The whole point in overthrowing Saddam Hussein was to achieve those large possibilities right in the center of the Muslim world, where the ripples might lead in every direction.

Will the Anti-Extremist Opposition Lead?

By PAUL BERMAN
Published: April 15, 2004

The war in Iraq may end up going well or catastrophically, but either way, this war has always been central to the broader war on terror. That is because terror has never been a matter of a few hundred crazies who could be rounded up by the police and special forces. Terror grows out of something larger — an enormous wave of political extremism.

The wave began to swell some 25 years ago and by now has swept across a big swath of the Muslim world. The wave is not a single thing. It consists of several movements or currents, which are entirely recognizable. These movements draw on four tenets: a belief in a paranoid conspiracy theory, according to which cosmically evil Jews, Masons, Crusaders and Westerners are plotting to annihilate Islam or subjugate the Arab people; a belief in the need to wage apocalyptic war against the cosmic conspiracy; an expectation that, post-apocalypse, the Islamic caliphate of ancient times will re-emerge as a utopian new society; and a belief that, meanwhile, death is good, and should be loved and revered.

A quarter century ago, some of the extremist movements pictured the coming utopia in a somewhat secular light, and others in a theocratic light. These differences, plus a few other quarrels, led to hatred and even war, like the one between Iran and Iraq. The visible rivalries left an impression in some people's minds that nothing tied together these sundry movements.

American foreign policy acted on that impression, and tried to play the movements against one another, and backed every non-apocalyptic dictator who promised to keep the extremists under control. The American policy was cynical and cruel. It did nothing to prevent those sundry movements and dictators from committing murders on a gigantic scale.

Nor did the policy produce anything good for America, in the long run. For the sundry movements did share a common outlook, which ought to have been obvious all along — the paranoid and apocalyptic outlook of European fascism from long ago, draped in Muslim robes. These movements added up to a new kind of modern totalitarianism. And, in time, the new totalitarianism found its common point, on which everyone could agree. This was the shared project of building the human bomb. The Shiite theocrats of Iran pioneered the notion of suicide terror. And everyone else took it up: Sunni theocrats, Baathist anti-theocrats of Iraq and Syria, the more radical Palestinian nationalists, and others, too.

The Sept. 11 attacks came from a relatively small organization. But Al Qaeda was a kind of foam thrown up by the larger extremist wave. The police and special forces were never going to be able to stamp out the Qaeda cells so long as millions of people around the world accepted the paranoid and apocalyptic views and revered suicide terror. The only long-term hope for tamping down the terrorist impulse was to turn America's traditional policies upside down, and come out for once in favor of the liberal democrats of the Muslim world. This would mean promoting a counter-wave of liberal and rational ideas to combat the allure of paranoia and apocalypse.

Some people argue that anti-totalitarian revolutions can never be brought about from outside. The history of World War II says otherwise. Some people respond with the observation that Germany, Italy and Japan are nothing like the Muslim world. In Afghanistan, the American-led invasion has nonetheless brought about an anti-totalitarian revolution. A pretty feeble revolution, true — but even feeble progress suggests large possibilities.

The whole point in overthrowing Saddam Hussein, from my perspective, was to achieve those large possibilities right in the center of the Muslim world, where the ripples might lead in every direction. Iraq was a logical place to begin because, for a dozen years, the Baathists had been shooting at American and British planes, and inciting paranoia and hatred against the United States, and encouraging the idea that attacks can successfully be launched against American targets, and giving that idea some extra oomph with the bluff about fearsome weapons. The Baathists, in short, contributed their bit to the atmosphere that led to Sept. 11. Yet Iraq could also boast of liberal democrats and some admirable achievements in the Kurdish north, which meant there were people to support, and not just to oppose. Such were the hopes.  source...
Name:   General Haq
To:   Ernie & Fan

Re:   Happy? Whatever blows your dress up, Ernie.
In response to:
Scotty's HOT!!

Message:
You are a pastey whiteboy with a soft belly, wide rump, short fingers with clean fingernails, and a little Virgina Slimms teeter. You passionately collect obituaries and you have the autographs of every mortician within 500 miles of your mom's place where you live.

She jokes with her bridge club that she doesn't know whether you or the damned cat smells up the house the worst. She plays a lot of bridge to escape the cat-smell and the Barry Manilow and Culture Club that you keep playing constantly on your Wal Mart price leader sound system.

Name:   Accountatn Alfonso
To:   Linda Gergio

In response to:
Adjusted Gross Income: $11,911.35 Tax $726.00 Can anybody explain why an American working a crappy job while going to college and earning well under the poverty line is paying a dime in taxes?

Message:
Question by Lovely and gracious Miss Gergio:

Where's my tax cut? How messed up is this country that a guy making less than $10 an hour while paying cash for college is paying $60.50 per month, a little over $2 a day to the Federal Government that does nothing for me except tell me what I'm not allowed to do? I don't even want to see the bill after I get a degree and start earning some real money!

You did not state what forms you used. It appears that you filed a one-page Ezy Form and claimed only yourself. If only you could have been somebody's dependent as an under 26 student, even if not actually at home with parents.

When one files as a single, only one exemption may be claimed and no "Unearned Income Credit" or "Head of Household".

Name:   Cadres of U.N. Weenies
Re:   Iraq: A different sort of Madrassah to come!
In response to:
We must provide them abortion on demand, homosexual sensitivity training, progressive taxation, and affirmative action at once!

Message:
We are ready to go in and take over just as soon as the American Cowboys get rid of the bad guys with guns. We will convert Iraq into a model Progressive/Socialist/Humanist welfare state.

We will contrive to tax the U.S. to support our model Socialist/Humanist state and we will provide the Iraqi oil to the Red Chinese and use the revenue to further Global Socialism/Humanism!

Name:   Southern Slouth
To:   Orion and millions of Wierd Al Fans

Re:   Condolences on the Loss of Your Parents, Al, We love u
In response to:
Orion posted this (Excerpted) letter to be read in full on genius fabulous entertainer, Wierd Al's website. I once bought "Yank" Yankovic's Greatest Hits for a "bohemian" uncle of mine. Unfortunately for my uncle, I played it a few times. I kept it for myself. Besides he later told me that keshka was creme in his Slavic language not a sausage! Thus, "Who Stole the Keshka?" would have left him scratching his head.

TO "Orion": I used to play your album "Orion" when I was a disc jockey. The mask was a touch of mystery since you may have wanted listeners to think you Mysterious and conceal ...

Message:
Al Yankovic stated on his web site: (excerpt)

Many people have wondered what’s going to happen with the tour. I briefly considered canceling some shows, but I ultimately decided that it would be better for me personally to continue working. Plus, I’ve heard from so many people over the years that my music has cheered them up in times of tragedy… well, I thought maybe my music would help me too.

So far, it has. Going up on stage in front of thousands of supportive fans is a cathartic and somewhat therapeutic experience for me right now. I don’t know if I can say that the concerts really take my mind off of the tragedy, but at least they give me a break from sobbing all the time.

Anyway, I have decided not to cancel any shows - the tour will continue as planned. However, I have decided to put a moratorium on all interviews and meet-and-greets for the time being - I just feel like I need some time alone right now.

Name:   Angelo Quadruped
Re:   Alligators snapping at piroges
In response to:
keshka

Message:
Is "kishka", no? I thought it was a sauasage.

Name:   =
To:   Sucks to be a Liberal

In response to:
TERESA FIGHTS TO KEEP HER TAX RETURNS PRIVATE; HEINZ ASSETS USED TO BOOST CAMPAIGN (Drudge)

Message:
Awwwwwww....too bad.

Kerry's Ketchup Kunt is getting a taste of her own liberal medicine....awwwwwww.

Name:   Money Mag Test CPA
To:   Filers of Income Tax

Re:   Feel Shafted?Vote 4 people who will fight Income Tax!
In response to:
I made 11,911.35 and paid a lot of tax. Crappy job, big tax bite on scrawny pickyuny pay. If I'm Hawaiian, only get 32 hour week, no benefits. Some "poor" people work only until they have $9,000 or so then vacation the rest of the year and in their reasoning, break even! The tax structure seems to peanalyze them for earning more, and they know how much they will earn if they work "on the books", i/e.officially."

Message:
If you think 54,000 + pages of federal income tax code is too much to read, stick to the booklet provided. Back politicians who favor flat rate or sales tax. We should flush the current tax code like so much fecal matter that it is. It is "cruel and unusual punishment" to expect American citizens to read and understand accounting which confuses and befuddles the best accounting minds in the country. Supreme Court listen up! If you think Americans are angry and hurt about illegal aliens, read your mail about the income tax! Unfortunately, the US Congress which derives much power from taxation, exempts its own members from much taxation and rules, and rides the tax beast, refuses to consider giving Joe American a break. Don't expect even a year trial of an intelligent solution to this mess. There is no end to the National Debt Fiscal Insanity. Doing away with the cumbersome unfair income tax in favor of 17% sales tax would break the chains!

Name:   Abdul Saleeb
To:   my say on forum

Re:   I still feel the same
In response to:
Muslims are evil, I tell you, EVIL!

Message:
A Muslim Looks at Muhammad and Jesus The Story of Abdul Saleeb

Email article to a friend

My name is "Abdul Saleeb." I was born and raised in a Muslim country in the Middle East. Even though I lived in a very conservative Muslim society, I grew up in a somewhat of a liberal Muslim family. Furthermore, my Muslim upbringing was unique due to my mother's serious involvement in Islamic sufism. So I can honestly confess that I have had first-hand experience of every aspect of contemporary Islamic movements. I personally did not consider myself very religious. At one point I even turned to ideologies thinking that they could provide real solutions to my country's social ills. However, throughout all this time I never doubted the fundamentals of my religious faith. I thought of Islam as a faith with such high ideals that I did not consider myself worthy of the name Muslim but I wholeheartedly believed that Islam was God's last and most perfect religion for all mankind, based on God's final revelation, the Qur'an, and the prophet Muhammad, God's seal of prophethood. My view of other religions (especially Judaism and Christianity) was that although they were fundamentally the same since they had all been revealed by one God, they were all inferior to Islam because all of them had to various degrees corrupted the original message of their founding prophets, something that we as Muslims have not done.

My religious views were radically challenged when I left my country because of its civil turmoil and went to Europe for the continuation of my studies. By the providence of God and because of various circumstances, I ended up enrolling in an International Christian School.

A question I once asked my teacher revolutionized my worldview. I asked, "How come your word of God says one thing and our word of God says something different?" My teacher, not knowing much about Islam at all, gently asked, "How do you know the Qur'an is the word of God?" I was taken aback by that response. I had lived in a world in which everyone simply presupposed that the Qur'an was dictated word for word by God to the Prophet Muhammad and no one ever questioned that assumption. That brief encounter forced me to start on a journey, engage my Christian friends in hours of cordial discussion and debate about the truthfulness of the Christian faith.

Like almost any other Muslim, my original reaction to the claims of Christians about Jesus Christ was that of utter shock. These claims not only seemed like plain blasphemy but also quite nonsensical. How could any rational being believe such things about an honored prophet of God? Despite my fundamental theological differences with my friends, there was something about their life and faith that impressed me a great deal. There was a sincerity in their relationship with God and with other people that I had not encountered. So I would often tell them that I did not want to deny their faith but I just wanted to find a compromise so that I could hold to the truth of Islam and they could continue to hold to their faith.

However, I was in no doubt that their belief about Jesus was based on statements that the prophet Jesus had never actually claimed for himself. My difficulty in understanding Christian belief was very much along the lines that have historically separated Islam from Christianity.

I did not grant in any way that the Bible, especially the New Testament documents, were reliable when it came to reporting the words of Christ. Anything in the Bible that disagreed with the Qur'an was automatically rejected as being a corrupt teaching in the Bible.

My spiritual journey went on for months. Oftentimes I did find comfort in the Qur'an, but I was encountering more questions in that book than answers. For example, the violent tone of many of the Qur'anic passages (especially against the unbelievers but also against the Jewish and Christian people) began to bother me, when compared with the emphasis on love in the New Testament. One particular passage that troubled me, especially in light of my good friendship with many Christians, was in Sura 5:51.

"O ye who believe! Take not Jews and Christians for your friends and protectors; they are but friends and protectors to each other. And he amongst you that turns to them (for friendship) is of them. Verily God guideth not a people unjust."

However, the most troubling section of the Qur'an had to do with the character of the prophet Muhammad himself. According to Sura 33:37, God sanctions Muhammad's desire to marry the divorced wife of his own stepson, "in order that (in future) there may be no difficulty to the believers in (the matter of) marriage with the wives of their adopted sons, when the latter have dissolved with the necessary (formality) (their marriage) with them. And God's command must be fulfilled."

I vivdly remember the first time that I came across that verse in my study of the Qur'an. I began to sob with great sorrow and shame. All my life I had been told that Muhammad was the most perfect and ideal moral example for mankind and yet the Qur'an had a good number of examples of how the "revelations" could be so self-serving to the prophet himself!

I immediately wrote a letter to my mother back home with some of these troubling questions that I was encountering. The response that I received to my letter from one of the most prominent religious leaders in my country was that I should just continue my secular studies and not focus too much on religion. On the other hand, as my understanding of the Bible was increasing many of my questions were beginning to get answered. Even as a Muslim I came to believe that the crucifixion of Christ was an undisputable historical fact that no honest person that deals with evidences of history could deny.

The character of Christ himself, as manifested for example in his beautiful Sermon on the Mount, was gradually making a great impression on me. But for me the most impressive factor about Christ was the multitude of Old Testament prophecies about the coming of the Messiah. Some of these prophecies were so specific and they were fulfilled in the life of Jesus to such a detail that it amazed me to see how God had taken hundreds of years of Jewish history to prepare the coming of the Messiah; prophecies ranging from Messiah's ancestery, his manner and place of birth, his life and ministry to the circumstances surrounding his death by crucifixion. I was very attracted to Christ and yet I could not deny my own tradition and past. Becoming Christian seemed a definite betrayal of my own family and Islamic heritage. The tension in my life was so strong that I felt torn asunder between these two faiths.

But I still could not bring myself to accept that Jesus was anything more than a human being. Since he had never explicitly said, "I am God and you must worship me," the Christian claim about Jesus was based on speculation and historically unreliable Gospels. Surely the incredible statements attributed to Jesus were invented by later Christians and put in the mouth of Jesus.

In the midst of all this anxiety of thought, I woke up one morning and was suddenly struck by the meaning of a verse written by the prophet Isaiah in his ninth chapter. I had read this verse several weeks prior to that morning, but I had never understood its meaning. In Isaiah 7:14 we read,

"Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel."

Isaiah then goes on to write in chapter 9,

"[...] in the future he (God) will honor Galilee of the Gentiles, by the way of the sea, along the Jordan the people walking in darkness have seen a great light, on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned [...] For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David's throne [...] from that time on and forever."

I could not believe it! The fact that the Messiah was not going to be just a prophet but Mighty God himself, was therefore a truth that had been prophesied seven hundred years before Christ in the Old Testament, and not something that had been made up by Christians many years or centuries after Christ! It was God's own promise that he will come in flesh (Immanuel = God with us) and will establish a kingdom that will last forever.

I came to trust in Christ, the next day on January 20, 1985. I cried uncontrollably as I was praying and turning to Christ in faith. I did not know why, and though I had never felt much burden of guilt, I was feeling a great sense of peace and relief from the burden of my sins. A greater satisfaction was the sense of rest in finally finding the truth about God and His revelation of love to mankind in Jesus Christ. A book that helped me (and several other Muslim friends of mine who became Christians around the same time that I did) tremendously in answering many of my questions about the deity of Christ and the reliability of the New Testament documents was Josh McDowell's "Evidence That Demands A Verdict." I highly recommend it.

Soon after my own conversion, I decided to dedicate my entire life to promoting the Good News of Christ among Muslims and especially the people of my own country. I later came to the United States and received my undergraduate and graduate degrees in Biblical and Theological Studies. I also co-authored a book called Answering Islam: The Crescent in the Light of the Cross.

Abdul Saleeb, Ramadan of 1996

Email this page to a friend top of page homepage © EveryStudent.com

Name:   IRS
In response to:
Adjusted Gross Income: $11,911.35 Tax $726.00

Message:
Wrong. Expect an audit my friend.

Name:   !!
Message:

Name:   HILLARY SUPPORTER
Message:
Clinton, Warner Legistlation to Establish American Revolution Commorative Program Passes Senate

Legislation paves the way for an historic program to commemorate 225th anniversary of the American Revolution Washington, DC - The United States Senate has unanimously approved bipartisan legislation to establish the American Revolution Commemorative Program within the National Park Service (NPS) which will promote the celebration of the 225th anniversary of the American Revolution. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (NY) and Senator John W. Warner (VA) introduced this legislation in the Senate.

The 225th Anniversary of the American Revolution Commemoration Act mirrors legislation introduced by Congressman Maurice Hinchey (NY-22) in the House of Representatives. Representatives Sherwood Boehlert (NY-24), Jo Ann Davis (01-VA), Michael McNulty (21-NY) Richard Neal (02-MA), and Sue Kelly (19-NY) are also cosponsors of the House bill.

"Some of the most significant Revolutionary War sites in the nation are right here in New York – from Oriskany to Saratoga - in the Mohawk, Hudson and Champlain Valleys. In the spirit of the values that we are fighting for today - the values of freedom and hope - we need to commemorate the battles that were fought and won in the Mohawk, Hudson and Champlain Valleys," Senator Clinton said. "This program is not only a unique opportunity to celebrate New York and America's glorious past, but is also an opportunity to attract visitors to New York to learn about our history and our heritage."

"The Revolutionary War was the seminal event in the formation of the world's greatest democratic republic. Virginia is home to Yorktown Battlefield, site of the final, major conflict of this war, and the place where America finally gained true independence," Senator Warner said. "As we commemorate the 225th anniversary of the Revolution, I'm proud of the role that Virginians played in making us free."

"The American Revolution was an event of global significance having a profound and lasting effect upon American government, laws, culture, society, and values," said Hinchey. "The years 2000 through 2008 mark the 225th anniversary of the Revolutionary War and present all Americans with an opportunity to help the American public remember the values our forebears cherished and the sacrifices they made for freedom against tyranny. I congratulate Senators Clinton and Warner for getting this bill passed in the Senate and I hope to be able to follow suit in the House."

Specifically, the bill directs the Secretary of the Interior to establish a program to be known as the 225th Anniversary of the American Revolution Commemoration Program. The Commemoration Program would involve the participation of all National Park Service units and programs relevant to the American Revolution as well as other governmental and nongovernmental sites, facilities that are documented to be directly related to the American Revolution, and educational, research, and interpretive programs relating to the American Revolution.

The bill would allow NPS to link historic structures and sites, routes, activities, community projects, exhibits and multimedia materials; improve and update educational programs and connections with local and regional educators and expand the research base for Revolutionary War interpretation and education by seeking out and enhancing partnerships with scholars and educators. Specifically, the bill would require the Secretary of the Interior to:

- Produce and distribute to the public educational materials relating to the American Revolution, such as handbooks, maps, and interpretive guides;

- Provide technical assistance to other Federal agencies, States, local governments, private entities and partner with the governments of the United Kingdom, France, the Netherlands, Spain, and Canada;

- Assist in the protection of resources associated with the American Revolution; - Enhance communications, connections, and collaboration among the National Park Service units and programs relating to the American Revolution;

- Expand the research base for interpretation of and education on the American Revolution; and

- Adopt an official symbol or device for the theme "Lighting Freedom's Flame: American Revolution, 225th Anniversary."

The National Park Service administers battlefields, historical parks, and programs related to the Revolutionary War. However, due to a lack of resources, NPS faces many challenges administering these sites and programs. The legislation will authorize $500,000 a year through fiscal year 2009 to assist NPS in improving their stewardship of Revolutionary War sites and treasures through improved interpretation, education, outreach and protection.

Among the NPS sites in New York that the legislation seeks to help is the Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area, which was established in 1996 by legislation introduced by Hinchey. The region's role in the American Revolution is one of the primary focuses of the Heritage Area. The bill would also help focus attention on a number of Revolutionary War sites in and around the Mohawk Valley, including Saratoga National Historical Park and the Fort Stanwix National Monument.

Name:   Skipjack
To:   HILLARY SUPPORTER

In response to:
Revolution Commemorative Program within the National Park Service (NPS) which will promote the celebration of the 225th anniversary of the American Revolution. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (NY) and Senator John W. Warner (VA) introduced this legislation in the Senate.

Message:
Man that is earth shaking! I mean it could have global implications for generations! Wow! The woman is amazing!

That right there would get her my vote if I lived in NY. WOW!!! What an accomplishment! I'm impressed!!!!

Another in the long list of accomplishments!!! WOW!!!!!

Name:   Individual
Re:   Kerry and Iraq
In response to:
Democrats on a plan for Iraq which would reduce U.S. cost in lives and money Great Plan

Message:
Although many media outlets have reported that Kerry hasn't specified an alternative to Bush's plan in Iraq, he detailed his position in a speech in September and reiterated it this week.

"They need to go to the world and say we're not going to have an American authority that is creating this new government," Kerry said Wednesday. "We're going to have an international authority that will help develop the new government."

In September, Kerry said Bush should dissolve the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority now running Iraq and obtain "a new Security Council resolution" transferring authority for developing the new Iraqi government and constitution to the United Nations. Such a shift, Kerry argued, would "enhance the credibility and legitimacy of the effort and encourage other nations to provide much-needed funding and technical assistance." By sharing political power in Iraq, he said, the U.S. would also be in a stronger position to attract more international troops.

"We can still do this for a simple, basic reason," says Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.), a Kerry confidante on foreign policy. "Which is that the Brits, the French, the Germans, the Russians, the Chinese cannot afford to have chaos in Iraq and a civil war four months from now…. We just have to give them a chance to act in their self-interest and not make it impossible."

Name:   Individual
In response to:
Feel Shafted?Vote 4 people who will fight Income Tax!

Message:
I would like a system where the top tax goes up to 40%. The "death tax" is reinstated with greater exceptions. The capital gains tax goes back up to 20%. Corporate tax holes are closed.

If we do these things, maybe people won't have to start paying taxes until they make 20,000 or even more. It would be great for the middle class. Infinitely better than Dubya's tax program.

Name:   Skipjack
Message:
I sould like to see a system where there is no IRS. A 20% or so sales tax on retail purchases. I would also like to see socialist insecurity and mediscam as entirely voluntary.

No more April 15th. No more record keeping. Pay as you go. No sweating the 54,000 pages of IRS regulations which are so complicated and impossible to figure out.

Name:   Dr. Art
To:   individual

In response to:
I would like a system where the top tax goes up to 40%. The "death tax" is reinstated with greater exceptions. The capital gains tax goes back up to 20%. Corporate tax holes are closed.

Message:
Spoken like a person who never has and never will earn enough to generate any income tax liability. I would like a system where every working adult pays 15% of their income with a 10% capital gains tax that decreases begininig after 10 years of ownership down to 0.

Name:   Individual
In response to:
would like a system where every working adult pays 15% of their income with a 10% capital gains tax that decreases begininig after 10 years of ownership down to 0.

Message:
We can pit your system against my system and see which one the voters want.

Name:   Dr. Art
To:   Skipjack

In response to:
No more April 15th.

Message:
I disagree. Taxes should continue to be due on April 15th but there should no longer be any tax with-holding throughout the year. That way, everytaxpayer would be cognizant of the amount of tax that they pay and more concerned with the level of personal income taxes.

Name:   Skipjack
In response to:
I disagree. Taxes should continue to be due on April 15th but there should no longer be any tax with-holding throughout the year.

Message:
Make tax day the Tuesday before election day. That'd shake up little conjobs world.

Name:   Smedley
To:   spIndividual

In response to:
Although many media outlets have reported that Kerry hasn't specified an alternative to Bush's plan in Iraq, he detailed his position in a speech in September and reiterated it this week.

"They need to go to the world and say we're not going to have an American authority that is creating this new government," Kerry said Wednesday. "We're going to have an international authority that will help develop the new government."

Message:
Dude, that's not a plan, much less a detailed plan much less a viable plan. The most Kerry can do is ... what? Hand Iraq to the UN? Hahahahahahaaaaaaagh! The UN has never stopped a single conflict or cured diddly in my lifetime. You think the UN should be trusted after the oil-for-food debacle was exposed? Saddam paid off UN, German, French and Russian officials to help keep him in power. You thrust these people now? do you think that the French, Germans and Russians are going to send troops now that their little corrupt oil-for-food program is exposed?

Name:   Smedley
Re:   Wow! Kerry earns two more PURPLE HEARTS
Message:

Name:   Smedley
Re:   Proof that Kerry earned that third PURPLE HEART
Message:

Name:   Talkmaster
Re:   CHECK AROUND FOR YOUR PERSONAL TAX IDIOT
Message:
How do you identify your own personal tax idiot? Everybody has one, you have to find yours. It's really very simple. You just walk up to some friend or co-worker and ask "How much did you have to pay in income taxes this year?" If they answer "I didn't have to pay anything, I'm getting some back!" You have found your own personal tax idiot. Please take care of them for they are stupid and incapable of survival without your help.

Name:   Talkmaster
Re:   TAX RELIEF
Message:
Thanks to the Bush tax cuts, every single American who does actually pay taxes is paying those taxes at a lower rate then a few years ago. That's one of the big reasons our economy is growing so strongly.

It's the same old story playing out again as it did with Kennedy and Reagan. Allow people to keep more of what they earn by working, and they'll work harder to earn more.

Name:   Talkmaster
Re:   JOHN KERRY'S BAND-AID PURPLE HEARTS
Message:
Yesterday's Boston Globe came out with a story about a growing controversy over one of Kerry's Purple Hearts. Lt. Commander Grant Hibbard, Kerry's commanding officer, is questioning one Purple Heart. He says that Kerry was standing there with a scratch on his forearm. He was holding a piece of shrapnel. Hibbard is saying that Kerry's fellow soldiers told him that they didn't think that they had received any enemy fire. Hibbard says that he questioned John Kerry about the incident, but that Kerry was so adamant about receiving a Purple Heart for that scratch that Hibbard reluctantly dropped the matter. Kerry got his Purple Heart for a scratch on his arm, one of the three he needed to get out of any further service in Vietnam.

Name:   Talkmaster
Re:   THE IMPLOSION OF AIR AMERICA
Message:
It's beginning to look like Air America, liberal talk radio, is on the ropes. This is a bit sooner than most expected!

Who would have thought that liberals bounced checks?

Name:   Dr. Art
Message:
UNITED NATIONS, April 14 -- Large amounts of nuclear-related equipment, some of it contaminated, and a small number of missile engines have been smuggled out of Iraq for recycling in European scrap yards, according to the head of the United Nations' nuclear watchdog and other U.N. diplomats.

Mohammed ElBaradei, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, warned the U.N. Security Council in a letter that U.N. satellite photos have detected "the extensive removal of equipment and, in some instances, removal of entire buildings" from sites that had been subject to U.N. monitoring before the U.S.-led war against Iraq.

ElBaradei said an IAEA investigation "indicates that large quantities of scrap, some of it contaminated, have been transferred out of Iraq, from sites monitored by the IAEA." He said that he has informed the United States about the discovery and is awaiting "clarification."

After the 1991 Persian Gulf War, U.N. inspectors discovered, inventoried and destroyed most of the equipment used in Iraq's nuclear weapons program. But they left large amounts of nuclear equipment and facilities in Iraq intact and "under seal," including debris from the Osirak reactor that was bombed by Israel in 1981. That debris and the buildings are radioactively contaminated.

The U.N. nuclear agency has found no evidence yet that the exported materials are being sold to arms dealers or to countries suspected of developing nuclear weapons. But ElBaradei voiced concern that the loss of the materials could pose a proliferation threat and could complicate efforts to reach a conclusive assessment of the history of Iraq's nuclear program.

"It is not clear whether the removal of these items has been the result of looting activities in the aftermath of the recent war in Iraq, or as part of systematic efforts" to clean up contaminated nuclear sites in Iraq, ElBaradei wrote. "In any event these activities may have a significant impact on the agency's continuity of knowledge of Iraq's remaining nuclear-related capabilities and raise concern with regards to the proliferation risk associated with dual use material and equipment disappearing to unknown destinations."

Richard Grenell, a spokesman for the U.S. mission to the United Nations, said, "We have seen the reports and are obviously concerned, and as we told the IAEA we are looking into the matter."

ElBaradei's letter is dated April 11 and was circulated privately this week among members of the Security Council.

Evidence of the illicit import of nuclear-related material surfaced in January after a small quantity of "yellowcake" uranium oxide was discovered in a shipment of scrap metal at Rotterdam's harbor. The company that purchased the shipment, Jewometaal, detected radioactive material in the container and informed the Dutch government, according to the Associated Press. A spokesman for the company told the news agency that a Jordanian scrap dealer who sent the shipment believed the yellowcake came from Iraq.

ElBaradei did not identify the European countries where the materials were discovered. But U.N. and European officials confirmed that IAEA inspectors traveled to Jewometaal's scrap yard to run tests on the yellowcake. The search turned up missile engines and vessels used in fermentation processes that were subject to U.N. monitoring. The U.N. Monitoring Verification and Inspection Commission informed the council about the finds in a letter, according to diplomats. The IAEA, meanwhile, ordered up satellite images to assess conditions at Iraq's former nuclear weapons sites. A senior U.N. official said they discovered that two buildings at one former site had vanished and that several scrap piles contained weapons-related materials were also missing. "In Europe, stainless steel goes for $1,500 a ton," the official said. "And that is worth transporting for the purpose of recycling."

Staff writer Joby Warrick contributed to this report.

© 2004 The Washington Post Company

Name:   Talkmaster
Re:   AIR AMERICA (a.k.a AIRHEADS OF AMERICA)
Message:
What in the hell is Air America doing PAYING radio stations to air their programming? Hannity doesn't. Rush doesn't.

Is the liberal message so vapid and unappealing that these people actually have to pay stations to put it on the air?

Name:   Talkmaster
Re:   LIBERAL LOGIC
Message:
Is this not amazing? Liberals are complaining that their voices aren't being heard on talk radio. They get a big donation from some liberal in Chicago .. and they set out to create a liberal talk radio network. At last, the liberal voice will be heard! Then they get a call from a radio station that wants to give these great liberal voices an audience in Southwest Florida .. and they say no! Why not? Because they don't want the same people to hear Rush Limbaugh listening to Al Franken.

I wonder why that would be? Could it be because they know that their liberal message will not survive exposure to Limbaugh? Could it be that they know the liberal message only gets a foothold when there is nobody around exposing the lies, the half-truths and the complete lack of common sense and logic?

Name:   Con-gressional Democrats
To:   The Beguiled

Re:   Just good old fashioned THIEVERY, that's all.
In response to:
Who would have thought that liberals bounced checks?

Message:
Well, I never! Can you imagine such behavior? Such a creature would probably not hesitate to rob the Socialist Security "Trust Money" and sink it into ridiculous vote-buying schemes to further fleece & beguile the benighted!

Name:   Huile
To:   Donkeys

Re:   U.N. worse than worthless. EU types trying to erase evidence?
In response to:
The search turned up missile engines and vessels used in fermentation processes that were subject to U.N. monitoring. The U.N. Monitoring Verification and Inspection Commission informed the council about the finds in a letter, according to diplomats. The IAEA, meanwhile, ordered up satellite images to assess conditions at Iraq's former nuclear weapons sites.

Message:
Sounds like some Europeans are playing the old cover-my-ass game to me.

Name:   Bob Barker
To:    Virus Alert

Message:
Looks like the wife has secured 2 tickets for the Kentucky Derby coming up in a couple of weeks. I am not hip to that situation, only seen bits and pieces on TV. Looks like we need to quickly figure out flights and hotel in Louisville. From what I understand, the place is going to be a zoo that weekend.

Any tips for a clueless newbie to that situation?

Name:   Ernie Frack
To:   GOD

Message:

Friend of Hillary Clinton who will be the next Vice President of the United States

Name:   Nasso
To:   Lord of Flies

Message:

In the end Lord of Flies - Yon and your ilk will loose a hundred years of liberal freedom...

Name:   DJ small market
To:   talkmaster (that u Baldwin?)

Re:   Viva Sundown McGrew , ha ha
In response to:
What in the hell is Air America doing PAYING radio stations to air their programming? Hannity doesn't. Rush doesn't. Is the liberal message so vapid and unappealing that these people actually have to pay stations to put it on the air?

Message:
Alfonso Franken(stein) and whosoever are now histois (heest waaaaa) as Rushbo the Great regular sized guy with formerly nicotine stained fingers would say. Michael Reagan has played moments age, "Air America" in its all Spanish language glory. A listener remarked that he thought Radio Havana was jamming the frequency!

Not to worry folks. That's just the sound of the no-good liberal talk show which is no more.

Oh, it's gloating time again

The liberals are crying

You can see that faraway look in their glassy eyes That it wont be long before it's GLOATING TIME

For conservatives, and it didn't cost us a dime! Got a crying towel, Lying A$$ Al Franken?!?! Such a gullable audience this guy writes to.

And his billionare friends buy his books enough to make them#1

Then return them all when he makes #1.

It's the least they can do for their good buddy! What would they possibly do with all those books!

Nobody really buys that hot air jive of the bull sessioneir.

Name:   HILLARY SUPPORTER
Re:   Hillary campaigns with John Kerry
Message:
I'm not sure if this will work, but try to click here:

If it doesn't work, go to FriendsofHillary.com for the audio file.

Name:   Skipjack
In response to:
Who would have thought that liberals bounced checks?

Message:
A market economy is the bane if liberalism. They are non hackers. Their collective whining really doesn't have a market except for the teacher unions, trial lawyers or ivory towers. They wish and would use the heavy hand of oppressive government to force it on people if they could get away with it.

A jed kerryennedy/saul alinsky/hillapoo regime would force it on you.

Name:   Editor
To:   HILLARY SUPPORTER

Message:
Thank you very much for your contributions on this forum. We love you.

Name:   General Dessalines, LDS/Birch Cadres
To:   Merci Moi

Re:   Nauvoo is taken! It's only a matter of time until you are taken!
In response to:
We got Saddam for Halliburton, we put Bordertex into orbit for Cheney, and we will get you!

Message:
Where is your Nostradamus now, MOO?? We have employed our sophisticated mind-control programs to mobilize the entire countryside to beat every bush and until you are FLUSHED OUT!!

We control all law enforcement and emergency personel as well as the civilian population throughout the Nauvoo region. You are isolated, MOO, and the outcome is inevitable!

You will be taken to Salt Lake City and programmed for regular door-to-door recruitment work for the Birch Society. Be diligent in your new assignment; exceed your quotas, and perhaps you can manage to avoid an LDS missionary assignment to the deep Amazon!

Name:   nORBERT
To:   mUDdHEaD

Re:   Cut & Paste yourself a brain!
In response to:
JuNk

Message:
Why don't you go watch MTV, junior?

Name:   Maxwell
To:   Sticky Turd

Re:   In short...
In response to:
Second hand sludge

Message:
You have no imagination. That takes a little bit of brains, which leaves your sort out in the cold digging your fingers into other people's cracks for tidbits. You mistake ugliness for art. You probably hate women even more than you hate people in general. You are probably Lord of Flies.

Name:   Ling Chan
To:   maggot

Re:   Twice-chewed Jerky
In response to:
Democrats are Traitors! Why don't you people admit to being communist driven... Democrats are Traitors! Why don't you people admit to being communist driven...

Message:
Fool.

Name:   America's 5th Column in Action
Message:

A Berkeley Prof's “Intifada” Against America
By Jonathan Calt Harris
Hatem Bazian, a senior lecturer in Islamic studies, calls out for support for attacks against the "occupying forces" in Iraq. More>

 

Name:   this forum
Re:   HILLARY SUPPORTER
In response to:
Thank you very much for your contributions on this forum. We love you. We love big bold blue fonts

Message:
HILLARY SUPPORTER is to this forum what Marty is to Sean Hannity's final 2 minutes of his daily radio show.

Name:   Millions of Black Christians Slaughteres by Islamists
Message:

Arab/Islamic Goverment Slaughter, Rape, Enslave Millions of  Black Christians  in  Sudan’s Caldron of Murder

By Michael Margolies
April 15, 2004

 

The peace negotiations held for some two years in Naivasha , Kenya , haven’t stopped the National Islamic Front government from doing what it does best: perpetrating the wholesale slaughter of Sudanese blacks.

The genocidal record of the predator Arab/Islamic government in the north is well-known by now. Examples include the slaughter of two million black Christians and Animists in the south, the massive displacement and exile of a large portion of the black population, the kidnapping and enslavement of black women and children (estimates range as high as two million victims), limb amputation as a common penalty for attempted escape and the appalling rape of women and even boys (see: Maria Sliwa, “Boy Rape in Sudan”, March 11, 2004).

Name:   Gag me with a spoon
Re:   Like tooootally
Message:
For Hillary in 2004, it's now or never

By Morris

If Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) beats President Bush and Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) is not on the Democratic ticket as a vice presidential candidate, she will probably never be president of the United States. This cold, hard fact is staring the Clintons in the face as they assess the best way to inaugurate a new Clinton presidency.

Consider the options and their historic contexts:

If Kerry wins in 2004, he will very likely seek re-election. The last time a president served four years and didn't try to succeed himself was back in 1880 and the president was Rutherford B. Hayes. So, unless Hillary wants to try to mount the first successful challenge to a presidential renomination since Gene McCarthy forced Lyndon Johnson into retirement in 1968, she will have to sit out the 2008 contest.

Should Kerry be re-elected, his vice president will probably be the Democratic candidate in 2012. All five times, since 1960, that a vice president sought the nomination for president after his party controlled the White House for at least two terms he has gotten it (Richard Nixon in 1960, Hubert Humphrey in 1968, Gerald Ford in 1976, George H.W. Bush in 1980, Al Gore in 2000). That means that Hillary would be out in the cold until at least 2016 and, if the Democrat won and was re-elected, until 2020. She'll be 73 by then.

Even if Kerry is elected and loses a bid for a second term, his vice president would still be the favorite in 2012. Twice, since 1960, a man who served as vice president has come back in a subsequent year to win his party s nomination Nixon in 1968 and Walter Mondale in 1984. Humphrey failed to get the nod in 1972, but he had already run and lost four years before. Dan Quayle failed also, but he was, well, Quayle.

If Bush is re-elected, Hillary doesn't need to have been on Kerry's ticket. She can still prevail in 2008 over Kerry s defeated vice presidential nominee. After all, neither Ed Muskie in 1972, Bob Dole in 1996 nor Joe Lieberman in 2004 was able to convert a losing bid for vice president into a successful race for president (two of the three weren't even nominated).

But if Kerry wins and another person is vice president, how will Hillary keep fresh until 2012? In the Senate while all the Democratic action is at the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue? And how will she compete with a sitting vice president who has all the resources of the White House at his disposal and eight years to build up his momentum?

She can't, and she won't.

So what should she do? If Kerry is anywhere close to Bush at convention time, she'd better go for the second spot. A close defeat wouldn t hurt her and, if Kerry wins, it will be her only way to become the second President Clinton.

And don't kid yourself; the decision is Hillary's to make. The Clintons still control the Democratic Party. If Hillary wants to run for vice president, Kerry has to go along. For him to spurn the former first lady would be to cause a schism in the party. He'll be pulling knives out of his back for the entire race.

In any case, it is in Kerry's interest to ensure that the Clintons will work for him and not undermine his candidacy. The logic of their need for a Bush re-election to assure a Hillary presidency is just too compelling. Kerry needs to put Hillary on his ticket as a kind of hostage to be certain of the Clintons' strong and full support. There are just too many ways that the Clintons can sabotage his candidacy without seeming to be doing so. (For example, Bill can publish his memoirs in September or October of 2004 and create a massive distraction that would force Kerry off center stage).

Kerry needs Hillary on the ticket. A vice presidential candidacy by her would turn his campaign into a crusade and would energize her supporters to a fever pitch. It would summon all the good memories of the Clinton prosperity without the bad reminders of Monica et al. But, most of all, Kerry cannot afford to leave the Clintons sulking, like Achilles, in their tent. Otherwise, Troy will go Republican.

Name:   Hasta la vista, Mustafakkah!
To:   America's 5th Column in Action

Re:   A Berkeley Prof's “Intifada” Against America
Message:
Baseball bat + Hatem Bazian's head = Satisfying crunching sound

Name:   Hasta la vista, Mustafakkah
To:   Millions of Black Christians Slaughteres by Islamists

In response to:
Arab/Islamic Goverment Slaughter, Rape, Enslave Millions of Black Christians in Sudan’s Caldron of Murder

Message:
No, say it ain't so, Joe! We're talking about the "Religion of Peace," right?

Name:   bordertex
To:   forum

Re:   the truth bush wants to hide
Message:

and just think, the twin tower terror could have been avoided had the bush/cheney appointed Whitehouse, had warned the U.S. and over three thousand twin tower terror victims, would not be in early graves tonight

so just think about the greatest opportunity to remove bad appointed "presidents" to office when in November of 2004 our country will vote for John kerry, because this is the only choice bush has left the country

so regardless of who future President John Kerry elects as his vice president of the U.S. I feel confident as an american citizen that whatever choice the democratic party makes in regards to the vice president to the John Kerry Presidential Administration or whoever President John Kerry elects, our country is in good hands with a John Kerry Administration because with the experience John Kerry has, he can and will lead our country back to the normal temperatures we used to have back in the Clinton years when everybody had a job and the economy had a surplus not a deficit like under george bush

oh yes, those days when women used to have a voice and under which Clinton Administration more women benefited than in republican administrations who have always refused to debate the minimum wage issue of this country on the Senate floor and it is so true that it has "been the republicans" "who have not allowed a higher minimum wage in the U.S. because they just dont give a damn for the working class otherwise why would republicans also move to dilute the voice of the unions who speak out on behalf of workers's human rights?

I am shocked that our country has taken the direction of needless american and foreign bloodshed in senseless unjustified military assaults on Iraq, when Iraq had "NOTHING TO DO WITH 9-11"

and speaking about the commission who just yesterday investigated how much the bush/cheney administration knew prior to 9-11, I just cannot understand in what mind the republican chairman was when he stated that "the info getting to bush was not decent enough"

YOU MEAN TO TELL ME THAT A MESSAGE FROM A TERROR CELL TELLING THE U.S. THEY ARE GOING TO ATTACK US? was not decent enough? to what naive public does this chairman speak? and why does it have to take "five years" to "improve the spy work in the CIA" when all the bush cronies had to do was put it in writing like they did on AUGUST 6, 2001?

and just how more specific did bush want the message when it was a known fact, the Alqueda Osama Bin Laden was a factual terror cell how much more specific when the author of the threat was a terror cell?

come on mr.bush, thy might want to put the blame on Osama Bin Laden and say in your news conference that it Osama bin Laden was "responsible for 9-11" VUT WHO RECIEVED THE "AUGUST 6, 2001 MEMO AND FAILED TO WARN THE PUBLIC? certainly not Osama so if bush had given one hoot about our country or the voters of this country,he would have related to us the entire country the threatening elements in the "august 6, 2001 memeo" so that 9-11 COULD HAVE BEEN PREVENTED

of course mr.bush would run to Iraq and cause massive disruption otherwise how could he distract us from the failed policy to not warn the public about 9-11 when over a month in advance Mr. bush was alerted by the american agencies and whether it was the FBI or CIA in whatever form,the memorandum got to bush and bush failed knowingly and intentionally to act on this threat to the national security of the country because mr.bush could not stop what he allowed to happen or why did Jeb Bush in the state of florida allow for the hijackers of 9-11 to train and license for pilots in Florida? and why did bush totally disregard the warnings that terror could strike the U.S. with "hijackings" and "aircraft" could it have been that since Jeb mr. bush's brother had worked so hard on training the 9-11 hijackers, it was very hard for mr.bush to warn the country about "hijackers and aircraft?"

I CANNOT BELIEVE HOW GEORGE BUSH THOUGHT HE COULD GET AWAY WITH THIS TWIN TOWER MURDER OF SO MANY PEOPLE BECAUSE CERTAINLY MR.BUSH, WE ARE NOT ALL FOOLED AND NOT ALL OF US HAVE BEEN BRAINWASHED BY CORRUPT REPUBLICAN PARTY so I hope that John Kerry keeps his promise to the country about giving to the United Nations the dangerous control of the rebel guerilla warfare errupting in Iraq where in one month this year, "90 american troops lost their lives" maybe Rumsfeld thinks its okay to keep rotating live troops with dead ones, but to us, the people who are the hostages to this appointed republican Whitehouse, it is not okay that our american troops pay the price for bush's oil war where not even the children in Iraq are safe anymore like the children of Palestine

perahps there are those who would want to distract our country from the horrible truths we are facing but those of us determined to fix our world for all future generations, know that we are now under a current appointed american presidency who left out critical agendas in our country to satisfy their political agenda using american troops and spilling american blood in the rivers of blood bush has dug in Iraq and sending young troops to early deaths way after,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,no weapons of mass destruction were every found so mr.bush, I hope you have bathed in enough blood where never again this nation can say we have caused no innocent bloodshed and never again can we call ourselves a "superpower" when we are the biggest war crucifing country under republican leaderships who could not even stop the bloodfaucets running 24 hours a day in Palestine because Israel wants to by force occupy Palestinian territory while he enslaves the palestinian free people with unjust and cruel jewish curfews

I think that if bush and sharon really meant well for the middle east they would both understand that UNTIL! the West Bank with Gaza is released from their forced occupation and illegal jewish settlements,NO PEACE CAN BE ACHIEVED but sharon and bush think they can fool us with their constant broken record of failed policies and keep the chains of perpetual agony on the hearts minds and bodies of the Palestinian and Iraqi people and think the world does not understand their greed but we can see right through these two traitorous to their nations' black hearts sold to the gun lobby industry and corporate america because no longer do we have democracy when we give Israel the bombs to drop on the children of Palestine and no longer can we such a great "superpower" when we could not even stop the spread of the deadly aids virus to our continent because the republican party was too busy paying back favors to their corporate donors so I hope not all of america has been brainwashed by the lying lies by bush and his cronies who let 9-11 take place because it was apparently more convenient to this "superpower" to allow bloodshed within its borders in order to force panic and fear and manipulate the masses,,,,,,,,,,,,but fraud is not forever bush and your lies,,,,,,will follow you to hell mr.bush for lying and betraying the country and people

Name:   Hasta la vista, Mustafakkah!
Re:   http://www.hatembazian.com/
In response to:
As Muslims at the beginning of the 15th Hijra century, we find ourselves technologically advanced and yet devoid of 1400 years of Islamic scholarship.

Message:
"Technologically advanced?" What, C4 is now more portable and easier to strap to a toddler's vest?

"Devoid of 1400 years of Islamic scholarship?" Spare me the oxymoron, Bubba.

Try a Reformation or a Renaissance, sh!thead, then we'll talk. Meanwhile, sit down and shut yer f*cking pie-hole.

Name:   READ THE HEADLINES
To:   BORDERTEX

Re:   You could do a lot worse than Bush...
In response to:
Arab/Islamic Goverment Slaughter, Rape, Enslave Millions of Black Christians in Sudan’s Caldron of Murder

Message:
Arab/Islamic Goverment Slaughter, Rape, Enslave Millions of Black Christians in Sudan’s Caldron of Murder

Read the headlines, Bordertex. Don't just come in here and spout off. If you keep that up the next culture on the list could be you and your buddies.

Arab/Islamic Goverment Slaughter, Rape, Enslave Millions of Mexican Christians in Satan's Caldron of Murder

Read the headlines.Read the headlines, Bordertex. Don't just come in here and spout off about Bush. You could do a lot worse than Bush, and as you can see for yourself -- A LOT WORSE!!!!!!!!!!

Name:   hugger
To:   schmuck

In response to:
and just think, the twin tower terror could have been avoided had the bush/cheney appointed Whitehouse, had warned the U.S. and over three thousand twin tower terror victims, would not be in early graves tonight so just think about the greatest opportunity to remove bad appointed "presidents" to office when in November of 2004 our country will vote for John kerry, because this is the only choice bush has left the country so regardless of who future President John Kerry elects as his vice president of the U.S. I feel confident as an american citizen that whatever choice the democratic par ...

Message:
you really are Pepe among others

Name:   Openness & Clear Air
To:   Handlers

Re:   You rang???....Ughhh
Message:
TERESA F-ING HEINZ KERRY FIGHTS TO KEEP HER TAX RETURNS PRIVATE

Democratic presidential candidate John F. Kerry, who has called for full-disclosure of rivals' tax returns, now faces growing pressure to release his wife's records.

But in a Tax Day controversy, Teresa Heinz Kerry is personally determined to keep her returns out of public view -- at any cost!

"This is my life, my business, not John's," Mrs. Kerry recently explained to a campaign staffer, a top source tells the DRUDGE REPORT. "I think it is very important to keep the privacy zone. There is a tradition of this."



GHOST OF FERRARO



Top Kerry campaign staffers fear Heinz Kerry will not be able to hold back calls for a public release, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned.

Staffers have been studying the '84 presidential campaign, when former Dem VP Candidate Geraldine Ferraro conceded release of her husband's tax returns, but only after an excruciating media fight!

Ferraro said that when she asked her husband, John Zaccaro, to release the returns his reaction was, "I won't tell you how to run the country and don't you tell me how to run my business."

Asked by reporters why Zaccaro was opposed to releasing his tax return, she said, "He feels his business interests would be affected."

That summer, a NEW YORK TIMES editorial hit Ferraro for refusing to disclose her husband's returns: "Disclosing tax returns, as originally promised, would not amount to telling Mr. Zaccaro how to run his business."



HEINZ ASSETS USED TO BOOST CAMPAIGN



In December '03, Kerry announced that he loaned his campaign $6.4 Million by mortgaging a share of a Boston home he jointly owns with his wife.

Teresa Heinz Kerry paid cash for the Beacon Hill mansion in January 1995.

But according To Kerry's own 1994 senate personal financial disclosure [signed May, 15, 1995], Kerry's own personal net worth was somewhere between a negative $130,000 to positive $34,995.

The current loan on the house carries an annual interest payment of $200,000, records show, more than Kerry's $158,000 Senate salary.

Kerry's campaign insists he intends to pay off the 30-year mortgage himself.

"Sen. Kerry is a man who has considerable assets," spokesman Michael Meehan explains.

But Kerry's own financial disclosures show no assets sufficient to pay the loan -- or even a way to keep up with the interest payments!



KERRY: CLEAR THE AIR



Besides a blurring of Heinz-Kerry assets, the campaign is also wresting with past quotes made by Kerry himself.

In his 1990 Senate race, Kerry asked his challenger to "clear the air" by releasing tax returns.

"I think people want to know whether someone they possibly might send to Washington to represent them in the Senate is someone who pays their fair share of taxes,'" Kerry said. "Why is James Rappaport hiding his tax returns?" Kerry asked. "Why is it some people can live up to that standard and he can't? It seems to me that he ought to be able to release those returns and clear the air...

"Why doesn't he just release them? What is he hiding?"

And at the height of last year's primary race, Kerry vowed that "openness" would be the "hallmark" of his administration.

"As president, openness will be the hallmark of my administration, not some talking point... The highest office in the land requires the highest level of openness for the American people."

Name:   Rubber Checks
To:   Socialism the old fashon way

Message:
Stewart Smally's Rented Stations On The Air:

New York City - WLIB 1190

Los Angeles - KBLA 1580

Chicago - WNTD 950

Minneapolis - WMNN 1330

Portland, OR - KPOJ 620

Riverside, CA - KCAA 1050

West Palm Beach, FL - WJNO 1290

Plattsburgh/Burlington - WTWK 1070

Key West, FL - WKIZ 1500

XM Satellite Radio - 167

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

Coming Soon (when we get more rent money)

San Francisco/San Jose - KVVN 1430

San Francisco/Berkeley - KVTO 1400

Sacramento, CA

Colorado Springs, Co

Portland, ME

Santa Fe, NM

Boulder, CO

Sirius Satellite Radio

Dish Network

Name:   Texas Pete
To:   Communist

Message:
John Kerry is a danger!

Name:   Ernie T. Frack
To:   The World

Message:

I'm all for john Kerry and Support a close working relationship with the United Nations and Support a one world order of International law... Please Vote John Kerry this fall.

Name:   Dr. Art
To:   Editor

In response to:
Editor

To: HILLARY SUPPORTER

Message: Thank you very much for your contributions on this forum. We love you.

Message:
Sorry to pull you and HILLARY SUPPORTER from your Hillary Clinton round-pound, but I'm still waiting for a list of her significant accomplishments since she has entered the senate. Judging from your message though, the list would be meaningless considering that you construe the posting by HILLARY SUPPORTER to be contributions.

Name:   Air
To:   Talkmaster Baldwynn

In response to:
"... Is the liberal message so vapid and unappealing that these people actually have to pay stations to put it on the air? ..."

Message:
Why yes... Yes they do.

Name:   Changed Misery Index
Message:
AP

AP: Book Alleges Secret Iraq War Plan
1 hour, 3 minutes ago

By CALVIN WOODWARD and SIOBHAN McDONOUGH, Associated Press Writers

WASHINGTON - President Bush (news - web sites) secretly ordered a war plan drawn up against Iraq (news - web sites) less than two months after U.S. forces attacked Afghanistan (news - web sites) and was so worried the decision would cause a furor he did not tell everyone on his national security team, says a new book on his Iraq policy.

Photo
AP Photo

 

Bush feared that if news got out about the Iraq plan as U.S. forces were fighting another conflict, people would think he was too eager for war, journalist Bob Woodward writes in "Plan of Attack," a behind-the-scenes account of the 16 months leading to the Iraq invasion.

The Associated Press obtained a copy of the book, which will be available in book stores next week.

"I knew what would happen if people thought we were developing a potential war plan for Iraq," Bush is quoted as telling Woodward. "It was such a high-stakes moment and ... it would look like that I was anxious to go to war. And I'm not anxious to go to war."

Bush and his aides have denied accusations they were preoccupied with Iraq at the cost of paying attention to the al-Qaida terrorist threat before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. A commission investigating the attacks just concluded several weeks of extraordinary public testimony from high-ranking government officials. One of them, former counterterrorism chief Richard Clarke, charged the Bush administration's determination to invade Iraq undermined the war on terror.

Woodward's account fleshes out the degree to which some members of the administration, particularly Vice President Cheney (news - web sites), were focused on Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) from the onset of Bush's presidency and even after the terrorist attacks made the destruction of al-Qaida the top priority.

Woodward says Bush pulled Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld aside Nov. 21, 2001 — when U.S. forces and allies were in control of about half of Afghanistan — and asked him what kind of war plan he had on Iraq. When Rumsfeld said it was outdated, Bush told him to get started on a fresh one.

The book says Bush told Rumsfeld to keep quiet about it and when the defense secretary asked to bring CIA (news - web sites) Director George Tenet into the planning at some point, the president said not to do so yet.

Even Bush's national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice (news - web sites), was apparently not fully briefed. Woodward said Bush told her that morning he was having Rumsfeld work on Iraq but did not give details.

In an interview two years later, Bush told Woodward that if the news had leaked, it would have caused "enormous international angst and domestic speculation."

The Bush administration's drive toward war with Iraq raised an international furor anyway, alienating long-time allies who did not believe the White House had made a sufficient case against Saddam. Saddam was toppled a year ago and taken into custody last December. But the central figure of al-Qaida, Osama bin Laden (news - web sites), remains at large and a threat to the west.

The book says Gen. Tommy Franks, who was in charge of the Afghan war as head of Central Command, uttered a string of obscenities when the Pentagon (news - web sites) told him to come up with an Iraq war plan in the midst of fighting another conflict.

Woodward, a Washington Post journalist who wrote an earlier book on Bush's anti-terrorism campaign and broke the Watergate scandal with Carl Bernstein, says Cheney's well-known hawkish attitudes on Iraq were frequently decisive in Bush's decision-making.

Cheney pressed the outgoing Clinton administration to brief Bush on the Iraq threat before he took office, Woodward writes.

In August 2002, when Bush talked publicly of being a patient man who would weigh Iraqi options carefully, the vice president took the administration's Iraq policy on a harder track in a speech declaring the weapons inspections ineffective. Cheney's speech was viewed as the beginning of a campaign to undermine or overthrow Saddam. Woodward said Bush let Cheney make the speech without asking what he would say.

The vice president also figured prominently in an protracted decision March 19, 2003, to strike Iraq before a 48-hour ultimatum for Saddam Hussein to leave the country had expired.

When the CIA and its Iraqi sources reported that Saddam's sons and other family members were at a small palace, and Saddam was on his way to join them, Bush's top advisers debated whether to strike ahead of plan.

Franks was against it, saying it was unfair to move before a deadline announced to the other side, the book says. Rumsfeld and Rice favored the early strike, and Secretary of State Colin Powell (news - web sites) leaned that way.

But Bush did not make his decision until he had cleared everyone out of the Oval Office except the vice president. "I think we ought to go for it," Cheney is quoted as saying. Bush did.

U.S. forces unleashed bombs and cruise missiles, blanketing the compound but missing the palace. Tenet called the White House before dawn to say the Iraqi leader had been killed. But his optimism was premature. Saddam was alive.

The 468-page book is published by Simon & Schuster.


Story Tools

Mail to Friend  Email Story
Name:   chrd
To:   byrd

Re:   turd
In response to:
kurd

Message:
nerd

Name:   Gag me with a spoon
Message:
None of your business: Teresa won’t give up tax records
By David R. Guarino and Andrew Miga
Friday, April 16, 2004

WASHINGTON - Teresa Heinz Kerry's vast wealth is no secret on the presidential campaign trail - but when it comes to her tax returns, it's a different story.
     ``As she is not a candidate for any office, she will not be making additional disclosures,'' said Jeff Lewis, Heinz Kerry's chief of staff.
     Unlike her candidate-husband, Sen. John F. Kerry [related, bio], Heinz Kerry said yesterday she won't make public her income tax returns, Lewis said.
     Heinz Kerry's personal wealth has been an issue in Kerry's campaign - with opponents suggesting repeatedly the Bay State senator is likely to dip into his wife's wealth if he falters against President Bush [related, bio].
     By most estimates, he'd have a lot of dipping to do.
     Heinz Kerry, heiress to the Heinz ketchup millions, has an estimated worth of about $550 million - including primary ownership of four family homes in Idaho, on Nantucket, in rural Pennsylvania and in the Georgetown section of Washington.
     So far in the campaign, Heinz Kerry has said she doesn't plan to use her wealth to bolster her husband. She gave the legal limit, $2,000, to his campaign and legally can't use shared assets to assist him. But she has noted several times that, if fired upon, she might fire back in so-called ``issue ads'' to help - which is legal as long as the ads aren't coordinated with the campaign.
     ``Teresa has First Amendment rights to speak on issues just like anyone else and she reserves her right to do that,'' Lewis said during the primary fight in February.
     ``All she has said is that, in the event she is attacked, the family is attacked, and it is an issue of family honor, she would defend herself and she would defend her family.''
     Politicians aren't required to release their tax returns, though most do so voluntarily. The Kerrys have always filed separate returns, allowing Heinz Kerry to keep most of the family's secrets. Lewis noted that Heinz Kerry since 1995 has provided information about her finances on her husband's annual financial disclosure reports.
     Kerry released his federal tax returns earlier this week, reporting $395,338 in income and $70,575 in taxes paid.
     If Republicans choose to make an issue of the tax return dodge, they could compare it to the decision by Democratic vice presidential nominee Geraldine Ferraro of New York to release the returns of her businessman husband, John Zaccaro, in 1984.
     The Democrats ceded to press and Republican pressure, but complained bitterly that questions were being raised about Zaccaro's business ties because of the couple's Italian-American heritage.
     That year's nominee, Walter Mondale, said recently that the release ended up showing the pair overpaid their taxes. But it did prove a potent distraction, he said.
     

Name:   cheez
To:   neez

Re:   pleez
In response to:
freez

Message:
sneez

Name:   KERRY SUPPORTER
To:   Forum Contribution Police

Re:   JOHN KERRY FOR PRESIDENT OR VICE PRESIDENT
Message:

    WASHINGTON, April 15 (Xinhuanet) -- US Secretary of State Colin Powell welcomed on Thursday proposals made by UN Undersecretary-General Lakhdar Brahimi about the establishment of an Iraqi caretaker government before the June 30 deadline for the US-led coalition to return sovereignty to Iraqis.

    "I think they're very sound recommendations," Powell said in aninterview with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

    "We'll have to study them. We'll have to discuss them within the United Nations, the Security Council, but they also have to bediscussed within Iraq by the members of the Governing Council and by leaders in other parts of Iraq," the secretary said.

    Brahimi, who is in Iraq in the capacity of special envoy for UNSecretary-General Kofi Annan, said in Baghdad earlier Thursday that an Iraqi caretaker government, comprising of a prime minister,a president and two vice presidents, could be set up ahead of the June 30 deadline for power handover.

    "We are confident that it will be possible to form such a government in a timely manner, that is during the month of May 2004," the envoy said.

Name:   HILLARY SUPPORTER
In response to:
Thank you very much for your contributions on this forum. We love you.

Message:
You're quite welcome!!

Name:   HILLARY SUPPORTER
To:   the moniker "This Forum"

Re:   BIG BLUE FONTS...
In response to:
HILLARY SUPPORTER is to this forum what Marty is to Sean Hannity's final 2 minutes of his daily radio show.

Message:
I don't really care if you like what I post or not! This is a "PRO-HILLARY" forum, so I post for Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and other Hillary supporters. Like ir or not, I am going to keep as much "POSITIVE AND TRUE" postings, articles and links about Hillary on this forum.

Why do "Free Republic" types insist on coming to this forum for no other reason than to make nasty inane comments? I must say they really make the "right" look good...lol Hey, tell you friend, Jim Robinson, over there at "FR" what a joke you all are!! Go ahead run back to "FR" because we all know you are safe to come here and trash this board and run safely back to "FR". G-d forbid the camp over at "FR" allows anyone to post with opposing views against the extreme right!! There's a place for the likes of you Neil Boortz types!!

Almost forgot...here's some BIG BLUE FONT FOR YA...

HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON FOR PRESIDENT OR VICE PRESIDENT!!

Name:   Plain Truth
To:   HILLARY SUPPORTER!!

Re:   The louder the advertisement, the lamer the product.
In response to:
I don't really care if you like what I post or not! This is a "PRO-HILLARY" forum, so I post for Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and other Hillary supporters. Like ir or not, I am going to keep as much "POSITIVE AND TRUE" postings, articles and links about Hillary on this forum.

Message:
There is a problem with your mindless, noisey, and annoying promotional campaign, HILLARY SUPPORTER!!!!! You are pushing a shabby, used product that is both obsolete and defective. America has no more need of grandstanding Treasury robbers. In truth, we never did have the slightest need of them!

Name:   Moxie
To:   HILLARY HOOT HORN

Re:   Silly little cultist!
In response to:
Why do "Free Republic" types insist on coming to this forum for no other reason than to make nasty inane comments? I must say they really make the "right" look good...lol Hey, tell you friend, Jim Robinson, over there at "FR" what a joke you all are!! Go ahead run back to "FR" because we all know you are safe to come here and trash this board and run safely back to "FR". G-d forbid the camp over at "FR" allows anyone to post with opposing views against the extreme right!! There's a place for the likes of you Neil Boortz types!!

Message:
Neil Boortz has your number. You are a classic myrmidon!

Name:   HILLARY SUPPORTER
To:   Plain Truth

In response to:
There is a problem with your mindless, noisey, and annoying promotional campaign, HILLARY SUPPORTER!!!!! You are pushing a shabby, used product that is both obsolete and defective. America has no more need of grandstanding Treasury robbers. In truth, we never did have the slightest need of them!

Message:
You are entitled to your opinion, however, misguided and FALSE!. But, what do you expect when you come to a forum that is titled "The Hillary Clinton Forum - Supporting Hillary Rodham Clinton for President since 1995"? If you hate her so much and anyone who works on her behalf, or tries to promote her, why are you here??

Name:   the good doctor
To:   forum

Re:   hillary
Message:
with a good fisting and a couple of 'ludes, she'll calm down...

Name:   Plain Truth
To:   HILLARY SUPPORTER!!!!!

In response to:
If you hate her so much and anyone who works on her behalf, or tries to promote her, why are you here?? --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Message:
Why do you insist or parading your ignorance and closed-mindedness? Show me where I have ever said that I hate Hillary Clinton, ET, or YOU.

I have no interest n Free Republic, and no connection to it. I do criticize your mindless cheerleading and verbatim regurgitation of Hillary puff-pieces.

Your assessment of non-Hillary supporters who find this forum interesting and appreciate the platform that it provides them to answer Hillary supporters is pretty sophomoric, too. You have a very distorted and simplistic view of Hillary's opposition.

There is a fundamental difference in ET's forum and most others, and that difference is what makes it worthwhile. There is NO requirement that anyone support Hillary or refrain from criticizing her in order to post material here, though ET certainly welcomes thoughtful and well-informed Hillary supporters. This forum is about a lot more than just Hillary Clinton.

You have an opportunity here to DEFEND and JUSTIFY your support of Hillary, of course, but the discussion is much broader than that, in fact, it is nearly unlimited. All you seem to care to do is spout Hillary slogans and indulge in ad hominum diatribes against people who, with good reason, do NOT support Hillary Clinton.

Name:   !!
Message:

KERRY SUPPORTER

Name:   HILLARY SUPPORTER
To:   Plain Truth

Message:
My post about the "FR" wasn't directed at you. The "FR" people know who they are. I know you are here to debate the issues - no problem! I don't care who doesn't support Hillary - that is not my problem, BUT they seem to care WHO does support Hillary.

Name:   Why do Democrats lie so much?
Message:
Last night on The Apprentice, Kwame lost primarily because of Omarosa's lying. Omarosa was at one time an appointee working in the Clinton/Gore White House.

Why do Democrats lie so much?

Name:   Hunt's Ketsup the one on special
To:   forum

Re:   Time Magazine ties Wesley's Clarke's Waco to Iraq
In response to:
Time Magazine's "State of Seige, April 19,2004 dated to tie readers to Waco Massacre, an open sore on Democrat politics.

Message:
Seeking to tie an very offensive abuse of power to an offensive deployment of strength, TIME puts foot in mouth. Reminds one of local anti-Bush newspapers spinning soldier's deaths into anti-Bush/anti-war statements. A Sandoval of the US Marines was killed in Iraq recemtly. His family was called for a phone interview since they were buzy with the wake and the funeral arrangements, they agred to a phone interview BUT NO POLITICS. Houston Chronicle/Barnicle decides to spin the young Marine's sacrifice for his country into anti-war article anyway when the story was printed. Marine's sister Amy was especially livid that her brother's death would be used against his Commander-In-Chief and all that Dandoval had died for. The father had NOT mentioned "Weopons of Mass Destruction" and other padding which was added to the interview. Hopefully the Chronicle will lose a lawsuit or two and start printing the news as it happens and drop the liberal slant. The Houston Post was a much more fair and balanced paper, the free newspaper is overrun with sex and the single guys who want to marry each other so Houston and vacinity is forced to read the Washington Times off the internet.

Name:   Individual
In response to:
White House Welcomes Iraq Caretaker Plan By BARRY SCHWEID, AP Diplomatic Writer WASHINGTON - The Bush administration is viewing positively a U.N. envoy's plan for a caretaker government to succeed the U.S. administration in Iraq (news - web sites).

Message:
Looks like Kerry is already running the country as regards the Iraq war. His new theme should be: Why not give me the title? I'm already doing the job.

Name:   The American People
To:   Hillary Supporter

In response to:
You are entitled to your opinion, however, misguided and FALSE!. But, what do you expect when you come to a forum that is titled "The Hillary Clinton Forum - Supporting Hillary Rodham Clinton for President since 1995"? If you hate her so much and anyone who works on her behalf, or tries to promote her, why are you here??

Message:
I take it you are not an American and you do not believe in free speech. It would seem in a free country a forum focused on Hillary would a place to debate both the pros and cons of Hillary.

It seem Hillary Supporter is a good socialist that pines for a totalitarian world where all people, that do not agree with you, are censored or killed.

Name:   The American People
To:   SPINdividual

In response to:
Looks like Kerry is already running the country as regards the Iraq war. His new theme should be: Why not give me the title? I'm already doing the job.

Message:
You are an idiot. That was Bush's plan from the start.

I do agree with you - this is the closest Kerry will ever get to running this country.

Name:   Why do Democrats lie so much?
To:   Hillary Supporter

In response to:
Why do "Free Republic" types insist on coming to this forum for no other reason than to make nasty inane comments?

Message:
I see Hillary Supporter thinks its a mind reader.

Why do Democrats lie so much?

Name:   !!
Message:

HILLARY SUPPORTER

Name:   HILLARY SUPPORTER
To:   The American People

Re:   Free Speech?
Message:
Free speech is one thing, personal attacks for posting my opinion is another thing!

Name:   associates with known lawyers
To:   irked in Berkley and keeping it to myself

Re:   We thoughtt sedition was calling for armed revolt
In response to:
A Berkeley Prof's “Intifada” Against America By Jonathan Calt Harris FrontPageMagazine.com | April 15, 2004 Signs were sold proclaiming “Support Armed Resistence [sic.] in Iraq and Everywhere,” next to tomes of Marx, Trotsky and Che Guevara. A smiling student marched carried a sign saying “Long Live Fallujah,” and another held a Bush effigy aloft on a noose. Such was the scene at the latest anti-war rally that occurred April 10 in San Francisco, where Hatem Bazian, a senior lecturer in Islamic studies at Berkeley called for an “intifada” in America. As reported by LittleGreenFootballs. ...

Message:
We as, members of the US Genpop, thought sedition was calling for armed revolt and got you from two to six years, sentenced to hard labor at a prison for felons. Why aren't these people arrested, tried, sentenced, and headed to Guantanamo? Are we too weak-kneed to enforce our laws? Surely these "students" and their genious professor would take delight in being arrested. They laugh enough in our faces at our justice system. Since they wouldn't get a fair trial in the Berkley area, we would have to try them in Oklahoma where people committing offences against civilization used to be hanged amd still face stern judges.

If the FBI is watching but ignoring these criminal acts of sedition in favor of arresting bombers, somebody could get killed. Recall that our illustrious FBI had inside people trying to "control the World Trade Center" Muslim offensive in 1993 with disasterous results. Yousef remains in prison because "civilized" New York has no death penalty even if you commit sanguinous and bloody mass murder. Instead the killer got forced retirement with a swimming pool, pool tables, weight room, color TV, and other things designed and implemented to make his life a living hell. Thanks "civilized" liberals!

Name:   TV Critic
Message:
I just saw a preview of tonights Hillary fest on an NBC promo. Seems that she is going to interviewd by none other than the Eva Braun of news/talk, the insipid Katie Couric. It's sure to be targeted at teenaged girls as well as the adoring pea brained. Softball questions that only Katie can toss. Perso