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BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: Kimberly Strassel is in the Wall Street Journal today with an amazing piece: "Trolling for Dirt on the President's List." Listen to this: "Here's what happens when the president of the United States publicly targets a private citizen for the crime of supporting his opponent. Frank VanderSloot is the CEO of Melaleuca Inc. The 63-year-old has run that wellness-products company for 26 years out of tiny Idaho Falls, Idaho. Last August, Mr. VanderSloot gave $1 million to Restore Our Future, the Super PAC that supports Mitt Romney. "Three weeks ago, an Obama campaign website, 'Keeping GOP Honest,'...

Four days after Judge Schnider unsealed the custody records, Ryan dropped out of the race for the horror of (allegedly) propositioning his own wife and then taking “no” for an answer. Alan Keyes stepped in as a last-minute Republican candidate. And that’s how Obama became a U.S. senator. He destroyed both his Democratic primary opponent and his Republican general election opponent with salacious allegations about their personal lives taken from “sealed” court records. Obama’s team delved into Sarah Palin’s marriage and spread rumors of John McCain’s alleged affair in 2008 and they smeared Herman Cain in 2011 with hazy sexual...

Freepers, please help me out on this one. I have a friend who is romantically interested in someone who may not be telling the truth on several matters...whether he's married, has a criminal record, etc. I know there are many sources out there (i.e., "scams") that charge a fee but give very little info. I used to know of some terrific websites on which there was a ton of information for free but I can't seem to track them down at the moment. PLEASE help. I don't want my friend to be duped. Intuition is great. Extra info is even...

The California Supreme Court on Wednesday nullified a law that made it easy to seal divorce court records. The justices, without comment, declined to review an appeals court decision of a billionaire's divorce that declared the 2004 law "unconstitutional on its face." The Associated Press, the Los Angeles Times and the California Newspaper Publishers Association urged the court to let the January appeals ruling stand. The case was brought by supermarket magnate Ronald Burkle, who had filed under seal 28 documents about personal income, expenses, and the post-marital agreement with his former wife, Janet. The law, which critics said was...

LOS ANGELES (AP) - A state appeals court on Friday determined a California law used by billionaire investor Ron Burkle to seal records in his divorce case is unconstitutional, ruling the First Amendment allows public access to divorce proceedings. The 2nd District Court of Appeal unanimously affirmed a lower court's decision of last year. The three-judge panel noted that the state law, which was intended to improve privacy and confidentiality, places an "undue burden" on the public's ability to review court records in divorce cases. "While the interest in protecting divorcing parties from identity theft and other financial crimes may...

The "public's right to know" has received a thorough vetting the past couple of weeks with release of a U.S. Senate candidate's sealed divorce records, the contents of which were sufficiently embarrassing to cause him to withdraw from the race. Republican candidate Jack Ryan's divorce files, which were opened at the behest of the Chicago Tribune and a television station, revealed that Ryan had taken his wife to a "sex club" and asked her to have sex with him in front of others. Ryan and his former wife sought to keep the particulars of their divorce private; just days after...

John Kerry is a man full of contradiction.In 1995, already divorced from his first wife Julia Thorne, John Kerry pressed for an annulment.He didn't bother to tell Ms. Thorne. The church simply informed her by way of a letter that this was the case. Ms. Thorne had been severely depressed and near suicide when Kerry walked out on her, and in pressing for an annulment he cast his daughters into the bizarre state of illigimacy. (one of them was still a teenager at the time) Compare that with the Jack Ryan Illinois Senate case where both parents were arguing to...

The Boston Globe, October 18, 1990 The Washington Post Style section recently anointed him the capital's 9th most eligible bachelor, offering this thumbnail sketch: "Heartthrob of the Left. Known for unabashed ego and killer office hours; dates start at midnight. A tad forgetful - his divorce became final four years after his separation, a fact that reportedly came as a surprise to some of his frequent companions." Gossip columns have linked Kerry to actresses Morgan Fairchild and Cornelia Guest, as well as Patti Davis, the daughter of President Reagan. Kerry dismisses the gossip, saying he would "wish being father to...

<p>Some Democrats in Illinois may have been tickled pink at the prospect of throwing the U.S. Senate race into utter confusion two weeks ago, but those same Democrats have now likely opened up vulnerability at the top of the ticket. And with what is already publicly known about the tortured marriage between Sen. John Kerry and his first wife Julia Stimson Thorne, there is reason to believe that where there's smoke, there's fire.</p>

BOSTON - In 1995, already divorced from his first wife Julia Thorne, John Kerry pressed for an annulment. He didn't bother to tell Ms. Thorne. The church simply informed her by way of a letter that this was the case. Ms. Thorne had been severely depressed and near suicide when Kerry walked out on her, and in pressing for an annulment he cast his daughters into the bizarre state of illegitimacy. One of them was still a teen at the time. Compare that to the Jack Ryan case where - BOTH - parents were arguing to keep the records sealed...

BOSTON -- When Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry dismissed calls that he make his divorce records public, he apparently didn't know many of them already are. In 1988 Kerry and his first wife, Julia Thorne, were granted a "no-fault" divorce after 18 years of marriage. They cited the generic grounds of "irretrievable breakdown of the marriage," according to divorce records. The only portion of the records that are sealed involve the couple's financial information, including salary, assets and debts, which are impounded in all divorce cases, Assistant Norfolk Probate Registrar John Jenney said. Kerry has denounced inquiries about whether his...

CHICAGO - Even though he is not required to under election laws Jack Ryan is promising to return up to 1.5 million in campaign funds he raised for his now defunct Senate campaign. Ryan had planned on running a tough U.S. Senate race from Illinois until a judge decided to unseal "sealed" records from the Ryan custody hearings between Ryan and actress ex-wife Jeri Ryan. The former Mrs. Ryan had made unsubstantiated allegations about Jack taking her to sex clubs on trips to New York and Paris. Politicians from Hillary Clinton to former Illinois Governor George Ryan have made practice...

The same media establishment that was so eager to unearth the divorce files of GOP Senate nominee Jack Ryan and destroy his candidacy is still reluctant to give Sen. John Kerry the same treatment. Thank heaven for the Illinois Leader. As we noted last week, Leader Media Inc. President Dan Proft announced he would sue to open the Democrat presidential candidate's records to the public. "Tuesday, the national media began bombarding IllinoisLeader.com, questioning the fledgling operation's intention to take on a fight with national political implications," the conservative Web site reported. "The Chicago Tribune and a Los Angeles Family...

PHOENIX, Ariz. (Reuters) - Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry (news - web sites) on Tuesday rejected any suggestion that he release records of his 1988 divorce, calling it old history that had nothing to do with anyone else. "I have no intention of doing that at all," Kerry said during a campaign stop in Phoenix, Arizona, when a reporter asked if he would release the papers from his divorce from his first wife Julia Thorn. In a U.S. senate race in Illinois, Republican candidate Jack Ryan quit his campaign last week after the Chicago Tribune and other media sued to...

NEW YORK - Tomorrow night Dan Proft, President of Leader Media, and former advisor to former Senate Candidate Jack Ryan will appear on O'Reilly factor to discuss the push from the media to delve into sealed divorce records. Proft is among those now suing for access to John Kerry's sealed records. ABC News and Fox are both pursuing the developing story - that appears now to be destined to open the private files of the Democratic candidate for President.

The unsealing of divorce court records of a Republican U.S. Senate candidate in Illinois could impact the presidential aspirations of Sen. John Kerry, who has his own divorce records under seal in Massachusetts. The publication of accusations made by Jack Ryan’s ex, actress Jeri Ryan, led him to withdraw from the senate race last week. Both Ryans had asked that the records -- in which Mrs. Ryan claimed her husband had tried to get her to go to sex clubs and have sex with him while others watched -- be kept secret. But, at the behest of the Chicago Tribune,...

After Newt Gingrich hit the national spotlight in 1994 by becoming the first Republican speaker of the House in 40 years, he was skewered by reports that he had served his first wife divorce papers as she lay in a hospital bed battling cancer. But the press has been far kinder to Democratic presidential front-runner John Kerry, who, according to published accounts going back more than a decade, began extricating himself from his first marriage to Philadelphia heiress Julia Thorne at the same time she was battling a case of depression so debilitating that it drove her to the brink...

XXXXX DRUDGE REPORT XXXXX SUN JUNE 27, 2004 20:34:08 ET XXXXX CHASE ON FOR SEALED KERRY DIVORCE DOCUMENTS; PAPER FRENZY AFTER ILLINOIS SENATE RACE RELEASE After last week's front page headlines over ugly unsealed divorce records in the Republican Illinois senate race, media outlets now face a dilemma: What to do about Democrat presidential hopeful John Kerry's sealed divorce records! The race is on in political and media circles to gauge the import of Kerry's sealed July 25, 1988 divorce from his first wife, Julia Stimson Thorne. TRIBUNE, which successfully sued a court to gain access to Illinois Republican Jack...

Flashing siren is all that's up right now

The Chicago Tribune and others in the media establishment were eager to unseal the divorce records of and destroy the Senate candidacy of GOP nominee Jack Ryan. But for some strange reason the pro-Democrat media have shown no more interest in John Kerry's divorce records than they have in uncovering his complete military records. Fear not. The conservative Illinois Leader announced today it would sue to obtain Kerry's divorce papers. Stay tuned. P.S.: Teh-RAY-zah, if you're reading this, please don't pound your hubby on his expensively coiffed noggin.