Archive | September 2011

The Daily Caller Title Lists First, Third and Forth Place Candidates, Ignoring Ron Paul in 2nd Place

Sep22

Poll: Romney leads New Hampshire, Huntsman in third, Perry in fourth

 By Alexis Levinson – The Daily Caller | The Daily Caller – 2 hrs 22 mins ago

http://news.yahoo.com/poll-romney-leads-hampshire-huntsman-third-perry-fourth-150212964.html?ugccmt_success=NONJS_POST_SUCCESS#ugccmt-post-frm-container 

Mitt Romney still holds a commanding lead in New Hampshire, a state where Perry has barely broken through, according to a poll released Thursday.

The Suffolk University/7News poll found Romney leading with 41 percent of the vote from independents and Republicans. His closest competition is Ron Paul, with 14 percent, followed by Jon Huntsman with an uncharacteristically high 10 percent. Perry, who has topped most national polls since announcing his candidacy, does not even break double digits, getting just 8 percent of the primary vote.

Romney continues to have high popularity in the state, with 69 percent saying they hold a favorable opinion of him and just 20 percent saying they hold an unfavorable opinion. Voters are still much more ambiguous when it comes to Huntsman: Twenty-six percent say they have a favorable opinion of him, and 24 percent hold an unfavorable one. Another 24 percent have never heard of him, and 26 percent have yet to form an opinion.

Approximately one-third of New Hampshire primary voters have either not heard of Perry or have yet to decide what they think of him. Among the remaining voters, 36 percent say they have a favorable opinion of him, while 32 percent say they have an unfavorable opinion.

In New Hampshire, Romney is still seen as the favorite to win the election, with 28 percent saying they expect him to be the next president. Twenty-two percent expect Obama to win re-election, and 12 percent say Perry will be the next president. Thirty-two percent are undecided.

In the 400-person sample of likely New Hampshire primary voters, 50 percent say they are Republicans, 42 percent unenrolled or independent, and 6 percent Democrats. Ideologically, 49 percent describe themselves as conservative, 42 percent as moderate, and 7 percent as liberal.

That demographic breakdown has some New Hampshire strategists dismissing the results.

“It’s crap,” emailed Patrick Hynes, a national Republican strategist who lives in New Hampshire. “Way too many independents (42-ish percent) sampled and way too many self identified liberals/moderates (49 percent).”

“The numbers don’t make too much sense,” emailed New Hampshire Republican strategist Mike Dennehy. “Their sample includes 42 percent independents — should be 30 percent — and 49 percent are moderates/liberals which is WAY off — should be 35 at most. That’s why Romney is so high and explains Huntsman at 10.”

Perry’s results seem somewhat low, given the 27 endorsements from state representatives he announced Wednesday. Dennehy said the numbers were probably somewhat off for Perry, given that conservatives — the demographic with which he gets the highest support in other polls — were underrepresented in the sample, but noted that the Texas governor has yet to make a major play in New Hampshire.

“I believe Perry is at about 15 when you factor in more conservatives voters. Either way, Perry hasn’t been here too much and he hasn’t had any town hall style meetings. When he spends more time and campaigns the way he needs to I think he can do well. But New Hampshire is still Mitt’s to lose and he is extremely strong. And with respect to Huntsman, it’s important to note as many people dislike him as actually like him, which is a very unenviable place to be. That being said, he still has an opportunity but he’s going to need to spend a substantial amount of money to build a positive image.”

 The Christian Science monitor covers the lack of media coverage.

Understanding the Root Cause of Suicide Terrorism

Sep18

Professor Robert Pape has thoroughly researched suicide terrorism and summarizes his research in the videos below, in a lecture called Dying to Win.  We are involved in at least 3 very expensive wars; therefore, it’s imperative that we understand the root cause of suicide terrorism.  All Americans should watch these 4 videos to gain knowledge about the problem and hopefully develop the wisdom to stop suicide terrorism and end these wars.

Why does Professor Pape focus on suicide terrorism?  He states that suicide terrorism kills an average of 12 times more people than terrorism where the terrorist is not committing suicide. 

Suicide terrorism began in the early 1980′s.  According to Pape, suicide terrorism is a recent phenomenon that didn’t exist prior to 1980.  Interestingly and importantly, no Hezbollah suicide attacks have occurred since May 2000, when the Israeli army left southern Lebanon.

The majority of terrorism is not religiously motivated.  Professor Pape’s research shows that the world leader of suicide terrorism is the Tamils in Sri Lanka, not a Muslim group.  The Tamils are a Marxist secular group, of which some are Hindu.  Furthermore, he states that 1/3 of terrorist attacks by Muslims are done through secular groups.  Over 50% are not associated with Islamic fundamentalism. 

How do suicide terrorist attacks prior to 2003 compare to attacks after the Iraqi war?  From 1980 to 2003, there were 343 completed suicide terrorist attacks.  During this time the Tamil’s committed the most suicide attacks.  About 10% of suicide terrorist attacks prior to the American invasion of Iraq were against Americans or American interest.  After the 2003 invasion, 91% are aimed at us.  Some of this increase is due to decreases elsewhere, but not all.

What is driving suicide attacks?  Pape says that what over 95% of all suicide terrorist have in common is that they are trying to compel a democratic state to withdraw their occupation or control of territory that terrorists consider to be there homeland or land they prize greatly.  In other words, most terrorist feel they have been invaded by another nation and hope that the violent acts will get the occupiers to leave.

Conclusion: While religion may be mixed in, the primary cause/motivation of over 95% of suicide terrorism is foreign occupation, not religion.  Mosques provide a network for demagoguery, but the religion is not the origin of motivation.  Muslims do not hate us because we’re free, but because we occupy their land, just as other terrorist groups are attacking those that occupy their land.  This coincides with the extensive research done by Gallup.  Michael Scheuer, CIA Analyst for the Bin Laden Unit, agrees that foreign occupation is causing the attacks to increase.  Invasion and occupation are not without consequences.  Blowback is a serious problem.   Presidential candidate Ron Paul is right when he tries to explain why we’re being attacked by suicide terrorists.  He is not blaming you and me but our foreign policy, which research shows is creating more terrorists, not less, and needs to be critically evaluated if we are serious about stopping terrorism and respecting our troops by bringing them home.  Our military people know these wars need to end, which is why Dr. Ron Paul receives more active duty military donations than any other Presidential candidate.  Ron Paul was right and is still right.

Coming soon:  A Suggested Reading List on the Subject.