Five Hundred and Thirty

Spams so far since last Tuesday.

Way down from last week's Six Hundred and Five.

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Mon. 03/01/04 10:14:01 PM
Categorized as Other.

Daughter of KIA Vietnam Vet Slams Kerry

A column by Laura Bartholomew Armstrong at OpinionJournal today:

.... As the kid of a real war hero who did not come back, I'd like to comment not on Kerry's service, but his postservice activities. Vietnam Veterans Against the War, Mr. Kerry's organization of choice when he returned from his shortened tour of duty in Vietnam (and his springboard to fame), was known to me even as a child. The organization, while providing a place for angst-ridden vets to land after coming home, had an awful effect on those of us who lost our fathers.

It was bad enough to hear our dads criticized by those who hated the military, but to hear vets allege rampant war crimes and call their fellow soldiers evil before all the world really twisted the knife. Mr. Kerry led the way, proud in the company of Jane Fonda and others we believed had caused the deaths of good men. This group's testimony tarnished honorable actions. After taking the oath to preserve and protect, they grandstanded, throwing service awards in a show of defiance that diminished each sacrifice. Their stories dominated while the stories of thousands of honorable vets went untold. I don't hold it against them after so many years, but I'm dead sure I don't want their darling Kerry, the man who voted against funding our guys in Operation Iraqi Freedom, to be our next commander in chief.

In 2004, nothing is more important than continuing to protect America and fight terrorism. President Bush has led, not perfectly but earnestly. He has put much on the line to do what he believes is right. And he needs our continued support in the months to come.

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Mon. 03/01/04 06:18:13 PM
Categorized as John Kerry & Political.

Winter Soldier Investigation

Vide.

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Mon. 03/01/04 05:59:32 PM
Categorized as Historical & John Kerry & Political.

Intel Memo

Vide.

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Mon. 03/01/04 05:23:28 PM
Categorized as Political.

George Soros, Call Your Office

Democrats in Self-Destruct Mode CCXI

David Tell looks at a recent FEC ruling in the wake of campaign finance reform, at The Weekly Standard, dated Mar. 8 (emphasis in original):

.... What's the bottom line on the Soros people and the $300 million they want to spend against President Bush? News accounts have largely obscured that bottom line. The final vote on February 18 was 4 to 2 for what's generally been described as a "compromise" between the clampdown recommended by the FEC's staff and the relatively laissez-faire alternative proposed by Bradley Smith. There was no such compromise, really. In the end, the FEC's third Republican commissioner, joined by all three of his Democratic counterparts (who were voting against the interests of their party, it bears pointing out), embraced the entire, essential substance of the staff's first draft. The commissioners' only apparent changes were cosmetic editorial adjustments apparently intended to render the text less daunting for native English speakers. It was nice of them to try.

Translated into the quasi-vernacular:

* All public communications that "promote," "support," "attack," or "oppose" any clearly identified candidate for federal office — say, for example, George W. Bush — whether or not the damn things "expressly advocate" his defeat, and no matter when they're made during the political calendar, must be paid for with hard dollars only. No money from labor unions or corporations. And no checks for more than $5,000 from a billionaire. Who may only write one such check to America Coming Together for this purpose each year. The other $9,995,000 that billionaire has offered ACT are useless here.

* If such a communication as described above should happen to mention, in addition to the dastardly George W. Bush, some clearly identified candidate for nonfederal office, too — or should it merely add a nasty swipe at "Republicans" generally — well, sorry, that'll only get you so far. Somewhere between half and three-quarters of the cost will still have to come from your hard-money accounts.

* Same goes for voter-registration and get-out-the-vote initiatives. (Incidentally, judging from their most recent FEC and IRS disclosure filings, ACT and the other anti-Bush 527s haven't got any hard money to speak of at the moment. They'll have to go raise it from scratch, competing for donors directly with the Democratic national party committees — and with the Democratic party's presumptive presidential nominee. Neither those committees nor that nominee will be happy about it.)

* Oh, almost forgot. Only federally regulated contributions — in amounts no larger than $5,000 per donor, per year — may be requested in fundraising appeals that mention specific candidates for federal office "in a manner that conveys" an intention to use the money in support or opposition to those candidates. So you know how when you guys were up in Southampton last summer, and you were talking to Mr. Soros about what you wanted to do to defeat George Bush, and he told you he wanted to give you $10 million? It looks like when you started taking that money, it might have been illegal. And though the commission declines to get into such a hypothetical, it looks like Soros's giving you the money might have been illegal, too. The relevant criminal penalties are outlined in Title 2 of the U.S. Code: "Any person who knowingly and willfully commits a violation of any provision of this Act which involves the making, receiving, or reporting of any contribution, donation or expenditure... aggregating $25,000 or more during a calendar year shall be fined under Title 18, United States Code, or imprisoned for not more than 5 years, or both." There's probably wiggle room in that "knowingly and willfully" part. Good luck.

* Also, you know how, right at this very moment, on the America Coming Together website, there's that section labeled "Donate," which offers a person the chance to respond, "Yes, I am committed to kicking George W. Bush out of the White House"? And then there are some instructions about how to send in money? And then way at the bottom, in smaller type, there's a notice that indicates how contributions in excess of $5,000 per year "will be placed in the America Coming Together non-federal account"? Whaddya think? Maybe that's illegal, too? See above.

Anyone inclined to file an FEC complaint against America Coming Together on the basis of the commission's February 18 advisory opinion would thus seem possessed of a fairly strong case for enforcement action. And while it's true that certain of ACT's closest allies in the anti-Bush 527 orbit (the Media Fund, for example) will claim to fall outside the scope of this advisory opinion — on the basis of their own failure to have registered with the FEC as political committees — it's just as true that the commission will be attempting to resolve that pesky detail in a formal rulemaking procedure due to begin in a matter of weeks. Here the question will be: What constitutes a "political committee" subject to the hard-money contribution and expenditure requirements of federal election law, with special attention to the status of currently unregistered 527 political organizations.

It is difficult to imagine how the commission could fail to conclude that an outfit like the Media Fund has the same "major purpose" as ACT — with whom the fund is joined at the hip, and from whom it is otherwise indistinguishable, as both organizations routinely admit. And should the commission indeed draw such a conclusion, then the Media Fund and all the others would immediately become subject to the full reach of federal election law: None would be permitted to accept more than $5,000 per year from George Soros for use against George W. Bush. And under separate but related provisions of the law, Soros would be prohibited from contributing more than a total $37,500 for that purpose — to all the 527s put together, during the whole, biennial 2003-2004 election cycle.

That $300 million would appear to be evaporating awfully fast....

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Mon. 03/01/04 08:15:50 AM
Categorized as Democrats in Self-Destruct Mode & Political.