DUBLIN, IRELAND — "The bold encroachers on the deep Gain'd by degrees huge tracts of land, Till Neptune, with one gen'ral sweep Turns all again to barren strand." "This poem" — ("The Run Upon the Bankers") — "was printed some years ago, and it should seem, by the late failure of two bankers, to be somewhat prophetic," wrote Jonathan Swift in 1720. The poem is somewhat prophetic again. The Celtic tiger — the Irish economy ... [full story]

Why would someone risk his life by, as the LA Times described, "extending his body away from a motorcycle and grabbing the seat as the motorcycle is upside down, then pulling back aboard as the motorcycle is righted before landing"? Or not. In which case, as it was with 24-year-old Jeremy Lusk, he ends up dead. Why risk your life doing a flip on a motorcycle? Best I can tell, the activity has no particularly ... [full story]

President Barack Obama has indeed made history. His selections for his Cabinet and other top government offices make a mockery of his much publicized campaign promises to give us "the most sweeping ethics reform in history" and to "close the revolving door" to lobbyists. Some historians confer the ignominious appellation of most corrupt on President U.S. Grant of the 1870s, some on President Warren G. Harding's Teapot Dome scandal of the 1920s, some even on ... [full story]

The day before Richard Holbrooke arrived in Kabul, eight suicide bombers and gunmen attacked the Justice and Education ministries, killing 26 and wounding 57. Kabul was paralyzed, as the Taliban displayed an ability to wreak havoc within a hundred yards of the presidential palace. The assault came as President Obama is both conducting a strategic review and deciding how many additional U.S. troops to send. Earlier, there was talk of 30,000, bringing the U.S. total ... [full story]

From the day that Barack Obama wrested the presidential nomination from Hillary Rodham Clinton, his presidency became, according to those who were running his campaign, "inevitable." Even before winning the election, he began assembling a much-vaunted "team of rivals" to guide U.S. foreign and domestic policy. Though his running mate, then-Sen. Joe Biden, predicted, "It will not be six months before the world tests Barack Obama," and warned that it would be "an international crisis, ... [full story]

President Barack Obama last week conducted his first prime-time press conference. After blaming the "failed theories of the last eight years" for today's economic crisis, he pushed for massive, unprecedented government spending. Lefty radio talk show host Ed Schultz — who once called Republican presidential candidate John McCain a "warmonger" — sat in the front row, appropriately next to "reporter" Helen Thomas. Thomas used to attack then-President Bush with her statements masquerading as questions. In ... [full story]

Daniel Bergner isn't the devil's advocate, but he is a pervert's apologist. This author and contributor to the New York Times Magazine has a new book titled "The Other Side of Desire," which argues it is unfair to judge bizarre, harmful and disgusting sexual attractions as bizarre, harmful and disgusting. Bergner's book focuses on four real-life fetishists: a husband with a secret foot fetish, a man with an attraction to amputees, a vicious female sadist ... [full story]

Quoth President Obama: "It's a little hard for me to take criticism from folks about this recovery package, after they've presided over a doubling of the national debt. I'm not sure they have a lot of credibility when it comes to fiscal responsibility." By the time you read this column, there is no knowing what the size of Obama economic stimulus package will be. Just below $800 billion? A little more? Whatever the price tag ... [full story]

On May 2, the Bureau of Labor Statistics confirmed what we have known for a long time - the American economy is weak and growing weaker. As summer approaches, we are faced with the fact that during the past two months, more than 100,000 Americans have lost their jobs - 80,000 in March and another 20,000 in April. In fact, this year has seen a steady erosion of employment with a total loss of a ... [full story]

The media have been telling us to watch the gun-control case now before the U.S. Supreme Court, where we await a decision about Americans' Second Amendment rights. But the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals just handed down an equally important gun decision that has additional implications against judicial supremacy. The court, which convenes in New York City, shot down the longtime liberal dream of achieving gun control by suing gun manufacturers for crimes committed ... [full story]

When I was narrowly elected to Congress in 1962, the good folk of La Mesa, Calif., were not jumping for joy. I lost that suburban city by 1,200 votes, the most lopsided margin in my entire San Diego County district against sending a Democrat to Washington. I reasoned that my chances in the next election might well turn on changing minds in La Mesa. A group that ran the local Helix Irrigation District persuaded me ... [full story]

As I prepare to travel to Israel this June - my second mission for the American-Israeli Friendship League and the Israel Finance Ministry - I also will be participating in the celebration of the 60th anniversary of Israel's historic independence. Meanwhile, thousands of Palestinians are protesting what they call the "nakba," or the catastrophe, of Israel's birth. Historically and politically, I agree with Winston Churchill, who said on March 29, 1929, in a tree-planting ceremony ... [full story]

BEND, Ore. -- Following Monday evening’s meeting of the Bend City Council, a Work Session focused on budget cutting, I talked to Finance Director Sonia Andrews. We discussed the amount of funding going towards Juniper Ridge (JR) from the General Fund, which she stated as $180,000 for debt service on a line of credit to cover our obligations per Les Schwab. All potential cuts in the JR budget as presented last fall have been undertaken. ... [full story]