05/01 Morning Report

One bright spot in the legal arena came from SCOTUS yesterday. Police officers can end dangerous chases, while protecting human life, without fear of lawsuits. It would be nice if this would cut down on the number of frivolous lawsuits in America. I’m not holding my breath mind you. We live in a culture that says if I don’t get my way I can sue, cost everyone lots of money, time, and effort, win and probably never collect because no one can pay those kinds of fees. (…yeah I know…except corporations…) And, I do understand the rights of those who have legitimate grievances need to be upheld—which is the liberal lefties cry every time someone tries to place limits on these kinds of suits. What will it take for liberals to figure out this type of behavior is only bankrupting society financially, not to mention bankrupting our moral character.
(…there really is a time when personal responsibility has to count…)

On the subject of "personal responsibility", the Dumb Ox News had this report TFrench elections. Quoting the Ox, as he quotes the media...

" As a tough Interior Minister until last month, the ambitious Mr Sarkozy earned the dislike of many young people — especially those from the immigrant ghettos. His doctrines of radical economic reform and individual responsibility — never before aired by a senior French politician — have been welcomed by many as a revolution, but cast by opponents as divisive, cruel and unFrench."

French officals with doctrines of personal responsibility? And real economic reform?
(...no wonder the Leftists there have turned to viscious personal attacks...)

Speaking of legal swamps, immigration activists are at it again. A slate of demonstrations are in the works demanding more rights for ILLEGAL immigrants. I know all about what they bring in terms economics—the cost is higher than the benefit. I also really don’t see the legal ground for this. What it amounts to is public pressure. If there is enough public noise, they get what they want. Who cares about the rule of law? You might also check out yesterday's read by El Capitan as to what is really going on behind the scens of these rallies.
(…the left can scream all they want to about Bush doing this and that illegally…but the left still has to answer for stupidity like this…)

In economic news, to no one’s surprise I’m sure, Hugo Chavez is renationalizing the oil fields. The rules of accounting are going to cause some problems, though.

Negotiations are continuing about ongoing shareholdings and the possibility of compensation for the refineries.

Venezuela has only considered agreements based on the book value of the projects rather than their much larger current net worth.

Oil minister Rafael Ramirez has said that there may not be compensation at all in some cases.

Now, isn’t that special? But, what else would you expect from a dictator? A Left wing, communist dictator at that! He has also ordered his finance minister to withdraw Venezuela from the World Bank and the IMF.

Meanwhile, the Brits have released a report that says al-Qaeda’s leader in Iraq, Abu Ayyub al-Masri, was killed Tuesday in an internal squabble. However,

the authorities do not actually have al-Masri's corpse in their possession.

The US military says it has been unable to verify the claim.

It would be nice if this were true. Given the reported tensions between al-Qaeda and other Sunni groups, it would indicate deeper fractures—and maybe portend good news for the near future. The real problem is that eliminating the leadership will not be enough to stop the insurgency. That will take stable government and a working economy, among other things. But, developing those will take a weakening of the insurgency.
(…talk about a viscious catch-22…)