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Army sergeant and rescued Taliban prisoner Bowe Bergdahl has been caught up in a web of conspiracy theories and political noise since his handover in Afghanistan early last month, but those who know him are rejecting suggestions that he was a "a calculating deserter." The Washington Post today published excerpts from Bergdahl's journal, which he mailed along with a laptop and his copy of Atlas Shrugged, to his close friend Kim Harrison just before leaving his post and getting captured in the summer of 2009. "Trying to keep my self togeather," he wrote, mixing philosophical musings and misspellings. "I'm so...

The occupy movement is circling back on itself with the announcement of the final prosecution of protester Cecily McMillian. Sentenced to three months for elbowing a police officer, those within and without the movement are wondering where they go from here and what it all means. The founders of the movement have moved from cities into the country, and are organizing to occupy the polls to rout out corruption. However, there are questions within the confines of the Electoral College as to how much change this focus can produce. One element of the occupy movement from its headquarters in Zuccotti...

The trouble with proclaiming 'victory' over the crisis in Spain (read the whole of Europe) and the ECB enabling governments profligacy with the ghost of OMT future is that it merely emboldens. As Al Jazeera reports, Madrid's garbage collectors have been on strike since November 5 to protest layoffs and pay cuts. With garbage piling up on the streets of Madrid, the mayor issued private trash-collecting companies an ultimatum on Wednesday: end the street cleaners' strike or lose their contracts. More than 30,000 residents have signed a petition to the defense minister asking for the streets to be cleaned....

President Obama promised he would unite the world…and he’s right.Representatives from dozens of nations have bitterly complained about an awful piece of legislation, called the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), that was enacted back in 2010.They despise this unjust law because it extends the power of the IRS into the domestic affairs of other nations. That’s an understandable source of conflict, which should be easy to understand. Wouldn’t all of us get upset, after all, if the French government or Russian government wanted to impose their laws on things that take place within our borders?But it’s not just foreign...

Jean-Marc Ayrault's outburst came after France's best-known actor, Gerard Dépardieu, took up legal residence in a small village just over the border in Belgium, alongside hundreds of other wealthy French nationals seeking lower taxes. "Those who are seeking exile abroad are not those who are scared of becoming poor," the prime minister declared after unveiling sweeping anti-poverty measures to help those hit by the economic crisis. These individuals are leaving "because they want to get even richer," he said. "We cannot fight poverty if those with the most, and sometimes with a lot, do not show solidarity and a bit...

What is the possibility of American producers (manufacturing, agriculture, transportation, retail, etc.) "Going Galt" after Jan. 1 if the tax rates soar as Obama wants? The Bamster is so arrogant that he thinks he can merely order it (already proposed DOUBLE the original 800 Billion tax increase) and it will be so. But what if the people it affects the most (i.e. producers) just shut down their businesses? Gas stations closed, supermarkets closed, little or no transportation, etc. The result would be not only the American economy grinding to a halt but outright panic. Of course, the ONLY way to...

South Carolina U.S. Senator Jim DeMint will replace Ed Feulner as president of the Heritage Foundation. Mr. DeMint will leave his post as South Carolina's junior senator in early January to take control of the Washington think tank, which has an annual budget of about $80 million. Sen. DeMint's departure means that South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, a Republican, will name a successor, who will have to run in a special election in 2014. In that year, both Mr. DeMint's replacement and Sen. Lindsey Graham will be running for reelection in South Carolina.

If the Obammunists are planning on building their paradise  with my wallet, they're in for some disappointment... What exactly is 'Going Galt'? Think of it as a supply-side Cloward-Piven strategy... starve the beast, rather than milk-it-dry: 'Going Galt' doesn't simply mean getting angry. That would be "Going Postal." It means having righteous indignation at the injustice of a political system that bails out individuals and institutions for irresponsible behavior and at the expense of those like you who prosper through hard work and personal responsibly. 'Going Galt' means asking in the face of new taxes and government controls, "Why work at all?" "For whom am...

I believe conservatives should be preparing for what is less than 3 months away. We need to be in the political fight with our resources, not wasting on entertainment, vacations to blue states and cities, consumer goods like IPhone. One, if Obama is reelected do you think any of those things are going to matter. Two, be preparing for the huge tax increase that is coming so why would you want to buying Christmas gifts with credit cards 20% interest rates especially in October. I'm talking about spending on needs not wants, if something breaks and you have to fix...

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: Okay, from Breitbart: "23% of Small Business Owners Went a Year Without Pay -- Barack Obama has said the private sector is doing fine. Tell that to small business owners; a new survey by Citigroup shows that 23% of small business owners have gone more than a year without pay. The study also says that 54% of them have gone without at least one paycheck; 38% of them said their employees had worked overtime without being compensated; and 18% of them had been unable to make a paycheck for their employees at least once. "During recent years,...

Main Street Bank lends most of its money to small businesses and is earning decent profits. But the Kingwood, Texas, bank is about to get out of the banking business. In an extreme example of the frustration felt by many bankers as regulators toughen their oversight of the nation's financial institutions, Main Street's chairman, Thomas Depping, is expected to announce Wednesday that the 27-year-old bank will surrender its banking charter and sell its four branches to a nearby bank. Mr. Depping plans to set up a new lender that will operate beyond the reach of banking regulators—and the deposit-insurance safety...

A blogger named David McElroy recently wrote of a Birmingham (Alabama) businessman who, after listening to a room full of moochers and leeches piss whine and moan about the evils of business, publicly threw in the towel regarding his attempt to open a new coal mine. David compared what happened to a scene right out of “Atlas Shrugged” and then mused, “But I wonder how long it’s going to be before businesspeople really do start walking away and deciding it’s not worth doing business in America today. Or is it already happening and we just don’t know it?” Well, David,...

If it had been a scene in “Atlas Shrugged,” the guy would have disappeared into the secrecy of Colorado with a shadowy figure who we would later learn to be John Galt. In real life, the story will probably be more complex. But I wonder how long it’s going to be before businesspeople really do start walking away and deciding it’s not worth doing business in America today. Or it it already happening and we just don’t know it? The man you see in the picture at the right is named Ronnie Bryant. He operates coal mines in Alabama. I’d...

Ayn Rand died 29 years ago, yet her legacy thrives. A film based on her most well-known novel ‘Atlas Shrugged’ premieres on April 15, traditionally known as Tax Day in the U.S. Perhaps because of the film premiere or perhaps because of the current political climate, Rand is being discussed, debated and in some instances, despised all over again. Gone missing from commentary on RandI noted comments on a left-leaning message board where someone had posted a link to an article at The US Report about a billboard many people see on I-95 as they drive south. The billboard asks...

Then I asked the crowd of tea partiers who they were. I asked them to raise their hands when I called out Republican, Democrat, Independent, and Constitutionalist. They did and then I told them that it was extremely important that all parties work together to root out the Marxist Moonbats who had taken over DC. Then I gave a quick overview of the Book Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand.

MOUNT DORA — A doctor who considers the national health-care overhaul to be bad medicine for the country posted a sign on his office door telling patients who voted for President Barack Obama to seek care "elsewhere." "I'm not turning anybody away — that would be unethical," Dr. Jack Cassell, 56, a Mount Dora urologist and a registered Republican opposed to the health plan, told the Orlando Sentinel on Thursday. "But if they read the sign and turn the other way, so be it." The sign reads: "If you voted for Obama … seek urologic care elsewhere. Changes to your...

Limbaugh Vows to Leave US Over Health Care (March 9) -- Radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh has thrown down the gauntlet. If the U.S. Congress passes health care reform, Limbaugh will leave the country to receive his medical treatment. Specifically, Limbaugh told a caller that he envisions traveling to Costa Rica should the government, through a federal program costing upwards of $1 trillion, expand health care coverage to approximately 30 million Americans who are currently uninsured. Costa Rica, as it happens, offers universal heath care to all of its residents. Limbaugh's guarantee is but the latest variation of what...

Has the AIG CEO Robert Benmosche, just three months into the job, had enough? The Wall Street Journal scoops the field this morning with news from inside the AIG board room that Benmosche has informed the board "he is considering stepping down as chief executive of the government-controlled insurer." Benmosche dropped the bomb last week, saying he was "done." According to the Journal's sources, Benmosche "is chafing under constraints imposed by AIG's government overseers, particularly a recent compensation review by the Obama administration's pay czar, Kenneth Feinberg." He's not quite out the door yet, though. He agreed to think over...

The headline in Investor’s Business Daily, Sept. 16, 2009: “45% of Doctors Would Consider Quitting If Congress Passes Health Care Overhaul.” The headline in the Boston Globe, Sept. 28, 2009: “States risk it, raise tax on rich.” The problem with four of nine U.S. doctors saying they “would consider leaving their practice or taking an early retirement” is that “the number of doctors is already lagging population growth,” reports IBD. Add millions of new patients to a shrinking supply of doctors and the obvious result is an English-style queue, longer waits in pain, and a centrally directed rationing of service....

The resistance is well underway. Affluent Americans – defined as the top 20 percent of U.S. households by income – spent about 10 percent less in 2008 than they did in 2007, according to a study by luxury-goods researcher Unity Marketing. And those households with incomes of $250,000 or more are cutting back on spending even more than all affluent households overall. 54 percent of these consumers are spending even less in 2009 than in 2008. Those $250,000+ earners, threatened and demonized by President Obama, are retaliating with their most powerful and damaging weapon: not spending. It is a quiet,...