Visit the Children of Apollo Store for products bearing the front cover image of Mark Whittington's epic novel; an Apollo-Saturn rocket blasting off for the Moon

John McCain as a Democrat? Even more amusing, as their candidate for President in 2004?

There are many problems with this. The primary one is that Bush beat McCain the first time and would likely do so again. But the idea that McCain's name is being floated at all illustrates the desperation which has now seized the Democrat Party.

I'm proud and pleased to announce the publication of Children of Apollo.

Children of Apollo is an alternate history novel set in a world in which the Apollo program was not cancelled in 1972, but continued into the mid 1970s. It is a story of high adventure and low intrigue with, I think, enough twists and turns to satisfy even the most discriminating reader.

The American street shows its disgust for Palestinian terrorism. As usual, the media doesn't get it.

Go read the Devil's Dictionary for our times.

George W. Bush as James T.Kirk. Now it is all clear to me.

Chris Caldwell writes about the Elian coverup first broken by Rand Simberg and reported later in the Miami Herald.

NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe has presented his "vision of the future." One statement stands out:

We have sought life's abodes: NASA missions have mapped continents on dozens of planets circling nearby stars, some of which show signs of life-supporting atmospheres. Evidence continues to mount for other origins of life on planets within our own Solar System, as revealed by advanced generations of robotic explorers. Humans and their robotic partners assembled complex science facilities in space to unveil even more challenging cosmic questions.

We understand our home: NASA's missions revealed the complex interactions among the Earth's major systems, vastly improving weather, climate, earthquake, and volcanic eruption forecasting — and the impact that our Sun has on our living world.

We have connected the world's citizens: NASA's technologies have resulted in dramatic improvements in air transportation via "green" aircraft, higher-speed international travel, and innovative measures to reduce aircraft accidents and delays.

We have enabled new commerce: Low Earth Orbit has become a rapid-growth economic zone, with commercial industries taking advantage of low-gravity, abundant solar energy, lower-cost access from the Earth's surface, and a vista that encompasses the entire planet.

We share the vision and the experience: Throughout the world, students in earthbound classrooms are learning the fundamentals of physics, math, and technology as they actively participate with space travelers via "telepresence technology."

And we continue to prepare the way for humanity's greatest adventures.

It's a very interesting vision and a great improvement over that previously contemplated. It implies a lot of things which space adocates have been pushing for for some time. It does, however, lack specifics and could use some fleshing out. For instance, it suggests robust, commercial activity in Low Earth Orbit. But most visions of that sort of thing include access to resources on the Moon and/or asteroids. Yet there's no mention of commercial development beyond LEO, just science facilities. And there are no specifics about human exploration/settlement beyond LEO and very little of the same within.

Still, a good B + effort, in my opinion, which should be fleshed out over time.

Senator Patrick Leahy has killed a bill which would have bestowed the Medal of Valor on public safety workers who perished during 9/11. The New York Post is not pleased.

Indeed, it's happening even in California.

Meanwhile the pogrom against Jews in France continues is a daily spectacle not seen since the 1930s.

The madcap Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney is pretty sure that the Bush Administration knew about 9/11 before it happened. Seriously.

Speaking of having brass, the International Criminal Court has come into existence. The ICC is essentially a permenent war crimes tribunal. It is also, apparently, a vehicle for politically correct mischief. Some people in the Arab world and Europe are proposing that Jewish leaders be dragged before this court to punish them for fighting Palestinian terror.

President Bill Clinton signed the treaty which brought the ICC into existence. The US Senate never ratified the treaty, foreseeing just the sort of nonsense happening which is now happening. President Bush is considering wuthdrawing that signature. He should do so immediately and, furthermore, call for the ICC's abolishment.

Arafat shows that he still has brass, accusing the Israelis are attacking Christian Churches. Who, after all, are hiding behind priests and nuns in the Church of the Holy Nativity?

Fox News is reporting that the PLO is being booted from its offices in Washington DC for non payment of rent. The PLO Representative is blaming it all on pro Israel bias.

Nice try. If the PLO were to spend more money meeting its obligations and less on teaching kids to blow themselves up, these sort of things wouldn't happen.

Marcus Lindroos claims that Daschle is actually right:

The answer is: twice. Clementine and Lunar Surveyor.

Well, nice try, but no. Clementine and (I think he meant Lunar Prospector) were robots. No one, after all (except maybe Robert Park) claims that "We have been to Mars." because robots have landed there. "We" refers to human beings.

The Washington Times is reporting the following about Tom Daschle:

Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, searching for the right words to express his disappointment that Congress hasn't raised fuel-efficiency standards for vehicles sold in the United States in the last 15 years, stumbled into the wrong words.
"It's unacceptable that we haven't changed fleet mileage averages in 15 years in this country. How many times have we gone to the moon in the last 15 years?" Mr. Daschle wondered to reporters at a briefing yesterday.
Unfortunately for the senator, the last time humans were on the moon was Dec. 14, 1972, when two Apollo 17 astronauts returned to the orbiting command module.
Maybe news just travels slower in Mr. Daschle's home state of South Dakota.
"Hopefully, Sen. Daschle will work with President Nixon to beat those darn Soviet cosmonauts, who continue to hold that '17 days in space' record, and we must get out of Vietnam," said one Republican Senate leadership aide.
Mr. Daschle's knowledge of history didn't get any better as he continued with his "15 years of inaction" theme.
"You know, we've developed the computer and the Internet in the last 15 years," he said.
But the earliest machines with all the characteristics of computers were designed and tested in the 1940s and the first home computers appeared in 1977 with Radio Shack's TRS-80, the Apple II and the Commodore PET.
As for the Internet, Mr. Daschle's claim may have some merit, since Al Gore never told us exactly when he invented it. But purists would point out that the concept of the Internet is based on ARPANET, a 1970s-era project designed to create a computer infrastructure that could connect diverse computers.

Words fail me.

Meanwhile, support for terrorism and even virulent antisemitism has oozed up in those cess pools of political correctness, American college campuses.

Sixty years after Europe, then under the rule of one Adolf Hitler, tried to put an end to the Jewish people, the European Parliement votes to side with the people who want to finish the job. In my humble opinion, Europeans should lower their heads in shame.

The Franklin Society is posting an online petition to oppose a ban on therapeutic cloning. This is, alas, one issue upon which President Bush is mistaken.

Rand Simberg is posting the news that it is about to be revealed that Juan Gonzales, Elian's dad, requested asylum in the United States when he was over here to get his son and was denied by Janet Reno. If this is true, I hope that there is some way that woman can be indicted. At the very least, the Gonzales family should sue for civil rights violations.

An appreciation of George Mason, the founding father who opposed the Constitution and was the moving force behind the Bill of Rights. He's getting a monument in Washington, remarkable in these PC days for a Dead White Male.

Mason is also the direct ancestor of the Curmudegon's lovely and talented wife.

Shocking news. It seems that the rich in America are paying a higher and higher percentage of taxes. Meanwhile the poor are increasingly not paying any taxes.

Heavens, and to think Daschele and Gephardt keeptelling us that Bush favors the rich.

Terry Eastland asks the question: can a people so inlove with death that they worship martyrdom and approve of suicide bombing actually run a functioning state?

Sadly, I think the answer is no. But the West Bank is too large to turn into one, big insane asylum.

The superb Jonah Goldberg imagines the War on Terror as a big budget, action movie. Along the way he manages to zing all of the Eurotrash fellow traverlers and useful idiots for Palestinian terrorism.

Looks like Sharon is about to throw Dubya a bone by pulling out troops from a couple of West Bank towns where they've completed their operation. I suspect Sharon will not get any credit for this either from the Palestinians, or their Arab supporters, or the fellow travelers and useful idiots for terror in Europe and the US State Department. But maybe Bush will see this as a face saving way to allow himself to stop leaning on the Israelis to "give peace" with psychotic murderers "a chance."

I just had a conversation the implications of which should disturb.

Q. How is it that we can bomb the Hell out of terrorists, but the Israelis have to stop and withdraw just because the Great White Father in Washington says so?

A. Surely you don't think the Administration is serious? They can't be that stupid. No, this is a show to appease the Arabs and their fellow travelers in Europe?

Q. Isn't that the sort of game Clinton used to play?

A. Yeah, but Clinton lied and dissembled to save his own butt. This Administration is doing that for reasons of statecraft.

Q. But that still doesn't look very good. After all, given that scenario, how are we supposed to know when they're being serious and when they're not?

Unfortunately the Curmudgeon had no answer for that. It's a horrible place the Administration has placed its supporters. We either have to believe that they are hypocrits and appeasers or liars and dissemblers. Damn.

Even though certain members of the Nobel committee don't seem to think so, many ordinary people are signing an online petition to revoke Yassir Arafat's Nobel Peace Prize.

John Podhoretz agrees with me that part of Powell's job in the Middle East will be to manage Arafat's surrender and his replacement with "responsible" Palestinian leaders.

Here's the text of Bush's announcement of his intent to send Secretary of State Powell to the Middle East, along with my piffy commentary:

Good morning.

During the course of one week, the situation in the Middle East has deteriorated dramatically. Last Wednesday, my special envoy, Anthony Zinni, reported to me that we were on the verge of a cease-fire agreement that would have spared Palestinian and Israeli lives. That hope fell away when a terrorist attacked a group of innocent people at a Netanya hotel, killing many men and women in what is a mounting toll of terror.

In the days since, the world has watched with growing concern the horror of bombings and burials and the stark picture of tanks in the street. Across the world, people are grieving for Israelis and Palestinians who have lost their lives.

When an 18-year-old Palestinian girl is induced to blow herself up, and in the process kills a 17-year-old Israeli girl, the future itself is dying, the future of the Palestinian people and the future of the Israeli people.

We mourn the dead, and we mourn the damage done to the hope of peace, the hope of Israelis and the Israelis' desire for a Jewish state at peace with its neighbors. The hope of the Palestinian people to build their own independence state.

Terror must be stopped. No nation can negotiate with terrorists, for there is no way to make peace with those whose only goal is death.

Good so far.

This could be a hopeful moment in the Middle East. The proposal of Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, supported by the Arab League, has put a number of countries in the Arab world closer than ever to recognizing Israel's right to exist.

Closer and actually being there is a rather wide gap.

The United States is on record supporting the legitimate aspirations of the Palestinian people for a Palestinian state. Israel has recognized the goal of a Palestinian state.

The outlines of a just settlement are clear: two states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace and security. This can be a time for hope, but it calls for leadership, not for terror.

Since Sept. 11 I've delivered this message: Everyone must choose. You're either with the civilized world or you're with the terrorists. All in the Middle East also must choose and must move decisively in word and deed against terrorist acts.

The chairman of the Palestinian Authority has not consistently opposed or confronted terrorists.

That's putting it mildly. Arafat has conducted the terrorism. He's a terrorist. Israel has documented proof from Arafat's own financial records.

At Oslo and elsewhere, Chairman Arafat renounced terror as an instrument of his cause, and he agreed to control it. He's not done so.

The situation in which he finds himself today is largely of his own making. He's missed his opportunities and thereby betrayed the hopes of the people he's supposed to lead.

Given his failure, the Israel government feels it must strike at terrorist networks that are killing its citizens. Yet, Israel must understand that its response to these recent attacks is only a temporary measure. All parties have their own responsibilities, and all parties owe it to their own people to act.

We all know today's situation runs the risk of aggravating long-term bitterness and undermining relationships that are critical to any hope of peace.

I call on the Palestinian people and the Palestinian Authority and our friends in the Arab world to join us in delivering a clear message to terrorists: Blowing yourself up does not help the Palestinian cause. To the contrary, suicide-bombing missions could well blow up the best and only hope for a Palestinian state.

All states must keep their promise, made in a vote in the United Nations, to actively oppose terror in all its forms. No nation can pick and choose its terrorist friends.

I call on the Palestinian Authority and all governments in the region to do everything in their power to stop terrorist activities, to disrupt terrorist financing, and to stop inciting violence by glorifying terror in state-owned media or telling suicide bombers they are martyrs.

They're not martyrs. They're murderers. And they undermine the cause of the Palestinian people.

Those governments, like Iraq, that reward parents for the sacrifice of their children are guilty of soliciting murder of the worst kind.

All who care about the Palestinian people should join in condemning and acting against groups like Al-Aqsa, Hezbollah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and all groups which oppose the peace process and seek the destruction of Israel.

Or else what? We'll continue to admonish them severely?

The recent Arab League support of Crown Prince Abdullah's initiative for peace is promising, is hopeful because it acknowledges Israel's right to exist. And it raises the hope of sustained, constructive Arab involvement in the search for peace.

This builds on a tradition of visionary leadership begun by President Sadat and King Hussein and carried forward by President Mubarak and King Abdullah. Now other Arab states must rise to this occasion and accept Israel as a nation and as a neighbor.

So when is His Majesty the King of the House of Saud going to Jerusalem if he is the new Sadat?

Peace with Israel is the only avenue to prosperity and success for a new Palestinian state. The Palestinian people deserve peace and an opportunity to better their lives.

They need their closest neighbor, Israel, to be an economic partner, not a mortal enemy. They deserve a government that respects human rights and a government that focuses on their needs, education and health care, rather than feeding their resentments.

Rational people would recognize this already. But the Palestinians have never behaved rationally

It is not enough for Arab nations to defend the Palestinian cause. They must truly help the Palestinian people by seeking peace and fighting terror and promoting development.

You mean spend money to help build roads and sewers and what not instead of terrorists?

Israel faces hard choices of its own. Its government has supported the creation of a Palestinian state that is not a haven for terrorism. Yet, Israel also must recognize that such a state needs to be politically and economically viable.


Consistent with the Mitchell plan, Israeli settlement activity in occupied territories must stop, and the occupation must end through withdrawal to secure and recognize boundaries consistent with United Nations Resolutions 242 and 338. Ultimately, this approach should be the basis of agreements between Israel and Syria and Israel and Lebanon.

That's not exactly consistant with King Abdallah's plan which calls for withdraw from all the territories, regardless of whether the borders are secure or not.

Israel should also show a respect--a respect for and concern about the dignity of the Palestinian people who are and will be their neighbors. It is crucial to distinguish between the terrorists and ordinary Palestinians seeking to provide for their own families. The Israeli government should be compassionate at checkpoints and border crossings, sparing innocent Palestinians daily humiliation.


Israel should take immediate action to ease closures and allow peaceful people to go back to work.

But how to distinquish between the peaceful Palestinian and the not so peaceful? I'm not sure there are that many of the latter.

Israel is facing a terrible and serious challenge. For seven days, it has acted to rout out terrorists' nests. America recognizes Israel's right to defend itself from terror.


Yet, to lay the foundations of future peace, I ask Israel to halt incursions into Palestinian-controlled areas and begin the withdrawal from those cities it has recently occupied.

This is going to stick in the craw of a lot of people. But notice, there's no timetable or deadline for doing this. This is a hint that Israel will have time to finish the job she has started before complying.

I speak as a committed friend of Israel. I speak out of a concern for its long-term security, the security that will come with a genuine peace.


As Israel steps back, responsible Palestinian leaders and Israel's Arab neighbors must step forward and show the world that they are truly on the side of peace. The choice and the burden will be theirs.

Hmm. Is that a hint that Arafat has not been "responsible" and needs to be replaced? Could be. I wonder what Zinni will be telling him later today.

The world expects an immediate cease-fire, immediate resumption of security cooperation with Israel against terrorism, and an immediate order to crack down on terrorist networks. I expect better leadership, and I expect results.

Or else what? Again the weak part of this announcement is that Bush hasn't laid out the consequences for failure on the part of the Palestinians and their Arab bretheran to comply.

These are the elements of peace in the Middle East, and now we must build the road to those goals. Decades of bitter experience teach a clear lesson: Progress is impossible when nations emphasize their grievances and ignore their opportunities. The storms of violence cannot go on. Enough is enough.


And to those who would try to use the current crisis as an opportunity to widen the conflict, stay out. Iran's arms shipments and support for terror fuel the fire of conflict in the Middle East, and it must stop. Syria has spoken out against al Qaeda. We expect it to act against Hamas and Hezbollah, as well.


It's time for Iran to focus on meeting its own people's aspirations for freedom and for Syria to decide which side of the war against terror it is on.

Again, or else what?

The world finds itself at a critical moment. This is a conflict that can widen or an opportunity we can seize.


And so, I've decided to send Secretary of State Powell to the region next week, to seek broad international support for the vision I've outlayed today.


As a step in this process, he will work to implement United Nations Resolution 1402--an immediate and meaningful cease-fire, an end to terror and violence and incitement; withdrawal of Israel troops from Palestinian cities, including Ramallah; implementation of the already-agreed-upon Tenet and Mitchell plans, which will lead to a political settlement.

Notice that Powell isn't going over there immediately.

I have no illusions--we have no illusions--about the difficulty of the issues that lay ahead. Yet our nation's resolve is strong. America is committed to ending this conflict and beginning an era of peace.


We know this is possible, because in our lifetimes, we have seen an end to conflicts that no one thought could end. We've seen fierce enemies let go of long histories of strife and anger. America itself counts former adversaries as trusted friends--Germany and Japan and now Russia.


Conflict is not inevitable. Distrust need not be permanent. Peace is possible when we break free of old patterns and habits of hatred.


The violence and grief that trouble the holy land have been among the great tragedies of our time. The Middle East has often been left behind in the political and economic advancement of the world. That is the history of the region, but it need not--and must not--be its fate.


The Middle East could write a new story of trade and development and democracy. And we stand ready to help.


Yet this progress can only come in an atmosphere of peace. And the United States will work for all the children of Abraham to know the benefits of peace.


Thank you very much.

Oh, I do pray Dubya knows what he's doing. A lot of people will think he's caving, but there's a lot more verbage admonishing the Palestinians than there is giving the Israelis their marching orders. My hope is that Powell's main task over there will be to manage Arafat's surrender and subsequent departure.

One of the big lies in the media is that in the end we have to deal with Yassir Arafat because there's no one else. But actually there are a lot of candidates waiting in the wings to replace him as Supreme Leader of the Palestinians. And most of them seem more reasonable and willing to deal.

George Will, as usual, cuts through the BS and provides a neat historic contex for the current mess in the Middle East.

I particularly love his suggestion of exiling Arafat to France. If we decide not to send Arafat up the tall ladder and down the short rope, then France is just the place for him. In my opinion he and the Froggies deserve each other.

Looks like the Israelis have gotten documented proof that Arafat is behind the terrorism.

I say, the hell with exiling him. Israel should capture Arafat and place him on trial for crimes against humanity.

More proof, as if any were needed, that Bill Clinton is the American most responsible for the attack on 9/11.

Here's some news for April 1, 2002.

Jerusalem. The stand off in Ramallah came to a bizzare end today when, in the early morning hours, Yassir Arafat suddenly burst from his hiding place and started running toward Israeli positions with a bomb strapped to his waist. Yelling, "Hello, Allah, here I come!" He got about twenty yards before he tripped and fell, detonating the bomb before the shocked Israeli soldiers. Twelve people were killed and about twenty wounded, including a number of European peace activists who were attempting to form a human shield around the Palestinian leader as he charged Israeli positions. There were no Israeli casulaties.

Washington. Senator John McCain has announced plans to push for "Campaign Finance Reform Phase Two." Under the provisions of his proposed bill, it would become illegal to spend money, hard, soft, or in between to criticize a United States Senator within 365 days of an election or primary. "Now is the time to get both money and controversy out of politics," Senator McCain said as he played with a handfull of steel balls.

Bakersfield. The latest Osama Bin Laden sighting was reported at a convenience store just outside of Bakersfield, California. FBI sources refuse to comment.

Des Moines. Senator Tom Daschele, speaking before a Demcratic audience, continued his quest for an issue to attack President George W. Bush on. He criticized the President's preference for "expense, silk ties" which "obviously represents a bias toward the rich." Daschele also suggested that the President was against public health, as he probibly opposed federal sin taxes on barbeque and TexMex food.

Hollywood. The film rights to Children of Apollo by Mark Whittington has been sold for an undisclosed sum. Ron Howard is slated to direct after he finishes his Alamo project. Tom Hanks, Denzel Washington, and Julia Roberts will star. Budget is set at nearly three hundred million dollars.

A California State Senator wants to slap a tax on bullets to pay for hospital trauma centers. This idea is not quite as evil as it sounds. If passed, such a tax would be an incentive to lift bans on semi-automatic and automatic weapons. The more rounds a gun owner is allow to expend while shooting a deer or an intruder. the more tax the State collects.

Mayor Curtis Milteer of Suffolk, Virginia is the great grandson of slaves. Yet he believes so much in embracing and understanding history, that he has signed a proclamation to declare April Confederate History Month.

Naturally the NAACP is very annoyed.

Is NASA about to find a way to defy gravity? Read the article and then decide for yourself.

Mr.Clinton is unrepentant about his many sins and crimes. In fact, like most teenage boys caught being naughty (even when the teenager is in his fifties), he blames most of his troubles on others. That being the vast right wing conspiracy. Even so, since he seems to be raking in ten mil or so a year from speaking fees, he is proving that sometimes crime does pay.

The sad bit is that Newsweek reporter Jonathon Alter is doing the equivilent of walking and chewing gum at the same time, when he criticizes Clinton while sucking up to him.

Palestinians are complaining that Israelis are using captured televsion broadcast facilities to broadcast porn to West Bank TV viewers.

Obviously an evil Israeli plot to get the Palestinians to make love, not war.

This would be the news if we were to treat Palestinian terrorists the same way we treat Al Qaeda:

Tel Aviv 28 March, 2002. A new front in the war on terror was opened up as the United States and Israel launched strikes at terrorist targets throughout the Middle East.

Israeli troops entered several West Bank towns and it is reported that Yassir Arafat and several of his top aids have been taken into custedy.Israeli Prime Minister Sharon vows that the Palestinian leader will be put on trial for "crimes against humanity going back over thirty years." Street fighting is reported to be occuring in several West Bank towns as Palestinian gunmen vainly try to stop Israeli mechanized formations.

American B-52 and B-2 stealth bombers, as well as carrier based planes from the 6th Fleet, have launched massive strikes against terrorist camps in Lebenon and Syrian army formations facing the Golan Heights. Israeli armored units are reported to already be deep inside Lebenon and Syria, which were recently added to the "Axis of Evil" by US President GW Bush. The goal seems to not only to destroy terrorist infrastructure in the West Bank and Lebenon, but to effect a regime change in Syria.

European and Arab leaders have roundly condemned the new action and have called for a cease fire.

As of this writing, Yassir Arafat is caged up in a couple of rooms at his headquarters, while the Israeli Army makes free in his compound, arresting his henchmen, and making away with the contents of weapons' caches and-no doubt-filing cabinets and computer hard drives. The Israelis have cut off his power and water, which raises an interesting possibility. A person cannot survive without water for more than about two or three days. Even if Arafat has the strength of will to try to become a martyre via dehydration, the Israelis can simply break in and carry him off on the pretext of saving his life, which they have pledged to do.

Then, maybe, a fast trip out of the region to some place more suitable. I would suggest the tribal areas of Pakistan where the remaints of the Al Qaeda are skulking. It would be just the place for that horrible little man to spend his last days.

One of NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe's more visionary projects is to develop technologies to use nuclear power to conquer distances in space and reach destinations in the Solar System (like Mars) quicker. He might want to read a new book about a very old project which used atomic explosives to propel huge space craft at speeds which would bring them to most places in the Solar System in weeks (or Mars in days).
The book is called Project Orion: The True Story of the Atomic Space Ship by George Dyson.

Under a NASA grant, a bioengineer has grown fish flesh in the lab. So far it's gold fish, so it's hardly appetizing, but there seems to be no reason why we can't also grow trout, salmon, and even-eventually-chicken, lamb, or beef.

Aside from the obvious benifits for space settlements, such lab grown flesh has a lot of implications. Will vegetarians (those who are for ethical rather than health purposes) have to rethink their adversion to such food now that it might nit involve the killing of animals? Will PETA lose an issue?

I'm also reminded of an Arthur C. Clarke story about a particular kind of delicacy which becomes available with such technology. You know what I mean. The one that's Hannibal Lecter's favorite.

With that in mind, I predict calls for the banning/heavy regulation of this technology real soon.

With almost exquisit timing, Arafat is now hinting that he's ready for a cease fire.

Right. Fortunately the Bush Administration doesn't seem to be buying. And as for the Israelis, they're getting ready for their response by calling up reserves.

Ellen Goodman is shocked that Hollywood movies often fudge about history. She points at A Beautiful Mind, which left out some of the more unsavory aspects of John Nash's life, as an example.

I have news for Ms. Goodman. Hollywood has rarely if ever got history right. Braveheart, for example, had William Wallace impregnating the Princess of Wales with the future King Edward III, even though Edward was born nine years after Wallace has drawn and quartered.

One wonders if Ms. Goodman was as irate about Oliver Stone's various massacres of history, in particular JFK?

Just when you though Palestinian barbarism couldn't be topped, now comes the fellow who blew himself up and nineteen (at last count) Jews who had sat down for a Passover Seder.

I've said it before, but it bears repeating. It's time for the Israelis to go through the West Bank and Gaza like Sherman through Georgia. Since the Palestinians don't want to negotiate peace, it's time that peace be imposed. And I'm increasingly of the opinion it should be a Roman peace (i.e., make a desert and call it peace.)

The Arab Summit seems to be descending into chaos. The Lebenese hosts (probably on orders from the Syrians) refused to allow Arafat to address the Summit via live sattelite hookup. Why?

"Lebanese officials also said there was concern that Israel could interfere with a live satellite hookup, and might use it to beam Sharon into the conference hall."

I'm not sure whether that means Sharon's image via television or whether they think Israel has a Star Trek style transporter.

A reader named Sara Callaman takes me to task for siding with the Israelis:

lawks a day, you yanks ! How come the rest of the world can see how pushy and aggressive america is being towards Palestine, and what double standards the government is using against 'terrorists' who they were sponsering five minutes ago!

How can Jews go to Palestine and try to shove out the people who live there, when they above many, should know what it is like to be persecuted for no reason except your race/ creed- whatever.

Finally, it does no good fighting everyone- it's like a school yard- soon everyone in the yard wil be fed up of old bossy boots, who wants to run everything! Such a sophoisticated (?) country should be able to think of more adult ways of negotiation and diplomacy to sort problems out!

Finally II As I understand it, there are plenty of Israelis and Palestinians living happily side by side- being treated together in hospital(s) so maybe the politicians need to look at themselves.

Sara

I assume Sara comes from some country in the British Commonwealth, which certainly was never "pushy and aggressive" toward anyone.

The farcical Arab Summit opened in Beruit with an endorsement of the fraudulent Saudi "peace" proposal. It also opened without the President of Egypt, the King of Jordan, or Yassir Arafat. Arafat was not able to attend because he could not bring himself to stop killing women and children and to publicly promise to stop doing that.

Forget about tweaking rockets to get Cheap Access to Space. There is a group of engineers and businessmen who think that a space elevator is doable in about ten to fifteen years for less than ten billion dollars.

Current House Majority Whip and future House Majority Leader Tom Delay has spoken out on the general malaise afflicting the US civil space program.

Here's a suggestion, Tom, for doing something about it. Use your influence to get a little bit of money added to NASA's budget to develop technologies for sending and sustaining people beyond Low Earth Orbit. It doesn't have to be a lot of money, but it would set down a marker and set the stage for a Presidential decision in-say-2004 when O'Keefe has gotten NASA's finances in order.

Some sharp eyed astronomers have gone over maps of the lunar surface created by the Clementine mission and have concluded that Malapert Mountain, overlooking the ice fields at the Lunar South Pole. Read the article and then ask yourself: Why aren't we assembling the first expedition to there?

George Will gives the Bush Administration the back of his hand for applying a double standard to Israel. We're in effect asking the Israelis to appease terrorists, while we hunt down other terrorists and kill them.

I know why Bush is doing this. He wants to keep the Arabs quiet so that we can go after Saddem. But this strategery is only delaying the inevitable. At some point, Israel will have to take Arafat and his absurd terrorist kingdom out. Better, in my view, that it be sooner than later. Let the Arabs howl all they want. If we show strength, there is nothing they can do about it.

A reader named Randolph Addison has some interesting thoughts on the best actor/best actress Oscars:

The saddest part of the Oscars and Halle Berry/Denzel winning is that they (Hollywood producers and actors) will pat themselves on the back as though they are pushing the envelope of acceptance for blacks--"Look at us, we're special. We gave, oops, we awarded a black person." So, did they earn the awards or were they given the awards? It is an ugly question but it must be asked after the gaudy acceptance speech by Halle. She should have said something simple about blacks but spent the majority of her speech on her acting skills and her future prospects (or something along those lines)--that's what Oscars are about, right?

Lest Hollywood forget that the American public goes to the movies and makes them wealthy; thusly, it is the American people who pay money to go see movies (with blacks in lead rolls) and have long crossed the hurdle of stereotypes and subtle or implied racism.

It simply saddens me that someone could receive an award and seem to wholly believe that the award was for being a little melanin-rich and not for acting ability...

Never let it be said that even the worst catastrophe does not contain within it certain opportunities. It looks like Playboy is looking for candidates for the Women of Enron spread.

Even though the Enron scandal is old news, a reader suggests thjat we still need to pay attention to it. That is to say, the real scandal:

Certainly there is a political dimension here.
Enron's chairman did meet with the president and the vice president in the Oval Office.

Enron gave $420,000 to the president's party over three years.
Enron donated $100,000 to the president's inauguration festivities!
The Enron chairman stayed at the White House 11times.

The corporation had access to the administration at its highest levels and even enlisted the Commerce and State Departments to grease deals for it.

The taxpayer-supported Export-Import Bank subsidized Enron for more than $600 million in just one transaction.

BUT...the president under whom all this happened wasn't George W. Bush.

It was Bill Clinton.

Congratulations to Hallie Berry and Denzel Washington for their Oscars. However, is it not remarkable that "progressive" Hollywood finds itself, in the year 2002, congratulating itself for giving the first Best Actress Award to a black American ever and the first Best Actor Award to a black American since Sydney Portier in 1964?

Some day, Tinseltown may catch up with the rest of the country in recognizing the accomplishments of blacks on a regular basis.

Tom Clancy's new Jack Ryan novel, Red Rabbit will be out in August. This time, the story does not take place during the fictional Presidency of Jack Ryan. Instead, Clancy will take us back to those wonderful days of yesteryear during the Cold War when President Reagan was busy bringing about the downfall of the Soviet Empire. In a story which takes place after Patriot Games but before Hunt for Red October, young CIA analyst Jack Ryan must prevent the assassination of His Holiness John Paul II.

A web site about the science and art of Solar Sailing has crossed my notice. Check it out if you're interested in this unique method of space travel.

Last night we saw the 20th Anniversary edition of ET: The Extraterrestrial. The first thought which occured to me was what primative lives we endured back then. We had no CD players, no DVD, no home computers. Just broadcast TV and that absurd, clunky analog record player which was so prominent in Elliot's room.

And then of course there was how twenty years of popular culture have changed our additudes. Twenty years which have included fare such as the X Files (not to mention Waco and Ruby Ridge) have rendered those evil government agents which frightened us so much back then somewhat less than scary now. We know what real evil, government agents are capable of and those clowns weren't them.
Now if Speilberg had digitally inserted the Cigarette Smoking Man from the X-Files, instead of digitally removing their guns, things would be different.

But another thing, so far not mentioned in other media, is the famous OR scene, where the scary doctors are working over ET while Elliot is screaming, "Stop! You're killing him! YOU'RE KILLING HIM!" Back them most of us remember being frightened and scared along with Elliot. But now, after watching a lot of episodes of ER, we all had a vaugue understanding of the medical jargon the doctors were using. They weren't trying to kill ET. They were trying to help. Yep, blood gasses look bad. Need to start defibing. And for God's sake, someone take that hysterical kid out of here.

Nope, I guess you can't go home again.

One interesting result of the passage of CFR is that it seems to have brought together liberals and conservatives in an unprecedented way.

Speaking of Ron Howard, it looks like he's coming out with an Imax version of his epic film Apollo 13.

There's a horrible rumor that Alec Baldwin may play Colonel William Travis in Ron Howard's upcoming movie about the Alamo. This, in my humble opinion, is an evil idea and should be nipped in the bud.

Now Russell Crowe as Jim Bowie and Tom Hanks as Travis, though....

So who to play Crockett?

I know. Tommy Lee Jones.

A reader seeks to entertain us with the following:

An airplane was about to crash; there were 4 passengers on board, but only 3 parachutes. The first passenger said, "I'm Kobe Bryant, the best NBA basketball player. The Lakers need me, I can't afford to die.." So he took the first parachute and left the plane. The second passenger, Hillary Clinton, said, "I am the wife of the former President of the United States; I am the most ambitious woman in the world. I am also a New York Senator, a potential future President and, above all, the smartest woman in the world." She grabbed the second parachute and jumped out of the plane. The third passenger, the Pope, says to the fourth passenger, a 10 year-old school boy, "I am old and frail and I don't have many years left. As a Christian I will sacrifice my life and let you have the last parachute." The boy said, "It's ok, there's still a parachute left for you. America's smartest woman took my school backpack."

A British historian named Gavin Menzies is about to publish a book which suggests that the 15th Century Chinese explorer Zheng He not only discovered America seventy years before Columbus, but circumnaviagted the globe a century before Magellan.

If this turns out to be true, the decision by Ming Dynasty mandarians to shut down Zheng's voyages of exploration can be seen as especially bone headed. Ming China turned away from exploration just as she was on the verge of becoming a world wide naval, trading empire, and became isolated and decadent. Five centuries later, China had become the door mat of every European colonial power.

This is a mistake that the current rulers of China are not prepared to make again, as witness their plans to become the third spacefaring power. And it should serve as a warning to Western (especially American) politicians who think it's safe to go slow on our own space efforts.

A Congressional hearing has revealed that NASA's accounting system is so antiquated that no one can figure out what things cost at the space agency. Yet, NASA's auidtor until last year gave the space agency a clean bill of health five years running.

The auditor? You guessed it. Arthur Anderson.

Fortunately, though, Price Waterhouse is now doingthe auditing and O'Keefe has fast tracked a new accounting system to be in place as early as next year.

So far Trent Lott hasn't backed down from his threats to tie up the Senate in revenge for the borking of Judge Pickering. Why the sudden infusion of backbone? Perhaps the Democrats have commited one outrage too many. Perhaps the Republicans senses, as Democrat Senator Zell Miller suggested, that the borking of Pickering is causing outrage in the South. Or maybe Lott is taking this matter personally.

Despite that troublesome First Amendment which David Henderson (and others, see below) cite, sixty Senators voted to repeal the Constitution and pass Campaign Finance Reform.

President Bush should veto the bill because it is unconstitutional and he did, after all, swear an oath to protect and defend the Constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic, even John McCain. But he may sign the bill, ironically, because his advisors have concluded that it's the best way to sink CFR.

The scenario goes like this. If Bush vetos the bill, CFR fanatics will just try to pass it again and again until, at some point, they get a veto proof majority or-worse-a President willing to sign it. But if Bush signs it, then it goes straight to the Supreme Court which will-we are assured-strip out all the unconstitutional bits. That will just leave the doubling of the hard money limit to two thousand dollars per person, indexed to inflation. And there it will end.

Brilliant plan. But what if-as it has certainly done before-the Supremes decide to be creative and actually rule that CFR really doesn't violate the First Amendment? Could happen.

David Henderson poses the question, related to campaign finance reform: What part of "make no law" does Congress not understand?

Clarence Page is bemused that no one seems to be offended by the Fighting Whities basketball team.

9/11, it seems, has had an affect on teenage slang. Here are some examples:

Their bedrooms are "ground zero." Translation? A total mess.

A mean teacher? He's "such a terrorist."

A student is disciplined? "It was total jihad."

Petty concerns? "That's so Sept. 10."

And out-of-style clothes? "Is that a burqa?"

The corrected galleys for my next novel, Children of Apollo, have arrived and I shall be checking to make sure the corrections have all been made. We'll also send out review copies to various places. If you are interested in receiving a review copy of Children of Apollo, please e-mail me at mwhittingt@sprynet.com with your credentials and I'll send a copy in PDF format.

Baroness Margaret Thatcher believes that most of the world's ills come out of continental Europe. She therefore-wisely-suggests that Great Britain withdraw from the European Union.

Read this and other pearls of wisdom in her new book Statecraft: Strategies for a Changing World.

Phil Brennan asks Senator Zell Miller to come home to the Republican Party.

Speaking of Pickering (see below) Senator Zell Miller says that Pickering's Borking may have just elected a Republican to be Governor of Mississippi. Say, Zell, it's increasingly obvious that your fellow Democrats don't give a rat's behind about what you think. Why not get their attention by joining the GOP? That would really be payback.

Trent Lott is threatening to retaliate for the Borking of Judge Pickering. Yeah, we've heard that one before.

Now that a lot of people (not me, but that's another story) have seen Tonya Harding and Paula Jones duke it out, how about a real celeb bout. It would be Jean-Claude Van Damme (the "Muscles from Brussels"); Jackie Chan; Arnold Schwarzenegger; Sylvester Stallone; Dolph "Drago" Lundgren (Stallone's opponent in Rocky IV); Chuck Norris; David Carradine (for sentiment's sake); Steven Seagal; Wesley Snipes; and, because this is fantasy, Bruce Lee himself in a elimination fight to the death.

President Bush appears to want to do with foreign aid what Newt Gingrich did with welfare. Poor countries will get development money. But in return they have toi stop being corrupt and embrace capitalism and freedom. Should be interesting.

An intramural basketball team at the University of Northern Colorado thought it had come up with the perfect vehicle to protest the use of American Indian names (the Chiefs, the Braves, the Redskins, etc) on sports teams. It had decided to call itself the Fighting Whities to show white folks what it's like.

However, according to Rush Limbaugh, American Whities are refusing to be offended. Indeed the University is being beseiged with requests for tee shirts and other memorabilia.

I think this is a healthy development. If people would only learn to calm now and not be offended by the least little thing, we might all live healthier lives.

Some kind of hidden strategery may be behind the President's mild criticism of Israel's own war on terrorism. I think (hope) that he's speaking primarily for Arab consumption. As evidence for this theory, Sharon's hammering of the Palestinian terrorists seems to be going on unabated.

The danger of publicly criticizing Israel, even mildly and just for public consumption, is that it might tend to embolden the terrorists and their supporters. The Saudis are already watering down their "peace proposal" (which was a joke to begin with.) And Arafat remains defiant.

When Zinni gets to the Middle East, he needs to tell Arafat in no uncertain terms that he needs to get serious about making peace and about stopping rather than inciting terror, or he and his absurd little kingdom will be shortly on the ash heap of history.

President Bush has been taken roundly to task by other bloggers and pundits over his decision to slap tarrifs on imported steel. But Donald Lambro suggests that this is part of a larger strategy to further free trade.

Has anyone noticed that ever since Geraldo arrived at his current assignment in the Middle East that he's gotten positively squishy concerning who's right and who's wrong in the Israel-Palestinian War? Tonight, on Fox News, he went positively hysterical, comparing the Israelis to Nazis and accusing them of employing tactics designed to kill civilians.

Geraldo's stint in Afghanistan was frought with comedy. In between watching him dodge Taliban snipers and gas on about "mujahidin tribal freedom fighters", one at least got some entertainment. And his heart was at least on the right side. But now he's become positively dangerous, having assumed the role of Arafat's mouthpiece. I'm not sure why he's chosen to do this. He claims to be shocked by the carnage, but the carnage is far less today than during the Israeli-Lebenon War of 1982 when Geraldo was one of the few corespondants who did not have an anti-Israeli bias. But now perhaps the same moral flaw which caused him to support Clinton is causing him to slam the Israelis and support the terrorists who want to kill all of them.

In my opinion, Fox News needs to recall Geraldo from the Middle East immediately and then fire him. He is no long an objective or even a rational journalist. Hehas become a propegandist for terrorists and murderers.

And meanwhile in an election which was not fixed, Tony Sanchez won the right to get beat in the general election by Texas Governor Rick Perry. Also, as predicted by the Curmudgeon some time ago, Congressman Ken Bentsen's political career ended when he failed to make the runoff for the right to get beat in the general election for US Senator from Texas by the GOP.

It looks like Robert Mugabe of Zimbawae has managed to steal himself an election fair and square.

The superb Homer Hickam, the bestselling author of
Rocket Boys and Back to the Moon has just the idea for opening up the Solar System and its vast resources. A nuclear rocket.

Janet Reno former Attorney General (when she headed the Obstruction of Justice Department of Behalf of Bill Clinton) and current candidate for Governor of Florida is-well-uncomfortable about certain aspects of the war of terrorism. You know, the potential erosion of personal freedom and the open ended nature of the whole thing.

Right. This is the same woman who incited a barbarque of some ninety of so human beings in Waco, Texas as practically her first act as Attorney General. This is the same woman who arranged for the abduction and deportation to Cuba of Elian Gonzales. Indeed, this is the same woman, as Miami DA, who put people in jail on child molestation charges on evidence which can be said to be very flimsy.

How very sad and pathetic.

According to this LA Times story, maybe we should be bombarding the Taliban and other terrorists with Prozac rather than smart bombs.

Fred Thompson is retiring from the Senate. Now a weary nation casts its eyes toward-Professor Glenn Reynolds of the University of Tennessee Law School and the best and most well known web logs in existance.

Now what I am about to say will probably end all hope of a Senator Glenn Reynolds, but nevertheless should he choose to run he has my whole hearted support.

The carnage continues apace in the Middle East. It seems to me that the Sharon government is finally edging toward what I call the Sherman scenario in dealing with the Palestinians. For those who are history impaired, General Sherman was an American Civil War General who concluded that the will of the Confederacy to fight had to be broken, as well as its abbility. To that end he marched his army from Atlanta to the Atlantic Ocean through Georgia, then the Carolinas, cutting a swath of destruction unparalleled since the days of Geingas Khan. While Sherman's name is still cursed today in some parts of the South, he achieved his objective.

That is precisely the strategy Israel needs to pursue. They need to go through the West Bank and Gaza and anniliate the infrastructure of Yassir Arafat's absurd terrorist kingdom. Not only to the Israelis need to destroy the military power of the Palestinians, but whatever economic infrastructure they have. Water and power systems, roads, farms, businesses, all need to be put the torch. Anyone connected with Arafat's terrorist kingdom, as well as allied terrorist groups such as Hamas, Hezebollah, and Islamic Jihad, should be hunted down and killed outright.

Having done this, Israel can then-as Professor Glenn Reynolds has suggested-turn the West Bank and Gaza over to Jordanian "peacekeepers." Then the word community needs to engage in a bit of nationa building. Let's start with the schools and remove the antisemitic subtext which has permerated Palestinian curriculi and has inflamed generations of Palestinians to hate and terrorism. Let's teach Palestinian children to build and not to destroy.

Then-perhaps-they will have earned the right to their own state.,

There's yet another person trying for a tourist spot on ISS. Former Associate Administrator for Policy and Plans and former Executive Director of the National Space Society Lori Garver is seeking corporate and private sponserships to finance her space jaunt. The purpose? To demonstrate that "ordinary people" can fly in space.

Of course, most ordinary people I know couldn't begin to raise the twenty million necessary to finance a trip to ISS.

Garver's tenure at NSS was frought with considerable controversy. She was often accused of supporting whatever the agenda NASA supported at the time as opposed to the National Space Society's stated goal of "creating a space faring civilization." She also presided over declining membership and influence of NSS.

In the manner of "failing upward", Garver left NSS to first become an aid to then NASA Administrator Dan Goldin, and then an Associate Administrator. Rumor had it that she was on the short list to be Administrator under a Gore Presidency.

Now, as an editorial aside, I'm all in favor of corporate sponsers getting together to send people on space tours. But can't we find better candidates than a failed, ex-bureaucrat claiming to be an "ordinary person?" Let's select from a list of writers, poets, artists, journalists to send into space. Indeed, let's hold an essay contest for High School Students. Every year, the student who submits the best essay on the subject of-say-why people should live in space-gets to go. Have a college level version of the contest too. Or, as an alterantive, have the student submit an idea for an experiment. The winner gets to fly with his or her experiment on board ISS.

That would certainly generate more interest in space travel than yet another Washington insider grabbing a flight into space. It would certainly be less cynical.

Alec Baldwin has let slip why he didn't leave the country when GW Bush became President. It's a word parsing worthy of Bill Clinton.

The suits at ABC want to revamp This Week Without David Brinkley. Under plans being discussed in the media, Sam Donaldson and Cokie Roberts would be out. All well and good so far, but the new hosts would be George Stephenapolis and Claire Shipman. Shipman would be fine, but Stephenapolis is part of This Week's problem, not the solution. He's too young, too callow, and especially too liberal.

Worse, the suits want to move the program to New York. That's not how a Sunday morning talk show works. That's more like Good Morning America or The Today Show.

Here's an idea, ABC, free of charge. Give Donaldson, Roberts, and Stephenapolis the boot. Bring in Claire Shipman and offer Ted Koppel the other anchor position. Then give George Will a bigger role, allowing him to interview guests again. Then sit back and watch the revitalized show duke it out with Russert.

Scientists at Oak Ridge think they may have found a way to generate a fusion reaction with a desk top device. Despite the fact that the experiment and the paper describing it to be published in Science has been peer reviewed, the revelation is already generating quite a bit of controversy. This situation is similer to what took place during the "Cold Fusion" affair of about twelve or thirteen years ago.

Dr. David Criswell of the University of Houston in Clear Lake thinks he has just the reason to colonize the Moon. It involves the production and distribution of clean, limitless solar energy.

Shakedown: Exposing the Real Jesse Jackson by Kenneth R. Timmerman is now out and it looks like it will be the final nail in the coffin of one of the most skilled and nortorious flimflam men in the history of the United States. The book apparently shows that Jackson's great civil rights movement has been nothing less than a massive confidence scheme.

Ridley Scott is set to direct a movie about one of the earlier struggles of the West against Militant Islam. The film is called Crusades and is scheduled to be out next year some time.

The continuing meltdown of Tom Daschle and the Democrats is amazing to witness. Now Daschle is actually threatening the funding of the War on Terror for political gain. This kind of threat harkens back to the Post Vietnam War practice Liberal Democrats indulged in to hamper Republican Presidents' foreign and defense policy.

Why, with three thousand dead Americans in New York and the Pentagon, is Daschle doing this? Possibly because nothing he has tried to cut down President Bush and the GOP has worked. Not the economy, not the deficit, and not even Enron. The tragedy of Tom Daschle is that when it comes to a choice of enemies to fight, Al Qaeda or the Republicans, Daschle has chosen the latter. I'm not sure that the voters are going to go along with that at the polls this November.

We Were Soldiers is a powerful, even searing account of the first major, American land battle in Vietnam, in a valley called Ia Drang over three bloody days in November, 1965. The performances, especially that of Mel Gibson, were solid. The battle sequences were horrifying. Despite the great advantage the Americans had in air and artillery, Ia Drang was an infantryman's battle, fought muzzle to muzzle, and even hand to hand. Death could come at one at any time, from any direction.

Much is made of the fact that the film shows some scenes from the point of view of the enemy, seeming to make him more symphathetic. I would tend to disagree. While Mel Gibson's Colonel Moore leads from the front, sharing the perils of his men, the Communist NVA commander commands from the relative safety of an underground bunker, sending hordes of his men out to die.

Most symphathetic are the men who fought and died, along with the women back home who loved them and in some cases mourned for them. Not one Oliver Stone style drug addict or baby killer among them. Just a group of Americans thrown into Hell and coming out the other end in honor and valor.

Go see this movie.

The mission of Mars Odyssey is not more than a few days old and it has already discovered "vast fields of ice" on Mars. Scientists are excited because the presence of water indicates the possibility of life. But the discovery is even more exciting when one considers the implications for human exploration and settlement.