One of the many great things I took from my Army career was the rule that "the maximum effective range of an excuse is zero meters." But excuses are all we have in Afghanistan.

Among the worst of the countless follies that make an old soldier sick is the endless excuse-making for the sloth and cowardice of the Afghan National Army and the extortion culture of the Afghan Police -- while Taliban warriors fight to the bitter end.

The bottom line is that Taliban fighters are willing to die for their cause, while the Afghan soldiers we've tried to train don't even show up for formation. And the NATO-trained cops are so corrupt they've driven Afghans into the arms of the Taliban.

Meanwhile, nearsighted generals and clueless politicians make excuse after excuse... while leaving our soldiers on their own on the battlefield.

With the current spectacle of the corrupt World Bank trying to rid itself of its president who is trying to de-corrupt the place, based on politicized corruption charges against him, it is time to ask:

Should the World Bank (WB), and indeed, its sister organization the International Monetary Fund (IMF), be abolished?

Both organizations had their annual spring meetings in Washington this past weekend. It is obvious to everyone that both are in deep trouble. 

Eight years ago today, our homeland was attacked by fanatical Moslems inspired by Saudi Arabian bigotry. Three thousand American citizens and residents died.

We resolved that we, the People, would never forget. Then we forgot. We've learned nothing.

Instead of cracking down on Islamist extremism, we've excused it. Instead of relentlessly hunting Islamist madmen, we seek to appease them.

Instead of acknowledging that radical Islam is the problem, we elected a president who blames America, whose idea of freedom is the right for women to suffer in silence behind a veil -- and who counts among his mentors and friends those who damn our country or believe that our own government staged the tragedy of September 11, 2001.

With evil day of April 15 nigh, it is time to demand of the various presidential candidates to show how they propose to lift the unconscionable burden of the IRS off our oppressed shoulders.

As is well known, the current U.S. income tax system and the Internal Revenue Service are a huge and unnecessary drag on both the economy and individual liberty. The IRS code and regulations have become hopelessly complex and grown to about 7 million words.

No one can possibly understand the present code, including even those at the IRS. Thus no matter how well-meaning, the taxpayer is always at risk for noncompliance -- such laws are characteristics of totalitarian, not free, societies.

Such laws need to be abolished.  There are two serious proposals for doing so:  the "Flat Tax" and the national sales tax, better known as the "Fair Tax." (See Flat Tax Revolution by Steve Forbes, and  The Fair Tax Book by Neil Boortz and Congressman John Linder.)

President Barack Hussein Obama's State Department waited until the cusp of Labor Day weekend before publicly backing Latin America's dictators in their assault on democracy.

Our thug-worshipping diplomats figured they'd slip it by us. With the nation focused on barbecues and the beach, they announced that, if Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez's client, Manuel Zelaya, isn't returned to power in Honduras, the United States won't recognize the results of that country's upcoming free elections.

Mr. Obama hasn't uttered a single word of criticism for the dictatorships of Chavez or his protégés in Ecuador and Bolivia, nor once demanded free elections in Cuba.  But he's going to show those wicked Hondurans, by Hugo! They can't boot out a crazy leftwing president just because he's trying to subvert their Constitution.

We open the HFR this week by asking:  Dare we hope for Hillary?

It's a fun debate over who would be easier for McCain to beat, Obambi or the PIAPS, almost as much fun as watching them rip each other's political guts out.  McCain could score a Reagnesque electoral victory over either of these two losers, but I want him to go up against Her Shrillness.  There's suddenly real hope that he will...

... Which brings us to the delightful subject of the North Carolina GOP Anti-Obama ad.  It is fabulous -- And it is really funny to see how many smart conservatives - even Rush Limbaugh who's normally really smart - have been suckered by John McCain's denouncing it...

... Let's raise a more than half-full glass of congratulations to the brave leaders of the North Carolina Republican Party.  We need more Republicans with their courage.  What we need fewer of is the editorial writers of the New York Times, whose op-eds provide the propaganda marching orders for the entire liberal media.  Looks like we get our wish...

... We close the HFR this week with absolutely the most thrilling and uplifting headline of recent times:  Food Crisis Starts Eclipsing Climate Change Worries

How great is that?  Nothing like a little mass world-wide starvation to make people doubt in the religious dogma of warm-mongering.  Finally - finally - it just may be that people aren't willing to go back to the Stone Age in order to placate Algore.

If you knew how to make life better for your fellow Americans, would you? The political class in Washington constantly claims it "cares about you," but when it comes to policy many do just the opposite.

Most people understand the Republicans messed up by allowing nondefense spending to grow faster than the economy. The Democrats ran against the irresponsible Republicans by claiming they would be "fiscally responsible."

So, rather than present a budget that would reduce the growth rate of domestic spending, they have just proposed one that would increase it, even above Republican proposals, and require increases in taxes.

You can only wonder if they are even more brain dead than the Republicans.

The classified status report from Afghanistan by Gen. Stanley McChrystal was censored by the White House before its submission. As a result, it's all bun and no burger.

The administration preferred a politically expedient blah-blah "report" that grants the White House a time-out. But there's no time-out for our soldiers and Marines (our enemies won't listen to the ref). Guess who pays the price while Obama plays Hamlet?

The result? We've got a general who's been gagged, a president trapped by his campaign promises, a muddled mission, crippling restrictions on our troops, a resurgent enemy, a worthless Afghan government -- and an AWOL establishment media that, after hammering the Bush administration, gives Obama a pass on American casualties.

Are you absolutely sure you paid the exact amount of income tax you owed last year -- not too much and not too little?

I am willing to bet the vast majority of those reading this paid either too much or too little -- not because they intended to but because the tax code is so complex it is almost impossible to know precisely the right number.

As Americans sit down to file their taxes before the infamous April 15 deadline, most will feel some anxiety and many will feel trapped - trapped in a system they cannot understand, nor can they obtain the help that will fairly represent them against the government or protect them against having their hard earned monies misspent.

At this moment, some in Congress are on a rant about the unsupported claim that more than $300 billion in taxes due last year were not collected, and demanding even more coercive measures.

Why is there not equal outrage in Congress about all the Americans who pay too much each year because they cannot understand, or the IRS has made it too costly to obtain, the deductions to which they are legally entitled?