Free Republic

WASHINGTON - The House Appropriations Committee approved Thursday more than $80 million in support of projects at Edwards Air Force Base, China Lake Naval Weapons Center and for the California National Guard. "Our successes in the ongoing war on terror, as well as in the recent war in Iraq, are the result of two things: the will and strength of our soldiers and the superiority of our military technology," said Congressman Howard P. "Buck" McKeon, R-Santa Clarita. "Without the second aspect of our military strength, the first aspect becomes irrelevant. This funding is absolutely necessary to our nation's security because...

BAGHDAD - The rounds started popping in a village in the Baghdad suburbs called Al-Musaib, reputedly a holdout hotbed neighborhood of Saddam Hussein supporters. The convoy of California National Guard trucks pulled off by the side of the road to recon a route into a U.S. Army base called "Dogwood," but by dark, there was no sign of the base. So it was time to get the convoy security out - M-16s and squad automatic weapons, light machine guns that fire a 500-round belt of 5.56 mm ammunition. There it was again. No, not firecrackers. Small arms fire from Al-Musaib....

<p>Bill Simon's political team inadvertently accomplished what no one thought possible just two years ago: They ran a campaign against Democrat Gov. Gray Davis without mentioning the energy crisis.</p> <p>Team Simon tried to run the Republican candidate for governor as an ethical standard-bearer in moderate California. The strategy wasted four years of work by Republicans in the Legislature, who hammered Davis on energy missteps and then heroically sustained a budget debate until September even as it was obvious that Team Simon was doing nothing to take advantage of their efforts. Instead, the Simon campaign defied the wisdom of all its polling, its extensive focus groups and even recent California political history. It entered the ethics minefield.</p>