Did Hillary plagiarize McCain's ad?

Spots are nearly identical:

Since tonight's running theme seems to be plagiarism, I just had to run with a story brought to me by Human of Carbon Paper - which he found on Daily Kos. I think that about covers the credits due! =) . . .Earlier this evening, I posted the "3 AM" ad by the Hillary Clinton campaign, as well as Obama's video response to it. Since then I have gained some new information. First, watch "3 AM" again:

The Clinton ad


Next, watch this video from the John McCain campaign, which was released back in January:

<

Hmmm. . .What say YOU? ? ?

And did McCain, in turn, borrow HIS ad idea from Fritz?



Or is this all just a popular theme for attacking a less experienced rival. . .

Friday Nite Retro

Thank God it's F R I D A Y ! ! !

Welcome once again to Friday Nite Retro. Tonight's journey takes us back to the late 1970's and early 80's for some groovin' sounds from Ray Parker! Although he's primarily know for singing the theme song from Ghostbusters, which Huey Lewis and Lyndsay Buckingham both turned down, Parker had several other hit singles as well as working with Barry White in the early 70's and writing and performing session work for The Carpenters, Rufus and Chaka Khan, Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, Leon Haywood, Temptations, The Spinners, Boz Scaggs, Rhythm Heritage, Gladys Knight and the Pips, The Honey Cone, and Diana Ross.

Parker created Raydio in 1977, with Vincent Bohnam, Jerry Knight, and Arnell Carmichael. The group scored their first big hit, "Jack and Jill", off of their self-titled album in 1978. It reached #8 on the Billboard Hot 100, and earned the band a gold record.

Jack and Jill


The next year saw their follow-up hit, "You Can't Change That" from the Rock On album, hit #9 on the Billboard charts.

You Can't Change That


In 1980, their name morphed into Ray Parker Jr. and Raydio, and they released two final albums: Two Places at the Same Time(1980) and A Woman Needs Love(1981).

A Woman Needs Love


After Raydio broke up in 1981, Parker continued on to a successful solo career, scoring six Top 40 hits, including the hit single "The Other Woman" in 1982 "I Sill Can't Get Over Loving You in 1983, and "Ghostbusters" in 1984.

The Other Woman


I Still Can't Get Over Loving You


Parker was accused of plagiarizing the melody for Ghostbusters from Huey Lewis & the News' song "I Want a New Drug". This ended with Lewis suing Parker, and the pair settled out of court in 1985.

Ghostbusters


From his 1984 album Chartbusters:

Jamie


And, from 1987's After Dark:

I Don't Think That Man Should Sleep Alone


Stop by and visit Ray at his official site.

Tim Goeglein: In my own words

Local Bush insider nailed for plagiarism:

I was going to write a post about Tim Goeglein last year. I either just never got around to it, or was sub-consciously avoiding the subject altogether. It would not have been a very nice column. Tim's a nice guy and all, but. . .our world views are as different as night and day.

You see, Tim and I were classmates. And having alphabetically close names, even shared several home rooms over the years. Back in those days, I thought little about politics. Tim was always on student council; I was already working. Perhaps our separate paths had already been set at that young age.

I can't tell you much about Tim after high school; I never thought about him again until we both attended our 20-year high school reunion in 2002. I recall being disgusted by his position as an aide to Bush, but remained civil. That early on, he was already projecting that cheesy Washington insider persona, dripping with false interest in everyone who's hand he shook. He seemed even more fake to me at our 25th reunion last summer. I watched, amazed, as others appeared awestruck by his stories and canned witticisms.

I started doing some Google-searching of my own, just to see what he was all about these days. What I found only lessened my opinion of what he had become - and who he associated with:

Goeglein is such a solid "ambassador" to the Christian Right that when Ted Haggard, the head of the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE - website), made his first post-election visit to the White House he stopped by and congratulated Goeglein for his effective work of bringing Christian voters to the polls.

"He is the key person that actually produced the evangelical vote in America," Haggard told the Indianapolis Star. "It was Karl Rove's initiative, but it was Tim that actually did it. When we call Tim, his office responds. He's the one evangelical leaders across America have a relationship with."

In addition to giving Goeglein his props, Haggard was at the White House to "talk about proposed legislation and encourage the White House to hire evangelicals as interns," the Star reported.

In short, Tim was the "go to" guy when Bush and Rove needed someone to pat the heads of the religious right. . .to assure them that Bush and company were on their side and to get out the vote for him. He likely was a huge force in turning them out to elect the great national disaster that we have endured for the last 7 years. And for that, I cannot forgive him.

Olbermann on Goeglein

Obama responds to Clinton's "3 AM" ad

The Clinton ad


The Obama response

Do as I SAY, not as I DO

Oopsie! I forgot MY flag pin. .

Rep. Jack Kingston lambasted Barack Obama for not wearing a flag pin, proclaiming that we ALL proudly wear our flag pins. Problem is, he wasn't wearing one at the time. . . in fact, I didn't see a flag pin on his lapel in any of the pictures I viewed while google searching him a few minutes ago. Clueless ,fucking hypocrite . . .

House votes to repeal "big oil" tax breaks

Enough is enough!

After the U.S. House of Representatives voted yesterday to repeal $18 billion in tax breaks for big oil companies to help pay for developing renewable energy sources, Bush threatened to veto the bill, saying that it "unfairly targets the oil industry". Read that last line again, and recall that Exxon Mobil, by itself, recorded record profits of $40.6 BILLION last year. These bastards have gotten fat (particularly the fat bastard pictured) off us, reaping windfall profits while George Bush hands them back billions of our tax money!

Even you conservative, pro-business, common market folks must find fault with subsidizing an industry that requires no help in the first place! "Nothing wrong with making a profit" is the talking point that I keep hearing from these people. I agree, to a point. But I take exception at obscene profits that are made merely to make obscene profits - big oil has had no unexpected increased expenses, no shock waves. They are directly fucking the American people, while their enabling lackey in the White House not only protects them, but hands them more of our money via tax breaks.

In 2007, the price for a barrel of oil jumped from $50 to $100. I don't recall hearing that the supply fell by 50%, nor did I receive any information regarding a huge increase in expenses for the oil companies. What I HAVE heard is that big oil was given billions to offset THEIR usual and customary expenses, while those of us in the transportation industry not only got screwed at the pump, but received no in-kind government assistance to help us like the oil companies got. My annual fuel costs have increased from $3.5k in 2001 to $10.5k last year - where's MY big tax break? Somewhere on Exxon Mobil's tax return, apparently. . .

Obama "schools" John McCain

Correctly places blame where it belongs:

John McCain got his first taste of what it'll be like going toe-to-toe with Barack Obama...and it wasn't pretty. Obama pretty much took him to school when it came to al Qaeda in Iraq:

An oldie but a baddie

John McCain's chart-topping new single:

He has served his country in the military, the Congress, and the Senate. Now he serves America in song:

Bloomberg officially not running

Editorial puts rumors to rest:

After two years of playing coy about his presidential ambitions, Mayor Michael Bloomberg declared in a newspaper editorial Wednesday that he will not run for president but might support the candidate who "takes an independent, nonpartisan approach." Unlike Ralph, umm, what's his name again? Bloomberg would have been a credible and formidable candidate.

The 66-year-old billionaire businessman, who aides had said was prepared to spend $1 billion to run as an independent, wrote in an editorial on The New York Times' Web site that he will work to "steer the national conversation away from partisanship and toward unity; away from ideology and toward common sense; away from sound bites and toward substance."

"I listened carefully to those who encouraged me to run, but I am not _ and will not be _ a candidate for president," he wrote.

In the Times editorial, Bloomberg wrote that while he is not running, the race is too important for him to stay completely out.

"And so I have changed my mind in one area," he said. "If a candidate takes an independent, nonpartisan approach _ and embraces practical solutions that challenge party orthodoxy _ I'll join others in helping that candidate win the White House."

Putting his endorsement _ and wealth _ behind one of the candidates could make a significant difference. And Bloomberg, a Democrat-turned-Republican-turned-independent, has ties to Obama, Clinton and Republican Arizona Sen. John McCain.

John Lewis endorses Obama

"Something is happening in America"

Civil rights leader John Lewis dropped his support for Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential bid Wednesday in favor of Barack Obama. The Atlanta Democratic congressman, also a superdelegate, is the most prominent black leader to defect from the Clinton camp in the face of nearly unanimous black support for Obama in recent voting.

NBC's Andrea Mitchell interviewed Lewis about his decision to switch his endorsement from Clinton to Obama. Lewis told Mitchell that the decision was extremely difficult, "much tougher" than when he helped lead the famous march on Selma, Alabama in 1965. Lewis had his head smashed in during that particular incident. Watch the video of Mitchell's interview with Lewis below:

Bush takes aim at Yellowstone wolves

Seeks removal from endangered species list:

Remember this ad from Bush/Cheney in 2004:



Now Bush is turning on the stars of his little terror invoking ad:

Dear Activist, The Bush administration has just eliminated federal protections for hundreds of endangered wolves in Greater Yellowstone and the Northern Rockies. Please protest this decision now - it will only take a minute to send your message in support of protecting these wolves! This decision leaves wolves in Greater Yellowstone and the Northern Rockies at the mercy of outrageous state management plans that allow for the killing of as many as 1,200 wolves - 70% of all the region's wild wolves! Idaho officials want to use aerial gunning to kill wolves in their state. Wyoming agencies have left the door open to the use of traps and poison to eliminate wolves. And officials in both states - and Montana - have proposed wolf hunts. That's not responsible wildlife management. It's a recipe for disaster. Please make your voice heard today and demand continued protections for wolves! Thank you for your urgent action today, Rebecca Young, Care2 and ThePetitionSite Team Stop Bush Admin's Plan to Take Wolves Off the Endangered Species List! Let the Bush administration know you strongly oppose its decision to remove Greater Yellowstone wolves from the list of federally protected threatened and endangered species. Forward to a friend >> Read the petition >>

Mayor ousted for My Space pics

THIS is scandal?

Carmen Kontur-Gronquist, now former mayor of Arlington, Oregon, has been removed from office for having racy photos of herself on her My Space page. In a Monday referendum, the residents of Arlington voted 142- 139 to remove her from office.

The photos, taken for a fitness contest that she had entered before becoming Mayor of Arlington, were not publicly available. (Apparently they were- see left) I don't see what the big deal is - you see more skin in prime time television than you do in this pic. . .

William F. Buckley has died at 82

William F. Buckley, a leading contributor to the conservative movement, scourge of American liberalism, and founder of the National Review succombed to emphysema today at his home in Stamford, Connecticut.

Buckley was often sarcastic and cruel in defense of his beliefs. His gladiatorial contests on air reached a climax in this infamous row with Gore Vidal in 1968. When Vidal persisted in suggesting that Buckley's views made him something close to a fascist, Buckley burst out: "Now, listen, you queer. Stop calling me a crypto-Nazi, or I'll sock you in the face!":

Obama opens double-digit national lead

Respondents find him caring - inspiring - diplomatic

A new CBS News/New York Times poll finds Barack Obama with a 16-point lead over rival Hillary Clinton among Democratic primary voters nationwide. Obama, coming off 11 straight primary and caucus victories, had the support of 54% of Democratic primary voters nationally to Clinton's 38%. In a similar poll taken three weeks ago,Obama and Clinton were tied at 41%; Clinton led by 15 points nationally in January.

• Clinton has lost her advantage among women, according to the poll: The two leading Democrats now have even levels of support among female primary voters.

• Men, meanwhile, disproportionately favor Obama. He leads Clinton among male Democratic primary voters 67% to 28%, and leads among white men 61% to 33%.

• 59% of Democratic primary voters said Obama has the best chance of beating likely Republican nominee John McCain in the general election. 28% said Clinton is most likely to win in November.

• Obama is now seen as the likely Democratic nominee: More than two-thirds of Democratic primary voters said they expect the Illinois senator to win the nomination.

• When all registered voters were asked who they favored in a head-to-head general election match up between Obama and McCain, Obama led by 12 percentage points, 50 to 38 percent.

• In a Clinton-McCain match up, registered voters were evenly split, with 46% backing each candidate.

• Obama beats McCain by 10 points among independents, while McCain beats Clinton by 17 points among that group.

Larry Craig wants YOU!

Senator seeks fresh meat:

Senator Larry Craig is looking for a few good men boys. It's bad enough that he lied about his transgressions in the first place, STILL claims to have no sexual interest in other men, and refuses to resign for the good of his state. This disgraced, shameless, seeker of secretive bathroom stall sex with strangers actually had the audacity to release the following press release today:

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Idaho Senator Larry Craig is currently seeking intern applications for the summer term, which runs from May to August. The application deadline is March 15, however if more time is needed for the application process, please contact Senator Craig's office for an extension. Craig offers paid internships within the Washington, D.C., office. Preference is given to Idaho applicants attending Idaho schools who are in their junior or senior years of college (including graduating seniors).

'"Interns have the chance to be an essential part of a working congressional office," said Craig. "They participate in the legislative process as well as ensure that constituent services run smoothly. For those interested in politics, it is an incredible opportunity to get an in-the-behind-the-scenes look at how our government functions while serving the people of Idaho."

Interns are paired with staffs members based on experience and interests, in order to best utilize their talents. They are also expected to fulfill some administrative duties such as answering phones, sorting mail and greeting constituents.

Who in their right mind would apply for a position under this man?

Chris Dodd endorses Obama

Senator seeks party unity.

Senator Chris Dodd, a former rival, superdelegate, and longtime friend of the Clintons, endorsed Barack Obama today. At a Cleveland press conference with Obama, Dodd denied he was implying that Hillary Clinton should drop out, and was merely suggesting that both campaigns watch their tone over the next week leading up to the critical Ohio and Texas contests. Dodd had informed Clinton of his decision last evening, calling it "not a comfortable" discussion.

"It is now the hour to come together," he told reporters in Cleveland. "I believe the hour has come now for us to make that choice - to stand up and say we're going to get behind this candidacy."

"I don't want a campaign that is only divisive here, and there's a danger of it becoming that," he said. "Not because the candidates want that, but too often the advisors the consultants others are seeking for that divisiveness."

Dear friend - Please forward this!

If you DON'T, then you don't love Jesus:


Vic DeMize, of The Pragmatist's Corner, has taken the time to investigate and debunk an "alarming" e-mail that he received today concerning the "true facts" of the social security system. In this particular gem, Democrats are blamed for every ill that has ever befallen the system - In others, the pachyderms across the aisle are laid waste to. Either way, our spam mailboxes are in need of constant cleaning!

Vic has some advice for those who send out these annoying, and generally factless, e-mails:

"So to those who delight in passing on misinformation without taking the time to do their own research, let me assure you: I will do your research for you and if your facts are found to be lacking I will not hesitate to present the truth, not only to you, but to everyone you sent your bullshit (it's called "Reply to All"), ensuring your social embarrassment and destroying your credibility in the eyes of your online friends."

Hillary mocks Obama during campaign rally

Resorts to Karl Rove style attacks:

Hillary Clinton, with her campaign on its last legs after suffering a string of defeats to Obama, has made the decision to go negative in an attempt to halt his momentum. On Saturday, she also accused Obama's campaign of using negative tactics "right out of Karl Rove's playbook" in mailers that misrepresent her positions on NAFTA and healthcare. The Obama mailings have been in ciculation since Super Tuesday, and she just NOW suddenly has an issue with them?

In their debate last week, Hillary Clinton proclaimed "how proud she was to be standing on the same stage with Barack Obama". Apparently that love fest has ended, and the wounded Clinton is resorting to the same Rovian style tactics that she's accused Obama of - in this case, attacking your opponent's strengths.

Jimmy Kimmel - "I'm fucking Ben Affleck"

Jimmy Kimmel gets his revenge!

Three weeks ago I posted the video "I'm fucking Matt Damon"- a joke on Jimmy Kimmel by his girlfriend, Sarah Silverman where she claimed to be, well, fucking Matt Damon. Jimmy vowed revenge, and how sweet it is! Enjoy this star-studded video response:

You Tell Me

Dead snowman walking!

Welcome to another "Frosty" Monday morning and yet another opportunity to amaze us with your photo captioning skills! Grow some (snow)balls and caption this sucker already!

Chuck Buckley is alive and well!

Just posted on Divided States of Bu$hmerica:

For those of you reading this who don't know Chuck, he vanished without a trace last November. We've all been greatly concerned about him, and had even feared the worst. When I saw his blog showing "updated" in my blogroll this evening, I thought it was likely a glitch. But I clicked over anyway, and was greatly relieved to read the following:

Sunday, February 24, 2008

We're home and OK

I abandoned this blog without a word and for that I'm VERY SORRY to my readers and net-friends, but I had good reason. Our grandaughter was born in November with many complications. She was admitted into Children's Hospital Neonatal Intensive Care Unit in Columbus, OH and that's where we have been "living" this past couple of months- literally ceasing our daily lives. We just returned home with her in January. She is doing better, but will require a lot of continuous care. We've had a few trips back to Columbus since then and many local doctor appointments- 2 to 3 per week. She and her parents (our son and his fiance) will be living with us. All of our lives have been changed by this.

Right now, I don't know if I'll be able to get back into this blog and this is the first time I've even had the mental opportunity to make this post. Please understand that our nerves are not in the best condition and we're far behind on everything at home.

I hope to be able to start visiting your blogs again soon. I honestly haven't even read any comments here yet, but I intend to in the next few days. I have been (slowly) catching up on the political scene. Its nice to see bush nearly unmentioned by the media these days...must be tough on an ego like that.

May the cosmic forces bless you. Thank you all for your net friendships.

Chuck

Go Ahead And Die! (Pirates Of The Health Care-ibean)

The health care crisis as depicted by pirates:

Nader announces candidacy for President

I'll take "people who just don't get it" for $1,000, Alex!

Ralph Nader, a candidate who is unsafe at any speed, announced his third-party run for the presidency today on NBC's "Meet the Press." Nader pledged to "shift the power from the few to the many." Unfortunately for him, that slot
has already been filled in this election cycle.

Nader, at 73, is two years older than John McCave and almost as batshit crazy. He's also directly responsible for the initial election of George Bush in 2000. His candidacy that year cost Democrats the election by siphoning votes away from Al Gore in the razor-thin contest in Florida, that was decided by the Supreme Court anyway.

Though he won 2.7 percent of the national vote as the Green Party candidate in 2000, his percentage dropped to just 0.3 percent as an independent in 2004, when he appeared on the ballot in only 34 states. I'll take "people who just don't get it" for $1,000, Alex!

Nader claims that most people are disenchanted with the Democratic and Republican parties due to a prolonged Iraq war and a shaky economy, and blamed tax and other corporate-friendly policies under the Bush administration that he said have left many lower- and middle-class people in debt. So he gets it HALF right. . .and, again, we already have a candidate who is the exact opposite of all of those things, Barack Obama.

Saturday Night Live has found it's Fauxbama

Armisen has also portrayed Ahmadinejad and Prince:

Saturday Night Live has tapped regular cast member Fred Armisen to play its Obama , which he did with his brow furrowed the whole time, doing a nice rendering of Obama's from-30,000 feet speechifying and penchant for scribbling during debates.

The CNN debate spoof greedily hit on it all around the central conceit that the media was "totally in the tank" with Obama. Kristen Wiig was a smitten Campbell Brown, Jason Sudeikis a drooling John King, and Will Forte a dashingly handsome Jorge Ramos, whose question to Obama was "Are you comfortable? Can we get you anything?" while all three panelists ignored and insulted Amy Poehler's Clinton (by far the best example of that was when Wiig's Brown smacked down Clinton for interrupting the "randomly selected" audience questioner, Obama Girl. "I think you owe Obama Girl and .all the people of this nation an Obam-apology," she deadpanned.

Waxing Nostalgic at the Roller Dome

My daughter's future memories invoked my old ones:

My oldest daughter, Samantha, turned 8 yesterday. This year she wanted to have a skating party for the occasion, so my wife reserved a birthday party at Roller Dome South (pictured at left). Sam's been to RDS a few times for school parties and such; I hadn't been there since, to the best of my recollection, 1978 or so. That would have made me 14 years old at the time. I really don't recall being a roller skating fan - I think it was more along the lines if "that's where the girls hang out". . .

Walking in tonight, I was still amazed at the familiarity of the place after three decades and the handful of times that I had actually been there back in those days. I'm sure that the walls have been painted different colors and pinball games have morphed into video games, but it was still sort of nostalgic.

While the physical atmosphere seemed little different to my old eyes, the actual atmosphere of the place was quite changed. Although this may just be a generational thing. . . the music was 95% hip-hop or along those lines. As I don't normally hang out at roller rinks, I can't say with any certainty whether or not that is the current trend in such places. When last I had set foot into one, disco was the music du jour and, as skating, much like dancing, is all about what you can groove to, I was likely just the old guy out of his comfortable little pond. Still, I kept waiting for the DJ (Who I later discovered to also be the janitor) to play "Le Freak"!



Sam had a great time, and that's what matters. She was enthralled by my tales of skating in this very same rink so very long ago, in the way that only kids of a certain age can be before they grow old enough to find you boring, old-fashioned, and embarrassing. I'm sure it's a memory I will cherish before long. . .

Toni Basil at 64

26 years after "Mickey", Basil defies time:


Toni Basil, left, is now 64 years. . .I was gonna say old, but somehow that word doesn't seem to apply to her. We should all look so good at retirement age. Thing is, most people probably don't realize that she was 39 years old when she made the video for her "fifteen minutes of fame" called Mickey - she only appeared to be half of her age way back then! The video is available below for your perusal. . .

Although she's primarily know for her popular video, Basil was actually involved in a number of projects over the last 40 years. She played the part of the brunette prostitute Mary in Easy Rider, as well as appearing in TV shows such as Laverne & Shirley and Baywatch), and worked as a choreographer for movies such as American Graffiti, The Rose, and Legally Blonde.

Basil's recording career began in 1966 with a rare one-off single for A&M Records, the title song from the film Breakaway. Although she appeared three times as musical guest during the first season of Saturday Night Live in 1975–76, it wasn't until 1982 that she released a follow-up, the international smash "Mickey". This song is, in fact, a cover of "Kitty", a 1979 release by UK band Racey, written by British hitmakers Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman. Furthermore, "Mickey" was actually recorded in 1979, and when her record label wanted to release the song in 1982, Basil was reluctant, believing the song already sounded "dated". But the label persevered, and pop-music history was made.

The music video for "Mickey" was one of the most popular of the early MTV videos. In t video, Basil wore her head cheerleader uniform from Las Vegas High School, the school from which she had graduated from in 20 years prior. She has a special fondness for the song today and its enduring popularity. Basil has said on more than one occasion that she would gladly put on the cheerleader uniform she wore in the video again if she washe asked to. In 2003, VH1 ranked "Mickey" Number 5 on its list of the 100 Greatest One Hit Wonders:

The Lionel Show - Now on YouTube!

Regular morning listeners of Air America Radio are no doubt familiar with Lionel, who hosts the 9AM-Noon slot on the network. The Lionel Show is now taking baby steps into the world of new media by adding their own YouTube channel, and you get to see what Dermott, Juice-tan, and Al B. Damned look like too:

Lionel - Web Intro


Listen in as Lionel dispatches an unsuspecting printer salesman calls the wrong number and gets more than she can handle:

Lionel vs. The Telemarketer


Lionel discusses the dark side of plastic surgery.

Plastic surgery gone bad

The Politics of Fear

The fear card has been all played out.

GOP's FISA Thriller: 3, .. 2, .. 1 .. We're All Going to Die. And it will be all the House Democrats' fault, or so this video attempting to scare the crap out of you posted over at GOP.gov portends, although it is the fault of the Republicans refusing to negotiate on their insistence on covering up Bush's crimes by protecting the telecoms who enabled him.

All the GOP has left is the fear card, and that sucker is wore slam out. Bush's trusty Supreme Court has already seen fit to throw up a firewall for the telecoms, so why is it the Republicans are still insisting on holding up the FISA bill? It's because the Republican Party will do anything they can to keep whatever secrets are hidden in those NSA spy rooms from ever incriminating their President, even if it does mean putting our country at more risk to do so. That's why.



Here's a parody video that rebukes the fearmongering video that the House GOP just put out about the "destruction of the world" because the Telecoms didn't get immunity.



And finally,In case you missed it, on Thursday night's "Countdown" Keith Olbermann presented an impressively detailed timeline he called "The Nexus of Politics and Terror," in which he chronicled the Bush administration's exploitation of terror threats for political gain. Olbermann's exhaustive account weaves from each revelation of an intelligence failure or a Democratic political victory to an almost immediate orange alert or "new threat" from al Qaeda.

The clip is 17 minutes long and entirely worth it, and its conclusion — "what we were told about terror, and not told, for security reasons, has overlapped considerably with what we were told about terror, and not told, for political reasons" — is a dutiful summary of the past six years:

The Marching Storm of Democracy

Democracy is alive and well in Texas!

Texas Republicans have worked overtime to make it harder for key Democratic voting groups to vote and be represented fairly. The whole state was gerrymandered out the yin-yang (if you recall, back in 2003, statehouse Democrats were forced to flee to Oklahoma in a futile attempt to block the GOP's redistricting plan) back in 2003 - the redistricting games they’ve played are infamous. And for the Prairie View A&M University precincts, they put the early-polling place more than seven miles from the school.

The historically black university is home to about eight thousand students, who study in a range of fields - most notably engineering, nursing and agriculture - and they have a famous marching band called the Marching Storm (which, as you'll soon see, is pretty appropriate):

Ted Kennedy Serenades Crowd

¡Voto para Obama el 5 de marzo!



Ted Kennedy belted out a popular Mexican song to a cheering crowd during a Barack Obama event in Laredo, Texas:

Friday Nite Retro

Welcome once again to that weekly excursion into obscurity that I call Friday Nite Retro! Tonight I'm featuring the work of members of Buffalo Springfield, The Eagles, Loggins & Messina, and several other obscure bands. In other words, they had alot of turnover during the tenure!

When Buffalo Springfield split up in 1968, Richie Furay and Jim Messina decided to form a new band called Pogo. Cartoonist Walt Kelly had issues with the use of that name, so they switched it to Poco. The original lineup was Furay (vocals, rhythm guitar), Messina (lead guitar, vocals, producer), Rusty Young (pedal steel guitar, banjo, dobro, guitar, and vocals), George Grantham (drums and vocals) and Randy Meisner (bass and vocals).

Their first album, Pickin' Up the Pieces (1969) is considered one of the best and most important albums of a new musical genre that united country with rock music. However, the album was not a commercial success, falling short of the top 50 on the Billboard album charts. Prior to its release, Meisner left the group as a result of conflict with Messina over the group's direction. After a stint playing with Rick Nelson's Stone Canyon Band, he later became a founding member of The Eagles. Timothy B. Schmit subsequently replaced Meisner on both bass and vocals.

Guided by the vision of Furay and Messina, Poco's unique blending of the Bakersfield sound with energetic rock translated well to live performances, and the band developed a loyal following on the road. Their next two albums each produced a moderate hit, Messina's "You Better Think Twice" and Furay's "C'mon". Critical acclaim did not yield commercial success, however, and Messina finally chose to leave the band. He went on to become half of Loggins and Messina. Paul Cotton replaced Messina.

C'mon


The realigned Poco, now working on its third lineup on just its fourth album, hired Steve Cropper as producer and released From The Inside (1971), featuring Cotton's "Bad Weather", which became a signature song for the band.

Bad Weather


Furay became increasingly discouraged with Poco's prospects, especially since ex-bandmates Meisner and Messina were so successful with their new acts. The next album, Crazy Eyes (1973), was another strong effort that ultimately proved to be Furay's last as a member of the group. The title track was a Furay song written about fellow country-rock pioneer Gram Parsons of Flying Burrito Brothers fame, who had died of a drug overdose just prior to the recording of the album. Furay left Poco and joined with J. D. Souther and Chris Hillman to create the Souther-Hillman-Furay Band. Poco decided not to replace Furay and continued as a quartet.

Crazy Eyes


Furay's departure provided an opportunity for Rusty Young. Previously known largely for his multi-instrumental talents, especially on pedal steel guitar, Young stepped up to become one of the band's primary songwriters and singers on subsequent albums. Seven (1974) and Cantamos (1974), their last two albums for Epic Records, established the group as a strong quartet without Furay. They moved to ABC Records, although Epic still had the rights to a live album (Live (1976)). Head Over Heels (1975), Rose Of Cimarron (1976), and Indian Summer (1977) found the group augmenting their country rock sound with a more mainstream approach. Head Over Heels featured Schmit's acoustic "Keep On Tryin'", which became an AOR favorite and the group's most successful single to date.

Keep on Tryin'


At that point, Schmit quit to join the Eagles, coincidentally replacing former Poco member Meisner yet again. Undaunted, Young and Cotton redoubled their efforts, selecting Brits Steve Chapman (drums) and Charlie Harrison (bass) to round out their new quartet. The band's 1978 album,Legend, with cover art by comedian Phil Hartman, subsequently became the group's most commercially successful album, yielding a gold album and two Top Twenty hits, Young's "Crazy Love" (which also had a seven-week run at Number 1 on the Adult Contemporary chart in 1979, the biggest hit on the AC chart that year) and Cotton's "Heart of the Night".

Crazy Love


In the Heart of the Night


Despite creating music that often lived up to the quality of the band's earlier efforts, this lineup ultimately failed to sustain the success achieved by "Legend." In the wake of changing musical tastes and a fickle marketplace in the early 1980s, Poco increasingly faded from the forefront of the popular music scene. After a lengthy recording hiatus, Poco reemerged with the successful Legacy (1989), reuniting original members Young, Furay, Messina, Grantham, and Meisner twenty years after Poco's debut. The album featured two top forty hits, 'Call it Love' and 'Nothing to Hide', and earned a gold album. Just like the early days, though, internal conflict disrupted the continuing success of this lineup, and it splintered and then disbanded in 1991.

Call it Love


Nothing to Hide


Poco is still writing and recording a substantial volume of music, touring festivals and top rock venues in the United States, Canada and Europe, and doing solo projects. Young, Cotton, Sundrud, and veteran drummer George Lawrence comprise the current lineup. Check out their official website!

John McCain's "Friends"

Since the traditional media has obsessively focused on McCain's alleged liaison with Vicki Iseman and smearing The NY Times, the folks at Brave New Films felt compelled to take action. Jason, Phillip, and Dallas raced to the editing room, turned off the phones, locked the door, and focused on the real issue about McCain's lobbyist ties:



Sign the petition demanding McCain return the millions of dollars raised by lobbyists.

McCain's Scandal Du Jour

Latest scandal involves embezzlement:




GOP Arizona Rep. Rick Renzi, co-chair of Sen. John McCain's campaign in Arizona, has been indicted this morning:

Republican Rep. Rick Renzi has been indicted for extortion, wire fraud, money laundering and other charges related to a land deal in Arizona. A 26-page federal indictment unsealed in Arizona accuses Renzi and two former business partners of conspiring to promote the sale of land that buyers could swap for property owned by the federal government. The sale netted one of Renzi's former partners $4.5 million.Renzi is a three-term member of the House. He announced in August that he would not seek re-election.Today's indictment comes after a lengthy federal investigation into the land developing and insurance businesses owned by Renzi's family. In April 2007, federal agents raided a Sonoita, Arizona business owned by Renzi's wife, Roberta.

Secret Service endangers Obama

Our good friend Human broke this last night:

Dallas police officers are complaining about the decision to stop weapons screening at an Obama rally of 17,000 people:

Security details at Barack Obama's rally Wednesday stopped screening people for weapons at the front gates more than an hour before the Democratic presidential candidate took the stage at Reunion Arena. The order to put down the metal detectors and stop checking purses and laptop bags came as a surprise to several Dallas police officers who said they believed it was a lapse in security.

Dallas Deputy Police Chief T.W. Lawrence, head of the Police Department's homeland security and special operations divisions, said the order -- apparently made by the U.S. Secret Service -- was meant to speed up the long lines outside and fill the arena's vacant seats before Obama came on.

A Few of Obama's Positions

The "short" list

Stan Matuska just published a short piece regarding a few of Barack Obama's ideas and stands on the issues. It is my great pleasure to re-post it here:

Opposed the Iraq war from the start.Voted to end the war in Iraq.Supports capturing and killing Osama Bin Laden.Favors a $1000 tax cut for every working American family. Will implement tax form simplification to reduce filing time.Provide tax credit for all middle class owners.Provide a tax cut for all families making less than $75,000 a year.Amend NAFTA to protect American workers.Amend NAFTA to strengthen environmental protections.Providing Flex Ed training accounts for workers.Extending Trade Adjustment assistance to service workers.Supported Patriot Employer Act of 2007 that gives tax credits to large companies that keep workers here in America.Double funds for basic federal research.Implement a long term research and development tax credit.Invest in green technologies.Reduce carbon emission gases.Tackle the challenges of global warming.Create an energy focused youth jobs program.Create Federal Renewable Portfolio Standard.Extend the Production Tax Credit.Expand Broadband into every community.Keep the Internet tax free.Expand high speed internet access in rural areas.Fight for passage of Employee Free Choice Act.Ensure freedom to unionize.Would overturn "Kentucky River" classifications of Bush's NLRBProtect rights of striking workers.Increase the mininum wage to index it to inflation.Crack down on predatory lenders.Provide a universal mortgage tax credit for homeowners who don't itemize.Sign the Stop Fraud Act to prevent lending fraud.Mandate accurate loan disclosure.Create a fund to protect people from foreclosures.Close the bankruptcy loophole for mortgage companies.Establish a credit card rating to improve disclosure.Ban utilateral credit card charges.Apply interest rate only to future debt.Prohibit credit card interest on fees.Prohibit Universal defaults.Require prompt and fair crediting of cardholder payments.Protect working people from unfair bankruptcy laws.Ban executive bonuses for bankruptcy companies.REquire disclosure of pension investments.Cap outlandandish interest rates on payday loans.Implement legislation to drive unscrupulous lenders out of businessCreate a bankruptcy exemption for people that went broke because of medical bills.Double funding for after school programs.Extend Family and Medical Leave Act.Encourage states to adopt Paid leave.Expand the Child Care Tax CreditSupports ratification of UN Convention Rights of Persons With Disabilities.Supports independent, community based living for people with disabilities.Expand educational opportunites for people with disabilities.Expand job opportunities for people with disabilities.Strengthen civil rights enforcement.Sign into law the Fair Pay Act.Sign law reversing recent SCOTUS rulings that permitted discrimination against women.Sign law reversing recent SCOTUS rulings that permitted discrimination against racial minorities.Strengthen federal hate crimes legislation.Eliminate the sentence disparities regarding crack cocaines.Establish drug courts for first time, non violent offenders.Create a prison to work incentive for those transitioning back into society.Passed a law to prohibit the practice of racial profiling.Supported reauthorizing the Voting Rights Act.Opposes all discriminatory barriers to voting.Helped reform death penalty system in Illinois to protect innocent people on death row.Voted to ban cluster bombs.Provide high quality affordable child care to families.Will quadrulple Early Head Start funding.Will increase Head Start funding.Creates early learning challenge grants.Abolish overly rigid teach to the test curriculum in schools.Improve accountability in public schools.Invest in intervention strategies to reduce dropout rates in schools.Increase funding for afterschool programs.Supports Step Up program to increase summer learning opportunities.Support English language learner programs.Expand college outreach programs.Create teacher service scholarships.Requires all public schools to be accredited.Create teacher residency programs.Create the American Opportunity Tax Credit for higher education.Streamline financial aid application.Introduced legislation to increase Pell Grant to $5,100.Reduce carbon emissions by 80% by 2050.Confront deforestation.Promote carbon sequestration.Accelerate commercialization of plug in hybrids.Promote development of commercial scale renewable energy.Invest in low emission coal plants.Transition to new electric digit grid.Double science funding for clean energy products.Create Green Jobs Corps.Invest in programs to help manufacturers make transition to green products.Create clean technologies venture capital fund.Deploy cellulosic ethanol.Expand locally owned biofuel refineries.Increase renewable fuel standards.Establish national low carbon fuel standard.Increase fuel economy standards.Invest in solar energy.Invest in wind energy.Establish a centralized database to track lobbyist activities.Appoint an independent watchdog group to oversee congressional ethic violations.Favors campaign finance reform.Sunshine on legislation proposal.End abuse of no bid contracts.Release presidential records in a more timely fashion.Prevent political appointees from working as lobbyists within two years after employment has ended.Reform political appointment process.Sign ethics legislation that he proposed as a Senator with Russ Feingold.Obama sponsored a bi-partisan bill allowing regular people to track federal grants.Take leadership in the global fight against AIDS.Provide tax cuts to small businesses.Provide income tax cuts for all senior citizens making $50,000 a year or less.Expand the Earned Income Tax Credit.Protect workers from caregiver discrimination.Increase mentoring programs for beginner teachers.Provide universal health care for all Americans within 4 years.Combat fraudulent subprime loans.Expand Nurse Family Partnership.Provide automatic workplace pensions for workers.Expand savings credit for retirement accounts.Reinstate pay as you go budget rules.Repeal Bush tax cuts for top 1% which led to lower middle class standard of living.Slash earmarks to pre 2001 levels.Abolish obsolete wasteful government programs.Voted against raising the minimum debt in 2006.Supports wiping out Al Qaeda wherever they may be.Opposed Kyl Lieberman.Supports tough attempts at diplomacy with Iran to protect America's interests.Will work to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.Restrengthen NATO.Passed a bipartisan law with Senator Lugar to prevent smuggling of WMDs.Introduced a bill with Senator Hagel to reduce nuclear arsenals around the globe.Supports securing loose nuke arsenals from the former Soviet Union and elsewhere.Strengthen Non Nuclear Proliferation Treaty.Expand size of Army by 65,000.Expand size of Marines by 27,000.Provide our troops with new equipment and the tools they need.Provide National Service troops with adequate leave time.Will insulate the Director of National Intelligence from partisan politics.Guarantee that health care can never be denied because of a pre-existing condition.Introduce a health care plan similar to the one members of Congress have and give all Americans access to this plan.Simplify the paperwork in health care costs.Make premiums and co pays affordable.Require mandatory coverage of all children for health care.Expand SCHIP.Expand Medicaid.Reduce costs of catastrophic illnesses for employers and employees.Support disease management programs.Require hospitals and providers to have full transparency over costs.Promote patient safety by requiring providers to report medical errors.Establish an independent institute to guide reviews + research on comparative effectiveness in health care.Strengthen anti trust laws to prevent insurance companies from gouging medical providers.Lower medical costs by having electronic health info systems.Increase competition in prescription drug markets.Advance biomedical research field.Improve mental care coverage.Reduce mercury deposits to help prevent miscarriages.Increase funding for autism research.Cosponsored Healthy Kids Act of 2007.Cosponsored reauthorization of SCHIP in 2007.Obama introduced legislation to establish guidelines to monitor fuels from nuclear power plants.Sponsored a bill with Senator Lautenberg to protect chemical plants from possible terrorist attacks.Introduced legislation to upgrade monitoring of water supplies.Introduced legislation to protect localities from radioactive leaks.Create secure borders with additional personnel and infrastructure.Remove incentives for people to enter this country illegally.Crack down on employers who hire illegal immigrants.Invest in transitional jobs.Improve transportation access to jobs.Fully fund community block grants.Create an affordable housing trust fund.Establish a program called 20 Promise Neighborhoods.Invest in rural areas, especially small businesses, schools, and doctors.Implement a payment limitation program to help small farmers.Protect family farms from anti-competitive monopolies.Implement tough fines for CAFO violations.Establish country of origin labeling for all products.Support regional food systems.Encourage organic farming.Provide tax credits for young farmers.Increase capital for small farmers.Modify FCC so all rural residents have access to modern communications.Upgrade rural infrastructure.Supported legislation to reverse 2 billion dollars of agriculture cuts under Bush.Cosponsored Emergency Farm Relief Act of 2006.Sponsored a bill to combat the scourge of methamphetamines.Expand Americorps.Double the Peacecorps in 8 years.Expand Service learning in all our schools.Offer an opportunity tax credit for college students in exchange for 100 hours of community service.Promote college work study programs with public service.Expand on the YouthBuild program.Create a Social Investment Fund Network.Create a non profit entrepreneur agency.Protect Social Security.Reform corporate bankruptcy laws.Strengthen laws protecting against age discrimination in the workplace.Ensure heating assistance for senior citizens.Protect the openness of the Internet.Encourage diversity in media ownership.Protect children from Internet predators with strict law enforcement.Support transition of the internet into the digital world.Preserve artistic expression.Keep inappropriate advertising away from programs for children.Enhance safety standards for toys imported into this country.Protect the right of privacy of every law abiding American.Update surveillance laws under the rule of law.Higher salaries for teachers.Work with the FTC to cut down on cyber crimes.Eliminate teach to the test curriculum and restore true learning to the classroom.Open up government to citizens by providing transparency.Provide all our schools with broadband technology.Modernize public safety networks.Make the research and development tax credit permanent.Protect intellectual property at home and abroad.Reform the patent system to encourage innovation.Allow all veterans back into the VA.Strengthen VA care for all veterans.Fight veterans employment discrimination.Fix the benefits bureaucracy to help veterans.Expand vet centers across the country.Obama passed legilsation to slash red tape to help wounded soldiers at Walter Reed.Introduced legislation to direct the VA and Pentagon to fix its veterans record systems.Introduced legislation to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina.Rebuild the roads and bridges that need to be rebuilt.Will end the genocide in Darfur.Will restore habeas corpus to America.Reject torture.Close down Gitmo.Pledges to obey the Constitution of the United States.Will fully implement and enforce the Equal Pay Act.End tax breaks for US companies sending jobs overseas.Voted to reinstate 1.15 billion to the COPS program to reduce crime.Wants to keep drinking age at 21.Supports grants to local educational agencies.Voted to protect ANWR.Voted to protect the Great Lakes from polluters.Favors labor and trade standards with trade with China.Opposed CAFTA which hurts American workers.Voting to give the District of Columbia its proper vote in Congress.Voted to expand enrollment period for Medicare Part D.Favors repealing the discriminatory don't ask don't tell policy.Provide first responders with the health care and equipment they need.Voted to implement the 9/11 commission recommendations.Voted to restore money to ports and first responders.Voted to establish a Guest Worker program.Voted to increase the minimum wage.Voted against anti-Constitution radicals Alito and Roberts.Voted against the repeal of the estate tax that only applies to 1% of the wealthiest of estates.Supports the first amendment freedom of religion clauses and establishment clauses.Introduced a bill requiring public companies to give shareholders an annual nonbinding vote on executive compensation.Protects our schools by opposing voucher schemes.Introduced Biofuels Security Act in 2007.Favors closing corporate tax loopholes.Understands that global warming is a real problem that must be addressed.Supports civil unions for LGBT couples.Favors the death penalty in the rarest but appropriate of circumstances.

Obama racks up #11

World hands him "Democrats Abroad" primary

Obama coasted to his 11th straight win today by capturing the majority in the Democrats Abroad primary.

More than 20,000 U.S. citizens living abroad voted in the primary, which ran from Feb. 5 to Feb. 12. Obama won about 65 percent of the vote, according to the results released Thursday.

Voters living in 164 countries cast votes online, while expatriates voted in person in more than 30 countries, at hotels in Australia and Costa Rica, at a pub in Ireland and at a Starbucks in Thailand. The results took about a week to tabulate as local committees around the globe gathered ballots.

Edwards Endorses!

Who WILL it be? ? ?

DAMN! He should have shown this side of himself long before now. He would have locked up the nomination:

Teamsters Endorse Obama

Wisconsin and Hawaii wins "sealed the deal"

The 1.4-million member Teamster's Union has officially endorsed Barack Obama. Teamster President James P. Hoffa met with Obama in Texas today to seal the deal. The endorsement should provide a huge boost to Obama in the upcoming blue-collar states of Texas, Ohio and Pennsylvania. The three states have a combined Teamster's membership in excess of 150,000 as well as a large machine to organize and get out the vote.

"We're going to say, 'Yes, yes, we can elect Barack Obama,'" Hoffa said. " ... He's got the best chance to win in the November elections."

Obama's wins Tuesday in Wisconsin and Hawaii helped seal the endorsement, Hoffa said. Clinton has now lost 10 contests in a row to Obama.

"We see the trends and we're impressed by the momentum of the Barack Obama campaign," said Hoffa, who noted that the union's executive board voted unanimously to endorse Obama. Internal polling of the union's members also showed they preferred Obama and that they thought he would do better against presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain, Hoffa said.

Hoffa said he planned to call Clinton and her husband, former President Clinton, to tell them why the union made its decision. "I owe it to them," said Hoffa, who said he had been lobbied by the former president to endorse his wife.

Ohio and Pennsylvania are both strong union states; more than 15% of the work force unionized in Pennsylvania and more than 14% in Ohio. This marks the fourth union endorsement of Obama in the last week. The 65,000 member International Brotherhood of Boilermakers endorsed Obama on Wednesday, the 1.9-million member Service Employees International Union backed the Illinois senator last Friday, and the smaller United Food and Commercial Workers endorsed him last Thursday.

Who's Zoomin' Who?

Hillary - Yes we WILL?

Hillary Clinton has claimed that reporters, not her people, brought forth the charges of plagiarism against Barack Obama, even though her campaign posted video clips on YouTube illustrating similarities in the speeches and suggesting that the shared lines amount to plagiarism.

Obama spokesman Bill Burton said: "Senator Clinton knows full well that her campaign held a conference call with reporters to fan these flames and the fact that she suggested her campaign had nothing to do with it is exactly the kind of evasive tactic voters are rejecting."

Obama said on Monday that he wished he'd credited his friend, Deval Patrick, for the lines. He noted Clinton occasionally has used lines similar to his in her speeches. Like yesterday. In this pathetic effort from Ohio:

Obama takes Wisconsin

Ya, you betcha! YES, we CAN!!

NBC News has just called Wisconsin for Barack Obama! Governor Jim Doyle declares: "I haven't seen such excitement in our state since Eugene McCarthy bested Lyndon Johnson in 1968". Voters were turned off by Clinton attacks on Obama; voted for candidate who spoke to their issues: jobs - change - hope! Thanks to all of our extended family members in the Badger State who supported Barack!

The rules are "out the window"

Ready (to cheat) on Day One!


We already knew that Hillary Clinton intends to bend or break the rules as necessary to secure the Democratic nomination for president. It's old news that she wants to seat the delegates from the states of Michigan and Florida, even though she didn't follow the pledge she made (and the other candidates followed) to remove her name from the ballot and not campaign in those states. It's also old news that she wants superdelegates to vote for her despite the wishes expressed by the popular vote in their respective communities. Here's the newest twist - her campaign intends to go after PLEDGED delegates whom Barack Obama has already won in the caucuses and primaries. WTF?! Pledged delegates are, well, pledged! Turns out that's not the case:

“Delegates are NOT bound to vote for the candidate they are pledged to at the convention or on the first ballot,” a recent DNC memo states. “A delegate goes to the convention with a signed pledge of support for a particular presidential candidate. At the convention, while it is assumed that the delegate will cast their vote for the candidate they are publicly pledged to, it is not required.”

So, in short, OUR vote may not count and is available to the highest bidder at the convention. Apparently, this has been an open secret in the party for years, but it has never really mattered because there has almost always been a clear victor by the time the convention convened. Delegates at this year's convention may find themselves being promised the world to switch their votes.

Hillary Clinton is willing to split the Democratic Party to further her ambitions, unless some wise sage can convince her to take one for the party. Al? Paging Al Gore! We DO NOT need any more Rovian politics of slash and burn, especially from a Democrat. This MUST be resolved before this summer's convention. Party leaders have voiced their concerns on this issue:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has warned against it. “I think there is a concern when the public speaks and there is a counter-decision made to that,” she said. “It would be a problem for the party if the verdict would be something different than the public has decided.”

Donna Brazile, who was Al Gore’s campaign manager in 2000 and is a member of the DNC, said recently: “If 795 of my colleagues decide this election, I will quit [the DNC]. I feel very strongly about this.”

On Sunday, Doug Wilder, the mayor of Richmond and a former governor of Virginia, went even further, predicting riots in the streets if the Clinton campaign were to overturn an Obama lead through the use of superdelegates.

“There will be chaos at the convention,” Wilder told Bob Schieffer on “Face the Nation.”

“If you think 1968 was bad, you watch: In 2008, it will be worse.”

I'm going to catch some grief for this one, but I don't care. While I was writing this post, I heard Hillary (In Wisconsin) telling a crowd "I love "cheese heads"! The first thing that popped into my deranged mind was that Bill was right behind her thinking "I love some cheesy head"! Do we REALLY want to return to that framing of our 2008 nominee? Of course not!

The end is near!

They're out there AND they're breeding!!

Ignorance, intolerance, and narrow-mindedness are apparently Christian values in Lynchburg, Tennessee. . .perhaps these ladies need to spend some more time relaxing and consuming the local product, rather than condemning everyone who's different from them to hell?



At long last it has become crystal clear to me why Al Gore lost his home state in 2000 - he evolved!

Some "mood music" for the above video. . .

Would You Like Lemon with That?

You might be getting an extra "twist".

If you're one of those "water with a twist" drinkers, or a fan of iced-tea with lemon, you may want to rethink your choices the next time that you order a beverage:

Another Republican Pervert Exposed

Had lifelong involvement with youth groups:

Robert A. McKee, a 14-year Republican delegate from Western Maryland, resigned yesterday after authorities, who were conducting a child pornography investigation, seized two computers, videotapes and printed materials from his Hagerstown home. McKee, 58, also resigned his position as executive director of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Washington County where he had worked for 29 years. WTF!?

As chair of the Western Maryland delegation, McKee had sponsored bills this year dealing with minors, including the Child Protection From Predators Act and a proposal to collect DNA samples from sexual predators. McKee had sponsored several other sexual offender and child abduction bills in previous years. One must wonder if he was attempting to deflect attention away from his true nature, or using the legislature to find new fodder for his sickness.

"For me, this is deeply embarrassing," McKee said in a statement. "It reflects poorly on my service to the community. In the meantime, I have entered treatment," he added, without providing specifics. "My primary focus is to get well and stay well. I know this can only happen with the support and prayers of my family and friends and the help of professionals.In the long run, I hope and pray that my work in the local community for the last three decades will speak louder than the challenges I now face."

He's following the standard "Busted Republican Pervert Playbook". Apologize. Show shock at own behavior. His next step will be to blame his problems on alcohol or drugs and enter rehab. Then he'll declare that he's been "cured", so that he can quietly return to his perversions, albeit far more carefully.

For decades, McKee has been involved in youth athletics and children's groups, according to his General Assembly biography. He has served in officer positions in two Little League groups and as secretary of a parent and child center advisory committee. He is a former chaplain for the Hagerstown Jaycees and is a trustee and community services chairman at First Christian Church.

I have two words about that last paragraph: BACKGROUND CHECKS! Especially for positions involving youth and/or church - that's where these scumbags typically hide out in plain sight. They think (rightfully so) that these jobs provide cover and place them above suspicion.

Lindsay Lohan (un)covers Marilyn Monroe

Does she have a president in mind?

First the drugs and alcohol, and now this. Look for Lohan to be found dead in the nude at a hotel near you. . .

In 1962, photographer Bert Stern shot a series of photos of Marilyn Monroe at the Hotel Bel-Air that have collectively come to be known as "The Last Sitting." The photographs are arguably the most famous images ever captured of America's most famous actress. Six weeks after she had posed, Monroe was found dead of an apparent barbiturate overdose.

Lindsay Lohan recreated that photoshoot with NY Magazine, down to the lighting. Her whole photospread with Stern is in the new fashion issue of the weekly, and can be found online here. There is more nudity and may not be safe for work.

Beef Recall - The Video

What's for dinner?

A disturbing undercover video showing cows too sick to stand being shoved with forklifts or dragged with chains across a cement floor at a Southern California slaughterhouse has sparked the largest beef recall in the nation's history.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture ordered a recall of 143 million pounds of beef Sunday evening from Chino-based Westland/Hallmark Meat Co., which is the subject of an animal-abuse investigation. The recall affects beef products dating back to Feb. 1, 2006 that came from the company.



Here is the full footage from the Humane Society:

You Tell Me

I'm lovin' it!

It's Monday again, and that can only mean one thing - you were able to gnaw off your own arm and escape from your "Saturday Night Special". Don't worry about it - they do amazing things with prosthetics these days! Oh well, since you're already in full survival mode, caption this photo:

BBSing Remembered

What in the hell is a SYSOP?

Before this whole Internet/Web fad, before AOL, before CompuServe, before even Prodigy, we had the BBS — dialup Bulletin Board Systems serving communities of computer users. BBSes had their heyday in the Eighties, and they were generally small, homebrew systems — a Sysop (System Operator) would start up a BBS by installing special software on a spare computer, attaching a modem and a phone line, and waiting for the calls to roll in.

The BBS was primarily a local thing, because generally people didn’t want to spend money to dial long-distance. So what you had in the Eighties (and still very much into the Nineties, and a bit still today) was a broad patchwork of regional online communities. This local aspect of the system was largely lost when everyone moved to the Internet, and it’s only present in niche sites like Craigslist and various City Guide sites.

In their heyday, there were over 150,000 BBSes in North America alone. There remain a mere few hundred. Here are about 10 minutes worth of clips from The BBS Documentary; they will help to shed a little light on our old world to those who weren't familiar with it:



As I reported in an earlier post, I still have my BBS, City Limits!, on it's original computer. If you click on the link in that last sentence you will be taken to an online emulation of my BBS that I created over 10 years ago. I still fire up the real thing once every few years, and log in through Front Door just for nostalgia. Blogging is as close as I have come to finding the sense of comaradery that BBSes provided.

Flashback: "Bizarre"

"You're a putz, Mike". . .

The comments on an earlier post brought back some memories of this lost gem from the 1980's, "Bizarre". Since alot of people seemed unfamiliar with the title, I dug up the following. . .

Bizarre was a weekly Canadian TV sketch comedy series, airing from 1980 to 1985, originally on Showtime. The show was hosted by John Byner, and produced by Bob Einstein for the CTV television network. Einstein also portrayed regular character Super Dave Osborne.

The series contained slapstick sketches, monologues, TV parodies, and performances by guest stand-up comics. Interactions between John and members of the studio audience, or show producer Bob Einstein, who often came in to halt a sketch midway through, provided an early example of removing the fourth wall. Much of the humor on the show was considered risque during the original run of the series.

Intro - Bizarre (1980)


Two versions of the show were produced: the Showtime cable network episodes in the United States contained nudity and coarse language. The versions that aired on CTV (and later in syndication) had the nudity removed and the language bleeped by a horn-honking sound. Although the "adult" version is most closely associated with Showtime, it did go out on a few independent TV stations during the 1980s, playing as late-night fare, although the "clean" version is the one that was more commonly found in syndication.The "adult" version has not aired on television since the Showtime airings and original syndication ceased in the late 1980s. The syndicated episodes have been rebroadcast since.

"Bizarre" TV series clip (McSex) 1984


A regular feature of the show was Super Dave Osborne, played by Bob Einstein. Super Dave would perform elaborate mock stunts meant to enthrall viewers; a reporter would assist in framing the sketch. Inevitably, the stunt would fail spectacularly, resulting in severe, hilarious injury to Super Dave. These sketches would usually finish with a view of the scene, in which Super Dave was buried, encased, launched etc., as appropriate for the sketch. Meanwhile, feigning agony, Super Dave would discuss sundry details - information about the next show, why the stunt failed, or what he'd do to the reporter once he recovered from his injuries.

First Super Dave Osborne sketch


Bizarre Kung-Fu Clip


"Gonna Lift us Up" - Byner & Osborne

The Failed Clinton Strategy

An "incumbent" candidate in a race about change:

The December 2007 cover story for The American Prospect asked "Has Hillary Locked It Up?". The article lauded the "strategic and tactical brilliance of her campaign" and "her political adeptness," concluding that Clinton had pulled so far ahead that the race might be over once the first votes were cast. Now that she's fallen behind Barack Obama, her campaign is being vilified by some supporters who say that she made the strategic mistake of believing that she was inevitable, allowing herself to be positioned, in effect, as an incumbent in an election about change.

Indeed, the Clinton camp seemed to be running on the assumption that the nomination would be locked up by the Super Tuesday primaries on Feb. 5, when more than half the states would have voted. And that was about it - there doesn't appear to have been any game plan for after Super Tuesday. There was no cash on hand or even planned for primary fights after that date. This has allowed the well-heeled and more nimble Obama campaign to steamroll it's way through 8, soon to be 10, straight wins.

In contrast to the shortage of funds and post February 5th plans, the Clinton camp had a surplus of loose talk by her husband. Bill Clinton's negative attacks on Barack Obama were likely the biggest mis-step of the campaign thus far. After briefly reigning in the former president, the New Hampshire win gave them renewed confidence in his "help", and he was dispatched to South Carolina where his racially tinged remarks turned out black voters in record numbers. What likely would have been a 10 point win by Obama became a 30 pointer, thanks to Mr.Clinton.

Bill Clinton's efforts have only served as a reminder that the Clinton campaign model is very old-fashioned and inefficient. It's based on what they did in the '90s, not what works today. Obama, on the other hand, has maximized his cash intake via the netroots, and planned to fight in every single state. He had agents in nearly every state one year ago, setting up offices and laying groundwork. The Clinton's by contrast, focused on the Super Tuesday states, and are once more pinning their hopes on a few large states while Obama racks up wins in every other state that "wasn't worth Clinton's time". That model served them well in the 1990's, but what the Obama camp has done to it's advantage is to win states not even considered to be in play for a Democrat, and by large margins. In many of those states, his primary votes surpassed the vote totals cast by Republicans in the same contests. Those kind of wins could turn November's electoral map into a reverse image of the 1980 results.

Clinton is running on a flawed premise: that superior experience is what party voters are looking for. The 2006 elections signalled that change was in the air. Obama focused on that from the start, while Clinton didn't start using the word "change" until December of last year. By then it was obvious that she was merely attempting to jump onto a train that had long since left the station. Thousands of new voters, highly energized youth, and inspired voters are on board that train, and Barack Obama is at the controls.

Word's don't matter?

George Lopez endorses Obama

"America's Mexican" to help in Texas:

In this year’s fight for the White House, the Texas vote is … well … as big as Texas. “This year, we are in the front seat,” James Gibbons of the Houston Chronicle said. "Hundreds of Texas delegates are up for grabs – some right here in Houston. And that has the candidates taking notice."The Chronicle officially endorsed Mr. Obama yesterday.

Obama supporters gathered Saturday to prepare for the endorsement of comedian George Lopez. “It turns out that Senator Obama is a fan of George Lopez, and they talked and George agreed to help him do everything he could, especially here in Texas,” Lopez spokesperson Christy Haubegger said.

The Worst of John McCain

Planned Parenthood speaks out:

John McCain is ardently anti-choice — he wants to make abortion illegal and overturn Roe v. Wade. These positions put him out of step with mainstream voters and will hurt him in the general election.

However, as NPR reported on February 2, 2008, many Republican voters incorrectly believe that Sen. McCain supports abortion rights.

That’s why Planned Parenthood is educating voters about John McCain’s anti-choice record.

AMERICA HAS A PRO-CHOICE MAJORITY

• A recent poll found that 62 percent of voters support Roe v. Wade, with 64 percent of independent voters supporting Roe v. Wade.
• Based on the same poll, by a 20-point margin, voters believe abortion should be legal (57–37); among independent voters, that margin increases to 26 points (59–33).
• McCain received a zero percent rating from the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, the lowest rating in the U.S. Senate.

“Sen. McCain believes government has the right to interfere with the most personal and often the most difficult decisions affecting a woman's health. Most Americans believe just the opposite and, as more voters realize Sen. McCain’s ardent anti-choice position, this will be an issue for him in the general election.”
— Cecile Richards, President, Planned Parenthood Action Fund

WWW.THETRUTHABOUTJOHNMCCAIN.COM

John McCain's new info-mercial

A timely repost from last spring:

Hello, my friends! I'm Senator John McCain, but you can call me "The Pander Bear". I'm here this evening to promote an exciting new product that I had the privilege of testing during my recent shopping trip in Iraq. Ya see, with all of the negative reporting by the liberal media, people back home just aren't getting the true story on our progress in Iraq. In fact, I've been accused of "wearing rose-colored glasses". Now some might take that as an insult, but it got me to thinking about how I could change the erroneous perceptions that people keep reporting on our great successes in establishing this fine example of democracy in the middle east.

Hell, I have to thank these biased media types for that label. It inspired me to create this wonderful new invention that I am proud to introduce to you here today:


"The John McCain Reality Shades"!

I'm wearing a pair in the above picture from my trip to the market. And Mike Pence was gracious enough to help me test them out on that same trip. These special shades are made from a top-secret material, distortium, whose exact properties are known only by top Haliburton executives. Distortium has the ability to bend negative images before they enter the human eye, thus allowing the true images that would normally be blocked to be seen instead. I know, I know, it's all kinda sciencey. . .but the bottom line is - it works!

To prove it, I took photos from a standard digital camera. Here is the picture I took with the distortium lenses fitted onto that camera:


















And here is the picture I took after removing the distortium lenses:













Is there any question at all as to the importance of these special shades? I have personally paid for a pair of these for every media person who is reporting on our war against terror in Iraq! If they refuse to wear them. . .well then we know whose side they're on. Miserable bastards probably won't even send me a thank you note! I rotted in a Nam POW camp, where I lost my freaking mind, but do THEY give a rat's ass?? HELL NO!

Sorry about that. . .sometimes I have "flashbacks" and I have to take the "special pills" that our great and glorious leader, Mr.Bush, was able to find for me. They erase the rage and fill me up with love for him. . .honestly, sometimes I just can't keep my hands to myself! I. . LOVE. . .THAT. . . .MAN! You would to if you got to know him as well as I have. All of those nasty things he said about me in 2000 were just politics, he told me so! And George Bush is incapable of telling a lie! But I digress here. . .

Getting back on topic, I wish I could afford to give all of you a free pair of this high-tech eyewear, but Halibuton is charging more than a tankful of premium unleaded for production costs. So, by taking a very small profit, I am offering you these amazing new "reality shades" for the absolute lowest price possible: $2,999.95 Folks, I'm only making $1.00 per pair at that price! That being said, I'm ready to give you a pair of these for only $19.95, on one condition - your promise to vote for me in 2008. Now I know that some will say I am trying to buy your votes, which couldn't be further from the truth. I'm merely rewarding your loyalty to me, John McCain, the next fuhrer, err. . president of our great corpocracy, umm, democracy!

Thank you all! Good night and God bless!

-Senator John McCain

Today's Laughs

President Bush discussed his daily routine as commander-in-chief in a Fox News interview Sunday at the White House. He said every morning the first thing he does is take a look at that day’s threat to America. Most people simply call it shaving.

Top Ten George W. Bush Moments


"Actually they say the race between Barack and Hillary could be decided by the voters of Texas. Texas! Which is a comfort -- when it comes to providing smart politicians, Texas is the place you want to be." --Jay Leno

Great Moments in Presidential Speeches


"President Bush hosted a birthday celebration for Abraham Lincoln Sunday in the White House. It was a fitting tribute. He led the nation into a civil war and suspended constitutional rights and alienated half the country, and so did Abe Lincoln". - Argus Hamilton



"President Bush says during his last year in office, he will visit more countries than in any other year of his presidency. He says he will accomplish all of this in one weekend by going to EPCOT Center." --Conan O'Brien

Lucky Jackass

Maybe next time he'll "cup" his balls!

Found on jackassworld.com:

Just got back from Oklahoma where I was shooting "Mat Hoffman's tribute to Evel Knievel." Had a ball, too, even though I almost lost my own balls in the process. Don't want to give too much away because the tribute airs Feb 23rd on MTV, but let's just say before letting Travis Pastrana teach me how to do a backflip on a motorcycle I should have had him teach me to ride one first. Heh-heh...bad for me, good for our viewing audience at home. Have to go now. Have to empty the piss bag on my leg that I have to wear for the next two weeks until my torn urethra heals. Ouch, and see you on the 23rd. By the way, lots of great stuff in the Evel Knievel tribute besides my trip to the hospital--lots!
--Johnny Knoxville

Tell me that your hand didn't go right to your set the very second your brain reacted to what that picture was spelling out!

"Desperate"

Obama fires back at Clinton in Wisconsin:

Dem elders attempting to "head off" convention fight

Super delegates are at the heart of the problem:


The New York Times is reporting that Al Gore and a number of other senior Democrats are remaining neutral for now in the presidential race in an effort to leave open the option to broker a peaceful resolution to what could be a bitterly divided convention this summer. The issues party leaders are grappling with include how to avoid the perception of a back-room deal that thwarts the will of millions of voters who have cast ballots in primaries and caucuses, which could cripple the eventual Democratic nominee’s chances of winning the presidency in November. The group of 795 party insiders known as super delegates are at the root of that problem.

A number of senior Democrats, including Speaker Pelosi, have spoken with Gore in recent days. Pelosi, who is officially maintaining her neutrality, stated "It would be a problem for the party if the verdict would be something different than the public has decided". She added that the nomination should not be decided by delegates from Florida and Michigan allocated on the basis of voting in primaries there last month. Neither candidate actively campaigned there and Mr. Obama was not even on the ballot in Michigan. Both states had been penalized for holding their primaries earlier than the party wanted by stripping them of their delegates to the convention. “We can’t ignore the rules which everyone else played by,” Ms. Pelosi said.

Party insiders describe Al Gore as a potentially crucial mediator because the putative head of the party — and the man who chose him as his vice president — Bill Clinton, is hardly a neutral observer when it comes to his wife’s candidacy. He’s probably the only unaligned person with the kind of stature to step in to that role and have a real impact on this. Although Mr. Gore has expressed concerns about the damage a brokered convention could cause, he remains hopeful that one candidate will soon break through, sparing the party such an outcome. He recently commented that his decision not to endorse “feels like the right thing” and that he remained optimistic the race “is going to tip at some point."

Senior party officials had actively consulted him for his advice about what the super delegates should do if neither Mr. Obama nor Mrs. Clinton amasses the 2,025 delegates necessary to win the nomination after the final Democratic caucus in Puerto Rico on June 7. Gore’s bruising defeat in 2000 presidential voting in Florida gives him the credibility with Democrats to carry the message that the will of the people should be respected.

The more things change...

I was listening to some old music I have stored on my hard drive and I ran across this old tune by the band Chicago that really hit me. Written some 36 years ago, it's still as poignant today as it was then.

Dialogue

Are you optimistic 'bout the way things are going?

No, I never ever think of it at all

Don't you ever worry
When you see what's going down?

Well, I try to mind my business, that is, no business at all

When it's time to function as a feeling human being
Will your Bachelor of Arts help you get by?

I hope to study further, a few more years or so

I also hope to keep a steady high

Will you try to change things
With the power that you have; the power of a million new ideas?

What is this power you speak of and this need for things to change?

I always thought that everything was fine

Don't you feel repression just closing in around?

No, the campus here is very, very free

Don't it make you angry the way war is dragging on?

Well, I hope the President knows what he's into, I don't know

Don't you see starvation in the city where you live
All the needless hunger all the needless pain?

I haven't been there lately, the country is so fine

My neighbors don't seem hungry 'cause they haven't got the time

Thank you for the talk, you know you really eased my mind
I was troubled by the shapes of things to come

Well, if you had my outlook your feelings would be numb

You'd always think that everything was fine

We can make it better
We can change the world now
We can save the children
We can make it happen
We can make it happen

Hillary Losing Hispanic Vote

¡Sí podemos! ¡Obama para el presidente!

Hillary Clinton was finally declared the winner of the New Mexico primary yesterday, after a nine day nightmare of hand counting 17,000 provisional votes in the state. For all of the trouble she picked up ONE additional delegate - I guess that may have been cheaper than Mitt Romney's!

And, much like Julie Rudiani, Hill is placing all of her eggs into one basket - the OH, TX, PA trifecta in a few weeks- as her final stand. How fitting that the Alamo is located in one of those states! Oddly enough, she may suffer the same fate as those brave defenders of yesteryear, AND from the very same folks - the Mexicans.

See, Hillary received the majority of hispanic votes in the earlier primary contests. That percentage has steadily declined, however, and was NOT improved by her firing of a top campaign official who happened to be hispanic herself. I can't speak for Pennsylvania, but I'm pretty damned sure that Texas has a large Mexican population and Ohio shares Indiana's growing hispanic populace due to a need for cheap farm labor.

On top of that, a friend sent me the following this afternoon - " Our Hispanic Voices Supports Barack Obama". Here's their video:



Oh, and they added the following message:

Unions endorse Obama

Labor says: "YES, we CAN"!


Yesterday Barack Obama collected the support of the United Food and Commercial Workers, a politically active union with significant membership in the upcoming Democratic battlegrounds. The 1.3-million member UFCW has 69,000 members in Ohio and another 26,000 in Texas. The food workers also have 19,000 members in Wisconsin, which holds a primary next Tuesday. The union is comprised of supermarket workers and meatpackers, with 40% of the membership under 30 years old, an age group which Obama has been doing especially well with.

Today, he won the support of the 1.9-million member Service Employees International Union. The politically active union represents workers in health care, building services and other industries, and has donated more than $25 million to candidates in the past two decades, mainly to Democrats.

"There has never been a fight in Illinois or a fight in the nation where our members have not asked Barack Obama for assistance and he has not done everything he could to help us," Andy Stern, the union's president, told reporters in announcing the decision.

Stern said that in the months since union leaders met with several Democratic candidates last fall, "the excitement has been building and building for Obama."

These union endorsements offer a chance to increase support in the primarily blue collar primary states that are scheduled to vote in the next few weeks, particularly Ohio and Texas on March 4 and Pennsylvania on April 22.

Friday Nite Retro

Welcome once again to Friday Nite Retro, where every Friday night is like a box of Cracker Jack - no Cadillac at the bottom, but still a surprise every time! Tonight's featured performer needs no introduction, but stubborn that I am, you're getting one anyway! =)

You know him as the frontman and a founding member of Creedence Clearwater Revival, but most of John Fogerty's career has been as a solo artist. Although his hits over the years have been few and far between, they've always been great tunes. With the exception of throwing in two of my favorite CCR hits right at the beginning, I'm chooosing to focus on John's solo work from 1973 to present.

My CCR Top Two? Here we go:

Fortunate Son


Lookin' Out my Back Door


John Fogerty began his solo career under the name The Blue Ridge Rangers in 1973. Fogerty played all of the instruments which were covers of others' hits, such as "Jambalaya" (which was a Top 40 hit). His second solo album John Fogerty, released in 1975, yielded "Rockin' All Over the World", a top 40 hit for Fogerty, iand "amost Saturday Night".

Rockin' All Over The World


Almost Saturday Night


After a LONG dry spell, Fogerty's solo career re-emerged in full force with 1985's Centerfield, his first album for Warner Brothers Records. A lawsuit claimed that "The Old Man Down The Road" shared the same chorus as "Run Through The Jungle" (a song from Fogerty's days with Creedence, and for which Fantasy Records had owned the publishing rights). Fogerty ultimately won his case when he proved that the two songs were wholly distinct compositions.

The Old Man Down the Road


Rock and Roll Girls


Centerfield is frequently played on classic rock radio and at baseball games to this day.

Centerfield


Fogerty returned to the commercial music industry in 1997 with Blue Moon Swamp. The break between Zombie and Swamp had been longer lay-off than his late seventies-early eighties break. The Album was much more successful than his previous effort and won the Grammy for Best Rock album in 1997. A live album of the equally successful tour was released to similar acclaim and good sales.

John returned to his anti-war roots in late 2004, and recorded this protest against the war in Iraq, comparing it to Vietnam. Fogerty’s touring schedule increased in the period after Deja Vu (All Over Again). In October 2004 Fogerty appeared on the Vote for Change tour, playing a series of concerts in American swing states. These concerts were organized by MoveOn.org with the general goal of mobilizing people to vote for John Kerry and against George W. Bush in that year's presidential campaign. In an ironic musical twist, George W. Bush has stated that 'Centerfield' is his favorite song. Fogerty's numbers were played with Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band.

Deja Vu (All Over Again)


Fogerty completed his first new album in three years, Revival, which was released on October 2, 2007. The album was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rock Album of 2008. On February 10th, he appeared with Jerry Lee Lewis and Little Richard on the Grammy Awards Show. Along with these rock icons and his regular touring band, he played "Comin' Down The Road," "Great Balls Of Fire," and "Good Golly Miss Molly." His new CD Revival was nominated for best rock album of the year, but lost to the Foo Fighters album.

Don't You Wish it was True


Check out John's official website!

Fair and balanced jpg naming

FOX"news" scared shitless of Obama!

"Ride 'em, cowgirl"! - Texas "toy" ban overturned

Hillary focuses on Texas - coincidence?

A federal appeals court has overturned a Texas statute outlawing sex toy sales, leaving Alabama as the state with the strictest ban on such devices.

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Texas law making it illegal to sell or promote obscene devices, punishable by up to two years in jail, violated the Constitution's 14th Amendment on the right to privacy. In its decision Tuesday, the appeals court cited Lawrence and Garner v. Texas, the U.S. Supreme Court's 2003 opinion that struck down bans on consensual sex between gay couples.

"Just as in Lawrence, the state here wants to use its laws to enforce a public moral code by restricting private intimate conduct," the appeals judges wrote. "The case is not about public sex. It is not about controlling commerce in sex. It is about controlling what people do in the privacy of their own homes because the state is morally opposed to a certain type of consensual private intimate conduct. This is an insufficient justification after Lawrence."

Texas, Mississippi, and Alabama were the only three states that continued to outlaw the sale of sex toys and vibrators.Va. . err. .Virginia has a law barring obscene items, but it does not seem to apply to sex toy sales. Louisiana, Kansas and Colorado all had laws barring obscene devices that have been struck down. And the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals struck down a Georgia law banning the advertising of sex toys, which can be sold under some approved circumstances.

Today in Obama News

Colorado will turn blue for Obama:

The latest polling in Colorado by Rasmussen Reports shows that Sen. Barack Obama would be a decisive victor in a general election campaign over the presumptive Republican nominee, but that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton would be trounced. The results: Obama 46% - McCain 39%, Clinton 35% - McCain 49%.

Obama proposes $210 billion for new jobs:

Barack Obama said Wednesday that as president he would spend $210 billion to create jobs in construction and environmental industries, as he tried to win over economically struggling voters. Obama's investment would be over 10 years as part of two programs. The larger is $150 billion to create 5 million so-called "green collar" jobs to develop more environmentally friendly energy sources. $60 billion would go to a National Infrastructure Reinvestment Bank to rebuild highways, bridges, airports and other public projects. Obama estimated that could generate nearly 2 million jobs, many of them in the construction industry that's been hit by the housing crisis.

Economic manifesto to include "Credit Card Bill of Rights":

Obama pledged to ease the pain of home owners defrauded in the mortgage crisis and to introduce a "Credit Card Bill of Rights" to protect consumers from punitive charges. "We are not standing on the brink of recession due to forces beyond our control. The fallout from the housing crisis that's cost jobs and wiped out savings was not an inevitable part of the business cycle. It was a failure of leadership and imagination in Washington," he said.

Obama stealing Clinton's base:

Obama won the Potomac Primaries by eating into Clinton's core. In the Super Tuesday states, Obama won 43 percent of women. He took 55 percent in Maryland and 60 percent in Virginia. In the Super Tuesday states, Obama was supported by only 35 percent of voters over 65 years of age. In Maryland and Virginia, a touch more than 50 percent voted for him.

Within all the Democratic constituencies Clinton relies upon, Obama not only made gains, but won. He won among voters making less than $50,000 a year. He beat her among those with no college degrees. He won Latinos. He won Catholics. He won white men by a substantial margin. And Obama triumphed in every part of that state: urban, suburban and rural. Of the subdivided demographic groups, only white women stood with Clinton tonight. The rest of her base—at least in these states—collapsed.

Michelle Obama - "It's now or never":

Mrs. Obama says she dislikes politics -- she insists there will be no second run for the presidency if her husband falls short this time -- but relishes a good fight, the competition of it all.In the beginning, she had significant questions about an Obama candidacy. She pressed advisers for a blueprint of how the campaign would raise money and compete with Mrs. Clinton and other candidates. She gave her approval after seeing a concrete plan presented in strategy meetings in late 2006, all of which she attended.

Cowboy George - Horse Thief

We've learned the hard way over the past seven years that George W lives in his own fantasy world- a place in which reality is whatever he wants it to be, facts notwithstanding:

Clinton delegate win "unlikely"

Howard Fineman just did a brief segment on MSNBC gaming out the delegate count and where it's likely to end up when the last primaries and caucuses are over. He said he based his comments on conversations with people in both campaigns. And the gist of it was that both sides agree that it's highly unlikely that Clinton can end up with more pledged delegates than Barack Obama. And the issue now is how close she can keep the margin:

Obama in Janesville

Barack Obama toured the Janesville GM Plant on this Morning. This is a place that is near and dear to our family, as many of my in-laws do or have worked there. After his tour, he delivered this speech outlining a number of policy proposals aimed at improving the economy:

Put "Super Delegates" on notice!

This is a cause that is of the utmost importance to all progressive Democrats. I'm sure that most of you are aware of the potential super delegate problem; read on if you are not. Either way, please add your voice to the petition to follow the wishes of the popular vote by signing DFA's petition to the super delegates.

This is an unprecedented year. Thirty-seven states and U.S. territories have already voted and we don't have a clear nominee. Senators Clinton and Obama are in a delegate race to the nomination.

There are a lot of ways that delegates get assigned to a specific candidate, but almost all of the allocated delegates are directly tied and bound by the actual votes in each primary or caucus -- all of them that is, except super-delegates.

Super-delegates are a contingent of almost 900 elected officials, party insiders, and current DNC members and they aren't required to follow the voters. In fact, after every Democrat has voted and the last allocated delegates are assigned, super-delegates have the power to overturn the popular vote and crown a different winner.

That's right, if super-delegates don't like who you choose to be our nominee, they can overturn your vote. We can't let that happen. Our nominee must be chosen by Democratic voters, not by back room deals of the party elite. Sign our petition now to let the voters decide:

www.DemocracyforAmerica.com/VotersDecide

We must respect the 20 million Democrats who have already voted and the millions more who will vote before the convention. It's up to us to make sure the almost 900 super-delegates do the right thing.

Sign the petition today and we'll deliver all of the signatures directly to super-delegates.

And this is just the beginning of our campaign to let the voters decide. The longer it takes to win, the more we'll escalate the campaign. We'll write letters, make calls, and hold media events. Because when it comes to protecting the will of Democratic primary voters, DFA members know exactly where we stand.

www.DemocracyforAmerica.com/VotersDecide

SpongeBob Cast Spoofs Classic Movies

This is HILARIOUS!! SpongeBob voiceovers of scenes from Casablanca, Singing in the Rain, and the Godfather. One of the highlights of the Annie Awards last Friday night was a small video concocted by the cast of Spongebob Squarepants (M.C. Tom Kenny, along with presenters Rodger Bumpass, Carolyn Lawrence and Bill Fagerbakke), created to prove they shouldn’t be stereotyped simply as Spongebob, Patrick, Squidward and Sandy:

Obama Sweeps Potomac Primaries

Huge turnout noted in all three contests:


Barack Obama lengthened his string of wins today by capturing the trifecta of Virginia, Maryland, and the District of Columbia. Exit polling indicated that the African-American turnout in Virginia and Maryland was nearly the same as in 2004. Obama garnered the support of 67% of men overall, and 60% of women, a piece of the electorate that Hillary had maintained the lead with until today's contests. In another setback for Clinton, she and Obama divided the white vote almost evenly, with Clinton leading among white women but Obama getting more than half the votes of white men, the early figures showed. She had long held a clear advantage among white voters.

Obama rallies the crowd two days ago in Virginia:

Is Clinton Camp Slipping Away?

Some superdelegates supporting Clinton are now wavering:

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and her advisers increasingly believe that, after a series of losses, she has been boxed into a must-win position in the Ohio and Texas primaries on March 4, and she has begun reassuring anxious donors and superdelegates that the nomination is not slipping away from her, aides said on Monday.


Mrs. Clinton held a buck-up-the-troops conference call on Monday with donors, superdelegates and other supporters; several said afterward that she had sounded tired and a little down, but determined about Ohio and Texas.

They also said that they had not been especially soothed, and that they believed she might be on a losing streak that could jeopardize her competitiveness in those states.

"She has to win both Ohio and Texas comfortably, or she's out," said one superdelegate who has endorsed Mrs. Clinton, and who spoke on condition of anonymity to share a candid assessment. "The campaign is starting to come to terms with that." Campaign advisers, also speaking privately in order to speak plainly, confirmed this view.

Several Clinton superdelegates, whose votes could help decide the nomination, said Monday that they were wavering in the face of Mr. Obama's momentum after victories in Washington State, Nebraska, Louisiana and Maine last weekend.

"Mother" - Obama's OH & TX Ad

"My mother died of cancer at 53. In those last painful months, she was more worried about paying her medical bills than getting well. I hear stories like hers everyday. For 20 years Washington has talked about health care reform and reformed nothing. I've got a plan to cut costs and cover everyone. But unless we stop the bickering and the lobbyists we will be in the same place twenty years from now. I'm Barack Obama and I approve this message because to fix health care we have to fix Washington."

To read more about Barack Obama's healthcare plan, click HERE.

McCain-Obama Parody: Like Hope, But Different

Oh no we can't. . .

One week ago, Will.i.am of The Black Eyed Peas led a star cast in performing to Barack Obama's 'Yes We Can' speech. It came to our attention today that fans of John McCain attempted to emulate their efforts. Here are the results of that:

Sauron's Kingdom - Air Pollution in Moscow

The above photo, taken by Alexander Petrenko, is of the city of Moscow:

Over the past two years escalating numbers of vehicles on the roads put a stifling strain on the environment. Today Moscow has nearly 3,000,000 cars. Gray-brown noxious haze of smog covers the streets filled with jam-packed traffic, which blows out tons of unhealthy exhaust fumes of carbon monoxide and other harmful chemicals. Additionally there are 12 huge heat power stations, 53 district heating stations and 3,000 industrial enterprises still operating within the city borders. As a result concentrations of harmful substances often exceed maximum allowable by 10-20 times.

The level of air pollution varies from one neighborhood of the city to another. This accounts for the variability of child health levels. In the most severely polluted areas the prevalence of childhood bronchial asthma is much higher, and the cases of disharmonious physical development among children are more frequent.

I'll never complain about driving through Gary, Indiana again. Ever. Just remember though, it is egotistical of us to believe that mankind can affect our environment. I know it's true, all of the conservatives keep repeating it en masse. . .

You Tell Me

It might just be a blonde vs brunette thing. Butt, since it IS Monday, the day when YOU write the caption. . .Have at it, peeps!

Roy Scheider dies at 75.

You're gonna need a bigger casket. . .

Roy Scheider died today in Little Rock, Arkansas, of complications from a staph infection. The actor, who portrayed Chief Martin Brody in the Hollywood blockbuster Jaws, was 75. He had been diagnosed with myeloma, a cancer of the plasma cells, in 2004. He underwent a bone marrow transplant the following year to successfully treat the cancer which was classified as being in partial remission. Scheider is survived by his wife Brenda, daughters Maximillia and Molly, and son Christian.

Jaws - Theatrical Trailer


Scheider's first film role was in the 1963 horror film Curse of the Living Corpse. In 1971 he appeared in two highly popular movies, Klute and The French Connection, the latter earned him an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Four years later he portrayed his famous role as Chief Brody in Jaws. In 1976 he starred as Doc, a secret agent in Marathon Man2010: The Year We Make Contact, a 1984 sequel to Stanley Kubrick's 1968 science fiction classic 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Four years after he appeared in Jaws, he was nominated for his second Academy Award, this time as Best Actor in All That Jazz. Originally cast as Michael in The Deer Hunter, the second movie of a three movie deal with Universal Studios, he was bound by a Universal contract to make a Jaws sequel, and was deprived of the role.

Scheider went on to star in films such as The Myth of Fingerprints (1997) and Silver WolfThird Watch. Among his most recent films is the crusty father of hero Frank Castle in The Punisher (2004).

Scheider also hosted an episode of Saturday Night Live in the tenth (1984-1985) season and appeared on the Family Guy episode "Bill and Peter's Bogus Journey" voicing himself as the host of a toilet-training video.

In 2007, Scheider received one of two annually-presented Lifetime Achievement Awards at the SunDeis Film Festival in Waltham, Massachusetts. His latest role was that of a death row inmate in a March 14,2007 episode of Law and Order.

Obama Wins Maine AND a Grammy

Barack bests Two Clintons on Same Day!


Barack Obama defeated Hillary Rodham Clinton in today's Maine presidential caucuses, grabbing a majority of delegates as the state's Democrats overlooked the snowy weather and turned out in heavy numbers for municipal gatherings.

Democrats in 420 Maine towns and cities were deciding how the state's 24 delegates will be allotted at the party's national convention in August. Despite the weather, turnout was "incredible," party executive director Arden Manning said.

With 879% of the participating precincts reporting, Obama led in state delegates elected over Clinton, 1,837 to 1,277, a 59% to 41% win.

The Senator also defeated another Clinton, Bill, to win best spoken word album for his audio version of his book "The Audacity Of Hope: Thoughts On Reclaiming The American Dream" at today's Grammy Awards. Jimmy Carter was also in the running for that award. Bill, Hillary, and Jimmy Carter have all won the award previously.

Kay in Maine has some great posts from on the ground up there!

Allow me to join in her hopeful statement: "As Maine goes, so goes the nation!"

Faux News: John McCain (D-AZ)

WE don't want him, either!

Nice find by HotAir: Faux News identified John McCain as a Democrat yesterday, forcing the question of whether or not this was just an "error." McCain is detested by the righties - booed at CPAC, hated by conservative pundits, seen as more liberal than even Hillary Clinton - but so much so that they'd label him a "D"? It wouldn't be the first time that Faux purposely mislabeled party affiliation. . .

Michael Moore on Larry King

What are American broadcasters afraid of?

Michael Moore on Larry King the day after Super Tuesday 2008: "I am morally prohibited from voting for Hillary in the primaries because of her war votes, I mean that not as a personal attack against her, but I simply can't side with somebody who participated, whether willingly or unknowingly, as she claims, in something that has been so evil."

Moore also discusses his frustration at the inability to get Farenheit 911 broadcast on U.S. television. It's been shown all over the world, but never here.

Right Wingers Fear Obama

"If Obama is the nominee, we are doomed" - Limbaugh

Now is the time for all good progressives to come together in support of Barack Obama. Last week, Ann Coulter announced that she would campaign for Hillary Clinton if John McCain were selected as the GOP candidate; and now Rush Limbaugh is ready to do his part for the GOP by putting on his own fundraiser. Even if that fundraiser is for the only politician that he believes can unite his party - Hillary Clinton.

RUSH: All right, folks, I need to ask you a question, personal question from me to you. Do I sound like I need cheering up here? I'm getting e-mails from friends, "Boy, you sound like you could use a little cheering up." And they're sending me these stupid little Internet jokes, "for you to smile," like an Internet joke would cheer me up. Spam would cheer me up. But do I sound like I need to be cheered up? I can't wait 'til the Drive-Bys get hold of my thought, my consideration of helping Hillary raise money. They'll miss the reason. They'll just publicize, "Limbaugh is so upset at Romney getting out, he's thinking of raising money for Hillary, period."

But the reason for raising money for Hillary is because that apparently my party is relying on fear and loathing of Hillary to get the nomination, to unite Republicans, who are, some of them, off the reservation. The Republicans do not seem to be relying on leadership in their party to unite the party. They seem to be relying on all these external things, nobody is going to vote for Hillary, negative turnout factor. What if she's not the nominee? We've got make sure she's the nominee if the Republican Party is to be unified. What more loyal thing could I do than to run a fundraiser for Mrs. Clinton? You watch, though, you watch how that will be questioned.

And then he added these little gems:

RUSH: She just polarizes people. I think she's going to gin up enough anti-Hillary turnout out there to perhaps be a boon to whoever the Republican nominee is.


CALLER: Absolutely.

RUSH: Now, if Obama is the nominee, we are doomed, and you should get ready and prepared for it now.

CALLER: I agree.

RUSH: I'm going to tell you something else that's going to happen. In addition to all this emotion that Hillary's going to revive in people, all this, "I don't care, I'm not going to vote for that woman," you know she's going to redefine negative turnout. You know she is polarizing. I'm going to tell you what's going to happen. It's already started, I pointed this out. Last week after one of the primaries, Anna Quindlen, Newsweek magazine, "How Old is Too Old?" she laid the foundation for the Drive-Bys' eventual turning on McCain as an old guy getting older. I want to predict to you that once he's got this sewn up you're going to see the Drive-By Media start doing stories on his age, and they're not going to be mean, they are not going to be vicious, they're going to be almost sorrowful. Somebody wrote about this in American Thinker today, too, and I can't remember the name. I think I've got it here in the Stack, but take a look at some of the pictures from last night on television. Here you had McCain, you've got an aging senator here, and an aging governor, gray-haired governor there, you've got old people, gray-haired, blue-haired Bloody Mary gang, women, blue hair in the hives and so forth, you've got pearls and so forth. You contrast that to the Obama crowd that is youthful, it's energetic, it wasn't stoic. I am telling you, if that doesn't work, they're going to go after this age business, and they'll do it almost regretfully. We're going to get the worst pictures of McCain. We're going to get him looking tired. We're going to hear references to his forgetfulness. "Isn't it just a shame?" And if that doesn't work, then they're going to do stories on the fact he's nuts. Just mark my words. Mark my words and don't doubt me.

Even "Newtie" has a crush on Obama:

"I am surprised how she underperformed and how well Senator Obama is doing," Gingrich said on "Good Morning America." "I think Senator Obama is slowly and steadily pulling away. The difference in fundraising capability is getting wider. They had 16,000 people in Boise turn out for Senator Obama Saturday. That's an unheard-of kind of turnout."

"I think he's becoming an unusual phenomena in American politics, almost harkening back to John F. Kennedy," Gingrich continued. "I think he's going to be very formidable for Clinton to stop."

And some parting shots from Man Coulter:

"A serious case could be made to support Hillary Clinton," she declared, offering the analogy of Winston Churchill backing Stalin in the fight against Hitler in WWII. "I'm not equating Hillary Clinton to Stalin, and if I did I apologize to Stalin's descendents... I'm not comparing McCain to Hitler. Hitler had a coherent tax policy." Later, she added, "The only way I can promise that I won't vote for Hillary Clinton is if John McCain appoints her as his vice president."

Obama Sweeps Saturday Contests

Thrice as Nice!

Barack Obama handily won today's contests in the states of Nebraska , Washington, and Louisiana as well, where polls closed just over an hour ago. On to the "Potomac Primaries"!

Dumbshit Criminal of the Week

How about a nice Hawaiian Punch?

Cynthiana Kentucky resident, Peter Hafer,on trial for charges of burglarizing a K-Mart store in June, told the judge he didn't trust his court-appointed lawyer, Doug Crickmer. As Crickmer began to tell Judge Rob Johnson that Hafer couldn't choose his public defender, Hafer decided to punch the attorney:



"I just couldn't take it anymore and I just snapped," Hafer said later at the Scott County jail. Hafer hit the attorney several times in the face and stomach before being restrained on the ground. Crickmer was admitted to Georgetown Community Hospital and released later that day. He said he will not file assault charges.

As for his request for a new attorney, Hafer apparently will get his way. Authorities said a new one will be appointed.

Farewell, Polaroid

Another piece of childhood fades to black:

The Polaroid Company is shutting down factories in the U.S. and abroad as the company abandons the technology that made the instant photo possible. By next year, the film will no longer be produced by Polaroid. No word as of yet on whether anyone else has plans to continue it's production, or if there's even a small niche market for it somewhere.

When Polaroid users pulled a picture out of their cameras, an image would slowly appear before their eyes. Now, like the process in reverse, the image of the Polaroid instant camera -- dimming for years -- has finally gone black. The artsy, instantly grati