The notorious Bill Maher admitted on his April 25th show that he was incorrect in his belief that there is a right to privacy in the Constitution. Yes, that's right, you constitutionally-ignorant plebeians on the Left: there is no guaranteed right to privacy in the Constitution of the United States of America. Yes, that means that despite what the Supreme Court says, Roe v Wade is constitutionally invalid. Not that U.S. citizens shouldn't expect a reasonable degree of privacy in some matters. But the fact is that the government already mandates what we can or cannot do with our bodies on many levels. We are told we cannot put illegal drugs into our bodies. We are told we cannot put alcohol above a certain level in to our bodies, then get behind the wheel of an automobile. We are told that if our vision is not up to par, we cannot get behind that same wheel. Some states insist that those riding motorcycles wear helmets (since some are obviously too stupid to wear one without being told to do so). In many locales, it is illegal to commit suicide (though you can only be prosecuted if you fail). Legally, you cannot smoke until the age of 18, or drink until the age of 21. You have to wear a seat belt while driving in an automobile in every state in the Union (if there is one where you don't, I am simply ignorant of that fact, and, unlike most in the Left, am welcome to enlightenment). The fact of the matter is that the "right to privacy" was made up by the Supreme Court, beginning in 1965, and cemented in 1973 with Roe v Wade. And for those of you who may bally-hoo me on this issue, if the federal government was in its Constitutionally-limited role in the first place, we wouldn't have to worry about it encroaching on our individual privacy. (Thanks to Brian for the link.)

Yes, Virginia, there are still people who believe that there were no ties between bin Laden's al-Qaida and Saddam Hussein. I wonder what they'll say about the Iraqi secret police documents just discovered that refute that claim, that show Saddam actually met with an al-Qaida operative and sought out a meeting with bin Laden himself?

"Welcome to the new preschool curriculum: play dough, finger painting and pacifism 101."

Saddam Hussein was providing about US $1.5 million a month to various Palestinian agents and supporters, and now that money channel is cut off. And none too soon. Let's get this straight: 1. The PLO began as a terrorist organization, and continues to be a terrorist organization, directly or indirectly threatening the security of the state of Israel. 2. Israel is not "occupying" any piece of land it did not rightfully gain as the result of the wars launched against it since the modern Israeli state came in to existence in 1948. Wars Israel did not provoke, did not seek out, but wars Israel won nonetheless. If you have a problem with the fact that Israel owns the Gaza Strip and other areas, then point your questions to Jordan, Syria, Egypt, the PLO, Hamas, et al. I'm not saying the Israelis are blameless in all of this, and their overall treatment of the Palestinians could be better. But the fact you have to remember is that the Palestinians, as well as most other Arab nations, are not interested in an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel. They have wanted, since 1948, and to this day, the utter annihilation of the state of Israel and the Jewish people. That's their idea of peace in the Middle East.

It may have taken 18 years, but the U.S. has captured Abu Abbas, the mastermind of the 1985 Achille Lauro cruise ship hijacking. Abbas is wanted for the murder of wheelchair-bound Leon Klinghoffer, who was dumped overboard still in his chair. U.S. troops and the intelligence community are also seeking out Abdul Rahman Yasin, wanted for the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. Yasin is yet one more terrorist known to have gained "asylum" in Saddam's Iraq.

bq. "In the midst of the War in Iraq, the City of Peoria, Arizona, has declared war on the First Amendment by ordering one of its citizens to cease flying his American Flags." This is so incredibly sad. So as Brian says, it's ok to burn a hundred flags, but not to fly them?

U.S. Marines have uncovered what is believed to be weapons-grade plutonium.

U.S. Marines have located a complex of tunnels underneath an Iraqi nuclear complex--apparently missed by U.N. weapons inspectors--discovering a vast array of warehouses and bombproof offices that could contain the "smoking gun" sought by intelligence agencies, reported the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. [...] Chief Warrant Officer Darrin Flick, the battalion's nuclear, biological and chemical warfare specialist, said radiation levels were particularly high at a place near the complex where local residents say the "missile water" is stored in mammoth caverns. "It's amazing," Flick said. "I went to the off-site storage buildings, and the rad detector went off the charts. Then I opened the steel door, and there were all these drums, many, many drums, of highly radioactive material."

More proof of an increasingly incompetent and irrelevant U.N.? Or perfectly innocent?

This underground discovery could still test to be perfectly legitimate and offer no proof of chemical, biological or nuclear weapons. The CIA encouraged international inspectors in the fall of 2002 to probe Al Tuwaitha for weapons of mass destruction, and the inspectors came away empty-handed.

Time will tell as the materials are tested.

Iraq is free from Saddam's tyranny.

Now that U.S. forces own the Iraqi capital, the Hindustan Times believes the dictator has already fled Baghdad.

US Military Captures 'Foreign' Fighters in Iraq US says it has captured non-Iraqi fighters AL QAEDA TERROR CAMP 'LINK TO SADDAM' US says it found foreign fighters, terrorist camp in Iraq

Reuters notes that NPR is reporting U.S. Marines have discovered 20 BM-21 missiles loaded with sarin and mustard gas. The Marines were working, alongside members of the 101st Airborne, a mop-up operation behind Army units that had taken the Baghdad International Airport. Let's see: Operation Iraqi Freedom began a little over two weeks ago. Coalition forces have discovered numerous weapons caches wherein NBC suits and antitoxin vaccines were stored, over the weekend coalition forces discovered canisters which may contain chemical WMDs (still being tested), and now the Marines have come across the BM-21s. United Nations weapons inspectors, on the other hand, were in Iraq for eight years, and discovered nothing? "This regime change brought to you by the new United Nations: Ineffective. Inadequate. Irrelevant." (Thanks, Ricky!) UPDATE: WorldNetDaily is reporting that the presence of sarin has been detected and soldiers and civilians are being decontaminated. (11:53 A.M.)

Wow. (Mucho grande gracias to Ricky.)

WBAP is reporting this morning: Earthquakes are being reported in France in over 10 different major areas. These earthquakes are measuring in at over 10 on the Richter Scale. The source of the earthquakes is being reported as the 56,681 dead Americans buried in France have rolled over in their graves.

• 26,255 American soldiers from WWI are buried in 4 different cemeteries in France.
• 30,426 American soldiers from WWII are buried in 10 different cemeteries in France.
• Total: 56,681 American soldiers (most were under the age of 21) died while liberating France from their oppressors in two different World Wars.

Speaking of the Fighting Tigers, several of the 500 members of the Louisiana Army National Guard's 769th Engineer Battalion are LSU students and alumni. The 769th was deployed to Afghanistan over the summer and fall of 2002.

Doubtful that it will actually happen, but the California Secretary of State has cleared the way for a recall of Governor Gray Davis. Best of luck to the recall advocates. (via Molly)