There are two basic elements that will result in a vibrant, fully productive American economy: low taxes, and a stable non-inflating dollar.
President Bush is working hard on one element, lowering taxes, for which he is receiving grief from liberals who stubbornly maintain we need higher taxes to fix our problems, this in the face of an economy that has steadily produced lower unemployment, and solid growth.
Robert Reich, a former Clinton Labor Secretary, is one of these leftists. He dangerously claims the supply-side economists are dreaming and it will soon come to an end. He wants higher taxes and more government solutions. He is wildly wrong, as will be shown in a moment. (more…)
November 21, 2007
Pax Britannica – Grimgold
Tom Delay Says He’d Like to “Bitch-slap” Paul Krugman
Adam Doster and Patrick Gavin, The Houston Examiner, November 20, 2007
Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay may not be in a leadership position on Capitol Hill anymore, but that doesn’t mean he can’t weigh in on the current GOP leadership.
DeLay told Yeas & Nays that Republicans in Congress are “looking for something to believe in” and “they’re not getting it out of this Republican leadership. … The leadership just isn’t getting it.”
“They’re looking for some backbone,” said DeLay, who also chimed in on the 2008 election. He said the Republican party is “going to get our clocks cleaned in 2008″ and unequivocally said that “Hillary [Clinton] will be the next president.” Which ought to give DeLay’s newest projects, the Coalition for a Conservative Majority and a consulting firm called First Principles, LLC, plenty to do.
DeLay gave us is his dour assessment at a book party for former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton, which was held at the Georgetown home of former Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman. The party was a virtual “who’s who” of the conservative movement: Lynne Cheney, Liz Cheney Perry, Scooter Libby, David Keene, Vin Weber, Grover Norquist, Barbara Comstock, Armstrong Williams, Mary Matalin, Ramesh Ponnuru, John Fund, Byron York and Kate O’Beirne.
November 20, 2007
The Debate Over “The War on Thanksgiving”
Andrew Santella, Slate Magazine, November 19, 2007
Anyone who has ever had to listen to foodies argue over which wine pairs best with turkey knows that Thanksgiving can inspire vehement—and tiresome—disagreement. But of all the questions connected with our celebration of Thanksgiving, none provokes as much heat as the debate over religion’s place at the table.
A few years ago, some Christians began to sound the alarm about a “war on Christmas,” alleging that schools, courts, and local governments were transforming a sacred holiday into a secularized winter festival. Now, much as the 24-hour Christmas music on the radio seems to start earlier each year, a few believers are voicing their worry about the secularization of our society in November instead of December. Concerned about the eroding religious dimension of Thanksgiving, they urge a return to a more sacred holiday. If the war-on-Christmas crowd asks us to put Christ back into Christmas, these Thanksgiving religionists urge us to celebrate Thanksgiving with the emphasis on thanking God. But complaints about a secularized Thanksgiving are even less convincing than the outcry over Christmas.
As holidays go, Thanksgiving has long suffered from an especially acute spiritual identity crisis. Even the most casually religious Americans say grace or otherwise offer thanks before Thanksgiving dinner—even if the thanking is done between pie-eating binges. On the other hand, it’s not as common for us to attend a worship service on Thanksgiving as it is on more obviously religious days like Christmas and Easter. So, just how religious of a holiday should we consider Thanksgiving? Some seem to want to answer that question by telling us exactly how and whom to thank.
In Christianity Today’s Leadership Journal, Eric Reed decried a “thankless society” that has forgotten the holiday’s putative religious significance. R. Albert Mohler Jr. of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary called the secular vision of Thanksgiving “empty and false” on the Washington Post religion blog, On Faith. And conservative Web site WorldNetDaily offers up Thanksgiving-themed magnetic bumper stickers that counsel, “Remember to thank HIM”—perhaps an admonition to those who would merely thank their lucky stars.
For these spiritual defenders of Thanksgiving, it’s not so much Christmas-style commercialization that threatens their holiday—although pre-Christmas big-box sales and football on Fox might strike some as unholy distractions. Instead, much of their concern centers on the way the traditional stories of the first Thanksgiving most of us learned in grade school have been disputed, if not abandoned. For religious thanks-givers, it is the attempt to revise the historical record that is helping to strip the holiday of its proper spiritual meaning.
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That’s what I like about those Pentagon boys…. always thinkin’!
U.S. Hopes to Use Pakistani Tribes Against Al Qaeda WASHINGTON, Nov. 18 — A new and classified American military proposal outlines an intensified effort to enlist tribal leaders in the frontier areas of Pakistan in the fight against Al Qaeda and the Taliban, as part of a broader effort to bolster Pakistani forces against an expanding militancy, American military officials said.
Just wait for the surprised reports 6 months later that Al Qaeda and the Taliban have been using brand-new American made weapons against U.S. troops in Afghanistan
The Tattlesnake — Swiftie JFK Tutu Redux and Slimus Returns Edition
– Kerry As Dumb As Ever: The AP reported Nov. 16th that Texas oil prick T. Boone Pickens has offered $1 million to anyone who can prove that the allegations against John Kerry made by the Swift Boat Veterans for ‘Truth’ in 2004 are false. Idiot Kerry quickly took him up on his offer, with the pay-off to be donated to the Paralyzed Veterans of America. Here’s why Kerry’s an idiot, playing into his opponents’ hands once again, and why Pickens will never pay out a dime: Most of the ‘charges’ against Kerry were not based on facts but personal recollections, although contrary to the official record. So how do you prove some bitter rightie lunatic’s memories are false and that he was lying when he said it, especially when he’s spent his adult life delusionally blaming you for ‘losing’ the war? Almost impossible, and the charges that can be refuted factually by Navy records will be dismissed by Pickens, as they were in 2004. Just like Bush’s grandiose promises to make sure returning vets had the best health care in the world and that the US would throw billions at Africa’s AIDS problem, Pickens’ offer was a typical neocon feint to get headlines, counting on the average mook thinking, “Gee, if some guy is gonna put up a million bucks those charges must be true!” and then not following up to find out what happened. It’s another Rovian water-cooler rumor assault and it’s probably just as well that Kerry never made it to the Oval Office if he’s going to blunder into traps like this — didn’t it even occur to him that the guy who is going to decide what facts of his to accept is money-man Pickens?
Why Would Anyone Believe Joe Lieberman Is America’s Ultimate Statesman?
It is hard to believe that there is anyone in this country that has a favorable view of Joe Lieberman’s politics but there is. In an article today on Bloomberg.com, columnists Morton Kondracke points to the 2008 presidential race and laments that there is no one running that has the right political mix and statesmanship for the presidency. Kondracke does believe that Joe Lieberman is the person that has those qualities.
Kondracke believes that the Democrats have become too liberal in their foreign policy approach and that the Republicans are not fiscally responsible anymore and are too conservative on social issues. But not Joe. Kondracke went way too far in his comparisons.
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