Free kibbles

After losing big in elections Pakistan President Musharraf reaches out to victors. Bhutto's party reaches out to militants. Here's the next backfire of our policy to stick our nose in Pakistan's politics - appeasement of the terrorists. Slate has analysis. Cato recognizes that the US should not focus on Pakistani politics but on our interests in the region instead.

Iranian President Ahmadinejad said Iran's nuclear drive has brought world powers to their knees. He called Israel a dirty virus created by the same world powers. What do you do with dirty viruses after you bring the world powers to their knees? He'll really bring us to our knees if he succeeds in getting a bomb. Nuclear extortion would be the new world order. "We've planted nuclear bombs New York, Washington, and Los Angeles and London. If you retaliate against us for destroying Tel Aviv and Haifa, or allow Israel to retaliate, we will set them off." The Mullahs with a bomb is never-ending nightmare.

Economist describes 12 step process for the meltdown of the US economy. We're not in this process now, but we're feeling the precursors. Sometime in the next 2 decades, if we don't dramatically reduce the size and scope of government, we will go through a similar process, but far worse, and it will make the Great Depression look like a walk in the park. It's unlikely we'll ever recover our world leader status. This shows that our economy right now is a house of cards because of government debt and government regulations, which drive personal debt, and that's the uncertainty people feel.

Florida government schools will finally use the word evolution to describe evolution. It's about time. One school system is a little less stupid today than it was yesterday, but our government schools are still terrible.

Environmentalists misinform on GM crops. Misinformation and fear-mongering are the tools of choice for environmental groups.

Supreme Court rules that individuals can sue 401K plans for losses when plan managers fail to carry out the instructions of the individuals. Sounds like the Court got this one right. It should go without saying that the managers are responsible for the consequences of their actions, or failures to act as directed.

Judge holds reporter in contempt for failing to reveal sources in Anthrax case.

Government is stupid. San Antonia is considering a law to ban cell phones in school zones. The result is that drivers would be distracted from driving by turning off, then turning on their phones, at ever school zone.

Oil retreats from over $100.

Police officer tases his own son after his supervisor told him not to.

Judge sentences man to 8 years and permanent license suspension for 19 DUIs. Why did the courts allow this to get to so bad?

Bloomberg blames fraud for Obama's 0 vote totals in some New York City precincts. The Clintons and Democrats are masters of voter fraud as well as masters of false accusation of Republican voter fraud.

Attempt at developing a personality profile of the presidential candidates. It sounds pretty accurate to me. It's no surprise that Bush the Younger is the same type as LBJ, JFK, and FDR, as is McCain. These are 3 losers.

Obama's drug policy is conventional.

Reason hasn't missed either that McCain seems to have suddenly morphed into Bush the Elder.

Barack Obama takes a slim, slim lead after winning Wisconsin and Hawaii for 10 states in a row. Obama donations skyrocket as McCain hammers him on reneging on his promise to accept public funds. Obama defends his wife's statement that she is proud of America for the first time. Maybe he feels the same way. He would be smart to say she chose her words badly. Obama's Marxist mentor helped him establish his identity.

Barack Obama writes op-ed in an attempt to deflect McCain's attack on him because he's breaking a promise to forgo federal funds. It was just dumb to make that promise. If you think you're the best candidate to run the country, you don't limit your options like that. You say you'll do whatever is best for your campaign because that's what's best for the country.
Hillary takes a shot at hedge fund managers, which is what Chelsea is. Speaking of which, how does Chelsea get so much time off work to campaign for a year? Maybe Hillary's right. Or it's good to be the daughter of the queen when your boss is a supporter. This just shows Hillary's contempt of the free market. Compensation is based on value, not how much you sweat.

Clinton keeps asking voters to name 1 accomplishment of Obama's. I can name plenty of corrupt accomplishments for Hillary, but not 1 positive accomplishment. How come nobody turns this around on her.

Gamer's headset will read thoughts and emotions. Pretty soon gamers won't even exercise their thumbs. And our thought patterns will be sent across the internet to be stored forever.

Gravity lamp. Why not just make a pendulum lamp?

Fat genes evolved to keep our water ape ancestor warm, not for cold air.

Cato celebrates record fundraising and refutes public financing of campaigns. Their argument against public financing is specious. Plenty of people in this country hate the military, but Cato wouldn't argue that they shouldn't pay taxes to support the military. The military provides benefits to everybody, as does a fair and equitable presidential campaign. This is one of the few legitimate powers of government, imo. Existing campaign financing laws and public funding don't meet these goals, but I stand by my matching funds proposal.

Google delists UN whistle-blower webnews site after partnering with UN. Government corrupts companies.

Michelle Malkin describes all the reasons she is proud of America, unlike Michelle Obama.

Amity Shlaes proposes a measured response to the transition of Cuba.

Christopher Hitchens understands that the Iranian nuclear program is mainly about keeping the Mullah's in power, because Iran is moving toward regime change as the Mullah's self-destruct. Hitchens recommends offering a carrot to the Iranian people, a proposal I often make (why aren't we flooding Iranian, Palestinian, Iraqi, etc. airwaves with goodwill and concrete negotiations directly with the people?), in the form of assistance from a future earthquake and aid in a peaceful nuclear program in return for open inspections off all Iranian nuclear sites. This offer isn't to the Iranian government, but directly to the people, which should help hasten the fall of the Mullahs. We're so locked in our views that government is the be all and end all of power, that we never go straight to the people in the countries

Victor Davis Hanson explains that the issue of Kosovo today is much different than 9 years ago. Russia understands that NATO is severely weakened because Europe won't pull its own weight and that the US is fed up with Europeans because of they haven't stood up for their own security in the war on terror. That could prompt the belligerent Russians to flex their muscles into Kosovo. I hope they don't, and I don't think they will because it would unite Europe against Russia, but I can't help but savor the thought of Europe begging for US assistance after all the crap they've heaped on us while we've been sacrificing to keep them safe.

I like Judge Napolitano, and he's right about the 4th Amendment and FISA during peacetime. But he doesn't once address the president's wartime powers which override the 4th Amendment. The founding fathers made it clear that there is only 1 commander in chief, that he has the full powers of any commander in chief in history, and that no other branch of government can interfere with his prosecution of the war. Because we have co-equal branches of government, it doesn't matter if Congress passes a law saying differently or if the Court rules differently - those branches of government are not the boss of the Executive Branch any more than the president is the boss of them. If the president abuses his war powers, Congress can remove him from office. Congress can also end the war. That's it.

The LATimes acknowledges the political process in the Iraqi government and provides a realist and hopeful assessment of our responsibilities going forward. With the security improvement, local political reconciliation, and now fitful government progress, we may just be seeing light at the end of the tunnel. Our chances of success in Iraq are steadily improving, which is just amazing given everything that we did wrong for 4 years, including invading in the first place.

Essay about Churchill's early days as PM.

Article claims that Bush's liberal policies are popular, but his conservative policies are not. Yikes.