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POPSAhmadinejad: Israel Is Doomed Ahmadinejad used an Arabic word, ismihlal, that can also be translated as destruction, death and collapse. "Nations of the region hate this criminal fabricated regime (Israel) and will uproot this fabricated regime if the smallest and shortest opportunity is given to them," Ahmadinejad said Wednesday in an address broadcast live on state television. He spoke hours after President Bush arrived in Israel for the anniversary celebrations.
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POPSBob Barr Plans To Enter Presidential Contest As Libertarian and says federal authorities have seized powers not granted by the constitution, and believes US forces should be brought home from Iraq. The Libertarian Party stands for non-interference by the US government in the personal and business lives of Americans, and advocates lower taxes, a smaller government and more individual freedom. The 59-year-old said he was not concerned about the prospect of damaging McCain, possibly among conservative voters whom the Republican candidate has had trouble courting. Independent and third parties have faced a tough task in modern US election history of breaking the dominance of the Democratic and Republican parties, though several candidates have played a spoiler role. Many Democrats still blame consumer advocate Ralph Nader, who has already announced a 2008 run, for depressing former vice president Al Gore's vote in 2000, and helping George W. Bush to capture the presidency.
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POPSBattle Of the Proxy Incumbents Fiction can be fun! Ultimately though, this fanciful bit of twaddle is unlikely to stick, what with McCain's voting record so thoroughly refuting it. And in a lot of ways, that's too bad. If only we could look back at McCain's votes and comments on the wildly effective investment income tax cuts and find a man who embraced pro-growth fiscal policy as eagerly as Bush, we might be better assured of the continuity of certain beneficial policies that Obama so laments.
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POPSOil Prices Require More Than Congressional Accusations He was correct to remind Americans that if we want to lower the cost of energy we must be willing to use our own resources, whether they are natural or those we can build, rather than rely upon others to provide for our needs. After all, isn’t self-reliance part of the American spirit. We should not recontributely on foreign governments, many of which are volatile, to supply our energy needs, nor should our large farmers rely on Federal Government handouts to prop up their financially lucrative businesses. President Bush was correct to note that Congressional support for farm subsidies will do little other than contribute to the rising prices of food. He was correct to remind Americans that if we want to lower the cost of energy we must be willing to use our own resources, whether they are natural or those we can build, rather than rely upon others to provide for our needs.
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POPS Last Gasp For Olmert's Political Career? Calls for his resignation came from left, right and center although all acknowledged that by vowing, as he did Thursday night, to resign if charged, Olmert had won himself time. The investigation will probably take another month or two. "The public doesn't have too much more patience," Colette Avital, a member of Parliament from the Labor Party, a partner in the governing coalition with Olmert's Kadima party, asserted in a typical comment. "He is simply discredited. It may take some more weeks or even months, but he won't be able to go on." "We may end up with an Iranian mini-state in Lebanon as well as one in Gaza, and the political trouble in Jerusalem makes it much harder for Israel to react as it should," Steinitz added. "But, of course, this is not just a problem for Israel but for the whole Western world, especially the United States and France."
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POPSOil-Rich States Starve the World Food Program The OPEC total amounts to roughly one minute and 10 seconds worth of the organization’s estimated $674 billion in annual oil revenues in 2007 — revenues that will be vastly exceeded in 2008 with the continuing spiral in world oil prices. This year, the U.S. had contributed $362.7 million to WFP just through May 4, according to the website. That figure does not include another $250 million above the planned yearly contribution that was promised by President George W. Bush in the wake of WFP’s April warning that a “silent tsunami” of rising food costs would add dramatically to the world population living in hunger. Nor does it include another $770 million in food aid that President Bush has asked Congress to provide as soon as possible. On the other hand, Saudi Arabia, with oil revenues last year of $164 billion, does not even appear on the website donor list for 2008.
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POPSWhat Would Reverend Jeremiah Wright Do? In an emotional testimony he tells the world how, as he was watching YouTube clips of the Reverend, a voice said "Follow this man." He then made his hajj to Chicago, joining Rev. Wright's congregation. Everyone is acepted under Jeremiah Wright's large tent as long as they accept a few simple dogmas and agree to repeat them five times a day during prayers: * Being White is immoral. Every White person is guilty of conspiring against the Blacks * Being rich is immoral. Every rich person is guilty of conspiring against the poor * America is the infamous product of conspiracy by rich White males to create the source of all evil. Later it turned even more evil under the rule of Zionist puppet masters. * Jesus was a homeless African-American male who fell victim to a conspiracy of the rich Whites against the poor Blacks that resulted in racial profiling, followed by torture and crucifiction * The 10 Commandments are optional.
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POPSEurope's New Pro-American Direction Europe’s new political configuration has already partially manifested itself in NATO’s decision in Bucharest to support deployment of U.S. missile defense assets in Poland and the Czech Republic. Even the Bucharest Summit, however, reveals continuing problems, such as Europe’s reluctance to start Ukraine and Georgia on the path toward ultimate NATO membership. For both America and Europe’s leading nations, therefore, the diplomatic chances of preventing Iran from achieving its objectives are rapidly diminishing. Although tough sanctions are at this point almost certainly too late, they would at least demonstrate that Italy and other Europeans are preparing for the even more difficult step that may be required, namely changing the regime in Tehran, or, as a last resort, the targeted use of military force against Iran’s nuclear program.
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POPSSupreme Court Judges: Judge, Not Legislate But just as McCain has asked voters to check his opponents' track record, a glance at his is heartening. McCain, unlike a number of fellow GOP senators, voted in favor of Ronald Reagan's failed nomination of Robert Bork to the Supreme Court. And as National Review Online's Jim Geraghty notes, McCain characterized as "a largely unknown quantity" George H.W. Bush's nomination of Justice David Souter — who now usually votes with the high court's liberal contingent. We know that Sens. Clinton and Obama want the federal judiciary to be a liberal quasi-legislature. McCain this week committed himself to buttressing the federal courts' integrity as what they were meant to be: nonpolitical tribunals, dedicated to upholding the Constitution.
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POPSLadies and Gentlemen! Comrades!
In the absence of classical Marxist preconditions for the Revolution - global crisis of capitalism combined with massive poverty and despair - Global Warming stands out as the most convenient, non-denominational replacement thereof. It provides both the means to manipulate the masses - and a moral justification for doing so. As such it replaces the previously promising but failed agitprop tools as "Overpopulation," "Ozone Holes," "Global Famine," and "Ice Age 2." Until the time when it gets replaced by another convenient agitprop tool, Global Warming must remain an unquestionable dogma in all political discussions (you shall be notified of changes, if any, by the NPR, the New York Times, and other progressive media organs.) The importance of Global Warming for the Revolution is too great to leave it in the hands of scientists. The masses must have faith in Global Warming whether it can be proven or not. http://www.thepeoplescube.com/red/viewtopic.php?t=1096
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POPSPelosi To President Bush On Gas Prices
Your support is the more critical as your Administration has failed to persuade OPEC to increase their oil production, despite your influence with OPEC nations. The New Direction Congress is providing forward-looking leadership that will fuel America’s energy future, save Americans’ money, create good jobs, improve our national security, and preserve our planet for our children. This critical issue needs Presidential leadership and I urge you to please join us to address the skyrocketing price at the pump. best regards, NANCY PELOSI House GOP challenges Pelosi for gas price plan House Republican leaders on Tuesday challenged Nancy Pelosi to release a plan to lower gas prices that they say Democrats touted when they were in the minority. (Press release dated April 24, 2006, Pelosi said, “Democrats have a commonsense plan to help bring down skyrocketing gas prices.....) http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/house-gop-challenges-pelosi-for-gas-price-plan-2008-04-22.html
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POPSCitizen Petition To Stop Al Gore Tax & Climate Alarmism By my signature below I hereby join the growing number of scientists and informed citizens deeply concerned by the dire predictions and proposed solutions of Climate Alarmists. Fears that mankind has created a ‘planetary emergency’ are scientifically unfounded, and as such the doomsday predictions of Climate Alarmists are irresponsible and dangerous. Also, the solutions proposed by Climate Alarmists would have a harmful and possibly devastating impact on our economy, without any detectable climatic impact let alone benefit. http://www.grassfire.org/106/petition.asp?PID=16245502
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POPSThe ‘Useful Idiots’ Of Militant Islam
Saudi-funded publications admonish Muslims in America “to dissociate from infidels, hate them for their religion, never to rely on them for support, and always oppose them in every way according to Islamic law.” The question: how was it that among the estimated five million Muslim Americans with hugely varied institutions, the president’s advisors picked a Saudi Islamofascist ghetto as a venue? A major New York Times Magazine article argued fervently on behalf of “Islamic democrats” singing the praises of a reborn Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. An essay in Foreign Affairs, a weighty establishment publication titled “The Moderate Muslim Brotherhood.” Mild Islamism is an oxymoron. Sharia law, which sanctions beating of wives and stoning for adultery, is irreconcilable with human rights. The Muslim Brotherhood founded Hamas, calls suicide bombings a good thing, and is the 21st-century version of the organized fascism of Hitler and Mussolini in the last century.
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POPSBush Raises Temp On Global Warming Granted, President Bush doesn't intend for his simple decision to offer legislation to regulate carbon emissions to have such catastrophic consequences. But then, by this point, he should be quite familiar with the concept of unintended consequences. And he needs to recognize that he cannot pass "sensible" legislation. (I have serious doubts that any legislation on this topic could be sensible.) All he can do is set the stage for next year's legislation by giving away the rhetorical store and weakening the already modest backbone of Republican legislators. The liberal world order will not let go of their global warming assault on free economies until hell freezes over -- by which point, obviously, the global warming theory will be visibly disproved.
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POPSBush To Speak On Reducing Greenhouse Emissions (continued)_Net emissions rise. There also isn't any viable legal instrument that will significantly alter the rate of warming. The Kyoto Protocol, which is pretty much moribund, would reduce surface warming by 0.07 degrees Centigrade every fifty years, an amount too small to measure. Kyoto failed because, by and large, no nation could meet its modest emission reduction targets."
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POPSNATO Leaders Agree To Endorse U.S. Missile Defense Plans The endorsement is contained in a communique that the leaders of the 26-nation military alliance will adopt Thursday during their summit being held here, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity ahead of the statement's release. The statement calls on all NATO members to explore ways in which the planned U.S. project, to be based in Poland and the Czech Republic, can be linked with future missile shields elsewhere. It says leaders should come up with recommendations to be considered at their next meeting in 2009, the officials said.
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POPSMedia Ignore OPEC’s Control Of Oil Market
OPEC was created in 1960 by Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela. It now includes nine other oil-producing nations – Algeria, Angola, Ecuador, Indonesia, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. “In the period between World War II and the formation of OPEC, the inflation-adjusted price of oil fluctuated little,” he wrote. “From 1970-1980, however, the real price of oil rose by about 1,300 percent. Between 1980 and 1986, it dropped by about two-thirds. It was fairly steady between 1986-1997, fell farther in 1997-1998, and then nearly quadrupled after February 1999. This is stability?” Taylor predicted in 2004 – when oil was around $31.50 a barrel – that “if OPEC disappeared tomorrow, oil prices would drop to somewhere around $8 a barrel and gasoline prices would almost certainly be south of $1 a gallon. A price collapse of that magnitude would do more for consumer welfare and the overall health of the American economy than President Bush...."
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POPSTax Dollars Supporting Countries That Undermine American Ideals And Interests Use the form to e-mail President Bush, demanding that American aid dollars be for countries committed to upholding our democratic and free-market ideals. In addition, the US Trade and Development Agency has recently authorized nearly $400,000 of for a study on a proposed rail line between a coal mine in Southern Mongolia and the railroad. In other words, taxpayer-funded foreign aid to Mongolia is being used to undermine American ideals and interests, and embolden anti-freedom elites not only in Mongolia, but in Moscow as well. Why is Mongolia flouting Western interests and ideals despite our nation’s generosity, you ask? Simply put, the Russians and a few elite Mongolians would benefit if Western firms were forced to stop doing business in Mongolia and the region. This is an outrage that must not go unchecked
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POPSUS Supremes To Bush "Don't Mess With Texas"
President George W. Bush urged that Medellin be allowed new hearings and sentencing. The President's decision came after an international consulate determined that Medellin was improperly denied access to his consulate before his original prosecution, which is a violation of a treaty signed by the United States during the 1963 Vienna Convention. The 6-3 vote means the pending execution of Medellin can proceed. He faces lethal injection for two slayings. Chief Justice John Roberts voted for the execution. Roberts was supported in his position by Justices John Paul Stevens, Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy, Clarence Thomas, and Samuel Alito. Justice Stephen Breyer, Justices David Souter and Ruth Bader Ginsburg voted in the negative At age 18, Medellin participated in the June 1993 gang rape and murder of two Harris County, Texas, girls: Jennifer Ertman, 14, and Elizabeth Pena, 16. He was convicted of the crimes and sentenced to death. He has been on death row in Texas ever sin
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POPSExpenses At U.N. Balloon 25 Percent U.S. Demands on Body Help Drive Up Budget The additional funds in the latest request would be used to renovate the landmark U.N. headquarters in New York, fund war-crimes investigators in Lebanon and pay $100 million to build a reinforced, attack-resistant U.N. headquarters building in Baghdad. But they would also be used to pay nearly $7 million for a 2009 anti-racism conference in Durban, South Africa, which Washington believes would serve as a forum to bash Israel. Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, insists that the organization will have to find savings or live without its new programs. On the eve of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, Bush spoke before the U.N. General Assembly and challenged the institution to enforce the resolution requiring Saddam Hussein to disarm, suggesting that the institution's reason for being was at stake: "Will the United Nations serve the purpose of its founding, or will it be irrelevant?"
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POPSClinton, McCain, Obama's Passport Files Snooped State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the violations of McCain and Clinton's passport files were not discovered until Friday, after officials were made aware of the unauthorized access of Obama's records and a separate search was conducted.
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POPSBush's Letter Puts Putin In A Good Mood
Two Cold War-era agreements -- The Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe, which Russia suspended last year, and the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, which expires next year -- will also be addressed. A source in the Defense Ministry said progress was only likely if Rice and Gates "bring with them new proposals that take into account Moscow's concerns," Itar-Tass reported. But the Pentagon's Morrell reiterated on the sidelines of Monday's meeting that nothing new was on the table. "We come armed with no new proposals," he said, adding that the purpose of this visit was to demonstrate that the United States planned to "stand by its proposals. We are not going to sweeten them." Putin's guardedly positive statement Monday came in contrast to efforts by both sides ahead of the talks to dampen expectations for any significant progress on the missile-defense issue. U.S. officials stressed that they would not make any new offers, while Moscow said new overtures were necessa
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POPSQ&A: Weak Dollar, Record High Oil And Gas Prices What about the U.S. economic slowdown? Isn't that supposed to reduce demand a bit, and theoretically lower prices? The decoupling question. What's your best guess about whether we're going to experience a recession? You mean new cuts the Fed may yet make? Or cuts the Fed has already made? The limp dollar has prompted a bickerfest between President Bush, who's been urging the OPEC oil nations to produce more oil so prices will fall, and OPEC leaders, who say the problem isn't limited production but the weak dollar and economic woes in the United States.
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POPSObama's Very Close With Racist Preacher Rev.Wright In light of the criticism of Bush’s injecting “too much religion” in his presidency or that his administration is just like a ”Christian Taliban”, it is also a legitimate question to ask, where are those same accusers when this 2007 speech by Barack Obama is so filled with religious fervor? Where are the anti-religious left and the so-called separation of Church and Staters at now? In fact, this entire speech is filled with nothing but class warfare, expansions of social programs, raising the minimum wage, typical great society type junk all couched squarely as a civic responsibility enmeshed with Obama's view of Biblical precepts. But, that boiler plate aside, there was two very interesting segments in Obama's remarks concerning his racist "spiritual mentor," Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Jr. that are not getting the press it deserves. (See the video at Channel 2 News Chicago) http://cbs2chicago.com/video/?id=33004@wbbm.dayport.com
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POPSOPEC's Fear Prices Will Drop By $30 A Barrel OPEC's biggest fear is that this is a bubble ($100+) and that prices will drop by $30 a barrel "The market continues to be well supplied," Rex Tillerson, the chairman and chief executive of Exxon Mobil, said at a conference in New York. "There has been no interruption of supplies." Ali al-Naimi, Saudi Arabia's oil minister, said there was no need to increase supplies by "even one barrel of oil." But he stressed that Saudi Arabia, the world's top exporter, would keep oil markets well supplied. As a sign of how seriously it sees its role, Naimi told reporters that the kingdom was pumping 9.2 million barrels, "day in, day out," or roughly 300,000 barrels a day above its formal OPEC target. The oil cartel, which is next scheduled to meet in September, indicated it might call for an emergency meeting earlier depending on "market conditions."
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POPSUnited Nations-Backed Proposal $845 Billion Obama Bill 
OBAMA’S GLOBAL POVERTY ACT IS WORTHY OF McCAIN’S ATTENTION BECAUSE HE MAY have the opportunity to vote on it. ON FEBRUARY 13, OBAMA HIMSELF ISSUED A PRESS RELEASE HAILING PASSAGE OF THE BILL in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. His press release said that his bill makes it official U.S. policy to achieve “the Millennium Development Goal of cutting extreme global poverty in half by 2015” and that the president must do this through the use of “measurable goals,” certain “efforts,” and “benchmarks” and “timetables.” An inquiring reporter might ask: what is the Millennium Development Goal? And what is the cost of such a gargantuan effort? But we have few inquiring reporters these days. Rather than explore the nature of a United Nations-backed proposal that could cost $845 billion, reporters at the New York Times did a story featuring the alleged relationship with a female lobbyist. Ironically, the liberal Times had endorsed McCain as the best Republican in the presidential race.
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POPSBipartisan Crimes Against The Constitution But it was not treated as a treaty in the U.S. Clinton submitted NAFTA as an agreement, requiring only a majority of votes in both Houses of Congress for passage, and not a treaty, requiring a two-thirds vote in favor in the Senate. NAFTA passed by votes of 234-200 in the House and 61-38 in the Senate. Clinton did it this way because he didn't have the votes to pass NAFTA as a treaty (requiring 67 votes) in the Senate. But how did he pull off such a blatantly illegal and unconstitutional move? Although the strict text of the U.S. Constitution includes the treaty clause as the only means by which the U.S. can enter into such international agreements, there's a growing body of mostly liberal-left "legal opinion" that holds that "congressional-executive agreements" like NAFTA can serve as substitutes for treaties.
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POPSNorth American Army Created Without OK By Congress
In Canada, the agreement paving the way for the militaries of the U.S. and Canada to cross each other's borders to fight domestic emergencies was not announced either by the Harper government or the Canadian military, prompting sharp protest. "It's kind of a trend when it comes to issues of Canada-U.S. relations and contentious issues like military integration," Stuart Trew, a researcher with the Council of Canadians told the Canwest News Service. "We see that this government is reluctant to disclose information to Canadians..... In Nov. 2007, WND published a six-part exclusive series, detailing WND's on-site presence during the NORAD-USNORTHCOM Vigilant Shield 2008, an exercise which involved Canada Command as a participant. In an exclusive interview with WND during Vigilant Shield 2008, Gen. Renuart affirmed USNORTHCOM would deploy U.S. troops on U.S. soil should the president declare a domestic emergency in which the Department of Defense ordered USNORTHCOM involvement.
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POPSMcCain To Obama: Al-Qaeda Is In Iraq TYLER, Texas Republican presidential hopeful John McCain mocked Barack Obama's view of al-Qaeda in Iraq, and the Democratic contender responded that GOP policies brought the terrorist group there. The exchange Wednesday underscored that the two consider each other likely general election rivals, even though the Democratic contest remains unresolved. McCain said he had not watched Tuesday night's debate but was told of Obama's response when asked whether as president he would reserve the right to send U.S. troops back into Iraq to quell an insurrection or civil war. Obama didn't say whether he'd send troops but said: "As commander in chief, I will always reserve the right to make sure that we are looking out for American interests. And if al-Qaeda is forming a base in Iraq, then we will have to act in a way that secures the American homeland and our interests abroad."
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POPSFour Wrong Reasons For Pessimism On the Economy Continued.:It is also less than 1% of the market capitalization of U.S. stocks. In any typically volatile trading day U.S. stocks gain or lose $150 billion every hour. How often does one hear that? "Surely that $150 billion will grow," you say. No doubt. Let's say the amount of bad paper doubles or triples. Would that finally bring the U.S. economy to its knees? I don't think so. The nearest historical comparison we have is the savings-and-loan crisis of 1986--95. On a constant dollar basis--so we can compare apples with apples--the S&L crisis saw $700 billion in bad loans. Nearly five times as much as we've seen in the subprime mess so far. The S&L crisis caused some damage, to be sure. But during the 1986--95 period the U.S. economy grew and stocks went up. We survived stock shocks in 1987 and 1989 and a mild recession in 1990. The country did not collapse into a 1930s-like depression.
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POPSBill Clinton: "If You Elect Me" (Speaking As Her) For a natural-born politician such as former President Bill Clinton, it may be tough to spend so much time talking about someone else. For that reason, he has assumed an interesting way of speaking from the stump whilst campaigning for his wife.
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POPS Democrats Juggle Iraq, Economy (continued) there is also less pressure on them to back a withdrawal from Iraq, Republicans say. While Democrats say they plan to keep the pressure on the Bush administration to change course in Iraq, they are now emphasizing the economic impacts resulting from the war’s costs. Their base appears to be resigned to the fact that Congress won’t be able to force a change in military strategy this year and is instead planning a series of ads to make Republicans pay for their war support at the polls. The coalition, which calls itself the Iraq/Recession Campaign, is seeking to tie the downturn in the economy to the war costs, and plans also to target Republican senators up for reelection, including Susan Collins (Maine), John Sununu (N.H.), Norm Coleman (Minn.) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.). The coalition includes MoveOn.org, the Service Employees International Union and the Center for American Progress.
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POPSDeadlock On Surveillance Law Shows No Signs Of Breaking Soon
Democrats counter that it was Republicans who blocked a second temporary extension of the expired law. They maintain that the government has all the intelligence tools it needs while lawmakers work on a compromise As with every major policy fight in the remaining months of the 110th Congress, political considerations are looming large. Republicans, confident that they can win any test of wills involving national security, have honed their attack into an accusation that the Democrats care more about enriching trial lawyers than protecting the country The rhetorical battle will certainly continue. Peter Hoekstra of Michigan, the top Republican on the House Intelligence panel, plans to give a speech at the conservative Heritage Foundation on Tuesday blasting House Democrats for not clearing the Senate legislation. The Justice Department is providing the House Judiciary Committee with at least some of its opinions regarding the legality of the NSA’s warrantless surveillance
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POPS What Obama's Senate Votes Reveal This past September, he joined 27 other Democrats in voting for a bill ordering Bush to begin withdrawing most American forces within 90 days. >>>>>>>>>>>from msnbc.com 'Yes' on Iraq funding cutoff The bill would have cut off funding for the Iraq deployment by June 30, 2008. Just two hours before that vote, Obama missed another Senate vote, this one to denounce a full-page New York Times ad run by the anti-war group Moveon.org mocking the U.S. commander in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus as “General Betray Us.” http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23276453/page/2/ >>>>>>>>>>>>> Last October Obama voted for an act that would have allowed illegal immigrants who become permanent legal residents to qualify for lower in-state tuition rates at state universities. Obama voted against a bill extending the cuts in capital gains and dividends tax rates that Congress enacted in 2003, and against the repeal of the tax on inherited wealth, the es
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POPSGM Exec Stands By Calling Global Warming A "Crock" "My thoughts on what has or hasn't been the cause of climate change have nothing to do with the decisions I make to advance the cause of General Motors," he wrote. Lutz said GM was continuing development of the battery-powered, plug-in Chevy Volt and other alternatives to traditional internal combustion engines. As part of a campaign against higher fuel economy standards, Lutz wrote in a 2006 blog posting that forcing automakers to sell smaller cars would be "like trying to address the obesity problem in this country by forcing clothing manufacturers to sell smaller, tighter sizes." In December, President George W. Bush signed a law mandating a 40 percent increase in fleetwide fuel economy by 2020, the first substantial change in three decades.
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POPS 'End the War in 2009' February 20, 2008 The Nation
General David Petraeus will be testifying in Washington that the conditions are improving in Iraq and that the United States must "stay the course." Petraeus will be acting as a de facto surrogate for McCain in domestic politics. Obama will have to respond to the general's serious claims without retreating from the commitment he has given to early withdrawal.The questions of Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan could intensify as a symbol of America's current policies towards terrorism. McCain has already absorbed both neoconservative doctrines and the neoconservatives themselves in his campaign against "Islamo-fascism" as the greatest threat in American history. They will attack Obama for proposing to pull the plug on Iraq just when the tide is turning. They will question Obama's experience in pushing for diplomacy towards Iran, draw him out on why he favors more troops in Afghanistan and a pre-emptive strike against Pakistan if there is "actionable intelligence."
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POPS Media Ignore Saddam's WMD Intent When Piro's interview came out in my book, "The Terrorist Watch: Inside the Desperate Race to Stop the Next Attack," NBC Nightly News, Fox News, and Newsmax ran the news of Saddam's admission, but few newspapers published a story. The revelation should have hit Page One of every newspaper. According to the media spin, just about everyone in the White House has left President Bush except his wife Laura, Vice President Dick Cheney, and his two dogs. During the Clinton administration, anything that might make the president look good was quickly leaked to the press.
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POPSPakistan President Won’t Step Down Final results from this week’s parliamentary poll were expected later Wednesday, but with the count nearly complete, two opposition parties have won enough seats to form a new government, though they will likely fall short of the two-thirds needed to impeach the president… Musharraf’s spokesman Rashid Qureshi said Tuesday the president intends to work with the new government and will serve out his term that expires in 2012 — rejecting opposition calls for him to resign.
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POPS"The Triumph Of American Policy" says Bob Geldof, Irish Rocker
But it would be unrealistic to have expected otherwise. This is a national press corps that seems to notice homelessness and poverty only when a Republican is in the White House, and which itself votes heavily Democratic. African-Americans give little support to Bush — he got 11% of their vote in 2004 after taking 8% in 2000. Black leaders — such as NAACP Chairman Julian Bond, who has called Bush a liar, compared his judicial nominees to the Taliban and equated the GOP to Nazis — continue their shrill verbal assaults on the man. Yet under Bush, the U.S. has boosted development and humanitarian aid to Africa from $1.4 billion in his first year in office to $4 billion a year today. He's also sought $30 billion to fight AIDS. Trade — far more efficient than aid — between our country and Africa has more than doubled during his terms. This administration has also actively sought to stop the genocide in Darfur and has led in attempts to end wars in Sierra Leone, Sudan and Congo