Outside the Beltway

There are factions of the American right that really need to understand this.

A rich child is 45 percent more likely to earn a four-year college degree than a poor one.

The issue of same-sex marriage will be before the Supreme Court early next year.

American politicians are using China as a scapegoat for America’s problems.

Increasingly, the right of people to speak is being sacrificed in the name of “tolerance” and “security.”

Let’s take a trip back in time to see what some conservatives thought 2012 would look like if Barack Obama were elected President.

According to a new report, the CIA considers Israel to be an espionage threat.

Nicholas Kristoff figures that, if we can’t ban guns, we can at least make them safer.

“The average Canadian has quietly become richer than the average American,” claims a pro-Canada organization.

What does the US Constitution actually provide in terms of guidance for governance?

Were the Colonists wrong to toss aside the British Empire so casually?

If the GOP wins in November, there will be very few actual barriers in the way if they really want to repeal the PPACA.

Are the Stuxnet and Flame attacks the opening shots in a dangerous new era of secret war?

Two centuries ago, a war that makes less and less sense with the passage of time began.

There is no evidence that the Capital Punishment works.

In, “Squeezing out the doctor,” The Economist looks at the future of medicine and sees a declining role for physicians.

A Federal Court rejects an effort to significantly expand the application of a law designed to target computer hacking.

The cause of the pain you’re feeling at the pump has little to do with domestic energy policy.

Seven of the top ten and fifteen of the top twenty universities on the planet are American.

The US spends more government money on healthcare per capita than the likes of Germany, France, Canada, Sweden, and Holland!

David Brooks points out that, despite the mythology of America as a land of rugged individuals and Europe as a socialist experiment gone wrong, the amount of social welfare spending is roughly the same.

This week we learned that even breast cancer can become politicized. Is there anything that can’t at this point?

Ruth Bader Ginsburg had some advice on Constitution drafting for Egyptians

Senator Mike Enzi wants to replace the Dollar Bill with a coin. As with past efforts, it’s a great idea that is unlikely to succeed.

Mitch Daniels got the unenviable task of responding to the State Of The Union Address last night.

A Federal Judge deals with the clash between individual rights, law enforcement, and technology.

The Obama Administration has halted, for the moment, a pipeline project that has become a political football.

Higher gas prices in the spring could have an impact on the economy, and the election.

A Washington Post fact check calls this “true but false.”

The United States tops the world in giving money, volunteering time, and helping strangers.

The Postal Service announced another round of service cutbacks today that are likely to just make the rapidity of its decline increase

Canada’s National Post have illustrated how the Anyone But Romney race has gone to date:

From across the pond, an observation that the way we pick Presidents isn’t really that bad after all.

Last night, most of the leading Republican candidates for President acted as if Europe was on another planet.

The popular program was even less successful than we initially thought.

There’s no consensus for European-style social democracy or a Randian libertarian paradise.

In Scotland, posting stupid things on Facebook is a “hate crime” punishable by serious jail time.

A major backer of Republican and Libertarian causes is under fire.