<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=windows-1254"> <META content="MSHTML 5.50.4134.600" name=GENERATOR></HEAD> <BODY> <DIV><FONT face=Arial><FONT size=2><SPAN class=026135015-01112001></SPAN></FONT></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial><FONT size=2><SPAN class=026135015-01112001></SPAN></FONT></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial><FONT size=2><SPAN class=026135015-01112001>Ariana Huffington on the patriotic plundering of the federal treasury by the GOP house:</SPAN></FONT></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial><FONT size=2><SPAN class=026135015-01112001><A href="http://www.ariannaonline.com/columns/files/103101.html">http://www.ariannaonline.com/columns/files/103101.html</A></SPAN></FONT></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial><FONT size=2><SPAN class=026135015-01112001></SPAN></FONT></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial><FONT size=2><SPAN class=026135015-01112001>"The so-called economic stimulus package that passed the House last week would have been scurrilous in times of prosperity. But in this time of national crisis it is, quite simply, grotesque. </SPAN></FONT></FONT></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial><FONT size=2><SPAN class=026135015-01112001>The grisly details include a retroactive elimination of the corporate alternative minimum tax and a 10 percent cut in the capital gains tax. And on the other side of the Capitol, the Senate Republicans are proposing an acceleration of all the top-bracket tax cuts and a return of that old favorite, the fully tax-deductible three-martini lunch."</SPAN></FONT></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial><FONT size=2><SPAN class=026135015-01112001>(...) </SPAN></FONT></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial><FONT size=2><SPAN class=026135015-01112001>"</SPAN>Let history record that, after Sept. 11, our leaders brought the nation together and decided to fight the war on terrorism by making business lunches fully tax-deductible and levying no taxes on corporate profits patriotically funneled off shore. Call it Operation Enduring Avarice.<SPAN class=026135015-01112001>"</SPAN> </FONT></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN class=026135015-01112001>There's also a campaign against these bastards:</SPAN></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN class=026135015-01112001><A href="http://institute.ourfuture.org/ads/ad.html">http://institute.ourfuture.org/ads/ad.html</A></SPAN></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN class=026135015-01112001></SPAN></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN class=026135015-01112001>I thought I'd seen corruption at its worst here in Turkey, but this takes the cake.</SPAN></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN class=026135015-01112001></SPAN></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN class=026135015-01112001></SPAN>Hakki Alacakaptan</FONT></DIV> <DIV> </DIV></BODY></HTML>