Free kibbles

The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs says we need more American troops in Afghanistan, but we don't have them because they're in Iraq. I'm sure this is true, and it's why we shouldn't have invaded Iraq before we had finished the job in Afghanistan. But that's no reason to lose the war in Iraq either. But more importantly, what happened to the US doctrine that it could fight 2 regional wars simultaneously? Obviously, we can't.

More job losses in June. The economy is now as weak as it was in the 90s. The press exaggerated the economy in the 90s to make it appear stronger than it was and now they're exaggerating to make it appear weaker than it is. It's pretty much the same. We were spoiled by the steady growth of the last 6 years, even though that wasn't reported in the news. The dollar has dropped 41% since Bush took office. I guess that's Bush's idea of a strong dollar. And for this article to call Bush a free marketer is a crock. Bush stands with FDR and LBJ as the 3 most socialist presidents in history, and that's why FDR's terms were mired in the Depression, and LBJ and Bush left with the economy going into the tank. But if Bush changes direction and defends the dollar for the first time in his presidency, the economy could turn around. International regulation is not the answer.

Oil tops $146. We should quit begging oil producing nations to increase supply and increase our own supply. It's not in exporting country's interest to produce more. The less they produce, the higher the price, and the longer their oil will last. They're smart to maximize their profits. Since we're a consuming country, it's in our interest to produce as much as possible. We need to get government out of the way so we can produce more domestic oil, increasing supply, and produce more alternative power, decreasing demand.

3 Americans and a kidnapped French-Columbian presidential candidate were freed after 5 years of captivity by leftist terrorist group FARC. Nice job. Columbia freed them despite Democrats treating the Columbians so badly on the free trade deal. Cato says Columbian President Uribe is one of our best allies and we should support him and his country with free trade.

Court orders Google to turn over viewing profiles of every viewer who ever accessed YouTube to Viacom for copyright infringement case. Ouch.

Critics call to isolated the Palestinian part of Jerusalem in the wake of the bulldozer terrorist attack.

It's good to see Britain build 2 full-size aircraft carriers, but it's not good that the money will be taken from the rest of their already dwindling military. We need Britain and all of Europe to start paying for their own defense and the defense of their own foreign interests.

Another journalist, in addition to Steve Harrigan, Christopher Hitchens has himself waterboarded. I see he didn't haven't himself beaten, electrocuted, fingers broken, cut, punchured, eyes gouged, or any other actual torture, so his claim that waterboarding is torture is belied by his volunteering and immediately returning to his job with no ill effects. Of course waterboarding is unpleasant, but it's not torture.

Reason explains that the exceptions (a euphamism for infringements) allowed by the Court when overturning the D.C. gun ban in Heller make it a hollow victory. It sounds like the supporters of the Consititution were appeasing Kennedy to get him on board.

Economic freedom leads to prosperity and happiness. Also health, but this article doesn't mention health.

How the University of Phoenix and other for profit colleges fill a void in the education market.

McCain supports the failed war on drugs, which is really a war on ourselves. McCain is in Mexico on July 3rd talking about comprehensive immigration reform with the Mexican president. That will make for a lot of good 4th of July discussion in the US.

Drinking milk cause chemical changes in the brain, raising sarotonin levels. Let's ban milk and create a huge black market and lots of crime.

People moving to avoid rising seas could move to floating cities. The term refuge is certainly emotional but not appropriate. This is one possibility for adapting to climate change, but it takes money to design, build, and maintain. That's why we need to keep growiing our economy to adapt to inevitable climate change, not damage it with carbon taxes, carbon offsets, or other government interference in the economy. Charlotte temperature hits 123 year low.

70 year old woman gives birth to twins. I wish them well, but this can't be a good situation.

Questions about whether the US promoted an oil deal between Kurdistan and a friend of George Bush contrary to US policy that all oil deals should be made with the Iraqi government. Bush's cronyism is almost as bad as Clinton's, so I can easily believe he helped his buddy out.

Cato questions our need for a massive nuclear arsenal. How many times over do we need to be able to destroy the world?