I Wonder

I wonder ... do you suppose this bailout "emergency" is the Administration's "October surprise?" I've been expecting them to come up with some sort of emergency to ensure a Republican victory in the upcoming election, but I actually expected either an attack on Iran or some sort of imminent  "turrurist" threat. However, when Dumbya came on prime-time television tonight to speak to the nation about the imminent financial threat which *must* be dealt with *immediately,* it dawned on me that this could be it - the October surprise. Only, it may have backfired.

As you know, they wanted Congress to adopt Paulson's bailout bill, as written, within 24 hours. When that didn't happen, they sent Cheney in to try to strong-arm the Republicans into supporting the bill. When that didn't work, they started making small concessions to Sen. Dodd's recommendations, and now they've trotted out the Prez to try to get the public's support (no, I do not know what they were smoking when they thought that would work.)

Meanwhile, McCain is SO concerned that he's passing up the chance to debate Obama (what a trooper!) so he can "lead the fight, because that's what leaders do" (his campaign spokeman's words) and handle this "urgent crisis." 

I wonder if their plan was that Obama and the rest of the Democrats in Congress would protest the Paulson bill, but it would get passed anyway - by Friday, mind you - because this is so urgent, and then keep pounding the message from now 'til election day that if it wasn't for the Republicans passing the bailout bill, the American taxpayers would be in the crapper for sure. They didn't count on the taxpayers already knowing what the crapper smells like because they're IN it, not to mention resenting the hell out of a bailout, nor was the Administration prepared for the revolt within its own party. 

When both parties in Congress started saying wait, let's take a good look at this bill and not be rushed into anything, lo and behold, the market held steady - thus, no immediate crisis. This whole thing just might have backfired. And wouldn't that be nice?

Except, that does still leave Iran on the table, doesn't it?

13 Minutes

Take just 13 minutes to watch this amazing video. It will uplift you for the rest of the day. Maybe forever.



from The Daily Kos.

Obama too intellectual to be president?

John Dean (yes, that John Dean) raises the question in his FindLaw article, Barack Obama's Smart Speech "A More Perfect Union": Did It Reveal Him To Be Too Intellectual To Be President? Dean used the Flesch-Kincaid readability test by grade level (used by librarians) on Obama's recent "A More Perfect Union" speech, and found it scored at the 10.5 grade level, "which by current standards is in the stratosphere." Compare that to inaugural addresses by Bush II at 7.5, Eisenhower's second address 7.5, Nixon at 7.6, LBJ at 7.0, FDR's fourth 8.1, and Clinton's two addresses at 9.4 and 8.8, respectively.

Okay, we knew the guy was smart, but smart don't win votes. Or at least, it didn't used to. Dean tells of case studies showing the effectiveness of anti-intellectualism in politics. Smart candidates who hide their brain power tend to get more votes. Eisenhower sat back and let Adlai Stevenson take the "egghead" label. Bill Clinton, a Rhodes scholar, played the hayseed while stumping when necessary to garner votes. Dean says he's "noticed Senator Clinton has been showing less and less of her own conspicuous wonkiness and brain-power" since the Ohio and Texas primaries.

I hope Obama will be the exception that proves the rule. He has not, so far, hidden his light under a bushel. And so far, he's getting the votes.

I liked having a smart person for president - of course I'm speaking of Bill Clinton - but he was such an idiot in his personal life. Having a stupid person in the office for the last seven years would have been merely embarrassing, had the consequences not been so tragic.

Dean concludes, "As Senator Obama campaigns, he can truly change America by simply refusing to play dumb. That strategy, if Obama continues it, may turn out to be not only courageous but also wise, for it is very possible that, after so many years, Americans are tired of having their innate intelligence insulted by their presidential candidates."

After Obama's "A More Perfect Union" speech, Jon Stewart said, "At 10:53 a.m. on March 18, 2008, an American politician spoke to us about race as if we were adults."

Imagine.

The Cost of War

Full Text of Obama’s Speech “The Cost of War”
The Cost of War
University of Charleston
Charleston, West Virginia

Thursday, March 20, 2008
As Prepared for Delivery

Five years ago, the war in Iraq began. And on this fifth anniversary, we honor the brave men and women who are serving this nation in Iraq, Afghanistan, and around the world. We pay tribute to the sacrifices of their families back home. And a grateful nation mourns the loss of our fallen heroes.

I understand that the first serviceman killed in Iraq was a native West Virginian, Marine 1st Lieutenant Shane Childers, who died five years ago tomorrow. And so on this anniversary, my thoughts and prayers go out to Lieutenant Childers’ family, and to all who’ve lost loved ones in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The costs of war are greatest for the troops and those who love them, but we know that war has other costs as well. Yesterday, I addressed some of these other costs in a speech on the strategic consequences of the Iraq war. I spoke about how this war has diverted us from fighting al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and from addressing the other challenges of the 21st Century: violent extremism and nuclear weapons; climate change and poverty; genocide and disease.

And today, I want to talk about another cost of this war – the toll it has taken on our economy. Because at a time when we’re on the brink of recession – when neighborhoods have For Sale signs outside every home, and working families are struggling to keep up with rising costs – ordinary Americans are paying a price for this war.

When you’re spending over $50 to fill up your car because the price of oil is four times what it was before Iraq, you’re paying a price for this war.

When Iraq is costing each household about $100 a month, you’re paying a price for this war.

When a National Guard unit is over in Iraq and can’t help out during a hurricane in Louisiana or with floods here in West Virginia, our communities are paying a price for this war.

And the price our families and communities are paying reflects the price America is paying. The most conservative estimates say that Iraq has now cost more than half a trillion dollars, more than any other war in our history besides World War II. Some say the true cost is even higher and that by the time it’s over, this could be a $3 trillion war. But what no one disputes is that the cost of this war is far higher than what we were told it would be. We were told this war would cost $50 to $60 billion, and that reconstruction would pay for itself out of Iraqi oil profits. We were told higher estimates were nothing but “baloney.” Like so much else about this war, we were not told the truth. What no one disputes is that the costs of this war have been compounded by its careless and incompetent execution – from the billions that have vanished in Iraq to the billions more in no-bid contracts for reckless contractors like Halliburton.



What no one disputes is that five years into this war, soldiers up at Fort Drum are having to wait more than a month to get their first mental health screening – even though we know that incidences of PTSD skyrocket between the second, third, and fourth tours of duty. We have a sacred trust to our troops and our veterans, and we have to live up to it.

What no one disputes is that President Bush has done what no other President has ever done, and given tax cuts to the rich in a time of war. John McCain once opposed these tax cuts – he rightly called them unfair and fiscally irresponsible. But now he has done an about face and wants to make them permanent, just like he wants a permanent occupation in Iraq. No matter what the costs, no matter what the consequences, John McCain seems determined to carry out a third Bush-term.

That’s an outcome America can’t afford. Because of the Bush-McCain policies, our debt has ballooned. This is creating problems in our fragile economy. And that kind of debt also places an unfair burden on our children and grandchildren, who will have to repay it.

It also means we’re having to pay for this war with loans from China. Having China as our banker isn’t good for our economy, it isn’t good for our global leadership, and it isn’t good for our national security. History teaches us that for a nation to remain a preeminent military power, it must remain a preeminent economic power. That is why it is so important to manage the costs of war wisely.

This is a lesson that the first President Bush understood. The conduct of the Gulf War cost America less than $20 billion – what we pay in two months in Iraq today. That’s because that war was prosecuted on solid grounds, and in a responsible way, and with the support of allies, who paid most of the costs. None of this has been the case in the way George W. Bush and John McCain have waged the current Iraq war.

Now, at that debate in Texas several weeks ago, Senator Clinton attacked John McCain for supporting the policies that have led to our enormous war costs. But her point would have been more compelling had she not joined Senator McCain in making the tragically ill-considered decision to vote for the Iraq war in the first place.

The truth is, this is all part of the reason I opposed this war from the start. It’s why I said back in 2002 that it could lead to an occupation not just of undetermined length or undetermined consequences, but of undetermined costs. It’s why I’ve said this war should have never been authorized and never been waged.

Now, let me be clear: when I am President, I will spare no expense to ensure that our troops have the equipment and support they need. There is no higher obligation for a Commander-in-Chief. But we also have to understand that the more than $10 billion we’re spending each month in Iraq is money we could be investing here at home. Just think about what battles we could be fighting instead of fighting this misguided war.

Instead of fighting this war, we could be fighting the terrorists who attacked us on 9/11 and who are plotting against us in Afghanistan and Pakistan. We could be securing our homeland and stopping the world’s most dangerous weapons from falling into terrorist hands.

Instead of fighting this war, we could be fighting for the people of West Virginia. For what folks in this state have been spending on the Iraq war, we could be giving health care to nearly 450,000 of your neighbors, hiring nearly 30,000 new elementary school teachers, and making college more affordable for over 300,000 students.

We could be fighting to put the American dream within reach for every American – by giving tax breaks to working families, offering relief to struggling homeowners, reversing President Bush’s cuts to the Manufacturing Extension Partnership, and protecting Social Security today, tomorrow, and forever. That’s what we could be doing instead of fighting this war.

Instead of fighting this war, we could be fighting to make universal health care a reality in this country. We could be fighting for the young woman who works the night shift after a full day of college and still can’t afford medicine for a sister who’s ill. For what we spend in several months in Iraq, we could be providing them with the quality, affordable health care that every American deserves.

Instead of fighting this war, we could be fighting to give every American a quality education. We could be fighting for the young men and women all across this country who dream big dreams but aren’t getting the kind of education they need to reach for those dreams. For a fraction of what we’re spending each year in Iraq, we could be giving our teachers more pay and more support, rebuilding our crumbling schools, and offering a tax credit to put a college degree within reach for anyone who wants one.

Instead of fighting this war, we could be fighting to rebuild our roads and bridges. I’ve proposed a fund that would do just that and generate nearly two million new jobs – many in the construction industry that’s been hard hit by our housing crisis. And it would cost just six percent of what we spend each year in Iraq.

Instead of fighting this war, we could be freeing ourselves from the tyranny of oil, and saving this planet for our children. We could be investing in renewable sources of energy, and in clean coal technology, and creating up to 5 million new green jobs in the bargain, including new clean coal jobs. And we could be doing it all for the cost of less than a year and a half in Iraq.

These are the investments we could be making, all within the parameters of a more responsible and disciplined budget. This is the future we could be building. And that is why I will bring this war to an end when I’m President of the United States of America.

But we also know that even after this war comes to an end, the costs of this war will not. We’ll have to keep our sacred trust with our veterans and fully fund the VA. We’ll have to look after our wounded warriors – whether they’re suffering from wounds seen or unseen. That must include the signature injuries of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan – not just PTSD, but Traumatic Brain Injury. We’ll have to give veterans the health care and disability benefits they deserve, the support they need, and the respect they’ve earned. This is an obligation I have fought to uphold on the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee by joining Jay Rockefeller to expand educational opportunities for our veterans. It’s an obligation I will uphold as President, and it’s an obligation that will endure long after this war is over.

And our obligation to rebuild our military will endure as well. This war has stretched our military to its limits, wearing down troops and equipment as a result of tour after tour after tour of duty. The Army has said it will need $13 billion a year just to replace and repair all the equipment that’s been broken or lost. So in the coming years we won’t just have to restore our military to its peak level of readiness, and we won’t just have to make sure our National Guard is back to being fully prepared to handle a domestic crisis, we’ll also have to ensure that our soldiers are trained and equipped to confront the new threats of the 21 century and that our military can meet any challenge around the world. And that is a responsibility I intend to meet as Commander-in-Chief.

So we know what this war has cost us – in blood and in treasure. But in the words of Robert Kennedy, “past error is no excuse for its own perpetuation.” And yet, John McCain refuses to learn from the failures of the Bush years. Instead of offering an exit strategy for Iraq, he’s offering us a 100-year occupation. Instead of offering an economic plan that works for working Americans, he’s supporting tax cuts for the wealthiest among us who don’t need them and aren’t asking for them. Senator McCain is embracing the failed policies of the past, but America is ready to embrace the future.

When I am your nominee, the American people will have a real choice in November – between change and more of the same, between giving the Bush policies another four years, or bringing them to an end. And that is the choice the American people deserve.

Somewhere in Baghdad today, a soldier is stepping into his Humvee and heading out on a patrol. That soldier knows the cost of war. He’s been bearing it for five years. It’s the cost of being kept awake at night by the whistle of falling mortars. It’s the cost of a heart that aches for a loved one back home, and a family that’s counting the days until the next R&R. It’s the cost of losing a friend, who asked for nothing but to serve his country.

How much longer are we going to ask our troops to bear the cost of this war?

How much longer are we going to ask our families and our communities to bear the cost of this war?

When are we going to stop mortgaging our children’s future for Washington’s mistake?

This election is our chance to reclaim our future – to end the fight in Iraq and take up the fight for good jobs and universal health care. To end the fight in Iraq and take up the fight for a world-class education and retirement security. To end the fight in Iraq and take up the fight for opportunity, and equality, and prosperity here at home.

Those are the battles we need to fight. That is the leadership I want to offer. And that is the future we can build together when I’m President of the United States. Thank you.

Kitchen Sink

Well this is interesting...

Meet the (White) Man Who Inspired Rev. Wright's Sermon


People kept saying that Wright's comments were taken out of context and that we should look at the whole piece. I never did because, I mean, how "out of context" can "God damn America" be? I was (and still am) proud of my chosen candidate for denouncing (and rejecting) Wright's comments. Now we learn from this article in The Huffington Post (not, of course, from the MSM) that Rev. Wright was speaking, in amazement, about the fact that a white man had expressed these ideas, and on Faux News, no less. Rev. Wright ain't off the hook IMO, but now I can better understand why he made those comments.

###

Here's an article that looks ahead to the election:

Beyond CheneyBush:
A Realistic (Cynical?) View of Change

by Bernard Weiner

It was written on February 19th, so I think the author was rather prophetic in predicting the current Obama-Clinton mud fight.

The danger for the Democrats is that Clinton and Obama, desperate for victory, will savage each other in such ways as to provide an enormous amount of political ammunition for McCain and the Republicans in both the presidential and congressional contests.

Mr. Weiner speculates that the GOP has already given up on 2008 and is looking ahead at 2012, hoping to regain power by blaming the mess we're in on the likely coming Democratic administration.

I think it's safe to say that whomever gets into power would be inheriting a huge, tangled mess, one of the worst in American political history. Part of that mess derives from the near-total ineptitude of the current Administration, but much of it is planned chaos designed to mess up the social/political/economic system so badly as to hamstring the incoming president from being able to do much corrective or creative restoration of good government. The GOP hope is that the public will then take out their frustrations on the Democrats in power rather than on those who originally created the gawdawful situation domestically and in Iraq and probably Iran as well.

The author points out that we progressives have an opportunity for real change.

I'd be overjoyed to be proven wrong by a Democratic president and Congress willing to take the bold progressive moves that the country so desperately needs and, in many ways, wants. If the Democrats were to capture unstoppable majorities in both houses of Congress, along with the presidency, that might even be possible.

I'd be overjoyed, too. If we don't stay involved in politics over the next four years (and beyond), we will never get our country back. We have to demand that the new administration keeps its promises. (In the case of Sen. Obama, if he becomes our president, I expect him to restore habeas corpus, as he promised. That's at a minimum, because of course there's a lot of Constitutional damage to repair. Since he taught Constitutional Law at Harvard, I expect him to know what he's doing in that regard.)

Mr. Weiner says it best:

Of course, all of us must work our asses off in trying to do more that just settle for what we can get. After eight years of CheneyBush, there are opportunities there for strong, positive leadership as well as plenty of sinkholes of inevitable despair.

So, what we're talking about here is to use the next four years to govern aggressively, yes. But also to educate and train and work for increasing the power and backbone of ordinary citizens and progressive/liberal candidates and office-holders. In addition, wealthy Democratic individuals must step forward to support and help establish the progressive superstructure of honest media, more liberal think tanks, grassroots activist training, solvent internet bloggers, and so on, to help the "restoration" take root and grow. All this will take infinite patience and unflinching determination.

If we had forgotten before CheneyBush, we've been sorely reminded (by their immoral war, moral and financial corruption, and desecration of the Constitution) that democracy has to be worked on day by day, fought for day by day, lest our apathy and acquiescence create an avenue for HardRightists to return to power, which could mean leading this country into even more domestic and foreign-policy disasters.

Politics is indeed a contact sport, and, without ceding the moral high ground by crass imitation of our ideological enemies, we'd better learn how to sharpen our elbows and get in there and play it.

###

Finally, I'm thrilled that Gov. Richardson endorsed Sen. Obama yesterday! An Obama/Richardson ticket could be unstoppable.

Have Fun With This

There's a "Truth-o-meter" maintained by PolitiFact," a project of the St. Petersburg Times and Congressional Quarterly to help you find the truth in the presidential campaign."

You can search their findings on ALL of the candidates who have been in the race so far by clicking on the link above, but here I'll just link to the three who are still in:

John McCain


Barack Obama


Hillary Clinton

By now you've heard about Iowa Republican Congressman King saying that "if Obama gets elected President Al Qaeda /Muslims will be dancing in the streets even more than they did on 9/11." This latest smear job was on the heels of the picture of Sen. Obama wearing Somalia's traditional garb. Both are attempts, of course, to scare voters into thinking that Sen. Obama is some kind of stealth Muslim poised to take over our country.

Now, according to an MSNBC terror analysis, al-Qaeda thinks the same thing!

Al-Qaeda supporters are so insistent about their hatred for Obama that they have gone as far as to portray him as an "Iranian agent" secretly sent to take over the United States and fight a war against Sunni Muslims. They are enraged by the notion that Obama ( who is Christian & supports Israel) is somehow in league with them.

Read the full article here.

Great minds: Congressman King and al-Qaeda.
----------------------------------------------------

Apparently, Sen. Clinton wants us to believe that we'd be better off - not only with her as President of the United States - but with Sen. McCain, her Republican opponent, instead of Sen. Obama:

I have a lifetime of experience that I will bring to the White House. I know Senator McCain has a lifetime of experience that he will bring to the White House. And Senator Obama has a speech he gave in 2002.

-Hillary Clinton

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Man, that makes Sen. Obama look like a real lightweight, doesn't it? "All he has is a speech he gave in 2002." Well, let's take a close look at that speech he gave in 2002, before Bu$hCo invaded Iraq in 2003. You know, the war that's still going on over there. The one Sen. McCain says we could wage for another hundred years.

Remarks of Illinois State Sen. Barack Obama Against Going to War with Iraq

| October 02, 2002

Good afternoon. Let me begin by saying that although this has been billed as an anti-war rally, I stand before you as someone who is not opposed to war in all circumstances. The Civil War was one of the bloodiest in history, and yet it was only through the crucible of the sword, the sacrifice of multitudes, that we could begin to perfect this union, and drive the scourge of slavery from our soil. I don't oppose all wars.

My grandfather signed up for a war the day after Pearl Harbor was bombed, fought in Patton's army. He saw the dead and dying across the fields of Europe; he heard the stories of fellow troops who first entered Auschwitz and Treblinka. He fought in the name of a larger freedom, part of that arsenal of democracy that triumphed over evil, and he did not fight in vain. I don't oppose all wars.

After September 11th, after witnessing the carnage and destruction, the dust and the tears, I supported this administration's pledge to hunt down and root out those who would slaughter innocents in the name of intolerance, and I would willingly take up arms myself to prevent such tragedy from happening again. I don't oppose all wars. And I know that in this crowd today, there is no shortage of patriots, or of patriotism.

What I am opposed to is a dumb war. What I am opposed to is a rash war. What I am opposed to is the cynical attempt by Richard Perle and Paul Wolfowitz and other armchair, weekend warriors in this administration to shove their own ideological agendas down our throats, irrespective of the costs in lives lost and in hardships borne.

What I am opposed to is the attempt by political hacks like Karl Rove to distract us from a rise in the uninsured, a rise in the poverty rate, a drop in the median income - to distract us from corporate scandals and a stock market that has just gone through the worst month since the Great Depression. That's what I'm opposed to. A dumb war. A rash war. A war based not on reason but on passion, not on principle but on politics. Now let me be clear - I suffer no illusions about Saddam Hussein. He is a brutal man. A ruthless man. A man who butchers his own people to secure his own power. He has repeatedly defied UN resolutions, thwarted UN inspection teams, developed chemical and biological weapons, and coveted nuclear capacity. He's a bad guy. The world, and the Iraqi people, would be better off without him.

But I also know that Saddam poses no imminent and direct threat to the United States, or to his neighbors, that the Iraqi economy is in shambles, that the Iraqi military a fraction of its former strength, and that in concert with the international community he can be contained until, in the way of all petty dictators, he falls away into the dustbin of history. I know that even a successful war against Iraq will require a US occupation of undetermined length, at undetermined cost, with undetermined consequences. I know that an invasion of Iraq without a clear rationale and without strong international support will only fan the flames of the Middle East, and encourage the worst, rather than best, impulses of the Arab world, and strengthen the recruitment arm of Al Qaeda. I am not opposed to all wars. I'm opposed to dumb wars.

So for those of us who seek a more just and secure world for our children, let us send a clear message to the President today. You want a fight, President Bush? Let's finish the fight with Bin Laden and Al Qaeda, through effective, coordinated intelligence, and a shutting down of the financial networks that support terrorism, and a homeland security program that involves more than color-coded warnings. You want a fight, President Bush?

Let's fight to make sure that the UN inspectors can do their work, and that we vigorously enforce a non-proliferation treaty, and that former enemies and current allies like Russia safeguard and ultimately eliminate their stores of nuclear material, and that nations like Pakistan and India never use the terrible weapons already in their possession, and that the arms merchants in our own country stop feeding the countless wars that rage across the globe. You want a fight, President Bush?

Let's fight to make sure our so-called allies in the Middle East, the Saudis and the Egyptians, stop oppressing their own people, and suppressing dissent, and tolerating corruption and inequality, and mismanaging their economies so that their youth grow up without education, without prospects, without hope, the ready recruits of terrorist cells. You want a fight, President Bush? Let's fight to wean ourselves off Middle East oil, through an energy policy that doesn't simply serve the interests of Exxon and Mobil. Those are the battles that we need to fight. Those are the battles that we willingly join. The battles against ignorance and intolerance. Corruption and greed. Poverty and despair.

The consequences of war are dire, the sacrifices immeasurable. We may have occasion in our lifetime to once again rise up in defense of our freedom, and pay the wages of war. But we ought not -- we will not -- travel down that hellish path blindly. Nor should we allow those who would march off and pay the ultimate sacrifice, who would prove the full measure of devotion with their blood, to make such an awful sacrifice in vain.

-Barack Obama

In our precinct tonight, more Obama supporters showed up to caucus than Clinton supporters, and CNN is reporting that Obama won in the caucuses. That's very good news, but it would have been better had he won the state. Just when I was feeling down about the outcome, here at two o'clock in the morning, I got this uplifting email from the Obama campaign.

We may not know the final outcome of today's voting until morning, but the results so far make one thing clear.

When the dust settles from today's contests, we will maintain our substantial lead in delegates. And thanks to millions of people standing for change, we will keep adding delegates and capture the Democratic nomination.

We knew from the day we began this journey that the road would be long. And we knew what we were up against.

We knew that the closer we got to the change we seek, the more we'd see of the politics we're trying to end -- the attacks and distortions that try to distract us from the issues that matter to people's lives, the stunts and the tactics that ask us to fear instead of hope.

But this time -- this year -- it will not work. The challenges are too great. The stakes are too high.

Americans need real change.

In the coming weeks, we will begin a great debate about the future of this country with a man who has served it bravely and loves it dearly. And we will offer two very different visions of the America we see in the twenty-first century.

John McCain has already dismissed our call for change as eloquent but empty.

But he should know that it's a call that did not begin with my words. It's the resounding call from every corner of this country, from first-time voters and lifelong cynics, from Democrats and Republicans alike.

And together you and I are going to grow this movement to deliver that change in November.

Thank you,

Barack

It ain't over yet. Good night.
------------------------------------------------

Oh great

Oh great, Pooks tells me that the right wingnuts are being urged by talk radio hosts to go to the polls today and vote for Hillary Clinton (to derail Obama,) and that they are calling in to the radio shows to gleefully report, "I just voted for Hillary!"

It's a little early for this,

but what the heck. Who do you think the candidates should pick as running mate?

If Sen. Obama wins the nomination, I think he should pick Gov. Bill Richardson. The gov is arguably the best qualified of all the candidates who ran this year, and the fact that he's Hispanic would be a plus. (I used to think that Sen. Clinton would be a good choice for veep, but now I'm just sickened by the way she's run her campaign, so I hope he doesn't pick her.)

If Sen. Clinton wins the nomination, then of course I'd like for her to pick Obama. In fact, that may be the only way she could defeat the Republican nominee.

As for Sen. McCain, I think picking Huckabee would be a huge mistake for his party. Therefore, I hope that's his pick. :)

Your thoughts?

Well this is interesting

I was wondering why Sen. Clinton hasn't told her husband to STFU, because his comments haven't helped her. Or ... have they? According to this article by Dick Morris for the Rasmussen Reports, these comments are part of the Clintons' strategy to send a message to white voters that this is a racial fight between Sen. Clinton and Sen. Obama, hoping there will be a massive white backlash benefiting Clinton. Now it all makes sense - why else would Bill Clinton make such asinine comments as, "Well, Jesse Jackson won South Carolina, too," or "People tend to vote for candidates who look like themselves." (yeah, right - what about all those white people in Iowa, men and women, who voted for Obama?) Who, exactly, is playing the race card here?

Kitchen Sink

I've added a link on my sidebar to Sen. Obama's fact-checker site. If any of you Obama supporters want to put one on your blog, email me for the code (unless you just want to make one of your own.) There's a link to my email on the Profile page.


+++++++++++++++++++++++++

Today's the day for the (alleged) closing on Maxwell House! ASSuming the fat lady sings, by late this afternoon Tomcat and I will be renters here at Maxwell House until we move to an apartment by the end of February. Maxwell House was left to me by my ex-husband, Max. We were married for three years, divorced in 1971, but remained friends all the years until his death in 2004. Tomcat and I married in 1986, and Max and Tom truly enjoyed being husbands-in-law. Max had a stroke three years before he died. We tried to help him run the house (it's chopped up into five apartments; Max lived upstairs) and take him to the grocery store and doctor, etc. I'll never forget the time Tom rigged up a pulley for Max on the second-floor back porch. That way, instead of carrying anything up or down the stairs, Max could put the item(s) in a basket and use the pulley. Isn't that something? I have some mixed feelings about leaving this place, but it's 95 years old and needs a lot of work. So we're moving on.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Finally, I don't know about you, but I am so sick of "reality" shows! Did anyone watch that new one last night, The Moment of Truth? I was torn between wanting to see what it was like, and wanting to boycott it at the time time. It was one of those things like watching a train wreck - you don't want to look, but you can't look away. It was brutal. I think the first guy lost his marriage and possibly his livelihood, not to mention the money, when it was over. His marriage because he confessed to delaying a decision to have children because he's not sure his wife is the right one to be his life partner, and his livelihood because he's a personal trainer, and he lied about occasionally touching female clients more than absolutely necessary. After the lie, a contestant is disqualified and loses all the money he was playing for. In the personal trainer's case, he was at the $100,000 level. I don't think I'll watch it again because the delay in announcing whether a response is "true" or "false" is annoying - they stretch it out so long that it's just silly and irritating.

I can't wait for the return of Lost! Here is a fabulous link to LostPedia. You could spend DAYS there, there's so much information to read. You can even post your own theories on the site. I hope the writers' strike is resolved (damn those producers!) in time to finish up the series before I 'splode.

I love this

I just Stumbled on this! It's apparently from today's New York Times.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++



Bwaahahahaaaaa! Here's another one - Bush leans down to talk to a child on MLK Day.

Officially pissed off

Okay, Sen. Clinton has officially pissed me off. She was not my candidate of choice, but I thought I could deal with her being the nominee, if it came to that. After all, she would be the first woman prez, and it would be a hoot to see Bill as first lady. He's such a ham.

But yesterday she pulled a Rove and said that it wasn't a coincidence that al Qaeda chose the first day of Prime Minister Brown's term to launch an attack, implying, of course, that Sen. Obama's first day in office as President might result in a similar attack here in the States. "We" would need her vast experience to prevent something like that happen. That strategery worked for the rightwing-nuts, but it never worked with us. Who was she trying to kid? Us.

She also made some asinine comparison between Sen. Obama's dream for a united America and Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s dream for America, pointing out that it took a President (LBJ) to make the dream happen, implying again that Sen. Obama is "just" a dreamer, but that his dream could only be enacted by someone presidential, like her. WTF!

The most idiotic thing she did was tear up, on cue and on camera, saying that she sees what's happening and that "we" have to reverse it. Of course, what she's seeing is her campaign slipping away and that's what she wants to reverse. Then she says that "some people" aren't as ready, and "some people" haven't thought much about what they'd do on the first day in office as President. Well, I'll tell you one thing that isn't likely to happen if Sen. Obama is elected President. On his first day in office, he won't cry.

The Audacity of Hope

I'm thrilled by Sen. Obama's victory in Iowa last night! On to New Hampshire!

Once again, I'm pimping his book, The Audacity of Hope. If you haven't already, please read this amazing book and get to know this man who may be our next President!

If you're favorably impressed, then check out The Obama Book Project at the link in my sidebar. This was started by a UT Austin student named Alex Gunter, and I think it's a terrific idea. Basically, you buy as many copies of the book as you can afford and give them to people to read, sign, also sign the online guest book, and pass it on to someone else. Some people leave copies of the book in public places with a note for people to read it, sign it, and pass it on. I've been trying to help Alex's project to get more exposure because I know when people read the book, whether they agree with all or some of his ideas or not, they will realize that Sen. Obama is not some inexperienced political lightweight.

"I will restore habeas corpus"

As I mentioned in a prior post, Critical Historical Moments,

We face another critical moment with inauguration day in 2009. The new president, no matter who he or she may be, and the new Congress, regardless of which party has control, must begin the immediate rollback of the previous administration's actions that have shredded this country's Constitution, beginning with the restoration of habeas corpus.

This will be the most important test our country has faced since its earliest days if it is to survive as a democracy. If we don't pass this test, then nothing else will matter. We might as well give it up now for our first king, also named George.

My candidate, Sen. Barack Obama, said in this speech, "I will restore habeas corpus." For this reason (and many others), this man has my vote for President of the United States.

I hope you will take the time to listen to this amazing speech. It's long (20 minutes), but not nearly as long as the past seven years under George W. Bush has been. For those who have not yet read Sen. Obama's book, The Audacity of Hope, I can't recommend it highly enough. For anyone who thinks he is an inexperienced political lightweight, I say read the book, then come tell me what you have to say about it. :)

I'll be taking off for a few days to get serious about writing. I'll be looking in on your blogs, though, so mind your Ps and Qs. :)

From Whitewater to Blackwater?

Top strategist for Sen. Hillary Clinton was also CEO of Blackwater's PR firm.

This is an article that I received in email this morning. The email linked to Barack Oblogger, who asks, "from Whitewater to Blackwater?" Please click on the title to read the whole article.

Other items in this informative article are enlightening, as well. For instance, did you know that Sen. Obama introduced legislation to make military contractors accountable? Yes, he did that - back in February.

20,000 turn out for Obama
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution 04/14/07

At what may have been his largest campaign event this year,* U.S. Sen. Barack Obama drew on a hometown hero's words at an Atlanta rally Saturday to voice his opposition to the war in Iraq.

Recalling the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s words that the Vietnam War had become "morally and politically untenable," Obama said the war in Iraq has come to be about "an administration that is trying to preserve its own political viability."

"It is about stubbornness and obstinacy. And we have to keep ratcheting up the pressure every day and every week to tell the president that it is time to change course, that it is time for us to start bringing our combat troops home from Iraq," the Illinois senator and Democratic presidential candidate told an enthusiastic midday crowd at Yellow Jacket Park on the Georgia Tech campus.

Read the full article here.

* The crowd in Austin, Texas, earlier in the year was estimated at between 15,000 and20,000.

The Joshua Generation

UPDATE:
You can see the speech now in its entirety (in two parts) on the Obama website.

In Selma, Alabama, Barack Obama tells the Joshua generation: Be strong and have courage.
This may be one of the great speeches of all time. C-SPAN will rebroadcast it tonight about 8:30 CST. Click on the link above for the full text.

ALSO:
If anyone wants to display a nifty button for The Obama Book Project like the one I have here on the left, email me for the code (at the address in my Profile.) Thanks!