Entries

Enviromental Jeopardy

My latest column for The Week opens You must know the TV game show, “Jeopardy.” In this game, the host provides an answer. Contestants compete to guess the question. Let’s play the public policy version. ANSWER: “A great national undertaking to replace …

Written by David Frum on Thursday March 26, 2009

Detainees On The Potomac

The citizens of Alexandria, Virginia voted for Barack Obama over John McCain by a margin of 71% to 25% . Apparently in their enthusiasm for change, Alexandria’s Democrats did not fully consider the local impact of the President’s repeated promise to close the terrorist detention …

Written by Henry Clay on Thursday March 26, 2009

The iCar - "I" for India That Is

Jamsetji Tata was 43 when, in 1882, he applied to the government in Great Britain for a licence to prospect in his own country, India . Tata had come across a report which claimed that Ritter von Schwartz had discovered a “hill of iron” in Lohara. To Tata this was an enormous opportunity; to …

Written by Kapil Komireddi on Wednesday March 25, 2009

Chicken Soup For The Teachers Soul

While being formally observed by an administrator the other day, one of my students who likes to show up completely stoned to class (he only attends about once or twice a week) kept blurting out, “Man, this is bullshit, man.” I wanted to jump out the window. While guiding kids …

Written by Thomas Gibbon on Wednesday March 25, 2009

There Will Be Blood

One of the grimmer jokes of the Democratic Congress has been the long pretense that the Senate wants to pass a card check law to help unions organize workplaces. "Of course we all fiercely want to ... but if we encounter even the slightest glitch or difficulty of course we'll have to give the …

Written by David Frum on Wednesday March 25, 2009

Apology Unaccepted, Mr Gutfeld

When I got an email the other day from Bill Graham – not the former Canadian Defense Minister Bill Graham, but one at the Canadian Forces Base in Edmonton – asking “can anything be done?” about “comedian” Greg Gutfeld’s witticism on Fox News about the …

Written by Peter Worthington on Tuesday March 24, 2009

The State We're In

Take a look at where we are today: A) Taxes are going to confiscatory rates. Examine the bill written by tax cheat Charlie Rangel, the Democrat Chairman of Ways and Means. Under his bill, the tax on any bonus paid to a New York City resident by a TARP recipient bank would be 102 percent for any …

Written by FF Street Scene on Tuesday March 24, 2009

Is It "un-american" To Enforce The Immigration Laws?

In a speech last week in San Francisco, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi declared that raids on large employers of illegals by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) were "un-American." Her predominantly immigrant audience applauded loudly. What were they cheering for? Illegal aliens apprehended …

Written by Howard Foster on Tuesday March 24, 2009

Leon Kass Selected To Deliver Jefferson Lecture

The National Endowment for the Humanities has announced that Leon Kass will deliver its 2009 Jefferson Lecture. This is the highest honor in the humanities bestowed by the federal government. Leon will deliver his lecture, entitled, “‘Looking for an Honest Man’: Reflection…

Written by FF Washington Insider on Tuesday March 24, 2009

Chinas Warning

The FT reports that China is calling for a new reserve currency to replace the dollar . Theatrics or something foreboding? Both. It is theatrics because it simply cannot happen in the foreseeable future. It is foreboding because China is (again) sending the clear message that they are …

Written by Douglas Holtz-Eakin on Tuesday March 24, 2009

Necessary Evil

This plan may be a necessary evil for a number of reasons. Leave aside the reservations a private investor doing business with Washington might have after observing the spectacle of the past few days. The plan finally addresses directly the central impediment to recovery, namely, the inability of …

Written by FF Street Scene on Monday March 23, 2009

Michael Moore: Still Crazy After All These Years

Six years after the launch of Operation: Iraqi Freedom, one of the war’s most extreme critics, film-maker Michael Moore, claims that most Americans now stand with him. Is he right? Two weeks ago, Moore wrote a column titled ‘ Why I'm Not Now and Have Never Been the Democrats' Rush …

Written by Tom Qualtere on Monday March 23, 2009

A War On Wealth?

The Obama administration is often accused of waging class warfare. But an early look at their new TARP plan - massive government loans to investors willing to wager a comparatively small amount of money sifting through bad assets in search of good - suggests that the plan will probably end by …

Written by David Frum on Monday March 23, 2009

Unpatriotic Conservatives Six Years Later

As last Thursday marked the sixth anniversary of the war in Iraq, it was also six years ago last Thursday that David Frum published his paleocon-expelling “ Unpatriotic Conservatives ” on National Review Online. Six years later, in another time of dramatic action and change (albeit …

Written by Tom Qualtere on Monday March 23, 2009

Conservatives Of Tomorrow: Grant Starrett

Grant Starrett is the founder and president of the Stanford Conservative Society. He served as Chairman of Students for Mitt in the 2008 Republican primaries, which he grew to over 4, 500 members. As part of this effort, he raised over $200,000. He has gained quite a following through his …

Written by Karin Agness on Monday March 23, 2009

Journos 1, Obama 0

We wrote earlier about the likely effect that President Obama's decision not to attend the annual Gridiron Dinner (becoming the first President to skip it in his first year of office since Grover Cleveland) would have on the press' relationship with the President. In a word, we were right. …

Written by FF Washington Insider on Monday March 23, 2009

Against The Aig Lynch Mob

Jared Bernstein, chief economist to Vice President Cheney, signaled on ABC's "The Week" that President Obama would not sign the House bill to impose a special tax on AIG's executive bonuses. I think the president would be concerned that this bill may have some problems in going too far -- the …

Written by David Frum on Monday March 23, 2009

Thompson Endorses Tedisco

On Friday, Fred Thompson, through his FredPAC organization, seconded Newt Gingrich and others and publicly endorsed upstate New York congressional candidate Jim Tedisco, “ a solid conservative,” in his race against “wall street Democrat” Jim Murphy. “America …

Written by Tom Qualtere on Sunday March 22, 2009

Live Long Enough....

...and you see everything, goes the old saying. But did anyone ever imagine that we'd see Sweden take a more market-oriented approach to its auto industry than the United States?

Written by David Frum on Sunday March 22, 2009

A Trillion Here, A Trillion There

... and pretty soon you're talking real deficits. http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/ 100xx/doc10014/03-20- PresidentBudget.pdf These terrifying numbers from CBO do help to explain why President Obama would contemplate the otherwise reckless step of cramming through his health and enviro plans via …

Written by David Frum on Saturday March 21, 2009