Ron Mills- News And Commentary

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Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Mike Gravel: Having The Most Fun Of Them All

Tuesday, December 25, 2007

Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas

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Monday, December 24, 2007

The Night Before Christmas, 2007

T'was the night before Christmas, and all through Iraq,
The soldiers were huddled, and under attack.
Back in the capital, the White House was quiet;
Kind of makes you wonder, why there wasn't a riot.

Who had time to worry about those poor beleaguered troops;
When Homeland Security had us jumping through hoops?
There was no time to wonder if Iraq was a scam;
Because now Iran was the next sacrificial lamb.

Vietnam, Somalia, Haiti, Bosnia, the history was vast;
Couldn't the people learn from the lessons gone past?
How could a nation have a foreign policy so creepy?
'Tis what happens when you elect a man, with a very small peepee.

The new trial of OJ promised more drama;
The showdown of vapidity from Hillary and Obama.
Breathless sensationalism from O'Reilly and the rest;
Another election where the clueless are put to the test.

But the story was the same, all round the nation;
The natives were spellbound, flipping the station.
The remote was gripped, in their chubby hands with care,
In hopes that reality shows soon would be on air.

They laid back in the recliner, zoned into the box;
For "Family Guy," "Desperate Housewives," and more shit from
FOX.
They had no time for reflection, or critical thought;
Of the despair and destruction their warmonger had wrought.

When out on the lawn, arose such a racket;
I jumped from my bed, and grabbed for my jacket.
I ran down the staircase, to the ground floor;
Just in time to see Santa, breaking in my door.

"Hey Pal," I called out, "Didn't you read the book?
You're supposed to come down the chimney, in ashes and soot."
"Well", he exclaimed, "I must take a pass;
"Cause I get can't get down there with my big, fat ass...

"Cinnabon, Krispy Kreme, and what about stuffed crust?
I've been trying to diet, but it's been a great bust.
I read Aktins, Protein Power, and also The Zone;
McDougal, and Pritiken, and yet I have still grown.

"That's why I've got this pipe clamped in my teeth;
With the smoke curling round like a new Christmas wreath.
That last time I quit smoking; I gained so much weight;
My arteries were blocked, and my cholesterol tempted fate.

"You think this job is easy, working only once a year?
What do you think will happen, if they find out I'm queer?
Romney and Huckabee will pull the knife from the sheath;
And doom me to Hell, with great gnashing of teeth."

"But wait a minute, " I sputtered, "You can't be Gay;
You have to be straight—it's the American way."
"Oh come on," he replied, "who else but fruits...
Wear red velvet, fur collars, and black leather boots?

"You must be clueless, or been living on Saturn…
Look at my reindeer, did you not notice a pattern?
If you think Dasher and Prancer, are names for a boy;
You should be drinking eggnog with Sigfried and Roy!"

Shocked and dismayed, my head it was aching;
Feeling quite weak, my legs they were quaking.
"Aren't you done here? Can't you move on next door?
I've got my fill, I can't stand any more"

"Well no," he replied, "I hate to sound cosmic;
But next door gets nothing, because they're Islamic.
I've made out my list, and I've checked it twice,
You aint a Christian—you're lower than lice.

"Peace on earth, happy tidings, and goodwill to you,
Unless you're a God damned Hindu, Buddhist, or Jew.
We spread the gospel, and we tell it well;
Side with us now, or you'll end up in Hell."

"No wait," I cried out, "that just isn't right..."
But he kept right on walking, away from my sight.
He whistled for reindeer, and they pulled up out front;
He climbed into the sleigh, with a guttural grunt.

He reached on the dash, where some CDs were strewn
Inserted a disc, with a Broadway show tune.
Santa looked back at me, and said with a yell;
"Convert 'fore it's too late, or you'll burn up in Hell."

I bolted upright, and woke up in a sweat;
Was it just a nightmare that hadn't happened yet?
The ghost of Christmas future, or just my imagination…
The destiny of mankind, or wicked hallucination?

Whatever happened to ole Silent Night?
And loving one another, doing what's right?
The season of harmony and peace thereof,
Can't we just live it with acceptance and love?

I wish you a holiday season filled with good friends, happy reunions,
and stimulating conversations - and a New Year of hope, healing, and
highest good. Please pray for peace.

RM-

Legal Notice:
The holiday greeting and wishes for a Happy New Year contained in this
email/blog are extended from ("Wishor"), to you
("Recipient"), subject to the following terms and conditions:

This greeting is extended without obligation, implied or implicit, best
wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible,
politically correct, gender neutral, celebration of the secular summer
solstice holiday only. Any similarities to religious and/or national
holidays is purely coincidental.

This greeting may be accepted in the context of the traditions of the
religious beliefs of your choice, or secular beliefs of your choice,
regardless of sexual orientation or operating system preference. However,
such acceptance by the recipient does not imply any endorsements or
consents by the Wishor.

My wishes for your emotional state, financial success, and freedom from
disease apply to the generally accepted calendar year 2008. Any other
calendars of choice from other cultures or sects are subject to
availability.

This greeting is subject to further clarification or withdrawal, is
revocable at the sole discretion of the Wishor, and is non transferable.
The Wishor implies no promise to actually implement any of the wishes.
The extent of the holiday spirit experienced will be determined by
the effort recipient puts into it. The claims described are for
illustration purposes only. Your results may differ. These statements have
not been approved by the FDA. This greeting is void where prohibited by
law.

"Christmas" "God" and "Jesus" are registered trademarks of
the Amway Corporation; all rights reserved.

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Please pass this along to others who may appreciate it!

Sunday, December 23, 2007

Join us for Christmas Eve with the Sunshine Cathedral

Join us for Christmas Eve with the Sunshine Cathedral
at the AuRene Theatre of the Broward Center for the Performing Arts, December 24^th, at 10:00 pm.

FREE admission (an offering will be received)

The Sunshine Cathedral will be honored to have the Sunshine Cathedral Music Ministry, the South Florida Pride Wind Ensemble, the Fort Lauderdale Gay Men's Chorus, and the Lambda Chorale joining their talents to make our Christmas Eve celebration extra special.

Gloria

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GOP Candidates Couldn't Get Elected Dog Catcher in 2008

GOP Candidates Couldn't Get Elected Dog Catcher in 2008

America's Conservative Economic Policy-Caused Depression: Home Foreclosure Crisis Leads to Suburban Tent City in California

Between railroad tracks and beneath the roar of departing planes sits "tent city," a terminus for homeless people. It is not, as might be expected, in a blighted city center, but in the once-booming suburbia of Southern California.

The noisy, dusty camp sprang up in July with 20 residents and now numbers 200 people, including several children, growing as this region east of Los Angeles has been hit by the U.S. housing crisis.

The unraveling of the region known as the Inland Empire reads like a 21st century version of "The Grapes of Wrath," John Steinbeck's novel about families driven from their lands by the Great Depression.

As more families throw in the towel and head to foreclosure here and across the nation, the social costs of collapse are adding up in the form of higher rates of homelessness, crime and even disease.

While no current residents claim to be victims of foreclosure, all agree that tent city is a symptom of the wider economic downturn. And it's just a matter of time before foreclosed families end up at tent city, local housing experts say.

"They don't hit the streets immediately," said activist Jane Mercer. Most families can find transitional housing in a motel or with friends before turning to charity or the streets. "They only hit tent city when they really bottom out."

Steve, 50, who declined to give his last name, moved to tent city four months ago. He gets social security payments, but cannot work and said rents are too high.

"House prices are going down, but the rentals are sky-high," said Steve. "If it wasn't for here, I wouldn't have a place to go."

Nationally, foreclosures are at an all-time high. Filings are up nearly 100 percent from a year ago, according to the data firm RealtyTrac. Officials say that as many as half a million people could lose their homes as adjustable mortgage rates rise over the next two years.

California ranks second in the nation for foreclosure filings -- one per 88 households last quarter. Within California, San Bernardino county in the Inland Empire is worse -- one filing for every 43 households, according to RealtyTrac.

Maryanne Hernandez bought her dream house in San Bernardino in 2003 and now risks losing it after falling four months behind on mortgage payments.

"It's not just us. It's all over," said Hernandez, who lives in a neighborhood where most families are struggling to meet payments and many have lost their homes.

She has noticed an increase in crime since the foreclosures started. Her house was robbed, her kids' bikes were stolen and she worries about what type of message empty houses send.

The pattern is cropping up in communities across the country, like Cleveland, Ohio, where Mark Wiseman, director of the Cuyahoga County Foreclosure Prevention Program, said there are entire blocks of homes in Cleveland where 60 or 70 percent of houses are boarded up.

"I don't think there are enough police to go after criminals holed up in those houses, squatting or doing drug deals or whatever," Wiseman said.

"And it's not just a problem of a neighborhood filled with people squatting in the vacant houses, it's the people left behind, who have to worry about people taking siding off your home or breaking into your house while you're sleeping."

Health risks are also on the rise. All those empty swimming pools in California's Inland Empire have become breeding grounds for mosquitoes, which can transmit the sometimes deadly West Nile virus, Riverside County officials say.

But it is not just homeowners who are hit by the foreclosure wave. People who rent now find themselves in a tighter, more expensive market as demand rises from families who lost homes, said Jean Beil, senior vice president for programs and services at Catholic Charities USA.

"Folks who would have been in a house before are now in an apartment and folks that would have been in an apartment, now can't afford it," said Beil. "It has a trickle-down effect."

For cities, foreclosures can trigger a range of short-term costs, like added policing, inspection and code enforcement. These expenses can be significant, said Lt. Scott Patterson with the San Bernardino Police Department, but the larger concern is that vacant properties lower home values and in the long-run, decrease tax revenues.

And it all comes at a time when municipalities are ill-equipped to respond. High foreclosure rates and declining home values are sapping property tax revenues, a key source of local funding to tackle such problems.

Earlier this month, U.S. President George W. Bush rolled out a plan to slow foreclosures by freezing the interest rates on some loans. But for many in these parts, the intervention is too little and too late.

Ken Sawa, CEO of Catholic Charities in San Bernardino and Riverside counties, said his organization is overwhelmed and ill-equipped to handle the volume of people seeking help.

"We feel helpless," said Sawa. "Obviously, it's a local problem because it's in our backyard, but the solution is not local."

Go To Full Story

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Friday, December 21, 2007

Alabama's former governor now 'political prisoner'

RAW STORY INVESTIGATES
The Permanent Republican Majority
- Part I: Alabama's former governor now 'political prisoner'
- Part II: A daughter's story
- Part III: Rove role alleged in Alabama race

Thursday, December 20, 2007

Fire At The White House

Yesterday afternoon, the White House confirmed that a quickly contained blaze isolated to a storage room utility closet on the third floor of the Eisenhower Executive Office building destroyed the following records:

all records pertaining to:

All Executive Branch internal correspondence since January, 2001
All RNC computer servers, back-up servers, and archival back-ups
The original Downing Street Memo and associated notes
Valerie Plame and the White House investigation of the leak (W.H. UPDATE: no records of Valerie Plame investigation destroyed as there was no investigation)
Bandar Bush
God's personal correspondence with President Bush including those related to the invasion of Iraq
No-bid Halliburton contracts
War crimes committed by U.S. contractors in Iraq
Troop body armor tests and procurement orders
Jessica Lynch
The pulling down of the Saddam statue by non-Iraqis
All unaccounted for money in Iraq
The "troops" fault to not guard the weapons stockpile in Iraq
Abu Ghraib
Scuttling of the original Abramoff investigation, by the President
Federal court appointees and their qualifications and records
Extraordinary rendition
Negroponte's activities in Iraq
Judith Miller's embedded reporting and using her influence to override generals
Bombing Al-Jazeera television
"Mission Accomplished"
Bribing and threatening of journalists and planting of stories in the U.S and Iraq
Stopping the NY Times from revealing White House secret spying on Americans
Jeff Gannon/Guckert
De-baathification and the breakup of the Iraqi army
Swift Boat vets
Terror alerts
Bumper sticker and T-shirt slogan monitoring
Florida 2000 voter suppression
Florida 2000 election over-votes
Bush v. Gore court papers
Richard Clark's warnings about abandoning anti-terror and a returning to the military-industrial profiteering of the cold war
Pre 9/11 domestic spying
The Vice Presidents Energy Task Force and all meetings dividing up Iraq's oil fields pre 9/11
Bush's vacation records
Enron and all related activities during California's "energy crisis"
The accompanying Gray Davis recall and Ken Lay meetings
The Congressional records relating to passing legislation with last second changes, midnight votes, and the minority excluded from committee meetings.
The Missile defense shield
The U.S. national debt and holders of the debt
The Healthy Forest legislation and associated crop yields
The Clear Skies legislation and new acceptable levels of toxic emissions
Able Danger and the post-it notes hiding Mohammad Atta
The "Bin Laden determined to Strike in U.S." PDB
All copies of "My Pet Goat"
Extrication of Saudis after 9/11, especially Saudis named "Bin Laden"
The 9/11 commission
All confiscated video tapes from 9/11 showing impact with Pentagon
Bush and Cheney's joint un-sworn "conversation" with the 9/11 commission
Library checkout and Amazon shopping records of every American
Bin Laden's actual location after he "escaped" from Tora Bora
Yellowcake documents from Niger
Curveball
Colin Powell's United Nations speech
Ahmad Chalabi
Attempts to dismantle PBS
Using FCC's fines to quash dissent
The IRS collection of political affiliations
Using American troops as speech props for Presidential speeches
Diebold
Ohio voter suppression
Terri Schiavo and the emergency session of Congress
Questioning the full faith and credit of the United States to scare people into dismantling Social Security
Payola related to the Medicare bill
Targeting and surveillance of peace lovers as terrorists
Hurricane Katrina
Oil profits and tens of billions of dollars of general fund giveaways to oil companies
Multiple consecutive tours of combat for National Guardsmen
The $200 million bridges to nowhere
New Orleans levies
Harriet Miers nomination to the Supreme Court
Bill Frist and the FEC and insider trading
Alito and the Vanguard Fund
Bob Ney of Ohio and Coingate
Duke Cunningham of San Diego and related bribes and treason
The U.S. Attorney firings of the U.S. Attorney who prosecuted Duke Cunningham and who was pursuing the investigation to the White House.
Tom Delay's redistricting in TX and using anti-terror assets to track down legislators
Tom Delay's ethics violations
Jack Abramoff
NSA wiretapping without warrants
The failing grade from the 9/11 commission
Data mining and reading your mail
The 5 million missing emails

also destroyed were all records related to:

Bush's cocaine use and failure to take the ANG drug test
Bush's drunk driving
Bush's Texas Air National Guard service
Bush's Arbusto stock sale, Saudi bailout, and lack of SEC follow-up
Bush's insider trading at Harken and Bush 41's quashing of the investigation
Bush's stealing of a public stadium from the taxpayers of Texas
Cheney's Wyoming residency papers
Police response to Cheney shooting a man in the face after drinking
Push-polling smear on John McCain during the 2000 Republican primary
All original video masters of Steven Colbert's Press Corps dinner roast

Countless other records and computer systems were apparently stored in the 3 foot by 3 foot utility closet, the content of which shall be revealed as destroyed as necessary pending any future investigations.

BREAKING: word that the Constitution of the United States was inexplicably consumed by flames in its nuclear blast-proof storage case by a glowing ember that apparently drifted from the Eisenhower Executive Office Building and into a thermal exhaust port that lead directly to the Constitution. No plans to reconstruct the document are pending.

: : :

UPDATE:

Also confirmed destroyed:

All records of clients of the DC Madame
All IMs and emails between Republican congressmen and underage Congressional staffers
Secret Service records of all people having meetings with the President and Vice President since January 2001
All recorded promises, affirmations, and statements by Democratic Congressional leaders to hold the Administration accountable

: : :

UPDATE 2

Continuing reports of records stored in the third floor closet and subsequently destroyed also include all records pertaining to:

Pat Tillman
Free Speech zones
Iranian Nuclear Program National Intelligence Estimate
Guantanamo
FEMA staged news conferences
New Orleans reconstruction contracts
and
Administration banning of U.S. meat companies from inspecting all of their meat

: : :

UPDATE 3

Still more records reported completely destroyed include all items relating to:

Alberto Gonzales' memory (and "meeting" with Ashcroft in hospital)
De-listed superfund toxic waste dump sites
The original Nixon Tapes
"Missing" Weapons of Mass Destruction from Iraq
Bernard Kerik's Homeland Security application form
and tragically
Joe Lieberman's Democratic Party membership card

: : :

UPDATE 4

Apparently the quantity of records destroyed was a result of a broken water pipe that has been scheduled for repair since 2001. As the sprinkler system was not functioning, the Blackwater employees hired to guard the records could only throw more records onto the flames in an attempt to contain them.

Additional records from a neighboring closet presently unaccounted for that are believed to have been destroyed in the fire now include items related to:

All subpoenas issued by the U.S. Congress to White House employees
Walter Reed facility maintenance
NASA's evidence of global warming (redacted and sealed by the administration)
Looting of the Native American Trust Fund
Forensic reports from 2001 anthrax attacks against key Democrats and media
Dubai Ports deal
Under-funding of Russian loose nuclear materials security programs
Guidelines for putting American citizens on no-fly and terror watch lists
The Vice President's red phone that directly connects the Vice-President's office to the on-air Fox news desk (possibly salvageable)

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Is The Media Scamming Americans On The Iraq War

Media Advisory

War Is Over--Say the Pundits
But it's media, not voters, who seem to have lost interest in Iraq
12/19/07

To hear many in the mainstream media tell it, the Iraq War is of diminishing importance to American voters. But the evidence for such a shift in the electorate is thin at best--suggesting that journalists and pundits are really the ones who would rather not talk about Iraq as we head into an election year.

The New York Times offered a glimpse of this argument in a November 25 piece headlined "As Democrats See Security Gains in Iraq, Tone Shifts." The article suggested that "leading Democratic presidential candidates" were having trouble acknowledging "success" in Iraq while still opposing the war: "But the changing situation suggests for the first time that the politics of the war could shift in the general election next year, particularly if the gains continue."

This was carried further a few days later by the Washington Post (11/28/07), where it was reported that the "debate at home over the Iraq war has shifted significantly," a phenomenon that "has strategists in both parties reevaluating their assumptions about how the final year of the Bush presidency and the election to succeed him will play out." The Post suggested that the "evolving public attitudes reflect, or perhaps explain, a turn in Washington as well." The suggestion that Washington might be reacting to subtle changes in public opinion is a curious one; if public sentiment were truly guiding policy, then U.S. troops would have been home long ago.

The idea that the public was ceasing to care so much about Iraq was heard again in the Post on December 3, when pundit Peter Beinart advanced the argument in a column under the headline "Non-Story Remakes the Race." Beinart's lead example was that a recent Democratic candidates' debate featured little talk about the Iraq War. As Beinart put it, "In the biggest surprise of the campaign so far, the election that almost everyone thought would be about Iraq is turning out not to be. And that explains a lot about which candidates are on the rise and which ones are starting to fall."

Beinart also noted that the rate of deaths in Iraq has seemed to decline, so too has the media's interest in covering the war, which is

showing up in the polls. Between June and November, according to NBC and the Wall Street Journal, the percentage of Americans citing Iraq as their top priority fell eight points. A Post survey recently reported a six-point decline since September.

It's worth noting that even with such a decline, Iraq still remains the top concern for voters; in the NBC poll cited by Beinart, for example, Iraq was still 10 points ahead of the next issue (healthcare). Beinart's column was nonetheless the main inspiration for New York Times columnist David Brooks' December 11 "The Postwar Election."

USA Today turned in a similar story on December 5, leading with this claim: "Growing anxiety over the economy, healthcare and immigration rival Iraq as the central issues in the presidential campaign, shifting an election landscape once dominated by the war."

But the very next paragraph explained that the issues that might "rival" the Iraq War were still well behind, since the war "still tops the list of issues cited as most important. It's raised twice as often as the next-ranking issue, the economy." USA Today reporter Susan Page explained on PBS's NewsHour (12/10/07) that the diminishing importance of the Iraq War was obvious in the campaign:

I think it's one of the repercussions of the fact that the surge in Iraq has been working, that the level of violence there has gotten somewhat lower. That's made Iraq less of an issue on the campaign trail. It's still an important issue, but we've seen issues with the economy, the mortgage crisis, health care become more important.

NBC's Tim Russert was sounding the same tune on the December 9 broadcast of NBC Nightly News: "With the surge in Iraq and the level of American deaths declining, it is off the front pages. It looks like it could be a bread-and-butter election, where people are very concerned about their homes, the financing, the economy, those kinds of gut issues." Russert's conclusion was based on polls in three early primary states (Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina), but those surveys painted a mixed picture. New Hampshire Democrats, for example, still ranked Iraq as their most important priority.

It should go without saying that polls in a handful of states should not be mistaken for a notable shift in national priorities. Most national polls suggest that Iraq is hardly fading; according to a recent CBS/NY Times poll (12/5-9/07), when asked to name the most important issue facing the country, the public named the Iraq War by a large margin--twice as many as the next issue (healthcare). NBC Nightly News reporter Savannah Guthrie (12/15/07) nonetheless declared: "For many, many months, the smart thinking was this was going to be all about the war in Iraq, but that's kind of been pushed aside to some degree. Now issues about immigration and the economy [are] taking center stage."

Given the slight evidence, it's unclear why journalists would advance this argument--unless the declining interest in the Iraq War is actually more a media phenomenon than a public one. Beinart's Washington Post column and the paper's November 28 report noted a drop in discussion of the Iraq War in presidential debates. But candidates might talk less about Iraq if the questions posed by journalists are not about the Iraq War. The Post news article suggested this might be the more relevant factor when the paper noted that the "Washington debate has moved on"-- by which they meant:

Bush at his most recent news conference last month was not asked about the Iraq war until the 10th question. Not a single Iraq question came up at four of White House press secretary Dana Perino's seven full-fledged briefings this month.

The discussion permitted by the media inevitably affects voters' feelings about major issues: If Iraq is absent from the front pages of newspapers or rarely discussed on network newscasts, the war will become a lesser concern for U.S. citizens. The media, however, seem to want us to believe that their choices have no effect on public opinion, that viewers and readers arrive at conclusions about the state of the world independent of what is on their television screens or newspaper front pages.

On December 12, the deadliest car bombing in months killed dozens of Iraqis. The news elicited brief mentions on the network newscasts, and was buried deep inside the Washington Post and New York Times. Was it the public who decided to treat this as a non-story?

Feel free to respond to FAIR ( fair@fair.org ). We can't reply to everything, but we will look at each message. We especially appreciate documented examples of media bias or censorship. And please send copies of your correspondence with media outlets, including any responses, to fair@fair.org.

Source

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Sunday, December 16, 2007

Sen. Joseph Lieberman To Complete Betrayal

Sen. Joseph Lieberman, who was on the national Democratic ticket in
2000, will cross the aisle to endorse Sen. John McCain tomorrow,
according to Republican sources.

Full story

Saturday, December 15, 2007

Video: Giuliani firm 'made millions' off data mining

As reported by Time Magazine, Giuliani's private consulting firm, Giuliani Partners, received a $6.5 million windfall for helping a tech company called Seisint Inc. land government contracts for a massive data-mining program — a system the firm said could help fight terror by using supercomputers to store "billions of pieces of information from public records."

The problem, write Time's Michael Weiskopf and Massimo Calabresi, is that "the payment of percentages or commissions to 'solicit or secure' government contracts is prohibited by federal law and laws of some states."

An unnamed source at Giuliani Partners told the magazine that the firm had never received commissions, however, labeling the money instead as "special bonuses" that wouldn't run afoul of federal law.

"Meanwhile, Seisint's premier product–MATRIX–had proved controversial," continues Time. "The databases it searched contained personal histories of millions of Americans, their relatives, past addresses, property records and credit ratings. Civil-liberties groups said MATRIX would create detailed data profiles of innocent Americans."

The following video is from MSNBC's COUNTDOWN with Keith Olbermann, broadcast on December 13, 2007

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Thursday, December 13, 2007

Lawmakers vote to hold Bolten and Rove in contempt

Breaking: Lawmakers vote to hold Bolten and Rove in contempt

The Senate Judiciary Committee voted on Thursday to hold two top aides to President George W. Bush in contempt of Congress for refusing to cooperate in its probe of fired federal prosecutors. On a largely party-line vote of 11-7, the Democratic-led panel sent contempt citations against White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten and former Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove to the full Senate for consideration.

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Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Obama Goes Negative

Presidential contender Senator Barack Obama released an opposition research paper on John Edwards in response to requests from a local union (United Auto Workers Region 4.) It was full of cheap shots; one of which may come back to haunt the "positive" candidate. From an ABC News blog;

The cheapest shot ... that Edwards somehow has something to do with Whirlpool when the company was closing down Maytag plants in Iowa, Illinois, and Arkansas.

Why is that a cheap shot? Because the link is that Edwards worked for the controversial Fortress Hedge Fund while it owned stock in Whirlpool as it was shutting down those plants.

But some argue a far more direct link exists between Obama and those plants shutting down.

The Crown family -- Lester, Renee, James, Paula -- have been supporters, fundraisers, and bundlers for Obama.

Lester Crown was on the board of Maytag when it decided to shut down a plant in Galesburg, Illinois, and sent those jobs to Mexico.

In August 2005, Crain's Chicago Business reported that the Crowns stood "to reap an estimated $86 million from the sale of appliance maker Maytag Corp. to rival Whirlpool Corp. After a bidding war, Newton, Iowa-based Maytag agreed Monday to sell to Whirlpool for $21 a share in cash and stock. Maytag has said the Crowns hold about 4.1 million shares."

Shortly after that merger was announced, Whirlpool shut down those plants in Iowa, Illinois, and Arkansas.

Do I think Obama is responsible for the plants shutting down? Nope.

But he should know better than to attack Edwards on the same subject.

This episode illustrates the fine line candidates walk- trying to chop rivals off at the knees while avoiding accusations of negative campaigning and attack ads.

Immigration, Open Borders and the "Reagan Democrats"

Immigration, Open Borders and the "Reagan Democrats" - Devising a Democratic Strategy

(NOTE: This item was originally posted at The Daily Strategist on November 27, 2008. Like the item immediately below on national security, it represents another in a series of "Strategy Memos" that deal with large, long-term strategic challenges facing Democrats.)

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Saturday, December 08, 2007

Despite Media Pounding Sen. Clinton's lead remains very large and deep

Despite Oprah Winfrey's support for Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, New York Sen. Hillary Clinton has overwhelming leads, especially among women, in Democratic primaries in three critical swing states, Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania, according to Quinnipiac University's Swing State Poll, three simultaneous surveys of voters in states that have been pivotal in presidential elections since 1964.

In each state, Clinton is seen as the best candidate in either party to handle the immigration issue. By substantial majorities, almost 4 - 1 in Ohio and Pennsylvania, voters favor immigration reform that emphasizes stricter enforcement of laws against illegal immigrants rather than integrating illegal immigrants into American society.

And 20 to 25 percent of voters in each state would vote against a presidential candidate who disagreed with them on immigration policy, even if they agreed on everything else.

"These Democratic primary numbers are a good indication that despite the tight three-way race in Iowa, the fight for the nomination is not very close and that Sen. Clinton's lead remains very large and deep," said Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.

"The vast majority of voters think the primary focus of immigration reform is about stricter enforcement rather than integrating illegal immigrants into American society - although that is slightly less true among Democrats than voters overall," Brown added.

"There are also a significant number of voters who say immigration could be a deal-breaker in their presidential vote."

A look at the primaries shows:

Florida: Clinton tops Obama 53 - 17 percent among all Democrats and 56 - 13 percent among women. Former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards gets 7 percent.

READ THE POLL

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