A new playbook for House Republicans urges them to run essentially as independents, showing empathy for voters, emphasizing local issues and ignoring many traditional party campaign practices. :sad06: (no one will see through that)

The advice for House candidates is part of an effort to minimize Republican losses in a year when voters are exasperated by the economy, the Iraq war and President Bush:

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0608/11402.html

Those proud Republicans!:laugho3::laugho3:

LEETON, Mo. | In this small town south of Warrensburg, directions usually begin with, “From Casey’s, you go …”

That would be Casey’s General Store, the only gas station in town. It’s where folks fill up while talking about goings-on, politics, weather and who’s got the best-looking tomatoes.

These days, they’re also cussing and shaking their heads about the price of that gasoline. People are doing that everywhere, but in small towns such as Leeton, population 619, it’s even more of a gut punch because nearly every working adult commutes to jobs elsewhere.

These days, there had better be a really good job on the other end of that trip.

http://www.kansascity.com/105/story/683605.html

In 1828, President John Quincy Adams’s reelection campaign reportedly traded on innuendoes that Rachel Jackson had been imperfectly divorced from her first husband. Since her second husband, Andrew Jackson, once killed a man in a duel for the same insult to his wife’s honor, Adams was perhaps lucky to lose no more than the presidency to Old Hickory.

So, while there are abundant signs that Republicans this year are itching to take the practice to new lows, let’s not forget that attacks on first ladies, actual or putative, go back a long way. And for all of the fear in Democratic circles about the damage these attacks could do to the Obama campaign, there are equally abundant signs that the Republicans have chosen the wrong spouse to trash and bash. Indeed, the proposed demonization of Michelle Obama as some sort of radical, honky-hating Shadow (racial implication intended) Behind the Throne could well backfire.

http://www.tnr.com/toc/story.html?id…a-d99b97442df7

Today, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) visited Worth & Co., a contracting company in Bucks County, PA, where he held a town hall. The visit is a slap in the face to the state’s unions, since Worth & Co. has been investigated by the state Department of Labor and Industry for “intentionally failing to pay the predetermined minimum wage” to its employees. The Intelligencer reports:

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/06/30/…-minimum-wage/

It fits right in with his Republican agenda! Speaking at a compnay that is breaking state laws on wages was a poor choice. What other poor choices will he make!

Why does the state force you to do jury duty? Failure to respond could result in a contempt of court charge with a fine up to 0.00 and/or a bench warrant.

If i’am picked to be on a jury, the state may be sorry. They really going to have to prove their case. They’re going to give me power, one of the little people who often has no power. I don’t convict on popular opinion, you have to show me something.

I should not have to be forced to go. Why don’t they have pro jurors, this way they will always have people who enjoy their jobs and the ones who don’t won’t have to go.

Today, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) visited Worth & Co., a contracting company in Bucks County, PA, where he held a town hall. The visit is a slap in the face to the state’s unions, since Worth & Co. has been investigated by the state Department of Labor and Industry for “intentionally failing to pay the predetermined minimum wage” to its employees. The Intelligencer reports:

McCain, who has already drawn the ire of union leaders throughout this country, will be visiting a company that earlier this year was under investigation by the state’s Labor and Industry Department over employee wages. At the time of the investigation, company founder Stephen Worth said he was being targeted by union interests who were going after his non-union shop. Union members plan to protest McCain’s visit.

Part of the state’s investigation focused on a subcontractor Worth had hired, that ultimately admitted to having underpaid its employees by nearly ,000. The state has accused the company of cheating employees out of 2,000 in wages for government projects.

McCain’s visit fits squarely within his anti-labor record. The AFL-CIO emphasizes that “there is nothing moderate about McCain,” who they call “a loyal ally of Bush who has consistently and perniciously voted against the interests of working families in his decades-long career in Washington.” Highlights of that long career:

– Helped block minimum wage hike in 2005 with John Kyl
http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/s…7/daily22.html

– Voted to filibuster minimum wage hike in 2007
http://news.aol.com/elections-blog/2…mum-wage-hike/

– Compared unions to monopolies, during a presidential debate
http://www.cfr.org/publication/14459…ent%26page%3D4

– Voted to block the Employee Free Choice Act in 2007, allowing workers to form unions
http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LI…n=1&vote=00227

– Skipped the vote on the Ledbetter Fair Pay Act in 2008, which would have made it easier for women workers to sue for equal pay
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/04/23/…-on-equal-pay/

Just last week, McCain didn’t even bother to show up to vote on a war supplemental that extended unemployment benefits. He was the only senator besides Sen. Ted Kennedy — who is undergoing treatment for a brain tumor — who didn’t vote on the measure.

Texas man cleared in shooting of possible burglars

HOUSTON (AP) - A Texas man who shot and killed two men he suspected of burglarizing his neighbor’s home cleared in the shootings Monday by a grand jury.
Joe Horn, 61, shot the two men in November after he saw them crawling out the windows of a neighbor’s house in the Houston suburb of Pasadena.

Horn called 911 and told the dispatcher he had a shotgun and was going to kill the men. The dispatcher pleaded with him not to go outside, but Horn confronted the men with a 12-gauge shotgun and shot both in the back.

"The message we’re trying to send today is the criminal justice system works," Harris County District Attorney Kenneth Magidson said.

Horn’s attorney, Tom Lambright, has said his client believed the two men had broken into his neighbor’s home and that he shot them only when they came into his yard and threatened him.

show_article=1&catnum=1″ target=”_blank”>http://www.breitbart.com/article.php…cle=1&catnum=1

FLAGSTAFF - Six people were killed and three were injured Sunday after two helicopters collided near a Flagstaff hospital and set off an explosion that blasted emergency responders off their feet, federal and local authorities said.

Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor said no bystanders on the ground were hurt.

No names have been released. Officials are still trying to reach the victims’ families.
The crash occurred less than 48 hours after another medical helicopter crash-landed about 30 miles outside Prescott, injuring its crew of three.

It is the second deadly helicopter collision in Arizona in a year. Last July, four people in two news copters were killed. Their aircraft collided as they were tracking a low-speed police chase through Phoenix.

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/224/4…daf632.jpg?v=0

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - A rocket fired from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip landed in southern Israel on Monday, putting further strain on a ceasefire brokered by Egypt.

An Israeli police spokesman said the makeshift rocket had landed near a kibbutz bordering the coastal enclave, causing no damage or injuries.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for what was the fourth such attack since the truce went into effect on June 19.

http://www.reuters.com/article/world…Name=worldNews

The Defense Department, the nation’s biggest polluter, is resisting orders from the Environmental Protection Agency to clean up Fort Meade and two other military bases where the EPA says dumped chemicals pose "imminent and substantial" dangers to public health and the environment.

The Pentagon has also declined to sign agreements required by law that cover 12 other military sites on the Superfund list of the most polluted places in the country. The contracts would spell out a remediation plan, set schedules, and allow the EPA to oversee the work and assess penalties if milestones are missed.

The actions are part of a standoff between the Pentagon and environmental regulators that has been building during the Bush administration, leaving the EPA in a legal limbo as it addresses growing concerns about contaminants on military bases that are seeping into drinking water aquifers and soil.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn…l?hpid=topnews