The Deans, DFA and DFA Grassroots and Netroots are first!

Count it down!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSYqEVfFm...

My browser is having trouble with the graphic at the bottom of the previous topic. I will repost here.

As far as VP choice…
Dems cannot afford to lose any more Senate seats. If BO or HC win, Dems are down a set and must depend on Lieberputz to control the Senate. This assumes nothing else changes.
For BO and JE, there are plenty of good, former Senators or Reps such as former Senator Bill Bradley. Dollar Bill talks like he is chewing a jar full of peanut butter but he would do great in the debates. Besides, he can always hit the long J.
Dems need to fully adopt Howards 50 state campaign and add enough Senate seats to get a super majority (if Repubs get the POTUS) and offset the defectors that plague Dems .
But stop reducing Dems numbers in the Senate.
If HC wins, it doesn’t matter who the VP officially is because Bubba has the job. I hear he is out shopping for blue dresses.

down a set = down a seat...

As far as VP choice…

Democrat need to choose their prez nominee first -- and that's who will choose the VP. 

How can we unite the two parties, a la BO style, when we are now a one party dick tater ship and congress is united against the American public?  That's the first problem.

The second is a saying we have in 12 step programs...(excuse the language)  "Hope is a mother-fu**er."

BO already has tons of money.  JE needs more to stay in the race and wipe out HC.

Contribute to  John Edwards 

5,
It will be one of the three above and two out of the three need strong foreign policy experience. The third will only be a figurehead as her husband will be do one or both jobs; if he isn't too busy chasing interns around.

JE needs more to stay in the race and wipe out HC.

Which drain people pour their money down is their business, but I expect the support Edwards is getting comes more from Obama than Hillary. So if you reall want to knock out Hillary, knock out Edwards. 

Confirming the earlier Drudge Report:

Here's some detail on the internal discussions going on inside the Hillary campaign as they brace for the real possibility of a loss to Obama in New Hampshire tomorrow.

According to a Hillary adviser I spoke to today, Camp Hillary insiders who have been with her a very long time, such as Patti Solis Doyle, are worried about the long term damage that could be done to Hillary if she decides to fight on after a New Hampshire loss, though there's no indication they are yet urging an exit.

"People who are close to Hillary personally are worried about what this is doing to her, what it might do to her career," the adviser says. "This is about protecting her future. That's the way it's being presented. You have a number who are saying to her, `Consider the Senate career.'

"They're worried about the way the media might characterize her -- a woman being on the attack, that kind of thing," the adviser continued. "There's a real debate going on within the campaign." (Solis Doyle didn't immediately respond to a request for comment left through a spokesperson.)

Meanwhile, another camp of insiders -- what the adviser characterized as the "political warriors" -- is urging her to fight on in the event of a defeat in New Hampshire. The people in this camp include pollster Mark Penn and top communications adviser Harold Wolfson, the adviser says.

"The political warriors are telling her to hunker down and stay in the fight," the adviser confided, adding that this faction believes that the new "talk versus action" message could work if given the time. "Give the message time to sink in,'" the adviser says this group is urging.

According to this adviser, the second group's argument seems to be taking hold for now. We'll see what happens.

Separately, there's been some talk today to the effect that James Carville has privately been urging her to stay in and fight it out through the later states. In an interview, Carville told me that this was indeed his position, but he also said that he had not been privately counseling Hillary to do this.

More as I learn it.

http://tpmelectioncentral.com/2008/01/some_hillary_insiders_worry_about_staying_in_past_new_hampshire_others_urge_her_to_fight_on.php

Another Clinton will never win the White House. It's ABH for me, period. Take a look at this video. The Repugs and the Corporate media are ready and waiting for another Clinton candidancy. The Democrats are in a lot trouble if a Clinton wins the 2008 nomination.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F054Slq07...

It will be one of the three above and two out of the three need strong foreign policy experience.

Cheney had strong foreign policy experience. I prefer a president and VP who aren't psychopathic personalities and who will let the real experts provide the information they need to make sound judgements.

The third will only be a figurehead as her husband will be do one or both jobs;

I don't think Bill would be calling any shots. Hillary is a strong personality with her own knowledge and experience.

Another Clinton will never win the White House.

The tide is seeming to turn against a presidency of the two dynasties.

We'll have to wait until 2016 to see if Repo voters will reject Jebthro. 

More as I learn it

I eagerly await your next posting of baseless GOP gossip. 

JE is the realist.

BO is the idealist.

HC is the nilhist.  :-)

BO is the  uniter.  So is Bush.  Wow!  Doesn't work.

JE is the fighter.  What we wanted Pelosi to do and she didn't.

HC is the experiencer.  Dodd and Richardson have more.

This is not rocket science.  Do we want our heads in the clouds or our feet on the ground?  We can't have both, which we could have had with Gore.

Shall we negotiate with the fundis and only half of us hang crosses around our necks and sign pledges to take JC as our personal savior?  Or maybe we should let the corporations rape only half of us..and the earth?  

Or do we want to render them powerless by keeping them out of the WH, out of congress, out of our bedrooms, out of our health care, out of the oil programs, out of our schools.   And out of war!!!

It's all about the corporations and the fundis, who are funded by corporations.  All of it.  Absolutely all of it.   They are behind the destruction of the Constitution as well.  Cheney = corporations = Unitary Executive = Fascism.

JE may just have as well have said, *I will fight fascism.* 

BO is saying that he will either negotiate with fascism or maybe it doesn't really exist.  

How can so many of us who loved Dean's fighting spirit now get behind a man who's totally opposite?  Very odd.  Indeed. 

HC is the past.

BO is the future.

JE is the present.   This is where things happen and where we would be wise to live our lives.  

A JE/BO ticket would be a winner IMO.  The election is going to be about fighting.  It's not gonna be about philosophizing, using lovely rhetoric and compromise.

Disclaimer: I'm a Gore/Kucinich/Dodd supporter.  And wish to see the Clintons GONE. 

JE is the fighter.  What we wanted Pelosi to do and she didn't

When was in the ring as a senator who threw in the towel just like Pelosi  -- and even worse, he openly advocated and voted for the worst of Bush's agenda.

When was in the ring as a senator who threw in the towel just like Pelosi

s/b When hewas in the ring as a senator he threw in the towel just like Pelosi

I'm a Gore/Kucinich/Dodd supporter.  And wish to see the Clintons GONE.

It seems like you would the guy who is actually beating Hillary. 

It seems like you would support the guy who is actually beating Hillary

As I said on the previous thread, this is one seriously stupid woman--

In a radio interview--

Clinton and Obama, Johnson and King

Clinton rejoined the running argument over hope and "false hope" in an interview in Dover this afternoon, reminding Fox's Major Garrett that while Martin Luther King Jr. spoke on behalf of civil rights, President Lyndon Johnson was the one who got the legislation passed.

Clinton was asked about Obama's rejoinder that there's something vaguely un-American about dismissing hopes as false, and that it doesn't jibe with the careers of figures like like John F. Kennedy and King.

"Dr. King's dream began to be realized when President Johnson passed the Civil Rights Act," Clinton said. "It took a president to get it done."

Clinton didn't explicitly compare herself to Johnson, or Obama to King. But it seems an odd example for the argument between rhetoric and action, as there's little doubt which figure's place in history and the American imagination is more secure.

"The power of that dream became real in people's lives because we had a president" capable of action, Clinton said.

The interview was taped, and I listened in. It's set to air later today.

Susan, I never heard of ChinaGate till you just posted it.  Yes, of course, the Clintons must be stopped.  Look at how they helped destroy Dean.

So...which countries are illegally funding BO, HC or the repugs? Didn't we read that Israel is illegally funding some neo-cons or other?  How do we find this out?  

Is the horse race a cover for the funding coming in from other countries?  

It seems to me that all of the candidates have laid out all their arguments and poses (and smears) and Obama is the one who's surging.

Sitka
Mon, 01/07/08

It is my understanding that The Talking Points Memo is a liberal site.  But I guess no politician, web site, etc. is as pure and perfect as youself.

18.  Think a little more deeply.

Think a little more deeply.

I resent that.

But you're the one saying that you don't REALLY support Edwards except to stop Hillary. It doesn't require deep thinking to conclude that Obama is much more likely to achieve it at this point.

Of course foreign policy experience is only one of many criteria. It is harder to hide the past today. Most folks did not know what kind of monster Cheney would be. We can google and find out all the horrible things Cheney did that were unknown in 2000. After all, in 2000, Al Gore had just invented the internet (grin). In fact, Cheney chose himself for the job and Bush was praised for it. Cheney was a good Sec Def for Bush1 who continued the money spending ways until the evil empire fell. He then started the military downsizing, which was continued by Clinton (and used as a club on Kerry who approved it). This was the primary reason for the economic downturn, which was already starting to turn around, during the 1992 elections.

But the point is still valid...Two out of the three candidates need foreign policy help. Add that to the list of qualities.
None need a domestic policy heavy.

Anyone who thinks Bill is going to sit on the sidelines while HC gets all the attention has not been paying attention. Everytime Bill is with HC, the focus is on Bill. His ego has no bounds.
The two for the price of one thing is real for them. The question is which one is on top?

The convention following the one where she glared at Howard who was accepting his very extended ovation. will be the one where the same man will be lowering the gavel on her in a brokered convention. How delicious. Much more compensation is due however.

It is my understanding that The Talking Points Memo is a liberal site.

Confirming the earlier Drudge Report:

The gossip came from Drudge. And nothing in the TPM link confirmed anything.

Sorry, Sitka, that did sound harsh.

BO has tons of money and "momentum" from IA.  He doesn't seem to be in danger.  The CMWs are making this a one man, one woman race and that annoys me greatly. 

JE needs to take second.  He needs money to do that. IMO 

Sitka
Mon, 01/07/08

Except that they are quoting their sources in the campaign...not Drudges.   

Why is Trippi on Matthews talking about how HC can recover?  

19,
My point is made by 25. Why was Clinton invited? Is it because as a former POTUS he has star power? Why not another civil rights leader from the time? His ego will doom HCs campaign and if she is elected, will doom her presidency.

JE needs to take second.  

It is what he's best at. 

 He needs money to do that. IMO

And it's your money. If you want  to spend it on #2 go for it.

Using Drudge as a referance source is not a good idea. He admits to using gossip and inuendo as facts. I treat him like the comics section.

Maybe that isn't Trippi.  Who is that guy with Scarborough?

Except that they are quoting their sources in the campaign...not Drudges.

<>LOL....the source being quoted is "the advisor."

Gossip plain and simple.

Sea,

I just saw Lou Dobbs refusing to rule out running for president. If you've got any money left after Edwards, you might want to send it to him. ;-) 

The perfect running mate: in between jobs,leaves no congressional vacancy, broad National appeal. heavy on the experience and charisma, knows many foreign leaders, in fact they have been known to tell him that they are waiting for a Howard Dean America. We are too. We could do it.

OK, to clarify.  JE needs to take at least second in NH and beyond.  Once HC is knocked out, then it's a race between the two guys and I will support JE.

Maybe we're talking seriously about a brokered convention. 

Sitka,  LOL

Why is Trippi on Matthews talking about how HC can recover? 

Because now that Obama is surging, Edwards needs to slow Obama down so that he doesn't get left too far behind.

And I expect Edwards' polling or intuition tells him that Obama's increasing support is coming partly from him. 

20.

seashell :-)
Mon, 01/07/08


I live in Central California. Just about every Republican I have ever met here knows all about it. The Democrats have a tendancy to speak in whispers and look down at the ground when it's mentioned.

Maybe we're talking seriously about a brokered convention.

At the monent it's looking like another Dem stampede -- this time to Obama.

HC is talking change.  Agree with thine adversaries.  The repugs will pick up the refrain.  It's designed to make them all seem alike so people will vote for the one they want to have a beer with

JE needs to start using "progress." 

CNN - HC bashing BO.

I don't like to see any candidate so bruised but there is a bit of karma with Clinton (and her hangers-on) since they had much to do with Dean's demise.

S/b the demise of Dean's candidacy. We all know that Howard is the one who is largely responsible in breaking down all the barriers with respect to trying to win in red places - 50 state strategy.

What with this Iranian thing going on in the Gulf of Tonkin, or near it, Putz may have time to start two more wars - 3 if he hurries up.

What is the over and under when we bomb Iran?
End of January to end of February?

45,
HC better watch it; she'll start crying again.

The more Hillary bashes Obama the more I like him.

It will be one of the three above and two out of the three need strong foreign policy experience.

Cheney had strong foreign policy experience. I prefer a president and VP who aren't psychopathic personalities and who will let the real experts provide the information they need to make sound judgements.

The third will only be a figurehead as her husband will be do one or both jobs;

I don't think Bill would be calling any shots. Hillary is a strong personality with her own knowledge and experience.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

totally agree but if the last is really true she would can the pollster at the top of her campaign and just go with her own instincts

Hillary deserves to lose.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/1/7/1...

McCain/Huckabee is serious trouble for us. I'm hoping the independents stampede to Obama and the Democrats favor Edwards like happened in Iowa.

53.
Explain please?

How do we know it was the Revolutionary Guard that approached the ship? 

Putz now has what he needs and the American public will condone it, most likely.  What was in the white boxes? 

Keeping up this kind of scare tactic makes McCain/Huck a shoe in...one to bomb bomb bomb them all and the other to pray for it. 

Billary now "cleans house" on weekends (and enjoys unwaged slavery within the domestic sphere in Chapaqua)--when her hired "domestics" are presumable off duty...they're really reaching.

Pass me a barf bag, pls. This feminist needs to seriously hurl a load....

Good news--her burn-rate is outrageous; and she's nearly broke.

Shoulda dumped "Big Dog" years ago (this is also pecker backlash from the base, methinks).

I'm lovin' this. "Big Dog" can't control the spin anymore.

Phil, agree.

dog, IMO the bombing has to begin before Super Tues. to give McCain the edge. 

I'm quite sure everything's in place to bomb Iran and invade and bomb Pakistan.  As I said, he has time to do some nasty work in Syria as well. 

Gore/Dodd

Talk about hope! 

HC nearly broke?  Do you have stats for this?

McCain smeared "French" people a few times in Hanover today.

His handlers forgot that the Franco-American culture (although not in Hanover, per se) still have deep roots in New Hampstuuh.

Dumb sh^t.

Sense of place, and all--I hope he tries that here in ME, too (while stumping for Collins).

It's just something you don't *do* up here.

I received this notice.  There are no longer any words to describe this BH.

Dean Baker | Insurers Whack Elderly to Celebrate New Year
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/010708B.shtml
Dean Baker, writing for Truthout, says: "What better way to start the new year than to sock it to grandma and grandpa with big price increases? That may not have been the exact nature of the conversation at the insurance companies that participate in the Medicare prescription drug plan, but it sure was the outcome, as premiums are scheduled to rise by an average of almost 25 percent in 2008."

pecker backlash...LMAO

Big Dog put out an APB for funds today; and they had poor Chelsea phone banking for moula.

Her female supporters are moving to Obama (again--top>down campaigns in New England backfire).

Independence is a mighty strong character trait.

That's one HELLUVA burnrate for Ms. Presumptive "inevitable."

I doubt that Begala and Carville will work pro bono, huh?

Great news for Edwards, re: hopeful 2nd spot.

I only feel sorry for her (although, she's an adult now--not a kid), to have had two idiots for parents during her formative teen/young adult years.]

Shoulda thrown his arse out years ago....

I love it.

FWIW

In my last email to you, I wrote how your support for our efforts to hold impeachment hearings for Vice President Cheney has helped us get some attention from the mainstream media. My editorial was recently published in the Philadelphia Inquirer and newspapers from coast to coast have covered our success. 175,000 supporters have now signed up at WexerWantsHearings.com and the number continues to build. 

Over the past weeks, I have put significant financial resources behind this effort, including advertising, multimedia, blog ads, and technical support for WexlerWantsHearings.com. Thank you to the hundreds of people who have already generously supported the cause.

With your support I want to make a major Internet advertising buy on Google that will guarantee that for the next two weeks, every person that looks up "Dick Cheney" on Google sees an advertisement for our petition. With your help we can own "Cheney" on the web.

In addition, I want to publish blog ads, such as you see to the right, throughout the web to galvanize Americans in support of our cause. (You may have to right mouse click and select "Download Pictures" to see the ad).

It is time to reach beyond those that are regular readers of the political blogs, and expand the number of people mobilized to help push for impeachment hearings. The truth is that the number of Americans who support our efforts is immense and we need to do everything possible to reach out to them and maximize our strength.

I cannot do this without your support, so click here if you'd like to contribute to our work.

When Congress reconvenes on January 15th I will deliver the hundreds of thousands of names we have collected to my colleagues on the Judiciary Committee and I will do everything I can do to convince them to support immediate impeachment hearings. I will also be entering all of the collected names into the Congressional Record and present them to the Chairman of the Judiciary Committee.

The mainstream media has not done enough to cover this effort but with your help we will force the issue into the national dialogue.

Click here if you'd like to help sponsor this effort.

We must now redouble our efforts to ensure that Vice President Cheney and the Bush Administration are held accountable.

In order to continue funding this effort we need your help. Please consider making a financial contribution to help us expand our advertising advocating impeachment hearings for Vice President Dick Cheney. Your help will go a long way toward stopping the out of control Bush Administration.  

Thanks for your help and keep up the fight!

Congressman Robert Wexler

Interesting poll in Calfornia, Colorado, Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin.

---

...Starting Wednesday, the Courage Campaign will begin conducting an online presidential poll of progressives in California. As you vote in this special online poll, our progressive non-partisan partner organizations in Colorado, Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin will also survey their members (for both Democratic and Republican candidates). ...

56. mainefem - pecker backlash? LMAO big time.

The DNC just called me asking for money.  I said that my money is going to Edwards to knock Hillary into third or out completely.  That wasn't the right answer, was it?  LOL

Poor Howard. 

What?  I just heard BO say he's/they're "warriors for change."

Could we just stop the war talk please? 

seashell - I donated because of Howard this week. He deserves some love. ;-)

Yo, anyone --

Other than cspan.org, what's a good site to watch TV returns of New Hampshire over the Web? We have a DFA meeting tomorrow night and don't wanna miss the fun.

69

You might want to try here, Bob

http://www.wmur.com/index.html

It's for Manchester, NH

My bestest friend that I met in New Hampshire called last night to say 4 years ago we met in NH to work for Howard. We went to Howard's speeches., stood out in the cold and had one hell of a time.

I made so many friends for life from that campaign.

We love you Howard. You are changing history.

Unless it is stolen.

Oh Jesus.  NH people are being interviewed and many don't know his positions on issues; they are "enraptured"  "like his broad mind"  "he's thrilling."

There you have it.  The half black messiah.

I couldn't help myself, Denise.

I've been waiting for this.

Her "teraing up" charade is an insult to all feminists, too.

She's trying to be "tough like the guys;" and then claiming that she enjoys *housework*???

Get a grip...none of the candidate's wives lift a finger in the domestic sphere...they're all wealthy as hell (another woman does it). This is classic Gerda Lerner stuff (feminist theorist).

Whoring out to patriarchy.

As a Wellesley 2nd waver grad., it's even moreso pathetic that she's attempting it.

Nothing wrong w/crying (Ed Muskie smear); but the timing is more than revealing.

Disgusting.

sp=tearing.

Oopsie.

JE needs to start using "progress."

Edwards has been running for president since 2003. He's had all that time to come up with a catchey slogan. He needs to realize Democrats don't want him to be president. 

Oh Jesus.  NH people are being interviewed and many don't know his positions on issues; they are "enraptured"  "like his broad mind"  "he's thrilling."  "Don't ask me the hard questions."(about policy)

There you have it.  The half black messiah.

Good night and good luck, America. 

Here is another link, Bob

http://www.thenewhampshireprimary.com/

Oh, I forgot.  "He's like JFK."

NH voters need to get a life. Let me see, they are the second in line for "voting" but get pissed about people calling them about the primary.

So move.

It is so cold there but from what I am seeing it was much colder when I was there 4 years ago.

So get a life and get with the primary and stop complaining already.

JE needs to start using "progress."

Edwards has been running for president since 2003. He's had all that time to come up with a catchey slogan. He needs to realize Democrats don't want him to be president

and that so called dem is you. so stop already. we get the idea.

I like John Edwards. Really do.

He needs to realize Democrats don't want him to be president. 

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

sitka,

ALL Democrats? or just some..............I would like your opinio of a mccain/Huckabee ticket, and if it can be beaten............

The half black messiah.

(You don't have to be a racist to inadvertently sound like one.)

Would you prefer.....  

Thi wife of a president?

<>The son of a mill worker?

You'll serve yourself better by sticking to issues and records. 

<> 

ALL Democrats? or just some..............

Most. 

I would like your opinio of a mccain/Huckabee ticket, and if it can be beaten.....

Any ticket can win or lose.

9.  So today was sob sister day.  I think I saw three different reports on the evening news about how Hillary's worn out and with Gwen Ifil she sounded like she was about to cry.  We're supposed to realize that she's a person.

Anyway, it's my guess that the reaon thompson is in is because he didn't get his pound of flesh out of the campaign finance scandals of 1996.  Somebody's surely regretted going the sex route since there was so little there.

Since the campaign finance irregularities occurred under the supervision of Ikes and McAuliffe and Penn, I don't know why Hillary wnet with the old gang.  Perhaps because she was also intimately involved in making decisions about what to do about people who had been misled into making contributions, she was liable to blackmail if she went with someone else.

The investigation was short-circuited when the Democrats on the committee wanted to bring up other stuff.  I haven't read the whole report or all the testimony, but what I found is not pretty.  Like the female leader of that Budhist temple who sells bottles of her bathwater to her followers and pressures them into making donations. 

Anybody else think that's it's too provocative to have 3 warships in the Straits of Hormuz?  Putz is a goader and he'll goad s/o into something.

What happened today was very serious.  We're on the brink, and people are worshipping a man who has no foreign policy experience and damn little political experience. 

Are these BO supporters the new dem fundis?  After all, we have Bush, worshipped by his biblical minions.  These people interviewed today were scary.  I thought people in NH were educated and discerning.  These people acted like they were at the 2nd coming.  My impression.  Zealotry.

Today, we were only minutes from an opening salvo. 

seashell,

I must say I'm a little shocked.  Half  black messiah?

and that so called dem is you.

Actually, considering Edwards has won only one primary, his own state in 2004, I'm obviously with the majority. 

so stop already. we get the idea.

I'll stop when others stop posting nonsense about Edwards. I got their idea long ago too.

He IS half black; what's the problem here?  Good grief.   And he is being talked about as a savior.

How about half black savior....black messiah?  Half white savior?

That was very very half black humor. Get over it.   :-)

88

For goodness sakes, Seashell, quit looking for the religious boogeyman. Why don't you take a breath and think about how you may be offending folks that not only post here, but read this blog as lurkers, who just might be someone that has religion in their life?

That doesn't mean they choose candidates based on it (I don't) but I do have a strong faith. And to read something like the "half black messiah" is not very flattering for you.

You've fallen into the trap laid by far right wing zealots that try to paint all people of faith as fanatics. We are not, so please be a bit more mindful, ok?

Thanks

Actually, I heard s/o on TV refer to him today as half black, having a black father and white mother.   Didn't seem like a slur to me.  It's as unimportant as the size of JE's house, or putzie's pecker.

But run with it if you want.  

http://www.johnedwards.com/watch/nice/

It's not about his race, Sea, it's about your inference about religion. His family background is not "news" - it's been known for years.

NH is *balmy* this week, linda b.

A little sloppy underfoot, but nothing like the last two weeks.

http://www.wmur.com/weather/index.html

It was subzero in '04, bigtime.

-30 during ME's '04 caucus.

26% for Dean (sans one ad).

Note the nearly (red) frost-bitten ears on Howard in Bangor.

http://tinyurl.com/3x2dhw

You wimps from "the South" don't know cold.

But run with it if you want.

We're your friends, or so we hope, and don't want to run with anything.

94

Yes I would think we are all friends and if we weren't, I wouldn't mind so much.

I won't even go into the slam about his lack of political experience, as that has been disproven many times already as well.

Are the straws that far out of reach that so much grasping is going on?

CNN did a piece about Obama's 83 year old "Granny" in Kenya. They visited her house and his father's grave there. Even my cynical old heart was a bit touched by it.

It was a pretty cold day when Howard campaigned in North Dakota too. probably why he took the pledge not to run when he got elected Chair. lol

don't jinx things like 30 below but I would take a sunny day in the twenties over a sloppy foggy 40 anytime 

Hi 'Folks,

 I have enjoyed the analysis and comments about the candidates.  It's pretty exciting.  As Heraclitus says and Lao Tzu, eveyrthing changes.  The discussions have been pretty civil too.

We had a conversation with friends on New Year's Eve about the image versus text.  The image, or emotions always seems to trump logic.  The blog seems very balanced today.  I guess we always have to try for balance.

I'm excited about Obama.  He's smart; he knows the Constitution, he is an activist; his record in the Illionis Senate is progressive.  I've noticed that we tend to make either or judgments.  Bills are complex things, and to simply condemn someone for voting a way we didn't agree with is at best superficial.  

I am glad for Obama's eloquence.  I stayed in my dorm room at the University of Michigan as John Kennedy proposed the Peace Corps.  It was boradcast throughout the campus, but I was 18 and my parents were Republicans, and I knew nothing about politics other than anI Like Ike button.  John F. Kennedy's Peace Corps has been one of the most inspiring associations in my life, and led us to teaching in American Samoa for four years, to teaching on Chicago's South Side, and to believing in the dream.  I think that maybe Barack Obama embodies the dream, and if we ever needed a dream we need it now.

I get tired of the paperback psychoanalyzing of people on the blog, however.  I wonder, how is it you think you know what makes someone tick?  It seems more than arrogant, more than conceited to me.  I can't believe that any of us can know what the psychological make-up of someone is, even  of ourselves. 

 Perhaps it's time to suspend the cynecism and disbelief and embrace the American experiment.  

By the way, Dog Soldier, your honesty shines here as does the honesty and passion of so many. 

Are the straws that far out of reach that so much grasping is going on?

I think the Edwardians are in the last stage of denial. Some will switch to Obama in the end. Others won't.

I'll still call it like I see it from the outside. 

MSM has played HRCs misty moment many times, along with the surprise phone call Bill got from her while he was campaigning.  Haven't heard about her fear mongering, or disssing of Martin Luther King.

I really don't like Andrea Mitchell.

It is so foggy that I am not going to watch the game on a big screen and I'm pretty bummed.

Glen Dorsey is healthy.

<> Perhaps it's time to suspend the cynecism and disbelief and embrace the American experiment.

<>No thanks. I've been stabbed in the back too many times by Democrats to embrace them. Keep 'em at arm's length and hold 'em accountable. 

sorry for the typos, should be cynicism.  Can't spell anyomore. Thanks, Denise, for speaking so directly.

I think there is racism here, only it is subsumed under other issues.  It bothers me a lot. 

You know what?  I really hate crowds.  I hate emotional crowds whether they're at football games or at a political rally.  However, lots of people really like shared emotional experiences and I much prefer them to be sharing love, rather than antagonism.  Neither actually cost them anything, but love leaves a much better after-taste.

It's my guess that for a lot of these people they're just really glad to be excited about something without having to worry that they're going to be considered a freak.

Giulliani wanting people to come together to hate Muslims and Romney being cheerful about keeping immigrants out are not likely to be as attractive in comparison.  Neither is Hillary turning into Rudy.

OK, I am going to be blunt.  Hillary changing her hair do every six months is a sign that she doesn't know who she is or she doesn't like what she sees when she looks in the mirror.  And those tinted contact lenses are really too much. 

Denise, OK, I hear you. 

But people ARE speaking of him as some kind of savior, which is understandable, since we're so upset with the last 7 years.

But it is scary to hear a grown man say that he doesn't want to be questioned on the issues, but that he thinks he's wonderful.

I've also heard people on TV say that if BO were a very dark man, he wouldn't have a chance.   And that he will get the votes of some white people who suffer from some kind of unrecognized collective guilt...that this country isn't ready for a black man, but maybe one who has a white parent.

The last thing I am is racist.  The love of my life was Jewish and I almost married a black man.  So don't use that word with me...anytime...anyone.... I was almost killed when dating Al becuz mixed couple dating in the 60's was a no-no.  I had a broken beer bottle held at my throat  ... 3 white college guys saying to Al,  "Get down on your knees, nigger."

So don't ever ever anyone here ever again even hint that I'm racist or anti-semitic.   You haven't walked in my shoes.

I'm very touchy since it looks like, once again, IA may have chosen our candidate and tho I like BO, I think he can't beat a warmonger/religious fanatic team.   That's what we've become. Religious, fanatical warriors.

 I'd like a JE/BO ticket. 

OK, done.   

That's okay with me, Sitka.  I appreciate your nonesty and cynicism.  We need all the voices here.

I am someone who loves the American experiemt because for everytime it has failed, I've found people who have made it a success. 

Edwards will go all the way to a brokered convention if Hillary plays it all the way out too. Do the math of a three way race.

Gore/Obama

I donh't know, Seashell, your comments have often seemed racist to me.  Your quoting David Duke was outrageous.

Edwards will go all the way to a brokered convention if Hillary plays it all the way out too. Do the math of a three way race.

At the moment, it's looking like an Obama stampede.

It was just pointed out on MSNBC that after he wins tomorrow he'll get the endorsement of the most powerful union in Nevada and win that caucus before going on to SC. With Hillary in free fall (what everyone hoped for) and most of the defections from her apparently going to Obama, he'll win big on Feb. 5 also.

No brokered convention. 

One more thing.  Denise, it's not religion per se; it's the fanatical worship of a man or an idea that's troubling.  All the repugs are scary, especially Huckabee.

 Pat wrote:  "I think there is racism here, only it is subsumed under other issues.  It bothers me a lot. "

Are you calling me a racist, Pat?  Let's have at it.    What are those other issues?  What bothers you?  How well do you know me?  Be honest.  Say what you mean.  

it's not religion per se; it's the fanatical worship of a man or an idea that's troubling.

Frankly, a lot of the stuff I've seen posted about  Edwards sounds like that (I won't name anyone.)

Golden Globes show canceled, officials say

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association says Sunday's traditional Golden Globe Awards ceremony has been canceled and ... Top Stories: http://www.sacbee.com/749/story/616694.h...

(I won't name anyone.)

...except to say it isn't you, Sea. You're support for Edwards seems based on pragmatism. 

I'm saying that you have made racist comments.  Maybe you have not intended them to be racist, and maybe in your mind you are not a racist, but your comments can be interpreted that way, and I have interpreted them that way.  So, advice from Denise should be looked at seriously.  They sound racist.

I think it's true that everyone sometimes doesn't gauge what others may think of our comments, or our opinions.  The best we can offer each other is honesty of our impressions.  Your comments, Seashell, often sound racist.  Your condemnation of "fundys" can be interpteted as insulting, yet you say, Vote for a Buddhist, and use the same language of Christina evangelicals in asking who would Deepok Chopra, Gore, and the Dalai Lama choose?.  

 My best response to you and everyone in the dialogue is my honest response.

change, change, change.........romney's change is changeable, and touting clinton as the agent of change is like raving about james carville's new haircut.

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

CALIFORNIA IS VOTING!!!  we received our absentee ballots today. 

some thoughts.........

*calif was never 'in the bag' for clinton on tsunami tuesday.  soon after she announced her intent to run for potus, some notable big donors separated themselves from her.

*clinton is unelectable in calif and in the western states.  bluntly, we don't like her.  nonetheless, i did sympathize with two clinton supporters, sporting hillary buttons, who were 'heartbroken' about her campaign. 

*the dem primary is open to 'decline to state' voters--our equivalent of independents--who are not clinton's constituency.  [the repub primary is closed.] 

*the libertarian streak runs deep, and some repubs will crossover for dem candidates on personal decision/privacy issues...but not for clinton.

*the populist message might not play as well as in states with an industrial base.  corporate agribusiness is a formidable target, but taking it on means grappling with the immigration hydra.

******************* 

new hampshire progressives..........have a great primary! 

"I donh't know, Seashell, your comments have often seemed racist to me.  Your quoting David Duke was outrageous."

Let's have the quotes, please.  Often?  You can't slander me and not back it up with my words, Pat.

Golden Globes show canceled, officials say

An redundent awards ceremony that nobody cares about or watches got cancelled? Maybe there is some hope for humankind after all. 

Come on, Seashell, you know very well you quoted David Duke.

But, let's drop this for a while.  I've got things to do , will be back later. 

Tim Russert just said that if Obama wins NH the Culinary Workers Union in Nevada will endorse him.  I don't know much about unions, but Russert seemed to think it is a big deal. 

I don't always believe Russert though.

110.  The media love making predictions.  Costs nothing.  But, ask yourself which prediction is going to be most attractive to the audience--predictions that are always right or those that are mostly wrong?  Predictions that make the audience say, 'OK, that's it, they've called it, let's switch to football or ice skating" or those that make the audience say , "no way, they're wrong again and here's why and see if I'm not right."  You see, if you want to keep the audience hooked, you make bad predictions.

Also, if you predict something good will happen and it doesn't, people will be mad, but if you predict something bad and it doesn't people will be glad and even if it does happen, they'll be glad to have been forwarned.  That's why Bush Two keeps predicting disaster.

Only solution?  Wean yourself off predicting things that you don't actually control. 

Tim Russert just said that if Obama wins NH the Culinary Workers Union in Nevada will endorse him.

That's right. Now I remember. Think of how many food service workers there are in LV. And I would guess the demographic favors Obama already.

Seems like a lot of people are tight and are afraid of hearing not-politcally-correct expressions.

Probably the people they refer to most. 

Edwards was a wealthy trial lawyer who made millions before suddenly feeling it for the poor and down trodden.

That's how I view him.

Don't run away, Pat!   Good grief.  Why can't you accept me as I am? And you know damn well I'm not racist.  Sometimes even people like Duke say OK things.  Nothing and noone is black and white.

You attacked Linda SF yesterday and today me.

Denise was kind and I responded by listening.  But, man, you attack and it's unkind bordering on vicious.

http://www.culinaryunion226.org/about.as...

Edwards was a wealthy trial lawyer who made millions before suddenly feeling it for the poor and down trodden.

That's how I view him.

I just view him as someone whose current rhetoric isn't backed up by his record in office. Therefor I can't trust him to do anything he's now promising and in fact would expect just the opposite from him.

"I've been turned off by Clinton's claims of how proud she is of her political "scars". It's like she's sending the message, "Elect me--I know how to fight dirty with the dirt-makers. I can kick ass now, after what I've been through. Obama can't throw daggers like I can. You want a piece of me, Republicans? Bring it on!""I think the reason Obama appeals to so many people is that on some level, people are weary of regarding fellow citizens as fierce enemies just because they belong to a different political party, and being fearful about possible threats from people in other parts of the world. The growing strife in Pakistan and Kenya worries people here, yet no one seems to acknowledge the degree of partisan hate and violent rhetoric on blogs and chatrooms and radio programs in this country. Meanwhile we regard ourselves as 'civilized'."

Formatting still sucks on this blog....

Uups, couldn't help myself or is it Oops?

8:17 pm 

sunlight...glad to see you here when I am. I looked into the line extensions a bit...here's the public service board rules...are you in an area covered by Comcast? Someone I know has a map of all the line extensions that Comcast is doing, she said she'll have it at our next meeting.


http://publicservice.vermont.gov/Broadba...

Understanding Broadband Deployment
in Vermont
February 2007
Vermont Department of Public Service
112 State Street
Montpelier, VT 05620-2601
(802) 828-2811
TTY/TDD (VT): 1-800-734-8390
email: vtdps@state.vt.us
Internet: http://publicservice.vermont.gov
---------------------------------------------------------------

Cable Line Extensions
Extending cable’s reach expands broadband availability by extending current cable networks.
PSB rules require cable companies to extend their lines without customer contribution where
there is an excess of 25 homes per mile, except when specified differently in the company’s
certificate and tariff
30
. Larger cable companies are building down to a density of 12-18 homes
per mile. These requirements that extend cable television coverage also have the effect of
extending broadband availability. In addition to line extension requirements of the company’s
Certificate of Public Good, Comcast has inherited an obligation from Adelphia to build over
1,250 additional miles by 2009. Adelphia had preciously reached an agreement with the Public
Service Board to build these miles as part of a dispute settlement.
Cable line extensions help improve broadband coverage in small increments. However, these
policies are not effective in bringing broadband to the least densely populated remote and rural
areas that currently lack cable television service.
Verizon Alternative Regulation
The most substantial area of telephone regulation that will affect deployment of broadband in the
near future is Verizon’s alternative regulation plan. Verizon’s recently approved revised
alternative regulation plan will substantially improve access to broadband in Verizon Vermont
territories. In the plan, Verizon agreed to extend broadband availability to 65 percent of its
Vermont customers by the end of 2007, 75 percent by 2008, 77 percent by 2009, and 80 percent
by 2010 (currently only 56 percent of Verizon customers are DSL qualified). The plan gives
Verizon great flexibility in both the technology used to provision broadband and the areas to
which it is deployed. Verizon can choose to concentrate its efforts in certain areas or scatter
deployment across the state as long as it meets the goal of 80 percent coverage by 2010. The
company also has the option of utilizing various technologies to extend broadband coverage,
including DSL and methods not used today by Verizon in Vermont such as terrestrial wireless
and fiber. The PSB’s order approving the agreement between Verizon and the Department of
Public Service also makes clear that any company which might purchase the Verizon territory in
Vermont must also fulfill this broadband deployment obligation.
NECA Pool
Independent telephone company participation in national cost and revenue pooling has resulted
in extensive deployment of broadband in Vermont’s independent territories. Independent
telephone companies are small rural carriers that, in the absence of national pooling, might have
trouble making individual investments in broadband. Fortunately, Vermont independent
telephone companies are a part of the National Exchange Carrier Association (NECA), a national
group of telephone companies which pool costs and revenues. This pool helps smooth costs
across carriers and makes it easier for small rural companies to earn a return on network
30
PSB Rule 8.313.

some folks are quick to forget how John Edwards ran as a candidate in 2003 and 2004 and how he treated Howard Dean and all of us, his supporters.  I'm not one of them.  I didn't think he'd make a good president then and I don't now.  I want to trust him, but try as I might I can't.  and when my instincts are THAT stubborn, I listen.

some folks here were very upset with Obama and our support of his senate run - he didn't thank us enough, recognise what we'd done for him, etc. etc.  or he 'dissed' Howard by disagreeing with him.   what I see is Obama did not embrace DFA or any group for that matter, but everything he has done since has embraced what we and Howard stood for and tried to expand - Obama's roots are true grassroots and his support is no more 'fanatical' than the pride, love and hope we felt in Howard.  imho.

We Califorian's who sign up to vote my mail have 30 days to decide our votes and there are a lot of us. I've not gotten one piece of literature in the mail from any candiate's campaign since the beginning of November and then all their stuff only asks for money. None of them said anything about their candidate's postions on any issues. I've also not seen one campaign ad on TV. I guess their campaigns don't care about my vote. They just want money.

"I've been turned off by Clinton's claims of how proud she is of her political "scars".

I think every time she reminds people of the worst about Bill's years in office she hurts herself.

But it's hard to dredge up good memories when the, "created 22 million new jobs," meme has worn so thin. The unfortunate fact for her is, most of Bill's "accomplishments" involved collaborating with the GOP. And that's not something she can boast about in the Democratic nominating process.

I've not gotten one piece of literature in the mail from any candiate's campaign since the beginning of November and then all their stuff only asks for money.

You should move to Iowa if you want to be considered.

seashell, I have read your posts for many years, and I certainly do not think you are a racist.  That is why I commented I was shocked.  I think we are all on edge, no matter who we support.

Wanted you to know I enjoy your posts.

Hey Reed,

thanks for that. Well, it's more like 10 houses per mile here.

Anyway, there seems to be a glimmer of hope because I heard through the grapevine that Verizon is supposed to extend their DSL to my area in February of this year.

I believe it when I see it.

Again Reed, thanks for looking into it. I'll post updates when availabe.

BTW, I enjoy your posts here.

OMG, what is it about the PEOPLE here, a supposed community that claims they don't like name calling and personal attacks, but those very people go after fellow bloggers here. Wow. That really makes one think about these candidates.



seashell, I know you're not racist and I will apologize for that even being said.



Time and time again. Someone makes an appearance here, lashes out at a blogger, for not supporting their preferred candidate and then they go an verbally and personally attack. It's more bothersome here than rabid personal attacks on more anonymous
bloggs, because people here like to talk about this being a community for so many years of like minded that they know we all have the better interest of our country at heart. Yeah right.

Your welcome sunlight...I enjoy all the posts here...better than fishing some days...it's the people here that keep me coming back

Just got home from work.

106

The last thing I am is racist. The love of my life was Jewish and I almost married a black man. So don't use that word with me...anytime...anyone....

Sea I did not call you a racist. I didn't call you anything at all. I asked for a bit of consideration for those who may be a practicer of faith and do not think that is something to be ashamed of, or alarmed about.

Keith, dredging up hope for Clinton as we speak.  What a shill

And Sea, if you didn't mean me, then you really need to be specific. I'm not hurt or upset cuz I know you. I'm glad you took in in a good spirit.

Thanks, sunlight.  People, including myself, are wound a bit tightly these days.  I've always liked biting black humor. No pun intended.  Perhaps we could call it white humor; just to be pc.  Or is that reverse bigotry?  I can't keep all these rules straight and I'm not good at walking on eggs.   LOL

OMG, I make mistakes.  I'm human.  Thank goodness most of you accept me and don't throw things back in my face for months on end. 

And we have to say mailperson, not mailman. 

So it looks like BO will take NH.  I hope the indys come thru for JE.  And I hope BO watches his back.  Men like (or who are compared to) JFK have a hard time in this world.  That's another reason I'd like the Obamamania to cool a bit.  I worry about him the way I worried about Dean and would worry about Gore.

JE is not threatening in an overt way.  Except to the corporations. 

seashell wrote "JE is not threatening in an overt way."

I don't find him very threatening in a covert way, either.  

127.

That Union doesn't organize our area neither does Unite HERE. We don't have one hotel that is unionized in the Central California.

Seems like you can find anything on youtube these days.  I got to wondering about Barbara Boxer hosting Barack Obama in a fundraiser and found this.  I have no idea what the date was.  But she did host him in San Francisco.

I still think she would be a great Pres or VP.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CZvKtBRe3Q

145.

s/b We don't have one hotel that is unionized in the entire area of Central California.

Watching Keithie makes me feel resigned.

JE is going to take on the corporations.  He's clear on that.

What is it, again, that BO is going to do?  I'm serious.  I hear words like hope and change but what is his main passion?  Anybody? 

He's not promised to bring the troops home before 2013, has changed his health care position but I can't think of his theme - his thing - certainly not the Consitution.

Yes, now I remember.  He's going to talk and negotiate with everybody.  This might work with people who are reasonable and not driven by greed.

Sigh.  S/o please ask him to promise to close Gitmo and restore Haebus Corpus and tank the MCA, along with most of the Patriot Act.  To quote a friend:

"They will sit him down and tell him just how it's gonna be."  :-(

Anybody else think that's it's too provocative to have 3 warships in the Straits of Hormuz?  Putz is a goader and he'll goad s/o into something

We have at least one entire carrier battel group in the Persian Gulf.  That would consist of at least 14 war ships and numerous supply ships.  And the entrance to the Persian Gulf is the Straits of Hormuz.  If you think three ships is procative realize that there are likely 40 or more US Navy vessels in those waters including several attack submarines and several nuclear armed submarine posted on the edge of their territory.  Once within the zone of control their reaction should have been to destroy those boats.  I would not be surprised if there is a reprimand for the lack of action from the commander.

I'm not certain what show Fox is talking about -- we must have seen two different Countdown shows. Drudging up support for Hillary -- LOL.

Go LSU!!!!!

S/B dredging.

Fox Mulder
Mon, 01/07/08

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

Hell, i give em credit........at least they didnt shoot down an Iranian commercial airliner this time..I stil wont ski in northern Italia though..........does gondola, top gun, dead skiers ring a bell?

FYI

Obama is supporting Senator Boxer's re-election. The RNC is running that BUSH Repug Arnold Schwarzenegger against her.

http://www.californiaprogressreport.com/...


146.

January 05, 2008

Superdelegates who haven't endorsed

We have list of superdelegates who have officially endorsed a candidate but who is left? Who hasn't made an official endorsement?

Now that the primaries have started we will probably see a wave of endorsements. Let's take a look at which Democratic superdelegates haven't endorsed a candidate yet. Along with our superdelegate list we will be updating this list as new endorsements are made.

List list is very long.

http://demconwatch.blogspot.com/2008/01/...

Senator Boxer's re-election website.

http://www.barbaraboxer.com/

148....Keithie was very disappointing tonight for sure.

Mary...Fox keeps lying about Keithie...this one's not very sly LOL...he keeps saying he pushes HIllary. He should have checked out tonights episode before repeating his mantra. LOL

148

Obama has a plan to immediately begin withdrawing our troops engaged in combat operations at a pace of one or two brigades every month, to be completed by the end of next year. He would call for a new constitutional convention in Iraq, convened with the United Nations, which would not adjourn until Iraq's leaders reach a new accord on reconciliation. He would use presidential leadership to surge our diplomacy with all of the nations of the region on behalf of a new regional security compact. And he would take immediate steps to confront the ongoing humanitarian disaster in Iraq.

http://www.barackobama.com/issues/ethics/

Fox Mulder is you know who...........I just figured it out........

C-Span rallies on now.

The waiting crowd is nearly falling asleep on their feet.

Billary (Manchester--she should just get a good night of sleep).

Keep Big Dog off the stage, I hope.

Fire Penn, Begala, Carville--and send "Big Dog" back to uppercrust Chappaqua (he can do some domestic chores, which she claimed that she "misses" today).

Spare me.

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeew.

Phony beyond belief.

If she goes for his jugular, she's *really* toast (or pulls the "what I've done for everyone these past 35 yrs.;" & starts sniffling).

Craig Crawford talking about Clinton campaign being potentially broke (they're asking specifically for numbers tomorrow).

I can't wait to see the DLC reign of fools and shills finished off.

*Finally*.

NH voters "own" this one, tomorrow...and ONLY them.

"Top-down scripted" doesn't work in New England.

Nada.

 US Navy on brink of firing on Iran boats after tense standoff in ... major oil shipping route

They were en route to the Gulf early on Sunday morning when the Iranian boats dashed to within 200 yards. One radioed to the frigate: "We're coming at you and you'll explode in a couple of minutes."

The implication was that the speedboat crews were on a suicide mission. They sped over the waves in front of the American vessels dropping boxes which the U.S. Navy thought could contain mines.

>

Just because Bush and Cheney are "Dick"heads does not mean the "polished minds behind the gun" behave the same.

The Iranians were provokative.  And, sometimes people get burned.  We should support our sailors, soldiers, airmen, and marines.

Hi,

Back after dinner and watching Keith, which by the way, Seashell, you promoted many many time on the blog, and for which I am grateful.

No, I didn't say you were a racist, but I have interpreted your remarks as racist.  I've come to the conclusion that the best I can give to the world is my honest responses.  If they are incorrect, I'm glad that people have the courage to say that they are.

You have given much and always have. You are nonstop creative both as an artist and dancer; you give your inthusiansm freely.  You are human as we all are with plenty of errors.  

So, yes. I have interpreted your comments as racist as anti Jewish as anti religious, but I think if I have committed any faults, they are for more than those you have committed.  You are an astounding, creative, passionate, and misguided, conceited, arrogant human being.

Welcome to the human race. 

I almost felt sorry for Clinton today -- almost. Then she pulled the *Al Qaeda* fear card out. Worst.candidate.ever.

TO SOME ON THIS BLOG TOO

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-fauntroy-phd/lambasted-for-not-drinkin_b_80244.html

It's hard out here for Black pundits/analysts/commentators who haven't come around to drinking the Democratic presidential nomination front-runner Barack Obama is the best-thing-since-sliced-bread-how-did-we-ever-exist-as-a-nation-without-him-this-is-our-last- best-chance-to-elect-a-Black-president-so-we-better-support-him-see-I-told-you-racism-is-dead Kool-Aid. I have learned an unfortunate lesson in observing the Democratic presidential nomination fight: In too many segments of the country -- black and white -- to express any skepticism about Barack Obama is considered political heresy. I'm blown away by this discovery, because it suggests a dangerous group think: Obama is the only agent of change and to not praise him at every opportunity is to support the status quo (And, oh, by the way, Hillary is the devil!).

s m ... I gathered you were searching for this that I mentioned earlier when you hinted to it up thread.


Carla Marinucci: Notes on Obamamania

Did Democratic presidential candidates -- particularly Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton -- miss some opportunities this week to fire away at Sen. Barack Obama?
Maybe. Obama, speaking at the Westin St. Francis in San Francisco, raised eyebrows Monday at a fundraiser for Sen. Barbara Boxer when, as we reported, the Illinois Senator described his Democratic colleague from California as "a fighter, a leader, a charmer, a cutie."

The remark "set off a lot of mumuring," said one Democratic strategist in attendance, "among a lot of very strong powerful women around Boxer there who were offended."

Full story, here:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfga...

9:31 EST

AN INDICTMENT OF EVERYONE

http://www.opednews.com/articles/genera_rafe_pil_080107_rob_kall_s_recent__22h.htm

The bullshitters are still in charge and likely to remain so, even though the partisan label on the biggest of the political plums is likely to change.

9:39PM......I'm just flabbergasted.

Sitka.......

But wait, there's a fly in the ointment. Dan Abrams just announced that if Lou Dobbs runs for President he, Dan Abrams will announce his candidacy. so, it doesn't pay to rush into anything, I'm going to wait for Keithie to run.

I can just imagine hardened women with their ears pinned back at the realization that a man (those bastards) had just spoken a word like "cutie"

Oh, I can see it.  What a turn off. 

158. Michael Ellis -- you may be right -- the spelling skills are similar.

Lay off Seashell guys -- we are all wound pretty tight these days.

I'm trying to stay awake while the Berlin Philharmonic plays Mahler 9th on PBS.

Tomorrow morning I have to set an alarm :~( and get up at 6 :~( -- Phil says that is sleeping in!

I too enjoyed the little vignette about Obama's 'granny' on CNN. She sounded bright just like him.

I don't like those guys like Bloomberg getting together to 'fix' America. If they want to 'fix' America they should use the institutions in place -- work to replace Congresspeople who aren't delivering, impeaching you know who, etc. Not starting their own government.

Well -- think I'll set the sleep timer and listen from the bed.

Nitie!

9:45 PM ET in north Florida

168. LOL.

bbl...time to make a late dinner of soup and Habanero Cornbread...need to warm up from this chill.

Oh, Linda...the tile looks nice.  Good work.

169. It's just there have been so many years of 'sensitivity training' for corporate slaves. Surely you've been to 1000 seminars saying how you can get fired for calling a coworker sweetie or cutie. It 'isn't done' as my mother would say. Although like everything else he does it sounds kinda charming when Obama does it.

173. 

I hear you, but I always hold out that intent of the message is part of the mix.

164

I never knew that Barbara Boxer had given a fundraiser for Obama or vice versa. I wasn't trying to hint at anything.   When you mentioned it I did go look to see what I could find.  I couldn't believe there was actually a tape on it.

Looks like some people were offended by his remark.

I didn't mean anything derogatory towards anyone, I was simply trying to say I don't think he meant anything by it.  That is just my opinion.

Habanero Cornbread sounds delicious.

147. which is why the conventions and eboard meetings are never over your way...

Calling Boxer a "cutie" perhaps isn't very PC, but who am I to criticize lack of PC?  LOL  If she didn't like it, she could have drawn a boundary and asked him to respect it.

Huron, your articles are spot on IMO.  We be in big trouble and the corporations will continue to rule.

Perhaps NH will re-consider tonight and read up on the issues. New is not always better.  Throwing the baby out with the bathwater is unwise.

DFA supported BO and he didn't follow thru.  I don't expect much, if anything, from him, should he be elected, which I doubt will happen.  Our country is sufficiently asleep to allow the engine of fascism to keep rolling.  The corporations elect the prez and I suspect have been doing so for some time.

So very very sad...

2000 was the defining moment IMO.  

I wonder what Gore is thinking right now? 

that whole thing with the iranians is way blown out of shape. that sort of thing happened everyday of the cold war...bumping, nudging, cutting across each other's right of way, etc. its what happens when you put tough guys next to each other, they tend to provoke. but doesn't mean a thing unless you want it to. tonkin gulf was a nothing turned into a something. if the skipper had actually fired on the iranians, which were an inferior player in the "incident," we'd have looked like the bad guy to most of the world despite our spin. you have to be the victim to gain in these situations.

btw, mulder isn't oler. oler would have gotten the military stuff right where fox didn't.

I don't feel sad.  I like Obama.  I voted for him for Senator and I will vote for him in the Illinois Primary.  Gore is probably thinking that he'd better continue on with his work on Global Warming since he has no desire to re-enter politics.

he didn't say he wanted no part of politics, donna. he just said not right now.

Denise -- thanks for the links, they'll come in handy during our meeting. And a local sports bar already said they would turn on the news when we arrive, which is pretty cool.

Linda*in*SFNM -- holy cow, habanero cornbread sounds awesome. Can you post a link to the recipe? I'm a devout chili head.

bob, make sure and use your hazmat suit when cooking with habaners. 1st time i did, i didn't wear gloves when de-seeding the pepper. my fingertips were hot for 2 days. LOL!!!

i'd be interested in that recipe too, linda.

Great looking tiles, Linda SF.

"not right now" was weeks ago.  How about NOW?  Are there any delegates left so that he could come in before Super Tues and still win? 

Why do I feel like I've just been to a long sports rally?  And that the game will end tomorrow?

Mass hypnosis.  It's so sad. 

mprov, Gore said that the only office he would consider running for again is President.  And he decided not to.  IF we have a Dem president who stays in office for 8 years (from my keyboard to God-s computer screen ;-),) Gore will be nearly 70 years old. 

I had hoped he would run too, but he has made his choice.  I respect it just the way I respect the fact that Howard chose not to run. 

When I lived in MX, the  guys would pop habaneros in their mouths....whole.  Yikes.

JE is going to take on the corporations.  He's clear on that.

His record of not doing so is much clearer. 

i wouldn't bet on gore coming into this race, sea. its getting to the point where it might do more harm than good. just my opinion. i've voted for him 3 times, would like another go at it, but i think we're stuck with the choices already on the menu...

185 see 188. ok?

I grow haberneros for my son who can tackle the hottest of hot...hard to find them around these parts. Linda...kudos on the tile work as well. I'll be doing tile in our kitchen this year.

Rudy does have a following...one I'm sure he'd like to ditch...
http://therealrudy.org/heroes.php/?utm_s...

eyes are blurry from emails/voter file stuff tonight...

zzzville

sitka, i'm wondering if you can find a single positive about edwards? and i'm not playing a draw you in game. its just that he can't be evil incarnate. i mean even gw...well...i guess a person could be pure evil.

The Iranians were provokative.

Maybe. But ever since learning the truth about the Gulf of Tonkin Incident , which was used to "invade" Vietnam (and which really didn't happen), I put no faith in the US military's or the WH's versions of events.

And they've been caught lying and provoking.

sitka, i'm wondering if you can find a single positive about edwards?

I like his hair? 

which justifies a $4bil haircut in order to maintain it???

donna, it's possible Gore could run in 12 to replace McCain or the repug.  JE was gaining in money and popularity but NH is so close now.  I think he could beat McCain, but I doubt BO can.  We'll have to listen to two men who agree with each other a lot.....it'll be McCain agreeing with BO.....again, to confuse the voters, which, apparently, is quite easy.

When did BO change his mind about bringing the troops home soon? They all know that they don't have to do anything they promise...the people turn on the TV and forget.

Every 4 years they give us the illusion of power and that's all it is..illusion.  The good ones they take down....like Dean.  This time they wanted to make sure the electorate thought it was doing something wonderful to counter the last 7 years....business as usual.. you watch. 

The voters could have changed this by insisting on keeping the other good cands. in... Iowans could have stood in Dodd's corner as easily as in BO's.

Mass hynosis. 

But wait, there's a fly in the ointment. Dan Abrams just announced that if Lou Dobbs runs for President he, Dan Abrams will announce his candidacy.

Now there's a man a MAN can find attractive! But I'll have to learn more about his spouse or significant other before I can decide whether to support him. 

If Earth could vote...

I saw those little boats on TV and for the life of me, I couldn't see "Revolutionary Guard" flags or signs.  How do we know what those boats were?  And what were the white things in the water?

I don't trust the BH version of anything.

Sitka, can you say something nice about BO? :-) 

which justifies a $4bil haircut in order to maintain it???

Chris Dodd at one time had the most immaculate hair in the Senate. Then after Edwards got caught getting his expensive haircut, Dodd's hair suddenly statred looking a bit butchered. I can see him telling his barber, "Make it look CHEAP!"

Yeehaaaaaaaaargh--

you can all gawk @Dixville Notch's whopping 16 voters (very conservative--MCain will take most of 'em) vote in a little under an hour.

Pretty excitin' stuff.

Pop a few Valium, for good measure (for those of you who are still hyperventilating).

Outrageously high turnout start voting early in the morning (6:00 a.m. EST).

http://tinyurl.com/347sk5

Oh, Subway, I hope that's a Photoshop of the very thin polar bear.  It brings tears to my eyes.

Sitka, can you say something nice about BO? :-)

I'm afraid I've found anything good to say about body odor.

Except that at least it's natural. 

sitka....

About the trial lawyer thing. Edwards took cases representing poor and middle class people who had been taken advantage of by Corporations. He mostly won so the corp. paid his fee, and he did many pro bono. I see that as being commndable, not as you paint it. It is also in line with what he talks about today. He also co-authored the Patients bill of Rights. The fact that it didn't make it past the Congress and the veto is not his fault. He is not responsible for the corrupt self serving Congress and Pres. Kucinich is not responsible for not getting his Impeachment bill passed either.

sea, likely the iranians were tracked all the out of port. our naval sensor equipment is capable of amazing things. the white things could have been anything all the way down to empty boxes. its all part of the game. really, take it for what it is: a nah, nah, nah, nah, nah game. or like the french guys in the holy grail...

I'm afraid I've NEVER found anything good to say about body odor.

Arghhhhhh! 

202

LMAO....

seashell,

I don't think it's a photoshop, but is is a picture of America as we stand in the world today. It's a picture of humanity as it stands today.

Prolly the most powerful campaign poster I've seen since "Soylent Dean." 

"... They all know that they don't have to do anything they promise...the people turn on the TV and forget...."

sea, if I believed that I wouldn't be here.  Does "all" include Gore or Howard?

About the trial lawyer thing.

I don't doubt for a second that Corporate America was overjoyed that Edwards stopping suing them in court and started serving them in the Senate.

He mostly won so the corp. paid his fee, and he did many pro bono.

I've heard just the opposite -- that he never took a case pro bono.

I see that as being commndable,

I've also heard it's actually considered sleazy to work for free in hopes of a big payoff.

not as you paint it.

I don't remember ever commenting on Edwards trial lawyer days before now. 

He also co-authored the Patients bill of Rights.

As it turned out, just more empty words. 

He is not responsible for the corrupt self serving Congress

Just the part of it that was him. 

Pres. Kucinich is not responsible for not getting his Impeachment bill passed either.

You'll have to take that up with a Kucinich supporter. 

Clinton's Candid Assessment

Clinton also said Obama and Edwards have acted like hypocrites during the race and appeared to diminish the role Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. played in the civil rights movements, saying it wasn’t hope that King inspired that made the difference but President Lyndon Johnson’s decision to fight for and sign the Civil Rights Act into law.

She also accused Edwards of displaying a phony revulsion at the power of special interest lobbyists, saying he did nothing to confront them during his one term in the Senate.

http://bourbonroom.blogs.foxnews.com/2008/01/07/clintons-candid-assessment/

There is a link to a video there, if anyone can stand to listen to her.

Al Gore....there is plenty of time for much to happen. No one knows what our future holds out and if he doesn't become our nominee this year, I agree, he may in 4 more. This years Primary calendar was being shut before he even accepted his Nobel, so there was not much he could do, even though, as he said, he "would love to be President".

Al Gore did not say did not say he has decided not to run for office again. He said, he has not ruled out office in the future, he is after all only 59 and said the "only office he would run for in government would be for President".

Al Gore, vietnam vet, journalist, Congressman, Senator, vice President and Nobel Laureate.....say the word any time, and I'm there.

Because, it is

Time for
a COOL
change,
GORE!!!
___________________________________________


Everyone, thank you on the cornbread. It's actually my own recipe and I will post it for all. I warn you, I'm a lowfat, low cal baker, but it's still good and you can modify it. I do that with mosst of my recipes including my regular breads. I have like a base and change them.


bb in a bit


Reed, Paine, Sea...thanks on the tile work. :)

"He also co-authored the Patients bill of Rights.

As it turned out, just more empty words."

i can find fault with this position. my congressman keeps trying to get bills passed that would benefit us all, but is shot down in the end. should i think less of him for trying?

Now we understand why putzie had to get rid of the torture tapes.

War Crimes Trial Opens With Grisly Video
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/010708R.shtml
Mike Corder of The Associated Press reports: "The war crimes trial of Charles Taylor, Liberia's former president, heard its first testimony Monday and saw video of victims telling of being sexually assaulted or dismembered by rebels who plundered West African diamond fields."
 

She also accused Edwards of displaying a phony revulsion at the power of special interest lobbyists, saying he did nothing to confront them during his one term in the Senate

Compared to what -- her own obvious lack of revulsion at their power -- going so far as even to praise them, unless I remember wrong? 

i can find fault with this position.

I merely point out that citing a bill that didn't get passed as Edwards' sole accomplishment is probably one reason he can't do better than second place. 

it is said that some men dressed as women in order to be part of the "saved" in the lifeboats on the titanic. every sinking ship has its neurosis.

yes, of course...but that would damn dennis' entire career...

Heavens no, Donna.  We have some wonderful men and women in public life.  I was referring to the ones now in office, letting our soldiers die.  Besides Gore and Dean, we have the Kennedys, Feingold, Boxer, Edwards, Kucinich and all the brave souls who back impeachment.  Unfortunately their voices are drowned out by critters who need to retire.

it is said that some men dressed as women in order to be part of the "saved" in the lifeboats on the titanic

The real story would be if some women dressed as men in order to stay on board. 

Besides Gore and Dean, we have the Kennedys, Feingold, Boxer, Edwards

Edwards? He voted to send the soldiers there to die -- and to fund it. 

I know......"But now he's sorry." 

yes, of course...but that would damn dennis' entire career...

In DK's defense. While he may not have accomplished much good, he may have never helped accomplish bad as the other candidates certainly have. 

btw, while authoring or co-authoring/sponsoring legislation is usually marked up as resume power points for congress critters, there have been many successful congressional careers without significant authorship achievements. there's more to the game than just this. look at the positions held in the two bodies: what was the last bill you remember coming from a whip, for example? this is, unfortunately, the part that is left out unless you pay so close attention to specific office holders. who builds coalitions, who rallys the votes, who persuades...

i'm not saying that edwards did any of the above, but i'd be interested in finding out...same for obama and hill...

222. doesn't change what i proposed...

you know, i really don't know what i'm arguing about. all i really want is to play music for people and have them enjoy their lives. yes, really. good food, good company, good art, what's more to want? a friend said a while back "why can't we just live our lives," in reaction to my provoking her into political action.

but, the fact remains that unless we're involved in the process, those others will do us harm even if it is their intent to do good in their heart.

Looking back, I think that there have been many good causes and movements that have failed or withered from lack of not quite enough support to be reckoned with. How many times I have heard someone screw up their face and declare that eeuuw! politics makes me nervous, I can't stand to even watch the news. Or, how about the more common, by the time I take the kids to school, swim, dance, sports etc. I don't have time to pay attention to what is going on in the world.

Well, one thing that might help is stop having so many kids. Just being born doesn't give us license to live our lives with no social conscience. It's not going to be enough to change light bulbs. we will either have to start having more wars or we will need to limit the population in a more humane way.

We seem to be in a high speed lane to annihilatio, and most people aren't aware. we don;t get the gov't we deserve, we get the one "they" deserve. We are a tiny minority of people who are involved. It's not the too busy cop out, it's an irresponsible mentality.

I rant like this every election when people tell me why they are voting for a particular candidate, when they don't have a clue, and I have to wait eight years for them to realize this person was a disaster. It's never that they made the mistake of voting for him.

Viggo Mortensen trekked to NH to support Kucinich and he was wearing an *Impeach* tee shirt. I just read that he and Dennis went on Fox Noise with Sean Hannity and Hannity said he would forgive Viggo his politics because he likes his movies. Viggo told him not to bother because he wouldn't forgive him his politics.
(Paraphrasing).

Did anyone see *Eastern Promises*? Viggo was brilliant in that.

Well, one thing that might help is stop having so many kids.

Convince the Catholic Church and the Protestant Fundies who don't even want women to know what makes them get pregnant -- much less be able to do anything about it before or after it happens.

(Disclaimer: I use the term "Fundies" solely as an abbreviation. If it has any negative conotation to anyone, it's only because of the harmful things many of them do in the name of their god.) 

It certainly didn't go thru the Senate in '01, Sitka (most decent bills were killed/tabled/watered down).

Pls. research specific legislation before commenting.

http://tinyurl.com/37wx5k

224...and on that note (doh!) while you play a tune, we'll do some baking


Linda's Corn Bread (I'm taking credit) :)

1 cup corn meal
1 cup (all purpose) flour
2 tspns of baking powder
1/4 tspn of baking soda
1/2 tspn of salt
1 egg
1 Tblspn of Vegetable Oil (Olive works)
1 cup of water
2 small fresh habaneros, finely minced **

Preheat oven to 400. Mix dry ingredients, add oil, water and egg and mix until blended. Pour in to greased and floured (or I use silicone baking ware)pan and bake for 25 minutes. You can use a loaf pan if you want it thicker, or you can use an 8 x 8 square or round for a little flatter. More reminiscent of corn sticks.

** You can delete them with the same base recipe if you don't want it spicy and it won't alter the recipe.

**You can also add a couple of chopped fresh jalapenos if you just want to have it less spicy and chunkier.

** You can also grate in Cheddar Cheese for a change...just one ounce goes a long way.

I hope you all enjoy.

Pls. research specific legislation before commenting.

Thanks for the gobbledygook? 

is there a "without purpose" flour? just wondering because there might be a conflict of interest???

Linda's Corn Bread (I'm taking credit) :)

I notice there's no sugar in it as with many recipes. I HATE sugar in corn bread. I call it corn cake. 

why add sweet to sweet???

You know, if you don't want to acknowlege the Patients Bill of Rights passing the Senate for Edwards to then get vetoed by the President, but saying that was his only achievement isn't accurate. He was only given time to site that one example at the debate. LOL I was surprised he managed to squeeze all that detail in such short time. He does get more info in to every second.

But, he was successful in helping many states increase their minimum wage. The campaign he worked on with ACORN and the like while not even in office. That, along with going to NOLA to help them rebuild, again on his own time, I find even better than Bills he worked on in the Senate.

mine was post-sitka's...

is there a "without purpose" flour?

Good one. I'll never make a joke again when you're around  since I'm a piker by comparison.

Thanks Linda, I'll be making tomorrow and serving with chili.

linda, in all honesty, i believe he uses the same example every time he's asked about his congressional record...i follow this stuff way too closely...

but saying that was his only achievement isn't accurate.

Then his supporters should cite them. But all I hear about is what he says he'll do, what he hasn't done, and what he's sorry for doing. 

Oh Linda, I'm going to try your cornbread. I think we have similar eating habits. We don't eat too many sugary things here but this holiday season I definitely ate more than my share of sugar. I'm just now recovering...LOL

236. too funny...

mprov......roflmao....yeah BLEACHED :)

No, I don't add sugar, but you can if you like. I also sometimes add organic whole corn (about 1/2 cup) and that sweetens naturally if you like.

Sitka, yes, that's what it tastes like...but keep in mind, if guests or yourself are wanting sweet, you could always add a little honey afterwards. A little honey drizzled on top goes a long way.

I MISS MY YARD IN PHX, only for all the Sour Orange Trees I planted in my back yard. They made great Orange Marmalade that I made with just a fraction of honey, mostly all orange (with more of my own secrets thrown in) Hay, Sitka, if I give you my old address, will you go jump the wall and pick some oranges? :)

But, he was successful in helping many states increase their minimum wage. The campaign he worked on with ACORN and the like while not even in office. That, along with going to NOLA to help them rebuild, again on his own time, I find even better than Bills he worked on in the Senate.

His post-2004 philanthropy is commendable, if not suspect. But it's a drop in the bucket compared to the harm he did as senator by voting for the worst of Bush's agenda.

mprov...oops, ok, well, I guess I haven't :)

Sitka, I think they are on notice. LOL...we have been informed of the frequency of that example.

Hay, Sitka, if I give you my old address, will you go jump the wall and pick some oranges? :)

Can I use a ladder? 

The photo of the polar bear is heart breaking.

I read in the Anchorage Newspaper today that their endangered species has been postponed.  For some reason it wouldn't let me link that article, so I found one on AP.

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5j9NGJ0_eVkxqgpEFC6RMHVlvT9qwD8U1B9FG0

I'll be so glad when GWB and his cronies are gone.

sm....cool...it's GREAT with Chili...and I might add, the cheddar with Chili is quite enjoyable..if you like Cheddar.

Mary I hope you enjoy. Yeah, we went through the no sugar diet and ever since then we don't even add sugar to Hot Whole Wheat Cereal and the like. I never thought I would be able to eat Oatmeal without sweetners, but I did and now I just am so sensitive to sugar. I can't eat most commercial bread because it tastes like pastry and that just doesn't work with roatest vegetables or egg and cheese sandwiches. YUK.

roatest? what is that? roasted vegetables...

...how do you postpone an endangered status????????????

know what i'm saying...

I'm embarrassed for Bill Clinton. Here's his latest calling Obama's campaign a fairy tale. -- this from a diary over at Daily Kos--------

HANOVER, NH -- Although the presidential ambitions of Sen. Hillary Clinton have been bruised in recent days, former President Bill Clinton isn't surprised.

"This campaign is playing out exactly as I thought it would," Clinton told a crowd of students gathered at Dartmouth College Monday night. "All the pundits, as usual, are wrong. I always [told Hillary] 'You'll have a hard time winning the primaries, but if you get nominated, you'll win the general election by a wide margin'."

Toward the end of the event, Clinton grew heated when discussing the campaign of Sen. Barack Obama. He suggested that the basis of Obama's campaign rested solely on the fact that he's a good speaker, a charistmatic campaigner and Obama's claim that he's consistently been against the Iraq war.

"This is the biggest fairy tale I've ever seen," said Clinton. He rejected Obama's argument that the Illinois senator has always been against the war in Iraq (and to a greater degree than Sen. Clinton) and accused Obama of running a negative campaign.

"Did you like it when he called Hillary the senator from Punjab? Did you like that?" he asked a student. "The idea that one of these campaigns is postiive and the other is negative -- when the reverse is true -- ... is a little tough to take."
----------

Dixville Notch just voted. I know. ZZZZZZZZZZZ (lifted from mydd)

Dixville Notch:

Republicans:

John McCain - 4
Mitt Romney - 2
Giuliani - 1

Democrats:

Barack Obama - 7
John Edwards - 2
Bill Richardson - 1

None for Hillary. Ouch.

245...You may not even need one...it's a corner house and I had the trees planted along the side by the mailboxes (on the street) and a long the back shielding from the 2 story house. Hey...you need privacy for that Hot Tub.

I'll be so glad when GWB and his cronies are gone.

The evil they have wrought will be with us for the rest of our lives at least -- and who knows what further harm will be perpetrated when their spawn get back into power in the future? For if I've  seen one certainty in my life, it's that each incarnation of conservatism is far worse than the previous one. 

252. Where did you live? Somewhere close to my house? We had a hot tub, but got bored with it and had it dug out of the ground when our daughter was born.

"Did you like it when he called Hillary the senator from Punjab? Did you like that?"

It's worse than we thought. Bill seems to suffering from dementia. Or did Obama really say that? 

what is beyond hitler? an extreme has been set in history. stalin, mao, pol pot, perone...the list is long in contemporary history. how far can a thing go? to think that it can't happen here is fantasy.

Sitka, I don't believe it was Obama.

i think bill's on a young skirt deficient diet...reigned in...heart not in good shape...just a butt head...thanks...goodbye...just get out now...you're spoiling the party...don't you see it...what's wrong with you...get going...move along...nothing to see here...

I guess Bill's not demented yet......just questionably outraged.

In no time, two intersecting story lines took hold: Mr. Obama, the squeaky-clean prophet of a new politics, was caught out in a rather sleazy brand of very old-style negative campaigning. And to make matters worse, the press release seemed to be playing a crass New Economy race card—or at least trafficking in xenophobic caricatures of an Indian takeover of U.S. politics. By the beginning of this week, these interlocked charges of hypocrisy and ethnic demagoguery caromed so widely through the media and the blogosphere that the Illinois Senator had to pull back from the offending campaign document, calling it “stupid and caustic” and a breach of his “long-standing support and friendships within the Indian-American community.”

Yet both charges seem bogus. Anyone reading on in the actual text of the Obama release would discover that New York’s junior Senator had jokingly referred to herself as a prospective Senator from Punjab at an Indian-American fund-raising event. It’s true that the headline in question wasn’t a model of clarity—but it’s also hard to see how the same word choice in the hands of one candidate is a show of playful ethnic solidarity, while becoming a telltale sign of bigotry the moment another one takes it up in the spirit of criticism.

(This one slipped under my radar.) 

Hart's location - another Obama blow out. I wonder if this is how the rest of the state will go.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/new_ham...

Oh cripes:

"I don't even know for sure who I'm going to vote for," said Varney. "I think I might just close my eyes and mark the ballot."

----------
Oy vey.

254...I think about 4 miles away from you...North on Tatum, left on Union Hills, Right on 42nd place. We bought when nothing was north of us and that McD's on Bell and Tatum was all Dessert and mountains behind (1991). Oh well, now highway, Malls, Hotels, Mayo Hospital...even Amex Hq moved there...it would have been such an easy commute for me...I could have WALKED. No more Rawhide, No more Cook Shack in Pinnacle Peak. I think all that's left from hay days is Greasewood Flats and that became a tourist (snowbird) hangout. Tour buses mixed in with horses and bikers. Yeehaw!

254...and I'm only guessing...from the area you mentioned.

Extrapolate the amount of change for Obama in the past few days and he might wind up over 50%.

Oh and I think many of us bought in to the Hot Tub thing. But in the summer it got too hot and in the winter you would freeze ____off running from outside in to the house. Instead of getting rid of the Hot Tub...we got rid of the house! LOL

If Obama gets anywhere NEAR 50% - then it must be over. I'm rooting for Edwards to finish second though.

I think about 4 miles away from you...North on Tatum, left on Union Hills, Right on 42nd place.

I bicycle there all the time. 

It's pretty sad that the Clinton campaign is hoping for low turnouts. That's very Republican of them.

Nite all!!!

I'm rooting for Edwards to finish second though.

He was pretty far behind Hillary. But never underestimate Edwards' natural talent for placing.

It's pretty sad that the Clinton campaign is hoping for low turnouts.

I remember an Edwards supporter saying that a low turnout in Iowa would help him. But he didn't say he wanted it to happen. 

"remember an Edwards supporter saying that a low turnout in Iowa would help him. But he didn't say he wanted it to happen."

be fair to phil's pov, now sitka...

Instead of getting rid of the Hot Tub...we got rid of the house! LOL

We were also terrified at the thought of accidental drowing. Fortunately, it's gone down astronomically since the law to require fences around pools was passed. But in the past there were years when dozens of kids would drown. Sun City blocked it for a long time, but in the end the out of state retirees were overcome.

be fair to phil's pov, now sitka..

I'm not calling anyone out. 

Linda, I've been using Stevia for years.  It's natural and healthy!!

Yes, they passed that law some time ago, right? Our h t was above ground and we had a cover(of course), but when we bought it, you actually used to be able to see stars and could sit in the tub, look up and get dizzy. By the time we left in 2001, you couldn't even drive up to Carefree and see the stars, the air was getting so bad.

274 seashell, yes, we switched to Stevia when I stopped using sugar too. But you can't bake with Stevia in high temperatures. I have been able to modify recipes and lower the baking temperature on some things, but it's tricky. I made pumpkin bread for thanksgiving with stevia and I can make hubby's peanutbutter cheesecake with Stevia, add about 10 mins baking time and bake on 325. But it's tricky baking with it.

WEll, I need to head off...and Sitka..if you happen by, there should be some oranges on those trees even now...I'll send you my address :)


All be well.

By the time we left in 2001, you couldn't even drive up to Carefree and see the stars, the air was getting so bad.

It's gotten worse. There was ballot initiative a few elections ago to drastically curb developement in N. PHX and other wild desert areas. The developers beat it with the slogan, "It goes TOO far!" Kind of a "Where's the BEEF?"

What I didn't get was the foolishness of property owners not realizing that curbing developement would make their property more valuable. But maybe they just wanted to chew up their own piece of pristine desert more than they wanted mere money. 

278. they believe the Corporate politicians. Just like when they sell them on the idea to allow to pay more taxes for business's stadiums or retail business's...that it will bring jobs. Bushsh!t. voting opposite their interest, again.

Tell me you remember the club "What's you Beef" LOL

...they should have put in those big darn FANS. :)

JUST IN:


The group Draft Gore New Hampshire has endorsed John Edwards.

Earlier this week the group announced their would be terminating their efforts.

"We came to the unanimous decision that John Edwards has the courage to bring about fundamental changes in the way decisions are made in Washington," said Farrell Seiler, state coordinator for Draft Gore New Hampshire.



...now I'm really off.
ciao!

"We came to the unanimous decision that John Edwards has the courage to bring about fundamental changes in the way decisions are made in Washington,"

Except, of course, when he was an actual senator who could have acted with courage. 

But their endorsement seems a bit late. Those who don't check their email tomorrow today won't know how to vote.

And I'd be curious to know how many people made the "unanimous decision." 

Finally, I guess it's the fitting end to an effort that couldn't convince the guy they really like to run, so now supports another who might get second place if he's lucky. 

Good for NH draft Gore.

We need a miracle overnight.  Someone please explain the ins and outs of NH.  Are both HC and JE knocked out if BO gets x number of votes? That's hardly fair to the rest of us.  Or are we talking momentum and sheeple on Super Tues?

I understand now why the primaries are set the way they are.  It's easy to control who gets the nomination.  God forbid the rest of the country should vote.  It's the primaries, stupid!

Some democracy............not! 

I doubt Pakistan will have much to say about this.  What a BH wet dream...Iran and Pakistan...putzie can go out with a bang.

Pakistan Won't Allow U.S. Troops On Its Soil
 

In a blizzard of New Hampshire polls, one national poll has been largely overlooked -- the Rasmussen national daily tracking poll. In that poll, there's a huge surprise: while Hillary Clinton has dropped seven points since December 29th (from 43 percent to 36 percent), Barack Obama has only gained a point (from 24 percent to 25.) So where has Hillary's support gone?

To John Edwards, who has surged nine points in a week from 14 percent to 23 percent. How can this be?

One possibility is that the saturation media coverage of the Clinton vs. Obama battle in Iowa made Edwards' second place finish a relative surprise. Even though the pundits argued that the state was do-or-die, merely defeating Hillary was novelty enough to give Edwards a bump.

Another possibility is that while Barack Obama remains fairly unknown and ill defined nationally, John Edwards is a known commodity, so he's better positioned to receive wayward Clinton support. Pundits again make a mistake assuming that the rest of the nation has absorbed as much information about this campaign as have the voters in Iowa and New Hampshire. To most of the nation, Obama is an intriguing novelty who they still need to meet.

The bottom line, though, is that Iowa and New Hampshire are important only if they affect the mechanics of the long-term race -- national poll numbers, fundraising totals, the willingness of key opinion leaders to endorse the frontrunner. Obama will undoubtedly gain fund and new patrons if he wins New Hampshire, but if his national numbers do not budge, an opportunity remains for Clinton to rebound -- or Edwards to mount a legitimate challenge.

If Edwards can top Clinton for second place on Tuesday, it will be interesting to see if voters who leave the Clinton camp continue to move to Edwards.

http://politicalinsider.com/2008/01/is_edwards_surging.html 

The Kudzu Effect: The Voting-Industrial Complex chokes our democracy By Sheri Myers, Bob Fitrakis and Harvey Wasserman  (1 comments) Computerized voting,promoted by an interlocking cabal of political operatives and vendors is strangling American democracy,like the Japanese kudzu pla...

9-11 Cover-Up, Treason and The Bomb By Dave Lindorff  (22 comments) Why do we have to find out what's happening here by reading it in British newspapers? Why isn't Congress on this like flies on crap?

Remember Sibel Edmonds who was effectively silenced by this regime?  How I wish we had a free press instead of RW corporations.

Times of London Blows Open Sibel Edmonds Case

by Mike Mejia (Posted by Mike Mejia)     Page 1 of 1 page(s)

http://www.opednews.com
           
Tell A Friend

Deep within the bowels of the FBI translation program are contained many dark secrets.  If the Bush Administration and the Democratic Congress have their way, many of these painful truths will never see the light of public scrutiny.  Some come in the form of transcripts of wiretapped conversations that reveal U.S. officials are willing to sell nuclear secrets for cold, hard cash to untrustworthy allies.
 

So says FBI whistleblower Sibel Edmonds, in an explosive new interview with the The Times (U.K.).  In the story, Edmonds claims “ she heard evidence that one well-known senior official in the US State Department was being paid by Turkish agents in Washington who were selling the information on to black market buyers, including Pakistan.”  The article goes on to say:
 

The Turks and Israelis had planted “moles” in military and academic institutions which handled nuclear technology. Edmonds says there were several transactions of nuclear material every month, with the Pakistanis being among the eventual buyers. “The network appeared to be obtaining information from every nuclear agency in the United States,” she said.
 

The Times article does not name the high-level State Department official who is alleged to have sold out his country to Turkey and Pakistan.  However, to those who have paid close attention to the Edmonds case, there is little doubt that she is referring to Mark Grossman, currently an associate of the Cohen Group.
 

Grossman, former Ambassador to Turkey under President Clinton and Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs under President Bush, has been named repeatedly by Edmonds in interviews as someone “very important” to her case.  The fact that any indiscretions Grossman may be accused of occurred during both a Democratic and a Republican Administration may explain why neither political party has aggressively tried to pursue Edmonds claims.

more

http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_mike_mej_080107_times_of_london_blow.htm

More on the horrors on this governments treasonous acts revealed by Sibel Edmonds.  Has anyone yet figured out how to get a msg thru to keith? This is just sickening and p oints to the complicity of the dems.  I wonder who got kickbacks to keep  quiet.

Edwards would prolly attack the corporate media and he'd have Howard backing him. 

More money tomorrow to Edwards.  I'm not giving up on America just yet.  

********************* 

In late October, Edmonds had told The BRAD BLOG she was prepared to reveal the information to any major U.S. broadcast media outlet, after feeling that she had exhausted all efforts to see the disturbing information properly investigated by U.S. Government agencies. She had, in fact, spent years in classified interviews with high-ranking officials from the FBI, DoJ, 9/11 Commission and both houses of the U.S. Congress, in hopes of seeing accountability brought concerning the issues of national security, which the DoJ's own Inspector General had described as "credible," "serious," and "warrant[ing] a thorough and careful review by the FBI."

Despite broken promises for hearings on her case by U.S. Congressman Henry Waxman (D-CA), support from Senators Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Patrick Leahy (D-VT), and a number of mainstream exposés several years ago detailing aspects of her story before she was willing to break her unprecedented "States Secrets Privilege" gag order, none of the American broadcast media outlets took her up on her offer.

"She has now decided to divulge some of that information after becoming disillusioned with the US authorities' failure to act," reports the Sunday Times tonight...

http://www.bradblog.com/?p=5518 

Sorry, I may have posted the same article twice.  Worth the read IMO.

An Obama victory would symbolise a great deal and change very little Jesse Jackson and Obama could not be more different. But in the extent to which they both epitomize a generational shift in the opportunities and constituencies open to black politicians and illustrate how to capitalize on them, they have a great deal in common.

We will see.. nitey night.

race had nothing to do with Obama's win in Iowa seashell

it may end up one in South Carolina because a desperate Clinton campaign might want to paint him as the candidate of color rather than the candidate of change

John Edwards will just hang around picking up delegates for awhile because he will do very well in many of Feb 5th states

race had nothing to do with Obama's win in Iowa seashell

Hi, Phil.  I didn't think it did.  Nor will it tomorrow IMO.  I need to point out that I post things I don't always agree with and to be honest, I didn't read the whole Jackson/Obama article..but I think I will now.

She wouldn't dare paint him as the candidate of color, would she?  I spose she could be the other *white* candidate.  LOL 

I didn't find it an inflammatory article.  But I do agree that under BO, very little will change.  

Perhaps JE can still pull it off.  Perhaps HC will still pull it off.

We shall see. 

Godd morning, everybody

Yup, most people haven't made up their minds, including me.  The peace people have settled on Kucinich.  I wonder if the media are even ready to report on a message candidate.   

287.  Somebody has to test what will actually happen if they violate the pledge to keep secrets that they don't think should be kept.  If such a person is someone who can be spirited away without anyone being the wiser, then there's not much point in them speaking up in the first place, is there?  First there has to be a supportive network that will spread the alarm. 

287.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article3137695.ece?Submitted=true 

re: Mass hypnosis.  It's so sad. 

sea, are you having a lot of fun insulting my intelligence, over and over again?   if Edwards and Obama's numbers were reversed would you be saying the same about Edwards' supporters? did you resent it when loyal followers of Howard Dean were treated in the same way - as loonies?  it's too bad you don't realize that we are all on the same side and insulting the intelligence of anyone who supports Obama seems just plain mean - childish and petty. 

good morning Monica!  happy election day - good luck making your decision.  I'm really sorry Dodd isn't still on your ticket - although I suppose his name is still there... 

empty as it may have seemed to some, it was a thrill to vote for Howard in the Vermont primaries last time!

284

Maybe I'm looking at the wrong poll. But as of yesterday Clinton 36 a drop of 3, Obama 29 gain of 4, Edwards 20 dropping 3.

Sorry here is the link to the poll:

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/election_20082/daily_presidential_tracking_polling_history

278.  It's funny what people want.  My brother-in-law hates New Hampshire because it's too green.  He likes his landscape to be brown and grey.  My mother hated trees, especially when they dropped their needles and leaves.  That was a mess that had to be cleaned up right away.  We once went for a ride down dirt roads in the wilds of Georgia and came upon a house in the middle of the woods.  The house was surrounded by a fenced in yard with hard-packed earth and not a blade of grass or any other plant.  The dirt had obviously been raked and swept.  Someone explained that husbands used to rake the ground as they left, so they could tell if anyone visited while they were away.

Hi JO.  The spouse was one of those draft Gore people.  Now he says he'll vote for Richardson if I will promise to do the same.  Dixville Notch gave him one vote and nine to Obama.  That was it.  Wonder if that's because neither voted for Iraq.

I think Hillary implying that paying for the troops is the same as sending them in the first place may back-fire.

Pay no attention to the polls.  They were all wrong in Iowa.  Why should they be more significant now? 

I think Hillary implying that paying for the troops is the same as sending them in the first place may back-fire.

>> she still has the wrong advisors, imo.  they're doing the same old attack as the repubs - charge your opponent with something you're guilty of.  that doesn't seem to be working anymore...

charge your opponent with something you're guilty of = attack where you're weak.

another side of the horserace - intrade this morning

2008 presidential winner: 

Obama 47.0

Clinton 18.5

McCain 15.9

Guiliani 12

Huckabee 4.9

Romney 4.7

Paul 2.3

Edwards 1.2

Richardson 0.1

There's a nice video about Dixville Notch that I've posted on Hannah

The Boston Globe is using a proprietary code rather than Youtube.  It works fine on the MAC and I've posted it on DFNH as well. 

Well, if you look at the 1996 election, you might question who actually invented all these tactics.  I don't remember Bush One having the slick PR program.  Bush One was certainly into secrecy as a fundamental operating strategy, but I think the PR effort to hide the secrecy wasn't as well developed.  After all, he had to pardon a whole bunch of people because the truth was feretted out.

I wonder who hit on using religious organizations to hide things?  I think I first noticed the intersection of religion and politics when Colson came out of prison and started up a ministry.  Something to check out. 

Hillary was a lot closer to the person that talked baseball with me in Dubuque yesterday. and is potentially electable if she drops the attacks, drops the triangulation, drops the poll driven positions, and truly runs as the woman she is at her core

Edwards and Obama have made that transformation to that stripped bare leader that is good enough at the core to be a servant leader of a movement

the anti-Bush that would be the largest kind of change

Obama is cautious enough to be overtaken in the delegate count if he sits on his lead but it will be in  the states that follow Feb 5th because he has the momentum to be leading then.

If Clinton listens to the devil on her left shoulder instead of the angel on her right she is finished. 

Bill Berkowitz
June 12, 2005

Despite being named by Time magazine as one of the 25 most influential evangelical Christians in America, having a Presidential Chair established in his name at Calvin Theological Seminary, and running a $50 million dollar faith-based prison reform organization, Charles W. Colson is likely to always be remembered as one of President Richard Nixon's hatchet men during the Watergate years. In fact, since the recent revelation that W. Mark Felt was Watergate's "Deep Throat," Colson has received more media attention than at any time since the unfolding of the Watergate Affair.

309.  I don't think she knows who she is.

You know, there are reports that throughout the eighties Hillary tasked herself with containing the potential fires ignited by Bill's proclivity for irresponsible behavior with other women.  It may be that's the hard work she now claims as her "experience," and it may well be unfair that such dedication to the country should not be rewarded.  But, running interference for someone else may well inhibit the growth and development of one's own person.  It must be really enervating to be someone else's keeper.  Perhaps that's what abused women recognize and what leads them to argue she should have left long ago.  Even if she sees herself as having been in control, she was subservient to his irresponsible behavior. 

Long thread.

Predictions:

Obama, McCain (that's easy)

The surprises.  Edwards beats (or almost beats) Hillary.

Ron Paul 3rd on the GOP side.

7:56am 

I see Hillary as a wounded person. however loudly she claims to be the one that can take the onslaught, I think she holds her real, true, personal self so tightly because she does not want to be that vulnerable again.  or perhaps she's hiding who she really is from herself, as well.

I'm going to give seashell something to think about in her story about Sibel Edmonds. It is possible that what was being transfered were lockable triggers and I would hope we would share the ability to over-ride launch codes with a double (minimum) level of "go" as well to turn "loose nukes" into something controllable by the Pakistani government. like here where the ruling government and the military have to green light use. Those are some of our most carefully guarded secrets for good reason and there is no way a translator could understand whether something good or bad was going on, and since no arrests have been made, and both Democrats and Republicans have investigated this is one case where I trust my governmental oversight to be working responsibly. 

Jo

I agree. the surprise might be that the Hillary underneath is an effective leader

rich - I think Edwards will take #2, too.  and I think Obama's going to pull a lot more of McCain's indies than anyone has imagined.  warm weather - 51 degrees here at 4:30 this morning with similar in NH - there is going to be a huge turnout!  if you think about it, with this being the first election w/no incumbent in so long, there should be a record turnout even if the weather stunk!  NHites are dedicated souls when it comes to politics!

Phil, I think that Hillary, without all of her (unbreakable) ties to the old guard, the power-hungry, corporate-worshipping 'good ole boys', would probably be an excellent leader.  I still think she could be a great leader in the senate - especially as we keep feeding great, progressive candidates to the senate floor!

I guess the main point is that we can never look away again.  no matter who is president we must stay as involved, as ever diligent as we have thru the Bush years.   we must continue to elect good people to gov't and then pay attention to what they do when they get there.  we have the power, but yet we must be 'there' to use it!

Nice comments by Phil about Hillary.
If she could somehow morph back to the "Arkansas Hillary", she wins in a cakewalk. The current model doesn't stand a chance.

HC was hung out to dry by Bubba in HillaryCare by allowing his administration to be attached to such a horrible piece of garbage. Bill screws anything in a skirt and also screwed all all of us by hurting the chance of getting health care for all.

too many "alls"...sorry

I think Obama's going to pull a lot more of McCain's indies than anyone has imagined.

I was thinking about that last night, and I think Obama's big run up in the polls may make it go the other way - indies voting on the GOP side for McCain because that race is seen as close, where Obama is seen as a safe win.

Having spent a primary day (and the weeks leading up) in New Hampshire in the past, today's weather is certainly a nice change for everyone. 

What's the connection between Charles W. Colson and Dick DeVos?

The link will not tell you.  It will tell you something about---

On June 2, 2005, at Mackinac Island, DeVos announced his candidacy to be governor of Michigan. He is considered to be the wealthiest man to run for statewide office in Michigan's history.[19] As of October 27, 2006, the DeVos campaign has spent $39 million, of which nearly $35 million was DeVos's own money.[20] This paid for billboards in Detroit, some of which were vandalized to read "DeVil For Governor, Enough is Enough: Vote for Satan" instead of "DeVos For Governor, Enough is Enough: Vote for Change."[21]

On November 7, 2006 DeVos was defeated by Democratic incumbent Jennifer Granholm by a 14-point margin.[22][23][24] He congratulated the re-elected Granholm via phone after the results were in; Granholm was quoted as saying she "admired his tenacity and his passion for Michigan".[25]

We did not recognize what a significant victory this was, I bet you.  You see, Dick Devos is not only related to the founder of Amway and the founder of Blackwater USA, he's also intimately connected with the conservative/religious movement being promoted by Charles W. Colson.

Ah, that wonderful faith-based initiative --a way to transfer public dollars into the pockets of religious entrepreneurs who, for some reason or other, turn out to be good at exploitation, but really lousy businesmen.  There's a little note in the Amway entry which asserts that 99% of all Amway distributors lose money.  Frankly, I'm surprised the enterprise is still going on.  Who signs up?  People who have recently been unemployed?

320.  There are rumors in NH that Republicans are going to take the UL advice and write Obama in on their ballots.  For people who are registered in a party, it's too late to change.  Only so-called unenrolled can choose which party to take a ballot for.  Write-ins for a candidate in another party won't be tallied as part of the candidate's total, but they will be counted and announced.

dog soldier

Hillary Clinton's health care proposal was actually quite an excellent basis for an expansion of care while damping the cost escalation that could have been expected from that.

and the process she employed to let ordinary people have input was truly outstanding (and of course it was behind closed doors because there was sharing of personal medical conditions)

Bill didn't go to the mat for it.

the caving in to the Republican obstructionists that has continued to this day

The three Ss of the little potentate's stool

SECURITY

SECRECY

SOVEREIGNTY

security is derived from control of the militay

secrecy is derived from control of the press

sovereignty is derived from control of religion 

"But it's not the ones we lose that bother me, Leo, it's the ones we don't suit up for."

Security, secrecy and sovereignty are the antagonists of open government and equality.

New front thread

Pay no attention to the polls.  They were all wrong in Iowa.

Only in that they undercounted the margin of Obama's win. I guess their "wrong" again and he'll top 50% this time.