Thursday, July 31, 2008

Obama Ignores Hillary Clinton as VP

Barack Obama is ignoring Hillary Clinton for all the expected reasons, and her supporters are ticked, for all the expected reasons.

A new concern are that the ObamaGlow is getting dimmer. John McCain is nicking away at that, explaining that Barack is not as big as his celebrity shine would indicate. McCain's even suggested Obama is playing the race card.

'Dream Ticket' Meets Reality: Obama Looks Beyond Clinton'
ABC News
By JENNIFER PARKER and SUNLEN MILLER Some supporters of Hillary Clinton are voicing anger that Barack Obama may choose another woman for his vice presidential running mate.

USA TodayPoll: McCain Shrinks Obama’s Lead in Three Battleground States

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Barack Obama: Website's opposition to successful surge gets deleted

  • Changing his mind?
  • Changing his tune?
  • Forgetful?
  • Or just politicking to a naive voter base?

At YouTube, the poster says:
On May 30, 2008 Obama chief strategist David Axelrod claimed Obama "never disputed" that the surge would reduce violence in Iraq. But in January 2007, when the surge was announced, Obama said no amount of troops would reduce violence and no "expert on the region" or "military officer" disagreed.

At the LA Times: Obama website's opposition to successful surge gets deleted

Saturday, July 12, 2008

Tony Snow dies (Former Bush spokesman)

Politics aside, this is a loss.

Former Bush spokesman Tony Snow dies

Comedian Bernie Mac Makes Raunchy Joke at Obama Campaign Event

Is this the course of Barack Obama's campaign?

Why is his campaign finding supporters who are racist (Wright and Pfleger), anti-religious (Jesse "The Reverend" Jackson) and off-color, (the otherwise funny Bernie Mac)?

Yup. The Mac went low: menopause, sexual infidelity and promiscuity, and used occasional crude language.

This was a trendy, $2300 a person event drawing in Chicago's economic elite.

Comedian Bernie Mac makes off-color joke at Obama event



According to the AP story linked above, Barack Obama responded:
"We can't afford to be divided by race. We can't afford to be divided by region or by class and we can't afford to be divided by gender, which by the way, that means, Bernie, you've got to clean up your act next time. This is a family affair. By the way, I'm just messing with you, man."

Thursday, July 10, 2008

Jesse Jackson Shows off His Christianity (Not) in Rant Against Obama

The so-called Reverend Jesse Jackson wants to cut off parts of Barack Obama's manhood. This disgraceful side of Jackson, not unfamiliar to Chicagoans, shows us not all of Obama's supporters are good men.

Jackson apologizes, as he should, and rightly noted by various media people is that this will have little impact on Obama's campaign.



PlusJackson Apologizes for Comments About ObamaJackson Apologizes for Comments About ObamaThe Associated PressThe Rev. Jesse Jackson has apologized for what he calls 'regretfully crude' comments he made about Barack Obama's speeches in black churches. Jackson made the comments during what he thought was 'a private conversation'. (July 9)[Notes:ANCHOR VOICE] Chicago, IL(video of Jackson entering news conference) Rev. Jesse Jackson is caught on tape saying negative comments about fellow Chicagoan Barack Obama. Jackson's off air remarks with Dr. Reid Tuckson were recorded during Fox and Friends and later broadcast on The O'Reilly Factor (sot)Credit: The O'Reilly Factor/Fox NewsJackson: "See, Barack been, um, talking down to black people on this faith based (pause), I want to cut his nuts (bleep nuts) out."Jackson: "Barack (pause) he's talking down to black people."(video of Jackson at news conference) Jackson immediately went on the defensive at his Chicago based Rainbow Push Coalition headquarters.Rev. Jesse Jackson "It was in the studio and it was the mic was hot. And whether there was hot mics...it's my responsibility. It's not yours you do with the mic what you want to do. What I want to get clear is my support for Barack and his policies are long standing, broad based, and deep and unequivocal."(video of Jackson news conference)Jackson has apologized to the Obama campaign and campaign spokesman Bill Burton released a statement saying Obama has accepted his apology.

Rev. Jesse Jackson, "They were hurtful and wrong. That's the whole point. And when you make mistakes you should not equivocate you should be quick to go on the offensive and not try to be evasive. And if it was said to him personally or in some public forum then they would be even more hurtful than this case. Whatever it was, was spun into a question into a live mic. When he does here them they will not be helpful, they will be hurtful. But we have a relationship that can survive this. Reverend Jackson is now the 3rd Chicago pastor who has made headlines for saying comments that hurt the Obama presidential campaign. Obama's former pastor Jeremiah Wright was the first, then pastor Michael Pfleger became the second when he was a guest preacher at Obama's church and spoke negatively about Senator Hillary Clinton. Mark Carlson, AP, Chicago.

Thursday, July 3, 2008

Let Freedom Ring! The Declaration of Independence: A Transcription

Our early leaders, though war ached their hearts, stood fast against tyranny in favor of freedom. Do our leaders now have the same sober valor?

originally posted here: Let Freedom Ring! The Declaration of Independence: A Transcription

The Declaration of Independence: A Transcription
IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The 56 signatures on the Declaration appear in the positions indicated:

Column 1
Georgia:
Button Gwinnett
Lyman Hall
George Walton

Column 2
North Carolina:
William Hooper
Joseph Hewes
John Penn
South Carolina:
Edward Rutledge
Thomas Heyward, Jr.
Thomas Lynch, Jr.
Arthur Middleton

Column 3
Massachusetts:
John Hancock
Maryland:
Samuel Chase
William Paca
Thomas Stone
Charles Carroll of Carrollton
Virginia:
George Wythe
Richard Henry Lee
Thomas Jefferson
Benjamin Harrison
Thomas Nelson, Jr.
Francis Lightfoot Lee
Carter Braxton

Column 4
Pennsylvania:
Robert Morris
Benjamin Rush
Benjamin Franklin
John Morton
George Clymer
James Smith
George Taylor
James Wilson
George Ross
Delaware:
Caesar Rodney
George Read
Thomas McKean

Column 5
New York:
William Floyd
Philip Livingston
Francis Lewis
Lewis Morris
New Jersey:
Richard Stockton
John Witherspoon
Francis Hopkinson
John Hart
Abraham Clark

Column 6
New Hampshire:
Josiah Bartlett
William Whipple
Massachusetts:
Samuel Adams
John Adams
Robert Treat Paine
Elbridge Gerry
Rhode Island:
Stephen Hopkins
William Ellery
Connecticut:
Roger Sherman
Samuel Huntington
William Williams
Oliver Wolcott
New Hampshire:
Matthew Thornton

http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/declaration_transcript.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Declaration_of_Independence
http://www.bobdylan.com/songs/rolling.html

Like a Rolling Stone by Bob Dylan