Friday Quick Hits

Here are today's quick hits:

Quick Hit #1: Illegal immigrants a serious drag.
The Washington Times reports on a new study showing some disturbing trends: 32% of uninsured residents in America are illegal aliens, 24% of those in or near poverty are illegal aliens, there are as many as 38 million illegal aliens in America. This is a massive problem that needs to be fixed ASAP (and not with amnesty or more handouts)!

Quick Hit #2: Murtha acknowledges reality.
Dem. Congressman Jack Murtha, after a trip to Iraq, admitted that the surge has worked. This is a major reversal, as Murtha said Pentagon statements of progress earlier in the year were 'delusional'. More proof, as if we needed it...it must have hurt him to say this!

Quick Hit #3: More and more plants.
Michelle Malkin blows open even more plants from the CNN/YouTube debate, highlighting a former intern for Rep. Jane Harman (Dem, CA), a staffer for Sen. Dick Durbin (Dem, IL), and a public supporter of Gov. Bill Richardson. Were any of the questions legitimate? Doesn't look that way. Ironically, CNN originally said the videos were selected by seasoned CNN journalists because the Internet is an immature medium and it would be too easy for campaigns to 'game the system'. Riiiiiight...

Quick Hit #4: Unbelievable airport security measures...!
The TSA is now considering having 'Behavior Detection Officers' at airport security checkpoints. Yep, it's exactly what it sounds like - people watching for facial expressions, signs of nervousness, and verbal cues that could pull people out of line for closer inspection. Can we say Big Brother, anyone?!

Quick Hit #5: True love in New York.
Registering a perfect 10 on the 'awww...' scale is this story from New York City. A young man spotted the girl of his dreams on the subway one evening, but it was so crowded that she got off before he could approach her. He was a web designer, so he set up a website to find this mystery woman...and it worked! Within hours he had received a flood of calls and e-mails, one of which led to the right woman. And you just thought it happened in Hollywood!

Have a great weekend!

If You Want To Pay More Taxes, You Can

For anyone who thinks we need to be paying more taxes, Jack Kemp has found just the way to do that. In response to Bill Clinton's whining about how the rich don't pay enough taxes to support our troops in times of war, Kemp found a U.S. Treasury Department website where donations can be sent in.

Let's see if Bill is willing to put his money where his mouth is. Don't hold your breath.

There's my two cents.

Told You So!

Well, it's not often that one gets instant verification of a political prediction, but it happened today!

Earlier this morning I posted about how global warming has 'caused' almost everything that happens on the face of the planet, and suggested that the entire purpose for radical environmentalism was to suck money from the wealthy.

Here's the proof! The upcoming Bali climate change summit doesn't even attempt to hide it. Excerpts [emphasis mine]:

The problem is global and the response must be collaboration on a global scale. The rich countries must lead the way in taking action.

For a 50% reduction in global emissions by 2050, the world average per capita must drop from seven tonnes to two or three. Within these global targets, even a minimal view of equity demands that the rich countries' reductions should be at least 80% - either made directly or purchased.

Rich countries also need to provide funding for three more key elements of a global deal. First, there should be an international programme to combat deforestation, which contributes 15-20% of emissions. For $10bn-$15bn per year, half the deforestation could be stopped.

Second, there needs to be promotion of rapid technological advance to mitigate the effects of climate change. The development of technologies must be accelerated and methods found to promote their sharing. Carbon capture and storage for coal (CCS) is particularly urgent since coal-fired electric power is currently the dominant technology around the world, and emerging nations will be investing heavily in these technologies. For $5bn a year, it should be possible to create 30 commercial-scale coal-fired CCS stations within seven or eight years.

Finally, rich countries should honour their commitment to 0.7% of GDP in aid by 2015. This would yield increases in flows of $150bn-$200bn per year. The extra costs that developing countries face as a result of climate change are likely to be upwards of $80bn a year, and it is vital that extra resources are available. This proposed programme of action can be built if rich countries take a lead in Bali on their targets.

This is precisely why the issue of global warming is a political one rather than a scientific one - it seeks to take money from the wealthy and re-distribute it to the poor. It has nothing to do with the actual environment.

These proposals add up to hundreds of billions of dollars over the next couple of years. Who's the wealthiest country in the world? America. Who do you think will be footing the bill for all of these developing nations?

You will.

This is why this issue should concern you and every other American today.

There's my two cents.

Clinton Pollster Dismisses Negative Poll

In response to the recent Zogby poll showing Hillary Clinton was trailing all five Republican presidential candidates, Clinton pollster Mark Penn said on MSNBC’s "Morning Joe" program with Joe Scarborough on Tuesday morning:

"That was Zogby's first interactive, online poll ever. The Gallup poll that came out also yesterday showed Senator Clinton five points ahead of Giuliani and double digits ahead of some of the other possible Republican nominees, and showed that if Barack Obama were the nominee it would be dead even.

"That's a real poll. That's got 50 years of history. This is the first time Zogby has done something online. It's a meaningless poll, and really, frankly, shouldn't even be on your show."

Newsmax posts Zogby's response:

"Penn mischaracterized this latest online Zogby poll as our first interactive survey ever — a bizarre contention, since we have been developing and perfecting our Internet poll methodology for nearly a decade, and since Penn's company has been quietly requesting the results of such polls from Zogby for years...

"What is interesting is that no other campaign has made as many requests for Zogby polling data over the years than Penn has made on behalf of Clinton.

Because Mark Penn is a quality pollster himself, we chalk up his contention that our poll is 'meaningless' as a knee-jerk reaction by a campaign under pressure coming down the stretch."

So why should you care?
You should take note of this because it is standard operating procedure for the Clintons - anyone who disagrees with them needs to be silenced. There is a long history of this with Bill's campaigns and actions, and it appears that Hillary is utilizing the same tactics. Anyone who is thinking of voting for Clinton needs to understand this about her.

There's my two cents.

Updates On Several Recent Posts

Some updates on recent stories I've posted about:

Another plant has been uncovered at the CNN/YouTube debate, this one a former CAIR intern.


The British teacher/mother in Sudan who was arrested for naming the class teddy bear 'Mohammed' was sentenced to 15 days in prison. Some might think that's harsh (including myself), but it could have been worse. Apparently, thousands of 'Islamic fanatics' are marching through the streets with knives and clubs demanding her execution. How's Islam looking now?


Iran is still cracking down, this time on rap music. Ahmadinejad is taking censorship to a new level, apparently.


Vladimir Putin, President of Russia, is planning to use coercion and manipulation to rig Russia's election in his favor. It appears the Russian leader isn't even being discrete about cheating. Watch out for this guy...he's clearly power-mad.


The Annapolis peace talks apparently resulted in a positive step forward - both Israel and Palestine have agreed to the goal of reaching a peace deal with U.S. support in 2008. Questions abound and many Israelis still fear giving up too much, so it's far from a done deal, but apparently both sides are serious about getting something done. Pay attention, this is history in the making.


Now you're current!

Global Warming Causes Everything (Literally)

I confess to a significant amount of glee in reporting this, the mother of all global warming debunkers!

Christopher Alleva posts on American Thinker about Dr. John Brignell, a British engineering professor who runs a website called numberwatch. One of the things he has chronicled is all -- yes, ALL -- of the things that have been 'caused' by global warming. At this time, there are over 600 links to articles reporting the things supposedly causing global warming, but I'm sure that number will continue to grow. Here's just a small sampling:

Agricultural land increase, Africa devastated, African aid threatened, Africa hit hardest, air pressure changes, Alaska reshaped, allergies increase, Alps melting, Amazon a desert, American dream end, amphibians breeding earlier (or not), ancient forests dramatically changed, animals head for the hills, Antarctic grass flourishes, anxiety, algal blooms, archaeological sites threatened, Arctic bogs melt, Arctic in bloom, Arctic lakes disappear, asthma, Atlantic less salty, Atlantic more salty, atmospheric defiance, atmospheric circulation modified, attack of the killer jellyfish, avalanches reduced, avalanches increased

And that's just the "A"s...! I especially love the direct contradictions like 'Atlantic less salty' and 'Atlantic more salty'. Go check out the entire list, it's priceless! :)

Be honest...is it really possible that global warming could be causing all of these things, especially the contradictions like the Atlantic's saltiness? No.

Putting all this information together in one place is like hammering a GIANT nail in the coffin of the scientific validity of global warming. And, of course, that prompts the question: if it's not a scientifically valid theory, then what is it?

To environmentalist zealots, it's become a religion; to the rest of us, it's the biggest hoax ever perpetrated.

Why should you care?
You should care because those same environmentalist zealots are constantly pushing for funding for 'green' causes, and that means higher taxes taking your money away from you. Things like the Kyoto Treaty are purely an attempt to take money from wealthy nations and distribute it to poor nations. And, as I've discussed before, environmentalist wackos are largely responsible for the current energy crisis (i.e. dependence on foreign oil) that we're experiencing.

You should care about this a lot because it hits your pocketbook every day.

There's my two cents.

The Brainwashing Is Early And Thorough

I had a great conversation earlier this week about why the spread of Islam is a very bad thing, and why America faces a critical decision on what to do about it. While we disagreed on a great many points, we did agree on the fact that there is an incredibly deep-seated hatred toward all Jews (and from there, the hate spreads easily to Christians since the Christian faith came out of the Jewish faith) embedded in Islam. America is, of course, the primary Christian nation in the world today, thus the hatred toward America, too.

But where does that hatred come from? Why is it there?

As is so often the case, we have to look no further than Islam itself to find the source of that hatred. Watch this video.

If this doesn't send shivers down your spine, nothing will. This is precisely why the spread of Islam is a danger to Americans - Islam is a brainwashing faith, and they start early. Sadly, I fear that too many of us simply don't comprehend or believe the depth of this hatred, and are thus unwilling or unable to stand up against it. How can we Americans, who know such prosperity and freedom -- in a country where our military willingly fights and dies for the rights of their antagonists to speak against them -- possibly understand the internalization that would prompt a religion to brainwash a 3-year-old into hating Jews simply for being Jewish?

Is Islam our greatest enemy in this day and age? I believe so, but I also believe that an equal share of the problem belongs to our own free nature, which has a hard time willingly grasping what Islam is all about. However, if we don't, we face severe consequences for our willful ignorance. Belloc put it well when he said in "The Pacifist":

Pale Ebenezer thought it wrong to fight
But Roaring Bill (who killed him) thought it right.

How true! To put it into this context: whether we acknowledge the intent and hatred inherent in Islam or not, we'll be equally as dead when radical jihadists kill us.

It is our choice to either remain ignorant of the threat (and be slaughtered like Pale Ebenezer), or to be educated and ready to speak out and stand up against it. There will come a time when a choice will be forced upon you. What will you choose?

There's my two cents.

Missouri Got Shown

Missouri Governor Matt Blunt proposed further legislation to crack down on illegal aliens earlier this week. He said the state has safeguards to prevent illegal aliens from getting driver's licenses, but there is no specific law against it. Along with a call for such a law, Blunt also proposes criminal penalties for anyone who helps an illegal obtain a driver's license.

The Show-Me State got shown the way by Spitzer's mistake in New York a few weeks ago; fortunately, Blunt saw the reaction and took the right course.

There's my two cents.

Santa Held Hostage

The Mayor of Seattle, WA made a statement that if the children of the city don't use energy-efficient light bulbs, Santa and his reindeer will drown from the polar ice caps melting. I kid you not - go read it yourself!

Seriously, you just can't make this stuff up!

There's my two cents.

The Religion Of Perpetual Outrage Strikes Again

The U.K. Daily Mail reports on a British teacher in Sudan, Gillian Gibbons, who was arrested for naming her class (of 7-year-olds) teddy bear 'Mohammed', after one of the students. She faces three charges: insulting Islam, inciting religious hatred and contempt for religious beliefs - each of which carries a maximum penalty of 40 lashes and a year in jail.

A powerful newspaper -- which is considered to have been instrumental in implementing Sharia law in part of the country -- and many others have come out in opposition to her actions. Though some voices of sanity are being heard, it is scary to watch the religious zeal with which these Muslims are attacking this woman, even going so far as to call for her execution.

When are people going to realize that there is something seriously flawed with this religion, when its followers are constantly looking for any insult and using it as justification to terrorize other people? What is wrong with this religion that it allows someone to be arrested for naming a teddy bear after a child?! What is wrong with this religion that this lady could get 40 lashes, prison time, or execution for naming a teddy bear...!

No word of protest from liberal women's rights groups, of course. They apparently wouldn't want to offend Muslims.

The hypocrisy is stunning.

There's my two cents.

Hate Crime Committed...By 9-Year-Old Boy!

Get a load of this one! A 9-year-old boy in Arizona was suspended for three days for using the phrase 'brown people'. They called it a 'hate crime'.

Now, please understand that I'm not condoning any racial implication of this statement, but are we seriously going to call this a 'hate crime'?! This is exactly what I've been predicting - 'hate crimes' are nothing more than an attempt to control what people think.

But, if you read into this story, there is even more about which to be disturbed:

In an interview Monday, [Principal] Voinovich would not address her comments, first saying she didn't remember the incident, then demanding a copy of the recording [from a recorded parent-teacher conference] and finally insisting that she could not talk about a student's discipline.

The circumstances of the boy’s suspension itself raise troubling questions about student discipline, interrogation and oversight at Abraham Lincoln.

According to school officials, the boy made a statement about “brown people” to another elementary student with whom he was having a conflict. They maintain it was his second offense using the phrase.

But the tape recording indicates this only came out after another parent was allowed to question the boy and elicited from him the statement that he “doesn't cooperate with brown people.”

After that was reported to the boy's teacher, he was made to stand in front of his class and publicly confess what he'd said.

The boy maintains that he never said it; that the words were put in his mouth by the parent who questioned him. That parent happens to be the mother of the student with whom he is having a conflict—and she happens to work for Abraham Lincoln as a detention-room officer.

The tape indicates that rather than just spouting off with racial invective, the boy was asked first why he didn't want to cooperate with brown people by the parent/school official.

In court, this might be called entrapment. Not to mention a conflict of interest.

Is anyone else getting angry yet? It appears this kid was set up in a big way. But wait...yes, there's even more:

Neve [the boy's mother] said school officials didn’t advise her of the incident until several days after they questioned her son. When Neve objected to the suspension during conference, Voinovich told her that she didn't have any rights; that parents give up their rights to discipline when they send a child to school, the tape shows.

Is anyone else a little angry at this point?! Let's go down the list:
- a 9-year-old boy is accused by school officials of a 'hate crime' and suspended for three days
- the alleged 'hate crime' only came out after a school official -- the parent of the kid's opponent -- asked a leading question
- the principal offered multiple stories to the parent, finally stating that the parent had no rights in regard to disciplining her own child

Can we say private school, anyone?

There's my two cents.

Plants Everywhere

Last night's Republican CNN/YouTube debate was more full of plants than an arboretum. Michelle Malkin has the details, but here is a (partial) summary of these 'undecided' voters who asked their questions:

- a young girl who can be seen wearing a John Edwards t-shirt on her YouTube profile (she also has a campaign support link on there)
- a Florida man who is actually a declared Barak Obama supporter
- a 'concerned mom' who is actually a prominent Pittsburgh union activist and declared Edwards supporter
- a gay general who is a member of Hillary Clinton's steering committee

So, let's think about this for a second... Out of all the thousands of YouTube videos submitted to CNN for this debate, the questions they selected include a supporter of every major Democratic candidate. Now, what are the odds of that?

It seems that Democrats have become professional farmers.

There's my two cents.

'Christmas': Are You In, Or Out?

It's that time of year again! The lights are hung, the weather is cold, football is in full swing, and retailers have never been happier. But, which retailers deserve your Christmas money? Every year, the war on Christmas gets a little bit more aggressive in a number of ways. Sometimes schools remove the word 'Christmas' because it's 'religious'. Sometimes cities try to pass ridiculous ordinances, like banning red and green lights because they associate those colors with Christmas. Perhaps most commonly, some major retailers substitute the word 'holiday' for 'Christmas' in an attempt to avoid offending customers (never mind the fact that by avoiding the word 'Christmas' they are offending some 75-80% of the country).

Don't get me wrong - I'm not saying everyone needs to celebrate Christmas. That's one of the great things about America - if you don't want to celebrate Christmas, then don't. But don't you dare stop the rest of us from doing so! The fact is that the vast majority of Americans identify themselves as Christians, and Christmas is a big deal for us. In fact, Rasmussen reports found that fully 2/3 of Americans think 'Merry Christmas' should be used in stores rather than 'Happy Holidays'. Curiously, 88% of Republicans say that, while only 57% of Democrats agree. Draw your own conclusions on that one...

Anyway, don't think that Christians lack a voice when it comes to standing up for our beliefs and traditions! To prove it, I wanted to post some information for the next month or so about retailers that are trying to avoid labeling Christmas as, well, Christmas. I'm going to keep this information at the top of my blog so it will be easy for you to access.

The best comprehensive list I've seen so far is posted at the Liberty Counsel's website. They call it their 'Naughty & Nice' list. Boycott or not, but you better believe that the consumer spending power of Christians standing for 'Christmas' is substantial...if we all do it.

Show me the list!

Merry Christmas, and have a great time shopping!

There's my two cents.


***UDATE***
Per the AFA, Mrs. Fields, Gap, Old Navy, and Sears/K-Mart are apparently not playing nicely with Christmas...

***UPDATE***
A reader tells me that Kohl's has seen the light and is now playing nicely with Christmas...

If You're Planning A Vacation, You Need To See This

This is unbelievable! Before you stay at a hotel again, you need to watch this:

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=a7f_1194813218

Makes you see things in a new light, doesn't it? Yuck.

There's my two cents.

Bill Clinton: Flip-Flopper Extraordinaire

From Clarice Feldman at American Thinker:

Yesterday, Bill Clinton stated he's always opposed the war in Iraq, which if true would have placed him at odds with his position in 1998 when he bombed an aspirin factory just as he was about to be impeached, and -- more significantly -- with his wife's position when she voted to authorize the war.

Don Surber shows that it's also at odds with Clinton's stated position during the war:

CNN reported on June 23, 2004:

Former President Clinton has revealed that he continues to support President Bush's decision to go to war in Iraq but chastised the administration over the abuses at Abu Ghraib prison.

"I have repeatedly defended President Bush against the left on Iraq, even though I think he should have waited until the U.N. inspections were over," Clinton said in a Time magazine interview that will hit newsstands Monday, a day before the publication of his book "My Life."

So, why such an obvious and easy to prove fib? My guess is that he and Hil count on the public being clueless about their history and the media to cover for them. More importantly, this allows our "co-Presidents" to triangulate again: For those who are for the war, Hillary can point to her vote for it. For those who are opposed, there's Bill's transparent lie.

Feldman then cites a couple more examples showing Clinton's flip-flopping on whether or not he supported the war.

This is the Clintons, people. They play dirty, they lie, they repeatedly use questionable methods and have questionable friends/supporters, and they manipulate at every opportunity. They have perfected the divide-and-conquer strategy (for example, Bill never won a 50%+ majority of the vote in either of his presidential elections), and are using it again for Hillary's run at the White House.

Be aware.

Back in 1992, the new media was still very young, but now the playing field is quite different. Game on!

There's my two cents.

Musharraf Steps Down

General Musharraf has officially stepped down as the head of the Pakistani army. Replacing him is Gen. Ashfaq Kayani, who is widely expected to maintain the army's pro-Western policies. By all reports, General Kayani is an excellent choice to replace Musharraf as head of the army. He is well known by our military and is well respected for his intelligence and dedication.

Musharraf's opposition is praising the move, but is continuing the call for his resignation from the civilian Presidency. If he doesn't voluntarily do that, it appears the only one who can force him to do it is his successor, Kayani, along with the military force of Pakistan.

Just keeping you informed.

There's my two cents.

Simply A Case Of Bush Hatred?

Ed Whelan writes about judicial nominations during the last year of the past few Presidents. Constitutionally, the Senate's responsibility in judicial nominations is a simple up-or-down vote - basically, if the nominee is competent, they're supposed to vote yes. It's a simple check to make sure the President doesn't nominate his fourth cousin once removed (or a total moron, etc.) to the bench. The recent Congress, however, has started playing politics with nominations, obstructing nominees with conservative or originalist viewpoints. The numbers show a definite trend of Congress abusing their responsibility:

1. Appellate nominees confirmed during a president’s final two years:
Carter—44
Reagan—17
G.H.W. Bush—20
Clinton—15 (7 in 1999, 8 in 2000)
G.W. Bush—5 (with just over a year to go)

2. Hearings on appellate nominees in president’s next-to-last year:
Clinton—10
G.W. Bush—4 (with just over a month to go)

Not that it's any big surprise to people with an objective eye toward the politics of the day, but it's always good to see numbers that confirm the anecdotal evidence.

There's my two cents.

Middle East Peace Talks Begin

The Bush administration has persuaded a number of Middle Eastern nations into a new round of peace talks to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in Annapolis, MD. While trying to avoid leading the negotiations (as Bill Clinton did unsuccessfully several years ago), Bush has stated that he is trying to help 'facilitate' them.

Bush has long been in favor of forming a Palestinian state, but to do that it seems that Israel has to be the one to give up the most.

Some say that nothing is the best thing that can possibly come from these talks. The crux of the dispute is that Palestinians want the right to return to their homes in present-day Israel. Of course, this would mean the end of the state of Israel, which Israelis refuse to accept. Another problem is that both Olmert and Abbas (the leaders of Israel and Palestine, respectively) are facing severe disapproval from their home nations. In summary, the editors of NRO say:

Barring that day of miracles in which the lion lies down with the lamb, what we must hope is that Annapolis will produce nothing more than handshakes and empty words. If so, it will be merely silly. If it gives us instead a weakened Abbas, an empowered Hamas, renewed anger among Arab masses over Palestinian grievances, and increased sympathy for the anti-Israeli, anti-American worldview that prevails from Tehran to Damascus to southern Lebanon to the West Bank to Gaza, then silliness will seem a luxury.

An interesting viewpoint, to be sure. But they're not alone. Gary Bauer, President of American Values (and former Reagan advisor), says the following of Olmert:

"He's walking into a so-called peace conference in which there are going to be over 20 Muslim-Arab nations there, all of whom oppose him," he points out. "He's getting pressure from the United States to make more concessions. You've got countries like Syria sitting at the table. Apparently they had a little bit of time that they could take off of subsidizing groups like Hezbollah, as well as causing other problems in the Middle East."

Bauer -- who describes the summit as "a prescription for disaster" -- says U.S. officials do not seem to grasp the spiritual nature of the conflict in the Middle East.

"I believe we constantly underestimate how much hate has been taught in the Islamic schools throughout the Middle East, in which young Muslim children are taught that Jews are apes and monkeys and that Jews and Christians must be killed in order to please Allah," notes the American Values president. "So if you look at that context, you can see why pieces of paper -- which is all [that] Annapolis will produce -- that promise peace will, in fact, not deliver peace."

Bauer's viewpoint is similar to Joel Rosenberg's, putting the struggle into a religious context that greatly affects world events. No matter what happens, this is potentially history in the making.

There's my two cents.

Hate Crimes Not There

Byron York reports on some interesting research by the Justice Department about hate crimes. A couple of key excerpts:

There were no significant differences in rates of hate crime vulnerability for racial or ethnic groups. Whites were victimized at a rate of 0.9 per 1,000, blacks at 0.7 per 1,000, members of other races at 1.4 per 1,000, Hispanics at 0.9 per 1,000, and non-Hispanics at 0.9 per 1,000.

Moreover, the report says that "victims of violent hate crimes [ones in which victims actually saw the perpetrators] reported white and black offenders in close percentages." Forty-four percent of the reported victimizations involved a white offender, while 39 percent involved a black offender. If the study is correct, hate crimes, at least those covered in the Justice Department report cited by the Times, are a bit more diverse than DiversityInc would have you believe.

So, the next time you hear Democrats raving about 'hate crimes' and see Ted Kennedy trying to attach 'hate crimes' amendments to defense spending bills, think twice about what he's trying to accomplish. Is he really concerned about hate crimes, or is he just trying to allow the liberal elite more power of what you can do, say, and think?

There's my two cents.

Pakistan Update

The latest developments from Pakistan:

Top officials say that Musharraf will be sworn in as a civilian president later this week. Unfortunately, former Prime Minister Sharif, now back in Pakistan, has demanded that General Musharraf step down, saying he would not serve in a government position under a Musharraf presidency.

The Bush administration still supports Musharraf, seeing him as the best bet against Islamic terrorism in a nuclear-armed Muslim country. But, the Bush administration is also strongly urging Musharraf to end his emergency rule and step down from his position as head of the military.

Sounds like things are coming to a conflict point very soon, and someone is going to have to blink. Hopefully it'll come out okay for the U.S.

There's my two cents.

Holiday Shopping Hits New Highs

So, if our economy was really hurting that badly, we would see a huge decline in the post-Thanksgiving shopping rush, wouldn't we? There are some mixed results, but that generally didn't happen, certainly not in any significant terms.

CNN:

The National Retail Foundation's (NRF's) 2007 Black Friday Weekend Survey said more than 147 million shoppers hit the stores over the Black Friday weekend, up 4.8 percent from last year.

The NRF's projection put a damper on some earlier estimates, including one from MasterCard Advisors on Friday that estimated Black Friday purchases to hit $20 billion this year, up from $19.1 billion last year.

Also, ShopperTrak RCT Corp., which tracks sales at more than 50,000 retail outlets, said Saturday that total sales rose 8.3 percent to about $10.3 billion on Black Friday, compared with $9.5 billion on the same day a year ago.

New York Times:

Sales rose 8.3 percent on Friday compared with last year, the biggest increase in three years, according to ShopperTrak, a research company. On Friday and Saturday combined, sales rose 7.2 percent.

Yahoo Finance:

The nation's shoppers set aside worries about higher gas prices and a slumping housing market and proved their resilience over the Thanksgiving weekend, giving what the nation's merchants wished for -- a strong start to the holiday shopping season.

Total sales on Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, rose to $10.3 billion, up 8.3 percent from the same day a year ago.

Meanwhile, Internet research firm comScore Inc. reported a 22 percent gain in online sales on the day after Thanksgiving compared with the same day a year ago and estimated online sales would exceed $700 million online Monday, the official kickoff to the online shopping season.

Again, don't believe the hype about the economy. Sure, there are issues, and sure, there are some downward ticks. That's part of a living, growing economic system. The thing to notice here is that -- despite each of these outlet's attempts to portray even good news as bad news -- our economy is moving forward, and people are doing fine.

There's my two cents.

Rumsfeld Lawsuit Dismissed

Reuters reports that the lawsuit against Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld accusing him of torture was kicked by French prosecutors. Basically, the argument presented in the lawsuit did not exist in international law.

See? Anyone with a logical, functioning brain already understood that the accusations were completely phony, but now even those without a logical, functioning brain know, too.

There's my two cents.

Antarctic Hypocrisy (And A Very Big Mess)

You may have seen the headlines about a cruise ship sinking in the Antarctic Ocean. Yes, you heard that right - a cruise ship, by Antarctica.

If that seems like an odd combination to you, it should. This ship was not on a pleasure cruise; instead, it was full of eco-warriors looking for evidence of global warming. The owner, Bruce Poon Tip, is an 'acolyte' of Al Gore and a big global warming fanatic.

Just a couple of observations to consider here. First, I find it incredibly amusing that a ship searching for evidence of global warming sank after hitting an iceberg! Second, where are the pictures of oil-soaked birds? There had to have been thousands of gallons of oil and diesel fuel released into the ocean, so why hasn't there been any coverage? The only place the actual details of this story was even broken was in a Canadian paper.

Anyone want to bet we won't see any coverage at all of how much damage was done to the environment by this environmentalist's ship? I didn't think so.

There's my two cents.

Hillary: Wheels Coming Off?

A new Zogby poll shows that Hillary Clintong* is now trailing all five major Republican candidates in the general election. This is certainly distressing news for Clintong*, who has suffered greatly in the past few weeks on the campaign trail.

It's interesting to watch this unfold. The MSM is normally the biggest drinker of the Clinton Kool-Aid, so I find it a bit odd that they've suddenly started taking jabs at her. Not through poll results, of course, but in the way they have stopped shielding Hillary from bad press (or tough questions) and not promoting her as the greatest thing since sliced bread quite so much. My question is: why the sudden change of heart? Are they really jumping off the Clinton bandwagon?

Or are they trying to set up a come-from-behind scenario to show how tough and resilient and triumphant she is?

Only time will tell, but while we wait to find out, something smells fishy.

There's my two cents.

* This is not a mis-spelling - see previous blog about Clinton's Asian connection.

Hollywood And The War In Iraq

I had mentioned this in a previous blog, but I wanted to put some numbers up to support my claim. I had said that the current series of anti-American/anti-U.S.-military movies is completely tanking at the box office, which is an indicator that even though many Americans don't necessarily approve of the war in Iraq, but that doesn't mean they hate America or the military (like these Hollywood-types think). The New York Post took a whack at Redacted, in particular, but the same theory holds true for all of them. As the key indicator of any movie's success, take these opening weekend figures as a frame of reference:

Lions for Lambs: $6.7 million
Rendition: $4 million
Redacted: $26,000

To put things in perspective, check out the opening weekends of the top three movies of the past year:

Spiderman 3: $151 million
Shrek 3: $122 million
Transformers: $71 million

Now that's some huge success! The numbers don't lie - even the 20th highest grossing movie of the past year (Blades of Glory) had an opening weekend of $33 million, five times more than Lions for Lambs.

So, that begs the question: why? Why are these films tanking? The most logical explanation is that if there was truly such hatred of the military in this country, these anti-military films would be hugely popular. I've thought for a long time that a lot of the 'disapproval' of the war in Iraq referenced in polls was not simply people who disapproved of the war; instead, I believe a fairly high number of those who disapprove think -- like I do -- that we need to kick it into high gear, wipe the floor with those primitive 7th century barbarians, and come home. The surge finally did that. Roll on, U.S. military!

There's my two cents.

Universal Health Care In Real Life

As the Democrat presidential candidates put forward plan after plan for required universal health care for America, we can see the issue unfold in real life in Massachusetts. Last year, Massachusetts implemented a law requiring everyone in the state to have health care coverage, and the deadline for signing up is now drawing near. How's it going? Take a look:

More than 200,000 previously uninsured residents have enrolled, but state officials estimate that at least that number, and perhaps twice as many, have not.

Those managing the enrollment effort say it has exceeded expectations. In particular, state-subsidized insurance packages offered to low-income residents have been so popular that the program’s spending may exceed its budget by nearly $150 million.

But the reluctance of so many to enroll, along with the possible exemption of 60,000 residents who cannot afford premiums, has raised questions about whether even a mandate can guarantee truly universal coverage.

Additional concerns have been generated by projections that the state’s insurers plan to raise rates 10 percent to 12 percent next year, twice this year’s national average. That would undercut the plan’s secondary goal of slowing the increase in health costs.

So, let's recap. The idea behind requiring everyone to have health care coverage is to do the following:
- ensure health care for everyone, especially people who weren't previously covered
- lower costs

When Massachusetts implemented just such a plan, here's what they got:
- many people still haven't signed up
- costs are continuing to increase (even though everyone is not yet covered)

In addition, what's going to happen to all the people who haven't signed up when the deadline passes? Is the State of Massachusetts going to start throwing people in jail for not buying insurance? Right now they're just hitting people with fines, but will it stop there? No one is really talking about that, but I'm really interested to know.

This is exactly what people predicted would happen if universal health care was forced onto people. Just think what would happen if this kind of plan was implemented all across America! This is what you get when you allow the government too much power over our every day lives.

There's my two cents.

More Beheadings From The 'Religion Of Peace'

Reuters reports:

Three suspected al Qaeda militants, including two sisters, beheaded their uncle and his wife, forcing the couple's children to watch, Iraqi police said on Friday. The militants considered that school guard Youssef al-Hayali was an infidel because he did not pray and wore western-style trousers.

Well, if this isn't the 'religion of peace', I don't know what is. Don't worry, if the liberals have their way, the 'religion of peace' will soon be recruiting in your neighborhood, too.

There's my two cents.

Only Bad News Is...Well, News

This is just disgusting. The MSM almost completely ignores the fact that the violence is overwhelmingly down in Iraq, saying that it does not constitute 'news'. But, when a bomb goes off in a crowded marketplace, killing and injuring dozens, the New York Times is all over it. And then, they throw in something like the following:

[T]he market in the shadow of the Mosque of the Caliphs was a scene of carnage, a cruel reminder that the decline in violence in this city is relative and may not last.

Can it get any more obvious that they're hoping and pining (they're probably too educated and intelligent to pray; prayer is only for the ignorant masses) for American defeat? Months of real progress gets almost zero coverage, but a single bomb scores major headlines and a caveat that the months of progress probably won't last?! What a horrible bunch of anti-American losers.

There's my two cents.

Snag On Employment Verification

The recent efforts by the Bush administration to implement mandatory verification of employment for illegal immigrants has hit another snag. A judge had previously ruled against a crackdown on employees who weren't able to prove their identity, and the administration is now revising their plan. The government is apparently still considering an appeal, but it also looking at other ways to enforce the verification process.

This is ridiculous! As I understand it, anyone who was flagged as a potential illegal alien had 90 days to show documentation of their identity before any penalties were incurred. What honest, legitimate citizen couldn't come up with that documentation in just a fraction of that time? This is just another effort by the open borders crowd to prevent as much actual crackdown as possible, as well as how important judicial nominations are.

There's my two cents.

Sharif Returns To Pakistan

Former Prime Minister of Pakistan, Nawaz Sharif, returned to Pakistan yesterday. This is big because Sharif was the man ousted by Musharraf eight years ago, a man who enjoys enormous popularity with the people of Pakistan, and the man who has not offered to cut a deal with Musharraf. Sharif ignored the U.S.'s request to not detonate a nuclear bomb back in 1998, when Pakistan joined the nuclear 'club'. Sharif is already organizing protests against Musharraf's rule, including a potential boycott of the upcoming election, which many Pakistani's regard as illegitimate.

Just passing along the latest.

There's my two cents.

Upset In Australia

Long-time U.S. ally and outspoken jihad critic Prime Minister John Howard of Australia was unseated in last week's election.

Look for the MSM to trumpet Howard's defeat as a defeat for Bush and the War on Terror.

But, the reality is a bit different. Though a great friend of the U.S. fell out of power, the replacement, Kevin Rudd, is likely to follow many of the same foreign policies. The Australian economy has been good for years, and there was no real discontent or anger with Howard; Rudd is considered to have run on a platform of 'similar difference', not putting forth substantial policy differences, but looking better by mastering focus groups and utilizing buzz words to their fullest effect. It appears that many voters were simply tired of Howard and unexcited by Howard's heir-apparent, Treasurer Peter Costello.

History shows a strong ally in Australia regardless of who the PM is, so hopefully that will remain.

There's my two cents.

Illegal Immigration...In The Arab World

In a very enlightening article on ArabView.com, Tarik Al Maeena writes the following about illegal aliens in Saudi Arabia:

There is a menace growing rampant right in our midst — the increasing numbers of overstayers and illegal aliens who have taken to the streets and neighborhoods to pursue the art of beggary without fear of being caught and deported.

More visible in Jeddah than in any of the major cities of the Kingdom, these illegals have flagrantly taken their art of panhandling to practically every street corner in full view of the people charged with the task of detaining them. Another army of such people can be spotted rummaging through trash bins in search of anything of value that could be pawned off to recyclers for a few extra riyals.

Just why is this phenomena on an unchecked upswing is anybody’s guess but I suspect the problem is two-fold. Most of such illegal aliens hide or destroy all forms of personal identification on their arrival at this country. Once rounded up, it becomes practically impossible for the authorities to determine where to deport them.

The other problem lies in the lack of proper detention facilities. Once caught, what do you do with them? To overcrowd our meager detention facilities with the people on the loose and cause a human tragedy of great proportions?

The rising number of illegals from African and Asian communities has spawned minicities within the city. These minicities are run and governed by gang leaders of these respective communities. Crime has been a major byproduct of their unchecked activities. Drugs, prostitution and even armed robbery can be attributed to the residents of these neighborhoods where even cops fear to enter. And as the spider’s web of their activities grows wider around the city, no neighborhood is safe any longer.

So well controlled and managed are some of these illegal communities that it may serve our municipality well to take some lessons in city organization and planning from these rogues. So how can we go about fighting this menace?

I propose that detention centers large enough to house a hundred thousand or so illegals be built in the desert east of Jeddah with proper facilities. The current neighborhoods housing them must be raided and these individuals rounded up.

Those who can produce documentation and prove their nationality can be deported to the country of their origin.

In the case of those in the majority who have no such papers, a system of identification by fingerprinting should be established to trace their origin. If they cannot produce any documents and all other efforts fail, then they have no choice but to remain guests of this detention facility far from the city until such time as their identity could be established. Such a process may take a couple of years to get through, but at the end of the day major centers for crime and other nefarious activities in the city would have been reduced to a trickle.

In the case of illegal children seen begging at parking lots, I propose the state warn their parents that rights over these children may be taken away from them and the state would then assume responsibility. By providing them with education and proper shelter, the state would be doing far more justice to these abused children than their own parents who are exploiting these innocent children. The longer we wait, the greater the problem grows. And we cannot keep turning a blind eye to it. Increasingly, tales of tragedy as a result of criminal activities have begun to touch us much closer than we would have ever thought.

Now what do you think would be the reaction if America decided to handle illegal immigration by raiding suspect neighborhoods and sending everyone to huge detention facilities? Yeah, the ACLU would have a field day with that one. Apparently it's okay for countries like Mexico and Saudi Arabia to crack down on illegal immigrants, but not America. How typically liberal.

There's my two cents.

Global Warming Is Too Small A Target

Guess what? Not only is humanity destroying Planet Earth, but now we're apparently destroying the entire universe!

I would summarize the article for you, but it's really not worth the time. The point here is to illustrate just how wacko these global warming nuts are getting.

Let's put things into perspective. When was the last time your local weather guy got the EXACT weather right for an ENTIRE 7-day period of time? My guess is it's never happened, right? So, if we can't even predict the weather for a few days, how is it possible that we 'know' that the Earth will be destroyed by global warming in a few decades or centuries? Even more ludicrous is the assertion that we are destroying the universe.

You just can't make this stuff up!

There's my two cents.

Gun Stats

I recently came across articles about murder rates in a couple of America's large cities. First is New York City, which is on a course to have less than 500 murders for the first time since 1963. I'm sure you'll recall that Rudy Giuliani basically revitalized the city as its Mayor, and part of that effort was a drastic reduction in crime. Next is Washington, D.C., which is experiencing a swell in murder incidents, pushing close to 170 at this point in the year.

Here's the interesting part. New York has a population of about 8.2 million people. That means there was 1 murder for every 19,192 people so far this year. Washington, D.C., on the other hand, has a population of only about 580,000, giving it a ratio of 1 murder for every 3,441 people.

So why does Washington, D.C. have such a higher rate of murder? I'm sure there are many variables, but I'm also sure that at least one is the fact that guns are banned in Washington, D.C.

Let's follow the logic. A gun 'ban' really means that guns are just banned for those who obey the law - criminals will still get them. And, of course, a ban also means criminals know their victims won't have guns, allowing them much greater freedom to pursue their criminal intentions without fear of a strong defense from their victims.

That's why the 2nd Amendment is so important, and why 'gun control' is such a dangerous line to play with - it is our right as an American to own a gun if we so choose, and it is something that can keep us safe.

There's my two cents.

The Golden Compass

A new movie is taking aim squarely at Christians. The Golden Compass, from New Line Cinema, is something that you might want to think twice about letting your kids see. The trailer looks pretty fantastic, with lots of great special effects in a fantasy story reminiscent of Tolkien or C.S. Lewis, but the message is completely opposite of those great authors.

Philip Pullman, an English atheist, wrote a series of books intended to 'kill God'. Though the movie has reportedly been toned down to avoid offending religious viewers, the overall message of the movie is the same: church is bad, God is a confused and petty tyrant, and Satan is the hero. In addition, Scholastic, the biggest maker of educational materials for schools, is promoting the movie because New Line gave them tons of marketing stuff for free.

Christian and pro-family groups are warning against this movie, especially for young children. Obviously, you will have to choose whether you want your kids to see the movie, but I wanted to pass along what I've seen in several places so you could make an informed decision.

I think we'll be skipping it.

There's my two cents.


Sources:
OneNewsNow.com
Breakpoint (a Chuck Colson organization)
American Family Association
Snopes.com

Friday Quick Hits

Quick Hit #1: Syrian facility worse than a nuclear reactor?
That's the statement being made now by Prof. Uzi Even of Tel Aviv University. The common thought of the facility mysteriously bombed by Israel a few weeks ago is that it was a nuclear reactor, but Even is saying that due to several key physical features and some other circumstances, it is more likely the facility was a factory for making atomic bombs. Just speculation at this point, but it does make one wonder.

Quick Hit #2: Supreme Court and gun control.
Instapundit's Glenn Reynolds writes at the New York Post that the Supreme Court has three options in regard to the decision about the 2nd Amendment:
1. it can rule the 2nd Amdt. doesn't do anything since it's a relic of an outdated era; the danger about that is that it would allow any part of the Constitution to be ruled, in effect, outdated
2. it can rule the 2nd Amdt. allows for the arming of state armies, not individual people; the problem there is that states could say every citizen is part of a state militia and grant them authority to own machine guns, tanks, etc.
3. it could find that the 2nd Amdt. allows individual Americans to own a gun Just like it says...duh! Then again, with courts you never know.

Quick Hit #3: Musharraf update.
Pakistani President Musharraf has apparently cleared the last legal hurdle to being re-elected to a second term through a hand-picked court. It looks like he's got his second term, but now the question is whether or not he'll resign as General.

Quick Hit #4 (Fun & Frivolity): Man forgets car at gas station.
A man in Berlin, Germany filled up his car at a gas station, then walked off and left it. Apparently, after an hour or so, an employee got suspicious and called it in to authorities, who contacted the man; he then came back to pick up his car. Why is it that so many of these crazy stories come from Germany??

Have a great weekend!

The U.N.'s IAEA Admits They're Worthless

Mohamed ElBaradei, Director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said that the organization "has so far not been able to verify some important aspects of Iran's nuclear programme." Some excerpts:

He specifically cited key questions related to the scope and nature of Iran's centrifuge enrichment activities, "as well as those relevant to alleged studies and other activities that could have military applications".

As a result, the UN watchdog was "unable to provide credible assurance about the absence of undeclared nuclear material and activities," ElBaradei complained.

The Egyptian-born diplomat noted that the IAEA had seen an increased level of cooperation from Iran in answering questions about the past, but its knowledge of Tehran's current programme has "diminished" since 2006.

Basically, the head of this agency is admitting they are clueless and worthless when it comes to Iran's nuclear ambitions and capabilities.

This should go a long way in quieting all those people who complained about the incorrect intelligence used by the entire world to justify the Iraq invasion, and those who continue to complain about needing to let the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog agency 'do its job'. Clearly, they are incapable of doing their job.

This is why America needs to rely on its own resources rather than the worse-than-worthless United Nations.

There's my two cents.

Israel And Palestine

Every few months, a new eruption occurs between Israel and Palestine. There have been repeated attempts at negotiating a peace between the two, but all have fallen short of success. Recently, there have been talks of Israel giving further concessions to Palestinians, but there is some serious internal debate about whether or not that is a good move.

Richard Baehr writes at the American Thinker with an easy to understand outline of recent history, and why the latest peace attempts are doomed to go nowhere.

It's well worth a read, so take a minute or two and go check it out.

There's my two cents.

Is There No End To The Depravity?

This makes me sick. Excerpts:

An infant may have been used to carry out the October 18 bombing on former Pakistan Premier Benazir Bhutto's procession in Karachi which left nearly 140 people dead.

The infant was strapped with bombs and a bomber repeatedly tried to get close to Bhutto's armoured truck and hand over the child to her or any other Pakistan People's Party leader, the News reported today quoting sources in the PPP.

Bhutto herself saw the man with the child and "asked him to come closer so that she could hug or kiss the infant". A guard, however, thought the man was behaving abnormally and did not allow the man to come near the truck.

This information was recently released after Bhutto called for an investigation of the assassination attempt.

As Marc Sheppard comments at American Thinker:

This inhuman savage created a weapon of mass murder of his innocent progeny.

Martyr? Freedom Fighter?

Words fail.

This is the regard with which radical Islamic jihadists hold human life. This is the 'religion of peace' at work.

There's my two cents.

The Party Of The Rich Is...Democrat

A new study by Michael Franc, vice president of government relations at the Heritage Foundation, found that the majority of the nation's wealthiest congressional jurisdictions were represented by Democrats. Excerpts:

[M]ore than half of the wealthiest households were concentrated in the 18 states where Democrats hold both Senate seats.

"If you take the wealthiest one-third of the 435 congressional districts, we found that the Democrats represent about 58 percent of those jurisdictions," Mr. Franc said.

A key measure of each district's wealth was the number of single-filer taxpayers earning more than $100,000 a year and married couples filing jointly who earn more than $200,000 annually.

Mr. Franc's study also showed that contrary to the Democrats' tendency to define Republicans as the party of the rich, "the vast majority of unabashed conservative House members hail from profoundly middle-income districts."

So, the next time you hear a Democrat talk about how they belong to the 'party of the people' or the party that 'stands for the middle class', just point them to this blog. The numbers don't lie.

There's my two cents.

Sparring With China

Though you'd never know it from the (lack of) headlines in the MSM, tensions are mounting between the U.S. and China. For one thing, it appears they're making great strides in closing the technology gap we used to hold over them:

Recently, when a Chinese submarine popped up undetected in the middle of a Pacific Ocean exercise, dangerously close to the U.S.S. Kitty Hawk, American military chiefs were left dumbfounded and red-faced.

This follows other reports that China's military technology is rapidly gaining on (and possibly even passing) ours. Chinese virtual attacks are on the rise, as well.

I'm sure you actually have heard about all the toy recalls from Chinese-made toys, but whether that is intentional or simply incompetence is unknown.

The latest slight, however, is that the U.S. carrier Kitty Hawk was scheduled to dock in Hong Kong for Thanksgiving, but Chinese authorities denied it entry into the port for unknown (but probably political) reasons. Then, the Chinese did an about-face, saying the Kitty Hawk could come in. But, the Kitty Hawk declined at that point, instead heading for Japan, where the welcome mat was waiting.

While I think it's great that this small measure of resistance was thrown up against Chinese provocation, I'd like to see much more from our government. China has long shown an acute desire and cheerful willingness to steal American technology, and these more blatant attacks indicate something more direct could be in the works. It seems that China is probing America's physical, military, and virtual defenses in a systematic way. Why would they be doing that? Hmmm...

This is precisely the reason we need to make sure the government does NOT sign the Law of the Sea Treaty (LOST) - we're clearly already struggling with China's navy, and giving any potential control over to the international community is only going to make things worse.

I hope Washington, D.C. wakes up to this threat on the horizon.

There's my two cents.

Fred Thompson's Immigration Plan

Roy Beck at NumbersUSA sends a blast e-mail indicating that his organization will be taking an in-depth look at each presidential candidate's immigration plan and reporting on it. The first to receive examination is Fred Thompson. Here's a detailed look at his plan:

THE THOMPSON PLAN

END CHAIN MIGRATION!

I don't find any other presidential website that explicitly has the end of chain migration as a goal. I have maintained since my first books in the mid-1990s that ending Chain Migration is the single most effective action for reducing negative immigration impacts. Chain Migration breeds all kinds of illegal immigration among extended family who feel they have an entitlement to immigrate and don't wait their turn. Chain Migration multiplies the harm of every immigration action by allowing each new immigrant and refugee to eventually import huge extended families and eventually whole villages.

Thompson would restrict immigrants and refugees to bringing in their spouse and minor children. No more adult siblings, adult children or parents. Hence, no more nephews, nieces, in-laws, aunts, uncles and cousins -- unless they earn the right on their own merits. Everybody could come to visit on carefully controlled visitor visas. But if people want to live with their entire extended families, they'll need to continue to live where their extended family lives.

ELIMINATE THE VISA LOTTERY.

Since 1990, this ridiculous program gives away the opportunity for U.S. citizenship to some 50,000 people a year based on totally random luck of the draw, with no regard to the national interest, the immigrant's skills, education or humanitarian claim.

Inadvertently, the lottery rules are set up so that people from terrorist sponsoring countries are a disproportionate percentage of the winners.

The lottery is a breeder of illegal immigration as it gives false hopes to tens of millions of people around the world who play the lottery each year, many of whom eventually decide to speed up their dream by moving illegally to the U.S. and waiting to win the lottery here.

(weakness) No Explicit Goal of Numerical Reduction.

Although eliminating Chain Migration and the Visa Lottery would reduce future legal and illegal immigration by 5-8 million per decade, it would do so only if Congress and the President abstain from increasing other categories of immigration. Thompson has left this issue unanswered. I can find Tom Tancredo as the only candidate who actually promises total immigration reductions. Tancredo urges that legal immigration be reduced from its current 1 million a year to 250,000 a year, which is near our traditional average before the last three decades of abuse.

NO AMNESTY.

Thompson seems to rule out any kind of amnesty that would allow illegal aliens to remain in the United States.

ATTRITION THROUGH ENFORCEMENT.

Thompson promotes that very term. His goal is to drive as many illegal aliens as possible to voluntarily leave the country because magnets have been removed and the chances of being arrested and deported have been increased. He does not accept that we are stuck with the 12-20 million illegal aliens.

MANDATORY USE OF E-VERIFY BY ALL BUSINESSES TO KEEP ILLEGAL ALIENS OUT OF U.S. JOBS.

DENY TAX DEDUCTION TO EMPLOYERS FOR THE WAGES THEY PAY TO ILLEGAL ALIENS.

The IRS already knows all the employees who are working without valid Social Security numbers. This provision would simply authorize the IRS to disallow deductions for wages paid to those particular employees, thus increasing the costs of hiring illegals.

FINISH BUILDING THE 854--MILE WALL ON THE MEXICAN BORDER AS AUTHORIZED BY 2006 LAW.

RIGOROUS ENTRY/EXIT TRACKING OF LEGAL VISITORS.

"Complete the implementation of a system to track visa entrants and exits, as has been required by federal law for more than ten years, and connect it to the FBI's National Crime Information Center (NCIC), in order to curb visa overstays and permit more effective enforcement."

TARGET SMUGGLERS, GANG MEMBERS AND SPEED UP DEPORTATIONS.

"Adding resources for the Department of Justice to prosecute alien smugglers, people involved in trafficking in false identification documents, and previously deported felons. ... Maximizing efforts to prosecute and convict members of criminal alien gangs, such as MS-13 and affiliated gangs. ... Implementing fully and making greater use of the expedited removal process already allowed under federal law."

ENFORCE EXISTING FEDERAL LAWS.

END SANCTUARY CITIES & BENEFITS TO ILLEGAL ALIENS.

Cut off discretionary federal grant funds "as appropriate to any community that, by law, ordinance, executive order, or other formal policy directs its public officials not to comply with the provisions of 8 USC 1373 and 8 USC 1644, which prohibit any state or local government from restricting in any way communications with the Department of Homeland Security regarding the immigration status, lawful or unlawful, of an alien in the United States."

"Deny discretionary Federal education grants as appropriate to public universities that violate federal law by offering in-state tuition rates to illegal aliens without also offering identical benefits to United States citizens, regardless of whether or not they live in the state, as required by 8 USC 1623."

"Deny discretionary Federal grants as appropriate to states and local governments that violate federal law by offering public benefits to illegal aliens, as prohibited by 8 USC 1621(a)."

This is a terrific plan, with depth and detail that would indicate Thompson is serious about immigration reform. If you would like to contact Thompson's campaign about this issue, follow this link: http://www.fred08.com/virtual/Immigration.aspx

There's my two cents.

Happy Thanksgiving!

As we reflect on the many, many things for which we should be thankful, I think it's good to think on where Thanksgiving really came from. Rush Limbaugh has a tradition of reading the real story of Thanksgiving (which we aren't taught in school anymore) and the first Thanksgiving speech by George Washington on his radio program. It doesn't get much more back to our roots than Washington and the Pilgrims, does it? So, I wanted to post them for you here on this fine Thanksgiving day.

Washington's First Thanksgiving Day speech:

Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor -- and whereas both Houses of Congress have by their joint Committee requested me "to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness."

Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th day of November next to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be -- That we may then all unite in rendering unto him our sincere and humble thanks -- for his kind care and protection of the People of this Country previous to their becoming a Nation -- for the signal and manifold mercies, and the favorable interpositions of his Providence which we experienced in the tranquility [sic], union, and plenty, which we have since enjoyed -- for the peaceable and rational manner, in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national One now lately instituted -- for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed; and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and in general for all the great and various favors which he hath been pleased to confer upon us.

And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech him to pardon our national and other transgressions -- to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually -- to render our national government a blessing to all the people, by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed -- to protect and guide all Sovereigns and Nations (especially such as have shewn [sic] kindness onto us) and to bless them with good government, peace, and concord -- To promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the encrease [sic] of science among them and us -- and generally to grant unto all Mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as he alone knows to be best.

Given under my hand at the City of New York the third day of October in the year of our Lord 1789.
George Washington

Notice all the references to God...it is undeniable that the 'thanks' were given to God for this holiday.

Finally, here is the true story of Thanksgiving (with bits of commentary here and there):

"On August 1, 1620, the Mayflower set sail. It carried a total of 102 passengers, including forty Pilgrims led by William Bradford. On the journey, Bradford set up an agreement, a contract, that established just and equal laws for all members of the new community, irrespective of their religious beliefs. Where did the revolutionary ideas expressed in the Mayflower Compact come from? From the Bible," and this is what's not taught. This is what's left out. "The Pilgrims were a people completely steeped in the lessons of the Old and New Testaments. They looked to the ancient Israelites for their example. And, because of the biblical precedents set forth in Scripture, they never doubted that their experiment would work. But this was no pleasure cruise, friends. The journey to the New World was a long and arduous one. And when the Pilgrims landed in New England in November, they found, according to Bradford's detailed journal, a cold, barren, desolate wilderness. There were no friends to greet them, he wrote. There were no houses to shelter them. There were no inns where they could refresh themselves. And the sacrifice they had made for freedom was just beginning. During the first winter, half the Pilgrims -- including Bradford's own wife -- died of either starvation, sickness, or exposure.

"When spring finally came, Indians taught the settlers how to plant corn, fish for cod and skin beavers for coats. Life improved for the Pilgrims, but they did not yet prosper! This is important to understand because this is where modern American history lessons often end. Thanksgiving is actually explained in some textbooks as a holiday for which the Pilgrims gave thanks to the Indians for saving their lives, rather than as a devout expression of gratitude grounded in the tradition of both the Old and New Testaments. Here is the part that has been omitted: The original contract the Pilgrims had entered into with their merchant-sponsors in London called for everything they produced to go into a common store, and each member of the community was entitled to one common share. All of the land they cleared and the houses they built belong to the community as well." They were collectivists! Now, "Bradford, who had become the new governor of the colony, recognized that this form of collectivism was as costly and destructive to the Pilgrims as that first harsh winter, which had taken so many lives.

"He decided to take bold action. Bradford assigned a plot of land to each family to work and manage, thus turning loose the power of the marketplace. Long before Karl Marx was even born, the Pilgrims had discovered and experimented with what could only be described as socialism. And what happened? It didn't work! Surprise, surprise, huh? What Bradford and his community found was that the most creative and industrious people had no incentive to work any harder than anyone else, unless they could utilize the power of personal motivation! But while most of the rest of the world has been experimenting with socialism for well over a hundred years -- trying to refine it, perfect it, and re-invent it -- the Pilgrims decided early on to scrap it permanently. What Bradford wrote about this social experiment should be in every schoolchild's history lesson. If it were, we might prevent much needless suffering in the future." Here's what he wrote: "'The experience that we had in this common course and condition, tried sundry
years...that by taking away property, and bringing community into a common wealth, would make them happy and flourishing -- as if they were wiser than God,' Bradford wrote.

"'For this community [so far as it was] was found to breed much confusion and discontent, and retard much employment that would have been to their benefit and comfort. For young men that were most able and fit for labor and service did repine that they should spend their time and strength to work for other men's wives and children without any recompense...that was thought injustice.'" That was thought injustice. "Do you hear what he was saying, ladies and gentlemen? The Pilgrims found that people could not be expected to do their best work without incentive. So what did Bradford's community try next? They unharnessed the power of good old free enterprise by invoking the undergirding capitalistic principle of private property. Every family was assigned its own plot of land to work and permitted to market its own crops and products. And what was the result?" 'This had very good success,' wrote Bradford, "for it made all hands industrious, so as much more corn was planted than otherwise would have been." Bradford doesn't sound like much of a Clintonite, does he? Is it possible that supply-side economics could have existed before the 1980s? ... In no time, the Pilgrims found they had more food than they could eat themselves. ... So they set up trading posts and exchanged goods with the Indians.

"The profits allowed them to pay off their debts to the merchants in London. And the success and prosperity of the Plymouth settlement attracted more Europeans and began what came to be known as the 'Great Puritan Migration.'"

So, remember where we came from, and remember what brought us here.

Happy Thanksgiving!