Politics in Short

The Meaning of Dictator

I said it over at QandO and I'll say it here, anyone who takes offense at calling Hugo Chavez a dictator doesn't know what the word means. Chavez has been given the power to rule Venezuela by decree. That is a textbook dictatorship.

Fairness Doctrine

This is all about the left trying to castrate right-wing talk radio. But that doesn't make it smart for the left. The success of right-wing talk is largely the result of the perceived (and now documented) left-wing slant from the mainstream media. It is the result of market forces in much the same way that the think tanks meet the academic needs that universities served on the left. Re-instituting the fairness doctrine they are handing the government not just the ability to crush talk radio, but also to do wholesale meddling with mainstream news reporting. Lefties, do you really want to give the Bush administration that sort of mandate?

Action in Iraq

The numbers being killed and captured in Baquba are only about 50% of the expected numbers of insurgents. The media says this is bad. Anyone in the know realizes that inflicting 50% attrition on your enemy is pretty damn good. Losing 10% of your force is bad and 30% is crippling. Only 50%?