Mahmoud Ahmadinejad revealed to have Jewish past  —  Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's vitriolic attacks on the Jewish world hide an astonishing secret, evidence uncovered by The Daily Telegraph shows.  —  A photograph of the Iranian president holding up his identity card during elections in March 2008 clearly shows his family has Jewish roots.

Socialism and Christian-Bashing Crash at Box Office  —  Tough times for leftie Hollywood.  Nothing's gone right this week.  None of this is their fault, of course.  In order to understand that it might not be a good idea to rally around a child rapist, bash religion in a religious country …

A Smarter (and Cost-Efficient) Way to Fight Crime  —  LAW enforcement policy in the United States rests implicitly on the “rational actor” model of traditional economics, which holds that people take only those actions whose benefits exceed their costs.  —  This model says that crime …

Garofalo: Led by Limbaugh, ‘Tea-Baggers’ a ‘White Power Movement’ Motivated by ‘Racism’  —  “Actress/activist” Janeane Garofalo used another media appearance to smear anti-Obama protesters as racists, this time, Friday night on HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher, insisting “it's obvious to anybody …

CONSERVATIVES' OLYMPIC GLEE CONTINUES.... It seems likely that conservative delight over the International Olympic Committee awarding the 2016 games to Rio will fade rather quickly.  There's just not much to keep their joy going — the United States sought the Olympics, made it to the final round, but came up short.

Obama's Anzio  —  I'm late on this, due to festschrifting.  But another bad employment report yesterday.  I'm feeling pretty bleak about this.  —  And the worst of it is that it was more or less predictable.  I went back to my first blog post — January 6, 2009 — worrying that the Obama economic plan was too cautious.

Too Rich to Worry?  Not in This Downturn  —  IT turns out the other half — or at least the tiny slice who live at the top of the wealth pyramid — are not sleeping any better than the rest of America.  —  At a closed-door meeting of advisers to family offices — which serve families …

After More Job Losses, Democrats Move to Extend Benefits  —  WASHINGTON — In the wake of further job losses in September, President Obama on Saturday called the new figures “sobering” and said that he was working with his economic advisers “to explore additional options to promote job creation.”

Google CEO Eric Schmidt On Newspapers & Journalism  —  Is Google a newspaper killer?  Not by a long shot, says Google CEO Eric Schmidt.  Nor does he want it to be.  In a long interview about his company's relationship with newspapers and the print journalism industry, Schmidt made it clear he wants established players to survive.

A DECISION THAT LOOKS EVEN WORSE IN RETROSPECT.... In February, when the debate over the economic stimulus package was at its height, a handful of “centrist” Senate Republicans said they'd block a vote on recovery efforts unless the majority agreed to slash over $100 billion from the bill.

The Conscience of a Capitalist  —  The Whole Foods founder talks about his Journal health-care op-ed that spawned a boycott, how he deals with unions, and why he thinks CEOs are overpaid.  —  Printer  —  Friendly  —  “I honestly don't know why the article became such a lightning rod,” …

Reid's at the Reins in Health-Care Battle  —  With the Senate Finance Committee finally poised to complete its work, the volatile health-care debate shifts into closed-door negotiations taking place around the conference room of Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.).

John Ensign's Tax Problem  —  Following up on my July post (Adultery and Tax Planning) on the sordid tale of Sen. John Ensign's extra marital affair with Cynthia Hampton, a campaign staffer married to Douglas Hampton, Sen. Ensign's former chief of staff.  I noted that the $96,000 in “gifts” …