Indiana

20080613
Tim Russert - Barack Obama - John McCain - Internet - EMail - Media -  - Politics - Religion - Indiana - Illinois - US - Iraq - Iran - Military - Money - Social Security - 2008 Election
[NOTE: On the day MSNBC's Meet the Press television political journalist Tim Russert died, MSNBC published this interview with Tim Russert:]
"Vigilance needed on campaign claims: Big issues, not smears, need to be the focus." ... "Msnbc: Tim, www.fightthesmears.com is a web site launched by the [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate] Barack Obama campaign to combat potentially damaging rumor about the candidate and his wife, Michelle. Is this necessary?  How big of a problem is this really?" ... "Tim Russert: It’s amazing how much the Internet has changed our lives.  People get emails that make accusations without foundation and they are circulated around the country within seconds and suddenly become topics of conversations around water coolers or in lunchrooms." ... "I remember being in Indianapolis [Indiana's capital] covering the Indiana primary and a man came up to me and said he wasn’t going to vote for [Illinois] Senator Obama because he was very concerned about the comments made by Jeremiah Wright, Obama’s pastor.  I said, “That’s interesting.  As a reporter, I’m curious what comments particularly bothered you?”  He said, “Well, I can’t think of any that come to mind, but I also read on the Internet that he’s a Muslim.”  And I said, “Now wait a minute.  You can’t have both.  You can’t be offended by his Christian minister and then say he’s a Muslim.  You’ve got to pick one.”" ... "But that just underscores what we’re dealing with in this modern era." ... "Now I’m told there’s a counter organization with a very similar name that is going to be positioned and posted to spread the rumors, so that people that go to the Internet to get clarification will go to the wrong web site and get confused." ... "It’s a virus.  You have bloggers on both sides, liberals and conservatives, Republicans and Democrats all trying to utilize this vehicle without any kind of fact checking and without any kind of editorial control." ... "Msnbc:  Given the way people use the Internet, do you wonder if there are going to be some things said or done during the course of this campaign that will be very unsettling?" ... "Russert:  That’s what we have to be conscious of and vigilant against, particularly at the end of the campaign as things are put out there.  We’ve already had a few fake videos with different words dubbed in and people say, “This must be true because I saw it on the Internet.”" ... "What we hope to do in this campaign is recognize there are big differences on big issues between John McCain and Barack Obama – the war in Iraq, Iran, Social Security, taxes.  You don’t need to get into this other stuff.  If it does surface, then I think the mainstream media has an obligation not to just instinctively put it out there without vetting it.  Or, if it is something that is manufactured as a virus, report on that – who did it and why.  But sometimes it’s very hard to trace it back to its original source." -MSNBC

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20080602
John Hagee - John McCain - Joseph Lieberman - Racist - Homosexual - Religious - Military - Politics - Arizona - Connecticut - New York - Indiana - History - Germany - Israel - Iraq - US - 2008 Election - "Pastor Hagee: The Antichrist Is Gay, "Partially Jewish, As Was Adolph Hitler" (Paging Joe Lieberman!)." ... "On March 16, 2003, on the eve of the United States' invasion of Iraq, [Republican Televangelist] Pastor John Hagee took to the pulpit to warn of the coming Antichrist. In his sermon, "The Final Dictator," Hagee described the Antichrist as a seductive figure with "fierce features." He will be "a blasphemer and a homosexual," the pastor announced. Then, Hagee boomed, "There's a phrase in Scripture used solely to identify the Jewish people. It suggests that this man [the Antichrist] is at least going to be partially Jewish, as was Adolph Hitler, as was Karl Marx."" ... "This "fierce" gay Jew, according to Hagee, would "slaughter one-third of the Earth's population" and "make Adolph Hitler look like a choirboy."" ... "Exposed here for the first time, Hagee's comments identifying the Antichrist as a partly Jewish homosexual arrive in the wake of a furor the pastor provoked by describing the Holocaust as an act of God. Hagee's chilling sermon about the Holocaust prompted [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate and Arizona Senator] Sen. John McCain to reject the preacher's support, an unexpected turnabout after McCain spent over a year soliciting his endorsement." ... "Days after McCain's rejection, I reported that a key McCain ally, [Connecticut Independent Senator] Sen. Joseph Lieberman, planned to deliver the keynote speech at Hagee's upcoming Christians United For Israel (CUFI) summit. As the story exploded into the mainstream press, pressure mounted on Lieberman to withdraw." ... "[New York Democratic Representative Eliot] Engel is slated to speak on CUFI's "Middle East Briefing" panel this July. He will be joined on the panel by Republican [Indiana Representative] Rep. Mike Pence, Weekly Standard editor and New York Times columnist [and Fox contributor] Bill Kristol, and Christian right activist Gary Bauer." -By Max Blumenthal -HuffingtonPost.com

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LISTEN to McCAIN endorser John HAGEE claim the Antichrist will be a Jewish homosexual.
WATCH McCAIN endorser John HAGEE relate a story of how Florida Jews "mysteriously" voted for Republican George W Bush and subsequently explain, "And I believe it is because that this nation is doing what God intended us to do from the day that Christopher Columbus discovered this nation.".

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20080523
• John McCain - Randy Scheunemann - Charlie Black - Money - Politics - Foreign - Russia - Macedonia - Republic of Georgia - Zaire is the Democratic Republic of the Congo - Military - Food- Indiana - Arizona - US - 2008 Election - Law - "Senior Aide's Lobbying Efforts Highlight Challenge for McCain." ... "For a decade, [lobbyist] Randy Scheunemann has been a campaign staffer to [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate] John McCain, an ideological ally in the fight to contain Russian power -- and a lobbyist seeking the Arizona senator's support for former Soviet states." ... "The lobbying group Mr. Scheunemann founded in 2001, Orion Strategies LLC [Limited Liability Company], has earned $2.6 million from clients for whom Mr. Scheunemann directly lobbied [Arizona Senator] Sen. McCain and his staff, Justice Department records show." ... "In March, as scrutiny intensified, Mr. Scheunemann, who is the campaign's top foreign-policy staffer, sent a letter to the Justice Department's office for foreign-client lobbying registrations saying he had stopped working for clients such as Macedonia and [the Republic of] Georgia. However, his company's contracts with those countries, worth a combined $240,000, appear still to be in effect. A spokeswoman for the Georgian Embassy in Washington said the country's contract with Orion is active. The Macedonian contract is listed as active in Justice Department records." ... "Charlie Black, a McCain campaign senior adviser, has represented foreign leaders accused of corruption and human-rights abuses, such as Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire [now the Democratic Republic of the Congo]. He ended his relationship with BKSH & Associates Worldwide this year. Outside advisers and fund-raisers for the campaign include Wayne Berman, a registered lobbyist for an Indiana food-packaging company that sells to the Department of Defense." -By Mary Jacoby -WSJ.com

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20080513
• Corporate - Environmental - Health - Politics - Investigation - Manufacturing - Water - Michigan - Illinois - Indiana - Minnesota - Ohio - Wisconsin - "U.S. Senators Probe Departure of EPA Midwest Administrator." ... "The circumstances surrounding the resignation of Mary Gade, formerly the U.S. [United States] EPA's [Environmental Protection Agency's]  regional administrator for the Midwest, are under investigation by an environmental committee of the U.S. Senate." ... "On May 2, the "Chicago Tribune" reported that two top aides to Johnson demanded that Gade resign or be fired by June 1, 2008. She has since submitted her resignation and is currently on administrative leave." ... "According to the Tribune's story, Gade believed her forced resignation was due to her efforts to push Dow Chemical Company to clean up dioxin contamination in Saginaw Bay and Lake Huron stemming from its Midland, Michigan chemical manufacturing plant. Dioxin is a known carcinogen." ... "The paper also reported that officials from Dow Chemical had met with EPA officials in Washington in January 2008 because they were unhappy with Gade's approach, and that Gade's handling of this issue became the subject of criticism from her superiors in Washington." ... "On January 4, 2008, Gade terminated negotiations with Dow Chemical aimed at a settlement to conduct a study and interim cleanup actions for dioxin contamination along the Tittabawassee River system, the Saginaw River and the Saginaw Bay. The negotiations under the Superfund Act began in October 2007 with the participation of the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality." ... ""I am extremely disappointed with this outcome," said Gade on January 4. "EPA approached negotiations with high hopes and realistic expectations. Our team put in many long hours of good faith efforts that came to an unfortunate end today. EPA is now reviewing its options for ensuring that dioxin contamination in the river system and the Midland area can be fully addressed."" ... "An environmental attorney, Gade was appointed regional administrator of EPA Region 5 in October 2006 to oversee federal environmental programs in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin." -ENS

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20080508
• Barack Obama - John McCain - 2008 Election - Military - Terrorism - Israel - Palestine - Iraq - Pakistan - US - Indiana - North Carolina - "Obama: McCain is 'losing his bearings'." ... "[2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate] Barack Obama chastised [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate] John McCain Thursday for engaging in “smear” politics, and defended himself from critics who question whether he is capable of being commander-in-chief, during a wide-ranging interview with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer — his first sit-down since the Indiana and North Carolina primaries." ... "“This is offensive, and I think it's disappointing,” Obama told Blitzer, when asked his thoughts about McCain’s comments that the terrorist organization Hamas wants Obama to be president. “Because John McCain always says ‘I am not going to run that kind of politics,’ and to engage in that kind of smear is unfortunate, particularly because my policy toward Hamas has been no different than his." ... "“I’ve said it’s a terrorist organization and we should not negotiate with them unless they recognize Israel, renounce violence, and unless they are willing to abide by previous accords between the Palestinians and the Israelis. So for him to toss out comments like that I think is an example of him losing his bearings as he pursues this nomination. We don’t need name calling in this debate.”" ... "(Related: Obama: World wants to see U.S. lead)" ... "On the topic of national security, Obama said that the American people are looking for a leader with “good judgment” — a trait the Democratic presidential hopeful said he possessed." ... "“Whether it’s my judgment on Iraq and recognizing that that was going to be a strategic blunder, to my insistence that we need to talk not just to countries we like, but countries we don’t, to my assessment in terms of how we had over-invested in the Musharraf government in Pakistan and that was going to be setting us up for failure later on,” Obama said. “I think I’ve consistently displayed the kind of judgment that the American people are looking for in the next president.”" -By Mark Preston and Alexander Mooney -CNN

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20080503
• Barack Obama - Hillary Clinton - Gas - Politics - 2008 Election - New York - Illinois - Indiana - North Carolina - US - Guam - "Obama rips Clinton's gas tax plan." ... "Broadening his attack, [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate and Illinois Senator] Sen. Barack Obama said Saturday that [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate and New York Senator] Sen. Hillary Clinton's support for a summertime break from the federal gasoline tax symbolizes a candidacy consisting of "phony ideas, calculated to win elections instead of actually solving problems."" ... "Locked in a Democratic presidential race for the ages, Clinton and Obama campaigned across Indiana and North Carolina at the same time they competed in Guam's caucuses and added to their convention delegate totals in several states." ... "In all, four delegates were at stake in Guam half a world away from the U.S. [United States] mainland. But given the closeness of the race, both candidates made an effort to win." -CNN

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20080430
• Hillary Clinton - Indiana - Workers - 2008 Election - US - China - Military - Technology - Manufacturing - Corporation - "Clinton blasts Bush for not stopping a project Bill OK'd." ... "[2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate] Hillary Clinton loves to tell the story about how the Chinese government bought a good American company in Indiana, laid off all its workers and moved its critical defense technology work to China." ... "It’s a story with a dramatic, political ending. Republican President George W. Bush could have stopped it, but he didn’t." ... "If she were president, Clinton says, she’d fight to protect those jobs. It’s just the kind of talk that’s helping her win support from working-class Democrats worried about their jobs and paychecks, not to mention their country’s security." ... "What Clinton never includes in the oft-repeated tale is the role that prominent Democrats played in selling the company and its technology to the Chinese. She never mentions that big-time Democratic contributor George Soros [who also contributed to Republican John McCain's 2000 Presidential Candidacy] helped put together the deal to sell the company or that the sale was approved by her husband's [former Democratic President Bill Clinton's] administration." ... "In response, the Clinton campaign said that Bill Clinton's administration had gotten assurances at the time it approved the deal that production would remain inside the United States, and that the shift of jobs to China didn't occur until under the Bush administration." ... "In 2001, it [the Chinese manufacturing company] closed its original plant in Anderson, Ind[Indiana]." ... "And in 2003, it decided to close the Valparaiso [Indiana] plant, laying off its 225 workers." ... "Indiana politicians asked the Bush administration to intervene." ... "The [Republican President Bush] administration didn't block the move." -By Steven Thomma -McClatchyDC.com

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20080429
• Barack Obama - Hillary Clinton - Accounting - Indiana - North Carolina - Illinois - New York - Colorado - 2008 Election - "Obama Heads for Superdelegate Edge." ... "The 795 superdelegates, who can vote for any nominee, fall into one of two groups -- the elected and the unelected." ... "The elected are the party's 28 governors, 234 House members, 49 senators and assorted big-city mayors and state officeholders." ... "The nonelected superdelegates are the more than 400 national and state party officers of the Democratic National Committee." ... "Among elected officials, [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate and Illinois Senator Barack] Sen. Obama leads in endorsements from governors and senators. He is behind among House members by one, but both camps expect him to pull ahead unless he does badly in next Tuesday's Indiana and North Carolina primaries. If he doesn't stumble, enough elected Democrats are expected to back Sen. Obama after the last primaries June 3 to give him the delegate majority needed for nomination." ... "[2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate and New York Senator Hillary] Sen. Clinton still leads in endorsements from nonelected officials. Many have known her and former [Democratic] President Clinton since the couple's White House years, or worked for them then." ... "About 300 of the 795 superdelegates remain uncommitted; they don't have to endorse anyone until [August] Aug. 27 at the Democrats' Denver [Colorado] convention." -By Jackie Calmes -WSJ.com 

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20080423
• Tony Zirkle - Racism - Religion - Indiana - Illinois - South Carolina - 2008 Election - "House GOP [GOP=Grand Old Party=Republican] Candidate Spoke At Hitler Event:[Indiana Republican Tony Zirkle 2008 Election] Candidate For Indiana District Defends Speech At American National Socialist Workers Party Event Celebrating Nazi's Birthday." ... "A congressional candidate is defending his speech to a group celebrating the anniversary of Adolf Hitler's birth, saying he appeared simply because he was asked." ... "Tony Zirkle, who is seeking the Republican nomination in northern Indiana's 2nd District, stood in front of a painting of Hitler, next to people wearing swastika armbands and with a swastika flag in the background for the speech to the American National Socialist Workers Party in Chicago [Illinois] on Sunday." ... ""I'll speak before any group that invites me," Zirkle said Monday. "I've spoken on an African-American radio station in Atlanta."" ... "He compared his speech to other politicians appearing at Bob Jones University." ... "[Republican] George W. Bush, then a candidate for president, was criticized eight years ago for speaking at the South Carolina school, which teaches students that Catholicism is a cult. Also at the time of the speech, the school banned interracial dating, a policy that has since been dropped. " -AP via -CBSNews

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20080422
• Tony Zirkle - Racist - Indiana - Illinois - 2008 Election - "GOP [GOP=Grand Old Party=Republican] candidate defends speech at Nazi gathering." ... "Tony Zirkle, Republican candidate for [Indiana's 2008 Election] 2nd District U.S. [United States] representative, said he is willing to talk to any group that invites him, and that's why he addressed a weekend gathering in Chicago [Illinois] of the American National Socialist Workers Party." ... "The occasion was a celebration of the 119th anniversary of the birth of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler." ... "Photos an ANSWP Web site show Zirkle at the podium in front of the larger-than-life portrait of Hitler, flanked by an American flag on one side and a Nazi flag on the other. Swastika banners hang on the wall, and other head-table guests are wearing swastika arm bands." ... "The references [by Zirkle at the Nazi meeting] to prosecuting Jewish and Zionist gangs, Zirkle said, come from his days as a deputy under former St. Joseph County [Indiana] Prosecutor Chris Toth." ... "In an interview in early March with the [Indiana newspaper] Kokomo Perspective, Zirkle raised the idea of segregating different races in separate states. " -By Nancy J. Sulok -SouthBendTribune.com

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• Tony Zirkle - Racist - Indiana - Illinois - US - German - Military - History - 2008 Election - "Worst Campaign Idea Ever? Hoosier [Indiana Republican Tony Zirkle, 2008 Election] congressional candidate speaks at birthday party for Hitler, in Chicago [Illinois]." ... "U.S. [United States] Congressional candidate Tony Zirkle is facing criticism from one of his primary opponents, and a host of people on the Internet, for speaking at an event over the weekend that celebrated Adolf Hitler's birthday." ... "Zirkle confirmed to The News-Dispatch on Monday he spoke Sunday in Chicago at a meeting of the Nationalist Socialist Workers Party, whose symbol is a swastika." ... "When asked if he was a Nazi or sympathized with Nazis or white supremacists, Zirkle replied he didn't know enough about the group to either favor it or oppose it." ... "The Crown Point [Indiana] Republican spoke in front of about 56 "white activists" at an event honoring the birth of Hitler. The German leader was responsible for the genocide of millions of Jews and others during World War II." -By Jason Miller -TheNewsDispatch

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20080406
• John C Yoo - Torture- War Crimes - Criminal - Military - Intelligence - Law - Language - Politics - Terrorism - Government - Prisoners - Human Rights - California - Indiana - "Permissible Assaults Cited in Graphic Detail." ... "Thirty pages into a memorandum discussing the legal boundaries of military interrogations in 2003, senior [Republican President Bush's deputy Office of Legal Counsel] Justice Department lawyer John C. Yoo tackled a question not often asked by American policymakers: Could the president, if he desired, have a prisoner's eyes poked out?" ... "Or, for that matter, could he have "scalding water, corrosive acid or caustic substance" thrown on a prisoner? How about slitting an ear, nose or lip, or disabling a tongue or limb? What about biting?" ... "These assaults are all mentioned in a U.S. [United States] law prohibiting maiming, which Yoo parsed as he clarified the legal outer limits of what could be done to terrorism suspects as detained by U.S. authorities. The specific prohibitions, he said, depended on the circumstances or which "body part the statute specifies."" ... "But none of that matters in a time of war, Yoo also said, because federal laws prohibiting assault, maiming and other crimes by military interrogators are trumped by the president's ultimate authority as commander in chief." ... "It [Yoo's memorandum] repeats an assertion in another controversial Yoo memo that an interrogation tactic cannot be considered torture unless it would result in "death, organ failure or serious impairment of bodily functions."" ... "Yoo, who is now a law professor at the University of California at Berkeley [California], also uses footnotes to effectively dismiss the Fourth and Fifth amendments to the Constitution, arguing that protections against unreasonable search and seizure and guarantees of due process either do not apply or are irrelevant in a time of war." ... "Written opinions by the Office of Legal Counsel have the force of law within the government because its staff is assigned to interpret the meaning of statutory or constitutional language. Yoo's 2003 memo has evoked strong criticism from legal academics, human rights advocates and military-law experts, who say that he was wrong on basic matters of constitutional law and went too far in authorizing harsh and coercive interrogation tactics by the Defense Department." ... ""Having 81 pages of legal analysis with its footnotes and respectable-sounding language makes the reader lose sight of what this is all about," said Dawn Johnsen, an OLC chief during the [Democratic President Bill] Clinton administration who is now a law professor at Indiana University [Indiana]. "He is saying that poking people's eyes out and pouring acid on them is beyond Congress's ability to limit a president. It is an unconscionable document."" -By Dan Eggen -WashingtonPost

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20080321
• Barack Obama - Hillary Clinton - John McCain - Debt - US - Iraq - Military - Illinois - West Virginia - Indiana - Car - Oil - Household - 2008 Election - "Obama Links Effects of War Costs to Fragility in the Economy." ... "[2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate and Illinois] Senator Barack Obama on Thursday blamed the fragile economy on “careless and incompetent execution” of the Iraq war, imploring voters in this swing state [of West Virginia] to consider the trickle-down economic consequences of the war as they choose a successor to [Republican] President Bush." ... "“When you’re spending over $50 to fill up your car because the price of oil is four times what it was before Iraq, you’re paying a price for this war,” Mr. Obama said to an audience at the University of Charleston [in West Virginia]. “When Iraq is costing each household about $100 a month, you’re paying a price for this war.”" ... "“No matter what the costs, no matter what the consequences, [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate] John McCain seems determined to carry out a third Bush term,” Mr. Obama said. “That’s an outcome America can’t afford. Because of the Bush-McCain policies, our debt has ballooned.”" ... "[2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate Hillary Clinton in Indiana:] “We spend $12 billion a month in Iraq, and that does affect the economy,” Mrs. Clinton said. “That’s one of the reasons we’ve gone into more and more debt. We’ve got to begin not only to withdraw our troops, but bring that money back home. We need to put that money to work here in Indiana.”" -By Jeff Zeleny and Michael Cooper with contributions by Patrick Healy -NYTimes 

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20080222
• Rick Renzi - John McCain - Politics - Arizona - Indiana - 2008 Election - "Renzi to step down from McCain camp." ... "On his weekly blogger conference call, [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate] John McCain said that [Arizona Republican Representative] Rep. Rick Renzi (R [Republican]) would probably step down as co-chair of his Arizona campaign. McCain was unaware of the Arizona congressman's indictment until asked about it this morning after a town hall in Indianapolis [Indiana], at which point he said that you always think about the family in these circumstances and he would look into Renzi's role in his campaign." -By Mark Murray with contributions by Adam Aigner-Treworgy and Kelly O'Donnell -MSNBC 

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