'Your papers, please' must never be heard in America
Independent voices from the TWT Communities
"Nullification" laws have been introduced in 37 states that technically make it a felony for law enforcement agents to enforce federal restrictions banning firearms, and a recent Rasmussen poll shows that 38 percent support such state laws.
Saturday marked the 270th anniversary of the birth of Thomas Jefferson. The third president has been claimed by the Democratic Party as one of its own, with the Jefferson-Jackson dinners that are annual fundraising events, especially for prospective presidential candidates.
If the Republicans don't stop concentrating their energies and salvos on a lame-duck president, as well as feudin', fussin' and fightin' among themselves, they may wish, at a minimum, to review the history of the Whigs, their predecessor party.
Who is the only president buried in Washington, D.C.? How many presidents served in the military? Here's the answers and more about America's commander in chief.
First a double disclosure: I know Jeffrey Frank, the author of "Ike and Dick," and I knew Richard Nixon, half of this book's political "portrait." I consider the former an honest, accomplished writer and the latter a flawed but visionary statesman and a personally decent man, often more sinned against than sinning. One hopes these two very different personal connections will neutralize each other.
Twelve years ago today, when I was comptroller general of the United States and head of the Government Accountability Office, I presented testimony to the Senate Finance Committee, "Moving From Balancing the Budget to Balancing Fiscal Risk."
In a twist of irony, many visitors to this month's Republican National Convention will travel between their hotels and the downtown event on a busy road named to honor President John F. Kennedy, a Democrat.
Two hundred years ago, the United States was mobilizing for conflict. The country had formally declared war for the first time in its history, against Great Britain. Hostilities would last for three years and claim around 20,000 lives on both sides.
With the bicentennial of the War of 1812 soon upon us, a plethora of books on the subject are in the market. Some treat individual actions or single theaters. Some deal with politics, and some deal with diplomacy, but "1812: The Navy's War" deals with it all.
The deputy ambassador at the British Embassy recently boasted about the British burning of the White House during the War of 1812, calling the sacking of Washington a "great British victory."
With former judge Simon Cowell gone, however, replaced by a triumvirate of cheerleaders, the best part of "American Idol" now probably is what should have been the highlight all along: watching singers with beautiful voices do what they love.
Doris Kearns Goodwin has read a lot of upbeat material about American presidents, but some of the entries on the White House website were so sunny that they reminded her of the happy talk at Boston Red Sox games.
Some of the early presidential decisions discussed here may be little remembered, perhaps for good reason. George Washington's decision to put down the Whiskey Rebellion is, no doubt, as Nick Ragone writes in "Presidential Leadership," an early landmark in the struggle between states' rights and federal power - a struggle he then traces through Thomas Jefferson approving the Louisiana Purchase, Andrew Jackson rejecting nullification and Abraham Lincoln signing the Emancipation Proclamation.
The War of 1812 was a no-win war. American invasions of Canada collapsed, British invasions of the United States foundered, and brilliant victories by single American frigates could not offset the punishing effects of the British blockade.
President Andrew Jackson's Farewell Address,
"I have read the opinion of [Chief Justice] John Marshall," Jackson said, "and could not agree with him."
President Andrew Jackson said eternal vigilance is the price of that liberty.
