Gibson On The Rocks [08/11/06] I tried to ignore the contretemps over Mel Gibson's run-in with the law, but it was like trying to ignore the elephant in the living room. My friends kept attacking him, and I kept finding myself sort of defending him. It wasn't that I approved of his conduct. (Burt Prelutsky)

The Threat of Rising Property Taxes [08/10/06] In recent weeks I’ve written about how inflation is alive and well, especially when it comes to the cost of housing, energy, gas, and education. But perhaps the most worrisome type of inflation comes in the form of steadily rising property taxes. (Ron Paul)

Can You Trust the USDA Organic Label? [08/09/06] Consumers across the country are paying higher prices for fruits, vegetables, milk and bread that carry the USDA Organic label. What does the label mean? Apparently, not much. There’s almost no testing of organic produce for pesticide residues, though all farmers use pesticides of some sort. (Dennis T. and Alex A. Avery, Hudson Institute)

Iran Declares its Nuclear Bad Intentions [08/08/06] At what point do Americans and the rest of the world begin to take Iran’s President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, seriously? He is making no secret of his plans to acquire and use nuclear weapons against Israel, England and America. (Alan Caruba)

Gibson Meltdown: Mad Mel Beyond Tequiladome [08/08/06] Break out the handkerchiefs. If just about anyone else had been arrested for drunk driving, and uttered some nasty ethnic remarks, not a soul would have cared. But then, anyone else would have probably been in cuffs. There are so many angles on this story, so let's have at it. But first, understand that nothing I say here should be interpreted as defending him whatsoever. Mel Gibson, plain and simple, is a Hollywood brat, and there are many more like him.

(Michael D. Shaw)

It's a Bird! It's a Plane! It's a Conspiracy! [08/07/06] Recently, I wrote a piece in which I scoffed at people who seem to thrive on conspiracy theories. Well, as to be expected, I heard from a number of them. Most of them, I'm happy to report, were congenial. Instead of the usual name-calling I get when folks disagree with me, they mainly gave me credit for being well-intentioned, but hopelessly naïve. (Burt Prelutsky)

Science’s stem cell scam [08/04/06] Embryonic stem cells (ESCs) receive tremendous media attention, with oft-repeated claims that they have the potential to cure virtually every disease known. Yet there are spoilsports, myself included, who point out that they have yet to even make it into a human clinical trial. This is even as alternatives – adult stem cells (ASCs) from numerous places in the body, as well as umbilical cord blood and placenta – are curing diseases here and now, and have been doing so for decades. And that makes ESC advocates very, very angry. (Michael Fumento)

What Congress Can Do About Higher Gas Prices [08/03/06] Gasoline prices are soaring and the American people are angry. They want something done about it—now! $100 rebate checks to American motorists won’t cut it, nor will mandatory mileage requirements for new vehicles. Taxing oil profits will only force prices higher. But there are some very important things we can do immediately to help. (Ron Paul)

No Liberals in My Foxhole! [08/02/06] In times of war, the last person you want in the foxhole with you is a liberal. They are always desperately looking for a white flag to wave. They are always trying to “understand” the enemy and excuse his bad behavior. (Alan Caruba)

When I Was Tom Sawyer [08/01/06] Back before the beginning of time, in the late Fifties when the sun lowered over small-town Alabama like a steaming towel, and it was so humid a tadpole could just about fly, we kids of eleven didn’t have many store-bought toys. We didn’t need’em, neither. On slow barefoot afternoons with nothing to do, we did things anyhow, most of’em the which you couldn’t do now. Some, probably, we shouldn’t have done. (Fred Reed)

Curb Your Liberal [07/31/06] I find that whenever I write anything insulting about left-wingers in the context of taking them to task over some issue -- be it their hysteria over global warming, their cut-and-run approach to Iraq, their laissez faire attitude when it comes to open borders -- their response is invariably to attack me personally, never to defend their position. (Burt Prelutsky)

IRS Threatens Political Speech [07/31/06] Five years ago, I wrote about threats made by the Internal Revenue Service against conservative churches for supposedly engaging in politicking. Today, the IRS is again attempting to chill free speech, sending notices to more than 15,000 non-profit organizations—including churches—regarding its new crackdown on political activity. (Ron Paul)

President Bush Continues To Sell America To Foreign Interests [07/27/06] Now we learn that the Bush administration's attempts to outsource America's vital assets to foreign interests is expanding rapidly. It seems clear that Bush intends to sacrifice everything from America's roads and bridges to the ownership of U.S. airlines upon the altar of globalism! (Chuck Baldwin)

Organic Food and Humvees Are Both Eco-Wasteful [07/27/06] Organic food consumers are as careless of the environment as the drivers piloting those massive Humvees around our city streets. Both are wasting money and natural resources to gain snob appeal—with no other benefits. (Dennis T. Avery)

The New Frontier [07/26/06] All of you reading this are in the vanguard - the first wave of troops in the world's next major battle arena. You are on the internet. You are one of the "early adopters", adopting new technologies and new ideas ahead of the majority. Your thinking is being changed and your world view is being radically altered. You may not know this - but it is happening all the same. (David MacGregor)

Do it Now or Do it Later? [07/25/06] We are beginning to see the national debate about what to do in the Middle East shape up into fairly specific sides. I call them the “Do it now” crowd and the “Do it later” crowd. (Alan Caruba)

Is Arlen Specter finally a patriot? [07/25/06] It was the front page, banner headline of The Washington Times: "Specter puts border first, Open to deal on illegals." It appeared Senator Arlen Specter had finally come around to seeing it our way. The article's first sentence read, "Sen. Arlen Specter said he rates border security as the No.1 priority for an immigration bill and said he is open to a compromise that sets goals for border and interior enforcement before a guest-worker program and path to citizenship for illegal aliens kicks in." (Tom DeWeese)

A Modest Proposal To Abolish Universities [07/24/06] I think it is time to close the universities, and perhaps prosecute the professoriat under the RICO act as a corrupt and racketeering-influenced organization. Universities these days have the moral character of electronic churches, and as little educational value. They are an embarrassment to civilization. (Fred Reed)

But Is It Art [07/24/06] In olden times, art was art, and other things weren't. In the beginning, artists, who were the guys either too frightened or too lazy to go hunting or gathering, passed the time painting the walls of their caves. When the artist's wife would tell him to go out and kill a mastodon for dinner, he'd throw his beret to the ground, and holler, "Philistine! Can't you see I'm working?" (Burt Prelutsky)

The truth about malaria and DDT [07/21/06] Malaria continues to be the biggest single killer of African children. However, years of effort to improve malaria control programs are finally bearing fruit. (Paul Driessen)

Illusioin Is More Important Than Reality [07/20/06] It was no less than Albert Einstein who observed that, "Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one." With all due respect to the late, great scientific genius, I would riff on his comments to note that illusion is more important than reality. Perhaps this has always been true, once what we consider civilization took hold, but, certainly, it is absolutely true in this age of mass media. (Michael D. Shaw)

The Inflation Tax [07/20/06] All government spending represents a tax. The inflation tax, while largely ignored, hurts middle-class and low-income Americans the most. Simply put, printing money to pay for federal spending dilutes the value of the dollar, which causes higher prices for goods and services. Inflation may be an indirect tax, but it is very real- the individuals who suffer most from cost of living increases certainly pay a “tax.” (Ron Paul)

Biotech White Corn increases to South Africans’ Food Security [07/19/06] In South Africa, small farmers have gained important food security by shifting to genetically modified varieties of their staple food, white corn, because it resists the corn borers that abound in South Africa’s sub-tropics. Biotech farmers have harvested more than a month’s worth of additional food for their families. (Dennis T. Avery)

The Fate of Lebanon and the Rest of Us [07/18/06] On July 14 in the chamber of the United Nations Security Council, the permanent representative from Israel, Ambassador Dan Gillerman, paused to address his colleague, the ambassador from Lebanon. “You know that what we are doing is right, and if we succeed, your country will be the real beneficiary.” (Alan Caruba)

Letter to Prime Minister José Manuel Barroso [07/18/06] Physician and US Senator Tom Coburn, MD, has written European Union President José Manuel Barroso, seeking his “support and help in a life saving effort.” Many African nations want to use DDT to control malaria and save lives, but they are being told their agricultural exports could be banned if they do so. This “horrible and unconscionable situation” must end, Coburn says, and the EU must issue a “clear and unequivocal public statement” supporting the right of countries to use DDT and all other means to control this killer disease. (Paul Driessen)

Our Soap Opera Culture [07/17/06] How, I wonder, did it come to pass that we've become a tabloid society? I'm not just referring to those junky scandal sheets they peddle at supermarket checkout stands. They're just a small part of it, the tip of a sleazy iceberg. In the wake of Rep. Patrick Kennedy's traffic accident, I was reminded once again what a glutton for soap opera melodramas we've become. (Burt Prelutsky)

It’s Always Israel’s Fault [07/14/06] We live in a world where hijackers, primarily from Saudi Arabia, can commandeer two airline jets to destroy the World Trade Center and, within hours, the word is spread that this heinous act was really the work of the Israeli Mossad and Jewish terrorists. (Alan Caruba)

Will Sea Levels Rise 20 Feet As Gore Predicts? [07/14/06] Al Gore’s movie “An Inconvenient Truth.” says human-emitted CO2 will boost the earth’s temperatures enough to melt the Arctic ice cap—and suddenly raise sea levels by 20 feet. (Dennis T. Avery)

Federal Reserve Policy Destroys the Value of Your Savings [07/13/06] For years officials at the Federal Reserve Bank, including Chairman Bernanke himself, have assured us that inflation is under control and not a problem-- even as the price of housing, energy, medical care, school tuition, gold, and other commodities skyrockets. (Ron Paul)

Down, Down, Down [07/12/06] One hears often now that boys flounder in school, drop out, generally perform less well academically than girls, and don’t go to college. A certain amount of this commentary comes from women who seem quietly to enjoy the spectacle. Given that women control the schools, this might suggest that, if they are not actually causing the problem, neither are they in a hurry to do anything about it. Other people worry that the comparative superabundance of female college graduates will have no one to marry: While men will marry down, women won’t. (Fred Reed)

Water’s Nice, But Not as Ice [07/11/06] A little ice to cool a drink on a hot summer’s day is nice, but when you think of it as an Ice Age, it becomes an inexorable force of Nature more to be feared than any fictional global warming. In a recent memoir, marine biologist Trevor Norton recalls growing up “beside a sullen sea” and drawn to the “bluer oceans beyond the horizon, salt-scented and transparent.” As a young boy, Norton marveled at the fact that both he and the world were seven-tenths salt water—that his blood had almost the identical chemical composition as the sea and that, in the womb, he’d even had gills. (Alan Caruba)

Do Americans understand the threats they face? [07/10/06] Several weeks ago I asked American Policy Center supporters and DeWeese Report readers some important questions regarding their stand on issues in an effort to help direct APC's legislative efforts. Some of the answers were surprising and revealing. (Tom DeWeese)

Words Wroth Heeding [07/10/06] Over the past few years, people have sent me a number of quotations which I might otherwise never have come across. I've printed them out and put them in a drawer, thinking that, like pieces of string and rubber bands, they're too useful to throw away, but not really knowing what to do with them. Sharing them with you strikes me as a nice gesture, plus it clears out the drawer, leaving lots more room for string. (Burt Prelutsky)

The Conspiracy/Paranoia Trap [07/07/06] I recall, back in the early 80s, how I got "hooked" by a number of serious conspiracy theory books. Everything from tomes on the Illuminati and the Freemasons, to a Jewish global financial hegemony and New World Order. There were the small conspiracies. Then there were the large conspiracies. And finally, there were the conspiracies within conspiracies, and even the super- conspiracies. Of the latter much has been written of late - including putting all these "lesser" conspiracies under the umbrella of a super-cosmic one, involving aliens from other planets. Take your pick, or pick them all. (David MacGregor)

Are You Bored with Global Warming? [07/06/06] Are you bored with hearing about global warming all the time? Me, too. The din of asinine predictions, warnings, and claims that global warming is real, i.e. a rapid increase in the overall temperature of the Earth, always seems to occur just as summer arrives when—surprise—it gets warmer. (Alan Caruba)

The National Academy of Sciences is flunking [07/06/06] The Academy was supposed to referee an acrimonious debate in Congress and the science community over the infamous “hockey stick” global warming studies. Those two studies, published in 1998 and 1999, were led by Michael Mann, now at the University of Virginia. They appear to find dramatic 20th century warming, after 900 years of supposedly stable world temperatures. The study is controversial because it appeared to wipe out the Medieval Warming and Little Ice Age, two of the most widely documented climate events in history. (Dennis T. Avery)

Curmudgeing Through Paradise: Grumpishness Concerning Travel [07/05/06] A year ago Violeta and I sat in a sidewalk cafe in Rome, a city of blowing exhaust, wretched traffic, and illegible graffiti spray-painted left and right. Talking was difficult above the blatt of trucks too big for narrow streets. Around the city ancient monuments slowly dissolved in dilute carbonic acid and turned gray from drifting soot. Italians, not particularly agreeable people, passed by in the international jeans-and-sweatshirt scruff that is less a style than an absence of thought. (Fred Reed)

Why Are Americans So Angry? [07/05/06] I have been involved in politics for over 30 years and have never seen the American people so angry. It’s not unusual to sense a modest amount of outrage, but it seems the anger today is unusually intense and quite possibly worse than ever. It’s not easily explained, but I have some thoughts on this matter. Generally, anger and frustration among people are related to economic conditions; bread and butter issues. Yet today, according to government statistics, things are going well. We have low unemployment, low inflation, more homeowners than ever before, and abundant leisure with abundant luxuries. Even the poor have cell phones, televisions, and computers. Public school is free, and anyone can get free medical care at any emergency room in the country. Almost all taxes are paid by the top 50% of income earners. (Ron Paul)

Trying to Read God's Mind [07/03/06] It seems like every other week, Pat Robertson gets himself into hot water by announcing that he received yet another personal message from the Almighty. Right off the bat, I'll admit two things. One, I have no way of knowing if he does or he doesn't. After all, hundreds of millions of Christians and Jews believe that any number of people in biblical days were on speaking terms with the Lord. So, why should it be so unreasonable that once in a while, like when He gets really lonely, he rings up Reverend Robertson for a chat? (Burt Prelutsky)

Free Speech Quagmire [06/30/06] The importance of free speech, in such situations, is that it is a necessary part of free enquiry. Science could not advance if all knowledge was "given" and incapable of being questioned. A scientist MUST have free speech or all scientific enquiry would come to a grinding halt. History is no different. If we want to understand ourselves, then a rigourous appraisal of historical events is essential. So are we now to jail those who don't agree with official history? (David MacGregor)

If Bill Gates doesn't want the money, I'll take it! [06/29/06] He might be a whiz at creating computer software, but beyond that, Bill Gates has proven time and again that he hasn't got a clue about why and how a free market works. He constantly teams up with anti-free market types like the National Wildlife Federation (NWF) to produce "educational" programs that misdirect unsuspecting children with political propaganda. In 2002 he gave that group $600,000 worth of software to help the environmental radicals run their programs to block the drilling of American oil. Apparently Gates doesn't understand that we need oil to create power to run computers. (Tom DeWeese)

The Truth About Natural Beef [06/29/06] Roy Moore of Denver’s Maverick Ranch Natural Meats has laid out on his website a very solid rationale for raising hormone-aided beef. (Dennis T and Alex A. Avery)

Conversations With Lanc: Of The Which There Won't Be More [06/28/06] Ages ago, for reasons of parental misjudgement, I studied at a small college in rural Virginia, Hampden-Sydney. While surprisingly rigorous, being resolutely Southern and as yet untouched by the foolishness that now degrades schools, H-S was also relentlessly preppy. The studentry tended to be vapid future bankers in small towns and pre-meds who would go to the Medical College of Virginia in Richmond. I loathed them, and they, me. At night, to escape, I walked wooded roads under the stars to smell the honeysuckle and listen to what the insects had to say. (Fred Reed)

Islam’s Lethal Certitude [06/27/06] Americans and others in the West cannot comprehend why anyone would blow themselves up to kill, as often as not, other Muslims. Even if you were convinced that 72 virgins awaited you in paradise, committing suicide for the purpose of murder is so foreign to the Western mind that it remains, for most, outside the realm of any discussion. (Alan Caruba)

Psychoanalyzing the Loony Left [06/26/06] Sigmund Freud was the fellow who had the copyright on the ego, the id, and the superego. He was also the guy who managed to turn the couch, formerly just another piece of over-stuffed Viennese furniture, into a legitimate business expense. But even he acknowledged that he was unable to decipher what it was that women wanted. (Burt Prelutsky)

The Ultimate Ponzi Scam [06/23/06] The word "Ponzi" is thrown around with abandon these days, yet few people are likely to be aware of the origin and true meaning of that word - let alone the fact they are probably unwittingly involved in a giant Ponzi scam right now. (David MacGregor)

Will We Ruin the Canadian Tar Sands? [06/22/06] The Washington Post is wailing about the environmental ruination of that great ecological wonder, the Canadian tar sands. Canada’s Athabasca Basin holds more hydrocarbons (oil) than anyplace else in the world. It has a huge patch of tarry goo, the remains of a once-vast inland lake, spotted amongst 40,000 square miles of jack pine and black spruce growing amid mosquito-rich swamps. The same evergreen-and-swamp vista extends in a broad band for more than 2000 miles, from the Rocky Mountains in the west to the shores of Newfoundland and Nova Scotia on the Atlantic coast. (Dennis T. Avery)

Congress Rejects UN Taxes [06/21/06] Let me ask you a question: Do you think you pay enough taxes? Throughout the year you paid federal taxes through withholding, including Social Security payroll taxes. You also paid state income taxes, unless you’re fortunate enough to live in Texas or another state without an income tax. You paid local property taxes. You paid local sales taxes every time you bought something, and you paid numerous miscellaneous taxes such as vehicle license fees and federal gas taxes. Like most people, you probably feel taxed to death by all these city, county, state, and federal taxes. (Ron Paul)

A Possum Posse [06/20/06] The whole curious story began one evening when Harvard’s Conservative Student Union held a mass meeting in a local beer chute. The membership both agreed that the university’s practice of affirmative action had gone too far. In particular, it irritated them that the Native Peoples Impressment Office had recruited as students a hundred thirty-seven Tloxyproctyl aborigines from the rain forests of the Amazon Basin. (Fred Reed)

Mass Hysteria is Hysterical [06/19/06] When I was a mere sprout, I recall that some nincompoops were convinced that fluoridating water was a Communist plot. So it was at a very tender age that I first caught on that, no matter how normal people might appear to be, there was always a good chance that scratch the surface and you'd find screwballs. (Burt Prelutsky)

Cracks In The Wall Of Independence [06/19/06] As I said in a recent column (http://www.chuckbaldwinlive.com/c2006/cbarchive_20060609.html), the surrender of America's independence and national sovereignty is the most serious threat we face today. Virtually every issue that patriotic citizens feel is important is significantly impacted by this single concern. (Chuck Baldwin)

Will Wal-Mart’s Organic Cotton Save the Planet? [06/16/06] Walmart recently sold 190,000 yoga outfits made from organic cotton through its Sam’s Club stores. The Organic Exchange cheered, and announced that Wal-Mart had just saved the planet’s cotton fields from being sprayed with another 500,000 pounds of pesticides. Many cheers. (Dennis T. and Alex A. Avery)

World Bank incompetence and malpractice [06/16/06] I have been struck down by malaria dozens of times. The vomiting, high fevers, dehydration, headaches, joint pain and disorientation were beyond belief. If doctors hadn’t helped me even when I couldn’t pay, I would have been dead long ago – like my son, two sisters and three nephews, all victims of this vicious disease. Like the husbands and children of women who work with me, making beautiful purses to earn money for malaria medicines. (Fiona Kobusingye-Boynes)

TV and Tykes Don’t Mix [06/15/06] This just in! New study shows little kids watch lots of TV! Yeah, I know you’re “Shocked, shocked!” What may surprise you, though, is the extent to which these children are being exposed to television and why. (Michael Fumento)

Demon Democracy [06/15/06] Well, it's official. Hamas won the Palestinian election fair and square. Democracy in action. And people are not happy! George Bush is not happy, but he's putting a brave face on it, and trying to work out how to deal with a democratic outcome which he cannot tolerate. Tony Blair and the Europeans are not happy, and like the US, they are threatening to withdraw financial aid to the Palestinians, unless Hamas renounces violence and its stated policy of wanting the destruction of Israel. (David MacGregor)

Why Won't Congress Abolish the Estate Tax? [06/14/06] The U.S. Senate had a golden opportunity to repeal the federal estate tax last week, but fell a few votes short. I fear that vote might represent the high-water mark in the movement to get rid of this destructive tax once and for all. (Ron Paul)

CSR for thee, but not for me? [06/14/06] “Wheezing smelter smokestacks” engulfed “dingy” buildings with pollutants and dusted the hills, streets and homes of La Oroya, Peru with powdery rock laced with lead and arsenic, Newsweek reported in 1994. Pipes from the 1922-vintage smelter fouled the local river with lead and other wastes. This “vision from hell” imperiled the health of children, adults and wildlife alike. (Paul Driessen)

Then And Now [06/13/06] Yesterday I got back to Mexico after visiting Washington for a week. Returning to the United States at long intervals is like watching a flower wilt in time-lapse photography. As with the slow but inexorable growth of a tumor, the changes leap out if seen infrequently. Though in historical terms the rot goes fast, very fast, it is not easily noticed day to day. (Fred Reed)

Drilling for the Future [06/13/06] As the price of gasoline and the myriad products that utilize petroleum in their manufacture rises, Americans are going to ask why the Congress has resisted accessing the billions of barrels’ worth of oil and natural gas in our offshore continental shelf. (Alan Caruba)

Skin As Canvas [06/12/06] It seems that the late Lord Charles Beresford was such a devotee of fox hunting, he had a hunting scene tattooed across his buttocks. (Burt Prelutsky)

Global Warming: Some Inconvenient Glaciers [06/12/06] Al Gore says the world’s glaciers are melting because humanity has emitted too much CO2. However, a new peer-reviewed study shows that in South America‘s Andes Mountains the glaciers’ advances and retreats have not been governed by CO2, but by small variations in the sun’s intensity. (Dennis T. Avery)

The White Man’s Burden [06/09/06] In 1899, when England had a great empire, Rudyard Kipling penned a poem in which he called on the West to “Take up the White Man’s burden” to seek peace in the world, end famine, and vanquish disease. Kipling assumed that the millions living in Africa, the Middle East or India where he had spent many years were never going to achieve these lofty goals on their own. (Alan Caruba)

The Power of The Lie [06/08/06] Remember the movie "Groundhog Day"? It was the story of a man (Bill Murray) who was forced to continuously relive the worst day of his life, until he learned to become a better person. (David MacGregor)

Mediocrity reigns supreme [06/07/06] In 1774, Irish statesman Edmund Burke told voters, “Your representative owes you not his industry only but his good judgment. And he betrays instead of serves you if he sacrifices his judgment to your opinion.” (Paul Driessen)

Riley Backs Dwon on New Orleans Gun Grab [06/07/06] BELLEVUE, WA – Within two hours of an announcement that the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) was calling for a Justice Department investigation of New Orleans Police Superintendent Warren Riley’s plan to confiscate guns again if a major storm hits the city this year, SAF learned that Riley has backed off. (SAF)

Throw the U.N. on the Ash Heap of History [06/06/06] The League of Nations came into being after its constitution was adopted at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919. The Peace Conference, as it turned out, was little more than a prelude to World War II, punishing Germany for having started World War I and divvying up the Ottoman Empire under the assumption that the West could do whatever it wanted with the rest of the world. (Alan Caruba)

Chew on some real food dangers! [06/06/06] There’s a new children’s book out, telling kids that vicious food-mongers are trying to make them obese with fast food. That’s such a pathetic scare! Any food can make you fat if you eat too much. (Dennis T. Avery)

Guns [06/05/06] While the importance of technology to the development of Western Civilization is usually recognized, the significance of one technological development is generally underestimated—firearms. (Reginald Firehammer)

Grateful for Big Favors [06/05/06] In this country, all you need do if you wish to vilify something is stick the word "big" in front of it. Big, we've been led to believe, is bad. Whether it's corporations, oil, government, or business, I'd say that even children -- so long, I suppose, as they're not big children -- get the message that booing and hissing are in order. (Burt Prelutsky)

The Totalitarian Impulse [06/02/06] What's the difference between: A drug addict and an alcoholic? A drug dealer and a liquor merchant? An international drug ring and an international alcoholic drink distributor? (David MacGregor)

Looking Back at the Original Illegal Aliens [06/01/06] They say that illegal immigration is supposed to be such a big issue for Americans, but so far, our Congress has not done a real good job in finding a legislative solution to the problem. In fairness to our elected officials, though, this situation is going to take something beyond posturing, voting money, or creating another agency—and that's about the extent of the Federal playbook. (Michael D. Shaw)

Has John Kerry Morphed into Al Gore? [05/31/06] The British author and critic, Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) said that a phony kind of patriotism was the last refuge of a scoundrel. These days it’s environmentalism. When a candidate for president really doesn’t have any good ideas on how to keep the economy going strong, deal with America’s enemies, or any of the other practical necessities to insure our future, they always rely on the “environment” as their pitch for votes. (Alan Caruba)

Bargain-rate Bribes [05/30/06] As Shakespeare once observed, more or less, who steals my purse steals trash, blah blah blah, but he that filches from me my good name, yada yada yada, makes me poor indeed. (Burt Prelutsky)

Stop the NAIS [05/29/06] The House of Representatives recently passed funding for a new federal mandate that threatens to put thousands of small farmers and ranchers out of business. The National Animal Identification System, known as NAIS, is an expensive and unnecessary federal program that requires owners of livestock-- cattle, dairy, poultry, and even horses-- to tag animals with electronic tracking devices. The intrusive monitoring system amounts to nothing more than a tax on livestock owners, allowing the federal government access to detailed information about their private property. (Ron Paul)

Gold and Freedom [05/29/06] I've known for a long time that there are two levers of power that governments never consider giving up. And yet it is essential that these power levers are removed from the state's control - if we are ever to have a truly FREE society. (David MacGregor)

Did global warming stop in 1998 [05/26/06] The official thermometers at the U.S. National Climate Data Center show a slight global cooling trend over the last seven years, from 1998 to 2005. Actually, global warming is likely to continue—but the interruption of the recent strong warming trend sharply undercuts the argument that our global warming is an urgent, man-made emergency. The seven-year decline makes our warming look much more like the moderate, erratic warming to be expected when the planet naturally shifts from a Little Ice Age (1300–1850 AD) to a centuries-long warm phase like the Medieval Warming (950–1300 AD) or the Roman Warming (200 BC– 600 AD). (Dennis T. Avery)

Thoughts Thunk Southward: Not All Rumors Correct [05/25/06] I get a lot of email asking me, “What’s it really like in Mexico, Fred?” A book would be needed to give a good answer. Since people seem interested, I’ll take a few random shots at the topic. Don’t expect literature or organization. (Fred Reed)

Can Constitutionalists Ever Come Together? [05/24/06] Back in 2004, I gave up hope that the Republican Party would ever again honestly promote a truly conservative, constitutionalist agenda in Washington, D.C. Since then, the GOP has not failed my expectations. It has nose-dived into a big government, big- spending, socialist, Big Brother, pro-illegal invasion party that no true conservative could remotely support! (Chuck Baldwin)

Predicting Hurricanes. Not! [05/23/06] Why is it that hurricanes are always treated as unexpected events? The news reports always have someone saying, “We haven’t had one around here in such a long time…” or “We never expected it to be this powerful.” (Alan Caruba)

Avoiding War with Iran [05/23/06] In recent weeks the Bush administration has stated its willingness to use diplomacy in dealing with Iran, which is a welcome change from previous policy. Let’s hope it’s more than just a change in tone. With ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan costing more than $5 billion per week, record levels of federal spending and debt, and oil hovering around $70 per barrel, American taxpayers certainly cannot afford another war. (Ron Paul)

Prelutsky for the Prosecution [05/22/06] I suppose I should be relieved. After all, this past week I was on call every day to perform jury duty, and the call never came. But, oddly enough, I'm not relieved. Instead, I'm disgruntled. It was an entire week during which I could hardly make a lunch date. The way it works, starting on Sunday night, you phone a 1-800 number, punch in a nine-digit I.D. number, and a recorded voice lets you know whether or not you have to show up at the courthouse the following morning. (Burt Prelutsky)

On Recent Wars: Things Not Figured Out [05/19/06] People ask how we got into our splendid mess in Iraq and why we can’t get out. The question is a subset of a larger question: Why, since WWII, have so many first-world armies gotten into drawn-out guerrilla wars in bush-world countries, and lost? Examples abound: France in Vietnam, America in Vietnam, France in Algeria, Russia in Afghanistan, Israel in Lebanon, etc. Why don’t they learn? (Fred Reed)

Fanatics, heretics and the truth about Global Warming [05/19/06] "Oceans lash our coasts. Deserts Burn. The sky provides no shelter. Turmoil of Biblical proportions threatens not just our weather but life itself. Global Warming is upon us." Those words aren't from the preview trailer of the silly, overblown, over dramatic film, "Day After Tomorrow" that invaded movie theaters a few years ago. And they aren't just carefully selected "scare" words developed from a sweep through a thesaurus. These are the opening words to yet another hysterical diatribe passing as news these days on the subject of Global Warming. (Tom DeWeese)

Iraq’s Band of Brothers [05/19/06] Since returning from my embed in the wild west Iraqi city of Ramadi at the end of April, I’ve gotten some wonderful e-mails from relatives of the troops. I’d like to share a few of them. First some background. Despite the constant flow of news out of Baghdad, which to many reporters is where Iraq begins and ends, terrorist-infested Ramadi is probably block-for-block the meanest place in country. Asked where in the city I wanted to be embedded, I told the military “The redder, the better.” (“Red” means hostile.) (Michael Fumento)

Immigrants, reconquistas and economic systems: What would the American Southwest look like under the Mexican system? [05/18/06] In one week, three news items helped clarify the intertwined issues of illegal immigration, poverty south of the Rio Grande, and how the fortuitous course of U.S. history generated opportunity and prosperity that remain elusive for our southern neighbors. (Paul Driessen)

A New Theory to Explain the Frog Declines? [05/18/06] Scientists around the world are worried about frogs. Many frog populations are in decline, and we don’t know why. We’ve found some small clues: something called the ranovirus is hampering efforts to restore leopard frog populations in Alberta, Canada, where they were once abundant. The chytrid fungus, which has caused frog die-offs in Australia, Africa, and Central America, has also been found in the United States. (Dennis T. and Alex A. Avery, Hudson Institute)

Drug Choices, Bad Choices [05/17/06] Americans are apparently addicted to everything. Addiction used to have a real definition. It was a medical term that meant an individual was physically dependent on something, usually tobacco, alcohol or a drug of some kind. Everybody understood the use of the word, but recently the President told Americans they are addicted to oil. He might as well have said they’re addicted to driving cars or plastic. (Alan Caruba)

A Word to the Wise and the Not So Wise [05/17/06] I'm here to announce that we are not a nation of scholars. Good lord, we're barely literate. It's a wonder that more of us don't walk around with our knuckles dragging on the ground. And it's about time that high school counselors and all the rest of us quit pretending that every 17 and 18 year old squirt should be shoehorned into colleges and universities. (Burt Prelutsky)

The 'War on Terror' Scam [05/16/06] The greatest threat to our freedom today is not terrorism, but what governments are doing to counter this perceived terrorist threat. (David MacGregor)

The Declining Dollar Erodes Personal Savings [05/16/06] A recent article in BusinessWeek magazine by James Mehring paints a stark picture of the ongoing decline of the U.S. dollar. The dollar has lost 5% against a blend of worldwide currencies just since April, falling to a 12-month low against the Euro and an 8-month low against the Japanese yen. Overall, the dollar fell 28% against other currencies between 2002 and 2004. It then rebounded slightly, but even the cheerleaders in the American financial press cannot shrug off this latest decline. (Ron Paul)

Multiculturalism And Alligators [05/15/06] It is possible to derive an ashen satisfaction from watching really stupid people dancing on a tight rope over a den of alligators. At each resounding dental snap one yells “Yeeeeeeeee-ha! Told you so!” and reaches for another beer. (Fred Reed)

Hated: The Individualist In a Collectivist World [05/12/06] If you choose to live your life as an independent individualist, holding your life and your love of it as your highest purpose, desiring and seeking nothing but the best in all things, unwilling to sacrifice any good to any evil, which means, unwilling to subordinate any aspect of your life to any other or any aspect of another's life to yours, you will find yourself an alien in this world. (Reginald Firehammer)

Do We Need Ethanol More Than Topsoil? [05/11/06] If we turn the crop stalks into ethanol, we’ll have the only problem that could be bigger than an energy shortage—a topsoil shortage. That would throw the First World’s societies into the same sort of downward hunger and erosion spiral that bad farming has already forced upon Africa. (Dennis T. Avery)

Late Word from the Oil Patch [05/10/06] As I am sure you have read or heard somewhere, “the world is running out of oil” and we’re all doomed. Unless we can figure out how to run our cars on soy sauce, it’s back to bicycles and horses. (Alan Caruba)

Squaring Accounts [05/09/06] No matter where a discussion about fiscal matters begins -- whether the subject involves national defense, farm subsidies or Social Security -- inevitably it ends up with somebody insisting that it's wrong to saddle our sons and daughters with a load of IOUs. Well, I beg to differ. (Burt Prelutsky)

Eighth Grade In Mexico: Sounds Like A Low-Ranked American University To Me [05/08/06] Howsomever, I’ve received email telling me how poorly educated the Mexicans are. Hmmm. Maybe. You can make a case for it. I know that immigrant kids do terribly in school in the US, which augurs ill indeed. Most kids don’t read here either. Still, I found myself wondering just how bad the Mexican schools really are. (Fred Reed)

Why Punish Oil Companies Just When We Need More Energy? [05/05/06] Gasoline at $3 per gallon tells us vehicle fuel is scarce in America right now. Some U.S. politicians propose to “fix” the high prices with an “excess profits tax” on the oil companies. (Dennis T. Avery)

How to Defeat Big Brother and Reclaim Your Freedom [05/04/06] George Orwell's "1984" is the story of a future society where individualism has been eliminated, where propaganda is used to control the masses, and where perpetual war is being waged to maintain the "peace". It's a world where false is true and wrong is right, where history is constantly being rewritten to support whatever the regime is currently doing - and where Big Brother watches your every move. (David MacGregor)

Landowner's Coalition Demands Repeal of ESA [05/04/06] "Fed up" landowners have said "enough" to feeble efforts by Congress to "fix" the Endangered Species Act (ESA). That's why a coalition of property rights groups, led by the American Land Foundation, Stewards of the Range, the American Policy Center, Liberty Matters, and the PFUSA Grange have now gathered more than 6,300 signatures to a letter calling for repeal of the ESA. (American Policy Center)

What the Price of Gold is Telling Us [05/03/06] The financial press, and even the network news shows, have begun reporting the price of gold regularly.  For twenty years, between 1980 and 2000, the price of gold was rarely mentioned.  There was little interest, and the price was either falling or remaining steady. (Ron Paul)

An Inconvenient Al Gore [05/03/06] On May 26, a movie, “An Inconvenient Truth”, will debut at a theatre near you, starring a man who introduces himself these days as the man “who used to be the next President of the United States.” That man is Al Gore who, since losing his bid in 2000 to lead this country, has given us all cause to thank a merciful God for sparing us his unflagging lunacy. (Alan Caruba)

Denying the Holocaust [05/02/06] Not too long ago, David Irving was sentenced to three years in an Austrian jail for claiming that the Holocaust never happened. Although I am usually in favor of harsh sentences even for those people who insist on honking their car horns while driving through tunnels, I was against throwing Irving's butt in the slammer. (Burt Prelutsky)

Playing At Adventure: Thoughts On The Spreading Mismatch [05/01/06] A friend recently sent me a story from the New York Times* about “survival schools” in which men, mostly young and urban, paint themselves in camouflage and pretend to be soldiers or survivors of plane crashes. These games are a pursuit of manliness, avowed to be such by the participants. (“Manliness likes to be unconventional,” [an instructor] added. It likes to disobey the law. So now we have reality camps.) (Fred Reed)

Policy is More Important than Personnel [04/28/06] President Bush has been under pressure to fire Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, whom many view as the architect of a failed approach in Iraq. Even many ardent war hawks are unhappy with the Secretary for not having more troops on the ground in Iraq, and for conducting the war less aggressively than they would like. (Ron Paul)

Misguided social responsibility at General Electric [03/27/06] Companies should always be honest, ethical and devoted to the well-being of our environment and the publics they serve: employees, investors, customers and communities alike. It’s good business. It’s socially responsible. (Paul Driessen)

Future American lawyers take a stand for freedom [03/27/06] Many patriotic Americans have rightly worried about the nation's future in the hands of today's younger generation. Proven time and again is their lack of understanding for American ideals and principles of limited government, thanks to a woefully inadequate education from government schools. (Tom DeWeese)

Gripes and Grievances [04/25/06] "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times," wrote Charles Dickens, back in 1859. Well, here it is 2006, and I'd say his words are as accurate today as the day he wrote them. For some people, this is the best time to be alive, while, for others, it's the pits. But for still other people, such as myself, it is, as usual, a matter of trying to uncover a bit of sanity midst all the chaos. Believe me, it's like panning for gold in the gutter. (Burt Prelutsky)

Earth Day Deluge [04/24/06] April 22 is Earth Day. I doubt that most people have any idea how vast the effort is to convince people around the world that the Earth is in peril due to industrialization and the human population in general. The amazing thing is how bogus the claims are, but when repeated endlessly, they become a “truth” simply from repetition. (Alan Caruba)

Earth Day Information Center Cites Environmental Progress [04/24/06] WASHINGTON, April 21 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Although many environmental organizations will strain to find the black lining in the silver cloud of environmental progress on the occasion of Earth Day, the Earth Day Information Center, a project of The National Center for Public Policy Research, is pleased to note environmental progress in many areas. Earth Day is Saturday, April 22. (The National Center for Public Policy Research)

Brutality In Mexico [04/21/06] Bobbling about on the web, like flotsam in some drear tidal pool, is a piece purporting to show that Mexico mistreats immigrants in all manner of ways offensive to the North American soul. Most curious. I am one of those immigrants, and still waiting to be mistreated. (Fred Reed)

Sanctions against Iran [04/18/06] As the drumbeat for military action against Iran grows louder, some members of Congress are calling to expand the longstanding U.S. trade ban that bars American companies from investing in that nation. In fact, many war hawks in Washington are pushing for a comprehensive international embargo against Iran. The international response has been lukewarm, however, because the world needs Iranian oil. But we cannot underestimate the irrational, almost manic desire of some neoconservatives to attack Iran one way or another, even if it means crippling a major source of oil and destabilizing the worldwide economy. (Ron Paul)

Gas Prices Rise! We’re Doomed! [04/18/06] As long as I can remember, the price of gasoline has risen just before the summer months, known for greater travel as folks pile into the car to go to the beach or drive to some vacation destination. In early April, however, oil prices rose more than a $1 per barrel, a high point over the passed seven months, and the mainstream media went berserk with reports that seemed to say that our entire economy was in free fall. (Alan Caruba)

Just Rambling [04/17/06] As you start up the hill above the village the going is steep, and loose rock slides beneath your feet, requiring care, but with increasing altitude the trail levels off a bit and runs through scruffy vegetation. The undergrowth isn’t majestic but has an appeal of its own. Most wild places do. There is a complexity of life, a dance of many creatures doing many things. Soon you are well above the town, and the lake stretches off yet further toward the horizon. (Fred Reed)

Disarming Our Troops [04/17/06] I think that the next person who announces that he opposes the war in Iraq, but supports the troops, should be arrested and charged with committing hypocrisy in the first degree. (Burt Prelutsky)

What Is an Individualist [04/14/06] In all the history of the world every advance in civilization, every gain in knowledge, and every improvement in the human condition has come solely through the efforts of independent individualists. They and they alone are the creators, innovators, and discoverers of the world. These men are all there is of positive importance in all of history; all the rest, the tyrants, the dictators, the famines and plagues, earthquakes, floods, famines, and wars were important only in the negative. (Reginald Firehammer)