Max Helton, who formed a Christian ministry that 20 years ago became Motor Racing Outreach, died Sunday afternoon of brain cancer at his home in Huntersville, N.C. He was 67.It was an MRO pastor who spoke at Dale Earnhardt's funeral service in 2001, and every race day a chapel service is held for the drivers, families and crews, and special programs are put on for the kids. MRO has become an important part of the NASCAR family.
Helton"This is an earthly loss but a heavenly gain," said Texas Motor Speedway president Eddie Gossage, who serves on the Board of Directors of World-Span Ministries, Helton's international motorsports ministry.
"Max aided so many people in auto racing and you would often see him with some of the sport's top drivers offering a quiet prayer just before the start of a race. He very personally counseled me through the years and was a great influence on my life."
Helton will be remembered during pre-race ceremonies Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway.
Helton was working at a church in Glendora, Calif., in 1988 when he met Darrell Waltrip and his wife, Stevie. Helton told the Waltrips that he felt called to lead a ministry in auto racing.
Soon after, Helton formed Motor Racing Outreach and was leading Bible study with drivers and crew members in the sport, chapel service at race tracks each weekend and personal counseling session with those in the sport. He left Motor Racing Outreach in 2002.
He then formed World-Span Ministries and took a very similar approach to racing series around the world traveling internationally as he spread the message.
Helton was diagnosed with brain cancer in August. He is survived by his wife, Jean, along with four daughters and nine grandchildren.
Monday, March 31, 2008
Founder of Motor Racing Outreach Dies
Max Helton, the founder of Motor Racing Outreach, the traveling ministry that provides chapel services for NASCAR, has died of brain cancer:
59% of Doctors Are Foolish
A new survey suggests that a majority of doctors foolishly think the answer to America's health care system is socialized medicine:
And wait until doctors' salaries are determined by some government hack and medicine becomes just another government job .
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - More than half of U.S. doctors now favor switching to a national health care plan and fewer than a third oppose the idea, according to a survey published on Monday.I'm guessing that none or almost none of these doctors have ever worked in a nationalized health care system or else they wouldn't be so enthusiastic. If they think it's tough to give proper care to a patient of an HMO, wait until there are months-long waits for elective procedures and skyrocketing taxes to pay the costs.
The survey suggests that opinions have changed substantially since the last survey in 2002 and as the country debates serious changes to the health care system.
Of more than 2,000 doctors surveyed, 59 percent said they support legislation to establish a national health insurance program, while 32 percent said they opposed it, researchers reported in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine.
The 2002 survey found that 49 percent of physicians supported national health insurance and 40 percent opposed it.
"Many claim to speak for physicians and represent their views. We asked doctors directly and found that, contrary to conventional wisdom, most doctors support national health insurance," said Dr. Aaron Carroll of the Indiana University School of Medicine, who led the study.
"As doctors, we find that our patients suffer because of increasing deductibles, co-payments, and restrictions on patient care," said Dr. Ronald Ackermann, who worked on the study with Carroll. "More and more, physicians are turning to national health insurance as a solution to this problem."
And wait until doctors' salaries are determined by some government hack and medicine becomes just another government job .
Young Americans Not the Way Hollywood Portrays Them
This news comes as a pleasant surprise:
WASHINGTON, March 30 (UPI) — Young Americans have a reverence for national institutions, traditions and family values, a U.S. survey indicates.That's good news. There's still some hope for those who will be the future leaders.
A survey of so-called "millennials" — those between 21 and 29 — revealed the group overwhelmingly said they support monogamy, marriage, the U.S. Constitution and the military, The Washington Times reported Sunday.
"We were completely surprised. There has been a faulty portrayal of millennials by the media — television, films, news, blogs, everything. These people are not the self-entitled, coddled slackers they're made out to be. Misnomers and myths about them are all over the place," said Ann Mack, who directed the survey.
McCain and the Pioneers
John McCain is having difficulty getting his fundraising organization in gear, especially among the big money donors that helped George Bush win twice:
Therein lies the problem - enthusiasm. The big money Pioneers and Rangers are conservatives and they don't see a candidate in McCain who shares their conservative views. It's hard to get excited about the - especially if that excitement includes breaking out the checkbook and writing checks with lots of zeroes.
This problem isn't going to go away.
With attention focused on the Democrats' infighting for the presidential nomination, Senator John McCain is maneuvering for the spotlight. But as he looks ahead to the general election, he has yet to sign up one critical constituency: the big-money people who powered the Bush fund-raising machine.
As he reintroduces himself to voters this week, with stops like one at the Naval Air Station in Meridian, Mississippi, where he was a flight instructor, McCain will also attend to another pressing task by courting donors in Mississippi, Florida and Tennessee.
Building up his fund-raising apparatus is essential at this point for McCain, who struggled for much of last year to raise money. To prevail in the general election, he will need to raise substantial amounts of money to cut into the vast fund-raising edge the Democratic presidential candidates have shown over the Republicans this election cycle.
Even though he all but secured the Republican nomination by mid-February, McCain has so far managed to enlist only a fraction of the heavyweight bundlers of campaign contributions who helped drive President George W. Bush's two runs for the White House, an examination of McCain's fund-raising network shows. ...
Several former Bush fund-raisers said in interviews that they believed many more Rangers and Pioneers would mobilize for McCain, now that he is the presumptive nominee. But some also said they might not, citing reasons like personal circumstances, a lack of enthusiasm for McCain (especially compared with Bush) and exhaustion.
Therein lies the problem - enthusiasm. The big money Pioneers and Rangers are conservatives and they don't see a candidate in McCain who shares their conservative views. It's hard to get excited about the - especially if that excitement includes breaking out the checkbook and writing checks with lots of zeroes.
This problem isn't going to go away.
Obama More Liberal Than the Image He Presents
Politico reports that Barack Obama advocated for positions much more liberal than the moderate he presents himself to be today:
The "my aide filled out the survey" sounds a lot like "my dog ate my homework". Aides don't just make stuff up - they answer political surveys in the way their candidates would according to the political beliefs they promote. I have no doubt that Obama is as liberal as these survey's would suggest.
This does create a little extra concern for Obama with the superdelegates. These are the kinds of stories that build up in the minds of superdelegates and raise doubts about Obama's chances in the general election. It's stuff like this that is keeping Hillary Clinton in the race.
During his first run for elected office, Barack Obama played a greater role than his aides now acknowledge in crafting liberal stands on gun control, the death penalty and abortion– positions that appear at odds with the more moderate image he’s projected during his presidential campaign.This really isn't much of a suprise. Candidates from both parties rarely run on the same political principles they claim to believe. Everyone thinks they have to run to the center to gain votes.
The evidence comes from an amended version of an Illinois voter group’s detailed questionnaire, filed under his name during his 1996 bid for a state Senate seat.
Late last year, in response to a Politico story about Obama’s answers to the original questionnaire, his aides said he “never saw or approved” the questionnaire.
They asserted the responses were filled out by a campaign aide who “unintentionally mischaracterize(d) his position.”
But a Politico examination determined that Obama was actually interviewed about the issues on the questionnaire by the liberal Chicago non-profit group that issued it. And it found that Obama – the day after sitting for the interview – filed an amended version of the questionnaire, which appears to contain Obama’s own handwritten notes adding to one answer.
The two questionnaires, provided to Politico with assistance from political sources opposed to Obama’s presidential campaign, were later supplied directly from the group, Independent Voters of Illinois – Independent Precinct Organization. Obama and his then-campaign manager, who Obama’s campaign asserts filled out the questionnaires, were familiar with the group, its members and positions, since both were active in it before his 1996 state Senate run.
Through an aide, Obama, who won the group’s endorsement as well as the statehouse seat, did not dispute that the handwriting was his. But he contended it doesn’t prove he completed, approved – or even read – the latter questionnaire.
“Sen. Obama didn’t fill out these state Senate questionnaires – a staffer did – and there are several answers that didn't reflect his views then or now,” said Tommy Vietor, a spokesman for Obama’s campaign, in an emailed statement. “He may have jotted some notes on the front page of the questionnaire at the meeting, but that doesn't change the fact that some answers didn't reflect his views. His eleven years in public office do.”
But the questionnaires provide fodder to question Obama’s ideological consistency and electability. Those questions are central to efforts by Obama’s presidential rival Hillary Clinton to woo the superdelegates whose votes represent her best chance to wrest the Democratic nomination from Obama.
The "my aide filled out the survey" sounds a lot like "my dog ate my homework". Aides don't just make stuff up - they answer political surveys in the way their candidates would according to the political beliefs they promote. I have no doubt that Obama is as liberal as these survey's would suggest.
This does create a little extra concern for Obama with the superdelegates. These are the kinds of stories that build up in the minds of superdelegates and raise doubts about Obama's chances in the general election. It's stuff like this that is keeping Hillary Clinton in the race.
Open Season on LA Freeways
That knocking sound is not your car engine, it's bullets hitting the car:
We went through a whole string of these shootings back in the late 80's. Steve Martin even made fun of the shooting incidents in his 1991 movie L.A. Story in a scene in which he's randomly shooting at the drivers on the freeway around him.
When driving during that time I can remember jokingly saying "cover me, I'm changing lanes!"
These latest incidents could be road rage, maybe gang retaliation - who knows? It doesn't take much to set some people off these days.
LOS ANGELES — Rescue crews responding to a wreck on a San Fernando freeway found a driver fatally shot in the head, while another driver was shot and wounded in a separate attack about 30 miles (48 kilometers) away in Long Beach, authorities said.
The incidents were the latest in a string of Southern California freeway shootings stretching back several weeks.
The San Fernando Valley victim is thought to have crashed his car after being shot on the 101 Freeway early Sunday morning, Los Angeles police Officer Norma Eisenman said.
The unidentified man was found early Sunday by rescue crews responding to a report of a rolled-over vehicle on the freeway, Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Cecil Manresa said.
We went through a whole string of these shootings back in the late 80's. Steve Martin even made fun of the shooting incidents in his 1991 movie L.A. Story in a scene in which he's randomly shooting at the drivers on the freeway around him.
When driving during that time I can remember jokingly saying "cover me, I'm changing lanes!"
These latest incidents could be road rage, maybe gang retaliation - who knows? It doesn't take much to set some people off these days.
No BlogTalkRadio Show Tonight
When I started the BlogTalkRadio show in January I thought I'd give it a try for awhile to see if an audience could be developed. Although the live interview shows drew better than other shows, it still wasn't moving along at the pace that I could consider satisfactory. Consequently, I'm not going to try and do a weekly show anymore, but will use the BlogTalkRadio format to do occasional shows of special interest or tied to key events. The next show will probably take place April 21, the night before the Pennsylvania primary.
My thanks to those of you who tuned in either live or via the archived shows, and a special thanks to Sheriff Mark Gilliam, Mark Daniels, Joe Carter and Dr. Andrew Jackson, all of whom appeared as guests on the program.
My thanks to those of you who tuned in either live or via the archived shows, and a special thanks to Sheriff Mark Gilliam, Mark Daniels, Joe Carter and Dr. Andrew Jackson, all of whom appeared as guests on the program.
Hillary Vows to Fight On
Although some senior Dems and party officials are calling for Hillary to withdraw from the race in the name of "party unity", she's not buying it:
At this point in the process I don't think there's any scenario imaginable that has Hillary quitting before the convention. Even if Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen and other senior Dems get their way and have a "superdelegate convention" of sorts in July, Hillary is not bound to abide by their wishes. Even if they come out and declare Obama the winner based on their votes, she will probably stay in until the actual votes are cast in Denver out of a hope that something might happen to the Obama campaign that could swing the superdelegates back to her.
Her statement about staying in until the delegates in Michigan and Florida are resolved is another indication that she won't get out until Denver. It doesn't appear that there will be any solution outside the credentials committee that will be satisfactory to both campaigns.
It's going to be a long, hot summer.
NEW ALBANY, Ind., March 29 -- In her most definitive comments to date on the subject, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton sought Saturday to put to rest any notion that she will drop out of the presidential race, pledging in an interview to not only compete in all the remaining primaries but also continue until there is a resolution of the disqualified results in Florida and Michigan.
A day after Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean urged the candidates to end the race by July 1, Clinton defied that call by declaring that she will take her campaign all the way to the Aug. 25-28 convention if necessary, potentially setting up the prolonged and divisive contest that party leaders are increasingly anxious to avoid.
"I know there are some people who want to shut this down and I think they are wrong," Clinton said in an interview during a campaign stop here Saturday. "I have no intention of stopping until we finish what we started and until we see what happens in the next 10 contests and until we resolve Florida and Michigan. And if we don't resolve it, we'll resolve it at the convention -- that's what credentials committees are for.
"We cannot go forward until Florida and Michigan are taken care of, otherwise the eventual nominee will not have the legitimacy that I think will haunt us," said the senator from New York. "I can imagine the ads the Republican Party and John McCain will run if we don't figure out how we can count the votes in Michigan and Florida."
Asked if there was a scenario in which she would drop out before the last primaries on June 3, Clinton said no. "I am committed to competing everywhere that there is an election," she said.
At this point in the process I don't think there's any scenario imaginable that has Hillary quitting before the convention. Even if Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen and other senior Dems get their way and have a "superdelegate convention" of sorts in July, Hillary is not bound to abide by their wishes. Even if they come out and declare Obama the winner based on their votes, she will probably stay in until the actual votes are cast in Denver out of a hope that something might happen to the Obama campaign that could swing the superdelegates back to her.
Her statement about staying in until the delegates in Michigan and Florida are resolved is another indication that she won't get out until Denver. It doesn't appear that there will be any solution outside the credentials committee that will be satisfactory to both campaigns.
It's going to be a long, hot summer.
Sunday, March 30, 2008
News From Italy - Part 2
My daughter returned late last night from a 10 day trip to Italy with her college band. Her 12-hour flight from Munich finally landed in San Francisco about 7:30 last night after a trip over the Artic Circle.She has a blog of her own now and is starting to post photos and stories from her trip that you might enjoy. You'll find it here.
News From Italy - Part 1
This news out of the Vatican in Rome:
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Islam has overtaken Roman Catholicism as the biggest single religious denomination in the world, the Vatican said on Sunday.The Muslims need a high birth rate given the rate at which they blow themselves up. However, the climbing Muslim population will pose a problem in Paradise. It's harder to come up with a steady supply of virgins to keep up with the radical Islamists.
Monsignor Vittorio Formenti, who compiled the Vatican's newly-released 2008 yearbook of statistics, said Muslims made up 19.2 percent of the world's population and Catholics 17.4 percent.
"For the first time in history we are no longer at the top: the Muslims have overtaken us," Formenti told Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano in an interview, saying the data referred to 2006.
He said that if all Christian groups were considered, including Orthodox churches, Anglicans and Protestants, then Christians made up 33 percent of the world's population -- or about 2 billion people.
Clintons Bad for Small Business
We knew the Clinton's tax policies would harm small business, but she's already giving the little guys a dose of what they can expect if she wins:
Given the story above, how appropriate is this headline?
Hillary Rodham Clinton’s cash-strapped presidential campaign has been putting off paying hundreds of bills for months — freeing up cash for critical media buys but also earning the campaign a reputation as something of a deadbeat in some small-business circles.As Michelle Malkin puts it: "Hillary Clinton, Experience You Can't Collect On".
A pair of Ohio companies owed more than $25,000 by Clinton for staging events for her campaign are warning others in the tight-knit event production community — and anyone else who will listen — to get their cash upfront when doing business with her. Her campaign, say representatives of the two companies, has stopped returning phone calls and e-mails seeking payment of outstanding invoices. One even got no response from a certified letter.
Their cautionary tales, combined with published reports about similar difficulties faced by a New Hampshire landlord, an Iowa office cleaner and a New York caterer, highlight a less-obvious impact of Clinton’s inability to keep up with the staggering fundraising pace set by her opponent for the Democratic presidential nomination, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama.
Given the story above, how appropriate is this headline?
As Clinton Talks Housing Crisis, Campaign Manager Serves on Board of Bankrupt Lender
Biggest Crowd Ever to See the Dodgers Lose
Baseball returned to The Coliseum in Los Angeles yesterday for a special one-off exhibition game between the Dodgers and the Red Sox:
LOS ANGELES — The Dodgers used a five-man infield against the Boston Red Sox. Too bad they weren't allowed to put a player or two in the Los Angeles Coliseum stands.That's the most people ever to witness a Dodger loss. In accordance to Dodger tradition, when the game started up again after the 7th inning stretch there were 39 people left in the stands, all Red Sox fans.
Kevin Cash and Kevin Youkilis hit cheap homers off Esteban Loaiza to account for five runs in the first three innings, andthe Red Sox beat the Dodgers 7-4 Saturday night before an announced crowd of 115,300 — largest ever to watch a baseball game.
The previous record of about 114,000 attended an exhibition between the Australian national team and an American services team during the 1956 Melbourne Olympics.
This exhibition game was part of the Dodgers' 50th anniversary celebration of their move west from Brooklyn in 1958. They played at the Coliseum for four years before making Dodger Stadium their permanent home in 1962.
In the last baseball game played at the Coliseum, on Sept. 20, 1961, Sandy Koufax pitched all 13 innings in a 3-2 victory over the Chicago Cubs before a crowd of 12,068.
The Coliseum was built for track and football, not baseball.
Routine fly balls, even popups, soared over a 42-foot high screen in left field, where the distance from home plate to the foul pole was just 251 feet. Meanwhile, drives to right and center of more than 400 feet were easy outs.
The distance to the left-field foul pole for this game was 201 feet and the screen was 60 feet high. And the fences around the rest of the field were far closer to home plate than in the old days.
Michael Barone Projects That Clinton Will Win the Popular Vote
In a lengthy piece filled with the kind of political prognostication that he is really good at, Michael Barone posts his reasons why he thinks that when all the primaries are done Hillary Clinton will have overtaken Barack Obama's lead in the popular vote, something she must do to have any hope of continuing the fight to the convention. If Michael is right (and he usually is), the Dem race will only get more interesting as Clinton will finally have a statistic on her side that could cause some superdelegates to reconsider taking the nomination away from Obama, who will still be the leader in pledged delegates.
This is all the more reason for Operation Chaos to continue.
This is all the more reason for Operation Chaos to continue.
Howard the Donkey is Served Up a Heaping Portion of His Own Words
There doesn't seem to be any institutional memory among Democrats. They're like chickens - they wake up in a whole new world every day, and what happened the day before is a vapor never to be recalled. That's why people like Hillary Clinton think they can get away with Bosnian fairy tale stories about landing under sniper fire, and why Howard Dean can be reminded about arguments he made in 2004 that could come back to haunt him this year:
*crickets chirping*
Both Clinton and Obama, along with Dean and other Dem surrogates have been pounding that badly out-of-context "100 years" comment by McCain. For a complete demolition of their argument, see Charles Krauthammer's piece on the subject.
Although the RNC has blasted Dean for the "opportunist" comment, of course McCain is an opportunist just like every politician who seeks to use his experiences and skills to pursuade voters to his cause. I get very tired of people demanding apologies for every little word. Man up and fight it out - this isn't a Sunday social.
Howard Dean is proving to be the kind of ambassador for Democrats that we all hoped he would be when he took that job. He's the GOP's best friend.
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., launches a biography tour next week, which looks to tell the American people about his days as a POW in Vietnam, at least based on his new TV ad (watch HERE) introduced today in New Mexico.And the military awards won by Clinton and Obama, and I'll even let you add in Bill:
In response, Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean issued a statement, saying, “John McCain can try to reintroduce himself to the country, but he can’t change the fact that he cast aside his principles to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with President Bush the last seven years. While we honor McCain’s military service, the fact is Americans want a real leader who offers real solutions, not a blatant opportunist who doesn’t understand the economy and is promising to keep our troops in Iraq for 100 years.”
The Republican Party has seized upon the term "blatant opportunist" to suggest that Dean is implying McCain is an opportunist for including his POW information in his TV ad.
RNC Deputy Chairman Frank Donatelli said, “Howard Dean owes John McCain an immediate apology and both Sens. Clinton and Obama should unequivocally denounce this disgraceful attack."
That's all noise. What's more interesting are the Dean quotes from 2004 that may come back to haunt him this year.
"The real issue is this," Dean said in March 2004, when endorsing formal rival Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., "Who would you rather have in charge of the defense of the United States of America, a group of people who never served a day overseas in their life, or a guy who served his country honorably and has three Purple Hearts and a Silver Star on the battlefields of Vietnam?"
McCain, by the way, has been awarded the Silver Star, the Legion of Merit, two Bronze Star Medals, a Purple Heart and the Distinguished Flying Cross.
*crickets chirping*
Both Clinton and Obama, along with Dean and other Dem surrogates have been pounding that badly out-of-context "100 years" comment by McCain. For a complete demolition of their argument, see Charles Krauthammer's piece on the subject.
Although the RNC has blasted Dean for the "opportunist" comment, of course McCain is an opportunist just like every politician who seeks to use his experiences and skills to pursuade voters to his cause. I get very tired of people demanding apologies for every little word. Man up and fight it out - this isn't a Sunday social.
Howard Dean is proving to be the kind of ambassador for Democrats that we all hoped he would be when he took that job. He's the GOP's best friend.
More Rumors About Al Gore
The Telegraph has another story about how Al Gore may be the Democrats only hope:
Meanwhile, Mario Cuomo argues for a Clinton-Obama or Obama-Clinton ticket. I don't think that's going to happen. I've dealt with that a time or two also - see here.
The Dem campaign is becoming a rapidly repeating cycle of stories.
UPDATE: Mark Levin adds his thoughts on a Gore candidacy:
Me too.
Plans for Al Gore to take the Democratic presidential nomination as the saviour of a bitterly divided party are being actively discussed by senior figures and aides to the former vice-president.I feel like I've written this post 10 times in the past month. Rather than write again the reasons why Al Gore won't be a good candidate, you can just take a look at this.
The bloody civil war between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama has left many Democrats convinced that neither can deliver a knockout blow to the other and that both have been so damaged that they risk losing November's election to the Republican nominee, John McCain.
Former Gore aides now believe he could emerge as a compromise candidate acceptable to both camps at the party's convention in Denver during the last week of August.
Two former Gore campaign officials have told The Sunday Telegraph that a scenario first mapped out by members of Mr Gore's inner circle last May now has a sporting chance of coming true.
Mr Gore, who was Bill Clinton's vice-president and has since won a Nobel Peace Prize and an Oscar for his work on green issues, remains an influential figure eight years after he beat George W Bush in the popular vote but lost the White House after the Florida recount fiasco.
The opening has emerged because opinion polls show Mr McCain stretching his lead over both Mr Obama and Mrs Clinton, whose campaigns are engaged in a daily cycle of attacks, character assassination and mutual recriminations on religion, race and the economy.
Meanwhile, Mario Cuomo argues for a Clinton-Obama or Obama-Clinton ticket. I don't think that's going to happen. I've dealt with that a time or two also - see here.
The Dem campaign is becoming a rapidly repeating cycle of stories.
UPDATE: Mark Levin adds his thoughts on a Gore candidacy:
So, the Democrat party's answer to the split between Hillary Clinton and Barak Obama might be to nominate Al Gore, who hasn't run in any primary or caucus. If that happens then none of the votes cast by any of the Democrat voters counted. They will all have disenfranchised. And how does a Gore nomination address all the talk by the Obama supporters that the convention must deliver the nomination to Obama as he has received (or will have received) the most popular votes and secured the most delegates? Finally, what about all the excitement over the possibility of the first woman or first black president? That goes down the tubes with the nomination of Gore. It seems to me that a Gore nomination creates serious problems for the Democrat Party. So, I would encourage the Democrats to do it.
Me too.
Dem Anxiety Increasing Over Obama/Clinton Battle
Every day that the fight goes on between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, the higher the anxiety level of rank-and-file Democrats:
It's taken them quite awhile, but Dems are finally starting to see Hillary Clinton for who she is - a politician whose self-interest comes way before party and country. She's willing to hang in there to the detriment of the party in the vain hopes that Obama will self-destruct, or will become such damaged goods that party elders won't dare trust him with the nomination. It's a longshot on both accounts, but Hillary will not quit until there is no longer any chance at all, and that might not come until the convention.
WASHINGTON (AP) - For all their delight in soaring voter registration and strong poll numbers, some Democrats fear the contest between Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton might have a nightmarish end, which could wreck a promising election year.Some prominent Dems are starting to come out and call for Hillary's withdrawal, and Hillary is politely telling them all to go pound sand. She's not getting out.
The chief worry is that Clinton may carry her recent winning streak into Pennsylvania, Indiana, North Carolina and other states, leaving her with unquestioned momentum but fewer pledged delegates than Obama. Party leaders then would face a wrenching choice: Steer the nomination to a fading Obama, even as signs suggested Clinton could be the stronger candidate in November; or go with the surging Clinton and risk infuriating Obama's supporters, especially blacks, the Democratic Party's most loyal base.
Some anxious Democrats want party elders to step in now to generate more "superdelegate" support for Obama, effectively choking off Clinton's hopes before she can bolster them further. But many say that is unlikely, and they pray the final 10 contests will make the ultimate choice fairly obvious, not excruciating.
Barring a complete meltdown by Obama, Clinton has almost no chance of surpassing his number of pledged delegates, even if she scores upset wins in states such as Oregon, which votes May 20. But such victories would encourage her to keep criticizing Obama - her only hope for the nomination - and thus heighten doubts about Obama's ability to defeat Republican Sen. John McCain in the fall.
That scenario troubles many Democrats, especially those who feel Obama's nomination is all but inevitable.
"This is going to give Republicans a chance to try to destroy everything we've been trying to work for for eight years," said Ken Foxworth, a Democratic National Committee member from Minnesota and superdelegate who backs Obama.
It's taken them quite awhile, but Dems are finally starting to see Hillary Clinton for who she is - a politician whose self-interest comes way before party and country. She's willing to hang in there to the detriment of the party in the vain hopes that Obama will self-destruct, or will become such damaged goods that party elders won't dare trust him with the nomination. It's a longshot on both accounts, but Hillary will not quit until there is no longer any chance at all, and that might not come until the convention.
Obama Wants It Over by June
Barack Obama is taking a page from John McCain's playbook. After Super Tuesday when Mitt Romney dropped out, Mike Huckabee continued to stay in the race and McCain essentially said that he could stay in as long as he wants (even though it's over). It kind of made Huckabee out to be a quixotic type of character instead of a viable candidate.
Yesterday, Barack Obama used the same technique on Hillary Clinton.
Yesterday, Barack Obama used the same technique on Hillary Clinton.
Talking to reporters in Johnstown, Pa., Saturday, Barack Obama said Hillary Clinton “can run as long as she wants.”This is a nice subtle way to start painting Clinton as a lost cause who just can't give up. It could have a psychological effect on her campaign and her supporters after awhile.
“She should be able to compete, and her supporters should be able to support her as long as they are willing or able,” Obama said.
His comments contradicted those Friday by Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) that appeared intended to nudge Clinton out of the race.
Obama said the notion that the party is divided is “somewhat overstated.” But he said Democrats must pivot quickly to the general election after the primary contests end in June.
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Dem Delegates Battle in Texas
The delegates to the Dem county conventions in Texas have had a tough day:
Heh.
Because of the huge Democratic turnout in Texas' primary and caucuses March 4, just registering delegates at the nearly 280 county and senate district conventions sometimes took hours. At large conventions in Houston, Dallas and Austin, arguments erupted and confusion set in as complaints were lodged about the legitimacy of some delegates.And don't forget that mixed in among those Clinton delegates are undercover Republicans who caucused for Clinton as a part of Operation Chaos, the plan promoted by Rush Limbaugh to vote for Hillary and keep her campaign alive the the Dem bloodletting going.
Credentials committees heard challenges lodged against the way certain delegates were selected at precinct caucuses in early March. Frustrated delegates shouted at credentials committee members in Senate District 23 in Dallas.
Many of the challenges were brought by Clinton supporters questioning the validity of Obama delegates. The Clinton campaign said it wouldn't lodge any challenges itself but that it was helping supporters who would.
Heh.
Hillary Back Keeps Pounding on "Pastor Disaster"
The Clinton team doesn't think they've gotten the mileage they needed out of Obama's "pastor disaster", so they've got surrogates continuing to flack the story:
Sen. Hillary Clinton's most prominent African-American supporter in Pennsylvania says that had he been a member of Sen. Barack Obama's church, he would have left because of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright's fiery and controversial sermons.Who are you gonna believe? Obama or a Nutter?
"I think there's no room for hate, and I could not sit and tolerate that kind of language, and especially over a very long period of time," said Philadelphia's newly elected mayor, Michael Nutter, in an interview with ABC News' David Muir.
"If I were in my own church and heard my pastor saying some of those kinds of things," he added, "we'd have a conversation about what's going on here, what is this all about, and then I would have to make my own personal decision about whether or not to be associated or affiliated."
Asked by Muir if he would he have quit Obama's church, Nutter said, "Absolutely."
Another Antiwar Iraq Movies Dies at the Box Office
Imagine my surprise - another antiwar Iraq movie tanks:
I'm told #7 Stop-Loss opened to only $1.6 million Friday from just 1,291 plays and should eke out $4+M. Although the drama from MTV Films was the best-reviewed movie opening this weekend, Paramount wasn't expecting much because no Iraq war-themed movie has yet to perform at the box office. "It's not looking good," a studio source told me before the weekend. "No one wants to see Iraq war movies. No matter what we put out there in terms of great cast or trailers, people were completely turned off. It's a function of the marketplace not being ready to address this conflict in a dramatic way because the war itself is something that's unresolved yet. It's a shame because it's a good movie that's just ahead of its time."Wrongo, Hollywood dude. The public is not ready to watch Hollywood's perverted view of the Iraq war complete with anti-American and anti-military sentiments. Make an Iraq war movie that celebrates the heroism of our troops and the hard work they've done and you'll sell some movie tickets.
Turn Your Lights On at 8pm to Save The Power Grid
While watching CNN this morning I saw a piece on EarthHour.org, a movement by various econuts to make some sort of statement about energy usage. Here's what they say on their own website:
Unfortunately, if this program is successful the lights might be off for a lot more than one hour. The power grid is delicately balanced between generation and usage and a sudden change in the calculation on either side can cause cascading failures of the grid. Remember what happened on the east coast when one generating station tripped offline? It caused a sudden change in the electrical loads at other stations which caused failures that blacked out much of the eastern U.S. and took hours to fix.
Therefore, my suggestion is that those of us who refuse to buy the econut arguments should do our part to save the power grid by turning on all of our lights at 8pm. That way the nuts can have their little "feel good" energy party and the rest of us will still have power when the hour is up.
On March 29, 2008 at 8 p.m., join millions of people around the world in making a statement about climate change by turning off your lights for Earth Hour, an event created by the World Wildlife Fund.
Earth Hour was created by WWF in Sydney, Australia in 2007, and in one year has grown from an event in one city to a global movement. In 2008, millions of people, businesses, governments and civic organizations in nearly 200 cities around the globe will turn out for Earth Hour. More than 100 cities across North America will participate, including the US flagships–Atlanta, Chicago, Phoenix and San Francisco and Ottawa, Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver.
We invite everyone throughout North America and around the world to turn off the lights for an hour starting at 8 p.m. (your own local time)–whether at home or at work, with friends and family or solo, in a big city or a small town.
What will you do when the lights are off? We have lots of ideas.
Join people all around the world in showing that you care about our planet and want to play a part in helping to fight climate change. Don’t forget to sign up and let us know you want to join Earth Hour.
One hour, America. Earth Hour. Turn out for Earth Hour!
Unfortunately, if this program is successful the lights might be off for a lot more than one hour. The power grid is delicately balanced between generation and usage and a sudden change in the calculation on either side can cause cascading failures of the grid. Remember what happened on the east coast when one generating station tripped offline? It caused a sudden change in the electrical loads at other stations which caused failures that blacked out much of the eastern U.S. and took hours to fix.
Therefore, my suggestion is that those of us who refuse to buy the econut arguments should do our part to save the power grid by turning on all of our lights at 8pm. That way the nuts can have their little "feel good" energy party and the rest of us will still have power when the hour is up.
The New California Gold Rush
There's nothing like $1,000 per ounce gold to get people interested in prospecting:
Of course, environmentalists are are not happy with this new-found love for the yellow metal:
What goes up and still come down. I remember $800 gold the last time that happened in the early 80's. There's plenty of reasons to think it might stay high now, but you never know.
It has been almost 160 years since the first California gold rush but, with prices hitting record highs, prospectors are once again flocking to the state’s rivers and deserts in search of the precious metal.
Gold’s ascent – prices crossed the $1,000 an ounce barrier this month and remain well above $900 – has sent sales of mining equipment soaring.
“This is the second big California gold rush. We’ve had a lot of phone calls from people who are quitting their jobs and prospecting full-time.”
Of course, environmentalists are are not happy with this new-found love for the yellow metal:
With recreational prospectors combing California’s rivers for gold, the commodity is clearly in demand. But not everyone is pleased at the fall-out from the 21st century’s first gold rush, with environmentalists expressing concern at the sharp rise in the number of commercial mining claims staked in the western US.
In California, location of the most famous US gold rush in 1849, the number of claims has soared. In the first quarter of 2005 there were 132 commercial mining claims, according to the Bureau of Land Management. But by the first quarter of 2008 the number of commercial claims had rocketed to 2,274, with the vast majority for gold mining projects, according to Roger Haskins, senior specialist for mining law and adjudication at the BLM.
“Mining is the biggest source of toxic pollution in the US,” says Dusty Horwitt, senior analyst for public lands with the Environmental Working Group, a non-partisan environmental watchdog. “Yet under legislation that passed in 1872 there isn’t much federal authorities can do to stop mining going ahead, even if water supplies or other precious resources are at risk.”
What goes up and still come down. I remember $800 gold the last time that happened in the early 80's. There's plenty of reasons to think it might stay high now, but you never know.
118 Year Old Presbyterian Church Shuts Down
My Texas correspondent sent me an article about a 118-year old Presbyterian church in Dallas that will close down on Sunday:
When I was in the church insurance business I worked with dying churches like this all the time. I remember going to a Southern Baptist church in San Diego one time to give them a quote. They had an 800 seat auditorium and a large 2-story educational unit. I sat down in what was supposed to be the pastor's office with the chairman of the board. They didn't have a pastor and when I asked about the church's membership he told me they were down to about 15 members with an average age of 75. The only reason they were still in business was that they had rented the facility to a Christian school and the proceeds from that rent paid the bills.
The holy huddle that remained wasn't interested in changing a thing. They didn't want to make their worship more relevant to the community or do anything that would bring outsiders in. The term "whited sepulchre" came to mind. Nice on the outside, but dead on the inside.
There was another church nearby that was thriving but didn't own any property. I (only half in jest) suggested to the pastor that he take his people and join the dead Southern Baptist church, and once they were officially members, vote out the holy huddle and take the place over for themselves. He didn't do it, and that's too bad because he could have made good use of the facility.
Unfortunately, there are lots and lots of churches around Southern California that are all buildings and no people. Many of the mainline denomination churches are fading away.
Trinity has struggled for years as an aging, predominantly Anglo church in a neighborhood turned largely Hispanic. Average Sunday attendance has dwindled from 100 to 40 in the last decade. These days, most members are older people with long ties to the church but less and less energy to give to it. Indeed, about a third of Trinity's faithful now live at Grace Presbyterian Village, a seniors community in east Oak Cliff.My Texas correspondent adds some information to the story that you won't find in the article:
"We joke that if you're not collecting Social Security, you're in the youth department," said Julie Adkins, Trinity's pastor since 1997.
Many churches that close do so only after they're down to a handful of members and in financial straits. Often the church building has been neglected.
Trinity has enough attendance and money in the bank to go a few more years, and its building is in fine shape, thanks to maintenance by longtime member Virgil Sewell.
But given the trends, including expenses outpacing offerings, the consensus was that Trinity should wrap up while it could still pass along money to its regional body, Grace Presbytery, for spending on members' favored religious and charitable causes.
"We could sit there and wind it down to zero, or we could make plans to use those resources for something more beneficial," said longtime member Chuck Newby, 79.
A century-old church is closing.... The people who attend there say that their inability to attract new members is to blame. But read closely and I think there's another reason. Maybe it's their woman pastor or maybe their efforts to attract openly gay people - or maybe at the end of the day, it's their abandonment of biblical truth that makes them completely irrelevant to a community in need of the Gospel. Water it down and you have no message - just a pathetic country club made up of people who like their ears tickled. (Which is incidentally also a party game their Gay Newly Married Sunday School class plays with new members.)
When I was in the church insurance business I worked with dying churches like this all the time. I remember going to a Southern Baptist church in San Diego one time to give them a quote. They had an 800 seat auditorium and a large 2-story educational unit. I sat down in what was supposed to be the pastor's office with the chairman of the board. They didn't have a pastor and when I asked about the church's membership he told me they were down to about 15 members with an average age of 75. The only reason they were still in business was that they had rented the facility to a Christian school and the proceeds from that rent paid the bills.
The holy huddle that remained wasn't interested in changing a thing. They didn't want to make their worship more relevant to the community or do anything that would bring outsiders in. The term "whited sepulchre" came to mind. Nice on the outside, but dead on the inside.
There was another church nearby that was thriving but didn't own any property. I (only half in jest) suggested to the pastor that he take his people and join the dead Southern Baptist church, and once they were officially members, vote out the holy huddle and take the place over for themselves. He didn't do it, and that's too bad because he could have made good use of the facility.
Unfortunately, there are lots and lots of churches around Southern California that are all buildings and no people. Many of the mainline denomination churches are fading away.
This Guy REALLY Likes Picnics
From the "two different worlds" department:
Good thing there weren't any ants. That could have really messed up his "date".
Ohio police have arrested a man who was caught on tape allegedly having sex with a picnic table.
Art Price Jr., 40, of Bellevue, Ohio, was arrested after a neighbor videotaped him engaged sexually with the metal table, according to a report on FOX19.com.
Price was seen on four separate occasions, always between 10:30 a.m. and noon, having sex with the picnic table, Bellevue Police Capt. Matt Johnson told the TV station.
"The first video we had, he was completely nude," Johnson said, noting the table in question had a hole in the middle intended to hold an umbrella.
Price, a married father of three school-age kids, faces felony counts of public indecency because his house is near an elementary school, according to the report.
Good thing there weren't any ants. That could have really messed up his "date".
Friday, March 28, 2008
Cracking the Dem Code
Chuck Todd explains the language of the superdelegate:
If someone says, "the process isn't hurting the party, let everyone have a say" you know that is code for "I'm still holding out hope for Clinton."And if someone says, "the rules are working exactly as designed" that would be Howard Dean off on one of his delusions again.
But if a supposed uncommitted superdelegate says, "we need to start thinking about what this is doing to our long term chances of defeating John McCain" that is code for, "I am leaning toward Obama but I hope Clinton will simply drop out so I can always claim to her and Bill that I was never against them."
Tiger Bait Boys Sue San Francisco
You knew this was coming:
Maybe if they'd had a few less "kool-BEERS" before coming to the zoo they wouldn't have gotten themselves in this mess.SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Two brothers who were attacked by an escaped tiger at the San Francisco Zoo have filed claims against the city alleging negligence and defamation.
Attorney Mark Geragos submitted papers on behalf of Kulbir (kool- 'BEER) and Paul Dhaliwal (DAW'-lee-wahl) seeking monetary compensation for "serious physical and emotional injuries" this week. The claims are a prerequisite for filing a civil lawsuit.
The documents allege the city and the San Francisco Zoological Society failed in their duty to provide a safe zoo environment, defamed the brothers by spreading lies about their possible role in provoking the attack and improperly impounded Kulbir Dhaliwal's car.
60 Minutes Gets Punked by Terror Suspect
This story has so little credibility they should have had Dan Rather report it:
(CBS) A German resident held by the U.S. for almost five years tells 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley that Americans tortured him in many ways - including hanging him from the ceiling for five days early in his captivity when he was in Kandahar, Afghanistan.60 minutes is getting played by this guy and they aren't sharp enough to figure it out.
Even after determining he was not a terrorist, Murat Kurnaz says the torture continued. Kurnaz tells his story for the first time on American television this Sunday, March 30, at 7 p.m. ET/PT.
Kurnaz, an ethnic Turk born and raised in Germany, went to Pakistan in late 2001 at age 19 to study Islam and wound up in Pakistani police custody. It was three months after 9/11, and Kurnaz says the U.S. was offering bounties for suspicious foreigners. Kurnaz says he was "sold" to the Americans for $3,000 and brought to Kandahar as terrorist suspect.
He claims American troops tortured him in Afghanistan by holding his head underwater, administering electric shocks to the soles of his feet, and hanging him suspended from the ceiling of an aircraft hangar and kept alive by doctors. "Every five or six hours they came and pulled me back down and the doctor came," he recalls. "He looked into my eyes. He checked my heart and when he said 'okay,' then they pulled me back up," he tells Pelley.
The U.S. Pentagon responding by e-mail says, "We treat all detainees humanely… and all credible claims are investigated thoroughly…. The abuses Mr. Kurnaz alleges are not only unsubstantiated and implausible, they are simply outlandish."
Dying Music Business Wants to Tax You To Stay Afloat
Since Congress is feeling generous with our money when it comes to bailing out people and institutions who have brought troubles upon themselves, the music industry thinks they'll take advantage of the current mood on Capitol Hill and try to get a tax on internet service to support their dying industry:
Edgar Bronfman Jr.’s Warner Music Group has tapped industry veteran Jim Griffin to spearhead a controversial plan to bundle a monthly fee into consumers’ internet-service bills for unlimited access to music.Hey, I'm a recording artist! I better get my piece of your internet tax.
The plan—the boldest move yet to keep the wounded entertainment industry giants afloat—is simple: Consumers will pay a monthly fee, bundled into an internet-service bill in exchange for unfettered access to a database of all known music.
Bronfman’s decision to hire Griffin, a respected industry critic, demonstrates the desperation of the recording industry. It has shrunk to a $10 billion business from $15 billion in almost a decade. Compact disc sales are plummeting as online music downloads skyrocket…
…Warner’s plan would have consumers pay an additional fee—maybe $5 a month—bundled into their monthly internet-access bill in exchange for the right to freely download, upload, copy, and share music without restrictions.
Griffin says those fees could create a pool as large as $20 billion annually to pay artists and copyright holders. Eventually, advertising could subsidize the entire system, so that users who don’t want to receive ads could pay the fee, and those who don’t mind advertising wouldn’t pay a dime.
Fox News Derangement Syndrome
The MoveOn crowd is completely paranoid about Fox News:
It's just going to get better as we approach November.
About 22 demonstrators gathered outside the ABC News building in Washington, D.C., on Thursday to deliver a petition reportedly bearing 200,000 signatures of people who agree that “FOX News is a Republican mouthpiece” and that networks, including ABC News, should stop “parroting” the Fox News Channel’s talking points.
MoveOn.org, a liberal political activism group, sponsored the demonstration and said in a press release that the petitions were delivered to major networks around the country, including CBS and CNN.
The demonstrators told Cybercast News Service that the Fox News Channel is “not a real news organization.” Nonetheless, they said, major news networks use Fox, a cable station, as a source for talking points.
“We are here to say, please, at the end of this election year, engage in responsible journalism and don’t parrot Fox News,” Adam Greene, director of strategic campaigns for MoveOn, told Cybercast News Service.
“We say Fox should not be setting the agenda for what is news in this country,” Deepa Domansky, a regional coordinator for MoveOn, told Cybercast News Service.
“Fox News is taking us away from issues that are really pressing and creating a sense that we shouldn’t be focusing on these issues but should be more focused on tabloid issues. We know that Fox News is not a legitimate news organization. It is a Republican mouthpiece. Yet the rest of the media is taking its talking points from Fox,” Domansky added.
It's just going to get better as we approach November.
The Hillary Deathwatch
Slate has started a new feature - the Hillary Deathwatch:
While I agree with their logic, let's remember that Democrats don't operate on logic, they operate on feelings and emotion and thus the usual expectations won't necessary come true. The Clintons don't like to lose, and they won't go quietly.
If anything, Slate should start a companion piece on the Obama Deathwatch - not so much because Obama might lose the nomination, but because he might end up so battered by the Clintons that he'll be come unelectable against John McCain. If Plan A is for Hillary to win the nomination, Plan B is for Hillary to ruin Obama's chance to win in November so she will have a clear field in 2012.
Hillary Clinton is as good as dead. This became the consensus over the past week, when the media awoke en masse to the dual reality that 1) Clinton can't close the pledged-delegate gap and 2) Obama has her beat in the popular vote. But the Clinton campaign shows no signs of slowing—she said herself she's prepared to compete for at least three more months. So the question now is not just "How dead is she?" but "When will she realize it?"
In the tradition of Slate's Saddameter (gauging the likelihood of invading Iraq), the Clintometer (measuring the chances of a Lewinsky-related ousting), and the Gonzo-meter (charting the attorney general's demise), we bring you the Hillary Deathwatch, a daily update on Hillary Clinton's dwindling chances of winning the Democratic nomination.
To start off, we're putting her odds at a generous 12 percent. (Last week, a Clinton campaign official gave her one-in-10 odds.) At the moment, polls indicate that Obama has survived the Jeremiah Wright flap (for now). Clinton's Bosnia blunder has metastasized from a headache into a five-day circus. Bill Richardson finally climbed down from his fence onto Obama's side. And a Michigan court yesterday deemed the state's Jan. 15 primary unconstitutional and declined to order a revote, effectively smothering the last glimmer of hope for a deus ex Michigana bailout. Meanwhile, a new poll puts her favorability rating at 37 percent—its lowest since March 2001.
That said, Clinton does have a shot. A heroic margin of victory in Pennsylvania and every subsequent primary, an implosion of the Obama campaign, a sudden mass epiphany on the part of superdelegates, or some combination of the three could lead to a Clinton nomination. But to be honest, we don't expect Hillary's chances to climb much higher than 20 percent. Hence the sinking ship.
While I agree with their logic, let's remember that Democrats don't operate on logic, they operate on feelings and emotion and thus the usual expectations won't necessary come true. The Clintons don't like to lose, and they won't go quietly.
If anything, Slate should start a companion piece on the Obama Deathwatch - not so much because Obama might lose the nomination, but because he might end up so battered by the Clintons that he'll be come unelectable against John McCain. If Plan A is for Hillary to win the nomination, Plan B is for Hillary to ruin Obama's chance to win in November so she will have a clear field in 2012.
Obama Now Says He Might Have Left The Church
The current spin is that the Rev. Wright "pastor disaster" hasn't hurt Obama, but I don't believe that's true. I think he realizes his decision to stay in a church for 20 years where you know he heard statements equal in controversy to what has been played in the press has taken some of the shine from his halo. Now, after Hillary says she would have left the church, Obama is saying that he would have left had the pastor not retired:
This will give the press all the more reason to scrutinize every sermon offered by Moss during the 30 Sunday's remaining before the general election.
In appearance taped for airing this morning on "The View," Senator Obama makes news by saying he might have left Chicago's Trinity United Church of Christ if the Rev. Jeremiah Wright had not retired.The main problem with that statement (besides the obvious pandering) is that the new pastor, Otis Moss III, is as wacky as the old guy and has already using language that should make most sane people cringe. He's every bit the black nationalist that Wright was.
In a clip posted by ABC, Obama says: 'Had the reverend not retired, and had he not acknowledged that what he had said had deeply offended people and were inappropriate and mischaracterized what I believe is the greatness of this country -- for all its flaws -- then I wouldn't have felt comfortable staying there at the church."
This will give the press all the more reason to scrutinize every sermon offered by Moss during the 30 Sunday's remaining before the general election.
Howard the Donkey Wants the Superdelegates to Make a Decision
Howard Dean is taking heat for not being more involved in the Dem delegate battle, so today he's asking the superdelegates to make their decision by July 1:
I hate to disagree to Ben Smith at the Politico, but this won't be a "game-changer" at all because the Clintons have no intention whatsoever of quitting before a convention fight if the supers go against them. If by some miracle the supers put Clinton on top, Hill and Bill would immediately demand the withdrawal of Obama from the race. That's the way they work.
I don't think all the superdelegates will cooperate. Some will not want to make their decision until they have to in Denver just in case events occur in July or August that could change the race.
Nice try, Howard, but it isn't going to happen the way you want it to.
A potential game-changer from CBS News and "The Early Show." Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean says he wants superdelegates to make a decision by JULY 1 -- the most specific he has been in his effort to prod the party to decide between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton before the Democratic National Convention in late August.
Harry Smith asked if after the nominating contests end with the South Dakota and Montana primaries on June 3, "Do you want the superdelegates to have some sort of vote immediately so that you'll know months in advance of the convention what the outcome is?”
Dean replied: “Well, I think the superdelegates have already been weighing in. I think that there's 800 of them and 450 of them have already said who they're for. I'd like the other 350 to say who they're at some point between now and the first of July so we don't have to take this into the convention.”
An aide explains that July 1 is not a drop-dead deadline: "The point is before the convention, ideally in June."
I hate to disagree to Ben Smith at the Politico, but this won't be a "game-changer" at all because the Clintons have no intention whatsoever of quitting before a convention fight if the supers go against them. If by some miracle the supers put Clinton on top, Hill and Bill would immediately demand the withdrawal of Obama from the race. That's the way they work.
I don't think all the superdelegates will cooperate. Some will not want to make their decision until they have to in Denver just in case events occur in July or August that could change the race.
Nice try, Howard, but it isn't going to happen the way you want it to.
Which Headline Should We Believe?
These two stories ran back-to-back on Political Radar:
Clinton Not Ready to Call it Quits, Urges Democrats Not to Choose McCainWhat about "moderate" Democrats?
Clinton Praises "Moderate" McCain
Gore Proves One Point, Disproves Another
In an earlier post on Thursday I talked about the "Gore option" for becoming the Dem nominee and how his nearly religious global warming views would make him a bad candidate. Right on cue Al Gore proves my point:
He did manage to disprove one of my theories. I thought that since we hadn't seen him for awhile he must be off at a fat farm trimming down to candidate weight.
Nope, still fat.
(CBS) Self-avowed "P.R. agent for the planet" Al Gore says those who still doubt that global warming is caused by man - among them, Vice President Dick Cheney - are acting like the fringe groups who think the 1969 moon landing never really happened, or who once believed the world is flat. ...
Confronted by Stahl with the fact some prominent people, including the nation’s vice president, are not convinced that global warming is man-made, Gore responds: "You're talking about Dick Cheney. I think that those people are in such a tiny, tiny minority now with their point of view, they’re almost like the ones who still believe that the moon landing was staged in a movie lot in Arizona and those who believe the world is flat,” says Gore. "That demeans them a little bit, but it's not that far off," he tells Stahl.
He did manage to disprove one of my theories. I thought that since we hadn't seen him for awhile he must be off at a fat farm trimming down to candidate weight.
Nope, still fat.
The Christ-less Easter Service
From our neighbors to the north comes the logical outcome of a society that worships "hope" instead of a real God (h/t Hot Air):
Another case of being educated beyond her intelligence. When her judgment time comes I hope the Lord says "we're not going to send you to 'traditional' heaven - you're going to 'progressive' heaven where you can 'hope' to get into traditional heaven, because the cooling system in progressive heaven doesn't work right now".
That triumphal barnburner of an Easter hymn, Jesus Christ Has Risen Today – Hallelujah, this morning will rock the walls of Toronto's West Hill United Church as it will in most Christian churches across the country.
But at West Hill on the faith's holiest day, it will be done with a huge difference. The words “Jesus Christ” will be excised from what the congregation sings and replaced with “Glorious hope.”
Thus, it will be hope that is declared to be resurrected – an expression of renewal of optimism and the human spirit – but not Jesus, contrary to Christianity's central tenet about the return to life on Easter morning of the crucified divine son of God.
Generally speaking, no divine anybody makes an appearance in West Hill's Sunday service liturgy.
I just don’t think we can placate those in the pews long enough to transition into a kind of new community that doesn’t keep people away.
Rev. Gretta Vosper
There is no authoritative Big-Godism, as Rev. Gretta Vosper, West Hill's minister for the past 10 years, puts it. No petitionary prayers (“Dear God, step into the world and do good things about global warming and the poor”). No miracles-performing magic Jesus given birth by a virgin and coming back to life. No references to salvation, Christianity's teaching of the final victory over death through belief in Jesus's death as an atonement for sin and the omnipotent love of God. For that matter, no omnipotent God, or god.
Ms. Vosper has written a book, published this week – With or Without God: Why the Way We Live is More Important than What We Believe – in which she argues that the Christian church, in the form in which it exists today, has outlived its viability and either it sheds its no-longer credible myths, doctrines and dogmas, or it's toast.
She is considered one of the bright, if unconventional, minds within the United Church, Canada's largest Protestant Christian denomination. She holds a master of divinity degree from Queen's University and was ordained in 1992. She founded and chairs the Toronto-based Canadian Centre for Progressive Christianity.
Another case of being educated beyond her intelligence. When her judgment time comes I hope the Lord says "we're not going to send you to 'traditional' heaven - you're going to 'progressive' heaven where you can 'hope' to get into traditional heaven, because the cooling system in progressive heaven doesn't work right now".
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Lawyer of the Rings
Pity the poor TSA guy that has to explain this:
UPDATE: A photo not to be missed.
UPDATE 2: The TSA will be changing their policy:
So, will each airport now have an official "Nipple Ring Inspector"?
LOS ANGELES (AP) ― A woman was forced by the Transportation Security Administration to remove her nipple rings before she was allowed to board a flight, an attorney said on Thursday..Why did it take an attorney to make that statement? Because the attorney was feminist Gloria Allred:
"The woman was given a pair of pliers in order to remove the rings in her nipples," said Los Angeles attorney Gloria Allred. "The rings had been in her nipples for many years."If you think a right to abortion was hard to find in the Constitution, wait until they try to find a right to nipple rings.
Allred and the woman planned to hold an early-afternoon news conference in Los Angeles to explain what they plan to do "to ensure that no other person is forced to suffer" the same fate, the attorney said in a statement
The Transportation Security Administration does not have a specific policy addressing nipple rings or any other jewelry, said TSA spokesman Dwayne Baird. Baird said he did not know of the incident Allred mentioned in her statement.
"I'd be really curious to know what this woman had in her nipples," Baird said. "Sometimes they have a chain between their nipples, or a chain between their nipples and their belly button. It would have to be made of heavy metal to be detected."
Transportation Security employees are required to check anything that raises concerns at checkpoints, Baird said.
UPDATE: A photo not to be missed.
UPDATE 2: The TSA will be changing their policy:
TSA has reviewed the circumstances related to the screening of a passenger with body piercings that occurred recently in Lubbock, Texas. It appears that the Transportation Security Officers involved properly followed procedures in that incident. They rightly insisted that the alarm that was raised be resolved. TSA supports the thoroughness of the Officers involved as they were acting to protect the passengers and crews of the flights departing Lubbock that day.
TSA has reviewed the procedures themselves and agrees that they need to be changed. In the future TSA will inform passengers that they have the option to resolve the alarm through a visual inspection of the article in lieu of removing the item in question. TSA acknowledges that our procedures caused difficulty for the passenger involved and regrets situation in which she found herself. We appreciate her raising awareness on this issue and we are changing the procedures to ensure that this does not happen again.
So, will each airport now have an official "Nipple Ring Inspector"?
Senator Proposes an End to the Electoral College
Senator Bill Nelson of Florida, who has previously offered plans to get the Florida primary vote re-done, is proposing legislation to completely overhaul the nominating process and eliminate the electoral college:
There are a couple of problems with this. First of all, the political parties are not government entities and therefore I don't believe the federal government has the right to dictate party rules about how they choose their nominee. I doubt his plan would stand up to a court challenge.
Secondly, as long as the Democrats think they have a lock on California, New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts, and have a good shot in Illinois, Florida, Ohio, Michigan and Missouri, they'll never agree to an end to the electoral college. The advantages they have in those states give them a big leg-up in the general election. If you go back and look at the county-by-county election maps from 2000 and 2004, I don't think they want to take the chance on letting the voters decide the presidency by popular vote. Al Gore would have won in 2000 under that plan, but John Kerry would have lost even worse than he did in 2004.
There is a solution to the electoral college that would make the process much more fair and give equal weight to the voters in every state. You'll find that solution here in my rewrite of the Constitution.
(CNN) – Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Florida, on Thursday proposed an overhaul of America's presidential election laws, saying the current dispute over delegates in Florida and Michigan has exposed a flawed nominating system in need of reform.
In a speech on the floor of the Florida State Senate Thursday morning, Nelson said he will formally introduce legislation that will attempt to fix many of the problems exposed by this cycle's round of presidential primaries, adding the "time for reform is now.”
"This country cannot afford to wait that long, before we fix the flaws we still see in our election system," Nelson said. "The blessings of liberty cannot wait."
Specifically, Nelson said he will propose six rotating interregional primaries that "will give large and small states a fair say in the nomination process." The regional primaries would be conducted on dates ranging from March to June, Nelson also said, taking the place of the current early-voting states Iowa and New Hampshire — states which critics have long argued are not representative of the American electorate. The dates would initially be set by a lottery system for the 2012 election and would rotate positions in successive elections.
Nelson called for early voting in every state and the elimination of voting machines that do not produce a paper trail. The Florida Democrat also said all citizens should be allowed to vote absentee if they so choose, and is pushing for a federal grant incentive program to help develop voting by mail and via the Internet.
Nelson will also formally seek award the presidency based on the popular vote result, instead of via the Electoral College – a reform that will require a stand-alone bill since it would require an amendment to he Constitution.
"The goal is simple: one person, one vote," Nelson said in his speech Thursday.
There are a couple of problems with this. First of all, the political parties are not government entities and therefore I don't believe the federal government has the right to dictate party rules about how they choose their nominee. I doubt his plan would stand up to a court challenge.
Secondly, as long as the Democrats think they have a lock on California, New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts, and have a good shot in Illinois, Florida, Ohio, Michigan and Missouri, they'll never agree to an end to the electoral college. The advantages they have in those states give them a big leg-up in the general election. If you go back and look at the county-by-county election maps from 2000 and 2004, I don't think they want to take the chance on letting the voters decide the presidency by popular vote. Al Gore would have won in 2000 under that plan, but John Kerry would have lost even worse than he did in 2004.
There is a solution to the electoral college that would make the process much more fair and give equal weight to the voters in every state. You'll find that solution here in my rewrite of the Constitution.
Knut the Psychobear
Remember Knut the cute little baby polar bear that some animal activists wanted to kill because his mother abandoned him? Well, Knut is all grown up and is turning into "psychobear":
We all know what obsessive media attention did to Britney Spears. I guess it's not unrealistic to think it could happen to a polar bear too.
BERLIN — Knut the polar bear has turned from a cuddly cub into a publicity-addicted psycho, one of his keepers has claimed.
Markus Roebke said Berlin Zoo's celebrity animal was obsessed with the limelight and howled with rage when denied an audience.
"Knut must go and the sooner the better," he said, insisting that the bear should be sent to an animal park where he received less attention
"He is addicted to the whole show, the human adulation. It is not healthy.
"He actually cries out or whimpers if he sees that there is not a spectator outside his enclosure ready to ooh and aah at him.
"When the zoo had to shut because of black ice everywhere he howled until staff members stood before him and calmed him down."
Knut was rejected by his mother after he was born in December 2006, prompting some animal activists to say it would be better for him to die than to be weaned by man.
The zoo let him live however and he has become a major attraction, pulling in millions of dollars in revenue so far.
Now Knut is bigger, the crowds are larger - and, his keeper warns, his mental health is deteriorating.
We all know what obsessive media attention did to Britney Spears. I guess it's not unrealistic to think it could happen to a polar bear too.
The Pregnant "Man"
The local media has been running with the story of the Oregon weirdo who calls himself a "man" and now claims to be pregnant:
This Fox story hasn't fallen into the politically correct reporting mode favored by LA media who keep referring to this person as a "man". However, that's all you hear on LA TV despite the admission that it still had female reproductive organs (I prefer the term "it" since it is clearly confused about what it is).
Had it called itself a weasel, would the LA media have gone along with that description too?
A transsexual woman who has undergone reconstructive surgery and testosterone therapy, and who calls herself a "man," claims to be five months pregnant with a baby girl.
Oregon resident Thomas Beatie told "The Advocate" magazine that carrying a daughter for her wife Nancy is an "incredible" experience.
The article carried a photo showing Beatie with an enlarged midsection, purportedly the result of being pregnant. Neighbors, however, think otherwise.
"Quite frankly, I think it's a hoax," neighbor Ron Schlieper told KATU News in Bend, Ore. "I saw him a few days ago and he didn't look like that," he said, referencing the photo posted on the Advocate.com Web site. "He was walking down the street with who I thought was his wife, Nancy, and I don't recall seeing a belly. If that (picture was taken) a month ago, he would have been much bigger just a few days ago."
Schlieper said Beatie's wife said she was pregnant, KATU News reported. Another neighbor said the couple left their house every week for fertility treatments in Portland.
Beatie, born a woman, has had a chest reconstruction and testosterone therapy, but decided to keep her female reproductive organs. Beatie claims to have become pregnant through artificial insemination.
This Fox story hasn't fallen into the politically correct reporting mode favored by LA media who keep referring to this person as a "man". However, that's all you hear on LA TV despite the admission that it still had female reproductive organs (I prefer the term "it" since it is clearly confused about what it is).
Had it called itself a weasel, would the LA media have gone along with that description too?
Sniper in Virginia - Hillary Rushes to Get There Before It Stops
A report of sniper fire in Virginia:
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — Virginia State Police were hunting Thursday for a sniper or snipers suspected of shooting at motorists along Interstate 64.One report suggests that Hillary Clinton rushed to the area in order to finally be able to truthfully claim that she was exposed to sniper fire, but the firing had ended before she got there.
A 20-mile section of the major highway was closed overnight and into the early morning hours as officers pursued the gunman — but has since been reopened.
State police said that at least four cars were struck by bullets along an 11-mile stretch of the highway Wednesday night. A Virginia Department of Transportation vehicle was found with bullet holes near an exit for I-64 along Route 250, FOX News has confirmed.
The freeway was shut down between about midnight and 6 a.m. Thursday, and Albemarle County Schools were closed, according to the district's Web site.
Another Proponent of the "Gore Option"
Joe Klein writes in Time Magazine that the only hope for the Democrat party may be...Al Gore:
I just don't see it happening. Why would Obama abandon the nomination that should be his because the elders of the Dem party get nervous? And why would Obama's followers in the black and youth communities get excited about losing the nomination to a fat old white guy while their guy colludes with the Dem establishment to make himself the second banana? Obama would be seen as a sell-out by those people and his support would evaporate. Nobody votes for the Vice President.
Of course, Gore has his own problems. The religious fervor with which he has pursued the global warming cause would not be popular with a lot of Americans, and the way he has criticized his own country and government, especially his "Rev. Al" rantings about how Bush "BETRAYED HIS COUNTRY - HE PLAYED ON OUR FEARS!!!" would be rerun in every GOP commercial. Gore would come off looking like a complete lunatic.
All this being said, have you seen Al Gore lately? He's disappeared from public view, and my theory is he's hit a fat farm somewhere to slim down to campaign weight in case the "Gore option" comes to pass. He may be thinking that this is his opportunity to finally win the White House, but I doubt he'll succeed.
Which brings us back to Al Gore. Pish-tosh, you say, and you're probably right. But let's play a little. Let's say the elders of the Democratic Party decide, when the primaries end, that neither Obama nor Clinton is viable. Let's also assume—and this may be a real stretch—that such elders are strong and smart enough to act. All they'd have to do would be to convince a significant fraction of their superdelegate friends, maybe fewer than 100, to announce that they were taking a pass on the first ballot at the Denver convention, which would deny the 2,025 votes necessary to Obama or Clinton. What if they then approached Gore and asked him to be the nominee, for the good of the party—and suggested that he take Obama as his running mate? Of course, Obama would have to be a party to the deal and bring his 1,900 or so delegates along.
I played out that scenario with about a dozen prominent Democrats recently, from various sectors of the party, including both Obama and Clinton partisans. Most said it was extremely unlikely ... and a pretty interesting idea. A prominent fund raiser told me, "Gore-Obama is the ticket a lot of people wanted in the first place." A congressional Democrat told me, "This could be our way out of a mess." Others suggested Gore was painfully aware of his limitations as a candidate. "I don't know that he'd be interested, even if you handed it to him," said a Gore friend. Chances are, no one will hand it to him. The Democratic Party would have to be monumentally desperate come June. And yet ... is this scenario any more preposterous than the one that gave John McCain the Republican nomination? Yes, it's silly season. But this has been an exceptionally "silly" year.
I just don't see it happening. Why would Obama abandon the nomination that should be his because the elders of the Dem party get nervous? And why would Obama's followers in the black and youth communities get excited about losing the nomination to a fat old white guy while their guy colludes with the Dem establishment to make himself the second banana? Obama would be seen as a sell-out by those people and his support would evaporate. Nobody votes for the Vice President.
Of course, Gore has his own problems. The religious fervor with which he has pursued the global warming cause would not be popular with a lot of Americans, and the way he has criticized his own country and government, especially his "Rev. Al" rantings about how Bush "BETRAYED HIS COUNTRY - HE PLAYED ON OUR FEARS!!!" would be rerun in every GOP commercial. Gore would come off looking like a complete lunatic.
All this being said, have you seen Al Gore lately? He's disappeared from public view, and my theory is he's hit a fat farm somewhere to slim down to campaign weight in case the "Gore option" comes to pass. He may be thinking that this is his opportunity to finally win the White House, but I doubt he'll succeed.
Hillary Promises a Convention Fight
Democrats are finally waking up and seeing the Clintons for what Republicans have known they are all along. They're in it for themselves, and not for the country or the party. Why else would Hillary be willing to take her fight for the nomination all the way to the convention in Denver.
Wednesday night she was interviewed on Fox News and laid out her plans for the convention:
Wednesday night she was interviewed on Fox News and laid out her plans for the convention:
The Democratic race is a “long way from being over,” Hillary Clinton told FOX News on Wednesday, and she has no qualms about taking the primary fight all the way to the convention floor.It appears that any revote plans for Michigan and Florida are dead, which means it will be left up to the DNC and the credentials committee to sort out whether the delegates will be seated, or how they will be counted. Right now I don't think there's a plan that will be satisfactory to both candidates, which means the committee will have to "split the baby". Good luck with that.
In a sit-down interview with FOX News’ Greta Van Susteren, which aired Wednesday night, Clinton said not to write her candidacy’s obituary yet, even though she’s trailing Barack Obama by 157 pledged delegates with opportunities dwindling to make up that gap.
“Sixty-two percent said let it go on,” Clinton said, referring to a new Rasmussen survey that found that portion of Democrats aren’t ready for either candidate to leave the race. “That is what people are telling me. That is what we have to do. Let the voters have a chance to be heard. Nobody should be writing obituaries on this race, because it is a long way from being over.”
The Democratic race has taken unexpected twists and turns in the last two weeks, from the controversy over Obama’s long-time pastor Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr. to criticism of Clinton’s exaggerated claims that she landed in Bosnia in 1996 under sniper fire.
But neither candidate is expected to lock down the nomination on pledged delegates before the August convention. And although Democratic leaders are scrambling to avoid a prolonged fight that could give GOP nominee-in-waiting John McCain a decided advantage, Clinton said Wednesday there are too many ifs for the matter to be settled yet.
“Well this is a really close election. Despite what some might say, it is a very close election in the popular vote and in the delegates,” she said. “We have 10 contests ahead of us, plus, don’t forget, Florida and Michigan. You know, I keep beating this drum … millions of people are going to be voting in the next three months, and I hope that will include Florida and Michigan.”
Clinton’s campaign has argued for seating the Michigan and Florida delegations, which were stripped after those states held early primaries in violation of party rules. Recent efforts to hold re-votes in those states have fallen through.
Clinton won both of those states’ primaries in January, though none of the candidates campaigned and Obama was not even on the ballot in Michigan.
Clinton said, barring a resolution on Florida and Michigan, the fight goes to convention.
“You know, you can always go to the convention. That’s what credential fights are for,” he said. “Let’s have the Democratic party go on record against seating the Michigan and Florida delegations three months before the general election? I don’t think that will happen. I think they will be seated. So that’s where we’re headed if we don’t get this worked out.”
The Saddam Hussein Travel Agency
It looks like Democrat congressmen who were trying to undermine President Bush during the run-up to the Iraq War had their trip financed by Saddam Hussein:
WASHINGTON (AP) - Saddam Hussein's intelligence agency secretly financed a trip to Iraq for three U.S. lawmakers during the run-up to the U.S.-led invasion, federal prosecutors said Wednesday.Given the history of McDermott and Bonior, I think they would have gone even if they knew Saddam was paying the bill.
An indictment unsealed in Detroit accuses Muthanna Al-Hanooti, a member of a Michigan nonprofit group, of arranging for three members of Congress to travel to Iraq in October 2002 at the behest of Saddam's regime. Prosecutors say Iraqi intelligence officials paid for the trip through an intermediary.
At the time, the Bush administration was trying to persuade Congress to authorize military action against Iraq.
The lawmakers are not named in the indictment but the dates correspond to a trip by Democratic Reps. Jim McDermott of Washington, David Bonior of Michigan and Mike Thompson of California. None was charged and Justice Department spokesman Dean Boyd said investigators "have no information whatsoever" any of them knew the trip was underwritten by Saddam.
"Obviously we didn't know it at the time," McDermott spokesman Michael DeCesare said Wednesday. "The trip was to see the plight of the Iraqi children. That's the only reason we went."
Operations Chaos Sends a Delegate to the Texas Convention
In case you're not familiar with Operation Chaos, that's the name for Rush Limbaugh's campaign to get Republicans to register as Democrats so they can vote for Hillary Clinton in the primaries and keep her campaign alive. It worked big time in Ohio and Texas and registrations are at record levels in Pennsylvania.
On Wednesday I heard the following caller tell Rush that he participated in Operation Chaos in Texas and has actually been chosen as a Hillary Clinton delegate to the Dem county convention:
Of course, after this radio broadcast was heard by millions, I'm sure the Texas Democrats are trying to figure out who this guy is and get him out. I hope he used a fake name.
On Wednesday I heard the following caller tell Rush that he participated in Operation Chaos in Texas and has actually been chosen as a Hillary Clinton delegate to the Dem county convention:
CALLER: Well, I caucused. I went to caucus for Hillary, and I got nominated as a delegate.Assuming his cover doesn't get blown, he could actually end up a Clinton delegate to the convention in Denver. He said he'd go if he was chosen. Wouldn't that be fun?
RUSH: Now, wait a second here. Let's go back. You need to step back. You voted? You're a Republican?
CALLER: Yes.
RUSH: (laughter) So you voted way back in the Texas primary?
CALLER: Yes.
RUSH: And then you went and caucused?
CALLER: That's right.
RUSH: As a newly registered Democrat, you went to caucus for Hillary?
CALLER: We don't register.
RUSH: Pardon?
CALLER: We don't register in Texas.
RUSH: Oh, that's right. That's right. So you just cross over. That's right. But you voted for Hillary in the primary then you went to caucus for her?
CALLER: Yes.
RUSH: And now you're a Hillary delegate.
CALLER: Yes. And Saturday is our county convention.
RUSH: (laughter) In Austin, Texas, the home of LBJ! (laughter) Are you still working undercover?
CALLER: Yes.
Of course, after this radio broadcast was heard by millions, I'm sure the Texas Democrats are trying to figure out who this guy is and get him out. I hope he used a fake name.
"Pastor Disaster" Hasn't Hurt Obama Much...Yet
A new poll out today suggests that Barack Obama hasn't been hurt that much by the "pastor disaster", but I doubt if the full effect is being felt yet:
This poll was done before Rev. Wright's latest publicized blast against Italians. That might have more effect than has showed up so far in Pennsylvania.
WASHINGTON -- The racially charged debate over Barack Obama's relationship with his longtime pastor hasn't much changed his close contest against Hillary Clinton, or hurt him against Republican nominee-in-waiting John McCain, according to a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll.
Democratic pollster Peter Hart, who conducts the Journal/NBC polls with Republican pollster Bill McInturff, called the latest poll a "myth-buster" that showed the pastor controversy is "not the beginning of the end for the Obama campaign."
But both Democrats, and especially New York's Sen. Clinton, are showing wounds from their prolonged and increasingly bitter nomination contest, which could weaken the ultimate nominee for the general-election showdown against Sen. McCain of Arizona. Even among women, who are the base of Sen. Clinton's support, she now is viewed negatively by more voters than positively for the first time in a Journal/NBC poll.
This poll was done before Rev. Wright's latest publicized blast against Italians. That might have more effect than has showed up so far in Pennsylvania.
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Clinton Backers Scold San Fran Nan
I knew that sooner or later the Clinton folks would take exception to the various proclamations of Nancy Pelosi regarding superdelegates:
It's "go time" for the Clintons. They want the superdelegates free to vote for her without pressure from party leadership, and Hillary has also proclaimed that no delegates are truly "pledged" at the convention and they can also vote for whomever they wish. She's planning to go the distance.
UPDATE: In an interview with Fox News Hillary says she's going to stay in the race all the way to the convention and wouldn't mind a credentials committee fight.
Goody, goody, goody....
WASHINGTON (CNN) — Nearly 20 high-profile Hillary Clinton backers strongly criticized Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday over her recent suggestion that Democratic party superdelegates should not overturn the pledged delegate outcome at the party's convention this August.
In a letter to the House Speaker dated Wednesday, the backers said that position is at odds with the party's original intent on what the role of superdelegates should be. (Read full letter [PDF])
"Superdelegates, like all delegates, have an obligation to make an informed, individual decision about whom to support and who would be the party’s strongest nominee," the backers wrote.
"Both campaigns agree that at the end of the primary contests neither will have enough pledged delegates to secure the nomination," they also said. "In that situation, super-delegates must look to not one criterion but to the full panoply of factors that will help them assess who will be the party’s strongest nominee in the general election."
In an ABC interview earlier this month, Pelosi said it was her belief whichever candidate ended the round of primaries with the pledged-delegate lead should be awarded the Democratic nomination by the superdelegates. That argument would benefit Barack Obama, whose current pledged delegate lead of 171 is virtually insurmountable given the party's proportional delegation allocations, even if Clinton were to win each of the remaining 10 primary contests.
In their letter to Pelosi, the backers urged the House speaker to "clarify your position on super-delegates and reflect in your comments a more open view to the optional independent actions of each of the delegates at the National Convention in August."
"If the votes of the superdelegates overturn what happened in the elections it would be harmful to the Democratic Party," Pelosi said.
It's "go time" for the Clintons. They want the superdelegates free to vote for her without pressure from party leadership, and Hillary has also proclaimed that no delegates are truly "pledged" at the convention and they can also vote for whomever they wish. She's planning to go the distance.
UPDATE: In an interview with Fox News Hillary says she's going to stay in the race all the way to the convention and wouldn't mind a credentials committee fight.
Goody, goody, goody....
Gorby Backslides
I guess we won't be seeing Mikhail Gorbachev in the great by-and-by after all:
Oh well...
Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev made clear this past weekend that he is an atheist after European news agencies last week claimed that he had confirmed his Christian faith during a visit to the tomb of St. Francis of Assisi in Italy.
"Over the last few days some media have been disseminating fantasies – I can't use any other word – about my secret Catholicism, citing my visit to the Sacro Convento friary, where the remains of St. Francis of Assisi lie," Gorbachev said, according to an Interfax article posted Friday.
"To sum up and avoid any misunderstandings, let me say that I have been and remain an atheist,” he stated.
Oh well...
Dwarf!!
Phobias can cause some interesting moments:
Phobias can't be defined by juries.
A little person picking up some fast food in a South Carolina McDonald’s has filed a complaint saying his server shrieked and ran away at the sight of him.Who says? If Barack Obama's grandma can be afraid of black people, why can't this McDonald's server be afraid of little people?
Ethan Wade, who suffers from a form of dwarfism, retained a lawyer after claiming the clerk at the Greenville County restaurant threw up her hands, started screaming and ran away upon seeing him, WYFF4.com reports.
The shift manager and store manager apologized after the incident, Wade told WYFF4.com said.
An employee at the franchise office explained that the employee had a fear of little people, Wade told the station.
"The employee had stated to her, 'Imagine if you saw a snake or a spider, how would you respond?' And that employee said she understood that. And I said, 'That's unbelievable. I am a human being,'" Wade said.
"How could you compare the fear of a snake and spider to a human being? That makes no sense to me," he continued. "I've seen kids kind of react like that. Understandable. But grown adults to act like that? That's just not acceptable."
Cynthia Samour, the franchise owner, released a statement to WYFF4.com.
"We take these matters seriously and do our very best to serve our customers with the utmost care and respect," it read. "We have a strict policy prohibiting any form of discrimination and we continually strive to maintain an environment in which everyone feels valued and accepted."
Wade is irked by the claims.
"You can't have a phobia of a person. I'm a human being. You can't have that type of phobia."
Phobias can't be defined by juries.
McCain Delivers the Democratic Response
Here comes the McCain rhetoric that we didn't hear during the primary battles with conservatives:
And in other excerpts:
Thanks, John. I'd almost forgotten why I wasn't going to vote for you.
Speaking before the World Affairs Council in Los Angeles, he rejected the president’s determination to keep the U.S. military detention facility at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba open. He also said it was time to negotiate a new global warming treaty.
“We can’t torture or treat inhumanely suspected terrorists we have captured,” he said. “I believe we should close Guantanamo and work with our allies to forge a new international understanding on the disposition of dangerous detainees under our control.”
On global warming and the international treaty that President Bush abandoned after taking office, McCain said: “There is such a thing as international good citizenship.” He added: “We need a successor to the Kyoto Treaty, a cap-and-trade system that delivers the necessary environmental impact in an economically responsible manner.”
And in other excerpts:
“The United States cannot lead by virtue of its power alone,” McCain said. Instead, the country must lead by [among other things] creating new international institutions to advance peace and freedom, he said....So much for American exceptionalism.
McCain also drew applause for his definition of success in Iraq and Afghanistan, which he said “is the establishment of peaceful, stable, prosperous, democratic states that pose no threat to neighbors and contribute to the defeat of terrorists … It is the triumph of religious tolerance over violent radicalism.”So in other words, we need to import more foreign students from Islamic countries so they'll love us. This is a plan that you'd expect to be advanced by Hillary or Obama.
McCain said the United States’ goal in fighting Islamic extremists should be “to win the hearts and minds of the vast majority of moderate Muslims who do not want their future controlled by a minority of violent extremists.
“In this struggle, scholarships will be far more important than smart bombs.”
Thanks, John. I'd almost forgotten why I wasn't going to vote for you.
Home Prices in Freefall
What went up fast is coming down faster:
If you're like me and bought your house 18 years ago and haven't gone crazy with refinancing, the drop in prices is annoying but not devastating. For many who purchased their homes in the last two or three years, or who refinanced all the equity out of their house, this is big trouble if they find themselves having to sell.
Right now there's almost nothing for sale in my neighborhood, and in this area the homes move fairly quickly most of the time. I've even gotten a couple of calls from realtors who claim to have buyers interested in this area. You never know if that's true, or if they're just fishing for a listing. Since I haven't had any calls like that for a long time, it tells me that perhaps the market is about ready to start calming down again.
Signs of distress are piling up in the California housing market, where prices are falling at three times the national rate of decline.
--Statewide, median sales prices fell by a stunning 26% from year-ago levels in February, with home prices dropping at a rate of nearly $3,000 a week, the California Association of Realtors reports. Further, the CAR says the Fed's interest rate-cutting campaign "will have little near-term direct effect on the housing market."
--In the San Fernando Valley, losing a home to foreclosure is now almost as common for families as buying a home. The L.A. Daily News: "During January and February, there were 1,084 foreclosures and 1,335 sales of houses and condos in Valley communities from Glendale to Calabasas, according to the San Fernando Valley Economic Research Center at California State University, Northridge."
"It's bad. It's really bad," market analyst Nima Nattagh told the Daily News.
The California Association of Realtors reports median prices fell 27.2% from year-ago levels in the hard-hit Inland Empire east of Los Angeles, 30.9% in Sacramento, and 39.1% in Santa Barbara County.
On a percentage basis, the California price meltdown is more than three times as severe as the national decline of 8.2% in median prices reported this week by the National Association of Realtors. On an absolute basis, the California meltdown is even more severe: Nationally, prices fell over the past year at a rate of $338 per week; in California, prices fell at a rate of $2,788 per week.
If you're like me and bought your house 18 years ago and haven't gone crazy with refinancing, the drop in prices is annoying but not devastating. For many who purchased their homes in the last two or three years, or who refinanced all the equity out of their house, this is big trouble if they find themselves having to sell.
Right now there's almost nothing for sale in my neighborhood, and in this area the homes move fairly quickly most of the time. I've even gotten a couple of calls from realtors who claim to have buyers interested in this area. You never know if that's true, or if they're just fishing for a listing. Since I haven't had any calls like that for a long time, it tells me that perhaps the market is about ready to start calming down again.
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