Go to the Human Rights Campaign webpage and punch in NAMBLA, the group's acronym.

There is not one news release that pops up presenting NAMBLA as a group that deserves widespread condemnation for its reprehensible activities. But there is a news release when the phrase `man-boy love' is punched in that pops up in which they try to distance themselves from NAMBLA in a defensive manner. Nor do they have a section in their 'issues" section that makes clear in no uncertain terms that they take exception to this awful organization and its agenda.

In my book, for such a group as the Human Rights Campaign, a leading spokesgroup for the homosexual movement, to be essentially silent about such a group like NAMBLA is to be complicit with it.

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -

Runaway Texas Democrats returned to a heroes' welcome at the Capitol on Friday after their self-imposed exile in Oklahoma killed a redistricting bill they hated. Legislative business in the House of Representatives resumed.

"Welcome home, Texas heroes," one sign read as the lawmakers stepped up to the Capitol to cheers and applause from like-minded citizens. The Democrats stood momentarily, smiling and waving at the exuberant crowd, some wearing yellow ribbons.

"We've weathered a few things. We've weathered some troopers; we've weathered a tornado, and we weathered Denny's," said Democrat Jim Dunnum, who emerged as the group's ringleader. "No matter what happens, democracy won in this event."

The Bush administration has calculated that President Bush's proposed 10-year, $726 billion tax cut would return approximately 30 percent of its value to Treasury coffers, as increased economic activity causes new revenues to flow back in, according to sources knowledgeable about the analysis.

Nevertheless, Bush aides have decided not to release the study, which was mostly completed about five or six weeks ago. At least part of the reason is that, as the analysis was finalized, it became clear that Congress would likely pass a smaller and somewhat different tax cut. Nevertheless, Bush continues to travel the country pushing for his entire tax cut, even as the new analysis of that tax cut has been put on ice.

On Tuesday, at a speech promoting his economic plan in Indianapolis, White House aides went so far as to ask people in the crowd behind Mr. Bush to take off their ties, WISH-TV in Indianapolis reported, so they would look more like the ordinary folk the president said would benefit from his tax cut.

For the prime-time television address that Mr. Bush delivered to the nation on the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, the White House rented three barges of giant Musco lights, the kind used to illuminate sports stadiums and rock concerts, sent them across New York Harbor, tethered them in the water around the base of the Statue of Liberty and then blasted them upward to illuminate all 305 feet of America's symbol of freedom. It was the ultimate patriotic backdrop for Mr. Bush, who spoke from Ellis Island.

For a speech that Mr. Bush delivered last summer at Mount Rushmore, the White House positioned the best platform for television crews off to one side, not head on as other White Houses have done, so that the cameras caught Mr. Bush in profile, his face perfectly aligned with the four presidents carved in stone.

And on Monday, for remarks the president made promoting his tax cut plan near Albuquerque, the White House unfurled a backdrop that proclaimed its message of the day, "Helping Small Business," over and over. The type was too small to be read by most in the audience, but just the right size for television viewers at home.

The most elaborate — and criticized — White House event so far was Mr. Bush's speech aboard the Abraham Lincoln announcing the end of major combat in Iraq. White House officials say that a variety of people, including the president, came up with the idea, and that Mr. Sforza embedded himself on the carrier to make preparations days before Mr. Bush's landing in a flight suit and his early evening speech.

Media strategists noted afterward that Mr. Sforza and his aides had choreographed every aspect of the event, even down to the members of the Lincoln crew arrayed in coordinated shirt colors over Mr. Bush's right shoulder and the "Mission Accomplished" banner placed to perfectly capture the president and the celebratory two words in a single shot. The speech was specifically timed for what image makers call "magic hour light," which cast a golden glow on Mr. Bush.

The trip was attacked by Democrats as an expensive political stunt, but White House officials said that Democrats needed a better issue for taking on the president. A New York Times/CBS News nationwide poll conducted May 9-12 found that the White House may have been right: 59 percent of those polled said it was appropriate, and not an effort to make political gain, for Mr. Bush to dress in a flight suit and announce the end of combat operations on the aircraft carrier.

"We pay particular attention to not only what the president says but what the American people see," Mr. Bartlett said. "Americans are leading busy lives, and sometimes they don't have the opportunity to read a story or listen to an entire broadcast. But if they can have an instant understanding of what the president is talking about by seeing 60 seconds of television, you accomplish your goals as communicators. So we take it seriously."

The president has to meet a testosterone standard that appeals to women but does not offend men. George W. Bush succeeds with both and that drives Democrats crazy. They've made fools of themselves with their churlish criticism of his landing on the deck of the USS Lincoln, but they can't let it go. George W. was a hottie in his flight suit. He was the victorious commander, and most of all, he looked at home with himself. He glowed with the pride born of authenticity, declaring the war over and thanking all those appreciative sailors on the decks of the Lincoln. In contrast to a certain predecessor, George W. has the sexiness of a faithful husband. He appreciates women without the leer.

Myth #1: Real Democrats Always Turn Left
Myth #2: Candidates on the Left Have the Inside Track
Myth #3: The Primary Calendar Is Stacked Against New Democrats
Myth #4: Democrats Are a Mushy Bunch of Wimps with Nothing to Say
Myth #5: Democrats Can't Win in 2004

Carolyn McAskie, the UN Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator, told a press briefing at UN Headquarters in New York that the rapidly deteriorating humanitarian situation and the ethnic tensions in Bunia conjured up "shades of Rwanda in 1994," where men, women and children rose up and attacked their neighbours.

Whole villages in and around Bunia were slaughtering each other - a deeply disturbing aspect of the hostilities that Ms. McAskie feared was "Rwanda-like," although "nothing could match the scale of Rwanda." Still, there had been hundreds of casualties "that we know of" in the last few weeks or so, she added, stressing that the humanitarian situation was "extremely dangerous, even desperate; the focus was on very basic life-saving interventions."

The dire security situation - where a "rather nasty cocktail" of rebel groups and dissatisfaction with local authorities was playing on ethnic hatreds - meant that relief agencies were "down to the minimum in terms of providing the most basic human needs" such as plastic sheeting for shelter and high-protein biscuits.

Ms. McAskie noted there were just eight humanitarian personnel on the ground right now - including a surgeon, nutrition specialist, and water and sanitation expert -doing what they could. Despite the evacuations, she and others, including the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), were trying to keep a core group in place. Other teams and supplies were on standby, but needed a more secure environment in which to operate. Supplies were being moved up from Goma, but incoming flights tended to be sporadic. The first priority was to find a way to stop the fighting.

Asked how large a force would be needed to suppress the fighting, Ms. McAskie said Ugandan troops had been "keeping a lid on it". They had anywhere from 7,000 to 9,000 troops. "We have 800 personnel now, and estimates of what was needed were some three times that," she said.

After the meeting, one United States diplomat said, "We support a member state that is willing to consider this task quickly" — an implicit nudge to the French to take on the responsibility.

A new legal brief filed by the U.S. Justice Department would roll back twenty years of judicial rulings for victims of human rights abuse, Human Rights Watch warned today.

On May 8, Attorney General John Ashcroft filed an amicus curiae (“friend of the court”) brief for the defense in a civil case alleging that the oil company Unocal was complicit in forced labor and other abuses committed by the Burmese military during the construction of the Yadana gas pipeline. The case, John Doe I, et al. v. Unocal Corporation, et al., was originally filed in 1996 and is currently being reheard by the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

The Justice Department brief went well beyond the scope of the Unocal case, however, and argued for a radical re-interpretation of the 1789 Alien Tort Claims Act (ATCA). For over 20 years, courts have held that the ATCA permits victims of serious violations of international law abroad to seek civil damages in U.S. courts against their alleged abusers who are found in the United States. The Justice Department would deny victims the right to sue under the ATCA for abuses committed abroad.

“This is a craven attempt to protect human rights abusers at the expense of victims,” said Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch. “The Bush administration is trying to overturn a longstanding judicial precedent that has been very important in the protection of human rights.”

At a news conference earlier in the day, Craddick, Gov. Rick Perry and Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst urged the Democrats to return to Texas in time to allow a House vote on redistricting. Perry acknowledged the Democrats would lose the vote, but he said that is part of the process.

Analysis of data from five ocean basins reveals a dramatic decline in numbers of large predatory fish (tuna, blue marlins, swordfish and others) since the advent of industrialized fishing. The world's oceans have lost over 90% of large predatory fish, with potentially severe consequences for the ecosystem. These findings provide indirect support for goals established at the UN's World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg last year.

Amid all the talk of weapons of mass destruction, a curious bill passed through the United States Senate Armed Services Committee last Friday, repealing a ban on the research and development of low-yield nuclear weapons.

Such weapons are so sophisticated and specialized that few nations have the capability to respond with their own similar weapons programs.

But for the clutch of nuclear-weapons states here in Asia, accustomed to American diplomatic lectures on the benefits of nuclear restraint, the change of tone in the Senate comes as a welcome change.

The message, perhaps unintended, is that if the US can do nuclear-weapons research, other nations can too.

The hunt for Democrats on the lam from the Texas Legislature has involved virtually every level of government, ranging from a house call by local cops to monitoring conducted -- apparently unwittingly -- by a California-based agency that normally is involved in the fight against terrorism and weapons of mass destruction.

One federal agency that became involved early on was the Air and Marine Interdiction and Coordination Center, based in Riverside, Calif. -- which now falls under the auspices of the Homeland Security Department.

The agency received a call to locate a specific Piper turboprop aircraft. It was determined that the plane belonged to former House Speaker Pete Laney, D-Hale Center.

The location of Laney's plane proved to be a key piece of information because, Craddick said, it's how he determined that the Democrats were in Ardmore.

"We called someone, and they said they were going to track it. I have no idea how they tracked it down," Craddick said. "That's how we found them."

Every year, hundreds of Union County students take a field trip for the soul. Children are excused from class, loaded onto school buses with teachers and sent to a three-day Christian revival.

...Fourteen-year-old India Tracy said she was harassed and attacked by classmates for nearly three years after she declined to attend Baptist Pastor Gary Beeler's annual crusade because of her family's pagan religion.

Her family has filed a federal lawsuit against Union County schools, claiming the crusade, prayers over the loudspeaker, a Christmas nativity play, a Bible handout and other proselytizing activities in the rural school system have become so pervasive they are a threat to safety and religious liberty.

...India said she was called "Satan worshipper" and accused of eating babies when it was revealed she was a pagan. She said she was taunted, found slurs painted over her locker and was injured when classmates assaulted her and slammed her head into the locker.

...After Christmas break in early 2002, India said three boys chased her down a hall at Horace Maynard Middle School, grabbed her by the neck and said, "You better change your religion or we'll change it for you."

...The lawsuit said school officials took no disciplinary action. In a May 2 legal response, school officials said they acted appropriately, denied the attacks happened, or said they were unaware of them.

WASHINGTON -- House Majority Leader Tom DeLay said Monday he wants federal authorities to pursue Texas Democrats dodging a vote on a plan he authored to increase Republican seats in Congress.

The Sugar Land Republican told reporters that bringing in either U.S. marshals or FBI agents is justified because redistricting is a federal issue, involving congressional seats.

"If it is legal for them to do so, I think it would nice for them to help out the Texas Rangers and the Texas troopers," DeLay said.


posted by Tyler at 2:13 PM

"P.S. As you know, we are at the Holiday Inn in Ardmore, Oklahoma. Please stop having our loved ones in Texas followed and staked out by law enforcement."


posted by Tyler at 10:49 AM

In recognition that Senate Republicans thwarted scores of President William Jefferson Clinton's nominees by masterly inactivity tantamount to filibusters, Mr. Bush and the Senate Republican leadership should compensate for that politically and constitutionally misguided history. They should agree to fill 10-20 percent of the next 50 judicial vacancies with Clinton nominees who failed to obtain a Senate vote.

Republicans have nothing to fear … The doctrines they celebrate generally dominate the constitutional landscape in the Supreme Court, for example, in the fields of racial or ethnic preferences, church-state relations, federalism, and powers of the police and prosecutors. President Ronald Reagan's meticulously devised and brilliantly executed plan to populate the federal bench with trenchant thinkers and writers scornful of Great Society enthusiasms proved a stupendous success. Foiled Clinton nominees who might be selected under a 10-20 percent compensation formula, in contrast, fell within the customary range of mediocrity unlikely to convince others or to disturb the status quo.

On Tuesday, local law enforcement agents greeted the Democrats with big smiles and warm handshakes.

"We're here to let them know we support them," Harvey Burkhart, sheriff of Carter County, Okla., said Tuesday. "Nothing's going to happen to them here. I can tell you we're certainly not going to put them in jail."

"You guys are my heroes," Sharon Copeland, who drove to Ardmore from her home about 60 miles away in Denton, Texas, said Tuesday as she threw her arms around Rep. Lon Burnam of Fort Worth. "I sure am proud to be a Democrat today. I didn't even know this could be done."

For the latest AP write up, go here.

For a story about reaction quotes to what is going on in Texas, go here.





posted by Tyler at 5:28 PM

The U.S. trade deficit widened in March to $43.5 billion, the second-highest on record, as imports of foreign-made industrial supplies, including crude oil, rose to an all-time monthly high.

"What's at stake here is the most effective and accurate representation for Texans," DeLay said Monday. "Republicans are the majority party in both Washington and Austin and are best able to deliver on Texans' priorities and represent their beliefs."

"I'm the majority leader, and I want more [Republican] seats."

It is a pro-Republican partisan gerrymander on top of an already pro-Republican existing plan. It attempts to achieve for the Republican Party in Washington, through artificial pairings and partisan packing and cracking, what Republican voters in the existing districts could already do easily on their own -- elect a disproportionately Republican delegation.

For 20 months -- for 20 months we have waged a relentless campaign against global terror. (Applause.) An enemy struck us because they hate what we stand for: they hate the fact that we have freedom of speech in America. (Applause.) They hate the fact that we have freedom of religion in America. (Applause.) They hate the fact that we love freedom and so they attacked us. (Applause.) And they thought we had quit.

We have a lot of work to do in Iraq. We have a lot of work to do in Iraq. Haven't been there very long, by the way. (Applause.) Less than 60 days ago that we started our mission. And in that period of time, not only did we remove a regime which threatened our security and held the American people hostage...

We have faced big challenges in this country. But because of the actions we have taken and the sacrifices many have made, a America is more secure, the world is more peaceful, and many people are more free.

Too many of our people here aren't working. The inflation -- I mean, the unemployment rate hit 6 percent. That should serve as a warning signal for the reluctant members of the United States Congress that we need to hear the voices of those who are looking for work

I want to review the history right quick. In March of 2000, the stock market started to decline. In January of 2001, we were in a recession, which meant three quarters of negative growth. (Demagogue notes: "The technical definition of a recession is two consecutive quarters of negative growth.")

And all of a sudden now, it means they've got more of their own money to decide what to do for their families.

The cornerstone of the plan, however, focuses on small business. It's an important part of the plan, it's an integral part of the plan. I told you earlier, most new jobs are -- in America -- are created by small business owners, which makes it -- see, if you're interested in expanding the job base and you go to the origin of job creation, it seems like to me, and the origin of job creation is a small business owner.

The plant makes -- incensed Phil to make the decision to make a capital investment.

I fully recognize that some people up there, when they hear -- have the word "appropriator" by their name, appropriate. (Laughter.) My job is to encourage them to appropriate, but in a wise way. And I will continue to do so. But if we hold down spending, the way to deal with the deficit is to encourage revenue growth in the Treasury, and the way to deal with -- encourage revenue growth is to stimulate this economy. The best way to deal with the recession is to have an economic growth plan that will cause economic vitality.

I'm worried about the deficit, but I'm more worried about the single mom who's worried about putting food on the table for her children, so she could find work.

Looming above us all is Tom DeLay's scheme to slice up Texas and divide our communities from each other, much the same as his insistence on divisive politics in Washington. In a series of bizarre-shaped congressional districts, Texas is chopped and hacked, axed and sliced into the mess that is the "DeLay Congressional Redistricting Plan."

Travis County, for example would be divided into four congressional districts, all of which claim some portion of Sixth Street between MoPac and Interstate 35. One snakes its way for hundreds of miles from here to the Rio Grande, and another reaches across rural small towns and into Houston. It is as unfair to these other widely separated communities as it is in denying my hometown an accessible member of Congress.

This carving up our capital city is nothing but a power grab designed to ensure DeLay's lifetime tenure as House majority leader. "Tom the Hammer," as he is known for pressuring people in Washington, has become "Tom the Knife" in Texas.

Monday, more than 50 outstanding members of the Texas House of Representatives, acting on the courage of their convictions, prevented a quorum from being reached. This is an extraordinary action, but it is in response to extraordinary arrogance and intimidation and the admission by Republicans on the House Redistricting Committee that this entire process is of, by and for Tom DeLay.

This is no lark. This is no prank. It is a time neither for jest nor jubilation -- rather, this reaction shows what can happen when extremism pushes too far. This is a bold message that in Texas, the people's business must come first. These members will not sit idly by and watch the bipartisan cooperation be exterminated by strong-arm tactics. They refuse to be hammered. They refuse to let Texas be knifed.

Go Lloyd Doggett!

posted by Tyler at 12:51 PM

"How is it that we routinely accept a level of suffering and hopelessness in Africa that we would never accept in any other part of the world?"

Under Bush's original proposal, households with $40,000 to $50,000 in taxable income would receive an average tax cut of $482 and a boost of 1.2 percent to their total after-tax income. For households earning more than $1 million, the average tax cut would be more than $89,500, with an increase in their after-tax income of 4.2 percent, according to the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center.

The $550 billion version that passed the House last week is even more skewed. Those same middle-income households would receive a tax cut of $452 and an income boost of 1.1 percent, while millionaires would receive a cut of $93,537, enough to increase their after-tax income by 4.4 percent. The more modest $350 billion tax cut that passed the Senate Finance Committee last week would trim the average millionaire's tax cut a bit, to $64,431. But it would also trim the middle class cut to $415.

Human Rights Watch has no access to the DPRK and has not carried out research inside the DPRK. The closed nature of the DPRK and the lack of access by private human rights organizations and U.N. human rights experts is a major obstacle to monitoring abuses and promoting improvements.

Human Rights Watch has conducted research with North Korean refugees who have fled to China, and now reside in Seoul. We collected testimony on horrific conditions and treatment in labor camps and prisons in the DPRK, which we have corroborated with information from other sources. In a report on North Korean refugees published in November 2002, HRW documented serious abuses including: arbitrary and discriminatory treatment of citizens based on family background; torture and cruel and degrading treatment of detainees in labor training camps, provincial concentration centers, and political prison camps known as administrative camps; and the use of forced labor.

Other reports of serious abuses in the DPRK include arbitrary arrests and detention, severe restrictions on basic and fundamental freedoms of belief, assembly, association, religion, press and freedom of movement, and use of the death penalty.

When you are suffering like we suffered, you simply cannot imagine that nobody will come along to stop the pain. Everyday, you would wake up and tell yourself '"somebody will come, something is going to happen." If you stop hoping for rescue, you stop hoping. And hope is all that can keep you alive.

Vijay Singh believes Annika Sorenstam has no business playing in the Colonial next week, and he would withdraw if he gets paired with her.

"I hope she misses the cut," Singh said after his runner-up finish in the Wachovia Championship. "Why? Because she doesn't belong out here."

Singh acknowledged he won't play in the same group as Sorenstam when she becomes the first woman in 58 years to compete on the PGA Tour. His name will be drawn from a pool of PGA Tour winners when the pairings are made.

Still, his comments were the strongest yet about Sorenstam's decision to accept a sponsor's exemption to play in the Colonial. The last woman to play on the PGA Tour was Babe Zaharias, who qualified for the 1945 Los Angeles Open.

Nick Price, the defending champion at Colonial, has said Sorenstam's presence "reeks of publicity." He thinks she ought to qualify if she wants to prove herself at the highest level.

Scott Hoch, who once played with Sorenstam in a mixed-team tournament, said he wants to see her play well so people will realize "how much separation there is between us and the ladies' tour."

Still, most players have been cautious with their comments, not willing to predict a score and hopeful she plays well so it doesn't reflect poorly on the LPGA Tour.

Singh held nothing back in an interview with The Associated Press as he left the locker room at Quail Hollow late Sunday afternoon, saying the 32-year-old Swede should stick to her own tour.

"What is she going to prove by playing? It's ridiculous," said Singh, a two-time major champion who is No. 7 in the world ranking. "She's the best woman golfer in the world, and I want to emphasize 'woman.' We have our tour for men, and they have their tour. She's taking a spot from someone in the field."

The Colonial is an invitational with a limited field. Sorenstam received one of eight sponsor's exemptions.

Singh speaks from experience

In 1998, he played in an unofficial event called the "Super Tour" that matched the scorecards of nine professionals after playing 18 holes a day in four Asian cities. Laura Davies was invited to play, and finished 39 strokes behind Singh.

"Laura Davies is a long-ball hitter, but she still had to hit good irons," Singh said. "It's just different for ladies to play on the men's tour. It's like getting the Williams sister to play against a man, and they're far better athletes than she (Sorenstam) is."

Sorenstam has become significantly stronger in the last two years as she has taken over women's golf. She won 13 times around the world last year, the most by a woman in nearly 40 years, and two years ago became the first woman to shoot 59.

Sorenstam was returning from Japan on Monday, where she won the Nichirei Cup by nine shots, and was not available for comment.

Sorenstam has been playing from the back tees to gear up for the Colonial, including a round with Tiger Woods in which she is said to have finished 10 strokes behind.

"Some people don't believe she should be out here -- golfers and men in general," Hoch said. "Most guys hope she plays well, and what comes out of this is that she realizes she can't compete against the men."

In a sign that the Bush campaign plans to portray Senator John Kerry as an aloof, anti-American snob who doodles on legal pads during Senate committee hearings by conjugating French irregular verbs, Bush media adviser Mark McKinnon unveiled a half-dozen thirty-second spots designed to emphasize Mr. Kerry’s “alarming and unapologetic Francophilia.”

The ads, which McKinnon admits have been “somewhat” computer-enhanced, variously depict the Senator singing the “Marseillaise” on the floor of the U.S. Senate during a filibuster in the discussion of Bush judicial appointees, raising the French tricolor over the U.S. Capitol, and groping French actress Sophie Marceau during an anti-Iraq-war protest march on the Mall in Washington.

DID PRESIDENT BUSH arrive by fighter jet when he could have taken a helicopter -- for $7 less per hour? Did the USS Abraham Lincoln delay its return by a day so that Mr. Bush could make his dramatic tailhook landing? Did White House press secretary Ari Fleischer lie when he said that Mr. Bush had to arrive by jet and then switched his story to say that the president chose to land that way? Are the Democrats who are raising these questions secretly working for Karl Rove?

Sen. Robert C. Byrd (D-W.V.) questions "the motives of a deskbound president who assumes the garb of a warrior for the purposes of a speech." Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.) wants a General Accounting Office inquiry into the trip, citing its "clear political overtones." Rep John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.) demands that Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld "determine what the cost to taxpayers was for transporting the president to the carrier, his stay on the carrier, his flight from the carrier to shore, and any changes made in the carrier's or the jet's schedule or procedure for the president's visit." Well, guess what, guys? Presidential travel is inherently political -- like when President Clinton spent taxpayer dollars to fly onto an aircraft carrier on the very day his defense secretary announced a new round of base closings -- and wore a green flight jacket to boot while he watched fighter jets catapult off the carrier. (Major distinction here: Mr. Bush got the bottom half of the outfit, too.) Presidential staffs -- and we know this is a shocking concept -- worry quite a bit about the way their visits will look on TV -- and they work to get the most picturesque backdrop! And a president who wins a war -- whether you agreed with that war or not -- pretty much gets to greet returning troops wherever he wants.

Not since the ado over whether Mr. Clinton held up Air Force One on the tarmac for an hour to get a $200 haircut has there been a controversy this fundamentally silly. The difference is that the Republicans scored political points with haircut-gate; here, Democrats are only hurting themselves with churlish and petty complaints. Their real gripe with Mr. Bush is that he looked great; the president pulled off his "Top Gun" act as much as Michael Dukakis flubbed his spin in a tank. And what was the result of their agitating? Even more showings of the same dramatic footage of a triumphant commander-in-chief. The only rational explanation for this conduct is that it is a brushback pitch designed to intimidate the Bush campaign from using carrier footage in campaign commercials -- but even then, it seems destined (a) not to work and (b) to backfire.

Yes, yes, Republicans seemed to demand investigations every time Mr. Clinton -- or Hillary Clinton, for that matter -- went outside the Beltway, but Democrats are sorely mistaken if they think the "they did it too" argument is going to have any sway with voters. Mr. Bush's visit to the USS Abraham Lincoln may have been the real kickoff of his presidential campaign. If the Democrats' tone-deaf handling of this episode is any indication, he may well get his four more years.

President Bush plans to speak at an Omaha plastics factory today to sell his message that his tax cut plan will put money in workers' pockets. But some workers at the factory, Airlite Plastics, are complaining that Mr. Bush's speech will have the opposite effect.

They are unhappy because Airlite's chief executive, Brad Crosby, has announced that more than 300 hourly workers might lose all or part of a day's pay unless they work next Saturday to offset the time lost when the plant closes for the speech.