From StrategyPage, the best comparison we have ever seen between capitalism and socialism:

In 2004, some 1,900 North Koreans made it to South Korea. Many more (over ten times more) made it out of North Korea into China and Russia. One South Korean is known to have fled to North Korea.

Why The Frog's 9 year old daughter is smarter than 49% of Americans:

Today in school she learned about Karl Marx. The material was presented without commentary or bias. Dan Rather would be turning in his grave--that is, if his body were as dead as his career.

Anyway, upon hearing Marx's ideas about everyone getting the same pay regardless of how hard they work she exclaimed: "That would never work! That's not how the world works!"

So true, and yet too many millions have had to learn the hard way.

We received this little treasure via email:

If Lee Ermey were White House Press Secretary...

(Lee Ermey was, of course, a REAL drill instructor in the USMC and played one in "Full Metal Jacket". Distinctive southern drawl and quick tongue. Imagine if he were the White House press secretary, dealing with a room full of girlie men...)

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The main topic of discussion today is the Marine in Iraq who shot the Iraq insurgent to death. We pick up as the reporter asks about how this "potential war crime" will affect our image in the world:

Ermey: "What the hell kind of a pansy-assed question is that?"

Reporter: "Well I think...."

Ermey: "THINK, nancy boy?! Get this through that septic tank on top of your shoulders, Moron! I DON'T GIVE A F*CK WHAT YOU THINK, DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME??? That Marine shot an ENEMY COMBATANT, SH*THEAD, SO GET YOUR HEAD OUT OF YOUR ASS AND DEAL WITH IT BEFORE I MAKE YOU MY OWN PERSONAL PIN CUSHION!"

Ermey: "Next question. You in the blue suit."

Reporter 2: "Don't you think that the world's opinion of our operations is important?"

Ermey: "Oh sure! You don't know the times I have cried myself to sleep worrying about what some g*ddamned French pansy thinks! Oh, the days I have had to weep because some sh*t eating terrorist f*cker might be mad at us because we went into whatever god-forsaken hole in the sh*t that he lives in and killed him. WHAT THE HELL KIND OF DUMBASS QUESTION IS THAT, YOU PETER PUFFING JACKASS?? WE ARE THE MOTHER F*CKING USA, AND WHEN YOU ATTACK US WE ARE GOING TO COME TO YOUR HOUSE AND BLOW YOUR STINKING CAMEL-LICKING CARCASS INTO PIECES SO SMALL WE WILL BE ABLE TO BURY YOUR SORRY ASS IN A THIMBLE!"

"I know what you are thinking. You are probably afraid, thinking that I have such an 'extreme' attitude and that I need to be more 'sensitive' to other people's feelings. WELL LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHING, YOU POLE SMOKING PANSY! I DON'T GIVE 2 SH*TS WHAT YOU OR ANYBODY ELSE THINKS! THIS IS A DAMNED WAR, AND IF YOU CAN'T HANDLE THAT YOU SHOULD GO HOME AND SUCK ON MAMMA'S TIT!! DO YOU HEAR ME, YOU RUNT?? NOW GET THE F*CK OUT OF MY PRESS ROOM BEFORE I GO CRAZY AND BEAT THE LIVING SH*T OUT OF YOU!"

Ermey: "Next question, you with the ugly assed tie. Look at that thing. It is hideous."

Reporter 3: "Aren't you going against the freedom of the press by..."

Ermey: "FREEDOM?? WHAT IN BLUE HELL DO YOU KNOW ABOUT FREEDOM? I HAVE SWEATED MY ASS OFF IN JUNGLES BEING SHOT AT FOR THIS NATION!! WHAT IN THE HELL HAVE YOU DONE, YOU LITTLE SH*T SUCKING WEASEL? WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU PUT YOUR ASS ON THE LINE FOR ANYTHING? AND YET YOU HAVE THE UNMITIGATED TEMERITY TO SHOW UP HERE AND MONDAY MORNING QUARTERBACK THE ACTIONS OF A MARINE WHO WAS DEFENDING HIMSELF AND HIS UNIT FROM ATTACK BY SOME MURDEROUS AL-QAEDA SYMPATHIZER!!! YOU WANNA KNOW WHAT I AM CONCERNED ABOUT, NUMBNUTS? I AM CONCERNED ABOUT A BUNCH OF GRABASSTIC, DISORGANIZED MORONS WITH CAMERAS AND MICROPHONES DOING THEIR BEST TO PORTRAY OUR BRAVE MEN AND WOMEN AS WAR CRIMINALS! I AM CONCERNED ABOUT CHICKEN SH*T PANSIES WHO WANT US TO NEGOTIATE WITH TERRORISTS AND THEN WHINE ABOUT THEIR PISSANT "FREEDOMS"!

Reporter 3: "I..."

Ermey: "Did you have a big bowl of stupid for breakfast this morning, Numbnuts? I DON'T WANT TO HEAR ANOTHER WORD OUT OF THAT COMMIE CRYHOLE IN THAT SH*TPILE YOU CALL A HEAD! AND THAT GOES TRIPLE FOR THE REST OF YOU PANSY-ASSED MORONS! NOW GET THE F*CK OUT OF MY PRESS ROOM BEFORE I SHOVE MY BOOT SO FAR UP YOUR ASS THAT YOU CHOKE TO DEATH ON MY SHOELACES!"

As we predicted, oil prices continue to plummet.

More on the Mosul bombing:

Follow-up: Bomber Was Probably In GI Tent

Isn't it comforting to know that the ACLU is ready to fight for the Bomber's Right not to be searched?

From StrategyPage via Rantburg:

Who Guards the Palace Guard Up North?

The North Korean border with China, long a tightly controlled frontier, has become a wide open conduit for subversive material. First it was radios and television sets that could pick up Chinese broadcasts (most people on the border tend to be bilingual). Then came VCD (Video Computer Disks). The VCD is an Asian development, particularly popular in China. A VCD is a regular CD, holding up to 700 megabytes of material. Using lower resolution, you can get most movies onto a VCD and watch them on a television set using a CD player equipped to read the video files. In the last few years, second hand VCD players (selling for about $5) began making their way into North Korea, along with second hand VCDs themselves (about 20 cents each). China itself was moving on to DVD and fancier VCD players. In poverty stricken North Korea, this led to some enterprising TV owners letting it be known that, for a fee, people could come over and watch some of his VCDs. Initially, Chinese action movies were the most widely available material. But soon VCDs containing South Korean TV shows showed up. These have been popular among the millions of ethnic Koreans living in northern China. These ethnic Koreans often worked as Chinese border guards, and once they noted that the North Korean guards were taking bribes, were quick to encourage as much illicit commerce as they could. VCDs were a favorite, as they are small items, easily moved across the border in broad daylight. Both the Chinese and North Korean government would occasionally crack down on the smuggling. But the guards knew that, if they were discreet, the business would survive the crackdowns and everyone would continue to make money. The North Korean border guards also liked the VCD material themselves.

However, there’s more at stake than wealthy border guards. The thousands of VCDs carrying South Korean television shows (especially soap operas, which show “ordinary people”) entering North Korea were the government’s worst nightmare. Now North Koreans could see, in a very convincing way, that all the propaganda about North Korea being better off than South Korea was, well, a big lie. This is creating growing anger at the government. At the moment, the anger is expressing itself as increased corruption and lack of discipline by police and military personnel, as well as government workers in general. Since the state owns just about everything in North Korea, this means that the place is falling apart even faster than it has been. The North Korean leadership studied the collapse of communist rule in Eastern Europe in 1989. What is happening now in North Korea is what was going on in Eastern Europe in the late 1980s. The big difference is that the North Korean government is far more brutal and militarized than any communist East European government. Romania, however, was the most similar to North Korea, and fell when the secret police decided that it was time for the communist rulers to go. It's uncertain if a similar palace guard coup could occur in the north.

Mad cow mystery solved.

At PoliPundit: "President Bush has illustrated once again why he won re-election. He fully intends to abide by his promise to enact tax reform. Given his determination to reform social security, President Bush may be the most consequential President on domestic affairs since Franklin Delano Roosevelt."

We're inclined to agree.

Good news! Yassar Arafat is still dead!

It looks like the border patrol may be making slow, but desperately needed progress:

Border Patrol agents assigned to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) identified and arrested 23,502 persons with criminal records nationwide through a new biometric integrated fingerprint system...

During the three-month period this year, the agents identified and detained 84 homicide suspects, 37 kidnapping suspects, 151 sexual assault suspects, 212 robbery suspects, 1,238 suspects for assaults of other types, and 2,630 suspects implicated in dangerous narcotics-related charges.

One of Mexico's dirty little secrets is that it won't extradite its nationals to the US, even those accused of murder. It's quite common for Mexican nationals to commit crimes in, say Los Angeles, and then skip across the border. The trip only takes a couple hours of driving time. So until our good friends in the Mexican government get their act together, we can at least nab wanted criminals when they try to reenter the US.

Hezbollah TV loses satellite feed after being added to US terror list

Lest we forget, prior to 9/11 Hezbollah had killed more Americans in terror attacks than any other group.

Fingers crossed. This would be good news indeed:

Philippine authorities are investigating intelligence reports that the leader of the al-Qaeda linked Abu Sayyaf group has been killed in an air raid, a military official said today.

StrategyPage reported recently that this guy, Khadaffy Janjalani, was hiding out in an MILF controlled part of Mindanao.

This is great news:

German intelligence cracks terror group's codes

But wouldn't you think they'd want to keep it a secret?

We haven't read this story, but we like the title:

"American influence" is the great white whale of the 21st century.

Our post election analysis:

The other day our dog had trouble relieving himself. He'd apparently eaten something with long hair in it, so his poop was still stuck to his behind by perhaps 10 inches of hair. It created an effect something akin to tying tin cans to a dog's tail, and the only tool he had to free himself was his mouth.

As we watched him frantically run in circles trying to eat something out of his own ass, we couldn't help but think of the Democratic Party.