Obama in FISA Land and other short stories

Glen Greenwald
The choices Obama makes about how he campaigns and the positions he takes are extremely consequential in how political issues in this country are perceived. In the last two weeks alone, Obama has done the following:

*intervened in a Democratic Congressional primary to support one of the worst Bush-enabling Blue Dogs over a credible, progressive challenger;

* announced his support for Bush's FISA bill, reversing himself completely on this issue;

* sided with the Scalia/Thomas faction in two highly charged Supreme Court decisions;

* repudiated Wesley Clark and embraced the patently false media narrative that Clark had "dishonored McCain's service" (and for the best commentary I've seen, by far, on the Clark matter, see this appropriately indignant piece by Iraq veteran Brandon Friedman);

* condemned MoveOn.org for its newspaper advertisement criticizing Gen. Petraeus;

* defended his own patriotism by impugning the patriotism of others, specifically those in what he described as the "the so-called counter-culture of the Sixties" for "attacking the symbols, and in extreme cases, the very idea, of America itself" and -- echoing Jeanne Kirkpatrick's 1984 RNC speech -- "blaming America for all that was wrong with the world";

* unveiled plans "to expand President Bush's program steering federal social service dollars to religious groups and -- in a move sure to cause controversy . . . letting religious charities that receive federal funding consider religion in employment decisions," a move that could "invite a storm of protest from those who view such faith requirements as discrimination" -- something not even the Bush faith programs allowed.

Tom In Paine: HOW OBAMA LOSES THE ELECTION IN 30 SECONDS.

Tom In Paine: HOW OBAMA LOSES THE ELECTION IN 30 SECONDS.

Let the Banks Go Under, Sell 10 Million Houses for $1 Each

From Charles Hugh Smith:

Today's target: the notion that the collapse of the insolvent U.S. banking system would be so terrible. Really? Terrible for who? Certainly not the nation at large.

In fact the dissolution of the insolvent parts of the U.S. banking sector--yes, the investment banks, the money-center banks, the regional banks, and the savings and loans--would actually be an enormously positive development for the nation and indeed the world.

Let's start with the fact that a huge number of these lenders are insolvent. If all their bad loans, bad derivative bets and off-balance sheet losses were forced to be marked to market/liquidated to raise capital, then major bank after major bank would fold/enter bankruptcy.

And what exactly would be so bad about that? Businesses go under all the time. The truth is these banks will never ever recover the loans they wrote, so why try to prop them up with taxpayer funds? To bail out the ultra-wealthy owners of those banks, of course.

Continue Reading

John McCain

In my new role as a former Democrat and present PUMA (and my vow never to vote for Opossum), I am taking a look at my alternatives. In my research, I've come across some articles about John McCain and I was quite surprised by the character and internal strength of this man, especially as they are qualities sorely missing in the present Democratic presumptive nominee. Here is one article I found of particular interest.

The Audacity to Hold Them Accountable

During this primary, Hillary supporters have been disrespected, made fun of, shamed, labeled as divisive, racist, called names that range from typical white people to a part of the electorate that the new Democratic coalition no longer needs.

Now we are being made to feel that if we don't fall in line and vote for the DNC insiders choice for President, we may lose the election for them. We'll lose the opportunity to appoint Democratic judges to the Supreme Court, lose our homes, our uteruses, schools will close, the Iran War will last for 100 years and we will be taken over by aliens. The sky will fall.

Who says so? The Main Stream Media, Donna Brazile, Howard Dean, the DNC, Kerry, Kennedy, Richardson Donald Duck, The Three Stooges, Betty Boop, Felix the Cat, John Wayne, Henny Penny and any other man, woman or child that doesn't fall in line with the Party.

It's time for us to hold these people accountable for their choices. The people who changed the rules for this primary. The people who decided to come out early for Obama and get a choice cabinet position. The people who decided to treat one of the Democratic primary contenders as if she were a Republican, with disrespect, misogyny, ridicule and an underlying hatred.

It's time to sit back and make these people accountable. It's easy to do with the MSM. Turn it off. There is a plethora of news available on the Internet and you don't have to listen to these so-called anchors posture and preen with innuendos and outright lies. As John points out, you can also boycott the advertisers of the most egregious news channels.

But, how do we hold the Democratic Party accountable? By doing what we are doing. Refusing to fall for the hype if we don't vote for The Chosen One. Refusing to believe that we'll be forever gnashing our teeth and clawing our eyes out if the Dems don't win this election. It will be our fault. Not their fault for screwing up by hand picking what they thought was the most electable candidate for the GE and trying to shove him down our throats. For picking an inexperienced, unvetted, arrogant candidate and telling us to get over it and vote for him or else.

How? By doing what we are doing. Refusing to vote by any other standard than our own. By reading, watching, talking, coming to our own conclusions and examining our own conscience. The tougher stance. As a life long Democrat, not voting for yet another empty suit is difficult, but if we don't stand our ground, there will be no change in the Democratic Party. By refusing to be told what to do, we are working for a better system. A system without fraudulent caucuses and with a level playing field of equality for all candidates.

Hang tough. Have the audacity to hold them accountable.

It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance. Robert F. Kennedy

Cross posted at MyDD

Big Dawg

Rumor has it that Bill Clinton is pissed over this whole primary mess and the machinations of the DNC and prominent Democratic leaders. He, too, is angry over the way his wife was treated and the way his reputation was libeled and slandered over remarks that were twisted, turned and regurgitated as racist by MSM, and Obama&Co.

President Clinton, we feel your pain. We, too, are mad as hell over the coronation of Obama, the failure of the Party to allow this process to play out as the Constitution intended, the DNC's closed door deal awarding delegates to Obama that were either never cast by real voters or were delegates that belonged to your wife.

We know how you feel when you have to read comments like those set forth below.

Joe Klein, the author of Primary Colours, a fictionalized account of Mr Clinton's 1992 election, who has known the former president for 20 years, said he also heard that he was "very, very bitter", from people who have spoken with him.

"It's time for him to get over it or go off and do his charitable work. He knows the rules of the road. What's going on now is kind of strange. I think his behaviour is really, really shocking."

I invite you to take a look at a new Party - The Puma Party. The Just Say No Deal Party. The Party of the People who are not going to stand for the old way of getting things done. Our values are the same, but we are not voting blindly for another empty suit Democratic candidate. We've done that too many times and look where that got us.

So, Mr. President, I completely understand how you feel. However, I don't have to toe the Party line. If you think about, you don't, either.

Obama's Accepts Millions From "Subprime" Tied Contributors

In San Antonia this past February Obama stated in a campaign speech, “To give you a sense of what that kind of lobbying gets you… the CEO of the largest subprime lender was promised a hundred-million-dollar severance package at a time when more than 2 million Americans were facing foreclosure, including nearly 14,000 right here in San Antonio..." Obama was most likely referring to an Angelo R. Mozillo, one of three CEO’s that were scheduled to appear to testify in front of a senate committee concerning their compensation and firms roles in the ongoing mortgage crisis. Stanley O’Neal, who received more than $161 million when he was ousted as the Chairman of Merrill Lynch, was one of the three CEO’s coming under scrutiny. In 2003, O’Neil donated to Senator Obama’s Senatorial campaign, followed up by a maximum $4,600 campaign contribution by he and his wife, Nancy Garvey, to the Obama Campaign. Ironically, the O’Neals tried to originally contribute $6,900 to the campaign only to have $2,300 returned.

Well, well. Talks a good game, doesn't he? But, oh, looky here. Guess who has decided to join the dance? Obama. Liar, liar, liar. This and Rezko straw money will get you a ticket to the new Obamalamadingdong Democratic Unity Party. JUST SAY NO DEAL.

Keith Olbermann - Then and Now

Glenn Greenwald on Obama, Olbermann and FISA Here and the quote of the day:

The real danger is that those who defend Obama the Candidate no matter what he does are likely to defend Obama the President no matter what he does, too. If we learn in 2009 that Obama has invoked his claimed Article II powers to spy on Americans outside of even the new FISA law, are we going to hear from certain factions that he was justified in doing so to protect us; how it's a good, shrewd move to show he's a centrist and keep his approval ratings high so he can do all the Good things he wants to do for us; how it's different when Obama does it because we can trust him? It certainly looks that way. Those who spent the last five years mauling Bush for "shredding the Constitution" and approving of lawbreaking -- only to then praise Obama for supporting a bill that endorses and protects all of that -- are displaying exactly the type of blind reverence that is more dangerous than any one political leader could ever be.

Pelosi Cannot Think of One Obama Accomplishment

You must watch this video and see Pelosi squirm when asked by Greta what Obama has accomplished and then read what Halli Casser-Jayne wrote here

Here is a snipit: Despite her Armani suits and tony San Francisco address, Speaker Pelosi clearly lacks Hillary Clinton’s class. On Senator Clinton’s return to the Senate yesterday, Speaker Pelosi in her best Nurse Ratchet imitation couldn’t resist just one more swipe at Hillary Clinton, and at all women who struggle to break through that glass ceiling.

P Diddy - Obama or Die

diddy obama
by dollarsandsense123

Buffett on Obama

An Honest Look at Obama's Support for the FISA 'Compromise'

The excuse that Obama's support for the FISA bill is politically shrewd is neither a defense of what he did nor a reason to refrain from loudly criticizing him for it. Beyond that, this attitude that we should uncritically support Obama in everything he does and refrain from criticizing him is unhealthy in the extreme.

read more | digg story

Joe Bruno Retiring????

Let's hope so! Stay tuned!

HELP! The Democratic Party is Holding Us Hostage!!

Unfuckingbelievable. My husband and I changed our voter registration from Democrat to no party affiliation immediately after the DNC's closed door deal with the Obama campaign regarding seating Michigan and Florida delegates. On Friday, we both received this letter from our County Board of Elections:

Is this just the New York State Democratic Party or has anyone else experienced this?

NATIONAL WOMEN'S HISTORY MUSEUM SHUT OUT BY SMITHSONIAN

On January 7, 2008, the National Women's History Museum submitted a response to the Smithsonian's Request for Qualifications (RFQ) of November 1, 2007. Marshalling a team of experts, and expending great energy and resources, NWHM submitted a response to the RFQ.

On May 5, 2008 Smithsonian Institution issued a Memo that it was withdrawing the Arts and Industries Building from public bid and that it would not proceed on considering responses to its request for qualifications.

Smithsonian has been criticized for its inappropriate use of resources recently and this appears to be one more case. This abrupt and unexpected move in withdrawing their bid also demonstrates offensive indifference to the costs and energies of the many not-for-profit organizations that responded to their RFQ.

Please join with NWHM in contacting your Member of Congress to express your outrage at Smithsonian choosing to allow a magnificent historic building on the National Mall to deteriorate rather than honor women’s many contributions to our nation.
Here

Obama Supports Gov't Spying on You

From Glenn Greenwald
Barack Obama got around to issuing a statement and -- citing what he calls "the grave threats that we face" -- he just announced that he supports this warrantless eavesdropping and telecom amnesty "compromise":

Given the grave threats that we face, our national security agencies must have the capability to gather intelligence and track down terrorists before they strike, while respecting the rule of law and the privacy and civil liberties of the American people. . . .

After months of negotiation, the House today passed a compromise that, while far from perfect, is a marked improvement over last year's Protect America Act. . . It does, however, grant retroactive immunity, and I will work in the Senate to remove this provision so that we can seek full accountability for past offenses.

It is not all that I would want. But given the legitimate threats we face, providing effective intelligence collection tools with appropriate safeguards is too important to delay. So I support the compromise, but do so with a firm pledge that as President, I will carefully monitor the program, review the report by the Inspectors General, and work with the Congress to take any additional steps I deem necessary to protect the lives -– and the liberty –- of the American people.

Telling Americans that we have to give up basic constitutional rights -- and allow rampant lawbreaking -- if we want to save ourselves from "the grave threats we face" sounds awfully familiar. He says he will work to remove amnesty from the bill, but once that fails, will vote for the "compromise." Obama has obviously calculated that sacrificing the rule of law and the Fourth Amendment is a worthwhile price to pay to bolster his standing a tiny bit in a couple of swing states. The full Obama statement is here

Obama, FISA and John Barrow

Glenn Greenwald:

As noted yesterday, Blue Dog Rep. John Barrow of Georgia has been one of the most enthusiastic enablers of the radical and lawless policies of the Bush administration. When running for re-election, he ran ads accusing his own party of wanting to "cut and run in Iraq," and was one of the 21 Blue Dogs to send a letter to Nancy Pelosi demanding that they be allowed to vote for the Rockefeller/Cheney Senate bill to give warrantless eavesdropping powers to the President and amnesty to lawbreaking telecoms.

As a result of all of that, Barrow faces a serious primary challenge in July from State Senator Regina Thomas, who decided to run against Barrow due to -- as she told Howie Klein when she announced -- "Barrow's failure to support his constituents against the encroachments of powerful Big Business interests." As Klein noted yesterday, Thomas' positions on both foreign and domestic policy are firmly in line with Barack Obama's views and with the Democratic base in that district, while Barrow has continuously supported the most extremist Bush policies, as he himself proudly boasts.

In contrast to Barrow's demands for warrantless eavesdropping and telecom amnesty, here is the statement Regina Thomas issued yesterday (via email):

After reading the FISA bill -- Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act -- I thought "This can not be good for Americans. That the Bush Administration wants unlimited powers for spying on not only terrorists, but on any American citizen. This is against and violates the Constitutional Fourth Amendment [right of] privacy. This also allows warrant-less monitoring of any form of communication in the United States." I was disappointed and dismayed with my Congressman John Barrow supporting this Bush Republican initiative against Americans. Too often Congressman Barrow from the 12th district in Georgia has voted with Bush and the Republicans on key issues.

Despite all of this, The Atlanta Constitution-Journal reported yesterday that Barack Obama -- who has been claiming to be so emphatically opposed to warrantless eavesdropping and telecom amnesty, to say nothing of the Iraq War -- taped a radio endorsement this week for Rep. Barrow, with the specific intent to help him defeat Regina Thomas in the Democratic primary (h/t sysprog):

Obama cuts an ad to help John Barrow in his primary fight

Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama has taped a radio commercial on behalf of U.S. Rep. John Barrow of Savannah, who faces a July 15 primary challenge.

It's the first case of Obama involving himself in a local race in Georgia. . . But the Obama campaign made clear to my colleague Aaron Sheinin that it sees Barrow, a two-term Democrat, as an important ally. . . .

"Senator Obama believes that Congressman Barrow has worked hard to bring change that families in his district deserve, and we'll work hard to help John Barrow win in November," Obama spokeswoman Amy Brundage said.

In the ad, Obama asks voters to join him in supporting Barrow. "We're going to need John Barrow back in Congress to help change Washington and get our country back on track," Obama says in the 60-second ad.

FULL ARTICLE HERE

Obama's PACs and Lobbyists Canard

In his self-serving, disingenuous video opting out of the public financing system today, Obama claimed that his decision to run the first corporate-funded general election campaign since Richard Nixon and CREEP represented "true" public financing and that it was necessary to fight back against a McCain campaign funded by PACs and lobbyists.

Obama has long raised the PACs and lobbyists canard to squeeze more money out of the pocketbooks of his small donors, even though he dramatically outraised and outspent Hillary Clinton in the primary campaign. Obama's campaign doesn't take lobbyist or PAC money, and since Obama became the nominee, neither will the DNC.

But just how big a factor are PACs and lobbyists in Presidential election fundraising?

Not much. Read on.

According to OpenSecrets.org, just 1% of John McCain's contributions -- a whopping $960,990 -- came from PACs. Over $88 million came from individuals.
legend Individual contributions $88,221,824 91%
legend PAC contributions $960,990 1%

And lobbyists? $655,576.

$250 Million Barack is opting out of public financing because John McCain has raised $1.6 million -- less than 2% of his campaign -- from lobbyists and PACs.

Obama used the same Big Lie against Hillary, though she raised $1.25 million from PACs, or about 0.6% of her fundraising. Lobbyists were not in her top 20 industries, according to Open Secrets.

Now, I know that lobbyists are supposed to be the source of all our problems. But lobbyists are ultimately hired guns -- hired and paid for by big corporations. So, is Obama turning down money from executives at big corporations and other special interests? Not hardly. These are the top employers of Obama contributors:
Goldman Sachs $571,330
University of California $437,236
UBS AG $364,806
JPMorgan Chase & Co $362,207
Citigroup Inc $358,054
National Amusements Inc $320,750
Lehman Brothers $318,647
Google Inc $309,514
Harvard University $309,025
Sidley Austin LLP $294,245
Skadden, Arps et al $270,013
Time Warner $262,677
Morgan Stanley $259,876
Jones Day $250,725
Exelon Corp $236,211
University of Chicago $218,857
Wilmerhale LLP $218,680
Latham & Watkins $218,615
Microsoft Corp $209,242
Stanford University $195,262

Roughly 90% of funding for Presidential campaigns comes from individuals, and just 1% comes from PACs. Lobbyists and PACs are convenient scapegoats, but just the tip of the iceberg compared to the millions Obama has received from corporate executives who hire lobbyists to represent them before Congress and the executive branch.

If this is really about small donors, "true public financing" and fighting corporate interests, Obama should have no problem limiting the maximum an individual can give to his campaign to $100 and turning down contributions from employees of Fortune 500 companies in the general election.
Full article here

Change

Delegate this

Good grief, the Uniter/Delegator/Change salesman looks like he needs to be hand fed sugared grapes and fanned with a palm frond.

And in an effort to soften Michelle's image, the NY Times has included this sentence in This Article

The caricatures of Mrs. Obama as the Angry Black Woman confound her, friends say. Her own family crosses racial boundaries — her mother-in-law and a sister-in-law are white — and she has spent much of her adult life trying to address racial resentment.

Ahhh, wouldn't that be Obama's mother and his sister? That's how she has crossed racial boundaries? That's the best you got?

My Way

It's been a while since Obama declared himself the nominee. It's been a while since Hillary suspended her election. It's been a while for Hillary supporters to come to terms with what happened in this campaign. It's been a while to begin to heal the wounds. Not so fast.

I am more against Obama today than I was the day I signed on for John Edward's campaign. I came to support Hillary slowly, but surely. I never ruled her out, but it took a long time for me to rule her in. And the more I saw of her and of Obama, the more I ruled out he of the empty suit, little experience, missing background and so much money backing him it was obscene and suspicious.

I've read many articles, news reports, blogs, and whatever else I could find to make sense of this. I've formed my opinion based upon the information I dug up, not the information available to the mass public from the so-called progressive blogosphere. Not from Kos, not from The Nation, not from Naral, not from Move On or Michael Moore or George Soros or Josh Marshall or Andrew Sullivan. And I will, under no circumstances, vote for Obama in the GE. In fact, I will work against him. Sour grapes? Nope. He scares me to death.

So, when you ask me how can I consider myself a liberal and not vote for a Democrat, I say that I don't have to defend my position to you. I have to defend it to myself. When you ask me how could I not vote for a Democrat to end the reign of terror that Bush has imposed on America, I say to you that I didn't put him there and I fought against it the best way I know how.

I did not create or in any way contribute to the catastrophe that is Barack Obama and I flatly, strongly, intelligently refuse to clean up after the Democratic Party any longer. You want him, you vote for him. I will continue to fight for what I believe in, but I will not prostitute myself for the good of the party.

Leverage

Violet says we've got it.

It’s here because of Hillary Clinton’s campaign and the shameful way she was treated — by the media, by the Obama camp, and, most damning of all, by the Democratic National Party. Even women who didn’t personally support the Clinton candidacy were nonetheless appalled by the Trashing of Hillary. It’s not that she lost; after all, losing is part of the game. It’s that she wasn’t beaten in a fair fight. She was treated like garbage, and she’s still being treated like garbage. (As of this writing, Howard Dean is refusing to let Hillary’s name be on the ballot for the first vote at the convention, a startling departure from the norm. Hillary Clinton won the popular vote in this campaign and she earned more primary votes for President than any Democratic candidate in the history of this country. And the DNC won’t even let her name be on the ballot.) The huge swell of anger in the land is the righteous rage of millions of women — women who are armed and more than ready to punish the DNC. Over and over the message is being beamed straight to the powers-that-be on a laser light of pure anger: You don’t get to take our votes for granted anymore. No more.

It’s a glorious situation. It’s what we’ve needed for years. Finally, the Democrats have to work for our votes! Finally, we have leverage!

Trade - Does Obama Really Care?

...Ultimately, however, what may speak loudest about Obama’s real trade policy views is the stubbornly elitist tone that has marked the candidate and his campaign. Take the (admittedly brief) schoolmaster-ish recitation of textbook-style open trade’s virtues and allegedly iron globalization-related economic realities that comes in virtually every major Obama statement on the subject.

“Now if we’re honest with ourselves, we’ll acknowledge that we can’t stop globalization in its tracks....” “I believe in trade. I think all countries can prosper.” “To win, we have to understand some hard realities. Not every job that’s left is coming back, and if somebody tell you they are, they’re not telling you the truth.”

Obviously, Obama relishes the role of McCain-like straight shooter and apostle of a fundamentally New Politics, and uses it when discussing many issues. And truth-telling is clearly something politics can usually use more of. But this iteration is fatally flawed. Not only does it fearlessly slay red herrings that are completely irrelevant to real-world globalization challenges, and that long ago went stale. Not only are many of the unspoken assumptions at work here demonstrably false – e.g., that many jobs that have gone overseas won’t be coming back because they are low-skill jobs that by definition have no business coming back.

But Obama’s chosen rhetorical posture is also completely oblivious to the pervasive blame-the-victim message determinedly sent through the mainstream media for decades by America’s power structure to middle and working class audiences. Read any major national newspaper or business-oriented magazine, tune into the network news or to CNBC, and what else do you see and hear about other than the glorification of globalization’s winners (and the bigger, the more glorious) and bemused tut-tutting at the losers (especially if they are Americans) for their unforgivable failures to seize the splendid opportunities before them?

Does Obama really believe that former steelworkers and machinists and computer programmers now toiling at dead-end, no-benefits jobs are so consumed with scapegoting and so dangerously combustible that their greatest need is another serving of tough love from on-high (along with enough new welfare spending to keep public employees unions happy)?

Apparently yes, meaning that despite months of campaigning across the country, Obama has become so remote from Middle America that its melancholy, its ever-so-gradually falling expectations, and its somber acceptance of globalized capitalism’s Darwinian outcomes are genuinely unknown to him.

More evidence for this dispiriting proposition comes from Obama’s now-infamous “bitter” remarks to a group of San Francisco Bay area funders. Obama has denied accusing “small town” Americans of irrationally (though understandably) blaming “people who aren’t like them” or “immigrants” or “trade” for their “frustrations,” and tried to dismiss the ensuing controversy as classic, mindless “gotcha” journalism and mudslinging politics.

But that’s exactly what he said, and the substance – which is utterly erroneous – deserves extensive debate. Further, Obama’s argument was sure to be lapped up by his audience - entrpreneurial and economically conservative but socially liberal dot.comers surely grateful to hear that the outsourcing and open borders policies they have lobbied for so successfully and use so extensively have nothing to do with the distress they read about in Flyover America.

Moreover, this brazen Obama pander to the Silicon Valley crowd’s fears about raging Middle American primitives not only expiated whatever nascent (justified) guilt they may have felt, but once again completely misjudged the mood of the country he seeks to lead. That’s hardly a formula for a successful fall campaign – much less a successful presidency.

Read it all

The Truth About Senator Clinton's Speech

I received this email from a Hillary Supporter that I know well. Not exactly what the MSM would have you believe.

Hello to all HRC Supporters,

Don't believe the hype...Catherine G. and I (Elaine K.), were present at the sobering speech delivered by Presidential Candidate and Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (HRC), on Saturday, June 7 in Washington D.C. By now I'm sure you have watched, read, and have seen some photos/video from the event.

Let us share with you the things the media didn't/ won't convey and some interesting observations of it all:

- The Obama (BHO), camp flooded the room with his supporters.

-The BHO supporters were in full throttle and exuberantly applauded at every chance for him. This was not only a disrespect to steal her momentum, but also down play any angst her supporters were feeling during this most sombering of occasions.

- None of the DNC leadership members were present, most notably, Howard Dean and Nancy Pelosi (how's that for respect and party unity)?

-Obviously overtaken with emotions of the occasion, Dorothy Rodham (Senator Clinton's mother) and Bill Clinton wept.

- BHO not only did not watch the event, a true show of disregard...and would later "claimed" to have watched it on the Internet.

- HRC Supporters reactions varied from bewilderment, sadness, resolve, disappointment and anger. All in all it was a most sombering of events. The mood afterwards was most a feeling of the aftermath of a funeral. (An excruciating murder by the DNC and BHO).

Draw your own conclusions.

Open Message to ObamaObots

Look.

I'm getting a ton of derogatory emails about Obama. Horrible, terrible emails.

Ordinarily, I would take the time to email these people back and set them straight. However, as I am no longer a Democrat, I don't feel the need to.

So, rather than to invade the space of Hillary supporters, I suggest that you ObamaObots get on the stick and try to control the hysteria.

I've Unsubscribed from the DNC - AGAIN!

I unsubscribed from DNC emails quite a while ago. A few weeks later, I received an email from the DNC and unsubscribed yet again. Today, I received an email called "Unity". I have now unsubscribed for a 3rd time. However, this time, I had to wait for a second email from the DNC containing a "Confirmation Code", follow back to the unsubscribe page and enter it in a box. Thank goodness I kept that unsubscribe page with the little box for the confirmation code open in my browser, as the email containing the code did not include a link back to the original page. Additionally, the email did not immediately hit my inbox.

Why is the DNC making this so complicated? Where was Dean when I sent several messages to him on topics ranging from seating Michigan and Florida, sexism in the campaign and the anti-Hillary posts on the DNC official blog? I never received one answer or even a lousy canned confirmation that he had received them.

So, DNC, hopefully this will be good-by for good.

Name That Committee

From Mark Halperin comes this story about the new Obama/DNC joint fundraising agreement. Under the law, such a committee can accept up to $28,500 from individuals, most of which would go to the DNC.

Alas, dear readers, they have not yet come up with a name for such a committee. Your mission, if you choose to accept it. . .

Obama Steals Cuomo's Speech

H/T to Liberal Rapture

Bud White's World: A Spreading Stain by katiebird [A Stolen Nomination]

Bud White's World: A Spreading Stain by katiebird [A Stolen Nomination]

Laughing!

Crazy Laugh - Watch the top videos of the week here
Two headlines from Yahoo news!
Obama bans lobbyist money; Dean remains as Chair How does a Chicago politician operate without money? And Dean's fix allowed him to keep his job! Surprise, surprise. UPDATE: SEE BUD'S POST ABOVE FOR CLARIFICATION ON THE FIX
Clinton backers begin move to Obama Good golly Miss Molly, I'll just get right down on my hands and knees and start crawling right on over to the party of unity, hope and brotherhood. When pigs fly.

On a high note, it's great to see the media is not getting any smarter.

The 100% Sexism Free Democraic Party

Defending Her Honor

Senator Clinton

is suspending her campaign, not conceding the nomination. My reading of the tea leaves tell me that anything can happen between now and August.

Read more from Texas Darlin

William Ayres, Bernardine Dohrn, Louis Farrakhan, Jeremiah Wright, Michael Pfleger, Nadhmi Auchi, Robert Blackwell, Jr…..

If Obama can declare himself the nominee,

I'm declaring myself Mata Hari.

I was going to declare myself Queen of Sheba, but an exotic dancing, femme fatal spy is more my style.

What are you declaring today?

Which Whitey Failed Obama

Barack Obama's political advisors, the majority of whom are white, apparently failed to inform their candidate that he was supposed to hide the fact that he hates white voters until after the general election and not just through the primaries.

read more | digg story

White Women Take the Gloves Off

Read it all at Real Clear Politics

The woman who shouted "McCain in '08" at the Democratic rules committee was speaking for a multitude. After mounting for months, female anger over the choreographed dumping on Hillary Clinton and her supporters has exploded -- and party loyalty be damned. That the women are beginning to have a good time is an especially bad sign for Barack Obama's campaign.

"Obama will NOT get my vote, and one step more," Ellen Thorp, a 59-year-old flight attendant from Houston told me. "I have been a Democrat for 38 years. As of today, I am registering as an independent. Yee Haw!"

A new Pew Research Center poll points to a surging tide of fury, especially among white women. As recently as April, this group preferred Obama over the presumptive Republican John McCain by three percentage points. By May, McCain enjoyed an eight-point lead among white women.

You Can Call Me UPPITY.: 17 S. Dakota County Leaders Do Not Endorse the "Presumptive Winner"

You Can Call Me UPPITY.: 17 S. Dakota County Leaders Do Not Endorse the "Presumptive Winner"

Democracy

It's Official

As Uppity says Barack Obama is the first first candidate to ever, in the history of America, be handed
1) votes that never occurred,
2) votes that were cast for someone else, and
3) delegates won by another candidate.

Due to the above, I am now a member of the Independence Party of New York State. As a committed Democrat, I feel bad that the party has veered so far from the party I joined at age 18. I have held both political and elected offices as a Democrat. I've been on the County committee, working for our local politicans. I've even distributed Hillary's material door to door in her last Senate election.

Here's another reason:

We must STAND FOR SOMETHING or we STAND FOR NOTHING!
I will not compromise my PRINCIPLES! I will not unify behind a party of cheaters and liars who have shown us what the true definition of MORAL AND ETHICAL BANKRUPTCY is. I find it completely offensive and in full contradiction of AUTHENTIC Democratic principles and values.

No...I will not line up at the edge of the cliff so that I can simply be pushed off because the "party leaders" have instructed its sheeple to do the deed. How in the hell can anyone with sound mind consider such an act a promotion of "Unity"???

This weekend, the ENTIRE world saw that the Democratic Party is NO DIFFERENT than the Republican Party. Nice work, Dean and Brazille. You have done a spectacular job of LEVELING the "moral" playing field. I, for one, will not blindly follow "leaders" that clearly lack any semblance of a moral compass. I WILL NOT SELL MY SOUL. The expectation that any of us would do so is REPULSIVE on its face.

Everyday I walk into my high school classroom and I encourage my students to honor their values and beliefs. I will not become a hypocrite in order to appease the crooked and corrupt elements within my own party. I may be the last woman standing but I REFUSE to model behavior that will compromise my integrity. The youth of America deserve better than this.

Don't tell me it's a pile of rose petals when it's a pile of horse shit.

"...the power of believing in a PRINCIPLE."- S. Corbett

Onward and upward: Mission of Independence Party

* To elevate the voters of New York State to their rightful place as the sovereign rulers of the state, reducing the office holders to the servants of the people they were intended to be;

* To create a statewide political party committed to the elimination of the electoral advantages of incumbency and the creation of a level playing field for the candidates of all political parties;

* To restore fiscally responsible government, where the state budgets to spend only what the voters are willing to pay in taxes;

* To create a political party committed to the highest standards of quality in every aspect of the party -- representation, organization, campaigning, elections, fund raising, and participation;

* To encourage voter participation and involvement, both in the party itself and in the political process as a whole.

The quality of a democracy is measured by the quality of participation by ordinary citizens. Democratic values and attitudes are learned through participation, and the highest calling of a citizen is to serve his or her fellow citizens in office as a position of trust, enjoying the bonds of affection with the voters for their willingness to sacrifice through public service. Our political party is committed to every aspect of this participation, whether in our party or in other political parties and organizations. We are thereby committed to choice in elections, volunteerism within the parties, and citizens who are willing to serve us as elected officials. We are equally committed to honest debate, the forthright presentation of our values, and respect for the rights of everyone.

Tom In Paine: SUPER DELEGATE WATCH: BILL RICHARDSON'S ADVICE AND REMEMBERING WHO DID WHAT

Tom In Paine: SUPER DELEGATE WATCH: BILL RICHARDSON'S ADVICE AND REMEMBERING WHO DID WHAT

Subliminal Cult of Obama, a/k/a Trinity, I Never Knew Ye

The photo above is a Reuters photo from a Yahoo news story about Obama quitting his church. In fact, the full text is

U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama waits to speak in Aberdeen, South Dakota May 31, 2008. Obama said on Saturday he quit his Chicago church in the aftermath of inflammatory sermons that could become a lightning rod in the November election.

Note the halo and uplifted face. Oh, yeah, I'm feeling it. He is the Race Martyr.

DNC Decision Roundup

Ickes was enraged. "I am stunned that we have the gall and the chutzpah to substitute our judgment for 600,000 voters," he told his peers. "Was the process flawed? You bet your ass that it was flawed. . . . You bet your ass a lot of people didn't vote." Ickes accused the committee of "hijacking" delegates -- "not a good way to start down the path of party unity."

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Ok, they are clearly not paying any attention. They are going to shove Obama down our throat for our own good, sort of cod liver oil without a spoonful of sugar.

I will say this for sure though. If we keep hearing “unity” without any effort to really, like, you know, “unify”, McCain’s redecoration of the Oval Office will be all but assured.

We know why the RBC did what they did. They have completely disgraced themselves. The DNC lost. They are in a hole for November. If they don’t want it to be a total blowout for McCain, it would behoove them to stop digging.

River Daughter
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I am leaving the Democratic Party on Monday. I will go to the post office when it opens and re- register. I will send my new registration as an independent to the DNC. I encourage everyone who cares about democracy to do the same.

Even slaves got 3/5th "counted" in 1789. Florida and Michigan voters - do you see what the vipers at the DNC did today? Your votes, your power, your voices - were sliced in half.

The DNC debased the entire notion of democracy. All non Clinton votes in Michigan were unilaterally awarded to Obama. The rules committee also awarded Obama 4 of Clinton's delegates.

John at Liberal Rapture
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My man’s parents are in town this weekend, and I just got online about an hour ago to catch up on the RBC fiasco today. I’m assuming you’re all up to date already, so I’m going to leave you overnight with some links about “unity” and, and the slow unraveling of the party. I like to excerpt, so hopefully you’ll ready through and “enjoy” the theme of democracy
inaction.

Lat e Night H1K: Choking on unity
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* The tin ear showing underlying misogyny and sexism reveals itself again, via the adviser's remarks. Every high school girl in America and everybody who ever was one or respected one should be disgusted by this comment. Why? Because it is disgusting. And no less disgusting because made by a woman. (Based on her name, I'm guessing that the adviser is female. But women, like men can be misogynist and sexist toward women. Sadly, sometimes the most bigoted people are those who have internalized a larger cultural attitude often applied to them.)
* Then there's the fresh display of contempt not only for women, and not only for Senator Clinton, but also for voters' rights. This time it is the superdelegates Senator Obama wants to tamper with. Note that even if right this minute he succeeded in getting every superdelegate to say he or she would be or is supporting him, a superdelegate is in no way way pledged before the actual Party Convention: they are committed by their ballots at that time and they can change their votes in between balloting if it takes more than one round to select a nominee.
* Senator Obama is either not as smart as I would assume him to be or he is as arrogant as many others think he is. But either way, his plan to claim this nomination prior to the only event this year at which a candidate can become the official candidate of the Democratic Party further demonstrates a peculiar approach to internal Party rules. Senator Obama insists on them when it suits him; and disregards them when they do not. Let us hope he does not take take a similar approach to laws.
Heidi Li
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So, I'm going to keep this simple and straightforward: those of you who have been screaming about the rules, please show me where the rules provide for the DNC to simply allocate pledged delegates to a candidate who was not by any of the absurd allocation rules voted those pledged delegates. I don't care about what you think was fair, or what you want people to believe someone once said about the two states and their alleged rules violations, or who you think has won or is more electable or is nicer or more honest or whatever some of you love to rant about, no matter whether or not it relates to the actual posted topic. I want you to show me the rule that says a candidate who was not voted pledged delegates from a state can simply be awarded pledged delegates by the DNC. Because the rules were changed, today, in the middle of the game, but not by Hillary Clinton or her supporters.

turkana at The Left Coaster
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I am incredulous. I am changing my registration from Democrat to Independent on Monday. I cannot support a party that treats women like second class citizens and makes back room deals. No way, no how.

Signs of Things to Come - Obama's Transparency Hypocrisy

Barack Obama’s campaign tries to play “count the lobbyist” with John McCain. Now I don’t accept the lobbyist = bad equation, and so I think that this is all a little trivial.

But hypocrisy is not trivial. Let’s do a little recount of the lobbyists around Obama.

There’s Jim Johnson, who I have previously written about. Johnson has represented the former Prime Minister of Senegal, and as CEO of Fannie Mae, he improperly disclosed profits that resulted in him getting a big bonus he didn’t deserve. Obama put this lobbyist-fundraiser-foreign-agent in charge of picking his Vice Presidential candidate.

There’s Francisco J. Pavía, his Puerto Rico state director, and a lobbyist for the Government of Puerto Rico. That violates Obama’s lobbyist policy. What have they done about that?

There’s his chief strategist David Axelrod, may not be exactly a lobbyist but certainly represents a lot of those corporations that Obama condemns. Obama said “I am in this race to tell the corporate lobbyists that their days of setting the agenda in Washington are over.” I guess that the corporate lobbyists are elemental evil, while corporate admen and astroturfers are all good.

Read it here

God Damn America Obama Style

Obama and Pfleger
Greg Pollowitz

Houston, we have a problem:

Typical of Mr. Obama’s earmarks was a $100,000 grant for a youth center at a Catholic church run by the Rev. Michael Pfleger, a controversial priest who was one of the few South Side clergymen to back Mr. Obama against Mr. Rush.

Father Pfleger has long worked with South Side political leaders to reduce crime and improve the community. But he has drawn fire from some quarters for defending the Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan and inviting him to speak at his church. Father Pfleger, who did not return calls for comment, is one of the religious leaders whose “faith testimonials” Mr. Obama has posted on his presidential campaign Web site.

David Axelrod, the chief strategist for the Obama presidential campaign, said that Father Pfleger was “remaking the face” of Chicago’s South Side and that all of Mr. Obama’s earmarks went to worthy programs like his.

Judgment.
Here

Obama and Health Care

So, my question is, since I can't figure it out, WHAT DOES OBAMA REALLY SAY?

Will he price individual insurance by risk? (like he says he will in his FAQ on healthcare, read the part about businesses who have that one sick employee and how he might be able to help them) This would apply to everybody who isn't employed by a generous employer who supplies healthcare..If you are on the uninsurables list or even have a common chronic condition like hypertension or asthma.. you may be basically uninsurable outside of a group plan -i.e. THROUGH AN EMPLOYER or similar, because, as you probably already know, you are a bad risk, because you are already sick, its not a gamble (THE BASIS OF HOW THE INSURANCE INDUSTRY WORKS IS BY IMITATING GAMBLING) with you, they KNOW you will be expensive. So they DON'T want you unless you can pay to make it worth their while.
For example, see this article

Or, does Obama mean it when he says that he will make insurance available to everybody who wants it and can pay the premium they ask'? (people who think they might get sick or who think that they have something to lose, not those who think they could get sick and be a write off or who think they won't get sick, or who can't afford insurance at any price, ALL of who would be covered by Hillary AFFORDABLY)
Note: If Obama does do THAT, insurance will be MUCH more expensive for TWO SEPARATE reasons..
1.) Because the risk pool will be smaller and much sicker because there won't be a mandate.
2.) Because insurance companies jack the price up a lot when they can't charge by risk
So, could you help me out in figuring out what Obama really means???

Read it here

Political Fable

Snow White & The Seven Dwarfs

The seven dwarfs always left to go work in the mine early each morning. As always, Snow White stayed home doing her domestic chores. As lunchtime approached, she would prepare their lunch and carry it to the mine.

One day as she arrived at the mine with the lunch, she saw that there had been a terrible cave-in. Tearfully, and fearing the worst, Snow White began calling out, hoping against hope that the dwarfs had somehow survived.

'Hello!...Hello!' she shouted. 'Can anyone hear me? Hello!'

For a long while, there was no answer.

Losing hope, Snow White again shouted, 'Hello! Is anyone down there?'

Just as she was about to give up all hope, she heard a faint voice from deep within the mine, singing . . .

'Vote for Barack Obama! - Vote for Barack Obama!'

Snow White fell to her knees, crossed herself and prayed.

'Oh, thank you, Goddess! At least Dopey is still alive...

John Lennon - Woman is the nigger of the world

Woman is the Nigger of the World

John Lennon

Woman is the nigger of the world
Yes she is...think about it
Woman is the nigger of the world
Think about it...do something about it

We make her paint her face and dance
If she won’t be a slave, we say that she don’t love us
If she’s real, we say she’s trying to be a man
While putting her down we pretend that she is above us

Woman is the nigger of the world...yes she is
If you don’t believe me take a look to the one you’re with
Woman is the slave of the slaves
Ah yeah...better scream about it

We make her bear and raise our children
And then we leave her flat for being a fat old mother then
We tell her home is the only place she should be
Then we complain that she’s too unworldly to be our friend

Woman is the nigger of the world...yes she is
If you don’t believe me take a look to the one you’re with
Woman is the slave of the slaves
Yeah (think about it)

We insult her every day on TV
And wonder why she has no guts or confidence
When she’s young we kill her will to be free
While telling her not to be so smart we put her down for being so dumb

Woman is the nigger of the world...yes she is
If you don’t believe me take a look to the one you’re with
Woman is the slave of the slaves
Yes she is...if you believe me, you better scream about it.

We make her paint her face and dance
We make her paint her face and dance
We make her paint her face and dance

Tom In Paine: THE RFK ASSASSINATION, CHARACTER ASSASSINATION, AND OBAMA'S ASSASSINATION OF THE TRUTH

Tom In Paine: THE RFK ASSASSINATION, CHARACTER ASSASSINATION, AND OBAMA'S ASSASSINATION OF THE TRUTH

Count the Votes!

And check out the graphs over at Democratic Wings. Simply amazing.

WTF?

Hillary Clinton has sent out secret code that she wants Obama assassinated so that she can win the nomination and I am a racist. Do I see a pattern here? You bet I do.

Every stinking thing that happens in this campaign is perceived as anti-Obama. It is twisted and turned and spun around until it get spit back out as a racist remark.

Let me set the record straight. Hillary did not send out the silent dog whistle remark in order to have Obama assassinated. And I did not place the Obama poster in the right sidebar because I am a racist.

Obama is a snob. But, calling him a snob is not calling him a uppity black man. I'm sorry if that is where youR brain leads you, because it is not the intention from my end. Obama made a remark about "typical" white people clinging to their guns and religion. A snotty, snobby statement. If you choose to twist the Soul Searching post below away from the horrible sexism that plainly exists in that photo and make it about the side poster and racism, that's your problem. But don't call me a racist.

I think you better do some "soul searching" of your own.

Memorial Day Weekend

I'm off to our camp in the Southern Adirondacks. I need to sit under the pine trees, walk along the lake, feed the chipmunks and soothe my soul.

Yesterday, my husband and I went to four cemeteries and planted flowers for our family members who have passed on. My husband's great grandparents are buried at Indian Castle Church, which was built in 1769. The burial ground behind the Church is right at the edge of a huge forest, on a hill overlooking the Church. It is beautiful beyond belief. The Church is a very simple wooden structure. Neither of us are inspired by organized religion, but one cannot help but feel a quiet peacefulness when standing in this historical old Church.

At my grandparent's cemetery, we met up with the father of one of my high school friends. Phil and his wife are staunch Democrats in our small community, having held both elected and appointed positions and were both very active in the party. In fact, they were very supportive of me when I ran for both terms on the Town Council.

This 80 year old staunch Democrat noticed my Hillary button and after some talk of the RFK remark, he let loose. He and his wife are livid over the way Hillary has been treated. He stated that they will become Independents if she is not the nominee. He also said he would vote for McCain, to which my husband replied he couldn't do that, he just would refrain from voting. Phil proceeded to explain why that wasn't good enough. We all agreed that Obama is not experienced in foreign policy or economics and that he would be a terrible President at a time when we need a strong leader. To simply not vote for Obama would take away one vote. To vote for McCain would put Obama behind by 2 votes. What was extraordinary in this whole conversation is that you could see and hear the disbelief from this war horse Democrat and how mad and sad it made him feel and how very disappointed he was in the Democratic party.

So, DNC, you've screwed this up royally. You are are alienating the very base of your party. I've thought about what Phil said and he's right. I'm voting for McCain if Hillary is not the nominee, along with my husband and the rest of our family.

Soul Searching

I am saddened to say that I've deleted one of the first women that I met on a blog, due to her bumper sticker on facebook. I knew she was an Obama supporter and we seemed to get by that and remain friends. She is progressive, an amazing person who loves animals, music and she recently went through the death of her beautiful mother, who she had taken care of and nursed at home.

This woman is someone I love, respect and admire.

That's why this sucks.

Do it now!!

Right now. Go to Tennessee Guerilla Women and read egalia's post,watch the video and sign the petition. Do it now. For your mother, your daughters, your aunts, your nieces, your grandmothers, do it for yourself. Hurry up. Get over there now. It's the most important thing you will do today. And make sure you watch that video. And donate to Hillary.

And then go read Hating Hillary and donate some more.

Vets for Freedom

Watch the Video

Gov. Paterson

Kiss My Ass

From your history of extra marital affairs, to fancy suits and bar tabs paid for with campaign funds, you are a HUGE disappointment.

With friends/supporters like you, Hillary doesn't need enemies.

Oh, and then there is THIS

The back-and-forth was lighthearted, but it underscored a new partnership that has political benefits for both men. It is a shift that is turning Albany upside down and making some of Mr. Paterson’s fellow Democrats privately uneasy. Mr. Paterson has quietly declared a political truce with Mr. Bruno and his party, and though he is committed to raising money for the state’s Democrats, he has been reluctant to recruit candidates to run against incumbent Republicans at a time when the Democrats appear tantalizingly close to taking over the Senate for the first time in more than 40 years.

The shift is noticeable in many ways. Mr. Paterson waved through pork-barrel spending bills that provided $350 million apiece to Mr. Bruno’s Senate and to Assembly Democrats. Mr. Paterson’s predecessor, Eliot Spitzer, held up the legislation for months. Mr. Paterson has also abandoned Mr. Spitzer’s insistence that Republicans agree to legislation limiting campaign contributions.

A Couple of Things

I heard clip from a show with Geraldine Ferraro talking about sexism. She brought up the man (Obama supporter?) who yelled and held up a sign saying "iron my shirt" during a Clinton rally. Can you imagine what the MSM would do if a woman stood up and yelled "shine my shoes" during an Obama rally? Think about it.

The other thing is that I'm hearing all the time about Hillary's vote for the Iraq war. It's so easy for Obamabots to exploit the vote for their purposes. However, as the the economy worsens and oil/gas skyrockets, I think we should focus on Obama's vote for the Bush/Cheney 2005 energy bill written by the energy lobby.

The way I see it is if Obama can blame the Iraq War on Hillary, I can blame the startling rise in oil/gas prices on Obama.

Not So Fast

Stolen with permission from Pagan Power Pass it Along!
Click poster to enlarge.

Anglachel's Journal: Legitimacy, Not Unity

"Lack of legitimacy means relying on force to win. If you have to bully people to make them be quiet, you have lost legitimacy. If you have to remove votes from the contest in order to win, you have lost legitimacy. The objection Hillary supporters have to "teh Rulz" to exclude Michigan and Florida is how nakedly they are used to force the numbers themselves into submission. The rules, as Hillary made clear in her incredible speech today, have a legitimacy problem just like Obama himself because of their instrumental use for the benefit of a particular candidate, not just to the detriment of a competitor, but to the detriment of democracy itself. Insisting on unity as a substitute for legitimacy corrodes the institutions meant to defend democracy. Insisting on unity in order to avoid dealing with dissent is self defeating."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"You gain legitimacy by being willing to risk power. This is the root cause of Obama's failure to be a unifying figure even as he preaches Unity. Obama would have lost some power in relation to Clinton early on by being willing to seat Florida and revote Michigan (I have said before that had he agreed to an immediate MI revote he would have won that state), but he would have gained an immeasurable amount of legitimacy with the voters, which would be paying off now. Clinging to a formal numbers count and defending that as the measure of victory rather than leaping for the chance to be affirmed by the voters is may garner a party nomination, but it makes Obama look like a beleagured dictator bleating about how he won an election that everyone knows was dirty and compromised."

"Unity is power to quell dissent, legitimacy is power under conditions of dissent."

Read it here

So what is a super delegate?

“The super delegates should only ratify the popular vote,” Capps said. “We should only confirm what the public wants.

read more | digg story

Nestle's Homophobic Sexist Candy Bar

From Wikipedia

Cultural References

The Yorkie campaign was prominently featured as a plot-point in episode three of the second series of Lewis ("Life Born of Fire"). In the episode, DS James Hathaway protests at a reductive view of sexuality wherein men are defined as men by an affinity for 'Yorkie bars and Loaded'. This diatribe forms his response to the direct question "Are you gay?" from his superior, DI Robbie Lewis, which he ultimately fails to answer. At the end of the episode, Hathaway is seen producing a Yorkie bar and handing it to his superior - although given the attitudes of both men throughout, this rather creates than clears up ambiguity.

I smell a boycott...

Obama on Hanford from a Republican Ad

A very effective Republican ad showcasing Obama's total lack of knowledge on this important subject.

Hickory, Dickory, Dock

Hickory Dickory Dock
Time's running out for Barack
He can't close the deal
'Cause he's not for real
And Hillary's cleaning his clock

Hickory Dickory Dock
Time's running out for Barack
The voters have spoken
His campaign is broken
And Russert and Tweety are shocked.

Hickery Dickory Dock
Hillary cannot be stopped
Michelle is a'screeching
'Cause Hillary is reaching
Voters who know he's a crock

THANK YOU KENTUCKY!! GO, HILLARY!!
UPDATE: Get thee to Delilah's Place to find out why The Chosen One was in Iowa last night.

Milestone or I Can't Count

A milestone is a significant event. Obama lost Kentucky (by fill in the blank HUGE)%. Yeah, I'd say that's a milestone.

H/T to blu1 at Don't Call Me Sweetie for her photoshop abilities displayed above.

If Obama's So Confident, Why The Desperate Behavior?

Hat Tip to Blogger Lorraine

Two recent incidents suggest that, despite the lying media hype that Senator Barack Obama has already secured the Democratic nomination, nothing could be further from the truth, and the Obama backers and some Howard ``Scream'' Dean people are now resorting to desperate tactics, including heavy-handed pressure and outright bribery, to try to stop Senator Hillary Clinton's building momentum, going into the final series of primary elections.

Sources close to the Obama camp have reported that the May 14 endorsement by former Senator and Vice Presidential candidate John Edwards, came at a heavy price. According to one source, Edwards was put under tremendous pressure to endorse Obama now, or face total isolation by the Obama camp.

Read the rest

Is it all just a huge sham?

From John: South of Melrose

Something deeply disturbing has gone down in the Democratic Party over the course of the last year. 50% of the Democratic electorate is being thrown overboard by the elites. It is now evident that this was planned by numerous people high up in both party's power structures with the assent of some powerful media outlets. Not to mention George Soros. Below I list the evidence for my allegation that a fix was put in to stop Hilary Clinton. All of it is either MY inference or can be easily found with some basic google searches. This post goes to my suspicions. There may be rebuttals on all counts. Feel free to refute me on any point.

Read it and see what you think.

Obama is Clueless - Stumped by question on WA nuclear cleanup

WASHINGTON -- Democrat Barack Obama was stumped this weekend when a woman asked him about cleanup at the nation's most contaminated nuclear area: the Hanford site in Washington state where scientists helped create the atomic bomb.

Obama admitted he didn't know much about the problem, but promised he would learn about it.

"Here's something that you will rarely hear from a politician, and that is that I'm not familiar with the Hanford site, so I don't know exactly what's going on there," Obama said Sunday at a campaign stop in Pendleton, Ore. "Now, having said that, I promise you I'll learn about it by the time I leave here on the ride back to the airport."

Clueless
Wow, this is really telling. I bet he was peeved.

Little Sister

My sister Diane, as captured by my very talented brother-in-law, Chris. You can view (and purchase) his wonderful masterpieces here.
Especially these...

Devil in a pantsuit: The demonization of Hillary Clinton

Is the notion of a powerful, driven, influential woman such a hideous threat?

read more | digg story

Painful lessons

Women voters are not factored into the decision making of the Democratic National Committee. The DNC is concerned that black voters will protest and stay home if Senator Clinton gets the nomination, even though she is the stronger and more electable candidate. But the DNC doesn't worry that white women, three times larger than the combined black vo

read more | digg story

DNC: Fractured Fairy Tales

Obama is Peevish

peevish

Pronunciation: \ˈpē-vish\
Function: adjective
Etymology: Middle English pevish spiteful
Date: circa 1530
1 : querulous in temperament or mood : fretful 2 : perversely obstinate 3 : marked by ill temper
— pee·vish·ly adverb
— pee·vish·ness noun

Querulous in temperment? Moody? Fretful and perversely obstinate? Ill tempered, you say? Oh, yeah.

Peevish is the word that came to mind watching Obama's Appeasement Press Conference on Friday. I am beginning to hate listening to Him as much as I hate listening to Bush, but it was a "deer caught in headlights" moment. I was mesmerized listening to the Grand Ego, chastizing the Ninny President for having the unmitigated gall to question Him. He is Obama for Christ's sake. He was peeved to have to answer questions from reporters. Apparently, I'm not the only one who saw this.

That's enough. That – that's a show of disrespect to me."

That was Barack Obama, a couple of weeks back, explaining why he was casting the Rev. Jeremiah Wright into outer darkness. It's one thing to wallow in "adolescent grandiosity" (as Scott Johnson of the Powerline Web site called it) when it's a family dispute between you and your pastor of 20 years. It's quite another to do so when it's the 60th anniversary celebrations of one of America's closest allies. Mark Steyn

Now, Bush may have been goading Obama, although his official version is that it was about Jimmy Carter. But Obama sounded like a whiny little baby and looked anything BUT Presidential. It gave an insightful look into a BO presidency. Instead of the "What the Hell do Ya'all Care" tone of this administration, it'll be the "I am the Supreme Being and Get Testy When I'm Questioned" era.

If Hillary doesn't win the nomination, don't blame me when He loses the GE in November. I didn't put him in this the race.

Clinton Election Juggernaut Accelerates

After Hillary Clinton’s historic 41-point victory in the West Virginia primary, two questions loom: How long will Barak Obama cling to his shattered dreams of the presidency, and how much damage will be done to the Democratic Party by his stubborn and divisive refusal to accept the obvious?

read more | digg story

Heidi Li's Potpourri: Superdelegates, math, and electing Senator Clinton POTUS '08

Heidi Li's Potpourri: Superdelegates, math, and electing Senator Clinton POTUS '08

Barack Obama: the new Great Redeemer

A brutal assessment of the Democratic Party by Gerard Baker, United States Editor and an Assistant Editor of The Times.

The alert among you will have noticed by now that what all these spiritually uplifting leaders have in common. They are all Democrats. Never in any of the chapters of this hagiography does a Republican, a conservative, appear in a remotely similar light. These alien creatures by contrast have always been portrayed as cartoonish representatives of the Dark Side of humanity, or, if they were really lucky, simply idiots, failed B-movie actors and irredeemably ignorant hicks with embarrassingly neanderthal views on women, religion and communism.

Mr Obama is portrayed throughout as an immanently benevolent figure. Not human really, more a comforting presence, a light source. He is always eager to listen to all aides of an argument, always instilling confidence in the weak-willed, resolutely sticking to his high principles and tirelessly spurning the low road of electoral politics. I stopped reading after a while but I'm sure by the end he was healing the sick, comforting the dying, restoring sight to the blind and setting prisoners free.

You Broke It, You Own It - Obama Style

Kristen Breitweiser, 9/11 widow and activist, is known for pressuring official Washington to provide a public accounting to the American people of what went wrong on the morning of September 11 and in the months leading up to the disaster that claimed the life of her husband and more than 3000 others.

Breitweiser did not seek to be an activist. She was a stay-at-home mother in suburban New Jersey and a George Bush supporter. Yet Breitweiser and the other so-called "Jersey Girls" transformed by their grief and outraged by a lack of accountability are widely credited with forcing the creation of the 9/11 Commission and were instrumental in insuring the passage in Congress of the national security reforms it recommended.

She testified before the Joint Inquiry of Congress in September 2002 and the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee in August 2004 with regard to national security reforms. She campaigned as a primary surrogate for the Kerry-Edwards

Those who are responsible for putting Democrats in the broken place we are in right now with regard to Barack Obama had better own it to the end. Leave those bumper stickers on and wear those campaign pins until the bitter end folks because YOU OWN IT. And people are going to want to know whose to blame.

And as for the superdelegates, just an FYI, we have the list with your names, you will be held accountable on Election Day and beyond, too. This time around, everybody's going to be looking for accountability.

Read It Here

Pacific John Update from Springfield

5/16/08: Another good night. We have recruited every available warm body in the county, so even I had time to use Activate. I was on the final two hours, and had a ratio of 5/3 in our favor.

As you all have probably heard, ARG confirmed SUSA's earlier poll that we are tied in ballots that have already been returned. My prediction last night that the polls would rapidly move in our direction happened a couple of days early. I can't be right about everything ;)

But still, for ARG to be right that we will end down by 5, we will hit a wall at our phone banks. Here's my bold prediction: there is no wall. The result will be close. We will exceed expectations in Oregon,and it will be a blow to Obama. We will win if we have volunteers on the phone. Period.

I have one more day on the ground here. My work is done. Crazy, huh? The election is still 4 days away, and I've already made my impact by recruiting enough vols to keep the phones busy. I'll do vis at the Farmers' market for the third time tomorrow (with one last chance to recruit vols), and I'm out of here. I'd love to stay because there is an increasing chance that my buddies will have the best victory party ever, but I have obligations at home. And like I said, with this paradoxical mail-in election, I've already done what I can. I could have left last weekend, without much difference.

I feel good. I'm satisfied that we have done great work, and I couldn't be happier than to be tied among all actual votes four days out. If we take the late surge, we not only take Oregon, we should take the White House.

I love this campaign.

J

Obama makes a fool of himself over Bush remarks

Obama owns appeasement

Obama and his surrogates drew those connections themselves. Instead of acknowledging the historical truth of appeasement’s failures, they chose to argue with it. Obama could have taken the smart route and embraced it to explain how he understands the lessons of appeasement, which is why his talks with Iran would not result in it. Instead, he got volcanically defensive, which suggests that even Obama sees the parallels between his everything’s-on-the-table approach and the Chamberlain diplomacy which resulted in dismantling Czechoslovakia.

And if Obama considers discussion of foreign policy “divisive”, then he should hie himself right back to Academia. Guess what, Senator? Presidential elections focus on foreign-policy principles, and if you can’t defend yours, then you have no business running for office.

Go ahead. Read it. You won't be sorry.