THE FOUNDATION

“The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave.” –Patrick Henry

INSIGHT

“Society cannot exist, unless a controlling power upon will and appetite be placed somewhere; and the less of it there is within, the more there must be without.” –Edmund Burke

ICTUS IMPRIMIS

“A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things that Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic – on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg – or else he would be the devil of hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse.” –C. S. Lewis

FAMILY

“We need to teach our kids why social [Leftists] – including, sometimes, their teachers – claim that all violence and anger are wrong: It’s an expression of hostility toward America itself and an inadequate understanding of sin and the need for justice. And we must make sure that they know why – in the face of great evil – getting angry isn’t wrong. It’s the necessary prologue to justice.” –Chuck Colson

CULTURE

“When they absolutely must teach something about the United States, educrats prefer niche history – the experiences of African Americans, Asian Americans, Hispanic Americans. The idea of e pluribus unum (out of many, one) is anathema to them. Teaching American history – our common story – as opposed to group-identity history, is rejected as ethnocentric and jingoistic.” –Don Feder

LIBERTY

“Big government by its very nature is government that intrudes in people’s lives, usurps their rights and responsibilities and confiscates their money. There is nothing conservative about any of this. Regardless of how benevolent and well-meaning its intentions are, government expands almost entirely for the purpose of controlling and regulating the lives of its citizens. Each act of government, each law passed, each regulation written is a step toward limiting the freedom of some one or some group or some organization or some business or industry. Granted, some of these steps may be necessary but most of them are not. So let’s not kid ourselves. If conservatives are people who put freedom ahead of security and individual rights ahead of government control, then it must follow that they are opposed to big government. This being the case, a policy of ‘big government conservatism’ is merely an excuse for wayward conservatives to justify moving leftward and anyone who denies this is an ignoramus, a fool or a hypocrite.” –Lyn Nofziger

THE GIPPER

“We’re blessed with the opportunity to stand for something – for liberty and freedom and fairness – and these are things worth fighting for, worth devoting our lives to. And we have good reason to be hopeful and optimistic. We’ve made much progress already. So, let us go forth with good cheer and stout hearts, happy warriors out to seize back a country and a world to freedom.” –Ronald Reagan

OPINION IN BRIEF

“‘The Europeans,’ defined as the peoples of Europe, will not object [to military operations liberating Iraq]. For they do not conform to the blogger stereotype of Europeans as anti-American appeasers. But ‘the Europeans’ – defined as the European Union – may chafe and mutter on the sidelines. Angry today because they lack either the EU military power to pursue a foreign policy directly, or the authority over member governments to enforce their anti-American instincts on a continent, they will seek to advance toward these powers in the obscure shadows where European constitutional integration is plotted. Which raises a very interesting question. If the process of European integration is increasingly hostile to American interests and purposes, why did Bush give it such a strong endorsement in his Berlin speech?” –John O'Sullivan

EDITORIAL EXEGESIS

“It isn’t just Saddam’s WMD capability that should prompt the U.S. to rid the world of his regime as soon as possible, but the fact that his ouster can be just the beginning of an effort to transform the Middle East and to root out Islamic radicalism at its sources. It would give the U.S. the foothold to work on toppling, or radically changing the behavior of, Tehran, Damascus, Riyadh, and their client, whoever that may be at the time (Arafat or some other Palestinian strongman), in Ramallah. Bush will repeatedly have to overcome the forces of inertia or timidity in Washington, and around the world, to pursue this task. If the initiative can be lost – as in fact it has been – it can also be regained.” –National Review

GOVERNMENT

“Hate crimes legislation sets a dangerous precedent. Instead of punishing people for the criminal act, such legislation punishes attitudes, beliefs, and speech, thereby minimizing and trivializing a person’s behavior. Whether you drag someone behind a truck for fun or because you have animus against a particular class of people, the penalty ought to be the same. Law enforcement officers weren’t meant to be ‘thought police.’ And in a free society, people should be punished for their bad deeds, not their personal opinions or beliefs.” –Ken Connor

RE: THE LEFT

“Too many people are afraid of holding black politicians to the same standard as everybody else. Exhibit A: Rep. Cynthia McKinney, Georgia Democrat, a woman whose every spoken word is a veritable piñata of imbecility; attack it from any angle and something stupid will drop out….She believes she has an undiminishable right to say unpopular things. Fair enough. But she also believes she should not be judged harshly as a result. This, to me, is the real racism. It says that we cannot – dare not – judge nutty black politicians by an objective standard.” –Jonah Goldberg

POLITICAL FUTURES

“This week Democrats are celebrating the year anniversary of Senator Daschle as Senate Majority Leader. Instead of celebrating, they should focus on the lack of Senate leadership on much of America’s agenda. Important issues like confirming qualified federal judges, providing terrorism insurance and passing a budget that funds America’s needs have become hostage to partisanship. … As Senate Majority Leader, Daschle has a 23.8% job performance rating based on the Senate’s inability to advance needed legislation that will help the American people. President Bush and House and Senate Republicans are committed to leadership on the important issues facing the American people. House Republicans have passed many parts of that agenda. In the Senate, these important priorities for the American people are stalled.” –Jack Oliver, Deputy Chairman, RNC

FOR THE RECORD

We have not mentioned the Carnivore e-mail capture software for some time; now it’s back. You may recall that The Federalist last year voiced concern about the program (now named DCS1000), as in our view, it has the potential for violation of Fourth Amendment guarantees against unreasonable search and seizure of personal “papers” – despite the government’s assurances that DCS1000 captured only e-mails of a subject under warrant. Last week, the FBI admitted e-mail traffic of a suspected terrorist under surveillance was destroyed, because Carnivore had actually seized e-mails of many “non-covered targets” (that is, innocent persons not suspected of any wrongdoing). So, to minimize the software’s violation of rights, the technician responsible deleted even the “covered” information permissible under warrant, which might have provided valuable insights and warnings about terrorist activities.

SELECT READER COMMENTS

“In Federalist No. 02-21 Paul Craig Roberts expressed concern about arbitrary government power diminishing our constitutional rights. I wonder why that arbitrary power can’t be used to diminish the rights of those who would do us harm? I wonder where in the Constitution it says that anyone who sets foot in this country is entitled to every protection to which its citizens are entitled? Why are aliens, legal and illegal, granted legal rights here that they would be denied anywhere else in the world? Our government seems intent on diminishing the rights of citizens while they grant exceptional rights to aliens. Instead of making laws to protect those who would cause us harm while watering down our constitutional protections, our masters should craft laws to diminish only the rights of those whose intent is the destruction of our way of life. Why don’t they simply make laws denying rights to illegal aliens and stop hiding behind politically correct terms like ‘racial profiling’? If the government wants to exercise arbitrary power, let it do so to protect us, not those who would do us harm.”
Editor’s Reply: And furthermore, perhaps our government should be warning those countries known to harbor terrorists to prepare for an attack from us, instead of warning us that we are going to be attacked and there is nothing they can do about it. In other words – get them first!

“I think the vast differences in compensation between the victims of the September 11th casualty, and those who die serving the country in uniform, are profound. If you lost a family member in the September 11th attack, you’re going to get an average of $1,185,000. If you are a surviving family member of an American soldier killed in action, the first check you get is a $6,000 direct death benefit, half of which is taxable. Next, you get $1,750 for burial costs. If you are the surviving spouse, you get $833 a month until you remarry. And there’s a payment of $211 per month for each child under 18. When the child hits 18, those payments come to a screeching halt. Keep in mind that some of the people that are getting an average of $1.185 million up to $4.7 million are complaining that it’s not enough.”

“No Guns for Pilots…. John Magaw, who got his previous job from that paragon of government Bill Clinton, has decided in front of the whole world (terrorists, take notice) that pilots, men who for the most part were trained in the use of firearms while serving in the military, will not be armed. Mr. Magaw – another of those lobotomized horses’ backsides, inhabiting Lotus Land on the Potomac. Magaw, who doesn’t give a tinker’s damn for the American flying public, will be doing all his flying in safe, military aircraft. Perhaps if he were made to ride along with us plebeians he would change his tune.”

“The recent bit about the NEA complaining that homeschoolers are taking precious funds from public schools because funding is based on school census figures is a perfect illustration of how government schools have failed even the NEA’s adroit leadership. The parents of homeschoolers are still paying property taxes and keep the pie the same size, but now less are eating from it…thus, the amount to spend per student in the public school rises because of homeschoolers, and those in private schools. If schools taught critical thinking skills instead of politically correct drivel, maybe the NEA leadership could do the math.”

“On the one hand, I applaud the Army in reassigning female soldiers from the RSTA units as a part of the Army plan to develop Interim Brigade Combat Teams. On the other hand, someone should let the Army know that we already have the United States Marine Corps for fast deployment, multiple mission capable operations! Semper fi.”

“I recently realized that the problems with the Catholic Church could be summed up by the Pope telling the Cardinals, ‘What we have here is a failure to ex-communicate.’ (My apologies to Cool Hand Luke fans.)”

“In Federalist 02-21, you reported about Katie Couric’s broadcast colonoscopy. I can’t imagine one ounce of redeeming quality that may have come from such an escapade – well…maybe one…it displayed for her fans from whence her perspective originates.”

“Excellent piece on the homosexual pedophilia and pederasty scandal in the Catholic Church. Thank you SO much for shining the light on the truth! (From a Catholic who loves the Church)”

THE LAST WORD

From Dave Barry: “Wherever you go on your vacation, you’ll need to decide whether to fly or drive. Perhaps you, like many Americans, are nervous about air travel. But statistics show that, if you buy a ticket on a commercial flight, the odds are less than one in 17 million that you will be allowed to actually board the airplane. This is because airport security is VERY strict. Recently, I was in Cincinnati airport, and I watched as the security-checkpoint workers gave a serious going-over to – I am not making this up – a pilot. He was in his pilot uniform, minus his belt and shoes, holding his arms out, getting thoroughly wanded while having an animated discussion with the security people. I wasn’t close enough to hear what they were saying, but I imagine it went something like this: PILOT: But I’m a pilot. I’m the person who will be flying the airplane. SECURITY PERSON: Yes, but suppose you’re carrying concealed manicure scissors? You could use them to overcome yourself. PILOT: Yikes! Better give me a full cavity search!”