I’d like to offer my thoughts since I’ve been away from the TAC blog…..

– The Washington Monthly has good article on the demise of Culture 11.I agree with author Charlie Homan that a conservative website devoted to culture and funded by Bill Bennett simply cannot have musings about Gansta Rap on it and be taken seriously as a cultural critique. Rather, such critiques must come from a counter-cultural perspective and for that, the best place to go for that is Front Porch Republic.

– President Bush II had the good fortune not to face two deteriorating war fronts at the same time, Iraq and Afghanistan, but that is what President Obama could very well face by summer. Getting troops out of Iraq and seeing the war at least be reduced to low-level banditry, was a key part of Obama’s election and if by 2012 the Administration needs more troops and more money to handle a full-scale two-front war, then all of the Administration’s grandiose plans will be wrecked, from foreign policy to the economy.  Unfortunately, Republicans wouldn’t be able to benefit too much if their response is to call for more money and more troops for an unpopular war. So long as the GOP acquiesces, Obama holds all the cards when it comes to foreign policy.

 – Patrick Deenen has good piece on the large meaning of last week’s Tea Party’s one won’t see anywhere else within the mainstream. As expressions of protest, the Tea Party’s were very helpful. Unfortunately their lack of proper focus meant that anyone could see an anti-Obama sign as say it was nothing more than a GOP rally and get away with it. They would have been better chanting “End the Fed” and many of them did.  Hopefully next time such chants will drown out those would-be Somali pirates from Conservative Inc.

– Liberals should admit the DHS’ report on so-called “right-wing extremism” from veterans and Ron Paul supporters was pretty dumb and, as they say, move on, instead of defending an institution who painted antiwar groups with the same broad brush of smear.

– If there’s no better example of the evils of having a central bank than the criminal way Ben Bernanke and Henry Paulson reportedly pressured Bank of America to buyout Merill Lynch, then I don’t know what is.

–  Let’s hope the rule of law can somehow prevail when its comes to Bernanke/Paulson, “Torturegate” and Rep. Jane Harman, apparently AIPAC’s woman in Congress,

– There was some good discussion on the League of Ordinary Gentlemen on my TAC article on Carter’s “malaise speech”. I like “Lighthouse’s” comparison of 2009 being the same or at least almost the same as 1981 for Republicans and conservatives.