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January 5, 2011

More Loud Voices, Please By Tony Blankley

As we begin a new year, it may be useful to look back to one particular piece of advice that George Washington gave us in his farewell address. In paragraph 28, he reminded us that:

"It is substantially true, that virtue or morality is a necessary spring of popular government. The rule, indeed, extends with more or less force to every species of free government. Who, that is a sincere friend to it, can look with indifference upon attempts to shake the foundation of the fabric?"

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January 5, 2011

Supply-Side Obama? Trust but Verify By Lawrence Kudlow

The past is not always a prologue to the future. But looking at some of the big winners and losers of 2010 does provide some strong hints of a positive 2011.

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January 4, 2011

Sacramento -- Can Jerry Brown Do It? By Debra J. Saunders

As he was sworn in as governor at Sacramento's Memorial Auditorium on Monday "with no mental reservations," Brown gave Californians reason to be optimistic that he might succeed where predecessors Gray Davis and Arnold Schwarzenegger failed. In the face of a $28 billion shortfall, Brown's team is floating savvy cuts in California government. 

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January 4, 2011

Mystery of the Missing Millionaires By Froma Harrop

A daffy Wall Street Journal editorial about the "vanishing millionaires" of Oregon lit a spark in a fairly humorless week. It offers the usual boilerplate about the rich fleeing to tax-friendlier provinces because their state raised taxes, but this time with a great visual: "One-quarter of the rich tax filers seem to have gone missing."

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January 3, 2011

Personal Well-being Overshadows Income Inequality By Michael Barone

Consider one conundrum in American politics. Income inequality has been increasing, according to standard statistics. Yet most Americans do not seem very perturbed by it.

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December 31, 2010

The Death Penalty Debacle By Susan Estrich

California has more prisoners on death row than any other state. Last year, according to the Los Angeles Times, it added 28 more, for a total of 717, contrary to trends elsewhere.

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December 30, 2010

New Soldiers in the Fight Against the Drug War By Froma Harrop

Profound thanks are due televangelist Pat Robertson for stating so clearly what many of us have been screaming in the wilderness for years -- that the criminalization of marijuana is a plague on young people. May he lend courage to politicians who know better but won't do the right thing for fear of seeming "soft" on drugs. 

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December 30, 2010

Is Hacking Your Spouse's E-Mail Truly a Crime? By Debra J. Saunders

Michigan prosecutor Jessica R. Cooper's bio boasts that she is a "pioneer in the world of women in the law." As it turns out, she is a pioneer in the world of busybodies in the law as well. Cooper is the Oakland County prosecutor who charged Leon Walker, 33, with a felony for hacking into his now ex-wife's e-mail, as he suspected that she was having an affair.

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December 29, 2010

No Comeback for New Comeback Kid By Tony Blankley

Don't believe all the Washington talk that President Obama had a great lame duck session and goes into the new year and the new 112th congress with the whip hand. Utter nonsense.

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December 29, 2010

Zachary Furnish-John By Susan Estrich

Born on Christmas day in California to a surrogate mother, weighing in at 7 pounds 15 ounces.

The son of proud fathers Sir Elton John and his civil partner David Furnish.

No statement as to whether or which of the two was the sperm donor.

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December 28, 2010

Libya and Oil Spell Commercial Warfare By Debra J. Saunders

Twenty-two years ago last week, Pan Am Flight 103 exploded over Scotland. The terrorist attack killed 270 people, including 189 Americans and 11 Scots on the ground in the small village of Lockerbie. 

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December 28, 2010

How the Kardashians Can Really Shock Us By Froma Harrop

If you don't already know about the Kardashian sisters, you probably don't want to know. Kourtney, Kim and Khloe have grown very rich dressing like tramps and otherwise exhibiting themselves, including sessions on the toilet (viewable on their E! channel program, "Keeping up With the Kardashians").

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December 27, 2010

Even After Shellacking, Obama Looks OK in 2012 By Michael Barone

On the day after Boxing Day, it's worth noting that Barack Obama is down but not out.

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December 26, 2010

The Silliest Stories of 2010 By Debra J. Saunders

2010 was a year consumed with silly stories. The more trivial the controversy, the more airtime it consumed. Although not all the silly stories made conservatives look stupid, the more a squabble tarnished the right, the surer it was to generate talking-head babble. And then they fizzle, as most non-stories do.

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December 24, 2010

Obama the Genius By Susan Estrich

Was it only a month ago that the chattering class was writing off the president as being almost as thoroughly defeated as the lame duck Congress, as the failed leader who had lost his way, popularity plummeting, accomplishments vulnerable? Insiders worried about who was up next.

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December 24, 2010

The Right GOP Immigration Package By Debra J. Saunders

The controversial anti-immigration bill passed by Arizona lawmakers this year helped and hurt the Democrats in the November election. President Obama used it when he told Latinos that they should vote to "punish our enemies" and "reward our friends" by voting Democratic. In California and Nevada, Latino voters clearly heeded that advice.

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December 24, 2010

Census: Fast Growth in States With No Income Tax By Michael Barone

For those of us who are demographic buffs, Christmas came four days early when Census Bureau Director Robert Groves announced yesterday the first results of the 2010 Census and the reapportionment of House seats (and therefore electoral votes) among the states.

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December 23, 2010

Slow-Growing Population? Great! By Froma Harrop

The analysis of the new census numbers were predictable, and I take issue with nearly every one. Let's start with the suggestion that population rising at the lowest rate since the Great Depression is to be lamented.  Anything likened to the Great Depression can't be a positive development, right? Wrong.

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December 23, 2010

Sept. 11 Heroes Disdained on the Right By Joe Conason

To understand the depths of shame and cynicism in the partisan stalling of health legislation for 9/11 first responders, it is only necessary to recall how eagerly Republican politicians once rushed to identify themselves with New York City's finest and bravest. 

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December 23, 2010

Stopping the Descent By Howard Rich

At long last there are finally signs that the American Republic’s breakneck descent into full-blown socialist madness – which was fast approaching terminal velocity prior to November’s elections – could be leveling out.