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Last week, John Walker Lindh  petitioned the president to commute his 20-year sentence for fighting with the Taliban, imposed in 2002.  It’s a shame that this pampered child of Marin County is sitting in a cell for something as trivial as treason. Under a plea bargain, Walker Lindh (AKA: Abdul Hamid, AKA: Sulayman Al-Lindh) pleaded guilty to supplying services to the Taliban regime and carrying explosives for  Afghanistan’s former rulers.Which is like to saying that Benedict Arnold supplied services to George III. Johnny Jihad trained in an al-Qaeda camp – where he learned to fire an AK-47 and rubbed elbows...

The author of Unfit for Command was a law clerk for the late Chief Justice and remembers him fondly.The busts of the Chief Justices of the United States stand facing each other two-by-two across the Great Hall of the Supreme Court Building. Hughes and Taft, Vinson and Warren the fifteen statues march slowly to the courtroom doors, marking silently the progression of our nation's history. There is an empty niche immediately outside the doors of the Great Courtroom. Soon that niche will be filled with a marble depiction of Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist—the last World War II veteran to...

L.Brent Bozell III's Media Research Center was confounding liberal media types well before any bloggers hooked up their modems. Nailing ideologues left and far left is the Center's specialty, especially at its annual Media DisHonors Awards gala, which took place Thursday at the J.W. Marriott. Good thing some journalists still haven't gotten the memo about liberal bias. Conservative talk titans Sean Hannity, Neal Boortz and recent Time cover girl Ann Coulter were all there to stick it to scribes who can't help letting their guard down-- and biases show. CBS' Dan Rather, who left his anchor chair last month after...

Note: the parody CD discussed below is the brainchild of a couple of "FReepers." The owner of the website FreeRepublic.com has no financial interest or any other interest in the company Right Wing Parodies LLC or in the album. ==================================================================== 3-24-05 It is a CD that will certainly cause some controversy. Oh, those mean right wingers. Look what they are doing now. Right Wing Parodies LLC has announced the release of its parody CD - YOU'VE BEEN FREEPED, Vol. 1. The CD skewers Democratic politicians and other disgusting folk without mercy. To be "FReeped" is a term used on the...

What a thrill. John O'Neill, the man who led the group that kept John Kerry out of the White House, left me a great message today. Yesterday, I left a message on his machine asking where I could send him a copy of YOU'VE BEEN FREEPED, Vol. 1, which contains the song that honors the Swift Vets --- ONE FINE SOLDIER. John said that he loved the song and was "tremendously honored." His son burned a CD and added it to his favorite songs. He also said he would never forget and and all the guys (I presume his Swiftee...

Confrontation with John Kerry A confrontation with Senator John Kerry and a very negative response for our Washington Bureau Chief. Things haven't changed in the five months since Kerry lost the presidential race. This time someone wants to make sure he loses his next run for the senate. Washingon Bureau Chief Don Hammond tracked Kerry down.

from the web: Kerry was droning about his opposition to ANWR at his OWN news conference. Hammond jumped up: HAMMOND: Senator Kerry, I'm Don Hammond from News Central. Can I ask you one question? KERRY: Excuse me? HAMMOND: Thank you very much. A great measure of a democracy also is letting people ask questions in forums such as this. KERRY: Everybody's going to ask their questions, you know, and you clearly have a loud voice and will be able to get your voice -- [laughter] HAMMOND: Thank you so much. And I know you shifted a little bit from ANWR...

WASHINGTON -- When compiling a list of genuine reformers in the United States Senate, a name that does not spring automatically to mind is that of Trent Lott of Mississippi. But the Republican former majority leader has seized the role and is driving hard to end the worst abuses of the last presidential campaign. Those abuses stemmed from the expansion of so-called 527 groups, nominally independent political organizations that collected $400 million in essentially unregulated funds and poured them into TV ad campaigns, often of the nastiest variety. Democrats were the main abusers, with billionaire George Soros and friends financing...

Sen. Ted Kennedy has already announced his pick for the 2008 presidential race, and it's the same candidate he backed in 2004. Asked if he'd be climbing aboard the Hillary Clinton bandwagon, Kennedy told ABC's "This Week": "I'm from Massachusetts. And we have a candidate, I think, probably up there as well." Asked specifically if Sen. John Kerry had his support for 2008, Kennedy said, "Oh, yes . . My Man's John Kerry." And what about Mrs. Clinton? "I have enormous respect for Sen. Clinton," Kennedy said. "I admire her, I respect her. She's qualified for whatever job she achieves."

Maureen Dowd's column on Sunday was full of the usual hyperbole and ridiculousness, but one phrase in particular stood out: "This White House seems to prefer softball questions from a self-advertised male escort with a fake name to hardball questions from journalists with real names..." I'm confused. Every day Scott McLellan steps into a room filled with big-name journalists - some, like the now-retired Helen Thomas, with political leanings every bit as far to the left as Gannon's were to the right - who ask their "hardball questions." It may be a bit of an overstatement to say the White...

It's like a Washington sequel to "Reservoir Dogs." Finally rested up from their cynical assault last year on John Kerry's patriotism, the most ruthless smear squad in American politics is back together again. And they're revving up for another nasty job. Their latest ugly enterprise? Sliming the AARP, which had the nerve to come out against President Bush's plan to privatize Social Security. This is the same gang of rhetorical hatchet men behind the deceptively named Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. During last year's presidential campaign, they were telling vicious lies about Kerry's combat record in Vietnam. Now, they're turning...

Zell Miller to speak..

Euphoric after a big election victory, the organizers of this year's Conservative Political Action Conference say it's only fitting to pay tribute to the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth for helping to stop Sen. John Kerry's presidential bid. Former Georgia Sen. Zell Miller, the Democrat credited with giving one of the most memorable speeches in favor of President Bush at the Republican National Convention this summer, will present the award to Adm. Roy Hoffman (Ret.), founder and chairman of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. "For a second time, the Swift Boat Veterans stepped up to serve their country honorably...

Sunday on "Meet the Press" John Kerry finally agreed to sign the famous Form 180, releasing his full military records. John O'Neill, co-author of Unfit for Command and many other critics of Sen. Kerry's war record have long called on him to release all records. No details were yet given on when or where Kerry would actually sign the long-sought-after release. Key excerpt from Sunday's "Meet the Press": MR. RUSSERT: Many people who’ve been criticizing you have said: Senator, if you would just do one thing and that is sign Form 180, which would allow historians and journalists complete access...

Stephanie Cutter, the controversial John Kerry for President mouth who was eviscerated by Newsweek and who was blamed for some of the campaign's worst blunders, reportedly is negotiating a return to Ted Kennedy's Senate staff. Sources say Cutter's second stint in Kennedy's communications office is a done deal, a development that has seasoned politicos shaking their heads. ``It's a mystery,'' said one Senate snitch. ``It's very puzzling. People don't know how to digest it.'' But the senior senator is apparently a big fan of the thirtysomething blonde. ``Stephanie is one of the best in the business and would be a...

US Democratic Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts, who had hoped to replace George W. Bush as president yesterday, instead sat in the cold and clapped as the Republican began a second four-year term. Iowa Democratic Senator Tom Harkin patted Senator Kerry on the back shortly before the inauguration Senator Kerry had hoped would be his. As Mr Bush delivered his inaugural address, Senator Kerry, about 10m away on the steps of the US Capitol, joined other lawmakers and the crowd in repeated applause. Senator Kerry looked relaxed, at times wistful. He frequently smiled, able to hide any disappointment over what...

Leaders of prominent "527" military service veterans groups, film producers, Websites and authors who made substantial contributions to the veterans revolt against Senator John Kerry's 2004 Presidential bid were honored by their supporters at an "Un-augural" reception at the National Press Club Thursday. Unlike the scores of balls, parades and fetes typical of the frenetic day, the tongue-in-cheek event at the Club's First Amendment room was, according to organizer Lou Priebe, geared to "celebrate the absence of Senator Kerry from the Inauguration Day proceedings, most particularly the swearing-in ceremony." U.S. Army Infantry veteran Lou Priebe added, "These courageous advocacy groups...

Bush Sworn-In, Swift Boat Vets Glad It's Not Kerry Thu Jan 20, 2005 5:53 PM ET By John Crawley WASHINGTON (Reuters) - With thousands of Republican faithful cheering the inauguration of President Bush to a second term on Thursday, a group of veterans at the forefront of the "Swift Boat" campaign banded quietly to salute their part in thwarting the candidacy of Sen. John Kerry. "Swift Boat guys were not unified in supporting George Bush. Many were independent or many were Democrats. The only point of union was that they did not want John Kerry to be president," Jerry Corsi,...

RATHER STAYS HOME; EXECUTIVES SPLIT; MOONVES LOOKS TOWARDS FUTURE *Exclusive** CBSNEWS veteran Don Hewitt called Dan Rather's disappearance from Monday's Evening News "really stupid" during a damage control meeting on Monday, sources tell the DRUDGE REPORT. One top source inside the CBS Broadcast Center claimed Rather was told to stay off the air on Monday, as a form of punishment! Chief Washington Correspondent Bob Schieffer was called in to anchor the damaged ship. CBS staffers were shocked Monday when CBS president Les Moonves suddenly tied Rather's upcoming resignation to the phony document flap, a departure from CBS's official storyline. Moonves...

"Newsweek talks exclusively with John Kerry about why he lost" promised the cover story this New Year's week, and it turns out that Senator Kerry's reflections boil down to the Nixonian. "The pundits have never liked me," he said. "Is it the way I look? The way I sound?" The rest of the press hasn't done much better. Immediately after the campaign, they decided the election was won on "values." A few days later the consensus shifted like a school of fish. Mr. Kerry lost because, as Newsweek's Evan Thomas put it, "sitting presidents are never defeated in wartime." So...