Archive
New Rules will Support Farmers and Jobs
Several lawmakers are proposing a time-out on new regulations to supposedly generate a more job-friendly environment. To some that might sound reasonable given the nation’s entrenched unemployment, but there’s one set of new rules in particular that should not be blocked.
Free the College Football Market
The burlesque show that is college football has gone about as far as it can go. Each fall it arrives clothed in garments of academic integrity (the players are scholar-athletes, don’t you know) only to peel them off one at a time as the year goes on.
Wendy’s ‘Improved’ Burger
At first blush, you might think that “Dave’s Hot ‘N Juicy” is the title of a pornographic movie. Actually, it’s only a hamburger.
Doubt’s Shadow
The Environment Could Use Some Rich Friends
It seems likely that the environment here on Earth is doomed. Sure, we all want clean air, clean water, biodiversity, pretty coral, precious neighborhoods, and the like. But there are other things we seem to cherish even more: gasoline, air conditioning, heat, cheap food, bright lights, swift highways, and meat.
The Lineup: Week of Sept. 26-Oct. 2, 2011
It began when an employee of a company with a government contract attempted to expedite his deportation even though the Obama administration had announced that cases like Ramos’s are officially a low priority.
MIA: Obama’s New Common-Sense Immigration Policy
Now that the electronic shackle is off, it’s really nice not having to listen to the eerie computer-voice commands regularly broadcast from its plastic speaker.
Blocking Palestinian Statehood
When President Barack Obama addressed the UN General Assembly in September 2010, he sounded hopeful that by the following year there would be “an agreement that will lead to a new member of the United Nations — an independent, sovereign state of Palestine, living in peace with Israel.” Sure enough, in September 2011, the Palestinians asked the UN Security Council to recognize a state of Palestine — but Obama ordered the U.S. delegate to veto the request. What gives?
America’s Government Contracting Bonanza Bilks Taxpayers
I live nine blocks from the U.S. Capitol, so many of my neighbors depend on the government for their livelihoods. A few — a scientist, an editor, a Secret Service agent — belong to that often mocked and rapidly shrinking category known as “civil servants.” The government writes their paychecks, lets them buy into a decent health insurance plan, and runs a respectable pension system for them. Some belong to — and are protected by — powerful unions. Their generous benefit packages and job security are the stuff of legend.
The Drug War Spreads the Bloodbath South
In the grotesque wars that pit Mexican armed forces and drug cartels against each other and civilians who get in their way, the Zetas cartel plays a fearsome role. Born of U.S.-trained Mexican special forces who began working as muscle for the Gulf drug cartel, the Zetas rapidly expanded by employing methods aimed at terrorizing opponents and civilians alike: decapitations, public hangings, and mutilations.
