OBAMA QUITS HIS CHURCH AS THE DNC TELLS HILLARY SHE DOESN'T HAVE A PRAYER

HEADLINE NUMBER ONE: DNC RULES COMMITTEE GOES LIMP AND COW TOWS TO OBAMA MACHINE . Obama and the DNC turns zero votes into 59 pledged Michigan delegates today after a day long slug fest with the DNC rules committee special meeting to determine the fates of Michigan and Florida, both of which held their primaries too soon for the DNC's liking. The meetings debates became so heated in fact, that "uncommitted" super-delegate Donna Brazile actually called the Clinton campaign "cheaters," after attributing her unique perspective from "her momma." So much for being "uncommitted."

Given this tight battle, and the arcane fashion in which the Democratic party awards its delegates, perhaps his best strategy would have been taking his name off from all of the big states, such as New York and California where he got his ass kicked, which would have given him a much higher delegate count, and in fact, would have made his the presumptive nominee long ago. Strange.

If only they had the wisdom and courage to propose a national primary vote, which would shorten the campaign season, and save the candidates supporters untold millions of dollars.

HEADLINE NUMBER TWO: OBAMA REMORSEFULLY CANCELS MEMBERSHIP TO THE TRINITY CHURCH: Barack Obama said Saturday he has resigned his 20-year membership in the Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago "with some sadness" in the aftermath of inflammatory remarks by his longtime pastor the Rev. Jeremiah Wright and more recent fiery remarks at the church by another minister. "I'm not denouncing the church and I'm not interested in people who want me to denounce the church," he said, adding that the new pastor at Trinity and "the church have been suffering from the attention my campaign has focused on them."

LANDMARK DNC RULES VERDICT UNDER CONSIDERATION

As the DNC meets today to decide the fates of the millions of voters in the states of Florida and Michigan, it is the general consensus that one of the following options must be adopted.
1. Do not seat Florida or Michigan.
2. Split the Florida and Michigan pledged delegations 50/50. Super delegates are free to vote as they wish. (The list of Florida and Michigan super delegates)
3. Florida and Michigan hold new elections. (3/17 - Florida has announced they will not hold a new election as did Michigan on 3/19)
4. Split Michigan 50/50 including supers. Give Florida pledged delegates 1/2 vote, but based on January election. 1/2 vote for super delegates also. This is supposedly under significant discussion
5. Seat them based on the elections that have taken place. Give Obama the 55 Michigan uncommitted delegates.
6. Seat them based on the elections that have taken place. Don't assume Obama gets the 55 Michigan uncommitted delegates.

I am sure that it will come to no ones surprise that I whole heartedly support option number six. For all of the talk and debate of Florida, the fact is that it was a fair election process, everyone was on the ballot, and the votes must be counted, which follows the tenets of this democracy, that being "one man, one vote."

As for Michigan, the prevailing opinion of the Obama campaign is that this was a quote / unquote "flawed election." Flawed, because Obama's name was not on the ballot. The truth is, Obama feeely CHOSE to take his name off the ballot, which was a slap in the face of every Michigan voter casting a vote. Obama chose to take his ball and go home....if the vote doesn't count, I could give two shits about the will of the people in Michigan, and I want my name off the ballot.

Hillary chose not to take her name off the ballot, and she was rewarded for her efforts. Yes, 600,ooo votes came back "uncommitted." Fine. They exercised their guaranteed rights as Americans. But for the DNC to even consider these votes cast as a "proxy vote" for the DNC rules committee to ILLEGALLY DETERMINE WHO THEY MEANT TO VOTE FOR, or somehow decide they should have the power to cast their votes for them, is highly undemocratic, and violates every principle the United States stands for.

Option six is the only fair and just option we have. The DNC, for all of their ridicule of the Supreme Court decision that allowed King George II to steal the 2000 election, have now decided, at least to consider so far) doing the exact same thing, and in fact "decide" the election thus far, based on their biased political views and wants.

TRINITY CHURCH FATHER FLEIGER TURNING INTO A REAL MOTHER FLEIGER TO OBAMA

Obama has been friends with Pfleger since his days as a community organizer. He took part in an Iowa event for Obama last fall, and a 2004 Chicago Sun-Times piece said he gives Obama "spiritual counsel." He's a white priest at a largely black church. He's held hands with Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan. He's been arrested dozens of times and battled anyone he thinks has wronged his parish - from gun dealers to a local Catholic sports league. he has donated to the candidate's state Senate and presidential campaigns and sat on a Catholics for Obama committee until a few weeks ago. When Obama was in the Illinois Legislature, he helped land more than $200,000 in state grants for outreach programs run by Pfleger's church. Now the Rev. Michael Pfleger is something else: the latest thorn in the side of presidential candidate Barack Obama. Racially charged comments Pfleger made last week mocking Obama rival Hillary Rodham Clinton - as a guest at Obama's church, no less - triggered a quick response from Obama, who wants nothing to do with a racial firestorm like the one generated by his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

DEADLY N.Y. CRANE COLLAPSE

THE ALL-KIMBA OLYMPIC BACK-STABBING & BACK PEDDLING TEAM

Yet another Bush insider ready to hit the book circuit with a piece damning the Bush administration; former Press secretary and number one assistant to Ari Fleisher (Ari: one of the very few who continues to remain loyal to King George II, by the way),

Scott McClellan has come out with his tell all book,

"What Happened: Inside the White House and Washington Culture of Deception."

This blockbuster features the following smoking hot quotes in regards to the Middle east, as well as their near paralytic treatment of Hurricane Katrina....

President Bush “convinces himself to believe what suits his needs at the moment,” and has engaged in “self-deception” to justify his political ends

the decision to invade Iraq was a “serious strategic blunder,” and yet, in his view, it was not the biggest mistake the Bush White House made. That, he says, was “a decision to turn away from candor and honesty when those qualities were most needed.”

top White House officials deceived him about the administration’s involvement in the leaking of the identity of a C.I.A. operative, Valerie Wilson. He says he did not know for almost two years that his statements from the press room that Karl Rove and I. Lewis Libby Jr. were not involved in the leak were a lie. “Neither, I believe, did President Bush,” Mr. McClellan writes. “He too had been deceived, and therefore became unwittingly involved in deceiving me. But the top White House officials who knew the truth — including Rove, Libby, and possibly Vice President Cheney — allowed me, even encouraged me, to repeat a lie.”

the administration’s response to Hurricane Katrina? “They spent most of the first week in a state of denial” and “allowed our institutional response to go on autopilot.”

It wasn't just Bush and Cheney taking the blows to the belly in McClellan's book, witness this about Condoleeza Rice: “No matter what went wrong, she was somehow able to keep her hands clean,” Mr. McClellan writes, adding that “she knew how to adapt to potential trouble, dismiss brooding problems, and come out looking like a star.”

The administration has claimed that as the Bush administration's press secretary, he was not in the elevated position required to be truly in "the know" on many of these issues. However, one has only to look over the following former Bushies to see that all of these were in the know, and they all severely regret the position they held in the Bush administration, and will forever be wiping their tongues in a vein effort to eleviate themselves of the sour taste of knowing they played a role in the (yes, THE) worst, most corrupt, most damaging to its own country, most secretive administration in the history of the United States of America.

Counter terrorism adviser Richard Clarke

("Against All Enemies" and the new "Your Government Failed You")

former EPA chief and former New Jersey Gov.

Christine Todd Whitman ("It's My Party, Too")

former economic adviser Lawrence B. Lindsey ("What a President Should Know")

L. Paul Bremer, former U.S. administrator in Iraq ("My Year in Iraq")

Chief of Staff Andrew Card and Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage,

are believed to have been primary sources for books by such journalists as

Bob Woodward ("State of Denial").

Let's add the following Bushies who have turned against the administration

Attorney General John Ashcroft

CIA Director George Tenet

Former Bush insider David Frum

Press Secretary Karen Hughes

Bush administration terrorism expert Richard Clarke,

and on and on.....

They can attack the people all they want. The dominant opinion of all of these Bush administration officials are of one accord...the Bush administration represents eight of the worst years in American history. Eight years that have done tremendous, near reversable damage on a once proud nation.

JUST IN CASE YOU MISSED THE LATEST OBAMISM

Senator Obama has affirmed his ability to see the dead.

Here is yet another unfortunate quote....

On this Memorial Day, as our nation honors its unbroken line of fallen heroes -- and I see many of them in the audience here today -- our sense of patriotism is particularly strong.

He obviously never fully understood the difference between Memorial Day and Veteran's Day.

Let me help you....

Memorial Day was the day your wife took pride in America for the first time in her lifetime.

Veteran's Day (I am afraid) will be the day John McCain kicks your ass in the national election.

I GOT THEM A GIFT CARD TO CHUCK E CHEESE FOR THEIR ANNIVERSARY

CLICK TO ENLARGE PHOTO

This was found on the site http://www.thesmokinggun.com/.

I obviously cannot vouch for the age of the newlywed in the photos, but she looks mighty young to me. For those of you unaware of the controversy, this is Warren Jeffs, charged with multiple counts of polygamy and a ration of charges involving his religions penchant for allowing marriage to under-age children (allegedly).

NOW DOES THIS MAKE ANY CENTS?

The US government has been told to change the size or texture of its banknotes because it is difficult for blind people to tell the notes apart. A US federal appeals court upheld a ruling that having all dollar notes the same size and texture was unacceptable. The judges voted two to one to reject the government's claim that changing note sizes would be too expensive.
The Treasury Department was concerned about the potential costs of redesigning vending machines. "A large majority of other currency systems have accommodated the visually impaired, and the secretary does not explain why US currency should be any different," Judge Judith Rogers wrote in the court's opinion.
The case was brought by the American Council for the Blind, which proposed several solutions such as different note sizes for different denominations, embossed dots or raised printing.

MEMORIAL DAY TO-DO LIST

1. Put out your flag

2. If you do not own one, go buy one

3. Don't drink and drive

4. Relax. Hillary is in Puerto Rico, Bush is laying wreaths,

Phoenix is on Mars, and Bob Barr is

running for President. What could go wrong today?

5. Remember

6. Enjoy

FIRST MARS PICTURES IN

For more pictures from the

Phoenix Mars Project

click here, or here

GEORGE McREAGAN?

Curious sequence of events this week....first, we get the report that McCain is cancer free and deemed to be in sound health. Then as I am flipping through channels yesterday, I stumble upon a CNN special report on the President's health issues over the years, which spells out instances of heart attacks, strokes and various maladies, including the real possibility that Ronald Reagan may have (as confirmed by a physician on the report) executed the duties of the President, all the while having an increasing debilitating case of Alzheimer's disease......and today, I found this John McCain video. I find it very hard not to connect the dots, here. Straight to Obama.

When Barack ran against Hillary, he positioned himself to mirror Clinton positions on policy, and damn near everything else.....and all things being kind of even, why not vote for the nice guy. The guy shoving all the poop around about dreams and hopes and change.

Having said what I have stated previously, and after watching the video of various John McCain's occasional bouts of befuddlement, shouldn't Obama position himself as the nice guy, the guy who will clean everything up, give you back your bitter little hopes and dreams and......... all things kind of even, why not vote for the younger guy still in control of his friggin' faculties?

A MEMORIAL DAY, INDEED

Senator John McCain has reportedly invited 20 couples over to his Sedona, Arizona compound for a Memorial Day BBQ get-together, 3 of which include his top VP candidate picks, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, Louisiana Governor Jindal, and Florida Governor Charlie Crist. McCain, a reportedly very "social" person needs to see his VP picks up close in a social setting to see who he feels most comfortable with before whittling down his list to his VP choice on the ticket. Further down on McCain's list are Ohio Representative Portman and Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, both of whom declined to attend and sit at a card table to the side of the main table.

The menu will be sponsored by Metamucil and Poli-Grip, featuring easily chewed items with high fiber contents. Entertainment will include a provocative dance number with the surviving members of the Golden Girls.

I don't want to say that McCain's finances are dwindling, but admission is $10,000.00, and the open bar will feature $2 draft beers from wife Cindy's beer distributorship (see Cindy's IRS tax forms here).

The guest list was reduced dramatically from the 250 invitations previously sent out, when it was discovered that the vast majority of John's friends are high level lobbyists by vocation.

The menu will be co-sponsored by the makers of Metamucil and Poli-Grip, featuring foods easily chewed with high fiber content. Entertainment will include a provocative dance number by the surviving members of "The Golden Girls," or as McCain likes to call them "The Old C*%#'s." Music is reportedly being provided by the "Keating Five."

Over at the Obama camp, David Axlerod is contemplating a backyard "pot" luck BBQ burger event at the Obama residence with his top picks, Hillary Clinton, Ohio Gov Strickland, Ind. Sen Bayh, Penn. Gov. Rendell, Florida Sen. Nelson, Virginia Senator Webb, Georgia Senator Nunn, Kansas Governor Sebelius and Virginia Gov. Mark Warner.

The menu will include an impressive array of burger condiments (fixins), all of which would be handled by Tony Rezco, who reportedly "fixes" everything in Chicago. The guest list would also include former Fannie Mae CEO Jim Johnson, who reportedly has been hired to perform the VP candidate vetting process, similar to his previous experience in vetting the candidates in 1984 for Walter Mondale, and in 2004 for John Kerry.
In an attempt to appeal to the hardworking (white) voting blocks, the menu will include corn on the cob, corn dogs and Pabst blue ribbon beer, and the event will feature music by the Weather Underground. Pictured to the right, Barack practices up on the billiard table, where they will be serving the "vittles."

"SOMETHING BAD IS GOING TO COME FROM THIS"

I guess all things happen for a reason, including the unfortunate quote from Hillary, just in the nick of time for a terrific cover story about Robert Kennedy in Vanity Fair. Here is an excerpt....

....on the day that Kennedy announced his candidacy, it was by no means obvious that 1968 would become a watershed year. Most of the year’s momentous events would occur after Kennedy’s March 16 announcement, with many of the most shocking ones unfolding during his campaign. Had you told anyone in the Senate caucus room that morning that during the next 82 days President Johnson would decline to seek a second term, Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy would both be assassinated, and America would suffer its worst racial disturbances since the Civil War, they might have believed that one or two of those things might happen, but not all, nor in such quick succession.
After concluding his announcement, Kennedy took questions ranging from skeptical to hostile. But as he left the Capitol, supporters screaming his name grabbed at his clothes and leapt in the air to see him, much as his brother’s supporters had in 1960. Anyone witnessing this and hearing the New Frontier echoes in his announcement would have been justified in assuming that his campaign would indeed be an extended tribute to his brother. Instead, March 16 would be the end rather than the beginning of such a tribute, and during the next three months he would run on issues his brother had seldom raised and in a manner, at times, his brother would have found undignified.

Richard Nixon, who had lost the presidency to J.F.K. in 1960, watched Kennedy’s announcement from a hotel room in Portland, Oregon. John Ehrlichman, one of several aides in the room with Nixon, later wrote, “When it was over and the hotel-room TV was turned off, Nixon sat and looked at the blank screen for a long time, saying nothing. Finally, he shook his head slowly. ‘We’ve just seen some very terrible forces unleashed,’ he said. ‘Something bad is going to come of this.’ He pointed at the screen, ‘God knows where this is going to lead.’ ” Meanwhile, by one account, Kennedy was telling Nicole Salinger, the wife of J.F.K.’s press secretary Pierre Salinger, “I’m sleeping well for the first time in months. I don’t know what’s going to happen, but at least I’m at peace with myself.”

NO THAT IT REALLY MATTERS, BUT......

Throughout the primary season, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have been in a virtual tie, in both polls and votes cast. She trails him by less than 2 percent of all delegates. She appears to lead him in ballots cast, if you count the Michigan and Florida primaries, which were not sanctioned by the Democratic National Committee and therefore don't count in the delegate tallies but still represent actual voters' preferences and therefore do count in gauging the overall popular preference. Preliminary efforts to extrapolate from voting returns and exit polls suggest that overall she has probably won a majority of registered Democrats' votes, since Obama has drawn heavily from independents. And key Democratic blocs including Hispanics, Jews, women, gays, seniors, and the white working class have all preferred her to him.

Primaries have had a major influence on nominations since only 1952, and in that period the top two rivals have reconciled on a dream ticket just twice, when John F. Kennedy chose Lyndon Johnson as his running mate in 1960 and when Ronald Reagan brought George Bush onboard in 1980. That rarity doesn't bode well for the creation of an Obama-Clinton ticket. It does, however, augur well for victory for an Obama-Clinton ticket. For both the Kennedy-Johnson and Reagan-Bush fusions offer models of how a divided party can turn debilitating rifts into assets.

MEDAL OF HONOR AWARDED TO 19 YEAR OLD

May 24, 2008 -- A 19-year-old Pennsylvania soldier who unhesitatingly threw himself on a grenade and gave his life to save four buddies in Iraq will posthumously receive the Medal of Honor. The nation's highest military honor will be conferred June 2 on Army Pfc. Ross McGinnis, of Knox, the White House announced yesterday. The Army gunner "distinguished himself by extraordinary heroism," said White House deputy press secretary Tony Fratto.
McGinnis was perched in the gunner's hatch of a Humvee on patrol in Baghdad on Dec. 4, 2006, when a grenade flew by him and landed inside where four soldiers were sitting. He called out a warning, then leaped into the vehicle and covered the grenade with his body. The grenade exploded, killing him.
He could easily have saved his own life by jumping off the truck, said Lt. Col. Anne Edgecomb, an Army spokeswoman. "The instinct is [to] jump out of the vehicle, but his four buddies were in the vehicle with him . . . and he chose to place himself on top of the grenade and absorb the impact, and it saved their lives," she said.
That heroic action came as no surprise to McGinnis' father. "His friends were the most important thing in his life," Thomas McGinnis told The Washington Post on the day of his son's funeral in March 2007. "He had a way with people, of letting them get close to him and getting to know the real Ross. "He had the opportunity to escape," McGinnis said. "He chose not to."
His son wanted to be a soldier since he was a little boy, he said. The youngster informed his kindergarten teacher that he wanted to be an "Army man" - and he enlisted on his 17th birthday, McGinnis told The Washington Post.
In an interview that appeared in The Army Times last year, Staff Sgt. Ian Newland, 27, one of those inside the Humvee, described how McGinnis reacted as they rolled through the alleyways of Adhamiyah as the last truck in a convoy and someone dropped the grenade from a rooftop.
First, the teen soldier tried to catch the grenade, but it dropped into the Humvee.
"When he yelled, 'Grenade!' I wasn't even alarmed because we'd seen so many. Then I saw it. It was next to me," The Army Times quoted him as saying. Then he saw McGinnis drop down and smother the grenade with his body. Newland, who was badly injured in the blast, had no doubt as to why McGinnis sacrificed himself.
"Why he did it? Because we were his brothers," he told USA Today. "He loved us."

No matter how you feel about this war, or the administration (and Congress) who ultimately got us into this unfortunate war in Iraq, you cannot escape the sense of overwhelming speechlessness upon reading the accounts leading up the untimely death of this American hero.

Is it disingenuous of me to post this larger than life story on a blog so obviously politically left of this young man? Maybe. Given the opportunity to read the many liberal postings on this blog, especially when referring to the war, I have no doubt he would become so completely incensed at my left-wing rants and ravings that he would be tempted to destroy the very terminal he read them on.

I post this account from the New York Post for two reasons; one, to let as many people as possible know of the incredible heroism that is going on in the Middle East on the part of our servicemen and women on a near daily basis, and two, to explain that our calls for "retreat" as the right-wingers so deftly espouse, our persistent demands that our troops come home are not meant to besmirch the work and heroic efforts there on the part of our forces especially Pfc. McGinnis, pictured to the right. We liberal bloggers raise our voices of opposition for one reason, and one reason alone. We want them home. Quickly and safely.

As proud as I am of our military, of the young men and women who serve us so nobly, who continue (and voluntarily) risk their lives for the sakes of their fellow soldiers day in and day out, I cannot hear of a story such as this, a recounting of heroism that defies every innate human behavior we have ingrained within us, without questioning the necessity for this young man to be there, in a country dangerous due to a civil war exploding inside it, and a people so desperate to get us out of their country they will risk their own lives to kill us in it.

Seeing a grenade tossed at his Humvee's direction, he first tries to catch it....failing that, when the grenade falls inside the Humvee containing his comrades in arms, in a split second he dives on top of it, guaranteeing he will die in order to save the lives of those he serves with, and loves.

I'll never know that kind of courage. I'll never know how someone can completely ignore every element of human nature and self survival, and in a nano-second risk his own life in order to save the lives of the soldiers he serves with. And I will certainly never know how a 19 year old man develops these kinds of traits, this kind of honor and valor, at a time of his life when my biggest accomplishment was being able to open a beer bottle with my belt buckle.

I have frequently stated in this blog that "there are thousands of soldiers dying in vein in the Middle East without purpose, or reason." Pfc. McGinnis: I promise you I will never say that again. You proved me wrong.

Oh, I am still all for getting out of Iraq, and I still feel passionately that this is a war, as Obama states over and over, never should have been waged, or authorized", but I cannot, and should not say our military is dying over there for no reason. You chose to die for all of the right reasons, in a landscape and situation I wish to God you were never put into.

THE BUSH LEGACY: TRIPLE BOGEY

Tell Your Friends About the Bush Legacy Bus!
President Bush's time in office may be coming to an end, but the impact of the Bush legacy will be felt for years to come. From the war in Iraq to the rebuilding of the Gulf Coast, the Bush presidency is more than the failure of a man - it's the failure of an ideology. Help define President Bush's legacy by asking your friends and family members to join the Bush Legacy Project: http://www.bushlegacytour.com/page/invite/BushLegacyTour

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HAGEE: HITLER WAS THE JEWS "TRAVEL AGENT" TO ISRAEL

Jewish allies of the Rev. John Hagee rushed to his defense yesterday to say the Texas evangelist is not anti-Semitic despite Sen. John McCain campaign's repudiation Thursday of the evangelist's endorsement. "John Hagee is one of the Jewish people's best friends," Los Angeles talk show host Dennis Prager said on the air yesterday morning. "Identifying John Hagee with anti-Semitism would be like identifying Raoul Wallenberg, the great Swede who saved thousands of Jews in the Holocaust, with anti-Semitism."

At issue was Mr. Hagee's reference — in a late 1990s sermon and in his 2006 book "Jerusalem Countdown" to Adolf Hitler being a "hunter" used by God to force Jews to emigrate to Israel.
In a reference to the Book of Jeremiah, whose author predicts a scattering of the Jewish people but saying God would bring them back to the promised land, Mr. Hagee says in the sermon: "How did [the Holocaust] happen? Because God allowed it to happen. Why did it happen? Because God said my top priority for the Jewish people is to get them to come back to the land of Israel."

"Leading rabbis have said the same thing." "This is a legitimate effort to grapple with the age-old question of why God allows evil in the world. Pastor Hagee was not, as some are claiming, saying the Holocaust was good. He has said repeatedly, throughout his life, that the Holocaust was the greatest of tragedies. "But there is a long-standing Jewish tradition of searching for divine explanations for tragedy. For people who are biblical literalists, God is omnipotent; therefore, they maintain, God must have allowed the Holocaust to happen. What you hear here is an effort to search for an explanation."

OOPS...DID I SAY THAT OUT LOUD?

Hillary Clinton today brought up the assassination of Sen. Robert Kennedy while defending her decision to stay in the race against Barack Obama.

"My husband did not wrap up the nomination in 1992 until he won the California primary somewhere in the middle of June, right? We all remember Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June in California. I don't understand it"

Obama's camp immediately fired back. "Sen. Clinton's statement before the Argus Leader editorial board was unfortunate and has no place in this campaign," Obama campaign spokesman said in a statement.

Clinton made her comments at a meeting with the Sioux Falls Argus-Leader's editorial board while campaigning in South Dakota, where she complained that, "People have been trying to push me out of this ever since Iowa."

KENTUCKY DERBY: IT'S HILLARY BY A COUNTRY MILE

We knew Kentucky would be Clinton country. We know the sun is setting on the Clinton campaign. What we did not know that Hillary would carry Kentucky by over 250,000 votes. More than Barack even received (67% to 30%).

Imagine how many more Kentucky votes would have been cast for Clinton had the press not been giving the last rites to the Clinton campaign.... Obama, expected to lose by a much smaller margin, obviously has a real problem. Yes, he will carry Oregon, to be sure. Yes, he will be within an arms reach of a majority of the pledged delegates required for the nomination if you happen to think taking Florida and Michigan off the table is a wise move. But the fact remains that he has lost, and lost big in some very important states necessary to be elected.

If, for example. Obama fails to carry Connecticut in the national, which is a very real possibility, it would take 5 smaller, mid-western states just to break even with Mc Cain. So it IS a very acceptable question to raise: Is Obama electable on the national scene? And can the Dems chance losing the White House in a critical period in our nations history? The truthful answer is no, we cannot afford it, but we are stuck. Stuck due to the caucus states Obama won early on during the Obama nation hysteria period. A period, and movement which is most definitely wearing thin across the nation. That's the trouble with being a political pop icon...you have a very limited shelf life until voters lose the feeling and reassess who, and most notably what you stand for, if anything at all.

HEY KENTUCKY: VOTE FOR OBAMA BECAUSE IT IS THE FULFILLMENT OF GOD'S WILL

According to Kentucky.BarackObama.com: " Welcome to Kentucky for Obama. It's time to put an end to the say-anything-to-win politics of the past. Together we can face the challenges of the future with a new kind of politics and a new kind of leadership."

Barack Obama’s Pitch in KentuckySupposedly Barack Obama’s not playing for Kentucky. You could have fooled me. He’s got 16 offices in the state next to Hillary’s 5. Hillary has no office west of Louisville. Barack Obama’s offices go from the West Virginia border to the Mississippi River. So how is Barack trying to appeal to Kentuckians? As a religious candidate? Obviously, NOT an example of the "say-anything-to-win" politics of the past. Here is what the top picture (the one with "Pastor Obama") says,"My faith teaches me that I can sit in church and pray all I want. But I won't be fulfilling God's will unless I go out and do God's work." Barack Obama

The verse (paraphrase) is “faith, hope and love. And the greatest of these is love.” Apparently Obama thinks love should be omitted. I guess Obama is so great that he can re-write the Bible as he needs. How full of himself does a person need to be to directly steal from the Bible and twist the message to fit a political whim? Sick.

I really do want to see a democrat in the White House, with 9 more democratic senators for an absolute plurality, a freight train with absolutely no obstructions in its way towards mending this country from 8 of the worst years ever in modern day Presidential history. But this guy (as I have been writing for nearly two years now) is setting all new records for absolute bullshit. Lets see....how can we make America forget that I was...check that, I still am a member of a very hateful and divisive church with a Pastor capable of saying damn near any thing anti-white and anti-American, not to mention anti-Semitic? I've got it....take my picture in front of a cross pretending to be a clergyman of some sort. What are you, fucking stupid? You say you are against the status quo and politics as usual, then you associate with Ted Kennedy and hire David fucking Axlerod, the king of status quo dirty politics, now you come up with this shit, as if voting for you is God's will?? Why don't you have your picture taken in the well of the Senate and we can pretend you are one. What's you next trick? Holding up your hands and showing blood from them like Elmer Gantry?

WHEN THEIR TALKING DOESN'T MATCH THEIR WALKING

Does anyone else find it strange that...

The candidates are falling over themselves talking about our "carbon footprint", all the while jet setting all over the country from state to state, some of the times flying between 3 states in a day? Or how about those enormous buses they like to travel in? I am fairly certain they aren't hybrids....

How about arguing about the money we waste every year, all the while spending hundreds of millions of dollars trying to get a job that pays $250,000.00? Good lord, even idiots like Richardsen and Kuchinich spent millions of dollars on a campaign certain to fail. Talk about wastes of the peoples moneys...

How about everyone slamming a candidate for wanting to open up communications with the leaders of the world, and all the while talking to those same leaders through "back channels", translated to mean reliable, or unreliable third parties, who may or may not have our best interests at heart. Is this really smart?

How about slamming a candidate because she was slow to offer up her personal finances and assets in a ridiculous punitive exercise against someone for having money, and all the while every single member of congress is filthy rich. The winner of the testicle award goes to Cindy McCain, for telling the press to go screw themselves. There is no way you are going to take a look at my personal finances, or wealth. Good for you, Cindy. I would vote for you, but you have shown a propensity for making stupid decisions, like deciding to tie yourself to a hostile, senile doddering old juvenile temper tantrum waiting to happen like John McCain.

Speaking of McCain, I am quietly (very quietly) wondering why he is praised for heroism when all he did was get caught and held prisoner. Yes, he refused to go without his fellow soldiers. And that is big. But, everyone who puts on a uniform is a hero. And, really, will that make him a better President? Kennedy saved the lives of those under his command. So did Kerry. Am I splitting hairs? I don't think so. Heroes save lives. I have yet to see that on the McCain resume, as absolutely un-American that is to say.... And while we are on the subject, we are all walking around saying how he is the ultimate expert in fighting wars. But, not so much that he could avoid capture. Ike knew his shit. John McCain? Not so much.....hell, he doesn't even know who the Shia and Sunni's are.

How about this incredibly stupid notion that in order to be President, you must have found God. Carter teaches Sunday school. Good for him. But he is still one of our worst Presidents. Clinton always claimed to be a good Baptist, still is. Even after he put his hand on the bible and lied under oath (and I love Bill Clinton). I am sure even Bush and Cheney even goes to church on occasion, sure hasn't done much for them....

How about Obama pulling in 92% of the black vote, and anytime Hillary mentions the word "black", she is playing the race card. Bill Clinton mentions the fact that he lost to Jesse Jackson TWICE in Presidential primaries, and he is a racist. Well, South Carolina either wanted Jesse Jackson because he would make a truly awesome, experienced President, or he is black. You decide. That isn't racist, that's racial. There is a difference. Racism is hatred. Racial is an examination of the undeniable facts. Given the choice between Abraham Lincoln, George Washington and Marion Berry, who would SC vote for? It is just the facts....

How about the television press, 99% of whom are just paid political hacks for their candidates, and their own not-so-hidden agendas? If you are going to slant everything your candidates way, end the hypocrisy and put on your candidates button just below your flag lapel pin. Journalists should be neutral, and take an unbiased look at the facts and issues at hand. I have no idea who Lou Dobbs, or Walter Cronkite, or Tom Brokaw would vote for...THAT is journalism. Most of these so called political talk shows are nothing more than infomercials...

Lets end the hypocrisy, folks.

Whew, I feel better now.

HILLARY: WHY TUESDAY SHOULD BE THE DAY

1. You can go out on top (so to speak) with a huge win in another primary.
2. We are losing focus. We should be targeting the White House and 9 more Senate seats.
3. Obama is looking fragile and lacking a knock out punch.
4. Party Unity, no small thing.
5. Florida and Michigan will not have their delegates seated until you get out.
6. Campaign debts. Squandering more money fighting a campaign you cannot win is stupid and fiscally irresponsible, especially for Obama, who should be focusing on the National.
7. The Clinton legacy, or at least what is left of it. Don't worry, America has Alzheimer's.
8. The party will appreciate it, and reward you down the line (speaker ship?).
9. You are kicking his ass lately, and that is embarrassing.

10. And, even IF you were to pull off the unthinkable, the party would be in shambles, entire voting blocks (especially the black Obama supporters) would be outraged (which would demand Obama as your Veep, which you do not want), the entire system would be in question (Super delegates), and the victory would be wholly unpalatable, even in Clintonian terms.

KENNEDY RUSHED TO MASS GENERAL HOSPITAL WITH "STROKE-LIKE" SYMPTOMS

HYANNIS -- U.S. Senator Edward M. Kennedy was rushed by ambulance to Cape Cod Hospital this morning after falling ill at the Kennedy compound in Hyannisport. Hyannis fire responded to the compound after a call was made around 8:30 a.m. It's unclear what Kennedy's medical condition is, but after he spent almost two hours in the emergency room a decision was made to transfer him to Mass General Hospital in Boston. Kennedy, 76, was placed on a stretcher and wheeled out to the MedFlight helicopter around 10:15 a.m. where it took off from Barnstable Municipal Airport.
The Kennedy family is preparing to host the annual Best Buddies Challenge event in Hyannisport this afternoon, which is a fund-raiser for the organization. Best Buddies was founded by Anthony Kennedy Shriver and helps people with intellectual disabilities.

Senator Kennedy received surgery in October of last year to his neck in an attempt to unblock his carotid artery, a condition known to cause strokes. The surgery was considered by his surgeon "routine, uneventful, and successful." The blockage was discovered in a routine MRI conducted periodically to check on the senator's spine, which was injured in a 1964 plane crash.

Patients with blockages in one neck artery may have similar buildups of fat and cholesterol in other blood vessels as well, but Kennedy's doctors said at the time that there was no need for any treatment on his right carotid artery, and that he had passed a cardiac stress test prior to the surgery.

Kennedy is active for his age, maintaining an aggressive schedule on Capitol Hill and across Massachusetts, but he has been bothered by an aching back since a 1964 plane crash that killed a pilot and one of Kennedy's aides. Then-Sen. Birch Bayh, D-Ind., who was traveling with Kennedy, pulled him from the wreckage but Kennedy suffered a back injury, punctured lung, broken ribs and internal bleeding. Because of the persistent pain, the senator often leans on a wall or sits on a stool when he otherwise would be expected to stand for an extended period.

Kennedy has represented Massachusetts in the Senate since 1962. He is one of only six senators in U.S. history to serve more than 40 years. He is known as a liberal champion of social issues such as health care, family leave, and the minimum wage.
He ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1980. He has endorsed Illinois Sen. Barack Obama for the 2008 nomination. Obama said that his "thoughts and prayers" are with Kennedy. "We are going to try to find out as quickly as possible what is going on," Obama said, and added that he would call Kennedy's wife, Vicky. "He is one of my favorite people," Obama said.
Kennedy is the youngest of nine children in the famous family of Joseph and Rose Kennedy. His oldest brother, Joe, died in World War II; two other brothers, President John F. Kennedy and Sen. Robert Kennedy, were both assassinated in the 1960s

THE SAUDI'S FLIP A BIRD TO THE BUSH

Hillary Clinton ratcheted up her criticism of President Bush today, mocking him for simply “begging” Saudi Arabia to increase oil supplies rather than having a real plan to deal with the energy crisis.
“I don’t think it is a good energy policy to depend upon the kindness of the Saudis … while businesses and individuals are trying to figure out how they’re going to afford nearly $4 a gallon gas and nearly $5 a gallon diesel,” she said. “The impact is really beginning to ripple dramatically through the economy.”

I think it’s very important that we do something more dramatic than going to have tea with the Saudis,” she said. “The Saudis may decide, well we better do something to help out President Bush, but that’s a short term fix. It is not going to have any long-term consequences. And we just have to take a different approach if we’re going to begin to get serious.
Clinton generally lamented the sense of “paralysis” in the country today. “We just can’t get anything done. Here we are the greatest nation in the world, the greatest problem solvers, and we’re not solving our problems,” she said. “We’re not solving our energy problems; we’re not solving our infrastructure problems. I mean it just doesn’t add up. And we’re sure not solving our health care problems.”

"HILLARY'S DOWNFALL" VERY PROFANE, BUT VERY, VERY FUNNY

IT COULD BE WORSE....

Stolen from another blog,

the photo chronicles gas prices in Death Valley, California.

Known for its hellish heat,

I can only imagine the price of a cold drink.

GOP AIMS SIGHTS AT OBAMA AT N.R.A. CONVENTION

HILLARY: A PARTY GIRL?

Hillary Clinton on Wednesday reiterated her vow to stay in the Democratic presidential race, but she said it would be a "terrible mistake" for her supporters to vote for John McCain over Barack Obama. Sen. Hillary Clinton vowed to stay in the race, saying she's "not going anywhere." "Anybody who has ever voted for me or voted for Barack has much more in common in terms of what we want to see happen in our country and in the world with the other than they do with John McCain," Clinton said on CNN's "The Situation Room."
"I'm going to work my heart out for whoever our nominee is. Obviously, I'm still hoping to be that nominee, but I'm going to do everything I can to make sure that anyone who supported me ... understands what a grave error it would be not to vote for Sen. Obama."

NEW 30 SECOND CLINTON ADS IN KY.

GOP STARTS SHOWING YOU THE OBAMA BAGGAGE

IS IT WHOLE BEAN, OR WHORE BEAN? YOU DECIDE

Christian Group Denounces Starbucks

Over New Logo of Naked Mermaid

(San Diego, CA) Starbucks has recently introduced a new version of their logo which features a topless mermaid with her legs spread, which has caused outrage from a nation wide Christian media watchdog organization. The Resistance, with has over 3000 members nationwide, is boycotting Starbucks across the country saying their new logo is inappropriate.

“The Starbucks logo has a naked woman on it with her legs spread like a prostitute,” explains Mark Dice, founder of the group. “Need I say more? It’s extremely poor taste, and the company might as well call themselves, Slutbucks.”

The all-brown logo is a replica of the one the chain used when it opened its first store in Pike Place in Seattle in 1971. “The woman is actually a siren, not a mermaid, which in Greek mythology lures people to them with their beautiful songs, and then kills them,” explains Dice. The Resistance is urging people to boycott Starbucks and get their caffeine fix somewhere else.

The Resistance has made international news for rebuking various Hollywood celebrities for their ridiculous behavior, including Jessica Simpson, Paris Hilton, 50 Cent, Tom Cruise and others. They also demanded that Duke University change the name of their “Blue Devils” sports team to something not offensive to the Christian community.

OBAMA / BUSH This time it's on !!!

In a speech to Israel's Knesset, First, he equated Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad with Hamas, Hezbollah and Osama bin Laden. Then Bush said: "Some seem to believe that we should negotiate with the terrorists and radicals, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along. "We have heard this foolish delusion before. As Nazi tanks crossed into Poland in 1939, an American senator declared: 'Lord, if I could only have talked to Hitler, all this might have been avoided.' We have an obligation to call this what it is — the false comfort of appeasement, which has been repeatedly discredited by history."

Obama responded with "It is sad that President Bush would use a speech to the Knesset on the 60th anniversary of Israel's independence to launch a false political attack, It is time to turn the page on eight years of policies that have strengthened Iran and failed to secure America or our ally Israel. Instead of tough talk and no action, we need to do what Kennedy, Nixon and Reagan did and use all elements of American power -- including tough, principled, and direct diplomacy -- to pressure countries like Iran and Syria." Obama said in the statement his aides distributed. "George Bush knows that I have never supported engagement with terrorists, and the president's extraordinary politicization of foreign policy and the politics of fear do nothing to secure the American people or our stalwart ally Israel. "

FIRST FLORIDA AND MICHIGAN, NOW THIS

As reported in Slate Magazine: Can a Dead Woman Vote?

At the conclusion of her victory speech in Charleston, W.Va., on Tuesday night, Hillary Clinton told the story of a supporter named Florence Steen, who passed away last Sunday. The 88-year-old South Dakotan had just voted for Clinton by absentee ballot, ahead of the state's June 3 primary. It's a touching story, but will her vote still count?
No. As dictated by a 2001 state law, the South Dakota Department of Health is responsible for furnishing the county auditors with a list of registered voters who have died each month. This information is used to update the state's electronic voter-registration file, which was created by a different 2001 law. Absentee ballots are collected by county auditors and remain sealed until the election, so if an absentee voter dies prior to the election, then her ballot is never opened.
The 2001 South Dakota law originally required this monthly list of deceased voters to be transferred to the county auditors by the 10th of the following month—which in this case could have occurred after the June 3 election. However, updates to the legislation passed in the wake of 2002's Help America Vote Act now require more frequent electronic reporting.

EDWARDS ENDORSES OBAMA

John Edwards: "People act like these endorsements are a big deal." I may have missed something but Barack Obama is doing OK without my endorsement." "The notion that a failed Presidential candidate has some sort of power is an absurd concept...."

So after a huge defeat last night in West Virginia (by over 40% points), Obama summons his lap dog, John Edwards for his endorsement, and in Grand Rapids, Michigan no less. What was he doing there? Quote from Edwards..."the voters have made their choice, and so have I."

"And when this campaign draws to a close, and it will very soon, we will unite under Barack Obama in the national election..." And so, in an almost Clintonian display of perfect timing, Barack Obama not only trounces Hillary's huge West Virginia win the night before, but he gets to apologize to Michigan for not participating in their primary, for taking his name of the ballot and for fighting to see that their delegates not be seated. The question wasn't why was Edwards in Michigan, the question was...why is Barack campaigning in Michigan at all? The upcoming primaries are in Oregon and Tennessee.

Shameless. Could it be any more obvious that it is now Hillary versus the Democratic party who so desperately wants her to leave the race (and stop defeating him so soundly)?

Should we be surprized? Take a look at Edwards ripping into Hillary at one of the debates...

HILLARY BEATS OBAMA BY MORE THAN HIS BOWLING AVERAGE

A new Gallup poll shows 55 percent of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents surveyed think Obama should offer the New York senator a spot on his ticket. That number is significantly influenced by Clinton's supporters — close to 75 percent of her backers want the No. 2 spot to be offered, while only 43 percent of Obama supporters feel the same.

The West Virginia exit polls have some sobering news for the Democratic Party.
As has been the case in previous states, a significant amount of both candidates' supporters said they aren't willing to vote for the other candidate in November. Among Obama supporters, just 51 percent of West Virginia Democrats say they will vote for Clinton if she is the nominee. John McCain would get close to a third of Obama's supporters, and 14 percent said they wouldn't vote at all. But an even smaller number of Clinton's supporters would back Obama: just 36 percent say that they would vote for the Illinois senator. About the same amount, 35 percent, say they would support McCain and 29 percent say they wouldn't vote or would vote for someone else.

The gender gap, a factor earlier on in the Democratic presidential race, seemed to disappear over the last few weeks. But the gap is certainly back in West Virginia. In early exit polls, 55 percent of Hillary Clinton’s supporters are women, and 45 percent are men. How about Barack Obama’s voters? Just about the reverse: 57 percent of Obama supporters were men, and 43 percent were women.

HILLARY AS NORMA DESMOND

Watch Hillary, who talks to the "little people" (aka hard working whites) as she passes by the staircase of super delgates. Yes, she is ready for her "close up," but no one wants to see it....

ANYONE SEEN MY BEARINGS??

"It is wonderful to be back in Oregon," Obama said. "Over the last 15 months, we’ve traveled to every corner of the United States. I’ve now been in 57 states? I think one left to go. Alaska and Hawaii, I was not allowed to go to even though I really wanted to visit, but my staff would not justify it."

Lapel pin designed by the blog "Suitably Flip"

Talk about someone who "has lost his bearings?" I think our work is officially done, folks. We have officially whittled our choices of candidates down to two buffoons; two candidates who are not capable of a cohesive thought without a teleprompter. Obama has no clue how many states are in the union, and McCain can't tell the Sunni from the Shia.

WE'VE GOT ANOTHER "TWO FOR ONE" SALE

The comparisons between them are as obvious as they are inevitable. They are both well educated, fairly well spoken, and, well....they are both back stabbing bitches, politically speaking, in no small measure due to their Ivy league law degrees. They both have married somewhat beneath themselves, to smart, but weak willed men with lots of talent, but unmercilessly prone to their weaknesses (sex for Clinton, drugs for Obama).

But most of all, they both harbor the opinion that they should be, they could be, they would be in the limelight rather than their spouses, were they to be in possession of the one unique tool necessary to gain entrance into the White House itself....a penis.

Yes, I am speaking of the real odd couple, Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obama.

The role of top political advisor by way of marriage is relatively new historically, of course. Most first ladies were willing to serve their husbands in a domestic and subservient fashion. Quotes from Mrs. Wilson and Kennedy bares this out.....Wilson: “I am naturally the most unambitious of women and life in the White house has no attractions for me.” Kennedy: "I think the major role of the First Lady is to take care of the President so that he can best serve the people. And not to fail her family, her husband, and children.”

However, reports are that while Ike suffered heart attacks and a stroke, his administration could not have functioned at all without the first lady, Mamie Eisenhower towards the end of his terms, up to maintaining communications with foreign heads of states, and answering Ike's mail as well.

Clinton went one farther when he stated early on that Hillary was a full partner, and the electorate is getting a "two for one" sale. Hillary, in a fit of complete stupidity (starting a pattern of behavior for the Clinton administration) misspoke when she exclaimed her unwillingness to "stay home and bake cookies."

Within the first five days of becoming First Lady, Hillary Clinton was named by her husband to head the President's Task Force on Health Care Reform, overseeing research, investigatory trips, financial reports, numerous committees composed of medical and insurance professionals, lawmakers and other government officials, public service leaders, and consumer rights advocates. In this capacity, she became the third First Lady to testify before Congress, appearing to the House committee on health insurance reform in September 1993. When the plan devised was attacked as too complicated or an intention leading to "socialized medicine" the Administration decided not to push for a vote and it never came to a vote in the Senate or House, abandoned in September, 1994. However, it should be pointed out that she did increase national conscientiousness in this area, and in fact, health care did dominate the democratic presidential campaigns.

Having said all of that, let there be no doubt of the bond between Michelle and Barack Obama. Remember, Barack, as a rookie Senator, has literally zero ties or bonds to anyone in Washington except of a banal nature. He is beholding to no one, and, it should be pointed out, that as a black man, he will be less likely to trust anyone in Washington as well. It is true that Washington is the "chocolate city with a marshmallow filling" racially speaking.

And this leads us to Michelle Obama, who will be in Barack's ear on a constant basis, pointing the way for him, leading him wherever she thinks he should go, and grabbing up as much power as she can with both hands. Don't believe me? Ask her about Hillary taking the second spot on the ticket? She will implode, as noted by Kennedy and Bob Novak recently.

We may well see a day when a First lady becomes President as well.

Will it be a Clinton, or an Obama?

Only time will tell.

And that is "The World According to Kimba"

Thanks for reading.

NOTHING IS ALWAYS BETTER THAN SOMETHING

Clinton Gimmick: Forcing the petroleum producers to pay the 18.4 cents federal excise tax on gasoline as a short term relief to the American taxpayers over the course of summer 2008 (windfall profits taxation).

Obama rationale: This is merely a gimmick Hillary came up with to woo the voters. As for the taxpayers? Let them eat cake (or shit). No action on the behalf of the American consumers would be better than taking profits away from the oil producers, even though they continue to rake in record profits year after year.

PIPE-DREAM TICKET

When asked for his opinion of the possible dream ticket of Obama / Clinton,

the great unifier Ted Kennedy had this to say....

"Obama should choose a running mate who "is in tune with his appeal for the nobler aspirations of the American people," Kennedy said. "If we had real leadership — as we do with Barack Obama — in the No. 2 spot as well, it'd be enormously helpful." Ouch.
UPDATE: Kennedy spokesman Anthony Coley says in a statement:
Senator Kennedy thinks Senator Clinton is more than qualified to be Vice President, but doesn't think it's likely given the tenor of the campaign in recent weeks. The thought of Hillary as VP makes him wish for another 18" of water

Senator Obama, when asked about a possible Clinton as a running mate, was a little more diplomatic...

“I will say that she has shown herself to be an extraordinary candidate. …She is hard-working, she is tough. She is very smart, and so I think she would be on anyone’s list — short list of vice presidential candidates. But beyond that, you know, I don’t want to offer an opinion.” Cautious

The truth?

Clinton? Over Obama's dead body...

The top three?

Senator Jim Webb (Va) An almost certainty

Governor Bill Richardson (NM) Not out of it

Governor Kathleen Sebelius (KS) Longshot

LET'S GET REAL WORLD, MY FRIENDS

I have been taking a lot of crap for my recent post saying Hillary should suspend. Have I lost my mind to Obama world? Not on your life. Do I still support her, and know that she is the ONLY choice out of the three contenders? Absolutely. I am not either a traitor, or a fool.

In response to these questions, this is how I stated my defense on another political blog, and I think it sums up my feelings, and the inevitability of the situation fairly well....

"Hillary has come to the point in this odd campaign season, that her only hope of getting the nomination is the Super delegates. And if that were to happen (which it will not), the Super delegate decision would be unbelievably damaging to the party and core voting base, not to mention be wholly unpalatable, even by Clintonian standards."

After her recent performance in Indiana, winning 2, or possibly 3 more primaries with a small margin simply won't do it. Florida and Ohio are agreeable on voting allocation compromises that won't help you enough either. Forget Iraq Hillary, the most pressing exit strategy right now....is yours.

KEEPING THE FEITH

Three weeks after the September 11, 2001, terror attacks, former US defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld established an official military objective of not only removing the Saddam Hussein regime by force but overturning the regime in Iran, as well as in Syria and four other countries in the Middle East, according to a document quoted extensively in then-under secretary of defense for policy Douglas Feith's recently published account of the Iraq war decisions. Feith's account further indicates that this aggressive aim of remaking the map of the Middle East by military force and the threat of force was supported explicitly by the country's top military leaders. Feith's book, War and Decision, released last month, provides excerpts of the paper Rumsfeld sent to President George W Bush on September 30, 2001, calling for the administration to focus not on taking down Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network but on the aim of establishing "new regimes" in a series of states by "aiding local peoples to rid themselves of terrorists and to free themselves of regimes that support terrorism".

General Wesley Clark, who commanded the North Atlantic Treaty Organization bombing campaign in the Kosovo war, recalls in his 2003 book Winning Modern Wars being told by a friend in the Pentagon in November 2001 that the list of states that Rumsfeld and deputy secretary of defense Paul Wolfowitz wanted to take down included Iraq, Iran, Syria, Libya, Sudan and Somalia. Clark writes that the list also included Lebanon. Feith reveals that Rumsfeld's paper called for getting "Syria out of Lebanon" as a major goal of US policy.

The Rumsfeld paper argued that the US should target states that had supported anti-Israel forces such as Hezbollah and Hamas. It urged that the United States "capitalize on our strong suit, which is not finding a few hundred terrorists in caves in Afghanistan, but in the vastness of our military and humanitarian resources, which can strengthen the opposition forces in terrorist-supporting states". Feith describes the policy outlined in the paper as consisting of "military action against some of the state sponsors and pressure - short of war - against others".

GRASPING DEFEAT FROM THE JAWS OF VICTORY

After a very disappointing showing in Indiana and North Carolina, it is with great sadness that I must admit (and end my denial) in reporting that the Clinton machine is now on official death watch. Early reports are that the day after the primaries have only eeked out a modicum of donations, and Hillary will be squeezed out monetarily, as well as in popularity in what may become an Obama landslide of states, most of whom are already polling overwhelming support for the Senator from Illinois.

United in November? Most polls show that over 35% of Clinton supporters will refuse to support Obama, either with their Mc Cain votes, or their absence from the polls altogether.

The Obama machine continues to enjoy its "Teflon" coating as it weathers storm after storm with the voters, both for his long association with the Reverend Wright (something Oprah was smart enough to disavow long, long ago), as well as numerous gaffs over the past few months.

Calls from the Clinton camp that Obama is unelectable, however relevant, as well as their spin around the need for the exact voting groups drawn to Clinton necessary in order to be elected in November will go unheeded by the remaining voters, and super delegates. The only thing left for the Clinton campaign is a vain attempt on receiving enough contributions to cover their outstanding debts, which continue to run into the millions.

Yet another classic case of the Dems finding a way to find defeat from the near certainty of victory. Will the bitterness among Clinton supporters ease over time, and in time for a November general election? Polls say no, yet history says yes to a certain extent. Let's face it, with the present administration's approval ratings in the twenties, what left leaning voter would be so "bitter" and so stupid as to actually vote for four more years of the worst administration in the history of this country?

Prediction? Obama wins narrowly, and becomes the modern day Black Jimmy Carter. Mired in childlike optimism unfortified by wisdom or experience, this country continues along its present path until the Republican machine unseats him in four years. One and done. And it will be a decade before the country so much as considers any minority, in race or sex, to be a viable candidate for President again as a result.

The Hillary for President Campaign

(2005-2008)

GAME DAY PHOTO OPS IN HOOSIER LAND

Hillary looking onto an Indy 500 race car.

She has recently shown she knows a little about conducting a race, herself.

Obama eating an omelet trying to appear like a regular guy.
Speaking of races, Obama has shown the Indiana primary is not just about race by ordering an
"egg white only" omelet with American cheese. Mrs. Obama was overheard stating "this is the first time in my adult life I have ever been proud of a breakfast item."

PAPERWORK FOR PERVERTS?

According to the Los Angeles Times

L.A. Unified officials knew of molestation allegations against principal
Annie Wells / Los Angeles Times
In addition to charges of lewd acts against one student, Steven Rooney, seen in this March 19, 2008 photo, was charged with molesting two students at a Watts middle school.
He was moved to a desk job and later transferred to another school.

Senior Los Angeles school officials, including the district's police chief and its former chief operating officer, knew of sex allegations against a school administrator months before he was transferred to a Watts middle school, where he allegedly molested two students, officials said Monday. District officials have been heavily criticized for allowing former Assistant Principal Steve Thomas Rooney back into a school after he had been accused of sexual contact with a student. Until now, however, it was unclear how much school officials knew about the original allegations, how early they knew about them or how broadly that knowledge spread through the district's bureaucracy.

Statements on Monday by Dan Isaacs, who retired last year as the district's chief operating officer, and Los Angeles Police Department Deputy Chief Charlie Beck make clear that the knowledge reached the highest echelons of the Los Angeles Unified School District. Beck said top district officials were told as far back as the spring of 2007 that Rooney was suspected of having had sex with a student at Foshay Learning Center, starting when she was 15 years old.

It remains unclear why the district allowed Rooney to work at Markham when several top officials knew about the molestation investigation. Assignment to a desk job is standard procedure for an employee who is suspected of improper activity but has not been determined to be guilty of an offense for which he could be fired. Isaacs said he didn't know what happened to Rooney's case after Isaacs' retirement in June. LAPD investigators became suspicious of Rooney's involvement with the Foshay student when they served a warrant in February 2007 on Rooney's downtown loft and found items that suggested he had an intimate relationship with the girl.While police did not tell the public about the molestation investigation, Beck said, they alerted school officials."The school district was fully informed about the nature of the crimes -- that is, sex with a minor," Beck said. "The conversation was very clear. Our detectives believed this man was having sex with a minor -- a student."

Thomas Arthur Beltran, 60, allegedly sexually abused students at Lincoln Middle School in Santa Monica, detectives say

By Tami Abdollah, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer 2:15 PM PDT, May 6, 2008
A Santa Monica middle school teacher was charged today with multiple counts of sexually molesting five of his female students, officials said.Thomas Arthur Beltran, 60, was charged with 14 felony counts, including eight counts of a lewd act on a child, three counts of continuous sexual abuse and three counts of sexual penetration of a foreign object on a child under 14, according to the Los Angeles County district attorney's office.

The 30-year district employee was taken into custody after an investigation that began Friday, when the parents of a 12-year-old student of his brought her to police headquarters, police said. The child had told her parents that Beltran molested her, and she repeated her account to detectives. Investigators interviewed Beltran's other students and identified three others who allegedly were victimized, police said. Santa Monica police said the molestations occurred during school hours and that the suspected abuse of one student continued for more than a year."We believe there are more victims," Lt. Dan Salerno said during a Sunday news conference.On Monday, police said others had come forward with complaints.

Officials declined to say whether Beltran had been accused of improper behavior or disciplined in the past.