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POPSCongress approval rating just 10% "A political establishment held in higher regard may have been able to hold together some kind of coalition of the willing," wrote Joel Achenbach in the Washington Post. "But distrust of the nation's leaders, from the leaders of Congress to the president, foreclosed that possibility." This was not mere rhetoric. Congress's public approval rating was down to 18% before the crisis hit. By some estimates, it is now 10% and falling. Washington has seen a "throw the bums out" mood before, notably Newt Gingrich's 1994 anti-government "Republican revolution". But this is something else. Like some others, Gingrich is calling for the resignation of Hank Paulson, the treasury secretary, for presiding over a train wreck and then failing to persuade people why $700bn was needed to get back on the rails.
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POPS SCOTUS Admits Blunder on UCMJ, But Says "Nevermind" 
and shows again, how Obama's model judges pull constitutional law from thin air. That was spectacularly clueless, and one of the many occasions on which Obama has demonstrated that for all his fine degrees from Columbia and Harvard Law, he's ignorant of world history. First, no one at Nuremberg was permitted to file a habeas corpus petition in the American courts. Second, the Military Commissions Act provides substantially greater procedural and substantive protection than what any of the Nuremberg defendants had. Rights for foreigners accused of being terrorists that even our own service personnel don't get. A "living, breathing" Constitution whose answers, are blowin' in the wind. You do get an indirect vote on whether that's what you want — but you have to cast it through your choices for POTUS/VPOTUS and (even less directly) U.S. Senators. Judicial appointments are just one more issue on which this year's presidential election presents you with a stark, vivid choice.
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POPSGOP "Hitched Their Wagon To Rising Star" Gov. Sarah Palin Rarely, if ever, has a vice-presidential pick had such impact. And no media pundit should be able to get away with claiming it has more to do with style than substance. A Rasmussen poll shows a recent increase in those identifying themselves as Republican. 32% of those calling themselves Republicans rose to 33.2% in August, while Democratic identification slipped to 35% from 37%. With a sizable majority of Americans demanding more domestic oil production, McCain chose a running mate from the state with the most to drill. Palin could give Obama, Biden and McCain a seminar on accessing oil and gas without devastating the wild. McCain's running mate has also electrified the party's base by living up to the family values she espouses, suspending the state fuel tax and vetoing half a billion dollars in spending — the kinds of things Republicans used to do before they lost their way.
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POPSLame you can believe in Few voters know that Obama would cut taxes of the vast majority of Americans by far more than McCain would. Few know Obama would guarantee everyone access to health care or that McCain’s health plan might endanger coverage many already have. Few know that Obama has a coherent program to create new jobs through public investment in roads, bridges, transit and green technologies. Few know that McCain’s economic plan is worse than President Bush’s. McCain would add $8.5 trillion in new debt over the next 10 years. Political campaigns are supposed to be an opportunity to tell the public what you are about, it should not be used as an opportunity to attack the other party. To both candidates: Get your message out, make us 'feel' we have to vote for you and not against the other guy. Let the American public decide which one is good or bad for us. Stop the manipulation and the attack politics.
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POPS"More Communist than China" "Socialism for the rich." How true! Investors should not pin their hopes on this year's presidential election for a solution to the problems, as none of the candidates is likely to find one, Rogers said. "This is a big huge mess and neither one of them has a clue what to do next year. It's going to be a mess."
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POPSHawaii Church Looks at Obama and McCain The National Council of Churches urges churches to look at politicians, government policies and civic leaders through a wider lens and to ask how they measure up to biblical teaching about peace, justice, protection of the weak and the poor, and stewardship of Creation. A Kailua church will use the National Council of Churches' "Christian Principles in an Election Year" for an eight-week course of study that will bring Scripture to bear on speeches and platforms of presidential contenders Barack Obama and John McCain."
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POPSThanks Barry He understood the implications of Obama's passing over Hillary--not that Clinton voters would vote for McCain-Palin (though if even a few do so, it could make a difference), but that his pick of Palin when compared with Obama's shying away from Hillary would show McCain as a bolder and more confident leader. And he had the sense that Palin's anti-establishment conservatism, pro-family feminism, and tough-minded reformism would add something important to his campaign.
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POPSGOP Campaign Themes They also find it Very Easy to Condemn those that give Service to Their Lives and Freedoms! Last election cycle they Laughed at and Mocked the Military Service of one of the Presidential Candidates who Served This Country In Vietnam, just as I Did, and being in the same service branch, the U.S. Navy, they Spit on my Service, All my brother and sister Naval personal who served In-Country, and All the other Service Personal, but most of All, All Those Who Have Served This Country and Received It's Highest Honor For That Service, The Purple Heart!!! I was waiting to see how they would Slam their Fellow Americans this year. Well they started early, peppering their talking points with the words needed, leading up to their Convention, and Let Both Barrels Go, Loud and Clear!!
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POPSMiss Conceptions And those numbers are extremely conservative. Why start at 17? Why not go lower? Why only women? Is it no big deal if your son gets someone knocked up? Drop that age down to puberty, and throw in the boys and the numbers are much larger.
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POPSTHE WHITER SIDE OF THE COIN ! Dear S.Cramer: the only problem he can't remember where he put it Mr.Jason Rodriguez: I can't agree with you more but haven't we f**ked up the homeland enough,A. Economos &Philp Leiter that party can't be revived until it changes it cold war thinking and in order for that to happen you have to except the light ,G.Nolan while Mr Whitey times change get over it ,same to bible toter & A.Deleforte wait until you get disable & you need that money you paid out & when you paid it out it was worth $1.00 and your getting it back at .35 E.Lamasney :so why be stupid now ?♠♠
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POPSWeisburg's Racist Comments on Election
Author's propaganda tries to turn tables on realities. Despicable barely describes this hateful diatribe. Not in criticizing Reps.,McCain,etc. That's part of the game. I refer to his conclusions. Hopefully we can see through this kind of distortion no matter where we stand politically. If he felt confident in Obama's record he wouldn't need to even go where he does here. It seems that the concept, the equation, coming clear in this time, as we hopefully progress past true racism and the hurt it does to good people, is that, as blatant, actual racism lessens and becomes ever less an immediately impacting harm , less of a component of thought and feeling in our society, there seems to be, hopefully only temporarily, a corresponding yet negatively driven counter-trend of some sort. which insists that, there be a reverse racism taken for granted in order to prove the non-existence of the old, shameful racism.. Speaking for myself, I had, earlier this year, felt most favorable about
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POPSMcCain and Michigan In its "Insiders Poll" this week, the National Journal asks 77 Republican luminaries (pollsters, lobbyists, strategists, and so on) which states McCain has the best chance of picking up. At the top of of the list is Michigan. A handful of Democrats, polled on the same question, put New Hampshire at the top of the list and Michigan second. The clip delves into the political dynamics at work in Michigan.
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POPSElectronic Voting? Perhaps Not! Without paper back-up, this coming election may just be filled with fraudulence again. If there is no paper to back the results up, we may as well toss a coin. Democracy is at the stake and burning.
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POPSClimate Change Is Already Affecting the West's Water Unless it slaps them in the face, the typical American can't be bothered by an abstract threat. If there's a global warming event -- a mammoth hurricane, tornado, or forest fire -- in our neighborhood, then we get concerned. From this perspective, the loss of a few thousand acres of ice in a remote corner of Montana hardly seems significant. Most of us don't see it as a danger sign. But it is. Disappearing glaciers is a harbinger of huge problems. In the West, the most obvious is drought.
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POPSObama and Iowa In this week's National Journal, the magazine's regular "Insider's Poll" asks Democratic and Republican luminaries (pollsters, strategists, and so on) which state is Obama's top pickup opportunity. Iowa ranks at the top for both groups. In the clip, James Barnes fleshes out a bit why. Note the importance of ethanol.
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POPSObama backs Israel strike Just about his first words when he beat off Hillary were pro Israel. He now appears happy with the title of leader of a war machine. Seems happy to follow the Jews demands. Am I getting ahead of myself, as this sort of press doesn't really know what is happening.
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POPSPolitical Theater al-Maliki Style As the security situation has improved, Iraqis increasingly are calling for the drawdown of American troops, and it probably will be a top issue in the provincial elections. Maliki has tried to balance voters’ preference for the departure of foreign forces with the Bush administration’s opposition to a timeline. In an interview with Germany’s Der Spiegel magazine this week, Maliki seemed to endorse Obama’s troop-withdrawal proposal, drawing the ire of the White House. The prime minister's office later backed away from the interview. But Monday’s statement by Maliki’s spokesman suggested that he's speaking with an audience different from the White House in mind: Iraqi voters.
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POPSLawmakers Could Consider Gas Tax Hike Just three years ago, that trust fund enjoyed a surplus of $10 billion. Even without a tax freeze, the fund is projected to finish 2009 with a deficit of $3 billion. That that could grow as Americans drive less and buy less gas because of higher pump prices. The consequence is that only about $27 billion in federal money will be available next year to states and local governments for new infrastructure investment even though the current highway act calls for spending $41 billion a year. For many, the solution is to raise rather than suspend or cut federal fuel taxes, which haven't changed since 1993. The Transportation Construction Coalition, a group of industry companies and unions, said that if Congress does not do something about the shortfall, states will lose about one-third of their road and bridge money in the budget year starting Oct. 1. That would put 485,000 more jobs at risk.
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POPSPolitical Oil Purely a political move by the administration feels you pain on high gas prices. Oil and natural gas on the OCS is still as off limits as it was before the president made the announcement.
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POPSObama and McCain Both Changing Now The Maverick is not and the "Change" candidate is shifting. Politicians are like Chameleons, changing color depending their context to fit in. Trustworthiness and forthrightness are not to be found, and considered detrimental to obtaining power, ironically, when most Americans want to reverse the present course without question, instead of simply tailoring and amending it. Don't think the BBC article is correct about McCain however, he is shifting left, distancing from Bush, since republicans are left without an alternative (except for increasing third party candidates).
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POPSReid: Spending Bills Will Likely Wait Until Bush Is Gone Reid’s statement, while not unexpected, adds a note of finality to speculation that the Senate would act on the 12 annual appropriation bills. He also said that he doesn’t expect Congress to return for a post-election, lame-duck session. Under that scenario, Congress would only be in session for another six weeks this year.