"Print E-mail July 27, 2008
"Gallup Daily: Obama 49%, McCain 40%Third day with Obama holding a significant lead over McCainUSA Election 2008 Gallup Daily Americas Northern America PRINCETON, NJ -- Barack Obama now leads John McCain among national registered voters by a 49% to 40% margin in Gallup Poll Daily tracking conducted July 24-26.
"This represents a continuation of Obama's front-runner position evident in the last three Gallup Poll Daily tracking updates. The margin, coincident with the extensive U.S. news coverage of Obama's foreign tour, is the largest for Obama over McCain measured since Gallup began tracking the general election horserace in March. (To view the complete trend since March 7, 2008, click here.)
A key question remains as to whether this "bounce" is short-term (as happens to bounces in some instances following intense publicity surrounding a convention) or if his lead will persist -- the answer to which will become evident in the next several days. -- Frank Newport"
Survey Methods
For the Gallup Poll Daily tracking survey, Gallup is interviewing no fewer than 1,000 U.S. adults nationwide each day during 2008.
The general-election results are based on combined data from July 24-26, 2008. For results based on this sample of 2,692 registered voters, the maximum margin of sampling error is ±2 percentage points.
Interviews are conducted with respondents on land-line telephones (for respondents with a land-line telephone) and cellular phones (for respondents who are cell-phone only).
In addition to sampling error, question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of public opinion polls.
To provide feedback or suggestions about how to improve Gallup.com, please e-mail feedback@gallup.com.
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Bruce Lunsford's latest campaign ad 7 27 08.
Kenneth Stepp endorses Bruce Lunsford for election to U.S. Senate from Kentucky this November. Please vote for Bruce Lunsford.
Friday, July 25, 2008
NYTimes.comOp-Ed Columnist
Madness and Shame
By BOB HERBERT
Published: July 22, 2008
"You want a scary thought? Imagine a fanatic in the mold of Dick Cheney but without the vice president’s sense of humor.
* * *
She [Jane Mayer] quotes a colleague as saying of Mr. Addington: “No one stood to his right.” Colin Powell, a veteran of many bruising battles with Mr. Cheney, was reported to have summed up Mr. Addington as follows: “He doesn’t believe in the Constitution.”
Very few voters are aware of Mr. Addington’s existence, much less what he stands for. But he was the legal linchpin of the administration’s Marquis de Sade approach to battling terrorism. In the view of Mr. Addington and his acolytes, anything and everything that the president authorized in the fight against terror — regardless of what the Constitution or Congress or the Geneva Conventions might say — was all right. That included torture, rendition, warrantless wiretapping, the suspension of habeas corpus, you name it.
This is the mind-set that gave us Abu Ghraib, Guantánamo and the C.I.A.’s secret prisons, known as “black sites.”
Ms. Mayer wrote: “The legal doctrine that Addington espoused — that the president, as commander in chief, had the authority to disregard virtually all previously known legal boundaries if national security demanded it — rested on a reading of the Constitution that few legal scholars shared.”
When the constraints of the law are unlocked by the men and women in suits at the pinnacle of power, terrible things happen in the real world. You end up with detainees being physically and psychologically tormented day after day, month after month, until they beg to be allowed to commit suicide. You have prisoners beaten until they are on the verge of death, or hooked to overhead manacles like something out of the Inquisition, or forced to defecate on themselves, or sexually humiliated, or driven crazy by days on end of sleep deprivation and blinding lights and blaring noises, or water-boarded.
To get a sense of the heights of madness scaled in this anything-goes atmosphere, consider a brainstorming meeting held by military officials at Guantánamo. Ms. Mayer said the meeting was called to come up with ways to crack through the resistance of detainees.
“One source of ideas,” she wrote, “was the popular television show ‘24.’ On that show as Ms. Mayer noted, “torture always worked. It saved America on a weekly basis.”
I felt as if I was in Never-Never Land as I read: “In conversation with British human rights lawyer Philippe Sands, the top military lawyer in Guantánamo, Diane Beaver, said quite earnestly that Jack Bauer ‘gave people lots of ideas’ as they sought for interrogation models.”
Donald Rumsfeld described the detainees at Guantánamo as “the worst of the worst.” A more sober assessment has since been reached by many respected observers. Ms. Mayer mentioned a study conducted by attorneys and law students at the Seton Hall University Law School.
“After reviewing 517 of the Guantánamo detainees’ cases in depth,” she said, “they concluded that only 8 percent were alleged to have associated with Al Qaeda. Fifty-five percent were not alleged to have engaged in any hostile act against the United States at all, and the remainder were charged with dubious wrongdoing, including having tried to flee U.S. bombs. The overwhelming majority — all but 5 percent — had been captured by non-U.S. players, many of whom were bounty hunters.”
The U.S. shamed itself on George W. Bush’s and Dick Cheney’s watch, and David Addington and others like him were willing to manipulate the law like Silly Putty to give them the legal cover they desired. Ms. Mayer noted that Arthur Schlesinger Jr., the late historian, believed that “the Bush administration’s extralegal counterterrorism program presented the most dramatic, sustained and radical challenge to the rule of law in American history.”
After reflecting on major breakdowns of law that occurred in prior administrations, including the Watergate disaster, Mr. Schlesinger told Ms. Mayer: “No position taken has done more damage to the American reputation in the world — ever.”
Americans still have not come to grips with this disastrous stain on the nation’s soul. It’s important that the whole truth eventually come out, and as many of the wrongs as possible be rectified.
Ms. Mayer, as much as anyone, is doing her part to pull back the curtain on the awful reality. “The Dark Side” is essential reading for those who think they can stand the truth."
Madness and Shame
By BOB HERBERT
Published: July 22, 2008
"You want a scary thought? Imagine a fanatic in the mold of Dick Cheney but without the vice president’s sense of humor.
* * *
She [Jane Mayer] quotes a colleague as saying of Mr. Addington: “No one stood to his right.” Colin Powell, a veteran of many bruising battles with Mr. Cheney, was reported to have summed up Mr. Addington as follows: “He doesn’t believe in the Constitution.”
Very few voters are aware of Mr. Addington’s existence, much less what he stands for. But he was the legal linchpin of the administration’s Marquis de Sade approach to battling terrorism. In the view of Mr. Addington and his acolytes, anything and everything that the president authorized in the fight against terror — regardless of what the Constitution or Congress or the Geneva Conventions might say — was all right. That included torture, rendition, warrantless wiretapping, the suspension of habeas corpus, you name it.
This is the mind-set that gave us Abu Ghraib, Guantánamo and the C.I.A.’s secret prisons, known as “black sites.”
Ms. Mayer wrote: “The legal doctrine that Addington espoused — that the president, as commander in chief, had the authority to disregard virtually all previously known legal boundaries if national security demanded it — rested on a reading of the Constitution that few legal scholars shared.”
When the constraints of the law are unlocked by the men and women in suits at the pinnacle of power, terrible things happen in the real world. You end up with detainees being physically and psychologically tormented day after day, month after month, until they beg to be allowed to commit suicide. You have prisoners beaten until they are on the verge of death, or hooked to overhead manacles like something out of the Inquisition, or forced to defecate on themselves, or sexually humiliated, or driven crazy by days on end of sleep deprivation and blinding lights and blaring noises, or water-boarded.
To get a sense of the heights of madness scaled in this anything-goes atmosphere, consider a brainstorming meeting held by military officials at Guantánamo. Ms. Mayer said the meeting was called to come up with ways to crack through the resistance of detainees.
“One source of ideas,” she wrote, “was the popular television show ‘24.’ On that show as Ms. Mayer noted, “torture always worked. It saved America on a weekly basis.”
I felt as if I was in Never-Never Land as I read: “In conversation with British human rights lawyer Philippe Sands, the top military lawyer in Guantánamo, Diane Beaver, said quite earnestly that Jack Bauer ‘gave people lots of ideas’ as they sought for interrogation models.”
Donald Rumsfeld described the detainees at Guantánamo as “the worst of the worst.” A more sober assessment has since been reached by many respected observers. Ms. Mayer mentioned a study conducted by attorneys and law students at the Seton Hall University Law School.
“After reviewing 517 of the Guantánamo detainees’ cases in depth,” she said, “they concluded that only 8 percent were alleged to have associated with Al Qaeda. Fifty-five percent were not alleged to have engaged in any hostile act against the United States at all, and the remainder were charged with dubious wrongdoing, including having tried to flee U.S. bombs. The overwhelming majority — all but 5 percent — had been captured by non-U.S. players, many of whom were bounty hunters.”
The U.S. shamed itself on George W. Bush’s and Dick Cheney’s watch, and David Addington and others like him were willing to manipulate the law like Silly Putty to give them the legal cover they desired. Ms. Mayer noted that Arthur Schlesinger Jr., the late historian, believed that “the Bush administration’s extralegal counterterrorism program presented the most dramatic, sustained and radical challenge to the rule of law in American history.”
After reflecting on major breakdowns of law that occurred in prior administrations, including the Watergate disaster, Mr. Schlesinger told Ms. Mayer: “No position taken has done more damage to the American reputation in the world — ever.”
Americans still have not come to grips with this disastrous stain on the nation’s soul. It’s important that the whole truth eventually come out, and as many of the wrongs as possible be rectified.
Ms. Mayer, as much as anyone, is doing her part to pull back the curtain on the awful reality. “The Dark Side” is essential reading for those who think they can stand the truth."
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Kenneth Stepp salutes Spec. William McMillan III.
Army combat medic buried at Camp Nelson Cemetery
By Sarah Vos
Herald-Leader Staff Writer
Pablo Alcala
A horse-pulled caisson carried the body of Spec. William McMillan III at Camp Nelson National Cemetery Saturday. McMillan, 22, was killed in action while serving as an Army combat medic in Iraq. Photo by Pablo Alcala | Staff
As wars lengthen, toll on military families mounts
CAMP NELSON --Spec. William McMillan III was remembered Saturday as “Billy,” the protective younger brother and playmate; as “Wild Bill,” the military school prankster; as “Bill,” the husband who faithfully called from Iraq; and as “Doc,” the U.S. Army medic who treated soldiers, insurgents and Iraqi kids.
McMillan, 22, died July 8 in Iraq, the victim of a homemade bomb that injured five other soldiers.
At his funeral at Southland Christian Church Saturday, Army Maj. Gen. James Myles presented McMillan’s wife and parents with the awards McMillan had earned in Iraq. They included a Bronze Star for treating insurgents in Sadr City and a Purple Heart for the day he died.
The sanctuary’s four movie-size screens displayed a picture of McMillan, a smiling, chubby-cheeked young man, superimposed on an American flag.
McMillan always made good on his promises, said Brad McMillan, his brother.
“He joined the Army with his eyes wide open,” he said.
“He had no regrets. He had no unfinished business left behind.”
Friends and family remembered Bill McMillan’s easy smile and his large “gorilla paw” hands.
They described him as fun-loving, a prankster who made friends easily, a medic who loved the job he was sent to do in Iraq.
Her husband went to Iraq to heal people and give comfort to those who were most in need, said Elizabeth McMillan, a student at the University of Kentucky.
He called often, even if he had to walk two miles to a phone in the desert heat.
Max Nelson, a friend, recalled McMillan’s days as captain of the wrestling, football and lacrosse teams at the Hargrave Military Academy in Virginia.
“I know Bill’s up in heaven right now, probably got some other angel in a headlock,” Nelson said. “And he’s bragging about how his wings are bigger.”
A procession of cars more than two miles long escorted McMillan’s body to Camp Nelson National Cemetery, south of Nicholasville.
Cars, pick-ups and motorcycles – many driven by members of the Patriot Guard – lined U.S. 27, and people waved American flags as McMillan went by.
The people along U.S. 27 included four or five protesters from the church led by Fred Phelps, said State Trooper Chris Damron. Phelps’s followers protest military funerals. They believe that God is punishing America for its acceptance of homosexuality. The Patriot Guard formed in response to Phelps.
At the cemetery, a horse and wagon carried McMillan’s coffin to a pavilion. They were followed by a riderless horse, a symbol for the fallen soldier, McMillan’s family and a bagpiper playing Amazing Grace.
His wife sobbed as the honor guard fired three shots, a cannon sounded three times and then a bugler played taps.
For Spec. William McMillan III, day is done.
Let's Ditch Mitch.
See Kenneth Stepp interviews.
If you click http://www.wkma.org/election/primary06_forums.htm and then click "public affairs" go down the page to on the right and click "online archives" and then click Elections, and then go to the left where you see elections forums listing for 2006 primary. If you punch that for Fifth District, you can watch the televised debate for the Democratic Primary between Kenneth Stepp and James Tapley. On that same Web Site, you can go back to "Fifth District Election" for 2006 and watch what was billed as the Kenneth Stepp/Hal Rogers debate; however Hal Rogers did not appear and I did all the talking. If you have an hour and a half, you can visit that same web site for the '2008 Democratic candidates for U.S. Senate' and watch the debate among all seven of the Democratic candidates for U.S. Senate for the May 20, 2008 Democratic primary.
The KET1 televised discussions were done shortly before the Democratic Primaries.
The KET1 televised discussions were done shortly before the Democratic Primaries.
Congratulations to Bruce Lunsford. Kenneth Stepp endorses Bruce Lunsford for U.S. Senate.
Kenneth Stepp endorses Bruce Lunsford for U.S. Senate, representing Kentucky. Bruce Lunsford won the seven man Democratic Primary for U.S. Senate, and will face "Mitch" McConnell in the November general election.
Friday, July 11, 2008
Daily Kos reports on KY-Senate race 7 11 08.
"KY-Sen: Mitch McConnell's campaign had previously stated that it had broken a Kentucky fundraising record last quarter, and it seems they've done just that.
U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell's re-election campaign is reporting that it raised more than $3 million during the second quarter of this year, a record for any federal candidate in Kentucky's history.
The campaign said it has raised more than $15 million and has more than $9 million on hand for the November general election. McConnell, a Louisville Republican, is being challenged by Democrat Bruce Lunsford of Louisville.
McConnell got to where he is by raising absurd amounts of money for the Republican Party, and trading that money for influence. It's not at all surprising that now that he is faced with a serious challenge in Kentucky, the most serious he has had since arguably 1990, he is pulling out all the stops to bring in as much money as possible.
Happily, he won't get to spread much of that money around to his Republican pals, as Bruce Lunsford is no slouch himself in the fundraising department. Moreover, Lunsford has a personal fortune of up to $100 million, and has shown in past campaigns that he is quite willing to spend it."
U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell's re-election campaign is reporting that it raised more than $3 million during the second quarter of this year, a record for any federal candidate in Kentucky's history.
The campaign said it has raised more than $15 million and has more than $9 million on hand for the November general election. McConnell, a Louisville Republican, is being challenged by Democrat Bruce Lunsford of Louisville.
McConnell got to where he is by raising absurd amounts of money for the Republican Party, and trading that money for influence. It's not at all surprising that now that he is faced with a serious challenge in Kentucky, the most serious he has had since arguably 1990, he is pulling out all the stops to bring in as much money as possible.
Happily, he won't get to spread much of that money around to his Republican pals, as Bruce Lunsford is no slouch himself in the fundraising department. Moreover, Lunsford has a personal fortune of up to $100 million, and has shown in past campaigns that he is quite willing to spend it."
Wednesday, July 02, 2008
Remember who we are this Friday the Fourth.
When I was at Daniel High School in the 1960's we all got a laugh because one of the teachers, said that a student was a Presbyterian, and would do a report on the Presbyterians. She said that another student was a Baptist, and would do a report on the Baptists. She noted that a third student was assigned to do a report on the Hindus--and the student quickly replied, "I'm not a Hindu."
It's important for Americans to remember who we are. In the post 9/11 era, we face enemies who chop off people's heads, chop off people's hands, kidnap people and hold them for ransom, and torture people. "I'm not a Moslem." We should remember who we are. Just because other people chop off people's heads doesn't mean that we do it. Just because other people chop off people's hands, doesn't mean that we do it. Just because other people kidnap people and hold them for ransom and for other purposes, doesn't mean that we do it. Just because other people torture people, doesn't mean that we do it.
The American Declaration of Independence, and the American Constitution set us apart from all the other nations of the Earth. We condemn cruel and unusual punishment. We condemn chopping off people's heads, chopping off people's hands, kidnapping people, holding people for ransom, and also torturing people. Those activities are unAmerican. I know it is not in vogue to condemn unAmerican activities, but there was a time when engaging in unAmerican activities could get a person labelled as a pariah. Be proud. Stand up for America. Have a great Fourth of July. And never forget that America is great because America stands for greatness, and stands apart from those nations and peoples that accept lesser standards for the treatment of their fellow human beings. Standing against torture is what I have done, and it is what I'll continue to do. You have a great Fourth this Friday.
It's important for Americans to remember who we are. In the post 9/11 era, we face enemies who chop off people's heads, chop off people's hands, kidnap people and hold them for ransom, and torture people. "I'm not a Moslem." We should remember who we are. Just because other people chop off people's heads doesn't mean that we do it. Just because other people chop off people's hands, doesn't mean that we do it. Just because other people kidnap people and hold them for ransom and for other purposes, doesn't mean that we do it. Just because other people torture people, doesn't mean that we do it.
The American Declaration of Independence, and the American Constitution set us apart from all the other nations of the Earth. We condemn cruel and unusual punishment. We condemn chopping off people's heads, chopping off people's hands, kidnapping people, holding people for ransom, and also torturing people. Those activities are unAmerican. I know it is not in vogue to condemn unAmerican activities, but there was a time when engaging in unAmerican activities could get a person labelled as a pariah. Be proud. Stand up for America. Have a great Fourth of July. And never forget that America is great because America stands for greatness, and stands apart from those nations and peoples that accept lesser standards for the treatment of their fellow human beings. Standing against torture is what I have done, and it is what I'll continue to do. You have a great Fourth this Friday.
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