Dean is first and heading for two events in Florida tomorrow,  whether they want him or not.  Sort of a joke, there but not really.  Info at the link.

Here are the words of teh Florida Democratic spokesman in March 2006....

"Florida Democrats are all for it," Mark Bubriski, spokesman for the Florida Democratic Party, said at the time. (The time was March 2006)"

He was speaking of the early primary vote....they were in on it from the first.

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/madfloridian/1564

From the link...here's what McAuliffe told Michigan in 2004:

""The closest they'll get to Boston will be watching it on television," McAuliffe vowed. "I will not let you break this entire nominating process for one state. The rules are the rules."

But no one is suing him, are they?  Why not?  Why sue one and not the other? 

And Howard's the firstest of the bestest!

Thankful sez "hi!"

http://www.blogforamerica.com/view/22518...

last thread

140.

Sitka
Mon, 10/08/07
10:29 pm

1.  When he ran for President, In general Dean was a pragmatic maverick he had a long history of being by the far right and left 

2.  Paul Tsongas was an idealist 

When he ran for President, In general Dean was a pragmatic maverick he had a long history of being by the far right and left

"Pragmatic maverick" has punditspeak written all over it.

"Maverick" was applied to McCain in 2000, so I've always refused to belittle Dean with it. 

And pragmatism that is not based upon ideals is just.................................................DLCism.

This looks interesting.  Howard Dean at the Milton Eisenhower symposium this week.  Will be be streamed on C-Span 3, and be archived, maybe shown more.

"Both Rainie and Dean will join C-SPAN Political Editor Steve Scully in the network's Washington, D.C. studio. Students from George Mason, Denver and Pace universities participate in the two-way, live video conferences. The Dean session will be televised and streamed on C-SPAN3 Friday at 5 p.m. Sessions are also archived online.

http://gmupoljourn.blogspot.com:80/2007/10/two-guests-on-thursday.html

More:

http://media.www.jhunewsletter.com/media/storage/paper932/news/2007/09/27/NewsFeatures/Mse-Symposium.Secures.Howard.Dean.As.Speaker-2997168.shtml

MSE Symposium secures Howard Dean as speaker
By: Katlyn Torgerson
Posted: 9/27/07
Former presidential candidate Howard Dean (D-Vt,) was recently added to the fall lineup for the popular Milton S. Eisenhower Symposium.

As Dean is the current chairman of the Democratic National Committee, the Symposium had difficulty scheduling a time for him to speak on campus, according to Publicity Chair senior Jonathan Collins.

"We are very happy that we were able to bring in such a high profile speaker," Collins said.

In the Symposium tradition, Dean's speech will be followed by a question-and-answer session, during which attendees from the Homewood community and beyond are encouraged to challenge the speaker".

ahh, some deep sleepers tonight I see. 

floridagal I am happy Howard is going to Fla and I hope he points out a few things to the voters while he's there.  just the facts, Jack!

so Hill is already the presumptive to all the pundits - what ever happened to NAME RECOGNITION?  it's a bit early to be crowning her, I think.

I'm still hopeful for Gore.  I would love to see a worldwide mediatation to focus on 'run, Al, run' for Sat 10/12 - the day after they announce the winner of his Nobel category.  thousand of humans sending that energy back into the universe would be an honor to him either way ad would gain some media attention, I think.  win the Nobel or not, the time is right for an announcement if there is to be one, or very soon I would think.  ahhh, if only...

 come on, Dems, paygo the war.  as Phil says, it's the only way to get things moving on The Hill.

what a useless, incompetent adminstration - they leak things that compromise our security and lock up tight anyhing that might shine a light on what they're really up to.

Within 20 minutes, a range of intelligence agencies had begun downloading it from the company's Web site. By midafternoon that day, the video and a transcript of its audio track had been leaked from within the Bush administration to cable television news and broadcast worldwide.

The founder of the company, the SITE Intelligence Group, says this premature disclosure tipped al-Qaeda to a security breach and destroyed a years-long surveillance operation that the company has used to intercept and pass along secret messages, videos and advance warnings of suicide bombings from the terrorist group's communications network.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/08/AR2007100801817.html?nav=rss_email/components

8.  Yeah, right.  I'm not in the mood to believe anything this morning.

Good morning, everybody

The blogspot stories don't show up on my Opera browser.  Don't have any trouble with puddle's page.  So it must be the links. 

• Implementing an economy-wide cap-and-trade program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to the level recommended by top scientists to avoid calamitous impacts   
• Investing $150 billion over the next ten years to develop and deploy climate friendly energy supplies, protect our existing manufacturing base and create millions of new jobs    
• Dramatically improving energy efficiency to reduce energy intensity of our economy by 50 percent by 2030   
• Reducing our dependence on foreign oil and reducing oil consumption overall by at least 35 percent, or 10 million barrels of oil, by 2030   
• Leading a new international global warming partnership   
  

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

roughly half as ambitious as Edwards plan, now Hillary can weigh in and split the difference

But Washington hasn’t acted; and that is the real reason why America hasn’t led.  
Washington’s failure to lead on energy is the failure of a President who spent most of his time in office denying the very existence of global warming – a President who put more faith in the spin of a science fiction writer than the science facts of real experts.  It’s the failure of an Administration that developed America’s energy policy with a secret task force that opened the door to oil lobbyists and then shut it to every other viewpoint. It’s a failure of leadership that has never called on the American people to do anything more than go shopping.
And it’s also a failure of our politics that pre-dates the presidency of George W. Bush.  We have heard promises about energy independence from every single U.S. President since Richard Nixon – Republicans and Democrats.  We’ve heard proposals to curb our use of fossil fuels in nearly every State of the Union address since the oil embargo of 1973. Back then we imported about a third of our oil. Now we import over half.  Back then global warming was just the theory of a few scientists.  Now it is a fact that threatens our very existence.  
The truth is, our energy problem has become an energy crisis because no matter how well-intentioned the promise – no matter how bold the proposal – they all fall victim to the same Washington politics that has only become more divided and dishonest; more timid and calculating; more beholden to the powerful interests that have the biggest stake in the status quo.

www.barackobama.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

that last thought is right on

Michigan Democrats have held up CAFE standards.

my brother finished up the beans just ahead of the rain, so it is time to get serious about corn harvest

I'll stop back on the way to the field.

 Where is all the talk about food v. fuel now that farmers have delivered a surplus crop and prices have fallen 25%?

Imagine ten of these in Iraq--

high speed to be hooked up Wed. at 3:00

youtube clicks here I come lol

bbl

11.  Well, first of all, it's not Washington that hasn't functioned.  It's the whole country that's ceded responsibility to the corporate culture of irresponsibility.  And Obama thinks he's going to change that?  By letting corporations buy permits to pollute instead of giving them permits for free?  The whole environmental protection effort has been undermined by the rationale that issuing permits would let us know where the sh** was coming from and going and then we'd be able to issue fines, if there was too much.  It didn't work that way.  First it spawned a huge regulatory industry, made up of "planners" who didn't know what they were doing; then, when the costs got too onerous, the offenders went bankrupt and the financiers invested in other countries where they could make messes for nothing.  How much of our industrial production has been shifted to China?  How much of the increasing carbon Chinese factories are spewing are the result of the production shift?  Now we want to impose requirements on China that our corporations were escaping here at home?  Gimme a break!

15.

Phil, are you getting wireless so you can use the computer 

anywhere on the property? Be sure the range isn't so far that 

your service can be poached.  

" they all fall victim to the same Washington politics that has only become more divided and dishonest; more timid and calculating; more beholden to the powerful interests that have the biggest stake in the status quo." Obama

~~

"It's the whole country that's ceded responsibility to the corporate culture of irresponsibility " Monica Smith

~~~~~~

once again Monica you cut right to the chase, and it is why school enrollment dropped in Florida this year, who wants to move to a state that is going to be half under water when the ice melts?

every wireless signal I've ever used has been poached Monica, it would be only fair lol

It's not poached if it's permitted, Phil.  You don't want someone sitting by your gate using your internet connection.  It can be fixed so it just covers the buildings and the space in between. 

Chris Dodd will make an important announcement about the growing strength of his Iowa campaign on the West Steps of the Iowa State Capitol in Des Moines Tuesday morning.

Candidates have to make their own news because the press is so lazy.

I've been told that Edwards is trying to rally the lower tier supporters in NH to opposed Clinton.  I hope that's not correct.  I have agreed to attend a house party on Sunday, but assume that's outreach to someone who writes a lot.  I'm going to see if I can ask a question about Iran and the bases in Iraq.

 From the American Conservative:

Hillary also spoke at the August launch of a new think tank of centrist Democrats and a smattering of Republicans called the Center for a New American Security founded by former Clinton defense officials Michele Flournoy and Kurt Campbell. (The ironic similarity in name to the neoconservative Project for the New American Century has not been lost.)

The group, which includes Derek Chollet, a key adviser to the John Edwards campaign, supports a long-term, albeit smaller, U.S. presence in Iraq, but insists that future foreign interventions shouldn't be curtailed because of Iraq's failures.

"A NEW AMERICAN SECURITY"

What are they thinking?  If a nation of over 300 million mostly comfortable people is insecure, what can possibly be done to change that?  Why does the U.S. have an inferiority complex?  Or, does the word "secure" mean that America intends to tie even more nations in knots?  

bases as a staging area for missiles and espionage

or

tying other nations up in knots

Which should I ask about? 

Diana Ross's daughter is in the news --

http://www.thestate.com/local/story/195326.html

...

She is known as Joan Clayton to her thousands of “Girlfriends” fans across South Carolina — a funny, provocative attorney.

Actress Tracee Ellis Ross became the latest female celebrity to visit the state on behalf of a 2008 presidential candidate Monday,

...

Girlfriends, produced by Kelsey Grammer, I watch on BET channel.  IMO a great comedy series:

http://rds.yahoo.com/_ylt=A9iby6AeZAtHDMIA.lSjzbkF/SIG=11u5cjaqu/EXP=1192015262/**http%3A//timstvshowcase.com/girlfriends.html

Girlfriends is now broadcasting on CW (reruns on BET).

Sorry, but I find the assumption that women are going to vote for women and African Americans are going to vote for African Americans offensive.

There is absolutely no evidence that people who share the same superficial characteristics are going to be more sensitive to the interests of their own kind.   

27.

I didn't assume anything by posting that statement about Tracee Ellis Ross.

If you feel so strongly about it, why don't you express your reservations directly to her ?

Sorry I posted anything today here.

bye

28.  My statement was not directed at you since you, presumably, did not arrange the "celebrity" tour.  Nor, I presume, was it organized by Ms. Ross.  If this promotional effort is being organized by the Obama campaign, then my critique is directed there.  Since, I don't know where it came from, I simply stated an opinion. 

Clinton and Obama are being sold like soap flakes.  The packaging is more important than the content.

And both, btw, are going to a lot of trouble, by issuing incomprehensible and interminable plans and issue papers that NOBODY is going to read, because they don't want to be pinned down.  There are two ways to manipulate the press.  Give them handy sound-bites that are easy to digest or swamp them with verbiage that is indigestible. 

 # 30         New !  Improved !....................................................................... Lets hope years from now we do not hear "I was for the war before I was against it".     No war Iran. Bring them all home.

it's almost too predictable

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/08/washington/09cnd-nsa.html?_r=2&hp&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

Two months after vowing to roll back broad new wiretapping powers won by the Bush administration, Congressional Democrats appear ready to make concessions that could extend some of the key powers granted to the National Security Agency.  

As the debate over the N.S.A.’s wiretapping powers begins anew this week, the emerging legislation reflects the political reality confronting the Democrats. While they are willing to oppose the White House on the conduct of the war in Iraq, they remain nervous that they will be labeled as soft on terrorism if they insist on strict curbs on intelligence gathering.

I

Earth Charter Principles:

Respect & Caring for the Community of Life | Ecological Integrity |

Social & Economic Justice | Democracy, Nonviolence, & Peace

Give Earth a Chance:  The Choice is Yours

Saturday October 13, 2007

8:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.

Putnam Museum and IMAX Theatre

1717 West 12th Street

Davenport, Iowa

The Earth Charter is a declaration of fundamental principles for building a just, sustainable, and peaceful global society in the 21st Century. 

Utilizing music, arts, enlightened speakers, workshops, panel and discussion groups, the Quad City Earth Charter Summit will bring people together to raise awareness, provide education and encourage actions to implement Earth Charter principles.

To read the Earth Charter visit: www.earthcharter.org. There you will find a wide variety of Earth Charter information as well as a list of Earth Charter including the local organizers of this event, the Congregation of the Humility of Mary.

$20 fee for day including lunch

SPINELESS DEMOCRATS

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cenk-uygur/i-officially-give-up-on-t_b_67654.html

It's going to take a generation to move these spineless Democrats out of office. Unfortunately, that is our only alternative. You can't vote for a Republican these days and the Democrats make you embarrassed to ever be associated with them.

Jack Goldsmith is one of the most conservative lawyers in the country. He was the head of the Office of Legal Counsel for George W. Bush. He is telling you that what the Bush administration did for years in its first term was definitely illegal (that's why he demanded changes in their practices when he was at OLC) and strongly suggesting that what they are doing now might also be illegal.

So, what is the Democratic response? They are considering changing the law to make it legal in hindsight. The equivalent would be if the Republicans tried to pass a law saying it was acceptable to lie under oath after they saw Clinton perjure himself in the Monica Lewinsky scandal. Could you imagine?

How is it possible to have any respect for these Democrats? Every day, I struggle not to call them cowards and weaklings. And every day they make it harder. They are truly pathetic. I'm so tired of encouraging them to grow a backbone. It's a hopeless struggle. I give up.

So, we have to pursue a new tack. The long road of primary fights for the next decade or two until we clear out the losers out of this party. The people trained and encouraged to lose by their consultants.

There is only one way to change that way of thinking. Challenge them from the left. Because this group of Democrats are hopeless. We need a whole new class of leaders.

If The Dems. allow the expansion  of the wiretapping laws, they should be fired.

32. Makes you want to give up, curl up and die. Our 'leaders' have been bought and paid for I think. They sure don't give a rats b*tt about our civil liberties. And we rallied foolishly about SCHIP when this is one of the biggest issues facing us.

========================================

The gorillas made it on to CSPAN this morning -- two callers brought it up.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/con...

A clip:

"Only 700 mountain gorillas exist in the world"

http://www.gratefulness.org/candles/cand...

FROM A LETTER TO NYT

 Bob Herbert has nailed it. This country, under Republican “leadership” and Democratic floundering, is in a serious decline, a decline not so much about the present as the future. As more children lack adequate health care and education, the more the next generation will be unable to compete in this interconnected world.

Many warming unexpectedly to Clinton

Senator Hillary Clinton visited a hospital in New Hampshire. She's now focusing on connecting with individual voters. (Eliese Amendola/associated press/file)

By Sasha Issenberg, Globe Staff  |  October 9, 2007

CONCORD, N.H. - Don Schwartz, who describes himself as "a super-Deaniac progressive type," decided to back Hillary Clinton - whose centrist views, he concedes, do not necessarily match his own - for a simple reason. He wanted, finally, to be with a winner.

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

Relative to money, organization and the feeling of “invisibility” the 2008 Democratic primaries are looking like the 2000 Republican primary….going through the motions.

Many warming unexpectedly to Clinton

Senator Hillary Clinton visited a hospital in New Hampshire. She's now focusing on connecting with individual voters. (Eliese Amendola/associated press/file)

By Sasha Issenberg, Globe Staff  |  October 9, 2007

CONCORD, N.H. - Don Schwartz, who describes himself as "a super-Deaniac progressive type," decided to back Hillary Clinton - whose centrist views, he concedes, do not necessarily match his own - for a simple reason. He wanted, finally, to be with a winner.

 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Relative to money, organization and the feeling of “invisibility” the 2008 Democratic primaries are looking like the 2000 Republican primary….going through the motions.

30. Agreed. The media is looking to be the star again, and want spice and have taken to really pushing Obama now that Hillary is at the top of all polls. Mr. Conservative Matthews actually call Obama referred to Obama as"an Arch Angel". It was so heavy I almost tossed.

If The Dems. allow the expansion  of the wiretapping laws, they should be fired.

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

It also eliminates one of the grounds for impeachment.

For your enjoyment, a videod interview,

Gore Vidal and the Condition of America

You Tube
Sunday October 07, 2007

http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/oct...

wiretapping is the ultimate in opposition research,

I noted John and Sitka both implicate Adam Nagourney in the Judith Miller reporting scandal at the New York Times after I posted a link to Nagourney’s Times article yesterday. This is the first time I’ve heard allegations concerning Nagourney’s role in any of Miller’s antics, and I am unaware of any reporting to back them up. Does anyone have a source for this?

Richardson and Dodd articulate the Constitutional argument against wiretapping, the best of the crew. 

Phil wrote "Richardson and Dodd articulate the Constitutional argument against wiretapping, the best of the crew."

Two war boosters who got religion.  The world is full of miracles.

32.  You know, when we lived in a furnished rented house for a year in San Diego and I there wasn't anything for me to do, I watched soap operas and played the pachinco machine we picked up on a lark.  That's how I discovered how mesmerizing it could be to flip a handle and watch balls fall through little windows and set off bells and lights.  I did it for hours on end and day after day.  And whenever I read of our "intelligence" gatherers relying on electronic surveillance I'm reminded of that.  They're fascinated, but they're not learning anything and they're not processing any information.  It's all a big waste of time.

But, what contributes to the fascination, I think, is that electronic systems all develop inexplicable glitches, most having to do with atmospheric conditions, I suspect, which fascinate because they can't be explained.  It's what causes browsers to crash.  And it's what's made lots of money for Bill Gates because people are tempted to buy a new version in hopes that it won't crash and mess up all their programs.  But then their programs have to be done over anyway because the new version isn't compatible.  Open source soft-ware has solved this problem by separating the operating programs from the applications.  So, when an application crashes the browser, or even the computer, you just turn it all off and turn it back on to get back where you were.  

Bill Gates has made a lot of money on the back of poor quality.  That's good evidence for how profit is increased by failure.  Why do we keep rewarding that?

The Europeans are going to open source for their commercial computer needs.  It gives them a cost of doing business advantage if their programs don't have to be constantly changed.  And, it's a lot less frustrating.   

40.  Ex post facto legalization doesn't negate the original violation of law.  However, the electronic surveillance thing is thin as a reason for impeachment because it's clear that Bush himself never did any and there's no proof that he intended to commit a crime.  The delegation of presidential powers to the Vice President is, I think, reason enough.

47. PACHINKO......I LOVE PACHINKO....hubby, grew up with them and still had them in his parents house. We used to be able to go swap them out for new ones in Long Island. One of the bestest games. Easy to pass hours indeed. Except....sore thumb. :)

Gates, you know, the Republican way, don't make a good product, so they have to keep buying new parts or equipment. Refridgerators are now only expected to last 5 years, because they're made like crap. They want TURNOVER. Disgusting. WASTE and POOR QUALITY.

Remembering the Hollywood 10


Bacall and Bogey

Posted on Oct 8, 2007


Stars on the march: Silver-screen luminaries Lauren Bacall and Humphrey

Bogart lead the way during a protest against HUAC during the height of the

Hollywood Blacklist controversy.



Ed Rampell



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`



According to Costa-Gavras, the Hollywood Blacklist is “a period we should

visit, and try to see what happened, and why that happened to understand it,

so it won’t be repeated.” The upcoming 60th anniversary of the Hollywood Ten

“needs to be marked,” insists Lawson biographer Gerald Horne.



In January 2007 blacklist survivors and their relatives, a member of the

original Committee for the First Amendment and supporters met to discuss

appropriate ways to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Hollywood Ten

and Blacklist. They formed a sort of exploratory group, the Committee for

the First Amendment ‘47/’07, and considered proposals for righting wrongs

and raising awareness, including:

Congressional apologies from the House of Representatives for the House

Un-American Activities Committee and from the Senate for Senator Joe

McCarthy’s Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations; a star for the

Hollywood Ten and Blacklistees on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame; and a special

Oscar for the Hollywood Ten and Blacklistees.



Addressing and redressing these grievances is not merely an exercise in

ancient history. The Committee for the First Amendment ‘47/’07 seeks to

raise consciousness about the legacy of the Hollywood Ten and the Blacklist,

and their relevance vis-à-vis repression in our own age: the PATRIOT Act,

extraordinary rendition, Guantanamo, torture, habeas corpus, mass

detentions, preventive war, warrantless wiretapping and other forms of

surreptitious surveillance, as well as other “homeland security” measures.



On October 26, the exact 60th anniversary of the Committee for the First

Amendment’s first “Hollywood Fights Back!” broadcast, contemporary talents,

along with blacklist survivors and their relatives, will reenact the

original 1947 radio program. The performers scheduled to participate

include: former SAG President Ed Asner, Norma Barzman, Larry Gelbart,

Isabelle Gunning (ACLU/SC President), Marsha Hunt, Camryn Manheim, Ramona

Ripston, Christopher Trumbo, James Whitmore, and Becca Wilson. The event,

presented by the ACLU Foundation of Southern California, will take place at

L.A.’s Skirball Center. For information, call (213) 977-9500, ext. 227.



Los Angeles-based film historian Ed Rampell (named after Edward R. Murrow)

wrote “Progressive Hollywood: A People’s Film History of the United States”

(The Disinformation Co., 2005).



http://www.truthdig.com/arts_culture/item/20071008_remembering_the_hollywood

_ten/



 

by Jesse

In case you didn’t hear it from Keith or Kim Thursday evening, DC for Democracy endorsed Barack Obama at its October meetup on Wednesday. We weren’t sure at all that we would endorse anyone, but Obama just broke the threshold. John Edwards came in second with about half as many votes. Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, Dennis Kucinich and Bill Richardson received a smattering of votes as well. Mike Gravel got a single second choice vote. Chris Dodd had a bad night. I didn’t vote for him myself, of course, but he is a good guy, and deserves more attention than he’s been getting.

Using a modified form of Instant Runoff Voting (IRV) which allowed members to vote for up to 2 candidates (first choice and second choice) , Obama won 69% of the vote Wednesday. (Members also had the option of voting for No Endorsement.) Looking at first choice votes cast, Barack Obama received more than twice as many votes as the next candidate.

Before making our endorsement this year, DC for Democracy sent a questionnaire to all of the 8 major Democratic candidates. Responses received were then compiled with independent research on each of them, culminating in DC for Democracy’s first-ever Candidate Endorsement Guide (available in a series of issue-specific pdf files).

Now that we’ve endorsed, DC for Democracy will be working with DC for Obama (which succeeded in outraising all of the other Obama groups across the country this past quarter). Following some local canvassing later this month, we will be taking our operation to Las Vegas, Nevada in November for the Veterans Day holiday. (Nevada has the second primary in the country this year on January 19.)

Thanks,

Jesse
Ombudsman, DC for Democracy

I have posted the AUF from 2002 on Hannah.

Been looking for a Dodd floor statement.  haven't found it yet.

Mr. Lantos' (partial) statement before the Internat. Rel Committee on the AUF.

I am among the handful of Members of this Committee and indeed of this Congress who experienced the horrors of both ground war and air war for protracted periods of time. I know all too well the painful human cost of war, which must be avoided. But I am also aware of the unbearable costs of the price of appeasement, because the price of appeasement is greater destruction, greater suffering and an infinitely greater loss of innocent life. Had Hitler's regime been taken out in a timely fashion, the 51 million innocent people who lost their lives during the Second World War would have been able to finish their normal life cycles.

    Mr. Chairman, if we appease Saddam Hussein, we will stand humiliated before both humanity and history. We are all deeply committed on this Committee and in this Congress to protecting U.S. national security interests, to promoting peace worldwide and to authorizing the use of armed force in pursuit of those ends only as the very last resort. All among us weigh our words and cast our votes in these momentous days in accordance with the dictates of our conscience, and we are therefore deserving of each other's respect.

I saw a new thread.

Don Schwartz, who describes himself as "a super-Deaniac progressive type," decided to back Hillary Clinton - whose centrist views, he concedes, do not necessarily match his own - for a simple reason. He wanted, finally, to be with a winner.

Ironically, that makes him a loser. 

Mr. Conservative Matthews actually call Obama referred to Obama as"an Arch Angel". It was so heavy I almost tossed.