Overview for News

Obama and Terrorism - What the Families of Victims Say

On January 22, 2009, President Obama issued an executive order that will close the facility at Guantanamo Bay one year from now and suspend all military tribunals in progress. Since that order was issued, on behalf of FrumForum.com, I have interviewed relatives of Americans murdered by …

Written by Elise Cooper on Friday February 20, 2009

What Do Women Want? A Gentleman

On campuses across the nation, young women are enthusiastically taking the stage throughout the month of February chanting a four-letter word for women’s body parts, recreating child rape and degrading men as part of The Vagina Monologues. Chapters of the Network of enlightened Women …

Written by Karin Agness on Friday February 20, 2009

Plot To Destroy Healthcare? Not!

It's true: they did it. The Democrats managed to get the words "comparative effectiveness" into the stimulus bill, just as many conservatives warned, which means that the infrastructure for rationing Medicare is now in place. The idea is pretty simple: a national health board will determine the …

Written by Thomas J. Marier on Thursday February 19, 2009

Talkin' Bout My Generation

The affronts of punditry and the commentariat have left us bruised and battered. Assailed as the “dumbest generation” and a group of “narcissistic praise hounds”, under-30s suffer from regular assaults on their integrity, work ethic and intelligence. But how does the world look to someone born in …

Written by Tim Mak on Thursday February 19, 2009

Obama's Selective Blindness

My column in tonight's edition of THE WEEK delves into the implications of the gathering Burris scandal for the Obama administration. You can read it here.

Written by David Frum on Thursday February 19, 2009

The Punchline Writes Itself

Joel Kovel a self-described eco-socialist and Jewish anti-Zionist used to teach at Bard College. No longer. He was dismissed from his position on Feb. 7. He has now posted a font color="#000000"> web letter

Written by David Frum on Thursday February 19, 2009

Afghanistan's Missing Billions

Today's FT font color="#000000"> is reporting

Written by David Frum on Thursday February 19, 2009

Obama In Canada

The headline over the span style="color: black;"> editorial CNN's interview

Written by David Frum on Thursday February 19, 2009

The Rpvs Slide Into Irrelevance?

The Republican Party of Virginia has just sent out a stem-winder of a fundraising email, which is reproduced below (The subject line was “Stop the Democrats and their Union cronies”): But I’m not attaching it as a request for contributions. If this is the …

Written by John S. Gardner on Wednesday February 18, 2009

Universities In Denial

On February 11, art-lovers packed a meeting room at Brandeis University to protest the university's plan to sell off its $350 million collection of works by Max Ernst, Willem de Kooning, Robert Rauschenberg, Andy Warhol and other first-magnitude stars in the galaxy of twentieth-century …

Written by Charlotte Allen on Wednesday February 18, 2009

Obama Ally Doubts Obama Housing Plan

Dean Baker of the Center for Economic and Policy Research tells the Globe & Mail : "This bailout is likely to simply delay a day of reckoning for the banks, at great cost to taxpayers and little obvious benefit to homeowners."

Written by David Frum on Wednesday February 18, 2009

If Sebelius Goes To Hhs ...

The NYT is reporting that Kansas' Democratic Governor Kathleen Sebelius is likely to be named to head the Department of Health and Human Services. That reduces the odds she will run for the Senate seat being vacated by Sen. Sam Brownback - which in turn raises the value of the Republican …

Written by David Frum on Wednesday February 18, 2009

The Curious Career Of The Greatest Mexican Automatic Weapon In History

Readers may smirk at the title, given that contemporary news from Mexico is dominated by narco-violence and the illegal immigration of her poor, but there was a moment when Mexico advanced the cutting edge of small-arms design. Credit for this lies not with the Mexican Army or government, but the …

Written by J. Moses Browning on Wednesday February 18, 2009

Three Reasons For A Second Look At Term Limits

Consider the new congressman from Peoria . Aaron Schock moved up from the Peoria school board, to head of the board, to Illinois state representative, to Congressman (and minor Youtube sensation ). He's 27 years old. He started with the school board at the age of 19. That's a …

Written by Thomas J. Marier on Wednesday February 18, 2009

The Boy Who Made It

I have coached and taught this young man for the last two years almost every single day. He is a good runner and an average student. He is extremely quiet, but not shy. I’ve always known there was more to him, but I never pried. Last week after school one day, he showed up to my room …

Written by Thomas Gibbon on Tuesday February 17, 2009

Rumors Of Obama Social Security Reform Commission

Dean Baker writes at TPM Café that Word has it that President Obama intends to appoint a task force the week after next which will be charged with "reforming" Social Security. According to inside gossip, the task force will be led entirely by economists who were not able to see the …

Written by Andrew Biggs on Tuesday February 17, 2009

Just A "tax Fix?"

Your part of the stimulus package that President Obama is signing today? Oh, that’s just a “tax fix.” In fact, “a $70 billion tax fix” that really shouldn’t have been included in the bill. So say the “liberals” and “Obama supporters”…

Written by John S. Gardner on Tuesday February 17, 2009

Home News

We've just uploaded a new review to the FF Book Club, a piece on Mormon America by Richard and Joan Ostling. Very shortly we'll be uploading 120 more titles from my archived Bookshelf entries at National Review Online. (My thanks to NRO for the assistance and courtesy on this matter.) Also, …

Written by David Frum on Monday February 16, 2009

Nelson Rockefeller: Ego And Fiscal Recklessness

Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller remains the best-known moderate Republican of recent times, to the extent that even today anyone who diverges from the conservative line of the GOP may be referred to as a “Rockefeller Republican.” As the grandson of Senate Republican chieftain Nelson …

Written by Geoffrey Kabaservice on Monday February 16, 2009

Taxes, Taxes, Taxes

As the national economy declines, President Obama seeks to stimulate the economy with a plan featuring huge federal spending on programs and projects, many of which reward his contributors and ideological supporters. The stimulus package has too much pork, too little stimulus, and too much …

Written by Larry Greenfield on Sunday February 15, 2009