Ineffable Significance

I do not need a White person’s acceptance to validate me. I do not need Barack Obama, Oprah, Magic Johnson or Will Smith to inspire me. I do not need to hear the mind numbing opinions of those who do need these things.

I am an African American. Aside from being an extraordinary individual, I come from an exceptional family filled with doctors, teachers, officers, and so on. My race, the broad brush American characterization of Black or African American, is responsible in a significantly large manner for the economic prosperity, civil liberties and cultural influence of the United states. My distant West African ancestors are the bearers of one of the oldest civilizations on earth. With such an impressive background my worth is intrinsic.

My worth is the basis of my drive. I do what I do for the sake of my ancestors, race, family before me, but ultimately myself. While I appreciate others for their achievements, especially those who I share a common identity with, they are not necessary as role models. I do not need Michael Jordan to show me I can jump, nor do I need Martin Luther King to show I can speak, nor even Obama to exemplify my humanity. I am a force unto myself, as is anyone else who recognizes their self worth.

Everyone should feel they are valuable because they are. It should not take emancipation, a Civil Rights movement or the election of a Black President to bring about a sense of undeniable importance. People have been in a progressive state for hundreds of thousands of years and no one event is a deciding factor for any individual or group’s significance.

Additionally, just as an external figure is not necessary for self worth, the judgment of value by another person or society at large is insignificant. The White woman clutching her purse as she passes a Black man in a hoodie, man in a truck scoffing at the Black man in the Mercedes and the voter who lets Barack Obama’s skin color be the first thing to roll of his or her tongue (whether it be in a positive or negative light) are in the end inconsequential. To entertain the notion that these people’s opinion matter is to give them an unwarranted power.

Every person, when asked about how they feel now that an African American is elected president, made CEO, fortunate enough to make a billion dollars should laugh, shake their head and say you petty human being. We feel the same way that all people feel when any person succeeds. We feel the same way we felt yesterday. We are proud. As you should be.

I am valuable. Cannot you see?

This entry is written in response to another cookie cutter article talking about societal acceptance of African Americans (men in particular).

Hastert's Prairie Parkway Deal

Yes. The Dennis Hastert Prairie Parkway Deal. Old News. Yes I know. It's been out there for a couple years. It's just that I am going through my notebook and throwing away old papers. Being the packrat that I am I just couldn't throw this story away so I decided to save it on google's servers instead of in my overburdened notebook.

To make a long story short. Dennis Hastert bought land 5.5 miles out from a proposed highway using the Little Rock Trust #225 to aquire the property. The proposed highway is one he secured $207 million dollars in earmarks for. He made millions of dollars off of selling the land he aquired and it has been argued that he unethically used his legislative power to get that money. It has also been argued that the land is too far away from the proposed highway for it to actually have any relationship with the property.

I personally believe that the land, which happens to have road being built to create easy access to the proposed highway, with its 1600 future homes being built will increase in value with a new highway nearby.

Bachmann blames minorities for housing crisis

Ellison: Does GOP, or just Bachmann, blame minorities for housing crisis?

Scott Goldberg 4 days ago

9/26/08

Beneath the negotiations to bail out Wall Street, a potentially nasty story is brewing on Capitol Hill involving two high profile members of Congress from Minnesota.

It started yesterday, when Rep. Michele Bachmann, the Republican whose name recognition has been growing thanks to multiple appearances on CNN's Larry King Live, spoke at a hearing and linked the Wall Street mess to minorities.

The newspaper Roll Call reported:

During an otherwise mundane hearing on the federal takeover of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, Republicans, specifically Bachmann, focused on Clinton's administration and its push to provide loans to low-income minorities as a key reason for the downfall of the housing market.

The Clinton administration turned Freddie and Fannie into a "semi-nationalized monopoly," Bachmann argued. Specifically, that administration decided to make loans through the Community Reinvestment Act "on the basis of race and often on little else." Backpedaling on the controversial comments, Bachmann later added that the law was "well-intentioned" because ensuring that minorities have access to housing is important.

Tonight, the controversy is escalating. Rep. Keith Ellison, the Democrat who became Minnesota's first African-American member of Congress when he was elected in 2006, sent a letter to John Boehner, the House GOP leader.

Ellison wrote, "There is no evidence to support Rep. Bachmann's assertion that 'minorities' caused the current financial crisis," and he asks Boehner if Bachmann's remarks reflect her own beliefs or the party's.

The entire letter is below, signed by 40 members of the Congressional Black Caucus.

----

September 26, 2008

The Honorable John Boehner Minority Leader H-204 Capitol Washington D.C., 20515

Dear Representative Boehner:

We write as members of the Congressional Black Caucus asking that you clarify your caucus position on minority lending being the cause of the current financial crisis. As reported in today's edition of Roll Call: "Rep. Michele Bachmann kicked up a controversy on Thursday when she pinned the [economic] mess on former President Bill Clinton and minorities? Republicans, specifically Bachmann, focused on Clinton's Administration and its push to provide loans to low-income minorities as a key reason for the downfall of the housing market."

It is clear from Rep. Bachmann's comments that she believes that the bipartisan laws enacted over the past decade ensuring that minority communities have equal access to banking and other financial services are the cause of this financial meltdown. The charge that this financial crisis was created by bipartisan laws such as the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA), legislation that was enacted in response to concerns that lenders were systematically denying credit to certain communities, particularly lower-income and minority neighborhoods, is absurd.

There is no evidence to support Rep. Bachmann's assertion that "minorities" caused the current financial crisis. Laws designed to open opportunities for equal access to credit does not require banks or thrifts to make loans that are unsafe or unprofitable. In fact, laws like the CRA mandate exactly the opposite. The law stipulates that CRA lending activities must be done consistent with safe and sound banking practices. Additionally, research clearly shows that the majority of the predatory loans that have led us to this financial mess were originated by non-bank financial institutions and other entities that did NOT have a CRA obligation and lacked strong federal regulatory oversight. Shifting the blame for the current economic crisis to laws that allow equal access and opportunity to communities of color is ridiculous.

As members of the CBC, we simply ask if Rep. Bachmann's position that it was lending to minority communities that caused the current financial crisis, represent the position of the Republican Caucus?

Our country faces a dire economic crisis. We need to move forward and not engage in the politics of division and blame characterized in Rep. Bachmann's statement. In the days and weeks ahead, we look forward to working with you and your caucus to resolve this economic calamity.

Sincerely,

Keith Ellison

MEMBER OF CONGRESS

Obama avoids race on King's 'Dream' anniversary

Long before Denver, the drum roll of history began: If Barack Obama could capture the Democratic nomination for president, he would deliver the biggest speech of his life exactly 45 years after Martin Luther King Jr.'s immortal "I Have a Dream" address.

And so Obama accepted the nomination Thursday night standing on the shoulders of King and thousands of others who suffered and bled to give blacks the right to vote - Yet Obama did not speak King's name.

...Forty-five years later, Obama did not utter the words "black" or "African-American."

We are caught in a bind. A lot of our time is being taken up fighting this Obama character. It's catch 22. Obama can hurt the African American community. It can also hurt the African-American community if we focus on Obama too much. The same can happen if we pay to little.

No matter who is president, public pressure must be applied to support or push against whatever issue is at hand. What are the problems in our country. What are the underlying reasons for these problems. How can we fix them. It doesn't matter if it is Obama, McCain or the Devil himself.

Re: Nothing Unique About It

Letter to the Editor of Times Magazine in response to Gwen Ifill's column "Nothing Unique About It"

While I have become acquainted with the person Gwen Ifill and realize I have been seeing her for many years without fulling recognizing her, I am afraid I knew little about her before her commentary in the Times titled "Nothing Unique About It". I asked my parents, the ones who were part of the "Martin Luther King-era wave of activism", about Ifill and they replied she "has her head on straight most of the time." They agreed with me, though, that her commentary did not represent one of those times.

It is ironic she used an anecdote about Lowery chastising her for the use of the term "post-civil rights" in describing the new generation of African-American politics then went on to contrast the "transformed" version of Black politics with the Lowery led politics.

In her words, Lowery led activism was demanding access to lunch counters, school house doors, and voting booths. The article leaves the reader with the impression that these days are over and there are no problems that parallel the past. Yet, today's activism is demanding access to loans, a just legal system, and fair employment. Instead of Ifills recounting of past activists demanding accountability in the town squares that were the sites of lynchings and protests there are calls for accountability in the government's response to Katrina and the unfair treatment of the Jena 6. Yet, she failed to define what this new black politics is. Instead she said black politics has transformed into appealing to a broader audience while honoring the contribution of their forebears.

She fails to see that is not the case. The situation is the same pig with a new shade of lipstick. These "new" Black politicians who fear alienating the broader, multiracial audiences are running the risk of making Blacks and their problems invisible because of their treatment of these subjects.

In addition, the example of Coy Booker against Kenneth Gibson and Sharpe James is a rather poor one. Those two former mayors behavior does not embody the spirit of the 60s or 70s civil rights era or its members. Why not compare Booker to Bobby Rush or Charlie Wrangle who I am sure have the enough "metabolism" to gain mention.

The representation Ifill chose for the civil rights era and the "post civil rights era" are perfect for saying old era bad, new era good; Jesse Jackson Sr. bad, Jesse Jackson Jr. good; "Angry" Black bad, docile Black, good; or my favorite >3rd generation, bad, <2 generation, good.

Yes, I'm afraid Gwen Ifill needs more soul searching. She may want to touch roots with Lowery and the Lowery led activists to reframe her way of thinking.

On Barack Obama's announcement to run for president of the United States at Spring Field Illinois' Old State Capital

On February 10, 2007, Barack Obama announced his run for president of the United States in front of the Old State Capital at Springfield Illinois, notable for its association with Abraham Lincoln as a legislator. He incited the name of Lincoln in his announcement, crediting the man with helping free the slaves and organization “the forces arrayed against slavery”. Truthfully, Abraham Lincoln was not only ambivalent about the freedom of slaves but wanted to create an amendment calling for all people of African descent do be thrown out of the country. He believed in a natural inferiority of African descendents and wanted the social casting of his time to remain in place. What African American, especially one in the position to be as educated as Barack Obama, would choose to announce his candidacy at such a dubious locale?

Re: Obama and the Racism Card

This is written in response to Rich Lowry's op-ed "Obama and the Racism Card" from Townhall.com, Monday, August 4, 2008.

Rich Lowry attacks Jesse Jackson and Senator Barack Obama in an August 4th op-ed saying Barack Obama resorted to "hair-trigger" charges of racism of the sort Jackson has "built his career on". Lory then claims these charges have made Jackson "radioactive and anathema to the political center."

Lowry must mind Jesse Jackson's career with an attentiveness similar to that of Barack Obama's attention toward the McCain "Celeb" ad because their respective judgements of both is equally inaccurate.

Jesse Jackson has worked to improve he social and economic conditions of African Americans and other minority groups since the early late 50's. While in school, in the early 60's Jackson participated int he civil rights movement and was closely associated with Martin Luther King. He became a field director for the Congress of Racial Equality. In 1966 he helped found Operation Breadbasket, an African American self help program associated with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. In 1971 he founded another organization called Operation PUSH. (People United to Serve Humanity), for self help human rights. As national president from 1971 to 1983 he promoted economic development, housing development, health care programs and economic excellence.

Jackson ran for president in 1984 and 1988 garnering 13 state primaries and caucuses in his second run. He formed the National Rainbow coalition, a political organization that is now merged with Operation PUSH to form Rainbow/PUSH. he spoke out for social and economic justice, peace, and environmental reforms. Jackson is still influential in politics and is an important voice inside and outside of America.

The resume of Jesse Jackson does not reflect the "hair trigger" behavior Lowry depicts and Jackson remains a key player in the political sphere despite claims from columnists and pundits of Lowry's ilk.

In order to conclude Jackson's activities are poisoned one must ignore hits career and his continued fight against the current inequalities that plague America. The Kerner Commission concluded in 1968 and then in 2008 that the United States remains two nations, one Black and one White. Rich Lowry, unable to appreciate this, finds it appropriate to attack Jesse Jackson with the kind of hair trigger charges he accuses Jackson and Obama of.

Barack Obama, who also appears blind to the divisive nature of this country, continues to preach change, new politics, and end to the divisive era, and moving past "racial guilt". Ironically, he uses the race card at his convenience, tearing down Bill Clinton after the president's Barack Obama-Jesse Jackson analogy, then Tavis smiley for even inviting him to the Black State of the Union in '07 and '08. Obama disowned both his church and pastors of 20 years to appease White America. Recently, he attacked John McCain, unwarranted, over an ad titled "Celeb" that likens Barack Obama to a celebrity such as Paris Hilton or Britney spears rather than a ready politician.

Barack Obama tried, unsuccessfully, to play the "race card", a divisive tactic that, when used appropriately, combats an divisive problem. McCain's ad had not one association with race in it though. Barack Obama claimed McCain was preying on people's fear of race, possibly because he cannot judge when race is being injected into an issue or not.

The difference between Lowry, Obama and Jackson is that Jackson knows what he is talking about. He is not lacking in assessment skills and judgement.

Barack Obama's War Chest Growing Stronger

I was just going through my email and crossed an Obama campaign email (I get emails from McCain, Obama, and Clinton [as infrequent as hers come in now]). On first glance it would appear Senator Barack Obama is being out funded.

I have some big news we want to share with you.

In the month of June, supporters like you helped raise $52 million. And together with the DNC, we now have nearly $72 million in the bank. That's a very strong financial position to be in.

But we remain at a massive disadvantage to our opponents.

As I mentioned in my video message earlier in the week, the McCain Campaign and the Republican National Committee finished June with nearly $100 million in the bank.

We can't stop now. It's going to take everything we've got to defeat John McCain and his allies in November.

Can you make a donation of $5 now to strengthen our movement for change?

https://donate.barackobama.com/junenumbers

I know this isn't the first time we've asked you for financial support, and it won't be the last.

We have developed a strategy -- a very aggressive strategy -- that will only work if our millions of supporters continue to contribute their time and their money.

That strategy will work, and it has to. The stakes are too high and the need for change too great.

But victory is only possible with your continued help.

We can't do this without you.

Thanks,

David

David Plouffe
Campaign Manager
Obama for America

I take it with a grain of salt. Barack Obama was out funded by Hillary Clinton early in the race and he eventually steamrolled her. On the other hand, Barack Obama was never under as much attack as he is now. Political cartoonists are getting bolder. Plouffe feels he has to downplay the money the DNC has to increase donations. AFP news reports the DNC having $92 million.

Whatever the total, Barack Obama's campaign raised $52 million in comparison to McCain's $22 million in June. How long will the GOP be able to keep pace?

Barack Obama's Poor Judgement: What Plane to Fly?

For one who prides himself on judgment, Barack Obama fails to use the resource wisely when choosing his mode of travel across country. (second story of the same)
On Monday, July 7, 2008, Barack Obama, aides, and journalists were riding on an McDonald Douglas-81 when the plane had to make an unscheduled landing in St. Louis, en route from Chicago to Charlotte, North Carolina, after the pilots found they were having difficulty controlling the plane.

"After landing, an inspection found the unusual cause of the problem -- an emergency evacuation slide deployed inside the plane underneath the tail. The tail cone, the very rear of the fuselage where passengers would exit in an emergency, did not pop off the plane when the chute inflated."

Barack Obama downplayed the incident with reporters saying "Any time the pilot says something's not working the way it's supposed to, then you make sure you tighten your seat belt." This particular MD-80 series jet is a "substitute for the usual campaign plane now being overhauled ahead of the November election push" and is also used to carry sports teams.
The Boeing MD-80 was originally made under McDonald Douglas and was certified nearly 28 years ago by the Federal Aviation Administration in August of 1980 and entered airline service on October of the same year. The MD-80 was produced at the Long Beach Division of Boeing Commercial Airplanes until December 1999.
Barack Obama said this was the first time his campaign charter plane had to ever be diverted. If anyone had been looking out for Obama's safety they might have seen that the MD-80 has been under inspection multiple times this year. Thousands of flights have been canceled because of MD-80 inspections. (1)
The MD-80 failed to comply with an FAA directive for securing wiring. The failed compliance occurred shortly after inspections only a couple months before. Only one day after Senator Obama's campaign plane was diverted the FAA is ordering U.S. airlines to check for cracked overwing frames resulting from reports of such damage already on some planes.
Imagine a potential president of the United State's poor judgment in choosing a plane that endangers his life. Barack Obama might want information before he or his aides make such a judgment call.

Black community increasingly protective of Obama

In black America, oh, how the mighty have fallen.

Bill Clinton is no longer revered as the "first black president." Tavis Smiley's rapid-fire commentaries on a popular radio show have been silenced. And the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., self-described defender of the black church, has been derided by many on the Web as an old man who needs to "step off."

They all landed in the black community's doghouse after being viewed as endangering Sen. Barack Obama's chances of being elected president. And the community's desire to protect the first African American ever to be in this position may only grow with his win in North Carolina and his close loss in Indiana.

It is this that shows to me that Black people are unfaithful. They will turn on you for the latest trend. Sadly, Obama does not appear to be a good trend to me. He waters down the race issue. I would rather he speak the truth instead of dancing around the issue the way he does. He gave a... nice... speach on race. But that's gone now. It's just going to be a nice speech on race. He, in all probability, going to go up against the McCain machine.

If he wins he becomes a part of the institution. I guess the same can be said of Clinton. But the thing that bothers me most, is that Obama will be put on a pedistal for all Blacks to see, a pedistal that is not really built for them.

Christopher Pfau - Uber Attorney

I have never "Digged" anything before hearing about Christopher Pfau. He is an awesome attorney in Los Angeles that deserves more recognition. I'm going to be "digging up" more information on this guy.

Disney Plans On Ruining "Small World" Ride

Disney wants to incorporate Disney characters into the iconic "It's a Small World" ride that was designed by Mary Blair. It also wants to replace the rain forest with a patriotic American section with Mickey in it. That's a pretty jerkish move by Disney.

While Disney Imagineers plan on ripping out a piece of the soul of Disney they can get rid of Mickey's ears, turn the Epcot Center into a cube, and change their motto to "The Crappiest Place On Earth".

Sean Hannity <3 Hal Turner

Sean Hannity and Hal Turner have a connection:

I'll expand on this later. I just remember Hannity trying to deny his relationship with a neo-Nazi.

Status: Awaiting Updating

Finding and Freeing Kareem

Though I need no protection, (at least I am under the impression that protection is unnecessary at the moment), I have decided to become an advocate for the Committee to Protect Bloggers. The link I have just posted is a shut down version of CPB, but it is what led me to Morpheme Tales, a blog by Curt Morpheme, a man whose accomplishments are long. My experience with him is short enough that I will Curt's about page describe him.

Through Curt's page I found the Committee to Protect Bloggers on Facebook and that is where I finally found Kareem. An appeal to everyone, especially bloggers but especially everyone, to send snail mail to Kareem who has been imprisoned for what amounts to attempting to exercise free speech on the internet in Egypt. He criticized his school and president on his blog and received a four year sentence early last year.

From April 7 to April 21 everyone is encouraged to send mail supporting Kareem for his right to voice his opinion. CPB in conjunction with FreeKareem.org are telling their members to send letters of support to the following address:

Alexandria
Borg Al-Arab Prison
Room 1 Section 22
Prisoner Abdul Kareem Nabil Suleiman
The Arab Republic of Egypt

The Arabic form of this address must be on the envelope in order for it to reach Kareem.

Obama's Race: Shhhhhhh, Don't Mention It

But I will mention it because "Obama can't escape that skin color is a factor". E. Thomas McClanahan of the Kansas City Star says what I say should be said with regards to Geraldine Ferraro's statement that Barack Obama is where he is because of the color of his skin.

Obama was supposed to be the transcendent candidate, the one who would move us all beyond race, but the race thing won’t go away, and how could it? The fact of Obama’s race is integral to his mystique and his political success.

As Mickey Kaus pointed out on his blog, kausfiles.com: “If Obama were white, he wouldn’t embody hopes of a post-racial future. Duh! That’s part of his appeal. It seems obvious. … Why isn’t Ferraro allowed to acknowledge it?”

The importance of Obama’s race becomes even more obvious when you consider that black voters comprise much of the Democratic electorate. Any candidate capable of capturing 80 to 85 percent of the black vote while grabbing a goodly share of the white vote will have the advantage.

That’s why Obama was probably the only candidate with the potential to beat Hillary. He’s doing it by yanking away what she formerly considered her base, and he’s doing it in part because he is black.

I back track to a statement he made in his first paragraph.

Geraldine Ferraro sure stepped on a political land mine the other day. Barack Obama, she said, wouldn’t be where he is today if he hadn’t been black.

It was a textbook-level gaffe, meaning Ferraro said something impolitic — but true.

Really, people need to get off of it. I do not think anyone understands what racism is to begin with. People attack with the concept like a false Samurai with a dulled sword.

Obama: He cannot recall

You know how an individual will be examined in court and when an unfavorable question is asked the witness says "I cannot recall". Barack Obama retroactively pulled that stunt when he acknowledged last Friday that Tony Rezko raised $250,000 for three previous campaigns after his original disclosures were that Rezko had raised $150,000 for him.

I guess being a Harvard trained lawyer is superseded by being a political guru who gets so much money he cannot remember where it came from.

Where are McCain's Tax Returns?

Media ignore McCain's finances after obsessing over Dems'. Jamison Foser points out that the media, from MSNBC, to CNN, to FOX, the AP, and so on and so on bring up the finances of the Democratic candidates while ignoring those of John McCain.

A February 27 editorial in the Washington Post says that not only has McCain not given up his tax returns he doesn't even plan to do it as the de facto nominee of the Republican party. Hillary Clinton has pledged to disclose her tax returns after

Hat tip to Atrios.

Speaking of Race

I notice the people of this country point out that Barack Obama is the first African-American president of the Harvard Law Review. On Wikipedia the editing community finds the first Hispanic president noteworthy but no one mentions other ethnicities. I just read an article about a Sri Lankan American president of the Harvard Law Review (correct me if I am wrong). I wonder if he is the first. If so, will he get any credit for it?

Either way, congratulations Thiru Vignarajah.

Barack Obama: Offended by Race

Barack Obama is not just fortunate to be Black. He is fortunate to be a fortunate Black man. Throughout Senator Obama’s career he has been more notable because of his success as a Black man. In November of 2004 the headlines did not read “Barack Obama is the 50th U.S. Senator from Illinois”. They read “Barack Obama is the 5th Black U.S. Senator in History”. When he became President of The Harvard Law Review he was not heralded as the 105th President but the “first Black president” of the review. Even the Illinois Senator himself said during the 2004 Democratic convention that his status is incredible, in part, because of the background of his African father. The notoriety of Barack Obama is due, once again, in part, because Barack Obama is Black.

Geraldine Ferraro is making the same assertion when she said Barack Obama’s success is due “in large measure, because he is black” Ferraro expanded upon this using herself as an example.

“Let me also say in 1984 -- and if I have said it once, I have said it 20, 60, 100 times -- in 1984, if my name was Gerard Ferraro instead of Geraldine Ferraro, I would never have been the nominee for vice president"

Ferraro has an obligation to stand by the truth against those who would be dishonest by censoring a perfectly legitimate statement. Nicole Belle of Crooks and Liars called her statement erroneous and instead of trying to understand what was being said offered these words from Rev. Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite (I truncate it to its most “offensive” part):

The New York Times has reported the Justice Department statistic that “an estimated 12 percent of African-American men ages 20-34 are in jail or prison…The proportion of young black men who are incarcerated has been rising in recent years, and this is the highest rate every measured.” Just for comparison, note that 1.6 percent of white men in the same age group are incarcerated.

So, let’s see, to follow Ms.Ferraro’s logic, the other 88% of African American men are being promoted to high public office? Facts dictate otherwise. There are more African American men now in prison than in college and the employment rate for African American men has dropped to just over 50%. It’s nigh on to impossible to get a job in this economy anyway, let alone when you have a prison record. Incarceration rates, unemployment and poverty are linked.

Reverend Thistlethwaite criticizes Geraldine Ferraro for being “willfully ignorant”. But Thistlethwaite ignores the fact that Obama is both half white and the son of an African immigrant. A distinction must be made from the African American born in an urban setting with disparaging conditions unto African-American parents and the African American born to a more advantageous setting.

One only has to look as far as the studies of Jennifer Eberhardt, who explains:

how this prejudice may implicitly influence policy preferences and causal attributions, even in the face of the widespread belief that discrimination is an issue of the past. Race “influences us in unsuspected and undesired ways despite our wish to be egalitarian,” according to Eberhardt. Her research has shown how “subliminal priming”-flashing images of black males too quickly for conscious recognition-increases the speed with which test subjects recognize weapons and other images related to crime. Her work on lineups and sentencing suggests that “black defendants are punished in proportion to the blackness of their physical features.”

One must even know that a study at Princeton University and the University of Pennsylvania finds that large numbers of black students at the nation’s most selective colleges and universities are either financially well off or have parents who were born in foreign nations. Barack Obama does not live with the same stigma as African-Americans who are the descendants of American slaves.

Thistlethwaite’s statement comes from a misunderstanding. She removes the context, that of a revered African American, the likes of Oprah Winfrey, Magic Johnson, or Cornel West. She removes the context, that of a Black man born of a White woman from Kansas and an African from Kenya. In doing so she lumps together every class of African-American into a simplified unit and forms an argument that is as (if not more) erroneous and willfully ignorant as the Reverend believes Ferraro’s statement to be.

A shell game is being played and not one person is acknowledging the other side of the coin. There should be equal criticizing toward those who are irked by Ferraro’s statement. Those people are guilty of sweeping race under the rug.

Addendum:
If truth should offend Barack Obama, Reverend Thistlethwaite, Nicole Belle, or anyone else of the same ilk then here are some other true “offensive” remarks they may find equally disgusting:
Barack Obama was lucky that he had virtually no candidate to oppose him in his run for the United States Senate in 2004
Barack Obama did hard drugs while he was younger and he refuses to say how much and for how long
Barack Obama was chosen to be an important African American speaker at the 2004 Democratic convention immediately after the African-American Harold Ford was chosen to speak at the 2000 convention.

Addendum 2 (Interesting Reading):
"Roots" and Race - John Harvard's Journal

I'm proud of Hillary Clinton for her wins in Texas, Ohio, and Rhode Island.

That's all.

MainStreamMedia: Distortion and Exaggeration

The media, with hyperbole and media distortions has set out to get the imagination of as many people as they can to shape people's mind in an effort to stop Hillary Clinton. They have come a long way in succeeding. They do so not because some other individual is more qualified for a position but simply because they dislike Hillary Clinton with a passion and some of them simply do not think a woman should be running for or be elected president of this country.

Europeans underscored the mentality of some people in this country as being idiots. The problem with all of that is that all of us must pay for the agenda of the mainstream media. All of us have to pay for it.

These are the same people who we didn't hear a peep out of during the run up to and the initiation of the Iraq occupation which has seen millions of people displaced, hundreds of thousands of people killed including thousands of coalition forces who were killed or maimed.

Now they wear the flags on their lapels and support, get morphed into the Bush Administration.

This morning we watched Kosovo declare independence from Serbia and MSNBC came out with an exageration of how the Serbian people did so much to the U.S. embassy when it was not that serious. They never said what happened to the military or security at the embassy but there was never anything that happened to the extent of what MSNBC tried to describe.

McCaskill gets a Softball from Chris Matthews

Chris Matthews gives Claire McCaskill plenty of time to gather herself so she can answer the question that Senator Kirk Watson could not answer about Barack Obama's accomplishments in the Senate. Even leading up to the interview Chris Matthews seemed to stall to allow Senator McCaskill to form her answer (Let's not even point out that her only reason for showing up was to give this response). She came up with four answers:

Earmark Reform:

She said that Senator Barack Obama created legislation related to earmark reform. Porkbusters.com gives Senator Obama a 25 out of a possible 100. It rates Senators based on their support for earmark reform on 12 votes between 2005 and 2007. Senator Clinton had a rating of 16.66.

“Wounded Warriors” of Walter Reed:

Senator McCaskill introduced a bill along with Senator Obama to fix Walter Reed hospital. I enter a quote from the Washington Post below:

Seizing on an investigative report by The Washington Post's Dana Priest and Anne Hull, Sens. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) will introduce legislation next week to require more frequent inspections of hospitals providing treatment to active-duty military personnel.

Co-partison proposal on finding Nukes:

McCaskall nearly makes a misstatement when she says that Barack Obama, along with Senator Richard Lugar of Indiana proposed an amendment to expand the Cooperative Threat Reduction Program to include conventional weapons along with finding and dismantalling nuclear weapons in former Soviet blocks. The Nunn-Lugar act of 1991 had already created the CTRP with one of the goals being dismantalling nuclear weapons well before Barack Obama ever entered the United States Senate. McCaskall made it sound as if Obama had proposed the law that was already in place. The most credit that could be given with regard to nuclear weapons is that the new proposal made the program interdict weapons of mass destruction shipped by sea.
I consider it to be an exaggeration when Obama and Lugar said shoulder-fired missiles, abandoned land mines and other weapons could be as dangerous as a nuclear threat.

Cohort Spending

I'm either too tired or too ignorant to know what she was talking about here. I know Obama did a lot of work on ethics reform and I wonder if it has something to do with nepotism in Washington, but I'll have to get back to it if I ever figure it out.

I hope I can get a video of McCaskill's appearance on Hardball today so I can go over what she said.

Chris Matthews, ugh

On Hardball, Chris Matthews tore into Hillary Clinton under the guise of the question “How can Clinton win”. The rest of the characters on his show at the time began saying how it is impossible, then correcting themselves and saying it is improbable for her to pull off a victory. Matthews introduces an Obama clip that is followed by a Clinton clip of much shorter length. Chris follows the Clinton clip by saying that both candidates looked tired. (favorable words before Barack Obama, unfavorable after Hillary Clinton).

Shortly after they talk about how Hillary Clinton is losing everywhere in the poll. They criticize Clinton for criticizing Barack Obama’s campaign for being a campaign about a campaign. I agree with Clinton's assessment.

The media should not manipulate the voters. Texas, Ohio, Rhode Island, Vermont, Pennsylvania, Oregon and the rest of the United States do not need to be manipulated. Listen to the debates and the words of the candidates instead. Compare their stance using their websites and writings and compare the candidates’ voice to that instead of listening to Chris Matthews.

Message Hillary Clinton

Hillary Clinton needs to know that she has your support as she attempts to gain the Democratic nomination to be a presidential candidate. Join me and tell Senator Clinton that she has your support. It's easy to send a message on her website here

Obama Plagiarizes Patrick

It amazes me when the media and many Barack Obama supporters circle the wagons around the junior Illinois Senator to protect him from being scarred by the discovery of his plagiarism of Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick. Many either dismiss the action entirely or say it is OK, rationalizing that other politicians do it too. Barack Obama said that he and Deval Patrick share ideas all the time and even said his own words have been used by Hillary Clinton before.

It will take digging to find out if this statement is disingenuous. Lou Dobb's asked today what ideas Governor Deval Patrick has taken from Barack Obama. Naturally, it will take investigation to answer that question. Though Dobbs did not ask this question, the next would be "What has Hillary Clinton taken from Barack Obama?"

One blogger uses New Republic's Noam Scheiber to call Hillary Clinton the thief for using phrases similar to those used by John Edwards or even John McCain. The comparison is disingenuous. Every example is a sentence, or rather less than a sentence, as a phrase that is common to the Democratic Party. They are generalized statements and so far I have only seen Barack Obama and those on the media try to use generalized statements to defend Obama.

No one will make the distinction between the long uncommon words of Barack Obama (or rather Deval Patrick) and the short, generalized statements of Clinton. Barack Obama needs to take responsibility for what he did and all of his supporters need to stop defending his action.

Senator Obama's refusal to take responsibility for what he did is an awful flaw in his character. His failure to publicly and forcefully articulate his stances and offer solutions make it more difficult to hold him accountable. Third, Senator Obama is refusing to take responsibility for what he did. He should apologize and move on. His failure to apologize is indicative of a flaw in his character. Especially dangerous is how he hardly articulates his stances publicly (at least not vocally) and how it will be more difficult to hold him accountable when you have to search through vote records and written papers to see what the man is actually thinking.

Obama's generic rhetoric has been made worse by his derivative language. If this is his behavior it shows how much his "change" is actually worth.

A second issue that must be brought up is that both Patrick and Obama are belittling the history of the United States by saying what they said. It took Lou Dobbs to fully articulate this for me and what is important to note is that a lot of blood shed happened to make those words have as much substance as they did. Today Barack Obama talks in relatively quiet times. The media, political members, and publics' comparisons between Iraq and Vietnam, the references to the World Wars and comparisons between the illegal immigrant situation and the Civil Rights era are all belittling the incredible atmosphere of many pasts.

Obama Can Steal With Immunity

Barack Obama plagiarized Massechusetts Governor Deval Patrick last Saturday, February 16, 2008, and said it is not a big deal. Obama said that he and Governor Patrick share ideas all the time. As Lou Dobbs asked today, what exactly has Deval Patrick lifted from Obama?

The answer as we know it now is absolutely nothing. There are those such as Brian Maloney of The Radio Equalizer who claim that Deval Patrick used "Obama like language" when Patrick called 9/11 a "failure of human understanding" but hindsight is 20/20 and Maloney didn't even mention Barack Obama last year when Patrick made the statement.

But the statements are all that people can find. Really short statements. No one can find a whole paragraph like the one that Barack Obama lifted from Governor Patrick. Sentences revolving around basic Democratic principles are flying around blogs in an attempt to heal the wounded Barack Obama but the truth is that Barack Obama plagiarized. Obama should just apologize and move on instead of letting all the starry eyed Obama lovers circle the wagons.

Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama Close As They Vie for the Democratic Nomination

The latest examination by CNN shows Clinton with a narrow lead in the delegate count when superdelegates are factored in.

A string of recent victories and endorsements from key party insiders have Democratic presidential hopefuls Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton running neck-and-neck in the increasingly important battle for delegates.

Clinton holds a narrow delegate lead over Obama, 1,157 to 1,145, down from her lead of more than 100 delegates a month ago, according to CNN's estimate.

Associated Press has Obama ahead by 26 delegates. Both counts give slim margins in a race that requires 2025 delegates to make an official victory.

David Plouffe, Barack Obama's campaign Manager said in a letter to Obama supporters that it "will demand energy and resources on an unprecedented scale" to keep the victories going in the upcoming contests in Wisconsin, Texas, Ohio, and Pennsylvania.

Plouffe recognizes that the eight straight victories since Super Tuesday should not let the Obama camp take the following states for granted.

But the race for the Democratic nomination remains close. It's going to be a fight for every vote and every delegate in the remaining 18 contests.

The fight for the Democratic Nomination is likely to continue past March 4 primaries especially considering the delegate distribution system of the Democratic National Committee. In addition to the narrow margins the independent nature of the superdelegates prevents the possibility of having a clear and disisive leader, possibly until the Democratic National Convention convenes.

For the first time, polls show Obama leading in popular opinion in Wisconsin. Public POlicy POlling produced a poll on 2/11/2008 that showed Obama ahead 11 points (50-39%). Ten percent called themselves unsure and with Clinton's history of garnering more of the last minute voters if the numbers the state could end up dividing delegates pretty evenly.

Texas still fails to show any polls newer than the IRV poll that shows Clinton ahead, 48-38%. It was last taken on January 31, 2008.

In Ohio, Hillary Clinton continues to carry the state with double digits according to Survey USA. Barack Obama was behind by fewer than 20 points for the first time in any poll but there were few undecided and even with the margin of error Obama is still behind by more than a dozen points in the best scenario. Former Ohio Senator and astronaut John Glenn announced his endorsement of Hillary today which can only strengthen her standing in the state. Obama's only hope is that his wins in Maryland, Washingtin D.C. and Virginia impress future voters.

Pennsylvania also lacks a recent poll. The Franklin & Marshall College/Philadelphia Daily News/WGAL TV, et al, Keystone Poll shows Clinton ahead 20 points.

If numbers continue to look as they are Hillary Clinton will likely shore up her pledged delegate base and continue to show superior numbers with the help of the superdelegate endorsements. Obama must close the gap in the coming weeks to prevent the Clinton push. It will be enteresting to see if the "Omentum" of Barack Obama continues past March 4, 2008.

The More Things Change The More They Stay The Same

A citizen of New Orleans responding to comments that were responding to an article about President Bill Clinton visiting Dillard's Lawless Memorial Chapel in New Orleans.

Posted by Lovenola81 on 02/08/08
at 3:16PM

If you're looking for change in 2008, voting for Barak Obama will only bring more constancy.

His charismatic speeches and smooth attitude have been attracting and catching the American public's attention. His sudden rise as a
leading presidential democratic candidate can be credited to the mass media. The
Obama frenzy we see on television lets us know only a few things about him: He's
black, not a Republican and against the war in Iraq.

In his non-fiction book, "The Audacity of Hope," Obama promotes the
idea that the U.S. has the duty to "help make the world more secure."
This rhetoric was used by the Bush administration to justify the invasion of Iraq in
the first place. This imperialist view of foreign policy and function as the
world police has gotten America into a deeper hole of worldwide resentment. The
junior senator from Illinois' lack of a track record has been touted as one of
his best assets.

But the few things he has done look pretty ominous, like his vote in
favor of re-enacting the Patriot Act.

A man who claims to stand for civil liberties and the rights granted by
the constitution approved a bill that is infamous for its disregard of
constitutional law.

Obama opposed an amendment called the Bankruptcy Act that would have
capped credit card interest rates at 30 percent, relieving millions of Americans
in debt. He also opposed the introduction of the Canadian-style, single-payer
national health insurance that would guarantee all Americans their right to
health care.

In "Hope," Obama joins victim-blaming Republicans by saying that poor
blacks' "cultural" issues are the cause of concentrated black poverty. He
doesn't recognize the many well-documented, interconnected structures, practices
and consequences of imposed white supremacy and corporate-state
capitalism.

His childhood went something like this: He was raised by his white
grandparents, attended an elite private school and lived in tropical
Hawaii.
In his book, Obama claims blacks have joined the "socioeconomic mainstream." This statement must have been made without any real research on the subject. According to economist Jennifer Weary in her report "The Future Middle Class: African Americans, Latinos and Economic Opportunity," the median black household net worth falls to less than eight cents.

We should not vote on shallow information from mass media. Americans need do their own research to find the best candidate, not that of the corporate elite.

A good president isn't based on charisma alone. If Obama is going to
have a chance, he needs to first prove himself to win over voters.

JJ from NOLA

Clinton is Destroying Them!

I just heard j***a** Wolf Blitzer mention that the delegates are not winner take all after he was forced to report that Hillary Clinton has been projected to take California. The polls were wrong just like the game line was wrong about the Giants.

All the polls, all the pundits, all the idiots are being destroyed today by the Clinton machine and I am proud because Clinton is the real front runner that is falsely labeled by the media as a lame duck. Clinton is destroying them. She is destroying them!

Retraction: Obama wins Missouri

I called Missouri for Clinton the day of and then relegated this post to a draft in order to hide it from the world. I just can't delete it because I wrote it and I'm a writing packrat. Obama went on to win Missouri by one percent when Clinton had been ahead in the count the whole day.

The original title of this post was "Hillary wins Missouri. You heard it hear first." because I wanted to call it before any major news network. Looks like I pulled a Fox. Then again, the AP apparently called it for Clinton too. I guess we can all make mistakes...(must start a conspiracy theory that says Obama stole Missouri).

Here is the original post:

I just realized I can call Missouri for Clinton before any of the major networks do. Correct me if I am wrong.

With 94% of the vote in and Obama needing two to one to come back in what looks like a 50/50 cut of the rest of the votes I can faithfully call Missouri for Hillary Clinton.

edit: It looks like AP called it 30 minutes ago. I should have tried to call it earlier. I just kept wondering why MSNBC didn't put that fancy yellow check there.

Then again they are claiming that Clinton and Obama hate each other. The only candidate hated in this race is Mitt Romney. We all know that.

I wonder

I see an America where we failed to get health care when we owned both the
WH and Congress...

I see an America where we failed to sign Kyoto while controlling both the
WH and Congress...

I see an America ravaged by joblessness and homelessness thanks to your
refusal to reverse Reaganomics by passing NAFTA, etc..."

Elias 02.05.08 - 11:04 pm #

But in the meantime, it would be nice to see the Democrats wipe out the Republicans so we can get one step closer to debunking those statements.

For my own humility

Nothing political. Just a mistake I made typing in the comment box on Atrios. I also type throught instead of "through" without fail. I guess my mind doesn't work quite right, eh? "Vince Foster" caught it so I give him a point and a cookie.

What Clinton dead was insignificant compared to all the crap the Republicans have pulled. Not funny.Vince Foster 02.05.08 - 1:39 am

I think Clinton is doing better than the media said

I think I see Hillary Clinton kicking a** right now. She just took Massachusetts and she took it clean. I'm happy. All the polls appear to be pure BS,

CNN show's her cleaning up. I think she's taking the west, the northeast, and cutting through the center of the midwest.

Second place is also called losing

A few hours ago, Dan Abram was on MSNBC saying the media is going to frame today (or tomorrow for us pacific coasters) in a good light for Obama if he wins or comes close, whether he comes close by number of states or delegates.

Basically, Obama gets about 3 chances where Clinton only gets one. Clinton has to get a clear wipeout victory in order to stomp the media’s Barack Fire. Based on current polls, the media has a good chance off framing Barack Obama as the winner even if he loses like Romney.

So I naively believed that Dan Abram was condemning the media for their behavior. But as soon as 10 o clock pacific time came around I saw Dan preeching the same "Obama is closing" crap about New York because Clinton's double digit lead was not large enough.

Oh, By The Way, I'm White

Sharon Marquez, editor of the Chillicoth Gazette, a newspaper from the newspaper network of Central Ohio, wrote an article about a Klansman who was riding in the back of a pickup truck with a "trashy sign" that would speed away whenever someone tried to approach him.

I appreciate the article. I really do. But the last sentence of the article was "By the way, I am not a person of color. I am white." I think it was odd that she felt she needed to qualify the article as if her words were not powerful enough. It is as if she expects her audience to only believe that an African-American or some other hyphen-American would be willing to write those words.

It really does show how pitiful people must be if we expect them to act like that. How much bigotry is there in the United States where people do not recognize that there has been and always will be a section of White America that acts against injustice. It has been there since the Atlantic slave trade and continues to this day. But the expectation in America appears to be White neglect of race related issues.

Dick Morris: Bigot, Backstabber, Toe Sucker

On January 29, DickMorris of Fox News said on Hannity and Colmes that Edwards' voters are those that can’t decide which they don’t like more—a black or a women getting elected.

Let us know who is talking right now. Dick "the toe sucker" Morris. Dick Morris has been a political consultant since the 80's and was one of Bill Clinton's lead consultants until 1996 when his sucking toe fettish was discovered.

Morris had an affair with a prostitute named Sherry Rowlands who he would allow to listen in on calls between himself and the president. He let her read speeches before they were ever given and was generally known as a behind the scenes guy.

But no one would want to know what this guy was doing in his private life because it was all sick. Prostitution, adultery, and he was the 7th largest tax delinquent in the United States in 2007. That is just what we know about.

He has taken advantage of his relationship with the Clintons by lying himself back into prosperity. After his sex scandal he lost a million dollar book deal so he turned to sleezy, unsubstanciated lies in order to get another one.

This guy has skeletons, he is sick, and he is allowed to speak whenever he wants on Fox News. Go figure.

Clinton Nostolgia

I am amazed, is all, that I can look at old articles that describe Hillary Clinton in a way that I do not seem to see today.

In the September 17, 2007 issue of Newsweek the cover says "What kind of decider would she be?" with Hillary Clinton angled behind a pulpit raising her hand as if waving to a crowd. The article describes how Clinton was rather stubborn when she entered Washington as First Lady, refusing to yield on her healthcare program to the point of ultimately dooming it. It goes on to say that Clinton cocooned herself with her aides and came out as a new, compromising individual who could cut policies away with hardlined Republicans such as Trent Lott and Lindsey Graham.

Now I see the media shutting Clinton out, possibly in order to make it a real race. It might be worth it to ignore anything new and just look for older articles on all of the candidates that appeared before the hype.

Mitt Romney Lies In Florida

Watching CNN, I just saw Mitt Romney speaking to a crowd of people in Florida telling them that Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have never held a job in the private sector. Naturally, this is another of Mitt Romney’s lies, just like when he proclaimed he was a lifelong hunter despite the fact that he only hunted small “varmints” twice, or when he said he “saw” his father march with Martin Luther King, even though he never watched his dad’s civil rights activism with his own eyes, or the time he claimed an NRA endorsement that he never won (last three examples from an editorial in the January 30, 2008 edition of The New Republic).

I decided to debunk this by going to Wikipedia. Big as life it says that after he received his B.A. from Columbia University in 1983 Obama worked at Business International Corporation and the New York Public Interests Research Group. Hillary Clinton became a faculty member at the Fayetteville School of Law in 1974. She joined the Rose Law firm in February of 1977 working pro bono in child advocacy.

On behalf of Obama and Clinton, up yours Romney.

Voter Volume: I like things that agree with me

DemFromCT on the DailyKos points out that the second place Democrat had more votes than the first place Republican in the New Hampshire primary.

That's sexy

Barack Obama's Religious Schooling

Just like people who still lie about a connection between 9/11 and Iraq, people are out there lying about Barack Obama's religious background. Some people claim Obama is Muslim and was taught at a radical Muslim school even though he is Christian and the school these people mention does not crux itself on religion. Fortunately there are people such as Kate Phillips who debunk these lies about Obama's Religious Schooling.

In addition, there are more fools who mix up Obama with Representative Keith Ellison of Minnesota, the first elected Muslim, who used the Koran (specifically one owned by Thomas Jefferson) at his public swearing in.

The lie that Obama attended a radical Muslim school was created by Steve Doocy and the Fox News staff and the claim is fueled by bad politics, crypto-racism, and ignorance. Obama is "a committed Christian who attends the United Church of Christ in Chicago".

I need to stop reading Eschaton

And one more from Eschaton's message board before I call it a night...possibly.

Well this was from "P O'Neill" and not Atrios. Mike Gerson went ahead and wrote an article using his crystal ball as a reference and will forever look like an over assuming bast...ion of bad sense.

Just look at the Numbers

Just looking at Atrios and saw his link to The Concord Monitor

Democrat's voter numbers are a bit high aren't they?

New Hampshire Primary - Clinton and McCain

The news has been unfairly giving more press to Barack Obama over Hillary Clinton. In addition it has been shining a more positive light on Obama than on Clinton. In addition, the media turns every candidate into a juggernaut despite the nationwide polling that showed the only real juggernaut out there was Hillary Clinton. She showed up in the Cronkite, American Research Group, Quinnipac University, and Washington Post polls in the last quarter of 2007 as a sweeping candidate that controlled 40% of each polling. Yet the Times, CNN, etc. showed every candidate as having some type of potential equal to or greater than Hillary. In reality, every other candidate has been a media creation to push them as far as they have gotten. (I give exception to Obama who has the "O" factor on his side. Oprah Winfrey is the 5th column of the government.)

As I write this blog I Googled "New Hampshire" (without quotes) in Google News and I see 4 articles on Senator John McCain clinching the primary, 3 articles "punditting" away about the NH primary, 1 article on Senator Hillary Clinton winning the primary, 1 on Mitt Romney getting second in the Republican primary (are you serious?), and 1 on Fred Thompson's and how he is neglecting New Hampshire. Even though the people saw through the thin veil that was the media debasing Senator Clinton the news is still trying to save the face of the anti-Clinton, the great, white, male hope that can take down the Democratic juggernaut.

Events contradicted polling that led up to today's primary showing Obama ahead and now everyone will turn their guns away from Obama and toward Clinton again, just as they were pointed before the Iowa phase. The Google search shows that it is obvious the media is writing more about McCain to prop him up because he has received tens of thousands fewer votes than Hillary Clinton.

According to CNN Hillary Clinton has about 170k+ votes with only 83% of the precincts reporting. McCain only had 130k+ votes with a similar number of votes in for the Republican primary. The media will not mention this but it is obvious that there are many more Clinton supporters out there in itty bitty New Hampshire than there are McCain supporters. There are more Democrats out there period and McCain will need all the help he can get.

The itty bitty New Hampshire factor is another point I need to bring up. Why the heck is New Hampshire getting so much credit? I live on the border of a few cities where I could throw a rock into each city nearby and hit 3 or four cities that contain more people than voted in either New Hampshire or Iowa for that matter. It is ridiculous how much weight they put on these bleached, baby sized, "we voted first" people.

Stop propping up the underdog with undeserved praise. Start supporting statements with the numbers. Clinton won the New Hampshire Democratic primary. McCain won the New Hampshire Republican primary. Clinton had more votes. Period. This psycho-babble analysis needs to stop.

Undecided Voters

I read a comment on undecided voters by Atrios and he linked to a post in which Chris Hayes describes the undecided. The anecdotes were frightening (maybe I'm exaggerating) yet humorous (if you can overlook the severity of what it says).

To sum it up, undecided voters are irrational, sympathetic, irked by politics, "crypto-racist", and do not know what a political issue is. It is a must read to see the likes of which our country depends on. Be reminded that 250,000 individuals from the city of Iowa (oops, I mean state) have major influence in selecting our next two major candidates for president. Thousands of these few are the undecided. Atrios had it right when he summed it all up.

We're doomed.