David Rodeback's Blog

Saturday, January 14, 2006

Good Readings (Not Super-Sized, This Time)

Good writing on such topics as the Alito hearing, the Abramoff scandal (which could be a real problem for some folks), Prime Minister Sharon, an attempt to restrict political speech by bloggers and on talk radio, economics, Katrina, and, of all things, the JFK assassination. Authors include familiar faces George Will, Jeff Jacoby, Charles Krauthammer, and Thomas Sowell, among others.

After Day 1 of the Alito hearing, Wesley Pruden observed that clowns don't take the circus seriously. (He was talking about the Iniquisitors, not the Judge.) Michael Goodwin offers a cogent analysis from midway through the hearing. Jonah Goldberg says the show trial is a consequence of the Supreme Court being too powerful.

Goldberg's point about the confirmation hearing probably applies to the Abramoff lobbying scandal, too; there's too much money in Washington because there's too much power there. Wesley Pruden, again, comments on how big a problem this could be for the Republicans, who have a lot more to lose. Michael Barone takes a sensible look at lobbying generally. (Did you know it's explicitly constitutional?)

Speaking of constitutional rights, there's a serious effort to use campaign finance laws to restrict political commentary by bloggers and in talk radio. Brian C. Anderson analyzes it at length.

Charles Krauthammer explains why Prime Minister Sharon's incapacity is a serious problem for Israel and the cause of peace.

On the George Will watch, there's an interesting suggestion for a mascot to replace the elephant as the Republican Party's symbol. And it's probably worth your while to read the rest of another Will column, which ends with these words:

It is expressing opinions about what is and is not wholesome. And once government starts venting such opinions, how does it stop?

Government could spare itself the stress of moralizing about so many things if it decided that the choices people make with their money is their, not its, business. And government could avoid having opinions about so many things if it would quit subsidizing so many things.

Nat Hentoff reasons about the rule of law and spying on phone calls.

In economics Thomas Sowell discusses what we learn and don't learn about poverty from China. And Peter A. Brown looks at old rules which do and do not apply in the modern economy.

Jeff Jacoby describes the government failures which Katrina revealed.

Last and probably least . . . I'm not one of the tinfoil hat crowd, but I did find Jack Kelly's piece on Cuba and the John F. Kennedy assassination interesting.

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