It’s unclear exactly why, but the Department of Homeland has been operating a ”Social Networking/Media Capability” program to monitor the top blogs, forums and social networks online for at least the past 18 months. Based on a privacy compliance review from last November recently obtained by Reuters, the purpose of the project is to “collect information used in providing situational awareness and establishing a common operating picture.” Whatever that means. Either way, the list of sites reported by Reuters reveals in a Wednesday afternoon exclusive is pretty intriguing:

Social Networks

• Facebook
• Twitter
• Myspace

Blogs

• The Drudge Report
• The Huffington Post
• The New York Times‘s Lede blog
• Wired’s Threat Level
• Wired’s Danger Room
• ABC News’ investigative blog The Blotter
• “blogs that cover bird flu … news and activity along U.S. borders … drug trafficking and cybercrime”

Multimedia

• Hulu
• YouTube
• Flickr

In conclusion, the Department of Homeland Security is just like you. We’ve seen no reports of The Atlantic Wire being on the list. But if we are, hello Department of Homeland Security employees — thanks for reading!

Source: The Atlantic Wire.

Highly accurate collated figures show Congressman trouncing Romney & Gingrich.

A New York Times Iowa primary projection, using figures collated from all the latest poll results and surveys, shows that Ron Paul is the clear favorite to win the crucial first Republican primary set to take place in just 13 days time.

“These forecasts are formulated from an average of recent surveys, with adjustments made to account for a polling firm’s accuracy, freshness of a poll and each candidate’s momentum,” reports the NY Times, noting that the method “improves accuracy” of the result.

The current figures show Ron Paul’s chance of winning the Iowa primary at 49 per cent, with Romney in second at 27 per cent and Gingrich in third at 15.5 per cent.

The numbers are collated from ten different polls that were conducted over the course of the last three weeks, including surveys undertaken by Rasmussen, PPP and InsiderAdvantage/Majority Opinion Research. The results underscore how Paul has surged into first position over the last ten days, having been placed third at the start of the month.

The two most recent polls in Iowa have both found that Ron Paul is the current frontrunner in the crucial first primary state.

The results of a Iowa State University poll released today reported Paul in the lead with 27.5 percent of 333 likely caucus-goers, with Gingrich in second at 25.3 percent and Romney in third with 17.5 percent.

A survey released Sunday night conducted by Public Policy Polling showed Ron Paul in first place ahead of Romney in second and Gingrich in third, whose campaign was described as “imploding”.

A recent CNN report also entertained the strong possibility that Paul could take Iowa, noting that his campaign was far more aggressive than Mitt Romney’s in that Paul’s campaign office was a “hive of activity,” whereas Romney’s was still closed at mid-morning.

In addition, another new poll conducted by CNN / ORC released today finds that Ron Paul is the strongest GOP candidate when it comes to a hypothetical head to head with Barack Obama, firmly debunking the establishment Republican talking point than a Ron Paul win would ensure Barack Obama’s re-election.

In a direct head to head with Obama, Paul does better than all of his GOP rivals in a wide and diverse range of population categories, including males; persons ages 18 to 34; persons under 50 years of age; persons earning less than $50k per year; persons who have attended college; crossover Democrats; self-identified liberals; self-described moderates; residents of the Northeast and Midwest geographic regions; and those residing in urban areas.

*********************

Paul Joseph Watson is the editor and writer for Prison Planet.com. He is the author of Order Out Of Chaos. Watson is also a regular fill-in host for The Alex Jones Show.

Source: Prison Planet.

*Taken from Digital Trends.

Internet giants have taken to the pages of The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and the Washington Times, to fight back against SOPA, the Internet censorship bill.

Nine giants of the Internet — Google, eBAy, AOL, Facebook, Yahoo, Zynga, LinkedIn, Mozilla and Twitter — placed a full-page ad in The New York Times as part of their efforts to fight back against the “Stop Online Piracy Act” (SOPA) and the “PROTECT IP Act.”

Update: A Google spokesperson has just informed us that, in addition to The New York Times, this ad ran in the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and the Washington Times.

CONTINUED..

*Taken from Infowars. Written by Kurt Nimmo.

More evidence the OWS movement is devolving into a cheering section for establishment Democrats.

A poll conducted by CBS and the New York Times reveals that 43 percent of respondents agree with the aims of the movement, while just 27 percent say they disagree.

“That’s a good start, and if the movement can help turn the 2012 election into a populist uprising against the moneyed classes, it could play right into Democratic hands — particularly at a time when the Democrats need more enthusiasm,” reports theWashington Post.

CONTINUED..

*Taken from NY Times.

The Obama administration on Wednesday sought to reconcile what it said was solid evidence of an Iranian plot to murder Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the United States with a wave of puzzlement and skepticism from some foreign leaders and outside experts.

Senior American officials themselves were struggling to explain why the Quds Force, an elite international operations unit within Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, would orchestrate such a risky attack in so amateurish a manner.

The White House spokesman, Jay Carney, would not go further than to say the plot “clearly involved senior levels of the Quds Force.” But other American officials, armed with evidence such as bank transfers and intercepted telephone calls and with knowledge of how the covert unit operated in the past, said they believed that Iran’s senior leaders were likely complicit in the plot.

CONTINUED..

On RT Pepe Escobar discusses who’s to gain from the situation.

*Written by Tho Bishop.

Paul Krugman has a Bachelors from Yale, a PhD from MIT, writes daily for the New York Times and probably has his Nobel Prize in Economics prominently displayed in his parlor (though I have yet been invited to his manor.) He is also a proud progressive and an excellent resource for those on the left looking for a prominent economist to lend intellectual credence to ridiculous notions like Obama’s 2009 Stimulus plan.

He is also prone to intellectual laziness.

For example, in an article whose premise I otherwise support, Krugman makes this comment, “You say that reintroducing what amounts to slavery is unacceptable? Well, that’s just your ideology — and a significant number of Americans probably don’t share that ideology.” Krugman is implying, if not out-right declaring, that if you at all sympathize with the South in the Civil War you support slavery. Ignore the arguments about State’s Rights; ignore such trivial details such as Lincoln’s tripling of tariffs (of which the South paid most of, while the North received the majority of the projects they funded); ignore the fact that the founding of America itself was itself an act of Southern-like secession – if you have any sympathy to the Confederate cause, you advocate reintroducing slavery.

This is not the first time that Krugman gets all limp-minded whenever the Civil War is involved. When Domestic Monetary Policy Chairman Ron Paul had economist, historian and Senior Fellow at the Mises Institute Thomas DiLorenzo testify at his first DMP hearing, Krugman dismissed it all as “Johnny Reb economics”. DiLorenzo, author of Lincoln Unmasked, is extremely critical of Abraham Lincoln’s economic policy, which offends Krugman who advocates our 16^th President’s canonization. Not happy with simply criticizing DiLorenzo, Krugman also brings up Congressman Paul Ryan for stating, “There is nothing more insidious that a country can do to its people than to debase its currency.” For daring to speak out about the dangers of inflated currency, a policy advocated by Lincoln, Krugman accuses the two men of supporting a return to “the antebellum era.”

In his article February 8^th article on the Paul hearing, Krugman makes the curious choice to bring up Amity Shales, the author of The Forgotten Man, a book critical of FDR’s New Deal policies. This is curious because the two authors have no connection. As Robert Wenzel of EconomicPolicyJournal explains:

To Krugman, if you think FDR policies were failed policies (as does the Mises Institute), then you are part of the MI circle.

How’s that for a tight connection?

In truth, as far as I know, and I know the Mises group fairly well, I don’t think any of them know Shlaes personally. And, there is probably a good part of the group that don’t know her work at all. So why is Krugman making the broad swipe to link Shlaes to the dishonest Clay attack, when the linking is absolutely absurd?

Unfortunately this sort of sloppy, erroneous content has become the standard for Krugman. Instead of engaging in a healthy discussion of debate, he resorts to generalizations, straw men or simply half truths. Should anything more be expected of a guy who apparently believes that in a time with the internet you can get away with lying about your record.

My Two Cents: I’m surprised there isn’t a Pelosi quote here. Then again, which one do you choose? Everything she has ever uttered has been stupid. She should have a list just for herself. End Two Cents.

*Taken from Laughing at Stupid Things Liberals Say.

#10 “Chile had an earthquake this past week that was 500 times greater than the earthquake in Haiti. But here’s the big difference. In Chile, they have various, very serious regulations when it comes to building codes. So a thousand people died, sadly, but a thousand people died with a 500 times greater earthquake. And in Haiti, where there are no building codes, no regulations, a REPUBLICAN’S PARADISE, a quarter of a million people died.” ~~ Michael Moore

#9 “He [Hitler] was charismatic, and they were having bad economic times, just like we are now. People were out of work, they needed jobs, and a guy came along and rallied the troops. MY FEAR is that the TEA PARTY gets a CHARISMATIC LEADER, because all they’re selling is fear and anger and that’s all Hitler sold: ‘I’m angry and I’m frightened and you should hate that guy over there.’” ~~ Rob Reiner the MeatHead

#8 “You know, I was trying to think about who he [Barack Obama] was tonight, and it’s interesting: He is post-racial by all appearances. You know, I FORGOT HE WAS BLACK tonight for an hour.” ~~ Chris Matthews

#7 “What was the more likely cause of the Oklahoma City bombing: talk radio or Bill Clinton and Janet Reno’s hands-on management of Waco, the Branch Davidian compound? Obviously, the answer is TALK RADIO. Specifically RUSH LIMBAUGH’S HATE RADIO. Frankly, Rush, you have that blood on your hands now and you have had it for 15 years.” ~~ Keith Olbermann

#6  “No one has a quicker mind or tongue than Sharpton. His political instincts are unmatched. He is out there all alone, still standing on the same principle he first enunciated in his housing project in Brooklyn: poor people have the same rights as rich ones, to justice in the streets and in the courts.” ~~ Newsweek’s August 2 cover profile, ‘The Reinvention of the Reverend Al.’

#5 “I’m not going back to Arizona as long as it remains a police state [* Enforcing Federal Immigration Laws!*]. Everyone remembers the wartime Danish king who drove through Copenhagen wearing a Star of David in support of his Jewish subjects. Let the good people of Arizona and anyone passing through, walk the streets of Tucson and Phoenix wearing buttons that say, ‘I Could Be Illegal.’” ~~ Linda Greenhouse, New York Times

#4  “The Republican Party in this country has been running on hate and division for the last 50 years. First it was the Southern strategy meant to discriminate against African Americans in order to gain white southern votes… What black person, gay guy or girl, immigrant or Muslim American in their right mind would vote for the Republican Party? They might as well hang a sign around their neck saying, ‘I hate myself.’” ~~ Cenk Uygur, MSGLBT

#3 “Somehow, the idea got into their [Islamic terrorists] minds that to kill other people is a great thing to do and that they would be rewarded in the hereafter.” ~~ Ayaan Hirsi Ali (defender of the rights of women against militant Islam)

* “CHRISTIANS DO THAT EVERY SINGLE DAY in this country.” ~~ Tavis Smiley, PBS

Do they blow people up? ~~ Ali

* “Yes. Oh, Christians, every day, people walk into post offices, they walk into schools, that’s what Columbine is, I could do this all day long. There are so MANY MORE EXAMPLES of CHRISTIANS who do that than you could EVER GIVE ME examples of MUSLIMS who have done that inside this country.” ~~ Smiley

#2  “My fear is that the whole island [of Guam] will become so overly populated that it will TIP OVER and CAPSIZE.” ~~ Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA)

#1 “WHETHER WE LIKE IT OR NOT, we remain a dominant military superpower.” ~~ Barack Obama