RKMBs Forums .::Important::. Politics and Current Events DEMS in '04

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Calvin Coolidge, 1925
It is the ferment of ideas, the clash of disagreeing judgments, the privilege of the individual to develop his own thought and shape his own character which makes progress possible.

Harry S Truman, 1950
There is no more fundamental axiom of American freedom than the familiar statement: In a free country we punish men for crimes they commit but never for the opinions they have.

John F. Kennedy, 1962
We are not afraid to entrust the American people with unpleasant facts, foreign ideas, alien philosophies, and competitive values. For a nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is afraid of its people.

The opposition is indispensable. A good statesman, like any other sensible human being, always learns more from his opponents than from his fervent supporters.--Walter Lippmann

What county can preserve its liberties, if its rulers are not
warned from time to time that its people preserve the spirit
of resistance. -- Thomas Jefferson


"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be." -- Thomas Jefferson

and last but certainly not least

"I never considered a difference of opinion in politics, in religion, in philosophy, as a cause for withdrawing from a friend." - Thomas Jefferson

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whomod said:
energy companies that pretty much wreaked havok here in California in 2000 and then attended Cheney's Energy Policy meetings that to this day remain none of the public's business. THAT is wrong. And you should be just as upset about that as you would be in that hypothetical Dean scenario.

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Mindful that conservatives might criticize [Gen. Wesley Clark's tax] plan as that of a ["]tax-and-spend["] Democrat, Clark took them on directly, specifically Bush political advisor Karl Rove.

"Karl, I want you to hear me loud and clear, " Clark said. "I am going to provide tax cuts to ease the burdens for 31 million American families, and lift hundreds of thousands of children out of poverty, by raising the taxes on 0.1% of families — those who make $1 million a year. You don't have to read my lips; I'm saying it.

"If that makes me an old-style Democrat, then I accept that label with pride and dare you to come after me for it."

Clark Offers 'Simple' Yet Sweeping Tax Reform

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The Texas Miracle

(CBS) It was called the “Texas Miracle,” and you may remember it because President Bush wanted everyone to know about it during his presidential campaign.

It was about an approach to education that was showing amazing results, particularly in Houston, where dropout rates plunged and test scores soared.

Houston School Superintendent Rod Paige was given credit for the school success, by making principals and administrators accountable for how well their students did.

Once he was elected president, Mr. Bush named Paige as secretary of education. And Houston became the model for the president’s “No Child Left Behind” education reform act.

Now, as Correspondent Dan Rather reports, it turns out that some of those miraculous claims which Houston made were wrong. And it all came to light when one assistant principal took a close look at his school’s phenomenally low dropout rates – and found that they were just too good to be true.
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“I was shocked. I said, ‘How can that be,’” says Robert Kimball, an assistant principal at Sharpstown High School, on Houston’s West side. His own school claimed that no students – not a single one – had dropped out in 2001-2002.

But that’s not what Kimball saw: “I had been at the high school for three years, and I had seen many, many students, several hundred a year, go out the door. And I knew that they were quitting. They told me they were quitting.”

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DES MOINES, Iowa (Reuters) - The campaigns of two Democratic presidential contenders accused front-runner Howard Dean's camp of political dirty tricks on Thursday, including plans to have out-of-state supporters pose as Iowans and participate in the Jan. 19 caucuses.


Richard Gephardt's campaign manager, Steve Murphy, said a Dean field organizer told a Gephardt staff member that some of the expected 3,500 out-of-state Dean supporters coming to Iowa to turn out the caucus vote would try to infiltrate the process.

John Kerry's Iowa state director, John Norris, also said two out-of-state Dean supporters posing as undecided Iowans had tried to get information about campaign voter calling scripts from a Kerry office in the southeastern town of Creston.

• [Saddam Hussein] is not only malevolent and violent, but also unpredictable. He retains his chemical and biological warfare capabilities and is actively pursuing nuclear capabilities. . . .
  
  
• Saddam has been pursuing nuclear weapons for over twenty years. According to all estimates made available he does not now have these weapons. The best public assessment is that if he were to acquire fissionable material he might field some type of weapon within two years. . . . At some point, it may become possible for Saddam to acquire the fissionable materials or uranium ore that he needs. And therefore, Iraq is not a problem that can be indefinitely postponed.
  
  
• In addition, Saddam Hussein's current retention of chemical and biological weapons and their respective delivery systems violates the UN resolutions themselves, which carry the weight of international law.
  
  
• Our President has emphasized the urgency of eliminating these weapons and weapons programs. I strongly support his efforts to encourage the United Nations to act on this problem. And in taking this to the United Nations, the President's clear determination to act if the United Nations can't provides strong leverage undergirding further diplomatic efforts.

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the G-man said:
It's almost funny, watching whomod fall all over himself touting Clark as an anti-war candidate, when, prior to his entry in the race, Clark supported the war.

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KERRY WINS IOWA, IN 11th HOUR SURGE

Edwards a Strong Second, Dean Third


By RON FOURNIER, AP

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Democratic Candidates

• John Kerry 38%
  
• John Edwards 32%
  
• Howard Dean 18%
  
  
• Dick Gephardt 11%
  
• Dennis Kucinich 1%
  
• Al Sharpton 0%
  
• Wesley Clark* 0%
  
• Joe Lieberman* 0%
  
• Uncommitted 0%

=Called Winner
*=Clark and Lieberman did not
campaign in Iowa.

No Republican results. President
Bush is running unopposed.

1,951 of 1,993 precincts
reporting | Source: AP

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DES MOINES, Iowa (Jan. 19) - John Kerry and John Edwards rode 11th-hour surges to a one-two finish in Iowa's kickoff presidential caucuses Monday, dealing a stunning blow to favorite Howard Dean. Kerry's comeback blew the nomination fight wide open, setting the stage for a free-for-all in New Hampshire's follow-up primary.

Dean finished third, stripped of his front-runner's mantle but still defiant - ''We will not give up,'' he told backers. Rep. Dick Gephardt finished a weak fourth and planned to end his 33-year political career by pulling out of the race.

His campaign given up for dead just weeks ago, Kerry predicted another comeback in New Hampshire's Jan. 27 primary.

''As I've said in New Hampshire and here, I'm a fighter,'' the Massachusetts lawmaker told The Associated Press. ''I've come from behind before and I'm going to take the same fight that I've been making here to New Hampshire.''

Edwards, 50, also claimed momentum.

''This campaign, this cause, this movement is about bringing real change to America,'' Edwards told supporters. ''You and I can build an America and an image of America that we will be proud of.''





Just two weeks ago, before the Iowa race turned testy and tumultuous, Dean and Gephardt sat atop the field in Iowa, with Dean leading in New Hampshire and national polls. Kerry and Edwards turned that on its head, closing their campaigns with positive, forward-looking messages while Dean and Gephardt bickered over past votes and quotes.

''My campaign to fight for working people may be ending tonight, but our fight will never end,'' Gephardt said in a post-caucus speech that sounded like a political farewell.

His shirt sleeves rolled to his elbows, his voice rising to a shout, Dean tried hard to reset expectations.

''If you would have told us a year ago we would come third in Iowa, we would have taken anything for that,'' he yelled and later ticked off the primary states beyond New Hampshire. Dean said he called Kerry and Edwards and told them, ''I'll see you around the corner, around the block, starting tomorrow.''

But the new day will bring new challenges for Dean. His vaunted Internet-driven organization, which helped him raise more than $40 million and dispatch 3,500 volunteers to Iowa, didn't deliver. His anti-war, antiestablishment message didn't resonate. His rivals - Kerry and Edwards here and Wesley Clark in New Hampshire - didn't back down.

Indeed, Clark rose in New Hampshire polls while Dean slipped in Iowa. Now, the retired four-star Army general has turned his sights on Kerry, a decorated Vietnam War veteran.

''He's got military background, but nobody in this race has got the kind of background I've got,'' Clark said. ''It's one thing to be a hero as a junior officer. He's done that. I respect that ... but I've got the military experience at the top as well as at the bottom.''

Kerry aides predicted a negative New Hampshire race, and said they were prepared to fight blow-for-blow. The senator himself borrowed a 12-year-old line from Bill Clinton, who survived scandal to finish second in New Hampshire and pronounced himself the ''Comeback Kid.''






''I want to thank Iowa for making me the 'comeback Kerry,''' the victor said.

With 97 percent of the precincts reporting, Kerry had 37.6 percent, Edwards 31.8 percent, Dean 18 percent and Gephardt 10.6 percent. Long-shot candidate Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio was at 1.3 percent.

An AP analysis of the Iowa delegate count showed Kerry with 12 delegates, Edwards with 10 delegates and Dean with five, with 18 delegates still to be allocated.

Late-deciding voters turned away from mistake-prone Dean, and his signature position in opposition to the Iraq war did not seem to resonate. The anti-war vote split instead of rallying around Dean, an Associated Press survey found.






More than a third picked a candidate in the last week and Kerry got the support of four in 10 of the late deciders. His last-minute surge overrode the vaunted political organizations of Dean and Gephardt. Aides to Kerry and Edwards said their positive messages contrasted with Dean and Gephardt.

''I hate mudslinging,'' said Theresa Stradala, who voted for Edwards.

Stung by criticism of his record on race relations, Medicare and trade, Dean said a week ago he was tired of being the party's ''pin cushion,'' and suddenly looked weak to voters drawn to his blustery image.

Gephardt gambled a few days later with an ad highly critical of Dean. The front-runner's approval rating dropped. Voters who started second-guessing Dean drifted to Edwards or Kerry. Suddenly, it was a four-way race.

Dean said the attacks took their toll. ''We were way ahead, and when you're way ahead people decide you're the target,'' he told CNN. ''And we were pretty much the target of everybody for a long time.''

A survey of caucus-goers, done for The Associated Press and the networks to measure initial preferences, showed Kerry got an especially strong boost from voters who said the ''right experience'' was the most important candidate quality - a theme the four-term Massachusetts senator pounded home in the race's final days.





The entrance poll showed Kerry reaping the benefits of Gephardt's poorer-than-expected showing. Of the people who came to the caucuses backing the Missouri lawmaker - about 16 percent of the total - 24 percent named Kerry as their second choice and 24 percent named Edwards.

Dean, a polarizing figure prone to missteps and controversy in the race's final days, was the second choice of just 5 percent.

Edwards gained from a deal he struck with Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio, who asked his supporters to back the North Carolina senator if they didn't meet voting threshholds in any of the state's 1993 precincts.

The down-to-the-wire campaign helped push turnout toward a record, as Iowans poured into schools, libraries, living rooms and other precincts.

Kerry won because he did well among older voters, men, independents and moderates, while he was competitive among other groups like liberals, who made up six in 10 voters, and among those who strongly disapproved of the war with Iraq.

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britneyspearsatemyshorts said:
Lieberman abd Clark didnt campaign in Iowa I thought you were following this?

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whomod said:
The best part about that poll is that Leiberman came in dead last.

So if Gephardt came in higher than Leiberman and is dropping out, why isn't Leiberman dropping out??!!

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britneyspearsatemyshorts said:



Plus I've noticed a subtle anti-semitism in whomod's posts, so that's 2 strikes against Lieberman.

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whomod said:

Actually though, the only thing I have against Jews is that some Jews like Mel Brooks and Woody Allen think their Jewishness alone is cause for hysterics.

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britneyspearsatemyshorts said:
Mel Brooks is a comedic genius.

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Dave the Wonder Boy said:
Great photo, Whomod.

There was no shortage of humor that came out of this latest round in Iowa:

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Thanks. I have to give credit for that one to one of my posters on my Yahoo indie music club.

What I found great about the pic itself is how the mp3's below it complement the image so well.

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John Kerry's Military Records Deserve Scrutiny
By William Fielder

March 18, 2004


If current revelations in print are valid, Senator John Kerry, front-runner for the Democratic Party presidential nomination, has a golden opportunity to set straight both his personal war record, and restore the country's faith in the veterans his organization smeared and dehumanized. In the Washington Post of February 23rd, Joshua Muravchik reported that as a spokesman for Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW), Kerry, accused American soldiers in Vietnam, before the U.S. Congress in 1971, of... "war crimes...committed on a day-to-day basis with the full awareness of officers at all levels of command."

Then Kerry detailed the crimes of our troops (on a day to day basis with the full awareness of officers) to the stunned senators: "They had personally raped, cut off ears, cut off heads, taped wires from portable telephones to human genitals and turned up the power, cut off limbs, blown up bodies, randomly shot at civilians, razed villages in fashion reminiscent of Genghis Kahn, shot cattle and dogs for fun, poisoned food stocks, and generally ravaged the countryside of South Vietnam.."

Kerry may have had reference to his own experiences, but was also referencing the statements of a group of supposed ex-service members. For his book "Stolen Valor," B.G. Burkett recontacted these authorities and found their stories were generally bogus, or they were simply impostors. Kerry appeared on Meet the Press with one fabricator, Al Hubbard, but Kerry never disassociated himself from Hubbard's lies. Nevertheless, in the wake of Kerry's testimony, and as a result of demonstrations launched by VVAW (an organization led by Kerry, and funded by Jane Fonda), the stereotype of the drug-crazed, psychologically-damaged, deranged and socially uncommunicative Vietnam veteran was spawned. Taunts of "baby-killer," and "murderer" were common. Although no war is free of atrocities, Vietnam veterans who never perpetrated or ordered such acts, were denied their deserved respect.

However, that may soon change, if Senator Kerry will only cooperate. In early March, 2004, the Washington Times revealed a statement by former assistant secretary of defense W. Scott Thompson, who recalled a conversation with former chief of naval operations Elmo R. Zumwalt, Jr. Zumwalt, who commanded naval forces in Vietnam, and had personally decorated Kerry, said that Kerry had created "great problems" for him and other Navy brass... "by killing so many non-combatant civilians and going after other non-military targets." The admiral reportedly added, "We had virtually to straitjacket him to keep him under control..."

Kerry had his first Purple Heart within 24 hours of taking command of his swiftboat on December 1,1968, and accumulated 3 such decorations for "wounds," but never spent a day in the hospital. Unfortunately, Kerry will not permit his treatment records, nor his recommendations/citations for valor, to be disclosed. Further, Kerry's biography, "Tour of Duty" by Douglas Brinkley, reprises a 2001 appearance by Kerry on Meet the Press wherein Kerry admitted to committing "the same kinds of atrocities as thousands of others" (thousands?), during his brief 5 months in the combat zone. (There were no daily acts of compassion?)

Kudos to Kerry for confessing to personal outrages--but that doesn't make the rest of us "criminals." If Kerry's conduct was indeed atrocious, and the statements attributed to Admiral Zumwalt are correct, a fuller explanation is definitely necessary. Vietnam veterans should demand, in addition to Kerry's release of records, a statement of apology for his personal war crimes. He should also admit that his broad brush characterization of Vietnam veterans as "criminals" was based on bogus confessions from fabricators and liars in the Kerry-Fonda anti-war cabal. He must not be allowed to perpetuate the fantasy that all Vietnam veterans are responsible for routine and sanctioned crimes against non-combatants. Vietnam veterans should contact the Kerry campaign (info@johnkerry.com) with demands for a full redress. We must seek justice for the families of the 58,000 besmirched patriots who died--and the rest of us just want our honor back.
______________________________

William Fielder is a retired Army officer and Vietnam veteran. He can be contacted at hoostwo@earthlink.net .

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SOROS, CASH AND KERRY
By Cliff Kincaid

March 19, 2004



Presidential candidate Senator John Kerry is hoping that reporters will be so intimidated by his Vietnam War medals that they will not explore his pro-communist political career. It's true that he fought bravely against the communists. Later, however, he turned against his fellow soldiers, accused them of genocide, marched with those seeking a communist victory in Vietnam, and abandoned Vietnam POW/MIAs. Then, as a senator, he strongly opposed the efforts of the Reagan administration to prevent a communist takeover of Central America.

Instead of raising these issues, which go the heart of Kerry's patriotism and integrity, the media have run a few stories about him doing favors for campaign contributors. The Washington Post noted that Kerry, who has been campaigning against special interests and lobbyists, raised more money from paid lobbyists than any other senator over the past 15 years. The Associated Press disclosed that Kerry did legislative favors for a major insurer, American International Group, which subsequently donated thousands of dollars to his campaigns, and that Kerry recommended campaign donors for federal appointments.

If the media are truly interested in campaign money scandals, they should examine how controversial billionaire liberal George Soros, the most prominent drug legalizer in the world, has contributed financially to Kerry and the national Democratic Party and expects that the Massachusetts Senator will implement a new and dangerous policy on access to hard drugs if he becomes president.

An examination of Federal Election Commission records shows Soros making financial contributions to Kerry, Howard Dean, Wesley Clark, Senator Hillary Clinton, and many other Democratic candidates and campaign committees. In addition, he contributed $153,000 in "soft money" to the Democratic Party in the last election cycle.

But Soros is not your typical "fat cat."

Usually described as just a "philanthropist" or "financier," he was convicted two years ago in France of insider trading-a crime much in the news in the Martha Stewart trial that receives almost daily attention in the media.

Writing in Insight magazine, Kenneth Timmerman raised the possibility that Soros could use his knowledge of global financial markets to cause a stock market crash just before the election to undermine Bush. Those fighting the illegal drug problem are extremely concerned about how a quirk in the new campaign finance law upheld by the Supreme Court could facilitate Soros' grab for political power.


The Soros Power Play

Drug Watch International, a group formed in 1991 to fight drug abuse in America, points out that "Soros has long supported so-called campaign finance reform. He has lobbied for limited contributions [i.e. soft money] to a political party. By doing so, he cleared the path to make himself the biggest bankroller of an individual candidate in the next presidential election." Soros is doing this through millions of dollars provided to the Democrats through shadowy "527" (IRS designation) organizations such as America Coming Together (ACT) that could outspend Bush two to one this year. In five months, ACT raised $12 million from Soros, insurance magnate Peter Lewis, another supporter of drug legalization who was caught smuggling drugs into New Zealand, and others.

If Soros, Lewis & Company are able to capture the White House and implement their drug policy nationally, millions more people could be led to experiment with dangerous psychoactive sub-stances and damage themselves, their families, and society.

Illegal drugs are illegal because they alter mental states, weaken one's moral sense of right and wrong, and even cause hallucinations in some cases. They are linked to many crimes, such as the recent kidnapping and murder of 11-year-old Carlie Brucia in Florida. The alleged killer, career criminal Joseph P. Smith, had been arrested for prescription drug fraud, cocaine use, and heroin possession.

The Soros "solution" to the drug problem, sometimes labeled "harm reduction," would have government legalize and dispense hard drugs, much like tobacco or alcohol. However, the pro-drug lobby has decided that drug legalization will occur only on a step-by-step basis, with the first step being the claim that marijuana has medical benefits.

It's true that THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, stimulates appetite and soothes nausea in some patients. That's why it has been synthesized into Marinol, which is available with a doctor's prescription. The drug legalizers, however, want to be able to smoke the drug-even with all of its dangerous carcinogens-and get "high." Then, when they are caught with drugs, they can claim they use them for "medical" reasons.

In a related matter, Soros demonstrates his "compassion" toward those who commit crimes against Americans by providing funds to assist criminals and ex-cons.

Linda Evans, for example, was given a Soros grant to "increase civic participation of former prisoners." Evans, a "Soros Justice Fellow," is a former prisoner herself, having been pardoned by President Clinton for her involvement in the Weather Underground terrorist group.

Another "Soros Justice Fellow," funded by the billionaire's Open Society Institute, was Christian Parenti, the Marxist author of two books alleging that government has violated civil liberties while rooting out terrorist and subversive groups in America.

As part of his effort to defeat Bush, Soros is funding organizations such as MoveOn.org and the Center for American Progress to produce propaganda to undermine the President politically. The Center for American Progress is run by John Podesta, former chief of staff to Bill Clinton, and Morton Halperin, a former ACLU official who also serves as director of the Washington office of the Soros Open Society Institute.

Sensing a political vulnerability on foreign policy, MoveOn.org, the Center for American Progress and the Hollywood group, Artists United, have produced a film, "Uncovered: The Whole Truth About Iraq," critical of the Bush administration's decision to go to war in Iraq based on questionable intelligence.

Herbert Romerstein, former staff member of the House Intelligence Committee, finds it ironic that Soros-funded groups would criticize Bush for an intelligence failure in Iraq when former ACLU operatives close to Soros such as Halperin helped "create the problem in the first place." He notes that Halperin, a character witness for CIA defector Philip Agee, facilitated the passage of legislation that restricted U.S. intelligence-gathering and reduced critical "human intelligence" in such areas as the Middle East.


Stars Of The Show

One star in the film, former U.N. weapons inspector Scott Ritter, was caught in an Internet sex sting in 2001 with an underage girl.

Another star, Ray McGovern, has had an intelligence failure of his own. He has contributed articles critical of the Bush administration to publications associated with Lyndon LaRouche, an extremist Democratic Party presidential candidate who served time in prison on financial fraud charges and once called for bringing into being "a new Marxist International throughout the capitalist sector."

McGovern, who had a 27-year career in the CIA, claims that he knows nothing about LaRouche but believes his researchers "do some fairly good work."

The Soros role is worthy of special press attention because his pro-drug policy has been considered at odds with most Republicans and Democrats, who have shared the view that legalization would make the drug problem far worse. Barry McCaffrey, who was director of the National Office of Drug Control Policy in the Clinton administration, denounced Soros in testimony before Congress. An aide to McCaffrey said that the Soros plan would "take us into nihilism and chaos and jam our hospital emergency rooms with more [drug] users."

Former Carter cabinet member Joseph Califano, who now runs Columbia University's National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, called Soros "The Daddy Warbucks Of Drug Legalization." He said that Soros had the right to speak in support of any idea, however outrageous, but that such a right carried with it "the obligation not to lie about it." He was referring to Soros-funded campaigns claiming that drug legalization or decriminalization will enable police to go after more violent criminals and that smoking marijuana has health benefits. Califano warned parents "to protect their children" against Soros.

One of the Soros-funded groups, the Drug Policy Alliance (DPA), has openly praised Kerry, noting that he endorsed a 1996 law to establish a "medical marijuana therapeutic research program" in Massachusetts, and that he co-wrote a letter to the Drug Enforcement Administration in support of a University of Massachusetts proposal to produce marijuana for "medical marijuana research." The co-signer was Senator Ted Kennedy.

In true Soros fashion, the terms "therapeutic" and "medical marijuana" are designed to mask the true nature of the proposal. The DPA reports that, "at two separate campaign events Kerry described himself as 'open to' and 'in favor of' medical marijuana."

Interestingly, one of the groups supporting the Kerry-Kennedy proposal, the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS), pushes for the "medical" use of such drugs as LSD and Ecstasy.

If Kerry wins, he will be heavily in debt to Soros and the others who made his victory possible. And Kerry pays back his financial patrons.

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MEDIA WATCHDOG: 2/12/04

THE ROLE OF GEORGE SOROS IN TAKING OVER THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY --and what he wants in return-- is the issue that the major media still won't talk about.
On ABC's This Week on February 8, George Stephanopoulos went so far as to mention that new groups supported by Soros and others could spend $150 million this year to defeat Bush. But he said nothing about the Soros pro-drug agenda.
Billionaire Peter Lewis, a partner of Soros in these efforts, was caught smuggling marijuana into New Zealand. Our lead article describes one of the policies that they want from Kerry in exchange for putting him in the White House-legalization of hard drugs.
We suggest writing to Karen Tandy, administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration, asking that they urgently release any information they have on the Soros-Lewis plan for America.
Stephanopoulos also mentioned that Kerry's wife, Teresa Heinz, heiress to half a billion dollars in ketchup money, could wage her own campaign for Kerry if it is "independent" of her husband. She has pledged to do so "if her husband's honor is attacked."
Kerry lost his honor when he turned against his fellow soldiers, marched for a communist victory, and abandoned the Vietnam POW/MIAs. Former POW Michael Benge says Kerry fought harder for the communists than he fought against them.


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CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER HAS WRITTEN A COLUMN SAYING THE DEMOCRATS "MAY HAVE won the war issue" by going with Vietnam Veteran Kerry. Keep your eye on the photos the media use of Kerry from the Vietnam War era and his Senate career. I bet they won't use the photos which show (1) Kerry in a crowd with traitor Jane Fonda, (2) Kerry in front of a Viet Cong flag, (3) Kerry's fellow demonstrators holding Viet Cong flags and a picture of Chinese Communist Mao Tse-tung, (4) Kerry in Hanoi seated under a bust of Communist leader Ho Chi Minh, and (5) Kerry with Nicaraguan Communist leader Daniel Ortega.
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NOW THAT KERRY IS THE APPARENT NOMINEE, THE WASHINGTON POST AND NEW YORK Times face the tricky problem of reporting on his record. In a February 8 front-page article by Washington Post reporters Helen Dewar and Dan Balz, titled, "Kerry's 19 Years in Senate Invite Scrutiny," they say that "his POW-MIA hearings on whether Americans were still being held in Vietnam" led to "eventual normalization of relations between the two countries," as if this were a positive development. A group called Vietnam Veterans Against John Kerry, led by former POW Benge and others, says that Kerry desperately tried to "bury" the issue of POW/MIAs and that when he ran the committee holding the hearings, he "never missed a chance to propagandize and distort the facts in favor of Hanoi." The group says that Kerry's conduct on that committee was influenced by a Kerry cousin, Stuart Forbes of Colliers International, making a real estate deal with Hanoi. The Post said nothing about this. That same day, New York Times reporters David E. Rosenbaum and Robin Toner praised Kerry's work on the POW/MIA issue, saying he had to put down "rampant rumors" of POWs still alive and deal with "zealots steeped in Rambo movies," a reference to the movie character who went back to Vietnam to rescue our POW/MIAs. The Times also failed to mention the Vietnam business connection. We suggest sending postcards to the editors of both papers to protest this gross omission. Kerry is known to do favors for relatives. One of his biggest donors has been the Boston-based law firm Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Glovsky and Popeo, which employs his brother. Kerry has pushed bills favorable to clients of the firm.
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IT WAS IGNORED BY MOST OF THE MEDIA, BUT PRESIDENT BUSH, IN HIS STATE OF THE UNION speech, proposed an additional $23 million for schools to use drug testing as a tool to save children's lives. You undoubtedly saw the film footage of a SWAT-style raid at South Carolina's Stratford High School, where some students were searched and handcuffed by police with guns and drug-sniffing dogs. The ACLU filed suit, charging school and police officials with violating students' rights. Vicki Mabry and the CBS 60 Minutes II show did interviews with some of the students frightened by the raid. Less attention was paid to the reason for the raid. Lt. Dave Aarons of the Goose Creek, South Carolina, Police Department said it followed an investigation into drug activity that began after a student informed school staff about drug sales on school property. Police monitored video from school surveillance cameras and observed organized drug activity, with students posing as lookouts and concealing themselves from the cameras. Two arrests for drug distribution had been made at the school in the academic year. While no drugs were found during the raid, a dog reacted to narcotics residue in some book bags. Associated Press reported that Monique Gonzalez, a senior at the school, saw students during the raid running from campus, dumping drugs along the way.
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OUR SECOND ARTICLE IS A PROVOCATIVE PIECE ON THE CONTINUING NEED TO FIX OUR border problems. Speaking at the recent Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), Phyllis Schlafly noted that the Medicare prescription drug bill included a little-noticed provision for $1 billion for illegal-alien health care. The $1-billion would be better spent on building a barrier on the U.S.-Mexican border. The Bush record is bad on this, but Jerry Sodaro of the Midwest Coalition to Reduce Immigration points out that George Soros has committed at least $50 million to facilitate more immigration into the U.S. The immigration issue was ignored during Tim Russert's February 8 Meet the Press interview of the President. About half was devoted to Iraq, which the Democrats want to exploit. Bush played into their hands by saying that Clinton holdover CIA director George Tenet was secure in his job.

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