I'm preparing to move this week-end and therefore I'm going to have to take a little time off to prepare. So Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, there will be no daily news and no posts on current events. On the upside, I will be running blocks of "best of posts" -- roughly 30 per day, so you will have something to read while I'm gone.

Enjoy the retro RWN posts in my absence and I'll see you on Monday!

Rules Of Thumb (October 7, 2003)
Take My Word For It, Jews Don't Rule The World (November 6, 2003)
The Chickenhawk Slur (November 13, 2003)
Making The Case For A Federal Marriage Amendment (February 26, 2004)
Why We Invaded Iraq (April 14, 2004)
Get Your Antennae Up! (April 26, 2004)
Answering 20 Frequently Asked Questions About Conservatism (May 11, 2004)
Your Guide To The Liberal View Of Foreign Policy & Defending America (June 26, 2004)
The 40 Question Reality-Based Community Quiz (January 17, 2005)
Iraq Is Another Vietnam? It's Not Even Close. (February 28, 2005)

Politically Correct Fairy Tales
Cats or Dogs. Which are the Better Pets?
A Day In The Life Of A Puppy
The Saddam Hussein Fan Club
Constant 'Joke' Calls From White House Putting Further Strain On Relations Between US And UN
Behind The Scenes In Iraq With Wolf Streisand
The Translation Guide For Middle Eastern Dictators
The Translation Guide For Tech Support
The Republican's Translation Guide: What Are Democrats Really Saying?
The Terrorist Quiz

Q&A Friday #16: Controlling Immigration
Q&A Friday #15: Why Did The Brits Allow The Israelis To Create A State?
Q&A Friday #12: How Polarized Is The Country?
Q&A Friday #10: How Do You Convince People That Republicans Aren't Racists?
Q&A Friday #8: Suggest Some Books
Q&A Friday #8: How Long Did It Take To Build An Audience?
Q&A Friday #8: Piece Of Crap List
Q&A Friday #4: Iraq Vs. Vietnam
Q&A Friday #3: Would School Vouchers Lead To Overcrowding?
Q&A Friday #2: Why Does Communism Lead To Genocide & Mass Murder?

Is America Better Off Being Feared Or Loved? (April 1, 2002)
The Two Year Old's Tantrum Over The Election That Never Ends (July 1, 2002)
Confessions Of An Isolationist Wannabe (August 21, 2002)
A Message From The Citizens Of The 'Great Satan' To The Rest Of The World (August 28, 2002)
Reagan 101 (Feb 6, 2003)
The Conservative Thinking Behind The War On Terrorism (April 2, 2003)
The Questions Conspiracy Theorists Need To Ask Themselves (May 30, 2003)
Some Of My Pet Peeves With The Mainstream Media (August 5, 2003)
How I Became A Conservative (August 14, 2003)
Stupid Debating Tricks -- 9 Of My Least Favorite Debate Tactics (September 29, 2003)

The Top 125 Political Websites On The Net Version 5.0
The 3rd Annual Twenty Most Annoying Liberals In The United States: The 2004 Edition
The Third Annual Warblogger Awards For 2004
My Favorite 40 Bloggers: Second Quarter 2005
The 40 Most Obnoxious Quotes Of 2004
My Top 50 Songs Of All-Time
The 2nd Annual 10 Worst Quotes From The Democratic Underground For 2004
RWN's Top 25 Favorite Ann Coulter Quotes
Right-Of-Center Bloggers Select The 20 Greatest Figures In American History
Right-Of-Center Bloggers Select The Worst Figures Of The 20th Century

Star Trek & "Death By Prosperity"
Star Trek's Prime Directive And Conservatism
The 10 Greatest Star Trek Characters Of All-Time
Star Trek Was Bad TV? BAH!

The Top 6 Candidates For The GOP Nomination In 2008
Right-Of-Center Bloggers Select The Most & Least Desired 2008 Republican Nominee
A Quick Look At The Candidates For Election 2008
Hillary In 2008 -- How Tough Will She Be?
2008 Analysis: It's Wide Open On The Republican Side

An Interview With Ann Coulter (June 26, 2003)
RWN's Ann Coulter Interview #2 (October 22, 2004)
An Interview With Milton Friedman (September 16, 2003)
The David Frum Interview (January 27th, 2004)
RWN's 2nd Victor Davis Hanson Interview (January 9, 2005)
The G. Gordon Liddy Interview (December 22nd, 2003)
An Interview With David Limbaugh About His New Book, 'Persecution: How Liberals Are Waging War Against Christianity' (October 6th, 2003)
The Michael Medved Interview (November 4th, 2003)
The Mark Steyn Interview (Feb 12, 2003)
An Interview With Congressman Tom Tancredo (R - CO) (July 28, 2003)

Pro-War Conservatives Predicted Iraq Would Help Spread Democracy In The Middle East
The Best Quotes From Thomas Sowell's 'The Vision Of The Anointed'
RWN's Favorite Donald Rumsfeld Quotes
Great Patriotic Quotes
If The Bush Administration Lied About WMD, So Did These People Version 3.0
RWN's Favorite George S. Patton Quotes
Quotes Of Note From Every US President
RWN's 100 Favorite Movie Quotes Of All Time
Quotes From The American Revolution
The Best Quotes From Niccolo Machiavelli's 'The Prince'

If The Media Treated Basketball Games Like They Treat The War On Terror
The Canadian Menace
Canadian Man Mildly Offended That America Isn't Threatening To Invade Canada
Why I Am A Democrat
If Planned Parenthood Wrote The Next Harry Potter Book...
The RWN Real-Estate Sale
The RWN Idiot Test
Americans Don't Like Soccer Because It's So Boring It Sucks Your Will To Live
The Guide To Anti-Americanism
Liberals On The High Seas

This morning, I did an interview via phone with Senator Sam Brownback (R-KS), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee. The full interview will be going live on Tuesday of next week, but since everybody is talking about the judicial filibuster deal that was cut last night, I thought I should go ahead and release that part of the interview now. The transcript of the relevant portion of our conversation is below:

John Hawkins: From what I'm seeing out there in the blogosphere, there's an enormous amount of anger at this deal that was cut with the Democrats on judges. Right now, a lot of conservatives seem to see this as a deal that keeps Republicans from using the constitutional option while allowing Democrats to filibuster at will and call it "extraordinary circumstances." Do you agree with that?

Sam Brownback: Well, we did not pull the constitutional option off, that's still available. It seems to me that you had a few people, but enough, structure a deal that puts the fight off until the Supreme Court battle. That's basically what took place.

John Hawkins: In your opinion, would a partisan filibuster under just about any circumstances kill the deal and lead to the constitutional option being used?

Sam Brownback: That would be my sense at this point in time. We have been working on this for 5 years now, to get judges through on a simple majority instead of a super majority which has been required by the Democrats. At this point in time, if they filibuster anybody then we move right back into the same mode to move this to a 51 vote margin.

John Hawkins: The deal that was cut on judicial filibusters: in your mind, good deal, bad deal? Would you prefer to have gone nuclear or do you think we're better off with the deal that was cut?

Sam Brownback: I'm still digesting that point. I was ready to move forward. It seemed to me that it was time to move forward. We had showed every restraint, every caution. We had worked closely with the Democrats to move these (judges) forward. A number of these judges had been waiting 4 years. It was time to move forward and to get this done...

It seemed like we would have a cleaner case and set-up for a Supreme Court nominee had we moved on through and that was probably the thing that actually secured the deal with a number of the Democrats not to allow us to exercise the constitutional option.

John Hawkins: Now I notice the deal pretty much explicitly tosses William Myers and Henry Saad over the side. What about the other two judges (Brett Kavanaugh and William J. Haynes)? There were a couple who weren't mentioned as getting votes, who were sort of left out of the deal. Have you heard any word on what's going to happen to them?

Sam Brownback: I have not. My guess is that the leadership is going to go ahead and bring them up and see if we can move them on through.

As a society, we have a tendency to define deviancy downward. The things that are shocking to one generation end up being accepted in a matter-of-fact manner by their grandchildren. When that happens, it leads to the sort of bizarre situation we're seeing in Eugene Oregon:

The Human Rights Commission's quest to include gender identity in the city's anti-discrimination code faces its final steps this summer, with a vote expected in June or July that would send the code change to the Eugene City Council.

...Eugene's current anti-discrimination code prohibits discrimination in housing, employment and work places based on race, age, gender, disability and other personal traits. City officials have discussed including gender identity in the anti-discrimination code for several years -- a mayoral veto in 2002 struck down a similar ordinance.

...(City Councilor David) Kelly said one of the biggest things looming over the heads of those involved in writing the actual ordinance is the common fear that allowing transgender people and people with differing gender identities equal access to bathrooms will be seen by sexual predators as an invitation to start hanging out in bathrooms looking for victims.

"Some of the people who are expressing concern seriously fear that something will change dramatically, that women in particular will be less safe in restrooms than they are now, but that's certainly not the case," Kelly said.

The code the commission is drafting would make it illegal to prohibit transgender people from, among other things, using a bathroom of their choice.

Mike Jaskilka, a pastor of Berean Baptist Church in Eugene, said he does not support the ordinance for a number of reasons.

Jaskilka said he has talked with many women in the community who are concerned about allowing transgender people access to whichever bathroom they choose.

"I've talked with many, and they all feel that this policy threatens their sense of privacy and safety," Jaskilka said.

Kelly said such fears are typically the result of severe misunderstandings about what the ordinance intends to do. He said allowing transgender people access to the bathroom of their choice does nothing to make bathrooms more accessible to sexual predators.

"There's no physical bar at the entrance of bathrooms," Kelly said, referring to the current lack of laws or ordinances that prohibit members of the opposite sex from entering any bathroom they choose.

Jaskilka said he also opposes the code change because gender identity is recognized as a psychiatric disorder. "I think that's where help needs to be offered, rather than attempting to make it sound normal," Jaskilka said."

Look, you can no more change your sex than you can change your species. Now sure, there may be men or women who are mentally disturbed and think or feel that they really should be a member of the opposite sex, but that doesn't make it so.

Furthermore, the whole idea that "transgendered" people should be able to use whatever bathroom they like is simply ridiculous. If a man thinks he's a dog, should he be able to walk out to the street corner, lift his leg, and pee on a fire hydrant?

You can want to be a member of the opposite sex, you can think you're a member of the opposite sex, you can dress like the opposite sex, you can -- unfortunately, and I say unfortunately because it should be illegal -- even have an operation that makes you look like a member of the opposite sex, but you are what you are and society shouldn't be catering to your mental illness.

Here's the short version of the deal that was cut on judicial filibusters -- at least what's being admitted publicly at the moment:

1) Judges William Myers and Henry Saad get tossed over the side.

2) 7 Republicans, John McCain (AR), John Warner (VA), Mike DeWine (OH), Susan Collins (ME), Olympia Snowe (ME), Lindsey Graham (SC), Lincoln Chafee (RI), all agreed to vote against the nuclear option.

3) 7 Democrats, Ken Salazar (CO), Ben Nelson (NE), Mary Landrieu (LA), Joseph Lieberman (CT), Mark Pryor (AR), Robert Byrd (WV) and Daniel Inouye (HI) agree that "(n)ominees should only be filibustered under extraordinary circumstances."

First of all, if this deal is just what it appears to be on its face, is it a compromise that Republicans should be able to live with? I'd say "yes." We may detest the idea of jettisoning two nominees, but if it meant an end to the judicial filibuster once and for all without an enormous brouhaha that lasts for months, it would probably be worth avoiding the hassle.

That being said, what does "extraordinary circumstances" mean exactly? Are we talking ethical problems? "Really conservative" nominees? Judges that liberal interest groups don't like? We're not being given a real answer. On top of that, why do I suspect that most conservatives will have a very different interpretation of "extraordinary circumstances" than Robert Byrd and Company will?

Furthermore, if this is such a great deal, why is it that no Republican in the Senate worth a bucket of warm spit actually signed on to it? Why did RINOS like McCain, Snowe, and Collins get on board and not Allen, Brownback, and McConnell?

What it all comes down to is that you can't trust the judgement of the Republicans who are involved and you can't trust the Democrats involved to keep their word. Unless we get some assurances that this deal in essence means the end of partisan judicial filibusters, I'd prefer to have gone nuclear and lived with the fall-out.

*** Update #1 ***: Checking around the right side of the blogosphere, the general reaction is pure outrage. Most conservative bloggers seem to believe the gutless moderates sold out the party again -- which admittedly is true unless there was some sort of behind the scenes ironclad promise that those 7 Democrats involved won't filibuster under practically any circumstances.

May I also add that the anger at McCain is burning as hot as the sun at the moment. Personally, I've always thought McCain was too despised to ever win the nomination in 2008, but this probably seals the deal. It's also a dagger to the heart of Frist's hopes in 2008 as well. If he's such a weakling that he can't even keep the RINOS in line on a vitally important issue like this, how can he be an effective President? He obviously just doesn't have the right stuff to be a leader...

*** Update #2 ***: Here's the reaction from the heavies on the left side of the blogosphere...

"As an aside, the following judges are NOT getting an up or down vote: William Myers, Henry Said, Brett Kavanaughm William Haynes."

"...There'll be more outrage from their side, since quite frankly, they lost. Obviously we didn't get everything we wanted, but they lost the ability to have carte blanche on the next supreme court justice." -- Daily Kos

"I don't know about you, but I don't like it." -- Avedon at Eschaton

"Overall, however, at least from this vantage point, I must agree with DHinMI: this is definitely a partial victory.. Frist is extremely weakened, and as a result so is the Republican caucus in the Senate. By contrast, Republican defectors have been greatly strengthened, thus strengthening the Democratic caucus as an oppositional force. Further, the Republican grassroots are de-energized, and will be for some time. Still further, we blocked a majority of the bad nominees, and kept at least some hope alive of defeating terrible Supreme Court nominees.

...The more I think about it, I agree with the overwhelming majority of MyDDers--there is no way that this is not more of a victory than a defeat." -- MyDD

"A good deal? A bad deal? We're supposed to say we got a great deal to win clearly through spin what could not be won so clearly on the merits. It seems an awfully bitter pill to forego the filibuster on both Brown and Owen, particularly the former.

And the main issue isn't resolved so much as it's delayed. The moderate Republicans agree to preserve the filibuster so long as the Democrats use it in what the moderate Republicans deem a reasonable fashion. And yet the use of the filibuster, by its very nature, almost always seems unreasonable to those whom it is used against.

And finally there's the key problem: the White House. Can this agreement really withstand the appointment of another hard right nominee? The subtext of the compromise must be that neither side will be pushed beyond its limits. But that would, I think, force the Democrats to resort to the filibuster." -- Talking Points Memo

"The worst, the compromise is in. Priscilla Owen, Janice Rogers Brown and William Pryor are in. Total capitulation by Democrats. Total victory for Frist. Let them spin it how they want, it's a loss for the Democrats. Henry Saad of Michigan is the fall guy. He won't get a vote. No one cared about him anyway. That's tossing the Dems a chicken bone.

...We don't have a "Republic" tonight. We have a total Republican regime. Welcome to the Theocracy." -- TalkLeft

It's worth noting that Kos, TPM, & MyDD don't seem to see this deal as any sort of hindrance to filibustering the next Supreme Court Justice. But if the Dems do filibuster a candidate for the SCOTUS or any other judge for that matter, the blowback from the base for the Republican Senators involved will be titanic.

*** Update #3 ***: From a post called "Draw Your Own Conclusions" by Paul Mirengoff of Powerline:

From my perspective, here are the two essential facts: (1) as virtually every Republican involved stressed, the deal makes sense for the Republicans only if the seven Democrats they worked with can be trusted to act in good faith on President Bush's current and future nominees and (2) Robert Byrd is the leader of the seven Dems.

*** Update #4 ***: After interviewing Senator Brownback and finding out that it looks like nothing is being accomplished here except that we're kicking the can down the road to the SCOTUS fight, I'd have to say this deal is little more than snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

The reality is that we could have gotten all of our judges through and put an end to the filibuster fight over judges once and for all. Instead, we've sacrificed judges and the Democrats still have the filibuster option open. So this isn't any sort of real compromise, it's a capitulation by spineless RINOS that gave the Democrats an enormous & totally unnecessary win.

When Robert Mugabe took the lands of white farmers five years ago to redistribute to sqatters and peasants (and many well-connected blacks as well), it caused an agricultural collapse that has repeatedly brought the country to the brink of famine. Now the ripples are spreading. Agricultural exports were the main source of foriegn exchange; now that Zimbabwe is a net importer, firms can't get foriegn currency to buy their imports, so so manufacturing is collapsing as well:

Manufacturing has slowed to a trickle, hamstrung by shortages of fuel and imported components. Businesses have been driven to barter and the black market, adding to the inflation. Appeals for government help are mostly fruitless. The government is all but broke.

"The scarcities now are coming from manufacturers who can't deliver enough to retailers to fill their shelves," Mr. Robertson said in an interview in Harare, the capital.

Initially the problem was that manufacturers could not cobble together enough supplies to make their products. "Now that there are more critical shortages in things like fuel," he said, "it's almost academic whether they can get the material, because they can't deliver the products anyway. The end result of the shortages is that prices are rising."

It is depressing to look back at history and see how regularly the same nice-sounding idea--"let's take the land from the rich people who unjustly own it and give it to those who need it"--turns into tragedy for everyone. It's even more depressing to realise that despite the seeming predictibility of the result, lots of people want to do it anyway.

This content was used with the permission of Jane Galt from Asymmetrical Information.

"I'm sorry, sir," The restaurant manager apologized, "but I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

I folded my arms. "I see. Is it because I'm wearing nothing but my undershorts?"

"You're getting warm," he replied.

I didn't want to do anything for my "birthday". Personally, I find the act of celebrating the exact day one's birth pointless, as no one really knows for certain when a person is "born". Is it when they take Jaaaay-zus as their personal savior, like the Evangelical Religious Extremists say, or when the child first registers as a democrat, as most scientists believe? It is indeed a conundrum. Unfortunately, Myranda with a Y got her tiny rat claws on my driver's license and concluded I was born on May 20, and insisted on taking me out for a "birthday dinner".

Myranda and I have been dating for about three weeks now, and I am starting to suspect she's a GOP operative sent by Karl Rove to keep tabs on me. I was almost certain of it when she fled the restaurant feigning disgust and embarassment mere seconds after I had dropped my pants. Say what you will about Peaceblossom, my former significant other who may or may not have been a member of the transgendered community, but she was always up for a spontaneous display of patriotic dissent. Myranda's abandonment made me miss Peaceblossom all the more.

"For your information," I curtly told the manager, "I am engaging in performance art to illustrate how the right-wing chickensheep of the red states enjoy their expensive meals in their fancy schmancy restaurants, while they send young boys thousands of miles away to force harmless, innocent old geezers to model underwear in our name."

"Oh, is that what you were doing?" the fascist snipped. "I thought you were standing in the middle of a Chuck E. Cheese with your pants around your ankles, scaring the crap out of the kids!"

He pointed to a corner, where a group of small children in party hats huddled together, their pale faces reflecting shock and horror. "The poor things will be scarred for life!"

I raised an eyebrow. "Oh really?" Or are they so brainwashed by Rush Limbaugh that their tiny repug brains won't accept an opposing viewpoint?"

As much as I despise "birthdays", being roughed up by jackbooted Nazis in mouse costumes was not how I wanted to remember my thirty-eiiiiiiiegggnog.

D*mn that Bush!

This satire was used with the permission of Liberal Larry from BlameBush!.

Thomas Paine was an enormously important figure in American history chiefly because of a pamphlet that he wrote called "Common Sense" which was released in early 1776 and is widely credited with whetting America's appetite for revolution. Here are some of the best quotes from "Common Sense"...

"Society in every state is a blessing, but government even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one."

"(W)ere the impulses of conscience clear, uniform and irresistibly obeyed, man would need no other lawgiver; but that not being the case, he finds it necessary to surrender up a part of his property to furnish means for the protection of the rest; and this he is induced to do by the same prudence which in every other case advises him out of two evils to choose the least."

"Men who look upon themselves born to reign, and others to obey, soon grow insolent; selected from the rest of mankind their minds are early poisoned by importance; and the world they act in differs so materially from the world at large, that they have but little opportunity of knowing its true interests, and when they succeed to the government are frequently the ignorant and unfit of any throughout the dominions."

"Of more worth is one honest man to society, and in the sight of God, than all the crowned ruffians that ever lived."

"Alas! We have been long led away by ancient prejudices, and made large sacrifices to superstition. We have boasted the protection of Great Britain, without considering, that her motive was interest not attachment; and that she did not protect us from our enemies on our account, but from her enemies on her own account, from those who had no quarrel with us on any other account, and who will always be our enemies on the same account."

"This new world hath been the asylum for the persecuted lovers of civil and religious liberty from every part of Europe. Hither they have fled, not from the tender embraces of the mother, but from the cruelty of the monster; and it is so far true that England, that same tyranny which drove the first emigrants from home, pursues their descendants still."

"Though I would carefully avoid giving unnecessary offence, yet I am inclined to believe, that all those who espouse the doctrine of reconciliation, may be included within the following descriptions. Interested men, who are not to be trusted; weak men, who cannot see; prejudiced men, who will not see; and a certain set of moderate men, who think better of the European world than it deserves: and this last class, by an ill-judged deliberation, will be the cause of more calamities to this continent than all of the other three."

"It is not in the power of Britain or Europe to conquer America, if she does not conquer herself by delay and timidity."

"I have heard some men say, many of whom I believe spoke without thinking, that they dreaded an independence, fearing that it would produce civil wars. It is but seldom that our first thoughts are truly correct, and that is the case here; for there is ten times more to dread from a patched up connexion than from independence."

"But where, say some, is the king of America? I'll tell you, friend, he reigns above, and doth not make havoc of mankind like the royal brute of Britain."

"To talk of friendship with those in whom our reason forbids us to have faith, and our affections, wounded through a thousand pores, instruct us to detest, is madness and folly."

"Immediate necessity makes many things convenient, which if continued would grow into oppressions."

"Expedience and right are different things."

"A line of distinction should be drawn between English soldiers taken in battle and inhabitants of America taken in arms. The first are prisoners, but the latter traitors. The one forfeits his liberty, the other his head."

During his chat with Tim Russert, Howard Dean inadvertently revealed the truth about liberals: that they're closet socialists. Here's Dean and Russert going back and forth about self-admitted socialist Bernie Sanders:

MR. RUSSERT: In your home state of Vermont, there's a vacancy for the United States Senate about to occur. Bernie Sanders, the congressman from Vermont, wants to run for that seat. He is a self-described avowed socialist.

DR. DEAN: Well, that's what he says. He's really a populist.

MR. RUSSERT: But is there room in the Democratic Party for a socialist?

DR. DEAN: Well, first of all, he's not a socialist, really.

MR. RUSSERT: He...

DR. DEAN: He hasn't said that for a while.

MR. RUSSERT: Oh, he has a--he wrote in his book: "Outside or in the House, I am a Democratic socialist."

DR. DEAN: Well, a Democratic socialist--all right, we're talking about words here. And Bernie can call himself anything he wants. He is basically a liberal Democrat, and he is a Democrat that--he runs as an Independent because he doesn't like the structure and the money that gets involved. And he actually has, I think, some good points about campaign finance reform. The bottom line is that Bernie Sanders votes with the Democrats 98 percent of the time. And that is a candidate that we think...

MR. RUSSERT: So you'd support him?

DR. DEAN: We may very well end up supporting him. We need to work some things out because it's very important for us not to split the votes in some of the other offices as well.

So, we have Howard Dean looking at a socialist and saying, "He is basically a liberal Democrat" who "votes with the Democrats 98 percent of the time." Well, of course Bernie Sanders fits right in because today's Democratic Party is dominated by socialists. Now will people like Ted Kennedy, Hillary Clinton, & John Kerry admit that they're socialists? No, but even the head of the DNC is publicly saying there isn't a dime's worth of difference between a socialist like Bernie Sanders and liberal Democrats.

So why can't most liberal democrats be as honest as Howard Dean? It's not as if they don't vote for cradle-to-the-grave-socialism at every opportunity anyway. They believe in high taxes, big government, burdensome regulation, & state control of ever growing sectors of the economy, so why not admit it?

Republicans admit that they're capitalists, so why can't Democrats be as honest as Howard Dean is being? You Dems are never going to convince a majority of the American people that you're right if you don't have the guts to be up front about what you believe in...

Sometimes a picture really is worth a thousand words...

Hat tip to The Corner for the pic.

"No one can devise a formula for getting rich. But I can devise a formula for getting poor. Don't work. Convince yourself that your life reflects the decisions of others and not yours. Be the perennial victim.

This is the toll that the welfare state has taken...It introduced a culture of poverty. Most Americans, regardless of race, trace their lineage to someone who was poor. Being poor is not a predictor of being in favor of government programs. However, thinking a government program is the answer to life's challenges is a good way to stay poor." -- Star Parker

You’re going to be shocked shocked to read this, but when you buy a prisoner a bus ticket and tell him to transfer himself to another prison, sometimes he’ll decide to run.

When federal prison officials decided to transfer drug dealer Dwayne Fitzen from one prison to another, they bought him a one-way bus ticket from Minnesota to California.

They trusted that the convict known as “Shadow” would check himself into Lompoc Federal Correctional Institution at the end of the two-day trip last fall.

What happened next may come as no surprise. Fitzen got off the bus in Las Vegas and vanished. The U.S. Marshals Service considers him “armed and dangerous” and has added him to its growing list of convicts who escaped while traveling alone by bus.

Already in San Diego County this year, the Marshals Service has launched manhunts for two prisoners who failed to turn themselves in after being put aboard buses bound for halfway houses here. Since 1996, when the bus transfer program began, eight San Diego-bound prisoners have escaped.

“It is starting to be more common, and we’re not surprised,” said Jimmell Griffin, a deputy U.S. Marshal in Los Angeles. “The opportunity to escape is just too great for them.”

The little-known furlough program, also known as “voluntary surrenders,” was started by the Federal Bureau of Prisons to save money and relieve prison crowding. The program is usually reserved for prisoners being transferred to low security facilities, which typically house nonviolent inmates.

Bureau officials would not discuss the program or provide information about the number of prisoners who travel alone by bus or the number who have escaped. The bureau’s Web site states that prisoners usually can’t take a bus unless they have less than two years remaining on their sentences. But an assistant warden said the limit is 10 years.

I cannot even begin to understand how anyone involved in law enforcement could have thought that this was a good idea. Someone should lose their job over this. There are always areas where government can and should save money. Prisoner transfers are not one of them.

This content was used with the permission of Lee from Right Thinking from the Left Coast.

Since Friday's announcement by a Sunni Muslim cleric that Baghdad's Sunni Mosques would close for three days to protest killings blamed on Iraqi security forces, consumers said they're struggling to find alternate sources for weaponry.

"My children and I stood on line at a back-alley dealer for seven hours just to buy mortar rounds," said one unnamed local resident. "My uncle just called and he's got one rocket-propelled grenade left, and has completely exhausted his family's supply of roadside bombs."

Indeed, industry sources report that the price of all kinds of small armaments jumped 73 percent within minutes of the announcement that the mosques would close.

"When you get an improvised explosive device at the mosque, you can rely on the quality," said one unnamed regular customer. "But a lot of the stuff you buy on the street is shoddy work that might send you to Allah before you get to the crowd of infidels. I think we're going to see a lot of second-rate martyrdom work until the mosques re-open."

This satire was used with the permission of Scott Ott from Scrappleface.