Debt-ceiling Fight Rages On
July 29, 2011
Speaker Boehner wasn’t able to get enough Republican votes in the House to pass his plan after all; apparently it will now be amended to require that Congress send a balanced-budget constitutional amendment to the states before a debt-ceiling increase is triggered (as would have been required by the failed Cut, Cap, and Balance Act), which is a good thing or a bad thing, depending on your point of view. Read the rest of this entry »
Debt-ceiling Fight Over?
July 26, 2011
Last Friday, Speaker of the House John Boehner finally walked out on the unproductive talks with President Obama; he cut Obama out of the loop and went to negotiate directly with Democrats in the Senate, which arguably makes a lot more sense.
By yesterday, Boehner had already come up with a new plan, which he believes can pass both the Republican House and the Democratic Senate. Read the rest of this entry »
Austerity in Europe, Delusional Washington
July 24, 2011
Mark Steyn, as usual, is must-read material:
As Obama made plain in his threat to Gran’ma last week that the August checks might not go out, funding nonproductivity is now the principal purpose of the modern state.
Monkey and Ape Ape Men, Use Tools
July 23, 2011
As The Telegraph puts it, “How about that?” I couldn’t resist passing this on.
Thumbs Up Rob Portman, Thumbs Down Sherrod Brown
July 21, 2011
Just a quick report on my (Ohio’s) two senators, from my communications with them yesterday about the debt-ceiling fight:
I called Senator Portman’s office and immediately reached a real person. The staffer seemed unprepared to discuss policy details apart from particular proposals, but as to the particular proposals currently on the table, he assured me that Senator Portman would support Senator Lee’s version of “Cut, Cap, and Balance”, and that he would not support the “Gang of Six” proposal (more on that here). Read the rest of this entry »
Legitimacy Does Not Come from the State
July 18, 2011
You heard it here first: On Rush Limbaugh today, Mark Steyn joked that he will soon have a new imminently soon-to-be-imminently-released book. It will be all about the over-burdening of America with regulations, such as in the case of the lemonade stand shut down by police in Georgia, or the banning of homemade goods at bake sales in Pennsylvania. (As the Wall Street Journal article’s subtitle puts it, “Inspector Nabs Homemade Desserts At St. Cecilia Church’s Lenten Fish Fry.” The tag and URL on the first story put it very succinctly: “strange” and “bizarre”.) Read the rest of this entry »
Not Inevitable
July 14, 2011
In the July 4th issue of National Review (page 18), Kevin D. Williamson has a piece that’s informative and also pretty funny (perhaps he hopes to be the next Mark Steyn?), describing how Canada overindulged in deficit spending for decades, but then sobered up in response to fiscal crisis in the ’90s, and has kept deficit spending under control ever since. Read the rest of this entry »
Left Hanging
July 13, 2011
Lifestyle Choice
July 10, 2011
“People also raise alpacas for companionship and to enjoy a rural lifestyle.”
Well, fair enough—the magazine is called Hobby Farms!
Happy Independence Day
July 4, 2011
Eleven score and fifteen years ago, a group of visionaries brought forth a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
We’re still here. America is one of the oldest continuously functioning constitutional republics in the world, and she’s still a relatively free country, at least for now. I think that’s something to celebrate.
As you celebrate today, here’s something to think about: Why did we declare independence from George III? Do you think we should have? Why or why not? Read the rest of this entry »
A Discouraging Word
July 1, 2011
From “Marital Marshall Plan”, an interview on National Review Online:
Lopez: You talk about rebuilding a culture of marriage. But are we too far gone?
Donovan: If by “we” you mean the United States or the West, yes, possibly.