Monthly Archives: October 2009

Archive of posts published in the specified Month

The Pivotal Fight of NY 23

The Race in NY District 23 has become a pivotal fight for the soul of the Republican Party. Dede Scozzafava was run by the Republican machine but has been so thoroughly rejected by the Republican grass roots that she has

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Peace- Hope vs Results

Woodrow Wilson was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to create the League of Nations.  The United States did not join the League of Nations .  This precursor to the United Nations was powerless to stop the Italian

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Peace is Not a Process

Jeff Jacoby in the Boston Globe Peace vs the ‘peace process’ October 14, 2009 Excerpts: In an important article in the current Middle East Quarterly, Daniel Pipes reviews the terrible failure of the 1993 Oslo accords, and homes in on

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So Much for Bipartisanship

Much was made of Olympia Snowe being the sole Republican to sign on to the Senate health care bill. Harry Reid has emerged from a closed door session with a health care bill WITH a public option despite the Senate

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A Peaceful Use of Force

“More than that, no country in the world, not even Germany, would respond “proportionately” if some nonstate militia started rocketing their towns from across some border and killing German citizens.  If a government could not get the state from whose

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“I Care for the Starving Poor”

The most famous of high priced fountain pens, Mont Blanc, often has editions honoring artists and historians. I even own a Yehudi Menuhin model with a violin bow for the clip. Recently I noticed in the store at Lenox in

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Rahm and Bruce

From the Wall Street Journal Political Diary– White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel has led a charmed political life. Prior to his current gig, Mr. Emanuel was a senior political aide to President Clinton, a Congressman from Chicago and

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Attacking the Over Insured

There hasn’t  been much I have agreed with in the swamp of health care proposals, but I did hear one idea that made sense; a surtax on the Cadillac plans. This addresses one of the problems of our system. Due

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Dangerous and Stupid Territory

An old show business adage is that bad publicity is better than no publicity at all.  In politics a corollary of that adage is that you never openly acknowledge the power of your opponents. This holds double from the POTUS.

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Wrecking Ball Benevolence

This August 2004 Barron’s article by James Bovard castigates Bush for his housing policy. Read the entire article here. Excerpts : ONE OF THE PROUDEST ELEMENTS of President Bush’s “compassionate conservative” agenda has been government financial support to home buyers

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Goldstone Smackdown

Col. Richard Kemp on the U.N. Goldstone Report just curious if anyone has seen this on any major network, even Fox.

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Observations from the Road

I just completed a 600 mile drive from Bloomington, Indiana after visiting with my daughter at IU for her birthday.  Some thoughts on the ride home: America is obese.  As a rule I pick a restaurant by looking at the

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Abusing a Crisis

“It is a matter of record that many of the leading decision makers of the New Deal administration in the 1930s were advocates of government intervention in the economy and of a fundamental restructuring of the economy-a New Deal- years

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The Irony Curtain

War seems unnecessary to Europeans because they have been largely protected from it for 65 years by the west. War seems necessary to preserve critical values to Americans because they have born that burden of defending those who find it

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Delayed is not Denied

Congressional supporters of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac accepted extraordinary moretgage risks in order to facilitate the American dream of home ownership. Did they succeed? With the drop in home values many American home owners saw their home equity drop

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Micah Halpern on Iran and Nukes

The local federation hosted Micah Halpern this evening at the Cox Theatre.  He is an authority on Iran and their nuclear effort. A few random yet relevant points. There are 3,000 FBI agents. None of them have passed the test

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First Do No Harm

Peter Linneman, Real estate Professor at the Wharton School wrote a thoughtful look at the aftermath of the real estate bust “The Storm is Over, the Wreckage Remains”  – read the entire article here. a few notable excerpts: Unfortunately, the

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An Ignorant Celebrity Culture

In 1996 the late Marge Schott, owner of the Cincinnati Reds baseball team, was blasted for anti-Semitic remarks.  She said that Hitler started out OK  “but went too far”.  Commenting on the unimportance and excessive indignation the media gave this

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More Home Owners; Less Home ownership

“Social engineering may aim to create stronger citizens, but it usually ends up producing weaker people.” Tim Cavanaugh in the October 2009 edition of Reason in an article entitled “The Ownership Society”. Tim explains how federal programs aiming to increase

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