John Hayward / Doctor Zero Podcasts: Recent Episodes
None
Our freedom is not for sale, and we reserve the right to defend it from theft -- Audio Podcasts by Joe Koday
Well, don’t we all? John has exploded in his position as a staff writer for Human Events. Before his new job, John juggled everything else in his busy life and came up with a new essay every two to three days. Now he’s cranking them out at four to six per day. All of them […]
Congratulations to John on his new career as a staff writer for Human Events. Any of us who’ve enjoyed John’s writings knew it would only be a matter of time before his talent was recognized and appropriately compensated. I dropped a line to Doc asking him what he’d like me to do with podcasting his […]
It has long been my practice to write a horror story on Halloween, and share it with my friends. I posted last year’s effort at Hot Air, along with an essay about horror entitled The Very Witching Time of Night. I thought I would share this year’s story as well. Happy Halloween! Click here to […]
The 111th Congress began by dropping a trillion dollars in debt on the American taxpayer. The money disappeared in a wild spending spree, buying $2 million jobs in Los Angeles, and evaporating into nonexistent zip codes. Billions of dollars remain clogged in the filthy pipes of government, producing nothing but more debt through accumulated interest […]
You know what America really needs? More stimulus spending! We’ve got double-digit unemployment and a moribund economy after President Obama’s first trillion-dollar stimulus bill. Obviously we need more. Click here to download / listen to the podcast Click here to read the entire essay
In a radio interview for Latino audiences, President Obama laid bare the ugly reality of statist government: “If Latinos sit out the election instead of saying, ‘We’re going to punish our enemies and we’re gonna reward our friends who stand with us on issues that are important to us,’ if they don’t see that kind […]
The central idea behind every form of collectivism is the belief that the State is better able to address most social problems than free-willed individuals. The government is morally and intellectually superior to its citizens. It can be trusted to act in their best interests, while greedy private corporations will only try to take advantage […]
It’s almost Halloween, which means it’s time to harvest the fall crop of horror movies. The most memorable scary movies are those which echo the fears of the moment. The Exorcist arrived at a time of tension between science and spirituality, pitting a very modern single mom and her daughter against an ancient terror. Halloween […]
Everyone has their pet theories about National Public Radio’s stunning decision to fire Juan Williams, and most of those theories are probably correct. Williams is reliably liberal in most of his views, but he’s too friendly with conservatives, and his presence smears a bit too much liberal credibility on the dry right-wing toast of Fox […]
In the first decade of the new millennium, a great crisis of confidence shook the United States of America. This crisis has cultural and international dimensions. The election of a supposedly “post-racial” black President was meant to achieve a level of racial harmony the public had wearily concluded it could not reach on its own. […]
Last Thursday I made a significant (well, relatively significant) investment in recording podcasts. A new microphone and a new processor, along with a a mic stand and a pop filter took the better part of $400 out of my checking account. I can’t blame the sales gerbil — I told him what I wanted to […]
Comedian and fake news host Jon Stewart has announced a “Rally to Restore Sanity” on October 30 in Washington, D.C. Nervous at being almost completely eclipsed by Glenn Beck, Stewart decided to stage a rally that would be presented as a satire of Beck’s immense “Restoring Honor” rally in August. Of course, Stewart wants to […]
Back in September, we were astonished by the spectacle of John Kerry lurching before the cameras to call the voters stupid and ignorant. He dismissed the rising tide of resistance to the Democrat agenda by saying, “We have an electorate that doesn’t always pay that much attention to what’s going on so people are influenced […]
Watching the polls in tight races fluctuate over the last few days conjures an image of frightened people racing around the feet of a blind giant. Blind giants are dangerous. They cause massive amounts of random destruction as they flail around. It’s very hard to convince them to change course, when they plod toward certain […]
A billion people watched the rescue of the trapped Chilean miners begin on Tuesday night. It was a remarkable moment of triumph for life over death. The human race does itself credit by celebrating. Click here to download / listen to the podcast Click here to read the entire essay
Linda McMahon is still behind in the Connecticut Senate race, but she absolutely destroyed her Democrat opponent, Dick Blumenthal, in a recent debate. Blumenthal proved to have a hilariously vague, childlike idea of how jobs are created, stammering something about “creative policies” right before his head exploded, showering the audience with bone fragments. Wait, sorry, […]
It’s been ten years since al-Qaeda terrorists blew a hole in the USS Cole, murdering 17 American sailors and injuring 39 more. Our government is not doing enough to honor their memory today. Uniformed soldiers are civilization’s answer to savagery. On October 12, 2000, the bloody frontier of barbarism rolled past the Cole as she […]
The Democrats have suddenly begun attacking the Chamber of Commerce with bizarre vigor. It’s odd for them to shout so loudly about foreign campaign contributions, when President Obama set records for collecting them through his circus funhouse of a Web site in 2008, and every move this Administration makes showers B-movie villain George Soros with […]
Vampires are drawing big audiences on movie and TV screens these days. The “Twilight” series and HBO’s True Blood have become pop-culture phenomena. For my money, the best vampire tale in recent years was Let the Right One In, a 2008 Swedish film based on a John Ajvide Lindqvist novel. Although it’s only a few […]
There’s really no reason to take elections seriously. I’m not talking about voters. We need to take them very seriously indeed. A large portion of our lives has come under political control. Voting the wrong way can cause the industry you work for to be bankrupted, or nationalized. The damage caused by a poor choice […]
The problem with this government isn’t just its staggering price tag, or continued offenses against liberty. It’s also a complete failure. Americans are preparing to vote against something previously found only in Third World hell holes: a failed state. Click here to download / listen to the podcast Click here to read the entire essay
The tale of Gene Cranick’s house fire provides a fascinating opportunity to study the intersection of market economics and government action. Cranick is a resident of Obion County, Tennessee, a rural area that does not have its own fire department. Instead, residents pay a $75 fee for fire protection from the city of South Fulton. […]
You’ve probably seen the “No Pressure” ad from the global warming scam artists at 10:10 by now. The video is all over the Internet, although the 10:10 organization has been trying to suppress its incredibly stupid mistake… which, as Jim Treacher at the Daily Caller points out, roughly one hundred people made simultaneously. Click here […]
The Tea Party movement is a rising tide of resistance to the all-consuming State. It has captured the attention of independent voters made nervous by the fabulously expensive failure of Obama-style socialism. But what can it say to those who already depend on the State for their provenance, including a growing payroll of government employees, […]
When the subprime mortgage crisis exploded in 2008, and the TARP bailouts were on the verge of passage, I wrote a letter to Jim DeMint. It was the second time I’ve written to a politician, the first being a letter of support to President Bush shortly after 9/11. (I described that letter in “Avenger of […]
Considering how hard Rolling Stone worked to make Barack Obama look good in their recent interview, it’s a pity they couldn’t bring themselves to cut the embarrassing “final thoughts” he insisted on appending: Click here to download / listen to the podcast Click here to read the entire essay
The rise of the Tea Party movement has encouraged a renewed interest in the Constitution, and the original intent of the Founders. The Left has taken to sneering that Constitution-worship is an infantile obsession, a pointless romance with the larval stage of a living document, which has evolved into a four trillion dollar monarch butterfly. […]
The Left was unable to paint the Tea Party as anarchists, violent lunatics, or racists. The feeble attempt to suggest they should really be focusing their ire at George W. Bush or the Republican Party fizzled into embarrassed silence. Like a clumsy kid going deep into the dinnerware department to catch a Nerf football pass […]
If you see yourself as a moderate, independent centrist, there is an image I would ask you to ponder: a great serpent consuming its own tail. It is called the Ouroboros, a symbol of eternity. I’ve written about it before. You can once again see its outline in recent events. Click here to download / […]
The Delaware Senate race is like a game of Texas Hold-em that started slow, with boring cards on the table, and an obvious winner smirking over his hole cards. A few rounds later, everyone is frantically throwing chips onto a huge pile and waiting for the last card to be dealt. The early favorite folded […]
Talk of tax cuts fills the air, which means the Left is getting fidgety. They’ve been forced to change from delirious big spenders who see a billion dollars as a rounding error, into flinty-eyed deficit hawks who insist raising taxes to reduce our massive budget deficit is the only responsible course of action. The speed […]
President Obama kicked off his town hall meeting in Washington D.C. on Monday with the usual dreary whining that has made him such a bore to listen to. “I think we have to go back to what was happening when I was first sworn in… something that took 10 years to create is going to […]
Soaring unemployment rates are one of our greatest concerns. The government is having a lot of trouble coming up with legislation to create more jobs. I’d like to propose a bill that would create or save over half a million jobs over the next ten years, and reduce the tax burden on labor cost to […]
Marc Ambinder of The Atlantic thinks it’s time for the Obama Administration to play the “Palin Card,” setting the former governor of Alaska up as the target for some Alinsky-style frozen personal polarizing. He dismisses fears that such Presidential attention will elevate Palin to greater national prominence: Click here to download / listen to the […]
Even as the Tea Party grows in strength from another round of anti-establishment primaries, the Administration is serving weak tea in Washington. What to do about the moribund economy? Perhaps some more “stimulus” spending? Some more subsidies for politically agreeable businesses? Maybe the Democrats could leave the Bush tax cuts in place for the lower […]
Hiya! Thanks for dropping by. I took some time to make the place “purtier.” I’ve ported over all of the podcasts from the “old” site at http://www.doczeropodcasts.org. For those of you who were subscribed with us under iTunes (under, possibly, a couple of different URLs to the RSS page) I hate to ask you to […]
An odd little church in Florida touched off a global controversy by threatening to burn a Koran on September 11. They announced the burning had been postponed, but there have already been riots in Indonesia, and injuries in Afghanistan. Naturally, these riots have been accompanied by the burning of American flags. When rage and hatred […]
Thomas Sowell begins his latest column with an idea that has long fascinated me: When people learn that you are an economist, they often want you to predict which way the economy is going. There seem to be more than the usual number of calls for such predictions lately. But an economist should be more […]
President Obama “unveiled” his new “stimulus” plan in Wisconsin today. It was a lot like watching an alcoholic unveil his new plan to get sober by switching to lite beer . . . Click here to download / listen to the Podcast Click here to read the entire essay
In a Friday night post, Allahpundit followed up a dose of pure rotgut Alan Grayson insanity with a little milk of magnesia from the Atlantic Wire. It seems “many liberals” are “rejecting” the new book from Daily Kos founder Markos Moulitsas. Click here to download / listen to the Podcast Click here to read the […]
The November elections may well be the most historic reversal of political power in modern history. Sean Trende at Real Clear Politics thinks over 60 seats in the House could go Republican. Click here to download / listen to the Podcast Click here to read the entire essay
Winston Churchill once observed that history is written by the victors. President Obama’s Tuesday night speech on the end of the combat mission in Iraq was an example of history being written by the losers. Click here to download / listen to the Podcast Click here to read the entire essay
Glenn Beck’s enormous weekend rally in Washington has drawn some criticism for its religious character. Howling into the vacuum where CNN’s audience used to be, Bill Press declared the rally to be “a slap at both President Lincoln and Dr. King, not to mention the American people.” Dr. King, you see, gave his timeless “I […]
Three hundred thousand people gathered in the Washington Mall on August 28, at the invitation of radio and TV host Glenn Beck, to discuss restoring the honor of the American people. How did a great people come to lose their honor? Click here to download / listen to the Podcast Click here to read the […]
The Cash for Clunkers program was touted as a huge success by the Obama Administration. The program offered hefty taxpayer subsidies when old, environmentally insensitive cars were traded in for new vehicles. The old cars were then destroyed, ending their menace to our fragile ecosystem. Their metal was recycled to build the Deepwater Horizon oil […]
You hear a lot about the “hatefulness” of conservatives and Tea Party activists these days. Lefty web sites were eager to pin the recent stabbing of a Muslim cab driver in New York on right wingers, since all opposition to the Ground Zero mosque is dismissed as vicious bigotry . . . Click here to […]
The Washington Post brings us news of an Obama Administration report to the United Nations, confessing our “less than perfect” human rights record . . . Click here to download / listen to the Podcast Click here to read the entire essay
After the passage of his massive health-care plan, President Obama promised a “hard pivot” to dealing with our flagging economy. Job creation was said to be his new “top priority.” Politicians make a habit of declaring lots of top priorities. Click here to download / listen to the Podcast Click here to read the entire […]
Saturday brought the bizarre saga of Sweden announcing a rape charge against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, then withdrawing the warrant within a matter of hours, downgrading the international media hurricane to a tropical storm of “molestation” charges. Click here to download / listen to the Podcast Click here to read the entire essay
Sometimes people say there’s no way America can pull out of its death spiral. No matter what polls may say about the national mood turning against those pushing us into submission and bankruptcy . . . no matter what brilliant ideas for national renewal might be advanced . . . our character has become too […]
The strands of the Internet hum with confusion, anger, and message manipulation from an increasingly desperate Left. Their last-ditch strategy involves brewing up a petri dish full of viral memes about the conservative grassroots, in the hope of weakening their resolve, and perhaps frightening a few independents into staying home in November. They hope to […]
The following facts about Islam are objectively true: 1. Islam is the most violent religion in the world. Almost every point of contact between Islam and other religions, or secular government, is damp with blood . . . Click here to download / listen to the Podcast Click here to read the entire essay
Look! Up in the sky! It’s a bird! It’s a plane! No . . . it’s a plain bird. That’s the best superhero joke I know. Doc Zero once wrote that it was best to begin a composition with an arresting opening paragraph. I always preferred to go for comedy over drama. Get the audience […]
Back in June, Vice President Joe Biden made one of the bizarre statements for which he has become famous, as reported by CBS News: Vice President Joe Biden gave a stark assessment of the economy today, telling an audience of supporters, “there’s no possibility to restore 8 million jobs lost in the Great Recession.” Click […]
In the comments to The Dominion of Liars, itzWicks asks: The refrain that I hear over and over again at the conclusion of excellent essays such as this (as well as from the well articulated comments that follow on this blog) is sadly the same: “What are we going to do about it? What can […]
Even some of President Obama’s supporters are beginning to grumble about what a terrible liar he is. He lies incessantly, often with a clumsy “as I have always said” introduction that seems positively delusional in the Google era. Click here to download / listen to the Podcast Click here to read the entire essay
Reuters columnist James Pethokoukis tells us the markets are preparing for a fantastically expensive “August Surprise” from President Obama: Click here to download / listen to the Podcast Click here to read the entire essay
California’s Proposition 8 added a provision to the state constitution, declaring “only marriage between a man and a woman is recognized in California.” Its supporters fought a hard campaign in 2008, and passed it with seven million votes. Click here to download / listen to the Podcast Click here to read the entire essay
Arthur Laffer has a magnificent column in the Wall Street Journal today, concerning the reduction of income to the Treasury which accompanies rising tax rates on the evil rich. Laffer’s expertise on this subject is legendary, as is his patience for explaining it over and over again, to generations of liberals who refuse to believe […]
How much is a new Chevy Volt electric car worth? The sticker price is $41,000. However, with federal subsidies, you could pay as little as $33,500. Additional subsidies provided by the state of California could knock it down even lower, for residents of the Golden State. So what’s the price? Click here to download / […]
The past few days have brought a number of developments which illuminate the future our ruling party has planned for us. Consider the outlines of this rapidly approaching future when you decide how vigorously you wish to oppose it, or whether you’ll allow a general sense of disgust and weariness to keep you away from […]
The local news in my part of Florida is humming over a peculiar act of vandalism. At some point over the weekend, someone posted a set of well-made yellow street signs reading “Illegal Alien Crossing.” Identical signs were posted on either side of a pedestrian crossing, so drivers heading both ways would see them. Click […]
Shirley Sherrod, formerly of the USDA, said some rather provocative things during the rambling March 2010 speech that would later prompt the Obama Administration to summarily dismiss her. Click here to download / listen to the Podcast Click here to read the entire essay
We’re getting close to a major congressional election, and the early maneuvers of the 2012 presidential race are under way. That means it’s time to worry about independent voters again. Click here to download / listen to the Podcast Click here to read the entire essay
Leftist writers and pundits have been trying to stroll past the crater left by the Daily Caller’s JournoList bombshell, hands stuffed in their pockets and eyes rigidly forward. Over at the Caller, Jim Treacher provides a roundup of reaction from across the blogosphere (look for a familiar name!) Click here to download / listen to […]
Value is knowledge. That sounds a little backward, doesn’t it? It’s easy to see how knowledge is valuable. Consider the fanciful example of traveling back in time with tomorrow’s stock market results. Such data would be worth fantastic sums of money. Click here to download / listen to the Podcast Click here to read the […]
Even as the starting bell rings for the first round of the Republican presidential free-for-all, we’ve got a couple of anonymous Mitt Romney advisors coming off the top rope, aiming elbow smashes at Sarah Palin’s back. Click here to download / listen to the Podcast Click here to read the entire essay
Through DVD rental, I recently saw two films which took a similar premise in very different directions. The contrast between them is interesting. Click here to download / listen to the Podcast Click here to read the entire essay
Whatever “green jobs” are, it’s very clear America doesn’t want them. Click here to download / listen to the Podcast Click here to read the entire essay
The original mission statement of NASA reads as follows: “To improve life here, to extend life to there, to find life beyond.” The part about improving life here turns out to be a kind of cosmic Interstate Commerce Clause, justifying any conceivable activity including “expanding our international relationships” and “reaching out to the Muslim world,” […]
On the most urgent matters facing the United States at the moment — including the economy, the Gulf oil spill, border security, and foreign policy — Obama and the Democrat Party have almost completely given up on addressing the actual crises. Click here to download / listen to the Podcast Click here to read the […]
During his immigration speech last week, President Obama said: “Being an American is not a matter of blood or birth. It’s a matter of faith.” Click here to download / listen to the Podcast Click here to read the entire essay
Mike Riggs at the Daily Caller reports on a remarkable statement of support for the late Senator Robert Byrd from the NAACP: On Monday the organization released a statement from NAACP President and Chief Executive Benjamin Todd Jealous claiming that Byrd’s life “reflects the transformative power of this nation.” Click here to download / listen […]
Thomas Sowell makes an interesting point about gun control laws, in the wake of the recent Supreme Court decision concerning the Second Amendment: Click here to download / listen to the Podcast Click here to read the entire essay
The concept of profit takes a lot of abuse from the Left. Democrats usually spit the word out as though it were a curse, especially when they’re working to increase government control over private industry. Click here to download / listen to the Podcast Click here to read the entire essay
Just the other day, I was discussing the challenge of maintaining cordial relationships in a highly politicized society with a friend of mine. When politics have infused every aspect of our lives, right down to the menus at fast-food restaurants, our political opinions are often interpreted as judgments of character. Click here to download / […]
There are two Republican parties, and both had a candidate on the 2008 presidential ticket. John McCain was the candidate of the thin-blooded aristocracy, tired men who dislike certain elements of their nominal constituency far more intensely than their political opposition . . . Click here to download / listen to the Podcast Click here […]
British papers have an odd habit of hooking up with utterly clueless American correspondents, to obtain preposterous reports on the rapidly changing American political scene. Back in February, the Guardian passed over the hundreds of thousands of Americans who have actually seen a Tea Party rally to publish the tedious fantasies of Joe Queenan. Click […]
Honor is essential to the maintenance of a free society. We learn about honor from our fathers. Click here to download / listen to the Podcast Click here to read the entire essay
The current federal government of the United States is the largest, best-funded organization in human history. Our public debt has grown to over $13 trillion. We pay hundreds of billions per year just to service this debt . . . Click here to download / listen to the Podcast Click here to read the entire […]
The American flag is 233 years old today. The President has proclaimed the entire week to be Flag Week, which sounds like a good idea to me. She deserves a good long birthday celebration. Click here to download / listen to the Podcast Click here to read the entire essay
Every time I write something optimistic about the future of the United States, I hear from some doomsayers who assure me things will never get any better. Pessimistic conservatives say we’re locked into a death spiral, at the mercy of a system running on autopilot and programmed to crash. Click here to download / listen […]
Some grim humor could be found earlier this week, in the spectacle of the President’s “deficit reduction commission” going over budget and running out of money . . . Click here to download / listen to the Podcast Click here to read the entire essay
It’s easy to see the contemptible end of Helen Thomas’ career as a metaphor for the twilight of the entire dinosaur media. Her departure is the latest tremor in a rapidly shifting print and television landscape. This is no country for old hens. Click here to download / listen to the Podcast Click here to […]
As reported by MoneyNews.com, investment guru Warren Buffett is worried about a “meltdown” in municipal debt: Click here to download / listen to the Podcast Click here to read the entire essay
Look at the world through the eyes of Hamas and its apologists, and ask yourself: what’s the point of sending a couple of boats full of terror “activists” to run the Gaza blockade? Click here to download / listen to the Podcast Click here to read the entire essay
When I heard that President Obama would skip the Memorial Day ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery, my initial reaction was surprise. It seemed like a foolish unforced error, the sort of mistake a wartime President with flagging popularity can hardly afford. Click here to download / listen to the Podcast Click here to read the […]
One of the most striking moments in our increasingly surreal politics came when congressional Democrats leaped to their feet and applauded a foreign leader as he trashed the state of Arizona and its immigration law . . . Click here to download / listen to the Podcast Click here to read the entire essay
Why are liberals suddenly objecting to the name “ObamaCare,” forcefully enough to compel Jake Tapper to apologize for using the term? As Allahpundit noted, it’s supposed to be the crowning achievement of the Obama presidency — and, indeed, the modern Democrat Party. He should be proud to have it named after him. Click here to […]
If you enjoyed the finale of Lost, I’m not writing this to challenge your taste. You have nothing to apologize for, or defend. There’s nothing “wrong” with cherishing the fine acting and emotional resonance of its reunions and farewells . . . Click here to download / listen to the Podcast Click here to read […]
Tonight, fans will bid farewell to Lost, one of the most potent obsessions to erupt from popular culture in the past decade . . . Click here to download / listen to the Podcast Click here to read the entire essay
In “The Necessary Enemy,” one of the first posts I wrote for Hot Air over a year ago, I made this point about the violent and desperate nature of socialism: Click here to download / listen to the Podcast Click here to read the entire essay
Rand Paul’s decisive victory in the Kentucky GOP primary is widely viewed as a demonstration of Tea Party power. Democrat spin doctors have already wheeled Paul into surgery, laughing and high-fiving each other as radioactive chunks of extremism turn up in his biopsies. He might be sitting on a healthy lead against his Democrat opponent […]
Following is an excerpt from an Associated Press interview with Democratic Senate candidate Dick Blumenthal, currently fighting allegations that he lied about his military service in Vietnam . . . Click here to download / listen to the Podcast Click here to read the entire essay
I was a high-school student when the movie Rambo came out in theaters. While waiting in line for a seat on opening weekend, I saw a group of Vietnam vets coming out of a previous showing. One of them was in a wheelchair. I asked them what they thought of the movie. They all indicated […]
Speaking before a group opposed to gay marriage on Saturday, Florida GOP Senate candidate Marco Rubio discussed the increasing power of Big Government: Click here to download / listen to the Podcast Click here to read the entire essay
Public Policy Polling released a poll of possible Republican presidential contenders yesterday, putting Sarah Palin in fourth place behind Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney, and even Newt Gingrich. All four are within a few points of each other, and the data comes from the same outfit which assured us Doug Hoffman would sweep New York’s 23rd […]
Extreme poverty is not a difficult condition to reach. All you have to do is remove yourself to a desolate wilderness area, and exert the minimum effort necessary to feed and shelter yourself. Any increase in activity, or human interaction, will make you less poor. Click here to download / listen to the Podcast Click […]
The second round of Survivor: Supreme Court — Obama Edition has begun, and there isn’t much chance Elena Kagan will be voted off the island. The Republicans should try anyway. She isn’t a very good nominee. Was there no one with a more impressive resume, and a greater volume of published work, who could be […]
The release of “Iron Man 2” this weekend kicks off the summer blockbuster season. It’s an interesting cultural moment for conservatives. The movie version of Iron Man is one of the most unambiguously libertarian figures in popular culture, a billionaire industrialist playboy who spends much of the new movie telling the government to get bent […]
Everyone prefers the government to conduct its affairs with reason. We live in a lawful republic, rather than suffering at the mercy of an emotionally unstable monarch. Faith in law demands the supremacy of reason, because law is discipline, the opposite of uncontrolled passion. Click here to download / listen to the Podcast Click here […]
A while ago, InstaPunk wondered if reviewing elementary concepts, as I often do, is an effective use of conservative energy. To explore the idea further, he put together a provocative list of basic ideas that should be understood as common sense by most people, inviting his readers to suggest more. Can these concepts be conclusively […]
Writing on her Facebook page about the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, Sarah Palin explains why she remains committed to developing domestic oil resources, even though she had a front-row seat to the Exxon Valdez disaster . . . Click here to download / listen to the Podcast Click here to read the […]
The United States of America, like every other nation on earth, has laws concerning immigration and the security of its border. Some people feel these laws are too restrictive, or not restrictive enough, but no one seriously disputes they exist . . . Click here to download / listen to the Podcast Click here to […]
The United States is on the verge of being carved into pieces and sold for scrap. She’s the fastest, strongest ship ever built. She crossed the Atlantic in three days and ten hours, a record which stands to this day. Hurricane waves break into salt and mist against her hull. The electric fury of the […]
By now, you’ve probably watched the death of Hugo Alfredo Tale-Yax on video. In the early morning hours of April 18, on a sidewalk in Queens, he stepped forward to save a woman from a mugger. The mugger had a knife. Multiple stab wounds to the torso didn’t stop Tale-Yax from trying to chase his […]
What is money? It’s a medium of exchange — you use it to make purchases. To the average individual, money is also a means of cooperation. It transforms the value of your labor into a very efficient form of communication . . . Click here to download / listen to the Podcast Click here to […]
Conventional wisdom portrays the passage of ObamaCare as a decisive triumph for the American Left, which has finally been dealt the ace it needed for the royal flush of statism. A year of deception and backroom deals, followed by a partisan vote in defiance of a solid majority of the voters, has supposedly forged a […]
There are many areas in which the American political class does not deal honestly with her citizens. Immigration is one of the worst. Deceit and disrespect flow from both parties. John McCain, who previously regarded serious enforcement of immigration law as morally equivalent to hunting Mexicans for sport, suddenly supports a bill that would allow […]
. . . For my part, I found these remarks more . . . melancholy than outrageous. Ed asked, “What exactly is there not to like about having the dominant military in the world?” Let me ask a slightly different question: What other nation, beyond the Western democracies, would not like it? Everyone from heavyweight […]
Tax Day 2010 saw massive demonstrations beneath the still-rising star of the Tea Party, coupled with a darkly amusing sideshow: hilariously incompetent attempts by left-wing operatives to infiltrate the demonstrations, setting up fraudulent photo ops to discredit the Tea Party. The most notorious organizer of these activities, “Crash the Tea Party” founder Jason Levin, turned […]
Marine Lance Corporal Matthew A. Snyder was twenty years old when he died in a non-combat vehicle accident in Iraq. Four years later, his father Albert has committed to a grueling battle on the front lines of free speech, where he mans the crumbling ramparts of common decency. The odds would seem to be stacked […]
A correspondent recently raised the question of reforming the American electoral system so that only those who pay income tax are allowed to vote. It’s a provocative notion, even though it Ain’t Gonna Happen . . . at least, not on this side of a systemic breakdown that puts everything on the table , , […]
Socialism always seems to have a marketing advantage over capitalism. This is not surprising, because socialism is a deeply romantic notion: a dangerously seductive dream of prosperity as a function of justice, where the wise redistribute the profits of the wicked to care for the needy. Socialism’s promises are so alluring that questions about its […]
I often hear people on the Left accuse the defenders of capitalism of wanting completely unregulated markets, in which helpless citizens will be stripped of all legal protection, and placed at the mercy of rapacious bankers and businessmen. This is a straw man of such towering size that Nicholas Cage can be glimpsed inside its […]
The early battle cry of “Repeal and Replace!” has become stuck in a few Republican throats. The thinking among “top Republicans” is that outright repeal of ObamaCare might be impossible, leading to frustration among an energized base that demands nothing less. There is also some apprehension that an uncompromising push for repeal will alienate moderate […]
HBO’s mini-series The Pacific, the encore to its sensational World War II mini Band of Brothers, is well under way. So far, The Pacific has been decent, but not the equal of its illustrious predecessor. It’s taken several episodes to begin developing memorable characters, something the original series accomplished within its first hour. This might […]
I get a lot of email from people who ask if the final degeneration from capitalism to collectivism is now inevitable. Entitlements are never repealed, after all, and we just got saddled with a back-breaking entitlement, piled atop a national debt that was already crushing us. It seems like it would take a miracle just […]
Imagine a large condominium complex is meeting to consider a package deal with a cable TV company. Over eighty percent of the condo owners have their own satellite dishes, and are quite happy with the service. Some of them don’t bother to watch television at all, preferring to rent movies from Blockbuster or Netflix for […]
A race began today, when the President signed his health-care takeover bill. The vast majority of Americans opposed to this legislation have two election cycles in which to defeat it. If 2010 does not see a Republican House of Representatives, the first victims will disappear under the leading edge of a tax and regulation avalanche. […]
Tonight, self-appointed wise men in Washington are steamrolling the objections of sixty to seventy percent of the population, and forcing a massive health-care bill down our throats “for our own good.” Presumably the backroom deals, corrupt payoffs, Congressional Budget Office accounting tricks, threats of unconstitutional parliamentary maneuvers, and betrayals of principle are also for our […]
This weekend may see the fateful vote on ObamaCare, or it may be passed with twilight’s last deeming. There is not much time left for Americans to consider what is about to be done to them, and raise their voices in a protest loud enough to frighten nervous Democrats out of their parliamentary maneuvers. The […]
Another “jobs bill” is crawling through Congress. This one has a mere $15 billion price tag, making it a largely symbolic gesture — $15 billion is roughly what taxpayers spend to ferry Nancy Pelosi and her royal family around, especially when Nancy decides the hors d’oeuvres are not to her taste, and the Air Force […]
What does the bread aisle of your local grocery store look like? Chances are it’s quite large, featuring shelves filled with many different types of bread. Each type of bread is also offered by different companies — you’ll have several brands of wheat or rye bread to choose from. One of these options will probably […]
Twenty-five years ago, a little after sunrise on a Monday morning, the front door of my house was kicked in by a man who had blown his mind with crack cocaine. He marched my family upstairs at gunpoint. When I reached the top of the stairs and turned around, he put the gun in my […]
The body of actor Andrew Koenig was found in Vancouver’s Stanley Park yesterday. His father, Walter Koenig, said that his son “took his own life, and was in a lot of pain.” Like most of my generation, I grew up with Walter Koenig as Chekhov on Star Trek, and he played a superb villain much […]
Who is the worst killer in the long, ugly history of war and extermination? Hitler? Stalin? Pol Pot? Not even close. A single book called Silent Spring killed far more people than all those fiends put together . . . Click here to download / listen to the Podcast Click here to read the entire […]
During my college days in the early Nineties, I read a study that projected tax rates into the future, assuming government spending remained fixed at early Clinton levels. Due to the explosion of entitlement spending brought about by the insolvency of Social Security and Medicare, even the lower income brackets would face something like a […]
New weapons are constantly added to the arsenal of liberty through the energy and creativity of free men. One such weapon is Twitter, the social networking service that limits users to posts of 140 characters or less. Twitter was instrumental during the recent protests against the Iranian government. It’s a town-hall meeting where everyone gets […]
“You don’t have to love the war, but you have to love the warrior.” — Private Johnathon Millican. Click here to download / listen to the Podcast Click here to read the entire essay
I’m not a practicing member of any congregation, but I’ve never entertained a single atheist thought. No aspect of creation has led me to doubt the existence of the Creator. I have never doubted that life endures beyond the final beat of a mortal heart. Faith and feeling lead me to hold these beliefs, but […]
I went to see Avatar on Sunday evening, and found myself generally in agreement with Ed Morrissey’s review. Although many reviewers have complained the film takes too long to reach its climax, I thought the early and middle sections were the most enjoyable parts. The visual achievement is dazzling, in both design and execution, making […]
Dear global warming fanatics, Please. Stop. You’re embarrassing yourselves. Take a deep breath, and try to understand what has happened to you during the past month. You need to accept that your dreams of global domination are over. Increasingly shrill attempts to terrify the masses into ignoring Climagate are only making you look foolish. The […]
Centuries ago, at the beginning of the Obama Administration, we were told that the “obscene” bonuses of AIG executives should be taxed away, with special taxes that amounted to bills of attainder. This is not the first time we’ve seen specific industries targeted with massive taxes because they were deemed immoral. The outstanding example is […]
Some 15,000 Americans died last year because they didn’t have it. As many as five million more experienced a significant reduction in their quality of life, including mental and emotional trauma as well as diminished health, without it. Although large majorities of those Americans fortunate enough to have it are satisfied with what they have, […]
Almost every column written in defense of Rush Limbaugh over the last few days, following the vicious campaign to slander him as a racist, has included a statement along the lines of “Rush is rich, powerful, intelligent, and articulate, so he can take care of himself, and he’ll be just fine.” I don’t mean to […]
The Left is mobilizing to protect Roman Polanski from being extradited to the United States, after his arrest by Swiss authorities for the crime of raping and sodomizing a 13-year-old girl in 1977, then fleeing from justice. Polanski spent his thirty years in exile from the United States on a rocky island off the coast […]
Viewers of MTV’s Video Music Awards last night were treated to the thrilling spectacle of Kanye West leaping onto the stage and manfully wrestling the microphone away from 20-year-old Taylor Swift, to inform the world that Swift didn’t deserve the award she just won. This was a remarkably courageous action on West’s part, since rumor […]
When someone told me a plane had just hit the World Trade Center, I thought they meant a Cessna. I would imagine a lot of people had that reaction on 9/11. The truth was difficult to comprehend. The fear we inflict upon ourselves is electric with anticipation. Real horror, dropped before our eyes without warning, […]
Among the most unforgettable statements to come from President Obama was his repeated claim to have “saved or created” some ever-changing number of jobs. He stopped making this claim when it was greeted with roars of laughter, which in turn fell silent when unemployment numbers began threatening to set off the tilt alarm on the […]
Liberalism has given itself many different names over the years. The American Left and its political vehicle, the Democrat Party, are most accurately described as collectivists. The belief that unites the various factions within the party is their determination to accumulate power in the central government, which they believe is morally and intellectually superior to […]
The political atmosphere crackles with charges of racism. President Obama’s functionaries and allies make dark insinuations about the racial motives behind all opposition to his agenda. Tea party protests against Big Government are portrayed as thinly veiled Klan rallies. The boycott of Glenn Beck’s TV show is based on the idea that calling a black […]
. . . having a hard time understanding why people were so slow to follow my warnings, and steer clear of extremely extremist ppl like that extreme Michelle Malkin. I mean, like, we’re right in the middle of this historic debate about giving people health care so they won’t die any more, and she’s pushing […]
There seems to be a bit of confusion among Democrats about the nature of the opposition to their plans. Maybe I can help clear things up, by telling them a few things about us. We’re not paid minions of any corporate interest or lobby. Most bloggers working to stop the Obama health-care disaster are like […]
There are about 15 million people unemployed in the United States at the moment, and the number is rising. Barack Obama is personally responsible for every single one of them. Why? Because he could hire them all . . Click here to download / listen to the Podcast Click here to read the entire essay
Every species of liberal hates and fears big corporations. Conservatives are often amazed that liberals could place so much faith in Big Government, when it has such a horrific record of producing waste, corruption, and bloodshed, around the world and across the decades. One of the keys to understanding the Left is appreciating their conviction […]
Last night brought the season finale of one of my favorite television shows, “Breaking Bad” on AMC. It’s a brilliant combination of clever writing and terrific acting, especially lead actor Bryan Cranston. His performance drives the show — he’s so good that you can see the rest of the cast stepping up their game and […]
According to Joe Klein, a duly credentialed member of the media elite, Charles Krauthammer can’t write about any aspect of modern life with “nuance” because he’s confined to a wheelchair. Of course it’s an outrage, but it’s also confusing. I wonder if the Left would be so kind as to prepare a Quick Reference card, […]
One of my favorite little moments in the very entertaining new “Star Trek” movie comes when the young James T. Kirk activates the computer system of a car he swiped for a joyride, and the Nokia logo comes up. It’s nice to see Nokia’s still in business in the twenty-third century. Such simple touches help […]
Recent events have made the legal recognition of gay marriage a hot topic. Social conservatives are fighting a battle to preserve the traditional definition of marriage, and this battle is entering a crucial stage. The other side of the argument has enormous influence in the popular culture, to the point where one of its most […]
One way to measure the “transformational” power of the Obama presidency is to consider the speed with which Democrats transformed from the steel-taloned deficit hawks of the Bush years, into a party very comfortable with trillion-dollar deficits, and a fifteen-trillion-plus projected national debt. Anyone old enough to remember the early Clinton years has seen this […]