Archive for April, 2007

New Rasmussen numbers are out, and it looks like Obama is enjoying quite the burst in momentum; being the first person to overtake Hillary as the Democratic frontrunner.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows Illinois Barrack Obama with a statistically insignificant two point advantage over the former First Lady. It’s Obama 32% Clinton 30%. Former North Carolina Senator John Edwards remains in third with support holding steady at 17%. No other candidate tops 3%.

The last time Rasmussen ran these numbers, Clinton was sporting a 10+ point lead over Obama. This latest poll was also conducted prior to the recent Democratic debate, so it will be a while before you know how that might have impacted things. Regardless, a 14 point move is pretty big.

Interestingly enough, a separate survey found perceived political shifts for both Clinton and Obama; with Obama moving towards the left and Clinton towards the middle. While there is no evidence linking Obama’s perceived leftist shift to his gain in political traction, I for one would certainly like to think the relationship is not coincidental.

Of course, this is still very early information, and thus perhaps worthless. But it is interesting to view the speed at which things at this point can change. One thing is for sure, it is far too early to say who the frontrunner will be come next year.  Of course, I’m still hoping for Gore.

Any thoughts on this?

The recently revealed hypocrisy of the Bush administrations patron saint of abstinence-over-condoms policy for dealing with AIDS led me to search Google News for the term ‘Abstinence‘ (Yes, I try to do a bit of research). A quick scan of the headlines left me in wonderment. How can so many media sources report such conflicting ‘facts’. Here are a few of the headlines I found.

Abstinence Efforts Are Paying Off In Fewer Teen Births

Teens Know That Abstinence Works

Abstinence Works

Study Shows that Abstinence Only Education Ineffective

The Abstinence Only Delusion

What’s up with that? We can all agree that abstinence is the only way to be sure you want get pregnant or contract VD, but why are there so many views about whether or not abstinence only education is effective. While this is true, it is also true that it is darn near impossible to get teenagers to keep their pants on. For the life of me, I can not understand the harm in telling kids “Abstain. Just in case you can’t control yourself, use a condom.” What am I missing?

I’ve never been one to howl much about the past two Presidential elections being stolen. There has been evidence of it in Florida and Ohio, but no concrete proof. It’s not that I would condone or excuse such a crime, and if proof was provided I’d be yelling for the heads of Bush/Cheney as loudly as anyone, but I really have never expected anyone in the US media, or anywhere else for that matter to dig hard enough to bring it out. But maybe I’ve been wrong. In an article published this past Wednesday, Bob Fitrakis and Harvey Wasserman point to Rove’s missing emails as possibly containing evidence of vote tampering in Ohio in 2004. And former SOS Ken Blackwell’s attempts to destroy the election records has been stopped by a civil lawsuit. Here’s from the article:

But there remains another avenue by which the real outcome of Ohio 2004 could be discovered. Longstanding federal law protected Ohio’s ballots and other election documentation prior to September 3, 2006. Blackwell gave clear orders that these crucial records were to be destroyed on that date.

Prior to the expiration of the federal statutory protection, a civil rights lawsuit was filed in the federal court of Judge Algernon Marbley, asking that the remaining records be preserved. The request was granted in what has become known as the King-Lincoln Bronzeville suit (co-author Bob Fitrakis is an attorney in the case, and Harvey Wasserman is a plaintiff).

Thus, by federal law, the actual ballots and electronic records should be available for the kind of exhaustive recount that was illegally denied–or “rigged,” as prosecutors in Cleveland have put it–by Blackwell, Bennett and their cohorts the first time around.

Ohio’s newly-elected Secretary of State, Jennifer Brunner, has agreed to take custody of these materials, and to bring them to a central repository, probably in Columbus.

This means that an exhaustive recount could show who really did win the presidential election of 2004.

I’ve had mixed feelings about impeachment up until now. But not anymore. If all of this is indeed true, and there’s little reason to doubt, this little man, and the gang he has surrounded himself with, has got to go. A duly elected President who does what George Bush has done over the last six years is one thing. We could consider that a lesson learned. But an administration that has been put in place illegally? No. Not one single American should let that stand.

Of course, I could not pass this up. From 2005:

In approving President Bush’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief in 2003, Congress directed that money designated for the $15 billion five-year initiative follow the ABC model, noted for its effectiveness in Uganda.

In public testimony, Mr. Tobias and other officials have reiterated that ABC, which stands for Abstinence, Be Faithful, Condoms, is the foundation of the U.S. program.

The fact is, Deputy Secretary of State Randall Tobias has been the Bush administration’s chief proponent of the abstinence policy, but he seems to have a problem living up to any of those standards.

On Thursday, Tobias told ABC News he had several times called the “Pamela Martin and Associates” escort service “to have gals come over to the condo to give me a massage.” Tobias, who is married, said there had been “no sex,” and that recently he had been using another service “with Central Americans” to provide massages.

When I think ‘massage’ I don’t generally think ‘escort service’. In fact, I generally think of my only recourse to a massage: my wife. I don’t think that Tobias was thinking about his wife.

I am sure that someone will want to bring up Clinton here, but let me stop you short.  First, what Clinton did was just as wrong as what Tobias did and quiet frankly, I could care less about what they either of them did. Really, that is between them and their wives. However, Tobias has spent the last couple of years pushing an agenda of abstinence and being faithful. He broke both of those policies and that is called hypocrisy, which is worth talking about. I can only guess about the condoms.

What we are left with here is hypocrisy.

The first debate of the 2008 presidential debate. In case you missed it, you can watch it here. First, I thought that the format was and questions were horrible and I didn’t really hear a lot that surprised me from the candidates one way or the other. I will give a brief rundown on what I thought of the candidates tonight.

• John Edwards - He did well as always. Well spoken and obviously smart. Right now he is my favorite based on the populist message he brought to the table.
• Barack Obama - He also did well. Not much different than the stump speeches I have been hearing from him. I was not impressed by his health care plan.
• Joe Biden - I like Joe for the most part. He has the answer of the night: “Yes”
• Bill Richardson - He brought a good message, but needs some work on the delivery. I liked his stance on the 2nd amendment.
• Hillary Clinton - Again, stump speech.
• Chris Dodd - I liked Chris, I just don’t see him being president. A bit to ‘inside the beltway’ maybe?
• Dennis Kucinich - I am glad that Dennis is there to keep everyone honest. He gets the ‘most improved’ award from last elections debates where he came off as shrill.
• Mike Gravel - Maybe Kucinich was just as shrill, but Gravel made him see calm and centered. While I appreciate Gravel’s enthusiasm, I am not sure that he added anything worthwhile to the debate.

On Iraq, clearly Edwards, Biden and Richardson had it going on. Clinton, Dodd and Obama was just more of the same. Gravel’s idea was unworkable. Clearly. I would take any one of these over the current administration and over any of the Republican candidates I have seen so far.
What are your ideas? Anyone else see it?

A reader sent me an interesting piece of information that I thought I might pass along. Apparently, some Montana expatriots in the DC area have been holding a “Testicle Festival” in the DC area for the past 4 years. The next one will be this Saturday the 28th.

“It’s a shame that most folks inside the beltway have never experienced the rugged west, never savored the delicacies harvested from spring-born calves,” said one of the organizers. “We’re pleased to bring a small slice of Montana to D.C.”

The really funny part is that is themed “The Original Sack Lunch”.  There is  more information in the form of a press release and contact information below the fold. If anyone is in the DC area and misses home, now is your chance…
Read the rest of this entry »

A recent national news story raised the issue of the American Flag being flown at half mast. A solider asked why we did not hold the same honor for each and every solider who has died defending our country. It is common practice that Presidents, Vice Presidents and other high officials be acknowledged at our nations capitol.

Recently, we see that the flag is being flown at half mast for the VT students who were murdered by a madman.

The news accounts say that the Staff Sergeant’s comments are “his” opinion and not the official military position. What I find interesting is that “should they” extend this honor to each and every solider who is killed, the end result would be that the flag at our nations capitol would NEVER be raised to the top.

Regardless, his comments do raise a rather interesting angle doesn’t it?

This is really just an update to Fear And Loathing in Helena (part 2) , but this time I come armed with video. I can not imagine what would possess a grown man to behave this way.

It’s hard to deny that water is the number one necessity of all living things on this planet. We can live for quite a while without food. We can live far longer without most of the other stuff we’re expected to buy. But we simply can’t live long without water. We all need it. That’s a fact of nature. That’s what makes this so alarming:

The Bush administration is helping multinationals buy U.S. municipal water systems, putting our most important resource in the hands of corporations with no public accountability.

Water shortages are happening already around the world due to global warming, and are projected to get worse. Many, including former military chiefs-of-staff and the majority of climate scientists see major battles looming over ever-shrinking reserves of clean fresh water. It’s no surprise then that multi-national corporations are lining up at the trough to get control of municipal water systems. I ask you this, whether you are left or right or Green or middle-of-the-road — should our water, our most precious and necessary resource be owned by a handful of giant corporations? Or should it be owned, and shared, by we the people?

Remember the good old days of Fear And Loathing? I thought it was bad then, but Matt Singer points out how bad it can get.  I am not going to get into all the details here, just give you some select quotes from Montana Republican Representative Michael Lange made after Governor Brian Schweitzer approached him about a bill compromise.
You can read the full report in the Billings Gazette article titled Budget dealing jolted by expletive laden tirade .

The governor can go straight to hell as far as I’m concerned for trying to do that

I’m pissed off at that SOB on the second floor (Schweitzer) that thinks he’s trying to run the state like a dictator. What matters is your integrity.

So my message to the governor is: Stick it up your ass! Stick it up your ass!

And Scweitzer’s response?

“I think that Representative Lange is a great representative. He’s been a very good legislator. He’s a great family man.”

Regardless of whether you think that Schweitzer’s response is how he really feels about Mike Lange, you must admit that at least he is in control of his actions and knows how to act like a grownup.  I seriously think that Mike Lange has become  increasingly unbalanced and the whole state would be better served if the grownups in the Republican caucus to back over control of the show.

Update: The video I had before was an old one and really tame compared to these. Sorry about the mix up.

Here’s a contentious, no holds barred little piece by Naomi Wolf in the UK Guardian about the ten steps repressive regimes use, and have used throughout history, to silence and suppress their citizenry to accomplish their own ends. She points out how much of this is being done right here at home by our own government. Is it paranoia? Is it possibility? Is it happening? Read it and make up your own minds.

According to this little-bitty short piece in the Helena IR, the Green Party intends to field candidates in the 2008 Montana elections. While they fielded a gubernatorial candidate in 2004, they did not receive enough votes to keep candidates on the ballot. I have some mixed feelings here.

Pros:

• I like a lot of the Green Party’s ideas and platforms. It is no secret that I voted for Ralph Nader in 2000.
• I am a strong supporter of a multiple party system (with instant run off voting)

Cons:

• The Republicans in the state house and senate are crazy (not crazy like ‘zany madcap antics’ but crazy like ‘raving lunatics’) and I am afraid of anything that might increase their power.

Ultimately, I think that I would sign the petition to put their candidates on the ballot, I think. Using due diligence, I paid a visit to their website. Interestingly enough, they have the same ideas on instant runoff voting. I tell you, this is an idea that would return democracy to this country: we could vote our conscience without just voting for the person closest to our views that we think could win. You see, then I could support who I wanted to win without worrying about the crazies.

from here:

“From the very beginning, this administration emphasized loyalty over competence. And at some point, that catches up with you,”

Thoughts?

President Bush’s troop surge plan is a huge success – It is not lost on me (and many others BTW) that his plan has managed to place MORE troops as targets for them to shoot at! Good job Mr. President

PS: In case you’ve not heard APRIL is “on track” to be the HIGHEST U.S. death toll for the ENTIRE war to date. Doesn’t that make you feel all warm and fuzzy?