Civil Liberties

This update focuses on civil liberties. The Department of Homeland Security issued a report smearing conservatives as "right-wing extremists". This follows a similar report in Missouri that was withdrawn. Gun and ammunition sales remain high as the Obama administration has supported a treaty that would require drastic gun control.

William Jasper: Homeland Security: Everyone's a Threat
Chuck Baldwin: DHS Report Says "Disgruntled Military Veterans" Might Be "Rightwing Extremists"
William Jasper: New DHS Domestic Terrorism Report Targets Millions of Americans
WorldNetDaily: Homeland Security on guard for 'right-wing extremists'

John Snyder: Gun-Grabbers Undermine U.S. Sovereignty
AWR Hawkins: Treaty Endangers Second Amendment and U.S. Sovereignty
Chuck Baldwin: Obama Positioning For Backdoor Gun Control By Treaty
Ann Coulter: Let's All Surrender Our Weapons--You First!

POLITICAL UPDATES are archived here.

Sovereignty

This update focuses on sovereignty. Global elitists are trying to create a world currency. They are also trying to integrate the US and European Union (EU).

William Jasper: Dumping the Dollar for Global Currency
William Jasper: U.S., Russia "Reset" the Convergence Agenda
James Perloff: EU-U.S. Integration: Unattractive Union
William Jasper: Global Fusion: The G20, IMF, and World Government
William Jasper: Somali Pirates : An Excuse to Ratify LOST?
William Jasper: “Conspiracy Theorists” Not So Crazy After All
Thomas Kilgannon: Will Obama (Inter)Nationalize the Banks?
Jerome Corsi: Canada joins Transatlantic Union effort
Joseph Farah: Out of chaos, a new world order

More information:
United Nations: Eagle Forum: United Nations
North American Union: Eagle Forum Stop SPP
Trans-Texas Corridor: Corridor Watch

The Economy

This update focuses on the economy. Bailouts and government regulations continue. Government monetary policy bears much blame for the present crisis.

Tim Carney: Pro-Liberty vs Pro-Business
William Hoar: Printing and Spending Our Way to Prosperity
Charles Scaliger: The New GM: Government Made
James Perloff: Our Monetary Mayhem Began With the Fed
Charles Scaliger: Creating "Wealth": The Fed Shows No Reserve
Steve Sailer: Thomas Woods’ Meltdown And The Diversity Depression
Gary North: Is George Soros an Austrian?
Phyllis Schlafly: Will the Real Secretary Geithner Please Stand Up?
Don Devine: Transformational Obama Budget

See also:
The Recession Reader
The Bailout Reader

Liberalism

This update focuses on liberalism. We continue to learn more about Barack Obama's origins and goals. Some congressional liberals recently traveled to Cuba and fawned over Fidel Castro.

Bettina Esser: Howard Zinn's Revisionist History Text
Humberto Fontova: Why Did Congressional Black Caucus Overlook Racism in Cuba?
Rowan Scarborough: The Great Left Smear Machine
Michelle Malkin: CBC: Congressional Bootlickers for Castro
Phyllis Schlafly: Obama's 'New World Order'
Ann Coulter: Gondon Gekko is a Democrat
Ann Coulter: Are 'Hope' and 'Change' Still Tax-Deductible?
WorldNetDaily: Why leftists love tyrants and terrorists
Steve Sailer: The “Obama Bear Market” And Why He Triggered It
Phyllis Schlafly: How a Community Organizer Became President
Brian Farmer: The Employee Free Choice Act Is a Deception

Much information on liberal individuals and organizations can be found at David Horowitz's Discover the Network site.

Environmentalism

This update focuses on environmentalism. Belief in the global warming scam continues to decline. Congress may soon consider a 'cap and trade' plan to raise taxes and damage the economy. Environmentalists continue to hamper energy production.

Floy Lilley: Out With Windmills – In With Nuclear
Warren Mass: The High Cost of Cap and Trade
Ernest Istook: Green Jobs or Gangrene?
Terry Easton: Cap and Trade: A New Disaster Waiting to Happen in 2009
Ed Hiserodt: A Cooling Trend Toward Global Warming
Chris Horner: Is Our President a 'Carbon Communist'?
Michelle Malkin: The Shut Up and Swallow Congress
Warren Mass: Cap and Trade: A Huge, Regressive Tax
Phyllis Schlafly: Global Warming Is Running Out of Hot Air
William Hoar: Trying to Turn CO2 Into Au
Ed Hiserodt: Wind vs. Nuclear Power: Which Is Safer?

POLITICAL UPDATES are archived here.

The Culture War

This update focues on the culture war. Liberals, elitists, and judicial activists continue to undermine traditional American culture. Abortion, marriage, and immigration are just some of the salient issues.

Selwyn Duke: According to Kinsey, Deviancy Is the New Normal
Phyllis Schlafly: Ginsburg's Judicial Activism Goes International
Don Devine: Capitalist Moral Hazard
Selwyn Duke: Obama: Rescuing Dogs and Rending Babies
Phyllis Schlafly: Yes, Marriage Can Be Saved From the Gay Lobby
Steve Sailer: Demography Is Destiny. And Our Destiny (Courtesy Of Immigration Policy) Is Disastrous
Terry Jeffrey: Obama's Carefully Crafted Cloning Contradiction
Phyllis Schlafly: The Court's One-Two Punch
John McManus: Why America's Culture Is Being Undermined
Patrick Krey: Is Conservatism Dead?

POLITICAL UPDATES are archived here.

News from Abroad

This update focuses on news from abroad. Increasing violence in Mexico threatens American interests. Trouble continues in Somalia, Zimbabwe, and elsewhere.

Robert Spencer: The Somali Pirates Are Jihadists
Warren Mass: From Riches to Rags: Inflation & Poverty in Zimbabwe
Bay Buchanan: Mexico Meltdown II -- Are We Serious Yet?
Alex Newman: Violence in Mexico
Warren Mass: Clinton Meets with Abbas
Warren Mass: Russia's Puzzling Role in Afghan Theater
Allan Wall: Memo From Middle America: Wargaming Mexico—Will The U.S. Have To Invade?
Jed Babbin: State of the War
Brenda Walker: More On Mexico’s Meltdown: Bush Team's Parting Assessments Should Alarm Obama

POLITICAL UPDATES are archived here.

Health Care

This update focuses on health care. The left is eager to impose government control on health care. That would mean less freedom, higher taxes, and worse health care.

William Hoar: Taxing Our Health
Mac Johnson: Reimporting Socialism, Not Drugs
Walter Williams: Sweden's Government Health Care
Kurt Williamsen: SCHIP of State
Terry Jeffrey: What Obama Is Doing With Your Medical Records
Phyllis Schlafly: Obama Gives What the Doctor Did Not Order
Jane Orient: Stay Healthy: Government Healthcare May Be Coming

POLITICAL UPDATES are archived here.

Civil Liberties

This update focuses on civil liberties. Missouri recently withdrew a report branding conservatives as potential terrorists. President Obama supports a 'national service' plan that could reinstate the draft.

William Jasper: Profiling and Criminalizing Political Dissent
James Perloff: Tenth Amendment Movement: Taking On the Feds
Jacob Hornberger: Two Checks on Tyranny
John Eidsmoe: The Militia: In History and Today
Jerome Corsi: Bill creates detention camps in U.S. for 'emergencies'
Ron Paul: On Reinstating the Draft
Patrick Krey: Any Volunteers for National Service?
Patrick Krey: At Uncle Sam's Service

POLITICAL UPDATES are archived here.

The Economy

This update focuses on the economy. Bailouts and stimulus plans are failing to improve the economy. The causes of the recession continue to be explored.

Thomas Sowell: False Solutions and Real Problems
Thomas Sowell: Subsidizing Bad Decisions
Lew Rockwell: Beating Back Obamanomics
Thomas Woods: Unnatural Disaster
William Andersen: It Is Time to Admit the Obvious: The Political Classes Deliberately Are Blocking an Economic Recovery
Ron Paul: Is Spending the Answer?
Steve Sailer: Minority Mortgage Meltdown (contd.) Pay No Attention To That Diversity Mandate Behind The Curtain
Charles Scaliger: Shock & Awe Economics
Gary Benoit: The Inflation Tax
Kurt Williamsen: Economy Killers
William Hoar: Stimulating Government, Not the Economy

See also:
The Recession Reader
The Bailout Reader

Government

This update focuses on government.

Patrick Krey: A Presidency Fit for a King
Warren Mass: Bill Would Give Feds Control Over Family Farms
Michelle Malkin: Look Beyond the Bogus Bonus Smokescreen
Terry Jeffrey: Obama's Deficit Charade
Chuck Baldwin: Romans 13 Revisited
Jack Kenny: Counting the Cost of the Census
Phyllis Schlafly: Obama's Stimulus
Edwin Vieira: Dangers of "Judicial Supremacy"
Robert Rector: Stimulus Bill Abolishes Welfare Reform Successes
William Hoar: Social Security Sham
Chuck Baldwin: President And Congress Grovel Before The Fed
Ron Paul: Freedom From Government
Don Devine: Victims of Flight 1549?
Steve Sailer: So You Want To Boost The Economy? End Affirmative Action!
Brian Farmer: The Welfare State Is Really Socialism in Disguise

POLITICAL UPDATES are archived here.

Immigration

This update focuses on immigration. Before leaving office, President Bush commuted the sentences of Ramos and Compean, but refused to pardon them. The Senate refused to renew the E-Verify program.

Phyllis Schlafly: E-Verify Is a "Shovel-Ready" Solution
Pat Buchanan: Illegals To Get "Stimulus" Jobs? Left Cannot Survive E-Verify Sell-Out Of Unemployed Americans
Ernest Istook: Quiet Amnesty
Joe Guzzardi: Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Rise And Immigration-Related Fall
William Jasper: Amnesty for Aliens (Including Terrorists) Who Serve in Military
Chuck Baldwin: Ramos And Compean Are Going Home. What Took Bush So Long?
Phil Kent: Illegal Immigration Battles Loom with Obama
Chelsea Schilling: Immigrants ravage U.S. infrastructure
Michelle Malkin: The State of Our Borders 2008
Steve Sailer: Sailer’s Next Big Idea: Immigration Brings Diversity Deduction—Not A Diversity Dividend

For more on immigration, see VDARE.com.

Sovereignty

This update focuses on sovereignty. The United Nations, European Union, and more theaten national sovereignty and promote world government.

William Jasper: The G20 Push to "Supersize" the IMF
Charles Scaliger: Agenda Behind Brown's "Global New Deal"
Willaim Jasper: LOST: Law of the Sea Treaty
Chelsea Schilling: United Nations' threat: No more parental rights
John McManus: EU Déjà Vu in the Caribbean
Chuck Baldwin: A Very Real New World Order
Chuck Baldwin: More On The New World Order
Kelly Taylor: Trans Texas Corridor Renamed, Not Dead
Jerome Corsi: Is the Trans-Texas Corridor dead?

More information:
United Nations: Eagle Forum: United Nations
North American Union: Eagle Forum Stop SPP
Trans-Texas Corridor: Corridor Watch

Liberalism

This update focuses on liberalism. Liberals are mobilizing thanks to Barack Obama's election as President. There have been more revalations about Obama's political associations.

Phyllis Schlafly: Community Organizing Explained
Phyllis Schlafly: Feminists Expect to Cash in With Barack Obama
Michelle Malkin: Stimulus Slush Fund for Housing Entitlement Thugs
Selwyn Duke: That Thing Called Feminism
WorldNetDaily: Veteran psychiatrist calls liberals mentally ill
Steve Sailer: Blagojevich, Obama, And The Diversity–Fueled "Chicago Way"
Donald Devine: Obama Bureaucracy Payoff
Thomas Sowell: Freedom and the Left

Much information on liberal individuals and organizations can be found at David Horowitz's Discover the Network site.

The Economy

This update focuses on the economy. Congress passed a "stimulus" spending bill that will make the economy worse.

Don Devine: Obama Hope or "Epic Ruin"?
Gary North: Get Out of the Euro
Steve Sailer: The Minority Mortgage Meltdown (cont.): Charting The CRA Crackup
Charles Scaliger: Parallels With the Great Depression
Ann Coulter: Goodbye, America! It Was Fun While It Lasted
Mac Johnson: Obama’s Spendulus Does Not ‘Pump Money Into The Economy’
Larry Greenley: The Fed's Hockey Stick Chart
Thomas Woods: Washington and the Stimulus: A Parade of Blockheads
William Jasper: "Supersizing" the IMF

See also:
The Recession Reader
The Bailout Reader

The Economy

This update focuses on the economy. Congress passed a "stimulus" spending bill that will make the economy worse.

Gary North: Fractional Reserves Have Wrecked the Fascist State
Mac Johnson: The Media's Favorite 'Untouchable'
Steve Sailer: The Minority Mortgage Meltdown (contd.): How The Community Reinvestment Act Fits In
Thomas Sowell: What Are They Buying?
Ron Paul: Stimulus for Whom?
Gary North: How Bad Is the Crash?
Phyllis Schlafly: Barack's Bailout for Trial Lawyers
Walter Williams: Congress' Financial Mess
Ron Paul: Stimulating Our Way to Rock Bottom

See also:
The Recession Reader
The Bailout Reader

Global Warming

This update focuses on global warming. The global warming myth is collapsing, and more and more scientists are coming out against it. But the global warming fearmongers are continuing to push their big government agenda.

Ed Hiserodt: Whatever Happened to Global Warming?
Chris Horner: Media Muzzles Climate Change Debate
Ed Hiserodt: Carbon Dioxide a "Pollutant"?
William Jasper: Big Chills for Global-warming Alarmism
Chris Horner: It's Cold Outside, But Global Warming Industry Still Hard At Work
William Jasper: Heat or Cold: Which Is More Deadly?
Chris Horner: No Rush to New Kyoto?
William Jasper: Scientists Challenge Global Warming “Crisis”
Ed Hiserodt: Making Renewable Energy Practical

POLITICAL UPDATES are archived here.

Education

This update focuses on education. Bill Ayers and comrades are using schools to promote socialism. Heterodox views are punished harshly on campus, as illustrated by a recent controversy involving Walter Block.

Phyllis Schlafly: 'Social Justice': Code Word for Anti-Americanism
Education Reporter: 'Social Justice' Education is Already Shaping America's Future
Bill Costello: Where the Education Gender Gap is Leading America
Bill Andersen: Leftist Faculty, Duke, and Campus Realities
Thomas DiLorenzo: Thought Policing 101
Karen Effrem: Evidence of Academic or Emotional Harm of Preschool Education or All-Day Kindergarten
Phyllis Schlafly: Some Change Is a Big Improvement

Learn more about education issues in Education Reporter.

The Culture War

This update focuses on the culture war. Another anniversary of Roe v. Wade has passed, and pro-abortion fanatics are ever more intent on restricting freedom. America's holidays are also under attack.

Don Devine: Merry Newspeak Freedom
Phyllis Schlafly: We Must Educate Leaders To Be Conservatives
Warren Mass: Faith Triumphs Over Persecution
John Eidsmoe: The War on Christmas
James Fulford: The War Against Thanksgiving
Ron Paul: Restricting Freedoms and Choices

POLITICAL UPDATES are archived here.

News from Abroad

This update focuses on news from abroad. Trouble continues in Israel, Somalia, India, and elsewhere.

Robert Spencer: Calling for Genocide In Your Neighborhood
Michael Economides: Russian Energy Imperialism
Ilana Mercer: Paleos Must Defend the West…And That Means Israel Too
Robert Maginnis: Stay Out of Somalia
Robert Maginnis: How Close Are We To War With Iran?
Thomas Sowell: The Meaning of Mumbai
Felix Moreno: Victim Disarmament at Sea
Gustavo Coronel: Hugo Chavez’s Bleak Political Future
William Hoar: North Korean Blackmail Beats the U.S. Blacklist
Pat Buchanan: China's Path to World Power
Don Devine: Congratulations General Odierno?

POLITICAL UPDATES are archived here.

The Economy

This update focuses on the economy. America's economic troubles continue as government bailouts only make the situation worse.

Kurt Williamson: Socialism's Success
Michael Telzrow: Socialism's Broken Promises
William Jasper: Bailout Mania!
Charles Scaliger: Bernanke's Money Maneuvers
Gary North: When Trust Runs Out
Alex Newman: Auto Bailout: Lemon or Lemonade?
Ron Paul: Government and Fraud
Walter Williams: Counterfeiting versus Monetary Policy
Ron Paul: Economic Freedom or Socialist Intervention?
Charles Scaliger: Bretton Woods
Gary North: Oldsmobile Nation
Pat Buchanan: In Earmarks Lies Salvation?
Will Grigg: Sovietizing the Economy: The Final Phase
Charles Scaliger: Free-market Thinkers

See also:
The Recession Reader
The Bailout Reader

Government

This update focuses on government. Government is threatening freedom in the areas of civil liberties, health care, gun rights, and more.

Will Grigg: En Route to Military Rule
William Hoar: Bad Economics & Medicine
William Jasper: Asthma Sufferers Victimized by UN Ozone Madness
Phyllis Schlafly: Obama's Plan to Rejoin the World Community
William Jasper: Rooting for World Government
Phyllis Schlafly: Con Con Is a Terrible Idea
Gun Owners of America: End Of The Year Report
Phyllis Schlafly: "The Doctor Will See All of You Now"
Ron Paul: Gun Control: Protecting Terrorists and Despots
Robert Higgs: Let's Check Marx and Engels's List
Edwin Viera: Bedrock of the Constitution
Edward Rubenstien: The High Cost of Diversity—Due To Go Up Under Obama
William Hoar: Mental-health Parity's Poison Pill
William Jasper: Bush Pushes Foreign Aid, Despite Economic Woes
Laurence Vance: The Flat Tax Is Not Flat
Edwin Viera: Hazards for Habeas Corpus

POLITICAL UPDATES are archived here.

Best Articles of 2008

It is time for the best articles of 2008. These articles were selected from roughly 10,000 articles this year. More than 400 articles appeared in this year's 52 POLITICAL UPDATES.

Energy/environmentalism was the most frequent topic, inspiring five updates. Tied for second were the culture war, government, news from abroad, immigration, education, and the economy with four each. What follows are my choices, in chronological order, for the nineteen most important news or opinion pieces of 2007.

William Jasper: Bailout Mania!
Eric Englund: Environmentalism Is Racism
Warren Mass: KAL Flight 007 Remembered
Steve Sailer: Freddie Mac’s Richard Syron—Architect Of The “Diversity Recession”
Gregory Hession: Restraining Orders Out of Control
Dennis Behreandt: Transatlantic Two-Step
Dave Workman: Kansas tornado produces gun rights bill
Peter Brimelow: “Immigration Is The Viagra Of The State”—A Libertarian Case Against Immigration
Lew Rockwell: What If Public Schools Were Abolished?
Walter Williams: Environmentalists' Wild Predictions
James Fulford: Civil Rights Law Doesn’t Care If You Die
Pat Buchanan: Whites Down To 10% Of World Population By 2060— Does It Matter?
William Jasper: A Bad Investment
Arthur Robinson: Nobel Prize for Death
Phyllis Schlafly: North American Union: It's the real deal
Thomas Kilgannon: The Supreme Court Stands Alone
Heather MacDonald: The Campus Rape Myth
Susan Easton: The EU's Treaty Treachery
Terry Jeffrey: Your $455,000 Loan to Uncle Sam

Previous:
Best of 2007
Best of 2006
Best of 2005

Marriage

This update focuses on marriage. Marriage amendments passed in California, Arizona, and Florida on election day. Homosexuals in California responded with rage, threats, and intimidation. The relationship site eHarmony.com has been forced to offer same-sex dating by an "anti-discrimination" lawsuit.

Michelle Malkin: Gay Mob Shakes Down eHarmony
Michelle Malkin: The Insane Rage of the Same-Sex Marriage Mob
Thomas Sowell: The Right To Win
Jennifer Morse: Same-Sex Marriage and the Persecution of Civil Society
Gary Bauer: Same-Sex Movement Demands Tolerance But Won't Show Any

POLITICAL UPDATES are archived here.

Immigration

This update focuses on immigration. America's immigration problems continue. Agents Ramos and Compean are still unjustly in jail.

Dana Rohrabacher: Mr. President, Free the Border Agents
Joe Guzzardi: “Legal Immigration” Too Often Means Fraud—And Fraud Is Illegal
Brenda Walker: Diversity Is Strength! It’s Also… Witchcraft, Imported By Immigration. (And, Yes, From Obama’s Kenya Too)
Brenda Walker: Mexico Meltdown Approaches Warp Speed
Craig Nelsen: Vilifying E-Verify—The ACLU's Campaign To Break The Only Unbroken Part Of Our Broken Immigration System

For more on immigration, see VDARE.com.

Conservatism

This update focuses on conservatism. The 2008 election has provoked many thoughts on the future of the conservative movement.

Phyllis Schlafly: Where Do We Go From Here?
Phyllis Schlafly: Time to Follow Reagan's Example
Don Devine: Conservative Counter Attack
Phyllis Schlafly: Where Did the Reagan Votes Go in the 2008 Election?
Steve Sailer: We’ve Got Karl Rove to Kick Around Some More!
Mac Johnson: GOP, Avoid A 2008 Repeat
David Keene: Obama Will Overreach and We Will Bounce Back
Steve Sailer: GOP Can Play By "McCain Rules" And Lose, Or "Sailer Rules" And Win
Tom Piatak: Pat Buchanan At 70: “He Told You So, You F****ing Fools!”
Warren Mass and William Jasper: McCain: Maverick?

POLITICAL UPDATES are archived here.

The Economy

This update focuses on the economy. Economic troubles continue, and government bailouts continue to fail. The 'big three' automakers are in big trouble. Elites held a summit to discuss a global currency.

Ron Paul: The Neo-Alchemy of the Federal Reserve
Gary North: Bernanke's the Dollar Destroyer
Ron Paul: The Bailout Surge
Pat Buchanan: Who Killed Detroit?
Ross Kamisky: Paulson's Ever-Changing Bailout
Charles Scaliger: Looking Beyond the Global Economic Summit
Charles Scaliger: In a Free Market, Money Doesn't Grow on Trees
Michelle Malkin: The Paulson Putsch: Time For A Fiscal-Conservative Counterinsurgency
Pat Buchanan: Bretton Woods II—No Way
Charles Scaliger: Upcoming Financial Summit About Global Governance
Ron Paul: The Moral Hazard of Regulation
Ron Paul: Spending the Economy into Oblivion

See also:
The Recession Reader
The Bailout Reader

Liberalism

This update focuses on liberalism. Barack Obama has extensive ties to communist terrorist Bill Ayers. Liberalism has an ignoble history. Unions want to take away secret ballots for union elections.

John McManus: Behind the Obama Agenda
William Jasper: Ukrainian Genocide: NY Times Still Covering Up
Thomas Sowell: Intellectuals
Phyllis Schlafly: The Catholic Connection to Barack Obama
John Lott: Workers, Be Wary
William Jasper: Terrorist Bill Ayers Misrepresents His Past
William Jasper: Obama's Friend Ayers: Kill 25 Million Americans
William Jasper: Obama's Terrorist Ties and Radical Roots
Brian Johnson: Joe the Non-Union Worker
Michael New: Conservatives Have New History of American Left

Much information on liberal individuals and organizations can be found at David Horowitz's Discover the Network site.

Environmentalism

This update focuses on environmentalism. Gas prices have dropped to below two dollars per gallon. Environmentalists continue to promote the global warming myth. New resources counter their claims.

Cynthia Grenier: Red Hot Lies About Global Warming
Ed Hiserodt: Liberty From Global-warming Alarmism
AWR Hawkins: We Cannot Worship Nature and Remain Free
Bill Anderson: Sustainable Fascism
Alex Newman: A Convenient Book About the Environment
Chris Horner: Attack of the Energy-Rationers
Eric Englund: Environmentalism Is Racism
Floy Lilley: The Fraud of Global Warming

POLITICAL UPDATES are archived here.

Education

This update focuses on education. Barack Obama's associate Bill Ayers has radical plans for American education. Obama and the NEA promise to push education further to the left. Racial preferences continue to hurt minorities.

Education Reporter: McCain Hits Obama's Sex Ed Bill
Phyllis Schlafly: Teaching "Social Justice" in Schools
Ann Coulter: Ayers: Radical Loon When Obama Was Only 47
Cooper Sterling: Beyond ‘Taco Night’: Barack Obama And The Frightening Future of "Critical Multicultural Education"
Phyllis Schlafly: Bill Ayers's Scary Plans for Public Schools
Samuel Blumenfeld: Pavlov's Dogs and American Education
Walter Williams: Academic Mismatch I
Walter Williams: Academic Mismatch II
Education Reporter: Some NEA Resolutions Passed at the 2008 Convention in Washington, D.C.

Learn more about education issues in Education Reporter.