House Keeping

My mailbox is jammed with stories requiring comment so I'm going rapid fire to remove some clutter. Here we go:

• Democrats think targeting graft will help their electoral chances; they've forgotten those in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.
• Campaign finance is such a tricky issue even the Supreme Court isn't sure what's legal (they delayed a ruling on advertisements last Monday)
• The new Drug Benefit is confusing to 52% of respondents in an AP-Ipsos poll (polls stink, the framing of the question matters most).
• Canada doesn't like exit polls being released during a vote.
• Factions of insurgent groups in Iraq are beginning to breakaway from violence and are throwing their hats into politics. Ex. Nationalists (insurgents) in Ramadi formed an alliance against Al Qaeda after a bomb killed 80 people.
• "Every human life has value, that the strong have a duty to protect the weak and that the self-evident truths of the Declaration of Independence apply to everyone, not just to those considered healthy or wanted or convenient," said the POTUS on the 33rd anniversary of Roe v. Wade.
• "We've got to get quickly on a track to energy independence from foreign oil, and that means, among other things, going back to nuclear power," Sen. McCain said.
• NYT - Rebuilding Iraq is difficult. Such clairvoyance!
• Hamas said they will not change: no recognition of Israel, no negotiations, no renunciation of terror (1/28/2006, this is fluid).
• And lastly, "Study Finds Rich-Poor Income Gap Growing." If you were to repeat that statement, you'd be borrowing a talking point from the left, but try digging a little deeper. The figures are provided by two left-leaning think tanks, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and the Economic Policy Institute. This does not disqualify the information, it just requires care in interpretation. The richest American 1/5 saw a 59% increase in their pay over the past 20 years. The poorest 1/5 saw a 19% increase while the middle 1/5 saw 28% increases. Sounds like an 'Exponential Capital Expansion Curve' to me. I'm not sure 'Exponential Capital Expansion Curve' is a real term, but I think it's self-explanatory.

There! One mailbox is almost empty and the other... is for another day.