Free Republic

Since Joe Biden landed on the Democratic ticket, we've all been treated to commentary attesting to the Lincolnesque rise of this proud son of Scranton, Pa. Here we read the references to "working-class roots..." ...According to his most recent disclosure forms, Mr. Biden's income includes his Senate salary of $165,200 and a teaching stipend of $20,500 from Widener University. On top of this, he received $112,500 as the second half of a book advance. Even allowing for generous deductions, Mr. Biden's income comfortably locates him in the top 5% of American taxpayers... ...Mr. Bowers, a Republican seeking a seat in...

Democrats may be blasting Sarah Palin as a doctrinaire conservative, and Republicans may be embracing her for the same reason, but her husband and oldest son are independents. Or, more precisely, their party affiliation is listed as “undeclared” on voter registration records retrieved from the Alaska Division of Elections. Todd Palin, husband of the Alaska governor, hasn’t been affiliated with a party since he first registered to vote while he was in his early 20s, in 1989 — the year after he married Sarah Palin. And Track Palin, their 19-year-old son, registered as undeclared when he became eligible to vote...

The Census Bureau reported that the number of people lacking health insurance dropped by more than one million in 2007, the first annual decline since the Bush administration took office. The nation's poverty rate held steady at 12.5%, not statistically different from the 12.3% in 2006. That meant there were 37.3 million people living in poverty in 2007. The median, or midpoint, household income rose slightly to $50,200, marking the third consecutive annual increase. The statistics released Tuesday don't take into account the consequences of the economic downturn that began late last year. (See Census report.) Census said 45.7 million...

High-school students' performance on SAT college-entrance exams stalled, and the gap widened between low-scoring minority groups and the overall population, raising questions about the quality of teaching in U.S. schools. Average scores for the class of 2008 were 502 for the critical-reading section, 515 for mathematics and 494 for writing. Each of the three numbers was identical to the averages in 2007, meaning combined scores remain at the lowest level so far in the current decade. The reading scores of the past two years were the lowest since 1994. Math represented the worst showing since 2001. Each section is judged...

<p>The image of Joe Biden that Sen. Barack Obama’s presidential campaign and the dominant establishment media want Americans to accept may be that of a tempered, likable working-class Irish Catholic you’d love to have a beer with.</p> <p>In fact, Biden is known for opposing — and at times destroying — the Republican presidents’ nominees for top jobs. During George H.W. Bush’s administration, for instance, he helped squash fellow Sen. John Tower’s nomination to be secretary of defense in 1989.</p>

'In Russia," wrote the great scholar of Russian imperialism Dietrich Geyer many years ago, "expansion was an expression of economic weakness, not exuberant strength." Keep this observation in mind as Vladimir Putin and his minions bask in the glow of Western magazine cover stories about Russia's "resurgence" following its splendid little war against plucky little Georgia. The Kremlin is certainly confident these days, buoyed by years of rising commodity prices and a bullying foreign policy that mistakes fear for respect -- the very combination that made the Soviet Union seem invincible in the 1970s. ...Take something as basic as demography....

Things are supposed to be looking rosy for Democrats this November. But in case Barack Obama loses the Presidency, an excuse is all ready to go: America's too racist to elect a black man. This narrative has gained traction with the Democratic Presidential candidate's recent setbacks in the polls. We hear it from the convention crowd in Denver and liberals in the press. The older, poorer, white, often Hillary voter who sounds ambivalent about the Obama coronation is an enticing scapegoat. ...There are Americans who judge politicians by their race, or gender, or religion; Mr. Obama will certainly carry the...

The real reason why an Obama-Biden ticket is a vulnerable one is that it plays into one of the few strengths that Republicans and John McCain have in the 2008 election. A weak economy, a surge in Democratic voter registration, an unpopular Republican president, a sour public mood, a desire for political change -- all those favor Mr. Obama and Democrats. But what Mr. Obama has done is create an all-liberal ticket -- a very, very liberal one, at that -- in a nation whose electorate is still center-right. The political mood may be a bit more centrist today than...

...Senator Barack Obama goes into the Democratic convention in Denver with a clear challenge: to match the soaring oratory that brought him to this moment in history with a strong and detailed explanation of how he will address the country’s many dire problems... "... Although the sputtering economy has replaced war as the most important issue cited by voters in public opinion polls, this remains a nation at war. It needs to hear how Mr. Obama will safely extricate American troops from Iraq, where Mr. Bush’s surge has reduced casualties from catastrophic to simply intolerable levels, and how he will...

So Hillary Clinton gets about 18 million votes in 2008, and isn’t even considered for--she apparently isn’t even given the courtesy of being consulted--the vice presidential pick. Joe Biden manages to persuade a few thousand (if that) Iowans to support him. And Barack Obama selects Biden? Normally, if the VP pick came from that year’s presidential field, it's the runner-up (Kerry-Edwards in 2004, Reagan-Bush in 1980, Stevenson-Kefauver in 1956). (Lyndon Johnson in 1960 hadn’t entered the primaries.) And Biden wasn’t even the third most successful candidate this year (hi, John Edwards!), or fourth (Bill Richardson, I suppose), or fifth (Dennis...

...Obama would have the top 1% of income-tax payers handing over an average of $93,700 more - to $652,900. McCain would reduce the group's taxes by $48,860 to $510,320. While appealing, it fails to address the impact such a blow to the super-rich's disposable income could have: These folks tend to plow a lot of their money into businesses -- from family operations to blue-chip stocks -- to say nothing of shopping trips and travel. In other words, cutting their after-tax income could deal another blow to an already-hobbled economy. Investment strategist Michael Aronstein notes a similar plan, implemented by...

Four years ago Obama was in a tight race with a Republican opponent--Jack Ryan. Wikipedia records what happpened. ...Ryan married actress Jeri Ryan in 1991; together they have a son, Alex Ryan. They divorced in 1999 in California, and the records of the divorce were sealed at their mutual request. Five years later, when Ryan's Senate campaign began, the Chicago Tribune newspaper and WLS-TV, the local ABC affiliate, sought to have the records released. On March 3, 2004, several of Ryan's GOP primary opponents urged release of the records.Both Ryan and his wife agreed to make their divorce records public,...

America's first charter school opened in Minnesota in 1992. Sixteen years later, there are 4,128 charter schools educating 1.24 million students in 40 states and the District of Columbia. Another 300 to 400 are expected to open in the coming school year. Charter schools are public schools, but they are very different. The Center for Education Reform's 2008 Annual Survey reports that responding charter schools are one-third smaller than conventional public schools, with about 348 students, compared with 521. They spend less—about $7,625 per student, compared with $9,138 in public schools—and they receive only about 61% of the per pupil...

...High energy prices also have an unforeseen bright side, forcing the nation to reduce its carbon emissions and delivering the encouraging message that, although we might not regain the freewheeling way of life that came with cheap gasoline, we have more ability to shape our fates than the caricature of the soft, spoiled American implied. The first sign was when SUVs went from being the belles of the freeway to oversized wallflowers. Thirteen miles per gallon isn't just expensive; it's no longer chic. As U.S. automakers gear up for a new motoring sensibility, we can look forward to a more...

Imagine that America had no system of post-secondary education, and you were a member of a task force assigned to create one from scratch. One of your colleagues submits this proposal: First, we will set up a single goal to represent educational success, which will take four years to achieve no matter what is being taught. We will attach an economic reward to it that seldom has anything to do with what has been learned. We will urge large numbers of people who do not possess adequate ability to try to achieve the goal, wait until they have spent a...

After studying the average yearly price of gasoline from 1949 to 2007, and assigning the number "1" to the ratio in 1960, we found today's prices comparable to what they were in 1960 (1.35 today to 1.00 in 1960, with a high of 3.32 in 1998). The higher the gasoline affordability index figure, the lower the price of gasoline relative to disposable income. Anger about rising fuel prices has taken a while to build because, until the last year or so, the increases could be shrugged off as natural year-to-year price variation. Moreover, pump prices still seemed relatively cheap given...

But if history is a guide, governors and legislators across the country will seek to avoid the difficult choices that are required. Instead, they will likely pass the costs of the services that we enjoy today on to our children and grandchildren, through creatively deceptive budgeting. This is a time-honored practice. In 1991, the State of New York sold Attica prison to none other than itself. The buyer was a state agency that financed the $200 million purchase price by issuing bonds. The agency then leased the prison back to the state, with the lease payments being equal to the...

Companies throughout the food chain are changing the way they do business in response to soaring grain costs, and consumers are likely to bear the brunt in the form of rising food prices. Farmers are making the broadest cuts to their livestock herds in decades, meaning meat at the supermarket will likely cost more in coming years. Middlemen are trying to shorten the duration of supply contracts to 90 days from one year so they can pass on higher costs more quickly. And food brands are shrinking the contents of their packages, from ice-cream cartons to beverage containers. ...In another...

Democrats have been adamantly opposed. They say that we cannot drill our way out of the oil crisis. Of course not. But it is equally obvious that we cannot solar or wind or biomass our way out. Does this mean that because any one measure cannot solve a problem, it needs to be rejected? Barack Obama remains opposed to new offshore drilling (although he now says he would accept a highly restricted version as part of a comprehensive package). Just last week, he claimed that if only Americans would inflate their tires properly and get regular tuneups, "we could save...

This is a summary review of Governor Pawlenty's political career. It begins with this paragraph: "As is his way, Gov. Tim Pawlenty made a self-deprecating aside on a local radio show this spring during the ceremonial start of the state’s beloved fishing season. He praised his wife’s willingness to fish with him and to watch hockey games, then added, “And I jokingly say, ‘Now, if I could only get her to have sex with me.’ ” While this is a long article, a brief summary can be found in the paragraph: "...For Mr. McCain, whose campaign would not comment about...