Entries

Law Firm Flips: Now Won't Defend DOMA

Huffington Post reports : The law firm King & Spalding announced on Monday that it will not continue to represent the U.S. House of Representatives in defending the Defense of Marriage Act. "Today the firm filed a motion to withdraw from its engagement to represent the Bipartisan …

Written by FrumForum News on Monday April 25, 2011

How Norquist's Pledge Blocks Real Deficit Cuts

Economically, Grover Norquist's rule on what constitutes a "tax increase" makes little sense. And politically, it's making deficit reduction much more difficult. Eli Lehrer has an incisive piece on this page about Tom Coburn's "Gang of Six" tax proposals. I believe however that the proposals …

Written by David Frum on Monday April 25, 2011

FroshUpdate: Freshmen Take Heat On Medicare During Recess

We enter the second week of this recess session with freshmen taking heat on medicare back home in their districts, a glowing profile of Rep. Bill Johnson (OH-06) in Human Events, and Allen West telling women to raise little Spartan warriors. This is FroshUpdate for April 25, 2011. The …

Written by Tim Mak on Monday April 25, 2011

Washington Abandons the Jobless

More than 13 million Americans are unemployed, yet neither party is offering a real plan to boost employment. In the fall of 1984, I was a student living in Boston. A high-tax manufacturing state, Massachusetts had been hit hard by the economic troubles of the 1970s. But now suddenly there were …

Written by David Frum on Monday April 25, 2011

Flights Resume at St. Louis Airport

CNN reports : Flights resumed Sunday at the main airport in St. Louis after a tornado struck, knocking out power, shattering windows and sending passengers scrambling for cover from falling debris. A handful of incoming flights touched down at Lambert-St. Louis Airport Saturday night for …

Written by FrumForum News on Monday April 25, 2011

Pakistanis Hold Anti-Drone Protest

CNN reports : A Pakistani opposition leader on Sunday threatened to have supporters block NATO supply routes to Afghanistan and march to Islamabad if U.S. drone strikes in the country were not halted. Imran Khan, a famous former cricket player and the head of the Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf…

Written by FrumForum News on Monday April 25, 2011

Carter Tries to Meet Kim Jong Il

Politico reports : Former President Jimmy Carter is traveling to North Korea this week on a mission to lay the groundwork for nuclear disarmament talks, and “would like very much” to meet with leader Kim Jong Il. “We have no indication that we will do so, but it would be a pleasure if …

Written by FrumForum News on Monday April 25, 2011

Obama: Manning 'Broke the Law'

Politico reports : President Barack Obama’s assertion at a recent California fundraiser that Bradley Manning “broke the law” may have run afoul of presidential protocol, according to legal analysts who have been tracking the case of the Army private charged in the WikiLeaks case. “I …

Written by FrumForum News on Monday April 25, 2011

Reid May Force Ryan Budget Vote

The Hill reports : Senate Democratic aides expect Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) to force Senate Republicans to vote on the Paul Ryan budget plan. Reid hasn’t made a formal decision yet, and won’t until he returns from an overseas trip. The idea is to drive a wedge through …

Written by FrumForum News on Monday April 25, 2011

Bloomberg: Don't Soak the Rich Yet

Politico reports : Appearing on "Fox News Sunday," Bloomberg praised Rep. Paul Ryan's moxie for proposing a comprehensive budget plan but wouldn't say which plan -- Ryan's or Obama's -- he backed. "I don't know that we are in big trouble, but we certainly could be very easily - this is …

Written by FrumForum News on Monday April 25, 2011

NATO Hits Qaddafi's Tripoli Home

The Guardian reports : An office building inside Muammar Gaddafi's Tripoli compound has been destroyed early as Nato air strikes hit close to the base from where the Libyan leader is believed to be directing government strategy in the civil war. At least two large missiles or bombs …

Written by FrumForum News on Monday April 25, 2011

Top Libyan Rebel Was Gitmo Detainee

The New York Times reports : For more than five years, Abu Sufian Ibrahim Ahmed Hamuda bin Qumu was a prisoner at the Guantánamo Bay prison, judged “a probable member of Al Qaeda” by the analysts there. They concluded in a newly disclosed 2005 assessment that his release would represent …

Written by FrumForum News on Monday April 25, 2011

WikiLeaks Releases Gitmo Files

The Washington Post reports : On Sept. 11, 2001, the core of al-Qaeda was concentrated in a single city: Karachi, Pakistan. At a hospital, the accused mastermind of the bombing of the USS Cole was recovering from a tonsillectomy. Nearby, the alleged organizer of the 2002 bombing in …

Written by FrumForum News on Monday April 25, 2011

Daniels Still Debating 2012 Run

The Washington Post reports : No prospective Republican presidential candidate has done more to highlight the issue of debt and deficits than Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels. He calls it the “new red menace, ” an ocean of red ink that he says is every bit as dangerous as the Soviet nuclear threat …

Written by FrumForum News on Monday April 25, 2011

U.S. Considers Syria Sanctions

The Wall Street Journal reports : The U.S. is readying sanctions against senior officials in Syria who are overseeing a violent crackdown as Washington and Europe suggest the regime of President Bashar al-Assad is increasingly fragile. The Obama administration is drafting an executive …

Written by FrumForum News on Monday April 25, 2011

Syrian Troops Storm Daraa

The New York Times reports : Syrian troops backed by tanks stormed at least three towns early Monday and snipers fired from rooftops, killing at least five people as the crackdown intensifies on a five-week uprising against President Bashar Assad's authoritarian regime, witnesses and …

Written by FrumForum News on Monday April 25, 2011

Bloomberg: Stop Birther Talk

CNN reports : Republicans will suffer electorally if they continue to fan the flames of the so-called "birther" debate instead of focusing on the economy, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Sunday. "I think the Republicans are making a terrible mistake in making this a big …

Written by FrumForum News on Monday April 25, 2011

Giffords Cleared to Attend Launch

CNN reports : Astronaut Mark Kelly visits U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords twice a day, witnessing and aiding her recovery from a devastating bullet wound suffered nearly four months ago. Friday, the Arizona congresswoman will witness her husband's own inspiring moment: Commanding the space …

Written by FrumForum News on Monday April 25, 2011

Coburn’s Reforms: Brave but Insufficient

Tom Coburn and his colleagues are showing a good deal of courage by putting taxes on the table. But the handful of specifics they’ve offered so far aren’t very promising. Tom Coburn, hardly a moderate or a shrinking violet by any measure, has effectively “ unsigned ” Grover Norquist’s pledge …

Written by Eli Lehrer on Monday April 25, 2011

Bahrain: Hezbollah Trying to Overthrow Govt

The Wall Street Journal reports : Bahrain has accused the Iranian-backed militia Hezbollah with seeking to overthrow the island-state's ruling family, in a report to the United Nations, escalating the growing cold war between Sunni Arab states and Shiite-dominated Iran. The confidential …

Written by FrumForum News on Sunday April 24, 2011