ANNAN'S UGLY EXIT (NYPost)

[White_Male_Canada]

December 12, 2006 -- Outgoing U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan traveled to the Harry Truman Library yesterday to deliver his valedictory. It was yet another sanctimonious broadside against the Bush administration.

Ho hum.

As Truman himself once said, in a different context: "That's plain hokum. If you can't convince 'em, confuse 'em: It's an old political trick."

What Truman would say today about Annan himself, and the organization he has headed for the past 10 years, can only be imagined.

But it would be, in a word, colorful.

Annan, who leaves office in 19 days, said he chose the Truman Library in order to pay tribute to his "far-sighted American leadership in a great global endeavor" - and to draw a distinction with the current president.

He noted that Truman "insisted, when faced with aggression by North Korea against the South in 1950, on bringing the issue to the United Nations" - in contrast to the Bush administration on Iraq.

This turns history on its head a bit: Truman could do so only because the Soviet Union was then boycotting the Security Council - and thus couldn't veto the authorization of military force against North Korea.

Nowadays, the United Nations can't, or won't, move swiftly no matter what the emergency - witness the continued genocide in Darfur.

Annan also appeared never to have heard of the Truman Doctrine, as defined by the then-president: "It must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures."

Wise and courageous words - uttered in the same spirit that animated President Bush to act in Iraq, when Kofi Annan's United Nations refused to do so.

Just as Annan & Co. even now refuse to act on the nuclear ambitions of such rogue regimes as Iran and North Korea.

Frankly, it's no secret why Annan prefers to bash President Bush rather than focus on his own sorry tenure in office.

As secretary-general, Annan presided over Oil-for-Food, perhaps the biggest financial scandal in history - and in which his own son was involved.

He presided over yet another financial scandal, involving the U.N.'s procurement office. There was even a drug-smuggling ring operating out of his mailroom. His efforts at reforming the world body's basic infrastructure - particularly when it comes to human rights - were exposed as ludicrous, at best.

On an equally bizarre note, Annan yesterday proclaimed that all of the U.N.'s member nations "solemnly accepted" the "shared responsibility to protect populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity."

As in, again, Darfur?

Please.

Clearly, Annan hopes to confuse his listeners by ignoring the real problems facing the United Nations - and to evade his proper share of the blame for its descent into a cesspool of corruption and incompetence.

Rep. Henry Hyde (R-Ill.) yesterday said it best: Under Annan, the United Nations has become notorious for the "near-absence of standards of decency for the thuggish regimes that are too often empowered by its antiquated rules and procedures."

That Annan chose instead to bash the United States, added Hyde, was "completely predictable."

Harry Truman, certainly, understood the noble principles on which the United Nations was founded six decades ago.

Kofi Annan, during his tenure, betrayed them time and time again.
http://www.nypost.com/seven/12122006/postopinion/editorials/annans_ugly_exit_editorials_.htm

[White_Male_Canada]

Here’s my offering, a speech Kofi Annan did not make:


Thank you for that generous introduction. I don’t deserve it. Please hold your applause until you hear what I have to say. This is not false modesty. I am quite serious — I don’t deserve the honor of speaking here today. At least once in every life there comes a moment of honesty, and for reasons I cannot fathom — perhaps the shock of looking back at just what a self-serving failure I have been — this is mine.

During my decade as secretary-general, and indeed for some time before that, I have indulged in more than my share of half-truths, quarter-truths, cover-ups, immoral inanities and staggering hypocrisies. I have shuffled paperwork while ignoring genocides, I have rushed to shake hands with tyrants while deriding democrats; I have suffered from memory gaps while adroitly recalling just enough to know what needs covering up. I took office promising to reform the U.N., and instead produced a record that deserves to be summed up by such phrases as peacekeeper rape, procurement bribery, and Oil-for-Food.

I have praised a “reformed” Human Rights Council that functions as a complete farce. I have demanded “peace” deals and pushed for a brand of morally blind diplomacy that has paved the way for a terrorist takeover of Lebanon, worsening turmoil in the Middle East, and a nuclear-armed Iran. In contradiction of the U.N. charter, which describes my role as the U.N.’s “chief administrative officer,” I have styled myself, in my own phrase, as “chief diplomat of the world,” setting up a vast array of opaque trusts, projects, partnerships, and programs which have massively expanded the U.N. beyond any provisions for oversight, while providing me with opportunities for patronage, and places to park my cronies. At the same time, while entrusted with a budget of billions, and a world stage, I have shirked all responsibility for my own failures, shifting blame especially to the United States.

Frankly, it’s an insult to the memory of President Harry Truman, who oversaw the founding of the U.N., that I have staged this farewell speech here today, coming to the Truman Presidential Museum and Library with the express purpose of singling out for criticism not the leaders of Iran, or Syria, or North Korea, or even China or Russia, but of America, and — by extension, since this is a democracy — America’s voters (who also happen to be the taxpayers who have made my U.N. career possible). In truth, if Harry Truman had foreseen the swollen, corrupt, and anti-American reality of today’s U.N. — including my own efforts to meddle in U.S. politics — he might have scrapped the whole project.

There was an op-ed published in a major American newspaper this morning, under my byline. Don’t assume that I actually wrote it myself, of course. I have enjoyed an $85 million annual budget for “public information” alone, a big chunk of that funded, of course, by you — the U.S. taxpayer. This operation, much of which actually functions as a big propaganda shop, includes my bevy of ghostwriters. But I hire these folks, and I discussed this op-ed, and I signed off on it. So let’s call it mine, even though you helped pay for it.

In this op-ed, I lectured Americans, in particular, on accountability and how to better live up to what I expect from them in the way of serving the U.N. system. I laid out “five lessons” full of sanctimonious U.N. gobbledygook that boils down to demanding that America pay the bills and take the blame while deferring to the U.N. on whatever my corrupt and tyrant-infested organization might wish to do — however perverse or damaging to America’s interests. It was the kind of article that doubles as an open invitation for some of my favorite blame-America-first tycoons to bankroll me as a mouthpiece for their pet projects after I retire at the end of this month.

In my farewell speech, here at the Truman Library, I was planning to expand on my five lessons, taking one more good whack at U.S. leadership, with the whole world listening in. But in this strange and no doubt fleeting fit of honesty, I have decided to make five rather different points:



1) We all know it is laughable that I, of all people, should lecture anyone on good governance and accountability. I apologize. Before I try that stunt again, I will release, immediately, the personal financial “disclosure” form that for months I refused even to file in-house, and have flatly refused to disclose to the public. I also concede that it was a gross conflict of interest that I accepted a $500,000 personal prize this past February from the ruler of Dubai, via a jury stacked with my own U.N. colleagues and appointees. Belatedly, I have finally understood that it is not solely a matter of giving up the purse when the press finally discovers I have given a fancy job to one of the prize jurors. There is also the principle that a sitting U.N. secretary-general should not be open to accepting large sums of cash.





2) On the matter of my son, his U.N.-related business ventures, and that Mercedes he bought at a diplomatic discount and shipped duty-free to Ghana in my name: I am prepared to answer, immediately and directly, without insult or prevarication, all questions from the press, or indeed, the wider public. The car traveled under the U.N. seal; therefore I admit it was a matter that very much involved the U.N., as does the mystery of what then happened to this vehicle with its U.N. documentation. I understand that while the $20,000 or so saved on the car may seem small change to me, it represents huge wealth to the impoverished people I am forever talking about. And I am more concerned with respecting the integrity of the U.N.’s top office than with trying to gloss over an episode I wish had never come to light.




3) That brings me to Oil-for-Food. For the first time, I apologize for this enormous fraud, which contrary to some of my recent statements was not a trivial blip, but a world-record scandal. I knew about the rampant graft, and did nothing to stop it or alert the public; on the contrary, I continually urged the Security Council to expand the program on grounds that more funding was needed, although I was aware at the time that Saddam was leeching away funds for his own uses, in violation of U.N. sanctions. I apologize to the people of Iraq, for in effect supporting their dictator. I apologize to the world public, especially the U.S., for withholding from the public U.N. records that would have shown clearly that Saddam was busy buying favor with select members of the Security Council, and I apologize further for then disparaging the idea that such bribery might have worked.

I am sorry that for many months I ignored and then denied the need for any outside investigation into Oil-for-Fraud. And I am sorry that the U.N.’s own investigation left so many questions unanswered. In a complete reversal of course, I request, urgently, that Paul Volcker release to the public the full files of his secretive Oil-for-Food investigation, instead of following the path I have been quietly arranging, in which he is now likely to hand over the full archive at the end of this month to the oblivion of the shredder-equipped U.N. I further request that Volcker arrange the removal of the seven-year gag order against one of his former investigators, Robert Parton — who before he was silenced by way of that court order, alleged that I had received special treatment in the investigation. I will also demand publicly and vigorously — which I have not done to date — the immediate return to New York of my former handpicked head of Oil-for-Food, Benon Sevan, to answer questions not only about the payoffs he is alleged to have taken on Oil-for-Food deals, but about his former U.N. associates — including myself.




4) Before I pursue any pet projects in retirement, or write any self-congratulatory memoirs, I will sit down, compile, and release to the public a full list (including, if necessary, helpful diagrams), of the webs of crony connections, murky trusts, potential conflicts of interest, and weirdly redundant, meaningless, or in some cases over-reaching initiatives I have seeded within the U.N., or appended to its fringes This, not a lecture to the United States, is the most valuable gift I could give to the public, and to my successor. I’ll start by providing the real history of the Alliance of Civilizations, a project grandfathered out of an Iranian proposal back in 1998, which has since served both as a vehicle for keeping my document-shredding former chief of staff, Iqbal Riza, equipped with U.N. access and travel privileges; and this past September served as a ticket for former Iranian president, Mohammad Khatami, to go touring around the U.S. spouting propaganda in the name of peace.





5) In view of the vital role that honesty and integrity should play at the U.N., and in good-faith recognition of the contributions that are indeed needed from the United States, I plan immediately upon my retirement to humbly request that President Bush re-nominate John Bolton as his ambassador to the U.N. In my imminent new role as a private person, instead of shilling for anti-American interests, I will then detail to the public the various ways in which the U.N. has provided itself with substantial lobbying abilities in Washington. I apologize if this might in any way have affected the decisions of any senators. In the event the Senate does not then confirm Mr. Bolton, I would urge that Mr. Bolton be appointed by the new U.N. Secretary-General to comb through the newly public Oil-for-Food (see item 3, above) archives with an eye to discovering why, in connection with in this multibillion-dollar fraud, my own secretariat never fired a single staffer.


I could go on for days. But I have tested your patience long enough. If you wish, I now welcome your applause.
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=ODQyMTQ5ZWE4MDUwNjQ0MjQ0YTBlZWRhZTc1NjEyZGU

[North_of_60]

Kofi Annan was a great Secretary-General for the UN, doing his best to represent the diversity of this world. The problem is not the UN, or Mr. Annan, or Perez, and who ever represents this institution (which is an unperfect answer to the horrors of WW2 - you got me there -). What we need to understand of the UN is the "idea" of a dialogue. Where the UN fails is when the cultural diversity of this world is no match dealing with powerful and rich countries who cares nothing except protecting their own interests ; in spite of the fact that more than 3000 human beings dies of food starvation each day. Talk about liberty to a man who has seen is whole family disappeared in a bomber’s attack.

War is forever, neocons. You know that and you want it this way.
But one day, WMC, they’re going to eat your guts.

[White_Male_Canada]

Kofi Annan was a great Secretary-General for the UN, doing his best to represent the diversity of this world. The problem is not the UN, or Mr. Annan, or Perez, and who ever represents this institution (which is an unperfect answer to the horrors of WW2 - you got me there -). What we need to understand of the UN is the "idea" of a dialogue. Where the UN fails is when the cultural diversity of this world is no match dealing with powerful and rich countries who cares nothing except protecting their own interests ; in spite of the fact that more than 3000 human beings are dying of food starvation each day. Talk about liberty to a man who has seen is whole family disappeared in a bomber’s attack.

War is forever, neocons. You know that and you want it this way.
But one day, WMC, they’re going to eat your guts.

Interesting.

So under Anan`s tenure we see a massive oil-for-food-for-money scheme and it doesn`t faze you?

Do you adhere to the doctrine of moral equivalency also ? Such a position at the UN allows dictatorship countries to sit at the so called UN Human Rights Council .

The 47 seats on the new Council as follows:

13 seats to Africa (which include as possible candidates Sudan, Zimbabwe, Rwanda, Uganda and other notorious human rights abusers who have been members of the Commission on Human Rights);

13 seats to Asia and the Middle East (which include as possible candidates the paragon of human rights abuse, China, and the host of repressive dictatorships in the Middle East like Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Syria who have been members of the Commission on Human Rights);

8 seats to Latin America (which include the regimes of Cuba and Venezuela);

6 seats to Eastern Europe; and

7 seats to the combined grouping of West European countries and what the UN refers to as the “Others Group”. The “Others Group” includes the U.S., Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.

A massive overhaul is needed. A new UN where only free countries are admitted.

[guyone]

Kofi Annan was a great Secretary-General for the UN

GOOD RIDDANCE TO BAD RUBBISH!

The 'UN' is simply a tool for communists.

[North_of_60]

Faze me ? Nuh, not at all. Sadly, I’m getting use to it. Each time you look at who ever what so ever is dealing with big money, you see corrumption roaming. It’s in every gouvernement, every administration council, even the guy next door makes money under the table.

As for the oil-for-food money sheme, we don’t know much about it except what we read in the papers. Now, if Mr. Annan is recognized guilty for having close interests in this scandal, than we can have a legal opinion on his mandate as Secretary-General. For now on… who know’s ? They’ve condemn that guy from Enron, right ? We can all agree that he is a criminal for gambling with all the workers retirement pensions, and loosing all.

If you want to read about scandal make some research on the Halliburton-Cheney combo : heavy stuff. Or even bigger : try Oil Consortium and War. You can’t get heavier.

Mr. Annan wanted to give a voice for all. And he did well. By the way, the UN had the new Secreteray-General Ban Ki-Moon assermented today. I’m sure you Neocons will like this South-Korean who’ll give an attentive ear to your demands and needs.


As for the doctrine of moral equivalency… What can I say ? Maybe, sometime, you should take a step back and look what you are standing on.

What do you mean exactly by « a free country » ?

Allthought USA represents 5% of the world population, they have 25% of all the incarcerated population of the world. Wich makes it the highest rate in front of glorious Kazakhstan or Belarus.

One in every 32 american adults (7millions) were behind bars, on probation or on parole at the end of 2005, according to the U.S. Justice Department.

55% are black people.

1/8 of prisonners are war veterans (Korea, Vietnam and Irak).

Only 5% are heavy crime related. 56% related to drugs.

70% of all prisonners are illeterate.

The american prisons are the US second biggest employer, just behind General Motors (talk about cheap labour…).

http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/11/30/news/notes.php
http://www.motherjones.com/news/special_reports/prisons/atlas.html

Around the world :
Nations with the highest incarceration rates per 100,000 residents (includes all individuals held in prisons and local jails)

1- USA 702
2- Russia 635
3- Cayman Island 600
4- Belarus 577
5- Kazakhstan 494
6- Bahamas 478
7- US Virgins Islands 476
8- Kyrgyzstan 462
9- Belize 459
10- Bermuda 447

What ? No countries from the « Axis of Evil ».

You were talking about freedom, right ? Now, from an another point of view… let’s say we need a commune definition here.

And that’s why an institution as the UN is so valuable.

[North_of_60]

The 'UN' is simply a tool for communists.

Joseph McCarthy is dead, man.
You live in the wrong world, man.
Get off those black and white binoculars, it's the HD era.

[White_Male_Canada]

Faze me ? Nuh, not at all. Sadly, I’m getting use to it. Each time you look at who ever what so ever is dealing with big money, you see corrumption roaming. It’s in every gouvernement, every administration council, even the guy next door makes money under the table.

"The Bush administration is doing a fair amount to fight corporate corruption, convicting or indicting executives of Enron, Arthur Andersen, Tyco International, Worldcom, Adelphia Communications Corporation, Credit Suisse First Boston, HealthSouth Corporation and others, including Martha Stewart. The Department of Justice says it has brought charges against 20 executives of Enron alone, and its Corporate Fraud Task Force says it has won convictions of more than 250 persons to date. Bush also signed the Sarbanes-Oxley legislation in 2002, imposing stringent new accounting rules in the wake of the Arthur Andersen scandal."
http://www.factcheck.org/




As for the oil-for-food money sheme, we don’t know much about it except what we read in the papers. Now, if Mr. Annan is recognized guilty for having close interests in this scandal, than we can have a legal opinion on his mandate as Secretary-General. For now on… who know’s ? They’ve condemn that guy from Enron, right ? We can all agree that he is a criminal for gambling with all the workers retirement pensions, and loosing all.

The UN investigated itself. Did you expect the UN to arrest itself? Please.

And the latest at the UN you will never hear about:

The U.N. Department of Economic and Social Affairs.
The DESA division, responsible for promoting accountability and good governance in member states, has used contributions from the Italian government to fund duplicative programs and unnecessary consultants, many of which benefit Italy or its nationals.
The story also said the department had made unusual use of contractors and taken relevant information off its Web site after reporters began asking questions. It said DESA staffers have complained about intimidation.
U.S. officials also have received information that officials within DESA's in-house human resources department have been destroying documents related to contracts issued by the department in recent years.
"We have become aware of alleged improprieties relating to the award of consulting contracts by the Division for Public Administration and Development Management," wrote U.S. diplomat Mark Wallace, whose letter was copied to Deputy Secretary-General Mark Malloch Brown. DPADM is a subdivision within DESA.
"We have also received reports alleging that the DPADM has threatened to retaliate against staff members who have brought this matter to light," said the letter, which urged OIOS to conduct a "comprehensive review."
"We consider this an important and urgent matter," the letter said.
A spokesman said Ms. Ahlenius was traveling but expected back in New York next week.
The Italian government, which has voluntarily contributed some $80 million to DESA over the last four years, has not requested an audit of its funds.http://www.washtimes.com/world/20061214-121404-1358r.htm

I`m sure Anan has hired a crack investigative team to expose the corruption and have everyone responsible charged.


If you want to read about scandal make some research on the Halliburton-Cheney combo : heavy stuff. Or even bigger : try Oil Consortium and War. You can’t get heavier.

The old Haliburton gambit. In one way you are correct. During a 2 year period Haliburton`s revenues from the DoD doubled,from 1998 to 2000 during the Clinton administration.

"It is false to imply that Bush personally awarded a contract to Halliburton. The ‘no-bid contract’ in question is actually an extension of an earlier contract to support U.S. troops overseas that Halliburton won under open bidding." http://www.factcheck.org/

"One would be hard-pressed to discover anyone with a working knowledge of how federal contracts are awarded...who doesn't regard these allegations as being somewhere between highly improbable and utterly absurd."

Steven Kelman, who was administrator of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy in the Clinton administration.

"Halliburton has a distinguished track record. They do business in some 120 countries. This is a group of people who know what they're doing in a difficult business. It's a particularly difficult business when people are shooting at you."

Undersecretary Of Commerce William Reinsch under Clinton.



Mr. Annan wanted to give a voice for all. And he did well. By the way, the UN had the new Secreteray-General Ban Ki-Moon assermented today. I’m sure you Neocons will like this South-Korean who’ll give an attentive ear to your demands and needs.

Ban Ki-Moon worked under Anan, a crony.


As for the doctrine of moral equivalency… What can I say ? Maybe, sometime, you should take a step back and look what you are standing on.

What do you mean exactly by « a free country » ?

What ? No countries from the « Axis of Evil ».

Outrageous,simply outrageous. Everyone in North Korea is a prisoner. To
attempt to argue that one could compare statistics between free and totalitarian countries does make you an adherent to the doctrine of moral equivalency

[LG]

North_of_60: Good points.

As for me, I'm inclined to take anything the NY Post features, especially its editorials, with such a big pinch of salt it may well affect my blood pressure.

According to a survey conducted by Pace University in 2004, the New York Post was rated the least credible major news outlet in New York, and the only news outlet to receive more responses calling it "not credible" than credible (44% not credible to 39% credible). Read all about it:

http://appserv.pace.edu/emplibrary/pace_poll_061604.pdf

[guyone]

At least they're more credible than The New York "Commie" Times!

[North_of_60]

You’re talking about moral ?

The United States is one of only a few countries in the world that permit children to be sentenced to life without parole sentences. The Convention on the Rights of the Child, ratified by every country in the world except the United States and Somalia, forbids this practice, and at least 132 countries have rejected the sentence altogether. Thirteen other countries have laws permitting the child life without parole sentences, but, outside of the United States, there are only about 12 young offenders currently serving life sentences with no possibility of parole. 2 225 in the United-States

(… US and Somalia ?)

http://hrw.org/english/docs/2005/10/12/usdom11835.htm

In may 2002 the Bush government refused to sign the International Criminal Court (ICC) traety. Seven countries voted against the treaty : United States, Israel, People's Republic of China, Iraq, Qatar, Libya, and Yemen

(good friends of yours, I understand.)

From an another point of view, it makes the moral of the US government undoubtly questionable.

As I’ve said before, you defenitly should step back and look what you are standing on when you talk about freedom and moral equivalency… cause you guys are not doing very good in the polls.

Kofi Annan, in his final speech as Secretary-General, called for the United States to return to President Truman's multilateralist foreign policies, and to follow Truman's credo that "the responsibility of the great states is to serve and not dominate the peoples of the world". He also said that the United States must maintain its commitment to human rights, "including in the struggle against terrorism".

[White_Male_Canada]

. ..The Convention on the Rights of the Child,

(… US and Somalia ?)

http://hrw.org/english/docs/2005/10/12/usdom11835.htm

In may 2002 the Bush government refused to sign the International Criminal Court (ICC) traety.

Treaties must be ratified byCongress,POTUS does not have complete authority to sign and implement foreign treaties.


The USA rejects your New World order foreign courts, rejected Kyoto 95-0 and many of the rest of the UN`s NWO attempts at a world government.

The US Constitution was written by right-wing Diests, not pagan/gaia anti-christian kooks. Any wonder you`re rejected

[North_of_60]

Deep interest in religion did not begin in America until the Second Great Awakening during the first half of the 19th century. Large scale religious influence in the government was almost nonexistant 50 years ago, not until the anti-communist frenzy of McCarthy’s investigations. Now, with Bush and his constituancy in power, they are making it seem like this is the way it has always been. It’s a lie.

« The government of the United States is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion. »
- George Washington, Treaty of Tripoli

« Christianity neither is, nor ever was a part of the common law. »
- Thomas Jefferson, letter to Dr. Thomas Cooper, February 10, 1814.

« Twenty times in the course of my late reading, have I been upon the point of breaking out, ‘this would be the best of all possible worlds, if there were no religion in it.’ »
- John Adams to Charles Cushing (October 19, 1756)

« During almost fifteen centuries has the legal establishment of Christianity been on trial. What have been its fruits? More or less, in all places, pride and indolence in the clergy; ignorance and servility in laity; in both, superstition, bigotry, and persecution. »
- James Madison, 1785

« My own mind is my own church. All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian or Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions, set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit. »
- Thomas Paine, The Age of Reason

(And this could go on…)

The founding fathers did not intend the US government to be influenced by religion. They believed that the world would be better if the influence of religion was minimal.

Also, in the 18th century, they’re was no such thing as globalization. I’m positively sure these wise men would not share your views on that issue.

[White_Male_Canada]

Deep interest in religion did not begin in America until the Second Great Awakening.

Great propaganda. You must be an a atheist.



« The government of the United States is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion. »
- George Washington, Treaty of Tripoli

Did Washington author that treaty with his own hand and what is the context of that statement ?



« Christianity neither is, nor ever was a part of the common law. »
- Thomas Jefferson, letter to Dr. Thomas Cooper, February 10, 1814.

Jefferson had a distaste for demoninations not Christ.Throughout his whole life he and the clergy constantly attacked each other. His Notes on Religion reveal his attitude toward the clergy.

The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth:

" They(his thoughts) are the result of a life of inquiry and reflection, and very different from that anti-Christian system imputed to me by those who know nothing of my opinions. To the corruptions of Christianity I am indeed opposed, but not to the genuine precepts of Jesus himself. I am a Christian, in the only sense in which he wished anyone to be..."


« Twenty times in the course of my late reading, have I been upon the point of breaking out, ‘this would be the best of all possible worlds, if there were no religion in it.’ »
- John Adams to Charles Cushing (October 19, 1756)

Again as with Washington,completely out of context(see full text below)


« During almost fifteen centuries has the legal establishment of Christianity been on trial. What have been its fruits? More or less, in all places, pride and indolence in the clergy; ignorance and servility in laity; in both, superstition, bigotry, and persecution. »
- James Madison, 1785

Yet again,anemic attempts at taking text out of context from some atheist site in your favorites list. The Virginia General Assembly wanted to pass a bill that would subsidize religious teachers.



« My own mind is my own church. All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian or Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions, set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit. »
- Thomas Paine, The Age of Reason

Paine`s Age of Reason was aggressively attacked by Adams,Jay,Rush,Franklin,etc.

Adams and Rush for example,

"The Christian religion is, above all the religions that ever prevailed or existed in ancient or modern times, the religion of wisdom, virtue equity and humanity, let the Blackguard [scoundrel, rogue] Paine say what he will."

Paine's Age of Reason was "absurd and impious."



(And this could go on…)

Why continue expose yourself as an atheist,propagandist and cut and paster like the other leftists