Lance Thompson

Hitting the (Debt) Ceiling

Negotiations continue in D. C. about raising the debt ceiling. We’ve heard all the numbers, and if you’re like me, trillions, billions, and multi-millions eventually lose all meaning. So I thought I’d take a crack at simplifying the issues.

Palin’s End Run

The mainstream media have indignantly reported on Governor Sarah Palin’s barnstorming "One Nation" bus tour across the Eastern United States with sputtering speculation, crafty criticism, risible ridicule, and, as usual, insufficient insight. The reason for the media apoplexy is simple. Palin is the first potential national candidate to successfully demonstrate that today’s news organizations are yesterday’s news.

The Obama’s big hopes of reforming the Human Rights Council from within are in shreds

For centuries, conventional medical wisdom held that ailments ranging from diabetes and gout to epilepsy and insanity could be successfully treated using the scientific technique known as phlebotomy. This is commonly known as bloodletting, or drawing blood from a patient to release the sickness. The technique is as old as ancient Greece, and was commonly used in Europe and North America well into the 19th Century.

Rethinking Assassination

Since 1976, it has been the policy of the United States not to target enemy leaders. In order to comply with this policy, and still confront the enemies of this nation, we have had to mount invasions, liberate countries, wage wars and commit our nation’s blood and treasure for indefinite periods all over the world. Reversing the policy would make the United States and the free world much safer.

Hindsight and Blindsight

In hindsight, all victories look inevitable. But for the participants, it is much more as the Duke of Wellington described his triumph over Napoleon at Waterloo: "the nearest run thing you ever saw in your life." The truth is that no one can foretell the outcome of any contest. Yet many pretend prognosticators, who would gladly have us believe that Ronald Reagan’s election in 1980 was preordained, are already telling us that Sarah Palin is unelectable in 2012. Such revisionism and fortune-telling are mutually refuting.

Obama’s Private Sector Jobs Program

Many have been critical of the Obama administration’s favoritism toward public over private jobs. Trillions have been shoveled into the insatiable maw of government service, while taxation and regulation have strangled private sector employment. However, a new edict from the Justice Department promises a significant boost to private sector workers–particularly lawyers.

DNI: Doesn’t Name Islamists?

"Intelligence" can be defined as an individual’s capacity to gather and apply knowledge, a measurement of understanding and wisdom, or strategic information deemed valuable to a corporate or government entity. In our country, the efforts of all intelligence agencies–foreign, domestic and military--are coordinated and supervised by the Director of National Intelligence (DNI), James Clapper. The DNI is the top advisor from the intelligence community to the president. Mr. Clapper demonstrated on 10 February an astounding lack of qualification for his job, and failure in all three definitions above.

Egypt Steps on the Gas

The recent Islamist uprising in Egypt is sending shock waves throughout the world, and it is still unclear what the final effects will be. But Egypt has made one conclusion very clear. The energy policy of the United States is short-sighted, ineffective, and dangerous.

Incoming

This week, Washington’s political balance of power will shift when the Republicans establish a decisive majority in the House of Representatives, and erase the filibuster-proof Democrat majority in the Senate. Conservatives hope this means a major course change for the ship of state, but we are waiting to be convinced. In that regard, let me offer some unsolicited advice for the Republicans in Congress.

Deliverance by A Thousand Cuts

It’s hard to tell what course Washington will steer from the actions of the lame duck Congress. The fact that several Republican Senators failed to back an earmark ban (while several of their Democrat colleagues did vote for such a ban) makes one uneasy. But there’s no doubt the new Congress and the old president will have to make some painful budget decisions if the economy is to be revived. An obvious target is entitlement programs.

Put Up or Put Up With It

We are now several days past the biggest Republican comeback since--well--since there were Republicans. Several important changes have been made, but at least one attitude adjustment is still required.

Up The Establishment

The media have focused on the growing rift between new conservative stars and their Tea Party backers versus the old guard establishment Republicans. This difference has been highlighted in races in Florida (Marco Rubio over Charlie Crist), Alaska (Joe Miller over Lisa Murkowski), and most recently Delaware (Christine O’Donnell over Mike Castle). In each case, a conservative outsider has overcome long odds to beat an experienced but more moderate candidate backed by the Republican establishment. This trend shows every indication of continuing.

Oval Office Reversals

President Obama must be frustrated. No matter what position he takes on the 13-story mega-mosque to be built next to the hallowed ground of the 9/11 terrorist attack (and he’s taken as many positions as possible), none of them seems to satisfy everyone. Obama first came out four-square behind the mosque and the rights of the radical imam who wishes to build a monument to radical islam at the site of its greatest desecration. Later, Obama clarified that he was only defending the constitutional right to freedom of religion, not the wisdom of building the mosque.

Uniform Misconduct

Lily Tomlin once said about Hollywood, “No matter how cynical you get, you never can keep up.” The same sentiment applies to the Obama administration. Few of its harshest detractors could even imagine the depths to which this government has stooped to remain in power. Very few would have imagined that the President’s administration would encourage lawbreaking to disenfranchise Americans in uniform. Yet, according to two Department of Justice officials, that is now official policy.

Protected Status

No government is supposed to play favorites, but in fact, they all do. The reality of evolving government policy is that some entities are treated better than others. One can determine the priorities and preferences of a government by which entities it favors and which it punishes. The Obama administration, judging from the entities is favors, is clearly a champion of those who mean us harm.

It Ain’t Over Till It’s Over

When political leaders and media personalities discuss the economy today, they do so in terms of the “recovery.” Certain indicators “point to a recovery” or show that “the recovery is picking up steam” or that various sectors, industries or people are “sharing in the recovery.”

Say Yes to No

The Republicans in Congress who boast of their bipartisanship and ability to reach across the aisle are afraid of being cast as members of “The Party of No.” This classification, invented by the mainstream media, is intended to characterize Republicans as having no new ideas, no willingness to cooperate, and no future. Even with that biased view, the Party of No is an affiliation much to be admired in the current environment of socialist political initiatives.

WHBS–White House Broadcasting Service

In its never-ending campaign to simplify the main stream media’s job, the White House has eased the journalistic burden by putting out its own stories. Besides White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs breaking news on Twitter and Barack Obama taking a question at a news conference from a sympathetic blogger, the White House has now produced and released its own interview with its recent Supreme Court nominee, Elena Kagan.

Arizona Open and Closed

My wife and I used to spend a great deal of time in Arizona, and it has much to offer–particularly now that the state is the object of a boycott by those who favor illegal immigration.

Preparations for Reparations

For a long time, the idea of reparations (monetary compensation to the descendants of slaves) struck me as just another special interest group looking for handouts from Uncle Sam. But lately, I have begun to see the logic and moral foundation for reparations.