Outside the Beltway

Ok, oh scolders, what is it you want us to be blogging about in lieu of discussing a certain Hockey Mom?

Brief takes on foreign affairs

The relationships between inflammatory rhetoric and political violence is complicated.

Graphic by Sarah Palin’s PAC had Gabriel Giffords’ district in the crosshairs

When determining the effects on the deficit of a certain legislative action, both revenues and spending have to be accounted for. Indeed, you can’t determine whether there is a deficit, surplus or balanced budget without both variables.

I don’t like it when things my allies say are misquoted and attacked; it’s no better when my allies do it.

Some people in the D.C. area are worried that the Federal spending gravy train may be coming to an end. They should be.

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?”

Aaron Tobey stripped to his underdrawers in a Richmond, Virginia airport in support of the 4th Amendment.

Constitutional interpretation is easy, right?

Like it or not, the U.S. Constitution has always been a political document, evolving depending on the players on the stage.

Earmarks or no, members of Congress are going to bring home the bacon to their districts. It is what their constituents want (and expect) them to do.

A Merry Christmas to all.

The institutions charged with solving our Information Age social problems are stuck in the Industrial Age.

Tonight’s topics: the Republican effort to run out the clock on the 111th Congress, various reform proposals that are floating around, and goodness knows what else.

Bernie Sanders took to the floor of the Senate yesterday to rail against President Obama’s tax cut deal. It was history in the making, but it’s not clear that it actually accomplished anything.

Tonight’s topics: The tax cut deal, Obama’s primary challengers, and whether politicians should care about the unemployed.

The states fought hard to retain the right to appoint Senators, right?

Why would policy outcomes be different under the 17th Amendment?

Viacom says a lower court ruling in favor of Google “would radically transform the functioning of the copyright system and severely impair, if not completely destroy, the value of many copyrighted creations.”

Tonight’s topics: The fallout from the latest WikiLeaks dump and the Pentagon’s report on gays in the military.

The American copyright system is broken. Cory Doctorow offers some useful suggestions for fixing it.

Tonight’s topics: Escalation on the Korean peninsula, the continued woes of the eurozone, and goodness knows what else.

Tonight’s topics: New airline screening measures, Karzai vs. Petraeus, political infighting among victorious Republicans, and the defeated Democrats keeping their leadership intact.

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

Hamid Karazi says that the United States needs to reduce it’s military presence in his country. Perhaps we should listen to him.

Okahoma’s James Inhofe has a message for the Tea Party movement — don’t be fooled by the “War On Earmarks.”

Ok, what strategy should Speaker Boehner pursue?

Tonight’s topic: Slow news day. We’ll figure out something.

She didn’t gain national prominence until late August, and she’s going to most likely lost by a wide margin tonight, but Christine O’Donnell received more coverage from the media than any other candidate running in 2010.

With polls opening in less than 48 hours now, the final pre-election polling is showing that 2010 is going to be a pretty bad year for Democrats.

Some Democrats believe the Jon Stewart – Stephen Colbert rally this weekend will serve as a get-out-the-vote drive.

Tonight’s topic: The election is finally here.

Apparently Juan Williams is really, really, really important.

Tonight’s topics: The foreclosure mess, low GDP growth, and the world-wide Tea Party.

Tonight’s topics: The latest mortgage scandal, lust for a third party, the role of judges in Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, political motorcades and their impact on the little people, and who knows what else. I hear there’s an election coming up, so perhaps that will enter into the discussion as well.