cnn drops news feed on anti-war soldier supporting ron paul

from brasschecktv.com: Here's an interesting view from a uniformed soldier that you generally wouldn't hear on the lame stream news. "Well, I think it would be even more dangerous to start nit-picking wars with other countries... Someone like Iran... Israel is more than capable..."



related updates:
Ron and Rand Paul, a double dose of liberty*
Ron Paul Will Win The Iowa Caucus*
For Ron Paul, a moment of vindication in Iowa – and maybe more*
Ron Paul takes third in Iowa caucuses, looks ahead to New Hampshire*
Soldier at Ron Paul rally could face trouble*
Is Ron Paul in it to win it?*

from 'flash mob' to 'flash rob': 5 things to know about crime waves

military.com says flash mob attacks 'the new terrorism'
from ibtimes: A flash mob in Germantown, Maryland robbed a local 7-Eleven store in under one minute Saturday night. Surveillance footage of the incident shows a group of teenagers walking wordlessly into the convenience store. They are followed seconds later by a stream of people, presumably juveniles, many covering their faces with shirts and hoods. The group walks around the store, taking as much as possible, before leaving 40 seconds later.

Montgomery County Police believe the event was organized online, likely on Facebook. A total of 28 individuals were captured in the videotape, and investigators say they have identified about half of them. The video was posted online, and many members of the community came forward with tips.

Flash mobs aren't new, nor are they unique to Maryland. They are an increasingly frequent trend that often have severe results, and townships and police departments around the country are trying to figure out how to combat the problem.

biowars/envirohealth: dark marks & 100 days of oil

video: dark mark: 100 days of oil*
corexit sprayed by bp tops 1m gallons*
bp caught exploiting cheap prison labor to clean up oil spill*
bp hires prison labor to clean up spill while coastal residents struggle*
bp ceo hayward out; russia job in works*
bp plans deep-water drilling off libya*
US expert: china oil spill far bigger than stated*
mud, dead fish replace lake after iowa dam break*
US-canada pipeline leaks oil into michigan river*
tug vessel hit abandoned gas well in barataria waterway*
video: deepwater horizon oil spill waste being land-filled*
house to vote on faux 'oil spill’ bill*
video: barge crashes into oil well in gulf, new 20ft high oil gusher*

previous: toxicity & impurities

fema/northcom run 'vigilant guard' drills from montana on sep15-18

from public intelligence: From September 15-18, the Montana National Guard will be performing a joint exercise with FEMA and NORHTCOM to help coordinate emergency response to natural and manmade disasters. The exercise is one of many regional Vigilant Guard exercises being held by the National Guard this year. The Puerto Rico National Guard finished its Vigilant Guard exercise in March and another round of exercises in Iowa ended in June. These Vigilant Guard exercises are part of a larger, national-level program called Ardent Sentry 2009. Ardent Sentry is conducted by NORTHCOM and NORAD and its major "venues" include not only the Vigilant Guard exercises, but an "AMALGAM DART exercise involving air defense activities at Camp Rilea, Oregon" and "a Nuclear Weapons Incident exercise (NUWAIX) with a U.S. Air Force response near Cheyenne, Wyoming."

biowars/envirohealth: pandemics, psa's & pacific garbage patch

biowars/swine flu updates:
are we morally ready for another great pandemic?*
spanish flu epidemic hit portland hard*
1918 flu caused by vaccines*
how can you survive swine flu without getting a flu shot?*
massachusetts senate passes draconian flu pandemic bill*
florida & iowa quarantine documents posted*
cdc h1n1 forced quarantine docs leak*
maine gov baldacci proclaims civil emergency due to h1n1*
french govt plans mass swine flu vaccination program*
video: homeland security & sesame street psa*
troops to receive h1n1 flu vaccinations*
swine flu to hit 50% of us?*
obama: h1n1 vaccine 'strongly recommended'*
pregnant women express fears over swine flu vaccine*
cdc warns neurologists to watch for nerve disease after shots*
h1n1 unlikely to mutate into 'superbug': US study*
why won't healthcare workers take the swine flu vaccine?*
swine flu won't be as dangerous as we thought, uk official says*
pfizer agrees record fraud fine*

envirohealth:
intl paper treads monsanto's path to 'frankenforests'*
more geo-engineering: can man-made ‘volcanoes’ slow down climate change?*
'pacific garbage patch' expedition finds plastic, plastic everywhere*
lack of mercury reporting is fishy*
health insurance up by double digits in oregon*
study: hanford construction workers were at risk of certain cancers*
do tv medical shows provoke higher health costs?*
fda test says animal was in man's soda can*

police state updates: badger denial, reliant mermaid & more

iowa air natl guard to hold extensive training aug11-sep4
from lexisnexis: The Iowa Air National Guard and various active duty units will participate in a joint training event, Badger Denial, August 10-September 4 in Des Moines, Iowa and northwest Iowa. The Air Guard's participation in the Global War on Terror requires joint reconnaissance and combat support missions. These types of missions, and certain Close Air Support operations, require lower altitudes not currently available in Military Operating Areas (MOAs).

army chinook chopper lands in kentucky soybean field
from chicago tribune: National Guardsmen from Iowa are trying to fix an Army helicopter that landed in a western Kentucky soybean field after problems arose with its hydraulic system. Chief Warrant Officer Nick Von Muenster of the Iowa National Guard told The Gleaner of Henderson that the Chinook was headed to Fort Campbell, where the crew of five were supposed to train. Iowa National Guard public affairs officer Maj. Mike Wunn said the crew decided to land Sunday afternoon so they didn't risk more problems with the helicopter. Another Chinook landed in the Henderson County field Monday with guardsmen and parts to fix the first helicopter. Land owner David Alexander said losing some of his soybeans is "worth the excitement."


defense event in valley points up readiness
from arizona republic: The arm of the U.S. government that's responsible for knocking off threats to the country gets together in Phoenix this week to talk about topics such as natural resources and sustainability. The Department of Defense holds a get-together every two years called Sustaining Military Readiness Conference. The Pentagon uses the sessions to try to forge partnerships with people, organizations and governments that neighbor military installations. The idea: Military readiness depends as much on its ability to train its troops and effectively run its bases as it does on the number of troops and the amount of hardware. The last conference was in Orlando. The latest one is in Phoenix. It kicks off today and runs through Friday at the Sheraton Phoenix Downtown Hotel.

airlines to require more passenger data

idf to train with US & turkey militaries
from jpost: The Navy will conduct a joint drill with the US and Turkish navies next week, the IDF announced in a statement Tuesday. The drill will take place in the eastern Mediterranean and will be hosted by Turkey. In the exercise, dubbed Reliant Mermaid X, the three navies will rehearse naval rescue missions and work to improve their level of coordination. Reliant Mermaid X will include search and rescue simulations, quick response to naval emergencies, humanitarian aid in real time and evacuation of 'wounded' personnel from the waters. Eight ships, four helicopters and three search and rescue aircraft from the three countries will participate in the drill. The Israel Navy will be represented by the Lahav and Sufa warships as well as a navy helicopter.

service members train to respond to domestic emergencies
from sofmag: U.S. Army North’s Task Force 51 arrived at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., July 31 for Vibrant Response 2009. The exercise will focus primarily on responding to chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and high-yield explosive incidents and is designed to confirm the readiness and abilities of incoming units that will fall under the CBRNE Consequence Management Response Force effective Oct. 1. The 167th Theater Support Command, an Alabama National Guard unit based out of Fort McClellan, Ala., welcomed Operational Command Post 1 upon its arrival with a series of informative inprocessing briefings... The civilian agencies will not be participating in the exercise. However, if a real-world catastrophe were to occur, Joint Task Force 51 would work with multiple civilian agencies, to include the Federal Emergency Management Agency. During Vibrant Response, U.S. Army North will play its part as the Army Service Component and Joint Force Land Component Command for U.S. Northern Command.

biometrics to ensure parents leave with the right kids

dining facility keeps 'vibrant response' fueled up
from dvidshub.net: Long days at the office with never ending meetings or long days outside with hard physical activities can leave a service member exhausted both physically and mentally, but three times a day you can relax and unwind as you refuel at the dining facility. Soldiers and civilians who work at Tice Hall in the battle command training center dining facility are doing their part in keeping service members well fed and hydrated during the 2009 Vibrant Response exercise at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., Aug. 1-9. "We are conducting 24-hour food operations to support this exercise," said Army Master Sgt. Robert Keppler, chief food service advisor, 35th Infantry Division. "We are here to provide the participants with quality, nutritious food."

govt case against north carolina 'jihadists' falls apart

vt & wv governors oppose dod emergency powers
from thehill: A bipartisan pair of governors is opposing a new Defense Department proposal to handle natural and terrorism-related disasters, contending that a murky chain of command could lead to more problems than solutions. Vermont Gov. Jim Douglas (R), chairman of the National Governors Association, and Vice Chairman Gov. Joe Manchin (D) of West Virginia penned a letter opposing the Pentagon proposal, which they said would hinder a state's effort to respond to a disaster. Current law gives governors control over National Guard forces in their own states as well as any Guard units and Defense Department personnel imported from other states. The letter comes as the Pentagon proposes a legislative fix that would give the secretary of Defense the authority to assist in response to domestic disasters and, consequently, control over units stationed in an affected state.

why is natl guard recruiting for 'internment' cops?

uk national id card cloned in 12 minutes
from computer weekly: The prospective national ID card was broken and cloned in 12 minutes, the Daily Mail revealed this morning. The newspaper hired computer expert Adam Laurie to test the security that protects the information embedded in the chip on the card. Using a Nokia mobile phone and a laptop computer, Laurie was able to copy the data on a card that is being issued to foreign nationals in minutes. He then created a cloned card, and with help from another technology expert, changed all the data on the new card. This included the physical details of the bearer, name, fingerprints and other information. He then rewrote data on the card, reversing the bearer's status from "not entitled to benefits" to "entitled to benefits". He then added fresh content that would be visible to any police officer or security official who scanned the card, saying, "I am a terrorist - shoot on sight." According to the paper, Home Office officials said the foreign nationals card uses the same technology as the UK citizens card that will be issued from 2012. Guy Herbert, general secretary of privacy lobby group NO2ID, said it was a mistake to assume that the Home Office cared about the card, or identity theft or citizens' benefit. He said the Home Office wanted the central database to record citizens' personal details in one place for official convenience. "It is that database which will deliver unprecedented power over our lives to Whitehall and make the Home Office king in Whitehall. The card is an excuse to build the database. If the card is cancelled it already intends to use passports as a secondary excuse," he said. Home Office officials said they were working on a response to the story, and would issue a statement later today.

all cars would carry gps to track miles under oregon bill*
flashback: oregon eyes taxing vehicles per mile by satellite*

video: outrage over ohio police tazing elderly alzheimer's patient

video captures mom tased at traffic stop*

ardent sentry '09: norad/northcom terror drills on june 18-24

update1: interview w/ clyde lewis on ardent sentry & blackjack


... pay extra attention in oregon as these exercises coincide w/ the fictional 'operation blackjack' explosion in portland on jun22 ...
from northcom: North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S. Northern Command are planning to conduct a combined exercise June 18 - 24 that will incorporate several military exercises with a National Guard exercise. These linked exercises are referred to as ARDENT SENTRY 09. Events will take place in multiple venues across the country including Iowa, Kansas, Oregon, Wyoming, and off the East and West Coasts.

The exercise will allow several Department of Defense organizations and some federal and state partners to implement plans and respond to a variety of notional events. Historically, exercises like these have helped both DoD and other agencies review their processes and procedures and focus their future training efforts on closing gaps and identifying areas that need additional attention.

Major AS 09 venues include:
* NORAD’s AMALGAM DART exercise involving air defense activities at Camp Rilea, Oregon;
* The National Guard’s VIGILANT GUARD exercise focused on civil support with major activities in Des Moines, Iowa and Topeka, Kansas; and,
* A Nuclear Weapons Incident exercise (NUWAIX) with a U.S. Air Force response near Cheyenne, Wyoming;

The activities in the vicinity of Camp Rilea will involve the deployment of an Army National Guard ground-based air defense system that will be integrated with Air Force airborne systems (AWACS and fighters) and a Navy Aegis Destroyer. (Media interested in covering this event should contact Mr. Al Eakle at 1-850-283-8080)

Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska National Guard units will respond to multiple events in Iowa and Kansas including simulated train derailments and foreign animal disease. (Media interested in covering events in Iowa should contact LTC Greg Hapgood at 515-971-6385; for events in Kansas, contact Sharon Watson at 785-274-1192)

In Wyoming, Air Force Space Command will respond to an incident involving a simulated nuclear weapon. (Media interested in covering this should contact Capt. Sharbe Clark at 719-554-3815).

featuring private contractors like selah leadership solutions*
iowa natl guard seeks paid 'victims' for exercise*
boeing searching for information on jackblack12.info*
air defense exercise to test northcom response*
iowa guard exercise to kick-off jun18*
camp rilea to host military defense exercise*
kansas area guardsmen participating in multi-state exercise

update2: blackjack weekend: solstice/sentry psyop reaches peak

police state int'l: skype, shop, cyber katrina & operation arcadia

eu agency supports wiretapping skype conversations
from eu observer: EU's judicial cooperation agency Eurojust will take the lead in finding ways to help police and prosecutors across Europe to wiretap computer-to-computer phone conversations enabled by programs such as Skype. "We will sit together with all member states to see how this can be done technically and legally," Joannes Thuy, Eurojust spokesman told this website. Mr Thuy stressed that the wiretapping would not affect "normal users", but would have to be carried out only as part of a criminal investigation.

big brother likes to watch you shop
from ahmenra2012: Mall ads watch shoppers... Cameras inside ad displays gather advertising data about shoppers. KSDK’s Kasey Joyce reports. More blatant invasions of privacy!

chicago mayor vows surveillance cameras on every street corner
from chicago sun-times: Mayor Daley has argued that security and terrorism won’t be an issue if his Olympic dreams come true because, by 2016, there will be a surveillance camera on every street corner in Chicago. But even before that blanket coverage begins, the "Big Brother" network is being put to better use... In 2004, City Hall used a $5.1 million federal homeland security grant to install 250 cameras at locations thought to be at high risk of a terrorist attack and link them and 2,000 existing city cameras to the 911 center. Chicago then launched "Operation Virtual Shield," by linking 1,000 miles of fiber cable to a unified "homeland security grid" — complete with hundreds of additional cameras and sensors to monitor the city’s water supply and detect chemical and biological weapons. On Thursday, Orozco refused to say how many cameras are currently linked to the 911 center. But, he reiterated Daley’s earlier promise. “We’re going to grow the system until we eventually cover one end of the city to the other,” he said.

vampire cops to draw blood at dui checkpoints in florida
from wpbf: Drunken drivers beware: If you drink and drive, especially during the last weekend of February, the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office and other area law enforcement will be out for blood. PBSO deputies plan to set up driving under the influence checkpoints. If they suspect a driver is under the influence, they'll offer an on-the-spot Breathalyzer. If drivers refuse, deputies will ask to draw blood from their arms. "I think that's really personal and I think that if you deny a Breathalyzer and you say that you don't want that, I think that's outrageous if they take blood without your consent," driver Courtney Liddle said. Attorney David Olson said that "would only be lawful if a warrant is issued by a judge." That's just what deputies plan to do. They'll actually drive to a judge's home for a signature and return to the checkpoint. Olson said drawing blood from drivers is usually done in extreme cases like homicides and fatal collisions. Olson said he's not sure a judge would actually sign a warrant.

flashback: forced dwi blood samples challenged in texas

fearing 'cyber katrina,' obama candidate for cyber czar urges a 'fema for the internet'
from businessweek: For all the fears of sophisticated digital intrusions preoccupying many computer security professionals, President Obama’s leading candidates for “cyber czar” also are focusing on an all-too-human vulnerability: The nation’s inability to respond to a full-fledged Internet-borne crisis for lack of a central cyber commander. Former White House cybersecurity official Paul B. Kurtz, in his first public remarks since becoming an advisor to President Obama’s transition team following the election, describes his biggest worry: A “cyber Katrina” in which fragmented bureaucracies and companies fail to share critical information and coordinate responses to cyber intruders attempting to disrupt power grids, financial markets, or any number of now-plausible scenarios involving a Web shutdown. One recent fear is the cascading effects of even a partial Internet blackout that could add to economic anxieties. There’s such electronic insecurity afoot, some are even beginning to suggest building an entirely new global computer infrastructure. “The bottom line is, is there a FEMA for the Internet? I don’t think there is,” Kurtz told an audience of security professionals at a Feb. 18 Black Hat security conference in Virginia. Kurtz’ solution: A trio of key agencies - the Defense Department, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Federal Communications Commission - but overseen by a new national cybersecurity center.

faa breach heightens cybersecurity concerns
from fcw: The Federal Aviation Administration was doing such a good job at protecting data in its computer systems that the Office of Management and Budget chose it in January to be one of four agencies to guide other federal agencies in their cybersecurity efforts. Just a month later, FAA officials had to admit that hackers breached one of the agency’s servers, stealing 48 files. Two of the files contained information on 45,000 current and former FAA employees, including sensitive information that could potentially make them vulnerable to identity theft. The security breach, although significant and potentially far reaching, is not necessarily a reflection on FAA’s security measures. Rather, it demonstrates the problems of securing federal computer systems and difficulty in evading every potential attack.

iowa national guard rolls back arcadia invasion
from kurt nimmo: According to Drew Zahn, writing for WorldNetDaily, the Iowa National Guard has “scaled back” its “training exercise” planned for April in Arcadia, Iowa, population 443. Military spokesman Lt. Col. Greg Hapgood, told Zahn and WND that the operation has now been “scaled back” and no longer involves an “invasion” of Arcadia. “And while Hapgood confirmed the Guard had been inundated with objections from citizens concerned about soldiers patrolling the streets of an American town, he said most came from people out of state and unfamiliar with the operation. Iowans, he explained, typically cooperate with the Guard. The change in plans was based on troop evaluation, he said, not public outcry.”

states rediscover 10th amendment to combat stimulus strings
from washington times: Worried the federal government is increasing its dominance over their affairs, several states are pursuing legislative action to assert their sovereignty under the 10th Amendment of the Constitution in hopes of warding off demands from Washington on how to spend money or enact policy. The growing concerns even have a handful of governors questioning whether to accept federal stimulus money that comes with strings attached. The sentiments to declare themselves legally independent from Washington have swept across as many as a dozen states, renewing a debate over so-called unfunded mandates that last raged in the 1990s. The states question whether the U.S. government can force states to take actions without paying for them or impose conditions on states if they accept certain federal funding.

firestorm brewing between the states & the feds

video: glenn beck again predicting doomsday & revolution
from raw replay: President Obama has been criticized for warning of economic “catastrophe” but Glenn Beck’s prediction is far more dire. Beck says the military is preparing for a revolution. This video is from Fox’s Fox & Friends, broadcast Feb. 20, 2009.

feds misled natl cattle congress about use of fairgrounds

from trading markets: Officials with the National Cattle Congress may have been misled by the federal government with regard to the use of their facilities...

The board did not know the grounds and facilities would be used to establish a detention center and a trial court for those accused of immigration-related crimes in the wake of a federal raid of the Agriprocessors food processing plant in Postville.

“Am I misled by my federal government? Probably frequently”...


related: iowa ice: illegal immigrant raid part of fema drill

update: immigration raid jars a small town
from washington post: Monday's raid on the Agriprocessors plant, in which 389 immigrants were arrested and many held at a cattle exhibit hall, was the Bush administration's largest crackdown on illegal workers at a single site. It has upended this tree-lined community, which calls itself "Hometown to the World." Half of the school system's 600 students were absent Tuesday, including 90 percent of Hispanic children, because their parents were arrested or in hiding... "They don't go after employers. They don't put CEOs in jail," complained the Postville Community Schools superintendent, David Strudthoff, 51, who said the sudden incarceration of more than 10 percent of the town's population of 2,300 "is like a natural disaster - only this one is manmade."

iowa ice: illegal immigrant raid part of fema drill

fema, ice & dhs running roundup psyop until may25...
from rogue government: As predicted last week, ICE has begun factory raids of illegal aliens in Iowa. This was not very difficult to predict. The federal government last week leased out the National Cattle Congress fairgrounds in Waterloo, Iowa until May 25th and began moving trailers and generators on location. Reports from the Des Moines Register and the Waterloo Cedar Falls Courier indicated that FEMA and ICE, two agencies within the Department of Homeland Security were involved in this secretive operation. Considering the large groups of illegal alien factory workers in the area of the fairgrounds, it wasn’t hard to figure out what was going to happen next. The Department of Homeland Security has now decided to go live with their test FEMA camp operation and are using illegal aliens as live subjects for processing purposes. This is a drill designed to setup a FEMA camp that will be used to process American citizens. Make no mistake about it, this has nothing to do with stopping illegal immigration. Rounding up a few hundred illegal aliens and asking them questions is going to do nothing to resolve the policies that have encouraged and facilitated the illegal alien problem. It does however serve as a fine test run for processing large groups of people through a FEMA camp.

paul finishes 5th in iowa with 10%

ron paul's backers are incredibly fervent
from mcclatchy: They come from across the country - and the political spectrum - to work in New Hampshire for Rep. Ron Paul, captivated by the philosophy and personality of the man who's become the Republican Pied Piper of the 2008 presidential campaign...

Perhaps none is more dedicated than Vijay Boyapati. He's the founding father of Operation Live Free or Die, an effort to get 1,000 volunteers to come to New Hampshire and live in youth hostel-like conditions to wave Ron Paul signs along highways, canvas neighborhoods and work phone banks...

Kim Wolanyk, 38, a self-professed liberal Democrat, thought her husband had become a tad obsessed with Paul. But the more she heard her husband talk, and the more she realized how angry she was at congressional Democrats for failing to end the Iraq war or kill the Patriot Act, the better Ron Paul sounded...

"When we change everything in New Hampshire, we'll go to South Carolina and Nevada," he said. "This is only the beginning."

ron paul gets some revenge
from la times: An easily overlooked aspect of the Iowa caucuses - Ron Paul not only besting Rudy Giuliani, but doing so by more than 2-to-1 - sparked a trip down memory lane for us. It was mid-May, and the former mayor of New York was riding high following one of the early debates among the Republican presidential candidates... That was then, this is now. In Iowa, Paul, 10%; Giuliani, 4%... Look at the source data as of 10:01 pm PST. Ron Paul may be 5th but 253 votes separate 3rd, 4th and 5th

1. Mike Huckabee 5,635
2. Mitt Romney 3,163
3. John McCain 1,853
4. Fred Thompson 1,842
5. Ron Paul 1,600
6. Rudy Giuliani 418
7. Duncan Hunter 44
8. Alan Keyes 20

We currently have 1749 Counties/Precincts in our system, with
54.49% of precincts reporting in.
The total number of votes cast thus far: 14,575

ron paul baffles media in iowa
from nolan chart: Ron Paul's modest yet solid primary in Iowa confounds critics and rivals who called him nothing more than a spoiler... Welcome to the big leagues, Dr. Paul... Ron Paul brought in real substantial votes on Jan. 3. The man deserves to be heard in every debate from here on out... Mike Huckabee may have "I want to choke Romney" Chuck Norris. But we have the Ron Paul R[EVOL]ution. And we have only begun to fight. On to the Granite State.

ron paul defeats gop nat'l front-runner in iowa
from what really happpened: Though Paul finished fifth in the Iowa Republican caucuses, the 72-year-old maverick placed far ahead of former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who is running first in national polls. Proving that the National Mainstream Media Polls do not measure public opinion so much as try to manufacture it!

Now, some things we learn from tonight:

1. All the Ron Paul support on the internet is meaningless if you don't get out to the polls and actually vote. I don't care how cold it is; make the effort.

2. Nobody expected Ron Paul to win tonight, but there is no question he did far better than most commentators were expecting.

3. Scare-mongering as a campaign strategy is SOOOO 20th Century!

obama & huckabee nab iowa victories
from raw story: Among Republicans, Huckabee handily defeated his chief rival in the state, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, despite being outspent by tens of millions of dollars. He was winning 34 percent support, compared to 25 percent for Romney. Former Sen. Fred Thompson (R-TN) and Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) battled for third place, with 13 percent each. Libertarian-leaning GOP candidate Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) notched 10 percent of the Republican vote. Former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani, who did not campaign heavily in the state, claimed 4 percent.

ron paul: 'i'll prove the pundits wrong'

from huffington post: Ron Paul on Wednesday night predicted that he'll defy the odds, confound his naysayers and register a strong showing in today's GOP Iowa caucuses. The libertarian-leaning Texas congressman said he's adopted a stock response for when reporters and pundits ask him how he'll fare in the leadoff to the presidential nominating process: "I don't know exactly, but I know we're going do a lot better than they claim we're going to do."

the ron paul phenomenon is not about ron paul

mcaain camp 'deeply worried' about paul
from huffington post: GOP presidential candidate John McCain is deeply worried that his resurgent national campaign may be stalled by a relatively strong showing in tonight's Iowa caucuses by the iconoclastic Ron Paul. The Arizona senator's campaign told the HuffPost that their candidate is concerned that Paul will finish third behind front-runners Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney.

obama & paul virtual top picks in myspace poll

ron paul pitch picking up power
from newsday: A wind chill factor of minus 10 didn't deter student volunteer Brian Dunn from canvassing this Des Moines suburb yesterday on behalf of his hero, libertarian presidential candidate Ron Paul... "The United States is crumbling like the Roman Empire ... with plummeting currency and mounting debt," said Dunn, 22, who spent $500 on airfare from Oregon to work for Paul. "Dr. Paul will change all that."

bill o'reilly admits he is 'frightened' by paul

ron paul supporters kicked off cable cars
from conservative times: We were peaceably assembled on New Years Day, riding the San Francisco Cable Car from Fisherman’s Wharf to Union Square downtown carrying Ron Paul signs, when the SFPD was called, and the “officer” told us to hand over our signs, or we wouldn’t go anywhere. We asked what law we were violating, and he said he didn’t have to tell us, “I am the Law”, he said. San Francisco’s Channel 5 ran a segment on the 11 pm news.

richard viguerie labels fox turncoats over paul snub
from huffington post: The Fox News Channel has been drawing a steady stream of criticism for its decision to exclude Ron Paul from their planned January 6 debate in New Hampshire. Today, conservative strategist and author Richard Viguerie joined the protest against Fox.

august clearinghouse

'noble' is good, not grand

brainwashing the hero-worshiping society

warren buffett sees silver lining in market chaos

bbc drops fictional terror attack to avoid offending muslims

suspicious man seen before virginia tech massacre

US army to launch new video game

book tells of philharmonic's nazi ties

robert fisk: even i question the 'truth' about 9/11

comcast is starting the tiered internet... whether we like it or not

the drugging of our children

china bans buddhist monks from reincarnating

eugenics moves to the twenty-first century

motorcycle escort killed in bush motorcade

questions on city’s role in demolition near 9/11 site

'we are change' confronts mayor bloomberg

dc gay activist pushes jfk assassination theory

if you were a terrorist, how would you attack?

US turns U2 spy planes on itself, raising specter of broader surveillance

the covert war against buffy sainte-marie

romney jokes about cheating in iowa poll, dodging questions

cfr stacks the deck with both democrat & republican presidential candidates

is it time to rein in aipac?

federal id plan raises privacy concerns

public 'deliberately misled' over de menezes shooting

ron paul places 5th in iowa straw poll

from raw story: Saturday's vote was long-shot candidate Ron Paul's chance to show his anti-war and libertarian views had resonance beyond his committed core of online supporters.

Paul's campaign made a concerted push for support in the weeks leading up to this weeks vote, through extra visits to the state from the candidate, and a cavalcade of television, radio and newspaper advertisements. Des Moines Register columnist David Yepsin, who attended the straw poll in Ames, Iowa, said Paul's supporters "won the visibility wars," and bloggers at National Review Online's The Corner noted the large number of anti-war Republicans who had come to support the Texas congressman.

"The Ron Paul 'Peace Train' nearly drowned me out!!!" talk show host Laura Ingrham wrote at the Corner. "They emerged this afternoon from the corn fields, pumped up and ready to wage 'peace' in Iraq and throughout the world."

Paul managed to quadruple his level of support in Saturday's non-binding, non-scientific straw poll with 9 percent of the delegates in Ames backing him, compared to about 2 percent of Iowa Republicans who have told pollsters Paul is their choice. That put him in fifth place among the Republicans competing, but Paul's campaign is encouraged by the result...

1. Mitt Romney 4,516 31.6%
2. Mike Huckabee 2,587 18.1%
3. Sam Brownback 2,192 15.3%
4. Tom Tancredo 1,960 13.7%
5. Ron Paul 1,305 9.1%
6. Tommy Thompson 1,039 7.3%
7. Fred Thompson 203 1.4%
8. Rudy Giuliani* 183 1.3%
9. Duncan Hunter 174 1.2%
10. John McCain* 101 0.7%
11. John Cox 41 0.3%
*Did not attend

A Paul supporter circulated a flyer around Iowa and online encouraging those backing Paul to accept Romney's free bus rides to the straw poll. Paul's campaign denied any connection to the flyer.

Other Paul supporters - who also were unaffiliated with the campaign - failed in their push to block the vote based on concerns over insecurities in the Diebold machines on which Republicans cast their votes, the Associated Press reported. The Paul supporters took their case to the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals, after being blocked by a lower court, but the appeals panel also refused to join an injunction against the vote, an attorney for the Iowa GOP, Matt McDermott, told the AP.

The announcement of poll results was delayed because of a voting machine malfunction; about 4,500 ballots had to be re-run, Marc Ambinder reported on his blog at The Atlantic online. The Des Moines Register reported that the day's high humidity caused some ballots to stick together, necessitating the recounting.

and this is the email message from the ron paul campaign...

August 12, 2007

On behalf of Dr. Ron Paul and his wife Carol, and the Ron Paul 2008 campaign staff, I thank our supporters and volunteers in Iowa and throughout the country for the strong showing in the Iowa straw poll. We are pleased and encouraged by the results.

We have the three ingredients for success:
1. The message: freedom, peace and prosperity.
2. The man: Ron Paul.
3. You.

Our campaign has begun.

Kent Snyder
Chairman, Ron Paul 2008
http://www.ronpaul2008.com

paul camp may catch romney’s bus

from new york times: Ron Paul’s supporters are actively encouraging Iowa voters to take advantage of Mitt Romney’s offers of free transportation to the Iowa Straw Poll in Ames on Saturday and then, once they are there, to vote for Mr. Paul.

“Some say if Mitt is willing to bus Iowans to Ames for the straw poll, they should take him up on his offer!” says a flier in Iowa and on the Internet in advance of the straw poll for the Republican presidential candidates. The flier says that after riding the Romney bus to Ames, and allowing the Romney campaign to pay one’s $35 entry fee, Iowans should then carefully weigh their options and “they may decide to vote for Ron Paul.”

The flier is topped with a banner that says “2008 Ron Paul News,” but Jesse Benton, a campaign spokesman, said it was the handiwork of independent supporters over whom the campaign had no control. “We can’t tell our supporters what to do or not do,” Mr. Benton said, adding that the campaign did not want to get “entangled” with federal finance regulations involving potential in-kind contributions.

news on the march

townhall: ron paul will place 2nd in iowa
from usa today: Patrick Ruffini makes the case this morning at the conservative Townhall blog that Republican Rep. Ron Paul will place second at the Iowa GOP's "straw poll" Aug. 11 in Ames... Hugh Hewitt, also writing this morning at the blog, thinks Ruffini may be over-thinking things.

left could push pro-israel voters to gop
from politico: Support for Israel has long been a tenet of both political parties... Yet pockets of anti-Israel sentiment are active in American politics and have found a home among a small group of Democratic lawmakers and leftist activists. While it's tempting to dismiss them as irrelevant, the left's views on Israel have in recent years seeped into mainstream politics.

study finds 'stealth ads' in newscasts
from oregon daily emerald: According to a study recently published in the journal Electronic News, authored by two University professors and a former journalism doctoral student, there is increasing pressure from advertisers to integrate ads in newscasts, and small markets are most likely to promote advertisers during news stories... Viewers may not be aware of the commercial aspects of news content.