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With Republicans moving ever further to the right and Democrats to the left — though not so far as Republicans are to the right — there really is a crying need for a centrist alternative. President Barack Obama hopes to win re-election with populist appeals for “fairness,” meaning raising taxes on the highest earners regardless…

In 2008, candidate Barack Obama made a campaign promise to put abortion at “the heart” of any health care plan his administration would propose. President Barack Obama is making good on this promise. Through a mandate issued by the Department of Health and Human Services, nearly all private insurance plans must fully cover the abortion-inducing…

After playing (price) tag for more than a year, Apple Inc., the iconic symbol of Generation Y, recently blew past Exxon Mobil Corp. and is riding the wave of success following the release of its new iPad. With its market capitalization pegged at more than $550 billion, the technology giant achieved the uncontested title of…

On Saturday The Times reported on an apparently growing phenomenon in Europe: “suicide by economic crisis,” people taking their own lives in despair over unemployment and business failure. It was a heartbreaking story. But I’m sure I wasn’t the only reader, especially among economists, wondering if the larger story isn’t so much about individuals as…

Congress is getting more serious about cyber-security. Cyber-security involves everything from a foreign power attacking our ability to control the national power grid, to a disgruntled employee hacking into the office computer and stealing proprietary corporate documents. I covered additional thoughts on national cyber security earlier. There is no national standard for cyber-security and no…

Amelioration of today’s drug problem requires Americans to understand the significance of the 80-20 ratio. Twenty percent of American drinkers consume 80 percent of the alcohol sold here. The same 80-20 split obtains among users of illicit drugs. About 3 million people — less than 1 percent of America’s population — consume 80 percent of…

IN January 2007, Israeli intelligence officials were horrified by information acquired when Mossad agents broke into the hotel room of a senior Syrian official in London and downloaded the contents of his laptop. The pilfered files revealed that Syria, aided by North Korea, was building a nuclear reactor that could produce an atomic bomb. Until…

Unemployment remains high, job growth is sluggish and millions of Americans have given up hope of ever finding work. So how do creative legislators propose to generate new hiring? Easy: Make it more expensive. That’s right. In Congress and several states, some lawmakers want to increase the legally mandated minimum wage. They think employers should…

“I’m confident that the Supreme Court will not take what would be an unprecedented, extraordinary step of overturning a law that was passed by a strong majority of a democratically elected Congress.” — Barack Obama, on the constitutional challenge to his health-care law, April 2  “Unprecedented”? Judicial review has been the centerpiece of the American…

The electoral map reveals how perilous is President Obama’s grip on the White House. Let’s start, as RealClearPolitics does, with a base of 170 electoral votes for Mitt Romney. It’s hard to imagine that Obama could win any of even the less-red states that comprise that batch (e.g. Georgia, Indiana, South Carolina, Montana). To get…

Playing second fiddle to Mitt Romney won’t be easy, but somebody has to be his running mate. Let’s handicap the field: ●Florida Sen. Marco Rubio: The choice who offers the biggest potential reward — for the biggest risk. The telegenic young Cuban American could potentially shore up three of the Romney campaign’s weaknesses: He is…

President Obama admits it: His proposed “Buffett Rule” tax on millionaires is a gimmick. “There are others who are saying: ‘Well, this is just a gimmick. Just taxing millionaires and billionaires, just imposing the Buffett Rule, won’t do enough to close the deficit,’ ” Obama declared Wednesday. “Well, I agree.” Actually, the gimmick was apparent even…

During the presidential campaign, Cabinet departments are wide targets for candidates touting efficiency and fiscal responsibility. This makes for a nice sound bite, but how badly are these departments performing? It is high time to have a top-to-bottom review of all Cabinet-level departments to determine the purpose, mission and efficacy of the organization. Every Cabinet…

I WONDER if we in the talk radio media aren’t inadvertently leaving the impression that there is a genuine debate among experts about whether an Israeli military strike on Iran makes sense this year. There really isn’t such a debate. Or rather, it’s the same kind of debate as the one about climate change –…