Quote of the week…

“Lost in all the outrage over the corporate accounting scandals is one fact politicians do not like to acknowledge: The auditing problems at American companies cannot rival the bookkeeping shambles of the world’s largest enterprise – the U.S. government. Exaggerated earnings, disguised liabilities, off-budget shenanigans – they are all there in the government’s ledgers on a scale even the biggest companies could not dream of matching.” –Martin Crutsinger

On cross-examination…

“I think it’d be nice if some of the political opponents would stop taking potshots at the president for things that started long before he came into office.” –Sen. Jim Bunning (R-KY), responding to Democrats’ salvos against Bush and Cheney’s ties to big business amid the growing number of recent corporate scandals – most of which have their roots under the Clinton regime.

Open Query…

“When and how was ‘Let’s roll!’ allowed to atrophy into ‘Let’s roll over’?” –Geoff Metcalf objecting the Lindh plea deal as too lenient.

The HomSec Front…

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has recommended a response plan for the possibility of a smallpox attack and epidemic that calls for the preemptive vaccination of health workers only, reserving mass vaccinations for the contingency of this first protocol failing to contain an epidemic. According to the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, however, such a plan would result in far more fatalities in the case of a smallpox epidemic than would immediate mass vaccinations at the initial phase of an outbreak. Using the statistical model offered by the CDC of 1,000 initial infections in an urban population of 10 million, the NAS calculated that the CDC’s protocol would result in 110,000 deaths over 350 days, whereas an aggressive mass vaccination strategy would contain an epidemic to 560 deaths over 115 days.

So why is the CDC advocating an epidemic protocol that grossly compromises national security? As The Federalist has previously contended, the CDC is afraid of the repercussions of mass preventive or response inoculation, namely the deaths of untold numbers of HIV-infected individuals, whose already compromised immune systems could not compensate for the vaccine. In essence, no one is willing to take the resultant censure of the militant homosexual lobby in the event of thousands of homosexual deaths from the smallpox vaccine. If this were not so, frontline military personnel in the war with Jihadistan would be vaccinated and protected from infection even now.

News from the Swamp…

The president’s reorganization of the central government to streamline a myriad of federal agencies into a lean and mean Homeland Security department has its merits, but Congress and the nation must examine the proposals through the lens of our Constitution. Among The Federalist’s most strenuous objections are opposition to transferring powers extraconstitutionally from Congress to the Executive Branch, and violating federal power divisions to mobilize the National Guard from state governors to the central government. Moreover, we have repeatedly maintained our adamant opposition to national standards mandated for what then becomes a national identification card “backdoored” through state-issued drivers’ licenses. And the Terrorism Information Prevention System (TIPS) proposal to recruit and train utility and postal workers who have access into homes, is ripe for potential civil rights abuse by Leftists at the helm of some future administration.(Fortunately friend of The Federalist Dick Armey, who chairs the House HomSec Committee, plans to cut the ID and TIPS proposals before the measure goes to the floor.)

In the House of Lords, we see an unusual pair of co-sponsors! Ultra-Left California Demo Sen. Barbara Boxer has joined friend of The Federalist Bob Smith, of New Hampshire, in championing a Senate companion to the House bill, passed last week, allowing voluntary arming of airline pilots. Boxer noted the incongruity: “I think this is the first time I have ever stood with Sen. Smith on an issue that has involved guns.” (And we note another incongruity – the Bush administration remains opposed to arming pilots, preferring instead the military shootdown of hijacked jetliners.) You know you are in an election year when Demos behave sensibly!

Judicial Benchmarks…

In the halls of justice on the right, the District of Columbia’s U.S. Court of Appeals upheld Mr. Bush’s Executive Order to ban Project-Labor Agreements (PLAs) that force workers to become members of a union before being employed.

The BIG lie…

From the “Braying Jackasses” File: “Maybe the president should stop making speeches for a couple of days. He’s spoken twice and the market went down…. People are looking for real things to happen.” –Sen. Joseph Biden “It is hard to lead when you haven’t done the things that you’re asking others to do.” –Rep. Dick Gephardt “Despite Bush’s lip service calling on corporations to take responsibility for their misdeeds, President Bush continues to evade responsibility for his questionable actions when he was in the business world.” –DNC’s Terry McAuliffe “Protect your future by supporting the Democratic Party! Your contribution to the Democratic Party will help elect Democratic majorities in Congress that will fight for your retirement security.” –DNC news release.

From the Left…

From the “Not-a-minute-too-late” Files, Candice Bergen offered up this assessment of Dan Quayle’s 1990 criticism of her “Murphy Brown” show character being given an illegitimate child. “[Quayle’s speech was] a perfectly intelligent speech about fathers not being dispensable, and nobody agreed with that more than I did,” Bergen now claims.

The Commissars…

Is the government pot calling the corporate kettle black? As CEO fur continues to fly over the recent wave of corporate accounting scandals (and rightly so), the federal government’s Office of Management and Budget has recently admitted to a 50% larger deficit for the current fiscal year than previously reported; bringing the $106 billion deficit reported only five months ago to $165 billion. Troublesome? Last year’s $127 billion budget surplus should have been reported as a $515 billion budget deficit – under accounting regulations the government requires for business – but does not itself observe. The accounting discrepancy (this discrepancy is sometimes called “fraud” when in reference to big business) lies in the fact that the government does not account for expenses as they are incurred, but only when payment is made. In addition, the office’s 2001 report could not account for $17.3 billion at all; and the numbers reported do not include the mammoth future liabilities of the black hole that is the Social Security trust fund.

Regarding the redistribution of your income…

President Bush’s Budget Director, Mitch Daniels got waxed this week by Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WVA). Bird, who is notorious for pork-barrel projects (more than $1 billion in unauthorized appropriations in recent years) protested from the Senate floor: “[Daniels] is always meddling in the Congress, in its work, and in appropriations. Not only that, he’s always lecturing the Congress…. The appropriations process is being mangled, it’s being maimed, it’s being murdered at the hands of someone who is not elected by the people of this country. What bar of judgment does he stand behind? So I repeat again, upon what meat doth this, our little Caesar, feed?” So what is Byrd so concerned about that he would paraphrase Shakespeare? One consequence of the president’s Homeland reorganization will do exactly what the president intends to do – break up about 535 congressional special interest fiefdoms – Byrd’s being one of the largest.

From the department of military readiness…

We may be ready to protect against missile attack sooner than we thought. Air Force Lt. Gen. Ronald T. Kadish, who heads the Pentagon’s Missile Defense Agency, is proceeding full steam ahead with extending the capabilities of the sea-based Aegis system – which could be in place within about two years. (Previous projections put the installation of missile defenses at about 2008.) The Federalist has long favored – and argued for – building a “crash” BMD implementation around Aegis systems. Not only are they most readily deployable, considering their existing effectiveness, but they are also flexible, mobile and survivable – as well as providing the intermediate protections in a “layered” system with land and space components. Excellent news!

From the states…

In the Left Coast’s Gray State, Gov. Gray Davis Monday signed an excellent Republican-crafted law allowing residents to fly the Stars and Stripes regardless of homeowner and condo association covenants and restrictions, saying, “This is all about showing your pride in being an American. I understand the intent of a community’s rules and regulations – everyone wants to live in a decent, clean environment. But when those rules infringe upon a homeowner’s basic right of showing their love of the USA, well, then, that’s going too far.” You know you are in an election year when Demos behave sensibly!

In the People’s Republic of Massachusetts, a joint session of the state legislature has overwhelmingly rejected a citizen-sponsored (130,000 of them) constitutional amendment banning homosexual marriage. A procedural vote (137-53) against the amendment circumvented a floor vote (which only requires a 25% support over two consecutive constitutional conventions to advance to the ballot). Despite these political shenanigans, citizen supporters of the amendment promise to raise the issue again, which would go to a public ballot no sooner than 2006. Gov. Jane Swift, a Republican, could override the legislature, but she opposes the amendment.

In the People’s Republic of Maryland, Rep. Robert Ehrlich picked state Republican Party Chairman Michael Steele as his gubernatorial running mate last week. Ehrlich and Steele, both self-made success stories, are running against Kathy Kennedy Townsend, wealthy political heiress and daughter of Robert Kennedy, and her lieutenant, Charles Larson. “My natural father used to work for Jack Kennedy, he was a gardener,” said Mr. Steele. His stepfather earned extra money as a limousine driver, sometimes shuttling Robert F. Kennedy – Townsend’s father – to events. The irony is just too much to bear.

And speaking of “Limo Libs,” in Tennessee (11 electoral votes to George W. Bush), LimoLefty Albert Arnold Gore, once rumored to be a Tennessean, has now officially taken up residence in the fashionable Nashville suburb of Belle Meade, where he and Tipper purchased a humble abode for $2.3 million. Gore says he wants to mend his reputation in his “home state,” and may even take up the banjo!

In economic news…

Commenting before Congress Tuesday, Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan noted: “Manifestations of lax corporate governance, in my judgment, are largely a symptom of a failed CEO. …An infectious greed seemed to grip much of our business community.” Indeed, to the much-bandied “irrational exuberance,” now add “infectious greed” to lasting Greenspan coinages. Greenspan signaled that the short-term rate will remain at 1.75% (a 40-year low) reflecting very low inflationary pressure. Industrial productivity jumped 0.8% for June, the largest one-month increase in five years, and high-tech productivity rose 1.7% for a 10.4% increase over the past twelve months. This all serves to indicate a growing divergence between overall economic growth and recovery, and the prolonged slump characterizing the financial markets.

It is important to note that the Fed’s monetary policy can positively influence economic recovery, but cannot address the unpredictable flux of the markets. Significantly (and ironically), the financial market circus is one of the key factors contributing to the stability or volatility of any economic recovery. But, as Greenspan noted, the financial markets and corporate “misdeeds” are not the only considerations in play. “Considerable uncertainties…still confront us;” namely, terrorism.

In business news…

Coca Cola signed on for the savvy recommendation that stock options be treated as expenses on corporate balance sheets. Excellent decision – as once exercised, stock options may reduce the bottom line.

The “Non Compos Mentis” Department…

“A Zogby International poll of college seniors came up with a fascinating finding. Almost all of the 401 randomly selected students around the country – 97% – said their college studies had prepared them to behave ethically in their future work lives. So far so good. But 73% of the students said that when their professors taught about ethical issues, the usual message was that uniform standards of right and wrong don’t exist (‘What is right and wrong depends on differences in individual values and cultural diversity’).” –John Leo

Culture comment…

Big Brothers Big Sisters of America is now requiring all 500 of its local affiliates to enlist practicing homosexuals as volunteers and mentors for BBBSA kids. Making matters worse, parents whose children are enrolled in school-based BBBSA programs may not be told that their child is matched with a homosexual.

On the frontiers of science…

A new study from Portuguese medical researchers uncovered an eye-opening relationship – apparently suggesting that coffee drinking protects against Alzheimer’s disease. The comparative study, published in the European Journal of Neurology, investigated differences between healthy seniors and Alzheimers patients, finding that the healthy older folks had been drinking a daily average of three cups of coffee during their adulthood, while the ill had averaged only one java per day. Somehow, this finding is not shocking around our editorial shop – as we suck down our customary afternoon iced tea and remember what we were just writing about….

Around the world…

We are shocked – SHOCKED – to report that the U.S. policy of “constructive engagement” with China is about to turn around and bite us! The Chinese, it seems, have taken full advantage of American overtures to become more of a threat than ever. “It needs to be corrected, particularly today as China grows in economic and military strength, and the United States plays a very substantial role in contributing to that rise in military and economic strength,” said C. Richard D'Amato, chairman of the Pentagon’s U.S.-China Security Review Commission, speaking of the commission’s recent report to Congress. Michael Ledeen, the commission’s vice chairman, offers a word of caution: “Congress has, by and large, let this thing go and tended to assume the best hypotheses rather than facing the worst hypotheses, and we think that everyone will be better served if Congress gets more engaged.” The report confirms that China currently possesses the ability to strike the U.S. mainland with ICBMs, and that the Asian power is often disposes to sell its military technology to such rogue states at Iraq and Iran. The Pentagon report also suggest that China’s military budget far exceeds what Beijing acknowledges; a difference between $20 billion and $80 billion, with substantial increases predicted in coming years – and a billion buys a lot of Red Chinese regulars and weapons!

Terrorist attacks resumed in Israel this week, after self-defensive military moves had provided a respite. A bus ambush Tuesday started with a roadside bombing, and continued with terrorists disguised in Israeli army uniforms shooting passengers. Double coordinated homicidal bombers exploded their own bodies and murdered four innocents Wednesday evening in southern Tel Aviv. Terror groups Hamas, the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade and Islamic Jihad – variously – claimed culpability for the murderous assaults.

Meanwhile, back in New York, diplo-babblers babbled on in attempting to craft a negotiated international pressure stance to facilitate Middle East peace. The four parties in the talks – the U.S., the UN, the EU, and Russia – in “insider terming” are known as “The Quartet.” While the U.S. and new ally Russia might make headway in encouraging the Israelis and Palestinians toward real peace negotiations, the involvement of moral equivalencers from the UN and the EU dooms this collaboration. (We think of this as the “Bumbleshop Quartet.”)

On the Afghanistan warfront, scattered attacks continued harassing the coalition allied against the Jihadis. But in a London meeting, Islamic militants railed bitterly against efforts to counter terrorism, calling those self-defensive moves “oppression of Muslims by the West.” Stay tuned! President Bush has often remarked that the 9-11 Jihadis underestimated the U.S., thinking we were so weak and materialistic we would just sue them. Now, looks like they are so weak and materialistic, they are planning to sue us! Hey, wait a minute – Hamas and Hezbollah supporters are suing us!

Over the weekend, after anti-aircraft attacks on U.S. and British flights in Iraq’s southern “no-fly” zone, our warplanes struck back, bombing the air defense facilities directing the fire. Also over the weekend, a meeting of escapees from Iraq formed plans for a post-Saddam Hussein free Iraq, while the defiant Iraqi tyrant boasted in response that his military will not be defeated in any matchups with U.S. and allied forces.

Turkey has reluctantly agreed to support a U.S. effort to topple Saddam Hussein, contingent upon Washington’s willingness to write off $5 billion in debt, as well as guaranteeing that the Kurds of northern Iraq (who presently operate as independent entity under U.S. and British air protection) will not be allowed an independent state apart from a post-Hussein Iraq. The new Turkish position follows from Deputy Defense Sec. Paul Wolfowitz’s visit to the country earlier this week. Turkey also insists that a new Iraqi regime must have the approval of the Iraqi people – as opposed to regional concerns over the possibility of a U.S.-backed puppet government.

The IRA apologized for civilian deaths and injuries during its 30-year campaign of terrorism – we suspect they are as sincere in their apologies as the PLO!

And last…

Swamp scribblers themselves have a new coinage, “tripartisanship,” to describe joint Senate maneuvers of Demos, Republicans and Vermont “independent” James Jeffords, who over a year back abandoned the Republican Party. Frankly, we think the Republicans really ought to “try partisanship” – one of our most favorite cross-stitches is “Conservatism works whenever it’s tried.” But given that Jeffords nearly always sides with the Leftist-Demos, wouldn’t there be greater truth in labeling if such stuff were called “bipolar”? Whenever the Swampsters get so manic, we get depressive.