Let's grant you your point. Joe Wilson lied to discredit the administration and that as you decree, they have "the right" to defend themselves any way they like, legal or illegal.

That's what you are saying, isn't it?

Anyone who lies about the Bush administration can be subject to any kind of retaliation that the most powerful office of this land can bring to bear against them.

All people of the U.S. should be on notice now that if you annoy our monarch, you're liable to having not only your own life laid bare, but that of any member of your family.

Anyone who lies about the Bush administration is going to be exposed in such a way that credible death threats will be made against your wife, your children, your parents.

Anyone who lies about the Bush administration can expect that the administration will come down so hard against you with all the power of the FBI, CIA and NSA that even people who were merely your professional associates could face ruin and possibly death.

No one can get through to you Barndog, with your impermeable and steadfast reliance on word parsing. Ironically enough, it's so Clintonesque of you, trying to defend the indefensible with what the meaning of "is" is.

You don't need to waste words: You don't love your country and its rule of law as much as you love the man, George W. Bush. So just say that and be done with it. If it were up to you, you'd probably love to see him president-for-life.

You're a great American, Barndog. I salute you.

I fail to see how protecting our vital national interests abroad is a bad thing. From a practical standpoint, our naval battle groups have to be somewhere, doing something. They can't sit in harbor. The what's wrong with the stated mission for the South Atlantic fleet? Interdiction of human

trafficking, drugs, maintaining a force presence to deter the interuption of our vital oil supply, none of this I find to be so horrible.

Maybe it's just the Pentagon spin that you object to. I agree, it's annoying. These guys are tone deaf when it comes to public relations.

Despite the present administration's misuse of our military might, I believe that the United States really does have legitimate reasons to want to defend itself and to protect our supply lines.

It seems odd to me that with as much information about Jeffs that has been collected, including his brazen comings and goings, like Robin Hood, in and out of Colorado City this past 12 months, and the new city he's building in Texas, that he must leave a trail of obvious breadcrumbs behind him for the federal dicks to follow.

Jeffs' dimwit brother got pulled over in Denver last year and the cops got a windfall of goodies out of his vehicle including wads of cash, pre-loaded debit cards, pre-loaded phone cards, account books and all kinds of other stuff used to support his brother on the run.

You'd think that Jeffs would be lit up like a pinball machine. So why is this inbred cretin still performing weddings and running his empire?

Maybe it's because the fundamentalist Christians who are Bush's base are getting a little bit fearful that the persecution of fellow nut-job Jeffs might set a precedent for Big Gov coming down on their own racketeering and tax evasion schemes.

After all, they became visibly pale when they saw what Janet Reno did to the Branch Davidians. Maybe Alberto Gonzales has told Justice to tread lightly this election season. They can always scoop up Jeffs next December.

Actually as a Westerner, I'd find the whole Jeffs story to be high farce if it wasn't for his victims. He's our home-grown looney, popping up and disappearing like a

prairie dog while Elmer Fed chases around trying to whack him with a shovel.