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Sunday November 23, 2008 
by Christopher Chantrill

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The Culture of Violence in Britain

by Christopher Chantrill

WE'VE KNOWN for a while that the nostalgically remembered Britain of Bobbies and the stiff upper lip are gone forever. Today's Britain is a violent place, more violent than New York City, according to many accounts.

For one thing there is now a knife culture. Writes Shaun Bailey, a charity worker and author of No Man's Land: How Britain's Inner-City Young Are Being Failed,

Where I  unfold 

Sphere: Related Content | perm | comment | print | 05/31/06 4:14 pm ET

 

Let's Celebrate the World Congress of Families

by Christopher Chantrill

WITH GOOGLE in trouble for skipping observance of Memorial Day—we only do light-hearted observances, they say—here’s a light-hearted event for them to celebrate.

It’s the World Congress of Families, being held in Warsaw on May 11-13, 2007.

I know. In your dreams. Especially given the attitude of Ms Magazine.

But lefty outfits like Google should do some thinking about population. After all, the result  unfold 

Sphere: Related Content | perm | comment | print | 05/31/06 9:11 am ET

 

Mixed Reviews on the Paulson Nomination

by Christopher Chantrill

ON MONDAY, May 30, President Bush nominated Henry M. Paulson Jr., CEO of Goldman Sachs, as Secretary of the Treasury to replace John Snow.

So what does it mean, for the dollar, for economic policy, and for the administration?

In the London Times Gerard Baker sees his role as essentially defensive. Given that income tax reform and Social Security reform look to be dead, the only place where he can make a mark is on the dollar.

Will Mr  unfold 

Sphere: Related Content | perm | comment | print | 05/31/06 4:48 am ET

 

Who Is Stupid Now?

by Christopher Chantrill

EVERYONE KNOWS that the Democratic Party is the smart party and the Republican Party is the stupid party. We know this because liberals and journalists keep telling us. We keep hearing, for instance how smart FDR and JFK and Clinton were. And how dumb Coolidge and Reagan and Bush were.

But if Democrats are so smart, how come that their Culture of Corruption campaign is going off the rails. Remember? Republicans represented a culture of corruption. Tom DeLay and Duke Cunningham and all.

But now all we seem to hear about is the  unfold 

Sphere: Related Content | perm | comment | print | 05/30/06 5:15 pm ET

 

To Understand Our Liberal Friends

by Christopher Chantrill

YOU’LL REMEMBER that in the twenty years before the 1960s black poverty declined by 50 percent. You’ll remember that crime was down. You’ll remember that unwed births were down. You’ll remember that more Republicans than Democrats voted for the Civil Rights Acts in Congress.

Then why, as Thomas Sowell reports, could a liberal colleague of conservative writer Shelby Steele have a such an emphatically different opinion?

"Damn it, we saved this country!" he all  unfold 

Sphere: Related Content | perm | comment | print | 05/30/06 8:56 am ET

 

English is Like an Ocean Tide

by Christopher Chantrill

A CENTURY AGO, writes Richard Cohen, his ancestors were squeezed into the Lower East Side. They “did Kosher” and spoke Yiddish. And historian Henry Adams, descendent of presidents, was sickened by all those Jews. But now, of course,

The grandchildren of those who did Kosher there have scattered throughout the country and the English their grandparents did not speak has been mastered and enriched by Bellow and Roth and Chabon and  unfold 

Sphere: Related Content | perm | comment | print | 05/30/06 3:58 am ET

 

Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling: Good Riddance to Bad Rubbish

by Christopher Chantrill

THAT IS A BRITISH colloqualism, if you were wondering, and that is what capitalist cheerleader Larry Kudlow is saying as he commends the vital work of the Justice Department prosecutors in bringing corporate crooks like Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling to justice—and hopefully to jail.

And, we hope, scaring a million other businessmen who might be tempted. For who is as pure as Caesar’s wife?

I’d say that a major motion picture jail term for  unfold 

Sphere: Related Content | perm | comment | print | 05/29/06 3:00 pm ET

 

Pentecostals Experiencing Possibilities and Breakthroughs in Nigeria

by Christopher Chantrill

WE HEAR A LOT about the lovely Muslims doing a spot of genocide on the Dinka tribes in South Sudan. And we hear about Muslim gangs burning Christian churches in Nigeria. But we don’t often hear about the Christians themselves.

Here is a report on the Pentecostals in Nigeria, led by “Daddy,” Rev. Enoch Adejare Adeboye. His church is about 5 million strong, and its growing. In Nigeria, in China, and in South Korea.

Here’s how it feels to attend a service of the Redeemed Christian Church of God in Lagos, the capital of Nigeria,  unfold 

Sphere: Related Content | perm | comment | print | 05/29/06 6:12 am ET

 

On This Memorial Day...

by Christopher Chantrill

AS THE UNITED States continues its Long War against the axis of petroleum-fueled warlords, the USS Kearsarge trains for another tour in the Middle East and a wife mourns her fallen husband.

The USS Kearsarge is an Amphibious Assault Ship, really a converted aircraft carrier, that is “designed to put troops on hostile shores.” As Rear Adm. Garry Hall tells Bob McManus: “There’s no beach beyond our reach.”

It’s  unfold 

Sphere: Related Content | perm | comment | print | 05/29/06 4:25 am ET

 

After Bush and Blair We'll Still Have to Fight Terror

by Christopher Chantrill

WITH PRIME Minister Blair on his way out and President Bush on his way down, some folks think that pretty soon we can get back to business as usual in international affairs.

Not so, writes Janet Daley.

Maybe it was OK back in the Cold War that “We kept our sons-of-bitches under control and they kept their sons-of-bitches under control.” But now it is the sons-of-bitches that are the problem. And  unfold 

Sphere: Related Content | perm | comment | print | 05/28/06 3:23 pm ET

 

SAT Scores Down This Year

by Christopher Chantrill

COLLEGES ARE reporting that SAT scores of students are down this year, and David S. Kahn, who has been tutoring kids for the SAT test since 1989, confirms the drop in OpinionJournal.com.

[T]he scores of my best students dropped about 50 points total in the math and verbal portions of the test (each on a scale of 200 to 800).

So what is going wrong? Is the test different? Are the kids less prepared? What’s the problem?

The test has been rejiggered,  unfold 

Sphere: Related Content | perm | comment | print | 05/27/06 5:33 pm ET

 

Immigration Bill Will Expand Welfare State

by Christopher Chantrill

SOME OF US are wondering why the United States Senate seems to be in such a hurry to shower the nation’s illegal immigrants with forgiveness on back taxes owed and credit for Social Security taxes paid. And why rush to normalize their status? There are tons of immigrants who have crossed every T in the immigration regulations who seem to be relegated to the back of the line.

Maybe Robert Rector has the answer. Only not quite in the way he  unfold 

Sphere: Related Content | perm | comment | print | 05/26/06 2:39 pm ET

 

Enron Guys Convicted. How about Fannie Mae?

by Christopher Chantrill

GOOD. ENRON’S crooks, Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling, have been convicted in federal court of lying to investors in the meltdown of Enron back in 2000. Writes Greg Farrell in USATODAY:

Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling said they always relied on the lawyers and accountants who signed off on Enron's earnings statements. Jurors said they should have relied on the truth.

This is a principle that goes to the foundation of law. People have an obligation to know what the law is and  unfold 

Sphere: Related Content | perm | comment | print | 05/26/06 9:08 am ET

 

Bush and Blair Admit Mistakes!

by Christopher Chantrill

IT CAN’T BE a coincidence that the first time that President Bush and Prime Minister Blair have “admitted mistakes” on Iraq is the week after the installation of a unity government following the national Iraqi elections back in January.

As reported by Joseph Curl and Stephen Dinan in the Washington Times, Bush and Blair admitted mistakes in not finding WMDs and taunting the Ba’athists to “bring it on.” Said Blair:

The chance of a major  unfold 

Sphere: Related Content | perm | comment | print | 05/26/06 4:16 am ET

 

Gay Marriage and the "Pure Relationship"

by Christopher Chantrill

WHAT WOULD legalization of gay marriage mean? Is it just a matter of human rights or does it interfere with the institution of marriage, that is the union between a man and a woman? Or even further, the basic equilibrium of society?

NRO’s Stanley Kurtz has written a number of articles on the subject, attempting to show that, based upon the European experience, gay marriage is part of a general movement to loosen the institution of marriage and  unfold 

Sphere: Related Content | perm | comment | print | 05/25/06 3:46 pm ET

 

The Energy Price Calculator

by Christopher Chantrill

WHERE ARE ENERGY prices going? Crude oil seems to have come off its highs at $75 per barrel. But is it finished yet?

In NRO Thomas E. Nugent takes a look at natural gas prices. They exploded last year around the time of Hurricane Katrina, peaking at about $15 per million btu. Now natural gas prices are down at about $6 per million btu. He thinks that the same decline is likely to happen to crude oil. Maybe it is already happening.  unfold 

Sphere: Related Content | perm | comment | print | 05/25/06 9:18 am ET

 

Hot-head McCain Cool At New School

by Christopher Chantrill

UNITED STATES Senator John McCain may have a reputation as a hot-head. He may be deeply mistrusted by the conservative base. But he certainly struck the right note when he gave a commencement speech at the New School for Social Research in New York City on May 19, 2006.

You’ll remember that the open-minded faculty and students at the New School, noted for its tolerance for diverse viewpoints, demonstrated against Sen. McCain during his speech. And let us not forget, writes  unfold 

Sphere: Related Content | perm | comment | print | 05/25/06 4:36 am ET

 

Media Navel-gazing In NY

by Christopher Chantrill

THEY HAD A navel-gazing session on new media vs. old media today at the Museum of Television and Radio Media Center in NYC, blogged by Jeff Jarvis and also attended by Hugh Hewitt. Hewitt said

I came away impressed by the talent and seriousness of the news professionals, but also convinced that they simply will never see that the source of their dissolving  unfold 

Sphere: Related Content | perm | comment | print | 05/24/06 3:55 pm ET

 

It's OK to Fib About Global Warming

by Christopher Chantrill

THE THING ABOUT movements is that the truth tends to get lost in the campaign to tell the world about the Greater Truth. And that is certainly true about the Global Warming Movement.

For those of us who haven’t been heard, Patrick J. Michaels has been keeping an ear to the ground and also on Al Gore.

So here's what Al told Grist Magazine about global warming: "I believe it is appropriate to have an overrepresentation of factual presentations on how  unfold 

Sphere: Related Content | perm | comment | print | 05/24/06 9:03 am ET

 

It's The Children, Stupid

by Christopher Chantrill

THE PROBLEM with Old Europe is that it is literally getting old. That’s because the Europeans aren’t having many children, writes Robert Samuelson.

The number of children per woman is called the “total fertility rate,” or TFR. Here are the estimated 2005 TFRs for some major countries: Germany, 1.4; Greece, 1.3; Italy, 1.3; Japan, 1.4; Spain, 1.3; and Russia, 1.3.

The low fertility rates translate into declining population. Here is a  unfold 

Sphere: Related Content | perm | comment | print | 05/24/06 4:26 am ET

 

Let's Hear It For Capitalism

by Christopher Chantrill

WHEN YOUR KID comes home from her government school today, she will probably be parroting some nonsense they taught her. At school these days, writes James Bartholomew, author of The Welfare State We’re In,

They teach that capitalists destroy rainforests, insidiously control American foreign policy and spread the human vices of greed and selfishness. Anti-capitalism is now the subtext  unfold 

Sphere: Related Content | perm | comment | print | 05/23/06 3:01 pm ET

 

At Least President Bush is Brave

by Christopher Chantrill

NOBODY CAN tell if President Bush will turn out to be one of our greatest presidents, writes Michael Novak. But we do know one thing. He has to be our bravest president.

He has faced the most intense fire, hatred, contempt, heavily moneyed and bitterly acidic partisan opposition, underhandedness, betrayal, of any president in the last hundred years...

He has faced almost unbroken contempt from the academy, from the  unfold 

Sphere: Related Content | perm | comment | print | 05/23/06 9:07 am ET

 

Government That Just Doesn't Care

by Christopher Chantrill

IN THE LAST century the people of the European nations have conducted a great experiment. Upon the advice of experts they demolished the “little platoons” between the individual and government that provided support and aid when times were hard. Instead they bought into the idea that government programs could look after the poor and the unfortunate much better than private charity and mutual aid.

The driving force behind this great social experiment was an elite that assured the people that “we care.” In particular, we “care about people  unfold 

Sphere: Related Content | perm | comment | print | 05/23/06 4:12 am ET

 

Irate Homeowners are Attacking Garbage Drivers Over Recycling

by Christopher Chantrill

HOW LONG DO you think it takes you each week to sort the garbage, toseparate the trash from the recyclables? An hour? Half an hour? Let’s say fifteen minutes.

So what is the cost to the nation, the compulsory unpaid labor, the corvée as the French called it before the Revolution, of separating out the garbage?

There’s a danger, you see. There’s a danger that the cost of separating the trash from the recyclables might be more than the savings.

That is what is going on in Britain.  unfold 

Sphere: Related Content | perm | comment | print | 05/22/06 2:20 pm ET

 

Education is Failing in Britain, Too

by Christopher Chantrill

BACK IN THE mid 1980s the experts decided, in “A Nation at Risk,” that the American school system was failing its children.

In Britain the school system is failing the children too.

Back in the 1960s the British replaced their ancient system of grammar schools with “comprehensives.” The idea was to eliminate the social evil of streaming, where intelligent students went to government grammar schools in their teens and the lesser lights went to “secondary modern” schools.

Well, thanks very much, says a graduate of the first crop  unfold 

Sphere: Related Content | perm | comment | print | 05/22/06 8:57 am ET

 

It's Easy for George McGovern to Praise Wal-Mart and Bash Unions

by Christopher Chantrill

GOOD OLD LIBERAL George McGovern can easily afford to praise Wal-Mart. He can praise if for its low prices. He san say that if you take the $27 million that Wal-Mart’s CEO took home and gave it to the hourly workers, that would only add up to $20.

The trouble is that “More” became “Too Much.” Look at parts marker Delphi. Delphi is in trouble, he writes.

One big reason is that the company's  unfold 

Sphere: Related Content | perm | comment | print | 05/22/06 4:17 am ET

 

Opus Dei: "It is Gruesome"

by Christopher Chantrill

SHOULD CHRISTIANS emulate the Muslims? Should they tear the place up and burn a few multiplexes when Hollywood produces a blasphemous movie like The Da Vinci Code?

Mary Wakefield went to see the movie and found herself cringing after about fifteen minutes.

Five minutes into the film, I began to squint with embarrassment, and after 15 I slid down in my seat so as not to catch a Christian  unfold 

Sphere: Related Content | perm | comment | print | 05/20/06 3:34 pm ET

 

Put a Stake Through Freud's Heart

by Christopher Chantrill

WHAT SHOULD we do about Freud to celebrate his 150th birthday? Dig him up and “put a stake through his heart,” writes Spengler in Asia Times.

No one did more than Freud to reduce women to sexual objects, a condition against which women rebel by seeking to destroy the objectified body.

That’s why there’s an epidemic of eating disorders and “self-harming,” the practice of cutting yourself with razor blades.

But why?  unfold 

Sphere: Related Content | perm | comment | print | 05/19/06 9:21 am ET

 

Opus Dei Finds Coded Message in Da Vinci Code

by Christopher Chantrill

DAN BROWN MUST be laughing all the way to the bank. His Da Vinci Code has got everyone talking, and that is what you need to sell books and movies.

To all those out there outraged by the eruption of the Arian heresy, Fr. John Wauck (of Opus Dei!) says to cool it. Writer Dan Brown obviously doesn’t take himself too seriously, so neither should we. On the contrary, a coded look at DVC shows that Brown is having a grand old time with his  unfold 

Sphere: Related Content | perm | comment | print | 05/19/06 4:21 am ET

 

South Americans Wary of Chavez

by Christopher Chantrill

HOW DANGEROUS is Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chávez? Everybody is suddenly getting anxious about lefty dictators taking over in South America. But one result of his saber-rattling is that other South American leaders are moving closer to the United States, according to Martin Krause.

South American leaders have been meeting in Vienna to negotiate with the European Union about a free-trade pact. And it turns out that many of the leaders are less than elated with the Venezuelan’s  unfold 

Sphere: Related Content | perm | comment | print | 05/18/06 2:00 pm ET

 

It's the Law and Order, Stupid

by Christopher Chantrill

THE BOAST OF Tony Blair’s New Labour Party was “joined-up” government, a government that would communicate with itself and get things done.

And the British people believed it.

Unfortunately bureaucratic organizations are designed for precisely the opposite purpose, for imposing top-down strategy. It is like an army. The general at the top issues the order and the underlings all execute his plan.

That means if you want to do something more flexible than fight battles and march from A to B, the bureaucratic model is not the best  unfold 

Sphere: Related Content | perm | comment | print | 05/18/06 9:22 am ET

 

On Immigration, Just Keep the Economy Growing

by Christopher Chantrill

SO WHICH IS it? Robert Samuelson says that immigration is a problem because there’s a conflict coming between a burgeoning Hispanic immigrant population of the less-educated and retiring baby-boomers who are going to want their benefits.

The American Immigration Law Foundation says that the Hispanic immigrants are doing fine and that

Latinos  unfold 

Sphere: Related Content | perm | comment | print | 05/18/06 4:11 am ET

 

Bush Signs Tax Cut and Market Falls Out of Bed

by Christopher Chantrill

PRESIDENT BUSH signed today the tax cut extensions recently passed by Congress. At the signing ceremony he said that

Our pro-growth policies stand in stark contrast to those in Washington who believe you grow your economy by raising taxes and centralizing power.

Meanwhile the stock market fell out of bed with the Dow declining by over 200 points to 11,205.61, down over 400 points since May 10. And the dollar has declined. And interest rates are going  unfold 

Sphere: Related Content | perm | comment | print | 05/17/06 2:51 pm ET

 

Migration and Mexican Politics

by Christopher Chantrill

WHAT DO THE Mexicans think of Mexicans emigrating from their homeland to the jobs, jobs, jobs in the United States? We looked at this here at the Road to the Middle Class back in April.

Migration just entered Mexican presidential politics as lefty PRD candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador called it “`Mexico's disgrace,’ caused by the government's failure to create enough jobs,” according to  unfold 

Sphere: Related Content | perm | comment | print | 05/17/06 9:07 am ET

 

Let's Make a Deal on Immigration

by Christopher Chantrill

EVERYONE HAS had their say after President Bush’s so-so speech on Monday. Conservatives have groused and grumbled; the MSM has grunted approvingly. Dick Morris seems to think the speech was great, which is really troubling.

Now Tony Blankley comes along and says: OK fellahs. Don’t forget, politics is about compromise. Let’s not make the mistake of picking up our dollies and  unfold 

Sphere: Related Content | perm | comment | print | 05/17/06 4:32 am ET

 

Strong Families Means Small Government

by Christopher Chantrill

AS WE CONSERVATIVES mumble around about doing something about the welfare state there are people out there with and idea to really do something about it.

After reading Love and Economics by Jennifer Roback Morse, Arnold Kling is inspired to write:

Single moms and the welfare state go together.  unfold 

Sphere: Related Content | perm | comment | print | 05/16/06 2:31 pm ET

 

Iran's War on US Costs It a Bundle

by Christopher Chantrill

EVER SINCE the Khomeini revolution in Iran the mullahs have been running a low-grade war against the United States. We often complain about the annoyance and the cost of Iran and its Islamist terrorism. But Amir Taheri gives us a glimpse of the cost to Iran.

Nowhere is the cost of the so-called "War against the Infidel" more apparent than in Iran's oil industry. Projections made in 1977 envisaged the Iranian oil off-take to reach a daily capacity of 6.5  unfold 

Sphere: Related Content | perm | comment | print | 05/16/06 9:09 am ET

 

Shelby Steele Goes to San Francisco

by Christopher Chantrill

YOU WOULDN’T think that libertarian conservative Shelby Steele would get a fair shake for his White Guilt in the San Francisco Chronicle. You know what they are like in San Francisco. But he does.

Unlike many over-the-top liberal writers Edward Guthmann is almost generous to the writer who has written that black rage  unfold 

Sphere: Related Content | perm | comment | print | 05/16/06 4:00 am ET

 

Tired Bush Not Leading

by Christopher Chantrill

PRESIDENT BUSH tonight offered a quick fix to the immigration issue. More border enforcement, an amnesty program, and a biometric ID card “for every legal foreign worker” as part of a vague promise to build ”a better system for verifying documents and work eligibility.”

Will it be enough to bring the Republican base onside? Hard to say.

It would be more comforting if the president had proposed something to put the Democrats on the spot. For instance, if he had proposed a program to deport all illegal immigrants arrested in the  unfold 

Sphere: Related Content | perm | comment | print | 05/15/06 2:23 pm ET

 

Don't Be Downhearted, Writes Barone

by Christopher Chantrill

IF YOU ARE a conservative this morning you are probably feeling downhearted. After all the heavy lifting that conservatives have done, since 9/11 under George W. Bush, and back in the 1980s under Ronald Reagan, how come conservatives don’t get no respect? Here we are with $3.00 gasoline, no end in sight in Iraq, a big immigration problem, a spendthrift Congress, and the president’s poll numbers are down in the low 30s.

Just don’t forget, writes Michael Barone, that  unfold 

Sphere: Related Content | perm | comment | print | 05/15/06 9:12 am ET

 

Chavez Wows Economic Fundamentalists in London

by Christopher Chantrill

THEY HAD A grand old-time revival last week in London. Pastor “Red Ken” Livinstone had Venezuelan pastor Hugo Chávez in town for a rousing witness to the faithful. Said host Livingstone to the assembled faithful, according to Richard Beeston in the London Times:

“Those who a decade ago said that socialism was dead, see it now very much alive in Venezuela,” Mr Livingstone said, adding that the march against capitalism was now too strong for  unfold 

Sphere: Related Content | perm | comment | print | 05/15/06 4:36 am ET

 

"Connect the Dots" but Don't "Collect The Dots"

by Christopher Chantrill

DO YOU MEAN to say, Senator Leahy, that you had no idea that the NSA was doing data mining on phone records? That you, as the ranking minority member on the Judiciary Committee have never been briefed on this program?

"Are you telling me that tens of millions of Americans are involved with al-Qaida? These are tens of millions of Americans who are not suspected of anything. ... Where does it stop?" _ Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Notice that the  unfold 

Sphere: Related Content | perm | comment | print | 05/14/06 11:41 am ET

 

What's In a Name?

by Christopher Chantrill

THE SOCIAL Security Adminstration recently announced the most popular names given to American children.

Emily is the top name for girls. Again. And Jacob is the most popular name for boys. Again.

Things aren’t changing at the top very much. Emily has been the top name for girls every year since 1996, and Jacob has been the top name for boys every year since 1999.

Here is the top twenty for 2005.

 unfold 

Sphere: Related Content | perm | comment | print | 05/13/06 9:10 am ET

 

The Man Who Made the New York Times

by Christopher Chantrill

THE MAN WHO made the New York Times into the greatest newspaper in the United States, A.M. Rosenthal, has died aged 84.

And in his passing he has given us a glimpse of his achievement. The son of an indigent fur trader turned a stuffy metropolitan newspaper into a vibrant national institution. As Wes Pruden puts it in the Washington Times:

Abe died at 84 Wednesday in New York, where he made the New York Times in his  unfold 

Sphere: Related Content | perm | comment | print | 05/12/06 5:03 pm ET

 

GOP Extends Tax Cuts; What Have You Done for Me Lately?

by Christopher Chantrill

IT’S A START. Yesterday Congress extended the 2003 tax rate cuts on dividends and capital gains. As the Washington Times reported:

The Senate yesterday approved $70 billion in tax-cut extensions, sending President Bush one of his top tax priorities and securing a key election-year accomplishment for Republicans fighting to keep control of Congress.

And they extended them to 2010. (Suppose we have a President Clinton and a Democratic Congress  unfold 

Sphere: Related Content | perm | comment | print | 05/12/06 9:35 am ET

 

"You Must Suggest an Alternative" -- Lady Thatcher

by Christopher Chantrill

AUTHOR AND journalist James Bartholomew got to present a copy of his book The Welfare State We’re In to Baroness Thatcher on Wednesday. He explained to her the argument of the book.

I told her that the book argues that we would be better off if the previous welfare systems had been allowed to develop instead of being replaced by the welfare  unfold 

Sphere: Related Content | perm | comment | print | 05/12/06 4:21 am ET

 

A Briton Talks About the Erosion of Liberty

by Christopher Chantrill

ALTHOUGH THE Brits don’t have a real conservative movement, they do have conservative politicians—like Alan Duncan, for instance, who visited the Cato Institute to talk about the erosion of freedom in Britain. As described by James Pinkerton it involves three problems.

First of all, there is Tony Blair. His style of headline government lowers the tone of debate: "the headline matters more than the deed." The danger of this sort of thing becomes obvious when the government  unfold 

Sphere: Related Content | perm | comment | print | 05/11/06 4:31 pm ET

 

Now It's Republicans Chasing Soccer Mom Vote

by Christopher Chantrill

YESTERDAY HOUSE Republicans unveiled their “Suburban Agenda,” reports Laura Litvan of Bloomberg. It is a grab bag of close-to-home issues that Rep. Mark Kirk (R-IL) says will give surburban families a “chance to have a voice in Congress.”

The issues in the agenda include:

Sphere: Related Content | perm | comment | print | 05/11/06 9:40 am ET

 

Letter for Letter, Mr. President

by Christopher Chantrill

MOST PEOPLE seem to be bemused or insulted by the letter Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad recently sent to President George W. Bush.

But it certainly hit home among the Democrats and the media who seem to think that Ahmadinejad’s letter is an invitation to dialog.

Iranian expatriate Amir Taheri is the chap to provide background on a matter like this, and he doesn’t disappoint.

Ahmadinejad's move fits into a 14-century-long Muslim tradition,  unfold 

Sphere: Related Content | perm | comment | print | 05/11/06 4:04 am ET

 

How Could Welfare Reform Have Gone So Right?

by Christopher Chantrill

THIS YEAR IS the tenth anniversary of Welfare Reform, the Republican-passed Clinton-signed reform that put a cap on unlimited welfare benefits in the summer of 1996. How has the reform turned out?

It seems important to ask because the usual suspects have gone quiet on us.

Fortunately Kay S. Hymowitz at City Journal has written a report on the aftermath of welfare reform. And it really has been a stunning success. The number of people on welfare has  unfold 

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Republicans Finally Get Serious on Tax Cuts

by Christopher Chantrill

FINALLY IT looks like the Congressional Republicans are doing what we elected them to do. Cut taxes. Again.

It’s been well said, and it ought to be said again. If the Republican Party is not for tax cuts, what is it for?

If the Democrats, the party of FDR, are for “bold, persistent experimentation,” then the Republican Party is for “bold, persistent tax cuts.”

Anyway, Andrew Taylor reports in the Washington Post that  unfold 

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Third Way Democrats Propose "Politics of Opportunity"

by Christopher Chantrill

HOW IS IT POSSIBLE that Americans in opinion polls agree with Democrats but keep voting for Republicans? That is the question that the folks at Third Way are asking. What’s going wrong, they ask in a new study, The Politics of Opportunity conducted by Anne Kim and Jim Kessler?

Martin Frost reported on the report on Fox News and Rush  unfold 

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The Agony of Turning From The Mainstream of Life

by Christopher Chantrill

CHRISTIAN TALK-SHOW host Hugh Hewitt is properly annoyed by Andrew Sullivan’s drive-by column in Time, My Problem with Christianism. Writes Sullivan:

Are you a Christian who doesn't feel represented by the religious right? I know the feeling. When the discourse about faith is dominated by political fundamentalists and social conservatives, many others begin to feel  unfold 

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Could Europe's Anti-Semitism Happen Here?

by Christopher Chantrill

EVER SINCE Jews first started immigrating to the United States from Russia a century ago they have found their home on the Left. Jews experienced the universalism of socialism as a refuge from the ethnic and religious hate they had experienced in European ghettos and beyond the Pale of Settlement in Russia.

But are Jews safe on the Left any more?

Student Teresa Mia Bejan reports on the pervasive anti-Semitism in lefty Europe and in the oh-so-lefty European universities  unfold 

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Imagine If Oppressed Blacks Were in Therapy, Says Instawife

by Christopher Chantrill

WHAT DOES A psychologist think when she encounters the thought of Shelby Steele, author of The Content of Our Character, The Dream Deferred, and now White Guilt?

Psychologist Dr. Helen Smith, the Instawife, takes a look at the black power/white guilt dynamic that was the precipitate of the civil rights revolution. The  unfold 

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How Badly in Debt Are We?

by Christopher Chantrill

THE AVERAGE US household has a credit card balance of $9,000. That’s what we hear. America is drowning in debt.

But Liz Pulliam Weston at MSN says: Wait a minute. First of all, she writes, most Americans owe zero to the credit card companies. Half of those that do owe money have a balance of less than $2,000.

So where does the $9,000 number come from?

Well, it seems to be concentrated up in the high income sector. For instance, Fair Isaac  unfold 

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