Pennsylvanian in exile

To many nations, especially Israel, it seems only a matter of time before Iran breaks out as a nuclear power, ratcheting up tension across the door Middle East. An Israel-Iran showdown over Tehran's outlaw nuclear-weapons program now seems increasingly imminent.

Last week, for example, Israel charged that Iran was merely "buying time" and will never abandon plans to develop nuclear weapons. It called for the U.N. Security Council "to put an end to this nightmare."

Addressing reporters at the U.N., Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom kept all options on the table by avoiding answering whether Israel would take military action against Iran if it continued to pursue nuclear weapons.

Also last week, the administration informed Congress that it was selling Israel 5,000 precision-guided "smart bombs," including 500 satellite-guided, one-ton JDAM "bunker busters" of Baghdad fame. (JDAMs are capable of penetrating six feet of concrete.)

In response to the arms sale, Tehran warned Tel Aviv against attacking its nuclear facilities, saying it would react "most severely" to any Israeli military action against Iran.

Then, over the weekend, Iran pointedly announced that its Shahab-3 ballistic missile was now operational. The missile can reach Israel, and Iran has 25 to 100 of them. Defense Minister Ali Shamkhrani crowed that Iran was now "ready to confront all regional [read: Israeli] and extra-regional [read: American] threats."

OK, so you say, a little chest-beating isn't the same as the beating of war drums. True. But bear in mind, Israel takes the threat of nuclear weapons in its neighborhood quite seriously. Just ask Saddam Hussein.

In 1981, Israeli fighters conducted a low-level, 700-mile, daylight raid through Saudi Arabian and Jordanian air space into Iraq. In a minute and a half, the fighters laid waste to the French-supplied Osiraq nuclear reactor ? the centerpiece of Iraq's burgeoning nuclear-weapons program.

Clearly, there are no easy choices, only hard decisions. A peaceful end to the Iranian nuclear problem should continue to be sought, but the countdown to a nuclear Iran has already begun.

Israel ? at least for the moment ? seems to be committed to a peaceful solution. But don't be surprised if Tel Aviv decides to jump the diplomatic track in an effort to end ? or at least forestall ? Iran's bid to become the first anti-Israeli member of the exclusive nuclear club.

# posted by Duane : 2:54 PM  2 comments

Israel just struck a blow against terrorism ? its agents killed a top Hamas official in Damascus with a car bomb. It was notable mostly because the action took place outside Israel's borders and, indeed, in the heart of an Arab country.

Izz Eldine Subhi Sheik Khalil served as a liaison between Hamas' political leadership in Damascus and its terrorist operatives in Gaza ? until he started his car on Sunday, detonating the bomb that blew him to smithereens.

Score one for the good guys.

Israeli security forces acknowledged privately that Jerusalem was behind the attack, which came four weeks after a pair of near-simultaneous Hamas bus bombings in Beersheba left 16 dead.

This wasn't Israel's first anti-terror strike in Syria. Last October, it hit a Palestinian terror-training camp there.

Sunday's attack continues Israel's strategy of targeting top terrorists. Scores of Hamas brass and other top thugs have been snuffed out in the past year or so ? a fact many credit with the sharp reduction in terror attacks in the Jewish state.

Indeed, so many of the thugs have been killed in Gaza and the West Bank that Israel apparently now feels comfortable targeting terrorists abroad.

Sunday's strike made it clear that terrorists will find no refuge from Israeli strikes in Syria ? or anywhere else.

Which is how it should be.

To be sure, the eradication of Khalil and other anti-Israel terrorist honchos benefits Jerusalem most directly.

But Hamas' use of Syria as a base to target Israel and Israel's pursuit of Hamas leaders in Damascus reinforces the international nature of the War on Terror.

Nor is Hamas solely anti-Israel.

Remember, the group:

* Is on Washington's official list of terrorist organiziations.

* Has long talked of hitting U.S. targets, refraining out of fear of retaliation.

* Has voiced strong support for America's defeat in Iraq.

* Is behind terror strikes that have taken American lives.

But more important than Hamas' hatred toward America (its former chief, Abdel al-Aziz Rantisi, killed by the Israelis this year, called striking America a "moral," "national" and "religious" duty) is the international stand against the use of terror as a weapon.

# posted by Duane : 10:45 AM  0 comments

Those who dismiss critics of John Kerry's Vietnam service as just a bunch of right-wing Republicans out to advance George W. Bush's cause don't know what they are talking about -- or they are engaged in wishful thinking. Okay, I may have once thought that about the critics, too. But after poring over the large volume of e-mail I received after my Aug. 28 column, "What Matters About Kerry and Vietnam," I don't any longer.

I had taken to task the authors of the blistering anti-Kerry bestseller "Unfit for Command" for giving readers an unbalanced view of Kerry's service in Vietnam, and for not revealing their own connections with the Bush campaign and the sources of their financial support. The column also criticized "Unfit for Command" for smearing Kerry, a decorated former naval officer, as disloyal because of his antiwar activities. Writing as a former Army officer, I concluded: "Speaking for myself, it is enough that he served."

Two weeks later, another e-mail arrived on the same topic. It was from a Howard University classmate, a friend of 47 years, former assistant secretary of the Air Force Rodney Coleman. A Democrat, Coleman has local roots, having worked for the D.C. Council and later the Pennsylvania Avenue Development Corp.

Coleman, who served in Vietnam for 13 months in 1971-72, wrote that he found disheartening the protracted mudslinging between Bush and Kerry and their respective camps about military records. But the favorable conclusion I drew about Kerry's service was, he stated, "with all due respect, not mine!"

"Some of those 58,000 who died [in Vietnam] were at DaNang with me, and some were under my command, in the 366th Air Force engineering squadron," Coleman wrote.

Then he got to the heart of the matter.

"I vividly recall Kerry's antiwar testimony in April 1971. I was a White House fellow at the time, on a leave of absence from active duty, as were five of the 17 fellows selected. Two of them had Vietnam experience with Silver and Bronze Stars and Purple Hearts awarded for their heroism. In early April 1971, I volunteered to go to Vietnam after my year as a White House fellow. I could have very easily taken steps to forgo a tour in 'Nam, but as an Air Force captain committed to the ideals of the oath of office I took, Vietnam was the only game in town."

The oath of office was a serious matter for products of Howard's ROTC programs. I know. I was commissioned in the Army; Coleman joined the Air Force. Unlike some college campuses, Howard's ROTC programs were a source of pride, having produced, according to the school, more African American general officers than any other university in the country.

"When Kerry made those critical statements of the war," Coleman wrote, "my parents, God bless them, went ballistic about their son going in harm's way. My military colleagues in the fellows program who had been there and were shot up were incensed that a so-called military man would engage in such insubordinate actions. At the time Kerry made those unfortunate remarks, America had POWs and MIAs, among them my friend, Colonel Fred Cherry, the longest-held black POW of the Vietnam War. How could a true American fighting man throw away his medals, while thousands he fought alongside of were in the midst of another example of man's inhumanity to man?"

"Kerry still hasn't satisfied me and many others. . . . It's September and I'm still conflicted. Speaking for myself, it is NOT enough that he served!" Those aren't the thoughts of a Republican-funded, right-wing, over-the-top Swift boat veteran. Ignore them, Kerry camp, at your peril.

# posted by Duane : 8:36 AM  0 comments

"The way we live in peace in a family, in a marriage, in the world, is not by threatening people, is not by showing off your muscles. It's by listening, by giving a hand sometimes, by being intelligent, by being open and by setting high standards," she said at the CSU rally.

# posted by Duane : 8:33 AM  0 comments

In the 1970s and 1980s, the churches made the mistake of supporting oppressive Soviet-sponsored liberation movements around the world. They largely ignored human rights abuses in the Soviet Union and its satellite states, instead focusing on U.S. policy as the primary source of abuse. It appears that mainline denominations may be making the same mistake today with the Arab and Muslim worlds, ignoring many of the most serious abuses while apparently laying heavy blame upon the United States and Israel not only for their own lesser abuses, but also for the abuses of others.

It is evident from the tone and language used by mainline church leaders in their statements and legislation that, as a group, they believe that the United States is often a malignant influence in the world. This pervasive anti-Americanism is demonstrated time and again in their public policy advocacy, and one need not investigate far to find it.

Given the dramatic unwillingness of the mainline churches to criticize states around Israel for their human rights abuses?not only the connections to worldwide terrorism, but also the oppression and brutality toward their own people?it is not unreasonable to ask whether anti-Jewish animus may play some role in the churches? skewed human rights advocacy.

# posted by Duane : 8:22 AM  0 comments

The Republican Party is attempting to convince Roman Catholics that Democratic nominee John F. Kerry is "wrong for Catholics" and at odds with his church.

Earlier this month, the Republican National Committee launched a website called "KerryWrongForCatholics.com" that takes the Massachusetts senator to task for voting against the Defense of Marriage Act, favoring civil unions for gays and lesbians, opposing vouchers for private schools, and taking stands on abortion and other issues that are contrary to church teachings.

The GOP site points out where Kerry, a Catholic, is at variance with the Vatican. A section on Kerry's stance on same-sex unions, for example, is headlined: "Kerry Said Vatican Should Not Instruct Catholic Politicians, Calling It 'Inappropriate.' "

The site suggests that Bush, a Methodist, has a stronger record on Catholic values.

Private groups also have been urging Catholics to oppose candidates who favor abortion and other issues the church condemns. Earlier this month, a nonprofit organization called Priests for Life announced a $1 million campaign, including television commercials, aimed at persuading voters to support candidates who oppose abortion. Another nonprofit, Catholic Answers, is issuing millions of voter guides that list five "nonnegotiable" issues for Catholic voters: abortion, euthanasia, embryonic stem cell research, human cloning, and "homosexual marriage."

The combined effect of the party and private efforts could be as significant politically as the swift boat veterans attack on Kerry, the difference being that this one is occurring without blistering television commercials and is mostly "below the radar screen," according to John Green, who studies religion and politics at the University of Akron.

And the stakes are high: Twenty-five percent of those expected to cast ballots for president Nov. 2 are Catholics, with even higher percentages in some battleground states such as Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and New Hampshire. A recent poll conducted by the Pew Research Center indicated that Bush leads Kerry among Catholics nationwide by a 7-percentage-point margin, a big swing from a 3-percentage-point lead that Kerry held in August.

A Kerry spokesman, Michael Meehan, expressed offense at the nature of the Republican Party's attacks.

"It is outrageous that they say Kerry is 'wrong for Catholics,' " Meehan said. "He is a Catholic, and the issues that he believes in, most Catholics believe in."

Meehan acknowledged that Republicans are ahead in organizing by religion, saying that this year marks "the first serious effort that a Democratic presidential candidate has made in faith-based organizing. While we are making inroads, we are clearly behind where Republicans have been for the last 25 years because they organize along religious lines as part of their base."

# posted by Duane : 2:54 PM  0 comments

A media lawyer told a judge yesterday that the will of the late Sen. H. John Heinz III should be made public because the details may hold new relevance in light of his widow's marriage to the Democratic presidential candidate.

Common Pleas Court Judge Frank J. Lucchino of Allegheny County yesterday heard arguments from Kelli Sager, an attorney representing the Los Angeles Times and The Morning Call of Allentown, and estate attorney Gregory B. Jordan on the estate executor's preliminary objections to the newspapers' request.

The newspapers filed suit July 9 to have the will unsealed. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and Tribune Review Publishing Co. have joined in the suit.

After yesterday's hearing, Lucchino said he would rule expeditiously, though the issue may or may not be settled before the November election.

Heinz -- the late husband of Teresa Heinz Kerry, who is now married to Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry -- died in a plane crash in 1991. Heinz, a Republican senator from Fox Chapel, was heir to the Heinz food fortune. He is also survived by three sons. Heinz Kerry is in control of more than $500 million in trust funds from the Heinz estate. In addition, she oversees three charitable organizations with assets of more than $1 billion.

Though the probate records of Heinz's will were ordered sealed more than a decade ago, the will should now be made public, Sager argued.

Sager countered that the right to know is what is at issue, along with the question of who is in control of the records.

"To seal the records at all is highly unusual," Sager said. "Everybody else's is open. There's no reason [the Heinz estate] is different.

"The finality rule is intended to prevent endless litigation. This isn't litigation," Sager said.

Because the record was impounded so soon after Heinz's death, Sager argued, it was as if the case were handled in secret.

That left no opportunity for public access to determine whether there was a need to question the contents.

# posted by Duane : 8:41 AM  0 comments

Goat fanciers turned out in force to admire and bid for beautiful goats showing off on the catwalk at a weekend festival and auction of Al-Shami goats in Riyadh.

They came from all over the Gulf. Abdullah Al-Asaker, from Kuwait, said the Al-Shami breed of goat was introduced to Kuwait from Saudi Arabia. He estimated the investment in Al-Shami goat breed at more than SR20 million.

As prices kept rising at the auction, goat breeders were jubilant that goat breeding after all was as profitable as camel breeding.

Thirty goats were selected according to age and gender. Abdul Aziz Al-Khalaf, one of the five judges for the ?Most Beautiful Goat? competition, explained that the winners are chosen on the basis of a combination of factors and overall appearance, not simply by their color. Particular points taken into consideration are the head, nose, mouth, ears, breast and eyes. The most important factor is the size of the head and the whiteness of the eye.

# posted by Duane : 1:15 PM  0 comments

IMAGINE if, in the presidential election of 1944, the candidate opposing FDR had insisted that we were losing the Second World War and that, if elected, he would begin to withdraw American troops from Europe and the Pacific.

We would have called it treason. And we would have been right.

In WWII, broadcasts from Tokyo Rose in Japan and from Axis Sally in Germany warned our troops that their lives were being squandered in vain, that they were dying for big business and "the Jew" Roosevelt.

Today, we have a presidential candidate, the conscienceless Sen. John Kerry, doing the work of the enemy propagandists of yesteryear.

Is there nothing Kerry won't say to win the election? Is there no position he won't change? Doesn't he care anything for the sacrifices of our troops in Iraq?

And if he does care about our soldiers and Marines, why is he broadcasting remarks that insist against all hard evidence that the terrorists are winning?

Has he seen the situation with his own eyes? I'll gladly tell him how to get there. I'll even be his guide. And he can smell what remains of Saddam's mass graves with new ones still being discovered. He can taste the joy of freedom among the Kurds. He can see the bustling commerce throughout the country despite the violence that alone makes headlines.

Above all, he could see the magnificent performance of our troops, their dedication and professionalism. And their humanity, their goodness.

But Kerry doesn't want to see those things. He's reverting to form. Just as he lied about our troops three decades ago, encouraging our enemies of the day and worsening the suffering of our POWs in North Vietnam, today he's pandering to a new enemy.

Earlier this week, Kerry made a much-ballyhooed speech offering four generalizations about how he would fix Iraq. But there was no detail, not a single nut or a lonely bolt. And the current administration is already doing most of what Kerry suggested.

As for involving the French and Germans, the truth is that they'd do more harm than good. These are the corrupt cynics who made billions from the U.N. Oil-for-Food program while the Iraqi people suffered. The French kiss up to every dictator willing to wink in their direction. The German military barely exists it's just an employment agency for uniformed bureaucrats and the French military's sole competence lies in slaughtering unarmed black Africans.

As for the United Nations, any day now we'll see a huge banner hanging from its Manhattan headquarters: Dictators For Kerry.

Even if I detested everything about President Bush, I'd vote for him just to rub it in the faces of the Germans, the French and all of the tyrants rooting for the Iraqi people to slip back into despotism. We Americans choose our own presidents, and we don't take orders from Europeans or from any of Kerry's other Swiss boarding-school pals.

I think it's great that Kerry speaks fluent French. I wish he'd go to France where he could speak it all the time.

The terrorists and their allies already intended to increase the level of violence in Iraq before November. But Kerry's pandering has encouraged them to pull out all the stops. I wish it were otherwise, that our election process had more integrity, but the truth is that every roadside blast and car bomb in Iraq is meant to support John Kerry.

Meanwhile, Kerry has assembled the most despicable cast of has-beens and failed officials in campaign history. He's represented by the likes of Jamie Rubin ? a Clintonite who so loved America that he moved to London, returning to our shores only to tell real Americans how we need to vote.

Putting Rubin on the talk-show circuit demonstrates how badly the Democratic elite is out of touch with the country it claims to represent. With his permanent sneer and his condescending snicker, Rubin represents nearly all that working Americans ? and our troops ? despise about today's Dems.

There was a wartime election in 1864, too. The Democratic Party's candidate, former Gen. George McClellan, ran on a platform that declared President Abraham Lincoln's policy a failure. The price of McClellan's rhetoric was a prolonged war and tens of thousands of dead Americans.

In 1864, the citizens of the North were steadfast. They rejected the Democratic Party's warnings of defeat and saved the Union. In 2004, the American people, North and South, East and West, need to reject the cynical lies of John F. Kerry and vote to support our troops and save Iraq.

# posted by Duane : 8:39 AM  2 comments

IN case Democrats didn't have enough jitters, John Kerry is kerplunking like a stone in the Iowa Political Futures Market ? a novel but remarkably accurate predictor that yesterday put the odds of President Bush's re-election at more than 60 percent. The market late yesterday was predicting a Bush win with 52.7 percent of the popular vote to 47 percent for Kerry.

In all, 64.8 percent of traders were betting on a Bush win ? a dramatic switch from just a month ago when the odds were even on Bush and Kerry.

"Bush has broken out substantially in the last few days. It could be a combination of Kerry's speech on Iraq, Bush's speech to the U.N. and even the CBS Dan Rather story imploding," said University of Iowa business dean Bob Forsythe, who oversees the market.

"Our traders seem to be indicating that not only is Bush ahead, but he may win by a substantial margin," added Forsythe, an undecided voter.

The market was set up in 1988, and in every election since then, its vote-share predictions have bested most polls and average within 1.37 percentage points of the popular vote. There's a separate winner-take-all market.

Forsythe has more bad news for Democrats who think Kerry's angry anti-Iraq-war speech Monday marked a positive turning point: "Not at all. If anything, things have gotten worse for him."

The market (go to www.biz.uiowa.edu/iem, then click "current market quotes") lets political junkies invest up to $500 in the same way they'd invest in commodities such as pork bellies. The theory behind the market is that people using real money will bet on what they truly think will happen, not what they hope will happen.

In 2000 the market showed a very close race all the way and correctly predicted Al Gore would win the popular vote.

# posted by Duane : 8:28 AM  0 comments

To understand the worldwide ideological battle -- especially the one between America and Western Europe and within America itself -- one must understand the vast differences between leftist and rightist worldviews and between secular and religious (specifically Judeo-Christian) values.

One of the most important of these differences is their attitudes toward law. Generally speaking, the Left and the secularists venerate, if not worship, law. They put their faith in law -- both national and international. Law is the supreme good. For most on the Left, "Is it legal?" is usually the question that determines whether an action is right or wrong.

Take the war in Iraq. The chief leftist argument against the war -- before it began, not later when no weapons of mass destruction were found -- was that without U.N. sanction, attacking Iraq violated international law.

To cite one other contemporary example, the Left throughout the world opposed Israel's 1981 air strike razing Saddam Hussein's nuclear reactor, thereby destroying his ability to manufacture nuclear weapons. Among major American newspapers, only the conservative Wall Street Journal supported the strike along with various religious Jewish and Christian groups. From The New York Times to Le Monde to your local university, there was outrage that Israel had acted against international law. It meant nothing to their judgment of Israel's action that the leading mass murderer of the time had his nuclear weapons facility destroyed with the loss of but one life. All that mattered was that it was illegal.

First, the Left, which is largely secular, regards morality not as absolute, but as relative. This inevitably leads to moral confusion, and no one likes to be morally confused. So instead of moral absolutes, the Left holds legal absolutes. "Legal" for the Left is what "moral" is for the Right. The religious have a belief in God-based moral law, and the Left believes in man-made law as the moral law.

Second, whereas they cannot change God's laws, those on the Left can and do make many of society's laws.
In fact, the Left is intoxicated with law-making. It gives them the power to mold society just as Judeo-Christian values did in the past. Unless one understands that leftist ideals function as a religion, one cannot understand the Left.

Laws are the Left's vehicles to earthly salvation. Virtually all human problems have a legal solution.

In fact, since it lacks the self-control apparatus that is a major part of religion, the Left passes more and more laws to control people. That is why there is a direct link between the decline in Judeo-Christian religion and the increase in governmental laws controlling human behavior.

Of course, the more laws that are passed, the less liberty society enjoys. But to the Left, which elevates any number of values above liberty -- e.g., compassion, equality, fairness -- this presents little problem.

All this helps to explain the Left's preoccupation with controlling courts; passing laws; producing, enriching and empowering lawyers; filing lawsuits; and naming judges. Laws and the makers of laws will produce heaven on earth.

And that's one reason the Left hates the America represented by George W. Bush. This country under this president says morality is higher than man-made law. To the Left, that, not Saddam Hussein's torture and rape rooms, must be fought.

# posted by Duane : 4:08 PM  0 comments

Percent of Americans without health insurance: Bush (15.6%), Clinton (15.6%)

Debt as percentage of economy: Bush (37.5%), Clinton (48.5%)

Number of workers not in the labor force but who want a job now: Bush (5.1 million), Clinton( 5.7 million)

Average GDP over most recent 4 quarters: Bush (4.7%), Clinton (4.0%)

Home ownership rate in latest quarter: Bush (69.2%), Clinton (65.1%)

Inflation-adjusted average hourly earnings growth during first term: Bush (2.5%), Clinton (0.4%)

Inflation-adjusted income growth for average American: Bush ($1,444), Clinton ($1,256)

Average monthly inflation during first term: Bush (2.3%), Clinton (2.8%)

Unemployment rate for Hispanics during first term: Bush (7.2%), Clinton (9.7%)

Unemployment rate for Blacks during first term: Bush (9.9%), Clinton (11.3%)

Percent of high school graduates who enroll in college: Bush (64%), Clinton (62%)

# posted by Duane : 2:42 PM  1 comments

1. You've repeatedly demanded Donald Rumsfeld's resignation over Abu Ghraib prison abuse. In light of such demand, please respond to the following:

a. Given your confession that you committed atrocities in Vietnam, including burning villages and using 50-caliber machine guns on people, shouldn't you, then, withdraw from presidential consideration?

b. If your answer is "no," please explain why a secretary of Defense should be held to a higher standard than an aspiring president who personally committed atrocities objectively more horrific than the abuses for which you hold Rumsfeld accountable.

3. During your eight-year tenure on the Senate Intelligence Committee, you missed more than three-fourths of its public meetings. You refuse to release your attendance reports for the committee's closed classified briefings. Why shouldn't voters infer that disclosure of these attendance reports would reveal that you neglected to attend numerous classified briefings?

a. If you did miss any classified briefings, what duties were you tending to that were more important than attending the briefings?

6. What do you consider to be your most important accomplishment as lt. governor to Michael Dukakis?

7. You've criticized the president for acting "unilaterally." As president, would you have gone into Afghanistan without France's approval?

a. Would you have gone into Afghanistan without the approval of France, Germany, and Russia?

b. Please describe your criteria for going to war.

10. What do you consider to be your most important accomplishment during your nearly 20 years as a senator?

12. Newsweek Editor Evan Thomas has stated that the media wants you to win and that the media's help is worth 15 points in the polls. Do you agree or disagree with Thomas's statement?

a. If you disagree, is it because you maintain that the media doesn't want you to win or because the advantage is other than 15 points?

14. You maintain that public schools aren't adequately funded. The D.C. public schools spend approximately $13,000 per pupil ? one of the highest levels in the nation ? yet its students' academic performance is among the worst in the nation. Could you please explain why you oppose parental choice in education?

a. Given that pursuant to court order the Kansas City public schools spent one billion dollars with no discernable improvement in academic performance, what is your definition of "adequately funded"?


20. It was well known by the time of your 1971 Senate testimony that North Vietnam used statements by Jane Fonda and other antiwar protesters as propaganda. At the time of your testimony did you consider that it was highly likely that the statements of a naval lieutenant alleging war crimes would also be used?

# posted by Duane : 9:22 PM  0 comments

Sanctity Of Marriage

Kerry Voted Against Marriage Penalty Relief At Least 22 Times.

Kerry Was One Of Only 14 Senators To Vote Against 1996 Defense Of Marriage Act (DOMA), Which Banned Federal Recognition Of Gay Marriage And Same-Sex Partner Benefits.


Kerry Said Vatican Should Not Instruct Catholic Politicians, Calling It "Inappropriate." "The Vatican's call for Catholic politicians to fight gay marriage is an "inappropriate" violation of the separation of church and state in America, U.S. Sen. John Kerry said Friday. "I believe in the church and I care about it enormously," said the Democrat from Massachusetts, a Catholic who is running for president. "But I think that it's important to not have the church instructing politicians. That is an inappropriate crossing of the line in America."

Kerry Expressed "Moral Outrage" With Vatican's Statement On Gay Marriage. "[Kerry] said political concerns are secondary to his moral outrage over Thursday?s Vatican statement on gay marriage. "Our founding fathers separated church and state in America. It is an important separation," he said. "It is part of what makes America different and special, and we need to honor that as we go forward and I'm going to fight to do that."

Child Tax Credit

Kerry Voted Against Expanding Child Tax Credit At Least 18 Times.

Adoption Tax Credit

Kerry Voted Against Expanding Adoption Tax Credit At Least Seven Times.

Abortion

In 1984, Kerry Said He Would Vote Against "Any Restrictions On Age, Consent, Funding Restrictions, Or Any Law To Limit Access To Abortion."

Kerry Received 0% Ranking From National Right To Life Committee For 108th, 107th And 106th Congresses, And 7% Ranking For 105th Congress.

Kerry Is First Presidential Candidate To Ever Be Endorsed By Planned Parenthood Action Fund. "The Planned Parenthood Action Fund endorsed Mr. Kerry yesterday, the first time it has endorsed a presidential candidate. Its leaders said the election was crucial to preserving access to abortion."

Kerry Says He Personally Believes Life Begins At Conception, But "Article Of Faith" Should Not Translate Into Public Policy. "I am Catholic and have personally always believed life begins at conception, but I have never believed that that is something that should be translated as a matter of faith, an article of faith, into everybody else's behavior for those who don't share that faith ..."

Kerry Said He Would Ignore 11th Encyclical Of Pope John Paul II, Which Warned Legislators Of Their Moral Accountability If They Support Abortion. "Four Bay State lawmakers said yesterday they will ignore the most recent papal encyclical opposing abortion laws, despite their Roman Catholic faith.

Kerry Claimed Most Catholics Support Roe, And Blames Bishops For Catholics Lack Of Adherence To Faith. "John Kerry said he had to "represent all the people in my state," including Jews and Buddhists. Then the senator repeated what former House Speaker Tip O'Neill apparently once said in front of several thousand priests and several thousand nuns, that 68 percent of them 'support Roe v. Wade.' 'If the bishops can't do and won't say anything about that, don't come to me. You know what I'm saying' said Kerry."

Kerry Says That While He Believes "Life Begins" At Conception, "That's Not A Person Yet." ABC's PETER JENNINGS: "You told an Iowa newspaper recently that life begins at conception. What makes you think that?" SEN. JOHN KERRY: "My personal belief about what happens in the fertilization process is a human being is first formed and created, and that's when life begins. Something begins to happen. There's a transformation. There's an evolution. Within weeks, you look and see the development of it, but that's not a person yet, and it's certainly not what somebody, in my judgment, ought to have the government of the United States intervening in. Roe v. Wade has made it very clear what our standard is with respect to viability, what our standard is with respect to rights. I believe in the right to choose, not the government choosing, but an individual, and I defend that."

Kerry Claims His Belief That Life Begins At Conception Does Not Make Abortion Tantamount To Murder Because "It?s Not The Form Of Life That Takes Personhood ..." ABC?s PETER JENNINGS: "Could you explain again to me what do you mean when you say 'life begins at conception'" SEN. JOHN KERRY: "Well, that's what the Supreme Court has established is a test of viability as to whether or not you're permitted to terminate a pregnancy, and I support that. That is my test. And I, you know, you have all kinds of different evolutions of life, as we know, and very different beliefs about birth, the process of the development of a fetus. That's the standard that's been established in Roe v. Wade. And I adhere to that standard." JENNINGS: "If you believe that life begins at conception, is even a first-trimester abortion not murder?" KERRY: "No, because it's not the form of life that takes personhood in the terms that we have judged it to be in the past. It's the beginning of life. Does life begin? Yes, it begins. Is it at the point where I would say that you apply those penalties? The answer is, no, and I believe in choice.

Kerry Says His Statement About Life Beginning At Conception Is "Consistent" With His "Personal Belief System About Who Chooses And What Happens." ABC's PETER JENNINGS: "If I were really skeptical, Senator, I would say that when you use the phrase 'life begins at conception,' you're attempting to speak to those people for whom that is a slogan, making them totally opposed to abortion." SEN. JOHN KERRY: "Not in the least. It's a belief that is a belief of mine. It's consistent with everything I've always said over 35 years of public life. It is not a new statement, but it is consistent with my personal belief system about who chooses and what happens."

Kerry Voted Against Unborn Victims Of Violence Act.


Partial-Birth Abortion

Kerry Has Voted At Least Six Times Against Banning Partial-Birth Abortion.

Kerry Says, "There Is No Such Thing As A Partial Birth." "Just hours after President Bush signed a law banning what critics of the procedure call 'partial-birth abortion,' Senator John F. Kerry declared last night 'there is no such thing as a partial birth,' as he and the other Democratic presidential contenders sought the political support of women voters. ... 'It is a late-term abortion. They have done a very effective job of giving people a sense of fear about it. It's part of their assault on the rights of women in America. ... There's nothing partial about their effort to undo Roe v. Wade.'"

Taxpayer-Funded Abortions

Kerry Voted To Allow Federal Money To Be Used To Distribute Morning-After Abortion Pill In America?s Schools.

Kerry Has Voted At Least 25 Times In Favor Of Using Taxpayer Dollars To Pay For Abortions In United States.


Parental Consent

Kerry Has Voted At Least Three Times Against Requiring Parental Notification For Minor?s Abortion.

International "Family Planning"

In 1985, Kerry Expressed "Grave Concern" About White House Decision To Withhold Millions From International Planned Parenthood Federation. "I joined 16 of my colleagues in the senate in sending a letter to the White House expressing our grave concern about the recent decision not to provide the International Planned Parenthood Federation [IPPF] with 17 million dollars worth of population assistance appropriated in the fiscal year 1985 budget."

Kerry "Called On The Catholic Church To 'Not Be A Barrier' To Birth Control Worldwide ..."

In Opposition To President Bush's Reinstatement Of Mexico City Policy In 2001, Kerry Said "International Family Planning Programs Are In America's Best Interests." "President George W. Bush, despite his inaugural pleas for unity, yesterday plunged into one of the nation's most bitterly divisive fights, banning federal funds for groups providing abortion counseling overseas. ... Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.), a strong abortion rights supporter, said Bush's ban will have severe health consequences across the globe. 'I will not back away from my conviction that international family planning programs are in America's best interests," Kerry said. "We should resist pressures in this country for heavy-handed Washington mandates that ignore basic choices that should belong to free people around the globe."

Kerry Says Reversing Mexico City Policy Would Be His First Executive Order. LARRY KING: "What would be the first executive order?" KERRY: "Reverse the Mexico City policy on the gag rule so that we take a responsible position globally on family planning."

In 2003, Kerry Voiced His Support For "Population Control Efforts Around The World." "[I] think that tonight we have to make it clear that we are not going to turn back the clock. There is no overturning of Roe v. Wade. There is no packing of the courts with judges who will be hostile to choice. There is no denial of choice to poor women in the United States. There is no outlawing of a procedure necessary to save a woman's life or health and there are no more cutbacks on population control efforts around the world. We need to take on this President and all of the forces of intolerance on this issue. We need to honestly and confidently and candidly take this issue out to the country and we need to speak up and be proud of what we stand for."

Litmus Test For Judicial Nominees

Kerry Stated He Would Only Support Nominees Who Pledge To Uphold Roe V. Wade. "The potential retirement of Supreme Court justices makes the 2004 presidential election especially important for women, Senator John F. Kerry told a group of female Democrats yesterday, and he pledged that if elected president he would nominate to the high court only supporters of abortion rights under its Roe v. Wade decision. ... "Any president ought to appoint people to the Supreme Court who understand the Constitution and its interpretation by the Supreme Court. In my judgment, it is and has been settled law that women, Americans, have a defined right of privacy and that the government does not make the decision with respect to choice. Individuals do.?"


Human Cloning

In 1998, Kerry Voted Against Invoking Cloture To Human Cloning Prohibition Act.

Kerry Supports So-Called "Therapeutic" Cloning. "While I oppose cloning for the purposes of creating a human being, I do support therapeutic cloning that has the potential to help cure many diseases."

Euthanasia

In 1996, Kerry Said He Could Support Assisted Suicide Under "Extreme Circumstances." "On assisted suicide, Kerry said he could support it under extreme circumstances, as long as the patient, doctor and family agreed 'death might be appropriate.'"

In 1999, Kerry Said He "Personally Opposes" Euthanasia, But "Medical Professionals" Should "Work With Patients To Make Decisions" About Drugs. "Both Massachusetts senators said they oppose physician-assisted suicide, but have reservations about sanctioning a government role in the decision. "I personally oppose euthanasia, but I think it's doctors and medical professionals who need to work with patients to make decisions about the use of drugs," Senator John F. Kerry said.

In 1996, Kerry Voted Four Times Against Giving Low-Income D.C. Children School Choice Option.

In 2003, Kerry Said Voucher Program Should Not Be A Moral Argument, And That School Choice Would Abandon Students Left In Public Schools. "[W]e have to guarantee that vouchers are not made into an argument that somehow there's a morality in taking care of kids, 50 of them, and abandoning 4,000 in the school behind them. I refuse to accept that."

Last November, Kerry Said Vouchers Would "Destroy Inner City Schools" And Leave "Even More Children Behind." "We need a President who will tell the truth about vouchers - that they weaken public education, make it harder to build good citizens, and hurt those most in need. Don't cry crocodile tears for inner city kids while trying in effect to destroy inner city schools. Vouchers aren't choice; they're a bad choice that would leave even more children behind."

As President, Kerry Would Veto "Vouchers Or Voucher-Like Programs." "[Vouchers] don't reform our public schools - they run away from them. ... I have never supported vouchers. I will never support them. And if it ever comes to my desk, I'll veto vouchers or voucher-like programs the day that bill arrives."

Kerry: "I Am Saying That I Don't Believe We Should Raise Religion As A Matter Of Political Strategy. That's What I'm Saying."

Kerry Took Communion At Non-Catholic Church. "Photo ops are the saving grace of many political campaigns, but Bay State Sen. John F. Kerry gaffed one recent opportunity - flouting Catholic doctrine by taking communion at a non-Catholic church.

In 1996, Kerry Complained About Senators Voting Against Their Professed Religious Ideals. "Sen. John F. Kerry, speaking at a Roxbury church, complained yesterday that some of his fellow senators profess Christian beliefs while voting in ways that contradict those ideals. Addressing the congregation of the Twelfth Baptist Church, Kerry said he often feels torn at Senate prayer breakfasts as he meets colleagues who seem to lack compassion in public life. 'To be candid, I struggle when I sit next to someone who says they?re born again, but votes against child care, votes to cut 12- to 18-year-old kids off Medicaid,' Kerry said."

Says He Shares Catholic Church's Anti-Abortion Views, But Says Public Officials Shouldn't Impose Views On Others. "I don't tell church officials what to do, and church officials shouldn't tell American politicians what to do in the context of our public life," Kerry said ..."

# posted by Duane : 6:09 PM  1 comments

Sometimes 9-year-olds become men before their time. Yesterday was such a time for little Kevin Rafferty. The youngster bravely stood up at St. Mary's Church in East Islip, L.I., yesterday for the funeral of his hero father.

NYPD Detective Patrick Rafferty, 39, was shot dead with his partner, Detective Robert Parker, 43, on the job in East Flatbush, Brooklyn, Friday night.

Kevin, speaking clearly, told the packed congregation how scared he was when a big ugly bear once paid a visit to their upstate campsite. "He told me not to be afraid, everything is OK and he threw some rocks," young Kevin said. "The bear went away."

And then the heartbreaker: "I love my dad more than anything in the world and I want you to know that," he said as he looked at the coffin.

His touching speech drew applause and tears from crowd, which included 15,000 or more cops from New York and beyond, most of them listening to the proceedings piped outside the small church on loudspeakers.

Detective Joe Calabrese gave a wonderful eulogy for his onetime partner: "The only people who are not sad to see Patrick go are the ducks in Long Island, the rabbits in Maine and the perps in Brooklyn."

Among the crowd at St. Mary's was Officer Suzy Johnson, 25 years on the job, who retires today at the 75th Precinct.

"I'm on the eve of my retirement and I hope this is my last funeral as a cop. I have seen too many."

Tomorrow as a citizen, just a citizen, Suzy Johnson will be going to Detective Robert Parker's funeral. "I've seen so many go through those doors. Just great humans."

Standing outside St. Mary's was Officer Timothy Dillon from Brooklyn North. He retires in 18 months to become a Franciscan priest. True.

"When a cop is murdered, a little of all of us are killed," said soon-to-be Father Dillon.

There were politicians there, Mayor Mike, Police Commissioner Kelly, Fire Commissioner Scoppetta, the DAs from Queens and Brooklyn.

While we all know about executions ? these two cops were executed, after all ? apparently Albany does not.

We do not have a death penalty on the books anymore ? it was overturned by the courts, and our legislators haven't done a blessed thing to come up with a new one that works.

"I have required the death penalty in 11 cases in Brooklyn," said Brooklyn DA Joe Hynes. "It's up to Albany, although I think the detectives today will be speaking rather forcefully for the death penalty."

Paul Digiacomo, an executive with the Detectives Endowment Association, said: "If this is not a death-penalty case, then I don't know what is."

Then there was little Emma Rafferty, four years of age, so blond, so tiny. She walked in front of her mother, Eileen, and sister Kara, 12, to be presented with the American flag by Lt. Mike Palmieri of the 6-7 Squad. I turned away from my colleagues lest they see the obvious ? I was crying. Of course, I was not alone.

As a brave cop went to his final resting place, the alleged perpetrator of this wanton massacre, a street thug named Marlon Legere, was resting, confident in the knowledge that his life is safe.

Go figure.

# posted by Duane : 10:19 AM  0 comments

?We have entered the Fourth World War,? said Cardinal Renato Martino, head of the Vatican?s Council for Justice and Peace, saying he believed that the Cold War was World War 3. ?I believe that we are in the midst of another world war,? he said in comments published in Italian newspapers on Tuesday.

?And it involves absolutely everyone because we don?t know what will happen when we leave a hotel, when we get on a bus, when we go into a coffee bar. War itself is sitting down right next to each and every one of us,? he said.

?Every state has to put in place the best possible policing method and this, naturally, might affect some personal freedoms. States have to carry out a defensive policy,? he said.

# posted by Duane : 9:05 PM  0 comments

I love the CBS News forged-document story. To paraphrase the abominable snowman from the Bugs Bunny cartoons, I want to hug it and squeeze it and name it George. Okay, I don't want to name it George, but you get my drift. If this story were hot fudge, I would smear it all over my body and then roll around in nougat.

A quick refresher in world history. Prior to World War I, the world was a huge ball of molten slag and gaseous muck. But that's not important right now. Immediately prior to World War I, the world was divvied up into huge power blocs, basically known as empires. The rulers, bureaucrats, aristocrats, intellectuals, and guys in funny wigs running these empires refused to accept that their way of life was unsustainable, that the curtain was closing on their chapter under the sun ("Jonah Goldberg doesn't merely mix metaphors, he snaps their spines!" ? self-blurb). A relatively unknown loser (no offense to the PowerLine guys, Freep, et al.) shot Arch Duke Ferdinand and the whole house of cards came down. Some empires were obliged to help their allies. Others were just greedy, seeing opportunities in others' weakness. The point ? which doesn't warrant extremely close inspection ? is that the giants seemed extremely powerful right until they fell over. Moreover, what caused them to fall over was their desire to prove that they were as strong as they used to be, that they were still the Engines of History, Masters of their Fates, and the Inspiration of Needlessly Ornate Furniture.

Something similar is going on with the Media Empires of today. Powerline or the blogosphere generally ? which would be the "Black Hand" in this analogy ? spotted the now-obvious fraudulent nature of these documents immediately. The charge is the journalistic equivalent of an assassin's bullet for Dan Rather. Had he refused to go to war in defense of these documents, he might have survived. Instead he's determined to go the way of the Hapsburgs and his career is over.

# posted by Duane : 9:34 PM  0 comments

Under the 1994 ban, the maximum capacity of a magazine was set at 10 rounds. That sent the price of high-capacity magazines through the roof, Davis said, even though magazines manufactured before the ban were protected by a "grandfather" provision and could still be sold.

Now, some gun manufacturers are planning to give away high-capacity magazines as bonuses for buying their weapons. Sales of formerly banned gun accessories, such as flash suppressors and folding stocks, are also expected to take off.

# posted by Duane : 10:24 PM  0 comments

For a while now, it seemed like news about the priesthood was becoming increasingly dim. On the one hand was the problem of abusive priests; on the other, the problem of good priests being overworked and weighed down by the general condemnation of the media.

And then, last August, another blow. A group of 163 priests in the diocese of Milwaukee signed a petition that they sent to Bishop Wilton Gregory, the president of the USCCB, urging him and the rest of the bishops to lift the requirement for priestly celibacy.

(Predictably, the mainstream media gave it lots of coverage.)

At the time, I noted that signing the petition didn't actually constitute dissent, since priestly celibacy is a tradition (or discipline) of the Church and not a doctrine. But I was nevertheless saddened, since I do think there are a number of good reasons to keep the tradition alive. Happily, Bishop Gregory wrote a strong and
eloquent response to the priests, explaining why the tradition should (and would) remain in place.

Nevertheless, I couldn't shake the feeling that this was a bad sign for the future. What about the priests who DON'T want a married priesthood... would their voices ever be heard?

Well, it looks like I didn't have to worry. Those priests have spoken up for themselves.

The week before last, news came that two seminarians at St. John Vianney College Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota started a petition of their own. Gary J. Kasel of the St. Paul-Minneapolis diocese and Franz S. Klein from the diocese of La Crosse, Wisconsin, were worried about the potential negative impact of the petition from Milwaukee, so they began circulating another petition to support celibacy among
seminarians at their college.

What followed was truly a grassroots effort -- seminarians at St. John's sent the petition to friends they knew in other seminaries, encouraging them to do the same. There was no public crusade, no far-reaching organization, no media outlets eager to promote their agenda -- just word of mouth spreading the petition through the
various seminaries.

The results are in. A total of 556 seminarians from 13 different seminaries signed the petition to Bishop Gregory. That's over three
times the number of names on last year's petition.

Not surprisingly, most of the media took a pass on the story.

Among other things, the petition read, "We are writing today to affirm our support for Holy Mother Church's teaching on the place of celibacy in the priesthood.... We, to whom the precious gift of divine grace to live as celibates has been given, yearn with all our hearts to offer this celibacy up to the Lord with undivided hearts,
at the service of his Church."

When interviewed about their efforts, Klein simply stated, "This letter is meant to indicate only exactly what the Holy Father has spoken of as being something of great value to the type of priesthood that the Latin rite needs at this time. This important element is the grace given to those who make a single-hearted sacrifice and choose a life of celibacy."

I don't need to tell you how incredibly gratifying this is to hear - and from our seminarians, no less. It's easy to get discouraged about the future of the Church with all the things going on nowadays.


But these seminarians ARE the future, and they're making themselves heard loud and clear. And soon, not even the mainstream media will be able to ignore them.

# posted by Duane : 8:25 PM  0 comments

You name your two dogs Chomps and Scrappleface. They are both Rottweilers.

You develop a love/hate relationship with monkeys, and think there may be an infinite number of them.

You stop hunting ducks because some of them might be right-winged.

You learn to fly because you love jet noise, but it becomes too expensive when you eject!eject!eject! on every flight.

You hope they open an Evangelical Outpost in your local mall.

You demand that your local grocery store begin selling Instapundit, and you ask why they don't stock certain brands of horseshoes and toothbrushes.

You have a framed diploma from the Adam Smith Institute hanging in your office.

You make up nicknames for everyone at work, and they all end in "-pundit".

You start using obscure latin phrases in everyday speech, and you exclaim "delenda est!" every time you finish a meal.

You only let your kids play with little green footballs.

You know what one hand clapping sounds like.

You climb utility poles to listen to the powerline, and to see if Mark Steyn is up there.

You dress up as Aquaman for Halloween, and you dress up as a ninja for all other holidays.

You have drawn outlines of the Northern Alliance and the Bear Flag League on your U.S. map.

You know more about the State Fair of Minnesota than you know about your own state's fair.

You. Include. Periods. Between. Every. Word. You. Type.

You awake every day with a feeling of common sense and wonder.

# posted by Duane : 8:06 PM  0 comments

The stranger came in through the kitchen window, readying the German semiautomatic.

The little girl saw him first. "Daddy! Daddy!" screamed 9-year-old Erika Smith.
Upstairs, in the house on a shady street in Silver Spring, her father dropped the phone he'd been talking into. "Erika!" Greg Russell roared. The line cut off.

By the time police kicked in the front door that August night in 2002, father and child had been shot to death.

Three nights later, the killer struck again, prosecutors say.

Seattle tourist Katie Hill was shot in the head, moments after stepping out of the Takoma Metro station in Northwest Washington. Hill, a lawyer who favored the gentle pastimes of knitting and pen collecting, fell onto her back, arms splayed above her head.

The slayings were shocking in their randomness and brutality, and there was community outrage when police identified the killer as a D.C. parolee named Anthony Kelly -- a veteran criminal who had been released from prison nearly five years early. Parole agencies maintained that they had done all they could to keep him in check.

Prosecutors have since charged Kelly with killing three people, raping two women, assaulting a police officer and stealing five guns and five cars -- all in the nine months after he left prison. Most of the crimes occurred while he was on "maximum supervision."

Other mistakes occurred, including failures by parole employees to follow parole agency guidelines and lapses in supervision. After Kelly was arrested in an assault on a police officer, his parole officer did not know that Kelly failed to show up for a pretrial hearing until nearly three weeks later -- and then only when Kelly called to tell him.

So many agencies missed so many chances to stop Kelly before the killings that it "sounds like the worst case I've ever heard of," said Carl Wicklund, a 30-year veteran of parole issues and executive director of the American Probation and Parole Association, a 30,000-member organization of criminal justice professionals. "It's almost surreal."

Kelly, 40, repeatedly has said he was arrested as a scapegoat in the high-profile slayings and that he was somewhere else when each homicide occurred. He has said that he is especially angry that police would charge him with the slaying of a child and that he wants to face trial quickly to prove his innocence. His defense attorney has suggested that police might have planted evidence against him.

The prosecutions against him in Montgomery County and the District stalled this spring after a judge ruled that he is mentally incompetent to stand trial. He is in custody in a maximum-security ward of a psychiatric facility in Maryland.

Whatever the outcome of Kelly's trials, the implications of the case are particularly disturbing in the District, one of the nation's most violent cities. Kelly, whose IQ has been tested at 67, fooled his parole officers for months. Some 2,500 other inmates come home from prison to the city each year, and law enforcement agencies struggle to keep track of roughly 14,000 men and women who are on parole or probation at any given time.

In that shifting tide of difficult lives, parole officials thought they knew all about Anthony Kelly.

They were wrong.

# posted by Duane : 11:00 AM  0 comments

A Brooklyn punk confessed to killing two NYPD detectives with one of their own guns, police sources said yesterday. But one of his targets lived long enough to ID the suspect, Marlon Legere, to a 911 operator. The cop's dying words helped officers capture him.

Detective Bobby Parker, 43, and Detective Patrick Rafferty, 39, were gunned down by a man Parker knew well, police said. Parker was the case detective who had worked for the past four months with Legere's mother and relatives. They feared the ex-con because of his constant demands on them.

On Friday night, Legere wanted to "borrow" the Mazda 626 owned by his mother, Melvere Legere, said Hollis Roberts, Melvere's brother. Frightened of her son, Melvere Legere called the 67th Precinct detective squad. Parker and Rafferty responded and went to her house on East 49th Street in East Flatbush.

But by the time they arrived, Marlon, 29, had driven off in his mother's car. So the detectives staked out the block and spotted him when he returned. After using their car to pin Marlon in, they approached him on foot, Parker on the driver's side, Rafferty on the passenger side, police sources said.

"We believe he [Parker] told him to step out of the car," said a senior police official. Marlon refused, and at some point, the Mazda's door opened and a struggle began.

"When they tried to grab me, I wouldn't let them. I grabbed their gun and I shot them," Marlon Legere admitted to investigators, police sources said.

As he lay dying on East 49th Street, Parker dialed 911 on his cellphone. He told the operator he'd been shot.

Asked if he knew who shot him, Parker responded, "Yes, I have his picture on my dashboard," a senior police official recounted.

When cops arrived on the scene, Parker again pointed out that he had a picture of Legere in his car.

Questions remained unanswered last night concerning Legere's arrest July 1 for assaulting his girlfriend and another days later for reckless driving.

Authorities said he was Stopped and given a summons for the latter, and was due back in court Sept. 22.

It remained unclear if authorities were aware of the open criminal-mischief complaint that his mother filed against him May 12 when he was stopped.

# posted by Duane : 9:32 AM  0 comments

Just yesterday morning they let me know you were gone
Suzanne, the plans they made put an end to you
I walked out this morning and I wrote down this song
I just can't remember who to send it to

I've seen fire and I've seen rain
I've seen sunny days that I thought would never end
I've seen lonely times when I could not find a friend
But I always thought that I'd see you again

Won't you look down upon me Jesus
You got to help me make a stand
You just got to see me through another day
My body's achin' and my time is at hand
And I won't make it any other way

Oh I've seen fire and I've seen rain
I've seen sunny days that I thought would never end
I've seen lonely times when I could not find a friend
But I always thought that I'd see you again

Been walkin' my mind to an easy time
My back turned towards the sun
Lord knows when the cold wind blows
It'll turn your head around
Well, there's hours of time on the telephone line
To talk about things to come
Sweet dreams and flying machines in pieces on the ground

Oh, I've seen fire and I've seen rain
I've seen sunny days that I thought would never end
I've seen lonely times when I could not find a friend
But I always thought that I'd see you, baby, one more time again now
Thought I'd see you one more time again
There's just a few things comin' my way this time around now
Thought I'd see you, thought I'd see you
Fire and rain

# posted by Duane : 11:35 AM  0 comments

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Belgian lawmakers belonging to Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt's ruling Flemish Liberal party have introduced a bill seeking to expand the country's controversial euthanasia legislation to include minors.
Senators Jeannine Leduc and Paul Wille said in the bill that terminally ill children and teenagers had as much right to choose when they wanted to die as anyone else.

"Their suffering is as great (and) the situation they face is as intolerable and inhumane," the senators' bill read on Wednesday.

A controversial law decriminalising euthanasia came into force in Belgium in September 2002.

Patients wishing to end their lives must be conscious when the application is made and repeat their request for euthanasia. Their doctor must fill in a form and consult another physician before making a final decision.

Wille and Leduc now also want to include "assisted suicide" in the current legislation as they feel patients often want to end their lives themselves.

# posted by Duane : 1:41 PM  0 comments

For years the Iraqi people had been screaming, in effect: "Oh, my God. Please help me! Please help me! I'm dying!" How could America have answered, "We don't want to get involved"? We are the biggest kid on the playground. If we won't help, who will?

I have just quoted the death-cries of Kitty Genovese, who died on the streets of New York 40 years ago. And I have quoted the response of an onlooker who didn't feel like helping. Her case still resonates in America's conscience, and tells us more than we want to know about the president's enemies.

The New York Times ran the story in March 1964.


For more than half an hour 38 respectable, law-abiding citizens in Queens watched a killer stalk and stab a woman in three separate attacks in Kew Gardens.

Twice the sound of their voices and the sudden glow of their bedroom lights interrupted him and frightened him off. Each time he returned, sought her out and stabbed her again. Not one person telephoned the police during the assault; one witness called after the woman was dead.

The left wanted America to watch Saddam stab Iraq to death and do nothing. That is the left's concept of moral responsibility in the post-Cold War world.

Miss Genovese screamed: "Oh, my God, he stabbed me! Please help me! Please help me!"

The Iraqi people were dying. The left had no pity. The Bush-haters were opposed to American "arrogance." The New York Times shrugged.

It was 3:50 by the time the police received their first call, from a man who was a neighbor of Miss Genovese. In two minutes they were at the scene. . . .

The man explained that he had called the police after much deliberation. He had phoned a friend in Nassau County for advice. . . .

"I didn't want to get involved," he sheepishly told the police.

Let's not get involved, said the Bush-haters. It's none of our business. Let the U.N. do it.

One couple, now willing to talk about that night, said they heard the first screams. The husband looked thoughtfully at the bookstore where the killer first grabbed Miss Genovese.

"We went to the window to see what was happening," he said, "but the light from our bedroom made it difficult to see the street." The wife, still apprehensive, added: "I put out the light and we were able to see better."

Asked why they hadn't called the police, she shrugged and replied, "I don't know."

We have paid a steep price in Iraq, a thousand dead; but if you choose duty, you must choose to pay. Speaking for America, the president has said: We choose duty. What do we get in return? Nothing. Except the privilege of looking at ourselves in the mirror, and facing history and our children.

# posted by Duane : 10:50 AM  0 comments

Frothing-at-the-mouth Democrat attack dog James Carville is accusing Republican Party officials of drugging Sen. Zell Miller for media appearances after his speech to the GOP convention last week.

"They probably shot him up with something," the wild-eyed Ragin' Cajun insisted Wednesday during an interview with radio host Don Imus.

Carville leveled the bizarre charge after claiming that Republicans had written Miller's speech, even though it contained lines Miller had used before and echoed much of the criticism of Democrats outlined in Miller's recent book, "A National Party No More."
But Carville insisted the renegade Democrat's speech was strictly a put-up job.

"They got that poor man in the twilight of his career and just used him," the former Clinton adviser insisted. "They said, 'Look, go up there and say this,' and they handed him a bunch of documents."

Carville claimed Miller didn't know "what he was talking about" in post-speech interviews, saying that's why he grew angry when challenged by MSNBC host Chris Matthews.

When Imus noted that the Georgia Democrat sounded "fine" when he interviewed him the next morning," Carville shot back: "They probably shot him up with something, you know. He just likes screaming at people."

# posted by Duane : 10:16 AM  0 comments

So now it comes down to this: The war has cost too much. And why?

Kerry offers two arguments. One is debatable. One is contemptible.

The debatable argument is that the Bush administration didn't properly plan for the insurgency that followed the ouster of the Hussein regime. Bush has now acknowledged as much by discussing the "miscalculation" that occurred because no one expected the initial combat to end so quickly.

The problem for Kerry is that if he makes this debatable argument, he is forced to attack Bush from the right. To argue that Bush didn't take the insurgency seriously enough forces Kerry to argue that there needed to be more troops and that, right now, we need to finish the job in Fallujah and Najaf.

And right now, Kerry can't attack Bush from the right. Because of his incompetent conduct in the aftermath of the Democratic Convention, Kerry is facing an increasingly disgruntled and impatient Democratic base. The base is 90 percent anti-war. If he gets on their bad side, they might give up on him or even vote Nader.

That's why he prefers the contemptible argument.

Yesterday, he said that the war cost too much because George W. Bush didn't get allies who were willing to pay for it. "America has paid nearly 90 percent of the bill in Iraq," he said. "Contrast that with the Gulf War, where our allies paid 95 percent of the costs."

Well, the Gulf War cost $61 billion back in 1991, and most of it was paid for by Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. Does John Kerry really think we should be going to the Saudis today for money to pay for U.S. operations in Iraq? Does Kerry actually think anyone will believe that his supposed friends in Germany and France would have given him money to pay for a war against Saddam Hussein?

Americans with grave concerns about Iraq actually deserve a better advocate than Kerry, who wants to reduce those concerns to a false monetary calculation. This is a serious country, and Iraq is a serious business. Barring some event out of Kerry's or Bush's control, this unserious man from Massachusetts will not become our president.

# posted by Duane : 8:24 AM  0 comments

Thirty years later, it still makes their blood boil. When, in April 1971, John Kerry testified to a Senate committee that "...war crimes committed in Southeast Asia [were] not isolated incidents but crimes committed on a day-to-day basis with the full awareness of officers at all levels of command," he said that the average American soldier who fought in Vietnam was a war criminal. Kerry's statement was false, a blood libel that hangs in the air to this day. If John Kerry had apologized, maybe he'd never have had to deal with the little group that calls itself "Vietnam Veterans for Truth."

That Sunday afternoon, hundreds ? perhaps thousands ? of Vietnam-era veterans will gather near the Capitol building to condemn Kerry for his 1971 libel, and for repeating those lies again and again in his political career. Members of Vietnam Veterans for Truth, and other Vietnam vets, will come by plane, by car, and by bus from New England and Florida, from the Midwest and all over.

When I spoke to organizer Larry Bailey, he said that about 5,000 men were expected at the rally. More than 500 have contributed to Vietnam Veterans for Truth in amounts as little as $2 and as much as $1000. Money was coming in, but the story needed to get out. As you'd expect, the Vietnam Veterans for Truth aren't getting any coverage in the papers or the network news. They need help spreading the word.

This rally may be bigger than its organizers anticipate. Because what they're protesting is not some vague moral principle: It's not, in the words of Vito Corleone, "only business." It's personal to men like Tony Snesko, Larry Bailey, Mike Bradley, Denny Baum, and Pete Webster. They were the men serving on the Swift boats, in the infantry. They were the ones who risked their lives, shot and were shot at, and were often wounded. They were the ones who saw their friends killed. What resonates so loudly in their minds is likely to reach many of the other Vietnam vets who don't remember Lt. (j.g.) John Kerry, and don't think much of Senator John Kerry but who all remember John Kerry, leader of the radical Vietnam Veterans Against the War.

When Kerry accused Americans of raping, cutting off ears, heads, and limbs, and razing villages in the manner of Genghis Khan, he wasn't talking about some random "other": He was talking about these men. They and their fellow Vietnam veterans were, and are, innocent of the atrocities of which Kerry accused them. They can't forgive Kerry for what he said, or forget what they suffered because of it. They took Kerry's accusation personally. It would have been impossible for them to do otherwise. In Larry Bailey's words, "I never told a lie about John Kerry. He never told the truth about me."

Tony Snesko is a Swift-boat vet. He didn't know Kerry in Vietnam and, like the others I spoke to, doesn't want to debate Kerry's medals or combat experiences. Snesko says Kerry's testimony "put a plague on anyone that served in the war that would last the rest of our lives. ... I don't think there's any way to ever remove from us the stain ... [Kerry's] testimony about us being called rapists, child-killers and the like ... I don't know of anyone of the hundreds of Swift-boat guys that I know and Vietnam veterans that ever participated in any kind of atrocity."

Since the beginning of June, Snesko, with a handmade display of posters and papers mounted on a split U-Haul wardrobe box, has been spending his weekends sitting near the Vietnam War Memorial on the Mall in Washington, D.C. His display includes copies of Kerry's 1971 testimony, one of the fliers that Kerry's group "Vietnam Veterans Against the War" distributed on one of its marches, and the like. Snesko talks with hundreds of people each day. He shocks them by reading passages from Kerry's statements. Snesko says, "I change a lot of minds down there. ... It happens every hour or so when someone says, 'I didn't know that, I'm not voting for Kerry.'"

"If anyone got raped, it was the Vietnam vets who served honorably. Kerry is a serial rapist. He smeared us every day in the press, and raped us again, and again and again."

"I want to do something to prevent a person with the character of John Kerry from becoming the president and commander-in-chief of this country." Baum remembers Kerry's Senate testimony: "He proceeded to tell my mom and dad, my sister ... everybody that I knew, the entire world, that I was a war criminal. And he said I intentionally murdered civilians, I raped women ... we looted and plundered. ... And he said that we did that on a day-to-day basis with full knowledge of our commanding officers. That is such a gigantic lie, he can never be forgiven for it. And the thing is that to this day he won't apologize. We've asked him to, and he won't."

# posted by Duane : 7:13 AM  0 comments

Round and round and round he goes, and where he'll stop: not even he knows.

John Kerry's ever-changing position on Iraq is proving to be the most fascinating attraction in the political amusement park that is the Democrats' presidential campaign.

Jump on board, folks - he's got something for everyone!

Ever since he voted against Gulf War I, back in 1991, John Kerry has been in search of a coherent position on how best to handle Saddam Hussein.

Unfortunately for him-and his presidential candidacy-Kerry still hasn't succeeded.

Last month, in response to a challenge from President Bush, Kerry declared that even if he'd known that no weapons of mass destruction would be found in Iraq, he would still have voted to give Bush the authority to oust Saddam.

Apparently, though, while he was all in favor of giving President Bush the power to attack Saddam, he didn't actually want him to use it.

Iraq, he said last weekend, was "the wrong war in the wrong place at the wrong time" -though he also says it was right to hold Saddam accountable and the world is better off with him gone.

Your head spinning yet?

It gets more confusing.

Now Kerry says America should draw a distinction between the "authority" to use force and actually using it.

The president, he charges, "went to war without a plan to win the peace."

But, wait-didn't he vote for Operation Iraqi Freedom?

And, a couple of weeks ago, say he would do it again?

For sure, John Forbes Kerry isn't the first candidate who tried to please all the voters all the time - and ended up looking like an ass.

His basic problem is that it's virtually impossible to reconcile his instinctively peace-at-any-price Democratic base with the majority of Americans who believe President Bush did the right thing by toppling Saddam Hussein.

He'll keep trying, of course. All of which puts John Kerry, politically speaking, between Iraq and a hard place.

# posted by Duane : 10:01 PM  0 comments

Frivolous lawsuits have long been used as weapons of the powerful against the weak; a particularly egregious example is now playing out in Texas, courtesy of one of John Kerry?s most controversial supporters: the Iranian Hassan Nemazee. Nemazee is pursuing a ten-million-dollar damage claim against the Student Movement Coordination Committee for Democracy in Iran (SMCCDI) and its coordinator, Aryo B. Pirouznia. A Nemazee victory in this suit would almost certainly muzzle or destroy altogether the SMCCDI, one of the most energetic and courageous opponents of Iran?s entrenched but uneasy mullahocracy. But now that Nemazee?s lawsuit has been filed, it has become increasingly clear that it could embarrass the entire Democratic Party ? and severely damage the already flagging candidacy of John Kerry.

Nemazee is an influential figure with many friends in high places in groups such as the American-Iranian Council (AIC), the National Iranian American Council (NIAC), and the Iranian-American Bar Association (IABA). Nemazee?s name is also well known in Democratic Party circles. He was a prominent contributor to Bob Torricelli?s New Jersey Senate campaign. The multimillionaire entrepreneur also contributed $50,000 to his friend Al Gore?s Recount Fund (and $250,000 to the Gore campaign), $60,000 to Bill Clinton?s legal defense fund, and over $150,000 to the Democratic National Committee. Clinton attempted to reward him by naming him U.S. Ambassador to Argentina ? but the Senate declined to confirm him after Forbes magazine published, in May 1999, an extremely damaging expose of his shady financial dealings.

Undaunted, Nemazee continued efforts to establish fruitful contacts between Iranian groups advocating normalization of relations with Iran and high-level members of the Democratic Party. He joined the Board of Directors of the AIC, an organization whose president, Hooshang Amirahmadi, is identified on the SMCCDI website as a ?well known lobbyist for the Iranian Mullahocracy.? Nemazee was involved in a March 2002 fundraiser for Senate Foreign Affairs Committee heavyweight Joe Biden (D-DE). This event was hosted by Sadegh Namazikhah, another AIC member whom Aryo Pirouznia charges with trying to improve public perception of ?one of the most despotic regimes in the world.?

# posted by Duane : 9:48 PM  0 comments

Steve Pitkin never intended to speak at the Winter Soldier Investigation. He agreed to come to Detroit with John Kerry and Scott Camil in January of 1971 mostly to support his fellow veterans, but also to see David Crosby and Graham Nash perform and hopefully meet a few girls. He didn?t really have any place else to go.

Unlike most members of Vietnam Veterans Against the War, Pitkin had seen combat in Vietnam. He was caught in a mortar attack shortly after arriving in country as a Private First Class, and suffered minor wounds to both legs. During the months that followed his injuries became infected and "jungle rot" set in. He was eventually medivaced to an Army hospital in Okinawa, where the doctors gave him anti-fungals and antibiotics, and managed to save his feet. Specialist Pitkin would leave the Army with a Purple Heart, an honorable discharge, and a lifetime case of hepatitis C from the transfusions.

Back in the States, Pitkin did not receive a hero's welcome. At Travis Air Force Base in California he was showered with feces thrown by anti-war protestors. Later, while he waited in his Class A uniform for a plane at San Francisco International Airport, people stopped to snarl obscenities and occasionally spit. Even a World War II veteran paused to come over and call him a coward. He went back home to Baltimore, but it wasn?t home any more. Steve Pitkin was 19 years old.

"I was in bad shape," Pitkin recalls. "My family was against the war, and so were all my old friends. I had things I wanted to say, but there was nobody to listen. I was angry at our government which should have known better than to let us die in a conflict it had no intention of winning, and I was furious at the American media for making us out to be baby-killers and telling lies about what they saw."

Confused and depressed, Pitkin signed up for classes at Catonsville Community College outside of Baltimore. There he met Scott Camil, who was talking up a new organization he described as a "brotherhood" of Vietnam veterans. Pitkin started going to Vietnam Veterans Against the War meetings at the campus, hoping to find some people he could talk to about his experiences. Pitkin says he "had no inkling" that VVAW leaders were meeting with North Vietnamese and Vietcong representatives, or that the VVAW consistently supported their positions. He thought the VVAW was just an alternative to older organizations such as the VFW, where so many Vietnam vets felt unwelcome.

In January of 1971, Pitkin was invited to go to Detroit for the VVAW's "Winter Soldier Investigation," a national conference intended to convince the public that American troops were routinely committing war crimes in Vietnam. "I was just going to show support for the guys who were already picked out to testify," said Pitkin. "Fighting in the war was terrible enough -? I shot people -- but I never saw any atrocities against civilians. The Vietcong hung up tribal chiefs and disemboweled them in front of their own families ?- they did that to their own people. I never saw Americans do anything like that."

The Baltimore contingent met up with other VVAW members in Washington, where they were loaded into rental vans with no back seats. It was freezing cold in Pitkin's van, and Kerry and Camil -? the two former officers -- were in the front where all the heat was, which made for a long drive. Pitkin was unimpressed with the tall, aloof Kerry, who rarely spoke to anyone other than the organization?s leaders, and tagged Kerry with the nickname "Lurch" after the Addams Family TV character. The ragtag group eventually made it to Detroit, got lost for a while, and then spent the night at somebody's house. The conference was held at a Howard Johnson?s motel, in a room Pitkin remembers as having big concrete posts and no windows, with press lights glaring down on the participants. An entourage of VVAW leaders and reporters always surrounded John Kerry, who, Pitkin thought, looked like he was running for President.

Pitkin watched for a day or so while his fellow VVAW members told stories about horrible things they claimed to have done or witnessed in Vietnam. He noticed other people, civilians, going around to the VVAW members and "bombarding them, laying on the guilt," as they told the veterans they had committed unspeakable crimes, but could make amends by testifying against the war.

On the second day of the conference, Pitkin was surrounded by a group of the event's leaders, who said they needed more witnesses and wanted him to speak. Pitkin protested that he didn?t have anything to say. Kerry said, "Surely you had to have seen some of the atrocities." Pitkin insisted that he hadn't, and the group's mood turned menacing. One of the other leaders leaned in and whispered, "It?s a long walk back to Baltimore." Pitkin finally agreed to "testify." The Winter Soldier leaders told Pitkin exactly what they wanted -? stories about rape, brutality, shooting prisoners, and racism. Kerry assured him that "the American people will be grateful for what you have to say."

In April, Steve Pitkin went down to Washington to check out the VVAW's weeklong "Dewey Canyon III" protest, where he "ran into a lot of guys who couldn?t answer questions about what unit they were in." At one point he met up with leftist icon Jerry Rubin, who was wrapped in a Vietcong flag. Pitkin told him to take it off. Rubin shrugged, dropped the flag, and walked away. Pitkin and two or three like-minded veterans formed a patrol, confiscating Vietcong flags and T-shirts from protestors and daring them to start something. Nobody took them up on it.

Pitkin was present for the infamous "medal toss" event on Friday, where VVAW members yelled obscenities and threats against the government into a microphone, then threw military decorations and papers over a fence in front of the U.S. Capitol. A guy with long hair stood nearby holding a bag filled with military ribbons and a few medals, handing them out. Pitkin noticed that most of the decorations weren't right for Vietnam combat veterans -? some, in fact, were from the Korean War -? and overheard remarks that the VVAW had cleaned out the local Army-Navy stores the day before. Disgusted, he grabbed a handful of ribbons and threw them, not at the Capitol, but at the throng of reporters crowding close to the microphone, and stalked away.

After Dewey Canyon III, Pitkin was no longer invited to VVAW meetings or events, which was fine with him. He soon went back into the military, joining the 5/20th Special Forces Group of the Maryland National Guard in 1974, and graduating from paratrooper "jump school" with honors in 1976, but was unable to get back on full time active duty in the Army. Pitkin joined the Coast Guard in 1978 and served there until his retirement in May 1997.

Steve Pitkin wants to apologize to Vietnam veterans for what he did and said at the Winter Soldier Investigation. "The VVAW found me during a difficult time in my life, and I let them use me to advance their political agenda. They pressured me to tell their lies, but that's no excuse for what I did. I just want people to know the truth and to make amends as best I can. I'd hate to see the troops serving today have to go through what Vietnam veterans did."

# posted by Duane : 9:14 PM  0 comments

"I do not believe I am exaggerating in affirming that the empire of Russia is a country whose inhabitants are the most miserable on earth, because they suffer at one and the same time the evils of barbarism and of civilization."

-- The Marquis de Custine, "Letters From Russia," 1839

MORE THAN 160 years after the Marquis de Custine wrote those words, his infamous observations of Russian culture were as relevant as ever this week as the world became acquainted with the full horror of events in southern Russia. Since masked gunmen stormed into a school in the town of Beslan on Wednesday, the first day of the Russian school year, barbarism has been in evidence, along with the worst fruits of "civilization": automatic weapons, bombs, grenades, suicide belts and attack helicopters. The gunmen, described as "inhuman" by those who survived, held hundreds of children and their parents hostage for two days without allowing them food or water, and they shot at those who tried to escape. Russian authorities then stormed the school yesterday without any plan. The result was chaos on an almost apocalyptic scale: Bloody children, piles of corpses, officials providing false or contradictory information, wild rumors, terror and panic.

It is important, in the wake of these events, that the U.S. government reiterate its sympathy for the Russians and offer to help track down and identify the terrorists who planned and carried out this attack. There can be no excuse, no justification, no rationalization for the barbarity of seizing a school and turning children into victims. Every parent feels the anguish of the parents of Beslan.

It remains true, as we have said before, that the Russian government should seek a political settlement in Chechnya, where civilians also have been the chief victims for much of the past decade. Russian President Vladimir Putin declared that the Chechen war was "over" long ago. But the underlying causes of that war have never been dealt with, and the war itself has had a devastating effect on Chechen society. Deeper, longer-lasting reconciliation between Russia and Chechnya requires not the Russian imposition of another puppet government on Chechnya but a more profound search for a way in which the two can live side by side in peace. This must involve negotiation with moderate Chechens -- even moderate Chechen separatists -- and the creation of a truly representative Chechen government. If, that is, it is not too late already.

Russia's abominable behavior has helped spark but does not excuse Chechen terrorists and their partners in crime. Chechen terrorism makes less likely but no less essential a solution to Chechnya's misery.

# posted by Duane : 9:38 PM  0 comments

Sen. John McCain, who has pushed for more civility in this year's presidential race, is warning that the biting attack on Sen. John F. Kerry by a fellow Democrat at the Republican National Convention on Wednesday night might harm President Bush's efforts to woo swing voters.

McCain (R-Ariz.) said the keynote address by Sen. Zell Miller (D-Ga.) could prove as controversial as a speech by Pat Buchanan at the 1992 GOP convention in Houston.

"I think it backfires," McCain said of Miller's rhetorical assault on Kerry. He added that it "makes Buchanan's speech ? look milquetoast."

McCain made his comments to reporters at a party he held after the convention's Wednesday session.

Miller's keynote address was laced with harsh criticism of Kerry's legislative record on military issues. Marshall Wittmann, McCain's spokesman, said the senator favored a less divisive approach to political debate.

"This is not his style," Wittmann said. "He would prefer to see Democrats not as our enemies, but rather as Americans who have good intentions but policy differences" with Republicans.

McCain has become an active campaigner for the younger Bush's reelection and will continue that effort in coming days.

But he also has denounced recent ads by the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth criticizing Kerry's military service in Vietnam and his later protests against that war. McCain has urged Bush to condemn the ads.

# posted by Duane : 9:34 PM  0 comments

Tom Daschle, the U.S. Senator claiming to represent South Dakota, often portrays himself as a "prairie populist," but nothing could be further from the truth. He's a creature of Washington, as liberal as they come.

He portrays himself as a champion for the little guy, but that's just another liberal trick he learned in Washington. The reality is that Tom Daschle is against tax relief, against small businesses, against gun owners' rights, against a ban on partial birth abortion and against America's families.

Tom Daschle paints himself as someone who always puts America first, but you and I know better. Senator Daschle is a one-dimensional professional politician who always puts the national Democratic Party first, and never misses a chance to attack President Bush.

Behind his fake soft-spoken façade beats the bleeding heart of a liberal who's as rigidly partisan as Ted Kennedy and as shamelessly hypocritical as Hillary Clinton.

Tom Daschle is up for re-election in 2004, and with your help, we can stop him.

Recent polls show him in a dead-heat race this November, and Tom Daschle is running scared. And since Daschle is the main roadblock standing in the way of President Bush's conservative agenda for America, he is the darling of the left-leaning media, Big Labor Union Bosses, and the Hollyood cocktail party crowd. That's why he's raising millions of dollars from these groups all across the nation. In fact, Daschle has already raised nearly 90% of his funds from outside the state of South Dakota.

# posted by Duane : 10:42 PM  0 comments

What a greeting! This is like winning an Oscar! ... As if I would know!

Speaking of acting, one of my movies was called "True Lies." It's what the Democrats should have called their convention.

When I was a boy, the Soviets occupied part of Austria. I saw their tanks in the streets. I saw communism with my own eyes. I remember the fear we had when we had to cross into the Soviet sector. Growing up, we were told, "Don't look the soldiers in the eye. Look straight ahead." It was a common belief that Soviet soldiers could take a man out of his own car and ship him off to the Soviet Union as slave labor.

My family didn't have a car ? but one day we were in my uncle's car. It was near dark as we came to a Soviet checkpoint. I was a little boy, I wasn't an action hero back then, and I remember how scared I was that the soldiers would pull my father or my uncle out of the car, and I'd never see him again. My family and so many others lived in fear of the Soviet boot. Today, the world no longer fears the Soviet Union ? and it is because of the United States of America!

I finally arrived here in 1968.I had empty pockets, but I was full of dreams. The presidential campaign was in full swing. I remember watching the Nixon and Humphrey presidential race on TV. A friend who spoke German and English, translated for me. I heard Humphrey saying things that sounded like socialism ? which is what I had just left. But then I heard Nixon speak. He was talking about free enterprise, getting government off your back, lowering taxes, and strengthening the military. Listening to Nixon speak sounded more like a breath of fresh air.

I said to my friend, "What party is he?" My friend said, "He's a Republican." I said, "Then I am a Republican!" And I've been a Republican ever since! And trust me, in my wife's family, that's no small achievement! I'm proud to belong to the party of Abraham Lincoln, the party of Teddy Roosevelt, the party of Ronald Reagan - and the party of George W. Bush.

Now, many of you out there tonight are "Republican" like me in your hearts and in your beliefs. Maybe you're from Guatemala. Maybe you're from the Philippines. Maybe Europe or the Ivory Coast. Maybe you live in Ohio, Pennsylvania or New Mexico. And maybe ? just maybe ? you don't agree with this party on every single issue. I say to you tonight I believe that's not only okay ? that's what's great about this country. Here we can respectfully disagree and still be patriotic ? still be American ? and still be good Republicans.

My fellow immigrants, my fellow Americans how do you know if you are a Republican? I'll tell you how.

If you believe that government should be accountable to the people, not the people to the government ... then you are a Republican! If you believe a person should be treated as an individual, not as a member of an interest group ... then you are a Republican! If you believe your family knows how to spend your money better than the government does ... then you are a Republican! If you believe our educational system should be held accountable for the progress of our children ... then you are a Republican! If you believe this country, not the United Nations, is the best hope of democracy in the world ... then you are a Republican! And, ladies and gentlemen ... if you believe we must be fierce and relentless and terminate terrorism ... then you are a Republican!

Balance, diversity, creativity - these are the elements of Republican equation. Republicans agree, Republicans agree heartily to disagree on many, many of their applications, but we have never disagreed on the basic fundamental issues of why you and I are Republicans.

This is a party, this Republican Party, a Party for free men, not for blind followers, and not for conformists.

Back in 1858 Abraham Lincoln said this of the Republican party - and I quote him, because he probably could have said it during the last week or so: "It was composed of strained, discordant, and even hostile elements" in 1858.

# posted by Duane : 9:29 PM  0 comments

LOS ANGELES - The pope has called him the apostle of California and he's being considered for sainthood, but if some teachers and Native American activists have their way, Father Junipero Serra will be remembered more as a sinner than a saint.

Serra is long credited with establishing California?s mission system along the famed El Camino Real,or the King's Highway, which stretches more than 700 miles from San Diego in the south to Sonoma, north of San Francisco.

The trail of mission complexes, 21 in all in California, consists of chapels and living quarters where Catholic missionaries sent to convert the locals set up shop. Construction on the mission system began in 1769, and the trail remains an important stop for history buffs and tourists alike. Some of the missions even still hold Sunday services and other religious events.

A priest in the Franciscan Order of the Catholic Church, Serra was the driving force behind Spain's colonization of California, and he's well remembered in the state's grade-school textbooks.

But some elementary school teachers and activists say Serra took advantage of Native American labor, and through his leadership, the Golden State's adored missions had devastating effects on thousands of Indians who lost their freedom and lives building and maintaining the 21 Catholic sites.

While Serra could become California's first saint, some teachers are providing their own perspective, forsaking the mandated textbooks and letting 8-year-olds act out scenarios that portray Serra as a trickster and even, in a few extreme cases, a purveyor of genocide.

# posted by Duane : 8:47 PM  0 comments

Gunmen with explosives strapped around their waists took more than 200 people hostage at a school in southern Russia near war-torn Chechnya (news - web sites) and threatened to blow up the building if the security forces moved in.

In Russia's fourth terror attack within a week, the 20 masked and heavily armed individuals dressed in black burst into the courtyard of the school in the town of Beslan where students were lining up for their first day in school at 10:00 am (0600 GMT).

"Three people ran into the courtyard," one boy told NTV television. "At first I thought it was a joke. Then they began to shoot and we started running." The hostage-takers, who reportedly included women, herded the children and adults into a gym and reportedly demanded to meet with the head of the local region of North Ossetia and neighboring Ingushetia, ITAR-TASS reported.


At least two people were killed and nine were injured as a result of the attack, media reported quoting local officials. North Ossetia's interior minister, Kazbek Dzantiev, said the hostage-takers had threatened to kill 50 children for every abductor killed, news reports said.

"For every destroyed rebel, they will kill 50 children, and 20 children for every injured rebel," he was quoted as saying by news agencies and television.


There were conflicting reports of how many people were being held inside, with Russian television quoting law enforcement officials as saying that 200 pupils had been taken captive, along with 40 parents and teachers. Other reports placed the number of hostages from 120 to 400. Some reports also said the gunmen, who had apparently mined the perimeter of the school, were demanding the release of rebels imprisoned in Ingushetia following a deadly raid there in June.


Television images showed armed personnel carriers and dozens of helmeted troops taking up positions around the building as crowds gathered outside the cordonned off building. Many of the women sobbed.


President Vladimir Putin rushed back to Moscow from the Black Sea to deal with the crisis, which came just hours after a car bombing outside a Moscow subway left 10 dead and scores injured.

# posted by Duane : 10:27 AM  0 comments