NORTH KOREA: The Weekly Standard has a fine article on whether N. Korea is trustworthy.

THE AMERICANIZATION OF ISLAM?: Two good articles today on the subject. The prognosis is not optimistic.

DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATES: An article by Orlet outlines attempts by the Obama crew to stifle free speech. Continetti and Saunders also have good articles on the Democrats.

THE ECONOMY: I liked Hassett's article on the "Sale of the Century". Austin Hill repeats much of what we have heard previously about who is paying all the taxes, but still a good article.

AMERICA: The best article in some time tells why we should be worried about the future of America. I subscribe to most of these worries.

INTERNATIONAL COURTS: The author talks about the legalities of chasing terrorists into sovereign nations.

Have a great Sunday.

DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan (AP) – A suspected U.S. missile strike killed five tribesmen in a Pakistani town close to the Afghan border, the latest in a series of attacks in a region where top al Qaeda leaders are believed to be living, two intelligence officials said.

Seven years after the overthrow of the Taliban, the Bush administration is struggling to come up with a new strategy to salvage Afghanistan. In that effort, Gen. Dostum and the nation's 14 other warlords are a mixed blessing. Often corrupt and clinging to 14th–century notions of justice, they are an integral part of Afghanistan's past and present and are likely to remain so in the future.

PARIS (AP) – The French president's office says that a former member of the Italian left–wing Red Brigades terrorist group won't be extradited to Italy because of ill health.

COLOMBO, SRI LANKA (AP) – Separate battles between government forces and Tamil separatists across Sri Lanka's volatile northern region killed 30 rebels and two soldiers, the military said Sunday.

How is it that we find ourselves unable to dispatch the Taliban seven years after their downfall? Winning in Afghanistan requires us to understand the changed nature of the war we are fighting and to adapt our strategy appropriately. Simply killing militants is not enough.

The war in Afghanistan is no longer purely a counterterrorism effort against al Qaeda and the senior Taliban leadership. It bifurcated long ago, and its second branch is a counterinsurgency against a range of groups who are flouting both the central government and the traditional authority of village and tribal elders and moderate mullahs. Often well funded by the Taliban or other enemies of the Afghan government and the coalition, and sometimes incorporating foreign fighters, these groups use money and guns to recruit from the vast pool of illiterate young men who see only continued poverty in the village and tribal status quo. The militants find their opportunity in the unraveling of the social and economic fabric since the Soviet invasion.

Against this shifting alliance of convenience between well–funded extremists and local malcontents, the Afghan government is fighting for its life. Historically decentralized, Afghanistan is a polyglot state made up of myriad ethnic groups and tribes. The present collapse from within, therefore, will not likely be defeated from the top down. While building up the central government is important, that effort will be in vain without a complementary effort to build systems and institutions at the local level, which can eventually be connected to the national government.

SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA (AP) – North Korea said Sunday it will resume dismantling its main nuclear facilities, hours after the U.S. removed the communist country from a list of states Washington says sponsor terrorism.

The Bush administration has agreed to lift North Korea's designation as a state sponsor of terror despite the fact that the North Koreans did not sign any formal agreement obligating the rogue state to verifiably abandon its nuclear program, according to two sources with knowledge of the negotiations.

"There is no formal written agreement," says a former top Bush administration official. "The North Koreans haven't signed anything. We are taking them off the terrorist list based on oral understandings and clarifications. This isn't diplomacy, it's lunacy."

A senior adviser to Republican presidential nominee John McCain blasted the deal as a "delusion" and suggested that the administration is seeking agreements for their own sake, not because they make the country safer.

BAGHDAD (AP) – A car bomb exploded Sunday in a commercial street of southwestern Baghdad, killing seven people and wounding nine others, police said.

Assessing and debating how the Iraq war has been executed are frequent pastimes these days. This usually involves second guessing other people's motives and playing the "what if" game.

Imagine Dodger Stadium full of loud and whooping fans cheering on, not baseball, but your weekly stoning and flogging of adulterers, thieves and other errant citizens of southern California.

This is America under Islamic law, or Shari'a, a system that everyone should fear. Or so, Alan Kornman, director of the United American Committee (UAC) thinks. He continues to fundraise for a freeway billboard in Florida stating, "Shari'a Is Hate," to educate America before it's too late.

As Kornman argues, "under Shari'a law if you are accused of stealing, a hand and foot from opposite sides are amputated. If you are caught having an affair, the woman is stoned to death and the man is given 80 lashes. If you change religions, you can be charged under apostasy laws and given the death sentence by a legal Sharia court."

Islamists cannot tolerate open discussion of their faith and those who act in its name. We witness this phenomenon time and again from the Council on American–Islamic Relations (CAIR), which increasingly forgoes combat in the arena of ideas, preferring instead to intimidate or litigate opponents of the Islamist agenda into silence.

The latest example comes in response to the Clarion Fund distributing twenty–eight million DVDs of Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West via direct mail and newspaper supplements in September. The film exposes the teachings and consequences of Islamic extremism through media footage and commentary from experts, including Middle East Forum director Daniel Pipes.

CAIR has filed complaints with both the Federal Election Commission and Internal Revenue Service, alleging that the Clarion Fund, a nonprofit dedicated to raising awareness of national security issues, violated its tax–exempt status by using the DVD as an election prop in swing states. In its complaint to the FEC, CAIR wrote that "analysts say the distribution of the Obsession DVD was designed to benefit a particular presidential candidate, namely Sen. John McCain."

The town of Bayt Sahour spills down the hills to the east of Bethlehem, spreading out along ridges and valleys that mark the beginning of the long descent to the Dead Sea. Up the slopes the roads carve out twisting rivers of dirt and asphalt, wending their way through clusters of soft brown stone houses, but across the ridges they run straight and smooth.

At the end of one of these roads lies a hill called ‘Ush Ghurab, known to Israelis as Shdema, the name of the military base that sat on the summit until 2006. Today there are only a few hollowed–out buildings, thick concrete blocks with gaping windows and doorways set low behind earthen walls, to remind visitors of the previous occupants. On the northern slope, small pillboxes stare out vacantly over Bayt Sahour and Bethlehem.

DAMASCUS, SYRIA (AP) – Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Sunday the rift between his mainstream Palestinian faction and archrival Hamas must end. The Hamas leader, meanwhile, said the time is right for reconciliation.

SAN CARLOS, Mexico (AP) ––After making landfall over mainland Mexico, Norbert weakened Sunday from a hurricane to a tropical storm, weather officials said.

North Kingstown, R.I. –– Ann Burke saw signs of trouble with her daughter's boyfriend
He would incessantly call her at night, keep her from her family, and, ultimately, physically abuse her during a tumultuous relationship that ended with her death three years ago.

When it comes to national service and volunteerism, President Bush will be a tough act to follow.

Japan's new prime minister, Taro Aso, faces significant challenges in his first months in office. Forced to grapple with economic downturn and partisan political paralysis, Aso must quickly devise a realistic plan to reform Japan's economy and justify its global role if he and his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) are to survive.

VILNIUS, LITHUANIA (AP) – Two populist parties appeared poised for a strong showing Sunday in parliamentary elections that could usher in a governing coalition aligned more toward Russia than Europe.

KIEV | Ukraine's feuding leaders intensified their power struggle Saturday, with Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko seeking to undo President Viktor Yushchenko's decision to hold early parliamentary elections.

HARARE, Zimbabwe | Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, locked in a standoff with the opposition in power–sharing talks, laid claim Saturday to all key ministries as he tries to retain his iron grip on the struggling southern African nation.

* First, a “Where’s Waldo?” question: Where’s the fighting John McCain candidate from 2000 who said he was going to “beat Al Gore like a drum”?

* Tonight’s debate made my blood boil and I think it’s time the American public said, “We’re mad as hell and we’re not going to take it anymore.” No, I’m not talking about either of the candidates. I’m talking about the debates themselves.

* Every election cycle we get these stale, scripted glorified press conferences where the “rules” are determined by the candidates’ campaigns, not the voters who want to hear what they have to say. And according to the “rules,” the one thing the candidates aren’t ever seemingly allowed to do is…DEBATE his or her opponent. Hello?

Dear Mr. Schieffer:

You have an extraordinary opportunity that is rare in presidential politics. While every presidential debate is potentially pivotal, only rarely has one carried the potential that yours does to change the race in its closing days.

Both of the previous debates have been flawed. The first debate was supposed to be about foreign policy, but recent events led to the first half of the debate discussing the economy instead. The second debate was supposed to be a freewheeling townhall, but your colleague Tom Brokaw made it a stifling, over–structured affair that was anything but a townhall.

It's been a dopey campaign. But they usually are. In 1932, Franklin Roosevelt ran on balancing the budget and cutting government spending. In 1940, it was preserving U.S. neutrality in the European war. In 1960, on the cusp of a decade of fundamental change in race relations and the size and scope of the government, John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon spent a lot of time debating a nonexistent missile gap and Quemoy and Matsu. In 2000, the issue of Islamic terrorism was barely mentioned by George W. Bush or Al Gore.

This isn't a criticism of America or of its democracy. Other countries are no better. And it's not as if our elites are any more far–seeing than our politicians. Election campaigns––like intellectual debates––tend to be past– and present–oriented. But sometimes the past and present are of limited use as guides to the future.

With just a little more than three weeks to go before America goes to the polls to elect the next president, Barack Obama maintains a lead in the polls. To use a Richard Nixon phrase from election night in 1960, “if the trend continues…” he will be our next president. And he will most likely be working with an overwhelmingly Democratic Congress.

But will the trend really continue? Can the momentum in this roller coaster race shift back to McCain? Might Obama be peaking too early?

Most Americans wake every morning to news that Barack Obama will win next month’s presidential election. Strategists even say the word “landslide” aloud.

Every poll shows it, every pundit echoes it, and every analyst predicts it – therefore it must be true, right?

In the twisted realm of obfuscatory politics, nuances mean a lot. And few places are more twisted than here in Missouri where there has been a kerfuffle over what the top prosecutors in St. Louis city and St. Louis county are up to. It all started with a recent report by St. Louis' CBS affiliate KMOV, which the reporter now claims has been "twisted."

The newsman, John Mills, reported that some Missouri sheriffs, prosecutors and law–enforcement officials have formed "Obama Truth Squads" charged with going after anyone who makes false or misleading claims about their candidate. Intended or not, the report gave the distinct impression that these elected officials –– including prosecutors from St. Louis, Dunklin, Lafayette, Cass, Clay, Ripley, Audrain and Jackson counties –– were going to "hold accountable" Obama critics who "violate ethics laws," but do nothing about McCain's opponents who do the same. Speaking as members of the Obama Truth Squad, the two top prosecutors said "they plan to respond immediately to any ads or statements that might violate Missouri ethics laws."

We have seen many changes in this great nation which have been brought about by left wing activists. As kids, we used to say the Pledge of Allegiance. Now, it's being attacked in the courts. We used to say a prayer in the morning before school or at football games. Socialists in America have deemed that "offensive" and the practice has all but disappeared. Christmas displays honoring the birth of Christ trigger convulsions by the Left, who say that we shouldn't make people feel "uncomfortable" with our manger scenes.

Now, we can't even say what we want to say in public because not only will the thought police be on patrol, but, using a recent event in Florida as an example, saying "Hussein Obama" in public might just get you a visit from the FBI. Just ask Florida's Lee County Sheriff Mike Scott who is under fire –– and investigation –– for referring to Obama at a campaign rally by his –– gasp –– full name. What is going on with America?

Hello and welcome to Advanced Obamanomics at WEEKLY STANDARD U. If you are in this class, you have passed Remedial Rubinomics, Identity and Globalization in the Works of Barack Obama, and Introduction to Contemporary Religion with Professor Jeremiah Wright. Also, your check has cleared. Congratulations.

As noted in the syllabus, the required reading for today's class includes The Audacity of Hope pp. 220–257; Obama's March 27, 2008, speech in New York City on "Renewing the American Economy"; Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein's Nudge; David Leonhardt's indispensable August 24, 2008, New York Times magazine article "Obamanomics," from which the title of this class is drawn; and Robert Kuttner's Obama's Challenge.

Now, most of your classmates probably spent last night experimenting with the booze luge they had constructed out of plywood and a bag of crushed ice. You, however, made it through the required reading without––and this is no small feat––falling asleep. This means that there is a bright future in store for you at either the Bureau of Labor Statistics or the Congressional Budget Office. Good thing you didn't miss this incredible opportunity by going to last night's underwear party, getting wasted, and setting a couch on fire.

Since this is a conservative institution with the highest academic standards, each class will begin with a quiz. Who said the following?

The race card is back.

After Tuesday night's debate, Washington party–crossover dean David Gergen announced it was "too early" to declare victory for Democrat Barack Obama, not because the election is a month away, but because "Obama is black."

After GOP running mate Sarah Palin criticized Obama for seeing America as "imperfect enough that he's palling around with terrorists who would target their country," an Associated Press story suggested that "her attack was unsubstantiated and carried a racially tinged subtext that John McCain himself may come to regret."

One of the perhaps most confusing sub–texts of the 2008 election has been the curious and in some cases surprising support that the candidates have and have not received from evangelical Christians. But if one looks at the record, and not merely the high rhetoric one thing for certain should be easily distinguishable – Barack Obama's record of votes, his view of government, and the ideas to which he aligns himself do not match the values, principles, and truths for biblical Christians.

Waukesha, Wisconsin
At a town hall in this conservative suburb of Milwaukee last Thursday, a middle–aged man took the microphone and claimed to speak for the 4,000 others gathered in a gymnasium to hear from John McCain and Sarah Palin.

"Everyone here is tickled at what you're doing for us," he said. "We're all wondering why Obama is where he's at––how he got here. Everybody in this room is stunned that we're in this position! We're all products of our associations! Is there not a way to get around this media and line up the people that he has hung with?"

The crowd roared its approval.

The United States' foreign policy and strategic interests in the Americas have been unchanged: it has sought economic and political stability through the promotion of trade and democracy; tended to its sometimes troubled border with Mexico; and sought to suppress the production and transit of illicit narcotics. Since the end of the Cold War (during which Soviet proxies sowed instability in the region), the promising strides made by democratic, free–market governments lulled U.S. policy makers who were distracted by events in post–Soviet–dominated Europe and an emerging Asia. U.S. engagement in the last decade has been "workmanlike," with President George W. Bush showing innate interest in the Americas. But it took the provocations of Hugo Chávez to stir the public consciousness in a new appraisal of U.S. foreign policy and strategic interests in play in the Americas. . . .

In his opening remarks at this conference, David O'Sullivan, Director General, DG Trade, stated somewhat plaintively that the EU stood "virtually alone" in its concern regarding the deleterious effects of the increasing use of restrictive measure on the export of raw materials (defined in the wider sense of not only primary resources such as metals and commodities but also secondary products such as wood, hides, chemicals, ceramics or agricultural goods). His candid confession mirrored my own reaction when I was asked to make a presentation on potential trade tools for a strategy regarding the export of raw materials. Though I follow international trade policy quite closely, I––and I think this is true of most U.S. trade analysts––was only dimly aware of the scope and magnitude of the emerging problems. And that indeed constitutes the starting point for this presentation: having checked with U.S. public officials and representatives from the private sector, I think it is clear that these issues have yet to attain a high priority in the United States (though this may change soon). But as Mr. O'Sullivan also stated: the EU has its work cut out for it in building a coalition to combat the distortive impacts of raw material export restrictions.

Americans thirsty for a drop of good economic news have found something they can top off their tanks with: cheaper gas.

The crash unfolding on Wall Street is not just the fall of once–mighty banks and corporations that took on too much debt, but the collapse of an American economy and lifestyle that for decades has been purchased with credit cards.

Cohoes, N.Y. –– The number of Americans whose electricity or gas has been shut off for nonpayment of their bills is up sharply in many parts of the country as people struggle to cope with higher prices and a shaky economy.

Henry Paulson has been granted broad authority to purchase troubled assets. Now it’s time for him to buy, buy, buy.

In the end, the financial rescue legislation was deeply flawed—but Congress was right to pass it. Many commentators referred to it as a “bailout” of Wall Street. In fact, the bill was even worse than that: the federal government allocated $700 billion of public resources to ensure that Wall Street would not self–destruct and take Main Street down with it.

As a country, we have a relatively low savings rate. We rely on debt to fund our excesses. That makes us heavily dependent on money lenders. Those intermediaries use our best obligations, the mortgages on our homes, as collateral for complicated securities sold to entities with opaque balance sheets. As house prices have declined, some of our fellow citizens have walked away from their obligations, reducing the worth of mortgage–backed securities. Investors have recoiled in the face of elevated uncertainty, pushing the value of those securities well below the economic loss associated with elevated defaults.

Last Friday, the House's passage of a revised financial bailout bill capped a week of intense discussion about what congressional actions were needed to help remedy the country's recent economic troubles. An examination of the House and Senate roll calls on the bill indicates that politics helped to inform many congressmen's and senators' votes; for instance, many members in competitive districts voted against the bill because of the strong public outcry against it. But how will votes for or against the bill be interpreted in the long run? At this point, it is hard to know whether those who supported or opposed the bill will be seen as more prescient with regards to the country’s economic course.

"If you subsidize something, you get more of it."
–Ronald Reagan

Everybody knows that incentives impact behavior. Parents provide allowances to get children to do their chores, businesses offer bonuses to motivate employees to reach their goals, and governments offer subsidies to encourage businesses to locate in their communities.

Positive incentives aimed at encouraging certain behaviors are called "carrots." Negative incentives aimed at deterring other behaviors are called "sticks." Everybody—from businesses to ballplayers—responds to incentives. Since they do, we need to be careful with their use and application, lest we produce grave unintended consequences.

Recent financial data indicate that the current default risk for financial assets is drastically overestimated by the bond market. The difference between the rate that prominent banks pay each other in order to borrow money and the three month U.S. Treasury rate is at its highest point since the mid–1980s. This spread, known as the "TED spread," implies that even blue chip financial firms have an extremely high risk of defaulting. Consequently, bargain hunters will soon recognize the opportunity to profit from these unreasonable risk scenarios.

In the 14th century, the Black Death hit Italian shores and quickly spread. People panicked, sought causes, tried to find someone to blame.

Today, American finance goes into crisis, and the crisis quickly spreads. People (particularly politicians) panic, seek causes, someone to blame.

In medieval Europe, they rounded up the usual suspects: First the Jews, then the heretics, then witches. Not even cats were safe (according to some accounts) since, as “everyone knew,” cats were witches’ “familiars.” Members of these groups were killed in great numbers, burned at the stake, hung, thrown into bogs. It was not pleasant.

Is American capitalism becoming a thing of the past? No, not hardly. Evidence to the contrary can be found in the strangest places – – even within the presidential campaign of Senator Barack Obama.

First the bad news. In the past two weeks, American stocks have lost approximately 25% of their value. In dollar terms, we‘re talking about a loss of roughly $3.16 trillion, which is more than four times the controversial $700 billion “rescue” plan that the United States Congress hesitantly approved a few days ago.

Additionally, none of the moves made by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson have produced their desired outcomes, at least not yet. The money markets remain “frozen,” and the free–flow of credit has not yet resumed.

U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell voted against the financial rescue bill, as did only eight other Senate Democrats. Though soundly outvoted, Cantwell's reason is worth hearing: that in saving financial giants, public money could better be used to inject new equity rather than buying old assets.

Many people feel that public money should not be used to save big companies at all, and that is how we feel about it. But in the disaster at hand, we set our feelings aside. Too much is at stake. Government has to do what it can.

As shell–shocked central bankers and finance ministers gather in Washington to confront the world's financial meltdown this weekend, that grinding noise in the background is the sound of the global balance of power shifting.

Washington – –– A controversial deal between the federal government and the nation's largest private landowner could increase residential development of forests around the country, according to congressional investigators.

Just two weeks ago, a book on economic policy was released that will be a classic for the ages. Entitled The End of Prosperity, by Art Laffer, Steve Moore, and Peter J. Tanous, the book explains in full detail the economic disaster that will befall America if it takes a sharp left turn to neo–socialism under the leadership of the far left President Barack Obama, the ultraleft Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid with 60 liberal Democrat Senators, and their pal the ultraliberal Howard Dean heading the Democrat party.