Other things on their minds

http://www.townhall.com/columnists/GuestColumns/Ham20050525.shtmlThe Constitution granted the federal government a very few “enumerated” powers. All the others were to go to our state and local governments, which would be more responsive and accessible to close-by constituents.

The federal government will collect about $18,000 per household in taxes this year—or, enough to buy 1,410 azalea bushes for your ranch-style home and still have money left over for this grill. But in order to figure out where that money goes, you’d have to wade through a $2.5 trillion budget (that’s 12 zeros; I looked it up), for which there is no layman’s analogy because the number is simply too big.

The list of figures could go on and on. The federal government is so monstrous that no one person can possibly know how big it is and how far it reaches. Heck, they don’t even know how much land they own.

Now, don’t you just want to jump in and get involved with that mess after a long day’s work? Of course you don’t. Somehow, I don’t think “immeasurably large” is the perfect size for a democracy dependent on the involvement of normal people. Luckily for the republic, there are a great many extraordinary Americans who are willing to do just that. They start their own blogs, write letters to the editor, and stage demonstrations, all in between the afternoon traffic jam and putting the kids to bed.

But it was never meant to be this hard. The Constitution granted the federal government a very few “enumerated” powers. All the others were to go to our state and local governments, which would be more responsive and accessible to close-by constituents. Since then, of course, the idea of “enumerated,” has been court-packed, New Dealed and Great Societied into something closer to “unlimited.”

Kane: We must not allow criminals to win through intimidation

Gregory Kane in the Baltimore Sun looks at a bill that would increase penalties for intimidating witnesses. The most controversial part of the legislation is the hearsay exception, which would allow the statements of intimidated witnesses to stand in court. An interesting read over a difficult issue...the U.S. Constitution and victim's rights.//JW sends.

Noonan: And That's the Way It Was

Peggy Noonan in the WSJ provides as a public service, three suggestions for the owners of the networks to revive their news organizations. Do these things and good results will follow, including higher ratings. She is a terrific writer...thus a terrific read. Don't just read the tease below; read the whole thing...well worth it. Enjoy!//JW sends.

So take all that money and get yourselves some talented, hungry correspondents. A lot of them. They should be all over Africa, South America, the Mideast and Europe, with talented crews.

Stop with the Stepfordism. Don't get bright young blondes named Kimmy, Kubby and Koopy. Instead, rehire the great old guys and women you started laying off in the 1980s because they were getting a little fat, a little old, a little untelegenic. They didn't pop ,so you popped them.

Hire them back. They're all teaching in journalism schools. and they miss the game like you wouldn't believe. They'll be thrilled with a second chance, and they'd bring back some of the authority the networks have lost. This is a whole country that enjoys looking at Sipowicz on "NYPD Blue." This is a whole country that's aging. We don't want to watch cupcakes on network TV. That's what local is for. (Added benefit: when you rehire all these old pro's it will be a story, get publicity, and the Disney Co., itself eager to return to its roots after decades of cynicism and scandal, will make a hit two-hour movie about it. Because it's a good story!)

Then open it up--trust your correspondents in the field. Let them tell you the story. Don't tell them what the story is from New York, after you've read the Times and the Washington Post. Let them tell you the story. Let them be our eyes.

What really happened today in Iraq, what are U.S.soldiers doing, what's the mood in the green zone among people who've been there a while? What are they selling in the local candy store in Tikrit, what are young men doing for jobs, what are mothers making for dinner, what's available to put in the pot, how are the schools going, is it usual for an 8-year-old girl to go to school each day or has that gone by the boards because of war? What do American soldiers think of what Americans back home think of the war, what is their impression of our impression? What does a "letter from home" look like now? Is it a DVD? What is it like to live in a place where everything's been fine and calm for 10 days and you know you've turned a corner and just as you're thinking this there's an explosion 10 blocks away and suddenly you hear sirens and people are cowering in doorways?

Ann Coulter: Calling the kettle gay

Ann Coulter calls outing relatives of conservatives is nothing but ruthless intimidation by the Democrats. This is a behavioral trope of all totalitarians: Force children to testify against their parents to gain control by fear.

Darwin's War on Political Correctness

James Pinkerton in TCS online writes that the news that a new and dangerously improved AIDS "superbug" is on the loose has dealt a sharp blow to three different kinds of political correctness. The only winner is reality; painful as it might sometimes be, reality is still our best true friend.

What have the Americans ever done for us?

Well, Gerard Baker in the London Times Online says Liberated 50 million people...that's what. Finally, some Europeans are getting the message. Look what America is really doing in the Middle East: liberated Afghanistan and Iraq; saw Libya turn off its WMD program; seeing Lebanon kick the Syrians out; elections in Saudi Arabia and soon in Egypt. What better proof does one need to see the historic changes brought on by this President, George Bush.//JW sends.

“All right, all right. But apart from liberating 50 million people in Iraq and Afghanistan, undermining dictatorships throughout the Arab world, spreading freedom and self-determination in the broader Middle East and moving the Palestinians and the Israelis towards a real chance of ending their centuries-long war, what have the Americans ever done for us?”

It’s too early, in fairness, to claim complete victory in the American-led struggle to bring peace through democratic transformation of the region. Despite the temptation to crow, we must remember that this is not Berlin 1989. There will surely be challenging times ahead in Iraq, Iran, in the West Bank and elsewhere. The enemies of democratic revolution — all the terrorists and Baathists, the sheikhs, the mullahs and the monarchs — are not going to give up without a fight.

But something very important is happening now, something that will be very hard to stop. And, although not all of it can be directly attributed to the US strategy in the region, can anyone seriously argue that it would have happened without it? Neither is it true, as some have tried to argue, that all of this is merely some unintended consequence of an immoral and misconceived war in Iraq.

It was always the express goal of the Bush Administration to change the regime in Baghdad, precisely because of the opportunities for democracy it would open up in the rest of the Arab world. George Bush understands the simple but historically demonstrable thesis that freedom is not only the most basic of human rights, but also the best way to ensure that nations do not go to war with each other.

In a speech one month before the start of the Iraq war in 2003, Mr Bush laid out the strategy: “The world has a clear interest in the spread of democratic values, because stable and free nations do not breed the ideologies of murder. They encourage the peaceful pursuit of a better life.”

Iraq: The Task Ahead

Dr. Ayad Allawi, interim prime minister of Iraq,l looks ahead post-election and to the new government at the end of this year. Looking at Iraq, Lebanon, and even Egypt, one can see a milder version of the former Iron Curtain countries as democracy swept Eastern Europe post-the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Barely a month ago, Iraqis voted in their first ever fully democratic elections. It was an exciting and proud moment for all Iraqis, free at last after decades of tyranny. There was never any doubt, despite the intimidation and terrorism, that millions of Iraqis would take their chance to play their part in history.

The new--and freely elected--Iraqi Parliament has already been formed. We are now in the process of shaping the new Executive. When this is achieved, the role of the Interim Government will be complete. For me, personally, it has been a great honor to have played my part in laying the foundations for a free and prosperous Iraq, at peace with itself and with its neighbors.

We faced many challenges, not least in ensuring the Iraqi people had this chance to take control of their own future. But the challenges for the next government are just as many and as daunting. Above all, we must continue the process of national reconciliation which has, in truth, only just begun. It is now clear that early decisions to disband the army and to engage in a doctrinal, as opposed to a more pragmatic, de-Baathification process have made the task harder. They were, I accept, taken for the best of motives but their impact has been to increase suspicions among ethnic and religious groups and to make it harder to improve security.

We have to work hard to tackle these challenges. Most important, we must ensure that all views and constituencies are included and reflected as we build the new government and security forces, in the appointment of ministers and officials, and as we continue to build new and stronger relationships with our neighbors.

It is why the drafting of the new constitution--the main task of the new Parliament--is so crucial to the future of our country. The task of writing this constitution is as critical for us as the task performed by your country's Founding Fathers. Our Founding Fathers must ensure the constitution guarantees basic rights for all Iraqis, safeguards our hard-won democracy and reflects fairly--and is seen to reflect--the views of Iraq's diverse population. If we can meet this challenge, the new constitution will provide a huge opportunity to heal the divisions across Iraqi society which were deliberately deepened by Saddam Hussein. It will be of immense practical and symbolic importance, showing just how determined we are to heal the wounds and to live as brothers and sisters in our own country.

Bush's plan for the GOP

President Bush has embarked on a two-pronged strategy to establish the GOP as America's majority party, not just for the next four years, but for a generation.

Poor Children, Poorer Teachers

According to the Department of Education, a third of Maryland's public school teachers have not demonstrated knowledge of the subjects they teach. But the distribution of these teachers in the schools is what is eye-popping.

"We Think You're Dirt"

James K. Glassman in AEI looks at the world's blind eye toward Rwanda and now the Sudan. Interesting history, is that the Europeans had a hand in creating this mess long ago, but now refuse to help solve the problem and prevent more bloodshed. This article is a must read.//JW sends.

I'm no movie critic, but the best film I've seen this year, without a doubt, is Hotel Rwanda. It's so good, I saw it twice in a week, including once in the company of my 12- and 14-year-old nephews, who left the theater as edified, angry, uplifted and drained as I did.

The film, directed by Terry George, is the true story of a Europhile hotel manager who simply wants to raise his family without complication and to do his job with “style.” Suddenly, thrust into a moral crisis, he rises to leadership and saves the lives of 1,268 adults and children during the genocidal slaughter of nearly one million minority Tutsis by Hutu militias and soldiers between April and July 1994, as the world sat on its collective hands.

Unfortunately, Hotel Rwanda is not nominated as best picture for this Sunday's Oscars (8 p.m. Eastern on ABC), eclipsed in the judgment of the Academy by such clunkers as The Aviator. But Don Cheadle is up for best actor, Sophie Okonedo for best supporting actress, and George and Keir Pearson for original screenplay.

Cheadle, who was terrific in little movies like Boogie Nights, is finally getting the break he deserves, but Okonedo, the daughter of an English mother and Nigerian father, is the star, in a performance that's frighteningly real.

I hope they win, but I'm just happy that the TV audience, few of whom have seen the movie, will be able to get a look at even a couple short clips.

Cheadle plays Paul Rusesabagina, the manager of the Mille Collines, a luxury hotel in Kigali, Rwanda. He's a Hutu and his wife Tatiana, played by Okonedo, is a Tutsi. These racial distinctions are even more artificial than most. Through intermarriage over centuries, the races were largely merged--only to be resurrected in opposition in 1863 by a loony English anthropological theorist named John Hanning Speke.

As Philip Gourevitch shows in his superb 1998 book on the genocide, We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families, Speke's ideas were exploited by the Belgians when they took over Rwanda after World War II, putting the Tutsis (who, according to Speke, were racially superior) in charge. The Hutus began their revenge on the ruling Tutsis in 1963, after the Belgians pulled out.

Massacres and expulsions of Tutsis by Hutus proceeded, on and off on a relatively small scale, for three decades, until April 6, 1994, when Hutu extremists engineered the death of the Hutu president in a plane crash and blamed it on Tutsi rebels. Then the butchering of civilians, including small children, began, with machetes as the weapon of choice.

Toss Bashar Assad Out of Both Lebanon and Syria

Danielle Pletka in AEI says the assasination of Rafik Hariri is the final straw. The world should help the two nations, Lebanon and Syria, oust this tyrant.

Why Europe Ignores Bush

Iraq has telegraphed limits on U.S. power, allowing others to say no to Washington. American power projection (military, diplomatic, economic, and political) has always been a key element of American foreign policy. The erosion of that power could have ripple effects throughout American society, now and in the long-term future. But this not only Iraq. The author negates to discuss the effects of the fall of the Soviet Union and the rise of China upon the decline of American power projection. This did not happen because of Iraq, it began long before even 9/11, and Iraq is actually a consequence of this fall vice the instigator.//JW sends.

Iraq, of course, is where the problem began in earnest, even before the war. By pressing ahead to war two years ago without the evidence to back its case and without waiting for UN inspectors to complete their work, the Bush administration inadvertently created a rupture in the international system of alliances that has proved disastrous. It created a situation where longtime U.S. allies found themselves with no choice but to say no to Washington on a strategic priority — and then not only to face no negative consequences, but to see the U.S. struggle under the weight of its occupation mission and then return to Europe calling for fences to be mended without the Europeans having changed their position. Well, not quite true: a number of European countries have changed their positions — they've pulled their troops out of Iraq. As the old gangster movie adage goes, "You run this town only because people think you run this town." Now when President Bush comes calling offering quotes from French existentialists — “Albert Camus said that freedom is a long distance race,” the president said Monday — sweet talk about the environment and promises to make the Israeli-Palestinian peace process a top priority, the Europeans know the reason is that Washington has been humbled by events. Indeed, it may be a measure of how the strategic balance has shifted that President Bush not only tosses around bon-mots from the existentialists; he hosts a dinner for President Chirac — a European leader he plainly detests, and who has not given an inch in his opposition to U.S. policy in Iraq and elsewhere in the Middle East. France won't even consent to U.S. pressure to make the relatively meaningless gesture of putting Hezbollah on a terrorist list.

Law and Borders

Tamar Jacoby, in the Weekly Standard, makes the conservative case for the president's immigration plan. Good to read different points on this subject. Yes, the borders are not secure and open to those who intend to harm America and her interests. Yet, who is gonna pick our crops, dig our ditches, and work all the other jobs that Amercians won't do.//JW sends.

LEE MORGAN'S SMALL, spare office has the somber feel of a personal shrine. A Vietnam veteran with 30 years' experience in the immigration and customs services, Morgan does undercover and investigative work on the Arizona border, now the gateway of choice for illegal immigrants entering the United States from the south. Everything in his lair in the dusty frontier town of Douglas speaks to his patriotism and dedication: his Bronze Star, his Purple Heart, the three folded American flags--comrades' commemorative flags--and proud photos of his fondest undercover busts. Like everyone who works on the border, he has had a new assignment since 9/11. The twin fights against illegal immigration and drugs, though not forgotten, have been subordinated to a new preoccupation--terrorism. But, tough and determined though he is, Morgan is far from confident that he can hold the line.

Every day last year, the immigration service apprehended some 1,400 illegal immigrants trying to cross into Arizona. Over 12 months, along the whole southern border, the total number arrested was more than a million. Morgan has seen too much in life to be anything but candid, and although it's his job to help catch these unauthorized migrants, he criticizes the apprehensions as a waste of time and resources. "They're just poor people trying to feed their families," he shrugs. But that doesn't mean he isn't concerned--very concerned. The main issue in his eyes: the distraction the immigrant influx creates. "What if another 9/11 happens and I'm responsible?" he asks. "What if the bastards come across here in Arizona and I don't catch them because I'm so busy chasing a busboy or a gardener that I don't have time to do my job--my real job--catching terrorists? I don't know how I'll live with myself."

Morgan's personal nightmare is one urgent reason why all Americans, no matter what their politics, should support President Bush's plan to retake control of our southern border. The White House proposal, introduced in early 2004 and allowed to drop from sight during the election year, is back on the table. The president laid out his ideas again in the State of the Union and is reportedly planning a major initiative to take the issue to the public later this spring.

Mr. O'Malley's Dodge

Editorial in the Washington Post looks at Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley and his...flip-flopping on the slots issues...and just about every issue. Guess he has visions of John Kerry. The other Democrat hopeful in the Governor's race, Montgomery County Exec. Doug Duncan is licking his chops.

Testimony in Blackwell case didn't go by the book

Gregory Kane in the Baltimore Sun raises some points about potential anti-Catholic bigotry influencing the judicial process. Who is gonna argue against a person accusing a Catholic priest of child molestation? Interesting read; in the hopes of fair-minded citizens participating in a trial like this, where does bigotry begin while searching for truth and justice.//JW sends.

DID DEFROCKED Roman Catholic priest Maurice Blackwell walk out of a kangaroo court last week?

Well, maybe kangaroo court is a little harsh. But there are those who believe that Blackwell - who was convicted last week of abusing Dontee Stokes - didn't get a fair trial. Not surprisingly, one of them is Blackwell's lawyer, attorney Kenneth W. Ravenell.

"He obviously didn't receive a fair trial," Ravenell said yesterday. "It's really difficult for anyone in this climate to receive a fair trial."

The climate Ravenell referred to is the one in which nearly every Catholic priest is under scrutiny, suspected of possibly being a child molester by virtue of his occupation. That suspicion lingers, no matter how many Catholics say time and again that the priests they knew growing up were straight shooters, moral and honest men who would never molest a child.

But in the current climate - and admittedly, the church itself is to blame for much of it - we even had potential jurors saying they couldn't be objective because of the religion of the defendant and Stokes, the state's star witness. Who would have thought that in the year 2005 some folks would openly confess to anti-Catholic bigotry?

We all share responsibility for failing the Dawson family

JUST PAY IT.

That's what Baltimore officials should do with the $14 million the surviving members of the Dawson family are demanding because, in essence, the city failed them. Just pay every penny of it and try not to fail anybody else as woefully as we failed Angela Dawson, her husband, Carnell Dawson, and their five children.

This week, surviving members of the Dawson family filed a lawsuit that named as defendants a host of people: Mayor Martin O'Malley; members of the City Council; the Police Department; former police Commissioner Edward T. Norris and acting Commissioner Leonard Hamm; State's Attorney Patricia C. Jessamy; one of her assistants; police officers yet to be named; and the governor, although it's unclear whether that means former Gov. Parris N. Glendening or current Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.

Ehrlich was only running for the office on Oct. 16, 2002, the day Darrell Brooks set fire to the Dawsons' home and killed seven people. It was Glendening who was in the governor's mansion and who should be named as a defendant. But the folks named in the suit shouldn't take this weight alone. In a way, didn't we all fail the Dawsons?

'America would back Israel attack on Iran'

Francis Harris in the news.telegraph wonders if President Bush would support an Israeli attack on Iran's nuclear sites. Well, gee Francis, if you were Israel wouldn't you be concerned? Well, gee Francis, why wouldn't President Bush support someone else whacking Iran rather than the U.S.? Lighten up...Francis.//JW sends.

Many figures close to the United States administration believe that the European diplomatic initiative is calculated more to dilute America's hardline approach to weapons of mass destruction than to stop Iran's mullahs building a bomb.

Israel, meanwhile, has given warning about Iran's nuclear ambitions, saying that an Iranian bomb might be only six months away and that such a weapon would pose a grave risk to its security. Mr Bush repeated the reasons for America's anxiety: "Remember, this all started when we found [Iran] enriching uranium in an undeclared fashion, and it happened because somebody told on them."

Iran's long march towards becoming a nuclear power appeared to make a significant step forward yesterday with the opening of a £450 million reactor at Bushehr.

A senior Russian nuclear official said he would go to Iran next week to sign a protocol agreeing the return of spent nuclear fuel, the last remaining obstacle to Bushehr's functioning. This will allow deliveries of Russian nuclear fuel.

The protocol's signing has been repeatedly delayed. It aims to ease concerns that Iran could reprocess spent nuclear fuel from Bushehr to extract plutonium, which could be used in nuclear weapons.

Europe is more a competitor than ally

Peter Brown in the Orlando Sentinel finally hits home with the truth about Europe. The days of calling them Allies, are over.//JW sends.

The American people should consider President Bush's visit to Europe the same way we would view one to China -- a business trip to a rival whose interests and ours often differ.

Until Europe show it once again wants to be a U.S. ally, rather than an ambitious competitor, it would be foolish to treat the Europeans otherwise.

Bush understands the changing nature of the U.S. relationship with the continent from which most of our citizens trace their heritage. He is aware of the animus with which he is viewed there and that most of its leaders rooted for his defeat last year.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's visit this month sought to mend fences, but she did not apologize for U.S. policies that have driven a wedge in trans-Atlantic relations, nor did she suggest they would change.

Bush's refusal to bow to the European Union view that it is a countervailing force to the United States in world affairs to which he must cater, is at the root of the increasing disharmony between us and them.

Rosen: Ah, the ol' WMD canard

Political commentator Mike Rosen in the Rocky Mountain News online puts some truth behind the reasons for the Iraq War. Good to read the truth every now and then. Gets down to what was actually in the documentation. Not what the media or the political party says are the main points. A good read about the truth in government.//JW sends.

Egypt and reform

The Bush administration, like those before it, has to decide on how far it wants to go to advance the cause of reform in the region. The United States doles out $1.2 billion annually in foreign aid to Egypt (only Israel receives more), and it could use that money to extract a commitment to reforms. But despite his pledge to end tyranny in the world, Mr. Bush can't afford to lean too heavily on either of his two key allies in the Arab world. And he won't, despite Ms. Rice's "concerns." That's because of Egypt's role in helping resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: Mr. Mubarak hosted the recent summit in which the two announced a truce. Egypt also has mediated sessions with Palestinian militants and pledged to secure the Gaza border. In Iraq, use of Egyptian air space for American jets has been critical to the U.S. war effort.

If Mr. Bush is true to his vision of a new Middle East, democracy has to take root in Egypt, whose vast history and rich culture account for its role as the heart of the Arab world. But Egypt also is an important center of Islamic learning and is home to the Muslim Brotherhood, a political group responsible for terrorist attacks there. At 76, Mr. Mubarak has lived and governed through deadly times. It is highly unlikely that he on his own will seek political reforms that could threaten his continued rule or that of his preferred successor, his son. Economic reforms are more palatable to this autocrat, and at the very least, the White House must insist on those. Mr. Mubarak has been able to ignore U.S. calls for reform with his activities on the Israeli-Palestinian front.

Hockey Stick on Ice: What is the Real Science Behind Global Warming?

The WSJ looks at politicizing the science of global warming. We just want the facts.//JW sends

The Sun Sets on Tiny Town - Why would anyone want to move to Baltimore now?

RUSS SMITH in the WSJ is emabarrassed by the recent scrape between the Gov and the local paper, the Baltimore Sun. He should be embarrassed by the high murder rate, and the poor job of its mayor...Democrat Martin O'Malley.//JW sends.

At issue is Gov. Ehrlich's edict last November that no state employees talk to Sun reporter David Nitkin and columnist Michael Olesker, citing what he perceived as biased articles about his administration. The Sun's editor, Timothy Franklin, immediately seized the opportunity to wage war with Gov. Ehrlich, explaining in a Dec. 3 letter to readers that the newspaper was filing suit against the governor because of the "dangerous precedent for all citizens." Never mind that the two journalists continued to write about the governor, as did the Sun's battery of political reporters and editorialists. It was a matter of principle, Mr. Franklin said, an assault upon freedom of the press. More likely, in my view, it was a desperate plea for attention.

Not surprisingly, the Sun's ginned-up plight drew sympathy from liberal journalists and Democrats who reflexively blow out of proportion any imagined infringement of liberties by conservative politicians like Gov. Ehrlich and President Bush. Last month, for example, the New York Times entered the provincial fray, editorializing that the Sun was "obliged" to muck up the judicial calendar and protect the First Amendment.

Given the hysteria whipped up by the Sun's editorial staff, one might think that Gov. Ehrlich had actually closed the paper down, rather than exercise his prerogative to withhold comment from two Sun employees.

The City of Baltimore: A reputation not to die for

Killings: It's fact, not fiction. Baltimore has been gaining national attention with its growing murder rate. Instead of a new police commissioner every year or so...me thinks the city needs a new Mayor.//JW sends.

The Los Angeles Times - a Tribune Publishing newspaper, as we like to note here at The Sun - wrote that "Baltimore's narcotics dealers dispense crack and heroin like fast-food orders" and said, "Warring factions are killing rivals at a relentless clip."

The LAT called the city's nearly one-a-day homicide rate through the first five weeks of the year "harrowing" and said, "The revolving door at police headquarters on Fayette Street has complicated O'Malley's crime-fighting campaign, eroding officers' morale, deepening public cynicism and threatening to become a drag on the mayor's statewide political ambitions."

Then again, the story described the muscular mayor as "reed thin."

For good measure, The Boston Globe chimed in last week with a story on witness intimidation that recounted the firebombing of the house of a Harwood community leader in January and the arson fire that killed the Dawson family in Oliver in 2002.

Other cities are up in arms over homicide rates that Baltimore would envy.

I was in Philadelphia this month when The Philadelphia Inquirer ran a front-page story describing a decline in violence last year in Chicago as offering "lessons to teach that cities such as Philadelphia and Camden can learn."

And Philadelphia saw its homicide numbers decline last year, from 348 to 327. That's in a city with 1.48 million people, which works out to 22 killings for every 100,000 people.

Baltimore last year had 278 homicides in a city of 643,000 people, or 43 per 100,000 people, nearly twice the rate in Philadelphia.

Last month, I was in Dallas shortly after The Dallas Morning News ran a lengthy front-page analysis of what it called the city's "culture of murder." The story was followed by an editorial that declared, "It's action time." The city's police chief "must make an appreciable difference in Dallas' crime statistics," the editorial said. "Nothing less should be tolerated."

The 2004 homicide total that prompted the story was 248. That's in a city of 1.2 million people, or a rate of about 21 per 100,000 people, about half the rate in Baltimore.

Class-warfare death wish

Larry Kudlow looks at the DEMS continued attempt to wage class-warfare. They are ignoring party moderates like NM Gov Bill Richardson who have demonstrated fiscal success by keeping taxes low. Are the DEMS committing political suicide? Many think so...more to follow//JW sends.

Carrying the tired Kerry line were Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California, and former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina. They all repeated the chant of “tax cuts for the wealthy,” stating that the Bush tax cuts must be pulled back. This will sit well with Howard Dean, the duly-elected DNC chair whose anti-war presidential campaign platform also included a full rollback of the tax cuts. (Note, by the way, that Reid and Pelosi are minority leaders, as Republicans control both the Senate and the House. Note also that John Edwards is a former senator, as his Senate seat was taken over by Republican Richard Burr after his veep bid fell short.)

The only dissent from the DNC class-warfare position came from New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, a former Clinton Energy secretary and U.N. ambassador. Richardson believes in pro-growth fiscal policies and has cut income taxes and capital-gains taxes in his home state since becoming governor. But the Democrats are turning a deaf ear to Richardson and other party moderates. They prefer that the Democratic party remains the tax-increasing party.

Peggy Noonan: The Blogs Must Be Crazy

The Blogs Must Be Crazy...Or maybe the MSM is just suffering from freedom envy.

"Salivating morons." "Scalp hunters." "Moon howlers." "Trophy hunters." "Sons of Sen. McCarthy." "Rabid." "Blogswarm." "These pseudo-journalist lynch mob people."

This is excellent invective. It must come from bloggers. But wait, it was the mainstream media and their maidservants in the elite journalism reviews, and they were talking about bloggers!

Those MSMers have gone wild, I tell you! The tendentious language, the low insults. It's the Wild Wild West out there. We may have to consider legislation.

When you hear name-calling like what we've been hearing from the elite media this week, you know someone must be doing something right. The hysterical edge makes you wonder if writers for newspapers and magazines and professors in J-schools don't have a serious case of freedom envy.

The bloggers have that freedom. They have the still pent-up energy of a liberated citizenry, too. The MSM doesn't. It has lost its old monopoly on information. It is angry.

But MSM criticism of the blogosphere misses the point, or rather points.

Blogging changes how business is done in American journalism. The MSM isn't over. It just can no longer pose as if it is The Guardian of Established Truth. The MSM is just another player now. A big one, but a player.

Negroponte Tapped As Intelligence Chief

Iraq Election Results Certified

Remember When Democrats Advocated Protecting Social Security?

Did you know there once was a time when Democrats admitted they believed Social Security needed protection and reform? Of course, it's quite significant that, of the occasions they took to trumpet the need to fix the program, they were the loudest when they used Social Security reform to justify their strident opposition to President Bush's first tax relief package in the first few months of 2001.// All about politics rather than doing what is right//JW sends.

MD's Own 'Deep Throat': New riddle in O'Malley rumor saga

Question: A mysterious Web site visitor known as 'MD4BUSH' appears to have helped entice Steffen into spreading tales about the Baltimore mayor.

The Democratic 'Oreo Gang' rides yet again

Gregory Kane of the Baltimore Sun highlights another example of the double standards that Democrats seem to exemplify. A must read.//JW sends.

MARYLAND'S Democrats are railing and harrumphing and flailing their moral high horse with such vigor these days that the folks in PETA might bring them up on animal cruelty charges.

After Joseph F. Steffen Jr., who worked in Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.'s administration, got caught spreading e-mail rumors about some alleged affairs Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley was not having, Democrats are demanding investigations and apologies.

Those lovable, blessed Virgin Mary Dems -- so named because they figure they're without sin -- have even named the names of those they want to issue apologies. At the head of the list is Ehrlich.

So, the members of the Oreo Cookie Gang now have their underwear in a knot, do they?

You know who the members of the Oreo Cookie Gang are: Maryland's Democrats, the same ones who either:

a.) Brandished Oreo cookies at a gubernatorial debate at Morgan State University between then-candidates Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. and Kathleen Kennedy Townsend in 2002 or:

b.) Haven't uttered so much as a syllable condemning the despicable act.

Well, when it comes to apologies, let's take care of first things first, shall we?

If Democrats are really serious about apologies, then each and every single one of them should line up to apologize to Lt. Gov. Michael Steele for that Oreo cookie business.