If there are rain puddles in Heaven, Christina is jumping in them today.

Today once again I'm glad Barack Obama is our President.

Been a soldier for a thousand years . . .

So McChrystal was sacked today, for obvious reasons. He's a complicated guy, who voted for Obama, and banned Fox News from TV's at his headquarters.

But lest anyone remember him fondly, he's still this guy:

Pulitzer Prize–winning investigative reporter Seymour Hersh, describing McChrystal's role in what he calls an "executive assassination wing" of the military's joint special-operations command that Hersh claims reported directly to former Vice President Cheney's office (NPR, March 30, 2009).

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1897542,00.html#ixzz0rqYP1wp6

And this guy:

McChrystal has been accused of involvement in covering up of the fact that Tillman had been shot by his own comrades, having approved a citation for a posthumous medal that attributed his death to "enemy fire," though the general also penned a memo warning the White House against describing the circumstance of Tillman's death for fear of future embarrassment.

An official investigation blamed McChrystal for “inaccurate and misleading assertions” in the formal recommendation of Tillman for a Silver Star.

And this guy:

Camp Nama, for example, was clearly authorized by high authorities, was a mini-concentration camp for detainees, with U.S. soldiers in no uniform, with no names, licensed by their commander-in-chief to beat and terrorize and torture at will. Money quote from a soldier who witnessed the systematic, approved abuse:

"Once, somebody brought it up with the colonel. 'Will [the Red Cross] ever be allowed in here?' And he said absolutely not. He had this directly from General McChrystal and the Pentagon that there's no way that the Red Cross could get in — they won't have access and they never will. This facility was completely closed off to anybody investigating, even Army investigators." ...

Was he just allowing his staff to shoot-off their collective mouts, or was he condoning clear and obvious disrespect for the chain of command? Was he even trying to organize a "soft coup"?

McChrystal’s, of course, playing innocent now, and he’s apologized to the White House, but it’s hard to believe a man who spends his every waking hour plotting strategy would “accidentally” leak these kinds of whopping gaffs to the press.

It should serve as a reminder to everyone that not all military coups are violent overthrows of a democratically elected president. Sometimes, disgruntled generals can perform “soft coups,” a gradual, sneaky undermining of presidential authority and policy. Oops, did I just mentioned we’re killing civilians to the press? Whoops! Did I just discredit the president to Rolling Stone?

I dunno. But he's clearly not in charge of his staff. And that doesn't bode well for a military commander.

And he doesn't seem to understand this kind of soldier:

Oha-ha

President Obama Announces Recess Appointments to Key Administration Positions

;>)

Don't think twice, it's alright

(Picture by Dancin' Dave)

Many on the left, especially in the bloggersphere, have been Pres. Obama's harshest critics. The right has complained too, but their criticisms have been largely insane (Kenya, birth certificate, black Hitler, etc).

I've been disappointed on certain things as well: Extending the Afghan War, slow pullout of Iraq, weak shepherding of Health Care reform, no Bush/Cheney impeachment yet . . . OK, I just threw that in to see if you were paying attention. I even understand his position on DADT; he doesn't want an easily-overturned Presidential decree, he wants Congress to do its freakin' job!

Anyway, I felt early on that Obama was the stronger of the 2 main candidates for 2 reasons:

1. He spoke well


2. He wasn't Hilary Clinton

And I'm not hating on Hilary, so don't take umbrage at that statement, Lambert. I just mean that the far-right was so mobilized against her, that he, even being black, would have the easier time. Yes, she would have been a fine President, but in '08, wasn't gonna happen.

Last Friday he stepped up to the plate and delivered a home run against the supposed roughest team in DC:

Today the President did something unusual in American politics – initiated an open dialogue with members of the opposite party. Visiting the House Republican retreat, he took questions on anything they wanted to talk about. He heard them out, acknowledged where they were right, and gave a genuine explanation where he felt they were wrong.

Mike Madden at Salon offers an analysis from a liberal (my favorite) perspective:

When Rep. Mike Pence tried to push him to commit to "across the board tax cuts," Obama pointed out that the stimulus plan did cut taxes for millions of Americans -- but he couldn't resist twisting the knife a bit. "What you may consider across-the-board tax cuts could be, for example, greater tax cuts for people who are making a billion dollars," he said, tying his answer into the Democratic effort to paint Republicans as friends of the rich without blinking. "I may not agree to a tax cut for Warren Buffett. You may be calling for an across-the-board tax cut for the banking industry right now. I may not agree to that." He mocked the GOP for voting in lockstep against the stimulus bill, then trying to take credit for projects it funded: "A lot of you have gone to appear at ribbon cuttings for the same projects that you voted against." Sixty-eight of them, to be exact, according to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

and:

The whole thing basically went like that: Republican asks obnoxious question rooted in Glenn Beck-ian talking points; Obama swats it away, makes the questioner look silly, and then smiles at the end. It got so bad, in fact, that Fox News cut away from the event before it was over. Democratic operatives around Washington watching it had pretty much the same reaction: "Where the hell has this guy been?" One source said GOP aides probably wished they'd spoken to John McCain "about what happened to him in the presidential debates" before they broadcast the event. "It's quite a show," a White House official said, apparently going for the same deadpan tone the president was.

I enjoy a good debate about issues, as long as both sides are honest. And that has become the Republicans' problem more and more over the last few election cycles. Hell, that's not true. Dishonesty and propaganda have been arrows in the Republican quiver since the Nixon/Gahagan-Douglas campaign in 1950:

In 1950, Gahagan Douglas ran for the United States Senate even though the incumbent Democrat Sheridan H. Downey was seeking a third term. William Malone, the Democratic state chairman in California, had advised Douglas to wait until 1952 to run for the Senate, rather than split the party in a fight with Downey. Gahagan Douglas, however, told Malone that Downey had neglected veterans and small growers and must be unseated. Downey withdrew from the race in the primary campaign and supported a third candidate, Manchester Boddy, the owner and publisher of the Los Angeles Daily News. When Gahagan Douglas defeated Boddy for the nomination, Downey endorsed the Republican U.S. Representative Richard M. Nixon.^[1]

In the race against Nixon, Gahagan Douglas was considered by many liberals to have been the prototypical victim of a smear campaign. Alluding to her alleged Communist (or "Red") sympathies, Nixon hinted that she was a fellow traveler, citing as evidence her supposed Communist-leaning votes in Congress. Boddy had referred to her as "the Pink Lady" and said that she was "pink right down to her underwear." Nixon reprised this line of attack during the general election. His campaign manager, Murray Chotiner, even had flyers printed up on sheets of pink paper, to underline the point. However, it is not widely known that the personal and political attacks between the opponents began when Douglas professed that Nixon was a fascist ^[2]

Gahagan Douglas, in return, popularized a nickname for Nixon which became one of the most enduring nicknames in American politics: "Tricky Dick". Nonetheless, Nixon won the election, with over 59 percent of the vote. Gahagan Douglas' political career hence came to an end. The conservative Democrat Samuel W. Yorty (later a Republican convert) succeeded her in Congress.

Back to Madden in Salon:

Republican aides tried to argue that Obama was struggling to get past his initial talking points, but that was a pretty desultory attempt at spin. By the time Obama was done, and had stayed about 30 minutes past when he was scheduled to leave, Republican leadership was ready to get him out of the room. One GOP lawmaker asked for one more question, and as Obama started to say he was out of time, Pence jumped in, too: "He's gone way over." And with that, Obama took his booklet of GOP policy proposals and left the room -- in much better political shape, possibly, than he was when he walked in.

Indeed. Look, I know this doesn't erase several missteps by the White House in the first year, but for most of us, this was a nice reminder of why we voted for the guy in November '08: He's smart, not a rigid ideologue, doesn't make knee-jerk decisions, and has actually got some stuff done we like:

In the weeks approaching President Obama's first State of the Union address, some in the media have claimed that Obama has lacked accomplishments in his first year as president and thus, in the words of Washington Times editor emeritus Wesley Pruden, Obama has "little to show for '09." In fact, Obama's first year in office has been marked by a series of significant achievements, including creating jobs as a result of the economic stimulus, eliminating wasteful spending, increasing government transparency, and expanding federal health insurance programs to cover millions more children.

During the campaign there was a wry Lolcat-style graphic making the rounds, kinda sorta covers this issue:



I'm disappointed that we all don't have ponies yet, but at least we don't have the shit sandwiches we'd be eating if McCain/Palin had won. I imagine Sarah would have already bolted, leaving us with VPOTUS Cheney again, as poor McCain had to scramble to fill the opening.

In other words, it could be way the Hell worse.


Many songwriters are not the best interpreters of their songs, Leonard Cohen for example. And one can make the same argument for Bob Dylan. Here's a wonderful version of his "Don't Think Twice It's Alright" by PP&M:

Dear Mr. Fantasy, play us a tune

Quick note to Congresspersons, Senators, and pundits who breathlessly announce that they, too, are unsure of Barack Obama's birth bona fides:

The dude has a passport. To get a passport you have to do this:

When applying for a U.S. passport in person, evidence of U.S. citizenship must be submitted with Form DS-11. All documentation submitted as citizenship evidence will be returned to you. These documents will be delivered with your newly issued U.S. passport or in a separate mailing.

Primary Evidence of U.S. Citizenship (One of the following):

Previously issued, undamaged U.S. Passport Certified birth certificate issued by the city, county or state* Consular Report of Birth Abroad or Certification of Birth Naturalization Certificate Certificate of Citizenship

*A certified birth certificate has a registrar's raised, embossed, impressed or multicolored seal, registrar's signature, and the date the certificate was filed with the registrar's office, which must be within 1 year of your birth. Please note, some short (abstract) versions of birth certificates may not be acceptable for passport purposes.

He moved to Indonesia in 1967. He visited Europe and Africa in 1988. He did this with his, you know, passport.

But here's the thing: It doesn't matter where he was born. Not one bit. Why?

Because the US Constitution says:

No person except a natural born citizen, or a citizen of the United States, at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the office of President; neither shall any person be eligible to that office who shall not have attained to the age of thirty five years, and been fourteen Years a resident within the United States.

And who is a "natural born citizen"?

Currently, Title 8 of the U.S. Code fills in those gaps. Section 1401 defines the following as people who are "citizens of the United States at birth:"

• Anyone born inside the United States *
• Any Indian or Eskimo born in the United States, provided being a citizen of the U.S. does not impair the person's status as a citizen of the tribe
• Any one born outside the United States, both of whose parents are citizens of the U.S., as long as one parent has lived in the U.S.
• Any one born outside the United States, if one parent is a citizen and lived in the U.S. for at least one year and the other parent is a U.S. national
• Any one born in a U.S. possession, if one parent is a citizen and lived in the U.S. for at least one year
• Any one found in the U.S. under the age of five, whose parentage cannot be determined, as long as proof of non-citizenship is not provided by age 21
• Any one born outside the United States, if one parent is an alien and as long as the other parent is a citizen of the U.S. who lived in the U.S. for at least five years (with military and diplomatic service included in this time)
• A final, historical condition: a person born before 5/24/1934 of an alien father and a U.S. citizen mother who has lived in the U.S.

• 
  

So according to the law, since mom was a citizen, he could have been born on the moon and still be a citizen.

Seriously, you may be playing to your deluded base, but they're pretty sad examples of critical thinking. Compared to the 'Birthers', Archie Bunker looks enlightened. You're helping wash the Republican brand down the drain.

On 2nd thought, keep it up. Thanks.

And if you think this would be happening if Obama was white? Well, you haven't been paying attention.

No reason to get excited . . .

Among all the feigned outrage and angst from folks both left and right clutching their hankies because Obama said the Cambridge cops acted stupidly, one fellow makes the most sense twice.

Take it away, Ta-Nehisi Coates, first with this:

It's worth watching Obama's statement. I really can't begrudge him--his priority is health-care. Me, on the other hand, I'm pretty exhausted. What follows is the raw. Not much logic. Just some thoughts on how it feels.

I feel pretty stupid for going hard on this, and stupider for defending what Obama won't really defend himself. I should have left it at one post. Evidently Obama, Crowley and Gates are talking about getting a beer together. I hope they have a grand old time.

The rest of us are left with a country where, by all appearances, officers are well within their rights to arrest you for sassing them. Which is where we started. I can't explain why, but this is the sort of thing that makes you reflect on your own precarious citizenship. I mean, the end of all of this scares the hell out of me.

(Emphasis mine)

And then this (the last graf is the money quote):

Chris thinks Gates that by calling the officer a racist, Gates bears some of the responsibility for the incident. He goes a bit further in responding to an e-mail:

In my mind there is no equivalency here, but the reader does raise a good point: there is, and never will be, a white equivalent to the N-word, but "racist" - when unsubstantiated - comes close.

Chris is good dude, and a smart writer. But I think, even in its hedged, qualified form, this is quite wrong. I think we'd all agree that if my spouse gets mad and calls me a sexist, and I fire back by calling her a bitch, I've gone somewhere else. I think we'd agree that if a gay person, without proof, calls me a homophobe, and I fire back by calling him a fag, I've ventured into another league. We are not "close" in terms of the level of our offense. The question then becomes, why is it different for "racist"?

My only answer is that it's because we, again, equate racist with "immoral." Michael Jackson once called Tommy Moottola, a racist. From what I know, it was unsubstantiated. The only way I can close the space between that, and Mottola, say, calling Jackson a nigger, is to think of racist as the equivalent of rapist, or child-molestor.

Again, I think this makes sense, if you believe racism to be the province of societal pariahs, not people who hawk their wares on MSNBC. But if you believe that we live with it every day, that the worst part of racism is how it hides in the hearts of otherwise decent people, than this is rather puzzling. If you've had friends who've looked you in the eye, and said something racist, you may feel differently.

This is say nothing of history, obviously. I think when we have black people driving slaves and perpetrating terrorism, when we have the Nation Of Islam hunting Jeff Sessions, all while yelling "Get the racist!" we will be close. When whole blocks start relocating because they suspect a racist has moved into the neighborhood we will be close.

Indeed.

At this point I think it's pretty clear Crowley arrested Gates because he didn't want to look like a pussy in fron of other cops. If this was exacerbated by Gates being a black man getting in Crowleys' face, we likely can't know. But in the end, Crowley really looked like a pussy at best, or a thug at worst, for arresting an older gentleman who, as Ta-Nehisi points out above, "sassed him".

And Crowley's reaction when asked on camera about Obama's comments:

"Well, I didn't vote for him"

takes on a racial tension all on its own, I think. The way I heard it was:

"Well, I didn't vote for one of them"

Maybe I'm wrong, but the whole thing is really tawdry and sad. Racism not only still exists, but flourishes in this country. To deny it is to deny gravity and air. They exist.

If you'll only give me time. All the heartache that he left behind

Well, I guess it's official. Obama's stimulus plan has failed to fix the bear market on Wall Street that he created. The Democrats have flushed us all down the toilet and John McCain can say "I told you so" as his plan of just carrying on Bush's policies would already have us out of this mess. Oh, you betcha!

Or, at least, that's what the talking heads on the right are hoping to convince Americans of.

In this instant-messaging, short attention span society we are in, we think all things can be accomplished and all problems resolved in a 24-hour time span, and anything that goes beyond that is a failure.

Although the conservative wing is trying hard to get the term "Obama's Bear Market" into the nation's lexicon, here is a dose of reality from today's Ryan Chittum column in the Columbia Journalism Review:

We’ve seen a meme spreading like a fungus in the press, mostly on the editorial/analysis/commentator side so far, blaming Barack Obama for stock market declines since Inauguration Day. Today, Drudge is pushing a Bloomberg story headlined “‘Obama Bear Market’ Punishes Investors as Dow Slumps.”

Um, no. Let’s nip this nonsense in the bud before it gets out of hand.

[ ... ] The Dow peaked in October of 2007. The bear market became official (meaning, stocks dropped 20 percent from their peak) in July. The markets started really falling off a cliff in September, when the Bush administration let Lehman fail, AIG and Merill had to be taken over, the Congress voted down the bailout, and Paulson had to switch teams from free marketeer to interventionist. Those events, remember, are what insured Obama’s election in the first place.
The TARP helped keep the boat from completely capsizing, but it’s more like bailing water does than fixing the actual hole in the bottom does. The economy, already in recession since December of 2007, went into freefall after the September crisis and has kept plunging since, shedding more than 600,000 jobs a month. Since the election, we’ve learned that Merrill Lynch blew a probably fatal hole in the side of Bank of America, Citigroup has been left for dead, and General Electric has been on the highway to hell—or the Pink Sheets, anyway. There’s much more in that vein if you have all day.
This is what Messrs. Obama, Geithner, and Summers inherited. Tough gig.
But let’s step even further back a bit. Dude’s been in office six weeks. The stock market is a notoriously impossible-to-predict-or-interpret animal. It goes where it may, for reasons the smartest traders can only guess at.
To put it another way, big secular declines in stocks take years to play out. The Great Depression stock crash didn’t hit bottom until 1933, four years after it started. It seems like the current one has been going on forever, but we’re still only at about 1930 or 1931.
[ ... ] “To be sure, the stock market’s crash long preceded Obama’s inauguration and election, and the economy he inherited from Bush is in a tailspin not seen for eighty years. And the extent to which Obama’s proposals have impacted the stock market is impossible to calculate.”
[ ... ] And get some perspective, as Ritholtz says:
"But to hold him responsible for a market collapse on day 41 of his Presidency — following 8 years of gross negligence and ruinous incompetency under the Bush regime — is simply too much stupidity for any damaged nation to bear."

To repeat... Obama has been President for 41 days. His plans, which the right have already deemed to be failures, are just starting now to be implemented. To expect him to turn everything around in the economy this quickly is kind of like slamming on the car brakes while flying down a rain-soaked highway at 100 mph and expect it to suddenly stop on a dime. Anyone who thinks that could happen aren't living in the real world with a grasp of just how deep this problem goes.

As Robin Williams once said, "Reality... what a concept."

How Ironic or Should I Say Moronic

Moronic is probably better. According to Steve Benen at Political Animal a whole scurvy cast of wingnuts have joined Oxycontin Boy in the call to have President Obama's agenda and presidency fail.

Over the last few days, Tom DeLay, Rick Santorum, and Michelle Malkin have joined the Limbaugh-inspired group of conservatives who are publicly hoping that President Obama fails. Yesterday afternoon, RedState's Erick Erickson kept the ball rolling with an item headlined, "I Too Want Barack Obama to Fail," encouraging other conservatives to rally behind the campaign to undermine the president.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but weren't these the same people who ranted and raved long and loud just a few short years ago when some of us on the left had the audacity to question George Bush's litany of idiocy? If I remember correctly our patriotism was questioned and there were even calls for rounding us up and putting us in Gitmo or something even worse. How short the memories.

Not everything President Obama will do or wants to do is going to get my 100% stamp of approval. For one thing, he's a little to centrist for my taste. If I had my druthers we would have a socialistic revolution and not just nibble around the edges of social democracy. The U.S. and the world needs radical change and this calls for bold steps and not baby steps. For too long the U.S. and the world has been under the thumb of big business whether it be energy or finance. For too long we have spent on guns and not butter. For too long we have screwed the environment in the name of "progress" and destroyed our future and that of our children on wasteful and useless plastic junk made at the expense of third world labor and sustainablilty. We need radical change.

One good thing about all these calls for the failure of Obama is that we on the progressive left could not have wished for anything better to highlight the shallowness, insanity and downright idiocy of the right and with it the GOP than to see them rally around a campaign so antithetical to our history and meaning of what it is to be an American. Keep it up suckers and pretty soon the only people that will rally 'round your cause will be those so bereft of hope, courage and a belief in the power of the American dream that your cause will be relegated to the trash heap of history for the next century. You can sit around and wipe the snot off each others faces while the rest of us try and rebuild the world into a better place.

As Steve reminds us...

John Wayne, who was very conservative, was asked for his thoughts after JFK defeated Richard Nixon in 1960. "I didn't vote for him," Wayne said, "but he's my president, and I hope he does a good job."
It's such a simple and obvious sentiment. That it eludes so many conservatives is a genuine shame.

Talk in everlasting words, and dedicate them all to me

See more funny videos at Funny or Die

From the Borowitz Report:

In the first two weeks since the election, President-elect Barack Obama has broken with a tradition established over the past eight years through his controversial use of complete sentences, political observers say.

Millions of Americans who watched Mr. Obama's appearance on CBS' "Sixty Minutes" on Sunday witnessed the president-elect's unorthodox verbal tick, which had Mr. Obama employing grammatically correct sentences virtually every time he opened his mouth.

But Mr. Obama's decision to use complete sentences in his public pronouncements carries with it certain risks, since after the last eight years many Americans may find his odd speaking style jarring.

According to presidential historian Davis Logsdon of the University of Minnesota, some Americans might find it "alienating" to have a President who speaks English as if it were his first language.

"Every time Obama opens his mouth, his subjects and verbs are in agreement," says Mr. Logsdon. "If he keeps it up, he is running the risk of sounding like an elitist."

The historian said that if Mr. Obama insists on using complete sentences in his speeches, the public may find itself saying, "Okay, subject, predicate, subject predicate - we get it, stop showing off."

The President-elect's stubborn insistence on using complete sentences has already attracted a rebuke from one of his harshest critics, Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska.

"Talking with complete sentences there and also too talking in a way that ordinary Americans like Joe the Plumber and Tito the Builder can't really do there, I think needing to do that isn't tapping into what Americans are needing also," she said.

Word.

Your cheatin' heart will tell on you

(Elvis rarity: outtake of "Your Cheatin' Heart")

A few days ago, "entrepreneur" and Dallas Maverick's owner Mark Cuban criticized Barack Obama at HuffPost for not consulting "entrepreneurs" as economic advisors:

Notice anything missing?

Not a single entrepreneur. Yes Warren Buffett started a business, but he will be the first to tell you that he "doesn't do start ups". Which means there isn't a single person advising PE Obama that we know of that knows what it's like to start and run a business in this or any economic climate. That's a huge problem.

If we are going to solve our current economic problems, our president needs to get first hand information on the impact his proposed policies will have on real Joe the Plumbers. People who are 1-person companies living job to job, hoping they get paid on time. We need to know what the impact of his policies will be on the individually owned Chrysler Dealership in Iowa. The bodega in Manhattan. The mobile phone software startup out of Carnegie Mellon. The event planner in Dallas. The barbershop in L.A. The restaurant in Boston.

Entrepreneurs that start and run small businesses will be the propellant in this economy. PE Obama needs to have the counsel of those who will take the real risk inherent in creating companies and jobs. Those who put their money and lives on the line with their business.

Well, today we find out more about Cuban's personal experience as an "entrepreneur":

The Securities and Exchange Commission filed insider-trading charges against Mark Cuban, the outspoken owner of the Dallas Mavericks basketball team, over his sale of shares in Internet company Mamma.com after he learned it was raising money through a private financing.

The SEC alleges Mr. Cuban sold his entire 6% ownership stake on June 28, 2004, immediately after learning that Mamma.com was raising money through a private investment in private entity, or PIPE. The next day, after the markets closed, the company announced the PIPE financing. When the markets opened the morning of June 30, shares of the company dropped by 9%. By selling his stake, Mr. Cuban avoided more than $750,000 in losses, the SEC alleges. (Read the full text of the complaint.)

I'm pretty sure the Obama team won't be calling you anytime soon for economic or financial advice.

On the other hand, you might find some Republicans willing to listen to you.

Bastard.

And when I feel my finger on your trigger I know nobody can do me no harm

Stay classy, Idaho:



Kids chanting "Assassinate Obama" on the school bus. Seriously, 2nd & 3rd graders. Good for these parents for speaking up.

Of course, this could happen anywhere. There are racists right here in blue Los Angeles.

Bastards.

I saw the light

From Fox News website:

Party all the time

I'm here at an undisclosed location at the Crooks & Liars Election night party. Also here are skippy the bush kangaroo, Howie Klein, Amato, Mike Finnegan, Battochio, various significant others (Hi honey!), and cast of other bloggers, activists, and friends.

And MSNBC is saying 207-135. So far, so good.

More to come...

Update: Pic from Fox News:

Winning was his target with deliberation

Lots of backroom discussion in Democratic circles on the direction of the party, and the nation. It looks like the Reagan Revolution has finally become a devolution.

Ideas for a new movement name:

• Progressive Revolution
• Obama Revolution
• The New Movement
• Middle Class Revolution
  
• etc.

Via email from a friend, the best statement I have heard all day:

Nothing personal against the next president or his folks, but this is not the Obama Revolution. It’s bigger than him. He’s a great surfer of the wave Dean built and knows how to emphasize, take advantage of and build the wave significantly higher.

Indeed.

Come on up for the rising

I'm finally starting to think it's OK to believe. What about you?

Just beat it, beat it, No one wants to be defeated

Obama is beating McCain in early AZ polling:

Research 2000 for Daily Kos. 10/28-30. Likely voters. MoE 4% (No trend lines)

McCain (R) 48
Obama (D) 47

Early voters (17 percent of sample)

McCain (R) 42
Obama (D) 54

I can't believe we may actually win Arizona. And I have a bonus treat for you guys:

If the 2010 election for U.S. Senate were held today for whom would you vote for if the choices were between Janet Napolitano the Democrat and John McCain the Republican?

McCain (R) 45
Napolitano (D) 53

Janet Napolitano is Arizona's governor, currently serving her second term. Her favorability rating of 67-29 is higher than Palin's, which is 65-35 in a poll we'll be releasing in a few hours. Napolitano's job approval rating of 69-21 similarly beats Palin's 61-37. Palin may be giving the Rick Lowrys of the world starbursts, but Napolitano is wowing them with competent governance, and it looks like Arizonans wouldn't mind sending her to Washington instead of McCain.

Update: McCain forced to campaign in Arizona on Monday. I bet he wishes he could spend the evening in Pennsylvania, Ohio, or Florida.

moar funny pictures

I'll be satisfied as long As I walk

So, how was your day? Here was mine:


(Mom loved this song, Matt & his Brass Quintet played it today. They fucking rocked!)

In Loving Memory Of

Helen Ruth Anderson
Beloved Mom, Nana, and Friend
1926 - 2008

Entered This Life
August 18, 1926
Riverside, CA

Entered Eternal Life
October 11, 2008
Orange, CA

Graveside Service
Thursday, October 23, 2008, 2:30 P.M.
Fairhaven Memorial Park
Santa Ana, CA

Anyone who visits here, thanks, but sympathy isn't what I'm looking for. I miss my Mom like crazy, but I still have to get up tomorrow and deal with life.

My point, my only point in posting this is as follows:

IT CAN HAPPEN TO YOU!

Huh? Wha?

If there's someone you love, who means something to you, don't ever take them for granted. Nothing in life is granted but a chance. You have a chance to make some difference in someone's life? Then take it. You have a chance to tell someone you love that you, you know, love them? Do it. Don't wait. No "As soon as I . . ." excuses. Do it right now!

I can't ask Mom anymore questions about "What happened when Papa said . . .?" So there's now a generation of family history that's lost. And more importantly, there's an ongoing, living, spirit that's been lost.

Believe in the afterlife? I'm agnostic, and so was Mom. But she was open to the idea. So I hope she's happy with the turnout at the cemetery today. And I hope she knows how many people considered her both family and friend.

And as I pointed out in a previous post, Mom felt so strongly about politics and the future of America that she filled out her absentee ballot the day before she died. She hated what had happened to the US during the last 8 years.

She voted for Barack Obama for President. Will you?

Do it for Ruthie.

Thanks.

Kind hearts don't make a new story, Kind hearts don't grab any glory

Transcript:

Look, I understand what it's like to be a single parent. When my wife and daughter died and my two sons were gravely injured, I understand what it's like as a parent to wonder what it's like if your kid's going to make it.

I understand what it's like to sit around the kitchen table with a father who says, "I've got to leave, champ, because there's no jobs here. I got to head down to Wilmington. And when we get enough money, honey, we'll bring you down."

I understand what it's like. I'm much better off than almost all Americans now. I get a good salary with the United States Senate. I live in a beautiful house that's my total investment that I have. So I -- I am much better off now.

But the notion that somehow, because I'm a man, I don't know what it's like to raise two kids alone, I don't know what it's like to have a child you're not sure is going to -- is going to make it -- I understand.

I understand, as well as, with all due respect, the governor or anybody else, what it's like for those people sitting around that kitchen table. And guess what? They're looking for help. They're looking for help. They're not looking for more of the same.

Indeed.

You were wrong, yeah, you were wrong You were wrong, baby, stayin' away too long

Obama to McMaverickypants: You were wrong!

Well I've never been to Spain