Outside the Beltway

We need to remember who actually sets the budget and, further, who is ultimtately responsible for the behavior of politicians.

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

Ron Paul has won the CPAC straw poll for a second straight year. But YAF has voted him off its board over his opposition to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The US has limited influence over events in Egypt–something that recent history should underscore (although not everyone appears to understand this fact).

The GOP is facing a battle between its fiscal conservatism and i’s military adventurism.

Thirty years after the hostages were freed from captivity in Iran, the United States still hasn’t figured out how to deal with the Islamic Republic.

Time for midterms.

Inevitably, the Nazis made an appearance during yesterday’s debate over health care reform in the House. It’s time for it to stop, or at least time for the rest of us to stop taking seriously anyone who resorts to such arguments.

While the violence is down in Iraq, it’s not gone.

The Stuxnet virus that has set back the Iranian nuclear weapons program by several years at least appears to have originated as a joint project between the United States and Israel.

Bipartisan seating at the State Of The Union is a pointless act of political theater. Then again, so is the State Of The Union Address itself.

While our politics are seldom violent, our violence is often politicized.

Orly Taitz, Queen of the Birthers, loses in court (again).

Moqtada al-Sadr is back in Iraq, and it’s a good thing we’re on our way out.

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

Andrew Sullivan makes a rather bizarre charge offhandedly: “Who among the neocons would have thought that one of George W. Bush’s final legacies would be bringing pogroms, bombings and genocide to Christians in his new zone of freedom?”

Does NATO membership serve a strategic purpose?

Iraq’s PM re-affirms Iraq’s commitment to the U. S. withdrawal date in the Status of Forces Agreement.

President Obama and Hillary Clinton top Gallup’s lists of Most Admired Americans.

A capsule look at the world situation as 2010 draws to a close.

Unless you paid close attention, you probably missed most of the coverage of the war in Afghanistan in 2010.

There’s been much talk recently about treason charges in the Wikileaks case, an most of it has been entirely wrong.

Republicans were largely silent during the Bush Administration as spending went out of control. Will they do that again?

Gustavus Adolphus College librarian Barbara Fister explains why she loves getting rid of books.

What will Republicans think of a candidate for President who admitted to smoking marijuana as recently as two years ago?

The latest Wikileaks leak is a list of foreign infrastructure sites deemed vital to U. S. security.

The editors of the Washington Post want you to know that “Fair Game,” the new movie about the Valerie Plame affair, is “Hollywood myth making.” Propaganda and lies is more like it.

A new round of Wikileaks documents is out, and it opens the door on diplomatic correspondence previously hidden from the public.

According to a new poll, the Tea Party movement, which is largely now the base of the GOP, is not completely in step with the views of American voters as a whole.

Israelis and Palestinians don’t agree on much these days, but they do agree that Barack Obama hasn’t helped the peace process at all since coming to office.

It’s not hypocritical or racist to support an aggressive pursuit of terrorists while getting outraged over abuses of Americans’ liberties.

Conservative Republicans who are typically deferential to the military are ignoring the advice of the military leadership on the new START Treaty.

Terrorism risk assessment: Russia at “Extreme Risk”, Greece at “High Risk”, U. S. at “Medium Risk”, Canada and Germany at “Low Risk”.

So will there be an efficacious backlash against TSA policies? I am guessing no.

The incoming freshman of the 112th Congress say that they won’t repeat the mistakes that Republicans made when they gained power sixteen years ago, but some of the advice they’re getting virtually guarantees it will happen if they aren’t careful.

Here’s my plan for creating a budget surplus of $126 billion by 2015 and $592 billion by 2030.