Need help debunking RW screed

[Mz Pip]

GOt this from my cousin. I checked Snopes and there isn't anything about this one. I'll put together a response but need some help. Thanks all!

MzPip
:dem:


Subject: HOW THE HEINZ FORTUNE IS BEING USED-- FYI Catsup, Pickles, and the Radical Left by: Paul R. Hollrah.

Maria Teresa Thiersten Simoes-Ferreira Heinz Kerry was born in Mozambique, the daughter of a Portuguese physician, and was educated in Switzerland and South Africa. Fluent in five languages, she was working as a United Nations interpreter in Geneva in the mid-60's when she met a handsome young American, H. John Heinz, III, who worked at a bank in Geneva. He told her his family was "in the food business."

They were married in 1966 and returned to Pittsburgh where his family ran the giant H.J. Heinz food company. He was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1971, and in 1976 he was elected to the first of three terms in the United States Senate.

Senator H. John Heinz was a friend of mine - not a close friend, not a golfing buddy, but a friend nonetheless. The last time I saw him alive was, oddly enough, in the men's restroom at the Maverick Steakhouse, a favorite nighttime eatery and watering hole for politicians and lobbyists in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

The senator was standing at a wash basin, drying his hands, when I entered the room. When he turned and saw me he rushed toward me, threw his arms around me, and said, "Paul, it's good to see you!"

All I could do was mumble, "Senator, do you really think we should be seen hugging each other in a men's restroom?" He didn't think so, and neither did I, but we shared a good laugh over his impromptu display of affection.

Several years later, in 1991, he was killed when his plane collided with a Sun Oil Company helicopter over a Philadelphia suburb - the same helicopter that I often used to travel between Philadelphia and Washington, DC. The senator, his pilot and co-pilot, and both of Sun's helicopter pilots were killed. He was survived by his wife, Teresa, and their three young sons.

Four years later, after inheriting Heinz's $500 million fortune, she married Senator John Forbes Kerry, the liberal junior senator from Massachusetts. She became a registered Democrat and the process of her radicalization was set in motion.

Heinz Kerry is not shy about telling people that she required Kerry to sign a pre-nuptial agreement before they were married. John Kerry may not have check-writing privileges on the Heinz catsup and pickle fortune, but he is certainly a willing and uncomplaining beneficiary of it.

A lot of hard-earned money, made through many years of hawking catsup, pickles, and soup, has fallen into the hands of two people who despise successful and who believe in the confiscatory redistribution of wealth.

So how does Mrs. Heinz Kerry spend John Heinz's money?
Just one example: According to the G2 Bulletin, an online intelligence newsletter of WorldNetDaily, in the years between 1995-2001 she gave more than $4 million to an organization called the Tides Foundation.

And what does the Tides Foundation do with John Heinz's money? They support numerous anti-war groups, including Ramsey Clark's International Action Center. Clark has offered to defend Saddam Hussein when he's tried.

They support the Democratic Justice Fund, a joint venture of the Tides Foundation and billionaire hate-monger George Soros.The Democratic Justice Fund seeks to ease restrictions on Muslim immigration from "terrorist" states.

They support the Council for American-Islamic Relations, whose leaders are known to have close ties to the terrorist group, Hamas.

They support the National Lawyers Guild, organized as a communist front during the Cold War era. One of their attorneys, Lynne Stewart, has been arrested for helping a client, Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman, communicate with terror cells in Egypt. He is the convicted mastermind of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.

They support the "Barrio Warriors," a radical Hispanic group whose primary goal is to return all of Arizona, California, New Mexico, and Texas to Mexico.

These are but a few of the radical groups that benefit, through the anonymity provided by the Tides Foundation, from the generosity of our would-be first lady - the wealthy widow of Republican senator John Heinz, and now the wife of the Democratic senator who aspires to be the 44th President of the United States.

If voters will only try to imagine a woman such as Teresa Heinz Kerry, the fairy godmother of the radical left, laying her head on a pillow each night just inches from the President of the United States, hopefully they will decide that the only way these two will ever be allowed into the White House is with an engraved invitation in hand.

As I recall that somewhat embarrassing chance meeting in the men's restroom at the Maverick Steakhouse in Harrisburg, instead of mumbling some inane nonsense about getting caught in a friendly embrace, I wish now that I'd had the good sense to whisper in his ear, "John! Go home! Get a lawyer! Change your will!" But, of course, we didn't know her then, did we?

[wryter2000]

1. Just a suggestion

I can't contradict all that crap. I'll bet all of the horrendous things the Tides Foundation does, according to this drivel, are a bunch of hooey. However, if he wants to bring up George Soros, you could make him defend Richard Mellon Scaife's 9 year or so quest to unseat Clinton. Virtually all of the money (except for the millions of taxpayer dollars given to whatzizface, the special prosecutor) came from Scaife. Soros, by contrast, has announced publicly what he's doing with his money -- donating it to non-profits in the business of getting Bush legally unelected. Soros lived through the Nazis and the Soviets and knows the damage totalitarian governments can do. He sees it happening in America right now. Compared to Saife, he's a saint.

[Eric J in MN]

2. the National Lawyers Guild is a good organization

The National Lawyers Guild defends protestors who were arrested while practicing free speech.

If it is also defending Lynne Stewart, at the artice says, better yet.

Lynne Stewart is being prosectued on bogus charges as a way for the Bush Administration to intimidate attorneys against taking terrorism cases.

[Eric J in MN]

3. with regard to Ramsey Clark and Saddam Hussein

Apparently now that Saddam is imprisoned, the writer of that article is upset that anyone has offered to act as Saddam's defense attorney.

Perhaps he should be more upset that Reagan and George H.W. Bush helped Saddam build and use chemical weapons.

Perhaps he should be more upset that Dick Cheny broke the law by violating the trade ban on Iraq through 2000, as CEO of Halliburton.

[NMDemDist2]

4. ok heres a bit of info-- it's a smear all the way

the Tides gave away over 58 million dollars in 2002 of that $30,000 (thirty thousand) dollars went to the four above named organizations. out of 58 MiLLION. Do you think Teresa oversees every penny? and she gave them 4 million in 5 years (1995-2000)

http://www.tidesfoundation.org/2002_grants_list.pdf

in 2000 zero dollars to Barrio Warriors, zero $ to Council of Amer-Islamic Rel, zero $ to Democratic Justice fund and zero $ to the National Lawyers Guild.

http://www.tidesfoundation.org/fdn_2000_grants_list.pdf

[DAGDA56]

5. The obscure Paul Hollrah is entitled to his opinion, however...

...aside from a "brush with fame" in a steakhouse restroom, the only source he uses for his facts is WorldNet Daily. I'm not overly impressed, but I am put off by his lame attempt to play the foreigner card in his first graph'. There's some desperation going on here.

[NMDemDist2]

6. re: snopes can you send it to them? will they debunk it too? n/t

[Mz Pip]

7. I'll do that.

I sent it to Break the Chain. I'll hunt around the Snopes site and see if I send it to them. :-)

I also checked the 2002 listing of organizations Tides contributed to and did not see International Answer listed.

I love debunking this crap.

MzPip
:dem:

[NMDemDist2]

8. i sent it already ooops

i missed the Ramsey Clark one

[union_maid]

9. What's to debunk?

I don't see a smear in all that. I see an organization that's funding justice. If they missed the mark with some of their grants - and I'm not saying they did - it's still a lot better than what most corporate wealth is going for. More power to the Tides Foundation.