(cross-posted at Daily Kos)

In the past couple of days, there's been a verbal war of words between the campaigns of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama over the comments made by David Geffen, a media mogul in Los Angeles who held a fundraiser for Obama. What it essentially boils down to is this: the Clinton campaign has been waiting to take a shot at Obama, and they chose an idiotic issue to make their first move about. Clinton comes out looking quite thin-skinned, and Obama only gave one line to it the comment - one that makes sense to anyone who thinks about it:

"It's not clear to me why I'd be apologizing for someone else's remark"

As pontificatorput it yesterday, Obama appears to have quite the rapid response team.

There's more...

(crossposted at dailykos)

During the first week of January on every odd numbered year, congressmen and women convene to open a new session of congress.  Each newly elected member is sworn in prior to taking office with a simple yet binding oath of service:

I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God. (emphasis added)

The duties of our United States congress members are many and the responsibilities are severe.  Senators and representatives that run for president while concurrently serving terms in office have to perform two full time jobs at once, which incidentally could be why so few sitting members win successful bids for the presidency.

There's more...

This is a republishing of an article I recently wrote for my church newsletter.  I belong to a UCC church, so it has an extremely progressive mindset.  I hope you enjoy.

The 2004 elections had record voter turnout, and it still was a very disappointing percent.  This upcoming election may be the most important of this generation.  I hear many excuses for not voting... These are my excuses as to why I vote.

I vote because 95% of the world's wealth is controlled by 1% of the population.

I vote because my future children deserve to breathe clean air.

I vote because I want my taxes to help people, not the biggest of businesses.

I vote because equal rights for all people still doesn't exist.

I vote because America's young shouldn't have to die due to incompetence.

I vote because soldiers have sacrificed their lives to give me the right to do so.

I vote because special interests control our government.

I vote because parks and trees are important.

I vote because all people should be allowed to marry.

I vote because the things that offend me are as important as the things that don't.

I vote because I believe in protecting the working man.

I vote because protecting the minority from the mob is important.

I vote because its my right.

I vote because its my duty.

I vote because I love my country.

Many of us have been dissatisfied with the direction our country has been going in over the last 6 years.  Unfortunately, our current leaders from both parties seem to care more about corporate special interests than the citizens of our country.  Many of the current Democrats and Republicans have betrayed their citizens.  They do this because they know they can get away with it... something we need to fight to stop.  And this is one more reason why I vote.  

There's more...

(cross-posted at Deny My Freedom and Daily Kos)

In an earlier post on the issue of the Democratic Party's potential changes to the primary calendar in 2008, I had supported the changes. I remember how Howard Dean, my favored candidate in 2004, sank like a stone after his dismal 3rd-place showing in the Iowa caucus. As I became more involved in politics, I thought that Iowa and New Hampshire had a disproportionate influence in the nomination process. I commented as such a couple months ago:

This is a good step forward for our nomination process. Even though the small size of Iowa and New Hampshire allow for true retail politics, and both are swing states in this day and age, they simply aren't representative of the demographics of the Democratic Party. Furthermore, just how important is retail politics? In local races, I think that retail politics is an absolute must; however, in the race for president, most people won't even get to see the candidates in person, much less interact with them on a personal level. Frankly, most politicians are going to come off as nice guys (or women) when you speak to them up-close.

Today, the changes I was speaking about earlier came into effect. By a voice vote, a new schedule for the 2008 primary was approved. The plan calls for Nevada - a state with a large labor base and a sizeable Hispanic minority - to hold a caucus between Iowa's caucus and New Hampshire's primary. South Carolina will also hold the first primary after New Hampshire, as soon as a week after the Granite State. While I was initially enthusiastic about such changes, I think that the DNC knows there is a problem with the nomination calendar - but after giving the matter some thought, they have made the matter worse instead of better.

There's more...

I've been on Greg Palast's e-mail list ever since I read the incredible life changing work of his "The Best Democracy Money Can Buy" that covers everything from the hijinks in the 2000 election to the nefariousness of the WTO and blackmail in South America and stuff.

Palast's facts are ironclad and his journalism is nothing short of heroic, his coverage of the CA energy debacle/Recall, Tony Blair, election hijinks and such should make him required reading for anybody in the blogosphere. So of course in America the only time we hear about him is when he is denounced as a partisan hack (even though he is not a Democrat), without addressing any of the rock solid undenouncable facts that "fall into his lap". In any case his latest e-mail newsletter was something that I thought was interesting enough to warrant a post, plus you can hear Larry David read part of his new book!

There's more...