Congratulations to the U.S. Navy for the professional way they handled the hostage situation on the high seas off the coast of Somalia, which resulted in the rescue of the American merchant captain, the capture of one pirate, and the deaths of the other three. Remarkable marksmanship from the Navy Seals who killed the three remaining pirates on the bobbing lifeboat. It's something you'd expect to see in a movie. Let's hope that the President, who authorized the use of deadly force at the on-scene commander's discretion, continues to push for a more robust posture against these pirates.

The editorial board of The Wall Street Journal is happy with the outcome of the hostage standoff.

Fred C. Ikle says we should kill pirates. I agree.

On a different subject, Robert J. Samuelson says Obama's vision of our economic future is just a lot of hot air.

You may have read about the proliferation of so-called "Tea Parties" across the country, in essence a series of anti-tax protests that have arisen as a result of popular anger over the taxpayer-funded bailouts. Greg Reynolds at Instapundit has been covering it from the beginning. Well, along comes Paul Krugman, who believes these tea parties are a sham, essentially put together by "Astroturf" groups, which is what fake grassroots organizations are called in the political business. Krugman's inability to see and/or understand real popular sentiments is illustrative of the major reason why his ideological compatriots in the Democratic Party have lost so many elections since 1968. In the Krugman worldview, people aren't really upset that their tax dollars are being used to bailout banks and automobile companies, they're just being manipulated by Republican operatives. I hope the leaders of the Democratic Party share Krugman's blindness, it will make it easier to beat them at the next opportunity.