Romney told CNN’s Soledad O’Brien during a morning interview after his Florida primary win that his focus is on the middle class — and not on the “very poor.”

“I’m in this race because I care about Americans. I’m not concerned about the very poor — we have a safety net there,” he said. “If it needs repair, I’ll fix it. I’m not concerned about the very rich — they’re doing just fine. I’m concerned about the very heart of America, the 90-95 percent of Americans who right now are struggling.”

O’Brien jumped in, asking him to clarify his statement that he’s not concerned with the very poor. “I think there are lots of very poor Americans who are struggling who would say, ‘That sounds odd,’” she said.

“Well, you had to finish the sentence, Soledad,” Romney replied. “I said, I’m not concerned about the very poor that have a safety net, but if it has holes in it, then I will repair it.”

AWIP: Devastating anti-Romney film surfaces (Video)
Boston.com: People with Bain Capital ties give $3m to Super Pac that supports Mitt Romney
Russia Today: When ignorance not bliss: US politicians without borders - VIDEO

Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney won the Florida Republican presidential primary Tuesday, defeating his closest rival, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, by 47 percent to 32 percent. Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum received 13 percent while Texas Congressman Ron Paul trailed with 7 percent. - Voter turnout in the state was likely to fall below the predicted level of two million. With 96 percent of the precincts reporting, just over 1.6 million votes had been counted, suggesting the final total would be around 1.7 million. That would be a drop of about 15 percent from the approximately two million who voted in 2008, when Romney lost the state to the eventual Republican nominee, John McCain.

NYT: Romney Wins Big in Florida Primary, Regaining Momentum
LA Times: Mitt Romney's savage attack machine wins Florida primary

There's no gentle way to put it: People who give in to racism and prejudice may simply be dumb, according to a new study that is bound to stir public controversy. - The research finds that children with low intelligence are more likely to hold prejudiced attitudes as adults. These findings point to a vicious cycle, according to lead researcher Gordon Hodson, a psychologist at Brock University in Ontario. Low-intelligence adults tend to gravitate toward socially conservative ideologies, the study found. Those ideologies, in turn, stress hierarchy and resistance to change, attitudes that can contribute to prejudice, Hodson wrote in an email to LiveScience.

For Republican candidates seeking Jewish vote in the 2012 US presidential election, it is an open season to launch scathing attacks on the Palestinians and to show the Zionist side of their faces. - These candidates have been competing with one another in a cannibalistic way for months to take the most hard line position against the occupied people of Palestine. In a TV talk show on Thursday, one of these candidates Mitt Romney, the most likely to represent his party in the election, said US president Barack Obama sacrificed Israel by his policies, while his party's mate Newt Gingrich reiterated his racist slurs against the Palestinians and labeled them as an invented people. Romney claimed that the presence of Hamas (a resistance movement founded in 1987 during the first intifada) and its supporters among the Palestinian leaders was the reason behind the absence of peace between the Palestinian and Israelis. During a debate aired by US TV channels, Romney also said the [occupied] Palestinians teach their school children how to kill Jews, while the Hamas-Fatah speeches deny the Jewish people their right to statehood and call for destroying Israel. He added that the Israelis would be happy to have a two-state solution, but the Palestinians reject this solution and want to eliminate the state of Israel.

The Republican presidential candidate collected as much in a single day as the average American family makes in a full year. - Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney released his tax returns Tuesday morning, revealing that he collected income of $21.7 million in 2010 and $20.9 million in 2011, nearly $42.6 million over the two-year period. Not a penny of this income was from salary or wages reported on a W-2. Nearly all of it was investment income, including capital gains, dividends and interest.

Justin Raimondo: Adelson, Gingrich, and the Selling of America - If you want to know what’s wrong with our campaign finance laws – and our political system in a more general sense – look at the way Sheldon Adelson is buying the Republican nomination for his sock puppet, Newt Gingrich. So what is Adelson’s agenda? He and his allies have been campaigning for war with Iran for years, not only here but in the Middle East. Adelson is a major financial backer of Israel’s ultra-nationalist Likud party, which calls in its platform for a “Greater Israel,” and he has backed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the hilt.

PressTV: Obama renews anti-Iran war rhetoric

AIPAC: The Voice of America — Part 1: The Orange and the Pea
AIPAC: The Voice of America — Part 2 The Treasonous Dollar Drain

[PUKE READ:] Following is the transcript of President Obama’s State of the Union address on Jan. 24, 2012, as released by the White House: THE PRESIDENT: Mr. Speaker, Mr. Vice President, members of Congress, distinguished guests, and fellow Americans: Last month, I went to Andrews Air Force Base and welcomed home some of our last troops to serve in Iraq. Together, we offered a final, proud salute to the colors under which more than a million of our fellow citizens fought — and several thousand gave their lives. We gather tonight knowing that this generation of heroes has made the United States safer and more respected around the world. (Applause.) For the first time in nine years, there are no Americans fighting in Iraq. (Applause.) For the first time in two decades, Osama bin Laden is not a threat to this country. (Applause.) Most of al Qaeda’s top lieutenants have been defeated. The Taliban’s momentum has been broken, and some troops in Afghanistan have begun to come home. These achievements are a testament to the courage, selflessness and teamwork of America’s Armed Forces. At a time when too many of our institutions have let us down, they exceed all expectations. They’re not consumed with personal ambition. They don’t obsess over their differences. They focus on the mission at hand. They work together.

PressTV: Obama renews anti-Iran war rhetoric
Russia Today: Obama’s new fairytale: Peace and prosperity for war-bent US
Patrick Martin: Obama’s State of the Union address: War and wage-cutting

Alexander Cockburn writing about Sheldon Adelson's financing of Newt Gingrich:

"Some things don’t change in American politics, and rich people sitting in Las Vegas with pots of cash is one of them. Joel McCleary, a friend, remembers fund-raising in Las Vegas when he was working for the Jimmy Carter campaign in 1976. The crucial Pennsylvania primary was coming up and the Carter people (their chief fundraiser was Morris Dees) needed a big wad of cash for the final push against Henry “Scoop” Jackson of Washington, known as “the senator from Boeing,” also running for the Democratic nomination and favored by powerful labor chieftains in Pennsylvania.
Joel was told the go-to guy for untraceable campaign cash was Hank Greenspun, publisher of the Las Vegas Sun. Greenspun was a notoriously tough egg, former gun-runner for the Haganah, the man who, in the midst of the Cold War witch hunts, outed Senator Joe McCarthy in the Sun as a homosexual. Joel was told to act manly. Greenspun duly received him in his office. “Why the hell should I get money for Jimmy Carter?” he asked.
“Because Jimmy Carter is going to be president,” Joel answered boldly, “and if you don’t support his campaign he’ll fuck you.”
Greenspun told Joel to come back in two hours. He returned to find Greenspan sitting at a table surrounded by other toughs. In the middle of the table was a paper bag. “So the Baptist fuck wants money,” Greenspun growled, as he pushed the bag over to Joel. “Remember, this comes from the state of Israel. Don’t you ever forget it"

● SOME don't want you to look at the elephant in the room, just keep looking the other way; it is much safer, less controversial and much more "effective"
● SOME never bothered before and were vehemently opposed to joining PSC as a "matter of principle", suddenly they all became interested! They gather their hoards, from up and down the country and flooded the conference to "occupy" PSC by casting their most valuable "omniscient" vote
● SOME "know better" you see, they always know what is best for Palestinians, and for every one else. They know how to define words, how to create political systems, and what kind of governments should others in far away countries elect, and of course this has nothing to do with "authoritarianism", "Stalinism" nor with "cultural supremacy"Furthermore, while
● SOME frantically insist to keep PSC "occupied" with endless futile discussions on "anti-Semitism", "Holocaust denying" and "American Imperialism",
■ OTHERS, continue to create FACTS on the GROUND, for the advancement of their racist supremacist agenda...

A record 84 percent of Americans say they disapprove of the way the Congress is doing its job compared with just 13 percent who approve of how things are going, according to a Washington Post/ABC News public opinion poll published on Monday. - The disapproval rating for Congress inched up two percentage points since October and reflects a year of lows for Congress that ended in a battle over a temporary extension of the payroll tax cuts for 160 million Americans. Democrats and Republicans fought all last year over the best way to control the country's debt and annual budget deficit, as the two parties tried to position themselves for the 2012 elections.

Hundreds of Occupy Wall Street activists have rallied on Capitol Hill to “Occupy Congress”, decrying corporate influence on the American government in a direct message to lawmakers.

The protesters had permission to hold a rally on the Capitol's West Lawn. However one step outside the sanctioned area brought the risk of arrest.

Demonstrators were unable to resist the temptation to test the limits of police tolerance, and RT’s crew at the scene witnessed several people being arrested.

The protesters say that when the interests of big corporations are at stake on Capitol Hill, their interests, their voice, no longer count.

They are angry at the fact that the influence of money on politics in their country is only set to grow.

Following a Supreme Court decision, corporations are now allowed to funnel as much money as they want into promoting their chosen candidates for political office. Protesters call it legalized corruption.

Barely a week after presidential candidate Mitt Romney's role as former head of the private equity firm Bain Capital erupted as an issue in the Republican primary campaign, there is a concerted effort by the media to bring an end to the discussion. The Republican front-runner made an estimated $250 million during his years as the head of Bain from 1984 to 1999. - Romney's rivals, Newt Gingrich, the former House speaker, and Texas Governor Rick Perry appear to have pulled back from denouncing Romney as a “vulture capitalist,” and testimonials defending both Romney and the leveraged buyout industry have proliferated. The major financial interests do not want a broader debate over charges, leveled by Gingrich and Perry in an attempt to revive their campaigns, that investment firms such as Bain make money by destroying jobs and robbing workers of their wages, pensions and health benefits. Wall Street rightly fears that such a discussion will only deepen the growing popular hostility toward the capitalist system itself.

AWIP: Devastating anti-Romney film surfaces - VIDEO

An unprecedented number of Americans have voiced disapproval with the performance of the United States Congress, a recent poll reveals. - The poll conducted by the ABC News/Washington Post showed on Monday that a record 84 percent of Americans gave their lawmakers a thumb-down. The biggest concerns the voters had, according to the poll, were the country's unemployment rate and its current economic crisis. This marks the lowest recorded approval rating of the Congress in nearly 40 years. The poll also showed that 48 percent of Americans disapproved of the way US President Barack Obama handles his job. In addition, 75 percent and 62 percent of the voters disapproved of the Republicans and the Democrats respectively in Congress. The latest figures come as the country is due to hold presidential and congressional elections in less than ten months.

When Mitt Romney Came To Town — Full, complete version. - “When Mitt Romney Came to Town,” a film about Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s time as CEO of Bain Capital, is without a doubt the most serious attack on the former Massachusetts governor’s campaign. Produced by a former top Romney strategist, the film focuses on people turned out of their jobs at four of the many companies Bain Capital essentially looted, tapping into the popular discontentment with Wall Street to label Romney a “corporate raider.” [Video]

Evil Wall Streeters Welcomed As Chief of Staff At This White House. - All three of President Barack Obama’s chiefs of staff earned millions of dollars after passing through the revolving doors that lie between the Democratic Party and Wall Street. Yet Obama is positioning himself as Wall Street’s foe in the 2012 election, aided by millions of dollars in political donations from Wall Street companies, including Goldman Sachs. Rahm Emanuel and Bill Daley, and now Jacob Lew, are all career Democrats who have taken lucrative trips through those revolving doors, eliciting jeers from Republicans who say Obama is running an administration of crony capitalists.

AWIP: Ex-Citigroup exec replaces ex-JPMorgan banker...

Sheldon and Miriam Adelson wrote a personal check to Newt Gingrich's super PAC for $5 million late last Friday afternoon, and could send more -- though there are no promises. That's the description offered by a person close to the billionaire couple who is familiar with their thinking and the couple's long-standing relationship with Gingrich. The money is being spent in part to fuel a massive advertising campaign in South Carolina attacking Mitt Romney, who had attacked Gingrich aggressively in Iowa. Sheldon Adelson, who has houses in Malibu and Las Vegas, made his fortune in the international gambling business. His personal money was sent without condition to the super PAC because Gingrich "is an old friend in a time of need," said the source, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the topic.

Watch more Capital Account @ www.youtube.com twitter.com twitter.com The Iowa caucuses are tonight. Iowans will head to the polls to cast their first votes in the US primary season. The horse race is really underway here, but what real options do the American people have? What choice can they make that will have a positive effect on their financial future, not to mention their constitutional rights and civil liberties? It doesn't look to us like there is any leader who can unify the country. Obama had the political currency and the skill to do that 3 years ago, but he squandered it. So where does that put the rest of us now exactly? Feels kind of like the Twilight Zone, and we will bring in former assistant treasury secretary Paul Craig Roberts to tell us what he thinks. And speaking of the twilight zone, let's talk a bit about Iran. After all, it is center stage once again as the candidates look to out gun each other. Iran has threatened to act if the US navy moves an aircraft carrier into the gulf. This as New US and EU sanctions target the Islamic Republic. What doe this mean for Oil prices for you and I and is the US sabre rattling worth the cost? Well, again, we will speak to Paul Craig Roberts, an assistant treasury secretary under the Reagan Administration for answers to that questions.

After a disappointing fifth place finish in the Iowa Caucuses, Gov. Rick Perry of Texas is looking to build some momentum to salvage his campaign and, as is so often the case with candidates, is looking to do so with hawkish policy statements. - But while other candidates have focused on starting new wars, usually in Iran, Gov. Perry promised to re-start an old war, saying that not only did he believe withdrawing from Iraq was a “huge error” but that if elected he would reinvade. Predicting that Iran would enter Iran “literally at the speed of light,” Perry insisted it was vital to send troops back into the country, though at such a speed Iran would be able to travel from its own border to the Jordanian border on the other side of Iraq within 1.6 microseconds, so the opportunity to response would be extremely limited. Perry’s strategist sought to redefine the governor’s comments, saying that sending massive amounts of troops back into Iraq is “not an invasion, that’s common sense.” It isn’t clear however what makes it “not an invasion.”

Justin Raimondo: The Return of the Chickenhawks - What a joy to see Ron Paul take down Newt “Chickenhawk” Gingrich in front of millions of Americans. Slogging through fifteen Republican presidential debates was totally worth it just to witness this defining moment. Dianne Sawyer, who sounded like she was on Quaaludes, raised her eyebrows quizzically as she asked him if he stood by his previous characterization of Newt as a “chickenhawk.”

PressTV: Romney the liar tells tall tales on Iran

Allies of Newt Gingrich have launched their fiercest attack yet on Republican front-runner Mitt Romney, with a half-hour film designed to destroy his claims to be a job-creating entrepreneur. - The 28-minute video, which will likely show up on TV in the coming weeks, by the Gingrich-leaning Winning Our Future Super PAC assails Mr Romney for "reaping massive awards" while head of Bain Capital, a private equity firm. "King Of Bain: When Mitt Romney came to town" features "regular Americans" saying they lost their jobs and homes due to their firms being dismantled by Bain. A three-minute trailer for the film has been released, along with a preamble which calls Romney a "predatory corporate raider".

New York Times: Pro-Gingrich PAC Details Ads Against Romney as Predatory Capitalist
Richard Silverstein: Sheldon Adelson Funds $5-Million TV Ad Campaign on Gingrich’s Behalf

[He who pays the piper calls the tune:]

Haaretz: Sheldon Adelson: Gingrich is right to call Palestinians 'invented people'
AWIP: Gingrich calls Palestinians 'invented' people
AWIP: Gingrich Condemned for Calling Palestinians 'Terrorists'

Ron Paul May Have Secretly Won The Iowa Caucuses. - Ron Paul may have officially come in third tonight, but if the campaign's caucus strategy went off as planned, then Paul may actually be the real winner of the first Republican voting contest. That's because Paul's massive organizational push in Iowa focused on both winning votes, and also on making sure that Paul supporters stuck around after the vote to make sure they were selected as county delegates — the first step towards being elected as a delegate to the Republican National Convention. That's because Iowa's Republican caucuses are non-binding — they are technically just a straw poll, so once selected, delegates are free to vote for whichever presidential candidate they choose.

Is it time that the Cape Province rethinks its attachment to the Republic of South Africa? - With the ANC failing dismally to control it's own, and cadre deployment being the cause for the entire bankruptcy of more and more government departments, from the very top all the way down to the lowest levels. And now the call by it's non-government alliance partners to nationalize and scrap the provinces. Especially now with members of the ANC Alliance now calling for the total abolishment of South Africa's provinces is it not also the best opportunity for citezens of the provinces to rethink the union of the republic and call for self governance.

“I’m really excited about a lot of his ideas,” Cpl. Thorsen told CNN pundit Dana Bash from Paul headquarters in Ankeny, Iowa Wednesday night. “Especially when it comes to bringing the soldiers home,” added Thorsen. “I’ve been serving for ten years now and all ten of those have been during wartime. I’d like to see a little peacetime army and I think he has the right idea.”

Almost immediately, CNN’s Bash began berating the veteran and questioning him over his support for a candidate that would want to largely discontinue America’s foreign military presence. Bash pointed the camera towards a large tattoo on the solder’s neck that recognizes the September 11 terrorist attack and asks Thorsen how he could consider a candidate like Paul while other Republicans write him off as a security threat.

“Some Republicans out there have been saying that Ron Paul would be very dangerous for this country because he wants to bring troops like you back from your post from all over the world,” said Bash. “I think it would be even more dangerous to start nitpicking wars with more countries,” responded the vet.

At that point, CNN’s broadcast became scrambled, but Thorsen managed to begin, “Someone like Iran.” The soldier managed to squeeze off the word “Israel” before the broadcast ceased and the network returned to Blitzer live from in-studio.

CNN’s latest attempt at censoring Rep. Ron Paul’s message from the masses comes days after the network broadcast an edited interview of the candidate in which he is portrayed as agitated and irritated by a CNN host grilling him over controversial newsletters penned under the congressman’s name from the 1990s. After the broadcast, an unedited version of the interview circulated to the Web and showed that the station had largely doctored the original piece.

Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann is suspending her campaign, a GOP source familiar with her plans told CNN Senior Congressional Correspondent Dana Bash on Wednesday. - A Republican source familiar with Bachmann's plans told CNN Chief National Correspondent John King earlier Wednesday Bachmann "will acknowledge the reality of Iowa's vote" a at Wednesday morning press conference. King's source said, "she deserves the chance to say this in her own words but it is safe to say we don't see a viable way forward," and confirmed that a planned post-Iowa trip to South Carolina "isn't going to happen." King's source is involved in the campaign's post-Iowa deliberations but insisted on anonymity and on being characterized only as a GOP source familiar with Bachmann's thinking.

Once again, the Republican Party is being tempted to vote for "the lesser of two evils". A lot of Republicans are actually considering voting for Mitt Romney because they have bought the lie that he has "the best chance" of defeating Barack Obama in 2012. But just because he is the Republican candidate that is most like Barack Obama does not mean that he has the best chance of defeating him. The truth is that no self-respecting Republican should ever vote for Mitt Romney. A vote for Mitt Romney is a vote for the New World Order. Romney comes from the financial establishment, he is being showered with money from the financial establishment and he supports all of the goals of the financial establishment. This year, millions upon millions of dollars are being funneled into Romney's campaign and into pro-Romney organizations. The New World Order is literally trying to buy the 2012 election for their dream candidate. Romney would be the ultimate Wall Street puppet, and if you cast a vote for Mitt Romney you are playing right into the hands of the financial elite. If you do not believe that a vote for Mitt Romney is a vote for the New World Order, just consider Mitt Romney's positions on the issues...

According to a study reported Tuesday, nearly half the members of the United States Congress are millionaires. Of the 535 legislators (100 members of the Senate and 435 members of the House of Representatives), at least 250 are millionaires and the median net worth is $913,000. Sixty-seven senators are millionaires and the median wealth of the body’s 100 members is $2.63 million. While the Senate has long been known as a millionaires’ club, the transformation of the House is a relatively recent phenomenon. The median net worth of members of the House of Representatives, excluding home equity, has more than doubled over the last 25 years, from $280,000 in 1984 to $725,000 in 2009 in inflation-adjusted dollars. During that same period, the median net worth of an American family fell from $20,600 to $20,500.

New Yourk Times: Economic Downturn Took a Detour at Capitol Hill
Washington Post: Growing wealth widens distance between lawmakers and constituents
Washington Post: Richest members of Congress - Photos
Russia Today: Congressmen's incomes triple while America gets poorer

[At the end, parts of a speech by Ron Paul - Another World Is Possible does not necessarily share the political views of the Ron Paul campaign, however "in the country of the blind, the one-eyed man is king".]

At some point a sideshow to a story becomes so painfully obvious that it becomes the story, and this now should be: Why is the media taking such pains to knowingly and falsely claim that the new power of the military to detain and imprison people without charge or trial, for life, does not include US citizens? We know what happened. The Bill of Rights has been overturned. And enough has been written on the deceptive language first warned of by Congressman Justin Amash, when he told The Grand Rapids Press that the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) was "carefully crafted to mislead the public," for newspaper editors to know better.

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — President Barack Obama's sharp criticisms of Venezuela's human rights record and its ties to Iran are heightening tensions with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who on Monday responded by calling Obama a "clown" and telling him to mind his own business. - Obama appeared to stiffen his stance toward Chavez in his remarks, which were published Monday by the Venezuelan newspaper El Universal. Some of Obama's Republican opponents have also been strongly critical of Chavez, and analysts expect the Venezuelan president could become a popular target of criticism as American politicians feud over foreign policy ahead of next year's U.S. presidential election.

We voted for Obama because we wanted change. We voted for Obama because he promised to end Bush’s perpetual wars, clean up the mess which Bush’s financial tzars made, and restore the freedom and liberty which Bush attacked.

It's a new world! I get to say bought and paid for by the Israel lobby every other minute now without being accused of being a conspiracist because Tom Friedman said so in the New York Times! Well, here's another bought-and-paid-for group. United Against Nuclear Iran, started by Dennis Ross, the Israel lobbyist who then went into the Obama administration at a high level. And Gary Samore, who is still at Obama's right hand as his czar on weapons of mass destruction. UANI has big Israel lobbyists like Irwin Cotler, Leslie Gelb, Fouad Ajami, and Alan Solow on its board. You gotta open the window here and let me breathe!

Louis Aliot, partner of rightist presidential candidate Marine Le Pen, is in Israel to persuade those eligible to vote in the French presidential election to give their vote this spring. - The National Front has its roots in French fascism and it has always had a racist and anti-Semitic image, but one of its representatives is in Israel to recruit supporters.

"They invited me so they could hear our worldview and Marine Le Pen's platform, particularly in the face of the Arab Spring," Aliot said. The group comprised "Frenchmen who live in Israel, many of them of Algerian origin." What did he think of them?, we asked. "What was interesting was that it's not important what position you have on Israeli politics, you will always have strong ties to the land. We share that position," he said. "Just as the Jews are defending their right to Israel, we in France are fighting to defend our identity and our land. "We don't always see eye-to-eye on Israel's foreign policy but we have the same position on the dangers posed by radical Islam, which exists in Europe and also threatens Israel, which we call 'the western island,'" Aliot said.

The Core of the Patriot Act Was Drafted in 1995 … By Joe Biden - CNET reported in 2008:

"Months before the Oklahoma City bombing took place, Biden introduced another bill called the Omnibus Counterterrorism Act of 1995. It previewed the 2001 Patriot Act by allowing secret evidence to be used in prosecutions, expanding the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and wiretap laws, creating a new federal crime of “terrorism” that could be invoked based on political beliefs, permitting the U.S. military to be used in civilian law enforcement, and allowing permanent detention of non-U.S. citizens without judicial review.* The Center for National Security Studies said the bill would erode “constitutional and statutory due process protections” and would “authorize the Justice Department to pick and choose crimes to investigate and prosecute based on political beliefs and associations.”

In a speech to the Republican Jewish Coalition, Gingrich said, “If he will accept it, I will ask John Bolton to be secretary of state.” - John Bolton served a controversial tenure as U.N. Ambassador under George W. Bush, noted for his bad temper, aggressively hawkish foreign policy views, and for the fact that he never won Senate confirmation. He is now a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.

Vladimir Putin's ruling party suffered a serious blow in a parliamentary election on Sunday, exit polls showed, as voters signalled growing unease with his domination of Russian politics before a planned return to the presidency next year. - The result, in which the opposition said Putin's United Russia was boosted by fraud, is likely to dent the authority of the man who has ruled for almost 12 years with a mixture of hardline security policies, political acumen and showmanship. Two exit polls suggested Putin's party, United Russia, would win 45.5 and 48.5 percent of the votes in the election to the State Duma compared with 64.3 percent in 2007 and that it could struggle even to hold on to a majority in the chamber. "These elections are unprecedented because they were carried out against the background of a collapse in trust in Putin, (President Dmitry) Medvedev and the ruling party," said Vladimir Ryzhkov, a liberal opposition leader barred from running.

Stephen Lendman: Russia Bashing
New York Times: Victory for Putin’s Party Looks Smaller Than Expected
LA Times: Russians vote amid signs ruling party's dominance is slipping
Russia Today: Putin says parliamentary poll is optimal for United Russia
Jason Ditz: British, US Officials ‘Concerned’ by Russian Election

Hardline Salafis, forecast to become powerbrokers in Egypt's first post-uprising parliament, are seeking to allay fears in the minority Christian community of an Islamist-dominated assembly. - The Salafis, who mostly eschewed politics during Mubarak's rule, are predicted to win second place after the more moderate Islamist Muslim Brotherhood in the first round of parliamentary elections. The surprise showing by the fundamentalists comes at a time of heightened sectarian tensions followers of Salafi Islam have been blamed for stoking. Salafis, who advocate a strict interpretation of Islamic law, were blamed for bloody clashes around a Cairo church in May that killed 15 people, and attacks on the shrines of Sufis, an esoteric brand of Islam. A spokesman for the leading Salafi Al-Nur party told AFP Thursday that neither Christians nor liberal Muslims have anything to fear from his group, which he says will focus on improving all Egyptians' lives.

Two studies published this month point to the transformation of the United States into a plutocracy. - Nearly half of Congress members are millionaires, including two thirds of Senators, according to a survey released last week by the Center for Responsive Politics. Meanwhile, campaign contributions to the heads of congressional committees from industries they are responsible for regulating increased sixfold between 1998 and 2010. The Center for Responsive Politics survey found that 250 out of the 535 members of congress have more than a million dollars in assets. Millionaires constitute (literally) 1 percent of the American population. In 2010, the median net worth of a US senator averaged $2.63 million, according to the study. This figure had grown by about 11 percent since 2009, even as the income of an average American fell by between 2 and 3 percent. Despite attempts by Democratic Party supporters to present the Democrats as defenders of working people, there are more millionaire Democratic senators (37) than Republicans (30). The median net worth of Senate Democrats was likewise higher: $2.69 million compared to $2.43 million.

I was really looking forward to the Republican foreign policy debate, eagerly anticipating the clash I expected between Rep. Ron Paul’s anti-interventionist views and the rest of that warmongering crowd – but I didn’t count on the filtering tactics of CBS News. The televised debate went on for an hour, but Ron only got 89 seconds to make the case for peace. Paul’s supporters have consistently claimed the Texas congressman is being deliberately ignored by the “mainstream” media, and the amount of noise they’ve generated about this has been the subject of more than a few self-justifying media self-analyses, which usually conclude that, no, he’s getting what he deserves. Okay, fine, that’s debatable, although I have my own opinion on the subject: what isn’t debatable, however, is Paul’s rising level of support.

Thousands of Greeks have demonstrated in the capital Athens against the appointment of a new prime minister as well as the painful austerity measures the country is adopting. - Greece's two main parties agreed to make Lucas Papademos head of a new unity government on Thursday, in an effort to save the country from the looming bankruptcy, which would force it out of the eurozone, Reuters reported. Protesters from the labor arm of the Communist Party demonstrated against Prime Minister-designate Lucas Papapdemos, saying he would follow the policies of outgoing Prime Minister George Papandreou. The protesters rallied outside the parliament building and called for new elections to solve Greece's problems. They said people do not expect anything good from the new prime minister.

Stefan Steinberg: Favorite of European banks appointed to head Greek government - The dominant sections of the ruling class in Europe are intent on imposing so-called “non-political” technocrats. Papademos and Monti have been selected precisely because they are regarded as figures who are committed to carrying out the dictates of the banks, are distant from domestic political circles, and are sufficiently contemptuous of democratic procedures.

Former frontrunner advised to 'go home to Texas' by supporters after humiliating TV performance. - Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry's campaign is facing meltdown after one of the most humiliating debate performances in recent US political history. His chances of securing the Republican nomination slipped after one painful minute in which he could not recall the name of a government department he is planning to kill off. Perry reeled off two of the three departments he wants to axe, but could not remember the third. Some Perry supporters declared his campaign over and suggested he head back to Texas to focus on his job as governor. Perry, conscious of the damage he has done to his chances, came out to face the media in the spin-room immediately afterwards rather than leaving it, as is normal, to his press staff. "I'm sure glad I had my boots on because I sure stepped in it out there," he said.

ROME — Cornered by the European debt crisis, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi of Italy offered a conditional resignation on Tuesday, agreeing to step down but only after Parliament passes an austerity package demanded by the European Union, a move that could bring the country closer to early elections. Mr. Berlusconi, one of Europe’s wiliest leaders and the principal figure in Italian politics for 18 years, had failed to reach a parliamentary majority in a key vote on Tuesday, increasing the pressure on him to resign as financial markets drove up Italy’s borrowing costs to new records and raised further alarms about economic contagion in Europe.

Rival Greek political parties were hammering out a critical power-sharing deal yesterday to secure a €130 billion (Dh656 billion) rescue package - but markets remained wary and European leaders kept up pressure by holding back a vital bailout loan. - The Socialist prime minister, George Papandreou, and the conservative leader, Antonis Samaras, former college roommates in the US, held fresh negotiations by phone hours after reaching the landmark agreement to form a coalition for the next 15 weeks. The new administration's main job would be passing the new bailout package - agreed by international creditors on October 27 - before holding early elections.

In the wake of the resignation of Liam Fox, every effort has been made to bury the full import of the scandal surrounding the Conservative defence secretary and his close friend, Adam Werritty. - Fox was forced to resign on the eve of a report by Sir Gus O’Donnell, Britain’s highest-ranking civil servant, which found him guilty of “an inappropriate blurring of lines between official and personal relationships.” This consisted of numerous occasions in which Werritty participated with Fox in discussions with leading international officials and others with defence interests, despite having no security clearance. The scandal has [...] escalated, with accusations that Fox was “running a shadow foreign policy” and selling out Britain’s defence industry to the US. The government is pressing ahead with thousands of job losses in the armed forces as part of its spending cuts, and last year Fox warned British manufacturers that the MoD would source equipment from overseas suppliers unless they offered “better value for money”.

Mitt Romney came under heavy attack on Tuesday night in the fieriest Republican primary debate so far, with rivals labelling him a hypocrite and a "flip-flopper" who "lacked all credibility". - With a CNN poll showing that 51 per cent of Republican voters believe the former Massachusetts governor has the best chance of beating President Barack Obama in 2012, other candidates clearly decided they had no option but to try and take him down before he walked off with the nomination. Mr Romney became engaged in a heated personal exchange with Governor Rick Perry of Texas who accused him of "the height of hypocrisy" for claiming he was strong on immigration despite twice hiring illegal immigrants to mow his lawn.

The Government is to delay moves to clean up the lobbying industry until 2013 despite growing calls for a clampdown after the controversy which triggered the resignation of Liam Fox. - David Cameron and Nick Clegg came under fire after it emerged that plans to set up a register of lobbyists, to be published next month, will not become law until 2013. In November last year, the Deputy Prime Minister promised legislation in the current parliamentary session, which ends next spring. But it has been delayed until the following 2012-13 session by a rearguard action by some lobbying firms and a range of other political reforms.

Craig Murray: Gould and Werritty Relationship
Gilad Atzmon: Liam Fox Is Not a ‘Useful Idiot’
The Guardian: Guardian Confirms Mossad Fears
Daily Mail: In thrall to the lobbyists: As PM delays crackdown, network with hotline to No.10 is revealed

British Defense Minister Liam Fox resigns after scandal involving his reported gay lover and illegal money from billionaire lobbyist for Israel exposed. - Liam Fox became the first of Cameron's Conservative cabinet ministers to leave in the 17-month life of the coalition and now triggers the prime minister's first reshuffle, an operation he had wanted to avoid until half way through the parliament. Though the chief secretary to the Treasury, David Laws, resigned only 17 days into the formation of the coalition, that was by necessity only a reshuffle of Lib Dem cabinet ministers since the coalition agreement stipulates there must be five in the cabinet. It is expected Cameron will perform a limited reshuffle, merely replacing Fox without going reorganising his entire government lineup.

ROME — In his narrowest escape yet, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi barely survived a confidence vote on Friday, saving his government from collapse but effectively preventing it from legislating. - With 316 votes for and 301 votes against, Mr. Berlusconi’s center-right coalition won the vote. But it failed to secure a solid majority, making it increasingly difficult for him to pass legislation aimed at protecting Italy from Europe’s sovereign debt crisis. Had he lost, Mr. Berlusconi would have had to resign, marking the end of an 18-year political era in which the billionaire businessman shaped Italian politics in his own image, entwining the country’s fate with his own. In what the daily Corriere della Sera called “an atmosphere of interminable agony,” analysts said the Berlusconi government was now hanging by a thread and could fall at the next bump in the road — when enough disgruntled lawmakers from within Mr. Berlusconi’s coalition calculate that they would be safer jumping off a sinking ship rather than risk drowning.

BBC: Italy PM Silvio Berlusconi wins confidence vote

You see the Republicans don’t represent ordinary Americans. - They represent the people who got them elected- the people they work for. The people they will literally go to work for when they leave office; huge multinational corporations. How, then, can they win elections? How can they muster people to vote? They can only do this by appealing to the darkest, least rational parts of our psyche. They rally the religious fundamentalists and the bigoted nationalists. In a word, the fools. There’s a reason that urban, college educated people are liberals. There’s a reason that Fox News viewers are the least informed on important issues. There’s a reason the republicans want to undermine education.

As soon as Rick Perry threw his hat into the 2012 electoral ring, anti–death penalty critics brought up his staggering execution record as governor of Texas: 234 prisoners have been put to death under Perry’s watch, a number of whom had serious innocence claims. Most famous among them is Cameron Todd Willingham, who was executed in 2004 and whose case opened up an investigation that Perry has taken aggressive—and largely successful—measures to squash. But a lesser-known case could also haunt the governor if it reaches his desk: that of Larry Swearingen, convicted and sent to death row for the kidnapping, rape and murder of a 19-year-old college freshman named Melissa Trotter in 1998. Like Willingham, Swearingen was convicted largely on circumstantial evidence and a history of run-ins with the law. But Willingham was convicted based on the inexact science of arson investigations, whose flawed assumptions have been slow to evolve. The scientific evidence in Swearingen’s case, medical experts say, is beyond dispute—and it proves his innocence.

In this edition of On the Edge, Max Keiser interviews Michael Hudson from Michael-Hudson.com. He talks about the US economy and debt crisis as we approach the 2012 presidential elections.

Bloomberg: Wall Street Aristocracy Got $1.2 Trillion From Fed