Free Republic

Half-baked Barbara By John McCaslin October 7, 2005 It's not easy being the master of ceremonies for a roast when half of the roasters don't show up. Ask political commentator Mark Shields, who found himself in that uncomfortable position Wednesday evening as the Spina Bifida Association attempted to put TV personality Barbara Walters in the "hot seat" at the Hyatt Regency Washington. "This is more like a bake-off," a visibly embarrassed Mrs. Walters said after the roasting, expressing disappointment that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and fellow roaster Sen. Mary L. Landrieu of Louisiana were no-shows. As it...

I am just a couple of days away from launching a brand spankin' new syndicated radio show for the Washington Times called "America's Morning News" hosted by myself and the award-winning journalist and WashTimes "Inside the Beltway" columnist John McCaslin.

<p>Because news outlets like to remind President Bush how many American servicemen have died since he declared an "end" to major combat in Iraq, a new military and intelligence-themed Internet site spells out reasons for the current U.S. deployment.</p> <p>"America is at war," reminds IntelMemo.com. "We are at war against the network of international terrorists who committed the mass murders of September 11th. We are at war against the survivors of Saddam Hussein's regime and against the remnants of the Taliban in Afghanistan. Americans have died and continue to die in this struggle."</p>

 Our item on retired and active military members being asked by USAA Magazine to rank their all-time favorite military movies (the most popular, in order, were "Twelve O'Clock High," The Bridge on the River Kwai," "The Longest Day," "Patton," "The Deer Hunter," "Saving Private Ryan" and "We Were Soldiers") generated considerable response from within the ranks.  "I saw that article ... and wondered how they came up with those movies. Then I saw the writer was a retired Air Force officer. Well, no wonder," writes retired Army officer Bob Thomas of Guthrie, Okla.  "Soldiers would choose a different set of...

Blew in one ear ... You might have read about "The Old Guard" hurricane vigil. Now, "valiant" members of the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment are being saluted for their recent act of "patriotism" on Capitol Hill. "As Hurricane Isabel's winds swept over Arlington National Cemetery, the soldiers who guard the Tomb of the Unknowns were given — for the first time in history — permission to abandon their posts and seek shelter," observes House Armed Services Committee Rep. Jeff Miller, Florida Republican. "But that wasn't what was going to happen, and Sgt. Christopher Holmes knew it." To provide some background,...

<p>Days before the September 11 terror attacks, two U.S. Marines armed with a bottle of Brasso, sponges and cloths got on their knees and began polishing the brass base of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial flagpole bearing the Marine insignia.</p> <p>The pair of Marines, this column reported, undertook the late-evening buffing because the Marine Corps insignia had become "dingy and tarnished."</p>

Marking the second anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations has released a poll that, among other things, reflects American Muslim political views. Suffice it to say the majority aren't in George W. Bush's camp. Only 2 percent said they would vote for President Bush. One in 10 Muslim respondents say they support the president's Iraq policy. Asked which 2004 presidential candidate would get their vote, American Muslims (a large majority of whom vote in presidential elections) from 41 states favor former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean (26 percent), followed by Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich of...

Early this week, we wrote that President Bush was spending part of his vacation "clearing cedar" on his Texas ranch, only to have several readers write to ask what clearing cedar actually means. "Growing up in central Texas made me very familiar with the cedar trees so common and yet hated by ranchers," wrote Ronald Best, who abandoned the cedar canopy of Texas for Lakewood, Colo. "To hear that our president personally cares about his land to pitch in and clear these pesky junipers himself says a lot about why President Bush is beloved by so many Texans." How are...

<p>Cover your children's eyes next time you find them gazing upon the beautifully painted canopy of the U.S. Capitol Rotunda.</p> <p>After all, Capitol Hill Press Secretary Jim Berard reveals in his new book, "The Capitol Inside & Out" (EPM Publications Inc.), when renowned artist Constantino Brumidi painted his masterpiece fresco, "Apotheosis of Washington," 180 feet above the Rotunda floor, he seated 13 questionable ladies around the Father of Our Country.</p>

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts says President Bush "is vulnerable" in facing re-election next year, but he also admits that his Democratic Party has "our work cut out for us to win the election." Trying to drum up financial support for the 2004 presidential contest, Kennedy warns that Bush won't hesitate to spend his "bottomless" campaign fund to "smear our nominee with lies and accusations." Republicans by the end of this year could have upwards of $250 million on hand for Bush's re-election bid, while the Democratic National Committee is also beginning to fill its own presidential fund to...

After three years of legislative delays, the most-visited memorial in the nation's capital will get a visitor center. The U.S. Senate has unanimously approved legislation allowing a visitor center to be built at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, a vote that memorial-fund founder Jan C. Scruggs calls "an enormous victory for America's young people." "This educational facility will provide thousands of students each day with the opportunity to learn about service, sacrifice and patriotism at The Wall," he predicts. Last May, after several failed attempts, Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.), a Vietnam combat veteran, re-introduced legislation to build the center, along with...

<p>We're glad to see, given all the talk this week about gay "marriages," that real men are back in Washington.</p> <p>The September 2003 issue of the American Enterprise is all about men; the return of the manly politician, how Democrat and Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill are different breeds, what women want from men, manly art, the hunting male, why maleness is back in fashion, how feminism has undermined masculinity and what President Bush, Donald H. Rumsfeld, Rudolph W. Giuliani and Dick Cheney all have in common.</p>

Malaise has struck the Democratic Party in New Hampshire.Yes, a Franklin Pierce College poll of 500 likely New Hampshire Democratic presidential primary voters found former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean nosing ahead of Sen. John Kerry in a primary race that's virtually deadlocked. But, surprising at this stage of campaigning in the crucial primary state, there is a "listless" pack of candidates lagging behind and a rising number of undecided voters.In fact, according to the survey conducted by the college's Marlin Fitzwater Center for Communication, voter support of candidates is "very soft," with only 31 percent definitely committing to their...

We never thought we'd see the day that Hillary Rodham Clinton would be challenging Harry Potter. And the winner already is ... "I've ordered 400 copies of Harry Potter and 10 copies of Hillary's book," says Barbara Theroux, owner of Fact & Fiction bookstore in Missoula, Mont. Theroux says a memoir like Clinton's, Living History, will sell better in "discount places," and adds that the Missoula Public Library "will have several copies." Clinton's book hits stores Monday, June 9, and Harry's latest adventures June 21.

In addition to the wreath he laid at the Tomb of the Unknowns on Memorial Day, President Bush has once again sent a wreath to the hallowed grounds of the Confederate Monument at Arlington National Cemetery. Earlier this year, Senate Minority Whip Harry Reid (D-Nev.) - after reading a misleading article in Time magazine - took to the Senate floor to criticize the administration for having reinstituted wreath layings at the Confederate Monument, after the practice purportedly was dropped in 1990. Reid said placing such a wreath at the monument was "racially motivated." But it turned out wreaths had been...

<p>Democratic activist and actor Alec Baldwin remains in the United States, despite promising to leave the country if George W. Bush was elected president in 2000.</p> <p>This afternoon, Mr. Baldwin will be on Capitol Hill telling Mr. Bush and anybody else who will listen that the Humane Slaughter Act, signed into law in 1958 by Dwight D. Eisenhower and made tougher by former Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole, is not being enforced in the nation's slaughterhouses and factory farms.</p>

<p>Six Washington-area lawyers contacted us yesterday morning to say they'd be happy to file suit against landlord Peter Kelley, who in a letter published in this column cited a prospective tenant's Republican affiliation when rejecting the soon-to-be intern's request for housing.</p>

<p>For your reading pleasure, we bring you, verbatim, the first two paragraphs of a newspaper article published by the Journal Gazette of Huntington, Ind., following a recent talk on taxation by Rep. Dan Burton, Indiana Republican.</p> <p>"HUNTINGTON — Making his first trip to Huntington as the 5th District congressman, Rep. Dan Burton discussed tax cuts, prescription-drug costs and border patrols in a Town Hall meeting Monday.</p>

<p>Political tidbits and other shenanigans from around the nation's capital.</p> <p>The president of the American Life League is praising the Catholic Diocese of Arlington, Bishop Paul Loverde and his "faithful priests" for standing up to an outspoken U.S. representative who thinks "it's possible to be pro-abortion and remain in good standing with the Catholic Church."</p>

<p>Women paid $75 to watch pornographic videos?</p> <p>That's what this newspaper reported several months ago, writing about a study funded by the National Institutes of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).</p> <p>Purpose of the study: to determine what audiovisual erotica women find sexually arousing.</p>