Dean is first by cracky.

Darn right Tom!

Obama won Texas.

Poll here asking who you would vote for:

John McCain

Hillary Clinton

John McCain

Barack Obama

So far it is neck and neck for the McCain/Clinton matchup

but

Obama handily winning the McCain/Obama matchup

Weigh in at:

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-wyoming8mar08,1,3418592.story?vote36461086=1

Deal in an Autism Case Fuels Debate on Vaccine 

...There are two theories about what happened to Hannah, said her mother, Terry Poling. The first is that she had an underlying mitochondrial disorder that vaccinations aggravated. The second is that vaccinations caused this disorder.

“The government chose to believe the first theory,” Ms. Poling said, but added, “We don’t know that she had an underlying disorder.”....

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/08/us/08vaccine.html?th&emc=th

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

When given a choice the CDC/government will chose to protect Big Pharma rather than children injured by them.

TB is still a deadly hazard.

Florida voters still deserve to be counted, even if there is a spat between 'active' Party members.

... and with 55 million dollars, just recently, Mr. Obama should be able to get out the truth. He should plan to have to fight all the way... including challenges to vote fraud in the general election.

If he can't do these things, then he isn't ready.

Campaigning in Casper, Wyoming Friday night for the 12 delegates to come out of Saturday's Democratic county caucuses, Sen. Barack Obama refused the notion of becoming the vice presidential candidate on this fall's party ticket.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2008/03/obamasays-novp.html

Mr. Obama should be able to get out the truth. He should plan to have to fight all the way... including challenges to vote fraud in the general election.

Deaniac,

Ha! Any more hilarious jokes about what Senator Obama ought to do with his campaign money!

Bill Moyers

A report on GOP presidential candidate John McCain and his endorsement from John Hagee, controversial evangelist and leader of the Christians United For Israel.

Christians United for Israel (CUFI)

March 7, 2008

http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/03072008/profile.html

Spam has arrived on thread

bbl

Dave wrote "TB is still a deadly hazard."

Time to come in from the fields, Phil.

I always dance with an old soldier when they ask. There is something wise and gentle about their nature.

Thanks Danny.

---

Please edit your post.

This line is about this much +++++++++++++ too long.

... it seems to me that Mr. Obama promised to fulfill his entire six years as a Senator, his first term. Soooo you'll have to excuse me if i try to ignore that by calling him Mr. Obama.

... duhhhh

... furthermore this thread would make much more sense if it weren't scrambled.

Guess i could just wait MONTHS for that to be resolved.

Yeah, right, like i'd buy into the cell phone offered here hoping to have tech support any better than blog support. lol

Dave wrote "it seems to me that Mr. Obama promised to fulfill his entire six years as a Senator, his first term."

Remarkably, only one person in the United States cares.  You'd think it would have been an Illinois resident.  There's 1.3 million of them.

Some of the Obama gear I ordered was delivered yesterday.

My hubby loved his new t-shirt.

http://store.barackobama.com/v/vspfiles/...

---

http://www.sierraclub.org/radio/programs...

A Bottle (or Can) of Green, Please

Green beer isn't just for St. Patrick's Day anymore. Breweries are innovating with more environmentally friendly techniques that can also make for great drinking.

Listen to Jennifer Hattam's segment on Sierra Club Radio to find out more about how to pick a beer that fits your values.

http://www.blogforamerica.com/view/24150

Please recommend.

PubCrawler is the leading beer search engine for people looking for quality beer in the United States and Canada.

We feature thousands of beer bars, brewpubs and microbreweries.

http://www.pubcrawler.com

Nice map showing Obama's wins

http://www.barackobama.com/images/featur...

Phil wrote:

User Conduct

"You understand that all postings and communications you make through the Service are your sole responsibility. This means that you, and not DFA, are entirely responsible for all content you post. You agree to not use the Service to:

1. upload, post, email, transmit or otherwise make available any Content that is unlawful, harmful, threatening, abusive, harassing, tortuous, defamatory, vulgar, obscene, libelous, invasive of another's privacy, hateful, or racially, ethnically or otherwise objectionable;"

Morning, all. I surely hope that Barack cinches these next primaries. We need our race to end so that we can begin to prepare for the general.

Someone posted an NYT article re. the state of the RNC vs. state of the DNC. We're nearly out of money and the RNC's coffers are full. We're bleeding out by a thousand cuts, they're preparing for the general. Barack needs to decisively win this thing.

I strongly support the 50-state strategy, always have. Gov. Dean couldn't have known that he'd be implementing an expensive strategy at the same time we're engaged in an historic primary that is so close it's a delegate fight.

His 50-state strategy is targeted more at winning general elections than it is our own primaries so obviously it has not been tested yet. I still believe his basic rationale: We cannot compete in these states if we have no presence.

So what is our best strategy? Send $$$ to the candidate and $$$ to the DNC once our primary is over? In other words split our donations? Not sure.

Joan, we know better than to bother with online polls;)

from John Judis (snippet):

In past elections, Clinton has done poorly among white men--a group that might be less inclined to vote for her because of her gender--but in Ohio, she got a respectable 55 percent of this vote, although that might be a reflection of these voters' greater discomfort with Obama. Clinton has also done less well among moderate and independent voters. Obama won independents in Ohio by 54 to 46 percent--nothing like his two-to-one margins in other states.

But Clinton bested Obama among moderate voters by 53 to 46 percent in Ohio, while Obama edged her among liberal voters by 50 to 49 percent. The same pattern occurred in Rhode Island, where Clinton won moderates by 55 to 44 percent and lost liberal voters to Obama by 51 to 48 percent. That's probably not a good sign for Obama, whose strength lay in his appeal to the political center. All in all, the exit polls show that in these elections--in contrast to those in Maryland, Virginia, or Wisconsin--Obama's weakness as a potential candidate in November may be beginning to surface. In so far as Clinton's problems are already apparent, that doesn't bode well for the Democrats, particularly as the nominating struggle continues for another month.

--John B. Judis

http://blogs.tnr.com/tnr/blogs/the_plank...

Just passing through momentarily ... on my way out for the evening after a beautiful day. Some of the neighbors have headed for the mountains for a few days, hopefully to find some snow before spring gets here in earnest.

This story is actually from yesterday's paper here. While I have cut my own recent losses somewhat by requesting payment directly in Swiss francs, based on an amount that was calculated when the USD was on a 1.2 exchange rate (already pretty low) and because most of the funds I rely on here were converted to francs much earlier, it is true that many family members and friends who had thought of visiting this year have reneged due to the plummeting USD.

As I occasionally see many on this blog and elsewhere who think that they would like to pull up stakes and move outside the US, especially if the Rethugs win in November, let me assure you that it is not that easy to do right now. It is literally impossible if you do not have the financial wherewithal in the first place, or family or workplace ties somewhere else. Or a career that travels well. Add to that the fact that Medicare will not cover you, so that you are obliged to purchase private health insurance, that you must fulfill tedious and often complex administrative requirements for residency, and that you will also be subject to foreign taxation, it is generally moot for most US citizens.

Thus, the great majority of US citizens really will have no other choice than to live with the hand they are dealt in November.

One potential irony is that many current US citizens may actually look longingly towards the countries from which our ancestors fled seeking religious freedom, or asylum or an economic future, thanks to the total mismanagement and deliberate destruction of the US economy by putzCo and the neocons. We may ourselves become candidates for a Marshall Plan. But who will fund it for us?

Now gone ... hope that you enjoy your weekends.

================
Pummeling of pound and dollar continues
| 14h52 The precipitous drop of the British and American currencies against the franc is likely to continue, causing headaches for many expats in Switzerland.

With the dollar approaching the one franc mark and the pound close to two francs, American or British residents in Switzerland with savings back home are in a quandary. Exchange rates for both currencies have dropped sharply. Bankers are warning that the decline, especially for the pound, could worsen and last nearly two years. UBS, Switzerland’s largest bank, said in a report this week that the balance between the world’s currencies was on course for a major shift, upsetting a pattern that has been in place for 30 years.

It focused on the likely strengthening of Asian currencies, which might eventually help European exporters and the euro. The Swiss franc is also regaining strength, while the pound has dropped sharply, joining the US dollar.

[...]
http://www.tdg.ch/pages/home/tribune_de_...(contenu)/202719

10.

Phil Specht
Sat, 03/08/08

done

Joan - thianks for the link re: the FL fiasco. I've been expaining it to a lot of folks who think the dnc is at fault and this editrial by a former head of the Bar Assoc. covers it very well. 

Deal in an Autism Case Fuels Debate on Vaccine 

....Hannah, of Athens, Ga., was 19 months old and developing normally in 2000 when she received five shots against nine infectious diseases. Two days later, she developed a fever, cried inconsolably and refused to walk. Over the next seven months she spiraled downward, and in 2001 she was given a diagnosis of autism.

Hannah’s father, Dr. Jon Poling, was a neurology resident at Johns Hopkins Hospital at the time, and she underwent an intensive series of tests that found a disorder in her mitochondria, the energy factories of the cells....

There are two theories about what happened to Hannah, said her mother, Terry Poling. The first is that she had an underlying mitochondrial disorder that vaccinations aggravated. The second is that vaccinations caused this disorder.

“The government chose to believe the first theory,” Ms. Poling said, but added, “We don’t know that she had an underlying disorder.”

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

Hanna's father, a physician found the etiology of the disorder, and the government acts spins it to the world as if they figured out the whole thing.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/08/us/08vaccine.html?th&emc=th

Each time that someone points out here that xxxxxxx would fair better better against McCain than yyyyyyy.....you are making the dreaded ELECTIBILITY argument.

just thought that should be pointed out....cuz many of the same folk referring to "electibility" with an eye-roll are the same peeps making the "electibility" argument for the candidate of their choice.

Personally, I think that both Hillary and Barack would have struggles against Caine. I don't see one as having an easier time of than the other.

(worth a click at John Judis' commentary if interested in this train of thought).

Back because the link doesn't quite work. It will take you to the Tribune's front page. Then you have to click on the tab for *English Corner* and then scroll down to find the story.

Anyhoo, just in case anyone is interested ...

Now really gone ... waves to Anni in BA! ♥

Renee posted this very interesting tidbit about the little girl shown sleeping in Hillary's 3 am ad - seems she's a bit older and alot wiser :)

http://www.boomantribune.com/?op=display...

So what is our best strategy? Send $$$ to the candidate and $$$ to the DNC once our primary is over? In other words split our donations? Not sure.

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

Obama might well ask us to donate to the DNC while he backs John McCain into a publicly financed duel.

but of course not until he maxxes out

Howard has spent the money very wisely (if you look at the 06 elections, in a wildly successful way), so no one should hesitate to give to the DNC, which BTW has nothing to do with the DLC in any way, shape, or form.

While I have cut my own recent losses somewhat by requesting payment directly in Swiss francs, based on an amount that was calculated when the USD was on a 1.2 exchange rate======

Judy, well done.

Thanks for that information, Judy. I toy with the idear but not until I'm ready to retire. Still away several years.

Howard has spent the money very wisely (if you look at the 06 elections, in a wildly successful way), so no one should hesitate to give to the DNC, which BTW has nothing to do with the DLC in any way, shape, or form.=========

Phi, I agree 100% but we nevertheless we are going into this general election cash poor. Really, all I'm saying is that maybe after our primary, a country-wide DFA fundraiser for the DNC might not be a bad idea.

Dave - if Dean had decided to run for POTUS this time around would you have NOT supported him because he promised not to run but to fulfill his term at the DNC?  do you think he might be just a tad more valuable as POTUS than as Head of the DNC?  same goes for Obama, imo - he will do much more as President Obama than as Senator Obama.  things change and I definitely think that this was his time to run if he had plans to, if for no other reason than to make the voters get to know Ms. Clinton a bit better (she made the same promise in NY).  w/o Obama in the race, Hillary would probably already be a done deal and look how much folks in the US have learned about her since NH!

Not likely.  1.3 million should be 13 million.

Thus, the great majority of US citizens really will have no other choice than to live with the hand they are dealt in November.

One potential irony is that many current US citizens may actually look longingly towards the countries from which our ancestors fled seeking religious freedom, or asylum or an economic future, thanks to the total mismanagement and deliberate destruction of the US economy by putzCo and the neocons. We may ourselves become candidates for a Marshall Plan. But who will fund it for us?=====

Also very well said.

(sure will be glad when they get the blog sequencing corrected--can't even reference another's post, i.e. wOOt at post #25!.....the post you're wOOting may have another # by the time you submit your wOOt). sheez.

Hey Dave, what's up?

Who are you supporting, anyone in particular?

I defaulted to Obama after Gore didn't step forward.

Jo has a good point and you're not the first one to post that, horrors, transgression here. I'm sure the good people of Illinois wouldn't mind having him back until next time if Hillary continues to do such a good job at fooling people herself (and playing lowlife politics but no surprise there)

And thank God Obama is not considering running for VP. Ridiculous thought in the first place.

The DNC is saving tens of millions of dollars because the Primary season is reaching many more states with two active campaigns that are doing the canvassing work and creating useful lists of voters. We will be able to win elections for years out of  Howard's work.

Dave - the cell service isn't run by DFA, they just get a % of the subscription $$ if you do it thru their link.  it's run by a progressive company supporting progressive causes.  not sure how good the service is, but didn't want you to think that DFA runs the cell service.

UBS, Switzerland’s largest bank, said in a report this week that the balance between the world’s currencies was on course for a major shift, upsetting a pattern that has been in place for 30 years.

It focused on the likely strengthening of Asian currencies, which might eventually help European exporters and the euro. The Swiss franc is also regaining strength, while the pound has dropped sharply, joining the US dollar. Manuel Streiff, a currency strategist at private bank Lombard Odier Darier Hentsch (LODH) in Geneva, said the outlook for both the US and British currencies was negative.

“That wasn’t necessarily the case for the pound before, but since the crisis occurred, we think that the pound is very vulnerable in more ways than one. Both economies benefited from the whole phenomenon of the credit boom, and the reversal of this process now means that any foreign investment in those countries carries risks. Over 12 months there’s clearly a preference for the Swiss franc, and to a lesser degree the euro.�

Streiff believes the pound and the dollar can return to form. “The vicious circle we have at this moment is weighing heavily on these currencies and their economies,� he said. “We expect that a degree of stabilization should occur once the housing market stabilizes - it’s one of the elements that drew credit markets upwards and that is now weighing them down. That’s not expected before the end of next year. While we’re in the current situation, we think an American or British resident here would be better off in Swiss francs. The pound, against the Swiss franc, could go down further.�

http://www.tdg.ch/pages/home/tribune_de_...(contenu)/202719

last from JudyFD's link:

Streiff noted the pound was its lowest against the Swiss franc since 1996 and it could weaken a further 10 percent. “We could easily see the pound go down to about SFr1.80 - not straight away though. The Swiss franc was cheap as a currency until recently, despite the low inflation rate (in Switzerland) it depreciated against almost all the currencies except the dollar. The Swiss franc normally does well when the credit cycle switches and volatility rises. We’re now in a configuration that is favorable for the Swiss franc.�

Against this background private individuals have limited means of guarding against currency movements. “One way is to sell on the futures market, but the hitch is that often you need an intermediary and they command juicy margins,� Streiff said. “If it’s a large sum, then you could negotiate it for not too much, but if it’s just SFr5,000 it would probably be expensive. Anyway, predictions for currency movements can be rather uncertain.�

Phil from last thread~ 

"Florida and Michigan might be theorethically eligible the way the Rules read"

Phil~ Michigan will never be eligible unless we have a do-over which we're not going to. The reason for the ineligibility is because Barack's name was not on the January primary ballot in Michigan. 

Jo, I have had Working Assets/Credo coverage for two years.  It works fine.  You should know that they use Sprint circuitry.

Thankful if you stop by, this one's for you:

Women in Stilettos race for $15,000 in the Netherlands

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/offbeat...

Phil - recommended and thanks for that thread.

I've had Working Assets/Credo since 1996 and I love it, but I don't have their cell service. Great company :)

The Michigan allocation of the nominating convention delegates to Denver could be done at the District Conventions where the individuals that will actually be going to Denver are elected on March 31st at no additional cost to anyone, by making all delegates to those District convention unpledged when they arrive, and have them caucus to make the allocation.

About Bush's veteo of the waer torture bill
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/030808...

Having witnessed waterboarding in VN, I can say it always gave results. The South VN soldiers were at their peak sadistic level. Whether or not the data was accurate is totally random. The problem was to verify the data, multiple suspects had to be tortured. There ended up being a torture center or house-of-horrors. Waterboarding was not the preferred method. Nails driven under the fingernails so far they went out the next knuckle was the preferred method because it is quicker and easier. Confessions were certainly given and we took actions on them. A lot of innocent folks died for reasons they didn't understand. Even though I saw a lot of cruel things, the torturing did overwhelm me. I stopped taking prisoners. It was better to outright kill them then take them back. Where I could, I stopped the tortures by killing their prey in mod-torture. The head SVN major tried to get me court-martialed but he was killed before anything was done. He was ambushed (some said) by his own men.
There is no doubt the torturing hardened the populace against us. If you are going to be tortured then why not fight to the death as hard as you can. We also had some folks captured and tortured and that didn't start until we were into our torturing program. The VC were cruel and often mutilated our dead. But until we started cooperating in torture, our people were not mutilated while alive. After that, if we fell into enemy hands, we could expect horrible treatment. The POWs in the Hanoi Hilton were beaten regularly, but as far as I know, no one was waterboared or treated as badly as we treated the VC prisoners.
With the South VN, we participated in a level of cruelty that far exceeded anything allowed by the Geneva Conventions. And Bush now wants to institutionalize it.
As was said earlier, Bush and the rest of his gang of sadistic bastard cohorts have comfy seats waiting for them at the Haig.

Obama won't agree to a re-vote in Michigan (smart man)

http://weblogs.chicagotribune.com/news/p...

Obama won Texas.

Phil, tell that to the deaf corp. media which needs to keep the horse race alive, if only in words (lies, distortions, etc.).

dog soldier

Your personal memoirs touch my heart. Not to mention curl my toes sometimes.

Welcome home

Calling my flight home - have a good afternoon everyone.

Go Barack!!

Saturday, March 08, 2008    Rasmussen Reports

Mississippi Democratic Presidential Primary

Mississippi: Obama 53% Clinton 39%

Joan - thianks for the link re: the FL fiasco.

You're welcome. I plan on bringing plenty of copies from my little copy machine to our DEC meeting this Thursday. We have a loud bunch of Clinton supporters who have been at Dean's throat ever since the "election" straw vote.

Just for information, we also have a good and growing group of Obama supporters in the DEC as well. I feel that if we did have a real primary or caucus here, Obama would win or at least tie. Given some time to campaign here, he would win.

GOP's 'Cybersquatter' Edge
by J. P. Green, March 7, 2008 07:07 AM EST

Lest anyone entertain delusions about the GOP taking more of a high road in campaign '08, The New York Times has an instructive article by Kitty Bennett, "R.N.C. Snaps Up Domain Names". Bennett explains:

At least 25 domain names related to Hillary Rodham Clinton have links to the Republican National Committee: the names were either registered by the R.N.C. last year or showed up on servers the committee uses...The party has also begun preemptively registering domains that could be used to attack John McCain, like mccainamigos.com, voteagainstmccain.com, flipflopmccain.com and hatemccain.com.

Bennett notes the GOP's edge in 'cybersquatter' warfare:

The Democratic Party and the campaigns have shown little of the verve and creativity of the R.N.C. ...The party has been focused more on the national convention, registering variations of denverdemconvention08.com in February, but so far apparently no domains related to Mr. McCain.

The election has “triggered an avalanche of cybersquatter activity,� according to NetNames, a domain name management service. Speculators have registered nearly 2,000 domain names related to presidential candidates as of last week. Names related to Mrs. Clinton’s candidacy made up over half of the registrations, followed by Mr. Obama with 635 and Mr. McCain with 269.

(we need to remember what we'll be up against^)

http://www.thedemocraticstrategist.org/

Karen

If Michigan tweaks their rules they can get their delegates seated and give Obama a fair shot at still winning many of them. note my suggestion of the no cost way.

got to run. Things need doing.

Take care, dog.

ciao for now, all.

dog soldier

Free Fire Zones violated the Geneva Conventions too. VietNam had been fighting colonialism for decades before we got there and defeated the Chinese Army who invaded after we left. It is a fantasy to say we could have ever "won" there.

Obama won't agree to a re-vote in Michigan (smart man)

Great! I agree, Denise!! I'm so pissed at our Dem party here. Gov. Granholm is a Clinton supporter. And, this whole fiasco is Senator Levin's fault!! He's the one who initiated the change to January.

Putting everything aside, whether Barack agreed to a re-do or not, it wouldn't happen anyway. Watching a Michigan politics weekly program with Michigan newspaper pundits yesterday, they said they would never reach a consensus on what to do. They said it took four years to organize the January primary, and for anyone to think we could have it organized to occur by June, was not going to happen. Of course, the biggest issue is MONEY! They'd have Granholm's butt if she even hinted at us coming up with the money.

They all agreed that Michigan can't seem to get anything right and constantly keeps getting bad press... well...... YA THINK!! They all need a good bitch slappin' or sumptin'! grrrrrrrr!!

Buenos Dias Kiddies --

I am blógging from Puerto Iguazu in Argentina. I went to a ta