Food for thought..........
Most of us haven't thought about this -- no
matter how much we like or dislike John Kerry. Even an estimate of
this cost is staggering.
If elected, you and I (or those of us who
actually pay taxes) will pay upkeep and secret service protection for
five Kerry mansions here in the United States plus those he and his
wife own abroad. It is good to be John F. Kerry...the F stands for
Forbes in case you ever wondered. He is one of the richest senators
in government and he married even richer. Their properties certainly
reflect their opulent lifestyle. When someone is elected president,
the Secret Service has to protect this person and family as well as
their property - for as long as the president and his spouse lives!
As mentioned, the Kerry's have five US
properties and several foreign properties. The cost to run one of
these homes for a year is more than upper middle income Americans
could afford, even if the rent was free, and all you had to pay was
the water, gas & electric bills (we won't mention ground keepers,
maintenance, pool, cooks and house keepers).
Here are the five Kerry properties in the
U.S.:
·
Beacon Hill, Boston $6.9
million
·
Fox Chapel, PA $3.7 million
(this is their "shanty")
·
Georgetown, Washington D.C.
$4.7 million
·
Ketchum, Idaho $4.92 million
·
Nantucket, MA $9.18 million
If Kerry becomes president each property
requires staffed secret service security 24 hours a day. Security
improvements to each home will come at tax payer expense. Even if the
Kerry's never use all the properties - they will be retrofitted --
just in case they drop by for a weekend. Facilities for the secret
service agents must also be provided on each property. Who do you
think will pay for this? We pay! This takes all the expense off Kerry
and puts it on us. Bill Clinton is paying for his New York manor
house by charging the government monthly rent for the required secret
service facility. The monthly rent is nearly three times more than
his mortgage payment. So we the tax payers are buying his house and
he pockets the extra money from the rent on the secret service
facility. Then he gets to write off the interest on his mortgage.
Well, he was broke from defending his immoral skullduggery and his
wife's little scandals, so maybe we should feel sorry for poor old
Slick Willie.
What does it cost to staff one property in
terms of secret service agents? Let's just talk about his American
properties. Each property would require 5 agents per 6 hour shift 4
times a day 365 days a year for the rest of Kerry's life and however
long his widow might live. In addition, we pay to house and feed
these agents at each property for the duration. Do the math. Five
properties requiring five agents per shift, times four shifts. That
is 20 agents per day per property, 365 days per year. Lets say each
agent receives a salary of about $60K (this doesn't include insurance,
retirement, etc.; add 30% of salary for that). There will also be
vehicles, repairs, gas, and other miscellaneous costs. Straight salary
and benefits for 100 agents for one year would cost $7,800,000. We
can only guess at the cost of retrofitting each property, building the
facility necessary to house the agents and the monthly rent for each
facility.
On the other hand, George Bush owns one
house - the one at his ranch in Crawford, Texas.
Again, who pays? You and I pay. I don't
mind one property; heck I wouldn't even complain about two - but five
in the U.S. and those abroad? Perhaps Mr. and Mrs. Kerry should offer
to foot the bill for all but two of these properties if they want me
to consider his candidacy. Does it make sense to spend this kind of
money on his excessive life style when he and Mrs. Heinz-Kerry can
better afford it??
Paying for the Kerry mansions is only a
small part of my concern about this man sitting in the White House.
Tax and spend Kerry - that's his party motto. I'd rather see the
money we'd spend protecting his fancy properties go toward health
care, our military and homeland security. Which America does he live
in?? Not the same one I live in - that's for sure!
Please pass the mustard; do America a favor
and pass this to your friends. Let's keep Bush a resident of the
White House rather than spend millions and millions to protect Kerry's
preferred lifestyle and opulent properties. We'd save an incredible
amount of money for more deserving programs. Oh, and viva Del Monte
Ketchup!
Slugging it out
Bush and Kerry are slugging it out on a daily basis. Kerry brought
back the recovering Bill Clinton to help throw a few jabs at President
Bush:
"In the closing days of this campaign, John Kerry is going on being
John Kerry -- talking about his hopes for America; his plans for
America; his commitment to our security and our prosperity. Now, one
of Clinton's laws of politics is this, if one candidate's trying to
scare you, and the other one is trying to get you to think, if one
candidate is appealing to your fears and the other one is appealing to
your hopes, you better vote for the person who wants you to think and
hope. That's the best. My fellow Americans, we can do better. And in
eight days we're going to do better, with President John Kerry,"
Clinton said.
Bush took to pointing out that Kerry does not even uphold the
tradition of the Democrat Party:
''He stands in opposition not just to me, but to the great tradition
of the Democratic Party," Bush said
''Senator Kerry has turned his back on 'pay any price' and 'bear any
burden.' And he has replaced those commitments with 'wait and see' and
'cut and run,' " Bush said using the lines of John F. Kennedy.
Bush campaigned with Rudi Giuliani, who shares the President’s lack of
trust in a Kerry administration’s ability to fight the War on
Terrorism:
"We don't want to go back to the days when Senator Kerry described
terrorism as only a nuisance. When they attacked my city for the first
time, it was not only a nuisance," Giuliani said
Bush also answered Kerry on the question of Kerry’s charge that he
outsourced the capture of Osama bin Laden:
"Now my opponent is throwing out the wild claim that he knows where
bin Laden was in the fall of 2001 and that our military had a chance
to get him in Tora Bora," Bush said. "This is an unjustified and harsh
criticism of our military commanders in the field. This is the worst
kind of Monday-morning quarterbacking, and it is what we have come to
expect from Senator Kerry."
U.N. weapons politics
Kerry may have been helped by misleading statements from the U.N.
weapons agency. It seems the agency may have brought up the missing
380 tons conventional explosives to hurt Bush’s chances of reelection.
It has also come to light that the explosives were missing before the
troops arrived.
NBCNews Jim Miklaszewski quoted one official: "Recent disagreements
between the administration and the head of the International Atomic
Energy Agency makes this announcement appear highly political." (click
here to view the video)
NBCNews is also reporting that the 380 tons of powerful conventional
explosives were already missing back in April 10, 2003 -- when U.S.
troops arrived at the installation south of Baghdad!
The report is confirmed by an NBCNews crew embedded with troops who
moved in to secure the Al-Qaqaa weapons facility on April 10, 2003,
one day after the liberation of Iraq.
Sen. John Kerry blasted away at Bush for failing to secure the
explosives. ''Terrorists could use this material to kill our troops,
our people, blow up airplanes, and level buildings. . . . Now we know
that our country and our troops are less safe because this president
failed to do the basics."
Sen. John Edwards said, "It is reckless and irresponsible to fail to
protect and safeguard one of the largest weapons sites in the country.
And by either ignoring these mistakes or being clueless about them,
George Bush has failed. He has failed as our commander in chief; he
has failed as president."
A senior Bush official responded in a Drudge report "Let me get this
straight, are Mr. Kerry and Mr. Edwards now saying we did not go into
Iraq soon enough? We should have invaded and liberated Iraq sooner?"
Ken Mehlman, President Bush’s campaign manager, offered a more
blistering e-mail to Bush supporters. Here is an exerpt:
The entire country of Iraq was a weapons stockpile. So far, 243,000
tons of weapons and explosives have been secured and destroyed. In
addition, 163,000 tons of weapons and explosives have been secured and
are awaiting destruction. All the Monday morning-quarterbacking and
armchair-generaling in the world by John Kerry won't make up for the
fact that he does not have a vision, a strategy or a plan to fight and
win the War on Terror.
Saddam Hussein's government stored weapons in mosques, schools,
hospitals and countless other locations throughout Iraq. Yet, John
Kerry showed today that he still cannot decide whether Saddam Hussein
was a threat or not. He claims the weapons our troops have secured and
destroyed were not a threat, but any other weapons were.
It has come to light that CBS had planned to run the story before the
election but decided to hand the story off to the NY Times.
"60 Minutes" executive producer Jeff Fager issued a statement saying
that "our plan was to run the story on [Oct.] 31, but it became clear
that it wouldn't hold, so the decision was made for the Times to run
it."
CBS has a record of trying to sabotage Republican candidates for
office at the last minute. In 1992 against former President George H.
W. Bush, CBS brought Iran Contra charges just days before the
election. In 2000, it was the DUI charges a few days before the
election against the current President.
The NY Times and most old media are running with the story the way the
NY Times printed it -- as if it were true. NBC News is even saying
that the story is somewhat true even though the only way that American
troops could have stopped the transfer or looting of the explosive
would have been to act sooner in invading Iraq.
The name being given for this phony story by old media just before the
election is NYTrogate, which of course is a take off on the NY Times.
The Kerry campaign is planning a new ad about the missing explosives:
JOHN KERRY: "The obligation of a Commander in Chief is to keep our
country safe. In Iraq, George Bush has overextended our troops..."
JOHN KERRY: "...and now failed to secure 380 tons of deadly
explosives."
JOHN KERRY: "The kind used for attacks in Iraq, and for terrorist
bombings."
JOHN KERRY: "His Iraq misjudgments put our soldiers at risk, and make
our country less secure. And all he offers is more of the same. As
President, I'll bring a fresh start to protect our troops and our
nation. I'm John Kerry and I approved this message.
Ohio vote fraud
Republicans have bungled a challenge to stop the Democrats’ massive
vote fraud in Ohio.
The Republican Party withdrew about 4,700 challenges in Hamilton
County because the names and addresses on the GOP list didn't match
voter rolls; and about 2,800, of the 4,200 challenges in Franklin
County.
The withdrawal of challenge comes too late to file a new challenge
under the statute the party used. There was a reported error in the
database program used to print the challenges, so that addresses
weren't matched with the correct names.
The largest batch of challenges -- about 17,000 in Democrat-run
Cuyahoga County -- is being processed because Republicans managed to
get that challenge filed correctly.
Kerry’s diplomatic fantasy
Sen. John Kerry has frequently stated that he met with all the members
of the U.N. Security Council members before voting to authorize the
President to go to war with Iraq. Kerry even brought the fact of the
meeting up during the second presidential debate:
"This president hasn't listened. I went to meet with the members of
the Security Council in the week before we voted. I went to New York.
I talked to all of them, to find out how serious they were about
really holding Saddam Hussein accountable," Kerry said.
The
Washington Times reports that Kerry’s statement isn’t true:
But of the five ambassadors on the Security Council in 2002 who were
reached directly for comment, four said they had never met Mr. Kerry.
The four also said that no one who worked for their countries' U.N.
missions had met with Mr. Kerry either.
The former ambassadors who said on the record they had never met Mr.
Kerry included the representatives of Mexico, Colombia and Bulgaria.
The ambassador of a fourth country gave a similar account on the
condition that his country not be identified.
New Jersey Senator Jon Corzine tried to dismiss Kerry’s international
flack that has extended to major foreign leaders endorsing President
Bush by explaining that the people of the world are for Kerry:
"The people in those countries believe we're on the wrong track, just
as the people in America believe we're on the wrong track. The
judgment in democracies really lies with the people."
Republicans jumped on the apparent exaggerations and lies of Kerry:
"First, John Kerry told us about secret meetings with unnamed foreign
leaders to bolster his campaign," Bush campaign manager Ken Mehlman
said. "Now, we learn he touted made-up meetings with the United
Nations Security Council in the second debate to justify his vote for
the war."
Unfit for Command
Jerome Corsi, co-author of "Unfit for Command," revealed that he has
found documentation which shows that John Kerry’s time with Vietnam
Veterans Against the War protest group was directed by the Communists.
"This document enables us to connect the dots," Corsi said. "We now
have evidence Madame Binh was directing the antiwar movement ... and
the person who implemented her strategy was John Kerry."
"We're not going to say he's an agent for Vietnamese communists, but
it's the next thing to it," he said. "Whether he was consciously
carrying out their direction or naively doing what they wanted, it
amounted to the same thing – he advanced their cause."
Corsi says the documents show how the North Vietnamese, the Viet Cong,
the People's Coalition for Peace and Justice, the Communist Party of
the USA and Kerry's VVAW worked closely together to achieve the
Vietnamese communists' primary objective – the defeat of the U.S. in
Vietnam.
"I think what we've discovered is a smoking gun," Corsi said. "We knew
when we wrote 'Unfit for Command' that Kerry had met with Madame Binh
and then promoted her peace plan.”
The first document is a "circular" outlining the Vietnamese regime's
strategies to coordinate its propaganda effort with its orchestration
of U.S. antiwar group activities.
The spontaneous antiwar movements in the US have received assistance
and guidance from the friendly ((VC/NVN)) delegations at the Paris
Peace Talks.
The phrases in double parentheses were added by U.S. translators for
clarification. "VC" refers to the Viet Cong, while "NVN" is the North
Vietnamese government.
In addition to tying activities surrounding Kerry's 1971 protest to
the direction of Vietnamese communists, the
second document reveals the degree to which Hanoi worked with and
through the People's Coalition for Peace and Justice.
Of the U.S. antiwar movements, the two most important ones are: The
PCPJ ((the People's Committee for Peace and Justice)) and the NPAC
((National Peace Action Committee)). These two movements have gathered
much strength and staged many demonstrations. The PCPJ is the most
important. It maintains relations with us.
Corsi cites recently released FBI surveillance reports that establish
a strong link between Kerry, Hubbard, the VVAW, the PCPJ and their
trips to Paris to meet with Madame Binh.
Kerry shared the stage with Hubbard – who recruited Kerry into the
group – during the Dewey Canyon III protest, and they appeared
together on NBC's Meet the Press April 18, 1971. Hubbard's claimed to
have been a transport pilot wounded in combat, but the Department of
Defense released documents showing he was neither a pilot nor an
officer and had never served in Vietnam.
An
FBI field surveillance report stamped Nov. 11, 1971, showed Kerry
and Hubbard were planning to travel to Paris later that month to
engage in talks with Vietnamese communist delegations. Other FBI
reports clearly show the Communist Party of the USA was paying for
Hubbard's trips to Paris, Corsi notes.
Museum photo switch
An angered American veteran of the Vietnam War who learned of the
photograph honoring John Kerry as a Communist war hero was hanging in
the Communist Vietnam War Remnants Museum in Saigon (now Ho Chi Min
City) traveled to the museum.
The veteran -- Bob Paris, an ex-Army helicopter pilot who now lives in
Hawaii -- said he discovered that the museum manager had removed the
picture from the display about one month ago and stuffed it in a desk
drawer.
Later, Paris returned to the museum to find the picture had been put
back on the wall – this time in a display clearly designed to
emphasize Kerry's diplomatic efforts as a senator rather than his more
controversial antiwar activities.
"Unfit for Command" co-author Jerome Corsi believes the removal and
recasting of the photo is indication Vietnamese officials don't want
to embarrass Kerry.
Red/Blue cultural divide
The
LA Times covers the findings of their poll, which shows that the
biggest difference between President Bush and Sen. John Kerry is in
their support amongst lower and middle income white voters:
President Bush and Sen. John F. Kerry, in a race dividing Americans
far more along lines of cultural values than economic interests,
remain locked in a dead heat one week before election day, a Times
poll has found. …
…Strikingly, Bush leads Kerry in the poll among lower- and
middle-income white voters, but trails his rival among whites earning
at least $100,000 per year.
Battleground watch, state by state
Iowa
Bush has a slight lead and everyone, that is everyone, is going to the
state as if it were just before the caucuses.
Strategic Vision (R). Oct. 18-20, 2004. N=801 likely voters
statewide. MoE ± 3:
Bush 48%
Kerry 47%
Nader 1%
Unsure 4%
Mason-Dixon Polling & Research for Knight Ridder and MSNBC. Oct.
15-18, 2004. N=625 likely voters. MoE ± 4:
Bush 49%
Kerry 43%
Nader 1%
Unsure 6%
Minnesota
Minnesota remains in play and the possibility exist for
Bush to win the upper Mississippi trifecta.
Strategic Vision (R). Oct. 18-20, 2004. N=801 likely voters
statewide. MoE ± 3:
Bush 48%
Kerry 48%
Nader 1%
Unsure 3%
Wisconsin
Wisconsin is still trending into the Bush column.
Strategic Vision (R). Oct. 17-19, 2004. N=801 likely voters
statewide. MoE ± 3:
Bush 49%
Kerry 46%
Nader 1%
Unsure 4%
Colorado
The Kerry campaign is giving up on Colorado and pulling
their ads. The Democrat National Committee is continuing to advertise.
There is an important Senate race in Colorado.
Hawaii
Hawaii is a major surprise. The latest poll shows that this
bastion of liberalism and Democrats is dead even.
Honolulu Advertiser Hawaii Poll conducted by Ward Research. Oct.
13-18, 2004. N=600 likely voters statewide. MoE ± 4:
Bush 43%
Kerry 43%
Nader 2%
Unsure 12%
Arkansas
While Hawaii is a surprise, Arkansas is now out of the red
column and into the undecided. Bill Clinton is scheduled to go to his
home state and believes that he can turn the state blue.
Opinion Research Associates for the Arkansas News Bureau and
Stephens Media Group. Oct. 18-20, 2004. N=500 likely voters statewide.
MoE ± 4.5:
Bush 48%
Kerry 48%
Nader 1%
Unsure 3%
Nevada
Nevada continues to be sliding into the red zone.
Research 2000 for The Reno Gazette-Journal and Channel 4. Oct.
19-21, 2004. N=600 likely voters statewide. MoE ± 4:
Bush 49%
Kerry 47%
Other 1%
Unsure 2%
New
Mexico
New Mexico continues to trend in favor of being a blue
state.
American Research Group Poll. Oct. 16-18, 2004. N=600 likely
voters. MoE ± 4:
Bush 46%
Kerry 48%
Nader 1%
Unsure 5%
New
Jersey
New Jersey appears to be off the table an going into the
blue state ranks.
Research 2000 for The Bergen Record. Oct. 18-21, 2004. N=600 likely
voters statewide. MoE ± 4 (for all likely voters):
Bush 43%
Kerry 50%
Other 2%
Unsure 5%
Ohio
This may be the first time that a Republican wins the
election without winning Ohio.
Scripps Survey Research Center, Ohio University. Oct. 17-21, 2004.
N=358 likely voters (MoE ± 5.3):
Bush 46%
Kerry 50%
Other 1%
Unsure 3%
Florida
If Bush wins Iowa and Wisconsin then he still would only
have to win either Florida or Pennsylvania to win the election.
Florida outcome is unknown.
Schroth & Assoc. (D) and the Polling Company (R) for The Miami
Herald and St. Petersburg Times. Oct. 19-21, 2004. N=800 likely voters
statewide. MoE ± 3.5:
Bush 46%
Kerry 46%
Nader 1%
Unsure 7%
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania may be the surprise for Bush of the big three
Ohio Pennsylvania and Florida. Ohio does not have electoral votes to
carry with Iowa and Wisconsin.
Morning Call/Muhlenberg College Poll. Oct. 17-22, 2004. N=787
registered voters statewide. MoE ± 3.5:
Bush 46%
Kerry 48%
Other/Neither/Unsure 6%
New
Hampshire
The spoiler in the Bush scenario is New Hampshire. If Bush
loses New Hampshire, which he is likely to do, then Bush can only win
with Iowa, Wisconsin and Florida or winning two of the big three.
Franklin Pierce College poll. Oct. 18-21, 2004. N=453 likely voters
statewide. MoE ± 4.6:
Bush 41%
Kerry 50%
Nader 1%
Unsure 8%
Poll watching, 10/26
ABC/Wash Post (1248 LV)
10/22 - 10/24
Bush 48%
Kerry 49%
Kerry +1
Nader 1%
CNN/USAT/Gallup (1195 LV)
10/22 - 10/24
Bush 51%
Bush +5
Kerry 46%
Nader 1%
Reuters/Zogby (1207 LV)
10/22 - 10/24
Bush 48%
Bush +3
Kerry 45%
Nader 1%
Los Angeles Times (881 LV)
10/21 - 10/24
Bush 48%
Kerry 48%
Nader 1%
TIPP (792 LV) 10/21 - 10/24
Bush 50%
Bush +8
Kerry 42%
Nader 2%
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