A promise to fight abuse of power We’ve all heard the phrase that “elections have consequences.” Recent news about the IRS singling out conservative groups for extra scrutiny is a “consequence” I never hoped to see.
When I first learned the IRS had targeted conservative groups during the most recent election, I was outraged by the reports indicating a nonpartisan government agency was actually engaging in political activities and using taxpayer-funded resources. Perhaps the...
The danger that is straight ahead A hundred years ago, anyone who might have predicted in 1913 the monumental, man-made catastrophes that would occur in the rest of the 20th century would have been considered warped, if not completely mentally deranged.
Who would have believed that the continent of Europe, which had not had a major war in nearly a hundred years since Napoleon was defeated at Waterloo, would set off two World Wars that were incomparably worse than any wars b...
Obama’s disdain for Constitution Speaking at Ohio State just a few days before abuse of power and dishonesty scandals swept over his administration, President Obama sang one of his trademark odes to the benevolence of government:
Unfortunately you’ve grown up hearing voices that incessantly warn of government as nothing more than some separate, sinister entity that’s at the root of all of our problems. … They’ll warn that tyranny is always lurking just around the corner. Y...
Press finally getting adversarial Rarely has the White House briefing room so resembled the main ballroom at a meeting of the Conservative Political Action Conference.
After news broke of a sweeping Justice Department subpoena of The Associated Press telephone records, White House press secretary Jay Carney didn’t so much have to deal with querulous reporters pressing him on all fronts. He had to deal with citizens bristling with anger over perceived encroachments on their ...
The death of free speech in US Two years ago, this column, along with others, raised an alarm about the Obama administration’s decision radically to diminish the due process rights of those accused of sexual harassment on American campuses. There’s a new outrage today, but first, a recap:
In a 2011 letter to colleges, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights mandated that in cases of suspected sexual harassment or sexual assault, universities were to red...
IRS keeps an eye on the ‘patriots’ It sounds like the plot from a dystopian libertarian novel. The word “patriot” and the phrase “educating on the Constitution and Bill of Rights” triggered heightened scrutiny from the most intrusive agency in the federal government.
We now know that the Internal Revenue Service did indeed target conservative groups, as had long been rumored and oft-denied. The news is a perverse confirmation of the groups’ worldview, and a challenge to Pres...
Cleveland abductions not unique The story of three girls grabbed from the streets of Cleveland and caged in their neighborhood for some 10 years demands scrutiny beyond expressions of shock. We can’t let this gruesome tale of Ariel Castro allegedly imprisoning, impregnating and tormenting young women simply pass into the annals of true crime — not just yet. But how are we to process it? The man was clearly a sicko, but what kind of sicko was he?
In this story of threes, C...
The patsy in the Benghazi coverup Nakoula Basseley Nakoula deserves a place in American history. He is the first person in this country jailed for violating Islamic anti-blasphemy laws.
You won’t find that anywhere in the charges against him, of course. As a practical matter, though, everyone knows that Nakoula wouldn’t be in jail if he hadn’t produced a video crudely lampooning the prophet Muhammad.
After the attack on U.S. facilities in Benghazi that killed Ambassador C...
Best road to funding tranportation RALEIGH — Fiscal conservatism comes naturally to me. After all, my middle name is McDonald.
But I am also persuaded by empirical evidence that fiscal conservatism is the best policy for promoting economic growth. North Carolina governments can improve our state’s competitiveness by limiting spending, finding ways to deliver core services more efficiently, and using the resulting fiscal capacity to reduce the state’s marginal tax rates on wo...
Truth on Benghazi coming soon My iPhone buzzes on a regular basis with “news alerts” from Politico, The Hill and other sources. Politico provides breathless, this-cannot-wait-till-you-get-to-your desk “breaking news” sirens on every hiccup emanating from the White House. On April 22, for example, the news flash permitted me to learn without delay that “President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama will on Thursday attend a memorial service for the victims of last w...
A call for help from Bangladesh You know a corner’s been turned when someone in a legion of foreign sweatshop workers is given a face. That’s happened in Bangladesh, home of hideous factory conditions — as seen in the ruins of Rana Plaza, a former eight-story work warren. Death toll: more than 600.
And the face has been given a name, Shaheena. Deemed unworthy at birth of a last name, Shaheena became a national symbol of endurance. The world watched as her body, trapped bu...
President Obama’s red line that wasn’t Someone had to take the fall for President Barack Obama thoughtlessly drawing a “red line” threatening serious consequences if Syria used chemical weapons. It turns out that it is the president himself.
Senior officials explained to The New York Times that last August, the president’s advisers had no idea he was going to boldly issue a red-line warning. The president was “unscripted,” according to one official. In this perilously unteleprom...
Health care plan is a job killer Among the many justifications used to try to popularize the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the first and foremost claim was that the measure would be a job creator. At the White House Health Summit in 2010, Nancy Pelosi asserted, “In its life, this bill will create 4 million jobs — 400,000 jobs almost immediately.”
The fact of the matter is, President Obama’s health care law doesn’t create jobs, it kills them. As the darkening ...
Obama takes a pass on abortion President Barack Obama was proud to become the first sitting president to address Planned Parenthood the other day. But not proud enough to utter the word “abortion.”
The right to abortion is the sneakiest, most shamefaced of all American rights. It hides behind evasion and euphemism and cant.
So President Obama sang a hymn of praise to Planned Parenthood at the organization’s annual conference without mentioning what makes it so distinct...
Depression isn’t always apparent On April 11, 2013, I got the most dreaded call that any parent could ever receive, a call from the police in the town where my 23-year-old daughter Kaitlyn was starting her third year of medical school at Wake Forest School of Medicine. He said he had to talk with me about my daughter and that I had to go there to be told what he had to say.
I begged this man to tell me then, as I would have a three-and-a-half hour drive to Winston-Salem. M...
