afghanistan.... It is also evidence that the president is pragmatic in the best sense of the word. He and his key advisers, such as Richard Holbrooke, understand that better and more…

I asked the boss for a reaction to the Afghan speech. He said he would have framed a few things differently, but his basic response was: "All hail Obama!"

About that middle-class tax cut... NY Post endorses Tedisco. Party like it's 2008, with a disproportionate number of Sarah Palin stories! The world supply of irony is not in danger. The populist formerly known as Prince. With apologies to Allahpundit: Dude. My thoughts exactly. Obama's aunt's…

Last week Politico's Michael Calderone wrote a piece about the left-wing "Journo-list" listserv set up by the American Prospect's Ezra Klein. There are several hundred members, including left-wing bloggers, mainstream reporters, members of the administration, and their hangers-on. The…

Did Christopher Hill, Barack Obama's nominee to serve as Ambassador to Iraq, lie under oath during his confirmation hearing on Wednesday? One exchange he had with Senator Roger Wicker, a Republican from Mississippi, deserves considerable scrutiny. Wicker read Hill a passage from the piece I wrote…

Has the U.S. government really re-branded the Global War on Terror as the nebulous and clumsy "Overseas Contingency Operation" as was reported at the Washington Post two days ago? An email circulated by a beaurucrat at the Office of Management and Budget claimed the name had indeed changed:…

Barack Obama will unveil his plan for Afghanistan Friday. Mike Allen reports that the new plan will include 4200 more troops, as well as civilian reinforcements. (See Goldfarb on the politics of the plan here.) Allen writes: The plan is at the heavier end of the spectrum of possibilities the White…

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is holding the option of using a legislative maneuver to create not only a sweeping overhaul of the nation's health care system but also a controversial cap and trade energy program, a move that could torpedo bipartisanship. The maneuver, known as "reconciliation,"…

Mike Allen quotes an administration official on Obama's new Afghanistan policy to be announced tomorrow: President Barack Obama plans to announce an escalation in Afghanistan in a speech at the White House on Friday morning, committing 4,200 more troops and hundreds more civilians, and embracing a…

Marc Ambinder previews Obama's new Afghan policy. Obama to speak in Prague. Paul Ryan regrets his vote in favor of taxing AIG bonuses at 90 percent. Will Rahm Emanuel give back the $320,000 he took from Freddie Mac? Debunking the latest libel against the IDF. Rich Lowry on the war in Afghanistan.…

Via Abe Greenwald, anti-semitic propaganda now appearing in the Washington Post...

Ash Carter, Barack Obama's nominee for Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition, was on the Hill today answering questions about his qualifications to serve as the Pentagon's top weapons buyer. Carter has no real experience in this field, as John McCain kindly pointed out for the committee. But…

You know, it is an appalling indictment of our society that a public figure can still look at the first black President of the United States of America and see only a basketball star. When Eugene Robinson observes the intellectual dexterity of an Ivy-League educated intellectual and sees only a…

Here, from the Associated Press, is a partial account of DNI Dennis Blair's first press conference today (emphasis mine): During his news conference, Blair also said the Obama administration is still wrestling with what to do with the remaining 240 detainees at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, which…

Just in time for Obama's Afghanistan speech, a new report has been released on the war in Afghanistan: The addition of 17,000 U.S. combat troops and military support personnel by summer 2009-bringing U.S. troops to 55,000, their highest level to date-may be sufficient to freeze the security…

The gun-grabbers are at it again, or at least they were until Eric Holder's call for a new assault weapons ban ran into a wall of bipartisan opposition in Congress. The administration told him to pipe down and talk of an assault weapons ban has died with it. But the coverage of all this is amusing.…

It's been more than ten years since Bill Clinton order strikes against the Al Shifa pharmaceutical plant in Sudan in response to the bombing of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. Then the United States was acting on information that tied Sudan to both al Qaeda, which was said to be using the…

Don't question their priorities. Sure, the economy's bad and the budget's out of control, but they're just making an "investment" in devising a fair collegiate competition system that will ensure that American football stays competitive in the long term.

At Obama's first online town hall meeting, he didn't field a lot of tough questions, but one small businessman from Arlington gave the president a close-up look at the kind of person who can be lumped in with the "richest" in the federal tax code. Describing himself as a veteran and a small…

Earlier this week, the Washington Post reported that some in the Obama administration are now referring to the "war on terror" as an "Overseas Contingency Operation." There's been some confusion as to whether or not the "war on terror" has been officially abolished. Via Ben Smith, Pentagon…

Tuesday night President Obama appeared undeterred by the consequences of debt and long-term deficits in his budget, arguing his fiscal "investments" are inseparable from the economic recovery. In coming months, however, messages from the bond market and foreign investors may change his tune.…

The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) just awarded its Humane Senator of the Year award to Dick Durbin, on account of all he's done to give little puppies the opportunity to avoid the miseries of puppy mills. Awwww, sweet, and humane indeed. If only D.C. schoolchildren could feel the…

Yesterday, Congressman Paul Ryan, the senior Republican on the House Budget Committee, laid out the problems with the House Democrats' budget resolution: Simply put, President Obama has promised so much that it's impossible to deliver it all. What's worse, it's impossible to even come close to…

Anand Gopal of the Christian Science Monitor kindly responded to last week's post on the so-called negotiations between the Afghan government and the Taliban and the Haqqanis. Anand notes that last year's "negotiations" in Saudi Arabia clarified that what really is going on here is simply contact…

Ten members of the President's Council on Bioethics have issued a statement raising concerns about Obama's policy to liberalize federal funding for embryonic stem cell research. They point out that, contrary to Obama's remarks, President Bush never banned embryonic stem cell research; alternative…

This new poll released by Zogby showing President Obama's approval rating dropping to around 50 percent has caused quite a stir in the last day or so. The Boston Herald's Joe Dwinell caught wind of the new survey and wrote before it was released: The honeymoon is over, a national poll will signal…

Rove: Obama points the way to GOP's future. Dems double-dog dare Republicans to deliver an alternative budget. What could go wrong? Biden's cutting radio ads in NY-20, God love 'im. The President's unannounced Medal of Honor Day trip. Meet the First Hairstylist. "The government would have the power…

President Obama insists he's a free-market guy. But you have to wonder whether he understands how a free economy really works. His policies and his words--especially what he said at his press conference this week--suggest his sense of what makes economies grow and how people are affected by…

Quinnipiac: Toomey leads Specter 41 to 27 in GOP primary. Michigan Rep. Hoekstra for governor? Mitt Romney has a cautionary tale on card-check. AP analysis: Teleprompter telegraphs Obama caution Kudlow won't run for Senate in Connecticut.

Senator Brownback took to the floor of the Senate today to tell his colleagues, and the president, "I do not acquiesce to this nomination." That would be the nomination of Chris Hill to serve as Ambassador to Iraq. This is likely to catch some on the left by surprise, as both Petraeus and Odierno…

Eric Fingerhut reports: Seventeen Jewish organizations are among 32 faith-based groups which have signed a letter to Congress opposing "in the strongest terms" any amendment to the Washington, D.C. voting rights bill that would "undermine the District's ability to regulate firearms." The letter,…

Gordon Brown's green adviser Jonathon Porritt is sounding the alarm on the devastating effects of British population growth on the environment: This week the Optimum Population Trust "will release research suggesting UK population must be cut to 30m if the country wants to feed itself sustainably."…

He salutes the Obami in Requiem For a Lightweight. Really, is there anyone more brilliant?

Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed Ed Henry's question for the President last night, and the subsequent snippiness it inspired in President Obama, but I think the column-length play-by-play on "the exchange," as CNN is calling it, is a bit much: The pressure was on now because the president had called…

Via Hot Air, the video of the day, in which MEP Daniel Hannan dresses down Gordon Brown: The man has a blog.

Ramesh Ponnuru factchecks Obama's claim last night that greater federal funding for embryonic stem-cell research may help find a cure for Alzheimer's: In 2004, Rick Weiss reported in the Washington Post that "the infrequently voiced reality, stem cell experts confess, is that, of all the diseases…

The boss points out that Obama seemed to channel Calvin Coolidge last night when touting the "philosophy of persistence".

President Barack Obama's diplomatic overture to Iran, delivered last Friday to mark the start of the Persian new year, could hardly have been more conciliatory. He spoke of the "shared hopes" and "common dreams" between Americans and Iranians. He promised a style of political engagement that was…

Washington's newest think-tank, the Foreign Policy Initiative, will be hosting an event next week titled "Afghanistan: Planning for Success." The timing couldn't be better as Obama plans to unveil his plan for Afghanistan this Friday. Speakers at the conference include Bob Kagan, John Nagl, Lt.…

President Obama is famous for building up straw men, then knocking them down. You know, on the one hand, some would have government do nothing at all to help the economy, on the other, there's his plan. This is a transparent (and crude) rhetorical device, but that didn't stop Obama from trotting…

Last night, President Barack Obama expressed confidence in the dollar and declared: "I don't believe that there's a need for a global currency." Normally, that would settle the issue. But in the past 24 hours two of Obama's top economic advisers have signaled an openness to such a new global…

A lovely piece on the joys and sorrows of the kitchen garden, which, though it fails to mention the marauding rabbits, gophers, woodchucks, moles, and deer that may be the home-grown gardener's greatest nightmare (get me a gun), gives a charming taste of the pleasure to be had among the…

Mickey Kaus takes on the Ebony reporter's implausible assertion that "one in 50 American kids is homeless:" 1) The report apparently counts all people who are "homeless" even one night over the course of a year. That's very different from saying that one-in-50 are homeless at the same time--e.g.,…

cloud.jpg This is a word cloud of Obama's press conference last night. I think my favorite part is how prominently the word "well" figures. In the Obama lexicon, "well" is more important than "families" or "deficit," or the entirety of his foreign policy. It's a good thing they don't transcribe…

Ben Smith reports: Geithner, at the Council on Foreign Relations, said the U.S. is "open" to a headline-grabbing proposal by the governor of the China's central bank, which was widely reported as being a call for a new global currency to replace the dollar, but which Geithner described as more…

Today, 14 U.S. Senators sent a letter to Secretary of Defense Gates raising concerns about cuts in the defense budget (see the full letter after the jump). Although Obama's baseline budget seems to reflect an increase from Bush's, the senators point out that with changes in supplemental funding…

The boss notes that during tonight's press conference Obama seemed to have dropped the audacity that characterized his campaign rhetoric in favor of a new incrementalism and persistence on everything from the economy to energy to education. Obama also said he was only seeking "steady progress" in…

Throughout history the initial signs of collapse of despotic regimes can usually be traced back to some apocryphal moment in which the armed forces, secret police or others charged with maintaining "public order" demonstrate that they no longer unquestioningly follow the orders of the dictator.…

By definition, all of the international summits are a success and the next one in Strasburg-Kehl, where the allies will celebrate the 60th anniversary of NATO, will be no different. The final press release will most certainly reflect the collective satisfaction of the Alliance's achievements in its…

Obama approval rating drops to 50 percent, Zogby reports. The left tries to bankrupt Palin. Scrappleface: "Scalia Urges Patience with Barney Frank's Heterophobia" Michael Barone on the Democrats' generic ballot woes. WTO reports global trade will shrink 9 percent. NRSC hits Obama:

J Street exists because its organizers believed it was "time for the broad, sensible mainstream of pro-Israel American Jews and their allies to challenge those on the extreme right who claim to speak for all American Jews in the national debate about Israel and the Middle East--and who, through the…

Mansion owners who for years have fought the installation of wind farms off Martha's Vineyard (of course they're all for renewable energy, as President Obama would wish them to be, but that equipment is just too unsightly) have some new allies in their battle to maintain their unobstructed water…

Ted Bromund writes at Contentions: ...a friend pointed out an interesting item in the February 26, 2009, New York Review of Books: a petition calling on the U.S. to withdraw immediately and totally from Afghanistan. One signatory, predictably, was Norman Finkelstein. Another, equally predictably,…

Arlen Specter's decision to oppose card check doesn't seem to have deterred likely primary challenger Pat Toomey. The former congressman said in a statement: "The difference between Specter's vote on the big government stimulus bill and Specter's vote on card check: a threat in the Republican…

Philip Klein reports at the AmSpec blog: Grover Norquist said today that he received a call from Arlen Specter's chief of staff informing him that the Pennsylvania Senator will vote against cloture on card check, dealing a serious blow to big labor's efforts to pass the legislation that would make…

Apparently they still haven't shown up in Washington: Pressed Monday on the button incident, [Clinton aide Philippe] Reines denied that he'd ever blamed McFaul, and sent over a joking statement taking responsibility for the gaffe. "Ultimotely [sic], this was my soul [sic] risponsibility [sic],…

I saw this last night, and I'm surprised there's not more of a stir about it. The war on terror is from this day forward to be referred to as an "Overseas Contingency Operation." It's an interesting choice of words. According to Wikipedia: In philosophy and logic, contingency is the status of…

It's possible that the term "War on Terror" may be outmoded, but surely there were better options than this: The end of the Global War on Terror -- or at least the use of that phrase -- has been codified at the Pentagon. Reports that the phrase was being retired have been circulating for some time…

But is it fast enough so we can fly away? As a political observer, there are so many reasons to love the red-faced walking comedy of errors that is Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell. When he's not tripping up his own party by declaring his own constituents racist, he's throwing the left-wing blogosphere…

Mickey Kaus and Jennifer Rubin have opined recently on what the retailer-proposed compromise on Card Check means. While Rubin argues that card-check is 'going nowhere, and that the compromise is a sign of defeat for Big Labor, Kaus says: But the danger for union skeptics--including but not limited…

Goldfarb, your work is done. Now, McCain's finally got Obama right where he wants him. Too bad he wasn't quite in game-shape back in November.

You have to hand it to the Pakistanis for their capacity for denial. In the wake of last year's terror assault on Mumbai--which was planned, launched, and directed from Pakistani soil--elements of the military and the government have gone out of their way to deflect blame and put the spotlight on…

Politico's Josh Gerstein looks at the Obama White House and transparency. He writes: The Obama administration also seems to be in no hurry to release security-related records that might disrupt its own plans. One report on released Guantanamo detainees who allegedly returned to fight was expected…

The Obama administration is clearly turning up the heat on the Pakistani government in an effort to get them to tackle the Taliban leaders operating in the Quetta region. Last week, administration officials leaked that they are mulling airstrikes against the Taliban leadership in the southwestern…

The coming slowdown in potential growth. As usual, you can blame the Boomers. One of these stained shirts was washed in Communism for 50 years. The other in Free-Market. Let's see the results! Hey, Geithner should have been reading Mankiw's blog back in October. Geithner's plan and incentives.…

A former Bush administration official emails: Two things came to mind while reading your posts on the White House Situation Room: First, during the Bush Administration, it was nearly impossible to reserve a conference room in the Situation Room because it was almost always fully booked with a whole…

In a remarkable interview that aired on "60 Minutes" Sunday night, Barack Obama criticized the Bush administration on Guantanamo Bay, suggesting that his predecessors had done a poor job determining which Gitmo prisoners were okay to release and which ones should have remained in detention. "Well,…

Obama budget panned by red-state Democratic Senator with magical metaphor. Socialist Sweden won't save Saab. "15 of top 20 bonuses returned by AIG employees." Dodd's wife served as director of a company owned by AIG. Hukt on fawniks dident werk for Obama.

Today, THE WEEKLY STANDARD asked White House to confirm the details of the Washington Post's report that Rahm Emanuel hosted a meeting with group of veterans' group leaders in the White House Situation Room. White House spokesman Tommy Vietor replied via email that he didn't know where Emanuel…

Harold Hongju Koh, dean of the Yale Law School and a vocal critic of the Bush administration, has been nominated as legal adviser to the State Department. It's an odd pick by the administration, if only because of Koh's view that the war in Iraq was not only wrong, but a violation of international…

According to Richard Holbrooke, Richard Holbrooke is essentially this country's top diplomat -- Hillary Clinton is merely his "pupil. This despite the fact that Holbrooke has hit the trifecta of shady business dealings over the last few years: a member of AIG's board with more than $800,000 in…

The Washington Post provided an interesting graph accompanying its story over the weekend on the CBO's budget projection: deficit.jpg The CBO estimates that the deficit over the next decade will be $2.3 trillion more than the White House calculated. The CBO also shows the deficit decreasing each…

(All references to apocalypse are tongue-in-cheek...I hope. Some of that gallows humor Obama loves so much.) The markets are momentarily happy about the long-awaited, fleshed-out announcement of the Geithner plan to rescue failing banks. Increasingly frustrated since the Treasury Secretary's…

After initially falling for the administration's rhetoric that the $533 billion they were allocating for the Defense Department in the Fiscal Year 2010 budget represented an increase over the Bush administration's final budget (an argument skillfully deconstructed by Tom Donnelly), the press now…

As if the Obama administration needed any other potential P.R. obstacles this week, along comes self-absorbed Hollywood to perform special effects that look remarkably like terrorist attacks on the Potomac River, near the Key Bridge. The DDOT is distributing this message: Please be advised CBS…

Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal yesterday expressed satisfaction with what he called President Obama's "new lexicon." "The challenge for everyone," he told the Italian newspaper La Repubblica, "is that (Obama's new language) is a prelude to a sincere change (of direction) in US and European foreign…

A new Gallup poll released last week should send cold chills up the spines of those promoting global warming legislation. For the first time in Gallup's 25-years of asking Americans about the trade-off between environmental protection and economic growth, a majority says the economy should be a the…

Batter up: Geithner takes another whack at delivering bank plan. Losing Krugman: "Or to put it another way, Treasury has decided that what we have is nothing but a confidence problem, which it proposes to cure by creating massive moral hazard." Losing Frank Rich: "Another compelling question…

New Year's Day marked the fiftieth anniversary of Castro's takeover in Cuba. From political prisons to firing squads to Russian missiles, his regime has been a disaster. Yet today people hold up the Cuban food system as a model for the rest of the world.

A few weeks ago, an adviser to Iran's supreme leader called Bahrain Iran's 14th province. Not only did Bahrain react indignantly, but--more important--so did Saudi Arabia. For, even as a potential conflict between Iran and Israel grabs headlines, tensions have been building between Tehran and…

The Oxford Dictionary of Humorous Quotations

I turned carefully to scan the horizon. Nearby, French archeologists had recently uncovered 40 stupas and three Buddhist monasteries, but I couldn't see them. With just a foot of crumbling mud brick separating me from a 60-foot fall, I didn't push my luck.

It Looks So Natural No One Can Tell

"Rule one: Never allow a crisis to go to waste," chief-of-staff-designate Rahm Emanuel told the New York Times the Sunday after Barack Obama's election. "They are opportunities to do big things."

There was a time in my life when I was skeptical that the ability to access the Internet on your cell phone could be of any possible use. That was before I got snarled in a giant traffic jam south of Waterbury, Connecticut, at 11 P.M. one night. For a while, my wife and I made the best of it, but…

"There aren't any big stars anymore," said the doyenne of the gossip business, Liz Smith, in a recent interview. "It's very diminished in quality, I guess is what I'd say, the quality of stardom. Because I don't know who most of those people are. I'm not kidding! I read Page Six mystified every…

For most of the 20th century, the big foundations operated on the premise that the best donors were those who would say little or nothing about how their wealth should be used. A magazine editor once impiously argued that the writers he liked were those who turned in their articles and then were…

These have been heady times for fans of motion pictures about overbearing totalitarians.

"The other night I dreamt of Barack Obama," New York Times blogger Judith Warner wrote in a much-buzzed-about entry on February 5. "He was taking a shower right when I needed to get into the bathroom to shave my legs." Indeed. There were stories that John F. Kennedy, while knocking on doors in his…

When a Democratic president goes from being wrong to being damn wrong is always an interesting moment: Bay of Pigs, Great Society, Jimmy Carter waking up on the morning after his inauguration, HillaryCare. Barack Obama condemned himself (and a number of human embryos to be determined at a later…

Pictures at an Exhibition

The porch light is on at a modest townhouse in Northeast D.C. Inside, there's a strategy session that looks nothing like the ones held behind the closed doors of Congress. School-choice activist Virginia Walden-Ford is chatting with her sister and local parents. A little girl is perched on the arm…

Kandahar

President Obama must be irked. The media and other Obama allies like Warren Buffett are on his case for the first time, insisting he's in too big a hurry to enact his entire domestic agenda. Obama should slow down, they say. He should prioritize. He should focus on reviving the economy and nothing…

"Hmmmmm."

In a speech on Saturday, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei responded directly to Barack Obama's video mash note from late last week. According to the Associated Press: "Khamenei, wearing a black turban and dark robes, said America was hated around the world for its arrogance, as the…

THE WEEKLY STANDARD reported last week that Democratic congressional candidate Scott Murphy claimed to have met with White House political operatives "in the situation room." The White House has been non-responsive to inquiries as to whether the Situation Room--previously reserved for national…

Palin thinks Obama's tasteless Special Olympics joke is appalling. Webster's dictionary redefines marriage to include same-sex unions. Can't wait for the T-shirt: Unionize or Die. U.S. fighters intercept Russian planes during fly-over incidents twice this week off the coast of South Korea. Planned…

A first group of 122 Iraqi refugees arrived in Germany on Thursday this week. The government in Berlin -- which will accept a total of 2,500 Iraqi refugees in the coming weeks and months -- will provide all of them with long-term residency papers, language courses, housing, and work permits. The…

A nation of hosers? Not so much. The Canadian government is refusing entry to British MP George Galloway who, in addition to being a Saddam-loving anti-war activist, is also a financial supporter of Hamas, "a banned terrorist organization in Canada," and as such a national security threat to the…

In his own Nowruz greeting to the people of Iran, Peres "heaped praise on the Iranian people and expressed his belief that they would eventually topple the regime because ‘leaders who do not serve their constituents are eventually removed.'" Now that's how a president should be speaking to the…

The cars that drove Detroit's customers away. Geithner's Feb. 10 plan now set to be revealed in April. White House vs. CBO on deficits. Teleprompter of the United States meme taking off, as Noonan picks up the ball and runs with it. Fund raising off Dodd's woes. Burning questions: Hey, what's…

Eli Lake reports that Senator Sam Brownback is committed to "doing everything I can to hold up" Christopher Hill's appointment as U.S. Ambassador to Iraq. Yesterday the Pentagon put Petraeus and Odierno on the record in support of that appointment in a move that seemed orchestrated to avoid another…

This morning, Obama had to apologize to the head of the Special Olympics for his flop of a foray into stand-up, Bernard-Manning-style. He expressed his disappointment and he apologized, in a way that was very moving," Shriver said on ABC's "Good Morning America." "It's important to see that words…

In recent months, it often seemed as if the political debate in El Salvador was stuck in a time warp back to the 1980s. Conservative politicians warned that the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN) was a "communist" outfit that would ruin the country. FMLN supporters countered that the…

With any luck, the same person who translated the "reset button" for Hillary Clinton's Russian counterpart, translated the subtitles of Obama's message to our friends, the Iranian mullahs, like this: I'm pleased to tell you today that I've signed legislation that will outlaw the Islamic Republic of…

While President Obama laid an egg with his crack about the Special Olympics last night, it's worth watching this video that Governor Palin taped just a few weeks ago and which was shown during the 2009 Special Olympics in Boise. Right now President Palin is sounding pretty good, and it's not like…

I didn't hear you mention the name of Roxana Saberi, the American journalist who was arrested in Tehran on trumped-up charges in January and still languishes in Evin prison, in your appeal to Iran last night. Or did I just miss it among all the words of poetic conciliation?

A former high-ranking German military official says that Iran was behind the joint North Korean-Syrian nuclear facility inside Syria that was destroyed in September 2007. According to the AP story: An Iranian defector told the West that Iran was financing North Korean moves to transform Syria into…

Barack Obama recorded a videotaped message in celebration of Nowruz. Obama spoke directly to the leaders of Iran. So in this season of new beginnings I would like to speak clearly to Iran's leaders. We have serious differences that have grown over time. My administration is now committed to…

While nominating Dr. Margaret Hamburg as head of the FDA and appointing Joshua Sharfstein as her deputy, President Obama showed a laudable passion as he addressed the nation regarding food safety. Unfortunately, his understanding of the situation is incorrect and his professed goal is…

Anyone who thought Ben Bernanke and his Federal Reserve Board colleagues were out of ammunition received a rude, or pleasant, shock last week. Rude, if you worry that a few extra trillions sloshing around the economy might one day trigger a wave of inflation; pleasant, if you worry that the economy…

In late January, a group of American university professors launched the U.S. Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel, the first American effort of its kind. Part of the broader Boycott, Divestment, and Sanction (BDS) movement against Israel, the boycott calls for its adherents to,…

He was on the board of AIG from 2001 to 2008, leaving just two months before the company imploded but not before executives had set the bonuses that have sparked bipartisan outrage. He received more than $100,000 in compensation annually, but according to the White House, "Mr. Holbrooke had nothing…

Earlier today, liberal bloggers at Crooks and Liars and Digby went after John McCain for not vociferously defending his daughter in an interview with George Stephanopoulos. Here's the exchange in question: GStephanopoulos@SenJohnMcCain Lots of twitterers want to know: what do you think of Meghan's…

This is what we like to call epic protocol FAIL.

Recently Congress revoked a pilot program allowing a small fleet of Mexican trucks passage into the United States. This was a violation of NAFTA, and the Mexican government promised retaliation. That didn't stop Congress! Unsurprisingly, Mexico has retaliated and placed duties on 89 U.S. products.…

Demographics might not be destiny, but it does make for great dinner-party chatter. More babies were born in the United States in 2007 than in any previous year, the Census Bureau reports. The nation's fertility level is at 2.1 percent - the replacement rate. The population won't be shrinking…

Omid Mir Sayafi, a blogger who was jailed in Tehran in February for "insulting" Ayatollah Kameini, died in prison yesterday under mysterious circumstances. The offense that saw him thrown into Iran's infamous Evin prison? Asking "Mr. Khamenei, can you love me as much as you love Sheikh Nasrallah's…

Michael Barone reports that a poll shows surprising Republican strength in the race to succeed Michigan governor Jennifer Granholm. This, even though Granholm won a 14-point victory over reelection opponent Dick DeVos in 2006. Times change! Meanwhile, the Washington Post reports that House…

Yesterday, Attorney General Holder said that some of the current Guantanamo detainees may be released in the United States. Press reports indicate that Holder and the Obama administration are considering releasing some or all of the Uighur detainees at Guantanamo onto U.S. soil. That would be a…

Laura Rozen has the Pentagon going on the record in support of Chris Hill's nomination, dealing a serious blow to the campaign against his appointment. Brownback can fight it, but now he's fighting Crocker, Petraeus and Odierno. Too bad. A friend writes: Chris Hill's gonna get rolled by Iran like a…

The news outlets just can't seem to stop falling for the stories about high-level negotiations with the Taliban. Last fall's reports of talks in Saudi Arabia turned out to be false, just as reports of a split between the Taliban and al Qaeda. Another report last week also claimed Mullah Omar…

Freethrow shooting: The stat that will not budge. Will there be bonuses offered for Congressional preening? Because it's about to kick into overdrive. TARP firms have been doing their taxes, Daschle-style, according to House Ways and Means investigations. Krauthammer sticks up for Liddy. Barack…

As the Obama administration completes its strategic review, it's no secret that some Democrats in Congress and the Administration are suddenly growing nervous about actually committing resources to, what not so long ago, they insisted was "the war we must win." One of the favorite talking points of…

Yesterday's New York Times reported that the Obama administration is considering the expansion of its not-so-covert air campaign against the Taliban into Pakistan's southwestern province of Baluchistan. Quetta, the provincial capital, is known to host the Taliban Shura Majlis, or executive council,…

Like every other office in America, THE WEEKLY STANDARD is busy putting the final touches on the brackets for our NCAA pool. This year, however, we've added a new wrinkle: An entry into the pool for President Obama, reflecting his picks. The only question is: What do we do with the pot if President…

The Chinese Navy is already upping the ante from its harassment of two U.S. naval vessels in international waters last week. How the Obama administration responds will determine whether America maintains its naval superiority in Asia and upholds recognized standards of maritime behavior.

At his bizarre town hall last night, President Barack Obama joked that "Washington is in a tizzy" over AIG and the $165 million in bonuses to be paid to its executives. The New York Times yesterday quoted White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel complaining that the whole affair was a "distraction."…

Here's President Obama, Wednesday night at his town hall meeting in California: The same is true with AIG.... It was the right thing to do to step in. Here's the problem. It's almost like they've got - they've got a bomb strapped to them and they've got their hand on the trigger. You don't want…

Via CNN, Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski has some advice for Obama: Somebody said that we're not in President Obama's Final Four, and as much as I respect what he's doing, really, the economy is something that he should focus on, probably more than the brackets...

Over the past two weeks, I've witnessed road rage on three separate occasions. Curiously, the incidents had several things in common. First, each perpetrator was a white woman in the 18-29-year-old demographic, infatuated with the sound of her own horn. Second, they each drove a car that probably…

I never bought the argument of the Left, indulged in frequently during the Bush years, that if he was in Crawford, he couldn't possibly be doing his job. If he was exercising frequently, he couldn't possibly be doing his job. Most of them believed he couldn't possibly be doing his job, no matter…

On Tuesday, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs declared that Barack Obama would be bringing Guantanamo detainees to "swift and certain justice," unlike his predecessor in the White House. On Wednesday, Attorney General Eric Holder says that some current Gitmo detainees could be released in the…

Noemie Emery skewers the Palinphobes. Napolitano calls terrorist attacks "'man-caused' disasters." Just like car crashes and obesity? Matthew Continetti on Bloggingheads. David Smick on the export addiction. Good news: bonuses for Fannie Mae! British study shows that Girls do better at single-sex…

According to Trendhunter magazine, on the heels of Germany's Obama fried chicken fingers, Russia has its own unseemly ad for Duet Ice Cream: "This ice cream ad reads, ‘The Flavor of the Week! Black in White! Chocolate in Vanilla' and features a chocolate and almond coated vanilla ice cream bar…

Is President Obama's pet union trying to pull a fast one on some of its constituents? SEIU, which the Washington Post calls "the most influential union in the nation," has announced it's going to can 75 members of the union that represents union members in labor disputes. I am the very model of a…

A statement from Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Tex.), chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee: "Before Wall Street executive Scott Murphy gets carried away with ‘top-secret' meetings in the White House situation room, he must first answer to the voters of upstate New York. For now,…

You can't stop her, you can only hope to contain her: Images of wolves being hunted from the air were one of the more macabre entries in the presidential campaign, and now Alaska Governor Sarah Palin is at odds with the federal government over wolf hunting. The National Parks Service has complained…

The Washington Post: Russia Signaling Interest in Deal on Iran, Analysts Say And the Associated Press: Reports: Russia confirms Iran missile contract The deal the Washington Post refers to in the headline, in case you're wondering, was a deal with the United States on managing Iran -- not a deal to…

Absolutely nothing, says union boss James Hoffa: "Since when is the secret ballot a basic tenet of democracy?" Answer: since the early nineteenth century. But who's counting? Hoffa criticizes the secret ballot because he supports card-check, which would unionize workplaces once a majority of…

Florida Republican congressman Connie Mack has called on Treasury secretary Timothy Geithner to resign. Politico blogger Glen Thrush writes that Mack is the "first member (we think) to call for Tim Geithner's head." Give Mack some pioneer points, then, because something tells me he won't be the…

The Mexican government announced several days ago that it would impose higher tariffs on 90 different products imported from the United States. Today the list was released. The National Association of Manufacturers provides an unofficial translation here. Mexico imports a range of agricultural and…

Overrunning the asylum, European Union thought police have issued a pamphlet to members of parliament containing guidelines for the gender-neutral-speak that will from now on be the required language of that august body. Members will no longer be permitted to use such repulsively sexist…

The CQ piece on opposition to Chris Hill (linked by Michael Goldfarb below) has a hilarious and horrifying kicker: Armed Services Chairman Carl Levin, D-Mich., also defended the Hill nomination and downplayed the importance of having an ambassador who knows a lot about Iraq. "We have ambassadors…

After 9/11, few would have predicted that the American homeland would not be struck again in short order. Indeed, the more we learn about al Qaeda's designs the more we understand that was the terrorist organization's intent. Al Qaeda operatives had already been dispatched to U.S. soil for…

Remember everyone's favorite Energy secretary, Steven Chu? Last month he told the Los Angeles Times that, if the Obama administration's climate change policies aren't enacted, "We're looking at a scenario where there's no more agriculture in California." What a party-pooper. Well, yesterday Chu…

Connecticut Democratic senator Chris Dodd is up for reelection in 2010. Republicans are chomping at the bit to take on the career senator, who is alleged to have received sweet mortgage deals from infamous Countrywide CEO Angelo Mozilo. Recently the former GOP congressman Rob Simmons announced he…

Josh Rogin gauges the opposition to Chris Hill's nomination to serve as U.S. Ambassador to Iraq and gets some choice quotes from Senator Sam Brownback, who is leading the charge against the appointment: Brownback, who spearheaded the letter, said in an interview that he is considering placing a…

The idea of federal yard sales. Literally. Obama finds unfamiliar foreboding in AP analysis: "Gone are the days when they could merely bludgeon the Bush administration and promise to seek bipartisan solutions to the nation's economic problems." Obama's bracket backlash: "I think it's the first time…

Massachusetts's universal health care plan faces a ginormous budget shortfall, reports the Times: Thanks to new taxes and fees imposed last year, the health plan's jittery finances have stabilized for the moment. But government and industry officials agree that the plan will not be sustainable over…

AIG's bonus bucks continue to stir outrage. Up next: AIG executive Edward Liddy testifies before Congress today. Cue the sanctimony! Secretary Geithner said yesterday that the Treasury will deduct the amount of the bonuses from the most recent AIG bailout. (Total spent propping up AIG so far: $200…

Union boss Tom Balanoff was on the guest list for yesterday's St. Patrick's Day bash at the White House. As the Wall Street Journal reported in December, Balanoff was allegedly a player in Blago's attempted bribery scheme: One effort apparently involved the head of the Service Employees…

Last week, a D.C. district court dismissed a lawsuit brought on behalf of a Guantánamo detainee named Ghassan Abdullah al Sharbi. The 34 year-old Saudi told the court that he did not want to proceed with the case, which was originally brought by al Sharbi's father to challenge his son's detention.…

When, in the throes of his presidential bid, Barack Obama cast off his controversial pastor, the Reverend Jeremiah Wright, his campaign advisers began soliciting for more acceptable replacements. There was no shortage of willing applicants. In a provocative essay called "The Inner Ring," C.S. Lewis…

Noah Schactman's scoop on the U.S. shootdown of an Iranian Unmanned aerial vehicle has been confirmed by both the U.S. Army and the Iraqi Army. The UAV was shot down on February 25 about 60 miles north of Baghdad in Diyala province. The UAV was about 25 miles inside Iraq and U.S. fighters observed…

Feds knew about new AIG bonuses for months -- but Geithner only found out last week. Jim Wallis: "Making abortion provisions part of healthcare reform will kill healthcare reform." Byron York on why tax problems have plagued Obama nominees. Former GOP Rep. Rob Simmons will run against Chris Dodd in…

As noted last night, congressional candidate Scott Murphy said at a campaign event that he had a meeting with President Obama's political advisers in "the situation room" at the White House. If true, this would be a highly inappropriate use of a room run by the National Security Council and…

Today, Navy Admiral James Stavridis, head of U.S. Southern Command, told the Senate Armed Services Committee that Iran is increasing its activity in Latin America. According to Reuters, Stavridis said: "We have seen…an increase in a wide level of activity by the Iranian government in this…

Josh Rogin reports for CQ (subscribers only): President Obama's soon-to-be-released Afghanistan strategy places too much emphasis on Pakistan, endangering the chances that the plan will succeed, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee said Friday. Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., said in an…

John McCain met this afternoon with President Obama's nominee to serve as US Ambassador to Iraq, Christopher Hill. A McCain aide described the meeting as "productive" but noted that "questions remain." Although McCain did not sign the letter from five of his senate colleagues today, last week he…

The signatories include Senators Ensign, Brownback, Bond, Kyl, and Inhofe, though interestingly no Republican from the Foreign Relations Committee. The complaints echo those made by Senators Graham and McCain last week, mainly that Christopher Hill, nominee for the post of US Ambassador to Iraq,…

NPR released a new bipartisan poll today conducted by Democrat Stan Greenberg and Republican Glen Bolger. The survey's congressional generic ballot results are perhaps the most interesting finding, where Democrats have slipped from a double-digit lead in October 2006 (51 percent to 40 percent) to a…

As we approach the three two month mark, a quick tally of the Obama administration's foreign policy accomplishments: Mexico now has sanctions against the US for NAFTA violations, the Colombia FTA is on ice, the EU is outraged at trade protectionist, buy-America provisions signed into law by Obama,…

Before joining the mob headed towards AIG headquarters, stop and think. The company is contractually obligated to pay these employees some $165 million in bonuses. Contractually obligated. So before applying the tar and feathers, ask these questions. First, do we want to be a society in which…

The Israeli cabinet ended a meeting earlier today having in essence agreed to pass the situation of captured Israeli soldier Gilad Schalit, now approaching his 1,000th day as a prisoner of Hamas in Gaza, into the lap of the incoming Netanyahu government. Hamas has demanded the release of 1,400…

The Employee Free Choice Act, otherwise known as "card-check," was officially introduced into Congress last week. The bill would allow workplaces to unionize once a majority of employees sign a card supporting unionization. Secret-ballot union elections would fall to the wayside. Card check will…

Obama will be the first president since Grover Cleveland in 1885 to skip the dinner during his first year in office. As one friend said in an email, "For all the media did to get President Obama elected last year, showing up every day to help his candidacy, you would think the least he could do…

Robert Gibbs was ready for the question. As CNN's Ed Henry asked about criticism of the Obama administration from former Vice President Dick Cheney, Gibbs nodded his head. I knew this was coming. Having anticipated the question, one might have expected Gibbs to have prepared a compelling,…

Noah Pollak writes: Andrew Sullivan flags an aside from my last post in which I refer to the American Conservative as being un-American and un-conservative. I wonder if Andrew feels a similar incredulity at the headline of Pat Buchanan’s latest column: “UnAmerican Activities: The Israeli Lobby's…

As General Motors works to avoid bankruptcy, its CEO seems to be advertising his openness to a suffocating level of government regulation in the private sector. At a Christian Science Monitor sponsored breakfast with journalists in Washington this morning, GM CEO Rick Wagoner was asked about how…

Throwing skilled workers out of a job in the middle of a deep recession... ...Gates is preparing the most far-reaching changes in the Pentagon's weapons portfolio since the end of the Cold War, according to aides. Two defense officials who were not authorized to speak publicly said Gates will…

A bunch of new polls have come out as the Obama presidency enters its third month. NPR has Obama's approval rating at 59 percent. Pew has the same number, a drop of 5 points since the research center's February poll. Gallup has Obama in the same range, at 61 percent approval. Rasmussen has Obama's…

Except, of course, wounded veterans: The leader of the nation's largest veterans organization says he is "deeply disappointed and concerned" after a meeting with President Obama today to discuss a proposal to force private insurance companies to pay for the treatment of military veterans who have…

Yesterday Iowa Senator Charles Grassley suggested in a radio interview that AIG executives "come before the American people and take that deep bow and say, I'm sorry, and then either do one of two things: resign or go commit suicide." Foot, meet mouth! The Grassley episode illustrates the perils of…

AP: "Russia's Medvedev Orders Large-Scale Rearmament."

NPR: "Power Lines Upset Cows' Compass."

A bit of a ruckus among British evangelicals and Anglicans has arisen over charges of accommodationism toward radical Islam. The latest controversy flared up in January when a British evangelical group, Fulcrum, negatively reviewed a new book by Anglican priest and critic of jihadist Islam Patrick…

Kiev

A friend points out that it's odd that Democratic congressional candidate Scott Murphy said that he met with President Obama's political advisers in "the situation room" at the White House. The White House Situation Room is, of course, reserved for dealing with national security issues. So is the…

Lionel Chetwynd: Ron Silver, R.I.P. Obama expected to name Mabus as secretary of the Navy. Biden pushed Specter to join the Democratic party. Europe having second thoughts about accepting our teeming terrorist masses yearning to breathe free. Mark your calendar: Palin will keynote NRCC/NRSC dinner…

Robert Gibbs explains the difference between McCain's statement during the campaign that the fundamentals of the economy are "strong" and President Obama's recent statement that our economy is "fundamentally sound": Reporter: "You're saying the differences [is] between the uses of the word sound…

On Sunday the New York Times reported that the Obama administration is open to taxing exployer-provided health benefits. The money for the president's health care proposals needs to come from somewhere, and the administration's proposals to cap the mortgage-interest and charitable deductions for…

Annandale-on-Hudson, N.Y. The special election to fill Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand's vacant House seat in New York's 20th District is heating up. During the past few weeks the virtually unknown Democratic candidate, venture capitalist Scott Murphy, has flooded the airwaves, increasing his name…

As the Obama Administration attempts to "reset" U.S. relations with Russia, it is important to remember that several staunch U.S. allies in Central and Eastern Europe have much to lose if the United States rushes to engage the Kremlin without taking into account Russia's treatment of its neighbors.…

From the new issue of (where else?) the American Conservative, which features Freeman on the cover: As for himself, at 66, having severed his institutional connections, Freeman has a chance to "redefine myself." He doesn't expect to have any role in government, directly or indirectly, "but one…

And the left goes nuts. Ben Smith has the quote: "We are cooling. We are not warming. The warming you see out there, the supposed warming, and I use my fingers as quotation marks, is part of the cooling process." This statement is true, no matter what the anti-science global warming folks say. Find…

Last week Charles Murray delivered the 2009 Irving Kristol Lecture at the American Enterprise Institute's annual dinner. His lecture, entitled "The Happiness of the People," is filled with insight. (Here is Peter Wehner's celebration of Murray.) Murray's argument is that America is moving toward a…

One of Barack Obama's many political talents is his ability to see a political firestorm from a mile away and adapt accordingly. (One possible exception to this rule: his handling of his former pastor.) So Obama announced today that he has ordered everyone's favorite Treasury Secretary, Timothy…

Spiegel Online reports on a new food product in Germany: Obama-Fingers. Yes, fried chicken named for our first African-American president. Not that the company responsible for this marketing gambit intended any insult. Sprehe sales manager Judith Witting tells Spiegel Online, "We noticed that…

Who said it couldn't work? Dramatic advances in public attitudes are sweeping Iraq, with declining violence, rising economic well-being and improved services lifting optimism, fueling confidence in public institutions and bolstering support for democracy. The gains in the latest ABC News/BBC/NHK…

Politico has not one but two pieces on the White House's new political strategy. "We have exhausted the use of Rush as an attention getter," one Democratic official tells Politico. So the White House is broadening its offensive to include all Republicans who fall under the umbrella of "the party of…

Former Vice President Dick Cheney's appearance on CNN's "State of the Union with John King" has generated lots of discussion over the past 24 hours. Among the noteworthy things Cheney said was his claim that Barack Obama's decisions on national security policy have made us less safe. KING: You made…

Mark Shields helps you fill your bracket. Among his tips: [M]ake your picks (guesses) based upon the originality, appeal or humor of the schools' basketball mascot. If this were the sole, determining criterion, a number of teams that will not be asked to the tournament would be the overwhelming…

Did Vladimir Putin trail Ronald Reagan during one of our fortieth president's trips to the Soviet Union? Some claim the blond man with camera on the left-hand side of this photo is actually a much younger Russian president. Pete Souza, the White House photographer who took the photo, says he has…

Be sure to check out Bill Kristol's post on the AIG bonuses over at "Post Partisan": Can capitalism survive the behavior of some capitalists? It's always been an open question. But if capitalism is to survive, shouldn't the Republican party, the party that defends democratic capitalism, be…

Since the Obama administration announced in a federal court filing on Friday that it is abandoning the term "enemy combatants," the blogosphere has been working hard to think of a suitable term for the folks currently being detained at Gitmo: "undocumented freedom fighters"? "friends whose…

How can it be, when your wife, your daughter, your sister, or your mother dishonors you? Some of us are just too insensitive to other cultures to understand that. But help may be just a U.N. Human Rights Council resolution away.

For a while, I thought I was on the long slide into sad, sagging middle age, but it turns out I was wrong. My neighbors seemed to be losing interest in me, looking past me, drifting away. You know how it is. One morning you'll bump into a neighbor you've seen taking afternoon walks in the park.…

CRIME AND POLICE

American politics is cruelly unforgiving. Political parties work assiduously to take control of the country's governing institutions. The task of governance, however, is an awful one: Eventually, the majority party is overwhelmed by our unruly system and is unceremoniously tossed from power. The…

Killing Tradition

Look at the outer shell--the parachute pants, the piano-key tie, the fake tuxedo T-shirt--and you might mistake me for a slave to fashion. Do not be deceived. Early adoption isn't my thing. I much prefer late adoption, that moment when the trend-worshipping sheeple who have early-adopted drive the…

Finding Ireland

President Obama isn't riding as high as he thinks. He's popular, though no more than is usual for a new president. His party is in charge on Capitol Hill, but its command of the Senate is fraying. And just last week, the faint outlines of a center-right coalition in opposition to Obama's…

A. Lincoln

Back in 1915, when the American Association of University Professors issued the founding statement of academic freedom in the United States, it singled out three threats to the search for truth. Religious authorities, founders and donors, and public opinion each constrained the free pursuit of…

In his February 24 address to Congress, President Obama asked for "legislation that places a market-based cap on carbon pollution." But don't assume that this administration, in contrast to its predecessor, is overly concerned about the threat to humanity from global warming.

Bounding up to the stage to accept his Oscar for impersonating Harvey Milk in Milk, Sean Penn leaned into the microphone and, with just a hint of a smirk, declared: "Thank you--you commie, homo-loving sons of guns!"

At 12:01 P.M. on January 20, 2009, minutes before Barack Obama was sworn in as president, the first post went up on the Obama White House website. It included a reiteration of a campaign promise Obama repeatedly made: "President Obama has committed to making his administration the most open and…

Solomonic Questioning

The Gamble

Over the last three weeks, the Obama administration has sent three clear signals to the Chinese leadership.

Last September, during the first presidential debate between Barack Obama and John McCain, moderator Jim Lehrer asked Obama what the growing economic crisis would mean for his policy ambitions: "What are you going to have to give up, in terms of the priorities that you would bring as president of…

Strange times we live in when it takes a ballot initiative to confirm the definition of marriage as the union of a man and a woman. Stranger still when endorsing that definition through the democratic process brings threats and reprisals.

In between his many appearances touting the stimulus package and the restructuring of the nation's financial institutions, housing markets, and automobile industry, Barack Obama made his first serious decision as America's commander in chief on February 17. He ordered an additional 17,000 U.S.…

In December 2008, Yale University president Richard Levin announced a series of budget cuts to compensate for a 25 percent drop in the value of Yale's endowment. This February, the university launched the Office of LGBTQ [Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer] Resources to provide support…

In recent months, more Americans have learned what those living on the border have known for several years: the Mexican government is in a deadly fight with extremely violent gangs.

As Steve Hayes and I have reported (see here, for example), the Obama administration is in the process of deciding what to do with the approximately 97 Yemeni detainees being held at Guantanamo.** The administration was initially considering repatriating a "majority" of the Yemenis to their home…

Walter Pincus files another story on the withdrawal of Charles Freeman from consideration of NIC chair, this one reporting the view in newspapers across the Middle East. Pincus begins his round up with this: A commentary in Abu Dhabi's the National, a newspaper owned by an investment fund…

The New York Times reports that the Obama administration is considering health care benefits. To the paper's credit, the lede notes just how thick the hypocrisy is on this. Obama attacked McCain relentlessly during the campaign for proposing a health care reform that would have done the same thing,…

Yesterday Danger Room's Noah Schactman reported that U.S. fighter planes shot down an Iranian unmanned aerial vehicle in Iraqi airspace, and Iraqi security forces detained three Iranian Qods Force operatives in Diyala province, just north of Baghdad. Qods Force, the special operations branch of the…

Yesterday the Journal published a piece by pollsters Scott Rasmussen and Doug Schoen examining the decline in Obama's approval rating since his inauguration. They write: It is simply wrong for commentators to continue to focus on President Barack Obama's high levels of popularity, and to conclude…

Your tax dollars at work: $1,000,000 for the Inter-Tribal Bison Cooperative, "a non-profit 501 (c) (3) tribal organization . . . committed to reestablishing buffalo herds on Indian lands in a manner that promotes cultural enhancement, spiritual revitalization, ecological restoration, and economic…

Obama to end use of the term "enemy combatant." Ginsburg expects a Supreme Court vacancy soon. Michael Moynihan has more on Seymour Hersh's fantasy about Dick Cheney and "assassination squads". Obama took time to do damage control with David Brooks. Madoff wiped out Elie Wiesel's personal wealth…

Bear trap. Dead cat bounce. The beginning of a bull run. Pick the animal that best describes your view of the recent upward move in share prices, and you will have company from at least some experts. The lack of consensus should be no surprise, for two reasons.

His takedown of Obama's stem-cell speech and executive order is devastating.

With the demented face of Heath Ledger's splendidly wicked Joker flickering on the drop-down screens behind her, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton stood serenely in the aisle of the press cabin aboard her plane, beverage in hand, and spoke off the record for almost 30 minutes. She had just logged…

Ron Kampeas demolishes Freeman's context defense. Update: And Matt Welch demolishes the editors of the Los Angeles Times in response to their editorial yesterday that drew only one conclusion from the Freeman affair (we need a more open debate on Israel) and was also the paper's only mention of the…

Joe Klein writes that he disagrees with both opinion pieces in the Times today (one by Boot and the Kagans and the other by Leslie Gelb). Klein criticizes Boot et al for focusing too heavily on Afghanistan -- the place where U.S troops are fighting and dying. He criticizes Gelb for imposing a…

Barack Obama has nominated Christopher Hill to serve as the United States Ambassador to Iraq. The post had first been offered -- by Jones, Clinton, and Biden -- to General Anthony Zinni, but the offer was subsequently withdrawn in embarrassing fashion at what many assumed to be the insistence of…

The kids picked Katie Couric as their class day speaker. It wasn't the kind of pick that gives one great hope for the future of the country, but it could have been worse, and it often is. University President Shirley Tilghman, on the other hand, has made the decision to invite General Petraeus to…

Josh Rogin reports for CQ: President Obama's top military and intelligence advisers disagree on the question of whether Iran is intentionally pursuing nuclear weapons, leaving lawmakers confused about what to believe. Adm. Michael Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and a hold-over…

Yesterday John McCormack posted here the clip of then candidate Obama declaring that George Bush used signing statements to "accumulate more power in the presidency." The implication of Obama's remarks was that Bush aimed to accumulate more power than the Constitution vests in the executive, that…

For years, European officials have been calling for the Guantanamo detention facility to be closed. When President Obama ordered the facility shuttered during his first week in office, many of these same officials applauded. Here was EU Justice Commissioner Jacques Barrot on President Obama's…

The AP reports that Chicom premier Wen Jiabao has "expressed concern" about the security of loans made by the People's Republic to the U.S. government: "We have made a huge amount of loans to the United States. Of course we are concerned about the safety of our assets. To be honest, I'm a little…

Here we go again. According to the Los Angeles Times, the United States is responsible for the rise of religious extremism and the al Qaeda-linked Shabaab terror group. If we just hadn't targeted the well-meaning, though slightly radical, Islamic Courts Union, everything in Somalia would be just…

Poland's recent aggressive political campaign to prevent the nomination of Erika Steinbach, a conservative CDU MP who heads the Association of German Expellees, to the board of the planned Berlin-based "Center Against Expulsions" has once again revealed that the legacy of WWII still affects modern…

The Hill went and asked members of Congress whether they'd been "lobbied" by the "Lobby" on the appointment of Charles Freeman. Unlike the New York Times, the editors at the Hill felt compelled to ask the question before asserting the answer. The story includes statements from Republican Senators…

"This is how it was last time too," said a Holocaust survivor, when she was escorted from Malmö's main square by the police. "We had to leave the square, while they got to stay."

A joint statement from McCain and Graham: Washington, D.C. ­- U.S. Senators John McCain (R-AZ) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) today made the following statement on the nomination of Assistant Secretary Christopher Hill: "We have real concerns with the President's decision to nominate Assistant…

FBI raids Obama appointee's office. Bill Clinton is either lying or doesn't understand what a human embryo is and what Obama's executive order mandated. The Democratic National Committee's contest to create an anti-Rush Limbaugh billboard yields the lamest political ad in history. Tax delinquent…

John Henke posts this video of Obama saying on the campaign trail that as president he would end George W. Bush's practice of attaching "signing statements" to bills he was signing into law. Obama, God love him, used his impressive rhetorical ability on the stump to make a rather dull and dry topic…

Back in December, when the story broke that Bernard Madoff had fleeced investors of billions of dollars in a Ponzi scheme, the Huffington Post's Sam Stein asked the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee if it would return more than $100,000 the group had received from Madoff. A DSCC spokesman…

On Tuesday, March 10, the director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, Lieutenant General Michael Maples, gave his agency's annual threat assessment to the Senate Armed Services Committee. The analysis contains the usual mixed bag of smart and not-so-smart observations. In the latter category, we…

A salient point, from Robert Kaplan: Afghanistan is only the most obvious potential casualty of the recession. Also at stake are the expensive weapons programs and air and sea platforms that allow the United States to sustain its position as a global military hegemon. Regardless of what happens on…

As it turns out, Bernie Madoff was a pretty reliable contributor to Democrats. OpenSecrets has a list of his campaign contributions. It's pretty run-of-the-mill stuff. Since 1992 he's given $2,000 to Hillary Clinton, $12,000 to Chuck Schumer; $102,000 to the DSCC (will they give that money back?).…

American pilots rarely get to shoot anything out of the sky anymore, but the Danger Room reports that "an American fighter jet shot down an Iranian drone as it was flying over Iraq" last month. Unfortunately there's not much detail in the account -- it's not clear where the drone was or what it was…

That's the charge Fred Kaplan levels against Chas Freeman's critics: Chas Freeman is a high-profile figure. He became one by his own design, through public speeches, some of them deliberately provocative. Making him NIC chairman would-unjustly but unavoidably-hurl all intelligence, and all policy…

Ben Smith pointed out the following exchange between Michael Steele and a reporter from GQ: [Steele:] The choice issue cuts two ways. You can choose life, or you can choose abortion. You know, my mother chose life. So, you know, I think the power of the argument of choice boils down to stating a…

Mickey Kaus says that the Freeman story proves "you can no longer be a well-informed citizen if you just read the Times and Post print editions." True, but the beginning of the end for Freeman came from Eli Lake's devastating reporting in the Washington Times on Freeman's foreign financial ties.…

Today's New York Times reports that Pentagon and NATO planners have explored using Iranian routes from the Arabian Sea to Afghanistan to supply Coalition forces there, thus avoiding routes through Pakistan which have recently come under attack. The article notes that U.S. supplies would not be sent…

Great news for drivers-ed and swim students everywhere! Ted Kennedy's memoir will be released this fall. The title: True Compass. ‘Nuff said. No word yet on who's writing it. In related news, scads and scads--20 percent, in fact--of the $126 million in earmarks for Massachusetts in the new…

After authoritatively and wrongly claiming the United States would go to war to halt Iran's nuclear program six times during the Bush administration, The New Yorker's Seymour Hersh is back at peddling conspiracy theories. His latest: Former Vice President Dick Cheney personally ran an "executive…

Andrea Mitchell apologizes for reporting on the fact that Obama nominees don't meet his own ethics standards. Hmmm, this won't quell pro-life concerns about Michael Steele. Steele is already walking it back. Wal-Mart could make a bunch more money if it just increased its cost base! The dangers of…

Paris

There's nothing worse than a music review written by a devotee of the band being reviewed. The result is invariably an excess of name-dropping and obscure references, all for the sake of proving one's street cred. By the end of the review, the critic has become a brainless fan declaring to the…

Now that Barack Obama has been president for seven weeks, we've learned a few more things about him. Like every president, Obama has quirks. Or maybe we should call them characteristics or tendencies that we hadn't expected. Here are a five of them:

"You've got to give it all you can, that first year," the president told a senior advisor. "Doesn't matter what kind of majority you come in with. You've got just one year when they treat you right." President Obama, however, did not utter these words of wisdom to Rahm Emanuel or David Axelrod last…

President Obama has often claimed that his administration will pursue policies designed to breach the cultural and political divides that rend our country. He has also promised to bring "transparency" to the principal actions of his administration. Unfortunately, the president violated both of…

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton maintained her perfect record of suck-up diplomacy with the Chinese tyranny when she emerged from her meeting with Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi today to announce they'd agreed to let bygones be bygones on the little contretemps between an unarmed U.S. surveillance…

Will the last Obamican in the room please turn off the lights? Lincoln Chafee criticizes Obama's failure to be bipartisan, and Kathleen Parker criticizes Obama's stem-cell order. Jonathan Martin: Obama goes soft on pork. Congrats to Ross Douthat on his new job as a columnist for the New York Times.…

The news that the Mamond tribe in Bajaur has signed a "peace agreement" with the Pakistani government is sure to cause some in the "let's negotiate" crowd to jump with joy. On the face of it, it looks like a great deal: the fighting ends, al Qaeda won't be sheltered, the Taliban will lay down their…

Hayes writes below on Times editor Doug Jehl's explanation for ignoring the Freeman controversy until after the appointment had been withdrawn. It's a lousy explanation, but Calderone gets an even more ridiculous answer from Dean Baquet, the Times Washington bureau chief: The bureau chief argued…

Newsweek has a piece on Freeman's exit that jibes pretty well with how I understand things to have played out. Pelosi was reportedly dismayed by the pick, and though she didn't object publicly, there were rumors that she might if the appointment wasn't withdrawn. That's the gist of the reporting in…

Yesterday John McCormack pointed out excellent stem-cell pieces by Yuval Levin and Robert George & Eric Cohen. Will Saletan's piece in Slate also deserves to be read. Saletan is a measured proponent of embryonic stem-cell research and his piece is a caution to his confederates about not delving too…

In an email to Greg Sargent, New York Times editor Doug Jehl explained the paper's decision to skip covering Chas Freeman: We did initially elect not to write a story about the campaign against Mr. Freeman. In deciding how to deploy our reporters, my initial judgment was that this squabble fell…

A couple glimmers of hope for the GOP, brought to you, in part, by Democratic nepotism and corruption: In Connecticut, Chris Dodd trails a possible GOP challenger, former Rep. Rob Simmons, by 1 point. In Delaware, GOP Rep. Mike Castle leads Joe Biden's son, Attorney General Beau Biden, by 8 points.

The Associated Press is reporting that the Obama administration is prepared to name "veteran diplomat Daniel Fried" as the "special envoy to oversee the closure of the Guantanamo Bay detention camp." Since announcing that Guantanamo would be closed by early 2010, President Obama has not said much…

If there was ever any doubt that Chas Freeman is exactly what his critics claimed--an intemperate man with poor judgment and bizarre views, unsuited to the position for which he was selected--we now know that's what he is. Freeman was convicted by his own mouth, and it's good he's not going to be…

Hillary Clinton announced this week a program that would give 25 "opportunity grants" for "promising but disadvantaged" Palestinians students to get good educations. The $1 million program would be added on top of the $900 million the State Department has already promised to rebuild Gaza. When the…

THE SCRAPBOOK reports on Deborah Solomon's recent work in the Times and the Times's tough ethical standards: Solomonic Questioning

Pelosi selling Stimulus II like a creepy, kindergarten teacher: "The word of the day is confidence." Fit for the National Museum of Treacle: Bad paintings of Barack Obama Two Obama advisers on science to benefit from new stem-cell ruling. Putting the Obama administration on the couch. I like…

Like Tom Joscelyn, I question Vice President Biden's percentages of Taliban leaders and fighters who are reconcilable and irreconcilable. I have yet to hear an intelligence agency or the military describe the Taliban as such, and in fact most people I've spoken to think just the opposite. And as…

Since the election of President Evo Morales in December 2005, relations between the United States and Bolivia have steadily deteriorated. Morales has embraced a political model that thrives on conflict, confrontation, and bullying. His policies have raised the specter of large-scale turmoil. Much…

Here are two excellent op-eds on Obama's executive order on federal funding of embryo-destructive stem cell research: one in the Washington Post by Yuval Levin and the other in the Wall Street Journal by Robert George and Eric Cohen. You'll want to read both of them.

The statement from the DNI: Director of National Intelligence Dennis C. Blair announced today that Ambassador Charles W. Freeman Jr. has requested that his selection to be Chairman of the National Intelligence Council not proceed. Director Blair accepted Ambassador Freeman's decision with regret.…

As part of the negotiations for passing the increasingly embarrassingly delayed omnibus bill, the Senate is considering a number of Republican amendments, one of which would strip the omnibus bill of language that would kill the Washington Opportunity Scholarship program. The program, which allows…

NBC's Chuck Todd highlights this quote from Vice President Joe Biden at NATO's headquarters this week: "Well, let me just say -- and to paraphrase Secretary Holbrooke, our Special Envoy, and I agree with his assessment after numerous visits to the region and throughout the country -- 5 percent of…

Greg Sargent has been all over this story (though I would dispute his insistence that opposition to Freeman comes from the "pro-Israel lobby and the neocons," which leaves out some of Freeman's most prominent critics like Chait and Goldberg) and now reports that Freeman is meeting with the full…

Greg Sargent reports: Dianne Feinstein Bringing In Chas Freeman For Chat With Senators Okay, another key development in the war against Charles "Chas" Freeman, Obama's pick for National Intelligence Council chief, who's taking heavy fire from neocons and the pro-Israel lobby over his views on…

CQ's Josh Rogin reports: The White House has given the Pentagon guidance to delay procurement of aerial refueling tankers by five years and cancel plans for a new long-range bomber, according to three sources close to the discussions. No final decisions have been made, and the recommendations are…

Freeman made another remark that is not easily explained by context during a panel he was moderating at his Middle East Policy Council. Freeman manages in the very same breath both to insult the democratically elected president of the United States and heap praise on the Saudis, whom he credits…

I was going to try to make it to this debate, but my plane couldn't land due to a thick, low-hanging cloud of ego and malevolence over the city. This does not bode well for the banking crisis. I think it's fair to say that belief in Geithner's mishandling is now officially unideological: Maher said…

It's ridiculous for Dennis Blair to claim that context can explain away the many troubling and provocative statements of Charles Freeman, but I will take one Freeman quote out of context and I challenge any of his defenders to find a context that would make it a reasonable remark -- a context that…

Scott Ritter, the former U.N. weapons inspector who was arrested "after allegedly communicating with an undercover officer posing as a 16-year-old girl," has joined six other fairly fringe figures to endorse Dennis Blair's appointment of Chas Freeman. (A source told CNN that "Ritter had arranged in…

Reps. Israel and Kirk who first requested an investigation into Freeman's financial ties to Saudi Arabia and the People's Republic of China have sent another letter to the inspector general in response to a letter Dennis Blair sent to members of Congress last Friday. The Blair letter apparently…

The Washington Post has finally reported on the controversy surrounding the appointment of Charles Freeman to head the National Intelligence Council. It seems that the Post also spoke to Charles Freeman, though they don't have any on the record quotes from the appointee. According to the paper,…

The Left now obsessing about 14-year-old conservative leaders. Carville and Begala are polling his popularity as we speak. Inevitable: Gingrich vs. Rush Harry Reid will have to do some heavy lifting to pass card check. One more Democrat against card check. "A Connecticut senator is in trouble, and…

Eli Lake reports on the letter from Republicans on the Senate Intelligence Committee promising increased scrutiny of the Obama administration's intelligence analysis owing to their complete lack of confidence in the selection of Chas Freeman to head the NIC. Lake also reports that Rep. Wolf, a…

The Huffington Post reports: One new development, revealed here for the first time, which is likely to further damage Freeman's already battered standing is that the former ambassador advocated creating a national identity system in the US as a part of the war on terror. During a 9/11 Commission…

Glenn Greenwald wants his Al Manar TV: So absolute has the Israel-centric stranglehold on American policy been that the U.S. Government has made it illegal to broadcast Hezbollah television stations and has even devoted its resources to criminally prosecuting and imprisoning satellite providers…

As noted earlier, Senator Snowe was the one Republican from the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence whose name did not appear on a draft letter to Dennis Blair expressing serious concerns about his appointment of Charles Freeman to head the National Intelligence Council. However, an email from…

"There's nothing special about Britain. You're just the same as the other 190 countries in the world. You shouldn't expect special treatment." Thus a huffy State Department official in answer to a query by the Daily Telegraph about the Obama dis of Gordon Brown & Co. Michael Totten argues for the…

In a post today, Martin Kramer offers more examples of Chas Freeman's analytical incompetence. Kramer quotes Freeman as saying the following in June of 2002 (emphasis added): I'm a very practical man, and my concern is simply this: that there are movements, like Hamas, like Hezbollah, that in…

Greg Sargent reports that six Republican Senators have joined the growing chorus on the Hill calling for Dennis Blair to withdraw his appointment of Charles Freeman to head the National Intelligence Council. The letter has not yet been sent to Blair, but Sargent obtained a draft that had already…

On a Friday night in January, in the absence of reporters and photographers, Barack Obama overturned the Mexico City Policy. His decision to bury the news of his executive order that allowed federal funds to go to groups that perform or promote abortion overseas was hailed by the Washington Post's…

The Obama White House is quickly learning the folly of picking fights with private citizens who also happen to buy microphones by the barrel. When the administration attacks Rick Santelli, Jim Cramer, and Rush Limbaugh from the podium in the press briefing room, all three feel compelled to defend…

The conceit of Obama's decision lifting restrictions on federal funding for embryo-destructive stem-cell research is that science has been freed from the ideological restrictions imposed by George W. Bush. But as Ryan T. Anderson points out, Bill Clinton's own bioethics council declared in 1999: In…

On the homepage, Ryan T. Anderson parses Obama's executive order to lift restrictions on federal funding for embryo-destructive stem-cell research. Read it here.

President Obama today fulfilled his campaign promise to lift federal-funding restrictions on research involving the destruction of human embryos. He couldn't have done so at a more inappropriate time, for just last week scientists made headlines again announcing yet another breakthrough in what is…

Or, not. After failing to pass the long-overdue spending bills on Thursday because Sen. Harry Reid couldn't get 60 votes, the Congress was forced to pass another continuing resolution while the Senate tries again to get cloture on the bill Tuesday night. Reid hopes allowing Republicans a vote on…

Robert Samuelson takes a solid whack at Obama in "Obama's Double Talk:" To those who believe that Barack Obama is a different kind of politician -- more honest, more courageous -- please don't examine his administration's budget... Obama is a great pretender. He repeatedly says he is doing things…

Obama calls NYT reporters for a do-over on "are you a socialist?" question. "I never thought I'd be in a room with so many senators." Surprise: Illegal immigrants may get stimulus jobs. From the "what if Bush had done it" files. The shout-out that no one heard. Consensus seems to have been reached…

Irving Kristol, in his essay "Utopianism, Ancient and Modern": "A people who have mortgaged themselves to the hilt are a dependent people, and ultimately they will look to the state to save them from bankruptcy." First published in 1973.

You've got to be kidding. Arthur Herman points out this morning that, while Gordon Brown gave Obama an official gift of a pen holder made from a Royal Navy destroyer and a first-edition of Randolph Churchill's and Martin Gilbert's eight-volume biography of the man who saved Western civilization,…

London

In the long, long list of presidential directives that President Obama handed down to his countrymen in his televised Day of Reckoning speech last week, one was more far-reaching than it appeared at first glance. "Tonight," he said, "I ask every American to commit to at least one year or more of…

It seems that if despotism came to be established in the democratic nations of our day, it would have other characteristics: it would be more extensive and milder, and it would degrade men without tormenting them. .  .  .

One Currency for Bosnia

The moviegoing story of 2009 so far is just how much more of it there has been than in recent years. Over the Presidents' Day weekend, the box office tally was nearly one-third higher than it had been in 2008, and that tracks with the year as a whole against previous years. This is a cultural…

In his inaugural address, Barack Obama told the American people, "We gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord." The same could be said of the Second Annual Tequila and Mezcal Festival currently going on at the Oyamel Cocina Mexicana in Washington,…

Last May, the Wall Street Journal ran a front-page story about AngryRenter.com, a website which served as a rallying point for disgruntled souls opposed to a prospective Bush administration foreclosure bailout. AngryRenter.com had collected 44,500 signatures for a petition, but Journal reporter…

The era of big government is back. But conservatives ought not simply to worry about the size of government or the federal deficit--although a $1.7 trillion deficit is an eye-popper. They should worry, too, about the shape of American government. Barack Obama may be running up World War II levels…

Outliers

New York

Too Fat to Fish

At Ease . . .

Cromwell's Head

Last week was a bad week for limited government. President Barack Obama offered a series of proposals that would increase federal spending from 22 percent of GDP to 28 percent. He proposed a health care reserve fund at a cost of $634 billion, and his advisers noted that this would be a mere "down…

To the relief of his friends and the consternation of his doubters, President Obama found his presidential voice last week in his congressional address. "It came a bit late, but Barack Obama finally gave his inaugural address," Richard Cohen rejoiced on his Washington Post blog. "He is president at…

The ghosts of Republicans Reed Smoot and Willis C. Hawley are haunting the corridors of power. The Utah senator and the congressman from Oregon cosponsored the bill that raised tariffs on some 20,000 imported items--increases that came to a whopping 60 percent on some 3,200 items. Despite pleas…

You will never meet a complacent modern dance choreographer. Descended from the art's socially conscious founders, theirs is a righteous movement. Its cost is, oftentimes, obscurity. One choreographer I know was asked by her mentor if she was prepared to make work for "eight people in a Soho loft."…

When Barack Obama met with TV anchors at a White House lunch last week, he assured them he likes being president. "And it turns out I'm very good at it," he added. Well, not exactly. What Obama is actually very good at is campaigning. He did it for two years as a presidential candidate, and it's…

There is a political missionary in the grocery stores of Prince William County, Virginia, waiting to proselytize while shoppers are sorting through out-of-season avocados.

Yucca Mountain, Nevada

Martin Kramer quotes Chas Freeman, in 1998, explaining al Qaeda's rationale for violence: Mr. bin Laden's principal point, in pursuing this campaign of violence against the United States, has nothing to do with Israel. It has to do with the American military presence in Saudi Arabia, in connection…

There was little question that Barack Obama would reverse George W. Bush's policies on embryonic stem cell research. But many were surprised that he did not do so by executive order upon first taking up residence at the White House. Obama explained his thinking to CNN's John King in an interview…

Matt Welch digs up this quote from the irrepressible Chas Freeman: Mao Zedong had a force and energy which none but men of equally great spiritual conviction could withstand. His animal appetites, we now know, matched his intellectual vigor. He was an object of adulation to his subjects and of…

South Korea diverts jets over Nork threats. Rich Lowry takes on Chas of Arabia and the politicization of intelligence. Florida Republican Marco Rubio forms Senate exploratory committee, and says he will run for governor if Crist jumps in Senate race. According to a Quinnipiac poll, 62 percent of…

The Bush and Obama administrations have shared an unwillingness to see any of the major banks go under, hence the problem we have in solving the current banking and financial crisis. Though both presidents pointed to an alleged systemic risk to the economy owing to the size of the big banks, it is…

This afternoon 87 Chinese dissidents sent a letter to President Obama asking him to reconsider the appointment of Chas Freeman as head of the National Intelligence Council. Freeman's financial ties to the People's Republic of China, including his role as a member of the international advisory board…

The sun may be setting on the sunshine state. California narrowly averted a crisis with an 11th-hour budget compromise on February 19. Last Friday, on the same day Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency for a three-year drought, it was reported that the state unemployment rate…

First, Barack Obama gives a classy gift of 25 DVDs to Prime Minister Brown, as Brown gave Obama an "ornamental desk pen holder made from the oak timbers of Victorian anti-slaver HMS Gannet, once named HMS President ... the framed commission for HMS Resolute, a vessel that came to symbolise Anglo-US…

JTA's Eric Fingerhut reports that Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.) has sent a letter to President Obama listing, in detail, his objections to Chas Freeman's appointment as head of the National Intelligence Council. Wolf has built a reputation as one of the Hill's leading advocates for human rights, and…

That odor you smell is coming from all the folks talking these days about drug legalization. Luckily, we have John Walters to set them straight: What is the alternative to the progress we are making? We have made the kind of compromises with alcohol that some suggest making with illegal drugs.…

It's just like old times. From September 11, 2001, to September 15, 2008, war politics dominated Washington. Public and partisan controversy centered on the war on terror and the Bush administration's response to al Qaeda's attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon. War politics began to…

With le tout Washington caught up in the fight over Chas Freeman, Rush Limbaugh, the spending bill, the earmarks, and the teleprompter-addicted president, Eliot "Spanky-Spanky" Spitzer, disgraced former governor of New York, has slipped back into town. In partnership with his father, Bernard "I…

The former Secretary of State appeared on Morning Joe and was less than enthusiastic about the selection of Chas Freeman to head the NIC. Asked her view of the pick, Albright repeatedly refuses to endorse Freeman before struggling to extricate herself from the conversation. The transcript (via the…

Douglas Holtz-Eakin gets it: The financial crisis is the greatest threat to the U.S. economy. The right thing to do is to apply the principles of responsibility and competition, and the lessons of history to get this right. The most important lesson is that failed, insolvent banks cannot be…

Mark Hemingway revisits James Baker's The Politics of Diplomacy and finds two references to Chas Freeman. The first has Freeman pleading with Baker to lay off the Saudis as Baker lobbies for more Saudi money to fund U.S. operations as U.S. forces began their buildup in the Gulf as part of Desert…

I own a small business and as every small business owner realizes, the job of CEO is different when every employee knows your name and has met your kids. You have to be part financial adviser, part psychologist, part pastor and part cheerleader. On Tuesday, March 3, 2009, President Obama made…

Another "tough choice" Obama could encourage: In a bold move today, House Republicans attempted to force the Democrat majority to freeze federal government spending at current levels. Because Senate Democrat leadership failed to get enough votes to pass the porked-up $410 billion omnibus spending…

I knew we could work together if we just tried! A $410 omnibus spending bill being piloted by Congressional Democrats ran into trouble last night, as Sen. Harry Reid was unable to get 60 votes to end debate on the measure after scheduling a vote for 8:15 p.m. Reid had hoped to ram the giant bill…

I think everyone can agree that the Obama administration has yet to score a major diplomatic victory. It's early yet, and the administration is only beginning to send out its many envoys and special representatives and special advisers and the like, but it is clear that the election of Obama alone…

"Reduced cost of Government, adequate Government income, and ability to service Government debts are all so important to ultimate stability.... The United States seeks the kind of dollar which a generation hence will have the same purchasing and debt-paying power.... Our broad purpose is the…

I hardly expected her to be moved to tears by this story, but the the AP's Pamela Hess really phoned this one in: Republicans on Thursday also asked for a review of Freeman's relationship with China and Iran. Freeman has served on an international advisory board of the government-owned Chinese…

The great non-sequitur. The Gettysburg Address, with TelePrompters. Good news: Woman-beater Chris Brown still up for prizes in the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards. Yikes: Tim Geithner has no deputies who can figure out the banking problem, either. Congressman: "We're living in 'Atlas Shrugged.'"…

President Obama is only doing what the voters asked for. That's how he defends his budget with trillions in new spending and few offsetting cuts in old spending. "It's the change I promised as a candidate for president," he said in his radio address last weekend. "It is the change people voted for…

Brushing aside warnings of retaliations against vulnerable refugees, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant this week for Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir for atrocities committed in Darfur. A three-judge panel charged Bashir with war crimes and crimes against humanity for…

Fadi Al Maqaleh is one of the many "unlawful enemy combatants" being detained by the U.S. military at Bagram Airbase in Afghanistan. He seeks to challenge his detention in a U.S. court, but recently the Obama administration argued that he cannot. Adopting one of the Bush administration's…

Another note from Freeman to the China Security Listserv, this one giving greater detail of his views on the threat posed by China and Beijing's brutal response to the protests at Tienanmen Square. Note in particular paragraph (2) -- which makes clear that the previous Tienanmen e-mail wasn't…

We started this on February 24 with a note Freeman sent to a listserv asserting that China's "unforgivable mistake" during the Tienanmen massacre was "the failure to intervene on a timely basis," and added that "the Politburo's response to the mob scene at 'Tian'anmen' stands as a monument to…

We try to fire up the ol' flatscreen in the Weekly Standard headquarters every now and then to watch the daily press briefing. In so doing, we've noticed Gibbs' almost comical tendency to make a bad economic situation sound even more demoralizing. Since Obama's nomination, the White House has been…

Gupta withdraws: CNN correspondent Sanjay Gupta has withdrawn his name from consideration as the nation's next surgeon general, opting to continue to devote time to his reporting and his medical career. Gupta will discuss his decision, and the president's health care agenda, tonight on CNN's Larry…

I just spoke to Rep. Mark Kirk, who along with Rep. Steve Israel has requested another investigation into Charles Freeman's finances -- this time focusing on his role as a member of the advisory board of the Chinese state-owned oil company CNOOC. Asked if Freeman's appointment will stand, Kirk…

Secretary of Education Arne Duncan jumped into the political fray over the Washington, D.C. school voucher program yesterday, indicating the administration would be more friendly to the scholarship than Congressional Democrats. Duncan opposes vouchers, he said in an interview with The Associated…

The AP reports: Russia is working to develop anti-satellite weapons to match efforts by other nations, a deputy defense minister was quoted as saying Thursday. Gen. Valentin Popovkin said Russia continues to oppose a space arms race but will respond to moves made by other countries, according to…

The mysterious shaking that rattled Southern California the other day wasn't an earthquake or a sonic boom, apparently. Could it have been the sound of Obama's Hollywood friends--only the ones making more than $200K a year, of course--shipping their money out of the country ahead of the taxman?

We reported last week that Senator Charles Schumer had called Rahm Emanuel to express his concern about the appointment of Chas Freeman as the head of the National Intelligence Council. Today Greg Sargent gets confirmation of this call at the Washington Post's Plum Line blog. According to Sargent,…

TEXT

Writing in Roll Call, Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) warns against the dangers of Sen. Leahy's proposed show trial "truth commission": It is not too difficult to imagine a scenario in which the creation of Leahy's commission greatly hinders the operation of the military or intelligence community. For…

Ted Kennedy, "lion of the Senate" (whatever that may mean -- a reference to his full head of hair, perhaps), peace negotiator, bon vivant, scion of bootleggers, and driver extraordinaire, is to be knighted by Queen Elizabeth, Gordon Brown announced yesterday to a joint session of Congress. Said…

Via Ace, Ann Coulter writes: Olbermann relentlessly attacked low-level Bush administration employee Monica Goodling for not going to a name-dropping college, saying -- approximately 1 million times -- that she got her law degree "by sending 100 box tops to Religious Lunatic University." I would…

THE WEEKLY STANDARD has learned that the Inspector General at the Office of National Intelligence has already begun his investigation into Chas Freeman's financial ties to Saudi Arabia and China. Eli Lake reports today in an extremely thorough piece for the Washington Times that those ties "could…

On February 20, the New York Times published an article claiming that U.S. airstrikes against Taliban supremo Baitullah Mehsud inside Pakistan's tribal areas were a "broadening of the American campaign inside Pakistan." Here is what the Times wrote: The missile strikes on training camps run by…

It has not been a promising start for the Obama administration in the area of human rights. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton did the most damage with comments during her recent trip to Asia that could not have been more demoralizing to human rights defenders in China and around the world.…

Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) has introduced an amendment to the omnibus spending bill that reads, in its entirety: "None of the funds appropriated under this Act shall be made available to Planned Parenthood for any purpose under title X of the Public Health Service Act." (Title X is the federal law…

"I'd suggest to the city that they think twice before taking on us badminton players again." The Obama administration should rewatch "Glengarry Glen Ross." FBI Raids and Allegations of Fraud Are No Reason To Remove Earmarks, Democrats Conclude Education Secretary Arne Duncan comes out in favor of…

Eli Lake reports in the Washington Times that the White House never approved the appointment of Chas Freeman: "Nor did Mr. Blair seek the White House's approval before he announced the appointment of Mr. Freeman, said Mr. Blair's spokeswoman, Wendy Morigi. "The director did not seek the White…

Daniel Henninger has been on a roll lately. His column today continues to deliver: Today, frontline Democrats see the private sector as doing two things: It produces tax revenue for $3.9 trillion federal budgets, and it shafts workers. The private sector in the Democratic worldview is necessary but…

The economy is nowhere near recovery. The banks remain plagued with toxic assets. The markets are engaged in a limbo contest. Congress is about to take up a budget that will increase the national debt and decrease the chances for long-term growth. But don't worry! Lucky for us, the Obama…

President Obama has embarked on one of the most audacious experiments in American political history. He's trying to expand support among America's broad middle class through new programmatic appeals, while paying for this new largesse by boosting taxes on "the wealthy"--those individuals who earn…

We're constantly told that the U.S. Predator attacks against the Taliban and al Qaeda are turning the vast majority of the Pakistani people against America. A while back I noted that not all Pakistani want to see the strikes end. A survey that was taken in Pakistan's Pashtun tribal belt backs this…

Daniel Finkelstein over at Comment Central at the Times of London website offered up a video that aired on IRINN, the Iranian News Channel, and commented: Another installment in my "why not let these people have a nuclear weapon, what can possibly go wrong" series. This is a clip from a December…

Cantor blasts Obama's dismissive remark that stock market numbers are like tracking poll fluctuations: "It's not a tracking poll. It's real. ... The stock market reflects real money, it reflects real loss." AFL-CIO claims it has support on card check from red state Dems Blanche Lincoln, Mark Pryor,…

So far this story has been largely confined to the blogs and op-ed pages, but today the Wall Street Journal ran a straight news piece on Hoekstra's letter to Blair. I expect some major developments on Freeman's appointment tomorrow, developments which should prompt the New York Times and Washington…

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown spoke at the US Capitol today. His message on Iran was, well, incomplete: "And our shared message to Iran is simple - we are ready for you to rejoin the world community. But first, you must cease your threats and suspend your nuclear programme. And we will work…

John Boehner isn't the only one getting tougher on Obama this week. A group of 49 moderate Democrats, facing tough reelection campaigns for 2010, are joining forces against elements of Obama's sweeping plans. They're wary of the omnibus spending bill, health care legislation, plans for…

Yesterday Secretary Clinton announced that the Obama Administration was sending two senior officials to Damascus this weekend to "discuss bilateral issues." Oddly, in their write-up of the announcement, the Times and Post both neglected to mention one of the key reasons behind the meltdown in…

Will flushing this down the toilet provoke a riot? Find out in next week's issue. Update: A reader writes in to remind us that we should be grateful enough for an issue that doesn't have Obama on the cover.

During a campaign conference call last summer about Obama's health care plan, I asked Kansas governor Kathleen Sebelius if Obama's plan would cover all legal abortions. At a July 2007 speech to Planned Parenthood, Obama said that his health care plan would cover "reproductive health," but it wasn't…

Charles Krauthammer sounded an ominous note on Fox last night about the direction- or lack thereof-of the administration on the banking problem: What was hoped was that there would be a new team, new people, fresh ideas, who have a year, ‘08, in which to study and learn what went wrong and would…

The letter Rep. Pete Hoekstra sent to Dennis Blair regarding the appointment of Chas Freeman to head the National Intelligence Council can be seen here. In it, Hoekstra asks the Director of National Intelligence three questions: Can you explain how Dr. Freeman was vetted to be the NIC Chairman?…

To allow Chas Freeman to claim the mantle of a "Burkean conservative" is a defamation of Burke. Though imbued with a conservative sense of human frailty and a belief that the love of liberty was an especially English trait, he also recognized, in arguing in Parliament for "conciliation with the…

For the first five weeks of Barack Obama's presidency, congressional Republicans sought to avoid direct confrontation with the popular president. (See here.) No longer. At a meeting of the Republican conference this morning, House Minority Leader John Boehner said that his party has an obligation…

National Review posts an editorial today on the appointment of Chas Freeman. The editors write: Three of the major foreign-policy challenges the United States faces today involve the survival of Israel, the Saudis' promotion of radical Islam, and the ambitions of China. To navigate them, Obama has…

The Wall Street Journal reports: WASHINGTON -- The ranking Republican on the House intelligence committee called on the Obama administration to withdraw its pick for the top intelligence analyst post. Charles Freeman, a veteran diplomat and former senior Pentagon official, is expected to assume his…

Being a liberal Democrat means never having to say you're sorry or pay your taxes. Does that mean that if you've been impeached for crimes and misdemeanors you committed while you were governor of Illinois and you sign a six-figure book deal you won't have to mention it on your 1040-EZ?

Psst, Geithner: In case you want to work on the whole banking issue, here's a list of the 12 largest U.S. banks, broken down into "zombies," "walking wounded," "risky but proud," and "hidden gems." Mankiw vs. Krugman: Economist death match. Transparency and bipartisanship: Obama to push gargantuan…

In a meeting with the House Ways and Means Committee yesterday, tax cheat Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner threw down the gauntlet of the Obami to international companies doing business in the United States: no more dodging U.S. taxes! According to the AP report, he "also said the administration…

In the Wall Street Journal, Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari attempts to convince the West that his nation's "fight against terrorism is relentless" and negotiations with the Swat Taliban are not actually occurring, but instead are taking place with "traditional local clerics." In the highly…

This year could go down is history as the one in which Iran either got the bomb or got close enough for government work. A report in early February by the International Institute for Strategic Studies concluded that during 2009 Iran will probably reach the point at which it has produced enough…

Extremist rhetoric and violence by Wahhabi Islamists continues to rock the Kosovo Republic. As described a month ago here, the Balkan territory, with an overwhelming Muslim majority, has experienced a sudden campaign of propaganda and physical assaults against Islamic moderates. Wahhabi bombast in…

McCain slams Obama for allowing 9,000 earmarks into the omnibus spending bill. A Marist poll shows Giuliani beating Paterson 53 to 38 percent in a 2010 gubernatorial race. If you study hard and do your homework, you might not sound like John Kerry discussing the economy. The latest from the folks…

345,http_d.yimg.com_a_p_ap_20090303_capt.af7fe4c782b040a7a55b99b0d8ac7eba.afghan_iphone_mullah_rmx201.jpg I am so looking forward to the release of the new "Vice Squad App," which will allow me to pinpoint the location of a bare female ankle or the presence of nail laquer upon the fingers of a…

M. J. Rosenberg accuses Jonathan Chait, and by extension everyone opposed to the appointment of Chas Freeman, of failing to "get beyond the ethnic pull" of Israel. Rosenberg goes on to say that "in Obama's America, it is harder and harder to take seriously those who approach issues ethnically." I'm…

Six weeks in, with the Dow falling precipitously, the boss has questions about Obama's priorities: Obama has spent far more time publicly defending his stimulus package, and touting his health care, energy, and education proposals, than explaining how he's going to deal with the banking crisis. Yet…

There are 1,700 Washington, D.C. students, 99 percent of them minorities, who attend safe, quality private schools in the District thanks to a voucher program passed narrowly by the Congress four years ago. Two of those children are classmates of Sasha and Malia Obama at the prestigious Sidwell…

So the stock market drops over 25 percent since Election Day, almost 20 percent since Inauguration--and Barack Obama tells the American people at his press conference Tuesday not to "spend all your time worrying about that":

Recently the right has spent a lot of time squabbling with itself. The issues that dominated Bush's second term - government failure in New Orleans and Iraq, immigration and globalization, increased government spending - caused the internal bellyache. And the problematics of John McCain's…

Some recommended reading: Daniel Gross on how to stop the next bubble. Bret Stephens on Mexico's drug war. Jim Antle on Michael Steele. Enjoy!

The AP reports: Rep. John Murtha said Tuesday the situation in Afghanistan is so challenging that he estimated it would take 600,000 troops to fully squelch violence in the country. The Pennsylvania Democrat, who chairs the powerful subcommittee that funds the military, said his figure was based on…

The New York Times report on Obama's secret letter to the Russians contains this passage: Mr. Bush never accepted a Moscow proposal to install part of the missile defense system on its territory and jointly operate it so it could not be used against Russia. Now the Obama administration appears to…

ABC's Sunlen Miller provides a picture of the creepy 'O'-shaped logo that will be stamped on projects funded by the "stimulus": aara_logo_2.jpg Miller reports: In remarks at the Department of Transportation this morning, Mr. Obama referenced the new emblems. "We're also making it easier for…

President Obama during today's brief presser with British PM Gordon Brown: What I'm looking at is not the day-to-day gyrations of the stock market, but the long-term ability for the United States and the entire world economy to regain its footing. And, you know, the stock market is sort of like a…

The appointment of Chas Freeman will be a continuing source of embarrassment for the Obama administration, with the next shoe set to drop sometime this month when Congress gets a chance to pore over Freeman's financial disclosure forms. Given that concern about Freeman's ability to serve has…

This is a real emergency!

After years of watching the slow deterioration of the Pakistani state at the hands of the Taliban, al Qaeda, and allied jihadi groups, I've come to one conclusion: just when you think things in Pakistan can't get any worse, they probably will. Just two weeks after the government essentially ceded…

The Wall Street Journal editorializes on "The Obama Economy" As 2009 opened, three weeks before Barack Obama took office, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 9034 on January 2, its highest level since the autumn panic. Yesterday the Dow fell another 4.24% to 6763, for an overall decline of…

Blago to write a book on dark side of politics. Comes with bonus collection of combs and hairspray. The road to Damascus. It has come to this: Meghan McCain on dating. 49 percent say "no thanks" to nationalized health care, at least until the economy shapes up. "Those of us who consider ourselves…

Rasmussen has released a poll that finds a plurality of voters believe health care reform should be delayed until the economy improves: President Obama told the nation last week that health care reform is one of the top three priorities of his administration, but 49% of U.S. voters say the…

Warren Buffett's annual letter to the shareholders of Berkshire Hathaway is a much anticipated event, as he reaches far beyond the typical CEO's letter to shareholders and addresses topics relevant to many discussions of public policy. Although Buffett is famous as a one of the world's richest men,…

The March issue of the Atlantic features a lengthy and largely glowing review of Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, comparing his nuclear freeze activism of the 1980s to his campaign for conciliation over homosexuality among the world's 80 million Anglicans.

Almost fifty years ago, the legendary defense strategist Herman Kahn published his classic work on nuclear strategy, On Thermonuclear War (1960), followed just two years later by a popularized rendering entitled Thinking About the Unthinkable (1962). An iconoclast and one of America's unsung Cold…

Dow closes at 6,763. Obama budget director says Senate Democrats may resort to the nuclear option to pass health care and cap and trade. A Washington Post editorial slams Democratic move to kill the D.C. voucher program. Steele apologizes to Limbaugh. 60 Minutes profiles Bobby Jindal.

A Gallup survey released today finds life is not so hot for Muslims in Muslim lands, with "only 11 percent of Muslims thriving in Indonesia and Pakistan, 13 percent in Egypt, in the high teens to 20 percent in Bangladesh, Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan, and 24 percent in Morocco." Anyone who's ever…

Last week, before delivering his address on Iraq at Camp Lejeune, President Obama met with members of the House and Senate leadership, Vice President Biden, Secretary Gates, and Admiral Mullen to discuss his plan for withdrawal. Following the meeting, Congressman John McHugh (R-NY), ranking member…

Former Dallas Mayor and Obama administration USTR nominee Ron Kirk: Mr. Kirk's nomination questionnaire explained that he routinely asked that his speaking honoraria be assigned to Austin College, his alma mater, to help fulfill a pledge he had made to the college for a scholarship fund. Since he…

The Financial Times reports: The German government is to spend part of its €50bn economic stimulus package on supplies for its armed forces, possibly including submachine guns, military vehicles and underwater mine detectors. The revelation has upset anti-war politicians and raised questions…

Last year, Adrian Fenty was the coolest, promising, intellectual, handsome young politician in Washington, D.C. But this year, there's a new kid on the block, and he's throwing down the gauntlet for D.C.'s former most popular kid. From the mean streets of Chicago, Barack Obama swaggered into the…

They say the third time is a charm, and if you care about the U.S. taxpayer you'll hope the adage proves true as the federal government has concluded its third bailout deal with both Citigroup and AIG. Yet with $496 billion committed either in cash or guarantees before an additional $30 billion to…

The editors of National Review lay out their view of Obama's Iraq policy today and it's a line of argument that has gained fairly wide support among conservatives. Yes, reducing force levels is OK, on the path that Odierno has charted out. The first wait-and-see evaluation should be after the Iraqi…

Glenn Thrush reports on Pelosi's enemies list: The list, Pelosi allies say, is real - even as they warn that overstating her vindictiveness feeds into the right-wing caricatures of Pelosi and perpetuates ethnic and gender stereotypes. Moreover, they argue that portraying her as payback-obsessed…

The Obama administration has decided that the UN's earnest international dialogue about the scourge that is the Jewish people racism is not something the U.S. should be involved in, despite previous promises to "engage" at the conference. The prepared text for the conference scared off Obama's…

Roger Cohen continues his bizarre quest to prove that modern Iran isn't as bad as Nazi Germany. I'm not aware that any serious observer was making that case, but in his effort to contrast the two, Cohen offers this ridiculous assertion: Iran has not waged an expansionary war in more than two…

The editors of National Review write that the pace of Obama's plan to withdraw from Iraq is "probably still too rapid, but the plan is not irresponsible on its face": Obama outlined a scheme for withdrawal not that different from the one George W. Bush left him. With the war ebbing in Iraq, it was…

Obama Team needs a technology bailout. Only bold, swift action will solve this problem. Perspective: A trillion seconds is 32,000 years. With a name like Adolfo Carrion, he had to be crooked. Janeane Garofalo and Keith Olbermann sit around discussing how "unlikeable" Rush Limbaugh is. Rush finds…

For a second there this weekend I thought we had stepped into a collective time warp and were back in the early 1990s. I turned on the television Saturday afternoon and watched Rush Limbaugh's impassioned "address to the nation" from the dais at CPAC. Then on Sunday morning I opened the New York…

Grant and Lee in War and Peace

Barack Obama met his President's Day deadline for getting a stimulus bill to his desk. As soon as it was passed, the administration started backpedaling on how stimulating it will actually be. Instead of January's projection of 4 million jobs and unemployment peaking in the third quarter of 2009,…

A 'Nation of Cowards'?

As the worldwide slump deepens so must worries that the economic crisis will spill out onto the streets. In December, France's president Nicolas Sarkozy warned that les évènements of May 1968 could repeat themselves, and not only in the land of the torched auto. That same month IMF chief Dominique…

Lately I have been rereading some of the poems of Archibald MacLeish. I can't say that I like them any more than I ever did, but it brings back memories of the time when I was a section man at Harvard in a poetry course he taught.

In this winter of conservative discontent, Britain's Tories present a tempting alternative. What would happen if Republicans, following their example, rejected market economics and championed social welfare? Could they win again? It's a thought-experiment that's come alive in Britain in recent…

On February 5 President Obama announced the creation of a White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, a revamped version of the Bush administration's contested program to expand the reach of religious charities fighting poverty and other social problems. Like George Bush,…

The most surprising thing about the recent revelations concerning Bill Moyers is that anyone should be surprised. For those of us who care--and those of us who care, care deeply--detailed accounts of Moyers's career as a political bottom-feeder have been publicly available since the mid-1970s.

Stat-Spotting

The Street Stops Here

Britain's politicians care so much about constitutional protections for human rights that they have two sets of them--the centuries-old traditions laid out by parliament and precedent and the newfangled European Convention on Human Rights, written into British law in 1998. Neither of these stopped…

Taken

Unions spur unemployment, and "there is no question" about it. "High union wages that exceed the competitive market rate are likely to cause job losses in the unionized sector of the economy." That is the unvarnished conclusion of one of the country's most admired economists. From 1970 to 1985, a…

Decades from now, historians are going to fill e-tome after e-tome debating when the crisis in American authority began. A good place to start would be the Clinton era. The president of the United States had a tawdry affair, lied about it, and refused to accept any responsibility for his actions.…

When the jazz singer Blossom Dearie died recently at age 82, the New York Times described her as a "cult chanteuse," explaining that the six Verve label albums she recorded in the late 1950s, "are today regarded as cult classics."

Repetition of failed experiments is not a sign of mental health or a path to scientific progress, nor is it a formula for Israeli-Palestinian peace. Yet that is the road we may again take, unless the lessons of the Bush years are learned.

Two books were published last year about the 1958 National  Football League championship game between the New York Giants and the Baltimore Colts. This was the contest that, according to the subtitle of The Glory Game, "changed football forever" and has since been called, by popular consensus, the…

Byzantium

The Art Instinct

Stephen Walt, in a post accusing critics of Chas Freeman's appointment of a McCarthyite "smear campaign," composes his own blacklist of Jews with divided loyalties. Walt writes: What unites this narrow band of critics is only one thing: Freeman has dared to utter some rather mild public criticisms…

He may not be Boss Tweed--he's not personally corrupt, presumably--but Obama's administration is starting give off just the tiniest whiff of Tammany Hall, between the tax evaders, financial pecadilloists, and lobbyists he has favored with jobs. The latest addition to the list of questionable…

In case you needed proof of the existence of God, I give you the pineapple--it didn't have to taste so amazingly wonderful, did it, if all we were meant to do was reproduce ourselves? We could have been viruses and never have tasted one. But above all, I give you the dog.

The Department of Interior has a basketball court? Why not? The Department of Agriculture has a graduate school.