National Politics
It is the day after the 237th anniversary of the Boston Tea Party. How appropriate. Over most of our lifetimes, the terms of the political debate were centered around who would give more goodies to the American people. Human nature being what it is, most people gladly took whatever the government gave them. Few thought…
For those interested, HERE is a working list of all of the earmarks contained in the lame duck FY2011 budget. I assume it will be continually updated as required (hence, the “working”). I’ve also broken out the RI earmarks from messr’s Reed, Whitehouse, Langevin and Kennedy and you can download it HERE. All told, according…
Despite a day that was keeping me on the jump Friday, I got to listen to Fred Thompson at the moment when, in his low key way, he was suggesting a more conciliatory way (in contrast with the approach taken by President Obama) that the president could have presented the unemployment-bennies-for-tax-rate-extension compromise legislation. Such an…
President Obama, triangulating his way to 2012, has proposed to freeze federal employee pay for 2 years. Given that said employees have received raises throughout the current recession, it’s probably about time. But let’s not forget those step increases! As regular AR readers know, year to year, each unionized employee moves up a job “step”…
Ian Donnis makes an interesting observation: Cicilline and other Democrats have been out front in decrying the US Supreme Court’s decision in the Citizens United case, which unleased a new wave of 527 spending. But US News recently found that five of the seven biggest super PACs this year supported Democrats. The storyline one often…
Gov Jindal of Louisiana puts forth this excellent proposal in an interview with former Rhode Islander and current Human Events editor Jason Mattera. Amazingly, it doesn’t even appear to be unconstitutional as the Constitution does not specify the duration of a Congressional session. A determination of what comprises “part time” would have to be made.…
It’s all about protecting the establishment — Republican or Democrat: [Alaskan Republican Joe Miller’s] campaign has posted on their site three affidavits from voters concerned that irregular activity occurred at their polling places. One says that, although he was the tenth voter at his location, he saw a ballot box stuffed with “hundreds” of ballots.…
A self-reinforcing ailment appears to be involved with Nancy Pelosi’s retention of her leadership role in the U.S. House: “She is the face that defeated us in this last election,” declared Florida Rep. Allen Boyd, who was among those who lost re-election fights. However, Pelosi, who presided over big Democratic gains in the 2006 and…
Charles Krauthammer summarizes why touching our junk has become a tipping point: Homeland Security’s newest brainstorm – the upgraded, full-palm, up the groin, all-body pat-down. In a stroke, the young man ascended to myth, or at least the next edition of Bartlett’s, warning the agent not to “touch my junk.” Not quite the 18th-century elegance…
So a group of gay conservatives and some Tea Party figures are urging the Republican Party to keep away from social issues while they’ve got a role in untangling our big-government mess. One particular comment highlights, in a humorous way, the strange assumptions that social liberals make about the universality of their causes: “When they…