I begin most mornings groggily reading the news online. The Drudge Report is one of the first sites I visit, which probably means I am conservative. This morning the hot topic on Drudge was that Hillary Clinton and Barbara Boxer were overheard by Jim Inhofe discussing a "legislative fix" for talk radio. As a conservative, you hear this kind of thing and think "That's not going to fly" or else you worry about vast left-wing conspiracies. I tend to the former.

However, this seems not to be so far-fetched as I thought. Given the blogs posted on here about the left's apparent domination of journalism, (granted, based on a sample group's political giving, but really, who doesn't know it is true) I begin to wonder why the only medium of political opinion apparently dominated by conservatives ought to be so feared as to be under threat of a "legislative fix". I thought liberals were all for free thinking and all about freedom of speech. read more »

Paul Johnson has written a very thoughtful article on rubbish, entropy and the Second Law of Thermodynamics in The Spectator. The concept that the entire universe is moving from order to disorder is an aspect of physics that he would apply to society. It is a fact of nature that it is much easier to find ways to convert order into disorder than vice versa. The primary "rubbish" he speaks of in this article is the detritus of our consumerism. He sees a "scientific pantheism", secular in nature, but with a religious zeal in the attempts of the ecologically conscious to control the rubbish-y entropy of the products of man. read more »

This morning brings this news from Palestine.

Someone tell me again about Islam being the religion of peace? Palestinian media blames Israel and the US. I recently read a movie review wherein the author compared totalitarianism to Calvinball - Bill Waterson's game in "Calvin and Hobbes" wherein any player can change the rules in any way at any time. The more I think about this game, the more it resembles geo-politics, or totalitarian and authoritarian governments. However, it is very democratic in that anyone can play. It really ought to be called "Hobbes-ball" as might, although of the anarchistic Calvin-character's type of might, makes right. read more »

If you have been on an air flight in the years since 9/11 you have probably wondered how you would handle that sort of situation. I know I have wondered and see my circular knitting needle as a potential garrote. However, I am old, not all that strong, and have no experience taking down anyone tougher or stronger than an irate teenager. Is adrenaline all that I have heard? Probably it is not enough. Experience would be more valuable.

Yesterday I was idly roaming mil-blogs and came on this story referencing this Boston Globe story from yesterday. A Mr. Bob Hayden, retired police officer, and an unnamed, gray-haired, former Marine restrained a passenger who was shouting threats and terrifying the passengers on a Minneapolis to Boston flight. It shows that experience has value and helps a man keep his head. I note that younger men on the flight averted their eyes. I wonder about that and it is a worry. If it should come down to me and my circular knitting needle on a flight with an obstreperous passenger, well.... read more »

We read and hear a great deal about "low presidential approval ratings" and Republicans grieve over the effect on the party of the public discontent with President Bush. Republicans, as a part of the general public, are as ready to be upset with the president as anyone, as you will note if you read any conservative blogs. The best sort of comment you might read will be "I think (and hope) that History will deal kindly with President Bush. History will take note of and appreciate his________." and then there will be something about resolve in the face of adversity, or compassion for the ordinary American, or something else. In the context of all other remarks, it sounds like trying to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. read more »

"Under current law, virtually all armed nongovernmental groups are classified as terrorist organizations and the U.S. is prohibited from accepting their members and combatants as refugees."

After 9/11, the US revised immigration rules to bar members of terrorist groups from entering the country. Typically, the rule was written as to bar judgment and discrimination. As written, "virtually all armed nongovernmental groups are classified as terrorist organizations and the U.S. is prohibited from accepting their members and combatants as refugees." Inadvertently, this has blocked the refugee status and entry of those from groups we previously admitted as friends, such as "Burmese rebel groups such as the Karen National Union and Chin National Front; hill tribes in Vietnam and Laos; the now-defunct, anti-Castro Cuban Alzado insurgency; Ethiopia's Oromo Liberation Front; and southern Sudan's ex-rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement." read more »

My husband sent me an email saying that he "owed" me and citing this article.

This reminded me of a favorite cartoon from the WSJ editorial page. Visually, it was very simple, a woman at a kitchen table with a list of figures and an infant in a high chair. She is looking up at a man suited up and with a briefcase, presumably her husband. She said, "I've just figured how much I am worth as a housewife. The only trouble is that it's more than you earn." In our case, considering that we had six children and I home schooled them, we knew it was true. read more »

Is a rally of illegal immigrants planned for a city near you?

The estimate in this article is of 12 million illegal immigrants in the United States. I wonder how anyone can know how many illegals there actually are, given that they are illegal and presumably avoiding detection.

However, according to The Center for Immigration Studies:

"Approximately 1 million people receive permanent residency annually. In addition, the Census Bureau estimates a net increase of 500,000 illegal immigrants annually." read more »

In the U.S., some folks fret over the relative conservatism of Fox News, and its success, as if it were the foot in the door preceding the vast-right-wing-conspiracy to take over America's media. Many of us on the right look at the phenomenon as allowing a breath of fresh air in what had previously seemed a closed media, dominated by a left leaning corps of journalists, determinedly telling us the right way to understand the news. Being objective about the news meant, for them, seeing it their way. Having been once on the left, and now on the right, I admit that when I was on the left, the news seemed more favorable to the right than it has since I changed perspective. read more »

I was going to make a comment to Will’s piece, “Beyond Partisanship,” but it has become long and I decided to make it a blog. It will be easier for everyone to tell me I am wrong if I do it this way.

This is what I see as the lowest common denominator between those on the right and on the left. We are all too regrettably human. It is a flaw easier to see in others than in ourselves, where we develop a god-like sense of self by being the center of our own universes. Taking a stand, being partisan, is merely human. Forgiving one another an opposing position, might require being God-like. That is a lot to ask. read more »

Mary Ann Akers of The Washington Post has this small but interesting article.

The article is about John Boehner and his smoking habit. It appears that the nearest smoking venue to the Capitol is the National Democratic Club. The Capitol Hill Club, which is where Republicans usually hang out, did not get an exemption to the D.C. smoking ban. Hence, John Boehner has been hanging out with Democrats in order to smoke conveniently, mostly with Democratic lobbyists, but also with Democratic representatives, according to Ms. Akers. read more »

Reading the Wall Street Journal this morning, I came across this: “Democrats Focus On Tax Relief For Middle Class", by Sarah Lueck. That is if you happen to be a subscriber.

“The AMT dates back to the late 1960s when Congress discovered that a small number of upper-income households had managed to avoid federal income taxes entirely by exploiting deductions, credits, loopholes, and shelters. The AMT has been adjusted since. But because it has never been indexed for inflation, rapidly growing numbers of taxpayers are vulnerable to its bite. The Treasury estimates that unless Congress acts, more than 23 million households will be affected by the AMT in the current tax year, many with incomes below $100,000.”

Republicans seemed to have been unable to touch this problem in the tax code. Perhaps, like Nixon making overtures to Communist countries, it takes a politician from the political party traditionally opposed to such things to be able to succeed. Charles Rangel is pushing this. When Republicans pursued this issue, they were accused of pandering to the rich. No one would dare accuse Charley Rangel, now chairman of the Ways and Maens Committee, of so pandering. read more »

This link is on Christmas on Flower Street in Kabul. The shopkeepers are happy because Christmas trees are bringing them business and helping them prosper. Christmas is nothing to them, but there are foreigners there now who need these trees.

"'I was amused when I saw trees with lights,' said 29-year-old Abdul Qader. He thought the lit-up trees were a new fad in Afghan home deco, but he later found out they were for Christmas. read more »