height=150 border=0>Teresa Heinz Kerry
Posted on 02/23/2004 4:23:52 AM PST by ovrtaxt
If John Kerry becomes president, the first lady will have a track record of support for the causes of radical, anti-American groups – including Islamists, terrorist-defense law firms, abortionists and homosexual activists – that, by comparison, would make much of the country nostalgic for the days of Hillary Clinton, a study of her philanthropy patterns by Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin concludes.
One of heiress Teresa Heinz Kerry's favorite charities is the Tides Foundation, a 28-year-old grant-making institution that funds to the tune of hundreds of millions radical groups that, among other things, protest the U.S. invasion of Iraq, demand open U.S. borders, provide the legal defense of suspected terrorists and promote the spread of Islamist ideology in the U.S.
| height=150 border=0> Teresa Heinz Kerry |
Heinz Kerry, worth an estimated three-quarters of a billion dollars, working through the Howard Heinz Endowment, oversaw the donation of more than $4 million to the Tides Foundation between 1995 and 2001, reports G2 Bulletin, a premium, online intelligence newsletter published by WorldNetDaily.
While John Kerry criticizes the way President Bush has conducted the war in Iraq, he actually cast a Senate vote to support it. Yet, Tides' Iraq Peace Fund and Peace Studies Fund supports the War Resisters League and Ramsey Clark's International Action Center. Clark actually offered to defend Saddam Hussein. His center also sponsored International ANSWER and United for Peace and Justice, both of which were run by long-time communist revolutionaries.
The Democratic Justice Fund, created through the efforts of Tides and George Soros, seeks to ease U.S. restrictions on Muslim immigration from countries designated by the State Department as “terrorist nations.” Tides also supports the Council for American Islamic Relations, a group that bills itself as a “Muslim civil rights group,” but one whose leaders have links to the terrorist group Hamas.
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 jihadist activities. CAIR has defended terrorist fronts posing as “charities” – some of which have shut down by the Bush administration.
Tides supports the National Lawyers Guild, which began as a Communist Party front. Last October, Lynne Stewart, an indicted terrorist NLG lawyer, gave a rousing closing speech at the organization's convention. Stewart was arrested for helping her client, convicted 1993 World Trade Center bombing mastermind Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman, communicate with terrorist cells in Egypt.
"And modern heroes, dare I mention?" she said. "Ho and Mao and Lenin, Fidel and Nelson Mandela and John Brown, Che Guevara, who reminds us, 'At the risk of seeming ridiculous, let me say that the true revolutionary is guided by a great feeling of love.' Our quests like theirs are to shake the very foundations of the continents."
Heinz Kerry not only serves as chairman of the Howard Heinz Endowment, she also sits on the board of the Vira I. Heinz Endowment.
The Earth Island Institute is a recipient of Heinz cash. Three days after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on America by Islamists, the group published a statement on its website rationalizing the terrorist actions. Under the headline, "U.S. Responds to Terrorist Attacks with Self-Righteous Arrogance," the statement explained that the destruction of the World Trade Center, the crash at the Pentagon, the four airline hijackings and the 3,000 Americans killed "was not an 'attack on all American people,'" but "an act of anger, desperation and indignation."
On the record, the Tides Foundation says it has worked since 1976 for "positive social change. We put resources and people together –strengthening community-based nonprofit organizations and the progressive movement through innovative grant-making. We define 'progressive' as creating a positive impact on people's lives in ways that honor and promote human rights, justice, and a healthy, sustainable environment."
For a fee, the group protects the anonymity of donors by directing tax-deductible contributions to specific groups.
One of Tides principal concerns, according to its annual report for 2001-2002 is mobilizing against the death penalty – always a polarizing issue during elections.
"At a particularly conservative time in national politics, the United States seems to be awakening to the economic and racial biases of the criminal justice system," the report said. "Public support for the death penalty is the lowest it has been since 1981, and the anti-death penalty movement is gaining momentum. To support this growing movement, Tides Foundation launched the Death Penalty Mobilization Fund, which supports progressive coalition building and collaboration at the local, regional and national levels among groups working to reform the death penalty and to abolish capital punishment."
Another initiative was to promote groups pushing "living-wage organizing."
"More than 56 local ordinances mandating a living wage have already passed across the country," the report said.
Tides points out the "economic justice movement" has received only limited funding from other foundations.
Local, state and national groups promoting abortion on demand are supported by Tides. They include Planned Parenthood chapters, the National Abortion Rights Action League and Abortion Access Project.
Homosexual activist organizations, including some of the most extreme, such as ACT-UP, have received Tides funds.
In addition to its support of the National Lawyers Guild, Tides supports many branches of the American Civil Liberties Union and the Institute for Policy Studies, founded by Robert Borosage, a political mentor of Hillary Clinton.
In addition to its support of CAIR, Tides supports the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee and the Arab American Action Network.
A group called "Barrio Warriors" is also a recipient of Tides grants. This race-conscious Hispanic organization calls for the "liberation of Aztlan," the American southwest, including California, New Mexico, Arizona and Texas.
Tides supports a variety of gun control groups, controversial needle exchange programs, euthanasia and assisted suicide organizations.
Don't be surprised if some of the tax-deductible donations by Tides results in political endorsements of Heinz Kerry's husband this year. The League of Conservation Voters, the recipient of hundreds of thousands of dollars from Tides, has already endorsed John Kerry for president, despite its non-partisan billing. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and People for the American Way are two other regular recipients of big dollars.
So well-endowed is Tides, last year it gave $8.5 million to the Rockefeller Family Fund.
Subscribe to Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin
We had a candidate, here in Georgia, who gave money to these groups and she lost her primary. Could Kerry loose his primary because his wife gave to these groups. Sure, but I wish this would not come out right now. If Kerry goes down in flames, then it will be Edwards against Bush. It would be more fun watching Bush (a war president) against Kerry (antiwar protester). I can only pray the the democratic party has too much inertia and nominates Kerry.
Edwards is going to be a more difficult candidate to beat. He is a malpractice trail lawyer who tarred Doctors with lawsuits. The Legal establishment will back him big time.
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