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Articles from Dyre Portents

Senator Hutchinson to Step Down 2007-10-18 16:29:36 From CNN:WASHINGTON (AP) -- Republican Kay Bailey Hutchison will not seek re-election after her current Senate term and may leave before her term ends in 2012 to run for Texas governor, a spokesman for the senator says. Hutchison, now in her third full term in the Senate, told Texas Monthly magazine that stepping down in two years "has to be considered." Her comments were confirmed by spokesman Matt Mackowiak. "Is it better for Texas for me to leave early and give someone else a chance to start building seniority before the class of 2013? I think it probably is," Hutchison said. Excerpts of the interview were posted Monday on the magazine's "State of Mine" feature written by editor Evan Smith.First let me come clean: I have no love for Kay Bailey Hutchison. She was a rubber stamp Republican for W (save for on immigration issues in which she was a hard liner), she voted for the war and then repeatedly voted against expanding VA facilities in Texas, and her office sent out some really s ...

Ron Paul Number One in Donations from Military Voters 2007-10-18 16:29:00 with Barack Obama coming in at number two.From the Houston ChroniclePaul leads in donations from military voters, with Obama nextWASHINGTON — Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul, the congressman from the Houston area who opposes the Iraq war, has gotten more contributions than any other White House contender from donors identified as affiliated with the military. According to a Houston Chronicle analysis of campaign records from January through September, Paul received $63,440 in donations from current military employees and several retired military personnel. Democrat Barack Obama, another war critic, was second in military giving. The Illinois senator got $53,968 during the nine months....The military contributions — nearly 1,000 of them are listed in Federal Election Commission records for this year — represent a small fraction of the overall contributions to the candidates....Nevertheless, analysts said the ability of Paul and Obama to rake in as much money from milita ... Ron Paul

Conservatives Coming to a Climate Consensus? 2007-10-18 13:42:05 No. But they are realizing that achieving energy independence and fighting climate change both have common solutions. Over at Townhall conservative columnist Cal Thompson comes around to a point I made over a year ago about the debate on climate change (although he first does some Gore bashing and accuses those that believe in global warming of being a cult first)"Republicans and Democrats repeatedly tell us we rely too much on foreign oil, especially that which comes from a current trouble spot, the Middle East, and that which comes from a potential trouble spot, Venezuela. Might it be possible for the CGW crowd and the Church of Free Enterprise (CFE) to come together for the common purpose of reducing our reliance on foreign oil? CGW fundamentalists would get what they want — a reduced carbon footprint and supposedly lower global temperatures (go ahead and let them believe it) — while CFE parishioners would rejoice that Saudi Arabia’s hold on us (not to mention its use of our m ...

This used to be a hell of a good country! I don't know what's happened to it. 2007-10-18 00:17:59 What Classic Movie Are You?personality tests by similarminds.comh/t Done With Mirrors ...

Woot! 2007-10-17 19:33:38 If you read this blog on weekends you'll know that occasionally personal posts pop up only to be deleted by Monday. So you may or may not know that The Misses is with child and today we just found out that Its a girl! Now we just have to choose a name.This post will self destruct in 24 hours. ...

Clinton to End War if Elected? 2007-10-17 00:31:27 FDL blogger looseheadprop is reporting that Hillary Clinton pledged to end the war in Iraq as soon as she was elected at a recent meeting of Eleanor Roosevelt’s Legacy Committee assuming that the message wasn't misinterpreted this would be a major shift in her platform. One that could cost her the votes of hawkish liberals and moderates. Might this change (or perceived flip flop) be the chink in her armor? We'll see if this report proves to be true. In the meantime I've contacted the Clinton campaign for verification. ...

McCain Campaign Deeply In Debt? 2007-10-16 13:09:53 On the heels of yesterdays report that the McCain campaign picking up steam comes news that it's also dangerously in debt."John McCain has just $1.67 million in primary money on hand and is carrying $1.73 million in reported debt. Such a grim reality means that he is effectively left with two options -- take public matching funds or get out of the race.While McCain aides sought to downplay his fiscal straits at the end of last month, the report filed last night paints an ugly picture. He didn't raise $6 million for the quarter, as his staff claimed. He actually brought in $5.73 million overall -- and of that only $4,977,000 was in primary dollars, per the Post By contrast, Ron Paul raised $5.2 for the primary in the third quarter."Unless the McCain campaign can tap the pocketbooks of those dissatisfied with Giuliani's socially liberal views he'll have to take public matching funds to stay afloat. That doesn't bode well for McCain. I'm sorely tempted to file him under "done fo ...

Opening the Floodgates 2007-10-15 20:52:02 From the AP:"First boomer applies for Social SecurityThe baby boomers' stampede for Social Security benefits has begun. The nation's "first" baby boomer, a retired teacher from New Jersey, applied for Social Security benefits Monday, signaling the start of an expected avalanche of applications from the post World War II generation. Social Security Commissioner Michael Astrue called it "America's silver tsunami." Kathleen Casey-Kirschling applied for benefits over the Internet at an event hosted by Astrue. Casey-Kirschling was born one second after midnight on Jan. 1, 1946, gaining her recognition as the first baby boomer — a generation of nearly 80 million born from 1946 to 1964, Astrue said....An estimated 10,000 people a day will become eligible for Social Security benefits over the next two decades, Astrue said. The Social Security trust fund, if left alone, is projected to go broke in 2041."In light of the impending flood of retirees, it occurs to me that now would be a really ...

McCain Making a Comeback? 2007-10-15 15:53:02 Looks like finally got his house back in order at least...From the Politico:McCain is bouncing back"Republican presidential hopeful John McCain is back, two months after he was given up for dead....How?McCain was helped by progress in Iraq and a strong showing in a recent New Hampshire debate.Also, the John McCain of old is back, saying what he means and letting the chips fall where they may. He is much more comfortable campaigning as an insurgent than as an insider.McCain returned to South Carolina — drawing large crowds — with his unique brand of straight talk coupled with unwavering conviction for causes he believes are in the nation’s best interest.“What we are seeing is a genuine John McCain on the stump,” said U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, a longtime McCain supporter."If McCain can keep his ducks in a row and stick and stick to being McCain the maverick rather than McCain the carefully coached political pro he may be able to make a decent run given the bas ...

Ron Paul Wins NV Straw Poll 2007-10-15 14:26:16 But MSNBC sees it differently:ROMNEY LOSES NV STRAW POLL***UPDATE***Correction: An earlier version of this post had incorrect straw poll results. Romney was NOT fourth, but second. The post below is now correct.From NBC/NJ's Erin McPikeSPARKS, Nev. – Ron Paul won the GOP presidential straw poll conducted by organizers at the Conservative Leadership Conference held at the Nugget Casino this weekend “by a large margin,” according to an organizer.Paul won with 33 percent, Romney came in second with 16 percent and Duncan Hunter was just behind with 15 percent. "Undecided" was fourth with 11 percent, and Thompson and Giuliani were next and ahead of the rest of the pack -- all in single digits. Raw numbers haven't been provided, but there were approximately 430 registrants at the opening of the conference.Although many of the Republican presidential teams had surrogates representing them at the conference, Mitt Romney and Duncan Hunter were the only candidates to speak at the confere ... Ron Paul

Webtoon: 24 - Starring Justice Scalia as Jack Bauer 2007-10-12 13:14:16 This video is as ridiculous as Scalia's Jack Bauer statements. However unlike Scalia's statement it's amusing rather than disturbing.H/T to Obsidian Wings ...

Of Note 2007-10-12 12:41:24 Michael J Totten has released his first ever video. It features his tagging along on a patrol in Iraq. Since this is his first video ever he using the response to it to judge whether or not to keep producing video so please drop by, take a look, and tell him what you think. ...

Gore Grabs Peace Prize 2007-10-12 10:43:55 Former vice president Al Gore and a United Nations panel that monitors climate change were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize today for their work educating the world about global warming and advocating for political action to control it.The Norwegian Nobel Committee characterized Gore as "the single individual who has done most" to convince world governments and leaders that climate change is real, is caused by human activity and poses a grave threat. Gore has focused on the issue through books, promotional events and his Academy Award-winning documentary "An Inconvenient Truth."...As with last year's award to Bangladeshi banker Muhammad Yunus, whose pioneering use of small loans to the very poor contributes to the stability of developing nations, this year's prize focused on an issue not directly involving war and peace, but seen as critical to maintaining social stability.In highlighting the IPCC's science and Gore's advocacy, peace prize committee chairman Ole Danbolt Mjoes ...

Regula to Retire? 2007-10-12 09:25:11 From CNN:"WASHINGTON (CNN) – Rep. Ralph Regula of Ohio, the second longest-serving Republican in the House, will announce Friday that he will retire rather than seek re-election to a 19th term next year, two GOP congressional sources told CNN Thursday... The departure of Regula, first elected in 1972, brings the number of GOP House members retiring next year to at least 10, adding additional difficulty to the party's chances of taking back the House in 2008. In addition to those 10 retirements, another Republican member, Rep. Heather Wilson of New Mexico, is running for the Senate, and Rep. Tom Davis of Virginia is also expected to leave to seek a Senate seat."Additionally five Republican senators have announced they will retire so far. Given the current mood of the American people I seriously doubt the GOP will be winning all of those seats back. They'll be doing good just to keep the seats they have. What the GOP is truly fearing is that the Dems pick up enough seats to have a v ...

On Torture 2007-10-11 00:45:30 There has been a lot of discussion about the value of torture as of late. Speaking as someone that has some personal experience on the subject and who has studied it I can honestly say the following:Torture elicits false confessions and information from the innocent, it produces false information from the guilty/knowledgeable who have been properly trained or should either their loyalty or pain threshold be high. It does however provide actionable intelligence from those that lack loyalty and/or a high endurance for pain/discomfort. If I had the numbers to crunch I'd bet that the percentage of soldiers or terrorists that fall into that last group is really low. What we need to figure out is if the percentage of reall information were getting from torture is worth the sacrifice of America's moral authority. I don't believe it is. We're supposed to be the good guys and it's high time we started acting like it. ...