national emergency environment sets the stage for the mccain/palin election campaign from michel chossudovsky: The opening of the RNC has been characterised by a mass protest movement directed against the Bush administration, the candicacy of John McCain and more generally the Republican party. The presence of thousands of demonstrators in St-Paul Minneapolis has been a major factor in the Republican Party's decision to change the program of the RNC, using Hurricane Gustav as a pretext.
rnc opens with appeal for gustav aid from ap: Republicans, determined to propel John McCain to the White House, opened their storm-shortened national convention on Monday amid distractions involving running mate Sarah Palin. The convention's opening session was abbreviated as Hurricane Gustav hit the Gulf Coast, sparing New Orleans the type of damage inflicted by Hurricane Katrina almost exactly three years ago.
zogby poll puts mccain/palin in lead from washington times: The Sarah Palin pick for running mate about 16 hours after Barack Obama's acceptance speech of the Democratic nomination is a gift John McCain gave to himself that doesn't quit giving, a new Zogby poll shows. "The McCain pick has probably stunted any Obama-Democratic Convention bump," Mr. Zogby told The Washington Times.
palin appearances cancelled except for meeting w/ aipac from economic policy journal: Except for a meeting with the pro-Israel lobby AIPAC, Sarah Palin appearances have been canceled, according to WSJ. "She has to familiarize herself with every position John McCain has held over a number of years. That takes work and briefing," one McCain aide said. She has been kept from contact with the media and others by Republican operatives... She had private sessions with Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman and members of the pro-Israel group AIPAC. An AIPAC spokesman said Gov. Palin told its members she would "work to expand and deepen the strategic partnership between the U.S. and Israel."
...and now, the rest of the rnc selection'08 clusterf*ck...
Speakers at the Paul rally include former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura, tax activist Grover Norquist, former California Rep. Barry Goldwater Jr., political commentator Tucker Carlson, former two-term New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson and the baby-delivering doctor supporters call Dr. Paul. A few entertainers also are joining in, such as country star Sara Evans; pop singer Aimee Allen, known for the song "Cooties" from Hairspray but whose favorite song among rally-goers is "Ron Paul Anthem"; and Texas blues guitarist Jimmie Vaughan.
ron paul: gustav, personal responsibility & the nanny state
c-span2 to cover the entire rally for the republic from campaign for liberty: Great news! We received confirmation today that C-SPAN 2 will cover the entire Rally for the Republic from start to finish. Yesterday, we announced “Take over the net Tuesday“, and your mission to once again spread the message online. Now, we have another channel to broadcast Ron Paul’s legendary speech.
ron paul nation: the other convention in town from christian science monitor: If some John McCain supporters suffer from what pollsters have called an “enthusiasm gap,” those of GOP presidential candidate Ron Paul might be accused of an enthusiasm surplus. More than 10,000 members of the Ron Paul Nation paid $17.76 (get it?) to attend a convention in Minnesota to celebrate the Texas congressman’s candidacy and advance his antiwar, anti-government, pro-Gold Standard agenda among Republicans at the official GOP convention in nearby St. Paul.
video: paul downplays reports of negotiations with mccain team from raw story: While Republican party officialdom has been largely dismissive of Ron Paul's performance in this year's presidential primaries, there are reports that some party members are courting Paul's support - or at least his silence - in exchange for access to this week's convention in St. Paul.
ventura speaks 9/11 truth to crowd of 10k at rally from 9/11 blogger: During an impassioned speech in which he called for a revolution to take back the country, former Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura voiced 9/11 truth to the 10,000 in attendance and the millions watching on C-Span and You Tube at the Rally For The Republic yesterday. Ventura also strongly hinted that he is considering running for the presidency in 2012.
update: ventura endorses a 9/11 conspiracy theorist for congress from ap: Former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura has endorsed a Sept. 11 conspiracy theorist for a congressional seat. Ventura came out Thursday in support of Kevin Barrett, a Libertarian running against incumbent Democrat Ron Kind for western Wisconsin's seat. Barrett is a former University of Wisconsin-Madison lecturer who believes the U.S. government was behind the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and has discussed his views in class.
video: ron paul on washington journal from c-span junkie: Ron Paul talked about his “Campaign for Liberty” rally set for today and his thoughts on the current campaign, and he responded to telephone calls and electronic mail.
video: ron paul says it's time to end the empire from the real news: Paul Jay interviews Ron Paul from the "Rally for the Republic"
ron paul's 'counter-convention' from al-jazeera: Call it the real Republican convention. At least that is how Ron Paul, a US congressman for Texas, and his supporters billed their campaign's Tuesday night "rally for the republic", in which they called on the party to "return to its roots". From the looks of it, Paul, who suspended his campaign for the Republican nomination in June, could almost be accepting the party's presidential nomination himself. Almost 15,000 people came from all over the country to hear him speak.
ron paul steals mccain’s thunder from russia today: Texas Congressman Ron Paul may not be the next US President. But the firebrand Republican, who failed to win the party’s nomination this year, is still hugely popular with grassroots supporters. He staged a rally in Minneapolis as an alternative to John McCain’s Republican Convention in nearby St Paul, stealing much of the limelight from the party’s official presidential candidate.
conspiracy theorists, unite! from msnbc: That's what the dozens of Ron Paul supporters shouting outside of the Xcel Energy Center yesterday afternoon were telling Americans to do. They said the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, were an inside job... So why are Ron Paul supporters, many of them Republicans themselves, protesting the Republican convention? "We want to bring the GOP back to its roots," insisted 24-year-old Adam Gross of Kansas City, Mo, who said he’s a registered Republican. He had slapped a bumper sticker onto his Ron Paul sign that read, "9/11 was in inside job."
'black hats' keep lookout for troublemakers from washington times: Fearing demonstrations from Ron Paul delegates here at the Republican National Convention, the party has created a "black-hat" squad to track the Paulites and other potential troublemakers to make sure they don't cause a scene on the convention floor.
Identified by their black baseball caps emblazoned with a white star, squad members keep an eye on delegates they fear might cause a scene. The squad is empowered by the convention managers to take delegates' credentials and kick them off the convention floor - a step one convention official said would be unprecedented.
Squad members have made "their presence known, to let all people know big brother's watching them," said a Republican official familiar with the squad who has been involved in the last 10 GOP conventions.
mccain may deliver convention speech from disaster zone from thinkprogress: Politico reports that the impending landfall of Hurricane Gustav has forced Republicans to scramble their convention plans. President Bush may not attend at all, and John McCain may deliver his acceptance speech from the hurricane-stricken areas... McCain was scheduled to deliver his acceptance speech Thursday but now may do so from the devastation zone if the storm hits the U.S. coast with the ferocity feared by forecasters. “It just wouldn’t be appropriate to have a festive occasion while a near-tragedy or a terrible challenge is presented in the form of a natural disaster,” McCain said in a taped interview for Fox News Sunday.
gop considered delaying convention from washington post: Republican officials said [Thursday] that they are considering delaying the start of the GOP convention in Minneapolis-St. Paul because of Tropical Storm Gustav, which is on track to hit the Gulf Coast, and possibly New Orleans, as a full-force hurricane early next week.
massive police raids on suspected protestors in minneapolis from salon: Protesters here in Minneapolis have been targeted by a series of highly intimidating, sweeping police raids across the city, involving teams of 25-30 officers in riot gear, with semi-automatic weapons drawn, entering homes of those suspected of planning protests, handcuffing and forcing them to lay on the floor, while law enforcement officers searched the homes, seizing computers, journals, and political pamphlets. Last night, members of the St. Paul police department and the Ramsey County sheriff's department handcuffed, photographed and detaineddozens of people meeting at a public venue to plan a demonstration, charging them with no crime other than"fire code violations," and early this morning, the Sheriff's department sent teams of officers into at least four Minneapolis area homes where suspected protesters were staying.
fema: gustav to be category 5 from ap: The government's disaster relief chief says Hurricane Gustav is growing into a monster Category 5 storm. The storm that hit Cuba Saturday could reach landfall along the Gulf Coast by early Tuesday. Federal Emergency Management Agency chief David Paulison told reporters several times at a briefing Saturday that the storm was strengthening into a Category 5 hurricane.
global hawk may be called for storm duty from sun herald: Something that's being manufactured in part right here on the Coast could forever change the face of hurricane predictions, hurricane monitoring and even hurricane relief. But whether it's detecting land mines in a faraway country or monitoring contraflow in a hurricane evacuation, it's all the same equipment, officials with Northrop Grumman said Wednesday. And if Gustav becomes enough of a threat, the Global Hawk's capabilities might get a hurricane test run.
mandatory evacuations to begin sunday morning in new orleans from cnn: New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin ordered a mandatory evacuation of the city beginning 8 a.m. Sunday but urged residents to consider escaping "the mother of all storms" before then. "You need to be scared," Nagin said of the Category 4 hurricane tearing along Cuba's western coast. "You need to be concerned, and you need to get your butts moving out of New Orleans right now. This is the storm of the century." The city's west bank is to evacuate at 8 a.m.
fair use notice: this site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. we are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, & social justice issues, etc. we believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US copyright law. In accordance with title 17 usc section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
from michel chossudovsky: The opening of the RNC has been characterised by a mass protest movement directed against the Bush administration, the candicacy of John McCain and more generally the Republican party. The presence of thousands of demonstrators in St-Paul Minneapolis has been a major factor in the Republican Party's decision to change the program of the RNC, using Hurricane Gustav as a pretext.
from washington times: The Sarah Palin pick for running mate about 16 hours after Barack Obama's acceptance speech of the Democratic nomination is a gift John McCain gave to himself that doesn't quit giving, a new Zogby poll shows. "The McCain pick has probably stunted any Obama-Democratic Convention bump," Mr. Zogby told The Washington Times.
