I usually like to point out that it is the government that causes other countries to hate the U.S, but I love this story because it shows that even if other nations/terrorist groups really wanted to try strike, the government sure as hell wouldn’t be the one defending us. Here’s the Reuters report:

A U.S. attempt to shoot down a ballistic missile mimicking an attack from Iran failed after a malfunction in a radar built by Raytheon Co, the Defense Department said.

The abortive test over the Pacific Ocean coincided with a Pentagon report that Iran had expanded its ballistic missile capabilities and posed a “significant” threat to U.S. and allied forces in the Middle East region.

I don’t think Jack Liberty is completely right on his “let’s get rid of the military” view, but I do agree with him that the U.S. government presence in the region is causing a lot of problems.

What do you think?

The head of the Taliban in Pakistan, who was linked to the murder of seven CIA agents, has died after being wounded in a US drone attack, according to reports.

Hakimullah Mehsud died of injuries sustained in an air strike in North Waziristan earlier this month, Pakistan’s state television claimed. The state broadcaster also said the leader had been buried in the Pakistani Taliban-controlled area of Orakzai.

It is believed to have played a role in the suicide bombing of a CIA base in Afghanistan in December last year – one of the worst disasters the American secret service has suffered.

[Via Jack Liberty via Barcepundit]

Absolutely genius. Read more about the iPad on John’s latest Marketwatch column.

Sacramento Bee reports:

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Monday offered yet another way California can save on incarcerating illegal immigrants: pay to build prisons in Mexico.

“We can do so much better, in the prison system alone, if we can go and take inmates – for instance, the 20,000 inmates that are illegal immigrants that are here – and get them to Mexico,” Schwarzenegger said.

“We pay them to build a prison down in Mexico and then we have those undocumented immigrants be down there in the prison,” he added. “Half the cost to build the prisons and half the cost to run the prisons. That is money, again, a billion dollars right there that can go into higher education. That is an example of one of the things we do that is unnecessary spending.”

[Via No Agenda News]

It looks like a marijuana legalization initiative will be on the ballot in California this fall. Today the backers of the Regulate, Control, and Tax Cannabis Act turned in nearly 700,000 signatures; they need just 434,000 to qualify the measure for the ballot. The Los Angeles Times notes that “a Field Poll taken last April found that 56% of voters in the state and 60% in Los Angeles County want to make pot legal and tax it.” It also suggests that “if passed, the initiative would put the state in conflict with federal law,” which is not strictly speaking true.

As Drug Policy Alliance attorney Tamar Todd noted in response to a Los Angeles Times editorial that made a similar claim a couple weeks ago, California is under no obligation to replicate federal drug prohibitions. Under the Supreme Court’s expansive reading of the Commerce Clause, the federal government would have the authority to prosecute people for growing, distributing, and possessing marijuana even if the drug were no longer banned by state law. But it would not have the resources to do so consistently.

[Via Jack Liberty]

In tonight “Talking Points” segment, he argued that government spending is a bad idea to revitalize the economy because its cost will add to the deficit.

Fine so far, but he then says that Obama should push tax cuts to individuals and businesses because that wouldn’t add to the deficit.

According to Wikipedia, O’Reilly finished university, but for some reason he doesn’t understand that if government A cuts 100 million in taxes and nothing in spending, and government B doesn’t cut taxes but adds 100 million in spending, they’ll both be indebted by the same ammount.