Defense Minister Yevhen Marchuk, in an interview published in the newspaper Den, appeared to suggest the missiles may have been dismantled without proper accounting, rather than stolen or sold.

RIGHT!!!

"We are looking for several hundred missiles," Marchuk was quoted as saying in Thursday's edition. "They have already been decommissioned, but we cannot find them".

Do you think Marchuk is corrupt?

Marchuk didn't specify the types of missile. Defense Ministry spokesman Kostyantyn Khivrenko told The Associated Press that he was referring to S-75 air defense missiles — also known in the West by the code-name SA-2.

SA-2's are bad JuJu.

Marchuk said the Defense Ministry hadn't observed the accounting requirements established by law until last summer, an apparent jab at his predecessors.

Cover his ass? I think so.

Hundreds of such missiles from Soviet arsenals in Warsaw Pact member countries had been brought to Ukraine for dismantling but were lost due to "accounting problems," Khivrenko said.

Do you really expext me to believe that? POS.

He said the absence of records documenting what happened to the missiles was "strange," and added that an investigation was under way.

By your own people, I'm sure.

The missiles entered service with the Soviet air defense troops in 1957. Able to shoot down targets at altitudes up to 12 1/2 miles, they have been sold to a large number of nations around the world.

It was the same type of missile that brought down a U.S. U-2 spy plane over the Ural Mountains in 1960. Its pilot, Francis Gary Powers, bailed out safely, but was captured, convicted as a spy, and held for almost two years until being traded for a KGB agent.

Like I said...these are some bad JuJu.

The S-75s played a prominent role in the Vietnam war, Mideast conflicts, and, most recently, were used in wars in Yugoslavia and Iraq.

Marchuk blamed his predecessors for not observing proper accounting standards while dealing with the missiles and other weapons.

Accounting Standards ? Give me a break!!!

"They say they were destroyed. OK, destroyed," Marchuk said. "Every such missile has gold, silver, platinum metals. Where are the results of their destruction?"

WTF does this have to do with anything?

Marchuk said that when he became minister, "no one knew what the armed forces had," and after nine months in the job he still doesn't have precise information.

Reminds me of Bill Clinton.

He said that inventories of military equipment had revealed a gaping hole equivalent to some $189 billion. In comparison, Ukraine's entire budget last year was less than $10 billion.

Like I said, reminds me of Bill Clinton.

Ukraine inherited a vast arsenal with the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union, including dozens of intercontinental ballistic missiles, strategic bombers and a wide array of other weapons. It shipped all its nuclear weapons to Russia in the early 1990s.

I doubt they shipped them all!!

Marchuk's statement drew renewed attention to numerous reports of military equipment leaking out of Ukraine amid the post-Soviet turmoil.

For a short time only!!

In 2002, the United States claimed Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma had sanctioned the sale of a sophisticated military radar to Iraq. The allegation, which Kuchma denies, badly strained relations between Washington and Kiev.

Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma is a POS.

More people need to read.

According to the business section of the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram, the reason the economy is improving, yet few new jobs have appeared yet, is because we are having a sluggish transition from a manufacturing-based economy to a service-based economy. The transition has begun, and it will pick up steam in the coming months. As a Liberal-Pinko-Commie (who happens to read), I believe this -- it makes sense, and we are beginning to see the effects. Of course, you have to stop, look and analyse, as opposed to just shouting that somebody sucks . . .

Also, the biggest reason I didn't jump onto either the pro- or anti-war band wagons is because of a photo I saw on an anti-war site prior to the invasion of Iraq.

Naturally, I've never been able to find it again. It was a picture of a small, remote drone plane guarded by a very fierce looking, professional Iraqi soldier.

It looked like something my kid would play with.

In fact, we have a 6" remote controlled plane. With a good tailwind behind it, we have had to chase it 2-4 miles up the road.

A Malignant Someone could probably march right through Customs with one of those drones -- "It's a toy for my kid. Isn't it cool?"

Imagine what a small amount of something chemical or biological it would take to infect a crowd at a park or outdoor festival.

Imagine the potential.

Remember, I am a Liberal-Commie-Pinko. If I can make this connection, imagine what trained DoD professionals thought of this.

Remember one of Bush's speeches, when he said Saddam was sitting on something that would change the face of warfare forever? Do these people think he was talking about Care Bears?

Now tell me about how we shouldn't have gone ahead and jumped.

Or that Clarke isn't simply trying to make a buck, Desperately Seeking the New York Times Best Seller List, and that it is sheer coincidence that one of his former aides is now working for the Kerry campaign.

Kerry Knocks Bush Over WMD Jokes
Thu Mar 25 2004 17:04:23 ET

The Following was issued by the Kerry For President campaign this evening:

######

"How Out of Touch Can This President Be?

"George Bush insulted me as a veteran and as a friend to many still serving in Iraq. (BULLSHIT!) This act lowers the dialogue about weapons of mass destruction. War is the single most serious event that a President or government can carry its people into. No weapons of mass destruction have been found and that is no joke - this is for real. This cheapens the sacrifice that American soldiers and their families are dealing with every single day." -- Brad Owens (Iraqi War Veteran, US Army Reserves)

Speaking at the Radio and Television Correspondents Dinner in Washington last night, President George W. Bush showed a stunningly cavalier attitude toward the failed search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and the Administration's rush to war.

"Those weapons of mass destruction have got to be somewhere," Bush mimicked, as a slide of the President looking under furniture in the Oval Office appeared on the screen.

That's supposed to be funny?

If George Bush thinks his deceptive rationale for going to war is a laughing matter, then he's even more out of touch than we thought. Unfortunately for the President, this is not a joke.

Did a snowboard hit you on the head?

585 American soldiers have been killed in Iraq in the last year, 3,354 have been wounded, and there's no end in sight. Bush Turned White House Credibility into a Joke George Bush sold us on going to war with Iraq based on the threat of weapons of mass destruction. But we still haven't found them, and now he thinks that's funny?

Hey Kerry, get a platform. You are mass destructing - I like that.

"George Bush didn't tell us the truth about the economy, about job loss, about the true cost of his deceptive prescription drug plan, or about the existence of weapons of mass destruction. There's nothing funny about that."

Johnny Hanoi - admit it!!! You are a follower, not a leader. The only thing you can secure is women with daddy's money.

######

END

By Condoleezza Rice
Monday, March 22, 2004; Page A21

The al Qaeda terrorist network posed a threat to the United States for almost a decade before the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Throughout that period -- during the eight years of the Clinton administration and the first eight months of the Bush administration prior to Sept. 11 -- the U.S. government worked hard to counter the al Qaeda threat.

During the transition, President-elect Bush's national security team was briefed on the Clinton administration's efforts to deal with al Qaeda. The seriousness of the threat was well understood by the president and his national security principals. In response to my request for a presidential initiative, the counterterrorism team, which we had held over from the Clinton administration, suggested several ideas, some of which had been around since 1998 but had not been adopted. No al Qaeda plan was turned over to the new administration.
We adopted several of these ideas. We committed more funding to counterterrorism and intelligence efforts. We increased efforts to go after al Qaeda's finances. We increased American support for anti-terror activities in Uzbekistan.

We pushed hard to arm the Predator unmanned aerial vehicle so we could target terrorists with greater precision. But the Predator was designed to conduct surveillance, not carry weapons. Arming it presented many technical challenges and required extensive testing. Military and intelligence officials agreed that the armed Predator was simply not ready for deployment before the fall of 2001. In any case, the Predator was not a silver bullet that could have destroyed al Qaeda or stopped Sept. 11.
We also considered a modest spring 2001 increase in funding for the Northern Alliance. At that time, the Northern Alliance was clearly not going to sweep across Afghanistan and dispose of al Qaeda. It had been battered by defeat and held less than 10 percent of the country. Only the addition of American air power, with U.S. special forces and intelligence officers on the ground, allowed the Northern Alliance its historic military advances in late 2001. We folded this idea into our broader strategy of arming tribes throughout Afghanistan to defeat the Taliban.

Let us be clear. Even their most ardent advocates did not contend that these ideas, even taken together, would have destroyed al Qaeda. We judged that the collection of ideas presented to us were insufficient for the strategy President Bush sought. The president wanted more than a laundry list of ideas simply to contain al Qaeda or "roll back" the threat. Once in office, we quickly began crafting a comprehensive new strategy to "eliminate" the al Qaeda network. The president wanted more than occasional, retaliatory cruise missile strikes. He told me he was "tired of swatting flies."

Through the spring and summer of 2001, the national security team developed a strategy to eliminate al Qaeda -- which was expected to take years. Our strategy marshaled all elements of national power to take down the network, not just respond to individual attacks with law enforcement measures. Our plan called for military options to attack al Qaeda and Taliban leadership, ground forces and other targets -- taking the fight to the enemy where he lived. It focused on the crucial link between al Qaeda and the Taliban. We would attempt to compel the Taliban to stop giving al Qaeda sanctuary -- and if it refused, we would have sufficient military options to remove the Taliban regime. The strategy focused on the key role of Pakistan in this effort and the need to get Pakistan to drop its support of the Taliban. This became the first major foreign-policy strategy document of the Bush administration -- not Iraq, not the ABM Treaty, but eliminating al Qaeda.

Before Sept. 11, we closely monitored threats to our nation. President Bush revived the practice of meeting with the director of the CIA every day -- meetings that I attended. And I personally met with George Tenet regularly and frequently reviewed aspects of the counterterror effort.

Through the summer increasing intelligence "chatter" focused almost exclusively on potential attacks overseas. Nonetheless, we asked for any indication of domestic threats and directed our counterterrorism team to coordinate with domestic agencies to adopt protective measures. The FBI and the Federal Aviation Administration alerted airlines, airports and local authorities, warning of potential attacks on Americans.

Despite what some have suggested, we received no intelligence that terrorists were preparing to attack the homeland using airplanes as missiles, though some analysts speculated that terrorists might hijack airplanes to try to free U.S.-held terrorists. The FAA even issued a warning to airlines and aviation security personnel that "the potential for a terrorist operation, such as an airline hijacking to free terrorists incarcerated in the United States, remains a concern."

We now know that the real threat had been in the United States since at least 1999. The plot to attack New York and Washington had been hatching for nearly two years. According to the FBI, by June 2001 16 of the 19 hijackers were already here. Even if we had known exactly where Osama bin Laden was, and the armed Predator had been available to strike him, the Sept. 11 hijackers almost certainly would have carried out their plan. So, too, if the Northern Alliance had somehow managed to topple the Taliban, the Sept. 11 hijackers were here in America -- not in Afghanistan.

President Bush has acted swiftly to unify and streamline our efforts to secure the American homeland. He has transformed the FBI into an agency dedicated to catching terrorists and preventing future attacks. The president and Congress, through the USA Patriot Act, have broken down the legal and bureaucratic walls that prior to Sept. 11 hampered intelligence and law enforcement agencies from collecting and sharing vital threat information. Those who now argue for rolling back the Patriot Act's changes invite us to forget the important lesson we learned on Sept. 11.

In the immediate aftermath of the attacks, the president, like all Americans, wanted to know who was responsible. It would have been irresponsible not to ask a question about all possible links, including to Iraq -- a nation that had supported terrorism and had tried to kill a former president. Once advised that there was no evidence that Iraq was responsible for Sept. 11, the president told his National Security Council on Sept. 17 that Iraq was not on the agenda and that the initial U.S. response to Sept. 11 would be to target al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Because of President Bush's vision and leadership, our nation is safer. We have won battles in the war on terror, but the war is far from over. However long it takes, this great nation will prevail.

The writer is the national security adviser.

Thank you, John Kerry, for helping make us Vietnam veterans war heroes now, but you also were the primary reason that the American public grabbed sturdy unbending brooms of judgment and swept us into the closet of silence and shame for so many years. Now, with your latest unreported insanity, you are getting ready for our society to grab those same stiff brooms and sweep our brave, noble young men and women fighting against the War on Terror in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere, into that cold, dark cell of heartbreak and betrayal, like we Vietnam veterans had to endure in silent dignity. I cannot and will not watch this country go through that again.

The hardcore America-hating, Israel-hating, jihad-spouting Muslim clerics in the mideast are very excited and passing around a front page newspaper story from the very anti-American TEHRAN TIMES in Iran. In the country that is home of the world’s toughest theocratic dictatorship, an e-mail from Democratic Presidential nominee, you, John Forbes Kerry, sent to the paper by your campaign committee, although they deny sending it, was printed word-for-word on the front page of Iran’s main newspaper. Your message states emphatically that, if elected President, you, John Kerry plan to travel to the mideast and elsewhere and apologize for our actions and the actions of President Bush in the War on Terror. You are already apologizing. It says that you plan to apologize to friends and foes alike. That is right, folks. John Kerry will say he is “sorry,” and in his mind, all those jihad extremists, who have vowed to kill all Americans wherever we are, will simply forgive us, hold hands with Kerry, start singing “Kumbaya,” and all will be right in the world. This is insane! You have also made statements you will do these actions within 100 days of becoming President.

Senior writer Kenneth R. Timmerman in the March 1st edition of INSIGHT, tells about the massive campaign contributions to the Kerry-for-President campaign by three Iranian businessmen living in the US, who are lobbying for the US lifting of sanctions on Iran and accepting the anti-Christian, anti-Jewish, anti-American Tehran regime and the close ties of one to the chairman of Mobil Oil.

“Pro-democracy dissidents” in Iran are shocked and appalled at your remarks, and have reported that in Iran and other Mideastern countries, that all the extremists and anti-west mullahs who strongly supported the attacks on the World Trade Center, Pentagon, USS Cole, Marine Barracks, and anyplace Americans congregate, want you to become our President, but they are scared to death of George W. Bush. Just think, The Democratic candidate for President, you, John Forbes Kerry, is endorsed by the Al Q’Aida, Hezbollah, PLF, and Hamas.

But on February 27, 2004, in a speech at UCLA , you, while trying to talk tough, despite voting against all major weapons systems for the past 18 years, stated that you will continue the War on Terror, but would use our police forces, and especially those in foreign countries, and you would also put our troops back under the powder blue flag of the United Nations. You recently made comments about Bush making troops fight without Kevlar vests, but you, Senator Kerry, voted against buying them while you were in the Senate. Senate Bill 1689. Passed 87-12. You were one of the 12. Remember?

Like the Kama Sutra, Senator, you change positions constantly. You’re not going to end the War on Terror, but instead use police to handcuff terrorists and read them their rights; then a week later, you are going to end the War on Terrorism and apologize to everyone we have offended, such as Iran. What is it going be next week, John Kerry? You flip-flop more than a beached tuna on steroids.

You convinced TV reporters Chris Wallace on Fox and NBC’s Tim Russert that a photograph circulating the web and news showing you a few rows away from Jane Fonda at a September, 1970 Anti-War Rally at Valley Forge, was simply a coincidence and that you and Hanoi Jane barely knew each other. But, in fact, Senator, there were only 8 speakers that day, including Fonda, Donald Southerland, and Bella Abzug, and Hanoi Jane funded that rally, and the keynote speaker was you, John Forbes Kerry, executive committee member of Vietnam Veterans Against the War.

We must be Americans first, and think about our political parties after that. Sometimes we lose sight of that. I have six grown children and two are democrats. I voted for Jimmy Carter. This is not about politics. It is about standing up to the ultimate playground bully, and not simply cowering and kissing his shoes.

I left it “all on the field” in the jungles back there when I was medevaced out of Vietnam in March of 1969 and sent back to hospitals in “The World.” Although You, Mr. Kerry, painted all of us Vietnam veterans with the yellow brush of My Lai and Tiger Force, most of us, draftees and lifers alike, actually poured our hearts out in the tropical rain forests and in the rice paddies, thoroughly gave it our all, and acted as warriors who had honor. I have a son earning his green beret at Fort Bragg right now and a daughter-in-law who was on orders for Iraq but is making me a grandpa again. I am not going to stand by and watch them go through the same treatment we did, because some of our well-meaning fellow Americans choose to wear blinders and believe things just because they heard it on the network news or simply not care enough to get involved.

I am not a “baby-killer, torturer, or murderer,” John Kerry. I am a Vietnam veteran and an American who will not soon forget, or ever want to see again, any more jets loaded with fuel and screaming, innocent Americans slamming into our buildings on our very own soil. I have shed enough tears for ten lifetimes. We all have. I will never again let my fellow countrymen get away with making American veterans feel like bastard step-children.

Santayana said, “Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

John Kerry, I now call on my “Band of Brothers,” those who have heard the sound of guns and cries of orphaned children, those who hate war more than anyone who has not been there, to join me in this difficult battle ahead. Republicans, democrats, independents, and the apolitical, I call on the 25,000,000 veterans of this country to help me confront this evil facing our great nation, not with guns and bombs, but with our voices, our votes, our computers, and with all our fighting spirit.

My fellow veterans, your families, survivors, and neighbors: God bless you and God bless America.
You want proof of all I have to say. Here are the references:
http://michnews.com/artman/publish/article_2889.shtml
http://www.chronwatch.com/content/contentDisplay.asp?aid=6246
http://www.iranvajahan.net/cgi-bin/news.pl?l=en&y=2004&m=03&d=01&a=12
http://www.washingtontimes.com/op-ed/20040229-105340-2864r.htm
http://johnkerry.com/pressroom/speeches/spc_2004_0227.html
http://nyyrc.blogspot.com/
http://www.daneshjoo.org/article/publish/article_3130.shtml

Want more proof? Read the very exposing February 27, 2004 article, on page 8, of the NY Sun by Thomas Lipscomb, founder of Time Books and publisher of Admiral Elmo Zumwalt’s best-selling book. “ON WATCH ”. Also read what the man who pinned the Silver Star on John Kerry had to say about him. The article is entitled “Setting Straight Kerry’s War Record”

Don Bendell is a former green beret captain, who served in Vietnam on an A-Team and in the Top Secret Phoenix program in 1968 and 1969, as well as in three other Special Forces Groups. He is a best-selling author of 21 books, with over 1,500,000 copies of his books in print worldwide, and a seventh degree black master in four martial arts, who was inducted into the International Karate Hall of Fame in 1995 and Martial Arts Museum of America in 1996. e-mail: don@donbendell.com

Cheney says Kerry holds US allies in 'contempt'
Wed Mar 17 2004 15:39:34 ET

If John Kerry had been in charge during last year's Iraq war and the 1991 Gulf War, Saddam Hussein would still be in control of Iraq and Kuwait, Vice President Dick Cheney said on Wednesday.

Cheney is absolutely correct.

Kerry has accused President George W. Bush of isolating the United States in the world by failing to build international support for the invasion of Iraq one year ago.

But Cheney said: "Of the many nations that have joined our coalition, allies and friends of the United States, Senator Kerry speaks with open contempt.

Cheney is absolutely correct.

"Great Britain, Australia, Italy, Spain, Poland, and more than 20 other nations have contributed and sacrificed for the freedom of the Iraqi people," Cheney said in a speech at the Ronald Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California.

"Senator Kerry calls these countries, quote, 'window-dressing'. They are in his words, a coalition of the coerced and the bribed.

Cheney went on: "How would Senator Kerry describe Great Britain? Coerced, or bribed? Or Italy, which recently lost 19 citizens killed by terrorists in Najaf.

"Was Italy's contribution just window-dressing?"

Cheney said that the Democratic contender "speaks as if only those who openly opposed America's objectives have a chance of earning his respect."

Cheney is absolutely correct.

The vice president also highlighted Kerry's voting record in the Senate on Iraq and other military issues.

Cheney told how Kerry voted against the 1991 Gulf War, but supported strong international action against Saddam in 1997, called for regime change in Iraq in 1998 and then voted in favour of military action against Iraq in a Congress resolution in October 2002.

Cheney is absolutely correct.

Kerry has since said that the president deceived Congress into passing the vote. But Cheney said: "Had the decision belonged to Senator Kerry, Saddam Hussein would still be in power today in Iraq.

"In fact, Saddam Hussein would almost certainly still be in control of Kuwait."

Cheney is absolutely correct.

The vice president said: "The American people will have a clear choice in the election of 2004."

Referring to the September 11, 2001 attacks and the ensuing war on terror, Cheney said that the Republican president "has built a national security record of his own."

Cheney is absolutely correct.

"He saw America through tragedy. He has kept the nation's enemies in desperate flight. And under his leadership, our country has once again led the armies of liberation, freeing 50 million souls (in Afghanistan and Iraq) from tyranny and making our nation and the world more secure."

Cheney is absolutely correct.

So, there you have it!!!

By Gayle Fee and Laura Raposa
Tuesday, March 9, 2004

The obscenity backlash that stung Howard Stern and Janet Jackson has had no apparent effect on presidential-wannabe John Kerry - his campaign Web site is littered with the F-bomb and other naughty words!

Oy! Good thing the FCC has no jurisdiction over the World Wide Web!

Typing the world's most famous curse word into the search engine on johnkerry.com yields four pages containing the F-word, online gossip-monger Matt Drudge reported yesterday.

There is, of course, the now-infamous Rolling Stone interview where the presumed Democratic nominee sums up the war in Iraq thusly: ``Did I expect George Bush to (bleep) it up as badly as he did . . .?''

Then there's a Men's Journal article wherein the candidate wises off to former aide David Wade threatening to ``cut all his (bleeping) legs off at the knees.'' All two of them! A second Rolling Stone piece and an article from an alternative Seattle paper round out the foursome.

Type in another famous curse word (Hint: It usually precedes the words ``storm'' or ``fight'' or ``happens.'') and you get five sites containing the expletive, including an article from the Harvard Crimson and the Douglas Brinkley biography ``Tour of Duty.''

A check of Dubya's Web site turned up no bad words.

A spokesman for Kerry said he believed the Web site was struck by ``a virus'' yesterday. He then promised to get back to us with a better story, but never did.

The Green Jacket  The Augusta National member's green coat began in 1937. Jackets were purchased from the Brooks Uniform Company, New York City. Members were urged to buy and wear a Jacket during the Masters Tournament so patrons would be able to identify a reliable source of information. Members were not initially enthusiastic about wearing the warm, green coat. Within several years, a lightweight, made-to-order Jacket was available from the Club's Golf Shop. In 1949, the first Green Jacket was awarded to that year's Masters champion, Sam Snead. The single breasted, single vent Jacket's color is "Masters Green" and is adorned with an Augusta National Golf Club logo on the left chest pocket. The logo also appears on the brass buttons.

Traditionally, the champion takes his Jacket home with him for one year, returning it to the Club when he returns for the Tournament. The Jacket is then stored at Augusta National Golf Club and is available whenever the champion visits. Near the conclusion of the Masters, several Jackets are selected which could fit the possible winner during the presentation ceremony. The winner will have his measurements taken at the Club's Golf Shop or may provide measurements so that a custom made Green Jacket can be tailored. Typically, a multiple winner will have only one Green Jacket unless his size drastically changes.

It is the custom at the Masters Tournament that the winner from the previous year presents the Green Jacket to the new winner and helps him into it. In 1966, Jack Nicklaus became the first champion to win consecutive Tournaments. Bob Jones recommended that Nicklaus act in a dual capacity, and put on his own coat. Nicklaus proceeded to slip into his own Green Jacket, much to the enjoyment of the crowd.

In 1990, Nick Faldo became the second champion to win consecutive Tournaments. This time Chairman Hord W. Hardin assisted the winner into his Green Jacket. When Tiger Woods won in 2002, he became the third champion to win consecutive Tournaments. At the Presentation Ceremony, Chairman Hootie Johnson assisted Woods into his Green Jacket.

From WorldNet Daily.

In a speech yesterday to the Council on Foreign Relations, Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., delivered a scathing rebuke of President Bush, accusing him of deliberately exaggerating the threat posed by Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq.

Eat some more cheese Teddy.

The address is particularly significant in this presidential election year, because of its timing and the high-profile role Kennedy has played in the campaign of Sen. John Kerry, the New York Times reported.

It suggested the Democrats intend to focus on attacking Bush's credibility.

...because you have no valid platform, no credibility, and nothing to attack. WHAP!

Kennedy accused the president of "pure, unadulterated fear-mongering, based on a devious strategy to convince the American people that Saddam's ability to provide nuclear weapons to al-Qaida justified immediate war."

"pure, unadulterated fear-mongering" - just like devious catdaddy bootlegger Joe used to secure the fortune that allowed you to buy your way into politics. You've never had to work a day in your life. WHAP!

The Massachusetts senator blamed CIA Director George Tenet for failing to correct statements by Bush, and he accused the administration of exaggerating assessments of the danger Iraq presented to the world.

This is for George and George, WHAP! WHAP! and one more from me WHAP!

Bush, pointing out previous administrations considered Saddam a threat, contends he acted on the best intelligence available. He also argues weapons of mass destruction may yet be found.

The administration insists, moreover, the ouster of Saddam Hussein, as part of the overall war on terrorism, has made the world safer.

But Kennedy, who has repeatedly denounced the war, issued perhaps his sharpest criticism yet, the Times reported.

"Why wasn't C.I.A. Director Tenet correcting the president and the vice president and the Secretary of Defense a year ago, when it could have made a difference, when it could have prevented a needless war, when it could have saved so many lives?" he asked.

"a needless war"? What are you smoking? WHAP!

The Times said while the CIA had no immediate comment, Republican senators John Kyl of Arizona and Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania circulated a letter pointing out statements by Democratic lawmakers prior to the war, describing Iraq as an urgent threat.

In comments related direction to the campaign, Kennedy said, the "most important decision any president makes is the decision on war or peace."

That statement is bullshit, and you know it. WHAP! We DID NOT start this war, and you know it. WHAP!

"No president who misleads the country on the need for war deserves to be re-elected," he said. "A president who does so must be held accountable. The last thing our nation needs is a sign on the desk in the Oval Office in the White House that says, 'The buck doesn't stop here anymore.'"

You are full of shit and my hand is sore. BANG!!

At a school board meeting this week, angry teachers, students and district residents criticized the decision by administrators at Kenowa Hills Public Schools.

"Is this how you treat people that defend your country?" Tom Lovett, a teacher's spouse and district resident, asked board members.

Barry Bernhardt, a middle school science teacher and a National Guard reservist for at least a decade, started serving two weeks of active duty in Italy on Monday, the day of the school board meeting.

During the 10 days Bernhardt will be gone from the classroom, he will use two personal days and two compensation days during his time off.

For the remaining six days, Bernhardt must pay the district $74 per day for the substitute teacher filling in for him and turn over the $78 in salary that he will receive each day from the National Guard, The Grand Rapids Press reported.

"The district missed a golden opportunity to reflect on the patriotic duty of all Americans to, in our own way, celebrate the accomplishments of the service not only of Barry, but of all the men and women who stand for our country," said Ron La Fave, a Kenowa Hills teacher.

Superintendent Jim Gillette said the district was following the law when it crafted its agreement with Bernhardt. A similar agreement was drawn up on one other occasion, years earlier, when Bernhardt was assigned to Bosnia during a tour of duty.

In most previous years, Bernhardt has fulfilled his military assignments while on vacation, Gillette said.

"It's inaccurate to say we didn't do anything for him. We did provide significant assistance," the superintendent said, adding that the district continues to provide Bernhardt with all his other benefits during his absence.

In the end, the teacher will receive $573 more than he would have after the two-week military leave, Gillette said. Bernhardt will give the district only six days' worth of his military pay, and he also will receive a military housing allowance.

When compared to employees of private companies, the district is doing what it should to protect Bernhardt's financial stability, Gillette said.

"It's a fact that he's not losing money, that he's making money. Whatever way you look at it, he's still making money," he said.

In neighboring Grand Rapids Public Schools, teachers called to duty receive two weeks of unpaid leave but are not required to pay for a substitute teacher.

As a result of Bernhardt's situation, Kenowa Hills school board members now are likely to create a specific policy covering employee military leave.

"In the future, he's not going to get out that well," Gillette said.