Jennifer Harper
Articles by Jennifer Harper
Inside the Beltway: Hail to the shoes
Fifteen senators have a message for President Obama: The Defense Department spends $150 million a year on athletic shoes for our armed forces. Please makes sure that footwear is made in America, huh? Published April 23, 2013
The Washington Times garners 14 Virginia press awards
The Washington Times took home 14 awards from the Virginia Press Association in reporting, photography, illustration and multimedia categories, including a best-in-show recognition for investigative reporting on the hiring practices of the District of Columbia government. Published April 22, 2013
Inside the Beltway: Network silence
During the week that found America coping with the Boston Marathon terrorist attack and a deadly factory explosion, the broadcast networks remained in biased business-as-usual mode. Published April 22, 2013
Inside the Beltway: W = Green
Behold, some Earth Day news of a different sort. Recall that while in office, President George W. Bush relished his time outdoors in the Lone Star State, and he drew much derision from the liberal press for his habit of clearing out brush on his ranch, by hand, the old-fashioned way. Mr. Bush's basic penchant for earthy fare is still active. Very active, in fact. Published April 21, 2013
Inside the Beltway: Incubating immigration
It's one big baby: 844 pages of immigration reform legislation is now incubating on Capitol Hill, tended by Sen. Marco Rubio and seven other nervous parents. The so-called Gang of Eight senators who wrote the bill is assuring press, public, advocates and each other that they won't rush the bill along without fair hearings, or shroud it in mystery. Critics, though, aren't buying it. Published April 18, 2013
Inside the Beltway: Stalwart Americans
"As a result of the Boston Marathon bombings, will you change the way you lead your everyday life?" asks a Fox News poll. The answer: 81 percent said "no." Published April 17, 2013
Inside the Beltway: Please hurry up, GOP
The persistent, noisy refrain that the Republican Party is "out of touch" with mainstream America continues. The phrase and its many variants have been repeated in public opinion polls and throughout the liberal media from the moment Mitt Romney solemnly waved goodbye from the presidential campaign trail. The Grand Old Party has taken the insults, but gotten the message. Published April 16, 2013
Inside the Beltway: The state of diplomacy
With much ado and lots of press, Dennis Rodman recently journeyed to North Korea and spent time with the nation's saber-rattling dictator Kim Jong-un. Published April 15, 2013
Inside the Beltway: The 9 percent
The press has amplified 1 percent, 99 percent and 47 percent in recent days as a succinct measure of political culture and public opinion. Here is a fourth measurement to add to the collection: 9 percent. That is the number of Republicans who approve of Congress, this according to Gallup. Things are pretty tepid elsewhere: 15 percent of Americans overall and 17 percent of Democrats give the lawmakers a thumbs-up. Published April 14, 2013
Inside the Beltway: What about Benghazi?
"The American people continue to demand truth and accountability for this tragedy. To date, sadly, they have received neither," says a group of 24 conservative heavyweights in an open letter to Congress, urging members to support House Resolution 36, which would create a select committee to investigate the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya. Published April 11, 2013
Inside the Beltway: Faith is found
Army Lt. Col. Don Carlos Faith Jr. will be buried with full military honors in Arlington National Cemetery 62 years after he was killed on a North Korean battlefield. Published April 10, 2013
Inside the Beltway: Reagan wins — again
America still loves the 1980s and Ronald Reagan, say producers of an upcoming National Geographic Channel miniseries on the decade. And Americans would still vote for Reagan. Published April 9, 2013
Inside the Beltway: A tale of two Thatchers
There were some distinct shortcomings in press coverage marking the death of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. "This was a women who changed the world. And here we get journalists who are talking about her purse, her hairstyle or whether she flirted with Ronald Reagan. This treatment really is noting more than lazy shorthand, if not a complete intellectual deficit," historian and Reagan biographer Craig Shirley tells Inside the Beltway. Published April 8, 2013
Marines welcome new mascot: Pfc. Chesty XIV will carry on a proud tradition
He wears his uniform beautifully, and he's got undeniable charisma. That would be Pfc. Chesty XIV, a young English bulldog who made his first official appearance as a U.S. Marine when he received his eagle, globe and anchor emblems in a ceremony Monday at Marine Barracks in Southeast Washington. Published April 8, 2013
Inside the Beltway: The first volley
"America: Taking it back starts now" heralds the newly reinvented National Republican Congressional Committee website, which jolted to life Saturday and is an aggressive poke at a bullying Democratic presence that now commands much voter attention online. Published April 7, 2013
Inside the Beltway: GOP not going to pot
The old hippies would be pleased. A new Pew Research Center survey heralds this headline: "For the first time in more than four decades of polling on the issue, a majority of Americans favor legalizing the use of marijuana. A new national survey finds that 52 percent say that the use of marijuana should be made legal." And as the old hippies would say, "groovy." Published April 4, 2013
Inside the Beltway: The Climatenator
Celebrity climate alarmist Al Gore has some competition. Arnold Schwarzenegger has joined the ranks of high-profile folks eager to warn the world about global warming. Published April 3, 2013
AP banishes ‘illegal immigrant’
"It's 'illegal immigrant' no more" says The Associated Press, which banished the phrase from its usage guide on Tuesday — the latest stylistic edict for journalists who have juggled such terms as "undocumented worker" or "illegal alien," its politically incorrect variant. Published April 2, 2013
Inside the Beltway: Aiming at the NRA
There already is swift, emotionally charged reaction to a National Rifle Association school-security report that recommends at least one armed guard in every school in the nation. Vilification is afoot. Published April 2, 2013
Inside the Beltway: Inflexible spendthrifts
"As Republican leaders openly scrutinize their party after a 2012 election that was disappointing for them, rank-and-file Republicans, independents and Democrats voice the same primary criticism of the GOP: it is 'too inflexible' or 'unwilling to compromise,'" says Gallup analyst Lydia Saad. Published April 1, 2013
