Quote Of The Day

"Only In America can you see sheep onstage"---A female audience member of THE JERRY SPRINGER SHOW

General Petraeus Begins Media Effort To Clear Way For Bombing Iran

General David Petraeus is apparently becoming part of a joint political effort by both the military and the Bush White House to politically demonize Iran and help to justify the way for the bombing of IED factories or other military targets in Iran. Petraeus was part of an unusual political message attempt Sunday to claim that the Iranian UN Ambassador is part of the Iranian paramilitary involved with the arms smuggling of IEDs into Iraq. This is highly unusual to use the military in this political manner, yet the Bush White House is likely trying to manipulate American opinion enough so that a bombing campaign against Iran can soon be justified.

In the coming week, it is likely that more attempts will be made to manipulate American public opinion to justify a bombing campaign against Iran including the political use of the military. After the successful raid on a suspected North Korean weapons sites in Syria, by Israel, the Bush White House may have become enboldened to attack Iran in a limited bombing campaign against some military sites in Iran and see whether there is any significant political or foreign policy fallout damage. Once the Bush Administration feels that their case has been laid out, a sudden surprise limited bombing mission in Iran, probably using stealth aircraft, will likely take place, and then the Bush Administration will assess the political fallout and decide whether to plan for larger attacks in Iran.

The advantages to the U.S. would be less deaths of U.S. forces from IEDs and arms smuggling. However, the political fallout from Iran is unpredictable and could even trigger Iranian sponsored terrorism against U.S. civilians and landmarks similiar to 9/11 as it has been long suspected that Iran may be using their UN mission to help organize U.S. cells of proIranian terrorists. This could all trigger a cycle of revenge and killings that could soon drag both the U.S. and Iran into an all-out war situattion and become unpredictable as to the impact on the world oil supply as well shipped from the MidEast.

It clearly appears that both the Bush Administration and the military have far more in mind than merely laying out a complaint case against Iran over the IED matter, and seem to be laying out a clear path for some military action against Iran that could take place within days.

New Study Proves That Immigrants Are Less Likely To Commit Crimes Than Native-Born Americans

A new study from University of California-Irvine sociologist Ruben G. Rumbaut and Immigration Policy Center researcher Walter A. Ewing found that the figures for incarceration rates are lower for all immigrant groups, both legal and illegal, and for all ethnic gtroups and nationalities than for native-born Americans. Yet the American political right continues to misrepresent some isolated cases of criminals from foreign lands who entered the U.S. illegally and were arrested for some crime here as the norm.

It has become popular for programs ranging from right wing talk radio all the way to CNN's populist anti-illegal immigration host Lou Dobbs to highlight many isolated stories of an illegal alien who was arrested for some crime as typical of the conduct of many if not most illegal immigrants, yet this authoritive new study disproves the wrong premise of these right wing leaning hosts. Even right winger Laura Ingram has hit #`1 on the book charts last week with her absurd new book, POWER TO THE PEOPLE, which offers silly premises on issues ranging from media to immmigration, glued together with wrong facts.

The political right is so desperate to promote their racist line against illegal immigrants, most of which merely came to the U.S. as economic refugees to escape poverty in their own land to work hard at some low paying American job, often in agriculture or food processing, that they continue to promote racist myths to smear immigrants with stories that are the exception, not the rule involving immigrants.

U.S. May Be Planning To Bomb IED Factories In Iran

New news reports are out today that indicate that the U.S. military is putting together plans to bomb factories in Iran that have been producing the IEDs that have been so lethal to U.S. troops in Iraq. While such plans are intended to save American lives, there are huge political and foreign policy problems with such a limited bombing campaign in Iran.

Israel proved that modern radar blinding technology was able to allow the successful bombing missions in Syria recently with no aircraft losses and only limited political fallout in the region. The U.S. may have become emboldened by the success of this mission and be apt to disregard any political fallout over a similiar limited bombing mission in Iran. However, with so much public concern over the Iraq policy in the U.S., the American public may be angry over any act that appears to be an expansion of that war to now include Iran as well.

Iran could respond in unpredictable ways. At least two Iranian UN diplomats were thrown out of the U.S. after 9/11 for taking photographs of U.S. landmarks that were likely to be handed off to proIranian terrorist cells in the U.S. Iran may have terrorist cells that could attack U.S. citizens and landmarks in response to any limited bombings in Iran, creating a cycle of revenge that result in a much wider U.S.-Iranian war.

Any limited bombings in Iran would not stop the Iranian nuclear weapons program, which is protected in 75foot deep bunkers. Iran could really speed up any WMD type programs in response to any limmited U.S. attacks, or even spur Iran to choke off the world oil supply by using antiship missiles to sink oil tankers that service the U.S. market for oil. And any prodemocratic or reform elements in Iran would suffer a huge political setback in the wake of any attacks on Iran, and the role of the hardliners only improved in their tight grip over Iranian political and religious life.

The first instinct of the White House and U.S. military is to stop the flow of Iranian IEDs into Iraq to save American lives. However, the possible heavy political costs also need serious consideration as well. But the fact of the matter is that this IED issue gives the Bush White House their strongest possible case to justify a bombing campaign in Iran, but also is full of huge unpredictable dangers as well. The U.S. certainly does not need to miscalculate and fall into a big war with Iran at this time. But if Iran one day develops nuclear weapons, then the future danger only grows as well. The choice is a difficult one.

Giuliani Left NYC In "Ratty" Condition

Rudolph Giuliani may like to proclaim about how much he supposedly improved New York City, yet a new study funded by d-Con proves that New York City continues to remain the most rat infested city in America. Apparently Giuliani did little to improve the health and sanitation of the city that still struggles under current Mayor Bloomberg with this serious health problem.

Even comics like David Letterman regularly joke about the rat problems in New York and the filthy conditions in many restaurants, including major name companies. Some businesses are virtually taken over by rats at closing time who get into food and create serious sanitation problems.

In 2003, one of NYC's firehouses had to be closed due to a serious rat problem where these pests virtually took over an entire fire station. At the time, City Councilwoman Christine Quinn noted that Mayor Bloomberg "inherited the problem" from Mayor Rudolph Giuliani.

Giuliani may offer great promises if elected President, but the fact of the matter is that he left NYC in "ratty" condition.

New 2008 Motor Scooters Using Big 16inch Wheels

A new trend in some 2008 motor scooters is the use of big 16inch wheels. With the bigger tires, these scooters are less prone to street potholes and likely far safer than models with only 10 or 12inch wheels. There are also some very modern hightechlike styling cues in some 2008 motor scooters as well. This seems to build on the popularity of the "Euro" styling of many scooters in the recent past model years.

While from a technical standpoint, many scooters seem very similiar to the current models, the quality of the construction seems to keep improving. The Chinese made scooters for example continue to vastly improve in quality and are worthy to consider against higher priced models from Europe due to the low prices, good quality, and great gas mileage. One new model scooter from China now claims as many as 142mpg fuel economy.

Motor scooters continue to climb in popularity as fuel prices continue to climb and many find scooters a fun alternative to the large automobile. One of the biggest growth is buyers over 45 who find motor scooters to be an excellent form of reliable, low cost and fun transportation.

Government could also help to promote the extreme fuel economy of motor scooters by allowing all motor scooters with 150cc and below engine size to be registered as mopeds. Currently only those scooters under 50cc are usually allowed to be registered as mopeds. All motor scooters generally require a valid driver's license as well as motorcycle insurance, however the added cost for a motorcycle endorsement to legally drive motor scooters over 50cc adds $40 or more to driver's license costs as well as involves additional tests that usually have more costs involved as well. All of this only limits the number of high mileage motor scooters that could be sold and reduce fuel consumption for the U.S. and result in big reductions in pollution. More liberal licensing could be a big boost for a wider market for high mileage motor scooters and really benefit American society, and only leave motorcycle licensing for high performance type vehicles capable of very high speeds where great skills are required for safe operation. Many 50cc mopeds only have about 1.9-4hp. Allowing motor scooters up to 150cc to be registered as mopeds would allow many 8-14hp models to be included, giving a little more power for carrying groceries or books from school, or the ability to use roads rated over 30mph to drive to work.

Hillary Clinton Achieves The Magic "50%" Mark In A New Poll

A fresh new CNN poll out just yesterday has put Hillary Clinton in a position in which she is virtually assured of winning the Democratic nomination in the next few weeks when the January primary events begin. In the new poll, Clinton now commands a huge 53% to 20% advantage over Senator Barack Obama. Former Senator John Edwards lags at just 13%. Others like Richardson, Dodd, Biden, Kucinich and Gravel are much farther behind and barely register any measurable support.

In recent election history, any candidate that registers over 50% in any CNN polling has always gone on to win their party nomination.

While Giuliani continues to lead with 33% support in the CNN polling, Rasmussen's polling which uses a different method of only using likely voters finds a much tighter race with Fed Thompson at 22%, Giuliani at 20%, Romney at 17% and McCain at just 11%, which is slightly better than the 9% floor he hit a few days ago. 27% of Republican voters were also inclined to support a third party prolife candidate if Rudolph Giuliani gets the nomination, which is certainly a bad omen for Republicans going into the 2008 election. Thompson would almost certainly lose the election, while Giuliani is more electable but internal problems in support hurt his chances at being elected.

Overall, the track record of Rasmussen reports and Scott Elliot's Election Projection websites rate as the two most accurate polling or election analysis websites and seem to most accurately predict the actual mood of the voters at any given snapshot point.