Congressional Candidates Differ on State of Working Man

Congressman John Shimkus and his democratic challenger Danny Stover of
Centralia have greatly different views on the current state of labor. Both
discussed the topic while in Kinmundy Monday for the annual Labor Day Parade.
Shimkus notes it was the Senate Democrats who killed an increase in the minimum
wage because they didn't like the death tax reform that was included in the
same bill. Shimkus feels with the energy debate and with the new jobs to come
because of coal mines, Prairie State Energy Campus, and the power plant, things
are beginning to look up in Southern Illinois.

Shimkus feels more work still needs to be done at the state level on worker's
compensation for Illinois to fully take advantage of the growing national
economy.

Meanwhile, Stover feels the country can do a lot better. He says the rich are
getting richer and the average worker is falling more and more behind every
day. Stover says it's a sad situation when a corporation sends all of its jobs
overseas and when the government won't help out people with health care or
raising the minimun wage. He feels Labor will get together to take back some of
the government from those who have not provided the type of attemtopm and
Congressional oversight they need.

Stover blames the huge contributions that have been made by big energy and drug
companies. He feels voters will take advantage of the opportunity for change in
November.

Labor Day traditionally serves as the kick-off to the fall election campaign.

Vote Democratic on Nov 7th, Vote Danny Stover for Congress

Ron
www.WeDemocrats.com
www.USLINX.com

USLINX REDESIGNS SEARCH!

USLINX.com has made a bold move into the search field, first with the introduction of their search engine, now with redesign and upgrade.

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With different Search Engines, you get different results. With the collaboration of a partner with USLINX.com, and designer of the website, Irfan Musani owner of TechnoIntellects.com. We have managed to formalize results of multiple searches into one result that gives you What you want when you want it.

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USLINX.com and its Clik-N-Search, eliminates having to go site to site to search for what you want. We search the top search engines and their indexes all at once.

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According to research done by others, we find that 50% of searchers click on first page of results. We find that 35-55% of all first page results were successful, while at USLINX we are finding 73% successful. Just goes to prove that by using USLINX you have a better chance of finding what you want when you want it.

All top search engines are similar in function, deliver similar results, and index all available content from the web. For the most part they do a good job and provide quality results.

The fact that people are using 3 different engines and only getting 50% click thru on the first page, we see a lot of overlapping of searches. We concluded that people aren’t finding what they want when they need it, so we have redesigned USLINX Clik-N-Search to provide better and more relevant results all in one place.

Some columnist’s are calling us a MetaSearch Engine, and I guess that is what we are. We leverage the strengths of the Top Search Engines and provide the broadest view of the best results on the Internet, bar none.

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Only 7% of the non-sponsored search results were the same across all search engines.

20% of the time the top three search engines disagree on the same results across all search engines.

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About USLINX.com

USLINX.com is "Where you go when you need to Know" for Internet information related to e-business, online marketing, shopping and emerging technologies. USLINX.com gathers e-business information from around the world and all over the net, using multiple search indexes, bringing sources, reports, and daily articles to its visitors, as well as offering unique shopping experiences.

Corporate Communications
USLINX.com

Politics, technology, and doubt by association
Posted by Paul Murphy @ 5:38 am

One of the most interesting, and I suspect probably historically important, things to come out of the latest deadly spasm in the middle east was the extent to which the "blogosphere" was able to debunk dishonest reporting by the mainstream media.

Consider, for example, Johnson's role at littlegreenfootballs.com in co-ordinating the volunteer resources needed to prove that dozens of high impact photographs of Israeli atrocities in Lebanon were complete fakes - Or zombietime's painstaking review of a horrific and unprovoked Israeli attack on an ambulance that never happened but made graphic headlines in Time Magazine and dozens of comparably reputable new sources including the New York Times and The Boston Globe

What appears to have happened over the course of Israel's pursuit of Hizballah into Lebanon was that a lot of media professionals were genuinely taken in by the actions of a few - but their failure to do their jobs had global consequences. Here's the summary comment from zombietime:

Could it be that the entire [ambulance] incident is a fabrication? All signs point to "Yes."

If so, the implications are enormous, both for the outcome of the war and for the credibility of the media. Most analysts agree that Israel was pressured into a ceasefire due to international outcry over how it was conducting the battle. The media informed the public that Israel was intentionally targeting civilians; the public insisted that their governments demand that Israel stand down; international pressure was applied, and Israel caved in. And of all the incidents decried in the media — taking out infrastructure, destroying Hezbollah-associated buildings that had not been fully evacuated, and so on — only the ambulance incident could be held up as having no possible military purpose; all the other attacks were pointed out by Israel as being intended to degrade Hezbollah's ability to fight. Aside from a handful of stray missiles and accidents or misunderstandings for which Israel apologised, only this incident was "proof" that Israel was purposely aiming at noncombatants. So reports that an Israeli missile attack destroyed two ambulances played a role in shaping global opinion, which led to a ceasefire leaving Hezbollah intact.

But if the entire incident turns out to have been an elaborate but clumsy hoax, where does that leave the reputation of the media? Not a single reporter or editor doubted the story for a second. Or if they did, they certainly didn't inform readers of their doubts. Why did the media swallow the story hook, line and sinker? In their zeal to bash Israel, did they allow themselves, consciously or unconsciously, to be duped by Hezbollah supporters into broadcasting propaganda as news? Or is the media so eager to jump on any fresh scandal that they simply switch off their critical thinking and become absolutely credulous of any juicy tale thrown their way?

The people involved have made numerous excuses for their actions - they relied on local stringers of (retrospectively apparent) dubious integrity, APTN (Associated Press Television News) might have had a bad apple to two involved in video editing, the (singular) photographer involved had previously established a good track record, etc etc - and much of this sounds sensible and possible, except that the most condemned agency, Reuter, seems to be continuing the practice of what the bloggers are calling "Fauxtography." Meanwhile, not a single news agency caught this way has mentioned in any apology so far that political motivation might have had a role: the argument being that because George Bush supports Israel, Israel must be guilty and therefore fake atrocity reporting, like fake memos, becomes a fair means to a good end - and they certainly haven't mentioned the reality that their daily competitive bread and butter depends on the old adage that if it bleeds it leads and truth be damned.

All of this is big picture, world stage, direct life and death stuff and it's a very long way from there to the relative triviality of the OS, hardware, and management issues I usually talk about in this blog. But, human behaviour doesn't recognise boundaries of scale - and the thing I find most notable about Apple's MacTel debacle is the extent to which the mainstream Apple press has not just quietly gone along, but enthusiastically endorsed obvious fakery - like claiming price and performance advantages for MacTel over PPC when they have to know none of it's true.

Want a list of all Apple focused journalists who've seriously questioned MacTel? Try this one:

Yeah, and if the technology media community isn't doing its job with respect to Apple, what makes you think it's doing its job with respect to any other company with big media bucks? like Microsoft, or IBM, or Intel, or Dell?

If one understands the incestuous relationship between the Bush Administration and the mainstream media, understanding of these type of incidents is explained.

Vote Democratic on Nov 7th

Ron
www.WeDemocrats.com
www.uslinx.com

"It's too late to fix the national mood -- it's not going to be fixed," said Republican pollster Frank Luntz. "The major issues are not playing well for Republicans this year, and Republicans are not playing well with America this year."

History is also with Democrats -- the party holding the White House traditionally loses seats in a president's sixth year. The modern exception was 1998, when public unhappiness over the Republican-led impeachment of President Bill Clinton helped Democrats gain five House seats.

"This looks like a classic sixth-year election," said University of Virginia political scientist Larry Sabato, who called the president's low approval ratings, hovering at about 40 percent, "the single best indicator for any mid-term election."

A Democratic majority in even one chamber of Congress would slam the brakes on what is left of Bush's second-term legislative agenda and hasten his descent into lame-duck status in the final two years of his presidency.

It also would give Democrats an opportunity to hold hearings and investigate many of the administration's more controversial foreign, military and energy policy decisions.

Did someone say "IMPEACHMENT".

Candidates around the country will spend Monday's Labor Day holiday marching in parades, shaking hands at fairs and laying the groundwork for the final two-month push to the November 7 election.

KEY BATTLEGROUNDS

About 40 House districts and a dozen Senate seats will be the key battlegrounds, and they will be flooded in the next two months with campaign cash and appearances by party big shots.

Democrats are in the strongest position in the House, analysts said, where nearly every endangered incumbent is Republican. Independent analyst Stuart Rothenberg projects a Democratic gain of 15-20 seats, while the Cook Report lists 17 House seats as toss-ups -- all Republican.

But Republican House campaign spokesman Carl Forti shrugged off predictions of a takeover.

"We're nowhere near as bad off as the experts would have you believe," he said, adding Bush's low ratings and public dissatisfaction with the Republican-led Congress would not determine House races.

Where has this guy been?

In recent polls, Democratic challengers led Republican incumbents Rick Santorum in Pennsylvania, Conrad Burns in Montana and Mike DeWine in Ohio. Jim Talent in Missouri, Lincoln Chafee in Rhode Island and George Allen in Virginia also face re-election struggles.

The open Tennessee seat of retiring Republican Senate Leader Bill Frist is also on the endangered list for Republicans.

Democratic incumbents Maria Cantwell in Washington, Debbie Stabenow in Michigan and Bob Menendez in New Jersey face potentially tough races, and Democrats must defend open seats in Minnesota and Maryland.

Many voters do not start paying attention until late in the campaign and many candidates only start spending heavily in September, giving the races plenty of chances to shift before the election.

So wake up America, Start early and work to help the Democrats in November.

Unexpected events, like the capture of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden or a major terrorist strike, could quickly shift the political landscape.

I wouldn't put it past Bush and his cohorts to pull this one out of the hat.

"I'm a political realist. Can we win? Yes, but this is 10 weeks out and a lot can happen in 10 weeks," said House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi of California.

If the enthusiasm that was shown at the Democratic Breakfast at Du Quoin, IL yesterday is any indication, there is another upset in the making in IL-19 where underdog Danny Stover is fighting 5 term John Shimkus who has a warchest 13 times bigger than Stover. WeDemocrats are predicting a Stover victory in November.

Vote Democratic on Nov. 7th, and return the country to We the People.

Ron
www.WeDemocrats.com
www.uslinx.com

There is substantial support among U.S. Senate Democrats for a resolution demanding the resignation of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, a senior Democrat said on Sunday.

"I believe there is a lot of sentiment to push for such a resolution, indeed," New York Sen. Charles Schumer said on Fox News Sunday.

But the Democrats, hoping to win back control of at least one chamber in November mid-term elections, are seeking to attack the Republicans over the deteriorating security situation in Iraq three years into the U.S war there.

California Democrat Sen. Barbara Boxer has vowed to offer a resolution calling on Bush to name a new defense secretary, saying she was outraged by Rumsfeld's comments that appeared to compare Iraq war critics to appeasers of Nazi Germany.

Rumsfeld says his remarks in a speech last week were misrepresented.

It isn't just Democrats that have called for Rumsfeld to step down -- a Republican candidate for the Senate from New Jersey, Thomas H. Kean Jr., did so on Saturday.

"And the reason is not that we shouldn't fight a strong war on terror, but Rumsfeld's not doing a very good job of it," Schumer told Fox.

Another senior Democrat, Delaware Sen. Joe Biden, told ABC's "This Week" he would probably support a no-confidence resolution against Rumsfeld.

Senate Majority Whip Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, told CBS's "Face the Nation." "Democrats wanted to "wave the white flag" on the Iraq war. He said the Republican-run Senate would dwell on national security issues all through September."

Convienent to do so now, when elections are 65 days away, why haven't they done so all along, and what happens in Oct and Nov.?

Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean said on "Face the Nation" that "of course" Rumsfeld should resign, adding that it was not smart to attack the majority of Americans who thought the war in Iraq was a mistake.

"Secretary Rumsfeld and Vice President (Dick) Cheney have gone on television saying people who disagree with the president are essentially like Nazi appeasers. When you start attacking voters out of your frustration, that is not a good thing for winning elections," Dean said

Vote Democratic on Nov. 7th, WeDemocrats won't forget, or sidestep the issues.

Ron
www.WeDemocrats.com
www.uslinx.com