Like most totalitarian regimes, Iran’s leadership is concerned first and foremost with self-preservation and survival. President Ahmadinejad and Grand Ayatollah Khamenei may like to maintain the revolutionary national creation myth by defying the West. Yet in the final analysis, both men surely understand that the deployment of an Iranian nuclear weapon would take away the … Continued
Just minutes after the Supreme Court voted 5-4 to uphold the Affordable Care Act, the Internet was abuzz with various theories, trying to make sense of what, to many, seemed to be a fairly straightforward ruling. Vocal opponents of the bill appear to be grasping at straws, attempting to formulate some kind of explanation about the why of … Continued
This morning, the Supreme Court released its decision on President Obama’s landmark health care law, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act or “Obamacare.” Chief Justice John Roberts, appointed to the Court by President Bush in 2005, delivered the majority opinion upholding the entirety of the law, including the individual insurance mandate, the regulations on … Continued
My coverage of what it was like to be inside the Supreme Court during the health care ruling for Watchdog Wire: “Hundreds stood in line outside the Supreme Court this morning, waiting to be allowed inside to hear the reading of this monumental case. Hundreds of others gathered in crowds outside, ready to protest or … Continued
My coverage of the Supreme Court’s ruling at WatchdogWire: “At the Supreme Court building this morning, spectators were on the edge of their seats as Justice Anthony Kennedy read the court’s ruling to strike down key provisions in Arizona’s immigration law. The court did uphold the provision requiring officers to check the papers of those … Continued
New York Times columnist David Brooks published a new article yesterday entitled “The Follower Problem” that laments that Americans don’t recognize “Just Authority” anymore. His article begins celebrating the grandness of America’s memorials to Lincoln and Jefferson who are “presented as the embodiments of just authority.” But “the monuments that get built these days are … Continued
The Obama administration has rolled out new tariffs on Chinese solar manufacturers. These new taxes will make solar energy more expensive, which will make environmentalists’ clean energy dream even more difficult to obtain. In other words, this action shows conclusively that this industry exists to benefit Obama Inc., not the American public. Obama’s excuse for this move … Continued
“I don’t care because it doesn’t affect me.” While speaking recently with a good friend of mine, an anti-drug war activist, she said that phrase frustrated and angered her more than any other. Hers is a common grievance among intellectuals and activists concerned with social welfare. The great dream of Marx and other socialists was … Continued
