6/26/2008:   The following California members of the U.S. House of Representatives got markedly more contributions than other Representatives from the telcos given retroactive immunity by the new FISA bill. These are also, not coincidentally, the people that changed their vote from opposing the bill to supporting it. Listed are the traitors and how many pieces of silver they received for betraying their constituents:

In 2006, I put a certain amount of energy into making sure that people remembered that Richard Pombo was one of the most corrupt politicians in the U.S. House at the time. I urged people in all the local newspapers and blogs, signing my name, that Jerry McNerney was a better choice. I still believe that (albeit to a far lesser degree now), but I now know that McNerney is also corrupt. He has screwed his constituents in much the same fashion as Pombo, and he did it in a way that violates our Constitution protections. I expected better.

The full list of Judases can be found at: http://www.maplight.org/FISA_June08

6/26/2008:   I'm sure John McCain was once an eloquent individual, but those years are behind him. Either that or he's been hanging with the Monkey Faced Frat Boy for too long. Yesterday he said, "Energy security is the great national challenge of our time, and rising to this challenge will take all the vision, creatility, and resolve of which we are capable."

Yeah, I'll bet. It will take all the "creatility" we have. And then some.

Oh, don't worry, I'm sure Mr. McCain is fine. It's probably just something in his diet that's making him sound like George Bush, most likely all that KoolAid he's been drinking over the last 8 years...

6/26/2008:   Glenn Beck, right wing conservative tool and closet Republican, has posted what he thinks a conservative believe. It's rare thta someone actually enumerates their stupidity, and I just couldn't resist a chance to slap his sorry, subhuman head:

A progressive remembers that our responsibilities as humans includes helping either other when we need housing and healthcare. And only right wing whack jobs think they have an inalienable right to a huge, gas swilling vehicle.

Progressives understand that when one person's happiness comes at another person's detriment, penalties are typically appropriate.

Progressives hope Beck remembers this when Obama wins and McCain is in the fetal position thinking of the investigations that will begin against his beloved GOP.

Progressives actually believe this, while conservatives mouth these words and then cry like babies when they're thrown in jail for breaking the very same laws they enforced zealously against others.

Progressives remember that We are the government, and the programs We The People put in place to help each other are expressions of our humanity and compassion.

Progressives know and remember the same things, but keep in mind, the MFFB, his entire cabinet, the Department of Homeland Security that takes its direction from him, and FEMA, which exists under DHS's control and direction, were all conservatives that must have forgotten their duty, as expressed by Mr. Beck.

Progressives love their families and respect other people's rights to love and take care of their families as they see fit. The also know a straw man argument when they hear one, Mr. Beck.

Right back atcha, Beck. Progressives understand that when a preacher demands that his religious beliefs trump a woman's right to privacy and control over her body, that the conservatives are at fault for the controversy and using it as a wedge issue during election season.

Progressives believe that some movies express views, per the artists' perogative, and that some preachers use light entertainment to make their sermons interesting. Way to be narrow visioned, Beck.

Progressives believe the same thing, but they also believe that when conservatives change bankruptcy laws to screw people who have been put heavily in debt by health emergencies or disasters, or when they tell people that were screwed by unscrupulous lenders that they should have read the fine print, they've forgotten the humanity and compassion they supposedly believe in.

Progressives, again, believe that We The People are the government, and that no child should be penalized for their parents' financial condition. And shame on Mr. Beck for suggesting otherwise.

Progressives understand that, until such time as the blob of cells that we all start out as becomes capable of detecting and neurologically processing pain, it has absolutely no rights. And quite a lot of people of all bents have various views on what rights a fetus, incapable of surviving on its own, has, and what a woman can be forced to do with her own body. Progressives understand that this particular issue is so multi-faceted and personal that it probably won't ever be completely resolved, and certainly won't move towards resolution as long as whack jobs like Beck spew absolutes and impose their religious beliefs on other people the way conservatives supposedly don't.

Progressives believe in a government of the people, by the people, and for the people. The only time our government comes close to falling is when conservatives rule it. It's time that Beck shut his mouth, opened his mind, and stopped pretending that the political conservative movement was a good thing.

6/25/2008:   I am increasingly astonished at the racist attitudes coming out as people who oppose Obama's presidency flail about to find something to criticize him with. Hannity, Limbaugh, Savage, Beck, Rove, all the usual morons have taken a turn at suggesting that, because Obama's part black and identifies himself as black, that whites in America should be fearful. Now Ralph Nader, the Republican in Libertarian clothing, has stepped up and lobbed race bombs by implying that Obama is attempting to "talk white" and appealing to "white guilt." He feels that Obama should be true to his heritage and focus on poverty, predatory lending, asbestos, lead; in short, the "ghetto" issues.

I guess Nader didn't get the memo: Obama didn't grow up in the ghetto. His parents weren't either; his father was from Kenya and his mother was a white American woman. His heritage then, strictly speaking, is African and white American. And I haven't heard him focus on white or African issues yet. He's pretty across-the-board about his stance on things.

In response, Obama was classy enough to express a small measure of pity for the once relevant Nader, but that doesn't mean we all have to hold our nose and step past the rotting corpse that is Nader's undead political career.

Mr. Nader: Shut up, you moron. Obama, as I see it, is a leader to all Americans, not just one racial group. And that's why he's popular. Get over yourself. Does the assisted living facility know you've gone wandering again? What an ass.

6/24/2008:   The psychotic, foaming-at-the-mouth uber-conservative right wing religious whack job, James Dobson, took issue with Obama for not pounding a King James edition Bible on the podium and screaming about fire and brimstone when he addressed the liberal Christian group "Call to Renewal". Although his speech was well received and acclaimed by that group, Dobson got his religion-funded panties in an attention-grabbing bunch over Obama's description of balancing religious strictures with democratic process.

To help clear up Mr. Dobson's hypocritical rambling, I offer here a translation of his spew:

Translation: Obama's views on religion would cut into my power base by forcing representatives of a religion to recognize that they are only one part of a country with diverse religious beliefs, and having people take their blinders off weakens my power base.

Tradition: What I'm used to, as opposed to what you're used to. What you're used to is just crap. My tradition trumps your crap.

Translation: Obama's point that a literal translation of the Bible would have us stoning children for not adhering to religious law, avoiding shellfish as "unclean," and condoning slavery, and any translation that's not literal requires a personal and unenforcable cherry picking of the Bible, undermines my authority as the only person that really knows what God wants.

Translation: If Obama gets his way, I wouldn't be able to force the religious interpretations -- that keep me bankrolled -- on an entire nation regardless of their religious beliefs, morals, and ethics. So I'll use the worst image I can come up with, partial-birth abortion, to scare the crud out of my sheep. Um, y'know, my parishioners...

Translation: "'Democratic means 'agreeing with me' and undemocratic means 'not agreeing with me', regardless of what the majority has decided, thereby leaving my whack job minority out in the cold. And since I've already twisted the concept 180 degrees, surely you'll see that what adheres to the Constitution violates the Constitution by way of democracy, thereby making it 'fruitcake'. Right?"

Translation: In response to Obama saying, "Even if we did have only Christians in our midst, if we expelled every non-Christian from the United States of America, whose Christianity would we teach in the schools? Would we go with James Dobson's or Al Sharpton's?" The translation here is, "Damn, that's such a good point, the only thing I have left is to randomly pull the race card right out of my butt!"

Translation: I'm putting my kids through college and funding my lavish lifestyle off an interpretation of scriptures that keeps my sheep slightly scared for their eternal souls and seeing everyone around them that doesn't adhere to my interpretation as enemies. Obama is screwing up my sweet deal by injecting basic, common sense into the argument. We can't have that.

You're welcome.

6/23/2008:   In reaction to the passing of HR 6304, the FISA bill that gives the president unprecedented and unconstitutional powers to grant immunity to anyone breaking the law at his pleasure, my Opinions Of The Month now has a third column, not unlike a third rail, where I will list traitors to this country, starting with but certainly not limited, the Representatives that voted in favor of the FISA reform bill. Once added to this column, the only way to get back off of it is to fix that damage one's actions have caused. These same people need to reverse themselves, to introduce legislation that overturns the FISA reform bill, and to fight the passage of any bill that so violates the Fourth Amendment rights of the citizens of this country and grants immunity to those that knowingly break the law just because an out-of-control mongrel like George W. Bush instructs them to.

6/20/2008:   I want to hear Obama (because you *know* McCain won't do it) say that he'll work to reverse the FISA law that passed the House today. That of course assumes that the Senate turns traitorous and passes the latest revision of the FISA law that violates the Constitution, and that the Supreme Court, turning NeoCon activist, didn't overturn it.

And then I want him to turn to the Department of Justice and tell them to begin, immediately, to investigate Bush and Cheney for lying to Congress, breaking the law, and committing war crimes. Put Bush and Cheney in prison and leave them there indefinitely.

6/20/2008:   On the calendar of the House of Representatives, it read: "H. Res. 1285. Providing for consideration of the bill (H.R. 6304) to amend the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 to establish a procedure for authorizing certain acquisitions of foreign intelligence, and for other purposes." How benign, unless you don't trust our president's "other purposes."

Their "History of Bills" lists it slightly differently:
"H.R. 6304 (H. Res. 1285).--To amend the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 to establish a procedure for authorizing certain acquisitions of foreign intelligence, and for other purposes. Referred to the Judiciary and in addition to Intelligence June 19, 2008."

"Authorizing certain acquisitions," meaning warrantless, and therefore onconstitutional, wiretaps. "In addition to other purposes," meaning ripping our Constitution down the middle and setting it on fire.

Today that bill passed, granted retroactive immunity to telcos, and gave our president the right to violate the law and then to grant immunity to anyone else violating the law. This more than violates the Fourth Amendment, it raises the president above the law, and the Congress okayed it.

What has happened to my country? It is no more. I live in a country not ruled by the people, but ruled by a single man, and in this case a traitor.

Coming soon: the roll call for that vote.

6/20/2008:   Today Steny Hoyer's obscene bill revising FISA and giving immunity to telecommunications companies that violated the Fourth Amendment and honored warrantless wiretaps was passed by the House of Representatives and sent to the Senate. This bill also gives the President unprecedented, Constitution-violating power without oversight, check, balance, validation, or verification, to instruct anyone to break the law.

Section 802(a) provides:

[A] civil action may not lie or be maintained in a Federal or State court against any person for providing assistance to an element of the intelligence community, and shall be properly dismissed, if the Attorney General certifies to the district court of the United States in which such action is pending that...

  (4) the assistance alleged to have been provided... was --
      (A) in connection with intelligence activity involving
          communications that was
          o  (i)  authorized by the President during the period
                  beginning on September 11, 2001, and ending on
                  January 17, 2007 and
             (ii) designed to prevent or detect a terrorist attack,
                  or activities in preparation of a terrorist attack,
                  against the United States" and

      (B) the subject of a written request or directive... indicating
          that the activity was
          o  (i)  authorized by the President; and
             (ii) determined to be lawful.

If the House passes this bill, I will add every politician that voted for it to a list I will call, "Enemies Of The Constitution." I will post that list on this site and keep it on every revision of the OOTM until such time as every one of the people on that list has retired from public life, and perhaps even beyond that. I will not let them get away with this. I will make it my personal hobby to remind them every single chance I get that they are all traitors.

6/19/2008:   Susan Atkins has asked for a compassionate release from prison because she has terminal brain cancer.

Not just no, but hell no.

Miss Atkins stabbed 8 and half month pregnant Sharon Tate to death, along with four other adults, and was also convicted of killing a music teacher in an earlier event. Where was the compassion then? She deserves to die in prison. Actually, she deserves a lot worse than that, but the last sight in her life being the cement walls and bars of her cage will have to suffice.

6/18/2008:   Seven years after we defeated the Taliban, we have 33,000 troops stationed there, more than when the war began, and we lost more troops there last month than in all of Iraq. This according to Lara Logan, foreign correspondent for CBS, stationed in the Afghanistan and Iraq for years now.

Oh, and Bush had to give up golf. Mostly.

6/18/2008:   "To give them full access to the federal courts and the criminal justice system is fraught with danger moving forward."

Those are the words of Randy Scheunemann, the Foreign Policy "Advisor" to the McCain campaign. In other words, people our federal government is holding in a prison should not be allowed, in this case, the right of habeas corpus, one of the fundamental legal underpinnings of the penal and judicial mechanisms for every advanced governmental system in the world. The right to force your accusers, even federal attorneys, to produce evidence showing why you're being charged and held for a crime. It is a principle dating from the 12th century when the lords of England forced the King at the time to sign the Magna Carta and guarantee to the people of England certain basic human rights and protections from those that governed them. It is the sacred right to have the system work fairly. It is the sacred rule binding the government to treat all equitably and to err on the side of freedom. For John McCain to hire and endorse an individual who would criticize habeas corpus as "dangerous" is to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that the attacks the Constitution and our freedoms have suffered over the last eight years will at best persist, and at worst increase.

Mr. Scheunemann, due to his lack of principles and integrity, feels that Osama bin Laden, who our government has allowed to run free to harangue us with occasional videotaped missives in spite of being the perpetrator of the worst attack ever on U.S. soil, would somehow give justice the dodge if given access to federal courts under habeas corpus. I say Mr. Scheunemann is a fool and a coward. I have confidence in our system of justice. I have faith in 800 years of legal foundation. I have no doubt that Osama bin Laden can be placed in a federal court of law and be shown just cause why he has been imprisoned. I have no doubt that, whether the court be a federal court in the United States or the Hague, that Osama bin Laden will be found guilty and sentenced to the maximum penalty allowed. I have no doubt whatsoever that, when we have a president that would make catching Osama bin Laden a priority, justice will be served.

Mr. Scheunemann is a traitor to his country by his very statements, made to the press, attacking our basic freedoms. For habeas corpus is not simply a principle underlying our Constitution; it forms the basis of international law as well. And what Mr. Scheunemann is really supporting is curtailing human rights in the face of fear. He has no spine or character. He has no moral compass. He is a threat to our country as surely as any terrorist.

These are my heartfelt feelings on the matter, and fortunately people like Mr. Scheunemann haven't yet been able to take away my right to expression, although I'm sure they'd like to and probably have plans to that effect in the works as I type this.

6/18/2008:   A report came out, in the foreword of which retired Major General Antonio Toguba, a man who led the investigations of the treatment of prisoners and interrogation techniques used at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo, said, "There is no longer any doubt that the current administration committed war crimes.

Screw General "Betrayus". Toguba caught hell for his criticism, and he has stood strong and spoken his mind.

No wonder Bush reneged Clinton's signature on the World Court treaty.

6/16/2008:   Obama is going to use the tax code to heal the middle class and make the spread of the tax burden more equitable and yet -- uh, oh -- he's going to cut the taxes for corporations.

Say what?

So who exactly is going to carry the burden? Where's the money going to come from to bolster the economy? We can't borrow any more money. As it is our kids are going to have absolutely no social net programs, education, or healthcare if we keep going the way we are.

I'm worried about this. He needs to correct himself on this. Supply-side "trickle-down" economics is the worst thing we could do to our economy at this time.

6/16/2008:   Yesterday McCain's group launched its “Global” ad. The idea was to make McSame look McDifferentThanBush. The ad says that he has a "realistic plan" to curb greenhouse gas emissions.

This came out the same day he proposed, at a speech on energy policy in Houston, to lift the federal moratorium on offshore drilling for oil.

Yeah, I know...

So let's review, shall we? More oil, more carbon emissions. More carbon emissions, larger changes in climate. More climate changes, less food as crops and animals die off. Less food and crops, more hate for those that refused to do something substantive when it would have made a difference.

6/16/2008:   Over 400 Taliban fighters took a number of villages just north of Kandahar. At this point they control close to half of the country. The people that directly housed and supported the group that struck the the United States on September 11th, 2001 are slowing taking back the country we forced them out of. They are bigger and stronger than they were the first time they took Afghanistan, they are better trained, and better funded. They are emboldened by the fact that we've wasted our strength in Iraq.

Yeah, that Iraq war... that's really paid off, huh? Yeah, fight'em there so we don't have to fight them here. Rather than finish the mission we're on, let's put that PNAC plan into effect and invade a perfectly defenseless country. That's looking pretty ridiculous now... Oh, let's not kid ourselves, it looked evil and asinine then and it looks criminal now. Smart people that read a paper now and then got it, and the idiots that put him back in office didn't.

Thanks, George. You fool...

6/16/2008:   Every poll has Obama kicking the crap out of McSame.

Duh.

Even McSame lying his ass off about Obama's plans regarding taxes isn't enough. And as the Democrats begin to gel again, when the women of America realize that, no matter how mad they may be that Clinton didn't win, McCain cannot be stomached, Obama's lead will only grow.

It's fun watching history being made and being on the right side of it.

6/16/2008:   Sam Brownback went on CNN to say that raising taxes on oil companies will not reduce the price of gas. He's right, if you only address half the solution. To get oil prices down, you have to regulate gas prices, regulate gas production, and then levy a tax that takes the oil companies' windfall profits away and puts them directly into solar, wind, and hydrogen power research and infrastructure development. The oil companies should be left with enough money to report a decent profit, and the rest should be spent towards creating an infrastructure to replace oil and coal as power sources. Rampant capitalism is not a good thing, people. There are limits beyond which capitalism is the problem, not the solution, and our government, our representatives, have a duty to respond to the current situation on behalf of their constituents and our country's future generations. But Brownback and GOP oil-whores like him will continue to try to drill their way out of the immediate problem.

6/16/2008:   I've got news for John McCain: Not only are people in small towns all across this country "and in Pennsylvania" bitter about the economy, but they're pissed off that you and Bush screwed them over jobs, the economy, economic relief, healthcare, and just about anything else you can name that would have strengthened our economy or affects the middle class and poor's wallets. They're bitter and they're tired of scare politics that have them reaching for their guns, praying to their gods, and clinging to religious fanaticism to prove themselves worthy of being spared the in next terrorist strike or natural calamity.

McSame, don't be an ass. Admit that Bush used those tactics to get votes... unless, of course, you're planning on playing the American public for fools one more time...

6/16/2008:   Let's be clear: there is no such thing, in this election cycle, as a "McCain Democrat." Just like Joe Liebermann is a traitor not only to the Democratic Party but the country as a whole, anyone supporting John McCain is either an idiot or just seriously malinformed. And no, I don't know if that's a real word, but it seems to encompass a combination of being uninformed and misinformed...

6/15/2008:   Ok, so Bush and Cheney don't get it. They're all the way over in Washington, D.C., they're both filthy rich, powerful, and white, and they feel absolutely no connection to the thousands of victims of hurricane Katrina. FEMA, under Bush's control, mirrored his views and lack of empathy. I get that, too. But you would think that the governor of Louisiana would be able to forget, at least for a while, that he's Republican and try to get as much of the relief materials evenly distributed among Katrina victims as possible.

What was I thinking?

Instead, when FEMA had to clear out the bursting-at-the-seams warehouse filled with cookware, appliances, furniture, clothing, diapers, fresh water, (the list goes on and on), heaped to the ceiling, brand new, that private individuals, charity groups, and corporations had donated, and it notified the Louisiana government that the stuff had to be used or given to other states asking for relief materials, Louisiana said, "No thanks, the Katrina fall-out is over. We're good. Do what you want with it."

Not only did they not let the organizations inside Louisiana that were tasked with helping Katrina victims recover know that those materials were available, they didn't notify them that those materials would no longer be available and that if they needed them, they'd better hurry and pick them up. Not that those organizations hadn't been begging every day for exactly the kind of stuff languishing in that warehouse.

Why did they do it? I think the answer can be found in the political party of the Louisiana governor: The Republican Party. That's about as far as I had to read before it all made sense.

Hey, Louisiana! Over here in California we're trying to put a new candidate in office in place of Nancy Pelosi because she took impeachment "off the table." I think you should really consider deposing the governor for not taking care of the victims of the biggest natural disaster in United States history. Maybe it's just me, but it seems like a big deal...

6/11/2008:   Say what you want, not only does Dennis Kucinich have the hottest wife of any man in Washington, DC, but he's got a spine of stainless steel. He isn't afraid of Pelosi, he's no one's puppet, he stands for what's right and he's stands for it upright and immediately. Today he introduced articles of impeachment against George Bush in the House of Representatives.

First he called for impeachment a few weeks ago when the group "Senate For Public Integrity" released a report that said that, "the Bush administration led the nation to war on the basis of erroneous information that it methodically propogated and culminated in the military action against Iraq on March 19th of 2003."

And today he made good on that threat.

What a frikkin' stud. He introduced articles of impeachment against Dick Cheney back in November of last year, but it was moved to committee and strangled there under Pelosi's dictate. He even had a throw down with that moronic NeoCon tool, Tucker, on Fox News about it, and he made Tucker look like a complete idiot.

I didn't like his suck up at the end, but he's a gentleman.

There were never any WMDs in Iraq.
No links to Al Qaeda.
No ties to 9/11.
Bush, Cheney, and Condie lied to you.
You ignored the facts.
You re-elected a liar and a murderer by proxy.
But now it's time to show your support for the troops.

Part 1:

Part 2:

Part 3:

6/9/2008:   Today I made my 14, 10, and 8 yr old daughters stand behind me while I pulled pictures off the internet of Amy Winehouse. There are some very attractive shots of her when she was younger, and then the pictures chronicle her descent into hell. From perfectly curvacious to death camp emaciated, lovely face to diseased, eaten, hollowed out, wrinkled hag with browning and missing teeth. Track marks, bruises, scabs, snotty nose, dripping makeup. When my kids had become quietly freaked out, I turned to them and I said, "There are winners, there are losers, and then there are people whose lives serve only as warnings to others." They nodded solemnly and then all filed out whispering feverishly to each other.

"Did you see..."
"Oh my god..."
"That was sooooo gross..."
"I would never..."

Talk to your kids about drugs. And when talking doesn't seem to have the desired effect, bring up the internet and provide them with stomach-turning graphics.

6/9/2008:   CNN had a poll today that asked how you think the economy is doing, with the choices being "poor," "somewhat good," and "very good." The correct answer obviously being "poor," that's what I selected, and then I was treated to the poll results thus far. 83% agreed with me (duh), 15% were rich and still enjoying record profits off Bush's tax cuts or are vote-the-team Republicans that can't bring themselves to admit they screwed everyone in the entire world over when they re-elected the Monkey Faced Frat Boy (MFFB).

And then there was the 2% that think the economy is "very good." Out of 49,562 people that had voted, that means that 991 people think we're doing great! 991 complete morons who live under a rock, don't drive, don't talk to anyone, read or watch the news, and yet have Internet access. 991 idiots that voted for Bush in 2000, 2004, and would vote for him again right now. 991 McSame supporters.

Well, statistically, that's a huge drop from 51% of the voters in 2004, about 54 million in all, so I guess I should be happy about that...

6/6/2008:   HEY!! Guess what I just remembered?! Remember how Micro$oft had been convicted of violating antitrust laws and prior DOJ orders, but as soon as the Monkey Face Frat Boy (MFFB) George Bush got into office, the whole thing got dropped? As soon as Obama is back in office, BANG!! Slap Microsoft with a HUGE penalty. No, I don't know exactly how it would work out since you can't reopen a case just to increase the penalty. Maybe start a suit on actions since that time? File a class action suit on behalf of the entire United States? Pass a law outlawing Microsoft and forcing it to be broken up into several competing units? Dunno...

6/5/2008:   To the people who wanted so bad to have a woman in power that they were willing to hold their noses and ignore the policies and positions proposed by Hillary, and now that they've been denied they swear they'll punish the Democratic Party by voting for McCain: grow up.

Let me say it again: Grow up.

Quit voting your gender. I'm not voting race or gender. So for you women screeching and carrying on for the television crews, shrilling "Denver!" at the DNC rules committee, you need to cut down on the estrogen replacement treatments, drink less Red Bull, or learn to get over whatever is causing the problem, and grow the hell up, or just shut up.

Freakin' embarrassing...

6/5/2008:   John McCain, in a speech yesterday, said that the workers in America should "embrace the situation" in the current job market. We're down a million jobs, but we should embrace that. And he thinks new jobs will be created through new tech, without mentioning how the policies he's borrowing from the current administration will continue to bleed tech jobs overseas, slash the funding for research and development, and fail to educate our kids and prepare them for a world that expects higher and higher tech solutions to every problem that comes along.

He still thinks the "fundamentals of our economy are very strong." Ask Ford and GM and the entire tech industry how strong it is. Ask people watching prices go up while their home equity goes down how the fundamentals are looking, Johnny.

This guy just doesn't get it.

6/5/2008:   Back in April I gave James Carville a hard time for backing Clinton's fuzzy math. Today on CNN Mr. Carville conceded that in fact Obama won handily. He tried to save a little face, but he started on the right foot, admitting he was wrong. Back then I said the Michigan and Florida shouldn't count and he said that they should. The DNC split the counts as equitably as they could going strictly by the DNC bylaws, and in the end Hillary's banked on second chance didn't pan out.

I just want to commend Mr. Carville for owning up, and I look forward to his analyses during the presidential campaign march to November.

6/4/2008:   Obama is the man. Hillary could have been the woman, but she simply brings too much baggage, too many poor positions on relevant issues, and an inability to effectively leverage today's communication mediums.

I texted my daughter who is vacationing in NYC as soon as I found out and told her, "Obama clinched the nomination, but hillary still hasnt conceded. Ur living in historic times, my luv."

6/3/2008:   In the space of 24 hours, superdelegates have pledged or changed their pledge to Barack Obama in numbers more than sufficient to give him the requisite number of delegates to make him the presumptive nominee for the Democratic Party's presidential candidate.

6/4/2008:   "We know that George Soros is involved with Obama, but there's somebody...eh... that's putting the words in his mouth... when he goes off the teleprompter he is a different guy. He does not come off as the messiah, he does not come off as this great unifier. He has trouble articulating, with stutters and pauses and so forth... There must be real animosity towards the Clintons at high levels of this party to go with a veritable rookie whose only chance of winning is because he's black."

That would be Rush Limbaugh. What an ass.

He's pissed that his "Chaos Campaign" failed laughably. He's irritates that the Democrats have selected someone with a great chance of kicking the crap out of McSame. He's frustrated that the sun is setting on NeoCon power. And he's still smarting from being so incredibly wrong about the 2006 election cycle when the GOP lost control over both houses of the U.S. Congress. Poor, poor Rush. I'm sure a quick pop of Oxycontin will make the pain go away...

And the George Soros thing... What is it with NeoCons and Soros? He donated millions to getting George W. Bush defeated in 2004, calling his effort the "central focus of my life" and "a matter of life and death." In my mind, that makes him a hero. He sees Bush's policies as not only being evil (well, duh), but fostering anti-Semitism. Granted, Soros has the wealth and savvy to push entire nations around, affecting financial and political policy on a global scale. It probably didn't help that he attacked the GOP directly after bloviating dipstick Dennis Hastert accused Soros of obtaining his wealth by way of drug sales. Bitch slapping Hastert, Soros filed an official complaint with the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct. He's also an enormous philanthropist, giving away an estimated $6 billion, giving away $400 million a year recently towards non-violent democratization of post-Soviet states through his Open Society Institute. Imagine that: non-violent democratization. Wow. Oh, and he's been fighting extreme poverty in Africa through programs and governance reform.

Wait! I may have found it! From Wikipedia: "In April 2008, Soros hosted an event in his apartment that had guests such as David Brock of the self-described progressive watchdog group Media Matters and liberal commentator Paul Begala. Brock described that the plan intends to raise $40 million to run political attack advertisements against the presumptive Republican nominee, Senator John McCain, through a group called The Fund for America and Progressive Media, whose key backer, according to politico.com, is Soros. Commentator Bill O'Reilly, who on numerous occasions has accused Soros of secretly backing what O'Reilly feels are "far-left" political causes, repeated Soros "wants to buy America" after learning about the event. So there you are. Threaten their dog, and they try to bite you.

Oh, and he's Jewish, which I'm sure will drive the racists in this country to distraction. And here is where we come full circle, to Rush Limbaugh being a rampant racist as well as foaming-at-the-mouth GOP fundamentalist freak whackjob...

6/3/2008:   Once upon a time, a friend of mine and I argued whether hate could be legislated against. He made a good point that America's constitutionally guaranteed freedom of speech would prevent such a ban from ever being successful. I never came up with a convincing argument against that, and we probably dropped the topic too quickly anyway. (BlackAdder, you still out there?)

In France, I have seen a clear example of what my friend was trying to explain. Brigette Bardot has been convicted of provoking discrimination and racial hatred for writing that France is ""tired of being led by the nose by this population that is destroying us, destroying our country by imposing its acts." Seems Ms. Bardot is an huge animal rights advocate, and the Muslim feast of Aid el-Kebir is celebrated by slaughtering sheep. France won't pass a law banning this practice on religious grounds.

On the other hand, I could point out that racism has nothing to do with religion. So guilty of discrimination? Sure. But racial hatred? No, I don't think so. I think her lawyers botched that part, although IANAFL.

That's not to say that Ms. Bardot doesn't have freedom of speech, in a way. This would be her fourth conviction for such. She just has to pay a price for speech. Hear it's free. And y'know, I think I like it our way...

6/3/2008:   So Todd Purdum wrote an "article" for Vanity Fair in which he implied that Bill Clinton suffered brain damage from his heart bypass surgeries and that he's cheating on Hillary while on the road.

Using nothing but anonymous sources, he builds a picture of Bill as mentally and physically altered by his surgeries. He states that Bill is tired more often and that he gets angry a lot. Well, duh. The man is older and his wife's campaign has been highly frustrating. His own doctors say he is always on the go and has a tremendous amount of energy, so throwing out a poorly documented theory on micro-strokes just doesn't wash.

And the philandering charge is too easy to make, even when all you have to go on is hearsay and rumor, and that's all Purdum has. Salacious, titillating, controversial, and completely unsupported, at least by anyone with the cojones to let their name be used.

Purdum is quick to equivocate when nailed down for his tripe, splitting hairs and finely defining each syllable in order to avoid negative press, but his spin just doesn't hold water. He's obviously educated enough, if not smart enough, to understand the effect that his rumors and hearsay will have. Purdum is simply more interested in getting attention than in writing the truth. And that makes him a jackass.

6/2/2008:   Okay, he's still a 46 delegates shy of the requisite 2118 delegates that the DNC is now requiring, but that's better than the 202 that Hillary needs. She would need every one of the 202 unpledged superdelegates in order to clinch it right this minute, and that ain't gonna happen. Congressmen, reading the writing on the wall, are throwing their support behind Obama.

And the whispers of the end are already being heard, faint echoes of the impending. Hillary has asked her staff to turn in their expenses, campaign supporters have been advised to stay home if they want, and Bill has implied that his role in her nomination bid has come to a tired end.

All that's left to Hillary is to admit defeat, and then take the high road. She needs to say up front that Obama fought a helluva fight, that's he's classy, smart, nimble, and so much more inspirational than anything any other candidate we've had since Kennedy has been able to muster. She needs to state categorically that she's not interested in the vice president position, and she could even spur party cohesion by passing the torch to a woman that is thus far untainted and a perfect replacement for Clinton's place in the race: Kathleen Sebelius. She's against same-sex marriage (boo!) but is against constitutional amendments outlawing it (yea!). She vetoed a law that allowed concealed handguns (yea!) but her veto was overturned by the Kansas legislature (boo!). She's pro-choice, pro-women's rights, pro-worker's rights, pro-education, pro-defense.

She's also strongly in favor of bipartisanship, having take the former Kansas GOP Party Chairman as her lieutenant governor in the 2006 election and winning by a landslide in a state that's 50% Republican and only 27% Democrat.

Honestly, if Obama takes her as his running mate, he not only will suck every intelligent Republican right into his camp, he will set the stage for Sebelius' presidential bid in 2016. Put it this way: even if Obama doesn't gild her with the VP spot, she has the intelligence and the juice to take the presidency in 2016 on her own. And *that's* the kind of partner Obama needs running with him.

6/1/2008:   The school year is over, and I have a bone to pick with one of the teachers at my kids' school. She teaches 8th grade science, and by "teach," I mean she throws some information out, and then lets the kids sink or swim. She is no better and probably a bit worse that relying on your child to teach herself science from Wikipedia. Because this woman is the worst teacher we've run into thus far, my straight-A student ended up with the only non-A grade (a C+ on her final report card) in her entire academic career. She's had teachers that I didn't care for, but at least they could teach. This woman's excuse for being lousy at her job is that she's "preparing the kids for high school."

I had an 8th grade science teacher at Elizabeth Cobb Middle School in Tallahassee, FL, back in 1978 -- yeah, you know who you are -- that was, for lack of an equally accurate and less offensive word, a complete bitch. She sucked at teaching, and she ridiculed me repeatedly in front of the entire classroom. Clearly she thought she was funny, but then it's not hard to make a bunch of 13 year old kids laugh. Her wit, inadequate for adults, was well met when she poked fun at me. And when I was getting a bad grade in her class and asked for help or extra credit, her excuse for not wanting to waste time on me was, "I'm preparing you for high school."

For all those teachers out there that think that failing to do an adequate job of teaching constitutes "high school preparation," let me set you straight: you suck. Yes, you do. No, you're not preparing anyone for anything -- I had a full plate of high school teachers, and NONE of them was as lousy as these two science teachers were and are. Just take ownership of your failings. You have to admit you suck before you can properly address the problem.

Right now, my beautiful girl is on a trip to New York City with her Mom. We made a deal with her that, if she got straight A's all the way through the 8th grade, we'd send her there for a week. Well, with her loving Dad's help with her homework, she did it, also while being involved in sports, class office, yearbook, and other extracurricular activities. The one grade that prevented her from graduating with a 4.0 and an academic excellence award was the one from her science teacher.

Who sucks.

Next to last note: My daughter took high school Spanish this last year in the mornings. She's already making good grades in high school. She, of all people, didn't need "high school preparation."

Last note: In case you're thinking I completely blame the teacher, know this: I'm holding my daughter accountable for teaching herself when the teacher sucks. She had the book and a science fanatic Dad who regularly helps her with her homework and studying. She really has no excuse, and she'll probably be grounded for at least a portion of the summer. She needs to learn that having a Lamborghini brain doesn't help if you never rev the engine.

The following people voted against the Constitution, against the Fourth Amendment, against your rights, freedoms, liberties, and protections. A version of the FISA reform bill that grants retroactive immunity to telecommunications companies that broke the law at the president's behest and gives the president the ability to grant immunity without oversight or further authorization, has passed the United States House of Representatives on Friday, June 20th, 2008. These are the people that voted for that measure. Included among them are Democrats that have betrayed their constituencies, including my own Jerry McNerney. Let us not forget these traitors at election time.