***

IN HONOR OF THOSE SERVING AND WHO HAVE SERVED

And endless thanks to them and their families.

McCain to Pharmaceutical Innovators: Drop Dead
By Timothy Lee

Voters will be pardoned for speculating whether aliens have somehow captured Senator John McCain, nominally a Republican candidate for President, and replaced his mind with that of Democratic class-warrior candidate John Edwards...........

Answers for the FairTax Faction
By Jerry Bowyer

Yes, I've read the legislation. No, I don't listen to the radio show. No, I'm no stupid, idiotic, dishonest, evil, an employee of the IRS, spouse of an IRS employee, or part of a conspiracy of journalists against the middle class.................

Pakistan defeats militant attack in tribal region

WANA, Pakistan (AFP) — Pakistani troops defeated an attack by hundreds of Islamic militants in a restive tribal region this week, inflicting heavy casualties, officials said.......... More details.

Union shenanigans draw attention of Labor Dept
The Patriot Post

"One reason America’s labor unions are so eager to see Democrats back in the White House is that then they won’t have to worry about being under the watchful eye of people like Labor Secretary Elaine Chao. According to the department’s Office of Labor Management Standards, court-ordered restitution of union funds increased 16 fold since 2000, when the Clinton administration offered virtually no oversight of unions. Nearly $70 million in restitution has been collected in this decade from cases of embezzlement, illegal electioneering and fraud. In 2007 there were 406 criminal cases filed in connection with illegal activities by unions, leading to 118 convictions. The AFL-CIO persuaded its Democrat friends in Congress to slash funds for the Labor Department’s union-oversight office, and if the Democrats win the White House and hold onto Congress in 2008, it shouldn’t surprise anyone if that office is closed altogether."

Landrieu fights back against bribery charge

By Manu Raju
TheHill.com

Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.), a top target for national Republicans in November, is battling with a government watchdog group that is alleging the senator may have violated federal bribery laws by earmarking funds to a campaign contributor.

The left-leaning Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) asked the Senate Ethics Committee this week to investigate whether Landrieu acted illegally when she earmarked $2 million for Voyager Expanded Learning four days after receiving $30,000 in campaign contributions from executives with the educational products company. The group also is........

“To judge from the history of mankind, we shall be compelled to conclude that... to model our political systems upon speculations of lasting tranquility would be to calculate on the weaker springs of human character.”

—Alexander Hamilton

Arrogance - Bush or Huckabee?

Gary Gross over at Let Freedom Ring makes a good point. President wannabee, former Arkansas Mike Huckabee, accused President Bush of having a go-it-alone "arrogant bunker mentality".

And furthermore, that "American foreign policy needs to change its tone and attitude, open up, and reach out."

I don't agree with this criticism.

Nonetheless, this charge certainly is not new. This is right out of the Democrats talking points. The last time I checked Huck was running as a Republican, is he not.

At any rate, during this last Republican debate, "The Huck" said: “I think we need to make it very clear, not just to the Iranians, but to anybody, that if you think you’re going to engage the United States military, be prepared not simply to have a battle. Be prepared, first, to put your sights on the American vessel. And then be prepared that the next things you see will be the gates of Hell, because that is exactly what you will see after that.”

So much for opening up, reaching out, and changing the tone of American foreign policy. Kinda' sounds like bunker mentality to me.

I am having difficulty believing this is his true position. Sounds like pandering. But a politician wouldn't do this. Would they?

Illegals receive $37 million from L.A. County in November

25% of all welfare, food-stamp benefits going directly to children of undocumented aliens

--KHTS-TV, Santa Clarita, California

Mexican soldiers found invading United States
WorldNetDaily:

Mexican soldiers found invading United States Government report documents dozens of armed campaigns in Texas, Arizona

A federal document obtained and released by Judicial Watch reveals that there were dozens of armed incursions by Mexican soldiers and police into the United States during Fiscal Year 2007.

The report was......

Employer charged for harboring cop-killing illegal
WorldNetDaily

Employer charged for harboring cop-killing illegal Allegedly helped alien return to U.S. after man was deported for previous crime

A Texas employer is facing federal charges for allegedly helping an illegal immigrant return to the United States after he was deported, an illegal who now is accused in the fatal shooting of a police officer, according to ......

Islamist plot to blow up Eiffel Tower uncovered

Portuguese air traffic controllers hear scrambled short-wave radio conversation about plan

--London Evening Standard

Questions for the Fair Tax Crowd

By Jerry Bowyer

Seven important questions that must be asked about the Fair Tax when considering the proposal seriously. Read it here.

Conservatism's Identity Crisis

By David Limbaugh

For Republicans, there's a fierce intramural debate not just over how conservative the party should be but also over the very definition of conservatism.......

Read the complete column here.

The Messy Politics of Illegal Immigration

By Victor Davis Hanson

With the war in Iraq politically on the backburner, illegal immigration is heating up as a campaign issue. The public wants action, and the candidates are scrambling to react.................

Read it here.

Black Colleges
By Walter E. Williams

"At a time of gross discrimination, black colleges were crucial. Their graduates played a vital role in the unprecedented socioeconomic progress made by black Americans. Today, there’s a question about the value of most, but not all, black colleges. One has to ask whether these colleges have outlived their usefulness…"

Boston moves toward a ban on trans fats

Rule to take effect later this year if OK'd
By Stephen Smith and Tania deLuzuriaga
The Boston Globe

Following the lead of New York City and Brookline, health regulators in Boston last night took the first step toward banning .....

Va. legislature to target illegals

The Washington Times
By Seth McLaughlin

RICHMOND — More than 100 bills proposing reforms in the way that the state handles illegal aliens have been introduced in the first two days of the General Assembly — ending any speculation on ......

U.S. issues new plan to replace drivers' licenses

Reuters
By Randall Mikkelsen

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government unveiled new security requirements for Americans' driver's licenses with a get-tough message on Friday for.....

California Proposes Taking Control of Thermostats
(CNSNews.com) - The California Energy Commission has proposed requiring thermostats that allow the government to control the temperature of homes and businesses in case of high energy prices or shortages, a measure that some critics are calling “draconian.”

Federal Court Dismisses Lawsuit Against Gun Industry
(CNSNews.com) - A federal court has once again invoked a 2005 law in dismissing a lawsuit filed against gun manufacturers on behalf of nine “gun crime” victims. The 2005 Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act is intended to protect the gun industry from politically motivated lawsuits...

WILL THEY FIGHT? AND WITH WHOM?

“If the New Hampshire debates settled anything, it’s which party has the stomach to take on radical Islam. The Democrats couldn’t even identify the enemy. Not once. Really. We scanned the transcripts of Saturday’s debates hosted by ABC News and tallied up the references to Islamic terrorism. The rhetorical divide between Democrats and Republicans on that score alone—ignoring the yawning gaps in policy—is stunning. None of the four Democrat presidential candidates—despite running for an office that demands they lead the ongoing global war against Islamic extremists—could bring himself or herself to define the enemy we face as Islamic. Their combined references to ‘Islam’ or ‘Islamic’ totaled zero—even though moderator Charles Gibson prompted them with a question about ‘Islamic radicals’ threatening the U.S. with nuclear terrorism. But Democrats refused to go there. Out of respect for their constituency, there was a complete blackout regarding Islamic jihad... Republicans, on the other hand, called the enemy by its proper name. The candidates referred to terrorists and terrorism as ‘Islamic,’ while also citing radical ‘Islam’ as the problem, no less than 22 times... They get it. Democrats don’t. They talked a lot about ‘fighting’ —fighting insurance companies and big business and Wall Street and polluters. But will they fight the real enemy—Islamic terrorists?... These contrasting performances in New Hampshire should crystallize in voters’ minds more than any other recent example how one party understands the titanic challenge we face from radical Islam, while the other decidedly does not.”

—Investor’s Business Daily

“It’s getting lonelier all the time at the top for America, which with a corporate tax rate of 35% is one of the few developed nations left with a rate of more than 30%... Foreign leaders have learned that, in a world of easy global capital flows, high tax rates chase away investment and entrepreneurs.”

—The Wall Street Journal

MESSAGE TO THE TROOPS

Click on photo to enlarge.

Honor Killing in Texas

"Amina Said, 18, and her sister Sarah, 17, smile happily in one widely circulating photo, and Amina is wearing what looks like a sweatshirt bearing the name "AMERICAN." But their fate may have been the herald of a new, disquieting feature of the American landscape: honor killing. Amina and Sarah were shot dead in Irving, Texas, on New Year's Day. Police are searching for their father, Yaser Abdel Said, on a warrant for capital murder."

Read more of Honor Killing in Texas by Robert Spencer.

The Dirty Trick Season

What happened to Fred Thompson on the day of the Iowa caucus was a political dirty trick worthy of the great tricksters of the Nixon era. The rumor that Thompson would drop out after Iowa and endorse John McCain, reported by The Politico -- picked up quickly in so many print and broadcast media -- was untrue as ...........

Read more of Jed Babbin's "The Dirty Trick Season."

HUMAN EVENTS Endorses Fred Thompson

"The 2008 presidential election is the most unusual and most important in many years. It’s been more than five decades since such a race didn’t feature an incumbent President or Vice President. Since World War II, America has not had a presidential election at a time when the stakes were higher. Conservatives have to win this election, and to do so, we have to identify a candidate around whom we all can rally."

Read Human Events' analysis of each Republican candidate here.

Americans Waking Up to Mortal Danger of China

At the close of 2007, after the Dec. 18 Republican presidential debate, some American voters have realized that the Bush administration, as well as all presidential candidates except Duncan Hunter, have been exposing the West to China’s “surprise attack,” either outwardly or by simply ignoring that the threat exists.

CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL STORY

Iran seeks partners for construction of 19 reactors

Novak: Hillary Will Get Nasty Soon

Analysis: Kerry's Animosity of Hillary

John Kerry Endorses Barack Obama

McCain Putting All Chips on Florida

GOVERNMENTS AND FREEDOM

“Freedom was given to humanity by God. But, governments, if they can help it, never give freedom. They just hand out slavery with slogans.” —Taylor Caldwell

“The love of liberty is the love of others; the love of power is the love of ourselves.” —William Hazlitt

NOW BARACK BETTER BRACE FOR BARRAGE

By DICK MORRIS
Published in the New York Post on January 9, 2008.

"Hillary Rodham Clinton's stunning comeback victory in New Hampshire duplicates the feat of Bill Clinton who overcame the draft and Gennifer Flowers in the Granite State primary in 1992.

[I don't view this as a "stunning victory" at all. This is poppycock. Media spin. Pundits being wrong...disingenuous...hopeful...or ignorant. Maybe all of the above. - HeavyHanded]

But Hillary did Bill one better. He placed second. She won. Those who counted Hillary out don't know her and don't know the Clintons.

[This illustrates my point: If you do know Hillary and the Clintons, you wouldn't have "counted her out." Thus, you would not view her New Hampshire win as "stunning." - HeavyHanded]

The clear message of the New Hampshire primary is there is no front-runner, but it's a two-way race between the queen and the challenger that won't be decided by an early knockout.

But Hillary approaches the balance of the month in very good shape.

The Battle of Hillary, in a sense, is over.

She has been challenged and hit, but stayed on her feet. She has weathered the negatives, lost her momentum, and still emerged, in effect, tied for the lead.

Now the Battle of Obama is about to begin."

Read more of Dick Morris here.

Report: Crude oil output declines in Bahrain, Oman, Yemen
LONDON — Non-OPEC states in the Middle East have been fading as suppliers of crude oil. The International Energy Agency said non-OPEC states in the Middle East were undergoing a decline in crude oil output. Read on.

McCaffrey: Al Qaida 'overreached' in Iraq
Retired Army Gen. Barry R. McCaffrey said last week after talking to top U.S. officials that Al Qaida in Iraq has been defeated “at a tactical and operational level in Baghdad and Anbar Province and is trying to re-constitute in the north and along the Syrian frontier.” Read more.

Iran swarm incident 'most serious provocation of this sort that we've seen yet'

WASHINGTON — The United States reported its first confrontation with Iran in the Persian Gulf in an incident followed by the crash of two U.S. fighter jets in the Gulf.

In its first such report, the Defense Department said five Iranian fast attack craft confronted three U.S. Navy vessels. The Pentagon said the 20-minute incident took place early on Jan. 6 in the Straits of Hormuz.

Full story at World Tribune.

ElectionWatch: Media Ignore, Misreport 'FairTax' amid Huckabee Surge

Republican presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee saw a groundswell of support for his candidacy, including his endorsement of the FairTax, a national sales tax that would replace the federal tax system. But as voters in Iowa pushed it forward, the media bashed the plan in misleading reports.
Read more.

Carville Denies Joining Hillary Team; rips Fox News

NATURAL RIGHTS

"To grant that there is a supreme intelligence who rules the world and has established laws to regulate the actions of his creatures; and still to assert that man, in a state of nature, may be considered as perfectly free from all restraints of law and government, appears to a common understanding altogether irreconcilable. Good and wise men, in all ages, have embraced a very dissimilar theory. They have supposed that the deity, from the relations we stand in to himself and to each other, has constituted an eternal and immutable law, which is indispensably obligatory upon all mankind, prior to any human institution whatever. This is what is called the law of nature....Upon this law depend the natural rights of mankind."

-- Alexander Hamilton

The Clintons

Do you think the Clintons are in a crisis?

Mr. Blackwell's 48th Annual Worst-Dressed List

See his picks here.

Clinton edges Obama

DISASTEROUS APPEAL

“Politicians exploit public demands that government ought to do something about this or that problem by taking measures giving them greater control over our lives. For the most part, whatever politicians do, whether it’s rent controls to produce ‘affordable’ housing, or price controls to eliminate ‘price-gouging,’ the result is a calamity worse than the original problem. For example, two of the most costly housing markets are the rent-controlled cities of San Francisco and New York. If you’re over 40, you’ll remember the chaos produced by the gasoline price controls of the 1970s. Socialist agendas have considerable appeal, but they produce disaster, and the more socialist they are, the greater the disaster.” —Walter Williams

McCain wins GOP primary in New Hampshire

Romney second; Huckaberry third.

Read more at Boston.com.

Immigration drives Huckabee completely over the edge

I remember the good ol’ days, sometimes called “2005,” when Mike Huckabee was fairly reasonable on immigration. He supported in-state college tuition for children of illegal immigrants and opposed an immigration raid of a poultry plant that led to the deportation of illegal immigrants. More recently, he endorsed Bush’s immigration policy, denounced in right-wing circles as “amnesty.” Huckabee insisted that he supports measures that “provide[s] a path for workers to become legal,” and denounced conservative critics of immigration reform, condemning them for being “driven by racism or nativism.” He even declined to have state police enforce immigration laws, despite the go-ahead from Arkansas lawmakers.

When he addressed the issue, he’d talk about “compassion” and “morality.” Huckabee saw an ugly side of his party when it came to immigration, and he didn’t like it. He made no effort to hide his belief that immigrations, legal or not, contributed to the U.S. economy, and saw little reason to change.

That is, until he gained a legitimate shot at the Republican presidential nomination. A month ago, he “released a new plan calling for all illegal workers to register with federal authorities and return to their native countries within 120 days.” This week, it gets worse — much worse.

Read on.

Giant Step Forward: Iraqi Police Assume Security Mission in Anbar Province City

COMMAND OUTPOST BAGHDADI — How many Marines does it take to secure Baghdadi? Last year, it took an entire company. Then, as the situation improved, that number dropped to a platoon. And now, with the onset of 2008, the grand total is zero.

The Marines of 2nd Platoon, Company A, 1st Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, Regimental Combat Team 2, have completely pulled out of Command Outpost Baghdadi. Fortunately for local citizens, their replacements are already hard at work.

In a monumental step toward Iraqi sovereignty, the Baghdadi police force has taken sole responsibility of security within the city limits -- the first to do so in all of Anbar Province.

Read more.

Washington Post:
Mexico Rebukes U.S. Candidates On Migrant Issues

Washington Times:
Huckabee Vows to End 'Birthright' Citizenship for Kids Born to Illegals in USA

At War with Mexico

COMMENTARY:
By Alan Caruba

"Alan CarubaThe issue of illegal immigration may end up dominating the presidential election, but there was scarce attention paid to it in the debates leading up to the Iowa caucuses. The candidate who promises to put a stop to it will be the candidate who wins. The party that temporizes will be the party that fails.

As the situation in Iraq eases, the eyes of voters will be on our southern border,where another war is being fought. Although no such war has been authorized or declared, a full-scale invasion has been taking place for years, resulting in an estimated one tenth of all Mexicans presently living in the United States.

They are not pilgrims. They are parasites.

The drain on our economy, while well documented, has not received sufficient....."

Read more of "At War with Mexico."

NEWS ON 'THE BRECK GIRL'

Lagging in Polls, Edwards Ready to Fight
Hampton, N.H. – Former Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.) said he knows he’s the underdog in Tuesday’s New Hampshire primary, but he is assuring his supporters that he’s ready for a fight, both as a candidate and as president...

OBAMA NEWS

Obama Hopes to Exit NH As New ‘Inevitable’ Nominee
Nashua, N.H. – Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York may have entered last week’s Iowa caucuses as the inevitable nominee, but Sen. Barack Obama is now poised to exit New Hampshire as the new candidate of inevitability...

Obama’s Abortion Stance Hurts Blacks, Say Pro-Life Experts
Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) may be riding what seems a perfect wave toward the Democratic presidential nomination, but some African-Americans say his pro-abortion stance make him a danger to the black community...

More about the "Religion of Peace"

Cal Thomas
Segregation: Muslim Style

Where there are large concentrations of Muslims in England, "no-go" zones are being established and, according to the Rt Rev Michael Nazir-Ali, the Church of England's Bishop of Rochester, non-Muslims who "trespass" in such neighborhoods risk attack.

Liberal fascism

By Daniel Pipes
Fascism's Legacy: Liberalism

Liberal fascism sounds like an oxymoron - or a term for conservatives to insult liberals. Actually, it was coined by a socialist writer, none other than the respected and influential left-winger H.G. Wells.


RELATED:
Liberal Fascism::By Rich Lowry

The f-bomb of American politics is the word "fascist," routinely hurled by the left at conservatives. Ronald Reagan and Barry Goldwater were smeared as incipient fascists, and George W. Bush now receives the honor, along with practically anyone to the right of Rosie O'Donnell on a college campus.

The operational meaning of the word "fascism" for most liberals who invoke it is usually "shut up." It's meant to bludgeon conservatives into silence. But many on the left also genuinely believe that there is something fascistic in the DNA of contemporary conservatism, as if Republican Party conventions would get their rightful treatment only if they were worshipfully filmed by Leni Riefenstahl.

CHANGE CAN BE BAD TOO, YOU KNOW

By David Limbaugh
Observations on the Presidential Races

We expect promises of change from Democratic candidates, but it's disappointing to watch certain Republican candidates yield to that superficially seductive sound bite, too.

Calls for Unity

By Dennis Prager
Sen. Obama's Calls for Unity Are Not What They Seem

I do not doubt Mr. Obama's sincerity. The wish that all people be united is an elemental human desire. But there are two major problems with it. First, it is not truly honest. Second, it is childish.

ON CENTRALIZED BUREAUCRACY

“Our party must be the party of the individual. It must not sell out the individual to cater to the group. No greater challenge faces our society today than ensuring that each one of us can maintain his dignity and his identity in an increasingly complex, centralized society. Extreme taxation, excessive controls, oppressive government competition with business... frustrated minorities and forgotten Americans are not the products of free enterprise. They are the residue of centralized bureaucracy, of government by a self-anointed elite. Our party must be based on the kind of leadership that grows and takes its strength from the people...[O]ur cause must be to rediscover, reassert and reapply America s spiritual heritage to our national affairs. Then with God s help we shall indeed be as a city upon a hill with the eyes of all people upon us.” —Ronald Reagan

ABOUT FRED THOMPSON

“I must confess that Fred Thompson] is the only one [of the GOP presidential candidates] I don’t have major reservations about—apart from his electability. Yes, I worry that he supported McCain-Feingold and that he might not be a strong supply-sider. But on most issues, he seems reliably conservative and appears to have a solid and strong character. I do believe that with Fred, we know what we are getting. I find his lack of ‘fire in the belly’ refreshing. He strikes me as one of the few presidential candidates since Ronald Reagan whose primary motivation is not personal aggrandizement but rather serving and leading the nation in very troubled and dangerous times. I see him as almost being drafted into this project, and his refusal to drool publicly over the prospect of becoming the most powerful man in the world is positively delightful.” —David Limbaugh

HILLARY NEWS

Hillary Bussing in Supporters to New Hampshire

Hillary Humbled
Hillary Clinton made one thing very clear at Saturday night’s Democratic debate: Her likability tour is definitely over. Baring her claws at opponents Barack Obama and John Edwards, the real Hillary was finally in evidence. The mask was off and her rage, arrogance, and sense of entitlement were on full display. Read more.

Hillary Fights Back Tears

Hillary in Campaign Meltdown

Iranian Boats Clash with U.S. Navy

Barack Obama's Racist Church

On the Sunday after 9/11, Trinity United Church of Christ’s Rev. Wright said the attacks were a consequence of violent American policies. Four years later, Wright suggested that the attacks were retribution for America’s racism. So why does Barack Obama continue to attend this church? Read the Full Story here.

HUCKABEE NEWS

Huckabee’s Populist Message Slams ‘Nanny State’
Though economic populism and small-government conservatism don’t seem to go together, Mike Huckabee is trying to make the two a logical combination. The Republican presidential candidate has swept through New Hampshire for the last several days, explaining why big government is a burden on working-class Americans...

Limbaugh, Other Conservatives, Slam Huckabee
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee won the first Republican primary of the 2008 election last week, but many top conservatives are not happy, with some calling him a “Christian socialist” and others a “Republican Jimmy Carter.”doesn’t stand a chance.” Full Story

Michael Medved is one who is not slamming Huckabee; he considers Huckabee to have many conservative positions. Medved writes:

Distorting Huckabee's Victory

Predictably enough, most media commentators have totally misinterpreted the nature of Mike Huckabee's big win in the Iowa GOP caucuses. Conventional wisdom says that he swept to victory based on overwhelming support from Evangelicals, but conventional wisdom is flat-out wrong.

According to the exit polls used by major news networks, a majority of voters who described themselves as "evangelical" or "born again" Christians actually voted against Huckabee--with 54 percent splitting their support among Romney, McCain, Thompson and Ron Paul. Yes, Huckabee's 46 percent of Evangelicals was a strong showing, but it was directly comparable to his 40 percent of women, or 40 percent of all voters under the age of 30, or 41 percent of those earning less than $30,000 a year. His powerful appeal to females, the young and the poor make him a different kind of Republican, who connects with voting blocs the GOP needs to win back. He's hardly the one-dimensional religious candidate that we see in the media caricature.

McCAIN NEWS

McCain’s Support for GOP Pro-life Plank Questioned
As a resurgent John McCain campaigned in New Hampshire Friday, some pro-life Republicans questioned the Arizona senator’s commitment to the pro-life plank of the Republican Party...

McCain Rejects Anti-Tax Pledge, Supports Vote Against Bush Tax Cuts
At the November 2007 CNN/YouTube Republican debate, Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) was one of only two candidates who refused to commit himself to opposing tax increases -- and taxes are a crucial issue to many GOP voters in Tuesday’s New Hampshire primary...

Jack Kemp Endorses McCain

OBAMA NEWS

Big Crowds Greet Surging Obama in NH
Nashua, N.H. - Large and enthusiastic crowds turned out for Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) at venues across New Hampshire in the weekend before this state’s first-in-the-nation primary, as Obama surged in a series of polls, taking the lead over Sen. Hillary Clinton in this state..


Female Voters Abandoning Clinton for Obama
A plurality of female voters in last week’s Iowa caucuses picked Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois over Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York, and polls now point to a similar trend unfolding in New Hampshire...

Federal Department of Light Bulbs & Toilets
By Chuck Muth

How many congressmen does it take to change a light bulb? 400. That's how many members of Congress recently voted for a bill to force Americans to change the 50-cent incandescent light bulbs they're currently using and replace them with expensive new, $3 "energy-efficient" light bulbs. The light bulb ban is simply the latest example of an increasingly intrusive federal government butting into the day-to-day affairs of the average citizen...

Scientists Warn Against Religious Belief in Global Warming

"It seems that in the climatic area a new faith fight has broken out, which has all the characteristics of historical religion," warned professor Francis Massen of the Physics Laboratory in Luxemburg, one of the scientists included in the report.

"There is an unrestrained contest among media, environmental groups, and politicians to paint as dire a picture as possible," Massen added.

South Korea’s Next President Wants Nuke Shutdown Before Peace Treaty

South Korea’s conservative incoming president will not push for a formal end to the Korean War unless North Korean denuclearization is complete -- a stance that puts Lee Myung-bak at odds with that of his liberal predecessor...

Huckabee Described As 'Christian Socialist'

Richard A. Viguerie, the author of Conservatives Betrayed: How George W. Bush and Other Big Government Republicans Hijacked the Conservative Cause called Huckabee's win "bad news" for the Republican Party.

"Mike Huckabee is a Christian socialist. He is a good man, but with a Big Government heart," Viguerie said in a news release late Thursday night. "He is the most liberal of all the Republican presidential candidates on economic issues."

Viguerie said Huckabee is inclined to solve any problem by passing laws or launching another government program. "If like President George W. Bush, you'll love Mike Huckabee," Viguerie said. Continue reading....

Fighting Vote Fraud With Photo ID
By Robert Bluey

All eyes will be on New Hampshire Wednesday morning for the first true primary in the 2008 elections. But even as hardy New Englanders trudge to the polls, something at least as consequential will happening in Washington, D.C.

Romney Wins Wyoming Caucuses

Democrats Boo Hillary

As if coming in a shocking third in the Iowa caucuses weren't humiliating enough, Hillary Clinton had to endure being booed by fellow Democrats, not once but twice. Read more.

Clinton Machine Shaken by Setback

TIME:

The scope of Barack Obama's victory in Iowa has shaken the Clinton machine down to its bolts. Donors are panicking. The campaign has been making a round of calls to reassure notoriously fickle "superdelegates" — elected officials and party regulars who are awarded convention spots by virtue of their titles and positions — who might be reconsidering their decisions to back the candidate who formerly looked like a sure winner. And internally, a round of recriminations is being aimed at her chief strategist, Mark Penn, as the representative of everything about her pseudo-incumbent campaign that has been too cautious, too arrogant, too conventional and too clueless as to how much the political landscape has shifted since the last Clinton reign. One adviser summed up the biggest challenge that faces the campaign in two words: "Fresh thinking."

Read on.

War on Terror Update

Confidence in War on Terror Near Highest Level of Bush’s Second Term:
43% Believe U.S. and Allies Winning War on Terror

The latest Rasmussen Reports tracking poll finds that 43% of Americans now say the U.S. and its allies are winning the War on Terror (see crosstabs). While that’s down slightly from 47% a month ago, it’s the third straight month at 43% or above. That hasn’t happened since the three months ending in January 2006.

During the first nine months .... Read on.

Goldilocks Needs Tax-Reform, Not Populism

Yes, corporate profits are slowing and jobs are softening. Despite 52 months of ongoing jobs gains and 1.3 million new payrolls in the past year, December jobs registered only 18,000 and the unemployment rate ticked back up to (a still historically low) 5 percent. Despite years of gains from a booming business sector, corporate profits are in fact falling at about a 6 percent clip.

But the last thing we need now is root-canal economic populism from the campaign trail and the mainstream media telling us that Americans are unhappy. Unhappy? According to a Gallup Poll released last week, "Most Americans say they are generally happy, with a slim majority saying they are 'very happy.'" They're also prosperous. According to Investor's Business Daily, household wealth in the United States soared 51 percent to $58.6 trillion in last year's third quarter, from $38.8 trillion in 2002.

Meanwhile....... Read on.

Daily Presidential Tracking Poll

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Sunday shows John McCain and Mike Huckabee tied in the race for the Republican Presidential Nomination. Nationally, it’s McCain 19%, Mike Huckabee 19%, Rudy Giuliani 17%, Mitt Romney 15%, and Fred Thompson at 13%. Ron Paul attracts 4% support.

In the race for the Democratic Presidential Nomination, it’s Clinton 36%, Barack Obama 25% and John Edwards 23% (see recent daily numbers). While Clinton retains a lead in the national polling, RasmussenMarkets data suggests that Obama may now be considered the frontrunner for the nomination.

More.

Election 2008: New Hampshire Democratic Primary

The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey in New Hampshire shows Barack Obama earning 39% of the vote while Hillary Clinton attracts 27%. The survey was conducted on Friday night and Saturday afternoon. All interviews were conducted after the Iowa caucuses and before last night’s debate.

Rasmussen Reports will.... Read on.