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Libertarian Cato Blogger Endorses Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal
Tweet Share on Facebook May 28, 2010 Comment (6)By John Aloysius Farrell, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
Maybe it's the Rand Paul effect. But the libertarians of the Right, so cowed in recent years by the social conservatives, seem to be finding their voice when it comes to recognizing the civil liberties of gay Americans.
Ted Olson is out in California, lunching with Nancy Reagan and fighting for gay marriage. Antonin Scalia took the side of gay rights activists the other day at the USSC. And, as Congress debates just how (freely, or closeted) gay Americans will serve in the armed forces, the Cato Institute has endorsed a legislative compromise ending the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy.
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The Tea Party Should Stop Whining and Support a Summer Stimulus
Tweet Share on Facebook May 27, 2010 Comment (15)By John Aloysius Farrell, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
It's really no surprise that we have faux populist movements like the Tea Party in these tough economic times. The polling shows these are white folks, at or near the age of retirement. They have spent a lifetime following the rules (mostly) and sticking money in their 401(k)'s, and watching the government take a bite from each paycheck for Social Security. When the stock market crashed, the US of A didn't give them money--it gave money to the SOBs who caused all the trouble, and caused their retirement funds to tank. Suddenly, the comfortable retirement they had hoped and planned for was gone--gone with a poof, along with tens of thousands of dollars from their savings.
Hey. Wait a minute. I just described me.
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Journalism 101: Nationals Pitcher Stephen Strasburg in the Post
Tweet Share on Facebook May 26, 2010 Comment (1)By John Aloysius Farrell, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
I have always been a big fan of the Texas sportswriter, Dan Jenkins. And while living in the nation's capital has no torrent of advantages, one of them is the chance to read Dan's daughter Sally, writing in the morning paper. Let me show you what I mean. The other night she was in Syracuse, to catch the Washington Nationals' brilliant almost-a-rookie pitcher, Stephen Strasburg, pitch in the bush leagues.
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Israel In Danger of Losing America's Jewish Youth
Tweet Share on Facebook May 25, 2010 Comment (12)By John Aloysius Farrell, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
Recently, in this space, I worried as a friend of Israel about the growing irrelevancy of the Zionist cause in the United States. Our kids don't see the dream of a Jewish homeland the way we and our parents do or did. The new generation's impressions of Israel are those of an imperialistic bully, grabbing Arab lands and building illegal settlements--not those of a plucky underdog.
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Rand Paul Should Explain Himself on Civil Rights Act, Libertarianism
Tweet Share on Facebook May 20, 2010 Comment (17)By John Aloysius Farrell, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
At the risk of spoiling the public burning of Dr. Rand Paul, for his stupid statements about the 1964 Civil Rights Act, I am going to suggest that American liberals pause for a moment and remember how they felt about the Patriot Act. We cannot know what is in Paul's heart, but it is possible that his libertarianism flows not from bigotry and prejudice or political opportunism, but from honest conviction.
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Souder Sex Scandal Shows Threat From Social Conservatives
Tweet Share on Facebook May 20, 2010 Comment (1)By John Aloysius Farrell, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
Oh, c'mon, you say. There's no split in the Republican Party. Libertarians and social conservatives can get along just fine. It's the Democrats who are pushing the Nanny State down our throats.
Well, consider this statement from the Concerned Women of America, on the sinful conduct of former congressman Mark Souder, who was caught doing the horizontal mambo with one of his aides, notwithstanding that both were married to other people.
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Mark Souder Out, Rand Paul In--A Good Trade for Republicans
Tweet Share on Facebook May 19, 2010 Comment (7)By John Aloysius Farrell, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
There is something to be said for Rand Paul: he is not Mark Souder. I don't expect that the son of libertarian hero Rep. Ron Paul is going to spend his time in Washington, should he get here, hectoring the rest of us about family values, while carrying on an adulterous sexual relationship with a comely aide.
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Virginia AG Cuccinelli's Questionable Campaign Contributions
Tweet Share on Facebook May 18, 2010 Comment (7)By John Aloysius Farrell, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
If Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli II was a great lawman, we might tolerate his preoccupation with the human sexual organs, and what individuals choose to do with them. If he were Wyatt Earp or Sherlock Holmes--heck, if he was Inspector Gordon--we might want to forgive his conspiratorial fantasies and academic witch hunts.
But it seems that Cuccinelli is a few bullets short of a load when it comes to spotting actual bad guys. According to the Washington Post, King Kook personally solicited $50,000 in campaign contributions from an apparent scam artist whose charitable association apparently consisted of 1) himself, and 2) some of those telephone solicitors-for-hire who call and ask for money as we sit down to dinner.
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Is Obama's Offshore Drilling Policy to Blame for Gulf Oil Spill?
Tweet Share on Facebook May 14, 2010 Comment (18)By John Aloysius Farrell, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
The front page story in today's New York Times, which revealed how the Obama administration ignored the warning of its own scientists when granting oil companies permission to drill in the Gulf of Mexico, should not be dismissed. It is a major scandal confronting the president, and how he reacts will say much about him.
An Interior Department spokesperson said, rather lamely, that after eight years of Republican rule, when former energy company lobbyists ruled the roost at Interior, the new administration has been working to change the culture there. Not working hard enough. Among the wells that were allowed to proceed without the required permits, the Times said, was the Deepwater Horizon rig.
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Nationals, Redskins Give Washington Sports Fans Hope
Tweet Share on Facebook May 14, 2010 CommentBy John Aloysius Farrell, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
The Washington Nationals won again last night. There is an adverb--again--you don't see much with that particular noun and verb. Losertown may be ready for a new nickname.
I was idly clicking through the channels the other night and caught the last outs of Stephen Strasburg's no-hitter, but what really has me thinking that we are in for good times here in Ol' DC is Tom Boswell, the ace sports guru at the Post who, in his online chat yesterday, was positively giddy about the Nats' chances at making the playoffs--maybe even this year!
John A. Farrell
John Aloysius Farrell is a contributing editor at U.S. News & World Report. An award-winning Washington reporter, he has written for The Boston Globe and The Denver Post and is the author of Tip O’Neill and the Democratic Century and an upcoming biography of the great American defense attorney, Clarence Darrow.
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