Deans are first.
Dems are first.

I got firsties?

Love it, mainefem.

If I may (because I'm still sorta cranky) I wish Hillary would deep six that damn canary yellow jacket. There, I'm done!

Nite all.

You've got to admit that the yellow jacket looks better than the blue one...

oh, mainefem, thanks. Love it! That was adorable.

Good morning, BFA! If Dems are first, it's because of Howard's efforts!

Thanks for inspiring so many to participate and setting in place a strategy to help Dems win at all levels, Howard!

**************
Seeing some comments about the Israeli response in Gaza a few threads back, I would just like to point out a few things that some seem genuinely confused about.

Hezbollah is in Lebanon and is generally a Shia-inspired group. There may be some confusion between the Israeli pullout of southern Lebanon in 2000 and its more recent withdrawal from Gaza. Hezbollah is not in Gaza, at least not in any official sense.

Hamas is the democratically elected government of Gaza, which neither the US nor Israel have recognized, choosing instead to rely on the hapless Abbas and Fatah, whom they have generally set up as an alternate government on the West Bank. In addition, since the elections whose results it does not recognize, Israel has illegally withheld Palestinian tax monies from Gaza authorities in contravention of all promises and agreements to the contrary. As a result, Hamas cannot pay the salaries of its civil servants, including security and police personnel.

Without being able to pay its security and police forces, just how the heck is Hamas suppoesed to be able to stop rogue elements (many of which are actually Fatah factions, not Hamas) from firing rockets into Israel?

These are indeed rogue elements. And yes, they should be stopped. But they are not the Palestinian people generally, nor are they elements of the duly elected government.

They are somewhat similar to those radical IRA backers in the US who were rogue elements and who funded, if they did not themselves actually participate in, acts of terror in the UK. Under the theory that Israel uses, the UK could have bombed places like Boston, MA and Butte, MT in retaliation. Of course, other than having a bit more common sense, the fact that the US was at least 10,000 times more powerful than the UK was probably why they did not. But you can be sure that there are quite a few British people who remember those bad old days who are still quite bitter about it and the US double standard.

The Israeli response to these rogue elements where the government of Hamas has been deliberately emasculated so that it cannot control its territory is indiscriminately to target all Palestinians, including innocent women and children. This is disproportionate response and collective punishment, stemming from Israel's own policies towards the world's largest concentration camp. As such, it is a war crime, no less.

But then, the US is in no position to point fingers about war crimes these days.

Whatever your point of view, let's please get the facts straight,

Remember Diego Garcia? It's in the news again, together with rendition.

No, the US is hardly in a position to point fingers about crimes against humanity.

==================
British island 'used by US for rendition'Indian Ocean atoll Diego Garcia was used to hold US suspects, human rights investigator claims
Jamie Doward, home affairs editor
The Observer, Sunday March 2 2008

Britain's denials that its territories have been used for 'extraordinary rendition' were dramatically undermined last night after the United Nations claimed that Diego Garcia has been used as a detention centre to hold US suspects.

Manfred Novak, the United Nations' special rapporteur on torture, who is charged with investigating human rights abuses, said he had received credible evidence from well-placed sources familiar with the situation on the island that detainees were held on Diego Garcia between 2002 and 2003.

[...]
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/mar...

After all the brouhaha about Prince Harry in Afghanistan, here is a sobering comment.

===============
The creation of a hero prince hides the true cost of warThe army and government have had good service from their most famous soldier. Pity those left behind
Catherine Bennett
The Observer, Sunday March 2 2008

Two weeks ago, the press united in mockery of Mohamed al-Fayed, who had alleged, in an unfortunate performance at the Diana inquest, that the royal family is still 'manipulating everything and can do anything. They are still living in the 18th or 19th century'. If Fayed's account of an intricate murder plot, with Prince Philip as the presiding genius, still sounds as bonkers as ever, one or two of his other remarks, when you re-read them, do accord with an uncomfortable feeling that we may have underestimated the Windsors.

After all, a fortnight ago, if someone had told you that Harry, recently a world-class piss artist in a Nazi costume, unable to string more than three words together, was about to be reinvented as 'the soldier prince', a national hero endowed with the moral authority to 'show us the way', it might have sounded no less baloney than Fayed's insistence that Harry's accident-prone family retains the capacity, with the help of politicians, lawyers, legions of BBC broadcasters, a willing press and assorted agents of national security, to reduce the nation to a condition of drooling complicity.

[...]
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/mar/02...

"Spin" in Russia for the man who will be the next President.

==================
Spin doctors reinvent the 'Nano-President'
Tom Parfitt in Moscow
The Observer, Sunday March 2 2008

He walks like Putin, talks like Putin and buys the same suits as Putin. Dmitry Medvedev has undergone an image transplant in advance of the vote. Kremlin spin doctors, desperate to engineer a huge win for the former lawyer, have pulled out all the stops to transform him into a carbon copy of outgoing Vladimir Putin.

'Their main aim has been to turn him from this soft, cuddly figure into Putin's tough little brother,' said Mark Urnov, a former adviser to President Boris Yeltsin and dean of political science at Moscow's Higher School of Economics.

It has not been an easy task. At 5ft 2in, Medvedev is the same height as Napoleon, leading Russian bloggers to dub him the 'nano-President'. Putin is also short, but has a chest rippling with muscles, shown off in recent pictures of him on a Siberian fishing trip.

[...]
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/mar...

Some dubious follow-up to last week's Oscar success for Marion Cotillard ... simply for speaking her mind about things that several of us have our own doubts about.

But it looks as if any Hollywood offers will now die a-borning.

=============
Has France's new rose blossomed too quickly?
Two weeks ago Marion Cotillard was little known, but after her success in the Baftas and the Oscars a golden future beckons for the new darling of French cinema
Vanessa Thorpe and Peter Allen in Paris
Sunday March 2, 2008
The Observer

Not since Simone Signoret won an Academy Award for best actress almost 50 years ago in the English film Room at the Top has a French film actress been projected so swiftly into the world of international stardom. Already acknowledged for her acting skills in her own country, Marion Cotillard was suddenly set on a path which would, it seemed, see her ranking alongside Brigitte Bardot and Catherine Deneuve as one of the most widely recognised Frenchwomen in the world, soon eclipsing, more than likely, the career of her close friend Audrey Tatou.

But this weekend the star's ascent has hit its first obstacle. Cotillard has been caught on video criticising America in a frank, and even wild, tirade. Old footage has appeared on the internet showing the actress questioning everything from the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks on America to the 1969 moon walk. 'I think we're lied to about a number of things,' she appears to say ... .

[...]
http://film.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,...

Some US political news from the Independent ...

=========
Clinton faces her own Alamo as she battles Obama in Texas
Hillary's lead is long gone, as the Democratic candidates now run neck and neck in Ohio and the Lone Star state

[...]
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/...

************
An American President: My friend, Barack Obama
As the Illinois Senator stands on the brink of the Democratic nomination, Cass R Sunstein, his colleague for 15 years, offers a fascinating insight into what makes this trailblazing politician tick

[...]
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/...

************
Meet his First Lady: funny and so authentic
By Andrew Gumbel
Sunday, 2 March 2008

Nobody could call Barack Obama a slouch at inspirational public speaking, but anyone who has heard his wife might have to conclude she's even better.

[...]
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/...

The last for now ... Juan Cole's Iraqi tour d'horizon.

==============
Sunday, March 02, 2008
Ahmadinejad in Baghdad;
Iraqi Death Toll up 33% in February;
Sadrists Protest Veto of Provinces Law

The Iraqi civilian death toll was up 33% in February over January. AFP says, "The combined figures from the interior, defence and health ministries showed that the total number of Iraqis killed in February was 721, including 636 civilians, compared with 541 dead in January."

[...]
http://www.juancole.com/2008/03/ahmadine...

Hi, Judy.  Are you saying that Israel will not get involved in the new Lebanon crisis?  I'm not sure what posts you were referring to.

Foreign Policy In Focus | The Global Water Crisis and the Coming Battle for the Right to Water The three water crises – dwindling freshwater supplies, inequitable access to water and the corporate control of water – pose the greatest threat of our time to the planet and to our survival. Together with impending climate change from fossil fuel emissions, the water crises impose some life-or-death decisions on us all. Unless we collectively change our behavior, we are heading toward a world of deepening conflict.

One comment and then I'm off.

Our local paper today claims that HC is a cand of the present and that BO is of the future.

If that's true, where do you want to live?

Hey, sea, just refreshed.

***********
I am hardly in any position to predict what Israel will do in Lebanon. I was simply pointing out that there seemed to be confusion between the situations in Gaza and in Lebanon and that several seem to see all Palestinians as stereotypes when they are not. Most are ordinary human beings who would like to live their lives in peace and raise their families to a better future. That is all but impossible in the current circumstances.

My post aimed to deal more with the current situation in Gaza and the Israeli attacks there which are in all the EU headlines this am.

One sobering thought, however, is that the last time that Israel attacked Gaza on this scale, Hezbollah actually managed to alleviate the Gazans' treatment by sending a few rockets into northern Israel from Lebanon and taking a hostage. Israel then turned its attention to the invasion of Lebanon, which the US at least tacitly aided and abetted.

That was folly and actually increased Hezbollah's stature globally since Hezbollah were perceived as the winners. And Lebanon was destroyed almost as badly as Iraq has been.

What is happening in that area of the world is no less than insane. The fact that we cannot be even-handed even in our discussion of the situation is equally insane.

And now, I really am gone.

Oh well, what's another post or two?  I stumbled across this while looking for USS Cole info.  HC on SNL

http://www.taylormarsh.com/ 

...and there's this....some balance.  Scroll down.

100 Reasons to Support Hillary

I get a lot of terrific emails. This is from one of them I received today. It is entitled "100 Reasons to Support Hillary." It is written by a woman who is currently working hard to put Texas in Hillary's column, forwarded to me by her friend, also in the fight to nominate Clinton, and a woman I've been in contact with during the primary season. It is a tribute to the first viable female candidate in U.S. history; someone who has what it takes to change the world by leading this nation in a way we've never seen before. I thought you'd like to read it, so here it is verbatim, without any edits, changes or additions:

Reason #1 to support Hillary:
In Arkansas she was instrumental in straightening out their school system - taking it from one of the worst systems to a role model used by other troubled schools on how to improve public education.

Reason #2 to support Hillary:
In 2006, she led the fight to kill the anti-gay Republican constitutional amendment that for the first time would have added laws to the Constitution that would INCREASE discrimination.

Reason #3 to support Hillary:
After being pummeled by the public for trying to pass Universal Health care while she was First Lady, she dusted herself off and in 1997, led a federal effort that provided insurance support for children whose parents were unable to provide them with health coverage.

 http://www.taylormarsh.com/

Good morning, everybody

Thanks Mainefem for the clips.  I suppose it's easy to be elegant if you're lanky and only have to don a dark suit.  But I can't fathom why Hillary keeps showing up in those easter egg colors which distract people from her features.  I have to assume that she puts on what she's comfortable in.  If not, then she's definitely not an independent person. 

no man would have to put up with what color shirt he wears, (oh wait Al Gore indeed did)

There really aren't many policy differences between the two. That is why the focus on other things, some important to the job like eloquence, some much less so like their dance moves.

they nailed Hillary pretty good in the skit on SNL, I can't believe she gained much by the appearance, compared to what she lost on the ground

maybe she needed to hold some big donor's hand in NYC ? 

"I'm still in this race, and I need your help right now to regain the lead."

something like that

Ohio
Clinton 47
Obama 46
Undecideds breaking even

Texas
Obama 47
Clinton 43
Undecideds still undecided
Clinton scored points for telephone ad yesterday before Obama could respond.

Zogby as reported on Cspan

Too close to call.

Link not yet coming up - will post.

Link for Zogby/Reuters/Cspan poll for today

http://www.c-span.org/pdf/zogby/OH_TX_Po...

Hillary was probably right about fund raising picking up after she loaned her own campaign money. I have been more successful my self for causes where I could say "We really need your help." That of course is also true of Obama because his task is restoring democracy to the people after the Unitary Executive.

those of you calling people asking for people's vote, remember the main function of that call in a polite invitation

you can raise money successfully by asking people to help against something

but it very rarely works asking that they vote

and combining those two scripts never works

thanks so much for the vids, Mainefem - they are great!

Judy - loved the article on Obama - this sounds like a leader to me:

clip... 

On this occasion, he had an important topic to discuss: the controversy over President Bush's warrantless surveillance of international telephone calls between Americans and suspected terrorists. I had written a short essay suggesting that the surveillance might be lawful. Before taking a public position, Obama wanted to talk the problem through.

In the space of about 20 minutes, he and I investigated the legal details. He asked me to explore all sorts of issues: the President's power as Commander-in-Chief, the Constitution's protection against unreasonable searches and seizures, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, the Authorisation for Use of Military Force and more. Obama wanted to consider the best possible defence of what Bush had done. To every argument I made, he listened and offered a counter-argument. After the issue had been exhausted, Obama said that he thought the programme was illegal, but now had a better understanding of both sides. He thanked me for my time.

This was a pretty amazing conversation, not only because of Obama's mastery of the legal details, but also because many prominent Democratic leaders had already blasted the Bush initiative as blatantly illegal. He did not want to take a public position until he had listened to, and explored, what might be said on the other side. This is the Barack Obama I have known for nearly 15 years – a careful and even-handed analyst of law and policy, unusually attentive to multiple points of view.

clip... In short, Obama's own approach is insistently charitable. He assumes decency and good faith on the part of those who disagree with him. And he wants to hear what they have to say. Both in substance and in tone, Obama questions the conventional political distinctions between "the left" and "the right". To the extent that he is attracting support from Republicans and independents, it is largely for this reason.

listening to cspan w/OH newsperson and learned it my be a late night waiting for Ohio's results Tuesday - but oh, what a great reason to wait!  OH's Sec of State is phasing out all touch screen machines in the state.  for the primary Tuesday Cayuhoga County (huge population) will have their touch screens replaced with paper ballots - for every other county using touch screens paper ballots will be available.   hope it goes smoothly...

In short, Obama's own approach is insistently charitable. He assumes decency and good faith on the part of those who disagree with him. And he wants to hear what they have to say.

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

let that be the tone for the blog.

paper ballots are run through a tabulator

automatic random audits are the key, not triggered by a candidate contesting it

I know I wasn't going to post here again until after I'm finished phone banking on Tues.  But I can't help myself.

I ran across this article written by Obama on the Obama site.  I think it is beautiful.

What I See In Lincoln's Eyes

http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,1077287,00.html

Phil,

I thought that was the purpose of my callling.  To GOTV.  Am I using the wrong approach in asking them to vote?

s m

that was generic advice for all different kinds of phone banking

the most useful script I have seen for volunteers is "handholding" those canvassing has identified to the polls that have been erratic voters in the past, not always voting

very different script than either the canvassing or a list from the canvassing of pursuadable undecided voters, but working a particular program from a particular list requires a particular script, which needs to be followed pretty closely

the only time for a "get your butt off the couch and get to the polls" is within 90 minutes of when the polls close

every other call is a polite invitation to please vote

New Thread

and on this week with Stepomywowhoalot  the Clinton campaign is trying to make headway on the Rezco story.  And, for me, Hillary loses support.   Rezco is irrelevant.  Sod Clinton for pushing sh!t.

Sod that old f@rt 'Cain, too.  

All the way Barack! 

Don't forget, Howard on Wolf Blitzer 11:00 AM,

Or whenever Wolf gets through using Howard's name to keep us tuned in for the whole program.