In order to avoid offensing disabled people, the musical play version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame is being changed to The Bellringer of Notredame. No, I'm not kidding.

Mars needs liberals. Now it is entertaining to find someone on the left who actually approves of space settlements. And the idea of trying out liberal ideas at a Martian settlement is interesting, to say the least. Will political correctness mix with the pioneer spirit? That's an experiment I'd love to see tried.

More news on the shuttle problems. Reading between the lines, it looks like NASA is looking at repair options and will try to avoid replacing the linings entirely if at all possible.

There's an unconfirmed story that should the cracked linings in the fuel lines of the space shuttle orbiters have to be replaced, much of the shuttle fleet may be grounded for two to three years. That's because the tooling to make the linings no longer exist and will have to be recreated..

More on this as more concrete information is known.

The Supreme Court's approval of vouchers is as history making in its own way as Brown vrs Board of Education. At long last, poor students will be able to opt out of failing public schools and go to private schools (even religious ones) instead. This will not, as opponents fear, mean the death of the public school system. This will force public schools to reform themselves.

Rand Simberg points out that the recent grounding of the space shuttle fleet is a reminder of the folly of relying on a single, government run vehicle for all of our human space flight needs. Despite the fact that it was a good idea at the time, the space shuttle program was set up to fail from the beginning. Why? you ask. Well, for two reasons. One, not enough resources were spent in the development phase to make the vehicle totally resuable. Two, it was an all things for all people vehicle built and run by the government.

Imagine if we had approached air travel that way? The thought just sends shivers up the spine.

James Higgens tells us that the Martha Stewert/ImClone scandal is the result of Corporate-Clintonism.

Indeed. Back when Slick Willy was getting away with lying and cheating, some of us were sadly pointing out what a bad example the former POTUS was making. Now from seventh graders having oral sex-and claiming that it isn't really sex-to corporate sharks shading their books, we have reaped what we have sown. Once again there are fortunately adults now in Washington to clean up the mess.

Ann Coulter rolled out her new book Slander: Liberal Lies about the American Right yesterday on just about every TV show I saw. As a constant victim of liberal smears, I find the book long overdue.

Unfortunately, I wasn't very impressed by Ann's various appearences. On one program, when challenged by the host for specific examples for some of her assertions, Ms. Coulter was unprepared. On another program, she complained constantly about being paired with a liberal guest and with questions about current events (the Pledge of Allegance ruling.)

Now I know that producers are not at this time beating down the door to get me to hawk Children of Apollo, but I think that even I could have done a better job. For instance, if asked to back up my assertion that liberals by and large tend to oppose space exploration, I would have a couple of quotes available. My favorite is one by Walter Mondale from 1970 in which he manages to mention every liberal enthusiasm (education, environment, housing, and so on) to express his opposition to the idea of a space station.

And if someone paired me with-say-Robert Park, I would relish the opportunity. ("Tell a real field scientist-say a geologist-that he should just stay home and watch rock formations on TV and he would laugh at you." or perhaps "What in heaven's name is wrong with outerspace bungee jumping? Sounds like fun to me.)

And if asked about-say-the current grounding of the space shuttle fleet, I respond, "As I suggest in my book, Children of Apollo---" and go from there.)

The trick, I'm told, is to get your face on TV, keep mentioning the name of your book, and try not to look like a fool. One would have thought Ann Coulter would have known this by now.

Now environmentalists are mad at Gray Davis. Why? you ask. Well, they claim that he's been bought off by the polluting industries.

The Senate voted to restore funding for missile defense which Carl Levin wanted to cut. It just goes to show that a kind word and a veto threat goes farther than just a kind word.

Here's an interesting discussion on the state of missile defense in this post ABM Treaty era.

The 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals has just ruled the Pledge of Allegance unconstitutional. Yes, that's right, it did. They did so because it mentions "one nation under God."

This idiocy is one reason why the Republicans should recapture the Senate this year. Democrats have been holding up President Bush's conservative judicial nominees, who would presumably not rule in such a way, in an effort to keep the court system as liberal and as politically correct as possible.

Apparently Rosie O'Donnell is now a a Clinton Hater. Welcome to the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy, Rosie.

Senator Max Baucus (D) Montana seems to be schoozing more with the Hollywood Left than with his own constituants. This may cost him.

Members of Congress of both parties are not amused by the investigation of the 4-H Club. The Ag Department should drio this silliness.

Bush's Agriculture Department is getting ready to embaress itself with a descent into political correctness. It is about to investigate the 4-H Club for civil rights violations. The crime? Using American Indian names and symbols.

Arnold Beichman wants to nominate President Bush for a Nobel Peace Prize for stopping a nuclear war between India and Pakistan. That would be wonderful, if only to see the look on Bill Clinton's face if Dubya were to win. Clinton actively campaigned for a Peace Prize, thinking he deserved one for his failed efforts in the Middle East.

White people in Zimbabwe are now forbidden to farm. But doing this, Zimbabwe may have consigned many of its citizens to slow death by starvation.

Gray Davis's main political advisor makes James Carville seem-well-sane. His behavior may help his boss into premature retirement this November.

Amtrak may soon consist of a single line linking Boston, New York, and Washington DC. And about time too.