Free kibbles

Analysts calculate the US is really on the hook for $5 trillion so far for the financial crisis bailout. Obviously most of this will be paid back, but the percentage of $5 trillion that won't get paid back is going to be huge. Lobbyists swarm Treasure Dept. to get a piece of the bailout pie. That's how it always works. Apply online to get your piece of the bailout money. Our government is unbelievable.

Government has created so much uncertainty in the market that the Dow traded today over a 911 point swing, finally closing up 552.

Cato explains the folly of government regulation. Since regulations are designed to avoid the last crisis, they stifle growth and can never prevent the next crisis. I think corporate transparency would dramatically reduce these problem crises. In the modern world, FedEx and UPS can find your package anywhere in the world in a matter of seconds. There's no reason corporations couldn't post their accounts and inventory online at the end of every day. Shareholders in every economic sector should demand that kind of transparency - a shareholder bill of rights - from the companies they own.

Gov. Palin calls on Republican governors to check the power of the federal government. Gets 2 standing ovations. That's great. The federal government was originally intended to be an agent for the states, and it would be great if the states started flexing their muscles and rejecting federal mandates and demanding lower taxes and less spending. Working together on principle of small government and state's rights, the governors could lead us back in the right direction. They could force a debate on the role of government that big-government defenders are bound to lose.

In wake of bin Laden tape, the CIA reports that bin Laden is cut off from the day to day operations of al Qaeda trying to save his own skin. Shouldn't he be a good terrorist and martyr himself? I forgot. That's for the regular terrorists, not elitists like bin Laden.

Hubble photo of extrasolar planet around nearby star. Keck and Gemini telescopes team up to photograph an entire solar system of planets.

Catholic priest won't give Obama supporters communion. He should be recalled.

Analysis of Obama's health care plan warns costs could be (might as well as said will be) unsustainably high. Tell us something we didn't know.

Like social security, pension plans are a bad idea for workers. The goal of government is take more money from people, and as soon as social security conflicted with that goal, government raided the trust fund. The goal of business is profit, and as soon as that goal conflicts with pensions, pensions get compromised. Because of the economy, businesses are trying to get out of meeting their pensions.

Nancy Pelosi is laughing about her promise to be more centrist as she empowers an even more extreme liberal staff.

Why in the world did Mark Foley crawl out of his hole?

I guess after government adopts the pretense that health care is a right, housing will be next. I'm telling you, pretty soon socialists will get government to adopt the pretense that food and water is a human right. No. Those things are why we work. We have a basic right to life, but that doesn't mean somebody else has the responsibility to keep us alive, fed, clothed, housed, and cared for. That's a personal responsibility.