THE FOUNDATION

“The arms we have been compelled by our enemies to assume we will, in defiance of every hazard, with unabating firmness and perseverance, employ for the preservation of our liberties; being with one mind resolved to die free rather than live slaves.” –Thomas Jefferson

INSIGHT

“That the power to tax involves the power to destroy … is not to be denied.” –John Marshall

“When there is an income tax, the just man will pay more and the unjust less on the same amount of income.” –Plato

“Houseless (adj.) – having paid all taxes on household goods.” –Ambrose Bierce

“The income tax has made more liars out of the American people than golf has.” –Will Rogers

“There’s small choice in rotten apples.” –Shakespeare

“If the abuse be enormous, nature will rise up, and claiming her original rights, overturn a corrupt political system.” –Samuel Johnson

“If you are guided by opinion polls, you are not practicing leadership – you are practicing followship.” –Margaret Thatcher

“It is not by whining that one carries out the job of king.” –Napoleon I

“Dictators ride to and fro upon tigers which they dare not dismount. And the tigers are getting hungry.” –Winston Churchill

“Hate war, but love the American warrior.” –Lt. Gen. Harold G. Moore (Ret.)

“Courage is not simply one of the virtues but the form of every virtue at the testing point.” –C.S. Lewis

“Most of the change we think we see in life is due to truths being in and out of favor.” –Robert Frost

“One point has already been proved. Everything that happened once can happen again.” –Jacobo Timerman

UPRIGHT

“The only rich people deserving of malice are rich liberals who express bemusement at the non-rich’s desire for a tax cut.” –Ann Coulter

“Seven of the top ten wealthiest Senators are Democrats. Who is it that says that the Republicans are tied to the rich and big business?” –Rush Limbaugh

“The only legitimate purpose of our tax system is to raise revenues needed to run the government. It’s not the government’s job to determine how you should use your money.” –Rep. Ron Paul

“Liberals are constitutionally unable to understand that every tax represents a transfer of power and freedom from the people to the government.” –Linda Bowles

“Lunches don’t get free just because you don’t see the prices on the menu. And economists don’t get popular by reminding people of that.” –Thomas Sowell

“…[T]yranny may creep in under the outward forms of traditional law.” –Joseph Sobran

“[T]he first prerequisite of self-government is to govern one’s own passions, resentment and anger.” –Alan Keyes

“Political power can be corrupting and can seduce even the clergy.” –Cal Thomas

“Peace comes at the end of war, and is the word that describes the terms imposed by the winners on the losers.” –Michael Ledeen

“Keeping faith with the people of Israel in their unfinished confrontation with evil is … a species of keeping faith ourselves. Breaking faith, a species of self-negation.” –William Bennett

“We would do well to remember that our war on terrorism is being fought not just with troops, military hardware and intelligence. It is being fueled by a spirit of national unity born of the manifest justness of our cause.” –David Limbaugh

“What America holds in common with the tiny state of Israel is rooted in what the terrorists resent and hate: the rule of law, justice, tolerance and respect for freedom.” –Suzanne Fields

“Israel today, tomorrow the world.” –Wesley Pruden

“…[N]attering anti-Americanism won’t disappear, there are too many academic and political careers erected on it. September 11, however, clarified the choice – the stark choice – between civilized behavior, as exemplified by America, and nihilistic barbarism.” –Austin Bay

“Banning guns does not ban violence. Law-abiding citizens obey the rules, not terrorists.” –John R. Lott, Jr.

“What a strange world we live in: What our academics, intellectuals, and self-professed ethicists call morality so often turns out to be so abjectly amoral – and downright deadly as well.” –Victor Davis Hanson

EDITORIAL EXEGESIS

“September 11 is a landmark event. On that day, the disarray of the entire Muslim world spilled over in violence and bloodshed to the United States, and so to the democracies of the West. Many Muslims like to suppose that the United States and the West is to blame for everything wrong with their own states. This, of course, is specious self-pity. Muslims are themselves responsible for the failure of their states to modernize in today’s world, and for the bad government and corruption that plague them. … How the United States and the West deal with the inability of Muslim states to fit into the modern world is going to determine the future. This is unmapped territory. The one and only guide is the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, a conflict already more than a century old. It boils down to the simple fact that Palestinians – and beyond them, other Arabs – have never been willing to accept a Jewish state in their midst. … So it is now the strange fate of Israel to be testing out exactly how the Muslim world can come to terms with modernity and democracy. … Responsibility for what is happening rests wholly upon Yasser Arafat and the Palestinians. At Camp David in the days of the Clinton presidency, Arafat could have laid the foundations of a peaceful Palestinian state. Here might have been a rare example of a national liberation movement achieving its ends through political processes. But so contemptuous was he of Israeli concessions that he was not even prepared to offer any counter-proposals of his own, instead hastening home to launch the current intifada. In a career spanning over three decades, he has steadily displayed the Pavlovian response that Palestine means violence. He brought civil war first to Jordan, then to Lebanon, and in the years after the Oslo accords he came to exemplify the bad government, corruption, and failure to modernize of so many of his fellow Muslim-world rulers. In their mold, he rigged the electoral process by which he became president. For his unfortunate people, he has been a disaster. … The United Nations, international Muslim forums, and European politicians now raise a chorus that Arafat must be protected. Their collective rescue of Arafat condemns Palestinians to endure more of the same, while simultaneously they reveal themselves unmoved by the prospect of dead Jews. Moral indifference of this kind can only widen conflict. … Events on the West Bank now are a portent of what is to come to the Middle East in the continuing aftermath of September 11.” –National Review

DEZINFORMATSIA

“Anderson CEO Joseph Berardino became the latest victim of the Enron scandal….” –USA Today **“Victim”?

From the “Muddle East” Reportage Files: “Almost everywhere you turn this weekend, inside the Middle East and out, you hear people criticizing the Bush administration for not doing more to end the violence.” –ABC talkinghead Peter Jennings

“Many Palestinians are hoping the Powell visit will mark the liberation of Yasser Arafat and his Palestinian Authority.” –ABC’s Dean Reynolds

“Why have Arab states done so little in response to Israeli military operations in Palestinian territories? You talk of unified action and you talk of all the rage and yet we see no action from the Arab states. Why not?” –CBS’s Bryant Gumbel, military strategist to terrorism supporters

This week’s “Terrorism Chic” Award: “Personally, absolutely I would like to interview Osama bin Laden. I’d be fascinated by anything Osama bin Laden would have to say.” –MSNBC’s Ashleigh Banfield

From the “High Caliber” Media: “In one rubble-covered alley, gunmen were trying to pull a seriously wounded comrade to safety. One of the rescuers was shot in the leg and fell over the wounded man before both were carried away as helicopters fired from machine guns.” –Fox News **Those must be some machine guns!

Editor’s Note: In good news for equal airtime, for the first time, Fox News beat CNN over a three-month period for primetime and 24-hour viewership. For the quarter ending March 31, Fox averaged 1.18 million viewers during primetime, over CNN’s 895,000. MSNBC came in a distant third with 340,000. Significantly, Fox is carried by far fewer cable systems than CNN….

SOCIOCRATS

From the “Globally Politically Challenged” Files: “Globalization is not the problem itself. The problem is that we are lacking effective public policies regarding globalization. We want to make globalization inclusive.” –Ernest Zedillo, former president of Mexico **Aha, just as we suspected! “Globalization” of trade and economic arrangements is a “bait and switch” scam promising final death to economic Marxism while replacing it with cultural Marxism in the form of “multiculturalism” and “inclusiveness.”

From the “Political Revisionist” Files: “If they [Senate Republicans] have total power, then they will be very, very different from what my beliefs are what the government’s function should be. I think it would be very dangerous for the country.” –Vermont Sen. James M. Jeffords, who last year quit the GOP to become an “independent” and support the Demo Lords, warning of “abuse of power” if Republicans regain the Senate majority and announcing he’ll be campaigning against his former partisans.

From the “Teddy” Files: “Politics should stop at the schoolhouse door. But we also have to stand up for what is right. We cannot remain silent when the President now fails to fund his own education bill. It was a wonderful promise – but it has become a hollow promise.” –Taxachusetts Sen. Ted Kennedy, who you will recall used to be President Bush’s First Buddy on education!

Guess who is still losin’ it: “I’m not asking people to marry me, I’m asking them to make a decision as to who they want to govern this state.” –California Demo Gov. Gray Davis

Some “Clinton Legacy Inflation”: “We were the most ethical administration in history. …By any standard of measure, …[Bill Clinton] is a good man. He is a decent man. He is a successful man.” –Paul Begala

The Jackass Brays: “You can count on Republicans to make promises … but you can count on Democrats to keep them. But maybe I’m being too hard on the President. After all, he does keep some of his promises – the ones he makes to the special interests.” –Terry McAuliffe

VILLAGE IDIOTS

“Were we too closed in our own self-absorption and self-interest? Not open or interested in others – other cultures, other views, other voices? We seemed closed in our own success and greed.” –Hollywonk Robert Redford on the rationale for the 9-11 attack

This week’s “Moral Innumeracy” Award: “First, there is a number; the number is 1,200 and counting of Palestinians dead. There’s a number of Israeli dead, 420. … That is the number of people who have been killed. Now maybe the Arabs are not human. Maybe the fact that Arabs are being killed by Israelis is completely coincidence.” –University of Chicago Professor Rashid Khalidi, arguing that Palestinians have the moral high ground because they have suffered more fatalities than the Israelis they are attacking.

Just in time for income tax season…. “Let this send a loud message to other corporate partners of the NRA. If you support the NRA, we will work to make sure that your employees, customers, and all of your stakeholders know that you support an extremist gun lobby that is out of step with mainstream America.” –President Nan Aron, president of the Leftist Alliance for Justice, trumpeting the announcement that tax preparer H&R Block had severed its partnership with the National Rifle Association. But NRA representative Kelly Whitley rejoined: “H&R Block has cut ties with all interest groups and not singularly the NRA. This isn’t a victory for gun control groups as the Brady Campaign would like people to believe. … These [Leftist] groups should do some more research before they mislead the public.”

This week’s “Quid Pro Homo” Award: “We have done a great many programs about gays and lesbians. We hope that we’ve opened some minds – and if they’re not open, we just don’t care anymore.” –ABC News talkinghead Barbara Walters, accepting a GLAAD [Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation] Media Award for a “20/20” feature touting gays as parents. **But there is that old saw about a mind so open the brain falls out….

From the “Village Academic Curriculum” File: Today, April 10, thousands of high schools and colleges are participating in a national “Day of Silence” sponsored by Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network and the United States Students Association to protest “harathment”, “prejudith”, “intoleranth” and “dithcriminathion” that “gayths, lethbians, bithexuals and transgender perthons suffer on a daily bathis.” **We hope you enjoy this brief respite from the rhetoric of self-righteous heterophobes – and most especially, the sibilant libertines.

SHORT CUTS

“We are making remarkable progress toward an agreement – and toward a nervous breakdown. It’s going to be a race to see which will be achieved first.” –Henry Kissinger on the 1975 Middle East peace negotiations

“The Arabs can’t have normal relations with one another, never mind Israel.” –David Pryce-Jones

“Saddam Hussein … has to compensate your parents and family to the tune of tens of thousands of dollars to pay for your ‘martyrdom.’ I wonder, do you still get your 72 virgins if you blew yourself up on a fee-for-service basis?” –Jonah Goldberg

“Despite all the Nobel Peace Prizes dispensed like candy, we haven’t had peace.” –David Limbaugh

“That famous fog of war ain’t got nothin’ on the fog of diplomacy.” –Paul Geenberg

“Now the Arabs have thrown a small bone/ To Israel’s Ariel Sharon/ If he won’t take a stand/ And give up more land/ They say they will leave him alone.” –Lyn Nofziger

“Right-wingers said Clinton was a lying, unscrupulous traveling salesman. It turned out he was a lying, unscrupulous traveling salesman. Now liberals scratch their heads demanding to know: So what was it about him you didn’t like? …Even before the Lewinsky scandal, Clinton himself never conned as much as half the country into voting for him – and, let’s be honest, he was not exactly facing stiff competition.” –Ann Coulter **Yes, we do recall it was after the election that 1996 Clinton opponent Bob Dole became spokesman for Viagra.

“Newsweek has been awarded the first exclusive post-presidential interview with Bill Clinton, and from the looks of it, the story should begin with the words, ‘Once upon a time’.” –Brent Bozell

“The Book of Phrases: Reliable source: a partisan stoolie who lies, and re-lies, and re-lies.” –Johnny Hart in the comic strip “B.C.”

“The Kinky Report: Of evidence nary a shred/ To support all the things Kinsey said,/ And now we’re alerted/ That the fiend was perverted,/ But the schools keep on teaching sex ed!” –F.R. Duplantier

Jay Leno…. Bill Clinton is on the cover of Newsweek magazine this week. He says he’s had trouble adjusting to civilian life. Civilian life? He had troubles adjusting to married life! …. They reported that Bill Clinton makes $10 million to $15 million a year on speaking engagements. That doesn’t even include what he makes under the table. …. Al Gore turned 54 today. They had a recount, though, and turns out he’s only 53. …. It’s been announced that Louis Farrakhan is going to the Middle East. Finally! The voice of reason, someone who can settle this thing! …. Yasser Arafat is still being held in his office. Why do terrorists need offices in the first place? …. I brought this up the other night. Disco is the most popular form of music in Afghanistan. So I guess we stopped the bombings too early! …. The IRS is now letting people use certain weight-loss plans on tax returns. You know what this means – all those Clinton girlfriends are tax write-offs! …. New research shows that children of couples that are first cousins may not have as many genetic defects as first thought – I believe this study was done at the University of West Virginia. …. And Yasser Arafat said today that he does not support terrorism. Yeah, but he also reminded his suicide bombers to put their time bombs ahead one hour this Sunday. …. Airport security staff were in the news again. Seems the five largest pilot unions now have asked President Bush to allow them to carry guns in the cockpit. Why do you even have to ask? All you have to do is put that gun in a carry-on bag and airline security will let you right through. Everybody does it, so what’s the problem? …. Yasser Arafat is hiding out on the floor of his office with his aides. He’s the first major world leader to have to do that since…well, Bill Clinton! …. The second American Taliban is in the news. The one being held in Virginia, turns out he’s from Louisiana. His Taliban name was Ali Billy Baba. … He was spotted when he was heard saying, “Death to Americans, y'all!”

David Letterman…. Letterman’s top signs the U.N. doesn’t take your country seriously: Cafeteria tablecloth looks suspiciously like your country’s flag. Your country’s sole U.N. responsibility is putting up streamers for the holiday dance. You’re officially introduced as “What’s-his-face from…?” You have to share a room with Saddam Hussein. Your wife has to share a room with Bill Clinton. At the big summit conference, Castro keeps asking you to get him a decaf latte. You’re informed that your country was won by Sweden in a late-night poker game. Under his breath, Kofi Annan calls you a “major-league @$$#*!%.” You receive invitation to the big September summit in October.

Argus Hamilton…. The Israelis gave in to White House demands Monday and withdrew from Qalqilya and Tulkarm. They picked these towns for a reason. If President Bush was going to gloat about it, they wanted to make the pronunciation as difficult as possible. …. Yasser Arafat ordered the Palestinians holding hostages in the Church of the Nativity to go down fighting. He’s ordering bloodshed in the birthplace of Jesus. The question is, what was it the Nobel Peace Prize Committee had against Hitler or Stalin? …. Israel restored electrical power to Yasser Arafat’s besieged compound Monday. However, Arafat continued to give interviews by candlelight. His publicist told him he hasn’t looked this good on television since the Munich Olympics in 1972. …. Israeli tanks rolled into the Palestinian towns of Bethlehem and Jenin this week. The government named this campaign Operation Protective Wall. Apparently until Israel can find a partner for peace, it’s going to practice safe settlements. …. Israel threatened sanctions against CNN and NBC after their reporters refused to leave the closed city of Ramallah. All the networks are covering the crisis. The Weather Channel just announced the five-day forecast for Palestine is two days. …. President Bush was heckled repeatedly by anti-war protesters in Knoxville on Monday. A lot of kids in college become anti-war demonstrators. Who wouldn’t want to grow up to someday have a penthouse in Harlem and make $100,000 a speech? …. Florida’s Health Department printed cocktail napkin warnings to mark Sexual Assault Awareness Month. It’s a serious effort. The National Guard has installed Kennedy Detectors at all Florida airports until the threat of spring break has receded. …. The FAA admitted that 94 airliners have flown in Washington D.C.‘s no-fly zone since September 11th. People forget that a Cessna crashed into the White House in 1994. It hit the wall outside Hillary’s bedroom, so the president was never in any danger. …. Hillary Clinton spent all weekend in California raising money for Democratic Governor Gray Davis. She’s a huge star out here. Any woman who can sell worthless real estate and overlook adultery has, what we call in Los Angeles, the right stuff. …. GOP governor candidate Bill Simon ripped Democrats for classroom overcrowding in California. He visited one grade school where forty students sat in a room that was designed to seat twenty. We’re just trying to prepare them for air travel. …. The IRS announced … that 50 million Americans still haven’t filed their income tax returns. Electronic filing still has a few bugs in the system. No one can figure out how to get the shirt off their back through the telephone lines.