Kerry or Bush? Cast your vote

[berge]

Count every vote? The Democrats love to count votes. A lot. Especially when they have the odd inkling that the votes are theirs. This counting fetish (with the exception of military absentee ballots) was well documented in Florida in 2000 where it was finally terminated after a month-long spate of Democratic desperation.

But they kept on counting up in St. Louis that year until the courts once again intervened, but not before they gained an hour's worth of illegal voting in a strong Democratic district which provided the margin to elect a deceased senator. Future Attorney General John Ashcroft graciously declined to launch a protest and handed what seemed at the time, a devastating loss to his party. But his chivalry was ultimately rewarded when Missouri voters later sent the widow Carnahan back to her well-deserved obscurity and he went on to become the scourge of the liberal left.

Voter registration mischief: Even more than counting votes, Democrats love to register voters. But it was not always thus. Condoleezza Rice likes to tell the story of how her father became a Republican when the Democrats told him he must first guess how many beans were in a jar before they would sign him up. But my, how times have changed. Whether you're in prison, homeless, an illegal alien or just plain dead, Uncle Teddy wants you. A friend confided to me that his greatest fear is that after he dies he'll vote Democratic.

From attempts to purchase homeless votes with cartons of cigarettes in Milwaukee to falsifying voter registration forms on Indian reservations in South Dakota, the Dems attempts at ballot-box stuffing truly represent diversity. Once again these practices led to success in defeating a Republican Senate candidate and once again their skullduggery was met with grace and good sportsmanship; “But," said John Thune, "at the end of the day, I have had to ask myself if putting the people of South Dakota through a recount would be divisive or helpful to the process." Tom Daschle and his operatives now face a resurgent Thune whose aim this time is to unseat the diminutive Minority Speaker himself. Let us hope he will be deeply saddened by the results.

[berge]

EXPOSED: 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.

Of the 46,000 registered in both states, 68% are Democrats, 12% are Republicans and 16% didn't claim a party.

[berge]

golden oldie--Dead Man Running
November 2000: IT HAS BEEN SAID that Pittsburgh must house some of the most democratic voting blocs in America, since many of its districts can feature as many dead voters as living ones. However Tuesday’s election showed that the Missouri electorate far supersedes Pittsburgh in this question of universal access. Indeed, those dead voters in Pittsburgh and Chicago and Providence may now rejoice at the prospect of an elected candidate who truly represents their interests—the late Mel Carnahan.
At first blush, Mr. Carnahan’s much-mourned death seemed to be the beginning of the death knell for Democratic hopes to capture a senate majority. Because it was too late to change the ballots, the race seemed a Republican surety. What has proved surprising is that dying caused Mr. Carnahan’s resurgence in the polls, and his victory.. So the beloved and respected governor from Missouri has won, concluding with what must be the most quiet and dignified of any senatorial campaigns this election cycle.

Until now, the necrocratic ideal had been most closely realized by aged Republicans Strom Thurmond and Jesse Helms, both fraught with the sicknesses of their venerable ages (Thurmond is 97, Helms is 79). The election of a dead democrat is a much-needed step in bringing necrocracy across partisan lines. Mr. Carnahan’s election is proof that the American majority can overcome even death.

Tragically, Mr. Carnahan’s voice will never be heard in the U.S. Senate. He will be granted no speaking time on the floor, give no inauguration speech, and will never share his utterly unique perspectives on physician-assisted suicide or the “death tax.” Though Missourians may be enlightened enough to grant the candidate an office, our politicians are not so open-minded. The new governor Roger Wilson has vowed to appoint Jean Carnahan (Mr. Carnahan’s widow) to fulfill the so-called vacant seat.

Mr. Carnahan was elected to office; it seems unjust to forbid him to serve his term. Lyndon Johnson’s airplane inauguration demonstrated that politicians can take office in unorthodox ways, so why not hire a spiritualist to swear in Mr. Carnahan during a public séance? The possibility of his regular absences from the floor of the Senate should not trouble a body that rarely manages to gather its full retinue for any vote not involving mind-boggling sums of money or a nationally televised sex-scandal. If the ailing Mr. Helms and Mr. Thurmond are able to wield so much power despite their conditions, then surely the late Mr. Carnahan can manage the light burden of being a junior senator in the minority party.

Many people agree that the senatorial race in Missouri has exposed a flaw in our electoral process; Senator John Danforth publicly argued, “what’s happening today to John Ashcroft is just not right.” But the wronged man is not Mr. Ashcroft. Mel Carnahan is being deprived of his right to serve the people who have elected him. Advocates for the disabled should be in up in arms demanding “reasonable accommodations” for the man who should be the late yet honorable gentleman from Missouri; the ACLU should be suing for the civil rights of the deceased; religious groups should be rallying behind the first senator who can finally speak authoritatively of the world beyond. Where is Mr. Carnahan’s support? The governor is dead! Long live the governor!

[berge]

When the dead vote
By Brendan O'Shaughnessy -- The Times of Northwest Indiana
It should have been easy.

Lake County, Ind., has long had a reputation rivaling neighboring Chicago as a place where the dead rise on election day. But making it a story required identifying actual dead voters and finding out how their relatives felt about using those names to commit political fraud.

I figured I could use the county's voter registration database and social security death records to match the names of ghost voters. Eventually, the plan produced an underwhelming five dead voters and a decent story, but bumps in the difficult process turned out several other stories that I didn't anticipate.

And I learned plenty about election hijinks along the way that should lead to future stories.

Right out of the gate, the county elections board said I couldn't have the electronic voter database, but struggled to explain why this public record was off limits. The board director said I could have it on paper -- all 13,736 pages for $3,294.

Neighboring counties, including Chicago's Cook County, said they would prefer to turn over a compact disc for little or no charge rather than deal with paper.

The public records law in Indiana says the board must produce electronic records unless it has passed a specific resolution against it. The board had done that in November without anyone realizing it, so they denied the request.

Asked for an explanation, the board's lawyer said they just put into writing a long-standing unwritten rule, but he didn't know the origin. Several sources provided an explanation that formed the heart of the first story.

The two party chairmen that control the board used the database as a stick and carrot for potential candidates. Chosen candidates could use the records to compile a mailing list of active voters, while the outsiders had to create by hand their own lists, which generally cost them thousands in returned mail. One party chairman's decision to keep the policy of electronic records in deep freeze merited a second story.

I eventually obtained the database from a state source that requested anonymity, and the next challenge was Social Security records. Again, the county and state wouldn't release them, this time because they don't use a compatible format. The federal agency will only release the entire national file for an exorbitant price.

So I turned to the computer-assisted reporting people at Investigative Reporters and Editors, who sold me an old (1998) death index file for $50. Then I had to find correlating fields Microsoft Access could use to identify matches between a file of 370,000 voters and 7.5 million dead Midwesterners. Besides names, the only complete field was date of birth, which caused a million headaches solved by translating it all into Excel and back into Access.

Finally, the program produced a list of 51 dead people with the same name and birth date as a voter in the last election. I started calling similar names in the phone book and was surprised to find exact matches for many. Turns out the death records are often wrong because at least a dozen "dead" people answered their phone, often noting that a spouse died on the date in question.

Finally, I found the personal betrayal angle I was looking for and made the point that a bloated voter roll is ripe for corruption -- even if there were only five examples proven. I fell short of finding a massive scandal, but I stumbled into some good stories along the way.

Some other things I learned:

-- Public records laws are full of holes, but information can leak out anyway

-- The library staff at NICAR is very helpful in solving inevitable computer snafus

-- An amazing number of people with the exact same name were born on the same day, even within a single state

-- Social security records aren't very accurate -- they include many people whose deaths, like Mark Twain's, are greatly exaggerated. Checking data thoroughly is crucial even if it's a little embarrassing to call someone and ask, "So, you're not dead?"

Dead Lake residents cast 2003 ballots

At least five deceased people voted in primary elections last year

BY BRENDAN O'SHAUGHNESSY / Times Statehouse Bureau Chief

The remarkable vote by Whiting resident Margaret Repay didn't decide the fate of any cutthroat political battles in last year's primary election.

What makes it noteworthy is that Repay died in 1995, a fact confirmed by Social Security records and family members.

Voting from beyond the grave may be an old source of dark humor in Lake County, but it's not so funny to the relatives of at least five dead people whose names recorded a handful of the 79,371 votes cast in primary elections last year.

"If someone signed for my mother, that's not right," said Repay's daughter Marge, who shares the same name but recorded a separate vote in May 2003. "If you close the books at night, someone else shouldn't be signing these blank spaces."

Marge Repay said she has told poll workers that her mother's name shouldn't have remained on the voter rolls for the last nine years. Election laws purposely make it easy to register but difficult to remove the names of people who have died or moved away, a situation state and local officials said creates an opportunity for ghostly corruption.

"I'm stunned," said Sally LaSota, director of the Lake County Board of Elections and Registration. "I can't imagine someone going in there and voting these people."

She added, "I'll make sure these five are taken off, that's for sure."

A monthlong Times analysis of voting records and Social Security death records found thousands of registered voters who remain on the rolls despite their deaths.

Cross-referencing the two computer databases revealed the names of 51 people with the same name and birth date who voted postmortem. Further examination ruled out dozens of errors but confirmed at least five dead votes, only one of which could be explained.

"If people suspect that even one dead person has had a vote cast in their name, the effect is multiplied and people lose confidence in the system and they quit participating," said Cam Savage, spokesman for the Secretary of State's office that oversees elections statewide. "Whether it's four people in a county in a year or 400, the invitation for fraud is there by having an inaccurate list."

Bloated rolls enable corruption

Savage estimated that all voter lists in Indiana are inflated by about 20 percent, and LaSota has said there are probably 50,000 names in Lake County's database of nearly 370,000 that should be purged. The county rolls even include 85 people listed as born in the 1800s.

That's plenty of opportunities for someone to pose as a moved or deceased voter.

Absentee votes present a special challenge, Savage said, because ballots can be requested and returned through the mail without face-to-face contact with neighborhood poll workers.

The Indiana Supreme Court currently is considering George Pabey's absentee-based challenge of last year's East Chicago mayoral primary against Robert Pastrick.

In the disputed election, Pastrick lost at the polls by 199 votes, but won the election after absentee ballots gave him a 278-vote margin. LaPorte County Superior Court Judge Steven King in August called the election "a textbook example of chicanery" and threw out 155 votes, leaving Pastrick with a 123-vote majority.

Voting records don't indicate which candidate East Chicago resident Jose R. Torres Jr. chose, but Social Security records and an obituary show he died in 1997.

LaSota said all four inexplicable votes appear to have been cast in person rather than absentee, which she called a surprising risk.

The elections board had earlier acknowledged that ballots were cast by people whose addresses have been torn down to make way for the Gary Railcats baseball stadium. Just as unlikely is the consistent voting record of Steve A. Brown, a Gary resident who has voted in nearly every election since his death in 1995.

While Steve Brown is a common name, matching Social Security numbers indicated the discrepancy. Brown's mother, who asked not to be identified, said she was worried anyone with "nerve enough to use my son's name could come to my house."

Motor Voter law prohibits purging

Besides fraud, Savage said inflated rolls also skew voter turnout results, which are a percentage of all registered voters, not breathing voters living in the county. Low turnout numbers can discourage some people by making it seem like few people bother.

Turnout for presidential elections never dropped below 69 percent in Indiana between 1964 and 1992. It fell to 62 percent in 1996 and 55 percent in 2000, possibly because of extra names on voter rolls.

About 90 percent of the hundreds of confirmed dead that are still registered to vote in Lake County died after 1993, which is when the National Voter Registration Act took effect. Known as the Motor Voter law because it allows people to register at the Bureau of Motor Vehicles, it also made it more difficult to clean voter rolls.

Previously, election boards could remove voters with a printed obituary or if the voter missed two consecutive general elections. Responding to allegations that some names were purged for political reasons, the Motor Voter law required election boards to have a death certificate or address change card to remove a voter.

Unfortunately, LaSota said most people don't send a change of address card to the election board. While Lake County's coroner sends over death certificates, she said many region residents die in Chicago hospitals or other places that don't always send death certificates.

"It's very frustrating because we know many of these people and we'd like to remove their names, but the law won't allow it," LaSota said.

People often complain about seeing dead family members next to their name every year, she said.

In at least one instance, that proximity caused a series of misplaced votes in the name of H. Robert Stewart, a Crown Point resident who appears to have voted several times since dying in 1991.

LaSota said it's more likely the votes were from his son of the same name because the two never voted in the same election after 1991.

"We have brought that to their attention many, many times and every year he's still on the rolls," said Paula Stewart, the son's wife.

New laws begin cleanup

The state and county have several new tools to create more accurate registration rolls. State Sen. Sue Landske, R-Cedar Lake, pushed through a bill this year allowing removals under several methods.

Counties can now use national change of address forms, returned jury notices and death indexes to target ineligible voters. A more expensive option is to send a countywide mailing and target returns. The next step is to make those voters inactive and finally to remove them after two general elections without any activity.

LaSota said the board already has begun the process. Staff have been using an online genealogy site to check names one at a time rather than a computer database, she said.

Savage said Indiana is creating a statewide voter registration list required by the Help America Vote Act of 2002. Aiming for the 2006 election, he said it will help reduce the number of people listed in two different counties and include automatic updates from out-of-county death or license records.

Another benefit of more accurate rolls will be reducing the number of precincts in some areas, which saves money on voting equipment and poll workers. Accurate information will also help candidates send mailings without thousands of costly returns.

The reforms won't solve all the problems, said one state lawmaker.

State Rep. John Aguilera, D-East Chicago, said corrupt political operatives in the county are usually too careful to use dead voters. Instead, they prey on indigent or elderly voters or they use nonresident voters -- all of which are more difficult to catch than ghost voters.

Merrillville resident Samuel Minton said the thing that bothered him most was that his late wife Cynthia didn't visit him when she voted. He said he can joke about it now because six years have passed since her death.

"She voted from heaven if it's the same Cynthia," Minton said. "She came down and voted and didn't even stop in to say hello."

[berge]

Democrats Outpace GOP in Registering Dead Voters



WASHINGTON, D.C. (BNS News) - Democrats and their allies have proven far more effective than their political counterparts in registering dead voters, according to an analysis conducted by BNS News.

A county-by-county study of voter registration data in the battleground states of Pennsylvania and Wisconsin shows significant increases in the number of dead voters in heavily Democratic districts, while there was no increase among this key voting demographic in predominantly Republican areas.

The BNS study showed increases of up to 250 percent in dead voter registration in Democratic-majority counties in Pennsylvania and 175 percent rises in Wisconsin. No changes were noted in largely Republican counties in the same states, according to the study.

" Our ground game is every bit as good as the Democrats ' " said Republican National Committee spokesperson Christine Iverson. " The only difference is it's a ground game, not an underground game. They ' ve got to have a pulse. "

Democrats quickly seized on Iverson ' s remark, calling it another sign that Republicans are beholding to "the old-school demagoguery that discriminates against America ' s most decomposed citizens. "

Restrictions on voting, such as having a pulse, have been subject to debate this year in Florida, where Democrats say the GOP deliberately disenfranchised hundreds of dead voters in that state, throwing the 2000 election to President George W. Bush. " I stand here to speak for those who cannot speak for themselves, " said civil rights leader Rev. Jesse Jakeson, an outspoken critic of Republican practices to disenfranchise dead voters.

" During the 2000 elections, there were many instances - Broward County, Dade County - where life-impaired citizens were intimidated from voting, " said Jakeson. " America hasn ' t been shamed by this level of Republican discrimination before or since Jim Crow. "

Jakeson called on RNC Chairman Ed Gillespie to renounce Iverson ' s pulse comment as, " a divisive, bigoted remark designed to create a wedge between live voters and those who are something different. "

The Quick and The Dead

Democrats have been able to mobilize voter registration efforts in key swing states better than Republicans, due in large part to the sheer number of Democrat groups working the grassroots. While the RNC is responsible for the bulk of GOP registration drives, there is no shortage of Democrat organizations ready to fill the gap for the cash-strapped Democratic National Committee.

The advocacy group MoveOver.org has dispatched hundreds of activists to go street-by-street in Ohio utilizing hand-held devices to gather and disseminate information about new voters, captivating the attention of reporters unaware that Palm Pilots were in use by those not engaged in journalism.

Other organizations including Social Justice Now - Or Else, According To Their Needs and Progressive Progressiveness For Progressive Progress have conducted similar voter registration drives in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Florida, Michigan and other states that have the potential to determine the outcome of the November election.

" I just think John Kerry ' s message on health care and land management resonates with dead voters, " said Emma Balm, director of new voter outreach for Social Justice Now - Or Else. " Republicans ignore this bloc at their risk. "

But Republican strategists insist President Bush can win reelection without the coalition of the dead. " Our living voters are energized this year, " said GOP pollster Dave Salem. " We ' re confident these people will turn out on Election Day in the numbers necessary to put us over the top. "

[berge]

"Republicans say 16,000 registered Hidalgo County voters are ineligible or dead"
dfw and wire service sources ^ / Nov. 03, 2002 / dfw and wire service sources


Posted on 11/03/2002 11:07:26 AM PST by Dubya


EDINBURG, Texas - The Hidalgo County Republican Party wants to create a bipartisan voter roll task force following a study indicating that 16,000 of the county's registered voters are ineligible or dead.

Hollis Rutledge, chairman for the party, released the study's findings during a news conference Oct. 22. He had withheld release of the full report to the county election commission because he said its release needed to be approved by executive Republican party members, who paid for the study.

Republican committee members unanimously voted to create the task force. Rutledge said in a story in Sunday's editions of The (McAllen) Monitor that he would send a proposal on the task force to the election commission Monday.

Elections Administrator Teresa Navarro said she was disappointed the party decided not to share the information.

"I would think that they would want to work with us at least on the deceased (voter names) part and I'm disappointed that they wouldn't at least agree to that part, especially when they made allegations with it," she said.

"We were waiting to see what was going to happen today and now we know what we need to do to proceed. On Monday, I will request to the secretary of state, attorney general and the district attorney's office that they issue a grand jury subpoena for the deceased (names)."

"I don't think the party has denied anybody anything," Rutledge said. "The party's position today (Saturday) was we would offer the information, but the party's position was that they would like to offer it by way of a task force that was completely bipartisan in nature."

The study indicates that 4,223 people on the county's voter rolls - including 227 who are shown to have voted in the March primary - are probably dead. Navarro said she cannot begin to remove these names until she has seen the list and the sources used to confirm each death.

Rutledge said the study began in May and was done through Voter Views Information Systems, an Austin-based company that the county Republican Party contracts to run its primary elections. Party members were shocked when they received the study's findings and did not time the information's release in an attempt to affect voter turnout, Rutledge added.

"We found that there were dead people in the report dating back to 1982," he said. "It's absolutely ludicrous. This is absolute blatant incompetence on the part of the elections department. It's absolutely incredible."

Navarro said determining whether a voter is dead is much more complicated than the study indicates and said Rutledge intended to cast doubt on the elections department.

"It's to smear the integrity of the elections department, but they're not only doing that," she said. "They're smearing the integrity of the secretary of state's office and if they're trying to intimidate the voters. That is wrong."

[berge]

Dead man on voter rolls sparks inquiry
Cleveland Plain Dealer ^ / 9/23/2004 / Michael Scott


Posted on 09/23/2004 7:11:13 PM PDT by mak5


Painesville - At least one Lake County voter would have made quite a comeback to cast a ballot Nov. 2.

He has been dead for more than two decades, elections officials said.

In a seemingly lesser miracle of wayward democracy, an elderly nursing home resident who only scrawls a shaky "X" when signing official documents suddenly regained a firm, crisp cursive signature when she registered.

Both the dead man and the elderly woman were signed up by voter registration advocacy groups, Lake County elections officials said.

"Those were not their signatures," Lake elections board Director Jan Clair said Wednesday. "Now, we're talking about election fraud here, and we're going to take some of these cases to the prosecutor."

Clair said the veracity of dozens of registration cards and maybe hundreds of absentee ballot requests are being investigated by the Lake County board in an election year with possibly record-setting registration efforts. The 12,000 new registrations in Lake County this year more than double the last two years combined, she said.

"Let's just say there are a lot of voter advocacy groups out there this year with a number of zealous participants who maybe don't understand the law regarding this type of activity," Clair said.

"We're not going to be allowing anyone to intrude on the integrity of democracy," Clair said.

She said that the registration of the deceased man was filed by the National Voter Fund, the registration arm of the NAACP, and the woman in the nursing home was registered by the group Americans Coming Together, known in this state as ACT Ohio.

She said ACT Ohio had been to two Lake County nursing homes and a number of registrations were now in question.

A spokesman for the National Voter Fund could not be reached. Its Web site, www.naacpnvf.org, says it is a nonpartisan effort to increase participation of the African-American voter.

Jess Goode, state communications director for ACT Ohio, said the Lake County allegations would turn out to be nothing.

"We honestly believe that there is nothing to this and that it was based on confusion and miscommunication," Goode said. "We have tough, professional standards and . . . a well-trained staff.

"Our goal is to make sure more Ohioans are able to vote legitimately."

ACT is a partisan group formed with the specific intent to oust President Bush from office and promote Democrats on all ballots, according to its Web site, www.actforvictory.org.

Groups like ACT are known as 527 organizations because of the number of the section of the tax code that governs political committees. Published reports have said that the organizations have raised nearly $184 million since the end of 2002 to use for get-out-the-vote operations, political advertising and contributions to state and local candidates.

Clair said she is also investigating a potentially fraudulent registration effort by a political candidate, whom she would not name unless the case gets referred to Lake County Prosecutor Charles Coulson.

None of the cases has been turned over to Coulson yet, although board members Wednesday gave Clair the OK to pursue the cases criminally.

There are other apparent irregularities in Lake County, like dozens of people on one street who filed for absentee ballots.

"Like one entire neighborhood that says it's going to be out of town on Election Day?" Clair asked. "That seems more than a little strange, so we're going out to have a talk with some people."

[skunksyard]

U.S. Hits Debt Limit After Senators Put Off Raising Ceiling

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1802&e=5&u=/washpost/20041015/ts_washpos....

Fri Oct 15, 2:46 AM ET Top Stories - washingtonpost.com

By Jonathan Weisman, Washington Post Staff Writer

The federal government reached its $7.4 trillion debt ceiling yesterday, forcing Treasury Secretary John W. Snow to delay contributing to one of the federal employees' pension systems to avoid running out of cash and possibly defaulting on government debt.


• Blasts Inside Green Zone Kill at Least 5
• Voting Rights Machinery Doubted
• Complete Coverage of the 2004 Presidential Debates
• The Day in Photos

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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washingtonpost.com




The situation will probably be temporary, as it has in the past. Congressional leaders said that when they return for a lame-duck session after the election, they will raise the debt ceiling to allow the government to borrow the money it needs to pay its bills. At that point, any overdue contributions to the pension fund would be paid, with interest.


Snow has pleaded with Congress since Aug. 2 to raise the debt limit, but Senate Republican leaders -- whose aides said they were worried about the possible political backlash -- adjourned for the campaign this week without acting on Snow's request. The Treasury secretary repeated his plea yesterday in a letter to Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.), appealing to his "commitment to maintaining the full faith and credit of the U.S. government."


"Given the current projections, it is imperative that the Congress take action to increase the debt limit by mid-November, at which time all of our previously used prudent and legal actions to avoid breaching the statutory debt limit will be exhausted," Snow wrote.


Congressional leaders in turn promised to raise the borrowing limit as soon as they reconvene. The House passed a $690 billion increase in the debt ceiling in a 2005 budget resolution, but it was never adopted by the Senate.


"Typically with Congress, they do it when they need to do it," said John Feehery, spokesman for House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.). "And we'll do it when we need to do it."


The federal government regularly sells Treasury bonds to finance the difference between the amount of money it collects in taxes each year and the amount it spends. The debt ceiling was first imposed in 1917 to act as a brake on the total amount of accumulated debt the government owes. Today the total debt includes money owed either to private investors or, in the case of funds borrowed from surplus Social Security (news - web sites) taxes, to other government programs.


Since then, the Treasury has on five occasions delayed pension fund payments as it approached its limit on borrowing. Three of those incidents came under President Bush (news - web sites) -- in 2002, 2003 and yesterday -- as Republicans in Congress have become leery of voting to raise the debt limit. The others were during the rapidly spiraling deficits of 1985 and the budget showdown between the new Republican Congress and President Bill Clinton (news - web sites) in 1995.


When Bush came to office, the debt ceiling was $5.95 trillion and had last been raised in 1997.


Since 2002, Congress has raised the borrowing limit by more than $1.4 trillion, as the government ran increasingly large deficits of $158 billion in 2002, $375 billion in 2003 and $413 billion for fiscal 2004, which ended in September. Yesterday the Treasury Department (news - web sites) released its final 2004 deficit figure, which came in below initial forecasts but still at a record level in dollar terms.


If Republicans had hoped to avoid the issue before the election, Democrats sought yesterday to make them pay with a litany of accusations.


"This is a heck of a burden to pass on to the next generation," said Rep. John M. Spratt (news, bio, voting record) Jr. (S.C.), the ranking Democrat on the House Budget Committee.


Campaign aides of Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John F. Kerry (news, bio, voting record) (D-Mass.) noted that Bush's 2001 budget anticipated the debt ceiling would not have to be raised until 2008. And, they said, , the government has run up more debt in the past 17 months than was amassed under all the presidents from George Washington to Ronald Reagan (news - web sites).


"George Bush (news - web sites) continues to make history for all the wrong reasons," said Kerry campaign spokesman Phil Singer.


Budget watchdog organizations took both Kerry and Bush to task for what they see as a failure to take the deficit seriously.


"Following the presidential debate, where more attention was given to the candidates' wives than to the budget deficit . . . it is hard to see where the leadership to put the country back on the path of fiscal responsibility will come from," said Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.


A number of independent analyses have concluded that the mix of tax cuts and spending plans outlined by both candidates would balloon the budget deficit.

[hotstockmaker]

yes it does mean just tht - but i sure think u missed the point...lol...cheers buddy

[berge]

ROTFLMAO.....means "Rolling On The Floor Laughing My Ass Off"

[hotstockmaker]

LMAO (means "laughing my ass off")

[berge]

especially liberal ones

[berge]

all attorneys should be in jail

[hotstockmaker]

wht?????????????

[berge]

thats another strike against him...

[hotstockmaker]

INCORRECT STATEMENT
COLLEGE:
I graduated from Yale University with a low C average. Unlike my counterpart George Bush, I have no higher education and did not get admitted to Harvard nor graduate with an M.B.A

did u know tht to be an attorney u must go to law school, which is considered a graduate degree and john kerry is an attorney its not too difficult for the grandson of a senator to get into harvard - bush is not half as intelligent as kerry is. accept it or remain ignorant. and this is just not my opinion.
to help u understand better, please view the following (LOL):
http://www.ebaumsworld.com/gwbushdrunk.html
http://www.ebaumsworld.com/bush-bs.html

[skunksyard]

Trade Deficit Surges, Jobless Claims Up

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=530&ncid=530&e=1&u=/ap/20041014/ap_o....

43 minutes ago Business - AP


By MARTIN CRUTSINGER

WASHINGTON - The U.S. trade deficit, propelled by a record foreign oil bill, surged to $54 billion in August, the second highest level in history. The politically sensitive deficit with China hit a new high as American retailers upped their orders for cell phones, toys and televisions.

The Commerce Department (news - web sites) said the August trade deficit in goods and services was 6.9 percent higher than a $50.5 billion imbalance in July. A small 0.1 percent rise in exports was dwarfed by a 2.5 percent jump in imports.


For the year, America's trade deficit is running at a record annual rate of $590 billion, 19 percent higher than the previous record, last year's $496.5 billion imbalance.


Imports climbed 2.5 percent to a record $150.1 billion in August, reflecting a 12.2 percent jump in petroleum shipments, which rose to a record $15.6 billion last month.


U.S. exports edged up 0.1 percent to $96 billion in August following an even larger 3 percent gain in July. Economists are hoping that an improving global economy will lift sales of American goods overseas. Sales of American cars and auto parts did hit a record, rising to $7.8 billion in August.


The U.S. trade performance has become an issue in the presidential race with Democratic challenger John Kerry (news - web sites) charging that President Bush (news - web sites) has not done enough to protect American workers from unfair trade practices from low wage countries such as China.


In Wednesday night's final debate, Kerry criticized Bush for failing to pursue an unfair trade practice complaint against China on the grounds that it has rigged its currency system to keep the yuan undervalued by as much as 40 percent against the U.S. dollar, giving Chinese products a huge competitive advantage against American goods.


In a second economic report, the Labor Department (news - web sites) said the number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits rose by 15,000 last week to a seasonally adjusted level of 352,000. The four-week moving average of claims, which smooths out weekly changes, rose by 4,000 to a seven-month high of 352,000.


The report on jobless claims reflects a labor market that is continuing to confound economists' expectations. The country added a lower-than-expected 96,000 jobs in September as the unemployment rate held steady at 5.4 percent.


In August, the trade deficit with China climbed to a record $18.1 billion, pushed higher by a surge in demand for cell phones, toys and games, televisions and VCRs, reflecting efforts by U.S. retailers to stock their shelves in advance of the holiday shopping season.


The administration accuses Kerry of being an "economic isolationist" and argues that its policy of pushing to open foreign markets by negotiating free-trade agreements with other nations represents the best approach to keeping America competitive in a global economy.


However, the nation has lost 2.7 million manufacturing jobs over the past four years and some sectors vulnerable to foreign trade such as textiles have been particulary hard hit.


A coalition of textile groups asked the administration on Tuesday to limit imports of textiles from China , timing the filing of its case to force the administration to make a preliminary ruling by Nov. 1, the day before the election.


The nation's total foreign oil bill was driven higher in August by increased volume and higher prices. The average price for crude oil jumped to a 23-year high of $36.37 per barrel, up by $3.09 per barrel from July. Imported oil is likely to climb even higher in coming months reflecting rising oil prices that are now at record levels above $50 per barrel.

[berge]

NAME: John Kerry
RESIDENCE: 7 mansions, including one in Washington DC, worth multi-millions.
EXPERIENCE:
Law Enforcement. In my career as a U.S. Senator, I've voted to cut every law enforcement, CIA, and Defense bill. I ordered the city of Boston to remove a fire hydrant in front of my mansion, thereby endangering my neighbors in the event of fire.
MILITARY:
I served in Vietnam (four months). I used three minor injuries to get an early discharge from the military and service in Vietnam (as documented by the attending doctor). I then returned to the U.S., joined Jane Fonda in protesting the war, and insulted returning Vietnam vets, claiming they committed atrocities and were baby killers. I threw my medals, ribbons, or something away in protest. Or did I? My book " Vietnam Veterans Against the War: The New Soldier", shows how I truly feel about the military.
COLLEGE:
I graduated from Yale University with a low C average. Unlike my counterpart George Bush, I have no higher education and did not get admitted to Harvard nor graduate with an M.B.A
PAST WORK EXPERIENCE:
After College and Vietnam, I ran for the U.S. Congress and have been there ever since. I have no real world experience except marrying very rich women and running their companies vicariously through them.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS:
As a U.S. Senator I set the record for the most liberal voting record, exceeding even Ted Kennedy and Hillary Clinton. I have consistently failed to support our military and CIA by voting against their budgets, thus gutting our country's ability to defend itself. Although I voted for the Iraq War, now I am against it and refuse to admit that I voted for it I voted for every liberal piece of legislation. I have no plan to help this country but I intend to raise taxes significantly if I am elected.

My wealth so far exceeds that of my counterpart, George Bush, that he will never catch up. I make little or no charitable contributions and have never agreed to pay any voluntary excess taxes in Massachusetts, despite family wealth in excess of $700 million

I (we) own 28 manufacturing plants (Heinz) outside of the U.S. in places like Asia, Mexico and Europe. We can make more profit from the cheaper cost of labor in those Countries, although I blame George Bush for sending all of the other jobs out of Country.
Although I claim to be in favor of alternative energy sources, Ted Kennedy and I oppose windmills off Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard as it might spoil our view of the ocean as we cruise on our yachts.
PERSONAL I practice my Catholic faith whenever cameras are present. I ride a Serotta Bike. I love to ski/snowboard. I call my Gulfstream V Jet the "Flying Squirrel". I call my $850,000 42-foot Hinckley twin diesel yacht the "Scarmouche".

I am fascinated by rap and hip-hop and feel it reflects our real culture.

I own several "Large" SUVs including one parked at my Nantucket summer mansion, though I am against large, polluting, inefficient vehicles and blame George Bush for our energy problems.

[skunksyard]

39M Americans in Working Poor Families

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=530&ncid=530&e=19&u=/ap/20041012/ap_....

2 hours, 45 minutes ago Business - AP


By GENARO C. ARMAS, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - One in every five U.S. jobs pays less than a poverty-level wage for a family of four, according to a study by the nonpartisan Working Poor Families Project.



The result of so many low-paying jobs is that nearly 39 million Americans, including 20 million children, are members of "low-income working families" — with barely enough money to cover basic needs like housing, groceries and child care, the study found.


The study classified a "working family" as one in which there was one or more children and at least one family member had a job or was actively seeking work.


Besides staying current on bills, many of these folks also struggled to save up for a bigger home or for a child's college education, said Brandon Roberts, one of the report's authors.


"These 20 million children are the future of our workforce," Roberts said. "Their future economic abilities are at risk growing up in families that don't have the resources to support them."


The report said federal and state lawmakers should put more money into adult education and job training programs, increase the minimum wage and expand subsidized child care for low-income parents. Doing so would create more skilled workers who will make more money and, in turn, increase the tax base, the study said.


"We do not think that the current federal-state system designed to support these families is sufficient for the task," Roberts said.


The report is based on Census Bureau (news - web sites) data from 2002 and was to be officially released Tuesday, the day before the third and final debate between President Bush (news - web sites) and Democratic challenger John Kerry (news - web sites). That debate will focus on domestic issues, with an emphasis on jobs and the economy.


The government's poverty threshold varies depending the size of a family. For instance, a family of four with two children was considered impoverished if its income was less than $18,244 in 2002.


The study, sponsored by the Annie E. Casey, Ford and Rockefeller foundations, looked at working families with kids that earned no more than twice the poverty level. Anyone below that level was considered "low-income."


For a family of four, that threshold was $36,488. The median U.S. income for such families is $62,732.


About 28 million jobs in the United States provided less a poverty-level wage, which works out to about $8.84 an hour for a family of four, the study said. The median wage for a waiter was about $6.80 an hour; for a cashier it was $7.41 an hour.


That points to the need for the federal minimum wage to be raised from its current $5.15 an hour to ensure those in such positions can support their families, researchers said.


Besides child care, the report also suggested expansion of the federal earned income tax credit, as well as more incentives for states to offer similar refundable tax credits for such families.


The report also called on states to improve educational opportunities, such as adult education and literacy programs, for low-income workers who want to move on to higher-paying jobs.


Sheri Steisel, director of human services policy at the National Conference of State Legislatures, commended the study but said state lawmakers are hamstrung by tight budgets.


"It's not a lack of interest in the topic, but it's a question of financing," she said. "States have had to struggle on where to put their limited dollars."

The study urged federal and state lawmakers to work more closely to evaluate government policies and make better use of limited funding.

"Obviously under the current (economic) circumstances, that's going to be a very contentious issue, but we would suggest that it's a high priority issue," Roberts said.

[m_h13021]

Sweet!!! Senator Kerry's Personal Tax Plan.....
It is called "Skeletons in the closet" tax cut:

http://xrl.us/dfcx

[Art2Gecko]

Investors - John Kerry's 19 year record on investor issues.

http://www.americanshareholders.com/news/asakerryreport03-22-04.pdf

[Art2Gecko]

The choice on November 2 could not be more clear
Saturday, October 9, 2004
http://www.hughhewitt.com/#postid1000

John Kerry has decisively defined himself as the Neville Chamberlain of the new century, the candidate of summits and sanctions, of Kyoto and the International Criminal Court, of appeasement of North Korea and Iran. He is supported not by one Geoffrey Dawson --editor of The Times of London during the era of Baldwin and Chamberlain-- but many, from Rather and Halperin to The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and scores of Beltway talking heads and aging rockers.

And Bush has surely defined himself as the Churchill of this new war, though his flaws are the reverse of Churchill's. The latter was always eloquent and never passed by an opportunity to wound a political opponent with words, while W's great strengths are too often obscured by his mangled syntax.

The choice on November 2 could not be more clear, or more substantive and consequential. This will be as meaningful a choice as would have been a vote between Chamberlain and Churchill if Chamberlain had stood against Churchill for leadership of the Tories in the spring of 1940, after the war had begun but while Britain's plight was obscured by the eight-month long "Phony War" or "Bore War" as the period before the invasion of France was called.

In the past eight days, John Kerry has:

*announced to a national audience that American actions in defense of national security must pass a "global test";

*announced that he would sell nuclear fuel to Iran;

*could not answer, and badly filibustered a question on what he would do if Iran continued to push towards nuclear weapons acquisition;

*denounced as unilateralism the coalition that George Bush put together to overthrow Iraq, and called for unilateral appeasement of North Korea;

*compared Iraq to Lebanon, but insisted a summit could entice other countries to join the effort in Iraq, even after the French and the Germans announced they would not do so even if Kerry was elected;

*twice identified the most pressing proliferation problem as the American effort to develop a new generation of nuclear weapons capable of destroying deep bunkers, thus equating the United States with rogue states like North Korea and Iran and proclaiming hostility to modernization of the American arsenal --vintage Kerry defense thinking;

*announced plan after plan for which no details exist;

*"absolutely" pledged not to raise taxes on anyone earning less than $200,000 annually, a pledge that even his most ardent admirers know is either a bald lie or a repudiation of most of his spending plans (e-mailer LL suggests a new Kerry slogan: "Read my flips: no new taxes!);

*ignored the creation of 1.9 million jobs over the past 13 months and ignored the economic consequences of the Clinton recession and 9/11 attacks while attacking Bush's tax cuts;

*while calling attention to his Catholic status, defended his vote against banning partial birth abortion, called for taxpayer support for abortion, argued that "parental notification" was connected to dads raping daughters and defended the wholesale harvesting of frozen embryos for research purposes --four positions completely opposite of Catholic Church teaching and far outside the American consensus opinion on abortion;

*actually said "John Edwards and I are for tort reform," and then told the American people that lawsuits against doctors are 1% of the health care problem;

*defensively denied being "wishy washy," a "flip flopper," and a "liberal," while complaining about being branded such by the president;

*embraced the Kyoto Treaty and called for its resuscitation with amendments;

*told America that General Shinseki had been fired by Bush and that the firing had a "chilling" effect on all generals, and one day later said Shinseki had been "retired" --not fired-- and left off the "chilling effect" argument --a record one day flip flop;

*saw his running mate get woodshedded and his campaign try to reverse that blow by arguing that the Vice President should have remembered meeting Edwards;

*heard his wife assert that American troops were fighting for oil and many other stunning things;

*watched as Bush did not make a single memorable error in two debates while effectively underscoring Kerry's "global test" pratfall, focusing on Kerry's did-nothing time-serving two decades in the Senate, wrestle the ISG report to its appropriate place in the discussion of the Iraq War, persuade by repeated argument (which the Vice President also helped along) that coalitions can not be led or maintain by derision or democracies built by indecision;

*watched as Bush effectively and accurately branded KerryCare as an expanded form of HillaryCare;

*watched as Bush simply and devastatingly branded Kerry as not credible on taxes, spending and most important of all, defending the United States.



Against all of this and more, Kerry backers point to his debating skills in round one and George W. Bush's facial expressions from the first debate. If this was a good eight days for Kerry, then November 11, 1864 was a fine day for Atlanta. In fact this stretch has been a disaster for Kerry as all the set-up work Bush-Cheney had performed for eight months came home in eight days as Kerry cooperated in his unmasking as a candidate far from the country's center of political gravity on nearly every issue, comfortable only in ambiguity and a champion of appeasement abroad and of every one of the left's pet domestic causes at home from partial birth abortion and taxpayer funded abortions to Kyoto and federal delivery of health care.

The relentless focus on his hard left posturing on foreign affairs through 20 years in the Senate hasn't even begun yet. Fred Barnes and Morton Kondracke wondered aloud last night why the president didn't make use of Kerry's 1991 vote against the first Gulf War, and I wonder when we will hear about Kerry's mini-Munich in Managua in April 1985 or his nuclear freeze pedigree and opposition to many of the major weapon programs on which our military now relies, but there is still three and a half weeks and one more debate left in which these and other points have opportunity to surface.

The clock has almost run out on Kerry, and his little gust of momentum --called a hurricane by his backers because they hadn't felt a breeze for months-- is spent.

[berge]

is this guy scary or what?!?!?! he should be immediately dismissed, and never be allowed near a legitimate media source (thank god ABC has not been legitimate for the last 20 years)

Halperin Memo Dated Friday October 8, 2004

It goes without saying that the stakes are getting very high for the country and the campaigns - and our responsibilities become quite grave

I do not want to set off (sp?) and endless colloquy that none of us have time for today - nor do I want to stifle one. Please respond if you feel you can advance the discussion.

The New York Times (Nagourney/Stevenson) and Howard Fineman on the web both make the same point today: the current Bush attacks on Kerry involve distortions and taking things out of context in a way that goes beyond what Kerry has done.

Kerry distorts, takes out of context, and mistakes all the time, but these are not central to his efforts to win.

We have a responsibility to hold both sides accountable to the public interest, but that doesn't mean we reflexively and artificially hold both sides "equally" accountable when the facts don't warrant that.

I'm sure many of you have this week felt the stepped up Bush efforts to complain about our coverage. This is all part of their efforts to get away with as much as possible with the stepped up, renewed efforts to win the election by destroying Senator Kerry at least partly through distortions.

It's up to Kerry to defend himself, of course. But as one of the few news organizations with the skill and strength to help voters evaluate what the candidates are saying to serve the public interest. Now is the time for all of us to step up and do that right.

[berge]

SLANTED ABC TAKES THE HEAT
October 9, 2004 -- ST. LOUIS — ABC News was under fire last night after an internal memo surfaced suggesting President Bush should be held more accountable for his statements than John Kerry.

The memo to staffers from the network's powerful political director, Marc Halperin, noted that while both campaigns are distorting the truth, Kerry's bending of the facts shouldn't be hit as hard.


"Kerry distorts, takes out of context, and mistakes all the time, but these are not central to his efforts to win," Halperin wrote.


But "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 added.


Halperin further advised the ABC staff to keep that in mind when reporting.

"We have a responsibility to hold both sides accountable to the public interest, but that doesn't mean we reflexively and artificially hold both sides 'equally' accountable when the facts don't warrant that," the memo continued.


"It's up to Kerry to defend himself, of course. But as one of the few news organizations with the skill and strength to help voters evaluate what the candidates are saying to serve the public interest, now is the time for all of us to step up and do that right."


A spokesman for ABC news insisted "we are not interested in taking sides, we are only interested in getting at the truth."




Halperin plays a mostly behind-the-scenes role at ABC, and is known as the father of "The Note," a daily political memo that is read by thousands of D.C. insiders, political players and journalists.

[berge]

John Edwards vs. John Edward
John Edward is the name of a popular TV "psychic" who makes millions of dollars by "reuniting people in the physical world with their loved ones who have crossed over" to the next. Edward claims to communicate with the dead.

John Edwards is the name of the Democratic candidate for vice president who has made millions of dollars by filing lawsuits against doctors and hospitals, raising the cost of health care and malpractice insurance and driving doctors out of business. He won a case by pretending to be a psychic.

The case involved filing a lawsuit on behalf of Jennifer Campbell, a victim of cerebral palsy. Because of her affliction, she could barely walk or speak. At the trial, as the New York Times put it, Edwards "recreated" her voice. In fact, he acted as a psychic channel for her thoughts and beliefs, telling a jury that she's "inside me and she's talking to you." The emotional ploy worked. The jury awarded $6.5 million.

The United Cerebral Palsy Association says the disorder is associated with the development of the brain, which starts in early pregnancy and continues until about age three. One risk factor, near the end of a long list of risk factors, is prolonged loss of oxygen during the birthing process.

Jill Lawrence of USA Today reported that the Campbell girl suffered from cerebral palsy "as a result of hospital personnel ignoring signs that she was in trouble in the womb…" That's what Edwards wanted the jury to believe. The implication is that the doctor should have delivered her earlier with a Caesarean operation. But if he had, she probably still would have developed cerebral palsy because the vast majority of cases has nothing to do with what a doctor or hospital does during delivery.

Marc Morano of CNS News cites evidence that Edwards relied on "junk science" in the cerebral palsy suits. Adam Liptak and Michael Moss of the New York Times put it somewhat differently, noting in a story last January that Edwards was accused "of relying on questionable science in his trial work." They noted that, in response to the legal judgments Edwards and other lawyers have won, doctors and hospitals are increasingly using fetal monitors to detect distress and resorting to Caesarean deliveries.

The Times reporters explained, however, that "…there is a growing medical debate over whether the changes have done more harm than good. Studies have found that the electronic fetal monitors now widely used during delivery often incorrectly signal distress, prompting many needless Caesarean deliveries, which carry the risks of major surgery. The rise in such deliveries, to about 26 percent today from 6 percent in 1970, has failed to decrease the rate of cerebral palsy, scientists say. Studies indicate that in most cases, the disorder is caused by fetal brain injury long before labor begins."

It can thus be argued that Edwards and other "Learjet lawyers" have been partly responsible for a dangerous increase in Caesarean deliveries. The dangers of this procedure, which is major abdominal surgery, include infertility and bladder injury for women. If he's truly for women's rights, as he claims, Edwards should be asked by the media whether his record of dubious lawsuits has put women in more danger.

The "Terrorism Expert"

Edwards' career as a trial lawyer has raised eyebrows. But Kerry's pick of Edwards as a running mate was truly shocking to those familiar with his record as a first-term North Carolina Senator with no chance of winning re-election. He did miserably in the Democratic presidential primaries because many saw him as not qualified to be president. When commentators noted that John Kerry himself had raised an alarm during the primary campaign about Edwards' lack of qualifications, the Washington Post came to the rescue.

On July 9, Robin Wright and Glenn Kessler of the Post wrote a story headlined, "Edwards Sets Self Apart on Foreign Policy," with the subheadline, "Terrorism Was Top Focus Before Sept. 11 Attacks." Suddenly, Edwards became a major foreign policy thinker who saw the terrorism problem coming. This story was undoubtedly why fellow Democratic Senator Mary Landrieu later declared on the ABC "This Week" program that Edwards was a "terrorism expert."

Wright and Kessler reported, "In the summer of 2001, when much of the Republican and Democratic policy community was obsessed with missile defense, Edwards urged more attention to terrorism. The North Carolina senator had such limited luck pitching an Op Ed article on terrorism to major newspapers that the piece, warning of poor cooperation among federal and local law enforcement, ended up in the weekly Littleton Observer, circulation 2,230—four weeks before the Sept. 11 attacks."

Notice the use of the word "obsessed." That's their way of saying that Washington was spending too much time on protecting America's homeland from missile attack. By contrast, the Post told us that John Edwards was way ahead of the curve on the issue of terrorism, which was to hit America hard on 9/11. The implication was that, if we'd only listened to John Edwards, 9/11 could have been avoided.

Wright and Kessler apparently figured no one would take the time to read that Op Ed, which appeared in the Littleton Observer on August 16, 2001. Yes, Edwards did warn of terrorism, as many had. But his article mostly had to do with security at seaports and attacks on computers, so-called cyber terrorism. There was nothing in the piece about airports or hijackers using planes as weapons. There was a statement about more cooperation among law enforcement agencies, but it also praised the FBI, which not only failed to stop 9/11 but has not solved the post-9/11 anthrax attacks. The piece concluded with a plug for a program at a North Carolina University.

This is the kind of column that members of the Senate and House regularly send out to their local papers. It carried the banner, "The People's Senator," which is how Edwards describes himself. It was designed to make the Senator look good to the home folks. Wright and Kessler were really stretching it when they cited this article as proof of Edward's national security credentials. If this is all they've got, Edwards is in real trouble.

Whoopi For Kerry-Edwards

The media's willingness to overlook the hard questions about the Kerry-Edwards ticket was evident in coverage of their $7 million New York fundraiser with Hollywood celebrities. The Washington Post said some of the entertainers "shocked the audience with raunchy remarks," but that Kerry said they represented "the heart and soul of America" Raunchy remarks? This is the paper that went out of its way to identify the "F" word that Vice President Dick Cheney used in a private conversation with Senator Patrick Leahy. But the Post was not quick to run editorials demanding that the Kerry-Edwards campaign release a videotape of the "raunchy remarks" so people could judge for themselves.

The liberal media shied away from the shocking details because they knew the story could help sink the Kerry-Edwards ticket. Defending these offensive remarks as "the heart and soul of America" is a gaffe comparable to former President Ford declaring that Eastern Europe was independent when it was under Soviet control.

The New York Post received a lot of criticism for falsely reporting that Kerry had picked Dick Gephardt as his running mate. But it was the New York Post that broke most of the details of the "raunchy" fundraiser, and these facts have turned out to be true in dramatic fashion. This became one of the biggest campaign stories yet because Kerry and Edwards have been traveling around the country claiming they're in touch with American values.

Reporting on the performance by Whoopi Goldberg, Deborah Orin of the Post said, "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." That last part didn't get Kerry off the hook, however, because he proceeded to say that Goldberg and the other performers represented the "heart and soul" of America. It was only later, when a firestorm erupted, that the Kerry campaign offered some mild criticism of the performers.

As Orin noted, "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." Kerry cannot claim he didn't know what might take place. Goldberg is known as vulgar and crude. She released a 1988 album, distributed by MCA, that included a rendition of the Star Spangled Banner with liberal use of the "F" word. The routine consists of Goldberg sprinkling profanity in the lyrics of the national anthem. It is so disgusting as to make a normal American sick to his or her stomach. But this was her idea of comedy.

The Kerry-Edwards fundraiser took place in New York, and New York Times reporter Jodi Wilgoren said it featured "off-color jokes" about Bush. We'll be waiting in vain for the Times and the rest of Big Media to call for the release of the tapes of the event. The media wanted to let the story die, realizing the dramatic impact these tapes could have. In this case, the public doesn't have a right to know.

SENATE HONORS SOVIET SPY

Under prodding from Senator Jeff Bingaman, the Senate of the United States on June 24 passed a resolution honoring a Soviet spy. You missed that development? We couldn't find any coverage, either. But it happened when Majority Leader Bill Frist brought to the floor a resolution (S. Res. 321) by Senator Bingaman to recognize the "loyal service" of J. Robert Oppenheimer of America's Manhattan project that produced the atomic bomb.

But Herbert Romerstein, a former professional staff member of the House Intelligence Committee and co-author of a book on Soviet espionage, The Venona Secrets, says, "There isn't any question that Oppenheimer was a traitor to the United States and doesn't deserve any of the honors that these people [in the Senate] want to give him."

Oppenheimer served as director of the Los Alamos laboratory during the development of the atomic bomb. Romerstein says we know he was a Soviet spy based on two valid sources. One is the American interception of communications by the Soviet intelligence service during World War II. The code name for that interception was Venona. They identify and describe the activities of Soviet agents. The second source is the Soviet spymaster Gen. Pavel Sudoplatov, who, when he fell out of favor with the Soviet establishment, wrote a letter to the then-head of the Soviet Communist Party, Yuri Andropov. Sudoplatov boasted about his achievements, including getting information on the U.S. atom bomb. One of the critical sources of information for the Soviets, Sudoplatov said, was J. Robert Oppenheimer. Sudoplatov had no reason to lie because he knew that Andropov could easily have verified this information.

Romerstein says there are not enough Venona intercepts to know exactly what Oppenheimer gave the Soviets, "except that they [the Soviets] were not in contact with people for frivolous reasons. They were in contact with members of the American Communist Party such as J. Robert Oppenheimer so those people could give them classified information. That's what they wanted and that's what they got."

So how and why did the Senate honor him? Romerstein, who worked on Capitol Hill for 18 years, notes that the resolution honoring Oppenheimer was passed by unanimous consent when it was likely that few Senators were even on the Senate floor. Out of the 100 Senators, he said, there probably aren't five of them who know anything about Oppenheimer. But that doesn't get Senator Bingaman off the hook. He calls Oppenheimer an "atomic patriot" and probably assured Frist that any questions about Oppenheimer had been resolved in his favor. Bingaman's office refused to return our telephone calls.

One factor may have been a controversial development that occurred during the Clinton administration, when a statement from FBI Director Louis Freeh was released, taking issue with the evidence that Oppenheimer had knowingly supplied classified information to the Soviets. However, this was before the Venona secrets were released, confirming Oppenheimer's espionage activity.

The Bingaman resolution doesn't just honor Oppenheimer's "loyal service." It directs the Secretary of Energy to observe the 100th anniversary of his birth "with appropriate ceremonies, activities, or programs at the Department of Energy and the Los Alamos National Laboratory." So taxpayer dollars are being directed toward an event designed to honor this traitor.

This may not bother Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham. He gave a speech last November hailing the "wizardry" of Oppenheimer and others "who shaped the course of World War II and gave us a nuclear deterrent that helped prevent global conflict during the Cold War."

He neglected to mention, of course, that Oppenheimer was also part of a group that betrayed our secrets to our enemies, making it a far more dangerous world in the decades to come.

Controversy followed Oppenheimer for decades. He lost his security clearance after the war amidst charges he was a communist—charges that he denied. Professor Gregg Herken, formerly of the Smithsonian Institution, says the evidence clearly shows that Oppenheimer lied about his Communist Party membership. But Herken is not convinced Oppenheimer spied for the Soviet Union. Two others, Professor Martin Sherwin and Kai Bird of The Nation magazine, who have written a forthcoming book on Oppenheimer, even dispute that he was a communist.

Romerstein says it is apparent that Herken doesn't understand the evidence that the Communist Party USA was a totally owned subsidiary of the Soviet Communist Party that received funding every year from KGB channels. The leadership of the party had the job of identifying those party members who would be useful to the Soviets for spying. And no Communist Party member contacted during World War II to spy for the Soviet Union turned them down. They all agreed to do so because "communists were Soviet patriots. They were not American patriots," he says.

The Nation magazine, Romerstein points out, is notorious for continuing to believe in the innocence of Alger Hiss, who was convicted of perjury for denying he was a Soviet spy and was the first acting secretary-general of the United Nations.

Efforts to clear the names of other traitors continue.

The Communist Party's People's Weekly World recently ran an interview with Robert Meeropol, son of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, who were convicted and executed for passing atomic secrets to the Soviet Union.

He declared, "I'm going to vote for Kerry"and that, "…I want Kerry to get as many votes as he possibly can…" He's voting for Kerry, he says, because "this cabal of Bush and his cronies are so dangerous…" He fears "right-wing domination" and an "authoritarian government" in the U.S.

Honoring A Convicted Felon

Meanwhile, a group of elected California Democrats, the California Asian Pacific Islander Caucus, honored convicted felon Wen Ho Lee, the former Los Alamos scientist who was accused of, but never charged with, spying on behalf of Communist China. He served nine months in jail.

Lee was eventually indicted on 59 counts of mishandling classified nuclear-weapons data. As former Energy Department intelligence chief Notra Trulock noted in an AIM Report, "The indictment followed the discovery that Lee had been transferring the equivalent of 400,000 pages of classified nuclear weapons information to an unclassified computer network and a set of portable magnetic tapes." The case was settled through a plea bargain in September 2001. Lee pled to one count of tampering with "restricted data"—nuclear weapons design information.

Former California legislator Howard Kaloogian warned against the liberal politicians passing any resolution in his honor on the floor of the state assembly. His "Move America Forward" organization said it was astonishing that politicians would have "no problems honoring an individual who…copied scores of classified material and U.S. secrets. Evidence still suggests Lee may have been involved with espionage activities to benefit China." As a result of the controversy, the liberal politicians decided to honor Lee with their "Profile in Courage" award at a private dinner in a hotel.

Regarding that additional evidence, Trulock points out that a federal prosecutor who reviewed the Clinton administration's handling of the case concluded there was sufficient "probable cause to believe that Wen Ho Lee was an agent of a foreign power, that is to say, a United States Person currently engaged in clandestine intelligence gathering activities for or on behalf of the PRC which activities might involve violations of the criminal laws of the United States…"

In view of this evidence, why would politicians honor Lee? They probably believe much of the press coverage about the case. Many in the media portrayed Lee as a tragic victim of the government, a victim of racism and ethnic profiling.

In a story defending Lee, L.A. Chung of the San Jose Mercury News brought up another controversial case: "Many years ago, I was assigned to write about Larry Chin, a former CIA analyst who had been convicted of spying. He committed suicide in jail two weeks after his conviction in 1986. I dutifully went to the Peninsula cemetery where his family had gathered…He was proud to be an American, his daughter said, and he thought he was doing some good for U.S.-China relations. In his obituary, he was of course reduced to the first American convicted of spying for China."

A communist spy who did good for America? That's what Bingaman seems to be saying about Oppenheimer. This is the kind of doubletalk that diverts attention from the continuing dangers posed by spies and traitors in our midst.

The problem was demonstrated yet again when Los Alamos announced in mid-July that it had lost two classified computer disks, the third time secret material had disappeared from there during the last eight months.

[berge]

Bob Schieffer and George Soros

CBS News chief Washington correspondent Bob Schieffer acted concerned, in a September 13th commentary, that rich people were abusing the campaign laws by funneling money to so-called 527 groups. Schieffer complained that, "One of the President's strongest supporters, Texas oil man Boone Pickens, had given the Swift Boat group a half million dollars" and "two other Bush supporters" chipped in more than $200,000 each. Then Schieffer added in passing that George Soros is a billionaire "financing millions of dollars of attack ads against President Bush…" Schieffer called these examples of "how the big money boys on both sides can find ways around the campaign laws and do it with the blessings of Congress."

It is apparent that what prompted Schieffer's concern was the less than one million dollars he identified as going to the Swift Boat ads against Kerry. But based on his own rather vague figure of "millions," the Soros money dwarfs anything spent by the Swift Boat vets. Indeed, it's much worse than he indicated. The members of the CBS News political unit had already done a compilation, based on a report in the Boston Phoenix, of what was called the "Dems' Dirty Dozen," who were using the 527s against Bush. At that time, according to this account, Soros alone had spent more than $12 million on 527s. Soros associate Peter Lewis had spent over $14 million on pro-Democrat 527s. Stephen Bing, linked by ABC News reporter Brian Ross to a mob figure, had spent over $8 million.

The Boston Phoenix article by David S. Bernstein noted that "more than $15 million of political advertising has run in the past three months, most of it bashing Bush, most of it in key battleground states—without costing the Kerry campaign a dime…it's probably a big reason why John Kerry entered July in a dead heat in the polls despite the tens of millions of dollars spent on negative advertising against him—and one of the reasons why Bush's favorability ratings are at an all-time low."

Bernstein said that today's "527 fever" is "predominantly liberal" and reflects what one political figure calls a "privatization of political activity." Washington Post columnist Harold Meyerson also wrote about this phenomenon, saying that the privatization of the Democratic Party was a positive development. And he thanked Soros for doing it.

Meyerson rejected suggestions from Republican House Speaker Dennis Hastert that Soros was getting money from mysterious foreign sources possibly connected to the illegal drug cartels. Soros, who favors legalization of hard drugs, strongly denied that connection and threatened to sue Hastert for suggesting it.

We don't know where Soros gets his money. We do know he runs an unregulated hedge fund that is based outside the jurisdiction of the Securities and Exchange Commission. We do know that Soros is reported to have invested in the narco-state of Colombia when the Drug Enforcement Administration was warning of drug money being laundered in the banks down there. We also know he was convicted of insider trading in France. Bob Schieffer should do a commentary on that.

[berge]

A Free Pass for "21st Century Lenin"
The major media are desperate to avoid scrutiny of how or where leftist billionaire George Soros is getting the tens of millions of dollars that he is using to finance anti-Bush advertising campaigns and pro-Democratic Party political efforts before the November 2 election.

The reluctance is partly explained by Soros' media ties. He has been an investor in the Times Mirror Company, which merged with the Tribune Company. This media conglomerate today publishes 13 daily newspapers, including the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Baltimore Sun, and Newsday. The company's broadcasting group includes 26 television stations.

But Soros is linked to literally dozens of other businesses and corporations, some of them off-shore and beyond the reach of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the federal agency that subjects American companies to disclosure and oversight.

On the face of it, Soros has acted in a deceptive manner. He promoted passage of the McCain-Feingold campaign reform law, supposedly to restrict the ability of special interest groups to influence the race for the White House. But he then took advantage of a notorious loophole in the law through which he has provided massive funding of controversial "527" organizations, designated as such under the Internal Revenue Code. These groups can receive and spend unlimited amounts of money on the presidential contest. They are required to report their expenditures but their funders, such as Soros, are under no obligation to identify where their money is coming from. This opens the door to foreign money and foreign manipulation of the U.S. presidential election.

It could be "Chinagate" all over again.

The Republicans, supposedly the party of "fat cats" and Big Business, are being vastly outspent in this area.

Much of the background and history of Soros, who emigrated to the U.S., is not known. His fortune was made through manipulation of international financial markets and foreign currencies, a field that is still largely unregulated. He has controversial investments in places like Colombia, where the banks have been penetrated by drug cartels eager to launder their drug money.

Though he is frequently described by the media as a "philanthropist," Connie Bruck in a 1995 New Yorker article described a different side to Soros, a "threatening" side. "He is portrayed as someone who has always tended to live by his own rules, and will change those when it suits him; who can be offended if a leader of a country where he is involved philanthropically is insufficiently subservient; who will consort with an autocratic regime in order to see his programs carried out; and who is intent on imposing his influence generally on an ever-expanding area of the world," she said.

Known as "the man who almost broke the Bank of England," Soros engaged in a complex financial transaction that resulted in the Bank of England losing billions of dollars defending the British pound before having to devalue it. He is essentially a manipulator of money, able to bet that currencies of nations will rise or fall while he makes billions in the process. The Soros Quantum Fund is registered offshore, based in the Netherlands Antilles, and closed to U.S. citizens and residents. However, Soros, who became an American citizen, "managed to make himself an exception," Bruck reported.

Soros Breaks Nations

Such financial operations devalue national currencies, undermining the retirement savings and pensions of ordinary people. To atone for the damage he has done to the global financial system, Soros has endorsed a "Tobin tax," named after a Yale University economist, to regulate and tax the international currency markets. The proceeds, amounting to billions or even trillions of dollars, would go to international agencies such as the U.N. But this tax would affect the pensions, savings accounts, IRAs, and mutual funds of ordinary Americans who also trade currencies and make investments abroad.

It is possible that Soros could use his wealth and power to speculate against the dollar in order to destabilize the U.S. economy in the weeks before the presidential election

Nevertheless, at the far-left "Take Back America" forum in June, Soros was photographed greeting Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, who introduced him to the group. She told the crowd that, "we need people like George Soros, who is fearless and willing to step up when it counts."

At the 2004 conference of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), Ethan Nadelmann of the Soros-funded Drug Policy Alliance was asked about his association with Soros and the billionaire's attempt to put Kerry in the White House. The questioner asked, "Are we going to get some Supreme Court justices out this?" Nadelmann modestly answered, "We will see," and cautioned that it may be difficult to deliver "all the goods."

The "goods" include creation of a system under which government and corporations would legalize, dispense and advertise hard drugs, much like tobacco or alcohol, and even supply addicts with needles and drug paraphernalia. This campaign would be sold as an effort to reduce the harm associated with the criminal use of narcotics but it would undoubtedly increase the use of drugs and make more people, especially children, into drug addicts.

Nadelmann advises young people to be open about their marijuana smoking, saying, "Take the chance and come out of the closet about your drug use. The transformation in the way homosexuals are treated in the United States was due to the fact that they came out...Well, sixty or seventy million Americans have smoked marijuana. One day there should be a national tell-mom-and-dad-I-smoke-pot day! Or tell your kids! That type of thing can make a huge difference."

Ann Druyan told the NORML conference that "responsible marijuana smokers" have to act politically this year. She spoke about her "lifetime of smoking marijuana" and how the "sacred drug" had "enhanced my 20-year marriage to my husband," the late Carl Sagan. Asked for her political presidential preference, she said, "Anybody but Bush. Kerry."

It is significant that Soros picked Aryeh Neier, a former national director of the ACLU, to run his Open Society Institute (OSI). It was Neier who admits persuading Soros to fund a range of "drug-policy activities." The ACLU itself favors the legalization of all drugs—even heroin and crack cocaine—and opposes virtually all measures taken to curtail drug use.

A confidential report prepared for groups opposed to the Soros agenda of legalized drugs states that Soros wants to become the "Shadow President" of the U.S. and that John Kerry will "sit on Soros' lap and take his wishes into account—since it is Soros' money that has made him president." That will translate into influence for Soros domestically and internationally, since he strongly opposes the Bush policy of preemptive U.S. action against terrorists and hostile regimes.

Defending Soros

Speaking for the Soros apologists in the media, Paul Krugman of the New York Times in a September 3 column acted horrified that House Speaker Dennis Hastert had suggested that Soros was getting money from "drug groups" and from mysterious "overseas" sources.

To Krugman, Hastert was suggesting that Soros was being funded by illegal drug cartels, and this was a subject that wasn't even worth considering. Krugman was also offended by former House Speaker Newt Gingrich's suggestion that Soros wants to spend $75 million to defeat Bush "because Soros wants to legalize heroin."

Ignoring his well-documented funding of the drug legalization move-ment, Krugman con-veniently forgot to mention that Soros' investments include a major stake in Banco de Colombia, one of Colombia's biggest banks. Soros purchased his interest in the bank at a time when the Drug Enforcement Administration, in its study, "Colombian Economic Reform: The Impact on Drug Money Laundering within the Colombian Economy," was documenting how major drug kingpins were taking advantage of the liberalization of the economy to put illicit drug revenue into legitimate businesses. The report stated: "U.S. and Colombian Government authorities have evidence of drug proceeds being deposited in every major bank in Colombia... A Colombian source indicated that many banks and businesses are owned covertly by principal members of the Cali cartel."

Krugman described Soros merely as someone who has been busy "promoting democracy around the world." This is a formulation that appears frequently in the pro-Soros press.

But Soros' limited funding of anti-communist movements during the Cold War pales in comparison to his frightening transformation into a "neo-Marxist" who favors a socialist one-world government, to quote Jeffrey T. Kuhner, a writer and commentator whose work has appeared in the Washington Times, Investor's Business Daily, and The Ripon Forum, a magazine representing liberal Republicans. The magazine labeled Soros "The Lenin of the 21st Century."

Kuhner says that the billionaire, who has a kooky "messiah complex" and wants to run the world, has become "a ferocious critic of the war in Iraq" who believes that America has "degenerated into a militaristic fascist empire."

In an interview with AIM, Kuhner expressed alarm that the so-called "mainstream media" have largely ignored the financial role of Soros in the election campaign while devoting an excessive amount of coverage to a small group, Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, that is running anti-Kerry ads. The media have given Soros "a free pass," he says.

While officials of the Democratic Party are attacking the Swift Boat veterans and even attempting to censor their anti-Kerry commercials, financed by average $64 donations, Kuhner said Republican officials have been timid in telling the story of how Soros is "almost single-handedly bankrolling the Democratic Party" with millions of dollars and has "a dangerous far-left agenda."

Tens of millions of dollars from Soros have gone to MoveOn.org, Americans Coming Together, and the Center for American Progress. MoveOn.org is the group that posted a political commercial comparing President Bush to Hitler. Soros himself made the same comparison and then denied that he had done so.

In addition to legalizing drugs, the Soros agenda includes open borders, euthanasia, further restrictions on the second amendment right to keep and bear arms, and homosexual and abortion rights.

Kuhner adds, "The liberal media are playing a very dangerous game. They desperately want to get Kerry elected and they will do whatever it takes, even if it means looking away from his controversial sources of funding."

Kuhner says the media should be asking Kerry a simple question—whether he agrees with the Soros agenda. "Kerry has never once said anything bad or negative about George Soros," he points out. The question posed on the cover of Kuhner's Ripon Forum magazine is whether Kerry would become a Soros "puppet."

There is no question that the insidious groups pushing acceptance of illegal drugs want to see Bush defeated. The September/October issue of High Times magazine, which is dedicated to glorifying illegal drugs, has an article, "10 Reasons to Get Rid of Bush." One of the reasons cited was, "No legalization of pot [marijuana]" under Bush.

Soros is also underwriting attempts to enlist ex-cons and felons to vote for the Kerry-Edwards ticket. Chris Uggen, the most prominent national advocate of allowing ex-cons to vote, has been a research fellow at the Soros Foundation's Open Society Institute (OSI). He believes that "felon disenfranchisement" prevented Al Gore from winning the 2000 presidential election and the Democrats from picking up seven U.S. Senate seats.

In the campaign to assist those who commit crimes against Americans, a Soros grant was given to Linda Evans, who was pardoned by Bill Clinton for her involvement in the Weather Underground terrorist group. The Baltimore, Maryland, branch of the OSI on May 12 hosted Bernardine Dohrn, another former member of the Weather Underground, at a forum on criminal justice issues. Dohrn, today is an associate professor and director at Northwestern University's Children and Justice Center.

On the August 29 edition of Fox News Sunday, Speaker Dennis Hastert attempted to bring up the subject of Soros and his mysterious money.

Referring to the millions of dollars that Soros has provided to controversial "527" groups which can spend unlimited amounts of money to defeat Bush, Hastert said that "we don't know where the money comes from" and that, "For all we know, funding for some of the 527s might come from foreign sources or worse."

Hastert said, "You know, I don't know where George Soros gets his money. I don't know where—if it comes from overseas or from drug groups or where it comes from." This came in response to host Chris Wallace asking, "You think he may be getting money from the drug cartel?"

After Soros demanded an apology from Hastert and threatened a libel suit over the remarks, Hastert responded, "I never implied that you were a criminal and I never would, that's not my style." Hastert said "drug groups" was a reference to Soros' involvement in the international drug legalization movement, including organizations such as the Drug Policy Alliance and the Andean Council of Coca Leaf Producers (CAPHC), a group favoring legal cultivation of coca. Mark Falcoff of the American Enterprise Institute describes CAPHC as "a front organization for the coca growers that supply drug traffickers with the raw materials they need to produce cocaine."

Jonathan E. Kaplan of The Hill newspaper, which is influential on Capitol Hill, tried to get Soros off the hook by stating, "Documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) say that no company official in Soros's investment fund is involved in a criminal proceeding or a party to a civil proceeding."

But this presents a misleading picture of Soros and his alleged involvement in questionable activities. Kaplan neglected to point out that Soros was convicted of insider trading in France, and that Connie Bruck reported in her 1995 New Yorker article that Soros had been fined $75,000 by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

What's more, Kaplan's defense of Soros ignores his affiliation with off-shore entities operating outside of SEC jurisdiction.

Legally, of course, Soros can promote acceptance of illegal activities. For his involvement in the campaign to legalize drugs, he has been labeled the "Daddy Weedbucks" of the movement by a drug culture magazine.

Soros favors a plan whereby governments would legalize drugs and then tax, control and distribute them. There would have to be an official infrastructure in place to finance drug production and distribution and handle the enormous profits that will be made from legalization. Legalization will not eliminate drug profits, it will only transfer them to government and "legitimate" industries. Soros could be poised to invest in those industries and companies.

It is noteworthy that the Soros-supported Drug Policy Alliance supports "marijuana clubs" currently dispensing the drug, supposedly on "medical" grounds. The federal government has tried to close down these clubs—a policy that could change if Kerry is elected. Several states have passed "medical marijuana" initiatives, attempting to provide the drug under the cover of treating illnesses. Kerry is a supporter of "medical marijuana" and believes in "responsible" drug use.

While an ingredient of marijuana (marinol) has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for medical use, it is ridiculous and dangerous to assume that smoking the marijuana plant, which has even more carcinogens than tobacco, is beneficial. The use of marijuana has been linked to mental problems and even mental illness.

But the "medical marijuana" campaign shows how Soros has successfully used his wealth and power for political purposes.

Deception

When Soros got involved in the effort to legalize narcotics, he instructed his followers to target "a few winnable issues," such as the "medical marijuana" issue. Notes of a forum on "media strategies" held in November 1992 are extremely revealing. "Don't talk legalization," the notes say. Activists were told to avoid admitting they favor legalization because "only 10%—15% of the people favor legalization." Instead, it was advised that they argue against "prohibition" of drugs and "paint ridiculous extremes" by claiming that there are too many people in jail for drug offenses and too much money is being spent on drug prosecutions. Also, they are supposed to focus on the plight of "drug prisoners" wasting away in prison.

Typically, they present the current "war on drugs" as draconian, a huge waste of money and a threat to civil liberties. Legalization is then presented, usually couched in terms of reducing the harm associated with illegal use and procurement of drugs. The audience is never presented with a third option—eradication of drug crops at home and abroad, tougher sentences for users and dealers, and more drug testing.

The next wave of pro-drug legalization propaganda is already in motion, an emphasis on the "human rights" of alleged drug users and traffickers. Ethan Nadelmann told High Times magazine that he "arranged" for Soros to provide $450,000 to Human Rights Watch "for their first-ever project on the abuses of the War on Drugs worldwide." One Human Rights Watch report examined charges that the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) was complicit in a campaign by the Bolivian police to violate the human rights of drug traffickers.

In the U.S., the Soros campaign to legalize drugs has had a great assist from the Hollywood left. At the 2004 NORML conference, Allen St. Pierre of the NORML Foundation described how various U.S. television programs "have previewed marijuana in a way ultimately positive." He named them as ER, Chicago Hope, the Practice, Sybil, Murphy Brown, Sports Night, Becker, West Wing, Roseanne, Sex in the City, Six Feet Under, Whoopi, Montel, That 70s Show, and the Larry David Show. "These shows are seen by tens of millions of people," he said. "So that's what it's so crucial that we're able to capture—and to demonstrate the change in—culture."

Today, Soros and his allies in NORML and other such organizations stand on the verge of achieving national political power. Their success could mean a radical change in the nation's anti-drug policy.

[berge]

you should not be surprised......anyone can post any kind of nonsensical theories on the web...and someone will always take it as hard fact...people choose to believe what fits their template.....I've posted silly theories from the right to match the silly theories from the left....but I know if I oppose Whoopi Goldberg, Alec Baldwin, Michael Moore, Barbra Streisand, Teddy Kennedy, etc,...I am doing the correct thing...have a pleasant weekend yourself

[janetcanada]

why I am not sourprise berge ????????.........

Have a plaisent week-end

janet

[berge]

it would be like someone posting on a website that democrats are pro-child molestation...and then someone posting it here as news.....it's plain stupidity...only a moron of the lowest degree reads that crap and buys into it.....eat the pudding...your spaceship is waiting for you

[berge]

LOLOL....Mad magazine editorial?...crackpots and conspiracy theorists...loony bin with a website

[janetcanada]

Posted by: ThatHawaiiGuy
In reply to: None Date:10/8/2004 6:02:04 PM
Post #of 3980

NO WMDS!!!!!! ARE YOU ANGRY YET?

You should be! You've been lied to. Your tax money has been taken from you and spent under false pretenses. Your children have been sent off to kill and be killed in an illegal war launched without Congressional approval. You who fought in the war and think you came back home healthy, well, you've been lied to as well. Your health is all downhill from here (ask any Vet from Desert Storm), and your children will have a higher incidence of birth defects because that depleted uranium isn't as harmless as you were told it was. And those VA medical benefits you were promised? That was a lie too. Are you angry yet?

And those of you who sold your better judgment for a free hot-dog and a flag at a Clear Channel sponsored pro-Bush rally, well, you were lied to as well, and worse, made to look totally stupid before the rest of the world. The media which walked right past peace demonstrations to video tape the Clear Channel party plastered your face across the TV sets of the planet, waving your flag and shouting "Sig WMD! Sig WMD" and singing "Dubya Dubya Uber Alles" or something to that effect. And here you stand now, with egg on your collective faces, finally facing up to what your more intelligent neighbors knew all along; There were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Bush made a total fool of you. The whole world is laughing at you. Those lacking the courage to admit they were wrong will no doubt descend into the ranks of fanatical "true believers", ready to drink the Kool-Aid for his highnessness der Dubyer. For the rest of you brave enough to admit you were fooled, are you angry yet?

And for you Congressional types reading this web site (and I know that many of you do), Bush made total jackasses out of you as well. Under the Constitution, which you are sworn to uphold, only Congress can declare war. Changing the name to "police action" or "battle" does not get you off of the hook. When our army marches into another nation to take it over, that's a war by any meaningful definition of the word. So, you passed a bill that authorized the President to send in the military to Iraq, but ONLY if the President could prove that Saddam was hiding weapons of mass destruction in defiance of UN Resolution 1441. The President said he had proof, and you did not check him on it. And now that the world knows that the President did not actually have any such proof, the world knows that the US Congress failed in their job. You were had, used, swindled, conned, etc. Bush bypassed you. He got his illegal war right past you. The President has made the entire Congress look like weak and impotent idiots and fools before the rest of the world for not exercising due diligence over a serious matter like war. Are you angry yet?

Our media has tried to teach us all that hate and anger are bad. Anger must be "managed". Hate of any and all kinds must be suppressed. Well, I am here to tell you that certain hates and angers are not only justified, they are essential. I hate drug dealers, don't you? I hate liars, don't you? You're a sucker if you don't. I hate spies who use deception to trick our nation into doing things it ought not to be doing. Hate and anger helped drive the British out of the colonies 1776. Hate and anger fueled the victory of WW2, which is why Bush, with his lies, tried to trick us all (or at least the gullible ones) into hating and being angry at a designated target for invasion.

I am very angry. #$%^#%$ anger management, I am pissed off! And if you carry any of the blood of those who made this nation what it is today you have to be angry too. You should be angry. You must be angry. Because right now there is a battle about to start over whether this nation will continue to be ruled by those who lie, or whether the liars will be kicked out. Whether we will have honest government or not. Whether we will be slaves to liars, or free citizens with honorable and respectful and fair government.

Be angry. Be very angry. Hate liars. Focus your anger on them. Drive them from office and from the media. There is no other choice but permanent servitude.

http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/angryyet.html



9/11 - ARE AMERICANS THE VICTIMS OF A HOAX?

The time has come to stop using the flag as a blindfold, to stop waving our guns and our gods at each other, to take a close look at the facts which have emerged from the attacks on the World Trade Towers and to recognize the very real possibility, indeed probability, that We The People are the victims of a gigantic and deadly hoax.

http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/hoax.html

[ottoman]

Bush: and how about that Dred Scott statement?

BUSH: Another example would be the Dred Scott case, which is where judges, years ago, said that the Constitution allowed slavery because of personal property rights.

That's a personal opinion. That's not what the Constitution says. The Constitution of the United States says we're all -- you know, it doesn't say that. It doesn't speak to the equality of America.

Well, at least we know that if Bush is re-elected, he WONT re institute slavery! What a dumbass!!!! And I'm as far from a friggin liberal there is.

[ottoman]

2nd Presidential Debate: Your Opinions

I don't know which debate most of the pundits where watching, but at the worst (for Bush) they were saying he was so much better, it was close to a tie, not sure if there is a clear winner....and at best....Bush won hands down.

In no way am I a liberal or Democrat!! I have become so much more conservative over the last several years...But I thought once again Bush looked like an uneducated, bungling, temper-driven, word-butchering, idiot!!

Just on style and appearance this is what I saw:

1) Bush seemed to almost loose his temper several times answering questions.
2)Interrupted the moderator Charles Gibson while aggitated.
3) Mistakingly referred to Sen Kerry as Sen Kennedy
4) called the internet the internets (outta touch mr President?)
5) when Bush was responding to Kerry saying he owned a timber co. Bush said "I own a timber co?" then it's like he completely lost what he was gonna say...and just stood there. Finally to break the silence said..."anybody want any wood?" You could feel the tension in the audience.

I know these things are kinda expected of Bush, not being the best public speaker(shouldn't our president be a good speaker?) but for the pundits to say "wow Bush kicked ass" is WAY off target.

And I HATE tamborine-playing, hackysack-kicking, face-painting, environmental-extremist liberals!

[m_h13021]

Interesting image.....



[Suppressed Sound Link]

[berge]

let's all hope this keeps up http://www.electoral-vote.com/

[skunksyard]

berge...I don't believe she drinks anymore....she's a sharp woman

[berge]

it's nice they keep a drunk old broad off the street....but to have her represent your party in any way....you may as well have that low life sot Teddy Kennedy......I doubt he ever worked an HONEST day in his life

[berge]

she'a a senile idiot...

[skunksyard]

oh I think she has great incites and opinions

[berge]

ann richards is a nasty foul-mouthed burned out old hag...and that's the nice stuff I have to say about her

[skunksyard]

and I love Ann Richards...just tell it like it is

[skunksyard]

Art2...we'll wait for the results....Edwards did well....

[Art2Gecko]

Good luck spinning it.. Edwards got slaughtered.

[berge]

he drifted all over the place...

[skunksyard]

berge...if you run the gw/dc talks the past 6 months they could use the same movie...they talk the same thing over and over and over. The only thing I heard Edwards repeat from Kerry was how many more we lost in September than August, August than July, etc...although that is an important point to emphasize

[skunksyard]

berge...he stayed on issues...

[berge]

I must have missed that part...he was a snotty, repetitive, annoying little kid at best...lots of promises......but overall, a bad joke....I can't believe he ever won a case...but most of that is actually decided by selecting idiots for jurys, and they have firms that do that

[skunksyard]

berge...Edwards is strong...in tune with your average American...DC just can't relate to the average American..nice guy but right now we need jobs/health care/and no Iraq...

I'm for a change.....I was never for this group to begin with

[berge]

???he can't stay on topic...he's a joke at best...promising "no homework" "free pizza"...it's like a 6th grade candidate....scary thought if he EVER got into the White House........are you watching the same debate??