Senator Ernest "Fritz" Hollings, D-South Carolina, has announced he will not seek re-election next year. Glory, glory, hallelujah. Herr Fritz has never been a friend of the law-abiding American firearms owner, seeking on numerous occasions to restrict the free and unfettered ownership of firearms by perfectly innocent citizens. Too bad his announcement comes thirty-three years too late...

bq. "Republics are created by the virtue, public spirit, and intelligence of the citizens. They fall, when the wise are banished from the public councils, because they dare to be honest, and the profligate are rewarded, because they flatter the people, in order to betray them." --Joseph Story Memo to President Bush: stop flattering the seasoned citizens of this country over Social Security, Medicare, prescription drug benefits, and other unconstitutional drivel. Stop trying to appease your opponents across the aisle by vetoing unconstitutional legislation, like the education funding and campaign finance reform bills you inked your signature on. Be honest, like you have in the war on terror, and those that put you in to office will continue to support you.

Amazing that our Founding Fathers had the foresight of government-funded social programs: bq. "...[T]he government of the United States is a definite government, confined to specified objects. It is not like the state governments, whose powers are more general. Charity is no part of the legislative duty of the government." --James Madison Charity begins at home, and should not be forced on any one of us by those we elect to govern.

Bob Kohn writes on the New York Times' ongoing distortion of the news in how they present facts in stories, specifically those dealing with politics and government.

Frank Gaffney, Jr. has an excellent summary of the intelligence side of the SOTU non-scandal.

Yes, yes, a Demobrat favorite tactic: inventing a conspiracy, a scandal, when there is none. The Left has been attacking the President and his administration for a couple of weeks now over sixteen words from this year's State of the Union speech: bq. "The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa." The Left claims this is false, and that Bush willfully and knowingly lied to the American people in making the case to go to war against Saddam Hussein. Let's break this down, shall we?

• The intelligence came from our British allies; whether or not it was confirmed by the CIA, NSA, or any other alphabetized agency within our own government is irrelevant at this point.
• Hussein was seeking to buy uranium. Sought. Looked for. He didn't buy. We don't have a credit card receipt for a few tons of yellowcake (and even if we did, I doubt that would satisfy the Left). That's not what the President said. That's not what he implied. He said the Brits received word that Saddam was looking to buy.
• Saddam has been known to seek radioactive material from certain African nations in the past; he was simply following his old habits.

Where is the scandal, the conspiracy? The Demobrats and their friends in the Left act like this single, solitary sentence was the entire case, and the only reason they voted, for removing Saddam Hussein and his regime from power. What a joke. The President's statement is one hundred percent accurate. Counter that with "I did not have sexual relations with that woman..." And now the Demobrats are running commercials spreading falsehoods! The President and his staff need to stop trying to appease the unappeasable, stop apologizing when he has done nothing wrong. Need we remind the Left that in just the first three years of his presidency, Bush (43) has done more for AIDS in Africa than Clinton, despite his blustering and blubbering, did in his two terms? Oh no, W. doesn't get any credit for that. And would the mass media please stop whining over American casualties in the Iraqi aftermath? The President told the truth about this as well; he told us that our involvement in Iraq would be long, and it would be tough. These soldiers, sailors and Marines deserve our utmost support, and I privately grieve and say a prayer for each's family when I hear of another killed in a bombing or ambush. But a little perspective, please: over a hundred people die in auto accidents in the U.S. every day; approximately fifty Americans are murdered each day. Yes, it's a shame that two soldiers were killed in a single day, but hundreds of their fellow Americans are dying right back here in the States. Let's remember them all, and thank those who give all not just for our protection, but for those who cannot protect themselves. (Props to Rick for the link)

Iraqi citizens celebrated in Baghdad Tuesday evening as word spread that Saddam Hussein's feared and reviled sons, Odai and Qusai, were killed in a firefight with U.S. forces in Mosul. One hundred percent identification is still pending, but it sounds like excellent intelligence backed up the raid, and there is currently a "90 to 95 percent" certainty that two of those killed in the raid are Saddam's sons. I would have liked to have seen the two captured, so they could have led coalition forces to Saddam himself, but as far as the Iraqi people go, dead is just as good...

Joseph Farah of WorldNetDaily interviewed Ann Coulter on his new radio show last week. A transcript is available here. Good stuff, including a quick overview and some examples from her latest book.

The Santa Barbara Council of the Navy League of the United States, a civilian organization that supports Navy and Marine Corps families, has adopted the new Nimitz-class carrier USS Ronald Reagan, CVN-76. While the floating cities that are today's aircraft carriers are well appointed, there are numerous things not found aboard ship that many of us take for granted. The Santa Barbara Council and other similar organizations raise funds to provide our sailors and Marines with the sort of amenities that make life at sea all the more bearable. Like transportation when they arrive in port; bet you didn't know that once you hit the docks, you're on your own, did you? One of the things the Santa Barbara Council hopes to raise money for the Reagan is a van, or vans, for in-port transportation. Not only does this keep our fighting men and women from getting ripped off by local transportation, it's safer for them to boot. The big fundraiser for the Reagan through the Santa Barbara Council is the selling of the Ronnie the bear Beanie Baby, starting next week. The bears will retail for about $5. One hundred percent of the proceeds will go to the Santa Barbara Council, which will in turn use the funds for their Reagan projects. Honor those who will serve aboard the ship that honors the man who won the Cold War. Buy a Ronnie bear Beanie Baby and show our sailors and Marines you care.

Not to take anything away from Jessica Lynch and what she endured during Operation Iraqi Freedom, but a new Army report shows that her injuries were sustained as a result of her Humvee being hit by an RPG and crashing, not from fighting off Iraqi soldiers. Her unit was trying to fight its way clear of the ambush, but it is not clear how Pfc. Lynch might have participated in any fighting. Nevertheless, it is good to have the truth after months of speculation and rumor, and Retrophisch(tm) well-wishes to Jessica for continued recovery.

Yet more and more proof that Saudi Arabia is no friend of the U.S. continues to surface. This time, it's in the form of billions given to Palestinian terror groups over the past five years. For too many years, Presidents and Congresscritters of both parties and every political stripe have continued to turn a blind eye to the activities of the Saudis. Activities which include Christian persecution, numerous human-rights violations within their borders, aimed mostly at foreign national females working in the kingdom, as well as growing their own individual Muslim terrorists, some of whom participated in the September 11th attacks. President Bush, please have the courage to take a stand and denounce these "allies." Turn your attention to increasing oil production here in the States, including drilling in ANWR if necessary. Decrease our dependence on Saudi oil, and increase the pressure that this terror-funding "religion of peace" kingdom turn its eye to a republican form of government.

California's population growth is almost exclusively because of foreign nationals. A goodly portion--some would say almost all--of those foreign nationals are coming across the Mexican border. A goodly portion--some would say almost all--of those Mexicans are illegally entering the United States. So while we can understand the desire to come in to the greatest nation on earth to live and work, their breaking the law to do so doesn't excuse them. Or one would think. Rather, the Demobrats in the People's Republik of Kalifornia would grant driver's licenses--legally identifying documents--to illegal aliens. Can someone please explain why this is a good idea? You're legitimizing an illegal activity, and possibly affecting future national security. Who's to say that the next terrorist attack comes not from Muslim terrorists of Arabic descent, but Hispanic, née Mexican, terrorists of a communist/socialist bent, on par with Shining Path in Peru? Does Gil Cedillo and the other California Demobrats honestly believe that people who have already broken the law by entering the country illegally are going to tell you they're here illegally by showing up to get a driver's license? Stupid, stupid, stupid. Here's an idea: when the illegals come in for their driver's license, detain and deport them!

I guess when you're an ineffectual Old World power, this kind of trite, childish behavior is the best you can do. (Thanks, Ricky.)

Awwwww. The po' wittle U.N. buildings are falling apart, and they don't have no one to pay to fix them up... Guess who they want to foot the bill? Thanks, but no thanks, United-Against-America Nations. We already shell out more money for your hostile, ineffective, do-nothing, impotent organization than any other nation on the planet. Get out of our country and go set up shop in France.