Harry Potter and the Wizardry of Engaging Readers By Debra J. Saunders
As "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows -- Part 2," is set to hit theaters Friday, consider J.K. Rowling's villains.
Political Commentary
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July 12, 2011
July 11, 2011
'Man-cession' Ends as Males Learn New Job Skills By Michael Barone
Some of us called it the man-cession. In the deep recession that lasted from December 2007 to June 2009, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research, many more men than women lost their jobs.
July 10, 2011
Bohemian Grove -- Men Only By Debra J. Saunders
"Weaving Spiders Come Not Here" is the motto of San Francisco's Bohemian Club. The motto is supposed to represent the club's edict against doing business during its annual Bohemian Grove retreat, which commences on Thursday on 2,700 acres, 75 miles north of the city. As club spokesman and member Sam Singer explained, "It's a group of gentlemen who are really genuinely interested in arts, theater, jazz and rock 'n' roll." The retreat gives members a chance to "get away from work. It's forbidden to talk about or solicit business at the club or grove."
July 9, 2011
Obama's Raw Deal? By Joe Conason
Suddenly Republican leaders in Congress, after months of staring down the Democrats over a potentially disastrous debt default, began blinking so fast that they might be signaling in Morse code. Although their message is muddled and illogical -- with House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., saying he can accept closing tax loopholes only if such measures are "revenue neutral," thus canceling their budgetary value -- the Republicans now appear to understand that they will be blamed by voters if the negotiations collapse.
July 8, 2011
Why the Budgetary Game Is a Big Taxpayer Scam By Lawrence Kudlow
Here's some friendly fiscal advice: Anytime some Washington big-shot like Ben Bernanke or Tim Geithner claims that immediate spending cuts in the debt deal will harm the economy -- ignore them. Completely. You know why? Because in this great country of ours, spending never goes down. Never.
July 8, 2011
Getting Away with Murder By Susan Estrich
Casey Anthony killed her daughter. She may not have meant to, and she may have been much more interested in her own social life than in her daughter's well-being, but I have absolutely no doubt that she was responsible for her daughter's death.
July 8, 2011
U.S. and Europe Listing in the Same Boat By Debra J. Saunders
Three years ago this month, then-Sen. Barack Obama told an enthusiastic throng in Berlin, "In Europe, the view that America is part of what has gone wrong in our world, rather than a force to help make it right, has become all too common."
July 7, 2011
What the Strauss-Kahn Case Is Not About By Froma Harrop
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.
July 7, 2011
Racial Quotas, Speech Codes and the Thought Police By Michael Barone
It's racially discriminatory to prohibit racial discrimination. That's the bottom line of a decision issued last Friday, just before the Fourth of July weekend, by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.
July 6, 2011
Newt's Ideas Worth Considering By Tony Blankley
One would be hard-pressed to find a better example of sheer misguided reporting than the story in The Washington Post last weekend in which it was reported that "Newt Gingrich thinks he can revive his debilitated campaign by talking about Alzheimer's. ... For most presidential candidates, Alzheimer's is a third- or fourth-tier subject, at best. But as Gingrich sees it, Alzheimer's, as well as other niche topics such as military families' concerns and pharmaceutical issues, are priorities. ... By offering himself as a champion of pet causes, Gingrich believes he can sew together enough narrow constituencies to make a coalition -- an unconventional one, yes, but a coalition nevertheless."
July 5, 2011
The People Want Higher Taxes By Froma Harrop
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.
July 4, 2011
Replacing Property as a Source of Wealth Creation By Michael Barone
One of the interesting things about our country, the independence of which the Founders declared 235 years ago today, is that we have been a property-holders' democracy.
July 1, 2011
Big Steps and Baby Steps By Susan Estrich
Just days after New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed into law legislation legalizing same-sex marriage, Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee and the coalition supporting similar legislation in that state effectively conceded defeat.
July 1, 2011
Four Trillion for War -- and Rising By Joe Conason
Anyone paying attention to the costs of U.S. military action in Iraq and Afghanistan must have known that the president badly underestimated those numbers on June 22, when he told the nation that we have spent "a trillion dollars" waging war over the past decade.
June 30, 2011
Exactly Why Are the Kids Coming Home? By Froma Harrop
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.
June 30, 2011
Democrats Need a 12-Step Recovery Program on Taxes By Lawrence Kudlow
It seems this is the Democratic answer for every single issue, every problem, every debate.
June 30, 2011
Why the Civil Service Is No Way to Run a Business By Michael Barone
What's the fair way to run a large organization? That's a question that is squarely, and interestingly, raised by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's dissenting opinion in Wal-Mart v. Dukes, a Supreme Court case decided last week.
June 29, 2011
When It Comes to Oil, Where's the Beef? By Tony Blankley
It is said that there are no atheists in foxholes. In that context, the recent rise in oil prices seems to have turned the Obama administration into true believers (at least rhetorically) when it comes to the best method to keep gas prices down and the American economy growing.
June 29, 2011
Go Michele By Susan Estrich
For a Democrat, it's too good to be true. Michele Bachmann and Mitt Romney running neck and neck in Iowa. Romney having to worry about the one in five who won't vote for a Mormon, and Bachmann hiring a cadre of top Republican consultants, starting with Ed Rollins and Ed Goeas.
June 28, 2011
Yes, Let Government Control Medical Costs By Froma Harrop
"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."
