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As flames advanced on the wealthy vacation community of Sun Valley, real estate agent Todd Conklin sent his wife and kids to safety, then offered spa treatments to some of the more than 1,600 firefighters and National Guardsmen arriving in town. “They said, ‘No, we don’t need that,”’ Conklin said. “So we just started buying them dinners.” Conklin’s offer is emblematic of how this town where Arnold Schwarzenegger, John Kerry, Demi Moore, Jamie Lee Curtis and Tom Hanks have second homes has dealt with a 78-square-mile wildfire that broke out more than two weeks ago. As F. Scott Fitzgerald famously...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger broke his leg on Saturday while skiing with his family in Sun Valley, Idaho, the governor's office said. The 59-year-old former movie star broke the femur bone in his right leg and was taken to a local hospital for X-rays and later discharged, Adam Mendelsohn, the governor's deputy chief of staff for communications, said in a statement. "When the governor returns to Los Angeles from his scheduled Christmas trip, he will have surgery to repair his femur. No one else was involved in the skiing accident," Mendelsohn's statement said. Schwarzenegger spokeswoman Julie Soderlund said she did not...

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger broke his leg while skiing with his family Saturday morning, a spokesman said. Schwarzenegger was taken to a local hospital for X-rays and was soon discharged with a fracture to his right femur, said Adam Mendelsohn, the governor's Deputy Chief of Staff for Communications. Schwarzenegger would have surgery to repair his femur when he returns to Los Angeles from his scheduled Christmas trip, Mendelsohn said. The governor remained at his Sun Valley home Saturday night and still planned to spend the holiday there.

Nowhere is the blurring of distinctions between industries more apparent than in the guest list of an exclusive, invitation-only summer retreat for corporate titans in Sun Valley, Idaho. Conceived in the early 1980s by banker Herbert Allen as a week-long mingling of Hollywood's elite, the 24th annual gathering kicks off this week with a group of executives unlikely to rub shoulders at other conferences.The informal event, which begins with presentations on Wednesday on topics ranging from healthcare to dependence on oil, was once dominated by media industry chatter. But this year's guest list suggests the topic du jour will likely...

Adventure in Sun Valley By Dave Barry (This classic Dave Barry column was originally published on Feb. 11, 1996.) ------ This is the second part of a two-part series titled ''Recreational Winter Sports That You Can Do Sitting Down.'' In Part 1, I discussed snowmobiling, my key finding being that you should not go snowmobiling with adolescent boys unless your recreational goal is cardiac arrest. Today, I'll discuss a sport that is more relaxing, as well as far more fragrant: dog-sledding. A dog sled is-follow me carefully here-a sled that is pulled by dogs. And if you think that dogs...

While George Soros and John Kerry were vacationing in neighboring mansions in Sun Valley, Idaho, the two men chatted on the phone but avoided a personal meeting, “because,” as Soros told USA Today, “of how it would be interpreted.”   For Soros, who has put down at least $18 million to defeat Bush this year, keeping up appearances is essential. Coordination between the 527 groups Soros has been raining money down upon and the Kerry campaign, after all, is strictly verboten in the age of McCain-Feingold. Is it plausible the Dems’ billionaire benefactor and the candidate avoided talk of the election...

On 8 March 2004 at a campaign stop in Hollywood, Florida, John Kerry accused Republicans of stealing the last election, and he promised for this coming fall a rerun of the democrats’ litigation model which, although it failed in 2000, has not lost its luster for them. In addition, he spoke of unnamed foreign leaders who really wanted him to beat Bush. Such statements indicate to me that the pressure of campaigning for top job was already getting to him. In any case, afterward his handlers bundled him off Idaho for some snowboarding and message polishing. While there he revealed...

POLITICAL MEMO Bad Timing as Kerry Slips Out of Picture By ADAM NAGOURNEY and JODI WILGOREN ASHINGTON, March 31 — At the very moment that President Bush has begun his general election campaign, Senator John Kerry has largely slipped from sight. And Mr. Bush has made the most of Mr. Kerry's absence. Mr. Kerry's low profile occurs at what would seem to be a particularly opportune time for the senator. Mr. Bush has been struggling with questions about his record on terrorism, and Mr. Kerry had been riding on a wave of excitement after his capture of the Democratic nomination....

When Sen. John F. Kerry fell - or was toppled by a Secret Service agent - from his perch on a snowboard recently, the would-be president clarified events with rare grace: "I don't fall down," he said. "That son-of-a-bitch ran into me." Or "knocked me over," depending on which version you read. Spoken like a true 7-year-old. Any parent will recognize the template: Little boy falls down, then jumps to his feet and declares for the benefit of anyone who will indulge his fractured ego: "I meant to do that." Sometimes the little tyke will run over to his mother...

From Hindrocket with www.powerlineblog.com:March 29, 2004A Ray of HopeMy main reason for optimism, vis a vis the November election, is John Kerry. You probably remember his snowboarding vacation, which we posted a photo or two of last week. But Mrs. Rocket called my attention to this picture, which I hadn't seen: Mrs. Rocket pointed out a detail which had escaped my fashion-oblivious notice, namely, the yellow flower-power zipper pull. The whole look, of course, is appalling: the vest, the gloves, the botox. It is Mrs. Rocket's opinion that the American people will not elect as President a man who wears...

April 5 issue - Weeks before Richard Clarke's assault, the anti-Bush universe was alive with anticipatory chatter. "Clarke's book is going to be devastating," a member of Sen. John Kerry's circle cheerfully predicted early last month. The launch date depended on the 9/11 commission, which announced on March 8 that it would examine counterterrorism (meaning public testimony from Clarke) on March 23 and 24. Wheels whirred into motion. CBS slated Clarke for the "60 Minutes" broadcast of March 21; his publisher, owned by the same company, advanced his "pub date" from April 27 to March 22. As for Kerry, he...

Over the weekend, pundits agreed that Democratic candidate John Kerry had hurt his campaign with embarrassing goofball statements. “John Kerry had a bad week,” Ron Brownstein of the Los Angeles Times opined on NBC’s Meet the Press. “He said a few things he probably wished he hadn’t.” “It was a brutal week for John Kerry,” MSNBC’s Chris Matthews seconded on his syndicated Chris Matthews Show. “[Howard] Dean is no longer here to put his foot in his mouth, and so he has transferred his foot to John Kerry’s mouth,” former ABC White House correspondent Sam Donaldson told Matthews. But the...

KETCHUM, Idaho - Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry (news - web sites) wrapped up his nearly weeklong vacation in Sun Valley on Wednesday and was flying back to Washington to accept a key union endorsement and rally former rival Howard Dean (news - web sites) and other party leaders behind his candidacy. The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees will endorse Kerry on Thursday in a meeting of the union's executive council, Democratic officials said. AFSCME, with 1.3 million members, is the second-largest union in the AFL-CIO. Kerry is meeting privately Thursday with members of the Democratic National...

(CNSNews.com) - A pro-life group is fired up at presidential candidate John Kerry because the Democrat reportedly received Holy Communion despite his pro-abortion views while attending Mass during his Idaho ski trip on Sunday. According to the American Spectator report, Kerry arrived late to Mass wearing a ski suit and making a lot of noise. The paper quoted an unnamed member of Kerry's staff who said, "It was just a media-op...We set it up with some reporters that we knew were going to be there." The American Life League's Crusade for the Defense of Our Catholic Church found the entire...

Crusade to Kerry: It's a Sacrament, Senator! Not an Opportunity for a Photo Shoot 3/24/2004 1:47:00 PM -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- To: National Desk Contact: Joseph R. Giganti of the American Life League, 703-928-9695 or jgiganti@all.org; Web: http://www.all.org WASHINGTON, March 24 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The following statement is in response to an American Spectator report that a pro-abortion Catholic, Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.), received Holy Communion while attending Mass during his Idaho ski trip this past Sunday. The article describes Kerry's blatant disregard for the sanctity of the sacrifice of the Mass by arriving very late, dressed in a ski suit...

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Anyone see this pic:

<p>March 24, 2004 -- WASHINGTON - A French-born marketing guru has a pointed warning for Democratic wannabe John Kerry: You come off as way too French, mon ami. "The whole French connection is 'off-code,' " said psychologist Clotaire Rapaille, who helps Fortune 100 companies sell everything from shampoo to the PT Cruiser car by psychoanalyzing cultures. He calls it decoding cultural archetypes.</p>

Pro-abortion politico given Holy Communion while in ski suit, cameras flashingSUN VALLEY, Idaho, March 23, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) - John Kerry made a campaign stop in Idaho over the weekend, including a stop for Mass at Our Lady of the Snows Catholic Church. Mass began at 10:30; Kerry, who was provided with a two-pew cordoned-off VIP section, arrived loudly at 10:41 -- in a ski suit. To make matters worse, Kerry received Holy Communion despite the fact that he is not a Catholic in good standing, and does not normally attend Mass. "It was just a media-op," a senior staff member...