The U.S. under Barack Obama and the Democrats is planning to spend astounding amounts of money, colossal amounts, and to pile up debt on a scale never previously contemplated in peacetime.  more

Ben Smith’s report in Politico today about Dennis Ross’ new job at the NSC makes fascinating reading.  Besides the spot-on reference to “Jones’ powerful deputy, Tom Donilon,” the implications seem pretty clear:  Ross will effectively supervise the work of four different areas of NSC policymaking ranging from Israel east to Pakistan.
As Smith writes, “Ross’s abilities   more

I notice a theme in some of the comments on the NM tally of Republican and Democratic sex scandals: Republican scandals it is said are worse because they are spiced by hypocrisy, what with the GOP being the party of traditional morality and all. But if hypocrisy is the worst sin, here too Democrats are   more

David Frum discusses the Mark Sanford scandal and Rush Limbaugh on Pajamas TV.  Watch the interview here.  more

As you may have heard, the novelist Christopher Buckley and the popular historian Richard Brookhiser have each written a book about Buckley’s father, the late William F. Buckley Jr.  Neither is just about WFB. Buckley’s Losing Mum and Pup tells what it was like – from battling grief to ghostwriting eulogies – to bury both   more

The rapid-fire sequence of Republican sex scandals this year may inspire the depressing thought: what’s wrong with our guys? But a quick tally of reported incidents finds the two parties running neck-and-neck. Their polygamous Jesse Jackson is matched by our bigamous Vito Fossella. Their treacherous and exploitive Gavin Newsom would have a lot to discuss with our John Ensign. Their Mel Reynolds might easily have shared a prison cell with our Jim West.  more

In an effort to make finance “boring” again, Obama’s new regulations will prop up the biggest institutions and put roadblocks in the way of newcomers. They may also provide an opening for conservatives.  more

It’s plain enough who the losers are in the Mark Sanford story: the governor, his family and loved ones. But there are winners too – the surviving GOP presidential candidates relieved of one more competitor in the crowded right edge of the party field. Who is likeliest to benefit?
Nominations are open. My guess: Gov. Sarah   more

Today is June 25th and I hope this year, given the international tensions all around us, we pause and consider that today is not just another day but the 59th anniversary of the start of the Korean War.
When the 300,000 troops of the North Korean People’s Army supported by tanks and artillery violently smashed across the   more

Unlike Brad Schaeffer’s father–Marine Lieutenant Jack Schaeffer–I didn’t suffer the emotional trauma and depression he apparently did from the Korean war, which started 59 years ago today.
While I was also an infantry lieutenant (in the Canadian army – the Princess Patricias), I wasn’t wounded, and the Canadian brigade didn’t experience the savage fighting that Schaeffer   more

June 25, 1876 marks the date in history when the Lakota Sioux and Northern Cheyenne defended their way of life against the US Seventh Cavalry at the Little Bighorn River near what is now Crow Agency, Montana. General George Armstrong Custer and 267 soldiers and civilians were wiped out to a man by a force   more

Obamacare, contrary to its promise, will entrench rather than eliminate the Two Americas, maintaining a system of private coverage for the rich, and imposing a government bureaucracy that rations care on the middle class.  more

As Iranian demonstrators continue their protest against the rigged June 12th presidential elections, the Arabic press – much of which is state-controlled – has found itself in a quandary.
On one hand, the ubiquity of satellite television, Facebook, Twitter, and blogs – all of which have been influential in informing Arab publics about the events in   more

Discussing Gov. Mark Sanford’s press conference, one of my co-workers suggested that maybe the time had come for the Republican Party to surrender its claim to represent family values.
Dinesh D’Souza put it in Letters to a Young Conservative- to paraphrase- Republicans accept that people aren’t perfect, and that even those who proclaim family values will   more

I have two related new pieces – one at The Week and one on American Public Media’s “Marketplace” – about the likely economic effects of the Obama administration’s proposed financial reforms. It’s a case of refusing to lock the barn door even after the horse has bolted: instead of addressing the causes of the housing   more

… to see whether one – just one! – of the many media sources that have condemned the Bush administration’s terrorist surveillance program will deplore the publication by Reuters of Mark Sanford’s love e-mails. What on earth does the publication of this embarrassing and hurtfully intimate material add to a story that was already plain   more

Thank you for printing my response to the conservative who took exception to my trumpeting the song, “Born Again American” by Keith Carradine.  And thank you, too, for your personal reaction to the song itself and to my involvement with it.
Correction:  When I started People for the American Way in 1980, it’s mission was to   more

From the beginning of his rule in Venezuela, Hugo Chavez has stridently criticized Israel. In recent months, Chavez has found a more vulnerable target: the Jewish population inside Venezuela.
Last week, an angry mob broke out in Miranda, Venezuela’s second largest state. Reports indicate that the Mayor of Miranda’s capital city incited an angry group   more

Republicans have been quick to recognize the practical benefits of technology, but slow to grasp its political implications. Amidst a backdrop of dizzying technological change, British Conservatives floundered, while the GOP used sophisticated programs to target voters and win elections with ruthless efficiency. But now a younger generation of Tories perceives that new online methods   more

So what’s the deal with McChrystal’s initial command guidance to US and NATO forces in Afghanistan?
As the Associated Press reported:
The top U.S. general in Afghanistan will soon formally order U.S. and NATO forces to break away from fights with militants hiding in Afghan houses so the battles do not kill civilians, a U.S. official said   more