Three Related General Lessons for Long-term Presidential Governing: Please Take Note, President Obam
--Richard E. Vatz As a rhetorician who has been around over for quite a while, I offer a few related observations on governing, some of which my more youthful compatriots, including Presidential Barack Obama, are seemingly unaware. If some the following points seem obvious to you, it is either because you are young and perspicacious or older and experienced. 1. Immediate Popularity and Public Support is Easy to Achieve; Wise Long-term Policies May Earn You Neither. When in 1974 President Gerald R. Ford pardoned Richard M. Nixon in Proclamation 4311, he announced that he did so because a trial of “…a former President of the United States…[wo

Memo for Democrats
As we celebrate what we are most thankful for, here's a reminder about the Pilgrims and why they didn't eventually wind up starving to death (H/T Instapundit): In 1620 Plymouth Plantation was founded with a system of communal property rights. Food and supplies were held in common and then distributed based on equality and need as determined by Plantation officials. People received the same rations whether or not they contributed to producing the food, and residents were forbidden from producing their own food. Governor Willi

Global Warming Fraud and Conspiracy? It Just May Be So
If the hacked emails and data from the Hadley Climate Research Unit in the UK turn out to be genuine—and the director, Phil Jones says they appear to be—then the global warming alarmist movement has some serious explaining to do.The emails appear to reveal a pattern by prominent alarmist scientists of concealing evidence contradictory to the theory of anthropogenic global warming, manipulating scientific data, preventing conflict

OBAMACARE: Senate Cloture Vote Saturday Evening at 8 PM
by Robert Farrow at the Baltimore Reporter Sen. Reid just filed cloture on the motion to proceed to HR 3590, the Service Members Home Ownership Tax Act. Remember he is using HR 3590 as a ’shell’ to offer his 2,074 page health bill as a substitute amendment. The cloture vote on the motion to proceed will be Saturday evening at 8:00 pm. Remember Democrats need 60 votes to achieve cloture. On Friday, the Senate will convene at 10:00 am and debate the merits of Sen. Reid’s 2,074 page bill until 11:00 pm on Friday evening. On Saturday, the Senate will convene at 10:00 am continuing the debate lea

Lines in the Sand
My RedMaryland colleague Michael Swartz has done some excellent analysis about the likely prospects of Congressional and Legislative reapportionment here in Maryland following the 2010 election. And some of it is not pretty. Based on some of the potential redistricting plans Michael found floated by "silver spring" on the Swing State Project website, we could be in for a huge problem here in Maryland.Take a look at this