Earlier this month President Barack Obama signed a law raising the cigarette tax 62 cents a pack, bringing the total federal tax to $1.01. The additional income (assuming that the increased costs don't result in decreased consumption and less net income) will be used to fund the State Children's Health Insurance Program for the poor, […]
You're probably asking yourself what the heck is dendroclimatology? Well, it's the study of tree rings to determine past climate. It's one of the key tools that the AGW alarmists use to show that it was cooler way back then than it is now -- and it's all our fault. You might have learned back […]
What's the stereotype? Today's stereotype is: Whiney liberal feminist (but I repeat myself, repeatedly): COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg says it's lonely being the only woman on the U.S. Supreme Court. The 76-year-old Ginsburg told law students at Ohio State University that she misses her former colleague, Sandra Day O'Connor, who retired […]
President Barack Obama is pushing a cap-and-trade program that has the ultimate goal of reducing carbon dioxide emissions in the name of halting global warming. It accomplishes this by artificially raising prices of carbon-based fuels -- coal, natural gas, gasoline -- in order to discourage their use. It's called cap-and-trade, but it's really a big […]
Pastor Rick Warren, author of the bestselling book "The Purpose-Driven Life," was on Hugh Hewitt's radio show earlier this week. Warren talked about a variety of things, but one issue that was just mentioned in passing jumped out at me. HH: Rick Warren, to wrap this one up before we talk about the church in […]
Once again, college administrators have demonstrated that they don't think the First Amendment applies to the campus: Two students who were threatened with suspension at the College of Alameda after one of them prayed with an ailing teacher in a faculty office can sue the community college district for allegedly violating their freedom of speech, […]
Earlier this year, tucked in the massive stimulus bill, was a sop to the teachers union in Washington, D.C. The bill effectively killed the D.C. opportunity scholarships that gave a few lucky poor children an out from D.C.'s atrocious public school system. I'm not a proponent of taxpayer-funded vouchers for kids generally. I think the […]
I was going to let last week's brouhaha on the right side of the blogosphere slide. For those of you who don't get out much, at last week's meeting of the G-20, President Barack Obama bowed to the Saudi kinglet. He shouldn't have done it. It was a meaningless gesture. It was a minor diplomatic […]
Professor Robert P. George has an excellent, thoughtful response to twelve questions on the issue of stem cell research, abortion and science posed by law professor Douglas Kmeic. Kmeic, as some of you may remember, was an ardent pro-life Catholic who drank the Obama Kool-Aid. I encourage you to read all of the questions and […]
In a speech last week in France, Obama displayed a troubling ignorance of history: In America, there's a failure to appreciate Europe's leading role in the world. Instead of celebrating your dynamic union and seeking to partner with you to meet common challenges, there have been times where America has shown arrogance and been dismissive, […]