No White House Run For Frist

Republican Sen. Bill Frist of Tennessee won't run for president in 2008, FOX News confirmed Wednesday. Frist, the outgoing Senate majority leader, leaves a long list of potential contenders considering a campaign for the White House. A formal announcement is expected later on Wednesday. Frist will end a 12-year run in electoral politics where he rose in the Republican ranks to the position of majority leader. Other potential Republican contenders include Sen. John McCain of Arizona, Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Sens. Sam Brownback of Kansas and Charles Hagel of Nebraska, Gov. George Pataki of New York and Rep. Duncan Hunter of California.

Iran Writes Letter To US

Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has written a letter to the American people, which will be released in New York on Wednesday, a state newspaper reported. The newspaper gave no details of the letter, but it would appear to be an attempt by the firebrand president to reach out to Americans over the head of their government. The state-run newspaper Iran reported the letter in bold type on its front page, saying "the five-page letter to the American people will be released by Iran's representative at the United Nations today."Ahmadinejad wrote a rambling, 18-page letter to U.S. President George W. Bush in May, which Washington criticized for not addressing Iran's nuclear program -- where the U.S. is leading the drive to impose U.N. sanctions on Tehran for its refusal to stop enriching uranium.Iranians in the street were disappointed by the cold response to the May letter because, while it did not make clear proposals, it was the first official communication between the two countries' presidents since the Islamic Revolution of 1979. Earlier this month, Ahmadinejad said he was planning to write a letter to Americans. "Many American people asked me to talk to them in order to explain the views of the Iranian people," Ahmadinejad told reporters, referring to his visit to New York to attend the U.N. General Assembly session in September. Ahmadinejad has alienated many Americans by calling for Israel's destruction and repeatedly dismissing the Nazi Holocaust as a myth. He also strongly supports the Palestinian militant group Hamas and the Lebanese faction Hezbollah, which the U.S. State Department lists as terrorist organizations. Twice this year, Iran has proposed talks with the United States over Iraq, but Ahmadinejad has said that for such negotiations to take place, Washington must change its behavior. On Sunday, he said Iran was ready to help the United States get out of the "Iraqi quagmire if the U.S. changes its bullying policy toward Iran."
Iran and the United States have had no diplomatic relations since 1979 when, after the revolution, militants seized the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and kept 52 people hostage for 444 days.

So...Who Are You Again???

The Democratic strategy of casting the election as a referendum on Republican conduct and policy has given Democrats majority control of Congress. But many voters have little impression of key leaders expected to now run the show (see survey details and crosstabs). Congressman Steny Hoyer is currently the Minority Whip. Though incoming Speaker Nancy Pelosi has endorsed John Murtha as the next House Majority Leader, many colleagues consider Hoyer the frontrunner. Still, despite his clout on Capitol Hill, 65% of voters don’t know enough to have an opinion of him (15% hold a favorable view, 20% unfavorable). Congressman John D. Dingell, a member of the House since 1955, will likely again chair the Energy and Commerce Commission. He's only slightly better known than Hoyer—39% have an opinion while 60% do not (14% see him favorably, 25% unfavorably). Congressman Henry Waxman, slated to chair the Government Reform Committee, is expected to spearhead Administration-vexing investigations that Democrats have been stopped from pursuing under GOP leadership. He's viewed favorably by 19%, unfavorably by 26%, with 56% "not sure." Gravel-voiced Congressman Charles Rangel, to head the tax-bill-hatching Ways and Means Committee, is known to 50% of respondents. He is viewed favorably by 20% and unfavorably by 31%. An earlier survey found that 24% of Americans have a favorable opinion of incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Howard Dean, the former governor and presidential candidate who currently heads up the Democratic National Committee is much better known than Congressional leaders. He is viewed favorably by 39% and unfavorably by 39%, with more voters seeing him "very favorably" (14%) than "very unfavorably" (12%). Dean's "fifty-state strategy" is credited with helping Democrats win seats in districts not originally regarded as battlegrounds.

Giuliani Beats McCain In Polls

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R) made it official on Monday, filing paperwork to launch a 2008 Presidential campaign. The action comes as Giuliani is the top choice of Republican voters nationwide earning suppor from 24% of likely GOP voters. Senator John McCain (R), considered by many insiders to have the early advantage, and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice are close on Giuliani’s heels. In General Election match-ups, Giuliani is tied at 46% support with New York Senator Hillary Clinton (D). However, Giuliani leads when matched against Senator Barack Obama (D) and former Vice President Al Gore (D). Clinton, Obama, and Gore are currently leading the Democratic nomination field. Giuliani, often referred to as America’s Mayor for his leadership following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, is exceedingly popular nationwide. He is viewed favorably by 63% of voters and unfavorably by just 27%. Still, he faces many challenges on the road to the White House. Despite his high favorables, Giuliani displays a consistently weaker performance than McCain when matched against Democratic contenders. Also, while many Americans are aware of the Mayor’s role following 9/11, not as many are aware of his standing on a variety of social issues. The Mayor’s views are closer to those of New York City than to the conservative Republican base. Some suggest that it is impossible for anyone with Giuliani’s views to win a Republican nomination. However, in light of the “thumping” received by Republicans during Election 2006, Republicans may apply a different set of criteria as they select a nominee for 2008. Last summer, Rasmussen Reports surveys found that Giuliani and McCain were seen as closer to the political center than either President Bush or Democratic contenders. The challenge for both men is that their stands create tensions within the party—both Giuliani and McCain are seen as closer to the Democrats’ political center than to that of the GOP. Rasmussen Reports has been polling every night on Election 2008 and will continue releasing daily updates until the winner of Election 2008 is declared.

Winning In A Global Economy

The challenge of economic competition from China and India will require transformations in litigation, education, taxation, regulation, environmental and health policies for America to continue to be the most successful economy in the world and the best source of high paying jobs and enough economic growth to sustain the Baby Boomers and their children when they retire, especially the transformation of math and science education in America. This is the single greatest challenge to our continued economic and national security leadership. Without a profound improvement in math and science learning, America will simply not be able to sustain its national security nor compete for high value jobs in the world market. For the last two decades, the Europeans have looked with scorn upon the American model of free enterprise. Their response to innovation and challenge has been economic isolationism, rule-¬rigging, and graceful decay. While they know that a welfare state and unionized work rules are expensive and inefficient, they’ve decided to live with them. In the United States, there exists a coalition of union leaders who prefer protection over competition; environmental extremists who value nature over the well-being and prosperity of their fellow citizens; and liberal intellectuals who distrust the fluidity and uncertainty of the market and prefer the orderliness of command bureaucracies. This liberal coalition complains about companies’ outsourcing jobs while insisting on corporate taxes that encourage companies to go overseas. They prefer that government impose on business obsolete, absurd work rules, even though these raise costs, lower productivity, and make America less competitive in the world market. These liberals believe in expanding regulation even when it fails to meet any cost-benefit test and clearly drives jobs out of the United States. The Left refuses to reform litigation or create a better system of civil ¬justice even though it knows the explosion of lawsuits makes it less desirable to create jobs and invest in the United States. The challenge to American economic supremacy from 1.3 billion Chinese and more than 1.1 billion Indians is vastly greater than anything we have previously seen. India’s embrace of capitalism and China’s bizarre combination of Marxist-Leninist government and free market initiatives will create a future where one-fourth of the world’s markets will be controlled by these countries. Those who advocate economic isolationism and protectionism are advocating a policy that could help China and India surpass the United States in economic power in our children’s or grandchildren’s lifetime.

Newt Gingrich's Bio

Newt Gingrich is well-known as the architect of the “Contract with America” that led the Republican Party to victory in 1994 by capturing the majority in the U.S. House for the first time in forty years. After he was elected Speaker, he disrupted the status quo by moving power out of Washington and back to the American people. Under his leadership, Congress passed welfare reform, passed the first balanced budget in a generation, and passed the first tax cut in sixteen years. In addition, the Congress restored funding to strengthen our defense and intelligence capabilities, an action later lauded by the bipartisan 9/11 Commission. But there is a lot more to Newt Gingrich than these remarkable achievements. As an author, Newt has published nine books including the best sellers, Contract with America and To Renew America and his most recent book, Winning the Future: A 21st Century Contract with America. In June 2005, Never Call Retreat concluded Newt's series of active history studies in the lessons of warfare based on a fictional account of the Battle of Gettysburg and its aftermath. And in Saving Lives & Saving Money, Newt demonstrates how to transform health and healthcare into a 21st century system. In his post-Speaker role, Newt has become one of the most highly sought-after public speakers, accepting invitations to speak before some of the most prestigious organizations in the world. Because of his own unquenchable thirst for knowledge, Newt is able to share unique and unparalleled insights on a wide range of topics. His audiences find him to be not only an educational but also an inspirational speaker.

Kim Gordon's Presentation

Wednesday’s guest speaker was Kim Gordon, director of academic services at Lindenwood. Along with a group interested parties, he has researched the affect that technology has and will have on humanity. The basic premise for his presentation revolved around one “fact” he had on his presentation, “at the current pace of acceleration, we will witness the equivalent of 20,000 years of innovation within the next 100.” Technological advances throughout the world have changed several aspect of the human race: culture, society, beliefs, health, longevity, population, and infant mortality. There is no question that technology has affected these areas and will continue to do so as we advance. Civilizations began about 30,000 years ago with an early death rate of around 25 years old and one child per 20-25 would survive birth. When the last ice age ended roughly 15,000 years ago, the world-wide population was around 450,000 and the average death rate was around 25-30 years old. 6,000 years ago marked the beginning of civilizations with the invention of the plow—humanity no longer needed to wander the earth where the food went, now they could settle and learn to farm an area of land. Moving ahead to the year 1800, the world’s population his 1 billion, the average life-span was 50-60 years old, and only 1 out of 4 babies died. Finally, the present numbers show that the world’s population is around 6.5 billion, the average life-span is 75-85 years old, and 1 out of 20 babies die. Obviously, there is a trend with respect to how technology improves the lives of humanity with innovations in areas such as health and medicine to increase the life-expectancy of individuals. To show how fast technology accelerates, he quoted Moore’s Law which states that the computing power of a PC doubles every 18 months. There’s no doubt that technology is accelerating as fast of even faster than it’s developed. He went on to postulate that by 2020, a computer will have the same processing speed as a human brain. If this is true, I personally see no problem with that. Society is impatient and needs information to be delivered at an almost instantaneous rate. At this point in his presentation, this is where things became somewhat controversial. He stated that he believes due to this acceleration in technology and some of the advances we could be able to make in the fields listed above, it could lead to one of four scenarios: extinction, terminator, Luddite, or singularity. The extinction theory is obvious—the complete destruction of life on Earth. The terminator theory holds that technology will produce machines which will, in turn, enslave or attempt to destroy the human race. The Luddite theory believes that sect of individuals around the world will attempt to sabotage technological advances in hopes of preventing the extinction or terminator theories. Finally, the singularity movement believes that technological advances will cause humans to become more than human. In short, he explained that this theory believes technology will enhance the human mind, body, and other areas to a point that the being no longer can be thought of as a separate entity of self, but rather more machine than human. As students of the media, we should be able be better understand and filter the information that comes our way, and I believe it’s very important that we analyze that information. We can’t live in today’s world and not at least have a basic understanding of technological advances or understand why a certain person is making a specific statement—is it to curry favor towards his side? This is a question that can only be answered by being well-informed enough to make that judgment. Personally, I believe this presentation was simply a great opportunity to scare a lot of people into learning more about what he has to say—if they want to, more power to them; however, I found parts of his presentation to be offensive, indoctrinating, and no place for a classroom. If he has a desire to push his views and his research, then do so in an environment where individuals will have the choice to listen to his “theories” and not where they are required to be there and take notes to complete an assignment.

Democrats Win House & Maybe Senate

Democrats won control of the House early Wednesday after a dozen years of Republican rule in a resounding repudiation of a war, a president and a scandal-scarred Congress."From sea to shining sea, the American people voted for change," declared Rep. Nancy Pelosi, the hard-charging California Democrat in line to become the nation's first female House speaker. "Today we have made history," she said, "now let us make progress." Lameduck Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., was elected to an 11th term, but several GOP officials said they expected him to step down as party leader and possibly even retire from Congress. The White House made plans for President Bush to call the speaker-in-waiting, Pelosi, first thing in the morning; he will enter his final two years in office with at least half of Congress in the opposition party's hands. "It's been kind of tough out there," Hastert said. Presidential spokesman Tony Snow observed: "It's not like a slap on the forehead kind of shock." By 5:15 a.m. Wednesday, Democrats had won 228 seats, enough for control, and were leading for another 4, which would give them 232. Republicans, who hold 229 seats in the current House, won 193 and were leading in another 10, which would give them 203.

Vote For Talent!!!

Obviously you have heard me discuss a great deal of political issues here within the recent past, and it's understandable that I do so due to the fact that we have a midterm election quickly approaching tomorrow. I'm going to take some time here to stump in support of Sen. Jim Talent of Missouri. I'm not even a citizen of Missouri and I support your incumbent senator. After having reviewed the choices that Missourians have in this election, Talent seems to be the only logical choice. Even though his opponent, Claire McCaskill, has been greately involved in Missouri politics for many years, she has been wrong on the issues time and time again. Let's not even dive into the fact that she has been involved with many controversies in your state. As state auditor, she has performed MAYBE two or three audits during her career, not even touching her husband's nursing home business which has a reputation of corruption. Senator Talent is a knowledgable man who knows how best to serve the people of Missouri. He has the proper stance on the primary issues: health care, terrorism, national security, taxes and immigration reform. We have important issues to take care of in this country, and we need the right person for the job--that man is Jim Talent. I hope and pray to God that every Missourian goes out tomorrow and votes for Sen. Talent to be re-elected to his office. VOTE FOR TALENT!!!

Senator Jim Talent's Bio

Senator Jim Talent campaigned for the United States Senate on a platform of health care, job creation, economic growth and national defense. Missourians elected him to serve the state in the U.S. Senate in November 2002. Previously, Sen. Talent served eight years in the U.S. House of Representatives (1993-2001) and eight years in the Missouri House (1985-1992). Sen. Talent is supporting Missouri interests on four key committees: The Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee; the Senate Armed Services Committee; the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee; and the Senate Aging Committee. As a freshman Senator, he holds numerous Senate leadership positions. Sen. Talent is the Chairman of the Armed Services Seapower Subcommittee and the Chairman of the Agriculture Committee's Subcommittee on Marketing, Inspection, and Product Promotion. In addition, Sen. Talent is a member of President Bush's Export Council and he was selected to serve as a Deputy Whip. Sen. Talent is working to be Missouri's health care senator. He introduced the Small Business Health Fairness Act to provide health care to small business owners and workers through Association Health Plans (AHPs). The bill would provide health insurance to millions of uninsured Americans by allowing small business men and women to purchase health care plans for themselves and their employees through their trade associations. To help the more than 70,000 individuals, mostly African-Americans, with Sickle Cell Disease, Sen. Talent introduced the Sickle Cell Treatment Act to help expand treatment and services for patients with the disease. The legislation has been called the most significant Sickle Cell Disease legislation to be introduced in 20 years. As a member of the Energy Committee, Sen. Talent is supporting a pro-jobs, pro-growth energy bill to help stimulate the economy, reduce energy prices and increase our energy independence. In addition, he has introduced renewable fuels legislation, the Reliable Fuels Act, which would secure a market for ethanol for our producers, create jobs in Missouri and reduce our dependence on foreign sources of fuel. In an effort to build on the success of the historic, bipartisan 1996 welfare reform law, Sen. Talent has introduced the Compassion and Personal Responsibility Act. This anti-poverty legislation will help more people realize the American dream through work, independence, opportunity and healthy marriages. President Bush and the Senate leadership support Sen. Talent's bill.

Jeremy Denk & The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra

Jeremy Denk was a 1998 recipient of the Avery Fisher Career Grant and in 1997 won the Young Concert Artists International Auditions, both of which helped launch his national career as a recitalist and concerto soloist. He has appeared with the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Dallas Symphony, and the London Philharmonia, among others, and makes his debuts with the symphony orchestras of Houston and San Francisco this season. He is also touring as soloist with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, with which he will make his Carnegie Hall debut. He made his New York recital debut at Alice Tully Hall in April 1997 as the recipient of the Juilliard School’s Piano Debut Award, and since then has appeared regularly in recital in Boston, Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C. This last summer he was called at the last minute to replace Emanuel Ax for two recitals at the Mostly Mozart Festival, performances which were acclaimed in both The New Yorker and the New York Times. This season includes a survey of all the Partitas of Bach, all-Beethoven programs, and the Berg Chamber Concerto. He has been a featured artist-in-residence on NPR’s Performance Today. Solidly committed to chamber music, Mr. Denk has collaborated with several leading string quartets, among them the Borromeo, Brentano, Colorado, and Shanghai ensembles, and has appeared at the Seattle and the Santa Fe chamber music festivals, and the Spoleto Festivals in Italy and Charleston, among others. He has spent six summers at the Marlboro Music Festival in Vermont and been part of “Musicians from Marlboro” national tours. He has regularly collaborated with the violinist Joshua Bell, appearing in Carnegie Hall in March 2006, as well as in two performances at the Wigmore Hall Schubert Festival in May 2006. Mr. Denk is a member of the faculty of the Bard College Conservatory of Music. He received both a B.A. in chemistry from Oberlin College and a music degree from the Oberlin Conservatory, where he studied with Joseph Schwartz. He earned a master’s degree in music from Indiana University as a pupil of György Sebök, and a doctorate in piano performance from the Juilliard School, where he worked with Herbert Stessin. Jeremy Denk debuts with the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra this weekend.

Senator John Kerry's Offensive Remarks

"You know, education, if you make the most of it, you study hard, you do your homework and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. If you don't, you get stuck in Iraq." This comment has been broadcasted across the airwaves of television and radio during the past 24 hours. Senator John Kerry of Massachusettes made this comment to a group of students just yesterday during a speech he was giving to promote some of his fellow democratic candidates for the upcoming elections next week. For some reason, he doesn't get it--he needs to keep his mouth shut; otherwise, we find that he spurts-out comments that are taken offensively towards the average American. Of course, he says that it was a bad joke that was taken out of context; however, if this is true, then why are some of his fellow Democrats creating distance from him? That's because his comment was sincere and he intended it to be offensive because he does NOT support our troops in Iraq and he hates the man he lost to in the 2004 Presidential Election, George W. Bush. I'm sick and tired of the bash and smear campaign against President Bush when he has done nothing but good things for this country. Granted, I don't agree with each of his tactics in the War on Terror; however, I certainly would trust him with my security far over that of Senator Kerry. Just remember with the upcoming elections next week...if you care about morals, values, life, lower taxes, revamped social secuity, and increased security for our country, then be sure to vote Republican. A vote for a Democrat is a vote for a defeat of America and the War on Terror.