I have long chronicled the decline of moral values in America, but I must admit that even I was shocked to read recently that the Centers for Disease Control has estimated that nearly 40 percent of American births in 2007 occurred out of wedlock. Perhaps it’s unsurprising when teenagers or members of lower socioeconomic classes … Read more
In Monday’s meeting at the White House, President Barack Obama strongly urged Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to reopen the peace process toward a two-state solution with the Palestinians. Obama also told Netanyahu, with surprising bluntness, “Settlements have to be stopped.” The response from Netanyahu was ambiguous. At first he said he would pursue the … Read more
As angry as many people were about the bailout of Wall Street, something else makes people just about as angry: falling stock prices. It is probably for this reason that Washington decided to take the risk and push one of the more outrageously extravagant spending programs in the history of the world. The benefits of … Read more
“It is the duty of those serving the people in public place,” said Grover Cleveland in his first inaugural address in 1885, “to closely limit public expenditures to the actual needs of the government economically administered.” That was, for Cleveland, plain common sense, and his practice proved that he meant it. He was an implacable … Read more
After I finished with some business at the county building a few years ago, I went to fetch my daughter from the common area where she had been waiting. She was talking with another young girl, and I walked up to the two of them. “You look like your dad,” the other girl said. I … Read more
It was impossible not to feel a thrill of pleasure. The newspapers were heralding Boris Johnson’s triumphant win over his socialist opponent Ken Livingstone as mayor of London — part of a nationwide sweep as Conservatives romped to power in local authorities across Britain, trouncing Labour in the local elections. Media commentators started to talk … Read more