Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) schooled former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Penn.) and Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) on foreign policy issues in the August 11 GOP presidential debate in Ames, Iowa. Asked by Fox News channel anchor Chris Wallace why Paul was "soft" on Iran in his opposition to economic sanctions against the country, Paul told the debate audience that the threat from Iran was small when looked at through the lens of history: "Just think of what we went through in the Cold War when I was in the Air Force, after I was drafted into the Air Force, all through the Sixties. We were standing up against the Soviets. They had like 30,000 nuclear weapons with intercontinental missiles. Just think of the agitation and the worry about a country that might get a nuclear weapon some day." Paul concluded of sanctions: "That makes it much worse.

Officials in Michigan have finally ended a lucrative scam: attending college and collecting food stamps on the grounds of need. College kids in Michigan have been cheating the taxpayers by claiming they were too poor to buy food. No longer. The Detroit News reported on Monday that Human Service Director Maura Corrigan has tossed 30,000 college students off the food dole, which will save the state $75 million annually. Naturally, food stamp devotees want as many college students on the program as possible. But almost everyone, including Kwame Kilpatrick, the former Mayor of Detroit, knows that using food stamps while in college is a scam on the taxpayers.

In recent years, former Vice President Al Gore has been the object of a great deal of humor — and ire — for his extremist views and hypocritical actions when it comes to the environment. But a bizarre rant the man who was once heartbeats away from becoming president of these United States calls forth a term one which Americans want nowhere near the Oval Office: Unhinged. The ideology of manmade global warming has fallen on hard times in recent years due to a series of revelations that have fundamentally undermined the credibility of the “science” and its advocates. Beginning with “Climategate” and “Glaciergate” and continuing through such public spectacles as the implosion of the December 2009 Copenhagen Climate Change Conference, polling data has repeatedly demonstrated that public acceptance of the claims of climate change scientists have fallen on hard times.

FreedomProject Education, the educational arm of the American Opinion Foundation, responded to requests by parents and teachers to create a curriculum that provides “a classical education in the tradition of America’s Founders.” On September 6, the FreedomProject will be launching its online curriculum through FreedomProject Education for students in grades 9 through 12. Alan Scholl, Executive Director of FreedomProject, explains, Each student will be an educated citizen who is well-prepared to maintain our God-given freedom. Our curriculum will teach students how to reason, discern, and decide. Clearly, this is missing in today’s education efforts as parents and teachers are clamoring for our materials, which they cannot get elsewhere. According to the FreedomProject Education website, “FPE is the culmination of the principles for which our founding fathers stood, taught and delivered in a cutting-edge online learning environment.”

After more than 10 years of allegedly sending youths to private prisons in exchange for around $1 million in kickbacks, former Luzerne County, Pennsylvania Judge Mark Ciavarella was sentenced to 28 years in prison — essentially a life sentence for the 61-year-old convicted criminal. In February, a jury found Ciavarella guilty on 12 counts of everything from conspiracy and racketeering to money laundering and tax evasion. Another 27 counts, including bribery and extortion, were rejected by jurors. The federal charges stemmed from Ciavarella’s involvement in a criminal plot to fill up privately owned juvenile-detention facilities. According to prosecutors, he was handing out wildly inappropriate sentences to first-time offenders and even children as young as 10.  

Mitt Romney’s candidacy is something of a miracle. “Miracle Mitt” continues to claim — falsely — that he didn’t seek to raise taxes as Massachusetts Governor. And he appears to be getting away with it, as enough Republican voters remain ignorant of his record for Mitt to retain his “frontrunner” status in the 2012 Republican presidential primary race. The Cato Institute reported of Romney’s 2003 proposals as Massachusetts Governor: He scared some conservatives when he said that he was opposed to tax increases but he couldn’t rule them out. His first budget, presented under the cloud of a $2 billion deficit, balanced the budget with some spending cuts, but a $500 million increase in various fees was the largest component of the budget fix.

Does Minnesota Republican Rep. Michele Bachmann really believe foreigners have no rights under American law? Apparently so, according to her remarks during the Ames, Iowa debate August 11. Fox News' Chris Wallace asked her why Rep. Ron Paul was wrong to insist that trials be held for terror suspects: "You say that we don't win the war on terror by closing Guantanamo and reading Miranda rights to terrorists. Congressman Paul says terrorists have committed a crime and should be given due process in civilian courts. Could you please tell Congressman Paul why he is wrong?" Bachmann, who calls herself a "constitutional conservative," responded: "Because, simply, terrorists who commit acts against United States citizens, people who come from foreign countries to do that, do not have any right under our Constitution to Miranda rights."

The recent horrendous casualties suffered by our military forces in Afghanistan must lead the average American to ask the simple question: Why are we still there? Of course, we are told that we are there to prevent the Taliban from coming back into Afghanistan and imposing their radical Islamic dictatorship over that country’s hapless population. But as we all know, the moment we leave Afghanistan, the Taliban will be back, and it will be up to the government in Kabul to prevent them from imposing their cruel and despotic rule. We cannot be there much longer, nor is it the responsibility of the American people, at great sacrifice in lives and treasure, to see that Afghanistan is turned into a western-style democratic society. Not only is it not our responsibility to do so, but the simple truth is that we are incapable of turning a very large, backward, primitive country into a modern state. Nations are responsible for their own destinies, and the United States does not have the right or the means to remake other nations.

The latest report from the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System confirms what every sentient being already knows: The economy is in the dumper, with little improvement expected. The report used words like “considerably slower,” “deterioration,” “flattened out,” “weak,” and “depressed” to describe current conditions, and it even noted that excuses such as bad weather and the earthquake in Japan “appear[ed] to account for only some of the current weakness in economic activity.” (Emphasis added.) In other words, the Board had a BFO (blinding flash of the obvious) and finally had to come clean and admit that after two years of trying to stimulate the patient back to health, nothing has worked, and the patient is getting sicker.

Leftist billionaire George Soros is making headlines once again, this time as the subject of a lawsuit filed by his ex-girlfriend charging fraud and assault. The suit alleges that Soros twice promised to purchase an apartment for Brazilian soap star Adriana Ferreyr, and twice reneged. The first apartment was worth $1.9 million, and the second $4.3 million. Fox News reports: The drama will be staged in Manhattan Supreme Court, where 28-year-old Adriana Ferreyr on Wednesday filed a blockbuster $50 million suit charging, among other things, that the frisky octogenarian slapped her around while they were in bed discussing his real estate betrayal. Soros and Ferreyr had been dating since 2006, during which time they took a number of romantic excursions around the globe.