May 2010

Via Hot Air, this video more clearly shows the Israeli commandoes being attacked one-by-one as they slide down a rope from a helicopter to the ship:

The Turkish organizers of the Gaza Strip-bound flotilla that was boarded this morning by Israeli commandos knew well in advance that their vessels would never reach Israeli waters. That's because the organizers belong to a nonprofit that was banned by the Israeli government in July 2008 for its…

Melanie Phillips explains what is going on and provides helpful links.

Jules Crittenden has rounded up a compendium of interesting Memorial Day links here.

The New York Times reports on the clash at sea between pro-Palestinian activists and Israeli troops aboard a flotilla headed for Gaza:

So the Hamas-loving peaceniks got the fight they wanted – along with it, comes the massive negative public relations campaign against the Israelis that they’ve long been supporting. The details are still emerging, but it seems pretty clear that the Israelis asked the activists, who were ostensibly…

Below is President Reagan's 1984 speech at the Tomb of the Unknowns, one of his finest (a week later, he'd top it at Point Du Hoc, honoring the 40th anniversary of Operation Overlord in a beautiful, soaring address). The tomb, which contains the remains of soldiers -- or known only to God, as the…

Cairo

The Intimate Lives

"You must be busy packing,” an editor once said to me, five days before I flew to Europe to do an article for him. Yeah, I felt like saying, about as busy as you are preparing your retirement party. I pride myself on packing simply and quickly: a few shirts, underclothes, a baggie full of adapters…

Necessary Secrets

The Ghosts

It would have taken a heart of stone not to laugh. Wheeled out earlier this month for celebrations to mark his 80th birthday, a rickety Helmut Kohl announced that the fate of the EU’s floundering single currency was a matter of life and death: “European unification is a question of war and peace…

West Point

Produced in conjunction with Alexi Giannoulias’s campaign in Illinois for the U.S. Senate, the Washington Post has put out a hit piece on Mark Kirk, suggesting that Kirk has on several occasions lied about his record of service.

The New York Times has now published its take on the Guantanamo Review Task Force’s final report. (See here and here for the back story.) Of the 240 detainees held at Gitmo on Obama’s first day, and subject to the Task Force’s review (two detainees were not), the Times writes:

Economists call them exogenous shocks. Then-Prime Minister Harold Macmillan called them “Events, dear boy, events.” Former U.S. secretary of defense Donald Rumsfeld called them “unknown unknowns.” Investors care less about the precise label than the fact that the world seems a scary place. Never…

David French: Why so few Medals of Honor?

Hillary Clinton raised more than a few eyebrows yesterday, when she aired her own views (and not necessarily those of the Obama administration, she said) on federal tax policy, saying she feels the rich “are not paying their fair share in any nation that is facing the kind of employment issues…

And then there were two: Of the main cast of the hit NBC sitcom Diff'rent Strokes, which ran from 1978-1986, only two actors remain--Todd Bridges (older brother Willis Jackson) and Conrad Bain (father Phillip Drummond). Sadly it has been reported that Gary Coleman has just died after suffering from…

U.S. church officials are voicing objections to the continuing violence against Iraqi Christians, by sending letters to Defense Secretary Bob Gates, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and National Security Advisor James Jones.  But the church prelates are declining to name Islamists as the…

After the House passed a repeal of "don't ask, don't tell" 234 to 194 last night, the Senate will likely take up the legislation in June. GOP senators say that they're willing to filibuster the legislation, but do they have the votes?

I think Charles Krauthammer hits the nail on the head when he says the Gulf Oil spill is Obama's Katrina, but not for the reasons everyone's saying:

And it makes Sestak look like a buffoon.

The New York Times reports:

Real life or The Onion?

After years of litigation arising from the nation's detention of prisoners in the global war on terror, the Supreme Court's decisions confound as much as they clarify -- and none more than Boumediene v. Bush, the 2008 decision in which the Court declared that Guantanamo Bay prisoners could…

As they followed one another off the political cliff in voting for the health-care overhaul, Democratic senators and representatives comforted themselves with their own self-created myth that, although ObamaCare was horribly unpopular as a bill, it would prove to be quite fetching as a law. …

Newsweek: White House continues push to bring Gitmo to Illinois.

The Senate Armed Services Committee voted tonight 16 to 12 to attach an amendment to repeal "don't ask, don't tell" to the defense authorization bill. Susan Collins was the lone Republican "yes" vote, and Jim Webb was the lone Democratic "no" vote.

During his press conference today on the BP oil spill, President Obama claimed "responsibility" to stop the leak, but he couldn't resist taking a shot at his immodest political opponents who had uttered phrase "drill, baby, drill."

Jennifer Rubin reminds us that Joe Sestak signed a letter regarding Gaza that "call[ed] for Israel to sacrifice its own security to allow materials into Gaza that could easily be converted to weaponry and could provide cover for smuggled weapons." Rubin correctly identifies that where a politician…

The same day the director of the Minerals Management Service resigned (got fired?) and President Obama said "more needs to be done" to clean up the MMS, staffers who recently left the federal regulatory agency in charge of off-shore drilling are pushing back hard against the Obama administration…

Yuval Levin writes:

Moments ago at a press conference on the BP oil spill, President Obama was asked by Major Garrett of Fox News to address Joe Sestak's allegation that the White House offered him a high-ranking federal job in exchange for dropping out of the Pennsylvania Senate primary. Obama said an "official…

Sen. Russ Feingold's amendment to require the president to produce by year's end a timetable for withdrawal from Afghanistan got just 18 votes:

One big reason why John McCain may escape the fate of other Republican incumbents this year: his opponent J.D. Hayworth's history of earmarking in Congress. A new McCain TV ad takes aim at Hayworth's votes for pork.

Five weeks after the BP oil rig exploded and sank in the Gulf, the leak has been plugged:

As they followed one another off the political cliff in voting for the health-care overhaul, Democratic senators and representatives comforted themselves with their own self-created myth that, although ObamaCare was horribly unpopular as a bill, it would prove to be quite fetching as a law. …

A new Rasmussen poll out today shows Republican Senate candidate Ron Johnson trailing Senator Russ Feingold 44% to 46% in Wisconsin. It just so happens that Johnson, an Ayn Rand-loving pro-life Lutheran businessman from Oshkosh, is the topic of George Will's column in today's Washington Post:

I'm not so sure this is best use of Air Force resources, but here's a good video of a civilian reporter's ride on an F-15E Strike Eagle:

Politico reports that Vets for Freedom is backing 10 Iraq or Afghanistan veterans running for Congress in 2010:

When Arizona Governor Jan Brewer signed her state’s new immigration law on April 23, reaction from the political Left was swift and furious. They predicted jack-booted rogue cops staging midnight raids on the homes of everyone.

Andy McCarthy's new book is out today: The Grand Jihad: How Islam and the Left Sabotage America.

The state of John “al Quds” Brennan’s rhetoric is strong. Here’s the president’s chief counterterrorism adviser previewing the release Obama’s National Security Strategy, which after much delay will be released tomorrow:

Yesterday, a Pennsylvania TV station reported that Democratic Senate candidate Joe Sestak still supports trying enemy combatants at Gitmo in U.S. civilian courts:

The heads of the Army, Marines, Air Force, and Navy oppose the current amendment to repeal "don't ask, don't tell." Senator John McCain's office just released letters from the chiefs of the armed services, as well as a statement from the senator urging Congress to let the military complete its…

In The Promise, a sympathetic account of the Obama administration’s first year, Jonathan Alter reports that the president attempted to entice troubled White House Counsel Greg Craig to gracefully exit the White House by offering him an appointment to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. …

The man is a parody of himself. He's always on message. It's just never actually his party's message:

Dino Rossi, the Washington real-estate developer and former state senator who lost the controversial 2004 governor's race to Christine Gregoire by 133 votes, announced today he wants to take on Patty Murray for a spot in the U.S. Senate.

Via Ben Smith, Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska will vote for the amendment to repeal "don't ask, don't tell." Even if Robert Byrd joins Jim Webb in voting with Republicans against repeal, there will still be enough votes to pass repeal out of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

President Barack Obama, at an exclusive fundraiser last night in San Francisco for Senator Barbara Boxer:

Keep Israel Safe has released a web ad attacking Democratic Senate candidate Joe Sestak's support for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR):

Wherefore art that famous temperament? "He needs to take a Valium before he comes in and talks to Republicans," Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., told reporters. "He's pretty thin-skinned."

"Plug the damn hole," Obama told advisers in first week of the BP oil spill.  

In California today, GOP senatorial candidates Carly Fiorina, Chuck DeVore, and Tom Campbell faced off in a debate that focused almost entirely on big government. Bailouts, taxes, budgets, and (much less so) immigration were the dominant topics.  Not a single foreign policy or national security…

You know, I think the administration's latest move on the border is reflective of a "troubling trend in our society." The plan is "fundamentally unfair," and "invites profiling." 

Earlier today, David Axelrod said on CNN that if Joe Sestak's allegation was true--that Sestak was offered a high-ranking administration job to drop out of the Pennsylvania Senate race--it would "constitute a serious breach of the law." But don't worry, said Axelrod. White House lawyers say that…

The Boston Globe reports that Senator Scott Brown will vote against a repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell on Thursday:

Washington Post:

Public Policy Polling releases a poll showing Carly Fiorina opening up a large lead against her primary competitors in the California Senate race, Tom Campbell and Chuck DeVore: 

McClatchy has a troubling report on how timelines are distorting operations in Afghanistan:

J. D. Hayworth, Senator John McCain's primary opponent in Arizona, fails to get the facts right on World War II: 

Real Clear Politics notes a new poll showing a tight Washington Senate race:

An odd statement from Secretary Gates's spokesman Geoff Morrell: "Secretary Gates continues to believe that ideally the DOD review should be completed before there is any legislation to repeal the Don't Ask Don't Tell law. With Congress having indicated that is not possible, the Secretary can…

The Washington Post calls out the White House over its refusal to elaborate on Representative Joe Sestak's claim he was offered a job by the administration in return for backing out of the Pennsylvania Democratic Senate primary. The editorial reads, in part:

Jim Geraghty reports on a "strange development" in the Connecticut Senate race: "Rob Simmons isn’t quite leaving the Connecticut Senate race… but he’s not going to campaign, either."

U.S. church officials are complaining about the continuing violence against Iraqi Christians, including letters to Defense Secretary Bob Gates, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and National Security Advisor James Jones.  But the church prelates are declining to name Islamists as the perpetrators.

For Brazilian president Lula da Silva, mediating between the United States and Iran seemed like a win-win proposition. American officials were moving slowly in pursuit of a tough sanctions resolution at the United Nations Security Council, and Iran’s nuclear program was racing forward. If Lula…

The Pentagon is actually already in the process of asking questions about how repealing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" would affect the military. It's just that Obama and some congressional Democrats want Congress to vote to repeal DADT now, before Congress has answers from the Pentagon's year-long review…

Michael Barone: Can Djou win in November?

As noted below, a SurveyUSA poll showed a 20-point surge for Carly Fiorina in the California Senate race. The same poll apparently showed Meg Whitman leading Steve Poizner 54% to 27% in the gubernatorial race. SurveyUSA showed Whitman up just 2 points less than a couple weeks ago. Primary races are…

RCP's Kyle Trygstad writes:

A statement from U.S. Senate canddiate Pat Toomey:

The Washington Post's John Pomfret reports:

Can this be for real? From Carly Fiorina's Twitter feed: 

Michael Barone observes that being an appropriator is more of a liability than a benefit in 2010:

Dick Blumenthal is finally saying what he should have said last week, sending an apology for his exaggerations about his Vietnam service to the Hartford Courant in Connecticut:

Dick Blumenthal finally says what he couldn't bring himself to say last week: "sorry."

Rasmussen's latest poll shows that support for repealing Obamacare has hit a new high:

Despite on-going government efforts to encourage couples to have more children through a combination of financial incentives and guaranteed access to daycare spots, Germany’s rapid demographic decline continues unabated. Newly released data indicate that in 2009, the number of births dropped by 3.6…

Somebody needs to reread the Cairo speech.

The eminent abstract painter Robert Natkin died on April 20 in Danbury, Connecticut, aged 79. The Metropolitan, Guggenheim, Whitney, and Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Hirschhorn in Washington all own Natkin paintings. In one sense, he was a magnificent survival of the New York School of…

Through a combination of family generosity, stinginess, and luck, I managed to go 35 years without doing business with a professional car salesman. So when the hour finally arrived for me to put on my big-boy pants and buy a car, I took the task seriously. I wanted to bring robust econometric…

Annapolis

The Frankfurt School in Exile

Erbil, Iraq

In April, Russia’s biggest political story was a sex scandal dubbed “Mumugate,” involving secretly filmed videos of several opposition activists in compromising positions with one Katya “Mumu” Gerasimova, a sometime fashion model who had approached them while posing as a journalist. (The nickname…

In January, in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, the Supreme Court held that under the First Amendment Congress may not limit corporate and union funding of independent political broadcasts in candidate elections. The Court overturned one of its own rulings and a provision of the…

There are interesting statewide primary races on the Republican side in California and Nevada and South Carolina on June 8. But conservatives shouldn’t neglect some of the congressional primaries and other races further down the ballot.

Al Qaeda cleric Anwar al Awlaki described both the Fort Hood Shooter and the Christmas Day bomber as his “students” in a tape released this weekend, according to press reports. This is not surprising – the evidence tying Awlaki to both terrorists has continued to mount. But Awlaki’s comments…

A source inside ISAF emails to say that Afghanistan's large peace jirga, scheduled for next week by President Karzai, has been delayed until further notice. A jirga, Pashtun for "council," is a traditional means of brokering peace amongst warring tribes. Next week's assembly would aim to bring…

A Republican has won the congressional district in which Obama grew up:

Now that Dennis Blair has officially resigned from his post, Obama officials are scrambling to find a new director of national intelligence (DNI). But why bother? 

President Obama is a busy man. What with having to persuade the United Nations Security Council to pass the latest and toothless sanctions on Iran, excoriating oil companies for the Gulf Oil spill, pushing a financial reform bill through congress, and attacking the state of Arizona for enacting a…

Sestak may face ethics probe over claims of White House job offer.

...in the wrong direction.

Chuck DeVore's campaign is pushing back hard against my earlier post about the California Republican Senate candidate. It primarily quoted the Los Angeles Times's coverage of misleading quotations from the candidate himself. The campaign says that DeVore has the audio (accessible here) to back up…

What follows is a letter from TWS reader Alex Vuckovic on health care rationing. By way of introduction, Dr. Vuckovic happens to be the TWS reader who emailed the boss in the wake of the Senate's passage of Obamacare in December to suggest that there was a chance we could elect a Republican senator…

Beijing  

The Washington Times's Bill Gertz and Eli Lake report:

Republicans had largely written off the Connecticut Senate race when Dick Blumenthal got in and appeared to hold an insurmountable lead. But he now seems vulnerable following reports that he falsely claimed to have served in Vietnam, and Republicans will be taking a fresh look at candidates Rob…

In a decision just handed down by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, the court holds that "the jurisdiction of the courts to afford the right to habeas relief and the protection of the Suspension Clause does not extend to aliens held in Executive detention in the Bagram…

Via the Daily Caller:

Michael Goldfarb saw Blair's ouster coming in December.

Republican Senate candidate Chuck DeVore, currently trailing third in the California polls behind Carly Fiorina and Tom Campbell, has been caught overstating and misrepresenting his military record. According to the Los Angeles Times:

Politico reports the House has denied funding to bring Gitmo to the United States: 

I’ve never been a huge fan of Admiral Dennis Blair as Director of National Intelligence—nor of the institution of DNI, for that matter. A fine naval officer, Blair seemed out of his milieu as DNI, often unaware of basic facts that someone in his position should know. Part the problem is inherent in…

Earlier today, I noted that the Washington Post's piece on Joe Sestak didn't even mention Sestak's claim that he'd been offered a job by the White House if he would have dropped out of the race against Arlen Specter. At today's White House press briefing, ABC's Jake Tapper, CNN's Ed Henry, and…

Allahpundit runs through the Rand Paul/Civil Rights Act affair.

Almost 20 years ago, Oliver Stone's conspiracy flick JFK was released and much lampooned for its zany plotlines tying the Cubans, the CIA, and other parts of the federal government (including LBJ!) to the murder of President Kennedy. But there is one description Stone got right, beginning around…

ABC's Jake Tapper has the scoop:

Just when you thought the Iran problem couldn’t get worse, it’s worse. 

The Huffington Post tries to throw cold water on the Draft Campbell Brown movement, launched by the boss yesterday:

Fred Barnes calls Tuesday's election an anti-Obama affair in today's Wall Street Journal:

Steve Hayes noted earlier that this Washington Post story on Joe Sestak surprisingly neglects to even mention Sestak's claim that he was offered a job by the White House in exchange for dropping out of the race against Arlen Specter. It was a serious charge, and the White House denies it. Keep in…

John Brennan, Barack Obama's chief counterterrorism adviser, refers to Jerusalem as al Quds (that would be Jerusalem, for those non-Arabic speakers at home):

The Stamford Advocate digs up this November 9, 2008 quote from Dick Blumenthal speaking at a Veterans Day parade:

On Tuesday, Bill Kristol called for a Haley/Peterson 2012 presidential ticket. Today, Rasmussen released a poll that shows Haley with a commanding lead for the first time in the Republican primary for governor of South Carolina. Coincidence?

Ramesh Ponnuru explains why Pennsylvania is one of the most important Senate races for conservatives this year:

Two seemingly unrelated news stories unfolded in Washington last week -- developments that could further stoke the flames of voter discontent across America. Taken together, these reports could also label the Democrats with an ugly and hard to erase moniker heading into the November elections: …

Two Democrats join Republicans on vote to filibuster financial regulation bill.

Which is why Rand Paul will win, writes David Freddoso:

All the well-deserved praise for Campbell Brown’s classy statement announcing her departure from CNN prompts a thought: Brown is now a free woman, she's a well-spoken and impressive one, she lives in New York, and she has moderate political views. And she's a patriot who wants to serve her country.…

The State Department was reportedly supportive of Brazilian president Luiz Inacio “Lula” da Silva’s visit to Tehran last weekend. An unnamed State Department official was quoted as saying the trip represented “perhaps the last big shot at engagement" in the conflict over the Iranian nuclear…

Well, Rand Paul trounced Trey Grayson, Mark Critz beat Tim Burns, and Joe Sestak defeated the longest-serving senator in Pennsylvania history, while Blanche Lincoln will face Bill Halter in a runoff election. Are these races connected? The first law of punditry says you have to find a theme. But…

Remember when President Obama assured nervous Democrats that "the big difference here and in '94 was you've got me"? Oops. In the last few months Obama worked to get four high-profile Democrats elected: Creigh Deeds, Jon Corzine, Martha Coakley, and Arlen Specter. Each of them lost, by an average…

Rasmussen reports:

Conventional wisdom is settling. Tuesday night was a bad night for the establishment, a bad night for Republicans, and a relatively good night for Democrats. The results, we are told, should make strategists and political analysts reevaluate the growing sense that Republicans are poised to do very…

So, the polls were off in PA-12, and Democrat Mark Critz won by 9 points. But that doesn't necessarily translate into victory for Critz in November or mean that Democrats nationwide can breathe a sigh of relief.

Republican Tim Burns has conceded to Democrat Mark Critz has in the special election to fill Jack Murtha's western Pennsylvania House seat. The last public poll in the race showed Burns with a 48% to 47% lead, but it looks like Critz will go on to win by a significant margin.

With 63% of precincts reporting, and Joe Sestak beating Arlen Specter 53% to 47%, the AP projects that Sestak will win.

Republican Rand Paul, the son of Congressman Ron Paul, is the projected winner in today's Kentucky primary, according to major outlets. Politico breaks down the numbers:

Cook Political Report: "Blumenthal’s Misstatements about his Military Service Put Race in Toss Up."

In years like 2010, you get candidates like Dale Peterson. The 64-year-old retired businessman has never run for public office, but he's one of three GOP candidates in the June 1 primary for Alabama agriculture commissioner. His ad "We are Better Than That!" has gone viral, with more than 470,000…

They both have primary opposition (and, for all I know, their opponents are fine and well-qualified candidates), but based on their ads, you've got to like Nikki Haley, a South Carolina state legislator running this year for governor, and Dale Peterson, a businessman running for Alabama Ag…

At a press conference flanked by Marine Corps veterans today, Connecticut's Democratic Senate candidate Dick Blumenthal responded to news that he falsely claimed that he "served in Vietnam."

Fox News reports:

David Freddoso writes:

GOP Representatives Mike Pence, Cathy McMorris Rodgers, and Jeb Hensarling are hosting a panel tomorrow entitled "End the Bailouts: A Greek Forum."

Connecticut senator Chris Dodd tells TPM's Brian Beutler that Blumenthal's false claim of service in Vietnam is just a "bump":

March 23, 2010: President Obama signs Obamacare into law.

From Fox News:

The AP reports:

The New York Times reports that Connecticut Senate candidate Dick "Coakley in Pants" Blumenthal has lied about serving in Vietnam:

Quoting the Koran in a 2006 email, Times Square bomber Faisal Shahzad wrote that "those who believe" should "fight in the Cause of Allah." Shahzad expressed anger over the cartoon drawings of Mohammed, conflicts that pitted Muslims against non-Muslims, and democracy.

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The Obama administration apologizes to China for human rights abuses in America.

The Telegraph (UK) published an astonishing bit of news over the weekend.  Actually, it’s not quite “news,” as the story has been bouncing around for some years.  But the Telegraph cites an article sanctioned by the highest authorities in Beijing, which gives the story a fresh imprimatur of…

Arlen Specter abandoned the GOP when it was convenient for him to do so, and now the Democratic White House is showing Specter it can play that game, too. A Quinnipiac poll shows Specter just one-point down, but Bob Schieffer claims the White House is bracing for a Specter loss, and Greg Sargent…

Dick Cheney writes in the OC Register:

Dr. Antanas Mockus is a bit of an oddity in Latin American. He has a Lithuanian name, an Amish-looking beard, walks around wearing sunflowers, and gives rambling, professorial answers when you ask him a question. He's a stark contrast to the "machismo" we've come to expect from Latin American…

Last week the president outlined his 2010 message for an audience of Democratic campaign donors:

In the aftermath of the failed Times Square bombing, the world appears--not for the first time--to be catching on about Pakistan. That country’s reality is simple: Radical Islamist movements have a choke-hold over the military and intelligence services, and blackmail Islamabad into subsidizing…

Forget about open-heart surgery or cutting-edge cancer treatments. Under Obamacare, you might have a hard time finding a hamburger. A statement released by White Castle, the Ohio-based burger chain, highlights how damaging Obamacare would be to small businesses and to Americans' job prospects.…

From George Will's Sunday column:

A new poll from Rasmusen shows that Marco Rubio has taken the lead for the first time since it became a three-way race: Rubio 39%, Crist 31%, Meek 18%. After announcing he was running as an independent two weeks ago, Crist led Rubio 38% to 34% with Meek at 17%. Rasmussen notes that Meek "is by far…

The headline of a story in The Hill over the weekend: "Health Reform Threatens to Cram Already Overwhelmed Emergency Rooms"

Or at least someone to blame. Greece was not the first European country to suffer from a financial collapse during the Great Recession--that distinction fell to Iceland, which melted down in October of 2008. Icelanders are still reeling. 

Taegan Goddard asks, "Best Political Ad Yet?" And I think he's on to something:

Tomorrow is a big day in American politics. Important primaries (and an equally important special election) will take place in Pennsylvania, Kentucky, and Arkansas. USA Today runs through the contests.

On Saturday, May 1, a crude car bomb composed of gasoline canisters, propane tanks, fertilizer, and fireworks failed to detonate in Times Square. A nearby T-shirt salesman saw the 1993 Nissan Pathfinder-turned-bomb start smoking. New Yorkers are reminded endlessly: If you “See Something, Say…

As Europe is rocked by the Greek financial crisis, which seems likely to spread to additional European states, it may be worth asking why anyone would see in European politics a model for the United States. Yet this is exactly the position of America’s political left, which looks approvingly at…

God and the Founders

Watching foreign diplomats run circles around America’s striped pants set is always a depressing spectacle. In recent days we’ve been treated to some doozies—for instance, Iran being elected to the U.N.’s Commission on the Status of Women when our own (female) U.N. ambassador didn’t show up for the…

Iron Man 2

We interrupt the latest bilious rants about religion with a respectful bulletin. Mid-April marked the passing of British philosopher Antony Flew, perhaps the most famous atheist-turned‑theist of recent times. It’s a moment that seems especially worth reflecting on these days, as the West’s…

A few weeks ago, Palle Christiansen, Greenland’s minister of finance warned that his country was facing an existential threat from immigration. Yet unlike the far-right politicians of Europe who take up this theme, Christiansen was not fretting over foreigners coming to his country’s shores, but…

Early Sunday morning, May 2, I awoke and followed my usual routine: Grabbed a cup of coffee, logged onto my computer, scanned the news for major developments in the war, and checked my email. It was no ordinary morning, though, as the evening before someone had attempted to set off a car bomb in…

According to Public Policy Polling, it appears that the race to fill John Murtha's House seat on Tuesday may come down to a photo finish. In the Democratic firm's final poll of the race, Republican Tim Burns and Democrat Mark Critz are neck and neck: 48% to 47%.

Miguel Estrada is a highly esteemed conservative lawyer whose nomination to serve as a judge on the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia by President George W. Bush was stymied by the Democrats. In no small part, Democrats made this effort because they feared that allowing an intelligent,…

Two conflicting currents are sweeping through both Main Street and Wall Street. The first is nervous-making; the second is soothing. They are, respectively, a sense that things are beyond the ability of individuals or governments to control; and a sense that the economy is turning around, that the…

TV station won't air Democratic ad in PA-12 that factcheck.org called "quite misleading."

Peter Wehner writes on why Elena Kagan discriminated against the military:

Fox News reports:

After seeing her huge lead dwindle to two points in the California GOP gubernatorial primary, Meg Whitman has produced a new ad touting her firm stance against illegal immigration:

I read Charles Peters's "A Neoliberal's Manifesto" today and came away thinking the founder of the Washington Monthly really ought to meet Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin. The manifesto was published in May 1983. Here is Peters on means-testing:

I don't think this will go over well in my native Western Wisconsin:

On May 11, Attorney General Eric Holder said of Arizona's immigration law that "the potential for racial profiling is increased by the passage of such laws." At yesterday's congressional hearing, he admitted that he hasn't yet read the law.

From Americans United for Life:

Sarah Palin delivered the keynote address to a breakfast of the pro-life Susan B. Anthony's List this morning. The speech was typical for Palin: attacks on big government and the media, a robust defense of the culture of life using her personal narrative as an example, and support for a "frontier…

In his comically disingenuous Washington Post op-ed today, "How I know Kagan isn't anti-military," Walter Dellinger claims:

Yesterday a Suffolk poll showed Joe Sestak up 9 points over Sen. Arlen Specter in the Pennsylvania Democratic primary. Today, a Muhlenberg College tracking poll shows Specter leading Sestak by 2 points. So how's it all going to shake out in Tuesday's primary?

New Jersey's governor is "blunt, direct -- maybe you might say, honest and refreshing."

Recent weeks have brought more depressing economic news from Venezuela, where populist leader Hugo Chávez seems intent on destroying not only democracy but also the last remaining vestiges of private enterprise.

FBI arrests three in connection with the Times Square terrorist attack.

With Charlie Crist calling for a special legislative session to bring up a constitutional ban on offshore drilling, the Rubio campaign sends along a video of Charlie Crist cheering on Sarah Palin in 2008 as she tells an audience we need to "drill here, drill now," and a 2009 interview in which…

The most revealing line in Charlie Crist's April 29 "declaration of independence" was this: "I've made some tough decisions as your governor, and they all haven't been popular, but I've done them because I think they're what's right for the people and what's right for our state, whether it's…

A host of former leaders of the military, from all branches, have writen a letter to express support for Israel:

I’m confident there’s a stronger intellectual case against the Greek bailout than conventional wisdom acknowledges. And I suspect the issue will have more political resonance than many insiders expect.

The Hill reports that Republican senators are highlighting Donald Berwick, Obama’s nominee to head the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Attorney General Eric Holder won't say "radical Islam" is a reason Faisal Shahzad tried to blow a hole in Times Square:

The 2000s saw a massive housing bubble that, when popped, gave us the financial crisis and Great Recession. For decades, the federal government incentivized home-ownership and encouraged banks to write mortgages for people who might otherwise have been unable to afford them. The ability of these…

A politically savvy Massachusetts friend writes:

The Boston Herald reports: 

Yesterday, Alexi "Ali G" Giannoulias said "we didn't need" wars in Afghanistan and Iraq: 

A very significant piece of reporting from the Associated Press this morning. Matt Apuzzo and Adam Goldman report that Iran is allowing top al Qaeda leaders based in Iran to leave, "raising the prospect that Iran is loosening its grip on the terror group so it can replenish its ranks, former and…

Financial regulatory “reform” has been wending its desultory way through Congress for quite a while, and one can lose track of where things stand and what’s important.

Congress has a black eye, and it’s starting to swell. As an institution, its approval ratings bounce near all time lows, creating a crisis in confidence among voters.  Can Americans count on an institution so anemic in trust to heal the difficult and major problems confronting the nation?

In 1988, disgruntled former White House Chief of Staff Donald Regan revealed that since the 1981 attempt on President Ronald Reagan’s life, Nancy Reagan had consulted a San Francisco astrologer for advice on scheduling the president.  This went well beyond merely affecting the start times of…

Eli Lake: Yemen refuses to let U.S. try Anwar Awlaki.

It's not hard to see why Dan Coats was able to survive the anti-establishment wave this year. Sure, it helped that the former Indiana senator and U.S. ambassador to Germany had two GOP primary opponents who split the anti-establishment vote, enabling him to grab the nomination with about 40 percent…

Throughout his career, Arlen Specter has dutifully toed the line of pro-abortion groups like Planned Parenthood and NARAL. He's voted for taxpayer-funding of abortion and helped bork Bork. But, according to NARAL, his votes for John Roberts and Samuel Alito and the partial-birth abortion ban

As noted here earlier, the newspaper Asharq Alawsat reported that the U.S. Special Envoy to the Organization of the Islamic Conference Rashad Hussain said he was working to erase "hostile feelings caused by the administration of former President George W. Bush."

From the St. Petersburg Times:

Jim Geraghty writes:

The Pew Research Center reports that the "public broadly supports a new Arizona law aimed at dealing with illegal immigration" by a 27-point margin. Main elements of the law, when described, are even more popular:

Politico reports:

Mike Allen reports:

I'd like to say this video is unbelievable, but I fear it is all too believable:

The issue of Elena Kagan’s discrimination, as Harvard Law School dean, against the military—and her (and her predecessor’s) blaming of the military for a congressional/presidential policy choice—has provoked an uncommonly strong response from the Hill, and from TWS readers.

U.S. Special Envoy to the Organization of the Islamic Conference Rashad Hussain gave a particularly disturbing interview to Arab English daily Asharq Alawsat. The interview should be read in full, but here is one choice exchange: 

The latest from Quinnipiac:

Of course, if he were a Republican, I would write that West Virginia congressman Alan Mollohan was "purged" instead of "defeated." Per the Wall Street Journal: "With 82% of precincts reporting, Democratic state Sen. Mike Oliverio was already leading by 12 points, 56%-44%."

Forty percent of Americans rate Obama's pick of Kagan as excellent or good--a few points lower than the initial response to previous Supreme Court picks

Dems deploy lots of cash and Bubba to Western Pennsylvania district full of clingers of Bibles/guns/xenophobia.

This could have serious ramifications:

When Secretary of Defense Robert Gates went to Chicago last summer to make the case for killing the F-22 -- the world's premier air supremacy fighter and the only "fifth generation fighter" currently in production anywhere -- he argued that the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter would be a more…

Today, during his visit to Japan, Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman renewed accusations that North Korea is supplying Bashar al-Assad's Syrian regime with weapons of mass destruction.  Lieberman warned that allowing this cooperation between North Korea and Syria to continue would be…

Asked if Elena Kagan was "right or wrong" in discriminating against U.S. military recruiters at Harvard Law School, Joe Biden said this morning on ABC: "She was right." The vice president added:

On May 1, President Obama delivered the commencement address at the University of Michigan. In his speech, he defended government against its critics. "What troubles me," the president said, "is when I hear people say that all of government is inherently bad." Now, hardly anybody in the American…

In the first five weeks after ObamaCare's passage, Americans favored repeal by a whopping 16 points (56 to 40 percent), according to Rasmussen's poll of likely voters.  Now, in the wake of developments such as the news that ObamaCare has actually prompted major corporations to discuss the…

One week from today, Kentucky Republicans will choose their nominee to replace retiring GOP senator Jim Bunning. The results will tell us a lot about the electorate's dyspeptic mood.

In today's Wall Street Journal, former Harvard Law School Dean Robert Clark, defends the policy of refusing the U.S. military the assistance of the school's Office of Career Services, which was continued by his successor, Elena Kagan.

Via Jennifer Rubin and Allahpundit, the AP reports that in 1997, Elena Kagan, then a presidential adviser, encouraged President Clinton to support Tom Daschle's bill "that would have banned all abortions of viable fetuses except when the physical health of the mother was at risk."

Ploughshares Chief Joe Cirincione, on the swell of conservative concern over START and the Nuclear Posture Review: 

Kim Jong Il is reportedly back in Pyongyang after concluding an unofficial, semi-secret trip to China last week. After spending a couple of days in the northern Chinese industrial city of Dalian, where he reportedly drove around in a $400,000 Maybach limousine and stayed at a 5-star hotel, he…

"Elena Kagan’s America is a land in which government-subsidized abortions would take the lives of millions of innocent children, blacks would have preference in law school admissions, rogue bureaucrats could curb citizens' liberties in the name of progressive policies, schoolchildren would not be…

Count this among the very few things an Obama speech has brought to fruition that I'm enthusiastically behind:

How much debt will be too much? "In the wake of the financial crisis and recession, Moody's Investors Service has brought new transparency to its sovereign ratings analysis — so much so that 2018 lights up as the year the U.S. could be in line for a downgrade if Congressional Budget Office…

Peter Beinart thinks Elena Kagan should apologize for her anti-military stance.

Less than three weeks ago, a SurveyUSA poll showed Meg Whitman leading Republican rival Steve Poizner by 22 points in the GOP gubernatorial primary.  The OC Register reports that lead has dropped to two points:

In the Republican debate between Senate hopefuls in California, broadcast yesterday, the primary candidates were asked whether folks should be able to purchase guns, even if they are on government watch lists. Carly Fiorina and Chuck Devore stood in support of the Second Amendment. Tom Campbell,…

There was big, though somewhat underreported, news out of Zimbabwe today. Roy Bennett, an opposition leader jailed for bogus terrorism charges, was just acquitted by a high court in Harare. I've written about Bennett before--and his persecution by a malevolent Mugabe government--pointing out that…

President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee, the current U.S. solicitor general and former Harvard Law School dean Elena Kagan, is being touted as a “diversity” choice because she is a woman, while there are currently just two women on the Court in a country in which women make up more than half the…

Poor Arlen Specter. After a poll showed him trailing Democratic primary challenger Joe Sestak by 5 points, President Obama's nomination of Elena Kagan couldn't have come at a worse time. In 2009, Specter voted against Kagan's confirmation to be solicitor general. With Kagan in the news in the week…

I've had my nose buried in an interesting, if not a bit alarmist, piece on a potential naval spat with China. The paper, titled "How the United States Lost the Naval War of 2015" (how's that for an eye-catcher?), raises the red flag on the PLA Navy's intent to raise the black flag. That scenario,…

Well that was quick. Taking power only last fall, Angela Merkel's governing coalition has already suffered a major setback. Following yesterday's elections in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia—Germany's most populous state—the ruling Christian Democrat-Free Democrat government was toppled.

Fighting within the party over two Democrats on the ballot —former Rep. Ed Case and state senator Colleen Hanabusa— has led national Democrats to abandon the race, "effectively ceding the race to Republicans and likely setting the party up for what could be their first special election loss of the…

The formal announcement came around 10 a.m. C-SPAN will have video of the nomination available, here, shortly. 

Just 13 years after a famine that wiped out millions of its people and three years after a flood that aggravated frequent food shortages, caused by an authoritarian dictator who doesn't allow citizens to farm or sell food privately and has a history of rejecting international humanitarian aid, the…

“Something must be done. This is something. Therefore we must do it.”

For me, the key obstacle to Elena Kagan's confirmation is pt. 5 in Ed Whelan's NRO post, which is also the question raised by Peter Berkowitz in these pages several years ago and by Peter Beinart just recently: Her hostility to the U.S. military.

At this late date in the history of  Western civilization, bashing the Whitney Biennial is such an inveterate habit among art critics that even to acknowledge the fact, as I have just done, has become a cliché. Indeed, this reflex is so entrenched by now that, in what may be the single greatest act…

In 1998, President Bill Clinton flew over Japan without stopping on his way to spend nine days in China. This led to acute concern in Tokyo over “Japan passing”—the belief that Washington was neglecting a key Asian ally in favor of the region’s rising star, China. Twelve years later, Indians worry…

Environmentalism is growing increasingly antihuman. Having left Teddy Roosevelt-style conservation and Earth Day consciousness-raising behind, the cutting edge of the movement is pursuing utopian “save the planet” agendas while angrily castigating mankind for supposedly sucking the life out of…

In the famous first 100 days of Franklin Roosevelt’s presidency in 1933, legislation creating the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Tennessee Valley Authority, and the National Recovery Administration sailed through Congress. So did sweeping initiatives dealing with unemployment,…

Spies

Those who think the federal government needs even more debt and more responsibilities will love Florida Democrat Ron Klein’s Homeowners’ Defense Act. Everyone else should treat the bill​—currently moving forward in the House of Representatives—with a great deal of skepticism. The proposal, intended…

Conservatives came in first in Thursday’s election in Great Britain, but it’s their failure to win a majority that Republicans should examine for the lessons it teaches.  If the GOP listens, they’ll improve their chance of winning control of Congress in the congressional midterm election on…

On first glance, the report in the popular German tabloid Bild could have seemed like a bad joke. “Guantánamo Detainees Slated to Go to Hamburg,” the headline ran. “Despite protests…,” the article began, “[German] Minister of the Interior Thomas de Maizière appears to be determined to accept three…

We are all Greeks now. Or so it would seem if we are guided by the gyrations of share prices. Or if we believe that today’s Greece is tomorrow’s United States. After all, we are running Grecian-style deficits, our debt-to-GDP ratio is approaching the magic 90 percent mark that stifles growth and…

Claudia Rosett writes:

Weep not for Bob Bennett.

Liberal bloggers are making a fuss over this story, which means that -- despite Secretary Gates's temporary redirect on an issue that has nothing to do with winning the war -- DADT is being debated all over again:

CNN's Rick Sanchez apparently suffers from the same condition as Will Ferrell's character Ron Burgundy did in the movie Anchorman--he'll read anything written on a teleprompter. When a the teleprompter told Sanchez earlier this week to ad lib a tease for the next segment, Sanchez said on air: "Up…

This popped up last week, so consider it an "in case you missed it" blurb. Over at Time, Dimitri Simes has a take on the U.S.-Russia treaty negotiations that I consider extremely instructive:

Anthony Bourdain, celebrity chef and host of the Travel Channel's very popular "No Reservations" does not mince words about the possibility future overbearing salt regulation.

Illinois Democratic Senate candidate Alexi "Ali G" Giannoulias was senior loan officer at his family bank, Broadway Bank, which authorized loans to convicted organized crime leaders like Michael “Jaws” Giorango (a pimp and bookmaker), Demitri Stavropoulos (an illegal gambling operator), and for…

The one modest concession that Ben Nelson got from his fellow Democrats on the issue of abortion in Obamacare was a clause that allows states to opt out of the law's requirement to offer subsidized plans that cover elective abortions. In other words, the default position is that your state's…

I could have told you this was coming as soon as the terrible news about the death of UVA student Yeardley Love broke.

At the moment, it is reasonable to assume that the price of Britain's political system would appear to be some sort of governing coalition of the Tories and Liberal Democrats. This might take the form of a formal blue/yellow alliance, with LibDems in a Tory cabinet; or it might mean LibDem support…

 This Sunday, Attorney General Eric Holder will make his Sunday show debut on ABC's "This Week" and NBC's "Meet the Press." Beyond the obvious issues relating to the war on terror and the attempted attack in Times Square, here are five questions from a knowledgeable reader that are worth posing to…

Mayor Mike is coming for your guns, but not even this administration -- and this Congress -- is stupid enough to play along. Bloomberg appealed to Congress this week to address what is oddly being called the "terror gap," but which supporters of Second Amendment rights better describe as "secret…

A military jury in Norfolk, Va. acquitted the third and final Navy SEAL court martialed in connection with the alleged assault of an Iraqi suspected in the 2004 murders of four U.S. contractors in Fallujah.

Jobs numbers: 290K jobs added, 66K are temporary census jobs, unemployment up to 9.9 percent.

When Iran gets the bomb, the nuclear club will have a crucial new feature. Without an Iranian bomb and barring regime change in Pakistan, we know that no nuclear power will transfer a device to a private army of the religious elect like Hezbollah in Lebanon. With an Iranian bomb, such assurance…

Anwar Awlaki connected to the third attempted terrorist attack on U.S. soil in six months.

Robert Gibbs declined to answer repeated questions today about Obama's use of the offensive term, "teabagger" to refer to Tea Party activists, as reported in Jonathan Alter's new book, "The Promise: President Obama, Year One."

The Dow fell nearly 1,000 points today and MSNBC's Savannah Guthrie informed White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs of it at the daily press briefing. Her question was the first he had heard of it, and he answered the question with generalities about the "Treasury monitoring Europe and the Greek…

When I first heard about Arizona law SB 1070, I was taken aback. Press coverage suggested the law authorized state and local police to go around demanding someone's papers on the slightest suspicion that he or she is an illegal immigrant. The clear implication was that Hispanic communities would be…

In last week's cover story, Jennifer Rubin described the run around she received in response to her Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests for documentation of recusals by Justice Department lawyers who previously represented Guantanamo detainees. The official responsible for documents from the…

Sarah Palin has endorsed Republican hopeful in the California Senate race. Here's Palin's endorsement, as released by Fiorina's campaign: 

You can see Bill Kristol and others at a panel discussion in Washington, D.C. on Monday, May 10 at 7:00p.m.

Daniel Pipes is one of several commentators to note that many reporters would love to dismiss each new terrorist incident as the work of lunatics, until the disappointing news arrives that the suspect is yet another Muslim Jihadist. Several observations leap to their feet immediately, and there is…

Don't get caught on television without knowing the latest about the fraud allegations tarnishing the validity of the Nigerian election and how this will impact oil markets around the world!

Eli Lake and Bill Gertz report:

To say that President Barack Obama's response to the Iranian opposition movement has been tepid might be a bit of an understatement. But suppose he does assume a Reagan style posture, and uses his lofty pulpit as leader of the free world to fan the flames of opposition. Would the protesters,…

Small business owners and freelancers, meet your new administrative burden:

Johnstown, Pa.

This did not save this morning, for some reason (probably user error), so here it is now. Apologies.

I've been looking at the polls and playing around with the ways in which different national percentages can translate into seats in the House of Commons--and for what it's worth (not much!), I think the Tories have a very good chance to win a clear majority (perhaps 25 seats) in the Commons today…

Fred Barnes writes in the Wall Street Journal on the Democrats' push for the rest of their unpopular agenda:

Barack Obama and the Democrats in Congress didn’t invent the politics of vilification, and they will not be the last to practice it. The president and his political allies, however, have refined the practice to an art form – they say they abhor vilification, yet consistently demonize when promoting…

Johnstown, Pa.

Johnstown, Pa.

Faisal Shahzad on terror list since 1999.

Liberal commentators suggest that mortgage foreclosure on his Connecticut home led Faisal Shahzad to pack an SUV filled with bomb-like materials and attempt to take many innocent lives in Times Square. While other liberal outlets won't ascribe a motive to the terrorist --instead, they say, "Motive…

When news first broke of the murder of Shaw Middle School principal Brian Betts, the outpouring of grief from the student body and the D.C. community was immense. "With him, potentially more than any other principal in this city, these children are going to be devastated because they have such an…

Greg Sargent explains how it would work:

May 1: Obama calls for more civility in politics.

Just a note on how large the playing field is for Republicans right now: Last week, the top-notch Cook Political Report rated David Obey's seat as a "likely" Democratic hold. Cook lists 35 "likely" Democratic seats, and 62 seats which are more likely to flip Republican.

News is breaking from several sources that Rep. David Obey is planning to announce his retirement at a 1 p.m. press conference. A testament to how rough this cycle will be on incumbent Democrats, Obey has represented his district in Congress since 1969. He was elected two years before his…

Former senator Dan Coats won the GOP Senate nomination in Indiana last night by 40,000 votes.

Washington Post editor: “The web is a place where people want to come to the news of the day and developments in the political world and public policy from different vantage points, so you’re trying to offer people online a pretty robust smorgasbord,” by hiring a diverse group of liberal bloggers.…

Byron York notices an alarming paragraph deep inside a New York Times profile of Faisal Shahzad:

It was only a question of when. Bush's endorsement should help chip away at some of Crist's remaining support among Republicans.

Since assuming his post during the Bush administration, Robert Gates has operated with a simple philosophy: win the war. But execution of that guiding objective has proven complicated. During World War II, America's armed forces were transformed from a sleepy, mostly domestic border guard into a…

A little more than three years ago, Seung-Hui Cho entered a building at Virginia Tech, chained the doors shut and began shooting. He killed 32 people--the deadliest school shooting in United States history. The tragedy sparked a nationwide review of campus safety measures. Colleges began…

Steny Hoyer politicizes the war on terrorism: "We’re tough on terrorists, that’s our policy, that’s our performance and in fact we’ve been more successful."

The Washington Post reports:

There's been a controversial immigration law passed, sometimes violent protests in its wake. There's an oil slick the size of a Northeastern state making its way into the marshlands and beaches of the Gulf Coast, potentially ruining miles of coastline and thousands of livelihoods for a long time to…

Denis McDonough, NSC chief of staff, sits down to dinner with Brent Scowcroft, Zbigniew Brzezinski, and Steve Clemons. Here's an excellent translation, from Jennifer Rubin:

While in Washington, D.C. today for fundraising events, Marco Rubio was asked whether Faisal Shahzad, a the alleged Times Square bomber, should be Mirandized.

Everyone's being hard on tween pop star Justin Bieber today because he's caught in an interview not knowing what the word, "German" means.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg put his ignorance of the situation and the suspect to great use last night jumping to conclusions that might earn him a long-jump spot in the London Olympics if he decides not to put his dough toward a presidential run that year:

A more cheerful finding in that Rasmussen poll than the Florida Senate numbers:

And 11 percent are unsure. "It remains to be seen if this is a temporary bounce [for Crist] or a lasting change in the race," writes Rasmussen. Maybe Rahm Emanuel is reconsidering his decision not to return Crist's call.

An FBI official says Faisal Shahzad was put on a no-fly list hours before his arrest, but he was apprehended on a flight he booked on the way to the airport and which he paid for in cash.

The Hawaii special election to replace Rep. Neil Abercrombie is an odd, winner-take-all, three-way election that will be decided via mail-in ballots due by May 22. The Republican underdog Charles Djou is polling up eight points in Obama's home state partly because there are two Democrats splitting…

Jake Tapper reports that the High-Value Interrogation group is "involved" in the interrogation of the would-be Times Square bomber, but the precise nature of its involvement isn't clear:

CBS reports: 

Mark Kirk released his latest political spot, going after his opponent in the Illinois Senate race, Alexi Giannoulias:

As noted by the New York Times early this morning, a naturalized U.S. citizen of Pakistani origin named Faisal Shahzad, aged 30, was arrested by federal authorities in the attempted car-bombing in Times Square, thwarted on May 1. Shahzad was apprehended on a flight to Dubai that was about to take…

Jeffrey Goldberg warns:

Though his editors may have violated labor laws by asking him to write this piece, Jim Geraghty has taken up the challenge of vulnerable Democratic House seats:

Yesterday, the Obama administration released the DoD's official nuclear stockpile figures. For decades, the size and shape of America's atomic arsenal have been deliberately kept secret, and for good reason. There's always been a calculated sense of ambiguity around our nuclear forces and our…

To catch a terrorist on Craigslist: "Law enforcement officials were able to track down Shahzad, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Pakistan, by recovering his number from the cell phone of the woman who sold him a Pathfinder SUV just weeks before Saturday night's failed bomb attempt."

The New York Times reports:

British sniper kills two Taliban from 1.5 miles away.

You know, it's really a shame Frank Rich's deadline came up before the May Day riots in Santa Cruz and elsewhere this weekend, because I'm sure he's very anxious to tell all of us what that "rage" is really all about.

Officially, at least, Washington has not given up on trying to stop the development of the Iranian bomb.  But, you’d hardly know that from what our officials actually do, no matter what they may say.

Via Allahpundit, ABC reports:

Last month, a sword-brandishing Hugo Chávez marked the eighth anniversary of his return to power after an abortive coup by addressing thousands of government-backed paramilitaries. “You should be ready to take up arms at any moment and give your lives if necessary for our nation’s independence and…

The Washington Post reports:

On Meet the Press yesterday, Charlie Crist said that he is open to caucusing with the Democrats if he's elected to the Senate:

Rasmussen has released its latest poll on the race to fill Barack Obama's old Senate seat in Illinois:

A poll for the Honolulu Advertiser, released yesterday, shows that Republican Charles Djou "leads with 36 percent, former congressman Ed Case is chasing at 28 percent, and state Senate President Colleen Hanabusa is trailing with 22 percent. Thirteen percent were undecided."

The New York Times talks to financial experts who have weighed Dodd's bill and found it wanting:

At National Review Online, Michael Anton has the definitive analysis of the costs of containing Iran. There is, of course, much debate concerning what to do about Iran and the regime's pursuit of nuclear weapons. The policy proposals most frequently debated by wonks are: (1) sanctions, (2) military…

Interesting. It's about two weeks from primary day, and evangelical leader Dr. James Dobson has retracted an endorsement of establishment candidate Trey Grayson in favor of endorsing Rand Paul.

On Tuesday, Indiana Republicans will elect a nominee to take on Democratic congressman Brad Ellsworth in the state's mid-term Senate race. Republicans have a prime opportunity to take over the seat being vacated by Evan Bayh, but prominent conservatives have been divided on whether to support…

The havok of the PIGS: “The EU can afford to bail-out Greece and even Portugal, but it cannot afford bailing out Spain.”

Courage and Consequence

It’s All Greek To Me

A Kingdom Strange

Cleopatra

Augustine of Hippo

The New York Times reports:

Several bloggers are calling Rush Limbaugh the equivalent of a 9/11 Truther for alleging on his radio show that the oil-rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico was an inside job perhaps perpetrated by the Obama administration.

As I noted last week, more than a month's worth of polling shows that Americans favor repeal of Obamacare by a whopping 16 points, 56 to 40 percent (according to Rasmussen's poll of likely voters). But it's also worth noting that support for repeal is even higher among independents -- who…

If the Federal Reserve Board’s monetary gurus -- technically, the Open Market Committee -- were given to exuberance of the sort some pedants might consider irrational, at the conclusion of last week’s meeting they might have declared the dawning of a decade of growth and prosperity. Central bankers…