Free kibbles

Self-government is in retreat around the world. China is the new model for government, not the US. That means increasing economic freedom, but not political freedom. Economic freedom is a necessity for political freedom, but back-tracking on political freedom is the wrong way to go. The article fails to mention that the US is backsliding on both economic and political freedom thanks to the 2 parties and the accomplice press.

San Antonio apartments refuse tenant with tattoos and piercings. This is interesting. A clash between property rights and freedom of expression. In a sane world, property rights would win out. They are using behavior as a selection mechanism, not skin color.

Bush administration sues Illinois over illegal immigration law. I had no idea Illinois had the 4rth largest illegal alien population in the country.

UAW ends strike against GM. That was quick. I wonder who caved. Wall Street likes it. It looks like the union understands that GM is going down if it doesn't provide concessions.

Congress sharpens sanctions against Iran. Let's hope the Europeans follow.

Canada to install listening devices along newly opened arctic passages to protect its sovereignty.

US led troops in Afghanistan kill 120 Taleban fighters.

Is sniper baiting in Iraq illegal?

Turkey and Iraq agree to hot pursuit deal against Kurdish rebels.

Myanmar riot police kill demonstrators. We'll never know what actually happened.

Ban on taxes for internet service is about to expire.

Bush's UN speech contains phonetic spellings. I've wondered about this for years. I was right.

New book about Patrick Fitzgerald and Bush's new nominee for Attorney General and the case of an al Qaeda spy.

Reason presents a flawed, US-centric analysis of Ahmadinejad's appearance at Columbia. While he may have failed to win a propaganda victory in the west, Ahmadinejad's appearance in the US boosted his popularity at home, which was its primary goal.The weirdness of his comments make sense when you understand he was playing to his Iranian audience. He made fools of everybody at Columbia who failed to recognize his agenda. The embattled Iranian government received a much needed boost of support from its subjects thanks to myopic views like this from Reason and Columbia. Ahmadinejad capitalized on Iranian nationalism to turn some more of his people to his favor. At a time when regime change is the optimal solution for dealing with Iran, Ahmadinejad's speech was a disaster. You know it's trouble when NPR and I agree. ;) Ahmadinejad's request to visit ground zero was similarly planned to make him look good at home, and we obliged by blocking him and making him look magnanimous and us petty in the eyes of his own people.

Reason prefers Bush's new Attorney General nominee Mukasey to Gonzales. Who wouldn't?

The power of small political contributions and small bundlers.

Fundraising slowdown hits Obama and Hillary. Obama is still ahead. Did their fundraising peak too soon, are donors tapped out, or are the donors disliking what they hear? It should be the last.

Slate offers 6 suggestions for beating Hillary.

Democrat internal poll finds that Hillary could cost Democrats the election. Duh. My dog could beat Hillary. More people will show up to vote against her than kool-aid drinkers to vote for her. This isn't hard to understand. She worked hard to earn the antipathy of the majority of the American people, and it won't go away. But the American people won't elect Obama or Edwards either because they have no experience and all their programs are big socialist programs. Once again, Democrats are misreading the polls. Because Republicans have governed like Democrats, corrupt, big-spending, and inept, they're unpopular, and therefore Democrats appear strong in generic polls. But when you get down to specific individuals and policies, the Democrats are even worse than their Republican counterparts, hard as that is to believe.

Enlightening article describes how George Soros is secretly funding propaganda for global warming, illegal immigration, and other irresponsible issues. This isn't really a secret, but I've never read such specifics before. $720,000 for Bush critic, NASA scientist, global warming alarmist, and incorrect temperature reporter, James Hanson? All Al Gore's true believers cry "Exxon. Exxon." for giving $10,000 to scientists for their reports (it's called a wage - just like everybody else, scientists have to earn money for their work), but I don't hear them complaining about Soros spending 72x more money to purposely misinform the public.

MacArthur genius awards.

The threat of space junk. So it's our own microbes returning from space that will kill us. Not quite as cool as space monsters.

Boortz explains how the UN wants to use the treaty of the sea to tax member nations. He claims the Senate is considering passing that treaty. No way.

Supreme Court to rule on Indiana voter ID law. They better support it. We have 12-20 million illegal aliens in the country who would love nothing more than to be free to vote in our elections.

Author claims we have a duty to monitor radical mosques. That's an understatement. Nobody is allowed to incite people to violence in this country. Why do we all radical Muslims to do just that?

Boortz recommends this article on the Jena 6.

Less than half of Virginia's 4rth and 8th graders are proficient in math and reading, and this is above the national average.

Cato points out that hybrid cars don't get much better gas mileage than their conventional versions.

Cato says SCHIP forces taxpayers to subsidize people who don't need it. Bush plans to veto.

George Will shows that the NYTimes subsidy of the MoveOn.org "Betray Us" ad was illegal, and the Times had recently argued against the Supreme Court decision weakening the law it broke.

Dick Morris has some interesting questions for Hillary Clinton. I doubt anybody will ask them.

The controversial mismatch theory explains why affirmative action hurts minorities.