Overview for News

See Ya!

Sarah Palin's most notable achievement as governor of Alaska was to increase the payout from the state's energy tax take by $1200 per resident. Isn't it odd then that she would use her farewell address to warn against the danger of government handouts? Sarah Palin's most notable achievement as …

Written by David Frum on Sunday July 26, 2009

Doomed to Macaca Moments

Warhol famously said that in the future everybody will be famous for 15 minutes. The corollary: in this future, which has now arrived, everybody will have his or her own macaca moment . Warhol of course famously said that in the future everybody will be famous for 15 minutes. The corollary: in …

Written by David Frum on Sunday July 26, 2009

An Alternative to Command and Control in Medicare

.. is proposed in this AEI backgrounder by three healthcare economists. They argue for extending competitive pricing to all Medicare plans, including the traditional fee-for-service plan operated by the federal government itself. ... is proposed in this AEI backgrounder by three healthcare …

Written by David Frum on Sunday July 26, 2009

Worse and Worse for Obamacare

The Obama administration's big idea about health care reduces itself to this: the US health system is so irrational and wasteful that simply by spending money more intelligently we can insure the uninsured at no additional net cost. Nice, if true. But is it true? Yuval Levin, working hard on a …

Written by David Frum on Sunday July 26, 2009

How to Play the Game Right

South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint has found exactly the right tone on the healthcare debate. The Republican party is not fighting nationalized medicine in order to beat President Obama. It's fighting nationalized medicine because Republicans know that choice and competition will deliver better care at …

Written by David Frum on Saturday July 25, 2009

Counterterrorism Strategies Could Work in Our Schools

Much attention is paid to the violent drug wars in Mexico. Not enough is paid to the drug trade fueled by deadly gangs on our streets. Thousands have died in Mexico since the government began battling armed cartels. Thousands die in cities like Baltimore every year. While teaching for two …

Written by Thomas Gibbon on Saturday July 25, 2009

One Small Step for Man, One Giant Leap for Obamacare

Yesterday, the President compared the drive for health care reform with a previous generation’s success in putting a man on the moon. Yesterday, the President compared the drive for health care reform with a previous generation’s success in putting a man on the moon. To paraphrase: Some …

Written by Henry Clay on Friday July 24, 2009

Falsely Accused of Racism? Me Too

Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates was arrested, not for being a “black man in America,” but for being a belligerent jackass. It doesn’t matter if you’re an esteemed professor or a college kid hammered off of keg beer – talking back to an officer is stupid and will eventually get you arrested. As …

Written by Thomas Gibbon on Friday July 24, 2009

It's Friday, and Henry Waxman's Tired of Debating

This week's winner of our Jo Moore award , given every Friday to an official who hopes to bury a story, comes from that bastion of patient deliberation: the House of Representatives. This week, Rep. Henry Waxman decides he's tired of debating in committee and takes his health bill straight to the …

Written by Jeb Golinkin on Friday July 24, 2009

Professor Singer is Wrong: It's Not a Waste to Treat the Very Sick

Peter Singer, the bioethicist, recently advocated health care rationing as an approach to financing universal health care coverage. Adopting Singer’s proposal that part of the cost of healthcare reform can be covered by avoiding high cost treatments that only marginally extend life would be a …

Written by Stanley Goldfarb on Friday July 24, 2009

Auto Insurance Works - So Why Doesn't Health Insurance?

Those looking for solutions to America’s health insurance bills can see a lot to admire in the auto insurance market. Auto coverage purchasers throughout the country have a wide choice of providers, a fair number of different options within those plans, and benefit from vigorous price competition …

Written by Eli Lehrer on Friday July 24, 2009

We Interrupt this Healthcare Debate to Bring You a Culture War

Faced with an opportunity to debate and discuss ambitious plans to reform the country's costly healthcare system, everybody seems simultaneously to have decided: "Nah, healthcare's boring. We'd rather talk about race!" EJ Dionne once wrote an entire book arguing that Americans hate politics …

Written by David Frum on Friday July 24, 2009

Honduran "Coup": Evidence Suggests Zelaya Planned to Steal Referendum

An investigation of former President Manuel Zelaya’s Presidential Palace found several computers with data suggesting that Zelaya had already planned out the fraudulent results of the referendum that was scheduled for the day he was removed from office. According to Europa Press , a Spanish …

Written by Tim Mak on Thursday July 23, 2009

Decoding Rudy Giuliani's AEI Speech

Yesterday, Rudy Giuliani gave an ambitious, campaign-style speech at the American Enterprise Institute. This was a speech for a national, not a state audience. Could Rudy Giuliani be contemplating another presidential run? Yesterday, Rudy Giuliani gave an ambitious, campaign-style speech at the …

Written by Tim Mak on Thursday July 23, 2009

Rush is Wrong: You Don't Have to be a Loudmouth to be Brave

When I heard Rush Limbaugh's statement that moderates cannot be brave or great, it so happened that I had on my desk several books about moderate Republican President Dwight D. Eisenhower. It takes considerable gall for Limbaugh, who found reasons not to volunteer for the Vietnam War, to deny the …

Written by Geoffrey Kabaservice on Thursday July 23, 2009

Obama's Presser: Evasive and Simplistic

Last night, President Obama needed to rally support for a flawed House bill and a yet-to-released Senate bill, without getting caught up in either the details or the process. The end result was a campaign-style event, with a great stump speech, several solid one-liners, and a complete lack of …

Written by David Gratzer on Thursday July 23, 2009

Obamacare: A Payoff to the Most Leftist Groups

The loss of the support of the National Federation of Independent Business for healthcare reform could nicely symbolize the crucial decisions of the first few months of the Obama Administration. First the stimulus, and now healthcare have been written as ideological payoffs to the left-most faction …

Written by David Frum on Thursday July 23, 2009

Single Payer in America

The VA saves money by using older drugs rather than the newest available. This choice saves money. But it also shortens lives. The Manhattan Institute reminds us of this study of the Veterans Administration by Frank Lichtenberg of Columbia University and the National Bureau of Economic Research. …

Written by David Frum on Wednesday July 22, 2009

Democratic Face, Democratic Teeth

President Obama had some nice things to say about selected Republicans in his press conference tonight. But the person actually overseeing the writing of the healthcare bill, Nancy Pelosi, had a very different message in an interview with the Washington Post today. President Obama had some nice …

Written by David Frum on Wednesday July 22, 2009

F-22 R.I.P.

Grim news. Shortsighted. Good day for China. Intentional screwing of the defense industry, victory for the vaporware pork bonanza that is the F-35. Etc. Grim news. Shortsighted. Good day for China. Intentional screwing of the defense industry, victory for the vaporware pork bonanza that is the …

Written by J. Moses Browning on Wednesday July 22, 2009