Back in 2007, when Barack Obama was running for president, a mildly surprising bit of news emerged: He and Dick Cheney were eighth cousins. Today, though, it appears that report was wrong. Judging from Obama’s record in office, the two are practically brothers. As a candidate, Obama criticized the last administration for holding Americans … Read more
“I don’t think Ron Paul represents the mainstream,” says Mitt Romney. Newt Gingrich, another of the Texas congressman’s opponents in the contest for the Republican presidential nomination, uses stronger terms, declaring, “Ron Paul’s views are totally outside the mainstream of virtually every decent American.” As the results in Iowa suggest, the “mainstream” to which … Read more
After Moammar Gadhafi’s downfall as Libya’s tyrannical ruler, politicians and “experts” in the U.S. and elsewhere, including French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe, are saying that his death marked the end of 42 years of tyranny and the beginning of democracy in Libya. Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., said Gadhafi’s death represented an opportunity for Libya … Read more
Defense Secretary Robert Gates went to Europe recently to announce that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization may have a “dismal future” and that before long, American leaders “may not consider the return on America’s investment in NATO worth the cost.” Why does he make that sound like a bad thing? “Watch out! We may … Read more
The Libyan affair — one does not know what to call it; not a war precisely, more an “experimental bombing” — is one in which both Canada and the United States are participating. We have a general election going on up here in the Great White North (where it is still snowing as I write, … Read more
America’s founding documents — the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, and the Federalist Papers — are, when read, potentially lethal. Debates about American exceptionalism abound. Writing in the Wall Street Journal before the bombings in Libya, Daniel Henninger brought these currents together in the context of present Arab world turmoil as they relate to Chinese … Read more
In his weekly blessing yesterday, Pope Benedict called for an end to the fighting in Libya: “My fear for the safety and well-being of the civilian population is growing, as is my apprehension over how the situation is developing with the use of arms,” the pope said. “To international agencies and to those with political … Read more
The tragic 6.3 magnitude earthquake which hit New Zealand’s largest city on February 25th added an eerie element to the series of man made upheavals in north Africa. In short order, the governments of Tunisia, Egypt, and imminently Libya, fell as a spontaneous and explosive wave of street protests forced out their long time rulers. … Read more
On December 21, 1988, Pan Am Flight 103 exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing all 259 aboard and 11 on the ground. The plane was brought down by a bomb planted by Libyan terrorist Abdel Baset al-Megrahi, who was later arrested and sentenced to life imprisonment… …That is, until al-Megrahi contracted prostate cancer, and was released … Read more