Category: Column

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has admitted to intentionally targeting conservative groups since at least 2011.It has admitted that it searched tax applications for words like “Tea Party” and even “patriot.” Once it found those groups, it made intrusive and unconstitutional inquiries, demanding answers “upon penalty of perjury.” IRS targets included pro-life and conservative groups […]

A friend recently called and asked, “So when do you think Obama will declare martial law?” Until last week, I would have dismissed such speculation as conspiratorial. Now I’m not so sure. Before this phony government “shutdown,” if you had asked whether I believed that American military and law enforcement personnel would follow an order […]

“Man, this government shutdown is making America look foolish.” “I agree with you. I am certainly no fan of the shutdown. But the division in Washington is a reflection of the division in our representative republic.” “I think it’s a reflection of a total lack of leadership among our politicians in Washington.” “You speak the […]

There are so many reasons why some Democrats quietly confess they would now very much like to postpone the rollout of the “Affordable” Care Act. The massive failure of the entire software backbone, the extraordinary 300 percent increases in costs to families who buy their own insurance, people losing their doctors, insurance plans being denied […]

On Sept. 17, Army veteran Robert Van Tuinen decided to celebrate U.S. Constitution Day by handing out copies of the Constitution at Modesto Junior College, where he is a student. If he were at the University of California, Berkeley or another politically correct campus, some liberal students probably would have picked an argument with him […]

As the Affordable Care Act falls under more scrutiny, it has now been revealed that under the new Obamacare rules, married couples can save thousands of dollars on healthcare premiums if they get a divorce and continue to live together. Obamacare has been designed to provide healthcare benefits that are substantially more generous for lower-income […]

A lot of people are asking what the heck is wrong with the Republican Party. What isn’t? That’s no joke. Not for the GOP, not for the country. The party of Ronald Reagan is getting weaker by the week. Republican failure, Republican infighting, Republicans caving on their principles — it’s a grim soap opera, and […]

The “new era of civility in politics” called for by President Obama after former Rep. Gabby Giffords (D-AZ) was shot, lasted about five Washington minutes. Since then Obama has adopted a scorched earth public policy in an attempt to destroy his political enemies, but sacrificing the Constitution as collateral damage. Consider Obama’s January 12, 2011 […]

When Governor Jerry Brown signed the Trust Act, he ended the partnership established between local law enforcement and Immigration and Customers Enforcement authorities that the federal Secure Communities program established. Under Secure Communities, jails submit arrestees’ fingerprints to both criminal and immigration databases to identify deportable aliens. Brown’s signature made formal what had been for […]

Amid all the tussling over the government shutdown and the debt ceiling, a couple of bombshells went off in the blogosphere that may prove of more enduring importance. They suggest that there is a nontrivial possibility that Obamacare may implode. The first bombshell went off on Tuesday, from Ezra Klein of the Washington Post’s Wonkblog. […]

A recent Rasmussen poll found that 1 in 3 Americans would rather win a Nobel Prize than an Oscar, Emmy or Grammy. Though there’s no way to disprove this peculiar finding, I’m rather confident that it’s complete baloney. The average American probably can’t name more than one Nobel Prize winner — if that. Even if […]

“We’ve got to get the Rockefeller Republicans out of the party,” a fellow told me in Minnesota recently. Or was it Arizona? Or Wilkes-Barre, Pa.? Actually, I think it was all three. I hear it all the time as I travel around the country speaking to conservative groups. For those of you who don’t know, […]

An atheist group has filed a lawsuit to have the Ground Zero Cross removed from the 9/11 museum in: New York. Their claim? The existence of the Cross has brought on headaches, indigestion, even mental pain. These claims are ridiculous. So is the lawsuit. The cross was found in the rubble of the: World: Trade: Center: and still stands as […]

As an outspoken critic of the federal academic standards scheme known as Common Core, I’d like to offer some friendly advice to opponents. Stop insulting. Stop digging. Stop projecting. Start listening. Central planners in Washington have been caught off-guard by the grassroots revolt against the national standards/testing/curriculum juggernaut. Real input from the hoi polloi was […]

“Think for a moment about the term ‘Redskins,’” NBC Sports commentator Bob Costas exhorted viewers in his halftime tirade during Sunday’s Cowboys-Redskins game. “Ask yourself what the equivalent would be, if directed [at] African Americans, Hispanics, Asians, or members of any other ethnic group. When considered that way, ‘Redskins’ can’t possibly honor a heritage or […]

Call me Pollyannaish or insincere, but I am not depressed about the so-called “caving” of the GOP — for a host of reasons. To put this in perspective, let me confess that I did feel totally dejected after Obama’s re-election in 2012. How could he possibly have won, I wondered, given the obvious failure of […]

When President Obama nominated Janet Yellen to be the next Chair of the Federal Reserve Board the praise he offered was similar to what had already poured in from around the country. In their assessments of Ms. Yellen’s long career, Congressman, editors, and academics have underscored how her prescience and caution distinguish her from the […]

Shortly after the end of World War II, a pair of allergists gave some medication to a patient suffering from hives. Surprisingly, the patient reported her lifelong battle with carsickness had disappeared. After follow-up testing, Dramamine quickly became standard issue for fighting motion sickness. This is one of many unexpected discoveries highlighted in “Happy Accidents,” […]

Churchville, VA–We can’t predict how the government shutdown will be resolved in the short term, let alone the more permanent long run effect. Things are so bad that The Economist magazine has a sketch of George Washington’s Mt. Rushmore head, scowling at the brawling political parties. The Economist claims to offer “Global intelligence for excellent […]

Republicans and Democrats are still name-calling in their arguments over the government shutdown, out-of-control federal spending and the implementation of Obamacare. Yet if both sides would agree to just follow the earlier advice of President Obama, tempers might cool and a deal could still be reached. And had President Obama himself just listened to earlier […]

What do you call waiting for the end of a partial government shutdown while waiting to see if Congress raises the debt limit while waiting to see if Bay Area Rapid Transit workers strike and Alameda-Contra Costa Transit workers join them? Waiting for the apocalypses? Or: Bargaining bad. In Washington, a rump group of Republicans […]

Guy walks into a restaurant. Says to the waitress, “I’d like some scrambled eggs and some kind words.” She brings the eggs. The guy smiles, “Now how about the kind words?” Waitress whispers, “Don’t eat the eggs.” This brings us to the fact that urban public school teachers are about two times more likely than […]

Can something as tragic and immoral as slavery become, if not less tragic, then noble, even righteous, in the telling? It can and it does in the capable hands of Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr., whose brilliant and compelling new six-part series for PBS called “The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross” premieres Oct. […]

In 2009, Somali pirates hijacked the Maersk Alabama, a cargo ship flying the American flag and took the ship’s captain, Richard Phillips, for ransom. The United States Navy dispatched three warships, two helicopters, a surveillance drone, and parachuted in the famous Navy SEAL team 6 to rescue Phillips in a six-day feat portrayed in the […]

Evangelical Christians are hard workers, according to a press release of the Evangelical Alliance. 37 per cent of them work more than 40 hours per week — rising to over 50 per cent among men; and seven per cent work more than 60 hours.35 per cent regularly bring work home with them, and only 59 […]

No major legislation has ever been passed like Obamacare — and I’m using the word “passed” pretty loosely. It became law without both houses ever voting on the same bill. (Say, is the Constitution considered “settled law”?) Not one Republican voted for it — and a lot of Democrats immediately wished they hadn’t. Historically, big […]