Entries

A GOP Contract with America for 2010

Republicans need a platform this year modeled on Newt Gingrich's 1994 plan, emphasizing jobs, cutting debt and repairing the president's health care law. Eight weeks to Election Day, and still no sign of an updated "Contract with America," the famous Republican campaign manifesto of 1994. Party …

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Written by David Frum on Tuesday September 7, 2010

Shake-Up on the Energy Committee

With Sen. Murkowski's defeat and three other retirements, the Senate energy committee will soon have four Republican vacancies. Senator Lisa Murkowski’s (R-AK) stunning defeat in her state’s GOP primary has left a lot of folks scratching their heads about the outcome and asking questions. Did …

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Written by David Jenkins on Monday September 6, 2010

The Art of Writing History

David Frum's review of a new history of the 1970s raises an interesting question: what do readers look for in history books that they can't find on the internet? David Frum writes , of a book by historian Laura Kalman about the politics of the 1970s: As a work of history about the Ford and …

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Written by Andrew Gelman on Monday September 6, 2010

Cutting the Cost of Healthy Eating

Cutting the Cost of Healthy Eating The Denver Post reports: As Revisha Martinez pondered the cost of peaches and watermelon at her local King Soopers recently, she became the last stop in a complicated food-production system that critics believe has turned healthy eating into …

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Written by FrumForum News on Monday September 6, 2010

U.S. Troops Help Repel Attack on Iraqi Army HQ

U.S. Troops Help Repel Attack on Iraqi Army The New York Times reports: Insurgents mounted a coordinated attack on one of the main military commands in Baghdad on Sunday, briefly drawing fire from American soldiers, an event that underscored the ambiguity of the American …

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Written by FrumForum News on Monday September 6, 2010

Vatican May Try to Stop Stoning

Vatican May Try to Stop Stoning The New York Daily News reports: The Vatican may reach out to help an Iranian woman sentenced to death by stoning. A statement by the Catholic Church criticized the "brutal" practice, and said the church was aware of the woman's plight. …

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Written by FrumForum News on Monday September 6, 2010

Obama: $50 Billion for New Roads & Rail

Obama: $50B for New Roads & Rail The AP reports: Vowing to find new ways to stimulate the sputtering economy, President Barack Obama will call for long-term investments in the nation's roads, railways and runways that would cost at least $50 billion. The infrastructure …

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Written by FrumForum News on Monday September 6, 2010

Senate Candidate Marco Rubio's Father Dies

Marco Rubio's Father Dies The Miami Herald reports: Republican Senate candidate Marco Rubio temporarily suspended his campaign Sunday after the death of his father at Baptist Hospital in Kendall. Mario Rubio, who died Saturday night, had long battled emphysema and lung …

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Written by FrumForum News on Monday September 6, 2010

A Workers' Paradise? Not Exactly

The communists of Eastern Europe did not win over the support of artists by terror alone. They also seduced them. On my last day in Poland, I stopped by the National Gallery in Warsaw. The Gallery is a story in itself: built in the 1930s, destroyed by the Germans, badly rebuilt by the communists, …

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Written by David Frum on Sunday September 5, 2010

FBI Looks at Gulf Oil Leak Evidence

FBI Looks at Gulf Spill Evidence The AP reports: Investigators looking into what went wrong in the Gulf of Mexico oil spill are a step closer to answers now that a key piece of evidence is secure aboard a ship. Engineers took 29 1/2 hours to lift the 50-foot, 300-ton blowout …

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Written by FrumForum News on Sunday September 5, 2010

Suicide Bomber Hits Iraqi Army Base

Suicide Bomber Hits Iraqi Army Base Reuters reports: Five suicide bombers armed with rifles tried to storm an army base in Baghdad on Sunday, killing seven people and wounding 29 less than a week after Washington declared U.S. combat operations in Iraq over. Two attackers blew …

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Written by FrumForum News on Sunday September 5, 2010

Perry's Gaffes Keep Texas Gov Race Close

In red state Texas -- and in what should be a big year for the GOP -- Republican governor Rick Perry is in a surprisingly close race for reelection. Rick Perry has, perhaps due to the more-localized nature of state politics, not caught fire in the media as a tea party icon. But his eyebrow-raising …

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Written by Alex Knepper on Sunday September 5, 2010

Obama's Poll Numbers Take Another Hit

Poll: Obama Gets Thumbs Down on Economy CNN reports: Just four in ten Americans say they approve of the job President Barack Obama's doing on the economy, according to a new CNN/Opinion Research Corporation national survey. The 40 percent who give Obama a thumbs up is a new low …

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Written by FrumForum News on Sunday September 5, 2010

Unhappy Days

Laura Kalman has penned a new history of the late 1970s. But the book raises a question: What’s the point of this kind of history in the age of the internet? Laura Kalman has penned a new history of the late 1970s, Right Star Rising , which I reviewed for The New York Times . Art …

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Written by David Frum on Sunday September 5, 2010

Can Christie Stop the Tea Party's Next Upset?

NJ Gov Chris Christie's endorsement of Delaware Senate candidate Rep. Mike Castle could further boost Christie's national profile -- if Castle can pull out the win. The blogosphere's been buzzing for the past few days about New Jersey Governor Chris Christie's endorsement of Mike Castle . This is …

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Written by Fred Bauer on Sunday September 5, 2010

Obama: Economic Policies Stopped the "Bleeding"

Obama: Economic Policies Stopped the "Bleeding" Reuters reports: President Barack Obama, previewing a big push on the U.S. economy next week, on Saturday defended policies that he said "have stopped the bleeding" and put the middle class on the road to recovery. Obama, …

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Written by FrumForum News on Saturday September 4, 2010

Blackwater Created Shell Firms to Win Government Contracts

Blackwater Used Shell Firms to Win Govt Contracts The New York Times reports: Blackwater Worldwide  created a web of more than 30 shell companies or subsidiaries in part to obtain millions of dollars in American government contracts after the security company came under intense …

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Written by FrumForum News on Saturday September 4, 2010

Tony Blair Hit With Eggs at Book Signing

Blair Hit With Eggs at Book Signing The BBC reports: Eggs and shoes have been thrown at the former prime minister Tony Blair as he attended a book signing in Dublin. It happened as he arrived at Easons on O'Connell Street in the city to sign copies of his autobiography. The …

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Written by FrumForum News on Saturday September 4, 2010

Politicians and Privacy

Before the next sex scandal, the press should look at Jonathan Rauch's classic article on how to report on politicians' marriages. Jonathan Rauch wrote the classic article on how to report (not) on politicians' marriages - and really everybody's marriages - back in 2001. Adultery is …

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Written by David Frum on Saturday September 4, 2010

A Sex Scandal Without Any Sex

British Foreign Secretary William Hague is at the center of a media firestorm over rumors he got up to something naughty with a handsome young male staffer. Imagine you are a newspaper editor. Your reporters whisper to you that a certain important politician is gay. The man's married, which makes …

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Written by David Frum on Saturday September 4, 2010