| Moorcat is a vote-in-person man, but compares Missoula 's and Helena 's turnout to Dillon's and realizes it may be time to bid goodbye to a ritual of Democracy. Maybe a little sentimental, and ignoring that vote-by-mail may be more democratic, but I like going to the polling places, too.
Does eating falafel make you a terrorist suspect? The FBI thinks so. I have to agree with Sara and Nicole: that's just plain dumb.
Mukasey's nomination for Attorney General approved by the Senate 53-40. Er, weren't we told the Senate needs 60 votes to get anything passed?
Steven Benen recounts the Congressional testimony of military interrogator, Col. Steve Kleinman, who says torture produces unreliable results and actually makes interrogation less efficient. "Isn't it interesting," mulls Benen, "that military professionals, veterans, and interrogation experts always oppose torture, while conservatives who've avoided military service seem to think it's a great idea?"
Also, Benen finds a torture supporter who thinks torture is a form of civil disobedience. This is not a joke. |
| The latest Zogby poll shows that the top three Democratic are tightly knotted in Iowa: Clinton 28%, Obama 25%, and Edwards 21%, and 12% undecided. The race tightens to 30% - 29% - 27% and 12% undecided when second choices are factored in to the equation, just as they would be in the actual vote. It's clearly still a race.
The Zogby poll on Republicans' standing in Iowa also has some surprises, most notable among them is that Mike Huckabee has slipped into second place with 15% support behind Mitt Romney, who polled at a whopping 31% support. Giuliani (11%) and Thompson (10%) reached double digits and McCain (8%), Paul (4%), and Tancredo (3%) brought up the rear.
David Sirota thinks Edwards' and Huckabee's surprising support in Iowa originates with their populist approach: "Iowa's diners, farms and small businesses are a long way from Washington - a long way from the think tanks, lobbying firms and television studios that manufacture a conventional wisdom that pretends America likes elitist politicians and power-appeasing politics. The beauty is that, occasionally, Iowa's first-in-the-nation caucuses shove aside that fake conventional wisdom and reward power-challengers like Huckabee and Edwards for the intensity of their middle-class populism, rather than the size of their campaign bank accounts."
Here's a big endorsement for Clinton: Ohio Governor Ted Strickland.
If acquring pork were the standard for the President's office, Senator Clinton is the obvious choice.
Speaking of Hillary Clinton, apparently her staff forgot to tip a waitress for lunch [or they did, but one waitress didn't get her cut? js]. The media was there to cover Tip Gate. Waitress to media: "You people are nuts....There's kids dying in the war, the price of oil right now - there's better things in this world to be thinking about than who served Hillary Clinton at Maid-Rite and who got a tip and who didn't get a tip."
Giuliani's getting into hot water over his old pal, Bernie Kerik, who's being indicted for fraud, obstruction of justice, etc & co. Looks like Giuliani is willing to pick up right where Bush will leave off.
An AT&T whistleblower opines that telecomm immunity is a "cover up" for the real Bush spying program. They weren't spying on select suspects; everybody's information was handed over. Didn't USA Today break that story a while back?
Here's how the "free market" manifests itself in the insurance industry: bonuses for dropping the sick off its roles. That's right: there's a system of reward for denying you health care!
From the Dep't of chutzpah: Karl Rove blames bloggers for the lack of civility in politics, aptly demonstrating his tactic of attacking others where he, himself, is week. |
