On Saturday, March 15, I attended the funeral of my friend, Milton Copulos, a top energy expert who worked with my colleague, Andy Messing, as President of the National Defense Council Foundation. Here is some background on Milt:

"Milton Copulos was born on August 25^th, 1947 in Chicago, Illinois. Throughout his life, Milton served in many prominent roles in both the public and the private sector, including president of the National Defense Council Foundation, senior fellow at the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security and a founding member of the Set America Free Coalition.

"Milton was a veteran of two tours of duty in Vietnam. He was awarded the Bronze Star and several other Army Commendation Medals and was in the process of receiving a purple heart before his passing.

"He served as a cabinet-level advisor in two administrations and his views on energy security were sought after by many members of Congress and policymakers.

"His writing appeared in such prominent national news media as The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times and The Chicago Tribune. He was a frequent contributor to periodicals such as Insight Magazine, VFW Magazine and Regulation Magazine.

"Milton’s book ‘Energy Perspectives’ was a Washington Post nonfiction best seller, and for four years he wrote a nationally syndicated column on energy and environmental issues distributed by the Heritage Features Syndicate. He appeared on nationally broadcast news and information programs including FOX News. During the Afghanistan War he was an on-air military analyst for MSNBC.

"Yet, while proud of his accomplishments in life, the most cherished ‘jobs’ Milton took on were as husband to Janet and father to Jim who both love and miss him very much."

It was ludicrous to watch Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Hussein Obama sparring about the issue of NAFTA in their debate at Cleveland State University on Tuesday evening, February 26.

Neither was willing to flatly say that he would extricate the United States from NAFTA, and Hillary denied the easily proven fact that she was one of its strong advocates during her husband’s Presidency.

Neither the moderators nor the debaters mentioned the fact that, under the U.S. Constitution, Congress shall "regulate commerce with foreign nations". The founders intended that Congress not be able to delegate its trade responsibilities to a tri-national bureaucracy such as NAFTA.

Nor was it mentioned in the debate that NAFTA was not made subject to Constitutional requirements that treaties be ratified by a two-thirds vote of members of the U.S. Senate.

NAFTA was the precursor to the problems we now face with the Trans-Texas Corridor (TTC), other NAFTA Superhighway proposals, the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP), and the North American Union (NAU).

Perhaps someday, individuals who understand and believe in the Constitution of the United States will get to ask the questions.

In 1961, I headed a campaign against the left-wing, CIA-funded National Student Association. Its annual "Congress" was being held in Madison, Wisconsin.

My activities went forward under the auspices of an entity called "CRNSO", the Committee for a Responsible National Student Organization.

With the help of Kansas conservative Willard Garvey and my friend, Scott Stanley, I was able to raise enough money to facilitate the travel and lodging of several dozen young conservatives, who traveled to Madison from places throughout the United States to assist in our effort.

In order to make sure that there was no question about the care and integrity with which the money we had raised was handled, I placed the funds under the control of Victor Milione, who was then the head of ISI (now called "Intercollegiate Studies Institute", then having the name "Intercollegiate Society of Individualists").

Sadly, William Rusher, then the publisher of National Review, got control of the money and threatened me, saying that, if I did not vote with his faction at the next Board meeting of Young Americans for Freedom (YAF), I would never see the outside of the motel room at the Madison Inn in Wisconsin. All the bills at the hotel were my responsibility.

Faced with this threat, I reluctantly contacted William F. Buckley, Jr., (at his fifth anniversary dinner in 1960 I had been a principal speaker). I told Mr. Buckley that, unless the money was wired to me within two hours, I would hold a press conference disclosing how a superannuated conservative personage was trying to blackmail me into supporting his side in an internal dispute which was roiling the Board of Directors of Young Americans for Freedom, an entity on whose board I had served since YAF was founded in 1960.

Bill Buckley, with grace and alacrity, responded to my phone call. The money arrived almost instantly. I paid the bill at the Madison Inn and a few days later had the opportunity to vote against Mr. Rusher at the YAF Board meeting on September 3, 1961.

The death of Victor Milione a few days ago recalled these events to my mind.

My friend, Evan Mecham, was never very popular with the liberals, and, in death, they continue to do all they can to besmirch him and the good reputation he enjoyed with conservatives in Arizona and throughout the United States.

Here is what The Washington Post (2/23/08, p. B6) had to say in its obituary:

"Evan Mecham, 83, the Arizona governor impeached, indicted and subjected to a recall campaign in 1988 for misuse of state funds and his inflammatory racial opinions, died Feb. 21 at a Phoenix hospice. He had Alzheimer’s disease.

"Mr. Mecham (R), a millionaire automobile dealer, was called the Harold Stassen of Arizona because he unsuccessfully ran for governor four times before he won a three-way race in November 1986 with 40 percent of the vote.

"The state attorney general quickly began investigating allegations that Mr. Mecham had lent his auto dealership $80,000 from his inauguration fund and had obstructed justice in his efforts to stop the investigation of a death threat against a former lobbyist. He was the first U.S. governor impeached and removed from office in 59 years.

"Charges against him did not hold up in court, however. After the impeachment, Mr. Mecham was acquitted of six felony counts of violating campaign finance laws by allegedly concealing a $350,000 loan from his campaign fund to a developer.

"Mr. Mecham’s archconservative and impolitic opinions, his deep suspicions about government and his willingness to carry grudges against the establishment were as lethal to his political career as the financial charges. Having campaigned for more than two decades as an outsider, he did not alter his perspective upon his arrival in the governor’s office.

"In a self-published 1988 book, ‘Impeachment: The Arizona Conspiracy,’ Mr. Mecham said the real reason he was impeached was ‘pure and simple raw political power exercised by those groups who wanted to remain in control."…

"Shortly after taking office in 1987, Mr. Mecham rescinded the state holiday honoring the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., which enraged state workers, prompted public protests and caused organizers of national conventions to steer clear of the state. Mr. Mecham, who said the holiday was implemented illegally and required a public vote, poured fuel on the controversy by opining that King ‘didn’t deserve’ the holiday. …

"Working women cause divorce, he said. When a group began circulating recall petitions, Mr. Mecham said the effort stood little chance of success because its leaders were ‘a band of homosexuals and a few dissident Democrats.’ He said a group of visiting Japanese businessmen’s ‘eyes got round’ when they heard about Arizona’s plentiful golf courses.

"Within 18 months of his election, Mr. Mecham faced an unprecedented trifecta of a recall petition, six felony indictments by a grand jury and impeachment proceedings. The recall election was never held, because after the state House impeached him, the state Senate convicted him and removed him from office in April 1988.

Mr. Mecham turned back to his auto dealership and attempted to start a newspaper, but it failed before a single edition was published. He ran again for governor in 1990 – his sixth and last time – but lost. In 1992, he launched an unsuccessful campaign for a U.S. Senate seat.

"Born May 12, 1924, in Duchesne, Utah, Mr. Mecham enlisted in the Army Air Forces during World War II and flew combat missions in P-38 and P-51 fighters. He was shot down over Germany just before the war ended and spent 22 days as a prisoner of war.

"Mr. Mecham returned to Utah, married and attended Utah State University, Creighton University and Arizona State University. He began selling cars and bought a franchise in the desert town of Ajo, near the Mexican border. He bought a Glendale, Ariz., auto franchise in 1954 and soon began a political career, winning a state Senate term in 1960.

"Survivors include his wife, Florence Lambert Mecham of Phoenix, and seven children."