Free Republic

President Obama and the first family earned about two-thirds less in 2010 than the year before, and donated about 14% of their income to charity. The Obama family, in tax returns released Monday by the White House, reported an adjusted gross income of $1,728,096, down from about $5.5 million in 2009. The Obamas reported paying $453,770 in federal taxes. They donated $245,075, or 14% of their income, to 36 different charities. Fisher House Foundation, a charity that works with veterans, took home the biggest single donation. The president earns a salary of $400,000 for his day job. His paycheck was...

'You kids!" my mother ritually despaired in my childhood. "You're so - negative!" That line has been a standing joke between my brothers and me for decades, ruefully repeated at my mother's expense. But she had a point. We were a critical bunch. On into my middle age, much of my non-fiction commentary has continued to deplore this, to ridicule that. I am still "negative". Yet, like many of my American compatriots this week, I have been enjoying the unnerving experience of being for something. Of being encouraged. Of daring to believe that something in my country has improved. Of...