According to a rasmussen Poll released Thursday forty-six percent (46%) of America’s Likely Voters favor a federal gas tax holiday this summer. A Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that 42% are opposed and 12% are not sure. Most voters who earn more than $75,000 a year oppose the gas tax holiday. Most who make less than $60,000 a year favor that policy change. Among those make less than $20,000 a year, 62% favor the gas tax holiday while only 11% are opposed.

McCain proposed suspending the 18 cents a gallon federal tax and Hillary supports it. Obama opposes it.

The National Policy Institute estimates what the world will look like in 2060 – about 50 years hence.

According to an article in Human Events authored by Pat Buchanan and published on May 2, 2008 in 1950 whites were 18% of the world’s population and Africans accounted for 9%. By 2060 the percentages will be about the same but the colors reversed. Two hundred million whites will vanish by then. Arabic people, counted among whites, will rise ten-fold to 743 million and account for 75% of whites.

Iran’s population will rise from 71 to 100 million. Pakistan will grow to 300 million from about 71 million today. Afghanistan will triple to 79 million and Iraq will leap from 29 to 62 million. In America Hispanics will triple to 127 million while Mexico will grow to 130 million.

Last October PEW RESEARCH asked 45,000 people in 47 countries what they thought and majorities in 46 countries expressed fear about loss of their national culture. Sixty-two percent of Americans said more must be done to protect “our way of life.” Three-fourths wanted stiffer immigration laws and restrictions. Asians, Africans and Middle Easterners appear, by simple weight of numbers appear to be poised to inherit the earth.

“This is the way the world ends, “wrote T. S. Eliot in his closing couplet of “The Hollow Men,” “Not with a bang but a whimper.” It begs the question of whose world to which he referred.

FBI Director Robert Mueller told Congress last week that the threat of intelligence-gathering by computer and other electronic means is expanding. “The threat of cyber-related foreign intelligence operations to the U.S. is rapidly expanding,” Mueller told a House Appropriations subcommittee. “The number of actors with the ability to utilize computers for illegal, harmful, and possibly devastating purposes continues to rise.”

Mueller said cyber intrusions beyond those carried out by non-government hackers have “compromised computers on U.S. government, private sector, and allied networks,” Mueller said. Mueller was testifying on FBI efforts to counter cyber threats during a budget hearing the Bureau’s request for $7.1 billion for fiscal 2009. FBI counter cyber efforts include disrupting computer attacks domestically. “The FBI’s intelligence and law enforcement role supports response to cyber events at U.S. government agencies, U.S. military installations, and the broader private sector,” he said. During a hearing in the Senate March 5, Mueller said the FBI has identified more than one million potential victims of “botnet cybercrime” as part of “Operation Bot Roast.”

The effort has targeted “botnets” or groups of compromised computers under the remote command and control of a computer hacker. Mueller did not mention specific countries, but other officials have said China’s intelligence services are known to use computer intrusions to download vast amounts of U.S. government information of intelligence and economic value.

To prepare for longer range missiles from Iran and Syria, Israel plans a major test of its Arrow-2 missile defense system. The Israel Air Force in cooperation with the United States would conduct the first test of Arrow-2 against a missile meant to simulate the extended-range Shihab-3 ballistic missile.

Israel’s intelligence community has detected Hizbullah military preparations throughout southern and central Lebanon in recent weeks. There is growing concern that such preparations are a precursor to war. In addition Syria and Iran have linked their missile development programs. Syria has been extending the range of its Scud-class missile arsenal to the point where U.S. interests could be threatened, Israeli is threatened as well as at least one other ally.

Former U. S. President Carter is in the region and has been sternly warned about interfering and encouraging Hamas, Hizbullah or their backers in Syria and elsewhere. Carter choses to ignore warnings of the harm he can do, and the warnings of U. S., Israeli and others.

“No one seems to know what Carter thinks he is doing. But, he is damned foolish and what he is doing I dangerous,” undisclosed U. S. sources said.

Colonel Kaddafi’s Libya has been caught red handed for secretly trying to buy 500,000 Chinese made Ak-47 assault rifles and 10 million rounds of ammunition from Italian gangsters for the purpose of distributing them to terrorists elsewhere. Wiretaps learned China sold the weapons for $80 each but the final price was $125 by the time government officials were paid off and other gangsters skimmed off money. Kaddafi is notorius for clandestine support of terrorists. Libya said the weapons for its use but that amounts to 5 weapons per active duty and reserve soldier.

Chinese civilians migrating to places like Europe, Africa and the U. S. are expected to keep their eyes open, and report to Chinese intelligence when asked about what they see and maybe working on. It’s understood that such cooperation is necessary to protect kin back in China. In dangerous places cooperation (spying) ensures access to Chinese government protection in the event of unrest in their new homeland.

The Chinese government can lean pretty hard on countries that allow local Chinese to be molested. For example, when Islamic militants raided Chinese brothels in Pakistan last year, the Pakistani government was persuaded to crack down on the militants, killing hundreds of them. The Chinese brothels have been left alone since then and continue to funnel profits back to the communist government.

China’s foreign exchange reserves (foreign currency and deposits held by Chinese banks) are now over $1.6 trillion. That’s an increase of over 40 percent in the last year. Apparently, China has become the place to park your money. This includes dirty money owned by criminal organizations, dictators and all manner of shady operators.

Americans are fleeing Michigan, New York, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Illinois at a wholesale rate. Allied Van Lines says for each family moving into Michigan two moved out. One reason is people are moving from high tax to lower tax states. The adage that high taxes don’t redistribute income but people is truer than ever before.

California with the highest income tax rate in America lost people in 2007 despite a flood of illegal immigrants. Next door Nevada – without an income tax – is gaining many of them. Still don’t believe taxes matter? Well North Dakota is flushing people at a record rate and South Dakota gaining – the principle difference is North Dakota has an income tax and South Dakota doesn’t.

This is excerpted from an article by Saulius “Saul” Anuzis, Chairman, and Michigan Republican Party who concludes by asking: Why are there those who still insist Americans want to pay for more and more government services?

The destination choices and earnings of migrants: The impact of alternative negative income tax programs (Research memorandum / Center for the Study of Welfare Policy)

Strict new laws in OKLAHOMA and ARIZONA against hiring illegal immigrants appear to be achieving their goal of driving undocumented workers out of those states and COLORADO and GEORGIA are getting ready to do the same thing and of course it is against federal law too. But. not everyone is happy. The Greater Oklahoma City Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, for instance, estimates that as much as 20 percent of the city’s construction workforce — 15,000 to 20,000 workers — has left the state. Some local businesses have simply shut down for lack of employees the Hispanic Chamber says.

A 25-year old Milwaukee, Wisconsin police officer was an illegal alien who stole his dead cousin’s identity then lied about his citizenship status to get on the force has been arrested, fired and deported back to Mexico. The Milwaukee police called it “embarrassing” – I guess so.