Free Republic

Yet, they cannot comprehend what would motivate Middle America to distrust its government, for it surely does, as Ron Brownstein reports in the National Journal:

As the first family departs for Martha’s Vineyard, Patricia Williams says the trip illuminates their delicate relationship with the black upper class—a clubby world of debutantes and BMWs. When President Barack Obama appointed Valerie Jarrett as his senior advisor and Desiree Rogers as White House social secretary, there was, among the mainstream media, a bit of muffled gasping about from where on earth such designer-clad doyennes might have emerged. In what hidden universe do black people exist who can actually distinguish a fish knife from a shoe horn? And are there more of them? In what hidden universe do black...

Especially in the last four years, though throughout his presidency, the Democrats effectively painted the Bush presidency as in bed with fat cats at the expense of the middle class. How often did we hear the mantra of "tax cuts for the rich"? How often did we hear the Democrats bemoan the "skyrocketing costs of health care" under Bush? How often did we hear about "stagnating wages for the middle class"? Even though the economy was largely booming up until his last year of his presidency, the Democrats were still able to paint the Bush administration as anti middle class...

It sounds so simple: Just tax the few to pay for social programs that benefit the many. Yet no political idea — embodied by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s call to tax the wealthy to cover health care for everyone else — has ever proved more contentious. The country was founded on the principle of unlimited and unbounded opportunity. Despite what poll questions often appear to say, class warfare language, outside the Democratic primary electorate, has always been politically counterproductive, because it divides Americans from one another and from their own aspirations and dreams. And class warfare could be especially problematic...

The other day, we were watching a rerun of The Last Comic Standing on TV. We were bored, and there was nothing much on but this program and Floyd getting drunk, forgetting what country he was in (again), and deciding to make paella on some Norwegian fjord. Anyway, two comics in a row made "jokes" about babies. The first talked about killing babies, and the next about punching out babies. As a new father, I was so gratified when the guest judge, Steve Schirripa (of The Sopranos), gave both comics the boot. He simply would not have it--jokes about hurting...

The campaign to expose MPs' Commons expense claims has become so personal that it has started to resemble a McCarthy-style witchhunt, a Tory backbencher said today. ...

Recommendation: read When Fussell wrote in 1982 (and published in 1983), he said that acknowledging the class divisions that exist in America exist was poor form and that doing so would likely lead to argument. Florence King wrote, “The subject skims across our minds like a hair blown across the face: a constant ticklish irritation, invisible but very much felt.” Class distinctions are as alive as ever and the subject is as taboo now as then—our fierce egalitarian heritage guarantees this—but a certain amount of fun can be had in their study. We’ll look at changes in the specific indicators...

In his history-making appearance on the Tonight Show, President Barack Obama stunned the nation with his offhand crack “I bowl like one of those retards in the Special Olympics.” During last Fall’s presidential race, Obama inspired titters by scoring a 37 in a bowling match in Pennsylvania. He says, though, that he’s been practicing in the White House alley and has recently scored as high as 129 in a single game. Press Secretary Robert Gibbs asked that Americans “show some class by not mocking the President’s lack of skills or his choice of words in describing them. The President has...

DAWN WALTON Globe and Mail Update Calgary — Former U.S. president George W. Bush defended his decision to invade Iraq, said “risk takers,” not government are needed to salvage the world economy and offered his advice to current U.S. administration during a luncheon speech in Calgary. In his first public address since U.S. President Barack Obama moved into the White House, Mr. Bush was greeted with a standing ovation when he took the podium by close to 2,000 guests who paid $4,000 per table. “This is my maiden voyage. My first speech since I was the president of the United...

Alaska governor Sarah Palin strode through the produce section of Juneau's Fred Meyer supermarket Saturday morning, smiling and waving with an entourage of youngsters in tow. "These are my children, Willow, Piper and [11-month-old] Trig," Palin told an excited group of Girl Scouts. Then Palin, 45, motioned to a baby bundled in a hoodie, held and bottle-fed by Piper. "And this is my grandbaby Tripp," she said of the infant son of her daughter Bristol, 18. "He's only 2-months-old. It's kind of surreal!," she added. Palin was taking a break from governing the nation's largest state to help Juneau's Girl...

A new aristocracy walks among us. The formerly enormous middle class that dominated the American social structure for most of a century is crumbling before our eyes, as retirement accounts and home equity evaporate, while health care costs continue to grow inexorably by nearly 10 percent a year. In the face of rising unemployment and tumbling personal net worth, life has gotten much riskier for a vast swath of the American populace. However, the new aristocrats, government employees both currently employed and retired, are guaranteed generous pensions that are insulated from both retirement and stock market fluctuations. They occupy a...

Numerous accounts of the new "spirit of inclusion and non-divisiveness" of the administration have surfaced this week. Most show the distinct differences between an incredibly cooperative, gracious former President as helped a dismissive, Bush-deranged, fear merchant. Even cartilage jaw John McCain has been gracious in both his concession speech, and his willingness to kiss the new administration's Pro-Keds at any opportunity. Heck, if Barack gave up any more demands in his first days in office, we'd have to call him French. I have to check and see if we surrendered California to Mexico this week, but as long as botox-nancy...

Thanks to you, President-elect Obama and Vice President-elect Biden will take their oaths of office in just 17 days. You helped shape history, and now you can be a part of it. Ten supporters and their guests will be selected to come to Washington, D.C. for several days of inaugural events. You could be chosen to fly to Washington, attend the welcome ceremony, the Inaugural parade, the swearing-in, and an official Inaugural ball. Donate $5 or more now. You could be part of the historic events you made possible. This inauguration will be open to hundreds of thousands of...

A Gore victory in November would, of course, have many consequences for the nation and the world. It would also, however, have a larger historical meaning—in the sense that people looking back on it a hundred years hence might say: "Ah, that represented ..." What? What larger trend would be embodied in a Gore victory? We have all internalized the consequences of past elections. Andy Jackson—the dethroning of the old coastal gentry elites; Teddy Roosevelt—victory of Progressivism; FDR—dawn of the welfare state; and so on. We know roughly what a Gore victory would mean in particulars; what would it be...

The most powerful woman in the world. So Hillary Clinton will become with the dawn of a new White House. Madam Secretary of State. A strong hand in a velvet glove, extended to the globe on behalf of the most anticipated presidency in generations. Short of Barack Obama, no American today­ has a greater opportunity to shape international history than does New York’s departing ­junior U.S. senator. And, short of Barack Obama, no American played a greater role last year in influencing the choice of the 44th President of the United States. Clinton galvanized 18 million voters and made her...

The sunset prayer had just ended, and Sheik Ahmad al-Jilani was already calling his class to order. When the latecomers slipped into the front row, Jilani nodded at them briskly. “Young men,” he began, “who can tell me why we do jihad?” The members of the class were still new and a bit shy. Jilani clasped his hands and smiled encouragingly. Before him, sitting in school desks, were a dozen young Saudi men who had served time in prison for belonging to militant Islamic groups. Now they were inmates in a new rehabilitation center, part of a Saudi government initiative...

UPPER MARLBORO, Md. - A Prince George's Community College student says she was driven from class because of her political beliefs. Gloria Alfonzo says she endured racial taunts and slurs because she supported John McCain's presidential campaign. Her problems, she said, began with an assignment to write about the merits of Barack Obama. When she announced she differed with Obama, Alfonzo says her African-American classmates subjected her to an onslaught of racial hatred. "I was frightened," she recalled. "It was horrible; it was extremely horrible. I was a little scared." Alfonzo said all of her classmates -- except for herself...

Buck Sawyer starts every class with a prayer thanking God for keeping his family safe. He also prays he'll know when to draw his gun. The soft-spoken, retired law enforcement officer teaches a concealed-weapons permit class for legal residents over the age of 21 who don't reside in a mental institution, have a criminal history or harbor a notion to overthrow the government. These days, a lot of law-abiding folks who never had much interest in gun ownership are rethinking self-defense. Sawyer's class was an eclectic mix of talents from first-time shooters -- well into their AARP years - to...

September 17, 2008 The tenth and final nuclear-powered Nimitz-class supercarrier, George H. W. Bush, enters service in 2009, but the next-generation is on its way. The Gerald R. Ford CVN 78 is the first ship in the first new carrier class in over 40 years. Northrop Grumman has received a $5.1 billion, seven-year contract for construction of the CVN 78, which is scheduled to be delivered to the Navy in 2015. Northrop Grumman began advance construction of the Gerald R Ford in 2005, under a separate $2.7 billion contract. Roughly one third of the ship’s 1,200 structural units are currently...

George Ledin teaches students how to write viruses, and it makes computer-security software firms sick.In a windowless underground computer lab in California, young men are busy cooking up viruses, spam and other plagues of the computer age. Grant Joy runs a program that surreptitiously records every keystroke on his machine, including user names, passwords, and credit-card numbers. And Thomas Fynan floods a bulletin board with huge messages from fake users. Yet Joy and Fynan aren't hackers—they're students in a computer-security class at Sonoma State University. And their professor, George Ledin, has showed them how to penetrate even the best antivirus...