How about that!  Dean is first.

Tom is right again.  Dean is first.

Monica, I like your idea of saying praise God everytime we turn on our taps and get water.

Monica,

Was going to say on the other thread thanks the video of Rev Wright, but got waylayed.  Thanks Monica.

Over limp chicken wings and the blare of basketball, Obama and the Murads' patrons talked bracketology, energy policy, health care and hot sauce.

http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/hqblog

Will someone please explain to the UT girl what limp chicken wings are please.

Sorry, this UT girl.

s m wrote "Will someone please explain to the UT girl what limp chicken wings are please."

You know, like buffalo wings.  This particular sports bar must have amateur help working the deep fryer.

you're more than welcome, s m

I am not going to hold my breath, but was the blog sequential this morning? 

9:38 AM EST

seashell, Fred and any other Oregon bloggers (if interested and have potential to get to any of these events);

http://my.barackobama.com/page/s/portland

...

Memorial Coliseum
300 North Winning Way
Portland, OR 97227

Friday, March 21, 2008
Doors open: 7:30 a.m.
Program begins: 9:30 a.m.

The event is free and open to the public

...

http://my.barackobama.com/page/s/eugene

...

McArthur Court
University of Oregon
1601 University St.
Eugene, OR 97403

Friday, March 21, 2008
Doors open: 7:00 p.m.
Program begins: 9:00 p.m.

The event is free and open to the public

...

http://my.barackobama.com/page/s/medford

...

Kids Unlimited
821 N. Riverside Avenue
Medford, OR 97501

Saturday, March 22, 2008
Doors open: 7:30 a.m.

The event is free and open to the public

...

Dumb, dumber, dumbest

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/3/21/82444/5711/676/481384 

nope

* rdorgan is sneaking in line 

THANK GOODNESS FOR THE FOREIGN PRESS

http://www.crooksandliars.com/

Our occupation of Iraq and the fragile surge has been all but blacked out in the U.S. media, but thankfully, the foreign press is still out there trying to bring the truth to the rest of the world. A big part of the surge was the Awakening Project. The goal of the project was to pay Sunni and former insurgents to fight al Qaeda and drive them out of their towns. The result is 80,000 angry men and a surge on the brink of collapse.

9:46AM

Hillary Rodham Clinton never has caught on that an election is not a popularity contest.  And even if it were, she seems not to have considered how tripping up other contestants would make her a winner.

9:49 AM EST

dog soldier (if you're there), have you heard about this ?:

http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/111-03212008-1506766.html

BRISTOL - Major Gen. Walter Stewart Jr., the former deputy commander of the Pennsylvania Army National Guard, endorsed presidential hopeful Barack Obama Thursday morning at a campaign event in Bristol.

Stewart, a Vietnam veteran from Berks County who retired from the Army in 2000, said he became a registered Democrat last week to vote for Obama because of his call to end the war in Iraq.

He had previously supported Republican Ron Paul's presidential campaign, he said.

Stewart said that Hillary Clinton, Obama's Democratic opponent, and John McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential candidate, had “everything” to do with starting the war, while Obama had “nothing” to do with it.

“This strategic catastrophe that is the war in Iraq has cost us 4,000 young Americans,” Stewart said at the event with a dozen military veterans supporting Obama. “I will not forgive Hillary Clinton for her vote on the war in Iraq and I hope that Americans won't either.”

Stewart was joined at the event by Bucks County Congressman Patrick Murphy, D-8, State Rep. Bryan Lentz, D-Delaware County, both Iraq war veterans

...

Monica wrote "Dumb, dumber, dumbest."

This is I. F. Stone quality factfinding.  I am extremely impressed, and not for the first time.  The Rev. Wright clip you posted last thread left me astonished.  How many of the broadcast talking heads reporting on this story for a solid week, hour after hour, sat and watched the excerpt in its entirety, before blithely embarking on their character assasination campaign?  The obvious answer is none.  What an indictment.

Soft Shoe in Hard Times by Maureen Dowd http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/16/opinio...


I Knew Gene Kelly. The President Is No Gene Kelly.

Published: March 19, 2008

To the Editor:

Re “Soft Shoe in Hard Times” (column, March 16):

Surely it must have been a slip for Maureen Dowd to align the artistry of my late husband, Gene Kelly, with the president’s clumsy performances. To suggest that “George Bush has turned into Gene Kelly” represents not only an implausible transformation but a considerable slight. If Gene were in a
grave, he would have turned over in it.

When Gene was compared to the grace and agility of Jack Dempsey, Wayne Gretzky and Willie Mays, he was delighted. But to be linked with a clunker — particularly one he would consider inept and demoralizing — would have sent him reeling.

Graduated with a degree in economics from Pitt, Gene was not only a gifted dancer, director and choreographer, he was also a most civilized man. He spoke multiple languages; wrote poetry; studied history; understood the projections of Adam Smith and John Maynard Keynes. He did the Sunday Times crossword in ink. Exceedingly articulate, Gene often conveyed more through movement than others manage with words.

Sadly, President Bush fails to communicate meaningfully with either. For George Bush to become Gene Kelly would require impossible leaps in creativity, erudition and humility.

Patricia Ward Kelly

Los Angeles, March 16, 2008

New Mexico's Richardson endorses Obama

Sometimes, huron john, I think it's a matter of our press not wanting to believe what's being done in our name.  You know, it's sort of like hiding the family idiot in the closet.  The U.S. military has been paying off Iraqis for at least two years that I'm aware of.  It was reported from al Anbar in early 2006.  At first, it was in the context of responding to complaints from the tribal leaders about damage done to houses and other assets.  Then it was in the form of hiring young men and sending them off to be "trained" as police in Jordan.  The problem with that particular program was that, when they returned, it was obvious to their neighbors that they had been "trained" to be spies and snitches and had to be eliminated. 

It seems that the Iraqi have a rather precise code of honor.  If there's no question as to who caused a particular injury, it's to be avenged.  On the other hand, if it's not clear, as when a house is destroyed by a bomb, then it must have been the will of Allah.  This has the effect of the population sparing itself the effort of chasing after shadows.  American troops benefited from this in not being targeted unless, like the soldiers that commited the rape in Haditha, they could be individually identified.  IEDs were planted with the justification that only vehicles that went where they weren't wanted would be hit.

Now, however, it seems there's a new regimen.  It's almost as if the American forces have been assigned a blanket guilt and are now all targeted for removal.

Some of the units seem to have cottoned to that since they no longer conduct their patrols and send in false reports. 

10:13 AM EST

Karen -

Good for Richardson !

(interesting to see if any bloggers from New Mexico here have any comments on this)

Good Morning,

Yesterday I read a Maureen Dowd column in the Denver Post.  She talks about Obama's speech on race, calls it memorable, and is glad that Obama had to address the Rezco and Pastor Wright issues because it makes him more gray than black and white, less the messiah that some would make him.  She also remarks that you expect cheesey ethics from the Clintons, but expected more of Obama.  For Maureen Dowd, this is high praise for Obama.

It occurred to me one of the frustrations and ultimately dead ends is that some people have no idea that they are racist, prejudiced.  I think Geraldine Ferraro hasn't a clue that she is racist to the core.  Other bloggers make racist statements, and I would bet  you they would deny any semblance of racism to a dying breath.  That's, for me, the tragedy.

I think that humans have always claimed superiority over one group or another, that somehow in competition it's part of the human pysche, but the persistence of racism in statements, mindset, and allegiance is an ongoing dilemma.  This doesn't occur just here in the good old US of A, but all over the world.  What's so interesting and frustrating to me is that it never changes: no rational argument, no experience, no  information changes  the mindset.  For some of us, me, it seems  ugly and dangerous, and the  total ignorance of the perpetrators  makes it utterly hopeless.

Howard Fineman on Keith Olbermann called Obama a Citizen of the World, and yes, he is. His life experiences are invaluable and give him a perpsective that probably can't be achieved any other way.  Frankly, there is no way we can change this country, work toward peace without such a perspective.

My husband suggested that rather than hating Obama for his mixed race, better hate him for his big ears.  That makes more sense. 

10:19 AM  EST or DST 

(interesting to see if any bloggers from New Mexico here have any comments on this)

*rdorgan~ Probably won't see heads nor tails of any blogger(s) from NM today. :-)

Lol Tom, thanks, I love Buffalo wings.  Limp chicken wings however do not sound too appetizing.

Thank you for your front post Jeff, I enjoyed and agree.

10:36 AM EST

ok, Karen has squared me on this --

-- for the last two weeks we've be in DST, not EST

(I'm behind the times)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hokb0Mz5R5U

Gene Kelly:  ALTER EGO　

The Richardson endorsement is huge because as article says: "Richardson has been relentlessly wooed by Obama and Clinton for his endorsement."

Former Clinton campaign finance committee member has a diary up.

More than 2MM in donations have been refunded to the donors. To me. it looks like fraud. If someone charged an unathorized $3500 to my credit card - that's fraudulent.

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3...

* rdorgan~ Hubby said I'm wrong because everyone is on DST so he said it should be EDST because everyone is on DST. I've never seen it printed "EDST" but who's to argue with hubby. {grin}

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has moved into a significant lead over Barack Obama among Democratic voters, according to a new Gallup poll.

The March 14-18 national survey of 1,209 Democratic and Democratic-leaning voters gave Clinton, a New York senator, a 49 percent to 42 percent edge over Obama, an Illinois senator. The poll has an error margin of 3 percentage points.

The poll was a snapshot of current popular feeling, but Clinton trails Obama in the state-by-state contest which began in January to select a nominee to face presumptive Republican nominee John McCain in the November election to succeed President George W. Bush.

The nominees are formally chosen by delegates at the parties’ conventions in the summer.

Read entire article

CNN just announced that the courts have dropped FL's suit against the DNC - woot!

thanks for the link, mary!  interesting, but no big surprise considering the integrity of some in her campaign:

clip... Why is it that a disproprtionate number of Hillary's maxed out and experienced donors are receiving refunds "because they double and triple donated above the legal limit!" Hillary's campaign has refunded mostly maxed out donors a total of $2, 620, 077. My name is on that list.

What happened to me? Hillary Clinton for President Campaign made $3, 500 in unauthorized Visa charges on my personal Visa Card.

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/21/101759/225/635/481433

I don't listen much to Bay Buchanan, but she pointed out that Hillary, as 1st lady, had 100s of the FBI files of republicans delivered for her perusal - will check on this.

CNN just announced that the courts have dropped FL's suit against the DNC - woot!  

Thanks Jo.

Bill Nelson and friends have completed their journeys for making complete fools of themselves and the State of  Florida.

The only good thing to come out of this will be some legislation regulating the dates of states to have primaries, of which Nelson/Levin have introduced just one of the plans (this one not the best -- what else).

But will it be constitutional to tell these parties which are private organizations when they can have their primaries? I always look at it as: can Congress tell churches when they can have their meetings/services.

I really don't remember 'filegate' - I guess there were just too many 'gates' during the Clinton years but this was obviously well-known at the time from the amount of info on the net.  no, I don't want 4 or 8 more years of a Clinton in the WH - the divisiveness and the hatred would rip this country even further apart. 

Bill Richardson loves his home state and I doubt he is longing for another cabinet position, so his endorsement has to be viewed as an honest assessment, and since one ace Hillary had was her appeal to hispanic voters in the minds of super delegates that is a very significant endorsement

Condi just announced that Hillary's passport files were also breached, sometime in 2007. also cspan will have state dept briefing at 12:30 - same time as Richardson endorsement!

Phil - I think Richardson's endorsement helps him on the world stage, too.  he has a lot of respect.

Breaking News... Passport files of all major candidates breached
Records of Clinton, McCain and Obama inappropriately accessed, official say

New Thread!