When I read about this earlier, I thought - here is a ready-made GOP campaign ad. 13 House Democrats want the UN to monitor US elections - want them in your district? And remember, John Kerry is on record as wanting UN permission for US military action.

Eddie Bernice Johnson is from TEXAS.

The Democratic left is losing it's collective mind. Al Gore, Howard Dean, Michael Moore, etc. may just be nuts, judging from recent outbursts characteristic of delusionals. The current presidential nominee has a fixation on J.F. Kennedy which is peculiar at best, at least for a grown man. The pathology of team Clinton's quest for power and privilege is unique in our history.

The recomendation for UN supervision of US elections closes the case. The centralizers, socialists and levelers of the Democratic Party are either evil or insane.

The funny part about Eddie Bernice Johnson being at the head of this is a Texas court is currently involved in a battle over alleged voter fraud that changed the results of an election. Only problem is, the election in question is the March Democratic primary, where Democratic liberal incumbent Ciro Rodriguez was upset by challenger Henry Cuellar, when some "late returns" from Laredo gave Cuellar the victory in the recount.

No Reupblicans in sight in this battle, though the Rodriguez camp has tried to accuse Cuellar of being a "closet Republican" during the ensuing public relations battle. But it does sound like Eddie needs to hustle herself and Kofi down to South Texas to get to the bottom of this.

Alas, we must finally admit than those who identify more strongly with their ethnicity than their citrizenship are not our "fellow Americans." An individual of any race may be a loyal American, but we need to accept the facts of history: the British weren't the only ones who lost the Wars of Independence and of 1812. The Declaration gives a clue to this in its mention of "domestic insurrections" and "savage. . .Indian tribes" and don't forget who was beaten at the "Halls of Montezuma."
This is a hard teaching. Inclusion and forgiveness are at the core of the value system underlying our civilization. But inclusion and forgiveness do not extend to national suicide. We must say to our former enemies that they are as welcome in America as a loyal citizen of German or Japanese descent would be, but that when national and ethnic interests diverge, the choice must be made.

Alas, we must finally admit than those who identify more strongly with their ethnicity than their citrizenship are not our "fellow Americans." An individual of any race may be a loyal American, but we need to accept the facts of history: the British weren't the only ones who lost the Wars of Independence and of 1812. The Declaration gives a clue to this in its mention of "domestic insurrections" and "savage. . .Indian tribes" and don't forget who was beaten at the "Halls of Montezuma."
This is a hard teaching. Inclusion and forgiveness are at the core of the value system underlying our civilization. But inclusion and forgiveness do not extend to national suicide. We must say to our former enemies that they are as welcome in America as a loyal citizen of German or Japanese descent would be, but that when national and ethnic interests diverge, the choice must be made.

What this points to is that the Left is scarcely capable of analyzing the instructions on a toilet-paper package, never mind the fundamental issues underlying the Florida imbroglio, which are:

The signal (the actual difference between votes cast for the respective candidates) was far smaller than the noise in the system.

And all the UN observers in the world won't fix that.

Lou:

Nicely said. Fortunately your egregious error about who lost the war of 1812 undercuts your point not at all.

Both sides lost-- the Americans blew their one chance to solve the Canada problem, which has now had two almost centuries to fester, while the British didn't teach those upstart colonies their place, again, and never got a third chance.

Raoul:

"The Canada problem"? Wow, wait 'til I tell Mom about this!

Peter,

Well, the War of 1812 did end on a high note for the British in that some of their soldiers were able to escape New Orleans with their lives. Jackson at his finest.

Mr. Ortega;

Canada wouldn't be such a problem if we could exile people there.

P.S. There's a movie concept for you - "Escape from Canada, eh?"

Jefferson:

Agreed, but I'm sure you know that was an after thought to the war--no insult to the glorious victory, though.

Many years ago (1969) I was a college student visiting an American cousin who was in the army, posted to Baltimore. He,I and a friend of his were out for a beer and they were both lamenting what they then saw as a "defeat" in Vietnam. The proud and patriotic friend opined that that would be the first defeat for America, which naturally got me going (hey, I was young )and led to a discussion about 1812, which I was surprised to see was so heartfelt. The friend was adamant it was a victory and I called it a tie. The over-refreshed and quite agitated friend challenged me to go visit the Smithsonian and check out the treaty.

The next day my cousin and I were walking around touristy Washington and decided to take the challenge. After being asked for our academic credentials(?) a very nice, old-fashioned librarian type with a passionate love for her job got into the spirit of this family feud and decided to break all the rules. She locked us into a small cage in a dirty basement and brought us the original Treaty of Ghent! I could not believe my eyes. We sat there flipping through it and of course my cousin had to buy the beer that night. But of such experiences are rich lives made. I will never forget her.

My apologies to Peter B and to anyone else who missed my point. I had wished to comment on winners and losers in America's early wars without having to (God help me) call a spade a spade.
Look, America is the city on the hill. All our citizens regardless of color or entnicity are the better for our having attained, thus far, our manifest destiny. But their ancestors were not necessarily aware of their blessing at the time.
Of course, the U.S. was the big winner in the War of 1812; the British more or less broke even: the outcome was a shipwreck for the Red Indians who, as they had at the time of the Revolution, had relied upon the British promise to restrain the Yankees. The forlorn hopes of black slaves were similiarly dashed in both conflicts.
Those decendants of our ancient folk-enemies who choose to keep their wounds green and now reach to strike us in the back are not our fellow Americans any more than the few Americans of Japanese or German extraction who turned against their country in that later war.

One of my old college history professors has written what is widely considered to be the leading account of the War of 1812, covering both the military tactics utilized and the political fervor on the domestic front. His conclusion is that the United States lost the war, simply because we failed to achieve the objectives we set out to attain.

Incidentally, most Canadians consider the War of 1812 to be one of their country's most important historical events, and they relish the thought that, long ago, they beat the Yanks. My professor's favorite saying about the war was as follows: "Everybody is happy with the outcome of the War of 1812: The Americans think they won it, the Canadians know they won it, and the British have forgotten all about it."

Lou Gots

I get your point, and agree. You stated it well.

Pierre Berton, who I imagine speaks for Canadian opinion on this, sure seems to think the Yanks lost.

Except that they're stuck being Canadian when they could have been American.