Buried Poll Shows Support for War
Mood:  sharp
Topic: Yahoo Chat Stuff

Americans Split On Military Effort In Iraq, But Most Acknowledge Positive Outcomes

Americans may not see eye-to-eye with President Bush on all issues, but a majority believe that the U.S. military action in Iraq will lead to a more democratic — and by extension freer — Middle East, according to the latest IBD/TIPP Poll.

Conducted June 6-10 among 913 adults, the poll found nearly two of every three (60%) think America's foray into Iraq has helped sow the seeds of democracy in the Middle East. Among Republicans, that number jumps up to 87%. Even large numbers of Democrats (44%) and independents (53%) agree with that sentiment.

"Most Americans see a democratic Middle East as one positive outcome of the Iraq War," said Raghavan Mayur, president of TIPP, a unit of TechnoMetrica Market Intelligence, IBD's polling partner.

What's more, a large majority (70%) also believe it's important for the U.S. and coalition countries to maintain a military presence in Iraq.

IBD/TIPP asked Americans about some of the roles that the U.S. should take on in Iraq. The results show the generosity of the average citizen. Eighty-four percent believe that it's important for the U.S. and coalition countries to continue to train Iraqi security and police forces, 79% think it's important to provide Iraq with economic aid and 74% think it's important to rebuild Iraq's infrastructure.

Beyond Iraq, experts believe that the U.S. expedition to root out terrorists in Afghanistan and neutralize Saddam Hussein's offensive biological and chemical weapons capabilities have been a wake-up call for other rogue nations.

Softer Stance

"Since the Iraq War, nations like Libya, Syria and others in the Middle East have taken a softer stance towards America and the fulfillment of international obligations," said Mayur.

Last week, he noted, a Jordanian military court ordered Jordanian-born terrorist Abu-Musab al-Zarqawi, along with conspirator Mohammed Qteishat, to surrender within 10 days. They're facing charges of plotting deadly terrorist attacks in Jordan that killed one person.

"Moreover, even though high-profile targets like bin Laden and al Zarqawi are still on the loose, the global terror complex has sustained serious damage," Mayur says.

Most Americans agree. According to the poll, 57% agree that the Iraq War has "dealt a significant blow to terrorist networks worldwide." More than twice as many Republicans see things this way than Democrats (87% vs. 39%).

And while countries like Iran and North Korea have not come around to the U.S. perspective, the deployment of American military forces, as well as a resolute diplomatic stance, are helping to keep negotiations alive.

The IBD/TIPP Poll uncovered a similar sentiment among Americans, with just 46% agreeing with the statement that the Iraq War has "helped rein in regimes like Iran and North Korea."

But the Iraq War will likely have a far-reaching impact on U.S. prestige abroad. Far from tarnishing the nation's image, a large share of Americans believe that it has enhanced the U.S.' strategic position in the Asia-Pacific region (47%), while 44% do not agree.

According to Mayur, "countries like Japan, the Philippines, Pakistan and South Korea have all formed closer partnerships with the United States to clamp down on terrorism and have provided support of one form or another to America's forces in Iraq."

Since the end of the Cold War, U.S. strategy has been to ensure stability both regionally and globally.

"Tactically, this has meant many things, including anti-proliferation efforts vis-a-vis WMDs and the neutralization of terrorist network, who even in the pre-9-11 world made it a habit of attacking America's forward-deployed military forces. Bush has pursued both of these areas with determination and unmatched vigor," said Mayur.

Glass Half-Empty?

Although much good has come out of the Iraq War, the media have repeatedly viewed it as a half-empty glass. Perhaps that's why, when we asked if "U.S. efforts in Iraq are helping to make the world a safer place or not?" 46% said yes and 49% said no.

Nearly half (49%) are satisfied with the Bush administration's Iraq policies and 42% are not satisfied.

However, Americans do think the war is causing higher prices at the gas pumps. In fact, just 32% would say that the Iraq War has helped stabilize the world's oil supplies.

In retrospect, the nation is evenly split in terms of its support or opposition for the U.S. military action in Iraq that took place in April of 2003 (48% support, 49% oppose). Support is strongest among Republicans (84%) and weakest among Democrats (21%).

Investor's Business Daily ** Americans Split On Military Effort In Iraq, But Most Acknowledge Positive Outcomes

Dems troubled by ''defective'' minorities
Mood:  chatty
Topic: Lib Loser Stories

The author says that Dems only see two types of minorities, deferential and defective. This plays to the central racial hypocrisy that threatens the Democratic Party. Liberals only support racial diversity for liberal minorities, while they shun minorities who do not tow the line.

Not their kind of minorities

San Diego - In the minds of many liberal Democrats, Latinos and African Americans must seem to come in only two varieties: deferential or defective.

And according to one angry caller -- who was, from the sound of it, perfectly at home in a blue state -- I fall into the second category. "I think you're deluded," he said, "and maybe insane."

I'm just guessing but something tells me the caller would probably say the same thing about Janice Rogers Brown, who two years ago was nominated by President Bush to fill a vacancy on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. Last week, Brown was finally confirmed, but not before Senate Democrats and their accomplices in left-leaning advocacy groups such as People for the American Way did their best to try to paint this black conservative and California Supreme Court chief justice as an "extremist" whose views are outside the mainstream.

Translation: Brown doesn't defer to liberals. So she must be defective.

By the way, here's something I've noticed: When conservatives criticize a person of color, they often insult you but liberals usually are condescending. Liberals don't say they're upset as much as "disappointed" in you.

And so it was that the caller was disappointed in me. What fired him up was a column I'd written about Alberto Gonzales, the nation's first Latino attorney general. In it, I argued that liberal Democrats weren't really interested in promoting diversity unless they get the credit for it, and that this explained their lukewarm reaction to Gonzales -- an American success story whose nomination by President Bush they can't claim credit for.

It's not that the Democrats are suddenly anti-minority. I just think they're skittish and insecure when it comes to their own minority outreach efforts, such as they are. And so each time Bush or another prominent Republican tries to make minorities feel at home in the GOP, Democrats worry that the hold that they have on these groups may weaken and they won't be able to do much about it.

Just as they can't do much to stop Bush from appointing Latinos and African Americans to top positions in the Cabinet and in the federal courts, something that further frightens and frustrates liberal Democrats. And when Democrats oppose these nominees, it's usually not because of who these nominees are or even because of what they believe. Rather, it's because of what they represent and what it means in the grand scheme. Just look at the line that was being advanced by Sen. Barbara Boxer, a California Democrat.

"Her life story is amazing. It is remarkable," Boxer said of the California jurist as the Senate was debating Brown's nomination. "What I don't like is what she is doing to other people's lives. Her story is amazing, but for whatever reason, she is hurting the people of this country, particularly, right now, in my state."

So this is the Democrats' dilemma. How are they supposed to market themselves to minorities as the one-and-only party of opportunity when Bush is putting nonwhite faces in high places? Better to try to paint the Republican Party as a restricted club, as Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean did recently when he described the GOP as "pretty much a white Christian party." And minority Republicans as aberrations.

I bet all this would come as news to Janice Rogers Brown, who attends church regularly.

Just as I bet it would come as news to Miguel Estrada, the Latino gentleman who, at one point, seemed headed for the D.C. appeals court for which Brown is now confirmed -- until his nomination was unfairly derailed by rank racial politics.

Estrada is a top-shelf Washington lawyer who had, after coming to the United States from Honduras and graduating with honors from Columbia University and Harvard Law School, worked as an assistant U.S. attorney and an assistant solicitor general. Yet none of that prepared Estrada for the meat- grinder of the judicial-confirmation process. Before long, the Honduran immigrant was -- in an experience that must have seemed surreal to him at the time -- fending off accusations from white Democrats that he "wasn't Hispanic enough." That was Estrada's defect. It was also complete nonsense.

I don't see why liberals won't say what they really mean. It's obvious that what concerns them is not that these nominees aren't real minorities, but rather that they aren't their kind of minority. You know -- the kind that asks for permission before they speak and makes sure that what they say falls in line with the views of their liberal benefactors.

San Francisco Chronicle ~ Ruben Navarrette Jr., San Diego Union-Tribune ** Not their kind of minorities

Study: Middle class abandons Dems
Mood:  cheeky
Topic: Lib Loser Stories

While the Dems won middle-class minorities, a new study says that White, middle-class voters voted for Bush by a 22-point margin and for GOP congressional representatives by a 19-point margin. Overall, this meant that the GOP won the middle-class and efforts to improve minority support for Republicans could spell long-term failure for the Dems.

Democrats Must Reconnect With Middle Class

For my entire political life -- which spans 26 years as a congressman and at least an additional 10 years before that as a campaign organizer -- I have always believed that my party, the Democratic Party, represented the middle class.

Unfortunately, the public doesn’t see it that way today.

A recent study prepared by a new Democratic think tank, Third Way, demonstrated this reality in chilling fashion. The study was titled "Unrequited Love: Middle Class Voters Reject Democrats at the Ballot Box," and is worthy of very serious review by everyone in the country who considers himself or herself a Democrat.

The study is an analysis of exit poll data from the Roper Center at the University of Connecticut of 13,718 voters in the 2004 presidential and congressional elections. Middle class was defined as a family income between $30,000 and $75,000. Middle class voters, as defined in this study, accounted for 45 percent of total votes cast.

President Bush and House Republicans both carried middle class voters (a composite of white, black and Hispanics). The truly remarkable aspect of this study is that while John Kerry and House Democrats carried both black and Hispanic middle class voters, Democrats were absolutely swamped among the white middle class, thus tipping the aggregate middle class figures into the Republican column.

Let’s be very specific. Bush defeated Kerry by 22 points among middle class whites, and House Republicans running for Congress won middle class whites by 19 points. Democrats have always assumed that white middle class voters (many, but not all of whom, are union members) were an important constituency for the party.

To quote the study, "While Democrats may consider themselves the party of middle class, working America — middle class, working America thinks otherwise. White middle class voters, in particular, vote in such low numbers for national Democrats that it may be more accurate to believe that they feel that Democrats are hostile to, not champions of, their interests."

This brings us to the obvious question: What must Democrats do to improve their standing among white middle class voters in order to start winning national elections again, both for the presidency and for Congress?

Contrary to conventional wisdom, the answer does not start with economic issues. It starts with national security. Many middle class voters supported Republicans in 2004 because they were not convinced that Democrats would keep them safe -- either at home or abroad.

There is great irony here because it was Democrats who first proposed a new Department of Homeland Security and it was Democrats who supported the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission, while congressional Republicans tried to block their implementation. On this count, Democrats must do a better job of telling their story.

Democrats should also continue to stand up for our veterans while Republicans try to cut veterans' benefits. They should not be bashful about pointing out how poor planning on the part of the Bush administration has led to a high level of casualties in Iraq, and how this is significantly harming the readiness of our Army by making it more difficult for the military to recruit new soldiers and retain soldiers on active duty.

On the domestic front, Democrats should aggressively devise a strategy to increase the number of Americans who have health insurance, even if it does costs some money. We should be willing to tell our friends in the auto industry that they should make more fuel-efficient cars. More fuel-efficient cars will help save energy (making us less dependent on foreign oil) and will force the American auto industry to modernize in a way that it can better compete with foreign car makers and ultimately save American jobs.

Democrats should remind the middle class that we are the party who created Social Security and are the party who will make sure that it is available when they retire. And finally, Democrats should be willing to support middle class tax cuts that help people supplement their Social Security, not through private accounts that take funds away from the Social Security system but with increased IRAs and 401(k) plans.

The analysis done by Third Way should be a wake-up call for Democrats. If it isn't, Democrats may stay in the wilderness for some time.

Fox News ~ Martin Frost ** Democrats Must Reconnect With Middle Class

Kansas Board Members Hurl Personal Attacks in Evolution Debate
Mood:  silly
Topic: Lib Loser Stories

Kansas Board Members Hurl Personal Attacks in Evolution Debate

TOPEKA, Kan. - A discussion about how evolution should be taught in public schools degenerated Wednesday into personal attacks among State Board of Education members.

The board is reviewing proposed standards drafted by three conservative members designed to expose students to more criticism of evolution in the classroom. During the discussion, four board members who want the standards to maintain their existing evolution-friendly tone assailed the proposal.

Bill Wagnon, of Topeka, told the three conservative board members they were the "dupes" of intelligent design advocates, who presented what Wagnon said was bad science during public hearings in May.

"It is all based on absolute and total fraud," Wagnon said of the proposal.

But one of the three board members, Connie Morris, of St. Francis, lectured the board's four moderates for not attending the public hearings in May, during which witnesses criticized evolutionary theory that natural chemical processes may have created the first building blocks of life, that all life has descended from a common origin and that man and apes share a common ancestor.

"Had you attended, you would have been informed," Morris said. "You would be sitting here as informed individuals and not arrogantly calling us dupes."

Conservatives have a 6-4 majority, so much of what the three members proposed -- if not all of it -- is likely to survive.

The board didn't make a decision Wednesday about the standards, but it told a committee of educators to review the proposal. Board Chairman Steve Abrams, of Arkansas City, another one of the three members who drafted the proposal, said he also intended to have a second, external review it in July. That suggests the board won't vote until at least August.

Besides Abrams and Morris, helping draft the latest proposal was board member Kathy Martin, of Clay Center.

The ongoing debate over how evolution should be taught has brought international attention to Kansas. The four days of hearings in May attracted journalists from Canada, France, Great Britain and Japan.

The standards determine how fourth-, seventh- and 10th graders are tested on science. They currently describe evolution as a key concept for students to learn before graduating from high school, treating it as the best explanation for how life developed and changed over time.

The proposed standards don't specifically mention intelligent design, except to say the standards don't take a position. But advocates of intelligent design, which says some features of the natural world are so complex and well-ordered that they are best explained by an intelligent cause, organized the case against evolution during the hearings.

Many scientists view intelligent design as a form of creationism, and national and state science groups boycotted the public hearings, saying they were rigged against evolution. As a result, no scientist testified in favor of evolution.

State law requires the board to update its academic standards regularly, setting up this year's debate over evolution.

In 1999, the Kansas board deleted most references to evolution from the science standards, bringing international condemnation and ridicule to Kansas. Elections the next year resulted in a less conservative board, which led to the current, evolution-friendly standards. Conservative Republicans recaptured the board's majority in 2004 elections.

Battles over evolution also have occurred in recent years in Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania.

Circulated Monday was a newsletter from Morris, in which she derided evolution as an "age-old fairy tale," sometimes defended with "anti-God contempt and arrogance." She wrote that evolution is "a theory in crisis" and headlined one section of her newsletter "The Evolutionists are in Panic Mode!"

KCTV 5 Kansas City ~ Associated Press - John Hanna ** Kansas Board Members Hurl Personal Attacks in Evolution Debate

Planned Parenthood protecting rapists
Mood:  irritated
Topic: Lib Loser Stories

Planned Parenthood under investigation for failing to report abortions performed on girls under 14 years of age. These girls, because of their age, are presumed to be victims of statutory rape and the law requires the attack be reported. How does an organization twist their belief in a woman's "right to choose" into shielding child molesters?

Indiana Judge Won't Let Planned Parenthood Delay Rape Investigations

Indianapolis, IN - An Indiana judge on Wednesday turned back a second Planned Parenthood request from the abortion business to stall turning over records to the state attorney general who is looking into dozens of cases of potential statutory rape.

Marion Superior Court Judge Kenneth Johnson rejected the stay request, which would have halted Attorney General Steve Carter's bid to obtain the records of 84 girls under the age of 14 who visited Planned Parenthoods throughout the state.

On Tuesday, Judge Johnson said the abortion business must comply and turn over the records to Carter's Medicaid Fraud Control Unit to help his office look into the possible rapes.

State law also requires anyone suspecting statutory rape to report it to authorities, and Carter wants to investigate why Planned Parenthood did not do that.

Carter spokeswoman Staci Schneider said one of the purposes of the investigation was to pursue neglect charges against Planned Parenthood for not reporting the possible rapes.

The abortion business maintains turning over the records is a violation of doctor-patient confidentiality and has appealed the judge's decision to the Indiana Court of Appeals.

"We absolutely intend to uphold the privacy of our doctor-patient relationships," Betty Cockrum, Indiana Planned Parenthood's chief executive officer, told the Associated Press.

Johnson's 22-page ruling rejected those arguments.

"The great public interest in the reporting, investigation and prosecution of child abuse trumps even the patient's interest in privileged communication with her physicians because, in the end, both the patient and the state are benefited by the disclosure," Johnson wrote.

Ken Falk of the Indiana Civil Liberties Union, is representing Indiana Planned Parenthood. He claims none of the 84 girls in question had abortions.

Falk said releasing the records for the abuse investigation would make children unwilling to seek services at Planned Parenthood.

Since Carter started looking into the potential problems, Planned Parenthood has instructed former clients not to turn over their own copies of medical records related to their visits to the abortion business.

Though the lawsuit may prevent the release of Planned Parenthood's records, Carter's office has already obtain records of eight abortions on underage girls at other state abortion facilities.

Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline is watching the state as he is involved in a similar dispute with abortion businesses there that are refusing to comply with his sexual abuse investigation.

Kline told AP that the issues in Kansas and Indiana are similar.

"It is very common for prosecutors to seek medical records and to be concerned about predators preying on children," Kline said. "What is unusual is for doctors not to cooperate with child rape investigations."

Life News.com ~ Steven Ertelt ** Indiana Judge Won't Let Planned Parenthood Delay Rape Investigations

Memo links Kofi to oil-for-food contracts
Mood:  d'oh
Topic: News

For months U.N. Secretary General has denied any wrongdoing or conflict-of-interest in the growing Oil for Food program scandal. Key to his denials is that he played no role nor had knowledge of the business dealings of his son, Kojo Annan. The New York Times has a memo which links Kofi to the transaction in a very active and direct way.

Memo Seems to Link Annan to Contract of Son's Company

By Judith Miller

A memo written by someone who was then an executive of a major contractor in the United Nations oil-for-food program states that he briefly discussed the company's effort to win the contract in late 1998 with Secretary General Kofi Annan and his "entourage" and that the executive was told that "we could count on their support."

The secretary general's son, Kojo Annan, was employed by Cotecna Inspection Services, a Swiss contractor based in Geneva, and the nature of that relationship is among the issues being investigated by a panel appointed by the United Nations and several Congressional committees.

Kofi Annan has said several times that he did not discuss the contract with his son and was not involved in Cotecna's selection. A United Nations panel headed by Paul A. Volcker, a former chairman of the Federal Reserve, concluded in March that Mr. Annan had not influenced the awarding of the $10 million dollar-a-year contract to the company.

But the memo appears to raise questions about the secretary general's role.

Asked for comment, a consultant for the company who is familiar with its role in the oil-for-food program said that on Monday Cotecna provided copies of the e-mail messages and other documents that were recently discovered in company files to investigators of three Congressional committees. The committees have been looking into fraud and abuses in the $65 billion program.

The consultant said the memo was found by accident three weeks ago in a search of company archives as part of an effort to account for all of Cotecna's payments to Kojo Annan.

"No senior Cotecna officials initially had any memory of the e-mail or of such a meeting, and the memo appears to contradict what the company has said," said the company's consultant, who declined to be identified.

A copy of the memo was provided to The New York Times, and the consultant confirmed that it was authentic.

The memo, written on Dec. 4, 1998, by Michael R. Wilson, then a Cotecna vice president who was Kojo Annan's friend and a family friend of the secretary general, describes a meeting that took place during the 20th summit meeting of Francophone leaders in Paris in late November 1998.

"We had brief discussions with the SG and his entourage," the memo states. "Their collective advise was that we should respond as best as we could to the Q & A session of the 1-12-98 and that we could count on their support."

The "1-12-98" refers to a meeting Mr. Wilson and a delegation of Cotecna officials had in New York on Dec. 1, 1998, with senior United Nations officials who were considering which of three companies to select for the inspection contract that Cotecna won 10 days later.

The memo does not state that Kojo Annan was present at the discussion with the secretary general. But it continues with a description of "courtesy greetings" on behalf of Cotecna with presidents of several African countries held by a person identified as "KA" at the summit meeting. Asked for comment, a consultant for the company said it appeared that Mr. Wilson was referring to Kojo Annan in the memo.

The memo is attached to an e-mail message sent by Mr. Wilson to the company's owners and senior executives. It is dated Dec. 4, 1998, a week before Cotecna was informed that it had won the contract to inspect goods purchased by Iraq under the program, which allowed Iraq to sell some of its oil to meet needs of its civilian population despite United Nations sanctions.

Fred Eckhard, a United Nations spokesman, said Monday that Mr. Annan was in Paris and that his chief of staff did not wish to disturb him, at about 10:45 p.m. there. But Mr. Eckhard confirmed that Mr. Annan attended the French-African summit meeting in Paris in November 1998.

"We cannot comment on documentation for which we don't have the full context," Mr. Eckhard said. "The secretary general established the Volcker commission precisely in order to have a credible investigation able to examine all aspects of the oil-for-food program."

The company's consultant said senior Cotecna executives did not know if Mr. Wilson was accurate in his memo on the meeting. The consultant said that the Volcker panel had not yet seen Mr. Wilson's e-mail message and memo and that the company intended to provide copies of both to the panel on Tuesday.

Mr. Wilson did not respond to a message left on his cellphone in Geneva. Nor could Kojo Annan be reached for comment. His lawyer did not respond to an e-mail message, and his assistant said he was at an airport and could not be reached.

Cotecna has acknowledged that its owners held at least two private meetings with Secretary General Annan before the oil-for-food contract was awarded. But the company and its executives have denied that they discussed Cotecna's effort to win United Nations business at those meetings, or that any Cotecna executive lobbied Mr. Annan for the contract.

In a report issued in March, the Volcker panel criticized both Cotecna and Kojo Annan. Though it concluded in an interim report that Secretary General Annan had not influenced the awarding of the contract to the company that employed his son, it faulted him for not looking more aggressively into the company's relationship with the United Nations once questions were raised about it.

The panel also criticized both Cotecna and Kojo Annan for trying to conceal the duration of their business and professional relationship. It said the younger Mr. Annan had deceived his father about it and had been uncooperative with Mr. Volcker's investigators.

NY Times ~ Judith Miller ** Memo Seems to Link Annan to Contract of Son's Company

''Shadow Democratic Party'' to spend $ 30 million to defeat GOP
Mood:  silly
Topic: Lib Loser Stories

America Coming Together is the 527 face of the DNC and they are planning to spend big money to attack Republicans and win key battleground states. The group is an alliance of radicals, abortionists, big labor and eco-loons.

ACT to spend $30 million
By Alexander Bolton

America Coming Together (ACT), a 527 soft-money group allied with the Democratic Party, has raised nearly $6 million since early January and plans to spend roughly $30 million in a handful of battleground states this year and next.

ACT’s fundraising for the 2006 cycle has been a subject of intense interest because it raised more money than any other 527 last year and is not scheduled to file its first fundraising report with the Internal Revenue Service until next month.

The group is the core of the America Votes coalition, dubbed the "shadow Democratic Party," which consists of 32 groups, including AFL-CIO, the Sierra Club, NARAL Pro-Choice America and MoveOn.org.

The planned expenditure is less than half of the $79.8 million the group raised in the 2004 election cycle, according to 2004 data compiled by PoliticalMoneyLine. Nevertheless, the money, which will be spent on building relationships with swing voters and developing an infrastructure to mobilize Democratic-leaning voters on Election Day, is anticipated to have a major impact on the midterm election.

One GOP campaign expert said he expected so-called "527" groups, named after a section of the tax code, to have a bigger impact on the midterm elections than they had on last year's presidential race because he predicted their spending would make up a greater percentage of total political spending. Voter turnout and fundraising typically peak during presidential election years.

A Democratic consultant who has worked closely with the party committees said, "When I was at the DCCC [Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee], I would have loved to have $30 million on the ground."

ACT has hired state directors in most of the states it is targeting — Wisconsin, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Arizona, Pennsylvania and Virginia.

Steve Rosenthal, ACT's chief executive, said the directors "were with us in the last cycle. … We kept people in place to keep stability." The group will soon hire a director for its operations in Ohio and is considering several candidates for the position, Rosenthal added.

Ohio, where Sen. Mike DeWine (R) is facing reelection and where the Republican governor is stepping down because of term limits, is once again the focus of ACT's activities, the "center of the storm," according to Rosenthal.

David Duffey, director of operations for the Ohio Democratic Party, said, "We had the largest [voter] turnouts we ever had in 2004. I assume a lot of that had to do with ACT."

He said ACT’s participation would "remind people of the election and the activity going on and how important it is in Ohio."

DeWine’s reelection chances are complicated by his role in a recent Senate deal on the judicial filibuster. Social conservatives angry over the deal are looking for a candidate to challenge DeWine in the Republican primary.

ACT will also be active in Florida, Rosenthal said, but the role is unclear because it is "a big state and very expensive."

"We’re looking at smaller projects in the state that we can build on," he said.

Rosenthal confirmed as "in the ballpark" the $6 million and $30 million fundraising figures The Hill learned from a source familiar with the plans. The source added that in Florida ACT would team up with groups that have stronger connections to the state.

"We’re just beginning to hit the fundraising tour now, and we're hoping to raise as much money as we can next year," said Rosenthal.

Rumors have swirled among Democrats that ACT's fundraising had stalled because of a dispute between labor leaders over how to spend their political funds. Andy Stern, the head of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), has reportedly clashed with AFL-CIO President John Sweeney over spending priorities.

But Rosenthal asserted the labor feud has not hit ACT's fundraising. It is raising money from unions allied with Stern, such as SEIU, and Unite Here, as well as Sweeney's allies, such as International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and Sheet Metal Workers, he said.

America Votes, which organizes the coalition of Democratic-allied groups, is headed by Cecile Richards, who said it will match or exceed its $2.7 million budget of last year. ACT and America Votes are discussing which will handle the databases — known as voter files — that the coalition of Democratic groups will use. ACT built the files for the last election, but America Votes is expected to take the lead in handling them this cycle, according to a source.

Rosenthal and Richards are still working out the details.

Dick Wadhams, chief of staff to Sen. George Allen (R-Va.), who is facing reelection in 2006, accused the liberal groups in the Democratic shadow party of hypocrisy.

"Almost every one of these groups self-righteously decry the influence of money in politics and says how there needs to be restrictions on campaign spending and they support restrictions on campaign spending and then [themselves] raise unlimited amounts of money that are unaccounted for."

Terry Sullivan, who served as Sen. Jim DeMint's (R-S.C.) campaign manager last year, said, "That kind of money spent wisely is going to have a real effect. It's interesting to see if the conservative groups are going to be able to do the same type of fundraising."

Sullivan said that the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and third-party liberal groups last year spent more on the race than did the Democratic senatorial candidate, Inez Tenenbaum.

"They dinged us up pretty effectively, but at the end of the day you could argue they were pouring money down the whole by having a liberal candidate in a state like North Carolina."

The Hill ~ Alexander Bolton ** ACT to spend $30 million

Oppose Gay Marriage - Lose Tax Exempt Status
Mood:  smelly
Topic: Lib Loser Stories

Oppose Gay Marriage - Lose Tax Exempt Status

In an omen of things to come in the US we have this from Canada. Churches that oppose "Gay Marriage" may lose their tax exempt status.

Churches that oppose same-sex marriage legislation have good reason to fear for their charitable status, a leading gay-rights advocate is warning.

"If you are at the public trough, if you are collecting taxpayers' money, you should be following taxpayers' laws. And that means adhering to the Charter," says Kevin Bourassa, who in 2001 married Joe Varnell in one of Canada's first gay weddings, and is behind www.equalmarriage.ca.

"We have no problem with the Catholic Church or any other faith group promoting bigotry," he said. "We have a problem with the Canadian government funding that bigotry."

So the battle lines are drawn. Hold religious views that make "Gay Marriage" a sham then you're labeled a Bigot by the Homosexual movement and are subject to punitive actions.

Yet another attempt by the Homosexual lobby to make an intrusion into your life.

Right Nation.us Blog ** Oppose Gay Marriage - Lose Tax Exempt Status

Hillary Appointee Tied to 9/11 Blunder
Mood:  d'oh
Topic: Lib Loser Stories

Hillary Appointee Tied to 9/11 Blunder

Press reports on Friday about a government report that offers new evidence on how the CIA failed to warn the FBI when two of the 9/11 hijackers entered the U.S. made no mention of the role played in the disastrous bungle by Hillary Clinton's Justice Department protege Jamie Gorelick.

Typical was coverage in the Los Angeles Times, which chronicled the efforts of a frustrated CIA agent who desperately tried to warn the FBI that Nawaf Alhazmi and Khalid Almihdhar had migrated to San Diego after attending an al-Qaida planning session in Malaysia 20 months before the 9/11 attacks.

But instead of delivering the alert that could have helped foil the 9/11 plot, the CIA agent was told to cease and desist by superiors. Noted the Times:

"A chilling new detail of U.S. intelligence failures emerged Thursday, when the Justice Department disclosed that about 20 months before the Sept. 11 attacks, a CIA official had blocked a memo intended to alert the FBI that two known Al Qaeda operatives had entered the country.

"The two men were among the 19 hijackers who crashed airliners into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania."

As recounted by the Times, in January 2000, a CIA employee began drafting a memo addressed to the FBI's Bin Laden unit chief at bureau headquarters and to its New York field office. The memo contained virtually all of the details known to the agency about two of the soon-to-be 9/11 hijackers.

"But at 4 p.m. that day," the Times said, another CIA Bin Laden desk officer "added a note to the memo: 'pls hold off on [memo] for now per [the CIA deputy chief of Bin Laden unit].'"

Eight days later, in mid-January, the first agent inquired about his warning on Alhazmi and Almihdhar.

The FBI's 9/11 report reached no conclusion as to why the critical CIA intelligence wasn't shared with the bureau.

But for anyone who watched the 9/11 Commission hearings, the answer is clear.

The FBI and CIA were hamstrung by the "Wall," a set of Justice Department directives issued by Deputy Attorney General Jamie Gorelick that made it illegal for the two agencies to cooperate with each other in terrorism probes.

Testifying before the 9/11 Commission last year, former Attorney General John Ashcroft contended that "the single greatest structural cause for September 11 was the wall that segregated criminal investigators and intelligence agents"

"[Gorelick] built that wall" said Ashcroft, "through a March 1995 memo."

Gorelick's now notorious wall memo instructed prosecutors in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing case:

"We believe that it is prudent to establish a set of instructions that will more clearly separate the counterintelligence investigation from the more limited, but continued, criminal investigations. These procedures, which go beyond what is legally required, will prevent any risk of creating an unwarranted appearance that [the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act] is being used to avoid procedural safeguards which would apply in a criminal investigation."

According to now retired New York Times columnist William Safire, Gorelick was tapped for her post by Hillary ally Webster Hubbell after he resigned from the Justice Department in 1994 to face charges of overbilling his legal clients.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Gorelick fulfilled much the same role as Hubbell had, acting as Hillary's "eyes and ears at the Justice Department."

While news of the CIA's scuttled 9/11 warning was a top story throughout the day on Friday - with nearly two dozen mainstream press reports, including a front page story in the New York Times - none of the reports so much as mentioned Gorelick's name, let alone her connection to Mrs. Clinton.

The former first lady will almost undoubtedly seek the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination based in part on what the media descibe as her strong national security credentials.

NewsMax.com ~ Carl Limbacher ** Hillary Appointee Tied to 9/11 Blunder

Coward Deanpeace call Fox News ''propaganda''
Mood:  silly
Topic: Lib Loser Stories

Howard Dean sparred with reporters in Chicago Sunday. Asked to comment on an interview Vice President Dick Cheney gave to Fox News Sunday, Dean declined saying "My view is FOX News is a propaganda outlet for the Republican Party and I don't comment on FOX News."

Howard Dean speaks out in Chicago
By Ben Bradley

Still going strong after a week of controversy over some provocative remarks, Democratic Party chairman Howard Dean was in Chicago Sunday afternoon. The former presidential candidate kicked-off the Rainbow-PUSH coalition's annual conference.

Howard Dean sparred with reporters and drew laughs from the audience, even while he is earning criticism from "some" in his own party for doing something increasingly uncommon in politics... shooting from the hip.

"Congressman Jackson doesn't have to speak for me -- but the truth is you don't get to speak for me either," said Howard Dean, Democratic National Committee Chairman.

Dean was blasting a reporter for trying to pin him down on his position on the extension of the voting rights act.

It is this kind of fiery give and take that has kept the one-time presidential hopeful on the front page and now on the front lines of criticism as he leads his party's attack on the Republicans.

"The chairman of the Republican Party has made a big deal out of attracting African-American voters. This is a litmus test. If you don't support the extention of the Voting Rights Act, you don't have the right to walk into a black church and show your face," Dean said.

Last week Dean was rebuked by some in his party for his tough talk against the G-O-P.

"They all behave the same, they all look the same, and they all -- you know -- it's pretty much a white Christian party," Dean said Wednesday.

"They're not going to come to the Democratic party if the chairman of the Democratic Party is out there gratuitously characterized all Republicans in a truly nasty way," said David Axelrod democratic strategist on Wednesday of last week.

"We want people to understand it is their responsibility to vote, not just their right to vote," Dean said.

Dean energized "this" audience of union workers and Rainbow-Push activists with his "ideas" and "inclination" to say it like he sees it.

"My view is FOX News is a propaganda outlet for the Republican Party and I don't comment on FOX News," Dean said. That was in response to vice president Dick Cheney calling Howard Dean "over the top" on Fox News on Sunday.

The former Vermont governor says democrats have not done a good job of talking about their moral values. He plans to do it more.

He also says he's received positive feedback for his tough talk so he plans to continue being in his words "blunt and clear" about the shortcomings of the republican party.

ABC7 Chicago ~ Ben Bradley ** Howard Dean speaks out in Chicago