Prop. 13: Message for Another Time By Froma Harrop
If the national tax revolt has bookends, the first bracket was placed 35 years ago this month. That's when California voters passed Proposition 13, a law curbing tax increases.
Political Commentary
Most Recent Releases
June 11, 2013
June 11, 2013
Citizens Stand and Fight the IRS By Mark Meckler
The NorCal Tea Party last month filed class action litigation against the Internal Revenue Service in federal court in Ohio, based on the unconstitutional profiling and harassment of conservative, religious and other liberty-minded organizations in their applications for non-profit status. By its own admission, the IRS has been profiling and discriminating against hundreds of groups based on their political viewpoint.
June 10, 2013
America Will Pay a Price for President Obama's Inaction in Syria By Michael Barone
Barack Obama's appointments of Susan Rice as national security adviser and Samantha Power as ambassador to the United Nations have naturally triggered speculation about changes in foreign policy.
June 7, 2013
Live From Istanbul: Authoritarians With Bad Taste By Froma Harrop
Anti-government protests in Turkey have produced a social movement like no other. The lit match was not the death of a heroic dissident, a corrupt election, high unemployment or the other usual-suspect grievances. It was the government's plan to replace precious park space in downtown Istanbul with a shopping mall and replica of army barracks from the Ottoman era.
June 7, 2013
Odds Grow Longer for Immigration Reform By Scott Rasmussen
Many pundits assumed that this would be the year that comprehensive immigration reform became law. The conventional wisdom was that President Obama's re-election and his strong showing among Hispanic voters would force Republicans to go along.
Now, halfway through the year, the prospects for immigration reform have dimmed significantly.
June 6, 2013
With Lautenberg Gone, WW II Vets Fade From Politics By Michael Barone
Over the last seven decades, 115 veterans of World War II have served in the United States Senate. This week, the last of them, Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey, died.
June 5, 2013
Austerity Myth By John Stossel
Europe's struggles prove that "austerity" fails!
So say the Big Spenders.
With a condescending sigh, they explain that Europe made deep cuts in government spending, and the result was today's high unemployment. "With erstwhile middle-class workers reduced to picking through garbage in search of food, austerity has already gone too far," writes Paul Krugman in The New York Times.
June 4, 2013
Slower Rise in Health Care Spending Is a Big Deal By Froma Harrop
The sky isn't falling. The train is not wrecking. The end is not nigh. And to drag this out a bit, the tidings are not all bad.
June 3, 2013
Tragedy of Detroit Shows 'Big Unit America' Is out of Gas By Michael Barone
Detroit, once one of the nation's most vibrant cities, faces imminent bankruptcy. That's the headline from the report last month of emergency fiscal manager Kevyn Orr, issued 45 days after he was appointed this spring by Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder to take over the city's government.
May 31, 2013
Watergate Amnesia, the 'Nixonian Slur and Other Big Lies By Joe Conason
Let's state this very simply, so everybody will understand. The notion that Barack Obama is "Nixonian" -- or that his administration's recent troubles bear any resemblance to "Watergate" -- is the biggest media lie since the phony "Whitewater scandal" crested during the Clinton presidency.
May 31, 2013
Consumers Set to Repeal a Big Part of the Health Care Law by Scott Rasmussen
Most stories about the president's health care law these days are about the challenges of implementation and the complexity of setting up exchanges. But that's not where the action is. What's more important is that insurance companies, benefits consultants and others are actually reading the 2,000-page law to see what it says.
May 30, 2013
Unintended Consequences Often Bedevil Reformers By Michael Barone
A thoughtful reformer targets the traditional rules of an aging institution that has retarded progress in the past. Time to modernize those rules, the reformer says, and prevent obstruction in the future.
May 29, 2013
Gas Myths By John Stossel
Plan to drive more this summer? Annoyed by the price of gas? Complaining that oil companies rip you off?
May 28, 2013
Obama Uses 1917 Espionage Act to Go After Reporters By Michael Barone
There is one problem with the entirely justified if self-interested media squawking about the Justice Department snooping into the phone records of multiple Associated Press reporters and Fox News's James Rosen.
May 28, 2013
A World of Rotten Tax Laws By Froma Harrop
Guy writes a film script full of four-letter words. But when the actors repeat them, he gets all huffy about the dirty language. An absurd reaction, wouldn't you say? But it's not so different from the scene in which our lawmakers scold corporate chieftains for exploiting tax loopholes their legislatures helped create.
May 24, 2013
Oklahoma! By Froma Harrop
The world looked upon the tornado-flattened landscape of Moore, Okla., with awe. The destruction was shocking, as were the personal losses. Many Americans in the audience also felt -- and this must be said -- some comfort. Here was a country of strong people rolling with some very serious punches. It still exists. On CNN, BBC or wherever, one heard plainspoken voices describing their ordeal with natural stoicism. These were victims (a word they might not apply to themselves) standing in front of the trash piles that were their houses. Some were bearing the death of loved ones, including nine schoolchildren. They spoke calmly of what happened and what they must do next.
May 24, 2013
The Political Ground Is Shifting Under the President By Scott Rasmussen
This isn't just a case of people believing politicians always behave this way. Only 19 percent think the IRS usually targets political opponents of the president.
Skepticism is so high that few are convinced the IRS acted alone. Sixty percent believe that other federal agencies also were used to target the tea party and other conservative groups. Ominously for Democrats, two out of three unaffiliated voters share that view.
So, why hasn't it hurt the president's overall job approval? Some believe it has. The theory is that with a recovering economy, his ratings should be higher. Another possibility is that the president's base may have doubts, but they are still sticking by their man.
May 23, 2013
Low-skilled Workers Get Raw Deal Under Obamacare By Michael Barone
Would you like to have a "skinny" health insurance policy? Probably not. But if you're employed by a large company, you may get one, thanks to Obamacare.
May 23, 2013
Benghazi Interview: Pickering Dissects Congressional Follies, Media Coverage and 'Cover-Up' Charges By Joe Conason
No doubt the degraded quality of congressional oversight astonishes Thomas Pickering, the distinguished American diplomat who oversaw the State Department's Benghazi review board -- although he tries not to say so too directly. For his demanding and difficult effort -- only the most recent in a long history of public service under both Republican and Democratic administrations -- Pickering has found himself under sustained attack by Republican Rep. Darrell Issa of California, the excitable partisan who chairs the House Government Reform Committee.
May 22, 2013
Sublet My People Go By John Stossel
My kids moved out! I have two empty rooms in my apartment. Maybe I can rent them? A tourist visiting New York City could have a different experience, and save hotel money. I'd make money. Wouldn't it be great?
