By accaimation, I decree Dean is first.

Howard is first and fair.

My keyboard made up the word accaimation.  That's actually acclamation.

9:15 AM EDT

anything is possible --

-- when you simply try:

http://www.isound.com/bill

...

Biography

BILL is a rock band, started in 1987 in the boston area and fronted by Bill Gage, a singer with down's syndrome. BILL was named after the only word Bill can write fairly well, to make it easy for him to create the logo (and sign autographs). Bill sings surreal, ever-changing lyrics in a variety of styles, from blues-inflected yowls to tender, ray charles-like moans to throat-singing. these different approaches reflect Bill's reaction to the diverse sounds his band provides him: spacey art-rock, thundering heavy-metal, acoustic folk ballads, stuttering industrial riffs, etc.

BILL's internal approach to songwriting is always in flux. the first album BEATLES CHINESE was shaped by a series of challenges the band gave Bill: first to name the songs he wanted to do, and then sing them, as the band figured out what to play behind him and each song was quickly recorded. the backing tracks for BILL's second record BAT MAN were recorded in advance. Bill listened to the tracks, sang over them, and named the songs.

Bill has sung with a variety of musicians including cheater slicks, hope alane, david m. curry, stephin merritt, rich gilbert and others. the band includes people from grasshopper records, a label run by his brother john, who plays in BILL, the other members being daren follower, eric morin, gaylen moore, and greg ansin.

Bill's love of singing has been unwavering.

...

Pelosi Preparing to Refuse Further Iraq Funding

And if you believe that.....................................

9:17am

Way to go Florida Progressive Coalition!  From your lips to ....

Lynn in Cincinnati

This is a note from one of the candidates Paul Hackett is supporting - Cahir for Congress.

Dear Supporter,

It's now 10 PM on March 31.  The Marine in me is saying that it is "2200 hours."  As most other campaigns around the country are nearing their fundraising deadlines, here in Pennsylvania we have until midnight on April 2.  So after you have been blasted and blitzed by every other campaign out there, we now ask that you make a $5 contribution in the last 50 hours of our fundraising quarter.
 
Go to this site to contribute $5 in the last 50 hours:
 http://www.actblue.com/entity/fundraisers/18902

Our campaign was the first to go up on the airwaves.  We are the first to release a viral video.  And now we want to be the first to run a successful grassroots fundraising push.  We are only asking for $5 because it is all a part of our "$5 for the PA 5th" campaign. 
 
You won't believe how far your $5 will actually go.  See, if everyone on our email list were to contribute $5, we could easily add another $5,000 to our fundraising total.  It's the power of people doing things together and not alone and that fits in with my personal philosophy.
 
Whenever I am out speaking with a group or individuals I often talk about what it was like being a Marine in Iraq.  I explain that we always put our mission ahead of any personal preference and that working together as a group was the key to any success in making sure everyone came back safely.  When was the last time you heard or saw someone in Congress act like that?  And that is just how we operate our campaign and how I will be as a member of Congress.  Together, there is nothing we can't do.
 
So in the next 50 hours, we ask that you help us prove this point by making a $5 contribution.  If you want to give more, great.  But the most important part of this is that you are working with us and many others to win this seat.
 
Thanks for everything you do each day.
 
Semper Fidelis and Respectfully,
 
Bill

OMG

So, where did we go wrong in our Obama endorsement?  Probably the biggest mistake we made was in listening to the vast majority of RK readers (80%-90%) and "front pagers" (100%) who wanted us to endorse Obama.  I mean, what, if 80%-90% of RK readers and 100% of "front pagers" had wanted us to jump off a cliff, would we have done it?  Of course we would have...I mean, wouldn't have. Or something. So obviously that was our first big mistake.

Then, to compound our error, we paid far too much attention to the fact that we really LIKED Barack Obama. As if THAT's supposed to make a difference in who you support. How shallow we were, but now we know better in our cynical old age. In the future, we will always endorse the candidate we don't like over the candidate we do like. Simple logic. Yeah, that's the ticket!

Another big mistake: we were swayed by the fact that Barack Obama kept winning caucuses and primaries.  I mean, what does THAT have to do with anything?  Just sayin'.

Worst of all, we thought about this endorsement way too much.  Personally, I started 2007 hoping for Al Gore or Wes Clark.  For a long time, I was leaning strongly towards Hillary Clinton.  Then, I had my John Edwards moment, almost endorsed him as a matter of fact. Finally, in utter exhaustion after watching all 5,000 debates and reading 10 gazillion articles on this @#$%@#$% presidential contest, I did a random number generator and it came up Obama.  And before you criticize random number generators, I would just like to point out that I had a co-worker once who won the office NCAA tournament pool by using one of those damn things.  Ergo, random number generators rock!

But now, it's April 1, 2008, and we at RK have had serious second thoughts. It must be something about this day, April 1, but what could it be?  Boy, do I feel like a FOOL, I can't remember what April 1 is supposed to signify.  Anyway, whatever it is, it's inspired us to withdraw our endorsement of Barack Obama, to put banana peels on the floor and whoopie cushions on peoples' chairs.  Maybe we'll think better of it tomorrow.  Meanwhile, HAPPY APRIL FOOLS DAY!  

Fantastic story reported at the Politico by Ben Smith:

"Ginny McCallum, 43, who has been confined to a wheelchair for much of her adult life, came to hear presidential candidate Barack Obama speak at the University of Texas. Afterward she found herself in a wheelchair access breezeway as Obama and his entourage exited the arena. The candidate spotted her, came over, grabbed her hand and pulled her up. She found herself standing for the first time in eleven years.

"'He smiled at me and said, "Yes, you can,"' she says. 'I was so stunned I didn’t know what to do.'

"McCallum is among hundreds of people who say they have been healed by the Democratic candidate, in one of the most surprising and little-acknowledged aspects of his campaign."

I know Barack heals the sick, but I can't believe these people who say they think he can raise the dead.  I mean, come on, and Happy April Fools Day by the way. 

what a great way to make conversation - my post goes way upthtread.

Is this an April Fool's joke??

Bearse currently at 7. you had me there for a moment :~)

LOL linda b

Good reminder to watch yourself today for dirty little tricks.

Joan, and Tom is full of it today also.

Happy Day!!!

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

1. We support a safe and timely withdrawal from Iraq while seeking the cooperation and support of the international community in the stabilization and rebuilding efforts.

1. We support the US taking an active leadership role in seeking a fair and just settlement to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that creates a viable and contiguous Palestinian state beside the state of Israel.

1. **Military action should not become the method of first choice in dealing with potential future problems, and international diplomacy should be used wherever possible to defuse potentially threatening situations. We support military action only when done with the support and participation of the international community; with clear, attainable national defense goals; and with fully informed Congressional consent.

1. We call for the immediate normalization of relations with Cuba.

1. **We call for the formulation of a new, non-exploitive policy toward the nations of Latin America to assist them in building sustainable economies, so that their citizens are not forced to emigrate for survival.

ERIK ECKHOLM
The New York Times
March 31, 2008

Driven by a painful mix of layoffs and rising food and fuel prices, the number of Americans receiving food stamps is projected to reach 28 million in the coming year, the highest level since the aid program began in the 1960s.

The number of recipients, who must have near-poverty incomes to qualify for benefits averaging $100 a month per family member, has fluctuated over the years along with economic conditions, eligibility rules, enlistment drives and natural disasters like Hurricane Katrina, which led to a spike in the South.

But recent rises in many states appear to be resulting mainly from the economic slowdown, officials and experts say, as well as inflation in prices of basic goods that leave more families feeling pinched. Citing expected growth in unemployment, the Congressional Budget Office this month projected a continued increase in the monthly number of recipients in the next fiscal year, starting Oct. 1 — to 28 million, up from 27.8 million in 2008, and 26.5 million in 2007.

The percentage of Americans receiving food stamps was higher after a recession in the 1990s, but actual numbers are expected to be higher this year.

Federal benefit costs are projected to rise to $36 billion in the 2009 fiscal year from $34 billion this year.

Read entire artic

1. health care as a basic right.

1. national health care system providing without discrimination: provider choice; comprehensive, high-quality, affordable, and sustainable health care; prevention; early diagnosis; chronic disease management; improved methods, and increased cost efficiency.

1. universal health care by 2010, as proposed by the Institute of Medicine.

1. **Positive “fair trade” policy and seek enforcement that protects workers rights, human rights and the environment worldwide. NAFTA, CAFTA and the WTO should be renegotiated to include tougher fair worker rights and environmental standards. We support greater congressional oversight. (Withdraw rather than renegotiate.)

1. The creation of jobs by moving quickly to rebuild America’s infrastructure.

Kurt Nimmo
Infowars
April 1, 2008

Is it possible Barack and Michelle are like ships passing in the night? Is it possible Michelle does not talk to her husband about the Council on Foreign Relations? Michelle Obama is on the board of directors of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, founded in 1922 as the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations. And yet here is Obama in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, telling people he is clueless about the elite organization. “I don’t know if I’m an official member. I’ve spoken there before. It basically is a forum where people talk about foreign policy. There is no official membership. I don’t have a card, or you know a special handshake or anything like that,” Raw Story reports.

Ha ha, Obama makes funny. But while he claims to be clueless about the CFR, even though his wife heavily involved in the globalist organization, Obama cannot deny the fact one of his key advisers is at the very epicenter of the CFR — Zbigniew Brzezinski. Chase Manhattan godfather David Rockefeller set Brzezinski up as the Trilateral Commission’s first executive director from its inception in 1973 until late 1976 when he was appointed by President Jimmy Carter as Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs. In order to understand what Brzezinski, and thus Obama, have in mind for us, it is important to read Brzezinski.

1. Expansion of environmentally responsible electrical generation of base load power to meet future electrical demand for the public need, security, and employment which includes a comprehensive alternative energy research and development plan.

1. We support a moratorium on the construction of all new coal-fired power plants.

1. We support requiring all existing coal-fired power plants to capture and sequester carbon dioxide and mercury as soon as the technology becomes available.

1. The United States should pursue vigorously only renewable power sources including, but not limited to solar, tidal, hydrogen, biomass, and wind energy.

1. We support phasing out consumption of fossil fuels as alternative energy production and conservation become increasingly feasible.

E. J. Dionne takes a look today at the real damage inflicted by the lengthy contest for the Democratic presidential nomination in the Washington Post.  He writes in part that:

"In light of today's economic crisis, most Americans look back fondly on the rapid and widely shared growth of the 1990s. What neoconservatives see as a 'holiday from history' in foreign policy, most Americans see as a time of peace when the United States was respected in the world and even rather liked.

"And while Bill Clinton's triangulation (and his scandal) did damage the Democratic Party, Obama himself has acknowledged that Clinton was right to pull the party back from 'the excesses of the '60s.' Clinton, Obama told me in an interview last fall, 'deserves some credit for breaking with some of those dogmas in the Democratic Party.'

"As for Hillary Clinton, nobody doubts her intelligence. Those who know her reject the media-built image of Clinton as a cold, calculating machine. Such a person would not inspire the loyalty she has earned from her partisans. If Obama does win, he will draw on her policies, some of which are better crafted than his own.

"Yet much of this has been lost. Bill Clinton's approach to the South Carolina primary, the Clinton campaign's effort to ignore everything it once said about the irrelevance of the Florida and Michigan primaries, Hillary Clinton's willingness to say (or imply) that John McCain is better prepared to be president than Obama -- all this and more have created a ferocious backlash against the Clintons. The result is that when the word 'Clinton' crosses their lips, many Democrats sound like Ken Starr, Bob Barr and the late Henry Hyde."

Joan, and Tom is full of it today also.

linda, It's contagious!

1. Guaranteeing the right to organize and join unions and the Employee Free Choice Act.

1. Raising FLSA exempt workers minimum salary to $345 weekly.

1. Legislation limiting mandatory overtime.

1. Equal pay for equal work.

1. A living wage for all workers.

1. Providing incentives to employers for benefits of part-time and temporary employee after 90-days.

1. allowing Iowa workers injured on the job to choose their own doctors.

1. Strengthening OSHA and MSHA coverage by funding inspection and enforcemen

feel free to suggest word improvements to any of those planks that have passed out of various sub-committees

bbl

1. We support efforts to provide safe campuses.

1. We support funding for early childhood education.

1. We support programs that address low adult literacy targeting high school drop outs, the unemployed, the underemployed, and immigrants.

1. We support Title IX and call for its continued enforcement.

1. We support a full repeal of the Solomon Amendment.

1. We support fully funding adult education in prisons.

1. We support education in healthy lifestyles and nutrition.

1. We support career education including retraining when necessary

Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet
Monday, March 31, 2008

Citing absolutely no evidence whatsoever, CIA boss Michael Hayden told NBC’s Meet The Press yesterday that Al-Qaeda is training new fighters that "look western" and could easily cross U.S. borders, in the latest attempt to re-focus the mammoth apparatus of anti-terror against the American people.

"They are bringing operatives into that region for training — operatives that wouldn’t attract your attention if they were going through the customs line at Dulles (airport outside Washington) with you when you were coming back from overseas," Hayden said.

Tom stated:
"In light of today's economic crisis, most Americans look back fondly on the rapid and widely shared growth of the 1990s. What neoconservatives see as a 'holiday from history' in foreign policy, most Americans see as a time of peace when the United States was respected in the world and even rather liked."

Fox says "And whether that was a true or false belief by the American people came to be known on 9-11-2001. While Clinton and the repub Congress ran around doing nothing, the tech bubble exploded and the Islamists where laughing at how easy we could be distracted as they planned the greatest organized murder since Cambodia in 1979. Subsequent history should make us look back on those days and want to puke. It was a time when the children ran the detention hall and we are all paying the price. This global war on islamic extremists had its roots in that decade and we had a commander in chief that made decisions based on polls rather than the need to protect this country. We should have been routing the Taliban and Bin laden in 97 instead of 2007. never send a child to do a man's job."

Ten days before he was shot in Dallas, it has been reported that President Kennedy said in a speech at Columbia University: “The high office of President has been used to foment a plot to destroy the American’s freedom, and before I leave office I must inform the citizen of this plight.”

it was his intention to circumvent the Federal Reserve, by returning the authority to “coin and regulate money” back to the Congress, rather than have it manipulated by the international bankers who print the money and then loan in back to the federal government– with interest. On June 4, 1963, he signed Executive Order #11110 which called for the issuance of $4.3 billion in United States Notes through the U.S. Treasury, rather than the Federal Reserve, very similar to what Abraham Lincoln did. The Order also provided for the issuance of “silver certificates against any silver bullion, silver, or standard silver dollars in the Treasury not then held for redemption of any outstanding silver certificates, to prescribe the denominations of such silver certificates, and to coin standard silver dollars and subsidiary silver currency for their redemption…” This meant that for every ounce of silver in the U.S. Treasury’s vault, the government could issue money against it. This resulted in the introduction of more than $4 billion worth of U.S. Notes into circulation, consisting of $2.00 and $5.00 bills; and although they were never issued, $10.00 and $20.00 notes were in the process of being printed when Kennedy was killed. On Monday, November 25, 1963, the day of Kennedy’s funeral, President Johnson signed an executive order to recall the U.S. Notes that had been issued by Kennedy’s earlier directive; and five months later, the Series 1958 Silver Certificate was no longer issued, and was subsequently removed from circulation.

Tom thinks the Dems can turn the polls around. PM Carpenter doesn't.

http://www.buzzflash.com/articles/carpenter/030

Why, indeed, should the public have faith in a party that promises, say, improved health care, when so many of that party's key negotiators -- now better known as superdelegates than congressional members -- can't even get together on declaring a futile political contest at an end in the interest of future solidarity? Do they inspire you with confidence? Pump you full of hope? Enlist your enthusiasm?

Or do they just look like a bunch of clowns?

And if you don't think that clownish image is settling in and metastasizing throughout the electorate -- and, as well, inflicting immutable damage on the party's presumptive nominee -- just take a look at the latest polling numbers. Then take a look at the numbers from a month ago; and then, finally, imagine what the numbers will look like three months from now, at which point a hefty chunk will have taken on a certain permanency of Democratic disaffection.

11:23am

Matt wrote "While Clinton and the repub Congress ran around doing nothing, the tech bubble exploded and the Islamists where laughing at how easy we could be distracted as they planned the greatest organized murder since Cambodia in 1979."

1) I didn't write any of what your quoted material.  It's from Dionne's Washington Post article.  2) I understand you may be underwhelmed by the response of Clinton and the Congress to the threat of a terrorist attack.  Can you explain how the neoconservative response to the threat, before or since the World Trade Center attack, has represented an improvement of any degree whatsoever to our security, to the Middle East situation, to the activity of Al Qaeda, to the spread of democracy in the region, or to the availabitlty of nuclear materials for terrorist use?

My post that should have been #30 is buried at 15.

Screw this Crap

John wrote "Tom thinks the Dems can turn the polls around. PM Carpenter doesn't."

Everyone likes there own prognostication, don't they?

Tom , Dionne's article is exactly how I see the Clinton's now.

What the whatever has happened to them? Are they bipolar.

Tell Bill to shut up and go home. I said that after SC and I say it now.

Stop the pitty pat speeches reasuring us of Hill's competence.

I thought she would be a great candidate . After winning New York, she won me over.

Then all hell broke loose with Bill and Wolfson and those band of merry marauders.

Let Hillary take care of things and maybe people will start liking her again.

Right now I don't and that is why I am for Obama.

Tom thinks the Dems can turn the polls around. PM Carpenter doesn't.

I don't know about PM Carpenter. But I've noticed that Tom is pretty smart about politics. 

As for polls about elections which are many months away, all but fools ignore them.

Tom , Dionne's article is exactly how I see the Clinton's now.

What the whatever has happened to them? Are they bipolar.

The Clintons haven't changed one iota. But their recent actions have caused many to see them as they really are for the first time.

Last night I saw a streaming video at THE HILL .  A.B. Stoddard responded to a question from a reader, how can the candidates know anything thing about business and finance, in regard to solutions to the present crisis when they have no experience in such things.  I wrote back.Dear AB,In your March 31, streaming video on The Hill, online, you mentioned a question that someone asked about how community organization experience and being a lawmaker could prepare Barack Obama for questions about the economy.If you had read his first book "Dreams from my Father" an autobiography, you might have mentioned that after spending time at Columbia University, Obama stayed in New York and worked a job:From Obama's bookp. 135"Eventually a consulting house to multinational corporations agreed to hire me as a research assistant...."p.136"The company promoted me to the position of financial writer. I had my own office, my own secretary, money in the bank.  Sometimes coming out of an interview with Japanese financiers, or German bond traders,  I would catch my reflection in the elevator doors -- see myself in a suit and tie, a briefcase in hand -- and for a split second I would imagine myself as a captain of industry, barking out orders, closing the deal..."   "Then one day, as I sat down at my computer to write an article on interest-rate swaps, something unexpected happened. Auma called..."p.138"I don't know.  What's certain is that a few months after Auma's call I turned in my resignation at the consultation firm and began looking in earnest for an [community] organizing job..."-------------It seems for a short time Obama got some first class experience in the business and finance world.Thanks for reading,

Last night I saw a streaming video at THE HILL online .

A.B. Stoddard responded to a question from a reader, how can the candidates know anything thing about business and finance, in regard to solutions to the present crisis when they have no experience in such things.

I wrote back an email 

Dear AB,
 
In your March 31, streaming video on The Hill, online, you mentioned a question that someone asked about how community organization experience and being a lawmaker could prepare Barack Obama for questions about the economy.
 
If you had read his first book "Dreams from my Father" an autobiography, you might have mentioned that after spending time at Columbia University, Obama stayed in New York and worked a job:
 
From Obama's book
 
p. 135
 
"Eventually a consulting house to multinational corporations agreed to hire me as a research assistant...."
 
p.136
 
"The company promoted me to the position of financial writer. I had my own office, my own secretary, money in the bank.  Sometimes coming out of an interview with Japanese financiers, or German bond traders,  I would catch my reflection in the elevator doors -- see myself in a suit and tie, a briefcase in hand -- and for a split second I would imagine myself as a captain of industry, barking out orders, closing the deal..."
 
   "Then one day, as I sat down at my computer to write an article on interest-rate swaps, something unexpected happened. Auma called..."
 
p.138
 
"I don't know.  What's certain is that a few months after Auma's call I turned in my resignation at the consultation firm and began looking in earnest for an [community] organizing job..."
 
-------------
It seems for a short time Obama got some first class experience in the business and finance world.
 
Thanks for reading,

This is NOT an April fool's joke!! 

"Senator Hillary Clinton’s lead in the Pennsylvania Primary is shrinking.

The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey in Pennsylvania shows Clinton leading Barack Obama by just five percentage points, 47% to 42%. For Clinton, that five-point edge is down from a ten-point lead a week ago, a thirteen-point lead in mid-March and a fifteen-point advantage in early March.

Support for Clinton slipped from 52% early in March, to 51% in mid-month, 49% a week ago, and 47% today. During that same time frame, support for Obama has increased from 37% to 42%."

Let Hillary take care of things and maybe people will start liking her again.

Right now I don't and that is why I am for Obama.

linda

That is all welll and good for you personally, but to be an Obama delegate at the National Convention this is not the frame of mind I think the Obama delegate selectors are looking for.

If I am right and from all indications from what I have read and heard, they want delegates who are all Obama written in stone right through the convention, no maybes about Hillary or anyone else.

http://obsidianwings.blogs.com/obsidian_wings/2008/03/hilary-clinton.html

Joan, I am talking in generalities here. Hillary has lost me.

After Edwards left, I looked at both of them. I went with Obama.

That is where I am. An Obama delegate.

More are shifting every day.

If I am right and from all indications from what I have read and heard, they want delegates who are all Obama written in stone right through the convention, no maybes about Hillary or anyone else.

Joan~ That's how I would feel if I had the privilege to be an Obama delegate.

OMG

Senator Hillary Clinton, while dodging musket balls, spoke to supporters today in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania over the thunderous roar of the Confederate cannonade.

I never supported NAFTA. This is all a vast right-wing conspiracy by a bunch of scary men to keep me from this historic inheritance. I was overly tired from answering all of those 3am phone calls that I never even knew about NAFTA back then. If Bill had been my husband and supported NAFTA, I would’ve left …

Pickett could be seen moving across the wheatfield, and the Senator had to be airlifted out before the end of her address.

Happy April Fool’s Day from PaPrimary.com!

12:43 PM EDT

March 31, 2008 08:25 AM

The Bosnian girl who famously read a poem to Hillary Rodham Clinton during her 1996 visit to the war-torn country is shocked - and her countrymen infuriated - that the former first lady claimed to have dodged sniper fire that day.

Emina Bicakcic, now 20 and studying to become a doctor

...

SINCE THE BLOG IS SO MESSED UP HOW CAN ONE RESPOND WHEN YOUR POST GOES UP THE THREAD, NOT DOWN.

I just cause I am stating facts on an article this a.m. does that make joan challange me? I am not dumb her folks. I am trying to be pragmatic. Read the article and see.

Geez.

New thread.

New thread

http://www.blogforamerica.com/view/24689...