CAL THOMAS

Opinion: Public in need of a good dose of stout medicine

In 2008, “60 Minutes” visited Denmark to report on a survey of international happiness conducted by Leicester University in England that concluded Danes are among the happiest people on Earth. The reason? They have low expectations and thus, as Morley Safer noted, “are rarely disappointed.”
This ought to be a Republican Party theme in the November and subsequent elections. If our expectations about politicians and government are lowered, we will then start expecting less from them and more from ourselves, then our prospects for happiness will likely be much improved.

By Cal Thomas , August 31, 2010

Opinion: Outsourcing debt may be viable choice

BELFAST, Northern Ireland — British Prime Minister David Cameron is calling for reinforcements to help him deal with the country’s massive debt, which has been caused by nonstop spending, severe recession and declining tax revenue. According to the UK’s Centre for Policy Studies, at the end of 2008, the national debt was 1,340 billion pounds ($2,090 billion USD), which was 103.5 percent of GDP. This figure includes all the public sector pension liabilities such as pensions, and Private Finance Initiative contracts. It’s likely that figures for last year will be even more alarming.

By Cal Thomas , August 24, 2010

Opinion: Pentagon’s health depends on new policy

As Republicans take their case to the voters in November about the Obama administration’s massive overspending and record debt, they should seriously consider what could be a rare bipartisan objective: cutting defense spending.

By Cal Thomas , August 17, 2010

Opinion: A promise kept, or a mission not quite a success?

President Obama claims to have kept his campaign promise to cease American combat operations (though not U.S. troop presence) in Iraq by the end of this month. But it’s not about his keeping promises about a war and an objective he never supported. It’s about whether the mission has been a success. And the answer to that question is: we don’t know yet.

By Cal Thomas , August 10, 2010

Opinion: Coming soon to U.S.: National Health Service

PORTSTEWART, Northern Ireland — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid told a group of liberal activists meeting in Las Vegas they shouldn’t worry about not getting the single-payer provision in the new health care law. “We’re going to have a public option,” Reid said. “It’s just a question of when.”

By Cal Thomas , August 03, 2010

Opinion: No shame in it, but America has committed a big mistake

The latest Washington Post/ABC News Poll tells the story: Nearly six in 10 voters say they have “just some” or no confidence in President Obama to make the right decisions for the country.
America — or at least the part of it that voted for Barack Obama for president — has made a big mistake. Some of those teary-eyed people in Chicago’s Hyde Park neighborhood on Election Night 2008 would probably admit it if they were interviewed. Many bumper stickers still display fading “Obama ’08” stickers, but you’d find fewer that read, “Yes We Can!”

By Cal Thomas , July 27, 2010

Opinion: Make sure government never gets obese again

The co-chairmen of President Obama’s Debt and Deficit Commission painted a gloomy picture of the economy last weekend when they appeared at the closing session of the National Governors Association meeting in Boston. Former Wyoming Republican Senator Alan Simpson and Erskine Bowles, former White House chief of staff under Bill Clinton, called the current budgetary trends a cancer “that will destroy the country from within” unless checked by tough action in Washington.

By Cal Thomas , July 20, 2010

Opinion: With Obama’s NASA plan, the right stuff goes all wrong

Silly me. I thought America’s unparalleled space program (before the present administration began dismantling it) was a triumph of American ingenuity, technology, vision and boldness. Instead, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden says its “foremost mission” is not returning to the moon, or completing a mission to Mars; rather it is improving relations with the Muslim world. Bolden says President Obama told him he also wants NASA to encourage children to study science and math, but isn’t that best done by applying science and math to a robust space program?

By Cal Thomas , July 13, 2010

Stop me before I spend again

Last weekend as America celebrated the 234th anniversary of its independence from Britain, there was a reminder of how increasingly dependent too many Americans have become on our government. The New York Times headline read: “Illinois Stops Paying Its Bills, but Can’t Stop Digging Hole.”

By Cal Thomas , July 09, 2010

Opinion: Famous Marx joke finds new relevance in modern case

“I wouldn’t want to belong to any club that would have me as a member.”
That familiar one-liner has been attributed over the years to the late Groucho Marx, but in light of the Supreme Court’s 5-4 decision last week in the case of Christian Legal Society vs. Martinez (UC Hastings), the sentiment it contains may have some contemporary legal relevance.

By Cal Thomas , July 06, 2010

Opinion: Deporting Yousef would be victory for those who want to destroy the U.S.

What should be done with a man who infiltrated the terrorist group Hamas, spied for Israeli intelligence and broke up terror attacks, saving countless Israeli, as well as Palestinian, lives? Most people would say he should be honored. Not the U.S. government, it’s trying to deport him.
Mosab Hassan Yousef was more than a spy. He is the son of a founding leader of Hamas, which made him among the highest prizes for Israeli intelligence. Yousef and his Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) handler, Gonen Ben Itzhak, were in Washington last week, meeting with whoever would listen to them. Yousef told me — and Itzhak confirmed — that he never killed anyone and, in fact, prevented many from being killed, while providing useful information that thwarted numerous terror attacks.

By Cal Thomas , July 01, 2010

Opinion: If Obama picked the wrong man, just how good is his judgment?

The World War II slogan “Loose Lips Sink Ships,” which was intended to encourage Americans to keep quiet about any information pertaining to that war, could also apply to modern generals and their staffs.
Gen. Stanley McChrystal’s mistake was not indulging in — and allowing his aides to indulge in — locker room guy talk; his “mistake in judgment” was allowing a writer for the far-left, anti-war magazine, “Rolling Stone” apparently unrestricted and prolonged access to him and his aides. A liberal White House won’t allow access by conservative writers to its deliberations and application of its Saul Alinsky-like redistribution of wealth philosophy.

By Cal Thomas , June 29, 2010

Opinion: President on a joy ride, but without the joy

President Obama’s first address from the Oval Office can be summed up with a song lyric from the 1951 Broadway musical, “Paint Your Wagon”:
“Where am I goin’? I don’t know.
When will I get there? I ain’t certain.
All that I know is I am on my way.”

By Cal Thomas , June 22, 2010

Opinion: Tipping point for presidency is fast approaching

There is a scene in the film “Superman II” where the Man of Steel chooses to give up his powers and become mortal for Lois Lane, the woman he loves.
A major part of President Obama’s attraction, especially to the many young people who voted for him, was his supposed difference from other politicians. To those naive worshippers, he seemed so above it all, a super-apolitical man.

By Cal Thomas , June 15, 2010

Opinion: Global warming hardcores will stick to beliefs

Three modern myths have been sold to the American people: the promise of a transparent administration (President Obama); the promise of a more ethical Congress (Speaker Pelosi); and the myth of “global warming,” or climate change.
The first two are daily proving suspect and now the third is sinking with greater force than melting icebergs, if they were melting, which many believe they are not.

By Cal Thomas , June 08, 2010