One of the things I am deeply grateful for this Thanksgiving season is that my father was a frugal guy and made a big deal out of it. A child of the Depression, William O'Reilly Sr. hoarded his dollars and lectured his children on saving, not spending, money. Sure, it was boring. My sister and I had visions of Snickers bars and Good Humor ice cream dancing in our heads. But as soon as I started making some money cutting lawns and shoveling snow, I saved a nice piece of it primarily because my father was 6 feet 3 inches tall. Not everybody got that lesson. The current economic horror can be traced back to one major trend: Americans borrowing money they can't pay back; buying houses they can't afford, running up credit card debt like crazy. Of course, the banks were only too happy to help out -- providing massive amounts of credit to people of limited means. What's the difference between a drug dealer and a mortgage broker? Interest. So now we are all getting pounded, but some are better off than others. I still hear my father's voice when my paycheck rolls in, and much of that check gets deposited in the bank. It does not get spent. It sits there in insured accounts, winking at me. But it's there, and it will protect my family and me if disaster should occur. Read On

SELF-RELIANCE In the Year of Bottomless Bailouts, I am most grateful this Thanksgiving for Americans who refuse to abandon thrift, personal responsibility and self-reliance. When the moochers and entitlement-mongers drive you mad, remember that our nation still serves as home to millions of citizens who do for themselves. Like our Founding Fathers, they are God-fearing people -- the ones elitist pundits ridicule as "oogedy-boogedy" -- who will never put their faith in the Cult of You Owe Me. They are people like my reader Jen, who runs a family farm called the Double Nickel in New Mexico. Tired of all the handwringing, "in times like these" rationalizations for unprecedented federal intervention in the financial markets to rescue beleaguered businesses Read On

I TRAINED IN PAKISTAN MUMBAI, India —  The only gunman captured by police after a string of attacks on Mumbai told authorities he belonged to the Pakistani militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba, a senior police officer said Sunday.  Police have said 10 gunmen terrorized Mumbai during a 60-hour siege, and all but one were shot dead.  Joint Police Commissioner Rakesh Maria said the assailant now in custody told police the group had intended to hit more targets during their attacks on India's financial capital that left at least 174 dead. "Lashkar-e-Taiba is behind the terrorist acts in the city," Maria told reporters. "The terrorists were from a hardcore group in the L-e-T." India's Home Ministry could not be immediately reached for comment.  The group has long been seen as a creation of the Pakistani intelligence service to help wage its clandestine war against India in disputed Kashmir.  Police arrested the lone surviving militant, Ajmal Qasab, and Maria said he confessed his links to Lashkar during interrogation.  Gunman: I Trained in Pakistan

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