After hearing about Rush's comments on McCain I was thinking that it's only the right wing talkshow hosts who are mad at the prospect of McCain candidacy. But it turns out that I was wrong. The so called conservative "brains" are thinking the same way about McCain. I decided to hold my nose and visit National Review's Corner. Here is what I found:

While US is screaming about Iran's involvement in Iraq and it's nuclear aspirations, Bush administration is indirectly selling forbidden military equipment like fighter jet parts and missile components to Iran through middlemen. The AP story published in Indian Express is reporting that these contraband military parts made it to Iran and China at least a half-dozen times.

The US military has sold forbidden equipment at least a half-dozen times to middlemen for countries-including Iran and China-who exploited security flaws in the Defence Department's surplus auctions. The sales include fighter jet parts and missile components.

In one case, federal investigators said, the contraband made it to Iran, a country President George W Bush branded part of an 'axis of evil'.

In just reported Mason Dixon poll on Cleveland Plain Dealer site all the statewide democratic candidates are either leading or in tie. The most surprsing result is a AG race democratic candiadte is tied with Betty Montgomery at 44% each. This is huge since Betty is the only rethug who is considered to have a very good chance.

Click here for the details of the poll.

Ted Strickland leads by 19 points. He is up 56% to 37% over Blackwell. Jennifer Brunner is up 9, Richard Cordray is up 8, Barbara Sykes is up 3.

details after the fold..

In the latest Rasmussen poll thats being reported widely on Ohio blogs Sherrod Brown is surging ahead of Mike DeWHine after their first debate on Meet The Press on last Sunday. Brown now leads 49% to 41%. While DeWHine is still stuck around 40% for months Brown is close to hitting 50% mark.

Brown has also come up with a great TV ad hitting hard DeWHine on 9/11 doctored images, WMDs, missed intell mettings, etc. Checkout the great ad at: http://www.youtube.com/...

There is one other great ad in which a soldier's mother talks about Brown. Watch the ad at: http://www.youtube.com/...

The Ohio GOP has been once again caught red handed in the corruption scheme involving Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation (BWC). In this latest GOP corruption scandal, the GOP state govt has implemented a scheme where they turned over the management of claims of injured workers to private companies and in return these companies paid them millions in political contributions. Most of these companies are owned by GOP operatives. This pay-to-play scheme has cost the Ohio taxpayers millions of dollars since the number of injured-worker claims plunged 42 percent in Ohio from 1998 to 2005, but administrative payments to managed-care companies by the BWC soared 44 percent during the period. According to Bureau Administrator William Mabe the private companies are being paid too much for doing less work.

It is the same BWC which was earlier involved in Republican Tom Noe's rare coin and beanie baby corruption scandal.

more below the fold..

Ohio is looking great for Dems. In the latest SurveyUSA poll released today Congressman Ted Strickland is destroying rethug Ken Blackwell by 22 points. Strickland leads Blackwell 57% to 35% in today's poll, picking up six points since the last SurveyUSA poll released in June.

In the same SurveyUSA poll Sherrod Brown is ahead of Mike DeWHINE by 8 points. Brown leads incumbent 49 - 41. This is a GREAT news for Brown since DeWHINE's fake 9/11 TV ad barrage has clearly not worked. The latest DeWHINE medicare drug benefit ads have also not worked.

Democrat Ted Strickland is leading two possible Republican candidates in the race to become Ohio's next Governor in the first Rasmussen Poll. Strickland leads infamous rethug Ken Blackwell by a 42% to 36% margin while Strickland leads former Congressman John Kasich 39% to 33%.

Strickland (D) 42%
Blackwell  (R) 36%

and

Strickland (D) 39%
Kasich     (R) 33%

lot more below the fold..

Criminally convicted Republican Ohio gov Bob Taft disclosed yesterday that he forgot to disclose 8 more new gifts to the Ohio ethics committee. Taft was convicted just last week for failing to report numerous golf outings for years from 2001 to 2004. Does the corrupt republican governor have no shame? How can he forget to report gifts after whats going on? The criminally convicted Taft is not only unethical, corrupt but also very incompetent. The latest admissions from Taft trigger an automatic investigation by the Ohio Ethics Commission. The newly discovered gifts were received in 1999 and 2000 which would mean Taft will face two new charges very soon. The eight additional gifts, valued at $921.50, include box of steaks, a book, autographed football, pottery, artwork, etc.

more below the fold..

More information has come out about the Ohio GOP's "pay-to-play" scandals in recent days. Here is the latest round-up..

Gov Taft (the gov with 15% approval ratings)'s new "pay to play" shenanigans have come to light yesterday. A Ohio based company has disclosed that it gave Mr. Taft a $125 gift by paying his golf fees. This was not disclosed by Taft which is against the state law.  

more below the fold..

It was revealed yesterday that the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation lost another $71 million due to mismanagement. According to the Cleveland Plain Dealer Workers Comp Bureau has decided to liquidate the $250 million fund handled by Allegiant Asset Management which lost the money becuase of the fund mismangement.

more below the fold..

The Ohio Democratic Party is finally showing some gutts by putting on a TV ad about the GOP Coin-Gate scandal. The 30 second TV ad which began to air yesterday links Taft and other top GOP statewide officeholders with the state's failed rare-coin investment with infamous Tom Noe.

The ad connects Taft and three GOP candidates for governor (Auditor Betty Montgomery, Attorney General Jim Petro and SoS Ken Blackwell) directly to the Tom Noe and blames them for being asleep at the switch. The ad indicts the corrupt GOP for "pay-to-pay" and "pay-to-steal".

You can watch the ad at Ohio Democratic Party site and thank them by making donations.

The ad could have been more effective but we should be glad that the Ohio Democratic Party has woken up and taken the first step in the right direction.

The Toledo Blade story about the TV ad can be read here.

If you don't already know there has been another scandal brewing up in GOP kingdom of Ohio. A story broke yesterday about how the politically connected investment firm MDL Capital Management lost $215 million in Bureau of Workers' Compensation money. This is a different scandal than the Coin-Gate scandal involving all the GOP bigwigs. Both the scandals have links to Bob Taft (Governor), Jim Petro (Attorney General), Betty Montgomery (State Auditor) and Ken Blackwell (Sec of State).

This has started calls by Democrats for Gov. Bob Taft's recall. Here is the complete story from Cleveland Plain Dealer:

State loses $215 million
Investment mess leads to calls for Taft's recall

http://www.cleveland.com/budgetscandal/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/news/111822309248360.xml&coll =2

more below the fold..

As pointed out in other diaries the GOP CoinGate scandal is growing day by day. Once all the investigative agencies from the U.S. Justice Department to the Securities and Exchange Commission start getting to the bottom of this major Republican scandal the Ohio politics will turn upside down. The largest impact is going to be on Ohio Governor's race. There are three leading GOP candidates.. Jim Petro (Attorney General), Betty Montgomery (State Auditor) and Ken Blackwell (Sec of State). The scandal is going to affect Petro and Montgomery directly and Blackwell indirectly. The good news on the Democratic side is they have two good candidates in Ted Strickland (congressman from south-east region) and Mike Coleman (Columbus mayor).

more in the extended entry..

One more scandal is going to hit the coalition forces in Iraq soon. Read the details at..

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/917782.cms

UK soldiers in lesbian sex show

A film shot inside a British army tent in Iraq, in the heart of the war zone, has become the latest controversy to rock the coalition forces in Iraq.

A raunchy video, shot six weeks ago, featuring two women British soldiers performing lesbian acts, while being cheered on by their male colleagues, is currently being investigated by Royal Military Police Special Investigation Branch, reports News Of The World website.

Shot at a place called Shaiba, located near the Basra airport, the video has left the authorities red-faced. A probe has reportedly been initiated into the matter.

The two blonde female soldiers and the others who cheered them on, from the Royal Engineers, are now being questioned by the Royal Military Police Special Investigation.

more..

I have been trying to help four people to vote absentee in Cleveland area. The absentee ballot request forms were sent separately to board of elections more than 10 days back but no one has received the ballots so far. So finally I called the board of elections office today and they told me that they never received the absentee ballot requests for these people. This is very surprising. The person who I talked with was very helpful and she advised me to bring the voters to their office to vote. She also told me that the voters can also vote at their precinct on election day.

I am not sure whether this is a common problem or a rare occurence. Does anyone have similar experience in Cleveland metropolitan area?

I am not eligible to vote (not a citizen yet) but I have been helping few people vote this year. I have listed some of the instances below. All of these people are solid Kerry-Edwards voters now and will be voting the democratic ticket all the way.

Read below the fold for more..

Vote in these two polls:

http://www.stltoday.com/
http://www.newsnet5.com/

When Bush said, "I saw a poll that said the right track/wrong track in Iraq was better than here in America. It was pretty darn strong. I mean, the people see a better future.", which poll was he thinking about? Is there a poll out for Iraq which talks about right track/wrong track? If so, what are the other results from the same poll? or is this one other lie from Bush??

The local NPR just reported that the petitions that Nader submitted in Ohio are having lots of problems and Nader on Ohio ballot is not a done deal. They also reported that Nader submitted 15000 signatures while only 5000 are needed. But the problem is 90% of the signatures from Columbus area found to be fradulent.