Thomas Sowell : The Economic "Stimulus"

Two centuries ago, when there were plans to create a huge fund of money to pay off Britain's national debt, the great classical economist David Ricardo objected on grounds that-- no matter what the money was said to be for-- politicians could spend it for whatever they wanted.

Two centuries later, we have not yet caught up to that.....

Cal Thomas : Pigs at the Trough

Like pigs waiting in line to get their snouts in the feeding trough, come many of the nation's governors -- on the heels of the mayors -- asking Washington for bailout money.

Democratic governors from overspending states like.....

Calif. Supreme Court Will Hear Case Challenging In-State Tuition to Illegal Aliens
(CNSNews.com) - The California Supreme Court will hear a case on the legality of granting in-state tuition to illegal aliens attending public colleges, potentially setting a national precedent for nine other states that allow the same discount.

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For the remarkable Japanese, it's time to dance

Japan is stumbling into what could be a year of seminal decision-making for a people, a culture, and an economy — all still unique and critical for her Asian neighbors and the keystone of U.S. strategies and policies in the region. [Read more]

Gaza conflict has everything to do with the power struggle in Iran

The escalation in rocket attacks by Hamas forces in Gaza against neighboring Israeli towns over the past 18 months, leading to Israeli retaliation must be viewed in the context of the struggle for power now underway between competing sets of Iranian clerics.

Iran has been the principal financial, logistical, and ideological sponsor of......

Russia exercise with Greece sets precedent

ATHENS — Russia has launched its first military exercise in Greece, regarded as the closest NATO member to Moscow.

U.K. Rescue Fails to Spur Bank Loans - WSJ.com

LONDON -- A new U.K. lending survey shows banks sharply tightening credit to households and companies, intensifying worries that the government's £500 billion ($725 billion) bank-rescue plan is failing to get money flowing into the economy.

The report shows banks becoming increasingly conservative in lending practices, reducing maximum credit lines and cutting the size of mortgage loans as a percentage of home values. Banks said they were scaling back mortgage lending even as demand for new mortgage loans remained stable.  [Read more]

The Senate Goes Wobbly on Card Check

WSJ.com

It's hard to defend taking away the secret ballot.
By KIMBERLEY A. STRASSEL

Responsibility has a way of focusing the mind.

Take Mark Pryor, Democratic senator from Arkansas. In 2007, Mr. Pryor voted to move card check, Big Labor's No. 1 priority. And why not? Mr. Pryor knew the GOP would ..........

Funny Business in Minnesota

WSJ.com-

Strange things keep happening in Minnesota, where the disputed recount in the Senate race between Norm Coleman and Al Franken may be nearing a dubious outcome. Thanks to the machinations of Democratic Secretary of State Mark Ritchie and a meek state Canvassing Board, Mr. Franken may emerge as an illegitimate victor.
[Review & Outlook] AP

Mr. Franken started the recount 215 votes behind Senator Coleman, but he now claims a 225-vote lead and suddenly the man who......

HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?

French warship captures 19 Somali pirates

Source: Reuters

Iranian commander: Cut oil sales to Israel's backers-

Reuters.com

TEHRAN, Jan 4 (Reuters) - An Iranian military commander called on Islamic countries to cut oil exports to Israel's supporters in response to the Jewish state's offensive in Gaza, the official IRNA news agency reported on Sunday.

IRNA said commander Bagherzadeh described oil as "one of the powerful elements of pressure" on the Jewish state's Western backers in the "unequal war" faced by Palestinians in the coastal strip.

"Pointing at Westerners' dependence on the Islamic countries' oil and energy resources, he (Bagherzadeh) called for .....

China factory output dips further

BBC NEWS-

China's manufacturing output fell for a third consecutive month in December as the global economic slowdown continued to impact on its economy.

The official purchasing managers' index moved slightly higher than November's all-time low to 41.2 with any figure under 50 indicating a contraction.

The fall was caused by ........

Russia Wants Warships Stationed Around the Globe

MOSCOW - Russia's military leaders approved a plan by the navy on Sunday to station warships permanently in friendly ports across the globe.

Underfunded since the 1991 break up of the Soviet Union, the Russian navy has .....

Israel: Hamas May Be Using Chinese Rockets

New Hamas rockets pounding Israel are suspected of being sophisticated Chinese rockets with enough range to strike more than 25 miles into Israel and enough punch to add a brutal new dimension to the escalating violence, an Israel Defense Forces spokesman told Newsmax Sunday.

Capt. Ishai David said that three-meter-long rockets with a range of 40 kilometers started landing in the Negev Desert region of Israel a week ago.

The IDF is currently engaged in offensive operations in Gaza to wipe out Hamas missile sites bombarding Israeli cities with cascades of missiles. If the new missiles .....

Israeli Troops Slice Deep into Gaza

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip – Thousands of Israeli troops backed by tanks and helicopter gunships surrounded Gaza's largest city and fought militants at close range Sunday, the first full day of an overwhelming ground offensive in the coastal territory.

Israel said it has inflicted a heavy blow against Hamas as it expands a weeklong offensive meant to stop rocket fire on southern Israel. But spiraling civilian casualties..... [Read more]

Roseanne Barr blasts Israel as 'Nazi state'

Accuses Jews bombing Gaza of learning from their German 'mentors'

Top conservatives back Blackwell

Ben Smith - Politico.com

Two dozen conservative luminaries will announce today their support for former Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell for Republican Nation Committee chairman.

The group, which mixes leading economic conservatives, including Steve Forbes and Pat Toomey, and leading social conservatives, including James Dobson and Tony Perkins, had agreed to endorse and campaign together for a candidate based....

Prez-Elect Makes New Pitch, Promises on Job Creation....

Including 600,000 New Government Employees

In his radio address today, President-elect Obama uses some new language when discussing what he wants the stimulus package to achieve in terms of jobs. First off, he has a name for the package -- the "American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan." [Read on]

HAPPY NEW YEAR

I hope everyone had a good New Year's Eve.

Let's hope 2009 is a turnaround from the free-fall we have been in since October.

"No freeman shall be debarred the use of arms [within his own lands]"

--Thomas Jefferson

"If we can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people, under the pretence of taking care of them, they must become happy."

--Thomas Jefferson

"I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them."

--Thomas Jefferson

"It is incumbent on every generation to pay its own debts as it goes. A principle which if acted on would save one-half the wars of the world."

-- Thomas Jefferson

"When we get piled upon one another in large cities, as in Europe, we shall become as corrupt as Europe ."

-- Thomas Jefferson

The UAW's Money-Squandering Corruptocracy

By Michelle Malkin

Nero fiddled while Rome burned. The UAW golfed. While carmakers soak up $17 billion in taxpayer bailout funds and demand more for their ailing industry, United Auto Workers bosses have wasted tens of millions of their workers' dues on gold-plated resorts and rotten investments. [Read more]

Teaching Economics

By Walter E. Williams

Many professors, mostly on the liberal side of the political spectrum, use their classrooms to proselytize students. [Read more]

Israel's Proportionate Response

By Michael Gerson

WASHINGTON -- There is no question -- none -- that Israel's attack on Hamas in Gaza is justified. No nation can tolerate a portion of its people living in the conditions of the London Blitz -- listening for sirens, sleeping in bomb shelters and separated from death only by the randomness of a Qassam missile's flight. And no group aspiring to nationhood, such as Hamas, can be exempt from the rules of sovereignty, morality and civilization, which, at the very least, forbid routine murder attempts against your neighbors.

Israel's response has been criticized as "disproportionate," which betrays a misunderstanding of proportion's meaning. The goal of military action, when....

The State of Our Borders 2008

By Michelle Malkin

If you think the bad economy has "solved" America's immigration problems, welcome to your end-of-the-year reality check. [Read more]

The So-called International Community

By Mona Charen:
Just for a lark, I decided to google "international condemnations of Hamas" this morning.
[Read more]

Long ago when men cursed and beat the ground with sticks,
it was called witchcraft.

Today, it's called golf.

Some people try to turn back their odometers. Not me! I want people to
know why I look this way.

I've traveled a long way and some of the roads weren't paved..