Some way too funny cartoons on the Michael Phelps controversy by Daryl Cagle and friends….
Santa Claus Government
by Cal Thomas - Comment on the column
Most children have probably finished their Christmas lists to Santa Claus. Some elected officials, however, are still compiling theirs.
Close behind Detroit's wish list comes a long one from America's mayors.
Last Monday, the U.S. Conference of Mayors sent its list of wishes to the political equivalent of Santa Claus: Congress. The mayors apparently figure with all the talk from President-elect Obama about infrastructure repair and job creation, they might as well try to pile onto Santa's lap, too.
The mayors claim the economy will be stimulated if their wishes are granted. What do they want? The National Taxpayers Union (NTU) has analyzed the 72-page list. Here are some of the lowlights.
-- $1.102 billion in projects involving sidewalks;
-- $1 million for annual sewer rehabilitation in Casper, Wyo. (emphasis mine);
-- $6.1 million for corporate hangars, parking lots, and a business apron at the Fayetteville, Ark., airport.
-- 15 projects with the term "stadium" in them, including a $150 million Metromover extension to the Florida Marlins' baseball stadium; and
-- 81 projects mentioning "landscaping" and/or beautification efforts.
Kristina Rasmussen, NTU's director of government affairs, offers more analysis of the mayors' report on ... READ MORE
The New World Financial Order
by Oliver North - Comment on the column
WASHINGTON - For the past seven years, according to Rep. Jim Moran, "We have been guided by a Republican administration who believes in the simplistic notion that people who have wealth are entitled to keep it." Actually, that "simplistic notion" has been the linchpin of the American system of free enterprise for the past two centuries. It has served to make the United States the most bountiful, wealthy and charitable nation on earth. Yet Moran says that system "doesn't work in the long run."
My fellow Americans, welcome to the long run.
The coincidence of an economic downturn and our most recent political realignment have produced calls for urgent, dramatic, decisive action. Liberal politicians, such as Moran, are suggesting that we all would be better off if we'd adopt a more punitive tax code and use the Internal Revenue Service to redistribute the wealth. Republicans and Democrats already have allied to use our tax dollars to bail out an insurance giant, mortgage companies and financial institutions that made bad loans and extended credit to borrowers who couldn't pay. Coming soon: tax dollars to save U.S. automakers. Attached to all these U.S. Treasury checks: countless pages of new fine-print regulations designed to prevent future financial stupidity - or to ameliorate its consequences. But as they say in the Marines, "You ain't seen nothin' yet."
This week, here in Washington, President Bush is hosting world leaders for a global ... READ MORE

Daryl Cagle, MSNBC.com
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