Shoot first. Ask questions later.

This is pretty much the only line of defense we have against suicide bombers, and the Israelis have known this for years. A heavily armed police force AND a armed populace (for police cannot be everywhere) trained in how to recognize a suicide bomber is the only way to prevent such suicide attacks other than in the planning stages. Otherwise we are just sitting around waiting for it to happen. This is how the Israelis would do it, and I'm glad the British are overcoming their fear of firearms and striking back.

Reuters:

LONDON (Reuters) - London police said on Friday a police officer had shot a man at the Stockwell underground train station but declined to comment on reports he was a suspected suicide bomber.

"I saw them (police) offload five shots into the person on the floor," eyewitness Mark Whitby at the station told BBC television. "I saw them kill a man."

Police would not give any further details.

Police were hunting for bombers on Friday after an apparently failed bid on Thursday to bomb London's transport network.

Movie time: What our boys have to deal with in Iraq

Video of a vehicle (sounds like British accents) getting hit by an Improvised Explosive Device (IED). Some language is used. 3.6MB WMV file.

Here's a very interesting one: A recruiting video used by insurgent forces in Iraq. 30MB MOV file. 21 minutes.

Gas prices are high... what do we do?

From National Review via Cato:

At the end of the day, the best remedy for high gasoline prices is...high gasoline prices, which provide all the incentives necessary for motorists to conserve, for oil companies to put more product into the marketplace, and for investors to look into alternatives fuel technologies. Government has never demonstrated an ability to do better.

Governor Romney Pushes for Welfare Reform

Moves to Bring Massachusetts into Line with Federal Standards

Governor Mitt Romney filed legislation on Friday which would result in
much-needed reform of the state’s welfare program and improve
opportunities for those in poverty. Romney proposed reforming the
state’s welfare program so that more recipients of welfare are
employed and able to lift their families out of poverty. Massachusetts
must act now to meet federal standards before the state’s waiver of
those standards expires in September.

Currently, exemptions to welfare work requirements in Massachusetts mean
that only 28 percent of today’s welfare population has to work.
Governor Romney wants to raise that to about 55 percent. Democrats have
offered a competing proposal which will keep people in poverty by
allowing even more exceptions to welfare work requirements.

"Fundamentally, this is a debate about the best way to help someone lead
a fulfilling life. We know that the best welfare system isn't a handout
but a hand up," Romney said.

Romney’s proposal includes significant funding to make these reforms
viable. The Legislature has already approved the $8 million for
education and training and $6 million for child care which Romney
requested. The Governor will seek an additional $600,000 for DTA
caseworkers to assist families in their efforts to become
self-sufficient. full issue alert text
[http://www.massgop.com/v2_press_releases.htm]

Talking Points

Massachusetts only has until September to conform to the federal welfare
standards signed into law by President Clinton in 1996. Governor
Romney’s proposal meets these standards while ensuring that the
transition to the new standards is smooth and adequately funded. Rather
than supporting this proposal, the Legislature wants to increase
bureaucracy in the state by creating separate state and federal welfare
programs.

Massachusetts is one of only five states without a lifetime time limit
for welfare recipients to collect cash assistance. Romney's legislation
calls for continuation of the current time limit of two years in a
five-year period, but would also have Massachusetts adopt the federal
government's five-year lifetime limit.
Governor Romney wants to increase work requirements because he knows
that work is critical to breaking the cycle of poverty. Combining
welfare and work will lift many families above the poverty line. But
Democrats want to offer more exceptions to work requirements which will
leave families trapped in poverty.

For Release: Monday, July 11, 2005

Contact:
Tim O'Brien
Executive Director
Massachusetts Republican Party

We Are All British Today

This is a gut-wrenching day for all of us. It illustrates the vulnerability of our infrastructure and should strike a bit of fear in everyone (including myself) who takes public transit.

We will stand strong against this threat and we will prevail. These are cowardly acts by a unseen enemy who refuses to show his face. We will not be swayed in our positions and our judgements. We will not be intimidated to leave Iraq. We will not be intimidated to abandon our allies, the Israelis.

The words of Winston Churchill ring especially true today:

We have before us an ordeal of the most grievous kind. You ask, what is our policy? I say it is to wage war by land, sea and air--war with all our might and with all the strength God has given us--and to wage war against a monstrous tyranny never surpassed in the dark and lamentable catalogue of human crime. That is our policy.

Courtesy of the Red, White, & Blue (The Angry American)

American girls and American guys will always stand up and salute;
Will always recognize
When we see ol' glory flying,
There's a lot of men dead,
So we can sleep in peace at night when we lay down our head.

My daddy served in the army,
Where he lost his right eye.
But he flew a flag out in our yard 'til the day that he died.
He wanted my mother, my brother, my sister and me
To grow up and live happy in the land of the free.

Now this nation that I love has fallen under attack.
A mighty sucker punch came flying in from somewhere in the back.
Soon as we could see clearly through our big black eye,
Man we lit up your world like the Fourth of July.

Hey Uncle Sam put your name at the top of his list,
And the Statue of Liberty started shaking her fist.
And the eagle will fly,
And there's gonna be Hell,
When you hear Mother Freedom start ringing her bell!
It's gonna feel like the whole wide world is raining down on you...
Brought to you courtesy of the Red, White and Blue!

Oh, Justice will be served and the battle will rage.
This big dog will fight when you rattle his cage
You'll be sorry that you messed with the US of A
'Cuz we'll put a boot in your ass
It's the American way.

Hey Uncle Sam put your name at the top of his list,
And the Statue of Liberty started shaking her fist.
And the eagle will fly,
And there's gonna be Hell,
When you hear Mother Freedom start ringing her bell!
And it'll feel like the whole wide world is raining down on you...
Brought to you courtesy of the Red, White and Blue!

Of the Red, White and Blue..
Of my Red, White and Blue...

-Toby Keith

Video
iTunes

The Next World War?

Washington Times has the story.

Bush Puts Hold on Tax Overhaul Plans

From the Cato Inst:

"President Bush will delay his plans to overhaul the tax code, in part because of his mounting difficulties on Social Security and other top initiatives," The New York Times reports. In "Options for Tax Reform," Chris Edwards, director of tax policy studies at the Cato Institute, looks at possible changes to address the complexities and inefficiencies of the current tax system. Edwards identifies three goals for tax reform: "simplification, efficiency, and limited government. The latter goal focuses on tax code features such as visibility and equal treatment that cultivate an understanding of the high cost of government."

Danger!

I picked up a tmobile Sidekick today and them discovered that I can post to blogger via email!

I type posts from my Sidekick and email them off (unlimited email) and they get posted in a minute or so. It's really quite amazing.

Click it or Ticket? You can't tell me what to do.

Walter Williams has more.

Sounds about right to me...

"[Porn Star Mary] Carey, after all, merely does for a living what the Democrats do to the country." - Jay Severin

I love this guy.

Can we let it rest now?

Michael Schiavo is vindicated. Maybe next time we can tone down the vitriol and not attack our fellow conservatives? (Just scroll down to find the Schiavo stuff)

Separation of State and Almost Everything

I've been thinking for several months now that there are only 5 things the Government does that could not realistically be handed over to private enterprise:

War - diplomacy, military action, treaties, alliances

Roads - interstate and local

Money - regulating money supply and interest rates

Police - law enforcement, court system, NOT prison

Fire Departments

When I share this vision with people they frequently bring up Education as something that should be Government controlled. Jeff Jacoby has my response.

Don't worry, you'll still get a cheap car.

Here's a comforting thought to all the laid off GM employees: You'll still get your discount through July 5th! Hooray!

Marines in a middle school? Hell no.

Alright, this is just foolishness.

A Reminder of What Memorial Day is All About

Read this. Crying optional.

Godspeed sir.

Kia

The new Kia ads are evil. That is all.

Freedom Tower is 'Crap'

I mentioned Trump earlier and his concerns about the Freedom Tower.

AP:

Donald Trump wants the designers of the World Trade Center site fired.

Their plan "looks like a junk yard, a series of broken-down angles that don't match each other. And we have to live with this for hundreds of years?" the real estate mogul said at a news conference Wednesday. "It is the worst pile of crap architecture I've ever seen in my life."

He wants two 111-story tall towers, one story taller than the previous towers.


Sounds perfect to me.

It's that time of year again...

My friend Bryan and I have started a new WeatherBlog: StormTrack.

StormTrack is dedicated to the weather that impacts our lives

Topics include:

Current Weather

Significant Past Events

Tropical Storms

Severe Weather

Winter Storms

Please check us out, consider linking to us and keep checking back as Hurricane Season progresses.

Bryan will be doing his own forecasting (we'll see how he measures up to the NHC!) and we'll have photos, videos and up-to-date information on what's going on in the Tropics and the rest of the country.

They're probably charge him double if they knew who he was...

Andrew Breitbart has an article out in the Daily Standard:

I love Whole Foods. I love the Austin-based boutique supermarket chain so much I find ways to go there almost every day. Sometimes I go for the Siciliano sandwich (rare roast beef, caramelized onions, Gorgonzola spread on a toasted French roll); sometimes I go for the trail mix and dried fruit bins (yogurt-covered raisins and pineapple rings). Other times I go to buy an $18 Pinot Noir on sale, so I can race home to tell my wife it was marked down to $11.99. They've got a lot of those deals.

The produce is fresh and, by demand, "organic," one of the new synonyms for "virtuous." Samples of expensive cheeses and other culinary delights make the procession up and down the aisles a gastronomic treasure hunt, and there are no Cap'n Crunch displays to impede your cart and depress your spirit along the way. With a massage therapist in the front of the store charging only a dollar a minute, the place is a veritable culinary day spa.

THE DOWNSIDE to the Whole Foods experience is that its success is driven by one of our era's more grotesque phenomena: the upwardly-mobile urban dweller, the one who wants to indulge class-conscious epicurean yearnings and save the world, too. Whole Foods is a wonderland molded to accommodate the psyche of the socially-responsible, guilt-ridden liberal--the crunchy Kucinich capitalist.

A nice diversion from the traditional political fare.