Cutting Bait - Mark Steyn "National office will dwindle down to the unhealthily singleminded (Clinton, Obama), the timeserving emirs of Incumbistan (Biden, McCain) and dynastic heirs (Bush). Our loss.
Picking Up the Pace: Semper Fi The drum major, 2 tuba players, 7 drummers and the guy on the flute can't be at the picnic today. They are in Afghanistan right now taking care of business.....for us.
What better way to celebrate the Fourth of July. Thank a soldier, marine, airman, sailor or coastie for keeping us free.
LONDON – As President Barack Obama pushes to overhaul the American health care system, the role of government is at the heart of the debate. In Europe, free, state-run health care is a given. (Snip) "I would warn Americans that once the government gets its nose into health care, it's hard to stop the dangerous effects later," said Valentin Petkantchin, of the Institut Economique Molinari in France. He said many private providers have been pushed
Truly, Sarah Palin has come a long way. When she ran for vice president, she frequently became disjointed and garbled when she departed from her prepared remarks. Now the prepared remarks are incoherent, too.
On the Fourth of July Americans will cynically celebrate the greatest setback world progress has ever endured in all of human history. The rest of humankind will, of course, be grieving over the dark day when the United States of America was born. To understand the full scope of this tragedy we must look back at the pre-7/04 world and see what it was like to live on planet Earth before 1776. ~
Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska offered few hints of what her next stage in national politics might be when she unexpectedly announced on Friday that she was quitting her job, 18 months before her term is up. But if some of her supporters are correct in surmising what she is doing — turning full time to preparing herself, after a tough year, for a presidential campaign in 2012 — it represents a huge gamble, even
In the depths of the cold war, in 1983, a senior at Columbia University wrote in a campus newsmagazine, Sundial, about the vision of “a nuclear free world.” He railed against discussions of “first- versus second-strike capabilities” that “suit the military-industrial interests” with their “billion-dollar erector sets,” and agitated for the elimination of global arsenals holding tens of thousands of deadly warheads.
People on the government's terrorist watch list tried to buy guns almost 1,000 times in the last five years, a federal study finds. In 9 out of 10 cases, federal authorities let them do it, the report finds, because there was no legal way to stop them. And that appears to be OK with the gun lobby, which apparently is less fired up by the suspicious gun purchases than by Congress' efforts to stop them.
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — Soldiers ringed President Manuel Zelaya's modest home, spilled into the cul-de-sac and swarmed the neighborhood, blocking what little traffic there was in a posh corner of the Honduran capital so early on a weekend morning. Zelaya already was rousted from bed by a shootout between a presidential security detail and his own armed forces, ordered to drop his cell phone or be shot dead,
TEGUCIGALPA — Ousted President Manuel Zelaya has vowed to return to Honduras on Sunday accompanied by a handful of Latin American leaders, stirring up fears of a violent showdown in the polarized nation. The Central American nation headed toward increasing isolation Saturday as the Organization of American States met in Washington to decide whether to suspend its membership for its refusal to reinstate the ousted president.
That much talked about "next wave" of foreclosures is on the horizon, according to a report by The Times' Don Lee: (Snip) Just how big the foreclosure wave will be is unclear. But loan defaults are up sharply. And with many government and banks' self-imposed foreclosure moratoriums expiring, the biggest lenders indicate that they are likely to move more aggressively to clear up a backlog of troubled mortgages.
Nashville police are confirming that a murder-suicide has claimed the life of former Tennessee Titans quarterback Steve McNair. McNair was found shot to death in an apartment in Downtown Nashville, according to NBC affiliate WSMV. McNair played 13 seasons in the NFL, including 11 with the Titans.
A 15-year-old South Carolina girl who was shot earlier this week by a man authorities say fits the description of a serial killer has died, police said Saturday. Abby Tyler died at 11:25 a.m. Saturday at Spartanburg Regional Medical Center, Chief Rick Turner of the Gaffney Police Department told reporters. The Her father, Stephen Tyler, 48, was pronounced dead at the scene of the shooting
MOSCOW – The United States wants to forge new relations on an equal footing with Russia, President Barack Obama said in a television interview broadcast Saturday to the Russian-language audience. (Snip) Obama said relations had "left a lot to be desired in recent years" under predecessor George W. Bush and reminded his audience that he wanted to hit the "reset" button from day one in the White House.
NAWA, Afghanistan – Taliban militants were nowhere in sight as the columns of U.S. Marines walked a third straight day across southern Afghanistan. But the desert heat proved an enemy in its own right, with several troops falling victim Saturday to temperatures topping 100 degrees Fahrenheit. The Marines carry 50-100 pounds (23-45 kilograms) on their backs. But because they are marching through farmland on foot, they can't carry nearly as much water
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Former Ravens quarterback Steve McNair has been killed. Police said McNair suffered a fatal gunshot wound to the head in downtown Nashville. Police said it looked like a double homicide. A female victim was also found dead, reports CBS station WJZ-TV in Baltimore.
A few reminders about fireworks, taken from the warning labels: 1. Do not hold in hand. This is apparently so nonintuitive it must be stamped on every item; you must wonder how stupid Chinese factory workers think we are: What else do we need to tell these idiots? Also, do not put in pants. Do not sleep with lit fireworks. Do not juggle.
A search for the source of a maggot infestation at the Royal Children's Hospital in Aberdeen will continue over the weekend. The discovery has caused the closure of three operating theatres, and postponements of procedures.
Congress is once again considering a constitutional amendment to ban the desecration of the American flag. The proposal, introduced this spring in the Senate by David Vitter (R., La.), and cosponsored by 20 other Republicans and Democrat Debbie Stabenow of Michigan, probably won't get enough votes. Yet even if it doesn't, one longstanding misunderstanding about the First Amendment is
MOSCOW – Nine Chechen policemen sent to crush an insurgency in the neighboring Russian republic of Ingushetia were gunned down Saturday, Interfax reported, intensifying the cycle of violence now unfolding in the region. Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov ordered his troops across the border into Ingushetia to avenge a suicide bomb attack against fellow Kremlin appointee in the region, Ingush leader Yunus-Bek Yevkurov, who is fighting for his life in hospital. The militants ambushed a convoy
Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya confirmed to a television news station here that he would return to his country on Sunday, and do so with "several presidents" of allied countries. "I am planning my return to Honduras... we will arrive at the international airport in Tegucigalpa, Honduras with several presidents, (and) members of international organizations," Zelaya told Caracas-based station Telesur. "This Sunday we will be in Tegucigalpa," he confirmed.
What will Sarah Palin do after she quits as Alaska's governor?(Snip)Palin's spokesman, David Murrow, said the governor hasn't said anything about this being her "political finale."(Snip) Pam Pryor, a spokeswoman for Palin's political action committee, said the group continues to accept donations on its Web site, which saw an uptick in contributions Friday afternoon.(Snip) Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele said he plans on talking to Palin "very soon."
U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, today made the following statement after Gov. Sarah Palin’s announcement that she plans to step down as governor later this month. “I am deeply disappointed that the Governor has decided to abandon the State and her constituents before her term has concluded.”
WASHINGTON — The Organization of American States is meeting in Washington to consider suspending Honduras' membership because of the military coup that ousted President Manuel Zelaya. But even before Saturday's emergency session, Honduras' interim government decided to pulled out of the OAS rather than meet demands to reinstate Zelaya. OAS officials say they haven't received formal notification of that move. The group's assistant secretary-general, Albert Ramdin, said Zelaya planned to attend Saturday's emergency meeting.
Sarah Palin's decision to quit as Alaska's governor at the end of the month left political observers scratching their heads and wondering, is this the beginning of Palin's run for the White House or the end of her political career? Palin shot into the national spotlight last year when John McCain chose her as his running mate on the Republican presidential ticket.
WARREN, Mich. -- Big, burly and a "car guy" since high school, Tom Persinger worked for years at General Motors. Now he's a nurse's aide. For about $12 an hour, he makes home visits to geriatric patients addled by dementia. He gets them fed or showered or moved from wheelchair to bed.
There's a new book coming out titled The Coming Insurrection. Anonymous French anarchists who authored this tome advocate the violent destruction of capitalism. I can understand the necessity of force in Europe and Asia, where they've dabbled with socialism for the better part of the last century only to realize its failure and demoralization. Decades ago, China began edging its way to capitalism. Germany and Hungary announced tax cuts in an attempt to reverse
