She acts as if she is the shadow president of a constituency that includes the 18 million people she says voted for her, as if those votes belong to her, as if all 18 million people are waiting for her to give them their marching orders. She leaves the race with the same air of entitlement with which she entered.
-Mike Lupica; New York Daily News
W's former BFF and White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan released snippets of his memoir to be published next week. In it he takes President Bush to task stating that he “veered terribly off course,” was not “open and forthright on Iraq,” and took a “permanent campaign approach” to governing at the expense of candor and competence.Boozhy's favorite hobbiton
They should be disbarred or whatever you do to cancel the license of a Doctor...
This post is to honor friends I have lost to the wars in Afghanistand and Iraq. My friend Fern was gunned down as she worked with the newly elected Afghani government to incorporate equal measures for women into the Constitution. Fern was my oft babysitter and the prettiest girl I knew as a child and later became one of the smartest and most courageous women I have known. Jason was my best childhood friend. He and I logged countless hours exploring the woods on the farm, riding horses, catching tadpoles and planning our "grown-up" lives. Jason was the victim of a roadside bomb while patrolling the outskirts of Baghdad. I miss them and the world is a lesser place without their company.
Politics aside, an inordinate number of our most valuable natural resources (eg. "Tuc" pictured above) have been lost to guns and war. CNN has a fitting tribute to the lives lost. Prepare yourself for tears.
Boozhy has held a fairly candid discussion of the Federal Government's refusal to allow California to pass stricter air quality laws than the EPA requires, so imagine how happy we were when we read the following headline in the LA Times:
Senate panel overturns EPA on state's effort to curb greenhouse gas
The fact that the Senate was taking up the fight to overturn the EPA and W's block of California's push to curb greenhouse emissions is commendable. But as we read the article we realize it's actually more of the same in the Senate, a whole lot of posturing and no real action. The LA Times explains that while the panel voted to turn over the EPA's block:
Boxer said that she wouldn't push for full Senate consideration of the legislation because President Bush would veto it. Plus the Senate already has a busy schedule, she said, including planned consideration in June of global warming legislation that her committee is writing. Still, "This shows that the environment committee, on a bipartisan vote, stood up for the California waiver," Boxer said.
Boxer chalks it up as a victory, but we beg the question: And that Pyrrhic victory and colossal waste of time helps who?
The President, in an interview with Yahoo! News and Politico stated he gave up golf to show solidarity with the families of soldiers killed in Iraq. I'm not even kidding.
QUESTION: Mr. President, you haven't been golfing in recent years. Is that related to Iraq?
THE PRESIDENT: Yes, it really is... I feel I owe it to the families to be as -- to be in solidarity as best as I can with them.
"I am more determined than ever to carry on this campaign until everyone has had a chance to make their voices heard. This race isn't over yet. Neither of us has the total delegates it takes to win."
I am in awe of this woman. I didn't vote for her nor will I support her candidacy over the eventual candidate Obama, but I must admit her complete inability to recognize defeat is amazing and has my begrudging respect. I get down 15-40 in a game of tennis and I have to fight with myself not to allow myself to believe the game is lost to me. Hillary has less than a 2% chance of securing the nomination, yet she soldiers on as if she has a 50-50 chance. Delusion or the attitude of a winner who just happens to be losing? I'm not sure anymore.
NASA is looking for volunteers to lend their eyes to a very high tech public game of "Where's Waldo the Mars Polar Lander?". They are hoping that multiple eyes can find the Polar Lander that was lost on the planet's surface.
West Virginians think that today's primary is a game-changer in this god-awfully long Democratic primary (too bad they're the only ones). More important than the polls stating Clinton will take WV is the fact that 31% of West Virginian voters think Clinton will win in November, compared to 27% who think Obama will win.
Whaaaa??? Listen, I'm fine with people making a statement vote. She's out, they love her, vote to give her one last victory and bow out gracefully, yadda yadda, I get it. But, more of the WV voters believe she'll win in November? Umm... Don't they get it? She's not going to be on the BALLOT as a presidential candidate in November, let alone win.
Slate started the Hillary campaign deathwatch last week. The percentage in the life preserver is her likelyhood of winning the nomination. Poor Hill, her campaign is over.
As a Dem, I often speak about our inability to rally the troops around Obama. But it seems the Hillary-Obama battle is only one of the many that are currently raging. As is typical of the Red Party, their fights are happening under the covers (ROTFL, did you GET that pun, I'm hell-arious).
Poll Dancing reports that Bob Novak says the Huckabee wing of the Republican party — that is, the evangelicals — are not at all on board with John McCain. Meanwhile, Ron Paul’s supporters are planning an embarrassing revolt against McCain at the GOP convention. Oh, and longtime Republican Congressman Bob Barr (who you might remember for leading the Clinton impeachment charge), of Georgia, is running for president as a Libertarian. Seems we aren't the only party of discord.
I was wrong. Obama took the lead in Super Delegates (are SUPER) today. So now Obama has won twice as many States, has a large lead in popular vote, an unsurmountable lead in pledged delegates, leads in super delegates and clearly has the imagination of the Party. Why is Hillary still running?
I wish people would stop obsessing about Republican Congressman Vito Fossella (R-NY). It's unfair and frankly I think it's not news. A man's personal life is just that. Personal. And as the Pink Lady says, once and for all, let those among us who have never gotten shit faced in a DC-area bar, driven drunk, been arrested for it, had our mistress (not our wife with whom we have three children) bail us out of jail, and then been forced to admit that we have a 3-year-old child with said mistress, cast the first stone. I know I will hold MY tongue.
Obama pulled even with Hillary in SuperDelegates today. My guess is he'll surpass her tomorrow, just before the West Virginia primary. Speaking of WV, the State is breaking huge for Hillary (will she bow out on a high note?).
Obama pulled even with Hillary in SuperDelegates today. My guess is he'll surpass her tomorrow, just before the West Virginia primary. Speaking of WV, the State is breaking huge for Hillary (will she bow out on a high note?).
The cost of federally funded sexual ignorance abstinence is clearly increased teenage pregnancy. Texas Monthly is running a great and exhaustive piece regarding the success of Federal Abstinence Sex Education courses. According to author Katy Vine:
So, how is this working for the State? Well it's not. Texas Monthly goes on to state:
When will we understand that ignorance and misinformation in the guise of morality hurts rather than helps?
With all of the emphasis the US and Europe are placing on green initiatives you would think the birth of the first zero carbon city would emerge within their borders. Not so. The United Arab Emirates, the world's third largest oil producer, has partnered with MIT to build the first zero carbon city on the edge of the National Capitol Abu Dhabi.
Perhaps the most interesting point is that UAE is presenting the investment in the city (aka the Masdar Initiative), as an economic play, not an environmental one.
"This is going to create huge business and research opportunities to get beyond where we are today," says Khaled Awad, of the government-owned Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company. "For Abu Dhabi to maintain its market share in energy, it must develop other forms of energy."
Just more evidence that the real future of the green movement lies in economics and not social responsibility.
Obama didn't deliver the knockout last night and we all know Hillary won't submit, but his big win in NC and squeaker of a loss in Indiana certainly are indicative of a seriously crippling ground and pound. My money is that even a big win in West Virginia won't matter much now. Look for a new wave of Super-Delegates (are super) to rally behind Obama.
One of Hillary's major fundraisers or "Hillraiser" is the latest Hillary Clinton defector.
"We're just bleeding each other out. Looking at it as coldly as I can, I just don't see how Senator Clinton can overcome Senator Obama with delegates and popular votes. I want this fight to be over, the quicker the better. [This] was a very, very difficult decision for me to make. I am an old and longtime friend of Senator Clinton. And I continue to think she is a fantastic and formidable person. But I am first of all a Democrat."
Seems to me the Clinton camp is doing a much better job turning out defectors than they are victories. Note to Hillary: when your major fundraisers argue that you are destroying the Party, you may want to listen.
Change is good
