1. [link|http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4121890/|The money trail]

Excerpt:

Feb. 9 issue - John Kerry needed cash, and soon. In July 1996 the Massachusetts senator was locked in a tough re-election fight, so he was more than happy to help when he heard that a generous potential contributor wanted to visit his Capitol Hill office. The donor was Johnny Chung, a glad-handing Taiwanese-American entrepreneur. Chung brought along some friends, including a Hong Kong businesswoman named Liu Chaoying.

Told that Liu was interested in getting one of her companies listed on the U.S. Stock Exchange, Kerry's aides immediately faxed over a letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission. The next day, Liu and Chung were ushered into a private briefing with a senior SEC official. Within weeks, Chung returned the favor: On Sept. 9 he threw Kerry a fund-raiser at a Beverly Hills hotel, raking in $10,000 for the senator's re-election campaign.

2. [link|http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2004/1/20/131219.shtml|The quid pro quo]

Excerpt:

Kerry is also a fan of China\ufffds communist dictatorship. \ufffdOn May 19, 1994, five years after Tiananmen Square, Kerry spoke on the Senate floor against linking China's Most Favored Nation trade status to its human rights record,\ufffd Slate reported.

Kerry said: \ufffdChina is the strongest military power in Asia. We need China's cooperation. We cannot afford to adopt a cold-war kind of policy that merely excludes and pushes China away.\ufffd

Limiting China's MFN status \ufffdwould make us a bit player in a production of enormous proportions. We possess no stick, including MFN, which can force China to embrace internationally recognized human rights and freedoms.\ufffd

I say:

No, he hasn't changed a bit. No wonder the Vietnam vets still hate the bastard.

Lots of interesting stuff is gonna come out about him now that he's the front runner. Remember, Chappaquiddick didn't matter one bit until Teddy Kennedy ran for President.

I'm not blowing you off, just been really busy. I still think this site's the best, but I can't make any online group my entire life. We all have to prioritize.

I'm not gonna compromise my pseudonymity needlessly by going into my personal life. Before 9/11 it was just a game, but now I'm thinking there are some real loonies out there who will escalate verbal conflict to actual harm if they can. The exercise of free speech is always a risk, and I try to manage my risks. Of course there's no such thing as permanent anonymity, but why hasten the day?

The reason I mostly just link to other articles is twofold: one, it amounts to footnotes citing my basis for my position. Two, in the case of links to editorials, it's more efficient than writing my own editorial. In the future, I may spell out my own positions in editorials more often. But I won't stop linking to other places on the Web to back up what I say. That's what the Web is for. It's the power of hypertext.

I tend to be brief because my spare time comes in small packages.

Kerry does have a real chance of beating Bush, but it won't be easy. Dubya's a real fighter, and he knows something about political strategy. If Bush screws up, Kerry will win, and [link|http://www.angelfire.com/ca3/marlowe/fhlm.html|the world will be poorer for it.] Edwards would be a bit less harmful to civilization than Kerry, but he's the long shot now.

The Democrat primary is all about beating Bush at any cost. They'll sell humanity down the river to do it. Only Lieberman was entirely above this.

It's Democrat envy against Bush determination. It's going to be interesting. Expect to learn a lot more about military records and Vietnam PoWs in the months to come.