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Articles from Dyre Portents

Rove to Resign 2007-08-13 23:37:37 From the Wall Street JournalKarl Rove to Resign At the End of AugustKarl Rove, President Bush's longtime political adviser, is resigning as White House deputy chief of staff effective Aug. 31, and returning to Texas, marking a turning point for the Bush presidency.(snip)Mr. Rove, who has held senior posts in the White House since President Bush took office in January 2001, told Mr. Gigot he first floated the idea of leaving a year ago. But he delayed his departure as, first, Democrats took Congress, and then as the White House tackled debates on immigration and Iraq, he said. He said he decided to leave after White House Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten told senior aides that if they stayed past Labor Day they would be obliged to remain through the end of the president's term in January 2009. "I just think it's time," Mr. Rove said in the interview. "There's always something that can keep you here, and as much as I'd like to be here, I've got to do this for the sake of my family." M ...

Romney Wins in Iowa Straw Poll 2007-08-12 15:25:04 From The Atlantic OnlineGov Mitt Romney won the 2007 Ames straw poll, receiving 4516 votes, or 31%. In a surprise, Gov. Mike Huckabee finished second with 2587 votes at 18.1% 11. John Cox with 41 votes.10. John McCain with 101 votes.9. Duncan Hunter with 174 votes.8. Rudy Giuliani with 183 votes.7. Fred Thomson with 203 votes.6. Tommy Thompson, 1,039 votes, 7.3%5. Ron Paul with 1305 votes, and 9.1%4. Tom Tancredo with 1961 votes, 13.7%.3. Sen. Sam Brownback with 2192 votes and 15.3% Iowa state auditor David Vaudt unofficially certified the results. 14,203 ballots were cast.Now here's the weird thing... If you combine Giuliani and McCain's total votes Ron Paul beat them by over a 4 to 1 margin. Whodathunkit?h/t Memeorandum ...

Poll: U.S. Public Distrusts Media 2007-08-10 10:46:21 More than half of Americans say US news organizations are politically biased, inaccurate, and don't care about the people they report on, a poll published Thursday showed. And poll respondents who use the Internet as their main source of news -- roughly one quarter of all Americans -- were even harsher with their criticism, the poll conducted by the Pew Research Center said. More than two-thirds of the Internet users said they felt that news organizations don't care about the people they report on; 59 percent said their reporting was inaccurate; and 64 percent they were politically biased. More than half -- 53 percent -- of Internet users also faulted the news organizations for "failing to stand up for America". moreNo surprise there. Considering that since the last such poll was taken reporters been exposed for making news up and not checking major facts (ala Dan Rather). Add to that the influence of talk radio and the poll results make perfect sense. As for bias, it happens. Its ...

Its All In the Timing 2007-08-09 11:22:31 I guess one of the benefits of having the lowest approval ratings in decades is that W can threaten to veto increased funding for poor kids health care one day and then announce plans to lower corporate taxes the next. Decreasing entitlement programs and decreasing taxes has long been a part of the GOP platform. But one really has to wonder about the wisdom behind the timing of the two. If he keeps this up he'll supply the Dems with everything they need to completely solidify their hold on Congress and win the White House or force a minor congressional rebellion so that incumbent Republicans can stay in office.h/t to Memeorandum ...

Happy Blogaversary 2007-08-09 01:01:17 to Instapundit.com which turned six today. May you blog long enough so that senility eventually causes you to send an Instalanche my way. ...

Terrorists Teaming Up With Drug Cartels 2007-08-09 00:39:38 From the Washington Times:Terrorists teaming with drug cartelsIslamic extremists embedded in the United States — posing as Hispanic nationals — are partnering with violent Mexican drug gangs to finance terror networks in the Middle East, according to a Drug Enforcement Administration report. "Since drug traffickers and terrorists operate in a clandestine environment, both groups utilize similar methodologies to function ... all lend themselves to facilitation and are among the essential elements that may contribute to the successful conclusion of a catastrophic event by terrorists," said the confidential report, a copy of which was obtained by The Washington Times.(snip)In the two years since the report was written, other DEA intelligence officials have said they are still struggling to cooperate with and share and gather information from other lead U.S. agencies charged with fighting the war on terrorism.(snip)"We are the eyes and ears when it comes to gathering intelligence ...

Of Note 2007-08-08 23:52:11 Over at Thought Theater Daniel DiRito paints a very interesting picture of the potential importance of Pakistan in the 2008 election. ...

Of Dollars and Dragons 2007-08-08 10:52:02 File this one under I told you so:From the Telegraph:China threatens 'nuclear option' of dollar salesThe Chinese government has begun a concerted campaign of economic threats against the United States, hinting that it may liquidate its vast holding of US treasuries if Washington imposes trade sanctions to force a yuan revaluation.Two officials at leading Communist Party bodies have given interviews in recent days warning - for the first time - that Beijing may use its $1.33 trillion (£658bn) of foreign reserves as a political weapon to counter pressure from the US Congress. Shifts in Chinese policy are often announced through key think tanks and academies.Described as China's "nuclear option" in the state media, such action could trigger a dollar crash at a time when the US currency is already breaking down through historic support levels.It would also cause a spike in US bond yields, hammering the US housing market and perhaps tipping the economy into recession. It is estimated th ...

Warrantless Wiretapping Approved 2007-08-07 00:21:04 From the NY Post:President Bush signed into law on Sunday legislation that broadly expanded the government’s authority to eavesdrop on the international telephone calls and e-mail messages of American citizens without warrants....the new law for the first time provides a legal framework for much of the surveillance without warrants that was being conducted in secret by the National Security Agency and outside the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, the 1978 law that is supposed to regulate the way the government can listen to the private communications of American citizens.“This more or less legalizes the N.S.A. program,” said Kate Martin, director of the Center for National Security Studies in Washington, who has studied the new legislation.Previously, the government needed search warrants approved by a special intelligence court to eavesdrop on telephone conversations, e-mail messages and other electronic communications between individuals inside the United States and people ...

Bad Dog 2007-08-03 00:53:05 Dog Shoots ManSources not even remotely related to the victim stated that the canine criminal was scheduled to be "fixed " the following morning. ...

Good Dog 2007-08-03 00:46:02 Further proof that Chihuahua's still haven't figured out how small they are. Besides I like stories about everyday heroes regardless of how many legs they have. ...

More Media Bias? 2007-08-03 00:27:38 Is it me or is much of the MSM seems to really be pulling for Hillary Clinton? I mean now that Edwards is barely in the race they seem intent on dissecting every word Obama has said since the youtube debate. I have a bit of a anti-Hillary Clinton bias so I thought I'd check. ...

Dude, where's my vote? 2007-08-02 10:18:37 One of my earliest posts was about the potential for voting machines to be tampered with. Now its been proven possible in CA:University of California computer scientists have recently shown it's possible to carry out a bevy of hacks on electronic voting machines currently certified for use in the Golden State. In reports released late last week, the researchers chronicle their five-week endeavor, at the request of California Secretary of State Debra Bowen, to exploit examine machines made by Hart InterCivic, Sequoia Voting Systems and Diebold. The same models are also in use in many other states, according to a database compiled by the Election Reform Information Project. Their conclusion? "The security mechanisms provided for all systems analyzed were inadequate to ensure accuracy and integrity of the election results and of the systems that provide those results," wrote principal investigator Matt Bishop, a computer science professor at the University of California, Davis. Mo ...

The Obama/Clinton Kerfuffle Continues 2007-08-02 02:33:08 You know its a slow news week when this story just keeps getting dragged out like a soap opera.In Obama's latest attempt to refute Clinton's claims about his inexperience he espoused his plan for the war on terror:"When I am President, we will wage the war that has to be won, with a comprehensive strategy with five elements: getting out of Iraq and on to the right battlefield in Afghanistan and Pakistan; developing the capabilities and partnerships we need to take out the terrorists and the world's most deadly weapons; engaging the world to dry up support for terror and extremism; restoring our values; and securing a more resilient homeland.The first step must be getting off the wrong battlefield in Iraq, and taking the fight to the terrorists in Afghanistan and Pakistan.I introduced a plan in January that would have already started bringing our troops out of Iraq, with a goal of removing all combat brigades by March 31, 2008. If the President continues to veto this plan, then endin ...

Partisanship by the Numbers 2007-08-02 00:03:56 The WaPo crunched the numbers of the 110th Congress and discovered that the Dems vote along party lines 92.7% of the time compared to the Republican's measly 88.7%Here's a lovely chart made by Nick Rivera of The Moderate Voice that gives you the top 20 most and least partisan voters. Notice the main difference between the two.MOST PARTISAN1-tie. Charles Norwood (R-GA) ……… 100% of 9 votes.1-tie. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) …………… 100% of 81 votes.3. Nita Lowey (D-NY) ………………….. 99.% of 700 votes.4. Juanita Millender-McDonald (D-CA) 99.4% of 169 votes.5. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) …………… 99.1% of 695 votes.6. Xavier Becerra (D-CA) ………………. 98.9% of 709 votes.7. Diana DeGette (D-CO) ……………… 98.7% of 669 votes.8-tie. Gary Ackerman (D-NY) ……….. 98.6% of 707 votes.8-tie. Hilda Solis (D-CA) ……………… 98.6% of 721 votes.8-tie. Ellen Tauscher (D-CA) ………… 98.6% of 721 votes.8-tie. Al Wynn (D-MD) ………………… 98.6% ...