Year: 2009

A bit of ego, a little dab of moral vanity, a smidge of hubris all driven by an agenda and you have the perfect definition of the political class worldwide. Of course I understate the smidges, bits and dabs by quite a bit. But that class has a problem. Other than boring economic stuff they […]

Today, David Keene, Chairman of the American Conservative Union, did a blogger teleconference to address allegations made in a July 17, 2009 story in the Politico. I wrote about the story here in a post called A Reluctant Open Letter To The American Conservative Union: Fire David Keene. Opening Statement Most of what David Keene […]

In my American Issues Project Column today, I talk about President Obama and the Democrats he leads, prods, cajoles, browbeats, and blackmails into submission and their collective disrespect for the American taxpayer: Have you seen any of those shows that follow up on lottery winners? You know, the ones where the people had been down […]

It may never be known whether George Orwell predicted modern Democrats, or Democrats used 1984 and Animal Farm as instruction manuals. In either case, Dems have taken the Orwellian practice of calling things the opposite of what they are to the point of self-parody. The latest knee-slapper: a bill shoveling more of our money at […]

Wasting gargantuan sums of money that it will take us generations to repay isn’t as easy as it sounds. Our liberal rulers have had to use their imaginations to flush so much away so quickly. The clever wild horse welfare bill will burn up the better part of a $billion: The bill would provide 700 […]

David Brooks flaps his jaws again and this time, he’s going after his beloved, well-spoken Barack Obama for falling into the same trap as Republican president George W. Bush, except, I don’t see the parallel. At all. Here’s Brooks: It’s not that interesting to watch the Democrats lose touch with America. That’s because the plotline […]

Yes, I talk about it all through my feverish, ranty haze. I have some sort of virus that has me rolling through fever and cold sweats. A downside to having kids is catching every single kid illness that comes along. Bloggers mentioned in this podcast: Ace of Spades, Robert Stacy McCain, Michelle Malkin and AllahPundit. […]

Of course, this might be redundant, since the whole AGW movement is a fraud HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has recently uncovered what is thought to be the first attempted UK tax fraud in the carbon emissions trading market. The tax dodge is a variation of the “carousel” VAT fraud. Carousel fraud, also known as […]

I guess all the partying, campaining, and running around the world apologizing has been counter-productive to Obama’s pledge to close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility within one year of him taking office. Signing legislation to close G’itmo was one of his first acts, done on his second day in office. He even said that Americans […]

I’ve finally gotten around to knocking out my favorite quotations from Chairman Ann’s 2008 columns. I’m thinking about doing the best of Mark Steyn next. Anybody else I should hit? Jonah Goldberg maybe? Thomas Sowell would seem to be a no brainer, but wow, does he churn out the columns. That would be a lot […]

This is from an email I received yesterday, Mr. Hawkins, I’ve been a reader of your site for some years now. I’ve changed email addresses a few times but I’ve written in to you before under the names advrobw and docsinokc. When I started reading your page(s), I would have described myself as a moderate […]

If a Republican secretary somewhere sends out a racist email or somebody makes a racist comment on a Republican’s Facebook page, the Democratic grievance machine cranks up to full speed and the left declares that every Republican in America is a racist. Meanwhile, there are plenty of these minor racial slights that occur on the […]

While AmeriCorps IG Gerald Walpin made headlines Friday with his lawsuit, this week the IG spotlight is on SIGTARP — Neil Barofsky, the special inspector general for the Wall Street bailout rushed through Congress last October. Monday, Barofsky issued a report accusing Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner of “rejecting ‘common sense’ by not requiring banks receiving […]

This is no longer funny!

After watching the video of Pvt. Bergdahl yesterday, I had a lot of questions. Without knowing details of how he was captured, it’s hard to make much of a judgement on this. He’s making statements about wanting all of the troops to come home, and it just seemed a little odd to me. Why would […]

Uh, no. Especially when locked in a battle in which it is trying to fool the public into accepting a 1 trillion plus spending program as a “money saver”. Then, apparently, it is quite all right to be quite opaque and delay the scheduled release of its revised budget numbers (based on known economic indicators): […]

Who are these people? I’m obviously mistaken if I think they’re in office to represent the citizens of the United States of America. Apparently, instead, they represent the Chinese: “It’s important that those who consume the products being made all around the world to the benefit of America — and it’s our own consumption activity […]

My newest American Issues Project column, Obama the car salesman, examines the techniques Obama has used since taking office to get his bad legislation passed. From the stimulus package to the omnibus bill to cap-and-trade and Obamacare, he uses the same tired old tactics. And rather than using savvy political salesmanship, he’s gone for a […]

As Tennessee and Montana have recently learned, the Second and Tenth Amendments are trumped by the whims of ATF bureauweenies. From an ATF open letter to all Tennessee federal firearms licensees: The passage of the Tennessee Firearms Freedom Act, H.B. 1796, 106th Leg. (Tenn. 2009) 1796 (“Act”), effective June 19, 2009, has generated questions from […]

A lot of airtime has been appropriately devoted to the historic accomplishment of 40 years ago, when Americans became the first to walk on the moon. What could be more symbolic of the greatness of a country that believes in itself and strives to overcome all challenges, rather than wallowing in victim mentality and self-recrimination? […]

One of the things I struggle to explain to my kids is that “the military,” in the abstract, is neither good nor bad. Nor does size matter. David and Goliath is an inspiring story, because we like to see the little guy win. However, David also had right on his side. As I’ve said time […]

While President Obama vacationed and spent time overseas with the G8, his poll numbers went down at home. I recall how President Obama’s poll numbers dipped when he gave his World Presidency speech in Germany. What I’m wondering now is whether the press will be able to bump his poll numbers. The economy is objectively […]

Rusty Shackleford is spitting bullets about the fact that the Taliban have kidnapped Pvt. Bowe Bergdahl and are parading him for propaganda purposes. Although it’s easy to get all tangled up about international law and whether the Geneva Convention should extend to these people, Dr. Shackleford gets to the core point, which is the fact […]

Maybe this is for real now. Maybe the sky really is falling, and all my measured lectures for loyal and genteel opposition were wrong, wrong, wrong after all. Because, you know, it’s really always about the money. And look what the New York Post, via Instapundit, is reporting: Congress is now spending about $3 trillion […]

Here’s the thing about liberal special interest groups: They are like the terminator. If one cell or piece of metal still exists, if the whole idea isn’t utterly destroyed, the machine will be back and angrier than before. That’s where Big Labor is about Card Check and the onerous Binding Arbitration. The Labor Unions will […]

It is important to note that the AMA (American Medical Association) does not represent all doctors. In fact, many doctors belong to other organizations more suited to their specialty. One such organization the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, does NOT endorse President Obama’s health care plan. In fact, many members of this organization prefer […]

Last week, Conor Clarke at The Atlantic had an interview with Nobel Prize-winning economist Thomas Schelling, and look at what Schelling said regarding the anthropogenic global warming movement (via Tom Nelson) …And what I don’t know is whether Americans are really willing to understand that and do anything for the benefit of the unborn Chinese. […]

He is quickly learning that being an actual leader, a job he had never held till 1/20/2009, and pushing one’s agenda is not as easy as a good campaign speech Heading into a critical period in the debate over health-care reform, public approval of President Obama’s stewardship on the issue has dropped below the 50 […]

Okay, I don’t really know if it’s swine flu — it could just be regular flu. But, having swine flu would sound so much cooler, wouldn’t it? Either way, I am wiped out. I spent from 2:30 AM Sunday until 5:30 AM today in bed almost the entire time and I’m getting ready to head […]

We now have the White House Budget Director weighing in on health care reform legislation: PETER ORSZAG: We have to remember: there are some who are advocating delay simply because they don’t have anything to put on the table. The typical Washington bureaucratic game of — ‘if you don’t have a better alternative, just delay […]