Please, everyone, stop monkeying around with Social Security and Medicare. We mean you, Republicans, and you, Democrats. No one's saying that Social Security can't be slightly recalibrated to keep the program on a sound footing or that significant savings can't be found in Medicare waste. We're saying that if Americans are not vigilant, these programs can be undermined by seemingly small "fixes."
The third week in July, Republican Gov. Rick Perry said that the U.S. Constitution -- whose 10th Amendment limits federal power -- gives states the right to decide on such matters as abortion and gay marriage. The fourth week in July, the Texan recanted. He now supports a federal ban on abortion and gay marriage. Social conservatives told him they didn't cotton to giving states the right to defy their views on things they care about.
"It's not the consumers' job to know what they want" -- Steve Jobs
When Scott Brown was elected U.S. senator from Massachusetts in a special election last year, Republicans rejoiced. They had wrested the Senate seat held by the late liberal icon Edward Kennedy in a Democratic stronghold.
Have you noticed that our immigration laws are finally being enforced? That illegal immigration is way down? That employers hiring undocumented workers are finally being punished? And that this is being done in the Democratic administration of President Barack Obama? If not, take note.
Several columnists recently referred to the tea party "patriots" as terrorists. The terrorist label set off a stormy protest among the group's legion of message writers.
Watching the riots in Britain's cities, I recalled visiting an English friend who ran a big company and had a country house grand enough to be called a "hall." (I will not disclose his identity.) Though hardly liberal, my friend was politically moderate. He was also a very decent person.
Majorities in liberal states often back policies that most folks in conservative states abhor -- and vice versa. The difficulty of reaching accord among warring but heartfelt views partly explains Washington's paralysis.
The stock market plunged over 500 points last Thursday, but no one seemed very perturbed about it in this tiny factory town. Three days before, Central Falls had filed for a Chapter 9 bankruptcy. These working-class folk see bottoms fall out on a regular basis.
Ed Rendell, do you have plans for 2012? Hillary Clinton? If you, the former Democratic governor of Pennsylvania, or you, the secretary of state, are free next year and wouldn't mind, would you please launch a primary challenge against President Obama?
Women run companies and countries. Some even play on co-ed football teams. But there's one glaring gender disparity that never gets better and only seems to grow: comfort.
"What did the Oslo killer want?" asks one of many irritating headlines over the weekend. The Norwegian terrorist, Anders Behring Breivik, called for a number of societal changes as he massacred his countrymen in a meticulous assault, Foreign Policy reported. But let's skip them and cut to the chase: Breivik was insane.
I have a horrible confession to make. I'm an environmentalist who's been hoarding old incandescent light bulbs before they become illegal in January. But it was all unnecessary, so I learn.
Among the Republicans vying for their party's presidential nomination, only former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson had the self-respect to denounce the ludicrous "Marriage Vow" pledge. Such pledges are a means through which small interest groups can make candidates crawl. The intimidation comes from their highly engaged members, who can affect the outcome of unrepresentative political contests -- the upcoming Iowa caucuses being a good example.
So where are the jobs? Job creation has basically flattened over the past two months -- very bad news, as unemployment exceeds 9 percent.
Republicans want to make Americans more responsible for their own economic security while curbing the protections that would help them do it safely. A double win for Wall Street operators. Republicans deliver them a new batch of easy marks -- Average Joes who don't understand the small print -- and then let the financiers do as they please. A few guys make a quick buck milking the unsophisticated, and when the music stops, the taxpayer picks up the debris. It happens every time, and it will happen again if Republicans succeed in emasculating the new Consumer Financial Protection Board.
The twisting rape case against former International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn has set off a whirlwind of journalistic creativity. Commentators are whipping a couple of broken eggs into a grand souffle of sweeping statements about the United States, France and their peoples. The facts still point to a violent sexual encounter between Strauss-Kahn and the African immigrant who accused him of attempted rape in the Manhattan hotel where she cleaned rooms.
Poll after poll shows that the American people want higher taxes. That's not the same as liking higher taxes. The people have simply concluded that higher taxes are preferable to the alternative -- so vividly portrayed in the Republican plan to do away with government guarantees in Medicare.
The age of "residential adolescence" is upon us, apparently. Nearly 45 percent of adults ages 20 to 24 now live at home with their parents. That's 1.7 million more than in 2005.
"Centralizers," a conservative wrote disapprovingly in Reason magazine, "say that the responsibility for making tough decisions about how to keep health care costs under control ought to be made by enlightened, well-intentioned policy elites."
