Theresa Heinz Kerry comes to San Diego

16 Responses to “Theresa Heinz Kerry comes to San Diego”

1. 

   route66 said on Saturday, September 18, 2004, 8:48

   Teresa Heinz Kerry has financed the secretive Tides Foundation to the tune of more than $4 million over the years. The Tides Foundation, a “charity” established in 1976 by antiwar leftist activist Drummond Pike, distributes millions of dollars in grants every year to political organizations advocating far-Left causes. The Tides Foundation and its closely allied Tides Center, which was spun off from the Foundation in 1996 but run by Drummond Pike, distributed nearly $66 million in grants in 2002 alone.

   Tides has also given grant money to the Council for American Islamic Relations. Ostensibly a “Muslim civil rights group,” CAIR is in fact one of the leading anti-anti-terrorism organizations within the Wahhabi Lobby, with links to Hamas. CAIR regularly opposes and demonizes American efforts to fight terrorism, claiming, for instance, that Homeland Security measures are responsible for an undocumented surge in “hate crimes.”

   CAIR officials have reason to fight Bush’s anti-terrorism measures: all too many CAIR officials are on the record supporting terrorism. CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad openly stated in 1994, “I am a supporter of the Hamas movement.” Community Affairs Director Bassem K. Khafagi has been arrested for visa and bank fraud. Randall Royer, a Communications Specialist and Civil Rights Coordinator at CAIR, was arrested along with a group of Islamic radicals in Virginia for allegedly planning jihad. CAIR has defended terrorist “charities” shut down by the Bush administration. Every few months some CAIR campus official is arrested for aiding and abetting terrorism.
2. 

   oso said on Saturday, September 18, 2004, 9:02

   “Anti-anti-terrorism.” Is that, like, peace?

   I checked out the Tides Foundation website and it certainly does look subversive. Check out these far left (Stalinist?) initiatives that they’re currently involved in:

   Bridging the economic divide
   Death Penalty Mobilization Fund
   Native Communites Program
   Rapid Response Initiative (the scoundrels probably only feel bad for supporting the terrorists on this one)
   Reproductive Justice Fund
   Voter’s Action Fund

   Let us only hope these infidels fall as quickly as those other terrorists, the Iraqis.
3. 

   MAS said on Saturday, September 18, 2004, 9:27

   CAIR : ‘Moderate’ friends of terror
   Anti-CAIR
4. 

   Joe Crawford said on Saturday, September 18, 2004, 9:35

   Snopes.com debunks myths about THK and The Tides Foundation:

   Origins:   According to Heinz Endowments President Maxwell King:

   In recent weeks, The Heinz Endowments has been accused of using its funding of the Tides Center of Western Pennsylvania to advance a laundry list of partisan causes and fringe political groups. This accusation is simply wrong.

   It originated in an opinion column written by a researcher for the conservative, Washington, D.C.-based Capital Research Center. The crux of CRC’s argument is that money directed by the Endowments to Tides is “fungible.” By supporting projects through Tides, CRC alleged that Heinz has secretly funneled money to every other organization that has ever received funding through Tides Center and the separate Tides Foundation.

   Since first being published in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, CRC’s accusation has been picked up and expanded in opinion pieces in a number of newspapers, including the Wall Street Journal, the New York Post and the Washington Times. But not even these publications have leveled this allegation in actual news stories.

   The reason why is obvious: The charge does not stand up to objective scrutiny. Four facts undercut it completely. First, by legally binding contract, every penny of Heinz’s support to Tides has been explicitly directed to specific projects in Pennsylvania. It cannot legally be redirected and is the exact opposite of fungible.

   Second, the Tides Center is a provider of management and administrative services, and we have used it only for those services, not to advance Tides’ grantmaking agenda. Foundations from all across the country-many, like Heinz, with strong centrist agendas-use these services to incubate an array of nonprofit programs. So does the federal government. It is no more accurate to suggest that Heinz supports every one of these programs than it is to suggest that someone who contributes to a specific group through the United Way supports the agenda of every other United Way beneficiary.

   Third, the projects we have supported through Tides speak for themselves. They include programs to test the career readiness of area high school students, protect Pittsburgh’s environment and retain young people in our region-hardly an extremist agenda.

   Fourth and finally, information about every one of our Tides-related grants is and always has been readily available in our public filings, annual reports and here on our web site. Far from being secretive, we have been consistently open in detailing the nature of our grants to Tides and every other organization we fund.
5. 

   Joe Crawford said on Saturday, September 18, 2004, 9:46

   And, read more about CAIR, here. Sounds to me a lot like the NAACP. Some leaders say things that are a bit wacked, but in general they’re taken seriously, including by President George W Bush:

   CAIR representatives have been included in several public functions hosted by United States President George W. Bush, a few weeks after the 9/11 attacks. CAIR had previously endorsed Bush for president during the 2000 elections

   Looks to me like Kerry gives money to the non-secretive Tides Foundation.

   So because of these 3rd party links, Teresa Heinz Kerry is listed as “giving money to terror” or something? Is that the root of the vitriol?

   Is Teresa Heinz Kerry the new Hilary Clinton?
6. 

   MAS said on Saturday, September 18, 2004, 10:06

   There are 2 issues here:

   1 - Did Teresa Heinz Kerry fund a group sympathetic to terrorists? Ben Johnson believes so, Snopes doesn’t. She refuses
   to release her full financials, so we don’t know. My guess is if she did, she probably didn’t know.

   2 - Is CAIR a legitimate civil rights agency like the NAACP or is it a group of anti-Semetic terrorist sympathizers?
   There is countless quotes and statements from this group that demostrates it’s the latter. Whether Bush invited
   to the White House or not is irrelevant. Most of what we know about CAIR has only come out in the last 2 years.
7. 

   oso said on Saturday, September 18, 2004, 10:16

   MAS,

   Do you have any links (other than Pipes and Anti-CAIR) to sources of the “countless quotes and statements” demonstrating that CAIR is “a group of anti-Semitic terrorist sympathizers?
8. 

   MAS said on Saturday, September 18, 2004, 11:01

   Pipes lists about 50 end notes on the article I linked to above. Anti-CAIR also references it’s sources.
9. 

   route66 said on Saturday, September 18, 2004, 13:17

   Does the NAACP support terrorism like CAIR does?
   

   Since Sept. 11, 2001, three CAIR figures have been arrested by U.S. federal authorities on terrorist-related charges: Ghassan Elashi, a founding board member of CAIR-Texas; Bassem K. Khafagi, the community affairs director for CAIR; and Randall Todd “Ismail” Royer, former communications specialist and civil-rights coordinator at CAIR.

   CAIR also has been criticized for its links to Hamas by various terrorist experts and scholars, including Matthew Levitt, senior fellow in terrorism studies at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

   On Sept. 19, Levitt gave testimony before the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Terrorism titled, “Subversion from Within.” Levitt addressed the issue of CAIR:

   “For example, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which says it was ‘established to promote a positive image of Islam and Muslims in America,’ was co-founded by Omar Ahmed, the same person who co-founded the Islamic Association for Palestine – the Hamas front organization which first published the Hamas charter in English – together with Hamas leader and Specially Designated Terrorist Mousa Abu Marzouk. CAIR’s pro-Hamas and pro-Hezbollah positions should not surprise, given that it regularly rises to the defense of terrorism suspects and openly supports designated terrorist groups.”

   Similar testimony has been given by various experts, including Sheikh Professor Abdul Hadi Palazzi, who said the following during a February 2000 address to the International Conference on Countering Suicide Terrorism sponsored by the Institute for Counter-Terrorism of the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzlyia, Israel:

   “The Council for American-Islamic Relations is a Muslim Brotherhood front organization. It works in the United States as a lobby against radio, television and print media journalists who dare to produce anything about Islam that is at
   variance with their fundamentalist agenda. CAIR opposes diversity in Islam: They are aggressive and closed-minded. Notwithstanding CAIR’s evident connection to Hamas, they are regarded by U.S. administrations as legitimate representatives of the Muslim American community.”

   Masquerading as ‘mainstream’ , How extremist Muslims intimidate press, true moderates into silence.
10. 

    Joe Crawford said on Tuesday, September 21, 2004, 7:10

    Well, the NAACP has had membership which had at one time been sympathetic to the Black Panther Party. One presumes that this is no different.

    The question for me is this — if this organization is so clearly terroristic, what’s it doing getting invited to the White House?

    Also, were the actions those of the organization, or of members of it. Tricky, that. Tim McVeigh was a member of the NRA, no? So clearly, the NRA is a terroristic organization.

    The links between THK and CAIR are not strong enough to push me over the edge to outrage. Whereas the links between Vice-President Dick Cheney and Halliburton are strong enough to get me outraged. I suppose it’s a matter of focus.
11. 

    MAS said on Tuesday, September 21, 2004, 10:52

    1- As I stated above, most of what we know about CAIR has only surfaced in the last 2 years. Trust me, they won’t be asked back to the
    White House in the near future regardless of who is President.

    2- The Black Panther Party is not equal to Hamas or Hezbula. If you think they are, I need to step away from this
    conversation.

    3- Haliburton? Read Coalition of the Billing by
    Bruce Sterling. They’ve been around since 1919 and been utilized by our military under many different Presidents. They
    are a legal company employing many people. It’s too bad you are outraged that a former Sec Of Defense would give
    up a high paying job at Haliburton to return to public life for the thankless job of VP.

    4- I agree with you that the links between THK and CAIR are not strong enough at this time to fuel outrage. Even if they
    were strong, I doubt a super-wealthy person that gives to many organizations is fully aware of exactly who gets the
    money and how it is spent.
12. 

    route66 said on Tuesday, September 21, 2004, 14:40

    Terrorist leaders at the White House is nothing new. The Clinton White House hosted them. See A Look Inside CAIR on the same page.

    If one focuses on that previously referenced CAIR Wiki page from a few comments back, one will see the heading Criticism.
    

    “…high ranking members of CAIR have taken stances that many say belie its self-description as a moderate organization.”

    Which leads in to Tim McVeigh/NRA reference??? You don’t judge an organization by the aberrant behavior of a single low-level individual. Let’s recognize the distinct possibility of a dichotomy between a rank and file member and the leadership (and founders) of an organization.

    As far as the links between THK and Tides/CAIR, perhaps a local journalist attending that upcoming $5,000-a-ticket VIP (pre-reception) event at the El Cortez could ask her about it in person. As long as that reporter doesn’t mind “shoving it”.
13. 

    route66 said on Tuesday, September 21, 2004, 14:44

    Terrorist leaders at the White House is nothing new. The Clinton White House hosted them. See A Look Inside CAIR on the
    same page.

    If one focuses on that previously referenced CAIR Wiki page from a few comments back, one will see the heading Criticism.
    

    “…high
    ranking members of CAIR have taken stances that many say belie its self-description as a moderate organization.”

    Which leads in to Tim McVeigh/NRA reference??? You don’t judge an organization by the aberrant behavior of a single low-level individual. Let’s recognize the distinct possibility of a dichotomy between a rank and file member
    and the leadership (and founders) of an organization.

    As far as the links between THK and Tides/CAIR, maybe a local journalist attending that upcoming $5,000-a-ticket VIP (pre-reception) event at the El Cortez could ask her about it in person. As long as that reporter doesn’t mind “shoving it”.
14. 

    Joe Crawford said on Wednesday, September 22, 2004, 9:20

    More on this topic from factcheck.org: Internet “Whispering Campaigns” Falsely Accuse Teresa Heinz Kerry: Bogus e-mail messages claim she’s given millions to “radical” groups, some linked to terrorists, and located Heinz factories overseas. Both claims are false.

    I’ll agree to disagree with MAS and route66 on the other points. I’ll depart the field of battle argument and you can declare victory. It’s not like I want to turn this blog into some kind of political site. I’ll let someone else set up a San Diego site like that. I don’t have the energy or inclination for that.
15. 

    Big mama T said on Friday, September 24, 2004, 14:00

    [This comment was deleted -Ed.]
16. 

    route66 said on Thursday, October 21, 2004, 12:18

    THK apologizes for a catty remark:

    U.S. first lady Laura Bush on Thursday dismissed as unimportant a comment by the wife of Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry that Mrs. Bush was someone who had not held a “real job.”

    She played down a controversy that blew up over the remark and expressed sympathy for Teresa Heinz Kerry for having to handle the pressures of being on the campaign trail and answer reporters’ questions.

    “It doesn’t matter to me,” Mrs. Bush told reporters as she campaigned in the swing state of New Hampshire. “It was perfectly alright. She apologized and she didn’t even really need to apologize,” Mrs. Bush said.

    “I know how tough it is. Actually, I know those trick questions, too,” she said.

    Asked how she would be different from Mrs. Bush if John Kerry won the Nov. 2 election, Heinz Kerry told USA Today: “Well, you know, I don’t know Laura Bush. But she seems to be calm, and she has a sparkle in her eye, which is good. But I don’t know that she’s ever had a real job — I mean, since she’s been grown up.”

    Heinz Kerry, a philanthropist and heiress to a Heinz ketchup fortune of more than $500 million, later apologized for her comment, saying she had forgotten Mrs. Bush’s work as a teacher and librarian, “and there couldn’t be a more important job than teaching our children.”

    Bush campaign adviser Karen Hughes called Heinz Kerry’s remark “unfortunate” and said it was aimed at dividing women.