Liberty

Caroline May reports that "More than 2,500 evangelical and ministry leaders from a range of denominations have signed a letter to President Obama voicing their opposition to the administration’s new mandate requiring that all health insurance plans contain contraceptive coverage."

But not all religious leaders are being critical of Obama--a number are even trying to provide him with cover.

Saturday's lead editorial in the Wall Street Journal discusses the White House's “accommodation” concerning its decree that all new private insurance plans must cover birth control pills, morning-after pills, and the abortion drug ella—and must cover them free of charge.

James Pethokoukis: "Income inequality myths: No, the rich didn’t steal all the money"

The Hill: "Is Frank eyeing Obama Cabinet post?"

Michele Bachmann knows that the Constitution prohibits the states from imposing health-insurance mandates.  She just doesn't know what part of the Constitution does this.  But she's open to suggestions. 

That was the bottom line of her interesting exchange yesterday, at the South Carolina GOP presidential candidates forum, with Robert George. 

Liberty and Civilization

The Western Heritage

The rally on August 28 in Washington, D.C., was about many things—some high, a few low (very few, as these events go), and many in-between, and is worth considering from various angles, from the political to the cultural to the sociological. We offer two excellent analyses in the following pages, by Harvey Mansfield and Lee Harris.

Last week, Chinese novelist Yu Jie was taken into custody and interrogated by the State Security Bureau after announcing that he would soon be publishing a book, titled China's Best Actor: Wen Jiabao, about China's premier.

Congress has always had its flaws. All too often, the road to the enactment of legislation has been fraught with corruption, stupidity, threats, bribes, and other sordid practices.

But as bad as that is, what transpired during the passage of health care reform was different and even worse. The process by which this bill was passed didn’t just feature corruption and violate traditional ethics. It revealed a president and a congressional leadership that in concert have shown more callous contempt than any in history for the will of the American people, the safeguards against the tyranny of the majority built into the Constitution, and the parliamentary rules by which Congress operates. And there’s every indication that, if need be, the same will be true of cap and trade, immigration reform, or whatever else Obama, Pelosi, and Reid may deem the next morsel they plan to cram down the recalcitrant throat of the American public.