DEMOCRATS WHO FAVOR IMMEDIATE WITHDRAWAL FROM IRAQ AND SINGLE-PAYER HEALTH CARE AR FIRST

HINT: DK

Indy wrote "He SAYS he would vote against it, but we don't know what he would have DONE, do we?"

No. Exactly like Dean and Gore, we only have his words because he spoke out against the authorization while Edwards was co-sponsoring it.

Congratulations, Andrew! And good luck (although it's more a matter of making it happen!)

What does a Supervisor do exactly? Is that equivalent to mayor or town council or city executive? Don't have this in the midwest.

Nelson, Hastings, Corrine Brown, other Florida Dems filed amended complaint against DNC

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/madfloridian/1611

And the DNC responded today:

http://blogs.tampabay.com/buzz/2007/10/dnc-dean-respon.html

""Hastings, of Miramar, and Nelson sued the DNC and Chairman Howard Dean on grounds that making Florida's primary moot was unconstitutional, because it would disenfranchise voters, including many minorities.

In the response, filed Tuesday in federal court in Tallahassee, the DNC says that's ridiculous. Federal judges have long given the national parties leeway to operate as they see fit. And even if the primary is conducted by the state, the party still has the power to decide whether or not to seat the delegates at this summer's national convention in Denver, the DNC claims.

The response also says Florida Democrats shouldn't have gone along so readily when the Legislature moved the primary, and that they erred in rejecting suggestions for getting legal, including choosing delegates through a ballot-by-mail election and holding statewide caucuses."

Tom Bearse
Tue, 10/30/07
3:07 pm

My point exactly. Thanks.

Governor Dean is on Hardball today with Matthews at 5:00 before the debate.

Another new thread

here it is

http://www.blogforamerica.com/view/22751...

Indy wrote "My point exactly. Thanks."

It's not a problem.  I'll be voting for Edwards if the need arises.

Hey everyone,

First, congrats to Andrew White. He is a great example, one of the best DFA has to offer, of taking personal responsibility for moving America foward. It is an honor to endorse him.

Second, I'm at home sick today. But there was a lot of talk in the comments on the last thread and I can't resist chiming in on all these questions about the Pulse Poll. Some of which have been going on for days. I will try to answer a few here while drinking my orange juice before going back to bed. I also promise to use spell check unlike last time I posted a comment on Sunday.  ;-)

We will announce the complete results on Nov 6th. These results will include Al Gore no matter where he places in the last count. However, the official results used for the recruitment emails and endorsement aspects will only include the results for announced candidates. So, for those of you who voted for Gore as your first choice, unless he announces before the end of the poll, DFA will count your second choice vote towards the official results for announced candidates.

The DFA membership is over 600,000. Since the last election, we count 117,000 members who have taken off-line action that we know of. I would consider those members our most active and the real boots on the ground (as opposed to boots in cyber space, which is also very important). The 50,000 members on DFA-link (not DFA-List as Indy Steve called it in the comments on the last thread) are the DFA members who have signed up to use our on-line tools for off-line action. This is not a representative count of our total active membership, because many many DFAers use their own non DFA-link sites to organize off-line. Check out DC for Democracy, Philly for Change, Change for Kentucky, Democracy for Georgia, etc... for great examples of that.  

The Live Stats for the Pulse Poll represent the unfiltered  first choice votes (well, expect for pulling the Gore votes out of the 'other' votes). There is still plenty of time for other candidates to move up. Remember Edwards was in first place once. Obama was in 4th then 2nd and now 3rd. Kucinich has come from way down the list to just below Gore. Dodd used to be last. Richardson was behind Clinton. This poll is fluid. Do NOT count any candidate out. In fact, I suspect as DFA members check in on the poll this week, that we will see a real increase in votes before this poll closes.

And YES anyone can vote in this poll whether they were a DFA member before it started or not. In fact, we have encouraged every single person voting to Get Out The Vote for their candidate.  You may have noticed an early bump Obama got when a DFA member posted a bulletin to their MySpace page to vote and the bulletin went viral and was reposted numerous times by others. This grabbed Obama a couple thousand votes, most of whom are new to DFA. This is a good thing. Only one candidate will be the nominee and it may be Obama, but within a few months only the actual nominee’s campaign will still be active. DFA is here to stay and now these people are connected to the movement and not just a single candidate.

However, we DO track who is a "new to DFA" voter and who isn't. When we review the results on Nov 5th after midnight, if these new DFA members have significantly altered the actual rankings of the candidates then we will release the results based on the original membership vote not the aggregate totals which would include both. We will ONLY do this if the ranking change in a meaningful way (like the first or second place rankings). Otherwise, we will treat all voters as DFA members and release the results with no asterisks.

Also, we are tracking votes based not just on email addresses, but also ISP's and the like. It would be very hard for someone to produce any significant amount of fake votes for a single candidate. If they do, we will catch them. Just ask the guy who set-up an auto-bot to vote for Gravel 7,000 times. 

Finally, as I said before, we removed the vote count that showed where the second choice votes land for those who chose Gore as first because we want to keep you in at least some suspense. If we show you everything now, where is the fun on Nov 6th?

I hope this answered enough questions for now. Now I am back to bed for some rest. Maybe I’ll watch the episode of “Journeyman” I DVRed last night. Cool show.

-Charles

AL, IF YOU WON'T RUN, AT LEAST SPEAK OUT!

http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_andrew_b_071029_ok_2c_don_t_run_2c_al_go.htm

Sorry about the double posting to the front page. I have moved Kevin Shaw's post back to 8pm to give Andrew White more time in the top spot.

-C

Charles Chamberlain
Tue, 10/30/07
3:16 pm

Hey, Charles. Thanks for responding...and get well. At least it gave you time to blog!

Of course, I meant DFA-Link not DFA-List. Typo or maybe it's a Freudian slip. Imagine if the two were the same!!!!

I will take time to digest what you wrote before reacting. Thanks for clarifying. Life is complicated!

Yea!  Andrew gets more time in the "top spot!"  Way to go, Supervisor Andrew!

John quoted from Andrew Bard Schmookler’s column at OpEdNew.com.

In my view, Gore has been very open about both his lack of interest in a presidential run this cycle, and the reason why he will not categorically rule out his candidacy next year or ever. He said it would be "odd" to do so, and feels no obligation to virtually shut the door on the possibility, no matter how remote, improbable, or ephemeral.

Regardless of that, he stated that he doesn’t intend to run, a position that seems perfectly plausible and rational, based on his reasoning. It’s certainly satisfied me that he doesn’t intend to, even though he might anyway.

I was just thinking about the Halloween theme of this election.

We have Gore, DK, BO ("trick or treat, smell my feet"), the collective GOP, and of course, Hillary, who can come as she is and be plenty scary enough. =:O

-- volney

Howard Dean is still FIRST!

15.

Wouldn't be odd to rule it out if he has, indeed, ruled it out. Remember, "If nominated I will not accept, if elected I will not serve"(General Sherman)? Nothing odd there.

Gore's playing coy and the only odd thing about it is he thinks people can't see through the "wink, wink, nudge, nudge, say no more" nature of his coyness.

-- volney

We also have Rudy Ghouliani.

Gore scheduled for the Jay Leno show, 11/08

Join Dennis Kucinich tonight for live conversation and debate at Kucinich.com, directly after the debate.

Thanks floridagal for the Hardball info and link to the DNC response.

The responose makes perfect sense to me. We must keep the government out of our political parties. To open the door there would be a terrible mistake by any judge.

I am disappointed that Corinne Brown was part of the lawsuit. Shame on her.

~~~~~~

And  Andrew is right -- it IS all Howard's fault. Thank God for him.

AAP Urges Early Autism Diagnosis, Then Drugs Often Used

by Barbara Loe Fisher (http://www.nvic.org/)

America's pediatricians, who cannot explain to American parents why so many of their young, highly vaccinated children are developing autism and other developmental disabilities, announced this week at a conference in San Francisco that it is time for doctors to get serious about diagnosing autism early and often.

http://www.time.com/time/health/article/... 99,1677611,00.html?xid=feed-yahoo-healthsci

This push for "early diagnosis" before age two is coupled with a push for "early intervention." Currently that intervention involves doctors prescribing psychiatric drugs for 80 percent of the children diagnosed with autism or Asperger disorder according to a report released at the same conference.
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/5650...

Although few parents would argue that it is important to recognize when a child is regressing physically, mentally and emotionally into autism, many parents are more interested in addressing the biological root causes for the kinds of brain and immune system dysfunction that their autistic children are exhibiting, rather than giving their children psychotropic drugs that only suppress the symptoms. Many parents, like Cindy Goldenberg in the early 1990's and Jenny McCarthy a decade later, have found that eliminating gluten and casein from their child's diet and employing other alternative therapies to repair healthy immune function, can effectively address vaccine-related biological causes for autism and greatly improve their children's health.

However, currently mainstream American pediatricians are overwhelmingly attempting to deal with the autism explosion by drugging children. Tobias Gerhard, PhD, assistant professor at the Rutgers University Institute for Health, Health Care Policy, and Aging Research acknowledged that the prevalence of Autism Spectrum Disorders increased 10-fold in the last decade and presented an analysis of medical care surveys reflecting two million health visits involving autism or Asperger disorder. He found that children were overwhelmingly male and white and that disruptive behavioral disorders were involved with 3 of every 10 cases.

The surveys revealed that about 80% of children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder are treated with at least one psychiatic drug; 30% are given antipsychotic drugs, 40% antidepressants, 40% stimulants and about 30% some other drug, including mood stabilizers and anticonvulsants. Some children are prescribed several medications. "As with many psychiatric conditions in children, we really know very little [about] how these drugs actually work and how they should be used in practice," Dr. Gerhard said.

In Canada, where there is a nationalized health care system and long waiting lines for a doctor's appointment, there is a warning by Canadian pediatricians that early screening and treatment for autism is easier said than done. The former president of the Canadian Pediatric Society, Emmet Francoeur, points out that increased screening would involve an increase in the number of evaluation teams and treatment services, all of which is time consuming and expensive. He says "Unfortunately, unlike a broken bone or pneumonia, where you can take an x-ray and come up with a diagnosis, it takes multiple observers looking at multiple aspects of a child's development to diagnose autism."

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ story/RTGAM.20071030.wautism30/BNStory/specialSci enceandHealth/home

As hard as it is for pediatricians to figure out how they are going to identify and treat lots of highly vaccinated autistic children, it is much harder for parents searching for answers for why their once healthy children developed autism and how to help them heal. The diagnostic screening tests, the visits to different doctors specializing in different parts of the body and the drug and behavioral therapies that may or may not work, can bankrupt the average middle class family.

One day, the educational and health care costs associated with the biggest epidemic our nation has ever experienced - the chronic disease and disability epidemic - may bankrupt our nation. It is a chronic illness epidemic that makes the polio epidemic of the 1950's look small by comparison. We are all paying a very high price for the failure of pediatricians, drug companies and government health officials to act responsibly in the 1980's when parents of DPT vaccine injured children pleaded with them to conduct methodologically sound scientific studies to investigate the biological mechanisms and genetic factors involved in vaccine-induced regression and neuroimmune dysfunction.

====================
sorry about the long post. It was in my email there's no link for it.

Bottom line on MSNBC while Matthews talks, "It is expected that Iran will dominate the debate."

No surprise there. The Repugs do not want to hear about the Dems progressive and popular domestic plans and issues since they have none of their own. I hope to see one of our Dem debaters brings that up if war is to take center stage for all of this debate. They have done this several times in the past.

volney wrote "Wouldn't be odd to rule it out if he has, indeed, ruled it out. Remember, ‘If nominated I will not accept, if elected I will not serve’(General Sherman)? Nothing odd there.

Gore's playing coy and the only odd thing about it is he thinks people can't see through the ‘wink, wink, nudge, nudge, say no more’ nature of his coyness."

That’s an interesting perspective. Here is what Karen Tumulty wrote in Time on the subject last May:

"Could the new Al Gore be the answer for a party in which so many are discomfited by the fact that Senator Hillary Clinton is looking increasingly inevitable as the 2008 nominee even though she's commonly seen as unelectable? ‘I'm not planning to be a candidate again, ever. I have no intention of being a candidate,’ Gore says again and again. But he also notes, ‘I haven't made a Shermanesque statement because it just seems odd to do so.’"

Here’s what John Heilemann wrote in New York Magazine:

"‘I don’t want to give them any false signal,’ Gore replies. ‘I don’t want to be responsible for anyone feeling that I’m inching toward running again when I’m not. You won’t find a single person in Iowa, New Hampshire, or anywhere who has had the slightest signal that originated with me or anyone speaking for me.’

"So let’s clear this up: Why don’t you say right now, unequivocally, that you will not run? Then no one will have the impression that you’re leaving the door ajar.

"Gore puts his left elbow on the table, cups his cheek in his hand, and audibly exhales.

"‘It’s really more a function of my own internal shifting of gears, not an outward coyness. It’s just honest. I was in elected politics for 24 years. I ran four national campaigns. I was first elected to Congress in my twenties. I was around it for all my life before that. And when I say I’m not at a point where I’m willing to say, ‘"Never, never, never again under any circumstances," I’m just not at the point where I want to say that.’"

Not just the lone voice in Sep 2002 against our Iraq Attack, but health care, overreaching powers and our Constitituional crisis.

Unlike in his 2000 Campaign when he was supporting a Universal Health Care, in 2002 Al Gore stated he has" come to the decision we now need a Single Payer Health Care".

And in Jan 2006 he gave that stiring speech on our Constitutional Crisis and the Overreaching Powers by the Executive Branch.

Here, I have a few videos for you.

His full speech at Constitution Hall in Jan 2006
A.
And 3 videos clearly stating his position on three important policy issues.
B.
1. health care
2. The War in Iraq
3. And restoring our Rights.

Constitution Hall Full speech, video Jan 16, 2006
http://www.acslaw.org/node/2096

3 policy videos
http://current.com/people/algore

Gore's playing coy and the only odd thing about it is he thinks people can't see through the "wink, wink, nudge, nudge, say no more" nature of his coyness.

Playing coy is a somewhat deragatory term. Perhap's he's, waiting for the right moment. 

Hillary got juked into announcing a lot sooner than she wanted to and hopefully Gore is operating on his own schedule.

Give him a couple weeks to digest the Nobel Prize on his plate. 

LINKS FOR STORY ABOVE

23.
AAP Urges Early Autism Diagnosis, Then Drugs Often Used
by Barbara Loe Fisher

http://www.time.com/time/health/article/...

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/5650...

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/s...

IndySteve,

 Yes, Town Supervisor is the executive for the town. The equivalent of a Mayor of a city. The position is also combined with a lot of the financial responsibilities in our town. We don't have a treasurer or comptroller so the Supervisor fills that role with auditing performed by the council. This is something we may review. Many years ago the town hired an accountant to handle many of the financial tasks. The out-going Supervisor took on those tasks in order to save money.

 We will review whether this is truly the best and most ethical division of labor or not.

 That is... if we get elected. :)

Peace,

Andrew

p.s. if you happen to be in the Albany area we are phone banking tonight from the Citizen Action NY headquarters. If needed we may expand out to SEIU 1199 as well. Come on by!

Indy Steve
Tue, 10/30/07
2:58 pm

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

I was not ganging up on you......your intentions are honest.....in fairness, Edwards was far from alone in his "misjudgment"........they are all guilty as far as Im concerned...............

Now, what do we do about it?  cheers

HERE'S THE MEDSCAPE ARTICLE (registration required)

Physicians Rely on Psychiatric Drugs to Treat Autism Spectrum Disorders

James Brice

October 29, 2007 (San Francisco) — An observational study of physician prescription patterns indicates that 80% of children diagnosed with autism or Asperger disorder are treated with at least 1 psychiatric drug.

Results presented here at the American Academy of Pediatrics 2007 National Conference and Exhibition reflect the medical community's initial therapeutic response to the growing prevalence of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) including autism and the generally less debilitating Asperger disorder. An estimated 1 child in 150 in the United States and United Kingdom is affected by ASD, according to Tobias Gerhard, PhD, assistant professor at the Rutgers University Institute for Health, Health Care Policy, and Aging Research.

The degree of impairment associated with both conditions is highly variable. Their etiologies are unknown, though the prevalence of ASD has increased 10-fold in the last decade, Dr. Gerhard said.

Treatment typically includes behavioral, educational, and pharmacologic components. A lack of understanding about the characteristic use of medications to treatment ASD led Dr. Gerhard to sift through data from the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey and the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey for answers. In combination, he said, they reflect the experience of 2 million visits involving autism or Asperger disorder annually.

Data from 2002 to 2005 revealed variations, though no statistically significant differences, in the demographics of autism and Asperger disorder patients. The average age of an autism patient was 9.7 years, compared with 11.1 years for an Asperger patient. Patients were overwhelmingly male and white. The presence of psychiatric comorbidities for autism and Asperger disorder were 36% and 44.4%, respectively. Disruptive behavioral disorders were involved with 3 of every 10 cases for each condition, Gerhard said.

About 80% of children diagnosed with ASD were treated with at least 1 psychiatric drug. About 30% of patients were prescribed antipsychotic drugs, 40% antidepressants, 40% stimulants, and about 30% some other class of drug including mood stabilizers and anticonvulsants. Some patients are treated with several medications.

Physicians tended to prescribe psychoactive drugs more often for Asperger disorder than autism (89% vs 64%). Differences in the treatment pattern were especially evident for the prescription of stimulants. About 57% of Asperger patients were prescribed stimulants compared with 20% of Autism patients.

However, these results apply to the prescription pattern before US Food and Drug Administration approval of the antipsychotic drug risperidone in 2006.

Session moderator George W. Rutherford, MD, professor of epidemiology at the University of California, San Francisco, told Medscape Pediatrics that the data suggest an evolution toward a de facto standard for treating ASD.

"If you are looking to see what your colleagues are doing, there is a tendency to treat a large portion of these patients with psychotropic drugs," he said in an interview.

The findings suggest to Dr. Gerhard that more research is needed to determine whether the drug prescription pattern reflects the clinical efficacy of the agents or an effort to placate parents who demand aggressive treatment.

"As with many psychiatric conditions in children, we really know very little [about] how these drugs actually work and how they should be used in practice," Dr. Gerhard said. "This is really a first step in research that should ultimately motivate more research."

American Academy of Pediatrics 2007 National Conference and Exhibition: Abstract 472. Presented October 28, 2007

"It is expected that Iran will dominate the debate."

Boasting that they are not insane enough to attack Iran should be a debate every Dem relishes. 

But too many Dems who were insane enough to support invading Iraq are still in office. They'll once again undercut Dems who oppose the next war.

bbl

Gore scheduled for the Jay Leno show, 11/08

November 16 – Filing Deadline for New Hampshire Primary.

btw, Andrew, don't know if you noticed over the time on daily kos, but I used to be "Linda in Cincinnati".

Again, major Congrats and thank you.

Audrey, thank you...I hadn't heard....do you have a link?
....on Al Gore on the Tonight Show.

Re: It's all Howard Dean's Fault!


It sure is.

If Gore announces on the 8th, he'll miss the following filing deadlines......

October 23– Filing Deadline for Michigan Primary

November 1– Filing Deadline for Georgia Primary

November 1– Filing Deadline for South Carolina Primary

November 2 – CNN Debate
Democratic candidates debate on CNN. Cosponsored by Nevada Democratic Party.

November 5 – Filing Deadline for Illinois Primary

Michigan is a no-go anyway since good Dems are supposed to boycott it. 

Illinois is the home state of Obama and Hillary. 

GA and SC? Big deal.

And missing the Nov. 2 debate would be good for Gore since he wouldn't be lowering himself to the level of the others and giving them a platform to attack him.

Waiting for Goredot is smart politics.

I remember when Andrew used to blog here and kept telling Sitka that he didn't want him responding to any of his posts.  Good times.

Should Gore run, he needs to campaign as if he were an incumbent president seeking another term -- which he sort of is.

Linda,

 I didn't know. Thank you! I just knew I like this LindainSFNM person. :)

I still have that picture of us at the first DemFest bloggers breakfast. I wish I'd had my head together a little better that morning. I'm usually slow to be friendly in the morning and as I recall that morning in particular I rushed, rushed, rushed, and frazzled to boot.

Peace,

Andrew

I won't touch that one with a ten foot Reply to this.

LOL

yeah Tom... I've been known to lose my sense of humor every once in awhile. That was one of them. I try not to let that happen too much. Life is too short and joy and humor are to be found everywhere if we let go of ourselves enough to experience them.

Peace,

Andrew

I gotta run. Time to get phone lists, scripts, and talking points over to Citizen Action HQ for our phone banking tonight. Longg-time DFA member and activist Bill Sell is our volunteer coordinator for phone banking. He's been incredibly helpful to the entire campaign.

DFA people ROCK!

Andrew, Thank you. I know I was hurried and frazzled a bit too, staying in New York and driving in to the Berkshires each morning...

Best to you.

11.

Charles Chamberlain
Tue, 10/30/07
3:16 pm

I'm sorry you're not feeling well.

Have a hot cup of echinacea tea (eat the leaves)and some zinc. Make sure you eat something before you use zinc. Perhaps some chicken soup.

Take care.

---

Good sci-fi flick for the whole family to enjoy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Mi...

Howard looks good! 

I miss the crushies.

Poor Howard is on Hardball having to disavow his words of 2003 that [paraphrase] "too many Democrats voted to go to war because they wanted to run for president."

To Mattthews' credit, he let Dean off the hook and said he was right back then. 

48.

I agree, it was hard to watch him making excuses for them.

25.

Tom, that's exactly my point. No one has asked him to rule it in or out forever, just for this cycle. And he keeps refusing to do that even though he had no problem doing that in 2004.

There's a simple question here: "Will you run in 2008?" Yet the answers are always either coy -- and I use the term advisedly -- or, like the one in your post, answers to questions that aren't being asked.

-- volney

48.

Howard was absolutely right then. I wish he had diverted to a different topic versus try to make excuses for the inexcusable.

-- volney

There's a simple question here: "Will you run in 2008?"

And political person answers that question until it's the right time to. 

And no political person answers that question until it's the right time to.

volney wrote "No one has asked [Gore] to rule it in or out forever, just for this cycle. And he keeps refusing to do that even though he had no problem doing that in 2004."

He also never states that he's not running, only that he doesn't "plan" or "intend" to be a candidate.

He might become one, as I mentioned, but not planning or intending to be one would suggest to me that he won't be.  Under normal circumstances, becoming president is something you want to plan and intend to do. 

To me, the very intriguing element of suspense still hanging in the air is that the states are fucking up the primary season so badly, with total disregard for the delegate selection rules, that the convention may easily be thrown into chaos if a consensus candidate fails to emerge after the first ballot because of divided loyalties among the delegates.

Lynn.....

Gore's appearance on Leno was listed on their schedule according to a commenter at DU.

Here's a link to Gore on Tonight next Thursday:

http://www.interbridge.com/lineupsdate.h...

Yes, it's a form of a links farm but she seems to have accurate listings for the shows.

Election Day plus 2. Lets the local news be digeted and analyzed before the next election cycle officially kicks off. So I would think he will either announce or endorse on that night.

-- volney

"Battle For The Republic" Exposes Real Immigration Agenda
Elite using balkanization strategy to destroy American sovereignty and create third world cesspit

Prison Planet | October 30, 2007
Paul Joseph Watson

Alex Jones' Battle For The Republic exposes how the elite are using illegal immigration and pushing amnesty as a means of pulverizing the American middle class and ensuring that U.S. citizens, black, white and hispanic alike, are forced to sacrifice their freedom and sovereignty as America is sunk into a third world cesspool.

The mini-documentary lifts the lid on how the backlash against rampant illegal immigration in America is a major concern for the Bilderberg Group, posing a threat to their plans to lower the living standards of U.S. citizens of all colors and creeds into second or even third world status.

What is the real agenda behind last year's massive pro-illegal immigration demonstrations and who is really behind them? Battle For the Republic traces the legacy of the movement back to the Plan of San Diego, a shocking blueprint for race-based genocide directed against blacks and whites in America.

(Article Continues Below)

The goal is to divide America by bankrolling the Aztlan movement, an extremist separatist plan on behalf of Mexican Ku Klux Klan style groups like Mecha and La Raza to "reclaim" the southern and western U.S. states, in order to eventually merge America, Canada and Mexico into a North American Union.

Battle For The Republic shoots down the myth that Mexico has any rightful claim to the south western states by carefully documenting the history of how the west was won, bringing it up to the modern day and highlighting how the elite are using the enraged Mexican mobs as a weapon of conquest to slit America's throat and sacrifice its sovereignty on the altar of globalism.

Hispanic Radio and TV stations owned by huge corporations based in New York spew hatred and division as Mexicans are radicalized and told that all their problems stem from the racist American middle class while ignoring the fact that the elite are the true cause of their misery, as taxpayers are sucked dry to fund welfare which only subsidizes the corporations that employ the illegals

54.

I read the "plan" or "intend" as a form of coyness. If he declares a candidacy as his own decision, then he is making plain what he thinks of She Who Must Be Obeyed and fueling gossipmongering for a year.

If, OTOH, he keeps saying he doesn't "plan" or "intend" and then finally comes out and says, "What can I do? My supporters give me no rest. They demand that I run," his opposition to Her Majesty is no longer his own, but a faceless mass's.

-- volney

If you're dropping by this blog for the first time, please ignore the nut at 57. He only drops by occassionally to regale us with xenophobic zealotry and looney libertarianism.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1EGm0izB8VY

Just passing through on the way to PillowLand ... nice to see Andrew posting. Good luck, Andrew!

*******************
The US continues to *make friends and influence people* ... NOT ... I'm afraid.

This story is from MN, of all places ... an area that for me has many pleasant connotations ... or at least, it used to. What on earth has happened to MN ... or is it just the creeps who deal with international arrivals at the airport? The creeps in this story seem to have IQs in the single digits.

Anyway, I'm gone after this one. Have pleasant ones!

======================
Minnesota's Finnish guests find a rude airport welcome
The musicians say they were subjected to harsh, demeaning treatment; the U.S. government says it's investigating.
By Jean Hopfensperger, Star Tribune
Last update: October 28, 2007 – 10:54 PM

When three of Finland's most popular musicians, including one described as that country's Bruce Springsteen, arrived for a recent tour in Minnesota, they expected a quick trip through airport customs.
Instead, immigration agents at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport subjected them to more than two hours of interrogation that the musicians considered so harsh and demeaning that they filed a formal complaint with the U.S. Embassy in Helsinki.

"It was almost three hours of screaming, door-slamming and accusations, according to the report I received," said Marianne Wargelin, honorary Finnish consul for the Dakotas and most of Minnesota, which has the second largest Finnish-American population in the nation.

Erkki Maattanen, a filmmaker for Finnish Public Television who accompanied the musicians on the September trip, said his questioners seemed to think the entourage was smuggling drugs or intending to work without a permit. "I kept trying to tell them why we were here, but they'd just yell, 'Shut up!"' he said.

[...]
http://www.startribune.com/462/story/151...

Don't forget to watch the debate tonight.  9-11 EDT. on MSNBC

ABC evening had a really disgusting report about a disgusting video game.   

18. Thankful to ya, Joan. Howard *is* first!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Happy Birthday to Shelley :-)

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. . . . . . . .(_________________________________) . . . . . . . .

and belated Birthday wishes to Robert (yesterday)

44. Andrew ~ DFA'ers that work as hard as you do and continue to Dean on ROCK!!!

Phil ♥ {{{hugs}}} to your dad.

later all

♥'s to all

Kindness is free!

Soldier's suicide raises serious concerns
State must do more as foster kids transition into adulthood.

Two days before Christmas 2006, sitting at his desk in his motor-pool office in Balad, Iraq, 21-year-old Army specialist and former foster child Michael Crutchfield types out a goodbye e-mail message to his family, takes out his military-issued 9 mm Beretta pistol, presses it to his chest and fires.

The bullet pierces his left lung and aorta. Fellow soldiers try mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, but Crutchfield -- or Crutch, as his Army buddies call him -- dies. He was one of 30 soldiers and Marines serving in Iraq who killed themselves last year.

What made the young soldier from Stockton take his life? In interviews with family and friends, from Crutchfield's e-mail and MySpace postings and from Army records obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, The Sacramento Bee's Gina Kim pieces together the story of his short, sad life. ...full article: http://www.fresnobee.com/opinion/story/1...

Hey everybody.  Is the debate being broadcast anywhere other than MSNBC?  After nearly four years, my cable boycott is still on, but I know that I miss things on the teevee.  Anyway, where can I watch it? 

What is your opinion?

...In the Crutchfield case, instead of the usual press release expressing condolences when a California soldier dies in Iraq or Afghanistan, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger might want to consider backing the bill that provides desperately needed support to kids who age out of the foster care system. He could call it the Michael Crutchfield Act. ...

Fires spark concerns about insurance
SoCal blazes sound an alarm for foothills residents to check coverage.

As the weather cooperates and firefighters contain the once raging wildfires in Southern California, insurance agents are reminding policyholders, especially those in the Sierra foothills, to review their policies and coverage.

Damage from the fires has consumed thousands of acres and caused hundreds of millions of dollars in losses. As adjusters sort out the dollar value of losses in San Diego and other hard-hit areas, some without the appropriate coverage will be stuck with huge bills while others will be looking for contractors.

"Anytime something like that happens, you always think about your own home or business," said Sherri Smith, of Ravensbrook Bed & Breakfast in Coarsegold. "I used to live in Santa Barbara, so I am very familiar with the perils of living in a high-fire area." ...full article: http://www.fresnobee.com/business/story/...

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Some interesting weather we're having.


Valley deluged with headaches
Rain, gusts, hail descend on the region, leaving cars stalled and stranded in northwest Fresno.

Surprise thunderstorms checker-boarded the Valley and foothills briefly but furiously Monday evening, wreaking soggy havoc.

People sat atop their flooded cars at the underpass at Shaw and Marks avenues. Coffee-drinkers were unable to get out of a flooded Starbucks parking lot in north Fresno. Lights went out along shopping-central Blackstone Avenue and in homes around the Valley.

The Figarden Loop in northwest Fresno became a light show of flashing red emergency signals from stalled cars and the many tow trucks called to rescue them.

In western Fresno County, black columns striped the sky, lightning flashing behind them. A warning about a dangerous storm that would bring hail and high winds came on the radio while the air was still, but was followed 15 minutes later with the promised pelting. The center of one storm was six miles south of Firebaugh at 5 p.m.

Hail an inch wide was reported in rural areas near Kerman, Selma and Fresno.

The most significant rainfall was reported at Mendota, where 1.57 inches of rain was recorded.

In the Sierra Nevada foothills, pea-sized hail hit cars near the southern entrance to Yosemite National Park and at Fish Camp, about three miles south of the park. Torrential rains hit Coarsegold and other foothill towns, but little snow fell in the higher elevations. ...full article: http://www.fresnobee.com/263/story/17778...

Watch Mike Gravel streaming live in response to not being in the debate...

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/senator-mi...

simulcast of the debate here

http://www.c-span.org/

Volney thank you, got the link...and Audrey thank you.

It was nice to hear all the plans for moving the Praire Dogs after their winter sleep. If anyone has a 50 acres site for their new habitat, give NM DOT a jingle please.

time to think about late dinner.

dodd's looking especially good in the debate tonight. i'm even warming to dennis a little. hillary's getting way too much time to speak. they've even placed her physically in the center of the stage. edwards is doing a fair job of pointing out the holes in hillary's actions/statements. obama, much less so. its like he's too nice or something? he isn't inspiring confidence?

Don't forget to watch the debate tonight.

I haven't watched one of those dog shows yet and don't want to break my string. 

Don't we miss the shooters? :)

 I'm watching The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.

Next is, You're Elected, Charlie Brown. Probably more informative than a prez debate.