EXPANDING THE CONGRESSIONAL WORK WEEK

There's much being said today about the Democrat plans to expand the congressional work week. Majority Leader Steny Hoyer has informed the members that the first votes will be held late on Monday afternoon, and the final votes early on Friday afternoon. This is being presented by the media as a good thing.

Hold on a minute! Is it really all that good? When our federal system was first designed it was accepted that during times of peace about 95 percent of all governance should come from the local level. This has somehow evolved into a governmental monster where most governance is federal and the states are left to do little more than implement federal policy on the local level. The federal government is too involved in our daily lives. We don't need more.

An argument can be made that limiting the amount of time that our congress can meet in Washington would be a good thing. Give the congress 120 days to complete its work every year. No more. If that's not enough time to do what they feel needs to be done, then the process of returning power to the states can begin.

The federal government should be less important in our lives, not more.

A RECIPE FOR DEFEAT

All are not praising the Iraq Study Group's report. John McCain, the presumptive GOP nominee for 2008, called the plan a recipe for defeat. Rudy Giuliani, the other presumptive Republican nominee for 2008, says leaving Iraq would be a terrible mistake. So what's the problem with the report?

McCain drew a direct parallel with Vietnam, saying "There's only one thing worse than an overstressed Army and Marine Corps, and that's a defeated Army and Marine Corps. We saw that in 1973. And I believe that this is a recipe that will lead to, sooner or later, our defeat in Iraq." He's probably right. But after 4 years of fighting, the American people don't care anymore. They've given up. They no longer see the point in winning, which would explain the Democratic victories last month.

Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who is also running for president, is saying pretty much the same thing. Giuliani actually was part of the Iraq Study Group, but resigned. He specifically took issue with the claim that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is to blame for the situation in Iraq: "Israel and Palestine is an important issue. Sometimes it's used as an excuse to deal with underlying issues. But the reality here is that the Islamo-fundamentalist terrorists are at war with our way of life, with our modern world, with rights for women, religious freedom, societies that have religious freedom. And all of that would still exist, no matter what happens in Israel and Palestine." Exactly.

At least a few politicians see the light, for now anyway.

We need leadership now more than ever before. The American people don't really see any further threat from the Islamic fascists! Right now in who knows how many locales in the Middle east we have Islamic radicals working on plans to use horrible weapons to kill thousands of Americans on our own soil. The danger is there, but the American public is now blind to it.

WATER ON MARS?

The evidence seems pretty conclusive. Photographs show that liquid water has flowed on the surface of Mars sometime in the last five years. Not tens of millions of years ago --- sometime in the last five years. The most probably explanation is that this water flowed to the surface from underground (can we say "subterranean" when it refers to Mars?) source, flowed a bit and then quickly evaporated in the Martian climate.

This discovery is so critically important because it is generally accepted that you need water to sustain life. So now we know there's water on mars. Will this lead to the eventual discovery of life? Can you imagine the problems some people will have if we discover life somewhere other than on the Earth? The creationists, for instance .. how do they handle this?

There I go again .. stirrin' it up. Well, somebody's gotta ask these questions.

FINANCING THE MEXICAN INVASION

The Federal Reserve Bank and its equivalent in Mexico are finalizing an agreement to make it easier to send money back and forth to Mexico. Translation: the U.S. Government is going to make it easier for the 12 million illegal aliens in this country to send money back home.

This is absolutely the reverse of what should be happening. We are enabling and supporting the Mexican invasion by making it easier for the invasion force to transfer money back and forth across our borders.

Can the situation be worse? Why, yes! Thanks for asking!

What's even worse is the fact that the program will be subsidized by taxpayer dollars. So let me get this straight: the American people, who are being victimized by illegal aliens every day, will now pay to make it easier for billions of dollars to be transferred from the United States to Mexico? You got it. This government program is essentially going to replace Western Union and services like it, who hauled in $2 billion in fees out of the $21 billion or so that was sent to Mexico from here in the U.S. Now the taxpayers will presumably be footing the bill for the transfer of looted funds to Mexico.

So there you have it...the ultimate insult. Not only are we paying to put up with millions in illegal alien, we're going to pay to make it easier for them to send their ill-gotten gains home. Should we expect anything less from the politicians in Washington?

REMEMBER DUBAI PORTS WORLD?

Remember Dubai Ports World? This is the Islamic government-owned firm that was going to manage some of our top ports before public outrage stopped the deal. Well, that didn't stop them...because now Dubai Ports World is joining a program to screen U.S. cargo for nuclear weapons. What...Al-Qaeda's bid for the job wasn't low enough?

In a twist of irony, Dubai Ports World was chosen as one of the companies to do the screening as part of a process instituted after the uproar over....yup, you guessed it...Dubai Ports World. Now don't get me wrong...Dubai Ports World may be a fine company. But It is a government-owned firm...owned by a government that hasn't always been friendly to the United States. They also have had terrorists based in the United Arab Emirates, that includes Dubai. Do we really want to put such a firm in charge of our nuclear security?

Apparently so. The Bush Administration, in its infinite wisdom, just loves the idea of the fox guarding the henhouse. Oh, and by the way...you're paying for it. This is part of $3.4 billion in taxpayer money authorized for the screening of cargo for nuclear bombs.

OH BOY. I JUST KNOW I'M GOING TO GET IN TROUBLE FOR THIS ONE

But I just can't help it. Watch me as I delve into the no man's land of race!

Now we all know that it is oh so politically incorrect to have a TV anchor team that consists of only white people. Those anchor teams exist, but they're few and far between. Depending on your region, you must have two anchors, one of whom will be white and the other some minority. This is good programming. After all, it's not only white folks watching the news.

Ditto for most television advertisements. This is the age of the multicultis. You must show diversity. No advertiser would dare show an office environment consisting of only white people. Well, that's fine actually. There are probably very few large office environments in this country that exist solely of whites anyway.

Then there's those advertisements showing social situations. You have a group of friends out to dinner or on some outing to the beach or the mountains. The group will never be all white. There has to be some minority figure in there somewhere. Again, no problem. More and more this is reflecting reality.

So ... now my question. For years I've been watching these TV advertisements for home security and alarm systems. Often these advertisements will show some menacing figure breaking into a home. You have the wife and children doing something really warm and fuzzy, like reading bedtime stories, and then the shot changes to someone trying to get in a window or break through a door. Every single time I've seen this scenario on a TV advertisement .. the criminal has been white.

Does this reflect reality? I think not. I'm just wondering what these advertisers are so afraid of?

ANOTHER LEFTIST BITES THE DUST

Liberal talk show host is hanging it up. His daily left-wing radio show is no more ... starting today. Now you may think that this is good news. It's not. Democrats will take note of another failure of a liberal on talk radio. This will reinforce the idea that talk radio is a conservative forum, and will bring more Democrats to the altar of The Fairness Doctrine.

READING ASSIGNMENTS

This video is a perfect illustration of the mentality of government employees.

Here's Thursday's Best of the Web Today from The Wall Street Journal. Always a good read.

We have at least 11 members of the Georgia General Assembly who have decided that they should have to pay the same taxes that they levy on the citizens. Now the state wants to dock their pay. Can you hear the squealing where you live?

Dennis Ross is one of the sharpest commentators I've heard on what is happening in the Middle East. Here Ross says that we cannot count on either Syria or Iran.

David Warren says that the U.S. is losing the best U.N. Ambassador we've had in a generation. Thank you Lincoln Chafee.

Here's a nice headline about the Iraq Study Group's Report: "Unwise Men Bear Gifts for Butchers."

This opinion piece from The Economist says that the Iraq Study Group report is nothing more than bipartisan cover for defeat. There ... that's what I've been trying to say for the last few days!

How's this for a line from Bill Bennett: The title of his column is "Smug, Arrogant, Insufferable." What's he talking about? The ISG report, of course.

You're just going to have to read what this government school teacher did to a little five-year-old girl. Amazing.

New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson says he is running for president in 2008, putting him up against Barack Obama and The Hildabeast in the Democratic primary.  Actually, wait a minute...no he's not.  Richardson says he hasn't declared...and was misquoted.

What does sticking a piece of Smarties candy up your nose in Charleston, West Virginia get you?  A 10-day suspension, as it turns out.  The school wanted the kid in question to become an undercover drug snitch, and he refused.  Government incompetence at its finest.

The Second Amendment could be heard in front of the Supreme Court for the first time in several decades.  The District of Columbia is arguing that the right to bear arms only extends to militias, not private individuals.  The city has a ban on handguns.  This would be an interesting case.  It's amazing what the Left finds in the Constitution.

Bill Clinton says talking with Iran would be a good idea.  Of course, this is the same person who thought talking directly with North Korea was a good idea, and look where that got us.  Democrats love to sit down and have coffee with tyrants.

Pat Buchanan praises the Iraq Study Group's recognition of the reality in Iraq, but slams them for their pie-in-the-sky recommendations to fix the problems.  He takes issue with the idea that we can win by withdrawing.

What are we to make of the poisoning of that Russian spy?  Was he killed by Vladimir Putin, as he claimed on his deathbed?  Charles Krauthammer explores the mystery of it all.  Oh..and remember the Ukranian presidential candidate that was poisoned?

Dennis Ross, a former Clinton Administration diplomat, says the Iraq Study Group's recommendation that we talk to Iran and Syria may not mean much.  The reason:  they shouldn't be counted on for much of anything.  Interesting dissent from Clinton line.

Robert Novak says the departure of John Bolton at the U.N. is but yet another misstep in the Bush Administration's six-year reign of underestimating the opposition.  Looks like Bolton is headed out of government for now.

Jonah Goldberg says the Iraq Study Groups' report simply represents endless compromise between the Democrats and Republicans on the panel, with Jim Baker leading the charge.  In the end, it's just about making a bunch of people look good.

Oliver North is reporting from Iraq, where he is watching the goings-on in Washington with great interest.  He weighs in on the confirmation hearings of Robert Gates to be the new defense secretary.  He also has a thing or two to say about the Iraq Study Group.

The "God Hates Fags" nutjobs that have been protesting at soldiers' funerals were run off by an angry mob this time.

You've heard Herman Cain fill in for Neal Boortz. Read his latest online column.

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