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February 17, 2011

Why Do They Hate Social Security? By Joe Conason

Among the mysteries of modern politics in America is why so many of our leading pundits and politicians persistently seek to undermine Social Security, that enduring and successful emblem of active government. In the current atmosphere of budgetary panic, self-proclaimed "centrists" are joining with ideologues of the right in yet another campaign against the program -- and yet again they are misinforming the public about its purposes, costs and prospects.  

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February 17, 2011

Obama Budget Offers Inertia, Not Hope and Change By Michael Barone

One way to judge the merits of the budget Barack Obama unveiled this week is by the comments of his political allies. "It's not enough to focus primarily on the non-security discretionary part of the budget," said Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad.

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February 16, 2011

It's the Deficits That Are Draconian, Not Their Cuts By Tony Blankley

After the riots in Athens, the Greek authorities decided to enact new laws to deal with their obvious problems. The new laws, which treat rich and poor alike for the first time, have been seen has harsh. The name of the legislator who wrote the laws is a man called Draco. The date is believed to be 621 B.C. And more than 2,600 years later, the adjectival form of his name -- draconian -- is still tossed around here in Washington anytime someone proposes real budget cuts. 

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February 16, 2011

Judicial Politics By Susan Estrich

There is a crisis in America's federal courts that has absolutely nothing to do with politics, although that is its cause.

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February 15, 2011

Thankfully, the Egyptians Did It Without Us By Froma Harrop

As a rationale for invading Iraq, then-National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice said: "The people of the Middle East share the desire for freedom. We have an opportunity -- and an obligation -- to help them turn this desire into reality."

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February 15, 2011

NPR, PBS Federal Subsidies Should Go By Debra J. Saunders

The liberal group Moveon.org has been sending out e-mails to warn that Republicans are back in control of the House and to ask recipients to sign a petition that states, "Congress must protect NPR and PBS and guarantee them permanent funding, free from political meddling."

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February 13, 2011

Berkeley Does Guantanamo By Debra J. Saunders

On Feb. 15, on the recommendation of its Peace & Justice Commission, the Berkeley (Calif.) City Council is set to vote on a resolution to invite "one or two cleared" Guantanamo Bay detainees to resettle in Berkeley.

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February 12, 2011

Obama Equal Reagan? So Far, It Ain't Even Close By Lawrence Kudlow

A week after Ronald Reagan's 100th birthday celebration, comparisons between Presidents Obama and Reagan continue.

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February 11, 2011

How Clinton Balanced the Budget By Joe Conason

As America approaches the deadline for increasing the statutory national debt -- or risking a catastrophic default on our obligations to creditors and citizens -- there is no shortage of stupid ideas to restore fiscal order.

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February 11, 2011

The Shirtless Congressman By Susan Estrich

At one level, it's astoundingly funny: a congressman telling a woman with whom he is flirting that the only picture he has of himself is shirtless. If there is one thing every congressman has, it is pictures of himself in a shirt. Often, stuffed.

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February 10, 2011

Going Gingrich By Howard Rich

Have recent elections taught Republicans nothing?

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February 10, 2011

Lieberman, Harman and Vanishing Democratic Moderates By Michael Barone

Political pundits of a certain stripe have been lamenting the disappearance of Republican moderates for years. It's time now to lament the disappearance of moderate Democrats.

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February 10, 2011

AOL/HuffPo Meet Corporate Greed By Debra J. Saunders

In one of her many iterations, Arianna Huffington targeted "corporate greed" as a force undermining America. That was during one of her populist phases, which frequently are followed by Huffington morphing into what she once scorned.

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February 9, 2011

Egyptian Army Is West's Best Hope By Tony Blankley

Last Sunday, the media were reporting that the Muslim Brotherhood was sitting down with Egyptian Vice President Omar Suleiman, in a completely unrelated story, the BBC reported that British Prime Minster David Cameron announced that "State multiculturalism has failed": "David Cameron has criticized 'state multiculturalism' in his first speech as prime minister on radicalization and the causes of terrorism.

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February 9, 2011

Romantic Revolutions By Susan Estrich

In the first days of the demonstrations in Egypt, almost everyone I know was glued to their television. Many of them were caught up in what they saw as the romanticism of the moment: students and young people in the streets, willing to risk their lives to stand up to a tyrannical regime and replace it with a democracy. Irresistible.

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February 9, 2011

January's Unemployment Report Was a Snow Job By Lawrence Kudlow

The January employment report was a complete snow job. Abominable winter blizzards across the country caused 886,000 workers to report "not at work due to bad weather," according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This is 600,000 more than the normal 300,000 not at work for the average January of the past decade.

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February 8, 2011

Where Spanish Is a Threatened Language By Froma Harrop

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- The ice, snow and sleet that paralyzed American aviation last week forced upon me two extra days in tropical Puerto Rico. Somehow I managed. And so did the legions of other Americans and Canadians sharing stories of canceled flights as they contentedly drank cafe con leche in the warm sun of Plaza de Colon. 

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February 7, 2011

As With Other Fallen Allies, Egypt Will Vex the U.S. By Michael Barone

Most campaign rhetoric and political punditry is underpinned by an assumption that perfect solutions are possible, if only people would have the good sense to adopt the candidate's or the pundit's course of action. Alas, that is not always so.

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February 6, 2011

Snow Job By Lawrence Kudlow

The January employment report was a complete snow job. Abominable winter blizzards across the country caused 886,000 workers to report “not at work due to bad weather,” according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This is 600,000 more than the normal 300,000 not at work for the average January of the past decade.

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February 5, 2011

Missing Moderate Republicans By Froma Harrop

One of the more disagreeable traits of many tea party "spokespeople," aside from their loose connection with facts, is their zest for threatening Republicans who don't leap when they say "jump."
  

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