Well ... to listen to the NE Corridor news media over the weekend, you would think that Ted Kennedy was as near as we're going to come in this country to our own Gandhi.

Have you heard about the memo? What memo you say? Well .. that would be the memo written by Victor Chebrikov back in 1983. Comrade Victor was the head of the Soviet Union's KGB. The memo was addressed to one Yuri Andropov, the HCWIC of the USSR. The Boss. The Top Commie. The Big Red.

First - 1983 status check. It's the Soviet Union back then, not Russia. The Berlin Wall stands and East German border guards are shooting people who try to escape Communist East Germany. Ronald Reagan is president .. and he is beginning preparations to deploy Pershing missiles to Europe. Andropov is not pleased - and when the leader of the Soviet Union wasn't pleased back in those days, neither was the American liberal establishment.

There's a presidential election just around the corner, and Ted Kennedy is starting to think that he will be the one the Democrats choose to keep the hated Reagan from winning that second term. Kennedy believes that his chances of getting the nomination and winning the election might be enhanced if he can somehow manipulate American public opinion more to the favor of the Soviet Union and less to the favor of Reagan and his plans to deploy missiles in Europe. So ... Kennedy hatches a scheme.

Now we get back to Chebrikov's memo. Chebrikov is telling Andropov that John Tunney, a close confidant to Ted Kennedy, visited Moscow in May of 1983. Tunney, according to the memo, was there on a mission from Kennedy. He wanted to get a message to Andropov. The message was that Kennedy was willing to help Andropov manipulate the American media into providing Andropov a chance to spread a bit of anti-Reagan propaganda. Kennedy, according to Tunney, was willing to arrange for some sit down interview for Andropov on American television. Kennedy would take the steps necessary for the major TV networks to contact Andropov to arrange for an invitation to Moscow. There Andropov would be interviewed and would be given a pretty good hunk of air time on American television. The trick here is that Kennedy, working with the TV networks, would make it look like the idea was all Andropov's; reaching out to the American people, so to speak.

What would Kennedy get in return? The memo makes vague references to the Soviets helping him challenge Reagan in the 1984 elections.

I guess we'll never learn what type of help Kennedy was seeking from the Soviets; and that would be because Andropov went Tango Uniform about 8 months later .. .and the Democrats didn't seem all that interested in running Kennedy anyway.

Quite a guy, our Uncle Ted. Offering to help our enemy, the Soviet Union, gain a propaganda edge in the United States ... all to boost his own chances to become president. What a guy!

Yes .. this memo was reported long ago. The London Times had a story in 1992. It was also covered in the book "The Crusader: Ronald Reagan and the Fall of Communism" by historian Paul Kengor. The media paid no attention to the London Times story, or to Kengor's book. After all, the Liberal Lion had to be protected.

Want more? Here's the story from Forbes.

There's a tea party caravan on the way to Washington. The people in this caravan say that they've had just about enough of big government and high taxes, and they're exercising their free speech rights to let some of the high and mighty inside the beltway know.

OK ... I have an idea; perhaps a better way to make a statement. If you have a septic tank you know at least two things:

1. You know what is in that septic tank.
2. You know that there are people who will come to your home and pump that stuff out of there every once in a while.

You also probably suspect that there is an overabundance of that very same stuff in Washington DC. So .. how about another caravan!

Close your eyes for a second and try to envision about 100 of those septic tank cleaning trucks heading to Washington DC. Just drive into town, circle the Capitol, drive down the National Mall, and then find a place for a little rally. They symbolism would be wonderful.

OK ... I'm the idea man here. I don't do all that well at implementing, so I'm leaving this up to someone else. Hint: The symbolism here would be so strong that you can bet the Democrats would try to find a way to stop you; probably using the Department of Homeland Security.

Here's some good news! Polling now shows that 57% of Americans would just as soon replace every single member of congress. If you just poll the independents our there that figure rises to 70%.

OK .. that's now. There isn't an election on the horizon. When we get closer to election time these people will start to modify their beliefs a bit. They'll think that every member of congress should be replaced except their own. And why not replace their particular representative? Simple! Because he or she brings home the bacon!

Will the American people figure out that we have a Republic to save here? Will they understand that restoring freedom and individual responsibility may well be more important than a new road or some new sidewalks in their community? We'll find out next year.

The AFL-CIO has come up with a brilliant plan to reap billions of dollars ... tax evil corporation profits. The plan is to tax every stock transaction. While they call it a "small" tax (about a tenth of a percent) the tax would generate $50 billion to $100 billion a year. Policy director for the AFL-CIO, Thea Lee, says there are two reasons for imposing the new tax: raising revenue and discouraging speculative financial activity. She explains, "The big disadvantage of most taxes is that they discourage some really productive activity ... This would discourage numerous financial transactions. People flip their assets several times in an hour or a day. They make money but does it really add to the productive base of the United States?" Now, what might this money be used for? The goal would be to use the tax revenue on infrastructure projects (for unionized employees, obviously). And get this, the tax could be applied nationwide or internationally.

Question: Who should make the decision as to when to buy or sell a stock? The government? Some union hack? Hey! Here's an idea! Let the person who owns the stock decide when to sell it! And let the person with money decide when to invest! I think there's a word for that ... "freedom," I think. But then we're talking about unions, aren't we?

Government wants back in. The Democrats want the government back in. In where? To our financial institutions, that's where. Make no mistake, the looters are more than a little upset that companies like Goldman Sachs have not only repaid their loans but are now making billions in profits. That drives them wild! What in the hell are those companies and the people who invest in them doing with all of that money that we could be using to buy votes .. or that could be spent to employ union workers. Well ... since these companies and their investors have broken free and are once again thriving, let's just levy a little tax against trading in their stock.

But hold tight, my friends. You ain't seen nuttin yet. Wait until the looters propose going after your pension funds, your IRAs and your 401Ks. It just not fair that you should have a comfortable retirement when so many people are going to have to rely on the busted Social Security system.

There is a movement happening in the UK right now. Insurance companies are considering the idea of raising insurance premiums for anyone who uses social networking sites. This includes sites like Facebook or Twitter. They say premiums could rise, even if only your children are on social networking sites. Why? Because burglars are using the sites to "shop for victims" ... keeping track of when you are on vacation, home addresses, birthdays, etc.

The question here is whether or not the insurance regulations in the UK will allow insurance companies to compete on something like this. The private market can take care of asinine ideas like raising premiums on Facebook customers. Let some company try this, and another company comes along and steals their customers. All you need is competition. Unfortunately, competition is poison to governments. We'll see what happens.

Every year unions have to submit financial reports to the government as required by the Labor Management and Reporting Disclosure Act. But for years under the Bush administration, unions complained that Labor Secretary at the time, Elaine Chao, issued even tougher regulations for labor unions to comply with. These regulations "required union officials to disclose financial information that could aid union members' seeking information on how their union leaders are spending dues money, and to help expose 'no show jobs' that put paychecks for ghost employees into union coffers."

But now that the Obama administration is in place, new Labor Secretary Hilda Solis has said sayonara to these revised union financial disclosure requirements. Unions will no longer have to comply. A notice went out about a week ago stating the following:

"Accordingly, OLMS will refrain from initiating enforcement actions against union officers and union employees based solely on the failure to file the report required by section 202 of the Labor-Management and Reporting Disclosure Act (LMRDA), 29 U.S.C. § 432, using the 2007 form, as long as individuals meet their statutorily-required filing obligation in some manner. OLMS will accept either the old Form LM-30 or the new one for purposes of this non-enforcement policy."

In other words, just another "thank you" from the Obama administration. It would seem that now the union leaders are free to spend union dues on whatever they durned well please, and to keep those ghost union workers out there fattening union boss wallets. You would expect nothing less with Democrats in power.

First on the list ... well, just read this excerpt:

"Barack Obama in August became a Huey for today, a rabble rouser with a better tailor, an unrumpled and modulated tribune of downtrodden Americans, telling them that opponents of his reform plan--which actually does not yet exist--are fearmongers employing scare tactics. He also told Americans to be afraid, very afraid of health-insurance providers because they are dishonest (and will remain so until there is a "public option" to make them "honest"). And to be afraid, very afraid of pediatricians who unnecessarily extract children's tonsils for monetary rather than medical reasons. And to be afraid, very afraid of doctors generally because so many of them are so rapacious that they prefer lopping off limbs of diabetes patients rather than engaging in lifestyle counseling that for "a pittance" could prevent diabetes."

That's from George Will. Read the rest of the column here.

Bill Clinton says that the congress must "reform" health care - that means seize 18 percent of our economy - because it would be good for Democrats.

You can't make this stuff up. Now what is the big difference in the people who follow this ex-cop, and many of the myrmidons who voted for Obama?

Let's check in on politically correct dog squeeze in our government schools.

Slobbering Barney Frank and Ron Paul have teamed up on legislation to restrict the lending powers of the Federal Reserve and to do a complete audit of the central bank.

Belinda loves these new compact fluorescent light bulbs. I don't. This WSJ article has it right .. they give off lousy light.

Did you know that Chris Dodd won't reveal the details of his trillion dollar healthcare bill .. even to his fellow Senators? Talk about transparency.

According to the latest Rasmussen polls, 57% of Americans would like to replace the entire Congress.

Speaking of Congress ... here's one that could stand to be replaced: Rep. Diane Watson, who says Republicans "are spreading fear and they're trying to see that the first president who looks like me -- fails."

The new head of the FEMA under President Obama preaches self reliance and lambasts "government-centric" approaches disasters. Are you sure Obama picked this guy?

Obama may have to break his tax pledge in order to pay for his dreams and schemes. Gee, there's a shocker.

Dick Morris attempts to explain why Barack Obama would go after CIA interrogators. Easy ... to appease the moonbats.

Why are we to believe that White House control of the Internet would increase cyber security?

Maybe some GOP members are starting to get it. Some Republican lawmakers are holding townhall meetings of their own on healthcare, capitalizing on the momentum.

Now we learn that the Lockerbie bomber was set free by Great Britain ... for oil?

Harry Reid tried to bully his local newspaper saying he wanted to shut down the paper.

Michael Barone explains the incompetence of teachers unions and the inability of liberal journalists to understand.

You know it's bad when Dianne Feinstein and John McCain can agree on something.

Rep. Diane Watson says that Fidel Castro is one of the brightest leaders she has ever met and praises the Cuban healthcare system.

"Athletes" in government schools in Texas can earn academic credit for graduation, and now they are about to earn even more.

State officials are examining whether taxpayer money has been improperly used to pay for Islamic mosques on charter school campuses in Minnesota.

Florida Governor Charlie Crist has chosen a Senate replacement for Mel Martinez.

The Congress is still one vacation and the Republicans are indicating that hopes are fading for the Democrat healthcare plans.

Just in case you weren't aware: "It ain't America no more."

So much for those energy saving light bulbs .......