UNCLE SAM will see you next. And then (maybe) you can see a doctor.

TRUTHS WE DARE NOT SPEAK: Victor Davis Hanson on illegal immigration, Iraq, affirmative action, elitism, and the Middle East. Read it all.

BLAME THE COMPUTERS: White House budget director blames old computers for ineffective government.

Instapundit responds: “Funny, it seems the government was a lot more effective fifty or sixty years ago, when it hardly had any computers at all, but better people in charge ....”

Yes. It's the poor workman who blames his tools.

HEALTH CARE DELUSIONS. The problem is that the delusion might pass.

A COUNTERTERRORISM STRATEGY that needs fewer dots.

I rarely agree with Eugene Robinson, but he’s right on this one. Data mining, in the sense of finding out what did happen, is easy; data fusion, in the sense of figuring out what is going to happen, is hard.

CRITICAL THOUGHTS on critical thinking.

If you use an incorrect assumption when you evaluate something, your final conclusion may be flawed. If you allow your emotions to cloud your analysis, you risk making a biased decision. If you don't have all the facts, you may miss the best solution. And if you unthinkingly accept what you hear or read from other people, you risk being manipulated.

That's where critical thinking comes in.

Critical thinking is the discipline of rigorously and skillfully using information, experience, observation and reasoning to guide your decisions, actions and beliefs.

Sounds good, doesn’t it? Unfortunately, my experience leads me to conclude that critical thinking skills lead to navel gazing skills. Why not give common sense a try?

INSTAPUNDIT comments: “When those “Che” T-shirts become more than just obnoxious…”

HEH. I HAD FORGOTTEN about Senator Boxer dressing down Brig. Gen. Michael Walsh for calling her "ma'am." Chris Muir didn’t, and Don Surber noticed.

WHAT DO ISLAMIST TERRORISTS WANT? The answer should be obvious.

“Islam will be victorious through the blood of martyrs who spread its light in every dark corner of this earth.” ~ Mohammed Bouyeri

What the terrorists want is abundantly clear. It requires monumental denial not to acknowledge it, but we Westerners have risen to the challenge.

Via a comment from Hot Air.

HEH. Majority would vote against Obama re-election.

HOUSE SPEAKER NANCY PELOSI announced on Thursday that the final health care bill will be posted online for the public to view for 72 hours before the chamber votes on it

"The House Democratic Leadership is committed to having the final health insurance reform legislation online for 72 hours before the House votes, for all Members and the American people to review," Pelosi said in a statement released jointly with House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md. "We will continue the transparent process this landmark legislation has had for months."

No word yet from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., on whether he plans to follow the House on the 72-house public viewing.

Yes, and the Senate version that Harry Reid likely won’t post will contain the “manager’s amendment” completely altering the provisions of the House bill.

THESE DAYS, “Harvard-educated intellectual elite” is getting to be a pejorative. As a fellow cow-college graduate myself, I’m enjoying every moment.

Pass the popcorn.

JUSTICE DEPARTMENT rebuffs Panthers subpoena:

The Justice Department refused Tuesday to turn over most of the information and documents sought by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights explaining why a civil complaint was dismissed against members of the New Black Panther Party who disrupted a Philadelphia polling place in the November 2008 elections.

The commission had sought answers from the Justice Department on why a civil complaint against the New Black Panther Party and three of its members was dismissed after a federal judge in Philadelphia had ordered default judgments in the case.

Since a federal judge ordered a default judgment against the NBPP, one has to wonder what the administration is hiding.

HOLD THE SALT: NYC mayor Michael Bloomberg, in order to preserve, protect, and defend NYC residents’ obligation to remain healthy. has now added salt to his list of proscribed food.

Perhaps he should just dictate that NYC restaurants prepare only inedible food.

NOT THAT her column is all that great, but the imagery - a politician “felled by a flying sound bite” is spectacular.

What a way with words.

SURRENDER - it’s easier than fighting.

PANTEX LOCKDOWN: not good news, as Pantex is a nuclear weapons assembly/disassembly facility.

[Update] Apparently, just hunters too close to the site perimeter. Which is odd, since the land around Pantex is so flat a pancake would look hilly.

COGNITIVE DISSONANCE: “The unpopularity of the stimulus package, cap-and-trade legislation and the various health care bills probably surprised the congressional Democratic leaders who put them together and the president who, with surprising passivity, indicated he would sign them. After all, weren't these ways to spread the wealth to ordinary people, as Obama put it to Joe the Plumber?”

Uh, no. Americans prefer policies that enable and help them to amass wealth rather than those that purport to transfer someone else's wealth to them.

EDJUMAKATED TO RULE: an interesting series of posts by Instapundit on the overeducated ivy league elites who believe they’re destined to lead the great unwashed to a better place.

The David Brooks column that started it is here.

THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION should learn from Dominos.

It’s not a bad idea; paying attention to the customer might help to restore some of the administration’s luster.