The NFL shows contempt for fans

It's bad enough that the NFL is showing the Bengals/Ravens game exclusively on the NFL network that is not available to the majority of football fans, but the NFL has blocked the game in Ohio except for Cincinnati itself. I can't watch the game on my TV in Dayton, Oh.

The NFL is trying to build it's own network at the expense of the fans. The NFL is loosing ad revenue, and I hope Time-Warner never carries the NFL network, so that they are never rewarded for screwing the fans.

I won't watch any football the rest of the week, and I hope every football fan who is excluded from this game boycotts as well. Vote with your dollars, and vote against the NFL's exclusion of the fans.

World wide foreign policy and Iraq

The more power we've given the Iraqis, the more violence has increased. Bush wants to turn over security to a government whose members are heading militias. That's a recipe for civil war.

I don't know what tools Bush is talking about providing Iraq, but I hope it isn't weapons. Given Bush's current path, those weapons will just end up in terrorists hands.

ETA: It turns out that Maliki means weapons. Helicopters and other weapons for fighting insurgents. From everything we've seen, militias will get their hands on those weapons shortly after we provide them.

Bush continues to surrender America's power and initiative around the world:

• Bush asks China for help with North Korea instead of holding China responsible for providing North Korea everything they need to build a bomb.
• Bush wears wizard costumes with Putin while Putin tries to overthrow the pro-American government in Georgia and sells missiles to Iran.
• Syria assassinates Lebanese ministers and Iran continues to work towards the bomb, and Bush allows Iraq to tell us to leave faster while Iraq talks to Iran and Syria.

Bush's anemic foreign policy is making our enemies bold and ever stronger. Trade is our biggest foreign policy lever, but we trade freely with enemies to the point that nobody needs to be our ally.

Bush needs to get tough will all these bad actors. China should pay a price for its support of North Korea and Iran. Russia should pay a price for the same and more. That's the only way to influence North Korea and Iran and stop Russia's attempts to recreate the iron curtain.

Confronting those two nations will limit their power and subsequently weaken Iran, Syria, Hezbollah, and the Mahdi army.

We should also adopt a new policy in Iraq - kill all the bad guys. Kill all the bad guys whether they are on the street or in the government. If we take the lead, the Iraqi government will follow and purge itself of the militias.

Free kibbles

Iraq Study Group to press for retreat and diplomacy with Iran and Syria. I wonder if they also suggest we go ahead and give Iran the bomb today and kill all the Lebanese ministers for Syria. Data on troop movements in Iraq leaked to the Internet. Powell says Iraq is in a civil war.

Pope has mass with Orthodox Christian counterpart. The Pope also visited a mosque - only the second Pope in history to do so. It's amazing that religious wars and rifts from thousands of years ago still greatly influence modern life.

More planes and British locales tested for radiation. 33,000 British Airways passengers alerted to radiation scare.

Democrats break promise to implement all of 9/11 commissions suggestions. They've lost their moral high ground on this issue, and changing Congress is probably the most important change needed.

Wal-Mart expected to announce fall in sales for first time.

The culture war over the male pill begins.

Britons turn on broadband. I certainly spend more time on the computer and less watching TV.

Apocalypto has unusual marketing campaign.

Stephen Hawking says man must colonize other planets.

Victor Davis Hanson describes how oil drives violence and totalitarianism. He's on the verge of making the case for a Cold War of Terror, but he hasn't gotten quite that far.

Pierre Atlas says the U.S. should stop treating Middle East conflicts as separate events, and he proposes President Bush call a Middle East summit. This is an excellent way to for the U.S. to regain the initiative in the region.

Mark Davis points out how slander is used to attack citizens who want to defend our borders.

Chirac takes one last stab at the back of the U.S, promoting Russia in its totalitarian ambitions.

More from Boortz about the tragedy of the war on drugs and no-knock warrants.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has written a position paper for the Democrats. I wonder what the Iranian hostages think about the friendly nation of Iran.

The disturbing irony of the illegal immigration problem is that so many great immigrants come to the U.S. legally, integrate, but are screwed by the U.S. bureaucracy. For some of these people, the results are torn families, yet our politicians welcome the gate-crashers, while making life as hard as possible for those who come legally and join American society.

Senator Tom Coburn is waging a one-man war against pork.

Cops who shoot too much.

A case for real reform

Mr. Williams underestimates the untapped, libertarian mainstream of America. Thomas Jefferson could be elected today, if he managed to hijack the big-government Republican party like Ronald Reagan did. Reagan and Newt proved that the people want small government reform and more freedom, but people will have to get used to government reform before we can make reform the natural state of politics.

If a real small-government, pro-freedom reformist ever tried to run, he would be elected, and if his agenda was blocked, those blocking it would be voted out as well. The Republicans squandered their shot, but mainstream America still yearns for freedom. The key to significant, sustained government reform is managing it. We have to start with a big idea that provides instant benefits to all Americans. But reformers can't stop with one reform; they have to continue the reforms like an avalanche.

The FairTax is perfect as the first reform. It would ignite the economy overnight because U.S. products would become competitive on the world market and at home. IRS workers, tax attorneys, and tax accountants would be freed up to perform wealth generation instead of services. Companies and jobs would return to America and create a period of economic growth we haven't seen in generations.

Arresting the employers of illegals would also yield near instantaneous benefits as illegal aliens packed up and went home. Those jobs would open up for Americans, the income would stay in America, and if done in concert with lowering the minimum wage, more teens and unskilled workers could get jobs. Helping teens and unskilled workers get a foot in the economic door would benefit the country almost immediately as well with a boost to the economy and a drop in crime. Some illegals would turn to crime, but we would arrest, convict, and deport them.

It's too bad that legalizing and controlling drugs would meet so much resistance at first, because the benefits of that would be nearly immediate as well. Letting drug users out of prison would make the economy soar as these workers reentered the market and prison costs went down. Without their war on drug income, the Mexican cartels would be unable to control our border, the Taliban would be forced to throw rocks at NATO troops, and U.S. crime rates would plummet overnight as funding for drug gangs including MS-13 dried up. Drug addicts would get help instead of prison, the cost of the war on drugs would disappear, and the U.S. would have new cash crops.

Balancing the budget with across the board budget cuts would boost the U.S. economy as well. The debt would no longer put pressure on interest rates. We also would be freed to strategically deal with China since we would no long be dependent on China to buy our debt to keep the American government running.

Repealing the McCain/Feingold abomination would be a breeze, and could be done nearly immediately. Removing bureaucratic obstacles to the free market could begin one obstacle at a time.

After experiencing all the benefits from these reforms, Americans would be ready to abolish the Department of Education so our kids would be freed to get a good education, abolish the entitlements even though young workers would have to eat the cost of paying for older Americans - that price will eventually have to be paid thanks to our political ancestors, and completely remove government from the health care business.

Americans would demand complete overhaul of federal interference in the free market. Americans would be ready to abolish the DEA and ATF as they would have no reason to exist. (Why does the ATF, a prohibition era agency, still exist anyway? Alcohol, tobacco, and firearms are legal.) RICO would be repealed.

The key to reforming government is managing it. Tiny reforms that are hard to notice won't transform the outlook of the public. We need to start with a big reform with big benefits, like the FairTax to move the entire nation to a position where reform is the only politically viable option, and we debate what reforms to implement first, and how much to shrink government with each reform. For this we need a modern Thomas Jefferson who is willing to start the reforms and transform the political landscape so that reform becomes the norm.

Free kibbles

U.S. dollar near 15 year low. Judge rules U.S. currency violates rights of the blind, the same as cars and bicycles. I guess we'll have to change everything for the blind.

Bush administration has little confidence in Maliki. Maliki has been protecting the Shiite militias, so it's no wonder. We should focus on security, and let the government follow or fall. The press acts as though the government is a solution to the violence, but the Iraqi government is in fact the enablers of the violence. al Sadr's Mahdi army, which has 30 representatives in the Iraqi parliament, has been trained by Hezbollah. I wonder who leaked this secret memo to the New York Times.

Michelle Malkin says the press routinely prints false, negative stories from Iraq.

European countries reluctantly agree to more forces for Afghanistan.

Bush plans to expand the Visa-waiver program that was exploited by the so-called 20th hijacker.

Sharia law is spreading in Great Britain.

Chuck Shumer says Reaganism is dead. It certainly is dead in Washington where Republicans abandoned it, along with the American people.

Dick Morris said that Democrats won't be able to pass any legislation. He has more confidence in Senate Republicans than I do.

Huckabee rightly calls out McCain.

Linda Harvey lampoons hate crimes.

Mystery illness hits former Russian Prime Minister. Kremlin blames billionaire for poisoning ex-spy. Polonium-210 available mail order.

Cooler temperatures and a significantly lower than expected hurricane season hasn't limited global warming hysteria.

U.S. bans sale of Ipods and plasma TVs to North Korea. That should make them get rid of their nukes. This is what passes for tough foreign policy in the Bush administration.

San Diego bans Wal-Mart Supercenters. I guess the city council wants it's citizens to pay more for goods.

Walter Williams points out how government takes from some to give to others - something anybody else would be arrested for.

Successful anti-incumbent movement in Pennsylvania.

Jacob Sullum says anti-crime zones hurt citizens instead of helping them.

Scientists say meteor impact killed dinosaurs, again.

Free trade is an easy scapegoat. American products are penalized by the income tax, while countries with a VAT tax have no penalty. But instead of addressing this fundamental problem, Americans want to erect trade barriers. The best solution is the simplest solution, as usual. Adopt the FairTax. Trade should be used as a strategic lever against our enemies like China and Russia, but protectionism is bad for everybody.

More information on the Antikythera Mechanism.

Free kibbles

Turkey faces unique pressures as a secular Muslim country. The Pope has reversed his position and now backs Turkey's entry into the E.U.

Bush states Iraq is not in civil war. Iran says it will work with Iraq to stop the violence. Yeah, right. Iran also says U.S. troops must leave Iraq. I wonder why.

The story about six Iraqi's being burned alive appears to be a terrorist fake.

Iran to host Holocaust "conference." That ought to help heal the problems between Jews and Muslims.

Christopher Hitchens says if we can't stand up for Lebanon, we've already surrendered.

Andrew Bacevich says the Iraq Study Group's agenda is really just damage control.

This article explains how the 6 Minneapolis imams intentionally created problems before being removed from their flight. This is intended either to aggravate Islamic-phobia in the U.S. or to set up a lawsuit, or both. Ann Coulter has a strong opinion.

Gingrich says America may have to change free speech laws to combat terrorism. We have already established that inciting people to violence is not protected speech, so why do we need to change that?

Tancredo calls Miami a third world country. Joe Biden blames Mexico for illegal immigration, and recognizes the link between illegal immigration and [the war on] illegal drugs.

Is anybody surprised that Democrats want to keep the pork? Both parties love the pork.

The Club for Growth is fighting Republicans for small government.

The home flip phenomenon has busted. The unhealthy economy may have topped out. Our Federal debt continues to drive down the dollar.

Radioactive trail continues in Britain. Pat Buchanan thinks Putin is being framed.

The FCC is a prime example of a government bureaucracy's negative effects far overwhelming its positive.

Argentinian Embassy denies asking Bush's daughters to leave.

Chicago nixes "Nativity Story."

AIDS to become third leading cause of death worldwide. What part of use a condom don't people understand? I wonder if the Pope ever masturbated since he apparently still thinks every sperm is sacred.

Did we really need a scientific study to show that women talk three times as much as men, and that women use more brainpower for communication?

Boortz highlights another tragic victim of the war on drugs. The war on drugs also enriches the Mexican cartels who control our southern border and the Taliban fighting us in Afghanistan. Our war on drugs is making our enemies rich and powerful while costing us blood, imprisonment, and treasure.

Thomas Sowell explodes the liberal myth that liberals are more compassionate. I think most Americans already know better. Liberals outsource charity to the government - that's just passing the buck, making government bigger, and taking freedom and power from Americans, not compassion.

Free kibbles

Three more people tested for radiation poisoning after Russian ex-spy dies. U.K asks Russia for help in the investigation. How much Russia helps and where it hinders the investigation will be very telling.

Putin is trying to overthrow the pro-American government of Georgia. Our blindness to China's and Russia's new Cold War of Terror makes us impotent against it.

Panel on Iraq to recommend diplomatic push including talking to Iran and Syria. If Bush isn't already discussing Iraq with Iraq's neighbors, we should fire him for incompetence. We already talk to Iran and Syria through intermediaries, and capitulating on direct talks with Iran and Syria will only strengthen those countries in the region. We should shut down immigration between Iraq and both Iran and Syria and destroy terrorist staging areas in both countries - like we should have done from the moment we invaded Iraq.

Britain considers pulling out of Iraq. Iraqi President meets with Iranian President, but Syrian President does not join meeting. Are Syria and Iran having a falling out we can exploit?

In a fit of sensationalism, NBC news labels Iraq a civil war. Maybe they think that by saying it, they can defeat us in Iraq the way Cronkite defeated us by saying we had lost in Vietnam during the Tet offensive, a battle which we won and from which North Vietnam never recovered. This is another example of how liberals are trying to defeat us in Iraq in order to saddle Bush with a defeat like LBJ's Vietnam in a misguided attempt to purge themselves of their culpability for defeating us in Vietnam.

Fareed Zakaria describes the problem in Iraq - the militias are part of the government. But he falls for the failed Vietnam approach next. America should go after the militias whether they are in the government or not. Security should be the top priority in Iraq. As long as we put the Iraqi government above security, Iraq will have neither a government nor security.

Turkey prepares for Papal visit. They better prepare well. Europe is a powder keg right now, and a successful attack on the Pope would be a huge spark. The visit will also weigh heavily on Turkey's bid to join the EU.

British develop a male pill that can be taken hours before sex. The convenience of this, and the male responsibility, will have great, unforeseen social impact. Did we really need a study to tell us most parents don't know if their kids are sexually active?

Boortz informs about Bush's new family planning czar. Wacko pandering. Wow.

An Oklahoma professor is pushing for non-citizens to be allowed to vote. Boortz points out this has been the Democrats' plan all along.

Mike Adams knows how to use firearms.

Everybody's in an uproar about Michael Vick giving the finger to the fans. I can forgive an athlete for giving into emotion in the heat of the battle far easier than I can forgive the Giant's defensive end for letting Vince Young go.

Sacrificial Lion

by Mark Luedtke

http://www.daytoncitypaper.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=3147

The greatest failure of Iraq is a failure of imagination. Despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, Americans and politicians often consider the U.S. government omnipotent, and they think any problem can be solved by government. This failure of imagination, to grasp both the simple truths and the enormity of problems, warps our understanding of the situation in Iraq.

Imagine every government employee in Ohio, including the police, was fired and made a wanted criminal all on the same day. Imagine every military unit in Ohio was disbanded and sent home on that same day. Imagine there was no Ohio economy, unreliable electricity, water, sewage, and communications.

Imagine further that Ohio had no democratic tradition, no Constitution, no higher government, was populated by three tribes that have been in civil war for centuries, had spent the last 25 years enslaved by an evil tyrant, was surrounded by rich, tyrannical enemies subverting all progress, and filled with terrorists, armed militias and a foreign army, all struggling for control. Now imagine Iraq.

Everybody failed to imagine the difficulty of establishing a functional democracy in Iraq, most notably President Bush, but America made Donald Rumsfeld the scapegoat. Rumsfeld carried out Bush's directions on Iraq, and firing him for his service the morning after the election was an act of cowardice. By all accounts Don Rumsfeld worked tirelessly to improve the security of all Americans, and suffered nothing but slings and arrows for his trouble.

Rumsfeld was strong willed and abrasive. If press conferences could ever be called entertaining, Rumsfeld's were. He fought to transform the largest bureaucracy in the country, entrenched with 40 years of Cold War mentality, into a force to fight 21^st century wars. After 9/11 he oversaw the historically successful overthrow of the Taliban in Afghanistan and Saddam Hussein in Iraq. But because of the political focus on rebuilding Iraq, it's unlikely Robert Gates will follow up on Rumsfeld's reforms.

If President Bush continues to listen to his commanders, it's unlikely Gates will change much in Iraq either. In congressional hearings after Rumsfeld's resignation, General Abizaid, commander of the Middle East theater, stated that pulling out of Iraq would be a disaster. Abizaid said we need neither more nor fewer troops. The recommendations of the military, which have been followed by Rumsfeld and Bush all along, have not changed since Rumsfeld resigned.

Abizaid also said, "When I come to Washington, I feel despair. When I'm in Iraq with my commanders, when I talk to our soldiers, when I talk to the Iraqi leadership, they are not despairing." The perception of the situation in America, driven by the media's focus on body count and Democrats' attempts to hang Iraq around Bush's neck like LBJ's Vietnam, is very different than the perception in Iraq. For that Bush threw Rumsfeld under the bus. Al Qaeda is overjoyed.

No one person is responsible for Iraq because no one person has been in charge. From Tommy Franks' plan to use the Iraqi army for labor and security, to Jay Garner's plans to start a government after no humanitarian crisis arose, to Paul Bremer's orders to criminalize all the Baathist government officials and disband the army; personalities and plans have been fluid. Circumstances, egos, inter-agency turf wars, and a failure of leadership by the President conspired against any coherent plan of action.

Bremer's decision to disband the Iraqi army required U.S. troops to provide security and transformed them from liberators into occupiers. Saddam had used the army to terrorize his own people, and the troops themselves were conscripts forced at gunpoint to serve, so Bremer decided it was best to rebuild the Iraqi military from scratch. Franks had planned to bring his liberators home in months, but as a consequence of Bremer's decision, American troops have occupied Iraq for years. Which plan was better?

Lost from our American-centric viewpoint is that Iraqis are actually responsible for their own country, and their leaders have so far failed to make democracy work. Millions of Iraqis voted for a democratic Iraq, but the majority Shiite leaders seem more interested in domination than compromise and sharing power. The government factions have still failed to negotiate a revenue sharing plan for Iraq's oil money.

Prime Minister Maliki's government also protects Shiite militias. Maliki recently released a captured leader of a Mahdi death squad, and he stopped security operations in Sadr city, home of the Mahdi Army. Stopping coalition forces from destroying the militias removes any incentive the militias have to join the political process.

Gates' plans call for additional U.S. troops in Baghdad, but if they're not allowed to destroy the militias, they'll just provide more targets for the enemy. The U.S. will also make another push for reconciliation and more funds for training Iraqi security forces, but the reality is that those security forces are loyal to mosques and warlords, not the nation of Iraq.

Where Colin Powell failed, Gates will try to re-engage regional allies like Kuwait and Saudi Arabia to help in Iraq. The one change that would most likely produce results, allowing U.S. troops to kill the enemy instead of being restricted from engaging them, is unlikely to occur.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-04-30-powell-iraq_x.htm

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A7053-2004Oct4.html

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/yeariniraq/interviews/

http://www.military.com/NewsContent/0,13319,118647,00.html?wh=news

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,228438,00.html

http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/1114/p01s03-usfp.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,1948748,00.html

http://www.townhall.com/columnists/DavidLimbaugh/2006/11/17/bipartisan_senatorial_grandstanding

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2006/11/can_the_iraqis_keep_their_repu.html

Working together or consolidating power?

Democrats and Republicans want to work together. No controversy, all moderation. This is because both sides like power.

Voters sent Washington the unambiguous message that Americans are sick of big government, lack of freedom, and all the associated corruption. Republicans were spanked for abandoning their small government principles and acting like Democrats, yet Trent Lott claims just the opposite, that Republicans should be more liberal and work with Democrats.

Whatever you want to say about Washington politicians, they aren't dumb. They know damn good and well that Americans voted against big government, but the politicians don't like that message. Bigger government means more power for our representatives, whether in the majority or minority, and that's what matters in Washington. So Republicans elect the same anti-American leaders and Trent Lott claims a different message.

Republicans could easily recapture the majority in Congress and recapture the Whitehouse if they would adopt the small government platform they pretended to support for the last century, but they won't. They won't because adopting a small government platform threatens the two party - accomplice press hegemony on power. That platform was forced on Republicans by Ronald Reagan and Newt Gingrich, and Republicans won't risk the two party hegemony by adopting it again.

This election scared both Democrats and Republicans because libertarians came out in record numbers and slapped the Republicans for betraying them. If libertarians continue to vote in large numbers, they could break the two party system. Both parties are scared of the libertarian mainstream of America that could bounce them from power, so Republicans are content to stay a minority party to secure the two party system. Better to have almost half a pie than no pie at all.

To that end Republican and Democrat leaders will play as nice as they can, pass each other's anti-American legislation like amnesty for illegal aliens, increasing the minimum wage, increasing government destruction of health care, and increasing government destruction of schools. They'll also pass more voting restrictions to silence third parties, but the accomplice press won't make a peep about that.

The liberal accomplice press will coo and complement the Democrats, hide their corruption, and blame Bush for anything unpopular. The Republican accomplice press will demonize Democrats, blame them and Bush for anything unpopular (Bush is a lame duck, and he's being blamed for Republican losses), and lionize Republican congressmen despite their continuing corruption, pork barrel spending, and movement to work with Democrats on even bigger government.

The two parties will play to the tiny middle they both overlap in order to quietly turn off the libertarian mainstream so they don't vote in 2008. Both Republicans and Democrats will work to exclude everybody but the 40% of the potential voters who are locked into the two party system.

Free kibbles

The role of militias and politics in Iraq. The reason we need to kill al Sadr and destroy the Mahdi army, "They can stir up trouble without much fear of retribution." Cheney visits Saudis ask for help. Ransom is a major source of funding for Iraqi insurgents. Apparently the French and Italians are willing to negotiate with and pay money to terrorists. Bush is making a new diplomatic push. If this is really new, Bush should be fired.

Senator Hagel is trying to turn Iraq into George Bush's personal Vietnam. Robert Kagan and William Kristol say that what currently passes for "realism" is really "surrender."

Israel and Palestinians agree to cease-fire, but rockets still fall on Israel.

Japan plans to build the world's tallest tower. One of the surest signs of U.S. decline is our lack of will to build great structures. We don't even have the will to rebuild the twin towers.

U.S. border agent caught trying to drive ammunition into Mexico.

Smuggling radioactive materials including polonium 210 is common in Russia. Investigators consider ex-spy may have killed himself. I seriously doubt he committed suicide in this horrible fashion.

British police plan to put microphones on the street. Mind reading devices soon to follow.

Mark Steyn gives an entertaining description of how demographics influences the future.

Ralph Peters says don't believe the demographics argument for Eurasia. He says Europe will revert to it's long history of ethnic cleansing soon.

Shikha Dalmia reads the election results wrong on illegal immigration. Voters weren't fooled by so-called Republican hawks on illegal immigration who were in fact nothing but hypocrits on the issue. Republican malfeasance led to the current crisis, and the unfunded partial fence was the cherry on the hypocrisy sundae. Many of the candidates who defeated these so-called hawks also took strong stances against illegal immigration. When voting on the issue directly, voters, including latinos, made it clear that they won't stand for the southern invasion continuing.

Hispanic immigrant demographics are destabilizing the U.S. too. "Not only has illegitimacy become perfectly acceptable, [...] but so has the resort to welfare and social services to cope with it." Democrats love having more welfare recipients. The more people dependant on the government, the better for Democrats. Illegal immigrants' 3rd world economics and 3rd world values are turning America into a 3rd world country.

Bush's pie in the sky ideology thinks we can "fix" these illegal immigrants like we can "fix" Iraq. Bush thinks government is omnipotent, and differences between peoples are problems for his government to fix. He's wrong. There is no fixing; they're just different, and it's those differences that make their countries third world countries. Illegal immigrants belong in their home country. How hard is that to figure out?

We welcome legal immigrants, immigrants who respect America and want to be part of America. We should crack down on employers of illegal immigrants, provide gate-crashers no benefits, then most will go home where they belong. We should arrest, convict and deport those who stay as we catch them, insuring they can never return. Once that policy is in place, illegal immigrants will race home to apply to come here legally, and very few will try to come here or stay here illegally.

Supreme Court to hear case related to global warming. States and environmental groups are suing to usurp the President's power to run the country. Imagine if every policy debate was decided by courts. The court has no business in this case.

McDonalds has applied for a patent on the sandwich. Really.

Free kibbles

The dollar continues to fall. China may stop buying U.S. debt.

British Airways reverses decision and allows cross jewelry.

More sushi bar costumers checked for radiation.

Why are U.S. forces restricted by Iraq's political leaders? Bush has given away control of our own military to the detriment of both U.S. and Iraqi goals. We need to destroy those militias before the violence explodes in a full blown civil war.

Nick Gillespie points out it's "buy nothing day" everyday in North Korea.

Jacob Weisberg says the Conservative Era is over, but in fact the conservative agenda was re-affirmed in 2006, and Republicans were repudiated for abandoning it. What mainstream America is searching for is a libertarian era, but we can't get the two parties to support the mainstream, and we can't break the two party system anytime soon.

Ian Bremmer describes the continuing appeal of authoritarianism world-wide. The two parties tap into this appeal in the U.S. as well. It may seem weird, but in the U.S. greater freedom and smaller government would mean greater security. The nanny-state that the two parties have built over the last century is too large and has too much responsibilty to be able to provide good security.

Stephen Chen is designing a supercomputer grid for China.

Free kibbles

Palestinians used a grandmother as a suicide bomber in Gaza. Her family is proud. I guess using teenagers has become passe. Only moderate Muslims can stop this insane ideology.

Record violence in Iraq continues. al Sadr threatens to pull out of Iraq government if Prime Minister Maliki meets with President Bush. This after his followers burned 6 Sunni's alive. This is what we get for letting al Sadr off the hook over and over. We have to take out al Sadr, the Mahdi army, and every other militia, insurgent, and terrorist in Iraq. If the government falls because of it, so be it. We have to kill the killers to stop the violence, then a government can take over and be effective.

China is selling AWACS to Pakistan. Russia is selling air defense systems to Iran. Russia is sending a nuclear envoy to Iran after the U.N. turned down Iran's request for help with a new nuclear reactor. China and Russia are playing us for fools and using proxy enemies to weaken us, but America continues to treat both countries as allies. Who sold AWACS to China in the first place?

The poisoned Russian ex-spy released a statement before he died. He was killed by radioactive poison.

Democrats are demanding more classified documents so they can send them to the New York Times for publication.

The cost in blood, treasure, and freedom, of the war on drugs is devastating. We should end this modern prohibition, disarm our enemies, and stop the bleeding.

Nina Easton says Newt Gingrich is running a stealth campaign for President. Newt's response.

Scientists think they have figured out the ancient Antikythera Mechanism.

Larry Coker was fired as Miami's football coach.

I bought gas at $2.04 right around the election. The lowest price I could find today was $2.23. Big Oil sucked supply out of the market this summer, which drove up prices, and after the summer they added that inventory back to the supply to drive down prices before the election. They purposely manipulated the market, and they used hedging against a hurricane as an excuse, but they obviously intended to make gas as cheap as they could on election day. Now that the inventory is gone, gas prices will track oil prices as they should.

Free kibbles

T.J. Laser impersonator arrested on German autobahn.

Astronaut mishits golf shot. Probably not as bad as I mishit my last tee shot.

White only scholarship stirs up hornet's nest. What a surprise.

Iran's soccer team is suspended for government interference. Not interference in Iraq and Lebanon, but interference with the soccer team.

Scientists amazed to discover new differences between human genomes. When will scientists discover they don't know nearly as much as they think they do?

William F. Buckley takes on the minimum wage that keeps American teenagers unemployed.

The poisoned Russian spy is near death.

Robert Novak thinks Bush's firing of Rumsfeld is a bad sign for the next two years.

George Will provides perspective on Thanksgiving.

Removing Muslim Passengers

Six imams were removed from a U.S. Airways plane. Witnesses say the imams were praying loudly, cursing the U.S. and praising Saddam, and they refused to sit in their assigned seats. These men were removed for their behavior, not for being Muslim, but CAIR is crying discrimination.

This sounds like it was staged. Muslim men fly every day, and removing them from planes is incredibly rare. These men went out of their way to create a spectacle and scare passengers. They could have prayed quietly. They could have refrained from cursing the U.S. They could have sat in their assigned seats.

One of the goals of the jihadists is to isolate American Muslims, so those Muslims are more accommodating to the jihad movement. Muslims who feel persecuted are more likely to join the jihadists or to become home-grown terrorists. By making a spectacle of themselves, these men helped increase nationwide suspicion of even moderate Muslims. Alarming actions of seemly moderate Muslims multiplies the effectiveness of the jihadist's terrorism. I don't think there's anything innocent about this group of imans.

Free kibbles

My essay about Rumsfeld's firing. I'll post the full text on Monday.

Bush's daughter, Barbara, had her purse stolen in Argentina. She's still hot, though. In a related story, Blaire to send super-nannies to help problem kids.

Snow flakes fell in central Florida. I would make a joke about global warming, but freak storms like this are more likely as the climate heats up.

More on the poisoned ex-KGB agent. A Russian spy is caught in Canada.

Google hits 500. My blog must be responsible. I want my share.

Teen builds fusion experiment. Fortunately, this can't be turned into a bomb.

Nearly 4 out of 10 U.S. babies are born out of wedlock.

The never-ending crisis in Lebanon heats up. Financial Times says it's time for a united America and Europe to confront Iran and Syria. I've never understood the policy of not talking. It seems to me you should talk to your enemies as well as your friends. Until terrorists blow up something like the Eiffel Tower, Europe is going to continue to bury it's head in the sand. Neither the Madrid or London bombings woke them up.

Isreal continues to try to halt rocket attacks from Gaza.

Carlos Alberto Montaner writes that moderate Muslims must overcome the jihadists.

The health care business is fraught with fraud. Like we needed another good reason to keep the government out of the health care business.

NYPD installs watch towers in Harlem. The surveillance society is about to run into privacy advocates. You can't have expectations of privacy in public, but that doesn't mean government or corporations can track your every move.

Police fear lawsuits more than being killed. That's because the danger to police is exaggerated, and the damage police do to everyday citizens is never reported. Thank goodness for camcorders that have forced police to start respecting citizens and the law.

Walter E. Williams shows that we should learn what NOT to do from Europe.

We shouldn't ever get enough of Milton Friedman. While some say his positions defied classification, they sure sound libertarian to me.

Fox News prepares fake news show with a conservative bent. But I thought Jon Stewart was unbiased.

Charles Krauthammer thinks O.J. should have had his interview aired.

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Romney positions himself as the conservative candidate. Election after election shows Americans want government reform and smaller government, but Republicans keep running big-government candidates for President, like Bush, McCain, and Giuliani. Robert Novak reports that a few maverick Senators shut down the government pork factory.

Kofi Annan says America is trapped in Iraq. This guy is finally out of office, but he's still working against America in the news. I bet he goes to work for Iran within a month. Pat Buchanan thinks it's scary that we're looking for a plan in Iraq after nearly 4 years.

Jed Babbin says we should win or go home in Iraq. I agree with that. Endless war with no path to victory is the worst case. But Babbin discounts going after the militias, which is exactly what we should do, Maliki be damned. Our interest in security are the same as the Iraqi people's interest in security. Maliki's interest in the Shiite militias are out of line with the goal of security. Maliki can either get with the program or lose his position.

A cabinet minister in Lebanon is assassinated.

Did CBS just notice that the FCC stifles free speech? That's the reason it exists.

George Bush told us during the campaign that Democrats would raise taxes. That told me that Bush was willing to sign a tax increase instead of vetoing it. Look out if you make over $90,000. That should trash the economy.

Thomas Sowell says that Washington is a meat grinder, and Don Rumsfeld is it's latest victim.

Christopher Hitchens explains how James Baker and Bush the Elder are partially responsible for the current situation in Iraq, and he says Baker is the last person we should ask for advice.

Mike Adams' experience shows the atrocious level of political discourse in America. This hate works to empower the two party system.

Janet Reno challenges terror law. The current law allows anybody, even American citizens, to be labeled enemy combatants, and enemy combatants have no right to trial. This will undoubtedly be used to oppress critics of the two party system.

Cathy Young enters the faith versus reason debate, as if these two approaches to life are incompatible. When asking if religion is good for America, you only need to watch secular Europe's decline and Islam's ascendancy in Europe. Every great civilization in history has had a strong associated religion. Clearly religion provides a competitive advantage to civilizations, and America needs our religion and our Judeo-Christian values, to remain on top.

Big government runs counter to Judeo-Christian values, and it's causing us to decline already - big government undermines the nuclear family (it doesn't take a village, it takes a family) as it usurps the nanny role, and big government has caused the crises in education and health care. Liberals can see the decline of Europe as clearly as anybody. Their push for America to be more like Europe is a push for the decline of America and the free world.

Every American will have to pay a price because three kids died in a bus crash.

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Russia denies poisoning ex-spy.

Christopher Hitchens is disgusted by O.J. Simpson's new book and interview. He'll be happy that Rupert Murdoch has pulled the plug on both.

Michael Fumento describes how we are defeating the insurgents and Al Qaeda in Ramadi. This great article starts with an overview, then provides great detail.

Joel Mowbray points out some positives for the GOP in Ohio.

Michael Barone is looking for new ideas, but he dismisses the idea smaller government.

Barone's complete dismissal of reducing the size of government, the best idea there is regarding government, illustrates exactly why Republicans lost. It would take decades to undo all the damage done to freedom by government since the New Deal, so there will be enough reform ideas for at least that long.

Let's start with holding spending flat for 2 years, abolishing the department of education that has destroyed education in this country, getting the central government out of health care so prices can drop and quality can improve, and we can phase out all the entitlements.

We'll abolish the income tax and all payroll taxes and adopt the FairTax. When people keep 100% of their paychecks, they can afford to pay for their own retirement and health care, which will dramatically lower costs and improve services.

We'll arrest employers of illegal aliens to stem the flood of illegals coming into the country. We can increase the number of legal immigrants for the benefit of the nation.

We can defeat our enemies. That idea seems to have been lost on all politicians in the last 15 years, so it's not new, but it's a good one. I like it way better than fighting with no end in sight. I like it better than catch and release. I like it better than surrounding our enemies, then letting them go so they can kill more Americans another day.

There's a million reformist ideas. Republicans and Barone are just dismissing them, and that's why Republicans got spanked. Republicans need to tap into the great unrepresented libertarian mainstream of America Reagan tapped instead playing tug-of-war over the tiny middle between big-government Democrats and big-government Republicans.

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Victor Davis Hanson provides a troublingly poetic evaluation of the War on Terror. This is a must read.

China and India are cozying up. If China gets trade going with India, we'll lose significant leverage over them. The Pentagon is wargaming for a big war with China 30 years down the road. Why not defeat them now without firing a shot? We can use our trade as a carrot and a stick and force China to stop it's Cold War of Terror and democratize. If we get rid of the income tax and adopt the FairTax, American companies and workers can compete on a level playing field with China and the rest of the world, and unfettered American workers are second to none in the world in productivity.

Iran to host summit with Iraq and Syria. Iran is using the Shiite militias to dominate Iraq, Syria enables al Qaeda and Sunni insurgents, and American troops are forced to sit on their hands and let this happen. If we are to win in Iraq, President Bush must free our troops to kill the bad guys. The Pentagon is entertaining three options for Iraq. None of them are killing all the bad guys, so none of them are likely to work.

Iran continues its progress towards nuclear fuel. The spy game heats up.

Europeans have drank the human-caused global-warming cool-aid.

Wages are up. We get this effect from a minuscule tax reduction. Imagine the growth in wealth for all Americans when we ditch the income tax and adopt the FairTax.

Another entertainer mistakes entertaining for political punditry.

The war on drugs has made drug cartels so rich, they smuggle cocaine in submarines. They are so rich, they control the U.S. - Mexico border, which is major reason we can't stop illegal immigration. The war on drugs imprisons more Americans than any other civilized nation - that's why it's also called the war on Americans. When will we stop this anti-American war that's devastating America and enriching our enemies, including al Qaeda in Afghanistan?

Global orgasm for peace? I'll try it. If it doesn't work the first time, I'll try it again.

Milton Friedman can't debate Charlie Rangle, so Rangle is proposing America institute a draft. Even Democrats won't let that happen.

Putin is allied with China in the Cold War of Terror, supporting North Korea and Iran. Putin is strong arming Europe with his new found oil supplies. Putin is transforming Russia back into a dictatorship. Putin orders the assassination of critics. Bush responds by joining Putin in wizard costumes.

Young people in developed nations are unhappy. Apparently religion is plays a significant role. Religion must be better than opium.

"In diminishing individual liberty, it transforms free-born citizens into nanny-state charges to the point where it imperils the existence of the nation." Thank you Mark Steyn, but Mark is wrong about one point: a small, limited government is not at odds with muscular foreign policy, it enables muscular foreign policy. When the people take care of themselves, government is free to promote American interests around the world. Big government is one of the reasons our foreign policy is so anemic.

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The Buckeyes beat Michigan again.

Kissinger says that a military victory in Iraq is impossible. He knows something about being defeated by the loony anti-war left in wars where American troops are restricted from killing the enemy. Michael Goodwin says we should kill all the bad guys. I like that idea better.

Snapshots of the global War on Terror from Palestinian territories, Lebanon, and Pakistan.

Democrats plan to repeal big oil tax breaks. The right lesson to learn from big oil profits is that U.S. companies not saddled with the atrocious U.S. income tax kick ass in the world market. Instead of repealing those tax breaks, we should repeal the income tax. Support the FairTax.

Republicans plan to attack Pelosi and Hillary to regain control. I guess adopting a small government, pro-freedom platform didn't occur to them. Billary has it's own plan.

The only American candidate for the new 7 wonders of the world is the statue of liberty, which was made in France.

The United States is reduced to "urging" our enemies, China and Russia, to help with North Korea and Iran. Once again we give rewards for bad behavior with no penalties. These two nations are waging a Cold War of Terror against us, and we treat them as well as we treat our closest allies and make them rich. How can we expect to influence the world? The two parties have made us impotent against our enemies.

Russian critic and defector poisoned in London. China curbs crime news. More rewards, please.

Dutch Muslims against burqa ban. The battle between Muslims and unbelievers in Europe is on the rise. I hope traditional Europeans begin fighting it.

More on Milton Friedman's impact on the world.

Brian Doherty points out the role a small number of libertarians played in this election. Imagine if either party tapped into the huge non-voting libertarian mainstream of America.

Ruben Navarrette points out that illegal immigration is a self-inflicted wound. We should arrest Americans hiring illegal aliens. Illegals won't come here if they can't get work or benefits. This isn't hard.

Democrats propose more government interference in what should be a free-market contract between employers and employees. Boortz previously pointed out that some unions have wages tied to the minimum wage, so this minimum wage hike is a gift to big labor. That's the politicians' version of hide the salami.

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France could get even worse...

Boortz points out that the media love comparisons between Vietnam and Iraq. The far more obvious contrasts rarely get mentioned, but Boortz misses the two most important lessons from Vietnam that have been lost on America. First, if we don't kill the enemy, the enemy will capture the loony left peace movement. Second, only the loony left peace movement can defeat America. This concept of politically correct wars is for the birds.

Edwin Feulner says that money didn't buy any love for Republicans. That didn't stop Republicans from re-electing the same old pork addicted leaders in the House and the Senate. Jonah Goldberg points out that the Republicans are living up to their nickname of the stupid party. Maybe all the Republicans will switch parties to regain power since they have Democrats' values.

Islamic fascists are gleeful about the Democrats taking over Congress.

Jeff Taylor thinks we should all enjoy John Edwards' hypocrisy.

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Condoleezza Rice has noticed that China is a threat. This won't stop us from making the Communist Chinese richer and more powerful.

The web is having a significant effect on government, but demanding good government is unfair to politicians. Web rage has real world consequences.

Bo Schembechler died. He was a great football coach. Woody Hayes taught him well. Go Bucs.

More facts frustrate global warming extremists. Despite being aided by incredibly biased reporting, the hate-America crowd will have to find another hysteria-inducing issue to halt our economy.

Bush seems to recognize Democrats' plan for turning Iraq into Bush's Vietnam. But will he finally free the troops to kill the enemy?

Apparently even blond Bonds have more fun.

Israel goes high-tech to fight terrorism.

NASA wants to send an astronaut to deflect a potentially dangerous asteroid. This is a job best left to robots, which could reach the asteroid much sooner and much more cheaply. We could send several robots for the same price as a manned mission.

Conservatives are more generous than liberals. This should surprise nobody.

After being resoundly rejected at the polls, stupid Republicans elect the same leaders. Not to be outdone in the stupid government department, Nancy Pelosi has her own screw ups.

Charles Krauthammer blames the Iraqis for the state of Iraq. What a novel idea.

After Peggy Noonan's insightful commentary on a potential third party, it's sad to see her fall back on the ubiquitous distraction of the political center. The great libertarian mainstream of America goes unrepresented in the two party system, yet the press fawns over the tiny center that vacillates between anti-freedom Republicans and Democrats. If either party truly wants lasting power, forget this tiny center, and stand up for smaller government, tax reform, secure borders, and a muscular foreign policy. The problem is that neither party is willing to empower Americans, so they fight over the much smaller pie of people who want government mommies and daddies. Ronald Reagan is throwing up in his grave.

Border control isn't our right, it's our responsibility. Look what happened to the Indians. For the life of me, I can't understand how any American supports illegal immigration over legal immigration, except employers who are paying inequitable salaries.

Milton Friedman was a man after my own heart.

William Powers thinks he knows why the media love Democrats.