Avoiding Sun-Kissed Tuscany, and Other Tips for the Prudent Junketer

Rule No. 6: Do not overload your military aircraft with the bargain booty -- rugs, golf clubs, artifacts and such -- you hope to sneak in without regular customs inspection.

Once Our Enemy, Now Your Excellency

Speaking of travel, here are some words you never thought you'd see coming out of the White House: " President Bush today announced the designation of a Presidential Delegation to attend the inauguration of His Excellency José Daniel Ortega Saavedra, President of the Republic of Nicaragua on January 10, 2007."

"His Excellency"? Wasn't this guy some random commie thug, pal of Fidel Castro, just a few years back? The late Jeane Kirkpatrick must be spinning. And who drew the short straw to lead this august delegation? That would be Michael Leavitt, secretary of health and human services.

Unclear how they traveled to the ceremony. Maybe they flew to Harlingen, Tex., and then drove? As they used to say in the '80s, Managua's communists were only a two-day drive from there.

Changing Times

Good jobs opening up at the State Department. Buzz is Robert Joseph, undersecretary for arms control and international security, is going to be moving on, possibly at the end of this month.

The date is uncertain, we're told, because it has changed a few times. Apparently Secretary Condoleezza Rice wanted Joseph, who we're told has been frozen out of some important issues, to stay on for a bit given all the openings.

There have been a lot of them. Rice finally tapped national intelligence chief John Negroponte for the long-vacant deputy secretaryship and announced Iraq ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad for the U.N. posting. There are still excellent openings for an undersecretary for economic, business and agricultural affairs; for counselor; for coordinator for counterterrorism; and, with last week's departure of John Hillen, for assistant secretary for political-military affairs.

Looking Out for the Bad Guys

Former senator Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) is now a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, where he established and directs a program called "America's Enemies," which the center says will "focus on identifying, studying, and heightening awareness of the threats posed to America and the West."

No, the program doesn't appear to focus exclusively on Pennsylvania's Democrats. Seems to be looking more to "a growing array of anti-Western forces" overseas.