December 2, 2020

2008 Redux?

The prospect of a potential Biden presidency and a radical left Democratic administration running the country fills me with dread. But I believe it is instructive to compare my dread to what I felt 12 years ago when I contemplated the imminent Obama ...

October 14, 2020

The Revolution the US is Experiencing – and What if it Succeeds

It may be difficult to admit that a full-scale revolution is brewing in the United States of America. While there are no guerilla bands pouring out of the mountains to attack towns or cities or government installations, recent violence by armed revol...

April 10, 2015

Hillary's not liberal enough?

According to an article in today's Wall Street Journal, the left wing of the Democrat Party is not happy about the fact that Hillary is virtually unchallenged for the party's presidential nomination.  Apparently "some Democrats thin...

March 7, 2015

Obama and the Jihadis: Blind Hatred Meets Self-Hatred Meets Alienation

President Barack Obama made two appalling statements recently. First, he characterized the Jewish victims of Islamo-terrorism in the Parisian Kosher market as merely victims "... of violent, vicious zealots who … randomly shoot a bunch of...

January 16, 2015

Which of the Two Dozen 2016 GOP Contenders is the Right One?

Although it is not without precedent, the number of potential contenders for the 2016 GOP presidential nomination exceeds two dozen. It's actually a somewhat ridiculous situation – especially as the number of Democrat candidates at this poi...

November 30, 2014

Please, Not Romney Again

The 2014 election is over, and attention has already turned to 2016.  Does the Republican success in this election portend a similarly favorable outcome in two years – as the Democrat congressional sweep in 2006 heralded the election of a ...

October 26, 2014

What's the Difference Between a Gunman and a Terrorist?

Compare the following reports – the first from the Toronto Sun describing the recent terrorist attack in Ottawa and the second from the Jerusalem Post detailing the  recent terrorist attack in Jerusalem: Two people are dead after at lea...

August 25, 2014

Why Do the People Abuse Themselves by Empowering Government?

There is nothing in the Constitution that grants the federal government the authority to regulate the health care industry, much less the right to actually administer any portion of it.  Of course, the same statement can be made about education,...

July 21, 2014

How far has Netanyahu been provoked?

President Obama might not be the only leader whose self-imposed red lines are drawn in disappearing ink. Until very recently, some were thinking that Benjamin Netanyahu might be predisposed to the same behavior. Netanyahu has been arguing for year...

June 26, 2014

For the US, there are No 'Good Guys' in Iraq-Syria

Now we learn that Syrian warplanes are attacking ISIS in western Iraq. There is no end to the flavor of Muslim forces that are battling Assad's government in Syria. But it is certain that among any of their arsenals, warplanes are not accounted f...

June 1, 2014

Homegrown Terrorists

The danger is here and now.  In an earlier post, AT editor Thomas Lifson reports on the activities of two homegrown terrorists: the French citizen who murdered an Israeli couple (and two more people) at the Brussels Jewish Museum and an American...

May 23, 2014

The Israeli One-State Solution

Caroline Glick has written a provocative new book entitled The Israeli Solution: A One State Plan for Peace in the Middle East. In it, she argues that the futile quest for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Arab conflict over the land between the Me...

March 12, 2014

Is Henninger Right about the 'Carterization' of Obama?

In a March 5 Wall Street Journal piece, Deputy Editor Daniel Henninger asserts that "it's official. Vladimir Putin has turned Barack Obama totally into Jimmy Carter." Henninger goes on to compare Obama's foreign policy disasters (Ir...

November 24, 2013

Where the Jews Are

Several reports of increasing anti-Semitism have appeared recently.  For example, a major story in the NY Times last month described renewed and virulent outbreaks of the deadly phenomenon in Hungary.  Alas, this is not an isola...

November 2, 2013

Obama's Lying Is Actually Cause for Optimism

Barack Obama is certainly an accomplished liar.  This essay will spotlight a few from among a lengthy list of his outrageous lies; consider whether it is possible that, in his mind, he is not lying; and then explain why the incessant prevar...

October 27, 2013

The Character of the American People: You Can't Have it Both Ways

The point of this essay is to reconcile -- if possible -- two inherently contradictory characteristics that conservatives attribute to the American people. Not surprisingly, these are difficult days for American conservatives.  The most r...

October 1, 2013

Obama Got What He Wanted

It has been observed that Obama is willing to negotiate with Putin of Russia, Xi of China, Rouhani of Iran, even (indirectly) Assad of Syria - not to mention any number of lesser tin pot dictators around the globe. But he is totally unwilling to nego...

August 12, 2013

Tea Party Redux?

Nine months after the election of Barack Obama, the country erupted in angry defiance to the radical left agenda that the new president was pursuing. The Tea Party movement was born. Spontaneous gatherings, raucous town meetings and unexpected politi...

August 2, 2013

Which Way the Wind is Blowing

How goes it for the American experiment? Not so well if one measures by three feature stories from today's Wall Street Journal: "Tepid Growth Restrains Fed," then "Branches of Military Battle Over Shrinking War Chest" and "In Newtown, Gun Permits Sur...

July 24, 2013

Big Government is Swallowing the NGOs

Several amazing statistics are given in a recent Wall Street Journal article that details the extent to which the activities of the nation's NGOs are now essentially controlled by Washington. It is one of the most remarkable features of the American ...

June 30, 2013

It's Time to Junk Oslo

Abba Eban, hardly a right-wing hardliner, once famously referred to the 1967 borders between Israel and its Arab neighbors as "Auschwitz borders."   With Israel confined to those borders (at one point less than 10 miles wide), the Arabs con...

June 15, 2013

Denial of Reality: Desperate Students, Peace in the Holy Land, and a Balanced Budget

Too frequently, in my role as a university professor, I encounter the following situation. Mid-semester, a student in my class shows up at my office.  The student has done almost no work and is failing badly.  Yet the prospect of a failin...

January 11, 2013

Obama's Minions and the 2014 Game Plan

Obama's selections for his second term senior leadership team reveal quite clearly what his game plan is for the next two years - and for the following two, for that matter. His picks, including Susan Rice (thwarted), John Kerry, Chuck Hagel, John Br...

December 26, 2012

Quoting Obama as We Fly Off the Fiscal Cliff

Many pundits on both sides of the spectrum postulate that we're going to plunge off the fiscal cliff in part because that is what Obama wants us to do. But too little ink has been devoted to an explanation of why he would harbor that desire. The answ...

July 10, 2012

Does the 'God Particle' Prove that God Does or Does Not Exist?

The scientific world is abuzz with news of the ratification of the existence of the subatomic particle called the Higgs boson - or more colloquially, the 'God particle.' This subatomic particle's existence - which was verified recently (with virtuall...

June 9, 2012

Which Is More Dangerous: Obama's Head or Obama's Heart?

Two of the more fascinating reads published recently are Mark Levin's Ameritopia and Dennis Prager's Still the Best Hope.  Both provide penetrating analysis on why a century of progressivism has propelled the USA to the brink of a national catas...

May 7, 2012

Japan's Nuclear Power Hara Kari

Any discussion of Japan and nuclear power is complicated by that country's history as the only nation ever to suffer a nuclear attack. That event continues to haunt the venerable Pacific nation. This is an immutable truth that one must accept regardl...

April 5, 2012

King Kennedy

The well-respected columnist Charles Krauthammer recently referred to Justice Anthony Kennedy as "essentially the reigning monarch of the United States." This reference to Justice Kennedy's presumed exalted stature derives from his long-held position...

March 5, 2012

Netanyahu's Existential Decision

For the fourth time in Israel's relatively brief existence, its prime minister is faced with an existential choice, a matter to be the focus of his talks with President Obama today.  Anyone who is paying attention recognizes that Benjamin Netany...

February 11, 2012

Some additional Federal insurance 'mandates'

The arrogance of the Obama administration knows no bounds. First, it simply announces that under the mandate of Obamacare, religious-based organizations will have to provide health insurance benefits that violate the moral precepts of their religion....

February 4, 2012

Hesitatingly, Disappointedly, and Agonizingly...for Mitt

Conservatives were greatly encouraged by the results of the 2010 national elections.  Furthermore, they were excited about the Republicans completing the sweep in 2012 by taking the Senate and the White House.  The chance to not only defeat...

January 26, 2012

Obama's Greenness Connotes Envy, not Environmentalism

Now we know that Mitt Romney earns more than $20 million per year, out of which he "contributes" roughly equal amounts to Uncle Sam and to charity. Different folks react to that news in different ways, but I believe it is accurate to say that the per...

December 20, 2011

Obama's Chance at a Two-Term Presidency

One of the greatest gifts that America has given to the world is the idea that the leader of a nation should be chosen freely by its people.  Well, perhaps the notion did not originate in America, but the Yanks certainly showed the world how to ...

December 14, 2011

Israel as the West's Isaac

David Mamet makes an amazing accusation in an article in the September 13 issue of the Wall Street Journal. He speculates as to why the West seems to be so willing, even anxious, to throw Israel under the Muslim bus. He is aghast that, faced with Ira...

December 8, 2011

Moral Equivalence in Brussels

The name Howard Gutman has been in the news recently. He is the Jewish lawyer whose work for Obama in the 2008 presidential campaign was rewarded with an appointment as Ambassador to Belgium. He made a speech on November 30 at a conference in Brussel...

November 23, 2011

Last Idol Standing?

The process of selecting a Republican presidential candidate to oppose President Obama resembles a combination of American Idol and Whack-a-Mole.  The contestants compete in preliminary popularity rounds, and the people vote via opinion polls....

November 2, 2011

Is Herman Cain the Answer?

Whenever I see the inane bumper sticker War Is Not the Answer, I always think: That depends on what the question is. If Roosevelt had answered the real question posed to him by the Japanese 70 years ago according to the bumper sticker, then the idiot...

October 23, 2011

Two Visions, but Blindness Everywhere

A common lament these days is that Washington is so polarized that it cannot get anything done.  The Democratic Party -- dominated by its ultra-liberal wing since the nomination of George McGovern -- has an insatiable appetite for large governme...

October 21, 2011

Which is the Real Rick Perry?

I just read Rick Perry's 2010 book, Fed Up. Actually, I've been reading the books of all the Republican presidential contenders - at least those who've published one recently. That includes Cain, Gingrich, Paul, Pawlenty and Romney; Huntsman and Sant...

October 15, 2011

Contrary Thoughts on a Thousand for One

The Israelis just agreed to swap more than a thousand Palestinian terrorists for the kidnapped Israeli soldier, Gilad Schalit. Schalit, his family and friends - indeed all Israelis - have suffered under the terrible burden of his captivity over the l...

September 22, 2011

A Mind-Boggling Jobs Bill

There is a powerful op-ed (A Jobs Bill That Boggles the Mind) in the Sept 21 Wall Street Journal by Harvey Golub of the American Enterprise Institute in which he skewers President Obama's jobs bill, perhaps better known as Stimulus 2. As a foretaste ...

September 16, 2011

Morally conflicted Israelis on the Big Screen

The new Hollywood thriller, The Debt, is another exercise in one of tinseltown's favorite themes - moral relativism. In this film, a group of three Israeli agents, infiltrated into East Berlin in the mid 1960s in order to capture a notorious Nazi con...

September 10, 2011

I Took a Look at a Book on my Nook

I love books, always have. For most of my life I was a frequent patron of the local library. But some years ago, I started buying the books that I read - mostly from Amazon, but other online sites as well, e.g., the Conservative Book Club.  In t...

August 14, 2011

The Stock Market is Making Me Nauseous

Last summer I posted an entry in the AT blog entitled The Stock Market is Making Me Dizzy. In that piece I bemoaned the - what seemed at the time - wild gyrations in the stock market.  I pointed out that as a newly retired person, it was very di...

July 30, 2011

America Abdicates

The story in today's Wall Street Journal about the death of a Libyan rebel leader also describes the unending ebb and flow of the battle lines between Kaddafi's forces and those of the rag-tag group of "patriots" who oppose them. More generally, the ...

July 19, 2011

Debt Debate Discloses Dems' Depravity

George W. Bush drove the car straight toward the ditch, but the Obama-Pelosi-Reid team accelerated the vehicle and now we are either in the ditch or at best teetering precipitously on the edge. When Bush left office, the annual budget deficit was a s...

July 4, 2011

Learning From the Worst Presidents

An increasing number of Americans -- and not just conservatives -- are expressing the opinion that Barack Obama's presidency is as calamitous for the United States as was that of Jimmy Carter.  If so, then in the relatively short span of three d...

May 27, 2011

America's Attitude toward Israel Proves that the US is Still Exceptional

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May 8, 2011

How Apprehensive Should an Israeli Be?

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March 26, 2011

Danger in the Census Numbers

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February 19, 2011

America's Immigration Problem

My four grandparents immigrated to the United States from Poland at different times, but all approximately a century ago. They and most of their siblings -- a few stayed behind and were eventually consumed in the Holocaust -- were part of a massive 4...

November 27, 2010

The GOP and Race

An op-ed piece in the November 10 issue of the Wall Street Journal entitled "The GOP‘s Racial Challenge" has been troubling me since I read it. The author, Zolton Hajnal, a faculty member at the University of California, San Diego, ma...

October 20, 2010

The unintended consequences of missile defense

There is a remarkable article in the October issue of The American Spectator by John Train entitled At Sea on an Aegis Destroyer. In it, Train gives a very upbeat assessment of the status of American capabilities at sea-based ballistic missile defe...

October 17, 2010

Hayek, Libertarians, and Conservatives

Sixty-six years after its original publication, Friedrich Hayek's masterpiece, The Road to Serfdom, continues to inspire legions of both mature and aspiring devotees of individual liberty, free markets and limited government. Hayek's explanations of ...

July 11, 2010

The Stock Market is Making Me Dizzy

One week the Dow is down 500 points. The next week it is up 500 points. The volatility is driving me nuts. I retired this year and soon I will be taking distributions from my 401(k) to supplement my retirement pension income. A hefty chunk of that 40...

July 5, 2010

My Shaky Government Pensions

On July 1, 2010, I retired from a major East Coast State University after more than forty years on the Mathematics faculty. When I was hired in the late 1960s, I enrolled in the state's Teacher Pension Plan, a defined benefit plan. Over the years, I ...

May 26, 2010

Obama the Warrior

Our postmodern president trots around the globe bowing to our enemies, pledging to disarm, sundering our alliances, denigrating the country he heads, and humiliating the leaders of our (former) closest allies. He eviscerates our arsenal, dismantles o...

May 7, 2010

What's up with these 'incompetent' terrorists?

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March 27, 2010

Federalized Higher Education

While we are all focused on health care, while immigration and cap-and-trade wait in the wings, we shouldn't forget the fourth leg of Obama's nasty tricks to "change" America: education reform. One might argue that George W. Bush already fe...

March 27, 2010

Is all the pessimism justified?

Many of my readers have chastised me for excessive pessimism. One of my articles (in another magazine) entitled "Is America Doomed" has been cited as especially gloomy. But consider the words of nationally syndicated columnist Jeffrey Kuhne...

February 22, 2010

Netanyahu's agony

In the 1920s, an Austrian madman announced that he would take control of Germany and use that position to murder millions of Jews. Scarcely anyone believed him. But he made good on his promise. He could have been stopped. However, the nations in a po...

February 14, 2010

Comparative religion 101: Climate change and Islam

"Allah is God, Mohammed is His prophet and the Koran is the message." That commonly-used apothegm encapsulates the core belief of the Muslim religion. Well how about: "The Earth is God, Al Gore is its prophet and Global Warming is the ...

January 24, 2010

Obama's bank bashing killing wealth creation

There was a period about ten months ago when every time Obama opened his mouth, the stock market plunged another 100 points. At that time, the Anointed One rarely missed an opportunity to trash the insurance industry, the pharmaceutical industry, aut...

January 3, 2010

George Gilder's Israel Test: Who Passes? Who Fails?

In his remarkably philo-Semitic book The Israel Test, George Gilder poses a short series of moral questions to both individuals and nations, the answers to which determine on which side the respondent falls in the ongoing struggle for the political, ...

October 6, 2009

Swimming Upstream: The Life of a Conservative Professor in Academia

I have been a faculty member at a major State University for 40 years. Several years after my arrival, I voted for George McGovern. Eight years later, I voted for Ronald Reagan. In those eight years, my family and I experienced several traumas that c...

September 18, 2009

Tea Party Diversity

I went to the Tea Party -- or as it was known alternatively, the Taxpayer's Protest Rally -- in Washington, DC on September 12. It was self-evidently an authentic grass roots event, and a rewarding experience.But I was troubled that the large crowd w...

August 15, 2009

A Fundamental Disconnect

Hollywood and the media routinely offer up two standard portrayals of government officials -- inept and comical idiots or sinister characters. The latter is especially true of media depictions of NSA, CIA, and FBI employees, but both are quite typica...