In the run-up to the Supreme Court’s decision on Obamacare, we have seen articles engaging in mild hysterics and some that are downright fantastical delusions wrapped in hysterics. And then there is this Atlantic piece by former Jimmy Carter speechwriter James Fallows.
10:54 AM 07/12/2011
It’s quite unusual to open an envelope from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and find two $1 dollar bills, especially when it’s addressed to you (or “current occupant”). But this year, thousands of Americans are sharing this experience with me.
6:22 PM 06/23/2011
There is absolutely no good reason to release 30 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) this month. Yet that’s exactly what President Obama plans to do. In a coordinated effort with the International Energy Agency, a total of 60 million barrels of oil (30 million from the SPR and 30 million from other countries) will be released into a global market that uses over 84 million barrels a day.
2:02 PM 05/05/2011
By all accounts, the death of Osama bin Laden is the greatest news of the Obama presidency so far. Media figures were jumping over themselves to declare the 2012 election already over as soon as the news was leaked on Sunday evening. Given that nearly every single American wanted this outcome for bin Laden, and President Obama delivered that outcome, the news was nearly impossible for the White House to fumble. Yet they did, and continue to do so.
10:23 AM 03/17/2011
Chrysler doesn’t understand public relations. Just a week after the person manning the organization’s official Twitter account tweeted that “no one [in Detroit] knows how to ****ing drive,” the company launched a battle against a small t-shirt shop in Detroit’s city limits.
11:37 AM 02/09/2011
One of this week’s most popular Super Bowl ads was for the Chrysler 200. The ad features Eminem driving through Detroit to the upbeat imagery and lyrics of restoration and recovery. The voiceover says, “What does a town that’s been to Hell and back know about the finer things in life?”
10:39 AM 12/01/2010
It is no secret that unions reward longevity over performance, and protect employees from being disciplined for cause. Most collective bargaining agreements limit the ability for a hard worker to earn a raise or promotion unless they have reached a seniority based on time. The outcome of this paradigm is that workers are offered little incentive to achieve beyond the status quo. Bad employees are protected from dismissal while good employees are marginalized.
2:21 PM 11/18/2010
For two years now, President Barack Obama’s administration has been on a concentrated mission to expand the size and scope of the federal government. Of course, this passionate mission is derailed when the inefficiencies of certain government services are highlighted in the American conscience. And every time the general public decries a specific example of government ineffectiveness, the Obama team’s reaction is incredulous shock. How could anyone not blindly trust the federal bureaucracy?
12:03 PM 08/12/2010
President Obama wishes everyone would stop talking about the oil spill. His federal government’s response has been incompetent at best, malevolent at worst. Yet, lacking any evidence of a credible response, Obama still sent Carol Browner to the Gulf on a victory lap last week after oil stopped appearing on beaches and the water’s surface. But while the Obama administration is doing victory laps, more news of their botched efforts are coming to light.
12:00 AM 06/04/2010
Over the past few weeks, as federal government confusion has become all too obvious in the Gulf, political commentators have delighted in debating whether the oil spill crisis has become Obama’s “Katrina.” The reason for this is simple. The argument allows those on the right to somehow demonstrate that all presidents make mistakes, while pointing out the other side’s hypocrisy. For those on the left, it’s another opportunity to drag President Bush’s name through the mud, blame him for a crisis he is two years removed from and to remind those on the left that the last guy would’ve made this all worse.
12:00 AM 05/12/2010
Speaking to Hampton University graduates last week, President Obama ignited a debate when he told the students that a 24/7 media environment, and technology such as the iPod or iPad, can be a distraction, “rather than a tool of empowerment.” Putting aside the mixed signals delivered by the Blackberry-loving president who gave the Queen of England an iPod; is our current media environment a source of empowerment?
12:00 AM 04/23/2010
Earth Day is over, so you don’t have to worry about the special-interest eco-lobby for another 364 days, right? Wrong. If you’ve recently paid a five-cent tax on a plastic bag while living in or visiting our nation’s capital, then you’ve been punitively taxed by the eco-left for a behavior they don’t approve of, and you should be concerned. In fact, the $9.5 million D.C. bag tax is just another step of the eco-left’s plan to nickel and dime you into living an “approved” lifestyle, complete with high unemployment, “skyrocketing“ energy prices, stifled innovation and a sour economy.
12:00 AM 04/07/2010
The term “civility” has been tossed around quite a bit lately. Liberals are accusing conservatives of heated rhetoric. Conservatives are making similar charges toward their liberal opponents. Much of this debate is centered around those who support, and those who oppose Obamacare, and other Obama’s growth-of-government policies.
12:00 AM 03/31/2010
Do Christians have civil rights? Earlier this week, citizens of Davenport, Iowa, were informed that City Administrator Craig Malin planned to change the name of Good Friday to “Spring Holiday” on official city documents, per the recommendation of the Davenport Civil Rights Commission. After the city and state grew appropriately outraged, the decision was reversed and Mayor Bill Gluba pled that the city move on to “more important issues.” But, this issue might in fact be the most important.
12:00 AM 03/09/2010
Shortly after the president’s inauguration last year, a short-lived controversy ensued over whether the Obama White House had done away with the Oval Office dress code enforced under the Bush administration. This was in response to photographs of not just the president, but many of his advisers, casually meeting in the Oval sans jackets. The controversy quickly died because photographs surfaced online of many past presidents not wearing a jacket in the Oval Office, including President George W. Bush who reportedly enforced the inherited ‘jackets required’ rule.
