The "Freepers" have been skewing the poll numbers in a county commission race in MO.  Lets 'correct' the imbalance. Go to http://stjoechannel.com/content/poll/?po ll_id=561

to vote for Mr.Hook, the democrat in the race.  Public perceptions via polling can adversely affect election results.

I'd like to be totally honest here, I am a radio talk show host, and a conservative one at that.  But I REALLY want Progressive talk radio to succeed.  

Of course I am opposed to the fairness doctrine... I was in radio for many years under that onus, and believe me it STIFLES political speech, it does not encourage diversity.  The corporate suits who run the stations nearly universally forbade political discussions on air because they were terrified of the FCC fines.

On another note, the failure of progressive talk radio  is actually simple....its TALENT.  For some reason, I don't pretend to know why, most professional radio entertainers are conservative by nature, and their success is a function of their abilities to entertain and hold the attention of an audience.  

The Virginia Tech shooter was a piker. Check out some of these other mass killings:

Bath, Michigan school killings,  1927...45
Julio Gonzalez, Bronx, .................87
Jack Gilbert Graham, 1955 ..............44
David Burke , 1987 .....................43

Then of course you have your serial killers who kill only one or two at a time...but the numbers really add up:

Wayne Williams, Atlanta ............29
Randy Steven Kraft .................67
Ted Bundy .......................30~50
Gary Leon Ridgeway .................48
John Wayne Gacy ....................33
(very few of the killings above involved firearms)

But all these guys are rank amateurs compared to the pros...governments:

USSR (Stalin, et al).......61,911,000
China (Mao and crew) ......35,238,000
Nazi Germany ..............20,946,000
Viet Nam (Ho Chi Mihn)......1,697,000
Cambodia ...................2,035,000
Poland......................1,585,000
YugoSlavia .................1,072,000
Castro & Che .................513,000

Yet some a**hole is going to call for the disarming of the populace....go figger.  Without the second ammendment there can be no First Ammendment.

The short answer to that interrogetory is, "They will if they know what's good for them."

The brouhaha surrounding the candidacy of Mitt Romney has provided a lot of grist for the Anti-Mormon mill. Nary a week goes by that some pundit pontificates that America will never elect a Mormon, a religion so exceedingly strange that they have their own scriptures, living prophets, multiple wives, and magic underwear. Surely a candidate that subscribes to these strange doctrines can never be taken seriously on the national stage.

While it would be tempting here to examine these strange beliefs one by one and compare them to equally strange Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, or virtually any other religious tenet, I would like to focus on just one doctrine that, heretofor, has garnered virtually no national notice: i.e., The Doctrine of the Sacred Nature of the Constitution.

As I noted previously, the LDS (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) are unique in the world in declaring that the Constitution and other founding documents of the Republic are holy writ, on par with the Bible or other sacred texts. The Doctrine and Covenants, one of the LDS books of scripture, believed by them to be spoken by the mouth of God, is unequivocal in its support of the U.S. Constitution.

" And now, verily I say unto you concerning the laws of the land, it is my will that my people should observe to do all things whatsoever I command them.
And that law of the land which is constitutional, supporting that principle of freedom in maintaining rights and privileges, belongs to all mankind, and is justifiable before me.
Therefore, I, the Lord, justify you, and your brethren of my church, in befriending that law which is the constitutional law of the land;
And as pertaining to law of man, whatsoever is more or less than this, cometh of evil.
I, the Lord God, make you afree, therefore ye are free indeed; and the law also maketh you free.
Nevertheless, when the wicked brule the people mourn.
Wherefore, honest men and wise men should be sought for diligently, and good men and wise men ye should observe to uphold; otherwise whatsoever is less than these cometh of evil. " (Doctrine and Covenants 98: 4-10)

And again.

" According to the laws and constitution of the people, which I have suffered to be established, and should be maintained for the rights and protection of all flesh, according to just and holy principles;
That every man may act in doctrine and principle pertaining to futurity, according to the moral agency which I have given unto him, that every man may be accountable for his own sins in the day of judgment.
Therefore, it is not right that any man should be in bondage one to another.
And for this purpose have I established the Constitution of this land, by the hands of wise men whom I raised up unto this very purpose, and redeemed the land by the shedding of blood. (Doctrine and Covenants 101:77-80 )

Most Mormons clearly believe that the Constitution and the ideas embodied there and in the Declaration of Independence were inspired directly by God, Himself and therefore must be defended even to death. Another scripture reads:

" For behold, it is not meet that I should command in all things; for he that is compelled in all things, the same is a slothful and not a wise servant; wherefore he receiveth no reward.
Verily I say, men should be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness;
For the power is in them, wherein they are agents unto themselves. And inasmuch as men do good they shall in nowise lose their reward.
But he that doeth not anything until he is commanded, and receiveth a commandment with doubtful heart, and keepeth it with slothfulness, the same is damned." (Doctrine and Covenants 58:26-29 )

These scriptures have led many a Saint from Harry Reid (D-NV)to Mitt Romney to devote large portions of their lives to public service, and I have no doubt that Romney has prayerfully considered them, as well.

Will America ever elect a Mormon president? .... If they know what's good for them.

Steve Mitton
Host
RadioActive

The case of the kidnapped journalists forced to convert to Islam    has caused many people to rethink their priorities.  President Ahmadinijad of Iran had promised to "...carry Islam to the tops of the mountains and the bottom of the sea until the whole world speaks the name 'Allah'."

Forced conversions to Islam are a fact of life in much of the world.  (http://www.domini.org/openbook/ind200101 19.htm) And yet the American people seem to believe that he somehow does not really believe what he says.

As Democrats we must take the lead in condemning these acts of barbarism and lead the fight against this return to medieval mores.  Dems have always stood four-square against mythologies and superstition and in favor of rationality and freedom of conscience, and its time we did it again.

A perfect storm is brewing with a nuclear Iran practically guaranteed and underground nuke tests in the offing in North Korea.  The Bushies are not going to do anything about it and we need to point that out early and often.  Democrats who love action over rhetoric nee to come to the forefront now and make themselves heard and seen.

Admittedly, I am a hawk.  A position that puts me at odds with many others on this site although we would agree on most other positions.  A recent article by neocon Stanley Kurtz has me thinking.  Do we need to make a conscious decision now to be more welcoming to the DemHawks and avert an electoral tragedy in the near future?

Kurtz writes:
.....For starters, the dovish Democrats are doomed. In "Hawkish Gloom," I pointed in broad terms to the imminent hawkification of the United States. Well, Rosen's detailed account of a post-proliferation world makes it clear that the revitalized George McGovern-Howard Dean wing of the Democratic party cannot survive much past the moment when Iran gets the bomb. As soon as that happens, we're going to plunged into a proliferation crisis and a new Cold War, at least as dangerous as the first Cold War (arguably more so). At that point, the Democrats are going to beg Joe Lieberman to come back and give them his blessing. It turns out that we really are going to see a purge of the Democratic doves, and the accession of a Truman-like party, although it will probably take quite a few election cycles before the Democrats finally manage to remove taint of their Ned Lamont wing.

Funny how the very thing the doves don't want -- a preemptive strike on Iran, is the only thing that can save them. A nuclear Iran, followed by cascading proliferation throughout the Middle East and beyond, means the death of the dove. Even a negotiated and verifiable agreement to put an end to Iran's nuclear program is inconceivable without the sort of credible threat of force the doves have made impossible to sustain.

A fully nuclearized, multi-polar Middle East will put us onto a permanent war footing. With Americans building fallout shelters, running evacuation drills, and otherwise preparing for a terrorist nuclear strike, dovishness won't even be an option. Our political choices will probably be of two types. Exactly how hawkish shall we be, and how shall we shape our alliances?

After Iran gets the bomb, the fantasy that we can handle the post-9/11 world with our tiny military is going to disappear. As Rosen points out, the only middle way between helpless acceptance of nuclear terror and massive nuclear retaliation against countries that may not even have attacked us, is going to be through conventional invasions. Before, and certainly after a nuclear attack (even a terrorist and/or Iranian nuclear strike on Israel or Saudi Arabia), Americans will be forced to raise a large army capable of transforming the Middle East before final Armageddon strikes.

What's that you say? We tried that in Iraq and it didn't work. Well, after the bomb goes off, I assure you we're going to try it again. In fact, you'll demand that we try it.

I used to be a daily consumer of MyDD, Kos, and DU, but no more.  I have been trying valiently to get information on the Middle East conflict for the past 3 weeks from Democratic sources and I have seen almost NO stories on whats happening in Israel and Lebanon.   No one here or on any Dem blog seem to have even a passing interest in the subject.  What is the opinion of the MyDD'ers?  Why no interest in a conflict that will definitely affect us politically?  Why are we not speaking up on the most important news event in the world?  Are we really so myopic that we cant see beyond the next primary?

Come on guys, Speak up.

Why are none of the progressive blogs talking about Israel and the war over there?  Are we so myopic that if it does not benefit us politically we keep our mouths shut.

C'mon people.  This could be it.  How should Dems be responding to this?

I believe that we should stand shoulder to shoulder with the Jews on this and even the Bushies if need be so that we send a message to these people (Iran, Hezbollah, Syria, Hamas) that this kind of behaviour will not be tolerated.

What y'all think?