...Rudolph will be put away for life. A Los Angeles Times feature this week said his guilty plea marked the continued fall of extreme, antigovernment individuals and paramilitary, right-wing militia groups that stirred controversy at the time of the Oklahoma City bombing. The Times quoted Vincent Coppola, author of ''Dragons of God: A Journey Through Far-Right America," as saying, ''My guess is today we're at the low ebb of a movement that comes and goes." He said Rudolph ''is sort of an artifact of another time. That doesn't mean the time won't come again."

Artifact? Another time? Rudolph may be put away for all time because he used deadly violence. But there are still many people doing his bidding. After Massachusetts's highest court legalized gay marriage, 11 states passed amendments to ban gay marriage in last November's elections. President Bush supports a federal constitutional amendment banning gay marriage.

On abortion, several states and the Bush administration have added restrictions in American domestic and foreign policy, behind the code language of the ''culture of life." As to ''global socialism," which can easily be interpreted as the sharing of Americans' wealth in a multi--cultural world, the signs are pretty obvious that Rudolph's spirit is alive and well there, too...