Modifying the First Amendment to save the flag from a handful of thugs is not worth the hassle; in fact modification would show weakness. One who burns or maliciously defaces the flag — and it better be his own personal property — in public does it at his own peril. As I said a while ago if one thinks he’s funny or damnably heretical, he is free to barbecue the flag that he himself has paid for as long as its on his own property, but not in someone else’s backyard. There are ordinances about ...

 As long as abortion was illegal and secretive it was not an issue. When Roe took it out of the closet it was no longer a private issue because religion made it public and the decision made it politics. Abortion, not unlike homosexuality, was rarely thought of except for the subculture of midwives, hungry doctors and criminal entrepreneurs involved. In the light of day abortion prompted the self anointed religious and moral doomsayers out of the woodwork to pass judgment, rightly or wrongly...

Senator Santorum uncovers Iraqi “WMD.” Kerry’s timetable runs out of time. If there is premature withdrawal Cheney claims terrorists will follow to take the war to us. Global warming will no longer be a threat — when gasoline reaches ten dollars a gallon. Beware! Twenty year old mustard gas can still give you a hot foot. Connie Chung is the next American Idol. Except for the Iraqis right to kick us out, only General Casey can draw down troops; Congress can’t. http://st...

Perhaps the most divisive issue among Democrats is Iraq and its withdrawal. This is understandable for two essential reasons. Out of deference to our troops there and most particularly those who died and the seriously wounded from the conflict. As Kerry said many years ago, “How do you ask the next man to die for a mistake?” No one wants to be in this position of confessing to a catastrophic foreign policy — the haunting echoes of Vietnam. The other agony is that what other catastrophe might eve...

The symbolic gesture of thumbs down on a timetable for Iraqi withdrawal is logically consistent with Congress’ vote only the other day to appropriate almost another $100 billion for the war effort. If this rejection didn’t mean further sacrifice of our troops it would be comical that such things persist as staying the course, taking the war on terrorism off shore — which I suspect means substituting Iraqi civilian casualties for our own — or paving the way for democracy in the Middle East. The d...

There are some people who will seldom if ever admit they were wrong. Ann Coulter surely would never apologize to the 9/11 widows; the detestable anti-war bloc that demonstrates against families burying their war heroes have no regrets. Gays will not admit they’ve gone too far in their Me-ism craze to tread on the majority’s sanctity of marriage, rather than to limit their cause to simply equal rights. Liberals refer to Conservatives as fascists while communist is the Conservative call-word for L...

   On Okinawa for the first time Marines in the Pacific had to deal with significant numbers of civilians. Our platoon came upon a large cave whence emanated a burst of rifle shot. The platoon retaliated with dominant firepower for some thirty seconds. There was no return fire — just screams, groans and cries. Slowly several women and children emerged from the mouth. The Marines were aghast; the first team of the first squad cautiously — making certain the civilians were not booby trap...

Naturally we oppose preferential treatment for anybody — except our own kind, family and friends. Anything beyond is alien, and most particularly beyond our control. The number of eleven million illegal immigrants already in the country — not counting those with visa overstays and fraudulent green cards — is simply too overwhelming for INS. The borders must be fully protected by federalized military, and by hardball politics with Mexico and corporations that do business south of the ...

I was appalled at the time in ‘93 when the generals like little children stamped their feet in protest — virtually a coup — over Clinton’s executive order to permit Gays in the military. I am equally disappointed — since they waited until their comfortable pensions were secure—in the retired generals demanding the resignation of Rumsfeld, who on his own cognizance should have resigned three years ago for taking — as Iraq was not his initiative — the brunt of criticism for the Bush and Ch...

It’s ludicrous for the Los Angles Times to call for the early retirement of the duly elected Vice President. In fact, even if such a move — surely, inconceivable since Cheney is no Agnew — were contemplated by the President its legality would be questionable. As a liberal I am disturbed by the trend to kick an administration when it’s down. The American people, rightly or wrongly, elected this administration to carry on its policies of the first four years — that is, in the main, the ...

  Tomasky, editor of American Prospect, I trust, means well but his endless twining of small r-republicanism is utterly irrelevant to the times, together with his distorted view on the conditions for big D-Democrats to endorse the universal “common good” in the mire of particularism of the current political climate, which appears to exhale “enough of Bush,” yet despite his low popularity, even censure is taboo. When push comes to shove, the reality is that the common voter is incapable of ...

WASHINGTON - President Bush dismissed as "wild speculation" reports that the administration was planning for a military strike against Iran. Bush did not rule out the use of force, but he said he would continue to use diplomatic pressure to prevent Iran from gaining a nuclear weapon or the know-how and technology to make one. "I know here in Washington prevention means force," Bush said at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University. "It does...

Back in the 30s communism gave socialism a bad name; FDR changed it to the New Deal. In the 50s Senator McCarthy changed the New Deal back to communism. While Hillary Clinton as First Lady was busy selling the country on Universal Health Care, corporations secretly were hungrily supporting it until the Republicans shot it down as socialized medicine. Now as corporations are nearing bankruptcy owing to escalating health insurance for their employees, they might this time put their collect...

The problem, dear Citizen, does not lie with the Dubai Crescent, but within ourselves. Though I was for dumping Dubai, it was not owing to racism, national security, or post 9/11 anxiety, but rather to dramatize the need for limiting our selling off American enterprise. After all, the city ports have their duly municipal authorized agencies to oversee their security — not to mention the rugged American stevedore unions — and, of course, the Coastguard, though woefully shortchanged...

Bush is toying with the idea that to sustain his fortitude to stay the course is to go back to drinking. To agree with Bush and McCain on the guest worker position Ted Kennedy had to guzzle down one too many tequilas. It’s rumored that smart ass Chris Matthews claims that Nancy Pelosi would have to emblematically put on an armored vest and helmet to track down Bin Laden to further the new get-tough on security policy forged by the Democrats. This would parallel Dukakis peering out...