Year: 2012

The Wall Street crash of 1929 was followed by the Great Depression. The crash came as a complete surprise to many “experts.” A month before the crash, Charles Mitchell, former Chairman of the National City Bank, announced, “The industrial condition of the United States is absolutely sound.” Prominent economist Ervin Fisher said nine days before […]

One month ago it appeared that Germany held the whip hand in its titanic struggle against those seeking to cure all economic ills with the snake oil of currency debasement. Now, it appears that the ground beneath its feet is being swept away in a flood of popular unrest and political exploitation. The recent elections […]

Perhaps Mitt Romney played it right when he was meek and contrite in response to the Washington Post’s front-page allegations that he bullied a kid half a century ago in high school. Romney no doubt feels embarrassed by the charges, even if most of us struggle to understand their relevance or gauge their veracity. But […]

When two white newspaper reporters for the Virginian-Pilot were driving through Norfolk, and were set upon and beaten by a mob of young blacks — beaten so badly that they had to take a week off from work — that might seem to have been news that should have been reported, at least by their […]

With Mother’s Day right at our back, I want to address one of the most extreme overreaches by the federal government into American homes that I’ve seen in a long time. Then I want to call on my own 91-year-old mother, who was raised in rural Oklahoma and worked in cotton fields with her family […]

Some conservatives believe that other conservatives, on talk radio and Fox News Channel, are damaging the cause of conservatism by dishonestly overstating their case against President Obama to increase their ratings and profits. More reasonable Republican politicians, they argue, would like to cooperate with Obama on bipartisan solutions but don’t have the power to resist […]

On Saturday, Mitt Romney delivered a speech to the 6,000 Liberty College graduates. It was an important speech, not only because it seems to have closed the gap between Romney and evangelical Christians but also because it spelled out major themes in Mitt Romney’s understanding of America. Romney: “You know who you are. And you […]

LYNCHBURG, Va. — It wasn’t exactly the belly of the beast Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney visited recently on a picture-perfect commencement day at “the world’s largest Christian University,” but his appearance was a test as to whether the conservative school, founded by the late Jerry Falwell, would embrace a devout Mormon. And Romney passed. […]

In 1993, a jury convicted Clarence Aaron for his role in two planned cocaine deals. Aaron was a 23-year-old college student. It was his first offense. Unlike his co-defendants, Aaron was not a career drug dealer. He didn’t know enough to plead guilty and testify against others to win a reduced sentence. He perjured himself […]

Gay marriage is an issue most Americans simply don’t care about. We have opinions on it, but it simply doesn’t register, especially at a time of high unemployment. But President Obama shoehorned it into the forefront this week because he can’t talk about the economy, jobs, his record, the massive debt he racked up or […]