Alan Caruba

Middle East Flashpoint

What does Joe Biden know that the rest of us don’t? He’s predicting that, if elected, President Barack Obama would be “tested” within six months of taking office. I’m thinking it would be more like six days or six weeks.

When You and Everyone Else You Know Are Crazy

We are now entering the final two full weeks of the campaigns and, if you feel like you and everyone else you know is crazy, you’re right.

With “Friends” Like These

In a recent letter to its members, Friends of the Earth, one of the larger environmental organizations, claimed that “warming means war.”

Let’s Go Nuclear

How do you know when a Green—hardcore environmentalist—is lying to you? When his lips are moving. Okay, it’s a cliché used in other cases as well, but it is especially true when the latest absurd claim comes flying at you courtesy of the mainstream media.

The IRS Will be Hiring

If Barack Obama is elected, the Internal Revenue Service had better double its workforce because the amount of cheating on tax returns will rival Italy’s.

The Avocado Index: High Finance in Hard Times

I have what I call my “Avocado Index.” I happen to like avocadoes, even if they are an acquired taste. My problem, however, is that a single avocado now costs $2.50 at my local supermarket.

Too Close to Call

As someone who gives praise to a merciful God for the invention of the Internet connection to my banking information, I will not pretend that I understand much about the arithmetic of polls except that they seem to be wrong a great deal of the time.

Race as an Election Factor

I find it remarkable that so little attention has been paid to the role of race in the 2008 election, especially since, for the first time in the nation’s history, one of the parties has nominated a man who, though biracial, identifies himself as Afro-American or Black.

States & Utilities Unite to Rob Energy Consumers

Energy consumers in ten northeastern States are going to see their bills rise and probably not even know why. They will assume that it is tied to the cost of oil, natural gas, or coal, but it does so only obliquely.

At the Core of Election Corruption

A lot of people who know politics far better than I are beginning to openly worry if John McCain can close the gap with Barack Obama. At a time when voter registration investigations and scandals are erupting in more than a dozen states, McCain insists on calling Obama “a decent man”, but his record suggests otherwise.

Cold and Colder

Joe Bastardi, the Chief Long-Range Forecaster at AccuWeather, has released his 2008-09 Winter Season Forecast addressing issues of average temperature and precipitation that will impact the nation.

A Dangerous Place for Jews

The world has always been a dangerous place in which to be a Jew.

Who Actually Votes?

Given that we know the mainstream media is utterly devoted to electing Barack Obama, virtually everything they report and interpret will be favorable to his campaign, including the latest spate of polls showing he has gained a lead.

The 1930s Redux

The nation’s economy is caught in a perfect storm. We are looking at an international tsunami of fear. Investors are dumping their stock holdings. Credit has hit a choke point making it difficult for banks and lending institutions to make the loans that are the ocean of trust and optimism upon which our economy floats.

A Month of Campaign Madness

This is what you need to keep in mind between now and November 4th. It will be a month of complete political madness. Nothing you hear or read has any purpose other than to get you to commit to one candidate or the other.

The Ethanol Election Issue

The issue of the nation’s financial and economic security is likely to dominate the November 4 election. Earlier in the campaign cycle we might have assumed that foreign affairs and energy would be uppermost on the minds of voters, but we’re told that, ultimately, voters vote their pocketbooks.

No Joy in Mudville

As in the case of Mighty Casey at the Bat, unless John McCain comes out swinging for the remaining two debates, there will be no joy in Mudville after Election Day.

A Heartbeat Away

At a dinner for Nobel Prize winners in 1962, President John F. Kennedy said that those present constituted “probably the greatest concentration of talent and genius in this house except for perhaps those times when Thomas Jefferson ate alone.”

The Great Veep Debate: A Preview

Thursday night will be the great debate between the vice presidential candidates, Sen. Joe Biden and Gov. Sarah Palin. Pundits are already predicting who will win or lose depending on their political preference.

Politics Versus Economics

Congress reminds me a lot of the Wizard of Oz these days. They keep telling us to ignore the man behind the curtain, but they are the man behind the curtain.