We Demand the Berth Certificate! 
"Sen. John Kerry, who has repeatedly voted to raise taxes while in Congress, dodged a whopping six-figure state tax bill on his new multimillion-dollar yacht by mooring her in Newport, R.I.," the Boston Herald reports:

Could the reason be that the Ocean State repealed its Boat Sales and Use Tax back in 1993, making the tiny state to the south a haven--like the Cayman Islands, Bermuda and Nassau - for tax-skirting luxury yacht owners?

Cash-strapped Massachusetts still collects a 6.25 percent sales tax and an annual excise tax on yachts. Sources say Isabel sold for something in the neighborhood of $7 million, meaning Kerry saved approximately $437,500 in sales tax and an annual excise tax of about $70,000.

Kerry's chief of staff, the delightfully named David Wade, denies that the haughty, French-looking former junior senator, who by the way served in Vietnam, chose the out-of-state berth for tax reasons. Meanwhile,CNSNews.com reports:

Speaking at a town hall-style meeting promoting climate change legislation on Thursday, Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) predicted there will be "an ice-free Arctic" in "five or 10 years."

What will he do with all the money he saves when he can move his yacht there?

James Taranto-

A spat has broken out between the U.N.'s World Health Organization and Amnesty International, a left-leaning human-rights group, over Pyongyang's patient care, the Associated Press reports:

Amnesty's report on Thursday described North Korea's health care system in shambles, with doctors sometimes performing amputations without anesthesia and working by candlelight in hospitals lacking essential medicine, heat and power. It also raised questions about whether coverage is universal as it--and WHO--claimed, noting most interviewees said they or a family member had given doctors cigarettes, alcohol or money to receive medical care. And those without any of these reported that they could get no health assistance at all.

WHO's Paul Garwood claims that Amnesty's report is "not up to the U.N. agency's scientific approach to evaluating health care":

The issue is sensitive for WHO because its director-general, Margaret Chan, praised the communist country after a visit in April and described its health care as the "envy" of most developing nations. . . . Garwood and WHO spokeswoman Fadela Chaib insisted that Amnesty's report was complementary to their boss' observations. . . . Asked Friday what countries were envious of North Korea's health, Chaib said she couldn't name any.

Islamism