GM Closes 4 Plants - Apparently The US Really Does Want Fuel Efficient Cars!

Arlington, Texas dodged another bullet. GM is closing 4 plants that make gas guzzling trucks and SUVs and the Arlington plant is not one of them! Good news for local auto workers, but in general bad news for GM. The brain dead management of General Motors has been stuck in the “bigger is better” rut while the rest of the world long ago realized that smaller and more gas efficient cars were better suited to the current economy and ecology.

Poor GM. Stuck in the fossil fuel age along with Ford. Both companies had plenty of chance to retool and start making better-smaller-smarter cars but they were blinded by temporary bumps in sales of a few models and decided to go bigger instead of smaller. The size of the largest SUVs has increased continuously since they were first introduced. The apex of this lemmings run toward obsolescence was the Hummer. As the widest and least fuel efficient car or car-like vehicle on the road, the Hummer screams excess and boorishness. Still it had its market with under-endowed men and suburban moms seeking assault vehicle to pick little Suzy and Timmy up from the Montessori school.

Now as gas climbs over $4:00 a gallon and the economy is in a shambles, GM finally realizes it needs to create a small fuel efficient car or even better an electric one. The Chevy Volt holds their future, but that will not see a dealer showroom until 2010. For the next two years GM will have to limp along selling its oversized and overpriced cars to a dwindling number of consumers who have unlimited funds.

Toyota and Honda saw this coming years ago. They have been importing hybrids and fuel efficient conventional cars for years. Their market share has steadily climbed and yet GM failed to notice. GM even had hybrid technology in its Saturn line and yet failed to promote and expand that. Instead the dinosaurs at GM decided to put hybrid engines in their largest SUVs . Now this does make some sense, because now instead of 14 mpg they get 22 mpg. Meanwhile Toyota and the other Japanese carmakers have vehicles that get up to 50 mpg and Honda will introduce a fully electric/hydrogen car in the very near future.

If Ford and GM had real management instead of the brain dead MBAs that are so focused on this quarter’s profits that they fail to see the big picture they might have kept making the electric cars created for California. They had the key to their company’s future in their hands and they recalled and destroyed it.

It’s time the stockholders of the US car companies tossed the management fossils of US carmakers out on their ears and get some folks with a vision and a real grasp of where the market is headed.

Ejected Clinton Supporter At The DNC Rules Meeting - Video

And here is why Hillary's supporters are not facing reality. Like this woman, many of them have been caught up in the battle and are unwilling to let it go. She is also a little bit radical in her unfounded racism, but hey, it's a big tent.

Clinton Campaign Manager McAuliffe Swaggers And Slurs On MSNBC

Clinton campaign manager Terry McAuliffe made a bizzarre appareance on the MSNBC Morning Joe Show today. He looked and sounded positively drunk. Brandishing a bottle or rum and boasting of Clinton's unbeatable win in Puerto Rico as the final step in her victory even the hosts seemed taken back. Watch it!

Rock & Roll Legend Bo Diddley Dead At 79

Bo Diddley, the legendary rock and roll artist and writer, is dead at 79. Diddley’s songs, most of which were penned in the 1950’s and 60’s were not only hits for him, but ended up becoming hits for other artsist as well. The Rolling Stones most notably covered many of his songs including “I’m a Man” and “Who Do You Love”. His most famous contribution was the “Bo Diddley Beat” which has appeared in songs ever since he first came up with it. The hits, “Hand Jive” and “I Want Candy” are both based on Bo’s beat.

Diddley died of heart failure at his home in Archer, Florida.

Clinton Camp Jettisoning Staff Members

Sounds like Hillary finally woke up and smelled the coffee. Her campaign has issued calls to her advance staff to return to the New York City headquarters Tuesday evening. According to a story on politico.com’s Ben Smith’s Blog, staffers are being given their walking papers.

This would seem a pretty good signal that she plans to end her campaign shortly after the Tuesday primaries. Her senior aides are refusing to comment on the action, which in itself may also be a signal that she knows it’s over.

Family Equality Day Blog – LGBT Families & Beyond

It's LGBT Family Day, and bloggers across the country are using this opportunity to tell the stories of their families both or origin and choice.

Our families take all different shapes. Some look a lot like the TV Sitcom family of the 1950’s with two parents and a couple of kids living in the suburban dream home, while others are decidedly more non-traditional. My family is one of those.

As a member of both the LGBT community and the Leather/Fetish/BDSM community my definition of family is much different. For me it is completely a family of choice. I am called “Daddy” sometimes, though I have no biological offspring and no one in my family is under the age of 30.

I have a “boy” who is related to me only by our mutual love and affection for one another. We have spent 13 very happy years together and plan to see out our lives through in this relationship.

I have many other boys and Daddies and Masters and slaves who make up my extended family and they are all as close as though we were brothers and sisters. Together we make up a large extended family who we can rely on for emotional as well as material support. No one goes hungry in our family. No one is without a friendly shoulder when needed or a helping hand. That is how close my leather family is.

Though I have lots of friends both straight and LGBT outside my family, it is the loving and supportive men and women of the leather community I rely on when things get tough. It is the same members of the leather community that I celebrate with when sharing a joyful event.

Though we may be politically non-correct and occasionally misunderstood, these people are my family and I wouldn’t trade them for all the “nuclear families” in the world.

Alien Video - Must Be A Slow News Week

For a press corps weary of the Hillary/Obama spat and other such real news items the announcement by Jeff Peckman that he had video proving that outer space aliens exist was a natural. Peckman’s real agenda was to put an item in the budget of the Denver City Council to create an Extraterrestrial Affairs Commission to handle alien encounters.

OK, so had there been no other news to cover, I can see how this one might get a few minutes of play, but it seems every news organization has flocked to Peckman to se the footage of the alleged alien peeking in the window of a house. The video, taken with a black & white security camera by Stan Tiger Romanek back in 2003 in Nebraska. Of course, the image is fuzzy and hard to make out, and from the still that was leaked it is even impossible to tell if it is three dimensional or not.

The video was not released to the news media on the premise that it is being used in a documentary. In other words the whole thing is a tease and a promotion for the upcoming documentary. The whole thing sounds like a grab for Peckman’s 15 minutes of fame and the press should be smarter than that.

So someday we will see this footage which has been examined by a film school professor who says the video hasn’t been tampered with. However the reality of the alien remains in question. From the photo I have seen it is a real question as to whether it’s a puppet or a cutout or a balloon with eyes on it.

So if you believe in UFO’s you will see it as proof and if you are skeptic you will see it as fake. As for me, I see it as a waste of any more space on my blog….

IRS Drops Investigation Of United Church of Christ

Several months ago there was much ado in the press about the United Church of Christ being investigated by the FBI for illegal partisan electioneering. The whole matter stemmed from Senator Barack Obama, a member of the UCC, being invited to speak at the denominations general synod. There was a thought by the IRS that Obama people had been electioneering at the meeting.

I remember at the time my partner being rightfully suspicious of the investigation wondering if it was politically motivated. That suspicion still stands, but thanks to a thorough investigation the whole matter was dropped. The IRS determined that the UCC took sufficient steps to avoid any appearance that Obama's participation in the meeting was an endorsement of his candidacy.

Meanwhile on the Southern Baptist from the IRS also investigated the First Southern Baptist Church in Buena Park, CA. The pastor of that church had given a personal endorsement of Mike Huckabee. The investigation determined that it was only a personal endorsement and not on behalf of the congregation or church.

Though I still have my suspicions as to the “personal” nature of that endorsement, I think the IRS probably made the right decision. The rules on what churches can and cannot say regarding politics are vague and must be considered on a case by case basis. Though problematic, they still prevent churches from making political campaign contributions and full blown endorsements and that is a good thing.

Now, if the IRS could just find a way to investigate the hate-filled speech of so many of this country’s televangelists!

Comedy Great Harvey Korman Dead At 81

One of America’s great comedians has died at age 81. Harvey Korman, famous for his 10 year stint as second banana on the Carol Burnett Show died Thursday in Los Angeles of complications from the rupture of an abdominal aortic aneurysm four months ago.

His TV career began on the Danny Kaye show. He also did a variety of voice-overs for cartoons from Tom and Jerry to the Flintstones. Later his appearance in moves would expand his career. His character Hedley Lamar in “Blazing Saddles” will always be one of my favorites.

Harvey, you will be missed.

Scott McClellan Interview With Keith Olbermann

MSNBC got the scoop of the first prime time cable interview with former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan. Here is the first part of the interview. It is explosive. The full interview is on MSNBC.COM.

New York Governor Orders State To Recognize Same-Sex Marriages Performed Out Of State

The new governor of New York, David Paterson, has directed all state agencies to recognize same-sex marriages conducted in other states or countries. According to a story in the New York Times Paterson is quoted as saying same sex couples married elsewhere, “should be afforded the same recognition as any other legally performed union.”

Legal experts said the governor’s order would make New York the only state that did not itself allow gay marriage but fully recognized same-sex unions entered into elsewhere.

White House Tries To Deflect McClellan's Exposé

Let the name calling begin! Already, even before Scott McClellan’s book is officially out, soe of the guilty parties in the story are throwing mud. Karl Rove, mentioned often in McClellan’s book and noted as one of the people who actively disseminated false information regarding the CIA leak scandal says McClellan sounds like a “left wing blogger”. I guess that is damning talk coming from a Neocon?

The White House representative Dana Perino said, “Scott, we now know, is disgruntled about his experience at the White House…for those of us who fully supported him, before, during and after he was press secretary, we are puzzled. It is sad - this is not the Scott we knew."

Yes Dana it is sad that Scott played the role of piñata for so long, taking the press corps beating while he spouted the White House propaganda. What is equally sad is that Scott didn’t come forward earlier with some of this info. Had he done so, Bush and Cheney would most likely be spending more time with their families instead of destroying the country from the White House.

McBush Or McCain? Nice Video From Olbermann

McCain is just another analog for George Bush. I thought this was common knowledge, but apparently some folks haven't figured it out. So....for those of you who have been asleep for the past 7 years, here is a really nice summation of McBush...or McCain by Keith Olbermann.

Additionally, it has a really good (positive) clip of Barack Obama!

Former White House Press Secretary Exposes Bush Lies And Deceptions

In what will undoubtedly be the “tell all” book of the decade, Scott McClellan, former White House Press Secretary, has written a scathing memoir of the Bush Presidency. The book is titled “What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington’s Culture of Deception” and is far from a love letter to Bush and his staff.

According to Politico.com, who obtained a copy of the book this week McClellan says President Bush “veered terribly off course,” and was not “open and forthright on Iraq,” and took a “permanent campaign approach” to governing at the expense of candor and competence.

McClellan doesn’t stop at the Iraq war, he details a secret meeting between two top aids to “get their story straight” about the CIA leak scandal as well as pointing a finger at Karl Rove and Scooter Libby in the disinformation campaign around Valerie Plame.

The Washington Post quotes McClellan as describing Dick Cheney as "the magic man" who manipulated things from behind the scenes while leaving no fingerprints of his work. Now that's something many Americans have long suspected!

Sounds like a must read for the summer.

"Teens In Diapers" And Other Weird Searches

Once and a while I examine the stats from my site to see who is visiting and where they come from. It's always an enlightening experience.

Last year I ran a couple of stories about the Globe Magazine and its "Laura Wants a Divorce" story. It appeared numerous times at the supermarket checkout stand and though it may or may not have a shred of truth it was interesting because it showed that the country had fallen out of love with the Bush family. Back in 2001 such a story would not sell papers, it would most likely result in threats against the publisher. Not so today.

That story resulted in a ridiculous number of hits on my site searching for "Bush divorce" in the search engines. Well times have changed. Now I get lots of hits because of a story I ran months ago about a Christian youth group who played a game where the teenage boys had to wear diapers. It caused a brief outrage and showed a real lack of restraint on the part of the counselors at the group.

That story is now where most of my hits are coming from. That was months ago and yet hundreds of people are searching for "teens in diapers" in the search engines. I have to wonder if the whole diaper thing hasn't become one of America's more popular fetishes? Go figure?

Personally, I was hoping most of the visitors to this site are seeking my sage opinions on political matters. Oh yea, this is the internet we are talking about!

Mortgage Crisis - Audit Reveals Lenders Covered Up Risky Loans

Sometimes I wish there was a TIVO for the radio. I was listening to NPR this morning as they dissected the mortgage crisis and looked at the root causes as discovered by auditors. As best I can recall the chain of blame goes like this.

Subprime lenders started by making essentially bad loans. People who could not afford the price of the house they bought were given loans assuming that a certain number of these would be “bad”. Why? Well there is a lot of money to be made lending money even if it’s to people who you are pretty sure will default in a few years. Until that time, you can make the commissions and interest and then sell the loans in big bundles to an investment company. When you do that, you pass the bad loans along with the good ones and you the initial lender get out with a bundle of cash!

Next the investment company that bought the paper, bundles it up and sells it to still a larger firm, who accepts that there will be a certain number of loans that are not worth the paper they are written on, but the percentage of good loans makes it an attractive investment. Besides you are not going to keep it for long. Again the loans are bundled and sold and more cash is pocketed.
As many times as this happens the investors and sellers know that some of the loans are worthless, yet because there is so much money to be made they hold their nose and sell them anyway.

There is blame enough to go around. Buyers shouldn’t have gotten in over their head with more house than they could afford. Sellers shouldn’t have sold them more house than they could afford, and investors shouldn’t have bought the worthless paper. But there was so much profit to be made along the way, so why not!

So now Congress is looking at the whole messy debacle and trying to figure out what to do. Meanwhile there is an audit going on to see exactly who knew what and when. So far it looks like the big investment houses were well aware of the problem. Let the lawsuits begin!

The whole thing begins to sound like a deal that would warm the hearts of the Ferengi on Star Trek. For “non-trekies” they are a race of aliens motivated entirely by profit. Their holy book is called the “Rules of Acquisition” and making a fast buck, or whatever currency they have is their sacrament.

Ferengi Rule of Acquisition # 125. A lie isn't a lie until someone else knows the truth .

Sounds a lot like Wall Street doesn’t it?

Radio Ad Promotes Fear Of Transgendered In Colorado

The lovely alleged Christians at Focus on the Family have released the most hateful raido spot yet. It campaigns against Colorado Senate Bill 200 which outlaws discrimination based on sexual orientation including transgendered people.

The spot features a frightened little girl screaming about having a man in the restroom. It is the worst kind of fear mongering and unfortunately typical for Focus on the Family. Listen to it yourself. Warning it’s bound to make your blood boil!

Obama Get 6 More Delegates

Over the weekend, Senator Barack Obama picked up 6 more delegates while Senator Clinton garnered only one. Obama got delegates from Alaska, Wyoming and Georgia plus 3 from Hawaii. The count now puts Obama just 51.5 from the nomination according to NBC News.

The NBC NEWS Delegate Counts:
PLEDGED: Obama 1,647 to 1,502
SUPERDELEGATES: Obama 315.5 to 282.5
EDWARDS PL. DELEGATES: Obama 12 to 0
TOTAL: Obama 1,974.5 to 1,784.5

Clinton's Assassination Comment Was Not An Accident

I have had a lot of people ask me why I haven’t blogged about Hillary’s latest gaff. The reason is I was too disgusted to even write, and that’s pretty disgusted.

Senator Clinton is no stranger to scandal and bad press. She lived through a wild ride during her husband’s presidency. Having been in that position I figured she would be more sensitive to taking the low road, but apparently not. Her comments about Bobby Kennedy being assassinated in June and her later claim that she was only trying to make the point that the primaries aren’t over and things could change is crap.

Hillary is savvy enough to know that brining up the specter of assassination in regard to America’s first viable African-American candidate is so loaded with subtext as to be blatant. Obama had Secret Service protection long before any other candidate precisely because of the threats against him. Hillary knows that and made that remark for just that reason. She is not trying to motivate an assassin, just make voters and more specifically the Super-delegates worry that Senator Obama’s safety would be a big concern.

Her tactics are not a mere mistake as she claims. She is a seasoned politician, and she chooses her words carefully. The reality is she is a despicable old-school Washington insider taking a play from Carl Rove’s book. This is precisely why she should not be the Democratic candidate or on the ticket in any way.

Meanwhile, she has unleashed the flood of hate filled rhetoric from the likes of Fox News where a commentator over the weekend suggested that both Osama and Obama should be “bumped off”. That should qualify as a threat and I would hope the Secret Service might consider holding that person for questioning.

Meanwhile, Hillary continues to spin and complain; now claiming it was somehow Obama’s fault that she made the incendiary comment. Hillary needs to step down, and quickly before she exposes the nasty spirited person she so carefully hides within her.

Storm Chasing in Kansas & Oklahoma

If anyone has watched the movie Twister, let me assure you it has little to do with storm chasing. Real storm chasing is about hours and hours of driving and seeing lots of interesting clouds and maybe, just maybe a few tornados. Well, this weekend we got to see those tornados!

Patrick and I drove to up to north west Kansas just in time to see a couple of tornados form west of Ness City, Kansas. We chased them north past ransom and Cedar Bluff Lake until it got too dark. Earlier a tornado went through the town of Ellis, but that storm was too far north for us to get to in time.

Along the way we passed an armada of chasers surrounding Josh Wurman’s “doppler radar on wheels” and the strange TIV (Tornado Intercept Vehicle), the new Vortex Project crews as well as a few crews from Discovery Channel filming the action of the chasers filming the action. If that sounds confusing, it was. I have never seen so many SUV’s with multiple antennas in my life!

We spent the night in Great Bend after finding every hotel in the area of Hays was filled to the brim with chasers. The next morning we drove down to Oklahoma not expecting to see anything else. We would have continued to Iowa, but I had to be back in town Monday.


That’s where we got the surprise. Near the Oklahoma border we started seeing a discrete thunderstorm on our Mobile Threat Net radar. Luckily we were headed right for it and sure enough it put out. Near Perry, Oklahoma we caught up with the storm and watched as it put down two tornados at the same time. At least that is the way it appeared, I believe one may have been from a storm behind the other and we just happened to be in the right place to see them both.

We followed that storm system for another three hours and got pictures of another tornado and lots of wall clouds before it finally became rain-wrapped and hidden from view.

Returning home around 1:30am Sunday morning we were both beat. After church naps were the order of the day.

Santorum Lying Again About Gay Marriage

Just when you thought Rick Santorum was gone, the Philadelphia Inquirer exhumes him for an op-ed piece. Mr. Santorum uses the paper to make a ridiculous and lie-filled case against gay marriage. He uses Norway as an example of how gay marriage will destroy a country.

"Look at Norway. It began allowing same-sex marriage in the 1990s. In just the last decade, its heterosexual-marriage rates have nose-dived and its out-of-wedlock birthrate skyrocketed to 80 percent for firstborn children. Too bad for those kids who probably won’t have a dad around, but we can’t let the welfare of children stand in the way of social affirmation, can we?"

The problem? It’s not true. Norway’s birth rate jumped in the 1980’s well before same sex marriage was legalized in 1993.

Thinkprogress.org has more.

Anti-Terror TV Ad Running In Iraq

I suspect there is American money behiond this but it is a moving and wonderful TV ad against terrorism. The text at the end says "Terrorism has no religion". I just hope these work.

Coalition Troops And Random Shooting In Iraq

I have been reading and corresponding with a blogger in Iraq. He is a dentist who has watched his country fall into the abyss of a civil war.

A few days ago he was visiting a butcher shop and as he emerged on the street some guards from the Turkish embassy apparently got spooked and began randomly shooting people on the street. He escaped back into the shop and when he emerged there were wounded people everywhere. The embassy guards had left and the local people were left to transport the wounded civilians to the hospital or wherever for help.

The despair in his blog is sometimes gut wrenching, but it is a great insight into what Iraq has become. He also posts videos occasionally. This one is edited to the music and it shows a before and after glimpse of Iraq. I only pray we can find a way to end the bloodshed and return the country to some semblance of normalcy.



UPDATE: I was corrected by Dr. Mohammed that the soldiers who did the shooting were guards from the Turkish embassy or paid forces from there, not Turkish soldiers as I had originally written.

Nintendo Wii - Wii Wii Game! OMG!

Some toys are just to strange to pass up! This is the Super Pii Pii Brothers game or the Nintendo Wii. Only the Japanese could think of something this delightfully twisted!

GE Announces Hybrid Tug Boats

At a time when gas is soaring toward $4 or more a gallon and diesel fuel has left $4.50 in the dust, General Electric is proposing to take its diesel-electric technology developed from years of making locomotives to the shipping industry. GE is creating a hybrid diesel-electric tug boat. The new tug would burn 30% less fuel and have 80% less emissions. Sounds like a win-win to me.

Recently the company started plans to develop a diesel electric hybrid locomotive for railroad service. The new design uses the energy generated in braking the locomotive to recharge lead-free batteries, a considerable amount of power which is now wasted by dynamic brakes that turn this excess energy into heat. The GE engineers figured, why waste it?

Additionally other companies are working on similar technology which if fully implemented could reduce pollution by locomotives by 50%. Promising stuff, now if we can just get it rolled out for real!

Hillary - Time To Step Down!

Hillary Clinton is acting like a spoiled child. She is losing the game and now she wants to change the rules. It’s a little late for that and her rancorous behavior is only hurting the party and its chances of winning back the White House in November.

Senator Clinton is insisting that the delegates from Florida and Michigan be seated even though those states broke party rules and were told beforehand that their delegates would be disqualified. Why do I get images of a playground where a bratty little child starts stomping her feet and insisting that the rules be changed so she can win a game she has already lost?

Luckily Howard Dean and the Rules Committee might just have better sense than Senator Clinton. Changing the rules now would result in 48 really pissed off states and a flood of even earlier primaries next time. This primary season has gone on far too long already, the last thing we need is the distraction of a floor fight at the convention while John McCain is already campaigning for the White House.

Senator Clinton,

You have made a historic effort and paved the way for the run of future women for the highest office in the land. You are a true fighter and a worthy competitor, but it’s time to stand down. Join the party and start working to reclaim the White House for Democrats and stop trying to screw this election up.

McCain's Spiritual Advisor? More Crazy Clips Of John Hagee

And this man endorses John McCain. Why isn't the press swarming over him like they did Reverend Wright?

United Mine Workers Endorse Obama

Those who would say Barack Obama has no support from blue collar workers might want to think again. The United Mine Workers Union has endorsed Senator Obama for the Democratic nomination following his win in Oregon and despite his loss in Kentucky.

Union president Cecil E. Roberts said, "Senator Obama shares the values of UMWA members and our families. He understands and will fight for the needs our members have today and the hopes our members have for a secure future for themselves and their families."

Much has been made of Hillary’s base of voters in the Appalachian states but I suspect it is a matter of racial prejudice plain and simple. Her claim to own the working class vote is really the “white working class” vote. More specifically, the racially prejudiced white working class vote.

HBO's Recount - Eight Years Too Late

So now they decide to tell the true story of the Florida recount debacle! HBO's film, "Recount" looks like a good one but why didn't this story come out earlier?



UPDATE: Warren Christopher, Al Gore's Lawyer has denounced the film, saying, "much of what the author has written about me is pure fiction.... It contained events that never occurred, words I never spoke and decisions attributed to me that I never made."

Critics however say it's solid drama and an exciting film. Wouldn't be the first time Hollywood tinkered with dialogue.

Obama Wins Oregon & Majority Of Pleged Delegates - Victory Speech Transcript

On the eve of his victory in Oregon, Barack Obama made a speech in Des Moines, Iowa which was not so much a vicgtory speech but a statement of what the presidential campaign against John McCain will be. Here is the transcript of that speech:

__________________________

You know, there is a spirit that brought us here tonight – a spirit of change, and hope, and possibility. And there are few people in this country who embody that spirit more than our friend and our champion, Senator Edward Kennedy. He has spent his life in service to this country not for the sake of glory or recognition, but because he cares – deeply, in his gut – about the causes of justice, and equality, and opportunity. So many of us here have benefited in some way or another because of the battles he’s waged, and some of us are here because of them.

We know he is not well right now, but we also know that he’s a fighter. And as he takes on this fight, let us lift his spirits tonight by letting Ted Kennedy know that we are thinking of him, that we are praying for him, that we are standing with him, and that we will be fighting with him every step of the way.

Fifteen months ago, in the depths of winter, it was in this great state where we took the first steps of an unlikely journey to change America.

The skeptics predicted we wouldn’t get very far. The cynics dismissed us as a lot of hype and a little too much hope. And by the fall, the pundits in Washington had all but counted us out.

But the people of Iowa had a different idea.

From the very beginning, you knew that this journey wasn’t about me or any of the other candidates in this race. It’s about whether this country – at this defining moment – will continue down the same road that has failed us for so long, or whether we will seize this opportunity to take a different path – to forge a different future for the country we love.

That is the question that sent thousands upon thousands of you to high school gyms and VFW halls; to backyards and front porches; to steak fries and JJ dinners, where you spoke about what that future would look like.

You spoke of an America where working families don’t have to file for bankruptcy just because a child gets sick; where they don’t lose their home because some predatory lender tricks them out of it; where they don’t have to sit on the sidelines of the global economy because they couldn’t afford the cost of a college education. You spoke of an America where our parents and grandparents don’t spend their retirement in poverty because some CEO dumped their pension – an America where we don’t just value wealth, but the work and the workers who create it.

You spoke of an America where we don’t send our sons and daughters on tour after tour of duty to a war that has cost us thousands of lives and billions of dollars but has not made us safer. You spoke of an America where we match the might of our military with the strength of our diplomacy and the power of our ideals – a nation that is still the beacon of all that is good and all that is possible for humankind.

You spoke of a future where the politics we have in Washington finally reflect the values we hold as Americans – the values you live by here in Iowa: common sense and honesty; generosity and compassion; decency and responsibility. These values don’t belong to one class or one region or even one party – they are the values that bind us together as one country.

That is the country I saw in the faces of crowds that would stretch far into the horizon of our heartland – faces of every color, of every age – faces I see here tonight. You are Democrats who are tired of being divided; Republicans who no longer recognize the party that runs Washington; Independents who are hungry for change. You are the young people who’ve been inspired for the very first time and those not-so-young folks who’ve been inspired for the first time in a long time. You are veterans and church-goers; sportsmen and students; farmers and factory workers; teachers and business owners who have varied backgrounds and different traditions, but the same simple dreams for your children’s future.

Many of you have been disappointed by politics and politicians more times than you can count. You’ve seen promises broken and good ideas drown in the sea of influence, and point-scoring, and petty bickering that has consumed Washington. And you’ve been told over and over and over again to be cynical, and doubtful, and even fearful about the possibility that things can ever be different.

And yet, in spite of all the doubt and disappointment – or perhaps because of it – you came out on a cold winter’s night in numbers that this country has never seen, and you stood for change. And because you did, a few more stood up. And then a few thousand stood up. And then a few million stood up. And tonight, in the fullness of spring, with the help of those who stood up from Portland to Louisville, we have returned to Iowa with a majority of delegates elected by the American people, and you have put us within reach of the Democratic nomination for President of the United States.

The road here has been long, and that is partly because we’ve traveled it with one of the most formidable candidates to ever run for this office. In her thirty-five years of public service, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton has never given up on her fight for the American people, and tonight I congratulate her on her victory in Kentucky. We have had our disagreements during this campaign, but we all admire her courage, her commitment and her perseverance. No matter how this primary ends, Senator Clinton has shattered myths and broken barriers and changed the America in which my daughters and yours will come of age.

Some may see the millions upon millions of votes cast for each of us as evidence that our party is divided, but I see it as proof that we have never been more energized and united in our desire to take this country in a new direction. More than anything, we need this unity and this energy in the months to come, because while our primary has been long and hard-fought, the hardest and most important part of our journey still lies ahead.

We face an opponent, John McCain, who arrived in Washington nearly three decades ago as a Vietnam War hero, and earned an admirable reputation for straight talk and occasional independence from his party.

But this year’s Republican primary was a contest to see which candidate could out-Bush the other, and that is the contest John McCain won. The Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest 2% of Americans that once bothered Senator McCain’s conscience are now his only economic policy. The Bush health care plan that only helps those who are already healthy and wealthy is now John McCain’s answer to the 47 million Americans without insurance and the millions more who can’t pay their medical bills. The Bush Iraq policy that asks everything of our troops and nothing of Iraqi politicians is John McCain’s policy too, and so is the fear of tough and aggressive diplomacy that has left this country more isolated and less secure than at any time in recent history. The lobbyists who ruled George Bush’s Washington are now running John McCain’s campaign, and they actually had the nerve to say that the American people won’t care about this. Talk about out of touch!

I will leave it up to Senator McCain to explain to the American people whether his policies and positions represent long-held convictions or Washington calculations, but the one thing they don’t represent is change.

Change is a tax code that rewards work instead of wealth by cutting taxes for middle-class families, and senior citizens, and struggling homeowners; a tax code that rewards businesses that create good jobs here in America instead of the corporations that ship them overseas. That’s what change is.

Change is a health care plan that guarantees insurance to every American who wants; that brings down premiums for every family who needs it; that stops insurance companies from discriminating and denying coverage to those who need it most.

Change is an energy policy that doesn’t rely on buddying up to the Saudi Royal Family and then begging them for oil – an energy policy that puts a price on pollution and makes the oil companies invest their record profits in clean, renewable sources of energy that will create five million new jobs and leave our children a safer planet. That’s what change is.

Change is giving every child a world-class education by recruiting an army of new teachers with better pay and more support; by promising four years of tuition to any American willing to serve their community and their country; by realizing that the best education starts with parents who turn off the TV, and take away the video games, and read to our children once in awhile.

Change is ending a war that we never should’ve started and finishing a war against Al Qaeda in Afghanistan that we never should’ve ignored. Change is facing the threats of the twenty-first century not with bluster, or fear-mongering, or tough talk, but with tough diplomacy, and strong alliances, and confidence in the ideals that have made this nation the last, best hope of Earth. That is the legacy of Roosevelt, and Truman, and Kennedy.

That is what change is.

That is the choice in this election.

The same question that first led us to Iowa fifteen months ago is the one that has brought us back here tonight; it is the one we will debate from Washington to Florida, from New Hampshire to New Mexico – the question of whether this country, at this moment, will keep doing what we’ve been doing for four more years, or whether we will take that different path. It is more of the same versus change. It is the past versus the future. It has been asked and answered by generations before us, and now it is our turn to choose.

We will face our share of difficult and uncertain days in the journey ahead. The other side knows they have embraced yesterday’s policies and so they will also embrace yesterday’s tactics to try and change the subject. They will play on our fears and our doubts and our divisions to distract us from what matters to you and your future.

Well they can take the low road if they want, but it will not lead this country to a better place. And it will not work in this election. It won’t work because you won’t let it. Not this time. Not this year.

My faith in the decency, and honesty, and generosity of the American people is not based on false hope or blind optimism, but on what I have lived and what I have seen in this very state.

For in the darkest days of this campaign, when we were dismissed by all the polls and all the pundits, I would come to Iowa and see that there was something happening here that the world did not yet understand.

It’s what led high school and college students to give up their vacations to stuff envelopes and knock on doors, and why grandparents have spent all their afternoons making phone calls to perfect strangers. It’s what led men and women who can barely pay the bills to dig into their savings and write five dollar checks and ten dollar checks, and why young people from all over this country have left their friends and their families for a job that offers little pay and less sleep.

Change is coming to America.

It’s the spirit that sent the first patriots to Lexington and Concord and led the defenders of freedom to light the way north on an Underground Railroad. It’s what sent my grandfather’s generation to beachheads in Normandy, and women to Seneca Falls, and workers to picket lines and factory fences. It’s what led all those young men and women who saw beatings and billy clubs on their television screens to leave their homes, and get on buses, and march through the streets of Selma and Montgomery – black and white, rich and poor.

Change is coming to America.

It’s what I saw all those years ago on the streets of Chicago when I worked as an organizer – that in the face of joblessness, and hopelessness, and despair, a better day is still possible if there are people willing to work for it, and fight for it, and believe in it. That’s what I’ve seen here in Iowa. That’s what is happening in America – our journey may be long, our work will be great, but we know in our hearts we are ready for change, we are ready to come together, and in this election, we are ready to believe again. Thank you Iowa, and may God Bless America.

Disney Gives Chihuahuas A Reason To Dance!

OK, I really am not a big fan of talking animal movies, but occasionally one comes along that I find myself inexorably drawn to. Last year the strangely cute Ratatouille caught my eye. After all, who couldn’t love a talking rat that cooks? (ewww!)

This year it is a small dog that I often consider good only for punting practice, the Chihuahua. These tiny dogs seem to be born nervous and most that I have known have personalities that I would describe as “needy”. Of course that applies to most dogs.

Walt Disney, whose staple as long been talking animals, takes the tiny canine and makes it the star of a musical extraviganza, and if the trailers are any indication it will be big fun! So before all you Chihuahua lovers out there start flaming me, let me assure you that I do not really hate dogs, just needy dogs.

Watch and enjoy!

Senator Kennedy Has A Brain Tumor

Senator Edward Kennedy was hospitalized last week after suffering a seizure. Today, his doctors have diagnosed the cause, a brain tumor. The malignant tumor is a very dangerous kind and will require chemotherapy and radiation.

Dr. Lee Schwamm of Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, and Dr. Larry Ronan, a primary physician there, said the Massachusetts Senator has Glioma a dangerous kind of tumor that affects the central nervous system.

The Senators condition remains stable and according to his doctors, "he has had no further seizures, remains in good overall condition and is up and walking around the hospital."

Clinton Claims Delegate Lead - (Only With Florida & Michigan)

Hillary’s claims are getting sad. She claims she has the lead in popular votes, but that is true only if the unsanctioned primaries of Michigan and Florida are counted. Michigan, a state where Obama was not even o the ballot because he was deferring to party rules that penalized the state for moving their primary up too early.

It just shows that Hillary will spin, cajole and even lie to make it appear she is the “lead” candidate. Her hopes of swaying superdelegates have faded in the real world and more and more delegates are declaring for Obama. It is time Senator Clinton made a tasteful and expeditious exit before she looks like a fool.

Warren Buffett Endorses Obama!

When he speaks Wall Street listens. Now Warren Buffett is speaking and this time it is to endorse Barack Obama. "I will be very happy if he is elected president. He is my choice," Buffett said.

Having watched the economy tank under the Bush administration Buffett still feels upbeat about America’s financial prospects in the future. Alluding to the Bush management of the economy Buffett said, “ They say in the stock market ... buy stock in a business that's so good that an idiot can run it because sooner or later one will. Well, the United States is a little like that. We can take a little mis-management from time to time,"

75,000 Turn Out For Obama In Oregon!

Oregonians love Obama. That is the message I got from the turnout at the rally in Portland today. 75,000+ people showed up for the rally today in advance of Tuesday's primary.

Olbermann To Bush: "This War Is Not About You...Shut The Hell Up!"

It's a rant, but its the truth! Thanks to Eat The Press at Huffington Post.

The Real McCain - Video!

The press is giving John McCain a free ride. Luckily there are folks out there who have made it their business to show an accurate picture of this candidate. He is every bit as much a liar as George Bush. His election would be just another 4 years of the Bush administration in a new costume.

O'Reilly's Rant As A Music Video - Great Parody!

Produced by Torrey Meeks this is a great dance mix video!

Huckabee "Jokes" About Shooting Obama!

So Mike Huckabee has finally shown his true stripes. He made a completely tasteless “joke” about Senator Barack Obama ducking a gunman as he spoke to the National Rifle Association today. After hearing a loud noise offstage, Huckabee came out with the following distasteful rant.

“That was Barack Obama, he just tripped off a chair, he’s getting ready to speak,” said the former Arkansas governor, to audience laughter. “Somebody aimed a gun at him and he dove for the floor.”

I certainly hope the Secret Service takes his “joke” seriously. In the past such statements were sometimes considered veiled threats and cold be subject to prosecution. I guess he has no hopes of -being a VP for McCain, so he figures he might as well come out as a violence-loving right wing wacko!



UPDATE: Pundits and politicians alike are outraged by Mike Huckabee’s “joke” about shooting Barack Obama. It was not only a mistake, it was a stupid mistake. Watching CNN, all the commentators found it outrageous and Jack Cafferty described Hickabee best, “He’s an idiot!”

Bush Lies About His "Golf Sacrifice" - Video Proof!

President Bush lies again. Not such big news, but considering how sincerely he did it clearly shows the character of the GOP and its obsession with appearances and not substance. Bush worries about being seen playing golf as some sign of disrespecting the families of troops, however it’s a BIG LIE!

Bush played golf long after the event that Bush said prompted his end of playing golf and NBC had the footage of him doing it. WHERE IS THE OUTRAGE? WHERE IS THE DEMAND THAT HE STOP LYING? WHERE IS THE DEMAND FOR HIS IMPEACHMENT?

Sad truth is it’s just another Bush lie. Like so many it means nothing to him and in lying so many times he actually dissrescpects the American people as well as our troops fighting overseas. Along with this lie, he objects to the GI bill that will fund our forces and give them a raise. Bush shows once again that he is a tool of corporate power and far from the loyal American he professes to be.

Hope - New Obama Ad From MoveOn.org

Conyers Wants Rove To Appear Or Face Arrest

House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers is fast becoming one of my favorite congressmen. His investigation into Rove’s role in the iimprisonment of former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman as well as other allegations lead to Rove’s being subpoenaed . Roves refusal to appear constitutes contempt and Conyers doesn’t take that lightly.

Conyers stated in response to a question about Rove refusal to appear, “We’ll do what any self-respecting committee would do. We’d hold him in contempt. Either that or go and have him arrested.” Now that’s the kind of Democrat I want in Washington!

Jon Stewart Has The Real Reason Hillary Won In WV

T. Boone Pickens Gets Into The Wind Power Business

Oil men are not stupid, they can read which way the wind is blowing. That’s true of T. Boone Pickens, legendary oil man from the panhandle. His company Mesa Power LLC just placed a $2 billion order with GE for wind turbines.

He plans to erect the turbines in a wind farm on his land that will generate 1000 megawatts of electricity, a little more than a nuclear plant. Pickens is buying 667 of the giant wind turbines which represents just the first phase of his power project. When complete it will generate 4000 megawatts of power.

The Public Utility Commission is working on transmission lines to accommodate new wind power though Pampa lies outside the current area, it may still be connected. Pickens says if the commission fails to connect his wind farm, he will build his own transmission lines.

Man Accidentally Shoots Himself While Scratching His Back With A Gun

Perhaps this incident will show up in next year’s Darwin Awards, but for now it makes for an interesting read.

Seems Jorge Espinal had been playing poker with friends. Well, not just playing poker, but drinking beer and playing poker. Apparently Jorge got up from the table and went into another room. He felt an itch on his back and he picked up the first thing he could find, A PISTOL, and tried to use it to scratch the itch with it.

You can figure out where this is going. The gun went off and he ended up shooting himself. When he returned to the game, his friends didn’t believe him until they saw the blood running down his back. I guess the gunshot was not a clue?

He was treated at the hospital and released. I suspect he will think twice about using a pistol for a back scratcher again. Perhaps a shotgun would wlrk better, it’s longer and the sights on shotguns make for better scratching!

Yacht Party! The New GOP Brand.

How about this for a re-branding of the GOP?

Obama Gets 4 More Superdelegates!

Obamamania continues. Barack Obama picked up 4 more superdelegates today as well as John Edwards endorsement and another 19 potential delegates if Edwards pledged delegates move to the Obama camp. The momentum is building and it’s looking more and more like a sure thing.

Not A Rumor Anymore - Edwards Will Endorse Obama Tonight!

Watching Hillary Clinton in the past few days has been a real test of my intestinal fortitude. It takes guts to watch her posture and spin, trying to remake the reality of the math that everyone else sees. It seems everyone but Hillary knows it’s over.

Tonight rumor has it John Edwards will endorse Barack Obama for President. The deafining silence from the Edwards folks when asked directly seems to indicate the rumors are true. Obama promises a big announcement at 7:00pm ET. My bet is on Edwards, too.

UPDATE: ABC News and others have confirmed that Edwards will endorse Barack Obama tonight!

Mississippi Elects Democrat To Replace Trent Lott

Could Mississippi turn blue? Looks like there is a better chance than ever before. Democrat Travis Childers beat his Republican opponent to fill the seat left vacant by Trent Lott and filled temporarily by Roger Wicker.

The GOP tried to tie him to Obama, Nancy Pelosi and the national Democratic policies, but Childers, a conservative Democrat managed to shrug off the threat and win. In a state with a large African-American population the GOP tactic of trying to associate Childers with Obama may have backfired.

Even Dick Cheney made a visit to try to sway voters at the last minute, but “Darth Vader” was no match for the will of the people. Look to Mississippi for a real surprise in November!

Jon Stewart's Interview With Douglas Feith Reveals More Bush Administration Lies About The War

Once in a while the Daily Show with Jon Stewart tackles a real news story that other outlets just won’t approach. Last night’s interview with Douglas Feith was the kind of journalism that “real” reporters should be doing.

Feith was in to flog his new book War & Decision, a book that is an unabashed rewriting of history to soft pedal the lies spouted by the Bush administration to go to war. Stewart would not let Feith get away with crap. Instead he pinned him down and asked him point blank about the administrations assessment of the risks before the war.

“If you knew the perils, but the conversation that you had with the public painted a rosier picture, how is that not deception? The fact that you seemed to know all the risks takes this from manslaughter to homicide. […]”

Stewart should win another Peabody for this hard hitting interview.

Painting The Panhandle Blue

Texas is really starting to change, and what has long been a Republican gimmie, the Texas panhandle, may soon be in play. Jobsanger has a really astute analysis of the situation. The combination of population loss in rural counties and increasing Latino influence may paint the panhandle blue some day.

Moldovian Gay Pride Bus Hijacked While Police Watch

Moldova joins the ranks of other Eastern European “Not-Ready-for-Prime-Time” countries as a bus load of Gay Pride celebrants was hijacked in full view of the police who stood by and did nothing.

A large, aggressive and well-coordinated group of religious extremists blocked the bus carrying Gay Pride participants. Then they forced open the door the door of the bus before violently trying to break the windows. Throughout the incident, police stood by watching the attack as “passive observers”.

The parade organizers, GenderDoc-M, the country’s LGBT non-governmental organisation, had informed local authorities and as early as April 21 about the route of the march, and requested police protection. The law on freedom of assembly in Moldova guarantees peaceful assembly to everyone, and puts an obligation on the police to guarantee the safety of participants.

“The police did not facilitate the exit of pride participants from the bus into the street, did not prevent the rival aggressive groups from intervention, and through their passivity encouraged escalation of violence and the build up of the all-permissive hostile atmosphere,” GenderDoc-M said in a statement this afternoon.

Similar incidents have happened in other Eastern European (former Soviet) countries where religious fundamentalists have made significant inroads in recruiting members. Latvia recently added discrimination against LGBT people into their constitution.

As a gay man, I would seriously reconsider any travel to one of these countries and consider them a risky place for GLBT tourists.

Hillary Ready To Spin After West Virginia

Get ready for the spin to begin as soon as West Virginia polls close. Clinton, who will most likey win in WV will crank up the spin to make this tiny victory sound like the tide has turned again, but it is too little too late. A total of only 28 delegates are in West Virginia and it is unlikely that Hillary will win all of them, still leaving her in a back seat for the nomination.

But, facts have never stopped Hillary from anything. She will claim that the WV primary puts her back in serious contention for the nomination and will start lobbying superdelegates again with a vengeance. The truth is she will not win the nomination. Her vindictiveness and low road tactics have already alienated many Democrats and her willingness to sacrifice the party at the alter of her nomination shows just how wrong she would be for the November race.

Americans are looking for a different breed of politician and Clinton represents all that is wrong with Washington.

Note to Barack Obama: I would seriously consider a “food taster” if I were selecting her as a VP choice.

More Domestic Spying WIth Less Results!

More and more Americans are having their privacy invaded by the government. Wiretaps, bank record searches, all increased since 9/11 yet the number of prosecutions has decreased as the spying increases. This means we have sacrificed our privacy for nothing.

According to an article in the LA Times:

A recent study showed that the number of terrorism and national security cases initiated by the Justice Department in 2007 was more than 50% below 2002 levels. The nonprofit Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University, which obtained the data under the Freedom of Information Act, found that the number of cases brought declined 19% in the last year alone, dropping to 505 in 2007 from 624 in 2006.

By contrast, the Justice Department reported last month that the nation's spy court had granted 2,370 warrant requests by the department to search or eavesdrop on suspected terrorists and spies in the U.S. last year -- 9% more than in 2006. The number of such warrants approved by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court has more than doubled since the 2001 terrorist attacks.

Saturday Night Live Finally Skewers Hillary!

Nevada Judge A "Domme" In Her Courtroom

It amazes me that some people really have no idea how kinky they really are. Take the couple who likes a little playful spanking before sex. To me they are kinky, even though they would deny it. Kinky is not a bad thing, it just means you take your pleasures in ways that fall outside the mainstream. Anyone who knows me can attest, I am kinky and proud of it.

That brings me to the case of the Nevada judge, Elizabeth Halverson. She has been playing “dominance and submission” games for years. That expression would be the “DS” in BDSM by many definitions and that would qualify as kinky in my book. In itself that poses no problems at all for me. I live in a community filled with kinky folks, however most if not all of them know where it is appropriate to play their kinky games and where it is not. Judge Halverson apparently has a problem with setting those limits.

She has been suspended from her position and locked from her courtroom because she was repeatedly treated her bailiff as “her houseboy”. She has had him put on her shoes, drape a blanket around her shoulders and give her back massages. She is even quoted as asking him, “Do you want to worship me from near or afar?"

Now to be fair the judge does have a few health problems. She is very obese and uses a motorized wheelchair, but she also seems to be able to fend for herself and seems more than capable of dominating her staff. Apparently she can dominate her husband as well because she had him sworn in one day so she could ask him if he had completed his chores at home. If that isn’t the act of a Domme, (the term used for a female dominant) I don’t know what is.

The problem is one of consensuality, and bringing your kink into the courtroom certainly is a non-consensual act. I have no problem with people being as kinky as they want in the appropriate setting, say a bedroom or a private party or a public dungeon. Exercising your dominance over government employees who did not agree to that kind of role play is another story entirely.

I suspect Judge Halverson actually has no idea of her Domme tendencies and just thinks she is acting rationally. Perhaps she should be enlightened and read a few books on the topic. She might find her personal life becoming much more fun and her professional life much less controversial. Should she be interested, I would be happy to suggest a reading list.

Obama Gains 9 More Super-Delegates

It seems like everyone but Hillary knows it’s over. Obama picked up 9 more super-delegates today further solidifying his lead. Even John Edwards intimated that he might endorse Obama soon, saying that Hillary’s math just didn’t work out.

ABC News even shows a higher total of super-delegates than Hillary overall, a first for Obama’s campaign.

Federal Judge Orders CIA To Turn Over "Torture Memo"

Looks like the feds are finally getting interested in the Bush administration’s illegal activity. U.S. District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein of New York yesterday ordered the CIA “to submit to the court a 2002 memo said to specify harsh interrogation methods used on suspected terrorists held abroad.”

The investigation is part of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit brought by the ACLU and other organizations. According to a press release from the ACLU:

"This memo authorized the CIA to use specific torture techniques – including waterboarding," said Jameel Jaffer, Director of the ACLU National Security Project. "As Attorney General Mukasey has acknowledged, CIA agents waterboarded prisoners because this memo told them that they could. The memo is being withheld not for legitimate security reasons, but in order to protect government officials from accountability for their decisions."

For almost four years, the ACLU has been challenging the government's assertion that the OLC memo could not be released because of attorney-client privilege. The ACLU has argued that the privilege does not apply to a legal memo that the CIA adopted as a matter of policy. At a hearing in January, the judge sided with the government, but he reconsidered his decision after senior officials publicly acknowledged that the CIA had waterboarded three prisoners and after Attorney General Michael Mukasey stated to Congress that the CIA's interrogation program had been authorized by the OLC.

More on this at the ACLU website.

McCain's Big Problem

McCains "Spiritual Guide" Wants America to Destroy Islam

This guy believes that the United States founding fathers actually created our country to fight the spread of Islam. And some people though Rev. Wright was radical?

Gay Paper, Washington Blade "Unendorses" Hillary

The Washington Blade, a major GLBT publication with syndication throughout the country has “unendorsed” Hillary Clinton. In their own words:

Last night's results in the North Carolina and Indiana primaries have left Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton out of options. She ran a tough and spirited campaign that will be talked about for a generation. But it’s over.

The time has come for Clinton to adopt a gracious and conciliatory tone, end her campaign and endorse Sen. Barack Obama for president.

I'd Rather Be Waterboarding!

US Ranks 27th Best Place To Be A Mother

The non-profit organization Save the Children has released its list of best and worst places for mothers in the world. Surprisingly the United States came in at only 27. This means the myth of “great healthcare” in America is just that, a myth!

Our neighbors to the north, Canada, fared better at #20 but by far the best places to be a mother and infant would be the Nordic countries of Sweden, Norway and Iceland, followed by New Zealand, Denmark , Australia and Finland. Also not surprising were the lowest ranks in Niger, Chad, Sierra Leon and Yemen.

The report is available in pdf format here.

Obama Picks Up 4 More Superdelegates

Senator Barack Obama picked up 4 more Superdelegates after his decisive win in North Carolina last night That coupled with Hillary's lackluster showing in Indiana has lead at least some Superdelegates to make the commitment for Obama.

Huffington Post has more.

Jeanette Council, an undecided superdelegate from North Carolina, said she decided over the weekend to endorse Obama but waited until after voters cast their ballots to announce it on Wednesday.

"I just think Senator Obama is the face of America," Council, a commissioner from Cumberland County, said in an interview with The Associated Press. "When I looked at it, I was so excited at the fact that he was bringing in so many new people and there was an excitement around the campaign."

Clinton Campaign Hints At Drop Out By June 15

Huffington Post writer Lawrence O’Donnell spoke with Clinton campaign officials who quietly told him that “we will have a nominee by June 15”. O’Donnell pressed him to clarify the remark and said, “Does that mean Hillary will drop out of the race by June 15?” The aid explained how reasonable Hillary was and emphasized that “we will have a nominee by June 15.”

Sounds like even those who have drunk the Clinton Kool-Aid even know it’s a hopeless quest. My hope is that she does so sooner than later to avoid any more blood or expense prior to the general election in November.

CLinton Campaign On Life-Support, Hillary Lends It $6.4 Million

Sometimes people need to be told, “it’s over”. Hillary Clinton is one of those people. She had a very disappointing outcome of last night’s election and stands no chance of gathering the needed delegates for a nomination short of some sort of back room trick.

Today she lent her campaign another $6.4 million dollars so they can continue the futile campaign. It’s like watching a train wreck in slow motion, you just can’t turn away. Hopefully, the Party will begin lobbying her to find a way to bow out before she exhausts her fortune and her career.

Obama Wins NC, Clinton Squeeks By In Indiana

I stayed up late last night watching the election returns from Indiana. As expected Hillary Clinton won the primary, but not even close to the double digits she needed to stay in the race. She won by 2% points! Meanwhile in North Carolina, Obama won a decisive victory with a 56% to 42% lead. The only states left are much less populated and Hillary has virtually no chance of winning enough delegates to overcome Obama’s lead.

It is time she gracefully stepped down. Last night she even intimated she would support whoever was the candidate and work to defeat John McCain in November, so why not now? She can avoid further polarizing the party and help heal the wounds inflicted by the longest primary campaign in my memory.

FBI Agents Raid Bush Appointee’s Home & Office

It seems that now as the Bush administration is winding down the FBI and other government agencies have come out of their shells. Today the FBI raided the offices of Special Council Scott Bloch. They seized his records and computers in an ongoing investigation into obstruction of justice by Mr. Bloch during the course of a 2006 inquiry into his conduct.

Bloch was supposed to be looking into the use of government resources by Karl Rove during the 2006 election. Bloch also has other investigations going on regarding his conduct as well. Since 2005 he has been under investigation for improperly retaliating against employees who disagreed with his policies, such as that “federal employees are not protected from discrimination based on sexual orientation”.

My biggest question is when will the FBI go after Karl Rove and the rest of the Bush gang?

Tax Loophole Video! How Buyouts Bilk America

Flordia Teacher Removed From Post For "Wizardry"!

Ah, Florida. One of the most beautiful states in the country with some of the dumbest people God ever put on this earth. In the town of Land O’Lakes a teacher showed his class a mgic trick where he made a toothpick disappear.

In the middle of the day he got a call from the supervisor telling him basically to clear out his desk. Apparently a student accused the teacher of “wizardry”. Say what?

It seems that this intellectual backwater actually takes a charge of “wizardry” seriously and has removed from his teaching position. The teacher Jim Piculas told reporters that he worries he will be unable to find another teaching position in the state.

Now all you people who want to break the Democratic Party rules and seat the Florida delegation, even though the election was held in violation of party rules, remember this incident. Any place where they believe slight of hand is really magic, would believe almost anything. Perhaps not seating the Florida delegation might really boost the combined IQ of the Democratic Party?

Kidding aside, this kind of crap is what results when you have school boards ruled by home-schooled fundamentalists and not educators. Welcome to the new dark ages!

New Obama TV Ad for North Carolina

Obama's latest TV ad hits Hillary with her own words.

Hillary Camp Threatens Nuclear Option To Get The Nomination

As I have long though Hillary Clintons ego and ambition know no bounds. Her campaign today confirmed that they are willing to use what the Huffington Post has called the "nuclear option" in winning the democratic nomination. That means seating the Florida and Michigan delegates in violation of the rules.

How can they do it? Well they have pro-Clinton members of the rules committee who will simply finagle the rules to allow the delegates to be seated. Forcing the seating of delegates from states that clearly violated the rules, and states where Obama did not campaign and was not even on the ballot since these states violated the party rules would be a disaster. It might secure Hillary enough delegates, but it would split the Democratic Party in two. It would infuriate the 48 states who played by the rules and assure a complete mess at the convention.

A big fight at the convention will drive away potential Democratic voters and lose the election for Democrats, but Hillary doesn’t care. She wants her nomination, damn it and to hell with the party or fair play or rules!

I can assure Ms. Clinton she will not receive my vote nor that of any of my friends should she pull this dirty trick and I will just suffer through 4 more years of Bush or his proxy, McCain rather than see her win by dirty Washington tricks!

Passionate statement? You betcha! It is sure to piss off my fellow Democrats but it’ s not only the way I feel, it will have the effect I predict. I will continue to campaign for Obama and work on local races. I will vote straight Democratic ticket for everyone but the president and in that category, should Clinton pull her dirty trick to get the nomination, I will abstain.

Should she win the nomination legitimately, that will be a different story. However, it looks like she cannot win in a fair fight. We will see.

Two Former DNC Chairs Endorse Obama Now!

In addition to Joe Andrew, former DNC chair under Bill Clinton, Barack Obama has picked up super delegate Paul Kirk, the former DNC chair from 1985-89. Andrew’s endorsement was perhaps a bigger surprise since he had first come out in favor of Hillary Clinton, but has now changed his mind.

Why did Andrew change? Perhaps his quote from a Huffington Post editorial tells it all.

Innuendo is easy. The truth is hard.

Sound bites are easy. Solutions are hard.

Spin is simple and easy. Struggling with facts is complicated and hard.

I have learned the hard way that you can love the candidate and hate the campaign. My stomach churns when I think how my old friends in the Clinton campaign will just pick up the old silly Republican play book and call in the same old artificial attacks and bombardments we have all heard before.

That is a poignant message!

Exxon-Mobil Profits up 17%, Not Enough For Wall Street!

Greed, especially on Wall Street knows no boundaries. Exxon-Mobil turned in a 17% increase in third quarter profits, a whopping $10.9 billion, the second-biggest U.S. quarterly corporate profit ever! The problem? Well, that fell short of what Wall Street expected and therefore people began dumping Exxon stock like hot potatoes. The stock fell 4%.

In the world of greedy investors, making the second biggest profit in US history just isn’t good enough. That says a lot about our country and it’s not good. Seems speculators are always trying to squeeze every dime they can out of anything they touch and the people who pay are the American citizens. The oil crunch is in part brought on my speculators who have moved from the mortgage market to commodities. In part the same thing holds true for rising food prices worldwide.

John McCain On Our Victory In Iraq

He said it would be easy!

Five Year Anniversary Of Victory In Iraq?

Five years ago today, President Bush emerged from a jet on the deck of U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln and declared an end to major military operations in Iraq. He strutted like a peacock, his critch bulging in the flight suit harness.

Today as over 4000 American soldiers have died in Iraq, the whole thing seems really obscene.

Obama On Gas Prices

Here's the new campaign ad running in North Carolina.

Hillary Clinton Campaign Behind Deceptive Robo-Calls in NC

Mysterious Robo-Calls have been targeting unmarried NC women voters, telling them they had to wait for “voter registration packets” before they could vote. The calls imply that these women for some unknown reason can’t use their existing voter registration, and that is a scam. Voter registration ended on April 11, the calls are designed to confuse potential voters and keep them away from the polls.

Here’s the text of the calls:

"Hello, this is Lamont Williams. In the next few days, you will receive a voter registration packet in the mail. All you need to do is sign it, date it and return your application. Then you will be able to vote and make your voice heard. Please return the voter registration form when it arrives. Thank you."

The group behind the deceptive robo-calls is “Women’s Voices Women Vote” an organization run by people like John Podesta, former Chief of Staff for President Bill Clinton. Other big money behind the organization also have direct Hillary ties.

Why the targeted demographic? Well that group is very likely to vote for Obama.

UPDATE: According to Pam at Pam's House Blend the same calls are also going out to black voters in North Carolina as well.

Hillary Gets Endorsement In The Form Of A Gay Slur

Hillary has been using “Swift Boat” tactics against Obama and now Hillary gets an endorsement from North Carolina Governor Easley wrapped in a gay slur! What kind of candidate is she? Easley seems to think she makes “Rocky Balboa look like a pansy”. Why not just come out and say “faggot”? Strange bedfellows she has endorsing her.

If she doesn’t stop her flailing at Obama, the Clinton camp is single handedly trying to give McCain the presidency. Today on Fox News, in an interview with Bill O’Riley, Hillary jumped back into the Reverend Wright thing again. She is really trying her best to create as many controversies around Obama as she can, even when they are non-issues. The tactic may make her the “lesser of two evils” candidate in a match up with McCain, but it’s exposing her as an old school politician who plays the Washington game for blood. That is exactly what this country doesn’t need. We’ve had many years of that crap and it’s time for real change.

McCain Has Affiar Vs. Wacko Preacher!

So let me get this straight. McCain is alleged to have and affair with a hot female lobbyist and the press gives him a pass. Obama’s pastor starts rattling like a teapot and it’s the story that won’t go away. Just how does that mean the press has a liberal bias?

Reverend Wright is certainly fun to watch and makes a great sound bite, but he has absolutely no bearing on the real issues of the campaign. Meanwhile, John McCain has been making statements that directly contradict statements he made previously about the war, taxes, campaign financing and that is just not so interesting.

Over in the Hillary camp, they are chortling at having pushed the YouTube clip of Wright and ignighting the whole thing, while she continues to insist on special treatment in regard to the Michigan and Florida delegates. Hillary lies about her experiences on the tarmac in Bosnia and it dies in a day or two. It just makes me wonder.

Not to be cynical or anything, but I have to wonder if he politics as usual crowd is systematically trying to pull the Democratic party back into the smoke filled room. After all, so many new voters have cast ballots for Democrats recently, it must be upsetting for the party old guard who still want to control everything and reinstate a Clinton dynasty. My hope is that their old school tactics won’t alienate all the healthy new blood that Obama has attracted to the party.

As for the press. Well they will always take the easy route. A story about a wild eyed ranting pastor is much easier to do than something requiring real investigative reporting. Unfortunately the press in this country has become a lapdog for PR agents. Press releases become uncontested stories and research is something there is just no time for in the 24 hour news cycle. Ben Franklin must be rolling in the grave!

Bush Speaks Yet Says Nothing

I keep hearing “lalalalalala” when I listen to Bush speak. His news conference today in the Rose Garden showed how little he cares for the American people. His proposals to help lower gas prices are laughable and too little too late. Drilling in the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge will have absolutely no effect on the oil situation today and it will take 10 years before a drop of that oil reaches the market.

His administration and his presidency has lost the confidence of the American people. At a time when the economy is going south really quickly, he hums and haws and refuses to see the recession that has overtaken the country.

Someone needs to sit him down and explain to him that he has no allies anymore and he needs to just go away! I sometimes wish we had the British system where once confidence fails there is an election and a new government. In our case that might be every few weeks at this rate.

The Myth Of Clean Coal

Every time I see one of those “clean coal” ads on TV I have to wonder how it is that big companies can bend the truth with impunity to the American public. The statistics quoted in the ads are used to confuse people and make them think that coal is not a part of the pollution problem. When they speak about reductions of emissions they are not talking about greenhouse gasses. Coal-fired power plants belch tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere every minute.

The ads also side step the issue of mountaintop removal and the environmental damage caused by this highly destructive mining technique. Additionally coal mining pollutes water and destroys streams. According to the EPA environmental impact statement, more than 1,000 miles of Appalachian streams were permitted to be buried as of 2001.

Coal has to be moved as well. Most of the power plants are far from the coal fields and that means thousands of rail trips to bring it to the generating plants. Rail traffic in American runs on diesel, a fossil fuel that contributes to the pollution and greenhouse gasses.

The Clean Coal campaign is a sham designed to put a happy face on the dirty business of coal mining and burning. We must expand our use of renewable energy such as solar and wind power or we will kill our planet.

I made the switch from an electrical provider who uses coal to one who relies on wind, hydro and solar to generate the power it feeds into the grid. In time, my partner and I hope to equip our house with our own solar panels and wean ourselves off the grid as much as possible. I urge you to learn more and take action to change the way power is generated in this country.

Scalia - Nut Case & Supreme Court Justice

Anton Scalia is not just a far-right nut case, he’s a Supreme Court justice and that’s a dangerous combination. Scalia seems to make his decisions based on a coin toss with very little clear reasoning. He claims he is a strict Constitutionalist and in a recent interview he stated that the “Constitution is not a living document” but dead. He interprets it, supposedly, just as the framers intended.

So Scalia can read minds and channel the Founding Fathers? What is this guy on?

When pressed about whether torture was cruel and unusual punishments he parses his words about as much as George Bush. Someone needs to figure a way to pull him off the court, or offer him a nice big job in the private sector and get him out of public office.

Global Food Crisis - The Story You Might Have Missed

Here in our country we see a limit to the number of bags of rice we can buy at Cosco and it’s big news. Elsewhere in the world there is no limit on rice, there simply is none! The world stands on the brink of a gigantic food shortage.

Drought, pollution and floods have all caused problems in the world food supply and grains are the canary in the coal mine. Add to that the misguided push for ethanol based fuels, where food is converted to fuel and burned and the crisis gets an extra nudge. It is all driving prices through the roof for food.

The Washington Post reports on the global crisis saying,

Food was becoming the new gold. Investors fleeing Wall Street's mortgage-related strife plowed hundreds of millions of dollars into grain futures, driving prices up even more. By Christmas, a global panic was building. With fewer places to turn, and tempted by the weaker dollar, nations staged a run on the American wheat harvest.

Foreign buyers, who typically seek to purchase one or two months' supply of wheat at a time, suddenly began to stockpile. They put in orders on U.S. grain exchanges two to three times larger than normal as food riots began to erupt worldwide. This led major domestic U.S. mills to jump into the fray with their own massive orders,
fearing that there would soon be no wheat left at any price.

The high prices are throwing the world food supply seriously out of kilter and that is leading to political unrest in many countries. Governments from Haiti to Malaysia are teetering because of the food shortage.

Meanwhile, we in this country see gas prices rising to record levels and those will soon be followed by higher food prices. The hike will be a result of not only the increased cost in transportation, but a genuine shortage of food worldwide.

This is a problem the next administration will have to seriously take a look at, and the answers will no doubt be as difficult as the questions raised by the crisis.

Gas Will Hit $4.00 Per Gallon In Dallas In 2 Weeks

I heard an interesting tidbit today. A friend of mine in church told me he was speaking with an acquaintance who worked for a local gas/convenience store franchise. They had just gotten new training on how to deal with irate customers who will undoubtedly crop up when gas reaches $4.00 per gallon in the next 2 weeks.

Right now it’s at $3.55 a gallon. That means they are planning to raise it almost 50 cents in the next two weeks. And President Bush says there is no recession? Consider also that Exxon-Mobil posted the largest profits for any company ever! Something is very wrong here when energy companies carefully plan for a massive hike even as they are rolling in dough.

Sure am glad at least one of our cars is a Prius!