The Decline and Fall of Western Civ for 20 Mar.

Tired of the foolishness.
At the end of the world, it still boils down to politics...

• The buzz in conservative talk circles for the past few weeks has been a simple question: Where is President Bush's backbone? The President answered the question today with the stern tone of a disgusted adult addressing the immature behavior of a pre-pubescent teen.
  
  Bush warned Democrats Tuesday to accept his offer to have top aides testify about the firings of federal prosecutors only privately and not under oath or risk a constitutional showdown from which he would not back down.
  
  

  "If the Democrats truly do want to move forward and find the right information, they ought to accept what I proposed," Bush said. "If scoring political points is the desire, then the rejection of this reasonable proposal will really be evident for the American people to see."

  Keep in mind that federal prosecutors serve at the pleasure of the president and he can appoint and fire them as he sees fit. In fact, the fired prosecutors were approved by Bush when took office.
  
  Traditional media outlets keep pounding the liberal template. The real story is how the Democrats have yet to fulfill any other than the election promise to be as obstructionist as possible. Bush's warning to Dems: no 'show trials.'
  
  More from: The Associated Press; The Washington Post, The White House; White House Counsel.

• On the Inhofe EPW Press Blog, Marc Morano writes that Al Gore is violating committee rules by demanding special treatment.
  
  

  From behind the scenes on Capitol Hill: Former Vice President Al Gore, despite being given major preferential treatment, has violated the Senate Environment & Public Works Committee’s (EPW) hearing rules.
  
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  The question looms on Capitol Hill: Is Gore delaying the submission of his testimony until the very last moment because he fears it will give members of the EPW committee time to scrutinize it for accuracy?

• Republicans and Democrats sternly warned the FBI on Tuesday that it could lose its broad power to collect telephone, e-mail and financial records to hunt terrorists after revelations of widespread abuses of the authority detailed in a recent internal investigation, reports The Associated Press.
  
  The Washington Post reports the Justice Department's inspector general told a committee of angry House members yesterday that the FBI may have violated the law or government policies as many as 3,000 times since 2003 as agents secretly collected the telephone, bank and credit card records of U.S. citizens and foreign nationals residing here.

• The most outspoken critics of the $124 billion wartime spending bill in the House are facing withering support in their fight to defeat it, according to The Politico.
  
  California Democratic Reps. Maxine Waters and Lynn Woolsey said that many of their liberal colleagues were caving under pressure from Democratic leaders who, according to at least one congressman, have threatened to block requests for new funds for his district.
  
  They also cited MoveOn.org's endorsement of the measure Monday as a blow to their efforts.

• Michigan Congressman, Republican Mike Rogers' home is under police guard after his Lansing office was severely vandalized Monday. Go to WXYZ.com for story and images.

• The Associated Press reports, when a California woman recently gave birth to a healthy baby just two days after learning she was pregnant, the sudden change to her life was challenging enough. What April Branum definitely didn't need was a deluge of nasty Internet comments.
  
  It was yet another example of how the Internet -- and the anonymity it affords -- has given a public stage to people's basest thoughts, ones that in earlier eras likely never would have traveled past the watercooler, the kitchen table or the next barstool.

• And finally, in this pile of political news, as what has been mischaracterized as the world’s warmest winter on record drew to an end with a weekend blizzard, a group of religious leaders started walking across Massachusetts Friday to bring attention to global warming according to the Telegraph.
  
  

  “People have been asking me what happens if it snows,” said the Rev. Fred Small of the First Church Unitarian in Littleton. “I tell them: ‘We walk.’ ”

  This story reminds me of a saying from my less than idyllic youth: "Action talks and BS walks."

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