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Commentary by Debra J. Saunders

Most Recent Releases

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October 11, 2009

Lose at the Ballot, Push! for Payback at the Bench By Debra J. Saunders

Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker opened the gates to hell this month when he ruled that strategists for Proposition 8 -- the 2008 ballot measure, passed by 52 percent of California voters, that limited marriage to a man and a woman -- must release internal campaign documents to measure opponents.

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October 10, 2009

Dems Change Stance on Military and Afghanistan By Debra J. Saunders

At the Democratic National Convention in Denver last summer, then-Sen. Barack Obama pledged to "finish the fight against the Taliban in Afghanistan."

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October 2, 2009

Senators Have Wires Crossed on Security By Debra J. Saunders

On Tuesday, Najibullah Zazi, a 24-year-old Afghan immigrant who was a teenager in Queens during the Sept. 11 attacks, pleaded not guilty to federal terrorism conspiracy charges in New York.

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September 29, 2009

L.A. Is Not 'Chinatown' By Debra J. Saunders

Our Betters in Europe, of course, are outraged that Switzerland arrested and may allow the extradition of film director Roman Polanski, 76, a fugitive from California justice after he pleaded guilty to unlawful sex with a 13-year-old in 1977.

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September 20, 2009

Democrats' Quest for Balance in 2009 By Debra J. Saunders

Democrats seem to have shifted their thinking on a number of issues since President Obama took the oath of office. Figure some Dems have more faith in government with a like-minded man at the helm, and besides, circumstances have changed. But also figure that some Democrats were just looking for sore spots -- and their anti-Bush rhetoric was based not on principle, but raw opportunism.

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September 17, 2009

Inside the Glorious Nation of ACORN By Debra J. Saunders

I would not go see the film "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan" because I found more cruelty than humor in deliberately exposing unwitting civilians to the easy ridicule of smug sophomores.

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September 15, 2009

At Least Spanky Had Grace To Leave Quietly By Debra J. Saunders

Will the sex scandal of former GOP Assemblyman Mike Duvall make a difference for the California GOP? In that Duvall -- now known as Spanky -- had the good sense to resign 15 hours into the scandal, the answer would be: No.

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September 13, 2009

Character and Care By Debra J. Saunders

Toward the end of his speech on health care Wednesday night, President Obama said that he had been thinking a lot about the phrase "the character of our country."

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September 10, 2009

Van Jones Meets America By Debra J. Saunders

One of the (many) irritating things about being a Republican in the liberal Bay Area is the certainty that if there is a story out there that makes conservatives look stupid -- like the protests against President Obama's Tuesday speech to America's students -- then you know that wherever you go, folks are going to ask you about that particular flap.

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September 9, 2009

You Really Don't Know Jack By Debra J. Saunders

"You Don't Know Jack" is the perfect title for the upcoming HBO biopic starring Al Pacino as Death Doc Jack Kevorkian -- because it is clear that many of Kevorkian's fawning interviewers don't know much about Jack.

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September 6, 2009

Too Much Gained in Afghanistan To Exit Now By Debra J. Saunders

As he campaigned for the presidency, Sen. Barack Obama argued that Afghanistan should become "the central front in the battle against terrorism." Obama has delivered on that issue.

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September 1, 2009

How They Missed Jaycee By Debra J. Saunders

Since 1999, when he was placed under California parole supervision for a 1976 rape in Nevada, Phillip Garrido, 58, was subject to drug testing, required to wear a GPS device and subject to twice-monthly visits by his state parole officer.

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August 30, 2009

President Obama Should Pardon CIA Interrogators By Debra J. Saunders

When he served as deputy attorney general, now Attorney General Eric Holder gave a "neutral leaning positive" recommendation that led to President Bill Clinton's pardoning of gazillionaire fugitive Marc Rich, who was on the lam in Switzerland hiding from federal charges of fraud, evading more than $48 million in taxes, racketeering and trading oil with Iran in violation of a U.S. embargo.

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August 28, 2009

The State Prison Mess By Debra J. Saunders

Earlier this month, three federal judges -- Stephen Reinhardt, Lawrence Karlton and Thelton Henderson -- ordered the release of more than 40,000 of California's 160,000 inmates. No lie: They claimed that releasing one-quarter of state inmates would not have "a meaningful adverse impact on public safety."

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August 23, 2009

Too Big To Vote?: By Debra J. Saunders

How do you run for California's top political offices when you often have failed to vote yourself and have no political experience?

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August 20, 2009

Middle-aged Rant By Debra J. Saunders

At a recent Colorado town hall, University of Colorado at Boulder student Zach Lahn asked President Obama how private insurers could be expected to compete with a public health care plan.

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August 18, 2009

Obama in Paradise By Debra J. Saunders

When Barack Obama was 11, his mother and grandmother took him and his half-sister Maya on the most American of family vacations -- a road trip that included Yellowstone and the Grand Canyon. Last week, Obama passed on that gift as he took his wife, daughters Malia and Sasha -- as well as Maya and her family -- on a four-day trip to two of America’s most breathtaking national parks.

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August 16, 2009

The Flight 2816 Fiasco By Debra J. Saunders

The latest infamous incident of Major Airline Tarmac Dysfunction occurred in Minnesota last weekend when a severe storm curtailed Continental ExpressJet Flight 2816.

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August 14, 2009

Congress Jet-sets Further into the Red By Debra J. Saunders

First a confession: I've never flown on a private jet. I've never flown on a Gulfstream. Never flown on a private 737 "office in the sky."

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August 11, 2009

Is Crowding Criminogenic? By Debra J. Saunders

The first thing you have to know when you read that California's 33 adult prisons -- like the state prison in Chino where riots erupted over the weekend -- are operating at 190 percent capacity is that 100 percent capacity means one inmate per cell, single bunks in dormitories and no beds in spaces not designed for housing. Put two inmates in a single cell and bunk beds in lieu of single beds and you get 200 percent capacity.