George Will wonders when we will finally be able to get to a colorblind society in the wake of the Ricci decision. It strikes me as morally wrong to deny people jobs, promotions or other benefits simply because of their race. I do not believe it is right to use racial discrimination to, somehow, repair the damage caused by past racial discrimination. Racial discrimination leads to resentment, hostility and a loss of social cohesion in the community and, inevitably, to violence and social breakdown. Can we not agree that it was right to end the practice when it was directed against non-Whites because of these factors, as well as the immorality of the practice? Is it not, therefore, wrong to resume the practice, but this time direct it against Whites (however we define 'White')?

Caroline Glick makes the case for Obama as left-wing anti-American ideologue, not foreign policy 'realist'. Like Glick, I hope that as time goes on a majority of the American people will see Obama for what he is, a newer version of Jimmy Carter, and will, like Carter, reject him after only one term.

Here is an argument for more forceful action against North Korea, since the North Korean government has renounced the armistice treaty that ended hostilities back in 1953. Unfortunately, forceful action against the North Koreans runs the substantial risk of North Korean retaliation against their hundreds of thousands of South Korean hostages. Yes, I said hostages. The population of Seoul, South Korea is within artillery range of thousands of North Korean guns. They have had more than 50 years to conceal and harden those gun positions. If they let loose with a barrage many thousands of South Koreans will be killed before the South Korean military can respond. Thus, even if the North Koreans do not have the capability to deliver a working nuclear weapon on a target, they can still cause terrible carnage if provoked. Thus, the situation on the Korean peninsula is akin to a terrorist who is holding hostages at gunpoint. Understanding this fact, Presidents as diverse as George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and now Barack Obama have tread softly, despite all the threats and provocations of the North Koreans. I expect that practice to continue.

Here is an argument in favor of the coup in Honduras. I have almost no knowledge of the situation in Honduras, or the history of the country, therefore I cannot comment on the situation other than to say that since Hugo Chavez and the Castro brothers seem to favor the ousted President, I believe the Army may have been justified in this case.

Here is an argument in favor of raising Federal taxes to deal with the ballooning deficit. I hope the Democrats are stupid enough to raise taxes, the sooner to throw them out.

The President of Honduras is ousted in an Army-led coup.

Czar Vladimir banishes casinos to Siberia. No...really, it's true, read the story.

George Will says health care costs more today because you get more, and we will regret reforms that change the way we ration care.

Robert J. Samuelson says reforms in the financial industry probably won't prevent the next crisis.

Michael Jackson was a physical wreck when he died, unlike Billy Mays who also died suddenly at age 50.

Not such a great Summer at the Cape Cod beaches, as an unseasonable storm gives them a pounding.

They didn't read the bill, but they passed it anyway. Let's hope the Senate kills this energy bill that, I believe, will be a big impediment to an economic recovery.

Amir Taheri provides us with a scorecard of the Iranian elite and illustrates why it might be difficult for President Obama to find someone to negotiate with who has the support of his countrymen.

It appears more and more likely that President Obama will adopt the Bush approach to 'enemy combatants', as they are now discussing an Executive Order to deal with the detention of terrorists. As he has found out with a number of other issues, sunny campaign rhetoric oftentimes does not square with harsh reality.

These celebrity deaths do seem to come in threes. On Wednesday, it was Ed McMahon. Yesterday morning, it was Farrah Fawcett. Yesterday afternoon, Michael Jackson.

While much airtime and newsprint will be expended on the death of Michael Jackson, more important things are going on, such as the crackdown on protesters on Iran, the efforts of Iranian opposition leaders to come up with a strategy for dealing with the regime, and North Korean threats of nuclear war.

Still, I can understand why people care more about the stories they can relate to, like the marital infidelities of politicians. Some believe such indiscretions should not spell the end of a political career. Others wonder why these politicians have no shame.

Simon Jenkins believes President Obama is headed for disaster in Afghanistan by following the Johnson pattern in Vietnam. Jenkins may be correct about the folly of attempting to "win" in Afghanistan, but it will not be the political disaster that was seen during the Vietnam War. What Jenkins, and others who share his belief, cannot understand is that the Vietnam War was a domestic political disaster because of the relatively heavy casualties suffered by our military which was composed of draftees. The anti-war movement was propelled by a wave of young people in the streets and on the college campuses because of the real, personal danger they faced. Today, no one need go to fight and possibly die in Afghanistan unless one volunteers for service. The anti-war movement of the Vietnam War Era died when the draft was ended. I believe that today, since there is no draft, and the level of casualties is very small, and press coverage is minimal, President Obama can fight the war in Afghanistan for as long as he wants.

Australian lawmakers may reject their version of a "Cap and Trade" energy bill because more Australians are becoming convinced that the theory of human caused global warming is baloney. If they do reject it, that might have some impact on the efforts of our own lawmakers in Washington.

As I predicted, New Hampshire lawmakers passed a budget that cuts a little here and a little there, and raises taxes a little here and a little there. Same as it ever was.

In Chatham, Massachusetts, owners of beachfront property watch as the sea takes their land and their buildings away.

Remember the story some years back about the doctor at the research station in Antarctica who discovered her own breast cancer and had to be airlifted out in a daring rescue? It was a big story at the time. Well, Dr. Jerri Nielsen was saved at the time, but her cancer recently came back, and this time she lost the battle.

The Massachusetts health reform experiment is dealing with the issue that will trouble any attempt by any government to provide or mandate health insurance...rising costs. In Massachusetts, this means cutting health coverage by $115 million. Let me say it again, at the risk of repeating myself. Health care is a service provided by people to other people. Therefore, the people providing the service need to be paid, just like people providing any other service. Thus, one man's health care costs are another man's income. If taxpayers provide the revenue stream for health care providers, then politicians will be loathe to raise their taxes to pay more for the service, so they will either cut down on the level of service, or pay the providers less, which, of course, is exactly the pattern we see when private insurance companies pay for the service, as they are loathe to cut into their profit margins as costs rise, generally responding instead by lowering the level of service to their customers or paying less to the providers, or both. There is no getting around these facts as long as health care providers are free, like the rest of us, to choose their profession and to have some say in what they charge for their services.

It's good to see the blowhards at Harvard acting like cold-blooded, hard-boiled businessmen. I doubt they will change their hypocritical rhetoric, nor will they decide to act more like socialists, or even compassionate conservatives. When the bottom line is at stake, everyone is a robber baron.

Tom Friedman says we need a Green Revolution on oil use here in the States to encourage Green Revolutions like the one in Iran. I have long believed that we should embark on an effort to ween ourselves off of foreign oil for national security purposes, but I agree with him that this would have beneficial consequences in places like Iran, Venezuela and Russia.

Edward Luttwak says the recent unrest in Iran means that it will never be able to go back to the way things were before the rigged election.

David Ignatius believes the reformers will win in the end.

Robert Kaplan believes a true democracy in Iran would mark a turning point for the region, and our policy in the area.

Finally, a fond farewell to Ed McMahon, who died yesterday at age 86. I have good memories of watching The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. With all due respect to Leno, Letterman and O'Brien, nothing compares to that show when Johnny and Ed were on the top of their game.

Best article of the day, so far? Caroline Glick of The Jerusalem Post writes about the "Obama Effect", which, according to her, is not something that causes people around the world to suddenly love the United States, or decide to throw off the yoke of their oppressors but, rather, it is actually a phenomenon that makes our mainstream media people into fawning sycophants, and the U.S. into the laughingstock of the world.


Amir Taheri analyzes the similarities and differences between the current unrest in Iran and the 1979 revolution that brought the current regime into power. Taheri believes that Persian/Iranian history teaches us that a civil war is unlikely, because once one side or the other seems to be winning, the mass of people will switch to the winning side.


Has the President already scuttled any chance for health insurance reform by his own hand?


It is so depressing to read articles, like this one, that reminds us how susceptible so many of us are to personal degradation when we succumb to irrational ideologies.


The budget fight continues in Concord. I predict, as we have seen so often in the past, a combination of budget cuts and increases in some of the many narrow taxes that we use to fund government in this state.


Former New Hampshire Congressman Charlie Bass has this piece on the state of the GOP.


So, you think this has been a gloomy June? You are correct, Sir (and Ma'am). So far, it's been a historically cloudy month.

More evidence that this has been a cooler than normal June, at least so far.

Racism, according to this piece, is not a universal aspect of the human condition. It is a specific malady of white, European-descended men, who have a peculiar love of guns, and hatred for Blacks and Jews.

Perhaps it is liberal twaddle like that which led one notable person out West to join the GOP. I hope others will follow, here in the East, as well as out West and all across this great land of ours.

Speaking of liberal twaddle, Paul Krugman fears the efforts of 'centrist' Democrats who might block the creation of a government-run health insurance option. Krugman believes most Americans want such an option, and are willing to pay higher taxes to get that option. He no doubt believes that is true because he read a story about a poll which seems to confirm that opinion in The New York Times. Some folks (me included) don't believe it.

Why is a government-run option problematic? There are many reasons, but one of the most important is already showing up when we consider the treatment of Medicare and Medicaid patients, as described by a real, live doctor in this piece.

On the broader issue of the welfare state, Robert J. Samuelson warns of the day of reckoning.

Unrest continues in Iran. Fouad Ajami says the Iranian crisis is giving President Obama an education.

DAY OF RECKONING IN IRAN

Today may be a day of reckoning in Iran as large protests are scheduled, despite the warning issued by the Supreme Leader yesterday. Ayatollah Khamenei essentially said that the election results were legitimate and final, and any effort to protest them would be met with serious consequences.

Michael Ledeen has some interesting information about what may happen. As I have been writing from the beginning, I expect a bloody crackdown. The only thing that will save the protesters is if a critical mass of the security forces decide to disobey their commanders by refusing to use violence against the crowd. If that happens, it will most likely quickly be followed by senior commanders jumping over to Mousavi's side. This could lead to civil war, or to a speedy downfall of the regime. Unfortunately, my best guess (and it is just a guess) is that the protesters will be crushed. I hope I am wrong.

Depending on the outcome of the protests, the election of June 12 in Iran may be seen as a historic turning point in the history of the Middle East.

There is still much criticism directed at President Obama for his failure to more robustly back the protesters in his rhetoric, understanding, of course, that he has very limited capability to do anything more than give them verbal support.

If you want to follow what is happening moment-by-moment in Iran today, perhaps the best place is to visit Andrew Sullivan's blog.

North Korea could launch a missile at Hawaii on the 4th of July. Let's hope, like so many of their past missile launches, that it is a miserable failure.

Amir Taheri says there could be a showdown at prayer call today in Iran, as the Supreme Leader plans to lead Friday prayers, after declaring that Ahmadinejad won a 'definitive victory'.

A lot of people, myself included, believe President Obama is missing an opportunity to try to give support to the people of Iran in their efforts to shake off tyranny.

Benny Avni sees the opportunity facing the President.

David Ignatius says the protests are a real chance for change in Iran.

Charles Krauthammer sees the protests as a chance for regime change, which would alter the course of history.

The cold water of realistic cost projections is slapping members of Congress in the face as they try to write a health insurance reform bill. In the end, they'll agree to a set of lies in order to tell us that they have done something, leaving a bigger mess for future members to face.

When the weather gets warmer, more people are murdered in New York City. I wish I could get paid to come up with studies like that one. It seems like common sense to me.

Roger Simon gives us another reason to hope The New York Times goes out of business.

More evidence the Air France jet broke apart in mid-air.

Jimmy Carter asks Hamas to recognize Israel. They praise Mr. Carter, but refuse his request. If Carter had grown any more realistic in his many years as an ex-President he would have known that, but he has not.

It could be a tough election for the Democrats in 2010.

Ralph Peters believes Obama's unwillingness to verbally back the Iranian protesters is giving the Iranian government the green light for a crackdown. Despite efforts by the government to close down the portals of communication between Iran and the outside world, the word is still getting out about the anti-government protests.

A new poll shows that while Obama's job approval remains high, there is a great deal of skepticism about his policies.

Jeff Jacoby is critical of Obama's restrained rhetoric on the events in Iran.

Amir Taheri, as always, has the details on why the protests are happening, who makes up the different factions, and why this might just lead to real change in Iran.

An offer by the regime to hold a recount does not seem to be appeasing the protesters in Iran. Again, I expect a bloody crackdown, unless the military and security forces are themselves divided, which means there could be clashes between them if a crackdown is ordered.

In the final analysis, we could be seeing the beginning of a true revolution in Iran, along the lines of the unrest that overturned the Communist governments of Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union, or a spasm of discontent that subsides, or one that is choked off by the ruling elite. I'm not sure anyone, here or there, really knows how it will all turn out.

Demonstrations continue in Iran. I expect a bloody crackdown, and soon.

More evidence that the Obama health reform plan won't fundamentally change the situation.

The U.S. will confront North Korean ships, but will not use force in an attempt to board them. I expect a violent and irrational response from the North Koreans.

What is the Obama effect? The creation of a perception of weakness, which will have consequences.

It seems the Arabs will not accept Israel as a Jewish State, nor will they give up their appetite for virulent anti-semitism. I expect the on-again, off-again war between Israelis and Arabs to continue for many years.

More unrest in Iran as President Ahmadinejad tightens his grip.

Mehdi Khalaji believes the Iranian election amounts to a military coup, and Amir Taheri agrees. Both men believe that Ahmadinejad represents the military and security forces of the Iranian state who have now taken control, even over the Mullahs. They pay lip service to the clerics, and they still seem to have respect for the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, but they are now in control of the apparatus of the state. If Khalaji and Taheri are correct, we may now be entering an even more dangerous period in the region.

Still, not everyone holds that view, or the belief that the election was rigged. One group of pollsters believes Ahmadinejad's support is real.

Netanyahu agrees to a Palestinian state, but one that is demilitarized. He also will not dismantle settlements, or agree to dividing Jerusalem, or agree to allow a 'right of return' for Palestinian refugees. He also demands that the Palestinians recognize Israel as a Jewish State. Since he will not surrender on these questions (and I believe he is backed by most Israelis on most of those points), and the Palestinians and the other Arab nations will not accept those conditions, then I am quite confident in predicting that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will not be solved by the chosen one now living in the White House (no shame in that, of course, since his failure will match the failures of all of his predecessors).

I suspect President Obama will also fail on health insurance reform since, as Robert J. Samuelson points out in this piece, he will not recognize the basis of the problem.

More threats from the North Koreans, as they warn of nuclear war in the region, and President Ahmedinejad of Iran says his re-election was a 'real and free' vote.

Amir Taheri says the fix was in for Ahmedinejad, and his opponents need to worry about their personal safety.

More analysis on the Iran election here and here. I agree with those, like Taheri, who believe it was fixed, and I think an Israeli attack on Iranian nuclear facilities is all but inevitable.

More evidence of global cooling (probably related to the low sunspot cycle) as farmers face difficulty around the world. Of course, if the cooling is related to the very low sunspot activity, it will be a temporary phenomenon as past history would indicate that sunspot activity will increase at some point. If the global warming theory is correct, then that process will continue as we continue to pump carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, despite the temporary reprieve granted by the Sun.

DELUSIONS

He may be crazy, but he is also guilty.

So dumb, he shouldn't be allowed to drive a bus.

As Gomer Pyle would say, "Surprise...surprise...surprise", Ahmadinejad wins in Iran. Chalk one up for the bad guys.

The U.N. imposes sanctions on North Korea, but will not authorize military action to enforce them. Chalk another up for the bad guys.

What do all of these stories have in common? They illustrate the power of self-delusion. Clark Rockefeller deluded himself into believing that he was no longer Christian Karl Gerhartstreiter, anonymous, untalented, illegal immigrant. Instead, he was suave, sophisticated, wealthy Clark Rockefeller (and before that he was a doctor, an actor, and who know what else). The bus driver, working an overtime shift that paid $40 an hour, didn't think anyone would watch the video from the surveillance camera in his bus that caught him stopping his bus, borrowing a passenger's cell phone, and making the passengers wait while he made a phone call. He threw his good job away to make a phone call.

More serious are those delusions that happen on a grander scale, like the one that says a dictatorial regime will allow truly free elections, or pay attention to sanctions without the use of force or the credible threat of force. The self-delusions of a bus driver or con man hurt only a few. The delusions of dictators and the diplomats who think they can be reasoned with are the ones that get so many people killed.

North Korea continues to ratchet up the level of tension in the region. What is going on? Someday, when the Kim family regime is gone and the North Korean people are free, we'll get to look into the archives and find out.

Ralph Peters writes about the elections going on in Iran.

As I suspected, some on the Left are trying to link the recent shootings by an anti-abortion whack job and an anti-Semite whack job to the Conservative movement. Paul Krugman is an example of this. Here is a rebuttal.

David Brooks examines the fact that the American people may be at the beginning of a period of drawing back from their big spending ways.

George Will examines the same thing from a slightly different angle.

President Obama is giving up the idea that he could release some of the Gitmo detainees here in the United States. Since the politicians in Europe feel exactly the same way about those detainees as our politicians in Congress ("not in my constituents back yard, you don't"), expect the European governments to refuse any resettlement of the detainees in their countries. Closing Gitmo doesn't look so simple now, does it Mr. President?

Michael Kinsley thinks we need a new national anthem. He is right about it being a difficult song, but I suspect his suggestion will fall on deaf ears.

In the strange but true department, a woman misses that doomed Air France jet, so she lives to fly home to Europe, only to be killed in a car accident.

As new evidence points to the probability that the Air France jet broke up in mid-air, French security services are looking into the identities of two passengers who may have been on their terrorist watch list.

The American Medical Association comes out against a public option for health insurance reform. This is not surprising, as experience has no doubt taught them that the government plan will pay them less, and they are justifiably afraid that a government plan would eventually cause the market for private plans to dry up (businesses that provide such plans would find it expedient to drop them knowing that their employees could then sign up for the public plan).

David Broder writes about the political difficulties the President will face in Congress while attempting to pass health insurance reform.

Karl Rove explains what arguments Republicans should make against a government insurance option.

John Bolton explains the difficulties faced by Israeli government as they consider a possible strike against Iran's nuclear facilities.

The New York Times Company has hired Goldman Sachs to solicit bids from potential buyers for The Boston Globe.

Charles Krauthammer praises Fox News for discovering a new audience previously ignored by the rest of the MSM...half of the American people.

An analysis of the growing U.S. debt, and who is responsible (from The New York Times, so you can guess who gets blamed before you even read the article).

Cold weather in Canada impacts crops.

Jeff Jacoby writes about the practice of branding political opponents as racists.

Could the GOP have a chance of turning back the clock in Massachusetts to, say, 1990 (when they elected a Republican Governor and won enough State Senate seats to uphold his vetoes)? Perhaps so, according to this piece.

Here is some hard-hitting journalism for you. Take a video camera, go to a bar in Jerusalem where young people hang out, then interview some of them about their political attitudes, especially towards President Obama (at the time of the Cairo speech), then post it online. You get this. Somehow, having spent my life in journalism and the media, I could have predicted that drunken young people would spout racist and/or obscene remarks, and would provide very little in the way of intellectual discourse. If, however, your goal was to present an anti-Obama attitude as the product of idiotic and racist minds (thus implying that all similar views can come only from such a mindset), then perhaps this type of video would be the result.

The forecast here calls for three days of rain and cold, which means I am part of what could be 'the year without a summer'. More evidence that, perhaps, global warming is baloney, or it is at least being delayed, perhaps by the impact of a diminished sunspot cycle.

New Hampshire retailers, rejoice! An increase in the Massachusetts sales tax is now a sure thing.

Boston Globe union members to The New York Times Company...drop dead. At some point, The New York Times Company will respond in a similar manner, which will be the end for The Boston Globe.

The 'hooking up' culture is now expanding beyond college campuses.

The Supreme Court wants to take a look at the Chrysler sale to Fiat. If they decide to hear the case, being brought by some state pension funds whose managers believe they are getting a raw deal, the delay could cause Fiat to back out of the deal, which could cause Chrysler to go bankrupt (via a more normal bankruptcy process, resulting in the liquidation of the company).

The President gets away with phony jobs claims. The pro-Obama bias of the MSM is more spectacular than for any President or politician in my lifetime.

A Canadian doctor (who now practices in the U.S.) lays out the problems with Canada's health care system.

Bill Whittle at Pajamas TV has this outstanding comparison of Star Trek, President Obama, and the MSM. It's 'must-see TV'.

Why is the Right doing so well in Europe? Why did the pro-Western factions do so well in Lebanon?

Could we be entering a period of 'deglobalization'?

Socialist and other leftist parties have a bad time of it in the recently concluded European elections. I'm not an expert on modern European politics, but it seems to me that there is a great deal of discontent across the Continent and in the British Isles, much of it driven by the economic downturn, but some of it driven by a growing Muslim immigrant population and the cultural backlash that it creates.

The European Parliament election results, as well as local election results, are putting more pressure on British Prime Minister, and Labor Party leader, Gordon Brown. Paul Krugman says Brown and Labor are feeling the backlash generated by the recession.

A North Korean court sentences two female American journalists to 12 years at hard labor. It may be a negotiating ploy to extract concessions, but these women may be in for a hard time, as the President considers the possibility of stopping and searching North Korean ships as part of an ant-proliferation program. Previously, the North Korean government announced such activity would be considered an act of war.

As we remember D-Day, June 6, 1944, it is good to know that the people of Normandy still think fondly of the Americans who landed on their beaches that day, and liberated them from the Nazis.

We should also remember that our British allies were a major part of that invasion, and the British Army, underfunded and unloved as they may be, are still our allies in Afghanistan and Iraq.

A member of a forgotten battalion returns to Normandy.

Caroline Glick reacts to Obama's Cairo speech by concluding that Obama is not a friend of Israel.

My latest post at Red Hampshire concerns gay marriage as a political issue.

U.S. unemployment reaches a 25 year high, but the monthly losses are less than expected.

More evidence that sexual orientation is biological.

Microsoft's CEO says his company would move more jobs overseas if an Obama tax increase passes.

A Russian historian says Poland is to blame for World War II. Here are some recently released pictures of the man who really did start that war.

Amir Taheri is very critical of Obama's speech in Cairo.

Charles Krauthammer says Obama is wrong about the Israeli settlements.

It's not too early to start considering the Republican presidential field for the 2012 election.

Michael Gerson believes Republicans can still win the health care reform argument. I believe he is correct.

Michael Kinsley describes the problems with some of the proposed new ownership models for newspapers.

Gay marriage is now legal in New Hampshire. As I have argued for many years, as long as the state is involved in marriage, and it is, and if the state is not bound by religious restrictions, which it is not, then there is no logical reason to limit civil marriage to one man and one woman.

Which makes this story, about the political ramifications of declining religious belief in America, even more interesting.

Robert Kuttner hopes that President Obama will not abandon the creation of a public health insurance plan as part of his health care overhaul. Kuttner wants universal, government-run health insurance, and he understands that the only way to get there is to strangle the private insurance business, which is what a public plan, competing on an uneven playing field, would do.

Dick Morris says the President's good poll numbers will continue so long as the people blame Bush for the recession. With fawning press coverage, it may take awhile.

The President is in Cairo, Egypt, making a major speech on our relations with the Muslim world. In the end, the President's deeds will define him on this, as on other issues. Can he broker a peace between Israelis and Palestinians? Can he prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear power? If he succeeds, he is a hero. If he fails, he joins a long list.

Jeff Jacoby reminds of us that the "Butchers of Beijing" remain in power, and unrepentant.

President Obama is now being more forthright when remembering his Muslim roots. Like any good politician, his biography is malleable.

Kim Jong "mentally" Il has picked an heir, his youngest son, to rule North Korea when he is gone. Let's hope the regime collapses, instead, and the largest prison camp on Earth finally is shut down.

Speaking of prisons, a new poll shows Americans overwhelmingly want one prison to remain in business...the one holding terrorists at Guantanamo Bay.

Thomas Sowell still believes Judge Sotomayor can, and should, be denied a place on the Supreme Court.

Charlie Arlinghaus points out the bad parts of a New Hampshire budget that is about to come out of the State Senate.

Sometimes, there is no escaping the old neighborhood.

Ralph Peters thinks President Obama will grovel his way across the Middle East.

If President Obama wants to put pressure on Israel about building West Bank settlements, he may earn some good will from the Arabs, but he won't stop the settlements from expanding. This article explains why. In the end, the Palestinians cannot give up their idea of a 'right of return", and the Israelis will not give up their settlements, or Jerusalem. Therefore, no political solution is possible. Historically, when two peoples are unable to resolve their differences through negotiation or commerce, they resort to violence. The violence ends only when one of two things happen, either one side or the other is wiped out (or defeated so utterly that they accept the other side's conditions for peaceful coexistence), or both sides become so exhausted by the violence that they now agree to settle their differences by making the necessary concessions. In the Israeli-Arab confrontation, while there has been decades of violence, neither side is, as of yet, exhausted enough by the violence to make the necessary concessions. So, I expect more violence.

Here is some basic information about the General Motors bankruptcy. David Brooks thinks it will result in a quagmire. Eugene Robinson also does not see a happy ending.

The economy is in recession, so crime is up, yes? No.

General Motors heads into bankruptcy today, a process that will be managed by the Federal Government. Future historians may point to this day as a milestone in America's decline.

It's all part of what George Will calls "shock and awe statism".

All of this still has not caused the press to report critically on the actions and decisions of President Barack Obama. Robert J. Samuelson writes about a new report from the Pew Center on just how fawning press coverage has been of President Obama. Why are they so deferential? Because the vast majority of reporters, editors and producers are Liberals, just like Obama.

A late-term abortion provider is shot dead inside his church. I would not do what Dr. George Tiller did as part of his practice, and I am deeply troubled by these late-term abortions, but what happened to him was murder, plain and simple. Robert P. George sums it up when he calls it a "gravely wicked" act.

Iran has crossed a red line in it's nuclear program.

Susan Boyle loses the talent contest and loses her cool. Unless she completely melts down under the pressure, though, she should still walk away with a pot of gold.