Weekend digest

- Although figures show that the President's tax cuts have indeed resulted in more revenue coming into IRS coffers, the budget he has submitted to Congress is one which should appall fiscal hawks. Predictably, the New York Times plays class warrior, complaining that there isn't enough 1970's-style tax and spend liberalism in the budget while paying the obligatory lip service to fiscal prudence, but the heartland knows better. Oh, and the next time you hear someone insist that "the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer" or "the middle class is getting squeezed", you can tell them that's nonsense because in point of fact, everyone is getting richer.

- On that note, here's a lengthy yet very interesting piece on how the three front-runners for the GOP nomination don't easily fit the typical Republican profile.

- I'm quite frankly disappointed that no wacky Democrats have suggested that the death of Anna Nicole Smith was engineered by the White House to take attention away from the Libby trial.

The Angry Left is starting to slip!

- As if covert support for Iran's nuke program wasn't bad enough, Vladimir Putin is starting to mouth off. Shouldn't he focus on his own problems instead of bashing America? Not that he really belongs there in the first place, but I hope that someone has a stern word with him at the next G-8 summit.

- As for Iran, tempting as it might be to apply economic pressure, Ian Bremmer, author of the excellent "The J Curve" argues that sanctions are ineffective when trying to induce certain types of behaviour from rogue states.

- Steyn comments on global warming hysteria the way only he can, here.

- I am very disappointed that Stephane Dion's Liberal party has decided to render Canada's Anti-Terrorism Act toothless. Laws like this need to be on the books so security agencies don't have to wait until an attack happens before they can react. No less an internationally-decorated legal scholar than Irwin Cotler championed this legislation, even while he was giving counsel to Maher Arar.

This is political to the core. Less than a month after Stephane Dion loses Wajid Khan, a high-profile GTA-area Muslim Member of Parliament to the Tories, they water down the laws in Canada to the point where we are going to be having to answer hard questions on the international stage about our commitment to fighting terrorism even as troubling and hateful individuals like this set up shop here in Canada amid the predictable damnation of racism hurled towards anyone who dares express concern.

Liberal MP and former president of the not-exactly-moderate Canadian Arab Federation, Omar Alghabra, must be thrilled, but I am willing to bet that serious thinkers inside the Liberal caucus like Michael Ignatieff certainly are not.

It's shameful that Canada's Official Opposition has chosen to embrace political expediency over making a tough choice in favour of what's right.