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Joseph Curl

Joseph Curl

jcurl@washingtontimes.com

Joseph Curl covered the White House and politics for a decade for The Washington Times. He can be reached at josephcurl@gmail.com.

Columns by Joseph Curl

Secretary of State John F. Kerry defends the Obama administration's response to Russia's moves on eastern Ukraine during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing. (Associated Press Photographs)

CURL: The next hot spot is the world’s problem, not America’s

The Washington Times headline blared the news: "Senators demand arms for restive Ukraine." Yes, the illustrious U.S. Senate, which for the past decade has overspent on the U.S. budget by trillions and trillions of dollars, thinks it's a very good idea if America wades into a battle with Russia over some former USSR territory.

April 9, 2014
** FILE ** Sen. Harry Reid. (Associated Press)

CURL: Who the hell are the Koch brothers?

Just kidding. I know who the Koch brothers are. They're the billionaire oil magnates who control 4,000 miles of pipeline and whose corporation, Koch Industries, owns dozens of companies like Georgia-Pacific lumber, Stainmaster carpet, Brawny paper towels, Angel Soft toilet paper, even Dixie cups. Net sales: $115 billion. A year.

March 30, 2014
President Barack Obama speaks at the screening of the film 'Cesar Chavez', Wednesday, March 19, 2014, in the Old Executive Office Building on the White House complex in Washington. The movie biopic is directed by Diego Luna about the Mexican-American labor leader Cesar Chavez. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

CURL: Obama, toxic avenger

President Obama is so toxic to Democrats that even his own one-time sycophantic aides are saying, "Who?"

March 19, 2014
President Barack Obama speaks in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Thursday, March 13, 2014, before signing a Presidential Memorandum directing Labor Secretary Tom Perez to modernize overtime protections. Obama is bypassing Congress and orders changes in overtime rules so employers would required to pay millions more for extra time they put in on the job. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

CURL: We overhauled U.S. health care — to insure 4.2 million people?

The number bounced around for years — 46 million. President Obama said it in August 2009: "I don't have to explain to you that nearly 46 million Americans don't have health insurance coverage today. In the wealthiest nation on Earth, 46 million of our fellow citizens have no coverage."

March 16, 2014
Sens. Ted Cruz and Rand Paul share the stage on behalf of  the Republican Party. Both will speak on conservative strengths at an upcoming summit. (Associated Press)

CURL: Today’s GOP really is Reagan’s ‘Big Tent’ party

The mainstream media have a meme they post over and over and over: The Republican Party is in "disarray." Sometimes they say it's "divided." Or there's "discord," or "dissension," or "dysfunction." Other times, the GOP is ripped apart by "disunity" or "disharmony."

March 9, 2014
Willie Robertson from the TV show Duck Dynasty watches from the sideline in the second half of an NCAA college football game  between LSU and Florida in Baton Rouge, La., Saturday, Oct. 12, 2013.  LSU won 17-6. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert) ** FILE **

CURL: God making a comeback in Hollywood

In 2013, we had Leonardo DiCaprio snorting cocaine off — well, if you saw "The Wolf of Wall Street" (a totally missable movie, regardless of what the vaunted Academy says), you know where. Cate Blanchett chomped Xanax like they were Tic Tacs, Matthew McConaughey did his yeoman's share of coke, and "American Hustle" taught us all that drugged-out crime really does pay.

March 2, 2014
House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, Wisconsin Republican, has already ruled out tax increases as negotiators begin their work Wednesday to come up with a new federal budget. There seems to be a willingness among both political parties to revisit the sequester issue. (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

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).

February 23, 2014
President Barack Obama speaks at a distribution center for Safeway stores in Upper Marlboro, Md., Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2014. The president said having a more fuel-efficient truck fleet will boost the economy and help combat climate change. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

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.

February 19, 2014
David Gregory

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.

February 16, 2014
While former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has all but vanished, the press corps is working overtime to rebuild her tarnished reputation. (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

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.

February 12, 2014
President Barack Obama speaks about his ConnetED goal of connecting 99% of students to next generation broadband and wireless technology within five years, Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2014, at Buck Lodge Middle School in Adelphi, Md. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

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.)

February 5, 2014
** FILE ** In this Jan. 14, 2014, file photo, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie delivers his State Of The State address at the Statehouse in Trenton, N.J. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez, File)

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.

February 2, 2014