President Bush is showing signs of waking up to the government’s spending problem, telling Congress to “push the envelope” to enact spending cuts in order to pay for hurricane relief.

You know things have gotten bad in New Jersey when the Star Ledger endorses Republican Doug Forrester for governor, however “reluctantly”.

US News tells us how internet activists are taking control of the Democrat Party in a McGovern-like revolution:

In a lecture at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, Peter Beinart said the mostly young Internet activists are clearly taking over the party. If so, this would be the first ray of sunshine for conservatives and Republicans in almost a year. The McGovern movement severely damaged the party, pushing it toward four presidential defeats in five tries, until Bill Clinton won by dragging the party back to the center in 1992. If the Internet people had prevailed in 2004, Howard Dean would have won the nomination and then been buried in an enormous landslide, just like George McGovern.

This is not getting enough attention, from the MSM or the blogosphere:

The FBI has conducted clandestine surveillance on some U.S. residents for as long as 18 months at a time without proper paperwork or oversight, according to previously classified documents to be released today.

If you are not outraged by the direction that the right of individuals to own property is taking in this country, then you are either a liberal or stunningly uninformed.

A PoliSci professor once told me that the original wording for the famous “unalienable rights” phrase was “life, liberty and property”, but Rousseau’s influence resulted in the change to “pursuit of happiness”. So once again we were screwed by the French.

A freeper proposed this constitutional amendment for discussion:

RIGHT TO REAL AND PERSONAL PROPERTY

1. Whereas the power to tax is the power to destroy; Tax on all property, real and personal, except as income or on sale or transfer, above one-tenth of one percent per annum shall be prohibited.
2. The taking of property by eminent domain shall only be by just compensation for the purpose of the erection of public infrastructure.
3. Public property that is sold or otherwise converted to private use within 20 years shall first be offered to its original owner(s) or their heirs in substantially its original condition at its original price of acquisition.
4. Property that is seized for non-payment of taxes must be speedily sold at auction. Any amount above the tax owed and costs must be returned to the owner.
5. This article shall have no time limit on its ratification.

A damn fine idea. Personally, I would much rather have personal property protected by the constitution than the rights of same-sex couples limited by that document.

The autopsy report for Terry Schiavo has been released and backs the husband’s story: there were no signs of abuse and no possibility for recovery.

“Her brain was profoundly atrophied,” Jon Thogmartin, medical examiner for Florida’s Pinellas-Pasco County, told a press conference. “There was massive neuronal loss, or death. This was irreversible and no amount of therapy or treatment would have regenerated the massive loss of neurons.”

“The brain weighed 615 grams, roughly half of the expected weight of a human brain,” he added.

A bit of Schiavo trivia from the article:

About 40 judges in six courts were involved in the Schiavo case at one point or another . . .

Needing no witty commentary:

Dear Mr. [insert real name of AlphaPatriot here],

Thank you for contacting me. It is an honor to serve as Majority Leader of the United States Senate and a privilege to respond to your concerns.

As a Senator, I regard communication with citizens like yourself as one of my highest priorities. A representative body that is out of touch with its constituents cannot function effectively. Your comments are always welcome, and with your help, we can ensure that Congress remains well-informed and accountable for its actions.

Again, I appreciate you taking time to contact me.

Sincerly yours,
William H. Frist, M.D.
Majority Leader
United States Senate

P.S. Please visit http://frist.senate.gov to register for my e-mail newsletter.

I have never received a blowoff like this from any politician before. Not one word addressing my concerns. Even when they disagree, they take the time to try and explain why.

By Zues, I wish I could remember what I wrote to him about! Damn email submission forms — in the old days I’d have a copy of my letter on my hard drive.

Some stats that will no doubt shock some Democrats:

A report released yesterday by Third Way says support for Republicans begins at much lower income levels than researchers had expected: Among white voters, President Bush got a majority of support beginning at an income threshold of $23,300 — about $5,000 above the poverty level for a family of four.

The report says the economic gains of Hispanics have translated into strong Republican gains, as have economic strides across every category, save for black voters.

“As Americans become even modestly wealthier their affinity for Democrats apparently falls off. With middle income voters, it is Democrats — the self-described party of the middle class — who are running far behind Republicans, the oft-described party of the rich,” the report says. …

This month’s issue of Blueprint, a magazine published by the centrist Democratic Leadership Council, has several articles looking at statistics similar to Third Way’s income data, such as Mr. Kerry’s losing married parents of young children by 19 percentage points, taking 40 percent of the group compared with Mr. Bush’s 59 percent. Those parents made up 28 percent of the electorate.

This, of course, comes as no surprise to the informed. It has long been apparent that the Democrat Party has become the party of extremes — the very poor and the very rich. It is no more the party of the middle class then it is the party of “progressives”, no matter how much the “party of no” pretends otherwise.

Food for thought in a humorous wrapping: Republican crisis biggest in US since Second World War. Well, almost.

I may have finally found a political home.

QandO defines a Neolibertarian as “Pragmatic domestic libertarian; Hawk on defense”. There’s much more, but in the updates this set of general policies is proposed:

When given a set of policy choices,

• The choice that maximizes personal liberty is the best choice.
• The policy choice that offers the least amount of necessary government intervention or regulation is the best choice.
• The policy choice that provides rational, market-based incentives is the best choice.

In foreign policy, neolibertartianism would be characterized by,

• A policy of diplomacy that promotes consensual government and human rights and opposes dictatorship.
• A policy of using US military force solely at the discretion of the US, but only in circumstances where American interests are directly affected.

Although I “Blog for Bush” and strongly supported him in the last two elections (and would do so again) I did so because he was the candidate closest to my ideals. His foriegn policy is nothing short of brilliant which will reshape the world for decades.

As I have said several times in the past, however, I find his domestic policy to be nothing short of disastrous.

I left the Libertarian Party in 2004 when presidential candidate Michael Badnarik asked supporters to wear black on the anniversary of 9/11 “to mourn the deaths of the thousands of people who have died as a result of U.S. government policies”.

Libertarians are often idealistic and myopic, ignoring the real world in pursuit of their goals, unable to compromise their principles. A little pragmatism is called for in the real world.

So drop by the Neolibertarian Network Blog and see what’s happening.

(HT to Instapundit)

Update: Welcome Instapundit readers!

CNet reports:

A Minnesota appeals court has ruled that the presence of encryption software on a computer may be viewed as evidence of criminal intent.

I shred my mail and personal documents. Does that mean I am doing something illegal?

Keith Thompson was as liberal as they came, but has decided to walk away from the Left:

Now, I find myself in a swirling metamorphosis. Think Kafka, without the bug. Think Kuhnian paradigm shift, without the buzz. Every anomaly that didn’t fit my perceptual set is suddenly back, all the more glaring for so long ignored. The insistent inner voice I learned to suppress now has my rapt attention. “Something strange — something approaching pathological — something entirely of its own making — has the left in its grip,” the voice whispers. “How did this happen?” The Iraqi election is my tipping point. The time has come to walk in a different direction — just as I did many years before.

Read it all. Lucianne.com called this the best that the weekend had to offer. I think it is the best that I’ve read in quite some time.