Town of Braintree

Yasser Arafat is hoping John Ke


Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat is hoping John Kerry wins the presidential election in November, several Palestinian leaders said.Arafat deputy and chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said in an interview that while ''we do not involve ourselves in internal American politics,'' at the same time ''our region has been sliding deeper and deeper into chaos because of certain policies over the past few years, and this needs to change.'' While he would not directly endorse Kerry, it was clear Erekat was implying the PA wants a change in White House leadership: ''If things continue the way they are, if certain policies toward our region are maintained in the years to come, there is going to be a lot of violence on both sides.'' A prominent Arafat aide who asked that his name be withheld spoke from Arafat's battered Ramallah compound. ''The president [Arafat] is frustrated with Bush's policies,'' he said. ''The president [Arafat] thinks Kerry will be much better for the Palestinian cause and for the establishment of a Palestinian state.''


By Chairman Yasser Arafat

Democrats Are Getting Restless


On an Alaska-bound flight, a drunken Kerry supporter went ballistic after harassing a female Bush supporter and refusing to calm down at the request of flight attendants. In Gainsville, Fla., police arrested a Democrat accused of punching the chairman of the Alachua County Republican Executive Committee in the face at the town Republican headquarters. The assailant, David McCally, also punched a life-sized, cardboard cutout of President George Bush. McCally is a community college instructor whose specialty is social and behavioral sciences.

According to the GOP chairman, Travis Horn, McCalley hurled obscenities at him before the assault. ''He proceeded to say how he had a Ph.D., and he was smarter than me. I'm a stupid Republican.'' And that, no doubt, is the superior attitude held by media reporters and anti-hate crime advocates and peace preachers and civility pleaders who refuse to acknowledge the totally unhinged tactics of Democrats Gone Wild.

Liberals promise to do ''whatever it takes'' ?— ''by any means necessary'' ?— to win this election. If it were conservatives mouthing those slogans as shattered glass was flying and lawns were smoking, Karl Rove would be under federal investigation. Jimmy Carter would be requesting U.N. assistance. And the New York Times would be calling for a National Day of Reconciliation.
A single act of hate is a danger to the Republic, except when it's fomented by bug-eyed, rock-throwing, lighter-wielding Kerry/Edwards supporters just exercising their ''free speech.''


By A drunken Kerry supporter

Restore the one-on-one debate


1. Restore the classic one-on-one debate, with a moderator responsible only for keeping time.

2. Let the audience clap and yell. This is, after all, a sporting event. Treat it as one.

3. Let candidates bring notes ?– not speeches, but notes. It?’s ridiculous that they should have to waste time figuring out the inoculation rates for minority babies in the third district of Wisconsin. I want to know how they think, not how many empty statistics they can cram into their brains. If they haul some research on stage, fine: That alone could discourage the use of bogus or misleading factoids, and encourage the aspirants to talk more intelligently and feelingly about their political goals and dreams.

4. Save one final debate for the Saturday before the election. Wouldn?’t that be fun?


By It?’s time to fix them.

Filling a Supreme Court vacancy.

Wednesday, as in the rest of the campaign, the presidential power to shape the federal judiciary received remarkably little attention. Any president who serves two terms likely will replace half that judiciary; Bush already has replaced one-quarter. But he is about to become the second president (Carter was the first) to serve a full term without filling a Supreme Court vacancy. It has been 10 years since a new justice (Stephen Breyer) was confirmed; not since 1812-1823, when the court had only seven members, has it gone that long unchanged. Bush's second term could be dominated by nomination battles: Chief Justice William Rehnquist just turned 80, and the average age of the nine justices is 70.

By Chief Justice William Rehnquist