Pat Buchanan from Creators Syndicate

Globalism vs. Americanism for 09/15/2009

Tue, 15 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Down at the Chinese outlet store in Albany known as Wal-Mart, Chinese tires have so successfully undercut U.S.-made tires that the Cooper Tire factory in that south Georgia town had to shut down.

Twenty-one hundred Georgians lost their jobs.

The tale of Cooper Tire and what it portends is told in last week's Washington Post by Peter Whoriskey.

How could tires made on the ot ...

Updated: Tue Sep 15, 2009

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Race and Stupidity for 09/18/2009

Fri, 18 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

God save me from my friends — I can take care of my enemies.

So President Obama must be muttering today.

Ten days ago, the president played his ace of trumps.

He went before a joint session of Congress to lay out his health care plans, confront the "demagoguery" of critics who had resorted to "distortion," "misinformation" and "tall ...

Updated: Fri Sep 18, 2009

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Black Sea Wars for 09/22/2009

Tue, 22 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

In August, the Georgian navy seized a Turkish tanker carrying fuel to Abkhazia, Georgia's former province whose declaration of independence a year ago is recognized by Russia but not the West.

The Turkish captain was sentenced to 24 years. When Ankara protested, he was released. Abkhazia has now threatened to sink any Georgian ship interfering in its "territorial waters," but i ...

Updated: Tue Sep 22, 2009

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To Lose a War for 09/25/2009

Fri, 25 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

While America was consumed this summer with quarrels over town-hall radicals, "death panels," the "public option" and racism's role in the plunging polls of Barack, what happens to health care is not going to change the history of the world.

What happens in Afghanistan might.

Gen. Stanley McChrystal has done his duty. He has bluntly told his commander in chief ...

Updated: Fri Sep 25, 2009

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Is Iran Nearing a Bomb? for 09/29/2009

Tue, 29 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

That Iran is building a secret underground facility near the holy city of Qom, under custody of the Revolutionary Guard — too small to be a production center for nuclear fuel, but just right for the enrichment of uranium to weapons grade — is grounds for concern, but not panic.

Heretofore, all of Iran's nuclear facilities, even the enrichment plant at Natanz — kept secr ...

Updated: Tue Sep 29, 2009

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Bitter Fruits of Mideast Wars for 10/02/2009

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Impending today are two of the most critical decisions Barack Obama will ever make, which may determine the fate of his presidency, as well as the future of the United States in the Near and Middle East.

The first is whether to approve Gen. Stanley McChrystal's request for thousands more U.S. troops he says he needs to prevent "mission failure" — i.e, to stave off a U.S. ...

Updated: Fri Oct 02, 2009

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The Generals' War for 10/06/2009

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

The Pentagon's pre-emptive strike came with the leak of Gen. Stanley McChrystal's confidential review of the Afghan war to Bob Woodward of The Washington Post.

McChrystal's painting of the military picture was grim.

"Failure to gain the initiative and reverse insurgent momentum in the near-term (next 12 months) — while Afghan security capacity matures — risks an o ...

Updated: Tue Oct 06, 2009

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Hire Americans First! for 10/09/2009

Fri, 09 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

September's unemployment figures were not only disappointing — they were grim. For the 21st straight month, Americans lost jobs. Fifteen million are out of work — 5 million for more than six months.

But as The Washington Times asserts, "America's jobless crisis is much worse than the 9.8 percent unemployment rate."

The U.S. economy actually lost 785,000 jobs ...

Updated: Fri Oct 09, 2009

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The Affirmative Action Nobel for 10/13/2009

Tue, 13 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

All my life, said Voltaire, I have had but one prayer: "O Lord, make my enemies look ridiculous. And God granted it."

In awarding the Nobel Prize for Peace to Barack Obama, the Nobel committee has just made itself look ridiculous.

Consider. Though they had lead roles in ending a Cold War lasting half a century, between a nuclear-armed Soviet Empire and the West, neither ...

Updated: Tue Oct 13, 2009

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The Second Battle of Copenhagen for 10/16/2009

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Before President Obama even landed at Andrews Air Force Base, returning from his mission to Copenhagen to win the 2016 Olympic Games, Chicago had been voted off the island.

Many shared the lamentation of Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, "What has become of America, when Chicago can't steal an election?"

A second and more serious battle of Copenhagen is shaping up, in mid-Dece ...

Updated: Fri Oct 16, 2009

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Alienated & Radicalized for 10/20/2009

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

In the brief age of Obama, we have had "truthers," "birthers," Tea Party activists and town-hall dissenters.

Comes now, the "Oath Keepers." And who might they be?

Writes Alan Maimon in the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Oath Keepers, depending on where one stands, are "either strident defenders of liberty or dangerous peddlers of paranoia."

< ...

Updated: Tue Oct 20, 2009

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Nixon and Obama -- Soul Brothers? for 10/23/2009

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Four decades ago, Lamar Alexander worked in Richard Nixon's White House. Sen. Alexander today says Barack Obama's White House reminds him of that place, that time, that mindset and those people.

Intending no disrespect to my old colleague, these days are not at all like those days, and this president and White House are nothing like the White House in which this writer worked from Inaugu ...

Updated: Fri Oct 23, 2009

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Newt, Sarah and a New GOP for 10/27/2009

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

"Sometimes party loyalty asks too much," said JFK.

For Sarah Palin, party loyalty in New York's 23rd congressional district asks too much. Going rogue, Palin endorsed Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman over Republican Dede Scozzafava.

On Oct. 1, Scozzafava was leading. Today, she trails Democrat Bill Owens and is only a few points ahead of Hoffman, as Empire State ...

Updated: Tue Oct 27, 2009

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The Fruits of Intervention for 10/30/2009

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

If we had it to do over, would we send an army into Afghanistan to build a nation?

Would we invade Iraq?

While these two wars have cost 5,200 dead, a trillion dollars and a divided America facing an endless war, what have we won?

Gen. Stanley McChrystal needs 40,000 to 80,000 more troops, or we risk "mission failure" in Afghanistan. At present casualty rates &mdas ...

Updated: Fri Oct 30, 2009

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The American Way of Abandonment for 11/03/2009

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

When America is about to throw an ally to the wolves, we follow an established ritual. We discover that the man we supported was never really morally fit to be a friend or partner of the United States.

When Chiang Kai-shek, who fought the Japanese for four years before Pearl Harbor, began losing to Mao's Communists, we did not blame ourselves for being a faithless ally, we blamed him. He ...

Updated: Tue Nov 03, 2009

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For Whom the Bell Tolls for 11/06/2009

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

For the Blue Dogs, Tuesday was a fire bell in the night.

Virginia Republicans led by Robert McDonnell crushed the most conservative Democrat nominee in decades, rolling up a victory that rivaled Ronald Reagan's rout of Walter Mondale.

New Jersey GOP nominee Chris Christie, whose campaign had been the despair of its backers, won a 5-point victory over Jon Corzine, despite huge Demo ...

Updated: Fri Nov 06, 2009

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The Two Faces of Maj. Hasan for 11/10/2009

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Nidal Malik Hasan was two men.

One was the proud Army major who wore battle fatigues to mosque; the other, the proud Arab who wore Muslim garb in civilian life.

What brought Hasan's identities into fatal conflict was his belief that Iraq and Afghanistan were unjust wars, and his shock that he, a Muslim, was to be sent to serve in one of those wars, against fellow Muslims — a ...

Updated: Tue Nov 10, 2009

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Polk: Forgotten Great for 11/13/2009

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

As America debates whether to send tens of thousands more troops to Afghanistan, in the ninth year of a war for ends we cannot discern, a riveting new history recalls times when Americans fought for vital national interests.

"A Country of Vast Designs: James K. Polk, the Mexican War, and the Conquest of the American Continent" is Robert Merry's brilliant biography and history o ...

Updated: Fri Nov 13, 2009

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Is America a Serious Nation? for 11/17/2009

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Are we at war — or not?

For if we are at war, why is Khalid Sheikh Mohammed headed for trial in federal court in the Southern District of New York? Why is he entitled to a presumption of innocence and all of the constitutional protections of a U.S. citizen?

Is it possible we have done an injustice to this man by keeping him locked up all these years without trial? For that ...

Updated: Tue Nov 17, 2009

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Dumbo Univeristy for 11/20/2009

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

As George W. Bush famously asked, "Is our children learning?"

Apparently not in the twin capitals of liberalism, D.C. and New York.

In a ranking of 50 states and D.C. by how much each spent per pupil in public schools in 2005, New York ranked first; D.C. third. The state spent $14,100, and New York City just a tad less.

And the bountiful fruits of this massive tra ...

Updated: Fri Nov 20, 2009

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