American bombs destroyed its Baghdad home, but this week the Iraqi National Symphony Orchestra jetted into Washington for a glittering public concert. Were George Bush and Colin Powell really there to appreciate the Arab folk songs?

"Only a handful of senior black elected officials have endorsed him, and many others, like Representative Charles B. Rangel and State Senator David A. Paterson, both of Harlem, have quite prominently endorsed his opponents.

"This development has not gone unnoticed: Mr. Sharpton issued a threat this week, making it clear that he intends to put his political organization's machinery to work against the re-election of those local officials who abandoned him.

" 'They are going to have to deal with the consequences,' he said in an interview. 'I intend to hit the ground and mobilize a lot of the masses who will not be sold out.'

Data provided by the local authorities at the end of September, indicates between 40 and 30 thousand youngsters commuting every night, but there is still a shortage of in-depth studies and research on this phenomenon. "It's difficult to provide numbers concerning the night commuters," explains Dr Munaaba. "The numbers change all the time depending on how the conflict evolves. During the months of July and August the numbers were enormous, and then they came down. Now, after the attack on Pece, they have once more increased. Unfortunately no one can say exactly how many of them there are, or where they come from or where they go to sleep. We only know that many of them go to the Lacor Hospital, (now there are between 4 and 5 thousand, in July there were 15 thousand), to the bus stations, the church courtyard and any other secure place they can find."

Such a sudden and immense arrival of people in a city already worn out by war has catastrophic medical and hygienic consequences.

"There are no public toilets in Gulu, all these children relieve themselves in the open, on the streets or behind the shops. Promiscuity and the lack of protection expose them to disease and all kinds of abuse. We are extremely concerned about the impact this situation may have on the spreading of HIV/AIDS."

At the moment, as if all this were not enough, violent night-time thunderstorms have come to compound the problems. But the children continue to come, ignoring the rain and the cold weather. Even with no money to treat it, bronchitis is better than the threat of the rebels and the forced marches, under the sun and with no water to drink, towards the training camps on the borders with Sudan.

The child soldiers are used as combatants, messengers, porters, cooks, and "wives". Those who fail to comply or attempt to escape are brutalised and slain crudely. The atrocities have now reached frightening levels, yet, according to observers, the international community continues to remain apathetic.

"I cannot find any other part of the world that is having an emergency on the scale of Uganda's, and it is getting such little international attention," remarked the United Nations (UN) Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Mr Jan Egeland, after a four-day visit to northern Uganda (November 7-10) to assess the crisis.

"unfortunate"

UN General Secretary Kofi Annan


"unacceptable"

A spokesman for German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder


"arrogant and self-defeating"

Washington Post editorial


"I think [the Bush policy] borders on the stupid.''

Senator and presidential candidate John Kerry (D-Mass.)


"We're asking others to forgive billions [of dollars in debt] and yet have no role in reconstruction. We're telling them, 'You make the sacrifices and we get all the goodies.' "

James Steinberg, director of foreign policy studies, Brookings Institution; former deputy national security adviser in the Clinton administration.


"Returning to old arguments and division doesn't seem particularly constructive."

Chris Patten, the European commissioner for external relations, who happens to be a Brit whom the Boston Globe describes as one who "has often supported U.S. positions."


"A truly wise American administration would have opened the bidding to all comers, regardless of their opposition to the war -- as a way of buying those countries into the Iraq effort ... But instead of being smart, clever or magnanimous, the Bush administration has done a dumb thing."

A memo by neo-conservative writers William Kristol and Robert Kagan, fervent supporters of the Iraqi war


"It's the kindergarten approach to transatlantic relations: if you destroy my sand castle, I will destroy yours."

Eberhard Sandschneider, the German Council on Foreign Relations


"... this shouldn't be just about who gets contracts, who gets business. It ought to be about what is the best thing for the people of Iraq."

Paul Martin, who takes office today as Canada's new prime minister


"At first, the flap over contracts to rebuild Iraq seemed something of a mystery. Either the Bush administration knew exactly what it was doing, in which case it was acting, in our view, with almost shortsighted petulance. Or the administration didn't know what it was doing ... President Bush's clarifying remarks on Thursday suggest the first interpretation is closer to the mark."

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel editorial


"We did not come here to brandish the (French) flag."

A French international-relief agency spokesman, working in Iraq and urging an end to attitudes that pit Western nations against each other.


"We have to remember that many of these countries that are being denied these contracts are supporting us elsewhere in the world ... and that's why I hope that there'll be some moderation of the policy as we go forward."

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.)


"Maybe I'm giving Paul Wolfowitz too much credit, but I don't think this (policy) was mere incompetence. I think the administration's hard-liners are deliberately sabotaging reconciliation."

New York Times columnist Paul Krugman


"The United States has been saying for the last couple of weeks that we have to look forward and, whatever you thought of the war, now is not the time to fight past battles but to look to the future to help the Iraqis. But the [Bush policy] does exactly the opposite -- it rehashes the past and penalizes people."

An unnamed UN diplomat in New York

"They didn't like it. They thought it was reactionary."

A GOP Senate aide, explaining why the Bush White House opposed an proposal by Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) in April that was almost identical to the one they've now embraced.

"Bush told reporters yesterday that the one way these countries could help make the world more secure and help Iraq emerge as a peaceful country is through debt relief. But Russia is now signaling it may not help restructure or forgive about $8 billion in Iraqi debt, while France will tell (U.S. envoy Jim) Baker next week that it will discuss the debt only after the installation of a recognized Iraqi government that can assume economic and other commitments."

Two veteran Time magazine journalists, senior correspondent Michael Weisskopf and award-winning photographer James Nachtwey, were injured in Baghdad when a grenade was thrown into the military vehicle they were traveling in while accompanying U.S. soldiers on patrol, the magazine confirmed today.

"The expenditure of U.S. dollars will reflect the fact that U.S. troops and other troops risk their life . . . ," Bush said. "It's very simple. Our people risk their lives. Coalition -- friendly coalition folks risk their lives. And therefore, the contracting is going to reflect that. And that's what the U.S. taxpayers expect."

The supremacist ideology of the Bush Administration stands in opposition to the principles of an open society, which recognize that people have different views and that nobody is in possession of the ultimate truth. The supremacist ideology postulates that just because we are stronger than others, we know better and have right on our side. The very first sentence of the September 2002 National Security Strategy (the President's annual laying out to Congress of the country's security objectives) reads, "The great struggles of the twentieth century between liberty and totalitarianism ended with a decisive victory for the forces of freedom—and a single sustainable model for national success: freedom, democracy, and free enterprise."

The assumptions behind this statement are false on two counts. First, there is no single sustainable model for national success. Second, the American model, which has indeed been successful, is not available to others, because our success depends greatly on our dominant position at the center of the global capitalist system, and we are not willing to yield it.

"When Gore started making populist noises during and after the Democratic National Convention in 2000, it was Lieberman who told business reporters that the vice president didn't really mean it ...

Lieberman remains dramatically off message. He backs the war in Iraq without reservation. He actually supports additional military adventures that could prove to be more costly and more damaging to America's credibility on the world stage. He supports corporate free trade initiatives that have done severe damage to America's manufacturing sector. And there are few Democrats who have spoken more enthusiastically about the Patriot Act over the past two years.

... Like a lot of Democrats, Al Gore has chosen to go for the Democrat who promises to stand up to Bush, rather than for the Democrat who too frequently stands with Bush.

This is politics. It's a tough game, and, as they say in sports, you have to make your own breaks and earn it on the field. So the question: What has Lieberman done to earn Gore's endorsement?

The answer is, "not much."

Sen. Joe Lieberman dismissed Tuesday as "too late" a phone call from former running mate Al Gore that came after the former vice president endorsed Howard Dean for the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination.

Gore's endorsement stunned political observers. Speaking with reporters in Durham, New Hampshire, Lieberman said he was not notified beforehand of the move.

"I was surprised that Al Gore didn't notify me before I learned about it from the media," Lieberman said. "That would have been the right thing to do."

A Democrat close to Gore said the 2000 Democratic presidential nominee had placed calls to Lieberman, once word was leaked Monday that he planned to endorse Dean, but the calls were not returned.

The source said Lieberman was the first call that Gore had planned to make early Tuesday morning. When word started to leak out Monday afternoon, the source said, Gore placed calls to both the Connecticut senator and his staff, but neither was returned.

"Clinton and Tsongas are both clearly second-string candidates, and the voters know that," said Glen Bolger, a Republican strategist. "They only serve to confirm the view in the electorate that the Democratic Party is incapable of finding a quality candidate for president."

Bush is like Lincoln and the war in Iraq is his Emancipation Proclamation

As the two Democrats battle each other for the right to run against a weakened incumbent, there is no joy in Democratic councils. There is only dread that Democratic voters, whether they choose Clinton or Tsongas, are about to anoint a flawed nominee who will lose the race for the White House once again.

"Paul Tsongas is completely lacking in charisma and effective communications skills, and that's a great liability in anyone running for president," lamented Greg Schneiders, a former aide to President Jimmy Carter.

But, considering the alternative, he added glumly, "the questions that have been raised about Bill Clinton could be absolutely devastating in a general election."

Many Democrats agree. Some of the party's most influential voices say, in private, that they expect that Clinton, now the front-runner, will be destroyed by Republican attacks on his character in the fall -- even if, as so many in the party see as unlikely, there are no new allegations about his personal life.

With their own standard-bearer so unpopular, Republicans are almost gleeful at the turn of events that has left the Democrats choosing among Tsongas, Clinton and Jerry Brown, the former governor of California, who is seen as the least likely nominee. Handed their best opportunity in years to wrest the White House from the GOP, they said, the Democrats have managed to forfeit much of their advantage before the general-election campaign begins.

"Clinton and Tsongas are both clearly second-string candidates, and the voters know that," said Glen Bolger, a Republican strategist. "They only serve to confirm the view in the electorate that the Democratic Party is incapable of finding a quality candidate for president."

[edit]

But many Democrats, including House and Senate members and party officials who are so-called "superdelegates" and must eventually choose a candidate, expressed deep reservations about both men.

One Democratic national committeewoman, who agreed to discuss her quandary on condition that she not be identified, said she was now convinced Clinton would win the nomination.

"At the appropriate time, I'll endorse him. But it's nothing I'm looking forward to," she said. "I just know he cannot win because of the character issue."

When America acquiesced in the Court's assertion of the right of judicial review of statutes for constitutionality, Americans did not authorize the Court to gut plain provisions of the Constitution and fundamentally alter the system of participatory government created by that Constitution. Once again the Court has seized power not granted it in the Constitution. That is commonly known as a coup d'etat.

[White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives director Jim] Towey was asked by someone in Centralia, Mo., whether pagan groups "should be given the same considerations as any other group" that applies for government funds.

"I haven't run into a pagan faith-based group yet, much less a pagan group that cares for the poor!" Towey wrote.

"Once you make it clear to any applicant that public money must go to public purposes and can't be used to promote ideology," he wrote, "the fringe groups lose interest. Helping the poor is tough work, and only those with loving hearts seem drawn to it."

"It's important to remember that in both Christianity and Judaism and Islam, to some degree, the basis for charity is a conviction that every individual is made in the image of God and is the object of divine love and divine grace," Loconte said. "That conviction is missing in paganism."

Iraq's Health Ministry has ordered a halt to a count of civilians killed during the war and told its statistics department not to release figures compiled so far, the official who oversaw the count told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

The order was relayed by the ministry's director of planning, Dr. Nazar Shabandar, but the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority, which oversees the ministry, also wanted the counting to stop, said Dr. Nagham Mohsen, the head of the ministry's statistics department.

"We have stopped the collection of this information because our minister didn't agree with it," she said, adding: "The CPA doesn't want this to be done."

"Things are going very well for [Howard Dean] in the polls. Things are going very well for him in terms of raising money. So I would like all of you up here, including you, Governor Dean, to raise your hand if you believe that Governor Dean can beat George W. Bush.

KUCINICH: "...with all due respect to you, Ted Koppel, who I've admired over the years greatly ..."

KOPPEL: "There's a zinger coming now, isn't there?"

KUCINICH: "Yes. To begin this kind of a forum with a question about an endorsement, no matter by who, I think actually trivializes the issues that are before us.

(Audience applause)

For example, at this moment there are 130,000 troops in Iraq. I mean, I would like to hear you ask during this event what's the plan for getting out. This war is not over. I have a plan, which is on my Web site ... I want to talk about that tonight, and I hope we have a substantive discussion tonight and that we're not going to spend the night talking about endorsements."

"Governor Dean, what is it that makes me think that while there may be eight people up here who aren't crazy about that endorsement and who think it trivializes politics, that you probably don't?"

"Howard Dean is not just ahead, he is head and shoulders ahead, especially in New Hampshire, and the rest of these people seem to be largely floundering. They're all being dominated by a formerly invisible governor from Vermont who must know something they don't. Why is that?"

President Bush plans to ask Congress for relatively small funding increases to fight AIDS and poverty in the developing world, stepping back from his highly publicized pledge to spend huge sums to help fight them.

[edit]

Combined with appropriations still awaiting final congressional action for fiscal 2004, those amounts represent just 18% of the $30 billion in spending increases that the administration has promised would take place by 2008. Should Congress fund Mr. Bush's request, it would effectively put off the vast majority of the promised spending until after next year's presidential election.

"They aren't quite willing to put the money out there to match the rhetoric of the president's speech," said Steve Radelet, formerly the top Africa hand in both the Clinton and Bush Treasury departments.

participating in a loud and obstructive demonstration outside the offices of the Miami-Dade County Board of Elections in an attempt to disrupt the recount process.

"In Florida alone, the African-American vote jumped from 527,000 in 1996 to 952,000 (in 2000). In Missouri, over 283,000 blacks voted (in 2000), compared to only 106,000 four years ago."

[E]nvision this G.O.P. whispering campaign soon directed to women, liberals and the legions of centrist, semi-hawkish, non-angry Democrats: If you want the Clinton Restoration to the White House in '08, the only way to make it happen is to stay the course with Bush in '04.

My moment of illumination about Howard Dean came one day in Iowa when I saw him lean into a crowd and begin a sentence with, "Us rural people. . . ."

Dean grew up on Park Avenue and in East Hampton. If he's a rural person, I'm the Queen of Sheba. Yet he said it with conviction. He said it uninhibited by any fear that someone might laugh at or contradict him.

It was then that I saw how Dean had liberated himself from his past, liberated himself from his record and liberated himself from the restraints that bind conventional politicians. He has freed himself to say anything, to be anybody....The old Dean was a free trader. The new Dean is not. The old Dean was open to Medicare reform. The new Dean says Medicare is off the table. The old Dean courted the N.R.A.; the new Dean has swung in favor of gun control.

Demon bondage can be brought about when an individual is possessed, oppressed, or is in rebellion towards God (sins of the flesh). It takes God's discernment to determine which of these is producing the bondage in an individual's life.

[edit]

Indications of Demon Activity

The following areas may help you to recognize your need for being released from demonic oppression, possession or bondages of the flesh (sin):

1. Compulsion to abuse animals or people;
2. Sexual perversion and immorality (homosexuality, molestation,etc.);
3. A compulsion to abuse your body (drugs, alcohol, gluttony, abuse or misuse of other substances, etc.);
4. Seeking spiritual knowledge through Eastern religions and other counterfeit religious groups (TM, Yoga, humanism, etc.);
5. Involvement in occult practices (fortune-telling, Satanism, etc.);
6. Mental distress or oppression (anxiety, fear, anger, disorientation, etc.);
7. Psychological disorders (split and multiple personalities, paranoia, etc.);
8. Physical disorders may be demon caused (Matthew 9:32, 33);
9. Lack of freedom or joy in the Lord (spiritual bondage);
10. Inability or constant refusal to repent of sin, though you know you are sinning (rebellion).

Late last week, rocker Ozzy Osbourne admitted to a 42-pill-a-day addiction to prescription drugs.

Few could be surprised about the revelation. On his MTV show and in other public appearances the aging rock star has appeared incoherent and intoxicated.

Justifiably, California state authorities are going after the pusher. In this case, the state medical board is going after Osbourne's doctor, though the physician denies any wrongdoing.

Still, no one is suggesting that Osbourne should be prosecuted for his prescription drug addiction, an addiction that started with normal medical treatment.

Another sensational case that should have been treated similarly is that of Rush Limbaugh.

His prescription addiction case should have been written off weeks ago as nothing more than a case of prescription drug addiction.

The cause of Osbourne's disorientation was never explained. It turns out he was on Valium - and Dexedrine, Mysoline, Adderall and a host of other powerful medications. They were all prescribed by a Beverly Hills physician who, unknown to Osbourne, was under investigation for overprescribing drugs to other celebrity patients.

Prescription records show that Dr. David A. Kipper had Osbourne on an array of potent drugs - opiates, tranquilizers, amphetamines, antidepressants, even an antipsychotic.

The singer said he swallowed as many as 42 pills a day.

[edit]

The state medical board last week moved to revoke Kipper's license, accusing him of gross negligence in his treatment of other patients.

Palm Beach investigators recently obtained search warrants for the offices of Limbaugh's doctors and alleged Thursday that Limbaugh engaged in illegal drug use and went "doctor shopping" for prescription painkillers.

[edit]

The warrants list prescriptions for more than 2,000 pills from March 24 through Sept. 26 from four doctors. The medications include the powerful painkillers Oxycontin, Lorcet, Norco, hydrocodone and Kadian. In addition, Limbaugh received prescriptions for the anti-anxiety drug Xanax and Clonodine, used to treat high blood pressure.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is dropping a plan to hire a private investigator to examine allegations that he groped at least 16 women over the last three decades, a spokesman said Monday.

The governor is busy with the state's budget crisis and doubts that such an inquiry would appease critics, said Rob Stutzman, communications director for Schwarzenegger. Because of that, he has decided not to look into the charges himself — as he promised to do in the final days of the recall campaign — Stutzman said.

"The governor, in talking with counsel and advisors, concluded that there was very little point to the investigation," Stutzman said in an interview. [You're kidding!]

"The issue has become quite too political. He has apologized and continues to be sincerely sorry for anyone he has offended, but also thinks the time has come to move on.

The administration contends that money spent by tens of thousands of Americans in Cuba enriches Castro's government and cuts out Cubans who are barred from tourist activities. In a Nov. 10 letter to members of Congress, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell and Treasury Secretary John W. Snow said loosening the travel restrictions would "provide the brutal Castro regime the financial wherewithal to continue to oppress the Cuban people."

Nevertheless, the administration has raised the limit on money Cuban Americans can send to relatives on the island by 150 percent.

"The hypocrisy in this is obvious," said Robert Muse, a D.C. lawyer who handles Cuba trade issues.

Critics of President Bush's approach include a growing number of Republicans, including Sen. Larry E. Craig (Idaho), who said in an Oct. 23 speech that the administration was "running from a fight" by not allowing American travelers to engage Cubans firsthand -- the kind of contact, he said, that helped produce historic changes in the Soviet Union and China.

He also criticized the proportion of resources being spent on the travel ban and the economic embargo .... "The money spent on tracking down American citizens and enforcing this failed policy," Craig said, "would be better spent on tracking down potential terrorists in this country."

Critics look at Bush's Cuba policy and see Florida politics. Cuban Americans strongly support the embargo, and 80 percent of those casting votes in 2000 voted for Bush, who won Florida and thus the presidency by 537 votes.

"It's about Florida, it's quite plain," said Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), a founding member of the bipartisan Cuba Working Group. Intensifying an embargo that has failed for nearly 40 years to topple Fidel Castro's government, he said, is akin to promising to "beat my head against the wall even harder."

Add one more name to the list of those who believe that Howard Dean will prove a cataclysmic disaster for the Democratic party: Al Gore. Why else would Gore have endorsed him?

Think about it. Does Gore still wish to be president? Pretty clearly, he does: Otherwise he would have found himself a real job and moved to LA, rather than dabbling in business while maintaining a theoretical domicile in Carthage, Tennessee.

But how to gain the presidency? Gore was right to decide against running in 2004. The problem for him was not just that incumbents are hard to beat, but that his party has gone nuts. Had Gore run, much of the rage now directed at George W. Bush for defeating the Dems in 2000 and 2002 would have directed itself instead at Al Gore for losing an eminently winnable race. Gore would have had to reply endlessly to questions about his campaigning in 2000, about his handling of the Florida recount, about his ultimate concession, about his silence on the Bush tax cut, etc. etc. etc. By 2008, those passions will have drained away.

Of course, should another Democrat win in 2004, there will be no contest in 2008 for Gore to join. So Gore has to wish for defeat this year.

And not for mere defeat, but for catastrophic defeat. A Democratic wipeout in 2004 would make Gore’s performance in 2000 – 51 million votes, 266 electoral votes – look retrospectively much more impressive.

WILLIAMS: One of the interesting things about your poll is that among Dean supporters, Dean being a strong opponent of President Bush's policy in Iraq, there's really a division of opinion about whether or not the US should stay in Iraq.

KOHUT: All of the supporters and likely voters on the Democratic side think it was the wrong decision but when you ask "where do we go from here," majorities in Iowa and New Hampshire say that we should keep the troops there until Iraq becomes a stable country, even 50% of the Dean supporters. But still, you don't have strong support for a cut and run strategy even though there is disaffection with this decision.

WILLIAMS: Well, how does that makes sense if you have, literally, 50% of the Dean supporters disagreeing with the candidate?

KOHUT: Well, I guess they are not picking him based on one stand on the issues ...

GORDON: Is there an scenario that you could give us where you would say I will pull troops out entirely?

DEAN: We can't do that. We cannot lose the peace in Iraq. I think the president's judgment was grossly called into question. I think if he wants to do something for veterans, he ought to figure out how not to have one-year tours and have six-month tours instead.

This is a battle for terrorism all right. It's a battle that was created by the president of the United States who ignored the greater danger in Iran and North Korea and Al Qaida at home to do it.

This was a mistake, this war. And the president's gotten into it, now we're going to have to get out of it.

But if we leave Iraq to chaos, Al Qaida may move in, if we leave Iraq to a fundamentalist Shiite regime with Iranian influence, we will be in both circumstances worse off than we were when Saddam Hussein was president.

To...find an Establishment Clause violation would severely undermine the ability of our society to accommodate the most basic rights of conscience and belief in constructive yet neutral ways.

I think the government should be neutral, which means both refraining from endorsement of religion and making sure not to interfere when private individuals practice their religion. So the school P.A. shouldn't broadcast a prayer before the homecoming game; but teachers also shouldn't harrass students who get together between classes to pray. Here you have Congress saying the government ought to take some extra care not to trample on religious practices when it's not really necessary, and a court says that's a no-no.

"On the Democratic side, there are no such rifts. Every single candidate opposes the constitutional amendment. And most leading candidates oppose gay marriage but endorse civil unions. So raising the amendment issue actually divides Republicans while uniting Democrats. And the Democratic position is more appealing to most of the country, which is not anti-gay and has few qualms about civil unions but still gets queasy about full marriage rights."

*In one of these polls, CBS News asked Americans this question: "Would you favor or oppose a law that would allow homosexual couples to legally form civil unions, giving them some of the legal rights of married couples?" By a margin of 53% to 39%, Americans said they would oppose such a law. [CBS polled 1,177 adults, Nov. 10-13]

*Last month, the Los Angeles Times asked the public this question: "Would you support or oppose allowing same-sex couples to form civil unions that are not marriages, but would give similar legal protection in areas such as inheritance, taxes, health insurance and hospital visits, or haven't you heard enough about it yet to say?" The results? 40% opposed civil unions, 36% favored them, and the rest hadn't "heard enough" to decide yet.
[The L.A. Times polled 1,345 adults, Nov. 15-18]

*Interestingly, one of the few polls that showed Americans narrowly supporting gay civil unions has recently (since the Mass. court ruling) shifted to opposition. The FOX News/Opinion Dynamics Poll asked the public if they supported allowing gay couples "to form civil unions that are not marriages, but would give gay couples rights such as inheritance, insurance and hospital visiting privileges?" In September, civil unions prevailed by a tight margin -- 46% to 44% (10% undecided). By late November, the public opposed gay civil unions by 48% to 41% (11% undecided). [FOX/Opinion Dynamics polled 900 registered voters, Nov. 18-19]

"When I voted for the war, I voted for what I thought was best for the country. Did I expect Howard Dean to go off to the left and say, `I'm against everything?' Sure. Did I expect George Bush to f--- it up as badly as he did? I don't think anybody did."

"Well, I've known John Kerry for a long time, and I'm very disappointed that he would use that kind of language. That's beneath John Kerry, and I'm disappointed that he did it."

"F--- you, Andrew Card."

"Both (former George H.W. Bush's chief of staff) John Sununu and Colorado Republican Bo Callaway have made serious attempts to get Campbell to switch (parties), pointing out to him that he would no longer have to contend with the left-wing liberals in the Democratic Party who are so unhappy with his moderate voting record. 'That means,' Campbell responded, 'that I would always be fighting with the John Birchers and the right-to-lifers and the screwball right-wingers. If I've got to fight anyway, why change just to change the guys I'd be up against?' " (Viola, p. 253)

"From my perspective, [the Reagan administration] was the most corrupt of any that I ever heard of. Everything was based on greed, avarice and self-serving actions ..." (Viola, p. 253)

Top Ten Reasons for Conservatives to Oppose the Federal Marriage Amendment [edited for length]
By Chuck Muth [Muth is former executive director of the American Conservative Union and has a good conservative pedigree-- including a dog named Reagan.]

In the last 200-some years, only 17 amendments to the U.S. Constitution have been approved and remain on the books. Yet efforts are proceeding at light-speed in Congress to add a new one for the purpose of defining marriage. Even if you oppose gay marriage, the Federal Marriage Amendment (FMA) is a bad idea and here are ten reasons for conservatives to oppose it.

1.) There are much bigger fish to fry...Look, if conservatives are going to spend time, effort and money amending the Constitution to protect the family, they should instead focus on repealing the 16th Amendment which gave us the income tax and the IRS!
2.) Government shouldn't be involved in marriage in the first place...The problem isn't keeping gays out of marriage, but keeping government out of it.
3.) ...Divorce and unwed motherhood are FAR more harmful to the American family than gay marriage ever could be. Instead of focusing on how to prevent some people from getting married, maybe we should focus on ways to discourage more people from getting divorced.
4.) The Constitution was never intended to serve as a tool of social engineering. If conservatives thought it was wrong to use a constitutional amendment to codify equal rights for my mom, my sisters, my wife and my daughters, why is it now OK to tinker with it to define marriage? [Anti-ERA-angle, very interesting!]
5.) Conservatives have strongly supported the 10th Amendment and oppose federal intervention in state issues where it has no jurisdiction. You cannot oppose federal intervention in a state dispute over displaying the 10 Commandments without equally opposing federal control over a quintessentially state issue such as marriage.
6.) FMA is a solution in search of a problem...
7.) FMA won't work anyway. As Richard Lessner of the American Conservative Union points out, federal judges these days routinely ignore the original content of the Constitution. What makes anyone think they'll abide by a new amendment?
8) It'll likely lose. Recent polls show a majority of folks who oppose gay marriages also oppose a constitutional amendment to ban them. And although there's a good chance of getting a 2/3 majority in Congress to pass such an amendment, it is highly unlikely that 3/4 of states would approve it.
9) For some opponents of gay marriage, the FMA is nothing but a fundraising ploy to stir up tears and fears to keep their organizations flush with cash...
10) And lastly, what's the real danger here? I mean, if gay marriages are recognized, does that somehow diminish my own marriage...or yours? No. Does that mean heterosexuals will suddenly stop pining for the opposite sex and turn gay? No. Will gay marriage mean men and women will stop having children and doom mankind to eventual extinction? Come on.

...Conservatives should shut this effort down before it opens an even bigger can of worms.

After falling by 2.8 million jobs since early 2001, employment has risen by 240,000 jobs since August. That gain, less than some expected, has not resolved whether the nation is suffering cyclical losses or permanent job destruction.

Last month, The International Herald Tribune convened a roundtable at the Algonquin Hotel in Manhattan to discuss how job migration is changing the landscape.

But imports explain only a small part of the woes of American manufacturers. Manufacturing companies have eliminated 2.7 million jobs, or about 16 percent of their work force, since June 2000, according to Daniel J. Meckstroth, chief economist at the Manufacturers Alliance, a research group.

The real source of distress was domestic: a three-year plunge in business investment and rapidly rising American productivity that makes it possible to churn out more goods with fewer people.

To the company's critics, Wal-Mart points the way to a grim Darwinian world of bankrupt competitors, low wages, meager health benefits, jobs lost to imports, and devastated downtowns and rural areas across America.

Yet there is a wider, less partisan view of the company, which perhaps more visibly than any other corporation marches to the mandate of the global capitalist economy.

If you've just landed from Mars and want to understand some of the biggest issues in American society today, read up on some of the recent lawsuits filed against Wal-Mart.

Judy Wechsler, a retired physician's assistant who worked with Dean in 1980 at the Planned Parenthood clinic in Burlington, Vt., said that since the facility where Dean worked did not offer abortion services, "that would not have been part of his clinical practice."

A new study of Justice Department terrorism prosecutions since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks shows that while the government has convicted 184 people of crimes deemed to be "international terrorism," defendants were sentenced to a median prison term of just 14 days — and in some cases received no jail time at all.

This is among the conclusions of a study, released Sunday, by researchers at Syracuse University who examined government terrorism prosecution data.

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Of more than 6,400 criminal terrorism-related referrals after Sept. 11, the U.S. filed charges in 2,001 cases, so far winning 879 convictions, the study found. Among those convicted, 506 received no prison time.

Of the 373 who were sentenced to prison, 123 received sentences of at least one year, including 18 who received sentences of five to 20 years, and five defendants who were sentenced to 20 years to life.

The 879 convictions included 184 involving "international terrorism." Eighty of these defendants received no jail time, 91 were sentenced to a year or less, and 10 got sentences of one to five years. Only three were sentenced to more than five years.

Many Qaeda men are keen to go to Iraq, bin Laden’s delegates at the meeting allegedly added, and they again quoted “the sheik” as saying: “I’m giving men who are thirsty a chance to drink deeply.”

But there is evidence that the diversion of U.S. attention to Iraq has given Al Qaeda some breathing room, and that U.S. dependence on Pakistani troops and Afghan warlords is proving inadequate, perhaps even counter-productive, against the terror network. Over the past year, NEWSWEEK has learned, the CIA and British intelligence have been at odds over how badly the Taliban and Al Qaeda were damaged in the region. “The British were more prone to say the Taliban and Al Qaeda were coming back,” says a U.S. official who is privy to intel discussions, and who believes the Bush administration downplayed the threat in order to switch its focus to Iraq.

Many Qaeda operatives appear to be traveling to the Mideast via the long, overland route through Iran. But the Bush administration, preoccupied with Iraq, has been reluctant to take a harder line toward Iran over its role as a terrorist haven. “The Iranians and some Arab countries like Syria are breathing easier because the United States is bogged down in Iraq,” says one Arab ambassador to Washington.

The Silver Ring Thing of Ohio Township, a Christian group that urges teens to take a vow of abstinence until they are married, will use the [$400,000] grant in as many as nine cities, said Denny Pattyn, the group's founder and executive director.

The grant is for the coming year. In February, the group received $700,000 in federal money to expand operations to 75 other cities.

The group uses comedy and skits to preach abstinence. For $12 and a promise to stay abstinent, teens get a silver ring with a Bible verse and a Bible specifically geared toward helping adolescents stay abstinent. Pattyn said the organization usually gets its money from donors and foundations, and the grant announced in February was the first time it had received government money.

Most of us have gay friends and no wish to cause homosexuals unhappiness. But if they insist homosexual unions be sanctified, we have no choice but to resist.

We know traditional marriage forces men to constrain their normally promiscuous sexual behavior in favor of the monogamy women tend to prefer. We further know men's and women's natures differ in this respect. Homosexuals and lesbians provide even more evidence of the obvious. Gay men tend to have lots (like hundreds) of sexual partners, whereas lesbians tend to be quite happy to settle down with one partner for long stretches. That's the nature of the beast.

Will marriage make gay men more monogamous? Doubtful. With no woman in the picture to insist upon it, the incentives are quite weak. To prove one's fidelity? To keep a promise? Those are far less weighty concerns than to uphold the family and respect God's law. Conversely, the lack of marriage has not made lesbians more promiscuous.