This is Massachusetts' next Senator? You've got to be joking. He hasn't done anything for Massachusetts. Is he married? I never hear about a wife.

Ah, his voting record is abysmal.

You know that right?

The Republicans are dumping big money into this guy because he is glamorous.

I mean for real here.

He hasn't done anything for the people of Massachusetts except be a member of the party of NO.

We can start with his hostility against women.

His 'stand' isn't about abortion, it is about cruel and unusual punishment of women that have been raped. That was RAPED. Got it? Pure unadulterated hostility against women. He can't remember all of a sudden that he made such a stand? Oh, really. Sorry, but, I wouldn't want to take the chance he would 'do it again' after he remembers. Republicans are liars. Nothing, but, liars. They 'play position politics.' No pun intended.

Yvonne Abraham

Brown’s failure (click title to entry - thank you)

By Yvonne Abraham Globe Columnist
January 14, 2010
I don’t know what’s worse: that Scott Brown tried to weaken a law guaranteeing emergency contraception to rape victims, or that he now claims he can’t remember doing it. Or maybe it’s that, now that he’s running for US Senate, he’s dragging his daughters into the controversy to protect himself....


All of a sudden he has a lot of money coming into his campaign. Where did it come from? Long time backers? Or opportunists?

GOP Senate hopeful Scott Brown (click here) is outspending Attorney General Martha Coakley in television and radio ads as his campaign forges ahead in the general election, a Democratic source told the Herald yesterday.

Although he began the campaign as an underfunded long shot struggling to catch up to Coakley’s robust fund-raising operation, Brown was bolstered by an online cash drive that raked in a whopping $1.3 million in a day, according to his campaign.

“As of today, he will have outspent Martha Coakley’s campaign,” said the source....

That position is not his only failure in the political spectrum. Allow me.

In the Massachusetts State Senate his voting record is a failure. He, only on an occassion voted effectively for his constituencies. He is a member of 'The Party of No." He doesn't have 'policies,' all he has going for him is politics. We have seen these Republicans before, they aren't interested in people, they are interested in power.

Now, unless the entire Massachusetts State Legislature is going to be thrown out on their ear next election or the people of the state have been up in arms for the past four years, it would be the most foolish thing people could do to vote him into a federal seat for Massachusetts. He is 'anti-people' and always votes in opposition of measures that have passed, except, for a very rare occasion. He isn't good for people.

In total he has about a 20% success rate. Of the following 40 or so legislative initiative he only voted successfully 8 times. And it isn't just that he voted successfully and well, it was issues and the bills that passed he opposed that are important. He is dangerous. He practices politics and not policy. That is a real of direction change for the people of Massachusetts. They don't care about themselves anymore? This is not suppose to be about politics, this is about having an effective legislator 'across the board' for the people of the state.

This isn't a game. People should not be toying with folks. He is. Definitely.

Budget, Spending and Taxes (click here) - He voted three times with measures that passed. That was three times out of 8 legislation issues. That is a 37.5 % success rate. People or politics?

Date	Bill Title	Vote	Outcome
07/29/2008	Election Day Voter Registration S 2807	Y	Bill Passed - Senate (33 - 5)
06/12/2008	Life-Science Bill H 4554	N	Conference Report Adopted - Senate (31 - 7)
05/06/2008	Cigarette Tax Increase H 4645	NV	Bill Passed - Senate (31 - 6)
07/31/2007	Sales Tax Holiday HB 2876	Y	Bill Passed - Senate (33 - 4)
05/24/2006	MassHealth Immigrant Eligibility Veto Override H 4479	N	Veto Override Passed - Senate (34 - 5)
05/24/2006	Sales Tax Holiday Amdt 8 to SB 3	Y	Amendment Adopted - Senate (23 - 16)
05/04/2006	MassHealth Benefits Veto Override H 4479	N	Veto Override Passed - Senate (37 - 2)
05/04/2006	Employer Contribution to Employee Health Care Veto Override H 4479	N	Veto Override Passed - Senate (31 - 9)

_____________________________________________________________________________

Business and Consumers - Mr. Brown voted successfully two out of six legislative measures. That is a success rate of 33%

Date	Bill Title	Vote	Outcome
06/12/2008	Life-Science Bill H 4554	N	Conference Report Adopted - Senate (31 - 7)
05/06/2008	Cigarette Tax Increase H 4645	NV	Bill Passed - Senate (31 - 6)
07/31/2007	Sales Tax Holiday HB 2876	Y	Bill Passed - Senate (33 - 4)
06/22/2006	Massage Therapist Licensing S 2258	N	Veto Override Passed - Senate (29 - 8)
05/24/2006	Sales Tax Holiday Amdt 8 to SB 3	Y	Amendment Adopted - Senate (23 - 16)
05/04/2006	Employer Contribution to Employee Health Care Veto Override H 4479	N	Veto Override Passed - Senate (31 - 9)

________________________________________________________________________

Campaign Finance and Election Issues – He voted one time successfully here. That is a success rate of 25%. He is strictly a political animal.

Date	Bill Title	Vote	Outcome
09/22/2009	Authorizing Governor to Appoint Interim U.S. Senator H 4246	N	Bill Passed - Senate (24 - 16)
07/29/2008	Election Day Voter Registration S 2807	Y	Bill Passed - Senate (33 - 5)
11/15/2007	Presidential Primary Date Change S 2414	N	Bill Passed - Senate (33 - 5)
07/13/2006	Unsigned Political Posters H 126	N	Veto Override Passed - Senate (30 - 6)

______________________________________________________________________

Civil Liberties and Civil Rights – He voted one time successfully here. That is a 33% success rate. Politics. He isn’t interested in being effective. He manipulates his constituency on ‘TYPICAL Republican ideologies’ and delivers NOTHING.

Date	Bill Title	Vote	Outcome
07/29/2008	Election Day Voter Registration S 2807	Y	Bill Passed - Senate (33 - 5)
06/14/2007	Constitutional Amendment Defining Marriage S 2220	Y	Bill Failed - Senate (5 - 34)
07/13/2006	Unsigned Political Posters H 126	N	Veto Override Passed - Senate (30 - 6)

____________________________________________________________________-

Drug Issues – Here he was completely unsuccessful. None of the bills went in his favor.

Date	Bill Title	Vote	Outcome
07/13/2006	Sale of Hypodermic Needles and Syringes H 4176	N	Veto Override Passed - Senate (25 - 11)
06/07/2006	Sale of Hypodermic Needles and Syringes H 4176	NV	Bill Passed - Senate (26 - 8)

_______________________________________________________________________

Education – Here again, completely ineffective as a legislator.

Date	Bill Title	Vote	Outcome
02/07/2008	Education Reorganization H 4488	N	Bill Passed - Senate (33 - 5)

_________________________________________________________________________

Employment and Affirmative Action – Again.

Date	Bill Title	Vote	Outcome
05/04/2006	Employer Contribution to Employee Health Care Veto Override H 4479	N	Veto Override Passed - Senate (31 - 9)

________________________________________________________________________

Executive Branch – Again.

Date	Bill Title	Vote	Outcome
09/22/2009	Authorizing Governor to Appoint Interim U.S. Senator H 4246	N	Bill Passed - Senate (24 - 16)
02/07/2008	Education Reorganization H 4488	N	Bill Passed - Senate (33 - 5)

_______________________________________________________________________________

Family and Children Issues – Again.

Date	Bill Title	Vote	Outcome
06/14/2007	Constitutional Amendment Defining Marriage S 2220	Y	Bill Failed - Senate (5 - 34)

______________________________________________________________________

Federal, State, and Local Relations – Again.

Date	Bill Title	Vote	Outcome
09/22/2009	Authorizing Governor to Appoint Interim U.S. Senator H 4246	N	Bill Passed - Senate (24 - 16)
02/07/2008	Education Reorganization H 4488	N	Bill Passed - Senate (33 - 5)

________________________________________________________________________

Health Issues – Again. Nothing. Not an effective legislator.

Date	Bill Title	Vote	Outcome
07/13/2006	Sale of Hypodermic Needles and Syringes H 4176	N	Veto Override Passed - Senate (25 - 11)
06/07/2006	Sale of Hypodermic Needles and Syringes H 4176	NV	Bill Passed - Senate (26 - 8)
05/24/2006	MassHealth Immigrant Eligibility Veto Override H 4479	N	Veto Override Passed - Senate (34 - 5)
05/04/2006	MassHealth Benefits Veto Override H 4479	N	Veto Override Passed - Senate (37 - 2)
05/04/2006	Employer Contribution to Employee Health Care Veto Override H 4479	N	Veto Override Passed - Senate (31 - 9)

_________________________________________________________________________

Immigration – Again.

Date	Bill Title	Vote	Outcome
05/24/2006	MassHealth Immigrant Eligibility Veto Override H 4479	N	Veto Override Passed - Senate (34 - 5)

_____________________________________________________________________

Labor – Here it was a that was successful in conference.

Date	Bill Title	Vote	Outcome
06/18/2009	Massachusetts Transportation Agency Consolidation S 2087	Y	Conference Report Adopted - Senate (27 - 11)

________________________________________________________________________

Science and Medical Research – Failed.

Date	Bill Title	Vote	Outcome
06/12/2008	Life-Science Bill H 4554	N	Conference Report Adopted - Senate (31 - 7)

______________________________________________________________________

Social Issues – Failed again.

Date	Bill Title	Vote	Outcome
06/14/2007	Constitutional Amendment Defining Marriage S 2220	Y	Bill Failed - Senate (5 - 34)

_____________________________________________________________________

Transportation Issues – 50% successful.

Date	Bill Title	Vote	Outcome
06/18/2009	Massachusetts Transportation Agency Consolidation S 2087	Y	Conference Report Adopted - Senate (27 - 11)
05/18/2006	Primary Seat Belt Bill H 229	N	Bill Passed - Senate (25 - 15)

________________________________________________________________________

Women's Issues – Another failure.

Date	Bill Title	Vote	Outcome
06/14/2007	Constitutional Amendment Defining Marriage S 2220		Bill Failed - Senate (5 - 34)

Boycott Marriage. Have you got the guts to do it.

Some of this is going to sound crass because it makes analogy to another very famous TRANSITIONAL trial. Sorry, but, this is what came to mind when I heard about the Prop 8 trial.

There is some real power being ignored within these dynamics.

Real Simple.

Don't get married until all the people, the human beings, the homo sapiens in the USA are given provision under the law to wed.

Boycott Marriage until this ends.

Do the people of the USA realize 'the economy' that surrounds marriage?

THAT is power.

Prop8 reminds me of the Scopes Trial of the 1920s.

Those in opposition to sound science were crass.

They were ignorant.

They were "W"rong.

...The early 1920s found social patterns in chaos. (click here) Traditionalists, the older Victorians, worried that everything valuable was ending. Younger modernists no longer asked whether society would approve of their behavior, only whether their behavior met the approval of their intellect. Intellectual experimentation flourished. Americans danced to the sound of the Jazz Age, showed their contempt for alcoholic prohibition, debated abstract art and Freudian theories. In a response to the new social patterns set in motion by modernism, a wave of revivalism developed, becoming especially strong in the American South. Who would dominate American culture--the modernists or the traditionalists? Journalists were looking for a showdown, and they found one in a Dayton, Tennessee courtroom in the summer of 1925....

Equality in Marriage is a civil rights issue. It has far broader implications than simply being married. To deny a segment of the USA population equality is 'setting them up' for potentially dangerous scenarios, including children. Breaking up families is wrong and to define them differently because parents are unwed due to being gay is simply asking for huge problems. The Gay Community needs equality in marriage to benefit their 'families' in status with heterosexuals. This about marriage, but, it also reaches into the rights of children as well.

Judge presses lawyers on first day of federal Prop 8 trial (click title to entry - thank you)
by Roger Brigham
EDGE San Francisco Editor
Monday Jan 11, 2010
Lawyers representing Proposition 8 opponents and supporters presented their interpretation of marriage on the opening day of the federal trial challenging the voter-approved referendum.

Attorney Theodore Olson, who represents the two same-sex couples challenging Prop 8, portrayed the case as a fight for fundamental human rights. Attorneys representing Prop 8 supporters responded only opposite sex marriage is "pro child."

"Marriage is central to life in America," Olson said in his opening statement to Northern District of California Chief Judge Vaughn R. Walker. "It promotes physical and mental health. It is the building block of neighborhoods in our society. Proposition 8 ended the dream of marriage for the plaintiffs and hundreds of thousands of Californians."...

A Bicycle Bomb? Joking? The eradication of the Iranian nuclear program is this easy? Awesome.

The Bicycle Bomb was probably the Iranian President 'setting up' the West for ridicule.




An Iranian security agent at the scene of a remote-controlled bomb explosion in which Professor Massoud Ali Mohammadi was killed outside his Tehran residence on January 12, 2010. Tehran's prosecutor told ISNA news agency he was climbing into his car when a nearby parked motorbike exploded.

Fredrik Dahl, Reuters Published: Tuesday, January 12, 2010

TEHRAN -- A remote-controlled bomb killed a Tehran University nuclear scientist on Tuesday, state media reported, in an attack which Iran blamed on U.S. and Israeli agents.

The blast which killed professor Massoud Ali-Mohammadi occurred at a time of heightened tension in the Islamic Republic, seven months after a disputed presidential election plunged the major oil producer into turmoil.

It also coincided with a sensitive time in Iran's row with the West over its nuclear ambitions, with major powers expected to meet in New York on Saturday to discuss possible new sanctions on Tehran over its refusal to halt its atomic work.

Such bombing attacks are rare in the Iranian capital.

The bomb which killed "Ali-Mohammadi, a nuclear scientist and a committed and revolutionary Tehran University professor, was detonated by a remote control," state broadcaster IRIB said on its website.

Officials blamed Israel and the United States for the bombing. "Signs of the triangle of wickedness by the Zionist regime (Israel), America and their hired agents, are visible in the terrorist act," the foreign ministry said....

Yeah, yeah, the "Axis of Evil" so now there is the 'Triangle of Wickedness."

KNOCK IT OFF !!!!

You did this, didn't you Mahmoud?

Right?

Yeah, ya did.

Don't tell ME you didn't. You were all too quick with the "Triangle of Wickedness."

You were ready for this propaganda stuff now.

Last update - 10:38 13/01/2010

Israel tight-lipped about mysterious death of Iranian nuclear physicist (click here)

By Yossi Melman and Barak Ravid

Israel refused Tuesday to react to Iranian accusations that it or the United States was behind a mysterious explosion that killed an Iranian nuclear physicist in Tehran Tuesday. Iran blamed Israel and the United States Tuesday for the death of Dr. Massoud Ali Mohammadi, 50, a nuclear physics professor who is believed to have publicly backed opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi. The Iranian government said that Israel and the United States had used a militant opposition group to carry out the assassination of Mohammadi, who was involved in Tehran's nuclear program. Mohammadi was killed in a powerful bomb blast as he was leaving home in northern Tehran for work....

Nice Work. Ya know, diplomacy gets tired of talking and broken promises, IF, this was the West. I doubt anyone will ever know. It was probably Russia, right Vladimir? It's okay, we don't mind. Look, it is about time the West took some heat that is normally leveled at Putin. Enough already.


Anyone getting the feeling as though Iran might be losing its sovereignty? Gee, what a shame. It would seem with all the unrest there are many countries rightfully concerned for the safety of the region and the people of Iran. Either way, this was not a bad thing. I have stated before the civil war casts grave concerns on the ability of the Iranian government to control its outcome in regard to its national security. Oh, well.

Three men accused of exporting nuclear technology to Iran

www.chinaview.cn 2010-01-14 15:28:50

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 13 (Xinhua) -- Three men were accused in an alleged conspiracy to illegally export nuclear technology to Iran, federal prosecutors said on Wednesday. The three suspects, a Los Angeles resident and two Iranians, violated trade sanctions imposed on Iran, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. The technology intended to be exported to Iran could be used to produce nuclear fuel, prosecutors claimed. An indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Los Angeles on Dec. 30 charges Jiraiir Avanessian, 56, a Los Angeles resident, and Farhoud Masoumian, 42, of Tehran, with multiple violations of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) and the Iranian trade embargo, including smuggling, money laundering and other crimes. The IEEPA prohibits U.S. citizens from exporting such technology to Iran without a license and federal authorization. Also, it is illegal to sell the technology to Iran from the United States. Avanessian was arrested at his home on Monday and a U.S. magistrate ordered him detained pending trial. An arrest warrant has been issued for Masoumian, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. A third man, Amirhossein Sairafi of Iran, was charged on Jan. 4 in a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in downtown Los Angeles for his alleged role in the scheme. He was arrested earlier this week in Frankfurt by German law enforcement authorities based on a provisional arrest warrant from the United States, the U.S. Attorney's Office said. The Iran-born Avanessian, owner and operator of the XVAC firm in Los Angeles, is accused of conspiring with Masoumian and Sairafi to arrange the export of vacuum pumps and other sensitive equipment to Iran through a free trade zone in the United Arab Emirates. The indictment alleges that on various occasions, Avanessian received orders for the products sought by Masoumian on behalf of people in Iran. Avanessian bought the products and arranged to ship them to the UAE, making it appear the UAE was the final destination, and Sairafi would then send the material from there to Iran, prosecutors allege. The three men re-labeled the shipments as "spare parts" to mask their true contents and void interception, the U.S. government alleges. If convicted on all counts, Avanessian and Masoumian face maximum sentences of 615 years and 525 years in federal prison, respectively, prosecutors said.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2010-01/14/content_12809377.htm

Iran launches website on its nuclear program

Wed, 13 Jan 2010 22:09:53 GMT

Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki

Iran's Foreign Ministry has launched a new website to publish the latest developments about Iran's nuclear program.

Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki officially launched the website in a ceremony held in the Foreign Ministry on Wednesday, IRNA reported.

"The website will gather and update information about different political, legal, historic and geographical developments in the nuclear sphere," Mottaki said.

He added that the website will show that "there is a minority in the world that eyes maximum interests through monopolizing everything, including science and technology."

Iran's top diplomat also stated that there is also a majority in the world that could achieve their goals only after gaining permission from the minority.

He stressed that Iran has adopted a rational and transparent policy to defend its nuclear rights and will continue to do so.

MGH/RE

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=116093&sectionid=351020104

Panel Ties Ally of Iran Leader to Protester Deaths

By NAZILA FATHI

Published: January 10, 2010

An Iranian parliamentary panel said Sunday that Tehran’s prosecutor, an ally of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, was responsible for the beating deaths of three imprisoned protesters last summer, state news agencies reported.

The panel’s investigative report said the prosecutor, Saeed Mortazavi, who has since been promoted, was responsible for the violence against protesters in the notorious Kahrizak detention center, where at least three young men, including the son of a former Revolutionary Guards commander, were killed.

The allegation was a rare criticism of a senior official involved in the government’s crackdown on the protest movement that erupted in June over disputed election results. It also exposed the internal rift between Mr. Ahmadinejad’s faction, which favors a severe response to the protesters, and his conservative opponents, led by the speaker of Parliament, Ali Larijani, who favor compromise.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/11/world/middleeast/11iran.html

Iran bans weekly for spreading "lies" - media

Thu Jan 14, 2010 3:17pm IST

TEHRAN (Reuters) - An Iranian court has banned a weekly for slander and spreading lies, media reported, and one opposition website said it was for insulting former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.

The official IRNA news agency, in a report on the court's move late on Wednesday, did not mention Rafsanjani, who backed opposition leader Mirhossein Mousavi in last year's disputed presidential election.

IRNA said a Revolutionary Court in Tehran decided to ban the Hemmat weekly due to "slander and dissemination of lies with the intention of agitating public opinion."

The Rahesabz opposition website said it was a conservative publication which had been banned also a year ago for insulting Rafsanjani, who remains influential in the Islamic Republic.

There was no official comment on the Rahesabz report.

The latest issue of Hemmat -- the sixth since the previous ban was lifted -- carried a front-page picture of Rafsanjani, surrounded by known critics and opponents of the Islamic state, with the headline "All the disciples of Hashemi."…

http://in.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idINIndia-45393020100114

Angry mourners bury slain Iran nuclear scientist

(AFP) – 1 hour ago

TEHRAN — Angry mourners chanting anti-American and anti-Israeli slogans joined a funeral procession Thursday for the Iranian nuclear scientist killed in a bomb attack Tehran blames on the US and Israel.

An AFP correspondent said that some 2,000 people thronged the house in an affluent north Tehran neighbourhood of Massoud Ali Mohammadi, who died Tuesday when a booby-trapped motorbike exploded as he was leaving home.

Around 100 policemen were deployed in the area.

Relatives and members of the elite Revolutionary Guards placed the body of Ali Mohammadi, a particle physics professor at prestigious Tehran University, in an ambulance which then took off for the burial at a nearby shrine.

A military marching band led the procession to the shrine, followed by hundreds of mourners many of whom were chanting "Death to Israel" and "Death to America."

Mourners also chanted slogans against the so-called "hypocrites" -- the Islamic republic's term for the outlawed People's Mujahedeen.

Some chanted, "Nuclear energy is our undeniable right" in an allusion to accusations by Iranian officials the killing was an attempt by Western powers to disrupt Iran's controversial nuclear programme….

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iEcFiIxV6U7-eL8D6d3m4_lIFp1Q

'Saudi claims against Iran part of US plot'

Thu, 14 Jan 2010 00:56:26 GMT

Ali Al-Ahmed

A Saudi scholar says Riyadh's allegation that 'Iran is meddling in Yemen's domestic affairs' is part of a US conspiracy against the Islamic Republic.

Ali Al-Ahmed, the founder and director of an independent think-tank in Washington told Press TV that Saudi Arabia follows the United States' policy and fuels the West "anti-Iran wave" in the region.

According to the political analyst, Saudis' three month offensive against Houthi fighters has no justification. He added that the Saudi war in the region is doomed to failure.

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal had previously accused Iran of interfering in Yemen's internal affairs.

Iran, however, rejects the allegations. It has condemned Riyadh's military intervention in northern Yemen, calling on the kingdom to play the role of a mediator instead of bombing fellow Muslims.

Riyadh joined Yemen's offensive against Houthis after accusing them of killing a Saudi border guard and occupying two border villages on November 3. Houthi fighters, however, has denied Saudi's claims.

Saudi jets began bombing Yemen's northern villages the following day and still continue their raids on the region.

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=116104&sectionid=351020206