More squeaky sounds of people coming unhinged

Condi Rice answers Chris "Poop Yourself" Wallace's questions about the last throes of the insurgency:

In terms of the security situation, yes, there are a few terrorists and so-called insurgents who are plying their wares in a way that gets a lot of attention. They can create a lot of havoc, wreak a lot of havoc, create carnage against innocent Iraqis and against the coalition. . . .Yes, [the insurgents] can continue to cause carnage. But what they're losing is that they're losing the Iraqi people. And that's the most important loss that you can inflict upon an insurgency.

Doesn't sound like much of a plan to me.
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Are you bullish or bearish on torture and lack of due process?

Wayne Rogers (yeah, the guy from M*A*S*H) joins Terry Keenan on Cashin' In. They ponder: Is Gitmo good for the stock market?Critics say the prison detainee camp at Guantanamo Bay is hurting our image abroad. But would closing the camp actually be bad for America and the stock market? James Walcott reports on this classic television moment:

This morning on Cashin' In, part of Fox's Saturday morning business/investment block, the first topic was (I kid thee not) "The Prison at Guantanamo Bay: Good for the Stock Market?"
Opening up the mental-midget debate for the panel, host Terry Keenan asked, "If we 'cut and run' from there, isn't it all bets off for the market?"
Yeah, if we close Gitmo, everyone's going to sell Google and into the black hole goes the stock market: real smart thinking there, Terry.

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New and Improved! It's no longer a personal Social Security Account -- now it's a "personal lockbox"

The public is anxious about President Bush's reform of Social Security, and the idea is in trouble. Ceaseless pounding by liberals has driven many Republicans into a defensive crouch. It's time for some political jujitsu that will instead focus the public's attention on stopping Congress from spending the extra payroll taxes now flowing into Social Security on anything else. The only effective way to prevent that would be to take the money off the table by starting personal Social Security accounts for every American who wanted one. . . . [O]nce Congress couldn't get its mitts on the payroll tax money, it would be put to more productive use in the hands of individuals owning their own accounts.

[From John Fund's Opinion Journal piece, "Saving the Surplus."]