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Grassroots activists can help win the war on terror
Without question the US has the best military and the finest soldiers but what our misguided president does not realize is that these wars he so loves cannot be won with bombs and bullets, to truly win these wars we need something of which he is unfamiliar. We need people who truly believe in our principles, in equality and that democracy is best. That's where we come in, we are the ones who fight to keep and change and improve this system, As good as it is, it can always be better
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someone needs to post the FACT that Obama won Texas on each thread
and if I jump to the top Howard Dean is first..
Bomb blast at recruiting station at Times Square:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/03/06/times.square/index.html
I passed by the area around 7:30 this morning, and you couldn't tell much out of the ordinary was happening. Hey, it's New York -- can't be sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing.
Dean is first!
I have to run out the door, but if someone writes a main post about Obama winning TX, maybe DFA will front page it...
The very concept "war on terror" is bogus. You don't go to war against a concept or a tactic.
The Europeans have been coping with terrorists for over 30 years without invading other countries or bankrupting their treasuries. With intelligence based on persistent investigative work (not torture), they have identified, tracked, and arrested genuine terrorists (the Baeder Meinhoff operation comes to mind).
Unfortunately, the politics of fear play well in this country, and any plausible presidential candidate can be expected to jump on the wot bandwagon.
9:25am
Scheisse! a few posts in, and this thread is already hopelesslly scrambled.
It ain't rocket science HQ--fix it!
09:27
OK, now I'm really confused! LOL
The delegate calculator that Joan put the link in for has Clinton as the winner in Texas...?
Peace. "Dogma"
Joan Slate has inaccurate information at that site.
The Slate calculator has it wrong, dogma
The very concept "war on terror" is bogus. You don't go to war against a concept or a tactic.
The Europeans have been coping with terrorists for over 30 years without invading other countries or bankrupting their treasuries. With intelligence based on persistent investigative work (not torture), they have identified, tracked, and arrested genuine terrorists (the Baeder Meinhoff operation comes to mind).
Unfortunately, the politics of fear play well in this country, and any plausible presidential candidate can be expected to jump on the wot bandwagon.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Agree 100% so I just reposted the whole thing for reference in case it jumps above.
Thanks Phil. No wonder there's confusion everywhere...! Peace. "Dogma"
The Slate site does have the remaining contests and the delegates at stake and when they vote, so is useful. and it gives an idea of the margin, and how hard it would be for Hillary to gain a majority, but not impossible (yet)
"Despite Obama's impressive victories in February, Clinton's comeback is based on sowing political seeds of doubt," said Donna Brazile, a Democratic strategist and one of nearly 800 party leaders known as superdelegates for their ability to determine the nomination. "In order to clinch the nomination, he must anticipate the worst attacks ever."
Consider that a shot across the bow to the Clinton campaign because Brazile -- like many other superdelegates -- worries that Clinton's only hope for victory is tearing down Obama and dividing the party. Party chairman Howard Dean recently told House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid that he was concerned about the possible impact of a nominating campaign that stretched through the end of the primaries in early June.
Some superdelegates are bracing themselves to intervene on Obama's behalf if necessary.
"If these attacks are contrasts based on policy differences, there is no need to stop the race or halt the debate," Brazile said. "But, if this is more division, more diversion from the issues and more of the same politics of personal destruction, chairman Dean and other should be on standby."
The health care mess unwound. All candidates are flawed. We need to demand better.
http://www.counterpunch.org/navarro03062...
What is the delegate count in TX? Everywhere I look I get different numbers.
We need to help those who are helping us.
The same thing happened in VN. The few who helped us out were killed either why we were there or after we left.
The sad fact is we - and me personally - never developed a person-to-person relationship with either intreptors or SVN troops. We didn't trust them because we didn't know them and we were quite unconcerned with their deaths.
At least the author cares about them.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/paul-rieck...
We need people who truly believe in our principles, in equality and that democracy is best
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`
most cultures have values of peaceful co-existence and live and let live, and most also have vigorous self defense mechanisms
if the principles America follows is the Declaration of Human Rights, the Rule of Law, and the Golden Rule,we will have less to fear, and we won't have to worry whether or not some foreign culture adopts our principles
From the NY Times: The Obamas of the World.
Very interesting story about Obama's family and roots.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/06/opinio...
More on Bill Bradley's interview with Jim Lehrer.
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3...
s m - Chuck todd with MSNBC's First Read has the best delegate counts.
10:05 AM EST
http://www.consortiumnews.com/2008/030608a.html
Editor’s Note: Hillary Clinton prevailed in the Texas primary, beating Barack Obama by a 51-to-48 margin and claiming 65 delegates to his 61. However, Texas has a two-step process for apportioning its delegates, meaning that Obama had a chance to reverse Clinton’s four-delegate net gain in the caucus phase.Historian Lisa Pease examines how this curious twist in the march to the Democratic presidential nomination is turning out:Tuesday night, as the polls closed, the media proclaimed Barack Obama the winner of Vermont and gave all the other state contests of the day -- Ohio, Rhode Island, and Texas -- to Hillary Clinton.
But there was one big problem. A Texas-sized problem.
The election results from the Lone Star State’s caucuses had only just started coming in.
...
But now that more than 24 hours have passed, something fascinating is happening.
Obama appears to be winning Texas.
...
In Texas, Hillary won 65 delegates in the primary. Obama earned 61 delegates.
But in the caucuses, with 48 percent of the caucus results reported as of early Thursday morning, per the Texas Democratic Party’s Web site, Obama has won approximately 56 percent of the caucus votes, leaving Clinton with just under 44 percent.
When you apply these percentages to the 67 delegates, Obama gets 37 delegates from the caucuses, and Clinton gets 30.
If you add the primary and caucus delegates together, Clinton gets 95 delegates, but Obama gets 98, a net gain of three.
If current trends hold, Obama will win Texas by earning the overall delegate victory.
...
This also isn’t the first time the press has denied Obama a delegate victory.
In Nevada, the press crowned Clinton the winner, despite the fact that Obama won the delegate count.
In New Hampshire, Obama was handed a loss, even though the delegates were equally split between Obama and Clinton.
The media’s rush to judgment predates this election, of course. In 2004, despite early reports of widespread voter disenfranchisement, Ohio was called for Bush before even a cursory investigation could be started, let alone completed.
In 2000, the media first announced that Al Gore had won Florida. Then they changed their boards and said Florida was too close to call.
Then the election was given to George W. Bush, even though, as Robert Parry reported in 2001, a recount the following year by the New York Times, the Washington Post and other news organizations, demonstrated that, had all the legally cast votes in Florida been counted, Gore would have carried Florida and won the presidential election. [For details, see Neck Deep: The Disastrous Presidency of George W. Bush.]
Why is the media in such a rush to declare a winner?
If we can wait 24 hours to find out who is going home on "American Idol," certainly we can wait much longer to get accurate election data.
And if reporters cannot properly calculate the delegate assignments, shouldn’t they wait until the party officials provide the correct count?
Our form of government depends on three principles: adherence to the Constitution as the highest authority in the land; the informed consent of the governed; and an accurate count of the votes cast by the governed. Rushing to judgment in an election is not just careless, it threatens the very foundations of our Democracy.
More immediately, the media’s haste is threatening the Democrats’ chances of winning in November by prolonging an increasingly bitter contest, even though one candidate (Obama) maintains a nearly unsurpassable lead in delegates.
As far as intervening...
Who is going to intervene when the Repubs attack the winner?
If Obama can't take Hillary's attacks and turn them back on her (standard 4GW technique), then he won't be able to deflect and counter Repub attacks.
I want to see how he handles them. If he deals with them in such a way that they weaken Hillary then McCain's attacks will actually boost Obama's margin of victory.
If Obama can't deal with Hillary's attacks, Hillary wins and will be the Repub's machine greatest gift.
The flow so far is Obama went ahead based on his vision for the future and his solid platform. Hillary went negative playing her supposed experience factor. The message advantage has swung to Hillary. Obama has to show what a sham that is and counter with what he will do that Hillary hasn't done. Each one of these responses also applies to McCain because McCain only knows how to bomb folks. He is straight-jacketed by his supporters.
That is why Barack beats McCain easily and Hillary maybe squeeks out a victory. Barack has a totally different leadership style then McCain while Hillary's is the same as McCain. Hillary and McCain will wage similar campaigns. Both are warmongers. Hillary may have less integrity then McCain which makes it very hard for many Dems to support her.
Think Nevada when comtemplating the Texas numbers.
allocation of pledged delegates before the voting is based on past Democratic performance so raw vote counts don't matter
it is percentage of the vote in a district by district proportioning of the states total delegates
Obama plays by the rules and understands them and put resources into those places which will make the higest return in delegates.
That is why Obama won Texas
It is also why a cry to force super delegates to vote by the raw vote total disadvantages Obama and is a misguided effort by Obama supporters.
If everyone plays by the rules as they were written the nominee will be the one that won the nomination in a nationwide contest that included both the voters, and also the Party with it's history and efforts in past campaigns.
There are two parts to a General Election ballot, the Party, and across from it the name of the nominee who won that right in a fair contest.
Morning :-) Just came up from breakfast where the 'news' was on ~ WT_! they smirked when speaking of Howard and said as leader of the Dem Party he wasn't leading but waffling on the FL and MI delegate issue with this possible re-do. Um, it's Howard's backbone that is making everyone stick to the rules.
As for Obama and the need to go nasty ~ my hope is that he will take the Howardly route ~ one can be tough and still take the high road. Stick to the issues not with tit-for-tat which would be just more of the same escalation of bickering candidates.
11:38 am est
s m ~ not all the precincts in TX have reported their results so the numbers are still changing. It may be the end of the month before all is done. Huh? How can it take so long to count caucus votes?
11:40 am est
OK, now I'm really confused! LOL
That's why Democrats need a national primary day with IRV and a popular vote nominee.
The current system is convoluted, confusing, and corrupt, and serves only the politicians.
howard on tv this a.m. made my day.
found out that the rethug governor actually pulled the dems with him to move up the primary.
I remember them fighting Dean. Well you did it goes.
There are no "do-overs" in primary. then can I do over in VA?
Fo get it.
I heard Howard on NPR yesterday, and on ABC TV this morning.... respectful, honest, and playing by the rules. Asking everyone to be respectful, honest, and play by the rules they voted on! If FL/MI want to reapply with a process for choosing delegates, they're welcome to do so.
He also points out that this race is good for Democrats. We have a 50 state race!
SO GOOD TO SEE HIM IN THE SPOTLIGHT!
(and might I just add... Yeeeeeaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh!)
Jane
Ask any VN vet and you may get two totally different answers.
About half say we could have won if we just kept up the mass killings. Eventually, we will kill everyone who opposes us and we will win. This is the McCain school of 4GW. They don't understand that a ghost country would be left.
The rest of see the need for police activity vs military activity. The only way to defeat terrorists of any ilk is for the rest of the world to unite against them. That means cooperation and having a foreign policy that does not exploit people. Sounds kinda like Barack doesn't it.
Hillary gives us Bushlite.
Morning Folks,
#29 Dog Soldier, Barack made the statement that the United States is safe as the rest of the world is safe (mor wording) and was roundly criticized for it. Of all the candidates, he's the most international in perspective and has promised to work with the rest of the world.
Has anyone written Keith Oblemann's blog to ask about exposing the NAFTA/Canadian flap that the Clintons used against Obama? The more dirty tricks are brought to light, the more people will begin to think critically and to question the instant conclusion and condmenation.
The former McCain is someone who was worthy of being supported.
The present incarnation is dangerous.
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/2008...
[snip]
The John McCain of the 1980s and ’90s was a true warrior for peace. Working together with another Vietnam vet, Democrat John Kerry of Massachusetts, he helped disprove the saber rattlers’ contention that Hanoi still kept thousands of American POWs in secret camps. He did this by bridging the gap between high-ranking Pentagon and Communist officials, people who had been shooting at each other just a few years before.
...
...
Today, McCain angrily calls out his Democratic rivals, arguing that they advocate an “arbitrary timetable” for withdrawal from Iraq “which recklessly ignores the profound human calamity and dire threats to our security that would ensue.”
John McCain should know better, because the history of the Vietnam War (and his involvement in it) shows that while peace takes time, it starts with the withdrawal of the U.S. military.
should be my wording, nor mor wording
Off to the races...
♥'s to all
Kindness is free!
11:15 pm est
8.
Phil Specht
Thu, 03/06/08
The very concept "war on terror" is bogus. You don't go to war against a concept or a tactic.
.........
Unfortunately, the politics of fear play well in this country, and any plausible presidential candidate can be expected to jump on the wot bandwagon.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Agree 100% so I just reposted the whole thing for reference in case it jumps above.
*****************
Id love our most progressive Demos (including Obama) would also agree with John and Phil.
However they DONT!
They still continue fighting the "war on terror" (doesnt matter where, concept doesnt change either they fight it in Afghanistan or in Iraq, or in both, or everywherelol).
The concept is a bogus either its been used by Reps or by Demos!
Pat in Co - Keith Olbermann reads Daily Kos (and also on occasion posts there) so I would venture a guess that he will feature NAFTAGATE tonight after doing his due diligence.
32.
Sitka
Thu, 03/06/08
OK, now I'm really confused! LOL
That's why Democrats need a national primary day with IRV and a popular vote nominee.
The current system is convoluted, confusing, and corrupt, and serves only the politicians.
------------------
Worthy note, imo!
It needs to be added that politicians in turn serve the corporations. Therefore whatever representative system (IRV or not) will be designed its ultimate goal is going to stay the same: to elect politicians who serve corporate interests.
By staying representative system cant change served interests and it is not peoples ones.
Regarding those pesky tax returns: Here's a Hillary Clinton flashback when she ran against Rick Lazio. Hillary asks *what's he hiding*
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.ht...
#32, Mary vb, thanks, Has Daily KOS examined the NAFTA gate issue? I rarely read the blog there. What I like so much about this is the format (except for the chronological scrambling) and the personalities we've come to know.
38.
former
Thu, 03/06/08
By staying representative system cant change served interests and it is not peoples ones.
----------
Representative always serves someones interests.
The only way to make that service true and fair is to make representative to serve him/her-self, by owning those interests.
Aha...Dean says FL and MI would not negotiate with the DNC...took it public instead.
http://journals.democraticunderground.com/madfloridian/1888
This recent outburst bypassed the DNC and went to the media. More and more I am thinking I will not be able to vote for Hillary in the general. They are trying to push Dean to the side already.
The format and organization of this blog is like a dirt road. Full of potholes and dust. Not up to the demands of the 21st century. DFA has neglected it for years. It is simply a dead end. It doesn't invite people to join in, and the participation has dwindled to a dozen at most.
Until that is recognized and DFA figures how to use the net, the blog and DFA-Link (also dying) then it will be the backwater of the Internet. Community? Not good here. It used to be a decent community but we have too many who want to use this as their personal chat space. So as an organizing tool it has gone downhill as well.
Not many people out doing things in their real communities either. Sadly. I've been here since 03 and it used to be an exciting, active place. Most have left.
11:59 AM EST
Remember how Aussie PM John Harper (now ex PM, thanks to Aussie voters last Nov) tried to influence the U.S. election by saying Al-Qaeda would be happy with a dem nomination and general election win by Obama ?
Well, now the conservative PM to our north -- Stephen Harper -- is in a bit of hot water for one of his staff members being involved with trying to influence the Ohio primary on this past Tuesday:
http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSN0562494220080306?feedType=RSS&feedName=politicsNews
Top aide to Canada PM sparked NAFTA spat: reportsThu Mar 6, 2008 9:45am ESTOTTAWA (Reuters) - A major controversy over the sincerity of U.S. Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama's attacks on NAFTA was triggered by the top aide to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, media reports said on Thursday.
Harper has promised an investigation into the leak of a memo on a discussion between Canadian diplomats and a member of Obama's team. The memo said the Obama advisor indicated the criticism of the free trade agreement was primarily political.
...
The Globe and Mail newspaper, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. and Canadian Press said Harper's chief of staff Ian Brodie had initially played down criticism of NAFTA from the Clinton camp.
The organizations said Brodie told reporters from the CTV network last week that someone from the Clinton campaign was "telling the embassy to take it with a grain of salt". CTV probed the remark and then ran a story focusing on Obama.
Harper's chief spokeswoman did not respond to a request for comment. CBC quoted her as saying Brodie did not recall mentioning NAFTA during his talk with CTV.
The affair is an embarrassment for Harper's right-leaning Conservative government, which won power in 2006 by promising to restore more morality to politics.
Critics, who accuse Harper of being too close to U.S. President George W. Bush, said the spat would damage relations with Washington if Obama won the presidential election.
A Clinton advisor told reporters on Wednesday that the furor had helped her win primary contests in Texas and Ohio on Tuesday.
Indy I had a post all written out and then my battery went out on my computer! LOL
Take heart, people are still involved in their communities.
Last night at our DFA meeting we endorsed a local grassroots activist for our open California state assembly position. His name is Richard Holober and he has been an activist in labor, education and gay rights since the late 70's. He joined our club three years ago and has been a steadfast supporter of our DFA philosophies.
His opponents are politically ingrained here - one is a daughter of a local pol and the other has been an elected official in a few capacities over the last 20 years. He's former GOP, too, but felt the pressure to change to Dem as our county became more blue. He sent a surrogate to represent him.
Our endorsement for Richard was unanimous. Hopefully he will be elected on June 3.
HOPE!!
Indy Steve
As someone who was on the select committee to write Iowa's delegate selection rules for a couple of cycles as well as a participant in Iowa's negotiations to be granted a variance this time I hope I can serve as an "expert witness" on some of the rules and translate it into useable form for personal action by other bloggers, but I confess to being clueless as to how Indiana does theirs other than to know the broader rules about delegates being prorated by past votes and allocated by primary or caucus voters with the additional caveat that the final delegation be fairly representative of the voters.
Could you explain how an individual gets to be elected to the nominating convention in Denver from your state? that individual might be the deciding vote
We also had a woman who attended DFA training in the East Bay last week. She sung its praises and it was good to hear. She said it was intense but really good and worth the time.
Yes the blog is messed up but I know there are many good things people are doing across the country. Every once in awhile they post, as you know, on the front page.
I also miss the activity but now that we are no longer supporting the same person, it was bound to happen that some would migrate elsewhere.
But there is NO excuse for leaving the blog like this for years. None.
Nelson on MSNBC right now saying he wrote a letter to Dean asking for the DNC to pay for a do-over because Florida will not do so.
You'd think by now a man his age would understand what play by the rules means. Freaking baby.
He's blaming the GOP legislature for moving up the Florida primary date!!
Obama has picked up another superdelegate from VT. I tried posting link, but for some reason can't. It is on Obama blog.
Perhaps it is true they are filtering in a couple of the allegded 50 everyday.
I believe he picked up 3 yesterday.
12:18 pm EST
NAFTAgate -- the shell game (Clinton mentioned as "take it with a grain of salt" but CTV attributed that to Obama):
http://news.therecord.com/article/318895
'NAFTAgate' began with PM's chief of staff
March 06, 2008 The Canadian PressOTTAWA
If the prime minister is seeking the first link in the chain of events that has rocked the U.S. presidential race, he need look no further than his chief of staff, Ian Brodie, The Canadian Press has learned.
...
Brodie wandered over to speak to Finance Department officials and chatted amiably with journalists -- who appreciated this rare moment of direct access to the top official in Harper's notoriously tight-lipped government.
The former university professor found himself in a room with CTV employees where he was quickly surrounded by a gaggle of reporters while other journalists were within earshot of other colleagues.
At the end of an extended conversation, Brodie was asked about remarks aimed by the Democratic candidates at Ohio's anti-NAFTA voters that carried serious economic implications for Canada.
Since 75 per cent of Canadian exports go to the U.S., Obama and Clinton's musings about reopening the North American free-trade pact had caused some concern.
Brodie downplayed those concerns.
"Quite a few people heard it,'' said one source in the room. "He said someone from (Hillary) Clinton's campaign is telling the embassy to take it with a grain of salt. . . That someone called us and told us not to worry.''
Government officials did not deny the conversation took place.
They said that Brodie sought to allay concerns about the impact of Obama and Clinton's assertion that they would renegotiate NAFTA if elected. But they did say that Brodie had no recollection of discussing any specific candidate -- either Clinton or Obama.
But others said the content of Brodie's remarks was passed on to CTV's Washington bureau and their White House correspondent set out the next day to pursue the story on Clinton's apparent hypocrisy on the North American Free Trade Agreement.
Although CTV correspondent Tom Clark mentioned Clinton in passing, the focus of his story was on assurances from the Obama camp.
He went to air on Feb. 27 with a report that the Democratic front-runner had given advance notice to Canadian diplomats that he was about to engage in some anti-NAFTA rhetoric, but not to take it too seriously.
Iowa pays for the caucus through the party and we pass the bucket to pay for it with donations.The TV set was extra and the Republicans paid half of that, but just running a caucus can be done in Florida for a few hundred thousand dollars.I do think they should and would be granted the variance to now allocate and elect their Denver delegation by the National Rules Committee who would back up whatever Howard worked out. I would think an Act Blue acct could be set up so we could all chip in to give Obama another shot at Hillary in Florida.
Ohio super delegates play hardball and ask for plan for jobs in Ohio.
Good for them. I proposed that DFA, and progressive grass/netroots play hardball the same.
We could hold out for Howard Dean for VP. He is the best possible choice for a win in Nov.
12:21 PM EST
I hope all those unionized voters in Pennsylvania are paying attention to the news about NAFTAgate.
Another conservative foreign attempt to remove Obama from presidential contention.
I find the blog to be more like a big neighborhood card club, four to a table, neighboring tables within earshot with cross conversation, with maybe a dozen playing cards and three or four late arrivals looking over shoulders and offering unsolicited advice on which card to play next.
Our county party once did a fund raiser just that way taking a traveling 500 party town to town with potluck refreshments and a bucket pass, and paid for a full page ad for the local candidates with the proceeds.
Phil Specht
Thu, 03/06/08
The basic info is here. Combination of vote in the primary to be a delegate to the state convention; and appointment of vacant spots by County Chair. Then they are elected by the delegates at the state convention.
http://www.indems.org/content/state_and_national_convention_information
At first blush, it seems open and democratic. But realistically, it is party insiders who control the process. Maybe that's the way it should be, but it is not an inclusive party here so it's a pretty small group of entrenched folks.
New thread
Denise, Phil. Obviously some are still involved. But most, I suspect, don't do much. At least they haven't shared here.
My main point is the neglect by DFA of the blog and net tools to organize or inspire. Read the main thead; it's useless. Why is it promoted? Who is Charles Harker and what is he saying and why?
DailyKos and other blogs have many more features that are effective in organizing and mobilizing large groups of people. It is where the "action" is. DFA has no
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By Ellen Garneau on Mar 6, 2008 9:19 AM ESTDean is first.