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Sometimes NRO reads as if they are nothing but Republican Party cheerleaders, utterly devoid of any principle except party uber alles. But Ramesh Ponnuru is resolute in refusing to put on a skirt and wave pom-poms simply because it’s an election year. He provides a brief history of George Bush on campaign finance reform:

1) I’m against it, and you should vote for me over John McCain on this basis.

2) Some campaign-finance reforms amount to a restriction on free speech, and I’ll veto them on that basis.

3) I’ll sign the bill, let the judges sort it out.

4) The bill I just signed bans all those George Soros ads.

5) I’m going to sue to get those ads all banned.

6) I’m going to support legislation to ban those ads that I already banned, even though they used to be free speech.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, this man is the man that many conservatives, Christians and Republicans regularly hold up as a model of character and integrity. Which makes me assume that their position on the War on Drugs must be highly, highly hypocritical.

After perusing the deputy editorial editor’s response to the second Powerline article tearing apart the increasingly bizarre claims of the Kerry campaign in the Star Tribune, I penned the following letter to the paper’s editor:

Dear Mr. Ringham,

I hope, sir, that you are embarrassed and appalled by the complete lack of journalistic integrity and competence demonstrated by Jim Boyd in the Star Tribune today. Do you seriously believe that the following statement passes for a credible response to the second Hinderaker-Johnson piece?

“Now comes their second piece. I could do extensive line-by-line analysis, but I will not. It would take space I do not have.”

Considering that the digital bits available at www.startribune.com should be more than adequate to fulfill Mr. Boyd’s no doubt copious needs, and to which his piece in the paper could easily refer, this sounds suspiciously like empty words. Also, is “Moonie paper” an acceptable religious slur now? My AP Stylebook wasn’t clear on the preferred term.

Mr. Ringham, this is truly pathetic. I have been reading the Star Tribune for 19 years, and I cannot recall a shoddier, more haplessly incompetent editorial. Congratulations on allowing Mr. Boyd to take the paper to depths hitherto unknown.

In disbelief,

Vox Day

Universal Press Syndicate

CS objects vociferously:

ANOTHER SKIN-HEAD, AIR-HEAD, SUPERCILIOUS, — AND, I BELIEVE, COWARDLY — “INTELLECTUAL” JERK — OF THE LOST — FREE-LOVE — GENERATION — WITHOUT ANY TRACE OF CHARACTER.

-Retired U.S. Naval Officer (amphibious gunnery)

wounded (I actually bled – and lost consciousness) , but never photographed – never applied for “Hero-First-Class” — or medals

Retired Corporate President

Some people believe that military veterans are above criticism regardless of the subject. Having grown up with a few highly decorated veterans in the family, I do not share that belief. I sent CS the following email:

Afraid of the facts, are you? There are various types of cowardice, sir, and you are exhibiting the intellectual variety. And it’s profoundly silly to attempt to make character judgments on a complete lack of information. Or perhaps you seriously believe that a failure to bow down and lick the jackboot indicates a LACK of character.

There are plenty of veterans who fought, bled, and even lost consciousness who agree with me. They swore to defend the very Constitution on which George Bush now pissing. Didn’t you?

The Lonely One types through the tears:

In the last ten years or so, I have actually had several guys ask me directly to be their friend. Hmmmm. To me friendship just becomes…one day you both notice you are friends, and it feels right. Maybe at some point, you make some sort of a commitment, perhaps engage in some sort of bonding event, and you realize you have become more than friends, have become in fact Best Friends. A group of these, hanging together, is a joyous thing. And it has been a very long time since I’ve experienced such a thing.

No, it has been my experience that a friend is just some guy who will f— your wife/girlfriend/sister if he gets a snootful and half a chance. Some guy who will borrow your money and your stuff and then balk when the favor needs returning. Some guy who will listen to you drunkenly spill your innermost secrets, and then laugh about them and share them with people you do not like.

It’s not easy being green, Kermit. Friendship can be difficult for many men, though it’s not really that hard. It’s just about having someone you trust watching your back, and watching theirs in return. But to have a friend you must first be a friend.

It’s a two-way street. You have to accept the fact that sometimes you have to put them first, whether that involves not hitting on a smoking-hot girlfriend who’s good-to-go or listening to the world’s most boring soliloquy on the arcane minutae of import-export law for 45 minutes and occasionally asking questions instead of slitting your wrists. And in return, they won’t even think twice about rolling you out of the drunken innermost secrets that have risen from the pit of your stomach thanks to the evils of the shot glass*, lying to anyone that needs lying to, and wading in to beat down someone they don’t have anything against just because you can’t keep your stupid mouth shut.

They’ll never once tell you how much they care about you – something on the order of “you’re seriously a complete asshole, do you know that?” will instead be heard, and often – but you never doubt, question or even think about it. You know it because they show it.

I don’t need to hear my friends making declarations of undying affection. Sweet snow-capped mountains on high, I absolutely don’t WANT to hear anything even approaching that and would think less of them if they did.** And I could easily write an encyclopedic chronicle of their flaws, shortcomings and annoying idiosyncracies, seeing that they are respectively a prickly bastard, a latent freak and a mama’s boy. But if they say your ass needs kicking, my foot is already on its way. If they need something, the answer is when, not what. That’s just how it is.

I know some unfortunate men who are friendless, and it’s largely because they expect things to revolve around them. And sometimes things do, but you have to understand that unless you give something back to another person, there will soon be nothing left to take.

And besides, Bane forgets that he’s got the whole virtual gang, Nate, Gypsy, Zod et al. It’s like having real friends whose favorite sport is shooting the breeze and ragging on each other, with the added benefit that they won’t drink your beer.

*That they bought, the bastards. And landed you in jail. On your birthday.

**The correct response to any such mawkish womanly sentiment is, of course, a classic schoolyard standby expressing one’s opinion on the speaker’s unfortunate lack of heterosexual orientation.

Sorry about the blogless day. I was a bit pressed for time, wrapping up the first three chapters of Media Whores along with the proposal. So, we’ll wait and see if the publisher embraces it or finds it to be completely over the top.

In any case, this is the spot to discuss Monday’s column. I imagine we’ll have a some interesting responses, as it’s not one that pulls its punches. I expect most of the responses will evade the central point, however, as is too often the case.

Former Navy Secretary John Lehman has no idea where a Silver Star citation displayed on Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry’s campaign Web site came from, he said Friday. The citation appears over Lehman’s signature.

“It is a total mystery to me. I never saw it. I never signed it. I never approved it. And the additional language it contains was not written by me,” he said.

The additional language varied from the two previous citations, signed first by Adm. Elmo Zumwalt and then Adm. John Hyland, which themselves differ. The new material added in the Lehman citation reads in part: “By his brave actions, bold initiative, and unwavering devotion to duty, Lieutenant (jg) Kerry reflected great credit upon himself….”

Asked how the citation could have been executed over his signature without his knowledge, Lehman said: “I have no idea. I can only imagine they were signed by an autopen.” The autopen is a device often used in the routine execution of executive documents in government.

Perhaps a team of “plumbers” snuck into the Pentagon and signed the citation? Kerry just keeps on looking more and more viable, doesn’t he.

Jamie goes out on a limb:

This is it VD. Get ready to rile up White Buffalo. I’m staking my reputation on this being the last time we’ll see these levels for a long time to come. Check out the volume, the resistance lines at this point, the candlestick from yesterday’s trade… you can see how they are black (black positive from open, red negative from open), that means traders tried to push it higher at the open and there was simply no volume there (haven’t seen volume that low since the Christmas holiday period), but it did close higher than the open – a very bad sign for those who were foolish enough to go long. The short little wick at the top on the candlestick means even the small gang of buyers met some small early sellers at the resistance line, and they couldn’t even push back. The big shorters will play their hand now, it appears to me that they’ve decided to wait on the buyers exhausting themselves… not only that, but the oil price hit on support at $42.50, and appears to be heading back up. Ooh, this is going to be good!

This is a top, I’m telling you, I’m calling it this time. This is a top! A top!!!!!!!

I have only one question. What reputation? Regardless of what happens in the markets, you’ll still be Tha Freak From Down Under.

One of two Russian airliners that crashed nearly simultaneously was brought down by a terrorist act, officials said Friday, after finding traces of explosives in the plane’s wreckage. A Web site connected to Islamic militants claimed the action was connected to Russia’s fight against Chechen separatists.

Ah, but the Russians have clearly failed to account for the probability that the traces were placed there previously as part of a dog-sniffing exercise. After all, traces of explosive were found in the wreckage of TWA 800, and we all know that that was just, um, a randomly exploding fuel tank, right?

The White House has drafted executive orders aimed at implementing the Sept. 11 commission’s recommendations for a more powerful intelligence director and a new national counterterrorism center. Bush administration and congressional officials said Thursday drafts of executive orders are circulating among an interagency group for approval. One of the officials said the White House is floating three proposals, and asking for feedback by Friday. The orders would:

– Enhance the powers of the government’s intelligence chief and create a national intelligence director.

– Form a national counterterrorism center, putting that office under the new intelligence director and giving the director the power to decide who runs it.

– Form a national counterterrorism center, putting that office under the new intelligence director and giving the director the power to decide who runs it.

– Improve information sharing with directions aimed at facilitating the exchange information among intelligence agencies.

George Delano, expanding and centralizing the Federal government again. Who would have thunk it? Yes, he’s really the heir to Reagan, isn’t he. I can just hear Ronnie’s voice now: “there you go again….”

I imagine this will sound pretty good to Bane and company, until they think about it and realize that the next Democrat in the White House is going to be using this new and improved and empowered organization against freaks like them. Never give any power to government that you wouldn’t want your worst enemy to wield. Because eventually, he will.

There is only one solution

To a problem you consider

You must always make it bigger

And forget the Constitution.

President Bush yesterday joined forces with Sen. John McCain, Arizona Republican, to mount legal and legislative challenges to third-party attack ads, including those that question Sen. John Kerry’s Vietnam record.

The move came as new polls by Gallup, the Los Angeles Times and Rasmussen showed Mr. Bush edging ahead of the Massachusetts Democrat in advance of next week’s Republican National Convention. The first two polls attributed the shift to a series of anti-Kerry ads by Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. But the president wants to stop the ads, along with other spots by third-party groups, known as 527s because of their tax designation. Yesterday, he telephoned Mr. McCain, a former Vietnam prisoner of war, from Air Force One and enlisted him in a planned lawsuit to force the Federal Elections Commission (FEC) to quash the ads.

“Since the FEC failed to act, we would now be asking the courts to force the FEC to act to shut down all this activity,” White House press secretary Scott McClellan said. “There would be a lawsuit. The president said if the court action doesn’t work, then he would be willing to pursue legislative action and work with Senator McCain on that.”

What was that about “Congress shall make no law?” I never believed that George Bush signed the violation of free speech known as “campaign-finance reform” into law hoping that it would be rejected as Constitutional. His marked enthusiasm for curbing free speech, even that which assists him, seems to support my initial skepticism.

I can just hear the Republican media whores now. “Sure, he’s eradicating free speech, but don’t you know there’s a war on!” Yeah, no one’s ever used that excuse before.