- A Rare Defense of the Vietnam War. “Despite the fall of Saigon in 1975, Vietnam was not a “futile” conflict. The U.S. effort bought time for Thailand and other nations in East and Southeast Asia to develop in relative peace. Their prosperity, in turn, showed the world the difference between the fruits of capitalism and the poverty of socialism. Like the Korean War, Vietnam needs to be understood as an honorable battle fought to a draw in America’s longer and victorious Cold War.”
- Brightcove’s Facebook Chat.
- What Could Possibly Go Wrong? Gordon Brown and Nicolas Sarkozy propose that governments “no longer stand idle” and intervene in markets to keep oil prices at some ideal level.
- Do Retraining Programs Work? “Tens of thousands of laid-off workers like Mr. Hutchins have turned to retraining as a lifeline. Yet for all the popularity of these government-financed programs, there are questions about whether they actually work, even as President Obama’s stimulus plan directs $1.4 billion more to retraining and other services for people who have lost their jobs.”
- What the Senate Means Today. Judge Posner explores the changed role of the Senate since the Founding and the political ramifications of a filibuster-proof majority.
- Is Romney the Early Frontrunner for 2012?
- Congressmen Living High on the Taxpayer Dime.
- An Economist’s Take on Big-Government Health Care. “What is curious is that this rise in education costs is deemed by the liberal establishment smart and farsighted while the rise in health-care costs is a curse to be stopped at any cost. What is curiouser still is that in education, where they always advocate more ‘investment,’ past increases have gone hand-in-hand with demonstrably deteriorating outcomes. The rising cost in health care has been accompanied by clearly superior results. Thus we would shift dollars from where they do a lot of good to an area where they don’t.”
- Conservatives and Support Public Transportation “The most important thing that a liberal needs to know in talking to conservatives about public transportation is not to use liberal arguments. You can’t argue for transit on the basis that the poor need it.”
- He’s Barack Obama! In their latest high-quality video, JibJab pokes fun at the President.
- Treason! Paul Krugman says it’s “treason against the planet” to argue against legislation, laden with special-interest handouts, that would raise taxes during a recession and not accomplish its principal goal of lowering carbon emissions.
- A Contrarian Take on Honduras. “It’s not surprising that chavistas throughout the region are claiming that he was victim of a military coup. They want to hide the fact that the military was acting on a court order to defend the rule of law and the constitution, and that the Congress asserted itself for that purpose, too.”
- The National Debt Road Trip
- How Iran Is Not Poland. The differences between 1981 Poland and 2009 Iran and what that means for American policy.
- Daniel Henninger on the ‘Public Option.’ Can we really believe what proponents of a government insurance plan have to say?
- Larison on the Iranian Election. “How much of the Mousavi voters’ outrage is of the 1972 ‘no one I know voted for Nixon’ variety? What if Iran’s so-called ‘silent majority’ is not opposed to the régime as it currently exists as most observers seem to assume?”