The Washington Times Bill Gertz reports today that the U.S.is penalizing eight Chinese firms for exporting germ-weapons materials and missile technology to countries like Iran. The sales occurred between September 2000 and October 2001 and violated the Iran-Iraq Nonproliferation Act of 1992. The act mandates sanctions against companies or governments that make sales that "could […]
An editorial in today's Washington Post takes Bush to task for defending Vice President Dick Cheney. PEOPLE SAY that Harvey Pitt, the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, damages the president's post-Enron credibility. On Wednesday, however, it was the president who damaged Mr. Pitt's credibility. At a news conference with Poland's president, Mr. Bush […]
OpinionJournal.com's "Tony & Tacky" piece this week features an Ohio woman who is suing the Brookfield (Pa.) School District for $1.5 million. Why? Well it seems her son wanted to write about Jesus being the person who most influenced him for a essay assignment. The teacher said nope, because Jesus was not a real person. […]
National Review Online has posted a letter from Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage to Deputy Attorney General Larry D. Thompson. The important part: Unfortunately, the information we have received from FTTTF (Foreign Terrorist Tracking Task Force) so far has been insufficient to permit a consular officer to deny a visa. The information we have […]
I've said before that Social Security is broken. It's a simple issue of demographics -- in coming years there won't be nearly enough workers to support the growing number retirees. Many officials have set the date that Social Security stops being able to pay its obligations at sometime in the 2040s or 2050s, depending on […]
I got the book. Read it. Loved it. Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to see the movie in the theaters. The trailers had made me a little wary. It seemed, at first glance, that God had been taken out of the movie. However, I got the movie on Friday and watched it over the […]
What would Krugman have done if he'd been writing for the New York Times at the beginning of the Clinton administration? Would he have been decrying Hillary's health care task force and its refusal to release minutes from its meetings? Would he have been critical of Clinton as allegations arose bout him using state troopers […]
On "Meet the Press" today, host Tim Russert took pains to point out in the Xerox accounting scandal that the SEC fine was $10 million -- on an overstatement of $6 billion. Yes, the fine is a pittance -- but who pays that fine? Give you a hint: It's not the accountants, the board of […]
A friend of mine sent me a short e-mail with a link to the Fox News story on how the South African version of Sesame Street plans to introduce a muppet who is HIV+ when the fall season starts up. My first response was: ho-hum. If Sesame Street plays it like it says it will, […]