On the February 12th "The View," the ABC show created by Barbara Walters, former Good Morning America staffer and WABC Radio talk show host Joy Behar suggested some sort of nefarious doings by Bush operatives: "This is incredible timing. Really. I mean, here we are trying to find the link between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda, in comes the tape that exact day. The timing is better than Hugh Hefner finding Viagra at 78. You know what I'm saying? Here's a man all his life, did whatever he wanted, and now that he's old he has Viagra. Same idea." Former NBC News reporter Star Jones chimed in: "Really wagging the dog this time." Then Queen Latifah, who was nominated on Tuesday for an Academy Award for "Best Supporting Actress" for her role in the movie Chicago, wondered: "Don't you want to know what's real and what's not? I remember when I was a kid, you know, this whole Cold War thing. They had us scared of the Russians. 'The Russians, the Russians, the Russians.' So it's almost like what's real and what's not?" Like anyone rational would trust her to know. So, because we won the "Cold War thing" there never was a threat, millions didn't die because of communism and no one was enslaved by Soviet expansionism? --from the Media Research Center And my wife wonders why I have no respect for any of these Hollywonks.

To wrap up Federalist coverage for today, I'd like to offer up my favorite results from their latest "Two Cents" reader feedback, wherein readers were asked to finish the sentence, "Going to war without the French is like..."

• Going to war without the French is like...well...World War II.
• Going to war without the French is like.... deja-vous!
• Going to war without the French is like...going to war WITH the French
• Going to war without the French is like...planning the Normandy Invasion without Yves San Laurent
• Going to war without the French is like...going on your honeymoon without your mother-in-law
• Going to war without the French is like...a 9-11 benefit concert without Hillary Clinton
• Going to war without the French is like...Texas barbeque without a croissant
• Going to war without the French is like...I'm sorry, war without whom?
• Going to war without the French is like...going to Marine boot camp without a "Best of Liza Minnelli" album
• Going to war without the French is like...going to a Mensa convention without James Carville
• Going to war without the French is like...going to war without Fonda, Streisand and Sarandon, et al
• And last, but certainly not least, Going to war without the French is like...well, VICTORY!!!

bq. "An internal review at the Social Security Administration found that the agency has paid accused felons between $76 million and $283 million in SSI benefits since 1996, the year Congress banned felony fugitives from receiving them. Auditors also estimate that other Social Security programs, in which payments to fugitives aren't banned, could be granting fugitives up to $179 million each year." --The Federalist, 03-06 Digest For crying out loud. Pick a year, grandfather in every citizen born -before- in or before that year, and let's work toward paying their retirement benefits and getting rid of the SSA so that future generations do not have to watch their income be siphoned off, never to be see it return at the same rate it was taken. And how sad is it that it took Congress 40 years to determine that felons should not be receiving Social Security benefits?!? Update (2:10pm): from Carl Brueckner in the same Federalist issue:

• Q: Which party took Social Security from an independent fund and put it in the general fund so that Congress could spend it?
  A: It was Lyndon Johnson and the Democrat-controlled House and Senate.
• Q: Which party put a tax on Social Security?
  A: The Democrat Party.
• Q: Which party increased the tax on Social Security?
  A: The Democrat Party with Al Gore casting the deciding vote.
• Q: Which party decided to give money to immigrants?
  A: That's right, immigrants moved into this country at 65 and got SSI Social Security. The Democrat Party gave that to them although they never paid a dime into it.
• Then, after doing all this, the Democrats turn around and tell you: the Republicans want to take your Social Security.

The following appeared in the 03-06 Digest of The Federalist:

By now you know that five of the seven astronauts who died aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia were U.S. military officers. The mission commander was Air Force Col. Rick D. Husband. Navy Cmdr. William C. McCool was the pilot of the Columbia. Also on board were Air Force Lt. Col. Michael P. Anderson, Navy Capt. (Dr.) David M. Brown and Navy Cmdr. (Dr.) Laurel B. Clark. The death of all seven crew members was tragic, though given the indelible images of planeloads of civilians being flown into WTC1, WTC2 and the Pentagon, the shock of those horrible images of STS-107 falling from the sky was, somehow, benumbing. One month ago, seven Marines were killed when their KC-130 fell from the sky in western Pakistan. Their names were not published by any media outlet. No network operating on a 24-hour news cycle had dramatic graphics and music to accompany endless special reports. No flags were flown at half mast, and many are scrambling to set up trust funds for their spouses and college funds for their children. Just two days before the STS-107 breakup, an Army UH-60 broke up in flight 12 clicks east of Bagram, Afghanistan, killing four servicemen aboard. Their names were never in print. Our point, of course, is not to take away from the honor due and afforded the Columbia crew, but that same honor is no less due every one of our countrymen whose life is given in defense of our liberty. We grieve the loss of each and every one of these courageous Patriots, and our prayers go with their families.

I heartily second this assessment. Remember, respect, and honor our servicemen and women. Freedom is not free.

Today is Abraham Lincoln's birthday. The Great Emancipator was fond of saying that God created all men as equal, and proved as such with the Emancipation Proclamation, and laying the foundation for what would become the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution. An evil Republican, Lincoln did more for the black American than any Democrat of his time. They were too busy seceding from the Union and keeping the black American chained in slavery. Lincoln also signed in to law the act of Congress which placed the motto "In God We Trust" on our national currency. Lincoln didn't have a problem with this because he was educated enough to know that there is no such thing as the separation of church and state, since he was familiar with the principles upon which our nation was founded. Happy Birthday, Mr. President. May we not squander the legacy you left us, so "that this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth."

You have to love the Left. When it comes to liberating the Iraqi people, ousting a sociopathic dictator in possession of weapons of mass destruction, hunting down and exterminating terrorists bent on the destruction of the United States, and Western civilization in general, we are "not at war." They claim it's not a "real war," since Congress has not declared such. Right. Like Congress can declare war on a relatively faceless entity with no geographic boundaries (al-Qaeda). Or if we go to war in Iraq, President Bush doesn't have the authority because Congress hasn't declared war on Iraq. Gee, just like Kennedy and Johnson in Vietnam, right Demos? Oh, but let the conversation turn to money, and specifically taxes, and the Left suddenly reverses course:

"If Bush is a serious war President he would increase taxes. This is a time for sacrifices. This is a real war and we need money to pay for it." --Evan Thomas

So evidently we are at war, so long as half of the citizens of this country are forced to carry a larger tax burden while the other half contributes nothing. I have an idea for Mr. Thomas (Assistant Managing Editor of Newsweek, by the way): how about the federal government end funding of unconstitutional social programs and departments like midnight basketball leagues, the Department of Education, the Social Security Administration, foreign aid to "allies" like France and Germany, and our subsidization of the "United" Nations. Then the government of the United States would have the money to pursue its primary constitutional duty, the defense of our nation "against all enemies, foreign and domestic."

Yet another instance where I am ashamed to share a surname with this moronic windbag:

Monday morning on Today, however, Turner maintained that Iraq is "too small to pose a threat" to the U.S. and kept up the usual liberal mantra about how poverty fuels terrorism as he told Matt Lauer that "trying to make it a better world is my top priority. A more equitable world, that's really the best way to combat terrorism is to, is to build a world where nobody's angry enough to want to be a terrorist."

You can read the full analysis here. I'd like to see poverty erased from this planet as much as the next person, but you don't go about it in a way that smacks of communism. We have seen that experiment fail in our lifetime, yet people still think it is the answer.