Free Republic

EARLIER THIS YEAR, I put on a brand-new tailored suit, picked up a sleek leather briefcase and headed to downtown Washington for meetings with some of the city's most prominent lobbyists. I had contacted their firms several weeks earlier, pretending to be the representative of a London-based energy company with business interests in Turkmenistan. I told them I wanted to hire the services of a firm to burnish that country's image. I didn't mention that Turkmenistan is run by an ugly, neo-Stalinist regime. They surely knew that, and besides, they didn't care. As I explained in this month's issue of...

During President Bush's first term, 10 of his judicial nominees were filibustered by Senate Democrats. This month, when the 109th Congress convened, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist finally declared war. Calling the filibusters an "unfortunate break with more than 200 years of Senate tradition," he made the Democrats an offer he hopes they can't refuse. "Right now," he said ominously, "we cannot be certain judicial filibusters will cease. So I reserve the right to propose changes to Senate Rule XXII and do not acquiesce to carrying over all the rules from the last Congress." In other words, if Democrats don't...