Hannity's head explodes

guess you were right

man she is making me sick--"my opponent outspent me 2 to 1, but the people of PA have spoken"....GODD!! turned off the radio!

After Hillary's win in Pennsylvania last night, a couple of things are clear: focusing on a low-level gutter campaign against Hillary by Obama is a losing strategy and the real focus for the leading candidate should be the defeat of McCain.

So, with Indiana and North Carolina coming up, I thing Barack should focus on campaigning against McCain and ignore Hillary entirely. First of all, that will be a frustrating situation for Hillary, who really needs Obama to jump when she hits him with a negative. If he ignores her, she is perceived as powerless.Secondly, McCain is campaigning against the Democrats right now... and he is focusing on Obama in particular. There is no good reason to give the Republican such a headstart on the National election.

Obama has the campaign organization and the money to go hard into campaigning as the leading Democrat against McCain. Hillary is nearly broke. If she pushes even harder after Obama the way she did in Pennsylvania, it will be very costly for her, and will alienate many Democrats who will see Obama as above the negatives.

There really is no other way to proceed successfully.

Under The LobsterScope

The Rush Limpballs crowd is still voting for Hillary?

Limpballs....I gotta watch DN....did Amy chew her up?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-BszlG4xQo

just think of it this way...which republican would you rather have...Hillary or McCain..? come on, you are used to voting for the lesser of two evils arent you?...I have never voted for someone I really liked...I know if that person runs, my liking himher is their death knell...

get real and wake up....vote against McCain aready....

but it is a moot point ....Clinton doesn't have a chance unless she steals it....

Clintonista's who refuse to vote for Obama...if Clinton does not bring them into the fold....then I will work against her reelection in New York....

Great Speech!

What a speaker. In the ward I was talking to a lifelong repub ex cop who says he is probably going to vote for Obama if he is the candidate.

Why? He says because he brings something different: Youth and real charisma.

I always find it amazing when a talk show host discovers that the rest of the country is not on the same page as them. It just doesn't occur to them that not everyone has millions of dollars in the bank to sustain them through any rough patch. I always like it when reporters ask politicians how much a loaf of bread costs or a gallon of milk. If they can't answer that, how the hell do they know what the problems of typical Americans are? They are obviously not the typical American.

Signs Indicate That Duels May Be Hurting Party

Clinton voters also appear especially likely to say they will abandon the party if their candidate is not the nominee. Fifty-three percent of those voting for her yesterday said they would cast a ballot for Obama in a hypothetical November matchup against McCain. More than a quarter said they would vote for the Republican, and about two in 10 said they would not vote at all. More of those supporting Obama in the primary, 68 percent, said they would vote for Clinton over McCain in the fall, if that became their choice.

about on the ward?? I am kinda new here...I used to work in one of those...a real snake pit in the 80's....it was on Hollywood Blvd and I ran an eating disorder unit...crazy shit I tell you.....The guy you met who talked about oneness is not crazy...sounds pretty Buddhist to me

No he was not crazy. He had all sorts of physical aliments.

He had surgery, epilepsy, and his hemoglobin kept dropping and they didn't know why. So he had to get a blood transfusion.

He must of said something wrong such as "why dont they just let me die" or something like that.

He was my roommate. As Conservative as they come.

But he said he views McCain as just another career politician.

ie: Will say or do anything.

Sorta like how I view Hillary.

The Bush administration is scrapping a $20-million prototype of its “virtual” border fence along the Arizona-Mexico border “because the system is failing to adequately alert Border Patrol agents to illegal crossings. … The move comes just two months after Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff announced his approval of the fence built by The Boeing Co.”

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24268411/

News Corp. chairman Rupert Murdoch “is moving to tighten his already-imposing grip on American news media, striking a tentative deal to buy his third New York-based paper, Newsday,” for $580 million. The deal would put him in charge of three of the nation’s 10 largest-circulation papers (including the Wall Street Journal and The New York Post).

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/23/business/media/23paper.html

nice bit of karma for you to get an interesting roomate...hope you have healed up....

Good Morning :)

An even split among voters when polled about the "clinging to guns and religion" Obama comment is hardly "agreement". I think Sam's head imploded from Clinton's big win last night.

Just so you know, this infusion I am getting is called Remicade and it is supposed to slow the progression of Rheumatoid Arthritis. It takes about 2 hours but I have to take an infusion of an antihistamin first.

Later bloggers!

We'll be wishing for the best

from Maureen Dowd:

He’s never going to shake her off.

Not all by himself.

The very fact that he can’t shake her off has become her best argument against him. “Why can’t he close the deal?” Hillary taunted at a polling place on Tuesday.

She’s been running ads about it, suggesting he doesn’t have “what it takes” to run the country. Her message is unapologetically emasculating: If he does not have the gumption to put me in my place, when superdelegates are deserting me, money is drying up, he’s outspending me 2-to-1 on TV ads, my husband’s going crackers and party leaders are sick of me, how can he be trusted to totally obliterate Iran and stop Osama?

Now that Hillary has won Pennsylvania, it will take a village to help Obama escape from the suffocating embrace of his rival. Certainly Howard Dean will be of no use steering her to the exit. It’s like Micronesia telling Russia to denuke.

“You know, some people counted me out and said to drop out,” said a glowing Hillary at her Philadelphia victory party, with Bill and Chelsea by her side. “Well, the American people don’t quit. And they deserve a president who doesn’t quit, either.”

The Democrats are growing ever more desperate about the Attack of the 50 Foot Woman. With gas prices out of control, with the comically oblivious President Bush shimmying around New Orleans — the city he let drown — and Condi sneaking into Baghdad as rockets and mortars hail down on the Green Zone, beating the Republicans should be a cinch.

But the Democrats watch in horror as Hillary continues to scratch up the once silvery sheen on Obama, and as John McCain not only consolidates his own party but encroaches on theirs by boldly venturing into Selma, Ala., on Monday to woo black voters.

They also cringe as Bill continues his honey-crusted-nut-bar meltdown. With his usual exquisite timing, just as Pennsylvanians were about to vote, Hillary’s husband became the first person ever to play the Caucasian Card. First, he blurted out to a radio interviewer that the Obama camp had played the race card against him after he compared Obama’s strength in South Carolina to Jesse Jackson’s. And then, with a Brobdingnagian finger-wagging on the screen, he denied it to an NBC News reporter.

“You always follow me around and play these little games, and I’m not going to play your games today,” he said, accusing the reporter of looking for “another cheap story to divert the American people from the real urgent issues before us.”

If there’s one person who knows about crass diversions, it’s Bill. But even for him, it was an embarrassing explosion, capped with some blue language to an aide that was caught on air.

The Democrats are eager to move on to an Obama-McCain race. But they can’t because no one seems to be able to show Hillary the door. Despite all his incandescent gifts, Obama has missed several opportunities to smash the ball over the net and end the game. Again and again, he has seemed stuck at deuce. He complains about the politics of scoring points, but to win, you’ve got to score points.

...

Before they devour themselves once more, perhaps the Democrats will take a cue from Dr. Seuss’s “Marvin K. Mooney Will You Please Go Now!” (The writer once mischievously redid it for his friend Art Buchwald as “Richard M. Nixon Will You Please Go Now!”) They could sing:

“The time has come. The time has come. The time is now. Just go. ... I don’t care how. You can go by foot. You can go by cow. Hillary R. Clinton, will you please go now! You can go on skates. You can go on skis. ... You can go in an old blue shoe.

Just go, go, GO!”

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/23/opinion/23dowd.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogi...

ToniD

that may be a good end game strategy but right now it works against obama.

the reason why is asshats like mcauliffe are going to the super delegates with a stat that says obama voters will cross over to hillary on a higher basis than clinton voters will cross over to obama and therefore you need to support clinton. its twisted logic but thats the argument none the less.

so, there is no fucking way i will vote for clinton

any strong drugs to spare? like pain killers? pb was having a hard time sleeping last night, toothache!

with nothing else on to stream (are you listening mr. green?) i put on malloys show from last night.

Nice to meet you to :)

Yeah I thought it was pretty cool. Not all conservatives are as narrow minded as it seems.

Alot of them are just like misinformed or taught to believe that its always dog eat dog the strong survive and all that crap.

Anyway, I forget where I was going with this :D

As a matter of fact, my case manager is coming to my house today to do a home visit, so that should be fun. He's a cool guy, only a a year or two older than me. The problem with the psych system is 1. if you don't fit their mold for treatment; if standard treatment doesn't work, you are screwed and they just kinda give up 2. They treat everyone like drug addicts.

For instance, I went to the ward for well self harm and those bad thoughts. I went in honestly seeking psych help. I actually wanted to go to the state hospital for a few months. But the place was really nothing more than a detox. There were only a few of us who were not there for detox. they should not lump everyone together like that.

The Low Road to Victory

The Pennsylvania campaign, which produced yet another inconclusive result on Tuesday, was even meaner, more vacuous, more desperate, and more filled with pandering than the mean, vacuous, desperate, pander-filled contests that preceded it.

Voters are getting tired of it; it is demeaning the political process; and it does not work. It is past time for Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton to acknowledge that the negativity, for which she is mostly responsible, does nothing but harm to her, her opponent, her party and the 2008 election.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/23/opinion/23wed1.html?em&ex=1209096000&e...

totally....but the endgame is what gets our next president....I loath Clinton....too!

I wish. I just had two wisdom teeth pulled a week or so ago right before I went in and all I got was 15 vicodin ES. They worked, but I should have got like thirty cause it was still hurting like a bitch.

All I got is temazepam. :/

I watch MSNBC for Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow and to see what weirdness falls out of the mouth of Chris Matthews. I watched the entire thing last night. There was barely any Rachel at all.

Joe Scarborough and Pat Buchanan kept repeating the same GOP talking point: "Why can't this guy (Obama) close the deal?" Over and over and over. And the Hillary campaign people were saying the same things. Turned on Bill Press this morning and he was saying the same thing. "You got to ask yourself, what's wrong with this guy? Why can't he close the deal?" So I'm through with Press.

Why is it only Obama is leveled this charge? Why aren't they asking: why can't Hillary close the deal? For that matter, with the two top Dems cutting each other to shreds, why can't McCain close the deal? He still comes up short in polls when matched against Obama.

BTW, why doesn't Hillary wear a flag pin? Why doesn't McCain? Why is Obama the only one saddled with that fake guilt trip?

why is uncle pat, an avowed conservative who hates democrats, allowed to cover a democratic race?

You are so right...when I headed up the eating disorder unit they lumped us in with all the other open unit patients...that was the downfall of our program.....I knew addiction really well but I did not know what to do with schizophrenics...it was mayhem....I will never work in a hospital again...now I have a nice little office in my house and I can fold laundry and blog between clients...I hope you get the care you need to help you mend....let me know if I can help with that....

thank God for this blog...As Marc would say Buchanan is a clown and he doesn't know it...All this punditry is so damn narcissistic....what a bunch of bafoons....I wonder how long Keith can take it....He is our next Moyers...

hahaha---that is what got you in trouble in the first place right?

that is no damn lie...the cooking channel helped some too this a.m. i must admit!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GG7sj2APpc&e

Boston Legal. Alan Shore.

Rips the Supreme Court to shreds.

Tougher than Obama. Tougher than Hillary.

Alas, not a real person, and yet a possible write-in candidate.

Ever since they took me off my xanax three years ago I have been forced to quit school and work and go on disability because I just cannot function. I have horrible anxiety and I isolate.

It really sux too cause I was like a year from graduating with a BS in Bio and the Ed component for Bio and Gen Science.

and that was ALOT of work considering I have no high school. Just my Freshman year, then I was kicked out.

So, for the time being I have to try to use my temazepam (sleeping aid) as an anti anxiety. :/

at least till I can get my hands on something real.

Once they flag you, you are screwed.

No

was Jeff Bridges in the contender....even over Andrew Shepard! His last speech supporting women, I used to show to my domestic violence clients...It so powerful when a man stands up for women. Wish it was like that....

By Steven Greenhut

22/04/08 "Orange County Register" -- - Readers have been shocked to learn that California has about 1 million citizens who are literally above the law. Members of this group, as a Register front-page article April 6 detailed, can drive their cars as fast as they choose. They can drink a six-pack of beer at a bar and then get behind the wheel and weave their way home. They can zoom in and out of traffic, run traffic lights, roll through stop signs and ignore school crossing zones. They can ride on toll roads for free, park in illegal spots and drive on High Occupancy Vehicle lanes even if they have no passengers in the car with them. Chances are they will never have to pay a fine or get a traffic citation.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19784.htm

I can identify with having Xanax script pulled suddenly. I'd complained to a doc about nightmares and he assumed it was the Xanax. Turned out it was my Clariten doing it, not the Xanax - but I could never get back on Xanax.

SO....

I studied and found alternatives.

BEST ones I've found are GABA and 5-HTP, which actually work better than Xanax without the druggy effect.

I take the GABA at night and the 5-HTP in the daytime. Both are found in Whole Foods.

5-HTP is also found at Walmart.

Do your own research on these two products and - mandatory disclaimer - know that I'm not a doctor or nutritionist and that you make your own decisions. I only offer these suggestions because they helped me a great deal and continue to help me every day.

wake me the fuck up....tell me something i dont know!!! remember one saturday you had a whole lot of drugs and weed..could you show me some right about now...i need some!!

did they wean you off the xanax really slowly, like over 6 months? If not no wonder you are riddled with anxiety....my email is mhappenow and i am with yahoo. I have helped people get off the damn benzo's before...those drugs can be really horrible, but they are fantastic in the short term...

You can read "I am Dancing as Fast as I Can" about this.....Betty Rollins...it is a good book.

Where do you live?

Submitted by mhappenow on Wed, 04/23/2008 - 10:24am.
...I knew addiction really well but I did not know what to do with schizophrenics...it was mayhem...
------
You missed a golden opportunity to write "bedlam" instead of "mayhem".

Every time I see the word "bedlam", I think of Boris Karloff:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0038343/

Bedlam (1946)

Synopsis: Nell Bowen, the spirited protege of rich Lord Mortimer, becomes interested in the conditions of notorious St. Mary's of Bethlehem Asylum (Bedlam). Encouraged by the Quaker Hannay, she tries to bring support to reforming Bedlam, but the cruel Master Sims who runs it has her committed there. The inmates, however, have the last say.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W69SSLfRJho

Mayhem Defined. Every person who unlawfully and maliciously deprives a human being of a member of his body, or disables, disfigures, or renders it useless, ...

bedlam - a state of extreme confusion and disorder
chaos, pandemonium, topsy-turvydom, topsy-turvyness
confusion - disorder resulting from a failure to behave predictably; "the army retreated in confusion"

Bedlam - pejorative terms for an insane asylum

I always freak people out.....Bob is gone

BRIEFING.COM] ...the government's weekly energy report just hit the wires. The Department of Energy said crude stockpiles rose by 2.42 million barrels, which is larger than the expected build of 1.50 million barrels...
-----
I wonder how much of the crude stockpiles number that is above the expected stockpiles number is attributable to consumers' cutting-back on driving?

APNewsAlert

20 minutes ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Associated Press has learned that Gen. David Petraeus has been tapped to become the next commander of U.S. Central Command.

Oklahoma governor endorses Obama

Oklahoma Gov. Brad Henry tosses support to Obama

RON JENKINS
AP News

Apr 23, 2008 08:34 EST

Oklahoma Gov. Brad Henry endorsed Barack Obama for the Democratic presidential nomination Wednesday, calling him an inspirational leader who can unite the country.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/2008/04/oklahoma_governor_endorses_oba...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/22/AR200804...

By Robin Shulman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, April 23, 2008; Page A04

NEW YORK, April 22 -- Christine Todd Whitman, the former head of the Environmental Protection Agency, cannot be held liable for assuring residents near the burning detritus of the World Trade Center after the 2001 attacks that the air was safe to breathe, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday.

Because Whitman did not intend to cause harm, a panel of judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit said, her message did not "shock the conscience" to the degree necessary to waive her immunity as a federal official.

The residents, students and office workers say Whitman should be forced to pay damages to properly clean homes and schools and create a fund to monitor health. They are considering an appeal, their lawyer said.

"These residents, workers and students continue to get sicker and sicker, and that's what makes this decision so tragic," said Joel Kupferman, co-counsel for the plaintiffs.

Whitman, who has always maintained that her agency acted responsibly, said in a statement, "I am pleased that the court today confirmed what I have said -- that we at the EPA acted reasonably and made every effort to protect the people of New York."

Her attorneys had argued that holding Whitman personally liable would prevent officials from speaking to the public in future crises.

Three days after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Whitman told reporters, "The good news continues to be that air samples we have taken have all been at levels that cause us no concern."

And on Sept. 18, 2001, she reassured residents that their air "is safe to breathe and their water is safe to drink." Whitman later testified in congressional hearings that she was talking about the air of Lower Manhattan generally, not Ground Zero specifically.

Soon after, many residents went back to their homes without properly cleaning them, they later reported.

"She caused thousands of residents, workers and first responders to suffer injury and, in some cases, death, due to unnecessary exposure to toxins released by the collapse of the World Trade Center buildings," said Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), who held hearings on the federal government's management of the crisis at which Whitman testified.

The EPA's inspector general criticized the agency's handling of the crisis in a 2003 report, which found that the EPA had no basis for its pronouncements about air quality.

In February 2006, U.S. District Judge Deborah A. Batts allowed the lawsuit against Whitman to proceed and called Whitman's actions "conscience-shocking."

"No reasonable person would have thought that telling thousands of people that it was safe to return to Lower Manhattan, while knowing that such return could pose long-term health risks and other dire consequences, was conduct sanctioned by our laws," she wrote.

Activist residents said they were upset with Tuesday's decision.

"The judgment today seems like carte blanche to allow government environmental officials to put people in harm's way with little or no accountability," said Craig Hall, 39, president of the World Trade Center Residents Coalition, whose members said their children suffered coughs, eye irritations and nosebleeds after the attacks.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hksil-KkebQ

he'll be back!!

http://action.credomobile.com/sirota/2008/04/pennsylvania_the_persistenc...

Pennsylvania & the Persistence of the Race Chasm

A few weeks ago, I published an article in In These Times showing how Hillary Clinton has been winning states almost exclusively in the Race Chasm - states whose populations are more than 6 percent but less than 17 percent black. The results of the Democratic primary in Pennsylvania - a state whose demographics fall squarely in the Race Chasm - continue the trend.

I have hypothesized that the Race Chasm exists because of racial politics. Specifically, in states where there is almost no black population, black-white racial politics has little traction because it isn't part of the political dialect. In states where there is a very large black population, the black vote can offset a racially motivated white vote. But in the Race Chasm, the black vote is too small to offset a racially motivated white vote.

So how prevalent was race as a factor in voting in Pennsylvania? The exit polls suggest that when Gov. Ed Rendell previously said race would be a huge factor, he was absolutely correct. Specifically, page 4 and 5 of the CNN exit poll show a whopping 19 percent of Pennsylvania voters said race was an important factor in their vote, with Clinton winning almost 60 percent of that segment. Broken down further, 13 percent of the white vote said race was a major factor in their vote, with Clinton winning 75 percent of that group.

These are big numbers, especially considering the fact that these numbers only represent voters who are willing to admit to pollsters they are voting on race. The real number is probably much higher, because some voters may not want to disclose such taboo voting habits.

Let me reiterate something I wrote in my original Race Chasm analysis:

Clearly, race is not the only force moving votes. Demographic groups -- white, black or any other -- do not vote as monoliths. Additionally, the Race Chasm does not mean every white voter who votes against Obama nor every black voter who supports Obama is racially motivated.

However, considering the exit polling and the fact that Pennsylvania falls squarely in the demographic Race Chasm, it is clear that those who continue to pretend race is not a major factor in this campaign are deliberately averting their eyes from a very powerful force in the Democratic primary.

UPDATE: I should have added this into the original article. Some folks say that even discussing the Race Chasm is good or bad for one or another of the candidates in the primary or general election. That may or may not be true - but I don't really care. Political junkies tend to forget that the whole world does not revolve around the next election - and that yes - I know it's hard for some people to fathom - but some issues like racism are much bigger and more important than whatever election cycle we may be in. Racism is something that has been a part of American life for, oh, two centuries. If this presidential race is becoming a vehicle to talk about and confront and expose that racism, then that's a good thing - regardless of whichever candidates some think it may help or hurt.

good discussion about the primary last night....refreshing after listening to the bobble heads....

http://www.switchpod.com/users/democracynow/ftp/dn2008-0423-1.mp3

Submitted by dan on Wed, 04/23/2008 - 10:21am.
why is uncle pat, an avowed conservative who hates democrats, allowed to cover a democratic race?
--------------------

From the book cable News Confidential
Jeff Cohen, author (c) 2006

page (12)

Jeff Cohen Writes:

In the 1960s , while an editorial writes for a St. Louis daily, Buchanan was one of many of the journalists complicit in the FBI campaign to "neutralize" Martin Luther King Jr. Buchanan admits to publishing unverified FBI smear material on King as editorials. On a syndicated TV show in 1988, I confronted Buchanan-comparing him to a "hack writer from Pravda taking information from the KGB and using it against a Soviet dissident". I accused him of being a "state propagandist." But he was unapologetic.

page (13)

Cohen Writes:

As Crossfire was fading right winger Joe Scarborough started hosting a show at MSNBC; he says a network executive told him, "if you let someone talk more than seven minutes your show is a failure."

i'm looking at you mmrules, but where are you? where is everybody? well anyway, I need a cute gif - a card of get well wishes for a co-worker who's in the hospital

I could google something up but you guys always come up with the best attachments here, birthday cards, musical wishes, dancing vegetables (that's peaches) and lucille with her weird humor, where's lucille?

Thanks

John McCain knows a lot less about foreign policy than he'd have us believe. This, anyway, is the impression that's been growing in recent weeks, not least because of a much-discussed New York Times story published recently that painted a growing divide in his campaign between "pragmatists" and "neoconservatives." The candidate reportedly lacks firm ideological convictions, so a battle for "McCain's soul" may be in the offing. - LA Times

mireli call me? whassup?

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

i had no sleep last night but i am here!!! what is this...no news this morning? toniD cannot go to hospital than i am left without anything to read...man fuck this!!

can any of you creative geniuses of the blog help me out...get well wishes for a co-worker who's in the hospital
Submitted by mire on Wed, 04/23/2008 - 11:19am.
------
Dear [fill in name],

Get out of the goddammed hospital!

Sincerely,

[fill in name]
------

No need to thank me.

My favorite movie president
Submitted by mhappenow on Wed, 04/23/2008 - 10:35am.

was Jeff Bridges in the contender....even over Andrew Shepard! His last speech supporting women, I used to show to my domestic violence clients...It so powerful when a man stands up for women. Wish it was like that....

...I haven't seen that one. Or Andrew Shepard, will look out for them. I always liked Dave from the movie Dave, with Kevin Klein for a movie president.

And as if James Spader wasn't scrumptious enough...I just LOVE watching him spit and hiss at the court...

Have a good one, All! :)

A number of years ago I had a root canal and after one of the stages, I was in great pain so I was trying to weasel something stronger from the dentist. When I called him, he asked me if I was taking Tylenol for the pain. I told him that I had taken aspirin and he said, no, it has to be tylenol, that is the only thing that works. I did and it did.

PA had a race-chasm?

Mire, I loved the pix but makes me sad I am not joining my friends down there tomorrow. I need a bbq shrimp po-boy and a visit to Brightsen's. Be nice to see Snooks again, too.

from the American President....

The Contender is a great movie

bullshit!!!!hahaha--vicodin is the bomb!!

on the right, and I found it strange. That's probably not accurate because there were only a handful of names there which was unusual. Anyway I was asking assistance with a get-well wishes card to send through email to a co-worker and the googles and yahoos all charge subscriptions to copy the cute animated ones. I think I will go with Crank's suggestion :)

my favorite is the oyster; jazz festival is expensive though (the food) for a local person, I can get the same stuff elsewhere cheaper but of course, the music...the allure of which was a little lost on me thous after failed relationships with various local musicians...

does the trick, cures pain even when you don't have any pain if you know what i mean

Highly recommended.

Watch the vid and scroll down to the comments section where you will find this:

Over at my blog we LOVE this video. Obama can not win in the General Election. Do you really belive people will vote for this boy? Hillary should do a similiar spot and expose the fraud for what he is.
Posted By: Taylor Marsh | April 23, 2008 at 11:41 AM

TAYLOR MARSH IS A BIGOT. WTH is she doing calling Senator Obama BOY? She is the one who needs to be exposed.

tylenol with vicodin
Submitted by mire on Wed, 04/23/2008 - 12:11pm.
-----
If you have a housekeeper and a cigar box, you can get a prescription for Oxyrushtin.

i think he knows..mire i am the dumbest fuck here, what would i know

and what the hell does that mean?

> Submitted by btchakir on Wed, 04/23/2008 - 9:28am.
>
> So, with Indiana and North Carolina coming up, I
> thing Barack should focus on campaigning against
> McCain and ignore Hillary entirely.

The trouble is, Obama can't change the fact that he's got Rev. Wright, Ayers, Rezko, and his ostracizing of Reagan democrats by belittling why they've got guns and believe in God. He's going to have a hard time shaking the "elitist" label.

be careful there. vicodin is hydrocodone (the good stuff) compounded with a variation of acetaminophen (which raises the effectiveness). unfortuneately, acetaminophen's action comes from a nasty reaction with your liver which is why the dosage is so important and why you never take it for a hangover.

Judge Rejects Bush Administration's 'State Secrets' Claim; Says FBI and Department of Homeland Security Must Reveal 'Watchlist' Status for Americans Seeking End to Unnecessary, Unlawful Border Stops

CHICAGO, April 23 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In a case challenging
repeated, lengthy and abusive border stops of American citizens upon their return to the United States after traveling abroad, a federal magistrate judge in Chicago has ordered the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to disclose to the named plaintiffs whether or not their names appear on the Terrorist Screening Database (TSDB). In making his ruling, U.S. Magistrate Judge Sidney Schenkier rejected the Bush Administration's assertion of a "state secrets"privilege. Under the order made public for the first time last week, the government must produce documents indicating whether the ten named plaintiffs in the case, including lead plaintiff Akif Rahman of suburban Chicago, are listed on the TSDB.

http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/0...

http://www.samsedershow.com/node/2640
Price Gouging at the Pumps....

Manipulating The Oil Reserve
[...]
http://www.spr.doe.gov/dir/dir.html

Average price paid for oil in the Reserve - $27.73 per barrel

Manipulated Oil Reserves

http://www.fossil.energy.gov/programs/reserves/spr/spr-facts.html
Question: What actions are being taken in response to the Energy Policy Act of 2005 that requires fill of the SPR to its authorized size of one billion barrels?

[....]

http://www.fossil.energy.gov/programs/reserves/spr/expansion-eis.html

On January 23, 2007, the President announced in the State of the Union Address, his decision to expand the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to 1.5 billion barrels "to further protect America against disruptions to our oil supply." The Nation's need for the further expansion of the SPR is based on (a) growing U.S. consumption, increased imports and ever greater international risks, and (b) U.S. obligations under the International Energy Program, which requires the U.S. to maintain a 90 day stockpile of petroleum imports.
PDF file
http://tinyurl.com/ypxt6q

and this message comes to you from dr. dan!

the arguments you raise are only held by people that aren't going to vote for obama anyways so they are non issues.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zsrf4IrKHsE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7An7rpAxVMY

nothing lucille, it doesn't mean anything, just that you're usually here in the morn and you had posted above but didn't see your name on the list. It's there now, I'm not sure how that stupid list works

mornin folks!

cold and grey today.

Times columnist pied in face by activist

A female audience member ran on stage last night and threw a green pie at New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, who had just begun a lecture on environmentalism in Salomon 101. The woman had been sitting in the south side of the auditorium's front row when she pulled the pie out of a Brown Bookstore plastic bag that had been tucked in a red backpack and leapt out of her seat.

At the same time the woman threw the pie, a male accomplice seated a few rows back ran down the aisle and onto the stage, throwing small pamphlets explaining the actions into the crowd.

After the pie hit Friedman and splattered on his face and torso, the two jumped offstage and ran out of the southeast exit of the building, followed closely by a man trying to catch them. A police officer also ran toward the exit but stayed inside.

The thrower was eventually caught by police, who detained her in Salomon's lobby before moving her elsewhere.

"One of the offenders was apprehended, placed in the custody of the Brown Department of Public Safety and identified as a Brown student," University spokesman Michael Chapman said in a statement released Tuesday night. "The University will review this incident through its non-academic disciplinary system to determine the appropriate response."

http://media.www.browndailyherald.com/media/storage/paper472/news/2008/0...

"So Hillary drained her savings account and wasted six weeks to gain six electors. That’s one elector a week, for those of you without calculators.

At this rate, she’ll catch up with Obama about halfway through his first term.

Meanwhile, Obama has $43 million in the bank. And I helped!

Give it up, girlfriend. It’s over. There aren’t enough old people or Catholics in Indiana to save your campaign. And you can’t win NC.

Do us all a favor and throw in the towel."

yup am a grave stone!

for the record i am not a doctor nor have i stayed at a holiday inn...

but...
Do you want to?

Carter denies State Dept. told him to shun Hamas
23 Apr 2008 14:16:58 GMT
Source: Reuters
By Matthew Bigg

ATLANTA, April 23 (Reuters) - Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter denied on Wednesday that the State Department warned him not to meet with leaders of the Islamist group Hamas before he made a recent trip to the Middle East.

Carter said Hamas' top official Khaled Meshaal told him during meetings in Damascus on Friday and Saturday that Hamas would "accept a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders if approved by Palestinians."

The United States brushed off the comments on Monday, arguing that Hamas' basic stance, which includes a call in its charter for the destruction of Israel, had not changed.

The State Department has said U.S. Assistant Secretary of State David Welch, the top U.S. diplomat for the Middle East, urged Carter not to meet with Hamas, a position restated by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, but Carter denied this.

"No one in the State Department or any other department of the U.S. government ever asked him (Carter) to refrain from his recent visit to the Middle East or even suggested that he not meet with Syrian President (Bashar) Assad or leaders of Hamas," said a statement released by the Atlanta-based Carter Center, which speaks on the former president's behalf.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N23441664.htm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7362538.stm
Rice at fresh peak on supply fear
[...]
Perfect storm

The international price of rice - a staple food for half the world - has risen about 68% since the beginning of the year.

The prices of soybeans, corn and wheat have also been marching higher and are currently near their all-time peaks.

A combination of high fuel costs, bad weather and land allocated to biofuels is constraining food supply. At the same time, producer countries are seeking to conserve food for their own people by curtailing exports.

But Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej said Thailand would continue to be known as the "world's kitchen", as the government considers using abandoned government land to increase agricultural output.

Thailand's Office of Agriculture Economics projected that rice production after milling would be 20.4 million tonnes from this year's crop, with 55% for domestic consumption and the remainder for export.

Thailand produced 19.6 million tonnes last year.

mire, I went to my 1st JF in 1984. Very different from today. I don't eat anything there except for the softshell crab po-boy and the key lime tart. Sometimes the raw oysters in the grandstand since they are pretty much regular price. JF is expensive now though, agreed. Honestly, when I come down there for now during JF, it is mostly to see friends and eat and go out at night. I usually only go to the fairgrounds when my friends' band plays out there and we have the parking and the access and the free tix. You've gotta watch out for those musicians. Hope it was no one I know.

The aforementioned bbq po-boy of choice is at Pascal's Manale. Not cheap but worth the splurge and cheaper than eating in the restaurant. Brigtsen's is not cheap but they are friends and treat me like family. I like Casamento's and Domilisi's, too.

I don't like vic. Prefer Norco. More 'codin, less tylenol. I'd rather take aspirin with codeine than tylenol 3. They have it but you have to specify to your doctor.

i'm holding out for adoption

mm i can tell someone is feeling better this a.m.

Turkey's prime minister has told Syrian President Bashar Assad that Israel would withdraw from the Golan Heights in return for peace, reports say.

The al-Watan newspaper quoted "informed sources" as saying Recep Tayyip Erdogan had telephoned Mr Assad on Tuesday morning to inform him of the offer.

The office of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has declined to comment.

Israel and Syria remain technically at war although both sides have recently spoken of their desire for peace.

The Syrian government has insisted that peace talks can be resumed only on the basis of Israel returning the Golan Heights, which it seized in 1967.
[...]
A Syrian television station and the news agency Champress also carried similar reports about Mr Erdogan and the reported offer by Israel. The Syrian media is highly controlled and often reflects the official line.

Mr Erdogan is due to visit the Syrian capital, Damascus, this weekend to attend the opening of the first Syrian-Turkish economic forum.

Mr Olmert's office did not deny the Syrian reports, choosing only to state that they "refuse to comment on the matter".
[...]
'Expectations'

On Thursday, Mr Olmert told Israel's Channel 10 television that he was interested in peace with Syria, and that both sides knew what the other wanted.

"Very clearly we want peace with the Syrians and we are taking all manner of actions to this end," he said. "President Bashar al-Assad knows precisely what our expectations are and we know his. I won't say more."
[....]
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7362937.stm

Presented by the Federal Election Commission
Committee ID: C00437822

NATIONAL CAMPAIGN FUND
30011 IVY GLENN DRIVE SUITE 223
LAGUNANIGUEL, CA 92677

Treasurer Name: JAMES V LACY
Committee Designation: (N/A)
Committee Type: NON-PARTY NON-QUALIFIED

http://query.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/com_detail/C00437822/

http://techrepublican.com/blog/national-campaign-fund-emerges

http://exposeobama.com/staff.html

Floyd Brown is a writer, speaker, broadcaster and business owner. Time magazine said: “Brown has stature among devoted conservatives that almost matches his physical heft (6 ft. 6 in. and 240 lbs.)”He is president of Excellentia Inc., a consulting company specializing in non-profit organizational strategy, development and the marketing of ideas

Bruce E. Hawkins, Executive Director
Bruce Hawkins is a highly skilled political strategist with years of campaign experience which all began in 1984. His training and education was in earned media from Washington State University. That specialty quickly led him into senior leadership roles in numerous campaigns. Except for one race right out of college he has worked exclusively for conservatives including Pat Robertson, Pat Buchanan and Mike Huckabee.

James V. Lacy, Treasurer and General Counsel

James V. Lacy is co-founder and managing partner of Wewer & Lacy, LLP. Mr. Lacy has over 25 years of experience as a manager and director of nonprofit organizations, and has acted as legal counsel to charitable organizations and other nonprofits since 1979. Mr. Lacy advises clients in obtaining and maintaining federal and state tax exemption. He also assists public policy organizations and trade associations in obtaining the full range of nonprofit benefits for their organizations, including: nonprofit postal permits; organization of tax deductible supporting charitable foundation subsidiaries; and establishment of separate segregated funds for political action.

http://techrepublican.com/about-us

Collectively, the contributors of techRepublican will focus, like a laser, to report best practices on the application of technology to the political spectrum, identifying Republicans and conservatives throughout the world who are using the Internet to bridge that great partisan digital divide and reach modern voters. We'll provide tips, tricks, and tools for campaigns to use -- for FREE.

And we hope you'll get involved in our Revolution. After all, it's your Party too. Together, we'll be successful. But we can't do it alone.

To get involved, you can join our Google Group and add your thoughts to the threads or start your own discussion topics. You can also follow our blog through our Twitter account, join our facebook group, connect with us on our YouTube channel, our myspace account, and many other socnets that we'll tell you about.

And we're always looking for contributors. If you're a Republican or a conservative - anywhere in the world and believe you've got something to say that our readers need to know, email us at David.All(AT)TechRepublican.com. Tell us what you want to write or vlog about and we will get back with you quickly.

Today the Revolution begins. Tomorrow, we fight.

...Here they come. This time lets be ready!

Submitted by dan on Wed, 04/23/2008 - 12:54pm.

i'm holding out for adoption
-------------------

Do you want to?

Submitted by Lucille on Wed, 04/23/2008 - 12:58pm.
-----

I see, that after we marry, we will be starting out with a BIG family.

The more the merrier!

Everyone in the POOL!

after all the food talk i need to eat something!

think he said his birthday was 4/24? if not ma bad!

talk radio...i got too used to Thom at lunch time!!

how do you get used to eating the shells?

"I am in this race to fight for every one who has been counted out," Clinton said, striking the underdog theme. Early in her remarks, while live on national television, she asked for donations, saying, "The fate of this campaign is in your hands." (In other words, send me more money you cheap bastards because in case you didn't know my campaign is broke!)

Meanwhile, Sen. Obama, speaking at a rally in Evansville, Indiana, congratulated Clinton and thanked supporter, including new voters and people who returned to voting after many years. He then returned to his main theme in the final days of the Pennsylvania race: that he wants to change Washington, for both Republicans and Democrats, so Americans can have a government that is responsive to real public needs.

"We believe that the challenges we face are bigger than the smallness of our politics and we know that this election is our chance to change it," Obama said. "The question is not whether the other party will bring change to Washington, but will we ... because the truth is the challenges we face are not just the fault of one man or one party."

Summing up, Obama implicitly criticized the heavily negative tactics of the just-finished Pennsylvania contest, where most outside observers -- including Wednesday's editorial in The New York Times -- said Clinton was to blame for throwing the most political mud.

Ya eat the whole thing although I have been with several people who have tried to peel them or remove the legs. More for me! And their season starts around my birthday.

...Maybe Hillary can inquire about this at the next "Family" service:

A Message from Edwin Meese III of the National Conservative Campaign Fund...

Imagine for a moment it's January 2009. The election campaigns are over and the winners are poised to take office. Will one of them be President Barack Obama? Or will it be another Clinton - President Hillary Rodham Clinton? Imagine further that the liberal Democrats have increased their grip on Congress.

My friend, if that happens, prepare yourself for the greatest onslaught of ultra-liberal legislation and programs in our lifetimes, which will affect you, your family, and everyone you care about.

"President" Obama said he stands for "change we can believe in." But what he really believes in is Big Government, and plenty of it. His agenda will expand government's size - and its appetite for your tax dollars - on a scale we can scarcely fathom.

"President" Hillary Rodham Clinton said she has "solutions for America." But you and I both know that, just like Barack Obama, her so-called solutions actually are all about growing government more than ever before - at the expense of our freedoms!
(read more)

http://www.nccfpac.com/

(eat the shells)

thats what i thought, and thats what i tried to do, but the shell didn't add to the enjoyment. maybe its all in how they get fixed.

when is that?

The dirty little secret is that Obama can't win and Clinton can't win. Neither can get enough elected delegates or votes to win the nomination. Obama or Clinton can only win by being given the nomination by some 400+ remaining undecided, unelected super-delegates. This is the mess the Democrat Party has made for itself. Why should Hillary give it up? She's got just as much of a chance to win the nomination as Obama does. It's amazing. The votes don't matter. All the state primaries don't matter. The only thing that matters is what the super-delegates and party bosses decide to do. How's that for disenfranchising the voters. Looks like the Democrats have elevated voter disenfranchisment to an art.

Another Taurus ! :)

Good afternoon gang..I hope all are fine :)

"Hello to our friends and fans in domestic surveillance."

You might think the real battles between drugs companies are fought by scientists in laboratories, competing with each other to get new treatments to people who need them.

The truth is that lawyers and the pilots of aircraft have also got big roles to play.

The pilots because when the patent on a drug made by a big pharmaceutical company expires, great cargo planes full of copies are already in the air, ready to land and in markets the following morning.
[...]
The lawyers, too, are involved in a continuing battle between the generic drug companies and the originators.

"Sometimes we see that Big Pharma tries to extend their own patent lifetimes with patents that are not novel," Mr Wessman told the BBC.

"We just sue them to get the patents invalidated when the patents are only there to delay us getting to market. And those court cases are running all over the world."
[...]
Mr Wessman defends his company's copying: "We usually take 90% off the brand price. So it's only fair to the consumer that the brands aren't in there for ever."

The big pharmaceutical companies deny just tweaking drugs to get new patents - and thus, new patent protection.

GlaxoSmithKline told the BBC that "product line extensions" were for the benefit of patients.
[...]
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7355527.stm

The UK's biggest banks are bracing themselves for defeat in the High Court test case about overdraft charges.

On Thursday, Mr Justice Andrew Smith will hand down his judgement on whether or not the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) can rule that bank charges are unfair.
[...]
"A decision in favour of customers would be massively significant," said Marc Gander of the Consumer Action Group.

"Public confidence in the banking system is at an all-time low," he added.
[...]
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7362856.stm

The larger the crab, the better the ratio of crab to shell, kinda like Norco. I agree th ones are not as great but just the thought makes me happy and the body is fine.

Feds: Illinois insiders tried to have U.S. attorney ousted

As federal investigators closed in, Gov. Rod Blagojevich insiders were angling with Bush administration architect Karl Rove to get U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald kicked out of office, according to disclosures made in federal court.

The far-reaching accusations came from the U.S. attorney's office in Chicago as part of the corruption trial against Blagojevich fundraiser and confidant Antoin "Tony" Rezko.

Federal prosecutors said in court that co-schemer Steven Loren was ready to testify he was told Illinois Republican insider Bob Kjellander was working to get Fitzgerald removed.

http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=177986

were for the benefit of patients.

how nice that they want to prevent us from straining ourselves by keeping our wallets and purses on the light side.

In the 1920s America was the home of the eugenics industry (white ruling class supremacy eugenics industry to be precise). Brits and certain Europeans were in on it too. It was just an extension for these "landed gentry" (whether royalty or nouveau riche) -- like breeding livestock, hunting dogs, or race horses.

When Hitler picked up on the idea of purifying his "super race", the American eugenicists were his source of information and backing. "Inferiors" had no role in the 'Super Race'; removal was the "solution". "Inferior" whites also were targeted for removal (via both sterilization and execution). This Hitler called his "New Order". At the end of the war American participants were punished with meaningless $5,000 fines: included were Standard Oil and it's chairman William S. Farish. (The Farish family has longtime business connections to the extended Bush 'family' which included the Harrimans and Herbert Walkers; in post-war hearings, Farish bore the greatest load for the whole group -- taking the brunt of it from Prescott Bush (grandfather of our current Usurper President George Bush) as well. Farish's grandson, Farish III, was involved in George Herbert Walker Bush's business start in Texas. Does Bush Sr.'s "New World Order" have more meaning now?)

The birth of eugenics was funded by some very, VERY wealthy people. Some of them funded it through the wealth they gained through oil and the investment monies traceable to the drug 'dealers' of the 1800s and early 1900s (see Opium Wars).

After WWII, the eugenicists went underground and created a new methodology with their money-making, moneystream skills: They created a way to make money at every juncture of the scheme: Illegal drugs raised and imported, sold to the disenfranchised, some of whom were arrested and incarcerated in prisons which were built using the investment potential of those who were ready to deliver the rapid construction of a prison industry. Locking up poor white and black males turned out to be a way for the wealthy to make lots of money while preventing healthy black families and the children they would create and slowing down what they consider "inferior" whites too. Perhaps this is my theory alone; don't know.

that happens when you get the std---"crabs"

voting machines and if they are still hackable in Pennsylvania! This should be part of the election coverage!

Yoo refuses to testify about torture memos.

Former Justice Department Office of Legal Counsel lawyer John Yoo, who wrote controversial legal memos authorizing the administration’s torture programs, will not testify voluntarily before the House Judiciary Committee, ABC reports, “paving the way for a possible subpoena and showdown over Executive Privilege. In a letter to Chairman John Conyers (D-MI), Yoo’s lawyer said his client was “not authorized” by the DOJ to discuss internal deliberations:

We have been expressly advised by the Office of Legal Counsel of the United States Department of Justice that Professor Yoo is not authorized to discuss before your Committee any specific deliberative communications, including the substance of comments on opinions or policy questions, or the confidential predecisional advice, recommendations or other positions taken by individuals or entities of the Executive Branch.

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/04/23/yoo-refuses-to-testify-about-torture...

I don't think we've had a pompous woman poster woman for a long time -- probably not since the so-called tastemakers of the 1920s.

But now we have Hillary Clinton.

One of the arguments the Clinton campaign is making to the supers, hoping they'll overturn the will of the voters, is that Obama can't win certain demographics. Yet looking at the exit poll numbers, it's clear that Obama has actually been making serious gains the past six weeks.

Obama's percent of the vote:

State ------------ OH PA
60 and older ----- 28 38
White ------------ 34 38
White men -------- 39 44
White women ------ 31 34
Less than $50K --- 42 46
No college ------- 40 38
College ---------- 51 49
Catholic --------- 36 31
Protestant ------- 36 53

What was a 10.5% win in demographically friendly Ohio has become an 9.4% win in similar Pennsylvania, except the state was even less black and with a much smaller youth voter population (Pennsylvania's seniors accounted for 32 percent of the electorate, compared to 23 percent in Ohio).

And, those gains were made despite the Wright controversy as well as manufactured bullshit about "bitter" and flag pins and whatnot.

On top of that, Obama has had to run against Hillary Clinton, against former President of the United States Bill Clinton, and against John McCain and the entire GOP apparatus, which has trained its guns on Obama hoping to give Clinton a boost.

she has such a thick skin man, no wonder the lewinsky scandal did not to her at all, she hung in there fighting to get her husband back!!

Before today, Hillary Clinton required 66% of the remaining elected delegates in order to win an overall majority of non-superdelegates in the race. A tall order indeed.

After tonight, Hillary Clinton needs...

That's right. 71%

If Clinton gained anything tonight, it's that she now needs 5% more of the remaining delegates than she did yesterday.

She needs 71% of the delegates in Guam. In Indiana. In North Carolina. In Kentucky and Oregon. In Puerto Rico. In Montana and South Dakota.

She needs 71% of the remaining delegates in these states and protectorates in order to avoid having the superdelegates overturn the will of the people.

She needs 71% of the delegates to not have to rely on a bizarre scheme of combining the electoral vote with the number of states she won on a Friday, and multiplying it with the number of states won by Ronald Reagan to the power of 8.

She needs 71% of the remaining delegates to actually win the small-d democratic part of this contest.

71%.

Keep repeating that.

71%.

No, she can't.

http://hotlineblog.nationaljournal.com/archives/2008/04/hrc_more_people....

But now we have Hillary Clinton.
Submitted by Lucille on Wed, 04/23/2008 - 1:48pm.
she has such a thick skin man, no wonder the lewinsky scandal did not to her at all, she hung in there fighting to get her husband back!!

She called Rev Wright to comfort her in her time of need. Can you imagine the betrayal that poor man feels?

What a skank!

please throw up with me she goes on and on and not once does she answer a question, please suffer with me!!

From MSNBC's 'First Read':

*** We can stop the delegate math: Turning to the delegate math, if Clinton nets approximately 16 delegates out of Pennsylvania, she'll trail in the pledged battle by 150 delegates. With just 408 pledged delegates remaining, that means she'd need 68% of all pledged delegates left to overtake Obama. Now, if Obama and Clinton simply split the 187 delegates up for grabs on May 6 basically down the middle (which would be a rosy projection in Clinton's favor) and Obama's pledged delegate lead simply stayed at 150 and didn’t grow to 160 (the most likely outcome in two weeks), Clinton would need to win 85% of the then 221 remaining delegates up for grabs. 85%! As we mentioned on air last night, the battle for pledged delegates is over, Obama will win that metric and win it by some 100+ delegates.

Democratic front-runner Barack Obama has a four-point advantage over presumptive Republican nominee John McCain among registered voters residing in states that were competitive in the 2004 election. ... Hillary Clinton also leads McCain by the same 47% to 43% margin among purple-state voters. But she does not fare quite as well as Obama does in blue states, and she trails McCain by a slightly larger margin than Obama does in red states.

The analysis is based on aggregated data from Gallup Poll Daily tracking in April, consisting of interviews with more than 13,000 registered voters. Gallup considers states where Kerry won the 2004 presidential vote by six percentage points or more to be safe Democratic or "blue" states, and states where Bush won by six percentage points or more to be safe Republican or "red" states. The remaining states -- in which the winning candidate prevailed by five percentage points or less -- are considered competitive or "purple" states.

Based on this definition, the purple states include New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Florida, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Oregon.

Plouffe Rules Out Use Of Whitewater Or Cattle Futures Against Hillary
By Greg Sargent - April 23, 2008, 10:39AM

I noted below that it was unlikely that the Obama campaign would use Whitewater, cattle futures or any other 1990s anti-Clinton flim-flammery against Hillary in the days and weeks ahead.

Well, Obama campaign manager David Plouffe was just asked whether the campaign would be raising such stuff.

"We're not gonna do that," Plouffe said. "We have not talked about those issues in the campaign, and won't."

Guess that's the end of that.

Lynchings in Congo as penis theft panic hits capital

Police in Congo have arrested 13 suspected sorcerers accused of using black magic to steal or shrink men's penises after a wave of panic and attempted lynchings triggered by the alleged witchcraft....

Purported victims, 14 of whom were also detained by police, claimed that sorcerers simply touched them to make their genitals shrink or disappear, in what some residents said was an attempt to extort cash with the promise of a cure.

"You just have to be accused of that, and people come after you. We've had a number of attempted lynchings. ... You see them covered in marks after being beaten," Kinshasa's police chief, Jean-Dieudonne Oleko, told Reuters on Tuesday.

Police arrested the accused sorcerers and their victims in an effort to avoid the sort of bloodshed seen in Ghana a decade ago, when 12 suspected penis snatchers were beaten to death by angry mobs. The 27 men have since been released.

"I'm tempted to say it's one huge joke," Oleko said.

"But when you try to tell the victims that their penises are still there, they tell you that it's become tiny or that they've become impotent. To that I tell them, 'How do you know if you haven't gone home and tried it'," he said

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080422/od_uk_nm/oukoe_uk_congo_democratic_w...

Hillary's gay problem
by John Aravosis

My friend Phil Attey asks why Obama keeps mentioning gays and lesbians in his speeches - speeches he makes to the public at large, not just gay audiences - and Hillary never does. Phil writes:

Last month, a gay Philadelphian LGBT publisher raised the issue that Senator Obama, though often addressing LGBT issues and including us in his major speeches, was not granting his publication an exclusive interview. Senator Obama quickly addressed the issue and granted an exclusive interview to the national LGBT publication, The Advocate.

Tonight, following the Pennsylvania Primary, Senator Obama once again showed his commitment to our community by including us in his address to the nation. Senator Clinton, speech, once again, did not include us, and it brings up the issue that hers never do.

http://www.americablog.com/2008/04/hillarys-gay-problem.html

U.S. prison population dwarfs that of other nations

The United States has less than 5 percent of the world's population. But it has almost a quarter of the world's prisoners.

Indeed, the United States leads the world in producing prisoners, a reflection of a relatively recent and now entirely distinctive American approach to crime and punishment. Americans are locked up for crimes — from writing bad checks to using drugs — that would rarely produce prison sentences in other countries. And in particular they are kept incarcerated far longer than prisoners in other nations.

Criminologists and legal scholars in other industrialized nations say they are mystified and appalled by the number and length of American prison sentences.

The United States has, for instance, 2.3 million criminals behind bars, more than any other nation, according to data maintained by the International Center for Prison Studies at King's College London.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/04/23/america/23prison.php

If they don't ask, she won't tell.

A Hillary presidency will take equal rights back 50 years.
She is against the people's right to have say over their own bodies.

Why Hillary Makes My Wife Scream

by Tom Hayden Page 1 of 1 page(s)

http://www.opednews.com

Tell A Friend

My wife Barbara has begun yelling at the television set every time she hears Hillary Clinton. This is abnormal behavior since Barbara is a meditative practitioner of everything peaceful and organic, and is inspired by Barack's transformational appeal.

For Barbara, Hillary has become the screech on the blackboard. From First Lady to Lady Macbeth.

http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_tom_hayd_080423_why_hillary_make...

fucking staff meeting!

It must have been the witchcraft, honey. But I didn't inhale.

Billary went corporate looooong ago.

sure got their brain pans tweaked did'nt they?

i am just not touching on another willie today!!

(try not to make unusual noises when you fall asleep at the meeting)

While the traditional media will attempt to spin last night's victory in the Pennsylvania primary as rationale enough for Hillary Clinton to continue her destructive candidacy for the nomination, I suspect that once people begin paying attention to what matters - the pledged delegate count - they will recognize that Barack Obama still leads by a virtually insurmountable number.

Despite her numerous built-in advantages in the state, Clinton ended up winning the state by 9.4% (since when did 9.4 round up to 10?) of the vote - and netted only 10 pledged delegates in doing so.

...

In sum, Obama did exactly what he needed to do in Pennsylvania - he drew close enough to Clinton to keep her delegates gains to minimal level. From the results above, the most Clinton can net out is 14 (86-72) - assuming CD-07 and CD-11 end up breaking more in her favor. The best-case scenario for Obama is that the results in those districts hold, and the margin in CD-13 comes down such that he only loses 4-3 and would thus have only lost 8 delegates from the state (83-75).

Put further in perspective: after last night's results, Clinton has gained a grand total of 5 pledged delegates from the states that have voted from March 4th on. That's not enough to even have a remote shot of winning the pledged delegate count, and with the state with the most pledged delegates left (North Carolina, with 115) leaning heavily towards Obama...well, you get the idea.

Hillary Clinton didn't win Pennsylvania by a big enough of margin last night - plain and simple.

**My friend Phil Attey asks why Obama keeps mentioning gays and lesbians in his speeches - speeches he makes to the public at large, not just gay audiences - and Hillary never does. Phil writes:**

I keep seeing Hillary supporters harping on Donnie McClurkin as if he was Obama's most important supporter and constant companion on the campaign trail. I suspected they were more interested in bashing Obama than in gay rights.

theres your audio sleep aid!

record the meeting, play as necessary!

You readers may have noticed that there is a big election coming up in November. (If you hadn't noticed, perhaps the Tuesday primary in Pennsylvania jogged your memory.) There are many things to be concerned about, some of which I addressed last week. But there is another large, uncomfortable issue that needs to be raised, one Congress really should consider in the coming months: What happens if there is a serious disruption of the election itself? - American Enterprise Institute

trying to wake me up before i go go? SJ?

Please don't let the blog get stuck complaining
about Hillary for her entire term in the event she
becomes the president.

Thanks you,
Sweet Jesus

If you're up for a fascinating science lesson that will deepen
your understanding of what it means to be human and the potentials
we all have.

http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/304.html

it was that or lighting yer underpants on fire.

give Lucille some Coffee,Please :)

"Hello to our friends and fans in domestic surveillance."

The Pennsylvania Primary was Hillary Clinton's last chance to deliver a game changing blow to Obama's campaign for the nomination. ...

Pennsylvania provided her with her final real opportunity to knock the wheels off the Obama campaign. She needed a crushing victory of 18% to 25% to have any real chance of altering the math or the psychology. Demographically, Pennsylvania was made for Hillary: the second oldest state in the nation, heavily blue collar, Catholic and rural -- Hillary's voter profile. She started with a lead of almost 20 points. But her final margin -- which the Pennsylvania Secretary of State says was only 9.2% -- fell far short of what was needed to stop Obama's nomination. Here's why:

1). Pledged Delegates. By CNN's count, Clinton netted about 14 pledged delegates in Pennsylvania. That still leaves Obama up by 151 pledged delegates. It is likely that after Guam, Indiana and North Carolina, there will be no net change in pledged delegates, even if Clinton wins Indiana, since Obama will certainly pick up delegates in North Carolina. But at that point only 251 pledged delegates will remain to be chosen.

Even if she got 80% of all of the pledged delegates that remain after Indiana, she would still trail Obama at the end of the day.

The battle for the pledged delegate advantage is over.

2). Popular Vote. Pennsylvania was her best opportunity to really close in on Obama's popular vote lead. She picked up about 216,000 net votes. But that still leaves her over 600,000 votes behind, and Obama will likely increase his popular vote margin further after the contests on May 6th. Her failure to blow Obama out in Pennsylvania makes it almost impossible for her to close the popular vote gap.

3). Electability. Clinton's entire strategy rests on the premise that she can convince Super Delegates that Obama is unelectable. Only a massive win in Pennsylvania would have credibly made that case. Clinton's victory did little to enhance her argument.

Last Night Clinton Won the Pennsylvania Primary, but Lost the War for the Nomination

Submitted by Lucille on Wed, 04/23/2008 - 2:16pm.
U.S. prison population dwarfs that of other nations
--------
The rate of incarceration in the U.S. has bothered me for many years. When the opportunity arises to discuss our huge prison population with a social conservative (usually when he/she is ranting about enacting a new law or about why some sumbitch should be locked up or how wonderful capital punishment is), I pose the following question and list of possible answers.

Why does the United States incarcerate far more of its citizens per capita than any other nation on earth?

1.) Americans are the most law-breaking (criminal) people on the planet.
2.) America has too many laws.
3.) America has the most efficient law enforcement apparatus on the planet.
4.) Americans prefer vengeance to any other option.

The answer is a combination of numbers two, three and four. I always lead off with #1 and pause long enough for the absurdity to sink in.

Not listed but always worth adding during the discussion is:

Would you prefer to continue to build more prisons and continue to pay $30,000 per year per prisoner or would you prefer to invest in American children before they break laws?

that part is always fired up SJ..its the top section im having problems with!!

Thomas Friedman Gets A Pie In The Face During Speech At Brown

an opportunity for bullshit bingo

dont drink it Rules--i probably should start drinking it they say its good for your health---but than again that was yesterday i dont know what they will say today about it!!

and what percentage are simply in there because of pot?

Think about it.

Nothing like a cheap, captive workforce.

for a whole 30 minutes too mind you

that Hillary is gay...she had her own intern around the time of Lewinski...can't remember her name, but it is said they were discovered au flagrant and shortly after that this interns was murdered at a Starbucks...I will look up her name....it is Mary Caity Mahoney

That would explain why Hill doesn't care if Bill fucks around....she has her girls too....

now this is a nice juicy piece of gossip

http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Crete/3450/otherintern.html

the nomination from the voters. 2025 delegates are needed to win the democrat nomination. Obama can't get them from elected delegates and neither can Clinton. That leaves the democrat nomination in the hands of a handful of super-delegates and party bosses.

Re: Friedman's pie. That just made my day.

That leaves the democrat nomination in the hands of a handful of super-delegates and party bosses.
Submitted by gravitas on Wed, 04/23/2008 - 3:19pm

Wanna bet?

I sure am happy that smart people like you come in here to

help us all out. Where would we be without guys like you?

Probably walking around out on the expressway. Thanks for

keeping us informed on the things we can't figure out.

Obama is one who fails to close this deal...

Why didn't he win last night?

Little States and Caucuses, that is where Obama is one top.

It he can't beat Hillary, do you want to send him up to the Big Leagues?

Invest, shorthand for tax and spend.

A plan to save money have have better citizens.

I'd love to hear the details.

Edwards is a 3%er... But he is White..!!

The return of The Great White Dope..!!!

Hahahahahahahahaha...

I don't think so!

Submitted by Part of the 97 ... on Wed, 04/23/2008 - 3:28pm.
Why didn't he win last night?
---------
Last I checked, a large portion of the poorly educated, blue collar, weekly-church-going white people didn't vote for him.

(Possibly because his name rhymes with Osama.)

Last night, Senator Clinton used up her last, best chance to cut appreciably into Barack Obama's elected delegate lead.

In fact, she barely made a dent.

Here's how it breaks out:

> After Pennsylvania, we have a lead of at least 159 elected delegates earned through all of the primaries and caucuses so far. We have a total of at least 1493 pledged delegates.

> Meanwhile, we've been rapidly gaining ground among the so-called superdelegates (elected leaders and party officials who get a vote to choose our nominee), cutting Senator Clinton's lead from more than 100 early this year to less than 25. We have a total of 238 publicly committed superdelegates.

> The total number of delegates needed to secure the nomination is 2,024. That means we are only 293 delegates away from securing the nomination.

Que Sera, Sera
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7jG91sPvf0

Monsanto

The Serenity Prayer

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.

Reinhold Niebuhr

Vicodin(hydrocodone) works well on pain and is necessary because I'm allergic to the NSAIDS.

For me, it is totally ineffective on migraines. Only Imatrex in the shot form is effective.

Also, I really hate the way Viocdin makes me feel aside from when it is really needed for pain relief. My favorite mind altering substance is a Venti Americano or two or more; completely the opposite sensation.

Submitted by Part of the 97 ... on Wed, 04/23/2008 - 3:32pm.
Invest, shorthand for tax and spend.
-----
Tax and spend like building more prisons for more prisoners?

An educated workforce is an economic asset.

An ever-growing prison population is an economic liability.

Why the USDA Wants to Sterilize Fresh Produce and Turn Live Foods into Dead Foods

...there is also a small grouping of herbs called The Superior Herbs. These are the true tonic herbs. Although everyone is different in their balances of Yin, Yang, Chi, Jing, Shen, Blood, Heat, Moisture, and other factors, This group of Superior Herbs are those herbs that can benefit just about anyone.

The Superior Class of herbs are called 'The Rulers'. They control the maintenance of life in general. These Superior Herbs are not considered to be 'medicinal' in the usual sense of the word.
...

God,

Grant me the serenity

to accept
the things I cannot change,
the courage to change
the things I can, and the
wisdom to know the difference,

Living one day at a time,
enjoying one moment at a time,
accepting hardship as a pathway to peace,
taking this sinful world as it is,
not as I would have it,
Trusting that you will make all things
right if I surrender to your will,
so that I may be reasonably happy
in this life, and supremely happy
with you forever in the next.

AMEN!

Workforce? I don't think your getting the picture. Selling drugs is a job. A very risky job. But the pay can be very good. And you can sleep half the day.

You have your work cut out for you.

How about we just legalize drug and send the addicts to live in woods down by you?

What is the benefit of this exercise?

It activates all of the lines of the gridwork and accesses all of your multi-dimensionality, everywhere that you exist in this universe. For you may have an atom in your abdomen, where the orbit of the electron extends so far as to extend outside this galaxy—this is how big you are. This meditation enables you to see and feel that bigness. And it again is infinite.

This meditation will also open all of the meridians in the body, and connect them with their infinite source of energy, so that connected with each meridian is limitless light. It connects all of the meridians to the axiatonal grid. Through meridian activation one then becomes consciously connected with all of one’s dimensional selves, and the monad.

With the creation of each human soul, and the soul as it embodies in a body, is a portion—not a fragment but more like a holographic portion—of the original force of Creation. And you may access that portion through this technique. That is part of its great power.
...

i caught up on 40 winks in the hot damn room meeting

Bob Egelko writes for The San Francisco Chronicle: "Environmental and farmworker advocates have sued the Bush administration for allowing the continued use of four pesticides, saying the government brushed aside its own findings that the chemicals are dangerous to workers, children and wildlife."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUXBCdt5IPg

(from the album 10.000 days)

~ A sardonic observation of Idiot Box culture ~

Eye on the TV 'cause tragedy thrills me. Whatever flavour it happens to be. Like
another husband drowned by the ocean. Shunned by his own son he used to poison... in his dream
he kissed him goodbye. That's my kind of story. It's no fun 'til someone dies

Don't look at me like I am a monster. Frown out your one face, but with the other,
Stare like a junkie into the TV. Stare like a zombie while the mother... holds her child
Watches him die. Pleads to the sky crying, "Why, oh, why?"

'Cause I need to watch things die (from a distance)
Vicariously I
live while the whole world dies
You all need it, too; don't lie

Why can't we just admit it? Why can't we just admit it?

We won't give pause until the blood is flowin' Neither the brave nor bold were writers,
the stories sold - We won't give pause until the blood is flowin'

I need to watch things die (from a good safe distance)
Vicariously, I live while the whole world dies
You all feel the same, so

Why can't we just admit it?

Blood like rain, come down. Drown my grave and ground
Part vampire, part warrior, carnivore and voyeur
Still, heaven sends me to sing to the death rattle

La la la la la la lie. La la la la la la lie. La la la la la la lie. La la la la la la lie.

Could you at least admit your desire to believe in angels in the hearts of men
Pull your hand on out your head, please, and give a listen
I shouldn't have to say it all again
The universe is hostile, so impersonal.
Devour to survive, so it is, so it's always been

We all feed on tragedy. It's like blood to a vampire.

Vicariously I
live while the whole world dies
Much better you than I...

According to the ACLU

Today’s documents reveal charges that Special Forces beat, burned, and doused eight prisoners with cold water before sending them into freezing weather conditions. One of the eight prisoners, Jamal Naseer, died in U.S. custody in March 2003. In late 2004, the military opened a criminal investigation into charges of torture at Gardez. Despite numerous witness statements describing the evidence of torture, the military’s investigation concluded that the charges of torture were unsupported. It also concluded that Naseer’s death was the result of a “stomach ailment,” even though no autopsy had been conducted in his case. Documents uncovered today also refer to sodomy committed by prison guards; the victims’ identities are redacted.1

An educated workforce is an economic asset.
Submitted by Part of the 97 ... on Wed, 04/23/2008 - 4:03pm.
Workforce? I don't think your getting the picture. Selling drugs is a job. A very risky job.

You love me, don't you Potty breath..*smootch*

Yep...the CIA doesn't like competition!!

http://www.samsedershow.com/node/2555
Following the advice of the United Nations Drug Control Program (UNDCP), the Taliban government banned opium production in 2000. Opium production subsequently suffered more than a 90% decrease. The opposition Northern Alliance fiercely protected the remaining raw opium marketing and production.

Wednesday, July 4, 2001 | 10:11 PM ET
CBC News
The United Nations Drug Control Program says the world's biggest heroin producing country, Afghanistan, has gone out of the drug business.

A UNDCP report to be released next month will say Afghanistan has completely eradicated cultivation of the opium poppy, the plant producing the resin which is refined into heroin.

"We do not grow poppies and we will not grow them. This is a Taliban edict and it must be obeyed," Sheikh Rashimi, leader of the village of Spenghagbarga, told the CBC's Patrick Brown.

Wiki: Northern Alliance (AKA UIF )
The United Islamic Front for the Salvation of Afghanistan (UIF, Jabha-yi Muttahid-i Islami-yi Milli bara-yi Nijat-i Afghanistan), also known as the Northern Alliance (term used by the Western media), was a military-political umbrella organization created by the Islamic State of Afghanistan in 1996. The organization united various Afghan groups fighting against each other to fight the Taliban instead.

In late 2001, with extensive assistance from U.S. air support and United States Special Forces, the UIF succeeded in retaking most of Afghanistan from the Taliban. Despite fears of a return to the chaos similar to that of the Afghan Civil War (1992-1996), the UIF factions largely accepted the new order.

Friday, 29 February 2008
Opium poppy production in Afghanistan reached another record high last year and Kabul must do more to stop it, a US State Department report says.

The report says that the poppy cultivation helps Taleban insurgents obtain money and weapons.

The drug trade hinders progress towards economic stability and democracy, the report adds.

Afghanistan grows nearly all of the world's opium poppy crop in an illegal trade worth billions of dollars.

"Eliminating narcotics cultivation and trafficking in Afghanistan will require a long-term national and international commitment," said the State Department.
[...]
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7271654.stm

Things that make you go, Hmmmmm...

They don't call him "Poppy" for nothing.

after the primary last night...a bit hung over too...Hillary gives me a headache....no movement is frustrating like a bardo....

Prison Song, (War on Drugs)

The CIA’s admission that it possesses at least 7000 documents relating to rendition, secret detention and torture generated renewed calls by the human rights groups for transparency and accountability from the government.

“The Freedom of Information Act is one of the major checks on government criminality in this country,” said CCR Executive Director Vincent Warren. “The CIA has acknowledged that it has well over 7000 documents that relate to the torture and disappearance of men. These include some of our clients, like Majid Khan, who were known to be in the program. The public needs to know what crimes were committed in our name and how they were justified. This has been the most secretive, least transparent administration in history, and it is well past time for accountability.”

http://rawstory.com/news/2008/CIA_has_7000_documents_relating_to_0423.ht...

Suspicions grow that drugs were used in detainee interrogations
Muriel Kane

The Washington Post charged on Tuesday that detainees at Guantanamo Bay may have been injected with drugs in the course of their interrogation. "At least two dozen other former and current detainees at Guantanamo Bay and elsewhere say they were given drugs against their will or witnessed other inmates being drugged, based on interviews and court documents," the Post reports.

http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Suspicions_grow_that_drugs_used_in_0422.ht...

Border agents can search laptops without cause, appeal court rules

"In the meantime, travelers should be aware that anything on their mobile devices can be searched by government agents, who may also seize the devices and keep them for weeks or months. When in doubt, think about whether online storage or encryption might be tools you should use to prevent the feds from rummaging through your journal, your company's confidential business plans or naked pictures of you and your-of-age partner in adult fun."

Just stfu and be a good consumer, obey, comply, hand over your laptop, buy a new one and stfu. Or else. You have no privacy. Oh remember, we're doing this for freedom. Our means are classified, but you have no privacy. Stfu, remember your place. Have a nice fucking day.

You are obsessed with drugs. What's up with that? Are you a

user? What is your drug of choice? I'm guessing heroin,

after reading so many of your addled comments. Nobody on

this blog references drugs as frequently as you. There must

be something there.

The Guardian

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

Anti-psychotics may cause long-term harm, say critics Youngsters under 6 being given unlicensed drugs

By Sarah Boseley

The Disciples at Saïs: A Sacred Theory of Earth

What's going on over in the Apple? Got any new projects

going?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3mkbjkevSg

Yesterday, New York divorce attorney Stanford Lotwin (who worked on the high profile divorces of Howard Stern, Donald Trump and Diana Ross among others) filed a notice of appearance with the courts. Upon learning of the filing, ET producers discovered the original divorce decree.

Jones married Al Reynolds at Saint Bartholomew's Church in New York City on November 13, 2004. The wedding was an extravagant affair with 500 hundred guests, three matrons of honors, 12 bridesmaids and four flower girls. The lavish nuptials came under scrutiny when Star discussed her wedding's sponsors at length on her ABC show.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/04/23/star-jones-divorce-shock_n_9818...

> Submitted by Peter Dragon on Wed, 04/23/2008 - 3:28pm.
>
> I sure am happy that smart people like you come in
> here to help us all out. Where would we be without
> guys like you?
>
> Thanks for keeping us informed on the things we can't
> figure out.
>

From reading the posts in here, it appears some actually can't
figure this out.

IAE, you're quite welcome.

the troll^^..^^ patrol.

Scroll the trollss^^..^^ and they will eventually fly away!

Virtual fence on Mexican border deemed insufficient

The government is scrapping a $20 million prototype of its highly touted "virtual fence" on the Arizona-Mexico border because the system is failing to adequately alert border patrol agents to illegal crossings, officials said.

The move comes just two months after Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff announced his approval of the fence built by The Boeing Co. The fence consists of nine electronic surveillance towers along a 28-mile section of border southwest of Tucson.

Boeing is to replace the so-called Project 28 prototype with a series of towers equipped with communications systems, new cameras and new radar capability, officials said.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/2008/04/virtual_fence_on_mexican_borde...

60 Percent Of EPA Staff Have ‘Personally Experienced’ ‘Political Interference’
Today, the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) released a report detailing the increasing politicization of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Of the nearly 1,600 EPA staff scientists surveyed, 889 of them — 60 percent — “said they had personally experienced at least one instance of political interference in their work over the last five years.” Other key findings from the report:

– 394 scientists (31 percent) personally experienced frequent or occasional “statements by EPA officials that misrepresent scientists’ findings.”

– 285 scientists (22 percent) said they frequently or occasionally personally experienced “selective or incomplete use of data to justify a specific regulatory outcome.”

– 224 scientists (17 percent) said they had been “directed to inappropriately exclude or alter technical information from an EPA scientific document.”

– Hundreds of scientists reported being unable to openly express concerns about the EPA’s work without fear of retaliation; 492 (31 percent) felt they could not speak candidly within the agency and 382 (24 percent) felt they could not do so outside the agency.

What’s more, among the various offices and divisions of the EPA, the National Center for Environmental Assessment — “where scientists conduct risk assessments that could lead to strengthened regulations” — had the highest percentage of scientists reporting interferences, at 84 percent. This is unsurprising, considering that some of the highest profile examples of prioritizing ideology over science have occurred when the White House wants to weaken environmental regulation:

– Bush intervened at the 11th hour to weaken or kill scientifically-recommended standards on ozone protection. [3/18/08]

– Johnson ignored EPA staffers to reject California’s waiver to strengthen greenhouse gas emissions standards. [12/21/07]

– The EPA concealed a scientific study that “would have forced the agency to consider more stringent controls” on acceptable mercury levels. [3/22/05]

Chairman of the House Oversight Committee Henry Waxman (D-CA) wrote a letter today to Johnson, warning him that, when Johnson testifies in May, he should “expect members of the Committee to ask about these survey results and other evidence of political interference with science at EPA.”

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/04/23/epa-staff-survey/

> 2.5m children on drugs in US
> Submitted by Alice on Wed, 04/23/2008 - 4:26pm.
>
> The Guardian
>

I'll wager 99% of those children are in public schools.

"But why didn't he win?"
by kos
Wed Apr 23, 2008 at 11:20:33 AM PDT

Lots of stupid spin floating around today. One of the dumber ones is the "why didn't he win Pennsylvania if he's so hot a candidate?" The implication being that somehow he's not "electable" since he can't win every single state on the calendar.

So why didn't he win Pennsylvania?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZdowyoAFu8

"Farmers and food executives appealed fruitlessly to federal officials yesterday for regulatory steps to limit speculative buying that is helping to drive food prices higher. Meanwhile, some Americans are stocking up on staples such as rice, flour and oil in anticipation of high prices and shortages spreading from overseas."

http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080423/BUSIN...

I had a client this morning who is contemplating hoarding food...we humans are interesting thinking we can somehow make ourselves exempt from the suffering of human existance...then she can be paranoid that someone will take it from her.

If neither Clinton nor Obama has won a majority of the delegates by June 4, Sen. Ben Cardin of Maryland says he hopes his fellow superdelegates "will be helpful in bringing us to a conclusion before the convention — not using backroom politics, but using a way of looking at who is likely to be the nominee and who has the greatest support.”

Cardin is uncommitted so far.

...

Likewise, Massachusetts Sen. Ted Kennedy, whose state voted for Clinton. Kennedy, who has campaigned tirelessly across the nation for Obama, was skeptical about the idea of superdelegates simply voting the way their states' voters did.

Bushism:

"This foreign policy stuff is a little frustrating."
(The New York Daily News, April 23, 2005)

Democratic Delegate Count Update

via Real Clear Politics:

After Tuesday's Pennsylvania Primary, the Democratic delegate count stands as follows:

Obama: 1485 pledged, 235 super, 1720 total
Clinton: 1331 pledged, 259 super, 1590 total

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jlR8JXfQ7w

Submitted by Part of the 97 ... on Wed, 04/23/2008 - 4:03pm.
How about we just legalize drug and send the addicts to live in woods down by you?
------
Here is a better idea. Don't attempt to identify costly national failings and don't attempt to rectify the costly national failings that you can't identify.

Stick with the trite sloganeering and the simplistic mindset befitting a loyal and spoon-fed Dittohead. That's where your talents lie (so to speak).

It's been awhile..
Thanks for all the good posts. :)

"Hello to our friends and fans in domestic surveillance."

yourll

German American - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
By 1775, Germans constituted about one-third of the population of Pennsylvania.

case closed

Just months after leaving office, former Mississippi Republican senator Trent Lott is already cashing in as a lobbyist. “The firm he founded with former Sen. John Breaux (D-La.) earned at least $945,000 during its first quarter in business, according to House filings.” That number is likely to grow as the firm “continues to ink new contracts” as Lott and Breaux trade on the “valuable access” they earned as senators.

http://www.rollcall.com/issues/53_125/news/23200-1.html?CMP=OTC-RSS

The Super-D factor

Submitted by gravitas on Wed, 04/23/2008 - 4:49pm

“A day after the Bush administration urged India to step up pressure on Iran’s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, on his coming visit to New Delhi, India tartly said it did not need ‘any guidance on the future conduct of bilateral relations,’” making clear that “no saber rattling from its friends in Washington would impair its relationship with a vital energy supplier.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/23/world/asia/23fbriefs-USADVICEONIR_BRF....

Italy’s major electricity producer, Enel, is converting its massive power plant from oil to coal, “generally the dirtiest fuel on earth.” European countries are expected to put into operation about 50 coal-fired plants over the next five years. “[T]his plan is like barging into a war without having a plan for how it should be conducted,” said NASA climatologist James Hansen.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/23/world/europe/23coal.html

Great ! I just bought some Chantix.(The starter kit).
What if you already have depression ?
I guess I'm good to go ? ;)

By MARILYNN MARCHIONE, AP Medical Writer
Wed Apr 23, 1:47 PM ET

CHICAGO - Two years ago, scientists had high hopes for new pills that would help people quit smoking, lose weight and maybe kick other tough addictions like alcohol and cocaine.

The pills worked in a novel way, by blocking pleasure centers in the brain that provide the feel-good response from smoking or eating. Now it seems the drugs may block pleasure too well, possibly raising the risk of depression and suicide.

Margaret Bastian of suburban Rochester, N.Y., was among patients who reported problems with Chantix, a highly touted quit-smoking pill from Pfizer Inc. that has been linked to dozens of reports of suicides and hundreds of suicidal behaviors.

"I started to get severely depressed and just going down into that hole ... the one you can't crawl out of," said Bastian, whose doctor took her off Chantix after she swallowed too many sleeping pills and other medicines one night.

Side effects also plague two other drugs:

• Rimonabant, an obesity pill sold as Acomplia in Europe, was tied to higher rates of depression and a suicide in a study last month. The maker, Sanofi-Aventis SA, still hopes to win its approval in the United States.

• Taranabant, a similar pill in late-stage testing, led to higher rates of depression and other side effects in a study last month. Its maker, Merck & Co., stopped testing it at middle and high doses.

The makers of the new drugs insist they are safe, although perhaps not for everyone, such as people with a history of depression. Having to restrict the drugs' use would be a big setback because it would deprive the very people who need help the most, since addictions and depression often go hand-in-hand, doctors say.

A bigger fear is that the whole approach may be in trouble. Researchers say blocking pleasure, especially the way the obesity drugs do, might take the fun out of many things, not just the harmful substances and behaviors these drugs target.

Con't

"Hello to our friends and fans in domestic surveillance."

Submitted by toniD on Wed, 04/23/2008 - 4:57pm.
“no saber rattling from its friends in Washington would impair its relationship with a vital energy supplier.”
------
(Diplomatic-speak from India best defined as "STFU".)

the deluded wench, she thinks that all the republicans that voted for her just to run the black one off the road, she thinks (or wants us to believe) that these republicans will vote for her in november

Hahahahahahahahahaha..

First posted in May of 2004 by a naive young 3%er!

... 4 years later that young 3%er has graduated college, served 2 years in Iraq, got married, landed a real job, and is now working for McCain in Florida.

He learned though school, the military, and hard work...

Other never learn by trial and error and error and error!

Colombia's 'parapolitics' scandal casts shadow over president

Sibylla Brodzinsky in Bogotá

A political scandal that has engulfed Colombia's political class came a step closer to the president, Alvaro Uribe, after his cousin and close political companion was arrested on charges of colluding with rightwing paramilitary groups.

Mario Uribe, whose political career has run parallel to his second cousin's, was taken into custody last night after Costa Rica denied him political asylum.

He faces charges of allegedly seeking the political backing of paramilitary leader Salvatore Mancuso in 2002 just before national elections and of negotiating with another warlord the purchase of land in areas under paramilitary control.

President Uribe said he was "pained" by his cousin's arrest but that he "accepted the pain with patriotism".

Mario Uribe was the latest in a string of more than 30 politicians elected to Congress in 2006 who have been arrested on charges related to conspiracy with the paramilitary death squads that controlled huge swathes of the nation before they began demobilising in 2003.

Another 30 lawmakers are implicated in what has come to be known as the "parapolitics" scandal, including the senate president and staunch Uribe ally, Nancy Patricia Gutierrez.

President Uribe has said that it is thanks to his policies that Colombia has been able to go through the collective catharsis. But as the scandal reaches his closest collaborators, the image of Colombia's president could begin to tarnish, abroad if not at home.

The president's links to his cousin are not just through family. The two ran for Congress in 1986 on the same ticket of a dissident Liberal Party faction they had co-founded; Mario won a seat in the House of Representatives while Alvaro became senator.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/apr/23/colombia?gusrc=rss&feed=worl...

I don't believe any of that. I believe Clinton is a

Republican operative, working for them to help destroy

the Democratic Party. I also believe the Dems are on

their way out because they don't represent liberals. They

will fade away like the Whigs and a new party will form

if we survive one party rule.

And they end up like you. Sad.

This is an interesting examination of Pennsylvania blue collar voters.
------
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/04/23/by_alec_macgillis_ba...

No Novelty to Obama's Weakness with Blue-Collar Pa. Dems

...In the languishing steel town of Charleroi, a customer service worker at one of the few companies in town, a heating-and-cooling parts manufacturer, said that she, a Democrat, would not back Obama in the fall because he "doesn't even pledge allegiance to the flag," a mistaken allegation that circulated widely online. But the company's co-owner, Bruce Arnoldt, a 45-year-old Republican who drives a Jaguar, said that he was seriously considering Obama over McCain, because he's lost some confidence in Republican governance and because Obama "seems level-headed and reasonable."...

Tricky, Tricky
By Paul Kiel - April 23, 2008, 4:12PM
You may remember that one of the ongoing battles between the EPA and Congress is over California's petition to institute tough limits on greenhouse gases from cars and trucks. EPA chief Stephen Johnson blocked the move, despite the unanimous recommendation of his staff, and has fought Congress' attempts to investigate. California and 17 other states have sued in response. But the administration had more than one trick up its sleeve....

From The San Francisco Chronicle:

When the Bush administration announced proposed regulations Tuesday to raise fuel economy standards for cars and trucks to 31.6 miles per gallon by 2015, even some environmentalists applauded. But then they read the fine print.
Tucked deep into a 417-page "Notice of Proposed Rulemaking" was language by the Transportation Department stating that more stringent limits on tailpipe emissions embraced by California and 17 other states are "an obstacle to the accomplishment" of the new federal standards and are "expressly and impliedly preempted" by federal law.

California Attorney General Jerry Brown called it a covert assault on California's rules. Environmentalists said the language will be used by automakers in their legal challenges to two recent federal court rulings that sided with the states.

Via Dan Froomkin.

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/04/tricky_tricky.php

Edwards Backers Team Up With Obama
By Julie Bosman

No, John Edwards has not yet endorsed a candidate.
But nearly 50 of his most prominent backers lined up behind Senator Barack Obama today, in a gesture designed to give Mr. Obama a heavy boost of support less than two weeks before the North Carolina primary on May 6.
The group includes Ed Turlington, Mr. Edwards’s former national general campaign chairman; three North Carolina members of Congress; and 46 local activists, philanthropists and business leaders, among others. (Not surprisingly, given Mr. Edwards’s background, the list holds the names of 20 lawyers.)

Mr. Turlington, speaking from his law office in Raleigh, said that he had not expected to endorse a candidate after Mr. Edwards dropped out of the race on Jan. 30.
“I thought I was going to be on the sidelines,” Mr. Turlington said, adding that he made the decision about 10 days ago, after speaking to Mr. Obama. “I think his candidacy is doing a lot of important things that are similar to themes that John Edwards ran on.”
Among those things, he said, were Mr. Obama’s pledges to change the culture of Washington and fight for issues that are important to working people.
Throughout his second bid for the Democratic nomination, Mr. Edwards clashed repeatedly with Mrs. Clinton, particularly in debates. He criticized Mrs. Clinton for accepting campaign contributions from Washington lobbyists, a practice that he fiercely opposed.

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/04/23/edwards-backers-team-up-wi...

???

April 23, 2008
Murdoch Taking on F.C.C. Media Rule
By STEPHEN LABATON
WASHINGTON — As he nears completion of a deal to acquire Newsday from the Tribune Company, Rupert Murdoch appears likely to pose the first significant challenge to the media ownership rule that the Federal Communications Commission recently adopted.

Even without Newsday, Mr. Murdoch was in the process of seeking waivers to continue to control two newspapers (The Wall Street Journal and The New York Post) and two television stations (WNYW and WWOR) in the New York area.

With those waiver requests pending at the F.C.C., the Newsday deal means that Mr. Murdoch must now apply for a waiver to own the two television stations and three newspapers in the same market.

The new rule, approved by a deeply divided commission in December, permits a company to own just one paper and one television station in the same city in the top 20 markets so long as there are at least eight other independent sources of news and the station is not in the top four. (The stations controlled by News Corporation are the fourth- and sixth-largest in the New York market.)

The architect of the rule, Kevin J. Martin, the chairman of the commission, has made clear that there is a strong presumption against granting waivers.

The Newsday deal also becomes public as Congress takes up a measure that would restore the old ownership rule, which generally restricted a company from owning both a newspaper and a television station in the same city, unless the F.C.C. granted a waiver.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/23/business/media/23ownership.html?_r=2&e...

hrhjuli what is a venti americano?
new
Submitted by mire on Wed, 04/23/2008 - 5:27pm.

???

--

It's a coffee drink from starbucks. Espresso mixed with hot water. that's the americano part. The venti means large size.

Hahahahahahahahahahaha..

I am happy as a clam..

Election year you know...

The 97% is calling the shots..

We love our election years!

trouble is, John Edwards only has 26 elected delegates.

Nevertheless, Clinton can make that claim and it's actually true.

Since she has been appearing on Fox News, she as done much better in the Primaries.

I think it is because Fox is Fair and Balanced and the others are in the tank for Obama!

Submitted by Part of the 97 ... on Wed, 04/23/2008 - 5:32pm.
Hahahahahahahahahahaha..
The 97% is calling the shots..
We love our election years!

*points and laughs*----->

from your inner mind

Supreme Court says police may search even if arrest invalid

Supreme Court affirms police have power to search even during arrest that violates state law

PETE YOST
AP News

Apr 23, 2008 11:02 EST

The Supreme Court affirmed Wednesday that police have the power to conduct searches and seize evidence, even when done during an arrest that turns out to have violated state law.

The unanimous decision comes in a case from Portsmouth, Va., where city detectives seized crack cocaine from a motorist after arresting him for a traffic ticket offense.

David Lee Moore was pulled over for driving on a suspended license. The violation is a minor crime in Virginia and calls for police to issue a court summons and let the driver go.

Instead, city detectives arrested Moore and prosecutors say that drugs taken from him in a subsequent search can be used against him as evidence.

"We reaffirm against a novel challenge what we have signaled for half a century," Justice Antonin Scalia wrote.

Scalia said that when officers have probable cause to believe a person has committed a crime in their presence, the Fourth Amendment permits them to make an arrest and to search the suspect in order to safeguard evidence and ensure their own safety.

Moore was convicted on a drug charge and sentenced to 3 1/2 years in prison.

The Virginia Supreme Court ruled that police should have released Moore and could not lawfully conduct a search.

State law, said the Virginia Supreme Court, restricted officers to issuing a ticket in exchange for a promise to appear later in court. Virginia courts dismissed the indictment against Moore.

Moore argued that the Fourth Amendment permits a search only following a lawful state arrest.

In a concurring opinion, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said she finds more support for Moore's position in previous court cases than the rest of the court does. But she said she agrees that the arrest and search of Moore was constitutional, even though it violated Virginia law.

The Bush administration and attorneys general from 18 states lined up in support of Virginia prosecutors.

The federal government said Moore's case had the potential to greatly increase the class of unconstitutional arrests, resulting in evidence seized during searches being excluded with increasing frequency.

Looking to state laws to provide the basis for searches would introduce uncertainty into the legal system, the 18 states said in court papers.

http://www.rawstory.com/news/mochila/Supreme_Court_says_police_may_searc...

CIA has 7,000 documents relating to rendition, detention, torture programs, filing shows

Documents suggest CIA stonewalled Congress

The Central Intelligence Agency has acknowledged having 7,000 pages of documents pertaining to President George W. Bush's secret rendition and detention programs, according to three international human rights groups.

Amnesty International USA, the Center for Constitutional Rights and the International Human Rights Clinic at NYU School of Law made the claim following a summary judgment motion by the agency this week to avoid a lawsuit that seeks to force the nation's top spy outfit to make the documents public under a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit.

"Among other assertions, the CIA claimed that it did not have to release the documents because many consist of correspondence with the White House or top Bush administration officials, or because they are between parties seeking legal advice on the programs, including guidance on the legality of certain interrogation procedures," the groups wrote in a release. "The CIA confirmed that it requested—and received—legal advice from attorneys at the Department of Justice Office of Legal Counsel concerning these procedures."

“For the first time, the CIA has acknowledged that extensive records exist relating to its use of enforced disappearances and secret prisons,” Curt Goering, AIUSA senior deputy executive director, said in a statement. “Given what we already know about documents written by Bush administration officials trying to justify torture and other human rights crimes, one does not need a fertile imagination to conclude that the real reason for refusing to disclose these documents has more to do with avoiding disclosure of criminal activity than national security.”

RAW STORY was the first news outlet to identify the exact location of one of the sites in the CIA's secret prison network, which was revealed first by the Washington Post. Raw Story identified a prison in northeastern Poland, Stare Kiejkuty, that was used as a transit point for terror suspects.

Once a Soviet-era compound once used by German intelligence in World War II, Stare Kiejkuty is best known as having been the only Russian intelligence training school to operate outside the Soviet Union. Its prominence in the Soviet era suggests that it may have been the facility first identified – but never named – when the Washington Post’s Dana Priest revealed the existence of the CIA’s secret prison network in November 2005.

The groups say that they're not the only ones being stonewalled. Congress, they say, is getting the short end of the stick as well.

http://rawstory.com/news/2008/CIA_has_7000_documents_relating_to_0423.ht...

Siegelman: Rove 'hijacked' the Dept. of Justice to win elections
Muriel Kane

In an extensive interview with Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman, who was released from prison on bond last month pending an appeal of his conviction on corruption charges, laid the blame for his prosecution squarely on Karl Rove's "hijacking" of the federal Department of Justice.

"This is not about me, it's not about my case," Siegelman emphasized in his appearance on Air America's Ring of Fire, a show hosted by Kennedy and Mike Papantonio available online at GoLeft.tv. "This is about America, and about a quest now that must be pursued to find out who was responsible for hijacking the Department of Justice and using it as a political tool to win elections. I believe that person that Congress will ultimately hold responsible is Karl Rove."

Siegelman noted that even before Republican whistleblower Dana Jill Simpson implicated Rove directly, "I suspected from the circumstantial evidence that Karl Rove was deeply involved in my prosecution. I mean, it was just so obvious that it was easy for me to put two and two together and connect those dots."

"I grew up with your father being the Attorney General," Siegelman told Kennedy, "and the heroic deeds that he did, and you know, you always thought that the Department of Justice was the last place that you could look to for justice and for fair play. But I think Karl Rove learned two things out of Watergate. ... He learned that you didn't have to create a secret plumbers unit within the White House when you had the Department of Justice. If you just appointed the right U.S. Attorneys, you could accomplish the same thing and more. And the second thing I think Rove learned was, you don't leave evidence behind like Nixon did with his tapes. You destroy e-mails."

http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Siegelman_Rove_hijacked_Dept._of_Justice_0...

Barack Obama 14,417,134
Hillary Clinton 13,916,781
Source

Fraud costs military health program $100 million-plus

Fraud in Philippines costs US military health program more than $100 million

RYAN J. FOLEY
AP News

Apr 23, 2008 13:41 EST

The U.S. military's health insurance program has been swindled out of more than $100 million over the past decade in the Philippines, where doctors, hospitals and clinics have conspired with American veterans to submit bogus claims, according to prosecutors and court records.

Seventeen people have been convicted so far — including at least a dozen U.S. military retirees — in a little-noticed investigation that has been handled by federal prosecutors out of Wisconsin because a Madison company holds the contract to process many of the claims. It has not been accused of any wrongdoing.

At the center of the case is Tricare, a Pentagon-run program that insures 9.2 million current and former service members and dependents worldwide. The United States closed its military bases in the Philippines in 1992 and withdrew its active-duty forces, but thousands of retirees remained. Some saw an opportunity to pry easy cash from Tricare.

Health care providers in the Philippines filed claims for medical services never delivered, inflated claims by as much as 2,000 percent and shared kickbacks with retirees who played along, court records reviewed by The Associated Press show.

"There just seemed to be so many possibilities for abuse of the system, and there were so few controls in terms of monitoring," said former U.S. Attorney Peg Lautenschlager, who oversaw prosecutions in the late 1990s.

Pentagon auditors say Tricare moved slowly to uncover and stop the fraud. And a February audit warned that the program is still vulnerable to rip-offs because of lax controls and that similar fraud schemes are starting to emerge in Latin America.

News of the scope of the fraud comes as the Pentagon seeks to raise fees for Tricare's beneficiaries — fourfold, in some cases. The proposed increases have outraged groups representing servicemen and have been blocked by Congress.

Tricare paid $210.9 million in overseas claims in 2006, the latest year for which figures were available. At the height of the fraud in 2003, Pentagon officials say, two-thirds of the $61.8 million paid to Philippine providers — about $40 million — was fraudulent.

http://www.rawstory.com/news/mochila/Fraud_costs_military_health_program...

Marion Morrison was at the beginning of a promising career when WWII broke out. While virtually everyone around him was enlisting for combat, Marion said it wasn't fair to his 3 children for him to go off to war, he needed to stay stateside and make some more money, then he'd enlist. Besides he said, "I'm 34 years old" probably too old. That may or may not have been true. Why even out in Hollywood movies stars were enlisting for combat in droves. For example Henry Fonda, who was 37 with 3 children, enlisted and flew 20 combat missions. (Holy smokes, Clark Gable was 40 and enlisted too!)

Marion kept his 3F draft status for a while, but when things got tough he was upgraded to 1-A. Still not ready to go, Marion pleaded with his boss to use connections to keep him home. Must have been some boss, because Marion got to stay to do his job.

When the war was over, Marion felt bad about being such a coward, so bad in fact that he began attacking anyone who didn't feel as patriotic about his country as he did. Oh, could he ever rip off some excellent diatribes about the lefty commies like, you know, Henry Fonda who was 3 years older with 3 children and flew 20 combat missions.

Marion also loved to brag about his values and how they were superior to about everyone else's. He had so many good values he was married 3 times so he could share these values with more wives. But he even had more values than he could even share with his wives so he shared them with other women while he was married. Sometimes he fell in love with the other women so much that he had to un-marry his current wife so he could marry his new wife. Once he did both on the same day! That was smart since he was already at the court house getting divorced, he might as well get married and save the gas!

Marion became world famous. No not for being a draft dodger or wife cheater (and beater) or for calling combat veterans commies, he became famous for making war movies. In the movies he playacted so good that everyone thought he was a real war hero. He was proud of his playacting and claimed it helped win WWII. Because he never fought in a real war, Marion made up for it by being a big supporter of the Korean War and Vietnam War. Oh, he made movies about them and spiced them up to make them even more patriotic. They were so good everyone wanted to be just like Marion (the playacter, not the draft dodger or wife cheater (and beater) or for calling combat veterans commies) so the Republican party modeled their political beliefs around him.

The morale of this story is, playacting is more important than real actions. So it's OK if you say you are for war and are a draft dodger, or you are for family values and you are a wife cheater/bearter or you are a fake war hero while you call real war heros commies and faggots.

Oh, there's one more morale to this story. If you want to make war movies and your name is Marion Morrison, change it to John Wayne and wear a hairpiece.

....pilgrim.

___
bluerootsradio

Trolls, the tools of fools

Pennsylvania: Clinton Is Alive and Kicking—And Threatening To Tear the Party Apart?

The Democratic contest has been a 50-50 proposition for months now--more precisely, a 51-49 percent endeavor or maybe a 52-48-percent face-off in Barack Obama's favor, according to the pledged delegate count and the popular vote. Hillary Clinton's 10-point win in the Keystone State (which apparently did not net her a significant pickup in pledged delegates) does not change this. In fact, her Pennsylvania triumph does not change the fundamentals of the race. Obama is still on track to end the primaries with a slight edge in pledged delegates. And Clinton is still in the race, clinging tightly to her candidacy and reiterating rationales to stay in the hunt: I have more experience; I'm better prepared to be commander-in-chief; I've withstood the worst of the GOP attack machine; I've won the big states.

Bottom line: It's not over, and the contest is not likely to end anytime soon. At HRC HQ in Philadelphia on Tuesday night, Terry McAuliffe, Clinton's campaign manager, ebulliently declared, "She is taking this all the way to Denver." But many Democratic superdelegates and insiders are hardly enthusiastic about a bitterly fought campaign that trudges through the next nine primaries (which conclude in early June) and then continues, as a media-driven contest of Democrat-on-Democrat sniping, for three months until the convention in Denver at the end of August. The question is, will these Democrats be able to do anything about it?

If Clinton is committed to going the distance, she cannot be stopped. No one--not even those mighty superdelegates--can literally force her out. She cannot win the final primaries by margins large enough to erase Obama's lead in voter-determined delegates. Everyone knows that. But she can keep on challenging Obama, doing well enough--winning some contests or placing a strong second--to justify, at least to herself and her supporters, her continued presence in the race. During that time, she can hope something happens that does alter the landscape (look, evidence that Obama is indeed a secret Muslim!), and she can also lay the groundwork for a post-primaries effort to persuade superdelegates to overturn Obama's narrow victory among pledged delegates. Yet that project can only succeed with successful assaults on Obama. Her path to the nomination depends on one fuel: fierce attacks. She can win the nomination only by tearing down Obama after the voting is done and by threatening party unity.

Clinton is obviously fine with that--at this stage. But how far is she willing to go? Her shots at Obama may have helped her win in Pennsylvania. But they were not cost-free. According to the exit polls, 42 percent of the Pennsylvania Democratic voters consider Clinton untrustworthy. (Thirty percent said the same about Obama.) Sixty-seven percent said they believed she had attacked Obama unfairly. Only 49 percent said Obama had thrown low-blows. And Clinton did not redefine her standing among Democrats. Two-thirds of Pennsylvania's Democratic voters said Clinton was "in touch with people" like them. Yet two-thirds had the same assessment of Obama. Despite all the fuss about Obama's "bitter" remark, Clinton had no edge in the candidate-of-the-people category. And 51 percent of the voters said the candidate quality they consider most important was the ability to implement change. Among these voters, Obama attracted 70 percent.

http://www.motherjones.com/mojoblog/archives/2008/04/8041_pennsylvania_c...

on AA radio, now.

Pennsylvania: the Worst of All Possible Worlds

By ALEXANDER COCKBURN
and JEFFREY ST. CLAIR

For the Democratic Party it was the worst possible result. If Hillary Clinton had won by 20 points, which was her lead in Pennsylvania around the time the Rev Jeremiah Wright’s sermon jumped from Youtube to cable news, then there would have a case for arguing that yes, Obama had taken too much damage from Wright, from his ill-considered remarks about small-town bitterness at a California fundraiser and his tenuous ties to a former leader of the Weather Underground.

If on the other hand Hillary had eked out a victory by 5 points or less in a state tailor-made for her it would have accelerated her downward drift, and her campaign funding crisis would have been insoluble, assuming – which we safely can – that Bill wouldn’t give her a credit line on the $109 million earned since 2001. But in the end Pennsylvania gave her an 8 to 10 point victory. The demographic contour of the Democratic voters was old, (second, behind Florida, in the union), Catholic (40 percent of those voting last night). Almost 60 per cent of the vote was cast by women. The state is more rural than Ohio and 55 per cent of the voters had high school degrees or less.

It’s clear that a sizable chunk of those questioned after they voted lied to the pollsters. The exit polls showed a 5 point margin for Hillary. In the end the margin was approximately twice that. This is a big problem for Obama as is the fact that far more voters for Hillary said they would never vote for Obama than the other way round. One of Hillary Clinton’s big achievements has been to seriously, maybe fatally, wound Obama among her own supporters.

Since South Carolina, back at the start of March, the Clintons have deliberately fragmented the Democratic vote. Here’s where the mysterious resignation of John Edwards from the campaign race has been particularly significant. As the Clintons methodically widened the racial divide, Edwards would have been there to capture the white working class male voters who don’t particularly care for Hillary. With Edwards in the race she never would have been able to get away with her tricky footwork on NAFTA, and he would have savaged her on her campaign and familial ties to the anti-labor death squad regime in Colombia.

Hillary ran as a caste member of The Deerhunter, playing Russian roulette in this instance with the Democratic Party’s chance for the White House and control of Congress. In the final days of the campaign she rhetorically obliterated Iran with the clear implication that this is what real Presidents do, whether at 3 am, after breakfast or before dinner. What was Obama meant to do? Come on as a gun-toting black man? The Pennsylvania State Troopers would have gunned him down.

Hillary must know that she cannot possibly win the nomination by any rational standard. Hence the comic moment on Tuesday when her finance chairman Terry McAuliffe was asked to define what Mrs Clinton would invoke as a fair claim on the Democratic nomination. McAuliffe said it would either be a victory in the popular vote in Democratic primaries and caucuses -- including Michigan and Florida – (a very remote contingency) or a lead in the pledged delegates (an impossibility) or a lead among Superdelegates (among whom, since March 6, HRC has collected 12 and Obama 88) or there would be a consensus among party leaders that Obama is incapable of beating McCain. Obama is still ahead of McCain, though thanks to Mrs Clinton’s efforts the margin is narrowing.

In other words there’s no rational scenario here, except the one suggested here by St Clair a month ago that her real aim is to ensure a McCain victory this year and come back in 2012.

In two weeks comes the Indiana primary which will probably be close. Obama is likely to win North Carolina, South Dakota, Montana and Oregon. Hillary will most likely win West Virginia, Kentucky and Puerto Rico. At the end of the day Obama ends up 150-160 pledged delegates ahead of her, and about a 500,000 edge in the popular vote. He will have won about 32 states against HRC’s 20.

So on we straggle.

**Lipstick Lesbian**

Don't get me wrong...

Odd are you will get your guy...

If you are an Obama fan that is...

But the cost!!!! In Dollar, Time, and Damage is Classic!

In August Obama will stand atop a Loony-Toons Democrat Convention.

The Hillary Fans will be angry and rejected...

The Money will be low and the 97% re-educated about Sen. Obama.

Watch what you wish for, you just might get him!

WTF?!!?!?!

___
bluerootsradio

Trolls, the tools of fools

excellent post!

Once you wake up from the kook-aid, you can never go back.
The World Needs More SEDER!

One election at a time...

Tony Snow cancels EWU speech due to illness

Posted: April 22, 2008 02:53 PM CDT

Updated: April 23, 2008 09:26 AM CDT

SPOKANE -- Former White House Press Secretary Tony Snow has canceled a public speaking engagement at Eastern Washington University because of an undisclosed illness.

Snow, who was supposed to hold a public lecture at Eastern Tuesday afternoon as part of the Presidential Speaker Series, was taken to a local hospital around 9:30 a.m. for medical care.

Snip

The news of his admission to the hospital and the cancellation of his lecture at Eastern comes the day after it was announced that Snow was joining CNN as a conservative commentator, returning to the role of pundit that he occupied for 10 years at CNN rival Fox News Channel.

CNN U.S. President Jon Klein says Snow brought "a remarkably human touch to the discussion of public policy" while in the White House.

The website mediabistro.com is reporting that a CNN spokesperson told them Tuesday that Snow "will not be on tonight; we look forward to having him on in the next few days."

http://www.kxly.com/global/story.asp?s=8210007

on MSNBC is terrible!

That first segment had loud music and sound effects in the background while commentators were talking.

Nothing I heard added to the election discourse.

Race to the White House, now.

*yawns & stretches*

So, I read Hil won by 10 last night.

Hil nets +15 delegates!!!! Wow! That'll put a dent in Obama's lead, eh?

*snark*

Hmmmm? So "O" is up by ONLY 130 delegates...pledged + declared supers.

"The Math" is a bitch, eh, Hil?

You guys hereabouts wanna cut thru the horseshit? Listen to Chuck Todd (MS- & NBC numbers honcho) when he does the math.

Let's assume that IN & NC are a wash (May 6th). That means Hil has to win 80% -- yes, EIGHTY PERCENT -- of the remaining delegates to have one more delegate (not counting any undeclared supers) than Obama at the end.

And THAT ain't gonna fuckin' happen. All Obama has to do is to NOT step on his dick & run out the clock between now the DNC; you know, the ol' pre-shot-clock 4-corners stall.

Oh, and remember when I described Pennsie as 'Philly on the east, Pittsburg on the west and the state of Alabama in between'? That's EXACTLY what the vote distribution was yesterday.

-----------------------------------------

Got to rub some shoulders this weekend at an up-Island dem gig. Internal polling says that the dems will pick up 14-17 House seats & 3-5 Senate seats. Hillary can only win IF she carries FL or OH (the Gore/Kerry EV map). Obama beats McCrazy w/ 290+ EV's.

My "little birdies" tell me that the Clintonistas vs. Deaniacs feud is why Hil/Bill are gonna take this to the convention, even if the supers declare & put Obama over-the-top before then. They want to destroy Dean & the 50-state strategy. The term "scortched earth" was used more than a few times.

Wake me for the convention, kids.

Why thanks. It came to me in dream right after eating a pep/mushroom pizza from the Cosmic Karmic Pizza House of the Devinely Unique.

Wow, my dogs can fly!

Cool!

Oops. My face melted.....again.

I feel a technicolor yawn comin' on.

___
bluerootsradio

Trolls, the tools of fools

TODAY'S SHOW: WEDNESDAY, APRIL 23RD 2008
By Vanessa Silverton-Peel

Someone crack a bottle of Champagne on us, we're ready to sail! Today we launch a brand spanking new first hour of the Rachel Maddow Show. We will be simulcasting Rachel on MSNBC's Race for the White House. The second two hours of the show will feature all our regular headlines, guests and analyses.

If you read this, I'm begging you, It's over. You cannot win the Democratic nomination. Give it up. You need to instead run as an independent. You can beat both of these moronic, non-threatening, straight-talking, Peter Pan candidates with your hands tied behind your back (and a ball gag in your mouth... Mmmmmm) This could be the greatest election season this country has ever known. Let's get this third party shit started ya heard. Don't give up. Just give up on these liberal, guilt-ridden fools who are too young to remember how bad of a president Jimmy Carter was and who are too brainwashed to recall how good of a president you and your husband were the first time you guys were in the big chair.

Lady for the love of god, don't give in to these attacks. The media has villified you so these sheep fall in line behind the major corporations that fear you. Just like they feared Al Gore enough to steal the election, they are trying to break your spirit. Don't let them. You are our only hope.

And I was just kidding about the whole S&M thing... if you're not into it.

Someone on the panel said that Elizabeth Edwards may come out in support of Hillary in NC and appear with her.

"Actual vote tally for the thinking impared troll.
Submitted by Fernando on Wed, 04/23/2008 - 6:03pm.

Barack Obama 14,417,134
Hillary Clinton 13,916,781"

Beauty fer! LMAO!

Risk of depression dims hopes for anti-addiction pills
Submitted by MMRules on Wed, 04/23/2008 - 5:04pm.
------------------------------------------------
some scary shit. recently a guy was on a plane and went kinda berserk the plane had to land early and the guy was arrested. days later on the news the guy explained he had a horrible anxiety type of attack and behaved like he had never before in his life he thought it might have to do with
recently starting (and i think stopping) Chantrix.

Another interesting thing i saw on the news recently they were saying how in this terrible econonmy the healthcare industry was still doing very well, my stomach sank i instantly thought...they're making us sick on purpose

oh you heard that too? health care plan was the reason! mpphh!

tired of john mccain being one alone..WHAT THE FUCK DOES THAT MEAN ANYWAY? someone that lived in a cage for 5 years makes you one..i can tell you stories now, just ask me and make me one, shoo!

Did you know:

Bush did not win the popular vote?

Did you know:

Hillary doesn't need the popular vote?

Did you know:

The Super Delegates are not constrained by the popular vote?

Did you know:

In an Open Convention delegates can vote as they please?

New Thread

"Hello to our friends and fans in domestic surveillance."

And while this surely makes Mark Green giddy with feelings of connectedness with the MSM - and of course its a HUGE thing for Rachel - I do not discount her huge achievement breaking thru the wall into national TV as a liberal voice and holding her own against Uncle Pat (and will probably end up with her own show after the election in Nov and Tucker's contract runs out) I still have noticed Rachel changing her own show's voice to be more soft on Clinton in the last month since Randi suddenly disappeared before even Sam knew what was going on.

It seems that TPTB want to take AAR into a MSM direction which will make them money rather than make themselves money by doing what AAR was created to do.

JMHO - of course, but - other than working around Rachel's TV schedule to accomodate her which allows them to have FREE product placement every day on National TV... I do not see them making any other smart moves.

Think about it - with that level of product placement, and the talent of Sam just hanging there not being used and not being treated well? ITs a bottomline business decision that just does not make sense.

maggiesboy, what do you know, and when did you know it?
new
Submitted by pbtrue1 on Wed, 04/23/2008 - 6:25pm.
TODAY'S SHOW: WEDNESDAY, APRIL 23RD 2008
By Vanessa Silverton-Peel

Someone crack a bottle of Champagne on us, we're ready to sail! Today we launch a brand spanking new first hour of the Rachel Maddow Show. We will be simulcasting Rachel on MSNBC's Race for the White House. The second two hours of the show will feature all our regular headlines, guests and analyses.

Reality. TV. Two more reasons to read.

You don't have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them.
---Ray Bradbury

..[troll insert cheap shot here...]

I heard no prior promotion of this. Personally I think it's stoopid but it obviously portends Rachel doing even more time at MSNBC (Marxist Sexy Nightly Bitchin' Commenators)

___
bluerootsradio

Trolls, the tools of fools

It came to me in dream....

Now I am drooling.
I wonder if they make pizza flavored oatmeal...

soup and oatmeal are getting old fast

Rachel could be another door opener for Sam. I know they don't really collaborate at AAR, but that's not a prereq.

Good analysis, have a smoothie on me.
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bluerootsradio

Trolls, the tools of fools

In an Open Convention delegates can vote as they please?
Submitted by Part of the 97 ... on Wed, 04/23/2008 - 6:42pm

THey actually do collaborate on AAR - when they are allowed and have time. Sam doing his thing from UPSTATE is a bit of a prob for that...but you are right - its not a pre-req. Rachel's fame is product placement....when folks tune in to their local AAR or online - what other talent will they find? THAT is my sell point. Get him ON AIR 5 days a week NOW while people are really getting the new product placement at a new time 6-7PM. Put him on 3-6 so when people turn on their radio to hear the show at 6 when they can't catch it on TV and turn on the radio early they get SAM... OR put sam on right after Rachel....so they want to stay with AAR.... OR best bet - give him BACK his time slot in the morning...caused he didn't deserve to lose it to begin with. BUT don't throw away the only other great talent you have RIGHT NOW WHEN YOU HAVE FINALLY GOT the BEST product placement for NO CHARGE!!!

Well said N-k
new
Submitted by maggiesboy on Wed, 04/23/2008 - 6:48pm.
Rachel could be another door opener for Sam. I know they don't really collaborate at AAR, but that's not a prereq.

Good analysis, have a smoothie on me.

Reality. TV. Two more reasons to read.

You don't have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them.
---Ray Bradbury

Nothing neo-scum do makes sense except they destroy.

I consider Hillary a neo-scum Rethug light, and true to form, she is trying to destroy.

..say Aye!

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bluerootsradio

Trolls, the tools of fools

Once you wake up from the kook-aid, you can never go back.
The World Needs More SEDER!

One election at a time...

Submitted by MMRules on Wed, 04/23/2008 - 4:52pm.

..what I meant the other day was AVIS used to have an ad campaign with the slogan "We're Second We Try Harder". Moot point now baby, back in the top slot 2 days running!

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bluerootsradio

Trolls, the tools of fools

applesauce.

Are the antibiotics doing their job for ya?

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bluerootsradio

Trolls, the tools of fools

kinda cute...

*

Hey so Happy Almost Your Birthday! Is it tomorrow? Have some fun plans?

Will be celebrating tomorrow night after work with good friends and family. This is a milestone of sorts for me.

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bluerootsradio

Trolls, the tools of fools

I'll do it....this place will be in a political coma by then.. *snark*

Nice to see ya, L@L...*you have "little birdies"? ;)

is it the 5-0?

late from my break...see ya's !

New Thread ! Ya knuckleheads.. ;) Me Included..

"Hello to our friends and fans in domestic surveillance."

Coincidentally, I drinking my homemade Americano which I make with french roast.

I find espresso made at home not to be as rich, so I compensate with a darker roast. I like it black.

Espresso has been my only drug of choice since being introduced to it nearly 30 years ago in Greenwich Village

A MAN THAT IS SERVING IN THE MILTARY PAID ME A VISIT AT MY JOB. HE MADE THE COMENT THAT OBOMA COULD SUCK HIS!@@!#!@ FOR ALL HE CARED. THAT HE HAD NO RESPECT FOR SOMEONE WHO WOULD'NT GO AND VISIT THE WONDED TROOPS. HE SAID THAT THERE WERE FLOATING E MAILS BETWEEN THE SOLDIERS THAT SAID HOW MUCH THEY HATED HIM AND HOW MUCH OF A COWORD THEY THOUGHT HE WAS. I SUPPORT THE TROOPS SO I SUPPORT MACAIN.

That specialty quickly led him into senior leadership roles in numerous campaigns. Except for one race right out of college he has worked exclusively for conservatives including Pat Robertson, Pat Buchanan and Mike Huckabee.
Teaching degree | Social work degree | Nutrition degree