Perhaps the most important reading you could do would be to read the Stimulus Bill for yourself at ReadTheStimulus.org.

The Action Americans Need by Barack Obama.  From the Washington Post.  So now he’s writing Op-Eds?  Smacks a bit of desperation if you ask me.  Maybe it should have been titled, “The Crushing Debt Future Americans Don’t Want, But Will Get Anyway.”  Also see his speech to House Democrats from the other night.

The New Great Communicator… Isn’t, by Joan Walsh.  From Salon.com.  So basically, rich people are evil and horde all the money, so all we need to do is take their money and get it to poor people who will spend it, thus saving everyone.  And all Obama needs to do is sell that point better, and he’s in the clear.  You think I’m joking, but I’m not.  Keynesian, demand side economics hard at work.  Until she runs into, you know, facts, reality, truth, history, etc.  Also see this refutation of her original (bad) premise.

A guy goes undercover into the pit of all evil, Wal Mart.  And finds?  It’s not so bad.  (via Powerlineblog.com)

Twelve Thoughts on the Election Contest Order, from Powerlineblog.com  Update on the Franken/Coleman case/election.

Republicans as Democrats, Part 1 and Part 2, by Thomas Sowell.  From Townhall.com

We Can’t Spend Our Way to Prosperity, by John Stossel.  From Townhall.com

The National Ponzi Scheme, by Walter E. Williams.  From Townhall.com.  Great article about Social Security, by one of my current favorite thinkers.

Venezuela’s Chaves says Obama has “stench” of Bush.  But I thought the world would love us now?  Also, the French are smarter than us.

Tom Daschle: Symbol of All That’s Wrong in DC, from Powerlineblog.com.

What Are They Buying? by Thomas Sowell, from Townhall.com.

Legislating the Lillie Ledbetter Lie, from Powerlineblog.com.

Fan and Fred’s Lunch Tab, from the Wall Street Journal.

The Entitlement Stimulus, from the Wall Street Journal.  Here comes socialized health care…

My Bipartisan Stimulus, by Rush Limbaugh.  From the Wall Street Journal.  Makes more sense than anything I’ve heard out of DC.

Get Over It: New Deal Didn’t Do The Job.  From the Heritage Foundation.

Biggest Boondoggle in American History, from Powerlineblog.com.  Includes an email sent out from House Minority Leader John Boehner regarding House Democrat’s new Stimulus package bill.  For me, it falls under the category of “are you kidding me?”

The Bush Economy, from the Wall Street Journal.  A good, balanced (though newspaper length, naturally) look at what went right and wrong during the Bush administration.

History Will Show That George W. Bush Was Right, from the Telegraph.  Written by British historian Andrew Roberts.  Mostly goes from the foreign policy angle.

The Minnesota Recount Was Unconstitutional, from the Wall Street Journal, by constitutional law scholar/professor Michael Stokes Paulsen.  A must read for anyone trying to figure out the mess that is the Coleman-Franken situation.  For further commentary on the article please see this.

Professor Denies Global Warming Theory, from the Daily Princetonian.  Princeton Physics prof says “oh no you didn’t!” to Global Warming.

2008 Was The Year Man-Made Global Warming Was Disproved, from the Telegraph.

As an added bonus, I came up with a new drinking game for all of you college kids.  Watch this Youtube video and witness bastion of journalistic integrity Keith Olbermann sum up Bush’s 8 years in office.  Take a drink every time he exaggerates, lies, deceives, re-writes history, leaves essential facts out, bloviates, rants, etc.  Even the most hardy frat-boy will have alcohol poisoning after 2 minutes.  It would be hilarious if there weren’t so many normal people who actually think he’s reporting facts.  Just in case you aren’t able to stomach the entire thing, one of my personal favorite parts is where he informs us that Bush created the oil bubble right before he personally brought the housing crisis upon us.  The only crimes I could think of that Olbermann missed was that 9/11 was as inside job and that Hurricane Katrina was caused by Bush’s weather machine in a valiant effort to destroy rap music.

Big apologies for the lack of content of the last week or two. Strangely enough, we all got hit with fairly large things at the same time: finals, illness, crushing workloads, etc. For now, here is some excellent reading to tide you over. Some of it is a bit older (from a few weeks ago) but all relevant/interesting.

“Jolting” the Economy by Thomas Sowell, from TownHall.com

Peter Wallison on how the government created the financial crisis, from Instapundint.com

Why Reporters — and Judges and Professors — Are Biased by Dennis Prager, from TownHall.com

Iraq’s New Dawn: Victory Across The Board by Michael Yon. From the New York Post.

Guy who predicted the financial meltdown: Obama’s only making it worse, from HotAir.com

Scientists urge caution on global warming, from Politico.com

Tracking ‘The Gore Effect’, from Politico.com

The Barack-Blagojevich Stand Off, from The Weekly Standard Blog.

The Employee Free Choice Act Is Unconstitutional, from The Wall Street Journal.

Channeling Jimmy Carter, by Stephen Moore. From The Wall Street Journal.

Quantum of Solis, from the Wall Street Journal.

Obama Administration: Too Many Cooks? from the Weekly Standard Blog.

Mitt Romney on the Auto Industry Bailout, from the New York Times.

David Yermack’s take on the Auto Industry Bailout, from the Wall Street Journal.

If the government diverts our national savings into businesses that have long track records of destroying investment capital, eventually we’ll end up with an economy like France’s — or Zimbabwe’s.

Wider U.S. Interventions Would Yield Winners, Losers as Industries Realign, from the Wall Street Journal.

Consensus? Let them deal with their own issues in bankruptcy court, like anyone else in the business world would has to. They have brought this crisis upon themselves through poor management, short sightedness, and pressure from the UAW. Instead, it appears that someone (either a lame-duck, congressionally bullied Bush, or a bought off by unions Obama) is going to give them (the unions) what they want, which will merely forestall all three of these company’s inevitable destruction.

Auto Makers’ Rescue Drive Stalls, from the Wall Street Journal. GM doesn’t want to go into bankruptcy, and they list every reason why except that bankruptcy court would allow/force them to renegotiate their contracts with the unions who are sucking them dry, and naturally the unions would rather that not happen. The “customers won’t want to buy products from companies in bankruptcy” argument is pretty pathetic. The truth is that customers don’t want to buy extremely expensive, crappy products, when there are more viable options available. Lots of airline companies have gone bankrupt lately, and yet their airplanes stayed in the air. Cut the BS guys, we all know what’s going on here.

Obama Hears a Giant Sucking Sound, from the Wall Street Journal. I wanted to read this one just based on the title. Obama is looking at some pretty rough seas ahead, especially as someone who had hoped/does hope to dive into his first term with FDR style programs and spending.

Zogby won’t duplicate Obama poll, from Politico. Looks like another casualty of political correctness. Zogby doesn’t want do do another poll, despite liberal blogs screaming for it, apparently because of what the results might show, and the ensuing firestorm that would occur afterward. If you’ve somehow missed this whole thing, scroll down a few articles and watch the movie I posted, then read this, from the man himself.

Elton John: Where Prop 8 went wrong, from USA Today. Prop 8 is all about changing the definition of the word marriage. I didn’t say it, Sir Elton did. Get mad at him, not me! Ok, I admit, I’ve been saying that all along too, but naturally his opinion holds far more weight than mine does. He did sing Tiny Dancer and Your Song, after all.

OBAMA’S ‘CHANGE’: BACK TO THE DEMOCRATIC WASHINGTON INSIDERS, from DickMorris.com. This article is of special personal interest to me, given a conversation I had with a guy I met at a birthday party earlier this year, during the primaries. He informed me that the best thing about Obama was what an outsider he was, and how every person he brought in through his administration was going to be new blood. I would imagine that guy is fairly disappointed now, given that a huge majority of Obama’s people are old Washington hacks. Now that’s change I can believe in!

The Treatment of Bush Has Been a Disgrace, from the Wall Street Journal. Written by a former John Kerry advisor, no less. One of my favorite things to do in the last couple years is to talk to all the gigantic “Bush haters,” and ask them to explain to me why he is so evil. Usually I get, “oh he’s a war monger,” or “he lied about WMDs!” Now don’t get me wrong, Bush has done plenty of things that upset me. But I can at least define what those things are. I guess what it really must come down to is the fact that Leonardo Decaprio and Kanye West think that Bush sucks, and that must mean it’s true. The level of blind hatred backed up by complete ignorance from most of this country over the last four years has been pathetic. It’s be nice to see general unfounded hatred replaced by obvious, unfettered Obama fawning from celebrities and the media for the next four years. Or not.

Joe the Plumber case still dripping from Ohio.com. If Obama’s/the media’s treatment of Joe The Plumber is any indication of what the next four years are going to be like, then fasten your seatbelts. If there was any justice in the world there would be rioting in the streets over this one. Government agencies using government resources to smear/discredit a private citizen because they dared to ask His Mercifulness a question? Terrifying.

Report: ‘08 turnout same as or only slightly higher than ‘04 from CNN.com

Tolerance fails T-shirt test from the Chicago Tribune. An 8th grader wore a “McCain Girl” t-shirt to school as an experiment and recorded the results.

FRANKEN ‘FIXES’ STALK SENATE RACE from NY Post. Al Franken is an idiot, and I sincerly hope he doesn’t manage to weasel (read: cheat) his way into the Senate.

And I thought Global Warming was a slam dunk? Shame that some of the “data” reported recently has been shown to be fraudulent, and apparently sea ice is growing fast.

Good summary of some arguments against all the Prop 8 protesting at PowerlineBlog.com. And just in case you didn’t know, Prop 8= Hate, which must mean No on Prop 8= happy love feelings. Just don’t tell these guys or these guys. Yay Democracy!

I am currently reading a book entitled The Great Game by Peter Hopkirk. It is a fascinating read that describes, as its subtitle suggests, the struggle for empire in Central Asia. Through the use of story, biography and anecdote culled from the original manuscripts of those who lived it, Hopkirk outlines the centuries-long battle to lay claim to the vast region of difficult terrain between the great powers of the 17th to 20th centuries: Russia, British India, Persia, China and Mongolia. This should be required reading for anyone wishing to comment on the US involvement in Afghanistan or Central Asian/Mid-East policy in general. It also puts Russia’s recent invasion of Georgia in the proper context.

While I am only halfway through it, I can honestly say that I will never look at the “Stan” countries on the map quite the same. Who knew that Uzbekistan, et al had such a scintillating history? Why don’t they teach these things in school anymore?

- Norm