Early this week, we wrote that President Bush was spending part of his vacation "clearing cedar" on his Texas ranch, only to have several readers write to ask what clearing cedar actually means.

"Growing up in central Texas made me very familiar with the cedar trees so common and yet hated by ranchers," wrote Ronald Best, who abandoned the cedar canopy of Texas for Lakewood, Colo. "To hear that our president personally cares about his land to pitch in and clear these pesky junipers himself says a lot about why President Bush is beloved by so many Texans."

How are the cedars usually cleared?

"When I was a child, itinerant 'cedar choppers' moved from ranch to ranch, clearing and burning cedar trees," says Best. "My father once warned us about these mysterious people and when my sister and I misbehaved, (he) would tell us we could be given away to these mysterious people."

HUMBLE ARI

The dog days of August have crept into political pollster Frank Luntz's usually busy office - or so we gather from his latest poll, "Ari, We Thought We Knew Thee."

Only 27 percent of Americans, the unusual poll finds, are able to correctly answer the question: "Who is Ari Fleischer?"

And (as my ex-girlfriend would say) your point would be?

"Over the years, secretaries in presidential administrations have been criticized for grandstanding or taking advantage of their appointed powers," Luntz explains. "Not so, evidently, with recently departed White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer. Surely someone who was interested in self-promotion could have made quite a name for himself."

But in fairness to Luntz, there is a far more serious side to the poll.

Fleischer was the public face of the Bush White House, if not the entire country, for nearly 2½ years: from the unprecedented deadly terrorist attacks on this nation through the controversial wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

"He was on the news 365 days a year, yet only one in four Americans know him," observes Luntz. "That doesn't say much about the American people."

SPAMMING BUSHIES

Bryan Wilkes, a member of the Bush administration, was surprised to get "spammed" Tuesday (Aug. 13) by Democratic presidential hopeful Howard Dean.

"I think it's interesting that Howard Dean is spamming people to try to get support, especially since he's touting his online grass-roots efforts," Wilkes said of the candidate's mass computer e-mailing.

The former governor of Vermont brags in his generic spam message that he's attracted more than 250,000 supporters via the Internet in recent months - raising a whopping $7.6 million during one eight-day period in June.

Dean told Wilkes that, with his financial help, he can defeat his boss in 2004.

WHAT'S THERE TO LOSE?

We're not sure if President Bush has signed up for the summer school course, but Maharishi Mahesh Yogi is offering to train every head of state and their top Cabinet ministers in the most advanced scientific knowledge of total Natural Law - the Constitution of the Universe - so they can quickly gain enlightenment and create a prevention-oriented, problem-free administration in their nations.

The training will be held at the convenience of the world leaders and will be conducted via videoconferencing so that the heads of state don't have to leave their countries.

"In a short period of time, these leaders will become enlightened custodians of the Constitution of the Universe, which administers the infinite diversity of the universe with perfect order," Maharishi promises. "And then, following their own culture, religion, and beliefs, these leaders will be able to make their people happy, healthy, and fulfilled."

CONGRESSIONAL VICES

Jim Berard, a Capitol Hill press secretary since 1987, is author of a new trivia-crammed book, "The Capitol Inside & Out" (EPM Publications Inc.), with an introduction by former Sen. Eugene McCarthy.

"I sat for a time next to Sen. Herman Talmadge of Georgia, who was the last tobacco-chewing and tobacco-spitting senator," McCarthy writes. "Sen. Talmadge was either a poor shot or simply careless. I often had to sit sideways in my seat to avoid flying tobacco juice."

As with Talmadge's aim, the author "fills in gaps and cracks" of history with his new book, says McCarthy, who was happy when the Capitol building's official snuff boxes (and chew stashes) were encased for history's sake in Plexiglas. ("Also kept for decorative rather than practical use are brass cuspidors, or spittoons," Berard notes). Continued...