PRICE GOUGING?

OK .. a few points.

First we have the guarantee in the United States Constitution that the government will not interfere with the operation of valid contracts between individuals.  An agreement by one to sell and another to purchase a chain saw for three times its common retail price is a contract between two individuals.  As long as that contract is voluntarily entered into, and there is no fraud involved, and the parties are of the legal age to execute a contract ... the government has no legitimate cause to intervene. 

I'm told that yesterday some reporter from the Fox News Channel said that chain saws were being sold in the path of Hurricane Charley for "more than they're worth."  Think about this for a moment.  If you needed a chainsaw to clear some trees around your home, would you willingly go out and pay more for that chainsaw than it is worth to you?  The value of that chainsaw increases with your need for it.  If the cost exceeds that value you will walk away.  The actions of free people operating in a free market set prices.  The only time you will see a product costing more than it is worth is when the government steps in and interferes with basic economic liberties by setting the cost of a product or service.  Social Security comes to mind.  There is no doubt but that for the average American Social Security costs far more than it is worth.  Few people would willingly shell out that kind of money for such a pathetic disability and retirement plan.

In Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations you will find this line:  "It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer or the baker, that we can expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest."

We'll get this discussion rolling again today.  Give it a shot.  Call in and convince me that the people benefit when the government sets prices.

WHY NO INVESTIGATION?

Kerry & Rassman

Those who have read the entire book "Unfit for Command" say that it the charges that John Kerry trumped up his war record are rather meticulously documented. 

Let's take that rescue of Jim Rassman, for instance.  Kerry's story is that a mine blew up very close to his boat.  Rassman was thrown in the water.  There was withering fire from both banks of the river.  As the boats in Kerry's group fled down the river Kerry noticed Rassman in the river.  He turned around and went back to rescue him.    That's Kerry's story.  Now for the events as seen by the men who were in the other boats in Kerry's group.  The men quoted in the book say that the mine explosion disabled another boat (not Kerry's) in the group.  All of the boats except one converged on the disabled boat to rescue the crew.  The remaining boat, Kerry's, fled down the river.  There was no fire from either bank of the river.  When Kerry realized that nobody was shooting he turned his boat around, came back, and pulled Rassman out of the water. 

OK .. you have two significantly different scenarios here.  Both can't be true.  If Kerry's war record is legitimate then he is due all of the accolades he has received.  If not .... well, let's just say that in wartime this country doesn't need a president who campaigned on a trumped-up war record, and nothing else.

So .. how about an investigation?  The media was quick to demand an investigation into Bush's service in the Texas Air National Guard.  Where are the demands for investigations into Kerry's war record?  The winner of this election is going to command our armed forces as we fight Islamic terrorism over the next four years.  Don't we want to know if John Kerry is at least being honest about the wars he's already fought?

No investigation?  OK .. how about some interviews?  How many of these Swift Boat Veterans for Truth have you seen on the morning shows?   

May I be so bold as to suggest that one possible reason for the media's silence on this issue is that they suspect that the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth might actually be telling the truth?  Call for an investigation?  Are you kidding?  Why promote a story that would defeat your candidate?

POODLE FLIES GROOMER ACROSS COUNTRY

Apparently eager to look as out of touch as possible, John Kerry decided he needed a haircut while he was campaigning in Portland, Oregon last week.  So what did he do?  Go visit a local place, socialize with the locals for a perfect photo-op?  Nope...once again, he flew his own private hair stylist across the country for a haircut.  Must be nice.

The New York Daily News is reporting that French hair stylist Isabelle Goetz, from the exclusive Washington D.C. hair salon Christophe, rushed to groom The Poodle on the campaign trail.  If the name sounds familiar, that's the same hair stylist that shut down LAX in 1993 to give then-President Bill Clinton a haircut on the tarmac.  What's with Democrats and expensive haircuts?  Who knows.

Yep...that's a man of the people right there.  He's so much like you and me, he flies his hair stylist from Washington, D.C. all the way to Oregon just to give him a haircut.  It doesn't get any more like the common man than that.

GAP BETWEEN RICH AND POOR WIDENS

Get ready for a barrage of stupid headlines about how the gap between the rich and poor is widening.  You see, the media is engaged in an all-out war against President George Bush.  They want to do to him what they did to his father in 1992, which is to invent media fantasies about how bad the economy is.  It's all part of the standard Bush-bashing and rampant media bias.  Because most people are educated in government schools, it's easy to peddle such nonsense to an unsuspecting public with no basic education in economics.

Doom and gloom sells...and people love to play the part of the victim.  They don't want to believe reality, which is that their lot in life is a direct result of the decisions they have made.  If they've made good decisions, they're doing well.  If not, then they're not.  It's all up to them, not the government.  Anyway, it should come as no surprise that the media and the left are now wringing their hands about how "the income gap is widening" between the rich and poor.  Why, it's the widest it's ever been, and it's only gotten wider over the course of two decades! 

As the lie goes, the rich got richer...they got tax breaks from Republicans while those at the middle and the bottom of the pay scale got the shaft.  If you listen to the media, they'll practically tell you that George W. Bush himself broke into poor people's houses, stole their penny jars, and gave them directly to rich people. 

Accompanying these news stories will be profiles of pathetic, whining victims of their own bad decisions who talk about how hard it is "to get ahead" or how hard it is to raise X number of children on one income.  Never in these "woe is me"  tales do we hear anyone taking responsibility for the situation they have created for themselves.  It's always the government's fault (particularly George Bush's.)  Immediately The Poodle or some other Democrat tells us that they need to confiscate more money from those that earned it and give it to those that did not.

The so-called gap between the rich and poor is widening because the rich are working harder to earn more money, and the poor are not.  Why is that so hard for the left and the mainstream media to understand?

Remember... Poverty is a behavioral disorder.  The rich keep getting richer because they keep doing the things that make them rich.  Ditto for the poor.

SADDAM WMD IN SYRIA?

More evidence that Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction may have been smuggled out of the country, and in particular into Syria.   A report by the Washington Times says U.S. investigators have discovered Saddam Hussein periodically replaced border guards with his own intelligence agents who supervised the movement of banned materials between the countries. 

The Iraqi Survey Group has interviewed Iraqis who told of the border guards being replaced, then trucks carrying materials banned by the U.N. sanctions crossing the border, then the regular border guards coming back.  Hmm...just what were they hiding?  The story also says that there was unusually high traffic across the border the day before the United States attacked Iraq.  Now why would they do that?  Because they were trying to get rid of something, and get rid of it quick.

Was it the stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction?  Might have been. After all, we know Saddam Hussein had them, used them, and we have even found some of them.  Where did they go?  If you listen to the left and the media in this country, it's George Bush's fault that they haven't been found.  In other words, the blame-America-first crowd never considers the fact that the weapons may have been hidden or smuggled out of the country.

One day, all of the WMD will be found...and what will the anti-American crowd say then?  Oh yeah...they'll say George Bush put them there.

READING ASSIGNMENTS

Cops user taser gun on man trying to get home days after hurricane Charley.

In the latest GQ magazine, The Poodle gives men advice on what to look for in women.  Two words, guys: rich widows.

The moronic Senator Tom Harkin is calling Dick Cheney a coward for not serving in Vietnam, and criticizing John Kerry.  Once again, the double standard is exposed...it wasn't an issue that Bill Clinton avoided military service...it's okay for Democrats, but not Republicans.

It's finally making the rounds in the media...prosecutors may drop the case against Kobe Bryant.  Then again, if you read the Nuze every day, you know that I told you last week this would happen.

President Bush is bringing 70,000 American troops from Europe home...and now the Germans are upset.  Suddenly they've gone from hating the United States to worrying about our troops withdrawing.  Too bad.

The opposition in the Hugo Chavez election in Venezuela is claiming fraud....how can that be?  After all, Jimmy Carter observed the election.  The United States is withholding judgment.

The Poodle's record continues to be exposed...this time when he was lieutenant governor of Massachusetts.  He said that his state would not take part in defending the United States against a nuclear attack.  A real patriot, that John Kerry.

The media is off their rocker with the coverage of the Bush tax cuts.  Remember...tax cuts are bad.  All of your money belongs to Washington, and it's only through the generosity of liberals that you get to keep any of it.  Got that?  The Media Research Center explains.

Stem cell research could cure a whole long list of diseases, but that evil Republican George W. Bush is preventing the research from getting done.  Not at all, says John Leo, who says the stem cell debate is riddled with dishonesty.

Here's part two of Walter Williams' column entitled 'Socialism is Evil.'  In this installment, he takes on people who believe it is the role of the federal government to provide Social Security, prescription drugs and health care.

'Unfit for Command' is out, and David Limbaugh has read the entire thing.  He says there's simply no way to rationalize away the differences between John Kerry's supporters and the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.  So who's lying?  And where's the media on all this?

New Jersey Governor James McGreevey's resignation statement was brilliant, says Dennis Prager, who explains that the governor has successfully turned scandal into compassion.

Voters in Illinois have a real choice in the race for Senate.  They can choose the liberal Barack Obama or the conservative Alan Keyes, and Star Parker says the differences are striking.

August 20th marks a painful anniversary...the 40th anniversary of Lyndon Johnson's War on Poverty.  Thomas Sowell takes a look at the disaster that has become.

The media is ignoring 9/11 survivors that favor President Bush.  No surprise there, because the media is just following their Bush-hating template. Peter King explains.

Israel is declaring psychological war on hunger-striking Palestinian prisoners...they're going to be barbecuing meat outside the prisoner's cells. Sounds tasty...can I come?

Here's Joe Mariani with ten suggestions for a sensitive war on terror.  Read this and pass it on to John Kerry.

Internet sex addict show sets out to shock the Fringe by sleeping with strangers and recapping for the audience.

Proposed Dutch law would ban unsolicited toe-licking.

WHAT THE HECK ARE THOSE POINTY HAND THINGS?
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