9:12 AM EST

Howard doesn't just rate --

he first rates .

9:13 AM EST

Oh, before I forget, Edwards just endorsed Obama:

http://www.wacotrib.com/news/content/shared-gen/blogs/communities/listening_post/

rdorgan you are not going to get me to fall for that two days in a row

they will break into the national news if it happens

9:17

What two days in a row ?  I just posted that today, and yes, Edwards did endorse Obama.  (Edwards is a popular name)

today is visibility day

bbl

NEWS FLASH:

John Edward just endorsed Thomas Jefferson!!!

Film at 11!!!

bbl also

-- volney

The ad deadline is the end of the day. Can you help us reach 300,000 signatures? Click here to add your name:

 www.pol.moveon.org/

The petition's pretty simple—it just says:

"The Democratic Party must be democratic. The superdelegates should let the voters decide between Clinton and Obama, then support the people's choice."

The original email is below for more information.

Thanks,
Noah

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

does that include Florida and Michigan (and each is a special case as to determining voters intent)?

I seriously doubt they would do otherwise, but the money has clouded the issue to a point it is now lose/lose for Democrats

Ron Kind (my next door super delegate as the Congressman for western WI) has put it out front that he will vote for the peoples choice in his District which to me is a wise thing for a critter to do 

David Brooks at the NY Times is having a really bad hair day.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/19/opinio...

BTW, the front poster has my sympathies. It's normal for people to want their off-spring, in whom they've invested a lot of energy to stay around and make a contribution to their native community. But, humans are mobile creatures designed for wandering off and seeking new environments. Trying to keep them home is a losing proposition. Get used to it.

And just because the Clintons are making a thing about Obama supposedly using Patrick's words:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRQD-MsSp...

Edwards just endorsed Obama

Can I go back to forgetting him now? 

If you were watching Keith Dobermann last night, it was suggested that Al Gore, Joe Biden, Chris Dodd, John Edwards and one other, don't remember who, could somehow be a deciding factor in how the super (unpledged) delegate vote, encourageing those delegates to vote the same as the will of the voters -- whoever had the most pledged delegates at convention.

Keith referred to them laughingly as the "gang of five." Sorry if this is not entirely accurate but I hope you get the picture.

Hopefully, it won't get that far but with the Clintons saying they will be in it to the end and their continuing to buy super votes, it appears they may try to subvert the will of the people.

All Hillary has accomplished with her "plagiarism" attack is to draw attention to her own  borrowed phrases.

Point gun at foot. Pull trigger. 

the Clintons saying they will be in it to the end and their continuing to buy super votes

By the way they're defecting to Obama (3 since ST) I'd say isn't getting much for her money. 

12.

encourageing = encouraging

More on that: Olbermann and the pundits thought that perhaps that was the reason none of them (Gore, Biden, Dodd, Edwards) have endorsed anyone -- so they could be free to encourage the delegates and be free of any previous promises to either candidate.

I'm getting the impression that a lot of DCDems are ready to overthrow the Clinton Cabal that's had them under heel for the past 15 years.

Sequence Check

10:32 am

9:33 AM EST

Edwards just endorsed Obama

Can I go back to forgetting him now?

+++

Well, there's still Al out there who's undecided (ie. DNC member of TX).

Dems' vendetta against Dennis

http://www.blackagendareport.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=524&Itemid=1

The corporate rulers of the United States are determined to have their revenge against Dennis Kucinich, the heroic Ohio congressman who held high the progressive banner in the last two Democratic presidential primary seasons. Not content with having banned Kucinich from a succession of debates and erased his name and platform from the daily media discourse - finally forcing him to withdraw for lack of funds - corporate Democrats now conspire to oust him from his Cleveland congressional seat. Kucinich has been targeted by the same forces, and for the same fate as befell Georgia's Cynthia McKinney and Alabama's Earl Hilliard: exile from the Big Business-infested Democratic Party.

10:34 am

"WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court has rejected a challenge to the Bush administration's domestic spying program.

The justices' decision Tuesday includes no comment explaining why they turned down the appeal from the American Civil Liberties Union.

The ACLU wanted the court to allow a lawsuit by the group and individuals over the warrantless wiretapping program. An appeals court dismissed the suit because the plaintiffs cannot prove their communications have been monitored."

lol, I guess your compatriot's attempts to extort money out of companies that did what the government asked will have to wait for later.  By the way, the principal is called "standing" and they could not prove they had standing to complain.  Here is a hint to avoid the dragnet, don't accept collect calls from Islamabad from terrorist.  It's just a hint.

From a previous thread

51.

Indy Steve
Mon, 02/18/08


Like I said. You will not hear their names mentioned in the media if they can help it. I'm not talking about Carville or McAuliffe. The Clintons'campaign has always been the REAL insiders game, always.

exile from the Big Business-infested Democratic Party.

The Greens would surely love to have him. 

Semi-drive by - Did Edwards endorse O or is that a joke?

28.

Monica Smith
Tue, 02/19/08

Monica I know you lived here and hated it -- I hate a lot about it too -- but there is a romance to it - a noble savage kind of thing - I think Rawlings captures it. As for corruption - from Seashell's and Susan's posts before about 'contributions' to the superdelegates' campaigns I don't think it's limited to G'ville -- in fact I kinda wanted a shower after reading those. Guess I'm having some mild Obama 2nd thoughts not unlike David Brooks -- he had tears in his eyes (imo) on Shields and Brooks one night while talking about Obama.

Gotta go to class -- see y'all soon.

Fox have you had an opportunity to buy the industrial espionage yet that the warrantless spying is gathering or don't you rate? insiders only need apply and you have to pay to play  

10:57 AM EST

Semi-drive by - Did Edwards endorse O or is that a joke?

+++

Annilow -

No joke.  So far, Donna E and Chet E have endorsed O (and Al E, just like John E, is still hanging out there undecided).

Edwards is a common name.

Matt wrote "Here is a hint to avoid the dragnet, don't accept collect calls from Islamabad from terrorist.  It's just a hint."

Thanks for the swell advice.  Not that it's so important from your perspective, but how do you know if you're right against unreasonable searches has been violated by a secret program carried out by an executive branch agency?  You don't have standing to challenge the program, and information about the program is privileged from discovery on state secrets grounds, insuring that standing cannot be obtained.

There is a reason that the Justice Department and the Courts have had to work together in the past and it is called The Rule of Law. Since the President has assumed the war time privilege of the Unitary Executive, invalidated acts of Congress with signing statements, and extended Executive Privilege to the AG I guess the circle is complete.

who needs terrorists to destroy our way of life these guys have done it all by themselves?

doesn't anyone remember why we opposed the Russians? because they had a police state

sad day indeed when the Supremes join the lawlessness

Whether he did or not, it's a joke.

Susan the gang that did Howard in just might get their due.

Wisconsin is a clean election state.

22.

Annilow

Clinton's campaign buys super delegates all the time. They just have less money to spend on them because they aren't raising as much money as Obama! The Clintons were delegate shopping even shile Obama was still asking delegates not to endorse until the convention.

Please don't be taken in by the Clinton cr*p. The Clinton are the dirtiest of the dirty and trickiest of the tricksters though many of their tricks are not working well. They want power at any cost, even at the expense of the Dem Party itself.

This election is about who can win in November and who can be the best Dem president, not by who has cast the most attacks on the other. That is the Repub way and the Clintons have taken a page or two from their book.

sad day indeed when the Supremes join the lawlessness

They joined it back on Dec.12, 2000. 

Dont go there John!

The Clinton are the dirtiest of the dirty and trickiest of the tricksters though many of their tricks are not working well. They want power at any cost, even at the expense of the Dem Party itself.

I fully expect them to undermine Obama's campaign if he's the nominee so he won't supplant them as proprietors of the Democratic Party. 

Those afflicted with O.C.S. are no longer as moved by his perorations. The fever passes. But some invisible connection seems to persist.

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

Brooks has it right. emphasis mine

For puddle

The Farmer and the Wise Guy...

A local farmer was tending his herd in a remote mountainous pasture when suddenly a vehicle advanced out of a dust cloud towards him.

The driver leans out the window and asks the farmer, "If I tell you exactly how many cows and calves you have in your herd, will you give me a calf?"

The farmer looks at the guy then looks at his peacefully grazing herd and calmly answers, "Sure, why not?"

The man parks, whips out his notebook computer, connects it to his cell phone, and surfs to a NASA page on the internet, where he calls up a GPS satellite navigation system to get an exact fix on his location which he then feeds to another NASA satellite that scans the area in an ultra-high-resolution photo. The guy then opens the digital photo and exports it to an image processing facility in Hamburg, Germany. Within seconds, he receives an email on his palm pilot that the image has been processed and the data stored. He then accesses a MS-SQL database through an ODBC connected spreadsheet with email on his blackberry and, after a few minutes, receives a response. Finally, he prints out a full-color 150-page report on his hi-tech miniaturized laser jet printer and turns to the farmer and says, "You have exactly 1,586 cows and calves."

"That's right. Well, I guess you can take one of my calves," says the farmer. He watches the guy select one of the animals and looks on amused as the he stuffs it into the trunk of his car. Then the farmer says to the guy, "Hey, if I can tell you exactly what your business is, will you give me back my calf?"

The man thinks about it for a second and then says, "Okay, why not?"

"You're a trained political operative.", says the farmer.

"You're correct," says the man, "But how did you guess that?"

"No guessing was required." answered the farmer. "You showed up here even though nobody called you; you want to get paid for an answer I already knew, to a question I never asked. You tried to show me how much smarter than me you are; and you don't know a thing about cows...this is a herd of sheep. Now give me back my lama."

---

http://news.com.com/2061-10796_3-6019029...

Anon blogger unmasked as GOP political operative
January 5, 2006 12:31 AM PST

An anonymous Minnesota blogger, who took pains to poke fun at Democrats and question their qualifications for elected office, has been unmasked as a -- gasp! -- Republican political operative.

Michael Brodkorb 'fessed up in a post this week to his blog, Minnesota Democrats Exposed. Brodkorb is a former state Republican Party spokesman.

"My identity is being unveiled today because of lawsuit filed against me by a prominent Democrat consultant." he wrote.

Until now, guessing the identity of the anonymous Republican blogger had become something of a popular sport for Minnesota Democrats.

The Democrat who filed the suit is Blois Olson, the president of a PR firm and a -- gasp! -- Democratic political operative.

The lawsuit claims that the Republican political operative posted defamatory comments about the Democratic political operative relating to the Democratic political operative not getting a consulting contract. There's more, and if you're really interested, the Associated Press has details.

Posted by Declan McCullagh

any super-delegate that took any money should recuse themselves, don't know where that would leave the count but it is a good principle

we are now mixing two serious problems and the need for public campaign finance is greater than the need for nomination rules reform but not by much

"Rove" (whichever clone runs McCain) has been handed an issue just by the fact that Republicans are winner take all and their finance dirt is protected free speech

11:33 AM EST

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dylan-loewe/where-hillary-went-wrong_b_87353.html

Dylan Loewe

Posted February 19, 2008 | 10:56 AM (EST)

Even if Hillary is able to confound expectations and pull off a truly improbable victory over Obama, there will still have been a series of serious strategic and tactical mistakes, all of which contributed to her current position. Should she win, it will be despite these errors; more likely, they will bear the responsibility for her loss.

Inevitability
Early in the campaign, Clinton surrogates touted large national leads and a well-tested political machine to push the argument that Clinton's nomination was inevitable.

...

The logic was to make Obama seem defeated before the race had begun

...

Obama outraised Hillary in the first quarter of fundraising, and brought on famed organizer Paul Tewes to run Iowa, the same man who maneuvered Al Gore to victory there eight years earlier.

...

Change vs. Experience
One of the most difficult places candidates can find themselves in is believing they are winning a political fight that they're losing. For Hillary, the change vs. experience argument became that problem.

...

The False Hopes Argument
Finding herself in an unexpected battle for nomination, Hillary and her campaign reframed their attack on Obama, arguing not just that he lacked experience, but that he was an empty suit, full of rhetoric and cadence, but not much else. More than anything else, the problem with this argument was that it was less of an attack on Obama and more of an attack on Obama supporters.

...

The attack instantly struck a cord, an offensive condescension that seemed misplaced and unfair. Without skipping a beat, Obama's speechwriters responded by capturing the belittlement felt by his audience: "In the unlikely story of America," Obama proclaimed, "there is nothing false about hope."

Hillary failed to recognize, late in the game, that her victory would depend not just on winning undecided voters, but on convincing some Obama supporters to realign. Rather than dismissing their enthusiasm, she could have empathized with it.

While hope and change are the mantra of the Obama movement, at its core, it is undergirded by trust. Obama supporters trust him, and he has gone a long way to cultivate that trust. The extraordinary thing about Barack Obama is not the poetry with which he aspires to hope, change, and political realignment: it is that fundamentally, people believe him. Hillary needed to attack Obama to overtake him, but that attack should have been aimed at diminishing his credibility. Had she framed the debate around whether Obama was trustworthy or not, she would have put him in a defensive position that may have proved more effective.

...

Quick good morning,

In the March Harpers Magazine, there's an article by Ken Silverstein called "Belway Bacchanal: Congress lives high on the contributor's dime".  

New York Democratic Congressman Gregory Meeks used $6, 230.00 of contributors' money for a personal trainer.  The money for drinks, hotels, dinners, golf excursions, etc. in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

While I don't like the buying of delegates, given the $200,000,000. raised by the Clintons and Obama, delegates come pretty cheap, I think.  What's a measley $200,000 or $700,000 given those figures!  But the fact is, Washington and our representatives in Congress are living high, real high, and mostly  it's legal.  The ethics reform bills just don't do it.

Lots of other good articles in this issue: "Vote Machine: How Republicans hacked the Justice Department" by Scott Horton.  The Bush Administration got around all the checks and balances, makes Nixon's time look benign, and the public doesn't know or doesn't know how to repair it.  There are no heroes this time likes Attorneys General Elliot Richardson and Williiam Ruckelshaus who resigened rather than carry out a lawless presidential order to fire special prosecutor Archibald Cox, though Robert Bork did.

"Fear of Fallowing: The specter of a no-growth world" by Steven  Stoll examines what the scenario will be as we exhaust earth's resources.  Scary.

Finally, given a corrupt, money-laden, influence driven system, a distracted and ignorant consumer public, how do we elect those people who are brave enough, committed enough, intelligent enough, honest enough, and knowledgeable enough to help us repair a broken government? 

Should be Beltway Bacchanal

Since all of the Super Dels are not equally dispersed as are the elected critters, and there are many "city fathers", bankers, activists etc. who are unequally dispersed, it seems the Supers should not be voting the popular vote of their districts.

It just takes one vote to reach the magic delegate number, and if the supers are allowed to vote their DISTRICT, or even STATE popular vote, though they may prefer to do so for their own local political reasons, the delegate count could be skewed just enough to matter.

The supers need to ANNOUNCE that they will vote in accordance with the NATIONAL POPULAR VOTE, since (supposedly), they exist only to bring the total vote number to the necessary 2025.

Finally, given a corrupt, money-laden, influence driven system, a distracted and ignorant consumer public, how do we elect those people who are brave enough, committed enough, intelligent enough, honest enough, and knowledgeable enough to help us repair a broken government? 

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

Pat

John Edwards was the one that called them on it, and he defeated the system's status quo candidate in Iowa. Obama has now sounded the call. I'm one who thinks supporters can make a candidate go further than they would alone and if we have Obama's back right now in the next few states might get it done.

but you were one dismissive of Edwards earlier so the currupt ones had to breath a sigh of relief when he was knocked out

but as John said it is not about him the people always were the ones that had to rise up

now that they are they will take Obama along with them

Fear of Fallowing: The specter of a no-growth world" by Steven  Stoll examines what the scenario will be as we exhaust earth's resources.  Scary.

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

the White House is refusing to sign a farm bill that has money in it for conservation and the conservation reserve

To see a short video of your petitions being delivered to the Registrar plus excerpts of a few TV interviews I did, please click here. Please also consider contributing to our "Count Every Vote" campaign (and giving a small tip to our friends at ActBlue):

http://www.actblue.com/page/counteveryvote

Thank you for using your people power to make 2008 a new era for progressive politics in California.

Rick Jacobs
Chair

The supers need to ANNOUNCE that they will vote in accordance with the NATIONAL POPULAR VOTE, since (supposedly), they exist only to bring the total vote number to the necessary 2025.

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

there has to be some place in the system for those that keep the party structure viable from candidate to candidate to have some say in the final product (currently weighted too heavily)

but my question to you audrey is "with or without Florida and Michigan?"

because of the allocation of pledged delegates according to old vote totals from the last election it is already tilted towards blue states and minimizes the impact of a MO or MS which could be huge in the fall election

MA voters are over -represented instead

since congressional districts at least have equal populations it plays out as a candidate with more national appeal having an advantage over someone who could rack up big vote totals in New York if the crittrers vote their district

Phil.....

Fl and Mi are another problem. Fl is a place where pols go to learn how to operate in DC. It seems technology could afford a way for them to re-vote without having another primary or caucus. I say let Floridians not vote for their local Dems who denied them their vote, and they should not be counted.

The point I was trying to make about the Supers in general is that there is no fair way for them to vote, even on a Popular vote basis, if it is based on the local vote. That is because there is not equal distribution of Supers around the country, because they are not all elected officials. They should only vote based on the national popular vote.

I'm assuming the Supers were going to be allowed to vote even if the "elected" ones could not.

12:21 PM EST

http://www.turnto10.com/northeast/jar/news.apx.-content-articles-JAR-2008-02-19-0009.html

On Wednesday afternoon, Michelle will attend an invitation-only launch event of the Rhode Island Women for Obama in Providence.

Later that evening, Michelle will host a “Stand for Change” rally with her brother, Brown University basketball coach Craig Robinson.

The rally will be held at the Community College of Rhode Island, Knight Campus, in Warwick. The Student Dining Commons will open at 5:45 p.m. and admission is free and open to the public.

44.

Finally, given a corrupt, money-laden, influence driven system, a distracted and ignorant consumer public, how do we elect those people who are brave enough, committed enough, intelligent enough, honest enough, and knowledgeable enough to help us repair a broken government? 

At this point, at the senatorial and presidential levels it is not possible to elect those people without them being able to compete financially.

The solution is in knowing the candidates, their pasts positions on issues, their involvement in getting the wrongs fixed, and their intent, intelligence and inspiration to get these problems fixed.

With Clinton, you get more of the same. With Obama, we can have hope at least to get the job done.

New York Democratic Congressman Gregory Meeks used $6, 230.00 of contributors' money for a personal trainer.  The money for drinks, hotels, dinners, golf excursions, etc. in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Gregory Meeks is an excellent example of those who have endorsed Clinton without reservation. He is one of those who desperately want to keep the status quo going on and on and on without changing the rules. He lacks integrity, conscience and has no regard for the taxpayer public who put him in office.

audrey

my point was any change you make now favors one or the other

if Obama can continue his current winning streak through Texas and Ohio it won't matter, he has the nomination locked up

if he gets past the Florida and Michigan delegate advantage even that "problem" will disappear because if Florida and Michigan don't matter they will be seated

one change that could still be made without causing much disruption would be to weigh the "Party" super delegates at one half vote each. many states would have the chair and vice chair just vote the opposite way to cancel each other out and keep the peace

My guess is Phil that MI and FL will be seated at the convention but their votes for nominee will not count. The elections here and in MI were not meant to count and so they shouldn't.

Our state party rep was a delegate several years ago and she has told us that there are other issues to vote on at the convention -- such as a party platform which has mostly already been approved but must be voted on. So our delegates would be there partying and voting on other issues.

That's the way it should be and I hope it will be.

There are consequences to any rules change, the only ones that can be made now are ones that don't change the outcome, like the one I just suggested to lessen the total number of super delegates relative to the total by weighting them a half vote, without actually keeping them from attending the convention (which they have earned)

Phil....

Sure, if there is no tie, it is a moot question until the next election.

My question: Should not the Supers be asked to vote according to the people's choice Nationally rather than the local totals?

How does that favor?

Florida and Michigan could be seated with the vote to credential coming after the first round of voting for the nomination is another suggestion.

If one is not looking for a decisive advantage there are ways around these problems.

Obma just needs to keep on winning and it will fall into place.

12:41 PM EST

http://www.thewesterlysun.com/articles/2008/02/19/news/free_news/doc47b5a77a37af6545874031.txt

"I think it’s all due to the economic problems the Bush administration has created with this war. That was the straw that broke the camel’s back," said Mark Ostlund of Stonington, who held an American flag in one hand and a white peace-sign flag in the other. Ostlund said he’s a submarine vet from the Cold War.

Every few minutes a driver honks a car horn in support, or a passenger rolls down the window to wave and give a thumbs-up to the group of 13 demonstrators. There are also fewer flipped birds, said Jim Loughlin of Old Mystic, a retired veteran Navy SeaBee who has been standing here each Saturday since Thanksgiving 2005.

A car blasted a rat-a-tat-tat of support as it drove past the anti-war group.

"We’ve been getting a lot more of that in the past few months," said Loughlin, an organizer for the Obama campaign. He cited economic reasons for why the group is seeing and hearing more support each Saturday. "Bush is absolutely destroying our economy, he’s an agent of destruction, and so many are taken in by him."

...

Fox have you had an opportunity to buy the industrial espionage yet that the warrantless spying is gathering or don't you rate? insiders only need apply and you have to pay to play  

Of course you have no idea whether this is true, but nothing stops you from typing on your keyboard words that make it appear that you do in fact know.  That is the whole problem with discussing issues here, you each assume the worse, with no foundation for those opinions.  Here is a option to consider.  That employees at NSA are patriots and are going out of their way to avoid "innocent" information to try and find the real bad guys and their communication.  No way any of you will believe that because like MO, you haven't been proud of America for a LOOOOOOONG time.  You assume the worst in human kind, I give fellow humans the benefit of the doubt until I have FACTS to know otherwise.  You don't know and will never know, but go on blabbing away.  It feeds the narative.

12:45 pm EST

Feb. 19, 2008 —

The man credited with writing Sen. Barack Obama's "power of words" speech today called the plagiarism accusation "not fair" and said it was an attempt to "belittle his ability to motivate people."

Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick told "Good Morning America" that Sen. Hillary Clinton was wrong to accuse Obama of poaching his lines.

"It's an elaborate charge and an extravagant one," Patrick said.

http://www.abcnews.go.com/print?id=4310143

Let that be the end of this "story" from the HRC group, but I'm sure they'll want to dream up something else in their desperation.

I feel a Keith video coming on tonight with all the clips of Hillary stealing Obama's, Edwards', and others statements.

How does that favor?

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

the pledged delegates are already weighted towards the blue states so giving further advantage to states with a bigger Democratic vote than electoral impact means a voter in New York is worth more than one in Texas even though everyone knows a win in Texas would hand the office of President to a Democrat who could win there

Clinton targeted Ohio all along as being essential in the General and is well organized there so Wisconsin is important to keep the momentum going for Obama through Texas

just because he has more public appeal doesn't mean he wins a contest  ... you still have to GOTV

counting national vote totals without settling on what the Michigan vote means just can't be done before the convention

my point about rules changes mid contest is that they almost always favor one or the other, and would anger a sizable minority one way or the other, and they are needed in the fall

Phil....

I guess you're saying we should not give up the "wiggle room" in the rules, which really means not giving up control over the popular vote.

I think the only way to not favor, is to end the role of Supers.

the industrial espionage  ...   the warrantless spying is gathering

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

don't believe that I have ocean front property in Arizona for you Fox

At our JJ Dinner in Richmond on Feb 9, Hillary supporters were yelling "yes, we will". I was taken aback by their trying to take over Obama's messege of "yes , we can".

How is that for plagerism??

I guess you're saying we should not give up the "wiggle room" in the rules, which really means not giving up control over the popular vote

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

what I saying is that if Obama can keep on winning we can save this whole fight for the next cycle starting the day after the nomination right there at the convention

my allocation proposal has no super delegates for the next cycle

There's a new thread up, but it says "Comments are Closed."  How odd!

Tuesday, 2/19/08
12:59pm EST

I think the only way to not favor, is to end the role of Supers.

The Democratic Party doesn't need them to defend it against democracy.

ALLY UPDATE:

My just-barely-one-year-old grand niece started chemo today to shrink a malignant tumor on her stomach.  They started the chemo a few days early, before the last test results are in, because it was getting hard to regulate her blood pressure. (The tumor is pressing on her aorta, causing the high blood pressure.)  So she has started a 3-day regimen of chemotherapy, and if it goes well (shrinks the tumor enough to allieviate the blood pressure issue) then she could go home this weekend.  (She will need 6 or 7 more chemo treatments, every three weeks or so.)  

If you have a moment, maybe you could light a candle for Ally.
Many thanks for your new candle this morning, Karen! ♡ 

http://www.gratefulness.org/candles/candles.cfm?l=eng&gi=ALLYS

(Each candle stays lighted for about 48 hours.) 

♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡  

Cancer Linked to Heavy Cell Phone Use

BBC
February 18, 2008

Heavy mobile phone use may be linked to an increased risk of cancer of the salivary gland, a study suggests.
Researchers looked at 500 Israelis who had developed the condition and compared their mobile phone usage with 1,300 healthy controls.

Those who had used the phone against one side of the head for several hours a day were 50% more likely to have developed a salivary gland tumour.

The research appeared in The American Journal of Epidemiology.

Numerous studies have focused on the risk of tumours among those who use mobile phones, and overwhelmingly found no increased cancer risk.

But researchers at Tel Aviv University say these have tended to focus on brain tumours, and often did not include long-term users.

Cancer of the salivary gland is a very rare condition. Of the 230,000 cases of cancer diagnosed in the UK for instance annually, only 550 relate to this area.

Read entire article

This morning on NBC’s Today Show, President Bush denied that the there’s any link between the faltering U.S. economy and $10 billion a month being spent on the Iraq war. In fact, according to Bush, the war is actually helping the economy:

CURRY: You don’t agree with that? It has nothing do with the economy, the war — spending on the war?

BUSH: I don’t think so. I think actually the spending in the war might help with jobs…because we’re buying equipment, and people are working. I think this economy is down because we built too many houses and the economy’s adjusting.

The Iraq war has created jobs — for the administration’s defense contractor allies. Bush’s most recent budget is a windfall for contractors, and between 2000 and 2005, procurement was the “fastest growing component of federal discretionary spending.” (Halliburton has been the biggest beneficiary of the administration’s generosity.)

Five years after the U.S. invasion of Iraq, however, national unemployment is going up. Between December 2006 and December 2007, the national unemployment rate increased by 13.6 percent in seasonally adjusted terms, from 4.4 to 5.0 percent. Additionally, 68 percent of the American public believes that redeployment from Iraq would help fix the country’s economic woes.

Transcript:

Some Americans believe that they feel they’re carrying the burden because of this economy.

G. BUSH: Yeah, well…

CURRY: They say we’re suffering because of this.

G. BUSH: … I don’t agree with that.

CURRY: You don’t agree with that? It has nothing do with the economy, the war — spending on the war?

G. BUSH: I don’t think so.

I think actually the spending in the war might help with jobs.

CURRY: Oh, yeah?

G. BUSH: Yeah, because we’re buying equipment, and people are working.

I think this economy is down because we built too many houses and the economy’s adjusting.

listener

Thanks so much for Allly's update. Always thinking of her. So young.

I have tried numerous times to light a candle, go through the entire procedure but never get a name up. Just thought you might want to know.

David Brooks at the NY Times is a jackass. He's attempting to place doubt and fear in the minds of Americans. That just anin't gonna work this time.

He is a hopeless fearmonger. He is the past.

Now is the time we use our war cry, fire up those drums and start up the dance.

It's not wise of Mr. Brooks to doubt the American Spirit.

Don't doubt.

Keep your focus.

Dance.

Minnesota Police Stock Up On Tasers Before Republican National Convention

Andy Birkey
Minnesota Monitor
February 18, 2008

The St. Paul Police Department is requesting 230 Tasers to outfit the all of the department’s officers with the electroshock weapon, Fox 9 News reports. The SPPD will purchase the Tasers with $210,000 collected from drug raids. The St. Paul City Council will have to approve the purchase.

The purchase is expected to arrive in St. Paul just in time for the Republican National Convention prompting media speculation that the weapons are being purchased specifically for the convention. When asked by Fox 9 News whether the police will use the weapon at the convention particularly against protesters, police spokester Tom Walsh said, “Our hope is that no one will have to use any degree of force. If it becomes necessary, will that be one of the tools available to them? I suppose that’s safe to say.”

Phil....

Help me understand. Are not the supers in Fl and Mi going to be able to vote whether or not the pledged dels of those states do?

If that is the case, why can't the Supers be asked to vote based on National totals?

Granted the Nat'l totals would not include the Fl. and Mi. totals. The Supers are going to vote anyway, so why not on the National popular vote, instead of their own interests, and in a way that could skew the results?

The ARG poll is not a credible one IMO. That is the one that had Obama up 17 points going into NH after being down that many. It also has Obama up by six in Texas where most other polls have it a dead heat. 

Earlier we noted an American Research Group poll of Wisconsin that showed Democrat Hillary Clinton with a 6-percentage-point lead over Barack Obama. There's another poll tonight that shows Obama with a 13-point lead.

Public Policy Polling puts the race at Obama 53%, Clinton 40%. That's taking into account elevated turnout that's occurred in past contests this year among black voters and young voters. Without that, the company says, Obama's lead is 47%-44%.

http://blogs.usatoday.com/onpolitics/2008/02/obama-clinton-e.html?loc=interstitialskip

I still love this u tube video.

The current temperature in Madison WI is 6 degress, feels like minus 6 degrees with wind factor.

Madison is one of Obama strongholds where independents and university students give him strong support.

Clinton's older voters may decide not to brave that kind of cold in which case she will probably ask for a new primary in WI:))

Hello Listener,

I lit a candle, will say a prayer.  

A dear friend, the most generous person I think I've ever known, but Hawaiian culture is that way, just received an organ transplant, will have a whole new life.  It seems like a  miracle.  There are miracles still in this world.

New update on Ally.  A little bit of a setback... 

Ally smiled this morning!

It seems our plans have changed a bit. They are still looking to start chemo this afternoon, but it also looks like we are not going home this weekend. The doctor thinks we are going to need to keep her in the hopsital until her 2nd round of chemo, 3 weeks from now. We were not expecting this, but we want to do what is best for Ally.

I suspect they need to monitor her aorta closely.
Prayers for the parents too, then, eh?  Many thanks!  ♥ ♥

new thred

http://www.blogforamerica.com/view/23934...

72.

listener
Tue, 02/19/08

Reply to this

There's a new thread up, but it says "Comments are Closed." How odd!

Tuesday, 2/19/08
12:59pm EST
=============================================

seems to work now 1:52 est

1:44 pm

Holly cow!  Florida has just moved ahead into the 21st century!!

In answer to the Christian fundamentalists' demands to teach "intelligent design" in our schools, but instead the State Board of Education has today decided to mandate the teaching of evolution, or as it will be called in the schools "scientific theory." 

Now if they would also move even further ahead and build the amount of schools we actually need here, pay teachers more money, teach art and music, and if the feds (Obama's promise) to quit tying up our teachers hands by requiring them to teach to a stupid test -- then we will truly be moving into this new century.

listener...I'm so sorry for you and your Grand Niece. I do hope Ally will be OK soon. My best to you all.

Phil wrote:

Susan the gang that did Howard in just might get their due.

Wisconsin is a clean election state.


---> Who, the Obama campaign? Because he has the people who took an oath to "take out Howard Dean" when they Gibbs left the Kerry campaign with other strategists and formed Americans for Jobs, Health Care and Progressive Values PAC and ended their smear campaign with the Osama/Dean ads?