Obama Asserts Control

The Obama campaign lured the press onto its plane, then Obama had a private meeting with Hillary Clinton. The media is pissed about this, but I think it was good for Obama to put them in their place. This VP speculation is out of control.

Clinton, Obama meet in Washington - Hillary Clinton News- msnbc.com: "Reporters traveling with Obama sensed something might be happening between the pair when they arrived at his campaign plane after an event in Northern Virginia and he was not aboard.

Asked at the time about the Illinois senator's whereabouts, Gibbs smiled and declined to comment."

The Democratic Division Championship

I love analogies...

The Democratic Division Championship

With a touchdown on the first possession of the game, Quarterback Barack Obama showed he came to the game to take out the team most favored to win, the Clintons. Quarterback Hillary, threatened with being sidelined, cried out a play that kept her in the game.

Through the second quarter, both teams put points on the board, but the story was how team Obama were proving to be worthy opponents, inspiring the fired-up crowd. With each passing touchdown and field goal, it was clear this was going to be a tough-fought battle for the championship.

But it would become clear that only the Obamas were prepared to go past halftime. During the third quarter, the Clinton offense fell apart. The multiple-touchdown lead that everyone assumed Hillary would rack up faded away as the Obamas ran the ball downfield several times, with a few long passes for show. The Clintons pulled the dreaded "kitchen-sink" defense at the end of the third, but Barack weaved in and out of their attacks to successfully pass another ball into the end zone.

If the Obamas could keep their momentum through the fourth quarter, their victory seemed assured, but the drama was really about to unfold. On Team Obama, an offensive lineman barely off the bench, Jeremiah Wright, was penalized with a personal foul, bringing morale down. Sports reporters on the sidelines questioned how Barack could stick with his longtime teammate. Hillary created her own problem for the Clintons when she twisted herself executing the "sniper-fire" offense. She lost a lot of yardage with a few big penalties. The climax of the quarter so far, was when Wright was penalized for unsportsmanlike conduct prompting his team captain to finally get him off the field.

When the fourth quarter hit the two minute warning, Obama defensive lineman "Gastax Holiday" (these players have the funniest names nowadays) grabbed the ball from Hillary's hands during a fake and scored another touchdown, ensuring a few more field goals from the Clintons would not overtake his lead. Since this interception, the crowd has been heading for the exits.

"But!" Hillary cried, "if you remove the yards the Obamas covered while making field goals, and you add the yards I should have gotten when I was penalized, then I have about 75 more yards traveled. Nevermind that I don't have the points. Nevermind that I have fewer visits to the end-zone. Nevermind that the other team has a larger salary cap and fan base. Nevermind that I didn't strategize my game to win with the existing rules."

"I have more yards traveled," Hillary said. "If this were 'hide and seek,' I'd already be the winner. If we changed the rules, I'd barely be ahead. And that's what makes me more qualified to go to the Superbowl. Pick me!"


So now there's only a few more seconds remaining on the clock, and the Clintons have remaining time for only three plays. Unless she can pull off the never-before seen "Superdelegate Reversal," it will be the young quarterback Barack Obama who will go on to face a wounded-but-dangerous Republican team, and their warrior-quarterback John McCain.

Joe Is for Obama

I saw Barack Obama for the first time when he gave the keynote address at the Democratic National Convention in 2004. I knew immediately I would one day be supporting his campaign for presidency.

I believe in my generation. I know that's an odd thing for an Xer to say, but it's true. Xers, also known as the 13th Generation, are going to lead the world. For a decade and a half I've believed it would be our destiny to clean up the mess created by the idealist generation before us.

From the 1990 book "Generations: The History of America's Future" by William Strauss and Neil Howe:

"Their Elders don't see it yet, 13ers themselves only dimly sense it, but this streetwise generation does indeed bring a bag of savvy tricks their elders lack - skills that may come in handy the next time America gets into real trouble. More than anyone, they have developed a seasoned talent for getting the most out of a bad hand."

I have sensed Obama's directness over the years in interviews. He actually answers questions. He responds with an intellectual honesty that treats the American people with respect for their intelligence.

I have always hated how Boomers treat politics like a game instead of the means to govern. And now that their politics of personal destruction have scorched the political landscape, the American people are ready for a new way to run their own government.

Obama thinks he can bring the country together, be direct with the American people, and get citizens back in the process of running their country. It's a very Xer message: Cut the crap, and just do it.

"I think there is a great hunger for change in the country–and not just policy change," Obama told U.S. News...

... On December 10, in his debut speech in New Hampshire, Obama said, "America is ready to turn the page. America is ready for a new set of challenges. This is our time. A new generation is prepared to lead."

I believe American society will only progress when citizens take responsibility for their government. I believe Barack Obama knows this and is capable of bring Americans there. And that's why I'm for Barack Obama for President of the United States of America.

The 2008 Republican National Convention Logo

You've all seen the new logo for the Republican National Convention 2008, which will be held in Minneapolis-St. Paul where Sen. Larry Craig was busted, right?

Dude, Where's My Army?

Apparently, NATO was smoking some pretty powerful shit when they came up with the idea for an international reactionary military force. The buzz wore out Thursday, and the idea didn't seem so great...

NATO retreats from establishment of rapid-reaction force - International Herald Tribune: "BERLIN: NATO is backing away from establishing a combat force that would be capable of moving rapidly into conflict areas because it lacks the money, the troops and the equipment, officials said Thursday."

"Oh shit, dude... We can't build an army! We don't have any guns or stuff..."

A circuit board and battery is not a "Fake Bomb"

Why is the mainstream media automatically labeling this poor girl as having a "fake bomb strapped to her chest?" She had a T-shirt on with a circuit board and a few LED lights as decoration. Way to label her as a terrorist right off the bat and ruin her life.

Here's the most fair article I've seen about this.

So again in Boston, the authorities are causing disturbances over a few blinking lights. This was hardly a hoax. This is simply a T-shirt with goofy stuff on it. Why are authorities and media so stupid to automatically equate "circuit board" with "bomb?" I'm sitting in an average room right now that probably has about nine items that use circuit boards. Seven of those have LED lights. None of them are bombs.

Check her out, sure. Maybe even stop her at gunpoint to investigate a threat. But when it's obvious that she meant no harm or hoax, why charge her? Why terrorize her, the airport, and the nation?

"This is a serious offense. We take it very seriously," state police major Scott Pare said.  What offense? She is being charged with disorderly conduct and having a hoax device. Where is the disorderly conduct? She went to the airport with an artistic T-shirt on and asked a question.

If reports are true, she never claimed it was a bomb. She wasn't trying to get attention or make a statement or create performance art. She only wanted to get some technology-related attention on career day, so she wore a tech-related t-shirt. This wasn't related to the airport. She didn't try to sneak anything through security screening. There was no threatening notice on the shirt - in fact the openly-displayed shirt self-identified as being school oriented. The only reason she is being charged is because an airport employee who has seen too many "Lethal Weapon" movies was ignorant enough to assume anything that blinks is a bomb.

This is part of government's continued "assault on reason" as Al Gore might say.

We've passed oppression down so that it not only comes from from the president denigrating whole classes of people to win votes (not to mention torture and secret imprisonment), but also the justice department rigging the vote, political advance men denying the right to assemble, security guards roaming publicly owned city streets forbidding first amendment rights (see: photography in Silver Spring), health care tied to corporate servitude, and the U.S. Senate voting to condemn free speech.

Now that freedom depends on the intelligence of an airport employee or the patience of a few taser-happy university rent-a-cops at a political discussion, we're fucked.

No Tips for Racist Cabbies

Dear cab driver from last night,

Last night on my way home from the DC Shorts VIP Reception, I hopped in your cab and stated my destination and you took off, no questions asked. Thanks! But I had a problem with you about two blocks later when you picked up a young black man along the way (in DC, cab drivers can pick up additional fares).

After he told you his destination, you thought about it, and made sure to ask him if he knew it would be twelve dollars. Why didn't you tell me my fare when I sat down? Is it because I'm white you expect me to pay, but because he was black you had to double-check him first? It wasn't like he was expecting a wild $100 fare; his was only a couple bucks more than my $9 fare. That's bullshit, man.

It just makes me mad and sad, man. Why did you do that to him? Why did you remind him that you don't trust him? Why treat your customer like a criminal? It just makes you look like a racist fool.

Though I suppose it's a step up from leaving him on the street corner waiting, it's still bullshit. That's why I asked you why didn't tell me my fare, and that's why you didn't get a tip.  I don't tip racist or corrupt cabbies.