The Budget Deal That Really Doesn't Matter

They think it does: “I am very proud to stand here today with Chairman Ryan to say that we have broken through the gridlock,” said Murray, calling the agreement “an important step in helping to heal some of the wounds here in Congress and show we can do something without another crisis around the corner.” …

What Happens When You Want a King

You get one and all of the servitude that goes with it: Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together, and came to Samuel unto Ramah, And said unto him, Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways: now make us a king to judge us like all the nations. …

When Bad and Really Bad Cut a Deal

A few months ago, when the Iranians elected themselves a new president, I asked an Iranian friend what he thought of the election.  His response was simple: the Iranian people had a choice between bad and really bad in the election and chose only bad. Now that the U.S. and others have chosen to cut …

The World Is Not As Flat as They Thought

Would-be White House photographers learn this the hard way: The nation’s largest news organizations lodged a complaint Thursday against the White House for imposing unprecedented limitations on photojournalists covering President Barack Obama, which they say have harmed the public’s ability to monitor its own government. The organizations accuse the White House of banning photojournalists from …

Should Have Nationalised Medicaid to Start With

Barack Obama would do well to take a hint from the "Duck Dynasty" candidate's victory: Medicaid expansion is popular, even if Obamacare isn't. Riser was a Jindal acolyte in the state legislature who saw first-hand the governor's approval rating dip as he opposed the expansion of Medicaid. That's the dilemma Republicans face: As unpopular as …

It's Crunch Time in Chattanooga for Same Sex Benefits

I guess it was inevitable sooner or later, but now we're here: last Tuesday, Chattanooga's City Council approved an ordinance to extend employment benefits for the city to domestic partners and not just those joined by civil marriage.  As is the case with many unicameral legislatures, it takes two readings to make this official, and …

Camelot Not Quite: My Reflections on JFK, Fifty Years After

This piece is, in some sense, obligatory.  Just about everyone alive and out of the crib then remembers where he or she was when they learned that Jack Kennedy had been assassinated in Dallas on 22 November 1963.  Although there have been recent potshots at the Boomers’ obsession with the subject, it’s not a bad …

Thinking and Living Bureaucratically in America

National Journal's Ron Fournier is sorry: I'm sorry you campaigned for reelection on the famous false promise: "If you like your health care plan, you'll be able to keep your health care plan. Period." I'm sorry your aides debated whether to tell the full truth (that people could keep their insurance only if it hadn't …

The Saudi "Tipping Point" With the U.S. Is Iran

It's finally boiled over to the point where our sycophantic media can't ignore it: The breach became dramatic over the past week. Last Friday, Saudi Arabia refused to take its seat on the United Nations Security Council, in what Prince Bandar bin Sultan, the Saudi intelligence chief, described as “a message for the U.S., not …

Obamacare's Ecommerce Chickens Come Home to Roost

And HHS Secretary Sibelius is on the hot seat: Embattled Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius will testify before Congress next week about the botched rollout of ObamaCare’s insurance exchanges after rejecting GOP demands to appear this week. The House Energy and Commerce Committee confirmed Monday night that Sebelius would meet with the committee …

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