Friday Morning Linkage

Good morning! Posting at FreedomTalks will be slower over the next week as we at FreedomWorks pull our noses out of the newspapers, shut down Google Reader, and head home for the holidays. Who knows? Some of us might even turn our Blackberries off!

In the meantime, here’s a roundup of stories worth reading today.

  • “It’s the Spending, Stupid” — At NRO, John O. McGinnis and Michael B. Rappaport explain why the PAYGO rules so beloved by Democrats aren’t, as they claim, a path to fiscal responsibility, but a crafty barrier to passing meaningful tax cuts.
  • The Washington Times reports on how President Bush has slammed Congress for porking up the omnibus.
  • “California’s Clean-Air Slapdown” — Looks like even the EPA agrees that states shouldn’t be allowed to force emissions restrictions on their residents. (Update: Over at Volokh, Jonathan Adler explains why the EPA’s decision was a good one.)
  • “Al Gore: Enviro-Tyrant” — The subhed says it all. “As he flies around the world to tell people that they should fly less, or organises rock-star extravaganzas to tell the masses they should live more meekly, some sceptics have asked: ‘Who the hell does Al Gore think he is?’”
  • “A Vital Engine of Growth” — In the American, a great, exceedingly clear explanation of how private equity firms fuel economic growth.