 |
|
|
| US Agents Can Seize
Laptops at Border |
|
| |
Posted by editor
on Wednesday, August 06 @ 00:16:33 PDT (30
reads)
(Read
More... | 2969 bytes more | Score:
0)
| |
| John McCain Considers
Jewish Running Mate |
|
By
Toby Harnden in Washington
Last Updated:
8:35PM BST 03 Aug 2008
With strong
backing from hard-line conservatives, Eric
Cantor [right] would shore up many of John
McCain's weaknesses Photo: AP
Eric Cantor, 45, would be a
dramatic choice for Mr McCain, who is running
almost level with Barack Obama in national polls
but whose aides believe he needs to shake-up the
White House race if he is to prevail in
November's general election.
Aides to Mr
McCain revealed that Mr Cantor, the only Jewish
Republican in the House of Representatives, had
been asked to submit documents as part of a
rigorous vetting process to hunt out any closet
skeletons.
He joins a shortlist believed
to include Mitt Romney, former Massachusetts
governor and Mr McCain's bitter rival during the
Republican primaries, Tim Pawlenty, Minnesota
governor, and Rob Portman, a former Ohio
congressman and budget director in the Bush
administration.
Of the four, Mr Cantor
would be by far the most exiting - though
potentially risky - choice. A prodigious
fundraiser with a young, photogenic family,
support from evangelical Christians and strong
backing from hard-line conservatives, he would
shore up many of Mr McCain's weaknesses.
Mr Cantor would be the first Jewish
vice-president, an historic milestone that
Senator Joe Lieberman just missed in 2000 when
Al Gore lost to George W Bush by 567 votes.
It was probably Mr Lieberman's presence
on the ticket that enabled Mr Gore to get so
close in Florida, where Jewish voters are an
important factor. Mr Lieberman has since left
the Democratic party and joined forces with Mr
McCain. Campaigning by both Mr Lieberman for a
McCain-Cantor ticket in Florida could give the
Republican a powerful advantage in the swing
state... | | | | |
Posted by editor
on Tuesday, August 05 @ 01:28:08 PDT (45
reads)
(Read
More... | 2523 bytes more | Score:
0)
| |
| John McCain Doesn't Have a
Prayer |
|
by Matt Taibbi
Rolling Stone
posted July 28, 2008
Phoenix, July 13th--Sunday morning. Thank God
John McCain has declared that he wants to
wallpaper the continent with new nuke plants,
because now the chances are better that this
wretched slab of hot, birdshit-covered asphalt
they call a state will be blown to hell in an
accident someday. I hate this place. Once the
sun comes up on an Arizona weekend, nothing
moves except the occasional elderly-piloted
Buick floating boatlike in the direction of some
hideous megachurch.
This morning I've come to one of those
monstrosities, North Phoenix Baptist Church, to
witness John McCain's halfhearted offensive in
his battle to win over the Christian right. On
the stump, McCain talks about God less than any
Republican politician in recent memory --
certainly less than any Republican I've ever
seen. The guy pitches a tent visible from a mile
off whenever anyone so much as mentions the
military; you can
almost hear the dopamine
surging into his bloodstream every time someone
stands up in a town hall and begins a question
by saying, "Hello, Senator, my husband was a
Navy pilot. . . ." And he seems positively
tumescent when talking about such horrors as Al
Qaeda or Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. But his basic
stump speech doesn't contain a single line about
God or religion. McCain is probably the first
Republican in modern history to talk more about
"green technology" than about his personal
relationship with Jesus Christ.
While Barack Obama gives regular addresses at
churches, where he comes off very like a
preacher (right down to his natty blue suits and
his lilting oratory), McCain's chosen stump
locations are invariably VFW halls or factory
sites -- where he tries to win over
working-class crowds by telling them that their
jobs aren't coming back. As the nominee of a
party that has swept two straight elections by
hawking cheap pieties and ramming one
preposterous lie after another down the public's
throat, McCain's agnostically bummerific
public-speaking strategy is a curiosity, to say
the least.
Here's the thing about John McCain, and it's
never easy to tell whether this is a good
quality or a bad one. He's a shitty liar. He may
be willing to change his position on anything
from immigration to torture to campaign finance
at the drop of a hat to win votes, and he may
have no problem aiming below the belt -- below
the knees even -- to impugn an opponent's
patriotism. But this is not a guy who can get up
in front of a churchgoing crowd in Asscrack,
Arkansas, and start weeping to Jesus. In fact,
he appears to deeply resent the implication that
he needs to genuflect to the baby savior at all.
As in, "Hell, I already lived through five years
of torture! You want me to
do more?"... | | |
Posted by editor
on Tuesday, July 29 @ 07:35:44 PDT (106
reads)
(Read
More... | 3006 bytes more | Score:
0)
| |
| John McCain undergoes new
skin cancer scare, biopsy |
Republican presidential
candidate Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. speaks to
reporters during a tour of the Red Ribbon Ranch
Oil Lease, San Joaquin Facilities Management
Inc., Monday, July 28, 2008, in Bakersfield,
Calif. Three-time melanoma survivor John McCain
had a spot of skin removed from his right cheek
early Monday that he said would undergo a biopsy
as a precaution.
(AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)
| | |
Posted by editor
on Monday, July 28 @ 20:13:42 PDT (118
reads)
(Read
More... | 968 bytes more | Score:
0)
| |
| McCain backs off his
no-new-tax pledge |
By Charles Babington
July 28,
2008
WASHINGTON (AP) - Republican
presidential candidate John McCain drew a sharp
rebuke Monday from conservatives after he
signaled an openness to a higher payroll tax for
Social Security, contrary to previous vows not
to raise taxes of any kind.
Speaking with reporters on his campaign bus
on July 9, he cited a need to shore up Social
Security, saying: "I cannot tell you what I
would do, except to put everything on the
table."
He went a step farther Sunday with his
reponse on a nationally televised talk show to a
question about payroll tax increases.
"There is nothing that's off the table. I
have my positions, and I'll articulate them. But
nothing's off the table," McCain said. "I don't
want tax increases. But that doesn't mean that
anything is off the table."
That comment drew a strong response Monday
from the Club for Growth, a Washington anti-tax
group. McCain's comments, the group said in a
letter to the Arizona senator, are "shocking
because you have been adamant in your opposition
to raising taxes under any circumstances."
Indeed, McCain frequently has promised not
to raise
taxes...
| | |
Posted by editor
on Monday, July 28 @ 19:59:59 PDT (94
reads)
(Read
More... | 1434 bytes more | Score:
0)
| |
| Sources: McCain May
Declare VP Pick This Week |
|
by FOXNews.com
Monday, July 21,
2008 
July 21: John McCain at the Maine Military
Museum in South Portland, Maine. (AP
Photo) Very well-placed sources told FOX News late
Monday that John McCain’s campaign has had
discussions in the recent past about the merits
of the expected Republican presidential nominee
unveiling his choice of a running mate this week
while rival Barack Obama is overseas.
One source with direct knowledge of the
senator’s thinking and of the campaign’s
machinations said no announcement will be made
Tuesday morning but another top insider
suggested the media not throw cold water on the
idea that McCain could announce his vice
presidential pick this week. Still a third
source said unless McCain wakes up in the next
two days with a decision, chances are
“remote.”
Asked about the odds of announcing a vice
presidential pick on Tuesday, McCain brushed off
the question during a plane ride with reporters
to New Hampshire, only giving a mischievous
grin.
McCain did tell reporters that he wants to
make a choice as early as possible and make sure
that the person doesn’t detract from that
ticket. He separately noted former rival and
Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney’s success in the
battleground state of Michigan, in which he beat
McCain by 9 points.
But traveling Press Secretary Brooke Buchanan
said no announcements would be made late Monday.
Senior adviser Mark Salter said he had “no
comment and he is not authorized to say
anything” regarding the number two
pick.”... | | |
Posted by editor
on Tuesday, July 22 @ 00:48:41 PDT (166
reads)
(Read
More... | 3323 bytes more | Score:
0)
| |
| Iraq Leader Maliki
Supports Obama's Withdrawal
Plans |
June 19,
2008
Der Spiegel
'AS SOON AS POSSIBLE'
In an interview
with SPIEGEL, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri
al-Maliki said Barack Obama's 16 month timeframe
for a withdrawal from Iraq is the right
one.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki
supports US presidential candidate Barack
Obama's plan to withdraw US troops from Iraq
within 16 months. When asked in and interview
with SPIEGEL when he thinks US troops should
leave Iraq, Maliki responded "as soon as
possible, as far as we are concerned." He then
continued: "US presidential candidate Barack
Obama talks about 16 months. That, we think,
would be the right timeframe for a withdrawal,
with the possibility of slight
changes."
REUTERS
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki says
he agrees with US presidential candidate Barack
Obama's plans for withdrawing US troops from
Iraq. Maliki was careful to
back away from outright support for Obama. "Of
course, this is by no means an election
endorsement. Who they choose as their president
is the Americans' business," he said. But then,
apparently referring to Republican candidate
John McCain's more open-ended Iraq policy,
Maliki said: "Those who operate on the premise
of short time periods in Iraq today are being
more realistic. Artificially prolonging the
tenure of US troops in Iraq would cause
problems."
Iraq, Maliki went on to say, "would like to
see the establishment of a long-term strategic
treaty with the United States, which would
govern the basic aspects of our economic and
cultural relations." He also emphasized though
that the security agreement between the two
countries should only "remain in effect in the
short
term."... | | |
Posted by editor
on Sunday, July 20 @ 06:22:47 PDT (175
reads)
(Read
More... | 2422 bytes more | Score:
0)
| |
| Seven years on, no answer
from White House on anthrax
attacks |
by Eric
Brewer
Published: Wednesday July 16,
2008
|
|
 It's been almost seven years
since — in the weeks immediately following 9/11
— anthrax powder sent through the mail killed
five people, threatened the lives of two
Democratic senators, terrorized the entire
nation, and helped prod a panicky Congress into
passing the so-called Patriot Act.
In the intervening years, not only has the
killer remained free, but missteps in the
investigation have had major negative
consequences. Just last
month, in fact, the Department of Justice
agreed to pay $4.6 million to former bioweapons
expert Stephen Hatfill to settle a lawsuit
Hatfill brought against the Justice Department,
the FBI, and former Attorney General John
Ashcroft for destroying his reputation and
career by publicly implicating him in the case.
And Glenn Greenwald has
pointed out that in 2001, ABC News was fed
false information by several "well-placed
sources" (presumably officials in the Bush
administration) suggesting an Iraq-anthrax link.
That imaginary link was widely cited by pro-war
cheerleaders.
At Monday's White House briefing, I asked
if President Bush was satisfied with the
progress of the investigation into the attacks.
Press Secretary Dana Perino told me that she
didn't even "know if he has had an update on
it."
| | |
Posted by editor
on Wednesday, July 16 @ 17:13:17 PDT (222
reads)
(Read
More... | 2090 bytes more | Score:
0)
| |
| Conservatives deeply
depressed over McCain
campaign |
|
by Richard Viguerie
July 14,
2008
(Las Vegas, Nevada) Conservatives
are so depressed over the state of the McCain
campaign--particularly its failure to include
and enthuse the Republican base--that they are
preparing themselves for a monumental GOP defeat
in November, Richard A. Viguerie, Chairman of
ConservativeHQ.com, said in a speech to
FreedomFest.
“You even have some conservatives who are
considering voting for Barack Obama, because
they fear McCain as president would destroy
what’s left of the Republican brand and would
finish off the conservative movement,” said
Viguerie. “Their mood is that of the fatally ill
patient who says ‘Let’s get this over with’.”
“John McCain has had the Republican
nomination sewn up for five months and has done
little to convince conservatives they should
come off the sidelines and fight for him,” he
said.
Viguerie said, “Personnel is policy and if
Senator McCain won’t surround himself with
conservatives during this campaign, when he
desperately needs them, why should we think that
he will have conservatives making critical
decisions in his administration?”
“Senator McCain has never been a
conservative, is not one now, and will not
govern as one. From McCain-Feingold to
cap-and-trade, he is a supporter of one Big
Government scheme after another. History shows
that, in the Oval Office, where almost all the
political pressure comes from supporters of Big
Government, he would only get worse.”
Viguerie has also called for the
resignation of the Republican leadership in
Congress.
“After this year’s expected blood bath in
the November elections, the voters will bring
about a massive housecleaning of GOP leaders in
favor of principled conservatives,” he said.
Freedom Fest, at which Viguerie spoke, is a
gathering of prominent advocates for free
markets. Other speakers this year include Steve
Forbes, George Gilder, Bob Barr, Dinesh D’Souza,
Christopher Hitchens, and Congressman Ron
Paul... | | |
Posted by editor
on Wednesday, July 16 @ 11:56:23 PDT (208
reads)
(Read
More... | 2407 bytes more | Score:
0)
| |
| McCain Touts Free Trade,
Defends Immigration Stance at La
Raza |
|
by Associated Press
Tuesday, July 15,
2008  SAN DIEGO — Republican
presidential candidate John McCain, in one of
his strongest endorsements of free trade, called
himself “an unapologetic supporter of NAFTA,” an
agreement that many Americans feel has cost them
jobs.
“I reject the false virtues of economic
isolationism,” McCain told the National Council
of La Raza, a major Hispanic organization. “Any
confident, competent country and its government
should embrace competition,” he said. “It makes
us stronger.”
The Arizona senator has often defended free
trade, but Monday’s speech was among his most
detailed and full-throated
commentaries.
“Lowering barriers to trade creates more
and better jobs, and higher wages,” he said. “It
makes goods more affordable for low- and
middle-income consumers.”
Citing his recent visit to Colombia and
Mexico, McCain said he understands “how vitally
important it is to the prosperity and security
of our country to strengthen our trade,
investment and diplomatic ties to other
countries in our hemisphere.” He said he fully
supports the North American Free Trade Agreement
(NAFTA), the Central American Free Trade
Agreement and the Colombian Free Trade
Agreement.
Congress approved the NAFTA agreement with
Mexico and Canada in 1993, and the agreement
with six Central American nations in 2005, but
has blocked the agreement with
Colombia.
“I believe a hemispheric free trade
agreement is a worthy and necessary goal whose
time has come,” he said of a proposal he
unveiled during the campaign.
Acknowledging that some Americans do lose
jobs “to foreign competition,” McCain said he
has proposed “a comprehensive reform of our
unemployment insurance and worker retraining
programs.”
“And for workers of a certain age who have
lost a job that won’t come back,” he said, “if
they move rapidly to a new job we’ll help make
up the difference in wages between their old job
and the new
one.”... | | |
Posted by editor
on Tuesday, July 15 @ 04:35:29 PDT (217
reads)
(Read
More... | 2523 bytes more | Score:
0)
| |
| McCain's broken marriage
and fractured Reagan
friendship |
|
The nature and timing of
his divorce from Carol Shepp alienated key
friends -- and his version doesn't always match
that in court documents.
By
Richard A. Serrano and Ralph Vartabedian
Los
Angeles Times Staff Writers
July
11, 2008
Outside her Bel-Air
home, Nancy Reagan stood arm in arm with John
McCain and offered a significant -- but less
than exuberant -- endorsement. "Ronnie
and I always waited until everything was
decided, and then we endorsed," the Republican
matriarch said in March. "Well, obviously this
is the nominee of the party." They were the only
words she would speak during the five-minute
photo op... Complete article here: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-divorce11-2008jul11,0,5924926,full.story | | |
Posted by editor
on Friday, July 11 @ 13:00:25 PDT (265
reads)
(Read
More... | 990 bytes more | Score:
0)
| |
| McCain Taps Former
Giuliani Staffer as Field
Director |
|
by FOXNews.com
Thursday, July 10,
2008
John McCain’s campaign has hired a
former staffer for Rudy Giuliani to be its
national field director, one of two positions
created by a key adviser who took over
operational control of the campaign last
week.
Bill Stepien, who was a regional McCain
campaign manager for New York and New Jersey and
worked as Giuliani’s national field director
before that, will join recently named political
director, Mike DuHaime.
DuHaime also worked for Giuliani, as his
campaign manager during the GOP
primaries.
Adviser Steve Schmidt, who has been given
new authority in the McCain campaign, announced
last week that he was hiring both a political
director and field director to “increase our
capacity to reach out to voters, build
coalitions, identify supporters and ultimately
turn them out to the polls on Nov. 4.”
Stepien also worked as the New Hampshire
political director for President Bush’s 2004
campaign.
FOX News’ Mosheh Oinounou contributed
to this
report... | | |
Posted by editor
on Friday, July 11 @ 05:01:28 PDT (246
reads)
(Read
More... | 1390 bytes more | Score:
0)
| |
| McCain tells Hispanic
group of his commitment to immigration
reform |
|
By Michael Cooper
International
Herald Tribune
July 8,
2008
WASHINGTON:
Senator John McCain told a major Hispanic group
here Tuesday that he remained committed to
passing the kind of immigration legislation that
angered many Republican voters last year, but he
underscored that he intended to first secure
U.S. borders.
Speaking to the convention of the League of
United Latin American Citizens, McCain noted his
efforts to pass comprehensive immigration
legislation, which was supported by President
George W. Bush and such Democrats as Senator
Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts but which fell
apart last year after an angry grass-roots
movement that viewed it as tantamount to amnesty
rose up to oppose its passage.
"I and many other colleagues twice
attempted to pass comprehensive immigration
legislation to fix our broken borders, ensure
respect for the laws of this country, recognize
the important economic necessity of immigrant
laborers, apprehend those who came here
illegally to commit crimes and deal practically
and humanely with those who came here, as my
distant ancestors did, to build a better, safer
life for their families," McCain said, "without
excusing the fact they came here illegally or
granting them privileges before those who have
been waiting their turn outside
the country."
He added: "Many Americans, with good cause,
didn't believe us when we said we would secure
our borders, and so we failed in our efforts. We
must prove to them that we can and will secure
our borders first, while respecting the dignity
and rights of citizens and legal residents of
the United States of America. But we must not
make the mistake of thinking that our
responsibility to meet this challenge will end
with that accomplishment. We have economic and
humanitarian responsibilities as well, and they
require no less dedication from us in
meeting them."
McCain's support of the failed immigration
bill, which many Republican primary voters
vigorously opposed, threatened to doom his
candidacy last year. He was regularly attacked
on the issue by Mitt Romney, the former
Massachusetts governor and Republican contender,
who spoke of it as the McCain-Kennedy bill.
Voters opposed to the bill often brought it up
to him in town hall-style meetings in Iowa, New
Hampshire and
South Carolina... | | |
Posted by editor
on Wednesday, July 09 @ 03:52:01 PDT (271
reads)
(Read
More... | 2626 bytes more | Score:
0)
| |
| Cindy McCain Scolds
Husband for Iran Wisecrack |
Associated
Press
July 8, 2008
PITTSBURGH — Cindy
McCain’s jab to her husband’s back came a second
too late Tuesday to keep him from making a
wisecrack about the health impact of Iran’s main
import from the United States: cigarettes.
Republican presidential candidate John
McCain was asked about an Associated Press
report that $158 million in cigarettes have been
shipped to Iran during George W. Bush’s
presidency despite restrictions on U.S. exports
to that country.
“Maybe that’s a way of killing them,”
McCain told reporters, smiling as he waited for
a cheesesteak sandwich at the Primanti Brothers
restaurant. His wife, sitting next to him at the
counter, poked his back without looking
up.
“I meant that as a joke,” McCain quickly
explained. “As a person who hasn’t had a
cigarette in 28 years,” he began to say, when
his wife corrected him: 29 years.
| | |
Posted by editor
on Wednesday, July 09 @ 03:50:35 PDT (222
reads)
(Read
More... | 1416 bytes more | Score:
0)
| |
| Zogby: Obama has electoral
college majority; Barr has 6%
support |
Nick Juliano
 Published: Monday
July 7, 2008 A new nationwide poll
shows Barack Obama securing a majority of
electoral college votes over Republican opponent
John McCain in a new state-by-state
poll.
The Zogby
Interactive online survey also shows
Libertarian Candidate Bob Barr shaping up as a
substantial factor in this year's election,
pulling 6 percent of the vote. (He was
substantially outperforming then-Green Party
candidate Ralph Nader at a similar point in the
2000 campaign)
The poll was conducted June 11-30 among
more than 46,000 likely voters.
If the election were held today, Obama
would win 273 electoral votes, enough to hand
him the presidency, according to Zogby's tally.
McCain would receive 160 electoral votes,
leaving 105 up for grabs. Obama is the choice of
44 percent of voters surveyed, compared to 38
percent who prefer McCain. Other projections,
like the one being maintained at FiveThirtyEight.com,
have Obama winning with as many as 308 electoral
votes.
 Pollster John Zogby said Barr
"could really hurt McCain's chances," pointing
to the former Georgia Republican's 7 percent
support among conservative or very conservative
voters, 43 percent support from libertarians and
11 percent showing with independents.
Liberal gadfly Nader, now running as an
Independent, is polling at less than 2 percent
in the latest survey.
| | |
Posted by editor
on Wednesday, July 09 @ 03:47:41 PDT (251
reads)
(Read
More... | 2250 bytes more | Score:
0)
| |
|
|
|
Don't have an
account yet? You can create
one. As a registered user you have some
advantages like theme manager, comments
configuration and post comments with your
name. |
|
| | | |
|
|
The reasoning behind these decisions is clear to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, as shown in a piece published last month in USA Today. "...the most dangerous contraband is often contained in laptop computers or other electronic devices." Searches have uncovered "violent jihadist materials as well as images of child pornography," he wrote. However, others think differently: "They're saying they can rifle through all the information in a traveler's laptop without having a smidgen of evidence that the traveler is breaking the law," said Greg Nojeim, senior counsel at the Center for Democracy and Technology. "The policies . . . are truly alarming," stated Sen. Russell Feingold (D-Wis.), who vowed to introduce legislation requiring reasonable suspicion before a search could be performed.
Recent court cases have ruled that only noninvasive border searches are permitted without reasonable suspicion under US law. Whereas body cavity searches and x-ray scans would go beyond the line, suitcase searches are deemed reasonable. The problem, therefore, boils down to whether a search of a laptop's contents constitutes an invasive search, which is what most privacy experts claim. "A laptop can hold [the equivalent of] a major university's library: It can contain your full life," says Peter Swire, a professor of law at Ohio State University in Columbus. "The government's never gotten to search your entire life, so this is unprecedented in scale what the government can get." Advocates of the policy, on the other hand, claim that a laptop is no more than a suitcase, and that requiring probable cause could result in massive delays.