The number of Americans calling themselves Republican has fallen to its lowest level in more than two-and-a-half years. Just 31.9% of American adults now say they're affiliated with the GOP. That's down from 37.2% in October 2004 and 34.5% at the beginning of 2006. —Rasmussen Reports

I think I saw some huddled at the supermarket yesterday. They were in the gourmet foods section.

Tags: * Republicans Republican party affiliation political party GOP membership statistic statistics

The FBI/IRS raids at some 20-odd Alaskan sites included the offices of at least 6 Alaskan Republican lawmakers and one Democrat. The purpose of the raids is to investigate ties between the legislators and Veco, "an Anchorage-based oil field services and construction company whose executives are major contributors to political campaigns." It should be like clubbing baby seals in a bathtub.

But I was fascinated to learn that the search warrants specifically mentioned hats or garments labeled “Corrupt Bastards Club” or “Corrupt Bastards Caucus.” Please, Jesus, let it be so! And let them be found! One of the offices raided was that of Alaska Senate President Ben Stevens, son of Alaska's Senator Ted Stevens—Republicans all.

Is it merely a coincidence that an "outsider" U.S. attorney from Pennsylvania was appointed for Alaska just last week? The appointment was said to have left Sen. Stevens "steamed," because he had wanted an Alaskan crony in the post.

Writing on another Alaskan scandal, Stephen Taufen of the Groundswell Fisheries Movement applauded the appointment of the new Attorney General and compared Senator Ted Stevens to California's criminal representative Randy "Duke" Cunningham.

Taufen makes a devastating accusation against a sitting federal judge—

For many years, Groundswell has been asking federal special agents from multiple agencies for assistance in ensuring that Alaska gets a new US AG who is not part of the Alaska crony and political damage control system. We suspected something was seriously wrong when former U.S. attorney general Timothy Burgess failed to prosecute the Adak Crab Allocation perjury charges, after Larry Davison and I filed a federal petition in 2003. And amazingly, Burgess soon got a judgeship.

It appears there are enough corrupt Republican bastards in Alaska to keep the Justice Department busy for years.

Taufen ends on a happy note—

Groundswell's advice is that Ted should be out buying new stationary, and the return address should say Cellblock 666, Leavenworth County, Kansas.

Can it be that another Republican Senator's seat soon may be up for grabs?

Tags: * Republican Republicans Senate Senator Alaska Stevens Ben Stevens Ted Stevens corruption Corrupt Bastards Club FBI IRS oil Veco Alaskan state Senate

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton ... an elected senator who has served six years in her seat, never taking a strong stand in support of her constituents on any serious or controversial issue; a senator who has used her record-breaking TV public appearances to say “nothing”; a senator whose senate office adheres strictly to a motto of “See no Evil, Hear no Evil”; an elected official who has no record of conducting investigations into cases that are matters of great concern to her constituents and to our nation; a senator who has consistently stood quietly on the sidelines when the issues at hand demand public hearings -- waiting to determine the direction of each blowing wind; a politician who has spent all her focus and energy on a campaign of shallow publicity glitz and her PR empire behind it. —Sibel Edmonds, FBI whistleblower, and Professor William Weaver, senior advisor and a board member of National Security Whistleblowers Coalition

Related posts
Another reason I won't be supporting Hillary for President in 2008 (12/13/04)
Newt nominates Hillary (4/15/05)
In case you were looking to the Democrats for your salvation (8/19/05)

Tags: * Clinton Hillary Hillary Clinton whistleblower Edmonds Sibel Edmonds William Weaver National Security Whistleblowers Coalition NSWC

—Reuters in "Teams vie for U.S. border security contract"

Who knew these companies had such expertise in border control?

Stock tip: It's time to weight your portfolio with defense stocks from all four of the American companies mentioned above. One of them is going to be a sure winner come September 30, and none will suffer.

P.S.: Don't waste your money on the Swedes.

If I were a betting man, I might be inclined toward Boeing. Their "team" includes Unisys and Israel's Elbit, which has developed a camera said to be able to spot people at up to 14 kilometers and vehicles at up to 20 kilometers. With Boeing Israel will get its cut—always a plus come awards day.

Related post
Your military-industrial complex at work (2/28/06)

Tags: * military-industrial complex privatization border control contracts Homeland Security Lockheed Boeing Northrup Raytheon immigration defense industry Israel Elbit camera

A former aide to Rep. Lloyd Doggett was sentenced to 30 days in jail after pleading guilty Tuesday to stealing $168,000 from the congressman's campaign.

—AP and Capitol Hill Blue in "Congressional aide cops plea for campaign theft"

The poor and middle class of this country (let alone Texas!) are locked up for years for theft of a fraction of what Kristi Willis stole. But then they don't suffer from the curse of a spending addiction.

Tags: * addiction theft humor psychological problem Congressman Doggett Austin Texas prison imprisonment

Traditional beliefs like ... the conviction that America should not start wars it does not know how to win, wind up being portrayed as extreme. —NY Times editorial of August 9, "Revenge of the Irate Moderates"

Here I was, thinking I was being traditional by believing that America should not start wars—period.

That was of course before George Bush's "preemptive war" doctrine. The NY Times now accepts this as "traditional," but with the added wrinkle that the U.S. should know how to win wars before it starts them. If we begin to impose requirements like that, I don't know when we're going to have another war.

Tags: * war preemptive war extremism conservatism New York Times NY Times editorial

America's (and Britain's) disastrous war in Iraq has now lasted longer than the US involvement in the Second World War. —Rupert Cornwell writing in "Another miserable milestone for Bush's war"

Tags: * Bush administration Britain UK Iraq war World War II Germany WW II WWII