Mood:  special

Mandwell Patterson recently left the administration of Republican Mayor Janet Creighton to go into private business. He said he was turned off by Democrats after being approached by a party member who suggested affirmative action got him into college. “I don’t need affirmative action to succeed,” he said. “The first thing they (Democrats) see is my color.”

Blacks cite opportunity in supporting GOP

CANTON -- Her years as a councilwoman, business owner and community activist have made Wilma Lipkins the grande dame of Stark County’s black Republicans.

“Years ago, I was a Democrat,” said Lipkins, who operated a hair salon for nearly 40 years. “I realized you need two sides.”

Lipkins regularly opens her well-appointed home on Tuscarawas Street E to the Ohio Republican Council, whose members say their party has more to offer blacks than the Democrats, whom they claim take minorities for granted.

In 2004, President Bush slightly increased his black support to 11 percent, up from a historic low of 9 percent in 2000. Bush’s stances on abortion, gay marriage and faith-based initiatives appeal strongly to some black Christians, who tend to be socially conservative regardless of their political affiliation.

Lipkins is now mentoring the next generation of local black Republicans, including Fred Moore Sr. and Mandwell Patterson.

“I brought them together because they had the goods,” she said. “Hopefully, they can draw other young men.”

Both men lost Canton City Council races as Republicans in 2003.

Both say they’re attracted in part by the conservative social agenda of the GOP. And both say Democrats take black voters for granted.

“I looked at the Democratic party and didn’t like what I saw,” said Moore, who said Democrats don’t campaign in black neighborhoods because they assume they have the black vote sewn up. He said the party also supports a welfare state that’s broken.

Patterson began examining the GOP as a political science student at the University of Dayton and only recently left the administration of Republican Mayor Janet Creighton to go into private business. He said he was turned off by Democrats after being approached by a party member who suggested affirmative action got him into college.

“I don’t need affirmative action to succeed,” he said. “The first thing they (Democrats) see is my color.”

“Democrats boast about what they do, and the average black person has bought into that when, actually, they’ve given blacks very little,” he added.

Patterson said he was raised by a single mother who emphasized the importance of education. He said he keeps an old booklet of food stamps to remind him of how far he’s come.

LOCAL AND NATIONAL HISTORY
“They’re saying Democrats take advantage, but Republicans have ignored us completely,” countered Demeatrious St. John, president and co-founder of the Stark County Black Caucus, a group that provides support to minority Democratic candidates.

“I understand that Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass were Republican. I understand most Democratic politicians in the South back then were racists. But there was a shift in this country in the 1950s and 1960s, when Democrats were standing up for the rights of African-Americans.”

Like his GOP counterparts, however, St. John said that until recently, Stark County Democrats took the black vote for granted.

“With the candidacies of (Canton council members) Thomas West and Kelly Zachary, we saw an opportunity to get involved,” he said. “We now have more African-Americans on the (Democratic) executive committee than at any time in history. ... Are there white Democrats in this town who would rather we disappear? Absolutely. But there also are Democrats like Johnnie Maier, Allen Schulman and Randy Gonzalez who encourage us every day.”

Nationally, blacks and the GOP have a long history. Ex-slave and abolitionist Douglass took part in the GOP’s organizational meeting in 1854. Until the election of Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932, black voters were staunchly Republican, due in large part to Abraham Lincoln.

But grassroots Republicans did little to support blacks during the Civil Rights movement, and the shift toward the Democratic Party began in earnest with the candidacy of John F. Kennedy. Following President Kennedy’s death, President Lyndon B. Johnson made civil rights his platform.

In 1968, the Republican National Committee adopted what became known as the “Southern Strategy.” Designed to fuel white resentment over integration and busing, it further alienated blacks. In July, Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman admitted that the strategy was exploitative and cost the party decades of black support.

CHANGE COMING?
Nate Pope worked for GOP Govs. George Voinovich and Bob Taft as a regional manager for the Ohio Lottery Commission. At the invitation of Stark County Republican Organization Chairman Curt Braden, Pope became a county committee chairman in the precinct that includes Jackson Township.

Nationally, “I see a change coming,” Pope said. “People are beginning to realize the part politics plays in their lives.”

Pope said President Bush’s recent speech before the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is indicative of change.

Bush and the organization’s national leadership have butted heads. One of the first acts of the organization’s new president, retired business executive Bruce Gordon, was to invite Bush to speak to the group, something Bush had declined to do for five years.

During the speech in July, Bush promised to renew the Voting Rights Act, which he did.

And Patterson pointed to Bush’s hiring record.

“He’s had the most diverse Cabinet, ever; more than Bill Clinton. Whether or not I’ve liked some of his policies, he’s put more people of color in high positions than any other sitting president. It’s OK to ask the Democrats ‘What have you done for me lately?’”

BLACKWELL AND LOCAL POLITICS
The gubernatorial campaign of Ken Blackwell has galvanized some local black Republicans. It’s one of three high-profile national races that have some political observers calling 2006 the “Year of the Black Republican.”

Patterson said minorities leery of Blackwell because he is a Republican need to “do your homework and see what he has done in his career.”

“He’s been somebody I can look up to,” he said. “He’s still a black man in the Republican Party. That isn’t easy.”

St. John, who cut his teeth on Cleveland politics as an intern for Democratic Mayor Carl Stokes, said minority representation is needed in both parties.

“We can’t afford to be a one-party people,” he said. “Just being a Democrat doesn’t mean we’ll support you.”

But neither will St. John support Blackwell because he’s black. “Mandwell believes what he says. I respect him,” St. John said. But “Ken Blackwell is an opportunist.”

Upon becoming Stark County Republican chairman in 2000, Curt Braden said he reached out to black clergy to inform them of upcoming events, a relationship spurred in part by President Bush’s faith-based initiative.

One of those clergymen is the Rev. Robert Dye, pastor of St. Paul AME Church in Canton. A lifelong Republican, Dye was among a contingent of black pastors who met with Blackwell this summer during a campaign stop in Canton.

The Pittsburgh native acknowledged being a black Republican pastor is not the most popular thing to be.

“People have said, ‘You’re crazy; you don’t what you’re doing,’ ” he said.

He maintains the Republican Party must be more sensitive to the grassroots issues that affect minorities, such as poverty, and although he personally supports Blackwell, Dye acknowledges that his candidate has an uphill fight.

“I think he has a chance, but he’s carrying baggage from the last administration,” he said.

Angela Woodson, political director for Blackwell’s Democratic opponent, Ted Strickland, said Blackwell’s high-profile campaign is symptomatic of the GOP’s problems. Unlike Republicans, she said, Democrats make a concerted effort to recruit black, Latino and women candidates.

“I’m waiting for Republicans to wake up and realize that all politics is local, and for them to encourage African-Americans to run for commissioner, or clerk of court, or a judicial post,” she said. “What’s real to us is our states and hometowns. ... Until the Republican Party starts making local efforts, they won’t make many inroads with African-Americans.”

LEAVING THE GOP
For most of his adulthood, Robert F. Fisher was one of Stark County’s most prominent black Republicans. The former safety director for Mayor Stanley Cmich said he became disillusioned with the party with the emergence of Ronald Reagan.

“They (GOP) ran the moderate and liberal wing out of the party,” Fisher said.

He parted with Reagan’s hard-line stance on affirmative action and other policies, and he criticized President George H.W. Bush for appointing Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court. Thomas personally benefited from affirmative action, Fisher said, then condemned it.

But for Fisher, the most egregious sin of the GOP was the “Willie Horton” ad -- which used the image of a black killer released from prison -- during the elder Bush’s campaign for president in 1988.

“That was so overtly racist ... . I just couldn’t live with it,” Fisher said.

But unlike their national counterparts, Fisher said, Republicans at the state and local levels tend to be elected based on performance, not ideology. He said he supports Republican Mayor Janet Creighton, whom he calls a good friend.

“There’s no ‘conservative’ way to run a police department, or pick up the garbage,” he said. “People are going to reward you or defeat you based on how well you do that.”

His advice for the national GOP?

“Forget about the issues of faith and religion,” he said. “There’s no place, in my opinion, in the national debate about abortion, gay marriages. Those are state and individual issues. We need to talk about Social Security and the federal budget; about balancing defense spending against domestic spending, and (maintaining) the safety net.”

WHEN DID THE SUPPORT FADE
How can the GOP attract more blacks?

“I don’t think Ken Blackwell is the way to get it back,” said Lorenzo Morris, a professor of political science at Howard University.

Morris said the ideology embraced by Blackwell -- a self-described “Ronald Reagan Republican” -- has consistently lost the GOP support in the black community.

Blacks aligned themselves with Republicans early on because of rejection by Southern Democrats during the Civil War, he said. They remained with the GOP through the early years of the New Deal, and many held back from Democrats until 1936, Morris said, because “they were waiting to see if Roosevelt’s policies fit his rhetoric.”

Even as late as 1956, Morris said, 40 percent of blacks still voted Republican. The majority of blacks voted Democratic in 1960 for John F. Kennedy’s “symbolic, if not substantive leadership.”

Into the ’60s, he added, 20 percent of blacks remained Republican, particularly in states such as Ohio and New York, which had liberal and moderate Republicans.

Then came Reagan.

“When Reagan came in, there was a big drop to less than 10 percent,” Morris said. Bush Senior saw a slight uptick, “but the biggest dip came under Bush Junior’s first term. So, when the numbers increased by about 2 percent in his second term, the Republicans celebrated like it was the revolution.”If the GOP expects to capture more black support, Morris said, it must “let the moderate Republicans have more of a say.”

“The white Lincoln Chafees will get more black voters than the black Ken Blackwells,” he said.

The Canton, OH Repository ~ Charita M. Goshay ** Blacks cite opportunity in supporting GOP

Posted by yaahoo_06iest at 2:03 AM EDT

Updated: Sunday, 24 September 2006 2:31 AM EDT

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Mood:  silly

"While I was there, they refused to certify. So that meant I would have had to send a few hundred special forces in helicopters, refuel at night," he said.

"Indisputably wrong" I hardly think so.
Think Bush would wait around for certification?

Clinton faults Bush for inaction on bin Laden

WASHINGTON -- Former President Bill Clinton, angrily defending his efforts to capture Osama bin Laden, accused the Bush administration of doing far less to stop the al Qaeda leader before the September 11 attacks.

In a heated interview to be aired on Sunday on "Fox News Sunday," the former Democratic president defended the steps he took after al Qaeda's attack on the USS Cole in 2000 and faulted "right-wingers" for their criticism of his efforts to capture Osama bin Laden.

"But at least I tried. That's the difference in me and some, including all of the right-wingers who are attacking me now," Clinton said when asked whether he had failed to fully anticipate bin Laden's danger. "They had eight months to try, they did not try. I tried. So I tried and failed."

The September 11 attacks occurred almost eight months after President George W. Bush succeeded Clinton in January 2001.

"I authorized the CIA to get groups together to try to kill him," Clinton said. He added he had drawn up plans to go into Afghanistan to overthrow the Taliban and launch an attack against bin Laden after the attack on the Cole in the Yemeni port of Aden.

"Now if you want to criticize me for one thing, you can criticize me for this: after the Cole, I had battle plans drawn to go into Afghanistan, overthrow the Taliban and launch a full-scale attack search for bin Laden. But we needed basing rights in Uzbekistan -- which we got after 9/11," Clinton said.

The former president complained at the time the CIA and FBI refused to certify bin Laden was responsible for the USS Cole attack.

"While I was there, they refused to certify. So that meant I would have had to send a few hundred special forces in helicopters, refuel at night," he said.

Earlier this month, Clinton dismissed as "indisputably wrong" a U.S. television show that suggested her was too distracted by the Monica Lewinsky scandal to confront the Islamic militant threat that culminated in the September 11 attacks.

Reuters ~ Joanne Morrison ** Clinton faults Bush for inaction on bin Laden

His arguments are so pathetically weak! Just 8 months and with the election and white house vandalism nonsense to overcome. Then with State department still filled with appeasing twits.

I guess he could generate a new campaign ad for the Demented-crats... "Let us 'try and fail' again - we don't worry about RESULTS... what's important throughout all our failures is that "we tried hard, and had 'good interntions'."

"You do...or you do not, There is no try." - Yoda

Looks like he's still living in a fantasy world... and watching his "legacy" boil down to the definition of "is", a blue stained dress and an utter failure in protecting this country from terrorists... yeah, he really "tried" hard, didn't he?

Hello Pot? Hi, it's me, kettle. --- YouTube.com ~ Video ** Bill Clinton Freaks Out

Posted by yaahoo_06iest at 12:01 AM EDT

Updated: Sunday, 24 September 2006 12:25 AM EDT

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Mood:  chatty

Truth is a bitch when you can't hide what you've said...

GOP taking midterm Dems to school

WASHINGTON -- Republicans are opening up a new campaign front in the elections that asks voters to think about who will be running Congress if the Democrats are returned to power in November.

People like House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi who said "I don't really consider ourselves at war" with terrorism, who believes Osama bin Laden's capture will not "make us any safer" and who thinks this election "shouldn't be about national security."

Polls show that most voters do not really know much about what the Democrats would do about Iraq or the war on terrorism because their agenda does not say much about either. Voters know even less about the records and statements of the Democratic leaders who would take over the reins of power if voters put them in charge of the House.

The Republican National Committee and the GOP's congressional campaign committee, who want to correct this knowledge deficit, have begun an educational offensive to do so. It began last week with the first in a series of research papers on Pelosi and other Democratic leaders.

Pelosi, who could become House Speaker and third in line for the presidency, was asked on "Meet the Press" in May about her pledge to hold investigative hearings on the war in Iraq if Democrats took charge.

Could such hearings lead to President Bush's impeachment, moderator Tim Russert asked her. "Well," Pelosi replied, "you never know where the facts take you ..." While President Bush is sharpening his message on terrorism and other issues that are at stake in this election -- and lifting his job-approval polls to 44 percent in the process -- the GOP is looking for ways to remind voters that, like Pelosi, the Democrats' leftist leadership is far outside the nation's political mainstream.

They have been doing just that lately in congressional races where the Republicans are considered vulnerable. Like Indiana's 8th district where Republican Rep. John Hostettler faces challenger Brad Ellsworth, sheriff of Vanderburgh County. The NRCC is running a TV ad there that tells voters: "Here's something to think about. Democrats in Congress believe that your taxes should be higher to pay for their bigger government. They believe wiretapping of terrorist communications violates civil liberties. And Congressional Democrats believe that illegal immigrants should get amnesty. No matter how you slice it, a vote for Brad Ellsworth is a vote to put these Democrats in charge of Congress. But their agenda is just too risky."

This ad in one variation or another is being run in a number of other districts where Republicans are at risk and, if the polls are accurate, with significant success. The ad not only plants doubts in the minds of swing Democrats and independents, it will motivate Republican turnout, too, GOP officials tell me. The RNC research papers that will be churned out for the remainder of this election cycle -- e-mailed to the GOP's vast list of 15 million activists -- will reinforce these ads and provide fodder for other ads to come.

Most of the GOP's dossiers are about Democrats who aren't exactly household names -- people like veteran Rep. Henry Waxman, the ranking Democrat on the House Government Reform Committee. Waxman would become the panel's chairman with full subpoena power to dig into every nook and cranny of government.

Who is Henry Waxman? First and foremost, one of the most partisan, bare-knuckle pols the Democrats have. Earlier this year, he signed a legal brief filed in U.S. District Court that called domestic terrorist surveillance "illegal." He voted to rescind the anti-terrorist USA Patriot Act that Bush says is vital to the war on terrorism. He opposed the $87 billion in funds for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Another target in the RNC's "educational papers" is Florida Rep. Alcee Hastings, an impeached former federal judge whom Pelosi has indicated she would put in charge of the supersecret House Intelligence Committee.

Hastings, who was indicted on charges of bribery, conspiracy and obstruction of justice, was impeached by the House (by a vote of 413-to-3) and removed from the bench in the Senate by a vote of 69-to-26. He later ran and won his seat in a solidly Democratic district.

"That an impeached judge could conceivably become head of the Intelligence Committee I think many Americans would find alarming," RNC spokesman Danny Diaz told me.

But this is a guy who voted against the Patriot Act giving government authorities the tools to protect the country from terrorists in October 2001, just a few weeks after the airline attacks by Islamic fanatics.

Equally alarming is the Democrat in line to chair the House Judiciary Committee: ultra-liberal Rep. John Conyers of Michigan, who has all but called for Bush's impeachment.

This is all pretty outrageous stuff that most Americans will not only find deeply appalling but dangerous. That's why the Republicans are going to make sure that people know who they'd be putting into critical positions of power if they vote to give the Democrats majority control on Nov. 7.

Townhall.com ~ Donald Lambro ** GOP taking midterm Dems to school

Posted by yaahoo_06iest at 11:09 PM EDT

Updated: Saturday, 23 September 2006 11:19 PM EDT

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Mood:  spacey

Reuters Photo: The sun shines though the distinctive leave of a marijuana plant in this May 24, 2005 file picture. A Montana mother who allowed her 18-month-old baby daughter to inhale from a marijuana water pipe on several occasions was properly convicted, but should not have to spend five years in jail, a U.S. appeals court ruled on Friday.

Mom properly jailed for letting baby smoke dope

SAN FRANCISCO -- A Montana mother who allowed her 18-month-old baby daughter to inhale from a marijuana water pipe on several occasions was properly convicted, but should not have to spend five years in jail, a U.S. appeals court ruled on Friday.

Jessica Durham was photographed allowing her toddler Michala to suck from a marijuana water pipe, also known as a bong, in 2004 by a friend upset about the activity.

"Ms. Durham allegedly remarked that smoking improved Michala's appetite and left Michala lethargic and mellow - a manner she found consistent with her own experience smoking marijuana," Judge Louis Pollak of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals wrote in summarising the case.

In 2005, a lower court sentenced Durham to five years in prison for unlawful marijuana distribution. She appealed both the conviction and the sentence.

In its ruling on Friday, a three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit upheld the conviction but said the sentence exceeded the applicable federal law which calls for punishment of no more than two years in prison.

Yahoo News ~ Reuters ** Mom properly jailed for letting baby smoke dope

Posted by yaahoo_06iest at 9:43 AM EDT

Updated: Saturday, 23 September 2006 10:27 PM EDT

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As Economic Mood Rises, So May Prospects of GOP

Americans have become more optimistic about the economy, and President Bush is getting some of the credit, a new Times/Bloomberg poll shows.

As voters say the economy will influence their choices in November more than any other national issue, including the war in Iraq and terrorism, Republicans seeking reelection could benefit.

Consumer confidence fell this summer as gas prices peaked and the housing market weakened, particularly in California. Those polled in July were almost evenly split on the state of the economy, with 49% saying it was doing badly.

Now, however, the optimists outnumber the pessimists by 10 percentage points, with 54% saying the economy is doing well.

"There's a lot of conflicting indicators, but things seem to be cruising along pretty steadily," said respondent David Busch, 38, a sales executive in Redmond, Wash., who describes himself as an independent voter. "We've seen a lot of alarmist talk about housing bubbles bursting, gas prices … that are going to derail the economy, that haven't materialized."

Seven weeks before the midterm elections, the economy remains voters' primary focus. Among registered voters, 32% listed the economy and jobs as the most important election issue, followed by the war in Iraq (21%), immigration (17%) and the war on terrorism (13%).

In follow-up interviews, those polled cited a variety of reasons for feeling better about the economy, including unemployment at a low 4.7% nationally, lower gas prices this month and an interest rate freeze by the Federal Reserve.

That could be good news for Republican candidates, as their party is in power in Washington and may be able to take some credit for the economy.

When the economy is rocky, voters traditionally punish the party in power, said Bruce Oppenheimer, a political science professor at Vanderbilt University in Nashville. But when the economy is doing well, their reactions are more difficult to predict, he said.

"This year it's a little more complex to figure because it's clear that the objective measures of how the economy is doing are not striking everybody equally," Oppenheimer said. For instance, pay is rising for some college-educated professionals, but most workers face wage stagnation, he said.

Though falling gas prices could boost Republican candidates, he said, "the question is, will it be too little too late?"

The Times/Bloomberg poll interviewed 1,517 adults, including 1,347 registered voters, nationwide from Saturday to Tuesday under the supervision of Times Poll Director Susan Pinkus. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 3 percentage points.

Although more than half of those polled still disapprove of Bush's handling of the economy, the proportion of those who approve has risen: 43% said they approved, up from 38% in July.

"Everything seems to be going all right. I don't hear a lot of people complaining that much about the economy…. The Feds have kept the interest rates down, so that will probably help," said Chester "Chet" Kusmitch, 69, a retired union carpenter in Crystal Falls, Mich.

Kusmitch said the president was doing a good job handling the economy. "You can't blame everything on the president, for crying out loud…. A lot of things affect the economy."

Charles Gunnells, 54, a disabled diesel mechanic and registered Republican in Salyersville, Ky., said he had doubts about the economy but thought Bush was doing "about as good a job as anybody else could be doing."

He said his opinion of the president had improved in recent weeks as he watched prices at the gas pump drop. "I feel a lot better about it when I see the prices go down," Gunnells said.

Many of those polled agree -- 26% said high oil prices were the greatest threat to the economy today, far ahead of other factors such as foreign competition (18%) and terrorism (16%).

The average price of gas rose to $3.08 in August before dropping to $2.54 this week, according to the Department of Energy. The dip in oil and gas prices is increasing most Americans' confidence in the economy, said Chuck Williams, dean of the business school at the University of the Pacific in Stockton.

"People see the economy in terms of their daily expenses -- what is it going to cost to pick up their child from day care, what does it cost to buy lunch, what does it cost to fill the tank of their car. And if someone's driving an SUV and it's 100 bucks every time you fill up, that gets your attention," Williams said. "If the price is down by 50 cents a gallon, you notice it."

But he said consumers' optimism was tempered by uncertainty about fuel prices as winter approached and by a weakening housing market on both coasts. Homes are lingering on the market in Phoenix, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., and fewer homes are being built. Last month, new home starts were down nearly 20% from last year and 6% from July, the Commerce Department reported Tuesday.

In the poll, 53% of respondents said they expected home prices to remain unchanged six months from now, and 19% expected prices to drop. Both numbers are up 4 percentage points from June. A quarter of respondents from households earning $60,000 to $100,000 worry their home will lose value during the next six months, the poll shows.

"Six or twelve months ago, pretty much everybody thought housing prices were going to go up," said Stuart Hoffman, chief economist at PNC Financial Services Group in Pittsburgh. "Clearly people have changed their expectations. A little bit of reality has set in."

Donna Bushby, 41, a part-time office worker, said she was getting nervous about the cost of heating her home this winter in the Chicago suburb of Elmwood Park. She and her husband, a truck driver for United Parcel Service, also worry about the value of their home. Six houses on their street are not selling, and one has been on the market for a year and a half.

The couple earn enough to cover expenses for a family of five but not to save, Bushby said, and consider home equity as savings -- "so if you think of your house going down, that's like your nest egg going down."

Many Americans appear to be stretching to make ends meet around the house. More than half of those polled, 53%, said they had trouble keeping up with rising costs, including 30% of those with household incomes more than $100,000.

"People's paychecks are not going up as much as the prices around us," said Bushby, who is nonetheless optimistic. "Hopefully it's temporary."

Geoffrey Gray Sr., 56, a registered Republican, said that he thought Bush had mismanaged the economy and that he worried about the future. Although Gray's house in Reading, Pa., is paid for and the local market seems unlikely to collapse, he worries about poor families and "the shrinking middle class."

"People are living paycheck to paycheck," he said.

Many of those polled, especially working-class Americans, are unsure about their finances and are postponing major purchases such as cars, vacations and large appliances. Of those polled, 64% said now was not a good time to make major purchases, including 81% of those with household incomes less than $40,000, and 66% of those between $40,000 and $60,000.

"If I do make a big purchase," said Bushby, "it may be a hybrid car."

Financial challenges

Q. Taking into account the cost of living and the amount of money you have to spend, would you say your financial situation right now is good, or bad, or somewhere in between?

Household Income (in thousands)                                            More
                                     All        Less than      $40-      $60-       than
                                                     $40           $60      $100       $100

Good                           38%           13%          42%      53%       72%
Bad                              14              29              6           7            1
In between                    47              56             52         40          25
Don't know                    1                2               -            -            2

Q. How about next year? Do you think your financial situation 12 months from now will be better or worse than this year, or will it be about the same?

Household Income (in thousands)                                                 More 
                                  All        Less than       $40-       $60-             than 
                                                  $40            $60        $100           $100

Better                       36%           28%           32%        50%           42%
Worse                       11              17              11            4                 8
Same as this year       50              51              56           45               49
Don't know                 3                4                1             1                 1

Q. Generally speaking, have your household income and the tax cuts you received in recent years kept up with the rising energy prices and other household costs, or has your household income not been able to keep up with the rising costs?

Household Income (in thousands)                                             More
                                  All          Less than       $40-       $60-        than
                                                   $40             $60        $100       $100

Kept up                     42%            29%           46%       48%        65%
Has not kept up          53               65               50          50           30
Doesn't apply             3                  3                 2            2            3
Don't know                 2                  3                 2            -             -           2

Q. Considering your financial situation, is now an excellent, good, not-so-good or poor time to buy expensive items such as large appliances, video equipment and computers, vacation trips, and automobiles?

Household Income (in thousands)                                              More
                         All            Less than       $40-        $60-               than
                                            $40             $60         $100              $100

Excellent           3%                -                2%           4%                 6%
Good                 20                 9               21             32                  36
Not so good        28                24              34             29                  24
Neither (vol.)     10                 7                8              13                  14
Don't know         4                  3                3               2                    1

Notes: *Polls from 2003-2005 were conducted by LA Times alone

(-) indicates less than 0.5%

(vol.) indicates a volunteered response

Poll results are also available at http://www.latimes.com/timespoll.

How the poll was conducted: The Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll contacted 1,517 adults nationwide by telephone Saturday through Tuesday. Telephone numbers were chosen from a list of all exchanges in the nation, and random-digit dialing techniques allowed listed and unlisted numbers to be contacted. Multiple attempts were made to contact each number. The adult population was weighted slightly to conform with census figures for sex, race, age, education and region. The margin of sampling error for all adults, is plus or minus 3 percentage points. For certain subgroups, the error margin may be somewhat higher. Poll results may also be affected by factors such as question wording and the order in which questions are presented.

rce: L.A. Times/Bloomberg poll
LA Times ~ Molly Hennessy-Fiske **
As Economic Mood Rises, So May Prospects of GOP

PDF

National and Personal Economy

(Acrobat file)

Graphic

Financial challenges

September 22, 2006

click to enlarge

VIDEO

Bush's Popularity Rises

September 21, 2006 (KTLA)

PDF

Graphic

Bush, Iraq and midterm elections

September 21, 2006

click to enlarge

President Bush

(Mandel Ngan / AFP/Getty Images)

September 21, 2006

click to enlarge

Related to this Article
- Bush and GOP Making Gains Among Voters

Posted by yaahoo_06iest at 3:14 AM EDT

Updated: Saturday, 23 September 2006 9:08 AM EDT

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Cindy Crawford's Daughter Models… and Causes Controversy

Days after making news for allegedly using Botox – um, who doesn't in Hollywood? – Cindy Crawford is under fire again today… for letting her 5-yeard-old daughter pose in "suggestive" photos.

Apparently little Kaya struck a pose for Melissa Odabash, who makes stylish spandex (as in bathing suits) the stars love. According to the New York Daily News, one photo was of the little girl topless, peeking over her left shoulder at the camera, with white shorts and a back tattoo." In other photos, she wore a string bikini.

The photos have since been moved into a password protected part of Melissa Odabash's site and will eventually be removed, says a spokesperson for the company.

Cindy's rep downplayed the incident, saying: "Oh my God, that's ridiculous. It's a stick-on tattoo! … Cindy's friends own this company. It was just a fun little photo shoot they did in Malibu one day. Kaya is not modeling."

Faded Youth Blog ** Kaya Crawford's Minimodel Photos

The Daily Blabber ~ Celebrity Gossip ** Cindy Crawford's Daughter Models… and Causes Controversy

A "tramp stamp" (as they are commonly referred to) on her lower back is inappropriate on a child. The pose is suggestive and sexualizes the child. I am sure Cindy doesn't "get it," but most of the hollywood/model types have a very different world view from "ordinary people."

Shades of JonBenét Ramsey...

Origional Story:
NY Daily News ~ Daily Dish & Gossip **
Lotta exposure for Cindy's girl

Also at:
Babyrazzi.com ** Kaia Jordan Gerber
Already Following In Her Mom’s Footsteps

Cindy Crawford's daughter Kaya Jordan Gerber modelling Melissa Odabash's childrens swimwear summer 2006 campaign. --- Live Journal.com ~ Oh No They Didn't - Weird ** Kaya Jordan Gerber

Posted by yaahoo_06iest at 1:42 AM EDT

Updated: Saturday, 23 September 2006 8:28 AM EDT

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Mood:  d'oh

Democrats "Wary" of Military Commissions Compromise

That's what Reuters says: "U.S. Democrats wary of detainee trials compromise". Yes, I'll bet they're wary--wary of having to take a position between now and November.

Some of them are already denouncing the Republicans' compromise, but I doubt that any Democrat in a tough re-election race will do that. Byron York's analysis of the compromise is still the most coherent one I've seen; I think we've linked to it before, but read it now if you haven't already. One thing is clear: this topic hasn't gone away. There is no consensus on whether the compromise does or does not permit waterboarding of detainees to continue. I read somewhere (I'd link if I could find it quickly) that waterboarding was the interrogation technique that broke every high-level detainee but one. (The one exception, according to that report, was an al Qaeda leader who was taken to see Khalid Sheik Mohammed in his cell, and required no further persuasion.) So whether our interrogators can continue to use this highly effective technique is, I think, a very big deal. Waterboarding is denounced by critics as a form of torture. In fact, though, it is harmless, and we reportedly waterboard our own military pilots to acquaint them with the sensation of drowning after they bail out of an airplane.

"It's OK for our pilots, but too cruel for Khalid Sheik Mohammed!" If that's the Democrats' platform for November, they could be in trouble. No wonder they're wary!

Via Power Line News.
Power Line Blog ~ John Hinderaker ** Democrats "Wary" of Military Commissions Compromise

Posted by yaahoo_06iest at 12:55 AM EDT

Updated: Saturday, 23 September 2006 1:53 AM EDT

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Mood:  chatty

House bill to require voter ID

The House yesterday passed legislation that would require voters to show a valid photo identification in federal elections over the overwhelming objections of Democrats who compared the bill to segregation-era measures aimed at disenfranchising Southern blacks.

The Federal Election Integrity Act was approved on a nearly party-line 228-196 vote. Republicans backed the bill 224-3, with three nonvoters; Democrats opposed it 192-4, with five nonvoters. They were joined in opposition by the House's one independent member.

The bill, which faces an uncertain future in the Senate, is part of a Republican effort to complete before the November elections a package of proposals aimed at curbing illegal immigration and its effects on ordinary Americans.

The so-called "Voter ID" bill, aimed at stamping out voter fraud, would require voters in federal elections to provide picture identification by 2008 and provide proof of U.S. citizenship by 2010. It was among the recommendations made last year by the bipartisan Commission on Federal Election Reform, headed by former President Jimmy Carter, a Democrat, and former Secretary of State James A. Baker III, a Republican.

"Effective voter registration and voter identification are bedrocks of a modern election system," they wrote in their final report.

But Democrats, siding with groups that work on behalf of minorities and illegal aliens, called the bill a "modern-day poll tax" and said it would place an insurmountable burden on voters and infringe upon their voting rights.

Rep. Brian Bilbray, California Republican, countered that the real infringement upon voting rights would be allowing fraudulent votes by the dead or illegal "to cancel out legitimate votes."

"That is the violation of the Voters Rights Act that we have not addressed," he told colleagues before the vote.

Democrats, who have long demanded reforms to the federal voting process, yesterday dismissed Republican concerns about voter fraud.

"Show me the examples of the problem you're trying to solve," demanded Minority Whip Steny H. Hoyer, Maryland Democrat who accused Republicans of trying to appeal to the "fear and -- yes, perhaps -- the prejudices of people."

A Republican cited a study by Johns Hopkins University that found 1,500 dead people who had voted in recent elections. Mr. Hoyer belittled the study, saying no criminal convictions for voter fraud had been won in any of those cases.

Mr. Bilbray pointed out that such convictions might be obtained if proper identification were required.

"Voter fraud is not something you can come back to after the fraud is committed," he said. "The person who voted for those dead people is long gone by the time it comes up on the record."

Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite, Florida Republican, urged support of the bill because, she said, it would prevent illegal aliens from voting in U.S. elections.

"It's outrageous and inexcusable that voters do not have to show proof of citizenship in order to vote in an election," she said. "Illegal immigrants are populating this country at an unprecedented number, and it is unjust and unfair to citizens of this country that noncitizens should have a hand in electing federal officials."

Rep. Alcee L. Hastings, Florida Democrat, said he's more concerned about discouraging voters than he is about illegals voting.

"Nonparticipation in the election process is more of a problem in this country than noncitizens trying to vote," Mr. Hastings said.

Rep. John Lewis, Georgia Democrat, called the bill a "modern-day poll tax" and charged that the bill "is nothing less than voter suppression."

He also reminded the Republican chamber of its overwhelming support in July for renewing the Voting Rights Act, although many conservatives off Capitol Hill warned that portions of it are no longer necessary.

"Just three months ago, this body passed the reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, admitting the sad fact that voter discrimination is still the reality," said Mr. Lewis, who said requiring identification at the polls is "an attack on the voting rights of millions of Americans."

Across the Capitol in the Senate, Democrats continued to slow-walk legislation approved by the House last week to construct 700 miles of fencing along the U.S.-Mexico border. The chamber voted yesterday 94-0 on a procedural motion to take up the bill.

Despite universal approval for taking up the legislation, Democratic leaders refused to grant "unanimous consent" agreements to speed up the process.

Washington Times ~ Charles Hurt ** House bill to require voter ID

Well of course the Democrats opposed this bill. It would take away large numbers of their voting base. Illegal aliens and the dead. Without them, no Democrat could be elected dog catcher.

I don't see how the Dems can claim a law like this would amount to a "poll tax", or disenfranchise anyone who has a legal right to vote in this country.

After all, you have to have a valid ID to cash a check, drive a car, get a library card, and for hundreds of other reasons. Hell, I'm 52 years old, and have to show an ID to buy tobacco or beer at Wal-Mart! So to claim that this law is not fair, etc., is pure smokescreen. It's nothing more than sheer obstructionism. Among other things.

What it will do however, it to make sure that only those who have a legal right to vote, can vote. If you are not legal, then you have no right to vote, it's that damn simple.

Posted by yaahoo_06iest at 12:29 AM EDT

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Mood:  d'oh

CBC head quits after defecation, bestiality remarks

OTTAWA -- The chairman of the publicly funded Canadian Broadcasting Corp. has resigned after remarks about bestiality and ruminations about defecation, Canadian Heritage Minister Bev Oda said on Tuesday.

Guy Fournier created an uproar in Canada's Lebanese community and in the media when he claimed that Lebanon allowed men to have sexual relations with female animals, but reserved the death penalty for those who did so with male animals.

In comments made in May, and replayed in a CBC weekend interview, he talked at length about the joys of bowel movements.

"He has increasingly lost the confidence of Canada's new government," Oda told the House of Commons. "I inform this House that I have received the voluntary resignation of Mr. Fournier effective today."

Reuters ** CBC head quits after defecation, bestiality remarks

Posted by yaahoo_06iest at 12:21 AM EDT

Updated: Thursday, 21 September 2006 12:25 AM EDT

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Mood:  chatty

Comedian: "I Miss Bill Clinton"

It doesn't matter what party you belong to - this is hilarious. From a show on Canadian TV. there was a black comedian who said he misses Bill Clinton.

"Yep, that's right - I miss Bill Clinton! He was the closest thing we ever  got to having a black man as President. Number 1 - He played the sax. Number 2 - He smoked weed. Number 3 - He had his way with ugly white women. Even now? Look at him... his wife works, and he don't!  And, he gets a check from the government every month. Manufacturers announced today that they will be stocking America's shelves this week with "Clinton Soup," in honor of one of the nations' most distinguished men. It consists primarily of a weenie in hot water.

Chrysler Corporation is adding a new car to its line to honor Bill Clinton.  The Dodge Drafter will be built in Canada.

When asked what he thought about foreign affairs,  Clinton replied, "I don't know, I never had one."

The Clinton revised judicial oath: "I solemnly swear to tell the truth as I know it, the whole truth as I believe it to be, and nothing but what I think you need to know."

Clinton will be recorded in history as the only President to do Hanky Panky between the Bushes."

--- ya gotta love it!

"Freedom prospers when religion is vibrant and the rule of law under God is acknowledged."  Ronald Reagan

Posted by yaahoo_06iest at 11:51 PM EDT

Updated: Thursday, 21 September 2006 12:03 AM EDT

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