William Murchison's blog

Homicidal maniacs on the loose

Thu, 04 Dec 2008 16:14:09 -0500

For two or three years running, it seems, all we’ve heard from the political left in the United States, concerning the war on terror, is: Aren’t we awful?

Thanksgiving 2008

Fri, 28 Nov 2008 09:56:26 -0500

Thankful for ... what?!

The question is bound to surface the moment heads incline in reverence at the Thanksgiving table, over pre-dinner drinks, post-dinner drinks, kitchen clean-up, trash take-out.

Calling things by their right names

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 15:31:32 -0500

The placard in the photo of a recent rally favoring gay marriage asks, bluntly, “Family. Isn’t It About Love?”

Well, hmm. You might indeed incline to such a view. Then, again, you might wish to broaden the perspective, in keeping with normative modes for understanding the foundational human structure we call family.

So here’s what we do, gang

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 17:19:03 -0500

Advice for conservatives in the Age of Obama.

1. What is, is. Don’t waste valuable time with rehashes of how wonderful things used to be, or would be right now, if only ...!

The party of happiness

Thu, 06 Nov 2008 16:19:10 -0500

Oh, all right. The Republican party didn’t manage to sell Americans on the need to elect John McCain as their maximum leader. Forget the small stuff: Republicans are happier people than Democrats. We have it on reliable authority, that of the non-partisan Pew Research Center. I invite fellow McCain voters to put aside their melancholia of the moment to wallow in the good news.

The great national dice-roll

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 15:10:18 -0400

I can’t at this point think of anything new to say about the election. Here’s something old, in that case: McCain’s the one, and not just because, when it comes to “old,” he qualifies.

Religion, Maher-style

Thu, 09 Oct 2008 15:44:04 -0400

“Grow up or die,” Bill Maher admonishes viewers at the end of “Religulous,” which is kind of an odd statement for a guy to make on wrapping up a cinematic assault on religion: mocking, jesting, wise-guying to beat the band.

Happy days for Obama

Thu, 02 Oct 2008 16:03:44 -0400

So here we are — wherever “here” is, economically, financially speaking. The House balks at the bailout. The markets tumble. What next? No expert who tells you he knows what’s ahead is to be believed, and you can tell him a colleague said so.

Big, big government

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 16:22:55 -0400

Not a one of us non-economists — and probably not a lot of economists either — know for sure how the Paulson-Bush rescue plan will play out now or down the line.

Hands off the marketplace

Thu, 18 Sep 2008 15:37:48 -0400

This may be the moment to say something warm and affirming about the marketplace economy — a “Bush doctrine” sort of positioning (if you don’t mind, Charlie Gibson) of the battlefront for the economic wars ahead.

Pushback Time

Thu, 11 Sep 2008 16:27:56 -0400

At the news that Sarah Palin would be John McCain’s running mate, hundreds of thousands leaped to their feet. Hallelujah! Yippee! Boy, oh, boy!

The moose is loose

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 16:02:32 -0400

It’s a nutty year, a crazy time in our national life, and I’ve decided to decide — you’ll be glad to hear this, John McCain — that the ostensibly nutty choice of Sarah Palin as running mate is nutty in all the right ways.

The senator who won’t go away

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 17:10:22 -0400

I might not have thought of this but for the anointing last weekend of Joe Biden as successor-designate to Dick Cheney — status to be confirmed, or disallowed, at the polls in November.

MAIN STREET U.S.A.

Thu, 21 Aug 2008 15:58:25 -0400

One major problem with politics — as we’ve all probably figured out by now — is that politicians view every human challenge as political in nature, meaning, particularly these last few years. Objective No. 1 in the political trade is sticking to it The Other Party.

The Georgia crisis: Does Obama ‘get’ it?

Thu, 14 Aug 2008 17:06:15 -0400

When it’s “change” you’re merchandising, the easy phrases flow easily enough. Walls between people “cannot stand.” With “improbable hope,” we prepare to “to remake the world once again” — “a world that stands as one.” “This is our moment, this is our time,” proclaimed Barack Obama, when speaking in Berlin.