Let's be honest...the Ames Straw Poll is notoriously crooked. Non-Iowans vote; people vote multiple times; Diebold machines; and worse: candidates pay people to vote for them.

So the candidate who pays the most voters wins. To avoid a vote-buying war, Rudy, McCain, and Fred bowed out...leaving Romney as the only one with big bucks. So he will very likely win.

In second will be Ron Paul...unless they cheat (as they have been recently with internet polls) and inflate Huckabee's numbers.

The cool thing is that Ron Paul's numbers won't come from buying people out nor corrupt manipulation. A ton of people finally have a decent, uncorrupted, true conservative to vote for...and they are responding.

We the People, literally, have to beat a massive system of corruption to get Ron Paul elected. Quite a task.

Just thinking of a Ron Paul presidency puts a smile on my face.

I agree with Freedom. RON PAUL. He will turn heads, and that means your head too.

RON PAUL

furthest left. that is

I serve a higher master than you roo. I am here to be the furthest right. Why?

1. To take the heat from the trolls. Give them something to attack.

2. Be the fartherst left. With my posts out there it opens others up to say what they really feel without recourse, similar to what Olberman did for me.

I respect your posts roo. Respect me and what I do. If you think I'm lying research what I say.

Mike--Your comment brings to mind a poignant The Onion article labeled "Scientists discover Iraqis may experience feelings of sadness at loss of friends, relatives."

Regarding our resident trolls:

As someone who has ~20 years of experience in Internet Communications (a very distinct sub-topic in general communications theory) starting with UseNet, here is a bit of advice:

IGNORE THE TROLLS.

At the very most posting a general dismissal is possible. This is how we got rid of Zouk for a month or so until someone started responding to him again.

So, from now on, please do not respond to Zouk or our other anonymous trolls. Just ignore them.

Oh and rufus, buddy, you are embarrassing us liberals. Seriously.

Bo -- interesting that from your armchair you are an expert on the Iraqi soul.

The first question out of any Iraqi's mouth is, "are you going to stay". Until they hear a "yes", they won't work with you.

Have you ever peered into the face of an Iraqi and had to tell them you didn't know if your Congress would let you stay?

But you're the expert right?

The Iraqi govt. is supported and propped up by the U.S. The Iraqis know this. That is why they will never support it. The sunnis, shilites, and kurds have been at war with one another for hundreds of years and were held together only because of Saddam's brutality. How do you imagine they will ever come together? Also, why would any sect support the onerous oil law which qwould essentially give 80% of the oil to the big oil companies. Oil is all these people have. To give it up would cause the nation to be dirt poor. They can't do it--ever. So what do we do? Stay there forever?

"Lowest violence in 8 months
Reopening of schools and churches
Exponential expansion of businesses

But these stats would all mean bad news for the surrender-monkeys"

WOw. after 4 years. We are finally making progress. How much american tax dollars are going into the hands of terrorists again. I suspect all will be well before the elections. Similar to the way gas went way down before the elections. This is a funny game for the gop I suspect.

If one believes bush and the gop are in line with the terrorist it would stand to reason that they can call them off (or on) whenever they choose. I will not allow the gop to hold this country hostage with fear and terror.

bsimon -- we all want the same thing. We all want peace and stability.

I often hear the common ignoramous-filled idea that "this is a civil war, we have no place". That is hardly the case. The terrorists and suicide bombers are all imported from other countries.

This is more than a war for stability. This is a war of ideas. It is the [first of probably man] battleground[s] where freedom-loving nations take a stand against extremist Islamo-Nazis.

What would constitute victory?

When we have hunted and killed every last terrorist in the country.

When Iraq becomes a place terrorists are afraid to go, rather than one they are drawn to.

When, like you said, the Iraq government is stable and safe.

What would signal victory is possible?

Lowest violence in 8 months
Reopening of schools and churches
Exponential expansion of businesses

But these stats would all mean bad news for the surrender-monkeys.

Once again, I have learned why engaging Rufus is less than worthless.

"There is more than likely a reason you are NOT, and haven't been for some time, active duty."

There is a reason. I reject slavery. Plain and simple. I need to agree with someone before I follow. Unlike a jarhead. You would follow Mikey mouse into a fox hole if you thought it would get you a medal.

I now follow the budda amoung others, who taught, " Before agreeing with any man, make sure you first agree yourself."

Sometime that I had a hard time with. It was may decision. How long was I in. That should be your question. But to say I was never in. Tsst Tsst Tsst.

You are a coward mike. If you believe so much, re_enlidst. I will when I believe in the cause, not when my brothers are getting murdered by their own people. Fascsit coward

Mike writes
"I can't stand armchair bloggers who have declared this war lost."

How do you define winning the war?

Or, to ask it differently, at what point should most of our troops come home?

Or, not to be too negative, but at what point would the Iraq mess be too far gone - and our troops should come home even though we haven't 'won'? Does such a point exist?

BLA BLAH BLAH. Hypocrite GOP. Tell more more why laws and rules are good for the gander but not the goose. Hypocrites.

O'Reilly loves to silence others while claiming how much he love's free speech. He loves to point out the villians.

Word to the wise MIke. When you make rules, even imaginary GOP rules, try and follow them yourself. I know you are the party of law breakers AND law makers, but hey.

Posted by Bo:

"Does it ever occur to you that most people think we have already lost?"

I realize that Bo != bsimon. It was a joint response, that may not entirely apply to you. My Apology.

Rufus -- I know I've sworn off addressing you before, but I'm having an extreme moment of weakness.

There's a difference between using one's profession to explain why they believe a certain thing to be true (IE, experiences gained, things seen, people interacted with, etc).

Mark in Austin, the lawyer, is much more credible on issues of legality, constitutionality, and even history than most other bloggers.

Unlike you, Rufus, I don't throw around my profession just to make myself feel good.

There is more than likely a reason you are NOT, and haven't been for some time, active duty.

I merely mentioned it as a backdrop to explain WHY I would have a more unique (and even, credible) perspective on the surge -- my experiences, my observations, the people I know and see and talk to regularly, that civilians - LIKE YOU - don't normally have access to.

I can't stand armchair bloggers who have declared this war lost.

I have even less tolerance for politicians who do the same.

Mike writes
"I have a hard time reading from the two of you that the war is already lost. That the war can't be won. The the surge hasn't worked.

The surge isn't supposed to be evaluated for 2 months. But you just can't wait to call it a failure - to throw in the towell."

Mike, there you go again. Who's calling for throwing in the towel? I don't think I said the war can't be won. You're debating imaginary arguments.

Don't post for zouk. Post for the independant viewers who read, but are scared to post because they don't want to be put on some terrorist watch list. That's who you should post for. The people who are not in the know.

Don't worry about these fascists that know what time it is, but continue to spout propoganda. That is his game. don't let him suck you in. That's why I'm here. To battle the trolls ( and be the furthest left) to give you the oppurtunity to speak freely to the independants. Speak your mind. Ignore the trolls. I got this :)

Don't post for zouk. Post for the independant viewers who read, but are scared to post because they don't want to be put on some terrorist watch list. That's who you should post for. The people who are not in the know.

Don't worry about these fascists that know what time it is, but continue to spout propoganda. That is his game. don't let him suck you in. That's why I'm here. To battle the trolls ( and be the furthest left) to give you the oppurtunity to speak freely to the independants. Speak your mind. Ignore the trolls. I got this :)

I thought so. Coward.

What you have lost your faith in washington. Alright mike. Your finnaly coming around. Vote for change. Vote for Obama OR Edwards.

Ther e you go jarhead. How dare you use your military histroy as a cruth to fall on, but attack me and say I was never in the military. Must be over a jarhead's head.

Army Infanty. 11B Fort Benning. Support the troops, soldier. Sign the Pat TIllman order. Unless your for the murder of your brothers and sisters.

www.votevets.org

"Lost faith" = "Lose faith" in Washington.

Bo and bsimon -- I have a hard time reading from the two of you that the war is already lost. That the war can't be won. The the surge hasn't worked.

The surge isn't supposed to be evaluated for 2 months. But you just can't wait to call it a failure - to throw in the towell.

Bo, you might not know this, and I'm pretty sure bsimon does, that I am a member of the military - and based on my experience, and the people I know and talk to and work with, we CAN win this war.

It's Harry Reid declaring that the "war is lost" that makes people like us lost faith in Washington, and in the maturity level of the democratic party.

It's not just a matter of pro-surge/pro-defeat bsimon. It's even more simple than that.

Hit number two:

"Home Depot seems to have had a change of heart. They're now unequivocally telling their customers that they will not advertise on Bill O'Reilly's show."

""The Mona Lisa should hang in a museum, not a subway platform. The Statue of Liberty should stand unvarnished in New York Harbor, not draped with corporate logos.

And The Wall Street Journal should be owned by a company dedicated to maintaining its integrity, not one grasping to find content for a yet-to-be-launched cable channel."

wow.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19916213/?GT1=10150

Bo asks, of Mike,
"Don't hand me straw arguments about Dems wanting to lose."

Bo, some people believe that you're either for the surge, or you're for defeat. They don't understand that the goal of the surge was to create enough political calm that the Iraqi gov't could actually do some governmenting & take control of their own security & stability. Nevermind that the Iraqi government is getting ready to take a month off, the surge is working. Sadly, the troops will be asked to maintain the surge - which involves longer & more frequent tours for our troops - until the Iraqi government is good and ready enough to step up & do its job. Until that happens, our men & women in uniform will keep whacking moles over there at US taxpayer expense.

MIKE, I believe some 56% of all Americans want this war to be over. Don't hand me straw arguments about Dems wanting to lose. Does it ever occur to you that most people think we have already lost? Not enough troops, not listening to the military, disbanding the army, disbanding the cxivil service, etc? Do you think it's wise to have our troops policing a civil war that will go on and on no matter when we leave? Lastly, does supporting our troops mean letting them die so American oil companies can steal the oil? If the oil isn't the goal. then please tell me what is.

Read: "A fair number [Of Democrats]"

I guess the only Democrats who truly don't WANT to win are the elected ones.

Bo -- Let's just stop and think for a minute. The majority of Republicans want to win the war in Iraq. A fair number (somewhere in the 30 percent range) also want to win.

There is no contradiction. Republican candidates don't support withdrawal becuase they believe this war can be won. As does most of their electorate.

MIKE, that was not my thesis. Sorry if I wasn't clear. My point was, the polls clearly show that most people no longer support this war, for whatever reason, but yet they are still willing to support a candidate who is in lockstep with Bush on the war. Seems awfully contradictory to me. As to my critique of the repubs, I don't care whether you care or not. I was simply stasting my opinion of all those who support such an aggressive foreign policy--dems or repubs. By the way I am supporting a repub--Ron Paul.

Thanks, Blarg!

No, the recent law passed in Maryland is different. The Maryland law states that the MD electoral votes will go to the winner of the nationwide popular vote. The trick is that the law only goes into effect states worth 268 electoral votes have passed similar laws. Then, all the states' new laws will go into effect at once, and we'll have popular presidential elections instead of state-by-state.

But I agree with your overall point. This CA law isn't cheating. It's an unnecessary law, and a bad idea for several reasons, but it's perfectly legal. And as the New Yorker article states, Democrats are trying the same in North Carolina.

Um, both parties suck. There are 300+ million peeps in this country.. no other country has such a diverse background.. such a large mixture of so many races and nationalities as the USA and we are stuck picking between the Dems and the GOP? Makes me puke. Until there are term limits (I think 2 terms for senators and maybe 3-5 for reps) all elected officials will remain corrupt. (Using the 80-20 rule anyway.)

If the GOP can't win, they cheat - same response as on the other thread, I believe that what you described is the method which Maine already uses to award Presidential electoral votes.

It's just one of a number alternatives in the discussion of Electoral College reforms.

Didn't the Powers That Be in Maryland just come up with something similar?

It may have been done quietly in Sacramento, but it is a legitimate alternative to the current archaic process. It's far from cheating.

Bo -- interesting comment. So your thesis is, since you don't support the war, no one should? Why would a Democrat's opinion on Mitt/Rudy/Fred matter?

I do admire your support for Ron Paul though.

It's pretty admirable to see all of his supporters out in force, a year before the election, because they believe in something/someone. I don't agree with him, but at least he excites people...

"The New Yorker:

At first glance, next year's Presidential election looks like a blowout. But it might not be. Luckily for the incumbent party, neither George W. Bush nor Dick Cheney will be running; indeed, the election of 2008 will be the first since 1952 without a sitting President or Vice-President on the ballot. At the moment, survey research reflects a generic public preference for a Democratic victory next year. Still, despite everything, there are nearly as many polls showing particular Republicans beating particular Democrats as vice versa. So this election could be another close one. If it is, the winner may turn out to have been chosen not on November 4, 2008, but five months earlier, on June 3rd.

Two weeks ago, one of the most important Republican lawyers in Sacramento quietly filed a ballot initiative that would end the practice of granting all fifty-five of California's electoral votes to the statewide winner. Instead, it would award two of them to the statewide winner and the rest, one by one, to the winner in each congressional district. Nineteen of the fifty-three districts are represented by Republicans, but Bush carried twenty-two districts in 2004. The bottom line is that the initiative, if passed, would spot the Republican ticket something in the neighborhood of twenty electoral votes-votes that it wouldn't get under the rules prevailing in every other sizable state in the Union.

If you haven't seen it already, take a look at the video "Hacking Democracy". (h/t Todd for link)
"

I find it depressing sometimes reading this blog. People seem to support candidates based on nothing. No one ever mentions their actual positions on issues.For example, most people do not support this war for various reasons, whether the lies it was based on, the inept way it was waged, or the immorality of going in in the first place, but it seeems to bother no one that McCain, Romney, and Guilliani all support Bush's position. Do you really want a foreigfn policy that is so imperialistic? Wars should be a last resort --not a choice to be lightly made. I'm not excusing the Dems, either. Hillary and Edwards originally voted for the war and who knows what Obama would have done had he actually had a vote. I do know all three went before the powerful Jewish lobby,AIPAC, and stated no option was off the table in dealing with Iran. It is widely known that AIPAC wants to destabilize the ME. Is it in our interests to go along with it? In the interest of full disclosure, I have voted Dem all my life, but this time I'm going to support someone who, I believe, has a sane foreign policy--Ron Paul. I don't like all his positions, but I believe we need him to restore our constitutional protections and bring sanity to our foreign policy.

wAHT ARE YOU AFRIAD OF. If I am crazy as you state, zouk, you wouldn't spend your entire day trying to flood the site silencing me, would you.

What are you arfaid of? You cannot combat truth with lies attacks misdierction and spin. IT IS IMPOSSIBLE. You lose. You will lose everytime. Keeping up the elementary school child tactics up. It shows the grown-ups what the gop is really about. Get counseling zouk. Stoop the attacks

"This site is a waste of time." - rufus

I agree. Let's both promise to leave and not post here again. Okay?

Posted by: | July 31, 2007 02:18 PM

The best idea this blog ever had.

"Dear VoteVets.org Supporter,

Today, veterans of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq wrote to President Bush, calling him to come clean on the death of former NFL star and Army Ranger, Pat Tillman, and we need you to join us.

Go to VoteVets.org and sign on to our letter

Last week, it was reported that medical examiners who examined Tillman's body shortly after his death determined his fatal wounds may have been caused by shots fired from ten yards away, and urged for a criminal investigation into his death. They were denied. This new finding seems to contradict the government's second official explanation of his death, which was that it was caused by friendly fire from a convoy that was a greater distance away. The initial story, that he was killed by enemy fire, was already proven to be a lie, and officers who contributed to the cover up were punished.

Yet, when the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform sent the President a bi-partisan request for a number of documents related to the Tillman investigation, the Administration refused to turn over key communications the Committee asked for, citing Executive Privilege.

Go to VoteVets.org and tell the White House this is not acceptable

There is no Executive Privilege claim that holds any water when the matter is the death of an American soldier - especially one who had been used by the Administration as a poster for the war. By refusing to release every pertinent document, the White House is fostering a climate of distrust among those in the military, hurting efforts to recruit new soldiers by creating doubt on behalf of parents who should expect their 18-year old son or daughter will be honored for their service, and insulting the memory of Pat Tillman. Unless the President has something to hide, he should release all the documents requested by Republicans and Democrats on the Committee.

Finally, as Commander in Chief, the President owes the complete and total truth to Corporal Tillman's mother, Mary Tillman. Those of us who served know that it is the duty of any officer to write to the families of those under us who were killed, and tell them the entire truth regarding their love one's death. To lie about any details or withhold any information would not just cause unjust pain to the survivors, but is to dishonor the fallen. As our nation's top commander, it is the President's duty to the Tillman family to release all materials related to his death.

For the good of our military, our troops, the Tillmans, and our nation, we need you to sign on to our letter, calling on the President to comply with all past and future requests of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on the matter of the death of Corporal Tillman.

Sincerely,

Jon Soltz
Iraq War Veteran
Co-Founder and Chairman, VoteVets.org"

Some interesting analysis from the very reliable Charlie Cook.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20054673/

proudtobeGOP writes
"loudon- I stand behind my conclusion that Ames is a blip at best on the radar of this election cycle, and we won't have any meaningful numbers until Jan/Feb when the real analysis can take place."


I suspect you're correct. Though its not unlike the debates in some regards - if a front-runner fails to meet expectations they could start digging themselves a hole. An ancillary effect is that we'll likely see single-digit candidates use the Ames results as an opportunity to drop out. What's the over-under on T Thompson being in the race past labor day?

"This site is a waste of time." - rufus

I agree. Let's both promise to leave and not post here again. Okay?

proud: "loudon- I stand behind my conclusion that Ames is a blip at best on the radar of this election cycle, and we won't have any meaningful numbers until Jan/Feb when the real analysis can take place."

proud -- i do agree with that comment. not because of the numbers of participants, but just because it's basically a joke. it might weed out a couple of the more marginal candidates, which is always a good thing.

This site is a waste of time. You got CC the propogandist making claims and opinions that are "haircut-like" that having nothing to do with anything. You got george bush's patriot act cronies coming here in destroying all meaningfull poltical conversation. I'm done for the day. Peace out fascsits( to those that don't apply, ignore). YOu have a year. The gop WILL be eliminated as a major party. Your avatars WILL be removed for the landscape. Good luck. What will you do without the avatars that are currently running your lives. See you later. Again, to those that this does not apply to ignore.

Peace in the middle east. Peace at home. Down witht he GOP, for good

loudon- I stand behind my conclusion that Ames is a blip at best on the radar of this election cycle, and we won't have any meaningful numbers until Jan/Feb when the real analysis can take place.

What does it really mean as a test of support - the candidates essentially buy the tickets for the attendees who do the voting.

The candidates are expected to buy thousands of $30 tickets for supporters, provide them transportation and then pamper them during this carnival-like event.

- maybe it's a fun diversion for the folks out there, but trying to squeeze any meaningful stats out of that kind of event is like trying to get blood from a stone. But the media will jump on it like a weasel on a chicken, because of the remarkable ability of Iowa's party elite to spot an opening in the calendar.

"And yes, in business, money does talk"

wHAT ABOUT IN NEWS? mONEY TALKS THERE ALSO?

Only in gop's mind. Remeber when their was a such thing as jouranist standards? Remember when they reported the news, as opposed to making it? Remember when there was a time when newspeople didn't let their personal bias interfere with their news coverage? Maybe I am behind the times. As opposed to creating a ANti-fox station I think fox should be removed for the table. Tabloid journalism. Goo dluck WSJ. Your paper is done. Greed killed it. The media has lost ALL credibility. Blame me if it makes you feel better. I am a christian, I can take your hate and stor eit for you.

I will blame those who are responsilbe for turning news into nothing but paid advertsiments. It angers me because I care about the country. It doesn't anger you because you only care about money. We are a self-government. How can we vote if we are fed half-truths and lies daily, while posing as "real news"? We can't can't. I'm going to continue to go after the advertisers. We'll see how it plays out. I hope america wins in the end. And money loses.

http://www.newshounds.us/

Has anyone explained why Mitt has such a big lead in Iowa? I've heard in other national polls that Rudy was leading, although it shifts a lot. Has Mitt spent a lot of money there?

Imagine if a Democrat was running for president, and his grandfather had been a financial supporter of Hitler -- how the rightwing/media would have howled over it. But bush -- not a peep. Never a mintion.

Now imagine is say, Bill Clinton's father had been having a business meeting with bin Ladin's brother the morning of 9/11 -- omigod -- can you imagine the conspiracy theeories, the outrage -- but bush, not a peep.

So much for the myth of the liberal media. Even Ann Coulter says, 'we own the media' -- and they do.

"Harriman Bank was the main Wall Street connection for German companies and the varied U.S. financial interests of Fritz Thyssen, who had been an early financial backer of the Nazi party until 1938, but who by 1939 had fled Germany and was bitterly denouncing Hitler. Business transactions for profit with Nazi Germany were not illegal when Hitler declared war on the United States (December 11, 1941), but, six days after the attack on Pearl Harbor, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed the Trading With the Enemy Act after it had been made public that U.S. companies were doing business with the declared enemy of the United States. On October 20, 1942, the U.S. government ordered the seizure of Nazi German banking operations in New York City. President Franklin Roosevelt's Alien Property Custodian, Leo T. Crowley, signed Vesting Order Number 248 seizing the property of Prescott Bush under the Trading with the Enemy Act. The order, published in obscure government record books and kept out of the news, cited only the Union Banking Corporation (UBC) connections with Von Thyssen. Fox News has reported that recently declassified material "The 4,000 Union Banking shares owned by the Dutch bank were registered in the names of the seven U.S. directors, according a document signed by Homer Jones, chief of the division of investigation and research of the Office of Alien Property Custodian, a World War II-era agency that no longer exists"[2]."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prescott_Bush

proud: then your point is NOT well taken, because 1/100 of likely voters would be an EXCELLENT sample. Ask any poll-taker.

The brother of bin Ladin was a guest of honor on 9/11 at Bush's business meeting. A guest of honor.

Funny how things worked out, huh?

Loudon "So you could have said it's only about 1/6000 of the total US population"

I know that, silly. I was merely rounding up so it read more easily. Besides, if you calculate the percentage of likely voters, then my figure is probably closer, although I admit I didn't say that. I can do the math, don't worry einstein.

Rufus,
"Wow. He bought one third support. Only in America would that be enough. I guess money talks, right gop."

That's at least 32% plus almost all the 29% of the public shareholders vote. That makes close to 61% (and in some reports more). And yes, in business, money does talk. It's an interesting story and the FT does a good job of telling it at:
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/94768766-3ee5-11dc-bfcf-0000779fd2ac.html.

Loudoun, she did make sure that she labeled Ames as a "liberal college town."

She's gets GOP Bonus Bucks for that.

I challenge every single subsequent poster following this post not to use either the word liberal or conservative or any deragotory derivation of either word for now on.

do you suppose bush let bin ladin go in ToraBora because of his close personal [and financial] relationship to the family?

--November 1998: Former President George H. W. Bush Meets with Bin Laden Family

Former President George H. W. Bush meets with the bin Laden family on behalf of the Carlyle Group. The meeting takes place in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. [Sunday Herald (Glasgow), 10/7/2001]
Entity Tags: George Herbert Walker Bush, Carlyle Group, Bin Laden Family

Timeline Tags: Complete 911 Timeline

January 2000: Former President Bush Meets with bin Laden Family on Behalf of Carlyle Group

Ex-President Bush Sr. meeting with Saudi Arabia's King Fahd on behalf of the Carlyle Group in 2000. [Source: Saudi Embassy]Former President George H. W. Bush meets with the bin Laden family on behalf of the Carlyle Group. He had also met with them in November 1998 (see November 1998), but it is not known if he meets with them again after this. Bush denies this meeting took place until a thank you note is found confirming that it took place. [Wall Street Journal, 9/27/2001; Guardian, 10/31/2001]
Entity Tags: George Herbert Walker Bush, Bin Laden Family, Carlyle Group
Timeline Tags: Complete 911 Timeline

(9:00 a.m.) September 11, 2001: Bin Laden Brother Attends Carlyle Group Conference

The Carlyle Group is a large private-equity investment firm, closely associated with officials of the Bush and Reagan administrations, and has considerable ties to Saudi oil money, including ties to the bin Laden family. This morning it is holding its annual investor conference at the Ritz Carlton hotel in Washington, DC. Among the guests of honor is investor Shafig bin Laden, brother of Osama bin Laden. [Observer, 6/16/2002; London Times, 5/8/2003] Former President George H. W. Bush, who makes speeches on behalf of the Carlyle Group and is also senior adviser to its Asian Partners fund [Wall Street Journal, 9/27/2001] , attended the conference the previous day, but is not there today (see (8:00 a.m.) September 11, 2001). [Washington Post, 3/16/2003]
Entity Tags: Bin Laden Family, Shafig bin Laden, Carlyle Group
Timeline Tags: Complete 911 Timeline, 9/11 Timeline

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/events-images/171_bush_king_fahd.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/entity.jsp%3Fid%3D1521846767-479&h=203&w=250&sz=42&hl=en&start=0&tbnid=Tw7B3CWMwF9oAM:&tbnh=90&tbnw=111&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dbush%2Bbin%2Bladin%2Bfamily%26gbv%3D2%26svnum%3D30%26hl%3Den%26newwindow%3D1%26safe%3Doff%26sa%3DG

Zouk, I haven't seen in any of the news stories whether Ted Stevens had a freezer in the house. Or do you just keep the loot outside in Alaska?

LOL GOP math?

"If 50,000 Iowans attend, that is less than one one-hundredth of the total US population - not exactly a representative sampling."

Yeah Proud, 50,000 is just a bit less than 1/100 of the total US population. There are about 300 million people in the US, so 3 million is 1/100.

So you could have said it's only about 1/6000 of the total US population.

Even when you have an arguably good point to make you screw it up.

rufus, gives us a call Buddy. It's getting boring around here with only sane people to deal with.

It's been interesting the last couple of days to see how "ssdd" reeled some of the serious posters into exchanges.

I can tell that some of you picked up on it, but some others still haven't.

ssdd is just Zouk playing games.

Dave! writes
"Um, Mike Stark, jime, and the infamous anon makes methink that disruption is not one-sided."

I would add rufus to that list. The point I tried to make was that some of the alleged 'liberals' or 'dems' were actually discussing the thread, but when people who have a GOP/Republican/Conservative bent showed up, they ignored the topic at hand & responded to the trolls instead.

" also we can spell and use grammar and speak the English language..."

Again, WE mispell words to give you gop'ers something to talk about. We al know you can't talk facts. So what are you do do? I'm trying to keep you fascists involved. Give you something to talk about.
I'm trying to help you, fo rpete's sake gop.

Only god conplex goper's with a authortarian complex go around attacking spelling and grammer, rather than the points. I'm just keeping you here. Speaking to liberals, who know what time it is, is preaching to the choir. It's not the democrats that are holding up progress and justice.

The winner of the Ames Straw Poll?
Without question, Hillary Clinton.

...because it's full of facts and science!

At least we use original language and our own thoughts, instead of mindlessly repeating 'Libs this and Libs that' like parrots... also we can spell and use grammar and speak the English language...

Invoke a terrifying internal and external enemy...
Create a gulag...
Develop a thug caste...
Set up an internal surveillance system...
Harass citizens' groups...
Engage in arbitrary detention...
Target key individuals...
Control the press...
Equate dissent with treason...
Suspend the rule of law...

Let the nuts blog...

Richard Mellon Scaife called. He's sending each of you your new steaming pile of bulsh*t to feed on.

Anyone see the daily show last night? He said, like the grinch who's heart grew three sizes, "apt leahy's bal** grew three sizes that day." :)

When he issued a sub. for ROVE

The Saudis fund and support al-queda and sunni insurgents in Iraq. They kill our troops. They fund madrassas that create terrorists. The 9/11 bombers were Saudis. They rob us every day at the gas pump.

So we sell them billions of dollars in advanced weaponry.

That's 'conservative' logic for you. You people's brains seem to work very strangely -- or perhaps, not at all.

CC,
I guess even meaningless events are deserving of a blog topic - afterall we have already covered Hillary's cleavage (or lack thereof) and the supposed huge issue of Mormonism (time and again!). The last Ames straw poll was on August 14, 1999 and, interestingly enough, placing third was a woman and seventh an african american. You'd have thought Clinton and Obama were unique in this endeavor based on the coverage and buzz by the MSM, despite the fact that women have been running since 1872 and african americans since 1960. On this poll, it will be interesting to note but it has not typically predicted a winner. Even a "surprise" win will probably help no one because most americans are not following the election and are certainly not hanging on the results of this poll or even know what it is. I would venture to say that most think it is just another poll like CNN or WaPo or Zogby.

bsimon,
"Why is it that all the defenders of Republicanism / Bushism / Conservativisim come here & disrupt the topic with all their liberal-bashing?"
Um, Mike Stark, jime, and the infamous anon makes methink that disruption is not one-sided.

bsimon - I don't agree with Judge's conclusion that the Ames event is any kind of indication that the Rs are in disarray.

I don't put too much stock in Ames' ability to foretell later success; after all it's a liberal college town and is only seen as a first test of organizational strength in Iowa, not the rest of the US. If 50,000 Iowans attend, that is less than one one-hundredth of the total US population - not exactly a representative sampling.

As someone from the DesMoines Register said "I understand why the Iowa GOP holds this straw poll. They need to raise money to run the caucuses and to help finance their campaigns. The Ames straw poll has become a shake-down of candidates.

Since it comes during the dead-news month of August, it gives bored political writers something to do. Since that is also a slow-news period, the importance of the event gets magnified."

http://blogs.dmregister.com/?p=6281

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki faces a revolt within his party by factions that want him out as Iraqi leader, according to officials in his office and the political party he leads. His predecessor, Ibrahim al-Jaafari, leads the challenge and already has approached leaders of the country's two main Kurdish parties, parliament's two Sunni Arab blocs and lawmakers loyal to powerful Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. "

The gOP is just trying to hol dit together until the dems are in office, so they can dump this mess on the next guy/ or woman. They stopped doing the good of the country long ago. Sabotage. That's all they know. Divide and conquer. The american people see now. Why to many people are awake to what you people have done. You can't laugh off the consipicy theories anymore. They are now main stream thoughts. Mike moore is now main stream for pete's sake. The gop is done. I laugh at you HAHAHAHHAHA

Milani argues that Iran's interests are more closely aligned with those of the US than any other state in the region. "I can't think of two other countries in the region who want the Iraqi government to succeed," said Milani.

He believes the Iranians are so upset with the efforts by the Saudis to undermine the Shi'ite-dominated government that they may try to use the talks with the US on the security of Iraq to introduce intelligence they have gathered on Saudi support for al-Qaeda and Sunni insurgents.

Trita Parsi, author of a new book on Iranian-Israeli security relations, agrees that Iran's support for the Maliki government stands in contrast to the attitude of the leading US Sunni ally in Middle East, Saudi Arabia. "Look at what the Saudis are calling the Maliki government - a puppet government," he observed. "You're not hearing that from Iran."

"Democrats can't explain how the administration's firing of U.S. attorneys who serve at its pleasure could be criminal," - losers in the marketplace

You don't really pay attention do you. The possible Criminal acts were in how the Administration handled what should have been an easily explainable political action.

Except, when it wasn't easily explainable, their approach was to lie about how it came to be done.

When people who are in positions of a public trust lie about their actions, they should be held accountable by the public.

Thank you Congressman Conyers; thank you Senator Leahy.

tHE FACT THAT thompson get so much praise shows how desperate the gop really is. The only gop'er that has any chance is Rudy. And his chances are slim to none. he will be ripped to shreds:)

don't blame me for the down fall of the GOP. Look in the mirror

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki faces a revolt within his party by factions that want him out as Iraqi leader, according to officials in his office and the political party he leads. His predecessor, Ibrahim al-Jaafari, leads the challenge and already has approached leaders of the country's two main Kurdish parties, parliament's two Sunni Arab blocs and lawmakers loyal to powerful Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

Bsimon -- I don't think Ames will be very meaningful.

It might be a good opportunity for a Huckabee to do something.

I don't expect McCain to make a very big come-back, as some hope.

Regarding your first comment about general enthusiasm -- I don't think it's a lack of enthusiasm. I think it's a conflict of ideas. In the wake of this congress, this war, and all the things Bush has done that conservatives hate (immigration, no child, spending, etc etc), 2008 is going to be a telling year for the GOP. Lots of people are fired up, just over different people.

I don't think Fred is a "none of the above". I think a lot of people (not including myself) see him as a savior of the party.

In support of Blarg's claim about DDT:

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/08/060801-ddt-malaria.html

Former Sen. Fred Thompson, R-Tenn., appears to have flip flopped on his pledge to sign federal legislation replacing all federal taxes with a 23 percent sales tax, according to an unedited FairTax.org video reviewed by ABC News.

"He has not taken this pledge," Thompson spokesperson Linda Rozett told ABC News.

The Thompson camp's denial appears to be contradicted, however, by an unedited FairTax.org video in which Thompson is asked, "Senator, if the House and Senate pass the 'Fair Tax' bill do you feel right now that you would you sign it?"

Thompson replies to the question by saying, "Yeah, absolutely."

SSDD, I must have missed the links backing up your claim that DDT has caused millions of deaths.

My main source was the Wikipedia article on DDT. It contains many links to primary sources by groups such as the Malaria Foundation and the World Health Organization, explaining that DDT is still used for malaria control.

By the way, the main reason that DDT isn't used more widely for mosquito control is that many mosquitos are evolving an immunity to DDT. If we'd continued using DDT as widely as we had before the 60s, it would probably be entirely ineffective today.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ddt
http://www.malaria.org/DDTcosts.html
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2006/pr50/en/index.html

Today she and Giuliani, when they are not boarding private Gulfstream IV jets to Europe or trying to woo voters, shuttle between a $4 million Hamptons house and a $5 million nine-room Upper East Side apartment near Madison Avenue, its dining room walnut-paneled and crammed with crystal, china, and linen from Scully & Scully. Her annual salary has also improved: $125,000, evidently for helping to write some of the speeches Giuliani likes to give (for which he received $11.7 million between January 2006 and March 2007). This comes as a surprise to at least one of Judith's acquaintances. Asked if he knew Judith was writing speeches, one former Giuliani aide replied, "Holy cow! God forbid!"

Invoke a terrifying internal and external enemy (liberals/democrats/terrorists/media/lawyersjudges/any non-gop'ers fascists

Create a gulag (cuba, secret prisons across the globe)

Develop a thug caste (dittohead cow folk disconnected from reality living in 1962 with john wayne or lee marvin as your hero)

Set up an internal surveillance system (patriot act, infiltrating sites LIKE THIS ONE and sabotaging the conversation spies on americans, cameras on phones and on every corner

Harass citizens' groups (silence all non-gop voices with intimidation)

Engage in arbitrary detention and release (make up rules who gets detained and who doesn't based on gop "rules"

Target key individuals(anyone in the know speaking out, media, judges)

Control the press (all radio, all tv, try to estroy the internet's objectivity)

Equate dissent with treason (dems are terrorsits helping the enemy. "you are with us or agaisnt us")

Suspend the rule of law ("I don't recall" executive privledge, PAT TILLMAN)

Ever hear of a famous U.S. President called Ronald Reagan? He was able to recognize back in the 80's that continuing a war inside CIVIL WAR torn Lebanon after 250 of our soldiers were killed was a mistake. He felt that using our resources (Men/Women/Money) would be better spent fighting the Soviets.

It is hard to comprehend the fact that there were people who were so addicted to power they actually wanted America to lose the war in Lebanon. Yet that is exactly what happened with Reagan running the show.

Update Lebanon to Iraq, and "beating the Soviets" to "beating Al Queda" and see what you come up with for Bush. Any questions, read Reagan's Memoirs.

"Yes, the children were upset," recalls a close confidant of the Giuliani kids, who is not referring simply to the unraveling of their parents' marriage. Far worse "was an application for Dad to allow Mrs. Nathan into Gracie Mansion. That kind of thing was very disconcerting to everyone."

He tried to bring his wh*re into the family home -- that's what kind of man Rudi is. Imagine what that did to his kids. Everybody in New York knew about it.

Queenly is certainly what Judith became, her demands and expectations heightened in large part by her husband's new affluence. Giuliani Partners (where she maintains an office) was established five years ago with the help of Giuliani's onetime chief of staff Anthony Carbonetti. It is a firm with management-consulting and security divisions; its clients, as The Washington Post reported, include Purdue Pharma, which hired the firm while being investigated by the D.E.A. and the F.D.A. over deaths stemming from the misuse of its painkiller OxyContin, and the Florida-based Seisint, Inc., which produces a data-mining product.

Since Giuliani Partners' inception, the newspaper also reported, it has earned more than $100 million, great deal of that from taxpayer-funded government contracts in Iraq.

This is not the couple's only means of support. At least until recently, Giuliani has been raking in the speaking-engagement fees. Those willing to pay the former mayor $100,000 a speech (and to foot the $36,000 bill for a Gulfstream IV charter) also were contractually obligated to accommodate his wife: "Please note that when arranging your seating, Judith Giuliani must be seated directly next to him."

"The Guardian has an article titled Fascist America in 10 easy steps.

Although the article is specifically about America, it applies to any country with the same symptoms, whether historical or contemporary.

The steps are:

Invoke a terrifying internal and external enemy
Create a gulag
Develop a thug caste
Set up an internal surveillance system
Harass citizens' groups
Engage in arbitrary detention and release
Target key individuals
Control the press
Equate dissent with treason
Suspend the rule of law "

http://baheyeldin.com/writings/politics/10-steps-towards-fascism-historical-and-contemporary.html

Mike writes
"But I am not surprised that you would blame/attack me for it - it being the standard Liberal model for conducting discussions."

I didn't blame you, I asked if you had an opinion on the Ames straw poll. Thus far, your posts indicate that you don't, that you instead come here to bash Dems and or Liberals - which is apparently also true of proudtobeGOP, to whom I was responding in the excerpt you quote.

Mike:

But I am not surprised that you would blame/attack me for it - it being the standard Liberal model for conducting discussions.

Zouk:
a quick perusal of this blog will aptly demonstrate my point. Unless you are a Lib of course.

--see? it's all they know, all they understand. Just subsititue the word 'jew' for 'liberal' -- go back and read their posts that way --and you get Hitler.

Mike -

It was posted to the "Matalin" thread, 7/26 at 7:52P.

A little after that I posted the discussion of a 2007 S.Ct. case from FL for JimD.

JimD, did you see it?

Part of the service for this particular faith was banning DDT - which led to millions of Third World deaths from disease-laden mosquitoes."

False. DDT is still used for disease vector control in the Third World. It's still one of the major tools used against malaria.

Notice - no links, no facts just Lib opinion passing itself off as wise. Same as always.

I declare the moon is green - a wise Lib

"you must be blind, stupid, lying or ignorant to miss them, which is it?"

"notice how little respect they have for people, ideas, thoughts, policies, logic, reason, taste, class" STD

Alright zouk. Stop giggling like a elementary school girl. This is not a game. this is not play time. Take your ball and go home. Their is nothing for you here troll

"millions of Third World deaths from disease-laden mosquitoes."

Worldwide, the animal responsible for more human deaths than any other?

The lowly mosquito.

Mike, this is Kos lite. they come here to practice fore the big time this weekend in chicago. notice how little respect they have for people, ideas, thoughts, policies, logic, reason, taste, class. Instead they worship at the alter of hate, envy, personality, motivation, denigration, lies, stupidity, spin, chanting, bad math, etc.

If you ever try to advance a decent argument, note well what you will confront. this is all they have and they must fight with it, they are barren of anything that resembles wit.

a quick perusal of this blog will aptly demonstrate my point. Unless you are a Lib of course.

Don't waste time feeding these fascsit trolls. Why waste time. The GOP is done in a year. Why waste or time's talking to a brick wall. It's impossible to show a blind person what the color blue looks like.

These greedy fascsits only care about themselves and money. They would sell their own mother's if they could make a profit. Leave them to there irrelevance. The GOP and their followers are becoming a laughing stock. Leave them to their irrelevance :)

"Part of the service for this particular faith was banning DDT - which led to millions of Third World deaths from disease-laden mosquitoes."

False. DDT is still used for disease vector control in the Third World. It's still one of the major tools used against malaria.

Mark in Austin -- I did read it, and just haven't had time to comment on it yet. I do appreciate your time and analysis, although I still think we're going to disagree. What thread was that on again (Do you remember?)

Wow. He bought one third support. Only in America would that be enough. I guess money talks, right gop.

"Murdoch's News Corp. has won the support of 32 percent of the Dow Jones voting shares controlled by the Bancroft family, enough to ensure a comfortable margin of victory, The Wall Street Journal reported in its online edition"

The republican fascist propoganda machine spreading like wild fire. And burning the country up in the process. Poo

"Murdoch clinches deal for publisher of Journal
Bancroft family members offer enough support to finalize $5 billion sale"

I knew you'd get around to bashing the idea of climate change, zouk, scroll up a little, I predicted it as soon as you arrived on the site. God you are such a predictable, pathetic, drooling dittohead. You haven't mentioned Harry Reid, yet, though -- better get to that next. Wouldn't want to leave out any of the agenda that you post here every day, all day, of your so-called 'life'.

does reality ever creep into your little sheltered Lib world or do you just continue on despite it all?"

did you miss all the postings by your friends the wacky left? I even listed them for you. you must be blind, stupid, lying or ignorant to miss them, which is it?
do you always miss news that doesn't suit your Lib agenda - for example - US wins in Iraq. How can you be so ignorant all the time? Is there a single honest Lib out there who will call these clowns out for what they are? Is honesty anathema to your way of life?

bsimon -- unfortunately, since I wasn't on the site within the first 50 minutes of CC's post when no-named coward poster broke the off-topic ice with his comments on Bush and the Saidis. I was just commenting on the most recent posts -- the most current discussion.

The same discussion you are currently entrenched in, or do you not remember typing the following: "An interesting question. You know what keeps me up at night? I wonder why the President ignores the real threat from al Qaida & talks all the time about Iraq. Wasn't one al Qaida attack on our homeland enough?"

I was actually surprised that the left-wing nuts only took 50 minutes to derail this conversation.

But I am not surprised that you would blame/attack me for it - it being the standard Liberal model for conducting discussions.

I spent yesterday and today reading through virtually all of the writings and interviews of these two Brookings geniuses over the past four years concerning Iraq. There is no coherence or consistency to anything they say. It shifts constantly. They say whatever they need to say at the moment to justify the war for which they bear responsibility. It is exactly like reading through the writings of Bill Kristol, Tom Friedman and every other individual who flamboyantly supported this disaster and -- motivated solely by salvaging their own reputations -- are desperate to find some method to argue that they were right.

Even though I write frequently about how broken and corrupt our establishment media is, witnessing these two war lovers -- supporters of the invasion, advocates of the Surge, comrades of Fred Kagan -- mindlessly depicted all day yesterday by media mouthpieces as the opposite of what they are was really quite startling. After all, there is a record as long as it is clear demonstrating what they really are.

But in order to maximize the potency of their propagandistic Op-Ed, they proclaimed themselves to be "analysts who have harshly criticized the Bush administration's miserable handling of Iraq" and -- just like that -- Americans hear all day about the magical and dramatic conversion of these deeply skeptical war opponents who were forced by the Grand Success they witnessed first-hand in Iraq, as much as they hate to do it, to admit oh-so-reluctantly that the Surge really is working! Well, if even these Howard-Dean-like War Opponents say it, it must be true. That was the leading "news" story all day yesterday.

What's amazing how simple it is, how willing our media - universally - are willing to catapult George Bush's propaganda. I do not believe they are all that stupid, so they are willing accomplices in this disgusting game which perpetuates misery, death, and destruction.

Mike, did you see my late night offer of the quote from the Reynolds v. U.S. [S.Ct.,1878]
case?

Scientists have documented nine moderate global warming cycles and nine somewhat harsher global cooling cycles in the last 12,000 years. Each cycle lasted roughly 1,500 years and - miracle of miracles -- coincided exactly with the known cycles of the sun's magnetic activity.

But this is an inconvenient truth for the Church of CO2 Emissions. We can't enact an international treaty to control the sun's magnetic activity. We can't legislate against it. Nor can it be used as a club to beat energy companies bloody or to institute the type of draconian controls over humanity for which the left has always lusted.

Global Warming a la Gore is merely the left's latest attempt to frog-march us into its brave new world.

With Marxism (another doomsday cult), the apocalyptic vision was a world where the rich kept getting richer and the poor sank deeper and deeper into drudgery, near-starvation and despair. The party elite was the priesthood sent to exorcise these political demons.

Since then, there has been a succession of leftist secular faiths - each calling on us to repent social sin, prophesizing doom and holding out the hope of salvation if only mankind can be coercively saved from itself.

In the '50s and '60s, it was the military/industrial complex. Then came overpopulation. Does anyone recall Paul Ehrlich's 1968 bestseller "The Population Bomb"? Dr. Ehrlich confidently forecast worldwide starvation and the exhaustion of natural resources sometime between 1970 and 1985, due to overpopulation. With birthrates falling worldwide, and well below replacement levels in most industrialized nations, Ehrlich joins the League of Distinguished Malthusians.

The pollution scare started with Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring" (1962). We were poisoning the Earth. Species were becoming extinct. We would shortly choke to death on our own garbage and toxic fumes. Part of the service for this particular faith was banning DDT - which led to millions of Third World deaths from disease-laden mosquitoes.

And now we have the Church of Global Warming, under the leadership of Pope Albert I and his college of cardinals (the Natural Resources Defense Council, Sierra Club and editorial board of The New York Times).

Its Office for the Propagation of the Faith works overtime, churning out books, movies (from the fictional "The Day After Tomorrow" to the fictional "An Inconvenient Truth"), textbooks, concerts, congressional hearings, media pleading and inquisitions.

There are even children's versions of the Ozone Bible. "Arctic Tale" (opening in theaters August 17) is a "documentary" that follows the adventures of Mama Polar Bear and Mother Walrus and their cubs, as they try to deal with catastrophic changes in their environment due to - what else? - Global Warming.

Not to worry, soon they'll be cavorting among the ice floes of Manhattan.

As science, Global Warming ranks right up there with the Piltdown Man and the gay-gene theory.

http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/Read.aspx?GUID=4FB31C33-09BC-46F8-B5AA-94DF50912CE3

ssdd writes
"does reality ever creep into your little sheltered Lib world or do you just continue on despite it all?"

My reality is that the Republican President has let al Qaida regenerate to its pre-9/11 strength while squandering our resources on Iraq. Way back in little league, I learned that if you take your eye off the ball, you're more likely to get beaned. Bush didn't learn that lesson in 2001 & it looks like the Repubs that want his job haven't learned it either.

BillOreilly.com: "I am keeping my guns loaded if she [Hillary] is elected"

Michelle Malkin about swallowed her tongue last week when Glenn Greenwald correctly labeled her blog and multimedia vanity project "hate sites". Greenwald took a representative sample of the comments on display there and found more vile racist cant and thinly-veiled calls to violence than you'd find at a Republican Bake Sale.

The examples are sort of grimly funny, not so much for their lunk-headed content, but for the criminal way in which Malkinites seem to compulsively butcher the English language. There seems to be absolutely no distinction between "their", "they're", and "there", or "to", "too", and "two".

You always know you're at a Right Wing site by the anarchic state of their homonyms. I don't understand where the nativist, anti-Mexican crowd gets off insisting that every one must read, write, and speak English when they so clearly are incapable of it themselves.

Mike writes
"I suspect "that faction" is most likely the majority of the Democrat party."

Yo, Mike, what's your take on the Ames straw poll? Or do you just come here to bash liberals and/or Democrats?

Why does the Bush admiinistration hate America?
"Gosh, he looks so presidential on Law and Order. Let's vote for him!"
When are you gonna mention Pritty Mitty's $400 makeup jobs, CC?
O'Reilly and the other masters of Hate Radio and Hate TV
Rudy is simply a liar. An unscrupulous, grasping, power hungry liar -- just like his wife No. 3. Bush Redux -- only WORSE.
the 'conservative' movement is truly evil. The worst thing that has ever happened to this country. Evil traitors, every one. Lying us into a war, privatizing and destroying our military
Unique creature, indeed -- heavy on The Creature. Like from the Black Lagoon.

Yet after all this, the "objective" take from this bloig is:

Why is it that all the defenders of Republicanism / Bushism / Conservativisim come here & disrupt the topic with all their liberal-bashing? Do you have nothing constructive to add about the topic at hand - the GOP straw poll in Ames?

does reality ever creep into your little sheltered Lib world or do you just continue on despite it all?

n for the Anchorage office of the F.B.I., David Heller, would not discuss details of what was being sought in the raid and referred calls to the Justice Department's public integrity division in Washington. The division handles major corruption cases involving public officials.

Mr. Stevens is one of more than a dozen current and former members of Congress who are known to be under scrutiny by the F.B.I. ...

Can you say guilty plea with a deal for cooperation on the part of Mr. Allen? I know I can.

bsimon, I remain hopeful that McCain will exceed "low expectations" in Iowa. Truth has offered the only info of the morning, it seems.

Do IA Rs want their fine state universities to invite guns on campus? I wonder how FT's Va Tech speech will play out, if at all.

I have read good words about every candidate's spouse save Judi Nathan Giuliani. Is that sort of secondary trashing-by-association a player for IA Rs?
This fits with your question as to whether IA Rs have a strong socially conservative
component.

Also, is not the Ames Straw Poll dominated by paid-to-attend voters, or am I confusing that with some other rigged beauty contest?

Maybe someone else from IA [or Truth, again] will speak to these questions.

George Soros.

...At the same time, the FBI and the Department of the Interior are investigating a series of earmarks pushed through Congress over the past several years by Stevens for an Alaska nonprofit tied to Trevor McCabe, a former Stevens aide and a business partner of his son, Ben, sources familiar with the investigation said.

According to the sources, the investigation is focused on how millions in federal funds earmarked for the Alaska SeaLife Center in Seward, Alaska, were used and how more than $500,000 made it to McCabe.

Marcia Blaszak, Alaska Regional Director for the National Park Service, declined to comment Monday on the specifics of the multi-agency inquiry, citing the fact that it is an "ongoing federal investigation." However, Blaszak did say staff from her office have been cooperating with investigators from DOI's Office of Inspector General. "A number of our employees have been contacted" by DOI's IG, Blaszak said....

As Howie notes, all three of Alaska's elected representatives to Congress are currently dealing with investigations of alleged improprieties at the moment. And all three are Republicans. The Hill reports that Stevens' home was raided by both the FBI and the IRS -- which really raises my law enforcement antennae that serious money and transactional questions have been raised. The IRS involvement is very bad news indeed. From the NYTimes:

The businessman, Bill J. Allen, the founder of an oil fields service company that has won tens of millions of dollars in federal contracts with the senator's help, has pleaded guilty to bribing state legislators....

A spokesman for the Anchorage office of the F.B.I., David Heller, would not discuss details of what was being sought in the raid and referred calls to the Justice Department's public integrity division in Washington. The division handles major corruption cases involving public officials.

Mr. Stevens is one of more than a dozen current and former Republican members of Congress who are known to be under scrutiny by the F.B.I. ...

You're right, "!". I read the article about Clyburn's comments, but I didn't watch them. You're also right that I won't be swayed by good news, because there's no way the news will be good enough. The report isn't going to say that Iraq is safe and we can pack up and go home. The most positive thing the report can say is that the situation is no longer deteriorating. Our standards for progress in Iraq are so low that any positive news, however minor, will be hailed as a triumph.

Mike, I am thinking for myself. And this is the conclusion that I came to. Why do you think I'm not? Who do you believe is thinking for me?

In my earlier post, I was agreeing with ssdd's take on the Dem candidates not attending Bill Clinton's DLC conference recently, not the ssdd post of 11:35.

These straw polls are yesterday's news. None of the GOP frontrunners will even be taking part, and it's sure to be hijacked by some crazy second tier joker (Brownback, Paul?). It's a cute little novelty, but that's all. Might reveal something about organization.

http://political-buzz.com/

'Why is it that all the defenders of Republicanism / Bushism / Conservativisim come here & disrupt the topic with all their liberal-bashing? '

Because they are dittoheads. That's all they know how to do. Their gods, the Hate Radio and Hate TV and Hate Blogs, do nothing else. So they ape them, parrot them, trained seals -- really less than mindless beasts.

Turn on Hannity or O'Reilly or Limbaugh. Within 2 seconds you will hear them twist any topic into a hateful rant about 'Liberals'.. and it goes on unabated 24 hours a day, all over the dial. Hate... hate... hate.. they live for it, only hate sustains them.

Listen to the rhetoric and you hear echoes of Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini... each of them bashing and blaming someone for the ills of the world, and the simple-minded losers eat it up. They have a need for an enemy to blame for their problems, for the fact that they are losers.

zouk will be here all day, spouting his hateful rhetoric. he has no other life, which is why he must blame 'Dems' and 'Libs' for everything.

I couuld pity these people, but they are destroying my country.

"Mike and proud would probably be spot on if they said a faction of the Democrats will not be swayed by good news. Blarg probably represents that faction."

I suspect "that faction" is most likely the majority of the Democrat party.

Wouldn't it be better if NO ONE represented that faction...

if those claiming to be enlightened thinkers, "progressives" who look at the "issues" would actually think for themselves.

since the dittohead droolers seem to have nothing better to do than flood this board with off-topic garbage, I'd like to mention that the FBI has raided the home of yet another GOP crook, Sen. Ted "I may be old but I remember how to steal" Stevens.

Let's see how these new polls are interpreted by the media "experts." See how they can transform the fact that 62 PERCENT of DEMOCRATS want someone OTHER THAN HILLARY CLINTON and 75 percent prefer SOMEONE OTHER THAN B. HUSSEIN OBAMA (RLP Polling Summary). And then see how they talk about Bush's disapproval ratings while NOT MENTIONING that 73 PERCENT OF REPUBLICANS (Pew Research) APPROVE OF THE JOB PRESIDENT BUSH IS DOING. Same old story: figures don't lie but liars figure.

Oh no - truth about what a crook hillary is. attack, attack attack. ignore the facts. in other words, biz as usual.

Hillary Exposed
The Case of Paul v Clinton
EJF presents the Exclusive Debut of the Trailer of the first ever documentary produced on Hillary Clinton. Hillary Clinton's character and "respect" for the Rule of Law is presented through interviews and exclusive home videos by her largest donor in 2000, Hollywood entrepreneur Peter F Paul.

The documentary, produced by a non-political Hollywood production team, offers a never before seen personal side of Hillary Clinton captured by the man who contributed the most to elect Hillary to the US Senate. It documents how Hillary and her family befriended him, solicited his contributions and production skills to pay for and produce the biggest fundraiser in American history for a federal candidate, and then destroyed him, his company and his family to cover up the election law illegalities she directed.

http://www.ejfa.org/en/index.php?/en

Chris,
Let's cut through the crap and get to the facts. The reason the media darlings aren't going to show in Ames is because their campaigns are well aware of the fact that this straw poll will be won hands down by Dr. Ron Paul. The one candidate you conveniently omitted from your article.
And before you ney-sayers get started, the Ron Paul gathering in Iowa (next door to the GOP debate) had more attendance than all the other GOP candidates in the debate combined.
The skewed media polls don't even include Ron Paul. The polls that did have Ron Paul as a candidate were all that was needed to convince the big 3 to stay home.

Blarg, Mike, proud, and | did not watch Clyburn, who actually said "none of us want a bad result" and "I want a good result in Iraq."

He talked about factions within his party and counseled waiting for Petraeus' Report. He thought that the blue dogs would be moved by Petraeus' report and that if it were good news they would support continuing the current strategy. In that context, the Democrats would be split, which would be bad for their party.

Mike and proud would probably be spot on if they said a faction of the Democrats will not be swayed by good news. Blarg probably represents that faction.

But you all missed his clear and repeated hope for good news, unless you watched the entire 8 minutes.

After O'Reilly provided an "accountability moment" to the JetBlue CEO at his home, I decided to provide O'Reilly with his own accountability moment at his home.

I've just returned to home base.

I've got video of O'Reilly in his sleepwear (red shorts and a white t-shirt). I delivered the Andrea Mackris Court filings to all of his neighors - every home in his development got a copy. And I put a bunch of signs up along his street - "Bill O'Reilly: Andrea Mackris has your cash" directly across from his house; "Bill O'Reilly: PERVERT" in front of his home; "Bill O'Reilly: CHEATER" on the road he must take to exit his development and "Bill O'Reilly: Can't be trusted with your daughters" at the landmark boulder marking the entrance to his development.

We had an interesting conversation - not too explosive, but I think a lot of people will be entertained.

No 'Compassion' Left Hateful Left Cheers Roberts Medical News Left wing blogs are filling with gleeful comments on the news Supreme Court Justice, John Roberts, suffered a seizure

the ways of the left.

Time for a Democracy Movement
Naomi Wolf, 07.31.2007

When checks and balances are being systematically dismantled, our assumption that democracy will protect us without our active intervention is dangerously naive.

"who've made more in the last 6 yrs than I will in my whole life.'

I predict Hillary will fix that for you. she is ready to guarantee every citizen at least $200K in income every year. a master of finance that one. why didn't anyone think of this before? you also get free college, free health care, free retirment, free ice cream. I just don't understand why anyone could be against this. but I am just a Lib and don't get much as far as ideas and policies go. I am of the mind that losing in Iraq is somehow good for america. See how gullible I am, if I weren't I couldn't be a Lib. See how we reason?

The House is picking up on a long-overdue lobbying reform bill today -- and when I say, "long-overdue," I mean, "obstructed by Republicans."

Lobbying reform has been one of the top priorities in the new, Democratic Congress -- in fact it was the first bill introduced, S. 1, in the Senate. But a funny thing happened on the way to actually passing that reform. Although it passed the Senate on January 18th, by a vote of 96-2 (Coburn and Hatch, if you're wondering), and a reform bill passed the House on May 24th by a vote of 396-22 (1 present -- Hulshof, if you're wondering), no further movement on the bill has been possible. Why not? Because Republicans in the Senate have filibustered the motion to go to conference.

Why is it that all the defenders of Republicanism / Bushism / Conservativisim come here & disrupt the topic with all their liberal-bashing? Do you have nothing constructive to add about the topic at hand - the GOP straw poll in Ames? The Iowans are going to anoint one of your boys to take over for W, don't you have some interest in the subject? Or have things deteriorated so far for your party that you have to bash liberals and hope people keep buying into that message, rather than talking about the potential leadrs of your party?

'Cheney Says He Is A 'Unique Creature,' Refuses To Say He Is Part Of Executive Branch'

Unique creature, indeed -- heavy on The Creature. Like from the Black Lagoon.

It is hard to comprehend the fact that there are people in the United States Congress who are so addicted to power they actually want America to strengthen Al Queda in order to retain it. Yet that is exactly what is happening with Republicans running the show. They couch their stupidity in high-minded lies about supporting the troops but ignore the real mission. They cannot even bring themselves to acknowledge the totally inarguable fact that "George Bush's war," as Hillary Clinton accurately labels it, is succeeding in strengthening Al Queda and has been for several years now. Osama bin Laden is laughing, laughing, laughing yet the R's attack the D's for pointing out the stupidity of this action.

Yesterday, the mainstream media warmly embraced Brookings analysts Michael O'Hanlon and Kenneth Pollack's New York Times op-ed praising the escalation.

In the op-ed, O'Hanlon and Pollack call themselves "two analysts who have harshly criticized the Bush administration's miserable handling of Iraq." The major cable TV networks uncritically referred to the analysts as "vocal critics" of the war, a statement that runs contrary to the analysts' enthusiastic backing of the war since 2002.

Pollack and O'Hanlon have lept into the open arms of the mainstream media and have been given a forum to present their views largely without opposition. Together, they appeared on at least nine major mainstream media outlets in the past 24 hours.

A list of their media appearances:

Network Program
Pollack CBS Evening News
CNN Newsroom
CNN Situation Room
MSNBC Tucker
NPR Talk of the Nation

O'Hanlon CBS Early Show
CBS Evening News
Fox News Special Report
MS