DASCHLE DOESN'T CARE: Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D.-S.D.), locked in a tight race for re-election with former Rep. John Thune (R.), says that he thought having the Senate consider some of the issues important to the American people was a waste of time. He told AP on September 20 that votes to preserve marriage, to protect the Pledge, and to pass a constitutional amendment to ban flag desecration were purely political. "These are issues that have no chance of passing," he said. "They are forcing the Senate to take up issues that they know are politically divisive, and that's wrong." Daschle and Thune also traded charges over support for America's national security and military after Thune said on "Meet the Press" that Daschle's negative comments about the Iraq war "embolden the enemy."
TOTAL TRUTH SOARS: Total Truth: Liberating Christianity from Its Cultural Captivity by Nancy Pearcey, wife of former HUMAN EVENTS Managing Editor Rick Pearcey, sold out two days after going on sale on Amazon August 4. The book is now in its second printing, of another 20,000 copies. With religion's role in the public square becoming an ever-more-contentious issue, such books will likely have an impact on the upcoming elections.
MONEY FROM YOU: In order to file its latest blockbuster lawsuit against the tobacco industry and thus extract even more money from Americans who smoke, the Justice Department spent an astonishing $139 million to prepare for the massive litigation. Wrote Holman W. Jenkins, Jr. in the Wall Street Journal on September 29: "To what end? In its dubious interpretation of racketeering law, the government seeks 'disgorgement' of profits earned over half a century from selling cigarettes to smokers who started before age 21-a newly identified demographic category that Justice calls the 'youth addicted population.' But those 50 years of profits were long ago distributed to shareholders." Jenkins noted that the government currently profits quite handsomely from cigarette smoking. "A pack costs about $2.15 at the factory gate, of which the industry's after-tax profit is about 17 cents. Federal excise tax takes 39 cents, while state taxes range from Virginia's 37 cents to New Jersey's $2.73," he wrote.
PIPES AT DUKE: Dr. Daniel Pipes, hated by the politically correct everywhere for writing and speaking clearly about radical Islam and its many sympathizers, will speak at Duke University on October 14 at the invitation of the Duke Conservative Union (DCU). The next day, the fourth National Student Conference of the Palestine Solidarity Movement will begin at the same school. "In addition to hosting me, the DCU is taking out full-page ads in the local newspaper to expose the conference's ties to terrorism. . .," wrote Pipes last week. "In contrast to DCU, other campus pro-Israel organizations-including several local Jewish federations, the Duke Friends of Israel, and the Freeman Center for Jewish Life (Duke's Hillel affiliate)-have come out against protesting the conference." The public is invited to Pipes' speech. Said Pipes, "The organizers of the conference deny any link between themselves and the pro-terrorist International Solidarity Movement but the DCU has established that the spokesman for the conference, an Israeli graduate student named Rann Bar-On, is himself an ISM member."
PLEDGE PROTECTION PASSES: The House on September 23 passed, 247 to 173, the Pledge Protection Act (HR 2028), sponsored by Rep. Todd Akin (R.-Mo.). The bill would strip federal courts of appellate jurisdiction to hear challenges to the constitutionality of the words "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance. "This is an essential step in stopping the overreach of activist judges," Akin said. When the U.S. Supreme Court reversed a 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling declaring the Pledge unconstitutional, it did so only on technical grounds, leaving open the possibility of a future challenge. "I am grateful for the support of the bill's 225 cosponsors, including the hard work and leadership of Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R.-Wis.), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, and House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R.-Ill.)," Akin said. Sen. Jim Talent (R.-Mo.) has a companion bill in the Senate.
