RWN Returns Monday: I'm off to the beach on vacation. I will not be returning until Sunday afternoon which means that RWN won't be back until Monday. As per usual when I go out of town, I've put up a few websites I like in the daily news section. If I'm not going to be here, maybe I can at least farm out a little traffic to some deserving blogs.

-- RWN appreciates our advertisers at Zogby Blog, Electric Venom, Ravenwood's Universe, The Catholic Samurai, 4ranters, American Realpolitik, Ghost Of A Flea, Widgets, & Thank You Tony.

-- Remember, the money these blogs are paying is paying all the costs associated with RWN. So why don't you show them that they're smart to advertise with RWN by taking a look at their blogs? I'd certainly appreciate it if you could...

-- June was RWN's best month ever. RWN pulled 143,205 daily uniques and 262,270 pageviews. My Alexa ranking is now 33,716. That puts me up almost 18k slots from Jan of last year and just behind where Little Green Footballs & Talking Points Memo were back then. If in the next six months I can grow like those blogs did in the last six months, I'll be a happy man indeed.

-- Have a great 4th of July week-end everyone, I'll see you on Monday!

America, Superman, Liberia, & Magic Buttons: After reading my post about why we shouldn't get involved in Liberia, AG in Houston wrote the following in the comments section....

"I believe you are a good person at heart and I take this post in jest. It is my opinion that taking Charles Taylor down and destroying his regime would be the right thing to do.

And if we were to go in and take care of business there, we should do it without the help of the Canadian sh*tbags and without the UN & France."

When I read that, the first thing I thought about was, believe it or not, Superman -- or rather something Seanbaby wrote about Superman on his hilarious, irreverent and obscene (don't say I didn't warn you) Super Friends Page...

"Superman has got to be jaded as hell. Besides the crap he has to put up with from Aquaman every day, he can hear the death screams of orphans for thousands of miles in every direction. That kind of thing would get to get to you. When I hear about dynamite ninjas blowing up the president, I don't feel guilty. There's nothing I could have done; I don't know how to defuse a ninja or even where the president lives. Not Superman. He can take every single obituary personally. He can go through the paper and say, "Let's see, this was the bus that fell off the bridge when I was in the bathroom... and here, I was playing ping pong when this family suffocated under tons of rubble... Oh! And I could barely get to sleep while this former skydiver was screaming for help! Ha ha ha!"

I'm surprised he even cares when the Trouble Alert goes off. I'd expect him to say, "Sorry your government building got shrink-rayed, Congressman, but I can hear a baby being circled by vampire hippos right now. Do you want me to let it get torn apart becau-- oh, there. It's dead. Good job, Congressman Selfish *sshole. How about you don't call again until there's a real emergency like poison ivy or a leg cramp?"

To me, there is a parallel there. Yes, like Superman, the United States is tremendously powerful and capable of doing a lot of good work. But how much are we going to do and how far are we willing to go to do it? Sure, it would be the "right thing to do" for us to go to Liberia and settle things down. Of course, I think fermenting revolution in Iran & North Korea, invading Cuba, going back to Vietnam, freeing the people of China, & overthrowing the governments of half of Africa and the Middle-East would be the "right thing to do" as well.

I mean let me be totally honest here -- if I had a button sitting on my desk right now that would allow me to put every dictator in the world out of power and replace them with Democratic governments, I wouldn't even have to think about it -- I'd push that sucker until my finger bled.

But we don't have a "magic button"; we have the United States of America, a country that despite what some people seem to think is not omnipotent. Our nation has limited resources, power, influence, & will and I don't want to waste any of it in Liberia when we're in the middle of a war on terrorism.

Moreover, the world has made it quite clear since 9/11 that we shouldn't expect any gratitude for doing things like this, so why get involved when our interests aren't at stake? It's just like giving to the Salvation Army at Christmas. Sure you might toss some change into the kettle as long as they say, "thank you", but if they sneered at you instead or worse yet tried to poke you in eye after you gave them money, why would you bother?

I pity the people of Liberia, but not enough to advocate putting our blood and treasure on the line to help them for purely humanitarian reasons. Helping them out would be a good and noble thing to do, but then, there are literally BILLIONS of people across the planet who could use the help of America's military -- are we going to aid them all? We're not capable of doing that and even if we were, would we want to start waging wars -- even wars for freedom -- across the planet in places where we have nothing at stake? Maybe Superman would do it, but America isn't in the super-hero business.

Federal Judge Rules Virginians 'Stupid As Texans' By Scott Ott: A federal judge yesterday ruled that citizens of Virginia are "as stupid as Texans" when he blocked enforcement of a law against infanticide which had been passed by the elected representatives of the people of the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Judge Richard Williams, a Carter appointee, brushed aside the Commonwealth's arguments and immediately ordered suspension of the law banning partial-birth abortions, pending a trial in November on whether the law is constitutional.

"I'm using the Supreme Court precedent established in Lawrence v. Texas last week," said the Judge Williams. "The Court said that the people of Texas are too stupid to rule themselves and, by extension, implied that those in other states also lack the mental ability to make laws through their elected representatives. The people of Virginia are likewise a dull-witted lot. "

The Judge went on to note, "It's a good thing I caught this law before it went into effect, otherwise countless babies would have been denied the right to an involuntary death at the hands of a competent surgeon."

If you enjoyed this satire by Scott Ott, you can read more of his work at Scrappleface.

Salon, Die Faster Please: Uber-popular (Alexa rank #716), lefty, website Salon is in SERIOUS financial trouble and I'm not using capital letters to spell out the word serious for nothing. Just look at the numbers...

"In Monday's SEC documents, Salon said it expects to have to raise more money during the quarter ending in Sept. 30 to stay afloat. Salon has issued similar warnings in the past and so far has managed to raise money it needed to remain in business.

To boost revenue, Salon has been charging to people read its once-free online magazine. Salon had 62,000 subscribers as of March 31."

When you're 82 million in the hole and adding to that number at a 5.7 million dollar clip, why not just give up the ghost already? Given that Salon is making less than 2 million dollars off of subscriptions and that the ad market on the net is still in the toilet, it's highly unlikely that they're ever going to turn a profit, much less pay back all the money that they owe. Yet like Jason or Freddy, they always seem to find some way to keep going no matter how brutal of a financial drubbing they suffer.

And for what? Their page looks more like a men's magazine than the flagship publication of the left on the net. Look at what they've published on their front page today -- We have a little bit of standard Bush bashing and a "Gosh, look at that Howard Dean go" article to go along with a T3 review, an entertainment gossip column, a "Legally Blonde 2" review, and a couple of sex related advice/articles that I've provided excerpts of ...

"Encountering my thong, he yelped, "Your underwear doesn't cover your butt!" Right then, I knew my dream of great sex would not come true."

"After losing my virginity and suffering a miserable, histrionic breakup, my new boyfriend's Cusack-esque brand of sedation and comfort was ideal -- for a while."

How will the left ever survive without this sort of cutting edge political commentary -- or will they ever have to? Who knows, if Salon has managed to make it this far, maybe they'll get enough lefties with deep pockets to help them keep going. I mean if Ted Turner gave a billion to the UN, maybe some ultra-liberal with more money than Scrooge McDuck will ante up a hundred million dollars to pay Salon's bills. Stranger things have happened right? But personally, I've looking forward to seeing them nosedive into the pavement since they published that hideous "Forbidden Thoughts About 9/11" article back in Sept of 2002. In fact, the sooner Salon gets dragged kicking and screaming to the graveyard of dead web pages, the better as far as I'm concerned.

Great Patriotic Quotes: Since we're only a couple of days from the 4th of July, I thought it would be a great time to put up some patriotic quotes. Enjoy!

Ask The Evil Hegemon For Help, They Help Everybody: I knew this sort of thing was going to happen, it was just a matter of time...

THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION is coming under considerable international pressure to contribute to a United Nations-backed intervention in the West African state of Liberia -- and understandably so. Founded by freed U.S. slaves, Liberia has been a close U.S. ally for most of its history, and now it is living through one of the worst moments in those 150 years. Its warlord president, Charles Taylor, is holed up in the capital city, Monrovia, besieged by rebel armies. Mr. Taylor agreed to step down peacefully as part of a cease-fire agreement last month but then reversed himself; the result has been heavy fighting in the capital that has left hundreds dead. U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan has called for an international peacekeeping force to prevent further bloodshed, and he has implored the United States to lead it. Britain and France have publicly backed the idea, and several West African nations have offered to contribute 3,000 troops if they are matched with 2,000 Americans. Both sides in Liberia say they would welcome a U.S.-led force. Faced with such unanimity, the Bush administration should strongly consider acting."

You know, when I hear about people pleading for us to help out somewhere like Liberia, I think back to the build-up to the war in Iraq. Back then we were called Nazis, hegemons, imperialists, & Fascists. The American people & our President were impugned daily by nations that we had helped over and over again for decades. We were told that America was rabidly unpopular and that many people thought we were a bigger threat to the world that Al Qaeda. But now a few short months later when Europe & the UN have started to get skittish about going into the middle of a civil war it's, "Hey Uncle Sam old buddy, could help us get rid of this dictator who's causing problems in Liberia?"

Let me ask the obvious question, "Why the Hell should we get involved in Liberia?" We have no national interest at stake there, right? And let's be completely honest, no one is going to genuinely appreciate our help. Not the Western Europeans who could care less that we helped liberate them from the Nazis and then defended them from the Soviets, not Africans who show zero gratitude for the billions we give them, & not even the Liberians themselves who will care for no more than a few years at best.

Moreover, by even getting involved it's likely we'll get all sorts of grief from the "I hate America crowd" on the left in America & Europe. We'll have international lawyers trying to figure out how to charge our men with war crimes when we accidentally kill civilians, NGOs complaining that we're not doing enough for the people of Liberia, the press painting the whole thing as a disaster & a "quagmire" until we win the day, paranoid libs & Paleocons claiming we're acting like imperialists again, & ungrateful allies complaining about how we're conducting the military campaign -- as if they could do better.

Why should we put ourselves through that for Liberia or for any country that has no strategic relevance to us? Were it up to me, we wouldn't. In fact, I think we shouldn't go to places like Somalia, Haiti, Kosovo, & Bosnia again. We get no benefits from those sorts of missions other than the opportunity to pat ourselves on the backs and tell ourselves we're good people even if the rest of the world refuses to see it.

So instead of America getting involved, why don't we send Kofi Annan down to Liberia and let him demand that Charles Taylor step down in the name of the UN and international law? That could work right? Then there are the Canadians -- don't some of them claim to be a "moral superpower"? Let them go down to Liberia and see what they can do. Even the French could help -- just look at the bang-up job they've doing down on the Ivory Coast -- OK, maybe the French aren't such a good idea. But in the end, it doesn't really matter to me who goes to Liberia as long as it isn't us. America has done enough good deeds for the world in the last century to last for the rest of human history. If America has no stake in the fight, we should let some other nation or power get involved...

RWN Makes Crossfire -- The Pic: Richardland came up with a pic from the edition of Crossfire that RWN was mentioned on. Begala mentioned it in reference to this portion of the interview...

John Hawkins: You've caught a lot of heat for a couple of quotes you made. In your column three days after 9/11, you said, "We know who the homicidal maniacs are.They are the ones cheering and dancing right now. We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity." You also said in an interview with the New York Observer, "My only regret with Timothy McVeigh is he did not go to the New York Times Building." Do you stand by those quotes or do you think that perhaps you should have phrased them differently?

RE: McVeigh quote. Of course I regret it. I should have added, "after everyone had left the building except the editors and reporters."

First it was C-Span, now it's CNN. Now all I need is MSNBC, Fox, & Rush Limbaugh, then I've got it made!

Tax Reform Bill Would Make Payments Voluntary By Scott Ott: Taking a page from the campaign fundraising playbook, a new bill in the House would eliminate the mandatory income tax and require elected representatives to persuade citizens to send in voluntary tax payments.

"We choose our President, Senators and Representatives in a way that emphasizes fundraising abilities," said an unnamed legislative aide who helped draft the bill. "Since the Capitol and the White House contain more than 500 of the best money-raisers in America, this legislation would tap that talent and put them all to work traveling the country, exhorting people to send money to Washington to fund government activities."

The text of the bill notes that the Federal government has become a social service organization which demands support under penalty of law.

"That's just not American. We're capitalists," said the aide. "If you have a great idea, you need to sell it to people, and they can choose to buy it, or not. If you believe in welfare, government-controlled schools, government-funded art, cabbage research or National Public Radio, then hit trail and get others to believe in it too. Let the people show their support with their contributions."

Under the 'merit-based promotion' provision of the bill, only the most effective fundraisers in Congress would earn leadership positions. A flat five percent commission would compensate elected officials for their work.

If you enjoyed this satire by Scott Ott, you can read more of his work at Scrappleface.

The French Sneer At America's War Dead: The picture that you see below is from the French "Memorial Museum of the Battle of Normandy."

What's missing is an American flag. According to the The Dissident Frogman, who just visted the museum, the American flag there and in another location, as well as American pins have been removed from the museum. Oh they still have the British flags and the Canadian flags, but apparently they feel that the 9,386 American soldiers who died at Normandy & the 1,557 who went missing or weren't identified, don't merit representation.

Besides, if any Americans take offense at that sort of thing, the French can just run another commercial featuring Woody Allen kissing his stepdaughter/wife and that'll fix everything, right? I wouldn't bet on that if I were them...

Hat Tip to Anticipatory Retaliation for pointing this one out.

***Update***: Here's the explanation from the museum's explantion for the missing flags.

But there is a simple explanation, insisted Magalie Bignon, spokeswoman for the mayor of Bayeux.

Baczkowksi noted that just a few hundred meters from the flag poles at the Bayeux museum is a monument to slain U.S. soldiers."

While I can't imagine that they're lying about the Sherwood Rangers flag (it's too easily checked out), what they're saying seems to be contradictory. On the one hand, no Americans fought at Bayeux, but plenty fought at Normandy and apparently there's even a "monument to slain U.S. soldiers" there, but there's no American flag flying. They claim the buttons and flags are sold out, but how plausible is that given that American tourism to France has dropped preciptiously? While I think their story sounds questionable, I also think that they have to be given the benefit of the doubt given the explanation that they've put forward.

The 10 Most Influential Bloggers: A while back, OJR had up an article that featured various people ranking the most influential bloggers. Well today, I'm putting up my list. No tech bloggers are included because I don't read them and no left of center bloggers are on the list because I don't read enough left-wing media to get a real sense of their influence. Here they are in reverse order...

10) Tim Blair: Tim Blair qualifies as a heavy hitter in Australia and is the only pundit who can actually induce American bloggers to talk about Aussie politics.

9) A Small Victory: Michele Catalano has a large following that stretches across the ideological spectrum. Moreover, she is so well liked in the blogosphere that she could probably get multiple links to her grocery list.

8) Scrappleface: It seems odd to put a humor blog on this list, but Ott has pull. His 'Axis of Weasels' phrase bled over into the mainstream media and his posts make Jewish World Review. Satire by Ott has more impact than editorials written by all but the most elite of the blogosphere.

7) Steven Den Beste: Den Beste is one of the, "Four Horsemen of the Ablogolypse" and his long posts reverberate across the blogosphere. He hasn't broken out into the mainstream media like some of the other people on this list, but given that he has a unique style and is a better writer than the overwhelming majority of the writers out there, I think he will in time.

6) Lileks (James) The Bleat: James Lileks is perhaps the most gifted writer on the Conservative scene today after Mark Steyn. He's a masterful wordsmith and he's often quoted when he gets on a roll. He also has a syndicated column now that's carried by Jewish World Review among other places.

5) Little Green Footballs: If you want to find out what Radical Islamists, terrorist sympathizers, & Islamo-Fascists of the world are up to, there is no better place on the net to go than Charles Johnson's LGF....and people know it.

4) The Volokh Conspiracy: This page may not pull as much traffic as some of the other pages on this list, but it has an influential readership that pays attention to what Volokh has to say. Not only is Volokh a prolific updater, but the pride of UCLA's law school can get his message out everywhere from Fox News to National Review.

3) The Corner: If everyone who read America's most influential Conservative mag, National Review, read the Corner as well, they'd have first place locked up. But given that I don't believe that's the case, I think they only merit the three slot.

2) Instapundit: It's almost impossible to overestimate the influence that Glenn Reynolds has in the blogosphere He has built up a mountain of goodwill and influence with his frequent links (and the traffic that follows them). Just to give you an example of the type of reach he has, I believe that Glenn Reynolds was the man primarily responsible for bringing down Trent Lott. Others spoke out as well and had an impact, but had Reynolds not flooded the zone and got the ball rolling, I believe Lott would still be the Majority Leader in the Senate as we speak.

1) Andrew Sullivan: Andrew Sullivan beats out Glenn Reynolds only because I think he has more of an impact on mainstream pundits and websites than Reynolds does. For example, I've heard Rush Limbaugh talk about things Sullivan has written multiple times and Lucianne, which officially does not allow links to blogs, allows Sullivan's work to be posted. Sullivan's work gets out to the big boys of journalism with massive readerships in a way that the other pages -- with an exception perhaps being made for the Corner -- can't match.

Note: I consider Romenesko to be left of center and I don't consider Taranto's Best Of The Web Today to be a blog. Otherwise, both would have been included.

Know Thy Enemy: Hurricanes By Frank J.: Hurricane Bill has been downgraded to a tropical depression, so, just after the nick of time, here's some info on hurricanes. I have lived in Florida for over two years now, which, though I've never actually seen a hurricane, makes me qualified to talk about them from all the second-hand information I've heard. So, without further ado:

* Hurricanes involve wind... and rain too, I think.

* Hurricanes only attack near the coastline, because further inland is ruled by the tornados who don't take kindly to other weather anomalies moving in on their territory.

* The main differences between a hurricane, a tropical storm, and a depression are their spellings and pronunciations.

* I talked to some guy who said he shot a hurricane with a .45, but that didn't stop it. A .44 magnum probably will, then.

* A true samurai should be able to stand down a hurricane and defeat it with one mighty stroke of his blade. I won't do it though, because it might mess up my sword.

* I just saw this movie Zaitoichi about a blind samurai, and it was really cool.

* I've strayed off topic.

* When a hurricane attacks, most people will flee inland, which will mean the beaches will be nice and empty for those of us who aren't a bunch of p*ssies.

* Hurricanes used to always be given female names because hurricanes are destructive, random, and capricious, just like women. That custom was stopped, though, when women got all whiny and moody about it.

* No one is sure what causes a hurricane, but it comes from the sea so the most likely candidates are Poseidon, sea monkeys, or France. We should do a preemptive strike against all of them.

* A hurricane, unlike the platypus, does not lay eggs.

* If a hurricane charges you, just strike it on the nose to ward it away.

* In a fight between a hurricane and Aquaman, Aquaman would end up stuck in some power lines somewhere with no fish to talk to.

* In Mexico, Aquaman is known as Hombre del Agua.

* I've gone off topic again.

* Most times we'll have plenty of notice for a hurricane because it will storm in right off the sea. Sometimes, though, it will sneak in wearing a hat and a trench coat. If you see someone in a hat and a trench coat, pull them off and shout, "Aha! A hurricane!" Most of the time, it will actually be some guy and you'll look pretty stupid, but, if one time it actually is a hurricane, people will be like, "Wow! You're smart."

* All hurricanes want is attention, so the best defense is to just ignore them, even if it rips off the roof of your house.

* I once thought I saw a hurricane, but it ended up that it was a gopher.

If you emjoyed this satire by Frank J., you can read more of his work at IMAO.US.

Poll Numbers Show The Medicare Drug Benefit Is Great Politics, Even If It's Terrible Policy: I could not be more opposed to the bloated, elephantine, prescription drug benefit that the GOP is gleefully helping to shove through Congress. As far as I'm concerned, anyone who votes for that monstrosity has lost the right to ever be taken seriously when they claim that they're serious about reducing the deficit.

Furthermore, I know a lot of Conservatives, many of whom support this budget busting monstrosity, understand and agree with everything I've said so far. So why are they agreeing to sign on to this big government program that goes directly against the Conservative grain? I think these USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup Poll numbers will explain it...

"...A USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup Poll over the weekend found that 76% of adults favor Congress' move to spend $400 billion over 10 years to help seniors get insurance coverage for their prescriptions. Just 19% oppose the idea.

"He's stolen a traditional Democratic issue," Blendon said. "People believe Bush has been the moving force on this bill, even though Democrats first raised the issue in the early 1990s."

So there you are, 76% of the country says they want this legislation. Of course, if Bush and the GOP leadership had fought this all the way, that number would probably be sitting at around 50%, but hey, better to trounce the Dems at the polls than do the right thing for our country, huh guys?

Of course, I'm not the only one who's upset about this. Today, Andrew Sullivan said,

"Fiscal conservatives like me are going to be looking in 2004 for someone - anyone - who can control government spending. We know Bush is hopeless and cares not a whit about this country's future fiscal health. What we need to know is that some Democrat won't be so bad."

Good luck Andrew, because the era of fiscal Conservatism is dead as a doorknob. The Democrats have never cared about restraining spending and the budget hawks on the GOP side have now officially given up the fight as well. Oh and don't even talk to me about the Libertarians -- it's easy to talk about cutting the budget down to size when you're out of power, aren't going to be in power, and don't ever have to answer to the voters (yes, that applies to pundits like me too, but I never let that stop me before =D).

We will start to bridge the budget gap and perhaps even temporarily erase it if the economy grows fast enough, but that may be more unlikely that it first appears given the massive suckling at the government teat that the Bush administration has allowed and is continuing to encourage. The military budget is going to be tough to cut while we're fighting the war on terror (which has years to go) and once Social Security starts running in the red in roughly a decade, things are going to start getting very ugly.

In fact, I see a financial train wreck coming and all the engineers who should be doing something about it already seem to have decided to just ride it out and hope for the best. That's bad policy and I see little that can be done about it other than to fix it with a Balanced Budget Amendment. Maybe we'd rather our representatives just spend our money responsibly, but at this point, it should be obvious that's not going to happen...

RWN On Crossfire?: Someone just emailed me and said the interview I did with Ann Coulter was mentioned on Crossfire. Can anyone confirm and give me some details if they were watching?

***Update***: Here are the relevant quotes from the transcript...

BEGALA: Well, let me also thank you on behalf of Senator Miller, who I've worked for off and on for a dozen years, a very close friend of mine. I think he would take issue with a lot of things that you say, Ann.

For example, you gave a famous interview to "The New York Observer" where you said, "My only regret with Timothy McVeigh is that he did not go to "The New York Times" building. You were later asked on a Web site called rightwingnews.com if you regret that.

Now everybody says stupid things, and I've thought of course you said you would regret it. You did. Here's what you said, though. "Of course I regret it. I should have added, after everyone had left the building, except the editors and reporters." Now, again, is that Ann Coulter's view of patriotism to call for mass murder?

COULTER: No, that was just a joke, Paul.

BEGALA: I don't think it's very funny.

(APPLAUSE)

NOVAK: Then why do you think they're laughing?

COULTER: I think that should be the new slogan of the Democratic Party. I don't think that's funny. That's not funny. You can adopt the slogan of the feminists. I don't think that's funny.

NOVAK: Ann...

BEGALA: Wait. Just finally, do you regret saying that?

NOVAK: She said no. She said it was a joke.

COULTER: Yes and no when read my answer. No, it was a joke.

Thanks to the So Cal Lawyer for running that down. He has a heck of a nice blog by the way, so you may want to check out that link...

Walmart Vs. The DMV: As I stood in line at the DMV today, it occurred to me that you can explain a number of big government vs. private industry issues by simply asking people to compare Walmart to the DMV.

When I go into my local Walmart, I have a greeter who usually says "hi" or at least makes eye contact. The store does an excellent job of providing products that I want and I have no doubt that if a new product becomes available that they can make money on, Walmart will stock it. While the staff isn't perfect, they're generally helpful and it's rare that I have to wait longer than 10 minutes to check out. Because there are stockholders to please, bonuses at the management level, promotions for employees who do an excellent job, and a real fear that consumers will leave Walmart and go to their competitors, Walmart, employees feel pressured to meet my needs as consumer and they do a reasonably good job of it.

Then there's the DMV. Usually I have to wait 30 minutes to an hour plus to talk to a DMV employee who typically comes across as rude &/or disinterested. Because the DMV is a monopoly with no competition, they feel no need to adequately staff their facilities or give good customer service. After all, where else are you going to go? While a company like Walmart can go out of business if they do a poor job, the DMV has no such fear. Moreover, while Walmart's CEO may be fired if the company performs poorly, there is no similar worry on the DMV side. Just ask yourself, are the people of NC are going to turn out their governor or Senator because they had to wait too long at the DMV? Of course not, it just doesn't work like that.

The difference between Walmart and the DMV comes down to competition and whose money is on the line. When you have money invested in a company, you DEMAND good performance or you'll simply move your money somewhere else. On the other hand, government bureaucracies simply don't care as much since their own money isn't involved.

So think about Walmart vs. the DMV the next time someone wants to socialize our health care. Do you want to put your life into the hands of people with the DMV mentality or capitalists who believe they're going to make money by meeting your needs? When it comes to schools, do you want the current mediocre monopoly that we have or do want school vouchers that will force public schools to go head to head with private institutions that make money only if they can outperform their competitors? If you want the best service, done at the best price, in the most timely fashion, you want private industry, not government, doing the work.

In My World: Attack of the Belgians Part III By Frank J: (Part 1 is here & Part 2 is here)

Rumsfeld smashed the reporter's head into the podium. "That's your head being smashed against wood," he said. Rumsfeld then slammed the reporter's head through a window, breaking the glass. "And that's your head hitting against glass. Do you feel the difference?"

"Yes," the reporter said weakly.

"Let's continue to drive this point home," Rumsfeld said. He smacked the reporter into the brick wall. "That's your head against brick." He grabbed another reporter and slammed both their heads together. "That's skull against skull. Feel the difference?"

"I don't feel much of anything anymore."

Rumsfeld dropped his victim. "Then I think I'm finished making my point. See, while all those things seemed similar in that your head was getting smashed against something, they were different too. In the same way, Iraq is different than Vietnam, but it was an interesting analogy you tried to make. Any other questions?"

This Puts Clinton Into Perspective Doesn't It?: I know a lot of people were concerned about having someone with Bill Clinton's character running the show. But it could be worse, much worse. Take Elagabus, a 14 year old "hereditary priest of the Syrian Sun god, Elagabal" who ruled the Roman Empire from 218-222 AD. Not only did he try "to compel the Romans to worship Elagabal as their supreme deity," but he engaged in "sexual practices" that made Bill Clinton look like the pope...

"Leaving aside the number of his marriages (five in three years). he was a cross-dresser who reportedly frequented smarmy clubs where he prostituted himself in drag. He fell in love with and "married" a slave who was allowed to beat his "wife" (the emperor). He sought out the possibilities of a sex-change operation from doctors."

Eventually, the Romans lost their patience with Elagabalus and found and killed him and his mother in a latrine. Then they dragged their bodies through the streets and tossed them in the Tibur river.

That story makes a stained blue dress and an impeachment trial look pretty tame by comparison, huh?

I got that story from the The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Roman Empire.