To put some perspective on the sudden concern for the terrorists who have been incarcerated to prevent them from blowing themselves up and taking other lives, I suggest our three-blind-mice Republican Senators meet Aminatou Haidar. She is a Saharawi who made the unfortunate mistake of assuming that the United Nations really cares about upholding its charter and protecting the rights of the oppressed, the abused, the invaded and occupied territories as they now conveniently claim they do, by opposing the US presence in Iraq.

For almost a quarter of a century, Western Sahara has been fighting for its independence against Morocco, its northern neighbor, that invaded the minute Spain decolonized and pulled up stakes. They claimed that Western Sahara was always a part of Morocco, even though they miraculously escaped colonization by Spain in the late 1800s and oddly, did not oppose the Spanish occupation for over 75 years. Only suddenly, did it dawn on them, the minute the Spanish occupation ended that, oh my gosh, this phosphorous rich land with a huge coastline on the western side of Africa, is really part of Morocco. They have been in Western Sahara ever since . . . splitting the country with a mine-laden burm that imprisons half the inhabitants, all under the “watchful” and acquiesant eye of the United Nations.

So 27 years later, a young Muslim woman, named Aminatou Haidar, joins a peaceful demonstration to oppose this ongoing occupation and hostility by Morocco and their willing accomplice, the United Nations. She, and 72 others are arrested, beaten and thrown into prison without a trial while the UN forces, stood idly by, pretending to see nothing. She was placed in solitary confinement, blindfolded, beaten and tortured daily, and denied even the right to bathe. . . for almost four years.

Where is the outrage by Senators Warner, McCain & Graham, who are spilling blood from their bleeding hearts over terrorists who have as their determined purpose and mission to murder anyone not like them . . .even three US Senators who are living in a clueless vacuum. It is interesting that they can spend so much time equating terrorists without a country or uniform with our brave men and women who are covered by the Geneva Convention, yet they won’t apply the aspect of the rules of engagement to the length of time a POW will be incarcerated. That time is to last until the conflict has ended. So, which parts of the rules of engagement and capture in the “Geneva Convention” do these rocket scientists want to apply and which ones don’t they? For them it is about “doing the right thing.”

Well then . . .. I suggest they have their work cut out for themselves. There are 20 million innocent women and children who are being bought and sold on a regular basis in the very lucrative human trafficking “business.” They are kept in inhumane conditions, they don’t have ACLU trial attorneys flying around the world to take their cases, ensure their rights are upheld and their conditions are comfortable. Why aren’t these three Republican Senators, and the dozens of Democratic Senators standing up for these victims of slavery, with the same righteous indignation they stand up for committed suicide murderers?

In the case of Aminatou, the US position is that Morocco is an ally and we can’t possibly do anything to alienate or upset them. Iraq used to be an ally too, and we have troops on the ground there because our national security was threatened. So that is the standard for invading and occupying a country? No, not necessarily. Remember Serbia, Kosovo, Albania, etc? They were of no threat or consequence to the United States directly, yet we invaded those countries under the pretense of stopping genocide and oppression.

So what are the reasons that the US government will stand up for, or get involved in the pain and suffering of innocent people . . . emphasis on the word “innocent.”

We obviously have turned a blind eye to the human trafficking issue, for whatever reason. Western Sahara has been languishing under UN and Moroccan occupation for over 25 years and the citizens still can’t even get passports to leave their invaded country and see their loved ones in the refugee camps in southern Algeria. The wars and genocide continue to wage in the Sudan, Somalia, Sierra Leone, et al, around the world, and all our US Senators can focus on is the comfort, care and feeding of the detainees who, if released, would kill each one of them in a heart beat. That is their mission . . . that is their reason for being . . . that is what they were raised to live and die for.

Because Aminatou and the millions of other prisoners desire freedom for themselves and their families, and an opportunity to just live in peace . . . they languish in a benign world of irrelevance because their cause of freedom and justice has no value in the political market place, and to help them requires rare currency that is reserved for the larger, more visible causes . . . like the care and feeding of terrorists.

The concern for many is that if we continue to detain people who want to kill us and our neighbors, that the world is going to hate us. The world doesn’t need a reason. France doesn’t need a reason, Barbara Streisand, the Dixie Chicks, Sean Penn, Michael Moore, et al., don’t need a reason. They hate America and everything we stand for and not because of Iraq, or Guantanamo, or the easy, obvious reasons. They, like the terrorists, hate this country because we debate issues of right and wrong and acknowledge that there are absolutes based on God’s divine design for man. They, like the terrorists, wish this country was a reflection of their vacuum of values and hate anything that suggests there are acts that reflect evil, and if continued unchecked would usher in the annihilation of the human race. While defending the rights of terrorists and world dictators, turning their back on the unborn and those bought and sold on the black market, they have made a moral determination that some life is more valuable and sacred than others, and should therefore be saved, protected and preserved at the expense of all other life.

As Aminatou, a Muslim woman, sat blindfolded, for four years, in a Muslim country, I am sure she must have pondered how her desire for freedom resulted in this type of punishment, when all she wanted for herself and her family was the right to self-determination and liberty. Many ask why there are no moderate Muslims speaking out against the atrocities of a handful of Islam fascists . . . it is because they are imprisoned when they do. These are the people our Senators should be focusing their efforts on, finding justice for, and allowing their causes to receive the power of the forum, in the marketplace of ideas. That would be a noble cause indeed.

So New York City Mayor Bloomberg has declared, before a Senate panel, that his city is totally helpless and dependent upon illegal aliens to keep their economy going. Wow . . . and I thought Wall Street had power. So, we should now invest in illegal aliens and not US companies, because they are the engine that keeps our economy going?

Just what are these incredibly vital jobs that keep the life line of America tethered to growth, prosperity, and, well, existence? I guess it depends on who you are and what your needs are. It seems that liberals can’t live without their nannies, housekeepers, gardeners and people to clean up after their oh so very important and elitist lives.

But conservatives seem to be able to limp along without someone raising their children, cleaning their toilets or pulling their weeds. They have developed the most amazing ways to survive sans aliens by deciding to trade life-consuming careers for stay-at-home jobs and even home schooling opportunities that not only save thousands of dollars in nannies and tuition, but they even have the added benefit of bonding with their kids. How incredibly revolutionary is that? And trust me, when you home school, you incorporate into your child’s education the notion that one cleans up after themself and doesn’t rely upon a foreigner who has crossed the border illegally to do it. How quaint.

And most people in America, classified as middle class, have on average 2 toilets per house, meaning three minutes times 52, or once a week (for the conscientious homemaker), is almost three hours a year of personal toilet hygiene. Wow, I can see the point Bloomberg is making . . . the economic sky really is falling.

Let’s unravel this though. Since the vast majority of Americans don’t have nannies, maids or gardeners . . . what aspect of the economy is going to come to a screeching halt? Well, maybe it is construction? Maybe it’s restaurants, food handling and hotels. So . . . what? We can’t live without the addition on the house? We don’t know how to prepare meals at home? We have never heard of camping out with the family for vacation? What is it exactly that mulit-millionnaire, elitist, Michael Bloomberg thinks that Americans can’t live without, and if they did would lead to its total and complete economic collapse?

For someone who was “smart” enough to make the millions in the US economy, he really doesn’t understand how it works. For every single illegal alien, who, the minute they step foot in the country, now qualifies for public education, health care, social security, public housing, food stamps, etc. etc. etc. there are hard working citizens who pay into that system with their tax dollars that reward illegal behavior and prop up a system that is bankrupt economically and morally. Lower the taxes for hardworking Americans instead of making them pay for the benefits of law-breakers. Another quaint concept.

Bloomberg is saying that people, who can’t even speak our language, are the lynch pin of our very existence. So . . .why should our kids go to school? Why go to college? Why even speak English? If they can have that much power and authority in the destiny of our economy . . . then we should encourage our kids to be drop-outs and become virtual slaves. Ohhhhh . . .so that is what it is all about. Been there, done that, got all the dead people to prove it.

We abolished slavery in 1808 . . . . well, at least the importation of slaves. It took another 46 years before a handful of people were so disgusted with the idea that one class of people couldn’t exist without the slave labor of another group of people, that they formed a new party (the Republicans) to fight that oppression. That challenged the entire economic structure of America and caused a war that divided the nation for 5 years, ending in the assassination of the first Republican president . . . Abraham Lincoln.

After Lincoln’s death, and the installation of Andrew Johnson as president, his party’s opposition to every civil rights bill, including the 13th, 14th, and 15th, Amendments were unanimously defeated by the Republicans.

They succeeded though, a few years later in instituting Jim Crow laws which were direct violations of the 15th Amendment and kept blacks in a disenfranchised position for 100 years until the Civil Rights Act was passed in 1964, by a Republican Congress.

So, it is amazing to me that a Republican Mayor is now supporting the idea of importing “free” labor, to keep the US economy alive. It was the exact same argument that the slaveholders used and a bloody war was fought, where hundreds of thousands of innocent people died to bring closure to a horrible, tragic time in our country. It was a time when convenience and personal comfort were more important than human dignity. It was a time when the idea of self-sacrifice and humility were replaced by an elitist attitude of privilege and pleasure. It was a time that is being repeated today.

The Bloomberg’s of the world are creating a new victim class of individuals to serve, at slave wages, another class in society that feel they deserve to be treated with a higher degree of pamper and polish. This mentality split the nation before and it will split the nation again. And it will not be a division between those who have money and those who don’t. It will be between those who respect the law, honor the dignity of man, rely on their own ability and skills to accomplish their own goals in life and those who are alien to those concepts.

Of all the reasons that are being discussed about illegal immigration, the 600 lb guerilla in the room that everyone is aware of but ignoring, is probably the main reason this issue has become so political. It is the reason the Republicans are looking like spineless weenies, and Democrats are falling all over themselves to court lawbreakers. There is only one thing that would cause politicians to well, act like politicians, and that is the vote.

You can just hear them all licking their chops at the potential of getting millions of brand new voters, all registering for their respective parties, ensuring election victories for the next 30 years. The Democrats aren’t waiting for amnesty though. They have already set up voter registration tables in California at the illegal immigrant rallies and have proven that the vote is the only reason they “care” about these “poor, helpless people.” If the Republicans were smart, they would jump on this law flaunting bandwagon and pitch the virtue of their party, and try and get as many new votes as they can before November.

But what if voting wasn’t an issue? What if not one of these illegal aliens could ever vote here in the United States, no matter what their legal status becomes? After all, according to the Democrats it is about them filling jobs that lazy Americans refuse to do. According to the Republicans it is about giving people new opportunities for economic and political freedom. But since they both tip toe around d the voting issue, claiming that is what the other party is hoping to cash in on . . . let’s take it off the table and save both sides the trouble of exposing their true agendas.

Polls have shown that what the majority of people want is a level playing field and consistent laws that apply to everyone. They see people who have gone the legal route to immigration, filed for visas, received worker’s permits or permanent resident status and even applied for and received citizenship. This has taken years for most, and cost thousands of dollars to achieve, and every American applauds this approach to joining our nation of immigrants. Then they see people, who the minute they step through that hole in the fence, have broken a law, yet want to move to the front of the line, basically thumbing their noses at our la ws, and those who abided by them.

The solution to accommodate those who have compassion for the lives these illegals leave behind, and those who want to close the borders and send these people back for a variety of reasons, can be obtained through either statute or amendment. The suggested wording would be:

“Any person who enters the United States of America illegally, without visa authority, or overstays their visa authority, shall be permanently disqualified to obtain the right to vote, even if citizenship or amnesty is subsequently obtained. After a period of 15 years of legal residence, the right to vote may be awarded upon indiv idual petition demonstrating compelling and extraordinary circumstances.”

By taking voting off the table, it allows us to depoliticize the issue and discuss it rationally, with the best interests of our national security as the primary goal. It tells felons w ho have served time in jail, as US citizens, and have lost their right to vote, that bad behavior is not going to be tolerated from citizens, and certainly not from foreigners who come to our shores by illegal means. It tells black Americans that the suffering of their ancestors cannot be equated to illegal actions, and just as slaves didn’t receive the right to vote when they were recognized as citizens, then law breakers should not get that benefit either.

There are those who might say we want to create a disenfranchised class. No . . . they created that status for themselves the minute they stepped foot on US soil illegally. No one is saying they can’t leave and come through the front door, apply the way millions of others have and eventually get full citizenship. It is just if they choose to stay here on an amnesty program, work program, or any var iety of other suggestions the politicians are wrangling with . . . they can never have the right to vote.

The only way around it would be if they satisfied the one condition at the end of the amendment which says that after 15 years of legal residence, they have the right to petition the government based on compelling and extraordinary circumstances.” This allows those who are forced to come here for political reasons or have been forced to flee oppressive situations, to plead their case for full citizenship. It can’t just be fore economic hardship.

The other issue that makes this unfair for the rest of the world who would love the opportunity to come to America to seek economic freedom is that just by the nature of geography, they are penalized for not coming from a country that borders America. The only way that non-Mexicans can come into the US is legally and through the system, because they would be thrown in jail, or worse if they breached Mexico’s borders.

Why should one country, that borders the US., and prohibits the illegal breaching of their own border by people trying to get to ours, have a free bite at the apple? These non-bordering aliens have no choice but come through the front door of immigration. Mexico and Canada, virtually control OUR borders as the gatekeepers, and determine who comes and goes through them.

With voting off the table, the politicians will be forced to actually think about what is best for America, not themselves. They will be forced to look at the security threats to the country and realize with every illegal coming over our borders, they have the potential to bring in weapons, drugs, and even deadly viruses that could spread without notice. If the politicians refuse to depoliticize this issue . . . maybe we need to depoliticize them and send them packing in November.

The other day as I finished scrubbing the sixth toilet in our house, an amazing realization hit me. I was actually able to perform this very mundane task without a Mexican or illegal alien in sight. I pondered that thought as I went outside to join three blonde haired, blued eyed Americans and two Koreans to mulch, weed, plant, dig and generally get dirty and sweaty. Again, not a Mexican or illegal alien in sight. The next day as I watched two black workers precariously perched thirty feet high on the dead limb of a black walnut tree, trimming it up, I marveled at how we, just a helpless caucasian woman and two black men, could function without an illegal alien by our side.

After this revelation, as I drove into our farm I noticed four strong blonde haired blue eyed men up to their elbows in cement, mud, back-hoes and other farm equipment. As I pulled on my overalls to help pull cement, I kept looking around for the Mexicans to come do this dirty work for us that liberals tell us Americans refuse to do themselves.

I don’t know many Americans who are not capable of cooking their own meals, washing their own clothes, scrubbing their own floors and toilets, driving their own kids to school, or doing their own yard work. The ones that can’t, are politely called “physically challenged”, since handicapped has been determined to be moniker of disrespect. So which Americans are the liberals referring to that are not used to this type of hard work and do it routinely without assistance from a single illegal alien? That must be the “other” America that John Edwards was always talking about in the last election.

What we are learning from the Hillarys, Kennedys, John McCains, and Howard Deans of the world is that THEY are not used to scrubbing their own toilets, pulling their own weeds, and farming their own land. They really think that all Americans are as privileged as John Kerry and have a butler to attend his every need, 24/7, dispensing Tic Tacs, bottled water and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches like a dutiful servant. They only see blacks and hispanics as their step-n-fetch-its and want to maintain that servant class to keep themselves in the life style which they have become accustomed, but the rest of the world could only dream of.

The vast majority of Americans are not that fortunate. And in-spite of the hope by the left, that America will come to a grinding halt on Monday, May 1, when all illegal aliens refuse to work to show our total and ultimate dependency on them for our very existence, if you cock your ear, I bet you will still hear the sound of plungers plunging and lawn mowers purring. How incredibly insulting to every single working American to suggest that we are so lazy that we can’t take care of ourselves, would starve if the local restaurants closed for such a boycott, and if Pedro and Paco weren’t standing on the corner, waiting to be picked up for some odd job.

I have an idea for the immigration service that claims they can’t possible round up all the illegal aliens who are here working illegally, taking jobs that, yes, Americans would gladly take if given the chance and even the training. Go to the next rally with illegal aliens flaunting their crime, ask Hillary or Ted if you can borrow their microphone and make a quick announcement that they are all under arrest and will be deported after Hillary and the other liberal enablers finish their panderfest. How hard can that be?

What message is our elected officials, the law makers who empower the law breakers, sending to our kids? They are taught to skip school to attend rallies for people who have blatantly broken the law and now demand full citizenship. They see US Senators honoring this type of illegal behavior and congressmen slug cops on Capitol Hill. They see child molesters get a slap on the wrist and private business given a pass by the Supreme Court to come in and take your property through eminent domain because it increases the tax base. There are basically two sets of laws in this country and our kids are learning fast that many are irrelevant and don’t need to be obeyed.

Our elected officials, by being complicit with illegal behavior, are nurturing the very dangerous weed of anarchy in our country. The two classes are those with power and those without. There are the elite Cynthia McKinnys of the world who refuse to play by the rules and punch cops when they are called on it, while he is blamed for their actions. There are the public school children who are given extra credit for cutting school and attending rallies that promote illegal behavior and given kudos for defacing the American flag and paying homage to the flag of another country, while kids that just want to pray quietly are vilified as dangerous and extreme.

If this really is the new America that the left is trying to design, then I say we should all play. Isn’t that what anarchy is all about . . .we each live by our own set of rules and guidelines? So those who decide they don’t want to pay taxes, stop at red lights, follow the speed limit, send their kids to school, should be honored for their reinterpretation of the law as our law makers are. They should not fear retribution, deportation, fining, incarceration . . . it should be celebrated as a new civil right to do what you want, when you want to.

If the borders are not going to be protected, if the government is not going to live up to its main mandate, which is to protect us at home and abroad, then it will be up to each one of us to protect ourselves. Since the second Amendment is very clear that every single American has the right to keep and bear arms then perhaps we need to get back to basics and do for ourselves what our government and elected officials . . . including the president, are refusing to do. That is what anarchy breeds. Is that what they really want? Because to do nothing in the wake of blatant law breaking by people who could care less about border protocols, and lawmakers who empower them as we are battling a force that would destroy us if they could, they really are leaving Americans no choice but to take up arms and defend themselves against potential terror that is coming over the border daily.

Americans only have themselves to blame if they continue to allow their elected officials to ignore the law and pander to an illegal group of people they are desperate to have vote for them in the next election. As I have said before. . . . take voting off the table . . .no illegal alien should EVER get the right to vote, even if given amnesty and permanent residency status. With that off the table, the left would sulk away and find another victim class to promote and manipulate.

Voters need to look at two issues in November and vote accordingly . . . regardless of political party. They need to look at border security and illegal immigration. All other issues are moot if these aren’t nipped in the bud, and we need elected officials with the backbone to address these issues and fulfill their duty as lawmakers.

And if neither party will step up to the plate and support the protection of our borders, perhaps it is time for a third party that will. How appropriate that I started this article talking about cleaning toilets, because it is time to use them or get off.

(but they won’t be for long if they can never vote)

Can’t you just picture Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton as little orphan beggars, peering longingly into the warm house filled with people who used to think they were cute and entertaining. But alas, the shine is off their victim status and a new minority group has replaced them in the hearts and minds of the liberals who see only one thing when they touch the hand of the newly “oppressed” illegal immigrants. They see votes.

Yes, votes, lots and lots of votes from the new class of people who have not only broken the law, but can’t even read the law they have broken.

What is most interesting about the unseating of a permanent victim class created by the liberals is the heartless repetition of the act. One hundred and fifty years ago they viewed blacks as only good enough to work our fields, clean our houses, feed our horses (now it is drive our cars), etc., etc. Hillary gave a very complete list of what she expects the new victim class to accept as their role in their new American home which will gladly open the doors for such servitude . . .slavery by any other word . . . in exchange for votes.

That is how the Democrats see all Hispanics. Odd . . .that was how they saw all blacks not that many years ago. Then the light went on and they realized they could capture their affection by promising money that wasn’t theirs, jobs that didn’t exist and homes that were only a poor and cruel reflection of the true American dream. . . . in exchange for votes.

Oh, and let’s not forget our lily-livered Republicans who quiver in fear at the hint of the “R” word. They caved years ago because the Democrats told them to. They said they were racists and the Republicans dutifully accepted that mantel of insult because their spine was surgically removed decades ago by duplicitous bigots who craved power at any cost, leaving well-meaning Republicans pondering their fate over brie and champaign. “But we were the party that freed the slaves, fought for integration and against oppression. We were the party that gave our lives and fortunes to end slavery and overturn Democrat imposed Jim Crow laws. Why are they treating us like this? Oh my, please bring my smelling salts, I do feel faint.”

Heh Republican party . . . wake up and smell the aroma of power and conquest sprinkled with the old herb of socialism and communal group think. You really can’t be this stupid!!

Ok, it’s not about you . .. but you can be so consistently tiresome, so perpetually intimidated, and eternally clueless. Do you really think by playing the pandering game that you can out pander the pandering experts? When you have radio shows playing, back to back, Hillary yelling to staged crowds about her support for illegal immigrants’ right to work, and Hillary saying at another time, in a parallel political universe, “I am adamantly against illegal immigrants. People have to stop employing illegal immigrants,” you must bow in awe. That, my Republican friends is a masterful example of pandering that pits the queen of such against you pitiful wannabes.

But there is one thing that would take the whole immigration issue off the table and thankfully force Ted Kennedy to stop feeling compelled to speak spanish. Tell all the illegal immigrants they can stay … .give them amnesty, etc. etc. . . .but tell them that because they broke the law to get here, they can never vote . . . ever. They would get a sort of permanent residency status, but not full citizenship so they can continue to scrub Hillary’s toilets and work in Ted’s gardens, but they can’t vote for them.

Oh, that’s not fair you say? Well, tell that to America citizens sitting in jail who have broken the law who have lost the right to vote. G. Gordon Liddy can’t vote, but a Mexican who has broken the law, and can’t even speak english can? Just take voting off the table and we will not be forced to watch the embarrassing sloberfest hosted by both political parties. They will be forced to actually think about what is best for the country, not their own political careers. They will be free to be honest about protecting the borders and not worry that they are called bigots or racists.

And it would force consistent treatment of immigrant classes. Why is it that liberals are so anxious to turn illegals who come over the southern borders into citizens, yet they demand that all Cubans who come here by boat, be sent back to the darling of the left, Castro? It’s the votes. They know that Cubans traditionally support Republicans because Republicans have supported their struggle to gain freedom from real tyranny . . . not economic hardship.

And why is it that when the unemployment numbers go down, all the left can do is smirk and say, “yeah, but it is just the low paying jobs that are being filled,” while insisting that we need illegals to fill the low paying jobs that no one wants. They love the low paying jobs when it suits their self-serving agenda. Aren’t they cute?

But what does the new love affair between the Democrats and illegal immigrants mean for the black community that has loyally supported the party, blindly accepting every piece of legislation or nutty candidate they field? They truly will become a disenfranchised minority because the Democrats will make sure their new found friends will now get all the goodies, and be tapped as the newest victim class to perfectly compliment their pandering positions.

Blacks could join the Republican party and actually become politically relevant for the first time in decades, but they don’t feel the warm fuzzies from the party. Heh black America . . .get over it. The Republican party was founded to free the slaves and give equal rights to all freed slaves, while the Democrats opposed their freedom at every turn. Take ownership of the party . . .it is yours. Don’t wait to be invited in . . . knock on the door and introduce yourself as a descendant of the people who inspired the very founding of the party.

The Democrats have targeted and identified their new victim class as their cause celeb and they don’t need the black community to give them that one or two point edge any more. Unless, of course, courageous Republicans, step up and take the right to vote for illegal aliens, off the table and become the skunk at the panderfest. But that takes courage . .. something we are not seeing these days, from our elected officials.

Yeah, that’s how the left was spinning a very common hunting accident, known affectionately as, peppering. Ask any hunter about their experiences with birdshot gone astray and they will regale you, for hours, if you let them, about the most amazing and often, humorous stories of their hunting adventures.

If you ever attend an event where Senator Conrad Burns and Congressman Dick Schulze are standing together, they both invite you to feel the buckshot that is still rolling around in their hands. Dick was shot by Congressman Bob Livingston, and Burns was shot by a 17-year-old kid you received a kind note from him with some of the buckshot taped to it. The buckshot will work its way out of the skin after a while and you just pick it out. Dick says that Bob sent him a little metal detector and some tweezers as a joke and his friends tease him about setting off metal detectors at the airport.

OK, this is where I pause while liberals pitch a fit that we could be so cavalier about hunting accidents and how dangerous and deadly guns are, blah blah blah. Listen, when they pitch fits of outrage at radical Muslims who burn buildings, cut off heads and blowup innocent people, then I might take their concern for hunting accidents, a little more seriously.

It is also interesting that the Vice President didn’t ask anyone else to take the fall for him, unlike when John Kerry did take the fall for himself on a ski slope, but choose to blame a secret service agent, 50 feet away. Ok, falling on a ski slope is not like a hunting accident, but it does show the character of each man. And because there is no comparison, why would John Kerry care that people knew it was actually he who caused his own downfall . . . and not the secret service agent, and why was the press complicit in “covering it up” as though it really was something significant?

I sometimes think that liberals must possess the same genetic predisposition to inconsistently apply standards to similar cases, depending upon who is involved. For instance, Ted Kennedy waits until the next day to tell anyone that he has murdered a woman and nonchalantly nibbles on his eggs benedict while the fish are nibbling on her. Was there an outcry in the monolithic media that he was trying to cover up a murder? No, there was no need, since they successfully covered it up for him. But Vice President Cheney shoots his friend, Harry Whittington, in a hunting accident with a handful of be-bes and you would think that he is the reincarnation of Saddam Hussein. No, wait, liberals love him. Well, you get the picture.

One problem with liberals is that they were denied the privilege of owning guns as kids and missed out on the most American of all motherly warnings . . . “Be careful with that be-be gun, or you’ll shoot someone’s eye out.” Well, we were careful, and accidents did happen, but no one ever suggested that we be sent to some impeachment detention center. Growing up with guns, for the vast majority of Americans, was just a fact of life . .. for baby boomers at least.

But one of the most interesting things about the liberal media’s mass temper tantrum other than the fact that they didn’t get that great shot of Harry lying in a pool of blood with Cheney standing over him, gun in hand, is how out of touch with reality they are.

I was at an event the same night, only a couple of hours after the accident occurred, and everyone was talking about the shooting, and actually speculating on the field day the press would have when they learned about it. Now think about that statement and unravel where the source of the news must have come from. Earth to NY Times, CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS, et al . . . you guys don’t control the news any more. You aren’t even a close second. The inmates are running the asylum now and it is your worst nightmare.

We have this new invention, thanks to Al Gore, called the Internet. And a slightly older invention, thanks to Alexander Graham Bell, called the telephone. No longer do families gather around the dining room table, tuning the dial to Edward R. Murrow, waiting breathlessly for his brand of the truth. No longer do the big three networks keep America waiting until the six o’clock hour to distill the “news” into the perfect blend that they want us to consume. News flash . . . we are all the news now. We can make it, break, it shake it or stake it . .. . just like you guys have done for years.

You rant and rave and pout and protest that they didn’t tell you first so that what . . . .you could put your spin on it and then recycle it back to us? There were dozens of people present or knowing of the accident within the firing of the fateful shot. The thought that I am sure did not cross their minds was, “oh my gosh, everyone, don’t move a muscle until I get the White House press corp in here.” And why weren’t they there? I don’t know . . . why weren’t they with Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky in the oval office? Because these events . . . according to liberals, are private and the public doesn’t have the right to know what happens in the private moments of an elected official’s life.

Another point, that the tantrum-throwing press is missing is that the accident on the Armstrong farm could have gone either way because Cheney wasn’t the only one walking around with a loaded gun, the way dictators do in oppressive regimes. There were others who had loaded guns, walking with him in the same sport, with the same opportunity to shoot him at any time. This is a perfect illustration of what true equality and freedom represents that people living in oppressive regimes could never understand.

We witnessed in Atlanta, at the funeral for Coretta Scott King, the trashing of a president . . . right in front of him, and did not see armed soldiers come in and arrest the “people of poor taste.” President Bush was a fellow mourner, with equal access to a microphone and the opportunity to trash the other side or to make political statements, but he chose to honor the memory of a great woman . . . not take pot shots at his enemies. VP Cheney was hunting side by side with fellow hunters . . . all carrying loaded guns and any of them, including Cheney, could have been shot, or even killed. That is the wonder of the nuances of freedom of expression, choice, and even adventure. You never know what is going to come out of someone’s mouth . . . or their gun. But it all seems to work out with a system based on absolutes, judicial restraint, equal access, free expression, and a wide variety of opportunities to live the way we choose, and to invite others to feel the pellets under the skin which represent these choices and consequences.