The Senate Foreign Relations Committee has delayed until Monday hearings on the nomination of John Bolton to be America's ambassador to the United Nations. They were originally scheduled to start today, but were postponed to allow some members to attend Pope John Paul II's funeral.

In the past, Bolton has been adamant in his opposition to the body. Therefore, his nomination is nothing but a slap in the face to countries whose support we will need down the road in terms of intelligence gathering and military operations among other needs.

The United Nations is not perfect, and I could list numerous things they've screwed up (nominating Libya to head the U.N. Commission on Human Rights being one glaring example). I'll be the first one to point out that governing bodies don't always make the best decisions (points finger in the direction of our nation's capital).

The importance of having a multilateral body has been lost on guys like Bolton. If you are a constituent of one of the Senators listed here, give them a call and urge them to oppose Bolton's nomination. If the Democrats on the committee stay united against him and one Republican joins them, his nomination cannot go forward. Sen. Lincoln Chafee (R-RI) is wavering on whether or not he will support Bolton. If you are a constituent of his, I encourage you to give his office a call or drop him an email.

Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE) and Sen. George Voinovich (R-OH) also tend to be more reasonable than many Republicans in the Senate and may consider opposing Bolton as well.

For you Wisconsinites, our own Sen. Russ Feingold is on the committee if you'd like to drop him a line and urge him to vote no.