We're still a good 14 months before the 2008 presidential election gets into full swing, and Barack Obama - just as I predicted - is already being attacked for his name.

Some genius GOP operative figured out that Barack Obama has a funny-sounding name. Using his top secret CIA resources, he found out that Barack's middle name is Hussein. My GOD! He must be related to Saddam Hussein! It's shameful that the Republicans have already given up on issues and are going to make Barack Obama fight his own name.
YouTube - Ed Rogers: "Hide your daughters, Obama is an A-rab"

People who know me know that I'm an information guy. I'm the one people go to for current events, even if it just happened a few minutes ago. I need lots of sources for this information, and some websites that have popped up in the past couple of years have provided great sources of information to me.

Everyone now seems to know about Digg and Reddit and Fark, but there are many other great sites. Blogspan.org is a great site for news junkies. They have several different categories of blogs, such as Media and Science, with well-written and detailed posts that include pictures.

The "blogosphere," as many web users are calling it, is one of the greatest innovations of news in the past 40 years, and blogspan.org is at the forefront of this new form of media. If you have to have the latest news, and I know political nuts like myself do, you've got to check out this site.

I don't know if there has been a time since the Nixon administration when both a president and vice president could legitimately be impeached on a total of 14 different articles. The Bush administration has tried scaring people from pushing for impeachment, leaking - and this is just my theory here - backhanded threats such as "if you get rid of Bush, we'll be stuck with Cheney." If they can come up with a better reason to not impeach Bush, I haven't heard it. That's very sad.

That treacherous defense against impeachment can be countered with the fact that Cheney is just as guilty as Bush on almost all counts, and more guilty on some. There's no reason why they both couldn't be impeached, as they both deserve it.

Some of the most flagrant violations of US and international law are the PlameGate affair, where Cheney leaked secret information to retaliate against a political opponent, and Contempt of Congress with regards to the Iraq war. Not even the president is allowed to lie to Congress.
Daily Kos: Articles of Impeachment against Bush and Cheney

Freakonomics author Steven Levitt, who has always contended that he is not into politics, has given an half-endorsement to Illinois Senator Barack Obama for the 2008 presidential election.

Levitt, who lives in Illinois and is a professor at the esteemed University of Chicago (which counts Obama among its many well-known alum), read Obama's book, "The Audacity of Hope," and highly recommends it to his readers. Levitt admits that he does not agree with all of Obama's political views, but if he can campaign as well as he writes he'll be president for sure.

With the charisma and charm of Bobby Kennedy and the honesty and humility of... hmmm, no politicians to compare him to here, Obama should be considered a front-runner for 2008, especially with Hillary Clinton having a built-in enemy base in the midwest and much of the south.
Freakonomics Blog » If Barack Obama is as good a politician as he is a writer, he will soon be President

As I mentioned in previous articles, after an election there is always a rush of talent to the private sector, and much of that talent will start their own business. Starting a business can be a complicated process. There are laws and tax issues to consider. You'll also need someone to help you to incorporate, which is a legal process that basically lets the government know your business exists.

IncParadise.com is a company that helps people to incorporate in all 50 states. They have things like approved Articles of Incorporation and name checking services - you can't incorporate a business with the same name as a similar business - and these tools will make the process much easier for you.

IncParadise also has forms that you'll find are essential to any newly incorporated business, such as bylaws and minutes of meetings, along with templates for stock certificates. The fee differs by state, as each state has different filing fees.

If you have the freedom to choose which state to incorporate with - and I know many campaign staffers do because their home has been on the road for a very long time - IncParadise even tells you which states are best for your needs. For instance, some states have lower taxes, while others may offer a superb location for a more "local" business. If you're running a website, location may not be that important to you, so you might avoid a state if that's the main benefit.

You should not be incorporating your business on your own, unless you have a lot of experience doing it. Go to the pros at IncParadise and avoid the mistakes that your competitors will make, giving you the early edge in a competitive market.

One of the most disgusting stories from the war on terror is the one of Pat Tillman. He was a pro football player making millions of dollars, and he dropped everything and enlisted after 9/11. He was killed in Afghanistan in what officials first said was a battle with al Qaeda militants.

The Bush administration seized on Tillman's death like flies on dog crap. They mentioned it in every speech for months, just to show us what a patriotic American Pat Tillman was. Nobody could argue that. It was a story that seemed to be over.

At some point, it was discovered that the circumstances surrounding Tillman's death had been fabricated. He was not killed in a batttle, but rather by friendly fire from his own Army Ranger unit. Military leaders and the Bush administration knew this from the start, but covered it up. Eventually, under heavy pressure, they released thousands of pages of documents to the Tillman family. They then told the press that they were helping uncover the truth about this evidence. I mean, come on, thousands of pages of evidence! That's a lot of truth. What they did not mention is that most of those pages were censored. Some pages were just a few words, with the rest blacked out.

The Tillman family has continued to pressure the Bush administration to be more forthcoming with information about what happened to their son. In return, they have been attacked for their religious views. They are Atheists, and some military leaders have criticized the family's rejection of prayer during military ceremonies following their son's death.

The Bush administration, which has had no problem using the God Card against anyone who they don't like, has made no effort to stop the attacks on the Tillman family. Bush, as Commander in Chief, should be punishing any commanders who are so disrespectful to a fallen American soldier. Instead, they've taken their typical "any good Christian American wouldn't question us" attitude that has dominated this country for the past 6 years.
Pat Tillman Family Attacked for Pursuing the Truth... and Not Being Christians

Karl Rove's days as President Bush's brain may soon be over. His partisan style may have fueled the backlash against Republicans in the midterm elections, and the White House may have to ditch him in order to get Democrats to play ball with them.

When Republicans selected Trent Lott to be their #2 man in the Senate, it was a clear rejection of the White House's intentions of keeping Lott out of the public light following racist remarks he made a few years ago at Strom Thurmond's 100th birthday party. Lott will now likely work to push Rove out of the White House.

Another person pushing for Rove's removal is Harriet Miers, President Bush's longtime personal attorney (and he has needed plenty of legal help through the years) whose Supreme Court nomination was rejected even though Republicans controlled Congress at the time. Miers would have been one of the least qualified Supreme Court justices ever, with most of her legal experience coming from getting Bush out of DWI's. But apparently it was Karl Rove's fault she didn't get confirmed.

Karl Rove is a cancer on society and his removal will make this country a better place, even though the reasons for kicking him out are not justified. Trent Lott should not even be a Senator, let alone #2 GOP man in the Senate. Harriet Miers needs to stick to covering up her client's coke possession charges.

Think Progress » REPORT: Karl Rove May Be Leaving The White House In ‘Weeks, Not Months’

When I'm not talking politics, I'm talking sports. When I'm not talking politics or sports, I'm talking cars. Fast cars. And trucks, too. Well it's time to talk trucks, because I've just found out about a product that every diesel truck owner should know about.

A lot of people have released the power of using tuners or even installing a chip to enhance performance. Particularly with the computer chip, the installation is so easy and the performance gain is so incredible, because it was always there in the truck you've been driving, it was just never unleashed.

A simple tuner can increase your horsepower by the hundreds. That's right, you can add hundreds of horsepower with just a tuner, a simple device that tells your engine to do things differently to enhance performance. You're probably thinking it does this by sacrificing gas mileage, right? Nope, you can still get 20-25 mpg in a truck that has a tuner boosting horsepower by 215 horsepower! It's especially nice against the sports cars, because they aren't used to getting smoked by some big diesel truck that should be pulling up tree stumps somewhere.

When national exit polling data is compared to the results of the 2006 election, some major problems appear. Either a lot of people are voting Republican and then telling pollsters that they voted Democrat, or there is some cheating going on with the machines or human counters that skew the results towards the Republicans.

Democrats beat Republican House candidates by an average of 7.6%, but polling data showed it should have been about 11.5%. That's a pretty staggering difference. There were several fairly close races that Democrats lost. Perhaps their advantage in Congress could have been much greater if they didn't have to deal with corrupt polling locations, particularly in the state of Florida and the midwest. Don't even get me started on Ohio.

Now that Democrats run Congress, perhaps we'll see some legislation to clean up the elections. If Republicans oppose such legislation, they'll be forced to defend their position, which will expose some of them to be the corrupt scumbags many of us already know them as.
OpEdNews Exclusive
Clear Evidence 2006 Congressional Elections Hacked

A key election issue this year was oil prices. Everyone is concerned about our dependance on foreign oil. One way to alleviate this problem is by using less oil. There are many ways we can do this. Buying Energy Star appliances is a start, but we still need to do something about our cars.

Even if you've bought a gas-guzzling Hummer, all hope is not lost. There are add-on devices, such as the Tornado Fuel Saver, which will increase the mileage your vehicle gets.
Tornado Fuel Saver
The great thing about the Tornado Fuel Saver is that it adds power to your vehicle while it increases the mileage. It's installed in the air-intake, and basically it swirls the air going into your engine so it moves faster and is not stagnant.

The Tornado Fuel Saver works on all engine types, and you don't need to go to the body shop to have it installed. It's literally a 5 minute install, even if you have no idea what you're doing. You can even put one on your RV, which will really help out with those cross country trips/campaigns.

An internal memo from Fox News reveals just how fair and balanced they really are. It tells Fox News employees to be on the lookout for statements from Iraqi insurgents who are thrilled at the prospect of a Democrat-controlled Congress.

Of course the insurgents are going to come out with quotes saying that they are happy with the election results. They said the same thing when George W. Bush won reelection in 2004. They are always going to put on that strong face, because they are based on propaganda. In order to succeed, they need to convince people that they are right and they are winning. Although the US is losing the fight for peace in Iraq, the insurgents are not winning. To win, they would have to create a stable society that believes in their views. Instead, they have anarchy, with people holding a variety of views. While the US is at least leading the war for freedom, the insurgents are losing on both of their measurements.

So why is it so important for Fox News to show that insurgents are fans of Democrats? I thought they were fair and balanced. I guess they're more fair to some parties than others.
FOX NEWS INTERNAL MEMO: "Be On The Lookout For Any Statements From The Iraqi Insurgents...Thrilled At The Prospect Of A Dem Controlled Congress"... | The Huffington Post

For as long as football has been around, it has had a strong connection to politics, particularly national politics within the beltway. D.C. has had a pro football franchise for longer than any other pro franchise in any of the major sports.

It's been no secret that many fine presidents were also football fanatics. Even Nixon was a big football fan. It was one of his few qualitys. So let's talk a little football.

Although the season is heating up, there are few exciting matchups next week, and lots of interleague matchups between very good teams and very bad teams. The one exciting game on the schedule might be San Diego at Denver, a fight for first in the AFC West. With only one game to really look forward to (at there's Ohio St./Michigan on Saturday in college ball) I'll be doing a lot of shopping this week. Of course, jerseys are big for any football fan.

Of course, if I really feel like torturing myself, I'll go for that McGahee jersey. I just hope it comes with some extra padding around the ribs.

Anyway, my predictions for the games I'll be watching:

Chargers over Broncos: Tomlinson stays hot. Chargers toughen up on pass defense.

Giants over Jaguars: New York takes out some pent up aggression from the loss to Chicago with a romp over the Jaguars in Jacksonville.

Cowbows over Colts: The Colts barely survived Buffalo at home last week. Now they go on the road to face a much better Cowboys team. Look for a breakout game from Tony Romo.

Bears over Jets Both teams had big wins last week, but the Bears will take that momentum further. They're still angry about that Miami game.

Remember those two Fox News reporters who were kidnapped and then released last summer? Well, it turns out we may not have gotten the full story. It seems that a US source paid a Palestinian terrorist group $2 million prior to their release.

A representative from Fox said that there were many parties involved with the release of the reporters, and did not rule out that a payment had been made. It's unclear if that payment would have come from Fox or from the government. Fox News has championed the President and Republicans in Congress since George W. Bush took the 2000 election.

Terrorist leaders have said the money they received will be used for their anti-Zionist causes, including the purchase of weapons. It seems that the US has changed its policies about dealing with terrorists, but only when they have abducted reporters who favor the current administration. I wonder if they'll abduct more reporters in the future. Let's just hope they stick to Fox News.
WorldNetDaily: Fox News reporters freed for $2 million

Remember how confident Karl Rove and his pet George W. Bush were about the elections just a few weeks ago? It seemed that they were either ignoring the poll numbers or they were going to pull a bunny (Osama?) out of their hat on election eve.

Karl Rove had continually said the poll numbers were wrong, and he had the metrics to prove it. His numbers showed that the Republican voter base was stronger than ever, and the GOP would hold on to not only the Senate, but also the House. It turned out he was wrong on both.

Rove's numbers were based on early voting and voter outreach, and he had them made into pretty little bar charts, probably so he could explain them better to George. He even had George believing that some seats, like the one formerly held by Tom DeLay in Texas, would go to the GOP, even though poll numbers showed a race that wasn't even that close. Rove had everyone believing they had a chance there, and it was worth it for the president to make a stop to boost the campaign. The seat went to the Democratic candidate by a fairly wide margin (no recount necessary).

So what was wrong with Rove's numbers? Nothing, according to Rove. It was complacent GOP candidates who did not fight hard enough. Perhaps if they had just made a few more campaign stops they could have fooled a few more people into believing that scandal and corruption are good for America.
Karl Rove: The Architect's Faulty Specs - Newsweek National News - MSNBC.com

As I mentioned yesterday, many political aides will eventually move to the private sector, where the big bucks and huge benefits roam free. Many more will start their own business, and who knows more about starting a business than Donald Trump?

This course will show you how The Donald goes about buying a business. It's important to note the difference between building and buying a business. Trump likes to find businesses that are undervalued or could be more profitable and buy them out. It's actually a lot cheaper and less risky than building a business from scratch, and less time consuming as well.

There are so many great tips on things like evaluating the financials and negotiating the best deal that people just take for granted. One course like this could literally save you tens of thousands of dollars when you buy a business. Heck, if you're working on a scale like Trump, it could save you millions!

This course isn't like that treadmill you bought for yourself but have never used. Trump is the ultimate motivator, because he's actually achieved what he teaches and he derides laziness so much that you'll feel like he's watching you when you're not working hard to make your own business empire.

It seems that all the pundits and comedians have taken shots at Al Gore over the years for his supposed claim that he invented the internet. The quote from Gore was taken out of context; he never believed that he actually made the internet, but he did do something very important for it: he supported legislation that created an environment where the internet was allowed to thrive. The topic is little tough to get into here without providing dozens of citations to prove my point, but go research it yourself. The internet as we know it would not exist without legislation championed by Al Gore while he was a senator from Tennessee.

So what does this have to do with modern times? Well, as some of you may know, Net Neutrality has been a hot topic in the past year among techies. Their position is simple: all web traffic should be treated the same from the provider's (mostly cable companies, these days) perspective. They should not be allowed to force website owners to pay extra for "premium services," like a website that loads in less than 5 minutes.

Without Net Neutrality, the cable companies will be able to charge premiums for what they have called "premium services." This is absurd, because what they would be allowed to do is essentially blackmail the internet. Oh, you want your website to load at normal speed? That'll be an extra $1 a month per gigabyte. If you don't pay, we'll just throttle the speed your page loads, so that nobody will want to visit your site. If you still don't pay, we'll throttle your speed down even more, so your website is almost completely unusable.

The network operators say they need to charge extra for these "premium services," which is better known today as the internet we all use, because they have to recoup investments they've made in infrastructure. That makes no sense, because if they need to make more money they should just increase their rates. That's how other businesses do it. Does Pepsi charge extra for a soda that doesn't have a hypodermic needle in it?

So where does Congress stand on all of this? Well, Republicans voted against Net Neutrality, saying the network operators needed to charge these extra fees and Silicon Valley has been getting a free ride. Of course, it only takes a brief amount of research to find that lobbyists for the cable companies and network operators are so deep in the Republican's pockets they're getting trapped in the lint.

Ted Stevens, a Republican senator from Alaska and one of the most corrupt politicians in modern times, became famous for his speech relating to this issue. He explained how the internet works to his collegues with the classic line "it's not a dump truck, it's made of tubes". He also said that he sent an email to an aide and it took over a day to reach him. He diagnosed the cause of his email problem as a "clogged internet".

This is the kind of idiocy that controls our country. He thinks charging big internet companies like Google extra money so their website loads will solve his little email problem. I don't know why his email took over a day to make it to his aide's inbox. It probably didn't. I'm sure it made it in a minute or less, but the aide didn't act on it and then claimed he never got the email to cover his own ass. I've never heard of an email taking a day to reach it's destination, I'm not even sure how that would be possible, unless several major internet backbones went down. It's nearly impossible to bring them down due to regular traffic. Even a very powerful virus would have trouble bringing them down.

Ted Stevens gets very upset when anyone challenges him, and he's sure to defend his lobbyist friends to the grave. Fortunately for the rest of us, Democrats are in control now, and they favor Net Neutrality. It will be that little-talked about issue that once again saves the internet. I'm not sure what Democrat will take credit for it, but let's not laugh at them this time. Let's think about what the internet would have become if Republicans had remained in control.
What the Democrats' win means for tech | CNET News.com

Technology has changed the landscape of campaigning. Where buttons used to be the norm, campaigns are now finding new ways to use technology to convey a greater amount of information than "We Like Ike".

One great way to exchange information is with those portable flash drives that are all the rage. They can hold a lot of information, even larger videos, and they'll easily fit in the smallest pocket in your pants.

I like these thumb drives because it combines the old school message on the outside, but also holds a lot of information on the inside. The smallest storage size is 512mb, which will hold a lot of videos and graphics. Probably too much space, in fact, for a single campaign. That's a good thing, because campaigns from the same party could collaborate with one another, splitting the costs while conveying the information for both candidates. Forget the 30-second ad, these Store-It flash drives will hold quite a few 30 minute infomercials.

Pretty much everyone with a computer can use these things, because just about every computer comes with a few USB slots. Wouldn't it be great to have every potential voter carrying around a keychain thumb drive with a candidate or party's slogan laser engraved into it, and the entire party platform on a series of videos inside?

It turns out that Senator Joseph Lieberman is not as sure about staying the Democratic party as he may have led us to believe after a big Dem win on election night. He now says that he has not ruled out caucusing with the Republicans. If he did choose to do so, it would give the GOP a 51-49 edge over the Dems.

Lieberman is a seasoned politician, and this is clearly just politics. Joseph Lieberman is not a Republican any more than Nancy Pelosi. The only thing they shared was a view on Iraq, which caused the Democratic voters to rebel against him. Lieberman knows that now he has won his Senate seat as an Independent, he can dangle that in front of Dems whenever he's not getting his way. They don't want to give up their majority, so they'll have to make concessions to Lieberman to keep him on their side. It's a beautiful move.
Lieberman won't rule out GOP caucusing - The Boston Globe

Just like in politics, logistics plays a key role in manufacturing. Being able to track inventory is one of the most important aspects of owning a manufacturing or distribution business.

RFID technology is already changing the world, and it will become part of the common lexicon in the next 10 years. Think of it like a barcode, except doesn't need to be read. It's more like a tiny tag with a little radio station inside (picture an annoying little annoying shock jock, if you wish) broadcasting the same message "I am this part_______, and I'm at this location______".

Check out this website:
www.rfident.org/rfidvideo.htm
They have a video that will get you up to speed on RFID.

The implications on the political world have yet to be seen, but I'm working on it. They will obviously be used to track inventory of everything, and that includes campaign supplies, but I think there could be much greater uses that we haven't even considered yet.

What uses can you think of for RFID on a political campaign or just in the political world in general? No, we can't use one to track where Ted Stevens is. Well, I guess we could, but he probably wouldn't like it.

LewRockwell.com, a hotbed of Libertarian activity, has this open letter from Tom Chartier basically telling how he and many other Libertarians feel about the recent election.

Although Libertarians have traditionally sided with the Republicans, that has begun to change during the Bush administration. It has little to do with Iraq or most of the other issues the politicians have focused on; the change has been caused by the basic fact that George W. Bush and the Republicans in Congress have not been libertarian. They've promoted big government and in exchange of basic rights for what they tell us are "safety concerns."

Libertarians are not happy with this. The Patriot Act was a dagger in their hearts, because it goes against everything they stand for. They did not vote against Republicans because they were in the same party as Bush. They voted against Republicans because the actively HELPED George W. Bush take away their rights.
We The People: An Open Letter to Congress by Tom Chartier

Everyone I've ever cared about in modern politics is a huge Pink Floyd fan. I don't know if I could vote for someone who didn't listen to Pink Floyd on a regular basis. You can be sure that Bill Clinton listened to Pink Floyd, and I know John Kerry did. George W. Bush does not anymore, but I think he used to. Richard Nixon is the type of man who hated Floyd.

With all that said, Dark Side of the Moon is probably the most important album ever. It stayed on the charts for like an entire decade, and I'm pretty sure it still makes it on the charts at certain times, even though it was released over 30 years ago. There's no good reason not to own it.

At some point in every person's life they are introduced to The Dark Side of Oz. For those of you living in a cave, this movie is The Wizard of Oz synched with Dark Side of the Moon. It's so amazing, it's almost impossible to believe that Pink Floyd didn't actually make an entire epic album to sync with a movie that was already decades old at the time.

The version of the Dark Side of Oz I first saw in college was blurry, and the sound quality was not very good. I'm pretty sure it was just some cheap bootleg, created by someone with a bootleg copy of the original movie AND a bootleg of the album. Yeah, it was that bad, but the effect it had on me was great. I just had to see a high quality version of it, done by professionals.

Now there is a website,
thedarksideofoz.com, that sells an official package of the original Wizard of Oz, the official Pink Floyd album Dark Side of the Moon, and the synched movie, Dark Size of Oz. Just watch it once, and you will be so amazed you'll watch it again and again. When Dorothy opens the door and we see the colorful world for the first time, just as "Money" starts playing, the effect is incredible. You'll always want to listen more and more carefully, because the Pink Floyd lyrics seem to correspond with what's happening in the movie.

I found this great video of the best jokes of the 2006 election. Let's face it, there was a lot to laugh about. Mocking the hypocrits in power is not just damaging to their reputations, it's damn hilarious!

One of the most important tools that any political operative/pollster can have is the iPod. No, I don't use it to listen to important podcasts. I just need something to pass the time while on the road. If you don't already own one, you are so not cool. Anyway, here's a site that gives away a free one every day:
iPodSweepstakes.com

In addition to winning an iPod, you can also earn one from that site by completing some rather simple offers and taking surveys. And if you are still reading this because you don't have an iPod, let me just reitterate that you are so not cool right now. Wow. It's almost 2007. That would be like not owning a computer a few years ago. Just go to that site and win yourself an iPod, or work your way towards earning one.

When President Bush had the full backing of a Republican Congress, which was like a full week ago, he was able to sign into a law a bunch of crazy laws, while suspending others that have been at the core of democracy for centuries.

One law that somehow was suspended with little outcry from ever lax American citizens like myself was habeus corpus. Not only is habeus corpus at the center of democracy, it is perhaps the most important concept of our legal system. It allows people who are arrested to face charges and defend themselves of those charges. Without it, the government can detain whoever it wants and hold them for however long they want, without having to give any explanation for why they are holding a person.

President Bush tried to convince people that it was essential that we suspend habeus corpus, because many possible terrorist detainees could not face charges without exposing American secrets, such as interrogation methods or even information used before making an arrest. This information could aid terrorists, the president claimed. The problem with this logic is that too many innocent people can get stuck with no way of ever declaring their innocence or even knowing why they were arrested. This has already happened, with several dozen Guantanemo Bay prisoners released because they were only there based on bad information or mistaken identity.

Now that the Democrats are back in power in Congress, we should expect to see a return of habeus corpus, and the restoration of a basic right that we've taken for granted for the past four or five centuries. Let's hope we don't take it for granted again, and maybe next time we'll fight when someone tries to take it away.
Daily Kos: Leahy to Seek to Restore Habeas Corpus Rights

I know many people who will move on to the private sector now that the campaigns are over. Heck, many of the losing candidates have already accepted jobs in the private sector. Of course, many will be starting businesses of their own.

Growthink has an invaluable resource for entreprenuers. Their business plan help center offers such tools as a business plan handbook, market research, start-up cost calculators, cash flow calculators, and even slide presentation software. The calculators alone are something every new (and old) business should be using.
business plan resource
Successful businesses are often those that are well-planned from the start. You need to know whether it will pay off to make that big investment in a certain area of your business, or if that money is better off spent somewhere else, or not spent at all. Things like discounted cash flow might as well be ancient Greek to many new business owners, but understanding how to use a discounted cash flow calculator is key to understanding how much potential sales 5 years from now are actually worth today.

It's those little things that will often decide whether a business succeeds or fails, and Growthink's Business Plan Help Center is a great start to making sure your business does not fall victim to the latter.

I'm sorry for spending so much time on Donald Rumsfeld this week, but I'm a firm believer in kicking someone while they're down. This latest video comes from Kansas, where a Kansas State student asked Rummy to grade his performance as Secretary of Defense. Rummy didn't seem too happy with that question, and he gave that sly scratching the nose/flipping the bird gesture. I'm just glad he's come to terms with the fact that history will view him not just as a failure, but an American disaster.

President Bush, facing the worst defeat of his presidency, is also now facing the worst approval numbers during his first 6 years. Just 31% of American's polled are satisfied with his performance, a clear reason why Republicans in Congress were voted out of power last week.

Now that Democrats are able to keep the president in check, Americans want them to do so, but with moderation. Poll results show that they want the Dems to be centrists, not extreme leftists. That could be hard, as new Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi is widely seen as a leftist.

Perhaps the biggest mistake liberals have made in the past is trying to fight the religious right and the other far right conservatives with leftist politics just as far away from center. Let's face it, Al Gore lost in 2000 because he was not able to sway enough liberals away from Green Party candidate Ralph Nader. Nader supporters, including myself, saw Gore as too much like George W. Bush, and not liberal enough. That was a mistake. I would much rather have lived the past 6 years under a populist like Al Gore than under George W. Bush and his neo-cons.
NEWSWEEK Poll: Bush Hits New Low - Newsweek Politics - MSNBC.com

Wow, I've got a lot of free time on my hands these days, and that can only mean one thing: shopping online. I've been saving a lot of money with CouponChief.com, which offers coupons from a wide variety of merchants.

One merchant that is ALWAYS offering coupons on their products is Dell. It is absolutely foolish to ever buy a Dell without using a coupon. Here's a link:
www.couponchief.com/dell_coupons/dell.html
Other merchants on this site include Gap, Staples, Target, and Eddie Bauer, among many others.

They are constantly updated with new coupon codes, so it's the kind of site you'll want to check daily, especially if you are looking to buy a high value item, like a laptop computer or a plasma TV.

Campaign '08 has begun, with John McCain and his team of aides starting to "make decisions" about a presidential run. McCain's 2000 effort was derailed by a smear campaign from the Bush team, who somehow managed to convince GOP primary voters that McCain's military record had been exaggerated. That's pretty amazing, considering McCain spent many years in a POW camp, while Bush showed up for a few days of National Guard training in the dangerous battlefields of east Texas. Bush/Rove used Vietnam veterans to smear McCain, even though they did not serve in the same unit as him. Those same vets were later used as Swift Boat Veterans for Truth to smear John Kerry in '04.

Without having to face Karl "King of Smear" Rove in a campaign, I would definately say that McCain has the inside track for the White House. He'll likely face Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama, and he has a huge advantage over both. Hillary Clinton is hated in red states, so she will have a hard time getting any of them to swing for her. Barack Obama is part black, and parts of the south and midwest are still stuck in the 19th century. You want proof of those strong words? How about David Duke or George Allen. Both got a significant number of votes, despite racist leanings.
ABC News: EXCLUSIVE: McCain Begins Preliminary White House Run

My collegues, who are always changing in this line of work, are always amazed at the things I buy on eBay. They'll spend $1500 on a laptop only to find out I bought a better model, still wrapped in the original box, for $700 less a week later. They've tried buying more things on eBay, but they always seem to get outbid at the last minute by some jerk.

So what's my secret? I am that jerk. I've joined a website that I can tell what auctions I want to bid on, and how much I'm willing to pay. They will make my bid for me, in the last seconds, giving other bidders no chance to counter with a larger bid.
The site can be found here:
http://www.bidnapper.com
There are many benefits to this method. First of all, I only have to see an auction once and enter the information into the website. My schedule can be very busy, so I don't have time to sit around sniping eBay auctions on my own.

Second, I avoid bidding wars. When you enter a high bid long before the auction is over it gives your competitors a chance to counter. They will tend to "inch" their bids higher, feeling out where your high bid is. This pushes the amount you will end up paying higher. That's bad. With my method, they'll think they've got an auction won, and then at the last minute I enter the higher bid and the win. They never even know I exist until it's too late. This is important, because eBay pros will often research the competition on high value items. They'll see what other things you've won, to see how deep your pockets are. This could influence how they decide to bid. I don't want them to know that information.

The bidnapper site offers a free 15 day trial, which is a good way to find out if their service will pay off for you. If you buy things on eBay like me, it'll pay off in less than a week - or sometimes even in a day, I'm a bit of an eBay junky.

At a press conference the week before the elections, President Bush said that he wanted Rummy to stay on until the end of his presidency. The day after the Republicans were voted out of power, Donald Rumsfeld resigned as Secretary of Defense and the president immediately nominated Robert Gates to replace him. It was certainly the White House's decision to force Rumsfeld out.

When questioned about the timing of Rumsfeld's removal, Bush responded that he didn't want to make a major move right before the elections. That's fine, except he said Rumsfeld was doing a fantastic job and he would support him just 6 days before the election. That was a lie, and the press is all but ignoring it.

So Bush said he supported Rummy, and then he "reversed course," as his PR man Tony Snow would say. But that's not entirely true either, because in the November 8th conference the president admitted that he knew he was kicking Rummy out even when he said he supported him on November 1st.

What's the real problem here? Well, the president deliberatly misled the American people, and his followers specifically, by assuring them that Rumsfeld was staying. Then after election day, he immediately changed course. The lie was used to keep supporters on his side, and then it was exposed and regarded as "no big deal." Lies are a big deal, Mr. Bush. Former President Clinton told one tiny lie to America, and it almost cost him his presidency, and did cost him his dignity.
Media Matters - Bush acknowledged he lied about Rumsfeld, but media refused to call him on it

Every political campaign knows about Google Adwords. If they don't, then they probably lost their race on Tuesday. It's important to use resources for this type of advertising, because you want to present your best face to people looking for information on your candidate. Whether they do a search for your candidate or your candidate's opponent, you want your candidate's website to be listed in the search results.

Google is not the only search engine that has a pay-for-placement advertising system. There's also Megaglobe, a new international search engine that will probably play a key role in internet searching and advertising.

Megaglobe has technology that eradicates click fraud, which is important when your advertising dollars are competing against those of sworn enemies.

Megaglobe spiders are still working at indexing the internet, but you can make sure you get your website listed on there now. It's important to get websites listed early, even if a campaign is a year away, because search engine spiders like established websites, not sites that were whipped together last night. You can submit a website now to make sure their spiders will see it. Their sponsored listings will be available soon.

Targetted searches will play an important role for Megaglobe, as they operate 304 country-specific websites. That could be key to advertisers making sure their content reaches the people they want to see it for the lowest possible amount. Hooray for Megaglobe, for making a system so easy to use for advertisers while at the same time offering the content that search engine users are looking for.

Congressman Dennis Kucinich, who ran what can only be called a cult presidential campaign in 2004, has been making a lot of sense lately. He is calling for hearings to investigate why we got involved in Iraq.

In recent months, as Iraq has deteriorated, the president has had to backtrack on our reasons for getting involved there. If he says we went in there to spread peace and democracy, then our mission has been a failure. If he says we went in there to take out Saddam and gain control of oil, then we have succeeded to some degree. So he has changed his original stance and all but admitted that we went there for oil.

The problem with changing history at this point is that Congress had to approve our decision to go into Iraq. They did approve it overwhelmingly, but for the reasons that Bush is now backing down from. If the White House lied to Congress in order to get our troops in Iraq (and out of Afghanistan), it would create the strongest argument yet for Bush's impeachment.
Truthdig - Interviews - Rep. Kucinich: America Needs Iraq War Hearings

In late October, Claire McCaskill was trailing Republican Jim Talent in the race for an open Senate seat in Missouri. Then she ran the most successful advertisement on this year's mid-term elections.

The ad that got McCaskill the win on Tuesday night featured Michael J. Fox, clearly suffering from the effects of Parkinson's. He was supporting McCaskill, because she supports stem cell research.

Rush Limbaugh, the drug addicted conservative radio host, jumped on the ad like it was a Big Mac. He claimed Michael J. Fox was faking it, or perhaps he didn't take his pills. That comment didn't go over well with the public, especially people who have seen a loved one suffer from the terrible disease. Limbaugh apologized, but the damage was done. The defecit turned into lead for McCaskill, and she ended up winning the election by a wider margin than anyone had predicted.

If they GOP wants anyone to blame for losing control of the Senate, they should look to Rush Limbaugh. He tried to stick his fat face in a campaign, and he ended up swaying the balance of power in Washington.
Kansas City Star | 11/09/2006 | Democrats give credit to an unlikely angel

Election Day means the end of one campaign season and the beginning of the next. You might not be hearing ads for the politicians running for office next year, but trust me, they are already working on their "potential campaign."

With that in mind, I'd like to look at some tools that campaigns should be using to benefit the candidate while keeping costs low. One such tool is Online Safe Deposit Box from KeepYouSafe.com.

Every campaign needs to store a lot of documents, usually on multiple computers. These documents have information like the number or registered voters in a particular county and what party they are registered to. This can be of great help when candidates have to decide where they should spend time campaigning.

There are also lots of other documents that a campaign would like to keep safe from the press or a spy from the opponent. They might have dirt on their opponent that they don't want anyone to know they have.

Storing documents with an online safe deposit box allows people to save lots of information on a computer that won't be damaged when the sprinklers go off in their headquarters thanks to that sneaky operative from the other side. It's also possible to access these documents from anywhere, so you don't have to bring 16 laptops on every trip to some far-off county.

I remember reading this great piece of satire when it was first published in The Onion almost 6 years ago. It's scary to look back and see how close they came to predicting the future. The link for the article is below.

America under Clinton was a really good place to be. The economy was great, we lived in relative peace (besides the small-time conflicts involving specialized forces), and people were content with their president despite a minor sex scandal.

America under Bush is a much different place. Just as the Onion predicted, our peace did not last long under Bush's control. We have been at war for most of the Bush presidency, and most American's are not even sure why. Just as the article predicted, greedy industries like oil and defense contractors became rich under Bush's military-industrial state.

Fiscal policy under Clinton actually made sense. The federal defecit was turned into an surplus. Bush turned it right back around, even though he was supposed to be conservative. Is conservative now just a word to get southerners to vote for you? It certainly never seemed to mean much more than that to Bush. Anyway, read the article.
Bush: 'Our Long National Nightmare Of Peace And Prosperity Is Finally Over' | The Onion - America's Finest News Source

With the most recent campaign season over, it's time for many politicians to look back and determine what things worked well, and what things failed. I think one gadget that will play a greater role in future campaigns is the tablet PC.

A tablet PC is like a laptop mixed with a PDA. They have touchscreens that usually work with a stylus. Tablet PCs can be great on the campaign trail, because they are small and great for entering information while on the go. For instance, many campaigns send out "fact finders" to sense the feelings of voters. With a tablet, they can have a survey on their screen, and just enter in the potential voter's answers as they get them. This information can later be integrated into a large database.

It's important to pick the right laptop for the job. Some tablets are not so great with constant handling and shuffling around. Others are built to go anywhere and get stuffed anywhere, like between your shoes and belts in your suitcase.

One great site to find out about tablet PCs is TabletPCReview.com. They have plenty of straightforward reviews, plus news about upcoming models and even support forums for people who have problems with the tablet they've already bought. It's a great way to keep on top of what the next great tablet innovation will be, so you don't buy that mediocre model a week before a much better model comes out at the same price.

Donald Rumsfeld may no longer be Secretary of Defense, but that won't stop a lawsuit from being filed in Germany, accusing Rummy of war crimes for violating the Geneva Convention with regards to the detainees at Guantanamo Bay.

Some of the allegations against Rumsfeld include using torture tactics such as waterboarding, chaining to the floor, and sexual humiliation as part of a series of interrogation techniques.

Rumsfeld has often admitted that the military uses strong force borderlining on torture in order to get information, although it is not clear if much "good evidence" was ever gained from the practices. He has backed away from responsibility when those techniques have gone too far, or when guards seemed to use the prisoners for their own sadistic needs.

Rumsfeld has called the lawsuits absurd and politicized. While I don't believe it is fair to compare Rumsfeld with the likes of Hussein or Pol Pot, he should be held accountable for his actions, which violated international law and may have put Americans abroad at risk.
The Blotter

Yesterday, I discussed the issue of poverty in America. Today I came across an interesting concept that could help the poor while offering an investment opportunity for those with money.

Loans pay a big role in the poverty trap. Poorer people are unable to get low interest loans, and therefore have to pay more to borrow money. This limits the amount they can save. Nearly every wealthy person will agree that savings is the key to creating a fortune.

There may be a solution to this problem with loans. What if you could borrow money from other people, instead of big banking institutions? With the internet, this is now possible. Borrowers are rated by risk level, but are still able to receive a much better rate than they could get from a bank or, if they can't find a bank to lend them money, a credit card. Lenders get a high return because they are lending directly to the borrower, without huge middleman fees.

Here's one such p2p lending site: lending.zopa.com

These sites are also a great way to get seed mone