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.

More Proof That The Fat Lady Has Sung For Britney

As if any more proof that the life of Britney Spears is not in a final meltdown, her new single, GIMME MORE barely moved on the pop charts from #56 to #54 this week, proving that airplay is declining and that Spears is no longer even a top 40 music act any longer. This is vitual proof that her musical career is over.

With all of her personal problems including her losing child custody, the fact that her music comeback appears to be crashing is a huge new bad omen for the once popular singer. She no longer makes headlines for her music, but for all the "trainwreck" problems in her life. Today the main subject on DR. PHIL is the crash of Britney Spears for example. Dr. Phil's message to Spears, "Get help" before it's too late and things get even worse.

With all of the serious news that could be reported, the tragic decline of Britney Spears somehow continues to fascinate the public.
(Photo is under Creative Commons ShareAlike license by copyright holder, BUDSMR, who has licensed this photo for use by any news source provided that the copyright owner is given this legal attribution).

Dueling Washington Clowns

At first the Republican clowns in Congress hoped to change the discussion about Iraq by bringing up the phony MoveOn.org crusade involving the General Patraeus ad. It wasted a good week back in Washington. Now clown Democrats are making a similiar absurd cause against overweight drug addict, Rush Limbaugh, and his "phony soldiers" comment to describe U.S. soldiers critical of the Iraq War.

Unfortunately both wacko crusades only divert time from serious matters in Washington, where many Americans still go without health care, more jobs are lost to low wage nations, many lose their homes to foreclosure and fuel prices and home heating oil break new price records.

Two wrong still do not make a right. And the continued phony crusades for purely political reasons only serve to undermine the credibility of Congress and turn off voters. This is not the government that the public expects.

Putin Nearly Certain To Hang On To Power

Russian President Vladimir Putin now states that he will head the slate of United Russia parliamentary candidates by his party in the December elections. This will almost certainly keep Putin as in power as the Prime Minister of Russia, and his hand picked successor for president will also continue his grip on power.

Who couldn't have seen this coming all the way up Broadway?

Dallas Oil Company With White House Ties Complicates Peace In Iraq With Oil Deal

Dallas oilman Ray L. Hunt, who is closely related to figures in the Bush White House, has made a huge new oil deal with the Kurds in Northern Iraq, complicating any efforts by the Iraqi government to establish a oil revenue sharing plan. It is also another sign that this Iraq War was always about oil, and further evidence of the Bush White House opening up Iraq with the war and loss of life to allow friends of the Bush White House to profit from the Iraq War.

It was also recently disclosed that Saddam Hussein offered to leave Iraq and go into exile if he was paid $1 billion dollars which could have prevented the 2003 war. If such a plan was actually open to discussion, then the huge loss of life could have been potentially avoided, but huge defense contractors would not have profitted from the war by selling arms.

On Friday, defense contractor stocks were up sharply on Wall Street as news of a Bush White House additional $200 billion dollars for the Iraq War were requested.

The big boys get the profits from war. The little people get the bodybags it seems.

Paul Newman Supporting New Effort To Electing A Democratic Senate

Former liberal Republican actor, Paul Newman, is sending out a new appeal letter this weekend via Email to Democratic Party supporters to help elect a majority Democratic Senate. The new appeal is on behalf of the Democratic Senatoral Campaign Committee.

Newman notes that Richard Nixon added him on to his "enemies list" because of his then support for Sen. Eugene McCarthy. Newman goes on to assert that, "I was proud to stand against an imperial president back then. And I am proud to stand with a new generation of Democrats against a president who poses what I believe to be the biggest internal threat to American democracy in my lifetime".

Newman notes that the tiny Democratic margin of just 51-49 votes is highly subject to both Republican vetoes and filibusters to prevent the Democrats from moving ahead with their policies.

When former liberal Republicans like Paul Newman no longer find themselves at home in the Republican Party, it is a sign that the party has drifted too far to the right to be inclusive like it once was. Even the support for an absurd and unqualified candidate like Fred Thompson is another sign that the party is heavily controlled by the political right only concerned with ideology and not more moderate or decent leadership.

John McCain Declines Down To Single Digit Support Level

A new daily tracking poll from the reputable Rasmussen Reports organization has the support of John McCain dclining down to single digits of just 9% support. This is not only a weak 4th place finish in this poll, but is also only two scant points better than Mike Huckabee, the leader among the second tier candidates. If anything this terrible showing in the poll should only help to depress any new financial support for the McCain campaign and signal that the McCain campaign is on life support.

McCain will likely drop out right after the first primaries, now just 13 weeks away, when he badly loses the primaries forever ending his dream of becominmg president. McCain could have become the nation's oldest president if he had been successful.

The unraveling of John McCain came in stages among many Republican voters. He was once wrongly viewed as a liberal because of his maverick positions, then lost his reputation for "straight talk" after becoming a defender of the Bush White House, and finally destroyed himself by his overhawkish views on the Iraq War, wanting even more troops for the war than the White House. Now there is no return for the steady damage to his reputation as a viable Republican candidate. His dream is effectively over.

Senate Votes For Plan For Eventual Breakup Of Iraq

Yesterday a bill from normally controversial Senator Sam Brownback passed on a vote of 75-23 that will likely lead to the eventual breakup of Iraq. The plan calls for a loosely confederated central government with three semi-autonomous states that are Kurdish, Sunni and Shiite. While this certainly seems like a step forward to resolving the difficult sectarian frictions in Iraq, sharing the oil revenues could remain a major problem as in the main Shiite state, almost all of the oil assets of Iraq remain.

In 1922, after the defeat of the Turkish Ottoman Empire, Winston Churchill called in British troops to occupy the land now know as Iraq when Britain discovered that large oil reserves existed in Iraq and three ethnic groups with nothing in common, Kurds, Shiites and Sunnis were grouped together. Britain sided with the Sunni minority at the time, but despite the destruction of entire villages by the British with bombings or mustard gas attacks, the violence continued until the 1958 rebellion in Iraq which forced the British out. The 1950's winessed the growth of the Baathist movement and Arab Socialism in Egypt, Syria and Iraq. Egyptian strongman Gamal Nasser was able to lose the Suez Canal dispute in 1956 to combined British, French and Israeli forces, yet was able to advance the Arab Socialist movement and strengthen Baathist parties all throughout the MidEast.

The history of the conflict between the Sunni and Shiite sects of Islam started soon after the death of Muhammad in 632AD. Rival groups of followers joined two different visions of Islam, with the father-in-law of Muhammad largely involved in the formation of the Shiite sect and only followers of Muhammad involved in the formation of the Sunni sect. Shiites tend to view the Sunni sect as not legitimate as it does not involve the formation by relatives of Muhammad and makes reconciliation by the two sects difficult.

Given the complexities of the sectarian riff between the Sunni and Shiite sects, it is only likely that Iraq will face a breakup only too similiar to that of Yugoslavia into several states.

Democrats Continue High Approval Numbers For Leadership On Issues

New polling data from Rasmussen as well as other sources continues to note more voter trust in the Democrats on various issues ranging from the economy to health care, and recent historic Republican advantages on isues such as dealing with the War On Terror steadily declining to a near draw. All of this is certainly a good omen for the Democrats, where low approval numbers for Congress don't seem to be translating into disapproval for their party going in to 2008.

Perhaps much of the disapproval with Congress relates to their inability to be able to end the war in Iraq. Voters probably see the Democrats as the only party likely to do that compared to so much known public Republican support for the war.

Saturn Automobile Ads Bring Back Sad Episode Of Rock And Roll History

New ads for the Saturn automobiles are bringing back a deeply sad episode of history with a remake of a song by the ill-fated Wales group, Badfinger's COME AND GET IT. The sad history of this group is indeed heartbreaking.

Since 1959, Pete Ham and the other talented musicians who eventually formed the late 60's group, Badfinger were trying hard to break into music. By 1969, their song, COME AND GET IT, which was from the film THE MAGIC CHRISTIAN became a big hit, and the band was signed to The Beatles label, Apple Records. Badfinger was good fit for Apple with a Beatleslike sound, but a bad manager, with a questionable reputation for negotiations and possible ties to organized crime left the band in a complete mess. The contract with Apple was terminated in favor of a contract with Warner Bros. and the last Apple album by the group, ASS, was held up in legal limbo, and the newer albums by the group were poorly received by the critics.

In later years, with a sharply declined income, and deep dispair, band leader Pete Ham killed himself. Another band member killed himself some years later and another died in his sleep.

Indeed the song, COME AND GET IT, should be a joyful bit of rock and roll history. But the sad history of Badfinger casts a giant shadow over any works by this band.

Antiship Missiles Are Not Covered Under Arms Transfer Agreements

Unfortunately the transfer of antiship missiles are not covered under international arms limitations agreements, which has allowed China, North Korea and Russia to provide nations like Iran with some dangerous antiship weapons such as the Chinese and North Korean versions of C-802 and the Russian Sunburn antiship missiles. These weapons have given Iran's small navy a potent weapon to stop a far larger navy or the power to bring oil shipping out of the Gulf to a complete stop in the event of war.

Iran proved the power of the C-802 when the Israeli Saar 5-class missile ship, Spear, was badly damaged during the battle with Hezbollah in Lebanon last year, despite some very complex anticruise missile technology. During the Clinton Administration in 1996, the U.S. China to stop any further exports of the C-802 antiship cruise missiles to Iran, however North Korea has continued to aid Iran in developing better guidance systems. Iran has also become very good at reverse engineering weapons by purchasing some examples, taking them apart and building their own copies or making improvements. With GPS technology, Iran could make these antiship cruise missiles very lethal.

But even more serious is the prospect that Iran has some Russian Sunburn SS-22-N antiship cruise missiles in their small navy. These are frightening enough for oil tankers or smaller navy ships, but if Iran would develop nuclear warheads for these cruise missiles, then American aircraft carriers could be in grave danger in the event of any armed conflict with Iran.

War with Iran needs to be avoided at all costs. However, Iran must not be allowed to develop nuclear weapons. The world community must continue to pressure Iran to be transparent about the depth of it's nuclear program. However dangerous transfers of arms such as antiship cruise missiles only weaken the ability of the responsible world community to pressure Iran not to develop nuclear arms. Iran doesn't need the ability to sink oil tankers and bring the world demand for oil to it's knees or the ability to be able to damage the American Navy. Iran only is encouraged to act more recklessly with the continued transfer of dangerous antiship cruise missiles to this renegade state.

Arms sales to irresponsible states often ends up with bad consequences. Look at the Reagan Administration's efforts to arm Saddam Hussein's Iraq or Osama Bin Laden's Mujahedeen in Afghanistan during the 1980's as excellent examples. Arms transfers by Russia, China or North Korea to Iran Can only lead to more deadly consequences as well. The export or arms around the world only leads to many deaths. There are better things to export such as food or medicine.

Bush Uses "Divide And Conquer" Politics With Diversion Over MoveOn.org Ad

Mr. Bush and his Senate Republican allies are once again using "divide and conquer" politics to attempt to rally their base in their diversionary attacks on the recent MoveOn.org ad that attacked the testimony of General David Petraeus. The fact of the matter is that the large majority of the American electorate is so angry at the Iraq War that they don't care about the MoveOn.org ad. The ad has no impact on their feeling about the war. And MoveOn.org is not part of the Democratic Party or should have their patriotism questioned. Public disgust with the war fueled the MoveOn.org ad, nothing more, nothing less. But the recent political efforts of Bush and his Republican supporters in the Senate are little more than some pathetic attempt to rally support by old fashioned "red baiting" type politics, a blow-back to the 1950's Joe McCarthyism.

Mr. Bush may hope to buy a little more time to "run out the clock" and leave the Iraq mess up to the next president. But the efforts to attack MoveOn.org are just plain desperate. MoveOn.org, for right or wrong, had the right to question whether the testimony of General Petraeus wasn't strongly designed to put a good face on a bad policy in Iraq, much like the Bush Administration has done for the last four years.

Mr. Bush actually watched his support drop after his speech on Iraq. There is no widespread support for the Iraq War policy left among most Americans. Mr. Bush may hope to rally some support by the attack on MoveOn.org, but where was Mr. Bush when some like Rush Limbaugh played a racist song on his show among Senator Barack Obama, or Ann Coulter suggests that some officials should die or face violence. MoveOn.org only questioned the independence of the statements of General Patraeus, while right wing commentators sush as Rush Limbaugh or Ann Coulter suggested far worse in their material. There was no outcry from Bush back then. It's purely old fashioned "divide and conquer" politics. It's also more complete nonsense from this White House.

Israeli Attack On Syrian Weapons Site May Signal An Imminent Attack On Iran

Israel's recent attack on a suspected North Korean weapons site in Syria could signal that an attack on the Iranian nuclear program by Israel is imminent. This could become the biggest news story for late 2007 or 2008.

The attack by Israel seems to prove that they will not tolerate a serious military threat to their nations's security, which seems to strongly suggest that by under the same line of reasoning, Iran could well be next.

Oil is currently at all time record levels. This week it peaked at at over $83.50 in one day of international trading and is now resulting record home heating oil prices with gasoline likely to soon follow. It is estimated that it may cost up to 20% more to heat their homes this year.

Thompson Is Quickly Rallying Republican Party Conservatives

Fred Thompson appears to be quickly rallying the support from Republican Party conservatives who make up the majority of Republican Party members according to evidence found in a new Rasmussen Poll out just today. Thompson now commands 28% support in the preference poll, followed by Giuliani at 19%, McCain at 13%, and Romney at just 11%. It appears that both Giuliani and Romney seem to be suffering the most in this latest polling, with Giuliani losing support as the previous front-runner and Romney losing his conservatuve base of support to Fred Thompson, who many Republican voters now views as either a conservative or the most conservative candidate among the 2008 GOP hopefuls.

Hillary Clinton also continues to improve her strengths as the leading Democratic candidate and is leaning polls in critical early primary states such as New Hampshire as well proves important general election strengths in some normally GOP leaning states such as Florida, Virginia and Arkansas in possible 2008 matchups.

Thompson tends to run a weaker race than Giuliani which has to be good news for the Hillary Clinton campaign and enhances her prospects for winning the 2008 election. Hillary Clinton appears to be eroding her negative rating among many Democratic voters as well. This also has to be a good sign for her campaign that she could win the general election by constantly improving her image as an extremely intelligent and competant leader. It also appears that the Norman Hsu scandal has had little impact on the Clinton campaign so far as well, as evidenced from polling data from various outlets.