Entries

The Whiskey Rebellion

Today - September 24th - marks the day in 1794 when President Washington ordered the militia out to suppress the Whiskey Rebellion. It was the first time under the United States Constitution that the federal government used military force to exert authority over the nation's citizens. Today - …

Written by Sean Linnane on Thursday September 24, 2009

Why are Veep Nominees so Lame?

Andrew Gelman directs us to two blogposts at the Monkeycage blog on a neglected area of political science, here and here . Andrew Gelman directs us to two blogposts at the Monkeycage blog on a neglected area of political science, here and here .

Written by David Frum on Thursday September 24, 2009

Scorched Earth Conservatives

In a fiery debate , Frontpagemagazine.com editor David Horowitz accuses NewMajority's David Frum of "scorched-earth attacks on Glenn Beck." Frum replies: "It’s bad luck for you that we are having this discussion in the same week that Glenn Beck a) expressed his enthusiasm for a Hillary Clinton …

Written by David Frum on Thursday September 24, 2009

Honduran "Coup": Blame Zelaya, Not Congress

Currently, deposed Honduran president Manuel Zelaya is holed up in Tegucigalpa after a harrowing overland escape into his own country. He is attempting to stir up anti-democratic populism to overthrow the current government. Yet, the United States still won’t budge from it's stance that his …

Written by Tyler Montgomery on Thursday September 24, 2009

Me, Me, Me, Me, Me

Increasingly, Barack Obama's speaking style inspires a reaction borrowed from the narrator of the Raymond Chandler novel, The Long Goodbye : "You talk too damn much, and too damn much of it is about you." Of the first seven sentences Obama delivered to the United Nations General Assembly on …

Written by David Frum on Thursday September 24, 2009

Running the Internet Like the Post Office

The massive inefficiences of mandated services and fixed prices lead to bad service: Just look at the post office. The FCC's network neutrality proposal will force similar inefficiencies upon internet service providers. Once upon a time there was an economic service central to growth and prosperit…

Written by Douglas Holtz-Eakin on Thursday September 24, 2009

Ottawa Commission Worries About Offending "Communist Canadians"

In Canada, while debating the establishment of a $1.5 million “Memorial to the Victims of Communism,” the board and members of Ottawa’s National Capital Commission split over whether this title was unfair and offensive to Canadian communists. Perhaps this column should be titled “How Quick they …

Written by Peter Worthington on Wednesday September 23, 2009

No Raves for NIH Grants

NM EXCLUSIVE: Research programs that could benefit the health of Americans were denied funding by the National Institutes of Health in favor of politically-correct scientifically dubious projects, including "Patterns of Drug Use and Abuse in Brazilian Rave Culture," "The Impact of Dragon Boat …

Written by Tim Mak on Wednesday September 23, 2009

My Wife Did It!

Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Poizner stuck to his story today that a $10,000 donation he made to the Gore-Lieberman recount committee in 2000 was probably made by his wife -- despite a NewMajority investigation which proved this to be deeply implausible. Republican gubernatorial …

Written by Tim Mak on Wednesday September 23, 2009

Character vs. Ego

While President Obama opened his speech to the UN General Assembly with a barrage of "I, I, I," Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper pulled all of Canada's officials from the hall when Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad began his address. While President Obama opened his speech to the UN …

Written by David Frum on Wednesday September 23, 2009

Early Polls: GOP in Good Shape for 2010

Pollsters asked voters which party they will support in 2010 on a generic congressional ballot. The results of the poll find the Democrats at near historic lows. Under the heading, "Republicans not in a position to retake the House (yet)," Chris Bowers estimates that the Democrats have a …

Written by Andrew Gelman on Wednesday September 23, 2009

Latimer: Bush 2008 Speeches Had No Vision or Strategy

In his new book, Speech-Less: Tales of a White House Survivor , Matt Latimer writes that the Bush White House never developed an effective communications strategy. They had a policy of having the president make public comments on at least a daily basis - whether there was anything to say or …

Written by Bruce Bartlett on Wednesday September 23, 2009

Gen McChrystal's Plan Only Viable One on the Table

Gen. Stanley McChrystal, commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan, is right when he says that more troops are necessary if the Taliban are to be defeated. The eventual solution, of course, is a functioning Afghan National Army (ANA) and Afghan National Police (ANP). But until Taliban aggression can …

Written by Peter Worthington on Wednesday September 23, 2009

Latimer: Aides Pretended to be Stupid to Get on Bush's Good Side

Matt Latimer's new book, Speech-Less: Tales of a White House Survivor , confirms the portrait of George W. Bush I painted in my Impostor book of a bully who cannot stand to be contradicted, and who browbeats those beneath him into agreeing with him. I am reading Matt Latimer's book, just …

Written by Bruce Bartlett on Wednesday September 23, 2009

GOP Gubernatorial Candidate Downplays Donations to Gore, Kerry

NM Exclusive: GOP candidate for California governor, Steven Poizner, insists he is a "passionate" Bush Republican despite giving thousands of dollars to Democratic candidates for state and national office, including $10,000 to the Gore-Lieberman recount committee in 2000. In an effort to counter …

Written by Tim Mak on Tuesday September 22, 2009

American Manufacturing is Not in Decline

This weekend President Obama said that it will take decades to rebuild the United States’ declining manufacturing base. That’s misleading. It’s true that the number of workers is declining , but total output by the manufacturing industry continues to grow, as does productivity . I would like to …

Written by Tom Church on Monday September 21, 2009

Did the Gold Standard Cause the Great Depression?

My most recent Bookshelf discusses a book that argues "yes" or anyway that it was gold that turned what might have been an ordinary recession into a great depression: Barry Eichengreen's Golden Fetters . My most recent Bookshelf discusses a book that argues "yes" or anyway that it was gold …

Written by David Frum on Monday September 21, 2009

Romney Questions Quality of Obama’s Iranian Intel

Today, at the Foreign Policy Initiative’s annual conference in Washington, D.C., former Massachusetts Governor Romney opined that the President’s decision to halt plans for a missile shield in Eastern Europe may have been made on faulty intelligence. Today, at the Foreign Policy Initiative’s …

Written by Tim Mak on Monday September 21, 2009

Americans Tune Out Obama's Healthcare Sell

On Sunday, the president appeared on five different news shows to talk about the pressing need for healthcare reform. The American people though keep tuning him out. All Obama, all the time! On Sunday the president appeared on five different news shows talking about the pressing need for …

Written by Crystal Wright on Monday September 21, 2009

Keeping Doctors in Business

Healthcare reform will lead to a greater demand for medical services. Rising practice costs for doctors though may lead to a shortage of physicians. To keep doctors in business, the government may have to consider new subsidies for physicians. The price tag: at least $38 billion per year. …

Written by Stanley Goldfarb on Monday September 21, 2009