Baku police have used water cannon and truncheons to disperse thousands of Azerbaijani opposition protesters who were demanding that the results of the 6 November parliamentary election be annulled

Registan.net follows efforts by opposition forces in Azerbaijan to protest recent elections. They were allowed 2 hours to protest, and then when it was suggested from the podium that they begin a sit-in protest in excess of the allowable 2 hours, they were forcibly removed and some were injured.

Publius reports "not too good a day for protesters" in Egypt or Azerbaijan

BBC video footage from event

Global Roundup

Publius Pundit has a terrific article on the Chinese chemical spill and the ever-growing effect on Chinese society and the potential for democratic revolution.

Blogger suggests that Honduran vote is a bell-weather for things to come over next 13 months in Latin America. Some may have suggested that it is a right vs. left vote. This blogger and Publius author reiterate the obvious, voting is a local thing. People don't consider themselves left or right, they just want security, privacy, status, comfort and jobs. How they get these is the fodder for these elections. Election on Sunday.

So in Central America the political debate has been about aligning with the United States and Canada and Mexica for free-trade. The poorer countries have voted for this free trade pact quickly, they know they will get the most improvement. The wealthier countries with highly educated and more liberal cultures have been slower to approve the pact. Costa Rica is the last and could be the closest margin. Yesterday there were organized marches for the pact, and they were reportedly larger marches than the ones against the pact recently.

Former Canadian leader takes the chance to hit Pres Bush ... but he chooses a stupid thing to blame on W. I guess it's his opinion that Pres. Bush is trying to prepare to take over the galaxy. This is of course foolish, but the general Canadian public's feelings that we in America are trying to take over the world, that's a worry. They have been protected by our military for over 100 years. They've gotten fat and selfish, they are following their French friends.

In Iraq things seem to be improving quietly and patiently. This institute has conducted a poll that suggests many Iraqis will vote and look forward to improving conditions. You bet we'll be pulling the lion's share of our troops out over the next couple years, as we should. We'll have a presence for many years to come.

Watch Liberia over the next couple years. They have just completed their first "free and fair elections" ever. Will they be able to progress and build infrastructure and protect these new found freedoms? In Africa, given freedom, the people have tended to allow their leaders to steal away their prosperity. Can they hold their leaders accountable?

I have a hard time even typing the names of all the countries in the former Soviet and Black Sea area. But, the fight for democracy and terrorism is really at it's pinnacle in this area. Just a brief review of the topics yesterday on Registan.net will amaze you. Uzbekistan, Afganistan, Belarus, Turkey, Russia, Chechnya, Poland, Germany ... the list goes on. The Soviet Union may be gone, but the Russians are still playing a lot of games in their former playground.

In Russia the fall of the Soviet Union led to momentary freedoms. Then crime syndicates and terrorists caused fear, so the Russians instituted "security measures." Remember that for every security measure some freedoms are lost, the question is how far is too far? This blogger in Moscow suggests that the Russians are using state-owned companies to buy up the economic engines of Russian society, again. Is it the return of the Soviets?

Back to Kenya, they voted against the new constitution proposed by their President. Many reports and blogs suggest that this is a great step, guaranteeing the long-term stability of the democracy there. If the people can speak at the ballot box, and stop the President and his cabinet from jamming home a new constitution, then they can start holding all their leaders accountable.

Most conservatives are calling for an escalation of words to threaten Iran into submission before they bomb Israel or worse. This blogger says that Gingrich is the newest "globalist" to call for more action against Iran. Maybe even a targeted strike against their facilities? Liberal of course scream "what about Israel?"

Palestinians celebrated the opening of their border crossing with Egypt. This Chinese View website makes it sound like the Israeli's were the only reason that these "poor injured people" couldn't get out for medical procedures. Perhaps the Chinese will be opening their borders soon? I think not. Perhaps the Chinese will be telling their people the truth about Palestine? Nope. China better be careful, freedom of information is not controllable. They are losing their grip. Oh I agree that Israel has made some mistakes. Wouldn't you if the gun were pointed at your head for 45 years? Is the patient required to walk the doctor thru the surgery?

Syria backed down, or so it is reported by news media this morning. They were asked to produce five men for questioning by the UN. You see they shot and killed a leader in Lebanon, and then the unthinkable happened, they got caught and the people of Lebanon rose up and kicked them out. More people should kick out more leaders. More leaders should feel the pressure and fear associated with freedom of information and accountability.

What a power-packed day, huh? How would you like to be Condi? Every day 199 countries with freedom growing and being fought? Wow

Church History is a forgotten art

Reading a book called "Church History in Plain Language" by Shelley
Some of you may have read it.

Love the prolgue where he refers to a Charlie Brown cartoon

Charlie Brown sister Sally is writing a theme for school titled "Church
History" ... Charlie who is at her side, notices her introduction "when writing about church history, we have to go back to the very beginning. Our pastor was born in 1930" Charlie rolls his eyes.

Now that I can see

I'm reading this article on the Amish rebuilding after a tornado in Montgomerey Indiana, Read the article, and then asking myself some follow-up questions.

Did they have a Presidential visit?
Did they get billions in federal money?
Were they living in an area that has a 100% chance of being damaged again?

No, No, and No.

But we're going to spend 200 Billion Dollars, and raise taxes on all United States taxpayers to rebuild a city built below sea-level, that has a 100% chance of being flooded again. And the people of New Orleans, they aren't rebuilding their city, they're complaining about not getting enough money from the government.

Let's talk Narnia

Oh the media is starting to purr ... Will the Christians come out in droves and save Disney from a dismal year? Will the Chronicles of Narnia be a worldwide smash hit like The Passion of the Christ?

Then there's the chance that the new movie will be used by churches and evangelical groups as an outreach tool. Will the movie's allegorical themes be strong enough for a true presentation of the gospel message? I was once advised "Stupid people won't catch inferences."

Some Narnia links: ABC News, Ireland, Official Movie Site, Video Game Release, Movie Trailer

I am still clinging to the hope that the popularity of the movie will somehow encourage children to read. Maybe I'm being naive here, but I can't help thinking that reading Christian propaganda is still better than reading nothing at all. I read these books as a kid, and they certainly didn't Christianize me.As for the publicity generated by the film and the churches that support it, we are provided with yet another opportunity to speak out. Instead of opposing the film or book, we should focus on the Christian myth that underlies both. They are not flawed because they promote Christianity; they are flawed because Christianity itself is terribly flawed.

Go to an atheist blog, sounds worried doesnt he?

Home School Notes for teaching in 20 lessons the Narnia story.

This blogger says we should pursue a Narnia world instead of a Biblical world, he suggests that the Bible has caused more problems than C.S. Lewis' work.

There's a battle brewing here gang. The atheists arent going to be happy with another Passion type uprising of evangelicals. They are sure not going to be happy if these "foolish" religious types choose God over Man as the author of the galaxies. They thought they had us convinced. We are getting rid of "Merry Christmas" and "Happy Holy Days" ... We're banning Christ and Jesus from all public discussion.

Mohammad has replaced Jesus as a discussion topic ... Hey atheists, you better do a search of France's most recent fun and games. You want a Muslim world?

Did a little digging today on Cuba. First I disagree with the United States' policy on no trade with Cuba. I think a little free trade would blow Castro right out and democracy in.

This site features information on an underground economy reachable by way of the internet. Caution, the language is a bit heavy.

Blogger who agrees with me that trade should be opened up

Marines in Syria

A widely read but somewhat sketchy blogger is reporting that we have Marines tracking down Iraqi insurgents in Syria, and that some kind of gun battle has ensued

Not many details, maybe more on updates come morning.

Read the release from the blogger who broke the story.

Thanksgiving

I sure enjoy some time with family

Some time to reflect on how good we have it in this part of the world.

Have you looked lately at Sudan?

How about Cuba?

How about Russia?

Or China?

We've got it aweful good, now what do we do with it?

Housing Slow Down?

I'm getting sick of the "housing slowdown" predictions. Of course interest rates are being used to deflate the areas of the country that have over-appreciated. But, the truth, in my opinion is that 2006 will be bigger in terms of construction of new homes than 2005!

Yep, even the NAHB is saying slowdown, but in this case I disagree with them

Kenya Rejects Constitution Democratically

Mobile telephony also seems to be an important part of the landmark vote. The Electoral Commission of Kenya and local media houses are sending short text messages (sms) to subscribers for breaking news about the polling.
Many of the voters spoke to also said that they are in touch with relatives by mobile phone on how the voting process is proceeding in upcountry provinces.

The good news is that in a largely open and fair referendum the voters of Kenya rejected the new constitution proposed by the President elected to reform the nation. Remember before you go streaming off the precipice with the lemmings that democracy is by it's very nature difficult and that decisions in a truly checked and balanced system are hard to come by. That's how democracry is supposed to work. If is was easy, it would be a dictatorship.

Now, the quote above suggests that mobile telephones and text messaging were used by supporters on both sides, interesting development.

Bloggers post their thoughts worldwide, i searched thousands who were following the impact last night, very interesting development.

Reuters very "official" news coverage, frankly is no where near as interesting as the bloggers who are predicting everything from an overthrow of the government to a peaceful 2007 election for a real reformation government.

Globe and Mail Editorial from July 2005, link to today's coverage
In the heady weeks after a new government took power in Kenya in late 2003, a startling thing happened all over the country. Ordinary Kenyans, newly released from the brutal 24-year reign of Daniel arap Moi, began making citizen’s arrests. When police officers stopped them and demanded bribes, standard practice during the Moi years, people turned them in.
They had good reason to think they were living in a new Kenya: The government of Mwai Kibaki moved swiftly in its first weeks in office, promising a new constitution within 100 days. Corrupt judges were suspended. A brand new team of prosecutors was hired to investigate all shady dealings.

Mr. Kibaki said there would be a truth-and-reconciliation commission, to unearth the facts about corruption and abuse of power in the past. He appointed John Githongo the crusading head of the Kenyan branch of the watchdog organization Transparency International, as his personal adviser on corruption, positioning him right in the heart of government. Donor countries, who pour money into this largely peaceful East African country, were delighted, while ordinary Kenyans indulged in great expectations.

Two and a half years on, those expectations have been thoroughly dashed. “We were handed over from the crocodile to the hyena,” Maina Kiai, chairman of the Kenyan National Commission on Human Rights, said with a bleak little laugh.
There is no truth commission. Progress on the constitution led to riots yesterday in Nairobi — Kenyan security forces battled protesters in a second day of unrest touched off by moves to protect the President’s power in an overhaul of the country’s constitution. The Moi millions in European accounts, which the new government once promised to retrieve, are no longer mentioned. The corruption squad has managed to nail only a handful of minor bureaucrats, while cabinet ministers implicated in corrupt deals sail around town in their Mercedes staff cars. And the police still demand bribes; no one dares a citizen’s arrest any more.

New Words

So I was looking for some new words that define our culture:

Sousveillance - Recording perhaps with a video camera fromt he perspective of a participant. Sounds weird? Not really. Take a video camera to a concert and record yourself and your friends watching the concert. Record a camera operator at a sporting event. Read up ... this matters.

Panopticon - A type of prison originally designed to allow all prisoners to be watched at all times, but not know they're being watched. You should see the architectural designs. But more importantly a type of society where we are always being watched by cameras, we just don't know where they are or who is watching!

Disambiguation (pronounced dis-am-big-yoo-A-shun) The process of resolving conflicts at the forks in the internet search roads that could lead to different results. Wow.

Wanna Live to 450 years?

Interesting science study using yeast that suggests that we might live a lot longer if our bodies think we still need to reproduce?

"We hit them with oxidants, we hit them with heat," Longo notes. "They are highly resistant to everything. What they're doing is basically saying, 'I cannot afford to age. I still have to generate offspring, but I don't have enough food to do it now.'"

Been a Week

Yes I did take a week off from posting. So, some thoughts from the last week.

The City of Valparaiso continues, under Mayor Costas' leadership, to make dramatic changes to our community. Streets being totally rebuilt even late into November. Buying the dilapidated Couunty Seat for a major rehaul. Negotiating to continue growth of the business and retail region on the eastside. Westside utilities and annexations. Good job.

Of course, the downside to growth is that there are costs associated. So the developers in Porter County are not at all happy that one of the favored ways to gain access to money is to slam new home buyers with impact fees. Pound the new people that can't vote yet! Oh and the little known secret is that at the same time that $2,500 to $5,000 impact fees are being levied ... every municipality in the county decided to slam through a 100-300% increase in fees.

Yep, 300% in Portage, home of spending largess. Time to change some seats on those councils?

More on that in the next couple months. Pro-Growth and Pro-Jobs isn't a democratic or republican principle. We need some standard bearers.

Energy Efficiency

This blogger-instapundit suggests that one way to cut energy consumption is to send workers home to work. He suggests that the federal govenment could send thousands home and maybe even cut workers and get more done ... while they work from home.

Could Porter County send some workers home to work?
How about the City of Valparaiso?

Then the next question unfolds, could we outsource to self-employed entrepreneurs some of this work and permanently reduce the size of the government? Now that's rerform and energy efficiency.

• the federal government, which has lots of employees, and lots of jobs that can be done from home, should take a very aggressive role in promoting telecommuting internally. If this shrinks the demand for new federal buildings, so much the better. It also occurs to me that once "working" doesn't come to mean "being in the office for eight hours regardless of whether anything gets done," people might start looking for output-related metrics, which might allow us to shrink the number of federal employees -- something sure to make both managers and unions unhappy, but something also likely to be good news for taxpayers.

Read the full article and hit the links to "cottage industry" article too.

Anti Wal-Mart Groups should see Gary Indiana

There is an economic theory being kicked around right now that espouses "planned" or "managed" growth. A heavy emphasis is placed on members of government protecting society from those with a profit motive.

This is anti-growth radical left, marginal socialism, at its best.

In the closing minutes of the new documentary "Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price," triumphant activists proudly point to vacant lots in their various communities. Their message: They were going to build a Wal-Mart here, but we stopped it.

Vacant lots. What a victory.

And what a perfect symbol of what's wrong not just with the anti-Wal-Mart ideologues, but the whole anti-development, anti-globalization, anti-everything left.

Read Article

We will have that same choice in many of our 2006 elections. Don't get fooled by socialism in sheeps clothing.

Indiana State Senate

As many of you know, I have considered a possible run for Indiana State Senate in my district. The current office holder is a poor politician and hopes to pick-up a caucus appointment to a much lesser position in Merrillville. That announcement and a thorough evaluation of the issues that will affect the state in 2007 and beyond made the opportunity very enticing.

But, I also have an important role to play within my own company, Synergy Homes. We are fighting right now, even tonight, on numerous fronts to try and build homes for working class families in Northwest Indiana. This fight is consuming. This fight is a losing war on many fronts right now. Cities and towns are balancing their poor planning abilities on new home buyers' backs by increasing permits and taps and impact fees in some cases more than 200%. I would project that 100 families will not be buying homes next year in Northwest Indiana in 2006 due to government largess.

In Porter County, we have a detestable county commissioner. The "omissioner" as I've politely named him, Mr. Bob Harper. He is an attorney who has build a practice around representing the dregs of society, and in some cases getting them out of jail. He has decided single-handedly to make Porter County a more expensive place to live. His "firing" and the subsequent "hiring" by election of a new commissioner that has a heart for the working class, a heart for job creation and entrepreneurial opportunity, is one of the most important projects in my career.

I am therefore removing my name from contention for state senate. I will await names and ideas about who will run, we sure don't need Bob Harper's plan commission attorney as our state senator, she is all about "slowing" us down! I am looking forward to meeting with a candidate that will run, win, and represent us the way Senator Heinold has in his first year.

Thanks to all that weighed in, I was honored to be considered.

French Riots

Ok this guy says that there is no Jihad here, that there are just a bunch of incompetent police and thugs.

Hey Chirac, any chance you could use some "anti-terrorism" help? Then stop selling nukes and weapons to every terror group in the world.

Looks like the Ukrainian protests all over again. Publius Pundit on Azerbaijan protests today.

Gateway Pundit posts pictures from rally

CNN shows some analysis of the International Report on the election, frankly they should come to East Chicago some time. They've got nothing on fraud in elections.

Keep the "little" people out update 1

Ok many of you have asked for updates on Porter County's anti-jobs, anti-working people issues. Here's a brief run-down and I'll follow-up with links later this week as the issues become public.

First, Porter County "Omissioner" Harper and his wacko plan commission have turned down numerous projects this year. But, the un-reported part of the story is that they have turned down projects that met all the ordinance requirements. They just don't want new housing. Period. One plan commissioner member, who was appointed by the "Omissioner", said publicly "if it has septic fields I won't vote for it." Gang, this is illegal. The State of Indiana law says plainly that a commission member's job is to ascertain whether the site meets existing ordinances, and if so approve the project.

In two cases, developers with some guts are suing the plan commission under a provision in Indiana law that says if you don't do your job, the court can make you do your job. We need to support these two gustsy developers. I'll get more information soon. But this is the type of thing that no one knows, Mr. "Omissioner" has hidden the truth.

Next, Mr. "Omissioner" has pushed for a change to the stormwater rules that govern new communities. Frankly he and his anti-job allies would like to stop all construction unless the homesites are 3 acres or more. So, one way to keep developers at bay is to make it impossible to develop homes for working people. These stormwater rules would double the cost to the developer to hold water on site during a "huge" rain. Again, government wants private developers to shoulder the costs of fixing poor planning for 30 years.

I'll post more in the next couple day, but start talking to your co-horts. I really don't think Porter County resident understand what the "Omissioner" is up to.

By the way the Town of Winfield was the first in the state to debut Vic Heinold's new voter ID requirements. Let's think about this, all you have to show is some form of photo identification and then you can vote.

Who's got the problem? Cheats do. People who have for years used a sloppy system to cheat and send in hundreds of fake voters on buses. Good work Senator Heinold.

Letters to the editor

I hear often from many of you that you want to send letters to the editors of the newspapers. I have attached here the webpage that shows how to submit to the Post Tribune. You click the email address, send an email with your name, in most cases they will call you to confirm that it's really you, and then they will print.

They always reserve the right to not print, and I think it has to be less than 300 words.

Post Tribune: How to submit a letter to the editor

Also, if you just want to send to Quickly, send an email to quickly@post-trib.com

NWI Times: How to submit a letter to the editor

Or, you can just email to letters@nwitimes.com

Is this the low water mark?

I sure hope this is the low water mark. Or, does it even get worse and we lose control of the House of Representatives next year.

Well, here's the run-down from yesterday's mid-term elections and California's reform measures. First off, California voters rejected basically all of the governor's initiatices that would have reformed the power held by California unions. The LA Times reports that he lost all his initiatives including a close loss on an abortion initiave that would have required parental notice to kill an unborn baby.

The election is a victory for Democrats and union workers from nurses to firefighters who worked to quash what they said was a Republican power grab. Opponents said Schwarzenegger's defeat weakens a governor who won office in 2003 and prevailed in two votes on initiatives last year, only to see his standing with voters drop as he heads into re-election.

Bloomberg

In addition a womanizing US Senator Billionaire won the New Jersey Governorship even though his ex-wife campaigned against him. And in normally Republican Virginia, a weak Republican candidate lost. Marketwatch reports a bi-coastal loser.

David Eichenbaum, Kaine's media strategist, tells TIME that he sees a recipe for national Democrats in Kaine's victory in Virginia, a GOP stronghold that President Bush won by 8 points in 2000 and 9 points in 2004. "Talking about his faith gave people a comfort level that he wasn't a big, scary liberal," Eichenbaum said. "We're trying to show voters that God isn't a Republican." Kaine echoed that in his acceptance speech: "We proved that faith in God is a value for all, and that we can all share, regardless of our partisan label."

Time Magazine say this recipe for upsetting Republicans worked

OK, so you're W, you're spending the morning thinking through the losses nationwide after 5 years of control. What do you do? Do you even care?

Democrats would sugget that W just sit back and let them call the bi-partisan shots for him for the next three years. I think that Texan Oil guy has more in him than that.

Want to weigh in today. Here's the topic for you. Should we cease our drug interdiction operations in South and Central America? We aren't stopping the drugs. We are spending billions that could be used to rebuild New Orleans, to attack Iran or Syria, to reduce taxes, or to reduce the deficit. We seem to be throwing money at these countries even though they are more socialist by the year, and some are openly talking poorly about us.

The article I chose just speaks to interdiction by boat along the shores, but I'm sure you can search and find hundreds more to give an educated response.

Butterfield should be happy that the Costas people cleaned up his block in front of his downtown office. Come to think of it they rebuilt Glendale in front of his house too.

This feels like a conspiracy, a guy is mayor for 20 plus years, and we spend hundreds of thousans of dollars to rebuild the streets in front of his house and his office.

I don't like it. I'd like to see an independant invstigation into whether our former mayor is getting help for his dilapidated real estate investments in the form of government money.

Times Story

It would sure be nice to see the Islamacists that Iran has harboured, taking shots at Iran. First, it would take their focus off of Iraq, which they are starting to lose. Second, it would force Iran to back down on the nuclear debate while they get serious about "law and order."

BBC News alert tells story of small uprising in Khuzestan.

I'm reading an interesting book right now, more on the book at a later date when I get it finished. But, the premise is that American national interests are in pursuing a Leviathan type attack on a "gap" country like Iraq and then a multi-national "nation building" strategy ... often. Maybe every two years.

I think the Condi Rice era will be typified by putting "gap" type regimes, and the leaders of these regimes, on the defensive by accusing them of the atrocities they had hidden in the past. Just look at Syria. They have a leader in Lebanon killed. They basically get kicked out of Lebanan which allows that country to pursue democracy and freedom. Then the United States led "leadership" coalition keeps pushing, don't let them off the hook, demand the release of the people who did the dastardly deed. BBC story for background.

Stop Farm Subsidies

Want a trully controversial subject. Some are suggesting that we end all farm subsidies. End them. This will allow us to make Europe do the same. This may just reduce the cost of food worldwide. This will allow poor countries to export more, and allow us to import cheaper, especially in an age of eliminating trade tarrifs.

Let's see, government get out of the way. The market works, costs go down. The economy expands and poor nations have more opportunity.

Kind of an easy call, unless you're a farmer getting paid by the government.

Read a salient essay on the subject

The "A priest, a rabbi, and Louis Farrakhan walk into bar"
A priest, a rabbi, and Louis Farrakhan walk into a bar. “So, whaddya have?” the bartender asks, looking first to the priest. "I’d like a nice glass of Irish whiskey,” says the priest. "Swell. How about you,”—to the rabbi next—“Whaddya have?” The rabbi considers for a moment, then replies, “A good hearty port sounds nice, if you have it.” "Sure. And you?” the bartender turns to Minister Farrakhan. “What can I get for you?” "Well," says Farrakhan, “As a Muslim, I don’t partake of drink. But if you wanted to kick the Jew out, I certainly wouldn’t ask any questions."*

Found on numerous blogs

Jobs report yesterday shows increase in job creation even following hurricanes in south. Not quite the 100,000 that are necessary to maintain unemployment reductions, but frankly unemployment went down anyway to 5%. Why did it go down? Are less people wanting to work? Is entrepreneurism creating opporunities in such abudnance that we don't need to create quite some many jobs?

So have you been watching the news coverage of Bush's trip to Latin Amercia? Looks like this Chavez wants to join Hussein on the list of "former" leaders spending time as jail house cook!
Read Newsday coverage.

Not surprisingly, many Americans find it difficult to fathom the "consequences" for them of the president's efforts to help create jobs and reduce poverty in poorer nations that share our hemisphere.
They are too concerned about gasoline that costs $2.50 a gallon and loss of jobs in their own country to fret over the economic woes of their Latin American neighbors.
And the American news media know it.
Therefore, rather than focus on the tedium of dull meetings that drone on about lifting trade barriers, reducing agricultural subsidies and reviving stalled trade talks, they have been aiming their cameras and microphones toward the protest demonstrations staged by groups seeking the spotlight.

Wouldn't it be sad if the French had to ask for our assistance in getting Islamic fundametalists to stop fomenting riots on the streets of Paris?

I'll agree with the anti-Iraq people that it's time to say when we want to leave Iraq. We should set a deadline for Iraq to have a 250,000 man army, another 250,000 police, and close the Syrian and the Jordanian borders with their own people. For democracy to work, they need some time to figure out what they are without our interference or fundametalists inteference. So, make a list of demands, put a timeline to it, and let's drop to "advisors" role in three years and "ally" role in five years. Read update on new offensive along Syrian border.

Looks like Judge Alito will be confirmed by not until 2006. The democrats have counted noses and know that Bush will get this one through. They used their influence to at least postpone the hearings until January. Now the question becomes will they fight Bush's Federal Reserve nomination? They are running out of things to complain about for the 2006 elections. Will they hang their entire election on Iraq? Read Indy Star update on Alito

Want to watch a fun political race this year? Senator from New Jersey John Corzine is running for governor. He had a pretty comfortable lead until his ex-wife came out publicly against him. Read article and pay particular attention to the comment "he let down his family and now he'll let down New Jersey"

Where will we go with federal reserve policy? Read article about future direction suggested by Greenspan comments and recent productivity increases that were higher than predicted. It is also reported that Greenspan called for spending cuts to match any long-term tax cuts. I would agree that the republican congress and Bush have allowed spending at the federal level to stay too high during a time of tax cutting. Let the people have their money, and don't try and stoke the economy by spending more government money which has a diminished return on investment. I'd say that a real person gets $1.00 of impact from expenditure, the government gets 50 cents impact on the same dollar spent.

So bloggers beware just like Samuel Adams and Thomas Jefferson and Thomas Paine, if you say what the despotic authorities don't want to hear you may lose your nominal freedoms in the short term for the good of free speech which will pay off in the longrun. In Libya a guy talks on his blog against the government and now he's doing jail time under trumped up charges. Read the story and feel like doing something about it, then email the Libyan ambassador.

Want some blogs from the right-wing to check click on and see at a glance what's going on?

Right-wing Blog list

Jobs report yesterday shows increase in job creation even following hurricanes in south. Not quite the 100,000 that are necessary to maintain unemployment reductions, but frankly unemployment went down anyway to 5%. Why did it go down? Are less people wanting to work? Is entrepreneurism creating opporunities in such abudnance that we don't need to create quite some many jobs?

So have you been watching the news coverage of Bush's trip to Latin Amercia? Looks like this Chavez wants to join Hussein on the list of "former" leaders spending time as jail house cook!
Read Newsday coverage.

Not surprisingly, many Americans find it difficult to fathom the "consequences" for them of the president's efforts to help create jobs and reduce poverty in poorer nations that share our hemisphere.
They are too concerned about gasoline that costs $2.50 a gallon and loss of jobs in their own country to fret over the economic woes of their Latin American neighbors.
And the American news media know it.
Therefore, rather than focus on the tedium of dull meetings that drone on about lifting trade barriers, reducing agricultural subsidies and reviving stalled trade talks, they have been aiming their cameras and microphones toward the protest demonstrations staged by groups seeking the spotlight.

Wouldn't it be sad if the French had to ask for our assistance in getting Islamic fundametalists to stop fomenting riots on the streets of Paris?

I'll agree with the anti-Iraq people that it's time to say when we want to leave Iraq. We should set a deadline for Iraq to have a 250,000 man army, another 250,000 police, and close the Syrian and the Jordanian borders with their own people. For democracy to work, they need some time to figure out what they are without our interference or fundametalists inteference. So, make a list of demands, put a timeline to it, and let's drop to "advisors" role in three years and "ally" role in five years. Read update on new offensive along Syrian border.

Looks like Judge Alito will be confirmed by not until 2006. The democrats have counted noses and know that Bush will get this one through. They used their influence to at least postpone the hearings until January. Now the question becomes will they fight Bush's Federal Reserve nomination? They are running out of things to complain about for the 2006 elections. Will they hang their entire election on Iraq? Read Indy Star update on Alito

Want to watch a fun political race this year? Senator from New Jersey John Corzine is running for governor. He had a pretty comfortable lead until his ex-wife came out publicly against him. Read article and pay particular attention to the comment "he let down his family and now he'll let down New Jersey"

Where will we go with federal reserve policy? Read article about future direction suggested by Greenspan comments and recent productivity increases that were higher than predicted. It is also reported that Greenspan called for spending cuts to match any long-term tax cuts. I would agree that the republican congress and Bush have allowed spending at the federal level to stay too high during a time of tax cutting. Let the people have their money, and don't try and stoke the economy by spending more government money which has a diminished return on investment. I'd say that a real person gets $1.00 of impact from expenditure, the government gets 50 cents impact on the same dollar spent.

So bloggers beware just like Samuel Adams and Thomas Jefferson and Thomas Paine, if you say what the despotic authorities don't want to hear you may lose your nominal freedoms in the short term for the good of free speech which will pay off in the longrun. In Libya a guy talks on his blog against the government and now he's doing jail time under trumped up charges. Read the story and feel like doing something about it, then email the Libyan ambassador.

Want some blogs from the right-wing to check click on and see at a glance what's going on?

Right-wing Blog list

Jobs numbers to come out in a half hour, update to follow. Daltons Briefs predicts 100,000 jobs created.

"Our economists forecast a rise of 100,000, with hurricane activity depressing the headline result. They forecast payrolls to rise by a firm 200,000 excluding hurricane effects," UBS said in a note.

A year ago, Wal-Mart commissioned an independent economic study to determine how the retailer fits in American society. As part of that process, nine separate academic papers were collected. The study is under embargo until tomorrow. But, according to early reports, not all of those views shed a kind light on Wal-Mart.

"After years of allowing spending to grow unchecked, I am gratified to see the Senate take a step in the right direction toward serious fiscal discipline," said GOP Sen. Judd Gregg of New Hampshire, chairman of the Senate Budget Committee (search).

New claims for U.S. unemployment benefits declined last week as the labor market toll from hurricanes Katrina and Rita continued to wane, the Labor Department said on Thursday.

The drilling proposal would allow oil companies such as Irving, Texas-based Exxon Mobil Corp. and London-based BP Plc to drill on 1.5 million acres in the 19 million-acre refuge, known as ANWR. Preliminary estimates suggest up to 10.4 billion barrels of oil might be recovered.

It is the opinion of Daltons Briefs that we should allow oil drilling to reduce the overall cost of oil worldwide, while encouraging use of other sources of energy.

We should stop the interest rate increases, inflation is obviously dampened and we don't need to hurt the economy. We're happy Greenspan is done and ready for the new Bush guy.

Jobs are increasing, unemployment is decreasing, the Senate is cutting the budget for the first time in Bush's presidency. Now, job one for 2006, a timetable for getting out of Iraq. We would propose a five year troop reduction and Iraqi stabilization plan.

Rates Increased again

How many more rate increases will we endure?
Is the goal to actually push our economy into another recession?
How about a pause? A few months to let the bean counters get a true economic pulse