Taryn Southern's "Hott4Hill" parody of the Obama-Girl video, with the combination of grade school children and lesbian sexual innuendos, probably appealed to Hillary's base .
Jim Himes, Greenwich Democratic Town Committee chairman, has raised $352,500 for his effort to unseat New England's last remaining Republican congressman, Christopher Shays.
Congressman Shays raised $194,000 for his reelection during the first quarter and will release his second quarter fundraising totals later this week.
The election is 17 months away, but with the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee targeting Shays again, the race for Connecticut's 4th Congressional District should be another squeaker.
From today's US News & World Report Political Bulletin:
Fox News' Special Report reported last night that former Sen. Fred Thompson will not announce his presidential candidacy in July as previously reported, but "look for the first week of August for Thompson to get in -- quite possibly with former McCain staffers in tow."
Sheehan is unhappy that the Democratic Pelosi - Reid Congress hasn't ended the War:
"Democrats and Americans feel betrayed by the Democratic leadership," Sheehan told The Associated Press. "We hired them to bring an end to the war.
So much for Sheean's resignation from the anti-war movement. Sheehan and her left-wing extremist handlers are trying to capitalize on the American Research Group poll finding that 45 percent favor impeachment of the president, and 54 percent favor it for the vice president.
Will California Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer warn Sheehan not to challenge Pelosi like Boxer did when Sheehan said she would run against California’s other Democratic Senator, Dianne Feinstein?
Two of those arrested, Mullah Jahangir and Mullah Mohid, were responsible for Mullah Omar's communications. The other two are Mullah Nazir, who was Taleban commander in the southern Afghan province of Uruzgan, and Mullah Tahir, the former Taleban commander for the capital, Kabul.
Coupled with the standoff at the Red Mosque, it appears President Pervez Musharraf has finally realized the folly of his effort to make peace with the Taliban by ceding control of Waziristan to tribal leaders affiliated with the Taliban.
The Red Mosque, a symbol of radical Islam in Pakistan, is well known for its criticism of the government and anti-U.S. and pro-Taliban sentiments. Troops have surrounded the Mosque since Tuesday when clashes between armed student radicals and government forces erupted after months of tension.
The standoff is far from over. Rebel Pakistani cleric, Abdul Rashid Ghazi, hoped to incite Islamic revolution in Pakistan:
Government and military officials say rebel cleric Abdul Rashid Ghazi has between 50-60 hard core militants -- some from al Qaeda-linked Pakistani groups -- leading the fighting.
President Pervez Musharraf on Saturday gave the militants a 'surrender-or-die' ultimatum.
Ghazi has said he preferred "martyrdom". In a statement carried by Sunday newspapers the cleric said he and his followers hoped their deaths would spark an Islamic revolution.
"We have firm belief in God that our blood will lead to a revolution," wrote Ghazi. "God willing, Islamic revolution will be the destiny of this nation."
The arrest of the leader of the mosque, Maulana Abdul Aziz, who tried to escape in a burqa while leaving behind hundreds of his students, many of them female, has brought ridicule in the news media, which have largely supported the government. Neither the public nor the religious parties have protested the actions of the government, which has won praise for its relative restraint.
As I have said before, it's past the time to put an end to hate factories, such as the madrassas of the Red Mosque, which continue to indoctrinate new holy warriors to serve radical Islam. President Musharraf's efforts against the al Qaeda linked terrorists of the Red Mosque along with recent reports that U.S. forces will be allowed to operate in inside Waziristan are signs of more progress in the War Against Terror.
A recent report from the internet marketing agency iCrossing, finds Arizona Senator John McCain leads all presidential candidates in paid online visibility.
John Edwards’ spends more for issue-based searches, but receives less visibility and only in searches for “Iraq” and “War in Iraq.”
McCain's domination of the paid search landscape among presidential candidates isn't going to mean much if he can't raise sufficient funds to compete.
According to the study, presidential candidates need to adjust online strategies. Forty-two percent of voters use the Internet for information regarding 2008 presidential issues and candidates, but nearly all the candidates rank poorly for issue-based search visibility:
Our research shows that people are looking for election-related information online, but most presidential hopefuls are missing out on the opportunity. If they want to reach these voters, the candidates and their campaign staff need to develop and implement digital strategies that increase a candidate’s visibility in the places where users are most often looking for information.
Other intersting findings include:
The internet is a more popular information source than newspapers among those between the ages of 18 and 34.
Traditional news organization and social media sites top candidate sites.
Eighty-eight percent of those who use the Internet for information about candidates and issues in the 2008 presidential election visit sites of news organizations such as CNN and The New York Times and 42 percent go to a range of social media sites; only 30 percent go to candidate Web sites.
More than half of younger online voters are turning to social media for election information.
Of potential voters who are looking for election information online, 61 percent of 18 to 24 year olds and 55 percent of 25 to 34 year olds seek answers on user-driven content sites such as blogs, YouTube and Wikipedia.
Barack Obama and war in Iraq are tops in current candidate and issue searches. Obama attracts the largest share of searches among candidates in the survey of voter interest as of May 2008, topping Hillary Clinton and Rudy Giuliani. The war in Iraq is the most searched for issue.
These findings are the result of iCrossing's analysis of 126 election-related issue keywords along with candidates' site URLs to determine which campaigners had a search presence. The company also factored in rank and coverage data from search marketing research firm AdGooroo and Google AdWords data on keyword costs. In addition to estimating search ad spending and visibility, Opinion Research Corporation surveyed over 1,000 study participants about their search habits when it comes to election-related information.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ordered the dismissal of a lawsuit challenging President Bush's Terrorist Surveillance Program.
The 2-1 ruling vacated an order by a lower court in Detroit last August that the post-911 warrantless surveillance aimed at uncovering terrorist activity was unconstitutional, violating rights to privacy and free speech and the separation of powers. That lower court decision by Judge Anna Diggs Taylor, a Carter appointee, is one of the most blatantly political opinions I've read in some time. You can read it for yourself here [pdf file]. The decision was also artfully timed, in a political kind of way. Judge Taylor issued the now vacated decision last August in the midst of November midterm election campaign.
The dismissal was based on the lack of standing by the lawyers, journalists and scholars, who claimed the terrorist surveillance program handicapped their ability to do their jobs:
Judge Gibbons's opinion begins, "The disposition of all of the plaintiffs' claims depends upon the single fact that the plaintiffs have failed to provide evidence that they are personally subject to the [Terrorist Surveillance Program]. Without this evidence, on a motion for summary judgment, the plaintiffs cannot establish standing for any of their claims, constitutional or statutory.
The Circuit Court's decision is available here[pdf file].
The dismissal is another defeat for the American Civil Liberties Union's relentless campaign against the War Against Terror.
Chronology Of Events: June 7, 1776 to January 18, 1777
1776 June 7 -- Congress, meeting in Philadelphia, receives Richard Henry Lee's resolution urging Congress to declare independence.
June 11 -- Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston appointed to a committee to draft a declaration of independence. American army retreats to Lake Champlain from Canada.
June 12 - 27 -- Jefferson, at the request of the committee, drafts a declaration. Jefferson's clean, or "fair" copy, the "original Rough draught," is reviewed by the committee.
June 28 -- A fair copy of the committee draft of the Declaration of Independence is read in Congress.
July 1 - 4 -- Congress debates and revises the Declaration of Independence.
July 2 -- Congress declares independence as the British fleet and army arrive at New York.
July 4 -- Congress adopts the Declaration of Independence in the morning of a bright, sunny, but cool Philadelphia day. John Dunlap prints the Declaration of Independence.
July 5 -- John Hancock, president of the Continental Congress, dispatches the Declaration of Independence to the legislatures of New Jersey and Delaware.
July 6 -- Pennsylvania Evening Post of July 6 prints the first newspaper rendition of the Declaration of Independence.
July 8 -- The first public reading of the Declaration is in Philadelphia.
July 9 -- Washington orders that the Declaration of Independence be read before the American army in New York.
July 19 -- Congress orders the Declaration of Independence engrossed (officially inscribed) and signed by members.
August 2 -- Delegates begin to sign engrossed copy of the Declaration of Independence. A large British reinforcement arrives at New York after being repelled at Charleston, S.C.
1777 January 18 -- Congress, now sitting in Baltimore, Maryland, orders that signed copies of the Declaration of Independence printed by Mary Katherine Goddard of Baltimore be sent to the states.
THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE Action of Second Continental Congress, July 4, 1776 The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen United States of America
WHEN in the Course of Human Events, it becomes necessary for one People to dissolve the Political Bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the Powers of the Earth, the separate and equal Station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent Respect to the Opinions of Mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the Separation.
WE hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness -- That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed, that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these Ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its Foundation on such Principles, and organizing its Powers in such Form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient Causes; and accordingly all Experience hath shewn, that Mankind are more disposed to suffer, while Evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the Forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long Train of Abuses and Usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object, evinces a Design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their Right, it is their Duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future Security. Such has been the patient Sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the Necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The History of the present King of Great- Britain is a History of repeated Injuries and Usurpations, all having in direct Object the Establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid World.
HE has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public Good.
HE has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing Importance, unless suspended in their Operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
HE has refused to pass other Laws for the Accommodation of large Districts of People, unless those People would relinquish the Right of Representation in the Legislature, a Right inestimable to them, and formidable to Tyrants only.
HE has called together Legislative Bodies at Places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the Depository of their public Records, for the sole Purpose of fatiguing them into Compliance with his Measures.
HE has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly Firmness his Invasions on the Rights of the People.
HEhas refused for a long Time, after such Dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of the Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the Dangers of Invasion from without, and the Convulsions within.
HE has endeavoured to prevent the Population of these States; for that Purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their Migrations hither, and raising the Conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
HE has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.
HE has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the Tenure of their Offices, and the Amount and Payment of their Salaries.
HE has erected a Multitude of new Offices, and sent hither Swarms of Officers to harrass our People, and eat out their Substance.
HE has kept among us, in Times of Peace, Standing Armies, without the consent of our Legislatures.
HE has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.
HE has combined with others to subject us to a Jurisdiction foreign to our Constitution, and unacknowledged by our Laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
FOR quartering large Bodies of Armed Troops among us;
FOR protecting them, by a mock Trial, from Punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
FOR cutting off our Trade with all Parts of the World:
FOR imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
FOR depriving us, in many Cases, of the Benefits of Trial by Jury:
FOR transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended Offences:
FOR abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an arbitrary Government, and enlarging its Boundaries, so as to render it at once an Example and fit Instrument for introducing the same absolute Rules into these Colonies:
FOR taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
FOR suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with Power to legislate for us in all Cases whatsoever.
FOR has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
HE has plundered our Seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our Towns, and destroyed the Lives of our People.
HE is, at this Time, transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the Works of Death, Desolation, and Tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty and Perfidy, scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous Ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized Nation.
HE has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the Executioners of their Friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
HE has excited domestic Insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the Inhabitants of our Frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known Rule of Warfare, is an undistinguished Destruction, of all Ages, Sexes and Conditions.
HE every stage of these Oppressions we have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble Terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated Injury. A Prince, whose Character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the Ruler of a free People.
NOR have we been wanting in Attentions to our British Brethren. We have warned them from Time to Time of Attempts by their Legislature to extend an unwarrantable Jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the Circumstances of our Emigration and Settlement here. We have appealed to their native Justice and Magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the Ties of our common Kindred to disavow these Usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our Connections and Correspondence. They too have been deaf to the Voice of Justice and of Consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the Necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of Mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace, Friends.
WE, therefore, the Representatives of the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, in GENERAL CONGRESS, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the World for the Rectitude of our Intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly Publish and Declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be, FREE AND INDEPENDENT STATES; that they are absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political Connection between them and the State of Great-Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as FREE AND INDEPENDENT STATES, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which INDEPENDENT STATES may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm Reliance on the Protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.
As you celebrate Independence Day please remember those who have and are sacrificing so much to ensure our independence.
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