Blog entries

Gallagher and NRO on the Case for Natural Marriage

Thomas Peters — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 14:00:00 +0100

Maggie Gallagher of the National Organization for Marriage says NRO's "The Case for Marriage" is the single best article she's read on the subject of natural marriage and the efforts to redefine it. She continues:

Same-sex marriage represents the end of marriage as we knew it – a social institution, r...

Surprise, Surprise: Health Insurers Plan Hikes, cite Obamacare as cause

Thomas Peters — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 13:00:00 +0100

Already the cost-increasing effects of the health care insurance reform package touted by the President and Democrats is becoming apparent, as the Wall Street Journal points out:

Health insurers say they plan to raise premiums for some Americans as a direct result of the health overhaul in coming weeks,...

APP Press Release: "GOP Leaders Warned - Don't Run From Social Issues"

Administrator — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 21:32:31 +0100

Today the American Principles Project issued this press release to coincide with the launch of our Support Plank 1 Campaign:

9-8-10 Plank 1

Dead wrong: Gov. Barbour calls on party to abandon social issues

Thomas Peters — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 19:13:57 +0100

Let's get some things straight.

Politicians can do more than one thing at once. A session of Congress can have more than one goal. And embracing social issues does not threaten the political fortunes of fiscal conservative candidates.

Governor Haley Barbour disagrees with all these claims, as Jeff Zeleny at the New York Times Caucus blog...

APP's Frank Cannon on "Reading tea party leaves on marriage"

Thomas Peters — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 16:05:40 +0100

Our President Frank Cannon has published an op-ed in Politico today showing how out-of-touch DC elites are with the majority of Americans on critical social issues:

If you’re a conservative activist or major Republican donor, you have some interesting social options in front o...

"Support Plank 1" - Save the Social Issues!

Thomas Peters — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 14:57:52 +0100

Today APP is launching an unparalleled initiative, Support Plank 1, because we believe that social issues are at the heart of the conservative movement and major political parties that represent Americans in government have a duty to honor and fight for them.

Unfortunately, in recent months it has become clear that many of our top ele...

George, Levin & Franck on The President’s Stem-Cell Dollars

Thomas Peters — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 16:13:44 +0100

Last week our founder Dr. Robert George, together with Yuval Levin (the editor of National Affairs) and Matthew Franck (of the Witherspoon Institute) issued a letter arguing that "advancing science does not justify the destruction of human life."

Here is an excerpt:

"...it is the presi...

Obama's infrastructure stimulus will promote more federal bureaucracies

Thomas Peters — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 15:46:30 +0100

So argues Kevin Williamson in today's National Review Online:

"Pres. Barack Obama’s plan for yet another round (!) of stimulus spending, this time focused on highway infrastructure work, is, like so many products of this administration, something other than what it seems.

What Obama is proposing is another backdoor bailout for spendthrift states, such as his political home state of Illinois, giving them large injectio...

Must-See Video: Alfonso Aguilar on Hardball with Chris Matthews

Thomas Peters — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 17:51:01 +0100

Our Latino Partnership's Alfonso Aguilar did a great job of demonstrating that the Democrat party's opposition to a guest worker program as part of comprehensive immigration reform is largely to blame for the lack of federal action on this critical issue.

See Alfonso Aguilar debate this topic with Maria Kuma on Hardball with Chris Matthews (jump to the 3 minute mark for the actual debate):

[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcOtohDx3Sw 425x344]

Duncan on Texas Court: Don’t Mess With Marriage

Thomas Peters — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 16:27:29 +0100

William Duncan at NRO's The Corner with an important update on the continuing struggle over the definition of marriage:

Earlier this week, an appeals court in Texas ruled that Texas courts do not have jurisdiction to grant divorces to same-sex couples married in other states. The principle is simple: no valid marriage, no divorce.

... Where Judge Walker said gays and lesbians constituted a specially protected class, the T...

Holloway on The Mosque’s Lesson on Loyalty

Thomas Peters — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 16:18:20 +0100

Carson Holloway writes at the Public Discourse today that It is natural and good to have loyalty and love for one’s own:

Liberal charges of xenophobia reveal more about those making them than about those at whom they are aimed. This is not to say that those charges are merely cynical, that they are used only as weapons against the left’s political enemies. These charges, though misplaced, are sincerely made. And precisely because of their sincerity they she...

Today: APP's Aguilar on Hardball with Chris Matthews

Thomas Peters — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 17:06:34 +0100

Thomas Peters — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 15:12:48 +0100

Obama does not understand why the majority of Americans resist his policies. Today, the Washington Post's Charles Lane points out Obama's explanation for why Americans showed up in large numbers for Glenn Beck's rally on the National Mall last weekend:

I -- I do think that it's important for us to recognize that right now, the country's going through a very difficult time, as a consequence of years of neglect in a whole range of areas. Our schools not workin...

Benko on Obama and liberals "defining devotion down - and the First Amendment with it"

Thomas Peters — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 15:03:07 +0100

Ralph Benko, policy advisor to APP, has an op-ed in today's Washington Examiner where he looks at the liberal-left's attempt to subvert religious rights by delegitimizing them:

President Obama’s recent formulation, “Freedom of Worship” has the religiously serious aghast. It telegraphs a subversion of faith — by...

Preserve Innocence on the Airwaves

Thomas Peters — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 17:25:05 +0100

Emmett McGroarty, director of our Preserve Innocence project, has been appearing frequently on nationally-syndicated radio shows this summer, promoting parental rights and keeping Americans aware of the current threats to childhood innocence in our schools.

Here are some of his appearances:

April 27th - "Mickelson in the Morning". Topic: P...

Same-Sex Marriage and the "Seinfeld Effect"

Thomas Peters — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 15:04:40 +0100

Matthew Franck and Gwen Brown have a fascinating article in the Public Discourse today which claims Americans appear to accept same-sex marriage more than they really do, perhaps because they believe it to be more widely accepted than it really is.

One of the reasons behind this state of affairs is the social phenomenon of group-think, which Franck and Brown explain as the "Seinfeld Effect." Here is some more basic anecdotal evidence to support their claims:

Government anti-poverty programs that have grown to meet the needs of recession victims now serve a record one in six Americans and are continuing to expand.

More than 50 million Americans are on Medicaid, the federal-state program aimed principa...

Weekend Viewing: Alfonso Aguilar on PBS with Tavis Smiley

Thomas Peters — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 18:26:11 +0100

This week Alfonso Aguilar of our Latino Partnership was on a segment of the Tavis Smiley show on PBS, explaining why Latinos are a natural fit with a conservative political party:

[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFsWaoX767w 425x344]

I think this was a very dynamic and informative conversation.

Anderson on Obama’s Illegal Stem-Cell Policy

Thomas Peters — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 17:11:48 +0100

Ryan Anderson writes at Public Discourse that Obama’s stem-cell policy is not only contrary to sound reason and good science, it violates the law:

A year and a half ago, when President Obama signed his executive order funding embryo-destructive stem-cell research, I argued in The Weekly Standard that he was perpetuating a needless stem-cell war, that his decision was “bad ethics, bad science, and bad politics.” Add “bad law” to ...

Obama's failed recovery summer? APP's Aguilar responds

Thomas Peters — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 14:30:23 +0100

Bleak news about the economy, as the summer Congressional recess winds down:

The government is about to confirm what many people have felt for some time: The economy barely has a pulse.

The Commerce Department on Friday will revise its estimate for economic growth in the April-to-June period and Wall Street economists forecast it will be cut almost in half, to a 1.4 percent annual rate from 2.4 percent.

The st...

Video: Gov. Christie on the "mindless drones" in Washington

Thomas Peters — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 14:29:15 +0100

Bad news from New Jersey - or is it bad news from Washington?

Gov. Chris Christie this morning acknowledged the state made a clerical error that blew its chance at winning $400 million in federal money for schools, but he blamed Obama adminis...

Who wrote your health care? Not Sen. Baucus

Thomas Peters — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 14:26:30 +0100

Despite having his name on the health care legislation passed earlier this year, Senator Max Baucus now admits he hasn't read it either:

Judy Matott asked Baucus if he would work to improve Libby’s image, and then asked him and Sebelius, “if either of you read the health care bill before it w...

Reality check: Obama's failed stimulus program cost more than the Iraq war

Thomas Peters — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 18:46:16 +0100

In politics, it's important to retain a sense of scale:

Mark Tapscott writes for The Examiner:

Expect to hear a lot about how much the Iraq war cost in the days ahead from Democrats worried about voter wrath against their unprecedented spending excesses.