It's pretty obvious that the HFR Hero of the Week is the author of  Going Rogue.

With her book going to #1 on both Amazon and Barnes & Noble within hours of the mere announcement it would go on sale in seven weeks (11/17), it's also obvious by now that Sarah Palin has become a conservative phenomenon the only comparison to whom is Ronald Reagan. 

That's not the Olympian icon Reagan has become for his presidential accomplishments - but the former governor and presidential candidate who ended up obliterating an incumbent president 489 to 49 in electoral votes in 1980.

Palin is now acknowledged to be "the hottest brand name in politics."  She is the comet flashing across the sky, while Zero is a shooting star flaming out while plunging to earth.  She is everything he is not, which can be summed up in two words:  for real.

She's as genuine as he is phony, as honest as he is deceitful, as pro-freedom as he is pro-fascist, as experienced in the real world as he is ignorant, as American as he is un-. 

The left is in a hysteria of hate towards her because she is their greatest threat.  While most of the left can only indulge in childish schoolyard insults, the savviest among liberals - like Willie Brown, who ran the California legislature and city of San Francisco as his private fiefdoms - now realize that Palin is a "political genius."

Warning to tourists - it is now illegal to take a photo of a London policeman or "bobby." The time-honored tradition of tourists having their pictures taken with London cops is being dealt a silly death blow by those who control the British nanny-state. The British are not only losing their economic prosperity, but their civil liberties as well.

Will Britain again become the "sick man of Europe"? A quarter-century ago, Margaret Thatcher led Britain out of an economic wilderness and enabled it to have the fastest-growing economy among the four big countries in the European Union.

Today, however, under Gordon Brown's Labor government, Britain is rapidly rushing backward with pre-Thatcherite economic policies.  At the same time, civil libertarians on both the left and right are increasingly concerned that Britain is drifting toward becoming a police state.

Nominated last week to replace Gen. David Petraeus as the head of the US Central Command, the Marine Corps' Gen. Jim Mattis may be the finest four-star on duty in any service today.

He's certainly the humblest. And maybe the smartest -- but he'll let you figure that out for yourself.

If confirmed, Mattis will team with Petraeus on AfPak, but he'll also be responsible for the vast surrounding region. He won't micromanage Petraeus. Instead, he'll support his nominal subordinate every way he can. He'll build the frame, letting Petraeus paint the Afghan canvas.

Grunts respect Petraeus. But they love Jim Mattis. His nickname among Marines is the "Warrior Monk" -- because he's dedicated his life to the Corps. So of course, he's hated by the left-wing media.

Do you understand why well-known economists, including Nobel Prize winners, are on opposite sides of the debate about the stimulus package and what should be done about the recession?

Not only Americans, but people everywhere are confused, largely because the economists who are writing and speaking about what should be done have such fundamental disagreements.

There are two main schools of thought. One group is under the broad umbrella of the Chicago or Austrian school economists who are heavily influenced by the teachings of F.A. Hayek (1899-1992) and Milton Friedman (1912-2007).  The economists of the Reagan White House were of this school.

The members of the other group are commonly known as Keynesians, who accept many of the teachings of John Maynard Keynes (1883-1946) and his disciples.  Mr. Obama's economists belong to this school.

Both schools offer reasonable explanations for what causes and what solves recessions.  But there is one outcome for which Keynesians have no solution:  stagflation.  It turns out that's just where we're headed.

Gen. David Petraeus has an unprecedented opportunity to seize back the momentum in Afghanistan: Neither President Obama nor Congress wants a confrontation with this general. During his honeymoon, he can write his own rules.

And he needs to. Fast.

To turn the current situation around, Petraeus has to address hundreds of what-now-boss? issues -- but a 10-item to-do list should top his priorities.

First, the big-picture stuff:

Maybe we should call this The Cornucopia Report this week.  The deluge of astonishingly good news keeps pouring down, with the moonbat left in response drowning in its own bile of rage and going off the cliff berserk-o.

Where to begin amidst this treasure trove?  Of course:  the Million Conservative March on Washington last Saturday (9/12).  With the LFM (Lunatic Fringe Media) desperately ignoring and disparaging it - reporting, e.g., that there were only "tens of thousands" when there were at least close to a million or more - this event marks a genuine turning point in American political history.

The only other event comparable was the August 28,1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom which launched the modern civil rights movement and at which Dr. Martin Luther King gave his famous "I Have A Dream" speech at the Lincoln Memorial.

There was, however, one major lack and disappointment.  Everyone remembers (or learns about in school) that 1963 event because of King's speech.  Where was our Dr. King?  Where was the speech that the vast multitude of conservatives wanted to hear?  In other words, where the hell was Sarah Palin?

If there's a parade of history, get out in front and lead it - or the parade and history will pass you by.  Carpe diem - or your day will be gone.  Sarah had better stop hiding from the world, stop confining herself to posts on Facebook, or this Teaparty Juggernaut will quickly find other leaders.  It's not too late, Sarah, but you are burning daylight.

Do you agree with President Obama, who has just limited the pay for executives in some, but not all, of the companies receiving government bailout money to $500,000 a year?

One could argue that $500,000 is too much, given that the president only makes $400,000 a year in a job with more responsibility and a larger budget than any other job in the world. Since there were plenty of would-be takers for that job, and some were arguably even qualified, why should we pay anyone more?

Many people who rely on the taxpayers, both in the United States and elsewhere, make far more than the president of the United States.  It turns out that the highest pad pubic employees in America are football coaches at taxpayer-funded public universities.  Should their salaries be capped just like Wall Street execs?

Germany's governing coalition is on the verge of collapse, but the country isn't. Berlin's the one major capital likely to survive the global economic plague in strapping health.

In the past, I've written mercilessly about German strategic freeloading, but it's time to give Herr Meier (the German Joe-Sixpack) his due: His attitudes toward spending and saving are admirable.

Germany isn't without problems. Its eastern states still haven't recovered from the triumphs of "real existing socialism." Its banks are dangerously exposed to southern European debt. Yet Germany books far more credits than debits. As much of Europe stumbles into negative growth, the German economy's expected to expand at 2.1 percent this year. That isn't dramatic, but it's solid.

President Obama insists that only added deficit spending can ease the consequences of our previous economic irresponsibility, but no serious German political leader's buying into his call to throw more money away. Instead, Germany's leaders are playing a strong defense, cutting social benefits and spending instead. They have much to teach Mr. Obama.

It is certainly and abundantly clear who is the HFR Hero of the Week this week: Congressman Joe Wilson of South Carolina.  Finally, a Republican in Congress who embodies speaking truth to power. 

"You lie!" now takes its place in history along with "death panels" demonstrating the politically castrative power of two simple words.  Sarah Palin's two words were a brilliantly limbic deligitimization of Zero's key program.  Joe Wilson's two words were an emotional outburst that will deligitimize Zero's entire presidency.

Wilson is who all conservatives long for, a Republican with balls.  The species is almost extinct.  The chief of staff of a prominent Republican Congressman confirmed to me this morning that the GOP House leadership, Minority Leader John Boehner and Minority Whip Eric Cantor, demanded Wilson make a formal apology on the House floor - and that Wilson refused.

When the chief of staff started defending Cantor and blaming Wilson, I lost my temper.  "When are you guys ever going to acquire a set of gonads?  When are your brains ever going to be connected to your spines?  Wilson is now a flat-out hero to millions!  There will be You lie! signs throughout the 50,000 TeaParty marchers on the Mall tomorrow, You lie! bumper stickers on cars in every state, shouts of You lie! at every Town Hall held by a Democrat - or RINO.  People are sick and tired of pussy wimp-out Republican limp dicks!  When are you guys going to figure this out?!"

I don't know if he'll speak to me again. I've known him for years, but frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn. 

If you knew -- "a few weeks ago, the federal government had to commit several hundred billion dollars for a guarantee of Citicorp's assets, though examiners from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) have been inside the bank full-time for years, supervising the operations of this giant institution, under the broad powers granted by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Improvement Act of 1991 to bank supervisors" -- what would you think about the effectiveness of U.S. bank regulation?

The above quote comes from a thoughtful and important new paper, Regulation without Reason, by Peter J. Wallison, former general counsel of the U.S. Treasury and now a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.

Mr. Wallison warned for years - in books and articles - that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were headed for disaster, and now he is taking on the ill-thought out proposals to increase regulation of the financial industry, both by politicians and people who should know better.

The frightening thing is that many of the same intellectually and financially corrupt politicians - e.g. Rep. Barney Frank and Sen. Chris Dodd - whose actions directly helped bring on the present crisis, have now been put in charge of the hen house and are tasked with "making reforms."