Current Affairs

Some of Newt Gingrich's ideas about how to rein in courts are nutty -- hauling judges before Congress to explain their positions, for example. But his larger point deserves to be debated long after his presidential bid ends:

Now that Rick Santorum is finally having his turn at a poll surge, I guess we should talk about him, at least for a few minutes. Alas, I think this assessment of him as a "big government conservative" is correct:

Just because he's paranoid doesn't mean we shouldn't be out to get him:

A day after officials announced the cancer diagnosis of Argentina's president, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez wondered Wednesday if the United States could be infecting the region's leaders with the illness.

Those of you who get all hot and bothered on one side or other of the daylight saving time debate ought to really get exercised about this one:

Forget leap years, months with 28 days and your birthday falling on a different day of the week each year. Researchers at Johns Hopkins University in Maryland say they have a better way to mark time: a new calendar in which every year is identical to the one before.

When the scary stuff happens, who we have as commander in chief matters:

The United States is in no position to advise Iran against cutting global oil supply in case of sanctions against its petroleum industry, a top Iranian commander said on Thursday.

Geez Louise. After all the histrionics about reinventing government and making Washington less important, Mitt Romney is the best Republicans can do? But he's been around, put in his time, so it's his turn, and that's what the GOP does. Or maybe he does fit Bill Buckley's definition of "most electable conservative." Still, this is not exactly encouraging:

Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne, whose column appeared in this morning's Journal Gazette, gets the prize for most brazen twisting of words to make them say what he wants them to say instead of what they actually mean:

For the first time since Barry Goldwater made the effort in 1964, the Republican Party is taking a run at overturning the consensus that has governed U.S. political life since the Progressive era.

Indiana is among the states with the toughest ballot-access requirements for third parties and independent candidates, a fact discussed here a few times. Virginia also belongs to that elite group, with requirements that make it tough even on major-party establishment types, and Rick Perry failed to get enough valid signatures to have his name put on the ballot.

What a rare and welcome display of common sense:

PHOENIX -- An administrative law judge ruled Tuesday that a Tucson school district's ethnic studies program violates state law, agreeing with the findings of Arizona's public schools chief.

Judge Lewis Kowal's ruling marked a defeat for the Tucson Unified School District, which appealed the findings issued in June by Superintendent of Public Instruction John Huppenthal.

You have to feel sorry for the people at Kroger who must make the decision on what to do about this. They're going to make thousands mad no matter which way they go (just different sets of thousands):

The actions of a Kroger store manager who shot and killed a would-be robber inside the grocery store are being hailed by many as heroic.