Arab Revolts Have Weakened U.S. Intel
Posted in Main Blog (All Posts) on June 14th, 2011 4:31 am by HL
Arab Revolts Have Weakened U.S. Intel
Christopher Dickey, Newsweek
Among American spies there's more than a little nostalgia for the bad old days. You know, back before dictators started toppling in the Middle East; back when suspected bad guys could be snatched off a street somewhere and delivered to the not-so-tender mercies of interrogators in their home countries; back when thuggish tyrants, however ugly, were at least predictable.It's not a philosophical thing, just a practical one. Confronted by the cold realities of this year's Arab Spring, many intelligence and counterterrorism professionals now see major dangers looming near…
The Texas vs. California Example
Jay Ambrose, Orange County Register
So what example should America follow, that of deficit-slaughtering, budget-cutting, seriously limited government in Texas, which has added 730,000 jobs in the past decade, or that of regulation-happy, spend-mercilessly, owe-everything, flee-this-place-quickly California, which has lost 600,000 jobs during the same period?While not a hard question in a nation where unemployment recently shot up over 9 percent again and is dramatically expanding its unfunded entitlement promises on top of its accumulating debt, let's continue to look at some astounding facts about Texas after noting a…
When Government Jumps the Shark
Walter Russell Mead, Am. Interest
In my last post, I wrote about “Fanniegate”, the scandalous goings on by well connected Democrats that trashed the nation's financial system. It was not that Republicans didn’t join the fun or that Republican malefactors of great wealth weren’t abusing the public trust in other ways. The moral and intellectual meltdown of the American elite is a robustly bipartisan affair and there is plenty of mud to throw at all sides.But Fannie Mae represents a special problem for the Democratic Party and Democratic ideas. It is not just a vitally…
