I agree.We have to be very careful and not count chickens just yet.Considering what our foes are capable of doing.American people seems willing to give us a chance.Let's don't screw up this opportunity!!! Problem where we may have is question about Iraq and every democrat sweating about when asked.We need to have straight answer right away and not ot beat around bushes.Why is so hard to just answer;War was wrong then and it is wrong now! We all were missled.We need to redeploy and sit down with all countries in the region and make Bosnian style peace.It is in the best interest of Syria,Iran,S.Arabia that there's peace in Iraq.Alternative to the peace is too terrible for all of them to pass on this peace initiative.I also can't comprehend that American people who are voting on such a small margin of issues that can not see that they too are missled.How they don't want healthcare for their children? Why their children's well being is less important than whether gays getting married or not. Healthcare,education ,common wealth is a moral value and every other modern country is judged how moral and just it is by providing these to its citizens.Why this country is afraid of universal healthcare.Is it time to stop these insurance and pharmaceutical mafia companies of holding us as hostages. The best advice I can give to our candidates is the one about how Rep. Tim Ryan run his campaign and won!
With honesty,straight talking and being out there on the streets and highways in freezing cold, asking citizen for their vote.Why rest of our people don't do the same.If we want to win-we have to be out there on the streets,meeting real people,back to grassroots. We are facing formidable foe who uses media campaign to perfection.We need to get out and take it directly to the people.Week before election and on election day,our candidates have to be in front of factories,stores,shopping malls and street corners asking for their vote.People will respond to this because they will see us as we are what we are-one of them,and we will represent them.We have to let them know that contract with America is canceled and contact with real America is starting now.We'll give them new deal,better deal and fair deal..
Can somebody please go on that FOX show and tell to Seam Hannity that instead trying to "hannitize" others,we'll sanitize him instead... and fumigate him too,at no charge..

We're accustomed to seeing the number "six" cited as the number of seats we need to regain to attaint a majority in the Senate.

Well, maybe.

That assumes that independent Bernie Sanders wins the VT seat being vacated by Jeffords, and of course he would caucus with the Democrats if he were to win. That would give us 44 + 6 + 1 or 51, enough to take the Republican tie-breaker away from Cheney.

BUT WAIT....THERE'S MORE.

That math ALSO assumes that Lamont wins in Connecticut instead of Lieberman. Make no mistake about this. If Lieberman wins and the number rests at 51, that phony will certainly caucus with Republicans. He might even abandon the Democratic Party by re-registering. In his voting record he already has done so. If courted by the Republicans and offered more power within the Senate to make the move, he will jump like a hungry, trained seal for snapping at a mackerel.

So if you want a shot at the Senate, and if you have any friends or family in Connecticut, make sure you get in touch with them and implore them to get out and vote for Lamont and, more importantly, get others to do so too.

The Lamont site has a Friends and Family site, where once you register your name, you can put in your friend's names, and a post card will go out to them saying You Are Supporting Lamont, and hope they will too !

Please use it, even if you only know one or 2 people here!

An early Christmas present for you, - a vote for Ned Lamont!

Lieberman has evidently decided he will vote to keep Bolton on as UN Ambassador.

Gee...what a surprise!

What is the DNC doing about caging, disenfranchisement and massive purging of Democratic voters from the rolls in Ohio, Tennessee, Missouri and Virginia?

Polls are fun before election day. But the only one that counts is on November 7.

Why does the DNC talk about polls now when they are doing anything to prevent massive Democratic voter disenfranchisement in key states on election day?

The Diebold databases need to be injoined and the pre-October 1st/pre purge data bases used. The DNC NEEDS TO TAKE LEADERSHIP ON THIS ISSUE AND ORGANIZE THE DEMOCRATIC GROUND GAME TO RESIST MASSIVE DEMOCRATIC VOTER DISENFRANCHISEMENT IN FOUR KEY STATES ON ELECTION DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tee Pee "Macaca" ... George Bigot Allen is going down hard!

Great closing staement!It ain`t over `til it`s over as Yogi would say.The repubs have more tricks up their sleeves than David Copperfield!Don`t be lulled away by the numbers.The only ones that count are the final counts!Remember this isn`t for the Democratic Party.This is a chance to start making America what it can be. This country desparately needs this to happen, and for the Democratic Party to show them that they made the right choice.

I understand the Republicans are going to air a "Daisy" ad. How are we going to respond?
Thanks

Polling may look good, but I will tell you, as a life long democrat, and grass roots activist, and someone who took voting very, very seriously and NEVER voted for a Republican, I will NOT be voting this November...I am SICK of all of you,and if I had my druthers, EVERY and EACH incumbent would be voted out of office, there is NO difference between the crooks in the Republican Party and the crooks in the Democratic Party.. if you want a donation, go ask those Democratic members of Congress who voted themselves yet another pay raise..and who are just as guilty of pandering to the corperate greed of America as the Republicans..
shame on you all.
and I can assure you, if an Independent party ever gets off the ground, I wil be working my behind off for them...
I no longer consider myself a Democrat..

Good luck! Btw, how does one e-mail the good Chairman Dean?

Get this - according to a new poll, Linda Stender is within 2% of Mike Ferguson. This is the NJ 7th district. It's within the margin of error!
When the campaign started Linda Stender was 20% behind. How's that for closing the gap!

The Dems need to be careful not to appear too cocky regarding our chances for winning this election. Between Bush, Rumsfeld and Cheney, we have done cocky and it has killed and maimed our young people, ruined our international reputation and put the rights, guarenteed by our Constitution, on the block. Get rid of Harry Reid- we cannot tolerate any hint of scandel. Nancy Pelosi is a very weak leader. While I think she handles the media well in the one on one situation, she does not inspire confidence in me. Also, am I the only Democrat who wants absolute border security and NO AMNESTY? Everytime the people speak, they scream for secure borders and the Dems just ignore them. We are being invaded and everyone in the party is spouting the Kennedy spin. Please stop the nonsense and dare to stand for the right thing. What a concept that would be!!!!!!!!grumbles is grumbling

I hope all republicans are somewhat sensible and attentive. The recent bin Laden ads are mass advertising suicide for the party that has been responsible for catchin him. They are completely ignorant and audacious by trying to invoke fear in voters with these ads when it was and still is their own failure. The exact same ad should be run for the Democratic party with a flash of word at the end saying "Who was in charge of catching him?"

In reponse to RNC's Osama ad. I think the us Democrats to have an ad that refutes that they are better with terrorism. We should remind voters of the recent events in Afghanistan & Iraq with references to Katrina. We are losing those wars and the poor response to the hurricane should give the independent voter something to think about when it comes to defending America.

The Simple response to the "desperate" GOP Osama bin Ladin ad is:

The Republicans want you to scare you with him. We want you to vote FOR THIS "American":

And I would show a picture of the composite 300 Millionth "American" baby that arrived this week.

HI grumbles,

No I am a liberal democrat but want complete border security...we cannot provide services for our citizens if we have millions of poor peopl, not to meantion gang bangers and drug dealers poring over our borders....
I am hoping the DNC will start some major on the ground support for John Laesch in Illinois...he is trying to unseat Dennis Hastert...............
We definately cannot count our chickens......we need Webb and Ford to win and it looks like Lamont might not make it....I don't know how anyone can stand listening to the arrogant, tiresome Lieberman.............he's got to go

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If you'll take a look at the premier election site:
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http://www.electoral-vote.com:2006/
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You will see that the close Senate races are:
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1) MISSOURI
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2) NEW JERSEY
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3) TENNESSEE
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4) VIRGINIA
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Nowhere on that site is there any mention of a close race in Connecticut.
In fact, the race in Connecticut is a "slam-dunk" for Lieberman.
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This Connecticut race, and the preposterous push for this unknown amateur Lamont by that kook over at dailykos, is shaping up as the one of the BIGGEST POLITICAL BLUNDERS ever made in the history of our Democratic Party.
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Why? Why? Why?
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With so many critical races, such as the above mentioned 4, why would this kook over at dailykos take it upon himself to use the popularity of his blog to DIVERT critical funds, and support, AWAY from our close races, just to dump it all down the toilet on some far-fetched fantasy Lamont campaign to NOWHERE!
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Why?
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This is a serious error in judgement and leads me to believe that this dailykos kook has NO POLITICAL SENSE AT ALL!
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IT MAKES ME SICK to think of all the attention and support and campaign contributions that have been LITERALLY thrown away just to try and give some unknown multi-millionaire in Connecticut a fast-track to the Senate.
And these amateur bloggers like kooky-kos are TO BLAME!
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They are simply trying to line their own pockets and further their own careers, and they are doing it at the expense of our Party!!!
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They are bloggers. They are not political strategists.
And as is evidenced by the ridiculous waste of resources on Lamont, they DON"T KNOW WHAT THEY'RE DOING!!!
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Lieberman has been running circles around these bone-head wannabees.
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I am SOOOOOOOO glad that Mark Warner dropped out, because he was going to be the next 4th string candidate that these silly little bloggers were going to try and force down everyone's throats. And Warner would have been destroyed! Just like Lamont!
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We can't win with amateurs! We need our superstars on the field.
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And, we need to stop listening to simpletons like kooky-kos. This nut just drains our resources to toss away on rank amateurs like Lamont. And all for the good of no one but himself!!! F'n traitor is all he is.
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That is all.
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The RNC is starting an ad reminding Americans how fearfull we should be of terrorists. I think the DNC should put up an ad reminding Americans how fearfull we should be of George Bush as he takes away our freedoms.

I am all for being a "cut and run" Democrat!!! I say, let's CUT our losses in this ill conceived and morally corrupt Iraq war and RUN a competent and effective foreign policy where we enjoin rather than bully our friends and weaken rather than strengthen our adversaries.

Am I the only one who is worrying that the Rupublicains will try a fast one? Either by messing with the voting machines (made by their friends or declaring "red alert" and "postponing" the elections? I hope my fear are not justified but looking at past elections I'm not sure...

I've been hearing on CNN and Fake News that the republicans are now trying to focus on "the issues." Since when do republicans focus on the issues? When they lose at the issues, they throw values into the mix as a backup. They can't do this with Mark Foley's fallout and the cover-up, and we all know they are covering up. They don't have the issues; they don't even have the values! We all need to hit up our local press and not let this issue die. Otherwise, we give the republicans what they have been doing for the last six years...control the media. The republicans are running scared!

Hi folks I wrote this song I wanted to share…….. I wrote it just after the 2004 election but I feel it is as timely as ever. Been thinking about some new verses…

The Red State Blues

I got the red state blues.
I got the red state blues.
Women gonna lose their right to choose
Hey buddy have you heard the news?
I got the red state blues.

Must be the season for goin to war
They just keep changing what we’re fightin for
Our civil rights are headed out the door
I got the red state blues.

Oh there’s the arctic they’re fixin to spoil
They’ll be drillin and spillin oil.
I feel my blood just beginnin to boil
I got the red state blues

The right wing Christians should have their say.
But now they’re gonna have too much sway.
Just whose rights would Jesus take away?
We got the red state blues.

We got the red state blues.
The church and state they’re fixin to fuse
I don’t know who has the most to lose
We got the red state blues.

They’re quotin scripture and makin a fuss.
They’ve highjacked God from the rest of us
It’s enough to make a preacher cuss.
We got the red state blues.

These kind of folks nailed my savior to a cross.
Just for sayin the poor should be boss.
Now our civil rights they’re tryin to toss.
We got the red state blues.

Like the Pharisees they’re holier than thou.
They’re gonna run the government now.
We gotta stop em and here is how.
Don’t keep the red state blues.

Get off your asses and get to the polls.
Grab your friends get em on the votin rolls.
Or it’s us for whom the bell tolls.
Don’t get the red state blues.

Stop our whining and pick up the slack.
We need more voters and that is a fact.
They’ve stolen God, lets get him or her back.
Stamp out the red state blues.

The time has come to bring the power and authority back to the people. We've had enough. This time we are voting for the democrats.

Why is it that the Republican party has in the past always been able to use nonsence ideas such as the swiftboaters in 04 or a picture of Willy Horton in 88 or the issue of gay marriage and flag burning in 00.All of this trivia is forgotten as soon as the election is over but used very effectively in the past elections.With all of the problems of the past almost six years not one Democratic stratagest could come up with something that would define the R party as the ruthlass for power sharks that they are.With the 06 election almost over is it possible for dems to show in the 08 election something that they have not shown in past elections and that is a win at all costs mentallity that the R's have.It will not be as easy in two years as it looks to be in November.

harold ford jr could be the next U S Senator from Tennessee if they let people know that bob corker was finance director under ex gov.don sunquist when they tried to get a state income tax. check it out to be sure ? Tennesseans hate any body that suggests a state income !!!! Dnc get tv radio time and FORD will be the next THE NEXT U.S SENATOR from tennessee .

Polls look good. But never let our guard down, make sure to vote, make sure everyone we know votes. Lets get out the vote and we wil WIN

National polls don't match election results, what about exit polls not matching election results?
Things that make you say : "Hmmmm!!!" Slashdot is linking to a Washington Post article about possibly stolen software disks, that contain Diebold source code.
There is a big discussion going on in Maryland about stolen computer disks believed to be voting software.
The Maryland state elections administrator is asking the FBI to look into an appearant theft and leaking of Diebold software.
Appearantly the disks were originally released to a couple of security companies in order to test the machines, but got stolen and/or copied.
Considering the differences between the exit polls and the election results in Ohio and Florida where those machines were in use, in the presidential election, I would urge EVERYONE in precincts where Diebold machines are in use to run, not walk, to the voter registrar's office and sign up for an absentee ballot,like NOW!
Absentee ballots leave a paper trail and can't be hacked by people wanting to swing the eletions.
A related topic is the trashing of voter rolls by questionable purges which disenfranchise hundreds of legitimate voters for bogus reasons, is another problem that needs to be loudly discussed, especially considering the disenfranchisement is targeting traditionally Democrat populations.
Election fraud is NOT comitted by illegal aliens. It's being comitted by those who are in power and want to stay there!

*******DEMOCRACY IS IN DANGER!!!!!!!!!

The following letter about Saving Democracy in the U.S.A. is a must read for ALL who choose to retain a DEMOCRATIC NATION:

Why Air America Matters
by Thom Hartmann

There are times when doing the profitable thing is also doing the right thing. That's certainly what Roger Ailes and Rupert Murdoch [Rupert Murdoch lives in China] thought when they lost an average of $90 million a year for about five years before the Fox News Channel [Right-Wing PROPAGANDA] became profitable. It's what Reverend Moon believes, as his Washington Times newspaper lost hundreds of millions of dollars and, according to some reports, even today continues to lose money. And its what the people who have made Air America Radio possible - names you probably wouldn't recognize because they've invested millions of their own money but don't seek the limelight - believe.

Each of these endeavors hit nail-biting times.
In Murdoch's early days building News Corp. (which then helped fund Fox News), as The Hollywood Reporter noted in a 2005 article:

"[C]orporate expansion and the stock market crash of 1987 conspired to create a financial crisis for Murdoch in 1990, when News Corp. reported revenue of $6.7 billion and saw more than $7 billion in debt come due. With News Corp. shares plummeting from $24 to $8 as a result of the Black Monday crash and Murdoch's buying sprees continuing unabated, creditors became nervous. A refinancing plan was put in place, but at the last minute, one small bank in Pittsburgh refused to go along with the scheme, demanding repayment of a $10 million loan."

"That $10 million loan nearly caused the entire collapse of News Corp.: An extraordinary race against time ensued in which Murdoch and his financial advisers struggled to convince the company's 100-plus creditors to agree to a deal by which they would all be paid at the same time. Only at the eleventh hour did the Pittsburgh bank capitulate, to Murdoch's great relief."

"The mogul managed to get through the ordeal without parting with substantial blocks of stock, which likely would have forced him to lose control of the company he created (a fate that befell his rival, Turner). At one point, though, Murdoch reportedly did have to sign over as security personal assets, including his New York penthouse."

There was, however, a happy ending (for Murdoch), which helped fund the money-losing Fox News Network:

"Today, the studio and the Fox owned-and-operated stations are News Corp.'s cash machines."

Brit Hume noted, in a 1999 interview with PBS:

"This operation loses money. It doesn't lose nearly as much as it did at first, and it's -- well, it's hit all its projections in terms of, you know, turning a profit, but it's - it will lose money now, and we expect for a couple more years. I think it's losing about $80 million to $90 million a year."

This is not, of course, to celebrate losing money. It's just a demonstration of the old truism that sometimes "it takes money to make money." And sometimes it takes money to make a difference in the world, as well.

While Fox News and The Washington Times have devoted themselves to promoting the interests of America's most wealthy, most of the programming of Air America Radio has been committed to discussions of labor, the middle class, and holding up the founding ideals of this nation. These were best expressed by America's first liberal president, George Washington, when he said:

"As Mankind becomes more liberal, they will be more apt to allow that all those who conduct themselves as worthy members of the community are equally entitled to the protections of civil government. I hope ever to see America among the foremost nations of justice and liberality."

Liberal or conservative, the nation has often moved as its media has moved.

Rupert Murdoch's investment in Fox News not only produced profits for him, it changed America. As Richard Morin noted in The Washington Post on May 4, 2006, in an article titled "The Fox News Effect":

"'Fox News convinced 3 to 8 percent of its audience to shift its voting behavior towards the Republican Party, a sizable media persuasion effect,' said Stefano DellaVigna of the University of California at Berkely and Ethan Kaplan of Stockholm University.
"In Florida alone, they estimate, the Fox effect may have produced more than 10,000 additional votes for Bush -- clearly a decisive factor in a state he carried by fewer than 600 votes."

Similarly, Air America Radio may have had a significant effect in awakening people across the United States to positive liberal alternatives to the conservative vision of Fox and Bush. In a democracy, which depends on a vital and ongoing exchange of free ideas for its survival, this is essential.

It's a tragedy that for the lack of an investor the size of Rupert Murdoch, Air America is in Chapter 11 bankruptcy. But its existence and ongoing presence in the marketplace is an essential part of the dialogue that is known as democracy.

In a letter about Shay's Rebellion, which some argued was incited by newspapers, Thomas Jefferson wrote:

"The people are the only censors of their governors; and even their errors will tend to keep them to the true principles of their institution. To punish these errors too severely would be to suppress the only safeguard of the public liberty. The way to prevent these irregular interpositions of the people is to give them full information of their affairs, through the channel of public papers, and to contrive that those papers should penetrate the whole mass of the people."

"The basis of our government being the opinion of the people, the very first object should be to keep that right; and were it left to me to decide, whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter. But I should mean that every man should receive those papers, and be capable of reading them."

Had radio existed in 1783, Jefferson would have probably expressed similar sentiments about it. As Jefferson wrote in 1786 to his close friend Dr. James Currie,

"Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost."

But ever since Ronald Reagan stopped enforcing the Sherman Anti-Trust Act of 1881, leading to an explosion of acquisitions and mergers, and Bill Clinton signed the Telecommunications Act of 1996, leading to an even more startling concentration of media in a very few hands, freedom of the press in America has become as much a economic as a political issue. This is problematic, because no democracy can survive with only one voice in the media.

Back in the years when I often visited Russia, the well-work joke that everybody knew had to do with the names of the two biggest newspapers, Pravda and Ivestia.

"Pravda" is a Russian word that translates as "truth" and "Ivestia" means "news."

The joke every Russian can recite from memory is:

"There�s no news in Pravda, and no truth in Ivestia."

As Russians well learned, single-party-news is corrosive to democracy. Jefferson made his comment about newspapers being vital to America just at the time he was being most viciously attacked in the newspapers.

The core requisite of democracy is debate. When there's only a single predominant voice in the media, American democracy itself is at greatest risk.

Losing the voices of Air America would harm this nation, just as much as would losing the voices of conservative talk radio. We need them all to really be America.

Thom Hartmann is a Project Censored Award-winning New York Times bestselling author of 17 books, and host of a nationally syndicated daily progressive talk show carried on the Air America Radio network. His most recent book is "Screwed: The Undeclared War on the Middle Class and What We Can Do About It."

All my family are voting ABSENTEE BALLOT.

Looking at the recent King of the oil-king CONSIGLIERE HW's subliminal tips of warning to the nation especially their henchmen saying it would be disaster to the congress and GW's remaining tenure, I'm afraid the Democrats will again be fooled by the Republican powerful money-backed campaign and rigged election just like 00 & 04 and the naive democrats especially those stupid Lieberman Dem-supporters in Coonecticut. I'm sad and will be very disappointed if the democrats cannot take back both houses and impeach all war-crime related politicians top to bottom.

The Lindeen-Rheburg contest in Montana is also almost invisible.
Montana only has one representative in Congress, and we deserve to have someone in there who represents Montanas. Not a rubber-stamp Republican like Rheburg, who votes the party line, and is basically a Burn-in-training.
Lindeen needs more support, and more visibility.
What's wrong with picking up seats in BOTH houses of Congress, especially in rural states?

Rove and BUsh want American to vote based on the economy, but Americans are smarter and can't be fooled this time: Even if the economy is strong, the war in Iraq will continue to eat the supposed growth. That is way the Iraq war is #1 concern and it should be. A strong economy in time of ill conceived ongoing war is like making money and then burning it in fire!

Here is an interesting article on the situation in Iraq for those interested.

"Catastrophic Empowering Events"
Throughout history, various politicos have utilized "Catastrophic Empowering Events" to incite their citizenry and coerce them into accepting undesirable agendas. Hitler torched the German Reichstag and blamed his opponents in a plot to eliminate them. Back in 1998, Dick Cheney's group dubbed as the "Project for a New American Century" (Neo-Cons), which included Jeb Bush and subsequent major players in George W. Bush's administration, lobbied President Clinton and Congress to attack an already weakened Iraq to topple Saddam Hussein and build permanent U.S. bases in the oil-rich Middle East.

As soon as Bush obtained the presidency in 2001, their quest for the long-sought-after Iraq War was on. But, Secretary of Defense Rumsfield bemoaned the fact that the American people probably wouldn't go for the illegal war without a "Catastrophic Empowering Event" to push it through.

Then, with 'phenomenal luck', one of those events actually did happened just in the nick of time. It was as if government insiders were complicit with the 9/11 attacks so say the 'disputers' of the official story.

Disputing the Government's Official 9/11 Story, the official 9/11 account, which has been echoed throughout the mainstream media, is full of impossibilities and improbabilities according to the 'disputers'.

The Bush administration claimed it had no prior warnings. However, the 'disputers' ask why then was Attorney General Ashcroft urged to stop using commercial flights and go private, and why was there a 1200% increase in put orders to sell-short airline stocks during the week before 9/11.

Professional pilots have commented that they themselves couldn't fly the complex, computerized 757's without extensive specialized training and practice, and that it was certainly impossible for foreign terrorists with nothing more than some flight lessons for small private aircraft to perform the flight maneuvers of 9/11.

With Vice President Cheney controlling NORAD on 9/11, the 'disputers' believe that insider complicity was necessary for the terrorists to hit at a time the air force was in stand-down mode for war games simulating what was actually happening for real, as well as the terrorists' hijacked planes going unfettered for over an hour without interception.

The 'disputers' say the facts don't support the government's official 9/11 story that the WTC towers collapsed because their steel super structures were softened by the jet fuel fires resulting from the plane crashes.

Instead, the 'disputers' cite evidence that points to controlled-explosive demolitions set by government insiders as the real cause. If the government's story were true, the towers would have to bare the ignominy of being the only steel framed buildings in the world ever felled by fire.

There is quite a distinction between the 2700 degrees (F) steel melting point and the 1800 degrees (F) at which jet fuel burns.

The case for fire is further discredited because significant proportions of the fuel exploded outside the buildings and fireproofing covered the steel beams. The North Tower burned only for 1 hour and 43 minutes and the South Tower for only 56 minutes before collapsing. In contrast, Philadelphia's Meridian Plaza in 1991 remained standing after eight of its floors burned for nineteen hours with a hot fire.

Experts say the towers' collapse had all the earmarks of controlled-explosive demolition as confirmed by on-the-scene first-response teams reporting hearing sounds of explosions, seeing ascending spirals of flashes going around the buildings and massive horizontal plumes of pulverized cement dust and other debris shooting out the sides of the buildings. (Only high explosives can pulverize cement into dust.)

All the world watched as the North Tower only took 8.1 seconds and the South Tower took only 10.4 seconds to smoothly cascade straight down to their footprints. Obstructions (such as the floors below) would normally cause a slow, erratic fall with debris spewing every which way. So, the towers' picture-perfect falls were a good indication that a series of coordinated explosions from pre-positioned demolition charges cleared the way down.

Incidentally, the Bush family through Marvin Bush has been in charge of WTC security since immediately after the 1993 failed terrorist bombing.The towers' huge beams just happened to be cut up in thirty-foot lengths, a perfect fit for the flatbed trucks that quickly whisked away debris to shipping points out of the country preventing a full-scale investigation.

However, BYU physicist Dr. Steven Jones did managed to analyze some WTC physical samples and discovered the presence of Thermate, a substance, which is used in military demolition explosives for cutting steel. Incidentally, its yellow residue is clearly visible on shattered beams in Ground Zero photos.

Also, there were goofs.

A premature explosion with smoke and damage was observed in one of the basements prior to the plane hit.

The North Tower was the first hit, but the second to fall.

A billfold in perfect condition attributed to terrorist Atta was found in the rubble implying a bumbled attempt to plant phony evidence.

The above was just a small portion of the extensive and extraordinary evidence maintained by the growing ranks of Americans disputing the government's official 9/11 story.

Bush's "Reform Movement" was exploiting Terrorism even before his 9/11 "Empowering Event" occurred.

Bush started his "reform movement" (as Republicans call it) to increase his powers and turn America's free, open society with equality for all into a corporate, fascist dictatorship with a rich ruling class and an oppressed, poor working class. His first move was to start building a 'big brother' style system of severe surveillance upon Americans. As soon as he obtained the presidency in January 2001, Bush ordered the National Security Agency in the Pentagon to launch an illegal domestic spy program.

After his 9/11 "Empowering Event" and with the benefit of terrorism as an excuse he was able to make huge strides in grabbing power, creating his imperial presidency and destroying the federal government's system of checks and balances established by the founding fathers.

In just 45 days after 9/11 and without debate, Congress while under pressure passed the 2001 Patriot Act without prior access to the 2,200 page document before voting. The Bill of Rights, with the guarantee of free speech, peaceable assembly and security in one's person, papers and effects, became a mere list of privileges that the government could take away at any time.

The Patriot Act also cancelled the rights to due process and a prompt and public trial and protection against cruel and unusual punishment. The federal government could now freely wiretap phones, enter homes and perform search and seizure without warrants as well as indefinitely detain citizens without charge.

The 2002 Homeland Security Act was passed by a Congress again prohibited from seeing the 550-page bill before voting. The Department of Homeland Security was created as an intelligence gathering operation in which 22 federal agencies and their databases were merged to mostly spy on American citizens.

In 2004, the Department of Homeland Security sent a memo to police departments through out the U.S. with orders to watch the masses for body language and to look out for anyone showing arrogance or expressing opposition to decisions of the government. It's no surprise that antiwar protestors nation-wide have said that they are being watched and harassed by police.

In 2005, The Department of Homeland Security enlisted more than 50 corporations including Microsoft, Oracle and Verizon to watch and track the activities of Americans. The department's "Dataveillance" system is collecting copious information on all U.S. citizens of their patterns of behavior to assess motives and intentions.The Department of Homeland Security is now opening private mail and forcing Internet providers to overhaul their computer networks to make it easier for monitoring E-mail. Also, it has pressured Yahoo, Google and the like to turn over their databases in order to see what websites citizens are visiting.

The Department of Homeland Security has hired General Yevgeni Primakov, Ex-head of the Soviet Secret Service (KGB) and Markus Wolfe, ex-boss of the East German State Security Police (STASI).

The 2004 Intelligence Reform Act was passed by Congress while being denied access to some sections classified "top Secret" in the 3,000 page bill. The act created the Department of National Intelligence as a clearing-house for all 15 U.S. intelligence agencies. It mandated a counter-terrorism center, spy satellite network to monitor private communications and standardizing state drivers licenses and birth certificates creating a national ID system.

There is talk of eventually implanting signal-sending ID chips under the skin of all Americans to be tracked by satellite.

In June 2005, the National Security Service, a secret police unit to be operated by the White House with no Congressional oversight was created by George W. Bush by placing a portion of the FBI under his personal control.

In October 2005, the National Clandestine Service a new department in the CIA was created by a Bush executive order to engage in covert operations within the United States.

The Military Commissions Act of 2006 (dubbed the torture act) does away with habeas corpus. Anyone specified by the executive branch alone, could be arrested and held indefinitely without trial, access to the courts, and hope of appeal. Anyone could be declared an "enemy combatant" and then permanently detained and tortured, as defined by the Geneva Conventions, solely on the word of the president. It allows civilians to be tried by military tribunals instead of civilian courts and permits the use of evidence against them extracted under cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment. All legal residents of the U.S. and foreign citizens living in their own countries could be subject to this law.

Also, it provides for a "stealth pardon" for war crimes committed by those who allow the torture and abuse of detainees, such as in Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison.Bush/Republican anti-terrorism measures have far exceeded the scope of protection from terrorists and have unnecessarily advanced into grabbing power and slashing civil liberties, which appears to be their true purpose in the first place.

Other affronts to our liberties as part of his "reform movement" include Bush twice taking the White House with the help of Republican vote fraud.

Among other infractions in election year 2000, thousands of voters sharing the surnames of black convicts were removed from voter registration rolls in Florida.

In 2004, the wide variances between some exit polls and the 'official' counts in favor of Bush were declared by experts to be statistically impossible.

Also, Bush has expanded his powers by persistently using his Constitutional prerogative of 'signings', which are statements added to Congressionally passed bills to the effect that he personally isn't bound by them as he pens his signature.

Furthermore, major telecommunication corporations have bribed Congress to do away with the Internet law of 'net-neutrality' to eliminate free speech on the Internet and shut down the online alternative news-sites critical of Bush and the Republicans.

Martial Law. Where is all the above leading? It would appear that the Bush administration is preparing for martial law. Bush has signed executive orders giving himself sole authority to impose martial law and suspend habeas corpus with no checks and balances during a national emergency.

The Pentagon has ordered U.S. Northern Command at Peterson Air Force Base to prepare a series of secret strategies for rapid military takeover of the U.S. upon Bush's orders.

General Tommy Franks said in 2003 that after a major casualty-producing event in the Western world, Americans would "question our own Constitution" and consent to militarization of the United States for security.

Homeland Security gave Halliburton a $385 million dollar contract to construct detention facilities around the country supposedly for a national emergency.

Remember, Bush's predilection for interment camps was demonstrated during the 2004 Republican Convention when 1,806 protestors were rounded up, imprisoned without charges and kept in filthy conditions for 24 hours or more.

"North American Union" - Bush isn't content with just turning the United States alone into a dictatorship. In March 2005, He emerged from a meeting at Baylor University with Mexican President Fox and Canadian Prime Minister Martin and announced that the North American continent was in the process of being transformed from three sovereign nations into one super regional political and economic entity dubbed the "North American Union".

As early as 2010, boundaries will be redefined so immigration control will be around the three countries and not between them and legitimate traffic can be streamlined across their borders.

Soon, a non-elected governance board for the "North American Union" will be formed along with a tribunal with supremacy over the U.S. Supreme Court and a customs and immigration service with authority over U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement within the 'DHS'.

Public discourse as well as a vote within each nation as to the will of the people has been disallowed. The formation of the "North American Union" has been under wraps with 'mums' the word from the mainstream media. Thus, very few Americans know about it. Even Congressional requests for information have been denied.

The driving forces are military and corporate (Eisenhower's military-industrial complex) and their goal is to create an enormous despotic police state not for the benefit of the people but their self-serving pursuit of extreme greed and power. They use anti-terrorism as the ruse and strip civil liberties from citizens to squash dissent.

Vote in November - Bush's latest in a long list of stated pretenses for staying the course in his bloody war is to "bring democracy to Iraq". But, he cuts and runs at home by slashing our liberties and building a police state under the guise of fighting his war on terror. By doing so, he hands over victory to the terrorists because, as he says, "they hate our freedoms".

What we the American people do about Bush's power grabs and assaults on the Constitution and Bill of Rights will determine whether or not we will soon be living under the yoke of tyranny. And, the first thing we can do is vote out Bush's rubber-stamp Republican Congress this November to reinstate check and balances to the federal government.

osasmon:

Vote at the top for ALL the Democrats, then DO NOT VOTE SEPARATELY for the candidates. When you vote at the top, then vote separately for your candidates, thinking you are insuring your vote, it only cancells your vote.

Being cantankerous in this election is being highly foolish. Our country is being taken over by the RIGHT-WING EXTREME. If we choose DEMOCRACY, we must choose to vote democratic. Democracy is the LIBERAL Democrats. We can clean up the party later.

Any Republican vote is autocratic and against democracy, whatever they say.

Ed_F:

The economy only appears to be strong. The Nation has been bankrupt since last July. We are being propped up. When bankruptcy is allowed to happen, the Martial Law their preparing for will take effect.

Published on Monday, October 23, 2006 by ABC News

Electronic Voting Machines Could Skew Elections

Researchers, Candidates Have Little Confidence in Machines Designed to Make Elections Easier to Call
by Jake Tapper, Rebecca Abrahams and Eduardo Sunol

WASHINGTON - Cheryl Kagan, a former Maryland Democratic legislator, was shocked when she opened her mail Wednesday morning.

Inside, she discovered three computer discs. With them was an anonymous letter saying the discs contained the secret source code for vote-counting that could be used to alter the votes cast through Maryland's new electronic voting machines.

"My understanding is that with these disks a malicious person could skew the outcome of an election," Kagan said.

Diebold, the company that makes the voting machines, told ABC News, "These discs do not alter the security of the Diebold touch-screen system in any way," because election workers can set their own passwords.

But ABC News has obtained an independent report commissioned by the state of Maryland and conducted by Science Applications International Corporation revealing that the original Diebold factory passwords are still being used on many voting machines.

The SAIC study also shows myriad other security flaws, including administrative over-ride passwords that cannot be changed by local officials but can be used by hackers or those who have seen the discs.

The report further states that one of the high risks to the system comes if operating code discs are lost, stolen or seen by unauthorized parties -- precisely what seems to have occurred with the discs sent to Kagan, who worries that the incident indicates the secret source code is not that difficult to obtain.

"Certainly, just tweaking a few votes in a couple of states could radically change the outcome of our policies for the coming year," she said.

Worry That Elections Could Be Hacked??? Computer experts and government officials have voiced serious concerns that if these machines malfunction, no paper record will exist for a recount. Even worse is the fear that an election could be hacked.

Princeton University researchers using an Accuvote TS -- a touch screen version of the Diebold machine -- showed how easy it would be to deploy a virus that would, in seconds, flip the vote of any election.

"We're taking the vote-counting process and we're handing it over to these companies -- and we don't know what happens inside these machines," said Edward Felten, a professor and a researcher at Princeton's Center for Information Technology Policy, which ran the study.

Diebold called the Princeton study "unrealistic and inaccurate."

But many computer scientists, including cyber-security expert Stephen Spoonamore, disagree, pointing out that the Accuvote TS was used in the 2004 presidential election and is still used in at least four states -- including all machines in Georgia and Maryland. Spoonamore said the hack attacked the operating system layer of software and would affect any touch screen machine built by Diebold.

Diebold argues that the software from the 2004 elections has been updated to fix any possible security problems. But Spoonamore is not convinced, saying Diebold's "system is utterly unsecured. The entire cyber-security community is begging them to come back to reality and secure our nation's voting."

There is also the matter of computer glitches. In primary elections and test runs this year, there were glitches with electronic voting machines from Diebold and other companies.

* Machines malfunctioned in Texas, where 100,000 votes were added.
* In California, directions for voters with vision problems came out in Vietnamese.
* And in Maryland, screens froze and memory cards went missing.

Gov. Robert Ehrlich, a Republican running for reelection, advised residents to vote by absentee ballot because he had no confidence in the machines.

"I don't care if we paid half a billion dollars or $1 billion," Ehrlich said. "If it's going to put the election at risk, there's no price tag for a phony election or a fraudulent election."

Many are concerned about how the confusing technical issues will be handled by poll workers, who tend to be senior citizens and who are not necessarily tech-savvy.

Electronic voting machines were supposed to be the solution to the paper ballot problems from the 2000 presidential election. But to many critics, America's voting system has gone out of the frying pan and into the fire.

End of Article

VOTE AN ABSENTEE PAPER BALLOT. You will have to go pick it up prior to the election.

franknstein06:

Because Republicans own all the media, therefore, they make sure you hear only what they want you to hear.

I have just watched Fox and Friends with an interview with Sean Hannity. We have got to do something to stop these paid Hacks from swiftboating again our candidates. How do we get the American people to see who these people really are and how they distort the truth? We can not allow another swiftboating of our candidates. It is time to take the gloves off and beat them at there own game. My father once said to fight gutter rats you sometimes have to get into the gutter. I think the time has come.

I have just watched Fox and Friends with an interview with Sean Hannity. We have got to do something to stop these paid Hacks from swiftboating again our candidates. How do we get the American people to see who these people really are and how they distort the truth? We can not allow another swiftboating of our candidates. It is time to take the gloves off and beat them at there own game. My father once said to fight gutter rats you sometimes have to get into the gutter. I think the time has come.

Karl Rove talks about "The Math" which tells him the Republicans will retain control of both houses. The simple explanation to that could be he is in "spin land" and what else could be expected of him or any other Republican strategist.

But is anyone in DNC worried there may be a more sinister explanation for his confidence. Could it be Karl's "The Math" is a code word for another Florida 2000 and Ohio 2004 in key races. What is the DNC doing to ensure that doesn't happen.

We are almost to the end of October and we haven't seen any "October Surprise" from the RNC. Could there be one in the closing days of October?

Shouldn't the DNC leadership be tying together Abromoff, Foley, Delay, Cunnigham, RNC's attack on Ford, Limbaugh's attack on Fox, Ann Coulter's ranting, the utter failure of this administration in Iraq (on the day of one of the worst casuality, the President is claiming victory in Iraq) into a theme of corruption, incompetence and arrongance.

shouldn't the DNC push even harder to protect and extend the lead. Complacency could become the biggest obstacle to victory.

And Liberman needs to lose. Every DNC leader should be pitching in for that to happen.