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Ernest Istook

Ernest Istook

ejistook@gmail.com

Ernest Istook is a former Republican congressman from Oklahoma. Listen to Ernest's broadcasts online at Washington Times Radio. Subscribe to his daily podcasts on iTunes:

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Articles by Ernest Istook

Justice Anthony Kennedy

ISTOOK: Even prayer not safe from the courts, regulators

Public prayer is a right of the American people, doubly-protected by free speech and free exercise of religion under our First Amendment. Sadly, our courts don't agree. And bureaucrats such as in the Veterans Administration don't seem to agree, either. They try to regulate it.

May 8, 2014
FILE - In this Dec. 4, 2013 file photo, President Barack Obama speaks about the economy and growing economic inequality, at the Town Hall Education Arts Recreation Campus in Washington. The president said the income gap between America's rich and poor is a "defining challenge of our time."  Some of the wealth gap’s earliest champions - a group of bearded and tattooed protesters who called themselves Occupiers - made the problem famous in 2011 when they took up residence in a small granite plaza near the New York Stock Exchange. Two and a half years later, long after Occupy Wall Street fizzled out, income inequality is finally being taken seriously by world leaders.   (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci)

ISTOOK: Bureaucracy doesn’t just hurt — it kills

Government death panels weren't invented by Obamacare. By hiding a list of 1,600 veterans waiting to see doctors in Phoenix, the Department of Veterans Affairs is accused of 40 deaths of those who died for lack of care. Keeping them off the official list concealed the backlog and made VA bureaucrats look better and qualify for bonuses.

April 30, 2014
White House press secretary Jay Carney gestures as he speaks during the daily news briefing at the White House in Washington, Tuesday, April 15, 2014. Carney discussed the Ukraine and that the media will not have access to President Barack Obama's meeting with senior advisors where he will also observe a moment of silence to mark the one-year anniversary of the Boston Marathon bombing, and other topics. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

ISTOOK: Obama’s sleight of hand hides hidden government’s work

Call it distraction. Illusion. Or just cry out, "Squirrel!" While an army of reporters flocks to the White House Press Room to hear Jay Carney's insults and misdirections, an army of bureaucrats are doing the real work of Barack Obama's presidency, laboring in obscurity.

April 23, 2014
First lady Michelle Obama talks to the kids after they exercised and danced with the Super Sprowtz during a visit to La Petite Academy in Bowie, Md., Thursday, Feb. 27, 2014, to promote healthy environments and encouraging healthy habits at preschools as part of her Let's Move! Child Care program. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

First lady kidnaps the Easter bunny

The White House Easter Egg Roll isn't just about fun. It's also about the re-education of America, courtesy of our self-proclaimed Mom-in-Chief, first lady Michelle Obama.

April 10, 2014
President Barack Obama, accompanied by Vice President Joe Biden speaks about the Affordable Care Act, on Tuesday. Columnist Ernest Istook says,  within the Affordable Care Act, President Obama finds plenty of maneuvering room and room for abuse — and therein lies the terrible beauty of Obamacare. (Associated Press).

ISTOOK: Obamacare’s bureaucracy a breeding ground for corruption

Among those 11.5-million-plus words, President Obama finds plenty of maneuvering room and room for abuse — and therein lies the terrible beauty of Obamacare. Because it depends not on law but on bureaucracy, Obamacare adapts faster than it can be contained by legal or other constraints.

April 3, 2014
US Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor smiles as she speaks at Yale University, Monday, Feb. 3, 2014, in New Haven, Conn. Sotomayor, who grew up poor in the Bronx, described how she navigated new worlds making into Ivy League universities and then onto the nation’s highest court.  (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)

ISTOOK: Obamacare: One small step against diversity?

Why doesn’t government dictate just one style of everything and “simplify” the rest of our lives like it does with health care? If Obamacare is supposed to save us from substandard insurance, shouldn’t Obamacars save us from substandard automobiles? And Obamacurs would make sure we have the best breed of dog.

March 26, 2014