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Kerry's Band of Brothers
cartoon by Linda Eddy c/o IowaPresidentialWatch.com

A SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP - On Friday, Kerry campaign spokesman Debra Deshong was telling any reporter who would listen that there was a big difference between the negative advertisements being run by George Soros-funded MoveOn.org and Swift Boat Veterans for Truth: "MoveOn.org is an independent organization that existed well before the Kerry campaign," she said, whereas the veterans group "is not an independent group."

Deshong denied that the campaign had any knowledge about MoveOn.org's financing or motives or plans in its almost $20 million attacks against President Bush. Swift Boat Veterans for Truth has spent about $800,000 on its advertising.

In fact, according to a Kerry campaign volunteer, staff members and volunteers of the Kerry campaign in New York, Washington, and Los Angeles have been in almost constant contact with MoveOn.org staffers, including advanced viewing and reviews of MoveOn.org television commercials, online ads, and web content. As well, MoveOn.org staffers provided the Kerry campaign with opposition research within the past two months, as well as advance looks at speeches made by MoveOn.org speakers, including former Vice President Al Gore.

"We're always running into those guys," says a Kerry campaign volunteer in Washington, about MoveOn.org staffers. "We socialize with them, we see them at meetings, we can't avoid it. And of course we talk about the campaign. In some cities, we get our volunteers from MoveOn. No one has ever raised an issue about it."

In some cases, it isn't just volunteers that the Kerry campaign is getting from MoveOn.org. They are hiring them too. In April, the Kerry campaign hired MoveOn's special projects and research director Zach Exley to oversee Kerry's campaign's website. At the time, the Kerry campaign made a point of saying that Exley was joining the campaign with not a single scrap of paper or computer disk from his time with MoveOn.

But Exley didn't need to bring much. According to another Kerry adviser, there were already so many back-channel relationships between the two organizations, Exley's presence to foster more was unnecessary. "As soon as it was clear Kerry had the nomination, we began coordinating. It's all done through the DNC and the AFL-CIO, which is financing many of the other groups out there running anti-Republican advertising. We will sit on conference calls, but we won't take part. We just take notes, then confer with our folks inside the DNC. That's the way it's done."

ABCNEWS POLITICAL DIRECTOR MEMO SPARKS CONTROVERSY: BOTH SIDES NOT 'EQUALLY ACCOUNTABLE' - An internal memo written by ABCNEWS Political Director Mark Halperin admonishes ABC staff: During coverage of Democrat Kerry and Republican Bush not to "reflexively and artificially hold both sides 'equally' accountable."

The controversial internal memo obtained by DRUDGE, captures Halperin stating how "Kerry distorts, takes out of context, and mistakes all the time, but these are not central to his efforts to win."

But Halperin claims that Bush is hoping to "win the election by destroying Senator Kerry at least partly through distortions."

"The current Bush attacks on Kerry involve distortions and taking things out of context in a way that goes beyond what Kerry has done," Halperin writes.

Halperin's claim that ABCNEWS will not "reflexively and artificially hold both sides 'equally' accountable" set off sparks in St. Louis where media players gathered to cover the second presidential debate.

Halperin states the responsibilities of the ABCNEWS staff have "become quite grave."

In August, Halperin declared online: "This is now John Kerry's contest to lose." more>

Kerryopoly - Can you afford to live like John Kerry?

Where: Fox Chapel, PA
Cost: $3.7 Million
About: Kerry's suburban Pittsburgh estate includes a nine-room colonial and a nine-room carriage house. ("A Look At The Homes Owned By John Kerry And Teresa Heinz Kerry," The Associated Press, 3/23/04)
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Where: Nantucket, MA
Cost: $9.18 Million
About: Kerry's vacation home in Massachusetts is a three-story, five-bedroom waterfront retreat on Brant Point. ("A Look At The Homes Owned By John Kerry And Teresa Heinz Kerry," The Associated Press, 3/23/04)
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Where: Beacon Hill, MA
Cost: $6.9 Million
About: Kerry's primary residence in Massachusetts is a five-story, 12-room town house located in Boston's exclusive Beacon Hill. ("A Look At The Homes Owned By John Kerry And Teresa Heinz Kerry," The Associated Press, 3/23/04)
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Where: Ketchum, ID
Cost: $4.916 Million
About: Kerry's ski retreat is a 15th-century manor imported from England and later reassembled in Idaho. ("A Look At The Homes Owned By John Kerry And Teresa Heinz Kerry," The Associated Press, 3/23/04)
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What: Drive his Boat
Cost: $700,000
About: Kerry's 42-Foot Powerboat Is Called The Scaramouche, "Named After His Favorite Boyhood Movie, An Old Tale Of A French Swashbuckler." (Brian Blomquist, "Rivals Have 'Wealth' Of Experience," The New York Post, 2/23/04) Kerry’s Yacht Scaramouche "Sells For Upward Of $700,000." (David Brooks, "Clash Of Titans," The New York Times, 3/6/04)
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What: Fly the Jet
Cost: $35 Million
About: The Flying Squirrel, Kerry's Private Jet, has an estimated valued of $35 Million. (Howie Carr, “Kerry Family's Deep Pockets On Display This Election Cycle," The Boston Herald, 4/30/04)
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Where: Washington, DC
Cost: $4.7 Million
About: When in the nation's capital, Kerry lives in a 23-room Georgetown town house. ("A Look At The Homes Owned By John Kerry And Teresa Heinz Kerry," The Associated Press, 3/23/04)
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What: Ride his Motorcycle
Cost: $8,600
About: In Spite Of Six Figure Senate Salary, Kerry Gave Just $175 To Charity In Same Year He Bought Himself New Ducati Motorcycle For $8,600. (Andrew Miga, "Exotic Bike Cost Kerry $8,600," The Boston Herald, 6/14/96)
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What: Haircut
Cost: $1,000
About: John Kerry Reportedly Spent More Than $1,000 To Get Haircut. (Greg Pierce, "Inside Politics," The Washington Times, 4/28/04)
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What: Buy Some Art Work
Cost: $175,000
About: John Kerry sold a painting by 17th-century Dutch artist Adam Willaerts valued at $175,000. (John F. Harris, “Kerry As A Rich Target,” The Washington Post, 4/24/04)
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What Ride his Bicycle
Cost: $8,000
About: Since His Last Visit To Nantucket, Kerry Has Added An $8,000 Serotta Ottrott Bicycle To His Collection. His other bike is estimated to have cost $5,000. ('Power Pedaling: Bush Vs. Kerry," The Dallas Morning News, 6/2/04; Howie Carr, "Kerry Family's Deep Pockets On Display This Election Cycle," The Boston Herald, 4/30/04)
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What: Pay Gas Tax
Cost: $657 a Year
About: Kerry’s 50-Cent Gas Tax Increase Would Have Cost Average Households $1.80 A Day Or $657 A Year (How Stuff Works Website,www.howstuffworks.com, Accessed 2/24/04)
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Academic Credentials - Racially segregated dormitories and racial quotas are not enough for Cornell anymore. Like porn addict needing increasingly explicit images to get his next "fix," the University administration has quenched its craving for racial division by appointing Cynthia McKinney -- a disgraced former congresswoman from Georgia -- as a visiting professor under the Andrew Dickson White Professors-at-large Program.

McKinney was widely regarded as one of the most incompetent members of Congress by Democrats and Republicans alike. As a prominent member of the ultra-Leftist Congressional Black Caucus, McKinney often spewed incoherent conspiracy theories about Jews and whites plotting to murder people and prevent her re-election.

The most famous of her baseless claims was that the Bush administration had prior knowledge of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. According to McKinney, members of the Bush administration conspired to remain silent in the face of Sept. 11 warnings in order to wage a war that would benefit oil companies. In a March 25, 2002 interview with Berkeley radio station KPFA, she claimed:

"We know there were numerous warnings of the events to come on September 11th. ... What did this administration know and when did it know it, about the events of September 11th? Who else knew, and why did they not warn the innocent people of New York who were needlessly murdered? ... What do they have to hide?"

Where did McKinney get her explosive information that President Bush knowingly permitted 3,000 of his fellow countrymen to be slaughtered? Aboard a UFO? Through a coded message received through her tinfoil hat? Or did her Rice Krispies talk back to her that morning?

Senator Zell Miller (D-Ga.) responded to McKinney's ludicrous remarks by issuing a press release:

"At first glance, it would be easy to pass this off as just another loony statement. But at second glance, it is more than that. It is very dangerous and irresponsible."

Similarly, an embarrassed Democratic congressman, Melvin Watt (D-N.C.), sheepishly uttered, "I can't say that [McKinney's claim] would be a widely held view among lawmakers." more>

Activists or journalists - According to an article in The New York Times Magazine, a non-publicized meeting was held in New York City early last December attended by Sen. John Kerry and a number of liberal-leaning journalists, including CNN’s Jeff Greenfield, Newsweek’s Jonathan Alter, Richard Cohen of the Washington Post and Frank Rich of the aforementioned New York Times.

Now this powwow might have been just an innocent ‘‘get to know you’’ soiree, but there are hints it might have been quite something else. One of the attendees, Jim Kelly, the managing editor of Time magazine, was quoted as saying that Kerry was asked a number of times about his vote on Iraq, and, according to Kelly, ‘‘by the third go-round the answer was getting shorter and more relevant.’’

The ‘‘third go-round’’? That sounds like coaching to me, but I could be wrong. Maybe the senator simply wasn't making himself clear. What I'm not wrong about is that more than a few so-called journalists have turned into ‘‘activists’’: people who are dedicating themselves to getting a certain party or person elected and are using their positions in the media to do it. more>

African-Americans Unsure About Kerry, New Poll Says - African-American voters are not enthusiastic about Sen. John F. Kerry, according to a national poll commissioned by BAMPAC - Black America's Political Action Committee, a conservative-leaning group.

Fewer than one in three black Americans "definitely" believe that Kerry is the best candidate to replace President Bush, the poll said. more>

Airman's funeral used in 'Fahrenheit 9/11' - Family of major livid Michael Moore showed ceremony footage - "A maggot that eats off the dead" – that's what the mother of a U.S. Air Force major killed in the Iraq thinks about filmmaker Michael Moore, who used footage from the man's Arlington Cemetery funeral in his anti-Bush movie "Fahrenheit 9/11."

Air Force Maj. Gregory Stone was killed in March 2003 when a grenade was thrown into his tent, allegedly by Sgt. Hasan K. Akbar, who is on trial for murder.

"It's been a big shock, and we are not very happy about it, to say the least," Kandi Gallagher, Stone's aunt and family spokeswoman, told the Washington Times.

"We are furious that Greg was in that casket and cannot defend himself, and my sister, Greg's mother, is just beside herself," Gallagher said. "She is furious. She called [Moore] a 'maggot that eats off the dead.'" more>

Al Gore raised his children on the gospel of The Beatles - Former Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore raised his children on the gospel of John, Paul, George and Ringo, according to one of his children.

Kristin Gore, one of the former vice-president's four children, says her dad used to regularly "quiz" his kids about The Beatles. more>

Al Jazeera Praises Kerry - Al Jazeera, the Arab news network considered by Westerners to be the voice of al-Qaida, is praising likely Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry as "a popular mainstream Democrat with liberal tendencies, [who] has been widely seen as a good compromise candidate in a divided party."

"A decorated war hero, Kerry supported the attack on Iraq and wants to see a strong U.S. military," notes al Jazeera in a candidate profile on its Web site. "But that hawkish stance is balanced by his promotion of healthcare coverage, workers' rights and environment-friendly practices."

The network favored by Osama bin Laden as the chief venue for his propaganda tapes stressed that although Kerry initially supported the Iraq war, "he has suggested Bush's handling of the campaign is 'f****ed up.'" more>

Aladdin expels Ronstadt after political remarks - Aladdin President Bill Timmins ordered security guards to escort pop diva Linda Ronstadt off the property following a concert Saturday night during which she expressed support for controversial documentary filmmaker Michael Moore.

Near the close of her performance, Ronstadt dedicated the Eagles hit "Desperado" to Moore, producer of "Fahrenheit 9/11," and the room erupted into equal parts boos and cheers.

She said Moore "is someone who cares about this country deeply and is trying to help." more>

Allawi KO’s Kerry - Reporters covering the Kerry campaign may have heard the Senator’s ulcers growl, each time his Congressional colleagues gave the Iraqi PM an overwhelming ovation. Watching the guys supposedly standing behind him in the campaign, vociferously applaud the noble Iraqi leader and ally of Bush and the rest of America, must have been galling.

Maybe it’s payback for taking off his uniform and standing with the enemy against every American who fought in Vietnam during his meretricious mendacity before the Fulbright Committee, on national TV and on two Paris trips to meet with the North Vietnamese enemy.

It was awesome to hear Allawi -- who Saddam tried to assassinate, who is actually there in Baghdad risking his life 24/7 -- as he gave Bush, America and the Coalition troops kudos for shredding Saddam and now getting rid of the ragweed extremists who want to keep Iraq enslaved. Thank you, Prime Minister, for thanking us and giving us an eye-witnessed, favorable report. We sure aren’t getting either gratitude or an unbiased picture from CBS, NBC or ABC.

These three nutworks, TV’s Axis of Drivel, run negative reports on Abu Ghraib prison cruelty, on American soldiers’ death tolls, on terrorist beheadings of relief workers and on the insurgents in just three of Iraq’s 18 provinces. Then, they'll do an interview with a Muslim mendicant breathing murderous threats, and never cover the massive forward strides to freedom and democratic government in this once tyrannized nation. more>

Another Kennedy lapse - When Edward Kennedy accuses the president of lying the nation into Iraq for political purposes, you start wondering about Kennedy's own moral credentials - Edward Kennedy, a man whose ideological and partisan frenzies have apparently obscured his vision, looks at George W. Bush and sees Richard M. Nixon. Perhaps Bush should be grateful. At least Kennedy has not compared the president to a member of the Senate who once skedaddled from the scene of a drowning, forgetting to inform officials about it until 12 hours later.

Is it fair to bring up Chappaquiddick 35 years after Mary Ann Kopechne's death? Only for this reason: to search out the moral authority of this mouthy man who has repeatedly seen fit to accuse President Bush of grotesquely immoral behavior.

Kennedy has said, for instance, that Bush misled the American people into a war that has resulted in more than 600 American deaths. This week, in a speech at Brookings Institution, he went even further. The war, he suggested without precisely saying so, was meant to divert public attention from "deceptions here at home," such as a lie about when the recession started. He said Bush had created "the largest credibility gap since Richard Nixon." And, news accounts inform us, he referred to Iraq as "George Bush's Vietnam."

What we have here is not simply a point of view on issues. It is vile, below-the-belt name-calling, a far remove, say, from the public pronouncements of someone like Richard Lugar, R-Ind., who spells out policy disagreements in careful arguments. To propose as Kennedy does that the war in Iraq was politically motivated is tantamount to saying Bush has sacrificed lives for his own selfish ends — that the president is murderously Machiavellian.

If you are going to go that far, the least you could do is back up the charges with evidence and analysis. Kennedy gives us hokum and hysteria. For starters, he should figure out that there was no political advantage in a war that would delay economic recovery, run federal spending sky high and lead to American casualties.

As for Bush misleading the nation about Iraq's possession of weapons of mass destruction, as Kennedy has alleged, Kennedy himself had worried aloud about such weapons, as had Kennedy's Massachusetts pal John Kerry, now running for president. Kennedy is one of those who has also said that Bush warned that the threat from Saddam Hussein was imminent. Beyond any reasonable doubt, Bush did no such thing.

As for Iraq being another Vietnam, Kennedy might pause to reflect that it was his brother John who stepped up our involvement in that Southeast Asian country so as to make extraction difficult, and that it was JFK's advisors who convinced LBJ that the U.S. stakes there were vital. Despite the fighting now going on in Iraq, it seems close to hallucinatory to suppose we will lose a fraction of the 58,000 American soldiers lost in Vietnam. These two wars are as different as desert and jungle.

The phrase "credibility gap" did not first come into prominence with Nixon, but with LBJ. Skip that for a moment and focus on Kennedy's own credibility gap when he talks of the recession as if it were somehow Bush's fault. In fact, the economic slowdown began in the Clinton years, and there is no Bush policy that can be blamed for instigating the recession that officially started in his administration. The Bush domestic policies Kennedy most detests — what he calls tax cuts for the wealthy — have helped spur record economic growth that finally appears to be translating into vast job creation as well.

In bringing up Nixon's name, Kennedy brings up memories of Watergate, of illegal conduct and disgrace, linking those memories to an understanding of who Bush is. It's a neat trick if the public does not also think back on Kennedy's own conduct when he walked away from an underwater car and a passenger who did not walk away. more>

Anti-Hanoi John Kerry Links - Comprehensive listing of anti-John Kerry websites.

Arab-American Vote Key This Election - The Arab American Political Action Committee (search) nearly unanimously endorsed its candidate for president on Tuesday. Its selection, John Kerry, is an about-face for this Michigan based group, which backed President Bush in 2000. more>

Arab Americans To Widely Vote For Kerry: Poll - A majority of Arab Americans in four battleground states would vote for democratic candidate John Kerry if presidential elections were held Thursday, April 29, a poll unveiled.

The poll, conducted by the Washington-based Arab American Institute, found that 49 percent of all Arab-American voters in Florida, Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania - all swing states in the November election - would vote for Kerry, while 30 percent would vote for incumbent Republican President George W. Bush.

However, with Ralph Nader - an American of Lebanese descent - in the mix, Kerry's support would slip to 45 percent, and Bush's to 28 percent, while the independent contender would get 14 percent of the vote. more>

Axis of Evil Endorsement - Months after John Kerry boasted of having received secret endorsements from anonymous foreign leaders around the world, many of the gaps have been filled in. The leaders of the world have weighed in on the 2004 presidential election. Let’s run down the list of nations supporting each candidate:

John Kerry's Endorsements from Foreign Leaders:

North Korea: Although north Asia’s gulag archipelago has not formally endorsed a candidate, official Communist organs have shown a pronounced affinity for John Kerry. In March, the Financial Times noted, “John Kerry, the presumptive Democratic candidate, is also getting good play in Pyongyang.” North Korean radio has aired several of Kerry’s anti-Bush speeches, and the Korean Central News Agency has given the Democratic candidate “glowing” coverage. Kerry has publicly called for bilateral discussions with North Korea, such as those conducted by Jimmy Carter on behalf of the Clinton administration in 1994, although analysts agree these would be counterproductive.

Iran: A June editorial in the Teheran Times stated, “Kerry is exactly what the U.S. needs right now.” It is undisputed that Kerry has promised to give Iran exactly what it needs right now: nuclear fuel. Kerry pledged to supply Iran with nuclear fuel, just as Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton did to North Korea as it revved up its nuclear program during the 1990s.

Communist China: The state-controlled People’s Daily “news” website formally endorsed John Kerry in July. An unsigned editorial averred:

Comparatively speaking, Kerry is noted for being friendly with China. He was once firmly against linking the most-favored-nation status to China with human rights. From a long-term view, a Democratic administration, which stresses international cooperation, pursues “multilateralism” and stands for a policy of contacts, will be better for both world peace and Sino-U.S. relations.

The editorial also noted John Kerry opposes containment of China.”

Palestinian Authority: PA foreign minister Nabil Shaath has said in a Kerry presidency, “it would be likely that several staff members during Clinton's administration would return,” adding, “that would be a good thing.” Kerry has vowed to name Bill Clinton or Jimmy Carter as Middle East envoy. The state-controlled Palestine Media Center bashed “Bush's refusal to deal with Arafat.” President Bush has said Yasser Arafat is not a worthy “partner” working for Mideast peace. Conversely, in his 1997 book The New War, John Kerry referred to Yasser Arafat as a “statesman.”

Malaysia: In a letter dated last Friday, former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad exhorted fellow Muslims to vote for John F. Kerry “in the name of Islam.” Mohamad said his co-religionists “have a duty to ensure that Bush will not be able to determine our fate for four more years…There is an obvious connection between the sufferings of the Muslims and the policies and thinking of Bush.” This is not Mohamad’s first foray into international controversy. As he prepared to step down from his 22-year-long reign as prime minister last year, he famously told the 10th Islamic Summit in Kuala Lumpur, “Jews rule the world by proxy.” (To counteract this, he has instructed Muslims to vote for John Kerry, the only ethnically Jewish candidate in the presidential race.)

Socialist Spain: As early as March, Spain’s appeasenik prime minister and Socialist Party member Jose Luis Zapatero said, “I want Kerry to win.” Zapatero told the International Herald Tribune Spain’s Socialists – the party of unilateral surrender elected after the Madrid train bombing on March 11 – were “aligning ourselves with Kerry” to build an “alliance” for “peace, against war. Zapatero, who said he favors “a dialogue between the government of Spain and the new Kerry administration,” vowed the Kerry-Socialist axis would assure there will be “no more deaths for oil.”

France: According to all reports, John Kerry is wildly popular in the land of Gaul. A recent Le Monde poll found the Francs backing John Kerry over President Bush by more than three-to-one (72 percent to 19 percent). The Financial Times quotes an unnamed “French government official” pining for the return of the Democrats to Washington and the Ba’athists to Baghdad, saying, “A lot depends on who is in power in both Washington and Baghdad. If there's change in both countries then it's possible we would re-examine our position.” (Emphasis added.) The chairman of Democrats Abroad gave the “Ich bin ein Berliner” speech of the 2004 campaign, gushing Kerry “is the closest thing that you will have to a French politician.”

Germany: The Financial Times quotes Gert Weisskirchen, the foreign policy expert for Germany’s ruling Social Democratic Party, as analyzing the presidential race thus:

I cannot imagine that there will be any change in our decision not to send troops, whoever becomes president. That said, Mr. Kerry seems genuinely committed to multilateralism and as president he would find it easier than Mr. Bush to secure the German government's backing in other matters.

Vietnam: An unnamed “Vietnamese diplomat” told the international press, “I think Vietnam would support Kerry because he has traveled many times to Vietnam and he understands better the situation here than Bush, who is a war-mongering president.” Why not? Kerry has 30 years experience negotiating with Vietnamese Communists and is immortalized in Ho Chi Minh City’s War Remnants Museum.

Others: International polls indicate the vast majority of Pakistanis, Jordanians, and Moroccans disapprove of President Bush and may be assumed to support Sen. Kerry by default.

Meanwhile, those engaged in the War on Terrorism have supported President George W. Bush.

George W. Bush's Endorsements from Foreign Leaders:

Russia: On Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin told Russia’s RIA news agency Iraqi terrorism “aims at causing maximum damage to President Bush and to forestall his second term re-election.” He warned, “If they succeed, they would celebrate a victory against America and the anti-terror coalition, and this could lead to more acts of international terrorism.” Although Putin pledged to “respect any choice of the American people,” his comments were seen as a muted endorsement of President Bush. It seems, since mourning the tragedy of Beslan, he has discovered the wisdom of pre-emption.

Israel: Although Yasser Arafat’s Palestinian Authority favors John Kerry, the Israelis favor George W. Bush. Israel’s military intelligence chief, Major-General Aharon Ze’evi told the Israeli Cabinet he feared, “Arafat is now waiting for the month of November in the hope that President Bush will be defeated in the presidential election and turned out of his office.” Israeli citizens seem to agree. In a poll taken by the newspaper Haaretz, Israelis preferred Bush over Kerry by two-to-one. (In all, one may expect an improvement in domestic Jewish support for the president, but many American Jews remain steadfastly loyal to the Democratic Party.)

Japan: Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi divulged his support for the president last week. “I don't want to interfere in another country's election,” he said, “but I am close to President Bush so I want him to do well.” The Secretary-General of Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party, Tsutomu Takebe, told the media, “I think there would be trouble if it's not President Bush.” Takebe said Kerry’s plan for bilateral U.S.-North Korean negotiations “would be exactly what North Korea wants.”

The Philippines: Filipinos also support President Bush. “Filipinos...have a frontline appreciation of the threat posed by international terrorism,” according to political science professor Alex Magno, an adviser to President Gloria Arroyo. Over the past two decades, hundreds of Filipinos – and some Americans – have died at the hands of such al-Qaeda affiliates as Abu Sayyaf and Jamaaat Islamiya. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Magno states, “If Filipinos were voting for the American president, George W. Bush would have this election in the bag.”

South Korea: South Koreans, who have been tending toward anti-Americanism for years, remain split on the election. However, polls show the most anti-Communist segments of South Korea favor President Bush.

Two More Important Endorsements for Kerry:

Finally, two non-state actors have made their preferences known: al-Jazeera Television and the Communist Party USA.

Osama bin Laden’s chosen media outlet, al-Jazeera – which regularly refers to suicide bombers as “martyrs” and may have direct ties to terrorism – now hopes to refer to John Kerry as “Mr. President.” The pro-terror Mideastern network referred to John Kerry as “a popular mainstream Democrat with liberal tendencies” and noted the junior senator from Massachusetts “has suggested Bush's handling of [Iraq] is ‘f****ed up.’” Although the National Journal named Kerry the Senate’s most liberal member, al-Jazeera claimed “Kerry is well placed politically between his party's radical left and arch conservatives.” (“Arch-conservative” Democrats?) After all, the Democratic Party gave al-Jazeera a skybox at its national convention this summer.

The Communist Party USA is not foreign, although it illegally received Soviet money for decades. It, too, has cast its lot with John Kerry. The CPUSA lists as election priority number one that Communists do their “utmost to help defeat Bush.” The communist website dedicates an entire page of internal articles to anti-Bush propaganda. Echoing John Kerry (or is it the other way around?), the Communist Party USA decries the “well-financed campaign to weaken and destroy the impact of the African American vote.” Similarly, on September 11th of this year, Kerry told the Congressional Black Caucus, “We are not going to stand by and allow another million African American votes to go uncounted in this election.” The rhetorical similarities no doubt account for the CPUSA’s silent endorsement.

In all, it appears those nations most opposed to the War on Terrorism – including the remaining two members of the Axis of Evil – endorse the foreign policies of the Left, which they see embodied in the person of John Kerry. On the other hand, those nations historically friendly to the United States back President George W. Bush. It is significant that those nations under the greatest terrorist threat – Russia, the Philippines, Israel and (if one counts nuclear threats from North Korea) Japan – all favor the aggressive policy of taking the war to the terrorists pursued by the Bush administration. If we do not wish to share their peril, we would do well to heed their advice to reject the discredited, defeatist foreign policies of the Left.

Barack Obama: Moderate in Speech, Far Left in Deeds - Barack Obama cemented his position as a rising Democrat star with his keynote convention address July 27. He delivered his well-crafted speech with a perfect mixture of frankness and passion, deftly stirring the crowd from rapt silence to raucous enthusiasm--a home run.

There was only one problem: change a few sentences here and there, and the young black Senate candidate from Illinois could have given the same speech at the Republican National Convention.

As a state senator, Obama has been no defender of the unalienable right to life. He twice voted against bills prohibiting tax funding of abortions. In April 2002, he voted against a bill to protect babies born alive after a failed abortion procedure. A similar federal law passed later that year.

In 1997, Obama twice voted ''present'' on an Illinois partial-birth abortion ban. He absented himself from a third vote on the measure. In 2001, he voted ''present'' on a bill to notify parents when their minor children seek an abortion. He also voted against a cloning ban in 2000, although he voted for it in 2001.

In 1999, Obama voted against requiring school boards to put Internet pornography filters on school computers meant for students' use. In 2001, he voted ''present'' on a bill to keep pornographic book and video stores and strip clubs from setting up within 1,000 feet of schools and churches. In 2003, he voted in the Health and Human Services Committee for a bill requiring ''age appropriate'' sex-education for students in kindergarten through fifth grade. more>

Barbra, Neil, Bette Will Sing for Kerry - Barbra Streisand and Neil Diamond will perform a one off-concert for John Kerry. Meantime, New York will reciprocate three days later on June 10 when a gaggle of superstars hits the stage at Radio City Music Hall for Kerry. Expect to see Bette Midler, John Mellencamp, Sheryl Crow, Robin Williams and Whoopi Goldberg among the many names at that show. (If the latter two are there, Billy Crystal can't be far behind.) more>

Big Media Back Kerry - If you wanted any more proof of Big Media backing for John Kerry's presidential campaign, consider the report in Broadcasting & Cable magazine that Kerry "is getting a big fundraising boost from television- and movie-studio brass." Reporter David Hatch reports that the Kerry backers include Peter Chernin, News Corporation president; Viacom CEO Sumner Redstone; Sony Chairman Howard Stringer; and Motion Picture Association President and CEO Jack Valenti. Each of these men is pledging to raise at least $50,000 for Kerry.

Some may be surprised that officials of News Corporation are backing Kerry. This is the company behind the Fox News Channel. But officials of this corporation have been playing both sides of the street for years. Fox News Corp Chairman Rupert Murdoch served as vice finance chairman for a Gore fund-raiser in 2000, and contributed $50,000 to the Gore campaign. He also signed off on a deal allowing the Democrats to use the Staples Center for the 2000 Democratic Convention in Los Angeles at no charge. That was worth $10 million. more>

Big oil and tobacco to unions, Kerry pocketed speaking fees - Back when federal lawmakers legally could be paid for speaking to outside groups, John Kerry collected more than $120,000 in fees from interests as diverse as big oil, tobacco, the liquor lobby and unions, records show.

Between 1985 and 1990, Kerry's first five years in the Senate from Massachusetts, he pocketed annual amounts slightly under the limits for speaking fees set by Congress. Unlike many colleagues, he donated a speaking fee to charity only once, according to annual financial disclosure reports reviewed by The Associated Press.

One of the companies to pay Kerry $1,000 for a speech in 1987, Miami-based Metalbanc, was later indicted, along with two executives, on charges it helped the Cali drug cartel in Colombia launder money in the United States. The charges eventually were dropped because the firm was defunct.

At the time of the 1987 speech to Metalbanc, Kerry was chairman of the Senate subcommittee that investigated drug trafficking and money laundering.

Kerry, now the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination, said he didn't learn about the drug connection to the company or its executives, who also gave him political donations, until The Boston Globe informed him of it in 1996. He donated several thousand dollars to charities to make amends.

Kerry's ethics reports show he made more than 90 paid speeches between 1985, when he first took office, and 1990, when Congress began the move to end honoraria. more>

Billionaires Bundle Funds for Democrats - Defeating President Bush in 2004 has become a central focus in the life of billionaire George Soros, and he's ready to put his money where his mouth is. Soros has pledged $15 million of his personal wealth to activists working to undo Bush's presidency.

Meanwhile, television sitcom granddaddy Norman Lear has joined director Rob Reiner and movie stars like Whoopi Goldberg to form a new voter turnout organization targeted at young voters called Declare Yourself .

And electronic pop guru Moby has teamed up with Soros' son Jonathan Soros, actress Janeane Garofalo and other pop stars for a contest urging amateur filmmakers to produce their own 30-second anti-Bush videos .

All this activity has opponents crying foul over what has become a new post-campaign finance reform phenomenon: larger-than-life fat cats and celebrities giving to outside interest groups millions in unregulated soft money in an effort to keep Bush from another four years in the White House.

"These are the same people who were screaming for campaign finance reform," said Hollywood Republican activist Lionel Chetwynd. "I would like to compete with the likes of Mr. Soros and Mr. Lear, but frankly, I'm just not rich enough."

Republican political consultant Craig Shirley said Democratic special interests are taking independent fund-raising operations "to where no liberal hack has gone before." more>

Black Voters Disenfranchised? Another Lie From a Corrupt John Kerry - The Kerry salvo about a million black voters is a wild extrapolation based on the falsehood that in 2000 blacks were disenfranchised in Florida and then assuming proportional numbers were disenfranchised in every other state. The million number is highly convenient since it is the threshold for a sound bite really to bite. Kerry, for instance, will never say on the stump that the economy has lost a net 600,000 total jobs during the past four years, sticking instead with a statistic that keeps the figure over a million.

What happened in Florida in 2000 is some voters spoiled their ballots, voting for two candidates or not making a discernible mark on their ballot. This happens in every election, but these mistakes were magnified in Florida because of the scrutiny that came with Bush's 500-vote margin. Peter Kirsanow, a Republican member of the U.S. Civil Rights Commission and a one-man truth squad about the Florida controversy, estimates the rate of spoilage in Florida at roughly 3 percent.

That is similar to the 2.6 percent rate in 1996, when Democrats failed to scream about disenfranchisement…. more>

Buffett downplays role as adviser to Kerry - Multibillionaires George Soros and Warren Buffett try to minimize their roles in Kerry campaign. more>

Bush Photo with Teen Shows Conviction and Compassion - It started out as a fluke. Lynn Faulkner had been offered an extra ticket to a Bush campaign event by his neighbor Linda Prince. Mr. Faulkner decided to offer it to his 15-year old daughter Ashley who he expected would decline, as she would have to miss some school to attend. But his daughter surprised him. Ashley reminded her dad how four years ago they attended a similar event when then Texas Governor George W. Bush visited the same spot on the campaign trail.

Ashley remembered attending that event with both her father and her mother Wendy Faulkner. It was raining that day and they all stood in the rain awaiting Governor Bush “eating Triscuit crackers” enjoying the time together and hoping to get a glimpse of the would-be president. Ashley recalled holding her mothers hand as they waited. So she decided to go again this year, but this time her mother could not attend. Wendy Faulkner was murdered on 9/11/01 in the south tower of the World Trade Center. She was there on the 104th floor for a one-day meeting. Ashley decided to miss school in honor and remembrance of her mother and attend the event.

So the trip was on. Linda Prince, along with Lynn and Ashley Faulkner, were off to the Golden Lamb Inn in Lebanon, Ohio for the event. The group arrived early and got a spot close to the front. As the event wound down, the president worked the line in full campaign mode shaking hands and signing autographs. As the president passed the group, Mr. Faulkner got an autograph, and the president continued on until Linda Prince spoke up, “This girl lost her mother on 9/11,” Prince told the president.

Then everything changed.

“The president’s entire expression transformed,” Mr. Faulkner told me on Sunday. “He turned and came back against the flow and his eyes locked on Ashley’s. His face showed a man who was no longer the president, he was a father and a husband.” President Bush made his way back to Ashley and he embraced the 15-year old young woman. “She snuggled in with the president just like she did when she was a little girl with her dad,” Mr. Faulkner said. “I know it’s hard,” Mr. Faulkner heard the president tell his daughter. “I’m okay,” Ashley told the president. The embrace continued.

Mr. Faulkner had his Kodak digital camera with him and debated on invading this very private moment between his daughter and the leader of the free world. “For 20-30 seconds the president belonged exclusively to Ashley,” Lynn Faulkner told me. So he decided to capture the moment without invading Ashley and the president’s privacy. He held up his digital camera, not even aiming with his eye and with one click snapped just one picture. It showed in detail the face of a compassionate man who just happens to be the president comforting a young woman who lost her mother in the 9/11 attacks on America.

Mr. Faulkner told me that he saw tears in his daughter’s eyes, and saw emotion that he hadn’t seen from his daughter in 2 ½ years. Ashley told her dad, “The way he was holding me, with my head against his chest, it felt like he was trying to protect me, he wanted to make sure that I was safe.” That feeling is captured in a very clear way in this moving unscripted photo. It’s the only photo of this special embrace as the press corps had already been ushered back on the bus. And the photo was never meant for publication. All Mr. Faulkner did when he returned home from the event was e-mail it to 15 friends and family. But by the middle of last week, I had received the photo from eight different people. Others were also receiving the photo and forwarding it along. It became an Internet phenomenon, as it was e-mailed around America. more>

Bush Spotlights Extremists - Titled "Kerry's Coalition of the Wild-Eyed," it links Kerry with the extremism currently rampant in certain sectors of the Democratic Party. It shows Al Gore howling, "How dare they drag the good name of the United States through the mud of Saddam Hussein's torture prison!" and Howard Dean screeching, "I want my country back!" It also has a clip of Michael Moore's Oscar acceptance speech and the two ads from MoveOn.org comparing Bush to Hitler.

Yet the media on its own will not raise the issue of the Kerry Campaign's closeness to extremism, so the Bush Campaign must. It could start by pointing out that Teresa Heinz-Kerry visited a Kerry/MoveOn house party in San Francisco last December. At the party she handed out an "Asses of Evil" pin that contained the pictures of Cheney, Rumsfeld, and Ashcroft. Later she "took a call" from her Senator husband, who proceeded to speak to the assembled group. On the way out, she took some "Condoleezza Rice Crispies Bars" with her. (Does the NAACP know about this? And would it even care?)

Here are some questions that the Bush Campaign should encourage the press to direct at Kerry. "Does your wife support MoveOn.org?" "Will you or Teresa attend any more MoveOn.org events?" "Do you denounce the MoveOn.org ads comparing President Bush to Hitler?" "Do you agree with MoveOn.org that President Bush 'deliberately misled' America about Iraq?" And if they are in a really mischievous mood, the Bush Campaign could suggest asking, "Did your wife give you any of the Condoleezza Rice Crispies Bars"?

Here are some other questions that the Bush Campaign should propose: "Back in November, George Soros said 'When I hear Bush say, "You're either with us or against us," it reminds me of the Germans.' Do you think that is appropriate, Senator Kerry?" "Al Gore recently compared Bush's staff to 'Brown Shirts.' Should Gore apologize for that remark?" "After seeing Michael Moore's movie Fahrenheit 9/11, DNC Chairman Terry McAuliffe recently said that he believed Moore's premise that Bush invaded Afghanistan not to avenge the terrorist attacks but to ensure that a natural gas pipeline could be built there. Do you agree with Terry McAuliffe?"

Kerry and the Democrats have not distanced themselves from left-wing extremism; at times, they have even embraced it. The Bush Campaign needs to start raising the extremism issue, encouraging the media to ask Kerry if he will denounce it. more>

Bush-Haters of the world, unite! - Amateur and professional Bush-haters at Kerry's Take America Back campaign in Washington, including billionaire George Soros. more>

Candidate Harkin Stretches the Truth - Vietnam isn't the only instance - If running for president is a game of truth or consequences, then a lot of Democratic Sen. Tom Harkin's critics would like to see him face the consequences.

Already in the presidential campaign, the Iowa lawmaker has found himself accused of misleading reporters about the troubles of his deaf brother. In addition, the budgetary mathematics he weaves into his basic stump speech have been challenged on network television. And allegations about Mr. Harkin's truthfulness extend back well before the current campaign, back to his claims that he was a combat pilot in Vietnam. more>

Carter Silent On Castro's Crackdown - Jimmy Carter is the self-appointed globetrotter on behalf of human rights.

But when Carter friend Fidel Castro unleashed a brutal wave of repression recently, that included extra-judicial executions, Carter’s reaction was silence, followed by muted criticism, and finalized with a stinging criticism of . . . the United States.

On just about the one year anniversary of Carter’s historic trip to Cuba, his new amigo Fidel Castro rounded up 75 political dissidents and independent journalists and packed them off to jail for 28 years each.

Although formally accused of conspiring with U.S. diplomats to undermine the socialist state, the apparent crime of almost all was their championing the so-called “Varela Project,” a petition calling for greater basic liberties – and the absolute centerpiece of Carter’s controversial mission-impossible-without-portfolio to the communist island.

The Cuban president followed up by ordering the execution of three men accused of terrorism in an unsuccessful hijacking of a passenger ferry headed to the United States. The three summarily went before a firing squad April 11 without so much as a final farewell to family and loved ones.

On March 21 when word of the initial arrests and detentions of the Varela dissidents hit the world media big-time, Carter issued only an anemic press release:

“I am deeply concerned about reports of detentions of Cuban citizens known for supporting the Varela Project, promoting human rights, and practicing independent journalism. The international community supports their rights to the protections afforded by the Cuban constitution. I call on the Cuban government to respect those rights and to refrain from detaining or harassing citizens who are expressing their views peacefully.”

But Carter also seemed to place part of the onus of Castro’s human rights abuses on the shoulders of the U.S.:

“I also am troubled by the rising tension between the Cuban government and the U.S. Interests Section in Havana. I urge my own government to work with the Cuban government to deflate those tensions and establish a relationship of mutual respect.”

Later, after the draconian sentences were handed down, Carter certainly did not rush onto the Sunday news programs to express the expected emotions of disgust, disappointment and betrayal-in-the-first-degree.

In fact, to this day there is still nothing on the Carter Center website about the Castro debacle – other than that same lackluster and dated press release quoted above.

Cartoon: Howard Stern Enters Politics!

Celebrities declare own war -- on Bush - Recent examples:

* At a John Kerry fundraiser July 8, Whoopi Goldberg delivered several crude puns on Bush's name. Complaints led to Goldberg's firing as a Slim-Fast spokeswoman and admonishments from both parties.

* At a concert July 14, rocker Ozzy Osbourne sang War Pigs while projecting an image of Bush with Adolf Hitler. After complaints, it was dropped from shows.

* Hip-hop artist Jadakiss' hit Why blames Bush for 9/11. He sings: ''Why did Bush knock down the towers?'' Some radio stations have edited out the line.

Even Linda Ronstadt's seemingly innocuous plea at her concert Saturday in Las Vegas to see the Bush-bashing movie Fahrenheit 9/11 angered some listeners and got her axed by the Aladdin Hotel/Casino. more>

Celebs Join MoveOn in Making Anti-Bush Ads - "Bourne Supremacy" star Matt Damon (search), "Lost in Translation" actress Scarlett Johansson (search) and other celebrity artists are donating their talents -- not just their cash -- to an online effort to unseat President Bush.

The Internet political group MoveOn.org on Tuesday premieres 10 new anti-Bush ads created by award-winning directors and starring popular Hollywood actors. An independent group not connected directly to Democratic candidate John Kerry (search), MoveOn has promised an unconventional approach to the election. more>

CHER ISSUES BUSH WARNING AT DISCO - Only a couple hundred came out to see Cher Friday night at Miami Beach's CROBAR disco, but that did not stop the legendary diva from issuing an election warning against Republican control.
Cher warned moveon.org clubgoers to fight Bush, before "it's too late":

"All the gay guys, all my friends, all my gay friends, you guys you have got to vote, alright? Because it would only be a matter of time before you guys would be so screwed, I cannot tell you. Because, you know, the people, like, in the very right wing of this party, of these Republicans, the very very right wing, the Jerry Falwell element, if they get any more power, you guys are going to be living in some state by yourselves. So, I hate scare tactics, but I really believe that that's true."

Chinese Kerry Out: John Kerry's Private Trade Trip to Beijing - The Kerry campaign currently is struggling with recent photographs of the candidate, one dressed in a "bunny" suit at NASA and another on the bow of a ferry imitating a famous scene from the movie Titanic.

However, a new photograph has emerged showing the Massachusetts senator in Beijing, People's Republic of China, working with a company associated with the Chinese military. The Kerry campaign and the Kerry Senate office both are refusing to comment on the Democratic presidential candidate's privately sponsored trade trip to China. Repeated phone calls both to Kerry's campaign headquarters and his Senate office were not returned.

During the late 1990s, John Kerry traveled on a "U.S. trade mission to the People's Republic of China organized and sponsored by a private corporation." The Kerry trip to Beijing was topped off with a "banquet in Beijing's legendary Great Hall of the People." To prove the trip was a success, the Massachusetts-based firm of Boston Capital & Technology photographed Kerry in the Beijing Great Hall of the People. The image and trip information appear at www.us-china.com, Boston Capital's Website.

The photo shows Kerry, an unnamed Chinese government official and Paul Marcus, the head of Boston Capital & Technology. Marcus also refused to provide details of the China trip, including the time and date, whether the senator took money for his services, or the identity of the Chinese officials with whom Kerry met. "I am not doing an interview with you, and please don't call me again," Marcus declared.

The chief of Boston Capital and his Chinese-born wife, Moying Li, live in the same Beacon Hill district of Boston as Kerry, who used his half-interest in the family mansion to borrow $6.4 million to save his then-faltering presidential campaign.

While Marcus currently refuses to comment on the private trade trip to China, he does advertise his connection to Sen. Kerry on Boston Capital's Website, where Marcus claims that his firm was "China Advisor to U.S. Senator's commercial agenda for China." The Website goes on to says that Boston Capital: "Advised, assisted, and executed Minister-level commercial agenda for U.S. Senator. Advanced Senator in China for all Minister-level meetings, coordinated and acted as liaison to: The U.S. State Department, The U.S. Embassy in Beijing, The Department of Commerce, and all relevant Chinese authorities."

The Chinese Army Bank: In fact, Marcus is a business partner with the China International Trust and Investment Corp. (CITIC), a firm closely associated with the Chinese military and included on the Website a picture of himself meeting with CITIC officials in China. "Boston Capital & Technology is a bilateral contractual affiliate of both the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT), China's largest trade organization, and the China International Trust and Investment Corporation (CITIC), China's largest investment organization," the Website says.

CITIC is known as a front for the munitions manufacturer Poly Technologies Corp. According to a 1997 report prepared by the Rand Corporation, "Poly Technologies Ltd. was founded in 1984, ostensibly as a subsidiary of CITIC, although it was later exposed to be the primary commercial arm of the PLA [People's Liberation Army] General Staff Department's Equipment Sub-Department." The Rand report continues: "Throughout the 1980s, Poly sold hundreds of millions of dollars of largely surplus arms around the world, exporting to customers in Thailand, Burma, Iran, Pakistan and the United States. ... CITIC does enter into business partnerships with and provide logistical assistance to PLA and defense-industrial companies like Poly."

The Rand report notes that CITIC's Poly Group once tried to smuggle machine guns into the United States: "Poly's U.S. subsidiaries were abruptly closed in August 1996. Allegedly, Poly's representative, Robert Ma, conspired with China North Industries Corporation's (NORINCO) representative, Richard Chen, and a number of businessmen in California to illegally import 2,000 AK-47s into the United States."

Poly Technologies was run by international arms dealer Wang Jun and his "princeling" friend, the powerful He Ping, son-in-law of long-time Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping. The Rand Corporation noted that "Wang Jun is both director of CITIC and Chairman of Poly Group, the arms-trading company of the General Staff Department."

In 1996, Poly Chairman Wang Jun met with President Bill Clinton inside the White House with convicted Chinagate figure Charlie Trie, who donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to the 1996 Clinton/Gore campaign from Red Chinese sources. The Democratic Party later returned much of this donated money.

Satellites for China: While CITIC is reported by U.S. military authorities to be involved in the international sale of illegal arms it also is interested in obtaining advanced U.S. technology. The Boston Capital Website notes that the firm has been involved with the transfer of advanced U.S. space technology to China. Such references are viewed in the arms trade to have missile applications.

According to the Boston Capital Website, the company acted as a China adviser for a "U.S. High Technology Corporation's technology-transfer efforts in the People's Republic of China. They were responsible for technology transfer for full-scale manufacturing in China of technologies in telecommunications and satellites. ... Each production package sells for $15 [million] to $20 million. The Corporation has successfully transferred these [satellite] technologies to several Chinese manufacturers now in production."

It should come as no surprise that Marcus' partner in Beijing, CITIC, also owns a controlling interest in the Hong Kong-based Asia Satellite Telecom Co. Ltd. (AsiaSat). Founded in 1988, AsiaSat operates several communications satellites in the Far East bought from U.S. manufacturers including Hughes. According to Aviation Week and Space Technology, in addition to direct TV broadcasts, AsiaSat satellites regularly carry communications traffic for Chinese military units and Chinese military-owned companies.

Sweet Deal Turns Sour: Not all of the Marcus projects in Communist China have turned out so sweet. In 1998 the U.S. Department of Agriculture gave Marcus a $77,000 contract to produce a report on the cranberry market in China. By 2001, Marcus had spun the contract and report into a deal to put Massachusetts-based Ocean Spray in business with China's largest juice company, perhaps looking to find markets and perhaps outsourcing a traditional American industry.

Many Faces, No Answers: Who Marcus was working for in the juice case is not entirely clear, but he has completed several other sweet deals. Marcus is the founder of a number of firms that do business with Beijing, including not only Boston Capital & Technology but Boston Business Consulting, Massachusetts-Guangdong Committee Inc. and China Development Holdings Ltd.

The Marcus business savvy also extends far beyond China. He once sold the Webpage name bbc.com to the British Broadcasting Corp. for about $350,000. The Boston-based consultant also has time for the arts. He and his wife are listed as founders of the nonprofit American Friends of the National Gallery of the Cayman Islands, a lovely place notorious for hiding and laundering money.

John Kerry frequently has stated that he has had contacts with high-ranking officials of foreign governments. Yet, the Kerry campaign is refusing to answer any questions about the candidate's privately sponsored trade trip to China or his relationship with Marcus. But it would appear that the presidential candidate has many friends at high levels in Beijing. The Chinese official Internet news outlet of the People's Daily, official newspaper of the Communist Party of China, recently endorsed the senator from Massachusetts for president of the United States.

Cleland drops a political grenade - Former Sen. Max Cleland is the Democrats' designated hysteric about George Bush's National Guard service. A triple amputee and Vietnam veteran, Cleland is making the rounds on talk TV, basking in the affection of liberals who have suddenly become jock-sniffers for war veterans and working himself into a lather about President Bush's military service. Citing such renowned military experts as Molly Ivins, Cleland indignantly demands further investigation into Bush's service with the Texas Air National Guard.

Bush's National Guard service is the most thoroughly investigated event since the Kennedy assassination. But the Democrats will accept only two possible conclusions to their baseless accusations: (1) Bush was "AWOL," or (2) the matter needs further investigation. more>

Clinton aide took home classified 9-11 papers - FBI investigates Kerry adviser Berger for theft of secret terror documents - In a blockbuster revelation that may prove to be the most shocking scandal of the Clinton administration, former National Security Adviser Sandy Berger is under criminal investigation for pocketing highly classified terrorism documents prior to the Sept. 11 Commission hearings.

Berger is the focus of a Justice Department investigation for removing the documents and handwritten notes from a secure reading room, the Associated Press is reporting. He has been serving as a national security adviser to John Kerry's campaign. more>

Clinton Blatantly Politicized New York Pulpit - Bill Clinton bashed President Bush in a speech delivered from the pulpit of a prominent Manhattan church on the Sunday before the Republican National Convention began.

Yet, Americans United for Separation of Church and State does not view Clinton's pulpit-based diatribe a violation of tax laws. Clinton in his speech explicitly targeted the Republican Party in general and President Bush specifically. He also expressed his preference for Democratic candidate John Kerry. more>

Clinton stole the silverware, but left the appointees - After his election in 2000, George W. Bush made a big mistake: He didn't clean house of Clinton administration figures. The Senate has confirmed hundreds of President Bush's appointments, but it's Bush's reappointments that have come back to haunt him. While several of the reappointees first served under Republicans, their service in the Clinton administration should have signaled that they would be trouble for Bush. more>

Coalition of the Wild-Eyed - The traditional strength of American politics is that the two-party system encourages moderation by effectively marginalizing lunatics on both ends of the ideological spectrum. Republicans don't need to court twitchy backwoods militia types hankering for a return to legalized segregation, and Democrats don't need to get in bed with fist-pumping café revolutionaries who insist that every black man behind bars in the United States is a political prisoner.

But that tradition is now in jeopardy. For in its desperation to elect John Kerry president this November, the Democratic hierarchy is busy cobbling together what the Bush campaign recently, and accurately, dubbed Kerry's Coalition of the Wild-Eyed. Rather than putting forward a coherent platform of policy objectives, the Democrats have cast a net of free-floating political rage in the hopes of scooping up every amateur conspiracy theorist with a grudge against the status quo. more>

Communist Party USA supports John Kerry - The southern Democrats must be thrilled by the news that the Communist Party of The United States of America, CPUSA, is publicly supporting the election of John Kerry.

The CPUSA has made available on its Web site, cpusa.org, an advertisement entitled Top Ten Reasons To Defeat Bush. This advertisement can be downloaded. The communist party urges readers to place this ad in local newspapers throughout the country to defeat President Bush.

Remarkably, the "Top Ten Reasons" of the Communist party are identical to those of the Democratic party; out-sourcing, homosexual rights, abortion and the like.

At first, I thought "this is only a coincidence." The Democratic party of the United States couldn't be in lock step with the Marxists! So, I wrote to a spokesman of the CPUSA in Georgia and here is part of his letter:

" The CPUSA supports the John Kerry campaign with donations and volunteer effort. We believe that defeating George Bush is the single most important issue this November ..." more>

Communist Vietnamese honor John Kerry, the war protestor, as a hero in their victory over the United States in the Vietnam War - In the Vietnamese Communist War Remnants Museum (formerly known as the "War Crimes Museum") in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), a photograph of John Kerry hangs in a room dedicated to the anti-war activists who helped the Vietnamese Communists win the Vietnam War. The photograph shows Senator Kerry being greeted by the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam, Comrade Do Muoi.

Jeffrey M. Epstein of Vietnam Vets for the Truth acquired the photograph over the Memorial Day weekend as America was commemorating its military heroes. Epstein's organization, Vietnam Vets for the Truth, issued a general request last week for photographs documenting Kerry's activities on behalf of the enemy. Bob Shirley, a Vietnam Swift Boat veteran (www.pcf45.com), sent the photograph to Epstein in response to that call. Shirley recently joined over 200 other Swift Boat veterans in signing an open letter questioning Kerry's fitness to serve as Commander-in-Chief. more>

Conservative Youth Taking on Liberal Newspapers - Across the heartlands and hinterlands of conservative America, many doubters and desponders wake up every morning to retrieve their newspaper, a product of the downtown Left. And so it shall remain, they say. But for America's growing army of young conservatives, there are no boundaries to the battle for the future. Even the newspapers of America must stand to reckon with a new generation of conservatives.

Two students at Seattle Pacific University named Matthew McCleary and Benjamin Williams are launching a publication called the Seattle Sentinel (website). The sophomores have a long-term goal no less than turning the ''Seattle Sentinel'' into ''the dominant paper in Seattle.''

Pessimists who doubt America's future, who insist that the liberal bias of the media is permanent and impenetrable, think a goal like the Sentinel's impossible. But McCleary and Williams and their new staff of writers and editors are energized. They're devoted. They'll make it happen within fifty years, they say.

''We want a conservative newspaper in Seattle,'' says Williams. ''We have an interest in Seattle because it is our town. We are sick of the Times and Post-Intelligencer controlling the Seattle print media. People who do not investigate the news only get one side of the story--the liberal side. We need to provide people in Seattle with an alternative to our biased newspapers.''

Across the country, more and more young conservatives are taking on similar projects, on their campuses, in their communities, on the Internet. The conservative youth opinion site (website) was established after September 11, 2001, when Gresham Kay was inspired by the voice of Rush Limbaugh to ''get out there and do something.'' Even 11-year old Emil Levitin, a public school student from Massachusetts, is in the action with ( his website).

Youth-oriented conservative print publications abound also. College freshman Alex Bozmoski recently started a new nationwide journal called ''The Right Idea,'' ''dedicated to propagating a message of freedom, justice, and social values throughout our communities and our nation,'' to provide a ''conservative print alternative to what the liberal establishment has made so readily available.''

Hundreds of mainstream college campus newspapers must now compete with an array of successful conservative publications, many of which have been founded in the last few years as the number of informed and active conservative students has increased. more>

Council for Islamist Interests - “September 11 would not have occurred if the US government had refused to help Israel humiliate and destroy Palestinian society.”

This, according to former Illinois Congressman Paul Findley, founding chairman of the Council for the National Interest Foundation (CNIF), a Washington D.C. non-profit organization that claims “to encourage and promote a U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East that is consistent with American values.” While the U.S. has committed itself to crushing the terrorist networks which organize and finance the slaughter of innocents, CNIF and its sister organization, the Council for National Interest (CNI), have repeatedly subverted our national interest through seditious propaganda and associations with individuals who support and preach terror.

One such individual is Abdurahman Alamoudi. Alamoudi sits in a Virginia jail cell facing a 19-count indictment, including federal charges of money laundering and illegal financial transactions with Libya. In addition, he has allegedly provided financial assistance to both Hamas and al-Qaeda and recently revealed his role in Moammar Gadhafi’s alleged plot to assassinate Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah. Yet, Mr. Alamoudi still serves as a member of the CNIF board of directors and has done so since 1998, according to the group’s website (www.rescuemideastpolicy.com).

CNIF had to have been aware of Alamoudi’s radical views, even before his arrest. Alamoudi made national news when he publicly praised Hamas and Hezbollah at an October 2000 rally in front of the White House: “I have been labeled by the media in New York to be a supporter of Hamas…Anybody support Hamas here? Hear that, Bill Clinton? We are all supporters of Hamas. I wish they added that I am also a supporter of Hezbollah.” Both Hamas and Hezbollah were designated as foreign terrorist organizations by the United States in 1995.

One would think that an organization claiming to represent America’s national interests would distance itself from such reckless extremism. However, CNIF has a long record of cozying up to fanatics. A 1999 CNIF press release shows that during a tour of the Middle East, a delegation which included CNIF and CNI’s president, Eugene Bird, met with several incendiary figures, including Nabih Berri (the former head of Lebanon’s notorious Amal terrorist movement), an unnamed “leader in Hizbollah,” and Mahmoud Al-Zahar (a senior official in Hamas). Also in 1999, Richard Curtiss, co-founder of CNI, was the featured speaker at an Islamic Association for Palestine (IAP) Jerusalem Festival. IAP has publicly sent out Hamas communiqués, including a Hamas charter calling for jihad against Jews. more>

Crackup Symptoms - BIG BELLY UP
Talk about bad timing. No sooner does the Kerry campaign tout the fact that two of their biggest corporate backers are Miramax executives Bob and Harvey Weinstein than rumors are floated that the pair intends to lay off as much as 20 percent of the production company's staff for cost-saving purposes.

The Kerry camp played up the Weinsteins' presence on a list of 200 corporate executives supporting the candidate on Wednesday, just hours before Kerry held an economic summit in Davenport, Iowa.

"We had no idea they were laying that many people off," says a Kerry campaign source. "We assumed that with the success of Michael Moore's film, money wouldn't be an issue for them. It's embarrassing, but let's face it. No one is going to complain about a few Hollywood types losing their jobs."

Miramax and the distributors of Moore's fictional account of the September 11 terrorist attacks and their aftermath have pulled in more than $100 million from the film. They have already announced plans to distribute DVDs of the movie nationally before the November elections in the hope of swaying more votes to Kerry.

Cynthia McKinney's Arab and Islamist Donors - We all knew that Cynthia McKinney would be drawing on Arab and Muslim supporters in her bid to return to Congress, but a listing of contributors (with information up through June 28) reveals to what an extraordinary extent this is the case, as shown by the names of her backers.

Of particular note is the who's who of radical organizations her donors are associated with:

Hani Y. Awadallah – president, Arab American Civic Organization, New Jersey.
Jesse Aweida – co-founder, American Task Force on Palestine.
Belal Dalati – a vice president of Arab-American Broadcasting Co. (Orange County Register, February 19, 2002) associated with the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
Hasan Elkhatib –member, board of directors, American Islamic Educational Foundation (MetroWest Jewish News, October 10, 1996)
Yaser Elmenshawy - chairman, Islamic Council of New Jersey.
Rafeeq Jaber – president, Islamic Association for Palestine, a Hamas offshoot.
Oussama Jammal – president, Bridgeview Mosque.
Samer Khalaf – chairman, American-Arab Anti Discrimination Committee's Political Outreach Committee in New Jersey.
Faroque Khan – president, Islamic Center of Long Island, also connected to the American Muslim Alliance and Islamic Society of North America.
Mahmoud A Nimer - member, board of directors, Islamic Academy of Florida, Tampa (an Islamic school established by Sami al-Arian; al-Arian's indictment indicates the school was used as a base of support for the Palestinian Islamic Jihad).
Ayman Osman - member, board of directors, Islamic Academy of Florida, Tampa; employer of Hatem Fariz, arrested on terrorism charges and charged with being a member of Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
Talat Othman - former chairman of the Islamic Free Market Institute; secretary/treasurer of the American Task Force on Palestine.
Khalid Qazi – former president, American Muslim Council of western New York State.
Hareth Raddawi - member, board of directors, American-Arab Anti Discrimination Committee, Chicago.
Allam Reheem - former member, board of directors, Islamic Academy of Florida, Tampa.
Talal Sunbulli – former chairman, Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago.
James Zogby – president, Arab American Institute.

In addition, the American-Arab Anti Discrimination Committee gave $1,000.

Such an outpouring of extremist support comes as no shock; as Erick Stakelbeck documents in today's New York Post, "McKinney has long associated with militant Islamic groups whose members have openly supported terrorism," plus "she has taken to the floor of the House to defend them."

Comment: Georgia holds its primary on July 20; should McKinney win it, as seems likely, radical Arab and Muslim causes will have achieved their first significant electoral victory in the United States. (July 9, 2004)

July 21, 2004 update: "This victory means that her constituents missed her. She is a great lady, and I am delighted she won [the primary]." So gloated Abed Hammoud, president of the Dearborn, Mich.-based Arab-American Political Action Committee, as quoted in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Daddy's Boy - If, as Senator Teddy Kennedy rumbled recently, Iraq is President George W. Bush's Vietnam, surely the silver-haired Senator is becoming Mr. Bush's Jane Fonda. Of course Teddy is not as svelte as Miss Fonda, for he has never been an adept of fad diets, and an aerobics regimen could impair his precarious health. Nonetheless, Teddy is becoming the Fonda of our time. Possibly he will fly off to Falluja to be photographed on a burned out Humvee or visit Najaf to confer with the scowling Muslim cleric, the Rev. Muqtada al-Sadr. Having become so historically-minded Teddy goes on to call President Bush our era's Richard Nixon.

Actually for this man to encourage Americans to reflect back on 1960s history is quite reckless given his blemished history. They might come across news reports of a senator leaving a girl to drown in his car while he slept off a drunk and later dialing up his high-powered advisers for urgent public relations counsel. They might also find stories of that same senator later boozing with his young nephews before their carousals ended in a rape charge. Other indelicacies have followed.

Yet, as the Senator has brought up the always-illuminating guidance of history, it might help us to understand the present war by considering the wartime leadership of a Democrat whom Senator Kennedy might admire, Franklin D. Roosevelt laboring through World War II. On second thought, Senator Kennedy might not admire FDR's leadership against the Axis all that much. His father, Ambassador Joe Kennedy, opposed Roosevelt's entry into the War. The Ambassador was virtually an isolationist. From our embassy in London he collaborated with some of Europe's most slavish appeasers. In his repulsive October 19, 1938 speech commemorating the Battle of Trafalgar, Kennedy gave an appeasement stem-winder that even troubled British supporters of the doomed Munich agreement. FDR believed his Ambassador was in truth a Fascist sympathizer.

Kennedy was at least an isolationist, and so it seems his son is today. It might prove rewarding for members of the Bush Administration to review Roosevelt's brilliant treatment of the isolationists of his day. By the time Roosevelt was finished depicting the futility and irresponsibility of their anti-war rants, he had defeated the isolationists completely. His tactic was to characterize them as Hitler's dupes. As Roosevelt understood, by the late 1930s there was no alternative to defeating the Axis; and there is no alternative to defeating the Islamofascists today. This is a point the President cannot make too frequently. Nor should he and his surrogates shy away from characterizing their Democratic opponents as dupes.

They may not be dupes of any bellicose mullah or Middle Eastern tyrant, but they are surely dupes of what we might call the United Nations mystique. Watching Senator Kennedy and the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, Senator John François Kerry, rhapsodize on the United Nations' capacity to resolve violence in the Middle East suggests images of Neville Chamberlain praising the Munich agreement after the Germans roared into Poland -- though even stubborn Chamberlain was that besotted.

The United Nations has already failed in Iraq. It does not want to be in Iraq. It is a corrupt collection of poseurs, many of whose functionaries have already been exposed as on the take from Saddam. While he was engaged in torture and aiding terrorists -- for instance paying off suicide bombers in Israel -- these grafters and many Europeans were cashing in on the Iraq Oil for Food Program. more>

D.C. journalists favor - Kerry 12 to 1 - N.Y. Times informal poll confirms media lean left - The New York Times conducted an informal poll of journalists at the recent Democratic convention that showed they favor John Kerry for president over President Bush by 3 to 1, while reporters based in Washington, D.C., support the Massachusetts senator by 12 to 1. more>

Death March 2004 - A very large storm is brewing in D.C. and it has nothing to do with the weather. For the first time, a coalition of seven organizations is joining forces to bring a hoped-for 800,000 women to march on the Mall in D.C. in support of abortion rights. There is a great sense of urgency to this march in response to recent pro-life victories such as the ban on partial-birth abortion and the Unborn Victims of Violence Act.

Advocates include all the usual groups such as the National Organization for Women, The American Civil Liberties Union, NARAL Pro-Choice America and Planned Parenthood.

There is, however, one more group that is neither a women's group nor a civil-rights group lending its muscle to the event. It's the National Education Association. That's right, the very institution charged with the care and education of our children is co-sponsoring this month's march for abortion by providing a hospitality center and bus rides for participants.

Does this make any sense? First of all, abortion is not an educational issue. Second, they're backing an event bent on destroying the lives of would-be students. Clearly the NEA support is both illogical and ironic.

That aside, this march on the Mall is the first major rally in 12 years by abortion-right activists. It is also the first time a coalition has put its organizational muscle behind such an event.

So what is the reason for the Herculean effort? The answer is panic and fear. Abortion advocates actually think history may be at a turning point for a woman's constitutional right to abortion. more>

DEER IN THE HEADLIGHTS - LAST night John Edwards went from seeming to be like JFK to emulating Dan Quayle in the space of 90 minutes. Confronted with Dick Cheney's obvious competence, incisive parries to his charges and devastating rebuttal of his phony statistics, Edwards looked like the proverbial deer in the headlights.

Normally, vice presidential debates are not significant. But this confrontation should serve President Bush well. With Edwards parroting Sen. John Kerry's line in last week's presidential debate, Cheney gave the answers Bush should have offered but failed to articulate.

If the first presidential debate was a contrast of Bush's substance and Kerry's style, the vice-presidential debate gave Cheney a chance to emphasize the president's positions and Kerry's contradictions without tripping over his own words.

Cheney looked like a man and Edwards looked like a boy.

On the attack, the North Carolina senator to this observer seemed, surprisingly, to be a shallow lightweight, almost transparent in his absence of heft and gravitas. Cheney looked like the authority, the wise one, the arbiter of facts and statistics.

If Edwards acted like a lawyer, Cheney acted like a judge. The Democrat proposed, but the vice president disposed. There was no doubt as to who was in charge.

The highlight of the debate came when Cheney said that he had presided over the Senate as vice president on almost every Tuesday and noted that the first time he met John Edwards was last night. more>

Democratic Muslims Unite for Kerry - As a nationwide political force, American Muslims may not yet be huge, but in population they are — and Democratic Muslims Tuesday heralded their 40 delegates to the Democratic National Convention as their biggest contingent yet. more>

Dem de la Crème - Today, the GOP is the party of the little guy - Democrats: the party of the little guy. Republicans: the party of the wealthy. Those images of America's two major political wings have been frozen for generations.

No more. Starting in the 1960s and '70s, whole blocs of "little guys"--ethnics, rural residents, evangelicals, cops, construction workers, homemakers, military veterans--began moving into the Republican column. And big chunks of America's rich elite--financiers, academics, heiresses, media barons, software millionaires, entertainers--drifted into the Democratic Party.

The extent to which the parties have flipped positions on the little-guy/rich-guy divide is illustrated by research from the Ipsos-Reid polling firm. Comparing counties that voted strongly for George W. Bush to those that voted strongly for Al Gore in the 2000 election, the study shows that in pro-Bush counties, only 7% of voters earned at least $100,000, while 38% had household incomes below $30,000. In the pro-Gore counties, fully 14% pulled in $100,000 or more, while 29% earned less than $30,000.

As Daniel Henninger has noted, it is "becoming harder by the day to take the Democrats seriously as the party of the common man." The financial pillars for Democrats are now super-rich trial lawyers, Hollywood entertainment executives and megabuck financiers. Both parties have their fat cats, obviously, but Federal Election Commission data show that many of the very wealthiest political players are now in the Democratic column. more>

Dem mayor backs Bush - Youngstown Mayor George M. McKelvey - the Democratic mayor of a very Democratic rust-belt city - endorsed President Bush for re-election Monday, calling him a "friend" and a "kind, caring, God-fearing man."

The Bush campaign called it the biggest Democratic endorsement in Ohio, and one of the biggest in the country. McKelvey's endorsement puts him in a league with U.S. Sen. Zell Miller, D-Ga., and St. Paul, Minn., Mayor Randy Kelly.

"I'm still waiting for someone to show me what we've gotten in this valley for delivering 70 percent of the vote to Democrats over the last 120 years. Are we not the most depressed valley in Ohio - if not the country?" McKelvey said. more>

Democrats Embrace Al-Jazeera - Despite Democratic Presidential Nominee John Kerry’s assertion that as President, he would “use every available resource to destroy terrorists and deny them sanctuary…and new recruits,” one of the invited guests at the now-concluded Democratic National Convention was an organization that has served as a terrorist recruitment tool, a communications conduit for al-Qaeda in general and Osama bin Laden in particular. This network has repeatedly described Palestinian suicide-bombers as “martyrs.” High above the platform and the sea of “Kerry-Edwards” placards, covering the convention from a skybox towering over the Fleet Center floor was Arabic network al-Jazeera, the Arab satellite news agency whose allegedly “factual and accurate” news coverage has been blatantly anti-American. The Democrats were at least savvy enough to remove the network’s banner, which had been strategically placed near the speakers’ podium. But how could any candidate or political party “serious” about terrorism make no fuss about allowing such a news group inside its convention? more>

Democrats Grapple With Dukakis' Legacy - Michael Dukakis is not expecting a starring role at the Democratic National Convention, even though it is being held in his home state.

Fairly or unfairly, the former presidential nominee represents every political label that Democrats want their current candidate to avoid: liberal, soft-on-crime, tax-and-spend, and loser to a man named Bush.

To embrace him would surely dredge up unflattering memories of the oft-caricatured politician's amazing plummet in the 1988 campaign, and invite trouble for this year's nominee from Massachusetts: Sen. John Kerry, who served as Dukakis' lieutenant governor for two years. more>

Democrats' imam supported al-Arian - Chaplain who gave benediction was character witness to terror supporter - The Muslim imam who gave a closing benediction at the Democratic National Convention in Boston also served as a character witness to Sami al-Arian, the Florida professor indicted by the U.S. Justice Department on 50 counts of terror-related charges.

On the second day of the Democratic National Convention, Imam Yahya Hendi said the closing prayer of the night with some verses from the Quran.

Yet, last July, the 9-11 commission heard testimony from terrorism expert Steven Emerson that Hendi, one of the top Islamic clerics in the U.S., backed al-Arian – head of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad in North America.

On Feb. 20, 2003, the Justice Department released a 50-count, 121-page federal indictment of al-Arian, a University of South Florida professor who's awaiting trial on charges of funneling money and support to Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

Al-Arian's close ties to both PIJ and Hamas go back to at least 1995. Al-Arian used a group he founded, the Islamic Committee for Palestine, to plead for funds for PIJ and Hamas. more>

Democrats lead hate campaign - America is witnessing one of the most despicable political campaigns in our long history - a presidential race filled with lies, distortions and outright hatred - and the offender is not the mythical Republican attack machine the Democrats keep talking about. It's the national Democrat party itself.

If anybody doubts the truth of this I invite them to look at one Michael Moore - slime master extraordinary, a practiced prevaricator, hater of America and radical socialist who has produced what nobody can deny is nothing less that a Democrat campaign commercial masquerading as a documentary.

Moore, however, is simply a symbol for an angry party gone mad. Utterly convinced of the fiction that President Bush stole the 2000 election from Al Gore, who by divine right as a Democrat was entitled to occupy the White House which his party regards as their private property, the Democrats are in a state of uncontrolled rage. The symbol of the Democrat party is no longer a donkey, it's a crazed jackal. more>

Democrats primary donors to 527s - Of top 25 contributors to political groups, just 2 gave to GOP interests - A government report released yesterday shows the vast majority of major donations to controversial 527 groups such as Swift Boat Veterans for Truth and Moveon.org go to Democratic and so-called "progressive" groups.

According to the IRS records, as reported by opensecrets.com, just two of the top 25 donors to the politically charged groups in the 2004 election cycle gave to Republican organizations. more>

Dems Plan Assault on Vets - The Democrat National Committee has prepared a full-scale assault against the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth to draw their character and veracity into question, according to one anonymous source inside the DNC. The campaign of character assassination is scheduled to coincide with the release of the book Unfit for Command which reveals inconvenient facts for the Kerry campaign.

“We have prepared what we call ‘Brown Books’ that contain damaging military records, personal credit histories, medical histories, psychiatric histories, divorce records, you name it,” our source told us. "We've got the goods on the Veterans who oppose Kerry."

The “Brown Books” are so called because of their distinctive plain brown covers, which contain no words. Some books have already been delivered to Kerry-friendly reporters. Others are on their way, our source told us. When asked if we could have a copy, our source declined, saying there is a limited number of “Brown Books” and they have been carefully inventoried to control in whose hands the books ended up.

Ultimately the “Brown Books” will end up in the hands of pro-Kerry news agencies and reporters. According to our source, who demanded to remain anonymous for fear of retribution, The New York Times is already on the hook to run a negative series on the Vets, as is the Boston Globe, which is owned by the Times. (Editor’s Note: The Globe has already been caught attempting to attack the veracity of George Elliott, Kerry’s commanding officer in Vietnam.)

In addition, the DNC has deployed a six member team from their press shop whose sole responsibility will be to spin and counter-spin stories about the members of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth with pro-Kerry media entities, like the Times.

When asked if this was just another example of John Kerry slandering Vietnam Vets – like he did in 1971 as a member of the Vietnam Veterans Against the War – our source snapped, “No! This is warfare. The only way we’re going to get out of this is to force everyone to question their motives and credibility.”

“If they want to spread rumors and stories about John Kerry, we’ll spread rumors and stories about them. And some of the things they did in Vietnam were a lot worse than what they say John Kerry did,” our source concluded ominously.

DNC Launches GLBT 'Voter Mobilization' Program - The Democratic National Committee is launching a "Pride at the Polls" campaign aimed at increasing "the visibility and political power of the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community."

The 2000 presidential election was decided by fewer than 600 votes, the DNC said in a message to subscribers, adding that the GLBT community cast more than 4.2 million votes in 2000.

"We can and must make the difference in the 2004 presidential election," the email says.

The Democratic National Committee's Office of GLBT Outreach said it aims to "educate and register" thousands of GLBT voters, many of whom it plans to contact at GLBT Pride festivals.

Volunteers from across the country will sign up to be "table captains," and as such, they will distribute DNC pamphlets on GLBT issues; register thousands of GLBT voters; and "help increase the political power of our community."

Dubya fires Whoopi weapon at foe - President Bush yesterday tagged rival John Kerry as an "out-of-the-mainstream" Hollywood liberal by pointing to last week's New York fund-raiser in which Whoopi Goldberg reeled off an X-rated Bush-bashing rant.
"The other day my opponent said, when he was with some entertainers from Hollywood, that they were the heart and soul of America," Bush told crowds in the Democratic but socially conservative towns of Marquette, Mich., and Duluth.

"I believe the heart and soul of America is found in places right here," Bush added to cheers from two giant crowds as he sought to move the values debate to the center of the race.

On the eve of a Senate test on banning gay marriage, Bush added: "We stand for institutions like marriage and the family that are the foundations of our society." more>

Duelling Democrats - Last week, after speaking before a think tank founded by her husband's out-of-work staffers, including former chief of staff, John Podesta, [Hillary] Clinton told reporters that unlike Kerry she and her husband had never considered removing the chairman of the Democratic National Committee after Bill clinched the party's nomination.

Her comments were viewed as a slap at Kerry, reminding him of who is really running the party, and an endorsement of current DNC chair and puppet to the Clintons, Terry McAuliffe, who independent of any push by Kerry had announced he would most likely step down in 2005 after the election. more>

Ed Koch: I'm voting for Bush - New York Democrat: Kerry doesn't have stomach to go after terrorists - Former New York City Mayor Edward Koch, a Democrat, will for the first time in his life vote for a Republican presidential candidate this year because he feels Kerry "doesn't have the stomach" to fight terrorism, Koch told WorldNetDaily.

"While I don't agree with Bush on a single domestic issue, they are all trumped by the issue of terrorism, where he has enunciated the Bush Doctrine and proven his ability to fight this war," said Koch. "The Democratic Party just doesn't have the stomach to go after terrorists." more>

Edwards Almost Totally Dependent on Funds From Lawyers - With Sen. John Edwards now the presumptive Democratic nominee for vice president, a little research into his fund-raising history is in order.

During his unsuccessful campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination, Mr. Edwards raised just over $33 million. Of that, a little over $9.3 million came from lawyers and law firms, or approximately 28 percent. To put these figures into context, Mr. Edwards' next largest group of donors were individuals classifying themselves as retired, who contributed $761,659, or 2 percent. This means that lawyers and law firms, Mr. Edwards' largest benefactors, contributed more than 12 times as much as his next largest group of contributors. In fact, donations from lawyers accounted for far more than his next 20 groups of contributors combined. Sixteen of Mr. Edwards' top 20 contributors were major law firms.

These figures don't take into account donations made to Mr. Edwards' political action committee, New American Optimists, which total about $6 million. Of that, approximately $4.1 million, or 68 percent, come from the coffers of lawyers and law firms. These donations, again, total far more than the contributions from the next 20 groups combined. more>

English for Lesbians, Feminists, Queers, and Communists - Recently, I wrote an article called ''Summer Reading,'' which was intended to motivate my readers to take some time to read classic literature over the summer. While mostly apolitical, it did close with the following line, which was deemed offensive by one of my readers: ''(Go out and) pick up a great work of classic literature and enjoy the reading. You know, like the kind they used to assign in college when English professors taught English instead of homosexuality and feminism.''

The offended reader, from Ithaca, New York, called my above assertion ''sexist, heterosexist, and gratuitous.'' So, naturally, I apologized. No, I’m just kidding. Instead of apologizing, I decided to search the webpage of the nearest university English department to see what I could find. Naturally, I went looking first on Cornell.edu. Here is a summary of what I found out about the English faculty at Cornell University:

James Eli is an expert in gender and sexuality.

Frederic Bogel is an expert in critical (that means Marxist) theory.

Mary Pat Brady is an expert in U.S. Latino and Latina literatures and cultures, cultural studies, and American multi-ethnic literatures.

Laura Brown is an expert in feminist criticism, Marxist criticism, and cultural critique.

Cynthia Chase is an expert in women's literature.

Eric Cheyfitz is an expert in federal Indian law.

Barbara Correll is an expert in gender, cultural studies, lesbian, bisexual, and gay literary studies.

Elizabeth DeLoughrey is an expert in feminist theory and women's writing.

Laura Donaldson is an expert in American Indian literature and culture, American Indian women, gender, race and law.

Alice Fulton is an expert in critical (that means Marxist) writing, postmodernism, and feminist theory.

Andrew Galloway is an expert in the sociology of knowledge, and visions of women and women's writings.

Ellis Hanson is an expert in lesbian and gay studies, and psychoanalysis.

Molly Hite is an expert in feminist criticism and theory, and postmodernism.

Mary Jacobus is an expert in feminist literary criticism and theory, and women's writing.

Phyllis Janowitz is an expert in women and literature.

Biodun Jeyifo is an expert in African and Caribbean Anglophone literatures, comparative African and Afro-American critical thought, Marxist literary and cultural theory, and twentieth-century revolutionary social philosophy and literature.

Carol Kaske is an expert in Middle Ages and Renaissance, and cultural history of these periods (especially gender).

Douglas Mao (not to be confused with Chairman Mao) is an expert in gay, lesbian, and bisexual studies.

Kenneth McClane is an expert in African American literature.

Kate McCullough is an expert in women's literature, feminist literary criticism and theory, and lesbian/queer theory.

Dorothy Mermin is an expert in women's poetry.

Satya Mohanty is an expert in critical (that means Marxist) theory.

Timothy Murray is an expert in cultural studies as well as lesbian, bisexual, and gay literary studies.

Mash Raskolnikov is an expert in feminist and queer studies.

Shirley Samuels is an expert in feminist criticism.

Paul Sawyer is an expert in Marxian and feminist approaches and the ways questions of politics and ideology can be related to close local readings.

Hortense Spillers is an expert in the study of aspects of African American and American literature, feminist, Marxist, and more general theories of contemporary criticism.

Shelly Wong is an expert in Asian American, African American, and ethnic literatures as well as Asian Canadian literature and, finally, cultural studies.

William Jefferson Clinton recently gave the commencement address for the Cornell University graduating class of 2004. He is an expert on college interns with thong underwear.

Estranged No More - When Maureen Reagan, an opponent of her father's pro-life policies, considered a run for the U.S. Senate in 1982, reporters asked Reagan: Is she serious? Reagan's reply: "I hope not." Reagan's brother, Neil, supported Maureen Reagan's opponent.

The press used to revel in noting that the liberal Reagan children didn't understand, much less support, their father's conservative philosophical views. Now the press treats the children as an authority on his views and custodians of his ideological legacy. "Reaganite by Association? His Family Won't Allow it," headlines a New York Times story about the Reagans' rejection of George W. Bush as an ideological heir to Ronald Reagan. By "family" here, the New York Times means the Reagans who agree with its editorial board. The Times makes sure to ignore Michael Reagan's support for Bush's policies.

Patti Davis, however, receives a careful hearing from the Times, even though her name change indicates that she's never wanted to be considered a "Reaganite by Association." No matter -- her support for the "miracle of stem-cell research, a miracle the Bush White House thinks it can block" is too useful for the Times to pass up. The Times used to embarrass Reagan in life with reports on his daughter's various pharmaceutical pursuits and drug experimentation; in death, they honor him with her expertise on stem-cell experimentation.

When Ron Reagan Jr. was a ballet dancer and Playboy writer, the press enjoyed reporting that father and son didn't understand each other. They quoted Reagan as wishing his son pursued "more dignified" work than scribbling for Playboy. But the gulf of misunderstanding between father and son has rapidly closed, with the press turning to Ron Jr. for pronouncements on the meaning of the Reagan canon. The Times relays his comment that the Bush "administration is not my father's -- these people are overly reaching, overly aggressive, overly secretive and just plain corrupt." The Times forgot to mention that Ron Jr. voted for Ralph Nader in 2000. Perhaps Ron Jr. considers Nader his father's political heir.

Ron Jr. is far enough out on the liberal spectrum that he regards the Democrats as excessively conservative. In an interview with Salon last year, he called himself a "progressive," rejecting both parties: "I'm certainly not a Republican; I couldn't belong to any party that had leaders like Tom DeLay. And the Democrats are too busy trying to out-Republican the Republicans." His eulogy last Friday was so gratuitously and aggressively anti-Republican television viewers might have mistaken him for one of Paul Wellstone's kids. Will Ron Jr. run for political office? "I hope not," one can imagine his father saying. But given the tone of his eulogy, it would be surprising if he didn't. (At the very least he will harness the power of his father's name for "progressive" causes and organizations his father spent his career opposing.) more>

Fattest Cat - Officials: Democrats’ Biggest Money Man Has Mob Connections - As Senators John Kerry and John Edwards arrived in Boston today for the Democratic National Convention, so did the California man who is their single biggest contributor.

He is Stephen Bing, a wealthy film producer who, with little fanfare, has managed to steer a total of more than $16 million of his money to Democratic candidates and the supposedly independent groups that support them.

In fact, Democratic Party officials said they knew nothing about the man who law enforcement officials tell ABC News is Bing's friend and business partner — Dominic Montemarano, a New York Mafia figure currently in federal prison on racketeering charges.

Montemarano has a long criminal record and is known to organized crime investigators by his street name, Donnie Shacks.

"Donnie Shacks' main activity was murder. No question about it. That was his main function for the Colombo family and for organized crime in general. He was one of the top hit men in the New York area," said Joe Coffey, a former NYPD investigator.

According to The Los Angeles Times, Bing paid Montemarano's legal fees after his most recent scrape with the law. Montemerano's lawyer said his client was an employee of Bing's.

After a recent private lunch with Democratic vice-presidential candidate Edwards, Bing also declined to answer questions about his relationship with Montemarano.

FBI docs say China funded Kerry - Suggest exchange with Beijing for aerospace technology - The legal watchdog group Judicial Watch announced the release of recently declassified documents that indicate Sen. John Kerry accepted laundered contributions from the communist Chinese government for his 1996 re-election campaign.

Feds asked to spank Fox News for slogan - Anti-Bush group slams network over 'Fair and Balanced' motto - Moveon.org, the anti-Bush "grass-roots" advocacy group has begun urging followers to contact the Federal Trade Commission to ask the agency to outlaw Fox News Channel's use of the motto "Fair and Balanced." more>

Felons and noncitizens: It's all good for Democrats - As the country appears so closely divided between red and blue states, Democrats are seeking oddball constituencies to enhance their numbers. They and their liberal-advocacy law firms and lobbyists have been working for months to get convicted felons certified to vote for Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry. Now they want noncitizens to vote.

Millions of noncitizens live in the United States, some legal and some illegal, and Democrats see this as a win-win effort to get them to the polls on Election Day. They figure the percentages are pretty good that those constituencies will vote Democrat.

Local decisions to allow noncitizens to vote in city, county and school board elections should not give them a pass to vote in federal elections, but once they are on the precinct registration rolls, who is going to stop them?

Certainly not Democratic polling officials. In Washington, D.C., five city council members (fortunately, not a majority) recently announced their support for a bill that would allow thousands of noncitizens to vote in local and school board elections. more>

FEW DOZEN TURN OUT TO HEAR ROSIE O'DONNELL ELECTION PREACH - Rosie O'Donnell addressed a nearly vacant CLUB OVATION Saturday night in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida during a get-out-the-vote rally for Dem presidential hopeful John Kerry.

Five reasons to fear the Democratic Party - Here are five other reasons to be afraid – very afraid – of putting a Democratic administration in charge of guarding America's gates.

1. Ted Kennedy. The senior bloviator from Massachusetts has worked relentlessly since the Sept. 11 attacks to cripple homeland defense. For once, Teresa Heinz-Kerry speaks for me: "Ted Kennedy I don't trust."

Last January, he secretly attempted to remove funding for the National Security Entry-Exit Registration System – a Justice Department program that helped nab at least 330 known foreign criminals, 15 illegal-alien felons and three known terrorists who attempted to enter the country. Last month, he introduced legislation that would gut the PATRIOT Act and radically restructure the immigration court system to protect and strengthen illegal aliens' rights.

He opposes allowing the nation's 600,000 local and state law-enforcement officers to cooperate with federal immigration authorities. And, in proposing that the federal government maintain a new national registry of law-abiding gun purchasers, he has exploited the War on Terrorism to advance his anti-Second Amendment agenda.

If the Sept. 11 attacks were a "failure of imagination" as the 9-11 commission concluded, protecting America requires that we imagine this bone-chilling scenario and do all we can to prevent another disaster: Ted Kennedy, attorney general of the United States.

2. The American Civil Liberties Union. The organization maintains dangerously absolutist positions against the use of torture to gather intelligence from al-Qaida terrorists, against the designation of enemy combatants apprehended on either foreign or American soil, and against common-sense profiling in wartime. The ACLU joined Sen. Kennedy in opposing the carefully targeted NSEERS program. It sued to stop enactment of the Aviation and Transportation Security Act, which tightened employment requirements for airport screeners. And under the guise of protecting civil rights, the ACLU supported the infamous wall of separation that handicapped communications between U.S. intelligence and law-enforcement agencies fighting terrorism.

3. The Professional Grievance-Mongers. From the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People to the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the collective response of the Diversity Is Our Strength crowd to the War on Terror has been to cry, "Racist!" The ethnic shakedown artists who have sued over every slight and hyped every faked claim of a hate crime are America-bashing enablers of the worst sort – and they are the heart and soul of the Democratic Party.

4. The Open Borders Lobby. Longtime readers know of my dissatisfaction with the Bush administration's unwillingness to get serious control of our immigration chaos. But if you are unhappy with the lack of progress on securing our land, air and sea ports of entry, it will only get worse under Kerry-Edwards. Groups such as the American Immigration Lawyers Association, the National Council of La Raza, and the Ford Foundation have protested enforcement, detention, deportation, employer sanctions and secure identification measures every step of the way. It is from these ranks that a Democratic administration will draw upon to staff the Justice Department, Department of Transportation and Department of Homeland Security. Scary.

5. First Responder Fetishists. In her convention remarks on Monday night, New York Sen. Hillary Clinton said the first homeland security priority in response to the 9-11 report was the "need to fully equip and train ... our first responders in the event of a terrorist attack." Eager to suck up to men and women in uniform, John Kerry has proposed adding 100,000 first responders to the ranks of firefighters and emergency medical personnel nationwide. As I have said before, there is no question that our brave firefighters, cops and emergency personnel need increased training and support – but dialing 911 is not the solution to stopping another 9-11.

And neither is voting the party of the Chicken Little Clean-Up Crew into office. more>

Flip-flopping for the Jews - Oy vay , as my bubby would say. A lot of Jews will vote Republican this year.

Most Jews vote Democratic, and they have for a long time. They have voted in huge majorities for Democratic nominees since FDR created the New Deal. Several Republican nominees since have only occasionally increased Jewish voting percentages. Dwight D. Eisenhower won 40 percent of the Jewish vote against Adlai Stevenson in 1956; Ronald Reagan won 39 percent against Jimmy Carter in 1980 and George H.W. Bush won 35 percent against Michael Dukakis in 1988. He slipped to 11 percent against Bill Clinton.

Although George W. did a little better with 19 percent against Al Gore four years ago, the president should do better in November. Ed Koch, the former mayor of New York who is as partisan as a Democrat comes, is a Bush man this year. Ed Koch, like a growing number of his co-religionists, doesn't think a President Kerry could withstand the pressures from the left-wing radicals of his party, no matter how hard they bit their tongues in Boston. These lefties are hostile to Israel, and cultivate strong links to anti-American partisans in Europe, especially in France and Britain.

John Kerry tells Jewish audiences what they want to hear, and when he imagines he's safely out of their sight, flip-flops. During the primaries, in a speech to the Arab-American Institute, he denounced the fence Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was building on the West Bank. "We don't need another barrier to peace," he said.

Eight months later, with the Democratic nomination safely tucked away, he sang a different tune: "The security fence is a legitimate act of self-defense erected in response to the wave of terror attacks against Israeli citizens."

He suggested that he might send Jimmy Carter, the rare evangelical Christian who is not a friend of Israel, to work on Middle East peace negotiations. When that idea bombed, he blamed the "mistake" on his speechwriters. It's not clear whether John Kerry would encourage negotiations with Yasser Arafat, whom he described as a "role model" and "statesman" after the signing of the Oslo accord. How he really feels apparently depends on where he is, and who's listening. more>

Florida: Bullying and intimidation in Muslim get-out-the-vote effort - Theresa LePore vowed to close the Palm Beach County elections office at 5 p.m. Monday, the final day to register to vote in the Nov. 2 election, but a young man who arrived about 15 minutes after the deadline managed to drop off 550 applications on behalf of a group of Muslims determined to oust President Bush.

LePore, no stranger to confrontations, said the man demanded she accept the bundles of voter registration applications attached to slips of paper identifying them as having been collected by Voting Is Power, which goes by the acronym VIP and is an offshoot of the Washington-based Muslim American Society.

LePore said he showed up, carrying a box of applications, about 15 minutes after she locked the door to her office at 5 p.m. She said she told him her office was closed but he could mail the forms as long as they were postmarked by midnight that night.

"He started hollering about disenfranchising people," said LePore, who took the box after he thrust it at her. more>

Forcasting the Election: It's the Cat People vs. the Dog Lovers - All the pundits who are forecasting the November election, busily analyzing blue states, red states, and those all-important purple swing states, are spinning their wheels. At the risk of sounding even more presumptuous than usual, I contend that they are wasting their time and yours.

If you want to know who’s going to emerge victorious, all you really need to do is find out how many people have cats living with them and how many have dogs. The cat people, I have decided, will go overwhelmingly for Kerry; the dog lovers will do the same for Bush.

It isn’t simply that women, who often prefer felines to canines, tend to vote Democratic. It really goes to the nature of the animals.

Cats are finicky. Which is just a Madison Avenue euphemism for being snooty, snobbish, and stand-offish. Dogs are honest, friendly, and loyal. Just looking at them makes people feel good. Which is why you even see them in TV commercials that have nothing to do with kibble or flea collars.

Cats speak French. Or are you going to insist that ''meow” doesn’t sound like something nasty a Parisian would say behind your back? Dogs speak English, and they’re plain spoken. Cats arch their backs and hiss. Dogs wag their tails and let you know you’ve been missed when you’ve been out of sight for thirty seconds.

With a cat, you can’t do anything right. With a dog, you can do no wrong.

If you want to get your cat’s undivided attention, you have to turn on the electric can opener. If you want to get your dog’s undivided attention, you merely have to be breathing. more>

Former Sen. Max Cleland - How the disabled war veteran became the Democrats' mascot - Among the attendees at the Democratic National Committee's gala "unity" dinner last week was former Georgia Sen. Max Cleland, who now spends so much time on stage with Sen. John Kerry that he's practically Kerry's running mate. Cleland, who was defeated in a famously brutal 2002 campaign, has said losing his Senate seat left him humiliated and mired in deep depression, but you wouldn't know it from his glamorous arrival at the unity event. I was standing near an elevator when the doors opened and Cleland, who lost two legs and an arm to a grenade explosion in Vietnam, rolled out in his wheelchair. He was almost instantly surrounded by a crowd of excited party donors who snapped pictures and jockeyed for his attention, as actual senators like John Breaux and Joe Biden strolled past unnoticed. This was no fluke. Cleland has become the Democratic Party's newest celebrity. At Kerry campaign events, he often hands out copies of the Kerry biography Tour of Duty — autographed not by the candidate but by Cleland. more>

France 'Wild for Kerry' - John Kerry's face is on the cover of the French dailies and monthlies for sale at newsstands; he's talked about on the radio, fawned over on TV, his relatives are targets of the local journalists.

The New York Sun is reporting that it may be his French roots, his adroitness with the language or his offerings of political olive branches to those who feel they were antagonized by the current U.S. administration before the war in Iraq.

Whatever the reason, the French love John Kerry, and it shows. more>

French Going Wild For Senator Kerry In Election Fever - It could be the flawless French he learned while at boarding school in Switzerland. Or that he summered in his youth at a picturesque village on the rocky shores of Brittany. Or his pledge to take America’s allies more seriously and pursue an inclusive foreign policy.

Or maybe it’s the simple fact that he’s not President Bush. Whatever the reason, the French are going wild for John Kerry.

His face graces the covers of magazines and newspapers on Paris newsstands. He’s the subject of radio phone-in and television talk shows. Journalists chase down distant relatives and long-forgotten acquaintances in search of anecdotes. more>

French indifference to evil escalates - Just a few weeks ago a 14-year-old boy wearing a yarmulka came out of the Ourq subway station in Paris and was attacked by two Muslims. While yelling at him "dirty Jew," they knocked him down, beat him on the head and broke his nose. The boy begged for help from the French passers-by — fellow citizens — but they simply walked away, did nothing.

At the University Medical School of Saint-Antoine in Paris, four young Muslim men entered a lecture hall yelling "Death to the Jews." They confronted a Jewish student and beat him to a pulp and, like vultures, picked his valuables and robbed him. The lecturing professor said nothing while watching the attack and the entire class of French students remained silent while the thugs simply departed without a care. This, too, happened within the last few months.

The purpose of relating these stories is not to expose French anti-Semitism and the predatory mindset of French Muslims against Jews. It is to show how the French have become indifferent in their own society to brutality and unwilling to stop it. No wonder, then, the French will neither support nor sacrifice to fight Islamic terrorism in Iraq and Afghanistan when in even their own county, with incidents only feet away, they lack the moral courage to stop brutality. Yet many Americans exhort us first to obtain permission from the French if a War against Terrorism is to be deemed legitimate.

The indifference and cowardice that is transpiring almost weekly by Frenchmen in their own streets is but a micro version of what they are proposing on a macro (global) level. more>

GEORGIA'S HATEMONGER RETURNS - CYNTHIA McKinney may be on her way back to Con gress: The fringe ideologue ousted from the House of Representatives by Democratic primary voters back in 2002 is now one of the leaders in the race for her old seat. McKinney won a national reputation of sorts with her incendiary statements on everything from 9/11 (suggesting that the Bush administration knew of the attacks in advance) to the American Jewish lobby (which she blamed for her 2002 loss to Majette).

Plus, McKinney has long associated with militant Islamic groups whose members have openly supported terrorism. She has also taken donations from individuals suspected of terrorist ties.

* In 2000-'01, she got $3,000 from Abdurrahman Alamoudi, founder of the Washington-based American Muslim Council.

In October 2003, Alamoudi was arrested and charged with engaging in illegal financial transactions with the Libyan government. Court documents allege he's given financial backing to Hamas and al Qaeda. He is also cooperating with the FBI regarding his role in a conspiracy, allegedly headed by Libya's Col. Moammar Khadafy, to murder Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah.

* In 2000, she got $1,000 from Sami Al-Arian and $1,000 more from his wife. Al-Arian is the former University of South Florida professor who was indicted last year on charges that he served as North American leader of the terrorist organization Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

* McKinney has also accepted substantial donations from individuals linked to the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, the Benevolence International Foundation and the Global Relief Foundation — three Muslim "charitable" organizations now labeled Specially Designated Global Terrorist entities by the U.S. Treasury Department.

But McKinney hasn't just taken money from radical Islamists — she has taken to the floor of the House to defend them:

In a 2001 speech, McKinney called Rabih Haddad "a prominent community leader and religious cleric."

Haddad was deported to Lebanon from the United States in 2003. He's a co-founder of the aforementioned Global Relief Foundation, which the Treasury Department has said provided financial support to al Qaeda. more>

Give Me a D? - Reporters analyzing the election sound more like Kerry cheerleaders. - Rah rah John Kerry!

If only for entertainment's sake, it's worth getting in the spirit of what the news cycle has in store for the soon-to-be Democratic presidential nominee from now until his party's convention in two weeks. Even coming out of that Boston "D" party, the story line for the John-John ticket is going to be that liberalism has a real chance of winning this time out.

But cheerleaders aren't a good predictor of a team's performance. And by the looks of it, Team Kerry isn't walking onto the field from where Team Gore stepped off. The story the media may be missing this year is that the electorate is not nearly as evenly divided as it was in 2000. The success of President Bush's policies, Sept. 11 (which wiped away the claim that he didn't have a mandate to govern) and the war in Iraq have all changed the political landscape. more>

Godless Americans PAC - GAMPAC, the GODLESS AMERICANS POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE, has endorsed Sen. John Kerry and Sen. John Edwards for President and Vice President of the United States.

The November election is a crucial one for our nation, and in particular the First Amendment separation of government and religion. The winner will likely be in the position of naming key appointees to the U.S. Supreme Court and the rest of the federal judiciary. Other important legislative issues, as well as the fate of the faith-based initiative — a dangerous experiment aiding religious groups and imposing a “Religion Tax” on the American people hang in the balance. more>

Goodbye "Regular Joe" Democrat - Democrats: the party of the little guy. Republicans: the party of the wealthy. Those images of America's two major political wings have been frozen for generations. The stereotypes were always a little off, incomplete, exaggerated. (Can you say Adlai Stevenson?) But like most stereotypes, they reflected rough truths.

No more. Starting in the 1960s and '70s, whole blocs of "little guys"--ethnics, rural residents, evangelicals, cops, construction workers, homemakers, military veterans--began moving into the Republican column. And big chunks of America's rich elite--financiers, academics, heiresses, media barons, software millionaires, entertainers--drifted into the Democratic Party.

The extent to which the parties have flipped positions on the little-guy/rich-guy divide is illustrated by research from the Ipsos-Reid polling firm. Comparing counties that voted strongly for Bush to those that voted strongly for Gore in the 2000 election, the study shows that in pro-Bush counties only 7 percent of voters earned at least $100,000, while 38 percent had household incomes below $30,000. In the pro-Gore counties, fully 14 percent pulled in $100,000 or more, while 29 percent earned less than $30,000.

It is "becoming harder by the day to take the Democrats seriously as the party of the common man," writes columnist Daniel Henninger. "The party's primary sources of support have become trial lawyers and Wall Street financiers. It is becoming a party run by a new class of elites who make fast money--$25 million for 30 days work on a movie, millions (even billions) winning lawsuits against doctors...millions to do arithmetic for a business merger."

Obviously both parties have their fat cats, but Federal Election Commission data show that many of the very wealthiest political players are now in the Democratic column. Today's most aggressive political donors by far are lawyers--who donated $98 million dollars to 2004 political candidates as of June. (By comparison, the entire oil and gas industry donated $13 million.) And rich lawyers do indeed tilt strongly Democratic: 71 percent of their contributions went to Democrats, 29 percent to Republicans.

Migration of the rich and powerful to the Democrats has been so pronounced that Democratic nominee John Kerry has actually pulled in much more money than sitting President George Bush this spring and summer. Kerry's monthly fundraising totals have routinely doubled or even tripled Bush's totals. And the money on the Kerry side has come much more from rich individuals, while Bush has relied on flocks of small donors. So which is the party of the people now?

John Kerry is in many ways a perfect embodiment of the Democratic Party's takeover by wealthy elites. Experts describe his genealogy as "more royal than any previous American President." There is a long line of blue blood and inherited funds in his family, and his life has been anything but typically American: Mom was an heiress summering at her family's resort estate in France when she met dad, a Phillips Andover/Yale/Harvard Law School alum who was passing his own summer of 1937 in France "as an apprentice in a sculptor's studio." John's early boyhood was spent in a grand house outside Boston bought with inherited money. At age ten he was packed off to a fancy boarding school in Switzerland, and "for the next seven years of his life, this would become routine: His parents would send him off to boarding school and he would adapt anew to a world of competitive boys from wealthy, privileged families," as Kerry's Boston Globe biographers summarize.

Kerry spent his high school years at St. Paul's prep school, with a rich aunt paying the bills. He described himself at that point as being "from Oslo, Norway" (where his father was then posted as a diplomat). At St. Paul's and then Yale, Kerry whirled through hoity-toity circles with Auchinclosses and Bundys and trust-funders of all sorts, and when it came time for marrying, he showed the darnedest luck at finding true loves with true money. His first wife was worth $300 million; his second is a billionaire. more>

'Hanoi Jane' Bankrolled Key 2004 Kerry Backer - Vietnam War hero, former Sen. Max Cleland - a key supporter of Sen. John Kerry who has criticized President Bush for his military record - accepted thousands of dollars in political contributions from "Hanoi Jane" Fonda, who most Vietnam veterans regard as a traitor for her activities during the war. A search of Federal Election Commission records available at the "Political Money Line" Web site (www.tray.com) reveals that Fonda bankrolled Cleland's two Senate campaigns, donating $5,400 in 2002 and $2,000 in 1996. There's no indication that Cleland attempted to return the money. more>

'Hanoi John' Gets Unwelcome Reception From Veterans - Hours after Sen. John Kerry sailed into this city with his Vietnam swift boat crewmates Wednesday, about a hundred other veterans gathered near the Democratic National Convention site to protest the anti-war positions of Kerry's past.

"He's a phony and he's a traitor," said Vietnam veteran Rich Burke, 66, of Boston. "He returned from Vietnam and testified in Congress that the military were baby killers and war criminals. He abandoned and left all of his comrades to put up with that sort of statement. He's no good."

The veterans gathered near Kerry's Boston office at 1 Bowdoin St. around 6 p.m. and marched toward the FleetCenter, where the convention is taking place. Vietnam veterans were joined by Korean veterans and Vietnamese-Americans, many of them from Boston and its suburbs.

The protest was designed to counter Kerry's use of Vietnam, including his war medals, as a campaign issue. Even before Kerry's arrival in Boston with 13 veterans Wednesday, the Democrat had routinely enlisted some of his former comrades to boost his presidential campaign.

"They're in the minority," said Korean War veteran Richard Creccr, 70, of Brighton, Mass. "These are the veterans right here. We're the ones who count. We'll be the ones voting. Let's hope he doesn't make it, but in this country, you never know." more>

Happy Bush Country - I have followed elections pretty closely for many decades now, and I think I have a clue about why George W. Bush, for all of his problems in Iraq, still has a fine chance to win this election.

For about ten years now, I have been going to North Idaho, a mountainous, heavily forested region in the Pacific Northwest of the USA, adjacent to Canada, to vacation, ride in my little motor boat, ride my bicycle by the lakes and rivers, and just to be in a beautiful setting far from the pitiless freeways and snarling traffic of my usual home, Los Angeles.

I first started going to North Idaho because a man who had directed me in commercials built a home there, told me how magnificent his view was, and invited me to see the area. I was tempted but frightened. This was the early 1990s. Word on the street was that North Idaho was filled with Nazis and ultra-right militiamen. It might not be safe for me, a very Jewish-looking Jew.

But when I went there, fearful and anxious -- well, that's my normal state, I guess -- I was stunned. For one thing, the region was far more beautiful than I had dreamed it would be. Rugged mountains, dense forests, wide, empty rivers.

My main destination, Sandpoint, Idaho, was a small, picturesque, friendly town with a sandy beach and a charming green park on the northwest corner of an astonishingly large, mostly uninhabited lake called Lake Pendoreille, or "earring" in French. On the lakefront beach were happy families lazing about in the sun, families with children and two parents reading quietly or watching their kids play in the water. No gangs, no scary knots of teenagers looking as if they wanted to rumble. Just friendly people, many of whom recognized me from the movies and TV and greeted me cheerily.

Now, fast forward. About two years ago, I began to earn my living largely by speaking at colleges and universities and business meetings. It is a grueling life, but a great life. And the best part of the life is seeing people and places I would otherwise have just flown over. Holland, Michigan. Ripon, Wisconsin. Grand Rapids, Michigan. Greenville, South Carolina. Walla Walla, Washington. Dennison, Ohio. Places I would have never seen as an actor or economist or lawyer or screenwriter.

There is a common theme to all of these places and it is linked to the magnificent feeling I get in North Idaho: the men and women there, in interior America, are friendly, open, curious, kindly, and immensely optimistic and hopeful.

I talk to them after my speeches. I talk to them at dinners before my speeches. They are invariably polite. Invariably helpful.

I sit next to them on the hundreds of airplane flights I take each year. I wait with them in lines to board planes or to check into hotels. Sometimes I even sit with them on long train rides when the airports are closed by snowstorms.

I am endlessly amazed by their politeness. They switch seats so couples can sit together. They give up their pasta entrees so a vegetarian can have the meal he wants. They are patient with delays on runways.

Just two days ago, a crippled teenage boy had to get out of his wheelchair and stagger down the aisle of a plane holding the seats to get to his place in coach. As he passed by, everyone smiled at him, patted him on the back, and more than one offered to give up his seat for the boy.

When conversation starts, it is rarely downbeat. Usually it is about their travels -- very often going great distances for a mother's birthday or a child's graduation or an old friend's illness.

If the passenger is traveling on business, he or she has hopes and plans and schemes. There is rarely complaining and often a spirit of extreme excitement about whatever work the passenger is doing.

IN A WORD, WHAT I SEE in America in the hundreds of thousands of miles I travel each year is something like the spirit I see on the weathered wooden docks at Bottle Bay Resort or Hill's Resort in North Idaho. A spirit of clubby happiness. In an airport, there may not be bald eagles nesting on wooden pilings in the water a few feet away as there would be in North Idaho. But there is that same cheerful feeling of fellowship.

Despite the setbacks in Iraq, despite the long slow pullout from the recession that began in 2000, there is a happy mood in the country -- we'll get through whatever the problems are now, things will be better tomorrow, and for right now, we'll all laugh about it together or maybe cry about it, but together, and the fact that we're together will make it better.

I don't want to paint with too broad a brush. There are pockets of constant complaining. The big cities of the east and west coasts, especially among people who make their living be complaining, are not so happy as North Idaho. Whole large swaths of the population who rationalize their own failings by thinking of themselves as victims, especially in big cities and heavy coffee drinking centers, have their own clubs. Those brotherhoods specialize in pessimism and anger as they spend the money they have inherited or receive as allowances from family, state, or university. The malcontents live on their frustration and envy of the people who are actually out there accomplishing things. That envy rises like the steam from the coffee and lattes they are endlessly drinking. The discontented survey the scene of those who are actually in the arena doing. Then they react with predictable jealousy and scorn. (And by the way, I wonder if we can positively correlate caffeine intake with levels of envy. I think we can.) But these people are a minority. They do not represent at all what I see as the upbeat, up tempo mood of America even with the Iraqi prison abuse scandals, even with the high price of gasoline. That predominant mood, at least as I see it, is still mostly determinedly happy. Even after 9/11, even after the mass rallies in Moslem nations against us, even after the Europeans have scorned us often and contemptuously, we are still living it up and mostly contented with our lives. more>

Harkin campaigns for Kerry, Pettengill, says Kerry's rise in polls is what God wants - Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin says John Kerry has been gaining in the polls every day since Oct. 21, and George Bush has been going down every day.

"That's how God wants it to be," Harkin told a group of about 25 people at the Benton County Headquarters in Vinton on Thursday afternoon.
Harkin was touring the state to stump for Kerry and Democratic legislative candidates. He appeared in Benton County on behalf of Mt. Auburn Mayor Dawn Pettengill, who is running against incumbent Republican Dell Hanson for the Iowa House District 39 seat. more>

Harshest Attacks on Kerry Come From Democrats - John Kerry has been described as a waffler who blathers, a son of privilege who won't stand up to millionaires, a Washington insider who's a handmaiden to special interests and an inconsistent candidate whose word is no good. All of that comes from fellow Democrats. more>

Heinz Jr.: Edwards Weak on Foreign Policy - When John Kerry taps North Carolina Sen. John Edwards to be his running mate this morning, one member of his campaign staff may not be too thrilled.

Only two weeks ago, Chris Heinz, son of the Massachusetts Democrat's billionaire wife and a key part of the Kerry campaign team, slammed Edwards as too inexperienced for the job.

"I was very pro-Edwards in the spring. ... But now I think we may need someone with stronger credentials on foreign policy," groused Heinz Jr., according to the Pittsburgh Post Gazette.
The big worry is that Chris' opinion may be shared by his mom, whose money bailed out the Kerry campaign late last year and who has repeatedly threatened to open her sizeable pocketbook to combat Republican "dirty tricks."

If Mrs. Heinz Kerry does view Edwards as weak, the North Carolina Democrat's first order of business will be to convince the ketchup heiress that he's up to the job.

Hillary Warns Kerry: Hands off McAuliffe - Uber Democrat Sen. Hillary Clinton is warning all-but-certain presidential nominee John Kerry to back off if he's thinking about replacing party chairman Terry McAuliffe before the election.

Asked about rumblings that the Kerry camp wanted to toss McAuliffe over the side, Clinton told the New York Times on Friday, "Terry has helped the Democratic Party move into the 21st century to compete against the incredible interlocking institutional powers of the other side."

"A lot of plans have been laid, a lot of infrastructure put in place, and I want to see us follow through," she insisted. more>

Hitting Below the Beltway; Why Bush KOs Kerry in the South - Over the years, the New South has chosen a New Party; Republicans have converted the Democratic Dixie into ''God's country.'' Those donkeys that remain behind the Mason-Dixon Line are forced to change sides (i.e. U.S. Sen. Zell Miller of Georgia) or play conservatives on television (i.e. Gov. Mike Easley of North Carolina). More and more governor's mansions and senatorial seats are falling to the GOP. President George W. Bush is set to sweep the South. Not even young, ambitious trial lawyers can stop us. To play off the favored cliche, the South will rise again…but this time we stand by the Party of Lincoln.

Simply put, from colonial Virginia to sunny Florida and coastal Carolina, millions of conservative, and middleclass Southerners are preparing to vote their consciences and their wallets. Guess what? By our estimation, Bush wins either way. Whether selflessly concerned for the future of our families, or worried over maintaining economic growth, U.S. Sen. John Kerry (D-M.A.) fails the global, err, Southern test.

We demand morality from our leaders. In direct contravention of his purported faith, Kerry promotes partial-birth abortion. The Catholic Church unambiguously denounces taking the life of an unborn child. Several bishops have even begun to refuse Holy Communion to pro-abortion politicos. Perhaps if Kerry were to renounce Catholicism, his position would be more understandable. As it is, the man touts his allegiance to a faith that embraces the culture of life, while voting for the culture of death. Ultimately, the future of the American family depends on winning the culture wars over abortion, gay marriage, and secularism. Such future also rests on decisively winning the war on terror.

On that point, we demand resolve from our leaders. For lack of better terminology, Kerry is a flip-flopper. Over the summer, I interviewed U.S. Rep. Sue Myrick (R-N.C.) asking: followed by Sen. John Kerry, you supported the use of force in Iraq. Since then, few weapons of mass destruction were found and there have been many American casualties. Kerry claims that if he knew then, what he knows now, he would not have supported the war. With your current knowledge, would you have voted for the war? Without mincing words or trying to divert responsibility, the congresswoman answered, ''Yes.''

Weeks later and with the benefit of hindsight, Kerry seemed to change his position--then supporting the decision to go to war. Needless to say, I was somewhat peeved by the short shelf life of the senator’s statements--the interview became outdated. However, these concerns were soon allayed as Kerry swiveled back to an antiwar message. My column could be republished.

Some calculate the running total of Kerry’s flip-flops on Iraq at nine. I must confess that I lost count some time ago. Suffice to say, one position more than one is one position too many.

Bottom line. Southerners do not trust Kerry to remain steadfast in prosecuting the war on terror. He has followed polls, not principles. Though Kerry’s positions may change, his weak character will remain.

On the economy, Kerry promises to pay for countless new governmental programs by raising taxes on the rich. To the undiscerning Massachusettean, this sounds wonderful. Most Southerners, however, have identified at least one problem with the Kerry plan. To quote a recent ad by the Club for Growth, ''Trouble is: [Kerry] thinks you’re rich.'' Whether you receive social security, hold down a job, or drive a car, Kerry has tried to raise your taxes. Call us crazy, but Southerners tend to be more than a little skeptical of an old Massachusetts liberal with a thirty year record of advocating tax hikes on the poor and middleclass.

At a time when our economy is slowly progressing towards recovery, an inefficient tax and spend program could reverse the positive trend and devastate every market sector. Consumer confidence, stock exchanges, and small businesses would all take a hit--how large is hard to say. Clearly, though, our economy does not need another negative as it crawls out of the Clinton recession.

Even Southern Democrats are starting to promise tax relief. The people have spoken. Southerners want the freedom to spend their own money and live their own lives. Kerry has chosen to reject Southern values, and the South has chosen to reject his campaign.

During the Democrat primaries, Kerry announced that he could take the presidency without winning a single Southern state. As it stands, Kerry-crats had better hope their liberal superhero was right.

Hollywood concert and dinner raises $5 million for Kerry - Comedian Billy Crystal called it "Woodstock for really, really rich people" as Hollywood's liberal artists came out Thursday night to raise $5 million to put Democrat John Kerry in the White House.

"A presidential candidate needs all the friends he can get, even if they come from show business," said actor Ben Affleck as he opened a star-studded concert at the Walt Disney Concert Hall.

Barbra Streisand and Neil Diamond performed their 1978 hit "You Don't Bring Me Flowers" together for the first time in 24 years, ending with an embrace and a kiss. Streisand also sang a special 2004 election version of her song "People." more>

How Far Left Can the Left Really Go? - Here's a quiz: What political group published this list of reasons they hope George W. Bush will be defeated in the upcoming presidential election? Read them carefully and see if you can tell.

1. Bush is destroying workers rights and outsourcing jobs instead of protecting the right to organize and creating new jobs rebuilding schools, bridges, roads and hospitals.

2. Bush is privatizing Medicare, Social Security, and public education with phony reforms instead of enacting health care for all, protecting retirement funds and full funding for public education through college.

3. Bush is bankrupting the Federal Government with giant tax cuts for the very rich and super-funds to the military instead of securing the budget for human needs by taxing the rich and spending on human needs.

4. Bush is rolling back civil rights gains instead of enforcing and expanding affirmative action to end racism in all areas of life.

5. Bush is curtailing women's rights and choice by undermining Roe v. Wade instead of upholding the right to choice and ending the gender wage gap.

6. Bush is abusing immigrant workers in low-wage jobs instead of providing a clear path to citizenship and equal rights.

7. Bush is exploiting and ruining the environment by protecting corporate polluters instead of conserving our natural resources for the public good.

8. Bush's war in Iraq is a disaster for our security and economy. He is pushing for more preemptive wars and for first strike nuclear military policy instead of negotiations and cooperation utilizing the United Nations.

9. Bush is denying civil liberties and free speech in the name of fighting terrorism instead of repealing the USA Patriot Act and helping cities, towns and states fund firefighters and police.

10. Bush discriminates against Gays and Lesbians with a Constitutional Amendment instead of expanding civil rights and liberties for all.

Just how true is the old phrase, ''birds of a feather flock together?'' As the Democratic Party has drifted further and further left, many have speculated that it was only a matter of time before it became indistinguishable from our old enemies, the communists. Lo and behold, the Communist Party USA has recently published on its web site the above document, ''Top Ten Reasons to Defeat Bush.'' It could just as easily have been taken from the Democratic National Committee's web page, word for word. In fact, the list could double as Kerry supporter talking points. Let's take them one by one. more>

How Socialist Unions Rule the Democratic Party - A SINGLE LABOR UNION HAS COMMITTED $65 MILLION to defeating President George. W. Bush this November, reported the July 12 BusinessWeek Magazine.

This biggest union in the AFL-CIO, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) which by year’s end will have 1.8 million members, at its June convention in San Francisco agreed to spend $40 million for more than 2,000 organizers to work full-time against President Bush in 17 key battleground states. It also plans to supply 50,000 “volunteers” from its members just prior to and on election day. And SEIU will spend an additional $25 million on voter registration, “education” and getting out the vote.

Why is SEIU so bent on defeating President Bush? Let us count the ways:

SEIU is one of America’s two biggest government unions, the other being AFSCME, the American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees. The nightmare for such unions is not a weak economy, as it would be for private sector workers. Government workers get their money not from a free marketplace but from coerced taxes. And many SEIU workers not employed directly by government are hospital and nursing home staffers paid indirectly by government dollars for Medicare, Medicaid and welfare patients. For this reason the government unions are the party of American socialism.

Public Enemy Number One for these socialist vanguards are Republicans who want to reduce the size and spending of government, and to contract out millions of existing government tasks to money-saving, non-unionized private companies. The wealth, power and future of these unions depend on replacing a Republican President with Democratic advocates of government expansion like the team of Kerry and Edwards.

“Public sector workers want government to grow first, and the overall health of the economy isn’t as relevant to them,” as pollster Scott Rasmussen explained in the Wall Street Journal. On the other hand, the blue collar union workers the SEIU ostensibly represents pay far more in taxes than they receive via government checks.

Democrats created the laws that have allowed unions to impose themselves on unwilling workers, get away with using violence and threats of violence to enforce their power, and extract involuntary “dues” from worker paychecks. In order to keep buying this privileged power from government, Unions kick back many millions of dollars in extorted dues to Democrat lawmakers, governors and Presidents.

The result is a money-laundering operation in which leftwing politicians appropriate money for themselves, using friendly labor unions as the middle-men intermediaries who expropriate it from workers. Nearly 40 percent of union workers today are registered Republicans, but a sizeable chunk of their wages is taken and used to elect Democrats.

This union money is the mother’s milk of the Democratic Party. If these millions in union campaign contributions vanished tomorrow, most Democratic officeholders would be bankrupt overnight, and the Democratic Party would immediately shrink to permanent minority status. Click here to see what SEIU as just one union among many dozens acknowledges in Federal Election Commission reports in the current election cycle that it does to bankroll Democratic members of Congress. Click here to see how three SEIU-run 527s, which can be used to circumvent campaign finance rules, had been primed with $7,844,066.00 of political cash as of July 5, and here for more details about SEIU’s political expenditures. more>

How to Steal an Election - A recent story that didn't get nearly the attention it deserved was the New York Daily News report that 46,000 registered New York City voters are also registered to vote in Florida. Nearly 1,700 of them have had absentee ballots mailed to their home in the other state, and as many as 1,000 have voted twice in the same election. Can 1,000 fraudulent votes change an election? Well, George W. Bush won Florida in 2000 by just 537 votes.

It is illegal to register to vote simultaneously in different jurisdictions, but scofflaws have little to worry about. As the Daily News noted, "efforts to prevent people from registering and voting in more than one state rely mostly on the honor system." Those who break the law rarely face prosecution or serious punishment. It's easy -- and painless -- to cheat.

I learned this firsthand in 1996, when I registered my wife's cat as a voter in Cook County, Ill., Norfolk County, Mass., and Cuyahoga County, Ohio, and then requested absentee ballots from all three venues. My purpose wasn't to cast illegal multiple votes but to demonstrate how vulnerable to manipulation America's election system has become.

It was a simple scam to pull off. "Under the National Voter Registration Act -- the `Motor Voter Law' -- states are required to accept voter registrations by mail," I wrote at the time. "No longer can citizens be asked to make a trip to town hall or the county office. No longer do they have to provide proof of residence or citizenship. In fact, they don't have to exist. Motor Voter obliges election officials to add to the voter list any name mailed in on a properly filled-out registration form. Anyone so registered can then request an absentee ballot -- by mail, of course. The system is not only open to manipulation, it invites it."

As journalist John Fund shows in an alarming new book, "Stealing Elections: How Voter Fraud Threatens Our Democracy," the United States has an elections system that would be an embarrassment in Honduras or Ghana. It is so unpoliced, he writes, that at least eight of the 9/11 hijackers "were actually able to register to vote in either Virginia or Florida while they made their deadly preparations."

How fouled up are the voter rolls? So fouled up that in some cities there are more registered voters than there are adults. So fouled up that when the Indianapolis Star investigated Indiana's records a few years ago, it discovered that hundreds of thousands of names -- as many as one-fifth of the total -- were "bogus" since the individuals named had moved, died, or gone to prison. So fouled up that when a Louisiana paper filed 25 phony voter registration forms signed only with an "X," 21 were approved and added to the voter list.

Illegal aliens have been registered, too, since under Motor Voter, any recipient of government benefits can sign up to vote, no questions asked. Did that wide-open door to fraud cost former GOP Congressman Robert Dornan his seat in Congress? An investigation by the Immigration and Naturalization Service following Dornan's 1996 defeat by Democrat Loretta Sanchez found that 4,023 noncitizens may have cast ballots in that election. Dornan lost by 984 votes. more>

Hysterical women for Kerry - During World War II, young Rose Will Monroe was the face of American women in adversity: strong, supportive and resolute against the enemy forces that threatened our existence. Tens of thousands like Rosie rolled up their sleeves, gritted their teeth, and flexed their muscles in factories and shipyards and arsenals across the country.

They made rockets and rifles and bombs and boats. They painted and drilled and welded. When they got home to their kids, they cooked and cleaned and collapsed in bed after praying for their husbands and brothers and uncles on the battlefield. Rosie and her sisters in arms didn't have the luxury of complaining about their lack of "me time." There was a war to be won. And so, as this presidential campaign season has constantly reminded us, there is today.

But Rosie is gone. And in her place, we have Hysterical Women for Kerry. They are self-absorbed celebrities who support banning all guns (except the ones their bodyguards use to protect them and their children). They are teachers' union bigwigs who support keeping all children hostage in public schools (except their own sons and daughters who have access to the best private institutions). They are sanctimonious environmentalists who oppose ostentatious energy consumption (except for their air-conditioned Malibu mansions and Gulfstream jets and custom Escalades.)

They are antiwar activists who claim to love the troops (except when they're apologizing to the terrorists trying to kill our men and women in uniform). They are peace activists who balk at your son bringing in his "Star Wars" light saber for the kindergarten Halloween parade (but who have no problem serving as human shields for torture-loving dictators). They are ultrafeminists who purport to speak for all women (but not the unborn ones or the abstinent teenage ones or the minority conservative ones or the newly enfranchised ones in Afghanistan). more>

I don't like being called a cockroach - I don't like being called a cockroach. But apparently, Democrats John Kerry and John Edwards think it's funny to compare Hispanic Republicans to roaches -- or so it seems based on their behavior at a recent fundraiser in New York City.

Kerry and Edwards were both yucking it up at Radio City Music Hall last week when a star-studded line up of comedians and rock stars entertained the crowd with off-color jokes and Bush-bashing, raising $7.5 million in the process. Neither Kerry nor Edwards said a word when Whoopi Goldberg made nasty sexual allusions to both the president's and vice-president's names. In fact, the New York Post's Deborah Orin reports that Kerry "could be seen laughing uproariously" during the Goldberg riff, full of vulgar language and even worse taste.

You would think they'd be a little more wary of associating themselves with ethnically offensive remarks, however. So when comedian John Leguizamo said he refuses to believe there are any Hispanic Republicans --"Latins for Republicans, it's like roaches for Raid"-- you might have hoped Kerry and Edwards would feel compelled to say something to distance themselves. During the primaries, Howard Dean ran into similar difficulties at another star-studded New York fundraiser where entertainers made heavy use of the "N" word, but Dean had the good sense to come on stage and say he didn't like the tone of some of the odious humor.

The dynamic duo of Kerry and Edwards stayed mum on the dirty jokes this time around. Kerry even opined that "every performer tonight ... conveyed to you the heart and soul of our country," while Edwards noted that "this campaign will be a celebration of real American values." Some values.

Can you imagine the outcry if Republicans hosted an event in which performers compared Latinos to cockroaches based on their voting behavior? It is almost inconceivable that the media would not be all over the story, with round-the-clock coverage, demands that heads roll, and ultimately, the candidate taking the blame. The double standard is appalling. When Democrats use four-letter words, make raunchy references to their opponents, even when they insult minority groups, the media give them a pass.

Ironically, the Kerry campaign announced this week that it will be spending $1 million in Spanish language advertising over the next two weeks to appeal to Hispanic voters. Kerry spokesman Jose Villarreal said that the ad buy "underscores that Hispanic voters are a key element of John Kerry's campaign strategy, and we expect to vigorously contest and handily win that vote." The ads will portray Kerry as "a man of faith, a man of family, a man of honor, a man working for our community," trying to play to the Latino community's traditional Catholic, socially conservative base. more>

I survived the Democratic National Convention - At the Democratic National Convention, Janeane Garofalo – comedienne, talk show host and liberal pundit – called me a "house Negro" and a "fascist." Well!

For four days, the Democratic Party put on its quadrennial scare-old-people-and-minorities party. Democrats, of course, rely on the 90-plus percent monolithic black vote. Thus, a black "non-liberal" poses a direct threat to the party's national prospects. When Garofalo agreed to a sit-down, she clearly knew nothing about me. When I defended the administration on the War on Terror, a frustrated Garofalo started to get up and leave, muttering, "This show sucks." After I called her a coward, however, she sat back down and finished the segment.

After our interview, Garofalo began broadcasting her radio show on "Air America." Several of my callers – I was still on the air at the time – said that Garofalo called me a "house Negro" and a "fascist." Then something interesting happened. Garofalo's people asked me to appear on her show. Would I agree?

I promptly said yes, after which I was informed that, no, they really had no time for an interview. What? After all, they asked me to appear, and when I promptly accepted, Garofalo's people suddenly decided they could not fit me into their schedule! Here's my speculation: Garofalo assumed that I feared appearing on her show. She extended an invitation in hopes that I would refuse. She then would go on the air, call me a coward and accuse me of fear in the face of hostility. Well, I called her bluff, and somebody backed down. more>

If the Brown Shirt Fits - Though Al Gore's latest "major policy address" was delivered at a slightly lower volume than his screaming rants from earlier in the year, the pitch was no less fevered. Among other things, he accused the Bush administration of working with "a network of 'rapid response' digital Brown Shirts who work to pressure reporters and their editors for 'undermining support for our troops.'"

How odd that Gore, who endorsed Howard Dean, should object so strongly to Internet political activism. Perhaps he's simply offended that his ideological opponents would dare to use this technology that he took the initiative in creating. more>

In a First, Planned Parenthood Backs Kerry - The political arm of taxpayer-supported Planned Parenthood Federation today threw its support to Sen. John Kerry. It's the first time the group has ever endorsed a candidate for president, according to the Associated Press, and is thus a signal of the importance the polarizing issue will play this year.

Planned Parenthood Action Fund said it would focus on bringing single women to the polls in November.

While Kerry rallied today with Planned Parenthood and other abortion organizations, his campaign reacted to the Vatican's new warning about pro-abortion "Catholic" politicians by citing what it called the constitutional "separation of church and state," a phrase that appears nowhere in the U.S. Constitution. more>

Iran likes Kerry deal to supply nuke fuel Islamic Republic to review 'great bargain' but will still pursue its 'legitimate right' - Teheran would welcome John Kerry's proposal to supply nuclear fuel, Hossein Musavian, the head Iran's Supreme National Security Council's foreign policy committee, announced today.

First outlined in a June speech, Kerry's plan to provide Iran with nuclear fuel in exchange for a pledge to use it for peaceful purposes only was unveiled to the American public during the first presidential debate.

"I think the United States should have offered the opportunity to provide the nuclear fuel, test them, see whether or not they were actually looking for it for peaceful purposes," Kerry said in a critique of the Bush administration's handling of Tehran's nuclear program, which the Iranians claim is only for civilian purposes.

"If they weren't willing to work a deal, then we could have put sanctions together," Kerry said of Teheran. "The president did nothing."

Initially, Iran rejected the idea, saying that reliance on foreign supplies would jeopardize its nuclear program.

Musavian told Reuters that Kerry's offer was also dismissed because officials could not tell if it was genuine or merely rhetoric in the U.S. presidential campaign. "If it is part of Kerry's election campaign ... we do not want to be part of it," he said. "Let the Americans play their game themselves."

But, now, the Iranians have changed their tune. Musavian says the Islamic Republic would welcome what Kerry running mate John Edwards has described as a "great bargain," and the proposal will be reviewed. Iran, however, should be allowed to pursue its "peaceful nuclear program," he made clear. more>

Iraq Amnesia - The real "coalition of the bribed" was at the U.N. - Judging from the current Iraq debate, you might think Saddam Hussein didn't use poison gas on the Kurds and the Iranians in the 1980s. Or that 500,000 American troops hadn't been sent to the Gulf in 1990-91 to reverse his invasion of Kuwait. Or that Saddam hadn't tried to assassinate former President George H.W. Bush in 1993, or long harbored one of the bombers who attacked the World Trade Center that year.

It might also be easy to forget that Saddam never came clean about his weapons of mass destruction, resulting in Bill Clinton's Desert Fox bombing of 1998 and the ejection of U.N. inspectors. Or that he necessitated a huge U.S. troop presence in the region, which Osama bin Laden cited in his 1998 fatwa as one of his primary grievances against America.

It's clear why John Kerry doesn't want to talk about these things, having decided for now that Iraq was "the wrong war in the wrong place at the wrong time." Count us a bit mystified, however, that the incumbent hasn't done a better job putting his Iraq policy in this context. Fortunately for President Bush, Congressional Oil for Food hearings and Charles Duelfer's final weapons inspections report for the CIA have come along this week to remind us all that the "containment" of Saddam was neither as blissful as certain partisans remember it, nor even sustainable.

"By 2000-2001, Saddam had managed to mitigate many of the effects of sanctions and undermine their international support," Mr. Duelfer writes. "Iraq was within striking distance of a de facto end to the sanctions regime."
We realize that some of our media friends think the salient news here is the old news: that Saddam did not possess large stockpiles of WMDs when Coalition forces invaded in March 2003. But Mr. Duelfer explicitly rejects the facile conclusion that therefore sanctions were working. Among his other findings, based in part on interviews with Saddam himself and other senior regime figures:

• Saddam believed weapons of mass destruction were essential to the preservation of his power, especially during the Iran-Iraq and 1991 Gulf wars.

• He engaged in strategic deception intended to suggest that he retained WMD.

• He fully intended to resume real WMD production after the expected lifting of U.N. sanctions, and he maintained weapons programs that put him in "material breach" of U.N. resolutions including 1441.

• And he instituted an epic bribery scheme aimed primarily at three of the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, with the intent of having them help lift those sanctions.

"Saddam personally approved and removed all names of voucher recipients," under the Oil for Food program, Mr. Duelfer writes. Alleged beneficiaries of such bribes include individuals in China, as well as some with close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin and French President Jacques Chirac.

As Congressmen Chris Shays's House International Relations Committee heard in testimony on Tuesday, France, Russia and China did in fact work hard to help Saddam skirt and escape sanctions. One Iraqi intelligence report uncovered by Mr. Duelfer says that a French politician assured Saddam in a letter that France would use its U.N. veto against any U.S. effort to attack Iraq--as indeed France later threatened to do.

Evidence also continues to mount that U.N. Oil for Food Program director Benon Sevan was among those on Saddam's payroll. (He denies it.) And contrary to earlier claims that Secretary-General Kofi Annan's son Kojo severed connections with the Swiss-based firm Cotecna prior to it winning its Oil for Food inspections contract, we now know that Kojo was kept on the company payroll for another year. We eagerly await the promised interim report from the U.N.'s Paul Volcker-led Oil for Food review panel, and hope in the interests of an informed electorate that it can be delivered soon. more>

Is NBC conspiring to help Kerry hide his past? On Nov. 20, 1969, 79 Native Americans took over Alcatraz Island in the San Francisco Bay, and stayed there in the face of demands that they leave, until they were forcibly ejected on June 11, 1971. While the outlines of the events I have found are sketchy on the details, the occupiers seemed to have threatened to resist efforts to expel them with force, and the Nixon administration adopted various tactics during the long stand-off. Kerry's testimony occurred about two months before the removal of the radicals, and his sympathy for their cause is obvious in his reference to one of their number in his testimony.

But don't hold your breath waiting for a Judy Woodruff or similar softball pitcher to ask Kerry any uncomfortable questions. Too many of the television heavies (Chris Matthews, Rather) don't want the anti-war days brought up for a whole bunch of reasons. The biggest reason: Most of the big names in the media of today threw in with the anti-war crowd of the late '60s and early '70s – either as participant or reporter – and the devastation that followed in the wake of the American withdrawal from southeast Asia is an inconvenient obstacle to the illusions of the media as to their own morality. Don't expect Uncle Walter, for example, to ever speculate on his contribution to the chain of events that led to the collapse of South Vietnam and the savaging of Cambodia. more>

Is There Any Room at the Democrat Inn for Average People? - It is getting more difficult by the day to keep a straight face while referring to the Democrats as representatives of the common folk. Daniel Henninger of the Wall Street Journal notes that more and more, Democrats are associated with Hollywood elites and the wealthy.

The most talked-about party at the Democratic convention was the one thrown by the Creative Coalition featuring the kind of people one normally reads about at the supermarket: Jason Bateman, Ellen Burstyn, Bianca Jagger, Billy Baldwin, the Red Hot Chili Peppers. They even had a VIP room, like the lounge bars in New York. In fact, it's looking more and more like a two-tier party--one for VIP Democrats and one for bridge-and-tunnel Democrats.

The most talked about Democratic fund-raiser before the convention was at Radio City Music Hall, featuring Whoopi Goldberg, the comedian and former Slim-Fast pitch person. Also Paul Newman, Jon Bon Jovi, Meryl Streep, Sarah Jessica Parker, Mary J. Blige, Chevy Chase and Jessica Lange.

The most talked about Democratic fund-raising event after the convention is the Vote for Change Tour. Led by Bruce Springsteen, the performers who will be touring to defeat George Bush include Pearl Jam, R.E.M., Dave Matthews, John Fogerty, Bonnie Raitt, Keb' Mo', the Dixie Chicks, James Taylor and Death Cab for Cutie.

The world of celebrity and the world of the Democratic Party are now joined at the hip. They are one. Their interests, presumably, coincide.

A day doesn't pass now when yet another deeply distressed actress or singer doesn't appear among us, like the zombies in the ''Invasion of the Body Snatchers,'' declaring that ''history'' or the ''future'' demands that they work full-time to ''end'' the Bush presidency. more>

Israeli politicians worried about Kerry - Although peace between Israel and its neighbors ranks high in John Kerry's book released yesterday, many Israeli politicians have been voicing concerns that a Kerry presidency could damage the region.

But many Israeli and American Jewish leaders are expressing concern that a Kerry administration will cause more violence in the Middle East. They say they are worried about Kerry's statements of coordinating American foreign policy with the Europeans, and are disturbed by his appointment of several former Clinton Mideast policy directors as advisers, particularly former U.S. Ambassador to Israel Martin Indyk.

"Indyk managed to help Arafat wrest complete control over the Palestinian people through deceit and subterfuge. And now, if he gets his way, American troops may find themselves in the middle of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip – providing cover for Hamas and Palestinian Jihad," wrote David Bedein, bureau chief of the Israel Resource News Agency.

"The very mention of Indyk sends shudders down the spine of senior members of the Israel defense and foreign policy establishment," wrote Bedein.

Some in Israel were also upset that Kerry allowed former President Jimmy Carter, who many Jews feel has taken a consistently pro-Palestinian line since being voted out of office in 1980, to speak at last week's Democratic National Convention, where he linked the Bush administration's policy toward Israel to anti-American sentiment. more>

I've been branded a ‘turncoat’ By Edward I. Koch - Confronting stereotypes and the need to take principled stances. Oh, and a look at John Kerry's positions on Israel - My decision to vote for the reelection of President George W. Bush, despite the fact that I am a life-long Democrat, has caused some to call me a turncoat. But am I really? Or am I moving in a direction the Democratic Party itself should be going?

As mayor of New York City, I described myself as "a liberal with sanity." It troubled me that over the years, the Democratic Party had drifted toward the radical left. The vast majority of registered Democrats, and those who identify with that party, were and are moderates. As mayor and in the years since I left public office, I made it my mission to strengthen the Democratic Party by moving it closer to the center. more>

JERKY JOKESTER WHOOPI IN DIRTY DISS AT DUBYA - Whoopi Goldberg delivered an X-rated rant full of sexual innuendoes against President Bush last night at a Radio City gala that raised $7.5 million for the newly minted Democratic ticket of John Kerry and John Edwards.
Waving a bottle of wine, she fired off a stream of vulgar sexual wordplays on Bush's name in a riff about female genitalia, and boasted that she'd refused to let Team Kerry clear her material.

"I Xeroxed my behind and I folded it up in an envelope and I sent it back with a big kiss mark on because we're Democrats - we're not afraid to laugh," she said.

She addressed fresh-faced vice-presidential candidate Edwards as "Kid," and "young Mr. Edwards" and cracked, "He looks like he is about 18. I'm going to card his ass tomorrow."

Other celebs also competed to bash Bush. Singer John Mellencamp sang a specially written song that called the president "just another cheap thug" and ridiculed him as the "Texas bambino."

Kerry could be seen laughing uproariously during part of Goldberg's tirade - and neither he nor Edwards voiced a single objection to its tone when they spoke to the crowd.

They hailed the fund-raiser as a great event.

Edwards said it was "a great honor" to be there and insisted, "This campaign will be a celebration of real American values."

Kerry thanked all the performers for "an extraordinary evening," hailed the "great producers" - Harvey Weinstein of Miramax and Jann Wenner - and said "every performer tonight ... conveyed to you the heart and soul of our country."

Jimmy Carter: Our Worse President in History? - Jimmy Carter has been called the worst president of the past century, maybe ever, but you don’t know the half of it, writes columnist Joseph Farah. Carter was an appeaser of the first order. He weakened our military and our economy. He signed agreements with the Soviet Union that weakened our power and influence throughout the world. In short, Jimmy Carter was a disaster.

The problem now, says Farah, is that Jimmy Carter simply will not stick to building houses for Habitat for Humanity, but keeps meddling in world affairs. Read excerpts from the column below, and click on the link we have provided to read the entire article.

Jimmy Carter says President Bush is exploiting the suffering of Sept. 11 and has turned back decades of efforts to make the world a safer place.

Let me say this: If I had any doubts about Bush's efforts in Iraq, they would be gone the minute Jimmy Carter attacked them.

Jimmy Carter has, to my knowledge, never been right about any foreign policy moves in his long political life--and certainly not as president.

Let me tell you about what Jimmy Carter knows first-hand about political exploitation of suffering and making the world a safer place....

John 'Flapjack' Kerry - The "mystery" of which foreign leaders are "endorsing" John Kerry continues to elude the public (as well as Kerry himself). For the record Kerry is big in socialist countries. The two foreign leaders that have "gone public" endorsing him are Kim Jong-Il of North Korea, as well as the newly elected terrorist-appeasing socialist Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero of Spain.

But "Flapjack" Kerry has gotten a tad testy over the issue. The fact that he made up the assertion aside, he finds it annoying that people keep hounding him about it. He even told a voter attending his town hall meeting in Pennsylvania, that it was "none of his (the voter's) business as to who the 'foreign leaders' were that he had met with." Talk about hospitality. This remarkable act of good will was followed by much finger pointing and irritated lecturing of said voter – also excellent goodwill campaign techniques. more>

John Kerry and his Harvey the Rabbit Leaders - another lie: Kerry hasn't traveled abroad or met with foreign leaders, but he says they endorse him. more>

John Kerry: International Man of Mystery I - his "friends and contacts" tell him all the latest "secrets" about secret pre-war deals with France and Russia, but he can't give names or any specifics. "I'll tell you later." more>

John Kerry: International Man of Mystery II - now he knows all about "secret" Libyan conspiracy and Haitian rumors. more>

John Kerry: Islamists' Useful Idiot - The Democratic Party, which gave America the proud legacies of men like Harry Truman and Henry "Scoop" Jackson, is poised to nominate for president a man who either doesn't understand the struggle against radical Islam or blindly went trolling for votes from a radical Islamic organization.

In December, when John Kerry was badly trailing Howard Dean, the Massachusetts senator spoke at the annual convention of the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC), an anti-Semitic organization that has defended infamous terrorist groups Hamas and Hezbollah. Addressing the Long Beach, Calif., audience by phone, Mr. Kerry told the crowd that he "really want to earn support of Muslim leaders across the United States." Mr. Kerry appealed to the crowd by strongly implying that the Bush administration is not protecting the First Amendment rights of Muslims. "I believe this administration is moving our country in a radically wrong direction and is cynically exploiting people in the country and has forgotten some of the heart of the Constitution of the United States of America," he said during his speech. more>

John Kerry: Man of the Special Interests - Even as John Kerry prepared to position himself before a national electorate as the arch enemy of “special interests,” he was exposed for receiving more campaign cash from lobbyists than any senator over the past 15 years.

Since 1989 Kerry has received $638,358, according to a study by the Center for Responsive Politics, a non-profit organization that analyzes Federal Election Commission campaign records.

Add to that reports that Kerry’s largest contributor, the Boston law firm of Mintz Levin Cohn Ferris Golovsky and Popeo, represents telecommunications interests and that he has carried its legislative water while interceding with government agencies on its clients’ behalf. And that Kerry sought SEC help for a woman with ties to the Chinese military and got a fund-raiser in return. And that Kerry supported a contracting loophole for American International Group insurance company, which repaid him with donations. And that Kerry recommended individuals for positions at federal home loan banks just before or after they gave him political contribution. more>

John Kerry Must Go - Note to Democrats: it's not too late to draft someone—anyone—else - from Village Voice - With the air gushing out of John Kerry's balloon, it may be only a matter of time until political insiders in Washington face the dread reality that the junior senator from Massachusetts doesn't have what it takes to win and has got to go. As arrogant and out of it as the Democratic political establishment is, even these pols know the party's got to have someone to run against George Bush. They can't exactly expect the president to self-destruct into thin air.

With growing issues over his wealth (which makes fellow plutocrat Bush seem a charity case by comparison), the miasma over his medals and ribbons (or ribbons and medals), his uninspiring record in the Senate (yes war, no war), and wishy-washy efforts to mimic Bill Clinton's triangulation gimmickry (the protractor factor), Kerry sinks day by day. The pros all know that the candidate who starts each morning by having to explain himself is a goner. more>

John Kerry's green machine - The League of Conservation Voters has launched a vigorous campaign to get John Kerry elected president. And why wouldn't they? As a senator, Kerry votes for the League's position 96 percent of the time. More importantly, John's wife, Teresa F. Heinz Kerry, directs the distribution of grants from three Heinz foundations with combined assets worth more than $1.5 billion.

The Heinz foundations provide substantial funding for the League and for several of the organizations whose directors are also members of the board of the LCV.

In recent years, the Heinz foundations have given $57,300 directly to the LCV. LCV board members who have also benefited from Kerry's wife include:

Natural Resources Defense Council – John Adams (LCV Board) received $56,000;

Wilderness Society – William Meadows III (LCV Board) received $106,350;

Environmental Defense – Fred Krupp (LCV Board) received $601,000;

West Harlem Environmental Action – Peggy Shepard (LCV Board) received $250,000.
Ron Arnold's Center for the Defense of Free Enterprise has developed a very thorough record of Kerry's wife's involvement in green politics.

The League has a lot at stake in this election. The last Democrat in the White House appointed Bruce Babbitt, then head of the League of Conservation Voters, to be the secretary of interior. Should Kerry reclaim the White House, the League will expect, and undoubtedly get, similar influence in the Kerry administration. more>

John Kerry's Message to the Enemy - The Kerry campaign has settled on a battle cry: ''Iraq is the new Vietnam.'' John Kerry couldn’t use his sterling war record to propel him into the White House so he will now walk across the bodies of dead Iraqi children, coalition civilians who are having their heads sawed off for the shock value, and American soldiers who remain in harm’s way. Kerry’s friends depict surrendering marines in their pro-Kerry campaign ads and Kerry struts around America sending devastating signals to the enemy by calling Bush ''unfit'' to lead. Kerry says Bush is far too ''resolved'' in his determination to defeat the enemy. Bush should accept defeat, as Kerry has.

That may sound harsh, but just as the protesters of the 1960’s encouraged the North Vietnamese to continue killing until the anti-war activists wore down the government, John Kerry is not only encouraging the Islamic terrorists to step up their attacks, he is almost begging them to do so.

The terrorists in Iraq heard John Kerry call interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi a liar. Mr. Allawi, a courageous man that Saddam ordered killed--who knows he could be assassinated at any time--is treated like scum by this arrogant rich man from Massachusetts. Iraq cannot, must not, succeed. That simply doesn’t fit into John Kerry's campaign plans.

What is John Kerry’s subliminal message to the enemy? Make Iraq a ''free fire zone'' and kill as much as possible. Car bombings, beheadings, RPG attacks, roadside bombs, a suicide bomber who rams a hospital--anything goes as long as the body count is high and vivid pictures of total and complete chaos are shown nightly on every American news broadcast. The more broken bodies shown on American television screens the better it will be for Kerry. John Kerry has a very short time to convince Americans that Iraq is a lost cause that never should have been undertaken because America is too weak to defeat this enemy without France and the United Nations.

John Kerry wants America to believe that he is an avid supporter of our military. Kerry’s history shows otherwise.

Kerry came home from Viet Nam and with a vengeance turned on his fellow vets. His main campaign promise to voters in Massachusetts was that he would vote against ''anything military.'' Kerry made statements that our military should be under United Nations control to be dispersed around the world at the organization’s whim. Now this man wants to be the commander in chief of the armed forces. One can only imagine what horrors would await those in uniform should Kerry succeed in convincing the majority of Americans that Iraq is an ''un-winable quagmire'' that only he can save us from--by withdrawing. Forget what he says publicly; he will abandon the Iraqi people. Kerry has made this promise to his anti-war core voters. more>>>

Ken sure got around! CEO tied to Kerrys, too - President Bush may know indicted ex-Enron boss Ken Lay as ``Kenny Boy,'' but Sen. John F. Kerry and his millionaire wife also have past financial and personal ties to Lay's shamed energy firm, documents show.

Kerry and Teresa Heinz Kerry reported more than $250,000 in Enron stock ownership before the firm's 2003 collapse. Kerry also was forced to return a campaign contribution from an implicated Enron executive.

And Heinz Kerry served on a charity board with Lay, even after he was implicated in the alleged fraud, records show.

Kerry has railed against the Bush administration's handling of the Enron scandal on the campaign trail. more>

Kennedy: "I've never worked a [bleeping] day in my life" - Dear Fellow Patriot:

The 2004 election season is upon us and I have announced my candidacy for the United States House of Representatives against Congressman Patrick Kennedy, the liberal son of Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy. And I need your help. We are going to run the strongest most determined campaign and in November, God willing, together we will win.

Yes, I was a Navy SEAL, I served with Navy SEAL Team 2 for eight years and I was decorated for heroic achievement in Operation Just Cause during the Invasion of Panama. But my desire to serve isn't gone. My mission to protect your family starts with my desire to protect my family. My wife and sons are the reason I am running. I see in them the same needs your family has.

Back in February, Mr. Kennedy said something I found outrageous. Mr. Kennedy said, and I must paraphrase due to his embarrassing use of profanity:

"I don't need Bush's tax cut. I have never worked a [blanking] day in my life."

Let me say two things. First we don’t need a foul-mouthed congressman representing us in Washington. Second, I don't want to continue to cover my children’s ears every time Congressman Kennedy speaks.

If his arrogant comment makes you as upset as me then please make your most generous contribution and help me defeat Patrick Kennedy, please Contribute Here.

Who do you think will again do a better job of protecting America? I risked my life time and time again to protect this great Country. As your Congressman, I will work with the same tenacity to insure that you and your family remain safe.

Would Navy defense contractors rather talk to a Navy Seal who served on the USS Saratoga… or Patrick Kennedy who wrecks the riggings of rented sailboats and leaves them entangled in fishing nets?

Who would Air Force contractors rather talk to?

A Navy Seal who has parachuted into the Adriatic Sea… or Patrick Kennedy who only flies first class?

Who would the Military Brass at the Pentagon listen to?

A Navy Seal who has served with them, who has used the equipment they want built, flown in the planes they want upgraded and sailed on the ships that need refurbishing….or Patrick Kennedy who has never served, and would seem to be quite proud of never having worked.

If you believe that I will do a better job then please help me send the Kennedy’s a message and Contribute Here.

Let a Navy Seal who has worked and trained to accomplish a mission approach the problems that face this state and country… jobs, taxes, healthcare. These are all enormously difficult and complex areas to dive into. But I can do it. I know what it means to take on a mission that seems impossible. And I know what it means to succeed when no one thought you could.

It is said that every great journey begins with a first step. Please take that first step and join a campaign to protect your paychecks, a campaign to protect our jobs, a campaign to protect the environment, a campaign to demonstrate to all people the value of a representative who WORKS for them.

Please visit my web site at www.Rogers2004.com and join us on the road to victory. Experience has taught me that teamwork is the key to success, and that a small, dedicated and hard working band of brothers (and sisters) can accomplish great things, if they work together.

GOD BLESS,

Dave Rogers

Kennedy Touts Kerry in Chappaquiddick Flashback - In touting Democratic presidential front-runner John Kerry's war heroics yesterday, Sen. Ted Kennedy swerved dangerously close to his own past when he bragged about how Kerry would never leave anyone behind to drown.

"You have a Jim Rassmann, who was a Special Forces officer that was blown off John Kerry's small boat," Kennedy told CNN.

Then, without a hint of irony, the man whose own presidential ambitions ended at Chappaquiddick added:

"When John Kerry turned that boat back and hauled Jim Rassmann out of the water, risking his own life, what he has said: We leave no one behind. He didn't leave Jim Rassmann behind. He won't leave veterans behind. He won't leave our national security behind."

Too bad Sen. Kerry wasn't driving the night Teddy left Mary Jo Kopechne behind.

KENNEDY V. CLINTON: THE DEM DIVIDE - JUST as the Democratic Party in the later 1960s was dominated by the schism between President Lyndon B. Johnson and Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, so the party in this decade is likely to be mired in a split between the Clintons on the one hand and Ted Kennedy and John Kerry on the other.

The Kerry campaign's recent effort to keep Hillary out of the convention's spotlight prime time, coupled with the selection of Sen. John Edwards as Kerry's running mate, are opening shots in this fight, which will likely escalate into a full-fledged feud.

When Kerry chose Edwards, a charismatic future contender for the presidency, he knew he was investing in an opponent for Hillary when she goes for the top job herself. If Kerry loses, Hillary will run in 2008; if he wins, she'll run in 2012. Either way, she'll have to beat Edwards, whom Kerry plucked from the ashes of defeat.

Hillary, of course, was entitled to a prime-time speech. Apart from her husband, she is the most popular Democrat in the nation and she has addressed both of the last two conventions. The fiction that the women Democratic senators caucused and decided to anoint Maryland's Barbara Mikulsky to speak for them fooled nobody. To suggest that Hillary should mutely stand behind Mikulsky nodding in agreement was a statement to the Clintons: This isn't your party anymore.

The split began in the fall of 2003, when Kerry was floundering in the face of the Howard Dean surge. The Clintons had bet on Kerry and even sent Chris Lehane (who had played a key role in their Lewinsky-impeachment defense) to be the Massachusetts senator's chief campaign consultant. But as Kerry faltered, the Clintons bailed out on his candidacy and pushed Gen. Wesley Clark into the race as their candidate.

The former president was quoted in public as saying that his wife and Gen. Clark were the two most outstanding Democrats in the nation. Clinton loyalists like Bruce Lindsay and Harry Thomason took their cue and went to work for Clark (a fellow Arkansan). But the unkindest cut of all was when Lehane walked out of the Kerry campaign, attesting to the senator's lack of viability and joined up with Clark.

In rushed Ted Kennedy to save the day, sending Mary Beth Cahill of his Senate staff to steer the faltering Kerry campaign. Kennedy's pivotal role was evident from his up-front and public position by his Massachusetts colleague's side on the night Kerry won the New Hampshire primary. As Kerry was all but clinching the nomination, who introduced him to the victory rally? Ted Kennedy. more>

Kerry accepting 'blood money'? 3 infamous partial-birth abortionists give cash to Democrat
Three abortion doctors who specialize in partial-birth abortions – two of whom actually advertise their willingness to perform the grisly procedure – are all contributors to John Kerry's presidential campaign.

George Tiller and Warren Hern may be the only two abortionists in the U.S. who openly advertise that they perform third-trimester abortions, writes Douglas Johnson in the Weekly Standard. Johnson is legislative director for the National Right to Life Committee.

The third doctor is Martin Haskell. Together, the three have contributed a total of $7,000 to help put Kerry in the White House.

"These contributions are worth scrutinizing because of what they reveal about John Kerry," writes Johnson.

"Although Haskell, Tiller, and Hern have been controversial figures for many years in national debates about late abortions (as anybody can ascertain by entering their names into Google), the Kerry campaign apparently readily accepted the contributions – money that might very well have originated in fees charged to perform partial-birth abortions or other late abortions."

Despite his declaration that he thinks "life begins at conception," Kerry likely attracts dollars from abortionists due to his consistent record of voting against any restrictions on the procedure, Johnson writes.

During Friday's presidential debate, Kerry defended his votes against the ban on partial-birth abortions, saying, "I'm against the partial-birth abortion, but you've got to have an exception for the life of the mother and the health of the mother under the strictest test of bodily injury to the mother."

Haskell wrote Kerry a check for $2,000 in June.

A nurse who worked briefly at one of Haskell's clinics, Brenda Pratt Shafer, witnessed close up the partial-birth abortion of a baby boy who she said was at 26 and a half weeks, Johnson writes.

"I stood at the doctor's side and watched him perform a partial-birth abortion on a woman who was six months pregnant," Shafer said. "The baby's heartbeat was clearly visible on the ultrasound screen. The doctor delivered the baby's body and arms, everything but his little head. The baby's body was moving. His little fingers were clasping together. He was kicking his feet.

"The doctor took a pair of scissors and inserted them into the back of the baby's head, and the baby's arms jerked out in a flinch, a startle reaction, like a baby does when he thinks that he might fall. Then the doctor opened the scissors up. Then he stuck the high-powered suction tube into the hole and sucked the baby's brains out. Now the baby was completely limp. I never went back to the clinic. But I am still haunted by the face of that little boy. It was the most perfect, angelic face I have ever seen."

Haskell was asked by Cincinnati Medicine whether or not it bothered him that a second-trimester fetus so closely resembles a baby.

He replied, "I really don't think about it. ... Many of our patients have ethical dilemmas about abortion. I don't feel it's my role as a physician to tell her she should not have an abortion because of her ethical feelings. ... I'm not to tell them what's right or wrong."

Tiller, whom pro-life activists have dubbed "Tiller the Killer," runs an abortion clinic in Wichita, Kan., and gave $1,000 to Kerry. Johnson notes Tiller, in a 1995 speech, spoke of performing abortions as late as 36 weeks.

Hern made three donations to two different Kerry accounts, totaling $4,000.

Johnson says Hern "wrote that pregnancy should be regarded not as a normal state but as an illness which 'may be treated by evacuation of the uterus.' Elsewhere he wrote that pregnancy is most appropriately compared to infestation by a parasite. He is a strong proponent of population control, who has written that population growth has made the human race itself an 'ecotumor' or 'planetary malignancy.'"

Kate Michelman, the longtime president of the National Abortion Rights Action League, told the New York Times, "Even on the most difficult issues, we've never had to worry about John Kerry's position," Johnson wrote, noting, "Like Kate Michelman, Doctors Haskell, Tiller, and Hern know their man."

Kerry and Clinton: Heroes or Zeros? - The power-hungry Democrats want the average voter to believe the following about military service. First, Bill Clinton dodged the draft--plain and simple. One excuse was that he got a draft letter but didn’t read it. He even stated in a letter that he ''loathed'' the military. When he ran for president the Democrats stated military experience isn’t necessary, and praised him for standing up against an unpopular war. Now, John Kerry went to Vietnam and the Democrats rally around him because he served honorably. Go figure.

The Democrats now contradict themselves by stating that since George Bush only served in the National Guard, his service is generally considered dishonorable because he didn’t set foot in Vietnam. Since the Democrats feel the National Guard isn’t the real military, Bush is a draft dodger of the worst sort because unlike Bill Clinton he isn’t honest about his draft dodging. To make sense of this logic, let me put it this way. If a Democrat dodges the draft that is okay, but if a Republican does it, then he is unfit to be elected. If a Democrat serves in the war in any capacity, that is okay, if a Republican is president during a war, then he is unfit to elect. I hope you now understand the logic behind this argument because that is the logic Democrats are presenting to the voting public. more>>>

Kerry and Edwards Tout 'Values' - Just hours after demonstrating their idea of values by snickering at a disgusting fund-raiser staged by the Hollywood left, Sens. John Kerry and John Edwards hit the campaign trail today to sing another tune about "values.

"I understand that President Bush is going to be out today as he does every day talking about values," Edwards said in New York. "Values is not a word on a piece of paper. Values is not part of a political slogan. Values are what's inside you."
Indeed.

The head of the ticket attempted to take back the spotlight by chiming in, "Values are putting the full force of the Justice Department on day one in an effort not to take three years and a few months before the election before you bring Ken Lay to justice."

Edwards then put himself in center stage again by saying: "I grew up in a small town in North Carolina. I know something about values."

The most hilarious comment of all: The would-be veep said, "We need somebody in the White House who shares the values that most Americans believe in."

He failed to note that the values of his hometown, and the rest of flyover country, are greatly at odds with his version of values and Kerry's version of values and Whoopi Goldberg's version of values.

Kerry and the Comrades - Sen. John Kerry would love to portray himself as a middle-of-the-road, reasonable Democrat, but he's letting his old lefty side hang out during his New York fundraising.

Last night, Kerry appeared on Park Avenue where a former Goldman Sachs partner hosted the likes of grand lefties Robert Downey, Sr. (the one who taught his kid how to smoke pot), Erica Jong, Norman Mailer, George Plimpton, movie director Robert Altman (who has still not moved out of the country), Carly Simon, and Candice Bergen.

Kerry and Gore Unite - More troubling news for Sen. John Kerry's presidential campaign: Al Gore is supporting Kerry and up to his old tricks.

On Wednesday, Gore asked for and received a private meeting with Kerry when the presumptive presidential nominee was in Cleveland on his jobs tour. Gore was adamant that word of the meeting not be made public, and Kerry, perhaps recalling what Gore's support did for former Vermont Gov. Howie Dean, readily agreed. more>

Kerry Begs 'Hateful' Foreigners: Don't Endorse Me! - Most of the media yesterday downplayed or completely ignored anti-Semitic leader Mahathir Mohamad's endorsement of John Kerry, but NewsMax.com made it our lead story, and enough heat was generated for the campaign to denounce the "assistance" of the former Malaysian prime minister and other meddling fer'ners.

"John Kerry rejects any association with former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammad [sic], an avowed anti-Semite whose views are totally deplorable," Kerry's foreign policy adviser Rand Beers stated. "The world needs leaders who seek to bring people together, not drive them apart with hateful and divisive rhetoric." more>

Kerry camp on defense over fund-raiser comments - As the Democratic presidential ticket turned its focus on values, John Kerry and John Edwards' campaign spent Friday distancing itself from harsh and obscene remarks directed at President George W. Bush by performers during a Manhattan fund-raising concert.

Several performers during the star-studded production at Radio City Music Hall on Thursday evening hurled insults and sexually crude remarks at Bush, Kerry's Republican rival, during the fund-raiser that brought in $7.5 million.

Kerry and Edwards said nothing critical of the performers' tone or words when they joined performers on the stage. Instead, Kerry joined them in a rendition of "This Land Is Your Land" and said they conveyed "the heart and soul of America."

Kerry Caught in Whopper Trying to Get the Cuban Vote - John Kerry doesn't just flip-flop in his desperate attempt to be all things to all voters; he even makes things up.

In an article Sunday in the Miami Herald that an alert reader just sent us, the soft-on-communism Washington waffler, pandering for the prized Cuban-American vote in crucial Florida, claimed: "I'm pretty tough on Castro, because I think he's running one of the last vestiges of a Stalinist secret police government in the world."

The Herald reported: "Then, reaching back eight years to one of the more significant efforts to toughen sanctions on the communist island, Kerry volunteered: 'And I voted for the Helms-Burton legislation to be tough on companies that deal with him.' ...

"There is only one problem: Kerry voted against it," the newspaper noted.

And remember little Elian Gonzalez? Kerry wants your vote no matter what you think about how Bill Clinton, Janet Reno and company sent the poor boy back to Fidel Castro's tropical gulag.

"I didn't agree with that," the Massachusetts Democrat insisted. The Herald reported: "But when he was asked to elaborate, Kerry acknowledged that he agreed the boy should have been with his father. "So what didn't he agree with?" the paper wondered.

Here's all that Kerry could stammer: "I didn't like the way they did it. I thought the process was butchered."

Kerry-Edwards: The ambiguously 'gay' duo - Just this week, the National Stonewall Democrats – a group that advocates on behalf of those who practice homosexuality – pronounced Kerry-Edwards as the "most pro-gay ticket in the history of presidential politics." The Human Rights Campaign – Washington's largest homosexual lobbying group – gave the two men a 100 percent rating on their voting records on issues of advancing homosexual issues, life and marriage. The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force referred to them as the most "gay-supportive" pairing in history.

These analyses by homosexual activist groups should surprise no one. John Kerry has penned dozens of letters to his home state assembly in Massachusetts, as a sitting U.S. senator, always urging passage of the pro-homosexual view of more than a dozen state-level issues. And it is John Kerry's own Massachusetts Democratic Party that has pushed "same sex marriage" to the very forefront of debate by aggressively seeking its legalization.

John Edwards has also fought hard for the pro-homosexual initiatives. By compiling his various public statements, senate votes, and even the trial cases he has argued, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force gave him ratings on 13 separate homosexual issues. On nine of the 13, he scored "highly favorable". more>

Kerry fails to back up foreign 'endorsements' - Sen. John Kerry refuses to provide any information to support his assertion earlier this week that he has met with foreign leaders who beseeched him to prevail over President Bush in November's election.

The Massachusetts Democrat has made no official foreign trips since the start of last year, according to Senate records and his own published schedules. And an extensive review of Mr. Kerry's travel schedule domestically revealed only one opportunity for the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee to meet with foreign leaders here.

On Monday, Mr. Kerry told reporters in Florida that he'd met with foreign leaders who privately endorsed him.

"I've met with foreign leaders who can't go out and say this publicly," he said. "But, boy, they look at you and say: 'You've got to win this. You've got to beat this guy. We need a new policy.' Things like that."

Aides and supporters of Mr. Kerry have said providing names of the leaders or their countries would injure those nations' ongoing relations with the current Bush administration.

"In terms of who he's talked to, we're not going to discuss that," spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter said yesterday. "I know it would be helpful, but we're not going into that. His counsels are kept private."

Mr. Kerry has made other claims during the campaign and then refused to back them up, including statements that Mr. Bush delayed the deal with Libya to give up its weapons of mass destruction program for political reasons.

Republicans have begun calling Mr. Kerry the "international man of mystery," and said his statements go even beyond those of former Vice President Al Gore, who was besieged by stories that he lied or exaggerated throughout the 2000 presidential campaign.

Kerry for Prez: Why him, why now? "In that spirit, this Philadelphia newspaper, the first in the nation, endorses John Kerry for president. Unlike the current White House occupant, Kerry can lead America to a brighter, better future. He has shown the personal courage, compassion, intellect and skill to lead this country in a time of war abroad and economic troubles at home. He is a serious man for a serious time." more>

Kerry-Kennedy Ties Not Just Geographic - Sen. John Kerry may stress a centrist stance while trying to woo primary voters on the campaign trail, but his voting record resembles that of one of the most liberal lawmakers in the Senate — chief backer and Massachusetts' Democratic dean, Edward Kennedy.

"He's a dyed-in-the-wool liberal. He's pretty much textbook, as liberal as you can get," said Tripp Baird, director of Senate relations for the conservative Heritage Foundation. "I don't care how you slice and dice his voting record, there is no way he is going to be able to avoid it."

Kerry, 60, has enjoyed the active support of Kennedy, 71, on the recent campaign trail, particularly in Iowa, where Kennedy lost his own caucus bid for president 23 years ago. Kerry won Monday's caucuses with 38 percent of the vote.

Aside from sharing the same zip code, the two men both have strong liberal records, especially when it comes to domestic issues like taxes, the death penalty, the environment, abortion and gay rights.

Kerry's ratings with conservative and liberal organizations do not radically differ from the other senators in the race, John Edwards (search) of North Carolina and Joe Lieberman (search) of Connecticut. But according to the National Journal scorecard, Kennedy and Kerry vote decidedly more liberal on social issues, being weighed as 82 percent liberal in 2002 compared to Lieberman with 52 percent and Edwards with 56 percent. more>

Kerry picks up 1st newspaper endorsement - Philadelphia Daily News says last 4 years have been wasted - With more than four months to go until Election Day, Democrat John Kerry has picked up his first endorsement for president from a major newspaper, the Philadelphia Daily News. more>

Kerry: President of the U.N. - Cartoon - Kerry: President of the U.N.
Written by Linda Eddy Wednesday, September 08, 2004

Kerry Calls Clinton Endorsement 'Badge of Honor' - Scrappleface Spoof --- After former President Bill Clinton told CNN's Larry King tonight that John Forbes Kerry is "well-suited" to be president, Mr. Kerry said he would wear the public endorsement as "a badge of honor." more>

Kerry Exposes Mellencamp's Whopper - Sen. John Kerry's stunning admission that he would still vote to authorize the war in Iraq is an embarrassment for the Bush-hating singing millionaires who are abetting him.

Pop singer John Cougar Mellencamp (he hates to be called that) tried to claim last week that the fund-raisers, which are supposed to generate tens of millions of dollars for Kerry, were nonpartisan. more>

Kerry praised Ho Chi Minh! - You might think you've heard all the startling revelations about John Kerry's history from the new book, "Unfit for Command," by John O'Neill and Jerome Corsi.

On June 29, 1971, according to an FBI report, Kerry praised Vietnam's communist dictator Ho Chi Minh, comparing him to George Washington.

At the time, Kerry was serving as the point man for the Vietnam Veterans Against the War. The president of the organization was Al Hubbard, who claimed to be an Air Force captain who was severely injured during his service in Vietnam. It turned out Hubbard was a sergeant who never served in Vietnam. He did, however, as Kerry knew, serve the communist cause with great enthusiasm and distinction – making propaganda trips to Hanoi paid for by the Communist Party USA. more>

Kerry taking campaign to the enemy? - Iran's Mehr News Agency reports it has received an e-mail from the presidential campaign of Sen. John Kerry pitching the candidate as one who will "repair the damage done" to international relations by President Bush. more>

Kerry Talks About Two Americas, But They Are Not the Two He Thinks - One after another, leftist actors and recording stars took to the stage to open their mouths and spew venomous insults at President Bush. The filth poured out like so much overflow from a backed up sewer. Meanwhile, Kerry and Edwards sat back in their chairs and basked in it. Here were the presumptive Democratic candidates raking in the dough, while wallowing in the filth they inspired. One has to conclude they condoned and helped to produce it

There was not a single word of apology from the two candidates. They showed no remorse, not even any discomfort. In fact, Kerry did the reverse. He praised the blackguards and declared them to be the soul and heart of America? That must be the ''other'' America that Edwards refers to. There are TWO Americas, you know. ONE where there is reverence for God’s word and a respect for the dignity of other human beings. Then, there is the other world--of double-talk, flip-flop, and hypocrisy.

George W. Bush and Dick Cheney will defeat this pair and their legions. ''W'' and Cheney reflect the America we all want and trust, not the weird America of Whoopi and the two smiling Johns. The Kerry/ Edwards campaign has much to hide from the American people: Howard Stern, Michael Moore, George Soros, Whoopi, and Larry Flynt, to name just a few. If I were Kerry, I'd hide them, too. If the people of this country could see with their eyes, and hear the orgy of crudeness that has the Democratic candidates chortling and howling, they would immediately understand that these two cannot be allowed to put even one foot in the White House.

The Johns follow the sick Democratic pattern of late that is born of desperation. They flip and they flop because they are desperate.

The notoriously-absent Kerry has not in 20 years in the Senate anything significant for this country. The supposed Rambo of Vietnam is Missing-in-Action in the U.S. Congress. The infamous trial lawyer cohort, Edwards, basically made his fortune from the misfortunes of children with cerebral palsy. Kerry signed on to some 300-plus bills in his career--most of them useless. As for Edwards, 74 bills bear his signature, most of them failures.

If the liberal press has promised you that these will whip either President Bush or Vice President Cheney in a debate, you are in for a surprise. Mr. Kerry is used to talking down to people, while Mr. Edwards is used to talking to people who cannot talk back. They simply will not measure up, and the millions of dollars being invested by the filthy-mouthed Hollywood elites are down the tube.

I predict that some 100-plus days from now, America will awaken from this nightmare with a huge sigh of relief. We will have dealt with the Johns…. flushed down the toilet of history, along with the Bad America created by their overpaid Hollywood supporters who have no dignity, and show no respect for the people.

Kerry tied to '666'? - Was it a biblical warning or just imaginations running wild?

During his presidential campaign in Iowa today, Democrat John Kerry was surrounded by a sea of handheld signs displaying the number six on them.

That caught the attention of WND reader Michael of Kaufman, Texas, who happened to record this evening broadcast of ABC's "World News Tonight."

"You can imagine my surprise, when they broadcast a video of John Kerry finishing a speech in Iowa to the acclaim of hundreds of people waving signs with the number six on them," he said. "The imagery of 666 appearing everywhere was too much to be ignored. I had to rewind my TIVO and shoot these photos of the TV screen." more>

Kerry to Return Cash From Arrested Korean - Stung during the 1990s Democrat fund-raising controversy, John Kerry is returning a $2,000 check from Chu Jae-yong, the son of South Korea's disgraced ex-president after learning the donor was charged with tax evasion.

Kerry's presidential campaign also acknowledges that some of its fund-raisers met with a South Korean government official who was trying to organize a Korean-American political group. That official has been sent home amid questions he was involving himself in American politics. more>

Kerry Took Money From Arrested Figure - John Kerry's campaign collected a maximum $2,000 check from the recently arrested son of South Korea's disgraced former president, and some of its fund-raisers met several times with a South Korean government official who was trying to organize a Korean-American political group. more>

Kerry wants Bush apology for 'Hitler ad' But footage came from MoveOn.org piece blasting president - Sen. John Kerry's presidential campaign is calling on President Bush to apologize for using images of Adolf Hitler in an Internet ad on the Bush-Cheney 2004 website.

MoveOn.org TV ad calling on Congress to censure the president for allegedly lying about Iraq.

The images, however, originally came from a TV ad posted online by a Democrat party ally, MoveOn.org, which likened President Bush to the Nazi dictator, points out Bush campaign spokesman Steve Schmidt.

Schmidt told WorldNetDaily he considers the call for an apology the "single most deceitful and deceptive release put out by the Kerry campaign." more>

KERRY WAR COMRADES PREPARE BATTLE -- AGAINST KERRY - Capped by Kerry's primetime speech to accept the Democratic Party's nomination, Thursday's program will include appearances and remarks by Kerry's Swift Boat crewmates, the Kerry-Edwards campaign announced in a press release this morning.

But a group of veterans will soon try to convince a nation how what is presented on the convention stage tonight -- may not be the full story: "Only 2 of John Kerry's 23 fellow Swift boat commanders from Coastal Division 11 support his candidacy today."

A new bombshell book written by the man who took over John Kerry's Swift Boat charges: Two of John Kerry's three Purple Heart decorations (#1 and #3) resulted from self-inflicted wounds, not suffered under enemy fire.

The startling Purple Heart accusations, outlined in detail for the first time, are found in UNFIT FOR COMMAND, Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry.

Kerry Wins Ramsey Clark Endorsement - On top of his near sweep of Super Tuesday primary contests, likely Democratic nominee John Kerry has something else to celebrate tonight - the endorsement from his old anti-American Vietnam War protest buddy, Ramsey Clark.

"I think John Kerry is a great human being," Clark told Accuracy in Media at a press conference a few days ago. "I knew [Kerry] when he was - I call a youngster - in his 20s," said Clark, referring to the days when the former Lyndon Johnson attorney general acted as a lawyer for Kerry's radical group, Vietnam Veterans Against the War.

KERRY WINS THE ARAB VOTE - ALTHOUGH attempts at linking President George W. Bush to the Arabs have generated a veritable industry in the past two years, there is evidence that most Arabs favor his Democratic Party challenger Sen. John F. Kerry. A Zogby poll taken this month shows that in the November presidential election Kerry is likely to collect more than two-thirds of the Arab-American vote. A similar pattern is emerging in the Arab world itself.
"If it were up to us, it would be 60 percent Kerry, 40 percent Bush," says Iyad Abu-Chaqra, an Arab columnist who has followed American politics for years. "Most Arabs have one dream this year: to see George W. Bush booted out." more>

Kerry's Candidacy Clouded by Too Many Lies - It is a fog of lies and baseless accusations, hurled with abandon and glee, by an unending parade of Democrats determined to shape the coming election. It is an all-out attempt to reacquire the presidency, and has succeeded in severely clouding the Kerry candidacy.

Prominent Democrats, among this swirling cloud, have agreed to demean themselves by lying. Bookstore shelves offer numerous Democratic titles with some permutation of ''lying'' prominently in their titles. That the lies behind the titles have been exposed does not stop their sale.

The cloud of lies is not restricted to book titles.

Before the convention focused the glare of the national spotlight on them this week, Democratic prevaricators were out in force.

Ted Kennedy rarely passed a microphone without accusing that George Bush ''concocted'' the war in Texas for ''political gain.''

Al Gore screeched at the top of his lungs that George Bush ''betrayed our country'' and '''played on our fears.'' And in what has to be the longest, loudest, misplaced grudge retention in recent history, Gore still screams that George Bush was ''selected not elected'' in the 2000 election. Even liberal organizations doing recounts found that Bush had the votes to win. The Supreme Court simply insisted that Florida follow its own election law.

Hillary Clinton shrieked that she is ''sick and tired'' that anybody who ''disagrees'' with George Bush is labeled unpatriotic.

Ambassador Joe Wilson accused the Bush administration of outing his undercover CIA wife, in retaliation for his negative report from Niger about Saddam Hussein trying to buy yellowcake. He salivated about having Karl Rove ''frog marched'' out of the White House, before he was disgraced and discredited by the 9/11 Commission.

Richard Clarke praised the actions of George Bush and National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice in handling 9/11--until he was laterally transferred. A cushy book deal with monumental publicity (and possible spot in a Kerry presidency) happened after his praise turned to the harshest of criticism. The claims in his book were discredited by the 9/11 Commission also.

Michael Moore produced a ''documentary'' which has been thoroughly discredited, with more than 50 lies pointed out by Dave Kopel. Yet Moore is still making millions from the showings, despite the 9/11 Commission clearly debunking the basic premise of Moore’s fiction.

Sandy Berger, national security advisor to Bill Clinton, admitted going into the National Archives, and removing code level Top Secret documents--in his pants. He claims ''sloppy'' habits caused him to take and ''discard'' some documents concerning the nation’s security. We cannot be sure of his intentions or actions, and whether he ''took'' or ''placed'' documents--or both.

Kerry himself has done nothing definitive to distance himself from this swirling cloud. He only acts when public scrutiny forces a response. His prodigious flip flops make it impossible at times to know the truth of his beliefs. He has ''dropped'' some of these Democrats from his inner circle, but his actions are far from sufficient. more>

Kerry’s Carpet Ride - In last week's Presidential debate, Senator Kerry offered a couple of proposals that stand out as particularly worrisome but have not received the level of scrutiny they deserve. He offered his vision of "multilateralism" -- not in connection with his nonexistent Iraq plan, however. According to the Senator, a Kerry regime would favor direct U.S. talks with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Il and would join our good friends in Europe in an attempt to bribe Iran away from its nuclear weapons drive.

As far as Iran is concerned, it seems the mullahs themselves have cut Kerry off at the pass. Iran has rejected out of hand his proposal to supply the Islamic Republic with nuclear fuel for power reactors provided that Teheran halt efforts to enrich its own uranium and return the spent fuel after use.

The current European proposal, nearly identical to Kerry's, offers Iran a guaranteed supply of nuclear fuel for its civilian reactors with all waste products to be returned and closely monitored through inspections. The only problem being that the Iranians don't want their fuel; they want to fully develop the enrichment technology. The Iranians themselves continue to spell that out in no uncertain terms for whoever cares to listen.

MEANWHILE, AS USUAL, THE International Atomic Energy Agency dithers. IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei said it is "premature to talk about" referring Iran to the Security Council for possible sanctions. ElBaradei said he was still investigating the Iranian program and that he was "trying to have a practical diplomatic solution through an international inspection apparatus." more>

Kerry's cooked goose, or was it a gander? - Sen. John Kerry may have reached a new low in Ohio with his staged goose hunt.

What is more revealing than the pandering event itself is the realization that the press corps are even dumber than I thought they were.

But the real picture is revealed when we note how well-trained the general public is at accepting at face value virtually anything they see on TV. Maybe as important is how detached from reality the press and the people are when it comes to something as Americana as shooting down a large, edible waterfowl.

First, as a lifetime hunter, I mean a real hunter not an ivy league country club trap shooter as is Kerry, this was the first time I ever saw another hunter who had just bagged a large bird in barely a couple of hours who returned in what appeared to be brand spanking new camouflage. No blood, no trophy in hand and admittedly so distracted by the outcome of a baseball game he says, "I'm still so giddy over the Red Sox, it was hard to focus."

This reveals any number of things about candidate Kerry (whom we call by the name of "Scary" at our house) that need to be considered carefully by the "voting blocks" before the election.

Secondly, a revelation for me was the fact that in all his pandering no reporter was curious enough to ask questions that might reveal the big lie that is so obvious.

Such as, "Senator Kerry, did you shoot a goose or a gander?" or "Senator Kerry, can we watch you dressing your bird and get some tape of that?" or "Senator Kerry, can you tell us if you will be eating your game?" or "Senator Kerry, can you share your favorite goose recipe with us?" After all, he did say he was a lifelong hunter. Ever meet one of them who didn't like to share their knowledge and experience, especially favorite recipes? more>

Kerry would still supply Iran with nuclear fuel - Remark in debate was not slip-up, campaign website lists same policy - Even while top Iranian officials are calling for the development of nuclear weapons within the next four months, Sen. John Kerry insists as president he would provide Teheran with the nuclear fuel it wants for a pledge to use it for peaceful purposes only.

During the debate with President Bush Thursday, Kerry remarked that the U.S. should have given Iran the nuclear fuel it wanted.

"I think the United States should have offered the opportunity to provide the nuclear fuel, test them, see whether or not they were actually looking for it for peaceful purposes," Kerry said in a critique of the Bush administration's handling of Tehran's nuclear program, which the Iranians claim is only for civilian purposes. more>

Kerry's Coalition of the Wild Eyed - RNC ad features images and remarks by Kerry supporters Al Gore, George Soros, Howard Dean, Richard Gephardt and Michael Moore attacking President Bush and comparing him to Hitler. All images and audio from Kerry's pals at moveon.org. more>

Kerry's Iranian Sugar Daddies - Among Sen. John Kerry's top fund-raisers are three Iranian-Americans who have been pushing for dramatic changes in U.S. policy toward the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Most prominent among them is Hassan Nemazee, 54, an investment banker based in New York. Nominated to become U.S. ambassador to Argentina by President Bill Clinton in 1999, Nemazee eventually withdrew his nomination after a former partner raised allegations of business improprieties.

Nemazee was a major Clinton donor, giving $80,000 to the Democratic National Committee (DNC) during the 1996 election cycle and attending at least one of the famous White House fund-raising coffees.

In 2001, at the invitation of Mobil Oil Chairman Lucio Noto, whom he counts as a "personal friend," Nemazee joined the board of the American-Iranian Council (AIC), a U.S. lobbying group that consistently has supported lifting U.S. sanctions on Iran and accommodating the Teheran regime. Nemazee tells Insight he "now regrets" having joined the AIC board and resigned his position after 12 months when he was vilified by Iranian exile groups.

The Kerry camp has identified Nemazee as having raised more than $100,000 for the senator's campaign.

A Nemazee friend in Silicon Valley, Faraj Aalaei, has raised between $50,000 and $100,000 for the Kerry campaign. Aalaei has worked in the telecommunications industry for 22 years and is the chief executive officer of Centillium Communications, a publicly traded company.

Last year, Aalaei married a 35-year-old recent immigrant from Iran named Susan Akbarpour, whom the Kerry campaign also lists as having raised between $50,000 and $100,000 for the campaign. more>

Kerry's new problem is Clinton - Most of America is eagerly awaiting publication of the story of one of its most successful and controversial Presidents. Yet John Kerry, fighting to be the next Democratic President, is dreading it.

The last thing his faltering campaign needs is Clinton to dominate the airwaves. The book will suck up publicity Kerry desperately needs to show himself capable of defeating George Bush. more>

Kerry's PACs Outspend Bush's by More Than 4 to 1 - Interest groups that can urge the public to vote for or against candidates have spent at least $25 million on the presidential race since Labor Day, with John Kerry's supporters outspending President Bush's by more than 4 to 1.

The efforts range from pro-Kerry hard-hat stickers handed out by International Union of Painters and Allied Trades PAC to pro-Bush radio ads, paid for by National Right to Life's political action committee, airing in every battleground state. more>

Kerry's Sister Bashes Bush's Policies While Representing Bush at U.N. - The sister of the Democrat candidate to replace George W. Bush as president of the United States has been vigorously campaigning for her brother. Nothing unusual in that – except that she works for Bush.

In a speech delivered in Boston yesterday, Peggy Kerry told a campaign crowd of feminists that, if elected, her brother would overturn various Bush policies, policies she is expected to support in her day job as representative of President Bush at the United Nations. In her campaign speech Kerry said her brother John would reinstitute U.S. funding for the U.N. Population Fund, which President Bush has defunded over UNFPA support for coercive abortions in China. Kerry also said her brother would ensure U.S. ratification of the U.N. Convention on the Elimination Against All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, something opposed by President Bush. She also pledged that her brother would appoint only pro-abortion judges to the U.S. Supreme Court.

According to the Washington Times: "In introducing Ms. Kerry, Feminist Majority President Eleanor Smeal said she had heard of misgivings about the Kerry-Edwards ticket. Women are wondering whether they are 'really with us,' she said. There is no question that Mr. Kerry and Mr. Edwards 'have a huge track record with us,' Ms. Smeal said. 'And he has a secret weapon,' she said, referring to Peggy Kerry and her many years of work with feminist causes."

Keyes: Obama holds 'slaveholder's' view - Republican Alan Keyes ripped into Democratic rival Barack Obama's views on abortion Monday, calling them "the slaveholder's position," as the U.S. Senate race roared back to life in Illinois.

Up at dawn for a whirlwind round of broadcast interviews, the conservative former diplomat started his first full day of campaigning as the GOP candidate by saying Obama, a state senator from Chicago, had violated the principle that all men are created equal by voting against a bill that would have outlawed a form of late-term abortion.

Keyes said legalizing abortion deprives the unborn of their equal rights.

"I would still be picking cotton if the country's moral principles had not been shaped by the Declaration of Independence," Keyes said. He said Obama "has broken and rejected those principles-- he has taken the slaveholder's position."

The remarks underscore the uniqueness of this Senate race in which both candidates, one an outspoken conservative and the other a favorite of party liberals, are black.

Obama, who has been basking in national celebrity since delivering the keynote speech at the Democratic National Convention, suggested Keyes is outside the moderate mainstream of state Republicans.

He said he voted against the late-term abortion ban in Springfield because it contained no exception to protect the life of the mother. He noted that Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor and federal appeals Judge Richard Posner, both appointed by President Ronald Reagan, had voted to strike down laws banning late-term abortions. more>

Kristallnacht 2004 - cartoon by Gary Waltrip

Liberals, Abortion, and the Least Among Us - Children are the least among us, and unborn children the least of those.

To continue abortion in America, liberals must be willing to deny or forget that abortion ends a life--a tiny life of one of the least among us.

Making these least among us ''disposable'' is necessary for one of the last entrenched liberal battlegrounds, and it comes down to this: What we allow liberals to do to the least among us reflects our valuation of good and evil in America.

Liberal ''justification'' of abortion is becoming increasingly ludicrous. Here are some of the intensely sad arguments I have encountered recently:

Because humans are subject to primal urges, they are unable to resist sex. Unwanted pregnancy is a result of design limitations, which must be correctable by the availability of abortion.

Primal urges entered the world when man did, and are nothing new. Each generation struggles to balance primal urges with what is good for society. The liberal conveniently forgets that a generation ago sexual abstinence until marriage was the norm in America, with shame attached to breaching that standard.

The abortion industry is a vital part of the nation’s economy. In these uncertain economic times, we cannot put people out of jobs.

Mega dollars certainly flow in the abortion industry, and abortionists are loath to relinquish the cash cow. But those degraded dollars are countered by the loss of wages over millions of lifetimes. We lose also untold societal contributions, across all spectrums of human endeavor. And we know that the actual state of the economy is completely misreported in the mainstream media.

The fetus is actually a parasite. As you rid a dog of fleas, you can rid a woman of a blob of tissue.

That blob is a human being, unique in the world. Just as we do not eliminate two year olds for not having grown to their adult height, we cannot eliminate the unborn for not having grown enough to exit the womb. Advancing technology reveals the incredible humanity present from conception in the human baby.

You cannot condemn abortion if you eat meat. If you protect unborn humans, you must protect live animals, who also are unable to care for themselves.

Babies are human beings in the womb. Attempting to subordinate them to animals doesn’t change that. It shows that the speaker was not taught to value his own humanity or that of others. Each of us was a ''parasite'' in the womb at one point, and a look at our teeth and digestive systems shows that we are genetically constructed to be omnivores.

There is no proof of a God or afterlife, so people must be allowed to maximize every moment here. Unwanted pregnancy interferes with that enjoyment.

As a just-released book, ''I Don’t Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist'' by Geisler and Turek, contends, this atheistic or agnostic statement may actually require more faith than a traditional Christian statement of faith. This speaker, after all, has no backing for his pronouncements. Christianity has been challenged for two thousand years, and still stands.

The Supreme Court has said a woman has a right to choose.

Indeed it has. But has anyone extended that choice to the female babies they plan to abort? I dare say that each would decline, as would the males.

A return to Christian morality in America would be a death knell to liberalism. The more we protect the least among us, the sooner that will be.

Linda Ronstadt: I don't like singing for Christians - Singer admits having believers in audience 'can cloud my enjoyment' - Singer Linda Ronstadt appears to have a "don't ask, don't tell" policy toward Republicans and Christians who might be in her audiences – she'd rather not know they are there.

In a recent interview with the San Diego Union-Tribune, the entertainer said: "This is an election year, and I think we're in desperate trouble and it's time for people to speak up and not pipe down. It's a real conflict for me when I go to a concert and find out somebody in the audience is a Republican or fundamental Christian. It can cloud my enjoyment. I'd rather not know." more>

Malaprop Hypocrisy - Hey, did you hear the latest Bushism? The master of verbal gaffes was at it again recently when he tried to invoke the memory of the Minutemen of Massachusetts, who, in the words of the poet Ralph Waldo Emerson, "fired the shot heard 'round the world." Except somehow the line came out "fired the shirt 'round the world."

Maybe that's because it wasn't George W. Bush who said it. No, it was Edward M. Kennedy who mangled the oft-quoted line from Emerson's "Concord Hymn" during his speech at the Democratic National Convention. Kennedy, of course, has been fracturing syntax in public for four decades, yet somehow his bloopers aren't trotted out as evidence of his dimwittedness. There's no calendar of Teddy-Twisters to re-assure jittery Republicans each morning how much cleverer they are than the senior senator from Massachusetts.

Then again, you probably also missed Hillary Clinton's history lesson a few years back during which she held forth on the life of Sojourner Truth: "I really hope our children learn about Sojourner Truth … because she did stand for truth and she did sojourn in difficult places time and time again… She went through swamps, she was chased by dogs. She was shot at … and she found her way to freedom" whereupon, according to Clinton, our heroine "turned around and went back. She would send out the word to the plantations that she was coming back. And if people could get there … in the trees or on the side of their swamp, she would be there."

The trouble is, Sojourner Truth never was a conductor on the Underground Railroad. Hillary was recounting the life of Harriet Tubman.

Now imagine if George Bush had given that speech. more>

Margaret Sanger: Intellectual Moron and Founder of Planned Parenthood - Of course, laughing at Margaret Sanger becomes impossible when one gets into Sanger’s ideas about uprooting ''human weeds'' and establishing work camps for the ''unfit.''

In 1937, Sanger gave a speech on behalf of those ''too inarticulate to speak for themselves.'' In her speech, she said the following about blocking the procreation of so-called undesirables:

“(It) makes possible the spread of scientific knowledge of the elements of sound breeding. It makes possible the creation of a new race; a new generation brought into this world consciously conceived. It makes possible the breeding out of human weeds-the defective and criminal classes-(and) the breeding in of the clean, strong and fit instruments to carry the torch of human destiny.”

Margaret Sanger’s following two-step plan (which she proposed to the U.S. Congress) to establish a ''Parliament of Population'' is also well-documented in the pages of Intellectual Morons:

1. To ''control the intake and output of morons (apparently excluding Sanger), mental defectives, epileptics.''
2. To ''take an inventory of the secondary group such as illiterates, paupers, unemployables, criminals, prostitutes, dope-fiends; classify them in special departments under government medical protection, and segregate them on farms…''

Sanger then went on to summarize her plea to Congress by saying that ''fifteen or twenty millions of our population would then be organized into soldiers of defense-defending the unborn against their own disabilities.''

Sanger also had a pretty negative view of Australian, Jewish, and Italian families. She called aboriginal Australians ''the lowest known species of the human family, just a step higher than the chimpanzee in brain development.'' She said the following of the ''Jewish people and Italian families'':

“(They) are filling the insane asylums, (they) are filling the hospitals and filling our feeble-minded institutions, (they) are the ones the tax payers have to pay for the upkeep of, and they are increasing the budget of the State, the enormous expense of the State is increasing because of the multiplication of the unfit in this country and in the State.”

Is it any wonder that Sanger spoke at a KKK rally in 1926? Is it any wonder that she said that ''The most merciful thing that the large family does to one of its infant members is to kill it''? more>

Max Cleland Drops a Political Grenade - Cleland also expressed outrage that Bush left the National Guard nine months early in 1973 to go to Harvard Business School. On "Hardball," Cleland testily remarked: "I just know a whole lot of veterans who would have loved to have worked things out with the military and adjusted their tour of duty." (Cleland already knows one – Al Gore!)

When Bush left the National Guard in 1973 to go to business school, the war was over. It might as well have been 1986. Presidents Kennedy and Johnson had already lost the war, and President Nixon had ended it with the Paris peace accords in January. If Bush had demanded active combat, there was no war to send him to.

To put this in perspective, by 1973, John Kerry had already accused American soldiers of committing war crimes in Vietnam, thrown someone else's medals to the ground in an anti-war demonstration, and married his first heiress. Bill Clinton had just finished three years of law school and was about to embark upon a political career – which would include campaign events with Max Cleland.

Moreover, if we're going to start delving into exactly who did what back then, maybe Max Cleland should stop allowing Democrats to portray him as a war hero who lost his limbs taking enemy fire on the battlefields of Vietnam.

Cleland lost three limbs in an accident during a routine noncombat mission where he was about to drink beer with friends. He saw a grenade on the ground and picked it up. He could have done that at Fort Dix. In fact, Cleland could have dropped a grenade on his foot as a National Guardsman – or what Cleland sneeringly calls "weekend warriors." Luckily for Cleland's political career and current pomposity about Bush, he happened to do it while in Vietnam.

There is more than a whiff of dishonesty in how Cleland is presented to the American people. Terry McAuliffe goes around saying, "Max Cleland, a triple amputee who left three limbs on the battlefield of Vietnam," was thrown out of office because Republicans "had the audacity to call Max Cleland unpatriotic." Mr. Cleland, a word of advice: When a slimy weasel like Terry McAuliffe is vouching for your combat record, it's time to sound "retreat" on that subject. more>

Media Sitting on Saddam's Torture Videos - The U.S. backed Arab-language news network Al Hurra broadcast video on Wednesday depicting grisly acts of torture on Iraqi citizens ordered by Saddam Hussein. But so far at least, the shocking new video remains embargoed by U.S. media outlets.

The Washington Post admitted on Friday that it was in possession of some of the gruesome torture images - but did not publish them in a report on the video buried on Page A21. Instead, Post editors decided to front-page stale images of U.S. abuse of suspected terrorists held at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison.

"The [Hussein torture] video reached news outlets," the paper explained, "as senior spokesmen for the Bush administration began to express frustration that the treatment of Iraqi prisoners by U.S. troops had overshadowed well-documented human rights horrors of the Hussein era."

In video yet to be broadcast by any U.S. outlet, Hussein torture victims are shown being flogged and having fingers chopped off. One detainee is filmed as he is thrown from a roof, another beheaded by a sword-wielding member of Saddam's elite Fedayeen unit.

According to the Post, video of the beheading shows a man placing the severed head on the victim's prone body. Another scene shows a man's tongue being cut out.

As NewsMax.com reported on Sunday, other gruesome images from the embargoed video include scenes of Kurdish detainees being castrated and babies being gassed to death.

During the beheading, the executioner reportedly sings "Happy Birthday, Saddam."

Al Hurra news director Mouafac Harb told the Post that he obtained the new torture video on Monday and deemed the images both authentic and newsworthy.

Messing With Texas - A Dixie Chick regrets anti-Bush remark - After months of listening to Sheryl Crow, Martin Sheen and an army of second-rate poets bash President Bush and the war--with nary a peep of protest from fans--you might assume Americans no longer have the resolve to unite and tell their stars to shut up. Then again, you might not be a country music fan.

That's the bottom line in the recent, heartwarming flap over the Dixie Chicks, who won four Grammy awards just last month. On tour in London last week, lead singer Natalie Maines of the "new country" group was swept up by antiwar fervor and blurted on stage: "Just so you know, we're ashamed the President of the United States is from Texas." Ms. Maines, a fellow Texan, may have drawn kudos from her European crowd, but back home nobody was whistling Dixie.

Within days, some 200 country fans had turned out at a "Chicks Bash" at Goldman Lawn and Tractor in Bossier City, La., outside Barksdale Air Force Base. A 33,000-pound tractor was used to run over Dixie Chicks CDs, tapes and other paraphernalia. In Kansas City, Mo., one radio station put garbage cans outside its office for people to dispose of Dixie Chicks music.

Country stations nationwide, responding to listeners, banned the group from their airwaves. One, in Portland, Ore., was encouraging listeners to burn Dixie Chicks concert tickets in public. By early this week, airplay for the group's latest hit (ironically named "Travelin' Soldier") was travelin' speedily downward.

What to make of all this? The press is suggesting that the general public is finally "fed up" with the nattering nabobs of negativism known as artists. In fact, this is a story that could only have happened in the country music world. That's because country music is the embodiment of patriotism. Its most enduring themes are love of country, a strong America, duty and sacrifice (and yes, broken hearts, dusty bars and going fishing). Country stars, whatever their politics, tend to pull together in times of national crisis. And fans don't just expect all this--they demand it. more>

Michael Moore: GOP Secret Weapon? - It has been highly amusing to listen to the pundits explain why John Kerry did not receive a substantial bounce from the Democratic National Convention. And make no mistake about the significance: receiving this so-called bounce in the polls for a first-time presidential candidate has been instrumental in electing four presidents in recent years: Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush.

So why didn't Senator Kerry get that vaunted bounce?

Answer: Blame it on Michael Moore. Sure, Moore was not a speaker at the convention, and except for sitting next to Jimmy Carter on Tuesday night was largely absent from the Fleet Center floor. But the rotund filmmaker made damn sure he got his Bush-bashing message on nearly all of the networks. Plus the publicity about the opening of ''Fahrenheit 9/11'' near President Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas, on Wednesday night may have diverted some of the spotlight from John Edwards' acceptance speech.

I did not need the latest University of Pennsylvania Annenberg Center poll to verify that except on the far-left, Michael Moore is easily the most polarizing figure in America today. Despite the favorable publicity for ''Fahrenheit 9/11'' in the liberal media, the Annenberg poll indicates that the independents and few conservatives in the theaters are not leaving the movie ready to throw Bush out of the White House! In fact Annenberg survey director Kathleen Hall Jamieson said that Moore's alleged documentary might have strengthened their support for the president. more>

Millionaires populate U.S. Senate - Kerry, Rockefeller, Kohl among the wealthiest - The U.S. Senate showed once more why it's sometimes called the millionaires' club.

The top three wealthiest senators are Democrats: John Kerry of Massachusetts, with a net worth of at least $164 million; Herb Kohl of Wisconsin, with a net worth of at least $111 million, and John "Jay" Rockefeller of West Virginia, with an estimated net worth of at least $82 million. more>

Mississippi inmates targeted for voter registration - An untapped voting bloc in Mississippi - those housed in jails and prisons - has been pursued in voter registration efforts.

The Mississippi NAACP asked sheriffs to let inmates register to vote before the Oct. 1 deadline, Derrick Johnson, the organization's state president, said Friday. Johnson said volunteers registered voters in several county jails, including Pike, Lauderdale and Hinds.

There is a widely held misconception that all felony convicts lose the right to vote, Johnson said. According to the Mississippi Constitution, only those convicted of rape, murder, bribery, theft, arson, perjury, forgery, embezzlement, bigamy or obtaining money or goods under false pretense are disenfranchised. more>

Monsieur John Kerry: French fried - Whenever John Kerry rips the Bush administration for "going it alone" in Iraq -- which he does with near-digital regularity -- I cringe. What must our friends around the world think of such Beacon Hill provincialism? Surely, the man's open disdain for allied forces in Iraq, great and small, conveys an alienating lack of diplomatic politesse. In Kerry's insistence that the commitment of our allies -- British, Italian, Polish, Ukrainian, Dutch, Australian, Romanian, Bulgarian, Japanese, Thai, Danish and others -- adds up to a big fat zero in a "unilateral" American adventure, he has shown himself bereft of all diplomatic smarts. Talk about Ugly American. Only this one speaks perfect French.

That explains a lot. That is, while the assistance of 30-odd countries in newly sovereign Iraq isn't exactly chopped liver, the real problem, when it comes to John Kerry, is that it isn't foie gras. In other words, when Kerry castigates President Bush for acting "solo" in Iraq, what he's really crabbing about is that the United States is acting without France. For Kerry and his Francophile set, acting sans France is a major problem, a veritable crisis. Since he is one of two men who may occupy the White House next year, his crisis is our concern.

First of all, Americans need to ponder what sort of American leader, to borrow a phrase from former Ambassador Jeane Kirkpatrick, always blames America first -- and, in recent times, always blames France last. This is the brave, new philosophical reflex that gives impetus to the Kerry doctrine.
more>

Moore's Film Is Shocking Propaganda - by Ed Koch. It is shocking to me that Americans in a time of war, and we literally are at war with Americans being deliberately killed in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere by Islamic terrorists, will attack their own country, sapping its strength and making its enemies stronger.

David Brooks, in a brilliant New York Times column on June 26, collected some of the statements that Michael Moore has been making in other countries which denigrate the U.S. and, in my opinion, cross the line.

Brooks writes: “Before a delighted Cambridge crowd, Moore reflected on the tragedy of human existence: ‘You're stuck with being connected to this country of mine, which is known for bringing sadness and misery to places around the globe.’

"In Liverpool, he paused to contemplate the epicenters of evil in the modern world: ‘It's all part of the same ball of wax, right? The oil companies, Israel, Halliburton…We, the United States of America, are culpable in committing so many acts of terror and bloodshed that we had better get a clue about the culture of violence in which we have been active participants...Don't be like us,’ he told a crowd in Berlin. ‘You've got to stand up, right? You've got to be brave.’

"In an open letter to the German people in Die Zeit, Moore asked, ‘Should such an ignorant people lead the world?’

"In an interview with a Japanese newspaper, Moore helped citizens of that country understand why the United States went to war in Iraq: ‘The motivation for war is simple. The U.S. government started the war with Iraq in order to make it easy for U.S. corporations to do business in other countries. They intend to use cheap labor in those countries, which will make Americans rich.’

"But venality doesn't come up when he writes about those who are killing Americans in Iraq: ‘The Iraqis who have risen up against the occupation are not `insurgents' or `terrorists' or `The Enemy.' They are the REVOLUTION, the Minutemen, and their numbers will grow — and they will win.’ Until then, few social observers had made the connection between Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and Paul Revere.” more>

More Distortions From Michael Moore - Some of the main points in ‘Fahrenheit 9/11’ really aren’t very fair at all - In his new movie, “Fahrenheit 9/11,” film-maker Michael Moore makes the eye-popping claim that Saudi Arabian interests “have given” $1.4 billion to firms connected to the family and friends of President George W. Bush. This, Moore suggests, helps explain one of the principal themes of the film: that the Bush White House has shown remarkable solicitude to the Saudi royals, even to the point of compromising the war on terror. When you and your associates get money like that, Moore says at one point in the movie, “who you gonna like? Who’s your Daddy?”

But a cursory examination of the claim reveals some flaws in Moore’s arithmetic—not to mention his logic. Moore derives the $1.4 billion figure from journalist Craig Unger’s book, “House of Bush, House of Saud.” Nearly 90 percent of that amount, $1.18 billion, comes from just one source: contracts in the early to mid-1990’s that the Saudi Arabian government awarded to a U.S. defense contractor, BDM, for training the country’s military and National Guard. What’s the significance of BDM? The firm at the time was owned by the Carlyle Group, the powerhouse private-equity firm whose Asian-affiliate advisory board has included the president’s father, George H.W. Bush.

Leave aside the tenuous six-degrees-of-separation nature of this “connection.” The main problem with this figure, according to Carlyle spokesman Chris Ullman, is that former president Bush didn’t join the Carlyle advisory board until April, 1998—five months after Carlyle had already sold BDM to another defense firm. True enough, the former president was paid for one speech to Carlyle and then made an overseas trip on the firm’s behalf the previous fall, right around the time BDM was sold. But Ullman insists any link between the former president’s relations with Carlyle and the Saudi contracts to BDM that were awarded years earlier is entirely bogus. “The figure is inaccurate and misleading,” said Ullman. “The movie clearly implies that the Saudis gave $1.4 billion to the Bushes and their friends. But most of it went to a Carlyle Group company before Bush even joined the firm. Bush had nothing to do with BDM.” more>

MOVEON.ORG STILL HOME TO BUSH/HITLER AD; SHORT STILL ON SERVERS - Bush Haters worldwide are still watching the famed 'Bush is Nazi' add on MOVEON.ORG -- despite repeated claims by the site's founders the short had been removed more than six months ago!

As of Monday morning [11 am Eastern] -- the ad was still carried on MOVEON's website -- under the curious file name "renamed.again.renamed.mov.FKbxnT3hzaHCcOR7vWvRYmZpbGUtMTM4OQ--.mpg"

The ad shows images of Bush with text saying, "God told me to strike at al-Qaida," before turning to images of Hitler with the words, "And then He instructed me to strike at Saddam." The ad ends with the words, "sound familiar?" on a black and white screen.

Last year, MOVEONE Executive Director Eli Parser claimed the ad was promptly taken off the Internet after its submission, as part of a contest, by a member of the public.

Mullahs for Kerry - The latest USA Today/CNN/Gallup Poll shows that people overwhelmingly believe that Bush would be better than John Kerry at handling the threat of terrorism (56%-38%). In what amounts to proof that some people have no business voting, the same poll shows Kerry with a slight overall lead (48-46%). On the one hand, gay marriage legislation might get signed into law. But on the other hand, terrorists may start flying planes into our buildings again. Tough choice.

But it isn’t too confusing as to why most people have less faith in Kerry’s ability to handle the threat of terrorism. (What is confusing is how they will vote for him anyway). He would likely be advised by a crack team of foreign policy ''experts'' that includes Joe Wilson, renowned for smearing President Bush for saying that Saddam Hussein never attempted to buy uranium from Africa. Two weeks ago it became so evident that Wilson had been a fraud for misleading Americans for over a year about those ''16 words'' that even Democrats have dropped the ''Bush lied'' argument.

Far more dangerous than Wilson is former Clinton national Security adviser and Kerry policy adviser Sandy Berger, who was once considered a top possibility as secretary of state in a possible Kerry presidency. ''Once considered'' only because he was recently exposed as having stolen top level-classified documents from the National Archives on more than one occasion. In an explanation believed only by Bill Clinton, Berger says it was all an ''honest mistake.''

Then we found out that Berger ''lost'' some of the code-level documents. In response to news of Berger subsequently ''misplacing'' the accidentally stolen classified documents, top Democrats quickly demanded an investigation into what the White House knew about the leak, if they leaked it, and why. The Dems would worry about our national security later.

All committed felons aside, Berger is more than qualified to continue the long-standing tradition of inept foreign policy maintained by previous Democratic administrations. He should be, since he was the star of one. The recently released 9/11 Commission Report shows that Sandy Berger personally refused, on no less than four occasions between 1998 and 2000, to implement proposed actions against the Al-Qaeda threat. Tomorrow, liberal activists everywhere will begin reminding us that Bush stayed in a classroom for between 5-7 minutes on September 11.

Despite being advised on foreign policy by liars and thieves, John Kerry would handle terrorism much better than George W. Bush, according to anyone to the left of Ted Kennedy. He would build a ''coalition'' much unlike Bush who acted unilaterally. This makes sense if by ''unilaterally'' Kerry means ''with the support and help of Great Britain, Australia, Japan, Italy, Portugal, and over 40 other nations.'' If every country in the world had belonged to the ''Coalition of the Willing'' except Iraq and France, John Kerry would still be telling us to stop ''going it alone.''

But in John Kerry’s world, terrorism can’t be fought without the approval of Jacques Chirac and Gerhard Schroeder. Without Germany, whose greatest military achievement of the past century was slaughtering million of its own people, and France, whose greatest military achievement ever was designing the world’s largest white flag, the War on Terrorism cannot go on. The last time I checked, terrorists didn’t ask for French and German approval before flying planes into our buildings. By judging from their behavior, they might as well have.

All this pandering leads to Kerry being incapable of making tough decisions. He can only do something if everyone else agrees. We went through this with President Clinton who would not go after bin Laden because the American people might not support it. Being president is not about doing what may be perceived as being popular. It is about doing what is right. This was lost on Clinton, and it is lost on John Kerry. more>

Muslims seek a role in 2004 election - Muslim political groups in the United States have launched an ambitious campaign to register 85 percent of an estimated 2.7 million to 3 million Muslims they believe are eligible to vote in the coming presidential election.

"Muslims can play a significant role in the November election if they register and vote in large numbers," says Aslam Abdullah whose Los Angeles-based Muslim Electorates' Council of America leads the campaign for registering Muslim voters.

The council estimates that between 2.7 million to 3 million American Muslims have reached the legal voting age but all of them are not registered.

Some Muslim organizations estimate that there are already 1.8 million registered Muslim voters in the United States, and they predict that their number will increase significantly as a new generation of young Muslim Americans comes of voting age.

"There are 7 million Muslims in the United States, and they will play an increasingly effective role in electoral politics," says Agha Saeed, who chairs the San Francisco-based American Muslim Alliance. more>

My Lies - Pondering the many scrapes with the law and with public convention that the Clintons have suffered over the past dozen years of the Clinton Glory, we can ascertain one weird quirk shared by both eminences that explains their unprecedented string of scandals. Having reviewed both their autobiographies now, I see this one weird quirk standing out ever more starkly. The Clintons land in the soup most frequently because they lie when they do not have to, and they tell a whopper when a little white lie would be perfectly understandable. more>

NAACP accused of rigging affirmative-action case - Groups file complaint against attorney amid leaked memos - A conservative black group has accused the NAACP of rigging a landmark court decision on affirmative action.

The African-American leadership network Project 21 filed a complaint yesterday with the Virginia State Bar asking it to investigate NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, Inc. president and director-counsel Elaine Jones for "unethical influence in shaping constitutional cases."

The complaint stems from the Wall Street Journal and Washington Times' publishing of memos recently leaked from the Senate Judiciary Committee. One memo indicated Jones contacted the office of senior member Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., on April 17, 2002, to urge the delay of the confirmation of one of President Bush's judicial nominees to the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals until after that court decided on a challenge to the University of Michigan's affirmative action policy.

"The thinking is that the current 6th Circuit will sustain the affirmative action program, but if a new judge with conservative views is confirmed before the case is decided, that new judge will be able, under 6th Circuit rules, to review the case and vote on it," a staffer wrote, apparently paraphrasing the conversation with Jones in reference to the pending confirmation of Tennessee Judge Julia Gibbons. more>

N.Y. Times and CBS 'Conspiring' With Kerry to Defeat Bush - What a treat on "Fox & Friends" this morning: William Kristol hammered the pro-Democrat New York Times and pro-Democrat CBS for "colluding" and "conspiring" with Sen. John Kerry to topple President Bush.

Even Kerry's own handlers now admit they have no proof to back up the issue the Democrats concocted with their media allies. more>

'Newshound' watches reports on Fox network - Melanie Killinger-Vowell's schedule centers around Fox News. She hasn't missed a minute of "Day Side With Linda Vester" this year.

She'd qualify for Fox's biggest fan if she didn't hate it so much.

The 52-year-old Boulder woman is one of eight self-proclaimed "Newshounds" — liberal, middle-aged women scattered across the country who watch Fox solely to critique it.

Two Saabs dressed in anti-Bush stickers sit outside Killinger-Vowell's house. As if that weren't enough, a handwritten anti-Bush sign hangs from one rear window. A peace-sign flag marks her house in southwest Boulder. more>

NewsMax Magazine Exposes Media's War on Bush - The major media will give at least $2 billion worth of friendly coverage to Democrat presidential candidate John Kerry this election year, NewsMax Magazine reports in its June cover story. more>

Norquist: Establishment Dems Hoping for Kerry Loss - John Edwards, Sen. Kerry's newly chosen running mate is no friend of America's taxpayers, says taxpayer advocate Grover Norquist.

Moreover, the choice of Edwards as Kerry's running mate carries with it a lot of negatives for Bill and Hillary Clinton - and any democrat who has his eyes on the White House.

Norquist, who heads Americans for Tax Reform in Washington, D.C., and is considered one of the shrewdest political, observers in Washington told NewsMax.com in an exclusive interview: “One week ago, the United States transferred power to a sovereign government in Iraq. By choosing John Edwards over Dick Gephardt, the Democrats today transferred power in their party from the labor unions to the trial lawyers."

“Like Kerry, Edwards has a nasty record of voting against taxpayers," Norquist explained. "In six short years he has amassed an anti-taxpayer record rivaling both Kerry and the other Massachusetts senator, Kennedy.

"Edwards voted against the 2001 and 2003 tax relief plans, voted 12 times against repealing the marriage penalty, 8 times against repealing the Death Tax, against the per-child tax credit, against suspending the gasoline tax, and is an ardent protectionist.

"In the last six years, if a policy was good for taxpayers, Edwards was on the wrong side every time,” said Norquist. more>

NY Promoter Wants Springsteen to Upstage Bush - The "Concert for Change," would be held Sept. 1 at Giants Stadium, across the Hudson River from the Republicans' meeting at Madison Square Garden, said promoter and Democratic activist Andrew Rasiej, who has reserved the date at Springsteen's New Jersey home venue that he routinely sells out when he tours. "This is a simple idea that captures the imagination of Americans opposed to George Bush," Rasiej told Reuters. more>

'NY Times' Mag Editor May Have Broken Political Gift Ban - An editor at The New York Times Magazine may have violated the newspaper's highly-publicized ban on political campaign contributions with a $1,000 donation to John Kerry's presidential campaign, according to Federal Election Commission records.

Times spokeswoman Catherine Mathis confirmed that the newspaper was looking into the contribution by Elizabeth Stewart, a fashion editor for the Times Magazine, who made the donation on May 20, according to campaign records listed at the PoliticalMoneyLine Web site.

"Right now we are checking," Mathis told E&P. "We would certainly tell the employee this is in violation of the policy, but we never discuss disciplinary action."

Of Course, the Terrorists Want John Kerry Elected President - Here is a sure way to drive a Democrat off the deep end (at least those who have not already taken the plunge): Suggest that the Islamic terrorists who cherish the notion of slaughtering our children would like to see John Kerry elected president. But, says columnist Charles Krauthammer, it does not take much intelligence to know that is true--say, the collective I.Q. of two hummingbirds flying backwards.

Clearly, says Krauthammer, the terrorists want to drive from power those governments that are most relentless in their pursuit of them. Of course, that would not include a John Kerry administration. Excerpts from the column appear below, followed by a link to the complete article.

The terrorists may be medieval primitives, but they know about cell phones and the Internet and fuel-laden commercial airliners. They also know about elections. Their obvious objective is to drive from power those governments most deeply involved in the war against them--in Afghanistan, Iraq, or anywhere else. The point is not only to radically alter an enemy nation's foreign policy--as in Spain--but to deter any other government contemplating similar support for the American-led war on terror.

But Spain and Australia--Britain, with Tony Blair up for re-election next year, will surely be next--are merely supporting actors. The real prize is America. An electoral repudiation of President Bush would be seen by the world as a repudiation of Bush's foreign policy, specifically his aggressive, pre-emptive, and often unilateral prosecution of the war on terror, most especially Iraq. It would be a correct interpretation because John Kerry has made clear that he is fighting this election on precisely those grounds.

Does this mean that the bad guys want Kerry to win?

Read the entire article here: http://www.townhall.com/columnists/charleskrauthammer/ck20041008.shtml

One Man, Two Registrations - Michael Moore simultaneously on voter rolls in New York, Michigan - New York City Board of Elections records show that Moore, 50, registered to vote in Gotham in 1992, checking off "Democratic" as his party affiliation (below you'll find a copy of his original registration form). He listed his address as the swanky Upper West Side building where he owns a multimillion dollar condominium (Moore's office is on West 57th Street). The filmmaker's New York registration remains active, though he has not voted since an October 2001 Democratic runoff election.

Now here's the good part: Moore is simultaneously registered to vote in Michigan, where registrants aren't even given the option of party affiliation (so he's not an Independent there either). According to Antrim County records, Moore registered last April from his lakefront spread in northern Michigan, where he reportedly splits his time, but has yet to vote in Michigan. He transferred his drivers license to Michigan from New York around the same time, though Moore has a Volkswagen Beetle registered from his Manhattan home. more>

Our National Hamster - "Our National Hamster" and "Saving Private Hamster"

Our Response to the Bush Sign thieves... With Pics! - Our response to the sign stealers... I covered my business sign with the big Bush/Cheney sign and we dotted the yard with new signs.

Down the hill, other big signs were just slashed out and stolen. My husband made a large template and now they are wood instead of vinyl. 2 at the bottom of the hill and one at the top have all been replaced. Photos and more>>>

OZZY JOINS BUSH BASH WITH HITLER MONTAGE - Rocker Ozzy Osbourne took Jones Beach, NY last night on what is quickly becoming a predictable Bush-bashing express.

Osbourne opened his concert with the song "War Pigs," featuring a video portrait comparing Bush to Adolph Hitler.

The video featured Bush and Hitler on the same screen, with the caption: "Same sh*t different a**hole," says a source. Footage of bombs dropping and Hitler marching flashed as Ozzy screamed and guitars screeched.

Ozzy also flashed a picture of Bush with a clown nose, caption: 'The White House Circus."

Other bands in the OZzzFest lineup, such as Black Label Society, expressed support of the war.

The lead singer told the crowd in a profanity laced tirade against the terrorist: "Those f**kers crashed the planes into the Towers."

Pampered pinups of Hollywood - I recently took some flack for an article I wrote in the April issue of my National Liberty Journal newspaper in which I took to task some of Hollywood's leftist elites who have recently been involved in condemning the war in Iraq and President Bush.

In the article, which I titled "Smart Bombs and Dumb Americans," I noted that "spoiled Hollywood brats" and leftist academics have been trashing the country in the name of "patriotism." Quite frankly, I've had my fill of it. Patriotism starts with a love of country; the sentiments of these loopy liberals begin with an absolute loathing and distrust of America. They are not devoted to preserving the American spirit of our forefathers – a spirit that sometimes includes war to advance the cause of freedom. They are, rather, dedicated to a false spirit of detached neutrality that says a George Bush-led America is no better than a Saddam Hussein-led Iraq.

In their typically valueless world of ever-changing morals and situational ethics, there is no right or wrong, no cause for advancing truth because no truth can actually exist. In such a world, we don't even know what "is" is. Consequently, the spirit of America – our goodness, our compassion, our generosity – dies because only our shortcomings are underscored and we are presented as evil destroyers instead of earnest liberators. Even the people of Iraq seem to realize the sincerity of our effort while the trendy left continues to demean America. more>

Peace Movement or War on the Jews? - On Saturday, October 25th, several thousand people protested in San Francisco, the largest demonstration in the Bay Area since April 12th. It was a sister demonstration to one occurring that same day in Washington, D.C. While the protest was purportedly against the presence of American troops in Iraq, those stumbling onto the protest by accident might be forgiven for thinking it was really against Israel. The Palestinian flags scattered liberally among the crowd, the keffiyehs on many of the organizers, the plethora of speakers from pro-Palestinian organizations - all the evidence indicates the protest organizers want the Jews out of Israel as badly as they want the Americans out of Iraq. The comparison is hardly fair; unlike our troops, the Israelis have nowhere to return to. That didn’t stop the marchers from chanting as they marched - “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!” The slogan belongs to the terrorist group Hamas.

The march was organized by two of the largest of this spring’s anti-war coalitions: the communist Workers World Party-controlled International ANSWER, and long-time Communist Party activist Leslie Cagan’s United for Peace and Justice. However, the latter group was barely visible. Two representatives, Andrea Buffa and Samina Fahim, addressed the crowd; a few small United for Peace and Justice banners were carried in the protest march. International ANSWER was clearly running the show. The banner at the front of the rally belonged to them. The banners strung behind the stage belonged to them. All but a few speakers were drawn from International ANSWER’s friends and allies. And the anti-Israel stance was unmistakably theirs. Earlier this year, United for Peace and Justice hesitated to ally themselves with ANSWER, because they disagreed with some of ANSWER’s platform; in particular, the way many within ANSWER did not recognize Israel’s right to exist. By doing so, United for Peace and Justice attempted to portray itself as more ‘moderate’ than the other anti-war groups. They caved on this and allied with ANSWER in recent months; now, thanks to their alliance with ANSWER, all of their claims to be moderate are void.

Speaker after speaker stood up to denounce the President, denounce America, and denounce Israel. Ban al-Wardi of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee stood up to proclaim that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and America’s presence in Iraq were closely linked. He triumphantly declared that both America and Israel were paying a heavy price, and that the Palestinians and Iraqis had a legitimate right to ‘resist’. That they do so through terrorism didn’t seem to bother him a bit. He also claimed the Israelis were ‘ethnically cleansing’ the Palestinians, and that here in America, the Attorney General was engaged in the ‘Israelization’ of the justice system. One would think that’d be a good thing, thanks to Israel’s vigorous struggle against terrorism, but al-Wardi was staunchly opposed to this fight. Speakers from the Bay Area Iranians for Peace and Justice and the Free Palestinian Alliance echoed his message - the Palestinians, like the Iraqis, could oppose Americans and Israelis by any means necessary. While none of them mentioned suicide bombings or other acts of terrorism, the implication was clear. more>

Peaceful Tomorrows, Leftist Todays - A flood of anti-Bush headlines poured across the news outlets last week like a tidal wave: “Sept. 11 Families Disgusted By Bush Campaign Ads;” “Bush Ads Using 9/11 Images Stir Anger;” “Bush Exploiting 9/11;” and “Has Bush No Shame?” Morning and evening editions of national newspapers led with the story, and the major news television networks revisited the debate every half an hour like clockwork.

Peaceful Tomorrows; which is coordinated by leftwing public relations specialist David Fenton, and funded by the left grant-giving Tides Foundation; is an antiwar support organization founded by individuals who lost loved ones in the terrorist attacks of September 11th. To date, Peaceful Tomorrows is comprised of 120 family members of 9/11 victims, as well as supporters and volunteers ranging in the thousands. Formed as a supposedly nonpartisan group opposing the War on Terror, Peaceful Tomorrows has taken its message across the country and around the world, with members of the group speaking at universities, participating in the antiwar marches in Washington, D.C., and taking to the airwaves whenever a media occasion arises. Their founding mission is to “break the cycle of violence and retaliation engendered by war.” However, their focus in the last week has shifted from protesting the War on Terror, to protesting the President’s recent ad campaign.

Added to their lengthy résumé, which includes participating in the “No More Victims Tour,” the "Not In Our Name" rally and a series of other antiwar demonstrations, Peaceful Tomorrows is the recipient of funding from the Tides Center, which is dually funded by the Vira Heinz Endowment and the Howard Heinz Endowment – chaired by Teresa Heinz Kerry.

According to a report in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, John Kerry’s wife, Teresa, channeled endowments in the millions into the parent foundation that supports Peaceful Tomorrows. “Between 1995 and 2001, $4.3 million of that money [given to Tides] came from the Howard Heinz Endowment,” the report states. “In 2002, it and the Vira Heinz Endowment blessed The Tides Center, a San Francisco spin-off of the Tides Foundation, with another $190,000 while the two endowments gave $1.6 million to the new Tides Center for Western Pennsylvania." A statement released by Peaceful Tomorrows last week reads, “Peaceful Tomorrows has no connection with the Heinz or Kerry families through Tides Foundation, the Tides Center or any other entity.” This is blatantly contradictory to their own website, which informs donators, “Contributions by check can be made out to 'Peaceful Tomorrows/Tides Center.’” The mainstream media has conveniently ignored this link in their coverage of the group. In fact, this appears to be a case of a client organization doing the work of its benefactor, although the media does not seem interested in this conflict of interest. more>

Pelosi meets with group tied to Hamas - House Democratic leader calls for end to profiling of Muslims - House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi of California has called for an end to racial and religious profiling of Muslims in a meeting with a group tied to Hamas and Saudi Arabian purse strings.

"We appreciate the opportunity to interact with national leaders and to share the Muslim community's concerns on issues of mutual concern," said Arsalan Iftikhar, legal director of the Council on American Islamic Relations, who joined Pelosi and other prominent Democratic members of Congress.

Other national Muslim groups represented at the meeting included the Islamic Society of North America, Indian Muslim Council, Muslim Public Affairs Council, Muslim American Society, Association of Pakistani Physicians of North America, Muslim Bar Association, National Association of Muslim Lawyers, and the Universal Muslim Association of America.

While CAIR bills itself as the leading civil rights group among Muslim-Americans, it is a spin-off of the Islamic Association For Palestine, identified as a "front group" for Hamas by two ex-FBI counterterrorism chiefs.

Randall Todd "Ismail" Royer – a former CAIR staffer who most recently served as communications director for a fund-raising effort sponsored by the American Muslim Council – allegedly trained in Virginia for holy war against the United States and sent several members to Pakistan to join Lashkar-e-Taiba, a Kashmiri terrorist group with reported ties to al-Qaida.

A federal judge sentenced him to 20 years in prison. In a plea bargain, Royer claimed he never intended to hurt anyone but admitted he organized the holy warriors after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the U.S. He was among nine men who either pleaded guilty or were convicted in connection to the charges. Two others were acquitted on all counts.

After his arrest, Royer sought legal counsel from Hamas lawyer Stanley Cohen, who said after 9-11 he would consider serving as a defense lawyer for Osama bin Laden if the al-Qaida leader were captured. more>

Planned Parenthood Unveils TV Ads Backing John Kerry on Abortion - The political arm of Planned Parenthood, the nation's largest abortion business, today unveiled its initial television advertising campaign on behalf of Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry.

Two different television ads will appear on cable television stations in Minneapolis and other large cities in eight key battleground states. They target single women -- voters that the abortion advocacy group and believes are more receptive to Kerry's pro-abortion views.

POLITICAL INDIGESTION - Reporters traveling with Sen. John Edwards didn't put up a fight when they were essentially thrown out of the meeting between the candidate and the AFL-CIO's Executive Council in Chicago at the Drake Hotel.

Reporters on Monday were allowed to see Edwards given a standing ovation by the union bosses, then were quickly escorted out of the room before Edwards began his remarks.

According to union insiders, Edwards promised an administration that would be pro-organized labor, and one that would hit the wealthy to pay their fair share of taxes.

Edwards later appeared on the south side of the Windy City with Illinois candidate for Senate Barack Obama. The two walked through Manny's Coffee Shop & Deli, again with reporters kept a safe distance from the candidates.

As has been the case with both Kerry and Edwards in a number of dining establishments across the country, the Carolinian did not receive a universal warm welcome during the lunch hour appearance. Some diners grumbled about being interrupted, while others just glared at Edwards.

Kerry-Edwards advance staffers made a point of scurrying about the room, steering the candidates away from potential "trouble tables," as they are now termed. "After some of the problems in Pennsylvania and Ohio" -- where Kerry has been confronted with unfriendly receptions by individuals, a campaign source said -- "we're much more attuned to the settings we are putting them in and the potential coverage they might receive."

Pop Quiz: Are you a typical Kerry supporter?
The following is a non-exhaustive list of what a John Kerry supporter might believe.

Human life begins at conception, but so what?

John Kerry supports mainstream American values. John Kerry is liberal. John Kerry is not liberal — he's conservative because he advocates reducing the budget deficit — presumably through his nearly $1 trillion health care plan.

Marriage is between a man and a woman, but I'll be darned if public officials should do anything in their lawful exercise of power to preserve the institution of heterosexual marriage.

The definition of unilateral military action by the United States is the U.S. leading a coalition: 1) including Britain and almost 50 other nations; or 2) of every nation in the world, excluding the nation being attacked, Germany and France; or 3) any number of nations, but failing to secure the blessing of the United Nations.

Preemptive military action — a first strike against a nation that is believed to constitute a threat to the U.S. — is presumptuous, arrogant, reckless and irresponsible, even if the resulting military action also liberates the people of the target nation from tyranny and brutality. But unprovoked military action against a sovereign nation, such as Serbia, that couldn't possibly constitute a threat to the United States or its strategic interests is honorable and desirable.

The following were sufficient cause for Congress to authorize President Bush to lead a U.S. military action against Iraq when it was politically expedient to support such action, but the very same factors were insufficient cause to authorize such action when it became politically expedient later to oppose such action: Seventeen violated United Nations resolutions by Iraq; repeated breaches of its post-Gulf-War treaties; the delivery of a deceitful 12,000-page report concerning its required disposal of WMD it admittedly possessed and had previously used against its own people; its repeated defiance of weapons inspectors, the unanimous belief among the world's best intelligence agencies, French, British, Russian and American, that Saddam had or was rapidly developing stockpiles of WMD, that Iraq was supportive of terrorism and friendly with Al Qaeda, though the two hadn't signed and published a formal friendship pact.

Our invasion of Iraq was precipitated by neoconservative imperialists to project American power for its own sake and simultaneously by Dick Cheney to line his Halliburtonized pockets.

George Bush has exaggerated the terrorist threat. George Bush hasn't taken the terrorist threat seriously enough.

Dubious decorated military service in Vietnam coupled with admissions of personal misconduct and commission of war atrocities against civilians better qualifies one for commander in chief than three years of on-the-job training in the position.

Enron is a political (rather than merely financial) scandal tainting the Bush administration because Republicans love big, evil corporations.

The most effective purveyors of conservatism, by virtue of espousing conservative doctrine, are intrinsically guilty of hate speech, but the anti-Bush rantings of the Maureen Dowds and Michael Moores are born of loving kindness.

The prisoner abuses of Abu Ghraib are more outrageous than terrorist beheadings of coalition soldiers and civilians.

Republicans, in concert with the U.S. Supreme Court, stole the 2000 presidential election even though independent studies concluded the president would have won anyway had the vote count proceeded. And, holding on to this irrational belief justifies an unquenchable grudge against President Bush because there's nothing wrong with hate when it's directed against hateful Republicans — just like there's nothing wrong with intolerance when directed against intolerant conservatives and Christians.

The anti-American United Nations should supervise American elections.

The determining factor in racism is not how one feels and behaves in his personal life, but whether he passes certain litmus tests on public policy, such as supporting affirmative action and opposing school choice, though those policies may harm minorities and diminish their dignity more than helping them.

The definition of compassion is a willingness to support government confiscation and redistribution of other people's money rather than personal generosity and graciousness.

One's character is determined more by the public policies he conspicuously advocates, which often involve no personal sacrifice or inconvenience, than how he conducts himself when no one is looking.

Congressional Democrats should not be held accountable for emasculating the CIA during the eighties and beyond when lambasting President Bush for presiding over today's intelligence failures, which he — like they — reasonably relied on.

The Patriot Act was necessary when it was expedient to support it, but is terrible at the enforcement hands of the focus of modern evil, John Ashcroft.

We should have more U.S. Supreme Court justices who believe we ought to rely more heavily on international law.

PRO-KERRY FORCES INVADE GOP VICTORY CENTER - More than 50 demonstrators supporting Democrat presidential candidate John Kerry stormed a Republican campaign office in West Allis at mid-day today, trespassing, creating a disturbance through the use of a bullhorn in the office and then refusing to leave when asked.

The Chairman of the Republican Party of Wisconsin (RPW) condemned the action by Kerry supporters, and asked the Kerry campaign and the Democrat Party of Wisconsin to do the same.

“Do John Kerry and Wisconsin Democrats really believe this is conduct becoming of a presidential candidate and his campaign?” RPW Chairman Rick Graber asked. “It is unfortunate that Team Kerry feels the need to engage in such childish and obnoxious behavior.

“The President and his campaign will continue to talk about the issues in Wisconsin,” Graber added. “Let’s hope that someday soon, the Kerry campaign and Wisconsin Democrats will join us and put an end to this foolishness.”

Graber called the latest incident part of a disturbing trend of criminal conduct by anti-Bush forces in Wisconsin, pointing to an incident in Madison last week in which Bush-Cheney yard signs were stolen from the yards of three homes. The vandals then used chemicals to burn swastikas into the lawns of the homes, which were within a two-block radius of one another.

In addition, reports of stolen, defaced and damaged Bush-Cheney campaign signs are surfacing throughout Wisconsin. more>

Professors back Kerry with campaign giving - Voting with their checkbooks, college professors are breaking overwhelmingly for Senator John F. Kerry over President Bush, with the Democratic challenger raising nearly three times as much in campaign contributions from college campuses. The fund-raising trend contrasts sharply with the 2000 presidential race, when Bush raised slightly more money from academia than Al Gore.

Through the end of March, Kerry had received $1.32 million from employees of four-year colleges, compared with Bush's $512,000, according to data compiled for The Boston Globe by Dwight L. Morris & Associates, a Virginia-based consulting firm. Their combined total was nearly triple the $667,000 that Bush and Gore collected over a longer period before the last presidential election. more>

Query on Dukakis evokes DNC anger - Ex-nominee, Massachusetts governor, Kerry colleague sidelined - A media question about the conspicuous absence at the Democratic National Convention of 1988 presidential nominee and former Massachusetts governor Michael Dukakis – for whom John Kerry served as lieutenant governor – drew an angry response from a senior campaign adviser, reflecting the party's apparent sensitivity to the issue.

Talk-radio hosts were barred from having a daily question period at the convention after this reporter asked what Kerry campaign officials considered an impertinent question. more>

Radical Islam's First Member of Congress - We all knew that Cynthia McKinney would be drawing on Arab and Muslim supporters in her bid to return to Congress, but a listing of contributors (with information up through June 28) reveals to what an extraordinary extent this is the case, as shown by the names of her backers.

Of particular note is the who's who of radical organizations her donors are associated with:

Hani Y. Awadallah – president, Arab American Civic Organization, New Jersey.

Jesse Aweida – co-founder, American Task Force on Palestine.

Belal Dalati – a vice president of Arab-American Broadcasting Co. (Orange County Register, February 19, 2002) associated with the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

Hasan Elkhatib –member, board of directors, American Islamic Educational Foundation (MetroWest Jewish News, October 10, 1996)

Yaser Elmenshawy - chairman, Islamic Council of New Jersey.

Rafeeq Jaber – president, Islamic Association for Palestine, a Hamas offshoot.

Oussama Jammal – president, Bridgeview Mosque.

Samer Khalaf – chairman, American-Arab Anti Discrimination Committee's Political Outreach Committee in New Jersey.

Faroque Khan – president, Islamic Center of Long Island, also connected to the American Muslim Alliance and Islamic Society of North America.

Mahmoud A Nimer - member, board of directors, Islamic Academy of Florida, Tampa (an Islamic school established by Sami al-Arian; al-Arian's indictment indicates the school was used as a base of support for the Palestinian Islamic Jihad).

Ayman Osman - member, board of directors, Islamic Academy of Florida, Tampa; employer of Hatem Fariz, arrested on terrorism charges and charged with being a member of Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

Talat Othman - former chairman of the Islamic Free Market Institute; secretary/treasurer of the American Task Force on Palestine.

Khalid Qazi – former president, American Muslim Council of western New York State.

Hareth Raddawi - member, board of directors, American-Arab Anti Discrimination Committee, Chicago.

Allam Reheem - former member, board of directors, Islamic Academy of Florida, Tampa.

Talal Sunbulli – former chairman, Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago.

James Zogby – president, Arab American Institute.

In addition, the American-Arab Anti Discrimination Committee gave $1,000.

Such an outpouring of extremist support comes as no shock; as Erick Stakelbeck documents in today's New York Post, "McKinney has long associated with militant Islamic groups whose members have openly supported terrorism," plus "she has taken to the floor of the House to defend them."

Comment: Georgia holds its primary on July 20; should McKinney win it, as seems likely, radical Arab and Muslim causes will have achieved their first significant electoral victory in the United States. (July 9, 2004) Permalink

Real Democratic Values? Whoopi! - There was a bit of a ''do'' last week. You probably didn’t hear about it, though, if you are a slave to the alphabet news channels. A party, a fundraiser in Radio City Music Hall, to raise some extra money for the Kerry/Edwards campaign. Thursday was the night, and all the stars there just glittered for the paparazzi and the DNC hoi polloi. At least, those with enough dosh to rub shoulders with the high-and-mighty of the lib/dem/soc/commie set. Anti-capitalists at their finest, paying thousands (presumably with non-anti-capitalist earnings) to be entertained by a cavalcade of entertainers.

Well, for those of you who missed it, it was a boffo night for the lib/dem/soc/commies. At the end of the night, presidential-wannabe John Kerry said that every performer ''..conveyed to you the heart and soul of our country.'' He went further and said, ''This campaign will be a celebration of real American values.''

The heart and soul of our country, he said.

Folks, allow me to let you know what the lib/dem/soc/commies feel is the ''heart and soul'' of our country.

It’s Whoopi Goldberg, that famous television and movie-star comedian, coming across a stage with a wine bottle in one hand and a finger pointing toward her ample crotch in the other. She started her show by repeating the oft-said lie about Dubya and a certain blind musician--''Anybody who could wave to Stevie Wonder isn't fully there.'' Of course, that’s completely untrue (see http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/outrage/bushwave.htm for evidence) but since when have the lib/dem/soc/commies ever bothered with inconvenient things like the facts? Or honor, decency, and fairness, for that matter....

She went on, comparing the Commander in Chief of all United States Armed Forces to her, um, well, her you know what. Whoopi apparently thought this comparison to be uproariously funny. So, apparently, did Kerry and his trusty sidekick, Edwards. However, Whoopi didn’t stop there. She chided Kerry's youthful ward, Johnny Edwards, and repeatedly called him ''kid'' even though he’s only nine years younger than his potential boss. Now, I wonder why she just didn’t call him ''boy'' and get really into the spirit of the night.

Whoopi also boasted that she hadn’t cleared her material with the DNC (a mere formality, I’m sure), but instead sent them a photocopy of her derrière with a big kiss mark applied.

There were other luminaries (or at least a bunch of dullards whose hatred of Dubya, of America, and of freedom itself, which counts as ''bright'' amongst most lib/dem/soc/commies) who spent the gala evening dissing the president. Sarah Jessica Parker, John Mellencamp, Chevy Chase, John Leguizamo, Paul Newman, Meryl Streep, Jon Bon Jovi, Mary J. Blige, and Wyclef Jean joined in the hate-fest. They all lent their support to the party, helping to raise a whopping $7.5 million. Or, as Teresa Heinz-Kerry might call it, pocket change. This should be of great assistance to the Chiraq/Raffarin ticket – oops, I mean Kerry/Edwards ticket. Same difference, actually....

Now, I object to the content of their speech. I object to the lies, the slanders, the obvious disrespect, even more so in a time of war. However, I also respect their right to speak, despite the fact that it involves such juvenile or hateful crap. Even so, some lib/dem/soc/commies have berated me by saying that I am somehow infringing on the constitutionally protected freedom of speech of these Hollyweird-types. That questioning these Brahmins of Baloney, merely speaking my own mind, is a part of a greater Vast Right Wing Conspiracy to silence dissent, tear up the Constitution, and create a new Fascist State. Considering that Fascism is actually a political construct of the lib/dem/soc/commies, and NOT the rep/cons, I do rather enjoy the irony of their rhetoric. more>

Records show Clarke gave only to Dems - Former adviser insists attacks on Bush nothing to do with politics - Former counterterrorism czar Richard A. Clarke insists his attacks on President Bush have nothing to do with politics, but an Insight check of Federal Election Commission records shows his only political contributions in the last decade have gone to Democrats.

Clarke is suspected of using his former post in the Bush White House as a weapon with which to slash and wound the president during his re-election campaign against Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass.

The Kerry campaign's coordinator for national security issues, Rand Beers, has described Clarke as his "best friend." According to the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, where Clarke and Beers are adjunct lecturers, they teach a course together about terrorism. Clarke's detailed Harvard biography specifically mentions his service under President Reagan and the elder President Bush, but says nothing about his eight years working for President Clinton. more>

Red Sox Executives Are Major Contributors to Dems, Kerry - Owners of the Boston Red Sox and the club's president have donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to Democrat candidates, including Sen. John Kerry, while giving little to Republicans, according to federal election records.

Remembering Mary Jo Kopechne - This week we may hear a little about the 35th anniversary of Neil Armstrong's moonwalk, but there is another anniversary that has already gone unnoticed. On July 18, 1969, a couple of nights before Armstrong took that "giant step for mankind," Ted Kennedy took a turn onto a narrow bridge in Chappaquiddick. The passenger in his car that night was Mary Jo Kopechne, a pretty, blond Capitol Hill secretary, just about to celebrate her 29th birthday.

In case you have forgotten or never knew the details, Ted and five of his pals and six women known as the "Boiler Room Girls" who had worked in Bobby Kennedy's presidential campaign, cut short by his assassination the year before, were weekending together. Afterward, the men claimed it was just a couple of days of innocent fun to thank the girls for their help, though the six guys were all married but partying without their wives, and the young women were all single. One of the "Boiler Room Girls" is now big-time New York literary agent Esther Newberg, who was Mary Jo's roommate for the weekend. Like everyone involved in the incident, Esther remains close-mouthed about what occurred.

What everyone testified at the time was that Kennedy and Mary Jo left the party before midnight. Kennedy said he was driving her back to the ferry to Edgartown, and took a wrong turn, though he was very familiar with the roads on the island. His car toppled off a narrow wooden-planked bridge, a bridge that is in the opposite direction to the road that led to the ferry but is on the way to the beach. The car landed upside-down in eight feet of water and, Kennedy claimed that after escaping, he tried unsuccessfully to rescue Mary Jo. He then staggered back to the party, called out his cousin Joe Gargan and his pal Paul Markham, to return to the scene. What he didn't do, inexplicably, was seek help in a lighted house only yards from the bridge or use the fire-alarm phone at a fire station he passed on the way back to the party.

Right from the start, the reporters who arrived at the scene were skeptical of his story, skeptical even of how he claimed he got back to Edgartown that night. Markham and Gargan said when they drove to the ferry landing — the ferry had stopped running by then — Kennedy took them by surprise by jumping in the water, and swimming across the channel towards Edgartown. They assumed, they said, he would report the accident that night to the police. Instead Kennedy went back to his hotel, ostensibly to change his clothes but instead, went downstairs to complain about a noisy party that was going on.

The next morning Markham and Gargan were waiting for Kennedy when he arrived at 9 A.M. on the first ferry. The ferry operator said Kennedy appeared to be in a jovial mood, but probably only until he was told that his car had been found. Only then did Kennedy return and report the accident.

Some reporters, primarily the foreign press, did ask tough questions. For example: Did Kennedy really swim back to Edgartown that night? No one saw him with wet clothes and my husband, for one, interviewed a young man who had tied up his rowboat at the Chappaquiddick dock on Saturday night. When he got there on Sunday morning, he said, it had been retied and with what he called a "land lubber's knot."

But the whole incident was overshadowed by the worldwide coverage of the moonwalk. Besides, all the people involved had, by midday, left Martha's Vineyard and headed home. When the police went to the cottage where the party had taken place, all they found were some washed Coca-Cola bottles. There was no one to interview and no one who would talk then — or ever. Besides, Kennedy was treated like Massachusetts royalty by the local police chief, Dominick Arena, who even gave up his office so that Kennedy could make telephone calls to advisers and lawyers in privacy.

Next week Ted Kennedy will be center stage at the Democratic convention in Boston. "It will be a celebration...of the work of Ted Kennedy.... There will be a lot of appropriate attention paid to a person who has been at the center of national politics for the past forty years," his colleague Senator Christopher Dodd has enthused. And last year Boston Globe reporter Charles Pierce commented, "If she had lived, Mary Jo Kopechne would be 62 years old. Through his tireless work as a legislator, Edward Kennedy would have brought comfort to her in her old age."

Reported Kerry aide 1 of 'Gainesville 8' - Anti-war activist acquitted of plotting violence at GOP convention - The man who Sen. John Kerry's campaign reportedly has offered a position – whose background includes plotting to kill members of Congress in 1971 – was one of the "Gainesville Eight," a group of Vietnam War protesters indicted and then acquitted of a plan to violently disrupt the 1972 Republican National Convention in Miami.

As WorldNetDaily reported, Scott Camil, a leader of Vietnam Veterans Against the War, presented to the group, including Kerry, a plot to assassinate conservative congressmen at a November 1971 meeting. more>

Reporters cheer Kerry, but snicker for Bush - Blatant partisanship displayed by media causes some journalists embarrassment - Some reporters at a recent convention of minority journalists said they were stunned and embarrassed by the partisanship displayed at two separate speeches, with cheers for Sen. John Kerry and snickers for his opponent, President Bush.

Editor and Publisher, the industry magazine, compiled comments from reporters around the country who attended last week's Unity 2004 Journalists of Color Conference in Washington, D.C., along with about 7,000 other journalists.

In a column, John Temple, editor of the Rocky Mountain News in Denver was "inspired" by the meeting but said the partisanship, evidenced by the "cheering and whistling" during Kerry's speech, was "something I had never experienced in a crowd of journalists."

Helen Ubinas noted there was snickering during Bush's speech, and the crowd immediately headed to the door at the end. Ubinas wrote in the Hartford Courant she was "in the minority, as it were" who acted like "a professional, not a partisan" in responding to Kerry.

Ubinas explained Kerry connects with the "advocacy side" of Unity journalists, but she said showing preference "is the ultimate betrayal -- to everyone."

Akilah Johnson, a reporter at the South Florida Sun-Sentinel in Delray Beach, Fla., told USA Today, "It was a little awkward for me. I guess a lot of people were acting like citizens, not reporters." more>

Robbing the Cradle for the Revolution - Sarah Sloan is a bespectacled young woman in her early 20s, who looks like a typical college student. When she is speaking to audiences whom she wants enlist in the movement that has become her life, she presents herself as one of the chief organizers for International ANSWER, the main group behind the anti-war protests. She speaks both at rallies and in high schools to oppose the war.

But there is much more to Sarah Sloan than this. International ANSWER, is a front for the Worker's World Party, a self-styled "Communist Party," whose mecca is North Korea. Sarah Sloan is a functionary of this party. This is how she can make statements that seem more appropriate to an al-Qaeda communiqué, than to a "peace" organizer: "This is our task: to abolish NATO. And, moreover, to abolish the Pentagon."

It is time for Americans to face an unpleasant reality - Sarah Sloan and others like her who are spear-heading the "anti-war" movement don't want a change in foreign policy; they want to put an end to America. Immediately after the mass murder of 9/11, the Workers' World Party and Sarah Sloan began organizing to prevent America from responding - calling for an ostrich-like 'peace' less than two weeks after the outrage.

By November 2001, Sarah Sloan was in Japan, coordinating with other anti-American activists to protect the Taliban and al-Qaeda.

In addition to attacking America's ability to defend itself, Sarah – again like other organizers of the antiwar movement -- found time to support a convicted cop-killer, Mumia Abu-Jamal; attack the defenders of the Kosovars, and attempt to recruit teenagers at public schools. On October 29, 2002, for example, she was speaking at Montgomery Blair High School in Silver Spring, Maryland. Hiding behind her public face as a peace organizer for International ANSWER, she was free to indoctrinate the students with her Communist perspectives. "Everyone in this room hates [President] Bush, right?" she asked her young audience. One among them, a Nathaniel Pancost, was troubled by her remarks. "These A.N.S.W.E.R. people, the leftist groups, speak at these things as if they were a rally. They shouldn't." more>

Rockers against Bush strike wrong chord - If you're confused and need direction this political season, hold tight, because you can be sure that a rock star will be along shortly to show you the way.

Musicians, some loosely defined, are mobilizing big-time this year to oust Bush. A CD, titled "Rock Against Bush, Vol. I," was released earlier this year, purportedly to raise money for organizations which encourage young people to vote. Bands such as Sum 41, Offspring, New Found Glory and Jello Biafra with D.O.A. are included on the compact disc – I believe the latter is also included on the dessert menu.

This is a war – Bush is the enemy, and music is their weapon. more>

Ron Reagan Wrong on Stem Cells - Ron Reagan, the younger son of the late Republican president, announced this week that he would give a prime-time address in support of stem cell research (search) at the Democratic National Convention in Boston later this month.

The controversy centers around the use of stem cells derived from destroyed human embryos. So-called "embryonic stem cells (search)" give rise to all other cells and tissues in the human body and have been touted as possibly yielding treatments for a variety of diseases.

Moral concerns over the destruction of human embryos caused President Bush to limit taxpayer funding for embryonic stem cell research to stem cell lines already in existence. Researchers who were counting on taxpayer funding to conduct research on embryonic stem cells — and then rake in millions of dollars from naive investors — were enraged and began a campaign to pressure the President into opening the taxpayer spigots for embryonic stem cell research on the basis of a wide-eyed hope that cures are near at hand.

The spectacle of Ron Reagan at the Democratic Convention will be sad — the disgruntled son of the beloved former president misleading the public with naive hopes while being exploited for political gain by opponents of his father's party. That cynical strategy may get John Kerry a few more votes in November, but it's not going to produce any medical miracles anytime soon, if at all.

Ronstadt fans boo tribute to Moore - Honoring of leftist filmmaker causes hundreds to walk out of show, singer banned from hotel - Singer Linda Ronstadt's tribute to leftist filmmaker Michael Moore at the Aladdin in Las Vegas was booed by concertgoers in attendance, hundreds of whom walked out.

According to a report in the Las Vegas Sun, some of the angry fans reportedly defaced posters of her in the lobby of the hotel, writing comments and tossing drinks on her pictures. more>

Rosie Takes Shot At Bush During Gay-Friendly Cruise - On the eve of a possible U.S. Senate vote to make gay marriages unconstitutional, Rosie O'Donnell spoke out against the Bush administration's plans to ban same sex unions during a stop on a gay-friendly cruise, according to Local 6 News.

"I think this cruise comes at the perfect time, when they're considering an amendment making it illegal for us to have families," O'Donnell told Local 6 News partner Florida Today.

O'Donnell, who is a strong advocate of gay marriage and adoption, railed against President George W. Bush and the administration, according to the report.

Rosie O'Donnell a lightweight for Kerry - Only handful of people turn out at celebrity's rally for Democrat - Some may consider film and TV celebrity Rosie O'Donnell a heavyweight in the world of entertainment, but her ability to draw people to a John Kerry rally this weekend appeared somewhat light.

According to the Drudge Report, O'Donnell spoke to a nearly vacant Club Ovation last night in Ft. Lauderdale, acknowledging the lack of a big crowd. more>

 Ruckus at the Republican Convention - This article examines how one group of today’s uncivilized protestors is undermining our democratic republic. It also explores connections between this radical protest organization and both Teresa Heinz Kerry and a key operative in the highest echelon of the campaign organization of Democratic presidential candidate John F. Kerry.

The Ruckus Society is a leftwing organization that advocates – and trains radicals from a wide variety of other leftwing groups how to use – “direct action” and “guerrilla communication” to promote “progressive” politics. During the Clinton Administration it was given tax-exempt status as a 501(c)(3) “charitable organization.”

Activists who have undergone Ruckus training are to ordinary protestors as a Navy Seal commando is to an ordinary foot soldier. Ruckus graduates have been armed with a huge toolbox of ways to goad police into overreaction, exploit situations, and cause problems for those they target. Ruckus has become the military academy where dozens of leftwing groups send their elite shock troop protestors to learn the skills of waging guerrilla street warfare against capitalism.

One such leftwing activist is Zack Exley, who was trained by and has worked as a “workshop facilitator” for The Ruckus Society.

Since April 2004 Exley has been the Director of Online Communications and Online Organizing for the John Kerry-John Edwards 2004 presidential campaign organization. Are Senator Kerry (and the Secret Service agents who protect him) aware of Exley’s training with and for this law-breaking violent anarchist group, and of its links to members of domestic terrorist organizations? more>

Saddam’s Sugar Daddy - The facts about the U.N.’s corrupt Oil-for-Food relationship with the deposed Iraqi tyrant are further exposed - CIA chief weapons inspector Charles Duelfer may not have found weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, but he sure found information enough to blow the lid off the simmering scandal of the United Nations Oil-for-Food program. As it turns out, Oil-for-Food pretty much was Saddam Hussein's weapons program.

As Duelfer documents, Oil-for-Food allowed Saddam to replenish his empty coffers, firm up his networks for hiding money and buying arms, corrupt the U.N.'s own debates over Iraq, greatly erode sanctions and deliberately prep the ground for further rearming, including the acquisition of nuclear weapons. As set up and run by the U.N., Oil-for-Food devolved into a depraved and increasingly dangerous mockery of what was advertised by the U.N. as a relief program for sick and starving Iraqis.

The report notes that the start of Oil-for-Food, in 1996, marked the revival of Saddam's post-Gulf War fortunes. His regime amassed some $11 billion in illicit funds between the end of the Gulf War in 1991, and his overthrow by the U.S.-led Coalition in 2003. Most of that money flowed in from 1996-2003, during the era of Oil-for-Food. One might add that what allowed this dirty money to stack up was U.N. policy — urged along and overseen by Annan, in the name of aid — that allowed Saddam to import the equipment to revive Iraq's oil production, all of it accruing to Saddam. Saddam's regime had virtually no other source of income; there was no tax base. It was out of these oil flows, condoned (but not well metered) by the U.N., that Saddam derived virtually all income for the astounding roster of political bribery and illicit arms transactions detailed in this report.

Saddam followed a deliberate strategy of using bribes in such forms as contracts for cheap oil via the U.N. program, or outright gifts of vouchers for oil pumped under U.N. supervision, to gain political influence abroad. He grossly violated U.N. rules, with illicit trade agreements, oil smuggling, and arms deals (conventional, but still deadly) — and the U.N. did not stop him. By 2001, Saddam was able to thwart many of the constraints sanctions were meant to impose on his regime. His strategy, notes the Duelfer report, succeeded "to the point where sitting members of the Security Council were actively violating resolutions passed by the Security Council."

But no one has ever heard these facts from the U.N. itself, certainly not from such prime violators as France, Russia, and Syria — nor from the man most directly responsible for protecting the honor of the institution, Secretary-General Annan. Instead, Annan has to this day refused even to disclose to the public such basic details as the names of Saddam's contractors or the terms of their deals. more>

Sarasota principal defends Bush from "Fahrenheit 9/11" portrayal - Michael Moore's film "Fahrenheit 9/11" criticizes President Bush for listening to Sarasota second-graders read a story for nearly seven minutes after learning the nation was under attack on Sept. 11, 2001.

But Gwendolyn Tose'-Rigell, the principal at Emma E. Booker Elementary School, says Bush handled himself properly.

"I don't think anyone could have handled it better," Tose'-Rigell told the Sarasota Herald-Tribune in a story published Wednesday. "What would it have served if he had jumped out of his chair and ran out of the room?"

Bush told the federal 9/11 Commission, which released its report last week, that he remained in the classroom because he felt it was "important to project strength and calm until he could better understand what was happening." Moore says Bush failed to take charge.

Tose'-Rigell, who was at Bush's side, did not hear what White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card whispered when he squeezed past her to tell the president of the attacks, but "I knew it was something serious."

"The president bit his lip and clenched his jaw," she said. "I didn't know what happened, whether it was something with his wife or children or something with the nation. I remember praying that God would watch over our school and protect our children."

She said the video doesn't convey all that was going on in the classroom, but Bush's presence had a calming effect and "helped us get through a very difficult day."

Tose'-Rigell said she plans to publish her account of the morning of Sept. 11 from pages she wrote in her journal following the attack. The principal said she didn't vote for Bush. "But that day I would have voted for him."

Scandal of Double Voters - Some 46,000 New Yorkers are registered to vote in both the city and Florida, a shocking finding that exposes both states to potential abuses that could alter the outcome of elections, a Daily News investigation shows.

Registering in two places is illegal in both states, but the massive snowbird scandal goes undetected because election officials don't check rolls across state lines.

The finding is even more stunning given the pivotal role Florida played in the 2000 presidential election, when a margin there of 537 votes tipped a victory to George W. Bush. more>

ScrappleFace.com Spoof - LEAK: Planned Bush Speech to NAACP Revealed - Before President George Bush made his final decision not to speak at this week's convention of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), he and his speech-writing staff prepared a draft of an address that he would have delivered if pressure from the media had become so intense that he had no other choice.

Here is a partial transcript of that speech, which was accidentally emailed to 1.5 million GOP supporters last night...

PRESIDENT BUSH:
"My fellow Americans, members of the NAACP, Senator Boxer. It's an honor to be with you tonight representing the political party that introduced the 1957 Civil Rights Act--which at the time was the first civil rights legislation in 82 years. Although Senator Lyndon Johnson, the Democrat from my home state, and Senator John F. Kennedy, the Democrat from my opponent's home state, both worked to prevent the full implementation of the 1957 Act, it formed the foundation upon which the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1965 Voter Rights Act still stand."

"I also represent the political party whose Congressional delegation voted overwhelmingly for the Civil Rights Act of 1964--82 percent of Republican Senators voted 'yes' and 80 percent of Republican House members approved--helping to overcome the weak support by the opposition party where only 69 percent of Democrat Senators and 61 percent of Democrat House members voted for the Act. "

"I'm also delighted to come as an ambassador from the party of Abraham Lincoln, whose emancipation proclamation officially put an end to slavery in America."

"I bring greetings from Secretary of State Colin Powell and National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice, who would be here tonight if they weren't so busy working to ensure peace and freedom for the oppressed people of the world. I also come to you on behalf of the thousands of men and women of color who defend freedom worldwide every day as part of our United States armed forces."

"I have come tonight to declare a new emancipation for people of color. By the authority vested in me as President of all the people of the United States I declare that all Americans are free to work for a living, free to seek education, free to worship God, free to live under the same laws to which we all submit as a peace-loving people."

"The new emancipation proclamation also states that all Americans are free to be lazy, ignorant and godless without expecting the government to come to their aid. All Americans are also free to violate our laws--after which they will receive the just consequences of their exercise of that freedom.

"The new emancipation proclamation hereby sets free those who have been held in captivity by the vain hope that government is their beneficent master. It breaks the chains that have bound men, women and children in a cycle of dependency that leads to despair."

"I declare that all Americans are free from the tyranny of special interest bosses who have become wealthy by telling others that they can't succeed in our free society. From this day forth, let every American exercise his freedom from politicians who profit by trading men's votes for men's souls, and who become rich and powerful by creating programs which keep legions of our citizens poor and powerless."

"Thank you for allowing me to address this august society of freedom-loving people tonight. I know that you join me in celebrating this new birth of freedom. God bless you, and God bless the United States of America."

School kids pick Bush, TV kids choose Kerry - Competing polls of U.S. children reveal strikingly different results - Two national polls of American children have markedly different results this year, one showing President Bush a clear winner, and the other predicting an even bigger win for Sen. John Kerry.

Interestingly, both unscientific surveys proclaim historical accuracy in presidential prognostications.

In the first poll, conducted by Scholastic, the global children's publishing and media company, more than half a million students in first through eighth grades from across the U.S. participated. They voted online and through mail-in paper ballots found in many of Scholastic's classroom magazines.

"George W. Bush won the kids' election poll with 52 percent of the vote," announced Scholastic student reporter David Rush.

Kerry collected 47 percent, with one percent going for other candidates. A few reportedly wrote in "mom" as their choice for president.

Scholastic has been conducting similar polls since 1940, with predictions only wrong in two close elections: 1948 when students chose Thomas Dewey over Harry Truman, and 1960, predicting Richard Nixon would beat John Kennedy.

Meanwhile, the second poll with a large sampling shows Kerry the victor, defeating Bush by a margin of 57 to 43 percent.

Nickelodeon TV's "Kids' Vote" had nearly 400,000 children participate in online voting. more>

Security Council members deny meeting Kerry - U.N. ambassadors from several nations are disputing assertions by Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry that he met for hours with all members of the U.N. Security Council just a week before voting in October 2002 to authorize the use of force in Iraq.

An investigation by The Washington Times reveals that while the candidate did talk for an unspecified period to at least a few members of the panel, no such meeting, as described by Mr. Kerry on a number of occasions over the past year, ever occurred. more>

See the "Inspiring" Book Cover: Kerry's 1971 "New Soldier" - Is this the sort we need for Commander in Chief? more>

Sending a Messaage to Pro-Abortion Celebrities - Sunday has come and gone for the pro-abortion march in Washington, D.C. Approximately 800,000 people protested strongly, condemning George W. Bush and religious conservatives for hurting ''reproductive freedoms'' of women everywhere. If that was not bad enough, abortion advocates had Hollywood celebrities to back the event, having popular voices persuading and reaffirming that it was okay to terminate a child’s life as long as the fetus was still inside the womb.

Many of the celebrities that supported the march didn‘t surprise me at all. Christina Aguilera, Alec Baldwin, Ellen DeGeneres, Melissa Etheridge, Janeane Garofalo, and Natalie Maines from the country band "The Dixie Chicks" were among the predictable names that have notorious reputations for supporting anything that is immoral and indecent in this country.

However, some of the celebrities that were at the event flabbergasted me: Ashley Judd, Lisa Loeb, Salma Hayek, and Amy Jo Johnson, who starred in the once popular kid’s television series ''Mighty Morphing Power Rangers.'' It was sad and disappointing for me to see such talented people support an unholy act of human ignorance. After all, these are the entertainers we give our hard-earned money to so that they may entertain us.

After reading about the ''Women’s Rights March'' article, I contemplated how anyone could justify the death of a fetus based on the fact that it is not fully formed. Humans are always in a state of growth. Babies do not have a fully hardened skull and do not have perfect vision. They cannot walk or talk properly or function as an independent persons until a ripe age, so how does the validation of abortion stand? Is human life outweighed by the inconvenience of carrying the child for nine months? more>

S.F. Chronicle Editor Suspended Over Kerry Donation - A San Francisco Chronicle editor who gave Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry (news - web sites) $400 has been placed on leave for possibly violating the newspaper's rules, an official said on Wednesday.

The liberal newspaper's letters editor, William Pates, reached at home by telephone, confirmed that he had contributed about $400 to the Kerry campaign but declined to comment on his paper's response. Pates said he had worked for the Chronicle for the past 35 years.

"He's on paid leave while we are investigating; we have not made any judgment at this point as to whether the policy was violated," said editorial page editor John Diaz.

"It would be a concern to have somebody who is involved in selecting letters make what amounts to a public demonstration of support for a particular candidate."

The paper, whose editorials backed Democrat Al Gore (news - web sites) in the 2000 election, bars staffers from making campaign contributions without the approval of editors. The San Francisco area is known as one of the most politically liberal in the country. more>

Sharpton a good fit for Democrats - I never thought I'd be nodding my head in agreement with Al Sharpton. However, I certainly was when, at the conclusion of his address to the Democratic National Convention, he noted that only in a country as great and free as ours could someone like him run for the nomination for the presidency.

Unfortunately, I had to sit through a whole speech of impassioned distortions and insults to America, Americans and particularly black Americans, waiting for Reverend Al to stumble into something true.

Drawing on his vast foreign-affairs experience acquired on the streets of Brooklyn, Sharpton opened his remarks by criticizing President Bush's foreign policy. It was entertaining to hear the man who achieved fame with the Tawana Brawley charade attack the president for supposedly misleading the nation.

Clearly, Sharpton let our black secretary of state and our black national security adviser off the hook for supposedly misleading the nation on Iraq because surely, in his view, they are just puppets, like all black Republicans, so they can't be held responsible.

My particular concern is the destructive and wrong message that Sharpton delivered to all African-Americans in inner cities around our country who listened to his address. What did he tell them? That government doesn't care about your personal life, your moral life or how you conduct yourselves as citizens and as people. But it is the government's job to "guarantee" that food is in your refrigerator.

This is exactly what a community that is being torn apart by AIDS, illegitimacy, abortion, crime and 50 percent school dropouts needed to hear. Particularly from someone who calls himself a minister.

Sharpton then went on to infer that without political inter