Free kibbles

Feds to put up virtual border fence in Arizona. This is a great idea. I still think mini-surveillance blimps would work great. Solar power cells on their tops. They could run for months or years at a time.

Why would government OK the merger of Sirius and XM? Government's sole interest in the free market should be to ensure competition for the benefit of consumers. These 2 satellite radios are the only competition in that market. A merge would give them a monopoly.

Turkey has invaded Iraq to take on the PKK. US military is aware and somewhat concerned.

Al Sadr sticks his head up and declares the Mahdi Army will continue the ceasefire. I wonder if this is just a waiting tactic until US troops are reduced in summer, or if this signals that even Sadr recognizes the progress in Iraq.

Serb protesters attack UN police at Kosovo border. Cato says supporting Kosovo independence will spark more violence in the Balkans.

The NAFTA superhighway that politicians keep calling imaginary is real, is called the Trans-Texas Corridor, and construction is about to begin. This seems like a stupid issue to me. Every highway in America required the use of imminent domain. Every highway in America changed the landscape and the lives of the people on the path. This doesn't seem any different. I-35 goes from Laredo to Canada, and nobody complains about that. I think these complaints are just about free trade with Mexico, not a highway. If it wasn't for the burden of our government including the punishing income tax, free trade would be an overwhelming success for the US.

Super-bacteria hitting war veterans.

Republican Congressman indicted for extortion, fraud, and money laundering. It looks like he's part of the corruption factory in Washington.

Secret service orders police to stop weapons searches at Obama rallies. Do they check for weapons at every candidate's rallies? Given Obama's Messianic-like campaign, I think checking for weapons is a good idea. False prophets bring out the opposing loonies.

Reason explains all 3 presidential candidates will continue Bush's exercising of presidential power. What this essay doesn't address is that we are at war, 2 wars actually, and therefore the president's war powers are in effect and legislation can't override the president's war powers.

McCain's flip-flops on campaign financing. McCain managed to deflect the NYTimes article back onto their journalistic integrity, but McCain has a long history of being overly-linked to lobbyists behind the scenes, while publicly renouncing them. McCain is anything but a straight talker.

Obama and Clinton even in debate. That was my opinion from what I watched too. Their policies are practically identical, but Obams is much more likable. I watched hoping to see a desperate Hillary get aggressive, but she didn't so the dynamics didn't seem to change, imo. Both candidates backtracked on their votes to build a border fence, blaming Bush again. Obama turns Hillary's one jab about plagiarism to his favor.

Clinton's campaign spending is out of control. Imagine if she got hold of our tax dollars.

This guy is redefining the goal of the surge to meet his personal desires, then claiming the surge is a failure because we aren't bringing troops home faster. He feels like Bush made a personal promise to him to bring troops home. What a crock. Bush made a long overdue strategy change to win the war, and it's working.

Vegas doorman making $500,000 a year. I'm in the wrong business. I'll do it for $250,000.

China bans US food at Olympics, but athletes are bringing their own. I hope they're not bringing the recalled beef.

Cato keeps harping that taxpayer funded campaigns force taxpayers to fund candidates they don't like. They never address that the same is true for every government program. Funding the military forces some taxpayers to support a military they don't like, but we recognize that the military, and courts, foreign policy, Congress, etc., are required to protect our liberty and therefore must be funded by taxpayers even if taxpayers don't like them. The same is true for federal campaigns. I'm all for non-taxpayer funded ways to insure a number of viable candidates get an equal chance to get their messages to the people, but I'm not aware of any proposals that could do that. An informed electorate is vital to our country, and that means we need to insure a number of candidates have the resources to communicate with the American people without being overwhelmed by richer candidates. Cato's argument is specious and avoids the real issue of fair and equitable campaigns, not for the candidates, but for the people.