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Polls finds majority believe country is ready for a women president February 22, 2005 2:55 PM The Associated Press ALBANY, N.Y. A clear majority of Americans believes the nation is ready for a woman in the Oval Office. A new poll finds more than six in ten believe the country is ready for a female president. The poll by the Siena College Research Institute, which was sponsored by Hearst newspapers, gives new ammunition to people who believe Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton should run for president. Eighty-one percent of those surveyed said they would vote for a woman for president and...

The discussion starts at about 30 minutes into the video. Click on the link above, or here is the link: LINK

Let's admit it. Hillary is scary. And not only because she is extremely smart, totally driven, and a formidable fundraiser. Hillary's most impressive and most worrisome quality is that she is a self-improver. That girl can learn and change constantly even if it means contradicting herself. "That's not flip-flopping," I bet she'd say, nodding her head, which she always does when she's agreeing, "it's evolving." And let's admit this, as well: Most guys are either too self-confident or too insecure to work so constantly and so hard on trying to improve and repackage themselves. Not our Hillary. Remember how she...

We've had a lot of new folks join up recently. Welcome aboard, this thread is a gentle reminder of some basic posting guidelines. (And for some of you old timers as well) Please read the follow, and ask any questions. We will all try to help you out. SEARCH If it's a breaking news topic, check breaking news first, it's probably already posted. To avoid duplicate posts, please search before posting. Use the published article title to prevent duplicates. The best method to search is to pick a key word or two from the title. If the article you are...

As a social conservative and deeply religious person, she would face no bar in winning the votes of the Christian right, so crucial to winning the Republican nomination. Unlike former New York Mayor Rudy Guiliani (R) and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) — both of whom could probably win in November — she would be very attractive to the pro-life, anti-gun-control, anti-affirmative-action base of the GOP. America longs to put the period on the disgraceful chapter in our nation’s history that began when the first slave arrived at Jamestown, Va., more than 400 years ago. We also want to send a...

Human activities may have averted the next ice age. This conclusion from recent research is sure to make global warming alarmists cringe. Ongoing human activities during the past 8,000 years likely have served to prevent us from falling into an ice age, says William Ruddiman, former chairman of the University of Virginia environmental sciences department and his research team in Quaternary Research Reviews.. “Without any anthropogenic warming,” they write, “earth’s climate would no longer be in a full-interglacial state [warm period] but be well on its way toward the colder temperatures typical of glaciations.” Ruddiman’s team carefully studied carbon dioxide...

The two hot-button issues that President Bush wants to tackle this year — Social Security and immigration — are about to collide. Two members of Congress will try to block an agreement that the Bush administration signed with Mexico that would allow Mexicans who have worked in the United States, including some illegal immigrants, to receive Social Security payments. Rep. Virgil H. Goode Jr., Virginia Republican, will introduce a resolution today calling on the president not to submit the agreement to Congress. And Rep. J.D. Hayworth, Arizona Republican, has prepared another resolution to block the deal, called a totalization agreement,...

When we understand that our liberties depend on the sophisticated scheme of institutional limitations the Framers of the Constitution imposed on the federal government, we will grasp the urgency of the message of Mark Levin's new book, "Men in Black." In "Men in Black," Levin takes us on an engrossing ride through history detailing how the Supreme Court has arrogated to itself a sort of tyrannical power that threatens our constitutional architecture and freedom. We often hear of the dangers of an unchecked judiciary. But few of us have the historical, legal and constitutional background that sets this menacing problem...

WASHINGTON (Talon News) -- Congressman Tom Tancredo (R-CO) issued a statement on Thursday blasting soon to be former Homeland Security Sec. Tom Ridge after reports that funding for 2,000 additional border patrol agents mandated by the recently passed intelligence reform bill would likely not be included in the DHS budget proposal. "I'm disappointed but not surprised as Mr. Ridge has never taken border security too seriously," said Tancredo, head of the Congressional Immigration Reform Caucus. "It's equivalent to denying a crime ridden city more officers for protection, it simply makes no sense." Tancredo also expressed concern that three years after...

After the horrific loss of life in the Indian Ocean region from the record earthquake and resulting tsunami last week, I was struck by the immensity of what had happened. While scientists continue to argue over whether we can even measure mankind's influence on weather or climate in the face of naturally occurring hurricanes, tornadoes, heat waves, cold waves, blizzards, and floods, Mother Nature shows us that she still rules the day. There is no question that the Earth knows that humans live here -- six billion people are going to have some effect on the environment, no matter how...

By David Postman and Ralph Thomas Seattle Times staff reporters Alaska's elections director said yesterday she has 98 uncounted ballots from Washington's Nov. 2 election and would like to send them back here. Dino Rossi's campaign wants to see them. Washington officials say the ballots were cast as provisional ballots by people who said they were Alaska residents, and then the votes were sent north. Provisional ballots are given to voters on Election Day when they go to polling places other than their own, or their names don't appear in lists of registered voters. Washington, with one of the country's...

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Scientists said on Monday they have come up with a cell phone cover that will grow into a sunflower when thrown away. Reuters Photo Related Quotes MOT DJIA NASDAQ S&P 500 18.30 10547.06 2151.25 1190.25 +0.45 -45.15 +3.29 -0.92 delayed 20 mins - disclaimer Data provided by Reuters Materials company Pvaxx Research & Development, at the request of U.S.-based mobile phone maker Motorola (NYSE:MOT - news), has come up with a polymer that looks like any other plastic, but which degrades into soil when discarded. Researchers at the University of Warwick in Britain then helped to develop...

Washington (CNSNews.com) - An MIT meteorologist Wednesday dismissed alarmist fears about human induced global warming as nothing more than 'religious beliefs.' "Do you believe in global warming? That is a religious question. So is the second part: Are you a skeptic or a believer?" said Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Richard Lindzen, in a speech to about 100 people at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. "Essentially if whatever you are told is alleged to be supported by 'all scientists,' you don't have to understand [the issue] anymore. You simply go back to treating it as a matter of...

To save space, I hereby devote this post for all of you who feel compelled to chime in and gripe about duplicate posts. Save the valuable space by placing all such posts here. Thank you.

A comprehensive four-year study of warming in the Arctic shows that heat-trapping gases from tailpipes and smokestacks around the world are contributing to profound environmental changes, including sharp retreats of glaciers and sea ice, thawing of permafrost and shifts in the weather, the oceans and the atmosphere. The study, commissioned by eight nations with Arctic territory, including the United States, says the changes are likely to harm native communities, wildlife and economic activity but also to offer some benefits, like longer growing seasons. The report is due to be released on Nov. 9, but portions were provided yesterday to The...

<p>Dirt-poor Mexican teen Rodrigo Perez Sanchez illegally crossed the border into the United States in 1971 in search of a good job and found his way to the Northwest. Since then, he's worked hard, acquired a house and a few thousand dollars in savings. He's also acquired a long criminal rap sheet, including convictions for first-degree rape, felony assault and two instances of DUI. That criminal history -- and three previous deportations -- made Perez Sanchez a target for investigators with Immigration and Customs Enforcement based in Seattle, who arrested him and 54 other illegal immigrants last month. Since June, arrests of illegal immigrants such as Perez Sanchez around Washington have fueled rumors of wholesale dragnets in which ICE officers indiscriminately arrest any Latino lacking proper papers. But high-level ICE officials say they have neither the interest nor the resources to conduct "sweeps" targeting otherwise law-abiding, undocumented immigrants. "We never, ever pull anyone over just because we think they might be illegal," said Blake Brown, supervisor of a six-person Detention and Removal squad that covers Washington, Oregon and Alaska. "Our interest is in arresting fugitives." A review by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer of arrests by this squad between June 1 and Oct. 26 does not support the contention that ICE has been conducting indiscriminate dragnets. In that time period, the squad has arrested 94 people. Ninety-one of them were fugitives, defined as those who have failed to comply with a final order that they present themselves to be deported. Of the 91, 41 have criminal histories beyond immigration offenses, and 12 have been deported before. Three people without proper documentation that had neither a criminal history nor a fugitive warrant were arrested. Leigh Winchell, special agent in charge of ICE criminal investigations, also has responsibility for enforcing immigration laws. Winchell has fielded many calls generated by rumors of sweeps. "They are rumors -- no substance to them," Winchell said. And like his colleagues at ICE's Detention and Removal Operations, Winchell has to prioritize how his agents spend their time within their vast three-state turf. Winchell's agents are responsible for seaport security, anti-terrorism operations, money laundering, child pornography, narcotics, commercial fraud and illegal exports. "I need to have my agents focus on those persons who pose a threat either to national security or to the community at large. Therefore, when my agents start arresting people (on immigration charges), their focus is on those people who have a criminal impact on the community." But Magdaleno Rose-Avila, executive director of the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project, is not convinced by statements from ICE executives or the arrest statistics. "As soon as we found out they were doing these sweeps, community groups raised their voices," said Rose-Avila. "Their statistics would have been very much different if we of the ICE Melt Coalition hadn't raised our voices. We were looking over their shoulder." ICE Melt is an ad hoc coalition of community organizations that came together to speak out for the rights of immigrants in the face of what they characterized as "sweeps" by ICE officers. Its leader is Carlos Marentes of the Committee for General Amnesty and Social Justice. Marentes says he is concerned about the fear the arrests have generated in the community. ICE officers "were going to apartment complexes, they were hanging out in shopping areas, even outside (English as second language) classes," Marentes said. "By doing these types of activities without any information at these types of locations, it was causing fear within the community." When asked how immigration arrests can be conducted within a community that includes a large number of illegal immigrants without causing fear, Marentes said: "There is no simple answer. We understand that they are doing their job. What we object to is their inability to communicate with the community that is impacted by their operations." Marentes said ICE Melt suggested to ICE officials that they conduct a forum with the community, but did not get one. "We declined to do a public forum," ICE spokesman Mike Milne said. "When you have community forums, the meetings generally are contentious and not a lot of good comes from them." But Milne said ICE did agree to meet with community "and we gave them assurances that we weren't doing random, wholesale sweeps." It was a targeted operation, based on investigative work, which led to the arrest in late September of convicted rapist Rodrigo Perez Sanchez on immigration charges. In an interview at ICE's Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, Perez Sanchez described how easy it has been for him to return to the United States despite being deported three times. On one occasion, Perez Sanchez said, he "got drunk with a friend and was driving like this" and raised his hands aloft to demonstrate a weaving motion. "They stopped and arrested me and immigration showed up and deported me to Tijuana. "I just came back right away. I just walked around the gates at night." Perez Sanchez, now 54, said he had been back just two weeks when the same two immigration officers spotted him and deported him again to Tijuana. "I waited exactly one week and then me and another guy walked three or four hours, climbed a fence" and took a bus back to the Northwest. A few weeks ago, Perez Sanchez was on the job at a vitamin factory in Vancouver when a supervisor called him into the office. Two immigration officers where there to arrest him. "I said: 'What are you doing? I don't even have a parking ticket.' " But Perez Sanchez does have a conviction for felony assault as well as for first-degree rape of his 16-year-old stepdaughter. Perez Sanchez said he was drinking one day while his stepdaughter was using marijuana when he had sex with her. He admitted "having sex with her just one more time and that's it." When asked if the United States should allow someone with his criminal history to stay in the country, Perez Sanchez said: "A country is like a house. If you let bad people get into your house, you're going to corrupt your own people. I understand that." But since Perez Sanchez got out of prison in 1995, "I don't even have a parking ticket. I've tried to fix myself. Why don't they give me a chance." This time, it's not likely that Perez Sanchez will simply be deported again. Perez Sanchez was in U.S. District Court yesterday facing a felony charge of unlawful entry into the United States. If convicted, he's looking at two years in federal prison followed by deportation to Mexico.</p>

Has anyone read anything about the burglary aside from what David Postman and Asley Bach wrote? It seems only three computers were taken: the Executive Director's, the Head of the Get-out-the-vote effort, and a third computer which was read for shipment to the Southwest Executive Director. Someone knew what he/she/they were looking for...

There was no clear winner in Thursday night's first presidential debate, according to interviews with experts across the country. "It’s more relevant to talk about the winner in terms of expectations," said Shanto Iyengar, a professor of American politics at Stanford University. "Given the fact that this was President Bush’s home turf -- national security and terrorism -- he should have dominated. He didn’t. It’s a positive outcome for Kerry." Yet winners in debates are determined not in the minutes following, but in the 24 to 48 hours to come. "Anyone who declares a winner in this debate is a...