OP/ED: Hoplophobia by John Lott

OP/ED: Hoplophobia by John Lott

FOXNews.com - Views - Why People Fear Guns

Switching Parties with Honor

Switching Parties with Honor

This time, switching parties is being done with honor.

Ralph Hall, a Representative from Texas is switching from the Dems to the Reps. But he's doing it by filing for re-election as a Rep. Not by switching right after an election and screwing up the balance of power a la Jumpin' Jim Jeffords.

FOXNews.com - Politics - Congressman Switches From Democrat to GOP

WASHINGTON — Texas Rep. Ralph Hall (search) switched parties Friday night, filing for re-election as a Republican after nearly a quarter-century as one of the most conservative Democrats in Congress.

JUNKSCIENCE: Mad Cow Scare

JUNKSCIENCE: Mad Cow Scare

FOXNews.com - Views - Junk Science - Still No Beef to Mad Cow Mania

It could very well be that some virus or bacterium is responsible for the mad cow-type diseases ¯ but we might not ever know if NIH persists with its tunnel-vision.

The merit of the prion theory seems to rest almost exclusively in the fact that its developer impressed a Nobel Prize committee. It would be much more impressive, however, if the prion theory satisfied Koch’s Postulates.

Hanson's Fine Points

Hanson's Fine Points

Among his many fine points about giving the West some credit for its accomplishments in the past few years, is this passage about Euro intellectuals and Israel.

Victor Davis Hanson on National Review -The Western Disease

Hatred of Israel is the most striking symptom of the Western disease. On the face of it the dilemma there is a no-brainer for any classic liberal: A consensual government is besieged by fanatical suicide killers who are subsidized and cheered on by many dictators in the Arab world. The bombers share the same barbaric methods as Chechens, the 9/11 murderers, al Qaedists in Turkey, and what we now see in Iraq.
Indeed, the liberal Europeans should love Israel, whose social and cultural institutions — universities, the fine arts, concern for the “other” — so reflect its own. Gays are in the Israeli military, whose soldiers rarely salute, but usually address each other by their first names and accept a gender equity that any feminist would love. And while Arabs once may have been exterminated by Syrians, gassed in Yemen by Egypt, ethnically cleansed in Kuwait, lynched without trial in Palestine, burned alive in Saudi Arabia, inside Israel proper they vote and enjoy human rights not found elsewhere in the Arab Middle East.

FOXNews.com - Politics - Lawmaker Urges Army to Allow Homemade Armor

Dem Supporting the Troops

This make a LOT of sense to me. Test all you want, but in the meantime, what are you going to ell the next terrorist victim's family? "We just couldn't let them use armor to protect themselves, just in case it didn't work!"

FOXNews.com - Politics - Lawmaker Urges Army to Allow Homemade Armor

"Tax Harmonization" = Economic Trouble

"Tax Harmonization" = Economic Trouble

Could the IRS enforce the tax laws of other countries and place a new burden on foreign investment in the US? It could happen. Check it out.

Taxing Foreign Investors Would Damage Home Economy

Income should be taxed based on where it is earned, not where a taxpayer happens to live.

That simple concept encourages governments to slash taxes to encourage investment. As my Heritage Foundation colleague Daniel Mitchell has written, “globalization is making it harder for governments to overtax, because it is increasingly easy for taxpayers to shift their productive activities to lower tax environments.” The trend toward lower taxes is something we should encourage, not stifle.

Also, the regulation is illegal. Federal agencies such as the IRS are supposed to enforce only those laws passed by our Congress, not the laws of other nations. And in this case, not only would the IRS be acting as a tax-collector for foreign governments, it would actually be ignoring the wishes of our lawmakers, who have specifically sought to attract money to our economy by not taxing interest paid to foreign-held accounts.

Finally, the regulation would endanger our economy. Again, one reason foreign capital comes here is because smart investors realize they’ll be able to pocket their gains. If we start imposing -- or even facilitating -- French and German taxation levels, investors will take their money elsewhere.

That would harm the banking industry. Investment banks currently hold hundreds of billions of dollars in foreign capital. Imagine all the money flowing out of our economy overnight to, say, Hong Kong, where the government maintains a fair, flat tax.

It also would damage our federal treasury. Foreigners hold at least a third of our debt. If they’re forced to pay tax on the interest they earn here, they won’t invest here, and we’d have to find somebody else to purchase our Treasury bills.

There are plenty of ways that we could improve our tax system. But “tax harmonization” isn’t one of them. If high-tax European countries want to succeed economically, they should start singing from the low-tax hymnal -- and begin enjoying the growth that goes along with it.

Sowell on Cultural Differences

Sowell on Cultural Differences

An excellent column by Thomas Sowell on how WEALTH is a GOOD thing and should be pursued.

Thomas Sowell: Two earthquakes

Those who disdain wealth as crass materialism need to understand that wealth is one of the biggest life-saving factors in the world. As an economist in India has pointed out, "95 percent of deaths from natural hazards occur in poor countries."

You can see the effect of wealth by looking at the same country at different times. The biggest hurricane to hit the United States was hurricane Andrew in 1998 but it took fewer than 50 lives. Yet another hurricane, back in 1900, took at least 6,000 lives in Galveston.

The difference was that the United States was a much richer country in 1998. It had earlier warning from more advanced weather tracking equipment. It had better roads and more cars in which to evacuate before the hurricane struck, as well as more and better equipment for digging victims out of debris, and better medical treatment available for those who needed it.

Those who preen themselves on their "compassion" for the poor, and who disdain wealth, are being inconsistent, if not hypocritical. Wealth is the only thing that can prevent poverty. However, if you are not trying to prevent poverty but to exploit it for political purposes, that is another story.

There is another side to the story of these two earthquakes and their consequences. It gives the lie to the dogma being propagandized incessantly, from the schools to the media, that one culture is just as good as another.

It is just as good to lose tens of thousands of lives as not to? What hogwash! It is just as good to lack modern medicine, modern transportation, and modern industry as it is to have them? Who is kidding whom?

This dogmatism prevails at home as well as internationally. Cultures that lead to most children being born to single mothers are just as good as cultures where children grow up with two parents -- if you believe the dogma.

Facts say the opposite. Whether it is education, crime, or poverty, there are huge differences between single-parent families and two-parent families. Even race doesn't make as much difference in outcomes. The poverty rate among black married couples is in single digits. The infant mortality rate among black married women with only a high school diploma is lower than the infant mortality rate among white unmarried women who have been to college.

Jailed for Spanking

Jailed for Spanking

It wasn't his kid. That seems to be the problem. Then again, in today's society, you can have CPS called on you for spanking you OWN kid.

I am not sure how I would react to someone spanking my kid in their store . . . than again, that would never happen: my child would NOT behave the way this girl did. Because IF she ever did, she would face consequences at home worse than what this guy did. And she would know that going in.

Sun-Sentinel: South Florida news

Coulter: Blue Bothers Red

Coulter: Blue Bothers Red

Summary: Busybodies in the Blue states won't leave folks in the Red states alone.

Yahoo! News - WHEN BLUE STATES ATTACK

How about a truce? The intolerant religious fanatics in the red states will continue not complaining about high taxes, secular education and gay rights parades in the blue states, and the proponents of tolerance in the blue states will stop bothering everyone in the red states.

How to Upset the Dems

How to Upset the Dems

If this is correct, the Dems and their EU counterparts are going to start beating their heads against the wall.

Saddam Giving Info on Weapons and Funds-Official

How to Upset the Dems

How to Upset the Dems

If this is correct, the Dems and their EU counterparts are going to start beating their heads against the wall.

Saddam Giving Info on Weapons and Funds-Official

JunkScience: Mercury in Fish

JunkScience: Mercury in Fish

FOXNews.com - Views - Junk Science - Fishy Mercury Warning

Illegal Immigrants and Voting

Illegal Immigrants and Voting

I wonder how long it would take them to vote for extended government programs to give stuff to illegal immigrants or to make a move toward legalizing themselves.

Debra Saunders: No history, no study, no debate

The Associated Press and various newspapers reported this month that the University of California at Los Angeles' Chicano Studies Research Center released a "study" that recommended allowing California's 4.6 million non-citizens to vote in local elections.

But there was no study. There was no new research or in-depth information. There was a Latino Policy and Issue Brief written by UCLA law professor Joaquin C. Avila. The brief cited census data which found that non-citizen adults comprise large portions of California municipalities -- such as 32 percent of Los Angeles -- and then concluded that "a substantial number of persons, who contribute to our economy and our government's revenues, are being denied political representation" -- which he dubbed "political apartheid. . . ."

The professor instead acknowledged simply that not being a citizen presents a legal hurdle to voting. He didn't address the implications of extending voting rights to people who deliberately have broken the law. He didn't recognize that citizenship confers responsibilities as well as rights. He didn't address historical arguments. Avila didn't even explore what might be the consequences of allowing non-citizens to vote.

"If you have citizenship, but also this voting rights idea, what you're really saying is that if you've lived here for a while, you can vote, but you're not really one of us," noted Steve Camorata of the Center for Immigration Studies. "In an odd sort of way, it reinforces the oddness of the immigrant. . . ."

Universities are supposed to expose students to the world of ideas. How is that possible when its alleged scholars can't distinguish between scholarly study and propaganda?"

NEW RULE

A NEW RULE

No more offense by proxy.

No more calling in to complain about "someone might be offended". If you are not directly offended, SHUT UP. Let someone who is ACTUALLY IS offended do the complaining for themselves.

All complaints by those calling to complain "for the sake of others" (e.g. Christians who ask that Christmas decoration be taken down at City Hall) will be summarily ignored.

See the Third story on FoxNews' Tongue Tied column.

Glenview Grumps

Firefighters in a Chicago suburb were told to take down the Christmas decorations inside their firehouse because some residents complained that they were offensive, reports the Chicago Sun-Times.

Some residents of Glenview said that because the firehouse is a public building, the decorations improperly cross the line between church and state. The decorations were inside but visible from the street.

The firefighters had decorated the outside of the firehouse earlier in the season, but were told to remove those as well.

"We need to serve all our residents and customers, and we had been receiving calls from citizens who were not happy seeing what they perceived to be Christmas or Christian decorations on a particular firehouse," said Janet Spector Bishop, a spokeswoman for the village.

Do they residents of this "village" honestly think that the firefighters will only serve those village people (sorry, couldn't resist) who are Christian? That they will let a Muslim house or a Jewish house burn down? Are they truly that stupid?

And one last question: by making these firefighters take their decorations down, do they now feel comfortable that the firefighters are MORE inclined to help them out? My guess is that the firefighters would have performed their duty either way . . . just now they may have a bit of hard feelings toward those who would deny them THEIR cultural traditions.

PS: When was the last time a call came into the firestation that said "Jewish house on 5th street on fire"?