MIT Breakthrough Discovery Of New Way To Store Solar Energy

In a revolutionary leap that could transform solar power from a marginal, boutique alternative into a mainstream energy source, MIT researchers have overcome a major barrier to large-scale solar power: storing energy for use when the sun doesn’t shine.

via:Informed Comment

Why Americans Know Little About The Rest Of The World

I saw this video from Alisa Miller of Public Radio International over at AmericaBlog and thought it was worth posting again just in case you missed it. It answers the question of why the United States is a nation of international retards.

Seattle Times Braindead Headline Of The Month

"Rich are not so different when economy is down"

Okay and pigs may fly out my ass! AP writer Mark Jewell in today's Seattle Times points out that the rich have to cut back on luxury items and other filthy rich pastimes. It's a freaking hilarious read. Ironically the rich and their Republican buddies are to blame for the last eight years of endless war and bad economic policy.

"Many are asking their personal shoppers and private-jet providers to seek the best deals rather than over-the-top extravagances." Meanwhile some retired grandma has to go hungry in order to pay her energy bill. This is such a total bullshit story. Come on Mr. Jewell there are people dying out here.

McCain's Negative Attacks Create Flood Of Obama Campaign Contributions And Volunteers

Obama Campaign Manager David Plouffe's video message talks about how recent McCain negative, and I might add just plain stupid, attack ads have actually help increase campaign contributions to the Obama campaign. Over 200,000 contributions this week and 100,000 made yesterday alone, one-third were first time contributors and the negativity has apparently increased the number of volunteers showing up at Obama's field offices across the country.

Conservative Republican Banker Says Iraq War Reason For Economic Crisis

Instead of talking about race cards being played and Britney Spears John McCain should be force to talk about what a prominent Republican banker says is wrong with our economy. Mainly the Iraq War. But warmonger McCain will never do it, because he's all caught up in honor and victory and surrender and that type of rightwing jingoistic American political horseshit.

Richard Vague is a conservative businessman disgusted with the party he has belonged to for a very long time. He was the Founding CEO of the former First USA Bank which ran at the time the largest credit card operation in the United States. He later started a group called AmericanRespect.com, promoting American internationalism and trying to get the American government to demonstrate respect for other peoples and nations abroad.

Another Apparent Army Cover Up Of Rape and Murder In Iraq

If your not pissed after watching this piece your brain dead. This is a must watch video from the Young Turks. Comentator Cenk Uygur goes ballistic about the apparent cover up of a rape and murder of LeVena Johnson a US Army PFC station in Iraq. The Army has officially classified her death as a suicide.

This apparent cover-up is something every American should be furious about. Uygur also correctly points out that this type of government misconduct would of been at the top of the news cycle and on the front page of most newspapers at one time in America. Now all we get is the Vip stakes and whether Obama is just like Britney and Paris. Bullshit!

McCain's $500 Shoes

MCCain's $500 Ferragamo shoes, something that every working class guy can totally relate to...

Paul Allen's Broken Promise Comes Home To Roost No Real Grass For MLS Sounders

Next year the new Seattle Sounders will take the field as a new MLS franchise. The main problem the MLS has is that the Sounders and several other MLS teams still find themselves playing on artificial turf. This makes the MLS brand a form of phony American soccer.

We all know that REAL soccer is played on real grass not artificial turf.

Many don't remember that as part of the effort to get voters to approve the Seahawks Stadium Paul Allen made a promise that the field would be acceptable for soccer as well as NFL football. Meaning that it would be maintained as a real GRASS field. This promise later was forgotten when push came to shove and the NFL team's coaching staff and the powers to be apparently nixed the idea.

I supported the stadium myself with my vote in part because of this now broken promise made by Allen. As ususal there was little objection from Seattle fans who can't tell real grass from the phony stuff most of the time. Here we qoute from a CNN Sports Illustrated Grant Wahl article on the subject from August 2001, titled: Fasco in Seattle...

"The conventional wisdom has always been that if soccer ever gets big in the U.S., it will do so despite, not because of, the folks who run U.S. Soccer. Further evidence comes courtesy of former U.S. secretary general Hank Steinbrecher, who is almost single-handedly torpedoing efforts to bring world-class soccer to Seattle.

Quick background: In order to help secure public funds for the new Seahawks stadium under construction, the group building the stadium (led by team owner Paul Allen ) pitched it as a football/soccer facility that would have soccer dimensions and be able to house a possible MLS team and future U.S. national team games. "Wonderful!" said the Seattle community, which has its share of soccer fans and voted to help support the project, which was promised to have a grass field.

Now, however, Seahawks coach/GM Mike Holmgren wants to install FieldTurf, the new-age artificial turf that wouldn't get torn up by football games and the ever-present Seattle rain. One problem: Even though FIFA has approved FieldTurf for all soccer events except the World Cup finals, sources say there's no chance that U.S. Soccer will play World Cup qualifiers on the fake stuff.

Enter Steinbrecher, the first-class bloviator who recently sang the praises of FieldTurf for the Seattle stadium. "In my opinion," Steinbrecher told The Seattle Times, "FieldTurf is better than all but the top 10 percent of the grass fields in the world." Well, guess what? Steinbrecher is a paid consultant for the folks who bring you FieldTurf! So now, as Steinbrecher lines his pockets, the football people in Seattle can say, "Look, even the soccer people support FieldTurf!"

But what will Seattle soccer fans get in return for their financial support? No national team games (using a temporary grass field over the carpet would be expensive, impractical and possibly dangerous) and no MLS team (the last thing the league wants to do is pay exorbitant rent to play in another giant NFL stadium on fake turf).

The best solution for a possible MLS expansion team in Seattle would be to modify cozy Memorial Stadium near KeyArena: Install a grass field, expand the partially roofed digs to 20,000 seats and kick out the weekly high school football games -- to, say, the new Seahawks stadium, where the FieldTurf will undoubtedly be able to withstand the wear and tear.

And, oh, yes, it would help to find an MLS investor in the area willing to cough up $15 million or so (plus a few more million to modify Memorial Stadium, since the Seattle voters surely won't be hoodwinked again). Maybe Steinbrecher would be willing to contribute some of his hard-earned cash?"

To me and others nothing looks and feels more inauthentic then watching MLS soccer played on artificial turf fields with the NFL football lines still vaguely showing through. Also professional soccer players complain of injuries and other factors related to play on this phony grass that make it regrettable. Until the MLS eliminates artificial turf fields they are not going to be accepted as being legitimate by true soccer fans here and around the world. Ask any normal soccer fan from another country about the MLS and this often is one of the things their first to point out.

This Is Your Brain On Hope

New MoveOn.org ad takes comical look at hope in the future.

Yummy Yummy What Fast Food Really Looks LIke

This Flickr photo stream is frightening and hilarious at the same time. Makes you want to super size your eating habits. Thanks to Frightening Fast Food Flickr group. Ladies and gentlemen the Wendy's 3x classic triple (bypass).

God Please Spare Us From Another Unsophisticated Inarticulate Malaprop Of A Presidency

Shouldn't being able to speak properly be a basic requirement for being elected president?

I ‘m sick of US Presidents who can’t speak proper English or are so scattered, old, burnout or phony they can’t get their facts straight most of the time. I don’t mind the occasional mistake, but I can’t take it when it's a daily occurrence Ala Bush and McCain.

We need a president that can actually articulate his positions on the issues and affairs of the day in such a way that he is clearly understood. I’d venture a guess that Obama would be winning big if a the poll were taken of English professors.

You’d think that one of the top requirements of the presidency would be to be able to communicate your ideas, apparently not so much in low information voter America.

McCain so far has shown he’s in the same bush league as our un-scholarly current president when it comes to simply talking. Aren’t you sick of the American president looking like a total buffoon on the world stage? If not, you should cast your vote for McCain because one thing he will continue is the same Bush habit of making a complete ass of himself in public ever chance he gets, and at 72 years of age it’s probably going to get worse.

We put up with eight years of the bumbling of George W. Bush misspeak and now they offer us another halfwit speaker in the form of McCain. I want my president to be articulate and well read, not some one who acts like Charlie McCarthy being manipulated by a drunk Edgar Bergen.

Come on America! It time we had a elitist for our president not some nitwit who supposedly if fun to drink a beer with at the corner bar. This able to have a beer with nonsense is the height of stupidity as a barometer of anything meaningful. Most of the people I drank beer with at the corner bar were a bunch of low information slackers or drunks. Guess that says something about me too. It okay if you like low information slackers and drunks once in a while but not as the leader of the free world.

If I go to the circus or a show I want to see someone do something extraordinary that for a moment separates him or her, and me by observing it, from the mundane. I don’t want the same old mediocrity in that or in politics. This American propensity to settle for the banal is impeding our progress as a nation and people.

I think being able to speak properly would be a baseline qualification don’t you?

Hearings On Don't Ask Don't Tell Debunk Fears By Homophobic Nitwit

Freshman Representative Patrick Murphy, a former military officer himself, did an excellent job dealing with the disturbing views of homophobic witness and anti-military extremist Elaine Donnelly testifying before the House Armed Services Committee yesterday. Vote Vets points out that one's sexual orientation has nothing to do with performance on the battlefield or anyplace else in the military.

Obama Makes Clear That Real Front Against Terrorism Is In Afghanistan

Obama in Jordan yesterday made the point that the real war against terrorists is not in Iraq. Something that John McCain and many Americans have a hard time grasping. So let's roll the tape.

Mariners Insipid Play Reflects Candyass Front Office Failure

Do you dream of a winning Mariner team? If you do you should write a letter to your local newspaper or to principle Mariner owner Hiroshi Yamauchi via Nintendo calling for the heads of candy ass club CEO Howard Lincoln and president Chuck Armstrong. They've succeeded in turning Seattle back into a losing farm team for the better teams in baseball who more often then not seem to be able to take our rejects and cast offs and turn them into productive players.

These two men are personally responsible for the Mariners return to permanent mediocrity. In my mind the main reason is because of Armstrong and Lincoln’s phony dip shit family values centered Disney style feel good all over management style and personal statement that seems to permeate everything Mariner including their play on the field. It's a turn off to real baseball types who know how to win and may consider coming here except for the fact they have to answer to Lincoln and Armstrong if they did.

It may look good to Seattle’s uninformed, latte swilling, shiskaberry sucking, let's do the wave because we don't know the difference between football and baseball fans, but its main result is to produce recurring seasons of teams with losing records. These two have been behind the hiring of a line of weak yes men managers and the similar disposed and the recently fired GM Bill Bavasi. Bavasi is responsible for a number of on field personnel decisions over the last several seasons that have proved to be mistakes or simply inept. It wasn’t because money wasn’t available to woo winning players to come here, the club has one of the highest payrolls in major league baseball.

Yamauchi should replace these two anal retentives with someone who knows something about winning baseball games. In case you haven’t noticed Lincoln and Armstrong spend most of their time on their number one priority, trying to keep couples from kissing, or doing much else that fans like to do at baseball games like wearing tee shirts that indicate that the visiting team SUCKS or simply being at the ballpark to have a good time and blow off some steam. I’m sick of them hiring these ass licking field managers who feel warm all over even after a 100 lose seasons.

Last night for example I watched as Mariner Pitcher Jarrod Washburn once again demonstrated his yearly propensity for failing to get past the 6th inning and getting shelled in the process only to have the lap dog Fox Sports Northwest commentators during the post game wrap-up talk about what a fine outing he had by lasting 5 innings and losing the game. This, a demonstration of habit those dependent on the Mariners for their lively-hood have of trying to turn a sows ear of a baseball team into a silk purse. Washburn’s record slipped to 4 wins and 9 loses. He, like the highly paid and recently release slugger Richie Sexson, pitchers Migel Batista and Carlos Silva indicate the total lack of competence Mariner upper management had when it hired GM Bavasi who's mainly responsible for bringing these millstones around the franchise's neck unproductive players here in the first place.

I'm not even going to start on what I think about no hit strike out prone Willie Bloomquist being a everyday player except to say he'd be riding the pines or released if he were associated with any real major league baseball team. How many years of mediocrity does it take before you know?

Bavasi didn't begin to rebuild the team in the classic sense when he got here from within the organization by using the farm system's young players, but instead used these prospects as trade bait to go for so called established players who's worth was questionable. He also brought in several veteran players through free agency who turn out to be busts for the most part, 15.5 million dollar Sexson being the main example, or he'd cut loose productive players because they didn't meet the Lincoln Armstrong arbitrary code of personal moral cleanliness and godliness or they did things like chew tobacco in front of kids.

Then there’s Casper Milk Toast managers like the now deposed Bob Melvin, Mike Hargrove and John McLaren who couldn’t get the high paid prima donnas players to produce wins on the field. Bavasi modes operandi was to bring in washed up players just past their prime and expecting them to produce numbers they hadn’t achieved any time lately. Lincoln and Armstrong liked these weak minded managers because they were the opposite of Lou Piniella who'd rather punch someone in the nose then lose a baseball game. Something he may of done to them had he stayed any longer.

As far as the permanent replacement for Bavasi, one former American League executive, asking for anonymity, told me recently, "If Lincoln and Armstrong are there, whoever the GM is won't matter." Art Thiel Seattle PI

True baseball MEN like former Manager "sweet" Lou Piniella and GM Pat Gillick had enough of the interfering and goodie two shoes management style of Lincoln and Armstrong and bolted for greener pastures by the time the end of the 2003 season had rolled around. They took a record of several playoff appearances and a record breaking 116 win season with them plus any chance the Mariner had to be successful on the field in the immediate future because of the phony leadership by Lincoln and Armstrong. Both Piniella and Gillick have gone on to be the part of successful and competitive pennant contending operations with the Chicago Cubs and Philadelphia Phillies respectfully.

Piniella, besides being a brilliant baseball mind, more importantly reflected the true workingman blue collar honest no nonsense values and passion that successful baseball managers usually have as part of their overall makeup and was sort of the antithesis to the (excuse me) pussies that Lincoln and Armstrong represent. Lincoln and Armstrong saw Piniella as a threat and a risk to their squeaky clean ideas about life and baseball. Piniella’s entertaining volcanic on field outbursts and tell it like it is style scared the shit out of these two squares. Unfortunately for Seattle Piniella style also produced winning baseball teams. Piniella remains well loved and deeply missed by most knowledgeable baseball fans who give a shit and screw that dumb ass pansy ass Moose too.

If Seattle Had Approved The 1968 Rapid Transit Bond Issue It Be Paid Off This Year Cost Less And Been Better Then The One We Still Haven't Built Yet

Sorry you wannabe hipsters, but it's true. Nothing that even looks like a long term capital improvement to our infrastructure or a quality of life improvement can ever get passed in the lame backwater town of Seattle or the Puget Sound region.

Blame the process on the chicken heartened back-boneless gagle of PC bloggers and blowhards who rather posture and talk endlessly about the system's freaking carbon score than build anything. Most of these nitwits intercity pols are more concerned about making sure they look good or get re-elected. Even our supposedly backwater friends in Stinktown (Tacoma) and Portland are way ahead of us on this issue.

Name me one politician in this state who's got the political juice and where with all to get something done. Fuck the special Seattle propensity of involving everyone in god's green earth in the endless egocentric talk it through PROCESS process. I've prayed for a REAL big city politician to come on the scene for years who's not afraid to DO SOMETHING and get voted out of office if the people don't like it. The current price of gas crisis only puts more emphasis on how the region got caught with it collective people moving pants down. The only good thing about the pain at the pump is it may force the nitwit population of obstructionist's hand, so they'd actually HAVE to ACT.

"The Forward Thrust package in 1968 would have given the area a system of amazing scope. It would have been completed in 1985 and fully paid off in 2008. It would have been heavy rail, largely in subways, with two prongs north, two prongs south, and two prongs on the Eastside. Unlike Portland's system, which is largely on the street, this system would have been separated from traffic and much faster. It probably would have done a fair amount toward shaping dense neighborhoods and concentrating urban growth. All this at one quarter the local cost of a completed (much smaller and slower) Sound Transit system."

I remember voting for the rapid transit system in 1968 before most of the present day nitwitlalapalooza blogger bunch even had heard of the personal computer. For Christ sake these cheap penny wise and dollar short assholes around here would probably have a heart attack if they had to compare the proposed cost then to the inflated cost it be today for the same system. But let's go to the video so that I can suffer once again from rapid transit envy.

Number one in the world of rapid transit is apparently Singapore, and their mostly Buddhists. They beat you with a stick in the public square if you throw your gum on the ground. I'll take a Buddhist over a surrender monkey WASP any day of the week I guess. Buddhist never surrender because they hardly ever start useless wars that they have to later end up surrendering for like Pops McCain likes to point out all the time.

Carl Rove Should Be In Jail

I tell my friends that there will be no real justice in this country until Carl Rove, Bush, Cheney et al are prosecuted and put in jail. How can you put a man in jail for shoplifting and at the same time not prosecute these thugs for the heinous war crimes and abuses of power they have conducted. Are we not a nation of laws?

Happy Burn the House Down And Scare The Bejesus Out Of the Dog Day

Item from the West Seattle Blog or the blog that never every sleeps.... Turn on the game have a few drinks and start a bonfire in the front yard next to the barbecue. What the hell could be wrong with that? Reminds me of the time I was in Spain on Saint Joan's Day. If you don't want to blow off any M80's but would like to feel like you have just watch this video.

The Catalans pretty much all come to a central location in the nearest town, like a soccer field, start a civic bonfire and begin to set off their extensive personal stash of fireworks and small bombs and fire making related goodies. The tradition is centuries old and includes that you must also jump through the fire inorder to symbolize getting rid of the old and starting over with the new. Sounds like something we could use here in America badly.

But, in Catalonia it seems no one every gets hurt at these celebrations or has their extremities blown off. Only here in the land of the retards and the home of the not so free anymore can one blow the shit out of themselves once a year or burn down their or their neighbor's house. Here is the quote from the post at West Seattle Blog.

10:53 pm Fire crews are busy too; Engine 37 (from 35th SW) just went to an illegal burn call at California/Willow south of Morgan Junction, reportedly “guys drinking and having a bonfire in the front yard.”

Is The Red Blue Divide Fading Away.. Are You An Equinox Voter?

Over at votemaster there was this interesting observation on a columm pollster John Zogby has written at Huffington post about his ideas on the changing make up of the electorate.

"Pollster John Zogby wrote a column about how the red/blue divide is fading away. He says the key new groups are the Spring-forward and Fall-back voters, which he names the Equinox voters. The Spring forwards are people who are doing well in the new information and service economy. They are well educated, making good money, and located in New England, New York, Maryland, Virginia, Colorado, the West Coast, and other areas. People like this used to be (Rockefeller) Republicans but now they are solidly Democratic. The Fall back-ers are blue-collar workers in the rust belt and elsewhere who have seen their manufacturing jobs vanish and their lives get worse. The old American dream of having your children do better than you seems a distant reach for them. They used to be the core of the Democratic coalition, but in recent years they are becoming more and more Republican, largely on cultural issues like abortion (due to Richard Nixon's Southern strategy and Karl Rove's genius). We are likely to see this theme a lot in the coming year".

John McCain's Flip Flopper 101 Video

All, or nearly all, or John McCain's flip flops are contained in this video. It hard to keep up. But we try.

Oil Companies Begining Plan To Extract Profits From Iraq Oil Fields

How ironic is it now that George Bush has less then six months left in office that his oil company buddies are going to start to enjoy their share of the spoils of the war in the form of oil profits from Iraqi oil. But as we all know it was never really about blood for oil.

Euro Cup Final Conjures Up Bad Memories For Holocaust Survivors

Euro 2008 comes to a close on Sunday night in Vienna, and it's Germany against Spain in the final. But the stadium where the final will be held brings up other memories for holocaust survivors.

United Farm Workers Union Takes Aim At Trader Joe's

Attention all upwardly mobile hipsters and and otherwise smug wine connoisseurs shopping at Trader Joe's. The United Farm Workers Union has targeted Trader Joe's and supplier Charles Shaw Wines for what it feels is a history of not providing proper working conditons for farm workers and the use of labor contractors to avoid responsibility when workers are injured of die on the job. The Company's wines are sold at Trader Joes under the Two Buck Chuck label. Trader Joe's considers Charles Shaw Wines one of it's valued suppliers.

The Farm Workers Union feels the Charles Shaw operation is responsible for the death of seventeen year old Maria Isabel Vasquez Jimenez from heat exposure at their California vinyard. The Union initiated the campaign against Trader Joe's because it feels that the company has not taken the responsibility or action to encourage it's so called valued suppliers like Charles Shaw to improve conditions for farm workers. If you'd like to send a fax to Trader Joe's telling them to take responsibility and action instead of making excuses you can do so here.

AFL-CIO Working Families 2008 Website Impressive

The AFL-CIO's Working Families 2008 website is very impressive, especially the John McCain revealed and the meet Barack Obama cyber book pages. The site contains tons of information, videos and links on both candidates aimed at the working person's perspective. The AFL-CIO has officially endorsed Obama and created the website to engaged union members and working class Americans in the election.

Pride Week Video Attempts to Introduce Obama to GLBT Community

In honor of Pride Week in Seattle Jen Hauseman (who happens to be an Obama National Delegate) and Jake Standish, co-directors of Seattle Pride, had the idea of creating a video to introduce Barack Obama to the LGBT community. This short video, created by Jody Rogers, highlights some of Barack's past speeches with an emphasis on Obama's commitment and bold support of the GLBT community.

Somebody Tell Dr. Dobson That People Have Been Making Up Stuff In The Bible For Awhile Now!

So I guess Barack Obama can make it up too. At least The Great Black Hope’s interpretation points out that nothing in the Bible should actually be taken literally. And I need not remind you Dr. Dobson that your truth is not my truth. What you believe is for sure not what I believe. I’m sick of theses so called religious authorities like you thinking they have somehow cornered the ultimate truth market. Organized religion usually gets it wrong and when they do the bodies invariably start to pile up.

This interference by religious groups and individuals also has reared it ugly head with Muslims whining publicly about what they claim is inattention from Obama. This SHOULD be a country where pandering to any religion by candidates for the highest office is not one of the determining factors in deciding who is qualified to be President. Hasn't making everything presidential into a religious litmus test gotten us in enough trouble already?

Most Americans actually born here and others coming here after living in actual or near theocracies need to understand the basic principle of the separation of church and state. This information apparently has been removed from the text books by religious nuts cases who have infiltrated our government institutions.

I believe in God but why and how I worship is no ones business or should it be some sort of test of my standing as a citizen ever.

Signs Of Fremont

Sign seen on upper Fremont Ave.

FISA Immunity Impeachment Expose Colluding Compromised Democrats

Democratic Party leaders in Congress including but not limited to Harry Reid, Chuck Shumer, Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer continue to sell out to the President and his gang of corporate criminals who further threaten our constitutional rights and the rule of law.

They are now heavily compromised by their early awareness and collusion and decision to look the other way when Bush administration policies began ignoring the law and the constitution in the fear ridden period after 9/11 and in the run up to the war with Iraq.

These backbone lacking phonies were more then happy to jump on the bandwagon when they were afraid they be branded obstructionist or peaceniks if they stood up to Bush on illegal wiretapping, extraordinary rendition, or opposing the war.

Instead of standing up to guard our rights, calling for more evidence before going to war or fighting the abuses, they simple went along with what the President wanted, ruled by fear they'd lose their precious seats in Congress. Simply put, they were not doing the job they were elected to do of protecting the constitution or citizens from these abuses of power.

Because of this early collusion and approval of Bush wrongdoing they have been rendered impotent and in jeopardy of being exposed themselves as the slimy whimps who when along to get along that they actually represent.

This is the main reason Democrats like Hoyer and Reid continue to push the so called compromise FISA bill that includes telecom immunity and are also not eager to proceed on the impeachment of the President even though the evidence for impeachment is overwhelming. By ignoring impeachment or continuing the efforts to grant telecom immunity they actually insulate themselves from the truth coming out of their personal involvement and collusion with Bush policies.

So we're faced with another sad day if your a Democrat, watching these Judases sell us out for the thirty pieces of telecom immunity or the continued funding of the Iraq war without tying it to a date to withdraw.

Even though Bush continues to have one of the lowest sustained unfavorable ratings of any president ever these Democrats continue to refuse to stand up to his bad policies, violation of our rights, illegal war or the protection of telecom illegal activities.

What the hell are they good for anyway?

Politicians like these should be run from office and replaced by candidates who are more concerned with protecting us from the abuse of power then just being reelected. Not only do we need a change in the White House we need to remove these do nothings from leadership roles in the Congress and replace them with Democrats who are not in collusion with a corporate driven Republican agenda.

Gonzo Trailer The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson

Here it is kiddies. The trailer for the upcoming Hunter S. Thompson trailer

Experts Say Getting Rid Of The Enron Loophold Could Reduce Gas Prices As Much As 25%

What the hell is going on here? If getting rid of this legal loophole would reduce gas prices from $4.50 a gallon to $3.40 why isn't our hair on fire demanding action?

Am I missing something here? Experts say that the elimination of so called Eron loophold would reduce crude oil and gas prices by as much as 25%. The loophole allows for the lack of regulation of gas and old traders who then are free to speculate on oil futures in a way that forces up the price and brings them more profit. Keith Olbermann report last night left me ready to upchuck my dinner.

Whoops: Apparently congress did pass legislation to remove the Eron loophole as part of the recent farm bill. So the question now is when do we see the reduction in price?

General Who Investigated Guantanamo Abuse Says Bush Officials Commtted War Crimes

This last weekend I attended the WA State Democratic Convention in Spokane. While there I had the opportunity to meet James Yee the former US Army Chaplain sent to Guantanamo to administer to Muslim prisoners who, after being accused of collaboration with the enemy, ended up becoming a prisoner himself. Yee, a Washington resident, was in Spokane having been elected an Obama pledged National Delegate from Washington's 9th Congressional District to the August Democratic National Convention in Denver.

Yee accuses the US Government of torture and violation of the Geneva Convention in their treatment of prisoners in Cuba. You can find out more about Yee and his experience while at Guantanamo in depth and in his own words here.

Yee is passionate about getting the true story of what happened at Guantanamo out. It is shocking to know what the Bush administration did in our name to the prisoners held at Guantanamo and other black sites. They continue to this day to deny responsibility for their crimes and recently attacked the Supreme Court decision that restores certain constitutional rights to the prisoners in Cuba. A decision. by the way, that presumptive Republican nominee John McCain called "one of the worst decisions in the history of the court". Making one wonder if McCain actually read or understands the decision, being that he was a war prisoner himself.

There are now two excellent reports that go farther, and accuse the Bush administration of war crimes. Maj. Gen. Antonio Taguba, who's now retired, new report found that U.S. personnel tortured and abused detainees in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, using beatings, electrical shocks, sexual humiliation and other cruel practices. McClatchy also has has excellent in depth series that includes interviews with many former prisoners who were tortured but subsequently release after it was determined they were innocent or, in some cases actually working to support American efforts.

Both these reports add credence that Bush, Cheney and their cronies may one day have to face the consequences for their abuses of power and arrogance in putting themselves above the law.

Photos From WA State Democratic Convention

Here are the photos taken at the WA State Democratic Convention last weekend in Spokane. The WSD presidential election year convention business didn't provided many surprises. The principle activity being the election of at large and party leader delegates to the National Convention. Over 400 candidates were completing for 17 at large and 4 alternate delegate spots at the Denver convention.

Please feel free to download or use the photos. It be nice if you'd give artistdogboy a photo credit if you publish a photo. Better yet upload or email some of your own pictures to added to the album. I was to busy running for delegate myself to take as many pictures as I would of liked. You can find the icons to prompt you if you download, email or upload at the top of the web page at the album website.

Congratulations to the winners. The quality of the pool of candidates for National Delgate this year was simply amazing and it boggles the mind when you consider that nearly all of these wonderful people are pretty much dedicated to and at the disposal of the Obama campaign through this election and beyond.

Mayor Nickels Asks Democrats To Send Him To Denver

Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels was selected on Sunday in Spokane to attend the Democratic National Convention in Denver this August as an Obama pledged delegate. His selection was made by the WA State Democratic Delegate Selection Committee comprised of the 51 delegates who were previously elected at the Congressional District caucuses held on May 17th.

Nickels had to compete for one of the 10 PLEO (party leader elected official) delegate spots allotted. The video is part of Nickels speech requesting he be made a delegate. The Obama campaign's proposed slate of PLEO candidates in effect recommended that Nickels be added.

Surrender Monkey Iraqis May Tell US Not To Let Surge Hit It In The Ass

Funny thing about democracy. Iraqi Prime Minister al Maliki yesterday indicated he may ask US forces to leave the country. Apparently the current negotiations between the US and Iraq on a long term status of forces agreement have reached an impasse.

Somebody better tell John McCain that the center piece of his Iraq policy, long term American presence, may not be what the puppet government of Iraq and it's allies had in mind. In other developments Iraqi cleric Moqtada Al Sadr indicated he is forming a new force to fight US military presence. "We will not stop resisting the occupation until liberation or martyrdom" Al Sadr told his 60,000 strong militia.

via: informed comment

I've Decided I'm Voting Republican

All the reasons why I'm voting Republican this time..



hat tip: J.F.

Photo Of The Day

This is a photo of a popular taqueria in one of Chicago's most heavily populated Hispanic neighborhoods. This and other indications help debunk the presumptions that Hispanic voters will not vote for Obama.

via FiveThirtyEight

O'Reilly Makes People of Irish Decent Look Bad Again

Us people of Irish decent have enough trouble trying to explain the bad name we've gotten from such things as the Irish Uprising and the troubles in the North of Ireland or starting the labor movement or drinking to much. But now we have to try and explain what went wrong when people see this blowhard Irish guy on FOX News too?

Euro2008 Widget For You Soccer Fans

Hey soccer fans here a link to a widget for the latest Euro2008 matches and standings.

Election 2008 Really About Optimism Versus Pessimism

John McCain often will go on about how America is a can do country that has always overcome it’s trials and troubles by hard work and optimism striving ever onward to a better future. Yet his campaign, one could argue, actually represent a fear laden and predominantly pessimistic view about the future. The problem is neither he nor his handlers see it that way or recognize the negative themes they really are spelling out to the American people.

The difference between Obama and McCain is that the can do optimism Obama is talking about is the real deal and the kind McCain is pushing is mostly a presidential campaign's attempt at high minded oratory.

Many Americans don’t get it either and continue to support McCain’s fail ideas instead of the more genuine and real form of optimism that Barack Obama has been talking about since he got in the race. It will be Obama's job to make Americans see the difference between what's really optimistic and what is just more of the same old campaign BS being shoveled down their throats. It's the past versus the future versus fear and pessimism versus real optimism and change.

There are two excellent articles that reinforce this argument for pessimism versus optimism. Frank Rich’s piece in the New York Times and Amy Sullivan story in Time magazine where she looks at the fact that Clinton really didn’t attracted all the women that some think she should have and the reasons why.

Icon Added For Quickview Status Of Eleciton Races

Today we added an icon from Electoral Vote Predictor's website to artistdogboy. You will find it located top left showing the Electoral College, Senate and House totals based on the State to State current polls. Click on the icon to enlarge and also to be taken to their excellent website where you can find tons of current polling and other data.

McCain's Catastrophic Event Mindset

McCain talks compassion but when it comes to doing something substantive about insurance rates in hurricane states it's the same old Republican every man and woman for themselves. Unless, of course, your a corporation.

Photo Of The Day

Exuberant Obama supporter can't withhold her history making joy, from Britian's The Sun.

What is Hillary Fighting For?

I'm all for being kind to Hillary and Bill and recognizing their accomplishments. But most people who are living in the present know that her behavior the last few days has been pretty awful. Her self-importance did not prevent her from impinging on Obama's historic accomplishment and moment on Tuesday night.

I'm not saying she necessarily had to concede then and there. She may claim she'd be ready at 3am if she were in the White House, but she demonstrated she didn't have much of a grasp of what was actually happening at 8pm EST Tuesday night. It was not so much an affront to Obama personally, as a affront to the Democrat party's moment to shine a bright light on it's nominee and his message.

Instead we were subjected to another distracting days of our lives news cycle soap opera episode staring Hillary, Bill and Chelsea when the spotlight should of been focused on Obama and the real drama of his historic accomplishment.

On election night she ask for voters to go to her website and write her a note to tell her what they wanted her to do. You can imagine what I filled in and submitted on the somewhat misleading rah-rah message form above. But it was something along the lines of it's not really about you or your husband's overblown egos anymore. Mainly. I suppose, this is a ploy to raise money so us poor sap working people can pay off the millionaire Clinton's campaign debts that they ran up because of her continuing mismanagement of her own campaign.

If you feel sorry for them write them a check but note that a portion of your money will also be going to the likes of corporate sleazeball Mark Penn. Who has demonstrated by his actions he doesn't really give a shit about you or your family.

The way the form is set up you have to wonder what exactly is meant by "everything we are fighting for". What the hell exactly are they fighting for? Apparently the destruction of the chances for the Democrats to win in November and the resulting appointment of a sufficient number of conservative Supreme Court Justices to overturn Roe v Wade.

It's tone effectively works to split her supporters from the the rest of the party and perpetuate the erroneous believe that somehow someone has had their vote not counted or been had by the vague and unseen sexism or media forces of evil who spend 24/7 thinking up ways to keep women like them in their place. Clinton does more to harm the equality of women by continuing to use gender bias and the media as an excuse for her personal shortcomings as a candidate. When she started the campaign she didn't want to be shown any favoritism because she was a female , but by the end it was subliminally part of her frequent excuse for why she was being misconstrued as a candidate.

The way that Clinton has handled the end of the campaign is tacky and far from graceful or magnanimous. From what I can gather from press reports she now will suspend her campaign on Saturday but still wants the option to have her name placed in nomination. So don't be surprised if her announcement stops short somehow of fully supporting Obama or turns out to be another Clintonian drama filled self-centered departure from reality.

The Clintons seem to continue to be in denial about just what has happened apparently hoping Obama will somehow be hit by lightning or worse. How the Republicans will use all this ambivalence by Clinton towards Obama remains to be seen. If something did happen with Obama I be more inclined to nominate someone like Joe Biden if I were a delegate to the convention. I couldn't deal with four more years of the Clinton's dysfunctional drama school of the absurd.

Yes We Can Heal This Nation, Yes We Can Repair This World

photo by: Denise McKenzie Great Falls, Montana May 31. 2008

Is this really the day that we have longed for so long? The presumptive nomination of Barack Obama at hand? The cynics vanquished, the pundits proven wrong, the chorus of pandering play it safe super-delegates finally jumping on the bandwagon.

The improbable has happened. The dream has come true for many of us.

The hours, days and months of work by a countless unnamed army of volunteers who slept on floors in many far away places awakening to go forth to caucus, phone, canvass, register voters, and organize. Much of the work, sweat, tears, doubts, and primary setbacks, behind us and our major goal of fundamentally changing this nation now coming into bright focus.

Now the fight can be focused on the real opponent, the Republican Party and John McCain and the policies and ideas they represent. We must work for unity. We must set aside inter party improprieties of the past and we must rededicate ourselves to winning the ultimate prize of the white house and the congress. For all of us, no matter what candidate we supported, it is a time for open-mindedness and hard work.

Big Lie Country

Yee-ha I’m in Missoula Montana. It’s breathtaking every time I enter this state and get whacked up side of the head with the natural beauty of the mountains and natural wonder of this place, and to think that there are less then a million people in the entire State of Montana, a huge area. There surely must be places in this state where men of European decent have actually never been. I’ve only been here in the spring and summer. So I have yet to experience one of the long cold winters that the locals talk about. But I’m not that upset about it. They say there are only two seasons in Montana, winter and August.

I’ve been here since Tuesday night. Having come here to work on the GOTV (get out the vote) Obama for America campaign in Missoula. Hoping that the Montana primary result with be the final stake in the heart of the Clinton’s obtuse reasoning for continuing their personal obsession to see the Clinton succession to the throne continued no matter the damage done to the chances of the Democratic Party in November.

If the current polls hold up Obama should pull out a win on Tuesday. I know he has hundreds of volunteers here and around the state working 12 hour days to make it happen.

Missoula is a college town and home of the University of Montana. So there's a liberal bent to the place and a great number of artists, free thinkers, nature lovers and intellectuals about. This makes it a Obama kind of town. But then there’s aspects of the town and the local government that are rather conservative. You can see it in the lack of zoning that creates hodgepodge type neighborhoods and the poorly maintained infrastructure and a sort of hang on by your fingernails feeling created by too many years of a boom or bust mentality. The people from here are very independent and the conservatives tend to be somewhat cranky about politics.

I hear the lyrics from the Hank Williams song “mind your own business, so you won’t be minding mine” in my head every time I talked to one, when I was phone banking. I think you get that way when you continue to vote for criminals like George Bush thinking it's a good thing and come to find out he may not really give a shit about you after all. Plus lots of folks I met don’t seem to hardly have a pot to piss in or their just a couple of pay checks away from having to consider what it be like to become a mountain man or woman.

Like in East Texas, where I canvassed for the Obama campaign in March, you have poor whites here that are as Republican as they come. But here I don’t think it’s as permeated with the Christian right rhetoric as it was in Texas. It’s all about not paying taxes and their fucking guns being confiscated. “Obama going to take my fucking guns away”, they whine. Number one it would be literally impossible to get their guns away from them, and two it’s total bullshit. But it’s what they believe.

You’d think it should be about economics, family wage jobs or healthcare, but it’s always about these freaking divisive wedge issues or some wacky deep meaning of personal patriotism with the “rushlimbotomyiacs”. They watch FOX News and live in fear of everything that’s out there beyond the front yard fence in the big bad ass world that’s made up of foreigners, gays and uppity blacks. What pathetic poor souls many of them really are.

But in their hearts I think they want to hope and believe again. It’s just that the cynicism, doubt and double-crossing politicians have made them temporarily insane.

Later I’ll share more on the beautiful people I met in another Montana.

I'll Be In Montana The Next Four Days Working For Obama

I'm off to Missoula, Montana at noon to spend the next few days working on the Obama campaign there. I'm sure to be blogging something from MT.

Hopefully by by next Wednesday, with the help of the super delegates. Obama should have enough of them in his camp to claim the nomination. In spite of anything Bill Clinton and the other manipulating bunch over at the Clinton campaign are trying to pull. This latest ploy of claiming a "cover-up" is pathetic.

One must ask themselves if the Clinton's are supposedly so sharp why do they seem to have screwed things up so much. They surround themselves with Mark Penn types advisers who they have wasted millions paying off with their contributors hard earned money, yet still have no real strategy except for the giant and phony makeover of Hillary's image. Trying to turn her into a Midwest blue collar waitress when actually she a Northeast elitist out of touch gender centered divisive pandering politician. She just wasn't the best candidate in the race it's that simple and I'm glad the Billary traveling circus will soon be ending it's run.

Masters Of Nothing

Photo: My dad MacAllister O'Brien France 1918 where he was wounded and received the purple heart.

"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed." Dwight D. Eisenhower

On this day of memorial let us honor our dead and thank them for their service if it constituted the true defense of the nation, but let us also dedicate ourselves to the pursuit of justice, tolerance, equality and peace. We should never glorify war or dying for it's own sake. We should not make public claims of patriotism a boastful American tendency. Everyone despises a braggart and a bully. We should operate from a position of moral strength not from one based only on how much we can make others fear us.

Memorial Day Observations Why John McCain Is Absolutely Wrong About The New GI Bill

Memorial Day is a day to honor our military veterans who have made the ultimate sacrifice in service to their country. But John McCain and President Bush really don't get it. Their rhetoric is pro service and full of flag waving but their actions are entirely something else.

Take the new GI Bill debate that centers around John McCain and the president's opposition based on what they say would make be making the benefits to good. Too good? If passed, they argue, many would leave the service to take advantage of the new programs thus creating a shortage of troops that the government needs and had spend millions to train.

One of my favorite contenders for the VP spot is Senator Jim Webb, the primary Democratic Sponsor of the bill, who argues that the benefits the bill provides are substantively no different than those offered in GI bill legislation that followed WWII, Korea, or the Vietnam war conflicts. The question that should be asked is why should today's soldiers be short changed when it comes to their post military benefits just because the present administration has badly mismanaged the use of our military.

Most statistics on current war casualties indicate that military personnel fortunate enough to return have been damage severely in mind and body by their initial and continuing misuse by this administration in a stupid and unnecessary war. Webb is only attempting to put meat on the bones or our government's promise to these vets, instead of the Bush administration and Republican actual practice of using the military for political gain when they are unarguably really treating them like cannon-fodder.

The feisty Webb is no johnny-come-lately pandering politician attempting to increase his popularity by using the military as a crutch or backdrop ala all the phony Republican pols who voted against the bill or who take the Bush, Cheney and McCain position. McCain, in spite of all the bluster, failed to even show up to vote NO the bill. Webb is a Naval Academy graduate who served as a highly decorated Marine Corps infantry officer in Vietnam. He is a former Secretary of the Navy in the Reagan Administration and he was raised in a military family that includes a son who has seen service in Iraq.

In the video below Webb shows his exceptional knowledge of the military and GI Bill legislation and he argues that the McCain and Bush opposition to the Bill is not based on the facts. He further argues that retention rates will not be adversely effected based on his first hand and extensive knowledge of the actual statistics concerning retention rates in the military. In essence the historical statistics show that retention rates are generally the same no matter how great the GI Bill benefits have been in the past and that about 70% of military personnel only do one hitch before leaving the service to get on with their lives. There is no reason to believe that these patterns would change greatly under the new GI Bill.

So John McBush talks tough about his love of military personnel and how we should honor them but his actions are proof that it is only political mendacity.

Clinton Will Use Rules To Keep Nomination Fight Going All The Way To Convention

Air America's and MSNBC's Rachel Maddow is sounding an alarm for Democrats to pay attention and not get lauded into thinking that Hillary Clinton doesn't really mean what she says. Namely that "I'm in to win." Apparently even if it means destroying the Democratic Party and it's chance of winning the Presidency in November.

Maddow makes the argument that Clinton, although she has been more or less written off by the main stream media as not having a mathematical chance for the nomination, continues on. The last few days Clinton has stepped up her arguments for the inclusion of the Florida and Michigan vote results in the overall equation of how many votes and delegates it will takes to be the Democratic Party's nominee. The "every vote must be counted" rhetoric now the main theme being pumped out from the Clinton campaign even though Hillary previously agreed to exclude the Florida and Michigan votes as punishment to those state parties for moving the date of their primary ahead.

To the Clintons, if the shoe fits wear it.

Maddow argues that the key date that everyone should focus on is May 31 when the Democratic Party rules committee will meet and deal with the issue of including the Michigan and Florida delegations. She reports that what Hillary is hoping for is a deadlock on the issue so that it must be resolve in Denver as called for in the Party rules. Because of the rules committee makeup it is certainly plausible that it could be deadlocked. There are 28 members of the rules committee. Clinton supporters make up a third, according to a Huffington Post analysis of the allegiances. Eight are for Obama and the rest have not publicly declared.

Leaving the matter of seating the delegates open till August for resolution before the convention rules committee or in a Denver floor fight gives Hillary the excuse to continue her campaign. Acting as the champion of protecting the rights of the disenfranchised voters. Which is a hot button issue with most Democrats. It also adds to the the "I'm a fighter and not a quitter" image that Hillary has been echoing lately.

Maddow's main worry is that history has shown that when a party waits to resolve the issue of the nomination at the convention it usually loses the election. It would also give John McCain a free ride until August, when the final match ups would be determined. Apparently something Clinton is willing to risk if it means she can somehow steal the nomination with this type of a strategy. She would have three more months to beat up on Obama in hopes of weaken him even more than she has already while continuing her attempts to convince super-delegates of her being more electable then Obama. She also holds out hope that by that time he will have been hit by a meteor or a scandal.

She would be the last woman standing. Even if the plan would weaken her chances of actually winning this year there would be another chance in 2012 instead of having to wait till 2016 when her age may become a factor.

Maddow is calling on uncommitted super-delegates to declare for Obama in sufficient numbers, I believe it is about 60, before May 31 so that Obama would in fact have enough delegates to claim the nomination mathematically even if the outlaw delegations are included. Obama could concede the issue of seating the delegations at the rules committee meeting allowing the outlaws to be seated per the actual election results.

Clinton would have no further issue to make trouble about or legitimize her continued fight for the nomination. Having seen the handwriting on the wall she would hopefully go away and start to work for party unity and what legacy she could have left.

Signs of Spring And Natural History On Vashon Island

I captured this photo of what I think is a Red Headed Woodpecker outside my bedroom window this afternoon. (click on image to enlarge) The bird was apparently looking for insects in the tree just a few feet from my window. Perhaps it even has a nest somewhere in the hollow of this weeping birch. The rat-ta-tat-tat of the bird's hammering on the tree drew my attention to it.

Apparently the red headed woodpecker is on the "threatened species" list in the United States due to the destruction of it's habitat with consisted mainly of dead trees and snags that are now regularly harvested for commercial use. We can all imagine other pressure the
species is under trying to exist in this world with pesticides, weed killers and sprawl.

The Postal Service issued a stamp commemorating the bird in 1996.

Obama Parrot

Probably watch the Black Eyed Peas video too much.

My Arguments For More Balanced Obama Convention Delegation

Annie Wagner a writer on Slog and Obama National Delegate candidate has a post on the 7th Congressional District Democratic Party Caucus that happened Saturday.

She oh so astutely noted in the story that the makeup of winning delegates comprising the Obama slate was pretty diverse but lacked "older people". Which as a candidate I tried to point out to bolster my argument for electing delegates that would better balanced the delegation, namely me. I promoted my wealth of experience and being over 60. So much for experience, or at least my kind of experience.

"I don’t know about the HRC delegates, but that Obama slate is pretty diverse. There are black people, gays, a 17-year-old high school senior, an Iraqi-American man, and an Iranian-American woman… no older people, though."

I'm determined to continue to make this argument for balance and experience (older people) in Spokane at the Party's State convention June 13-15 where I will seek one of the at large delegate slots.

I Feel Like The Joe Biden Of Democratic National Delegate Candidates

I may of come close but didn't get one of the National Delegate spots at yesterday's WA 7th Congressional District caucus.

The competition was brutal with over 200 people vying for 7 spots. The younger Obamacons seem to have taken the day. Electing delegates that were younger, totally all in for Obama and, relatively speaking, new to active politics. They did elect a fellow who was a Iraqi American because he was successful in part in getting the support of the young behind him. There's a sort of a division in the Democratic party on the Obama side of the newer younger and energized Obama supporters and the older party activists, hacks, and "established" members of the party who also support Obama. When push comes to shove they are willing to put aside their petty resentments for each other because they all dearly want Obama and the Democrats to win the presidency. Not to mention the down ticket Congressional and Senate seats they think he yes we can bring.

The old party activists for the most part see the young Obamacoms as johnny-come-latelies who weren't active or there doing the heaving lifting when times were tough. While the younger energized kids see the old party activists as predominantly hacks.and late to see the seismic change taking place.

It's so generational stupid and out with the old and in with the new.

My problem is I'm probably perceived in the realm of this National Delegate contest as being the latter rather then and old guy that's as excited and energized as much of the younger folks about Obama, I've always been independent in my thinking about the Democrats and not tied to party dogma or political correctness. But that's a difficult message to present in positive and coherent way apparently when you are in fact over 60. My message in part was to include some older folks in the delegation to balance it out. It didn't fly. If Joe Biden can't win a primary I guess I shouldn't feel bad either. Maybe I can make it as a "at large" delegate at the Democratic State Convention?

It's all good for politics in America in the end. There were many great candidates that were trying to get to Denver as a delegate. The process of running is really fun. Especially when you've got this sort of thing bred into you genetically. I've met tons of new politically active people and there is certainly a new and hopeful thing going on that, if successful, will transform the world of politics in this country.

I think most people who are casually involved in following politics or think Chris Matthews knows what he talking about really have no idea what really is going on when it comes to the movement Obama has built. One candidate said it well yesterday when he indicated that Obama talks about his experience as a community organizer when really what he is organizing now is the entire country. In the long run what will be talked about, if Obama prevails, is the brilliance involved especially in the way the campaign has been organized and implement on the ground, literally mobilizing thousands of active fully engaged supporters around a dynamic candidate. Me included.

Everywhere I have gone to campaign for Obama including in Texas, Oregon and last but not least here, I have been impressed by the organizational efficiency and effectiveness of his campaign. In comparison look at the top heavy Clinton old school old politics mess.

One fellow out of state volunteer told me a story that reminded me of the scene from the movie Patton where the General realize the Nazis were on their last legs because they were using horse drawing carts to supply the front line. The volunteer said that the Clinton campaign was paying people $125 per day to hold Hillary signs up at busy intersections in North Carolina. "I knew we had them when I hear that" he said.

All agree that the Obama phenomenon is great for the party. It has brought tons of energized people into the party ranks. In my case it brought me back. There's certainly something going on here that pretty remarkable.

The Hillary supporters are sort of the hardcore party hacks, gender centered and older folks who don't get it. I'm sure in the end they will support the eventual nominee or perhaps they'll be missing the train that will be leaving the station without them. Even Hillary doesn't realize completely yet she been run down by something resembling a political freight train.

It's a new day.

Obama National Delegate Daniel O'Brien

Here a short youtube ad from Daniel O'Brien, who is running for one of the 7th Congressional District Obama Democratic National Convention delegate spots.

Barack's Mother

Barack Obama's tribute to his mother, a reading from Dreams from my Father.

I’m White I’m Working Class And I Love Barack

"You're born with nothing, and better off that way. Soon as you've got something they send someone to try and take it away. Nothing is forgotten or forgiven, when it's your last time around, I got stuff running 'round my head that I just can't live down" Bruce Springsteen

I’m the sort of voter that the pundits and gender politics aficionados say Barack Obama needs. White male working class fly by the seat of your pants lunch bucket, beer swilling “yellow dog” Democrats. As in I’d vote for a yellow dog if it were a democrat. Or at least I have been a working class white guy most of the better part of my adult life having put in 25 years at a 9 to 5 somewhat unfulfilling job of pushing paper around a small cubical while also being the shop steward representing my fellow workers there on the job.

Fighting with management for me was second nature and a distraction from the kind of inauthentic nothingness work product that I was responsible for promulgating on a daily basis. Plus it was a form of keeping the faith with my dead labor leader Irish Catholic father who's father had also come from a long line of born troublemakers. But, of course, I mean that in a good way.

To think I used to have these seemingly endless meetings with management where we discuss the meaning of things like abusing one's sick leave. I was always sandbagging mode with these pinheaded management types while simultaneously thinking that my father would be on heavy rotation in his grave should I not go to the mat if necessary with these Republican tools of the ruling class. I wasn’t well like by my bosses. I took pride in it because you can tell a lot about a person by the asses they will kiss in order to just get by.

Before putting in the 25 years worth of hump days I did lots of even dirtier little jobs like driving taxis, loading airplanes, washing dishes and digging holes in the ground. Let’s just say I’m more qualified to talk about it then Hillary Clinton would like to have you think she is qualified to talk about it. God I hate a phony. I stopped throwing back shots like Hillary Clinton did to demonstrate her kinship with us salt of the earth folks years ago because like many of my ilk I sort of threw too many of them back to the point that it almost killed me a couple of times. Sometimes I think Bill Clinton probably swills too much white wine, because it may explain all the finger pointing and gaffs. But when your privileged you tend be able to get away with it longer. Real working class guys who have drinking problems lose their shirts and end up on the TV programs like Cops instead of on Meet The Press with Tim Russert.

Some mornings I’d get up and come close to emotionally slitting my wrists before having the first cup of coffee and getting past the I hate my job barrier that lots of working class people confront each and everyday of their life that they get up and have to go to work, and that was before I went to rehab for the first time. Remarkably that feeling persisted for years when I look back on it. But there were bills and mortgages to pay. You know the drill if your one of us working class white guys. After 25 years of so of this I decided that it be better to retire early and walk out of the job under my own power with a smaller pension instead of being carried out strapped to a gurney. So I did. Probably the best decision I ever made.

Thankfully, the job never real got my soul.

After years of dealing with this type of shit I can pretty much tell a phony when I see one apart from a more authentic personality. So this is what moved me to Obama over Clinton in the first place. I liked the fact that he threw in with the working class way back when, becoming a community organizer in Chicago for 6 years helping disenfranchised steel workers. When he talks about worker dignity, entitlement and economics he sounds totally authentic to me like he knows from his own personal experiences. It’s not just some trumped up intellectual exercise to sound or look good like you know who.

It bothers me that other working stiffs like me apparently don’t see it. The fact that this fellow Obama would be OUR champion in the white house to me is obvious. He’d not sell us, and the rest of the hemisphere’s workers, down the river like Bill and Hillary did pushing NAFTA down our throats without any labor or environmental standards.

So I hope my fellow workers will wake up and ask themselves if they think Hillary is liable to say anything she thinks you want to hear to get your vote and isn’t Obama the real friend and advocate I’ll need in Washington looking after my interest as a working class person. My working class radar tell me he's really the man for the job.

When We Were Up When We Were Down

Many burned out liberal boomers and party hacks still don't get it. So let us, once more, point out...

"When this campaign began, Washington didn't give us much of a chance. But because you came out in the bitter cold, and knocked on doors, and enlisted your friends and neighbors in this cause; because you stood up to the cynics, and the doubters, and the nay-sayers when we were up and when we were down; because you still believe that this is our moment, and our time, for change - tonight we stand less than two hundred delegates away from securing the Democratic nomination for president of the United States."

"More importantly, because of you, we have seen that it's possible to overcome the politics of division and distraction; that it's possible to overcome the same old negative attacks that are always about scoring points and never about solving our problems. We've seen that the American people aren't looking for more spin or more gimmicks, but honest answers about the challenges we face. That's what you've accomplished in this campaign, and that's how we'll change this country together." from Barack Obama's victory speach after North Carolina primary

Clinton Gas Tax Holiday Ask Voters To Take A Holiday From Reality

This video is one of the best summaries of the arguments for and against the Clinton gas tax holiday idea. Once again it show that Clinton is a big fat pandering liar. There I said it.



via: veracifier

Obama's Real Message Goes Mostly Unheard

The daily bullshit spreading machine that the main stream media represents in modern America makes it's hard to hear any of the real message of change put forth by Barack Obama.

For instance, yesterday on Meet The Press Tim Russert spent over 30 minutes of the hour interview with Obama myopically regurgitating the Reverend Wright crap and not doing a very good job of questioning Obama without using the sensationalized gotcha whoopee shit sandwich line of questioning that all these bozos think is appealing.

Russert, and his cohort on MSNBC Chris "Tweety" Matthews live most of their life in the altered universe of a Irish Catholic male good old boys network perception of the world. Everything they come up with is tainted by this bent. Being a Irish Catholic myself from a politically active family I don't need a decoder to understand what they're really talking about most of the time. It seems sometimes everything is irrelevant unless it has at least six degrees of separation from Tip O'Neil the old neighborhoods in Buffalo or Philadelphia or an alter boy.

The problem of course is the real message of change gets lost or never covered. That's why it's refreshing to come across a video of Obama in a recent town hall meeting talking about what he really wants to happen with government and the vast network of people that spontaneously formed to support his message of change if he is eventually elected president. It says tons why we need this person to be our President next January.

Immigration Protester Apparently Wants People Like Her To Be Deported

Immigration protesters in Texas claim that immigrants should be deported unless they have a command of the English language. The problem is the sign the protester displayed is misspelled. I guess this means that she got to go too.

Friends Of Daniel O'Brien For National Democratic Convention Delegate

click on image to enlarge:

The race is on to fill 7 Democratic Convention National Delegate slots. The election takes place at the 7th Congressional District Caucus on May 17th at North Seattle Community College. 327 voting delegates, who were elected at the legislative district caucuses April 5th, will select the National Delegates which allocates out to be 4 women, 3 male and one male alternate delegate for the 7th CD.

What a epiphany it would in Denver to be playing a role in nominating Barack Obama as the Democratic Party's candidate for the Presidency of the United States come August.

Check out my delegate website which outlines the volunteer work I've done for Obama and why I'd make such a groovy and dead serious working class John McCain's butt kicking Obama National Delegate.

The Empire Strikes Barack

Obama will never surrender to the dark side or the Democratic primary between Clinton and Obama seen as a Starwars theme.