Outside the Beltway

The privitization of Federal helium reserves is a textbook example of the damage to the nation that can be caused by imprudent budget cutting.

Shirley Sherrod’s lawsuit against Andrew Brietbart promises to be an interesting test of the boundaries of defamation law in the political blogosphere.

Ezra Klein dubs the Federal government “an insurance conglomerate protected by a large, standing army.”

Do conservatives believe in evolution and global warming?

President Obama is telling business they have a social responsibility to invest in America. He’s wrong.

The events in Egypt have led some to ask if the mere act of cutting off access to the Internet is, in itself, an human rights violation.

Demanding that the new GOP House hold the line at the current number is satisfying rhetorically, but all-but-impossible politically.

Time for midterms.

NYT public editor Arthur Brisbane explains how it came to pass that his paper reported as fact the erroneous news that Gabrielle Giffords had been killed.

Despite anecdotal evidence debunking global warming, 2010 was another record year for warm temperatures.

Rumors are floating that Rudy Giuliani is thinking about running for President again. All of America asks, Why?

The American military personnel system works against keeping the best and brightest officers in the service.

Diplomacy means having to be nice.

With just over a week to go before the 112th Congress convenes, battle lines are already being drawn in battle over the defense budget.

Frustrated that it couldn’t achieve desired environmental legislation despite huge majorities in both Houses of Congress, the Obama administration has decided to govern by executive fiat.

Younger users are moving away from email as a way to communicate with others, and toward more instant forms of communication like text messaging and Twitter.

The Federal Communications Commission is using a statute from the 1930s to try to regulate the technology of the 21st Century. It’s a mistake.

Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour, who may end up running for President in 2012, has reopened wounds that finally seemed like they were closed.

A woman in California has filed a lawsuit against McDonald’s because she is apparently unable to resist her child’s incessant demands for a Happy Meal.

Despite yesterday’s victory for opponents of the Affordable Care Act, the prospects in the Supreme Court are not good.

A new study seems to show that student evaluations of teachers are something other than a popularity contest.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg says he isn’t running for President, but he’s sure acting like a guy who’s at least thinking about it.

Would returning to indirect election of Senators really have a significant impact on the growth of the Federal Government? Probably not.

Let’s keep our eye on the ball, people.

The commander-in-chief, secretary of defense, and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff all support removing the ban on gays in the military without further delay. A long-awaited Pentagon study showed no reason not to do so. But three of four Service chiefs disagree.

David Broder, three weeks after the election, explains “What Murkowski’s write-in win says about the electorate.”

Richard Quinn, a business professor at the University of Central Florida, got suspicious after a historically high grade distribution on the midterm for his capstone course and decided to scare his students.

TSA boss John Pistole has offered to give Senators a pat-down search so that they understand the controversial new procedures.

Is the current media environment a problem for proper political discourse?

US News & World Report is going to stop printing magazines, except for a handful of niche issues like the annual college and graduate school ranking guides.

Peggy Noonan argues that Tuesday’s elections shows that Americans want to be led by accomplished grown-ups and will reject people who seem empty or crazy.

If the polling is anywhere close to accurate, a Republican wave will come crashing down today, repudiating the first two years of the Obama administration. What does it mean?

The Rally To Restore Sanity And/Or Fear ended up having a point after all, but it’s not one that anyone is likely to take to heart.

World Politics Review has published a special issue on “NATO’s Identity Crisis” ahead of next month’s Lisbon summit and the unveiling of a new Strategic Concept. I contributed the lead essay, “NATO in an Age of Austerity.”

Apparently Juan Williams is really, really, really important.

The disaster that began last Monday in Hungary continues to unfold.

President Obama and the Democrats are charging the Chamber of Commerce of funneling foreign money into ads for Republicans. It’s a desperate move unlikely to work.

InstaPaper’s business model is stealing content created by others, stripping it of the ads that pay the creators, and running their own advertising on it.