We've been getting calls pretty steady all morning from friends and family, making sure we're ok since all the reports have the Columbia breaking up over north Texas. The shuttle broke up south of the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex, and local stations are using weather radar to track the debris field, which is now south and east of the D/FW metroplex, beginning around Nagodoches and moving slightly south and east through Rusk, TX, into western Louisiana. I had heard on the news last night that the shuttle would be visible this morning, but forgot to mention it to my wife so we could set the alarms earlier than normal. A friend in Boston woke us up with a phone call to make sure we were ok, and that was the first we heard of it. I recall a science demonstration at our high school in the mid-to-late 1980s where a guy had a blowtorch going on a space shuttle tile throughout his entire program. At the end, he had a student come up, removed the blowtorch, and dared the student to touch the tile. Trent (I remember his name!) was a little hesitant, but did touch it, and he reported it was completely cool. Major Texas connections on this Columbia flight: Commander Rick Husband was from Amarillo, Pilot William McCool was from Lubbock, and mission specialist Kalpana Chawla was the 2d graduate of the University of Texas-Arlington to go into space. Like many, I have now witnessed Columbia's first flight into space, and it's last return. Certainly, this is not the type of return anyone would have wanted. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of the seven souls lost on the Columbia. UPDATE (12:15pm CST): Lee has more thoughts and info.

The volunteer researchers at The Federalist simply rock. Let's follow along as they break down the Democrat response to President Bush's State of the Union address, delivered by Gary Locke, Governor of Washington State: "Osama bin-Laden is still at large. As we rise to the many challenges around the globe, let us never lose sight of who attacked our people here at home."

• And what does this really mean? In other words, Demos deny the President's claim of a connection between Islamic terrorists and Saddam Hussein's Iraqi regime.

"Today, the economy is limping along. Some say it's a recovery, but there's no recovery in our states and cities. There's no recovery in our rural communities. There's no recovery for working Americans and for those searching for jobs to feed and clothe their families. ... President Bush has a very different [economic recovery] plan. We think it's upside down economics: it does too little to stimulate the economy now and does too much to weaken our economic future. It will create huge, permanent deficits that will raise interest rates, stifle growth, hinder homeownership and cut off the avenues of opportunity that have let so many work themselves up from poverty."

• And what does the President's tax cut plan actually do? "This tax relief is for everyone who pays income taxes--and it will help our economy immediately. Ninety-two million Americans will keep--this year--an average of almost $1,100 more of their own money. A family of four with an income of $40,000 would see their federal income taxes fall from $1,178 to $45 per year. And our plan will improve the bottom line for more than 23 million small businesses."

"Last year Congress authorized $2.5 billion in vital new resources to protect our citizens--for equipment for firefighters and police, to protect ports, to guard against bioterrorism, to secure nuclear power plants, and more. It's hard to believe, but President Bush actually refused to release the money."

• And why did the President refuse to release the money? Because Democrats tacked on billions in spending unrelated to homeland security, and at the same time refused to give the President the authority he needs to combat terrorism by insisting on excessive union prerogatives for homeland security employees--union prerogatives that could potentially undermine national security.

"Our parents shouldn't be forced to give up their doctor or join an HMO to get the medicine they need. ... And it would put too many seniors at too much risk--just when they need the security of Medicare."

• And what did the President actually say? "These problems will not be solved with a nationalized health care system that dictates coverage and rations care. Instead, we must work toward a system in which all Americans have a good insurance policy...choose their own doctors...and seniors and low-income Americans receive the help they need. Instead of bureaucrats, and trial lawyers, and HMOs, we must put doctors, and nurses, and patients back in charge of American medicine. Health care reform must begin with Medicare, because Medicare is the binding commitment of a caring society. We must renew that commitment by giving seniors access to the preventive medicine and new drugs that are transforming health care in America. Seniors happy with the current Medicare system should be able to keep their coverage just the way it is."

So there you have it. The Demos still have nothing of substance to offer the American people, and all they can do is attack those who do.

MRC's latest Notable Quotables is available. They pick out the best biased lines from the news talkingheads to show you how skewed broadcast news coverage really is. You can also download a PDF.

Hans Blix:

"Iraq appears not to have come to a genuine acceptance--not even today--of the disarmament which is demanded of it and which it needs to carry out to the confidence of the world and to live in peace."

From the Washington Post:

Blix sharply criticized Iraq for failing to make scientists available for private interviews; blocking U-2 aerial overflights and refusing to provide a complete declaration of its weapons of mass destruction. "It is not enough to open doors," Blix told the council. "Inspection is not a game of "catch as catch can," he said.

“It is a process of verification for the purpose of creating confidence. It is not built on the premise of trust. Rather, it is designed to lead to trust."

Of course, the French and Russians would have us “give the inspectors more time,” so much more time, in fact, that military action against Saddam’s regime would be that much harder than it is now. I wonder what kind of per-barrel deals Hussein is working out with Chirac and Putin.

John D. Negroponte, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, to the U.N. Security Council:

"There is little time left for the council to face its responsibilities. We see no evidence to indicate that Saddam is voluntarily disarming his nations of its biological, chemical weapons, nuclear capabilities and ballistic missiles."

So ruck up, U.S. servicemen and women. Your CIC will no doubt be calling upon you soon. Kick butt, make us proud, and may God protect you and yours.

Once upon a time, there was a young woman who was about to finish her last year of college. She considered herself a very liberal Democrat, and her father was a rather staunch conservative. One day, she was challenging her father on his beliefs, and his opposition to programs like welfare. He stopped her and asked how she was doing in school.

She answered she had a 4.0 GPA, but it was really tough. She had to study all the time, never had time to go out and party, and often went sleepless because of all of the studying. She didn’t have time for a boyfriend, and didn’t really have many college friends because of all her studying.

He then asked how her friend Mary, who was attending the same college, was doing. She replied that Mary was barely getting by. Mary had a 2.0 GPA, never studied, was very popular on campus, and was at parties all the time. She often wouldn’t show up for classes because she was hung over.

He then asked his daughter why didn’t she go to the Dean’s Office and ask if she could take 1.0 off her 4.0 and give it to her friend that only had a 2.0. That way, they would both have a 3.0 GPA.

She fired back, “That wouldn’t be fair, I worked really hard for mine and my friend has done nothing.” After a moment of silence, she replied, “I guess I will never vote Democrat again.”

(Thanks, FranX!)

From Uday Hussein, Saddam’s son, according to a Reuters article:

"It is better for the Americans to keep themselves away from us. Because if they come then September 11--which they are crying over and see as a big thing--will be a real picnic for them, God willing. They will be hurt and pay a price they will never imagine."

Gee, Uday, give us yet more reasons through your posturing to cap your sorry butt.

And I love how the Husseins run around invoking the name of God, or in their case, Allah. Saddam’s Ba’ath party has always been a secular party, and Saddam is well known for gassing Shi’ite Muslims within Iraq’s borders, not to mention the Muslim Kurds in his nation’s northern territories.

A federal judge has thrown out the class-action lawsuit against McDonald’s which claimed the chain’s food was the reason for “obesity, diabetes and other health problems in children.”

I worked at McDonald’s in high school, and there was a regular supply of nutritional information pamphlets stocked at one end of the counter. I recall giving out several. The info is there, it tells you how bad the food is nutrition-wise, and yes, if you eat it every day, you’re going to get huge.

Take a little personal responsibility, people.

Jeff Jacoby's latest column notes a wide array of topics, including the fact that the war between the enlightened West and militant Islam has been raging a lot longer than most of us think.

Now I could lay in to the various news agencies for their highly-skewed slant on the various anti-war protests over the weekend, but the Media Research Center has already done an oustanding analysis of the various stories.

I would like to note that the protestors in Damascus, Syria, that ABC News pointed out in its commentary were anything but peaceful, shouting, “Our beloved Saddam, strike Tel Aviv.”

I would also like to note that the group responsible for organizing the protests this past weekend is a radically leftist organization far more interested in seeing our national security forces dismantled than in seeing a corrupt, homicidal dictator rendered militarily impotent for the safety of the world.

Please do not construe any of this to mean that I am opposed to the protestors or the protesting in general. That is their right in this country, hope they had fun with all of their whining, misguided though a lot of it may be.

What I have a problem with is the irresponsible reporting that cast some sort of legitimacy on these pro-communist hippie throwbacks, purporting a “significant” portion of mainstream America is now beginning to throw its weight behind their antiwar movement. And don’t comment me with, “What about polls?” Polls are about worthless unless you start getting numbers and demographics really representative of the population. (Hint: this generally means a sample size of more than 3,000 people, and you don’t call all 3,000 within the New York or Los Angeles metro areas.)

Now you may be wondering, "How did the MRC find out those economists were Democrat contributors?" It's called OpenSecrets.org, and you can search for campaign contributors.

Gee, what possible agenda could ABC, NBC, and CBS have for trotting out financial experts and accountants who poo-poo on the President's tax plan, when those experts and accountants are heavy Democrat contributors?

"In the 1979-80 season, 75% of all TV sets that were turned on in the early evening were tuned to the network news programs on CBS, NBC or ABC. By 2001, that share of the audience had dropped to 43%. ...Any business that lost nearly a third of its customers would be out of business or close to it. Those running it would seriously restructure their product or the way they provide their service. This has not happened at CBS, NBC and ABC. The arrogance of liberals makes it impossible for them to conceive that they are doing something wrong." --Alan Caruba, via The Federalist

I know one can make the argument that in 1979-80 many American homes did not have cable, and the CBS/NBC/ABC ratings drop could be attributed to more people tuning in to cable news stations, such as CNN. That’s extremely valid, except within the past few years, CNN’s viewership has been dropping as well. Caruba’s point still stands.