ARE YOU READY TO CONSIDER THE FAIR TAX NOW?

A controversy hit a fever pitch in Washington when somebody finally read an Omnibus spending bill that passed the House and Senate on Saturday - all 3,000 pages of it - and realized that it included a provision allowing two committee chairmen to view the tax returns of any American. 

Say what?

That's right.  A little provision snuck into this spending bill would allow the chairman of the House and Senate appropriations committees --- or members of their staffs --- to examine any individual American's income tax return if and when they get the urge to do so.

The $338 billion spending bill, which included nine  appropriations bills that our politicians just couldn't find the time to pass individually, had been worked on by committees for 9 months.  Basically what happened was the Congress just wanted to pass the bill and get out of Dodge as soon as possible.  It is Thanksgiving week after all.  So pass it they did, and leave they did ... all without reading much of it at all!   Keep in mind this is our money...and $338 billion isn't exactly chump change.  Guess it's easier to just wave the bill on through than it is to actually read all 3,000 pages.  Maybe we need a new rule...if the bill is too long to read, then perhaps it's spending too much money?  Just a thought.

Anyway, the bill included this nifty little section about the committee chairmen being able to view the tax returns of any American.  As soon as it was discovered, the Senate struck it from the bill, and the House is going to do the same.  The two committee chairmen in question couldn't distance themselves from it fast enough.  So who snuck it into the bill?

Turns out it came from Representative Ernest Istook, Republican of Oklahoma.  He says it's all a big misunderstanding....that the language was drafted by the IRS and never meant to invade anyone's privacy.  Yeah ... a misunderstanding.  How come it's always a misunderstanding when you find one of these politicians exceeding their constitutional authority?  What was really going on here?  Was Istook carrying water for the IRS?   I hate to go there, but you have to ask yourself if the IRS might have Istook over a barrel somehow.  That might explain putting such a provision in a bill.   Istook says the language was meant to allow Congressional investigators the ability to oversee tax collections.  OK ... let's accept that nonsense for a minute.  Now someone explain to me just why a congressional committee would need to review my tax return without my permission just to keep an eye on IRS tax collection activities?

Here's a thought.  Imagine that you are a Senator running for reelection.  You have a tough contest coming up with some well-heeled challenger.  The Appropriations Committee chairman owes you a favor two, so you ask him if you can get some information from your challenger's tax returns. 

You do know how this type of abuse could be prevented, don't you?  What if there were no tax returns for these politicians to snoop through?  What if the Imperial Federal Government of the United States had no records on how you earn your money, how much you earn, and how you spend it?  Then perhaps you should take a few minutes to look into the Fair Tax Plan.  It's time to get the government out of our pockets, and this is the way to do it.

The Democrats are going to milk this one for all its worth, and they should.  Any and all politicians still left in Washington were either running for cover or making the rounds on the Sunday shows distancing themselves.  But the real story is the legislation itself, all 3,000 pages of it.

To give you an idea, Webster's unabridged dictionary is 2,800 pages.  If it's too much to read, how about not spending the money?  I know...dream on.

IRAQI ELECTIONS SET FOR JANUARY 30TH

The government of Iraq has set elections for January 30th, 2005...right on schedule.  These would be the first free elections since the fall of Saddam Hussein.  The  Iraqi government says voting will go forward even in the most violent areas of the Sunni triangle, including Fallujah and Mosul.

Already, the naysayers are out in force.  It can't be done, they say, because Iraq is too violent a place.  Excuse me, but isn't this the very same thing that they were saying about Afghanistan just a few months ago?  Par for the course.  It seems that they always fail to mention is the fact that the overwhelming majority of the country is at peace and stable.  It's only a few cities and provinces where the insurgents are.  But these same people have been doubting our effort in Iraq all along.

Consider this: remember when people were saying we would lose 10,000 men on the first day of the invasion?  We're almost 2 years out, and still under 2,000 killed.  Still tragic, but considering the predictions, not too shabby.  Remember those that said we could never transfer sovereignty?  We did it anyway....a couple days early.  Elections in Afghanistan?  They said it couldn't be done...and we did it.

And what about Fallujah?  We were told it would be impossible to take that city.  Thousands of Marines would die....the carnage would be unbearable.  Yet, the U.S. Marines rolled that one up in a couple of days....and even sent 1,200 Islamic terrorists to their permanent desert sand naps (wait...1,201...there was that faker in the mosque.)  But was he really dead when the Marine shot him? Well, he is now.  Good riddance.

The war in Iraq has been a smashing success...the facts just don't support any argument otherwise.

BUSH RESCUES SECRET SERVICE AGENT

There was an interesting little episode down in Chile over the weekend.  President Bush was entering a building where a dinner was held, when his secret service agent was detained by over-zealous Chilean security officials.  When Bush realized what was happening, what did he do?  Did he just smile, wave and let the agent twist in the wind?

Nope...the most powerful man on Earth and the leader of the free world turned around, and plunged right into the crowd.  He grabbed Secret Service Agent  Nick Trotta, the #2 agent on his security detail, and pulled him out of the fracas and into the dinner with him.  The Chileans were miffed...too bad.

Now take just a second and compare these actions with those of The Poodle on the campaign trail some months ago.  Remember when one of  his Secret Service agents bumped into him while he was snowboarding and John Kerry called him an S.O.B?  Compare that little episode with Bush's actions here.  It's obvious that the president appreciates those that risk their lives to protect him.

After that lapse in security, the U.S. asked for metal detectors at the state dinner in Chile, and were declined.  So the state dinner was canceled...too bad for Chile.  U.S. Presidential security is absolute...zero mistakes, especially in a post 9/11 world.

Now ... did you happen to see any stories or video of Bush's bold actions on the television news over the weekend?  I know I can't watch everything, but I saw nothing of it.  I watched CNN this morning for three hours ... not one mention.  My conspiratorial mind urges me to believe that the reason there was no coverage is because this makes Bush look bold and decisive. [link to video here]

But ... there is one fracas you certainly DID see over the weekend, and it happened not in Chile, but in Detroit ....

Read on.

THE NBA ... INEVITABLE RESULT?

By now I know you've heard about that huge fight in Detroit at the Pacers Pistons game.  No need to go into the details here.  Suffice it to say that Ron Artest and Stephen Jackson of the Pacers waded into the stands and started pummeling fans. 

I haven't heard anyone else express these sentiments .. but I think it could be said that the violence at this game mirrors the image that NBA players have been been promoting for years.  Basketball is the sport of the Hip Hop culture, and the Hip Hop culture is one of predatory sex and wanton violence.  Violence is celebrated, not condemned in Hip Hop.  Menacing anger is the mood du jour.  Try to find a picture of a Hip Hop "artist" where you see smiling faces.  Smile?  Are you kidding?  We're mad!  We're angry!  We've been disrespected, and we're here to get our props! 

Ron Artest .... the player who first waded into the stands?  Well, you do know that Artest has a rap album out, don't you?  In fact, Artest feels that his rap album is more important than his basketball.  A few weeks ago he asked his coach for a month off to go on a promotional tour.  Now he has all the time he needs to promote his rap abilities.  Artest, along with several other players, has been suspended.  He won't play another game this season.  Ron Artest says that he doesn't think that David Stern has been fair in this situation.  What a pity.  Obviously he hasn't considered what his thuggery will do for his Hip Hop career.

Here are the names of some of our NBA superstuds followed by the number of games they have been suspended and the amount of money they will loose. 

• Ron Artest  (73)  $4,995,000
• Stephen Jackson  (30)  $1,700,000
• Jermaine O'Neal  (25)  $4,111,000
• Ben Wallace (6)  $6,000,000
• Anthony Johnson (5) $122,222

Looks like a rather costly incursion into the stands to me.  How long do you think it will be before another NBA basketball player decides to wade into the stands to attack fans?  You just know that Artest and some of these other players are going to get lawyers ... and if those lawyers, with the help of the NBA player's association,  manage to get these suspensions lifted it will be a signal to the players, and not a good one.

Now ... about the fans.

Full disclosure:  Some of those fans were throwing beer and other items at the players.  When Artest waded into the stands the first fan he got to was standing there holding his beer and gesturing at Artest. There is a part of me that really enjoyed seeing this goon taken down.  That doesn't make it right.  That doesn't mean that Artest doesn't deserve his punishment.  It just means I enjoyed seeing this fan get knocked to the ground.  I'm a little off that way.

A few fans thought that it might be cool to head to the floor and confront these players.  I've just about worn out my TIVO watching these fans get clocked.  Loved it.  I believe that once you have made the decision to enter the arena inhabited by these warriors you are considered to have given your consent for them to beat the absolute crap out of you.   If the players don't hurt you bad enough then you should be arrested and spend a few days in jail with some real bad actors.  As for the "fans" who were throwing stuff from the stands.  Hopefully the prosecutors will identify some of these drunks on videotapes and they will be charged.  After they pay a fine they should be banned from any future NBA games.

Oh ... and maybe they should stop selling beer.  Just pump that sludge back into the horses it came from.

DURN THAT GLOBAL WARMING

Moscow just got it's biggest snowfall in 70 years.  Moscow gets a lot of snow.  I know.  I've waded through quite a bit of it.  Now it's the biggest snow dump in in 70 years.  At the same time California gets snow in the desert.  This global warming stuff is starting to frighten me.  If things get any warmer we're all either going to be buried in an avalanche or frozen to death.

READING ASSIGNMENTS

Here is another installment from Arthur Cherenkoff:  A roundup of the past two weeks' good news from Iraq.

And while you're reading the good news from Iraq .. and there is a lot of it .. Take the time to read this excellent column from Victor Davis Hanson.  The war on terror has been a resounding success, and it is worth stopping and taking note of the score. 

Remember that marine who shot an insurgent in Fallujah last week?  He thought that the Islamic terrorist insurgent might be playing dead and could pose a threat.  You leftist pro-Saddam nutcases out there will never be convinced, but for those of you have honest doubts about this Marine and what he did, here's another one.  This insurgent was playing dead ... right up until the time he pulled out his gun.

The Wall Street Journal's John Fund says that it's time to bring some intellectual diversity to America's colleges and universities.  You go ahead and hold your breath on this one.  I'll come to your memorial service.

Former Atlanta Falcon Andre Rison is now, has been for a long time, and quite likely always was a complete pig.  He got away with it, though, because he was a jock.  Read the latest.

Hunters.  Gotta love 'em.  There's nothing quite like waking up on a beautiful fall morning in the middle of the forest, having a nice breakfast and a cup of joe, and then heading out into the woods to look for something to kill.  Hey, if you can't find any deer, how about some other hunters?  You know, if these guys were as tough as we want them to believe they are, they would enlist and go to Iraq.  There they would have something to hunt that actually deserves to die.

Good news!  Predator dead!

U.S. troops have found 30 atrocity sites in Iraq where "insurgents" imprisoned, tortured and killed innocent people in Fallujah.  Think you'll hear much about this in the slanted media coverage?  Not hardly.

Wait a sec....I thought France hated the United States!  Looks like Paris is trying to actually improve its relations with the White House by forgiving Iraqi debts.  They always come home, don't they?  Put the escargot next to the brie, Jacques...

John McCain isn't ruling out a run for the White House in 2008....when, of course, he'll be 72 years old.  Does anybody care at this point? Probably not.

Not only was the Marine that shot the insurgent in Fallujah doing the right thing, but he was doing the smart thing.  Kevin Myers says a Marine's gotta do what a Marine's gotta do.

Think a terrorist won't set off a nuclear bomb?  Think again....experts say a terrorist setting off a nuke within the next 10 years is an even bet.  Charles Burress has more.

The United States is winning the war in Fallujah, but the media is barely noticing.  Jack Kelly takes a look at the Coalition's decisive victory.

And now a message for the liberals who don't realize the election is over: just deal with it.  Carol Pogash gets out the wet noodle.

Amid the flurry of cabinet changes, one switch that is going largely unnoticed is Bush's choice of his campaign manager to take over the RNC.  Michael Barone explains the choice.

Arlen Specter stepped in it with his comments about President Bush's judicial appointments, but Robert Novak says he's gotten back in line.

Debra Saunders has an interview with Defense Undersecretary Douglas J. Feith.  Some interesting tidbits about the war on terror.

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