So while Linda McMahon is a flip-flopping opportunist, Peter Schiff has always preached fiscal restraint and small government and his long career provides ample evidence he will follow through on his word. He will work to shrink government, stop the bailouts and endless debt-financed spending. He will work to protect the Constitution. He’ll help to get an audit of the Federal Reserve (something Linda knows little if anything about). He opposed the Iraq War at the time

Scott Horton from Antiwar.com explains why there’s no reason to go to war with Iran. Aside by the fact that all 16 U.S. intelligence agencies are on record saying Iran is not attempting to build a nuclear weapon and the difference between enriched industrial uranium and enriched weapons grade uranium is something like 3.6% to 90% and more (which is no small difference), a war with Iran could mean the end of the United States.

A federal audit of $9.1 billion targeted for reconstruction in Iraq cannot account for more than 95 percent of it, a federal report said Tuesday.

The idea is still, nonetheless, ridiculous. So I was happy to see an article by Senate candidate Peter Schiff lampooning the idea of war being good for an economy (and stimulus in general) in his latest column Why Not Have Another World War. World War is key because obviously the two wars we’re fighting now “are simply too small.”

Consider the following hypothetical situation. Let’s say it was the federal government that had mandated segregation and not the states. Do you believe for one second that Martin Luther King Jr. would have opposed states nullifying that particular federal law? Martin Luther King Jr. was trying to crush Jim Crow and I find it patently absurd that he would neglect a non-violent method of doing so if the situation had been as described. I would submit that it was racism that Martin Luther King Jr. opposed much more than any legal justification those racists put forth to maintain segregation. And for anyone who thinks such a scenario is unbelievable—because the federal government can be trusted on racial issues—allow me to enlighten you.

This is about more than just the economy. While war’s certainly do drain the economy, as Paul and Frank write, “…the idea that as a superpower it is our duty to maintain stability by intervening in civil disorders virtually anywhere in the world often generates anger directed at us and may in the end do more harm than good.” It would do us well to listen.

At a recent Cato Institute event, Republican Congresman Dana Rohrabacher said once Bush decided to go into Iraq he “felt it was a mistake because we hadn’t finished the job in Afghanistan… [George Bush's] decision to go in, in retrospect, almost all of us think that that was a horrible mistake.”

Glenn Beck vs. Keith Olbermann: Watching either of their shows brings us uncomfortably near the absolute epitome of douchebag, but alas, when push comes to shove, only one can be the victor. Here I will discuss their individual merits and try to determine who can rightfully claim the throne in all of its douche-filled glory… But when the chips are down, we all know that it is either Keith Olbermann or Glenn Beck who will hold the crown of greatest douchebag in the history of the world.

Back in the Middle Ages, the Catholic Church and some other unaffiliated snake oil salesmen, sold what were called indulgences. These indulgences offered penance for a variety of sins and could either commute or completely eliminate one’s arduous trip through Purgatory. Today, we have a similar situation; we have an entire market of carbon credit traders. Basically, you buy offsetting carbon credits (for someone, probably in a third world country, to plant trees or something like that) to make up for your “carbon footprint.”

Statistics about non-economic matters can be manipulated as well. One of the most disturbing is regarding war casualties from Iraq. The government has a great incentive to downplay the number of Americans who have died in Iraq as to make the cost of the war look smaller and not surprisingly, they’ve taken full advantage of it.