Frank Ricci was a firefighter from New Haven, CT who wanted to be promoted, so he did what many Americans used to do:  he worked hard for it.  He bought $1,000 worth of books in order to study up for the exam he needed to pass.  He studied so hard that he was forced to hire a reader because of his dyslexia.  He took the exam, and he passed it.  But he was not promoted.  Why?  The promotions were canceled because no African-Americans got high scores.
In other words, Ricci was …

I am free to pursue my dreams today because countless American soldiers gave their time, efforts, sweat, tears, blood, and lives to provide for my defense.  Thank you to every American soldier who lives now and who has ever lived, and to their families, who do and have done so much that I may live comfortably in freedom.
In honor of Memorial Day, here is a letter written by Abraham Lincoln to Lydia Bixby, who lost five sons in the Civil War:
Executive Mansion,
Washington, Nov. 21, 1864.
Dear Madam,
I have been shown in …

There’s a big hubbub this week about the potential missing link – a lemur-like fossil of some creature that existed some 47 million years ago.
James T. Harris has this to say:
OK, check it out. So according scientists, “Ida is linked to humans by the talus bone in her ankle which is the same shape.” They also said, “her opposable big toes and nails, not claws, confirmed she was a primate.”
Eureka! Cousin Ida! Missing link found. Man evolved from apes around 75 million years ago because it’s really hard to pinpoint …

Barack Obama’s been proposing Keynesianism/Marxism as the solution to the current economic crisis (once again, following the Bush policies):  spend more in order to get money flowing back again.  But there’s a problem:  the states where the tax-and-spend philosophy dominates are suffering the most financially.  The states with low-to-no taxes are seeing people flock to them and seeing more jobs created.
The Wall Street Journal has the details (H/T Patrick McIlheran).
Updating some research from Richard Vedder of Ohio University, we found that from 1998 to 2007, more than 1,100 people every …

Want a good chance at being happy?  Be old, male, and Republican.
Americans grow happier as they age, surveys find. And a new Pew Research Center survey shows the tendency is holding up as the economy tanks.
Happiness is a complex thing. Past studies have found that happiness is partly inherited, that Republicans are happier than Democrats, and that old men tend to be happier than old women.
Why might Republicans be happier than Democrats?  More money, you say?  Actually, when they took money out of the equation, Republicans were still …

Barack Obama openly addressed abortion during his Notre Dame commencement speech yesterday, and of course just about everything he said was either feel-good wording or blatantly wrong.
For example, here’s one quote:
“[We] can still agree that [abortion] is a heart-wrenching decision for any woman to make, with both moral and spiritual dimensions.”
Can we?  Abortion is casualized all the time.  Oh, and by the way, what does Barack Obama think the “moral and spiritual dimensions” of an abortion are?  Don’t people who have abortions think there’s nothing moral and spiritual about it?  …

Earlier this year, Obama’s economic team was predicting that the unemployment rate would max out at around 8% under Obama’s stimulus plan while avoiding getting near 9% if the plan wasn’t passed.
As it turns out, the stimulus hasn’t lived up to its promises in that regard.

As you can see indicated by those triangles, unemployment is actually exceeding what was predicted to happen if we had just…not done anything at all.  (Remember when Democrats endlessly prattled on about “well, it’s better than nothing” and “what’s your plan?  Huh?  Do nothing?”)
In my …

I think one of the reasons a lot of Obama supporters wonder why we conservatives get up in such a tizzy about him is that he sounds like a moderate.  He doesn’t always like to talk like a far left weirdo – in fact, he likes to talk about budget and tax cuts.
Of course, conservatives like myself are too smart to fall for such hibbity jibbity.  Here are some of the cases where Obama’s actions have shown where his true positions are.
The lie: “Tax cuts.”  Remember all of the talk …

…at least, that’s how the weirdos in the U.S. Senate see it.
Senate leaders are considering new federal taxes on soda and other sugary drinks to help pay for an overhaul of the nation’s health-care system.
The taxes would pay for only a fraction of the cost to expand health-insurance coverage to all Americans and would face strong opposition from the beverage industry. They also could spark a backlash from consumers who would have to pay several cents more for a soft drink.
A few cents more for a soda doesn’t sound too …

“[The] policy [of my country] is, to leave their citizens free, neither restraining nor aiding them in their pursuits.”
-Thomas Jefferson
It occurred to me recently that one of the philosophies of liberalism seems to be protecting people from failure.  There’s nothing inherently wrong with protecting people from failure – it’s often the correct philosophy.  If I have a two-year-old child who’s wandering out into traffic, I’m going to want to protect him from failing to navigate the traffic.
But we too often forget that benign failure is useful, even beneficial.
I always pay …