Obama Veep?

Hillary Clinton is down in Florida trying to destroy the Democratic party if she's not given what she wants.

At this point, no rational or honest human being could actually make the case she's making. Frankly, no rational human being can even understand what she's blathering about, but speculation is that she wants the Veep spot, now that she's lost the nomination for Number 1. How can you make the claim that you are even worthy of the Vice Presidency when you violate a pledge that you yourself worked to put in place and signed along with all the other Democratic Presidential Hopefuls?

Obama did the honorable thing and honored the pledge he signed not to participate in Florida of Michigan primaries. He did the wrong thing in trusting Hillary Clinton, and now Hillary is trying to make the case that he withdrew his name from the Michigan ballot and should receive no votes from that state's primary and that she should get all the votes because Obama trusted Hillary and that's his problem because she couldn't be trusted!

I cannot overemphasize how disappointed in Hillary Clinton I am. I have been a long time defender of the Clintons. Now that she is doing everything she can to poison the water for Barack Obama...I'm over it. Nothing has made my error more clear than Hillary's attempts at destroying her party simply because she can't have it her way.

Let's not put aside that by acting the way she has, misrepresenting both the Democratic process and her part in making it the way it is, she clearly demonstrates her lack of fitness for the position.

So if not Hillary as Veep, who?

I want Richardson for his talents as well as his demographics, but there is evidence that I might not get my way.

Susan has the scoop!

PeeWee Herman Solution to the Gas Crisis?

"President Bush was in Saudi Arabia to mark 75 years of official relations with the royal family. And 40 years of officially being screwed royally by that family. Did you see the present the royal family gave President Bush? You see what it was? ... A Schwinn. A brand new Schwinn, yeah. That pretty much says it all, doesn't it? He goes over there looking for solutions to the energy crisis, they give him a bicycle." --Jay Leno

Makes sense to me. How about this one. Check this baby out:



Did you notice the keys sticking out of the tank? It's an electric hybrid bike. Pedal it or let the front hub mounted motor do the work. It has a top speed of 18 mph, depending on Rider weight and terrain, and a range of 60 miles. The battery unplugs from the bike and plugs into the wall and recharges completely in four hours.

Some of my associates were involved in research on these things several years back. I scoffed but they kept saying, "No, really! You have to try one."

Ok, I'm ready. Retail list price is $1800 bucks or better.

Just So You Know

The Obama Campaign tried to save Florida's Primary, as well as Michigan's...The Clinton Campaign stopped them!

Hillary Clinton's campaign is directly responsible for stripping Florida of it's delegates and now she wants to break her own rules. The original penalty for holding an early primary was to lose 50% of a State's delegates. Only one delegate to the DNC Rules Panel voted for that option...

The Obama supporter!

All 12 Clinton supporters voted to completely strip both Michigan and Florida of the delegates Hillary so desperately now wants to count. Aren't we tired of Leaders who cheat?

On Aug. 25 (2007), when the DNC's rules panel declared Florida's primary date out of order, it agreed by a near-unanimous majority to exceed the 50 percent penalty called for under party rules. Instead, the group stripped Florida of all 210 delegates to underscore its displeasure with Florida's defiance and to discourage other states from following suit. In doing so, the DNC essentially committed itself, for fairness' sake, to strip the similarly defiant Michigan of all 156 of its delegates three months later. Clinton held tremendous potential leverage over this decision, and not only because she was then widely judged the likely nominee. Of the committee's 30 members, a near-majority of 12 were Clinton supporters. All of them—most notably strategist Harold Ickes—voted for Florida's full disenfranchisement. (The only dissenting vote was cast by a Tallahassee, Fla., city commissioner who supported Obama.)

There's a lot more to this story but it all boils down to the simple fact that Hillary Clinton lost the nomination by her own devious calculated lies and maneuvers and now will not, or can not, face that truth. She must now cheat to win and every minute she remains in the race, she divides the Democratic Party more and more. She can't win the Presidential nomination and it looks to me like she thinks the only way she can get the Vice Presidential spot is by threatening to tear the Democratic Party into shreds unless she gets her way.

I am very disappointed with Hillary Clinton. I thought she was better than that.

Saddened,

Steve

Why Ted Kennedy will be difficult to Replace

The policy of "shoot first, ask questions later" took us into an unjustified war, and without a clear concept of what "winning the war" actually means.

President Bush constantly talks about the "progress" that is being made in Iraq against the insurgency, but he's looking for good news with a microscope. All anyone can see is "Mission Mis-accomplished" and the continuing losses of American lives, the deaths of thousands of innocent Iraqis, the torture scandal, and the ominous decline in our nation's moral authority in the world community.

Senator Ted Kennedy, June 7, 2005

Not one thing has changes in three years, except that Ted Kennedy is ill.

I wish him and his family the comfort they deserve in this difficult time.

Peace,

Steve

13 More Days

Interesting stuff watching the Hillary supporters parse yesterday's primary results. Some of it is factual, some of it is stretching the truth and some of it is just plain not true.

Clinton overwhelmingly won Kentucky, but the Kentucky pledged delegate count for Obama gave him the majority. In plain speak, Kentucky won it for Obama.

Obama won Oregon, an overwhelmingly white working class state, by double digits. The delegates awarded will pad Obama's count. At this point he only needs 64 delegates of any sort to have the 2025 needed. he will pick up delegates today as the results from both primaries get counted more closely. (they hold back awarding all delegates until the vote is certified). Oregon has 52 pledged delegates.

I don't count fudging the facts as an actual lie. Hillary's surrogates are yammering this morning about her having won 4 of the last 7 primaries and that is actually true. But if Anyone nods their head in agreement, it says more about their lack of critical thinking skills than the lies of the Clinton campaign. Obama won 7 of the last 11 primaries, so by the same reasoning...The Super Delegates should overwhelmingly back Obama and as a matter of fact a majority have declared their intention to do so.

At this point, Hillary Clinton can NOT win the Democratic Primary. She would need more than 100% of the remaining delegates. She is behind in Pledged delegates and Super-delegates. She keeps on stating that she is ahead in the popular vote but that just plain isn't true.

In order for Hillary to be ahead in popular vote, you have to count Michigan and Florida, which she has signed a pledge not to count. You also have to give Obama ZERO popular votes in Michigan, which is bogus at best since his name was not on the ballot and Clinton's was because she violated her pledge to have it removed.

Even bigger than the Florida and Michigan thing, is Hillary's failure to count all the Caucus states that Obama won. How does her statement that "every vote must count" seem to you when she refuses to count the votes she doesn't like?

Obama is now saying really nice things about Hillary Clinton, even as she continues to denigrate his victory.

In my heart I have lost a good bit of that warm feeling I always had for Hillary. What I want most of all for my country is an honest electoral process with candidates who have a personal ethical regard for the truth and media who have a clue what that is. When a candidate is elected I want to feel like I will be given the facts and not lied to for whatever convenient reasons, and the Iraq war and non-existent weapons of mass destruction and Saddam's non-existent responsibility for 9-11 and all the other just plain lies we have been told by George W. Bush and his pack of thieves are clear illustration of why being told the truth is important in America.

Most of all, this election cycle has shown me that the majority of Americans want to be told the truth. Hillary Clinton still can't bring herself to do that, and as a result, Barack Obama has won the Democratic nomination for Presidency.

Peace,

Steve

One more thing...In a voice vote of the audience taken by David Letterman yesterday, Barack Obama "soundly" defeated Hillary Clinton AND John McCain.

OK, TWO more things...All primaries will be over two weeks from yesterday. I suspect Clinton will not drop out but will continue, all the way to the convention, because she can still raise money to repay her campaign debt, over $10 Million of which she loaned herself. I would be highly suspect of fundraising efforts by Clinton at this point.

An Obama Rally with a difference

Not only is Barack the first to visit the Crow Nation, They adopted him!

Here Obama walks with his adopted Crow parents, Hartford and Mary Black Eagle. I think that makes him Barack Black Eagle. The Crow have given him his Crow name of "One who helps people all over the land."

Orosi sunglasses are the new traditional garb of the Crow Nation as they wait to see Barack Obama, the first Presidential candidate in US history to vist them in Montana.

Obama was inducted into the Crow Tribe as a brother...Can you get more American than that?

Obama is now white, black, and Native American. (You thought I was going to say "white, black, and red" didn't you?)

Check out Barney Old Crow and Myrtle Strong Enemy. As badly as America has treated these people they stand proud.

More

Peace,

Steve

Come Together...Right Now... Over Me

Obama spent a little time with a few friends in Portland...Say, 70,000 of them. (Warning...One male's point of view)

I read the lament of Hillary loyalists about America wasting it's chance to elect a woman president, but, to my thinking, that's wrongheaded as it can be. I believe Hillary was judged on her merits and demerits as a candidate. It's not that we won't elect a woman, or that Hillary is not worthy of the Presidency...It's that we have a better choice.

Today will mark the end of the primary campaign, though it's been over numerically for some time. Obama (and Clinton, hopefully) will now completely retarget on, not just winning the Presidency, but a solid majority in both the House and Senate. Undoing the damage of that Bush Republicans have done to our Country will take a lot of work.

And think about this...Our Republican friends know that they messed up...And we should know that, although we can glue our Democracy back together without their help, It would be so much easier with everybody pulling in the same direction.

After today, we need to bring Democrats together...And as soon as we are united, we need to start working on the rest of our misguided friends and ask them to join us in rebuilding a fair country that puts its People first...

All of them.

Peace,

Steve

Bird Blogging...And this evening after the Storm

I never seem to be able to get these beauties to hold still so I can run up and take their Picture. I think this is a Blue Gray Gnat Catcher. It's a hyper little thing whatever it is.


After the storms came through, the light in the gorge was amazing. I wish I were enough of a photog to really catch it but here's a taste of evening light on the mist.

In the Zone...A Modest Proposal

"Firearms WILL NOT be allowed in Hall A during the Celebration of American Values Leadership Forum."

That was the sign NRA members saw as they passed through the metal detectors. They were filing in to see and hear John McCain and they would have to give up their armament to do so. Lots of them had to be frightened, possibly overwhelmed by the feelings of insecurity. They had to give up their guns, and knives too, if they wanted to see John McCain.

Was that safe? Hey...What if one of the Secret Service people went crazy and started shooting?

More likely...What if McCain went crazy? He's done it before. Will they make sure he doesn't have a gun before they let HIM into the Hall?

The only people who could protect them would be the people who were, you know, trained to protect them.

Does the Second Amendment mean that the right to have a weapon is paramount? Is no other right defined in the Constitution as important? Does the right to "Keep and Bear Arms" mean that the Secret Service has no right to keep CC permit holders from carrying their weapon into the White House? The halls of Congress? Church? Little League baseball games?

Does the NRA propose that I or any other US Citizen with no criminal record or history of mental illness be allowed to carry a concealed weapon to a meeting with George W. Bush? If so, that clearly demonstrates that they are nuts...As in crazy.

If not, that clearly demonstrates that there are limits to the right to bear arms, just as there are to all other rights, even free speech. Perjury, libel, and slander laws clearly indicate this, since your speech may not consist of a damaging lie, in some cases. (Why not all cases? I don't understand why that would be bad?)

At any rate, none of us will get to freely exercise out second amendment rights around George W. Bush, because, frankly, you can't even exercise your First Amendment Rights around George W. Bush, and perhaps in that concept is the answer to this dilemma...

Constitutional Rights Zones.

We could establish Second Amendment Zones for the NRA. They could all have their guns and play with each other and watch their children play Little League games knowing everyone in the crowd was heavily armed.

This would give a new meaning to being "In the Zone" and possibly create a whole new series of reality shows as the rest of us watch from a safe distance...The cameras would have to be heavily armored with bullet proof glass in case there was a disputed Umpire call.

They would all feel so safe knowing they could start shooting the instant trouble arose inside their Second Amendment Zone. Yes, they would feel so safe...And as long as the bullet proof walls held up...

The rest of us could feel safe, too.


Peace,

Steve

Sunday Sermon

The conclusion that we are in trouble is unavoidable. I report the assault on nature evidenced in coal mining that tears the tops off mountains and dumps them into rivers, sacrificing the health and lives of those in the river valleys to short-term profit, and I see a link between that process and the stock-market frenzy which scorns long-term investments -- genuine savings -- in favor of quick turnovers and speculative bubbles whose inevitable bursting leaves insiders with stuffed pockets and millions of small stockholders, pensioners, and employees out of work, out of luck, and out of hope.

I could have said that...Just about have. Any of us could have said that, though possibly not in prose that well crafted. The Reverend Bill Moyers DID say it, and all I have to do for this Sunday's Sermon is ask you to read the entire excerpt from his new book, "Moyers on Democracy"

Democracy in America is a series of narrow escapes, and we may be running out of luck. The reigning presumption about the American experience, as the historian Lawrence Goodwyn has written, is grounded in the idea of progress, the conviction that the present is "better" than the past and the future will bring even more improvement. For all of its shortcomings, we keep telling ourselves, "The system works."

Now all bets are off. We have fallen under the spell of money, faction, and fear, and the great American experience in creating a different future together has been subjugated to individual cunning in the pursuit of wealth and power -and to the claims of empire, with its ravenous demands and stuporous distractions.

Peace...And please go outside for at least a little while today.

Steve