Monthly Archives: June 2013

Enter Ron Binz

Featured image I’ve been writing this week about Obama’s war on America, the war that Obama has his heart in. If you’re going to fight a war, you need troops, and Obama has staffed his administration and supposedly independent regulatory agencies with loyalists. Enter Ron Binz. This week Obama nominated Ron Binz, the former Chairman of the Colorado Public Utilities Commission (CoPUC), to be the Chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. »

The Week in Pictures: Oy Vey Edition

Featured image So did anything much happen this week?  I was traveling and missed the news.  Okay, not really, but one thing conspicuously missing from all of the triumphant editorial cartoons celebrating the gay marriage cases was any shred of wit or humor.  Talk about bringing out the bitterness of the Left even in victory.  Only Jay Leno seems to have found the mark: Yesterday, the Supreme Court opened the door for »

Does Rubio have a future as a national candidate?

Featured image Most of the smart people I talk to think he doesn’t, now that the Florida Senator has laid it on the line for amnesty. But I’m not so sure. The Republicans nominated John McCain in 2008, not long after he had pushed for amnesty (though he backed away some during the primary season). And the Republicans nominated Mitt Romney in 2012 notwithstanding Romneycare (though he made it clear during the »

Greatest. Headline. Ever.

Featured image “Rare bird last seen in Britain 22 years ago reappears – only to be killed by wind turbine in front of a horrified crowd of birdwatchers.” A group of 40 enthusiasts dashed to the Hebrides to catch a glimpse of the brown, black and blue bird, which breeds in Asia and winters in Australasia. But instead of being treated to a wildlife spectacle they were left with a horror show »

How Crazy Are Democrats? This Crazy

Featured image Scott Rasmussen, in a survey of 1,000 likely voters, reports findings that shed considerable light on the mentality of Barack Obama supporters. Rasmussen asked this question: Which is a bigger terrorist threat to the United States today – radical Muslims, the Tea Party, local militia groups, the Occupy Wall Street movement, or other religious or political extremists? Now, there is only one sane answer to that question. No Tea Party »

What Does Tom Cotton Have In Common With the Koch Brothers?

Featured image Not a joint checking account, alas. No, Tom has the honor of being the subject of an extraordinarily dishonest Democratic Party attack ad. The television ad, paid for by Patriot Majority USA (i.e., rich Democrats) and the Senate Majority PAC, is playing in Arkansas. It attacks Tom on Medicare: Tom Cotton, just elected and already seeking the national limelight. Behind the glitz, Tom Cotton forgot about us. Supporting a plan »

Who Cares If George Zimmerman Is a Racist?

Featured image In writing about the George Zimmerman trial on Tuesday, I said: I confess that I find much of the commentary on the Zimmerman case, and even a good bit of the evidence, mystifying. There is no question that Zimmerman shot Martin; he claims self-defense. That defense raises a straightforward question of fact. All of the nonsense about whether Zimmerman was a “wannabe cop,” and whether he “profiled” Martin, and whether »

Obama’s Climate Policy and “Intended Non-Consequences”: Another Trip to the CAFÉ?

Featured image My Heritage Foundation pal David Kreutzer and his colleagues have produced an initial economic estimate (based on economic assessment models developed by the federal government) for the cost of Obama’s climate policy announced on Tuesday, and it portends sticker shock for electricity rate payers: hundreds of thousands of lost jobs, and a total reduction in national income of $1.47 trillion by 2030.  (This comes on top of a truly stunning »

Will there be future challenges to race-based admissions policies?

Featured image In response to this week’s Supreme Court’s decision that raised the legal standards race-based preferential admissions policy must meet in order to survive judicial scrutiny, I suggested, facetiously, that I might come out of retirement to litigate such cases. But this assumes that rejected white applicants will bring suits against universities they believe have discriminated against them. Stuart Taylor does not believe they will. Neither does David Bernstein. After all, »

Obama sounds a discordant note

Featured image Asked about his efforts to support the attempted extradition of Edward Snowden to the United States yesterday, President Obama disparaged Snowden as “a 29-year-old hacker” (video below) who is apparently unworthy of his efforts. Obama announced that he won’t be “scrambling jets” to apprehend him. Of course, Obama wouldn’t even stay tuned in to the fate of his ambassador to Libya when his life hung in the balance, let alone »

EJE: Was Snowden alone?

Featured image Our friend Edward Jay Epstein takes a look at the Snowden timeline and asks whether Snowden has been playing with others who remain unidentified: My question: Was Snowden alone in this enterprise to publish COMINT? Prior to his taking the Booz Allen Hamilton job in Hawaii, he was in contact with other people who, five months later, helped arrange the publication of the COMINT. In January 2013, according to the »

The Gang of Eight’s Bill Will Never Become Law

Featured image Not unless House Republicans have completely taken leave of their senses, in which case, for the first time in my lifetime, talking about a new party won’t be crazy. As many flaws as the Gang’s bill has, we can never repeat too often that it is fundamentally misconceived in a manner that cannot be made right with a fence or even with improved interior enforcement, valuable as those things may »

The NFL’s June problem solved

Featured image The National Football League is flying high as the unrivaled leader on the American sport scene. But it does have a problem. No, I’m not referring to the violent nature of the sport, which is producing lawsuits by former players who suffer from injuries like brain damage and which makes some of us feel guilty for watching it. I’m referring to the fact that the NFL has failed to come »

America The Riderless Horse?

Featured image So this is one of those times where sports and politics meet up.  Or at least I think this video below of a riderless horse, having thrown its jockey at the gate, winning a horse race a couple days ago is some kind of metaphor for Obama’s America: America is like a thoroughbred, able to win even without a rider.  Or perhaps it should be the other way around: imagine »

Never Take Advice From a Donkey

Featured image The immigration debate has often been infuriating, and its outcome could turn out to be tragic for the nation. Still, the episode has not been without its moment of low comedy, among them the advice, frequently offered by Democrats, that Republicans had better get on board with amnesty and open borders for political reasons. Why vastly expanding a demographic that has never gone for the GOP in a national election »

A Few Minutes with Robert Bryce

Featured image On Tuesday I got to sit down for a short conversation with my favorite energy guy, Robert Bryce of the Manhattan Institute, author of several fine books on the subject of energy, and my occasional debate partner from a while back.  I explain briefly in the video below how we came to be together in Marin County, of all places, where there wasn’t much sunshine for the local solar panels. »

Boehner strikes a blow against amnesty

Featured image The Daily Caller reports that Speaker Boehner now says that if the House and Senate go to conference on immigration reform, he will not bring the bill that emerges to the floor unless it has the support of a majority of House Republicans. Previously, Boehner was non-committal about what he’d do in this scenario. If Boehner adheres to his current position, then comprehensive, amnesty-style immigration reform legislation has a very »