Free Republic

Why haven't the rating agencies that were complicit in the subprime-mortgage securities scandal suffered the fate of Arthur Andersen? Despite some moves in Congress to change their behavior, U.S. authorities are still treating the agencies with extreme gentleness. Moody's and Standard & Poor's, the two giants of the industry, are still around despite causing the loss of hundreds of billions of dollars by badly rating subprime-mortgage-backed securities. Not only that, they are basically doing business the same way, taking fat fees from the investment banks whose securities they rate. In testimony before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform...

A Sussex, N.J. man who did a little too much partying at Musikfest woke up in police custody, but as bad as that sounds it was a lot better than where they found him. "Basically, they found him unconscious in a porta-potty," said Bethlehem Police Lt. Joseph Kimock. According to a report filed by police, Gregory Stone, 37, was found in a portable toilet at the Plaza Tropical venue, at 1:26 a.m. Sunday -- more than two hours after Musikfest had closed.

For those of you with a partisan bent, I have some bad news: Our federal government may work better (less badly) when at least one chamber of Congress is controlled by a party other than the party of the president. The general reason for this is that each party has the opportunity to block the most divisive measures proposed by the other party. Other conditions, of course, also affect political outcomes, but the following types of evidence for this hypothesis are too important to ignore: Point One. The rate of growth of real (inflation-adjusted) federal spending is usually lower with...

Since January of this year, has it occurred to anyone as to why the Democrats are in such a hurry to push their harmful legislation through quickly? I have a theory* about this and it has to do with the realization that with their man in the White House, the current leadership of both Houses understand that they will likely lose their majority come November of 2010. They Understand that once legislation is passed, it will not only take a new Republican majority to repeal their legislation but a super majority. Let me explain… There are 435 seats in the...

In 1998, the year Hugo Chavez was elected president, there were 22,000 Jews in Venezuela. Today the Jewish population is estimated at between 10,000 and 15,000. Those numbers tell a story, and it's not a happy one. The Jews of Venezuela are fleeing to Miami, Madrid and elsewhere because of the anti-Semitism they face at home. In an interview this week in Washington, D.C., the country's chief rabbi sounds a warning bell: "There's anxiety in the Jewish community because of what has happened," says Rabbi Pynchas Bremer, "and of course because of what may happen." Mr. Chavez's vitriol about Jews...