Copyright 2012 The New York Sun Fri, 17 Feb 2012 09:37:57 -0500 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Articles from The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com editor@nysun.com (Seth Lipsky) webmaster@nysun.com en-us Editorial of The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/editorials/anthony-shadid/87711/ Fri, 17 Feb 2012 08:42:33 EST The death of Anthony Shadid, while on assignment for the New York Times at Syria, is a reminder that, for all the talk of the end of newspapers and the rise of the World Wide Web, classical foreign corresponding is still at a premium. We weren't lucky enough to know Shadid personally, and we may not have agreed with him politically. But like millions of others, we made a point of reading his dispatches from Iraq and Libya and other battles in the Middle East theater for their news, insights... Editorial of The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/editorials/the-smell-of-sulfur/87709/ Thu, 16 Feb 2012 10:30:39 EST It's hard to imagine how the apologists for Hugo Chavez of Venezuela are going to manage to put the gloss on the attacks being made by his regime on the new figure emerging in the opposition, Henrique Capriles Radonski. Mr. Capriles is a Catholic whose maternal grandparents were Jews from Poland. He is emerging as a challenger to succeed the cancer-ridden president. But now Mr. Capriles, governor of the state of Miranda, is being made the target of the kind of crude anti-Semitism that one... CONRAD BLACK http://www.nysun.com/opinion/obama-ignites-a-catholic-moment-in-the-culture/87708/ Wed, 15 Feb 2012 10:26:42 EST The last two weeks have produced an astounding convergence of profound philosophical public controversies in the United States that finally does justify the phrase, much bandied about for some years, "culture wars." That expression was coined originally for Bismarck's mad Kulturkampf against the Roman Catholic Church (and, to a lesser degree, other churches) in the mid–19th century. It was the usual self-aggrandizement of secular states against a vast, international, un-submissive... Editorial of The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/editorials/the-plunge-in-gasoline/87707/ Tue, 14 Feb 2012 20:42:19 EST "Gas Price Up 83% During Obama" is the headline up on the Drudge Report this afternoon. It links to a CNS dispatch on the fact that President Obama is citing the soaring price of gasoline as one of the reasons he wants a cut in the payroll tax. We remarked on this point a year ago, when Mr. Obama, in his weekly radio address, declared that there was "no silver bullet" to deal with rising gasoline prices. We noted the irony that the president should choose such words, because if one priced... LAWRENCE KUDLOW http://www.nysun.com/national/obamas-budget-looks-dead-on-arrival-at-the-seante/87704/ Mon, 13 Feb 2012 16:18:47 EST If you shake out the Obama budget in terms of bold headlines, it's really a class-warfare, tax-the-rich budget. Layer upon layer of tax hikes are piled on successful investors, small-business owners, and corporations. The capital-gains tax goes from 15% to 24% (including Obamacare). The dividends tax goes from 15% to nearly 40%, and that's not including the double tax on corporate profits embodied in dividends and capital gains. The Bush tax cuts for top earners are repealed. There's the 30%... FRANKLIN EINSPRUCH http://www.nysun.com/arts/the-resonance-of-objects/87710/ Thu, 16 Feb 2012 21:58:45 EST Tomorrow evening in Los Angeles, an exhibition of new paintings by Tom Gregg will open at George Billis Gallery's West Coast location. "This most recent body of work is inspired by Tom Gregg's fascination with objects and the powerful resonance that they have in his world," says the gallery. "It is their association with the people who acquire them which gives power and energy to their presence." Says the artist, "It is the existence that they possess of their own, their own 'life' in the... FRANKLIN EINSPRUCH http://www.nysun.com/arts/gauguin-and-polynesia/87705/ Tue, 14 Feb 2012 11:46:15 EST An exhibition of Paul Gauguin organized by Art Center Basel has opened at its one stop in the United States, the Seattle Art Museum. "Highlighting the complex relationship between Gauguin's work and the art and culture of Polynesia," according to the museum, it displays nearly 60 of the post-Impressionist master's paintings alongside "major examples of forceful Polynesian sculpture." "'Gauguin and Polynesia' traces Gauguin's journey from bourgeois stockbroker to full-time artist, while at the... IRA STOLL http://www.nysun.com/editorials/contraception-battle-masks-a-mystery-the-case/87703/ Mon, 13 Feb 2012 12:49:20 EST What got President Obama's contraceptive compromise into the headlines was the religious angle. What deserves to keep it there is the economic angle. After Catholic organizations complained that the federal government wanted to force them to include free contraceptive coverage in their health insurance plans, the White House announced a compromise. As the White House described it, "if a woman's employer is a charity, hospital or other religious organization that has a religious objection to... FRANKLIN EINSPRUCH http://www.nysun.com/arts/things-left/87701/ Sat, 11 Feb 2012 11:43:26 EST Figurative painter Erin Raedeke is having her first solo exhibition in New York City this month, and the works on display are impressive. "Erin Raedeke explores complex relationships by observing the detritus of everyday life," according to First Street Gallery. "In 'Things Left,' the still life becomes a vehicle for grappling with unresolved thoughts and memories. The viewer enters the paintings as if they were entering a play mid-scene. The elusive plot is not unlike the subconscious... Editorial of The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/editorials/the-real-contraception-question/87702/ Sat, 11 Feb 2012 21:53:50 EST The best piece we've read in respect of the showdown over the Obama administration's contraception mandate is in the latest number of Grant's Interest Rate Observer. The sage who puts it out, James Grant, might catapult into his corn flakes upon reading that sentence. For ostensibly, his article has nothing to do with the Obamacare mandates that are creating such a collision with the Catholic church and leading figures in the Protestant and Jewish communities. The words "contraception" and... LAWRENCE KUDLOW http://www.nysun.com/national/bernanke-emerges-as-an-issue-on-the-campaign-train/87700/ Fri, 10 Feb 2012 16:58:32 EST Out on the campaign trail, Fed head Ben Bernanke is an unpopular guy. Governor Romney and Speaker Gingrich have both said they would replace Mr. Bernanke, not reappoint him. Congressman Ron Paul would swap the whole Federal Reserve monetary system for a gold-linked dollar, making the yellow metal legal tender. It was Governor Perry of Texas, before he dropped out of the race, who said more quantitative easing by the Fed would be "almost treasonous." Republicans in Washington are equally... FRANKLIN EINSPRUCH http://www.nysun.com/arts/renoir-full-on-at-the-frick/87696/ Wed, 8 Feb 2012 08:19:27 EST An exhibition opened yesterday at The Frick Collection that studies Pierre-Auguste Renoir's uses of the full-length portrait format - all nine of them. "This is the first comprehensive study of the artist's engagement with the full-length format," according to the museum. "The format was associated with the official Paris Salon from the mid-1870s to mid-1880s, the decade that saw the emergence of a fully fledged Impressionist aesthetic. "The project was inspired by Renoir's La Promenade of... Editorial of The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/editorials/a-legal-backwater/87698/ Wed, 8 Feb 2012 10:10:30 EST America is in danger "of becoming something of a legal backwater," a justice of the High Court of Australia, Michael Kirby, is quoted this week as telling the New York Times. His comment is in a scoop that runs under the headline "'We the People' Loses Appeal With People Around the World." The story follows up on the remarks of Justice Ginsburg, who last month told an interviewer of Al-Hayat TV at Egypt that were she drafting a constitution in the year 2012, "I would not look to the U.S... CONRAD BLACK http://www.nysun.com/editorials/west-falters-in-defense-of-christians-who-are/87699/ Wed, 8 Feb 2012 22:05:42 EST Perhaps the gravest under-publicized atrocity in the world is the persecution of Christians. A comprehensive Pew Forum study last year found that Christians are persecuted in 131 countries containing 70% of the world's population, out of 197 countries in the world (if Palestine, Taiwan, South Sudan, and the Vatican are included). Best estimates are that about 200 million Christians are in communities where they are persecuted. There is not the slightest question of the scale and barbarity of... LAWRENCE KUDLOW http://www.nysun.com/national/bernanke-gets-one-thing-right-taxes/87695/ Tue, 7 Feb 2012 16:16:01 EST For one time in a row the Federal Reserve chairman, Ben Bernanke, got the story right. No, it wasn't King Dollar. It was taxes. Testifying before members of the Senate Budget Committee today, Mr. Bernanke referred to the scheduled repeal of the Bush tax cuts. He said, "If no action is taken by January 2013, there will be a very sharp change in the fiscal stance of the United States government." Now, lest we give him too much credit, Mr. Bernanke was kind of making a Keynesian point. Why?... IRA STOLL http://www.nysun.com/national/mannings-law-confounds-the-experts-inviting/87694/ Mon, 6 Feb 2012 12:32:05 EST The victory of the New York Giants in the National Football League's Super Bowl is the latest in a series of recent news developments that underscore a principle that might be called Manning's Law, after the Giants quarterback Eli Manning: The predictions of "experts" are often wrong. You can look it up. Sports Illustrated, the venerable, highly profitable jewel of the Time Warner Corporation's magazine empire, employs a veteran sportswriter named Peter King. The magazine describes him as "one... Editorial of The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/editorials/beyond-susan-g-komen/87692/ Sun, 5 Feb 2012 02:34:29 EST The feature that stands out for us in the controversy over Susan G. Komen for the Cure is the role of Mayor Bloomberg. When Komen, the largest breast cancer charity, disclosed that it intended to approve no new grants to Planned Parenthood, Mr. Bloomberg joined in the attack on Komen. He announced he would give $250,000 to Planned Parenthood and asserted that "politics have no place in health care." The Wall Street Journal published two columns by James Taranto, one before Komen retreated and... Editorial of The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/editorials/lost-in-egypt/87693/ Sun, 5 Feb 2012 03:33:13 EST That's an incredible video of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg circulating on the World Wide Web. There is a sitting associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, speaking on Al-Hayat TV in an Egypt that is about to begin writing the foundational law for its attempt at democracy, saying "I would not look to the U.S. constitution if I were drafting a constitution in the year 2012." Instead she suggests she might look at the constitution of South Africa. CONRAD BLACK http://www.nysun.com/foreign/a-brilliant-reign-nears-its-diamond-jubilee/87691/ Sat, 4 Feb 2012 08:21:21 EST It does not seem like 60 years ago that my late brother said to our half-asleep parents as we departed early for school: "There was a bug in my cereal, and by the way, the King is dead." A much admired man, only 56, there were some comparisons between George VI and then U.S. president Harry S. Truman, as men who had not sought the greatest offices for which they were eligible, neither expected nor wished them, but acquitted them admirably when they were thrust upon them. In other respects, King... FRANKLIN EINSPRUCH http://www.nysun.com/arts/johann-zoffany-ra-society-observed/87689/ Fri, 3 Feb 2012 15:15:24 EST The Yale Center for British Art has set out to rehabilitate the reputation of Johann Zoffany, a German expatriate who became a member of the Royal Academy by appointment of King George III. One might argue that he isn't better-known for fair reasons. His work is present in few American collections, he altered the spelling of his name several times, and his peripatetic life bewildered later chroniclers of English painting. His contemporaries included Thomas Gainsborough and William Hogarth, and... LAWRENCE KUDLOW http://www.nysun.com/national/message-to-mitt-a-rising-tide-lifts-all-boats/87690/ Fri, 3 Feb 2012 20:44:14 EST That great phrase was coined by the late Jack Kemp, who believed that growth and opportunity for all is the answer to poverty. Kemp believed it was the answer to all things economic. And he was right. The best anti-poverty program is the one that creates jobs. The answer to large budget deficits? Grow the economy, create jobs, watch incomes rise, and let the tax revenues come rolling in. Partly from Jack Kemp's work, and partly from his own experience, Ronald Reagan believed the same thing. He... RAFAEL MEDOFF http://www.nysun.com/foreign/how-the-mufti-of-jerusalem-once-impacted-americas/87688/ Wed, 1 Feb 2012 09:22:04 EST WASHINGTON — A Palestinian mufti has called for violence against Jews, Prime Minister Netanyahu is demanding Palestinian leaders disavow him, and America's presidential race could be affected. That could be the lead sentence of a news report from last week. Or from 1946. Sixty-five years ago, another Palestinian mufti, another Netanyahu, and another American presidential race likewise intersected in an unexpected round of high-stakes Middle East politics and diplomacy. At the center of the... CONRAD BLACK http://www.nysun.com/opinion/state-of-obama-begs-for-a-challenger-like-mitch/87685/ Tue, 31 Jan 2012 18:06:38 EST I cannot have been the only person who found President Obama's State of the Union message and much of the indulgence of it, even by serious commentators, worrisome. The president was correct that "too many of our institutions have let us down." He seemed not to recognize that first among them were the administration (especially the presidency), the Congress, and the Supreme Court — the speaker and the audience for the occasion (apart from the justices who boycotted because of Mr. Obama's... R. EMMETT TYRRELL, Jr. http://www.nysun.com/opinion/why-gingrich-floundered-in-florda/87686/ Tue, 31 Jan 2012 18:15:18 EST Ah, yes, Newt Gingrich did in the last days of the Florida primary precisely what I predicted he would do. He hurled wild charges at Mitt Romney that suggested Newt was losing his grip. He charged Romney with lying and falling into the hands of George Soros and Goldman Sachs, and he did this while seeking the Republican presidential nomination! Newt quoted Soros as saying, "We think either Obama or Romney's fine, but Gingrich, he would change things." Citing Goldman Sachs' profiting from the... FRANKLIN EINSPRUCH http://www.nysun.com/arts/immersion-in-painting/87687/ Tue, 31 Jan 2012 20:03:34 EST Bill Scott's paintings have an atmosphere of ease, but consideration and reconsideration of beautiful form churn within them. Two or Three Nudes in a Landscape (2010) summarizes Scott's endeavor, its delightful title alluding to an image that somehow is richly descriptive while in fact depicting nothing. Maybe a white-over-blue passage turns into a patch of sky, and the lollipop shapes become trees, but that's as specific as it gets. The rest of the painting consists of colors that you would... IRA STOLL http://www.nysun.com/opinion/gingrich-meets-the-enemy-and-it-turns-out-to-be/87683/ Mon, 30 Jan 2012 12:49:12 EST Even before polls opened in Florida's Republican primary, some pundits were trying to explain a potential Newt Gingrich loss there by saying he'd been outspent. Mike Allen's influential Politico Playbook daily morning email reported Monday, "Newt Gingrich has been outspent on the Florida airwaves by a nearly $12 million margin," about $15 million to about $3 million. The thought was echoed on Twitter by a political reporter for the New York Times, Nick Confessore, who asked, "Money carrying the... Editorial of The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/editorials/the-truth-about-ray-kelly/87684/ Mon, 30 Jan 2012 14:43:24 EST History is filled with examples of law enforcement and intelligence officials overreaching during moments of perceived national security crisis. In the 1970s, the Church Committe investigated both the F.B.I. and C.I.A. for spying on the political activities of Americans during the Vietnam War. These investigations led to the creation of oversight mechanisms: the F.B.I., for example, has benefited from Congressional oversight and a robust inspector general who has uncovered a number of... LEWIS LEHRMAN http://www.nysun.com/national/lehrman-to-romney-santorum-join-the-alliance/87682/ Sun, 29 Jan 2012 20:15:29 EST At a recent Presidential debate, the Republican candidates discussed a new Gold Commission much like the one to which President Reagan appointed Ron Paul and me in 1981. When asked, Jim Grant and I agreed to serve as co-chairmen of a new gold commission — proposed by Newt Gingrich if he were elected. Just weeks prior, Senator Paul was reported by the Weekly Standard as having called for just such a commission. We said at the time that we would serve on a gold commission established by any... Editorial of The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/editorials/sarah-palins-complaint/87681/ Sat, 28 Jan 2012 13:28:08 EST That is some post Sarah Palin put up on her Facebook page in advance of the Republican primary Tuesday at Florida. She is accusing the GOP establishment of employing the "tactics of the Left." She means that faction within the party that "fought Ronald Reagan in the 1970s and which continues to fight the grassroots Tea Party movement today." She accuses them of having "adopted the tactics of the left in using the media and the politics of personal destruction to attack an opponent." In a long... FRANKLIN EINSPRUCH http://www.nysun.com/arts/the-enchanted-landscape/87678/ Fri, 27 Jan 2012 13:25:28 EST Start making your travel arrangements. One week from today will see the opening of a monographic exhibition of Claude Lorrain at the Städel Museum in Frankfurt. "'Claude Lorrain: The Enchanted Landscape' presents about one hundred and thirty works from all phases of the important French Baroque artist's production," according to the museum. "Based on the most recent results of scientific research, the comprehensive exhibition comprises a high-caliber selection of paintings as well as Claude... LAWRENCE KUDLOW http://www.nysun.com/national/romney-readies-tax-reform-plan-to-deal-with-sub/87679/ Fri, 27 Jan 2012 17:31:08 EST One would think that with one of the weakest economic recoveries on record, President Obama would be desperately searching for ways to promote economic growth. It is, after all, an election year. Most pundits and pollsters agree that it's the economy, stupid. Instead, Mr. Obama used his State of the Union speech to rail on about fairness, inequality, and redistribution. The Obama strategy is simple: Tax the rich because they don't pay enough. The problem is, they do pay enough. According to the... Editorial of The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/editorials/santorums-fidelity/87680/ Fri, 27 Jan 2012 18:33:38 EST One of the best questions in the Republican debate at Jacksonville will prove, we predict, to be the question about religious faith, and the best answer was the one of Senator Santorum. Ira Stoll at futureofcapitalism.com has a similar reaction. The question had been put by a local lawyer, Suzanne Bass. "How," she asked, "would your religious beliefs, if you're elected, impact the decisions that you make in the office of the presidency?" All four gave terrific answers. Congressman Ron Paul said... Editorial of The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/editorials/romney-resisting-reform/87677/ Thu, 26 Jan 2012 17:09:59 EST Governor Romney's exchange with Lawrence Kudlow in which the governor resisted talk of a gold standard is an important moment in this campaign. It was aired on CNBC yeserday. It reminds us of an exchange we had some years ago with Milton Friedman. At a lunch in Hong Kong, we asked Friedman for his view on the gold standard. "The problem with the gold standard," Friedman replied, "is that you can go off it." So we asked him: "Isn't there the same deficiency in the law against murder? It can be... Editorial of The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/editorials/karl-roves-next-move/87673/ Wed, 25 Jan 2012 08:37:35 EST An Elizabeth Warren fund-raising email has reached us outlining the pact she has struck with Scott Brown, her opponent in the senatorial race at Massachusetts. The deal is, she says, "aimed at keeping advertising by Wall Street, Karl Rove, and other big players out of our campaign for the United States Senate." James Taranto of the Wall Street Journal sent out yesterday a terrific dispatch about it, calling the pact an "appalling agreement" and a "conspiracy of silence." It appears to be an... R. EMMETT TYRRELL, Jr. http://www.nysun.com/opinion/william-jefferson-gingrich/87674/ Wed, 25 Jan 2012 12:00:46 EST How long have I been saying it? At least for 15 years, but in private I have been aware of it longer. Newt Gingrich is conservatism's Bill Clinton, but without the charm. He has acquired wit but he has all the charm of barbed wire. Newt and Bill are 1960s generation narcissists, and they share the same problems: waywardness and deviancy. Newt, like Bill, has a proclivity for girl hopping. It is not as egregious as Bill's, but then Newt is not as drop-dead beautiful. His public record is already... FRANKLIN EINSPRUCH http://www.nysun.com/arts/fifty-vellums/87675/ Wed, 25 Jan 2012 15:43:08 EST "The vellum support has been a perfect choice," explains Tad Wiley regarding his current exhibition, "in that its smooth surface allows the paint to sit right up on top. However the surface is not without 'tooth', which traps the more thinned out color in a way reminiscent of the application of tusche on a lithography stone. The translucent cast allows overspills to creep around the back surface and appear on the front in a 'ghosting' fashion." George Lawson Gallery in Culver City, which is... LAWRENCE KUDLOW http://www.nysun.com/national/obamas-tax-proposal-is-designed-to-come-at-me/87676/ Wed, 25 Jan 2012 22:18:10 EST President Obama's proposal to increase taxes on the rich is "designed to come at me," GOP presidential contender Mitt Romney told me this morning. In his State of the Union speech Tuesday night, Obama proposed a minimum 30% tax rate on Americans earning more than $1 million a year. The proposal — known as the "Buffett Tax" after Warren Buffett famously said his secretary pays a higher tax rate than he does — was a key part of the president's populist push for "fairness" in his speech to the... CONRAD BLACK http://www.nysun.com/opinion/a-comeback-of-nixonian-if-not-lazarene/87669/ Tue, 24 Jan 2012 06:46:58 EST Just when it seemed the presidential campaign could not become odder, it has. If, as I wrote last week here, Mitt is an improbable savior for America, Newt Agonistes is an apparition that the mothers of America could use to frighten their children into eating their breakfast cereal. As the inventor last month (I doubt if anyone else would claim or even admit to it) of the Hegelian Newt — who would not win the nomination but could prevent Mitt from closing the deal and enable the Republican... Editorial of The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/editorials/santorums-sagacity/87670/ Tue, 24 Jan 2012 12:19:49 EST One of the best moments in the debate at Tampa came after a break, when Brian Williams of NBC turned to Senator Santorum and said he wanted to get him in on the question of Iran. "Specifically, as a last resort, as you said, taking out Iran's nuclear program," the moderator said. "The problem with that, so many in the military tell you, is the target list. Where do you limit it — the air strikes that some estimate would begin at 30 to 60 days sustained, taking out air defenses, all of that... YOUSSEF IBRAHIM http://www.nysun.com/foreign/egypts-revolution-will-see-more-blood-ere-army/87671/ Tue, 24 Jan 2012 12:58:27 EST The revolution that overthrew Hosni Mubarak will mark its first anniversary Wednesday. The date may pass quietly or it may see another roar, but either way there is little doubt the iconic Tahrir Square revolution is entering a second phase.  If anything Egyptians are learning that while the dictator is gone his regime endures. Alaa Al-Aswani, the Egyptian novelist profiled in the January 16 issue of the New Yorker summed up the picture succinctly saying:  "We cannot create real change with... Editorial of The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/editorials/the-gingrich-paul-flirtation/87672/ Tue, 24 Jan 2012 15:16:07 EST The shrewdest question of at Tampa last night will, we predict, prove to be when Brian Williams turned to Congressman Ron Paul and asked him point blank: "Would you support a Newt Gingrich as nominee of the GOP?" The libertarian from Texas didn't miss a beat, saying, "Well, he keeps hinting about attacking the Fed, and he talks about gold. Now if I could just change him on foreign policy, we might be able to talk business." Then the matchmaker from NBC turned to the Georgian and asked: "Speaker... IRA STOLL http://www.nysun.com/opinion/romney-could-hit-problems-at-florida-over-his/87668/ Mon, 23 Jan 2012 12:48:52 EST With the Republican presidential candidates headed to retiree-heavy Florida in advance of its January 31 primary, expect the debate about Medicare, the federal health care program for the elderly, to heat up. If voters start focusing on the issue, it's not going to be particularly helpful for Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts. Mr. Romney raised the issue twice the other night in a debate on CNN. First, he said, "we do not want a $500 billion cut in Medicare to pay for 'Obamacare... Editorial of The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/editorials/gingrichs-synthesis/87667/ Sun, 22 Jan 2012 01:10:28 EST Newt Gingrich is on his game, to judge not only by his victory in South Carolina but the remarkable speech he delivered when the vote was in. It seemed as if he'd waited for months to get the whole country's attention, and when he had it last night he laid out a full vision — signaling a contest between two Americas. One whose inspiration is the ideas of the left, epitomized by President Obama and one of his mentors, Saul Alinsky; the other an America of the Founders, of the Declaration, the... Editorial of The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/editorials/the-missing-gold/87663/ Fri, 20 Jan 2012 07:51:07 EST "The U.S. government did two dramatic things after World War II. They created a GI Bill which enabled literally millions of returning veterans to go to college for the very first time. My father, when — who was in the Second World War, went to college on a GI Bill. So there was an enormous expansion of opportunity that enabled them to integrate into a new, emerging society. The second thing they did is, they dramatically cut taxes, and the economy took off and grew dramatically, and it absorbed... BENYAMIN KORN http://www.nysun.com/editorials/palin-factor-starts-to-emerge-in-gop-race/87664/ Fri, 20 Jan 2012 12:32:53 EST Who is the leader of the "Not-Romney" movement within today's GOP? Is it Newt Gingrich, whose surge in the South Carolina opinion polls puts him within striking distance of front-runner Mitt in tomorrow's vote? Is it Ron Paul, whose dedicated core of "hard-money" but isolationist supporters gives him 15 to 20% in every Republican contest? Or is it Rick Santorum, recently endorsed by a raft of Christian evangelical leaders? For my dollar, the leader is Sarah Palin, whose endorsements continue to... LAWRENCE KUDLOW http://www.nysun.com/opinion/romney-offering-the-right-stuff-on-obama-s-crony/87665/ Fri, 20 Jan 2012 17:18:21 EST Let me build on Charles Krauthammer's great Friday column, "The GOP's Suicide March." Mr. Krauthammer argues that just as President Obama's class-warfare, soak-the-rich mantra started lagging in the polls, some Republicans on the campaign trail started making the case that Mitt Romney's Bain Capital was involved in nothing more than vulture capitalism, looting companies, and destroying jobs. Keeping class envy alive. I'm not going to name names, because everybody knows who these Republicans are... Editorial of The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/editorials/gingrichs-gold-group/87666/ Fri, 20 Jan 2012 19:38:08 EST The announcement by Newt Gingrich that he intends to appoint Lewis Lehrman and James Grant to co-chair a new Commission on Gold will serve as a signal that he has determined, if given the chance, to undertake monetary reform in a serious way. The former speaker made his announcement only days after declaring for a return to the gold standard so that it would be radically more difficult for America to dodge its fiscal problems. After he made his announcement, these columns expressed the concern... CONRAD BLACK http://www.nysun.com/opinion/romney-emerges-as-an-improbable-savior-in-an-age/87658/ Thu, 19 Jan 2012 07:47:42 EST Though it is distressing to be enduring such a dismal election campaign, it is not unprecedented. As both parties prepare to spend a billion dollars either reelecting a president most Americans do not think deserves to be reelected, or a challenger most of his fellow Republicans don't think can win (and as in most things, the public may well be right on both counts), it is easy to find the whole process discouraging. The liberal national media took dead aim at Mitt Romney when he emerged from... ANDREW WOLF http://www.nysun.com/new-york/turnaround-now-possible-in-the-bronx-as-its/87659/ Thu, 19 Jan 2012 08:00:51 EST This his has been a good month for the president of the Bronx, Ruben Diaz, Jr. When Mayor Bloomberg's proposal for a shopping mall in the Kingsbridge Armory was defeated two years ago, largely due to Mr. Diaz's opposition, he was widely demonized as a "job killer" in a borough that desperately needs employment. One of the president's initial failings on this issue was to allow the discussion of the so-called "living wage" bill to consume the real issue of unfair government-subsidized... FRANKLIN EINSPRUCH http://www.nysun.com/arts/intimate-sketches-of-new-york-city/87660/ Thu, 19 Jan 2012 13:15:45 EST Readers of the New York Sun have a new opportunity to own a piece of the paper's history. Vernon Howe Bailey produced a series of pen and ink drawings depicting New York City and environs during the 1930s. For a time, they appeared daily in the New York Sun as "Intimate Sketches of New York City." These drawings were preserved by William T. Dewart, editor of the Sun when the paper shut down in 1950. "Bailey was a versatile artist who practiced painting, printmaking, and illustration," according... LAWRENCE KUDLOW http://www.nysun.com/opinion/gingrich-has-chance-tonight-to-trump-interview/87661/ Thu, 19 Jan 2012 18:55:34 EST Might a strong Newt Gingrich debate performance tonight trump the ABC Nightline interview with Newt's ex-wife Marianne? Remember, the debate comes before Nightline. And the roughly 5 million to 6 million people who watch the debate will be a lot more than the roughly 2 million folks who turn on Nightline. Plus, the Nightline crowd is largely liberal, and these viewers are not going to favor Newt Gingrich. I'm not saying the ABC Brian Ross interview with Marianne isn't something. But I'm not... ANDRESEN BLOM http://www.nysun.com/national/all-eyes-on-gingrich-in-wake-of-his-call-for/87662/ Thu, 19 Jan 2012 19:32:14 EST All eyes at the debate tonight will be on the former speaker of the House, and current president aspirant, who this week dramatically moved the political discourse by calling for a new Gold Commission. Mr. Gingrich is no stranger to gold. He was one of the seven cosponsors of Jack Kemp's 1984 Gold Standard Act. A gold commission is an astute way of easing into a subject that every candidate fears might put them into a thicket of technicalities over their heads. Even Rep. Ron Paul, well... Editorial of The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/editorials/gingrich-goes-for-gold/87657/ Wed, 18 Jan 2012 14:21:29 EST The call by Newt Gingrich for the creation of a commission on gold to examine how America can return to a system of hard money is a step forward for him and the Republican Party as we go into the most formative months of the campaign. The former speaker issued his call at Columbia, South Carolina, at a policy forum on American global leadership. He used the phrase "hard money" to speak of a gold standard of the kind the Founders of America had in mind. It would mean, he said, "you can't just... Editorial of The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/editorials/religious-freedom-day/87656/ Tue, 17 Jan 2012 18:37:46 EST Today is Religious Freedom Day, proclaimed by President Obama as it was by many presidents before him. The date is chosen to coincide with the anniversary of the passage, on January 16, 1786, of the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom, which was written by Thos. Jefferson and is one of the few state laws that is as famous as nearly any law passed by the Congress. The Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom marked the end of the establishment of the Anglican Church in the state that gave... IRA STOLL http://www.nysun.com/opinion/romneys-revolution-wealth-and-politics/87655/ Mon, 16 Jan 2012 16:43:46 EST To understand the presidential bid of the 70th governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, it's useful to remember the career of the first. John Hancock, like Mitt Romney, was one of the richest men of his time. Hancock had a three-story, 56-foot-wide granite mansion atop Boston's Beacon Hill, complete with a ballroom and stables. Mr. Romney reportedly has a $12 million beachfront house in La Jolla, Calif., and a $10 million lakefront house in New Hampshire, as well as a Massachusetts... Editorial of The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/editorials/secrets-of-the-fed/87654/ Sun, 15 Jan 2012 06:09:19 EST In respect of the latest publication of the transcripts of the Federal Reserve, let us just say that we're against it. The transcripts were disclosed the other day, five years after they were made. This seems to be the tradition at the Fed. It's a tradition this newspaper opposes. What we support is the silence of the Fed. We objected when Chairman Bernanke announced he would start holding quarterly press conferences. It's bad enough he has to testify before Congress. It's bad enough he made... CONRAD BLACK http://www.nysun.com/opinion/obamas-defense-strategy-leaves-room-for-hope-if/87650/ Fri, 13 Jan 2012 10:53:04 EST It would be unfair to dismiss the administration's latest assault on the U.S.'s defense capability as the folly and cowardice some commentators are already alleging. Without a worldwide rival of comparable strength threatening all American strategic interests, it is certainly possible to retrench gradually and support regional forces of stability and, preferably, moderation. President Roosevelt saw that if Nazi Germany were permitted to retain its conquests of 1938–40, and to continue to enjoy... FRANKLIN EINSPRUCH http://www.nysun.com/arts/tactility-as-mysticism/87651/ Fri, 13 Jan 2012 13:11:07 EST According to Margaret Thatcher Projects, "From the beginning of his attraction to abstract painting, an interest in its sensed metaphysical content guided and influenced Robert Sagerman," who holds a PhD in Hebrew and Judaic Studies from New York University, and whose paintings are on exhibit at the gallery. "As with any meditative process, his work appears deceptively simple: thickened oil paint is applied, one stroke at a time with a palette knife, in soft peaks to a canvas over a period of... Editorial of The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/editorials/mahathirs-progress/87652/ Fri, 13 Jan 2012 15:39:29 EST The latest figure to come out for a restoration of a role for gold in the international monetary system turns out to be none other than Mahathir Mohamad. He is the former prime minister of Malaysia who, after 22 years in office, bowed out with a diatribe against the Jews, whom he accused of running the world. That was in 2003. No doubt he was still smarting six years after the dressing down he'd received for his rant, made in 1997 at the meeting of the International Monetary Fund in Hong Kong... LAWRENCE KUDLOW http://www.nysun.com/opinion/is-romneys-bain-capital-type-of-treatment-just/87653/ Fri, 13 Jan 2012 19:00:09 EST There's a troubled company out there called U.S. Government, Inc. It's teetering on the edge of bankruptcy. It badly needs to be taken over and turned around. It probably even needs the services of a good private-equity firm, with plenty of experience and a reasonably good track record in downsizing, modernizing, shrinking staff, and making substantial changes in management. Yes, layoffs will be a necessary part of the restructuring. A quick look at the income statement of this troubled firm... Editorial of The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/editorials/guantanamo-of-the-times/87649/ Wed, 11 Jan 2012 12:15:49 EST The 10th anniversary of the Guantanamo detention center is being celebrated at the New York Times with an article suggesting that we could improve the human rights situation in respect of Guantanamo by giving it — wait for it — to the remnant Stalinist dictatorship of Fidel Castro. The author of this brainstorm, Jonathan Hansen, is a professor at Harvard. He sketches what he sees as a negative history of American relations with Cuba going back to the struggle for independence from Spain. He... FRANKLIN EINSPRUCH http://www.nysun.com/arts/saving-face-at-the-met/87645/ Tue, 10 Jan 2012 11:14:40 EST "It has been said," according to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in regards to its current special exhibition of Renaissance portraiture, "that the Renaissance witnessed the rediscovery of the individual. In keeping with this notion, early Renaissance Italy also hosted the first great age of portraiture in Europe. Portraiture assumed a new importance, whether it was to record the features of a family member for future generations, celebrate a prince or warrior, extol the beauty of a woman, or... Editorial of The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/editorials/strangely-austrian/87646/ Tue, 10 Jan 2012 16:14:58 EST For a measure of how the impact of Congressman Ron Paul's Campaign for Liberty is starting to be felt even at Europe, feature the op ed page of today's Financial Times. Its leading piece is by one of the London daily's star columnists, Gideon Rachman, and runs under the headline "Why I'm feeling strangely Austrian." It's a wonderful reprise of the lay of the land, ideologically. He sees four broad emerging trends, which he calls "rightwing populist, social democratic-Keynesian... LAWRENCE KUDLOW http://www.nysun.com/national/secret-romney-ryan-entente-bodes-well-for-gop/87647/ Tue, 10 Jan 2012 17:38:45 EST While so much attention has been turned to Newt Gingrich's catastrophically mistaken attack on Mitt Romney's Bain Capital, free-market capitalism, investment, and profits, a potentially much more significant development occurred in the New Hampshire debate Saturday night. For the first time, Mitt Romney embraced a much bolder tax-reform plan. Under pressure from a number of supply-side conservatives (including me, and most especially the editorial-page folks at the Wall Street Journal), Mr... YOUSSEF IBRAHIM http://www.nysun.com/foreign/gas-at-the-pump-could-go-to-20-if-war-comes/87648/ Tue, 10 Jan 2012 17:47:41 EST Iran's threat to close the Strait of Hormuz is a promise of heart attack for the world's economy and a challenge for military planners. Yesterday, Iran doubled its taunt by sentencing a former marine with dual Iranian-American citizenship to death, for spying. The moves set up America and its Western allies for a confrontation with Iran. A clash would be the third armed conflict after Iraq and Afghanistan. The former two began triumphantly until they transformed into quagmires. How is a new... IRA STOLL http://www.nysun.com/opinion/expect-to-hear-more-about-the-elder-romney/87643/ Mon, 9 Jan 2012 14:54:40 EST One of the strange things about America — a country founded on a revolution against a hereditary monarchy — is that so many of our politicians seem to inherit their professions. John Adams begat John Quincy Adams. Senator Prescott Bush begat President George Herbert Walker Bush, who begat President George W. Bush. Senator Albert Gore, Sr., of Tennessee begat Vice President Albert Gore, Jr. Governor Brown of California, Sr., begat Governor Brown of California, Jr. Even the ties between Barack... R. EMMETT TYRRELL, Jr. http://www.nysun.com/opinion/tebow-inspires-our-man-in-washington-to-call-off/87644/ Mon, 9 Jan 2012 17:37:12 EST I have officially called off my boycott of the National Football League. I do not care how many felons or frotteurs play the game. Now there is Tim Tebow to redeem it. He can pass and run. He inspires his teammates. He inspires many returning fans like me. I shall follow him through the playoffs and maybe even next year as the season resumes anew. He is an American original — and he is controversial. I am for him. No, I shall not fall for the NFL's gimmicks. You will not see me wearing a jersey... Editorial of The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/editorials/mr-romney-and-mrs-griswold/87642/ Sun, 8 Jan 2012 17:57:49 EST One of the remarkable things about the Republican debate last night is that, in the year 2012 in a debate about the future of the country, the questions turned to Estelle Griswold. She was the executive director of Planned Parenthood at Connecticut. In November 1961, she opened a birth control clinic at New Haven, only to be arrested for violating a state law prohibiting the use or sale of birth control medicines and devices. She was fined $100. It was her appeal, known as Griswold v... Editorial of The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/editorials/santorums-next-stop/87640/ Sat, 7 Jan 2012 07:47:35 EST It's hard to say how far Senator Santorum will be able to take his campaign, but we hope it's far enough that he'll be able to make a stop here in New York and deliver a major speech in respect of abortion. New York City has emerged as the abortion capital of America, a point that was made in January a year ago at an extraordinary press conference held in Manhattan by a number of the leading clergymen in the city, including the archbishop of the New York, Timothy Dolan,* and the leader of the... CONRAD BLACK http://www.nysun.com/foreign/vindication-is-piling-up-for-one-of-the-greatest/87641/ Sat, 7 Jan 2012 09:37:17 EST Though it is probably happening too late to be overly gratifying to her, events are piling on to vindicate Margaret Thatcher completely in her reservations about British integration in Europe. Her response to the proposal to reduce Britain to a local government in a federal Europe was, memorably: "No, no, no, and never." And her reward for her refusal to get on board what was then the thundering bandwagon of Euro-federalism, was to be sent packing by her own ungrateful party, though she was the... Editorial of The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/editorials/the-new-fiat-money/87638/ Fri, 6 Jan 2012 08:58:23 EST Forgive us, but are we the only newspaper that finds it a bit — what's the right word here? — circular for the Fed to make a megillah out of publishing its forecasts in respect of interest rates? The idea seems to be that the Fed is going to publish not only its own forecast of interest rates but the forecasts of its individual policy makers. It reminds us of the wiseacre who asked Freddie the Fixer which nag was going to win the classic known as the Galloping Mile. Freddie answered him with... LAWRENCE KUDLOW http://www.nysun.com/national/gop-beware-economy-is-moving-to-give-obama-a-leg/87639/ Fri, 6 Jan 2012 19:14:28 EST  Message to my fellow conservatives: Please don't blame the mainstream press for the improvement in jobs, unemployment, and economic growth. Reporters are not making this up. The economy is better. It's going to give President Obama a leg up on the election. GOP beware, and come to your senses. Take Friday's jobs report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Nonfarm payrolls gained 200,000, and the unemployment rate slipped to 8.5% from 8.7%. It may well be that a seasonal quirk added 42,000... Editorial of The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/editorials/a-constitutional-moment/87635/ Thu, 5 Jan 2012 07:51:54 EST President Obama's decision to use a recess appointment to put through the nominee he wanted for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau sets up one of those constitutional moments we've been writing about in these columns for the past couple of years. It's unclear how far the Republicans will be able to push their objections, if at all. But it's hard to see how the president comes out of the showdown anything other than a big winner, simply for the attempt to assert his constitutional powers... CONRAD BLACK http://www.nysun.com/editorials/its-on-getting-ready-for-santorum-and-watch-out/87636/ Thu, 5 Jan 2012 13:04:58 EST We will have to wait to see whether Rick Santorum's jump to a virtual dead heat with Mitt in Iowa is enough to bring out the anti-non-Mitt assassination squads. Santorum is an unusually fervent Roman Catholic for a presidential candidate and such an emergence would doubtless treat us all, one more time, to Gail Collins and Maureen Dowd of the New York Times dusting off their former little selves as intellectually abused Catholic choir girls and Garry Wills acolytes in dogmatic schism. Who... FRANKLIN EINSPRUCH http://www.nysun.com/arts/america-the-beautiful/87637/ Thu, 5 Jan 2012 22:07:31 EST On January 16, the Metropolitan Museum of Art will open a reinstallation of its collection of American art in "expanded, reconceived, and dramatic new galleries." "This final phase of the American Wing renovation project is comprised of twenty-six renovated and enlarged galleries on the second floor," according to the museum. "The new architectural design is a contemporary interpretation of nineteenth-century Beaux-Arts galleries, including coved ceilings and natural light flowing through new... Last Chance to see "Last Paintings" http://www.nysun.com/arts/joan-mitchell-becomes-the-sunflower/87633/ Wed, 4 Jan 2012 08:26:01 EST "Joan Mitchell: The Last Paintings" closes today at Cheim and Read. The exhibition focuses on paintings she made from 1985 until her death in 1992. "Though Mitchell abstracted nature, gleaning only its essence, her advocacy for the natural world as a subject finds precedence in the plein air and Impressionist painters a century before," according to the gallery. "As Richard D. Marshall elucidates in his essay, Mitchell admired Cézanne, Monet and Van Gogh; their interpretations of the same... R. EMMETT TYRRELL, Jr. http://www.nysun.com/opinion/time-to-repair-the-wreck-of-the-progrssive-reforms/87634/ Wed, 4 Jan 2012 11:48:28 EST An underlying theme of our times that has gone unperceived by the high and mighty in press, government, and other locales where the politically alive come to roost is the thumping failure of an increasing number of counter-productive old Progressive reforms. Once they were beheld as prodigies from the minds of superior citizens, such stars of yesteryear as Robert M. La Follette and Woodrow Wilson. Now they are revealed as hollow shams or at best curiosities. Surely soon they will be seen for... Editorial of The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/editorials/now-the-ron-paul-quiz/87632/ Tue, 3 Jan 2012 06:09:39 EST Now that Iowans are gathering for their caucuses but before the vote is in, it's time to take The New York Sun's "Ron Paul Quiz": 1) Who said this: "I sure hope that Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, understands that the standing ovation he got in Congress this year was not for his politics. That ovation was bought and paid for by the Israel lobby." a)      Stephen Walt b)     Willis Carto c)      Ron Paul d)     David Duke e)      Thomas Friedman. 2) Who was photographed kissing the... IRA STOLL http://www.nysun.com/editorials/index-of-crony-capitalism-charts-embarrassing/87630/ Mon, 2 Jan 2012 14:43:31 EST Employees who hope to keep their jobs and investors who hope their shares will rise may want to hope their executives avoid President Obama's Council on Jobs and Competitiveness. When the council's members were announced February 23, among the concerns raised was that the members would use their status to the advantage of their companies. In fact, what's happened since then is that the 13 publicly traded companies whose executives were appointed to the council, taken together, have declined in... Editorial of The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/editorials/heart-of-atlanta-v-ron-paul/87631/ Mon, 2 Jan 2012 21:04:59 EST On the eve of the Iowa caucuses, Congressman Ron Paul is being pressed about his opposition to the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The question was put to him over the weekend by Candy Crowley of the Cable News Network. What Ms. Crowley asked the libertarian Republican was whether he thought the country would have been better off in terms of race relations without the 1964 Act. Dr. Paul replied that "we could have done it a better way because the Jim Crow laws, obviously had to get rid of and we're... CONRAD BLACK http://www.nysun.com/opinion/germany-canada-and-israel-stand-out-in-a-parlous/87629/ Sat, 31 Dec 2011 07:51:14 EST My year-end column will be a tour of the political horizon, with a reflection on the comparative virtues of good government. But anyone gripped by the fear that I am going to sermonize some treacle about civics at them has nothing to fear. In all of the European Union, apart from a few of the very small states, only Germany, Finland, Poland, and the Czechs qualify as well-governed. They have all kept unemployment and deficits under control, returned to economic growth, and avoided catastrophic... FRANKLIN EINSPRUCH http://www.nysun.com/arts/rembrandts-finest-student/87628/ Fri, 30 Dec 2011 15:17:29 EST An exhibition at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute is exploring the affinities of two of the greatest painters of all time. "By examining Rembrandt's work—and his prints in particular—Degas discovered an approach to portraiture and self-portraiture that emphasized the expressive and technical potential of the form, an approach that was not encouraged in Degas's traditional early training," says the museum. "After enrolling briefly at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, he soon began... LAWRENCE KUDLOW http://www.nysun.com/opinion/why-art-laffer-finds-newt-gingrich-so-promising/87626/ Thu, 29 Dec 2011 15:32:00 EST "The purpose of economic policy is growth, jobs, and prosperity," supply-side founder Art Laffer told me today. As such, Mr. Laffer has endorsed Newt Gingrich and the Gingrich 15% flat-tax plan, which includes the 12.5% corporate-tax reform. "It's nothing against the other candidates," Mr. Laffer said. "But Newt's plan is right, and therefore endorsing him is the right thing to do." Mr. Laffer is concerned with the fact that Mitt Romney has no tax-reform plan, and he worries that the former... CONRAD BLACK http://www.nysun.com/foreign/deaths-of-kim-jong-il-vaclav-havel-lead/87627/ Thu, 29 Dec 2011 17:16:01 EST The deaths, only a couple of days apart, of the Manichaean figures of Kim Jong Il and Václav Havel invite some historical reflection. In Korea, the 38th Parallel was determined to be the division between North and South Korea one summer night in 1945 by two junior American officers — including the future secretary of state Dean Rusk, then a colonel. It was chosen as the dividing point to determine whether the Japanese garrison in Korea should surrender to the Soviet Union or to the United... Editorial of The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/editorials/a-hero-of-new-york/87624/ Wed, 28 Dec 2011 02:59:48 EST New Yorkers looking for a symbol of Michael Bloomberg's failing mayoralty could choose as their hero (or martyr, as it were) the proprietor of an Italian eatery at Staten Island, Charles Hermansen. According to a dispatch in the New York Post, Mr. Hermansen is shuttering his restaurant, Cucina di Napoli, and putting the building up for sale. This is after he was closed by the Mayor Bloomberg's health department. Mr. Hermansen charges that it raided his restaurant during its most crowded hour... CONRAD BLACK http://www.nysun.com/foreign/israels-prospects-have-never-been-brighter-as/87625/ Wed, 28 Dec 2011 14:23:56 EST Up until the mid-1960s, when I was young, the television news and airwaves at this time of year were full of references to the "Holy Land." There were endless melodious carols and much sacred music portraying cities such as Bethlehem and Jerusalem, and many other geographic names such as the Jordan River, and even Babylon, in sanctified tones, as quiet, spiritual places. Of course, decades of bloodshed, terrorism, and confected and orchestrated sectarian hatred have engulfed the region since... GARY SHAPIRO http://www.nysun.com/national/how-anton-chekhov-helped-set-grand-strategy/87623/ Tue, 27 Dec 2011 08:12:25 EST Who knew Russian classics by Chekhov could be the source of grand strategic thinking? Careful study of this playwright and short story writer was but one of the many facets of Cold War polymath George Kennan, whose life and achievements were discussed in a recent lecture at the New-York Historical Society. In attendance were both Kennan's son, Christopher, and eldest daughter, Grace Kennan Warnecke. Paul Kennedy took the podium to introduce his fellow Yale professor, John Lewis Gaddis, author... IRA STOLL http://www.nysun.com/opinion/the-ron-paul-rand-paul-ticket-new-york-times/87621/ Mon, 26 Dec 2011 13:51:18 EST With apologies and thanks to William Safire. 1. The Supreme Court a) leaves ObamaCare in the political realm for now but leaves a future court room to ride to the rescue in 2015 by agreeing with the Fourth Circuit opinion on the Anti-Injunction Act b) upholds Arizona's immigration law c) strikes down both ObamaCare and the Arizona immigration law, leading to a bipartisan backlash against the "new judicial activism" of the Roberts Court. 2. The nominee for secretary of state awaiting approval at... FRANKLIN EINSPRUCH http://www.nysun.com/arts/too-great-a-nation-for-small-dreams/87622/ Mon, 26 Dec 2011 21:58:29 EST "When Ronald Reagan ran for president in 1980," says the National Portrait Gallery, "it was the conventional wisdom, after what was viewed as four failed presidencies, that the office had outgrown the individual and needed to be changed or perhaps held jointly. Within a short time after Reagan became president, however, whether one agreed with his policies or not, there was no doubt about his capacity and command of the office, and the discussion about the need to change the office of the... CONRAD BLACK http://www.nysun.com/opinion/merry-christmas-to-christopher-hitchens-wherever/87620/ Sat, 24 Dec 2011 07:45:15 EST As Christmas remains a religious occasion, a few thoughts from that perspective commend themselves. The National Post [where this dispatch first appeared] seems to have been plunged into mourning for Christopher Hitchens, perhaps best-known for his belligerent atheism. I must say that I had a few fierce written exchanges with Christopher over the years, mainly in Britain's Spectator magazine, but not on religious matters. In our polemical battles, which were entertainingly acidulous and... FRANKLIN EINSPRUCH http://www.nysun.com/arts/diego-rivera-keeps-up-the-fight/87619/ Fri, 23 Dec 2011 11:36:29 EST The exhibition "Diego Rivera: Murals for The Museum of Modern Art" reunites, for the first time in 80 years, five "portable murals," freestanding frescoes with bold images addressing the Mexican Revolution and Depression-era New York that Rivera created at the Museum for his 1931-32 MoMA exhibition. The murals, which are up to six feet by eight feet in size and weigh as much as 1,000 pounds, are made of frescoed plaster, concrete, and steel. Comprising five of the eight murals that were shown... CONRAD BLACK http://www.nysun.com/opinion/first-real-convention-draft-since-1952-may-be/87618/ Thu, 22 Dec 2011 16:44:30 EST It seems to me that I have a duty to write about Newt Gingrich, as I am one who did not think his rise in the polls as a Republican presidential contender would be as durable as it already has been. As interesting as Newt himself is the dumbfounded reaction to his return to the grand tier of political life after a sleep almost as long as Rip Van Winkle's, and after he had flat-lined for months as a candidate, and had been abandoned by his entire staff. In a year that should be a big Republican... FRANKLIN EINSPRUCH http://www.nysun.com/arts/the-indefatigable-abstractionist/87617/ Tue, 20 Dec 2011 16:48:18 EST A serious segment of the art world looked forward to the exhibition at Elizabeth Harris Gallery of paintings by Pat Passlof that opened November 19. The New York Times had just profiled her in October, detailing her efforts to maintain herself and her studio practice in a former synagogue on the Lower East Side. Having survived her husband, the painter Milton Resnick, by seven years, she continued to paint large-scale abstractions with a nervous but knowing touch. Passlof died a few days before... IRA STOLL http://www.nysun.com/foreign/opportunity-knocks-at-north-korea-with-the-death/87616/ Mon, 19 Dec 2011 15:10:43 EST The pictures accompanying the news of the leadership change in North Korea are those of the dead dictator, Kim Jong Il, and his son and heir apparent, Kim Jong Un. But there are some other Koreans whose names and photos, though absent from the front pages, tell the real story. Ri Hyon Ok was a 33-year-old mother of three who was publicly executed by the North Korean government on June 16, 2009, for the crime of giving away bibles. Her husband and children were banished to North Korea's vast... CONRAD BLACK http://www.nysun.com/opinion/america-agitation-for-europe-to-dilute-its/87614/ Sun, 18 Dec 2011 12:17:18 EST The fate of the Eurozone is an excruciatingly slow reenactment of The Perils of Pauline. The latest beaming photo opportunity — as another emergency agreement was made last week and more than a score of European national leaders preeningly tried to appear relevant, if not exactly statesmanlike — will be as fleeting a source of comfort and celebration as its many predecessors. The idea of a tightly enforced injunction against any repetition of today's debt-raddled impotence and chaos, without... Editorial of The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/editorials/vaclav-havel/87615/ Sun, 18 Dec 2011 22:20:17 EST One of the most moving moments we experienced in recent years was a visit to the Checkpoint Charlie Museum at Berlin. Its main exhibit is devoted to documenting the attempts to escape Soviet communism in East Germany, and all of it is affecting. But we remember lingering over one exhibit in particular, the manual typewriter that, it was noted, had been used to write Charter 77. We remember trying to explain to our boys, then just beginning middle school, the enormous significance of the... FRANKLIN EINSPRUCH http://www.nysun.com/arts/head-of-medusa-appears-in-san-francisco/87612/ Fri, 16 Dec 2011 08:44:21 EST The Capitoline Museum has loaned a sculpture of Medusa by Gian Lorenzo Bernini to the San Francisco Legion of Honor, where the cursed beauty graces the City by the Bay through February. "Recent conservation efforts have restored the Medusa to its full glory and revealed previously hidden polish and patina," says the museum. "Believed to date from between 1638 and 1648, this extraordinary work takes its subject from classical mythology, as cited in Ovid's Metamorphoses. It shows the beautiful... LAWRENCE KUDLOW http://www.nysun.com/opinion/gop-debate-in-iowa-fails-to-deliver-a-pro-growth/87613/ Fri, 16 Dec 2011 23:22:43 EST Color me cranky about this week's Republican presidential debate in Iowa. The headline stories were about whether Newt Gingrich actually lobbied for Freddie Mac, or why Mitt Romney changed his positions on gay rights, guns, and abortion. But a GOP growth message to defeat President Obama was completely missing in this debate. It was a supply-side whiff. This election is principally about the economy and its poor performance. It's about the slow rate of growth, the high rate of unemployment, and... LAWRENCE KUDLOW http://www.nysun.com/national/mcconnell-warns-democratic-concessions-on-tax/87610/ Thu, 15 Dec 2011 11:40:59 EST The Senate minority leader, Mitch McConnell, is warning that a Democratic plan to concede on a "millionaires' tax," in order to get Republicans to pass an extension of the payroll tax, likely won't be enough to get an agreement. "The tax they wanted to implement on business owners was something that couldn't pass the House and couldn't pass the Senate," Mr. McConnell said on the Kudlow Report last night. "So if they are giving up on that, they are giving up on something that couldn't have... LAWRENCE KUDLOW http://www.nysun.com/national/hard-hat-democrats-could-abandon-obama-as-jobs/87611/ Thu, 15 Dec 2011 17:27:14 EST The payroll-tax-cut debate is not really about the payroll tax, which is a weak-kneed economic stimulant and a lackluster job creator because of its temporary nature. Without permanent incentives at lower tax rates, these rebates don't do anything for growth and jobs. Instead, the key to understanding the payroll-tax debate is to grasp President Obama's leftist vision of taxing successful earners (the millionaire surtax) and his obsession with clean energy at the expense of fossil fuels. These...