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In 2005, in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, President George W. Bush was caught on a microphone saying "Heckuva job, Brownie," to the then-Director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Michael D. Brown. This quick bit of positive reinforcement for his FEMA head was subsequently (and is to this day) hung around Dubya's neck and juxtaposed with every iota of human hardship associated with Katrina and New Orleans. How could Bush compliment Brown when so many people were still suffering? That was then. Consider what we've been witnessing since last Tuesday, in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, in terms...

(Just thought the above was worth mentioning.) As for President Obama's comment today in his morning press conference that the private sector is doing fine, I'd also like to mention that despite how it's being reported, he did not actually correct it in his second press conference. He instead changed the key word, asserting that it's absolutely clear the economy is not doing fine. His remark must indeed be revealing to those who might not yet have picked up on the fundamental way in which he looks at these issues. The truth is that he's never been concerned about the...

Making the comparison between the following two recent stories might be a very obvious thing to do, but sometimes the obvious just cries out to be highlighted anyway. The first story is so horrible that it is extremely difficult even to contemplate. It’s the kind of story that makes you shake your head and then, understandably, want to just turn it away. A court in Oklahoma will nevertheless have to focus on all of the details at some point. On March 13th last, a perpetrator invaded the Tulsa home of 90-year-old Bob Strait and his 85-year-old wife Nancy. Nancy was...

It can really take one's breath away to see the explosion of hits and hit pieces on Newt Gingrich—from Republicans and/or conservatives—in the past 48 hours. (The Drudge Report has played a big role in marshaling and promoting the links and stories.) It's not news that Newt Gingrich is less than perfect, and although I continue to support him against Romney, I'm certainly not going to try to maintain he is a saint or a conservative of unimpeachable purity. Yet, the criticisms of Gingrich, while overwhelming in their sheer number and passion, do not convince me that Newt is less...

Last night's GOP debate in Tampa probably did not shift things dramatically. Neither "frontrunner" had a particularly great night, so I guess NBC and Brian Williams were the winners, for their assist in having the candidates make each other look bad. Rick Santorum had a reasonably strong night, but I don't know that it's going to fundamentally alter his candidacy's increasing sense of irrelevance. Mitt Romney obviously took some of Mark Steyn's advice and displayed more "fire in the belly;" at least when it came to forcefully attacking Newt Gingrich on multiple fronts. However, attacking other candidates in these debates...

Those in the Republican establishment who believe that Mitt Romney is the most electable (in November 2012) candidate currently running for the GOP presidential nomination ought to consider the following scenario extremely carefully and seriously: Ron Paul, after losing the GOP nomination, decides to run as a third party candidate. Ron Paul has all the things necessary to do so: a committed base of supporters across the country, a decent amount of money and the ability to raise more, and a good beginning at national name and face recognition (thanks to what he's stirred up during the GOP contest). Plus,...

Cornell Belcher, speaking on television to Anderson Cooper and Ari Fleischer, accused Herman Cain of racism and bigotry for saying that the explanation for black Americans voting in such a lopsided way for Democrats is that they've been "brainwashed." (96% of blacks are believed to have voted for Barack Obama in 2008; 88% of blacks are believed to have voted for John Kerry in 2004.) Belcher said among other things: ... it's really a teachable moment. You know, if I came on your show, Anderson, and I said, all Jewish people are brainwashed, I probably wouldn't be invited back to...

It is something which adds bitter insult to grievous injury, when a brutal killer is rewarded after the fact of his crimes by having his twisted personal manifesto widely publicized and analyzed, before the eulogies for the victims have even been heard. Often when it happens the killer himself is dead, but not so in the case of Anders Behring Breivik, who will apparently have the opportunity to enjoy his notoriety for many years to come, since Norway does not practice capital punishment Inevitably his 1518 pages of writing, titled "A European Declaration of Independence," will be pored over in...

The last time President Obama attempted to fundamentally shift U.S. policy against Israel, when he tried to order the Israeli government to prevent Jews from building homes in Jerusalem, the backlash -- domestically, and from Congress -- was so severe that he had to back down. On this occasion, the situation is still developing -- Netanyahu meets Obama today, and will himself address a joint session of the U.S. Congress on Tuesday -- but I think in this case the damage to Israel is all but impossible to undo. (File it under "elections have consequences.") President Obama will undoubtedly face...

In the latest issue of the magazine Commentary, there is an excellent article by Wilfred McClay titled “How to Understand Rush Limbaugh.” Those who listen to Rush’s show may question the need for such an explanation, but, although in his piece McClay points out the many ways in which the political left misunderestimates Limbaugh and continually gets played by him as a result, the real value of his article, especially in a forum like Commentary, is as a primer for those conservatives who still fail to get the El Rushbo phenomenon. Despite Limbaugh’s gargantuan ratings, there are still millions of...

The recent revolt in Tunisia has been followed by massive unrest in Egypt, and frustrations are beginning to bubble into actions in a number of other Middle-Eastern dictatorships. Is it 1989 again? Too soon to say that, but things are moving quickly, and, should Mubarak fall, it will surely encourage revolt in other nearby countries with underemployed and unhappy young populations. It was in 1987 that Ronald Reagan commanded Mikhail Gorbachev to “tear down this wall” in Berlin, and that was after two terms of a presidency in which he never stopped his rhetorical attack on the evils of communism....

Definition of NUDNIK: a person who is a bore or nuisance [from Yiddish - Websters]. ... President Obama's speech was so dull, and so without relevance to what will occur in the 112th Congress, that moving on from it with good speed is no doubt the smartest thing to do, although a few words seem to be demanded. (I had hoped the mixed-up seating of Republicans and Democrats together would at least result in a few fist-fights, but no such good fortune.) Even the AP, fact checking his laundry list this morning, is willing to pronounce it sheer fantasy. He...

It's been interesting, if at the same time stomach-churning, to see the news gradually emerge on how an abortion doctor in Philadelphia was able to get away with murder for over 16 years. Dr. Kermit Gosnell has recently been formally charged with murder, based on the death of a Bhutanese woman in 2009 and the deaths of seven documented "infants without identities" in his Philadelphia abortion clinic. As put somewhat apologetically by District Attorney Seth Williams: I am aware that abortion is a hot-button topic. But as district attorney, my job is to carry out the law. A doctor who...

We have also been told that Jared Loughner fled with that bag into the desert, and that his father, Randy Loughner, was concerned enough about this circumstance that he pursued his son. He failed to catch up with him. Now, it is reported that a black bag has been found in the vicinity of where the Loughners live, filled with 9mm ammunition -- the same kind used in the massacre in Tucson later that day. So here is the question: Why did Sarah Palin allow Jared Loughner to run away with ammunition without then notifying the authorities? Didn't Sarah Palin...

In the midst of all the fog, hypocrisy and nonsense, one enlightening fact has now emerged to answer the question, "What could have been done, that wasn't done, to prevent Jared Loughner's rampage?" There are no doubt a range of possible answers to that, but, according to a piece on NPR by Laura Sullivan, there is one very big and quite definite answer. The article is headlined "A Missed Chance To Intervene In Tucson?" Jared Loughner could have been involuntarily admitted for evaluation under Arizona's progressive mental health laws long before he allegedly showed up at a Tucson grocery store...

Two days later, the New YorkTimes inches towards the same assessment made here the day after the murders in Tucson for which Jared Loughner has been arrested. Not that the assessment I made wasn't pretty obvious and also made by many others not disabled by political blinders. From Benedict Carey in the Times: Red Flags at College, but Tied Hands. “I’d say the chances are 99 percent that he has schizophrenia,” said Dr. E. Fuller Torrey, the founder of the Treatment Advocacy Center in Arlington, Va., which advocates stronger laws to require treatment for people with severe mental illnesses. “He...

The interview with Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf on CNN the other night was instructive. I had no idea how almost fully in agreement he was with the critics of the Ground Zero Mosque. If you read the transcript you'll see that his argument in favor of keeping the mosque in the planned location is "national security." Basically, if it is moved, he maintains that many in the "Muslim world" will decide that "Islam is under attack," and therefore they will be more inclined towards violence against Americans. His argument against the burning of Korans by that pastor in Florida is...

Take yourself back to September 12th, 2001, if you can. Imagine, with the bodies still burning, the full death toll still unknown, the future of the war declared on us by Islamic jihadists unclear, that someone had told you: In nine years, a U.S. president named Barack Hussein Obama, at a White House dinner in honor of the Muslim holiday of Ramadan, will insist that a mosque should be built overlooking the mass grave of the victims of this attack. Breathtakingly bizarre, it would have seemed, and offensively ridiculous too. Surely anyone must admit that. And yet that's where we...

Hamas fired two Kassam rockets into Israel from the Gaza Strip earlier today, but that's far from the most serious attack being made on the Jewish state. Unable to defeat Israel in a direct military assault, her enemies have become well practiced at tactics that seek to damage her in the court of world opinion, to strip her of support (or even tolerance) and to encourage the kind of opposition that could ultimately break the nation's spirit. The inhabitants of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank receive more international aid per capita than any population on planet Earth. They...

The title above does not refer to the Greek apocalyptic debt contagion -- although that will spread soon enough -- but the contagion that causes elected officials in liberal localities of the U.S. to impose boycotts on Arizona, due to its recent law regarding illegal immigration (police are required to check the immigration status of those they have already legally stopped, arrested or detained when reasonable suspicion exists as to the legitimacy of that status). The New York City Council is the latest to take steps towards a boycott of Arizona. So, Iran marches brazenly towards the development and deployment...