MUST READS: Terrorism

Mark Hillman

Worshippers of Death – Alan Dershowitz, Wall Street Journal
A basic premise of warfare — that combatants can easily be distinguished from noncombatants — has changed.  As more women and children are recruited by their mothers and religious leaders to become suicide bombers, more women and children will be shot at.  That too is part of the terrorists’ game plan.

An inordinate fear of terrorism? – Bret Stephens, Wall Street Journal
Two years after Jimmy Carter warned against an inordinate fear of communism, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan. "History teaches, perhaps, very few clear lessons," Mr. Carter said. "But surely one such lesson learned by the world at great cost is that aggression, unopposed, becomes a contagious disease." Mr. Carter learned that the hard way. Will Barack Obama have to learn the same lesson, the same way. (more…)

Pick your poison with big government health care

Mark Hillman

Just as local experts were revealing their plans to "fix" what ails Colorado, a heavy-handed health care overhaul crashed on the rocks in California and Democrat presidential candidates clashed over the appropriate size of government’s health care hammer.

Labor Democrats joined with Republicans in California to kill Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s proposed mandate when they realized that working families might not be able to afford health care plans they would be legally required to purchase — logic that equally applies to non-union households.

Meanwhile, Barack Obama has dared to criticize Hillary Clinton’s health care expertise, pointing out that HillaryCare 2.0 "forces everyone to buy health insurance, even if you can’t afford it." (more…)

Another Ritter end-run around taxpayers

Mark Hillman

Republicans wouldn’t have dreamed of this storyline, but for the second time in less than a year, Democrat Gov. Bill Ritter is proposing a major tax increase.

And just like last time, he doesn’t want to let you vote on it.

Taxpayers who have just received their property tax bill could be forgiven for mistaking last year’s tax "freeze" for a tax hike. After all, when the legislature and the governor pass a new law that causes you to pay more than you would have otherwise, most people understandably think their taxes have been raised. (more…)

Congress fools with light bulbs

Mark Hillman

What is it about Washington, D.C., that turns the brains of otherwise intelligent people into mashed potatoes?

Americans say we want our energy to be cleaner, more affordable and less reliant on foreign sources. Even if those desires are incompatible, Congress is in the business of making promises, not making people face tough choices.

So what great things did Congress and the president do in the new energy bill?

First, they mandated that we throw out our trusty incandescent light bulbs in favor of compact florescent light bulbs that are goofy-looking, impractical and toxic. (more…)

MUST READS: Passing the buck to our children

Mark Hillman

Saving Our Future Requires Tough Choices Today
David Walker, Comptroller General of the United States
The eye-opening, unvarnished truth about the fiscal condition of the United States government, directly from the Governmental Accountability Office.  (PDF file)

U.S. Comptroller says Medicare program endangers fiscal stability
CBS News
"What’s going on right now is we’re spending more money than we make…we’re charging it to credit card…and expecting our grandchildren to pay for it. And that’s absolutely outrageous," says David Walker, Comptroller General of the United States.

‘Change’ for our children
By Robert Samuelson
The big lie of campaign 2008 — so far — is that the presidential candidates, Democratic and Republican, will take care of our children. Instead, candidates make more promises to make goverment ‘do more’ — ignoring the fiscal train wreck that will saddle today’s children with either an unbearable tax burden or no social safety net whatsover.

Groff’s leadership can be more than symbolic

Mark Hillman

When the Colorado General Assembly reconvened Wednesday, great fanfare accompanied the election of Sen. Peter Groff as the first African-American Senate president in Colorado. However, Groff’s leadership has the potential to construct a legacy that is more than symbolic.

For three years, Groff and I served together in the Colorado Senate. We stand on opposite sides of the political spectrum, but his integrity, his well-considered principles and his unapologetic advocacy of those principles set him apart from even many of the most respected legislators. (more…)

Sorting out GOP White House hopefuls

Mark Hillman

Rarely does the New York Times hit the nail on the head, but just as "a stopped clock is right twice a day," a recent Times/CBS poll confirmed that most Republicans (76 percent) don’t know what to make of the party’s candidates for president. Count me among them.

In judging among candidates for president, my checklist is short: commitment to low tax rates and balanced budgets, unwavering on national security, and reliable to appoint judges who adhere to the plain language of the constitution. (more…)

MUST READS for Nov. 20-30

Mark Hillman

U.N. CLIMATE DISTRACTIONS
Steven Milloy, JunkScience.com
Don’t be distracted by the alarmist arm-waving and sideshows about the North Pole melting, polar bears drowning and the myriad other supposed catastrophes mentioned in the same breath as manmade CO2 emissions and global warming. There’s no evidence that manmade CO2 emissions have any created any environmental problem and certainly no scientific justification for handing the keys of the American economy over to the UN.

HUCKABEE: THE FALSE CONSERVATIVE
Robert Novak
There is no doubt about Mike Huckabee’s record during a decade in Little Rock as governor. He was regarded by fellow Republican governors as a compulsive tax increaser and spender. He increased the Arkansas tax burden by 47 percent, boosting the levies on gasoline and cigarettes.

ACADEMIC CESSPOOLS
Walter E. Williams
Students living in the University of Delaware’s housing, roughly 7,000, are taught: "A racist: A racist is one who is both privileged and socialized on the basis of race by a white supremacist (racist) system. The term applies to all white people (i.e., people of European descent) living in the United States, regardless of class, gender, religion, culture or sexuality. By this definition, people of color cannot be racists, because as peoples within the U.S. system, they do not have the power to back up their prejudices, hostilities or acts of discrimination. This gem of wisdom suggests that by virtue of birth alone, not conduct, if you’re white, you’re a racist.

Founders’ concept of freedom, faith too often forgotten

Mark Hillman

Just as the Declaration of Independence invoked the Creator as the source of our inalienable rights, the tradition of a National Day of Thanksgiving further confirms that the founding generation found nothing unusual about viewing government through the dual lenses of faith and reason.

Too often the debate over the proper role of religion in government devolves into polarized camps.  One camp argues that the Founders specifically created a Judeo-Christian state; the other counters that, because of their divergent beliefs, they created government as a purely secular institution.

While little factual evidence seems to substantiate the latter view, it seems that the former takes faith a step beyond the Founders’ application. Rather than create a government that was either secular or religious, the Founders assumed a culture that unified around key principles, including reason and faith, that are essential to personal freedom and limited government. (more…)