Federal agents in 29 states have arrested dozens of fathers who owe millions of dollars of child support, in a nationwide sweep that officials describe as a significant expansion of the federal role. More notable than any one arrest, the officials say, is the message that the Bush administration is sending about its decision to pursue a more aggressive approach by using federal criminal prosecution against people who have repeatedly flouted state court orders.

Webmaster note: Since when is it a federal responsibility to enforce state law?

"May God bless the fallen soldiers who came home this week," he said. "May God bless their families. May God bless Daniel Pearl and Mariane Pearl and her boy and may the world he enters into be more peaceful than the one his father just left."  Pearl, South Asia bureau chief for The Wall Street Journal, was abducted in Karachi on Jan. 23 and subsequently killed.  Bush urged the journalists to write letters to the boy, send them to the White House and said he would add his own letter to Pearl's son and make sure the family gets them.  "You better than anyone know what Daniel Pearl was doing in Afghanistan. You better than anyone can explain the larger purpose he was serving. Some day you'll help a little boy understand his father a little better and what a great gift that would be."

"Hoping to tap into the wave of patriotism sweeping the United States since Sept. 11, President Bush asked Americans on Thursday to seize the moment to change the nation's "feel good" culture.  "Our culture has said, 'If it feels good, do it,"' he said in a speech at an emergency operations center.  "Our dream, or my dream for the country is that we usher in a culture that says 'Each of us are responsible for the decisions we make in life."

"To all the men and women in our military, every sailor, every soldier, every airman, every Coast Guardsman, every Marine, I say this: Your mission is defined. The objectives are clear. Your goal is just. You have my full confidence, and you will have every tool you need to carry out your duty."  President Bush on commencing attacks on Afghanistan following terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center.

The following are selected quotes from President Bush's speech before a Joint Session of Congress:

"Taking network and public-broadcasting television news, Newsweek, and the front pages of selected sections of The New York Times and The Washington Post as a whole, there were 41 percent fewer stories about Mr. Bush from Jan. 21 to March 21 than there were on Bill Clinton in the same two-month period eight years earlier, according to a new study by the Project for Excellence in Journalism."  

"The first of four executive orders signed [by President Bush] on February 17 requires companies contracted for federal jobs to notify employees of their right to stop their union dues from being used for political contributions without fear of union reprisals."

"I ask you to be citizens. Citizens not spectators.  Citizens not subjects.  Responsible citizens, building communities of service and a nation of character."