Based on my last reading of the constitution, if you are arrested in the United States you are presumed innocent and entitled to a speedy trial.  But as CNS News reports here, according to White House Press Secretary that is not the case.  Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (KSM) will be "convicted and executed for his crimes."  So which is it?  Is KSM presumed innocent since President Obama and Attorney General Holder decided to put him under trial or is he presumed guilty as Gibbs says?

Not much actually, except that both states governments seem to be on a kick to install high speed rail lines.  As reported here in the WSJ yesterday, 'Next to national health care, no liberal dream has lingered longer in the nation's public policy than high-speed rail...Like health care, the justifications shift with the political winds. High-speed rail's current rationale, needless to say, is jobs. Unlike real jobs created by the private sector, taxpayers get to pay for those in high-speed rail. Let's look at the Orlando-to-Tampa proposal."  They go on to talk about the history of rail in Florida and how the state has "nixed high-speed rail three times because of costs. In 2004, voters repealed a 2000 ballot initiative requiring the state to build a high-speed rail system because they didn't want to foot the bill."  Of course this is not enough for the train lobby, particularly since President Obama is in a mood to pour stimulus money into new rail lines.

What is really interesting in this article is the reference to the 2009 GAO report that says, "new high-speed rail projects in France, Spain and Japan average $51 million per mile". You read that right—$51 million per mile. That would put the cost of the Tampa-Orlando line at $4.28 billion or $3 billion more than the estimate.   How does this tie Florida to Minnesota?  Well the state of Minnesota got  their cut of stimulus money to support MNDOT's "sweeping plan for passenger rail development that envisions a train running to Chicago within five years and a network of passenger trains someday connecting the Twin Cities with Rochester, Duluth and several other cities...at a price tag of as much as $9.5 billion over the next 20 years"  If my math is correct, that means MNDOT can do 186 miles of this network.  A quick check of Mapquest shows that it is 154 miles from Duluth to Minneapolis and another 314 miles to Chicago.  That means at $51 million per mile, that portion of the network will cost closer to $25 billion or nearly 3 times the current estimate.

The Forgotten Man is all for safety nets for those who are down on their luck and unable to fend for themselves, but how many safety nets do we need?  As I wrote here, the Governor of Minnesota has designated General Assistance Medical Care (GMAC) for elimination as part of balancing the state's budget.  Sounds like a mean thing to do to the poor, except that Minnesota Care provides nearly the same benefits.  Now the democrat controlled legislature in Minnesota is trying to save GMAC as Warren Wolfe writes
here in the StarTribune.  It would seem that eliminating a state funded (ie, our taxes) program that is basically redundant to save money makes a lot of sense. 

Much has been written about the green car commercial during the Super Bowl.  The embarrassing part for the Forgotten Man is that I thought it was a public service commercial for some city like Berkely, Boulder or Madison until the very end when the Audi logo popped on the screen.  I wonder if Michael Bloomberg drives an Audi?

The Forgotten Man wrote here about the White House attempting to vindicate themselves by releasing details of Christmas Day bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab recent cooperation despite his mirandizing 50 minutes after he was apprehended.  But once again, the White House got it wrong as they compared this alleged success to Jose Padilla.  As Thomas Joscelyn writes in the Weekly Standard, Gibbs stated “Jose Padilla was made an enemy combatant so that we could get him to talk,” Gibbs said. “And guess what happened when we made him an enemy combatant, he didn't talk. He did talk when he was transferred back into a civilian court.”  However, the real story is that Padilla clammed up when he was mirandized and only started giving information when he was designated an enemy combatant and turned over to the military for interrogation.

It's bad enough that the Obama administration completely blew it on this one, but to outright mislead the American public borders on criminal.  What they also seem to be missing in defending their actions is that even if the information is relevant, it's now over five weeks old.  I wonder what intel the Christmas Bomber may have provided that could have saved American lives if we had gotten it sooner?

Scott Brown has been getting the most press and Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell gave the GOP response to the SOTU, but it's New Jersey Governor Chris Christie who is already making an impact after his stunning win in November.  As the Wall Street Journal reports, Governor Christie has frozen spending in New Jersey.  Citing " the fact that we cannot spend money on everything we want", he has moved quickly to backup his campaign promise to bring fiscal stability to New Jersey.  Next step, lower state income taxes and I bet the out-migration from New Jersey will stop. 

Wondering why the economy continues to stumble along with out any relief in sight?  Maybe it's because our economic freedom is declining.  Th Heritage Foundation just released their annual Index of Economic Freedom and it's no surprise that the United States has fallen in the rankings during 2009.  The United States had one of the largest declines while countries like Poland and Mexico (Mexico?) had the largest increases.  Why the decline for the US?  Here's part of the executive summary; "The U.S. government’s interventionist responses to the financial and economic crisis that began in 2008 have significantly undermined economic freedom and long-term prospects for economic growth. Economic freedom has declined in seven of the 10 categories measured in the Index.

Uncertainties caused by ongoing regulatory changes and politically influenced stimulus spending have discouraged entrepreneurship and job creation, slowing recovery. Leadership in free trade has been undercut by “Buy American” provisions in stimulus legislation and failure to pursue previously agreed free trade agreements with Panama, Colombia, and South Korea. Tax rates are increasingly uncompetitive, and massive stimulus spending is creating unprecedented deficits. Bailouts of financial and automotive firms have generated concerns about property rights."

So what has Mexico done?  The Index summarizes their tax policy; "The top income and corporate tax rates are 28 percent. A 17 percent flat-rate business tax (known as the IETU) operates as an alternative to the corporate income tax for some companies. Other taxes include a value-added tax (VAT) and a real estate transfer tax. In the most recent year, overall tax revenue as a percentage of GDP was 9.0 percent."  Compare that to our top income and corporate tax rates at 35 percent.

President Obama has been under fire for the botched arrest and subsequent mirandizing of the underwear bomber.  It now appears he may be giving up state secrets to show the world he was right in his approach to treating this attack as a legal matter.  Foxnews.com reports here on the assertions by Senator Kit Bond (R) that "administration officials defied an FBI request for secrecy when it held a briefing with reporters Tuesday about Christmas bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab's cooperation with authorities."  Bond goes on to say "FBI officials stressed the importance of not disclosing the fact of his cooperation in order to protect ongoing and follow-on operations to neutralize additional threats to the American public,"  Yet less than one day later, the White House trumpeted to the media about "...Abdulmutallab's cooperation and to laud the vents that led to his decision to cooperate with law enforcement personnel. This information immediately hit the air waves globally and, no doubt, reached the ears of our enemies abroad."  When challenged if the White House was defending it's behavior at the risk of national security, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs conceded "that the briefing to reporters on Tuesday was called in order to "contextualize" information released during the Senate hearing that Abdulmutallab was talking again to interrogators. For those of you who participated in the background briefing you know that was something that was not timed purposefully. Soon after that, media reported. We felt it important to contextualize because many of you were e-mailing us what this testimony meant."

Congressman Pete Hoekstra (R) of Michigan said it best, ""I do find it an interesting strategy that we hastily call a briefing to let America and our friends and our enemies in the Middle East know that he's now singing like a canary,"  The Forgotten Man just can't believe the President would jeopardize national security to vindicate his position.  After all, he seems to take criticism pretty well.....

The Forgotten Man is on the final round of college visits with my 18 year old son.  I wrote here about a visit to a private catholic university and the disavowal of religious expectations by the tour guide.  This weekend we are on the campus of another midwestern school, though not a religiously affiliated one and got another reminder of how much the culture of college campuses has changed over the years.

After the typical morning tours and interviews at this university, we went to the student union to buy some college gear and have lunch.  I thought it would be a good idea to have my son get a feel for the common student area and a taste of the dorm food.  As we walked up to the building, I noticed a Starbucks which wasn't around back in my college days.  Seemed like a nice addition to a campus, though not sure how a college kid can afford a venti-no-whip-cappucino.  But at least it's there for the kids and seemed like an improvement over my old campus.  As we walked by the barrista, we nearly collided with a table laden with red, pink and white frosted cookies for sale.  Now that seemed more like the old school that I was used to and I assumed it was a Valentines Day bake sale, probably some sorority raising money for a good cause.  But as I walked around the corner of the table, the sign on the front of the table screamed, "Buy Vagina Cookies Here".  It was a fundraiser for the Vagina Monologues appearing on campus later in February!  Not only did the cookies look disgusting, but the two girls sitting at the table collecting money glared at me as I glanced at the disgusting cookies and walked by without buying.  Not sure if my son noticed it, he either ignored it, was oblivious or just squirmed and hoped I didn't bring it up. 

If you haven't been to campus lately, you're in for more surprises.  We send our kids off at our own peril.

In another sign of the apocalypse, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) wants to replace Punxsutawney Phil with a robotic stand-in.  As reported in CNS News, "PETA says it's unfair to keep the animal in captivity and subject him to the huge crowds and bright lights that accompany tens of thousands of revelers each Feb. 2 in Punxsutawney, a tiny borough about 65 miles northeast of Pittsburgh".  For those who have seen the movie 'Groundhog Day', it does seem like this complete lack of common sense from PETA  just goes on and on.  What's next, a robotic duck for the AFLAC commercials?