Publius' Forum

Lifestyles of the rich and famous - and connected
- By Michael M. Bates

Teddy Kennedy's brother-in-law pleaded guilty to fraud charges in federal court last week. Moreover, it appears as though the man is also a confidential informant in a case against a former Hillary Clinton aide.

This story has gotten little play in the media, which is too busy cranking out articles and impassioned editorials about Tom DeLay to notice much else. You'd think that when a major Democrat player who's worked in the Clinton, Gore and Kerry campaigns begins to sing like a birdie for the Feds, it would be newsworthy. You'd be wrong.

Kennedy's brother-in-law, Raymond Reggie, is the son of a multimillionaire. Kennedy's wife, Victoria Reggie, is the daughter of a multimillionaire. Their father is a Louisiana judge, a close personal friend of governors and other power brokers, and ran John F. Kennedy's successful 1960 campaign in the Pelican State.

Being so politically wired has its perks. The judge managed to send his six children to Tulane University for a combined 27 years. And the really nice part for his honor is that it didn't cost him anywhere near what an unconnected parent would have paid...............
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Radical Professors Impose Idiosyncratic Bibliographic Procurement Proclivities Upon Students
- By Frederick Meekins

One of the accepted realities of college life is that students often have to shell out a significant wad of cash on nearly useless textbooks. This unpleasant reality is tempered by the hope that, if all goes well, students can sell the texts back to the campus bookstore for a pittance at the end of the semester.

However, a number of professors at the University of Maryland have disrupted what little market beauty remains in this transaction by erecting additional artificial barriers to free exchange by imposing their economic sensibilities onto where assigned texts can be acquired instead of leaving the decision up to the student.

At the University, students are usually able to purchase books at the Book Center conveniently located in the Student Union at the center of campus or at the Maryland Book Exchange prominently located among the businesses surrounding the college. Yet another establishment from which books can be procured is Vertigo Books.

Unlike the Book Center or Exchange, Vertigo is a small independent store. Thus, since it is metaphorically thumbing its nose at big business, according to the February 7, 2005 edition of the Diamondback, a number of liberal arts professors favor it over the competition by manipulating the book selection process so that the texts for their specific classes are only available at Vertigo...........
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Senators As Rebels Without A Clue
- By Warner Todd Huston

Senator Patty Murray (D, Washington State) has written an Opinion editorial about the current battle over President Bush's judicial nominations that proves that giants no longer wander the hallowed halls of the US Senate. This wondrous piece of fiction appeared in The Seattle Post-Intelligencer on Friday, April 22nd. It's a good thing it is titled "opinion" by the newspaper because opinion is all it is as no facts are contained within.

After reading Senator Murray's work, one wonders if a knowledge of history has officially been deemed unnecessary - nay, even anathema - for a United States Senator because nearly every aspect of her editorial is just plain wrong on historical fact......

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Young Christians Rising
- By Hans Zeiger

Generation X Catholics were asked in their teenage days what it was that the church had failed to give them. The most frequent response was that the church had not challenged teens with "a high and heroic ideal." Such a challenge, as we've been reminded these past few weeks, was made with astounding success by the late pope. The Millennial Generation, born in the days of Reagan and John Paul II, is emerging into the world with a conservatism unexpected and nervously opposed by the liberal elite of American culture. But liberalism cannot erase the moral demand it has provoked.

"In an age of relativism," writes Peter Kreeft, "orthodoxy is the only possible rebellion left." Remarkably, Christian orthodoxy is spreading rapidly amongst young Americans; we can hope that a great awakening of the spiritual life of the nation is imminent.........
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Contemplations on Socialism
- By Rudy Takala

The concoctions of socialism have indeed made life on this earth a tumultuous one. Socialism today continues to torment millions, simply because socialists refuse to acknowledge the failure of their religion. Socialism didn't create heaven on earth in the past, they say, because the wrong people were in power. They weren't in power. As centuries-old debates are waged over such issues as Social Security, and I find myself personally privileged to witness the modern grotesqueries of education, an array of thoughts have come to mind.

Socialist dogma seems to be tending away from its traditional promise of heaven on earth these days. It's no longer about creating a better standard of living, it's simply about making sure no one progresses too far ahead of anyone else. Social Security, for example, isn't about economic efficiency or prudence, nor is it about caring for the old. As Benjamin R. Barber wrote in defense of Social Security for the Los Angeles Times on January 27th, "Privatization - whether of education, housing or Social Security - makes us less of a public. It diminishes the republic - the res publica, or public things that define our commonweal. It turns the common 'we' into a collection of private 'me's.'".........
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Bush Wants To Blow Up The Sun
- By Warner Todd Huston

You know the twice annually observed tradition of the time switch for Daylight Savings time, I am sure. "Spring ahead and Fall back", goes the catch phrase. We all get so excited that our Summer evenings are going to be longer and moan when we end up with too long, dark mornings in the Winter. But it is something we have become used to. DST has become an American fixture.

Now here comes the Administration attempting to change it all. Why, oh why can't they just leave things well enough alone? What are they trying to do to us by adding two months to the Daylight Savings Time schedule?

Of course, their reasons are quite beguiling and that is why it is so evil. They claim that they mean to save energy with this idea. The new energy bill claims that if our nights are shorter we will use less energy to light our homes and businesses so they want to extend Daylight Savings by another two months. Save energy. Can you believe it?

Oh, sure that seems to make sense, all right. But here is the dark secret that they are NOT telling you. Bush will cause the Sun to explode thousands of years earlier! That's right. Not only is he trying to create global warming by torpedoing the Kyoto protocols. Not only has he announced plans to waste money to create a shield of missile launchers to save us against attack (and Canada too, whether they like it or not). Not only has he been so evil as to bring peace to so many spots of the world. Now he has launched a campaign to blow up the sun. I mean it just has to be, because it certainly couldn't be that Bush really wants to save energy.

Dastardly, isn't he?

Don't act all shocked. You know how this works, don't you? Why, if we are changing it so that we Americans have longer days and more sunlight, that means Bush is forcing the sun to work harder for the USA.

Isn't it just typical that this evil Bush is causing the USA to use up more of the sun than any other nation? The gall of him. Why should we lowly Americans get more out of the sun than any other country? What right do we have to use more of the sun than any other nation?

So, there we go. Bush is using up the sun which we all know would cause the sun to use up its precious energy much faster and then it will explode into a world killing nova. QED. Ipso Facto. I'm so sure. Totally.

Man. Saving the economy. Saving the country from attack. Saving energy. It just makes you wonder if Bush's evil knows no end?

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The Spectacles Of Feminism
- By Rudy Takala

Violence against women is plaguing the United States today. According to liberals, pornography and public vulgarity appear to be the answer. I will forewarn readers that the following is a discussion of feminists and liberals, some of whom are adolescents attending public high schools. As such, parts of the discussion are, to use a liberal buzzword, "inappropriate."

Carrie Rethlefsen attends Winona High School in Minnesota. She recently watched the play, "The Vagina Monologues." Its proponents allege that the play raises awareness to violence against women. After watching the play, Carrie Rethlefsen and a friend wore "I [heart] My Vagina" buttons to school. School administrators have called the pins "inappropriate" and threatened expulsion.

Unfortunately, Carrie Rethlefsen "can't really find out what is inappropriate about it." She doesn't "think banning things like this is appropriate." She said the buttons raise awareness to women's issues, whatever those may be.........
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A Review Of Winning The Future: A 21st Century Contract With America
- By Frederick Meekins

Over a decade has elapsed since The Contract With America catapulted Newt Gingrich to the forefront of American political discussion and the Republican Party into control of both houses of Congress. No longer confined by the restraints of public office, the former Speaker of the House now seeks to update and expand on this set of ideas in Winning The Future: A 21st Century Contract With America.

Unlike the original Contract With America which dealt primarily with political and legislative issues, Winning The Future applies the outlook inspiring the book's antecedent to a wider array of social and cultural concerns. Reflective of the personality of the author of both documents, Winning The Future is an eclectic synthesis of conservative commonsense, futuristic policy blather, and a reluctance to accept certain shortcomings inherent to human nature.

Winning The Future does a suburb job in examining the religious foundations of the United States. Gingrich uses his skill as an historian to trace recognition of this heritage from the Founding Fathers, through Abraham Lincoln, up to contemporary thinkers such as Samuel Huntington...........
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A Letter To Senator George Voinovich
- By Chuck Busch

Senator George Voinovich,

I was very dismayed to learn that my Ohio Republican U.S. Senator has defected and was responsible for the delay in the nomination of John Bolton for ambassador to the U.N. Your reservations in giving the endorsement were based on one day's testimony from a dubious Democratic voice whose claims are completely unproven. How you can make any balanced judgment at all after not being present throughout the entire hearings and not listening to Mr. Bolton's own defense is very questionable. It would have been better if you have trusted the opinion of your colleges and the chairman and been more willing to support the wishes of your president and his secretary of state and than to aid in the obstruction agenda of the vacuous UN sympathizers on the left.

I don't know how you can hesitate on this nomination at a time when reform at the UN is now underway. Do you have to be reminded that the United Nations under the direction of Kofi Annan has been totally ineffective in preventing and if fact, has been partly responsible for murder and mayhem on a massive scale across the globe? From the genocide in Rwanda, to the rape of women in Congo, to the abandonment of the Sudanese, to the unfettered proliferation of WMD's, to the largest financial scandal of the century which is the "Oil for Bribes" Iraqi scam, the UN on every occasion has exasperated crisis situations and placed itself in opposition to the purposes of the United States and Israel.

John Bolton is a distinguished accomplished diplomat who is exactly what is needed as the US representative. His much acclaimed "bare knuckle" approach is exactly the asset needed to bring reform to the UN. We do not need to "work with other people to get things going" as much as the UN needs to work with us. Our ambassador is not going to the UN to make friends, but to protect America's interests in world affairs. This is the UN's last opportunity to prove to the American public, that our participation in their organization has any merit whatsoever.

I hope that in the immediate future, I will be hearing more positive and proactive indications that you have the will to move conservative reforms ahead in alliance with genuine fellow Republican Senators.

Oceans Eleven Plus One (Sleezeburger In Paradise)
- By R.A. Hawkins

I don't know how many of my readers have taken a cruise, but I have to say that it is always quite interesting. Last week my best friend (my wife) and I took a short cruise down to the eastern coast of Mexico to take a look at the Chacchoben Ruins at Costa Maya. Last year we went to see the ruins at Tulum and there was one particularly interesting thing that occurred there that explained the world to me. The tour guide was telling us about the people that had lived there when it was in its heyday. He asked the group if we knew what the head priest had looked like. Most of the people there didn't have a clue as to why he asked that question but I already knew the answer. I chose that moment to do a little people-watching. As soon as the tour guide realized nobody had any idea what the head priest looked like he answered his own question. It went something like this: "Keep in mind that this was around 795 AD. I know you have all seen the locals, most of whom are Mayan in heritage, and you would expect the head priest to be less than five feet tall with a dark complexion. But look at some of the doorways here. They are a little taller than that. As local legend has it the head priest here was about six feet tall with fair skin, blonde hair and green eyes."

I was of course waiting to see the reaction from our fellow adventurers. It was kind of like watching people notice the streetlight was still red. In other words, there was absolutely no reaction. It was an epiphany. Suddenly I realized how Bill Clinton got into office that second time. People quite often don't pay attention to anything ...........
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Call Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist


If you are tired of the Democrats setting the agenda on when Bush's judicial nominees get confirmed by the Senate, call Republican majority leader, Senator bill Frist (R-Tenn.) and tell him to schedule the vote to break the Democrats' ILLEGAL filibustering maneuvers.

He can be reached at: (202) 224-3344; 228-1264

Don't let the Democrats fool you. They are out right lying to you on several counts with this issue

-The Republicans are NOT trying to eliminate filibusters of legislation (what it is SUPPOED to be used for)

-The Republicans are not stopping a "Senate tradition" by seeking to eliminate filibustering of judicial candidates by the Democrats because only one judge in the more than 200 year history of the Senate was filibustered in the past.

-The Constitution says that the Senate may create its OWN rules of operation and that is all the Republicans wish to do. Change a Senate created rule that the Constitution says they can change when ever they want to.

-The Democrats have made similar changes in the past, so this is not unheard of.

Call Senate Majority Leader Frist and tell him you support him but you want this Senate rule changed NOW so that Bush's judicial candidates can get the Constitutionally provided for up or down vote by the Senate.

Is Senator Jim Jefford's ill?
- By Warner Todd Huston

A couple of weeks ago (March 22nd) Vermont Senator Jim Jeffords appeared on a Public Radio show called "Switchboard" in his home state. (Am I the only one, in light of Jumpin' Jim's appearance there, who finds the title of the show ironic?) After reviewing a transcript of that appearance, I have to wonder if it might behoove his family to get him to the family Doctor, or perhaps a more specialized mental health care professional, for a little checkie-pooh.

Now, we all know Senator Jeffords came to national attention, lifting himself out of utter obscurity for his 15 minutes of fame, when he assisted the Democrats in the Senate to retake majority status during President Bush's first term. He did this by declaring that he would switch from being a Republican to claiming the title of "independent" (really a misspelling of "Democrat") which took the bare majority the GOP held in numbers in the Senate and tipped it toward the Democrats.

So far, that is not only his main claim to fame but the single act that he has ever done that made the slightest ripple in the great Washington scheme of things in all his years in government. And it made him instantly more of a non-entity in the Senate than he was previously, sadly for him and his constituents...............
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Open Letter to Duke Law: Respect Richard Nixon and Restore His Portrait
- By John T. Plecnik

Much to the chagrin of my elite and oh, so liberal law school, the most famous alum to take a degree from the Duke University School of Law is none other than President Richard M. Nixon (Class of 1937). On a side note, some would say that Kenneth Starr (Class of 1973) is the runner-up. Regardless, our legendary alum served as a two-term congressman, senator, two-term Vice-President and two-term President. Oh, and he lost a gubernatorial and presidential race...and had to resign from the presidency. But, that's American history.

Simply put, Nixon loved Duke, but Duke never loved Nixon. As President, the man helped to connect the United States and Duke University with China. He established a scholarship at the law school and hosted a class reunion in the White House. But, there was to be no honorary doctorate for the Republican politician. There was no respect for the enormous influence of an undeniably historic, but conservative figure. Despite Nixon's wishes to place his presidential library at Duke University, the school denied him a final opportunity to give back to the institution he loved. To their credit, the law faculty did support this initiative, but others overruled them.. .........
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Bob Dole, John Lennon, and what awaits us all
- By Michael M. Bates

It was a singular scene last week: A genuinely unscripted moment on television. I have to ask you a philosophical question, Hardball host Chris Matthews told Bob Dole. Do you believe in an afterlife?

The World War II hero, longtime senator and 1996 presidential candidate hesitated. A combined look of surprise and dismay crossed his face. You could see the wheels turning.

"I'm not certain," was his answer. Matthews pressed on: "So, it could just be that those soldiers who get killed, that is just the end for them?"

"I think - well, that would be my view," was his reply. The answer didn't imply any uncertainty.
In an age when the media provides suffocatingly exhaustive information about presidential candidates, their families, their pets, their favorite pizza toppings, their struggles through grade school, etc., it's ironic that Mr. Dole's unorthodox outlook on an afterlife didn't receive much attention a decade ago...............
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Jesus the Baby Killer?
- By Justin Darr

"Slippery Slope" reasoning is the belief that small, seemingly harmless, decisions can set precedents for much larger, radical, and unpopular decisions to come. Liberals hate "slippery slope" debates, largely because they have to acknowledge that leveraging small "slippery slope" issues through the activist judiciary system is their only real hope of cramming the radical heart of their agenda down America's throat. For example, what started as not having children pray in public schools has now led to the systematic banning of all Christian values from the public education system. Like building a wall of intolerance and oppression toward traditional values, liberals have over the years added one brick upon another, one small decision upon another with which we might not agree but seems fair at the time, until today where our traditional faith and values are truly at risk.

Christianity has been the main stumbling block to the complete success of the liberal agenda. Christians, and their nasty habit of voting all the time, has put the left on notice that unless they so something their ideals of creating a Godless, Socialist Utopia is doomed to failure.............
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Why Leftists Oppose The Real ID Act
- By William Dipini Jr.

The loony Leftists have been expending an inordinate amount of energy towards distorting facts about the Real ID Act. With a plethora of facts afloat regarding how effortless it was for 9/11 hijackers to acquire driver licenses, and how illegal aliens have been abusing our immigration system, one would think that the insipid Leftist mantra would cease.

The Real ID Act (H.R. 418), sponsored by James Sensenbrenner (R-WI), establishes minimum standards that states must follow before issuing state driver licenses and other types of identification. It affords judges the authority to determine the credibility of asylum seekers; and it makes it easier to deport illegal immigrants.

The bill mirrors the suggestions put forth by the 9/11 Commission: "The federal government should set standards for the issuance of birth certificates and sources of identification, such as driver's licenses."

All but one of the nefarious hijackers used driver's licenses to board our nation's airplanes. The lack of rational ID standards and loopholes in the immigration system killed over 5,000 Americans on 11 September 2001............
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PRCB's Jihad Against the Patriot Act
- By William Dipini Jr.

The reauthorization of the Patriot Act is on a roll and those from the Left and Right of the political spectrum - especially the Left - are showing severe signs of schizophrenia.

The Patriot Act was passed by the House 357-66, and 98-1 in the Senate, six weeks after the 9/11 attacks. The gravity and magnitude of the attacks pressured members of Congress to pass the Act with great velocity - to stand static at the periphery of a declaration of war by radical Islamic terrorists was suicide.

Since then, local law enforcement, in collaboration with the CIA and FBI, has disrupted terrorist cells and brought scores of terrorists to justice. Here's the nub: America is safer because of the Patriot Act............
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Pastor Seeking "With It" Reputation Ventures Close To Heresy
- By Frederick Meekins

A recent issue of Time magazine profiled a number of America's most influential Evangelicals. Among those with acceptable conservative credentials included historian David Barton, constitutional attorney Jay Sekulow, and author Tim LaHaye.

However, one professional religionist quietly slipped onto the list promotes a severely watered down brand of Christianity more about accommodating the faith to trendy progressive causes rather than applying a Biblical perspective to the issues of the day. For whereas those profiled such as Barton, Sekulow, and LaHaye earned their places on the roster for their strong positions they have taken in regards to their respective areas of expertise, Brian McLaren's claim to fame happens to be his spineless vacillation when confronted with matters requiring a distinctively Christian response proverbially separating the wheat from the chaff.

McLaren's Time profile starts out detailing McLaren's response to what this renowned cogitator thinks of gay marriage. To the inquiry he replied, "You know what, the thing that breaks my heart is there's no way I can answer it without hurting someone on either side."

What does that have to do with anything? For the true man of God, there is nothing to agonize over when formulating a response to such a clear cut issue...........
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Judge Roy Moore and the Myth of the Separation Clause
- By Christian Hartsock

Chief Justice Roy Moore's new book So Help Me God is a captivating and unflinching first-hand account of a man on the front lines of the battle between religious freedom and judicial tyranny. This Alabama Supreme Court Justice embodies the true definition of patriotism, inasmuch he has risked his career and reputation to stand by his oath of office and refuses to deny his allegiance to the Constitution and the laws of nature and nature's God for the mere sake of catering to the frenetic, deep-seated anti-religious paranoia of the uber-secular left.

It was on June 9, 1993 that ACLU member Joel Sogol wrote to then-chief justice of Alabama Sonny Hornsby, threatening to sue anyone who continued the time-honored tradition of praying in court. After Roy Moore took office in 1994 and refused to bring a halt to the tradition, the ACLU stepped up their threats of suit over the prayer and, in addition, began hyperventilating over the Ten Commandments plaque Justice Moore had placed in his courtroom. At the beginning of the third month of Justice Moore's first term of office on March 31, 1995, the ACLU filed suit in U.S. district court against him on the basis that he had illegally imposed his religious beliefs on others in the courtroom, denouncing the prayer as "a religious test."...........
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The Dragon Stirs (Diverting the Worlds Attention)
- By R.A. Hawkins

The recent spate of 'state approved' protests in China has been well received by our liberal media. They are doing what they usually do, taking what has been handed to them rather than look into the issues at hand. I often wonder if they are really liberal or simply lazy. Not that there would be a noticeable difference. The affect would be the same. (Inadequate reporting and stupid assumptions.) But the protests are definitely aimed at getting the liberal American media on their side. I doubt China will be disappointed by the media in this country. Our media reported on the money that Haley Barbour got in trouble over, but they sort of kept quiet about the money that got the dems in trouble. Now that it appears that the wife of their man in the White House (As the Chinese called Bill Clinton) is getting ready to make a run we are hearing a lot about Delay and his money problems. Delay should have been suspicious when the name of the company that handled the travel arrangements that got him in trouble was Chelsea something. But we all know it is one standard for 'them' and one standard for us conservatives. It is no wonder that the Chinese would expect our media to cover for the Chinese internal problems or shall I say the dragons' indigestion? ...........
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...It's just that simple.

The GOP has been out of the channels of power since FDR's Democratic Party co-opted socialism to remake their party into the "Party of the people" at the end of Hoover's term. That was in 1933, for those keeping track.

Previous to 1933 the Republican Party had long stretches of and often a choke hold on political power in Washington for most of the 74 years between the first Republican president, Abraham Lincoln, was elected in 1860 and Hoover's disastrous last days in office in 1933. The Democrats had to suffice with brief periods during Woodrow Wilson's immensely disappointing term and Grover Cleveland's barely remembered days in office.

But the GOP lost their potency when socialism became King and FDR became the patron saint of the Democrats. Again, that was 1933, 71 years ago. Nearly as long a stretch of time as the years during which they were the Party of power the Republicans have been out of power and they have grown prosaically used to being so powerless.

Some may say, "Now hold on a minute, aren't they the power players today?" Well, one might think so by looking at the ascendance of the Party locally as well as nationally or by listening to the conniptions of the mainstream media moaning about Republican excess. One could be excused for imagining that the GOP had retaken the controls of Lincoln's powerful machine and that they were ready to focus their sites on wielding that power.

One would also be mistaken to believe it, too.

Since the GOP began to get serious about winning elections in the 1960's with Barry Goldwater's abortive attempt to capture the White House, the Party has claimed that things would change if they ever got in power. No longer would Democrats run roughshod over them and no longer would the Dems set the agenda and run the show as if the GOP wasn't even in the theater. When Bush won a second term, the GOP claimed victory and said NOW was that time ... they had arrived at long last.

Then Bush sent some judicial nominees to Congress and the wheels came off the bandwagon before the music was fairly struck. The Democrats played their tune of obstruction without sending the Republicans the sheet music and the GOP found that they had forgotten to even tune their instruments much less make sure to see that they were all starting on the same page of music.

The symphony of political power that the GOP assured us that they were ready to conduct has turned from a Beethoven masterpiece to the caterwauling more befitting a Yoko Ono. As John McCain croons in an off key imitation of Tom Daschle, saying he will support the Democrats in this judicial filibustering fight instead of his own Party, and as several other Republicans in the Senate run for the hills we are witness to Republican ineptitude at power politics.

Here is a challenge for the readers. Can you name a major political show down during which Democrats abandoned their Party and supported Republicans when they were in a position of national power? I would say that you won't be able to find very many examples. In fact, you have to go all the way back to the days of Scoop Jackson or the absurd Democratic nomination of McGovern in 1972 to find any real dissention among Democrats. It's because they don't do it. They know that unity is the key and that they can haggle within their party for their pet issues after the victory celebration. THAT is how to play power politics.

The Democrats know that they don't have to worry about 2 years from now, or 10 years or 100 years if they don't win the fights today. If they need to get something done they get it done now. And they don't snipe at each other in the process. Politics is about compromise for the most part, but someone still has to set the agenda, to write the rules, so that the issues are clear enough for compromise to have a starting point. Democrats are experts at this.

Republicans have for over 70 years been the Party led by the nose. They have been the henpecked husband of the domineering Democrat wife. They have smiled meekly for nearly three quarters of a century and made what minute gains they could as the Democrats set the agenda and offered the GOP some scraps from the table as an after thought. The GOP is apparently used to this role and they haven't the spine to break out of it even when they have majorities in power all across the country.

In this judicial fight, the GOP has allowed the Democrats to set the agenda they have allowed them to create the goals and they have pleaded with them for a few scraps from the table just like they have done for 70 years. Senators like John McCain are more interested in being loved by the press corps than standing for the gains of his Party, one that a majority of Americans have supported.

This will lose the GOP the hard fought points that they have gained since 1994. And with no obvious presidential candidate to offer the voting public in just a few short years this could see a Democrat winning the White House in a cake walk in 2008.

After all, why vote for a Republican when the Democrats are controlling the agenda anyway?

By Warner Todd Huston

1/2 Of Practicing Jews Voted Bush In '04
- By Warner Todd Huston

Quite a claim in that title, isn't it? Anyone who is interested in voting trends and tendencies in the United States electorate is well aware that Jewish Americans usually vote far more often for the Democratic candidate in our presidential elections than they do the Republican. However, a recent survey on Jewish voters in the 2004 election relayed the startling fact that half of American Jews who attend Temple regularly voted for George W. Bush.

This is survey was not made by a Republican either, by the way. The man reporting this finding is Democratic candidate John Kerry's pollster, Mark Mellman who, according to a recent L.A.Times article, reported his study results conducted during the 2004 campaign's final month.

Mellman's study found that Americans of all stripes who attended religious services regularly tended to vote Republican far more often than they voted Democratic. His findings among Jewish voters was not as lopsided as that among Christian voters but still the Jewish vote was split down the middle between GOP and Democrat voters. That split is still an amazing new trend in the Jewish community. In fact, George Bush made advances in every Jewish voter category to one degree or another...............
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In Washington, working folk need not apply
- By Michael M. Bates

Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) is in hot water with the Senate ethics committee. A physician, his outrageous impropriety is providing medical care to pregnant ladies and other patients and delivering babies.

It isn't as though Dr. Coburn is making obscene profits. In fact, he makes no profit. He charges only enough to run his office and pay for malpractice insurance.

That makes no difference. The ethics committee has ordered him to shut down his practice in Muskogee by the end of September.

For years, Senate rules have prohibited members from working in a number of professions. Thus, the argument is the doctor knew what he was letting himself in for when he ran for office. He shouldn't have expected an exemption...............
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Catholic Nuttiness? No, Due Respect For The Pope
- By Warner Todd Huston

I have avoided commenting on the death of Pope John Paul the Second this week for the main reason that I am not a Catholic. In fact, I have always considered myself somewhat anti-Catholic as have so many Americans historically. While I am not a fear monger against the Catholic Church as many of my ancestral fellow Americans have all too often been, I have to honestly say I am not a big fan of Catholic tradition and dogma. More often than not I just shake my head in bemusement at Catholics.

Furthermore, I am against an overarching organized Priesthood, tending to feel as John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Paine and so many other famous American founders felt on the matter. Historically, Priests have more often been a menace than a boon to the people of a nation as the European history our Founders were so steeped in so obviously proves.

As with most countries America has a few dark spots in it's past. And concerning one of those spots we must admit that American anti-Catholicism has often gone horribly overboard. From the 1700's to the 1900's laws were passed to discriminate against Catholics and they were often barred from public office. In 1928 American citizens even destroyed the career of a fine candidate for the presidency when they used anti-Catholic fear mongering against New York Democrat Al Smith, a reform minded candidate who would probably have made a fine president. (The old canard that Smith would be a puppet in the hands of the Pope was a common claim. It was even ridiculously claimed that Smith would build a tunnel from the White House to the Vatican in Rome so that the Pope could better control the USA... a tunnel thousands of miles long, in 1928, yet.) The Catholic question was even still alive as a concern all the way up to the time that John F. Kennedy ran for president in 1960, though he was successful in defusing it as a negative issue..............
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Conditions of Disrepair Pervade Washington DC Area Cemetery
- By Frederick Meekins

In going on to his eternal reward, the last profundity Pope John Paul II conveyed to the world was no matter how good we might be as individuals death will eventually come to embrace us all. And as we all stop for a moment to ponder our earthly demises, it is only natural to consider the ultimate disposition of our physical remains. But whereas those of the Pope's will always be properly honored as befitting someone of his stature, often the remainder of us don't get even the minimal respect we deserve as human beings having once walked this earth as creatures made in the image of God.

My family went to the Fort Lincoln Cemetery in suburban Maryland on Easter Sunday to pay respects to my mother's brother interned there. It would be an understatement to say we were in for an "Easter surprise" we would never forget...........
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The Education Debacle
- By Rudy Takala

The war for the children has been reaching ridiculous extremes as of late, with the ownership of children being an object of dispute. Socialism has always espoused a doctrine of subordinating the welfare of individuals to the welfare of the State, but American socialists have rarely stated it in unambiguous and outright terms.

In recent decades, conservatives began to oppose the forcible confiscation of children for the purpose of State-conducted indoctrination. This began as a reasonable movement; no rational or moral law can allow government to coerce the direction of anyone's life to such an extent.

But as I said, the opposing movements have come to a similarity in reaching fanatical extremes. The education movement began with a pretense of educating; it operated under a facade of intellectual merit. In reality, it was predicated on the hope of many differing factions, Christian and socialist alike, that their interests would be perpetuated.........
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New York Times Up Bush Down? (Getting It Wrong Again)
- By R.A. Hawkins

It was interesting to see the crude oil prices spike again recently. It reminded me of the way in which lemmings run off of cliffs in a rapture that only they could ever understand. Somebody said they thought the prices could reach $110 per barrel and everybody that could jump on that did. I really have to wonder why that is. One would think that after the good ole dotcom con that people would be a little more cautious about such advice. Apparently not. The per barrel price began to drop within a week. That was but a sideshow to Liberal American Politics, which tend to be driven by money and self interest. The part I enjoyed was reading the delight of the New York Times, as they seemed to be viewing this as the death knell to Bush's political future.

In the New York Times article of April 8th 'U.S. Report Sees Gasoline Prices Moving Higher Still', written by Richard W. Stevenson and Matthew L. Wald, there were some interesting quotes. "When gas prices go up to the level they're at now, they are in some ways the economic equivalent of the color-coded terrorism alerts. They work their way through into public opinion very quickly in terms of affecting people's opinions about the direction of the nation and raising the stakes on pocketbook issues generally." That was Geoff Garin, a Democratic pollster. They also quoted another Democratic pollster by the name of Mark Mellman. "This is not just an economic problem. It is also, in the public judgment, a national security problem. There is a widespread belief in the country that the problem could be solved or a real dent made in it, but that this administration, because it is tied to big oil, is unwilling to take the steps necessary to reduce our dependence on foreign oil." ...........
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On The Failure of America's Higher Education
- By David Morrell

Within the American university is an imperceptible shift of allegiance from age-old principles to a new banner of peremptory axioms and half-considered adages. The twentieth-century witnessed this tacit transformation of the university from a place of learning to the bastion of failing propositions, as cries for progress permeated the unshaped minds of the rising generation, drowning out centuries of tradition. This new wave of educators and its proteges are committed-more than the previous-to rejecting all standards of the good, the beautiful, and the true, replacing them with transitory social, cultural and political paradigms. Each successive generation is characterized by its will to reject the one preceding it, rendering many American minds devoid of tradition and of a belief in any standard of truth. A nation without these "great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of man and citizens" is a country slowly decaying into a spiritual stupor.

Aristotle once wrote, "Man by nature desires to know." And, in the words of the Claremont Institute's Chris Flannery, "what man by nature ultimately most needs to know is the final end, or highest good, or that for the sake of which all things exist." Thus, education-or what it ought to be-is simply the process by which individuals discover "their chief and highest" end in life-the purpose for which they exist. America's traditional form of learning-the liberal arts-seeks to answer those fundamental questions at the heart of the human experience...........
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Charge Michael Jackson As An Accessory To Homicide
- By Frederick Meekins

For the past decade or so, celebrity watchers have speculated whether Michael Jackson is simply a freak or something significantly more dangerous such as a pedophile. However, it now seems the judicial stakes have gotten higher as Jackson's shenanigans may have contributed to the death of an unsuspecting bystander.

Upon admitting the king of pop to the hospital for allegedly exhibiting symptoms of the flu, hospital officials at the Marian Medical Center in Santa Monica, California bumped a 74 year old grandmother on a ventilator suffering cardiac arrest from the trauma ward to make room for Michael Jackson...........
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Calif. Case Proves School Vouchers A Good Idea
- By Warner Todd Huston

Sunnyvale, California: Nearly 300 high school students in one of the Fremont Union High Schools were told to go home and never return. It seems the District administrators "discovered" that these hundreds of students didn't actually, legally live in the district and so did not qualify to attend the public schools in there.

Superintendent Steve Rowley told reporters, "We asked them to come to the office, we called their parents and told them they don't go to school here anymore".

Perhaps Californians are getting the message that government is not a bottomless wellspring of free money and services at long last? The aforementioned school district has realized that they just cannot afford to continue turning a blind eye to the attendance of students who don't actually live in the district from which the taxes are drawn that fund the schools there. They have finally put their foot down and told the outsiders to go to the schools in their own districts and rightfully so.

A Ronald Dews is quoted by KRON, Channel 4 television as being concerned that, "The people who are supposed to be here are getting deprived of the education they are supposed to have". Somehow one should find it a suspect idea that anyone is being "denied" the education their taxes are paying for, but the point is well taken in that many are getting an education that they are NOT paying for because they do not live in the school district..............
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Rep. Jeff Flake introduced the Prescription Drug Benefit Oversight Act (HR 1382), which would delay the implementation of the new prescription drug benefit under Medicare until 2007 to allow Congress more time to assess its cost and consider new cost-control mechanisms.

Rep. John Hostettler reintroduced the Marriage Protection Act (HR 1100), which would prevent federal judges from ruling on cases arising under the Defense of Marriage Act.

Rep. Phil Gingrey reintroduced the Firearm Commerce Modernization Act (HR 1384), which would update certain procedures applicable to commerce in firearms and remove certain federal restrictions on interstate firearms transactions.


(Thanks, Federalist Patriot: FederalistPatriot.US)

Open Letter to Congress: Impeach Activist, Rock Star Judges
- By John T. Plecnik

For too long, congress has allowed federal judges, appointed pursuant to Article III of the U.S. Constitution, to flaunt the law. Appointed for life during good behavior, these judges, including members of the Supreme Court and "9th U.S. Circus Court of Appeals," are vulnerable to "impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors." Just like the president, they can be impeached by a majority vote of the House of Representatives and convicted by a two thirds vote in the Senate. The time has come for good conservatives and true patriots to demand that congress impeach the activist, rock star judges.

Last Thursday, Rush Limbaugh gave a nod to "this 21-year-old student from Duke." The king of conservative radio read my column, "Rock Star Judges Usurp Power for Fame," over the air on his nationally syndicated program. Millions listened. Many replied. And I am left with a sense of hope that we can make a difference. We can force congress to perform its duty and protect the Constitution from a judiciary run amuck. .........
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Considering the legacy of Pope John Paul II
- By Michael M. Bates

With the Pope's passing last week, there's been enormous media coverage of his papacy and its impact. Pope John Paul II was widely admired as a principled leader, a compassionate teacher and a genuine moral force. Sadly, the reality is that his message has generally been ignored.

I'm not speaking here of the typical adversaries of the Roman Catholic Church and its doctrines. We expect statements such as the one issued by the UK-based Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association:

"The Pope's opposition to gay relationships and gay rights has been relentless throughout his 26-year tenure of office, culminating in his book published this year in which same-sex marriage is described as part of an 'ideology of evil'. His catechism condemns gay relationships as 'intrinsically disordered' and a 'grave depravity'... No self-respecting, rational-thinking gay person can be expected to mourn the Pope's demise, or be at all optimistic that his successor will take a more sympathetic approach."

The president of a group called Catholics for a Free Choice was quoted by Reuters as saying about John Paul II:

"He will go down in history as a pope who didn't understand and who wasn't friendly to women. He couldn't have slammed the door shut more loudly on the question of the ordination of women. He will go down as a fifth-century pope in terms of who women are."...............
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The Non-Moralizing Jerk Section
- By Justin Darr

After years of constant personal attacks, being unceremoniously herded out into the hostile elements, and sneered and glared upon on an almost constant basis, I have quit smoking. Yes, stand up and applaud all you non-smokers out there! You have finally nagged, annoyed, and taxed me out of one of the few small pleasures life has to offer.

Granted, smoking is bad for you. And, that is the real reason why I quit. After just a few short weeks I already feel better, have more energy and the creation of the "plasma TV fund" in my bank account has made it all worthwhile. Probably the largest benefit of not smoking is that now I can finally join the benighted few in the coveted "non smoking section" of my favorite local restaurant............
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Inching Towards The New Center (Left-Wing Political Science)
- By R.A. Hawkins

If one views the conclusions drawn by the brilliant thinkers of the left-wing media regarding the last election and the Schiavo case, it is easy to see why Hillary is posturing the way she is for the next election. I read one article where the New York Times was loudly trumpeting her move to the center because of her stance pushing condoms for kids to cut down on abortions. She was also talking about morality. Say what!?

You can't talk about making condoms more available when they already are available. You will find them for free in most State Health Departments in brown paper bags ... Given out for free with no questions asked. The point here is that even free and anonymous condom distribution obviously isn't a solution because it isn't working yet. Maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea to bring back real morality again...........
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The Execution of Terri Schiavo
- By David Huntwork

"The essence of civilization is that the strong have a duty to protect the weak. In cases where there are serious doubts and questions, the presumption should be in the favor of life."
"I urge all those who honor Terri Schiavo to continue to work to build a culture of life where all Americans are welcomed and valued and protected, especially those who live at the mercy of others."

- President George Bush

The crime is complete, the deed is done, and the long battle is over. Terri Schiavo is dead.
Terri's so-called wishes if she was ever dramatically injured only surfaced some seven years into her condition and after a malpractice suit had been settled. This endless mantra that death by dehydration was 'merely carrying out Terri's wishes' rings hollow when one looks at the evidence and once again common sense and rationality was the first casualty of the legal system...............
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Ditzy Women Prefer Scumbags
- By Frederick Meekins

According to the San Francisco Chronicle , Scott Peterson was hardly in the Big House for an hour before he received his first marriage proposal - and no, it was not from his cellmate. Rather, it came from prison groupies on the outside romantically attracted to the dregs of humanity.

So basically, the moral of the story is that nice guys really do finish last and all the whining about the need for men to be more sensitive is a crock. Seems what many women want deep down is to be treated like a piece of trash...........
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Left Misleading About Filibusters; Who's Surprised?
- By Warner Todd Huston

Left leaning organization, "The People for the American Way", had a press conference recently (3/30/05) about how they are taking up the banner to support filibustering by the Democrats of Bush's judicial nominations. PftAW President, Ralph Neas, waxed eloquent on the founders and the Constitution. Unfortunately, most of what he said was misleading at best and out right wrong at worst.

Mr. Neas was touting The PftAW's new TV spot on the issue with a "common sense republican" as the star attraction. Attempting to make it seem as if those who are against the changing of Senate rules to stop this unprecedented filibustering action by Democrats is a bipartisan issue.

The TV ad, which few will see on paid broadcasts, no doubt, has debuted on the internet. Besides a few small background inconsistencies with the fellow that they chose for their poster boy being the "common sense Republican" he claims to be - Ted Nonini, who belongs to the Los Angeles Firefighter's union and serves as its Treasurer , a Union that endorsed Kerry for president in '04 - the ad ends with a plaintive, "Don't let anyone kill the filibuster". Setting aside the silly reference at the beginning of the ad to the movie "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington", the ad misleads its viewers with that ending..............
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Terri Schiavo: The Locked-in State
- By Steven and Sherry Eros

Over 2000 years ago the Athenians condemned and executed the philosopher Socrates and the Romans tortured and murdered Jesus Christ. We tend to dismiss the mindless cruelty and barbarity of these acts, this snuffing-out of the lives of two of the greatest benefactors of mankind, as quite understandable, even if lamentable, given the assumption that ancient societies were unfamiliar with the refinements of modern liberal democracy, limited representative government, checks and balances, minority rights and the like. Such travesties of justice could never occur in our modern, highly evolved age--certainly not in America. Cold-blooded court-sanctioned murder of innocents, not to mention the noblest and best of our fellow citizens, is unthinkable here. What happened in ancient Athens and Jerusalem could never be replicated under our system of laws, in our enlightened age, with a Bill of Rights, standards of proof, jury trials and all the other available protections of individual rights. Compassionate Americans would never stand for their government yanking perfectly innocent citizens off the streets, from their workplaces or out of their homes without due process of law............
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