Kudlow on NRO

A great piece showing just how well the economy is doing -- despite media reporting to the contrary. Apparently good economic news wasn't "media worthy" with an election going on.


UPDATE: A LOT of really good stuff on Kudlow's blog. I mean A LOT. Where have I been, not knowing he had a blog?

2004 Good News

I wonder if Greenpeace and the Sierrra Club know.

Social Security

Why is it so difficult for people to understand why SS reform is so crucial? The taxes collected today pay for the benefits that retirees and other recipients receive today. The government is currently collecting more in taxes than it spends ON THE SYSTEM. It goes ahead and spends the money anyway on other things like bullets, armor for Humvees and environmental studies.
The spent excess is "redeemed" by giving a Treasury note (bond) to the SS system. This is the so-called "Trust Fund". When the tipping point is reached in 2018 or so, the liabilities of the sytem will outweigh the incoming receipts. So the "Tust Fund" bonds will have to be redeemed at that point--by OTHER Federal tax money. And people are crying about the deficits now!

War News

Some great commentary and anlaysis over at Bill Roggio at the fourth rail.
(Hat tip to Hugh Hewitt.) MSM just doesn't get the interplay between the various groups of Iraqis. Each ethnic group isn't a monolithic entity, there are sub-groups within the "groups" portrayed by the media. The Baathists are trying desperately to "turn back the clock" while the Islamofascists are trying to creat a new, lunatic "paradise" that looks suspiciously like Taliban Afghanistan. It's no wonder the cooperation between them is breaking down, and that mainstream secular Sunnis won't give them the time of day. Duh.

Tax news

It appears the administration is backing off plans for a complete tax overhaul in favor of a more "incremental" approach. Probably for the best, and a lot more politically palatable for the "other" side of the aisle, although there is sure to be much screaming, pouting and gnashing of teeth. Look for claims of "cuts" that are actually reductions in the RATE of departmental budget increase. And it pains me greatly that RUSSIA, of all places, has a flat tax on income. Good grief, Charlie Brown! Lenin is almost certainly spinning like a top in his mausoleum, although they say he still looks mahvelous.

Tsunami News

Tsunami death toll continues to increase -- 44,000 at last count. And that is just the beginning of the problem. On a related note, someone relatively famous (SI supermodel Petra Nemcova, 2003 covergirl, her calender also looks interesting) survived a very bad day and her boyfriend is still missing.

Links added (some)

These are sites I visit almost every day. As you can see by the list -- Yup, I'm a t-shirt & flannel-wearing, beer-drinking, dyed-in-the-wool supply siding, snarling foreign-policy hawking conservative. I do have my cute, cuddly teddy-bear side though - the claws are underneath the fur, just beneath the surface. Kinda like The Wolverine. Or a wolverine, anyway.

First Post

Creative title, isn't it? While I'm not sure what I want to accomplish (if anything) but I do want to credit my blogfather, Donald Luskin of NRO and PoorandStupid. I discovered him at National Review Online, followed him to his own blog, and from there discovered....the blogoverse! The blogfather, Glenn Reynolds. Hugh Hewitt. The group at Powerline. And many, many more, too many to list right away -- I hope to add links later. Anyway, my interest in blogging was born sometime after the election, but after Thanksgiving this year. Reading about the influence that the "little guy" can have in today's media has made me think that perhaps, after all, we CAN make a difference on this earth. Correct some wrongs. Make people accountable. Make the world a better place, in some regard. So, to that, I will do what I can when I can, and hope I can make some impact. And make crazy blog money renting space for advertisers! Yeah, that's the ticket!