Show of Bipartisanship on Energy Tax Credit A bipartisan group of 42 senators is urging President Bush to extend renewable energy tax credits for five years when he sends Congress his fiscal 2008 budget in early February. In a letter to the president, the lawmakers pointed out that the tax incentive for renewable energy outlined in the Energy Policy Act of 2005 is set to expire Dec. 31, 2008 – not enough time to stimulate much-needed development of new renewable energy sources. “In...

Hat Tip: Dr. Barnett Report: China weighs covert ops to overthrow North Korea’s Kim China has begun drawing up plans to attack North Korea, according to the Paris-based Intelligence Online newsletter. Hu Jintao, head of the Central Military Commission, has ordered the Chinese military to draw up the attack plan as a move “deliberately meant as a threat to the regime of Kim Jong-Il.” The report said the plan was leaked to sources close to Western intelligence in Hong Kong. The action...

Florida pols find center field Looks like the political middle is going to be crowded in 2007. Gov.-elect Charlie Crist’s centrist approach to leadership is suddenly catching on with fellow Republicans, perhaps another sign that Gov. Jeb Bush’s my-way-or-the-highway style is waning. House Speaker Marco Rubio and Senate President Ken Pruitt last week gave Democrats unprecedented access — at least on paper — to power in both chambers, showing the GOP is ready to share after...

In a stimulating article in the Washington Post, Daniel Drezner outlines the challenge of creating a modern conception for US Foreign Affairs. He surveys classic policies such as Kennan’s containment of Communism and newer attempts, such as the Princeton Project, to account for a flatter and more competitive world. What is needed he says, in essence, is a unified theory of everything. Here are some nuggets: …Ethical realists do not disdain democracy or human rights, but think that...

Hardliners fail to sweep Iran vote, Candidates allied to Ahmadinejad have failed to sweep the polls Candidates allied to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran’s president, have failed to score a resounding victory over moderate forces in twin Iranian elections, according to initial results. Voting for the Assembly of Experts, the body that chooses the supreme leader, and the Tehran city council concluded on Saturday. Centrist cleric Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani appeared to have sprung a surprise by reaping...

Are Democrats ready to embrace the center in the Culture War? by Bruce Wilson This article reflects my observation that the Democrats, with the leadership of Rahm Emanuel and Charles Schumer, have strategically moved towards the center to capture the support of Middle America. “…In many cases it was the first time in decades that voters could vote for a Democrat who was pro-life, against legalization of same-sex marriage, supportive of responsible firearm ownership, comfortable talking...

This is the plan that most reflects the President’s point of view: Choosing Victory: A Plan for Success in Iraq In the coming weeks, after meeting with top officials, military commanders on the ground in Iraq, and Iraq’s vice president Tariq al-Hashemi, President George W. Bush will address the nation to lay out a new strategy in Iraq. On Thursday, Frederick W. Kagan and Gen. Jack Keane (U.S. Army, ret.) presented a new AEI study, “Choosing Victory: A Plan for Success in Iraq,”...

The Wall Street Journal reports that Former Clinton administration economist Jason Furman will become the new director of The Hamilton Project, a year-old effort of the Brookings Institution to promote a centrist economic strategy. Named for Alexander Hamilton, the nation’s first Treasury secretary, the project is better known for its association with his modern successor, Clinton Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin, a founder and funder. Peter Orszag, the project’s founding director a...

Three guys decide to play a round of golf: a priest, a psychologist, and an economist. They get behind a *very* slow two-some, who, despite a caddy, are taking all day to line up their shots and four-putting every green, and so on. By the 8th hole, the three men are complaining loudly about the slow play ahead and swearing a blue streak. The priest says, “Holy Mary, I pray that they should take some lessons before they play again.” The psychologist says, “I swear there are people...

Congressman Tom Price of Georgia writes on The Hill Blog: “>Democrats Have a Difficult Time With the Truth Hypocrisy reigns in the legislative process. The 110th Congress has yet to begin, but Democrats are putting in place plans to deny Republicans the opportunity to fully participate in the legislative process. Their claims of having the “most open and honest government in historyâ€? appear to be nothing more than election year rhetoric. During the Democrats’ 100-Hour...

“>An independent commission yesterday proposed dramatic changes that would shake up American public education in an effort to make the nation more competitive globally. The recommendations include authorizing school districts to pay companies to run all their schools; enrolling many students in college after the 10th grade; and paying teachers about $100,000 annually. The New Commission on the Skills of the American Workforce — a bipartisan panel that includes former Cabinet secretaries...

I came across these reasonable comments from Paul Helmke, a former Republican mayor of Fort Wayne, Ind., and the new president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence: …Concerns for gun violence prevention and public safety should not be categorized as pro-gun versus anti-gun. What’s “anti-gunâ€? about wanting background checks to make sure that those with criminal records aren’t buying guns legally? What’s “anti-gunâ€? about restricting bulk sales...

“>Judge upholds detainee rights terror law A federal judge upheld the Bush administration’s new terrorism law Wednesday, agreeing that Guantanamo Bay detainees do not have the right to challenge their imprisonment in U.S. courts. Just because we can withhold their day in court, I don’t think we should. It seems to me that we have more to gain by demonstrating to the world our respect for justice than persecuting these folks just because we can. If the problem is that tactical...

I had made a comment about Lebanon in one of the posts and a more informed reader corrected my facts. I asked if they would be interested in summarizing the situation in Lebanon for TMV. Here is an excerpt and a link to a Lebanon overview The ousting of Syria was an unacceptable blow to Iran and Syria . When the now independent government asked the world court to investigate the killing of Prime Minister Hariri and other Anti-Syrian politicians, Hezbollah , Syria and Iran became very nervous as...

In Praising Speaker Pelosi, Dick Morris cites an example of the kinds of controversies she will encounter: Pelosi now faces the challenge of whether to let West Virginia Democratic Congressman Alan Mollohan head the Appropriations subcommittee, which oversees the FBI, an organization which plans to spend part of the money Mollohan lets them have investigating Mollohan! Formerly the ranking Democrat on the House ethics committee — until his scandals forced him to step down — Mollohan...

Time For Bi-partisan Consensus on Tax Reform Two former communications directors at OMB, one for Bush II and one for Clinton, argued for bi-partisan tax code reform this week in the Baltimore Sun. Noam Neusner and Lawrence J. Haas said the time is ripe for a consensus that would lower federal income tax rates and broaden the tax base. Politically, tax reform would broaden the budget debate. By promising lower tax rates on a broader base of income, tax reform would enable Congress to eliminate special-interest...

Congressman Barney Frank is taking some flak from Progressive writer David Sirota about his thoughts on a grand bargain between Business and Labor. What I understand Rep Frank to have said is that he wanted to explore some collaboration to improve workers conditions and benefits in exchange for lightening regulations on business. Sirota, a passionate writer and devoted Progressive writes “that politicians will often move to the right unless there are strong, consistent progressive voices...

Political Insider reports: 435 More Blogs …The Committee on House Administration announced that it is making software available to allow congressmen to create their own blogs on the official House of Representatives servers. I am looking forward to putting the blogs of the Leadership and Committee Chairman into my blog aggregator. I like getting my information closer to the source.

Oil and the New Anti-Capitalist Fareed Zakaria helps to put oil into perspective in this Newsweek Column. All the growth sectors, from technology to services, are powered by the grid, not gasoline. What will feed this grid—coal, nuclear power or new technologies—is another large subject, but one thing is certain: it will not be oil. …Oil will go from being the lifeblood of the industrial world to just one of many sources of energy. After a century and a half, oil will be put...

This article reads like a play by play of our midterm elections. From Arab News: Ahmadinejad May Be Heading for His First Major Political Defeat While trying to project his image as a world leader offering an alternative to “American hegemony”, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of the Islamic Republic of Iran may be heading for his first major political defeat at home. In fact, some analysts in Tehran expect his defeat to be so decisive as to puncture the super-inflated image created by his...

“>Prime Minister Tony Blair has long hinted that he harbours doubts about the ideology of multi-culturalism that has done so much to divide one British person from another. Recently, he finally expressed those doubts – plainly enough to infuriate both professional multi-culturalists in the public sector and the Muslim Association of Britain, which described his remarks as “alarming”. One of the distinctions many of us are learning about Iraq is that it seems that most...

Thomas Barnett grasps the importance of this breakthrough on sharing oil revenues in Iraq: Previous deal said central gov got all revenue to distribute from existing fields, but future ones left to individual groups (Kurds, Sunnis, Shiia). That had the Kurds pushing hard to attract their own Foreign Direct Investment into the industry. Yes, it would have come, but it will come much faster if outside companies feel like they’re not walking into a Balkans-like situation (we seem to be doing...

Slate reports that New York City is banning Trans fats (Vegetable oils made solid by adding Hydrogen) because they lead to poor health. I imagine that most restaurants will go back to Saturated fats (from animals) that are still allowed. Some restaurants argue that their food will not taste the same. It seems to me that much of the same aim could be accomplished while also respecting the freedom of choice by merely raising the tax on Trans fats so that they are more expensive than the alternative....

The Straight Path is a blog about Islam by Ruth Nasrullah. Ruth made a comment on TMV and I wanted to raise the profile of this welcome voice to public discussions of Islam. Her latest post is Muslims who condemn terror …one of my readers suggested a response to the widely-held but inaccurate opinion that Muslims in this country do not condemn terror. He said that a petition from thousands of Muslims speaking out against terrorism might have an effect. Although I can’t provide exactly...

This is a bit of encouraging news. And a good example of reaching out to adversaries. Two Koreas join forces for 2014 bid BRUSSELS (Reuters) – North and South Korea are joining forces to secure the 2014 Winter Olympics after the two sides reached an unprecedented joint agreement to back the bid of South Korean city Pyeongchang, officials said on Friday.