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W's First Veto Override 2007-11-08 23:55:22 From the NY Times:Senate Overrides Bush Veto on Water BillWASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush suffered the first veto override of his seven-year-old presidency Thursday as the Senate enacted a $23 billion water resources bill despite his protest that it was filled with unnecessary projects. The 79-14 vote included 34 Republicans who defied the president. Enactment was a foregone conclusion, but it still marked a milestone for a president who spent his first six years with a much friendlier Congress controlled by his Republican Party. Now he confronts a more hostile, Democratic-controlled legislature, and Thursday's vote showed that most of the Republicans will defy him on spending matters dear to their political careers. Bush's spokeswoman portrayed the issue as a divide between a budget-conscious president and a big-spending Congress....The bill funds hundreds of Army Corps of Engineers projects, such as dams, sewage plants and beach restoration, that are important to local communitie ...

Pat Robertson Endorses Giuliani 2007-11-07 19:23:59 Somewhere right now John McCain is laughing. McCain got Brownback's endorsement and Giuliani gets this....From the WaPo:Pat Robertson Endorses Rudy:Deems Him 'More Than Acceptable to People of Faith'Pat Robertson, one of the most influential figures in the social conservative movement, announced his support for Rudy Giuliani's presidential bid this morning at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.Robertson's support was coveted by several of the leading Republican candidates and provides Giuliani with a major boost as the former New York City mayor seeks to convince social conservatives that, despite his positions supporting abortion rights and gay rights, he is an acceptable choice as the GOP nominee....Good news for Giuliani? Well having a supporter that can move hurricanes with his mind is always a good thing. However given Robertson's previous comments about the US deserving 9/11 many independents might start looking for another candidate. Over at The Carpetbagger Report ...

California Electoral Votes Imperiled Again? 2007-11-07 18:33:46 If you can't beat 'em then sneak in referendum so that you can...From the AP:Effort to apportion California's electoral votes raises $540,000SACRAMENTO—Republican donors have given about $540,000 to help qualify a ballot measure that could give the 2008 GOP presidential candidate a bounty of electoral votes from California. The group needs to gather about 650,000 valid signatures by the end of the month to qualify the measure for the June ballot. That effort will take at least $2 million, according to David Gilliard, who is managing the campaign. Gilliard said the campaign has less because it has been raising money for just 10 days. "A lot of the people on there are capable of contributing quite a bit more," he said. "They're also the types that are able to attract others." Darrell Issa, a wealthy Republican congressman from the San Diego area, gave $50,000, according to the fundraising report filed Tuesday with the secretary of state's office. Floyd Kvamme, a Silicon Valley ...

Things I Have Learned 2007-11-07 18:33:03 Shaping a meatloaf to look like a human brain increases the number of kids that will eat it but decreases the number of adult women that will consume it by an equal percentage. ...

Ron Paul's Money Bomb Explodes into Action 2007-11-05 23:15:35 Looks like Paul has broken the record for the most money raised in a day this campaign season...From The PoliticoRon Paul's 'money bomb' Proving again his ability to raise significant cash online, Ron Paul has raised nearly $2 million since midnight via his website.In what is being called a "money bomb," Paul's fervent backers spread the word that today they'd blast their candidate with Internet contributions, setting up a website, "This November 5th," to push the plan. An aide said they had nothing to do with the effort."Supporters have spontaneously organized what I can only refer to as a one-day attack of donations," said Paul spokeswoman Kate Rick. "We started at midnight with $2.77 million raised for the quarter, and have, as of 9:36 am, climbed up to over $4.1."As of 12:27, Paul had raised $4.73 million total....Right now as of 8:10 CST he's raised a total of 6.69 million dollars 3.93 million dollars today. and roughly four hours left. Odds are he'll at least cr ... Ron Paul

Spammers for Ron Paul 2007-11-04 09:16:57 This is an ugly development. Some Ron Paul supporters apparently thought that upgrading from comment spam to actual spam was a good idea.From the University of Alabama at Birmingham UAB Spam Team Spots First Presidential Campaign SpamAnti-spam researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) noted a disturbing new trend following Sunday's Republican Candidates Presidential debate. One of the candidates has a new spam campaign dedicated to proclaiming him victorious in the debate and extolling his virtues as the future president.There is no reason to believe the current spam campaign is actually endorsed by Ron Paul or his official campaign engine, according to Gary Warner, UAB Director of Research in Computer Forensics....The new messages have headlines such as:Ron Paul Wins GOP Debate!Ron Paul Eliminates the IRS!Ron Paul Stops Iraq War!Vote Ron Paul 2008!Iraq Scam Exposed, Ron PaulGovernment Wasteful Spending Eliminated By Ron PaulWarner says, "We've seen many previous ... Ron Paul

Catch the Repptide 2007-11-04 00:59:08 I like to take the time every now and then to plug new blogging related sites that I think are of note. I recently discovered Repptide.com which bills itself as an organic review and opinion site:It's probably best described as an organic review and opinion site. I call it organic because it takes a different route from the other review sites: if you've ever been to a restaurant that you liked, only to suddenly have an experience that completely changed your opinion, then you're in luck. repptide captures that shift in public opinion by tracking live opinions, from positive to negative, and vice versa. It's not static like the other review sites...Whats different about Repptide from other sites I've plugged is that it allows you to submit articles or blog posts and then other people rate your submissions. Now if you happen to submit one of your own blog posts then Repptide users may drop by and read your post and then rate it which means you get more traffic. So please take some t ...

Thousands of Refugees Returning to Baghdad 2007-11-03 20:34:41 From the AP:Thousands Return to Safer Iraqi Capital BAGHDAD (AP) - In a dramatic turnaround, more than 3,000 Iraqi families driven out of their Baghdad neighborhoods have returned to their homes in the past three months as sectarian violence has dropped, the government said Saturday....things began changing, becoming more peaceful, in August when radical anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr ordered his Mahdi Army fighters to stand down nationwide. About the same time, the Khadra neighborhood Awakening Council rose up against brutal al-Qaida control—the imposition of its austere interpretation of Islam, along with the murder and torture of those who would not comply. The uprising originated in Iraq's west and flowed into the capital. Earlier this year, the Sunni tribes and clans in the vast Anbar province began their own revolt and have successfully rid the largely desert region of al-Qaida control. At one point the terrorist group virtually controlled Anbar, ...

This Liberal Media Bias 2007-11-03 19:41:05 A couple of months ago I read a post over on Buck Naked Politics titled What Liberal Media?in which WMD attempted to use the lack of Ron Paul coverage after he won various networks online and text polls (post debate) to try to prove a lack of a liberal media bias stating,"If we really had a "liberal media" wouldn't you expect them to be shining the spotlight on the dark-horse underdog who is upsetting the Rudy McRomney apple cart?" Unfortunately I read it at work didn't email it to myself and forgot about it until now. (I'll get to what reminded me in a bit)As for WMD's examples, at the time Ron Paul was considered by all outlets of the media to essentially be some libertarian longshot kook with a snowball's chance of being in the race a month later. Secondly, online/text polls are in no way shape or form an indicator of actual public opinion. They are an indicator of how motivated and engaged the candidates' supporters are. Nothing else. Therefore the media doesn't cover their ...

The Mysterious Appeal of Ron Paul 2007-11-01 20:36:32 Looks like after his appearance on the Tonight Show he actually managed to get a little overdue MSM coverage from Time magazine.The leader of the disaffected in next year's presidential election — the Howard Dean, the Ross Perot, the Pat Buchanan — is a kindly great-grandfather and obstetrician whose passion is monetary policy. Paul, a 72-year-old hard-core libertarian Republican Congressman who is against foreign intervention, subsidies and the federal income tax, is not only drawing impressive crowds (more than 2,000 at a post-debate rally at the University of Michigan last month) but also raising tons of cash. In the third quarter of 2007, Paul took in $5.3 million (just slightly less than G.O.P. rival John McCain), mostly in small, individual donations. On Oct. 22, he aired his first TV ads, $1.1 million worth in New Hampshire.The numbers are even more impressive considering that as of early October, 72% of G.O.P. voters told Gallup pollsters they didn't know enough about Pau ... Ron Paul

GOP Supporters to Break With Party Over Giuliani? 2007-11-01 18:14:33 If they have a more conservative third party candidate to vote for they may.From the Pew Research Center:The GOP nomination race among Republican evangelicals, in particular, appears to be wide open: Giuliani, McCain and Thompson each draw about 20% of the vote among white Republican and Republican-leaning evangelical voters, with Huckabee and Romney getting about 10% each.In addition, a solid majority of Republican white evangelicals (55%) say they would at least consider voting for a conservative third-party candidate if the general election is between Giuliani and Clinton. Overall, 44% of Republicans and Republican-leaning voters say they would consider backing a third-party candidate who holds more conservative positions than Giuliani on social issues like abortion and gay marriage. Good news for The Constitution Party bad news for Giuliani and the GOP. However I have to wonder about the "Hillary effect" coming into play. By that I mean will having a common enemy cause GOP supporte ...

Giuliani Runs to the Far Right (Updated) 2007-11-01 06:58:09 **Update**Apparently the AP misquoted Guiliani as saying Osama instead of Assad (Pres, of Syria) blogger Phillip Klein picked up on the error while watching Countdown. I took a listen and he's right.**Looks like he's trying to shed any semblance of "liberalism" or even centrism.From Breitbart On Iran, Giuliani criticized Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., also a candidate for president, for saying they would engage in diplomatic relations with Iran. Obama has said he would be willing to meet with Iran's leader in the first year of his presidency without conditions; Clinton has said envoys below the presidential level should begin diplomatic work. "This is the world we live in. It's not this happy, romantic-like world where we'll negotiate with this one, or we'll negotiate with that one and there will be no preconditions, and we'll invite (Iranian President Mahmoud) Ahmadinejad to the White House, we'll invite Osama (bin Laden) to the White House," Giuliani said. "Hillary ...

Last Call 2007-10-30 15:21:12 Update: "The Letter" is scheduled to be sent on Nov. 5thOver at Central Sanity Pete Abel has drafted (and redrafted) sort of an open Letter to Republican Leaders that is well worth reading regardless of your political affiliation or lack thereof. He sent it out to the groups mentioned and has received a response from the Republican Leadership Council requesting a conference call. If you believe that the GOP needs to make the changes he has suggested then please either email him to sign it and/or post it on your blog. So without further adieu here it is:We, the undersigned, are Republicans.Through separate but cooperative organizations we are a growing force within the Party.Republican candidates will need to increasingly reckon with us in the months and years ahead, as we organize and mobilize for no purpose less dramatic than the rescue of our Party and the refocusing of its platform on the bedrock principles of individual liberty and limited government; lower taxes and free markets; ...

The Coming Carbonated Crisis 2007-10-29 19:57:53 From the Denver Post:Shortages may put head on beer pricesSUNNYSIDE, WASH. — Fans of Snipes Mountain Brewery's cloudy Hefeweizen relish the subtle wheat flavor of the bright, summery brew, and like beer drinkers everywhere, they know when their favorite brew tastes a little too hoppy or bitter. Connoisseurs could be in for a surprise this year, and they may not be alone. Small brewers from Australia to Oregon face the daunting prospect of tweaking their recipes or experimenting less with new brews thanks to a worldwide shortage of one key beer ingredient and rising prices for others. Oh, and one other thing: Beer prices are likely to climb. Craft brewers don't have the means to hedge against rising prices, like their industrial rivals. "I'm guessing, at a minimum, at least a 10 percent jump in beer prices for the average consumer before the end of the year," said Terry Butler, brewmaster at central Washington's Snipes Mountain. Fuel, aluminum and glass prices have been g ...

2007 Weblog Awards 2007-10-26 18:58:10 I've been nominated (by me) in the 2007 Weblog awards in the category of Best of the Top 3501 - 5000 blogs (based on The Truth Laid Bear's Ecosystem). I'd just like to be in the running so if you'd please drop by and press the + sign next to my blog's name I'd appreciate it greatly. ...