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True
North Archives - April 15, 2008
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Featured
Articles
Vermont’s
Five-Year Plan for Governing the Free Enterprise Economy
By Martin Harris
 Against
that track record of the best and brightest (just ask them) in government
across the centuries and across the globe, dexterously planning and managing
free enterprise when- and wherever it erupts, comes the long-awaited news
that even little Montpelier, capital of the nation’s second-smallest state,
will now take on the same intellectual challenge. Here’s the language,
contained in their Five Year Plan (Freudian slip?) for a new Commission
on Economic Development which will, among other things "cooperatively plan
the free enterprise economy of Vermont". How blessed the Green Mountain
State is, to have such brilliantly superior, highly motivated, intellectually
innovative folks under the Golden Dome. None of us minor members of the
Fourth Estate could ever make this stuff up.
Mapping
a Successful Strategy for Vermont Conservatism
By N. P. West
The success of Vermont conservatism
depends on its ability to replicate the model of the national conservative
movement. This model follows three phases: an intellectual development
phase, an institutional development phase, and an electoral development
phase. Each is designed to be a step in the process for conservative
victory in Vermont. Without this model the conservative movement
could very well continue to flounder.
The
Momentum Must be Kept UP
By Rob Skinner
While speaking to Lou Dobbs
on his CNN nightly political talk show March 27, CNN's military analyst,
General David Grange said President Bush was correct to say (while at the
Air Force Museum in Ohio) that Al Qaeda's grip on Baghdad and Iraq was
broken. When Dobbs asked the general to comment on President Bush's assessment
of success, of "positive results" in Iraq Grange said, "Well I think throughout
most of Iraq that is true . . . but the momentum [the surge] must be kept
up because they'll come back into any crack that seen is available. Any
situation down in Basra will cause them to react somewhere else. You'll
have second and third order affects where any of these things that start
to break down - An Bar Province, Basra or in Baghdad itself."
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Quotable
Freedom is never more
than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children
in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for
them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling
our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United
States where men were free."
-- President Ronald
Reagan
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Vermont
Weekly News Round-Up
Symington
A Welcome Addition To The Governor’s Race
Caledonia Record Editorial,
April 08, 2008
Put simply, state government
has outgrown the current tax revenues used to pay for its operation. Vermonters
must choose the state's future path. The state can reduce the scope and
cost of government and the programs and services offered and reduce tax
burdens on its citizens, or at least keep the burden at its present level.
The state can choose, instead, to continue on its present path and expand
the programs and services offered to Vermonters and increase taxes to pay
for the growth of government. The state can grow the economy and increase
the tax base, increasing the state's tax base and expanding the scope of
government and increasing the state's taxable base enough to pay for the
growth without sharply increasing individual tax burdens.
Knocking
Off Early
From VermontTiger.com,
April 12, 2008
Ms. Symington proposes an
early
adjournment. Splendid idea. Why didn't someone think of
this before now? Well, er, actually someone
did. But that was back when the future looked bright
with potential. Bills for fighting global warming, reforming campaign financing,
making housing more affordable, etc. etc. They would stay at it,
legislators vowed, until their urgent work was done. Well, now that there
is no money and they are obliged to cut spending, seems they cannot get
out of town fast enough.
High
School Seniors Get 'F' in Finance
By Jeannine Aversa, Associated
Press, April 9, 2008
Young people's financial
know-how has gone from bad to worse. High school seniors, on average, answered
correctly only 48.3 percent of questions about personal finance and economics,
according to a nationwide survey released Wednesday by the Federal Reserve.
That was even lower than the 52.4 percent in the previous survey in 2006
and marked the worst score out of the six surveys conducted so far.
No
Growth No Way
From VermontTiger.com, April
11, 2008
There is nothing wrong with
environmentalists being part of the discussion. They should be. But there
needs to be a balance of influence. Currently, there is not. Vermonters
are paying the price for that imbalance when it comes to affordable housing;
the more difficult it is to build, the more expensive it is to buy. It’s
just that simple.
Horatio
At Our Bridge
Caledonia Record Editorial,
April 11, 2008
Though badly outnumbered
by the liberal leftists, Gov. Jim Douglas has been Horatio at our Bridge.
At the end of the last Legislature, Douglas vetoed two of the dumbest ideas
to emerge from the leftists. One was the half-baked proposal to set up
yet another government agency, still undefined then, to somehow improve
Vermont's private sector utility use and pay for it with extorted funds
from Entergy, the owner/operator of the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant.
The second was to reform campaign financing with a plan that had already
been found unconstitutional by the United States Supreme Court at great
expense to Vermont.
The
High Cost Of High Costs
From VermontTiger.com, April
07, 2008
Why -- with Vermont taxing
robustly -- isn't there any money to do any of the things that need to
be done? Because Vermont spends over half of the money collected
in state and local taxes on K through 12 education. According to
U.S.
Census figures, the state spent some $12,600 per student in 2005-06.
(Which put us in 4th place behind New York, New Jersey, and the District
of Columbia.)
# # #
Freedom
Under Fire:
The
Global War on Terrorism
Iran's
Busted Iraq Bid
Basra 'Rising' was
Tehran's Op
By Amir Taheri, The New
York Post, April 10, 2008
A GAMBLE that proved too
costly.
That's how analysts in Tehran
describe events last month in Basra. Iran's state-run media have de
facto confirmed that this was no spontaneous "uprising." Rather, Iran's
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) tried to seize control of Iraq's
second-largest city using local Shiite militias as a Trojan horse. Tehran's
decision to make the gamble was based on three assumptions:
* Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri
al-Maliki wouldn't have the courage to defend Basra at the risk of burning
his bridges with the Islamic Republic in Iran.
* The international force
would be in no position to intervene in the Basra battle. The British,
who controlled Basra until last December, had no desire to return, especially
if this meant getting involved in fighting. The Americans, meanwhile, never
had enough troops to finish off al-Qaeda-in-Iraq, let alone fight Iran
and its local militias on a new front.
* The Shiite clerical leadership
in Najaf would oppose intervention by the new Iraqi security forces in
a battle that could lead to heavy Shiite casualties.
Fighting
Global Islamist Ideology the Key to War on Terror
By Steven Emerson, IPT News,
April 10, 2008
Al Qaeda is clearly the most
significant operational terrorist threat to this country, but it must be
seen in the context of what drives it – an extremist ideology based on
a puritanical interpretation of Islam. The biggest flaw in this nation's
national security policy is that it is focused specifically on countering
acts of terrorism and not countering the Islamist worldwide ideology that
has spawned al Qaeda.
Report
on Sept. 6 Strike to Show Saddam Transferred WMDs to Syria
By JPost.com Staff, The
Jerusalem Post, April 7, 2008
An upcoming joint US-Israel
report on the September 6 IAF strike on a Syrian facility will claim that
former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein transferred weapons of mass destruction
to the country, Channel 2 stated Monday.
Furthermore, according to
a report leaked to the TV channel, Syria has arrested 10 intelligence officials
following the assassination of Hizbullah terror chief Imad Mughniyeh.
Petraeus,
Crocker and Mike Monsoor
By Roger D. Carstens, Human
Events
GENERAL DAVID PETRAEUS:
First
of all, Congress, let me tell you that what we are fighting for is national
interests. It is interests that, as I stated, have to do with al Qaeda,
a sworn enemy of the United States and the free world.
"It has to do with the
possible spread of sectarian conflict in Iraq, a conflict that had engulfed
that country and had it on the brink of civil war.
"It has to do with regional
stability of a region that is of critical importance to the global economy.
"And it has to do with
certainly the influence of Iran, another obviously very important element
in that region.
"In terms of what it is
that we are trying to achieve, I think simply it is a country that is at
peace with itself and its neighbors.
Capitalizing
on al Qaeda's Mistakes
By Colonel Mark Cancian,
U.S. Marine Corps, U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings Magazine, April, 2008
Al Qaeda is well aware of
these weaknesses in its strategies, and people who follow their Web sites
report much hand wringing. Osama bin Laden himself has conceded that mistakes
were made and exhorts his followers to greater efforts. Outsiders might
observe that AQI should alter its behavior to gain adherents. But it can't.
The Sharia, the yearning for the Caliphate, the hatred of its enemies,
and the global—and hence foreign—leadership define al Qaeda as a movement.
Despite these weaknesses
and country-wide reverses, al Qaeda remains a ruthless and dangerous foe.
It retains strength inside Iraq and still has broad global appeal. Nevertheless,
it has clear and substantial vulnerabilities that the United States has
exploited in Iraq and may be able to exploit elsewhere. Past success in
capitalizing on these weaknesses should also give the West some encouragement
for the long war against Islamic extremism. Just as the Cold War was fundamentally
a long-term but winnable ideological struggle, so, too, is this one.
European
Value Revival?
By Daniel Pipes, American
Conservative Union, April 9, 2008
Some analysts of Islam in
Western Europe argue that the continent cannot escape its Eurabian
fate; that the trend lines of the past half-century will continue until
Muslims become a majority population and Islamic law (the Shari‘a) reigns.
I disagree, arguing that
there is another route
the continent might take, one of resistance to Islamification and a
reassertion of traditional ways. Indigenous Europeans – who make up 95
percent of the population – can insist on their historic customs and mores.
Were they to do so, nothing would be in their way and no one could stop
them.
Indeed, Europeans are visibly
showing signs of impatience with creeping Shari‘a. The legislation in France
that prohibits hijabs
from public school classrooms signals the reluctance to accept Islamic
ways, as are related efforts to ban burqas,
mosques,
and minarets. Throughout
Western Europe, anti-immigrant parties are generally increasing in popularity.
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From
Elsewhere
The
Oil Connection
By John Robinson, American
Thinker, April 13, 2008
A recent
piece of news has shed new light on what could be another storm for
both the Clintons. Like an old shipwreck, the crashing waves are slowly
revealing more from beneath the sand. Recently, we were treated to the
revelation that an agent of Saddam Hussein's essentially financed a junket
to visit Iraq before the war and complain about the sanctions' effect on
the poor Iraqi children.
(Let's forget for a moment
that it turned out that Saddam was actually engaged in a vast criminal
enterprise through the oil-for-food program, and was essentially starving
his "poor Iraqi children" for PR reasons.) Matt Apuzzo of the AP writes:
Saddam Hussein's intelligence
agency secretly financed a trip to Iraq for three U.S. lawmakers during
the run-up to the U.S.-led invasion, federal prosecutors said Wednesday.
The three anti-war Democrats
made the trip in October 2002, while the Bush administration was trying
to persuade Congress to authorize military action against Iraq. While traveling,
they called for a diplomatic solution.
Economic
Hysteria
By Alan Reynolds, The Cato
Institute
Media hysteria over the mortgage
crisis is almost certainly misleading countless people about prospects
for the real economy. The US economy is likely in recession. Yet even that
conclusion may be premature — it rests on a short sample of slim evidence.
Industrial production has fallen for only one month. First-time claims
for unemployment insurance touched recession levels for just one week.
The
Coming Tax Bomb
By John F. Cogan and R.
Glenn Hubbard, The Wall Street Journal, April 8, 2008
As the presidential campaign
enters its final stages, there will be increased debate over budget priorities
and how they will be paid for. Many commentators and political leaders,
including Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, believe that tax increases
are needed to restore near-term budget balance and finance longer-term
entitlement growth. These claims fail budget arithmetic and economics.
Worse, they raise serious questions about the nation's broad fiscal policies
and its commitment to economic growth.
Obama
Draws Fire for Comments on Small-Town America
By FOXNews.com, April 11,
2008
Hillary Clinton and John
McCain both ripped into Barack Obama Friday for reportedly saying residents
of small-town America "cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people
who aren’t like them" out of bitterness over lost jobs. His opponents interpreted
the remarks as arrogant, but Obama stood by the statement Friday and even
elaborated on the argument that many people in small towns are bitter and
frustrated with the status quo in Washington.
Related: The
Mask Slips
Why
We'll Still Need to Lead
By Kim R. Holmes, The Heritage
Foundation, April 9, 2008
In America, there are basically
two competing visions. One -- based on our history and the ideas and founding
principles embodied in our Constitution -- is of a nation that safeguards
and advances the cause of liberty. The other is of an America whose leadership
always defers to international bodies, including the whims of the United
Nations and the European Union. All Americans should reflect on this: If
we do not take up the burden of leadership, who will? And, who would we
rather have make decisions over our lives?
Oil
Drilling America
By Deroy Murdock, Human
Events, April 11, 2008
How much more pain must Americans
endure before our masters in Washington let oil companies punch a few holes
in the Alaskan tundra? Must we shiver pennilessly in the dark before we
may extract new domestic petroleum deposits? Or shall we simply keep buying
$111 barrels of oil from people who want us dead?
Reward
our Friends, Punish our Enemies
Why does Congress
want to give Hugo Chavez an upper hand?
By Senator Lindsey Graham,
National Review Online, April 14, 2008
No one would enjoy watching
the U.S. abandon Colombia more than Hugo Chavez and new Cuban President
Raul Castro. ... Why would we want to give them the political upper hand
by rejecting the Colombia TPA?
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