Outside the Beltway

The first ad of the 2012 presidential cycle has aired, by some dentist touting Hillary Clinton. She’s not running. Could she?

How long will we stop annual commemorations on the anniversary of that horrible day?

Did you know that more Christians than Muslims were victims of hate crimes in America? Did you also know that there are a lot more Christians? Oh. Never mind, then.

For many reasons, the housing market is unlikely to fully recover for the foreseeable future.

The controversial Muslim center near Ground Zero may get public financing.

The New York Times realizes that most Republicans just don’t care that Ken Mehlman is gay. Surprise, neither do most Americans at this point.

Americans who earn a lot of money disproportionately live in a tiny number of states and are married to other high-earners.

The Army and its officer corps are becoming increasingly Southern and rural. Is this a bad thing? If so, what can we do about it?

Ok, Saudi Arabia has less freedom than the US. Why do some people think that should form the basis of an argument about appropriate behavior in the US?

The guy who ran George W. Bush’s campaign and the Republican National Committee has realized after only 43 years that he likes dudes.

The Tea Party is coming to Washington, D.C. on Saturday for a Glenn Beck rally and one travel guide is warning them to stay away from certain parts of the city. Subtle racism ? No, it’s common sense.

Glenn Greenwald argues that the “Ground Zero Mosque” debate is about more than just a “mosque” near Ground Zero. He’s right, but that also means the debate is likely to get uglier.

Rick Lazio is running for Governor of New York and he’s found an issue in the so-called “Ground Zero Mosque,” but it doesn’t seem to be helping him in the polls.

Some of our politicians and commentators are looking to odd places for guidance over the application of fundamental American values.

Steve Emerson has reportedly found 13 hours of tape of Cordoba Initiative chairman Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf and found him to be a “radical extremist cleric who cloaks himself in sheep’s clothing.” Does it matter?

Glenn Greenwald asks, “Why won’t the Pentagon help WikiLeaks redact documents?” For the same reason we don’t negotiate with terrorists.

The United States has promised $150 million in aid to flood-ravaged Pakistan. Should we have?

The New York Times is reporting that the Obama Administration has convinced Israel that Iran is much further away from developing nuclear weapons than Tel Aviv fears, but there seems to be something else going on here.

The Associated Press tells its reports to stop using the phrase “Ground Zero Mosque.” That’s a good thing.

Strippers didn’t attack us on 9/11. Then again, neither did American Muslims.

Rand Paul’s initial mis-steps after winning the Republican primary seem to be largely behind him.

Ann Coulter has been dis-invited from a World Net Daily conference for her decision to speak at a convention sponsored by a gay conservative group.

Some Republicans are start to wonder if it’s such a good idea for their party to be so closely associated with the heated rhetoric surrounding the future of this former Burlington Coat Factory.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, appearing on San Francisco’s KCBS radio, called for an investigation in the efforts to stop the building of a Muslim cultural center at the hallowed Burlington Coat Factory location blocks from Ground Zero.

Given public opinion on the proposed Islamic community center that is currently cominating the news, we would expect that opposition to the project would be strongest in Manhattan itself.

How did the future of this former Burlington Coat Factory turn into a national political issue ? Well, it’s a rather interesting story.

Renowned author Ray Bradbury hates big government but wants it to fund the colonization of Mars. That a man of his intelligence and insight can hold such diametrically opposed thoughts is an amusing reminder of the limits of human rationality.

Either Obama’s Defense Secretary and commanding general are conspiring to undermine his July 11 deadline for withdrawal from Afghanistan or that they’re carrying out his intent.

Ross Douthat’s latest New York Times column demonstrates an appalling misunderstanding of history in the context of immigration.

Free parking is a very inefficient use of land resources that wouldn’t exist without government mandates and subsidies. Is it time to end the practice?

The GOP is playing a dangerous game with the anti-Islamic rhetoric that it seems to be courting these days.

President Obama’s decision to speak out on the so-called “Ground Zero Mosque” has turned what was a hot-button cable news item into a political issue that even his fellow Democrats don’t want to deal with.

Steve Slater, the JetBlue sky waiter whose recent meltdown became a viral sensation, wants his old job back.

A staggering 8 percent of all babies born in the United States in 2008 were offspring of illegal aliens. What are the public policy implications?