Chris Mathews is having the vapors over the Middle East. He doesn't want us to liberate Iraq because-well-the Arabs might not like us.

Of course they don't like us now. But as Machiavelli suggested, that's academic. It is better to be feared, the author of The Prince suggested, than to be loved.

To illustrate this principle, Israel's campaign in the West Bank has won her few friends. The "Arab street" is incandescent in its rage. But you will notice a serious drop off in suicide bombings in the past few weeks. Machiavelli, I think, would have approved of Sharon.

Mathews is also making a fool of himself by trying to explain why the Arabs hate us. He suggests that had we supported the Arab side in 1948, 1956, 1967, 1973, etc, the Israelis just might be peeved at us. Well, wrong Chris, because had the United States done such a thing, there would be no Israel and America would have been complicant in facilitating a second Holocaust. We would have also commited a blunder by supporting volitile, tyrannical despots against a democratic people.

Chris should really get over his Vietnam syndrome and start making sense again, like when he was one of the few liberals who saw Clinton for what he was.

It's not too late to think about 2008. My money is on Condi Rice, who by that time ought to have finished a successful four years as Bush's second Vice President. She'll beat the Democrat nominee, who will be Hillary Clinton, in a landslide.

You read it here first.

Congressman Tom Delay is clearly annoyed at NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe. The question arises: What does Delay intend to do about it?

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.