Lou Dobbs is on the birther bandwagon. Since Neal just brought this up, here's America's Most Trusted News Source(TM) on the issue.

What would Friday be without a little something fun?

As this debate over the nationalization of health care grows more intense you can expect the Democrats to turn to their usual tactic of demonizing the opposition. This will not be a normal argument over whether or not our system of health care should be run by the private sector or by government. It will turn into a debate over who wants folks to get medical care, and who doesn't. I'm told that Obama sycophant Montel Williams has weighed in now with his theories on Republican health care. He says that Republicans would "just shoot" people who need emergency room care.

So .. that's how the left wants to argue this? Instead of a debate over the benefits and efficiency of private vs. public sector health care initiatives, let's just say that Republicans want poor people to be shot when they need emergency medical care. Before too long you'll be hearing this from more and more statists. They'll be telling you that conservatives don't want poor people to get medical care so that they'll just die and go away. Watch. Let's see if I'm right.

Here's a read for all of you, few though you may be, who have come to recognize, or even to suspect that the purpose of our government schools is not so much to educate as it is to prepare for servitude. It's called "You Don't Have to go to School."

Tell you what; the way things are with our educational system I'm beginning to think that the many of our spawn would be better off if you just told them "Hey ... no school. Figure out this thing for yourself, pal." Now think about it. We send our chilluns to these government "schools" and tell them that if they pay attention and do what is asked of them they'll be all ready to earn a living and forge a path to success in our society. We tell them this, when we should know its horse crap, and they believe it. They when they finally "graduate" from these hideous institutions they find that, at best, they're ready to start their "would you like french fries with that" career at a local fast food joint.

Now I'm wondering ... what if your kid had to start worrying about preparing himself to earn a living from the moment he managed to put together his first rational thought? No more of this "just go to school and do what they tell you" nonsense. Just tell the hid that he has some choices to make, and that he'd better man up and make the right ones, or else he'll be throwing garbage into the back of a truck for the rest of his life. Just a guess ... but that might be a way to put some motivation into these spoiled brats. Tell them that all is NOT going to be taken care of for them .. and that if they're not prepared life is going to be pretty damned miserable, and they'll only have themselves to blame.

Have you been following this story out of Massachusetts?

Here's the basic set up. A woman sees a man who looks like he is breaking into a house. She calls the cops. The cops arrive to investigate the report of a burglary. The homeowner is inside and insists it is a misunderstanding and that this is his house .. no one was trying to break in. The cop demands identification. The homeowner refuses and gets upset.

Oh I guess I forgot to tell you one part of the story. The homeowner is black. The cop is white.

So the homeowner accuses this cop of racism. The only reason that the cop doesn't believe that he is the homeowner is because he is black. The cop arrests him and he is charged with disorderly conduct. The charges have since been dropped.

Then, Barack Obama holds a news conference. He is asked about the situation. Our wonderful president said during his press conference Wednesday that he was only "vaguely" familiar with what went on during the arrest of Professor Gates ... and then, being only vaguely familiar, PrezBO went on to say that the police acted "stupidly." The White House has since tried to explain what the president meant by that statement. Guess this is why the guy likes teleprompters.

Well ...thanks a pantload, Mr. President. Thank you so much for condemning the actions of the police in an incident that you were only "vaguely" familiar with. That ought to do wonders for the relationship between the police and residents of minority communities around the country. Nice move.

During the information overload hour today I'm going to read the entire police report of the incident. That's more than Obama did. You listen to the police report and then see if you agree that it was the police who acted stupidly, or did Professor Gates let that racial chip on his shoulder get a bit out of hand.

.... especially those who live in Cambridge, Mass., the home of Harvard University and, not coincidentally, Professor Henry Louis (You do realize I'm important and black, don't you?) Gates. Now I really don't think that it's cool to make your living breaking into folks houses and stealing their stuff. But, if that's the way it's going to be, you might as well choose your targets wisely.

Man ... do I have the house for you. The house is on Ware Street in Cambridge, Mass. The owner and presumably sole occupant of the house is none other than esteemed Harvard Professor Henry ("you don't know who you're messin' with) Gates. I can almost promise you that if you decide to burglarize Mr. Gates' home there isn't a Cambridge police officer who would respond to the call. You'll have pretty much a free shot at all of the professor's stuff until he gets home. At that time you'll have to endure a screaming tirade about "this is what happens to a black man in America" and that you are a "racist burglar."

Really, though, you'll probably be able to get away because you'll hear Professor Gates coming a mile away. They say he's somewhat loud.

Now go knock yourselves out!

Today, the federal minimum wage is set to increase to $7.25. Just what our economy needs to get things moving again, right? Wrong. Even people educated in government schools can figure out how this one is going to turn out.

Wages increase. Employers have to figure out ways to get the extra funds. The first way would be to increase the amount of cash coming in. That's easier said than done .. especially considering this economy. Another way could be to scale back employee hours. Suddenly that increase doesn't seem to matter much, because your employer needs you less. Or you could simply fire people. Get rid of them. Less employees in the work force means longer lines at the unemployed office. More people suckling off the government teat until the next burger-flipping job comes along.

I'm not just blowing smoke here. When I was in high school I got a job bagging groceries at the A&P on 9th Ave. in Pensacola, Florida. I was being paid the minimum wage. After a few months on the job the minimum wage went up by 25 cents. The manager of the store fired me. He said that the increase in the minimum wage increased his bag boy budget over the limit, and since I was the last hired I would be the one who had to go. My first real brush with the idiocy of government intervention in the marketplace. I was willing to work for the hourly rate I was getting, and the manager was willing to pay me that rate ... but the government said no. Back then I just couldn't understand what role the government had in the wage negotiations between me and my employer. I thought that the government's responsibility would be to provide the means of forcing compliance with whatever agreement we made .... But did I ever have a lot to learn.

Basically what you can expect is for this to prolong the economic recovery. But it could get even worse. Did you know that one of Barack Obama's campaign promises was to raise the minimum wage to $9.50 an hour by 2011? Yeah, that'll really work wonders for our economy.

But advocates for the minimum wage increases love to use this phrase "the working poor." I'm sorry, folks but nobody in their right mind should expect for you to raise a family earning minimum wage. If you do, you are a low-life. You are a failure. "The working poor" is just a fancy way of masking that reality. But with this minimum wage increase, it looks like we are going to have less "working poor" people to worry about and more plain 'po people.

Probably good news for the Democrats.

This story takes place in Baltimore, Maryland. It actually involves a charter school. You see, the law in Maryland requires that charter school teachers be part of the union in their school district. That was their first mistake.

So this charter school, the KIPP Ujima Village Academy starts doing really well. Students at the school are outperforming students at the local government schools. One reason may be that the teachers at the KIPP Ujima Village Academy put in longer hours than their government school counterparts. KIPP teachers work nine hours and 15 minutes a day, as well as every other Saturday. Local government school teachers are only required to work seven hours and five minutes a day. And you can forget about weekends.

This is where the local union steps in and says "Hey, wait a minute. Teachers at this charter school are working longer hours than other unionized teachers at the government schools." The solution? The Baltimore Teachers Union says that this charter school must pay its teachers 33% more than other government school teachers. The charter school says ... screw you, we have a budget to meet (there's a concept no government hack would understand). So now, one of Baltimore's most successful schools is laying off staff and shortening its school day. They are doing this in order to please the teachers unions.

Oh wait ... you thought that teachers unions are there to enhance the education of your child? And just what planet did you say you are from?

Fine, I blurred the license plate, but it is posted elsewhere on the intarwebs without blurring. -ww

The Wall Street Journal on "How Obama Stumbled on Health Care."

Looks like Obama's presser the other night wasn't as effective as the Democrats would have hoped. Healthcare reform is months away from being voted on in the Senate.

"The Police and the President," from The Wall Street Journal

The Blue Dog Democrats are risking union support by resisting Princess Nancy's healthcare reform bill.

Republican Governor Bobby Jindal outlines a plan for bipartisan healthcare reform.

The climate industry is costing taxpayers $79 billion and counting. What a scam.

The other day Hillary Clinton apologized on behalf of the United States for our contribution to global warming. Gee thanks, Hillary. Anyway ... here's an article on why we should stop the apologizing.

George Will explores why the urgency to "fight" climate change is wearing off.

When calling Barack Obama a socialist, what exactly does that mean? According to a socialist.

If the Democrats get their cap-and-tax legislation passed, what group of people is going to bring in the big bucks?

Behind the scenes, some Democrats are worried that Barbara Boxer is not up to the task of getting global warming legislation passed.

A new study revealed that 91% of terrorism trials since 9/11 led to convictions.

Thought you may enjoy this column from the UK: Barack Obama discovers socialist projects at home and a pro-Marxist foreign policy are making him unpopular.

The Venezuelan government decides to fix the price of coffee. What eventually happens? People start smuggling it out of the country to make more money. Now Venezuela has to IMPORT coffee because of these government regulations.

A study has found that the average adult forgets three key facts, chores or events every day.

Maybe Republicans should vet their numbers crunchers a bit better, eh?