David Frum's Blog, page 9

David's Bookclub: The Warmth of Other Suns

The achievement of Isabel Wilkerson's amazing The Warmth of Other Suns is to transmute sociology into memoir.

When the Wells Go Dry in the Great Plains

A sad story in the New York Times, which reports on the shocking decline of the High Plains Aquifer, the lifeblood of farmers from the South Dakota and Wyoming all the way down to west Texas. (I frequently refer to the Ogallala Aquifer, which is the largest in the High Plains system.) Two years of severe drought, coupled with the massive water demands for growing irrigated corn, have taken their toll on the source of the plains' Garden of Eden.

The Folly of Impeachment

So now it's Brit Hume who is joining the editors of National Review in warning against impeachment - at least for now.

The Moral Imperative to Feed the Poor

The Huffington Post reports of a lively religious debate on whether the government should take charge in feeding the poor. I for one am heartened the discussion even took place.

Harry Reid's Good Idea: Kill Filibusters on Appointments

The Washington Post's Greg Sargent has a major scoop that Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid is seriously thinking about ending the filibuster on executive and judicial branch nominations. Given Reid's history of crying wolf, I'll believe it when I see it, but the idea isn't all that bad.

Peter Worthington on Thinking Outside the Box

I think this column, written last summer by Peter Worthington, summarizes so much of my late father-in-law's approach to life.

Jimmy Carter Endorses SAM, Opposes Marijuana Legalization

This is a little surprising. President Jimmy Carter is on record opposing the legalization of marijuana. Full details below, courtesy of Smart Approaches to Marijuana:

Sorry, Thomas Jefferson, But You Still Can't Grow Hemp in America

Can't help but be amused by Kentucky Republican Mitch McConnell, the Senate Minority leader, being peeved by the latest Farm Bill not including a provision legalizing the production of industrial hemp.

Maybe Let's Not Cut Food Stamps?

I too would love to one day drown government in a bathtub, but while unemployment is still over seven percent, let's hold off on cutting aid to society's most vulnerable.

Someone's Got to Stop Medical Price Gouging

For a long time I've propounded the theory that the main thing wrong with the economics of American health care is that insurers are too weak. Somebody has to discipline providers. They have amply proven they will not discipline themselves. It's unrealistic to expect patients to apply the discipline. I'd prefer not to have government do it. That leaves the insurers.