Entries

Bernanke: Debt Limit "Wrong Tool"

POLITICO Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on Tuesday again urged congressional Republicans to support an increase in the debt ceiling ahead of the early August deadline set by Treasury Sec. Tim Geithner, saying that they are using the “wrong tool” to cut spending by linking it with the debt …

Written by Frum Forum Editors on Wednesday June 15, 2011

Governors Fight Medicaid Rules

The Washington Post and Bloomberg report: Faced with severe budget problems, Republican governors are escalating their fight against federal rules requiring states to maintain current levels of health-care coverage for the poor and disabled. The growing resistance to the federal …

Written by Frum Forum Editors on Wednesday June 15, 2011

Afghan Remark: Romney On Defensive

POLITICO reports: Mitt Romney’s hint in Monday night’s Republican debate that he’s eager to pull the plug on the war in Afghanistan left some of his GOP allies puzzled, Democrats sensing an opportunity, and his staff working to explain what he meant. “It’s time for us to bring our …

Written by Frum Forum Editors on Wednesday June 15, 2011

Wolf: China Could Fail Like Japan

Martin Wolf writes in The Financial Time s: Until 1990, Japan was the most successful large economy in the world. Almost nobody predicted what would happen to it in the succeeding decades. Today, people are yet more in awe of the achievements of China. Is it conceivable that this colossus …

Written by Frum Forum Editors on Wednesday June 15, 2011

UK Unemployment Figures Drop

The Daily Telegraph reports: Unemployment has fallen by 88,000 to reach 2.43m – the largest quarterly drop in 11 years – but figures show the number of people working part-time because they could not find a full-time job has risen to a new record. The number of people claiming …

Written by FrumForum Editors on Wednesday June 15, 2011

Tony Blair's Wise Advice For The GOP

It's easy to recognize across the aisle the danger of the tendency of political parties to recoil upon their bases after a defeat. Much harder is to recognize the tendency in oneself. In an interview today with Britain's Sun newspaper, Tony Blair rebuked current Labour leader Ed Milliband, and …

Written by David Frum on Wednesday June 15, 2011

Housing Crisis Worse Than In Depression

CNBC.com reports: It's official: The housing crisis that began in 2006 and has recently entered a double dip is now worse than the Great Depression. Prices have fallen some 33 percent since the market began its collapse, greater than the 31 percent fall that began in the late 1920s and …

Written by Frum Forum Editors on Wednesday June 15, 2011

UK To Ban Dictators From Olympics

The Daily Telegraph reports: Ministers have taken advice on how to prevent Colonel Gaddafi and Robert Mugabe from attending the 2012 Olympics in London after organisers gave Libya and Zimbabwe hundreds of tickets, The Daily Telegraph can disclose. Government figures were alarmed to …

Written by Frum Forum Editors on Wednesday June 15, 2011

Coons Calls For Afghan Policy Shift

The Huffington Post reports: Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) is calling for a change of strategy in Afghanistan, arguing the current course is unsustainable and the military needs to refocus its efforts on a counterterrorism approach. In an op-ed running on Wednesday in the Wilmington, Del., …

Written by FrumForum Editors on Wednesday June 15, 2011

Carney Defends WH Donors Meeting

The Hill reports: White House press secretary Jay Carney is defending President Barack Obama's decision to meet in the White House residence with top Wall Street donors who could be key fundraisers for his reelection bid. The New York Times, which disclosed the session in a story in Monday …

Written by Frum Forum Editors on Wednesday June 15, 2011

Syria Refugees Say UN Abandoned Them

The Daily Telegraph reports: Syrian troops sweeping through the restive towns and villages around Jisr al-Shughour in the north of the country were last night spotted just two miles from the Turkish border. “They are just talking and doing nothing to help. Why were they so quick …

Written by Frum Forum Editors on Wednesday June 15, 2011

Joblessness Leapt After Stimulus

CNS.com reports: Twenty-eight months after Congress passed President Obama’s signature economic stimulus law, and nearly one year after he declared the summer of 2010 to be “Recovery Summer,” 1.9 million fewer people are employed. In February 2009, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) …

Written by Frum Forum Editors on Wednesday June 15, 2011

Pakistan Arrests CIA Informants

The New York Times reports : WASHINGTON — Pakistan ’s top military spy agency has arrested some of the Pakistani informants who fed information to the Central Intelligence Agency in the months leading up to the raid that led to the death of Osama bin Laden , according to American …

Written by FrumForum News on Tuesday June 14, 2011

Dems Won't Punish Weiner

The Daily Beast reports : After a closed-door session of party leaders Tuesday, House Democrats decided not to punish Rep. Anthony Weiner after he sent sexually charged messages to women he met online. Meanwhile, House Speaker John Boehner joined the growing chorus of elected officials …

Written by FrumForum News on Tuesday June 14, 2011

2nd NY GOPer Says He'll Back Gay Marriage

Talking Points Memo reports : Republican state Sen. Roy McDonald announced Tuesday that he'll back New York's marriage equality bill when it comes up in the Senate this week. "I'm trying to do the right thing," McDonald said, Capitol Confidential reports. "Rather than wait I worked with …

Written by FrumForum News on Tuesday June 14, 2011

Huck To T-Paw: Lose Some Staff

The Daily Caller reports : Former presidential candidate Mike Huckabee had some harsh words for presidential hopeful and fellow former governor Tim Pawlenty Tuesday, telling him to give his staff the boot. In an appearance on The Laura Ingraham Show, Huckabee gave his analysis of …

Written by FrumForum News on Tuesday June 14, 2011

Norquist Rebuked By Senate GOP

The Huffington Post reports : WASHINGTON -- Grover Norquist's grip on the Republican Party's tax policy slipped dramatically on Tuesday, a development that is likely to have significant repercussions on the debate over spending, revenue and the federal deficit. Norquist, the head of …

Written by FrumForum News on Tuesday June 14, 2011

Collective Bargaining Law Upheld In WI

The New York Times reports : The Wisconsin Supreme Court cleared the way on Tuesday for significant cuts to collective bargaining rights for public workers in the state, undoing a lower court’s decision that Wisconsin’s controversial law had been passed improperly. The Supreme Court’s …

Written by FrumForum News on Tuesday June 14, 2011

Grand Jury Probes Abu Ghraib Death

Time reports: It has been nearly a decade since Manadel al-Jamadi, an Iraqi prisoner known as "the Iceman" -- for the bungled attempt to cool his body and make him look less dead -- perished in CIA custody at Abu Ghraib. But now there are rumbles in Washington that the notorious case, as …

Written by FrumForum Editors on Tuesday June 14, 2011

Syria's Sectarian Rift Widens

The New York Times reports: The Syrian government’s retaking of a town this weekend that had teetered beyond its control is sharpening sectarian tensions along one of the country’s most explosive fault lines: relations between the Sunni Muslim majority and the minority Alawite sect to which …

Written by Frum Forum Editors on Tuesday June 14, 2011