The enthusiasm for the trilogy has forced library officials to dust off their policies — if they have them — on erotica.

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‘Fifty Shades of Grey,’ by E. L. James, in Demand at Libraries

PRESIDENT OBAMA is fond of saying that there is no silver bullet to bringing down gasoline prices. On Tuesday, however, he went into the silver bullet business. With gas prices high and an election looming, the president announced a very public “crackdown” on “those who manipulate the market for private gain at the expense of millions of working families.” He asked Congress to spend $52 million on more oversight, to allow regulators to set higher capital requirements in oil markets, and to mandate a few other steps. Many of the policies Mr. Obama proposed are fine — technology upgrades at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), for example. Yet the administration can’t offer any satisfying explanation for why they are so necessary as to require emergency congressional action. The only emergency seems to be a mindless election-year war over who’s to blame for sustained high gas prices — a question for which Mr. Obama himself has repeatedly given the most reasonable answer: those shadowy actors called supply and demand. Read full article > >

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Editorial Board: Obama’s gas ‘crackdown’ will do little to lower prices

In presidential politics, should the grading be on a curve? Specifically, assessing President Obama , is it correct to judge his policies on the merits, or in the broader context of legislative realities and the elephant-in-the-room fact of the looming election? Read full article > >

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On the ‘Buffett Rule,’ should Obama get an A for effort?

But disagrees with his policies.

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Paul Defends Romney’s ‘Poor’ Comment

On Nov. 6, America’s presidential election will produce a winner and a loser. But it may take decades to know who was which. The Iowa caucuses on Tuesday are the first formal step in winnowing the GOP field for that general-election matchup with President Obama. Certainly, every candidate — from surging Rep. Ron Paul of Texas to Republican establishment favorite Mitt Romney — wants to win. But winning an election is a narrow definition of success. A triumphant candidate may be stuck in the policies of the past and become no more than a footnote to history; the losing candidate can be prophetic and end up transforming our politics. Read full article > >

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The most important losers in American politics

President Obama is preparing to roll out a jobs program Thursday that could cost as much as $300 billion in infrastructure investments and tax cuts, but which aides said will include ways to pay for the programs that the White House hopes will win bipartisan support from skeptical Republicans. Obama, whose approval ratings are at record lows, will present his proposals before a joint session of Congress at 7 p.m. ET Thursday in an address that could mark a critical moment in his presidency. Obama aims to restore public confidence in his administration’s ability to boost the economy and prevent another recession, even as Republican rivals point to a Labor Department report that showed no new jobs created last month as evidence that his policies aren’t working. Read full article > >

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Obama jobs plan could cost $300 billion, include tax cuts, new spending

Yes, you read that right. The non-partisan Tax Policy Center has done its analysis of the Pawlenty economic plan and concluded that would be the ten-year cost of the Pawlenty tax cuts , as compared to current law. If you assume that all the Bush tax cuts and other policies stay in place, the cost, according to the TPC estimates, would be a mere $7.6 trillion . To think of it another way, Pawlenty is proposing tax cuts that are the equivalent of taking the existing Bush tax cuts and tripling them over the next decade. In 2021 alone, the cuts would exceed $1.6 trillion compared to current law (that is, letting the Bush tax cuts expire), or $1 trillion compared to current policy (extending all the tax cuts and the accompanying patches to the alternative minimum tax.) Read full article > >

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Tim Pawlenty’s $11.6 Trillion Tax Cut

Yes, you read that right. The non-partisan Tax Policy Center has done its analysis of the Pawlenty economic plan and concluded that would be the ten-year cost of the Pawlenty tax cuts , as compared to current law. If you assume that all the Bush tax cuts and other policies stay in place, the cost, according to the TPC estimates, would be a mere $7.6 trillion . To think of it another way, Pawlenty is proposing tax cuts that are the equivalent of taking the existing Bush tax cuts and tripling them over the next decade. In 2021 alone, the cuts would exceed $1.6 trillion compared to current law (that is, letting the Bush tax cuts expire), or $1 trillion compared to current policy (extending all the tax cuts and the accompanying patches to the alternative minimum tax.) Read full article > >

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Tim Pawlenty’s $11.6 Trillion Tax Cut

Several conservative presidential aspirants see David Barton as a source of historical and biblical justification for their policies.

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Using History to Mold Ideas on the Right

Hundreds of thousands of Colombians join street demonstrations against the policies of President Juan Manuel Santos.

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Mass student protests in Colombia

“Now that he is safely dead, let us praise him.” poet Carl Wendell Hines wrote of Martin Luther King Jr, after his assassination. Ronald Reagan has been “safely dead” for just under seven years, but the economic impact of his policies remain with us. read more

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Revisiting the Reagan Nightmare

Many political analysts are urging President Obama to give a State of the Union Address that is conciliatory toward Republicans and that acknowledges that voters are unhappy with the direction of his policies.

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Opinion: History’s lessons for Obama

When people the world over think of Arizona nowadays, they generally think of Governor Jan Brewer, Sheriff Joe Arpaio or state representative Russell Pearce – the poster children of the state’s move toward legalized discrimination and racial profiling. If they are closely following the politics of the Sun State, they also think of state superintendent of schools, Tom Horne, the architect of the state’s move to abolish Ethnic/Raza Studies. Here, we think of the vast human toll of the policies promoted by these powerful few. read more

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INS Targets Community Leaders, Not Criminals

A website where government departments’ business plans set out their policies and timetables for achieving them is being launched.

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Whitehall website ‘a power shift’

RICHMOND – President Obama walked into the back yard of one of his chief congressional critics on Wednesday to continue his blunt assault on Republicans and their policies. Barack Obama – United States – Republican – President – Politics

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Obama takes his offensive to GOP country