Calling Iran's Bluff

By Alan Caruba | 11/20/09

If the endgame was not so serious, I would confess to enjoying the way the Israelis and much of the rest of the world are getting ready to call the Iranian ayatollah’s bluff as they hope to avoid a military response to their nuclear quest and the threat it represents. It wouldn’t surprise me that the ayatollahs who have had Iran by the throat since 1979 are beginning to have serious misgivings about embarking on their... read more »

The Information Deficit

By Alan Caruba | 11/18/09

To those who have mostly known the Internet as their source of news, the notion that there is an “information deficit” may seem an odd judgment, but it is one that an old friend and longtime observer of the public relations profession recently made. What Jack O’Dwyer, publisher and editor of Jack O’Dwyer’s Newsletter and PR Report, doesn’t know about public relations is probably not worth knowing.... read more »

Ga-Ga for Sarah

By Alan Caruba | 11/17/09

As we know from the 2008 campaign, every so often Americans go ga-ga over some politician. A relatively slim majority of the voters were convinced that Barack Obama was the first or second coming of a great new future filled with “change”; all of which has turned out for the worst. The inexplicable choice of Sarah Palin as John McCain’s vice presidential running mate instantly conferred fame on the now-former Governor... read more »

China Will Surprise Obama

By Alan Caruba | 11/16/09

President Obama loves to travel. He cannot wait to descend the steps from Airforce One to the sounds of welcoming bands, honor guards, and awaiting dignitaries. On his whirlwind November 13-19 trip to Asia, however, he is likely to be sternly lectured behind closed doors from Tokyo to Beijing and Seoul. It will come as a surprise to him. That’s because he will be around grownups who don’t much like the way the United... read more »

Solar Power Lies

By Alan Caruba | 11/15/09

I lived in Florida for some five years between attending the University of Miami and returning after service in the Army for a job I left on news of JFK’s assassination. Some five years ago my older brother, a resident of Boynton Beach, urged me to relocate. As the exit doors of the Palm Beach Airport slid open, I was hit with a soggy blast of hot air that instantly told me I would not be taking up residence there again. I... read more »

A Man-Made Financial Disaster

By Alan Caruba | 11/15/09

You will recall that, shortly before the end of the 2008 political campaign, the White House announced a threat to the entire financial system and called on Congress to enact emergency spending powers. The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 was enacted on October 3, 2008. Just eighteen days earlier an event occurred that slid under the radar screen of virtually the entire mainstream media. On Thursday, September 15, 2008, at ... read more »

The Worst President Ever!

By Alan Caruba | 11/15/09

  Barack Obama’s deep bow to the emperor of Japan and earlier bow to the Saudi Arabian king is so deeply offensive to America’s history and traditions that it cannot and most not be explained away in any fashion. The framers of the U.S. Constitution were particularly sensitive to the conditions under which a President could serve or any hint that a privileged, monarchal class might emerge. “No Title of... read more »

Winning Battles, Losing Wars

By Alan Caruba | 11/10/09

My late Father was too young to serve in World War One and too old to serve in World War Two, but he sent two sons to serve in the U.S. Army, one during the Korean conflict in Tokyo’s command headquarters and myself during early 1960s peacetime at Fort Benning, Georgia. The closest I ever came to seeing combat was during the Cuban Missile crisis. It extended my active duty by a couple of months while Krushchev and Kennedy... read more »

Captive Voters

By Alan Caruba | 11/09/09

Americans are beginning to learn what it is like to be governed by a Congress that doesn’t care what they think or want. All over the world there are legislatures in nations that exist for no other purpose than to rubber stamp what the local despot or monarch wants to do. Those like myself who live in New Jersey have become so accustomed to the indifference of those we elect that it took one of the most obtuse and incompetent... read more »

Wrecking America

By Alan Caruba | 11/08/09

I am always wary of conspiracy theories. Most can be explained away as shared ideologies which, in the case of the current and recently past Congresses and White Houses, can be described as socialism. It did not and does not matter which Party was or is in power. The other explanation for the national car wreck we’re in is just plain “stupidity.” Another way of describing this is “willful ignorance.” Both... read more »