"It was - thank goodness - an uneventful motorcade to the airport."

So writes Edwin Chen of the Los Angeles Times in the official White House pool report of President Bush's motorcade Sunday afternoon from the Bush retreat in Kennebunkport, Maine, to a local airport for the flight to Washington.

"'Thank goodness' because, at various points along the way, the presidential motorcade traveled at speeds that exceeded 75 mph, according to the speedometer," Chen notes. "And this was mostly on a narrow, curving, and sometimes hilly two-lane road - sans sidewalk. More than once, we could hear tires squealing."

Certainly there weren't adoring fans lining these narrow, twisting roads?

"Adding to the thrill of the chase were the occasional clusters of people - including children - obviously out to catch a fleeting glimpse of (Mr. Bush)," the scribe says. "Among them, at one point, were more than a dozen seniors in wheelchairs."

White House spokesman Scott McClellan, asked later about what equates to "reckless driving," said there was no special reason for such high speeds, surmising that the rush had been intended to minimize the motorcade's inconvenience to the local residents.

"For the record," Chen writes, "passengers in (the press vehicle) clocked the van's speed variously at 50 mph (in a 25 mph zone), 60 mph (in a 35 mph zone) and above 75 mph (in a 45 mph zone.) The white-knuckles ride lasted about 25 minutes."

KING OF TERROR

Despite the ensuing uproar, Rep. Peter T. King, New York Republican, stands by his insistence that 85 percent of the mosques in the United States have "extremist leadership."

And King says that although most in the Islamic community are "loyal Americans," their leadership is reluctant to cooperate with law enforcement when they hear anti-American rhetoric or plots.

Ghazi Khankan, director of the Westbury-based Islamic Center in New York (which King has visited several times), labels the congressman "out of touch with the Muslim community."

But King says he bases his belief on extensive conversations with law-enforcement officials in Washington and New York. (He acknowledges that he used this same information on Muslim leaders for a plot line in his new terrorist-related novel, "Vale of Tears.")

"Most of the Muslim community is cooperating with police and local authorities," he says. "But 85 percent of the mosques have extremist leadership in this country."

COSTLY RERUN

Former Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Joe Lieberman is drawing fire for sponsoring legislation that sets up a $90 million program to research what countless other studies have already done - the effects of television viewing on children.

To justify such an expense, the Connecticut senator asserts "no one is looking out, in a systematic way, for what our children are looking at."

Not so, says Citizens Against Government Waste, citing myriad "clean television" advocacy groups scrutinizing every hour of television and video games - going so far as to boycott advertisers and write newspaper editorials.

Among several groups: Children NOW, the Children's Digital Media Center and Common Sense Media. Lara Mahaney of the Parents Television Council says "to spend $90 million on something we already know is just a waste of money."

For beach reading during the August recess, Lieberman might pick up the 2003 Kaiser Family Foundation analysis of the effect of television on infants, toddlers and preschoolers. That study's finding: Thirty-six percent of children under age 6 have a TV set in their bedroom.

Or the American Academy of Pediatrics study of the effect of television on children under 2. Its recommendation: Do not watch TV at all.

ANOTHER CHENEY?

Republicans, for once, are elated about their prospects in one notorious Democratic bastion of Northern Virginia, where unlike the 2004 presidential contest this congressional campaign is still about "undecided" voters.

Yes, seven-term incumbent Rep. James P. Moran, a former mayor of Alexandria plagued by controversy, leads Republican challenger Lisa Marie Cheney, a military defense expert, by a 44 percent to 29 percent margin, says a new Tel Opinion Research poll.

In any other district, Republican election observers would look at these numbers and patiently await the next election.

Except that this same poll finds that more than one in four voters - 27 percent - in the 8th Congressional District that borders Washington remain "undecided."

"Clearly, these poll numbers show that the constituents of the 8th District of Virginia believe that the character issue is important," Cheney, who is not related to Vice President Dick Cheney, tells this column. "The voters expect elected officials to behave in accordance with the law, not behave as if they are above it. They are tired of the embarrassing, insensitive antics of Jim Moran and are looking for change."

LIFE OF THE PARTY

Democrats are calling Louisiana Rep. Rodney Alexander a "coward" for abandoning the party Friday in favor of the Republicans.

But it was an election-year switch that should not have surprised Democrats, since Alexander was more in step with the Republican Party than his 2002 Republican opponent.

In a Dec. 7, 2002, run-off election pitting Alexander against Republican Lee Fletcher, the pro-life movement for once supported the Democrat.

Yes, both candidates opposed abortion. But Fletcher would allow abortions in the case of rape or incest - a position that not only turned pro-life activists against the Republican candidate, but led former Republican Rep. Clyde Holloway, a staunch pro-lifer himself, to refuse to endorse his party's candidate.

All of which breathed unexpected life into the campaign of Alexander, who won by 974 votes.

BUSH ON THE BALL

The Bush family's golf game was a surprise subject of Sunday's sermon at St. Ann's Episcopal Church in Kennebunkport, Maine.

Seated in pews adjacent to President Bush and first lady Laura Bush were his parents, former President George Bush and former first lady Barbara Bush; the president's sister, Dorothy; and his three brothers Neil, Marvin and Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.

Behind the first family were an estimated 350 parishioners, many of whom stood to hear the sermon delivered by the Rev. M.L. Agnew Jr., visiting pastor from St. Mark's Cathedral in Shreveport, La.

At one point, says the White House pool report, Agnew reached out and tapped Bush on his left shoulder, saying "Fear not . . . for I am with you."

Then the pastor picked up a golf club (an iron) and told an amusing tale of the senior Bush missing a golf ball on repeated swings. Having driven long to the right, Agnew said, Bush made a "mighty swing" at the ball, now resting atop an anthill, and missed, killing "about 346 ants."

He swung again and missed, the minister said. This swing killed "641 ants."

Then, he swung repeatedly and wildly, Agnew said. "And finally one little ant said to another little ant, 'If we're going to live, we better get on the ball.'"

The moral of the sermon?

"What God is reminding us to do is to get on the ball," said the pastor.

SIT AND REFLECT

Rounds of golf - not rounds of fire - are being organized by the joint military chiefs for the Pentagon Memorial Fund charity golf tournament Sept. 3 at Andrews Air Force Base.

The first-of-its-kind tournament will benefit a memorial park for those killed at the Pentagon and aboard American Airlines Flight 77 on Sept. 11, 2001.

Catalyst for the outing is Petty Officer First Class Thomas Hicks, a devoted golfer.

"We felt compelled to do something to help the fund, since we have worked in the Pentagon every day since the attack," he says. "I arrived shortly after the attack and the Pentagon was still recovering from the shock. As military members, we understand the pain associated with the loss of loved ones and we have lost some of our brothers and sisters in uniform."

The fund needs $27.5 million to build and maintain the memorial, consisting of 184 individual benches - each inscribed with a victim's name - rising above a lighted pool of water, with paper bark maple trees placed throughout the park.

To be erected on the Pentagon grounds near the point of Flight 77's impact, the benches will be arranged in a timeline of the victims' ages: 3-year-old Dana Falkenburg to 71-year-old John D. Yamnicky.

Members of the fund's executive committee include, among others, former Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Henry H. Shelton and American Airlines Chairman Edward Brennan. Continued...