Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Should you leave the USA before the collapse? Words of wisdom from someone who tried

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Paul closes in on Gingrich

There has been some major movement in the Republican Presidential race in Iowa over the last week, with what was a 9 point lead for Newt Gingrich now all the way down to a single point. Gingrich is at 22% to 21% for Paul with Mitt Romney at 16%, Michele Bachmann at 11%, Rick Perry at 9%, Rick Santorum at 8%, Jon Huntsman at 5%, and Gary Johnson at 1%.

Gingrich has dropped 5 points in the last week and he's also seen a significant decline in his favorability numbers. Last week he was at +31 (62/31) and he's now dropped 19 points to +12 (52/40). The attacks on him appear to be taking a heavy toll- his support with Tea Party voters has declined from 35% to 24%.
Paul meanwhile has seen a big increase in his popularity from +14 (52/38) to +30 (61/31). There are a lot of parallels between Paul's strength in Iowa and Barack Obama's in 2008- he's doing well with new voters, young voters, and non-Republican voters:
-59% of likely voters participated in the 2008 Republican caucus and they support Gingrich 26-18. But among the 41% of likely voters who are 'new' for 2012 Paul leads Gingrich 25-17 with Romney at 16%. Paul is doing a good job of bringing out folks who haven't done this before.
-He's also very strong with young voters. Among likely caucus goers under 45 Paul is up 30-16 on Gingrich. With those over 45, Gingrich leads him 26-15 with Romney at 17%.
-Among Republicans Gingrich leads Paul 25-17. But with voters who identify as Democrats or independents, 21% of the electorate in a year with no action on the Democratic side, Paul leads Gingrich 34-14 with Romney at 17%.
Young voters, independents, and folks who haven't voted in caucuses before is an unusual coalition for a Republican candidate...the big question is whether these folks will really come out and vote...if they do, we could be in for a big upset.
Paul's supporters are considerably more committed to him than Gingrich's are. 77% of current Paul voters say they're definitely going to vote for him, compared to only 54% for Gingrich. Romney has much more solid support than Gingrich as well, 67% of his voters saying they're with him for the long haul. Among only voters who say their mind's totally made up, 29% support Paul to 21% for Gingrich, 18% for Romney, and 11% for Bachmann.

Romney's staying right in place. He was at 16% last week and he's at 16% this week. His net favorability was a +4 spread last week and it's a +4 spread this week. Gingrich's support is declining in Iowa but Romney's not gaining, just as he failed to gain when Cain and Perry and Bachmann collapsed before. One statistic that really jumps out- only 44% of Romney's supporters from 2008 say they plan to vote for him again. If he was even just retaining all his support from last time around he'd be in the lead. Like Romney, there's been little change in Michele Bachmann's standing over the last week. Her favorability was +21 (56/35). Now it's +18 (55/37). She's gone from 13% support to 11%.
Rick Perry generated a ton of attention in the last week with his ad decrying the repeal of 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' and the 'War on Christmas,' but it hasn't done much for his poll standing. He was at 9% and he's still at 9%. His favorability numbers are under water with 43% of likely voters viewing him favorably to 47% with a negative opinion. The only Republican who's less well regarded is Jon Huntsman. Only 41% of Iowa Republicans even oppose gays serving in the military to 28% who support it and 31% unsure...and Perry's only tied for fourth even with those who are opposed, behind Gingrich, Bachmann, and Paul.

http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/main/2011/12/paul-closes-in-on-gingrich.html

Why Dollar & Euro Collapse is Guaranteed

Monday, December 12, 2011

Latvia Bank Run: This Is What Your ATM Will Look Like During a Banking Panic

Ron Paul Highlights and Complete ABC News Yahoo Republican Iowa Debate

Edgar Steele - Ongoing Saga - Installment #20 - 12-10-11

(This installment was written during the 2.5 weeks Mr. Steele was in solitary confinement, maximum security lock-down. Our best information was that he was being allowed one 15-minute phone call per month. Two days ago, authorities have moved him into the general prison population. His current location is as follows:

Edgar James Steele - #14226-023, FDC Seatac, Federal Detention Center, P.O. Box 13900, Seattle, WA 98198).

If I’m Not a Political Prisoner, Judge, Who Is?
by Edgar J. Steele

December 10, 2011

“There is an attempt by some to call Mr. Steele’s case a politically-motivated prosecution. That is not true.” Thus spoke the judge at my recent sentencing hearing. Ok, judge – if not true, then why did you feel compelled to deny that I am a political prisoner?

If I’m not a political prisoner, judge, then why did you secretly listen in on my privileged attorney-client discussions during breaks at trial?

If I’m not a political prisoner, then why did you keep my world-class forensic sound experts and linguist from telling the jury how those two recordings clearly were fabrications? (351 anomalies, judge. 351! Just one was enough to put the lie to them.)

If I’m not a political prisoner, judge, why did you deny me a public trial? (29 sidebar conferences, all those secret hearings from which even I was excluded and all those sealed and now disappearing documents!)

If I’m not a political prisoner, then why did you let Federal Prosecutor Whelan use the US Marshals Service secretly to record all my “privileged” attorney-client telephone calls and in-person private conferences, as well as to open my “privileged” legal mail to attorneys?

If I’m not a political prisoner, judge, then why did you sustain virtually every prosecution objection at trial, while denying virtually every defense objection?

If I’m not a political prisoner, then why didn’t you let my trial witnesses testify to much of anything, while granting the prosecution every possible indulgence, with the result that the federal prosecutor’s case took a week and my own defense was forced by you into less than a single day?

If I’m not a political prisoner, judge, then why did you deny my key witness’ testimony by live video feed from outside the US, while allowing the prosecution to play the taped deposition of their foreign witness? Did you forget that the US Constitution reserved the “Right of Confrontation” to criminal defendants, not the government?

If I’m not a political prisoner, judge, then why did you force me to choose between my key witness’ testimony and my Constitutional right to not testify? And, why did you then alter the trial transcript to cover up the evidence of your having done so?

If I’m not a political prisoner, then why did you consistently deny me the right to present evidence and testimony that showed the government, especially the FBI, “in a bad light,” though that excluded virtually all my evidence in this, a case about government misconduct?

If I’m not a political prisoner, then why am I, once again, being held virtually incommunicado, in max-security, full-lockdown, solitary confinement, though I have proven to be the model inmate after 18 months, most of that in solitary, too?

If I’m not a political prisoner, judge, then why did you sentence me to 50 years, despite my age, poor health and the fact that ax murderers routinely walk after 8 years?

Why are there so many other inmates here, in prison and in jail, who consider themselves to be political prisoners?

If I’m not a political prisoner, judge, then why has America’s prison population tripled in the last generation (20 years), now to stand at 6 times that (per capita) of any other nation in the world, far surpassing Russia in the mid-1900s, WWII Germany and modern-day communist China?

If I am not a political prisoner, judge, why did you have to stack the deck against me, then deal from the bottom, anyway?

Simple fairness, judge, is all for which I ever have asked. If I’m not a political prisoner, why couldn’t you have afforded me simple fairness?

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