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Date Posted: 21:09:06 06/26/04 Sat
Author: Bar
Author Host/IP: user-0cal2o3.cable.mindspring.com / 24.170.139.3
Subject:

"The Kerry Record"

THE FOUNDATION

"Guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism." --George Washington

_____----********O********----______

THE FEDERALIST PERSPECTIVE

Top of the fold -- Aid and comfort to the enemy: The Kerry record...

It's no surprise that John Kerry has devoted so much time and energy questioning George W. Bush's record as commander-in-chief. Nor is it any surprise that he recently launched a campaign calling on Secretary of Defense Don Rumsfeld to resign after a handful of military personnel humiliated al-Qa'ida terrorists in Abu Ghraib prison while attempting to obtain actionable intelligence about their plans to kill more of our troops.

These political attacks are just the latest round on Kerry's long list of black-bag antics designed to undermine America's military strength and resolve.

Kerry, who fancies himself a war hero, has spent much of his political career denigrating American military personnel and the nation they defend. But his anti-American actions preceded his first campaign for Congress -- indeed, they were the platform from which he launched his political career.

Like his comrade "Hanoi Jane" Fonda and so many other Leftist protagonists from the Age of Aquarius, Kerry was a child of wealth and privilege. Today, he is the wealthiest member of Congress (the "F" stands for "Forbes," after all) but don't expect that to be a central theme of his "man of the people" campaign. (In fact, the top five wealthiest Senators are all Democrats.)

Kerry grew up hobnobbing with the Massachusetts Cape glitterati, a life of leisure including all the accoutrements -- the best schools, the best vacation homes, the best yachts, etc. He socialized with the rich and famous, especially the Kennedy clan elites, where he was taken under the wing of his future patron saint, Teddy. He attempted to emulate John Kennedy's PT-109 heroics by joining the Navy and using his connections to obtain an assignment for a short tour on a swiftboat in Vietnam. Kerry then went on to collect three Purple Hearts in just two months -- all of dubious merit, but requisite for a ticket home to pursue his political aspirations.

Unlike John F. Kennedy, however, when John F. Kerry got home, there was no hero's welcome. The nation was in turmoil over our continued role in Vietnam, the result of limited but well-publicized Leftist protests against the war. So Kerry, ever the opportunist, endeavored to become the Left's most "useful idiot" (as Lenin called Western apologists for Soviet propaganda), collaborating with Fonda, et al., and leading protests accusing his "brethren" in Vietnam of all manner of atrocities.

Kerry was (and remains) an effective spokesperson for his Leftist cadre. His anti-war protest period culminated with his 1971 congressional testimony, after which he told the press, "There are all kinds of atrocities and I would have to say that, yes, yes, I committed the same kind of atrocities as thousands of other soldiers have committed in that I took part in shootings in free-fire zones. I conducted harassment and interdiction fire. I used 50-caliber machine guns, which we were granted and ordered to use, which were our only weapon against people. I took part in search-and-destroy missions, in the burning of villages. All of this is contrary to the laws of warfare. All of this is contrary to the Geneva Conventions...."

Regarding the substance -- and source -- of Kerry's claims, Ion Mihai Pacepa, the highest-ranking intelligence officer ever to defect from the Soviet bloc, says "KGB priority number one at that time was to damage American power, judgment, and credibility. ... As a spy chief and a general in the former Soviet satellite of Romania, I produced the very same vitriol Kerry repeated to the U.S. Congress almost word for word and planted it in leftist movements. KGB chairman Yuri Andropov managed our anti-Vietnam War operation. He often bragged about having damaged the U.S. foreign-policy consensus, poisoned domestic debate in the U.S., and built a credibility gap between America and European public opinion through our disinformation operations. Vietnam was, he once told me, 'our most significant success'."

As for the success of Kerry's anti-democracy protests and his leadership of the VVAW and association with Fonda's Winter Soldier Investigation, General Vo Nguyen Giap, Vietnam's most decorated military leader, wrote in retrospect that if not for the disunity created by such stateside protesters, Hanoi would have ultimately surrendered.

But the consequences of Kerry's actions should not stop with the fall of Saigon.

Kerry, by his own account, violated the UCMJ, the Geneva Conventions and the U.S. Code while serving as a Navy officer, and he further stands in violation of Article three, Section three of the U.S. Constitution.

Upon entering the Navy in 1966, John Kerry signed a six-year contract (plus a six-month extension during wartime) and an Officer Candidate contract for five years of active duty and active Naval Reserve. This indicates that Kerry was clearly a commissioned officer at the time of his 1970 meeting with NVA Communists in Paris -- in direct violation of the UCMJ's Article 104 part 904, and U.S. Code 18 U.S.C. 953. That meeting, and Kerry's subsequent coddling of Communists while leading mass protests against our military in the year that followed, also place him in direct violation of our Constitution's Article three, Section three, which defines treason as "giving aid and comfort" to the enemy in time of warfare. (As General Vo Nguyen Giap is his witness....)

Thus, we refer our readers to the Constitution's Fourteenth Amendment, Section 3, which states, "No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President ... having previously taken an oath ... to support the Constitution of the United States, [who has] engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof."

It is for this reason -- for his record of giving aid and comfort to the enemy while a member of the U.S. Armed Forces in violation of his oath -- that we insist John Kerry resign his seat in the U.S. Senate. He has dishonored his family, dishonored his state and dishonored our nation. He is not fit for public office at any level of government, much less, the highest office in the land. John Kerry should resign.

Quote of the week...

"Long before I took my current job, I had the good fortune to work with other presidents I greatly admire. Along the way, I learned a few things about the presidency, and the kind of person it takes to do that job well. It takes the finest qualities of character: conviction, personal integrity, good judgment, compassion, and courage in times of testing for the nation. And, ladies and gentlemen, we have all of those qualities and more in President George W. Bush. I count it a privilege to serve with a president who has united our nation behind great goals -- and brought honor and integrity to the White House." --Vice President Dick Cheney

On cross-examination...

"In 1997, Kerry felt that there were no threats to the United States. This prompted him to place this statement in the Congressional Record: 'Now that the [Cold War] struggle is over, why is it that our vast intelligence apparatus continues to grow even as Government resources for new and essential priorities fall far short of what is necessary?' (Congressional Record, 5/1/97, p. S3891) Twelve days after 9/11, Senator Kerry had the nerve to make this statement: 'And the tragedy is, at the moment, that the single most important weapon for the United States of America is intelligence. ...[W]e are weakest, frankly, in that particular area. So it's going to take us time to be able to build up here to do this properly.' (CBS's Face the Nation, 9/23/01) After spending years trying to lay waste to our intelligence capabilities, succeeding at times, and failing at times, he now preaches about how our intelligence community was negligent." --Barbara Stock, GOPUS

On the Political Front...

After a weeklong memorial to Ronald Reagan suspended most overt presidential politicking, Demo presidential nominee-in-waiting John Kerry cast himself back into the campaign with customary flare and charm. Just in time for Father's Day, Kerry laid out his plan for helping families, with -- you knew this was coming -- government financing for less parental involvement with their children. Kerry proposes increasing the allowance for the child care tax credit from the current $3,000 to $5,000 per child, and further calls for expanding after-school programs by repealing the tax credit for families earning over $200,000. Wow -- a duo of dubious ideas! As a family-friendlier approach, why not allow folks to keep more money in the family pocketbook from the get-go, instead of earmarking money for placing children in the care of others.

Moreover, Kerry, Mr. Warmth himself, sniffed of the Bush approach, "If you think that is compassionate conservatism, then Dick Cheney is Mr. Rogers."

Kerry also returned to his stale incoherency regarding the war with Jihadistan, intoning, "The U.S. should never go to war because it wants to. The U.S. should only go to war because it has to. This President failed the test in Iraq. When it comes to war and peace, I will tell the truth to the American people...."

...If he ever gets the chance. The Kerry campaign was dealt a blow this week when Ralph Nader tapped former California Green Party gubernatorial candidate Peter Camejo for his number-two slot. Camejo's name ID and strong Leftist credentials, especially in key Western states where Kerry and Bush are within striking distance of each other, could help tip one or more states into the Bush column.

From the JFK DEMO-lition derby...

John Kerry's official campaign website, recently replete with speeches and interviews where the good Senator uses words that we prefer to write with asterisks, like "****" and "****," is continuing to purge Kerry's record. Now the site has omitted Kerry's 2002 speech against taxing dividend income. Ever the flip-flopper, Candidate Kerry changed his position after Mr. Bush proposed the repeal of dividend taxes early last year.

We think Groucho Marx said it best: "Those are my principles. If you don't like them I have others."

Coincidentally -- or perhaps not -- the American Shareholders Association issued its report on Sen. Kerry's voting record related to investors. Not surprisingly, Kerry's record shows his support for hefty capital-gains taxes and double taxation on dividends* -- and thus reveals his overt hostility to the investor class, which now composes 64% of the American electorate.

(*Yeah, yeah, we know this report contradicts Kerry's 2002 dividend tax position noted above ' but what did you expect?)

This week's "Braying Jackass" award:

"Who would you rather have in charge of the defense of the United States of America, a group of people who never served a day overseas in their life or a guy who served his country honorably and has three Purple Hearts and a Silver Star from the battlefields of Vietnam?" --Howard Dean, stumping for Kerry.

Given the revelations above, we'll take the other guy.

DEMO-gogue campaign quotes...

"Our military families have the right to expect real leadership of the armed forces from the Commander-in-Chief. They have a right to competitive pay and quality housing, decent health care and dental care. Quality education for their children. First rate training. The best possible weaponry and state-of-the-art equipment. They have a right to timely deployment information. And they have a right to know that, in the event of tragedy, help will be there to care and provide for their families and for them." --John Kerry, making the case to re-elect George W. Bush

"I'm running for president to put America back to work. ... I'm running for president because health care is not a benefit for the wealthy or the elected or the connected. ... I'm running for president because I know that we could be a **** of a lot stronger in the world if we were to secure our freedom. ... I'm running for president because I believe we can build an even more effective military." --John Kerry

In other news from the Left...

Nothing makes any man appear smaller than straying into the shadow of a truly great man. Amid the memorials for Ronald Reagan, enter the moral pygmy Bill Clinton, hawking his autobiography, My Life, and banging the ol' drum that he was victimized horribly by those persons with the effrontery to notice his misconduct in office.

Perhaps the most salient point within his 957-page tome is Clinton's lamentation that his life was difficult enough the first time, and hard to go through again. We concur!

Chief among his claimed "accomplishments," the impeached former president touts his efforts to broker Mideast peace, while laying blame for the negotiations' failure to Yasser Arafat's refusal to consider a reasonable deal.

Elsewhere, students of abnormal psychology will find suspect the Chief Prevaricator's claim to have repented of misusing women. During a BBC interview on the book, Clinton became visibly outraged, his splotchy face becoming ever redder, when the interviewer pressed him on his choice to continue cavorting with Monica Lewinsky when already under scrutiny. Clinton went ballistic, blaming independent counsel Kenneth Starr for his own pathetic failings: "Let me just say this. One of the reasons he [Kenneth Starr] got away with it is because people like you only ask me the questions. You gave him a complete free ride. Any abuse they wanted to do. They indicted all these little people from Arkansas, what did you care about them, they're not famous, who cares that their life was trampled. Who cares that their children are humiliated. Nobody in your line of work cared a rip about that at the time. Why, because he was helping their story. And that's why people like you always help the far Right, because you like to hurt people, and you like to talk about how bad people are and all their personal failings."

Of course, we aren't surprised in the least. And anyone who is surprised ought to have been forewarned by Clinton's earlier assertion, "The whole [impeachment] battle was a badge of honor. I don't see it as a stain, because it was illegitimate."

Notable, too, was the general Leftmedia's fawning over Clinton, as it illustrates another matter that came up this week -- media bias and audience bifurcation. A couple of outrageous examples surfaced this week. First, Russian President Vladimir Putin confirmed the potential threat Saddam Hussein posed, when he disclosed that his intelligence agencies had passed information to the U.S. that the Iraqi dictator had plans to attack us. Here, the Leftmedia silence was deafening. So caught up are they in the view that Saddam was no danger prior to the onset of renewed battle in Iraq, they simply refuse to revise their flawed first draft of history.

CNN, meanwhile, was caught in a major piece of disinformation, claiming that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld had approved a form of coercive interrogation using "waterboarding." Countered Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz in testimony before the House Armed Services Committee, "I'd like to clarify at least one thing that's been seriously misreported for almost the last 24 hours by CNN claiming that Secretary Rumsfeld authorized some kind of extreme interrogation method in Guantanamo. I was in discussions with Secretary Rumsfeld where he specifically ruled out the use of that kind of technique." CNN grudgingly retracted -- on its website, but with nothing near the amount of coverage it had already dedicated to disseminating the lie.

The BIG lie...

"Probably more has been written or said about our marriage than about any other in America. I've always been amazed at the people who felt free to analyze, criticize, and pontificate about it. After being married for nearly 30 years and observing my friends' experiences with separations, reconciliations, and divorces, I've learned that marriage, with all its magic and misery, its contentments and disappointments, remains a mystery, not easy for those in it to understand.... On October 11, 1975, I didn't know any of that. All I knew then was that I loved Hillary, the life, work, and friends we now had in common, and the promise of what we could do together. I was proud of her, too, and thrilled to be in a relationship that might not ever be perfect but would certainly never be boring." --Bill Clinton, from My Life, or as it is known around our shop, My Lie

Open query...

"Clinton actually compares his battle against impeachment to civil rights struggles in the South. Haven't blacks been insulted enough by the constant comparison between gay marriage and black civil rights without this horny hick comparing his impeachment to Selma? ... If we're so obsessed with [the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy], why do they keep bringing it up? OK, uncle. You win, Mr. President. If I buy a copy of your book, will you just shut up once and for all, go away, and never come back?" --Ann Coulter

News from the Swamp...

For obvious reasons, we've recently been pondering Ronald Reagan's statement, "Politics is not a bad profession. If you succeed there are many rewards, if you disgrace yourself you can always write a book." Today, he might've added, " ...Or release a report."

The 9/11 Commission has a suspiciously timed release date for its final report, along with misleading findings. A more astute researcher and author, Richard Miniter, notes, "The 9/11 Commission is in danger of going the way of the Warren Commission -- a blue-chip panel investigating a national tragedy that foolishly ends up fueling controversy. And that's a shame. Yesterday, the commission announced there was 'no credible evidence' linking Iraq and al-Qa'ida. In reality, there's a wealth of evidence. And by disputing the Iraq-al-Qa'ida connection, the commissioners are answering a question no one asked them. They were supposed to investigate 9/11, not al-Qa'ida as a whole. In an election year, this makes them look partisan. The timing of the final report smells fishy, too: 500,000 copies are due in book stores on July 26 -- the very day the Democratic convention begins in Boston. Again, not a credibility-enhancing move."

What is more, the commission's findings add to the slant of Leftist blather trumpeted over Iraq. They, of course, are intent on discrediting President Bush by discrediting his motives in carrying the war with Jihadistan onto the Iraqi battlefields. But, again, failure to find that Saddam Hussein wasn't piloting one of the jets of 9/11 doesn't mean that he wasn't aiding and abetting the plotters -- and we believe ample evidence exists suggesting that Saddam provided aid of some sort to the 9/11 Jihadis.

Elsewhere in the Swamp, the Senate got back to business after the Reagan memorial recess -- back to monkey business. The Senators chose to festoon the Fiscal Year 2005 Defense Authorization Bill with Leftist amendments, voting 65-33, with all Democrats and 18 Republicans going along, to add to federal "hate crimes" those purportedly committed because of the victim's sexual orientation, gender, or disability.

Also added to the same bill: Iowa ultra-Leftist Demo Tom Harkin inserted an amendment calling on American Forces Radio and Television Service to provide political "balance" in programming offered for service members. He is upset that Rush Limbaugh has an hour a day on AFRTS -- which means the Leftmedia mouthpieces only have the remaining 23 hours of programming.

Meanwhile, the Senate is now planning a mid-July vote on the Federal Marriage Amendment, which falls far short of dealing with the root of the problem: An activist judiciary intent on redefining marriage, state and federal constitutions, and whatever else may come their way.

On the National Security front...

The U.S. gave up its effort to extend the immunity of American troops from prosecution in the International Criminal Court this week. "We have decided not to proceed with further consideration of the resolution," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher stated. "We want to avoid a prolonged and divisive debate in the council. We will have to take into account the lack of this resolution as we look at our various obligations and the way we proceed overseas." 90 of 94 member nations of the Court have signed agreements with the U.S. protecting our troops on their soil, which further explains the State Department's decision not to pursue the matter further. Iraq is not a member, giving the Court no jurisdiction, while Afghanistan is one of the 90 nations carrying separate agreements with the U.S.

On the Homeland Security front...

"Don't be a piano player in a whorehouse," says Los Angeles Times Editor John Carroll, evidently not content with just preaching to the choir. Carroll recently spoke to college journalism students where he decried "pseudo-journalism," by which he meant any news organ not firmly bent Left. Revealingly enough, he cited an opinion survey of the U.S. public showing Americans have three beliefs Carroll claimed are falsehoods -- that Iraq had WMD, that there was a Saddam Hussein link to 9/11, and that Europeans support our anti-terrorism actions. He further noted that people getting their news from "pseudo-journalism" are more likely to believe those things than Leftmedia consumers. Exactly the point! But he's wrong in asserting he knows the first two to be untrue. Saddam had WMD; we know that because he used such weapons, and there is substantial evidence he spirited his stockpiles off as conflict was approaching last year. Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin admitted as much in a recent address, saying, "The fact is that there is now, we know well, a proliferation of nuclear weapons, and that many weapons that Saddam Hussein had, we don't know where they are. That means terrorists have access to all of that."

Evidence verifying Iraq's support of al-Qa'ida is beginning to pile up. Most recent is the discovery of an appointment book of Iraqi intelligence officer Ahmed al-Ani, showing an entry for a meeting on April 8, 2001, in Prague, Czechoslovakia, with a "Hamburg student" -- which would be 9/11 linchpin Mohammed Atta. In January of 2002, The Federalist reported confirmation of this meeting from a Czech intelligence official.

From the warfront with Jihadistan...

As the 30 June deadline for Iraqi independence draws near, violence (expectedly) continues to escalate as Ba'athist and Jihadi cobelligerents -- the enemies of Iraqi freedom and democratic reform -- make their presence known. In the new Iraq, force will not be the means to power, and loss of power will not mean the loss of life. However, substantial obstacles to the realization of this new Iraq exist; obstacles the new, independent Iraqi government must overcome through the creation of a new, federal constitution.

The UN, having insisted on its own involvement to give "legitimacy" to the transition of power and the new government, will make its own irrelevancy complete if it fails to facilitate Iraq's transition to a beacon of democracy and reform in the Middle East. Violent, Islamist insurrections cannot be coddled. An independent judiciary must be established. Property rights must be assured. The Kurds, threatening to withdraw from the new Iraq, can no longer be ignored. Federalism must find its place in the Middle East, and a constitutional republic must provide security within and stability without, changing the face of the region for the better. If we fail in Iraq -- or if the Iraqis fail themselves -- the repercussions for democracy around the globe will be dire, and lasting.

Judicial Benchmarks...

In a stunning rebuke of the Lefts anti-God squad, appropriately enough, during last Monday's celebration of Flag Day, the Supreme Court refused to allow atheism activist Michael Newdow's challenge to the Pledge of Allegiance to proceed. (Monday also was the 50th anniversary of the 1954 vote in Congress to add the two words "under God" to the Pledge to the flag and nation.) Newdow had argued that inclusion of the phrase "under God" made for an impermissible violation of the First Amendment's declaration that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion." Nice try, Mike.

Unfortunately, the majority of the Supremes, rather than taking the opportunity to lay Newdow's silly argument to rest once and for all, instead chose to rule on the narrow grounds that Newdow lacked standing to bring the lawsuit in the first place. This judicial short-circuit was predicated on Newdow's not having parental custody of his daughter, who, like her mother, doesn't object to the Pledge, but was taken advantage of in her father's scheming and the Ninth Circuit Court's willing complicity.

Chief Justice William Rehnquist, and Justices Sandra Day O'Connor and Clarence Thomas went on the record declaring the phrase "under God" no violation of the First Amendment. Justice Antonin Scalia had recused himself from the case at Newdow's request, having previously and publicly offered the opinion the case was nonsense.

From the "Non Compos Mentis" Files...

"My feeling is, that in the end on all this stuff he's more sinned against than sinner." --Time magazine's Joe Klein on NBC's Meet the Press, in a jaw-slackening attempt to trivialize the sins of one William Jefferson Clinton

Memo to Joe and other Clintonista apologistas: Our incomplete list of sins, largely compiled by Friend of The Federalist Linda Bowles, includes having an adulterous affair with a 21-year-old White House intern, groping a female visitor in the Oval Office, assassinating the reputations of his accusers, taking campaign cash from Chi-Com donors, soliciting political donations while on government property, entertaining known criminals at private White House gatherings, hiding subpoenaed documents in the living quarters of the White House, renting the Lincoln bedroom, selling seats on Air Force One, violating the War Powers Act, bombing an aspirin factory in the Sudan, using the IRS and the FBI to attack his political enemies, using taxpayer-paid lawyers and aides to defend himself against charges of sexual misconduct, lying before a grand jury, lying when not before a grand jury, shredding documents, suborning perjury, tampering with witnesses, obstructing justice, and extending 11th-hour pardons to a slew of utterly unsavory rogues. What's your list look like?

From the "Village Academic Curriculum" File...

New course selections at state universities around the country include Buffyology (the study of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer") at Middle Tennessee State University and "Harry Potter" at Frostburg State University in Maryland. Yes, you did read correctly; these "courses" are offered at universities. Ever wonder if anti-gravity research could produce a flying broomstick? Try the Harry Potter class. Tired of boring ol' Shakespeare? Try Buffy instead. Already, across the country, one could study "The Simpsons" or learn Klingon (from "Star Trek"). At Princeton, a freshman seminar lab called "How to Pack a Suitcase" is available. "How to Watch Television" is an offering at Montclair State University, also in New Jersey. Why not a college course on "Survivor" or "Teletubbies"? Where does it end? We haven't the foggiest. But remember -- you pay for it with your tax dollars.

In business/economic news...

It isn't a difficult concept to grasp: You get more of what you subsidize and less of what you tax. Thus, if you want an employee to work harder, offer to pay him more. If you want the grocery to give you more food, give them more money. Seems obvious, right?

Yet this simple concept -- a concept that even your four-year-old can grasp -- seems to be lost on proponents of the welfare state. Recent research from the Cato Institute has made it clear that welfare does anything but help the poor. For years, we've been subsidizing unemployment, out-of-wedlock births, and lack of savings. Billions and billions of dollars later, we have more -- MORE -- of the same. Remember -- you get more of what you subsidize. Welfare, after all, pays better than some jobs. It punishes saving, and it removes many of the financial incentives to prevent pregnancies outside of marriage.

Of course, if we're willing to put some more thought into the issue, we discover the problem is even worse. Welfare money doesn't grow on trees; it comes from taxes, and taxes on investment prevent the creation of new jobs. The point here is simple: Leftists may clamor about being compassionate to the poor and wanting to tax the rich. But in reality, the Left's socialist policies do far more harm than good.

Family and faith matters...

The Southern Baptists got a lot of ink and air last week -- voting first to pull out of the Baptist World Alliance, then voting not to call on parents to pull their children out of government schools. The latter issue captured attention, as even bringing the matter up was a serious indictment of government schooling. The Southern Baptists finally decided that education of children is a parental responsibility rather than a governmental responsibility, but that parents may conclude their family circumstances allow keeping their children in government schools. (The Southern Baptists opted, though, to inveigh against the decaying of our culture and to call for shielding children from the rot.)

On the frontiers of junk science...

According to recent research, oceanic changes are threatening to plunge Europe into a new ice age. The cause of such a disastrous turn of events? You guessed it -- Albert Gore's global warming. We have no doubt that some scientist, somewhere, believes that such a deep freeze is inevitable. The difficulty, of course, is that despite the impression given by the evening news, such scientific opinion is far from unanimous. Furthermore, even those who warn of an impending ice age disagree about its cause. Some scientists have theorized that an ice age is due as part of the Earth's natural cooling and warming cycle. Be that as it may, our point here is simple. To shackle the economy in response to such "scientific" evidence is neither scientific nor responsible. It's fanatical.

Around the world...

Medal-worthy? Spain's defense minister, Jose Bono, received the Cross of Military Merit for organizing the withdrawal of Spanish troops from Iraq. The award entitles the recipient to wear a white sash and be addressed as, "Your most excellent lordship." As it turns out, "his most excellent lordship" organized the award ceremony himself and amid public pressure, most nobly returned it. We can think of a few other "your most excellent so-and-so's" to bestow upon him.

And last...

A final note about the Clinton doorstop: The B. Dalton outlet at Washington's Union Station was observed stocking its copies of the tome this week in equal numbers on the "New Nonfiction" and "Fiction" tables. Take your pick!

Lex et Libertas -- Semper Vigilo, Paratus, et Fidelis! Mark Alexander, Publisher, for the editors and staff. (Please pray on this day, and every day, for our Patriot Armed Forces standing in harm's way around the world in defense of our liberty, and for the families awaiting their safe return.)

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Link to -- http://Federalist.com/current2004a.asp

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