MISSION IMPOSSIBLE

Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to explain to your readers the WIP story, Water Improvement Permits. If we had a modicum of brain matter we would not accept this mission. Having shown a history of mental deficiency, we plod on.

Stormwater runoff has been a problem since the beginning of time. It rains, it snows, snow melts, there is gravity, Vermont is not flat, the resultant water "runs off." Sorry. But there is no getting away with sorry in Vermont, someone is to blame and someone must pay. 

IT RAINED AND RAINED FOR FORTY DAYS

If this water/snow falls on an impermeable surface, the amount and speed of the runoff increases. The increased speed helps collect sediment (sinkables). The runoff on impermeable surfaces such as parking lots picks up oil contaminants (floatables).

That the state via the highway system owns the great majority of impermeable surfaces in Vermont is your problem; you the taxpayer must clean this up. Whoops, we forgot. In that government is good, you receive a get out of jail card. Actually not completely; new highway construction like the CIRC must control all of its stormwater runoff. Business however is bad; everyone who has a pulse knows that.

In cities and towns it rains. Some runoff goes into the sewer system but then there is a huge flush into the treatment plant causing a flood of household waste too. The state has now separated storm water sewer lines and wastewater sewer lines in all but Montpelier, Springfield and Saint Johnsbury. Next they will begin to treat the storm water in all towns. It’s your money. 

IT’S A BUG’S LIFE

A briefing by the "experts" from the Department of Environmental Conservation tasked with cleaning up these watersheds yielded a few details.

1 - Most of the impaired waterways are tiny; one could step across most of them.

2 - The impairment has to do with the quality of "aquatic biota" or bugs.

3 - No one in the world knows how to model the effect on a bug’s life caused by stormwater runoff.

4 - No one knows what the changing population and diversity of bugs ought to be in a stream. Therefore no one knows if you have succeeded in your stormwater abatement program.

DAMN THE TORPEDOES, FULL SPEED AHEAD

Everyone seemed on board. The worst stormwater polluters would build a state-of-the-art settling pond to allow the sinkables (sediment and solids) to settle out and regularly clean the sinkables out of the ponds. Floatables could run off through a slow grassy spillway and be removed. Let’s give this a try and then measure it. 

HECK WITH COLLBORATION, LET’S SUE

So the Conservation Law Foundation did. Would these plans guarantee that the affected areas become "pristine?" Nope, nobody could guarantee that, nobody could even model how to do that. How many bugs per square foot of slow moving muddy stream bottom should there be? No one knows.

The Water Resource Board agreed with the lawsuit and declared WIPs null and void. State employees had worked for years, millions of your dollars in time and support efforts down the drain. Business owners were willing to spend their time and money on something that was sure to help even though it might not be perfect and they would be required to do more. But no, doing your best, using the best state of the art known in the world was not good enough here.

If you shut down the areas of commerce that have impermeable surfaces, there would be no problem. If no one built another impermeable surface, there would be no problem. Even then, no one knows about the bug’s life. 

OH ME OH MY, WHAT SHALL WE DO

The Douglas administration looked at its options. They decided that the appeal route would take too long and the law being the law, they would probably lose. "The bottom line is this: we must bring clarity to the rules, and quality to our water." To do so, Douglas said that the legislative route would be clearest, fastest, and best.

It is not just old businesses being abused. New businesses cannot start. Real estate transactions, because the Bianchi Supreme Court decision requires that all permits must be in order for a title to be clear so the title can be mortgagable, cannot go forward. In a Catch-22, you cannot now receive a permit concerning stormwater runoff if you property is in an impaired watershed. No permit, no mortgage; no mortgage, no sale.

There is an exception. Since the science cannot define "clean" in bug’s terms, you can negotiate a deal whereby you clean let’s say 60 percent of your problem, 20 percent of two others. Then you can receive a permit for a 100 percent cleaning. Not easy, not always possible.

So now are we home free. The legislature will meet, consult with all the parties, and pass a new law allowing WIPs. We ask Douglas, "Have you called Senate pro tem Peter Welch (former board member of the Conservation Law Foundation) to discuss your plan?"

"Well, no." So then why are you wasting our time we wanted to shout. A technical briefing most of the morning. Then a big press conference and voila, nothing. He does not have Senator Welch on board. And even if he were, CLF could fight the legislation in court. Later that day Welch gave "sharp criticism" to Douglas’s decision to seek a legislative solution. CLF called it "outrageous." 

NEVER, NEVER LAND

Years go by and we are in Never, Never Land going nowhere. Do any of you understand stormwater water runoff now? No, don't tell us we failed in our mission. We tried. 

JIM GOES HOLLYWOOD

Recall just a few years back when our own Jim Jeffords was that aw shucks boy from Shrewsbury trying to do the right thing. Not totally right of course. A Republican, Jim also had that independent streak. He slept in his office to save a few bucks, drove an old clunker.

All this seems now to be a thing of the past. Our Gentleman Jimmy now has his campaign lease a Saturn Wagon for him at a cool $398.13 a month and buy his gas. Not that he needs it after his two books sold millions, well thousands actually. But he became a star, wealthy, recognized in foreign airports, and applauded as he merely passed by. Even his long time Administrative Assistant Susan Russ crooned of having her "Madonna moment." 

HE WHO PAYS THE FIDDLER CALLS THE TUNE

We are not in fact paying this fiddler to fiddle away our money. Nope. In his most recent filing he reported raising an additional $1,041,021.57. With expenses of $769,242.28, he contributed $271,779.10 to his cash on hand account, raising it to $1,498,714.17. All this money without an election until 2006. Only $560 came from three intrepid Vermonters. Wally Cleaver did contribute $250. Way to go, Beav!

And of course Jim no longer uses local vendors. He is a man of the world now. A printer in Westminster, CA earned $202,541.89. A mail service in City of Commerce, CA earned another $44,207.44. A list broker in Maryland took in $86,664.70. Couldn’t think of any local printers who might have liked that business? You know, one that employs Vermonters and contributes to our tax base? 

FOR THE DRAGON SLAYER, IT’S JUST BUSINESS

Darcie Johnston has been a fixture in Vermont politics for years, managing a campaign to unseat Bernie, to unseat Howard, and to elect a Republican state senator or two. She also did work for Jeffords. So when Jeffords jumped ship, did Darice stay true to her principles? Well yes, if the principle is money. Jeffords paid her $22,000 in the last three months. 

ANYBODY LOOKING FOR AN INVESTMENT MANAGER?

The Jeffords campaign reported a "receipt" of $61,648.29 from Raymond James Financial Services. The Jeffords Campaign told us that this was for "dividends and interest" earned on the campaign account since 2000. Gee, what’s Ray's number? 

007 AND ME

The Pat Leahy campaign raised $600,446.22 with expenses of $90,257.54 for a net of $510,188.68, out-raising his opponent by a bit over $500,000. Leahy paid James Bond $205.34 and bought a plane ticket for $2,651.00. Did he fly off to some foreign land and make the payment personally?

Leahy did divide up his printing between Vermont and Maryland, $6,809.61 going to Vermont Print and Mail and $5,015.70 going to Cantrell Printing in Capital Heights, Maryland. Carolyn Dwyer earned $12,000. Being the senior senator, he drives a bigger car than Jeffords. His monthly payment is $548.98. 

CHERRY PICKING

The Douglas Campaign picked only the low hanging fruit over the last many months since his election. All the usual cast of characters: the Brues of Bruegger Bagels (though Dean donors too), Pomerleau Companies, Skip Vallee Companies, Hacketts, Omya, Allen Martins, Stuart Martin, Dubruls, Millers, Cencis, Sylvesters (but only $250, not the max of $400) and Pizzagallis.

Doug Racine consultants Kimbell, Sherman and Ellis maxed out. Democrat Senator toe-dipper Stephen Terry, also of Green Mountain Power, maxed out. So did Madeline Kunin’s media buyer Stephen Smith. Well, Steve was also Jim Douglas’s media buyer. How does that one go: when you are young if you do not vote Democrat, you haven't a heart; when you age if you don't vote Republican, you haven't a brain. It appears that Smith has both a heart and a brain. He won't have to go see the Wizard of Oz. 

RACINE’S WILLIE JEEP ISUZU

Listed in the phone book just below Racine Doug for Lt Governor in your current Verizon business pages is Racine Jeep. When we asked the Campaigns and Elections Office if they had spotted or noticed anything interesting in the reports, they said, "Only that there was no filing for Doug Racine." He has yet to file a final report so he remains MIA. 

THE REST OF THE FIELD

Brian Dubie raised a negative $1,125. He also spent a negative $222.30. Must be on another planet. Is Canada another planet, Daddy?

Peter Shumlin filed a report with no expenditures and $650 of contributions. Even the Hooker for Senate Committee gave $100. He did not report any debt so perhaps all the money he put into his own campaign is long gone. He ended his last report with a $77,152 surplus which has, poof, disappeared without a trace.

Elizabeth Ready, Deb Markowitz, and Jeb Spaulding reported nary a donation. Markowitz told us in 1999 that she had a five-year plan and hoped to be Secretary of State for three terms to accomplish her goals before deciding her next move. She told DPR that her next move was to run for reelection. 

VEPC'S GENEOLOGY AND WORKINGS

We received enough comment on our last week's article about Vermont Economic Progress Councill (VEPC) to motivate us to describe VEPC in better detail. It was the liberals who put the "but for" clause into the VEPC program because they really did not want business to grow or prosper in Vermont. The intent was to backhandedly "encourage" new business to be attracted to the state, but to discourage existing businesses from expanding.

Unknown to most observers, there is nothing in the VEPC legislation which gives the Council any legitimate opportunity to prevent existing businesses from leaving the state by providing credits and incentives to keep them here. The "but for" clause is a true difficulty for VEPC.

Council deliberations include in-depth considerations of the "but for" provisions on every application, DPR is told. While there may have been suspicions that applicants were stretching the response to the "but for" provision criteria question, the Council does its utmost to verify that there always is a legitimate out of state option if the application is turned down.

If VEPC had been empowered to provide credits and incentives to protect the businesses which already exist in the state, Vermont might have had an opportunity to save some of those 10,000+ jobs which have disappeared.

The VEPC staff - all two of them due to legislative largesse - and the regional development and planning executives who play an exceedingly important role in the entire VEPC process, are equally part of VEPC's success. If it were not for VEPC, many more businesses, large and small, but all critical to the job availability in Vermont, would have left the state. 

SKINHEAD DUBIE

We have all now heard about Dubie the Canadian, our lieutenant governor traveling repeatedly north of the border for chats with prime ministers, ambassadors, and other dignitaries.

Now here comes Dubie the skinhead. This Friday, August 1, at 7 PM on the Church Street Marketplace in Burlington, Brian will sit and have his head shaved to raise money and bring attention to kids with cancer for Camp Ta Kum Ta. 

THE TALE OF TWO HEADLINES

For the same David Gram Associated Press story on the stormwater day, the Free Press writes, "Douglas seeks change in stormwater rules." The Valley News writes, "Douglas asks for relaxing of water rule." 

THE TALE OF TWO PARAGRAPHS

The second paragraph in the Free Press, "The decision drew sharp criticism form Senate President Pro Tem Peter Welch, as well as a lawyer for the Conservation Law Foundation who called it ‘outrageous.’"

In the Valley News, "The decision drew sharp criticism form a lawyer for the Conservation Law Foundation who called it ‘outrageous.’" 

THE YELLOW BRICK ROAD

Re, THE UNBIASED UNWASHED... We asked, "Anyone find a pattern here?"

»» Anonymous Media Scribe, Vermont: "Yes ... the government pays better than the media." 

GREAT SPEECH

Vice President Dick Cheney's address to the American Enterprise Institute last week received little media attention. A sample:

... "If we had not acted, the torture chambers would still be in operation; the prison cells for children would still be filled; the mass graves would still be undiscovered; the terror network would still enjoy the support and protection of the regime; Iraq would still be making payments to the families of suicide bombers attacking Israel; and Saddam Hussein would still control vast wealth to spend on his chemical, biological, and nuclear ambitions. ...

"All of these crimes and dangers were ended by decisive military action. Everyone, for many years, wished for these good outcomes. Finally, one man made the decision to achieve them: President George W. Bush. And the Iraqi people, the people of the Middle East, and the American people have a safer future because Saddam Hussein's regime is history. ..."

According to an Internet search one week later, the only media outlet to report on Vice President Cheney's address was The Washington Times. "We report, you decide": http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/07/20030724-6.html 

FORMAT INFORMATION

»» Sally Martel: I want you to know how much I enjoy your newsletter, but the new format you are using discourages one from reading it. I probably shouldn't complain since I haven't sent you a contribution, which I do plan on doing at some point when I have my act together.

Editor's Note: We recently updated our e-mailing system to personalize addressing and give subscribers direct control of their subscription. We also eliminated line breaks within the articles at the request of those who print out the DPR and wish to economize on paper. Now the lines run off the page for some people. If this is a problem for you, look for a setting in your mail program to "Wrap long lines" and turn it on. If you continue to have a problem, please let us know and we will reconsider the format issue. 

WRONG WAY, PROGS

»» R. Spreeman, formerly of Colchester, now of Indiana: On Sunday, July 27, the Free Press carried an interesting article on the Burlington Co-op, otherwise known as the City Market. I find this whole subject fascinating. To me, the City Market is a good example of something that was done the wrong way, and for the wrong reasons - an example of 'Progressive' government.

Despite the specifically-expressed choice of Burlington voters for a conventional supermarket to be opened downtown, the Progressives determined that they wanted the co-op to open a grocery store, rather than an evil (my term, not theirs) capitalist-run store. Voters be damned, the Progressive knew better! That's the part I find scariest about the 'Progressives' (and other liberal types); they are sure they know best and the public should just let them make the decisions for us, be it in health care, schooling... even what kind of grocery store people shop at. Oh, they had their excuses, the proposal from Shaw's was too large or something, but you can't tell me a regular store could not have been built within the necessary constraints.

City Market has lost over $1,200 each and every day, on average, since it opened. Soon they will have to start repaying the principal on the government loans which helped build the store - an expense of an additional $425 per day. I wonder, are the Burlington Progressives as keen to play 'grocery store' now that the thing is a financial disaster? Doesn't 'Progressive' imply progress of some sort? Some progress - from no grocery store to one that is losing a fortune and which has not met the needs of the local shoppers. One person told me the place felt like a yuppie 'food boutique' to her; she immediately resumed shopping for her groceries at a conventional grocery store though it was further away. 

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION

»» Rep. Rick Hube, South Londonderry: I would be interested to get some additional information regarding Vermont's household credit card debt. The BFP reported it at roughly $15,000 per household. I think the Free Press reported that excluding Alaska the next state was Utah with about $8,000 average per household.

If my memory is correct that should really be a concern to us all. 

INPUT MINUS OUTPUT EQUALS BALANCE

»» Dart Everett: If it is true that, "Vermont's Economist Thomas Kavet at the Emergency Board meeting on July 15, 2003, said 'Federal spending has gone from a $350 billion surplus to a $450 billion deficit with nothing to show for it,'" Vemont should get a new Economist. A change from a $350 billion surplus to a $450 billion deficit is not necessarily a measure of changed Federal spending. It would be interesting to know how the spending has changed, and how the projected revenues have changed. Then we might know more than Mr. Kavet apparently does. 

HERE WE GO AGAIN...

»» Alexey Voinov, Colchester: It's not hard to make Mr. McClaughry laugh. Good for him. Unfortunately he was laughing so hard that forgot that poverty is a relative indicator rather than an absolute one. Therefore if he admits that "the top quintile income grew faster than the bottom quintile, so the income gap widened", then it makes no sense to claim that "the working poor were less poor after six years of Reagan tax rate cuts..." Perhaps their income grew a little, but it didn't make them less poor. The income of a homeless in America would make you pretty rich in an African country. Too bad, you'll be still poor over here. It's the income gap that makes a poor person poor. The larger the gap, the poorer are the poor.

Mr. McClaughry agrees that the Reagan tax cuts benefited the wealthy more than the poor (Quote: "Nowhere did I claim that the Reagan tax rate cuts benefited the poor more than the wealthy. They did not."). Then how is this different from what I said that the Reagan tax cut brought all the gravy to the rich? What's the whole point of this debate and finger-pointing?

I would suggest that instead of spending so much time and effort describing what the liberals applaud or hate, Mr. McClaughry focus more on the rich conservative vision of this world with a growing income gap, growing polarization, and wiped out middle class. The world where instead of paying taxes Mr. McClaughry will be building walls with barbed wire around his estate and will be hiring his own guards to protect his family from the growing despair of the poor, uneducated and frustrated neighbors. That's what I would see as dealing with outcomes in the real world.

As for Adam Smith, there is no big deal finding a quote in his writings opposing high taxes. I also oppose high taxes especially when they are spent the way we spend our tax money now. Nevertheless, unlike some of the conservatives of today, Smith was smart enough to realize that there is nothing good in the income gap. That's what my quote was about. I regret that this didn't come through. 

»» John McClaughry, Kirby, responds: This is getting really tiresome, but I will just point out again that "the working poor were less poor after six years of Reagan tax rate cuts..." To help Mr. Voinov understand this, let me try this version: "after the six years of Reagan tax rate cuts, workers in the lowest quintile had more money in real dollars, not less." 

Sorry, the wealthy did NOT get all the gravy. 

»» Robert Towle, Rutland City: In response to Alexey Voinov: Your son gets it but you do not. Your argument that paying someone twice for one job will make them doubley productive is comical and missing the point. From your son you hear the part about Social Security not being there for him (and who knows for the sake of the argument) but you do not hear the part about the $370 that is confiscated from him and what does he receive in return.

My premise was that if potential companies that will bring jobs into this state have a choice of moving or not moving into Vermont, one of the Major factors will be their return on investment. Not all companies have the luxury of becoming a City Market. Your continual usage of Enron, et al. and your "proof" that only Goverment can do business right is sad and devoid of any real thought. If the taxes or costs that are artificially placed upon business erode away too much of the profit (the lifeblood of any company), then the business will fail. And one point you business-haters keep forgetting is that the people who start businesses generally use their own money to do so and they definitely use their own sweat-capital to hopefully keep things moving in a positive direction. If you take away the incentive for those people to make a profit and a living, you will end up with McDonald's and Cumberland Farms as being the only industries in your locality and the rest of the population on Welfare or on their way out of the state.

The research you have performed is quite commendable, but do the real research...ask anyone that was working in the 50's how much they earned, how much they paid in taxes, and how much they were able to buy with much less dollars than today's money. You will surmise inflation is the culprit and you will be correct. What is inflation?? The rising of prices causing less purchasing power with today's dollars. What causes rising prices?? If your costs are higher to make or sell something, you need to raise your price to make the same profit. Extra taxes raise prices and lower taxes help to reduce to pressure on prices. Once enough pressure on prices are reduced, competition will make sure prices come down and that is the trickle down of the Reagan tax cut. If part of the competition is a subsidized entity or government itself, no savings will be realized because this savings will trigger more spending and then deficits to encourage more taxes (sound familiar??). Why ! do you think States or our country can go from Surplus to Deficit faster than you can blink?? 

Let the working man bring home more of his or her money instead of sending it to Washington or Montpelier where it will be misused!! 

I'VE BEEN THERE

»» Michael Ticehurst, Williston: [Response to last week's letter from Bill Brueckner, Waterbury Center concerning police training]. You obviously have no idea what you're talking about when it comes to police training and enforcement. The Vermont Police Academy teaches our future police officers the same way all the other states teach their police officers, "To Protect & Serve" the public at large. They hold the "use of deadly force" with the highest regard to public safety as an action to be used only when it is deemed absolutely necessary for their protection and of those around them. In situations of aggressive individuals wielding weapons that could kill, officers are trained to protect themselves at all costs. Although learning patterns of social deviance and aggressive management behavior is part of their schooling, they are not trained to be psychologists. Taking the time to try to talk down an angered individual with a deadly weapon may seem to you as a worthy cause, but it is a cause that may get you or someone around you killed. Some tried and succeeded, others tried and failed. And remember failure means death or life threatening injury in these situations.

Future police officers are shown the outcome of many situations and the destructive force that aggressive individuals can cause with variety of weapons. For instance, a person with a knife closing the distance between you and themselves within 19 feet can be extremely deadly. Seconds matter! Officers with a drawn sidearm are not taught to holster it and draw their batons, they are trained to eliminate the threat. In this situation, in the time it takes to holster a sidearm and draw another form of threat protection such as OC pepper spray or a PR-24 baton, an officer could be dead. Unlike the movies, officers don't spin their revolvers and holster them like Clint Eastwood and then draw something else. They must consciously holster them in order that they are not discharged or sent to the ground for other possible assailants to use against them. AND they are not expected to retreat.

What would you do if you screamed at me to put the knife down (many times), then I suddenly came towards you? Do you have your sidearm pointed at me? Do you need to pull it out of your holster? Are you holding any form of protection at all when you came onto the scene? If you didn't have your gun drawn and pointed at me, what were you going to do? Are you absolutely positive that I won't kill you? Would you bet your life or your partner's life on it or the lives of the people in that room? Something a police officer must weigh in a few precious seconds. What are you going to do??

I know, because I attended the academy in 1980 and served as a deputy sheriff for five years. In that time, I drew my revolver 4 times to be used as my protection from the nut-case that had a deadly weapon ready to use. In those four situations, the idea of deadly force scared the hell out of me, but it was a possibility that may have occurred had the person(s) not heeded the warnings (my gun pointed at them) and the loud verbal commands we used to dissolve the situation. We had been trained to protect ourselves and the people around us, and that's what we did. We had a plan and we followed it according to our training. It was the reason why I gave up being a law enforcement officer for another career, but it is also the reason why I put my trust in the Vermont Police Academy and the men & women who serve as our protection. 

BEFORE ME THERE WAS NOTHING, DEAR 

»» Michael Clasen, Deputy State Auditor, Montpelier: You discussed VEPC in your recent newsletter, and correctly noted that many hard-working, tax-paying, job-producing local business owners are unhappy with VEPC for the reasons you mentioned. Vermont should be doing more to help grow these small businesses into medium-sized businesses.

However, I would like to correct one point you made about the Auditor's Office and the "but for" provision. You reported that the "but-for" clause was inserted in legislation at the insistence of the Auditor's Office. Just the opposite is true.

Our Office's recent report, Promises to Keep (< http://www.state.vt.us/sao/reviews/reviews2003_eati.htm>), recommended that the Legislature eliminate the Council's "but for" test as the basis for fiscal cost measurement because it cannot be verified. The Legislature has not yet chosen to follow that recommendation, which was Finding 4 on page 38.

Editor's Note: DPR was referring to Auditor Ed Flanagan and his gang of anti-business, left-hugging, socialist-loving, brain dead cronies no longer in power. Not our current lovely Auditoress. 

ERRATUM

»» Peter Brownell, Richmond: I was just reading your latest newsletter. The segment on reporters who jump ship for jobs with politicians included the note: "Two years ago it was Tracy's predecessor Diane Derby who left the Vermont Press Bureau for Senator Jim Jeffords staff."

Though Diane does work for Jeffords now, I believe she actually left her reporting job to take a position with the Vermont Department of Education. 

THEY LIKE US

»» Mary Jo Dubie Fyfe, Essex: I enjoy your report very much. Thanks.

»» Ralph Colin, Dorset: The photo of your daughter's wedding was a great bonus. How did you manage to have such a beautiful child? I guess God really does perform miracles!

»» Eleanor Collier: Regarding the wedding photo. The bride was beautiful!! The father of the bride cleaned up pretty good, too!!

»» Phyllis Forbes, Randolph: What a fabulous photo: not just a beautiful bride but a handsome father to match! Congratulations and thanks for the photo. 

»» Virginia Russell, Brandon: What a proud papa you are. Thank you for sending the picture for all of us. It was very thoughtful. Mind you this comes from an avid Dean supporter of many years. 

KIDS LAST 

"There are many fine teachers whose moral standards are higher than Mr. Nadeau's, but his case presents a good example of why the NEA is such a stumbling block to true education reform. The union's paramount goal is to protect teachers -- good and bad, which it did in Mr. Nadeau's case. That goal supersedes what is good for parents, children and communities." --Wendy Wilton, letter to the Burlington Free Press, 7/27/03 

THE DIVERSITY POLICE 

"The Detroit Lions were fined $200,000 by the league for hiring a new coach without sufficiently bowing and scraping for the 'diversity' police.

"I haven't seen the Lions team roster but I would hazard to guess that minority players are actually OVER-represented there. I wonder if the 'Diversity Police' are insisting on a program to actively recruit more white players." --Ward Connerly, News and Views, July 30, 2003 

WALDO WATCH 

"Howard Dean led in a poll of California voters released Monday. His campaign raised six million dollars on the Internet alone. It's more anecdotal evidence that nothing really makes money on the Internet but gambling, pornography and hoaxes." --Argus Hamilton 

SHE-WHO-SHALL-NOT-BE-NAMED LEADS FIELD 

The latest Quinnipiac Poll: "Suppose New York Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton decides to run for president in 2004. Who would you most like to see the Democrats nominate for president in 2004?" 

Clinton 48%; Lieberman, 11%; Kerry 7%; Gephardt 7%; Dean, 4%; ...

THE FINAL CURTAIN 

"This time I think the Americans are serious. Bush is not like Clinton. I think this is the end." -- Uday Hussein's reported last words to Ala'a Makki, the former director of his television station, on April 6, 2003, Washington Times, 7/27/03 

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