Dean is first.

Good morning, BFA

Things finally up and running eh? Its 8.43am EST

Dennis good luck in Ohio (the prez campaign was better becuase of your involvement).

ah, nobody's perfect -- 

typo - becuase  s/b - because

btw, two short youtube videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0eI1craK1hI&feature=related

evidently, there has been a delay and a vote on cloture will take place on monday.

but reid may just extend the fisa for another month. dodd will fillibuster if needed.

that's better :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1U9J9JPxrA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0eI1craK1hI&feature=related

Sitka, welcome.

Good morning everyone!

SC is getting close. Edwards just may pull an upset.

Democrats are complicit again

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ari-melber/reid-clears-hurdle-for-bu_b_83123.html

With opponents like these, President Bush may have forgotten that Congress ever changed hands.

And where is the leadership from our Democratic candidates?

The Clintons and Rezko. Oh such hypocrites.

http://rawstory.com/news/2007/NBC_confro...

AT LEAST SOMEONE BACKS EDWARDS

http://www.opednews.com/articles/genera_josh_med_080124_mlk_iii_to_edwards_3a_.htm

Following a meeting at the King Center in Atlanta on the afternoon of Saturday, January 19th, 2008, Martin Luther King, III sent John Edwards a letter praising Edwards' commitment to fighting poverty and speaking out for those without a voice. King, the first son of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the President and CEO of Realizing the Dream, said his father was a fighter and urged Edwards to continue the fight for justice and equality. He also urged the other candidates to follow Edwards' lead.

So, I urge you: keep going. Ignore the pundits, who think this is a horserace, not a fight for justice. My dad was a fighter. As a friend and a believer in my father's words that injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere, I say to you: keep going. Keep fighting. My father would be proud.

Sincerely,

Martin L. King, III

Good morning everyone.  I'm so happy the blog is back.

Heard HRC state on a news show (just going through channels, I don't watch MSM, just happened to hear her say she had never met Tony Rezco), then went to Obama's blog, where someone had posted this link.

In one of the most heated exchanges in Monday night's debate, Hillary Clinton railed against Barack Obama, exclaiming that while "I was fighting against those [Ronald Reagan's] ideas when you were practicing law and representing your contributor, Rezko, in his slum landlord business in inner city Chicago."

Obama clarified that it was only five hours of legal work done, not on behalf of Rezco, but for a community organization he was representing.

Now, a photograph has surfaced showing the smiling Clintons with developer Tony Rezco. Clinton told the NBC Today show this morning: "I don't know the man. I wouldn't know him if he walked in the door."

Sounds like the Clinton mudslinging has backfired. As they say, if you play with dirt, you're going to get dirty.

http://blogobama08.blogspot.com/2008/01/i-dont-remember-meeting-rezco.html

They lie at the drop of a hat.

Oh Bill ! :

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080125/ts_nm/usa_politics_clinton_dc_2

Clinton seeks to smooth relations with Obama

26 minutes ago

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former President Bill Clinton said he might have gone too far in attacking Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton said on Friday, adding that both Democratic presidential campaigns should focus on issues.

He said several times yesterday that maybe he got a little bit carried away," Hillary Clinton said on CBS' "Early Show."

...

Give Them Death: Three Leading Democratic Candidates Support Capital Punishment

 http://www.alternet.org/rights/74884/

Clinton, Obama and Edwards all support capital punishment. It's a position you'd be hard pressed to find on their websites, and they might not be bragging about it the way they might have in, say, 2000. Or 1996. Or 1992, the year their party's pro-death penalty stance was codified in its official party platform and then-presidential candidate Bill Clinton made a campaign trail detour to Arkansas, where he presided over the execution of mentally damaged prisoner Ricky Ray Rector. Nevertheless, all three hold on to their pro-death penalty stance, as have virtually all leading Democrats running for office in the past 20 years.

Why so much longstanding support for capital punishment? It is the easiest way to combat the quadrennial charge that Democrats are "soft on crime."

Opposing the death penalty used to be one way for Democrats to distinguish themselves from their rivals on the campaign trail -- at least before Michael Dukakis was lampooned after a 1988 debate in which he failed to wax bloodthirsty when asked if he'd want to execute a theoretical rapist/murderer if the victim was his wife, Kitty. The years that followed saw the Democrats cozy up to capital punishment: The Clinton era brought a sweeping expansion of the federal death penalty, thanks to the Crime Bill, and a sharp cut in death row appeals, thanks to the Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act. State executions spiked in the late '90s, more than doubling between 1996 and 1999.

9:30 AM

13.

the MLK III letter has been posted ad nauseum on this blog

11 times and counting

this DFA/BFA server seems to be on life support lately, what gives ?

I wasn't able to access the blog yesterday at all. But I see posts. Anybody else out there have issues?

America became the greatest, most prosperous nation in human history through low taxes, constitutionally limited government, personal freedom and a belief in sound money. We need to return to these principles so our economy can thrive again. When enacted, my plan will provide both short-term stimulus and lay the groundwork for long-term prosperity.

Other candidates talk a lot about stimulus packages, but my record stands alone. I have fought for these measures for years as a member of Congress and will make them a top priority as president.

Ron Paul, a 10-term Republican Congressman from Texas's 14th District, is currently the ranking member of the House Financial Services Committee's Subcommittee on Domestic and International Monetary Policy, Trade, and Technology. He has been named "Taxpayers' Best Friend" for 10 consecutive years by the National Taxpayers' Union. Ron Paul is also the author of several books on monetary policy and economics.

The Four-Point Plan

1. Tax Reform: Reduce the tax burden and eliminate taxes that punish investment and savings, including job-killing corporate taxes.
2. Spending Reform: Eliminate wasteful spending. Reduce overseas commitments. Freeze all non-defense, non-entitlement spending at current levels.
3. Monetary Policy Reform: Expand openness at the Federal Reserve and require the Fed to televise its meetings. Return value to our money.
4. Regulatory Reform: Repeal Sarbanes/Oxley regulations that push companies to seek capital outside of US markets. Stop restricting community banks from fostering local economic growth.

1. Tax Reform

• Eliminate Taxes on Dividends and Savings. The basis of capitalism is savings, and Americans who do so should be rewarded.
  • Pass HJ Res. 23 to encourage savings over consumption.
• Repeal the Death Tax. Attacking small businesses and breaking up family farms smothers growth and kills jobs.
  • Pass H.R. 2734 to make the Bush tax cuts permanent.
• Cut Taxes for Working Seniors. Grandmothers and grandfathers working to make ends meet should keep all the fruits of their labor.
  • Pass H.R. 191 to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to repeal the inclusion in gross income of Social Security benefits.
• Eliminate Taxes on Social Security Benefits. That money belongs to seniors, not the government. They paid into the system for a lifetime, and they should be free to spend every penny as they see fit.
  • Pass H.R. 192 to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to repeal the 1993 increase in taxes on Social Security benefits.
• Accelerate Depreciation on Investment. We need to help companies grow and create jobs.
  • Pass H.R. 4995 to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to reduce corporate marginal income tax rates.
• Eliminate Taxes on Capital Gains. Investment should be embraced and rewarded.
  • Pass H.J. Res 23 (The “Liberty Amendment”), proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States relative to abolishing personal income, estate, and gift taxes and prohibiting the United States Government from engaging in business in competition with its citizens.
• Eliminate Taxes on Tips.The single parents and working students who earn their income chiefly through tips deserve to keep all of their money. This tax on "estimated income" is unfair and should be ended.
  • Pass H.R. 3664 to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide that tips shall not be subject to income or employment taxes.
• Support the Mortgage Cancellation Relief Act. Working families who lost their homes should not be punished a second time with a big IRS bill.
  • Pass H.R. 1876 to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to exclude from the gross income of individual taxpayers discharges of indebtedness attributable to certain forgiven residential mortgage obligations.

2. Spending Reform

• Reduce Overseas Military Commitments. Our bases and troops should be on our soil.
  • It's time to stop subsidizing our trading partners in Europe, Japan and South Korea.
• Freeze Non-Defense, Non-Entitlement Spending at Current Levels
  • I vote against all bloated, pork laden spending bills and will veto them as president.
    

3. Monetary Policy Reform

• Televise Federal Open Market Committee Meetings. An institution as powerful as the Federal Reserve deserves full public scrutiny.
• Expand Transparency and Accountability at the Federal Reserve
  • Pass H.R. 2754 to require the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System to continue to make available to the public on a weekly basis information on the measure of the M3 monetary aggregate and its components.

• Return Value to Our Money. Legalize gold and silver as a competing currency.
  • Level the long-term boom and bust business cycle by passing H.R. 4683, which would repeal provisions of the federal criminal code relating to issuing coins of gold, silver, or other metal for use as current money and making or possessing likenesses of such coins.

4. Regulatory Reform

• Repeal Sarbanes/Oxley. It has seriously wounded our capital markets and helped make the UK a financial center at our expense.
  • Ending these misguided regulations would bring jobs flooding back to the United States
    
  • Pass H.R. 1049 to reform Sarbanes-Oxley and reduce the burden it places on small businesses.
• Repeal or Remove Costly and Unnecessary Federal Regulations. Neighbors know best how to help their neighbors.
• We need to make it easier for community banks, credit unions, and other financial institutions to better serve their communities and to help people in these communities get access to credit and capital.
• Pass H.R. 1869 to enhance the ability of community banks to foster economic growth and serve their communities, boost small businesses, increase individual savings, and for other purposes.

17

I wonder have you ever really listened to Obama, or read his policies.

While the evidence tells me that the death penalty does little to deter crime, I believe there are some crimes--mass murder, the rape and murder of a child--so heinous that the community is justified in expressing the full measure of its outrage by meting out the ultimate punishment. On the other hand, the way capital cases were tried in Illinois at the time was so rife with error, questionable police tactics, racial bias, and shoddy lawyering, that 13 death row inmates had been exonerated

source The Audacity of Hope, by Barack Obama, p58

Obama's most significant contribution has been his legislative battles against the death penalty, and against in the criminal justice system. In Illinois, it's been a series of shocking exonerations of innocent people who are on death row. He was involved very intimately in drafting and passing legislation that requires the video taping of police interrogations and confessions in all capital cases. And he also was one of the co-sponsors of this very comprehensive reform or the death penalty system in Illinois, which many people say may trigger the retreat on the death penalty in many other states.

Source: Salim Muwakkil and Amy Goodman, Democracy Now Jul 15, 2004

 http://www.ontheissues.org/Domestic/Barack_Obama_Crime.htm

John quoted from Liliana Segura's Alternet article, in which she writes: "Clinton, Obama and Edwards all support capital punishment."

Another issue with which I would disagree with these candidates.  I'm reading these posts, but I'm asking bloggers to keep in mind that this is an issue about which my view also differed from Gov. Dean in the last cycle.  Is the intent to bring visibility to this issue, or to lobby in opposition to a vote for the three current candidates?   

I ask because one of these three people will be the next president unless the Nader effect becomes a factor in November.

According to the evidence compiled by Judicial Watch in the last ten years, Hillary Clinton is among the most corrupt politicians in our nation’s history.  She devised a scheme to sell taxpayer financed trade missions to Communist China in exchange for campaign contributions.  She presided over the theft of the private FBI files of former Reagan and Bush staffers.  She led the campaign to slander the women sexually and otherwise abused by President Clinton, and has lied time and time again to investigators, to her colleagues, to the press and to the American people.

Most recently, according to a Judicial Watch’s Senate Ethics complaint filed on May 6, 2005, Senator Clinton and her campaign team conspired to defraud the U.S. Senate and the Federal Election Commission (FEC) by failing to report the true cost of a $2 million Hollywood campaign fundraising event in August 2000.  David Rosen, Hillary Clinton’s National Finance Director, recently stood trial for his role in the campaign finance scheme, facing charges he caused false campaign finance reports to be filed with the Federal Election Commission.  Federal prosecutors, in an effort to keep Hillary and Bill Clinton out of the trial, presented a watered down case and Rosen was eventually acquitted.  Still, there is a mountain of evidence implicating Rosen and both Clintons, and this evidence can be found in the following complaint filed by Judicial Watch with the U.S. Senate’s Select Committee on Ethics.

http://www.judicialwatch.org/hrccomplaint.shtml

Dirty tricks http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dirty_trick...

...Sometimes dirty tricks are not only aimed at slandering the opponent. Dishing the dirt against your candidate's opponent can be effective at alienating voters in order to turn them off from the entire project. These tactics may reduce turnout in order to assure your candidate gains by having his/her core voters show up at the polls; thus, an operative molds the outcome by angering everyone. ...


...“In my business,” he writes, “communications devices were all lethal weapons — and every fight was dirty.”...

---

A Tale of Political Dirty Tricks Makes the Case for Election Reform By ADAM COHEN

In New Hampshire’s hotly contested 2002 Senate race, Democratic get-out-the-vote phone banks were jammed with incoming calls on Election Day. The Republican John Sununu, won re-election by under 20,000 votes, and Allen Raymond, a Republican Party operative, went to jail for his role in the jamming.

Mr. Raymond has now written a book about his experiences, “How to Rig an Election: Confessions of a Republican Operative.” In it, he paints a picture of the corruption of modern politics that should leave no doubt about the creativity and cynicism of operatives like Mr. Raymond or the need for tough new election-reform legislation. ...

...Such excesses are often dismissed as the work of a few overeager campaign staff members. Mr. Raymond argues, however, that illegal tactics are often standard operating procedure. “In my business,” he writes, “communications devices were all lethal weapons — and every fight was dirty.”

It is remarkable how little Congress has done to stop all this. A good bill that addresses some of the problems — the Deceptive Practices and Voter Intimidation Prevention Act, sponsored by Barack Obama, Charles Schumer and others — has been limping along, though there is hope it could come to a Senate vote this month. Mr. Raymond is the rare case of a political operative who actually did jail time for dirty tricks. Congress needs to toughen the laws protecting elections, and make clear that anyone interfering with democracy will pay a stiff price.

full article: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/01/opinio...


Unions accused of dirty tricks By Luke McIlveen


THE Federal Government yesterday compared the unions to door-knocking missionaries over their zealous blueprint to defeat John Howard at this year's election.

As Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd defended the unions' six-step manifesto to sway undecided voters towards Labor, Mr Howard branded it a ``dirty tricks manual''.

The Daily Telegraph yesterday revealed the ACTU's 75-page plan to target undecided voters in marginal seats by discrediting the government's WorkChoices laws.

The colourful plan includes taking the Your Rights at Work campaign to churches and sporting groups, as well as holding BBQs at which union DVDs could be discreetly shown to friends and neighbours.

It also urges union members to go to work and ``challenge `I'm OK' thinking'' of colleagues who appear to be happy with their individual work contracts.

``The next time you hear a knock on Saturday morning, don't answer it,'' Treasurer Peter Costello told Question Time yesterday.

``It could be Dean Mighell of the Church of Latter Day Unionists.''

Mr Mighell was the foul-mouthed union boss caught on tape boasting about ripping off employers and threatening to strike.

While Mr Costello got the laughs, Mr Howard said the manual deliberately set out to mislead voters about his WorkChoices laws and to brainwash them into voting Labor.

``This document is a dirty tricks manual and it is calculated through techniques of misrepresentation, push polling and the like to achieve one purpose,'' he said.

``That is to install the leader of the Opposition as the prime minister.''

Government lawyers were last night checking whether the ACTU's plan to drop off and collect voter registration forms to those not enrolled was in breach of any electoral laws.

Mr Rudd fought back against claims the ACTU's tactics heralded a ``US-style'' election campaign of phone polling and door-knocking.

``The thing about our democracy called Australia is that unions can have their say, big business can have their say and the people will decide,'' he said.

Labor's industrial relations spokeswoman Julia Gillard accused Mr Howard of using the same US-style tactics in 2004 by blitzing voters with pre-recorded phone messages.

``At the last election, whether or not they wanted to, Australians picked up their mobile phone to hear John Howard,'' she said.

full article: http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/st...

---

'Counterevent ops' turn dirty political tricks - political trickery and scandal - Dirty Tricks: Underside of Politics -

Cover Story
Insight on the News, August 5, 1996 by Michael Rust

..."I'm just mystified by how little the Clintons in particular seem to have learned," says AEI's Garment, author of Scandal: The Culture of Mistrust in American Politics. "Some of the White House denizens were not politically sentient at the time of Watergate, so [they] are reinventing various wheels," she tells Insight, but that certainly doesn't include Hillary Rodham Clinton, who served as a lawyer on the House Watergate Committee, or her husband, who ran for Congress in the Watergate year of 1974. "Mrs. Clinton was not only sentient, but active. I can't duplicate in my mind the thought process" that would lead a front-row participant in exposing Watergate to the intrigues of Filegate, she adds. ...

Full article: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1...

Sitka, welcome.

Please don't demean me by welcoming me into your club. I only said I'm voting for Obama because this crummy primary system has elimated my other options before I get to vote.

No WarDems. 

BTW, my wife just cast her mail in ballot for Hillary, so my Obama vote has already been cancelled out. 

17.

Huron John
Fri, 01/25/08

Reply to this

Huron, I've read that letter a couple of times (hard to miss on the blog lol) and I don't see where MLK III is actually endorsing Edwards. What's your beef with Obama anyway? Someone paying you to be here? Not accusing, asking.

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

I TRIED to send a 'contact' HQ note to ask them to give us the courtesy to say why we've had such outages on the blog and the "contact HQ" for blog technical does not work. So HQ - can you leave us a crumb saying why the blog has been down for the last two nights. Among other things we don't know how JudyforDean's event with HD went.

24.

Ok then, I take back the welcome.

Sorry.

Good morning!

Re: Bloggie,

I feel like we are abandoned orphans driving an old broken down jalopy. But our ATM's are still expected to work for DFA.

~~~

Harry Reid must go. An excellent replacement would be Chris Dodd.

bbl - "Y" day here

Every vote counts.

---

23.

Sitka
Fri, 01/25/08

...so my Obama vote has already been cancelled out.

SC Primary RCP AVG 1/15-1/24:

O: 38.2 %

C: 26.4 %

E: 19.2 %

The recent individual polls show even bigger Obama leads. 

Every vote counts.

That's why I bother. 

26.

Annilow
Fri, 01/25/08

It's called the "parking lot" buts it's more like a traffic jam.


It's used to control a meeting.

Ok then, I take back the welcome. Sorry.

Apology accepted. 

Sitka
Fri, 01/25/08
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

How was the hike?

Sitka - The polls are eerily similar to NH methinks. What do I know? Every time Bill Clinton has a lying outburst - Obama's numbers seem to go down. Go figure.

How was the hike?

Great. First it was cold and windy. Then it rained. Then the sun came out. Then it rained with the sun out and I saw a rainbow. Then it got cloudy and windy again. From the top of the mountain I could see what looked like 50 miles and patches of rain and sun all over the place. It felt great to get back to my car and sit down, which meant it was the perfect length.

Teacher's Handbook of Dirty Tricks
http://teacherwithanattitude.netfirms.co...

...DIRTY TRICK #41 Fight ass**** behavior with ass**** tactics.

Let's say a kid puts bubble gum in the pencil sharpener or breaks the handle on the water cooler or stops up the john with toilet paper just to be funny. Don't be in a hurry to fix it. Let the whole class suffer for a while. This turns the tables on the little asshole who broke the appliance. Instead of being a hero, he becomes pariah. Students who reinforced his pranks with laughter now put pressure on him to shape up. If you delay long enough in calling maintenance, woe be unto him if he repeats the behavior after you finally do get maintenance to make repairs. ...

Teacher's Handbook of Dirty Tricks is a joke book written for entertainment purposes only.

cC wrote "An opportunity for the first AA or the first woman president and I'm supportin' the white guy....feels weird.  Mulling over my decision. President Obama.  Has a nice ring to it;)"

Keep us posted.

Sitka - The polls are eerily similar to NH methinks. What do I know? Every time Bill Clinton has a lying outburst - Obama's numbers seem to go down. Go figure.

Two possible reasons for that. Smears work -- and white people are dumber than others about falling for them.

There is a very odd dynamic that happens on this blog. As someone attacks, taunts and criticizes everyone, some people bend over backward to be "nice" to them, thinking that will change their behavior. It didn't work with Oler and it won't work now. So please just carry on with political discussion rather than enabling someone who clearly doesn't have any social skills.

South Carolina....

Edwaards...up 15%

Obama......down 4%

Hillary....down 12%

I re-registered weeks ago as a Dem so I could caucus here in WA. So, yesterday the phone started ringing - first the DNC - who I told I would donate their request for $208 only if Clinton isn't the nominee. DFA called as well. Guess I should have asked them about the blog...LOL

timestamp - let's see where this ends up.

7:31 PST

On topic: We have already identified those who betray us, over and over again. DINOs voting to reject the only Bill that would spy on US citizens and NOT give telcos amnesty are (drum roll, please):

Bayh, Mikulski, Pryor, Salazar, McCaskill, Nelson (FL), Carper, Nelson (NE), Landrieu, Inouye, Johnson

test. why is the blog frozen?

Audrey - #25 - you say Clinton is down - is that from the previous poll this week? Everything I've seen she's inching back up.

7:32 PST

Was playing on line backgammonwith an american living in Greece last nite.......she will vote for Hillary........I smoked her.

Sitka - The polls are eerily similar to NH methinks.

RCP NH avg:

O: 38.3

C: 30.0

NH Result:

C: 39.0

O 36.4 

"He who votes decides nothing; he who counts the votes decides everything." -- Joseph Stalin

So Hill & Bill think *they may have gone too far in attacking Barack*? IMO, just far enough to gain *them* some votes and do the damage.

the MLK III letter has been posted ad nauseum on this blog

11 times and counting

When you only have one card to play, what else is there to do? 

There is a very odd dynamic that happens on this blog. As someone attacks, taunts and criticizes everyone, some people bend over backward to be "nice" to them, thinking that will change their behavior. It didn't work with Oler and it won't work now. So please just carry on with political discussion rather than enabling someone who clearly doesn't have any social skills. 

Trying to be "nice" to Indy Steve obviously didn't work. 

fyi - new Front thread

South carolina...every vote counts

Reuters/c-span/zogby for Tues.Wed.Thurs.

Obama.....................41 39 37
Edwards...................12 18 27
Clinton...................31 22 19

Blog is broken. IS DFA on life support? We need a report from HQ on finances and why they are not fixing the blog. It will drive people away.

Number count is off.


19. s/b 51.