Gallup’s “Likely Voters” Poll: A Snapshot Or A Hypothesis?

Didn’t Television tell us Guiliani and Clinton would win their nominations?

The media lies. Read more blogs.

(just like everything else)

” MANASSAS, Va., July 29, 2008 /PRNewswire-USNewswire via COMTEX/ — The following is a statement by Richard A. Viguerie, Chairman of ConservativeHQ.com, regarding the White House projection of a $482 billion deficit for Fiscal Year 2009:
‘The White House has issued figures indicating that President Bush and his enablers in Congress will leave his successor with a budget deficit of $482 Billion for Fiscal Year 2009, which is a record. How’s that for a legacy?
‘As shocking as this deficit figure is, that’s still not the true scope of our budget woes because it excludes $80 billion in war costs and $227 billion borrowed from the Social Security Trust Fund. The real budget deficit is therefore $789 billion.’”

Read more from marketwatch.com

Ohio 2004
Yes, there is a long-standing trial about voter fraud in Ohio’s 2004 election

Karl Rove Threatens IT Guru
According to this post on The Brad Blog: “In his email to [Attorney General] Mukasey today, [Ohio Attorney] Arnebeck writes: ‘We have been confidentially informed by a source we believe to be credible that Karl Rove has threatened Michael Connell, a principal witness we have identified in our King Lincoln case in federal court in Columbus, Ohio, that if he does not agree to “take the fall” for election fraud in Ohio, his wife Heather will be prosecuted for supposed lobby law violations.’”

(Another) Attempted Citizens’ Arrest
“Four Iowans were arrested today while attempting to make a Citizens’ Arrest of Karl Rove in Des Moines, Iowa. Citing Iowa Code provisions for making Citizen’s Arrests as well as citing Federal Statute violations they claimed Rove had violated, the four were stopped at the gate of the Wakonda Country Club in Des Moines where Rove was scheduled to speak at a Republican Fundraiser.

. . . .

The four maintained that they were acting within the guidelines of Iowa Code that obligate private citizens to make such an arrest if they believe a felony has been committed and turn Rove over to police officials to bring Rove before a judge for formal indictment. By law, a federal judge should consider the charges and determine if an indictment should be made.” (read more at democraticunderground.com)

Here’s what I know. Here’s what I see:

Since Joint Chiefs Chairman Admiral Mullen visited Israel early this month, the consensus among bloggers has been that an Iran strike by the U.S. is off the table. Worldtribune.com has even reported that an attack in 2008 is off the table for Israel, and a nascent diplomatic effort seems to have formed in the White House. I’m relieved, but the drama continues:

Predictably, The neo-con voices in the media are in a tizzy:

MSNBC’s Fred Kagan said the only way to force Iran to halt its nuclear program is to attack. (Video Here)

John Bolton said the U.S. should help Israel strike Iran. “We will be blamed for the strike anyway, and certainly feel whatever negative consequences result, so there is compelling logic to make it as successful as possible.” Bolton also predicted that Israel will attack between the U.S. election and inauguration. This ex-Mossad chief agrees.

The reason for this window is that the Israeli war crowd wants to attack while the current administration is in power, but fears an attack would tilt the election toward Obama. (They prefer McCain)

The issue continues to feature prominently in our politics. Obama has adopted an increasingly hostile tone toward Iran, barely distinguishable from McCain’s.

Meanwhile, our ever-obsequious Congress is considering House Resolution 326, which would pretty much guarantee a war with Iran. The anti-war movement (whose existence Big Media does not acknowledge) has had some success pushing back against this idiotic legislation.

“Ron Paul: Housing Rescue Bill Has Provision That Will Require All Credit Card Transactions Be Reported To The IRS

Texas Congressman Ron Paul, in a 7 minute video message, has spilled the beans on the so called “Housing Rescue” bill just passed by the House, and soon to be passed by the Senate.

The bill is some 600 pages long. Sneaked into the bill is a provison that will require that all credit card transactions be reported to the IRS.

Further, the bill gives approval to increase the national debt by $800 billion. It also requires that those in the mortgage industry be fingerprinted.

With 600 pages, who knows what else was sneaked into this bill? With 600 pages of legalese, you can sneak in a lot. Once the report is in its final form, we are going to attempt to read it,and file a complete report.”

video at economicpolicyjournal.com

Who the hell are these people? And why don’t they step forward and explain themselves?

UPDATE:
-The Senate has passed this duplicitous, exploitative, 600-page-long legislation.

“Last month Congressman Ron Paul, ranking member of the Subcommittee on Domestic and International Monetary Policy called for a hearing on the relationship between the falling value of the dollar and the recent rise of oil prices. That hearing request has been granted and scheduled for July 24 at 2:00pm.”

Read more form campaignforliberty.com

“Without [Ron Paul], it’d be a lot of bootlicking questions and waving of incense before the sacred Ben.”

See video clip at campaignforliberty.com

SEE ALSO:

Ron Paul vs the Fed

“According to an Associated Press report, when Kucinich tried to introduce similar articles of impeachment against Dick Cheney last November, “Republicans, seeing a chance to force Democrats into an embarrassing debate, voted to bring up the resolution. Democrats countered by pushing through a motion to scuttle the bill from the floor.”

The bullshit they are trying to make us swallow is that Democrats are shunning Kucinich because they think a debate about impeachment would harm their chances of winning the presidency.

In reality, as far back as November 2005, polls showed that the majority of Americans supported impeachment on the basis of Bush lying about the invasion of Iraq, which is specifically what Kucinich’s single article of impeachment that he will present on Friday addresses.

Likewise, latest polls show that almost 70% of Americans oppose the war in Iraq, with anti-war sentiment swelling the longer the occupation drags on.

Support for a withdrawal from Iraq and the impeachment of George W. Bush is wildly popular with the majority of the electorate that will vote in November, so why are top Democrats doing everything in their power to prevent Kucinich from drawing attention to the matter?”

Read More from prisonplanet.com

They told him: “Oh, you have love in your culture?”

-Award winning Gaza journalist assaulted by Shin Bet
-He details his ordeal on Democracy Now
-The Dutch government says it is shocked by Mohammed Omer’s treatment. The former ambassador Jan Wijenberg said: “This is by no means an isolated incident, but part of a long-term strategy to demolish Palestinian social, economic and cultural life … I am aware of the possibility that Mohammed Omer might be murdered by Israeli snipers or bomb attack in the near future.”

This great article from thepeoplesvoice.org discusses the economic impact of Iraq and includes many book excerpts including the following:

One of the most pernicious economic myths is the idea that war helps the economy. In reality, war is destructive and it always results in economic retrogression and misery. The US economy didn’t really recover until 1946, when the immediate postwar period witnessed the dismantling of the command economy in favor of a much more liberalized market economy. Peace brought military demobilization, deregulation, and perhaps most importantly, a seventy-five percent reduction in government spending. This was a genuine peace dividend and it set the stage for America’s legendary post-war economic boom.
–War and Economic Decline

Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz has blamed the Iraq war for sending the United States into a recession. On Wednesday, he told a London think tank that the war caused the credit crunch and the housing crisis that are propelling the current economic downturn. Testifying before the Senate’s Joint Economic Committee the following day, he said our involvement in Iraq has long been “weakening the American economy” and “a day of reckoning” has finally arrived.
–Is the Economy a Casualty of War?

Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz has blamed the Iraq war for sending the United States into a recession. On Wednesday, he told a London think tank that the war caused the credit crunch and the housing crisis that are propelling the current economic downturn. Testifying before the Senate’s Joint Economic Committee the following day, he said our involvement in Iraq has long been “weakening the American economy” and “a day of reckoning” has finally arrived.
–Is the Economy a Casualty of War?

For big government we now have “The Perfect War,” everywhere and nowhere, secret and interminable. The war will justify ever expanding police powers, higher taxes, and more controls over the citizenry. You can see easily how Washington thrives on war. Since Sept 11th, there have been no nasty challenges to government spending and waste, no tedious debates over things like social security “lockboxes,” nor “political” attacks upon the Presidency. Congressmen and Think Tank experts get lots of TV time and most everyone jumps to obey government orders and support more regulations. Any groups opposed to American military interventions overseas appear unpatriotic and are marginalized, while press coverage of the war is restricted, using the last Gulf War as a model. Big Government, as Orwell wrote, thrives from unwinnable wars; it doesn’t get any better than this.
–John Basil Utley, Alternative to Unending War, Ludwig von Mises Institute

Read more from telegraph.co.uk

Now imagine Iran supplying them with money, guns, training and propaganda, like we’re doing in various countries around the world.

“Panama has ruled out hosting a US military base to replace one in Ecuador which is being reclaimed by the Quito government, a senior Panamanian official said on Friday. (Reuters)”

Read more from ynetnews.com

“Before the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the portrayal of torture on network television was a rarity. But the moment piqued interest in Hollywood and led to dozens of television and movie story lines in which American heroes deal with uncooperative antagonists who hold critical information about an imminent attack.

By 2003, the first year of the war in Iraq, there were 228 instances in which torture was portrayed on network TV, according to Human Rights First, a civil liberties group that advocates governments banning torture.

Human Rights First last year launched a campaign to push Hollywood writers and producers away from portrayals of torture as a useful interrogation technique.

. . . .

The group’s highest-profile target has been the Fox hit “24,” a thriller in which protagonist Jack Bauer, played by Kiefer Sutherland, used torture—from staging a mock execution of a detainee’s child to shocking a captive—at least 89 times in the show’s first six seasons.

Army officials have met with the show’s writers and producers to express concern that Bauer’s methods are sending the wrong messages to service members.

. . .

‘The problem with the ticking time-bomb situation is that it’s not real,’ said David Danzig, the director of Human Rights First’s Primetime Torture project. “The problem with ‘24,’ when we’re rooting for Jack Bauer torturing the bad guy or when Hollywood shows waterboarding producing the result of the bad guy giving up good information that saves the day, is that gathering good intelligence doesn’t work that way.” Read more from chicagotribune.com

“WASHINGTON – July 11 – Three retired military leaders sent a letter to lawmakers urging them to abandon a resolution currently making its way through Congress that might lead to a blockade or the use of force against Iran. The retired military leaders say H.Con.Res. 362 is ‘poorly conceived, poorly timed, and potentially dangerous.’” Read more from commondreams.org

See full text of the letter by Lt. General Robert G. Gard, Jr., U.S. Army (ret.); former Assistant Secretary of Defense Dr. Lawrence J. Korb; and Vice Admiral Jack Shanahan, U.S. Navy (ret.)

“U.S. and Iraqi negotiators have abandoned efforts to conclude a comprehensive agreement governing the long-term status of U.S troops in Iraq before the end of the Bush presidency, according to senior U.S. officials, effectively leaving talks over an extended U.S. military presence there to the next administration.

In place of the formal status-of-forces agreement negotiators had hoped to complete by July 31, the two governments are now working on a ‘bridge’ document, more limited in both time and scope, that would allow basic U.S. military operations to continue beyond the expiration of a U.N. mandate at the end of the year.” Read more from washingtonpost.com

The negotiation will be left to the next administration. My translation: Bush and company want to rule Iraq, stay indefinately, and use it as a staging ground to attack Iran, and the Iraqis said no.