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I've long admired the Springfield 1903, and I may have the cash to get one -- a new one, anyway -- next year. I understand that there is at least one company -- Gibbs Rifle -- manufacturing 1903s today. That's exactly what I want: a new one that just works. Are there any other companies making functional 1903 replicas? And what should I be on the lookout for?

Assuming that the shoe is on the other foot come January, and given that we have established that Congress can force people to buy things, what should the next Congress force Democrats to buy? Handguns? A copy of the Constitution? Incontinence aids? (These would be taxable medical devices, remember) Untreated pine boards? Turnips? Spittle? Your ideas below, please.

I have a $50 Amex gift card. One of our military people can surely put this to better use than I ever will. Who can tell me how to get it to some such deserving person? Many thanks.

Two months ago a field agent from the US Census Bureau left a business card under my door, with a note requesting an interview for a survey the Bureau does on unemployment and income. The note explained the purpose of the survey and outlined the sorts of questions that would be asked (mostly income and work-related stuff). I called him back at the number provided, told him that my income was none of his business and requested that he not contact me any more.This was not effective, and he continued to try to contact me. So I called him back...

If my memory serves, about two or maybe three years ago there was a dustup in moonbat circles about something Colin Powell was supposed to have said. His quote was taken to be an admission of the Great Neocon Plot to Subjugate The World, or some such thing. I found the 'reshape the Middle East' quote from Bush to the American Enterprise Institute from early 2003, which quote Powell later repeated, I believe. But I recall there was another quote, from Powell specifically, that caused a ruckus in the fever swamps, and I don't think it's the 'reshape the middle...

Name this economic fallacy:"No one will dispute that economic resource A will be depleted eventually, so we must immediately begin a crash government program to blah blah blah..."I just finished another of Sowell's books, you would think I could remember what this one is called. But my mind has gone blank. Please assist! Many thanks.

A friend sent me an email bemoaning, among other things, the 'increase in homelessness [and crime] in the Reagan era.' She implied that these were linked to the Kemp-Roth tax cut of 1981. Can anyone link me to a study on the subject of homelessness and crime in the 1980s? That is, to facts & figures on how many homeless people there really were, the causes thereof, and so on. I say in the absence of evidence - and I mean evidence, not just data - linking the two it's a myth to link Ronald Reagan to homelessness and the...

OK this is a complete vanity but here goes. A friend, a middle-aged US citizen living overseas, sent me an email containing the Hermann Goering quote from Nuremberg Diary, the one where he says you can always browbeat the people into supporting a war by lying about your intentions, 'it is the same in all countries.' She included no comment or analysis of her own, just the subject line "Bush and Goering Beating the Same Drum." Not about to sit still for any cheap Bush-bashing, I replied with some heat. Here is what I sent back - your comments welcome:...

Can anyone point me to the Mark Steyn article where he has Robert Fisk doing a phone interview from an S&M parlor? It makes a great companion piece to his 'Saddamasochism' piece from this week. I just can't find it anywhere, and it's not linked on his site. TIA.

Have you read Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States? Did you write a critique of the book, or can you point me to such a critique? A friend of mine - someone I respect and admire, a very intelligent person - recommended it, and I read it. So now I have my own opinion of the book. But I am only a casual reader of history. I would like to know what other, more serious readers of history think of the book, and what they have to say about it. If you think Zinn is a damn...

If you're one of those who find [herbal remedies] useful, however, you'd better start stockpiling now. A raft of EU legislation looks set to nip the natural medicine market in the bud: soon, that popular vitamin C, echinacea and zinc combination may not be allowed on the shelves. A shadow looms large over the alternative health sector. Estimates of the impact of this new legislation vary, but hundreds of vitamin and mineral supplements could be banned outright, while an as yet incalculable number of common herbal remedies will disappear unless consumers challenge it. The National Association of Health Food Stores...

<p>WASHINGTON — Every couple of weeks since America launched its war in Afghanistan, President Bush's secret service agents have left him alone with an Afghan wielding any number of sharp implements.</p> <p>Fortunately Zahira Zahir is one of Bush's most ardent admirers. She also happens to be his hairdresser.</p>

There's likely to be more action outside the Criminal Justice Center today than inside Mumia Abu-Jamal's hearing. Expected to attend today's Abu-Jamal demonstration are actor Ossie Davis, poet Sonia Sanchez, MOVE member Pam Africa and anti-death-penalty activists from around the world. Inside the Criminal Justice Center, the legal business before Common Pleas Judge Pamela Pryor Dember will be technical and - unless protesters bring their passion inside - lacking in drama. The star of the show, convicted cop-killer Abu-Jamal, an international symbol for the anti-death penalty movement, isn't expected to appear. But in Abu-Jamal's case, such considerations never stood in ...

Now that the tax rebate checks are going out I would like to remind the Man On The Street just exactly who did, and did not, want them to get that refund. Does anyone print a 'Ri$ky $chemer' T-shirt? Or coffee mug and so on.

What gun(s) should I buy? I intend to buy one or more firearms soon. I have no interest in hunting, and no immediate concerns about self-defense. I don't own any firearms, and never have. It just occurs to me that last November was a close call, and that there are a lot of people who want to take away my right to own firearms, and that getting involved in this issue is something I ought to be doing. Plus, target shooting looks like fun.I have only two uses in mind: (1) Target/recreational shooting and (2) Learning more about firearms in ...

Wet Final Weekend for Citizen Bush Sunday, January 14, 2001 By Sandra Sobieraj AUSTIN, Texas — President-elect Bush whiled away a soggy Saturday at his secluded ranch, entertaining TV news bigwigs and construction workers alike on his last weekend as a regular citizen. As part of a media blitz designed to introduce America to its 43rd president, Bush spent several hours with NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw in an interview that will air on Sunday. A persistent rain at the ranch in Crawford, Texas, chased the high-powered pair into a barn on Bush's 1,600-acre property for the bulk of the ...