The Washington Times -- America's Newspaper: "President Bush bypassed a Democratic filibuster yesterday by installing Alabama Attorney General William H. Pryor to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals - his second recess appointment in as many months."
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Hurrah for Bush again! But the Republicans must lower the boom on the conspiracy by Senate Democrats to subvert the Consitution to obstruct the process of judicial appointments.

President Bush's Judicial Nominees / Democrat Memogate: The Beginning of Political Scandal: "The tiny fraction of memos that have been released reveal a cynical, no-holds-barred manipulation of the process by leftist groups, which have amassed gigantic war chests for their efforts. The most egregious memo exposed thus far, written by a staffer to Senator Ted Kennedy, bluntly discusses an effort to affect the outcome of a then-pending case by delaying confirmation of an appeals court judge. The memo specifically recognizes the impropriety of delay for that purpose. Another memo attacks Miguel Estrada, who subsequently withdrew his nomination. His offenses: his career has left no paper trail to be picked apart; he's Latino, and was thought being groomed for the Supreme Court."
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This information must be released to the public immediately. It will out-Watergate Watergate.

Michael Medved: "In recent comments to the media, Rhys-Davies delivered his own interpretation of the epic cycle: 'I think that Tolkien says that some generations will be challenged, and if they do not rise to meet that challenge, they will lose their civilization. That does have a real resonance with me.' Leveling a stinging accusation at leading reporters, he declared: 'What is unconscionable is that too many of your fellow journalists do not understand how precarious Western civilization is, and what a jewel it is.' He went on to warn about the potentially devastating impact of the rise of aggressive, uncompromising Islamism among the growing Muslim population of Western Europe. "
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Hurrah for Gimli!!

Dennis Prager: My minute with President Bush: "I believe that this man is changing history for the better, that he is the dam holding back the waters of chaos, that he saved this country at a time when Democrats would have failed it, and that he is both kind and strong, real and decent, powerful and humble." ...

"Those who believe that a Bush re-election is indispensable to a better world can only pray that the Democrats continue to regard George W. Bush as intellectually challenged. He never was, and he has grown in these past four years so greatly that his Democratic opponent will not know what hits him in the fall debates.

"A great man resides in the White House. That is why he is hated. And that is why he will win."
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From my favorite Jew.

Charles Krauthammer: Crying wolf: "And now, after six weeks of carpet-bombing Bush, the Democrats are shocked -- shocked! -- that the Republicans might answer back with ``negativity.''"
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The libs remind me of the little boy that came crying to his mother, "Mommy, Mommy, it all started with Billy hit me back!"

OpinionJournal - Peggy Noonan: "The president bounded into the Roosevelt Room at 10:30 on a weekday morning with a flurry of aides behind him. He looked tanned, rested and perhaps preoccupied. He walked around the table and shook hands with everyone. Then he did something surprising. He sat down at the big brown meeting table and instead of offering an opening comment and then taking questions, as I'd expected, he simply talked to us about how he sees the world. He did this for 45 minutes. He was funny and frank. He made a point to make and maintain eye contact with each of us, now this one and now that, as he talked. He shared thoughts, observations and stories in a way that seemed both free-associative and thematically linked. The theme was freedom, or rather liberation--liberation in political terms, in personal terms, in the world and at home. I cannot quote him, but since the dozen who were there will soon be sharing their impressions with friends, and since you are my friends . . ."
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This is a wonderful article. Read it.

OpinionJournal - Wonder Land: "The stories the past fortnight about Khan have revealed that the nations identified as having participated between about 1970 and a moment ago in the global Get-A-Bomb market include acquirers such as Pakistan, Iran, Libya and North Korea and a long list of witting or unwitting enablers, such as Russia, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, the United Arab Emirates (Dubai), South Korea, the U.S., Britain, the Netherlands and Japan. "
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If there is anything that really needs to be done, it would be for President Bush to tell us what he really knows about Russia, Germany, France,and the rest of the bunch who have been aiding and abetting the nuclear arms race. Read this story.

My Excite: "Nothing will ever be attempted, if all possible objections must first be overcome.
- Samuel Johnson"

Russian missile launch goes wrong - again - FEB 20, 2004: "An intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) fired from the nuclear submarine Karelia in the Barents Sea veered wildly off course 98 seconds after launch and then self-destructed, a navy spokesman said."
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Yesterday, Putin said that Russia's new missile would be able to evade any anti-ballistic missile system. He forgot to tell us that it couldn't hit its target. Oh, Well.

George Will is a "house" conservative, and establishment conservative, but he makes real sense in this article.

New York Post Online Edition: postopinion: "John Kerry and John Edwards, who are not speaking under oath and who know that economic illiteracy has never been a disqualification for high office, have led the scrum against the chairman of the president's Council of Economic Advisers, N. Gregory Mankiw, who said the arguments for free trade apply to trade in services as well as manufactured goods. But the prize for the pithiest nonsense went to Hastert: 'An economy suffers when jobs disappear.' "

This is from Osama al-Ghazali Harb from the most important think tank in Egypt. We are winning, Americans.

Look Who's Talking: "What we, as Arabs, should truly feel humiliated about are the prevailing political and social conditions in the Arab world - especially in Iraq - which allowed someone such as Saddam Hussein to . . . assume the presidency. We should feel humiliated that Saddam was able . . . to single-handedly initiate a number of catastrophic policies that transformed Iraq, relatively rich in natural, human and financial resources, into the poorest, most debt-ridden country in the Arab world, not to mention the hundreds of thousands killed and displaced. We should feel humiliated that some of our intellectuals, supposedly the representatives of our nations' consciences and the defenders of their liberty and dignity, not only dealt with Saddam, but also supported him. . . . The Arabs should have been the ones to bring down Saddam, in defense of their own dignity and their own true interests."

OpinionJournal - Peggy Noonan: "Mr. Bush is the triumph of the seemingly average American man. He's normal. He thinks in a sort of common-sense way. He speaks the language of business and sports and politics. You know him. He's not exotic. But if there's a fire on the block, he'll run out and help. He'll help direct the rig to the right house and count the kids coming out and say, 'Where's Sally?' He's responsible. He's not an intellectual. Intellectuals start all the trouble in the world. And then when the fire comes they say, 'I warned Joe about that furnace.' And, 'Does Joe have children?' And 'I saw a fire once. It spreads like syrup. No, it spreads like explosive syrup. No, it's formidable and yet fleeting.' When the fire comes they talk. Bush ain't that guy. Republicans love the guy who ain't that guy. Americans love the guy who ain't that guy."

NewsMax.com: Inside Cover Story: "At a January 3 fundraiser in Missouri, Mrs. Clinton mentioned the civil rights leader, saying, 'Mahatma Gandhi - he ran a gas station down in St. Louis for a couple of years. Mr. Gandhi, you still go to the gas station? A lot of wisdom comes out of that gas station.'
Four days later Mrs. Clinton said she 'regretted' the 'lame attempt at humor.' But Sylvester Fernandez, a spokesman for 'Proud Indian-Americans' told NewsMax, 'That's not enough!'
'She offended 1.1 billion Indians all over the world,' he complained, after plans for the demonstration were reported on WABC Radio Wednesday morning."
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I think it is delicious. I always rejoice when some of these folk who have made a career of setting one race against another get hoist by their own petard. What fun!

My wife and I spent the weekend meandering here and there. On Saturday night we had dinner with Matt in Limon, and had Katie go through all her tricks. She knows the answers to three questions in the children's catechism and sings her happy song. She does many other things.

Sunday morning I taught Sunday School and preached in Swink at the RCUS mission there. After church we drove back to Colorado Springs and I taught Sunday school at Trinity RCUS. After church, Penny and I drove to Estes Park and stayed overnight in the historic Stanley Hotel. It seems there were two Stanley brothers who made a fortune in the 19th century manufacturing dry photographic plates. One of the brothers built the marvellous hotel in Estes Park where, I am told, inspiration came for the movie "The Shining" although the movie was shot elsewhere. The other Stanley brother invented and manufactured the famous Stanley Steamer, the steam driven horseless carriage. One of his creations is on display in the lobby. I had read about the Stanley Steamer all my life, but had never seen one. It was worth the trip.

We had a thoroughly wonderful time.