Author Archive

Hill of Beans: French Kiss-Off

Written by Christopher Caldwell on February 18, 2003. Posted in Breaking News, Posts

Americans have tended to ignore simmering European discontent with the Bush foreign policy over the last few months. We have continued to do so even after a State of the Union address that ticked certain Euros off mightily and a Colin Powell presentation at the UN that impressed them not at all. My priorities last
[ read more... ]

Be the first to comment on this post

Hill of Beans: Air Time; ‘Oomble

Written by Christopher Caldwell on February 11, 2003. Posted in Breaking News, Posts

The most important item in President Bush’s State of the Union speech last week (aside, of course, from his de facto declaration of war on Iraq) may have been his announcement of a $1.2 billion pilot research program for developing hydrogen-powered cars. That is because it makes no sense. Either it’s nothing–what Sen. Daniel Patrick
[ read more... ]

Be the first to comment on this post

Hill of Beans: Roe, Roe, Roe

Written by Christopher Caldwell on February 4, 2003. Posted in Breaking News, Posts

Six Democratic presidential candidates had their first high-profile get-together last week at a celebration of the 30th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, staged by the National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL). They didn’t look good. How could they have? In a month or so, Congress will pass–and President Bush will sign–a ban on partial-birth abortion.
[ read more... ]

Be the first to comment on this post

Hill of Beans: No Action

Written by Christopher Caldwell on January 28, 2003. Posted in Breaking News, Posts

Last week, President Bush submitted two amicus curiae briefs to the Supreme Court, regarding the University of Michigan’s affirmative action program. The controversial admissions program ranks applicants on a 150-point scale, and awards a 20-point "bonus" right off the bat to blacks and selected other minorities. The admissions regime once had two tracks–one for whites
[ read more... ]

Be the first to comment on this post

Hill of Beans: Carter Redux

Written by Christopher Caldwell on January 21, 2003. Posted in Breaking News, Posts

President Bush’s economic plan is perhaps the most brazenly devious act of federal tax policy since Jimmy Carter permitted massive de facto tax hikes by refusing to adjust income brackets for inflation in the late 1970s. In fact, it probably is the Carter policy, but we’ll get back to that. Since Plan Bush also does
[ read more... ]

Be the first to comment on this post

Hill of Beans: Exploration

Written by Christopher Caldwell on January 14, 2003. Posted in Breaking News, Posts

Even after Sept. 11, President Bush still feels like a new president to me. So it’s odd that with the new year, we’re in campaign season once again. We’re well along, in fact—only four months from the analogous point in the 1988 cycle (May 8, 1987) when Gary Hart pulled out after revelations that he
[ read more... ]

Be the first to comment on this post

Hill of Beans: Lugnuts in Power

Written by Christopher Caldwell on January 7, 2003. Posted in Breaking News, Posts

Since the high-tech Bonanza began in the early 1990s, American journalists have become more European in their vacation habits. Increasingly, you’ll ask why you haven’t seen So-and-So’s byline in weeks, and you’ll be told, "Oh, he has a place in Tuscany for July and August." The evidence of this Christmas is that the idleness is
[ read more... ]

Be the first to comment on this post

Cuomo Drowns; Bush’s “Summit”

Written by Christopher Caldwell on August 27, 2002. Posted in Miscellaneous, Posts

A few years ago, the French philosopher Alain Finkielkraut wrote of the conformist nonconformism that is the hallmark of political correctness, "We taunt traditions that are extinct, we delight in fearlessly provoking antiquated prejudices–because we can’t any longer even imagine the human adventure except in terms of a battle of liberation that the living wage
[ read more... ]

Be the first to comment on this post

Left? Right? Which?

Written by Christopher Caldwell on August 20, 2002. Posted in Miscellaneous, Posts

The great warning in Tocqueville’s Democracy in America, as every schoolchild used to know, concerns the "tyranny of the majority." In democratic societies like ours, any specimen of greed, self-righteousness or spite that wins the support of 51 percent of the people can be deployed to humiliate the remaining 49. The problem is even graver
[ read more... ]

Be the first to comment on this post

Tihs Is Mee; Revenue Rock

Written by Christopher Caldwell on August 13, 2002. Posted in Miscellaneous, Posts

Massachusetts – By last weekend, Democrats were just beginning to realize that the corporate corruption scandals were not going to result in an automatic electoral windfall. Republicans have a structural advantage, thanks to the recent census that adds congressional seats to the Southern states. So if Democrats are going to take the House back in
[ read more... ]

Be the first to comment on this post

12 3 4 »Last