Opinion Forum

The First Collectivist

November 18th, 2009

By Brianna Aubin When the Communists, Fascists, and Socialists started advocating their ideas around the turn of the 20th century, they billed them as completely new and radical ideologies. Little did they know that they had already been scooped… by a guy who had been dead for literally over two millenia. Their predecessor’s name? Plato [...]

Articles written by Brianna Aubin
Tags: Aristotle, Ayn Rand, communism, fascism, Plato, socialism, The Republic
Categories: History, Life, Politics | Comments (3) | Home

Veterans Campaign on Environmental Issues

November 17th, 2009

By Jan Barry After Army tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, Captain Mike Breen (photo at left) is on a new mission—seeking to convince fellow Americans that our addiction to fuel from Middle Eastern oil wells is a dire threat to our soldiers in combat and our security at home. Breen, a former infantry platoon leader, [...]

Articles written by Jan Barry
Tags: energy dependence, energy policy, environment, veterans
Categories: Military, News, Politics | Comments (1) | Home

Terrorists and Criminals

November 17th, 2009

By Tom Carter I’ve been reading a lot the past few days about the decision of the Attorney General and the President to try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and a few of his fellow terrorists in federal court in New York City. Most liberals support the decision, and most conservatives don’t. That’s routine in today’s highly partisan political environment. [...]

Articles written by Tom Carter
Tags: federal court, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, New York, security, terrorism, trial
Categories: Military, News, Politics | Comments (3) | Home

Abortion and Health Care

November 16th, 2009

By Tom Carter Senate Democrats will presumably get their act together and bring a health care bill to a vote someday. Whether the Senate bill includes some form of a public option is not the only issue that may cause the bill to fail. The question of whether it will include a prohibition against spending federal [...]

Articles written by Tom Carter
Tags: abortion, bill, Catholic, health care, legislation
Categories: Life, News, Politics | Comments (4) | Home

Coming to a City Near You?

November 14th, 2009

By Larry Ennis The Attorney General set a thought-provoking precedent today when he announced his intention to transfer some of the terrorists being held in Cuba as military prisoners to a jail in New York and try them in a civilian court. This particular group of killers includes Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, thought to be the [...]

Articles written by Larry Ennis
Tags: justice, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, terrorism, Timmothy McVeigh, trials
Categories: Military, News, Politics | Comments (3) | Home

President Obama Bows Again

November 14th, 2009

By Tom Carter Well, President Obama has now bowed before the Emperor of Japan, symbolizing the superiority of this head of state over himself and his country. Say what you want, but it’s not just a sign of respect. It might be interpreted that way if the Emperor had bowed in return, but he didn’t, [...]

Articles written by Tom Carter
Tags: bow, Emperor of Japan, Obama, respect, sovereignty
Categories: News, Politics | Comments (10) | Home

End the Fed

November 14th, 2009

By Brianna Aubin If you asked most people to name one of the most powerful, elusive, independent, and secretive arms of the federal government, they would probably reply with one of the nation’s law-enforcement or intelligence-gathering outfits, such as the FBI, CIA, NSA, or NRO. Very few people would suggest that the real answer might be the U.S. [...]

Articles written by Brianna Aubin
Tags: banks, Federal Reserve, inflation, interest rates, money supply, recession
Categories: Economics, History, Politics | Comments (13) | Home

Pity the Poor Mujahid

November 13th, 2009

By Tom Carter The proper Arabic term for someone like Major Nidal Hasan who fought to advance jihad by the terrorist murder of unarmed American soldiers is mujahid. So let’s all pity Hasan, the poor mujahid. That, at least, is the view of some leftists and much of the mainstream media. Hasan displayed the courage [...]

Articles written by Tom Carter
Tags: Fort Hood, Hasan, Islam, jihad, mujahid, Muslim, terrorism
Categories: Media, Military, News, Politics | Comments (5) | Home

Straws and Camels’ Backs

November 12th, 2009

By Larry Ennis Seems like everything is coming to a head at the same time. Unemployment passed 10 percent and is still rising. Obama and company continue their drive to create a monster and call it health care reform. Our military in Afghanistan continues to operate without proper attention from the Commander in Chief. We’d [...]

Articles written by Larry Ennis
Tags: Fort Hood, green jobs, Obama, terrorism, unemployment
Categories: Economics, Life, Military, Politics | Comments (14) | Home

When Losing is Winning

November 12th, 2009

By Brianna Aubin Last summer, I stumbled upon a contest being run by a company called Dyalog to promote the APL programming language; it asked you to solve a set of problems that involved a combination of mathematics and programming while following certain contest-instituted guidelines. I had never heard of the APL language. In fact, [...]

Articles written by Brianna Aubin
Tags: APL, language, losing, programming, winning
Categories: Arts, Life | Comments (8) | Home

Thou Shall Not Govern

November 12th, 2009

By Harvey Grund When I ran across a recent article at Air America online titled Abortion Restrictions In House Bill Show Power Of Organized Religion In Politics, I broke into a sweat! (Well, not literally.) However, how could it be that I, a self-professed proponent of conservatism, could agree with anything that the “wacko libs” [...]

Articles written by Harvey Grund
Tags: abortion, conservative, health care, Law, liberal, religion
Categories: Life, Politics | Comments (12) | Home

Veterans Day

November 11th, 2009

By Tom Carter Veterans Day is one of the more serious and somber of the holidays Americans observe. That’s as it should be, for the purpose is to remember those who served our country in the armed forces, sometimes to the point of suffering grievous wounds or losing their lives. As people attend Veterans Day [...]

Articles written by Tom Carter
Tags: service, veteran, Veterans Day
Categories: Life, Military | Comments (3) | Home

Paglia on Pelosi and Health Care

November 11th, 2009

By Tom Carter Camille Paglia’s monthly column was published today at Salon.com. She discusses everything from Nancy Pelosi’s performance as Speaker of the House, health care reform, health care in other countries, and Obama’s decision on Afghanistan to Richard Dawkins on atheism, the study of anthropology, pop music, Madonna’s latest escapades, and more. As always, [...]

Articles written by Tom Carter
Tags: Afghanistan, health care, Obama, Paglia, Pelosi
Categories: Arts, Economics, Life, Politics | Comments (4) | Home

Dying on the Home Front

November 10th, 2009

By Jan Barry An estimated 2,200 U.S. military veterans died last year because they lacked private health insurance or access to VA health care, a study by a Harvard Medical School research team found. In contrast, there were 155 combat deaths among U.S. troops in Afghanistan in 2008, the researchers noted. “On this Veterans Day [...]

Articles written by Jan Barry
Tags: deaths, health care reform, health insurance, VA, veterans
Categories: Military, News, Politics | Comments (3) | Home

The Fall of the Berlin Wall

November 9th, 2009

By Tom Carter Today is the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. The event has special meaning for me since I was living and working in Berlin when it happened. I had been there for over a year when The Wall came down, and I stayed for almost a year afterward. This [...]

Articles written by Tom Carter
Tags: Berlin, Checkpoint Charlie, The Wall
Categories: History, Life, Military | Comments (11) | Home

Dreams and Audacity

November 8th, 2009

By Tom Carter I’ve read both of President Obama’s books,* Dreams from My Father and The Audacity of Hope. I recommend them to anyone who has an interest in politics generally or Barack Obama in particular. I doubt that reading the books will change anyone’s basic opinion of the President and his political views. However, [...]

Articles written by Tom Carter
Tags: Dreams from My Father, Obama, The Audacity of Hope
Categories: Arts, Life, Politics | Comments (4) | Home

Health Care and Sausage

November 7th, 2009

By Tom Carter They say you shouldn’t watch sausage being made if you ever want to eat it again. The same applies to the legislative process in Congress, especially where the issues are as complex and controversial as health care. These particular sausage makers disagree on what the ingredients should be, how much of what [...]

Articles written by Tom Carter
Tags: bill, health care reform, legislation, sausage
Categories: Economics, News, Politics | Comments (2) | Home

Ignoring the Obvious

November 6th, 2009

By Tom Carter Like many other people, I’ve been following the news of the massacre at Fort Hood. There are a lot of things about it that aren’t surprising, including who the killer is, what his motives were, and how the mainstream media is covering it. How many were surprised to find that his name [...]

Articles written by Tom Carter
Tags: Islam, Muslim, Nidal Malik Hasan, PTSD, terrorism
Categories: Media, Military, News, Politics | Comments (20) | Home

Think Green, Go Green

November 5th, 2009

By Jan Barry America is in the midst of massive change as sweeping as the transformation in daily life from horse-drawn wagons to horseless carriages, candle light to electric lights, and farm work to factory work that swirled through the nation a century ago. A cutting edge of 21st century change is the spiraling use [...]

Articles written by Jan Barry
Tags: environment, farming, green jobs, renewable energy, sustainability
Categories: Economics, Life, News, Politics | Comments (5) | Home

Doctors On Strike?

November 5th, 2009

By Brianna Aubin In an article in Investor’s Business Daily, 45% of doctors said in a national survey that they’d consider quitting under Obama’s health care plan. This translates to roughly 360,000 doctors out of 800,000. Seventy-two percent of doctors said that they disagree with the claim that Obama’s plan can cover 47 million more [...]

Articles written by Brianna Aubin
Tags: doctors, health care, socialized medicine, uninsured
Categories: Economics, News, Politics | Comments (10) | Home