UPDATE -- THE FAIRTAX BOOK

Thanks so much for your orders on Amazon.com yesterday.  We started the day ranked in the mid-200s at Amazon.com. We finished the day as No. 2 right behind Harry Potter.  We held that position overnight and are still No. 2 this morning.  Again .. this Amazon.com positioning is important because it enhances our chances of showing up on the NYT Bestseller's list .. and that showing would bring The FairTax to the attention of many more opinion makers -- people who can really help us introduce this idea for a tax revolution to the American people.  So ... Click on the banner to order your copy.  And thanks.

WHY ALL THE FUSS OVER THE FEDERALIST SOCIETY?

Democrats and various leftists are frantically searching for a reason to oppose the nomination of Judge John G. Roberts to the U.S. Supreme Court.  One of the areas of concern (for the left) seems to be whether or not Judge Roberts was ever a member of The Federalist Society.  John Roberts belongs to The Federalist Society.   No he doesn't.  Wait, yes he does.  Well, maybe not.  At least he's listed in the 1997-98 directory, but he says he has no memory of joining up.  A statement from the president of the Federalist Society says:  "The Federalist Society has a longstanding practice of not disclosing our dues-paying membership rolls out of respect for the privacy of our members."  Who knows?

OK .. what if he was?  Why all the controversy about The Federalist Society? What is it about this group that has John Roberts distancing himself from it?  Democrats and the media are acting like he might be a member of the Communist Party.  Actually, they would probably approve of that. 

Maybe we'll get a clue if we go to The Federalist Society's website.  There we'll find frequently asked questions about The Federalist Society .. and in the very first question we find out answer.

Q. What is the Federalist Society?
A. It is an organization of 35,000 lawyers, law students, scholars, and other individuals who believe and trust that individual citizens can make the best choices for themselves and society. It was founded in 1982 by a group of law students interested in making sure that the principles of limited government embodied in our Constitution receive a fair hearing.

Well .. there you go.  The dreaded "I" word appears twice in that one answer!  "Individual!"  Remember, we are supposed to be at war against individualism in this country ... Ted Kennedy told us so!  So if we have a Supreme Court nominee who is a member of an organization that not only supports the idea of individualism, but that believes that individual citizens can make better choices for themselves then can government ... why, that's just about as close to blasphemy as you can get ... for a liberal!  People just have to understand that government is there to relieve them of the oppressive responsibilities that go with actually go with being a practicing individual!  Everybody knows that individuals should not try to make important decisions and chooses for themselves ... this crucial task should be left to government! 

But wait!  There's more!

Let's look at the second FAQ on The Federalist Society's website.

Q. How does the Federalist Society carry out its mission?
A. The Society's main purpose is to sponsor fair, serious, and open debate about the need to enhance individual freedom and the role of the courts in saying what the law is rather than what they wish it to be. We believe debate is the best way to ensure that legal principles that have not been the subject of sufficient attention for the past several decades receive a fair hearing.

Now we're really seeing the problem that liberals might have with a membership in The Federalist Society, aren't we?  What's this nonsense about enhancing individual freedom?  There's that dreaded "I" word again!  And how could any liberal worth his salt ever support the idea that the role of the courts should be in telling us what the law IS?  Why doesn't the rest of America understand that the courts --- especially the Supreme Court --- are supposed to make law, not interpret it?  Why, if the Supreme Court can't make law, how are liberals going to ever get any legislation passed? 

We'll see how far this goes.  Right now the left thinks that there is a chance of demonizing Judge Roberts by tying him to The Federalist Society.  Soon we'll see dark hints about The Federalist Society being an "extremist" organization.  To a liberal, the idea of individualism and limited government is extreme. 

We'll see if the media will step up and tell us just what the left is worried about. 

ENERGY BILL READY

The House of Representatives is about to pass a new energy bill.  Predictably, the left and the media are all worked up about how the legislation doesn't do enough to curb our dependence on foreign sources of energy.  This is total nonsense and is the height of hypocrisy.  For a couple of reasons.

First, the only way to limit our dependence on foreign oil is to produce more of it here.  No amount of hybrid cars or ethanol is ever going to limit our consumption.  We import 58 percent of our oil.  So how do we turn that around?

Easy.  Start drilling for oil all over the United States.  Let's start with the Gulf coast .. including the Florida Gulf coast.  Then we to go ANWR in Alaska, then take it from there.  We need to send the rigs in to start tapping for black gold.  While we're at it, how about a crash program to start construction of more nuclear power plants.   That is the only way to get it done.  Unfortunately, chances are that will never happen.  Why?

The same people who are whining that we are dependent on foreign oil are also the same leftist environmentalist extremists who don't want us drilling for more oil here.  It would damage the environment, they say.  Never mind that there have been tremendous advancements in oil drilling technologies...the kind that would limit such an impact.  But it doesn't matter.  To the anti-capitalist enviro-wacko, all the land is sacred and the oil must stay in the ground.

So what's going to happen?  Nothing.  We'll keep buying most of our oil from other countries, subjecting ourselves to the whims of our Islamic overseers in various Middle Eastern dictatorships.  The President of the United States (whomever he or she may be) will continue to drop to their knees and kiss the ring of whatever Saudi Arabian Prince visits the White House.

But make no mistake: it doesn't have to be this way.  And you have your friendly neighborhood environmentalist to thank for it.  No one else.

HANOI JANE HITS THE ROAD

Fresh off her book tour, the former Mrs. Ted Turner has decided to start a new tour.  This time she'll be hitting the road in a cross-country bus tour to call for an end to U.S. Military operations in Iraq.  Word is that she'll be riding in an environmentally-friendly bus that runs on vegetable oil.  Hope she finds enough Chinese restaurants along the way to be able to fill up.

Fonda claims she hasn't taken any stand on any war since Vietnam, but now she's "breaking her silence."  Whatever.  She's made her anti-War on Terror Bush-bashing views known in various media appearances.  Expect her little trip to get plenty of free publicity.

But don't expect something else.  Don't expect the media to ask Hanoi Jane what exactly we should do once we pull all the troops out of Iraq and the country falls into chaos.  Are we supposed to just let the terrorists take over and use it as a base to kill innocent people?

That's something you never get from the anti-war crowd....an actual solution.

PEEKING AT LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

As I've said before, I like to go to the Naples Daily News website and read the letters to the editor.  The Naples Daily News has a decidedly liberal slant (big surprise) and there seems to be a rather small community of leftists in Naples who can't get over the fact that Saddam Hussein isn't still running the Iraqi asylum.  I would give you the website for the Naples Daily News, but they require registration ... so I'm just going to show you one of yesterday's letters.  Read and have yourself a good chuckle:

Don't you just love it?  Ranelli must be a real thrill at a cocktail party.  He managed to include so much in his letter!  We have the assertion that the Downing Street Memos actually proved something (they didn't).  Then Ranelli repeated the lie that there were no ties between Iraq and al-Qaeda (The 911 Commission Report says there were).  Then we get the charge that Bush wants permanent bases in Iraq ... but only to control the oil fields for his buddies.  There's that "war for oil" nonsense.  Ranelli goes on to illustrate his amazing mental acumen by pushing the idea of a timetable for withdrawal, and sneaks in the "neocon" word!  Oh .. and for good measure we get a line about "wealthy corporate America" and a mild slam on Bush's religious devotion.  Quite a day's work for Mr. Ranelli, Don't you think? 

Frank!  You stud!

RANDOM NOTES

What is more pathetic .. the fact that Hanoi Jane is back on the anti-war trail, or the fact that the media is paying attention?

We have a new name for the war on terror.  It seems that the Bush Administration wants to call it "a global struggle against violent extremism."  Whatever ... the name doesn't matter.  What does matter is that we don't profile ... let's concentrate on the the violently extreme, the terrorists, or whatever ... and let's stop searching grandma at rail stations.  Remember .. all Muslims are not terrorists, but almost all terrorists are Muslims.

We have a payola scandal.  It looks like radio stations have been paid to play certain songs.  How do we manage to get paid to put certain callers on the air?

They had a little reenactment in Monroe, Ga. recently.  They reenacted a lynching.  Fifty-nine years ago yesterday a mob of whites lynched two black women and two black men. During the reenactment the black men who portrayed the whites to committed this crime wore white masks.  No problem with that.  But ... imagine a reenactment of a crime committed by a black person, where a white person puts on a black mask.  Yeah ... just imagine.  We wouldn't hear the end of it for months.

Heather's Corner

War on the World

The Islamic Fundamentalists say it is a holy war. President Bush says it is a war against terror. If the Muslim extremists truly believe this is a holy war, why are they killing themselves rather than focusing on recruiting and growing their congregation.

You would think that eventually they would run out of suicide bombers. So why are they traveling abroad to kill, essentially many of their own? For so long many Americans have been in the mind set that it is we Americans that have done something wrong to the Muslims to bring about this supposed "jihad." In light of the newest terror attacks this past week in both London and Egypt, it is apparent that the terrorist are not after a certain group of people, they are after the world.

Well, this isn't as strange as it could be. Cult leaders have been killing their own, forever. Adolf Hitler, Mao Zedong and Iosif Stalin are the first that come to mind. Why they think that killing their own people will bring sanctity to others who want to follow them, we do not know. When evil grows it has a tendency to turn on itself as it becomes more radical and thus gets more disgusted with its less radical parts

The United States asks their troops to take a bullet to defend their country if need be, but we would never assume they would be willing to blow themselves up taking as many people as possible with them. The USA was founded partly based on safety from religious persecution from the British. If we are to allow freedom of religion, then someone else's religion should not jeopardize MY life!

No offense to the Islamic religion, it is only the radicals who have become terrorists that I am talking about. I propose two options. One, they can put all the suicide bombers in one room and light a match. Or two, send a single bomber to visit one terror cell each. If martyrdom is so popular then blowing themselves up in mass should do the trick.

REDNECK SCRAP BOOK

Apparently more than one person has had this idea for a pool. Who needs a backhoe and cement when you've got a pick-up and a tarp? View the constantly growing Redneck Scrap Book.

READING ASSIGNMENTS

OK folks ... we lead off today's reading assignments with a must-read.  Last week I told you about an article that appeared in the Wall Street Journal entitled "The Smell of Fear."  It is absolutely one of the best articles I have read -- ever -- about what the Islamic terrorists are thinking, and how they chose when to kill.  Now that article is available online.  Here's your link.  You absolutely have to read this.

Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell has apologized to the family of the Marine who's funeral was crashed by the Pennsylvania Lt. Governor Catherine Baker Knoll. 

What is the number one cause of death among young people -- 20 to 35 -- in China?  Suicide. This article will tell you why. 

Things didn't go so well for this spammer in Russia.  Sorry ... hard to feel sorry for him.

Cash reparations for slavery.  The idea is spreading.  Remember ... there is not one single person in this country who cannot trace his or her ancestry back to someone who was held as a slave. 

The left is going after Karl Rove now pushing some sort of perjury rap in the Valerie Plame Affair.  Byron York shoots that one down.

David Limbaugh has an Earth-shattering idea:  instead of pre-judging John Roberts and trying to guess what his positions are, how about just letting him answer the questions from the Senate Judiciary Committee?  Imagine that.

Thomas Sowell says Roberts' views don't matter...only whether or not he will interpret the law as it is written.  Of course, that won't stop the Democrats from trying to find out what  he thinks.

The Democrats are going to get their wish.....sort of.  Some documents from John Roberts' tenure in the White House 20 years ago will be released, but not all.  Will this make them happy?  Of course not.

Now that the Teamsters and other unions have broken off from the AFL-CIO, Democrats are worried.  Why are they worried?  One word: money.  The AFL-CIO always gave to Democrats, while the other unions will look elsewhere.

The so-called moderate Democratic Leadership Council has put The Hildabeast in charge.  She'll be directing their agenda for 2006 and 2008.  She'll also be the Democratic nominee in 2008.

Bill Clinton has been offered 40 goats by an African government official in exchange for his daughter's hand in marriage.  Let's see...40 goats....that should keep him busy for awhile.

Al Gore says he won't ever be a candidate for political office.  But then he won't say there's a zero percent chance.  In the meantime, he's making too much money in the evil corporate private sector.

Gas prices are down again, and the media is concerned.  They continue to cite the lie that we have reached record gas prices, when we have done nothing of the sort.  The record is $3.08 in March of 1981.

General William Westmoreland was recently laid to rest...and this Op-Ed give a brief overview of his life.  By the way, did you know the United States won the Tet Offensive?

Morning Sickness: Estranged wife may have forged documents to acquire husband's sperm. Man ordered to pay child support for resulting baby.

Morning Sickness also: Woman, 40, pleads guilty to having sex & drug parties with 14-17 year old boys.

Heather's Reading Assignments:

London, Egypt, and now they tell us it is Rome's turn.

Wasteful government spending in Colorado claims sex toys as art. Johnson's " Large Implements on Hooks." You know, it's good to know we are getting our money's worth.

You know without a doubt that you are desperate (and probably hopeless) when you must advertise that you are single... on a billboard! So if you want to date Lance, his friends are accepting applications. Though he isn't bad looking, they must be prowling for themselves.

Blame the West rather than the actual people responsible for the London bombings. If flip-flops make you sleep easier, Mr. Livingston.

685 people a day are dieing in China and it's not due to terrorism but because they are sad.

"I want to drink your blood, now give me your money." This woman falls for it.

It's not a problem that it was a human finger, it was the fact that he was a vegan and just didn't eat meat period.

I downloaded Google Earth this weekend. I'm from central Florida and I KNOW that tree in front of my house came down during Hurricane Charley, but this is pretty neat none-the-less. Read the review.

It really does take a family not a village to raise a child, says Santorum.

WHAT THE HECK ARE THOSE POINTY HAND THINGS?
These are links to each individual story on the Nuze, p-links for the geeks out there. Plus, they work today and they'll work tomorrow. Now you can easily discuss/debate/rip apart the Nuze without worrying about the links going bad. Enjoy!

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