Peggy Noonan believes recent events and actions have created an image of a weak, incompetent President. She also believes, and I agree with her, that this is not a good thing for America in the short run. It may be good in the long run, if it leads to a GOP Congress in November and a GOP President in 2012, and if the Republicans do some smart things when they have control (of that, I am not so confident, I'm afraid).

Here is another op-ed piece on the Moynihan Report concerning the Black family.

John McCain thinks there is reason to believe President Obama is "out of his depth".

Victor Davis Hanson has some interesting thoughts on how things are going in Europe.

There is evidence that an even bigger volcano on Iceland will erupt sometime in the near future. (At least this one....Katla...is easy to spell and pronounce).

Ralph Peters says the President is sending some National Guardsmen to the border as window dressing. He is right. Obama, like most politicians, is very good at pretending to do something without actually accomplishing anything.

The oldest Medal of Honor recipient has died.

If you do not understand why the South Koreans are not more enraged by the sinking of one of their ships by the North Koreans, read this article which explains the situation well.

The Speaker of the Arizona House says people should learn the truth about their new immigration law before they criticize it.

Charles Krauthammer says if George W. Bush was at fault for the poor response to Katrina, then Obama is at fault for the poor response to the oil spill. He also points out that concern for the negative effects of a potential oil spill on the coastline is the reason the oil companies are drilling in such deep water.

China may act as a shield for North Korea, according to this piece from Bloomberg News. It makes sense. The Butchers of Beijing don't care about the millions of oppressed and starving North Koreans, they just don't want them storming the border upon the collapse of the Kim Family Regime in Pyongyang. So they will do whatever is necessary to prop up that regime, and stand in the way of anything that might lead that regime to precipitate a resumption of the Korean War. The Chinese leaders know that such a war would inevitably lead to the collapse of the Kim regime and a flood of refugees, as well as creating a whole host of other social, political and economic problems for the region.

Paul B. Farrell says it is time to get out of stocks before the next crash.

Does the growing debt and increase in government obligations really matter? This op-ed piece in the New York Times makes the argument that it does, and that it is a burden we will not pass on to our children, since we will have to deal with it in our own lifetimes. This piece in The Telegraph argues that the precipitous drop in the money supply, the greatest since the Great Depression, is a warning sign of more trouble ahead, while this piece in the same newspaper argues that Europe is headed for a meltdown.

Victor Davis Hanson writes about the death of the postmodernist dream.

Ralph Peters writes about the latest treasonous leak of a classified document.

Katrina vanden Heuvel says we need a new strategy in Afghanistan. Essentially, she wants us to get our troops out and allow negotiations to begin between the Taliban, President Karzai, and the Pakistanis. Of course, once our troops are out, the Taliban will negotiate right up until the point when Karzai is forced to flee (having previously made a secret deal with the Pakistanis to cease their operations inside Pakistan so long as the Pakistanis help them deal with Karzai).

North Korea severs all ties with South Korea. Since they have a long history of bellicose statements and provocative actions, it is impossible to predict whether or not this is really a significant action by the North Koreans.

Here is a link to my latest piece on Associated Content, called "All Politics is Local".

Sally Pipes says the Massachusetts health reform experience provides a preview of what is in store for the rest of us if Obama's health reform law remains in place.

John Bolton says the Euro was never a good idea for America. I believe it was also a bad idea for Europe.

Cheri Jacobus believes the GOP may be able to party like its 1994 this November.

Eugene Robinson believes the GOP, and Rand Paul, cannot run away from Paul's libertarianism, which Robinson believes is loopy.

Robert Kagan points out that the Russians just keep on doing the same song and dance when it comes to Iran's nuclear ambitions.

Andrew C. McCarthy writes about the standing ovation House Democrats gave to the President of Mexico when he slammed Arizona. What a wonderful TV ad that will make.

Benny Avni writes about a simple truth when dealing with bad international actors like Kim of North Korea...if you are unwilling to fight, they can get away with just about anything.

Paul Krugman still yearns for Obama to channel his inner FDR.

Here is a description of the political philosophy of Rand Paul (and his father), and why it generally fails to work on the larger political stage.

If the financial bailout in Europe fails, it could wreck our own recovery, which is why Robert J. Samuelson argues we need to support the rescue package.

Fareed Zakaria says we are not Greece, but we could become Greece unless we take some steps to deal with entitlement spending.

Timothy Garton Ash believes Europe needs a Churchill to prevent decline or disaster. I understand the sentiment, but even the use of Churchill's name brings up the real reason "Europe" won't work. Europe is a continent, not a nation. Churchill was the quintessential Englishman, a tireless advocate for the power and purpose of the British Empire. Europe has had other great nationalists, some good, like Churchill, some bad, like Napoleon, and some downright evil, like Adolf Hitler. The peoples of Europe need to wake up, discard the bloated bureaucracy in Brussels, regain their complete sovereignty, and then make whatever arrangements make sense between them to maintain commerce and prevent discord. The fact that independent nation-states exist on the continent of Europe is not the reason why they fought so many ruinous wars, and the existence of a "European" government is not what has kept the peace since 1945.

Ralph Peters sees the recent announcement of a nuclear fuel deal between Iran, Turkey and Brazil as an ominous sign that nuclear proliferation is about to go wild, which means the prospect of a nuclear detonation or nuclear exchange sometime in this century is becoming more likely.

Charles Krauthammer sees that deal, and other recent developments on the international scene, as signs of the weakness of Obama's foreign policy.

Paul Krugman continues to bang the drum for more government spending, not less.

I think David Brooks is an intelligent man, but this column is nonsensical.

ALL POLITICS IS LOCAL

There are a plethora of opinion pieces analyzing Tuesday's election results on the Internet today, and I won't bother posting links to them, since you probably can find them yourselves without too much trouble. I will post a link to this piece by Jay Cost, however, primarily because it represents what I believe to be the best analysis one can make of the situation. It is the best not because it presents an overview of the elections held across the country on Tuesday, but because it narrowly addresses one election, the special election in Pennsylvania's 12th district which filled the seat held by the late John Murtha. It is not simply because the piece is a very good analysis of the district and the election, which it is, but because it points out the most important truth one must embrace when seeking meaning in any election...as Tip O'Neill said, "All politics is local".

It is undeniable that national trends exist, and it is undeniable that national trends have played a role in past elections, especially those which see one party or the other sweep into power. But it is also undeniable that local conditions are most important when analyzing a local race, especially when you are dealing with a gerrymandered congressional district (which means all congressional districts). Who lives there? Who usually votes? Are they white, black, Hispanic, Asian? Are they union members, farmers, ranchers, suburban professionals? These things matter. In his piece, Jay Cost looks at who lives in PA-12, and how they usually vote. He finds that it is a heavily unionized, white working class, Democratic district. They went big for Hillary in the '08 primary, but loyally voted for Obama in the general. In essence, we are talking about a district where conservative Democrats still vote Democratic. So, coming to conclusions about national trends based on the results in one district is problematic, to say the least.

Want to know how it will all turn out in November? Look at each district individually, examine the advantages and disadvantages of each candidate, and understand what is most important to voters on the day they turn out to vote. Complicated, yes? Which, of course, is why even the smartest political analysts are so often wrong when it comes to broadly predicting election results.

As I suspected, a mixed bag in the primaries and special elections yesterday.

In Arkansas, Senator Blanche Lincoln ekes out first place, but faces a runoff on June 8 against primary opponent Bill Halter because she failed to get more than 50% of the vote. John Boozman was the easy winner on the GOP side.

In Pennsylvania, Arlen Specter is finally pushed into involuntary retirement by the voters, as he loses the Democratic primary to Joe Sestak, 54%-46%. Pat Toomey is the GOP nominee. The Democrats scored a victory, though, with the special election to fill the late John Murtha's seat, as former Murtha aide Mark Critz beat Tim Burns 53%-44%.

In Kentucky, Rand Paul, son of Texas Congressman and Presidential candidate Ron Paul, won the GOP primary over 'Trey' Grayson 58%-35%. While that race got all the attention, on the Democratic side Jack Conway narrowly beat Daniel Mongiardo for the nomination.

So, what does it all mean? The electorate, as we all seem to agree, is in an angry mood. The question is, how will this anger be directed in November? The answer, unfortunately, won't be known until we get there, as the voters will likely be moved most by whatever is most pressing at that given moment. Obama might not have won were it not for the financial collapse in October of '08. The GOP is in the driver's seat right now, but much can happen over the Summer, so any predictions now are probably not worth the time or effort it takes to make them.

Benny Avni says President Ahmadinejad of Iran is running diplomatic circles around President Obama.

Tom Friedman wants Obama to use the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico to push for a new tax on gasoline and other petroleum products to help reduce our dependency on oil. Some Conservatives, me included, thought we should do that after 9/11 as part of a national security initiative to end our dependency on foreign oil (and offset those tax increases with reductions in payroll and other taxes), so its not such a bad idea.

Democrats need to be concerned about their white, working class base.

Pat Buchanan wonders if the PIIGS will blow up Europe.

It's election day in many places, and there are quite a few interesting races to watch. Here are some recent poll numbers. We may finally be seeing the last of Arlen Specter, if Democrats in Pennsylvania decide they want a real Democrat, rather than an 80-year-old man trying to hold onto the post he has held for decades as a Republican (only to discard the GOP when it became clear its members were done with him). The conventional wisdom has it that the electorate is in a bad mood, which is bad for incumbents generally, regardless of party affiliation. This group of elections is a mixed bag of locations with a variety of local personalities and issues, so there may not be much to take from the results to extrapolate onto the national scene. I'll be looking at those results closely, of course, as will so many others. But I will not be deterred from holding to my view that this November will see a GOP surge unlike anything we have seen since 1994.

Turnout is one good reason for that view, as experience and the numbers tell us that younger voters, as well as ethnic minorities, turn out in far smaller numbers in mid-term elections than they do in presidential election years. The numbers also show Obama and the Democrats doing less well with younger voters and minorities (except African-Americans) than they did in 2008.

Mona Charen believes the polarization of the electorate is a good thing. I agree. I've always thought it better for the voters to have a choice, not an echo.

Gregory Rodriguez tells us WASPs we shouldn't despair over the fact that there is not a single Protestant on the Supreme Court (once Kagan replaces Stephens). The six Catholics and three Jews are all products of Harvard and Yale, after all, and Rodriguez believes they represent one aspect of the triumph of WASP culture in America.

Mort Zuckerman writes about the crippling price of public employee unions in America.

Here is an opinion I am beginning to find more and more plausible, that the only way we will get past our addiction to government spending is the same way people addicted to drugs or alcohol get past their addictions...hit bottom. When our society collapses into economic and political chaos, when we see clearly the worst consequences of our profligacy and dependency, then we will be able to re-order our political and economic system. What form will it take? I haven't a clue.

Fear stalks the European continent, and investors who hold European debt.

George Will sees a lack of discipline as the main problem in Europe, and an unrealistic adherence to the fiction of a unified, European government.

Conrad Black is still optimistic about the United States (and Canada) as he surveys the European scene and determines that their real problem is that only about 30% of the people work for a living.

Robert J. Samuelson is not optimistic as he considers the fact that the American people and their political leaders are still unwilling to have a real debate about the debt and deficits.

Perhaps his pessimism (and mine) is fueled by the fact that too many very smart people, like Nobel Laureate Paul Krugman, want to blame something or someone else for our political problems (in Krugman's case, he blames a radical, right-wing takeover of the GOP).

No matter what else happens, it seems government always grows larger and more powerful.

Arthur Herman believes President Obama wants to cut defense spending to a degree that will put our position as a world power in peril.

Ralph Peters sees American anti-Semitism on the rise.

Scientists see the potential for more volcanic eruptions on Iceland.

Victor Davis Hanson writes about the other European volcano, the social, economic and political volcano that could erupt with consequences even more devastating than the recent Icelandic eruption.

Is the Trans-Atlantic era over in world political affairs? I suspect an examination of present trends will not reveal the truth of what will happen in the world over the next several decades. Even the world's smartest scholars and politicians sitting in their armchairs smoking their cigars in May of 1910 could not possibly imagine what the world would look like in May of 1920, although they tried, and not one got it right. Present trends did not continue, at least not the visible trends. When they looked out at the grand funeral procession for King Edward VII that same month, and saw all the Kings, Kaisers, Czars, Emperors, Princes and Potentates, they could not imagine that so many would not sit on their thrones just ten years later, that so many empires would fall, after four years of unprecedented bloodletting. They did not know the name of Lenin, or the word 'Bolshevik', or fear the color red, although they would know it only too well in May of 1920. And in May of 1920 those scholars did not know the name of Hitler, nor could they imagine the Nazis, though they would know it in May of 1930, and would watch Hitler's armies conquer France in six weeks starting in May of 1940. Present trends, my friends, do not continue.

Dan Henninger says the GOP should position itself as the 'we're not Europe' party.

Karl Rove examines the political climate leading up to the elections in November, and it still does not look good for the Democrats.

Claire Berlinski wonders why no one seems interested in reading the Soviet archives. Perhaps it is because there are too many Leftist politicians and media folks still sympathetic with Soviet aims, and too many whose own participation as fellow travellers would be revealed if the archives were translated and widely available.

Benny Avni says the UN won't be able to stop Iran's nuclear program.

Paul Krugman says we are not Greece as he argues for the welfare state.

Perhaps we should get ready for the collapse of North Korea.

John Judis writes about an economist who makes the case for doom and gloom. Meanwhile, Ezra Klein interviews another economist who says their is no danger in running deficits. Maybe, rather than killing all the lawyers (as Shakespeare said), we should start with all the economists.

David Ignatius writes about the European bailout package as simply a postponement of the day of reckoning. Nah, forget the economists, let's start with the bankers.

George Will says the lies of the crony capitalists and their government enablers just keep on coming, fast and furious. Nah, forget the bankers. Let's start with the politicians.

Charles Hurt says the Democrats thought the election of Obama represented 'true love', but was really only a temporary infatuation.

Ralph Peters continues to blast those who think we can build a nation in Afghanistan.

Michael Barone writes about the prejudices of Barack Obama.

David Horowitz confronts a Muslim student who agrees with an Islamist leader who says the Jews should gather in Israel so they don't have to be hunted down worldwide.

British Petroleum may have found a way to stop the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico.

George Will writes about the nightmare numbers in Los Angeles.

Rich Lowry writes about a new book that examines the famous Moynihan report on the disintegration of the "Negro family" (as they called it back then) from the 1960s. What Pat Moynihan did not know then, but we know now, is that African-Americans were simply leading a general social trend of women having children without marriage, and usually raising them without a father in the home. Since there are so many other issues inside the African-American community (especially in poor, urban areas), it has been difficult to make the argument that social chaos will always ensue when children, especially male children, are reared without a father. Moynihan, whose own father abandoned his family when he was young, made that case. Now that out-of-wedlock births are so common in the general American population, we can begin to properly examine the effects of this great social experiment. Does marriage matter? By mid-century social scientists will have an answer, I think, unless other social, economic or political trends muddy the waters.

David Cameron is the new Prime Minister of Great Britain, while Liberal-Democratic Party leader Nick Clegg is his deputy in the new coalition government.

Our debt and deficit problems look a lot like the Greek problems, whether we like the comparison or not.

Robert J. Samuelson says that mutual congratulations on avoiding a second Great Depression may be premature.

The state senate seat that Scott Brown gave up in Massachusetts to run for U.S. Senate stays in Republican hands. Now, if only the Bay State GOP could win a few more.

Want to stop those atheistic pinkos from insulting your religion? Just threaten them with physical violence, then follow through.

Speaking of atheistic pinkos (just kidding...he may be an atheist, but he's no pinko), Christopher Hitchens applauds the French for attempting to ban the burqa, and anything else that requires women to cover their faces in public.

Another one bites the dust as a veteran Democratic congressman loses his seat in a primary. The Democrats may still hold this seat, but it is just another example of the anti-incumbent feeling that exists across this great land of ours.

Gordon Brown is stepping down as leader of the Labour Party in Britain, which may signal that Conservative leader David Cameron has been outmaneuvered by Brown and Liberal Democrat Party leader Nick Clegg, as it could result in a Labour-Lib Dem coalition government, which would require support from some smaller parties to reach a parliamentary majority. The main issue is electoral reform, with the Lib Dems not yet satisfied with promises made by either the Conservatives or Labour. Of course, what they really need to talk about is the restoration of fiscal sanity, as the European Union tries to rescue Greece and the other financially strapped nations of the Continent.

Mark Steyn has some thoughts on the undemocratic nature of the negotiations that will eventually lead to a new government in Britain.

Pat Buchanan believes the trouble in Europe should be a warning for us.

Glenn Reynolds says Kagan is a wise choice for the Supreme Court by a weak President.

Are Conservatives trying to disentangle themselves from the Republican Party?

A big, new EU rescue package for Greece is helping markets recover.

Unfortunately, the recovery cannot last, as the welfare state is in a death spiral.

Fred Barnes says the Republicans should learn some lessons from the experience of the Conservatives in the recent UK election. Perhaps the elections in Britain merely are another manifestation of a desire by people to see government get us out of the jam we are in which, of course, won't work, since government isn't the solution to the problem, government IS the problem (as the great man once said).

Elena Kagan is expected to be the nominee for the Supreme Court that Obama will announce today, and Bill Kristol believes she would be an anti-military justice.

Fareed Zakaria has some thoughts on why Pakistan continues to export jihadists. Arthur Herman says the President is losing India.

If you think you can get away with posing as a war hero, one man's database stands in your way.

So, what does the public really think about illegal immigration?

Ironically, American aid for Africans facing AIDS is in trouble with an African-American as President. It seems the cowboy from Texas cared more.

Meanwhile, the President tries to stoke his base. It really appears to be the only way to stave off disaster for the Democrats in November.

Male infertility is increasing. Combined with the lowered birth rates caused by prosperity (as women become more educated, they are less willing to have more than one or two children), it could mean extinction for the species Homo Sapiens.

Walter Russell Mead, looking at the events of recent days from Jerusalem, reminds us that the secular religions spawned by the Enlightenment have not created Utopia, nor brought us to the the end of history.

James C. Capretta says Greece is the canary in the European coal mine.

Investigators are still trying to figure out what happened when the Dow plunged almost a thousand points in just a few minutes. In my view, while it probably was a mistake, it highlights the vulnerability of our equity trading systems. If one trader could make a mistake that caused such a wild swing, why couldn't a saboteur do so, as well? What about a team of saboteurs? Just a thought.

More thoughts in the fat-fingered explanation for the stock price free fall.

Could there be a bigger stock disaster looming on the horizon?

Niall Ferguson explains why the Greek financial crisis could spell the end of the Euro.

Irwin Stelzer wonders if the U.S. can avoid the European financial contagion.

Adam Brodsky says we can't just play defense against the terrorists.

Negotiations continue between the Conservatives and the Liberals in the UK over the formation of a coalition government. The lack of a clear majority, as well as other problems, puts the spotlight back onto the issue of electoral reform in Britain. Gerard Baker says the election results reveal a great deal about the political and economic crisis facing the country.

The politicians continue to improve the pay and benefits of military service members and retirees, which is a winning political formula, despite the fact that the Pentagon brass and civilian leadership want them to rein in those costs.

Scientists discover that Neanderthals and our human ancestors did mate, based on a DNA analysis.

John Podhoretz comments on the demise of Newsweek.

Paul Krugman believes Greece may end up abandoning the Euro. I suspect he is correct.

Nick Clegg, head of Britain's Labor Democrats, is offering to talk with David Cameron, leader of the Conservatives, to form a coalition government in the UK. This after yesterday's general election leaves the Conservatives with the largest number of seats in Parliament, but not enough seats for a majority. Coalition governments tend not to last very long (the longest in the last hundred years was from 1910-1914, but usually they last less than a year), so expect a new round of elections by the end of 2011, at the latest.

Nile Gardiner hopes Prime Minister Gordon Brown will not try to cling to power.

More scrutiny for electronic trading after the wild ride on Wall Street yesterday.

For Socialists and Capitalists alike, there is danger in relying too much for too long on the use of OPM (other people's money).

Another one bites the dust. This time it is Wisconsin Democrat David Obey, who announced yesterday that he will not seek reelection. He has represented his district since 1969. Of course, this doesn't mean the GOP will win that district, but the retirement of an incumbent always increases the chances that a district will flip.

Voters go to the polls in Great Britain today, and whichever party leads the new government will be faced with some terrible choices to bring their fiscal house back in order.

If you have a teenager in the house, as I do, then you are probably familiar with the growing problem of social websites that allow teenagers to broadcast their cruel and insensitive gossip about one another to the world.

Newsweek is for sale, but why anyone would want it is beyond me.

Could China be facing an economic 'crash'? If there is a crash, it would have enormous geopolitical consequences.

The Times Square bomb suspect seemed like just an ordinary, Pakistani-American, suburban father. Now, as arrests are made in Pakistan, two questions seem most important. Was he really a radical all along, who came to America in 1999 as a sleeper agent? Or was he an ordinary immigrant who became radicalized?

Ralph Peters says the jihadists sense our fear (at least the fear of our ruling elites), while Michelle Malkin continues to warn of the marriage scam used by the jihadists to get residency here. As for trying terrorists in civilian courts, it doesn't make sense, even for treason.

Fred Barnes says the Democrats are prepared to ram as much of their agenda through before November as they can get, no matter how unpopular. Actually, I'm fine with that, as I would like middle-of-the-road voters to get the idea that elections have consequences and that the political system is, and will forever be, run by the ideological people who control the two parties. The only way to moderate their views and actions is to participate in politics, as a voter and, even more importantly, as a party member. The polarization of our political system is aided by the lack of participation in the parties. All of these people who shrug their shoulders and say, "I'm an independent" are creating the conditions for more radically-minded folks on both sides of the spectrum to gain more power in the parties. If, instead, they chose a party and worked inside that party they could get the "moderate" policies they seem to want.

So, it was a jihadist after all who tried to set off a car bomb in Times Square, at least if the Feds have arrested the right guy. Still, this whole things smacks of an amateur hour operation, but that might be a consequence of our efforts since 9/11 to smash up Al Qaeda operations.

Here is a piece you might want to keep for reference as Jim Geraghty at The National Review lists the 90 vulnerable seats the GOP might win in November. If they win just half of them, they take control of the House.

More flight cancellations as that volcano in Iceland continues to spew ash into the atmosphere.

Rich Lowry describes the shock troops of national bankruptcy.

Benny Avni says the only winner at the United Nations yesterday was President Ahmadinejad of Iran.

A new poll shows a majority of Americans approve of the new Arizona law concerning illegal immigrants, and most Americans want something done about immigration generally speaking. The Liberals still don't get it, of course, which is just par for the course.

A new poll shows New Hampshire Democratic Governor John Lynch falling below 50 percent. That is usually the first warning sign for a candidate that they might face some trouble, especially since the campaign has not really started, and most people are not paying attention.

It appears that beloved DC principle who was murdered in his home was not killed by any student he knew and had befriended but, rather, by some young thugs he met on a sex chat line.

Walter Russell Mead has some more thoughts on the Greek tragedy. David Ignatius is skeptical about the ability of the Greeks to follow through on their austerity plan. I agree with Ignatius, and I think Mead's historical analysis is important to a fuller understanding of why it will be so difficult for the Greeks to maintain fiscal discipline.

Has Clegg blown it, after all?

Ralph Peters writes about the blame-the-citizen attitude of the Left when it comes to immigration. Just as they are doing with their assessment of the Tea Party movement, the Left is completely missing the boat on immigration. It will, in my estimation, contribute to their electoral evisceration in the Fall.

John Bolton says we need to get ready for a nuclear Iran. I agree.

Robert J. Samuelson sees some potential for a new world economic order.