[jQuery] IE only browsers that break - need help

[Bob O]

My code runs great in every browser but IE6 IE7 and IE8. it breaks and
causes all scripts to fail.

i setup Visual Web Developer in my VM like a blog post told me, and
when i load the page i get

Microsoft JScript runtime error: Object doesn't support this property
or method

that seem to break on this line

login_button = $('#login_button');

its basically my setup for the jQuery UI dialog.

This is the entire piece

$(document).ready(function() {

  // buttons
  login_button = $('#login_button');
  whistle_button = $('#whistle_banner_btn');
  victim_button = $('#victim_banner_btn');
  join_button = $('#join_fight_banner_btn');
  sub_blow_button = $('#blow_the_whistle');
  sub_spread_word = $('#spread_the_word');

  // divs
  login_box = $('#login_box');
  whistle_box = $('#whistle_box');
  join_box = $('#join_box');

  login_box.hide();
  whistle_box.hide();
  join_box.hide();

  // div setups
  login_box.dialog({width: 400, modal: true, resizable: false,
autoOpen: false});
  whistle_box.dialog({width: 500, modal: true, resizable: false,
autoOpen: false});
  join_box.dialog({width: 500, modal: true, resizable: false,
autoOpen: false});

  // actions

  login_button.click(function() {
    login_box.dialog("open");
    return false;
  });

  whistle_button.click(function() {
    whistle_box.dialog("open");
    return false;
  });

  victim_button.click(function() {
    join_box.dialog("open");
    return false;
  });

  join_button.click(function() {
    join_box.dialog("open");
    return false;
  });

  sub_blow_button.click(function() {
    whistle_box.dialog("open");
    return false;
  });

  sub_spread_word.click(function() {
    join_box.dialog("open");
    return false;
  });
});

im not a js expert, so im hoping someone can point me in the right
direction..