Free kibbles

Strike against GM. Watching the news today, I saw an expert say that Toyota and Nissan can make cars cheaper because they didn't tie themselves to irresponsible pension plans that drive up future prices. While true, what the expert didn't say, and I've never seen a business analyst on the news explain when discussing Detroit's woes, is that Toyota and Nissan have no tax burden. The VAT tax in Japan reimburses them for all embedded taxes they pay on car parts, and Japan doesn't not impose any income tax on their exports. So Japanese cars sold around the world including in America have no embedded taxes in their cost.

American made cars, on the other hand have 25% inclusive federal tax burden built into them. Our income tax on the car companies and on parts manufacturers and other embedded federal taxes like the gasoline tax combine throughout the entire process of making parts all the way to final assembly and sale increase the price of an American made car by 25% inclusive, which is 33% exclusive.

Our cars carry a 33% price hike compared to Japanese (and every other country's) cars! This is the major reason our auto makers can't compete.

The solution is to adopt the FairTax. The FairTax would abolish all federal taxes and replace them with a 23% embedded tax at the point of sale, but only for domestic sales, and that tax would apply fairly to both American made and foreign made goods and services. So the price of American made cars sold in America would drop by 2% inclusive, and the price of foreign cars would go up 23% inclusive - a level playing field for American workers.

Not only that, but American made cars sold overseas won't have any embedded taxes, just like Japanese (and every other country's) cars sold overseas. American workers and American companies will be able to compete on a level playing field everywhere in the world. And we'll win, because we have the most productive workers in the world, and the most innovative companies in the world.

Face it, right now we compete fairly well with that 25% embedded tax penalty, though we're losing ground. Think how well we'll do when we compete on a level playing field. Adopt the FairTax.

Planes grounded because of an equipment failure in Memphis. The same government that won't bother to maintain our interstate highways and bridges also won't upgrade our air traffic control equipment. Air traffic controllers are using 1960 era equipment, and its failing. This is the same government people want to give every more power and responsibility for our lives. This is the same government people want to surrender our health care to. Can you say catastrophe?

Reaction to Ahmadinejad at Columbia.

Sarkozy makes his strongest, most responsible statement yet about Iran, nuclear proliferation, and appeasement. He just may wake Europe up. We can only hope so, because Europe getting serious about sanctions against Iran is about our only hope of avoiding a military strike against them.

Intellectual descendants of people who thought the world was flat blame humans for global warming. The problem is policymakers are following these people despite the overwhelming evidence that CO2 is insignificant, and other factors, mainly solar output, are driving climate change. Another article suggesting we develop wealth to adapt to climate change. We're making headway. This article is still alarmist, but at least the tenor of the argument is changing.

I doubt the veracity of this report that the M-16 is a sub-par weapon in Iraq. This sounds like a new anti-war propaganda move. The AK is a very reliable weapon, though.

Slate has an opinion on why Ahmadinejad wanted to speak at Columbia, unlike Hitler and Stalin. What's lost in this article is Ahmadinejad is not a dictator. The Mullahs rule Iran, not Ahmadinejad. He's their mouthpiece. He's supposed to suffer the slings and arrows abroad while the Mullahs exert total control over Iran.

Reason asks if conflicts of interest have thoroughly corrupted pharmaceutical research.

Democrats introduce bill to bail out workers and retirees' pensions if their company goes bankrupt. This is nuts. It's not the taxpayers responsibility to pay these benefits. All this will do is make workers unwilling to negotiate. If we guarantee their benefits, they'll just let their companies go bankrupt and enjoy the benefits. I can't describe just how insane this is.

Democrats using children as pawns in their plans to completely federalize health care.

Republicans are supposedly purging the liberals and Rockefeller Republicans. I don't see it. I think they're all Rockefeller Republicans except for Ron Paul. Not one of them is running on the issue of smaller government - defined by ending a term with a smaller budget than when you started. Not one of them is running on the issue of abolishing the Dept. of Education, Reagan's most prominent and prescient domestic issue. Just think how much better off our nation would be right now if the Department of Education had not been systematically destroying education in this country for the last 28 years.

Bush is advising Clinton and Democrat candidates as well as Republican candidates to establish continuity. So much for Hillary's imaginary fears that Bush will withhold information.

Hillary Clinton much belatedly condemns MoveOn.org's "Betray Us" ad. She finally got it right, and she'll be able to credibly point to this belated denunciation in the general election to minimize the damage.

The Clinton's threaten to remove access to Bill if GQ runs a negative piece on Hillary. Using blackmail to control the press. SOP for the Clintons.

Giuliani supporter throws party with of theme of raising $9.11 from party goers. You can't hold Giuliani responsible for that, but it still says a lot about his campaign. Even Bush showed grace in the wake of 9/11. That doesn't make a person presidential material.

Interview with Mike Huckabee.

Joe Biden continues to suggest partitioning Iraq into 3 largely autonomous regions. This is what is happening naturally. We can't force such a partition on the Iraqis, they have to develop themselves from the grass-roots up, which is exactly what they are doing, and they are doing it to the extent they prefer. We should have allowed Iraq to build a political system from the ground-up originally, instead of trying to force a powerful central government on the country. We're finally getting it right. And while the result will probably look something like Biden suggests, trying to force such a solution on the Iraqis is a wrong as trying to force a strong central government was.

Charles Krauthammer describes how Gen. Petraeus won over Congress and the Pentagon after he turned the tide in Iraq.

Charles Krauthammer connects the dots between Bush's axis of evil: Iran, Syria and North Korea; in a way that Bush has been too inept to do. Once you label North Korea as part of the axis of evil, how do you then negotiate an obviously unworkable deal that give North Korea the heavy fuel oil in return for closing down a decrepit nuclear plant that was no longer productive anyway? Bush also claims he knew that North Korea was exporting something, whatever it is, yet he continued with the negotiations. That shows Bush's desperation. We should have focused on making sure North Korea could never export their nuclear or missile technology to Iran and Syria. Now Syria has something and Iran has brand spanking new long range missile.

Boortz updates the budget debate. Now the 2 parties are arguing over $22 billion.

The WSJ describes Alaska's pork and corruption.

Mistakes in Britain's NHS. Everybody makes mistakes.

Congress withholds funds for the misnamed UN Human Rights Council. Finally, the US is standing up to the UN. The US should demand tons of changes in the UN, and we should threaten to reduce or withhold funds until they're met.

Thomas Sowell compares keeping culture as in a museum and growing culture changing with the times. He discusses mob rule rearing its ugly head in Jena.

Mark Steyn on Hillarycare 2.0. John Stossel on Hillarycare 2.0. Washington Times.

Cato on Hillarycare 2.0. 1, 2, 3, 4.

Sarkozy cracks down on illegal immigration.

Currents are pooling plastic trash in the Pacific.

Satirical, anti-American rant regarding Ahmadinejad from Dilbert creator.

Iran is a deadly enemy.

Cal Thomas discuss how much better Ahmadinejad was treated on campus compared to conservatives.

Rich Arab Princes are investing all those petrodollars.

Dick Morris praises Laura Ingraham.

Pat Buchanan underestimates the threat from Iran. Sure, Ahmadinejad is not as powerful as Hitler right now. But we learned that appeasing Hitler led to the most horrible war in history. Appeasing Ahmadinejad would do the same. If Ahmadinejad gets the bomb, he could kill as many Jews in a second as Hitler did in 7 years. As mad as Hitler was, he didn't want to martyr his entire nation. Ahmadinejad thinks it would be glorious if his entire country died in a war with the infidel. That's a kind of madness we've never dealt with before. All this goes for the Mullahs as well.

Cato university - 12 lessons on "the historical, philosophical, economic, legal, and moral foundations of individual liberty and limited government"

Ann Coulter laughs at Democrats who think doctors make too much, but who love lawyers who file malpractice suits.