Wednesday's news and links

Have you heard that the president is going to give a speech tonight detailing his plans for going forward in the war? Apparently, a lot of people don't need to hear what he has to say since they are already opposed to his plans without having to listen to the plans.

I won't bore you with a list of the those insisting on defeat. Just consider the worst of the sorry lot of them - Ted Kennedy. I could waste time listing a myriad of reasons why listening to the senior senator from Massachusetts is a bad idea. However, I'll refer you to Don Surber's Daily Mail blog. He was especially harsh with Teddy. He smacked him with his older brother's words:

Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty.

This much we pledge — and more.

A far cry from the Democrat party of today, huh?

I won't paint the entire Democrat party with the defeatist tag. I can't because Joe Lieberman still considers himself a Democrat. What does Lieberman say about an exit strategy?

"In war, there are two exit strategies. One is called victory. The other is called defeat."

I'd like to think all of us would choose the former rather than the latter but alas that is clearly not the case.

Dan McLaughlin of Red State (he is also the proprietor of Baseball Crank) has a recommendation for the presidents speech tonight - Get Specific. Well worth reading. If you go their home page there are links to several other articles regarding tonight's speech.

For comedic relief . . . Gore Leaves Door Ajar for 2008.

In this article Dick Morris and Eileen McGann correctly observes that the assumed GOP front runners are not likely to appeal to conservatives. McCain's only chance would be if his Democrat opponent is Hillary Clinton. I don't even think Clinton would be enough to save Guiliani.

Rudy Guiliani? Pro-choice, pro-affirmative action, pro-gay rights, pro-immigration, pro-gun control Rudy? Righties will vote for him only if they have lobotomies first.

Contrast those candidates with the description Gregg Jackson of Human Events gives of "My Ideal GOP Presidential Candidate."

It is generally understood that the recent change in control of congress will be bad for business. Many people wrongly assume any changes will only hurt "big corporations." Reality is if the government takes action which hurts business it will damage the entire economy. Here is an article regarding the most dangerous action congress could take against the economy while pretending to fix social security.

One topic likely to come up this winter in Washington is Social Security's so-called cap.

All that many people know about the cap is that it is an obscure device that affects payroll tax payment structure. Reports are that everyone from Secretary Henry Paulson's staff at the Treasury to the Brookings Institution is talking about fiddling with or removing the cap. This is bad news, for the little gizmo really is crucial to American growth.

If the cap is removed on the level of earnings which get taxed for Social Security we can look forward to European style double digit unemployment accompanied by a deep recession.