Kenneth Stepp supports the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. One of the Candidates for U.S. House KY-05 opposes a portion of Section 1 of it. Section 1 of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution reads as follows.
Fourteenth Amendment Text:
"Section. 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."
Stick with a ttue Democrat. Elect Kenneth Stepp to the U.S. House KY-05 in the Democratic Primary and in the general election
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Friday, April 23, 2010
Congressional Republicans National Disapproval Rating Down to 67%!
"Weekly Tracking Poll: Relative Quiet Across the Board
by Steve Singiser
Fri Apr 23, 2010 at 11:30:04 AM PDT
Research 2000 for Daily Kos. 4/19/2010-4/22/2010. Registered Voters. MoE 2.8% (Last week's results in parentheses):
FAVORABLE UNFAVORABLE NET CHANGE
PRESIDENT OBAMA 54 (53) 41 (42) +2
PELOSI: 38 (39) 51 (52) 0
REID: 27 (28) 60 (62) +1
McCONNELL: 25 (24) 60 (61) +2
BOEHNER: 23 (21) 59 (60) +3
CONGRESSIONAL DEMS: 37 (38) 58 (57) -2
CONGRESSIONAL GOPS: 23 (21) 67 (68) +3
DEMOCRATIC PARTY: 40 (39) 54 (54) +1
REPUBLICAN PARTY: 32 (31) 64 (65) +2"
Hal Rogers is lucky he has a District in the South, because the Republican Party has almost ceased to exist as a national political party, but still has some strongholds in the South and particularly in the Kentucky Fifth District. If you have had enough and disapprove of the Congressional GOPS, then elect more Democrats, and Elect Stepp to the U.S. House KY-05 in 2010!
by Steve Singiser
Fri Apr 23, 2010 at 11:30:04 AM PDT
Research 2000 for Daily Kos. 4/19/2010-4/22/2010. Registered Voters. MoE 2.8% (Last week's results in parentheses):
FAVORABLE UNFAVORABLE NET CHANGE
PRESIDENT OBAMA 54 (53) 41 (42) +2
PELOSI: 38 (39) 51 (52) 0
REID: 27 (28) 60 (62) +1
McCONNELL: 25 (24) 60 (61) +2
BOEHNER: 23 (21) 59 (60) +3
CONGRESSIONAL DEMS: 37 (38) 58 (57) -2
CONGRESSIONAL GOPS: 23 (21) 67 (68) +3
DEMOCRATIC PARTY: 40 (39) 54 (54) +1
REPUBLICAN PARTY: 32 (31) 64 (65) +2"
Hal Rogers is lucky he has a District in the South, because the Republican Party has almost ceased to exist as a national political party, but still has some strongholds in the South and particularly in the Kentucky Fifth District. If you have had enough and disapprove of the Congressional GOPS, then elect more Democrats, and Elect Stepp to the U.S. House KY-05 in 2010!
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Boehner--McConnell: The Movie!
Boehner-McConnell: The Movie
Martin Nolan.Former reporter, Washington bureau chief, and editorial page editor for the Boston Globe
Posted: April 21, 2010 07:08 PM
"He exudes the deadpan dignity of Robert Mitchum. A former high school athlete, the House Minority Leader has the carriage of a relentlessly tanned golfer. When his moment in the spotlight arrived, the audience expected Mitchum or maybe Clint Eastwood. Instead, John Boehner sounded like Jim Carrey or Jerry Lewis.
"Hell, no!," he hollered at President Obama's health care plan. As a nominal leader, he was scampering to overtake his flock, fleeing toward wherever AM radio and cable television commanded. Shedding all dignity, Boehner screeched his succinct position, a Lina Lamont warbling "Singin' in the Rain." Boehner is from Ohio, home to presidents and political leaders. He did not emulate Robert A. Taft, but James Traficant.
"His Kentucky colleague, Sen. Mitch McConnell, counts Henry Clay and John Sherman Cooper as his role models. Wise choices both, though these senators gradually became marginalized in their parties. Cooper, who lost several statewide elections, was a distinguished diplomat after World War II. By the time he left in the Senate in 1972, conservatives judged him bipartisan and dangerously moderate.
"Clay was also a diplomat. He served as Secretary of State and lost three presidential races before the Whig Party drifted away from his proudest accomplishments. Clay was called "The Great Compromiser," a poison label today.
"McConnell's strategy transcends that of the rowdier House. He acts as though he were the Majority Leader. The threat of a filibuster is his equalizer.
"The Kentuckian would fit in a W.C. Fields movie, as Franklin Pangborn fuming and fussing at the star's antics. McConnell has auditioned for the part of another Fields sparring partner, Charlie McCarthy, a wooden dummy or "a flophouse for termites," as Fields called him. In the demanding role of Edgar Bergen, Charlie's puppeteer, is Frank Luntz, pollster, Orwellian word wizard and script doctor.
"The GOP script is monosyllabic. Its subtitles read Non, Nein, Nyet. So Luntz expands the script by saying everything in the Democratic banking bill is the opposite of what it is. The bill doesn't bail out banks, investment behemoths are benign, peaceful friends of the little guy, war is peace and up is down. As the Queen told Alice in Wonderland, "I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast."
"If this plot does not work out, Boehner-McConnell may not be a viable buddy movie. House members see some Republican senators reluctant to side with Wall Street, so they want Boehner to screech again. If McConnell abandons his "Groundhog Day" rite of perpetual naysaying, the House GOP will demand a sequel to "Ishtar."
"Both Boehner and McConnell have deluded themselves into believing they have already triumphed. Health care was to be Obama's Waterloo, but he won that battle. Those he defeated have become Napoleons, Walter Brennans in skimpy nightshirts, wandering the landscape and proclaiming themselves emperors.
"The Republican strategy, with all its feints and tactics, recalls a line from one of Mitchum's finest performances in "The Friends of Eddie Coyle." Based on a gritty crime novel by George V. Higgins, its small-time gangsters flavor their schemes with folk wisdom. As a gun-runner warily eyes a deal, he says, "This life's hard, man. It's harder if you're stupid."
Well, I'm with Stupak, but I'm not stupid! Don't be stupid, elect more Democrats. Stepp for U.S. House KY-05!
Martin Nolan.Former reporter, Washington bureau chief, and editorial page editor for the Boston Globe
Posted: April 21, 2010 07:08 PM
"He exudes the deadpan dignity of Robert Mitchum. A former high school athlete, the House Minority Leader has the carriage of a relentlessly tanned golfer. When his moment in the spotlight arrived, the audience expected Mitchum or maybe Clint Eastwood. Instead, John Boehner sounded like Jim Carrey or Jerry Lewis.
"Hell, no!," he hollered at President Obama's health care plan. As a nominal leader, he was scampering to overtake his flock, fleeing toward wherever AM radio and cable television commanded. Shedding all dignity, Boehner screeched his succinct position, a Lina Lamont warbling "Singin' in the Rain." Boehner is from Ohio, home to presidents and political leaders. He did not emulate Robert A. Taft, but James Traficant.
"His Kentucky colleague, Sen. Mitch McConnell, counts Henry Clay and John Sherman Cooper as his role models. Wise choices both, though these senators gradually became marginalized in their parties. Cooper, who lost several statewide elections, was a distinguished diplomat after World War II. By the time he left in the Senate in 1972, conservatives judged him bipartisan and dangerously moderate.
"Clay was also a diplomat. He served as Secretary of State and lost three presidential races before the Whig Party drifted away from his proudest accomplishments. Clay was called "The Great Compromiser," a poison label today.
"McConnell's strategy transcends that of the rowdier House. He acts as though he were the Majority Leader. The threat of a filibuster is his equalizer.
"The Kentuckian would fit in a W.C. Fields movie, as Franklin Pangborn fuming and fussing at the star's antics. McConnell has auditioned for the part of another Fields sparring partner, Charlie McCarthy, a wooden dummy or "a flophouse for termites," as Fields called him. In the demanding role of Edgar Bergen, Charlie's puppeteer, is Frank Luntz, pollster, Orwellian word wizard and script doctor.
"The GOP script is monosyllabic. Its subtitles read Non, Nein, Nyet. So Luntz expands the script by saying everything in the Democratic banking bill is the opposite of what it is. The bill doesn't bail out banks, investment behemoths are benign, peaceful friends of the little guy, war is peace and up is down. As the Queen told Alice in Wonderland, "I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast."
"If this plot does not work out, Boehner-McConnell may not be a viable buddy movie. House members see some Republican senators reluctant to side with Wall Street, so they want Boehner to screech again. If McConnell abandons his "Groundhog Day" rite of perpetual naysaying, the House GOP will demand a sequel to "Ishtar."
"Both Boehner and McConnell have deluded themselves into believing they have already triumphed. Health care was to be Obama's Waterloo, but he won that battle. Those he defeated have become Napoleons, Walter Brennans in skimpy nightshirts, wandering the landscape and proclaiming themselves emperors.
"The Republican strategy, with all its feints and tactics, recalls a line from one of Mitchum's finest performances in "The Friends of Eddie Coyle." Based on a gritty crime novel by George V. Higgins, its small-time gangsters flavor their schemes with folk wisdom. As a gun-runner warily eyes a deal, he says, "This life's hard, man. It's harder if you're stupid."
Well, I'm with Stupak, but I'm not stupid! Don't be stupid, elect more Democrats. Stepp for U.S. House KY-05!
Congress still addicted to pork barrel earmarks!
"What Others Are Saying | Congress still addicted to pork; flash dancing the night away
"The latest tally of congressional pork barrel spending by Citizens Against Government Waste includes $4,481,000 for wood utilization research, $400,000 for the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, $300,000 for Carnegie Hall in New York City, and $200,000 for the Washington National Opera in the District of Columbia.
All of the items in the annual “Congressional Pig Book” meet at least one of the group’s seven criteria: requested by only one chamber of Congress, not specifically authorized, not competitively awarded, not requested by the president, greatly exceeds the president’s budget request or the previous year’s funding, not the subject of congressional hearings, and serves only a local or special interest.
Even though pork-barrel earmarks account for a small portion of discretionary spending, they are fraught with waste, fraud and abuse. While increased transparency and reduced expenditures on pork-barrel projects are steps in the right direction, taxpayers will be elated only when all earmarks are eliminated.
| Tom Schatz, president of Citizens Against Government Waste"
Read more: http://www.kansascity.com/2010/04/14/1878036/what-others-are-saying-congress.html#ixzz0lsZyHkMH
Fight Government Waste. Elect More Democrats. Elect Stepp to U.S. House, KY-05.
"The latest tally of congressional pork barrel spending by Citizens Against Government Waste includes $4,481,000 for wood utilization research, $400,000 for the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, $300,000 for Carnegie Hall in New York City, and $200,000 for the Washington National Opera in the District of Columbia.
All of the items in the annual “Congressional Pig Book” meet at least one of the group’s seven criteria: requested by only one chamber of Congress, not specifically authorized, not competitively awarded, not requested by the president, greatly exceeds the president’s budget request or the previous year’s funding, not the subject of congressional hearings, and serves only a local or special interest.
Even though pork-barrel earmarks account for a small portion of discretionary spending, they are fraught with waste, fraud and abuse. While increased transparency and reduced expenditures on pork-barrel projects are steps in the right direction, taxpayers will be elated only when all earmarks are eliminated.
| Tom Schatz, president of Citizens Against Government Waste"
Read more: http://www.kansascity.com/2010/04/14/1878036/what-others-are-saying-congress.html#ixzz0lsZyHkMH
Fight Government Waste. Elect More Democrats. Elect Stepp to U.S. House, KY-05.
Why do you want to "stay the course" on helping Communist China, Mr. Rogers?
"[Communist] China's hunger for natural resources also means that Beijing will take substantial risks to secure them. It is mining for copper south of Kabul, in war-torn Afghanistan, and has its eye on the region's iron, gold, uranium,and precious gems (the region has some of the world's last untapped deposits). Beijing hopes to build roads and energy pipelines through Afghanistan and Pakistan as well, linking up its budding Central Asian dominion to ports on the Indian Ocean. [Communist] China's strategic geography would be enhanced if the United States stabilized Afghanistan." Kaplan, Robert D., The Geography of Chinese Power How Far Can Beijing Reach on Land and at Sea?, "Foreign Affairs", May/June 2010, p. 26.
We have troops fighting and dying in Afghanistan. Why? Hal Rogers' slogan was "Stay the Course" when the undersigned, as the Democratic nominee for U.S. House advocated a U.S. troop pullout from Middle East War four years ago.
The U.S. goal, in sacrificing the lives of American uniformed men and women seems to be to "stabilize Afghanistan". How does the United States benefit from a stabilized Afghanistan? No Way!
In the 1800's both the Russian Empire and the British Empire tried to conquer Afghanistan--without success.
In the 1900's, the Soviet Union installed a puppet ruler in charge of Afghanistan and poured Soviet troops and munitions into Afghanistan in order to "stabilize" Afghanistan as a part of the Soviet sphere of influence--without success.
Now, after two of the greatest empires in the world have had their toes stubbed trying to kick their opponents out of control of Afghanistan, now it is the United States with troops almost eight thousand miles away in Afghanistan--fighting the locals. Insanity is the belief that, when the same thing is done time and time again, a different result will happen this time.
Now, I can understand the Project for a New American Century, and Dick Cheney wanting the United States to be fighting the locals in Afghanistan. And I can understand the Republicans wanting to keep U.S. troops in Afghanistan for a hundred years.
But why does Hal Rogers, the Kentucky Fifth District Congressman, continually support continuation of the war, and keeping U.S. Troops getting killed in Afghanistan? I don't get it.
But why do the Republicans in the Kentucky Fifth District support the American War in Afghanistan by backing Hal Rogers, and voting for him, and helping send him back to Washington for fifteen terms of Congress--ever since 1981?
And why do the Democrats of the Fifth District, living in places like Pikeville, Harlan, Pineville, Prestonsburg, and the other Democratic strongholds, not unite behind their own party candidates, and keep voting for "stay the course" Hal Rogers, whose policy he supports in Afghanistan only helps Communist China and not the United States?
Vote for Kenneth Stepp, a Congressman who will stand up for the interests of the Fifth District, Kentucky, and the United States, and not let American troops be carrying water for Communist China.
We have troops fighting and dying in Afghanistan. Why? Hal Rogers' slogan was "Stay the Course" when the undersigned, as the Democratic nominee for U.S. House advocated a U.S. troop pullout from Middle East War four years ago.
The U.S. goal, in sacrificing the lives of American uniformed men and women seems to be to "stabilize Afghanistan". How does the United States benefit from a stabilized Afghanistan? No Way!
In the 1800's both the Russian Empire and the British Empire tried to conquer Afghanistan--without success.
In the 1900's, the Soviet Union installed a puppet ruler in charge of Afghanistan and poured Soviet troops and munitions into Afghanistan in order to "stabilize" Afghanistan as a part of the Soviet sphere of influence--without success.
Now, after two of the greatest empires in the world have had their toes stubbed trying to kick their opponents out of control of Afghanistan, now it is the United States with troops almost eight thousand miles away in Afghanistan--fighting the locals. Insanity is the belief that, when the same thing is done time and time again, a different result will happen this time.
Now, I can understand the Project for a New American Century, and Dick Cheney wanting the United States to be fighting the locals in Afghanistan. And I can understand the Republicans wanting to keep U.S. troops in Afghanistan for a hundred years.
But why does Hal Rogers, the Kentucky Fifth District Congressman, continually support continuation of the war, and keeping U.S. Troops getting killed in Afghanistan? I don't get it.
But why do the Republicans in the Kentucky Fifth District support the American War in Afghanistan by backing Hal Rogers, and voting for him, and helping send him back to Washington for fifteen terms of Congress--ever since 1981?
And why do the Democrats of the Fifth District, living in places like Pikeville, Harlan, Pineville, Prestonsburg, and the other Democratic strongholds, not unite behind their own party candidates, and keep voting for "stay the course" Hal Rogers, whose policy he supports in Afghanistan only helps Communist China and not the United States?
Vote for Kenneth Stepp, a Congressman who will stand up for the interests of the Fifth District, Kentucky, and the United States, and not let American troops be carrying water for Communist China.
Monday, April 12, 2010
The National Deficit and Defense Spending since the breakup of the Soviet Union.
The Soviet Union ceased to exist in 1989. Why has our defense budget continued to skyrocket after the breakup of the Soviet Union? The Russian Republic has suicide bombers from their province of Chechnya blowing up their Moscow subways. Yet our defense budget continues to skyrocket? Why? Ask Hal Rogers. We have a greater Defense and military budget than the next five powers. Do we really expect Britain, France, Germany, Russia, and Communist China to launch a joint attack on us? Ask Hal Rogers? Better yet, let's get Hal Rogers out of Congress, and replace him with someone sensible. We don't need a greater national defense spending now, than we had during the height of the Cold War. We can't afford runaway national defense spending and two middle east wars. It's time to bring the troops home! Replace Hal Rogers with a Democrat. We can afford to spend more money for the poor when we cut defense spending and bring troops home. Kenneth Stepp.
Sunday, April 11, 2010
"Gates: WikiLeaks Video 'Painful To See' But Won't Have 'Lasting' Impact
"Gates: WikiLeaks Video 'Painful To See' But Won't Have 'Lasting' Impact
"First Posted: 04-11-10 10:03 AM | Updated: 04-11-10 10:49 AM
"Defense Secretary Robert Gates acknowledged on Sunday that leaked video showing the 2007 killing by U.S. Army personnel of a gathering of civilians in Iraq is "unfortunate" and "painful to see." But he did not think it would have a long-term affect on U.S. operations in that country.
"Appearing on ABC's "This Week," Gates was asked about the video that recently surfaced on WikiLeaks, showing two Reuters journalists (in a gathering with Iraqis) being shot at and killed by U.S. forces in a hovering helicopter
"Does the release of that video, and the fact that that happened damage the image of the U.S. in the world?" host Jake Tapper asked.
"I don't think so," said Gates. "They're in a combat situation. The video doesn't show the broader picture of the firing that was going on at American troops. It's obviously a hard thing to see. It's painful to see, especially when you learn after the fact what was going on. But you talked about the fog of war. These people were operating in split-second situations."
"And, you know, we've investigated it very thoroughly. And it's unfortunate," he added. "It's clearly not helpful. But by the same token, I think it should not have any lasting consequences."
"There has been some speculation that the WikiLeaks video would spur an equivalent wave of outrage as did the photos from the detention center at Abu Ghraib. While Gates argues that viewers are left with only part of the story (there is, as he notes, no footage of the apparent firing at U.S. troops), the image of people trying to provide help and provide medical attention to the wounded -- only to be shot at as well -- is jarring. Certainly, it has called into question whether this episode can be dismissed as simply a "fog of war" scenario.
"Nevertheless, as Gates's comments suggest, the fallout seems, at this point, rather contained. Part of it may be that few lawmakers have been around Washington D.C. to be asked about the video -- owing to Congress' recess. But mainly it seems to be another byproduct of the secondary status that Iraq and Afghanistan now take in political discourse."
Tired of senseless slaughter of civilians, women, children, and foreign Reuters Correspondents by rouge U.S. Military? Then elect more democrats and let's bring the troops home. It's time to retire Hal Rogers and elect Kenneth Stepp to the U.S. House KY-08!
"First Posted: 04-11-10 10:03 AM | Updated: 04-11-10 10:49 AM
"Defense Secretary Robert Gates acknowledged on Sunday that leaked video showing the 2007 killing by U.S. Army personnel of a gathering of civilians in Iraq is "unfortunate" and "painful to see." But he did not think it would have a long-term affect on U.S. operations in that country.
"Appearing on ABC's "This Week," Gates was asked about the video that recently surfaced on WikiLeaks, showing two Reuters journalists (in a gathering with Iraqis) being shot at and killed by U.S. forces in a hovering helicopter
"Does the release of that video, and the fact that that happened damage the image of the U.S. in the world?" host Jake Tapper asked.
"I don't think so," said Gates. "They're in a combat situation. The video doesn't show the broader picture of the firing that was going on at American troops. It's obviously a hard thing to see. It's painful to see, especially when you learn after the fact what was going on. But you talked about the fog of war. These people were operating in split-second situations."
"And, you know, we've investigated it very thoroughly. And it's unfortunate," he added. "It's clearly not helpful. But by the same token, I think it should not have any lasting consequences."
"There has been some speculation that the WikiLeaks video would spur an equivalent wave of outrage as did the photos from the detention center at Abu Ghraib. While Gates argues that viewers are left with only part of the story (there is, as he notes, no footage of the apparent firing at U.S. troops), the image of people trying to provide help and provide medical attention to the wounded -- only to be shot at as well -- is jarring. Certainly, it has called into question whether this episode can be dismissed as simply a "fog of war" scenario.
"Nevertheless, as Gates's comments suggest, the fallout seems, at this point, rather contained. Part of it may be that few lawmakers have been around Washington D.C. to be asked about the video -- owing to Congress' recess. But mainly it seems to be another byproduct of the secondary status that Iraq and Afghanistan now take in political discourse."
Tired of senseless slaughter of civilians, women, children, and foreign Reuters Correspondents by rouge U.S. Military? Then elect more democrats and let's bring the troops home. It's time to retire Hal Rogers and elect Kenneth Stepp to the U.S. House KY-08!
The Free Enterprise System.
A couple of years ago, I saw the results of a poll. The polling company asked residents of the United States and of Communist China, "What is the best economic system?"
In the United States, 73% of the respondents said "the free enterprise system."
In Communist China, 74% of the respondents said "the free enterprise system."
Based on that, it is my opinion that with the present Communistic military dictatorship in control of mainland China, mainland China will continue to lag behind the United States both economically and militarily. However, it is also my opinion that if mainland China ever becomes truly democratic, that mainland China will adopt the free enterprise system and pull ahead of the United States. The Lord has blessed the United States with dim-witted rivals up until the collapse of the Soviet Union. Hopefully, we will continue to pull ahead well into the twenty-first century.
Kenneth Stepp.
In the United States, 73% of the respondents said "the free enterprise system."
In Communist China, 74% of the respondents said "the free enterprise system."
Based on that, it is my opinion that with the present Communistic military dictatorship in control of mainland China, mainland China will continue to lag behind the United States both economically and militarily. However, it is also my opinion that if mainland China ever becomes truly democratic, that mainland China will adopt the free enterprise system and pull ahead of the United States. The Lord has blessed the United States with dim-witted rivals up until the collapse of the Soviet Union. Hopefully, we will continue to pull ahead well into the twenty-first century.
Kenneth Stepp.
Saturday, April 10, 2010
We all deserve to know what war is."
"Collateral Murder" Company Vet Speaks Out
by mcjoan
Sat Apr 10, 2010 at 01:18:04 PM PDT
Josh Steiber, an Iraq War vet who deployed to Baghdad with Bravo Company 2-16, the unit involved in the July 2007 incident that the WikiLeaks "Collateral Murder" video has revived, speaks out.
“A lot of my friends are in that video,” says Stieber. “After watching the video, I would definitely say that that is, nine times out of ten, the way things ended up. Killing was following military protocol. It was going along with the rules as they are.”
Stieber deployed to Baghdad with Bravo Company 2-16, whose members were involved in the incident captured in Wikileaks' “Collateral Murder” video, which has made international headlines by depicting a July 2007 shooting incident outside of Baghdad in which over a dozen people, including two Reuters employees, were killed. Although he was not present at the scene of the video, he knows those who were involved and is familiar with the environment. Stieber, who now works to promote peace and alternatives to war, is speaking publicly about his time in Iraq and the incident captured in this video.
“If these videos shock and revolt you, they show the reality of what war is like,” says Stieber. “If you don’t like what you see in them, it means we should be working harder towards alternatives to war.”
That's the point that can't be made frequently enough. Stieber followed up this statement with an interview with Glenn Greenwald.
I don't want to summarize what he said because he is quite articulate and has some very insightful and important observations about the nature of our war effort there, what U.S. soldiers are trained to do, and why those who claimed that this incident was unusual or a departure from normal operating procedures are either deeply ignorant about war and/or eager to avoid reality. He also discusses the lessons to be learned from this video.
By the attempt to cover up this case, and still continuing to block an investigation, the military is doing a disservice to the nation that is sending its sons and daughters to war. It's a disservice to the troops and to future enlistees. We all deserve to know what war is."
Gentlemen, War is Hell! William Tecumseh Sherman.
by mcjoan
Sat Apr 10, 2010 at 01:18:04 PM PDT
Josh Steiber, an Iraq War vet who deployed to Baghdad with Bravo Company 2-16, the unit involved in the July 2007 incident that the WikiLeaks "Collateral Murder" video has revived, speaks out.
“A lot of my friends are in that video,” says Stieber. “After watching the video, I would definitely say that that is, nine times out of ten, the way things ended up. Killing was following military protocol. It was going along with the rules as they are.”
Stieber deployed to Baghdad with Bravo Company 2-16, whose members were involved in the incident captured in Wikileaks' “Collateral Murder” video, which has made international headlines by depicting a July 2007 shooting incident outside of Baghdad in which over a dozen people, including two Reuters employees, were killed. Although he was not present at the scene of the video, he knows those who were involved and is familiar with the environment. Stieber, who now works to promote peace and alternatives to war, is speaking publicly about his time in Iraq and the incident captured in this video.
“If these videos shock and revolt you, they show the reality of what war is like,” says Stieber. “If you don’t like what you see in them, it means we should be working harder towards alternatives to war.”
That's the point that can't be made frequently enough. Stieber followed up this statement with an interview with Glenn Greenwald.
I don't want to summarize what he said because he is quite articulate and has some very insightful and important observations about the nature of our war effort there, what U.S. soldiers are trained to do, and why those who claimed that this incident was unusual or a departure from normal operating procedures are either deeply ignorant about war and/or eager to avoid reality. He also discusses the lessons to be learned from this video.
By the attempt to cover up this case, and still continuing to block an investigation, the military is doing a disservice to the nation that is sending its sons and daughters to war. It's a disservice to the troops and to future enlistees. We all deserve to know what war is."
Gentlemen, War is Hell! William Tecumseh Sherman.
Kenneth Stepp speaks on the issues.
1. Mountaintop Removal.
The middle course is the best course. Bodies of water should be classified into different categories, as large lakes, lakes, ponds, large rivers, medium rivers, small rivers, creeks, streams and branches--depending on their size. No dumping of topsoil, rock, and dust off the mountaintops from mountaintop removal coal mining should be allowed into large lakes, large rivers, medium rivers, nor small rivers. Those are recreation and tourist attractions, and should not be filled with sludge. Due care should be taken regarding peoples’ drinking water supply. Mountaintop coal mining is a safer form of mining, in that it minimizes black lung disease of the coal miners, and should be continued, but it should be regulated to reduce the amount of environmental damage that it causes.
Dumping mining waste products into rivers is bad on the folks down-river, but stopping all dumping of mining waste would cause unemployment.
2. Coal power.
Coal power is here to stay, and I oppose “cap and trade”.
“Greenhouse gas” treatises are based on junk science. During the winter, less of our oxygen is created because the trees lose their leaves, and more of our carbon dioxide is created because the home fires are kept burning. It seems that if carbon dioxide were the culprit, Kentucky would have warmer winters and cooler summers than we had in the 1800’s, but there is no evidence that warmer winters followed by cooler summers have happened. I suspect that warmer weather is the result of human habitation, but I don’t buy the argument that carbon dioxide is a pollutant that is causing warmer weather. After all, humans exhale carbon dioxide.
Kentucky should allow the free enterprise system the free use of other forms of energy such as wind power, nuclear power, and solar power.
3. Basic Health Care.
I would probably have voted with Representative Stupak in demanding health reform have due regard for right-to-life, and then supported the health care bill that he supported, and that the U.S. House passed, with no Republican support. There should be Federal regulation of health insurance. My health insurance increased 20% last year, and another 20% this year. The States tend to look the other way on health insurance regulation.
I favor expanding the existing Federal health care plans to cover more people. The financial requirements for Medicaid could allow higher income per recipient. The financial requirements for Medicare could allow benefits received at a younger age. The Veterans Administration Medical Centers could have more bed space available so they can serve more veterans.
Better policy is to give poor people more access to hospitals, doctors, and medication, both prescribed and natural medication.
4. Poverty.
We should spend more government money on education. Education is the key to overcoming poverty. Here, the fallacy of composition is not present. Generally a well-educated man is much wealthier than an illiterate man. Likewise, nations with well-educated citizenry, such as the United States, are able to run circles around nations of illiterates such as Afghanistan and Haiti. The ancient philosopher Confucius once said, “If you give a man a fish, you have fed him one meal; if you teach a man how to fish, you have fed him for a lifetime.”
Another problem we have is the eroding middle class. The tax system should continue to be progressive so that it distributes benefits and entitlements to the poor and to the working poor. In addition to free public schooling extending into the college levels, poverty should be alleviated by extending our present poverty programs.
5. Felon Voting Rights.
Some classes of former felons should have their voting rights restored, but others should not. At common law, and in the 1600’s the punishment for any felony in the British Empire--from which our law is derived--was hanging. Likewise, in Jesus time, the two people being put to death on the two crosses beside Jesus were thieves. In both circumstances, the question of former felons voting was moot, because convicted felons were put to death.
Crimes of “moral turpitude” and crimes that were felonies at common law in the British Empire in the 1600’s should be the most difficult to have voting rights restored. Crimes that were not crimes twenty years ago should be the easiest to have voting rights restored. Murder, with malice aforethought, should not result in voting rights being restored to the person so convicted, even if they are released from prison.
6. Iraq.
We should withdraw our troops from Iraq as quickly as possible. The goals we had announced were accomplished. Saddam Hussein was captured and hanged. The government of Iraq has a semblance of democracy. The rule of law has been upheld.
Many of our reasons for our initial invasion of Iraq after 9/11 were invalid. No evidence was ever found to substantiate that Iraq intended to use “weapons of mass destruction” against us or her neighbors. We were angry over the attack on us on 9/11 in 2001, but the attach was carried out by citizens or subjects of the United Arab Emirates and of Saudi Arabia--none of which attackers was Iraqi.
What we pay for defense and to finance our two Middle East wars, and for homeland security for one year could, and should, be used to finance the new Health Care law for ten years.
7. Undocumented Immigrants.
We should concentrate on enforcing our existing laws regarding immigrants. We should maintain control of our borders.
As John Kennedy observed, America is “a nation of immigrants.” His ancestors came from Ireland. My ancestors came from England in the 1600’s to Virginia colony. Each generation of immigrants has wanted to slam the door shut to the next generation of immigrants.
We should be selective about who moves to America. Each nation should have an immigration quota. Additionally, we should have special immigration allowances for highly skilled people such as doctors, nurses, engineers, architects, technicians, and factory managers. We should have special hardship immigration allowances for people such as the earthquake victims of Haiti and Chile. We should have special refugee allowances for political or religious persecution refugees from such places of communist Cuba, China, N. Korea and N. Viet Nam.
The middle course is the best course. Bodies of water should be classified into different categories, as large lakes, lakes, ponds, large rivers, medium rivers, small rivers, creeks, streams and branches--depending on their size. No dumping of topsoil, rock, and dust off the mountaintops from mountaintop removal coal mining should be allowed into large lakes, large rivers, medium rivers, nor small rivers. Those are recreation and tourist attractions, and should not be filled with sludge. Due care should be taken regarding peoples’ drinking water supply. Mountaintop coal mining is a safer form of mining, in that it minimizes black lung disease of the coal miners, and should be continued, but it should be regulated to reduce the amount of environmental damage that it causes.
Dumping mining waste products into rivers is bad on the folks down-river, but stopping all dumping of mining waste would cause unemployment.
2. Coal power.
Coal power is here to stay, and I oppose “cap and trade”.
“Greenhouse gas” treatises are based on junk science. During the winter, less of our oxygen is created because the trees lose their leaves, and more of our carbon dioxide is created because the home fires are kept burning. It seems that if carbon dioxide were the culprit, Kentucky would have warmer winters and cooler summers than we had in the 1800’s, but there is no evidence that warmer winters followed by cooler summers have happened. I suspect that warmer weather is the result of human habitation, but I don’t buy the argument that carbon dioxide is a pollutant that is causing warmer weather. After all, humans exhale carbon dioxide.
Kentucky should allow the free enterprise system the free use of other forms of energy such as wind power, nuclear power, and solar power.
3. Basic Health Care.
I would probably have voted with Representative Stupak in demanding health reform have due regard for right-to-life, and then supported the health care bill that he supported, and that the U.S. House passed, with no Republican support. There should be Federal regulation of health insurance. My health insurance increased 20% last year, and another 20% this year. The States tend to look the other way on health insurance regulation.
I favor expanding the existing Federal health care plans to cover more people. The financial requirements for Medicaid could allow higher income per recipient. The financial requirements for Medicare could allow benefits received at a younger age. The Veterans Administration Medical Centers could have more bed space available so they can serve more veterans.
Better policy is to give poor people more access to hospitals, doctors, and medication, both prescribed and natural medication.
4. Poverty.
We should spend more government money on education. Education is the key to overcoming poverty. Here, the fallacy of composition is not present. Generally a well-educated man is much wealthier than an illiterate man. Likewise, nations with well-educated citizenry, such as the United States, are able to run circles around nations of illiterates such as Afghanistan and Haiti. The ancient philosopher Confucius once said, “If you give a man a fish, you have fed him one meal; if you teach a man how to fish, you have fed him for a lifetime.”
Another problem we have is the eroding middle class. The tax system should continue to be progressive so that it distributes benefits and entitlements to the poor and to the working poor. In addition to free public schooling extending into the college levels, poverty should be alleviated by extending our present poverty programs.
5. Felon Voting Rights.
Some classes of former felons should have their voting rights restored, but others should not. At common law, and in the 1600’s the punishment for any felony in the British Empire--from which our law is derived--was hanging. Likewise, in Jesus time, the two people being put to death on the two crosses beside Jesus were thieves. In both circumstances, the question of former felons voting was moot, because convicted felons were put to death.
Crimes of “moral turpitude” and crimes that were felonies at common law in the British Empire in the 1600’s should be the most difficult to have voting rights restored. Crimes that were not crimes twenty years ago should be the easiest to have voting rights restored. Murder, with malice aforethought, should not result in voting rights being restored to the person so convicted, even if they are released from prison.
6. Iraq.
We should withdraw our troops from Iraq as quickly as possible. The goals we had announced were accomplished. Saddam Hussein was captured and hanged. The government of Iraq has a semblance of democracy. The rule of law has been upheld.
Many of our reasons for our initial invasion of Iraq after 9/11 were invalid. No evidence was ever found to substantiate that Iraq intended to use “weapons of mass destruction” against us or her neighbors. We were angry over the attack on us on 9/11 in 2001, but the attach was carried out by citizens or subjects of the United Arab Emirates and of Saudi Arabia--none of which attackers was Iraqi.
What we pay for defense and to finance our two Middle East wars, and for homeland security for one year could, and should, be used to finance the new Health Care law for ten years.
7. Undocumented Immigrants.
We should concentrate on enforcing our existing laws regarding immigrants. We should maintain control of our borders.
As John Kennedy observed, America is “a nation of immigrants.” His ancestors came from Ireland. My ancestors came from England in the 1600’s to Virginia colony. Each generation of immigrants has wanted to slam the door shut to the next generation of immigrants.
We should be selective about who moves to America. Each nation should have an immigration quota. Additionally, we should have special immigration allowances for highly skilled people such as doctors, nurses, engineers, architects, technicians, and factory managers. We should have special hardship immigration allowances for people such as the earthquake victims of Haiti and Chile. We should have special refugee allowances for political or religious persecution refugees from such places of communist Cuba, China, N. Korea and N. Viet Nam.
Friday, April 09, 2010
"Mitch" McConnell national 'unfavorable' job rating drops to 62%!
"Daily Kos Weekly State of the Nation Poll
Research 2000, Adults MoE 2.8%, Apr 05, 2010 - Apr 08, 2010 (last week's results in parentheses)
Full Crosstabs FAVORABLE UNFAVORABLE DON'T KNOW NET CHANGE
PRESIDENT OBAMA 54 (55) 41 (40) 5 (5) -2
PELOSI: 41 (42) 51 (50) 8 (8) -2
REID: 29 (28) 63 (63) 8 (9) 1
McCONNELL: 22 (21) 62 (63) 16 (16) 2
BOEHNER: 19 (18) 63 (65) 18 (17) 3
CONGRESSIONAL DEMS: 40 (41) 56 (55) 4 (4) -2
CONGRESSIONAL GOPS: 19 (20) 71 (72) 10 (8) 0
DEMOCRATIC PARTY: 40 (41) 52 (51) 8 (8) -2
REPUBLICAN PARTY: 28 (27) 67 (66) 5 (7) 0"
Yes, the above figures show "Mitch" McConnell national 'unfavorable' job rating drops to 62%! That's great. Nationally, only sixty two people would favor kicking "Mitch" McConnell out of office, as opposed to 63% last poll. It's time to elect more Democrats. Let's kick all the Kentucky Republican delegation to Washington out of office. Let's Electmore Democrats!
Research 2000, Adults MoE 2.8%, Apr 05, 2010 - Apr 08, 2010 (last week's results in parentheses)
Full Crosstabs FAVORABLE UNFAVORABLE DON'T KNOW NET CHANGE
PRESIDENT OBAMA 54 (55) 41 (40) 5 (5) -2
PELOSI: 41 (42) 51 (50) 8 (8) -2
REID: 29 (28) 63 (63) 8 (9) 1
McCONNELL: 22 (21) 62 (63) 16 (16) 2
BOEHNER: 19 (18) 63 (65) 18 (17) 3
CONGRESSIONAL DEMS: 40 (41) 56 (55) 4 (4) -2
CONGRESSIONAL GOPS: 19 (20) 71 (72) 10 (8) 0
DEMOCRATIC PARTY: 40 (41) 52 (51) 8 (8) -2
REPUBLICAN PARTY: 28 (27) 67 (66) 5 (7) 0"
Yes, the above figures show "Mitch" McConnell national 'unfavorable' job rating drops to 62%! That's great. Nationally, only sixty two people would favor kicking "Mitch" McConnell out of office, as opposed to 63% last poll. It's time to elect more Democrats. Let's kick all the Kentucky Republican delegation to Washington out of office. Let's Electmore Democrats!
Wednesday, April 07, 2010
On Making Coal Mining Safer
"On Making Coal Mining Safer, Or, "It's The Fines, Stupid!"
by: fake consultant
Wed Apr 07, 2010 at 11:48:20 AM EDT
By now more or less everyone is aware that there has been a disastrous mining accident in West Virginia this week.
There are many people dead, and at the time this is written it is still possible that survivors might be found.
We don't know much about why these disasters happen, for the most part, and we don't really understand how to make things better.
Today, I'm here to fix some of that.
By the end of today's story, you'll understand a lot more about why people die in mines than you do now-and as an extra bonus, we'll also discuss a radical new way to bring market forces into the process of making mines safer.
fake consultant :: On Making Coal Mining Safer, Or, "It's The Fines, Stupid!"
"...Death is still working like a mole,
And digs my grave at each remove:
Let grace work too, and on my soul
Drop from above..."
--George Herbert, "Grace"
As so often happens, we're going to need to cover a bit of background: a bit less than half of coal mined in the US is found underground, and no matter how you go about it, mining coal is pretty frightening.
The "room and pillar" method of setting up a mine sounds like what it is: you clear out a large underground space, but you leave "pillars" of unmined ore to support whatever might be above, which could be additional levels of "rooms", or it could be the mountain itself-but it's most likely to be both.
"Longwall" mining involves removing far more material than room and pillar mining, and to make that happen the roof immediately adjacent to the mining equipment is braced. Eventually that bracing is removed and the roof is allowed to collapse behind the miners as they leave the mined space.
Here's a video that illustrates the technique, courtesy of the Government of New South Wales, Australia's Mine Subsidence Board:
If you can picture a five foot tall, 20 foot wide, spinning cylinder with giant teeth that can move up and down, attached to a low-slung tractor, you have a pretty good idea of what the continuous mining machine that's used in room and pillar environments looks like.
Longwall machines have a spinning head that travels the length of the wall being mined; as a result these machines can be hundreds of feel long...or across, if you prefer.
The mines are accessed by different types of "shafts". Some shafts are drilled diagonally into relatively shallow mines. Deeper mines are accessed with vertical shafts, which can reach down 2000 feet or more; additionally, there are conveyor systems, sometimes miles long, that move the ore up to the surface for processing.
So what can go wrong?
The first problem is dust. Coal dust is highly combustible (and the smaller the dust particles in any given volume of air, the more explosive potential exists), and there are lots of ways to create it: the mining machines create clouds of dust as they attack the walls, the conveyors carry dust through the mine, and vehicles stir up dust on the floors, to name just a few.
Once the dust is in the air, in sufficient quantity, any spark could cause an explosion-and just operating the machinery in the mine creates lots and lots of sparks.
(The presence of dust is also associated with black lung disease, but that's a story for another day.)
The region of the country, oddly enough, has a lot to do with how much, and what size, of dust you'll be dealing with in your mine, and mines in each District under the Mine Safety and Health Administration's (MSHA) jurisdiction have their own particular dust characteristics.
It's possible to monitor the air, in real time, and there are devices that measure how much explosive potential exists in the rock that's in the chamber with the miners.
Coal dust can be controlled, first, by mixing it or covering it with other nonexplosive dust (finely ground limestone is often used for this purpose), and by getting water on the dust to keep it out of the air.
There are all kinds of considerations that determine how well "wetting" the ever-present dust clouds will work, including the surface tension of the liquid, droplet size, dust size...well, anyway, it's a complex business, and the results have been pretty hit-and-miss.
There is good news: an experimental "water curtain" system is now coming into the field that offers the potential to reduce dust to 50% of the levels seen with today's systems.
Oddly enough, no one thought, for the longest time, that dust was even a hazard-until November of 1963, when the worst known mine disaster in history killed 1,197 workers at Japan's Miike coal mine.
Methane is the second big hazard. Concentrations above 5% are dangerous, and MSHA limits acceptable methane levels in the mines to 1%. The risk, as MSHA succinctly puts it, is from "frictional ignitions", just as it is with coal dust.
Here's what the folks at MethaneGasDetectors.com have to say about all this:
"...The problem is that methane is unavoidable. When you mine coal, you expose fissures and pores in the coal bed in which methane is lying. Therefore, you cannot help but release into a confined area a gas that is not only highly flammable with the potential to violently explode in a ball of flame but one that is also an asphyxiant, capable of driving out oxygen and causing death by suffocation..."
You'll notice methane actually causes two problems: it can kill you if it blows up-and even if it doesn't, just the presence of enough methane in the air can kill you.
The very imperfect solution here is ventilation-but the "forced air" ventilation requirement can be reduced considerably through the use of boreholes and "bleeders" to vent methane away from work areas using natural drafts.
The third reason people get killed in mines has to do with "geography".
What I mean is that, instead of an explosion, the mine either caves in or floods; the one usually caused by removing pillars unsafely, the other sometimes caused by hitting unexpected pockets of water (the Quecreek Mine in Pennsylvania was flooded in just this way).
So here's the thing: making life safe in this amazingly dangerous environment is amazingly expensive, and the common wisdom has been that if you're running a mine it's probably cheaper to let the MSHA folks levy a few fines-and to let a few miners die-than to really do what needs to be done to protect those workers.
That's why, sometimes, mines consist of two mountains: the mountain that's being bored into, and the mountain of violations that pile up over the course of a few decades of unsafe behavior-a mountain so large that sometimes even Fox News feels compelled to weigh in on just how bad things have become. * * *"
by: fake consultant
Wed Apr 07, 2010 at 11:48:20 AM EDT
By now more or less everyone is aware that there has been a disastrous mining accident in West Virginia this week.
There are many people dead, and at the time this is written it is still possible that survivors might be found.
We don't know much about why these disasters happen, for the most part, and we don't really understand how to make things better.
Today, I'm here to fix some of that.
By the end of today's story, you'll understand a lot more about why people die in mines than you do now-and as an extra bonus, we'll also discuss a radical new way to bring market forces into the process of making mines safer.
fake consultant :: On Making Coal Mining Safer, Or, "It's The Fines, Stupid!"
"...Death is still working like a mole,
And digs my grave at each remove:
Let grace work too, and on my soul
Drop from above..."
--George Herbert, "Grace"
As so often happens, we're going to need to cover a bit of background: a bit less than half of coal mined in the US is found underground, and no matter how you go about it, mining coal is pretty frightening.
The "room and pillar" method of setting up a mine sounds like what it is: you clear out a large underground space, but you leave "pillars" of unmined ore to support whatever might be above, which could be additional levels of "rooms", or it could be the mountain itself-but it's most likely to be both.
"Longwall" mining involves removing far more material than room and pillar mining, and to make that happen the roof immediately adjacent to the mining equipment is braced. Eventually that bracing is removed and the roof is allowed to collapse behind the miners as they leave the mined space.
Here's a video that illustrates the technique, courtesy of the Government of New South Wales, Australia's Mine Subsidence Board:
If you can picture a five foot tall, 20 foot wide, spinning cylinder with giant teeth that can move up and down, attached to a low-slung tractor, you have a pretty good idea of what the continuous mining machine that's used in room and pillar environments looks like.
Longwall machines have a spinning head that travels the length of the wall being mined; as a result these machines can be hundreds of feel long...or across, if you prefer.
The mines are accessed by different types of "shafts". Some shafts are drilled diagonally into relatively shallow mines. Deeper mines are accessed with vertical shafts, which can reach down 2000 feet or more; additionally, there are conveyor systems, sometimes miles long, that move the ore up to the surface for processing.
So what can go wrong?
The first problem is dust. Coal dust is highly combustible (and the smaller the dust particles in any given volume of air, the more explosive potential exists), and there are lots of ways to create it: the mining machines create clouds of dust as they attack the walls, the conveyors carry dust through the mine, and vehicles stir up dust on the floors, to name just a few.
Once the dust is in the air, in sufficient quantity, any spark could cause an explosion-and just operating the machinery in the mine creates lots and lots of sparks.
(The presence of dust is also associated with black lung disease, but that's a story for another day.)
The region of the country, oddly enough, has a lot to do with how much, and what size, of dust you'll be dealing with in your mine, and mines in each District under the Mine Safety and Health Administration's (MSHA) jurisdiction have their own particular dust characteristics.
It's possible to monitor the air, in real time, and there are devices that measure how much explosive potential exists in the rock that's in the chamber with the miners.
Coal dust can be controlled, first, by mixing it or covering it with other nonexplosive dust (finely ground limestone is often used for this purpose), and by getting water on the dust to keep it out of the air.
There are all kinds of considerations that determine how well "wetting" the ever-present dust clouds will work, including the surface tension of the liquid, droplet size, dust size...well, anyway, it's a complex business, and the results have been pretty hit-and-miss.
There is good news: an experimental "water curtain" system is now coming into the field that offers the potential to reduce dust to 50% of the levels seen with today's systems.
Oddly enough, no one thought, for the longest time, that dust was even a hazard-until November of 1963, when the worst known mine disaster in history killed 1,197 workers at Japan's Miike coal mine.
Methane is the second big hazard. Concentrations above 5% are dangerous, and MSHA limits acceptable methane levels in the mines to 1%. The risk, as MSHA succinctly puts it, is from "frictional ignitions", just as it is with coal dust.
Here's what the folks at MethaneGasDetectors.com have to say about all this:
"...The problem is that methane is unavoidable. When you mine coal, you expose fissures and pores in the coal bed in which methane is lying. Therefore, you cannot help but release into a confined area a gas that is not only highly flammable with the potential to violently explode in a ball of flame but one that is also an asphyxiant, capable of driving out oxygen and causing death by suffocation..."
You'll notice methane actually causes two problems: it can kill you if it blows up-and even if it doesn't, just the presence of enough methane in the air can kill you.
The very imperfect solution here is ventilation-but the "forced air" ventilation requirement can be reduced considerably through the use of boreholes and "bleeders" to vent methane away from work areas using natural drafts.
The third reason people get killed in mines has to do with "geography".
What I mean is that, instead of an explosion, the mine either caves in or floods; the one usually caused by removing pillars unsafely, the other sometimes caused by hitting unexpected pockets of water (the Quecreek Mine in Pennsylvania was flooded in just this way).
So here's the thing: making life safe in this amazingly dangerous environment is amazingly expensive, and the common wisdom has been that if you're running a mine it's probably cheaper to let the MSHA folks levy a few fines-and to let a few miners die-than to really do what needs to be done to protect those workers.
That's why, sometimes, mines consist of two mountains: the mountain that's being bored into, and the mountain of violations that pile up over the course of a few decades of unsafe behavior-a mountain so large that sometimes even Fox News feels compelled to weigh in on just how bad things have become. * * *"
Tuesday, April 06, 2010
Sunday, April 04, 2010
2010 'will make 1994 election look like light summer breeze'
"2010 'will make 1994 election look like light summer breeze'
By Bob Unruh
WorldNetDaily
Editor's note: This is another in a series of monthly "WND/WENZEL POLLS" conducted exclusively for WND by the public opinion research and media consulting company Wenzel Strategies.
A new survey shows a political "maelstrom" brewing in the U.S. that threatens not only Democrats in power but Republicans who have the tag "incumbent" attached to their name.
"They say movie sequels are never as strong as the original film, but politics can be different. There is every indication that, following the passage this week of the massive national health-care legislation, the political maelstrom brewing across the country is building to proportions that will make the 1994 Republican Revolution look like a light summer breeze," said Fritz Wenzel of Wenzel Strategies.
"But this time, Democrats may not be the only endangered incumbents, as this data shows Republican congressmen are also in serious danger."
See the signs created by tea partiers across the nation!
The WND/Wenzel Poll was conducted by telephone from March 22-24 using an automated telephone technology calling a random sampling of listed telephone numbers nationwide. The survey included 30 questions and carries a 95 percent confidence interval. It included 792 likely voters. It carries a margin of error of 3.46 percentage points.
It revealed Americans believe overwhelmingly – nearly 60 percent to about 35 percent – that the nation is going in the wrong direction. Nearly that same percentage believe President Obama is doing a poor or only fair job, and a stunning total of more than 80 percent of voters believe Congress is doing only fair (18.8 percent) or poor (62 percent).
What will that mean for the November election?
"Republicans enjoy only a small 40 percent to 36 percent advantage over Democrats in the generic ballot test about which party's candidate voters would choose. But generic challengers simply demolish generic incumbents by a 68 percent to 32 percent margin," confirmed Wenzel in his analysis of the results.
"This is stunningly dangerous news for all 435 House offices on Independence Avenue in Washington, but not surprising when compared with another data point from this poll: that just 17 percent give Congress a positive job approval rating, and 62 percent give them the most negative rating of 'poor'."
A big factor is the recent maneuvering by Congress and Obama to make law his health-care plan that effectively nationalizes the industry.
"One thing is clear – a majority of the public still opposes the health bill, and men appear poised to react more negatively in the months to come. Other data in this survey and others I have conducted recently show that the Anxious White Male may well replace the Soccer Mom and Security Mom as the most important demographic in the congressional elections," Wenzel said. "This is just more evidence that Democrats are facing some tough sledding on the campaign trail."
He explained that the results shows voter antagonism is not limited to the health-care issue.
"Asked if they are more likely to vote this year for a congressman who supported the health care bill, 44 percent said they are more likely, while 53 percent said they are less likely to do so," he said.
"Combined with the virulent reaction to incumbents in this same survey, this indicates there is a disgust for Congress that stretches beyond just the health care issue," he continued. "We found that the other major bills likely to be considered next by Congress will all be toxic to those who support them. From the so-called Cap and Trade bill to a new economic stimulus bill, more bailouts for banks or businesses, and comprehensive immigration reform, every one of these issues will significantly damage any lawmaker who supports them. If Obama leads Democrats headlong into any of these areas, the backlash may not end this November.
"Washington lawmakers have crossed a line somewhere that has resulted in a very deep-seated resentment by the people who elect them. The president who promised change has certainly brought change to Washington, but this polling data shows that any hope that still remains is skipping town on the next train out of Union Station."
The poll shows 40 percent of respondents expect the quality of health care will get much worse under "Obamacare," as the president's plan is dubbed, and another 10.4 percent said it will get a little worse. Some 19.8 percent they believe and hope it will improve much.
Nearly 72 percent of voters said they were much less likely or somewhat less likely to support an incumbent in Congress who backs "granting citizenship to millions of people who are now living illegally here in the U.S." – essentially an amnesty program.
Some 82 percent of voters are much less likely or somewhat less likely to support incumbents who back more bailouts for banks and companies. Nearly 60 percent oppose incumbents who support "economic stimulus" legislation.
Support for "cap and trade," a plan expected to raise taxes on energy dramatically, earns opposition from nearly 50 percent.
The antipathy towards Congress also extends to Obama, the survey revealed.
"Not that President Obama is riding high after signing the health bill into law – in fact, his job approval rating has dropped to 41 percent from 46 percent a month ago. Men have turned hard against the president … just 30 percent of men say he is doing a good job."
Women had a higher opinion of Obama, with a bare majority of 52 percent giving him positive marks.
Last month's poll had included a warning for incumbents.
At that time 54 percent of those who had a "very favorable" opinion of the tea party movement said they would vote for the challenger – any challenger – in November. One-third of those who held a "somewhat favorable" opinion and four in 10 who held a "very unfavorable" opinion would do the same.
While those who were not sure was a statistically high 33 percent of the total, 41 percent of respondents said they would support a challenger to only 26 percent for the incumbent.
The February poll showed only 2.8 percent of Americans believed Congress' job performance is excellent, including only 7.5 of Democrats."
Turn out an incumbent. Elect Stepp to U.S. House KY-05!
By Bob Unruh
WorldNetDaily
Editor's note: This is another in a series of monthly "WND/WENZEL POLLS" conducted exclusively for WND by the public opinion research and media consulting company Wenzel Strategies.
A new survey shows a political "maelstrom" brewing in the U.S. that threatens not only Democrats in power but Republicans who have the tag "incumbent" attached to their name.
"They say movie sequels are never as strong as the original film, but politics can be different. There is every indication that, following the passage this week of the massive national health-care legislation, the political maelstrom brewing across the country is building to proportions that will make the 1994 Republican Revolution look like a light summer breeze," said Fritz Wenzel of Wenzel Strategies.
"But this time, Democrats may not be the only endangered incumbents, as this data shows Republican congressmen are also in serious danger."
See the signs created by tea partiers across the nation!
The WND/Wenzel Poll was conducted by telephone from March 22-24 using an automated telephone technology calling a random sampling of listed telephone numbers nationwide. The survey included 30 questions and carries a 95 percent confidence interval. It included 792 likely voters. It carries a margin of error of 3.46 percentage points.
It revealed Americans believe overwhelmingly – nearly 60 percent to about 35 percent – that the nation is going in the wrong direction. Nearly that same percentage believe President Obama is doing a poor or only fair job, and a stunning total of more than 80 percent of voters believe Congress is doing only fair (18.8 percent) or poor (62 percent).
What will that mean for the November election?
"Republicans enjoy only a small 40 percent to 36 percent advantage over Democrats in the generic ballot test about which party's candidate voters would choose. But generic challengers simply demolish generic incumbents by a 68 percent to 32 percent margin," confirmed Wenzel in his analysis of the results.
"This is stunningly dangerous news for all 435 House offices on Independence Avenue in Washington, but not surprising when compared with another data point from this poll: that just 17 percent give Congress a positive job approval rating, and 62 percent give them the most negative rating of 'poor'."
A big factor is the recent maneuvering by Congress and Obama to make law his health-care plan that effectively nationalizes the industry.
"One thing is clear – a majority of the public still opposes the health bill, and men appear poised to react more negatively in the months to come. Other data in this survey and others I have conducted recently show that the Anxious White Male may well replace the Soccer Mom and Security Mom as the most important demographic in the congressional elections," Wenzel said. "This is just more evidence that Democrats are facing some tough sledding on the campaign trail."
He explained that the results shows voter antagonism is not limited to the health-care issue.
"Asked if they are more likely to vote this year for a congressman who supported the health care bill, 44 percent said they are more likely, while 53 percent said they are less likely to do so," he said.
"Combined with the virulent reaction to incumbents in this same survey, this indicates there is a disgust for Congress that stretches beyond just the health care issue," he continued. "We found that the other major bills likely to be considered next by Congress will all be toxic to those who support them. From the so-called Cap and Trade bill to a new economic stimulus bill, more bailouts for banks or businesses, and comprehensive immigration reform, every one of these issues will significantly damage any lawmaker who supports them. If Obama leads Democrats headlong into any of these areas, the backlash may not end this November.
"Washington lawmakers have crossed a line somewhere that has resulted in a very deep-seated resentment by the people who elect them. The president who promised change has certainly brought change to Washington, but this polling data shows that any hope that still remains is skipping town on the next train out of Union Station."
The poll shows 40 percent of respondents expect the quality of health care will get much worse under "Obamacare," as the president's plan is dubbed, and another 10.4 percent said it will get a little worse. Some 19.8 percent they believe and hope it will improve much.
Nearly 72 percent of voters said they were much less likely or somewhat less likely to support an incumbent in Congress who backs "granting citizenship to millions of people who are now living illegally here in the U.S." – essentially an amnesty program.
Some 82 percent of voters are much less likely or somewhat less likely to support incumbents who back more bailouts for banks and companies. Nearly 60 percent oppose incumbents who support "economic stimulus" legislation.
Support for "cap and trade," a plan expected to raise taxes on energy dramatically, earns opposition from nearly 50 percent.
The antipathy towards Congress also extends to Obama, the survey revealed.
"Not that President Obama is riding high after signing the health bill into law – in fact, his job approval rating has dropped to 41 percent from 46 percent a month ago. Men have turned hard against the president … just 30 percent of men say he is doing a good job."
Women had a higher opinion of Obama, with a bare majority of 52 percent giving him positive marks.
Last month's poll had included a warning for incumbents.
At that time 54 percent of those who had a "very favorable" opinion of the tea party movement said they would vote for the challenger – any challenger – in November. One-third of those who held a "somewhat favorable" opinion and four in 10 who held a "very unfavorable" opinion would do the same.
While those who were not sure was a statistically high 33 percent of the total, 41 percent of respondents said they would support a challenger to only 26 percent for the incumbent.
The February poll showed only 2.8 percent of Americans believed Congress' job performance is excellent, including only 7.5 of Democrats."
Turn out an incumbent. Elect Stepp to U.S. House KY-05!
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