Joseph Curl
Columns by Joseph Curl
CURL: Both parties a joke in budget’s silly season
In "Monty Python and the Holy Grail," the classic 1975 movie, King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table ride toward Camelot (well, there are no horses, just a guy clacking two halves of a coconut shell together). Published February 23, 2014
CURL: In 2014, Obama looks to divide and conquer again
President Obama, fresh off a three-day weekend of golf and "climate change" scare-mongering in California, has once again turned his attention to the issue Americans care most about: Raising the minimum wage to $10.10. Published February 19, 2014
CURL: New ‘climate change’ tack: It’s the economy, stupid
You readers who have lived in the Washington area since the 1970s will remember the frigid winters back then. They lasted for months and dumped foot after foot of snow. The biggest lakes in the area froze solid — so solid that parents let their children play hockey on them. And the C&O Canal was a speed skater's dream — a 20-mile sheet of ice from Georgetown to Violette's Lock in Potomac. Published February 16, 2014
CURL: The rehabilitation of Hillary Clinton
While Hillary Rodham Clinton has all but vanished, hitting the speaker's circuit at $200,000 a pop and bouncing between her two palatial mansions in New York and Washington, the press corps is working overtime to rebuild her tarnished reputation. Published February 12, 2014
CURL: Hoffman’s selfish death leaves children behind to suffer
The news alerts started flying at 2 p.m. that Sunday, then the e-mails. "Did you hear? Philip Seymour Hoffman is dead." Published February 9, 2014
CURL: Is everyone over at the White House high?
While marijuana's biggest booster — President Obama — says blowing a joint with your buddies is fine anytime, the White House's Office of National Drug Control Policy says pot is "dangerous" and that sale of the drug is a "serious crime." (So, maybe just the occupant of the Oval Office is baked.) Published February 5, 2014
CURL: What has happened to the New York Times?
What has happened to The New York Times? The Gray Lady, America's Paper of Record, where readers turn to find "All the News That's Fit to Print," has gone off the deep end. Published February 2, 2014
CURL: State of the Union moot as Obama becomes irrelevant
CNN had a countdown clock, like Cape Canaveral launching a rocket to Mars. "2 hours 19 minutes 44 seconds" the clock said, ticking down to The Big Moment. Published January 29, 2014
CURL: White House panics as millennials wise up, bail on President Obama
President Obama is making a sudden push to win back millennial voters, who have grown disillusioned over his failed "Hope and Change" campaign that left them without jobs, living in their parents' basement. Published January 26, 2014
CURL: President Choom gives weed his seal of approval
President Obama says marijuana is no different from cigarettes and no "more dangerous than alcohol" — and he should know. Published January 22, 2014
CURL: The drip, drip, drip of Benghazi
Another day, another revelation on Benghazi. The "bipartisan" Senate Select Committee on Intelligence last week put out a scathing report on the Sept. 11, 2012, attack on U.S. diplomatic outposts in Libya, citing "systematic failures" that led to the death of Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three other Americans. Published January 19, 2014
CURL: For liars like Obama and Clinton, ends justify means on Benghazi
In the world of philosophy, there are two prime schools of thought about action and consequence. Published January 15, 2014
CURL: Chris Christie’s handling of ‘Bridgegate’ schools Obama on how to deal with a crisis
A note to all those crisis management PR firms lining K Street: The next time you have a client with a big problem, play 'em New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's "Bridgegate" press conference. Published January 12, 2014
CURL: Obama administration is in full meltdown
While President Obama hit the beaches and golf courses of sunny Oahu for a three-week vacation in December, palace intrigue was afoot in the White House and beyond. Published January 8, 2014
CURL: Irony alert: Global warmists get stuck in ice
A ship full of "global warmists" heads off on an expedition to Antarctica to prove that the ice shelf there is melting so fast that every beachfront house in the world will soon be swept away by a massive tsunami. But instead of finding a sad polar bear stuck on a tiny ice sheet, the adventurers found their ship stuck — in ice. Published January 5, 2014
CURL: At Christmastime, George W. Bush was Santa, Obama is Scrooge
Every year, in the week between Christmas and New Year's, I think about George W. Bush. Published December 30, 2013
CURL: Into Year 6, Obama admits he’s clueless
What a depressing presidency Barack Obama has wrought. Published December 22, 2013
CURL: Huckabee is all the buzz — especially to Huckabee
Suddenly, out of nowhere, everyone's talking about Mike Huckabee making a repeat run for the White House. Well, not everyone. Mostly, it's Mike Huckabee talking about Mike Huckabee. Published December 15, 2013
CURL: Christmas comes early to D.C.; New Year’s hangover to follow
With Santa Claus coming to town in just two weeks, the holiday spirit has swept over the nation's capital. Democrats and Republicans met under the mistletoe to strike a rare accord on a federal budget, the first bipartisan pact to come out of a divided Congress since 1986. The Obama administration concluded its bailout of General Motors, saving a private company from bankruptcy by buying a 60 percent stake. Published December 11, 2013
CURL: Obama tells a whopper on IRS scandal
Fact: The IRS targeted conservative and tea party groups requesting tax-exempt status in the run-up to the 2012 presidential election. That's a fact. But President Obama, in an interview last week with sycophant Chris Matthews, now says the entire scandal was made up by the media. Published December 8, 2013
