And yes, to state the obvious, the California assemblyman is a Democrat. Even Wing producer Thomas Schlamme sighs, "It made me think this power problem in California will never be solved by this group of people."

It's been pretty quiet in D.C. lately while the parties work out the Senate, but I warn you not to get complacent. The Dems are firing cannons across the aisle outside the Beltway, and it ain't pretty. There's a special election this Tuesday for a vacant House seat, and the Left is using some very dirty tactics. In ad against the Republican, the Dems are telling the elderly that Bush's partial-privatization plan for Social Security will cause old people to have heart attacks! Read the script of a TV ad for yourself (Thanks to radio host Neil Boortz for exposing this):

      Announcer: "Did you know Randy Forbes wants to privatize Social Security?"
      Man: "That's crazy!"
      Older woman: "Oh my goodness, no!"
      Announcer: "A scheme that could lead to cuts in benefits or raising the retirement age. Your Social Security savings riding up and down on the stock market."
      Man, along with carnival footage: "That roller coaster ride has caused a lot of people to have heart attacks."
      Second woman: "I'd have the pudding scared out of me."

This is the kind of extremist scare tactics the Left has perfected over the last decade, so get ready for next year's elections to be bitter and fierce.

So Tim McVeigh had two pints of ice cream as his final meal. That's two more pints than his 168 victims had. I hope the bastard was lactose-intolerant.

For his statement he left a copy of "Invictus", a 19th century poem best known for the lines "I am the master of my fate; I am the captain of my soul." Nope, Timmy, the captain of your soul now has horns and carries a pitchfork.

The coward apparently couldn't hold on to his beliefs, either. Although an avowed agnostic, he summoned a Roman Catholic priest to administer the last rites as he lay on the gurney. What I really hate is that if this is true, and like the criminal on the cross with Jesus, McVeigh made his peace with God, then I have to make a choice about how to think about him. Now he's given me a moral dilemma!

But, after all the stressful work I had covering his execution, I would have inserted the needle myself.

The Media Research Center brought back memories of six years ago following the Oklahoma City bombing, when anyone who dares speak ill of the government was blamed for McVeigh's crime:

"In a nation that has entertained and appalled itself for years with hot talk on radio and the campaign trail, the inflamed rhetoric of the '90s is suddenly an unindicted co-conspirator in the blast." -- Time senior writer Richard Lacayo, May 8, 1995.

"The bombing in Oklahoma City has focused renewed attention on the rhetoric that's been coming from the right and those who cater to angry white men. While no one's suggesting right-wing radio jocks approve of violence, the extent to which their approach fosters violence is being questioned by many observers, including the President....The list of those the President may have had in mind is at once long and familiar. Right-wing talk show hosts like Rush Limbaugh, Bob Grant, Oliver North, G. Gordon Liddy, Michael Reagan and others take to the air every day with basically the same format: detail a problem, blame the government or a group, and invite invective from like-minded people. Never do most of the radio hosts encourage outright violence, but the extent to which their attitudes may embolden and encourage some extremists has clearly become an issue." -- Today co-host Bryant Gumbel, April 25, 1995.

"Even after Oklahoma City, you can turn on your radio in any city and still dial up hate talk: extremists, racist and violent rhetoric from the hosts and those who call in." -- Dan Rather, CBS Evening News, April 27, 1995.

"Public antagonism toward government has been one of the principal themes of American political discourse for nearly two decades, growing in shrillness in the past year. This sentiment has been voiced and amplified by the new Republican House, which just this month completed its 100 days of action, much of it aimed at paring back the growth of the federal government. But now that an attack on a government building has left scores dead, including children, the allure is coming off the anti-government rhetoric." -- Boston Globe Washington Bureau Chief David Shribman, in a front-page "news analysis," April 25, 1995.

From the "You Can't Make This Stuff Up Department":

Sunday night a producer from an affiliate called and asked, "What will be the difference between the reports from your two reporters tonight, Lilian Kim and Terry Hote?"...when informed that Terry Hote was really Terre Haute and the city Lilian was reporting from, her response was, "Oh, thanks"

Me thinks that after Amy Carter and Chelsea, the Dems are jealous that the Bush twins are babes.

President Bush made a decision this week that has not made Republicans and/or the military happy; the announcement that the Navy will no longer use Vieques as a training ground after 2003. This could be a move that harms the memory of his presidency like the giveaway of the Panama Canal by Pres. Carter. We want an Army of Hogan's Heroes, not Colonel Klink.

Why is it a wrong move? For one, Bush caved in to the Left and protests by some Puerto Ricans, without ever trying to fight back and explain the simple truths of the situation:

      a) The Vieques training ground is nine miles from the only population center, and downwind from it so that anything that rises from it goes out to sea, not the inhabitants. From that distance, you can't even hear the bombing exercises.
      b) The health charges are misinformation. In stating that the infant-mortatlity rate was higher in Vieques than Puerto Rico as a whole, the Puerto Rico Physicians and Surgeons Association "forgot" to mention figures between 1996 and 1998. Those missing numbers would have shown that infant mortality in Vieques was lower than mainland Puerto Rico. Cancer rates in Vieques have been both higher and lower than Puerto Rico as a whole, and the population is so small that any one case makes a big spike in the statistics.
      c) There is nowhere else for the Navy to train. Vieques was the perfect location to practice target practice and landing missions, and without a place to train our troops it can only cause serious damage to their readiness. Also, the 3% of the island used by the military has been so decimated that it will never be inhabitable.

As President Bush ventures overseas on his first European tour, our "friends" across the pond were ready and loaded to knock him down on missile defense and the environment. In this case - borrowing loosely from Monty Python - you could say that everyone expected the Spanish Inquisition.

Despite the fact that Romania is the only nation to ratify the Kyoto Treaty, our Senate voted unanimously against it, and even ex-Clinton officials say it's a bad idea, all we heard on the news was that the Europeans are in a tiff that Bush doesn't think Kyoto is sound policy.

George Will rightfully mocked the Europeans' belief in their superiority: "Twenty years ago, Europe was full of talk about the gun-toting Western American ignoramus who didn't know anything. I don't know about the rest of you, but where do we get off being lectured by Europe on our political culture when their principal contribution to politics in the last century was Lenin, Stalin, Franco, Hitler and Mussolini?"

The reality is that we don't care what European leaders think. Their brand of socialism hasn't produced a lick of economic boom and their social policies only hinder their growth (IMHO). Sometimes they deserved to be mocked and ignored (as I'm sure they do us) as we institute policies that aid American life, not lower it in deference to jealous "allies". At least the French are easily distracted. Just yell "Germans!" and they'll jump in their bunkers and wave white flags.

Remember, there's never a sure bet:

Early in 1962, when manager Casey Stengel's New York Mets compiled the worst record in the modern era, an 11-year-old Steve Hirdt was so caught up in Mets fever that he told his father one night, "We've got Roger Craig, Gil Hodges, Don Zimmer. Dad, I think we can win the pennant!"

Mr. Hirdt looked over his newspaper and told his son, "They'll be a .250 team." Even then, young Steve - who would grow up to become executive vice president of the Elias Sports Bureau, the official statistical service of Major League Baseball - had a predilection for mathematics.

"I quickly figured out that playing 162 games, you can't be a .250 team," said Hirdt. "So I bet my Dad $5."

Two Mets games were rained out that season and never rescheduled. They played 160 games. They finished 40-120. They were a .250 team. Steve was out five bucks. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

Some presidents have better karma than others:

Ryan Garko, the Stanford catcher who caught President Bush's opening-game first pitch, singled to center to give the Cardinal its first lead (and eventually won, 13-11).

In comparison, when former chief Bill Clinton showed up at the French Open, Andre Agassi (who won the first set before Slick's arrival) lost three straight sets and the match, winning a mere three games while Bill was watching.

Chinese human rights atrocity of the week:

Fifteen of 35 Christians detained last month in Inner Mongolia on suspicion of ''illegal religious activity'' may be sent to labor camps, according to a human rights group in Hong Kong.

Chinese police released 20 of those detained in Dongsheng city after receiving fines of about $24.15 from each but will likely send the remaining 15 to labor camps, according to the Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy, Reuters news agency reported.

About 40 million Christians and 15 million Catholics now live in China, the center estimates. China has repeatedly come under fire from the U.S. State Department for its treatment of religious groups, and a department report on international religious freedom released in September chastised the country on the issue.

Last month, Chinese authorities arrested a leader of the country's underground Roman Catholic church along with several priests and other Catholics, the U.S.-based Cardinal Kung Foundation reported. Several were sentenced to labor camps.

You hear that sound? It's of liberals yawning and shaking their pointy heads at why someone should care.

This week's best Vents from the AJC:

• Now that advertisers are using 'plus size' women in their ads, when can we expect to see guys with beer guts?
• If I thought for one minute that the Democrats in Congress would pay off the debt instead of spending the surplus, then I, too, would have been against a tax cut.
• Backing out from a parking space next to an SUV is a lot like bungee jumping.
• How many Democrats have been assigned to watch the Bush daughters?
• Trusting Tom Daschle to run the Senate is like trusting Darth Vader not to attack.
• Why on earth would you protest global warming if you live in Sweden?
• The Europeans have a lot of nerve opposing the death penalty since they advocate abortion and euthanasia. Why should Sweden care if we utilize the death penalty in our own country? Let someone there blow up some of their babies and see what they say then!

A judged ruled in May that a gay psychiatrist owes the U.S. Air Force more than $71,000 for his education because he failed to fulfill his active duty obligation.

John Hensala, 36, a former U.S. Air Force captain, is currently a San Francisco psychiatrist in private practice. He sued a year ago, said he shouldn't have to repay the money because he wanted to serve, but the Air Force refused to let him because he announced he was gay.

Warning, lie forthcoming from the plaintiff --> He claimed he wanted to serve honestly and had no reason to believe he would be automatically discharged after his announcement.

Hensala was looking for a free education while avoiding active duty, plain and simple. "Discovering that your gay" as a 29 year-old captain does not fly.

The government paid for Hensala's education at Northwestern University's medical school under a program that required four years of active duty military service after graduation. He put off that service twice - during a three-year residency at Yale, and a two-year fellowship at the University of California at San Francisco. In December 1994, the Air Force told Hensala his military service would begin the following year. Days later, Hensala announced he was gay.

The judge agreed his timing may have been suspect.

You think?

Homer quote: "And how is education supposed to make me feel smarter? Besides, every time I learn something new, it pushes some old stuff out of my brain. Remember when I took that home winemaking course, and I forgot how to drive?"

Random site: Last Words -- a collection of famous last words, epitaphs, obituaries, farewells and last stands.

Find out your Ancient Egyptian past life at The Mummy Returns site. Here's my distinguished former career:

Name: Shepseskare
Occupation: Police
Your job was the prevention of crime and apprehension of criminals. The laws you enforced were those against stealing, killing, and tax evasion. You opened investigations following complaints by citizens, and collected clues against suspects by interrogating them and their acquaintances, checking public records, creating reenactments and applying physical coercion. Feared for your notorious interrogation techniques, you generally beat your suspects to get information from them. Because you successfully caught so many lawbreakers, you moved rapidly through the ranks to become the chief of police in just a few years. In your free time, you socialized with other lawmen and often ate meals together, an important means of bonding.


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