Just finished a few days ago the paperback of Imperial Grunts by Robert D. Kaplan - a 5-star book I highly recommend - and reading that book only fuels my belief that if you support our troops, you need to read up on them.

You can start, for free, by reading Mattis on the Marines: Pendleton commander upbeat about morale, progress in Iraq in the North County Times.  If you know anybody who either is relative to or is a Marine, probably a wise thing to e-mail them a link to the story.

Iran is in the news a lot these days.  Most notably for their intent to develop Nuclear Weapons Power, but also because of their support of terrorists in Iraq, Lebanon, and Palestine.

Now, According to the Washington Post , Iran's Oil production is suffering from a lack of reinvestment:

(Roger Stern, an economic geographer at Johns Hopkins University) said oil production is declining and both gas and oil are being sold domestically at highly subsidized rates. At the same time, Iran is neglecting to reinvest in its oil production.

Iran produces about 3.7 million barrels a day, about 300,000 barrels below the quota set for Iran by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. The shortfall represents a loss of about $5.5 billion a year, Stern said. In 2004, Iran's oil profits were 65 percent of the government's revenue.

Coyote over at NW Republican (who we will forgive for the sin of being based in Oregon) has an excellent piece showing the obscene expense and absurd lies of the Light Rail crowd, regarding the MAX extension in Clackamas County.

But the same issues apply to Sound Transit…

By 2025, about 46,500 people are expected to board light rail every day between Clackamas Town Center and downtown Portland. About a third of those riders will travel within the section of the light-rail track that runs along I-205.

Do the math: 46,500 people, is Trimet speak for 46,500 boardings which is 23,250 people making round trips (you do have to get back home). 1/3 of those will travel "within the section of the light-rail track that runs along I-205." 1/3 of 23,250 is 7,750 people that Trimet projects by 2025, according to this report. So our headline number of 46,500 is really 7,750. This is called "transit math".

Speaking of Lies…

Bill Whittle over at Eject! Eject! Eject! has a great piece on the Slogans/Beliefs common on the Left of the spectrum, and the rebuttals for each.

Here's a couple of points, condensed for your reading pleasure:

The Chickenhawk argument

If you ever see this charge again, you may want to reflect that person’s own logical reasoning in the following fashion: You may not talk about education unless you are willing to become a teacher. You may not discuss poverty unless you yourself are willing to go and form a homeless shelter. How dare you criticize Congress unless you are willing to go out and get elected yourself? Your opinion on a National Health Care System is negated out of hand since you are unwilling to get a medical degree and open a clinic. And as far as your opinions regarding the Democratic Underground or The Huffington Post are concerned, well, you can just keep them to yourself, mister, unless you can produce an advanced degree in Abnormal Psychology and Narcissistic Personality Disorder.