Alan Caruba

Obama: Reversing Course and Going Nowhere Fast

It is standard procedure in Washington, D.C. for a new administration to reverse course on many of the initiatives of the previous administration, particularly if it represents the other political party. After eight years of the Bush administration, one might reasonably expect the Obama administration to change direction.

The U.S. Government’s War on Coal!

While President Obama was eagerly signing new legislation to keep unqualified borrowers in their homes by doling out billions of our dollars, over at the Environmental Protection Agency they were leaking plans to use the Clean Air Act as a subterfuge to regulate the second most essential gas, other than oxygen, for all life on planet Earth, carbon dioxide (C02).

$65.5 Trillion in Debt

Yesterday, a man who has been President less than one month in office has signed a piece of legislation rammed through a Congress which probably not one single member has read. It spends billions on what most people of reasonable intelligence understand to be little more than “pork” projects designed to consolidate political power within the Democrat Party.

Government by Crazy People

It is one thing to be mistaken when developing and administering government programs. It is another to be nuts.

Pest Control Experts Expand Salmonella Warning

“The recent Salmonella outbreak due to contaminated peanuts is repeated every year to the tune of 1.4 million cases of this illness nationwide,” warns Leonard Douglen, Executive Director of the New Jersey Pest Management Association.

Of Presidents, Living and Dead

No, it’s not just an excuse for a three-day weekend, another federal holiday. President’s Day, combining the birthdays of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, exists to make us think about these two extraordinary men in terms of something more than sales at the mall, auto dealers, and furniture outlets.

Education or Edjukashun?

My father used to say that there was no defense against stupidity. He was a very smart man. When he entered kindergarten in the early 1900’s, he spoke his parent’s native language of Italian. The teacher seated him beside a boy who spoke both English and Italian, and he learned English. Nobody gave it any more thought than that.

America, We Have a Problem

I am always reluctant to engage in psychologically profiling politicians because I have always suspected you have to be a little bit crazy to get into a profession that virtually requires one to constantly lie and to betray one’s own sense of ethics and morality.

Israel’s Arabs

Prior to the Israeli elections, Ali Zahalka, the principal of an elementary school in Kfar Kara, Israel, wrote about the rise of Avigdor Lieberman, the leader of an Israeli political party who has become a pivotal figure in determining who will be the next Prime Minister.

One Month into a Failed Presidency

“Has Barack Obama’s presidency already failed? In normal times, this would be a ludicrous question. But these are not normal times. They are times of great danger…The costs to the US and the world of another failed presidency do not bear contemplating.”

Buddy, Can You Spare a Dime?

When television is filled with advertisements by firms offering to help you out of your debt by negotiating with the IRS or consolidating it to the satisfaction of your creditors, you have to wonder why President Obama and the Democrats intend to impose an estimated three trillion dollars in debt on the nation.

Move Over, Slick Willy!

Does it seem to you that Obama is seeking to dominate the news cycle with a lot of appearances on television? If so, you’re right. This is a presidency that understands that a large portion of the population will respond to the mere fact that he is on television, but not to the specifics of his message.

The Secret of Success

Unless you are a pest control professional, it is unlikely you ever heard of Norm Ehmann. Those of us who were fortunate to know him, however, just loved the man. He passed away recently at the age of 84 and everyone in America owes him a huge debt of gratitude.

Stupid Answers to Serious Issues

On “Jeopardy”, the popular quiz show, they have a category called “Stupid Answers” in which the answer is so obvious, posed in the question, that it is virtually impossible to get it wrong.

What Goes Around, Comes Around

The cliché, “What goes around, comes around”, will prove its worth as the abortion known as the Democrat “Stimulus” bill begins to fail of its own dead weight to stimulate anything more than a larger federal government capable apparently only of devaluating the U.S. dollar while piling more debt upon debt on you, me, our children and grandchildren.

Bits & Pieces of News

There is so much news coming at us from all directions that it is easy to let some important aspects of it slide by. Here are some bits and pieces of recent news items.

Obama Scares the Heck Out of Me!

Having been around since the days of Franklin D. Roosevelt, I have seen twelve Presidents come and go prior to the $160 million coronation of Barack Hussein Obama.

Annoying Science

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA), chairwoman of the House Environmental and Public Works Committee, has pledged to “follow science” when it comes to drafting legislation and one of the first new laws she wants passed is one that would impose a cap-and-trade limit on greenhouse gas emissions in order to avoid the dreaded global warming that is NOT happening.

The Shortest Honeymoon on Record

This is likely to be the shortest “honeymoon” on record for a new administration.

Putin v. Obama: Change is Stressful

New times, we’re told, call for new thinking. Out with the old and in with the new. In America’s case, the new is President Obama. For the Russians in charge of the former Soviet Union it means figuring out who the new guy is.