Channeling Ike—Robert Gates’s May 8 address at the Eisenhower Library in Abilene, Kansas, got passing attention from the media when he delivered it. Two months later, the speech has taken on a life of its own, in particular at the Pentagon, where it is read as a warning about out-of-control budgets, a dysfunctional appropriations process, […]

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Petroleum Club—Republicans claimed to be shocked by Texas Congressman Joe Barton’s apology to BP CEO Tony Hayward. Democrats (including White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel) claim that Barton simply went public with the Republican Party principles at the wrong time. Rahm’s right. So are the Democrats, as the Democratic National Committee is running ads […]

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GRAND ISLE IS Louisiana’s only inhabited barrier island and is normally a destination spot for tourists who want to experience the Gulf Coast Cajun-style. The sandy beaches that summer tourists and residents once flocked to are closed after being sullied by the crude oil washing up since late May, following the April 20 explosion of […]

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A (Dead) Man, A (Response) Plan Rep. Markey: Mr. Lutz died in 2005, four years before the plan was actually filed. How, Mr. Tillerson, can you justify in a response plan having a person who has been dead for four years? Is that also an embarrassment? Mr. Tillerson: Well, it’s embarrassing. —Rep. Edward Markey questioning […]

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The Karzai Conundrum—”I want to thank the American people for their sacrifice,” Dr. Abdullah Abdullah said. Abdullah might have won the 2009 presidential election in Afghanistan, which was stolen through massive ballot fraud that made Hamid Karzai president. An ophthalmologist who began his political career in the Afghan resistance to Soviet occupation in the 1980s, […]

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