Journalist H.L. Mencken reminisced that his favorite political convention was a mix of “the belch and bellow of oratory, a balmy but stimulating climate and a whiff of patriotism.”

That is an apt description of what went down among the 3,452 delegates at the May 8 Republican convention in Utah, where U.S. Sen. Bob Bennett became this year’s first victim of a wave of voter anger toward Washington that should send shock waves through every congressional incumbent regardless of party affiliation.

Obama described a basic framework for this peace process. He said it must be “Afghan-led,” and that it should “open the door to the Taliban who cut their ties to al-Qaeda, abandon violence, and accept the Afghan constitution, including respect for human rights.”

But these public comments skirted the hard questions about reconciliation. Of the 1,400 Afghans who will be invited to the jirga, will there be any senior Taliban leaders who could actually cut a deal?

WASHINGTON — When Chancellor Angela Merkel decided that Germany would pay part of Greece’s bills, voters punished her party in elections in Germany’s most populous state, North Rhine-Westphalia. How appropriate.

The 1648 Peace of Westphalia, which ended the Thirty Years’ War, ratified Europe’s emerging system of nation-states. Since the end of the Thirty-One Years’ War (1914-1945), European elites have worked at neutering Europe’s nationalities. Greece’s debt crisis reveals this project’s intractable contradictions, and the fragility of Western Europe’s postwar social model — omniprovident welfare states lacking limiting principles.

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The same day Utah Republicans rejected Mr. Bennett, Utah Democrats forced their only member of Congress, Rep. Scott Matheson, into a primary. Liberals were upset with Mr. Matheson because he voted against Obamacare and carbon taxes.

I didn’t see any journalists describe what happened to Mr. Matheson as “a damn outrage,” a “coup,” or a “purge.”

The media double standard in which primary battles among Republicans are described as “civil wars” reflecting extremism and intolerance, but primary battles among Democrats are not has reached ludicrous proportions in Florida, where Gov. Charlie Crist, who was badly trailing Marco Rubio in the Republican U.S. Senate primary, decided to run as an independent, despite earlier pledges not to.

Mr. Crist is the victim of a “Stalinesque purge,” said Chris Matthews of MSNBC.

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What’s most striking about the Kagan nomination is the extent to which it is about Obama. It’s no secret that he sees the Supreme Court’s conservative majority as a potential obstacle to his agenda. Health care reform is already being litigated in federal and state courts. Other key Obama initiatives-environmental and financial regulations, for instance-are likely to wind up in court. Citizens United, Obama believes, gives him a chance to make the case that it is the conservative justices who are the real judicial activists and whom the country should truly beware. Obama, according to the New York Times, “plans to make the [decision] a theme on the stump heading into campaign season.” Obama has proven willing to politicize the Court as no president since Franklin Roosevelt.

President George Bush punted on this problem. And President Obama has yet, despite election promises, to come to grips with it.

Love it or hate, Arizona’s new law is forcing us — a nation of immigrants — to confront the economic and social complexity of this massive problem.

Meanwhile, a boycott isn’t even a simple solution.

A jury of 12 of Donovan’s peers who actually heard the evidence against him thought otherwise. They unanimously acquitted him on all counts.

“Should this indictment have ever been brought?” Donovan asked after his exoneration. “Which office do I go to to get my reputation back?”

All of that has changed in recent months.

Scott Brown, a Republican, won a Senate seat in Democratic Massachusetts. Chris Christie, a Republican, won the governorship in Democratic New Jersey.

The GOPers are hardly home free. Last week, Utah Republicans threw out longtime Sen. Robert Bennett, who voted for the TARP bailout and supported a personal mandate in health care reform.

Fifty-eight percent (58%) of Likely Pennsylvania Voters favor a law like the one recently adopted in Arizona that authorizes local police to check the immigration status of individuals they stop, according to a recent Rasmussen Reports telephone survey. Thirty-two percent (32%) oppose such a law. These numbers are roughly in line with the national average.

Forty-four percent (44%) of Likely Voters in California favor a law like the one just adopted in Arizona that requires police to check the immigration status of those they stop if they suspect them of being illegal immigrants.

But a new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey in the state finds that slightly more (48%) oppose such a law.
Nationally, 59% support a law like Arizona’s.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 51% of voters nationwide believe the United States is the last best hope of mankind. Twenty-six percent (26%) disagree, and 24% are not sure.

Conservatives overwhelmingly believe that the United States is the last best hope. However, by a 43% to 29% margin, liberals disagree.

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) – Republican Senate candidate Marco Rubio told an anti-gay marriage group Saturday the country is relying too much on the government, in part because of a breakdown of family and faith values over the last 50 years.

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LOS ANGELES – The federal agency responsible for ensuring that the Deepwater Horizon was operating safely before it exploded last month fell well short of its own policy that the rig be inspected at least once per month, an Associated Press investigation shows.

HONG KONG (AFP) - Hong Kong on Sunday held by-elections triggered by pro-democracy lawmakers seeking to pressure Beijing into speeding up the pace of electoral reform in the territory.

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He insisted that Kagan was not only wrong in her decision, but broke the law. Sessions was joined by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Senator Patrick Leahy, D-VT, who called the issue “sound and fury signifying nothing.”

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